Chapter 61: It All Burns Down
The Carvaress family had finished their dinner. NB14572 had gone upstairs to Noilemac’s bedroom. She lay down on the bed. It was the first time in months. She was exhausted, but she could not rest. She knew she had betrayed Noilemac. She knew she had to get her out of the orphanage. She would not survive long in that environment.
Downstairs, Teahena had just finished lighting the candles for the evening. Malcolm was sitting down, enjoying a glass of freshly squeezed pineapple juice. Their evening was interrupted by a loud knock on their door. Teahena opened the door; it was Tiberius.
‘Good evening, captain, how may you help on this frosty night?’ asked Teahena.
‘I need to speak to you and your husband urgently,’ said Tiberius in a sad tone.
‘Oh, of course, come on in,’ said Teahena. ‘Follow me.’
Tiberius entered the mansion. He turned to close the door behind him. He locked it and put the key in his pocket. He then quickly caught up with Teahena, who had just entered the lounge to join her husband.
‘Tiberius, old friend,’ said Malcolm. ‘You have to try this drink from the south. It is just divine.’
‘Both of you need to sit down,’ said Tiberius in a serious tone. ‘Something terrible has happened.’
‘Sounds serious, son,’ said Malcolm. ‘Best be out with it.’
‘Early today, your daughter was playing with an escaped orphan,’ said Tiberius. ‘This orphan is incredibly dangerous and incredibly deceptive.’
‘I’ll tell Noilemac to stay away from her,’ said Teahena. ‘Problem solved.’
‘I’m afraid that is not going to be possible,’ said Tiberius. ‘Your daughter was mistakenly taken to the orphanage.’
‘No, no,’ said Teahena. ‘She’s upstairs right now.’
‘The girl in your home is an imposter,’ said Tiberius. ‘We need to bring her in.’
‘You need to get our daughter back from the orphanage immediately,’ demanded Malcolm angrily.
‘I’m so sorry,’ said Tiberius. ‘The children there are savages. They killed your daughter.’
They both gasped in shock.
‘You’re a liar and pure evil,’ shouted NB14572 as she entered the lounge.
‘I’ll tell you what is pure evil,’ shouted back Tiberius as he turned to face NB14572. ‘Letting the one who loved you die slowly in the snow. Stealing the identity of a kind soul and then sending her to her death.’
NB14572 became invisible.
‘You see,’ said Tiberius as he turned to Malcolm and Teahena. ‘This is what she does.’
Malcolm got out of his chair and said, ‘Let’s catch her then.’
Teahena was in shock. She stared blankly ahead.
Tiberius gestured to Malcolm to remain silent. Nobody said a word; there was silence. Suddenly they heard a creaking sound.
‘That came from the library,’ whispered Malcolm. ‘These old wooden floors are the best motion detectors.’
‘Quick, both of you, into the library,’ whispered Tiberius. ‘She’ll respond better to you than me. I’ll cover the door so she can’t get out.’
Malcolm held Teahena’s hand as they both entered the library.
‘It’s okay, little girl. We just want to talk,’ called out Malcolm.
Tiberius closed the door behind them.
‘I’m closing the door to make it easier to stop her from escaping,’ he called out as he began pushing the heavy bureau in front of the door.
‘Look at all these candles,’ Tiberius said to himself. ‘Let it burn! Let it burn!’ He began to use the many candles to set fire to the most flammable furniture and items he could find in the house.
Meanwhile, NB14572 had climbed out an upstairs window and had made her way down. She was about to run off when she saw Tiberius, through a window, setting fire to the house. She was so full of rage. She placed her hands on the house and went into a state of deep concentration.
Malcolm and Teahena started banging on the library door. Tiberius stood in the middle of the main hall, laughing as smoke filled the whole mansion. Eventually, he made his way to the front door. He was starting to struggle to breathe. However, it appeared that the door had been replaced with a wall. He pulled out the key from his pocket but could not find a keyhole in the wall. He looked around to find a window but could not see any. It seemed as if there was no way out.
Tiberius grabbed a statue and began hitting the walls with it as he moved along. He was hoping he could find a window. Malcolm and Teahena were now screaming desperately for Tiberius to get them out. Tiberius was now disoriented as he continued to hit the walls with the statue. Finally, he hit a piece of the wall that made a sound like glass; he had found a window. Tiberius hit the window several times as hard as he could. Suddenly, the glass smashed. Tiberius knocked a bit more of the glass out before leaping through the gap and out onto the snow. In doing so, he cut himself in several places. He could barely breathe at all. He slowly crawled away from the burning mansion.
