The Sun stood so far away, from her sight and the hands of men, its warmth not reaching anyone under its gaze. Yet she felt it, like its eye was to be her next witness. The Capitán’s smile was radiant as the gates of City Hall opened before her. Walking through the Plaza, she could feel as well that the distance others put between her and them had changed. It didn’t grow shorter, but the apprehension was different. The weight of their eyes fell on her like it hadn’t before, their minds likely rushing to guess what she would become for this city. They could keep guessing, they would have to wait until her business was done to truly understand what the Capitán was protecting them from.
The wind billowed in the main hall, pushing her coat backwards, not slowing her stride as she headed deeper into the pagoda. Her steps echoed against the hard floor, the Capitán heard no breath around her, no disconnected chatter, City Hall feeling as abandoned as Freeway Station. Could she be blamed for this? She had needed to focus to notice the difference, but she knew Van Kalkain, from his high throne, felt every missing attendee deep within in his spine, and that was all she needed to announce her arrival.
The tower was sturdy, its frame of steel and ornate facade had stood strong as one of the oldest limbs of Last Kunlun. An intricate set of stairs coiled around the main tower, leaving place for only narrow side rooms that mostly served as storage. A modern installment to the pagoda had been a faster option to climb its floors. This technological marvel, graciously designed by the first Pillar of Architecture was a zigzagging cable car built against the wall opposite of the Plaza. One look at such a contraption would make anyone with a shred of common sense think that a standard elevator could have worked just fine, even traveling faster than the convoluted vehicle. The Pillar never attempted to disprove that, and her predecessor refused to even acknowledge it. It had been built because they could, and since it worked and was nice to look at from the outside, most people eventually shrugged it off. Most of the newer infrastructure in Last Kunlun followed the same pattern. It could be argued as being part of the Old Man’s goal, making the city truly feel like the bustling convergence of culture it was built around, even as the Sun dimmed above them. Thing needed to be bold, exciting, taking all the colors in the world and spreading it far and wide across the districts, even if only the night would keep welcoming them. Alone in the elevator car, unmoved by the vehicle’s story even if she knew ot it, the Capitán had time to rehash her predecessor’s triumphs. Iorice had been right, those who cheered her on were likely born once the Old Man’s legend had already begun to fade, and while they were aware of her own, the Capitán’s goal was to not forget his shortcomings. She couldn’t convince herself that an inevitable end would wash all of her troubles away, she had believed it once, and she would never believe it again. Through the grid gates, she felt the floors pass by as the breeze made its way to her face, every clang of the cable car echoing endlessly through the pagoda. The only thing that had kept her from popping a Scavenger key and raiding City Hall’s archives was the sheer size of the pagoda, she would not have been afforded the peace of mind necessary to dig blindly though everything, especially since most of it was old world garbage.
Ultimately, the Capitán reached the apex and the doors opened on their own, letting the air filter through as she stepped into the summit of City Hall’s pagoda. She could not bear witness to its intricacies, but the heavy ticking of the pagoda’s clock communicated well enough to her that she was in the right place. What did she smell? Still, old paper and dust, as if all of the city beside herself had decided to live as if they’re already in a bag headed for the hearth. It was with this confidence that she headed closer to the ticking of the clock, where the sounds of shuffling papers and tapping intensified, working against the forced rhythm. He must have noticed her, albeit later than she thought, because once she reached a desk against her cane, only the relentless ticking remained.
“Why are you here?” Van Kalkain spat, his voice trembling.
Rage, spite, contempt. She did not wonder if she deserved this vitriol from the Pillar of Life, she learned over time that all of his views on people were only shaped through the Old Man’s eyes. Whatever he despised, then so did he, with only vague and feeble convictions to warrant his own personal vendetta. A truly vacuous husk of a human, sitting alone and angry at the top of the world, at the end of everything. The Capitán’s smile didn’t waver one bit, this pathetic waste of breath had something she needed.
“I ran into Iorice, she made her report back to you?” The Capitán said, playfully tapping her fingers on his desk, finding much in the way of obstacles.
“You had no reason to be in the Aery again aside from hiding your own tracks, what she didn’t find you simply must have hid!”
The Pillar of Life spat every word, but the Capitán didn’t expect any less. Van Kalkain would stand in her way, like the Old Man once did. The population reflected their views once, finding her methods too extreme, questioning the Major’s involvement on an ethical level and most importantly, fearing her. Why fear something that could not see you coming? The Capitán made them. This coin that she held against Last Kunlun for so many years now held almost no value, so she had tossed it back into the crowd. A shifting, aimless population, greedily grasping at any change of pace from their daily routines, it had been simple enough to convince them. The one sitting across from her would not bend as easily. Where the Old Man had toyed with her through his board game, Van Kalkain had always violently refused contact, only authorizing her to attend the Pillar meetings if the Major was sighted two districts away. The Capitán pouted.
