//------------------------------// // Chapter 22: Emotional Interrogation // Story: Havoc // by Histy //------------------------------// The throne room of the Palace was one of my favorite rooms. It was the place where I gave my holy decrees, and showed my dominance to the pathetic mortals of this city. But now, it was going to be my favorite for another reason. “Hmm… whatever am I going to do to you?” I hummed excitedly, smiling happily as I circled Golden Arrow, who was now conscious and aware of my presence. Aurora was watching things from afar, wisely choosing not to get in the way of my pleasure. Golden Arrow, in the meantime, was calm for the most part, which intrigued me. Mortals weren't calm when faced with the reality of death. They always panic, beg for mercy, or both. His calmness was enough to stop my stride around him, and I narrowed my eyes at him, but my smile remained on my face. He narrowed his eyes back at me, a angry frown on his traitorous muzzle. “You are rather calm, mortal. Why don't we change that?” “Putting fear unto me will not force me to reveal valuable information, slaver.” My expression did not change visibly, but inside my head I was rather surprised at his statement. This mortal was more calm than I had thought previously, and it was going to be quite a challenge to get information out of his treacherous mouth. “So he wants to play the brave card, doesn't he? Then I shall play some of my own cards, then.” I thought. Soon enough, an idea came in my head. I kept my smile so as to entice some of that fear out of him. I then chuckled before I struck. “Do you have a family, Proditor?” I could see him fall back for a moment, surprised at the sudden change in topic. A long silence had followed my question, and I waited patiently for his answer. “…No.” He said it as bluntly as possible. But there was this shakiness in his voice. And it had taken him a rather long period of time to answer. It was these two things that made me conclude that he was lying. So I ignored his denial, and instead continued my push. “You wouldn't want them to suffer for your sins, do you?” I asked rhetorically, a feigned concern in my voice. “I told y-” Arrow tried. “Especially your child. Wouldn't it be rather sad that he never lived life to the fullest because of you?” Arrow began to falter, but his gaze remained unwavering. “A shame, really. I can hear your child's screams now, as his hooves are amputated, his eyes gouged out, his body crushed like an ant. There are so many things I could do to him, so many ways to kill him. And it would all be because of his father.” Arrow now wasn't looking at me, his eyes staring down at the floor in sadness. I thought I even saw some tears fall. Now I had him. Walking to him with a stride, I dipped my hand under his head, forcing him into eye-contact with me once more. My stared deep into his, piercing his very soul. My smile finally disappeared, showing him a seemingly worried frown, “You don't want that, don't you? You don't want your child to become a victim of your mistakes?” “…N-No…” Arrow said. Now then, time to get what I want. “Then all you have to do is tell me what I want to know.” A tense silence filled the throne room after that statement. Along that time, Arrow laid in deep thought, contemplating his choices. As you should know, I had no intention of actually killing his child, mainly due to the fact that I didn't know their name. Nor did I really care to know, honestly. They'll probably die during the conquest of the world in my name, so this whole thing really wouldn't matter anyway. I had trapped Arrow in a corner, his expression in deep thought for a long period of time. He was most likely thinking about his family, specifically his child, and how they might suffer from his refusal to give me what I want. After awhile, he closed his eyes shut, and consumed a deep breath, readying himself for his confession. But when his eyes opened, I saw something other than defeat in them. It was a hard, cold glare, one which actually caught me off-guard for a moment. “I'm sorry…” Arrow whispered. I realized it was not to me, but towards his family. I chuckled. “That's a good boy. Now, tell me-” I was rather rudely interrupted when Arrow suddenly set his head free from my hand, and proceeded to stab his horn deep through my abdomen. I yelped at the sudden pain that was bursting through my body. I was stunned, to be sure. I hadn't expected this action, especially from the likes of a mortal. I staggered back from the assault, Arrow stubbornly keeping his horn inside my wound. Nearby, Aurora panicked. “My Lady!” she shouted desperately, quickly dashing over to us with great speed. When she was close enough, she swung her staff, knocking Arrow far away, his figure rolling across the floor painfully. Now free from his horn, I fell unceremoniously to