WARBRINGERS: Revenge and Revolution

THE PUNISHER

        It was a very hot afternoon. It was so hot that you could feel the sun’s punishing hand reach for the back of your head like it wanted to sear your skin. The sky was vast, blue, and peaceful.

        It was the perfect day for a stoning.

        Even outside the coliseum, you could hear the excitement of the people of Cantata. They were looking forward to seeing someone getting stoned to death. One couple even brought their seven-year-old child, like it was a family event.

        Maybe it was. Stoning was something every Cantatan has to see. It teaches them a lesson: [King Doroteo leads with a cruel fist and he is not afraid to smash you into a pile of guts.]

        But Cantatans were happy being ruled like that because despite it being a very small kingdom--perhaps as big as a city in the modern world---a lot of crimes were still happening in it.

        Suliana sat at the front pew of the oval theatre. She looked at the big arch that served as the entrance of the coliseum, looking for her friends from the group of people entering the theatre. The venue was almost full, the people were chatting enthusiastically about seeing brain matter. She could smell the foods that people bought from the stalls in front of the coliseum--grilled chicken head, chopped pork head, minced beef head.

        Suliana’s eyes focused on the entrance, and she squealed when she saw the small figure of his friend, Gon. He walked sluggishly while looking at a piece of paper where his seat number was written. Suliana already reserved seats for her friends. She really wanted to see them.

        Especially Gon.

        Suliana bit her lip in anticipation of his arrival. She just stared at him as he climbed on the interior seating, and soon he was walking towards her. She smiled at him, but he didn’t smile back. He slumped off the seat beside her and sighed.

        “Wow. Thanks,” she said. “Thank you for being excited to see me, Gon.”

        Gon scratched his ears. “I’m sorry. It’s just… I’m going to be teased again by my fellow krills because of what you did.”

        “What did I do?”

        Gon wasn’t looking at her and was staring at the arena. The criminal was buried neck-deep in the ground, a thick white cloth covered his head. 

        “You paid my krill trader so I would not work today,” he said. “Again.”

        “You’d rather watch our soldiers wash their butts?”

        “Yeah,” Gon said. “Hairy butts are better than seeing someone getting murdered.”

        “Well, okay. But I bought food,” Suliana said as if that would lighten things up.

        Gon was a krill. They were the lowest of the low, the dirt beneath the feet of society. Their job was to work for the king and his soldiers. They could get assigned in fields--plow the land, harvest the crops, which are all hard work. They could get assigned to construction--carry bricks and build foundations which are also difficult.

        However, the most demeaning job a krill could get assigned to is taking care of the soldiers. Gon told her that soldiers can be really demanding, and sometimes cruel.

        One time, a soldier made Gon lick his combat shoes that he just jizzed on. Gon refused and it resulted in a beating.

        “And it’s not just a simple teasing,” Gon said. “The krills are going to hate me. They’d spend the rest of the day working their asses off while I’m here, watching Cantata’s favorite show.”

        “I want to spend time with you, and I’m not going to apologize for that.”

        “I also want to spend time with you, but next time please don’t pay the krill trader for my day.”

        “Okay, I’d spend my money on better things like earplugs so I can use it when you whine,” Suliana said jokingly. From the pocket of her skirt, she pulled out a cigarette. From the other pocket, she pulled out a match, strike it at the concrete seat in front of her and it hissed when it was engulfed in flames. She lit the cigarette and puffed.

        I just wanted to see you, she wanted to say. Her lungs ached when it was filled with smoke, but not much as it did when she craved to kiss him but couldn’t. She’d been in love with him ever since they were young, but he never seemed to notice.

         Once, she almost confessed. It was her birthday and he surprised her with a gift--a purple brooch. He was standing outside their house, wearing his white smock that turned brown with caking mud. His loose brown pants are tattered and he was barefoot, looking more of a lost boy than a krill.

        [“Come on, come inside,” she remembered saying.]

        [“No, I can’t. My krill trader will beat me,” he said. His smile was sweet and she wanted to taste the end of his curled lips. His gray eyes were as bright as the naked moon. Of course all Cantatans have gray eyes and hair, but his was more beautiful. His face was small she can cup it on her hands, wipe the dirt off it. He’s like Arturos, that Cantatan myth of a man so beautiful that even men wanted to f**k him.]

        [“I just want to give you my gift. Sorry, it’s… it’s not real amethyst. It’s fake, but it’s beautiful.”]

        Suliana blew smoke, wanting to blur the memory. She was looking at the arena when someone tapped her on the shoulder she almost jumped.

