Chapter 210 - Saintly Liars And Honest Devils

A gloomy, overcast sky hung across the hidden capital of Citlai. It had been centuries since the city had experienced such terrible, inclement weather. Truth be told, the immense thunderstorm over Citlai was an unnatural development, even for the city's inhabitants. 

The Ancient Mulians had built an artificial weather manipulation system to create and manage the hidden dimension's climate. A weather system that perfectly recreated the natural seasons that once existed across the archipelago that made up Citlai. 

But the foul weather above Reed's head had not been a product of that little piece of advanced technology. No, the storm had been formed by another, more dangerous method.

It was the people of Citlai — they were the ones who had created it. Not consciously, of course. They had created the Anima storm out of the unconscious manifestation of their grief, the pain and loss they felt for losing one of their founding, guiding pillars...

She, who had once been the Noble Princess of the Sun by birthright. She, who had become Mother of the Moon and the Sea through the virtue of her motherhood. 

She, who had risen to the august office of the Honorable Judge of the Scales, and later on in life, had achieved the position of High Commander of the Old Guard.

She, who had been the most ill.u.s.trious and glorious High Saintess of the Seas. 

As Reed observed at the enormous gathering of people, likely the entirety of the city, he wondered why they cared so deeply about someone whom they have probably never met. This was not a new mystery to him but one he had already contemplated for years at this point. 

It was the very idea that Reed had tried to eradicate years ago during the Eventide of Faith. When Reed cast out the Dreaming Council, he thought he had freed the people of Mulia.

That he had lifted the veil on the insidious nature of faith and the perils of placing one's trust and fate in people with too much power.

But contrary to Reed's expectations, after he had undone the brainwashing and had revealed the Dreaming Council's evils, the people of Mulia... had gone back to their former ways, worshipping and putting their faith in someone else instead of trying to seek their independence. 

"Is it truly that difficult? To... exist without having someone to hold up their sky?" said Reed, frustrated. 

Ulbo, who stood beside him, softly replied, "It is. Very much so. The innate d.e.s.i.r.e for a transcendent being — powerful, kind, and forgiving — to protect them from harm, soothe their fears, and guide them is something deeply rooted in living beings. It is akin to a primordial instinct that predates civilization."

"Faith is highly malleable and virtually impossible to eradicate. Much like an actual weed, it can plant itself just about anywhere — in gods, countries, people, ideas... Everything is fair game when it comes to faith." 

Ulbo gestured toward the mourning crowd and said, "They are no different, son. Our family was the first not to realize this fact about faith, but it was the first to act and exploit these unfortunate truths for the betterment of our society." 

It was the cold truth. The royal family had been shaping history for as long as it had reigned through the use of faith. 

In the early beginning, through the use of myths to create a religion that suited their agenda. And later on, after the complex civilization arose, they used the seed they planted to influence and control the world. 

"We're a family of storytellers, first and foremost, my son," said Ulbo as he observed the elaborate funeral ritual that was happening down below in the city's central plaza. "We designed a beautiful mythos to comfort our people, and in return, they offered us their unknowing subservience. 

Reed didn't want to acknowledge it, but he couldn't deny it was a practical, painless method of managing the masses. But he could not accept the deception that the plan required to make it work.

He could not stand lies and betrayals of trust, even if they were for the greater good. Not after the ordeal that he had gone through here in Citlai. If anything, it hurt how honest Ulbo was about their methods. The n.a.k.e.d admittance that they had a history of lying to their people to manipulate them was spine-chilling to him. 

"How your family managed to come this far by lying is beyond my comprehension. Then again, you people have had tens— no, hundreds of thousands of years to perfect your family's craft," said Reed as he offered a prayer of forgiveness for Shaali.

For herself and himself. He had misjudged her. Anyone born into such a rotten, detestable family is probably destined to meet a tragic end, Reed thought.

"It was a bloodless method, for the most part. After every other budding, competing religion was eradicated, we were able to unite our world as one and establish peace. Not too long after, we used our Church and its Pope to give eternal legitimacy to our family, to give us divine rights," said Ulbo. 

"You cannot even begin to imagine how much effort was required to make it work. Generations and generations of meticulous planning. Planting our family members across our ancient world, assigning them to live isolated lives in faraway continents and countries away from their homeland, family, and culture. Having them proselytize, kill, and lie for the entirety of their lives, all to expand our influence across the world. For the sake of peace." 

Reed took a deep breath. For the smallest instant, he had almost considered ripping out Ulbo's spine and strangling him with it. It was a disturbing development that he had begun to notice in himself — his changing attitude on the preciousness of life. 

He knew for a fact that his sixteen-year-old self would have never imagined such a thing, much less considered taking another person's life. At least, not without serious justification. 

Was his transformation the cause of this dangerous indifference, or was it something else? His extended period of detachment and isolation from the world? The betrayal of people he trusted and cared for? Or had he simply grown past what some might have called his naivety? 

Whatever the case, Reed concluded that he would have to reconcile this dilemma soon. Otherwise, it would not be too long before he ended up agreeing with Ulbo's methods...

"Peace founded on a lie. You speak of the tremendous labor and difficulty it took to lie to an entire planet.  It's pathetic. A family of worms is all you are. Had your ancestors been born with backbones, they would have had the courage to unite their world with their beliefs alone, not with these lies. Nevertheless, I have to thank you, Ulbo, because I know now what not to do... lest I end up like you," said Reed as he walked away from him and the funeral. 

Good intentions are not enough to justify the sin. Ever. I understand that simple fact now. And it's genuinely sad that it took me this long to realize it. Even sadder that I had to learn the lesson from a pitiful man like Ulbo... 

