Roaring throughout the courthouse deafened; they were rabid beasts in a colosseum.
Each and every resident watching from above foamed at the mouth in excitement, with their pupils dilated at the sight standing on the red carpet below.
The rest followed Malik as he entered. Then the door behind them slowly shut. It didn't just lock; it made a pact between the accused and the accuser.
Awan hung his head as he saw it close, Zayne only clenched his fists, and Kaya closed her eyes.
But Malik didn't falter. He kept his eyes on what was in front of him. He didn't care whether the door was closed or not, as he wouldn't allow himself to leave in the faces of carnivores.
It was him versus the people. But just what kind of people is he bearing his fangs to?
Malik inferred by their drooling mouths that if they didn't prove their allegiance, they would be as good as fuel for them. Without any way out, he marched forward, facing the masses of depravity before him.
Unnerving, the red carpet under him felt like organs squishing with pools of blood, only silent. As his feet sank, it reminded him of the flood at sea. He was once bound by sea; he cannot let the land he so desired bind him.
This is a test. Land will not bear its fruit to me so easily yet.
Standing tall, he locked eyes with Guan Sui. He would not look away. Looking away means an open opportunity to strike; Malik would not miss any of it.
The only manner in devouring a predator is to become a greater one.
Guan Sui practically mocked him with his composed demeanor and the men surrounding him. They shrunk around him, gazing at his golden headband like a prophecy.
Asem sank in his throne behind it all, his eyes tired as ever, and his hands looked numb, stained with ink.
Awan saw the elderly man's hands and nervously laughed.
Zayne turned. "Why are you laughing, Awan?"
"We've trapped ourselves with animals, and nothing's in our favor," the tribesman weakly responded.
"At ease. They will starve before we do."
Awan looked forward. The voice sounded like Malik, but it held a tone of assurance. Was it of the storm or the observer?
What kind of life makes a man like that? If only I could face death in the face and smile back, just like him. I can't be pathetic anymore. I can't afford it.
Shaking his head, Awan then heard a silence.
Guan Sui had snapped his fingers with such joy. "Ahem. People of Marah, your beloved Ant Farm, you have joined us today to examine the newcomers. You have all been afraid of our visitors, have you not?" He signaled a motion with his hand.
Simultaneously, everyone nodded their heads in agreement, like his fingers had maneuvered them.
"Do not fret, people. Fear is not in our jurisdiction, and it never will be. Because the Council of Rejoice will decide the outcome of the accused."
Barely holding a straight face, Guan Sui pulled a pamphlet out of his armor and handed it to a hunchback member of the council by his side.
It was a frail man with bulging eyes, and he read the note nervously.
Gulping, "I-I recite their names for the sake of our crowd. Malik, Kaya, and Zayne."
The crowned subordinate held his shoulder tightly. "And might I ask what they are accused of?"
Giggling while staring at him, the council member slurred his words. "Hah. T-they are a-accused of treason against the tribe of Marah. Mainly for being suspected spies from that of another realm."
Guan Sui patted the frail member's back as he grimaced at his submissiveness. Behind them all, Asem rubbed his eyes, refusing to see the sight before him.
The council huddled around the crowned diplomat like a circle of prayer. Guan Sui shrugged off their sycophancy and detached them like leeches. Looking around, he could sense the people from above drooling at his next words, aching for the next motion.
Stepping forward, he still held his spear with his hand, and with a long smile—
Slam!
"Let the condemning commence."
The handle of the spear kissed the carpet, and the crowd cheered at his words. His words were like threads of joy to them; they kept biting more of it down like fish eating bait.
Hesitantly, Asem held a heavy gavel and banged it on his table. He tossed the gavel aside and refused to look at it.
Guan Sui heard the old chief's light tap of the gavel and gave a slight smirk at him.
Malik, who kept his sharp gaze, felt a thread wrap around him. He couldn't see it, but he felt an ice-cold blanket wrap around his waist.
Then it pulled him, Kaya, and Zayne forward involuntarily. Even as their feet glided frictionless on the blood-red carpet, Awan was left behind. He stood there, hanging his head. Malik was dumbfounded, but he had no time to think. Instead, he met the council head-on.
At least he doesn't get caught up in this.
Guan Sui waved his hand, and the council of sycophants began to shift their bodies toward Malik. Among the eight of them, they were frail men of all realms, races, and sizes, but the majority looked to be from the same home, Ishkana.
Malik's eyes followed each of the members, all breathing through their mouths as they waited for one to speak.