        “Sorry I’m late,” Camia said. She’s also a krill. She wore that female krill uniform, that brown smock that almost reached her feet. An apron was wrapped around her waist. Suliana also paid for her day. “My krill trader wouldn’t let me go without taking the bread from the oven first.”

        Female krills usually work in kitchens. They also keep the castle clean. And they would also sweep in the roads of Cantata. They are not allowed to serve soldiers because they are seen as distractions.

        “I hate stoning,” Camia said, looking at the arena. And then she looked at her. “Can I have a puff?”

        Suliana nodded, fished out one cigarette from her pocket, and gave it to Camia. Camia put the butt in her mouth and leaned towards her so the tip would touch her cigarette.

        “I know,” Suliana said. “But I am just looking forward to seeing both of you and you are not allowed to enter shops so…”

        “But we krills are allowed to witness this c*****e,” said Camia.

        “It’s King Doroteo’s way of scaring everyone in Cantata,” said Gon.

        “If he wanted to scare us, he should just ask us to look at his nose closely,” said Suliana.

        Gon heard that and giggle. Camia smirked and continued smoking.

        “Big nose he has,” Camia said.

        King Doroteo has a big nose. It is brown, plump, greasy and it has spots, like overripe fruit.

        “If he squeezed that nose, gunk will come out, I am telling you,” said Suliana.

        “Shush,” said Gon. “If other people hear you, they’re going to beat you.”

        “Because they’re stupid,” said Camia. “And they’re blind.”

        Cantatans have high regard for King Doroteo. He is crass and unapologetic and they think it’s better than a tactful leader. He is a womanizer and he often makes jokes at the expense of women that are not funny. Cantatans called him “Akir,” or father. Well, he is a father--that is if your father makes uncomfortable rape jokes and compares themselves to genocidal dictators.

        Cantatans are so obsessed with King Doroteo that some women are forced to change the appearance of their noses, make them look similar to the king’s nose. That’s why most of the women of Cantata have a bulbous nose with spots on it. Some people in the coliseum even brought flaglets with the drawing of King Doroteo’s nose on it.

        “One day, everyone is going to see that King Doroteo is a sham,” Camia said.

        Before Suliana could react to that, the low sound of trumpets was heard. Everyone in the coliseum got silent. The small gate to the arena opened and soldiers came in walking, their backs straight. King Doroteo soon came out, wearing a blood-red tunic and cape, two beautiful women clutching each of his arms.

        Suliana and her friends reached for the magnifying masks that were on the ground. It was like the mask on masquerade parties, colorful and has magic feathers. Once spectators looked through the eye holes, they can see everything happening in the coliseum closely.

         King Doroteo was smiling, the left corner of his lip almost drooping with old age. His face was gleaming with oil, his eyes bloodshot with lack of sleep.

        One of the soldiers approached King Doroteo and gave him a metallic tube filled with the ashes of a lion. This tube is a shingku, it is used so everyone can hear what he is about to say. “Good day Cantatans!” he said in a raspy voice. “Welcome to another stoning!”

        The silence was broken as the crowd cheered. They punched the air like enthusiastic teenagers. Women started squeezing their bulbous noses as a way to show support.

        King Doroteo looked around the oval theatre with a smile on his lips. He raised his hand and put it on the top of his head, a sign that means he’s calling for silence. The noise died down.

        “Today, we are going to see a naseri get murdered.” A “naseri” is a person who sells or smokes lamend. Lamend is a plant that can destroy the mind, as much as it can make the person happy. “Few detractors say that killing naseris are inhumane. I say… pffft.” He blew a raspberry.

        The men laughed. Women squeezed their noses harder.

        “They don’t deserve mercy. They ruin the peace of Cantata. They are sons of bitches.”

        King Doroteo likes to swear, and for some reason, Cantatans love this about him.

        “They are sons of whores who don’t deserve bitches like these two,” he said, pointing the two women beside him by pouting his lips.

        The men in the crowd kept repeating the word “bitches”. A nearby akir--father, was explaining to his seven-year-old what “bitches” means. “It means women,” Suliana heard him say. “So amir is a b***h?” the boy replied, referring to his mother.

        Camia spat on the ground; her face wrinkled with disgust. “Sick bastard,” she said.

        “Shhh,” Suliana warned.

        “This is what I know,” King Doroteo continued. “Naseris bring the kingdom down. So we should destroy them. We should revel in their filthy blood. Let it flow, let it soak the ground. It’s filthier than soil. Let it flow, let it spread!”

         The crowd went ballistic at this point. The screams and laughs of the men sounded like a wail of a big dragon. The women kept on squeezing their noses until they turn red.

        King Doroteo grinned, spread one of his arm to his side, and said, “Let the stoning begin!”