A Union of Hearts: Mercy & Justice: Chapter 2 – Knowing Your Enemy

*Concept art for the dragons of mercy (left) and justice (right)

Chapter 2 – Knowing Your Enemy

After flying for a while, I see that Caleb has fallen seemingly asleep on his dragon.

“Shouldn’t you stay awake just in case we’re ambushed along the way?” I ask.

“I’d like an ambush right about now. You know I hate nothing more than doing nothing. Besides, my dragon will wake me up if there is a surprise attack,” Caleb says.

Tch. Caleb can never enjoy relaxation outside of sparring, sports, working out, and sleep. He never really does like traveling or going places just to admire their beauty. I guess I can’t blame him too much because of the culture he was born into. Looking below us, I see the simple rolling hills and forests that always amaze me with their natural beauty.

“After we bring Absalom to judgment, we should go camping again,” I suggest.

“Sure, it’ll be a good excuse for getting out of politics,” he nonchalantly says.

“If we do have to deal with political matters when we get back, then our rest will have to wait.”

“Nah, we can let your side of the family handle it. I’d rather rake my brain trying to make poetry with you in the forest than deal with the politics of kingdoms and the Church.”

“Then I’ll make you sing and dance to those poems if that’s really what you prefer.”

“Sure, I accept that over politics.”

If it doesn’t have to deal with duty or politics, Caleb doesn’t care. The part of the kingdom he’s from leaves politics to my side, however, they are very duty bound and if something needs to be done, then they do it in one way with no questions asked and everything else becomes secondary. My side of the kingdom does value duty, but it also questions the way to accomplish it with mercy and justice being the obvious example. Also, part of me wishes Caleb didn’t always say “sure” to everything I suggest if there isn’t anything else he thinks is important that needs to be done.

 “Promise me that the next time our appearance is mandatory at the next meetings you won’t just skim over the information and make me make the decision for us?”

“I promise that all the information that doesn’t interest me won’t stick to my brain.”

“You know politics can be interesting to be in.”

“Liar.”

“I’m not. It’s like a game of chess and there are better ways to play it than just letting my side of the kingdom and me make all the decisions.”

“But your side is the best at it. If my side or I tried our hand at it, then it wouldn’t end so well as the history of our kingdom has shown. There’s a reason why we’re the duty bound soldiers and you’re the big brained statescraftsmen. You aren’t called the Wise Princess Kyla for nothing.”

He's right and I can never argue around it so the conversation ends here. If only he could make arguments like this when we are making decisions for the kingdom, then he’d make a fine politician rather than just being a warrior prince. The only joy I find in this is his confidence and trust in the decisions I make, however, we are still the prince and princess of our kingdom and must make decisions together rather than him always saying “nah, you deal with it”.

“Be alert! Our destination is close by,” I say.

“Finally,” Caleb says while stretching.

The city we’re in is one from my side of the kingdom where my parents should be. Cities from my side are modeled after cities dreamt of in fairy tales and what future cities might look like when all evil and falsehood is erased from the world. Most of the buildings are a silvery or white color except for the churches which are light gold. When the color fades or is dirtied, the buildings are repainted or even given colorful designs based on the wants of the building’s owners. People dance, make music, paint, erect statues, and write stories in the streets of the city as one creative force for the gain of each other and to proclaim the goodness and beauty of the Absolute.

As we land in the city, Caleb and I find it strange that no one comes to greet us or acknowledges our presence. My vision begins to blur and my hearing starts to become deaf. I reach out to Caleb, but he and everything around me disappears as all becomes black. My dragon is also gone and I can't summon it. It feels as if something is constricting my heart and abilities. Soon after, my body changes, and I become smaller and wear different clothes. The blackness disappears and presents a battle I remember being in. This was between a rebel city and Caleb and I were sent in to put an end to the violence. Unfortunately, it wasn't so cut and dry.

The enemy was prepared for us and had a few conceited people who could blow themselves up and they did when we had the advantage. Bodies from both sides liter the battlefield in front of the besieged city with my own body now being heavily injured as it remembers the situation I was in. A large force of enemies is coming in to finish off the wounded. Meanwhile, I feel that I am unable to move and may die any second now because of my wounds. It is then that Caleb, who is as injured as I am, stands in front of me. He can hardly manage to stand and even falls to his knees as he struggles to.

“Save yourself!” I say.

“What kind of husband leaves his wife to die alone?” he asks.

