Chapter thirty-four:Hengengandr

With Kakashin in the Library

Kakashin lets out a more relaxed sigh as he walks into the family library with Kaif by his side.

“Would you like me to prepare some tea, Master?”

“Got ‘em covered.” Kyyu sits on a table nearby with a welcoming smile as a tea pot simmers on the same board. “You like Darjeeling, right?”

“What are you doing here?” Kakashin speaks coolly as he takes the chair at the table across from her.

“Dad called off the searching for now, not sure why.” Kyyu sits lazily in her chair while trying to act like she’s reading a book. “Do you know what the deal is with that Veena chick-or whatever?”

“Her name is Vila, and I can make a few assumptions about her; why?” His hypothesis is confirmed, Vensen has erased Kyyu’s memory of her relationship with Sommi and having a child. This is bad.

“Well,” she scratches her cheek as she stares blankly at the book she’s holding up, “It’s just that Sommi seemed so thrilled to learn new stuff from Dad, that’s why he became a servant, and then all of a sudden he starts rebelling with this Vienna chick.”

“Vila.”

“Right, whatever.” She puts the book down. “It kinda reminds me of what happened in Hengengandr.”

“Uh-should I leave?” Kaif stands next to the table awkwardly, feeling that the tension could rise at any moment from mentioning that forbidden tale.

“No,” Kakashin leans back in his chair with his arms crossed as he looks to Kaif calmly, “You should hear about this incident at least once.”

Kaif nods and takes the seat next to his beloved master to listen.

“Are you aware of what happened during that era a million years ago?”

The boy bashfully shakes his head with anxiety to speak any words.

Kyyu puts in her knowledge of the incident as she pours the Darjeeling tea into a cup for her brother. “Towards the end of Hengengandr, Roukuu had a son named Omen, I think he was an investigator for the police or something.”

Kakashin nods to affirm her knowledge. “He got a case that involved strange, mysterious deaths and disappearances. After months of tracking down the perpetrator with his son, Jirike, they finally found the path that would lead them to the truth behind it all.” He stops to take a sip of his tea and lets Kyyu continue the story.

“When they got to the location of where the occurrences supposedly started, he finally got to meet his dad that was missing all those years prior.”

“Who also turned out to be the very person he was looking for to arrest.” Kaif begins to understand the situation displayed before him.

The two siblings nod.

Kyyu finishes the migratory. “Up until that point, the two dealt with the rest of their family becoming victims and got torn to shreds by the creatures. Omen almost lost his mind after that. That’s not even the worst of it.”

Kakashin takes the stage to allow Kyyu to drink some of her beverage. “It wasn’t the fact that he was kidnapping people and transforming them into hideous creatures that would rampage into the streets that ruined Roukuu’s reputation, but how he was doing it.” He pauses as an act of being reluctant to say the rest.

Kaif tilts his head in curiosity.

Kyyu also keeps her mouth shut and refuses to finish the rest of it. She finally gains the courage to speak again, “Roukuu was inserting his own blood into the test subjects and experimenting with the results…”

Kaif decides to ask another question at this point. “I heard-that there was something about a servant being involved in all of this…”

The two drop their heads in silent defiance to answer.

“That’s what officially put Roukuu on the scale of mentally unstable…” Kakashin’s words come out grimly. “He…” He sighs in reluctance to mention the prohibited part. “Something must’ve snapped inside of Roukuu during his experimenting… We’re certain that he sexually abused at least one of his servants, Leiki. What happened to that man afterwards is still a mystery to us, though.”

Kyyu manages to gain her courage to give Kakashin a break from telling the story. “Roukuu tried to get rid of the evidence by first murdering what was left of the experiments and his blood-line. Then he went as far as decimating the planet, almost completely.”

Kaif widens his eyes. “He almost destroyed the planet!?” He doesn’t even believe the words that come out of his mouth.

“He’s created stars and whole galaxies before.” Kakashin brings the destruction into perspective. “One little planet that doesn’t even come out in the picture of Apn’dentra, the galaxy it resides in, would be nothing for him.”

Kyyu nods in agreement and continues, “If it wasn’t for Dad stopping him just in time, Fupum G247 would have never existed, it would’ve stopped at Hengengandr. Dad even managed to piece the planet back together afterwards and started the Crenhis Era. Roukuu came under strict prohibition for his devious work and Hengengandr became a thing of the past. It’s nothing to the people of that Fupum today, not even a memory.”

Kaif stares at the table dumbfounded by this. The great battle that could have demolished the very planet-where Princess Vila, Sommi-kan, and Zaru-kan reside at this very moment-could have been crumbled into nothing so easily…

“Oh,” Kyyu breaks his train of thought, “I should’ve asked if you wanted some tea.”

Kaif shakes his head. Having an appetite is not an option for him right now.

