NOVEL NEXT 214
Chapter 214 : The Swallow-tail Rebellion (1)
*I don’t know if she will believe me. Hell, I wouldn’t believe me.* Fargo thought inwardly.
“You’ve been marked.” he said, both calmly and clearly.
*But this is the best I can do to make amends. I thought if I just went along with it, eventually I’d be able to escape. But I was wrong. Years under the thumb of that bastard and his little psycho.* Fargo thought inwardly as he turned his palms upwards, a symbol of submission.
*I never thought I’d be free again. I lost all hope. Especially after Ashe…. If Glint hadn’t persisted and forced open a path--.* Fargo reflected upon the unexpected event which changed his mind for the better. It happened shortly after the Lycanthrope Rena ‘joined’ their ranks.
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Having witnessed the death of a mutual friend at the hands of Ziphyr, both Glint and Fargo reacted in different ways. Fargo resigned himself to his fate, he had all but given up and decided that he would most likely die under Gaines’ thumb. Glint on the other hand knew the man , Ashe, best. Rather than break his spirit, the cruelty of Ashe’s death stoked the fires of determination.
“I can see the mana threads which connect your blades. So what? It’s just a stupid trick.” Fargo asked. He seemed unimpressed for the most part.
“Now.. look again.” Glint said as he focused more intently. This time, the daggers stopped spinning counter clockwise to each other and slowly came to a stop. Instead, blue mana began to unlatch itself from the daggers, the strands resembling a snake being charmed by music.
Gradually this strange dance of mana strings began to reveal looping symbols, which then formed into very rudimentary letters.
Fargo watched, searching for some kind of meaning to the feat being shown to him. Clearly mana strings weren’t meant to be used for this. Furthermore, it seemed as if Glint was pushing himself to extremes in order to hold the fluid strings to a form of any type for such a short while. Yet, as the words began to take shape, Fargo began to smile.
*Fuck Enzo Gaines.*
His smile slowly turned into his first real heartfelt chuckle for quite some time. Soon, he could scarcely control it and the “dead men”, the ones who reacted to nothing, craned their heads to see what the fuss was about.
And just as suddenly as Fargo erupted into laughter, he abruptly stopped and got to his feet. Glint, his face covered in sweat and his hands shaking from over exertion of mana, spoke up once more.
“Still think it’s a stupid trick?”
This ‘trick’ broke the rules. Fargo knew the rules, they were etched into his soul by pain and mind searing discomfort.
Don’t speak ill of him.
Don’t harm him.
Don’t defy him in any way.
Don’t do anything that would prevent him from making new slaves.
These were just a few of the rules that Gaines used to protect himself and control those enslaved to him. They all amounted to one thought, ‘Gaines is your absolute master.’
Whenever someone would find a loophole to the rules, Gaines would just punish that person and make a new rule or alter the existing ones. In this way, almost every possible way to seek help, warn others or do anything other than Gaines’ bidding had been “patched”.
But what Glint had just done, through much toil and effort, was create a way to defy Enzo Gaines. Not only that, he broke three of the main rules in one go. To anyone else, a floating script of magical words seemed like a parlor trick, but those under the thumb of one tyrant saw it as the beginning of a revolution.
That afternoon he took Glint and Rena out into the town and had Glint show her the method. It was quite a hassle, considering they ran into the very same Succubus that day.She was understandably angry, but he never expected her to start a fight in the town center.
Nevertheless, eventually Fargo was able to enact his plan. After finding a secret place without eyes or ears, Fargo and Glint disclosed their intentions to Rena. It was clear to them that the new recruit would be most likely to go along with their plan for various reasons. They were present when she was brought into the chapel and they guessed correctly that she’d rather slit Gaines’ throat than be made into a slave.
From this point on they met in secret each day or as much as possible. They made clever use of Rena’s “need” to be trained as a snatcher, using it as cover for their training sessions. Mana manipulation was a skill that all adventures possessed, as was the ability to use “free magic”. Essentially what the group trained themselves on was the ability to shape their own mana to create words.
There was a second aspect to the training as well. Gaines’ slave mark reacted to any negative intent. This was neither uncommon or unheard of, for all types of magic are imbued with intent. The intent to harm, or protect are the most common types. The nature of Gaines’ mark was to discern whether others were following his will, if Fargo had to guess. This second aspect of their training posed the biggest problem.
How simple was it to separate one’s personal feelings and take action? It required the mind of Buddha, a near nirvana-like state. Only then, with a clear mind and heart, could one convey the message they desired. One that stood opposite to Gaines’ plans for them.
The three trained as much and as often as possible, yet for Fargo it was extremely difficult. This was because he simply couldn’t forgive himself. It was originally his idea to join Memento Mori. The lure of accelerated growth was simply too much. He knew it sounded too good to be true, and in the end it was his greed which led to the suffering of himself and his closest companions. Even now he could vividly recall the sight of Ashe as the black flames consumed his body. The look of excitement on Ziphyr’s face as he took the man’s life.
This sense of regret and rage carved an endless chasm within the man’s heart. One that he could not easily traverse. To him, nothing short of Gaines’ painful death would bring his soul peace. He craved it every waking moment, to the point that he had all but become numb to the pain of his own slave mark. Only when his urges got the better of him would Fargo be pressed into servitude once more.
But secretly he could never forget…
And that’s why he could only manage one or two words at best before being blindsided with excruciating pain. Glint was the best at this new technique, one the trio named ‘Swallow-tail’ after Rena’s butterflies.
Glint could easily carry on a conversation using this new method although he was limited to three words maximum in each line. On the other hand Rena could barely form words, instead she excelled at shapes and other small constructs -- like butterflies. Both Rena and Glint could calm their hearts and minds long enough to convey information, information that would normally trigger the punishment of their marks. They tested this extensively amongst themselves and eventually they decided to put their plan to the test.
As to why, Fargo had his suspicions. For Glint, he suspected that rather than calming his heart Glint was actually able to suppress his emotions. As for Rena, she simply hadn’t been around long enough to build up significant hatred towards her captors. For the most part, becoming a part of Gaines’ harem allowed her to avoid Ziphyr. He was primarily in charge of “enforcement” which translated into whimsical torture for any who drew his ire.
It also helped that the man seemed to have found a new toy, one that could withstand even his brutal brand of “attention”. It was an easy matter to keep Rena next to him and out of the chapel for extended periods of time. Which brought Fargo full circle to the current situation. And obviously wary Scribe standing before him, his eyes averted downward as he awaited her response.
Under cover of the Twilight Festival, the trio deemed this the perfect test of their abilities. They would put their lives on the line to thwart Gaines’ acquisition of his next targets.