Now, he manages to stand, but he is quickly stabbed through the chest after only taking down a few of the conceited. I scream out and raise my hammers with the nonexistent strength in my body and kill a few of the conceited as well before a blade goes through my chest as well. Time slowly goes by as I feel a beating in my heart that defies my dying body. Blue flames engulf me and completely heal me while Caleb is engulfed in crimson flames and healed to full as well. Our dragons manifest themselves in these flames and burn all of the conceited around us to ash. This was the first time our Heart Absolute ability showed itself and the event seems to have temporarily broken the spell on us as everything turns to black again before putting Caleb and me into a castle that’s decorated with designs of black hearts contrasted by white and gold walls, ceilings, and floors.

From one of these hearts comes a person cloaked in darkness, dressed in black, and crowned with a spiky black crown. Despite his appearance, I recognize him as Absalom. His face and body are scarred, a large heart-shaped hole is in his chest that exposes his shriveled black heart, and his once glowing green eyes that I’ve heard about are now a dark green and dark grey.

“Thanks for saving us the trouble of finding you, Absalom. You have a lot to answer for,” Caleb says.

“You cannot harm me where we are. This is a dream after all,” Absalom says.

“A dream?” I ask.

“Yes, a dream. One of my supporters from your kingdom has the ability to look through a person’s memories and allow them to relive certain ones in a dream.”

“I know who you’re talking about but I can’t remember his name.”

“I don’t blame you since not many do. They only know him for his ability and nothing more. He’s a good man that got by on his job but wanted to do something more with his life to help people more than he could. Making people happy by allowing them to relive the past doesn’t do much if anything for their present situation, so with the help of my specter that possesses him and gives him strength, I gave enhanced his Heart Absolute ability so that people can live through their memories and alter them with their minds to live the life they want. At the same time, their bodies go about taking care of themselves. He can also put people into dreams that are within a large vicinity around him. Even now, both of your bodies are resting or getting some food to eat or something to drink so that you stay alive outside of this dream.”

“We can't control what we're dreaming. Where's our control? If this is a dream I can control, why aren't you dead yet?” Caleb asks.

“You can't kill a person in a dream and you have no control because my friend hasn't given you control. He's given control of your dreams to me instead because I want to look into your memories and I want to show you my own.”

“We don't care about that. We've only come to bring you to judgment.”

“Hmph. We'll see if you don't care by the end of it.”

Again, Caleb and I are separated this time by a wall that comes out of the ground, and again, I am unable to summon my dragon. My body becomes younger and the castle around me turns into the castle I was raised in. I can see what Absalom is trying to learn about me. My brothers and sisters come out of their rooms dressed for the challenges they have to face.

“You'll lose this time, Kyla,” one of them says.

“I'll be the princess of Simbiosi,” another says.

“You aren't skilled enough for it. You should just let me represent the family.”

This I remember too well. My siblings and I competed to be the representative of our family. They said a lot of mean things some of which they said to be competitive or to a joke. After that, we had to see if we would fall in love with someone from the other side of the kingdom. That's when I met Caleb. My surroundings and body change to reflect the change in the time period. I remember seeing Caleb training in a garden with training dummies. At the time, I was cautious to approach him not only because there are those in my kingdom that view the other side as single-minded soldiers who always resort to execution and violence, but also because I felt a connection in my heart to him. This type of feeling is from the Absolute that we met the person we were meant to be with.

Caleb seems to have felt this tug in his heart toward me as well. He turns around and is stunned to say anything at first. Every now and then, I get this sense from seeing him that feels like a taste of the Land of the True. A taste of Heaven. We look into each other's eyes for a time as we remember the first time seeing each other before turning back into our usual selves. The area shifts into a forest with Absalom sitting under a tree.

“Your story together seems romantic. Something that would be told in a fairy tale,” Absalom says.

“Thanks, but I've had enough of this,” Caleb says before taking his spear from his back and throwing it at Absalom.

The spear passes through Absalom and then appears back on Caleb's back. We see two boys fighting off a large pack of wolves.

“Run! I'll hold them off for you,” the older brother says while pushing away the youngest.

At first, the youngest does what the oldest says but then runs back when he sees that the oldest is surrounded by wolves. The youngest runs back with his arm out for his brother and this is when white specters in the form of legless knights armed with swords, spears, and shields appear and fight off the wolves for the brothers.

“As you can see, the story behind my Heart Absolute ability isn’t as story worthy as yours,” Absalom says as the area around us shifts to what he tells us next. “Once I got my Heart Absolute ability, I tried to help as many people as I could and as a result, I attracted the attention of the Church and the royalty of the kingdom. Before I turned twenty, I fell in love and had a child.”

Everything around us comes to a sudden stop as the setting is stuck in a burning town.

