They should have been there by now. Braulor knew it but he was the only one that did. Grawton and Tagan had no idea where they were going and followed Braulor without question. Why wouldn’t they? Braulor was the one among them that knew where Vjeinka Rise was and how to get there so they were reliant on him. They didn't suspect for a second that they were taking the long way to get there. Braulor led them away from the direct route; back into the tree line of the mountains and from there followed a hodgepodge of trails that he knew; none of which led directly to Vjeinka Rise but he knew the right combination of trails that would take them there in due time. Not that Braulor wanted to go this way. He knew supplies would start running low but they would be able to scavenge along the way and Braulor wanted to buy some time. He needed the time to try and figure a few things out. Ever since he had seen Grawton's little separation trick, or whatever you wanted to call it at the river’s edge, he had grown suspicious. He still wasn't even sure that he seen what he thought. It had all happened so fast. In a fraction of second it seemed there was shade around Grawton; a black spectral veil that somehow came loose and separated from the physical body before rejoining it. Braulor had seen many things during his travels but he hadn't seen anything like that before. He chided himself for not paying closer attention. When it happened, Braulor had turned his head toward Tagan and saw the veil from the corner of his eye. By the time he turned his head back, Grawton was back to normal.
And what of how they found Grawton; untied as he was and away from the camp. Braulor acknowledged that Grawton had been back from where Jolon's tent would be, so that part of his story seemed plausible. But Braulor was having trouble with Grawton's story of being a traveler that happened along the wrong path, captured and then tortured. Braulor couldn’t deny that Jolon's recent behavior had deviated from what he knew. Jolon had become a different person. He had gotten himself wrapped up with mercenaries, which could only end badly. Mercenaries were loyal to money and themselves, so whatever deal Jolon had brokered with them would mean little. They would take what they wanted in the end.
Braulor looked back over his shoulder and could see Tagan and Grawton trailing behind him, engaged in conversation. Braulor had done this several times, sneaking a quick look back in the hopes that he would catch sight of the same thing he had seen back on the beach but it never happened. They were getting closer to Vjeinka Rise and Braulor still had no answers. Grawton remained an enigma, but he couldn't delay any longer. They would be there tomorrow.
"Yes. Oh yes." Grawton nodded in reply to Tagan's latest question. He was only half listening as the young Tagan peppered him with questions about everything imaginable. Grawton sighed to himself. They had been journeying for far too long now but Braulor kept promising that they were getting closer to Vjeinka Rise and that they would be there soon.
Grawton had long since dismissed this as truth. He had learned from Jolon the approximate location of Vjeinka Rise and how long it would take to get there. Even walking at a moderate pace they should have arrived there by now. Grawton was growing suspicious and sensed that Braulor had glimpsed the brief second he’d become detached from this accursed body.
Grawton grimaced as he slipped on a rock and fought to keep his balance. The reminders of why he hated inhabiting these sacks of flesh were bombarding him. Physically, the body was hot and sweaty, with a putrid smell that he couldn't quite place. The walking was making his feet throb and each step jarred all the way up his legs and into his back. He was giving serious consideration to abandoning Draax’s body, gutting Braulor and Tagan where they were to be free of it. Since he had been freed from Tâ Oandimn, Karuuk’ul had revenge on the mind and so far, with a little luck, he had encountered the right souls that he could abuse to further his ends. They may not know it but he could sense from them the extraordinary ability they each possessed. Abilities that Karuuk’ul was hoping to exploit for his own purposes. Killing these two now would throw all that out the window and he would have to start again; which would mean even more time in this accursed body. He did need to get out this body though so he could communicate with… "What?"
"Braulor is my brother." Tagan repeated his statement with a nod of his head in Braulor’s direction.
"Your brother. You don't say." This gem of information snapped Grawton back to his senses. He had thought so when he first met them because their aura’s had similarities that couldn’t be explained any other way but he had forgotten. He gave full attention now to the conversation.
"I didn't even know I had a brother until, well, until I was told." Tagan tried to skirt around the whole Meyu Kwi issue. Telling Braulor had been a big step and he was ok with that for now.
"How could you not know you had a brother?" Grawton probed, sensing this could be leading somewhere he could use to his advantage.
Tagan broke into the whole story of how he had been chosen at the induction ceremony and taken up residence in the Citadel and had met Braulor on his regular rounds through the prison. How he and Braulor had escaped the Citadel and had been on the run ever since, right up until they had found him and ended his story by saying Braulor had told him they were brothers and he had come to free him from the Citadel. Tagan hoped it wasn’t as lame as it sounded.
"We'll stop here for night." Braulor stopped and nodded as he surveyed the area.
Tagan and Grawton joined him and dropped onto the ground. Grawton lay on his back, sprawled out with his eyes closed; his heaving breaths making his chest appear to be bellows.
Tagan sat on the ground and rubbed his sore legs.
"Tagan, help me round up some firewood would you."
Tagan groaned as he rose to join his brother.
Braulor motioned in the direction of the deeper woods and then walked off with Tagan following.
Grawton opened one eye; a tiny little slit and watched the two of them disappear into the trees. Then he closed his eye again and exhaled.
Rid of those two for the time being, Grawton allowed himself to relax, dropping his facade enough to taste the world beyond the boundaries of his fleshy cell. He forced the urge to completely abandon Draax's body down but so longed to be free of it. The clumsy action of the heartbeat, the rickety work of the lungs, it all seemed so hodgepodge. Thrown together into a bowl of primordial leftovers and out came a human body. As much as he despised its frailty, he couldn’t deny its strength.
