Chapter 2 – Web of Lies
For the next three weeks, Zain uses
his undead to destroy the enemies of Lampada. All the resources he obtains he
gives back to Lampada while only keeping the undead that he gains through
battle. He doesn’t mind that he’s barely rewarded for his actions because he
can sustain himself with his family’s land and the profit that he makes from it
along with the food and water grew on it. The most important thing that keeps
him going is that he’s finally accepted by the kingdom again while they
investigate the kingdom for the people responsible for corrupting it. They only
found one person that they brought to justice, but this sense of semi-normalcy
is enough for Zain.
The people of the other tribes have
hardly warmed up to Zain especially when he has his undead walk with him as if
it were normal. It’s even stranger when he hangs out with his undead friends and
family that he constantly talks to. Zain even dresses his friends and family in
the outfits they would wear when they were together. One day, Zain decides to
bring his friends and family to the tribe where Alain and Valentino are. Before
he goes to their house, he travels around the town to visit familiar locations.
Both of his old friends watch him from a distance as he approaches the house.
“If you didn’t think he lost his
mind, now you do,” Valentino says.
“I know he lost his mind when I looked
into his eyes, after he murdered that tribe,” Alain says with a sigh.
“What do you think we should do?”
“Nothing. Like we’re supposed to.
Things might get messy if we do anything.”
“You’re right. I can’t wait for the
moment when-”
“Hello, friends!” Zain says as he
enters the house. “Oh? They’re upstairs? Thank you for telling me.”
“I told them not to tell him that
we’re up here.”
“He won’t stay for long after I tell
him what he doesn’t want to hear.”
Zain barrages in the room with his
family and friends behind him and says, “Hello, Valentino and Alain! It’s been
too long since we last saw each other.”
His old friends turn around to look
at Zain’s smiling face and his family and friends waving at them. With a reaction
of disgust on their face, they turn back to look out the window.
“Ah! I must apologize for the last
time we met,” Zain says.
“We don’t want to hear it,”
Valentino says.
“Oh! That’s good because it was
kind of awkward, wasn’t it? Haha, anyways to repay what I did, here are some gifts
I brought for you.”
Zain’s friends bring Valentino and
Alain their gives and put them on a nearby table.
“For you, Valentino, I bought you
some armor and swords. I know how you like collecting exotic armor and weapons
that you show off and use. For you, Alain, I bought you the jewelry and
paintings that I said I would months ago. I didn’t have the money to buy them
before, but since I do now, I thought I would do what I said and-”
“Valentino and I are getting
married, Zain.”
“…haha, that’s great! I knew my friend
here had good taste.”
“You aren’t invited to the wedding.”
“How come? We’re friend-”
“We aren’t friends, Zain! You
stopped having any place in our life when you became…whatever it is you are
now.”
“Alain…Valentino…I’m still the same
Zain you remember.”
“The Zain I know is dead. Leave us.”
Zain’s family and friends try
reaching out to Alain and Valentino, but they hold out their hand to them.
“You are just as bad as him for
following him. We don’t want to hear from you either,” Alain says.
Caught off guard by what Alain said,
Zain leaves the house with his family and friends without saying anything.
“You weren’t too harsh on him,” Valentino
says.
“I was too soft,” Alain corrects.
Zain’s family and friends try to
comfort Zain as he begins to cry. He immediately leaves the town with them in
the hopes of getting what just happened out of his head. On the next day, a
messenger from Lampada gives Zain a new target to attack. His target is a foe
he’s faced before but never been able to kill. Now that he has an army of the
undead, maybe he finally can. He heads out with a small force equipped with weapons
he knows that will be effective to face this singular foe.
In the mountains, he finds the cave
where his enemy is. He sends in undead equipped with torches on their backs and
arrows lit with fire. They fire into the cave as they explore it to disarm
several traps and kill some large spiders. The other undead break through the cave’s
walls to destroy other traps and spiders while making sure to burn whatever
spiderwebs they find.
“Zain, it’s been too long,” a feminine
voice echoes from the caves.
“It’s been too short,” Zain
retorts.
“Don’t be like that. You’ve changed
a lot since we last met.”
“I almost died the last time we met
because I got myself ensnared in your traps.”
“Good times, right?”
“Far from it.”
“I know why you’re here. My little
spiders have told me.”
“Then you should give up. I know every
trick you have.”
“Oh, really now?”
Zain breaks through a part of the
cave’s wall that’s slightly open and finds his target behind it. He quickly catches
her and puts his sword to his neck.
“Yes, really.”
“You have changed, and it looks
like it’s for the better.”
“Don’t tease me, Verity, Mother of
the Spiders. I don’t even know why you call yourself that when you’re as old as
me.”
“It’s because I’m the mother of all
the spiders you killed.”
“You’re their mother only because
of the demonic spells that you’ve been using.”
“You’re no stranger to demonic
magic because of your undead army. You even use them for the same reason I use
my spiders. For revenge and justice.”
“I don’t use demonic magic. This
undead army was given to me by an angel.”
“That’s what you think. Even though
Lampada is full of hypocrites, they are right about you being a criminal.”
“I’m no longer a criminal to them.”
“They’re playing you for a fool
while they enact their plan against you as we speak. They’re burning down your
undead army and freeing them from their souls from their mortal bodies.”
“Why would I believe anything you
say?”
“Because I know more than you know.
