THE CABINET OF THE ANGELS


Celes is an enigmatic island where the passage of time appears to have ceased. In the midst of an unprecedented crisis, young soldier Cyan and other teenagers are compelled to assume control of their government.
As the burden of responsibility intensifies, Cyan will confront a multitude of moral quandaries, grappling with the shortcomings of others and his own.

Political machinations, ancestral mysteries, and personal treachery will persistently challenge him, scrutinizing his moral rectitude and capacity to discern right from wrong. Cyan will embark on a journey of self-discovery, where the pivotal test will be his ability to not only assume a leadership role but also to extend and receive forgiveness.



THE NIGHT I WENT UP TO THE SKY VILLAGE

 

Celes is a small island, just 885 km², so it didn't take much to keep it in order. I was only fifteen years old, and I had no other help than an old revolver and the company of my friend Ilmari. I patrolled the entire northwest quadrant of the island, and I did that just fine. We saw it as simple: "We made the laws, we made them respected, and that's it." We didn't know that crime not only lurks in the dark roads but is born and hidden in the most intimate thoughts of each citizen. At our tender age, we had already faced and fought the thief, the extortionist and the abuser of women; but we didn't yet know the essence of perversity...

I believe the conflict with Celes started several centuries ago. Don't believe anyone who says there's no such thing as an evil that lasts a hundred years! Problems tend to linger until they're resolved. Celes was originally populated by descendants of Scandinavian sailors. These natives, who previously dominated the entire island, were relegated to the northern mountain range. They still live there, hidden in tunnels under the mountains, and they tell stories about all the extraordinary and paranormal things that are supposed to happen here. It's interesting to hear their stories, but I don't believe everything they say. From what we know from the archaeological evidence, it seems that in 1520 the Oread family arrived with weapons that could have exterminated two-thirds of the northern Mystics and subdued the rest. It was such an intervention that these people were marked by fear, and the Mystics still avoid interacting with the rest of the islanders. Since then, the Oreads have done whatever they wanted with Celes.

The effects of these violent beginnings are still being felt today. The island's development has been limited, with little change since 1900. The Oread, who said they were kings not long after arriving, were the only ones with the resources to travel freely and have contact with the rest of the world. They also managed to decide how much access the rest of us had to technology and information. It's still pretty common to see the Celestines dressed in three-piece suits and hats, and their women in long dresses, just like they were in the Victorian era. It's not just because of conservative local customs, but also because most of the islanders don't know anything else! Modern clothes are expensive imports, and only the rich can afford them. The most popular decorations are flowers and cherubs. Some houses are still lit with gas lamps, and until recently, you could go to jail for having a smartphone or computer without permission.

In 2015, when I was 15, I did something a little out there: I used my savings to buy an old CD player with its collection of heavy metal from a classmate at my military school who had a bit of a rebellious streak. This guy knew some unsavory characters from the risky Sky Village in the southern part of the island. I looked at the album covers with band photos and tried to connect the dots with what I could see on the few TVs in the department stores of Gardenia, the capital city. This helped me imagine what the world was like outside. It seemed like you could live your life without being told what to do, how to speak, what to wear, or what to think. I was willing to protect my island, but I also wanted to fight so that one day we could be part of the rest of the world. I didn't want to be just in a nice prison floating in the middle of the ocean.

 Before I go any further, I just want to explain something. Once you graduate from the military school in my hometown, Hot Pot, you should start serving in the royal army, patrolling different areas of the island. Back then, there were no police, no firefighters, only the military to protect the island. We wore blue uniforms, carried a few old guns, and were passionate about justice. There weren't many students, just three in my class, and I had to work harder than everyone else because of my father's rank. He'd been appointed Minister of Justice and Public Security in 2014. I don't usually like to talk about myself, but I think it's important to mention that my name is Ocean Fèng, or Cyan to my family and friends. I'm currently a lieutenant colonel in the army and also served as minister of justice and public security for a period of time. However, I'm talking about the summer of 2015, when I was a young soldier of the first class. I remember myself as a recent graduate, wearing my father's old uniform that my mother had patched up for me. I was lanky and not at all popular with the ladies. I come from a modest background and my parents worked hard to make a better life for us. They were both in the military. I am also mestizo because my maternal grandmother was a Mystic from the north. I must keep my hair a little long to honor the custom of adult men in the northern mountain range, and I've inherited the blue eyes along with the ability to light fire directly with my hands. The Mystics say this is one of the many supernatural gifts that only they receive when they grow up, but I know there must be a scientific explanation. It's got something to do with the chemistry of my body and static, I think, but it's an impressive skill in a place where half of us is in the military and the other half are blacksmiths or manufacturers of gunpowder for fireworks, which is our artistic expression. At Hot Pot, we love fire. We are warm people with strong characters who have fun burning things. The stretched Celestines of Ishikawa village call us pyromaniac animals, but we don't pay much attention to their opinions.

