Rise of the Godking - Chapter 164

Chapter 164 - Return(2)

Daneel ran forward, his heart thundering in his chest as all sorts of horrific images fought to the fore of his mind, each one worse than the one before.

Grim forebodings sprung up at such dizzying intervals that they transformed into a river ready to inundate him, but just barely, by keeping his eyes on the horizon and his heart set on holding onto a bit of hope, he clung on. The closer he got, the worse it seemed, though, so soon, he was panting, his breath wheezing out as his whole body shuddered at intervals, unable to hold in the emotions that wracked his entire being.

Topping a rise, he got his first glimpse of the town. He screeched to a halt there, his eyes riveted on the destruction strewn all over the place he had come to call his home away from home.

He was still quite a distance away, so apart from the tops of many of the mansions that looked like they had been chopped off by a gigantic axe, there was nothing else to glean with his eyes. The smells and sounds were stronger, though, and with his entire body feeling leaden, he studied his senses while panic hovered around the edges of his mind, intent on pouncing and sending him into a frenzied state.

The best thing to do to ask the system for an update, but for once, his practicality failed him. He feared what he would find out in the emotionless, cold voice of this existence that had been with him for so long, so for now, he tried to find out what he could by himself.

The smell of something burning was stronger, here, and evidently, it belonged to the smoldering ruins of buildings, some of which had been consumed completely by the fire that seemed to have been put out only recently. As for the sounds…vague snatches of people crying, shouting, and in one case, praying were carried on the wind that wafted through the town to come to him.

Gritting his teeth so hard that it hurt, Daneel forced his leg to move. Putting one foot in front of the other, he kept his eyes straight ahead while trying hard to enter a state of mind where he could be cool and impassive until all the information he needed was obtained.

All hints of this goal fled his mind when he came upon the first body.

It lay in a heap on the grey earth of the surroundings of the town of Graiton, with only flies for company. He almost halted when it entered his vision, but with a supreme effort of will, he kept moving and only stopped when he was right in front of it.

Taking a few deep breaths, he finally entered the state he wanted and began to analyze what he was seeing. From the blood spatters, it seemed quite probable that the body had flown here from a long distance away. Most of the damage done to it had been due to the impact when it hit the ground. Judging from how much blood had been drunk up by the earth, only a few hours had passed since the deed had happened.

Taking another deep breath longer than all the rest so far, he bent to catch a part of the shoulder that had managed to remain intact. When he pulled it back, the sick crunching sound that emanated from the body made him bite his lip and taste blood.

The reason behind him doing so had been to catch a glimpse of the face. He looked away only a second later, unable to bear the conclusion that he had reached the moment he saw it.

Half of it was caved in.

Getting up, he resumed his journey. The thoughts that came to him now were darker, fiercer, tinged with a fury that had started to simmer somewhere deep within him.

A slap. A single slap had resulted in the state of the Graitonian he had just found.

He couldn't be sure whether it was somebody he knew, and he still couldn't build up the courage to ask the system whether it had any clue. The victim had been wearing clothes that belonged to those in the Refinery, and the second he had seen this, he had even feared the worst, wondering whether it was Reese's father who had been killed by whoever had intruded on the island during Daneel's absence.

This wasn't true simply based on the undamaged parts of his skin, which had supplied the information that the victim was a young man, with much of his life ahead of him. This was no consolation at all, though, as the Graitonian had been robbed of so many years even after Daneel had promised that the age of suffering was passed.

By the time he reached the boundaries of the town, the wailing from within was so loud that it seemed to be hammering inside Daneel's head. This part of Graiton which was usually supposed to be guarded now lay deserted, and here and there, there were more bloodied lumps in almost the same state as the one he had first seen.

The only thing that gave him pause while he trudged to the center of the town where all the sounds were coming from was a sign of magic being used near one of the mansions at the edge of the town. The building had collapsed, but a huge block of stone had been lifted and thrown aside.

It now lay on its back a few feet away from the mansion it belonged to, and it had a bloody streak on top of it that indicated that someone must've been trapped underneath it until the mage had come along to offer help. This made him understand one thing: his companions had arrived after the deed, and they seemed to have immediately begun helping the town in every way they could.

He tried to tell himself that the elf must've used his magic to heal many of those who would have died otherwise. He tried to tell himself that the island hadn't been leveled and there were still people living, so he should feel glad that the worst had not come to be.

He found no success at all in these attempts, simply because he was sick and tired of being weak. Even in Angaria, in the beginning of his journey, he had had to move carefully, with his head bent in fear of those who could crush him with a single finger, but here, this seemed to have been magnified so many times that it rankled within him so much more than the situation in Angaria had ever done.

After upgrading the system with so much painstaking effort, he had even told himself that he would never put himself in a position where he would have to bow down to those more powerful than him. That was exactly what had happened, though, and although there were numerous excuses as to why it was like this, he was in no mood to listen to any of them.

Even without him realizing it, he felt all the plans he had made about the future changing, slowly, irrevocably, permanently. It no longer mattered why Graiton had been attacked. His vengeance would descend with fire and fury, and nothing was going to stop him from going for it, no matter how powerful the perpetrators were.

This thought gave him strength, but it didn't stop the anger from starting to spill over, tinging the corners of his vision a deep red.

With a curiously empty mind, he walked through an alley that would take him to the town center. Turning a corner, he came upon the clearing where he had almost been hanged, and the moment he saw it, everything became clear.

Reese lay on a stretcher, missing his left arm.

And above him, on a white cloth that floated in the air was written a message in blood that read, "The Garbonors send their regards. Rebels are suspected of mischievous activity on our property, so we're killing a couple of 'em all over the islands, on every one where a rebellion recently happened. Keep working hard, bugs!"

For a moment, the nonsensical nature of the reason almost made him chuckle.. But after it passed, a roar erupted from deep, deep within him, and Daneel's vision went completely crimson.