Curse of Cognizance: Chapter 3 – Puppet Masters and Their Masters

Chapter 3 – Puppet Masters and Their Masters

Gloria is the next city that Tenebris finds himself in. It’s in a state of constant war and fighting with no one appearing to be Purposeless because of all the Divinus as people preach falsehood laced with some truth that they want to be completely true.

“Even as our sense of good and evil fade, the powers that be want to take away our right and sneak through laws that benefit themselves,” one Divinus says on one street corner.

“Let the heroes and villains toil and spill each other’s blood over the Flame. We have the God-given responsibility to keep our kingdoms and ways of life safe,” another says.

“The Pillars of faith and family have fallen, and the fact that our kingdom still stands is a testament that it is the most important one and blessed above all! The church doesn’t supply you with your daily needs nor does your family. What you have is thanks to the God-appointed kings, governors, and city leaders,” yet another says.

This crowd of useless debates where both sides argue and bicker with each other makes Tenebris wish for a fight that he doesn’t yet get. People try to get him to join their side and yell at him when he refuses with silence. Spies of the Divinus keep an eye on him and talk to their evangelist and Divinus to make the crowds of the city force Tenebris take a certain path through the city. He notices that he’s being led into a trap but doesn’t care since he’d rather have some direction and an enemy that he should be focusing on since he has no idea which side has the key to the Flame. Walking headfirst into their trap, Tenebris finds himself in a town hall that’s housing a debate between three kingdoms, a place where he wanted to be the least, and even worse, there’s no exit since the crowds are surrounding him.

“Do you show us no respect when you enter our presence?” one of the leaders says.

Tenebris recognizes the man speaking to him as the king of his kingdom. Next to him are other worldly leaders, so he gives them a little bow.

“You should be giving us more respect than that because you and your black doves and cult would’ve been put to jail sooner if it weren’t for us taking a liking to your plan, but that isn’t important right now. What is important is whose side you think is right. Do this and we’ll give you the key to the Flame. Simple, is it not?” another leader says.

Tenebris shrugs and rolls his eyes as he sits down to listen to what they have to say.

“Let us begin. Since borders and the rule of law no longer matters, I think that we should all merge into a singular kingdom. The people can keep their culture, but the laws must be changed so that one part of the kingdom cannot get away with what is illegal in another part. One of these laws concerns a higher tax rate. As you know, there are few innovators and leaders in the world and they need all the funding they need to improve the country for everyone else, so it stands to reason that the rest of the country should raise up the talented so the whole country can prosper.”

“I, on the other hand, oppose this because the workers and businesses below the rich will suffer and never grow past a certain point. I want lower taxes and greater freedom so that businesses and people can grow as much as they want. Sure, there might not be as many laws, but people with common sense don’t need many laws especially if they are devoted to God, family, work, and country.”

“If you’re looking for a middle ground between these two, I’m your guy. I’ll equally tax people depending on how much they earn while also making the laws flexible so they can be changed to fit the times and new discoveries in knowledge and truth. We should also let people live their own truth since everyone sees God’s truth in different ways.”

“So, what’s your decision?”

To Tenebris, all three kingdoms sound the same. Their voices and opinions are slightly different and he agrees with none of them even though he finds somewhat agreeable parts in all of them. Not only do the leaders’ opinions sound similar, but they also look similar, and looking closer at them, Tenebris sees the black flame within them all with flames on top of their heads as if they are human-sized puppets.

“We’ll ask again. What’s your decision?”

Following the lines of flame, Tenebris sees the point where they connect and fires out a ball of flame from his hand and explodes a place where a towering man falls out of. He has horns of black flames that are coming out of his eyes and has a puppet-like face with a long nose. The followers of this Divinus and Pillar are split when they see him with some losing their faith and becoming Purposeless while others argue about what they should do now. The evangelists of the Pillar try to convince them all to continue to support him despite being lied to.

“That was very perceptive of you to notice my black flame strings, Tenebris, though I still must ask you which side would you choose?” the puppet master says.

Tenebris shakes his head and points to the key that’s hanging on the black pants of the puppet master’s waist.

“If you aren’t going to cooperate, then I’ll have to use a little coercion. Feast your eyes on these.”

The evangelists bring gifts of all kinds to Tenebris like gold, swords, armor, holy artifacts, and even men, women, and children.

“I can set you up for life. I can even give you a family to replace your old one. Just say yes to me once. You can always change your mind later, but give me this one yes so I can use it when the Flame burns brightly again. You won’t have to feel guilty about it if you change your mind. Most politicians do it all the time. It’s part of why I was able to make these three puppets of mine. The black flame has allowed me to use my multi-faced nature to make puppets powered by the flame. It’s a way to safely lie without having to own it myself as long as you don’t see the man behind the curtain.”

Done with the man’s lies, Tenebris shakes his head, pushes aside the evangelists, and approaches the puppet master with his sword pointed at the key again.

“Bold of you to approach me even though I have a group of followers around me. Let’s see if you’re willing to do evil to achieve good like a real politician.”

The puppet master’s strings of black flame go into everyone in the town hall and light them in a black flame. He then uses these people to attack Tenebris who destroys them all by smashing the ground and making black flames sprout out from them to burn everything but him. With the puppet master injured, Tenebris walks up to him and is about to finish him off. To his surprise, the puppet master hands over his key.

“Take it. I never cared for the Flame anyway. Man’s sense of good and evil always made it difficult for me to pass laws and take actions that would benefit our kingdom. Our home. People may say that we politicians are always two-faced liars, and I agree with them, but they’re no different than us when they make excuses for their sins and try to play ignorant when they should’ve known better. We all lie to make ourselves as innocent as possible so we can live with ourselves. A real man can take responsibility for his actions and still be able to live with himself, so tell me, what excuse do you have for killing all those people? Self-defense? Because they were already going to die even if you tried to spare them? Do you have any regrets?”

Tenebris shakes his head before leaving the puppet master to burn in the town hall. People all over Gloria start becoming like the people from Ecclesia with more people becoming Divinus and Purposeless since the evangelists of the puppet master have no clue what to do without their leader as people struggle and fight to fill the gap that was left by him. Meanwhile, the white and black doves spread the word of Tenebris’ victory, however, with only one key remaining it doesn’t do much to spur the world’s population on especially since the Flame is quickly dying.