Unable to stand it all, Reed retreated to the one place where he knew that he would not be bothered. It was also the only place he wanted to be in the first place. 

Reed sneakily popped his head into the dim room and looked around to see if anyone else was inside, but...

"You know that there's no one in here, silly," said Lu'um, laughing, "They're all too busy mourning and managing the funeral to be here with me." 

Reed awkwardly chuckled and said, "You might have been sleeping. I didn't want to wake you up if that was the case."

He slipped into the room and presented to her a bouquet, which only made Lu'um even harder, much to her distress. Her wounds had not yet completely healed, so she grimaced a little bit as she pointed at the flowers and said, "You've become even more gentlemanly since I've last seen you, dear." 

The instant Lu'um saw the flowers, she knew that Reed had stolen them from the royal family's botanical garden, probably because no one was working there at the moment because of the funeral. 

Reed sheepishly shrugged his shoulders and said, "Who's going to miss a couple of flowers anyway? Not as if I took a tree from the garden. Besides, I brought something else for you, something I thought you might have missed."

He pulled a small box of chocolates from inside his cloak with the label "Choconium." A tiny chocolate mascot in the shape of an atom beamed happily in an art style reminiscent of a comic book, almost as if it was trying to jump out of the box into the real world. 

For some reason, Lu'um loved these particular chocolates to death, enough that it had worried Reed initially. She had practically gorged herself on them the first week she found about them until Reed had called her out on it... and the weight scale at home had given her a terrifying number. 

When Lu'um squealed like a little girl, Reed smiled and said, "Don't finish the box in one go, okay?"

After the fight, Lu'um and Shaali had been taken to the royal lifeweavers and given emergency medical treatment.

In the end, more than half of Lu'um ribs had been broken, her hands had been mangled, she had lost an eye, one of her lungs had been punctured, her skull had broken in five different places, her jaw had been shattered, and her face had been beaten into nigh-unrecognizable, disfigured shape.

This was, of course, not including the fact that she had bled out approximately sixty percent of her blood. 

It was a minor miracle that the royal lifeweavers had put her back together so well, even with their technology. Then again, they had also put Reed back together after he had been turned into a charred stump of a thing back when the Infestation had nearly killed him. 

Shaali, on the other hand, had... died. Though her injuries were equally as severe, she could have been resurrected, but in the end, the elders of the royal family decided that they would not revive her. 

To do so would be a betrayal of Shaali's resolve, commitment, and honor to the terms of that bloody duel, even if they still disapproved of it. That, and the fact that if they revived her, she would most likely kill herself immediately to make amends for their interference. 

There would be no undoing of what had transpired that night. What was done was done. 

Reed was troubled. Very, very troubled.  After all, who did one even begin to broach such a heavy topic as... killing one's mother in combat? He had fought much more terrifying Infested and troublesome problems restructuring Mulia than his current predicament.

"..." 

"..."

An awkward air hung about the room for a minute or two before Lu'um gawked at Reed with an annoyed expression and said, "Get it out your system once and for all, for both our sakes. Say what you need to say. I can take it." 

"Should I hug you and comfort you? Should I congratulate you? Should I scold you? Or should I ignore the fact you committed matricide and never bring the subject up ever again? I am, quite literally this time, at a total loss for words. Needless to say, you've blown my mind to pieces." 

What did it say about Reed that he had actually helped Lu'um kill her mother? He may not have killed Shaali himself, but he certainly aided in her murder by stopping everyone that night. It violated everything he stood for, and yet he had done it all the same. 

There was blood on his hands, even if they weren't the bloodiest out of the two of them. That was on him. 

He could have tried to reason with Lu'um and Shaali. Try to convince them to make amends, give each other a second chance.

Reed always believed that there was an alternative to violence and murder. That was the very reason he had not killed the Dreaming Council, even after all they had done. It was why he had desperately worked to have them tried in a legal court for their crimes than to have them brutally executed by an angry mob after the Eventide. 

And yet, Reed had done nothing this time. If anything, he had assisted the very thing he sought to end. 

"I think... my love for you blindsided me," said Reed as he finally grasped what he had done. 

He gazed at Lu'um with a distraught expression and said, "I should have stopped you.  But I let my love for you cloud my judgment. I basked in your rage, your d.e.s.i.r.e for revenge because I felt... sympathetic to your circ.u.mstances. And I feared the consequences if I acted against you. It paralyzed me."

I failed her. I gave what she wanted... not what she really needed. And in failing her, I have failed myself...

Lu'um shook her head and said, "Our relationship was irreconcilable, beloved. It was a thing that died thousands of years ago. There was nothing that anyone could have done to repair it. That fight we had;  that was our reconciliation — a way for both of us to find peace, once and for all. I realize that you will probably never understand our reasoning, but I want you to know that this was a long time coming and that neither she nor I would have or will ever blame you for your actions." 

"To make it clear, it is your idealism, your capacity for forgiveness, and your stubborn adherence to solving problems without violence that I love most about you. In a world of darkness, you are akin to a beacon of light. You constantly doubt yourself and your worth, unaware of how invaluable your strength of character and moral integrity are in these desperate times." 

"They are your greatest strengths, not your ability to command Anima or whatever it is you're capable of doing now with these new abilities of yours. They are what attract people to you and why they place so much faith in you," said Lu'um, driving the point forward. 

Lu'um smiled and said, "That is why my family cares so much about you. Why they are so interested in you. You are the most remarkable out of all of us because..." 

She paused for a moment and chuckled at the absurdity of it all. How pitiful her family was... 

"You can evoke tremendous faith in people without having to lie..."