"I'm serious..." - Calestro heaved a sigh until—
"Nope, he was used as a fertilizer."
Bakzeu continued, causing his eyes to widen.
"What..?" - Calestro could only mutter as he heard the Third Commander's response, before he flashed him a solemn smile;
"The cemeteries became way too populated you see.."
————
Calestro found himself in a daze as he attempted to comprehend the gravity of the town's situation. His mind became scrambled with various implications on why a deceased individual could be treated with such desperation that the best way to finally put it to rest is by feeding it to the earthworms in order to sustain a farmland.
"Here." - Bakzeu hovered the spoon before Calestro's mouth again, his expression unfaltering on its polite smile.
The young man though a bit reluctant; opened his mouth once more to receive the sustenance.
*CHOMP..*
"A fertilizer.." - The young man pondered for a few moments before he stole a glance towards the undisturbed Bakzeu.
"He..is that true..?" - He inquired to himself. "Why can he speak about it..so casually..then?"
"Don't worry." - Bakzeu uttered before he flashed the young man a smile. "Been a while since that day happened.." - He added before scoffing.
"..It isn't an uncommon occurence for someone to at least have one deceased family member in Azulunu."
Upon hearing his words, Calestro remembered a the Female Commander;Foryan, saying something similar.
"No one in this town has a complete family." -
With that, the young man paused and pondered before he glanced once more at the preoccupied, still smiling Bakzeu; a notion in his head becoming prevalent.
"..So..that applies too on people in command?" - His eyes dropped.
"Incomplete family huh..?"
- Calestro added, before his eyes drifted off into the windowsill and towards the pale blue, morning sky outside; as if recalling something.
"..No..No.." - Before an image of the person he looked up to the most; which was a burly, middle-aged man with a foul mouth flashed inside of his head along with a wide grin.
"..I'm being ungrateful to him again.." - Calestro sighed before he slowly fixed his posture;
"nggh.." - He struggled, attempting to not disturb any recovering areas.
Bakzeu glanced at the young man with a slightly raised brow expression;
"Hooo.. You already battling against it huh?" - He softly nodded before heaving a proud exhale.
"Can't..be too reliant..after all.." - Calestro pushed harder and harder until he could finally sit in a more upright position.
"Wonderful work. Normally those experiencing a clamping in their Aetherna channels and blood vessels will be temporarily paralyzed..unless—"
-
Bakzeu's carefree eyes transitioned into a solemnity-filled, studious gaze with abruptness that was comparable to a fleeting lightning; with the only difference is that; his gaze stayed, and peered through the outermost layers of Calestro which caused the young man—
"..!?" —To flinch a little as a drop of sweat slid down his cheek, an unnamable primal chill creeping up his spine with its molesting grasp.
-
"—There is something..special about you." - Bakzeu added, the gaze that resembled an evening ravaged by a snowstorm unfaltering.
"...wha..what the..!?" - Calestro froze on his position as he saw the barely-perceptible aura emanating from the stature of Bakzeu as his razor-sharp gaze bored through his skull and peered at the rawest form of his soul.
"Wha..what the..what the heck...!?" - The young man internally screamed as he found himself unable to look away despite his instincts repeatedly screaming for him to do so.
"..." - Bakzeu continued his unyielding gaze—
"To which I already know!"
—Before he bursted into a wide, childish grin as he clasped his hands together; eyes reciprocating the smile that his lips possessed.
"...!?" - Calestro's overwhelming terror was also converted into an endless fill of confusion.
"You..are no ordinary genius right..?" - Bakzeu inquired, resting the lunchbox with its half-eaten contents on the table before leaning in closer.
"..Gen-genius..? I-i don't think such.. a title suits me." - The young man stammered.
"Nonsense." - Bakzeu scoffed before his eyes diverted to the heads that were being charged by a cylindrical object on the table.
"Trust me, in all my years in the Imperial Academe, never one have I encountered something like.." -
"Oh..wai—!"
Bakzeu trailed off as he picked up the cylindrical object before analyzing the transparent wire that was connected unto it and to the heads; carrying a cyan-coloured, glowing substance
"..This." - Bakzeu's face analyzed the device from all of its exposed ends before gently laying it down.
"...hm?" - Calestro paused and glanced at him with slightly widened eyes.
"..How..he just handled the machinery with professional level care..!!" - The young man screamed internally.
"Even with..! Self-proclaimed scholars..!" - Calestro continued, a memory resurfacing inside of his head.
-
The memory consisted of Calestro standing uprightly while clothed with an extravagant robe inside of an establishment consisting of a dozen more like him; who each, including him; stood beside an array of inventions that held wires, engines and machines that were individually examined by;
"..Underwhelming.."
"Agreed.."
"Could use a bit more revamping."
A group of finely-suited men, with wrinkly and stern countenances that strolled through the establishment: Their presence sending each of the presenters, including Calestro to engage on a war of internal nervousness!
"..." - They kept going and going, batting a cold shoulder towards uninteresting presentations before their eyes landed on—
"..?"
"Hm..?"
"..!!" - Calestro flinched before the group of the stern-old men marched closer towards his exhibit.
"..Isn't this..puppet machinery..?" - One of them inquired, which Calestro gulped at before opening his mouth;
"Yes how—"
"Shh. Hush!"
Before he was stopped by the one who asked using a raised index finger and a conceit-filled hush with a tinge of disinterest laid on his irises.
"..!?"
"Yes. I do believe that it is puppet engineering." - One of the stern, middle-aged men hovered an index finger over his chin as he examined Calestro's exhibit, which consisted of Two large Brown Bears standing idly side by side.
"And what exactly.. sets this apart?" - The same man inquired again,
- which made Calestro light up and puff out his chest.
"Well! Sir as—"
"Sshhh..!!" - With an annoyed snarl, he presented his index finger towards Calestro again.
"...WHAT THE...!?"
"Be quiet. I am not asking you."
- The one in the middle, with a puffed out chest and a slightly raised chin did quiet down an enthusiastic Calestro.
"..So brutal.." - Voices gradually began to emanate into a collective whispering as they saw the individual bluntly shutting down the young man.
"That's the Head Prefect for you.."
"..Only the best of the best huh..?"
"I don't know whether he's lucky or not..."
"..Yeah..those people can be quite cruel to new arrivals.."
"Poor guy.. if he wants I'll happily scoop up their attention..!"
"Don't dream..!"
"HUSH!!!" - With a singular yell from the individual in the middle did the room quiet down, replacing the slowly proliferating casual atmosphere with a tense, highly-pressuring one.
————
Act 38. FIN