Hyde's legs gave out. He slid down the railing, his back scraping against the stone until he sat crumpled on the balcony floor. The world spun around him, everything from the desert to the castle.
His stomach heaved, pressing a paw to his mouth, forcing the nausea down.
"I- I don't understand."
Kurviz remained standing, leaning against the railing with ease. His gray fur rippled slightly in the breeze. His purple eyes gazed out at the desert as if he had all the time in the world, which, being a god, he does.
Those eyes aren't ones that should exist.
"You just have questions. Start at the beginning, I know everything."
"Why would you want that? You're supposed to protect Geortaria, you're our God. God of death, yes, but a protector. The cloack says under the cloak of Kurviz, may we the people be safe-"
Kurviz laughed with some tiredness in his voice.
"That phrase was first uttered by Ts'chelliin K'onoma, you know who that is?"
"Well, he's a K'onoma so, some really old familiar?"
"The oldest. The first K'onoma ever, do you know how much the bloodline's mentality has changed since then?"
Hyde nodded.
"Yes, I intend to protect the Geortarians, you don't understand how much I love all the people below us, I'd trade my eternal life if it meant they'd all be happy. But that crown, that's what's making them unhappy.
Kurviz stood up. looking down at Hyde.
"Plus, as a God, I care about every single human, and I wish to protect them, even if they're not from Geortaria. Now, could you tell me what your crown is doing down south with the Yatara mountain range and the Undebians?"
Hyde stuttered as realization set in his chest.
"The crown is... exploiting the Yatara's minerals, and enslaving the Undebians."
"I don't see you as a culprit, you couldn't do anything about it, but now you do, because I'm giving you the tools to stop this."
He kneeled down to Hyde's height.
"Kill them all. Every. Single. K'onoma."
"I-I'm still confused."
"Heh, of course you are, ahh, you humans are slow at learning, but that's why I love every single one of you so so much! What does the ritual do? The initiation ritual."
"You... You enter our souls?"
"Another of the K'onoma lies, I check your souls, I see your thoughts your beliefs. Most people are sheep, they only get the red eyes as a participation award and die. But you tasted like freedom. It's intoxicating."
The dizziness was back.
"So that's why? Because I want to leave the castle?"
"It's part of it. There are other factors I can't tell you just yet, because you, or the other ones, aren't ready yet. One day you'll learn. But I can't let go off your initiative, you're the perfect vessel."
Hyde forced himself to his feet, his legs trembled and his head pounded. But he managed to stand up.
"You'll live in my eye. You'll manifest through my hands. And I... I kill everyone in the castle."
"Yes."
"My family."
"A'cci... She's not even K'onoma..."
"The deal is everyone in the castle."
Hyde's vision quickly blurred. Tears, he realized, in half a second he started to cry. He hadn't cried since he was a child.
"But why? Why do they have to die? What did they do?"
Kurviz was silent for a long moment.
"Everyone who directly serves the crown is no better than those above them."
Hyde fell silent, looking around, the tears wouldn't stop dropping from his eyes, he covered his mouth with his paw and sniffled. "So I have to kill for my freedom?"
"You can decline the contract."
A life lacking freedom, trapped inside a castle until a surprisingly healthy old man passed away. Hyde wouldn't be able to go outside for the next 20 years or so. Plus, his blue eye, his abnormality. The slightest punishment would be his execution.
"What does my blue eye mean?"
Kurviz crossed his arms. "Do you know about the Geortarian eye color rank system?"
That sounds overly convoluted.
He left the question hanging in the air, replying to himself before Hyde could answer. "The higher-ups have the reddest eyes. You on the other hand..."
"I'm the complete opposite?" Hyde wiped the remaining tears off. "So what does that mean?"
"They'll execute you."
So my thoughts were correct. The only path I can take without escaping is death.
"B-But why!?"
"They see you as not only an abnormality but as the bottom of the barrel. Someone so worthless, there's no way they could ever be a good king."
"Why can't they just disown me!?"
"Has the crown ever done something as reasonable as that?"
The air fell silent. Kurviz was right, the crown of Geortaria was a pretty ruthless one.
So my only two options... are death for me or death for everyone around me.
"What is the other thing you mentioned that you can't tell me about?"
"You said it yourself. I can't tell you about it."
