Upon nightfall, Lunarey crawled under the purple blanket in her large, soft bed. Every time she tried falling asleep and perhaps find comfort in a lovely dream, thoughts of her torturing and killing the people on her list came haunting her mind. In the pictures that she saw in her dreams, blood reigned supreme as the dominant element, covering the walls, the victims and even Lunarey herself. She kept picturing Sunyula behind her, telling her to hurt them further and further, not even looking shocked or appalled by the violence, but rather pleased. A helpless victim rested on his knees before her, wounded and bruised beyond any measure. Lunarey hit him again and again, even though she didn’t want to. The victim didn’t cry or beg or screamed but merely stayed still while he bled further. His skin was nothing more than a shell of blood. His face was empty. He showed no signs of suffering, but Lunarey knew that he was. She wanted to stop so badly, yet every time she heard Sunyula's snaky voice telling her to go on, she did her bidding. Eventually, come morning, she opened her eyes and escaped those images, yet her feeling hadn’t improved much, as she was reminded of where she was.
She rose from her bed and approached her closet to get dressed. The closet was filled with top-quality clothes of the most expensive and luxurious brands. She recognized the AL brand among them, the same brand her expensive shoes had. She immediately ruled out everything purple. I'll be damned before I'll wear the color of this awful organization. Finally, she picked out a short black shirt and long jeans and went downstairs.
She was greeted by Samuel downstairs, who smiled upon seeing her. "Good morning," he said. "How did you sleep?"
"Fine," she lied to avoid talking about it.
"Lady Sunyula and Richard are waiting for us in the dining room for breakfast." He took her hand and escorted her.
The dining room was long and tall. A fireplace burned in the back part of it while a long table stood at its center. A white tablecloth adorned the entirety of its length while silver candlesticks were spread along its middle part. Only Sunyula and Richard of the Dementia sat at the table. Sunyula sat at the front of the table and Richard sat next to her. She wore a tight gray shirt with a short black jacket on top of it, dark-gray skinny jeans and black high heels. Scarlet Thorn rested in its sheath around her waist as always.
"Vaikillia," she said. "How nice of you to join us. Come, sit." Lunarey sat next to Sunyula, and Samuel sat next to her. Lunarey found herself in awe of the wide selection of food that faced her. Omelets, pancakes, French toast, fried bacon strips, bagels and a variety of fruit salads lay on the table. Reluctantly, she ate a bit of every dish, feeling bad as she did, knowing how other people are doing in the country regarding food. Kelia and her mother were scraping for food while Sunyula feasts on a daily basis.
"Vaikillia," Sunyula turned to her daughter. "We're going to make a visit to our outpost in Framstead, Northstock."
"W-Why?" Lunarey asked.
"Oh, it's a regular thing we do. I like to check up on my outposts. Don’t worry. I'm sure you'll love the northern scenery." Lunarey could think of many things she would rather do than to travel several hours to the Northstock district with Sunyula. "Samuel and Richard would accompany us, of course." She found some comfort knowing that Samuel will be at her side.
"Lady Sunyula," Richard spoke for the first time. "There are some matters I hoped to bring to your attention."
"Oh? What matters?" Sunyula asked as she bit into her omelet. Richard hesitated to respond, gazing at Lunarey instead, looking uncomfortable. "It's alright," Sunyula reassured him. "You know I never hide anything from Vaikillia. You can speak about these things in her presence."
Richard cleared his throat. "Well, I've recently learned that Harley Nation had kicked their immigrants smuggling business into high gear. They've already smuggled several dozens of people from the US to Alataria."
"Fane seems to be relentless," Samuel said.
"Well, you can hardly blame him," Sunyula said. "Harley Nation are having severe problems, both in finance and manpower."
"I've heard about that too," Richard said as he dug his fork into his bacon strips. "From what I understood, they've been hiring hitmen and other paid assassins to make up for their shortage of men."
"How pathetic," Sunyula hissed. "Fane Hallstead simply refuses to let his poor little outpost die. I guess he'd already reached out to the Harley outposts abroad for assistance though I doubt he'll get any from them." Lunarey remembered what Triggen had said to her about the war that Harley Nation had been having with Lady Dread for a year now, and how costly it had been for both sides. Fane tried desperately to end this war by bringing Sunyula to the table, but so far failed miserably. By now dozens must have died due to Sunyula' relentless behavior.