My spiders tell me everything that happens on the outside.”
“If that’s true, tell me something
to convince me.”
“Yesterday, you bought armor and
swords for Valentino and jewelry and paintings for Alain. They didn’t take too
kindly to your gifts and booted you out of their house with their harsh words.
I’m sure hearing the news of them getting married destroyed your plans of
trying to remarry Alain. It’s a shame that the ring you bought will have no owner
other than yourself.”
“Tch, I guess you’re telling the
truth, but my undead army wouldn’t burn to ash because of a holy cleansing. My undead
army is holy. If the kingdom is really attacking them, then it’s in vain.”
“But it is effective, and your army
is being destroyed as we speak. How about I show you what’s happening through
my spiders?”
“No, I don’t want to be bitten by
you again.”
“Aww, but the time we had together
was so nice. I’ll promise to only give you a small bite to give you a glimpse.
What gain would I have in controlling you when your undead soldiers could kill
me in seconds after?”
“…okay. Get it over with.”
Verity softly bites Zain’s neck to
show him the perspective of Verity’s spiders that are watching his undead army
burn. While the two are sharing the vision, they are also sharing their
feelings. Both feel a sense of justice and relatability because of their shared
feelings of being hurt and losing loved ones.
“You…you feel the same things I have,”
Verity says in amazement with her teeth still on Zain’s neck.
The feeling of bonding with Verity
makes Zain uncomfortable so he tries to push her away while she tries to hold
on. Zain then gets his undead to pull her off him. He then takes a serum out of
his pocket and drinks it, so the effect of her bite wears off him.
“You bit me for too long,” Zain
says.
“I couldn’t help myself. Feeling that
we shared the same kind of emotions…was something else.”
“Whatever. You need to come with
me.”
“Why?”
“Because I need help to fight Lampada
if my army is really burned to ash.”
“Just because we shared a close moment
together doesn’t mean-”
Zain cuffs and binds Verity’s legs then
carries her out to his horse where they ride to his tribe’s town.
“You have a thing for kidnapping women
against their wills, don’t you?” Verity jokingly asks.
The thought of everything Zain has
being taken away from him again makes him focus on riding back home. When he
gets there, he sees that what he saw in the vision was true. His home is in
ruins as everything he’s built is destroyed. He looks around to see that the
undead are fading into dust. Zain’s friends are nearly gone when he finds them
and he’s too late to hold their hand that reaches out to him. Meanwhile, Verity breaks free of her restraints. She feels pity towards Zain and is reminded of when a similar event happened to
her.
While looking through the wreckage,
Zain finds his family. He holds them and tries not to cry as his family
silently tries to comfort him with their touch before they disappear into ash
along with the rest of everyone that Zain knew. His tears then overflow from
his face as he experiences overwhelming pain and sadness again like the last
time.
Verity approaches Zain from behind
and says, “Zain…I-”
“I don’t want to hear anything.
Please.”
“What? You don’t think I understand
what you’re going through? You know I do, or do I need to remind you what happened
to me?”
Zain remains silent in his grief.
“My family was poor until a rich
man offered us money to hire my mom as his maid. What I didn’t know during the
time was that he was using her as his plaything and when he got bored with her,
he threw her away like the other women he hired. My dad tried to get your tribe
to arrest him, but the authorities prevented any kind of investigation to happen,
so he went after him only to end up dead. I know what you’re going through, so
you can’t let this keep you down. You have to do something about it. Your tribe
enforced the law, remember? Why don’t you do your job?”
“…you’re right. Thank you.”
Verity was going to brush off his
thank you, but the words get stuck in her throat.
“Where do you think we should start?”
“Ah, what makes you think we’re
going to team up?”
“You want to get revenge and see that
justice happens, right? What was the point of that speech if you don’t?”
“…fine.”
The angel descends from the sky and
says, “Zain, you must avenge this travesty done to you again. Heaven commands
it, but do you really want to work with this woman? She dabbles in demonic
magic.”
“Says the demon. I can see through
your disguise. You aren’t fooling me,” Verity says.
“You lack the eyes of purity that
Zain has that allow him to see me for who I really am. I am no demon, spider
witch.”
“Please, angel. Purify her magic so
that she can do penance for her sins and help me achieve victory for God!”
“As you will it, so it shall be
done.”
A light shines on Verity that imbues
her with new power.
“I feel no difference at all except
now I see the demon as an angel,” Verity says.
“There’s more to blessings than
feeling, but at least your eyes are open. Are you ready to get the justice we
deserve? If we’re the bad guys in their eyes, then we’ll be the bad guys,” Zain
says.
After considering any alternatives
for a second, Verity looks at Zain and sees in him a friend that she can trust.
“Hell yes.”
“Don’t speak so improper.”
“Says the man who says that we’ll
be the bad guys.”
“Heh, on second thought, we won’t
just be the bad guys, we’ll be the villains. They won’t be able to take
whatever and kill whoever they want anymore while claiming to be morally superior.
We’ll make them pay for everything they did to us and everyone else. Just you
wait. They’ll suffer. They’ll all suffer.”
For the first time in a while,
Verity feels inspired and moved. She feels close to someone like she’s never
felt before and puts her hand on Zain’s back then smiles to show her approval.
He puts his hand on her shoulder and smiles before they head out of the ruins
of Zain’s tribe to plan their attack.