“I know this part of your life. Your family was killed by a rogue kingdom of the conceited,” I say.

“That’s right. There was barely enough of them to bury when I saw their bodies. The event still haunts me to this day as you can see in the specters I conjure. Some of them look like mangled bodies and limbless infants with blades for heads for this reason. My superiors said they would be protected and I had nothing to worry about, but that wasn’t true. Even so, I directed my anger to the correct source and punished those who killed my family. After a couple of years, I was okay and blessed enough to have a new family…but…”

“They were killed as well even though they were protected by people close to you.”

“…yes…”

This memory is drastically affecting him. He holds one of his cloaked arms over his face and we can hear cries all around us.

“Look, we know that it’s sad what happened to your family, but it doesn’t excuse what you’re doing now,” Caleb says.

“How does it not?” Absalom says as he collects himself, “I’m trying to create a better world through my army of specters.”

“You’re making people conceited and you’ve attacked our home and the homes of many others!”

“I have done no such thing.”

“The people that you’ve killed would say otherwise.”

“I gave strict orders to my allies and specters to not kill or harm anyone. The attack on your home was meant to be a show of force with damage only done to the city and not to its citizens.”

“That’s not what happened. You should know.”

“I do know. I felt the pain of every specter that you strike down though you cannot kill me by killing them as you can see. What is this? I can see in your memories that you’re telling the truth. Something’s wrong with this. What is it?”

Absalom seems genuinely confused and distressed at what we’re telling him as he paces back and forth while whispering to himself.

“Even if you didn’t attack anyone, it’s still wrong to convince people to be as conceited as you. You damn their souls to the Land of the Forgotten when you make them sin and lose themselves.”

“The Absolute makes use of the conceited to bring about greater things. Even those who have their Heart Absolute abilities, fall to sin every once in a while, no matter how dedicated they are to being true to their real selves. With my conceited ability, I am no longer constricted to the number of specters I can conjure and I can empower the abilities of my allies with them. My Heart Absolute ability is nothing in comparison to what I can do now. Once my influence spreads throughout the word, I can empower the weak, defend the innocent at a moment’s notice, cease all conflict by force, and give my new family and all families the peaceful world they deserve.”

“I don’t believe your plan will work,” I say.

“Nothing good can come from those who are conceited and refuse to change,” Caleb adds.

“If I don’t do what I need to, then the world will continue to be engulfed in wars and violence. You won’t even need to fight anymore in the world I’ll create. You’ll only need to govern and enjoy it. How does this world of peace not seem like one the Absolute wills to create?”

“We already told you that you will damn souls despite your best intentions,” I say.

Something seems to have taken Absalom’s attention away from us.

“Then we’ll have to agree to disagree for now. Your parents are breaking through their dream, Kyla. This will wake up everyone else as a result and you’ll have to deal with my allies who will defend themselves if you attack them. Also, be careful with your citizens. You did wake them up from the best dream they’ve had in a while.”

The dream around Caleb and I fades away and we find ourselves back in the city with people waking up and wondering why they stopped dreaming. An explosion catches everyone’s attention. In the distance we see my parents fighting people in the air. My parents can manifest see-through parts of the dragon of mercy on their bodies such as the wings, head, and legs to help them in battle. It’s their Heart Absolute ability that they use more for seeing if a person is innocent and transportation than combat. Caleb and I jump on our dragons and aid them in the air. As we get closer, I see that the people that my parents are fighting have Absalom’s specters help them fly as if they were puppets.

“Mother, father! We’re here to help!” I say to them as we join the fight.

“Glad to see you’re here, my daughter,” my mother says.

“Let’s finish this fight together then give them their trial assuming that our flames don’t burn them to ash,” my father says.

Together, my parents, Caleb, and I defeat the few conceited and the small squadron of specters they have as a backup and bring those that survive to the court square where people are publicly judged in front of the city. Some in the city are mad that they were taken out of the dream and the guards in the city have to make sure a riot isn’t started. Others are mad that what they were seeing was a dream and want Absalom’s supporters put to death, and finally, there are citizens who are not sure what is and what isn’t real because of how long they were dreaming or because they were so engrossed in the dreams.

“Put us in prison or kill us and stop wasting our time,” one of the conceited says.

“You deserve the honor of a trial as is the tradition of our people,” my father says.

Caleb rolls his eyes and obviously wants to get this done as fast as the conceited do. Regardless, the conceited are allowed to defend their actions to receive a lesser sentence.