If they're here, was their home enough for them? Or did they want a home where they could truly connect with their desires without consequence?
"Bahhahahahah!"
They pointed their bony fingers at the three of them and began to cackle.
Vultures they were, and like vultures they spoke.
"S-so where are you three from, huh?"
Another interrupted. "M-mala? Zi Jin Cheng? Spit it out! You're all monsters!"
One hyperventilated. "Yeah! I-if you're not from here, then you cannot be trusted! You must be killed!"
A moment of silence between them. Only the whispers of the crowd echoed.
Suddenly, Malik took a step forward. He faced them, standing wider than every one of them.
"Are you from this land?" he asked.
. . .
They whispered amongst each other, stumbling over each other's words.
In unison, "You came to our land! We have lost countless due to visitors that aren't from this place!"
Malik tilted his head. "Wouldn't a land of joy accept all people, regardless of their background?"
One vulture spoke. "Yet you have not brought joy to our people! You have brought them nothing but utter displeasure."
When it spoke, Guan Sui motioned to the crowd, and they began to agree, clamoring at Malik.
From the higher floors, many threw dull stones at him from all angles. Then a stone landed on Malik. He peered at who threw it.
It was a young woman with dark hair and pale skin. She had tears in her eyes. Paying no mind to it, he turned to the council once again.
"I have learned what it's like to displease people. However, it was none of my intention to harm anybody." Malik crossed his arms.
Asem heard his words, and his eyes felt less heavy as he straightened in his placeholder throne.
Each vulture hung their mouths agape. They turned to Guan Sui, who was standing beside the judge's table.
"It may not be because of your intent. But it is the intents of your wicked governments, is it not?" he calmly spoke.
Then, pointing a finger to the crowd above, "Nian Wei."
When everyone glanced, they saw her. Malik recognized her as the young woman who landed the stone on him.
"H-he . . . he killed my brother! He killed him with a spear and let him die!" she shouted.
Malik's head tilted with wide eyes.
When did I . . . do that? I haven't killed anybody here. Hey. Hey! Answer me, damn it! I know you hear me!
His body nearly shattered as they continued to throw small stones at him.
"I have done no such thing," Malik blurted.
The air thinned. He couldn't take his words back.
Guan Sui signaled like a conductor, and the council's sly smiles widened.
They all spoke at once. "So, were the spears you threw just bad luck?!"
Malik countered their words. "No! It was your ritual! Your treatment of visitors!"
The council backed away; it was the first time Malik had shouted at them.
Guan Sui gave a disgusted expression toward them, then stared at Malik coldly.
Smiling, ". . . But it was you who volunteered. It was you who let them die."
Malik barked, "You deceived me! You made me step over the boundary with that ability of yours!"
The crowned subordinate tilted his head, mocking him. "What ability?" He spoke to the farm. "Tell me people, would you rather believe in your Council of Rejoice, or a harmful visitor who believes in nonsense?"
Like animals, "Council! Council! Council!"
Malik heard their laughter, and he heard a laughter within his pocket.
That burning sensation of the set of eyes he saw at the entrance of the tribe. The golden powder under his feet. The eyes upon eyes watching him. It began to crumble him.
A weight under his body began to crush him, like the letter he received had fallen on him ten times over.
Behind him, she noticed. She stepped forward, wiping the dried blood off her eyelids.
Suddenly—
"Enough!" Kaya yelled. Her eyes were amber, searing her vision intensely.
"This is the ability he speaks of. Take a good look. That man over there is tricking you." she spoke, weaker. Her shout had cost a plethora of energy.
Unable to keep on, her eyes reverted to dark, sizzling.
Guan Sui stepped forward, clapping his hands. The council gave weaker claps alongside him. Asem rubbed his eyes, resisting to open his mouth.
"You, dear, have proven everything to us. You have brought what our nations have wanted to forget and shoved it right in our face," Guan Sui slowly uttered.
The council spoke together after.
"You wear the grey uniform of Mala, and have the forbidden eyes of Ishkana!"
They gasped, forming a collective realization.
"You are a traitor to us, and your own realm!"
Guan Sui adjusted his crown over dark hair and pale skin, whispering, "Yes. That's right."
He waved his hand, and the council continued.
"And you! The one with the baby blues!"
They pointed at Zayne, who had been in the background until now. Flakes of skin fell from his fingers, unnoticed.
"You spoke of your realm, Mala, as home! Don't you remember when you were enjoying the Feast of Joy! The feast that remembers the deaths of those in the ritual!"
