[XASTOL CITY, OUTSIDE THE DWANIVIT TUOLOU — A FEW MINUTES BEFORE]
Ivan and Jacender sped down the streets of Xastol. The Tuolou was in sight. Just a minute or so more and they'd make it.
"You sure are quick, Mr.Ivan!" Jace yelled. He was quite a bit ahead of Ivan and turned his head to watch the dwarven man. Ivan was struggling to keep himself from falling. His stamina was even worse than Jace's.
"Y-Yeah…" Ivan heaved. "I don't know about that…"
I'd like to blame it on my being in prison for the past few months now, but then again, I never was the athletic type, was I? Runnulf and Malik would tease me about that all the time…
He stared at the boy up ahead and smiled at the sun marked on the boy's back.
He's so eager to see Hidemi. What a wonderful young man.
BANG!
A bullet skidded off the floor just short of Ivan's feet, turning both of their heads. Down the road behind them, a small squad of sentries stared them down with wildly angry expressions; each one holding a Cuiong gun. A man pushed past everyone else and stood in front of them all: The captain, Upo Phizar.
"Wèi failed to do his hourly check-in, so I came to check it out…" Upo said as he drew his gun-blade from his waist. Energy charged again at its tip instantaneously.
"Who would have thought this would happen? I told the Council that you humans were no good! I'm not sure how you managed to escape, but you will not be leaving this city peacefully any longer, you damn punk! You're under arrest for conspiracy against the city of Xastol!"
He aimed the weapon at Ivan and steadied it with his other arm. "As for you… You're going back to your cell. Now."
The look in his eye was different from any he'd ever worn before. As Xastol's head of security, Upo was willing to die rather than to embarass the honor of the Sentries. He coiled his finger around the trigger and sneered.
"I won't ask twice."
"U-Upo!" Ivan gasped. "Wait! You have to listen to me! There are things you don't understand—"
Jace grabbed Ivan's arm and shook his head. "There's no use arguing with them, Mr.Ivan."
He stood in front of him and assumed a stance, letting his white-hot Sanctum Energy flow from his body like a wave of heat. The moisture in the air around them started to dry as a result of this, and began to warm up the street.
"What the…" the guards and Ivan murmured.
He can use Sanctum Energy now?! Upo realized. But this sort of power in just a month? What is his Sanctum type? Does it have something to do with this ability?!
"Mr.Ivan," Jace whispered. Ivan's eyes narrowed, understanding that Jace only wanted him to hear.
"Yes?"
"Once I give the signal… can you do something for me?"
Signal? Ivan thought. "Sure..?"
"HEY! ENOUGH WHISPERING!" Upo shouted. "You're coming with us, now!"
Jace eyed them sharply and tightened his fist. "Are you sure you want to do that, Mr.Upo?"
"Is that a threat? Don't tell me you believe you can take on all these guards! Xastol may not be composed of fighters, but we are by no means weak!"
Jace scoffed. "Then bring it on."
Upo growled and raised his left arm, ready to give the order to shoot. "As you wish, brat!"
His men needed no instruction. Their Cuiongs were lifted immediately and focused on the two.
"Read..? Aim… Fir–"
BHKOOM!
Jace's balled fist came down against the ground with a quick breath and cracked the pavement underneath his legs. Within a second, a dust cloud had formed and flew into the air before them, obscuring them from Upo and the Sentries' view.
"NOW, MR.IVAN!" the boy bellowed. He and Ivan spun around in the direction of the arena and took off again with full speed.
"Hold your fire!" Upo snarled. "You could hit someone! Chase after them on foot! Now!"
"Y-Yessir!!"
Upo sucked his teeth. They pulled one over on us… Damn it!
He joined his men and took after Ivan and Jace as quickly as he could.
What an embarrassment!
At the front, Ivan's heart thumped hard against his ribcage as he ran. "You're crazy! What if they'd shot?!"
