"I don't even know who you are anymore"
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By the time of sunrise, king airu and lady kalah left the comfort of the small cave hidden behind the cascading waters, and made their way through the tall yellow grass of the wetlands.
After spending a long, comfortable night for the first time in several months… especially with lady kalah, it was unfortunately time to return to his duties as the underwater kingdom's king.
From the time they woke up to the rising sun, lady kalah could feel that the king's mood had changed since the other day.
Despite getting to see how he behaved outside of being the king of the old earth, lady kalah still didn't think he'd be the kind of man to be sulking at the feeling of having to return to the responsibilities he'd given himself following the battle on the middle island just several months ago.
After only a minute of walking with silence and the only source of sound being the king's subtle but unusually heavy breathing, she had noticed that the black cracks that were branching across his pale skin like roots had grown longer since last night.
The sight made his doll-like face look more like a dull puppet. Lady Kalah couldn't help but think back to his earlier words about his bond with the spirit of death increasing along with his assimilation into the spirit realm.
Now as she was witnessing firsthand king airu's mood change considerably after only one night's passing, she was more inclined to believe something she hadn't thought about until last night…
Could there have been special cases in which few of the "children of the highest spirits" or rather the spirits inhabiting their bodies, managed to resist assimilation?
Could previous vessels of spirits still be alive and residing somewhere on the old earth?
Those thoughts lady Kalah had were reasonable. After all despite their relationship growing past their former hostility towards one another, there were still some things king airu weren't telling lady kalah…
Most of all regarding his other duties as king aside from merely protecting the underwater kingdom from threats which haven't appeared in several months.
Before, she wouldn't view this as something she herself would have to worry about… but now, lady Kalah's curiosity had gotten the better of her.
After only two minutes of hearing the king's subtle yet erratic breathing, lady kalah felt her heart slam against her ribcage.
On their walk, she was lagging behind him a bit and waited until there was a considerable distance between the both of them so she could ask:
"Airu-"
The king didn't turn around, because standing before him was kinté and ōroro, along with over a dozen of the holy knights.
For a moment, kinte and ōroro silently watched as king airu's breathing slowly grew more erratic, even while he spoke in his usual monotone voice.
"Kinte, ōroro… what's this all about?"
Kinte glanced at lady kalah with an indifferent expression, and said:
"Kael has been abducted by those mainlanders. And we're going to get him back."
Lady Kalah suddenly felt a cold sensation wash over her skin. She didn't know what to say in that moment, all she could do was look over to airu, whose lips gapped slightly.
Suddenly the subtle aura surrounding him changed completely.
"…what?"
Seeing airu's expression, kinte scoffed and continued.
"You heard what I said. Your carelessness and inaction caused your uncle to get abducted."
Airu didn't say anything else after that. But suddenly, the tall grass protruding the shallow waters surrounding them began to wither and slump over.
Airu looked up to ōroro who looked back at him with a look of disappointment. Even the large man's fists clenched as he struggled to stop himself from raising his voice.
"Don't look at me like that, airu. Before you walked off, I warned you that your absence could result in consequences that we'd rather not deal with… consequences that could've been avoided had you been here."
The larger man looked down at airu in silence for a moment. His mind for some reason travelled back to a time where airu was just a boy, driven by an admirable passion for power…
Enough power to protect his people… like a king.
A passion that would inspire even those older than him that had long lost the will to fight after suffering for a whole century due to a war caused by scummy sorcerers.
But now even as he looked into the eyes of that boy who was now a man, that passion had been exhausted just months after promising a better future for the people he'd desired to protect since he was a boy.
Ōroro's thick fingers dug into his palms as he bit his lips hard enough to draw small drops of blood.
"Those people trusted you to protect them, airu…"
"…I even trusted you, but now… I can't even see a glimpse of that boy who inspired the hearts of those who'd long lost their will to fight."
Suddenly, a warm tear drop raced down ōroro's cheek. But the large man turned his back to airu and began to walk off, gesturing for the holy knights to follow behind.
Seeing ōroro walk off, airu couldn't stop a tear of his own from spilling. Kinte however looked at the man and spoke after a moment.
"before we part ways, I should tell you…"
"…the people have decided that you are no longer their king… I am."
Kinte didn't stay behind to hear how airu respond, he simply put his hands in his pockets and walked towards where ōroro and the holy knights were.
his priority in the moment was clear…
Storm the six nations of the mainland and retrieve elder kael.
Once they'd left, airu stood there with trembling shoulders and choked sounds from his throat.
The sight was almost uncomfortable for lady kalah who still didn't know what to say to the man who'd pretty much lost everything all at once… all because of one night of paradise.
Airu's breathing hastened as well… he could even feel his heart slam against his chest with a force that made him squirm.
His knees buckled as he dropped to the floor, clutching his chest and struggling to even see clearly through his flashing vision.
Right when lady Kalah reached out to touch his shoulder, airu's body turned into a cloud of black particles, and in an instant he was gone.
***
Not much time had passed since ōroro and kinte had got on a metal warship along with the holy knights, and set sail for the mainland.
Naturally they had to preserve enough power to be ready for a difficult battle against the supreme generals, so since they had to rely on the wind to guide them to the other side of the world, it would take them several weeks to get to the mainland.
The holy knights stood idly in the loading dock of the warship, while kinte looked out at the uninhabited seas.
After a while, once the moon was hanging over the horizon he looked over to ōroro who had been sitting on a crate lost in thought.
Kinte sighed and walked over and sat across from the large man.
He waited a moment and then spoke in his rough sounding voice.
"I'm struggling to understand why you're still so distraught by this… airu had it coming to him."
Ōroro looked over at kinte, with low eyes. He scoffed and said:
"You couldn't understand what anyone's feeling… so don't sit here and talked to me from that high horse."
Kinte crossed his legs and arms, and remained silent for a moment before giving his response.
"High horse? tell that to that damned boy who was arrogant enough to believe that his responsibilities weren't important enough for his attention…"
"…he's the one who ignored the people he'd sworn to protect just to spend a night away to lay in bed with that bitch from the mainland."
Ōroro's lips shriveled, but he didn't respond.
All he did was rub his temples as he felt an aching sensation building up.
"Kinte… you act as if the kingdom's best interests are your priority, but based on how you've been acting these past few months, I'm inclined to believe that deep down you're just envious of someone younger than you holding more power."
Kinte's thin eyebrows twitched. Leaning forward, he lowered his voice and said:
"I'm not interested in competing with a child who refuses to mature himself. Let me tell you something that you of all people should be aware of, ōroro…"
"…in this world, those who refuse to make the hardest decisions are the ones who die first."
"Those who seek to rule over us will go to any lengths to ensure they remain in power… and so long as we have a king who refuses to take actions that would benefit us, all because he wants to take the easy route, then we'll always be walked over by those sorcerers…"
Kinte paused for a moment, he glanced at behind them and watched as the sight of the old earth slowly became shrouded in a thick white mist, and then looked back at ōroro and said:
"…so if it means I must force the world into submission in order to achieve my goals, then I'm willing to be the bad guy."
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Continued in chapter 136: passion for power
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