Their shrill voices echoed.
Zayne stayed silent, ignoring the itch in his hands. Then he came up with an idea. Stepping forward, he cleared his throat.
"Do you have any proof of me saying that?"
He avoided shaking, but his fists remained clenched as he forced his words as strongly as he could. One should always appear strong, even if they are weak.
Of course, they all crawled to Guan Sui, hoping he had an answer.
He pushed them away.
"Yes. The proof . . . is my own hearing." His smile shrank as he spoke.
Malik tilted his head, adding, "But that's not enough to prove anything. I was there, and he never mentioned a realm nor his home."
Guan Sui instinctively pointed his finger.
"Yona."
Malik followed the finger and saw him. It was a man who was in the ritual.
He spoke automatically.
Kaya and Malik caught it, but it was too convincing to deny within his tone.
"I was at the feast. Both of them spoke of their realm, Mala."
His voice sounded like a cold thread wrapped around his tongue.
The crowd gasped unanimously. Like the blind leading the blind, they all disapproved of Malik.
Their voices began to corrode him.
Malik nearly stumbled over his words, "If you say we are not from the land, who's to say we are not from another tribe?"
He remembered that Awan spoke of three other tribes, but he couldn't bother remembering their names.
Unsurprisingly, that lack of insight pierced him.
"Then answer me, what tribe are you really from?" Guan Sui interjected.
Sweat glided down Malik's forehead.
He didn't know any other name, and when he turned to Zayne and Kaya, they were silent.
Looking at Awan near the door, he seemed to mouth something, but he was a blur to his vision.
. . .
"Nothing?" the council gleamed.
Then—
"That man is from Nawra!"
A young voice echoed in the ambience of the courthouse.
The golden eyes all locked onto it. It was a young boy, far too young to be outside on his own without a parent.
He continued, holding the railing with tiny hands.
"His face was scared! And he was the last person my papa talked to! He cannot be a bad man!"
"Nodin. How do you know that man right there isn't bad?" Guan Sui spoke softly to the boy watching from the higher floor.
"Because! He is hurt, very hurt! Hurt people never want to hurt others!" he responded with a high-pitched voice.
It echoed, and a majority of the people's eyes began to truly open.
Even in this bright environment, there were still beings of bright souls.
They all took Nodin's words into consideration. A consideration that led to a silence that lasted seconds.
Then their whispers emerged into total chaos. Half of the crowd thundered in uproar, whilst the other half jeered at the boy's words.
One side was bright with golden attitudes, and the other was still gloomy in dark sentiments toward Malik.
Land has been rolling many dice for me now. Thanks, Nodin. I won't take your consideration for granted. Now we are on an equal field with those animals.
Guan Sui scowled. He slammed the bloody-tipped spear on the ground, but nobody heard it this time.
Noticing the crowd's divided reactions, he decided to wait it out.
Asem gave a half-smirk. The lifted portion of his smile pointed to the lively part of the audience.
After a moment, it finally went silent. The council stared at the crowned subordinate like a prophet, but he ignored them.
Instead, he finally stepped forward.
"So . . . a boy answered the question for you, yet you couldn't even remember the name of the tribe you live in?"
Half of the people gasped. The others shook their heads in disdain.
Then he pointed his spear at Malik, the tip facing between his eyes.
"You cannot prove you and your group are neither members of the tribes nor deny that you are spies. So there is a very simple way to resolve this."
Turning his back, he faced the council, telling them to decide, and they all rubbed their hands together as Guan Sui stared at them in repugnance.
They came up with the same idea.
"Strip them down! Spies wear wires!"
The accusers on one side began to encourage it, and the defenders shouted in confusion. Even Guan Sui failed to keep a blank expression; he turned around with a look of regret, sighing, yet he does it anyway.
An uncomfortably large portion of them drooled at the thought, profusely licking their lips.
Pointing his spear at Asem, he hesitantly turned it in the air.
As everyone stared at the tired chief, his arm slowly raised, and his hand formed a fist.
From the fist came a thumb.
And the thumb faced upward.
Asem looked away, as his face wanted to deny it, but he couldn't even speak from pure exhaustion.
Outrage and ovation clashed amongst each other in the building.
Malik, Kaya, and Zayne had their mouths agape at the situation.
"Are they f**king serious?" Zayne asked Malik.
He didn't answer. He didn't even know what to say next. All he could do was stare and think.
How can you defend yourself against people that have long ago decided to go against you?
All they needed was one half-truth.