the ground, groaning in agony as I desperately attempted to stand once more. Aurora then positioned herself between me and Arrow, her posture one of defence, and her expression towards the traitorous Praefector one of clear hostility. Meanwhile, Arrow himself quickly staggered back to his hooves, his eyes glued onto me as he glared with deep intensity and hatred. “I will never kneel to a despotic ruler such as you,” he declared as he readied himself for battle. But, before he was set to attack, he seemed to remember something, as his posture relaxed - though not considerably - and he smirked. “I've learned a lot about you when I plotted to overthrow you, despot,” he proclaimed, much to my and Aurora's confusion. What the hell did he know about me. Arrow quickly gave details. “You are an ancient Goddess of old, from which was cursed to mortality by Lady Faust herself. But that's not what I'm intrigued about. I'm intrigued about your relationship with a certain someone - Trajan, was it?” I narrowed my eyes at Arrow at this revelation. Aurora stiffened. “If I remember, you had been very close to him, so close, in fact, that you let him influence your decisions.” Arrow then sighed in feigned sadness, shaking his head in exaggerated disappointment. “A shame, then, how he perished after you were imprisoned. How you are to never see his face again. How-” “Shut up…” Contrary to what you may be thinking, it wasn't me who said that. It was Aurora. Her voice was firm, commanding, yet holding back on anger. That didn't mean that her body was shaking with it, though. Arrow, rather than taking her warning seriously, was rather amused by it instead. “Oh? Is this a sensitive topic to you? Maybe your Imperatrix shouldn't have threatened my own family, then I wouldn't spit upon yours. It is a fair deal, isn't it?” Aurora ignored him, however, her gaze hardening as her voice now became laced with hatred. “Shut. Up.” “Why would I? Do you not like me insulting your father's name? Or maybe you don't want me to learn the truth that he was a coward? Judging by how you're reacting, I guess he was after-” Now it was Arrow's turn to be interrupted, this time by Aurora's staff flying through the air, and cutting off all four of his legs. So stunned was Arrow by this action, that he couldn't properly scream in pain. Well, he tried to, but Aurora giving him a swift kick in the face prevented that. And then, with fury I never expected to come from her, Aurora stomped on his muzzle. And she did It again. And again. And again… I watched as she essentially beat Arrow to death, each stomp she gave being harder than the last. This continued for quite some time, even after his body completely stopped moving. Soon enough, Aurora stopped her rage. Or so I thought, as she then proceeded to grab her staff which laid on the floor. It was during this process which I saw that Arrow was still indeed alive, as his battered and bloodied head rose a few inches off the ground. His doing this was not long, obviously, as Aurora returned to his side and began stabbing him with her staff. And again. And again… Noticing a pattern here? Anyway, soon enough Aurora was able to control herself. Stopping her merciless stabbing, she panted vigorously. She was a mess, especially her feet and staff, which were drenched in blood. Droplets of blood were on her face and clothing. If a mortal were to look at her now, they would most likely call her a maniac. As Aurora recovered from her brutal kill, I was finally able do stand up. Checking my wound, I concluded that it wasn't dangerous enough to kill me. I had suffered worse and lived, after all. In looked back at Aurora and her kill. After a time, I decided to speak, “A fair kill, Aurora. Even I would have to admit that mine weren't as brutal as yours.” The humanoid was silent at the praise. She was on her knees, back facing me. Her ears were dropped down, as if she were sad. “…I'm sorry.” Somewhat confused as to why she said this, I looked at her bluntly. “What for? You showed absolutely no mercy. Showed a traitor why he shouldn't harm his Imperatrix So openly. That's not something you should apologize for.” Once more, Aurora was silent before she spoke. “…He had information. Information that we desperately needed. And yet I killed him because he insulted my father.” Ah, so she's apologizing for letting pitiful emotions take control of her actions. “True, but I've seen Baron and Stiermann kill with their anger many times before, so I will not look down upon you for doing the same thing.” Aurora's ears spiked up as she remembered something. Turning to finally, she asked eagerly, “Baron and Stiermann? If I may ask, My Lady, what is their condition?” I looked upon the humanoid. Her tail was now swinging back and forth across the floor, telling me she was looking forward on the news of the people she's