Mercy Is Death

“Lock the doors! Draw your fangs from their sheaths! They’re too fast for guns!”

“They’ve already made it upstairs!”

My brothers run to the front, so I do the same, squatting into my kill-ready stance, just as had been beaten into me. My knees tremble. The real thing is much more terrifying than training scenarios. I don’t want to do this!

My brothers shout something back at my father, their blue and white patterned cloaks looked as if they were flowing in the wind from their sporadic movements. They shuffled back behind me, taking the triangle attack position.

“Mercy is death, worm!” My brother Lexor shouted at me from behind as he sliced an inch of my back with the tip of his blade with a chuckle. It stung as always, but nothing would be able to distract me now. I hear the footsteps come in from down the hall like applause, first soft and then roaring.

“Ready yourselves!” Father shouts from the distance behind me.

“Ready!” Sorall shouts back.

BOOM!

SHWING! CLANG! WHUP!

With a flash, fangs are swung and blocked by large iron gauntlets wrapped around thick forearms. Some shatter as they are parried in a blurry motion from their immense speed and accuracy. I’m disarmed before the sparks of our clashing, chipped steel flicker out.

A fist of iron with bulging knuckles suddenly strikes me hard. I managed to disperse the blow into my cheek, but it still definitely broke my nose.

The ground rises to meet me as I stare at my assailant, paralyzed. His sharp facial features are handsome, and his eyes are blazing hot with focus. His eyebrow cocks in surprise as his eyes find my gaze.

I hear the same pattern all around me within the next few seconds. Flawless, precise movements that even the best of us would not stand a chance against. In the following silence, I hear my father, who’s head is much thicker than mine.

“Come on, cowards! Kill me!” I manage to turn my body enough to see him spit blood onto the iron legguard of his attacker.

Her fist rises and SLAMS into his head, boiling my boil as tears pool in my eyes.

I can’t see my mom or my sisters, and who is that behind Father?

“L-Lex-“ I stutter trying to catch my breath. “N-no.”

“Come on! I’m right here! Kill-!”

WHUMP! WHAP!

Two sharp blows hit hard enough to shatter bones. One hit to the ribs, one uppercut to the jaw. All in one fluid, heavy motion.

I lift my head up and see my attacker looking back down at my struggling figure. I clamber into a one legged kneel, barely raising my hand into the air.

“D-don’t,” I whimper. As I gasp, I see his brow furrow again as if annoyed, and his fist balls up with the sound of wrapping leather. He readied a blow.

“M-mercy. P-please! I’m s-sorry!” I manage to cry out.

His eyes widen. He lowers his arm and his hand unfurls. He looks at his colleagues and with a nod, put a hand on my shoulder. He looks into my eyes and strangely, kindness seemed to swell within them. Is that a smile?

WHUP!

His knee met my abdomen with a force that I’ve never conceived. It felt like my guts were slammed against my back. My bones rattle as the floor suddenly generously rose to meet my face again.

As I fall unconscious, I feel myself be lifted into the air.

***

Upon reawakening, I’m shocked to find myself still alive! My arms and legs are left… unbound?

This must be it. I’m either going to be used for a ransom or a sacrifice. Who am I kidding? With my luck, they’ll probably kill me right after they send out my ransome. ‘Death is mercy,’ after all.

As tears begin to swell, I suddenly I hear the tent flaps rustle. My heart sinks and begins to drown as the daylight shines inside. Two of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, with braided black and blonde hair riddled with flowers, stare at me smiling with their blue and green eyes. They walk in with hands full, holding plates of food, a jug of water, and one jug of what looked like wine.

“What is this? Poison? W-w-why not just k-k-kill me now to g-get it over with?” I stutter, shaking.

The women give each other a look. Do they think it’s funny that I’m struggling? If I try to escape they’d definitely render me unconscious again. Then, I’d just be back where I started. Plus, they’re so pretty. There are worse situations to die in.

“Okay, I’ll eat.” I sigh reluctantly. I gulp and chew and prepare for death, although the chicken, strawberry, almond salad is particularly delicious among its mushroom, butternut squash stew counterpart.

The dark red liquid held my attention and I gulp it down, quickly. I can’t help but belch, but the girls giggle and look at each other again. It makes me smile as well.

“Alright,” I sigh with an exhale, finishing the last sip of what is definitely wine. “I’m ready,” I say as I close my eyes and wait for the poison to run its course.

Adding to my surprise, my clothes are stripped off. I think my statement was misunderstood. I don’t say anything, only return the giggles exchanged in a confused delight.

As I lay there watching the beautiful women, whom I now adore, finish rewrapping their skirts, leave the tent and blow me kisses, a bear of a man sidesteps into the tent past them.

The light on his eyes and his sharp, square jaw gives away his identity instantly.

“You! Have you come to finish the job?”

“No…”

“Are you going to use me for… ransom?” I stifled a hiccup.

