"My m-mother?" The words choked in Akira's throat. His mind went blank. What did he mean?
Suddenly,
"Klein Judieus, you were tasked with distributing the meat...where is it?" one of the people from the crowd said, his eyes tired, his hands skinny.
"We've been standing here since morning, our kids are waiting for us," an old lady asked Klein, her voice trembling.
Klein put his head down, gripping the butcher's knife. Tears flowed from his eyes.
"There is nothing left to eat..." he murmured.
The crowd pushed back in shock. "Klein, that is not possible...it was your responsibility!," voices echoed.
Akira noticed the people's calm and uncaring behavior turning to aggression. It was a strange sight for him. "Klein, W-what do you mean?" Akira asked.
"Akira, you are the only one who would understand me!" Klein said as he turned back, walking away. The crowd started to get angrier, gripping whatever they had at hand, and yet their bodies barely moved forward.
Klein walked toward the platform, next to a pile of a lump covered by a black cloth.
"Akira...the food in this Sanctuary ceased to exist years ago. The only reason we survived until now was..."
Klein pulled the black cloth, revealing a pile of bloodied chunks of meat.
"O-ur..." Klein was interrupted.
"Klein, you liar! Stop with these games! The meat! we knew, it wasn't over!" the crowd yelled, staring at the meat.
"This is the meat?," Akira said to himself ,his heart beat increased rapidly"
The only thing in his mind was Klein's words
"H-how could I...How could I.. feed you the flesh of your own mother?"
It was the first time he had ever seen meat, but despite it being his goal to eat it someday, seeing this made him want to vomit.
He was barely able to stand, just then the lights above flickered...and strong winds brushed through the streets out of nowhere.
The metallic smell of the blood was making Akira dizzy.
Klein saw all of it. "Do you understand what this is, Akira?" Klein asked.
Akira looked over and exchanged glances with Klein. "It-it isn't possible!" Akira gave a shout.
"K-klein! Klein! What are you trying to tell me?" Akira screamed.
The sound of hunger crept in, a quiet rhythm for the silent symphony of depravation.
Smack!
Akira was shoulder-checked by the crowd, who made a hasty rush toward the meat.
They ignored Klein, somehow making him feel like a divider between two groups.
Once the first person grabbed a chunk of meat, the others followed, filling the baskets and whatever vessels they had.
Akira watched as those left behind fought, scratching and climbing over one another to secure a day's meat.
At least they weren't consuming it right away...
Klein's hands trembled. He raised his blood-kissed palm toward Akira. "It hasn't been long since it started..." he said.
"It is something we were never supposed to consume... It's... they are fighting for the flesh of their own kind..."
Before Akira could even process what he just heard, a severed head was raised above by a person.
He held it up like a trophy, pleased with what he had found.
The light lit the head, revealing a face quite familiar to Akira.
A person who haunted him for years.
Akira immediately looked away from the horrifying sight, and the image was already seared behind his eyelids.
"W-why, Klein... Why..." He whimpered.
The skull was sticking out of a thin and stretchy skin.
"You do remember him..." Klein said.
Akira gave a slight peep to ensure that it was none other than the butcher.
The memories of him dragging the old man, along with the same feelings from before, slowly crawled inside Akira but he relieved that it wasn't mom's severed head.
"Why?" Akira gently said. "You were of the only one that I trusted in this city. And even then, you turned out to be a monster..." Akira cried.
"Am I the monster?" Klein asked as he turned back and pointed at the people. "They aren't oblivious to the truth, Akira... They have accepted it."
Akira watched the man who found the head of the butcher, he was placing it in a basket, thanking and crying as he watched above at the light. "Goddess! Of light! I'll survive!" he cried.
Akira, afraid, took a step back. "No...no! Throw it away!" Akira cried, shouting at the person. "You can't !" he continued. He fell down on his knees, tears dripping...
Klein approached Akira. "This is what I wanted to protect you from, Akira..." Klein said. "Why has it come to this...why are we being humiliated like this?" Akira whimpered.
"It's not 'we' Akira...it's them...including me. Everyone in this city is a sinner who has consumed the blood of our own..." Klein said.
"My mom...always told me that humans were great and kind creatures...and no matter how hard we went through we wouldn'-..." Akira's eye shadowed.
"Klein...was my mom a liar... everything she said...every word... this city contradicts her very existence..." Tears dripped and he continued.
Klein rubbed the bloodied hand on his coat and dug inside his pocket, taking out the Repulsor Flare and a letter.
"Your mother isn't a liar, Akira. Neither will she ever be..." Klein rubbed Akira's hair.
Akira looked up and glanced at Klein's grey eye that was reddening.
but Klein couldn't keep up the contact."Akira, you have seen the kind of city we are living in..."
"But there is a way to save everyone from this humiliation. But you'd have to commit the greatest sin in this city...a sin that once even mother tried to do."