“Let the boy sink in everything he’s heard so far.” Kakashin takes another sip of his tea. “Remember, what our family is capable of is unique throughout the entire universe, especially concerning Vensen and Roukuu.”

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Back with Vila and the others at the spa

All of us girls lean in close to listen to Ari’s side of the whole mess that happened in the Hengengandr Era.

Ari makes herself comfortable in the bath with us waiting in anticipation. “I think this would be best in a more private area, like our room.” She gets up and starts to walk back into the clothing room. “Besides, the men need to hear this as well.”

We manage to follow behind her trail and head into the men’s room in clean, dry kimonos that the owners were kind enough to let us borrow until our clothing was ready to be worn again. Ari insists that we wait in the men’s room until they decide to come out of the baths and join us. Pick was okay with this, he probably gets that what she has to say is very important. I take this opportunity to tend to Zaru. Dad, of course, becomes a little irritated to find all of us girls where the men should be staying once he and Zenox come in.

Finally gathered as one group, Ari prepares herself for the truth that is about to be displayed before us. “An era is supposed to last a million years or so; right?” She looks to Father for a confirmation.

He nods.

“In that case, it was about one million and two thousand years ago, when this planet went by the name of Hengengadr. The societies had developed greatly with advanced technology and everything. Towards the end of that era things started to get psychotic.” She pauses for a little bit to construct the words in her head. “Roukuu and I had a child, we named him Omen, and that’s when things got weird. Roukuu had another servant, Leiki, who absolutely adored my husband. One night, Leiki professed his feelings for Roukuu, but he kindly rejected him because Roukuu already had a heart for me. Leiki became infuriated and devised a plan to overrule him.” Ari hesitates again to continue.

“That can’t be all of it; right?” Haru pokes at the subject to get more.

“Leiki must’ve had help from Vensen, I just know it. He managed to trick Roukuu and casted him out deep into the void somewhere, possibly in the universal realm. Leiki then assumed his identity and fucked up everything. I managed to send Omen off to an orphanage to hide him from Leiki and hoped for him to return. Leiki didn’t like that and tried to make his own army by kidnapping people and injecting his blood into them.”

“Wait, how would that effect the body?” Caru tries to understand the situation for the rest of us.

“Because we’re not human; didn’t you get that from his lecture!?” Ari scolds her as she refers to Dad’s explanation with the holins from earlier today. “Just take your friend over there as an example.” She points to Zaru as he rests his head on my lap. “The only reason he’s alive now is because he has Kakashin’s blood inside of him now, someone from the main blood-line, and now he’ll be the newest servant of the family; but if a servant tries to do the same thing, that’s when holins are born.” Finishing her little tangent, Ari proceeds with the original story, “The more people Leiki captured and mutilated, the more of them were released and killed people out of madness. It eventually got to the point where it became noticeable by the police, and that’s when Omen came back into the picture as an investigator for the police. The investigation went to the point where the little fuckers murdered everyone in his immediate family that he knew of except his oldest son, Jirike, and the whole ordeal set off a spark in the two.”

“What were you doing all this time?” Dad asks her as to get every piece clarified.

Ari holds back every emotion that would show weakness as she manages to say the needed words, “The asshole locked me up… All I could do was watch my own child suffer.” Before too much can come out of her, she takes a moment to pause and suck up the tears before too much could escape her eyes. “Omen and Jirike were able to find me and released me. That’s when Leiki and I had a battle. We both gave it our all, even if the whole planet was disassembling around us, we both fought for what we believed needed to be done.”

Did she just mention something about the planet breaking down?... I think I’ll let that question slide for now…

“When it was all coming to an end, Vensen stepped in to stop it and began a trial.” Ari thrusts a great proclamation of anger from her throat and causes everyone to jump, “I know Vensen was involved because he punished me instead of him! He sent me to that fucking mad house!” Everyone feels the intensity emitting from Ari as she sits on the floor trying to contain her emotions. She takes a deep breath to recollect herself. “The only chance we have of at least controlling Vensen is with Roukuu. We can’t make any impact without him.”

Dad leans in closer to the center of the circle. “So, do you know where he is then?”

Ari changes her personality slightly by straying her gaze from everyone. “No, but I do know how we can find him.” She stands up and walks over to the window to stare up at the night sky. “Roukuu is an amazing astronomer. If he were to leave a map of his whereabouts in the void, he would have clues in the stars.” Her attention to the outer space above us sooths her greatly. She turns back to us completely tranquil. “Do you have a star chart?”

Pick moves slightly on his spot on the floor. “We didn’t bring one, but we have a collection back in Catherr.”

Her eyes grow with interest. “Made from different years?”

“Yes, we might even have some from the Crenhis Era.”

She smiles with hope in her eyes. “Good, that’ll make it easier for me to see how much they’ve changed over the years.”