Naomi

Day 91

I didn't hear from the union for a while until I was able to pry into another conversation at the palace. These people are so daring that they pass it on in Netedinark's lair. The meeting is at the same time as last time when the blackhole is at its highest peak in the sky.

Ilit spread the word on how I 'defeated' Ivelisse, one of the newcomers from an outer world. She told a Maketa. That Maketa started to share it within the ranks. Thus far, Netedinark has never done any action to figure out who did it and what he will do. I pray not.

I attend the union. Aephris and the other Teketa argue what to do as their first step.

Don't they remember from last time?

I clear my throat obnoxiously, trying to get their attention. Complete Fail. I clear it again, but this time louder. Fail again. I am starting to feel royally pissed off here.

"Silence!" I boom. Everyone shuts up and glares at the rude lady Reveta at the back of the room. Yep, that's me. "Remember what I said about protests last time?" I ask clear as day.

Some of them nod and the others look at me like they are seeing a big arse void.

"How about we start at something mildly?" I suggest, "These protests need to be organised efficiently. We are making noise and some Teketa won't take it well, neither will N- our Lord, but it will gather attention. We should go inside and out. Inside meaning our home and Lord. Outside are the Verantuvians beyond the borders."

Son of a gun, I nearly screwed that up.

Aephris nods. "How should we start off, Kursa? What should we do? How will we press forward? What if we fail? What should we do next after succeeding our first protest?"

I grin from beneath my mask. Bracus, Dominique, and Blathnaid better need to pay attention very closely this time.

Day 95

The first protest is Teketa taking a day off and doing whatever they want. The officers noticed that hundreds of Teketa are out today. I see some of them brazenly share their pride in their crafts. Something they were never allowed to do, but indoors. Those who decide to do their duties today are distracted by the rowdiness outside. Some of them were painting, creating sculptures with the slime gel from the hives, and those were creating beats by heavily dancing.

"I swear to my Lord and my soul that these people are becoming total idiots," says a Caras, shaking his head while rubbing his eyes. They are watching out the window of the palace. I watch them from a distant corridor.

"They will pay for doing this shit," the other one grimaces, "Lashings and beatings will do."

What he said made me a little nervous, but the other part of me thinks that it'll be too much.

"Around 700 or more will get strokes when they come back."

Another officer checks up on the Caras. Officers have higher vibrations than lower ranks. The higher frequency in energy it gives off, the higher the rank. It sounds like screaming rats. Plus, power. Judging by his high energy, he is most likely a Lutent (Lieutenant).

"Shall we alert the Lord?" Asks the Lutent.

"No," the Caras shake their heads, "We will beat them until they are lower than slime-eaters.

This protest lasted about three days in length before they all went back to work. No one was punished, but a brash full of words warned us not to do that again. They didn't follow through either from the numbers and they are aware some of them that observed or joined the protest were off-duty. Thanks to that, they decided to take it lightly. There were also some officers that did join the festivities. In the following days, Teketa believed it was one of the more relaxed times during it. There was a tighter retraining day after it, but better than immoral beatings.

I reckon they won't definitely do this for the next protest. It was a heinous task to plan because I had to use my magic to engrave the words that the Teketa wanted to say. It took me five days to do hundreds of them. Don't worry it's erasable with a swipe of a hand. Some of the words on the armour word:

Give us more jobs to do!

Take delight to our hearts, my Lord.

Military has fucked me up.

Let us explore the outside world.

And many things that Teketa wanted to print on their armour. I warned them not to get violent if the officers throw a punch. We will all do that later.

The officers scream at them to take it off or they will be punished. Some of them have gotten hit.

I enter an empty room with no furniture on site. I shut the door and put a magical barricade, so no one can enter. I also put a sound barrier to prevent sneaky bastards from hearing things that I am about to say.

The hidden gem that Bracus put on my forehead to see everything is now visible, turning into blue energy. The blue energy turns into a cloud.

"Blathnaid," I call to her.

Blathnaid emerges in the cloud. "What is it, Naomi?"

"Take extra observations for the next upcoming days. I ask you to send the sight to the other Gods. Better yet, the public, set it into their minds or make them watch cloud TV," I say to her.

"Why aren't you asking Bracus this?" She replies, very confused.

"He scares me," I admit it with humour.

She sighs, "I will tell him that. Oh, wait? He is probably spying on the telepathic link right now. Bracus, are you on?"

Then here comes the Morphan that is not as pleasant as the animals from animal movies. His expression reminds me of the villains mostly. "Yes, I am on," He says.

I feel like I am on a video call.

"Naomi requests something," Blathnaid informs.

God, his animalistic eyes claw the back at my face, ready to consume my soul for dinner. "What is it, Naomi?" He asks me, calm as hell, probably assuming.

"There are strikes inside Teketa and I want you to share the link to the Gods. Better yet, the public."

His brows raise. "If we do that, Netedinark will figure out there's a spy soon enough and your safety will be compromised."

"Just send it to the other Gods and make it optional if they want to release it to the public," I negotiate.