Jace grinned and overtook him. "They still can! Hurry up!"
Ivan glanced behind him and nearly shrieked at the sight of the armed sentries giving chase to them. The fear, coupled with the excitement born from the danger, imbued him with new energy. His feet sped up as his worn sandals hit the ground and caught up with Jacender.
He doesn't just remind me of Runnulf, he groaned. He acts like him, too!
"The entrance!" Jace laughed with a point. "Let's go!"
BLAOW!
A Sanctum bullet whizzed past his head and hit the door. Jace glanced quickly to see Captain Upo right behind them. He had gained on them faster than he'd thought, leaving his men in the distance behind him.
"You're not escaping, brat!"
He cocked the gun back and again and charged another bullet for Ivan's lower body. "If you keep running, I'll blow your leg off, damn it!"
"NOOOO!!!" Ivan screamed, speeding up again. Jace dove through the entrance and scaled the stairs to the audience section.
"C'mon!!"
Upo was closer to Ivan now. All he had to do was reach out, and he would have probably been able to grab the escaped prisoner's collar. "You won't escape me!"
"S-Stay away from me!" Ivan shouted. He twisted his shoulders side to side as he raced, so Upo's fingers would slip whenever he reached for him.
The door's not that far! Five — no, three more seconds! I can do this! A grisly scream erupted from Ivan's throat as he amped himself up:
"HAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"
He flew forward, kicking off the ground into the stairway, and grabbed the railing before Upo could lunge onto his feet in following. "Has! Has! Has! Has!" he breathed, as he, too, scaled the stairs.
Jacender waited for him at the top, waving for him to hurry. Upo was in hot pursuit and wasn't going to take no for an answer. His pride as Captain depended on it.
He took his gunblade and charged an orb of energy bigger than any he'd ever charged before and aimed it at the ground. He turned his back on Ivan and poured all his Sanctum Energy into the attack before—
BRRRAAAAAOOOWWW!!!
The blast lifted Upo off his feet and sent him flying backwards toward the top of the staircase faster than anyone could react. All Ivan could say was, "What the—", before Upo's body collided with him and knocked them both higher, tackling Jace in the process and throwing them into the audience section. However, it didn't stop there. The combined weight and velocity the three had amassed sent them airborne faster than Upo had intended, breaking past the safety railing overlooking the Dwanivit and crash landing before Hisagi and Hidemi in an instant with a loud thud!
Everyone's jaws dropped to the floor in unison, including the Counselors. Everyone, except Banderd Murong.
So, he smiled, You've finally made it, Ivan!
Ivan sat up with a groggy moan. "My head… Are you alright, Jacender—"
The hairs on his arms stood straight as he met Hidemi's gaze. He hadn't even realized he'd landed right in front of his son.
"H-Hidemi…" he whispered, the realization setting in where he'd landed. He blinked again, desperate to make sure that what he was seeing wasn't an illusion; that his son wouldn't evaporate the moment he closed his eyes again.
In Hidemi's eyes, Ivan looked like a still painting capturing a moment frozen in time. He was exhausted, dirty. His patchy beard and grime-filled hair would have made another second-guess his true identity, but not Hidemi. Never.
It was Ivan's firm, golden-brown eyes — the eyes that always reassured him no matter how he felt — that told him that the man sitting before him was real. This was no dream. Ivan was truly here.
"Nghh…" Hidemi started blubbering. His surprised expression faded within seconds as his lips quivered, loosening enough so that it no longer looked solid. Snot ran down his nose as he reached out. It was the first time he'd ever cried in front of people — the first time he'd cried in months.
"He'll never be accepted, though, will he?"
Ivan's conversation with Gwentyn was him as he held back a shaky breath.
"They'll shun him," he'd said.
He remembered Gwentyn's response fondly:
"He's finally here, Ivan. It doesn't matter what the others think of him. He's alive. He… will get to live a life. He'll get to choose what he wants because he is free to choose it. No one can ever take that away from him."