"Mother," Lunarey turned to her. The word still felt foreign to her. "Why don’t you broker a peace treaty with them?"
"A peace treaty?" Sunyula suddenly seemed filled with contempt. "I will not have peace with those fucking bikers. They've tried to put my business in Herkin Port in danger, and by now they've caused far too many causalities. There will be no peace, only annihilation." She seemed determined. Fire burned in her eyes and her grip on her fork and knife tightened as rage filled her up. "Don’t forget that they're the ones who tried to kill you and ended up making you lose your memory." Lunarey had yet to reveal the full truth behind that part. Even if Harley Nation tried to kill me, there's still a piece of this puzzle missing. I still don’t know why I lost my memory, or how I ever came to find myself in Brontspil. "I will not let this matter go quietly." Sunyula turned to Richard. "When we'll reach the Framstead outpost, be ready to brief your men about an upcoming attack on Harley Nation."
"Very well, Lady Sunyula." Richard bowed his head. More violence… more death… why does everything always have to come to this? "I also wanted to update you on the Tri-Surgeon matter," he continued. The Tri-Surgeon? Who's that? And why is he named like that? "Yesterday, our informant in APD alerted us that the Tri-Surgeon managed to kidnap Soleina Dillard and took her to a storage warehouse in Morth City."
"Soleina Dillard? As in the wife of Jonah Dillard?" Sunyula didn’t seem shocked or appalled but merely amused.
"Yes. I tried sending two of my guys over there to dispose of him, but they were gunned down by someone. APD got to that warehouse shortly afterward, but the killer had escaped by then. Now, I don’t know how, but they managed to find blood samples of the killer in that warehouse."
"And?" Sunyula sipped from her cup.
"They know that it's Caedes Rendell."
"I see." She remained indifferent. "Well, we've already figured that it was him from the way he'd been killing all of his victims. Chopping off their arms, eyes, and heart…" she turned to look at Samuel. "The same way his wife and son were dealt with, weren't they, Samuel?"
Samuel almost choked on his food. He coughed and drank some of his coffee to ease his throat. "R-Right, Sunyula," he said.
"Oh, sometimes I imagine what his reaction must have been like when he saw their chopped-off body parts that we sent him. I bet his heart sank." She giggled, a twisted smile appearing on her face. Richard reacted similarly while Samuel simply made an awkward smile. Lunarey didn’t understand much from the conversation, but she did make out one detail. The way she looked at Samuel when she mentioned the brutality that was done to that man's wife and son… is Samuel responsible for that?
"Well, I guess that now that Dillard's wife has been brought into this, there's not much chance that we'll be able to avenge the two members that bastard killed. Dillard's going to want him all to himself." Samuel said as he took a bite of his toast.
"I'd rather let him have that fucker if it meant keeping Dillard as an ally. Because of Caedes, many of my allies refuse to work with me. Some even won't return my calls. They've figured that Caedes has been targeting them because of their relations with me, even though I kept saying it was preposterous."
"W-What did that man do, Mother?" Lunarey asked her. "What could he possibly do to deserve this?"
Sunyula stared at Lunarey for a moment before answering. "It doesn’t matter anymore, my sweet. Finish your breakfast, we're leaving for Framstead soon." She turned to focus back on her plate, moving quickly away from the subject.
Once breakfast was done, Sunyula went upstairs to gather some of her things, while Richard went ahead to ready the escorting men. Samuel and Lunarey remained alone in the mansion's lobby.
"Samuel," Lunarey said to him. "Did…" she almost feared the question. "Did you really do that to that man's wife and son? Did you really—?"
"No." he hurried to make it clear. "I didn’t. But you can't tell Sunyula." A worried expression was on his face. He looked around to make sure no one was there to hear him. "I couldn’t do it. I let one of my men do it instead."
"Why? Why couldn’t you?"