He was on the opposite side of the mansion from where NB14572 had escaped. She was now lying on the ground with her hands on the wall. She was foaming from the mouth. The mansion started to collapse on itself. NB14572 finally let go of the wall. She appeared to be having some form of seizure.
Malcolm and Teahena had finally escaped the library, but they were unable to get far. Smoke inhalation caused them both to collapse. Tiberius was lying on his back, a safe distance from the mansion. He noticed the windows, what was left of them, were now visible. He knew NB14572 was no longer able to shapeshift the mansion.
The next morning, a large group of guards had gathered at the burnt-out Carvaress Mansion. Even Sanguine was there. However, there was no sign of Tiberius.
Sanguine walked over to a senior guard. ‘What happened here?’ he asked him.
‘I think it was a terrible accident,’ said the senior guard. ‘Too many candles. Some of them fell over and caused the place to catch fire.’
‘Any survivors?’ asked Sanguine.
‘We have found the remains of two adults,’ replied the senior guard. ‘We believe they are Malcolm and Teahena Carvaress.’
‘What about the daughter?’ asked Sanguine.
‘Not so far,’ replied the senior guard. ‘I doubt she is alive. We would have found her outside.’
Sanguine was highly suspicious. He walked through the remains of the mansion. He looked at the candleholders scattered across the floor. He looked at a statue that appeared to have been smashed in several places. What really stood out to him was the door to the library. It looked like something had been blocking it. The front door was mostly intact. Sanguine noticed it was locked.
Sanguine walked around outside. He noticed a few droplets of blood on the ground. He also found a small piece of glass with some blood on it. He bent forward to cover the blood with the snow. In doing so, he found a key on the ground. He knew it was the key to the mansion.
Sanguine approached the senior guard again. ‘Looks like you were right,’ said Sanguine. ‘It appears to have been a very tragic accident. Still, I would like this case to remain open a little longer, just to cover ourselves.’
The senior guard nodded his head.
That night, Sanguine was sitting in the lounge. He was waiting for Tiberius to arrive home. When Tiberius entered through the front door, several guards approached him.
‘The chief demands your presence, sir,’ said one of the guards to him.
Tiberius looked at them thoughtfully and then grinned. They nodded in response.
‘Fine, take me to him,’ replied Tiberius.
Tiberius entered the lounge. Sanguine had his chair facing towards the door. The guards stood either side of the door as Tiberius approached Sanguine.
‘Son, I have failed you as a father,’ said Sanguine. ‘For that, I’m deeply sorry.’
‘You haven’t failed me,’ replied Tiberius. ‘You’ve been my role model.’
‘Then, I’m an even worse father than I thought,’ said Sanguine as he shook his head.
Tiberius stared back angrily at his father.
‘You are no longer captain of the guards,’ said Sanguine in a more gruff tone. ‘You are not fit for such a position.’
‘Maybe you’re no longer fit to be chief,’ replied Tiberius. ‘What do you do these days other than attend to Mother?’
‘You will willingly step aside, or I’ll have you arrested,’ said Sanguine firmly.
‘Last time I checked, competence wasn’t a crime,’ replied Tiberius smugly.
‘No, but murder is,’ said Sanguine in a raised voice as he held up the key to the Carvaress mansion. ‘You set the Carvaress mansion on fire, and then you locked them in.’
‘I’ve been killing and torturing orphan children for years,’ shouted Tiberius. ‘You knew and you couldn’t care less.’
‘You wiped out an entire noble family,’ shouted Sanguine.
‘You should be grateful; we get all of their assets,’ chuckled Tiberius.
‘This is your final chance,’ demanded Sanguine as he got out of his chair. ‘Step down as captain or face arrest for the crime of murder.’
‘No,’ replied Tiberius with a slight giggle.
‘Arrest him!’ bellowed Sanguine to the two guards.
They looked at each other and did not move.
‘The guards loyalty has shifted,’ said Tiberius. ‘You overestimated your hold on them.’
Sanguine began to move towards Tiberius.
‘Arrest him!’ said Tiberius.
The two guards rushed past Tiberius and grabbed Sanguine. They forced him to his knees. One of them held a dagger to his throat.
‘The balance of power has now changed,’ said Tiberius. ‘Do not worry. I’m not going to kill or even overthrow you. Your diplomacy is still valuable. It is better that the other districts see you as chief... for now.’
Sanguine stared at Tiberius as rage filled his eyes.
‘Besides, I still lack certain valuable experiences,’ said Tiberius. ‘I want to remedy that problem as soon as possible.’
Tiberius walked to the door leading into the hall. ‘Bring her in,’ he called out to the guards.
A few moments later, his mother, accompanied by two guards, entered the lounge.
‘Leave her out of this,’ demanded Sanguine. ‘This has nothing to do with her.’