Grawton breathed deeply a few times, in and out, and then reached out with all his senses to the world beyond the physical; the world where he was from, and savored it. He was careful to keep himself centered in Draax's body and he wondered how humans did it. How did they live their lives trapped in this casing? Bound by it rules, governed by its limitations and blinded to the larger reality that they were part of. It seemed ludicrous to him.
He pushed the curiosity from his mind and focused on Braulor and Tagan. He found them, sensed them to be more precise, retreated a fair distance from him, squatting down, heads close together as they talked. No doubt they were talking about him but he didn't let that deter him. Based on their proximity to him and the fact that neither of them had gathered any wood yet, he deduced that he had some time to himself, so he better use it wisely.
He closed his mind off to Braulor and Tagan and focused instead on Tâ Oandimn. Through the myriad of energy swirling around him, Karuuk'ul found what he desired; the black stream of energy leading to the dark world that was his. He pulled himself toward the stream and immersed himself in it and let it pull him along. Like a leaf on a babbling brook, he let himself drift along, letting the stream dictate pace and direction and then he felt himself slow and then stop. He was home. It felt good to see it. To see the souls trapped there, suffering in open torment, made him feel complete but he wasn't there to enjoy this either. He focused on Grawton, the real Grawton, and his focus shifted to where Grawton was and in an instant, joined him.
"My lord." Grawton was un-phased by Karuuk’ul’s sudden appearance.
"Grawt
on. I have little time to spare." Karuuk'ul pondered the concept of time. He knew that time didn't exist outside of humans, that it was their construct, but he was bound by its rules as he was occupying a body. "How are the preparations coming?"
"Everything is going according to plan."
"Good. Good." Karuuk’ul thought about returning to the human plane but stopped on a whim. "Bring me the one called Draax.” Karuuk’ul occupied Draax's body but that was all. He didn't have access to his memories. When the body died, its memories and experiences are bound to the soul and they stay with the energy that generated them. It was standing practice for him when taking over a body, before the soul was gone, he would glean what he needed from it, but it had been a long time since he had been in such a position and failed to do so with Draax. He needed to see those memories. Something in the way that Braulor looked at him made him feel like there was a connection. Some sort of meeting of the two had occurred before and he wanted to find out all he could about it.
Grawton dis-appeared the instant he was charged to and reappeared so fast that you would have thought he never left. With him was the shapeless form that was Draax.
Karuuk'ul stared at Draax, sizing him up. He was in better shape than most Karuuk’ul had the pleasure of tormenting. Draax had been here long enough. By this time the damned were groveling and begging for mercy. Pleading for any way to get out of Tâ Oandimn, making promises they could never hope to keep in any amount of lifetimes. Karuuk'ul never wavered though. Never gave any leniency and would only provide a glimmer of hope because it made him feel good to toy with them. To him, they had their fun and now they had to pay the price. It was as simple as that. If they didn't want to ride out eternity in this place, they should have heeded the warnings they were given while they still inhabited a body. Once they were here, they were his to do with as he pleased.
But Draax seemed different. Calm and cool, his form was there, occupying space. Resigned to his fate and accepting of the punishment that came with it but he was not broken. Draax had not yet succumbed to the eternal horror that came with his damnation. He would. Over time he would break like they all did. Then Draax would be willing to do anything that Karuuk'ul bid him to do.
"To what do I owe this honor?" Draax shot the words at Karuuk’ul with venomous hatred. He hadn’t lost his defiant spirit and the memory of being shoved out of his body was still fresh.
Karuuk'ul bristled at the address but remained neutral. He would have plenty of time to have his way with Draax later. "I wanted you to know that I have been enjoying your body so very much. For a change it’s being useful for something."
Draax grunted in reply, uncaring.
"But there is something missing Draax. Something you still possess that I need to complete the illusion of who I am."
"What could that be? Everything I was is in that body."
Karuuk'ul's long arms reached out and pulled Draax in closer. "Your memories, dear Draax, stay with the soul and I need them."
Draax thought his situation couldn’t get any worse. That he had hit rock bottom and could sink no lower but he was mistaken. A long howl of agony escaped Draax as Karuuk'ul probed deep into his soul, searching without regard for the memories he craved. With reckless abandon Karuuk'ul sifted through a lifetime of memories, wrenching them from Draax with force. Not that he needed to but Karuuk'ul enjoyed hurting people so he did it anyway. Karuuk'ul took memory after memory, stopping just short of Draax's childhood experiences. He wanted to leave those for later as they were exquisite and delightful to remove from the soul. Karuuk'ul wanted to save them for another time when he could savor them like one would a fine wine.
Karuuk'ul pulled his hands back and Draax’s dropped to the ground, his soul even darker. It was as if someone had painted another shade of grey overtop of the grey that was there. The memories weren't permanently gone for his energy created them and they would always be a part of his soul but they were diminished in acuity. If Draax tried to reflect on them they were vague and fuzzy. He was a part of them but didn't feel connected to them. They didn't have any emotional impact on him and they could easily belong to someone else.
"Get him out of here." Karuuk'ul had no further use for Draax.
Grawton, who had been enjoying the moment as he always did, snapped out of his reverie at Karuuk'ul's command, and removed Draax. Taking people’s memories like that was one skill that Karuuk'ul hadn't taught him yet. He supposed it was so enjoyable that Karuuk'ul wanted to keep it for himself but Grawton desired to know. As he had mastered every other conceivable way of torture when he was alive, Grawton needed to know. Even in death his lust for causing pain to other beings had not been diminished. It had served him well so far. Gaining Karuuk'ul's trust had provided him the endless means to carry out his heart’s desire and it had been wonderful, but his thirst for more never ceased and he wanted to know how to do that as well. He would know.
Chapter 23