"They…" he stopped and stooped his gaze. His body was slightly shaking, and he kept his eyes clear from meeting Lunarey's. "The way they begged… the way they screamed." He closed his eyes and appeared as if he was reliving it in his mind. "I can't do it to innocent people. It's not fair. It's not right. Caedes was the one who should've paid the price, not his family." He shifted his gaze further away from Lunarey's. "Back when Henrick was in charge, these kinds of things never happened. Henrick was ruthless and cruel much like Sunyula, but he was always fair. He never did the things we do to innocent people, only to those who were directly at fault. It was one of the only things that separated us from savages like the Ferals. Jegaar Hill and his men don’t give a shit about who you are. They will rape, torture, dismember, burn and kill you regardless of how innocent or guilty you are. Sunyula could never make that distinction. That is one of the reasons I want her gone."
Lunarey didn’t know what to make of it. On one hand, she was glad he didn’t actually go through with Sunyula's order himself, but on the other she realized that he was still not shy of any sort of violence. "Why do you do it, Samuel?" she asked him, simply. More than anything, she begged to know that.
Samuel let the hint of a smile sneak onto his face. "You never asked me that question before, not even as Vaikillia," he said. "I guess back then you could've answered it for yourself." He sighed, lengthily. "The truth is all around you. By now, you've seen how violent, cruel and barbaric the world can be. You've witnessed the things people are willing to do to others. If I weren't like this, I simply wouldn’t be here. The same goes for you, Lunarey." He called me Lunarey… it's the first time he hadn't called me Vaikillia… "Sooner or later, you're going to realize that you can't live and walk among people without stepping on some toes and pushing some people out of your way. It's a hard, nasty truth, but I think that it's one that Vaikillia understood very well." Something about his words rang right to Lunarey. What he's saying… I hate the idea of the meaning of it, but… I can't say that he's wrong. The bullying Rosabell suffered which led to her suicide… Kelia's betrayal… that nasty grin on Triggen's face as he hit me over and over… I HAVE seen what people are willing to do to others. But if Vaikillia knew all that… what does that mean about the kind of person she was?
Sunyula appeared above them, climbing down the spiraled staircase. Scarlet Thorn waddled from side to side as she took each step. "Come on, let's go," she said. Lunarey noticed that she was carrying a black bag. It was no purse, and it definitely held some weight, as the arm that held it slightly leaned downwards. Samuel hurried to lift the weight off of her, as he took the bag himself. Samuel and Lunarey followed her outside, where Richard was waiting behind the wheel of a silver car. An escort car stood by next to it, with four men in it, armed with submachine guns and dressed with purple Elastics.
"What's in the bag?" Lunarey whispered to Samuel.
"Elastics and guns. Sunyula hates wearing those things, so we keep them in that bag. We'll put them on only if we have to."
Sunyula sat in the passenger's seat while Samuel and Lunarey sat in the back. The two cars drove through the metal gates and headed towards Framstead, Northstock. They say that while Fraenon Hill is the most luxurious district in Alataria, Northstock is the one with the most beautiful views and scenery. They say the greenery is endless there, with vast fields and lush grass wherever you go.
Minutes into the drive, Lunarey felt the effects of the insomnia she'd been having, as tiredness overcame her. She leaned her head against the glass window and fell asleep. I hope that when I wake up I'll at least get to see those gorgeous Northstock views, she thought to herself mere moments before entering the realm of dreams.
In her dream, she found herself in an empty void. She was standing on an invisible ground, with nothing but blackness all around her. The black void seemed infinite. She called to see if there was anyone there, but no response came. She tried turning her head around several times, but no one was there but her. She called out if there was anyone around once more, but this time, she heard a distant voice. "I'm here," the voice said. Lunarey turned around and saw a vague shadow of a person materializing into a mirror image of her.
"Are you me?" Lunarey asked the mirrored clone.
"Yes and no," it said. Lunarey felt confused at first, but quickly realized what it meant.
"You are Vaikillia," Lunarey said. The clone simply smiled and did not say anything. "Please, tell me," Lunarey begged. "Tell me what happened. What happened when I ran away from Harley Nation? Why did I lose my memory? How did I end up in Brontspil? What was that injection mark on my arm? How did that list come into my possession?" the clone once again smiled without answering. "Tell me!" Lunarey raised her voice. "Tell me!" yet the clone remained silent. "Tell me!" Lunarey shook her by the shoulders. "Tell me!" she shook her harder. "Tell me!"
