The Omega Bond (Book Five in the Omega Game series)

Kotani The Yellow Islands Present… I swallowed the white smoke inside of my mouth, tasting the burn of the drug in the back of my throat. White lotus seed tasted like perfume and death, sweet and tender, deceptively appetizing. Any other would have long died after consuming so much of the venomous hallucigen as I did. Dusted and rolled up as a tobacco, the seed only drugged you for a short amount of time. Diluted in water or wine could be fatal. Smoked and rolled up in a cigarette could definitely kill you.  My eyes studied the brown cigarette in my hand. I’ve lost count of how much of the seed I’ve grinded and mixed with the perfumed leaves I liked to smoke from time to time. Did it matter? The thought made me laugh, while I sat there, all alone. I could smoke the seeds directly from the flower and nothing would ever happen to me. The Boosaardig would never be separated from the vessel he loved so much. I couldn’t be killed, not in the way that others could be killed. The fucker was hard as nails.There was no venom that could infect my blood. No weapon that could wound my skin. No hope. No dreams. No ending to the eternal cycle of mornings and nights that felt and looked the same. I tried to relax in the comfortable seat of my office. My head rolled over the back of the armchair while smoke and whispers blended inside of my mind. Memories and illusions copulated like drops of blood falling in a cup of water. Blood...the taste of an innocent soul, more whispers from the past. Whispers from the dead. Corpses long rotten opening mouths that birthed maggots. Wet dirt. Laughter. Mad laughter. More whispers and the taste of death against my teeth. Inhale. Burn. Death. I was still dying in a loop when I heard a knock at the door. One look at the open window alerted me that it was still dark outside. The city was quiet. I shook my head once, trying to dissipate the gentle touch of the ghosts that never left my side. My head was still heavy, full of the toxins that numbed my mind for the sweet mercy of a couple of hours of peace. Deep in my head echoed the laughter of my eternal companion, finding my failed escape very amusing. I growled some sort of order and the door opened gently, letting in a small Beta with worried eyes. “My King…”Alani started saying. I could tell she wanted to ask me about the cigarette still hanging from my fingers. She was worried about me, but she didn’t need to. I was just as empty as I’ve always been. The drug was only a temporal fix, something I liked to do from time to time to regain some clarity. I wasn’t addicted to it as some other Alphas from the Yellow Islands were. For them, experiencing death was an immersive experience. For me it was just another sunset in the series of unchangeable days that was my existence. “Why are you here?” I asked her, putting the cigarette down and resting three fingers against my temples to alleviate some of the receding side effects of the drug. Alani wriggled her fingers nervously. Slowly I realized she seemed paler. The Beta was dressed in her nightgown and she was barefoot. I’ve never seen Alani looking unkempt. She valued being the chief of staff of the palace more than anything. Alani honestly believed her appearance was a direct representation of the internal affairs of the country. For her to have come to me in such a rush could only mean something had happened. The rest of the numbness spreaded by the drug dissipated at once. I leaned in my seat, narrowing my eyes at her, “What happened?” “You might want to see this,” she whispered, her eyes lowered in submission at my harsh tone. In silence we both exited the royal chambers. At the late hour there were only Alphas guards making the rounds around the palace. The city at the limits of the palace appeared to be sleeping. My eyes studied the royal grounds while the Boosaardig took notice of all the small details it liked to remember. The fucker was smart and conniving, like only true monsters were. It had an impressive memory and a way to categorize small details into organized compartments that left nothing amiss. The wind is moving from the west...three scents in the air, ashes of firewood, burnt alcohol and blood… one Alpha guard is limping from his left leg, his breath smells like wine, Alani’s robe is backwards…the soul of a child is close by… I ignored the hunger that opened my stomach at the tempting scent of a young soul. It wasn’t my hunger, it was the Boosaardig’s hunger for its favorite snack. A long time ago I learned to separate my own hunger from his. Mine could be temporal, his was a constant thorn on my side, reminding me day and night I was just a vessel of a monster that hungered for things it couldn’t have. Things we both can’t have...it said in my ear and when I ignored his words it just kept repeating them against my ears over and over. The bastard couldn’t deal with not being the center of attention all the time. To ignore the monster I studied the wet stones of the pavemented bridges. The fog coming from the sea. The snapping sound of our red flag waving in the air. The unbridled sound  of the Beta’s heartbeat walking by my side and then the shaking sound of a man who had pissed himself at the corner of the hall we entered. The man wasn’t born to any dynamic, his unscented flesh was like an empty space to my senses when I passed him. He fell on his knees, murmuring blessing and prayers after me until I reached the end of the corridor. I could taste his fear in the air. Whatever had happened, it had terrified the poor bastard. “Here it is,” whispered Alani and then paused in front of an inconspicuous door at the servant’s quarters. Alani pointed her chin up, to the man that was still trembling, “He found her. It seems they were friends.”  