Chapter 17

Back at his mansion, Ven had a large smile on his face as he sat in the library, it had been a good day, he was going to get a sword and armor, these were things he was familiar with. Not only that, but he had also won Rendall and Lilliana’s trust, and that too very quickly! But was he supporting the right group, he still couldn’t see how Ravendra being king for so long was detrimental, besides the gap between the gifted and giftless, were there any other major problems? Could he have done better than Ravendra if he was in his shoes? He doubted it, the man had done what he could with the resources he had.

With these thoughts in his head he sat down on and started to go through his phone, his contact list had gone from empty to a fair number of names. He wondered how many more he could get over the next few weeks.

“You seem to have had a good day today, sir,” said Frank.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I did, how was your day?” asked Ven.

“It was simply marvelous, I interviewed a fine lady today, her name is Agathe. I think she will be the perfect chief of staff for your house sir, she comes very highly recommended. Best part is she has a team she always works with, so by hiring her, we get the whole package, a chef, gardener, maid, butler and so on,” said Frank.

“Is that so? If she’s so well regarded, why did she leave her previous employer?” asked Ven.

“There was a nasty affair with the son of their last employer forcing himself on the maid. It would have been easier to remove the maid from the staff, but Agathe wouldn’t have it, she took her team and started looking for employers in other places,” said Frank.

“She sounds like a decent woman, when do they join us?” asked Frank.

“They are willing to start working from tomorrow, but I told them to hold off until the interior designing work was completed,” said Frank.

“That work hasn’t even started yet, let them join us in the meantime. It’s not that you’re a bad cook but I am starting to get bored of eating sandwiches or fruits the whole day,” said Ven.

“Very well, I shall call and let them know. Oh, by the way, sir, I almost forgot, a young man handed this to me earlier today, said it was for you,” said Frank as he passed Ven a sealed envelope.

“This day got even better,” said Ven as he opened the envelope and held his AI Assistant in his hand. “I am going to be working with this for the next hour or so, if there is nothing urgent, don’t disturb me.”

“Very well, sir,” said Frank.

Ven waited until he was certain Frank was out of earshot before he properly inspected the assistant, the first thing he looked for was the azure USB, thankfully it was still attached to the assistant, reassured he activated the assistant and put the earpiece he still carried with him in his ear.

“System restart complete, running diagnostics, this will take a moment.”

“Looks like it still works,” said Ven as he let out a sigh of relief.

“Voice pattern confirmed, transferring control.”

“Vikram?” asked Ven.

“Am I glad to hear your voice! How are you feeling?” asked Vikram.

“I am fine, thanks to your quick thinking! I owe you my life,” said Ven.

“I am glad you can’t see me blush. It wasn’t a big deal, I just made a bunch of noise and made them aware of what was going on,” said Vikram.

“Even though you’re making it sound like it was nothing, for me and the other two you saved it was a big deal! I am really glad I managed to get this assistant back before Ravendra’s people figured out what it really is,” said Ven.

“You didn’t have to worry; I was monitoring the situation the whole time and if they had gotten anywhere close to figuring out I wasn’t an AI. I would’ve bricked the assistant and that would’ve been the end of that,” said Vikram with pride.

“Bricked the assistant?” repeated a confused Ven.

“It means I would’ve broken the assistant and it would’ve been as useful as a brick,” explained Vikram.

“That’s reassuring to know. Could you connect me to Ravi, there’s a lot we need to talk about,” said Ven.

“Sure, just give me a second,” said Vikram.

“Ven! You’re ok! Vikram had immediately informed us about the kidnapping, and we know everything until you had the assistant taken away. Since then, we’ve been relying on the reports of our people, but its best to hear it from you. What exactly happened afterwards?” asked Ravi, concern clearly audible in his voice.

“You know how you guys sent me here to work as an Inspector, well I ended up as a member of The Honor Guard,” said Ven.

“Repeat that last sentence, I didn’t hear you correctly,” said Ravi.

“You heard me right, I am working as a knight for The Honor Guard now,” said Ven with a smile.

“But how?” shouted Ravi.

“Well, I hope you have some free time as this might take a while,” said Ven as he started recounting things. Ravi was a great listener, not interrupting Ven as he spoke and giving all the right reactions as Ven concluded with the events which had occurred today. But once he was done, there was complete silence.

“Are you still there?” asked Ven.

“Yes, I am here, it’s just a lot to process. You do realize you have managed to get into the position no one has managed to get into before, yes?” asked Ravi.

“Yeah, the thought did cross my mind,” said Ven with a smile.