“No! What? We don’t do that! Listen-“

“Then, why did you bring me here? Why not kill me now?”

He crouched down in front of me. “Listen, we value all lives here, even the runts of an empire of scourges.”

“What? Who’re you callin’ ‘runt’? Hic!”

“I’m looking at you. Those scars tell a clear story. We even found a wound on your back that the girls stitched up for ya’.”

I reach around and feel around on my back gently. Multiple stitches patched up what I thought was much smaller.

He inches closer to me.

“Why did you not ask for death earlier on? Why did you beg for mercy then, but now for death?

It took me a few moments to answer.

“I still don’t understand. But, back there, I was sure I would die. Whenever I’ve been terrified like that… when I’ve seen bodies slain and added to The Great Blood Cause, I’ve thought that I would want to be given a chance to live if it was me on the other side. So, in my final moments, I didn’t hesitate to try and ask for… Mercy.”

A soft smile overcomes him after a pause, but his face quickly hardens again.

“I know, I know… It’s crazy! I’ve been beaten for my hesitation. That ‘mercy’ I long for has no place in life.”

“This is not nonsense.”

“What?”

“Kindness. Empathy. Feeling for your fellow person. Mercy. These are not weaknesses, it’s humanity. Humanity is what you have forgotten.

Over the last few centuries, your clan has murdered mercilessly, bloated your boarders boundlessly, all without any consideration of the land or those living on it. All for your ‘Blood Cause’. All to remain immortal.

Your people have forgotten the natural order, the fragility of your own lives, and take it for granted. Without being able to appreciate the delicacy life, you have all forgotten its importance. You have grown unapathetic to your fellow man, even within your homes. Your scars confirm this to be true. Your own family did this to you.” He spits in disgust behind his shoulder.

I don’t say anything in response.

“Listen, we are giving your people one more chance. We have tried to reason with your leaders multiple times, one after the other. All of them ignorantly begged for bloodshed. We think that we may not have the proper messagers. That’s why you’re here; for a second chance. A future for you and your people if you cease your expansion and bloodlust."

“No… no, that’s not it… we’re creating boundless life!”

“For your lives only! The rest of the clans, the land, the animals, the water, all of it is being destroyed. You have seen it with your own eyes! Please, tell your people to stop. Stop and survive.”

“You offer me this chance. Or… or, what else?”

“I’m sorry. There is nothing else.” A tear runs down from his eye as he stares into my soul.

I don’t flinch. “I’ll try.”

***

I run through the front gates and down the sparkling stone road as the sun begins to sink into the horizon of the Western sky.

Slipping through the wreckage of our castle, I run past the injured guards and maids nursing their wounds, sheepishly leaning against the walls. I leap into the master bedroom, the splintered pieces of the doors and its iron bolts snapped and scattered around the floor.

“My boy!” My father shouted with a smile as I walk into the room. He stands up from the edge of the giant bed, shoving away the arms of his wife that held ice on his face.

“You’re alive!” He smiles, instinctively checking me for wounds. His face quickly grimaces. “You’re alive… What happened?” He barks, squeezing my shoulders.

“What’s the meaning of this,” He growls. “Why are you here, alive?” He shoves me back and I trip over the door handle behind me.

“You could have at least done us a favor and killed yourself,” Lexor grumbles from the other side of the bed.

My cheeks get hot. “What are you saying? You would prefer me dead rather than back unharmed?”

Father’s face shades into beat-red.

“Of course, you idiot! Our entire culture is built upon the blood sacrifices of men! It is these sacrifices that you have always been too much of a coward to understand and respect!” A ring-ladden smack lands across my cheek.

I reel back a few more steps. “I would have gladly slit my neck with my own fang if not for having been knocked out, worm!” Lexor barks at me, placing a reconciling hand on Father’s shoulder.

“One should always sacrifice themself for The Great Blood Cause,” Sorall growls through gritted teeth, looking away from me frustratedly.

“Well, why do you remain sitting here? Why tell me to do what you won’t do yourselves?!”

“Silence yourself, boy! The attackers were KhuKhu’s. They are well known to be the most vile of all of the clans of Centerford, so our defeat was clearly unfit for a proper blood sacrifice. Any Vinoxian would understand and respect that, you slanderous fool!”

“Please, you must listen to me now. They captured me and let me live so that I could deliver a message. They threaten to take all of our lives. As we all saw firsthand, they are clearly capable of it.

If we do not cease the Great Expansion, they will come for all of us. Father, you have the power to change the minds of the council and-“

“That’s enough!”

“Father, please! Help all of us survive!”

“That’s enough! I cannot bare to hear any more of your sickening, mercy-longing tongue! Nothing could possibly happen to me or our Great Clan, you have seen it for yourself! Go and clean up your mess, you disgrace!” His face was nearing purple from anger.

“Oh Gods, no. No, no, no. He was right. You don’t care. As long as you survive, you don’t care.”