She lifted her hand as if to open the door and then swallowed, pushing her hand back and touching her chest while she shook in fear. I looked from her to the door and then all around us. The servant’s quarters were at the back of the palace and it was a city in its own class. There were three main residential buildings, interconnected by aerial bridges. We were currently in the third building, the one that collided with a cliff that connected with the eastern coast of the island.  I knew before even opening the door that death had touched this place. It was a sweet smell, one I knew too well. I sniffed, letting the monster catalog every scent. The Boosaardig snarled in disgust at the sour taste of fear coming from the Beta at our side and then paused, giving me back all of my senses. I forced myself to sniff the air again, looking for more clues of what exactly had happened in this room. There were traces of fear, rage and violence but I couldn’t discern any scent beyond those human emotions permeating the air. I pushed Alani behind, opening the door and entering the small servant’s room. There wasn’t much to see. A small desk by the open window, a carpet on the stone floor and a bed. Over the perfectly made mattress was a motionless body. Human, girl, not belonging to any dynamic. I analyzed her face trying to remember if I’d seen her before. The palace was full of human servants without any scent, she was just one of thousands of servants and still my heart hurt for the people who loved her. She was someone's daughter, someone’s friend, someone’s sister...Just to think that something like this could happen to Didoka made me rage and seethe in anger. But I reined it in, like I always did, like I would always do because my body wasn’t mine to control. Instead I let the Boosaardig come out to play again. It enjoyed playing and studying human events like these. Coldly we both moved while the monster inspected the body with a logical, observant and inhuman perspective. From above we could only see a dead girl's body. She is eighteen...virgin...innocent soul but a tad bland to the taste...asphyxiated...not long ago. My eyes reviewed the space between the bed and the night table at its side. There was an open book on top and a cup full of cold tea. She hadn’t been expecting anyone. It had been supposed to be a quiet night. I looked down again at her brown hair and her closed eyes. On her neck was a black cord choker but by the looks of it she hadn’t been killed with it. Maybe a pillow, or a cloth… “Was she...do you think…?” Alani stammered from the door, crossing her arms around herself while she tried not to look at the girl. The Boosaardig hissed in anger. Life should be respected better than that. Growled the Boosaardig and not for the first time I agreed with the wise monster. I also hated when people lacked the courage to look death in the eyes. It made them all weak and small, like little ants that couldn’t help but to blindly follow the line of incessant repetitions. “Killed,” I said hoarsely, my throat still felt dry after smoking my cigarette, “Not long ago. There are traces of violence and hate all around her.” “Do you smell who did it?” asked Alani and I grinded my molars, not liking the fact I didn’t have an answer to that question. No, I couldn’t scent who had killed her, which was a problem. Either the killer didn’t belong to any dynamic or it had managed to hide his scent so perfectly that neither me nor the Boosardig could scent him. I would need to investigate this murder personally. Starting by learning who was the victim and everything related to her last hours alive. I was about to ask Alani for everything that she knew about the girl when an explosion of golden light seemed to shake the entire world. The city was awakened by screams of surprise and terror while I moved slowly to the window of the room and looked at the open sea in stupefaction. A thousand suns seemed to have exploded and detonated in a tunnel of light that reached the sky, alerting the world that something amazing and powerful had been born. The world had never seen anything like it and to my own surprise I felt worried at the sight. Such power could only be hated if it wasn’t properly understood. Was the world ready to understand monsters like me? Was it ready to understand there were horrors out there, that were more eternal than death? That light coming from the Dark Desert could only mean one thing. The Neutralizer had been found.