‘She is your weakness,’ said Tiberius.
‘She is my strength, you damn fool,’ shouted Sanguine. ‘She is your mother. You will respect her.’
‘Please, let’s not fight,’ said Tiberius' mother. ‘I love both of you.’
‘I love you too, Mother,’ said Tiberius as he walked over to her. He kissed her on the cheek.
‘She is also my weakness,’ said Tiberius as he turned to face his father. ‘I remember that story you told me. How the rebels captured you and your mother and how you watched them rape and eventually kill her. That is the kind of traumatic experience that truly defines someone. It truly defined you. I have never had to suffer anything like that.’
‘Please, end this madness now,’ said Sanguine as his face began to fill with fear.
Tiberius saw the fear on his face. It filled him with joy.
‘Look at you,’ said Tiberius. ‘Just at the thought of her being hurt, I see the strength drain from your body. How can I allow that to happen to our once great chief?’
‘I’ll let you have everything you want,’ said Sanguine. ‘Just don’t….’
‘With every word you speak, you are proving me correct,’ shouted Tiberius. ‘I will be free from this burden. While I enrich myself with the energy that made you great.’
‘I was never great,’ shouted Sanguine. ‘I was ruled by my own hate and vengeance.’
Tiberius began laughing.
‘If you do this, there is no way back for you,’ said Sanguine.
‘We passed that point a long time ago,’ said Tiberius as several more guards entered the room.
He turned to them. ‘Have as much fun as you like with her,’ called out Tiberius. ‘I want her finished off by morning.’
The guards began ripping off his mother’s clothes.
‘No, no, please no!’ cried out Sanguine as tears gushed down his face. ‘Please, I beg of you! I beg of you!’
Tiberius ignored his father. He sat down opposite his mother and watched his guards do their worst. The horrific display went on for hours before his mother finally died of her injuries. Sanguine wailed for the first hour. After that, he just lay in shock.
Another six years passed. The North District had become enriched with amazing new technology. All the houses had electricity and telephones. There were motorised vehicles, streetlights, and paved roads. Officially, Sanguine remained as chief, and Tiberius remained as captain of the guards. However, Tiberius was covertly in charge of the district. Sanguine was at his mercy. Very few were aware of this, as Sanguine remained a very strong public figure. Tiberius appointed a deputy captain to take charge of the everyday leadership of the guards. This greatly reduced his visibility as their leader.
The Alset facility had continued to grow. To the annoyance of Tiberius, the facility now had its own guards. This offered the Alset family members some protection from him. To further ensure their security, Patricia honoured her agreement to supply Tiberius with the blue juice. In return, he assured her his guards would keep away from the facility. Frequent packages of the blue juice were secretly sent to him. She was able to keep this secret from the other family members.
Finally, Joan returned to the orphanage. She was told that both NB14572 and NB14564 had died. The new head of the orphanage took Joan to the cemetery at the back of the orphanage. NB14572 and NB14564 had stones placed in memory of them. There were hundreds of other stones; they had been placed for all the other children who had died, mostly because of Tiberius.
NB14572 believed Tiberius had died in the fire that night. She was deeply stricken with guilt for costing the Carvaress family their lives. She felt she had betrayed NB14564. Plagued by this guilt, she chose to live in the wild for several years. This took an enormous toll on her. She suffered greatly from malnutrition. However, eventually, she did actively pursue a better existence. The path she took was to join the technicians.
Prior to being hired, all the technicians had been ‘vaccinated’ on the premise of protecting their health. Instead, it caused partial brain death. It was not as serious as the damage caused by the earlier drugs administered to the guards. The technicians were very proficient in the skills they were trained in but lacked the ability to self-educate or form their own opinions based on natural life experiences. This caused them to have collective personalities. This led to them forming very close bonds. They happily worked together. They would even spend all their free time together.
NB14572 avoided the ‘vaccine’. To blend in, she imitated the actions of the technicians. She moved into the technicians’ accommodation. Finally, she had a comfortable bed to sleep in and decent food to eat.
After working for the Alset Company for around a year, she caught the attention of Demadrian Alset. He knew she was different from the other technicians. NB14572 realised Demadrian had noticed her. She played to it by sparking more intrigue with her shapeshifting ability and the variety of hats she wore; the hats were a form of tribute to the Carvaress family.
The two began dating. Demadrian introduced her to the ‘blue juice’. She tried it, but it had no effect on her. However, she acted as if she were more intelligent. This was easy considering she deliberately played down her intelligence to fit in with the technicians. Her mission to bring down the district chiefs and the Alset family had begun.
Sapien Loop: End of an Era
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my @spectrumecons account, and in individual chapters in my @captainhive account.
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