“But I don’t know when I’ll have the opportunity to meet Ravendra again, or if I’ll be allowed to carry a weapon with me if I do meet him again,” said Ven.

“You’re right about that, but you don’t need to bother trying to get an audience with him. You can take away the source of his immortality, if you kill the real Lilliana, he can’t turn young again. He will grow old and die just like the rest of us! Of course, we will have to wait for him to age and die, but he will die eventually!” said an excited Ravi.

“You’re asking me to kill a woman who has done nothing wrong,” said Ven.

“She might not have done anything wrong intentionally, but the situation we find ourselves in is a direct result of her using her gift to make Ravendra young! She is without a doubt complicit to Ravendra’s crimes!” exclaimed Ravi.

“And just what is so horrible with how things are right now? I’ve been among these people, they are happy, things aren’t perfect, but they are nowhere near as bad as your lot makes it sound!” shouted Ven.

“Just how much do you think you have seen in the few days you have been out there? You have seen only the beauty and glow of the world Ravendra has created, you have not seen how brutal and vicious he can be when things do not go his way! Do you really think so many of us have banded together and are risking our lives merely because we don’t like Ravendra? Do you have any idea how many of us have died so you could be where you are today? There is a dark underbelly to that world you haven’t seen yet, the dark side which gets hidden by the dazzling lights of the perfect world. If you don’t believe what I am saying, just try and find out what they do to those they consider a burden on their beautiful nation,” said Ravi passionately, “I don’t understand why you’re having such doubts, you should have learned all this during your time with us.”

“Most of the teachers you had assigned to me stopped caring when they found out I was giftless, I learned what I did through Natalie or reading on my own,” said Ven.

“Why didn’t you tell me this while you were here?” asked Ravi.

“Because you were looking at me the same way as the rest, as a disappointment. I didn’t want to ask you for help,” said Ven.

“I am sorry we made you feel that way, and I will have a talk with your teachers once we are done here. But you have proven to all of us that you’re not a disappointment, on the contrary we are the disappointments for not being able to do our jobs and give you the foundation you needed. But trust me, things are not as they seem in Genesis, find out what they do to people they consider a burden, and you will see we have not been lying to you about Ravendra,” said Ravi.

“Ok, I’ll call you back once I get to the bottom of this mystery you have put in front of me,” said Ven as he hung up.

“Vikram?” asked Ven.

“Would you like to run a search for what happens to people considered a burden in Genesis?” asked Vikram.

“You knew what we were talking about?” asked Ven.

“Of course, you were using the assistant to make the call, it’s only natural I know what you were talking about,” said Vikram.

“Yes, look for the things Ravi mentioned,” said Ven, he didn’t like the thought that Vikram could monitor him so easily, but the man had saved his life, he deserved a little more trust.

“I don’t really need to search for them, I know the horrible things he does,” said Vikram.

“Tell,” said Ven giving up on asking questions every time Vikram did something he didn’t expect.

“Genesis runs a public program where people can willingly choose to give up their life. In exchange for this sacrifice, the immediate family of the deceased is taken care of for the rest of their lives. This is a program to control the population. Other than that, babies born with defects are terminated immediately,” said Vikram.

“What kind of people take up that offer to give up their life?” asked Ven.

“The spectrum of people that sign up for this program is varied, but the majority of people who take part are the poor, giftless or refugees from other countries,” said Vikram.

“And people are ok with this program existing?” asked Ven.

“It is considered an act of patriotism,” said Vikram.

“Who came up with this idea and why was it necessary?” asked Ven.

“The idea was proposed by the UTF and was approved by Ravendra. It was implemented as a result of the increasing population of Nagiri. It was believed a point was coming when there wouldn’t be enough resources to go around, therefore it was considered an act of patriotism for those not considered useful to the nation to give up their lives. A way for them to contribute to society,” said Vikram.

“Are there any other programs like that?” asked Ven.

“There are no other programs where a citizen can offer up their life, if that’s what you mean,” said Vikram.

“That’s something,” said Ven.

“Do you want to hear about the other programs?” asked Vikram.

“No, not right now. I’ve been tinkering around with the assistant for too long. I don’t want the people around me to get suspicious about it,” said Ven.

“Sounds like a good idea. When you have time, I can pick off where we left out today,” said Vikram.

“Deal, keep up the good work, Vikram,” said Ven.

Finally a little more insight about the darker things Ravendra has done during his time as King. 

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and looking forward to your feedback.

As always stay safe out there.

Anderoth