Akira gulped as he heard it. "The crime worse than eating your brother...a crime worse than separating a mother from her child." Klein continued.
"Leaving the bunker."
Akira's eyes widened and a breeze brushed his skin. "L-leave the bunker? It's impossible..." he stuttered.
"I-I wasn't allowed to peek outside...it won't happen," he insisted.
But looking into Klein's tired eyes, he felt the desperation Klein was going through.
"T-there is no other way, Akira...there is no time left..." Klein turned his head back at the crowd ravaging the corpse.
"He won't let us live otherwise..." Klein gulped.
"Who?" Akira asked as a strange presence thickened the air.
The two ceiling lights flickered again before the crowd, and the breeze turned colder.
Tac...tac... The sound of a cane hitting the metallic floor became louder and louder.
"He...is here..." Klein gripped the Repulsor Flare tight.
Panicking, Klein wiped tears from Akira's eyes and handed him the Repulsor Flare and the letter. "Take mine and go near the front gate," Klein whispered, pushing Akira away from him.
"Don't look back! Get away as fast as you can!"
Klein shouted softly.
Sweat trailed from Klein's forehead as he noticed the crowd moving differently; the unordered and ravaging men now slowly making way while bowing down in humility.
"Tsk. How did he-" Klein murmured.
Short grey hair with black strands and a white beard, the man walked through the path created by the crowd.
Each of his steps were elegant and heavy; he was holding a black cane.
Murad Xie...The chief.
Murad Xie lowered himself next to a basket that belonged to one of the men in the crowd and slowly raised the butchered head of the corpse.
The crowd kept bowing down.
"Ya Khlein… the filthy one." Murad's words were heavy, thick with disgust. "What great plan did you have that brought the blade to my butcher's throat?"
He stepped closer, his voice dropping to a chilling whisper.
"By the four goddesses and Father Idris… rest assured, you will have the honor of taking his place."
He returned the head to the basket and walked forward, his red eyes glowing.
Klein covered Akira and pushed him back. "Don't stay...Akira, get away,"
But instead, Akira stood there, his body frozen. "Mom..." Akira murmured.
Klein noticed Akira's trembling. "Sorry Akira... you were not supposed to meet him now..." He whispered.
"But at least for once...obey your mentor!" he continued.
It was futile as Akira couldn't even hear Klein for a moment.
From the tip of his nose to the tip of his toe, Akira was frozen in front of Murad Xie.
Akira's eyes tightened and his face started reddening.
Murad Xie caught the boy's gaze.
"Shouldn't you be bowing down to your lord..the chief?" Out of nowhere, Murad Xie approached before Akira, There had been no sound of approach, no warning. He was simply there.
"Akira!!" Klein yelled, rushing towards him. "That damned old man! How did he get there so fast?" Klein thought.
Murad swung a greatsword at Akira.
KLANG*
Klein parried with the butcher's knife.
"You are after me! Let him go!" Klein shouted.
With eyes as cold as the metallic floor, Murad Xie stared down at Klein.
"Refusing to obey basic decency is punishable."
Said Murad Xie.
KLANG*
Murad swung his sword again, and that too was parried by Klein.
"So the rumors are true, Khlein. You've fathered the boy." His eyes narrowed. "And for him, you committed treason against my law."
His calm voice trembled klein.
A flicker of defiance appeared in Klein's eyes. "He is not my son." He spat the words, his voice raw. "He is my student."
Klein's voice broke. "And I would rather die a sinner than let him become like you."
Murad's face grew yet another grin
"And the treason against y-you made these people lose their humanity!"
Klein replied.
Upon hearing this, Murad Xie lowered his greatsword and scratched his beard.
"I gave them an option to survive... and Khlein, can you tell if that option has failed?"
Klein gulped. "Why did he lower his weapon? Does he not wish to fight?" he thought.
Klein covered his face with the butcher's knife and said, "It wasn't the only option... and you knew it!"
Hearing that made Murad Xie's eyes widen. He then looked around for a bit before raising his head and sighed.
"What were you planning to do with that boy?"
"Answer me...Khlein."
Klein, despite trembling, he gave a gentle smile. "Going to do something that you didn't have the balls to do!"
"To save the city."
"It all does make sense now...I was sure that underestimating you would've been a sin..." said Murad Xie.
He pointed the weapon towards Klein. "Killing my butcher...feeding him to the crowds, saving that woman and sending the boy...now it all makes sense, Klein..."
Murad's red eyes glowed and veins popped up on his face.
"That's right..." Klein readied his stance.
Instantly, Murad Xie smashed Klein's head with the broad part of the sword and threw him away.
Slam!
Klein couldn't even react to it, and Murad Xie walked towards him. "Where is the woman?"
Murad Xie commanded.