An eternity seemed to pass as Hidemi's hands touched his face. Ivan made sure to absorb every detail of his son and engrave it in his mind. Though he didn't turn, he could sense the expressions of everyone in the Tulou and their eyes on him. He looked at Hisagi, who sat behind Hidemi with a look Ivan couldn't recognize. Was it anger? Fear? Relief?
Ivan couldn't tell.
"People — they hate what they don't understand," Gwentyn's voice whispered again. "But you know deep, deep down that it's not entirely their fault. You have to teach Hidemi to understand that, okay? That no matter what happens, he's got to grow up loved and capable of loving others. That he will be good, because you are good. That, my love, is how you'll prove them wrong."
Hidemi's fingers finally met his father's face. He felt Ivan's cheeks, taking in all that he was, and let loose a scared exhale.
He was real — Ivan was real.
"Owa…" Hidemi smiled. He staggered and lunged forward to hug his father.
"And I can tell with just one look that that child right there — that ball of love that we helped make — He can change them. For the better."
Ivan watched Hidemi's body float in mid-air, not yet touching him. He was overwhelmed by memories of raising the boy:
Seeing his first steps… teaching him to Sanctum-Smith…
He thought back twelve years, when he'd built Hidemi's baby seat and first found out about his powers.
"As long as I draw breath, I will always take care of you, no matter how hard it gets…" he'd told him.
"...So don't you dare ever give up, got it? No matter how life gets or how unfairly people will treat you as you get older, I need you to remember to smile! A smile can keep you going even when you're sad and alone! You must always love yourself, alright?! Because you're a dwarf, regardless of what anyone else says! And you are my son, regardless of your lineage!"
THOOM!
Hidemi finally landed and tackled Ivan in the chest, knocking him down for a second time. Time resumed as they embraced each other; father and son — reunited at last. The son, who buried his head into his father's chest, let out an anguished cry for all to hear, while the father, who gingerly patted his son's head in consolement, held nothing back and sobbed with joy.
"You've suffered so much, haven't you?" Ivan breathed. He rested his chin on the boy's head and kissed his hair. "...I'm so sorry, son…"
And it was the truth. For months, the weight of Xastol's prejudice and anger towards Hidemi had increased to an all-time high, rising to the point where they'd banished him for nothing. Before that, the boy faced incredible hardships as a half-dwarf in Xastol since the moment he was born. And through all of it, he did his best to put on a smile and forge through it all with that hope that one day, if even for a moment, they'd love him for who he was and not who they wanted him to be.
Ivan knew all too well how his son felt. And unlike him, he had no friends to rely on when everyone else had abandoned him. He had no family to take care of him when his home had been taken. All Hidemi was given was scorn.
At least, this was the case until he had met Jacender and Aleximus. Ivan realized the moment he'd met the white-haired boy that they had become all Hidemi had needed. The first people to ever treat his boy like what he was — just a simple boy — were of all things, human.
Esi Phizar was the first of the onlookers to break the silence there as he squinted past Ivan and stared at Jacender's fallen body. Beneath it was a thicker, older man he recognized.
"Dad?!" he shouted, growing more confused. "W-What did you do to him?!"
Jacender stirred and shook off his dooziness. He winced before glancing at Captain Upo's body. His leg was twitching like a cockroach's.
Good thing I flipped him under me right before we fell, he thought. Back when we first met Hidemi, his skin felt super hard and tough. He's a dwarf, too, right? He should be fine. Besides…
Jace's eyes landed on Ivan and Hidemi's hug. Looks like we made it in time after all, huh? Nice work, Hidemi.
"It's Ivan…" Gido breathed with a sudden step back. Surprise set on both his and Huin's faces.
"Did that human free him from Jianyu? What were the guards thinking?!"
Whispers broke out amongst the dwarves again.
"It's Ivan…"
"The Murderer?"