spent her whole life with. Good news, I might add. Too bad I didn't have any. “They're dead.” I stated bluntly. Immediately, Aurora's posture went to saddened again, as her ears drooped and her tail stopped its movements. She was stuck in a stunned silence, looking at me with surprise clear on her features. “…What?” “You know what you heard, Aurora. They're dead,” I repeated as if I didn't care. Once again, silence. “N-No… t-they can't be d…de…” Tears were starting to form in the humanoid's eye as she tried to deny the truth. She soon placed both hands on her head, as if trying to block out noise. “No…No…No…” Getting tired of Aurora displaying her emotions, I decided do interject. “Stop sulking, Aurora. You're annoying me.” It was an unwise move, I would later admit. The humanoid did indeed stop her sulking, as she then looked at me, her eye positively pouring tears as she… glared. “Why don't you care?” she whispered silently, although it was loud enough for me to hear her. I was about to answer, but Aurora cut me off. “I lost everyone I was close to. Everyone I connected with. Everyone, everyone, everyone…” Her glared hardened as her eye narrowed. “And that's all you say? Just to shut up and accept it?” I responded firmly and harshly, narrowing my eyes into a scolding glare. “I am the Goddess of Havoc, Aurora. I cannot care for anyone-” “Bullshit!” I was taken aback by her interruption. This was the first time I heard Aurora curse, and it was directed at me. “They were a part of your life, too! You knew them! You spoke with them! They were by your side!” she stopped, her head drooping low, not unlike what Arrow had been doing earlier. I remained silent, watching as Aurora stooped into sadness. Everything she said was true. I had grown attachments to my underlings that actually made me worry for them somewhat. The one I worried for the most had been Trajan, obviously. I constantly wanted to know how he was, what he was doing, and even if he needed help on those things. When I first heard that he was deceased, I did not express it outwardly, but I was saddened by it. And now that I think about it, I had faltered only slightly at Aurora's speech, but still faltered nonetheless. Speaking of Aurora, she looked back at me, her glare the same as before, her eye pouring tears. “Why don't you care about them?” she asked sternly. When I only answered with a slightly shaky sigh, she yelled, “Why don't you care about them!” “Because I'm used to it!” Silence. “There's something you should know, Aurora,” I growled deeply at the humanoid. Aurora stared back at me, fear beginning to come over her. I could feel it welling up inside her. “Of all the things I have experienced, loss was the most common of them,” I continued. “Through all of my mortal life, I have lost those who I care about. I can even remember their names; Cursor, Leo, Lupus, Trajan,” only the last one had been known by Aurora, but I made it clear that I had suffered some loss of my own. I continued speaking. “I lost all of them, the former three died in front of my own eyes. My mortal life was riddled with these kinds of events, and soon enough, I got used to them.” My glare dropped, and replaced by a downcast look. “I got used to the occurrence of making acquaintances only to have them die in front of me soon afterwards. It happened over and over again, to the point I no longer cared if it happened.” I refocused my attention on the humanoid with a stare that, to her relief, wasn't at all harsh. “So yes, I don't care, Aurora, because doing so would only drag myself back, because it would destroy me as almost did to you.” Upon finishing that sentence I released a tense breath that I didn't know I was holding. I saw that Aurora was now in deep thought, most likely about what I just said. “Now, get that corpse out of my sight, it's staining the floor.” I turned to go back to the throne, but a piercing pain in my abdomen stopped me. I winced in pain, and turned back to the humanoid, who was already setting out on my previous order. “And bring a doctor while you're at it,” I added. Aurora only nodded silently as she dragged Arrow's corpse out of the throne room, his blood staining the floor wherever it was dragged. When the doors shut behind her, many thoughts came to my mind. What happened? Why did I admit what I did? Why did Aurora seemed to be more braver than ever? I was so confused at these turn of events. After all, this was supposed to be a simple interrogation, and instead turned into a storm of emotion. And while I was giving my reason as to why I seemingly didn't care about loss, I felt it. That pain in my heart again, the same pain I felt when Apophis left me when I had been turned to stone. The pain which I didn't know the origins of. The pain which, to some extent, terrified me. I gripped my heart tightly. Just what is this feeling?