“We did what our hearts told us to do because we could no longer deal with the reality of this world that is constantly at war and filled with violence and tragedy. Absalom has the best solutions that the Church and the many kingdoms of the world lack. He will be our king, army, and guard all in one man. Though he makes us conceited and he is conceited, he is the closest thing to having the Absolute in the flesh today,” one of the conceited says.

The other conceited say the same things in different ways and add in their praise for Absalom and how he helped them. My parents and Caleb give their judgments of them and decide their fate. What am I even going to say? My parents say they should be put in jail for five years and must work community service that fits their particular abilities until they repent. On the other hand, Caleb says that they should be put to work and jail until their deaths or they repent as is the usual sentence of this magnitude from his side of the kingdom. His side used to enslave their prisoners if they didn’t kill them decades ago before our two sides of the kingdom came together.

Should I have them executed? There’s a loud cry in the crowd for it and I’m feeling the urge to. These people were able to put this entire city in a dream. My parents were able to break it, but it took them a lot of time to do it. Who knows if Absalom will send more specters here to strengthen them and put everyone in a deeper dream. Part of me also wants to spare them and agree with either my parents or Caleb. Even though they were spared from being turned to ash, this could be a test of my judgment. People who have been spared from the flames of mercy and justice don’t always turn to ash if they deserve it. Caleb and I learned that the hard way and had to let go of our pride in our abilities so the flames could do what they needed to.

“Just say what your heart tells you,” Caleb says as if he was reading my mind, “I know it’s pure and wise enough to make the correct judgment.”

At times like this, Caleb always seems to read my mind and say or do something to comfort me. Our hearts are connected so it shouldn’t surprise me, but it always does. My parents smile and nod at me and seem to know how I’m feeling similarly to Caleb.

“It is my decision that these conceited should be jailed and put to work that suits their abilities until they repent of their evil deeds,” I say to the mixed reception of the crowd around us. “All of us have been guilty of some sin and evil deed. Was there not a time when you were lost and obstinate in your sin and repented after a time? Were you not thankful that you were shown mercy rather than struck down in your shameful state when you weren’t yourself? There was a time when I was in ignorance like that and I still am in some respects. That is why I have chosen to show mercy to these poor sinners and they will continue to receive it until the Absolute says otherwise.”

The crowds now murmur among themselves until they start clapping and cheering my name.

“All hail the merciful and wise princess!” they chant.

“The princess has decided and it shall be so,” my father says.

Looking back at Caleb, he winks at me with a smile and I wink back. After the prisoners are taken away and the public goes back to their daily business, Caleb and I take the time to talk to my parents before we go.

I hug them and then say, “It’s good to see that you’re safe. Do you need us to help you with anything before you go?”

“You’ve helped us plenty by being here,” my mother says.

“Just be careful with Absalom. It took us a while to break through the dream his ally had on us. We’ll be sure to keep that man under maximum security and no specter comes to possess him to give him his freighting power again. I can imagine that his other allies are just as powerful,” my father says.

“We’ll be careful. Still, Absalom confuses me. He said that his allies would attack us if we struck first, but they attacked you first, right?”

“Right. The specters inside of them tried to aid them in their fight so Absalom must’ve aided them.”

“Why would he say what he said to us then? He also mentioned that he gave strict orders to his allies and specters not to attack anyone in our home, but that’s exactly what they did. When we told him what happened and he saw it in our memories, he seemed distressed and confused.”

“Who knows what’s really going on in that madmen’s head?” Caleb says.

“It’s possible that he’s being corrupted by the vainglory. Demons could be possessing his mind and then make him think he’s innocent right after. He did use a dark ritual to gain his new power after all,” my father suggests.

“That’s probably the most likely scenario. We’ll see what happens when we see Caleb’s parents.”

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll be okay. I don’t know a family tougher than them from their side of the kingdom.”

“Thank you, sir. I have to say the same about your family as well with Kyla here being the toughest among you,” Caleb says.

“That she is. Have you managed to beat her in sparing yet?”

“Of course I have.”

“That’s not what I heard.”

“No, you heard the victories I gave her.”

“What are you talking about? I beat you fair and square a few times,” I say.

“I don’t want to see you cry because I’m constantly besting you, so I give you a victory every now and then.”

“You’re lying!”

“No, I’m not. I’m being honest.”

“Fine then. When this is over, we’ll spar until I beat you for real and I end up with more victories than you.”

“Deal.”

Caleb and I say our goodbyes to my parents and then head off to see if his parents need him. I think we’ve learned a lot about our enemy and our weakness against him, but also what we can do. If my parents can break through Absalom’s power, then so can we. With our hearts, our love, our strength, and the Absolute, we can accomplish anything after all.