"But why?"
"You'll see later. Don't think my goals are simple or straight-forward. Us gods have countless plans going on, but since we can't directly interfere with you humans, we have to turn to using vessels."
Hyde looked straight into the eyes of Kurviz, that dull purple surrounded by gray fur. He stretched out his hand, offering it to Kurviz.
"Then, I accept the deal."
Kurviz smirked, taking Hyde's hand and giving a firm handshake, nothing yet happened, until Kurviz began chanting. "All that is divine, all that is true."
That chant...
"I hereby summon and talk to the universe to form a universal link. My reasons have been stated and thus are engraved into my soul. Concede me the equivalent exchange."
- - - - -
Hyde was laid down on his bed, his eyes half-lidded as he carefully examined his paws. The fur at their ends had turned from a snow white to an almost perfect black, one that absorbed all the light, looking almost like a warp in reality. His eye, an already bright cyan had turned into an even brighter color, one that seemed to give a faint glow in the dark.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Judging from the heavy knocks on his door, a guard was waiting for Hyde.
"The King has requested to see you in the throne room."
A masculine voice called out. Hyde rushed to his desk where he had already laid down his leather gloves, quickly putting them on to hide the black ends of his paws.
"Coming."
The guard escorted Hyde to the throne room, the walk was completely silent aside from the heavy thumps as the guard's feet met stone.
A red carpet was lined up as a large, wide path to the throne at the end of the room, the walls at Hyde's sides were adorned with tall pillars and torches, and looming over everything in the room was a white, bright chandelier.
"What do you even think of your life?"
Geortaria's king had his legs crossed, sitting on his throne. His face was invisible as he was staring down at the floor, his head resting on his fist.
Vharun K'onoma was the king of Geortaria and Hyde's father, his voice was colder than ever.
"Your eye."
He rose from his throne descending the steps slowly.
"I sat through that ceremony, I watched my son kneel before the ancient ones. I waited for the moment when your eyes would open, red, like every good K'onoma."
Crossing his arms, he stepped directly in front of Hyde.
"Can you explain what this is?"
"I had no-"
"I don't want to hear it," Vharun interrupted. "That's a disgrace to the bloodline. I poured sixteen years into you. Every single thing you asked for, I provided. Books, tutors, lessons. I gave you everything out of the kindness of my heart. And this is what I get back? A son with the eyes of a slave?"
Hyde's jaw tightened as something began to stir in his chest.
"I didn't waste sixteen years of my life for this."
A waste? That's what you see me as?
"No."
Vahrun's eyes narrowed.
"What did you just say?"
Hyde pushed his father. His eyes widened, no one touched the king like that.
"I said no." Hyde's voice rose. "You didn't waste sixteen years. I wasted them. Sixteen years trapped in this prison, staring at the same old gray bricks, reading about a world I could never touch."
"Don't you dare-"
"Well, I dare!" Hyde stepped closed. "For sixteen years I did everything you asked! I studied your books! I memorized your history! I knelt for the priest you brought home every 7 days. All that so you could call me a disgrace?"
"You are a disgrace. The first ever K'onoma to come out with initiation with anything but red. Do you know what they're saying out there? Do you have an idea of how you're ruining my reputation? The king's son is defective and the bloodline is ruined."
"Maybe it should be."
Vharun went very still. Like those words had hit hard.
"What did you just say?"
Hyde met his father's red eyes with his mismatched ones.
"I said that the bloodline should be ruined. You sit on that throne and talk about ruin? You ruined my life. You locked me behind these castle doors and called it protection and discipline. You never once asked what I wanted, you only cared about what you wanted. Have you ever asked if I am happy?"
"Happiness?" Vharun laughed. "Happiness is for the drunk peasants we find laid down on the streets at night. You're a prince with duties and the most prestigious bloodline in the continent."
"I have nothing! I have a tower and a desk and a window I've stared out every day throughout all my life. That's all I have. I don't even know what it feels like to walk on dirt, or how rain feels on my fur."
"Do you know how many people wish every single to not experience those things? You ungrateful-"
"Ungrateful for what? For the prison you built me? For the lies you've fed me? I know, father. I know what the crown does."
Vharun's red eyes flickered for a moment, like shock passed through them.
"You know nothing."