"Fine," he gives in, "You better keep yourself safe."

"Yes, sir," I say, knowing it's a complete lie.

The blue smoke disappears into an invisible gem. I don't feel anything when it links back to my head. The sound barrier and the lock are lifted and I head out. A few hours went by as I guard the palace and chaos was everywhere thanks to protestors. I didn't put anything on my armour because it's made of veils and I don't want to jeopardise myself even more.

"All soldiers to the Warzai now!" Netedinark's voice viciously commands from the announcements. The speakers are hidden, but they are loud. His voice sounds louder than last time.

I skitter to the Warzai area. Officers command people to sit or stay in the centre. I was ordered to sit down. I focus on the ones in the centre area, standing. All of them have words imprinted.

"Quiet!" Netedinark and the officers shout at the top of their lungs. It all went dead silent within seconds. The bed bug feeling returns, multiple of them are crawling around my body. I can't shake them off.

"For the past several days have been hectic," states Netedinark, "And I am not very pleased. Today, my lines have been crossed. Now I am going to make sure what doesn't happen again for good!"

The officers begin beating and whipping them. Some of them use their abilities and weapons to slaughter. Netedinark tortured the hell out of them for quite a few by sending a 'dimensional glitching' attack. I don't see the void, but I can hear them screaming until their voices give out. They're invisible when he does this. When he was finished, he either let them shiver in their own shell-shocked corpses or dismember their bodies. It's a mess. The audience is cheering the torturers on like savages, shouting harsh phrases at the poor union or encouraging the officers to keep beating their butts. I can hear some tears and pleas from the crowd as well. Netedinark continues on to the next Teketa, a Kateta, with the words engraved on his armour: Let us express ourselves freely, my lord. I hear Netedinark mumbling incoherently before he gets ready to attack. With words like that, he is more likely to get his ass kicked than getting killed.

"No-no! Don't Wait!" The Kateta pleads loudly as he kneels, "I will tell you who engraved these words on our armour!"

"Oh, really?" Netedinark snarls as his ghoulish voice becomes noticeable, "Why hold such a thing until out of fear, you coward?!"

Kateta pants heavily. "A Reveta!" He admits.

I glare at him beneath the veil. Don't you dare snitch- Oh for pete's sake.

"So a Reveta has put these all over the armour that lives for thousands of years?" He interrogates Kateta while the Kateta shakes like crazy.

"Y-Yes!" He nods, "I will point to h-h-h-"

"Reveta!" Netedinark screams, his voice becoming very scratchy, "Down here! NOW!"

We all rush back to the centre, where all the bodies are mangled, twitching, oozing bodily fluids, shaking, crying, or dead. Some of their corpses are still spasming after death. The bodies are flopping fishes after a natural disaster occurs near the water or in the water. A dying London pond had many dead fish after lethal algae took over.

"So, this is how you wanna play?" Netedinark growls at us, "You've cost your comrades' lives." He glares at the poor Kateta. "Now point to them!" He shrieks at him, furiously amused by his fear.

I change my frequency and energy slowly, so no one will notice. All they need to do is press a want button inside their heads to activate it and investigate the frequencies further. Reveta are less likely to sense energies changing. They will only sense it if they touch you when they don't have their frequency sensors on. A Kateta can sense it if they are close without it, so that's why this poor guy is walking up and down the aisles, possibly shitting his pants to spare his life. Queenetas are the same way, but Etoukas can sense a long distance like K-9. Luckily, they are not here because dogs are not invited. The crowd grows silent as Kateta slowly struts through the rows, trying not to trip over any bodies, ready to point his finger. I become apprehensive as he closes upon me.

Ten feet.

Eight feet.

Six feet.

Three feet.

Two feet.

One foot.

Deep stare.

He leaves.

Phew-

A Reveta finally snaps and groans, eager to get this over with. Netedinark takes notice. His dark branches go wild, picking up the Reveta before he can see it coming. He squeezes him tightly, close enough to snap him or her. "Did you forget to never fold?" Netedinark tells them raspily.

"No, Lord," says the Reveta, "I'm sick of this shit."

"I am sick as well," he sneers. He summons Kateta to come here. Kateta runs his arse all the way to Netedinark.

"Is this the one?" He asks him.

He doesn't say anything.

"Answer me!" Another branch comes out his back, ready to grab him too.

"I-It-It's-"

I raise my brow, angst to know what he is going to say.

"It-It-'s!"

"Don't stutter!" Netedinark shouts at him.

"It's him, my Lord!"

What?!

"What?!" Reveta panics, "You lying piece of sh-"

Netedinark's branches stabbed and mauled him into pieces. The crowd goes wild, finally seeing some action. I am stunned by what that Kateta just did.

All of us were dismissed. Loyal Teketas got a free show of a blood house while rebellious ones got slammed into gore. I think about the Teketa who lied to save my life, who lied to the Lord, and killed a non-guilty person. I feel the poor Reveta's death is on my hands too. I don't feel great; I feel absent from the power that I lost. The Teketa will never forgive me and neither will I.

My protests are a mistake.