Suddenly, blood spurted out of Vaikillia's mouth. Lunarey looked down and saw her hands red with blood. Her right one held a knife and it was stuck on the clone's chest. "No…" Lunarey backed away. "I didn’t do this…" she looked at her bloody hands, as Vaikillia fell to her knees, blood dripping down from her chin down to her neck and chest. "I didn’t—"
Her sleep was interrupted as loud noises woke her. At first, she thought it was nothing and tried falling asleep again, but when she heard them again, she recognized them as gunshots. Soon enough, she also heard shouting from within the car. Looking around her, she saw Samuel going through the black bag and taking out two assault rifles, handing one of them to Sunyula and keeping the other one for himself. What's going on? Lunarey wondered. She looked out of the window and saw two men riding motorcycles to the right of their car. Her heart plummeted when she noticed the gray color of their Elastics. Harley Nation had come to lay their wrath upon Lady Dread. She never expected them to go after Sunyula during the drive.
Samuel put on the purple Elastics, and Sunyula did the same, blurting several curse words as she did. Lunarey looked around and saw three more of the harrowing gray masks riding behind their car. Lunarey's heart raced. How many are there?
The escort car was a few feet away from theirs. Lunarey could see the men in it crawling through the open windows and shooting at the gray riders. The riders fought back, firing their guns as well at the escort car. It wasn’t long before the shots came raining down on Lunarey's car as well. Bullets pierced through the windows and doors, making Lunarey duck in fright. Glass shattered all over the car, as the bullets found their way through the windows. Lunarey felt sharp waves of pain as pieces of glass flung at her, cutting her at the shoulder and arms.
Sunyula wasted no time. As soon as she put on the purple gloves and mask, she pulled herself through her shattered window and took aim at the two riders beside the car. "Samuel!" Sunyula called. "Take those three on our back!" her assault rifle roared a deafening sound as she fired it.
Samuel crawled out of his own window and shot several rounds at the riders behind them. Richard remained unarmed behind the wheel, trying to keep his focus on the road while constantly checking his mirrors to see what was happening. Does Sunyula have enough men guarding her? What happens if we lose to them? What will they do to me? She remembered Triggen's brutality towards her. He hit her as if she was a punching bag.
"Vaikillia!" Sunyula called out to her. "Grab a gun and help us!"
"No!" Lunarey yelled, keeping herself cowered in her seat.
"Do it!" Sunyula said. "Do it or we'll die!" I can't do it! I just can't! "Vaikillia, come on!" Sunyula urged her.
"No!" Lunarey cried. She looked aside and saw Samuel firing off at the assailants. He seemed fearless. Lunarey wanted to be just like him. She wanted to rid herself of her fears. She wanted to be fearless as well. Samuel said I have to fight back… I can't live and walk among the people if I don’t step on some toes…
Relentlessly, Lunarey went through the black bag, eventually spotting a black pistol in it. With the song of flying bullets still playing overhead, she grabbed it and peeked her head through her window. Only one of the two riders was now riding to the side of the car, and only two were in the back. Trying to cower as much as she could, Lunarey held the gun with both hands and tried aiming at the single rider. Before she could take a shot at him, the biker raised his weapon and fired off several rounds at Lunarey's direction. She ducked again as the firepower rained all around her.
Suddenly, Richard made a loud cry of pain. His shoulder was bleeding from a bullet he had taken. The car started to slow down while Richard cursed and shouted. Lunarey peeked her head again and aimed her gun. She tried firing three times at the single rider, but she couldn’t hit him. Just before she could fire the fourth round at him, she saw his head splattering a spray of blood and his body falling off the motorcycle, scraping against the asphalt road. She looked at Sunyula and saw the smoke trail coming out of her assault rifle.
Behind the vehicle, only two riders were left now. Sunyula and Samuel went back into the car to reload their guns, but by the time they had finished doing that, Lunarey saw the escort car accelerating from behind, catching up to the two riders. Going at full speed, the escort car rammed into their motorcycles, making them lose their balance and fall off of them onto the road.
Quickly after that, the cars came to a full stop and everyone poured out of them. What's going on? Why are we stopping? Only two men went out of the escort car out of the four that were in it. The other two lay dead in their seats, their eyes still open. Lunarey got out of the car as well and saw the two members walking up to the two riders who fell. At first, the riders tried to put up a fight, but they were too weak and frail from the fall to do much. The members from the escort car grabbed the bikers and dragged them all the way to Sunyula, unmasking them and bringing them to their knees.