“You think I killed him, Van? You think I convinced him to finally take the pill? You know, it wouldn’t have been as surprising to you if you went to visit him as often as I did.”
An intentional venomous pike aimed straight into his liver. Iorice had let it slip that he kept this knowledge buried far in his mind. The Capitán could not appreciate the traits of his face contorting from rage without diving across his desk and trapping his withered visage between her palms. She retrained herself as much as he restrained from rising from his seat and choking her quiet.
“You came to gloat, then?”
“Oh, please.”
“You came to gloat? You puff your chest in front of his veiled body and pretend yourself his successor? What a sick joke. Were you raised by the same soulless construct you parade around everywhere? Oh but, how could I forget, the monster was nowhere to be found is that correct? Did you also discard it like some broken toy? I would have spared some pity for it if it could be able to comprehend it.”
If the Major was behind her, she doubted he would be offended much, in that sense Van Kalkain had a point. He needed more work than the average person to come to terms with feelings and intent. It was hardly the only reason the Old Man resented the Major’s presence though. The fear that had blossomed around her would never had bloomed so without the Major’s shade. He had been his valiant shadow, for all the years she rose as the Capitán of the Cors. Additionally, Van Kalkain had lived before the Exodus, he and the Old Man had seen the war frames like the Major as they had been programmed to be. No amount of goodwill would have ever erased this image from the minds of anyone from the old world, and so the Capitán had never attempted to.
“I’m flattered you looked through that beautiful clock’s window to hear my speech… or was it retold to you by Iorice? Do you live in Last Kunlun only through her and your Suits nowadays?”
“You try to argue with me like you’re somehow my peer. You don’t think I know of everyone you killed?” Van Kalkain slammed a finger on his desk repeatedly, “All of the lives you ever took, with that infernal beast on a leash, ended right on this very desk.”
“Then you know I’ve calmed myself down over the years,” The Capitán scoffed.
“It was never your call to make! Never!” Van Kalkain slammed his palm on his desk.
“Do you really think I was not needed?” The Capitán hissed, “Do you really, truly deep within your heart, believe that Last Kunlun would’ve kept its shining prosperity if I hadn’t been there? The Old Man wasn’t nearly as naive, he knew that this supposed peace was being kept afloat by nothing else except his name. Replace his with Vulpine and look, oh look! A crater appears from thin air turning an entire district into a shell of itself! Close your eyes, see as I see, and try to imagine what would’ve happened once the Old Man stepped down if I hadn’t sicced the Major into the streets. You’ve stayed anchored behind your big desk for so long you forgot that even in the final days, evil doesn’t die out. Some people will be scorching alive in the expanse of the Sun still wishing they could inflict more suffering onto others. You haven’t heard? You haven’t seen? This is thanks of me and noone else.”
“I see the toll. I see the blood on your hands that you’ll never have to face yourself.”
“Fate made me a blind judge.”
“Fate should’ve made you follow your parents.”
The Capitán bared his teeth at him, smiling and containing a snarl. She heard his skin shudder against the wooden desk.
“Yet here I am, and I come today to tell you what I told the Old Man before he decided to pop the pill. So I need you to listen carefully to every word. Something wicked is festering inside Last Kunlun, not something even your worst nightmares could conjure. An unsanctioned research expedition into the calderan underbelly that I had been monitoring found itself mangled into each other over night, rooms and rooms of incomprehensible carnage. There were only ten of them, but enough flesh to fill a dozen rooms. The smell alone made me feel a kind of dread I have never experienced in my life. The gore followed no ritual and expelled the laws of nature, not rotting when exposed to air, and white worms refusing to burrow into it, holding still in the passage of time as if it was waiting for something. I held this close to my chest, not wanting to cause a panic, but I needed help.”
She could tell Van Kalkain had become very still, his hand stopped hammering at his desk and his breathing got subtle.
“Did Doctor Closer…”
“I called him first, he had no answer to give. And I believe you know who I went to right after.”
The Capitán knew his mind must have been racing, making connection he’d rather never have thought of. Van Kalkain knew she’d seen the Old Man, carrying this information. Van Kalkain knew the Old Man killed himself only days later.
“Back then, I was desperate,” The Capitán continued, almost sounding empathetic, “I offered him his glory back, my own pride on a platter, just begging him to turn to Volantis again… to do something before anything gets worse. And well, we both know what he ended up choosing.”
“Silence.”
“I will not!” The Capitán shouted at the top of her lungs, her words echoing in the large attic, “With the Old Man’s choice, Volantis is all but lost, but we’re not, not yet. We believe that this anomaly is gestating, biding its time, and by the grace it accorded us, we’ve made some research into the remains it left in its wake. Ten people dove into the underbelly that night, ten DNA patterns found displayed across the rooms, but only nine skeletons to recognize them by. From these DNA patterns, only one of them was present in all of our samples, one simple string, that linked all of them together in a macabre demise. This culprit, this anomaly, whatever it is, it got out with its own bones and we have its trace. We only need you to find it and put an end to this before anyone else gets hurt, for the sake of Last Kunlun.”