My face turns cold. My hands are shaking. I need to get out of here.

I run out.

***

I soar angrily down the streets of gold-plated tiles and streetlamps to the Chief Political Enforcer’s home- the only place I can think to turn to in my frenzy. The Chief has always been kind to me. Maybe he’ll listen to reason now that his life is on the line.

A brief moment after knocking, the Chief’s wife, beautiful and kind, greets me and invites me in. Her makeup and hair fully done up, the same way she did every morning before her husband woke up.

I stand in the hallway decorated with guns, flags, and propaganda ushering the Chief’s support of The Great Expansion.

The Chief waddles in, squeezing his earlobe twice turning his phone earpiece off. He grabs a harpoon-pistol that laid on the mantle and flails it around in the air while he speaks.

“Now boy, I just got off the phone with your father,” He waddles towards me like an angry goose. “He told me about the insane notion you’ve proposed. Now boy, I simply will not have it! To even consider the notion to cease The Great Expansion, to give up eternity and the divine right we hold claim to!”

“Listen, I don’t know what he told you on the phone, but you’ve got to listen to me! You’re going to die- we’re all going to die if we don’t-“

THWUNK!

I’m cut off mid-sentence with a smack of the metal gun to my forehead. Luckily the old, fat man has never known muscles, so it doesn’t hurt as much as it could’ve.

“You will be punished!” He yells emotionlessly as he shoves me backwards to line up the gun with my thigh.

KASHUNKSH!

I yelp out, falling to the floor, clutching my upper thigh. The Chief squeezes his earlobe three times as my blood faucets onto the floor.

“Yes, it’s me again. Now, I’ve got your boy here. I’m taking him into custody for blatant treason! No, no, his blood is too pure. He’ll offset the formula. We can always use more bleeders for The Great Cause.”

The Chief’s voice trails off behind me as I try not to blackout. Every breath I draw sends agony into my leg. I feel the main head of the metal hitting my bone. I try to roll over and wretch out blood.

I need to get out of here. I need to leave, now!

I hold what little air is left in my lungs and grit down hard on my teeth. With both hands and a scream, I yank the hook out and splatter blood all over the sparkling floor. Even more red spews out of me.

The Chief notices and begins to reel in the slacked chord for a second shot. I know this is my only chance before he kills me. I spring off my remaining leg, plowing my fist into the Chief’s nose with incredible force. His body drops with a thud, and so does mine

Luckily, I’m within reach of the two Vampire Rifles that are leaned into an X on the wall. With the help of adrenaline, I’m able to push myself up using the rifle as a crutch.

I lean the rifle on my shoulder and fire off one shot into the Chief’s abdomen. I only get a few seconds of connection that heals my wounds enough for me to put some weight down on my injury. The Chief’s wife stepped back into the gun-clad room, reaching for a big one on the wall.

With the Rifle tucked under my armpit, I limp as quickly as I can out into the street. I hear shouts of familiar voices crying out angrily in the near distance. Curses and slurs echo in the same sentences as my name.

The voices and stampede of steps blend into a rolling thunder. I twist around and balance the rifle on my shoulder again, aiming at the wildly flailing figure in the front of the pack. As they grow closer, I see the pure hatred in their eyes, and I realize that it never would have mattered who it was on the run. Their Great Cause was defied. That’s all it took.

I clutch the trigger and fire. The fishing wire-thin string of shiny metal whizzes through the air before its steel arrowhead pierces the blue and white cloaked chest of the leader with a muffled SHUNK!

The blood draines through the now wine-red wire and burnes like a flaming snake as it seepes into my hand, across my arm, down my chest, through my hips and crotch and into the wound in my thigh.

It sutures the open flesh wound as fresh muscle and tissue grow in. A slightly darker skin tone replaces the missing chunk. I smack the return button on the side and continue running away incredibly quickly into a nearby alleyway as the gun re-spooles itself.

Met with a wall, I jump and kick off the side wall to hurdle myself with newfound agility. I’ve done this before, but never with so much ease.

I dash around the boarder of the inner wall until I see the opening to the main gate around the bend in the distance. It was in the process of being shut by one person who thought ahead. I can’t hesitate.

I take aim of the rifle at the guard pulling on the massive metal lever, who is turning around to uncover the source of the oncoming flutter of footsteps.

I recognize that cloak. It’s Lexor, the fastest, the oldest, the one who lives in Fathers violent, shadow, who took pleasure in tormenting me. Lexor, who’s only now pulling out his harpoon-pistol.

“Stop, Xanther!”

THUNK!

With only one moment before being envigored with the blood energy that was being drawn out of my brother’s chest, I tearfully whimper, “I’m sorry, brother. But, ‘Mercy is death’.”

***

I sprint for miles dodging through the thicket of the path I returned on through the woods, back to meet the Khukhukerii, or in their language, “The Peace Bringers.”