"How did he escape prison?"
"Look! One of the humans was with him! They must have done it!"
Hisagi was the angriest of them all. Though he was at peace with Hidemi, the same could not be said for his father. Ivan Murong was the man who murdered Ruo Murong: his own brother, as well as Hisagi's father.
"You monster," the boy snarled. "Why are you out?! You're a sickness — a plague to Xastol!"
Hidemi sprang forward and threw himself between the both of them before Hisagi could do something he'd regret. "OWA!!"
Hisagi sucked his teeth and stopped himself just before he pushed his cousin.
"Get out of my way, Hidemi! You know what he did!"
Hidemi quickly brought his hands together and signed to him. That only made Hisagi more upset.
"'Didn't do it'? Are you insane?! The murder weapon was found in his house! We all saw it that day when they dragged him out into the snow!"
Hisagi charged again, hoping to swing at Ivan over Hidemi's shoulder, but Hidemi checked it with his own shove and pushed him back. He shook his head again and pleaded with his eyes.
"STEP AWAY, CHILD!" someone yelled from the stands.
"Perhaps we can accept you, but not him! He's a murderer! The ultimate thief!"
Others joined with furious cries and shouted insults left and right:
"Yes!"
"Let Hisagi deal with him!"
"Banish him and never let him return!"
DRMMMMMM!!
The ground rumbled as their voices grew louder. At first, Aleximus believed it to be as a result of the outrage, but then he realized that Sanctum Energy was being used. He and Daava's eyes traveled to the Counselor's section, where stairs of energy were forming just as they did when the Dwanivit first started.
He watched as the Speaker of Xastol, Banderd, descended in the midst of the chaos without a single sound. The chatter quieted in seconds as everyone gawked at the most beloved man in Xastol; the representation of all that it was… They watched Banderd Murong come down to give his judgment to Ivan.
TMP
When he finally reached the floor, the arena was silent once more. The drums that had been playing faintly this entire time could be heard no longer, and not even Gido and Huin, who everyone assumed would be helping Banderd address the criminal, could say anything. They were the only ones with him as the Dwanivit was underway. It was only them who had noticed the subtle change in Banderd's demeanour and actions.
Who was to know what the Speaker was going to do?
"Banderd…" Ivan breathed. He groaned, rising to his feet as his brother stopped before him. He noticed the change in Banderd's expression, too. When he'd first visited him a month before in Jianyu, his brother's eyes were weary and sapped of life, but now… Banderd's eyes were not only more vigorous than they'd ever been, but they looked enlightened — like he'd finally seen something he couldn't before.
Banderd looked happy.
"You sure look different," Ivan mumbled with a soft smile. "I didn't know you could make a face like that."
Banderd stifled a laugh and inclined his head toward Hidemi.
"Someone taught me recently that change isn't all bad."
Ivan put his hand on his son's hair and pulled him in close. "So the cat's out of the bag, huh? I'm guessing he's the reason for all these shocked faces."
"That and you," Banderd responded. "To think that your son was capable of playing the Song of Arsaes this entire time and you hid it…"
He mumbled something under his breath and shook with a stern point. "...You never were one to do things conventionally."
"Of course," Ivan smiled.
He glanced at Hidemi and withdrew his hand. "I've seen what I've needed to. You've grown up splendidly, Hidemi, just like Gwentyn wanted you to. I couldn't be more proud, got it?"
Surprise flashed across Hisagi, Aleximus, and Jacender's faces in unison. Was Ivan insinuating what they thought he was?
Banderd raised a brow, a similar thought in his mind. "What are you doing?"
He watched his brother step away from his son and turn his wrists u,p facing him. "You know as well as I d,o no matter what Hidemi has done here today, that no one would agree to my freedom. The Council cannot force decisions that don't have our people's best interests at heart."