Lady Dread stood with her arms crossed. Samuel stood by her, his eyes fixed on the gray riders of Harley Nation. They're not even talking. It's as if they already know what's supposed to happen now. The riders looked up at Lady Dread with the utmost contempt. Sunyula herself, however, seemed utterly thrilled.
As Samuel took a step forward, something suddenly changed in his eyes. Lunarey couldn't quite point out what it was, but she knew that all of a sudden something sinister and malicious had entered Samuel. Cruel intentions were leaking through his facial expression, as he stepped towards the biker, his steps ever so heavy and slow. At that moment, Samuel Butler was no longer standing there and Samuel of the Shatter was there in his stead.
Without any warning, without showing even a shred of regret or hesitation, Samuel opened the trunk of the car and took a crowbar out of it. The steel weapon rang as he tapped it against his hand. He inched towards the first of the two bikers and looked straight into his eyes. The eyes of Samuel of the Shatter appeared cold and dead. They were the eyes of a murderer and a torturer, one who's been doing it for a long time, and had known the kind of pain he inflicted close and personal. With a nod to one of the two members, the first biker was raised to his feet. Samuel raised the crowbar high and landed it swiftly on the biker's leg, just below his knee. A horrid sound of shatter was heard, mixed with the biker's screams of pain. Lunarey covered her mouth in shock. Without waiting another second, he launched the crowbar again and again into the biker's leg, and after several devastating blows, he moved on to his other leg and did the same. In reality, it only lasted about a minute, but in Lunarey's mind, it was so horrendous and excruciating to watch that it seemed to go on forever. Stop it! She screamed in her mind, knowing that Sunyula wouldn’t approve of her saying that out loud in such a crowd. Stop it, Samuel! Don’t do this!
On and on the hits seemed to repeat themselves, until finally Samuel halted. The crowbar was now spotted red and slightly dented. He returned it to the car's trunk and backed away, wiping off sweat off of his forehead.
Lunarey's hand remained covering her mouth. She looked up at her mother and saw a most horrifying picture. Lady Dread was making a wry smile, one of pure delight. She's… she's not shocked or disgusted… she's… she's taking pleasure in this…
Breathing heavily through his teeth grind, the man who had lost both of his legs had now muffled almost all other sounds. He didn't want them to hear him suffer anymore. He didn't want them to hear him beg or scream. Harley Nation's members were always said to be of a different breed. A tough, persistent one that refused to give their enemies any kind of joy in their defeat. His legs were now so distorted and disfigured, with one having his foots twisted almost entirely all the way around, and the other one having a broken bone showing up as a bump under his skin, sticking out just below his knee. Blood ran fast and plenty through the holes in his pants and gathered in a pool beneath him.
This… this is so horrible… Lunarey thought. Samuel… how could you do this? Perhaps I was right not to put my complete faith in you. You are, after all, Samuel of the Shatter. She tried catching eye contact with him, but he remained looking only at the bikers, as he stood near Sunyula. He's not looking at me on purpose. He knows what I'm thinking of him right now. Samuel, you coward. You hate disappointing me, so you prefer not to see the look of shock on me.
Sunyula's gaze turned to Lunarey. "Vaikillia," she said in her snaky voice. "You showed great valor by picking up that gun and putting up a fight. I think you deserve to choose these men's fate."
"W-What?" Lunarey panicked. "I-I don’t want—"
"Don't disappoint me, Vaikillia," Sunyula said. "Do these men get to live… or die?" her eyes shone as she uttered that last word.
Lunarey looked at the two members of Harley Nation. The wounded one seemed disoriented and weak. The pain and blood loss was about to make him pass out at any moment. The other man simply looked horrified, although remaining silent. "Let them live," Lunarey finally said, decisively. "Send them back to the Red Rider as a massage. Let him know what happens to those who go after us." In truth, Lunarey only wanted to avoid any more death and violence, but she knew what kind of argument would please Lady Dread.
Sunyula chuckled. "Very well, my sweet." Instantly, the gray riders were let go of, and the entire entourage went back into their vehicles. As they drove off, Lunarey couldn’t help but wonder if this was how her future was going to look like from now on, under the care of Sunyula. As she looked to her side, at Samuel, she noticed that he was still refusing to look at her.