“You cannot be trusted with this.”
“It’s not about me. Maybe I need to be more eloquent about what I’ve seen down there? Surely if you can’t trust my nose you’ll trust Closer’s eyes.”
“If you… get your hands on the lives of everyone…”
“What? Like you’re doing?
“I’m no tyrant!”
“Oh yes, Van Kalkain, you’re much worse. How fucking long have you sat in this fucking chair? And why are the ants at the Funerarium more aware of oddities around the city than you? Your Suits can feel it, you know, if not loyalty they still respect your devotion but for how long? I’ve become quite familiar with the one posted in Byzance… what’s her name, already…”
“Miste.”
“There it is,” The Capitán snapped her fingers, “Yeah she’s truly started feeling the weight of it all. You only read, you only count papers and sigh to yourself, making accounts for all of your work to sit in the dark, but Miste… and all her peers, they spend their lives, their sad, sad lives, holding the sanctity of mourning safe only by themselves, preventing this whole place from rotting from the inside. But it’s not about metaphors anymore, Suits won’t be able to dress wounds that bulge out of themselves. Let me find it, Van Kalkain, let me be who the city saw in me.”
She could feel him wavering, much to her annoyance she felt that he was only still mentally reckoning with the Old Man abandoning everyone, abandoning him. The Capitán needed him to focus on her. She leaned against the desk.
“The Old Man made his choice, and now he’s not here to force you into his shadow,” The Capitán whispered, “This is your moment, your choice matters now more than ever. Give me access to your files and this whole thing is over in two Knightcalls.”
“This is the only thing I can do…” Van Kalkain whispered in turn, his voice weak.
“It’s the only thing you can do?”
“It’s the only thing he could do… making sure you never get your way.”
The Capitán held her breath.
“It’s what he died for,” Van Kalkain continued, “It’s the only thing we can do, none of this should have ever happened. We’re stuck in limbo, toiling away for crimes we don’t understand having committed… It’s the only thing I can do, keep the monsters away from them.”
“The real monster is something way above your feelings against me.”
“It is, and maybe that’s why the Old Man did what he did… Maybe it’s just not something we should stop.”
The Capitán let out a spontaneous chuckle, stepping back from Van Kalkain’s desk. Was there truth in his madness? The Capitán only assumed the Old Man had given up on himself, something easily understandable from his age, but had he worked against Last Kunlun’s survival? 20 years ago she’d convinced herself it couldn’t have been true, even if no culprit had been found, even if he had refused to hand over Volantis despite it being an unwilling catalyst to propagate the compound that turned the entire city infertile. It could have been anyone, finding a way into the canals from anywhere in the city, someone with a little bit of chemical knowledge, at the wrong place at the wrong time. But it wouldn’t have been as easy as fueling it straight from the source. And now the Capitán knew that Van Kalkain had thought the same.
“Despite everything, the Old Man knows best then, right?” The Capitán spat, still smiling if only from a rising hatred overtaking the pity she felt for the human in front of her, “Never ever, did you doubt him, even if it turns your guts upside down.”
She took a few steps backward, preventing her from doing something unbecoming of the person she was on the Old Man’s altar last night. Van Kalkain didn’t rebuke, his movements so faint he might have died on his chair as well.
“Or maybe it doesn’t?”
“Leave.”
“So you’ll keep going? Torturing yourself with this endless flow of papers while I try to save everything that’s left?”
The Capitán already knew the answer. Van Kalkain would rather she killed him than leaving his post as Pillar of Life. A pale copy of the Old Man’s resolve, but a will that she wouldn’t be able to shake either way. Both of them gave up on fixing things a long time ago, maybe they never believed they could improve anything, simply working to prevent a flood because they knew that once the Sun came to its end, none of it would matter anymore. But it did not, and yet here he was, still on his throne, rotting in his own misery. These were the wretches that kept her from being the savior Last Kunlun needs. The Capitán breathed in, the ticking of the massive clock they stood beneath was a constant reminder of the time she had wasted, and time she was still wasting. If the Major and Sihvan would not find anything of value at the end of the rails, she might be tempted to lay on the garden’s dry grass and wait for World-Eater to win the game. Before she would send him on his merry way, she could send him to City Hall to rip Van Kalkain’s throat out, put him out of his misery. But the thought didn’t linger, she was not out of cards in play and tarnishing all the good will she had won over the city in a single day wouldn’t satisfy her. World-Eater’s patience was vindicating her call to not make rash decisions, if it wanted to make her change course, it would have to play first, whatever that would mean. Her attention went back to the dead air between them, Van Kalkain had remained deathly silent, as if he had run out of venom to spit at her.
“Don’t count on this calamity not knowing how to climb stairs, Van Kalkain,” The Capitán sighed, waving her hand back as she headed to the cable car, “I’ll be in touch, whether you want it or not.”