He knelt in front of Banderd and hung his head. "I won't allow anarchy and chaos to run free in Xastol. Not as long as I am a dwarf. If I have to sacrifice myself to uphold that… Then I'd gladly go to prison or give my life. Even if no one believes me."
Xastol was at a loss for words in the face of its greatest criminal. This man, who they had once hailed as the most gifted Sanctum-Smith to be born in 500 years — the man who had created innumerable devices and ideas that only served to benefit dwarven culture… The man who knelt before their Speaker was a shadow of that man in their eyes.
He'd killed, they thought. The worst crime one could ever commit against another, and it hadn't even been in self-defense! He ran from Xastol seventeen years ago to make Xastol a part of the greater continent despite its intolerance to humans and their machinations. He built weapons for a war none of them knew any details about. He even went as far as falling in love with a human woman, bringing her into Xastol as his wife, and fathering a child with her. But what was worse than all of this?
Ivan still cared.
Ivan cared for his people and every person in their city. He refused to ever forsake them. Everything he'd done, warranted or not, he did it with the dwarves' well-being in mind. They hated that he didn't regret his actions — how stubborn he was. Because unlike all of them, who meekly followed tradition in in fear that they'd let their predecessors down, Ivan dared to say no and forge forward, staring down a path no one knew the end to just because he felt it was the right thing to do. He had individuality.
Xastol, like Banderd, secretly wished for a choice. They wished for the ability to not be judged on who they were for what they wanted; to be dwarves in name and spirit, led on by their love for the city. That was what they all felt deep down was what it meant to be a dwarf. They had suppressed it for so long that it felt blasphemous to even think it.
But Jacender and Aleximus's presence there drove home that that was not the truth at all. For those humans who had been strong enough to support a dwarf, no one respected like Gwentyn did all those years ago… It meant that a choice always existed, no matter how long it took for it to arrive.
To be born in this world meant you were free. And to choose your path meant you refused to accept "fate". You were, instead, embracing destiny.
Banderd smiled and put his hand on Ivan's palm, locking their fingers together and pulling him up.
"Fool. You're not going back to Jianyu," he said with a smile.
Hisagi stepped forward, ready to argue, but Banderd stopped him with a raised hand. "Hisagi, Ivan… There are some things you need to know."
"What are you—" Ivan started, shocked with what his brother had even said before. "You can't just let me free! It isn't fair to Hisagi nor everyone else!"
"YES, WELL IT'S NOT FAIR TO YOU EITHER!" Banderd boomed with an inflated head.
Ivan flinched. Did he just… reprimand me?
Banderd sighed and fixed his hanfu. Remarkably, his shoulders bulged as he did so, his skinny body once again filling in his entire outfit. The Speaker had regained his energy.
"You do not deserve to be in prison for a sin that is not yours to bear, Ivan. Nor should you suffer anymore because of expectations we had no right to place on you, Hisagi! I, alone, should take that on."
"Uncle…" Hisagi whispered. "What are you saying?"
RMMMBLLLLEEEE
The large door to the Tulou that had been locked since the Dwanivit began opened. Esi and Jace squinted and gawked past the center, between Banderd and Ivan, where the door opened straight ahead. A white dove jumped away awkwardly as if it'd been caught and flew away. Beyond it, Dragon's Breath Tower lay in wait for them all.
"Gido, Huin, and the human boys…" Banderd said as he faced the opening. "I should like for you to come, too. We don't have much time."
Aleximus glanced at Daava and Xué, who looked like they had no idea what was going on. Then, he grabbed Jacender's bag, Leon in tow, and hopped the railing, using a nearby pillar to slide down safely.
"Where are we going?"
Banderd sighed.
"To where it all started. Where our family's legacy remains; where Ruo really died, and… what really happened that night four months ago when Hidemi was banished. It is the only thing left keeping Xastol from moving forward. It is my final mission to see it through to the end."
His hair blew freely in the wind as he stepped out of the Tulou.
"It's a beautiful day."
[XASTOL CITY [II] ]