It's thought that the Ishikawa arrived with my ancestors in the seventeenth century, although the exact date is unclear. There are many manipulations in the historical records because the same Ishikawa who took over the island built a kept them in a supposed public royal library inside their fortified village between two huge walls, the high cliffs that surround the island and Lake Engla that is fed by the Seren River, which flows down from the Northern range. They have exclusive access to their village and thus to the library, despite claiming that the library is public! In any case, the story has been passed down through the generations by word of mouth: a ship loaded with gold and jewels left the Chinese coast heading to India, with a crew of experienced sailors and soldiers on board. After that, the Ishikawa family, who had always coveted power and wealth, stealthily departed on a Japanese pirate ship. During the pursuit, the ships got lost and ended up in the rough waters around the island of Celes. It's a fact that you don't survive if you enter this strange area of the ocean, and if you do, you end up shipwrecked in Celes. Only the mysterious royal ocean liner, which makes a trip to the mainland every year to bring back supplies, has managed to navigate through the thick mist and monstrous waves. My ancestors and the Ishikawas ended up on the rocky beaches under the cliffs. While the soldiers and sailors tried to save their colleagues by taking them to dry land, the Ishikawa let their own people die to take the cargo and take it as best they could. There were witnesses among the Mystics of the north who saw the Ishikawa survivors cross the forests to Lake Engla, carrying sacks and chests full of gold, while my ancestors were asking the natives for medicine and food for their wounded on the coast. So, they were already well off when they got there and they made friends with the Oreads, who let them build a villa-fortress by the lake. Over time, they even became related. In fact, the leader of the Ishikawa is now the prime minister of the island, a position that has been passed down through the family and is seen as a way of legalizing nepotism. Of course, if they'd told you their side of the story, they'd probably say it was the Ishikawas who set sail from Japan loaded with riches, and that Chinese soldiers on the other ship tried to assault them. That's why they were already familiar with the finer ways of Celestine royalty. My ancestors, on the other hand, only managed to make friends with the Mystical Savages of the north and only gained the right to settle on the island after agreeing to become security forces in the service of the crown. I don't believe a word of it! If my town had really been founded by thieves, we would not have military ethics. The standards and codes that I respect and guide every decision I make and every interaction I have with others are the essence of my life and the force that motivates me. I am and always will be an upright and incorruptible man.

Or, at the very least, I'll fight to make that happen.

That night when I went up to the Sky Village was after spending the day in a bad mood. Since I had already graduated from military school, I had most of the day off until it was my turn to patrol the northwest quadrant of the island from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. That morning, I accompanied my parents to a special event in honor of Queen Zoeila's birthday at the royal palace in Gardenia, the capital city. Gardenia always caught my attention, it was the only place on the entire island where between the Art Nouveau architecture and the people still dressed as in the nineteenth century you could see two or three cars of the year, smartphones, flat screens, LED lights and other things that, as a teenager, amazed me. That was the only reason why I went, because the speaker was as always Prime Minister Eiden Ishikawa. And I couldn't stand Eiden. Perhaps not so much because of his diplomatic attitude to the point of being disturbing, it was simply because of his age; Eiden was only thirteen years old at the time, and after centuries of miscegenation between the Ishikawa and the white Oread, he looked very little like a noble Japanese and a lot like a drugaddicted nerd: haggard, pale, with a suspicious smile and look. I, two years older than him, felt like a man compared to him, but not so old as to awaken in me the paternal instinct that he inspired in real adults. The elders were moved to see him hold a position that should have been in the hands of his mother, Kanon Ishikawa, who is said to have been a very sweet woman and loved by the people; she died when nerdy-diabolical Eiden was born. It was never revealed to the public who his father was and, in the absence of other relatives suitable to relieve the deceased prime minister, Queen Zoeila decided to take Eiden as her protégé and put him to speak at public events as soon as the brat could say sentences of more than three words. So, everyone loved Eiden! He was the baby prodigy of the island, and since I was very young, I wanted to give him a beating. I reluctantly saw him arrive on stage in front of the Gardenia palace sculpted in white marble in the Baroque style. He appeared greeting everyone with his old-child smile and dressed in the ceremonial black suit inspired by that of the United Kingdom court judges, while I listened to my mother praise him for being so well trained as a poodle to follow the protocol of public events. Among his biggest admirers was my younger sister Yanmei, who was a year younger than Eiden and loved him with the passion of a donkey in heat, which made me hate him much more. That morning was a little different from other events of this type. Queen Zoeila in her ominous black dress, for she was always mourning the death of her spouse in the same year as the death of Eiden's mother, looked strangely animated. Her face, still young but hardened by her permanent expression of sadness, had softened with a faint smile. She was pleased. Eiden was running around, you could tell he had lost something. He walked around asking who knows what to the elders of his family, who always looked like dusty corpses in formal suits, until his aunt Emi arrived; She was a very pretty woman who did look Asian and always dressed in the traditional style of her village. The only one of the clan I liked and the last "young" besides Eiden. She handed him some sheets of paper, composed his suit and sent him to start the speech because it was already late. Eiden ran to the podium and tripped once but managed to escape unscathed. "Oh, how cute!" my mom exclaimed. I would have liked to see him stumble like this, but on the cliffs of the coast. Eiden put the papers in order, put on his glasses, touched the microphone and smiled, delighting us with the beautiful sight of his crooked teeth because his fangs were missing, he was still changing his baby teeth. "Oh, how cute!" my little sister whimpered anyway. Then Eiden spoke in his intemperate pubescent boy's voice, pathetic:

—Today is a special day, not only because it is the birthday of Yor Majesty. They also let me write my own speech for the first time.

There was laughter and applause. Then silence, we had to give space for the baby Jesus to speak! Eiden began to say, with the formality that he perfected every year:

—Your majesty I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest gratitude for your guidance and support over the years. You have served not only as a monarch to your kingdom, but also as a mentor and guide to those of us who have had the privilege of working closely with you. Your leadership has provided guidance and inspiration during challenging times, encouraging us to pursue independence and assume responsibility for our own actions as a natural step on our path to maturity and self-determination. Your legacy will continue to serve as a source of inspiration as I navigate the uncharted waters of the future. Thank you for all that you have done for me and for our kingdom. Your influence will remain an integral part of who I am, even as I seek my own path.

I raised my eyebrows, crossed my arms in my seat, and made a remark to my mother and sister in a low voice:

—He just told the queen that she represses him!

My dad replied, sitting next to me without losing his composure, although we all knew that he was also anxious for the speech to end and finally to go to lunch:

—Shut up, Ocean. That child has more freedom than all of us, he only spends the cold seasons in Celes because the weather is always good here. He studies abroad. He grew up in Germany.

—Hm, that explains why he's such a libertine.

I replied looking at my nails, with disdain, my father murmured:

—No, Eiden is just like his mother Kanon. She was the kindest, sweetest girl I ever knew.

I shrugged my shoulders as   everyone applauded Eiden's fart and graceless speech. Then we were invited to have tea in the palace gardens, I was bored and uncomfortable leaning on a veranda a little far away from everyone when I heard some screams and laughter from inside the palace, which I could see through a large door.

Suddenly Eiden ran down some stairs, now in more casual clothes, while a pretty, thin woman, with dark curly hair, blue eyes, very pale and who could be his mother, shouted at him that he was a daring shameless. He looked at her sighing, licked his finger and smiled like a total degenerate. I wanted to imagine that the woman had an apple pie up there and Eiden tried a little bit by sticking her finger in it! But we all know that wasn't it. He ran past me while I looked at him, and I was pretty mad. I went to tell my dad everything, he believed me putting one of his arms on my shoulders and we chatted a little, while we walked under the rows of pine trees in the palace gardens:

—You must understand the circumstances in which faults are committed! In Ishikawa village, people are aging without having children, it is a village of old people. Everyone has their faith in Eiden, which is why he will never be punished for being "curious" about women. They want him to have children soon.

I rolled my eyes and commented, angrily:

—Can you be more privileged in life? We must strive and earn a place in society. They just need to reproduce.

—Sometimes you'll see that something is wrong without legally committing the crime, you must let it go. All those mistakes will sooner or later be straightened out, it's the order of nature. Everything heals, improves or is destroyed to make way for something better.

—How much will it be to allow too much damage for nature to repair on its own?

—We will never know because that process sometimes lasts longer than our lives. You don't know if in your years you are going to witness the solution to a problem that originated centuries ago. You just have to be certain that even when we are no longer in this world, justice will come. The repair will be done.

—And what if I don't trust the passage of time and decide to take matters into my own hands to mete out justice?

I asked him with determination and a little challenging. My father smiled, replying:

—What if fate decides that you are not? You are still very young and do not understand the power of nature and the

insignificance of man! Look at the fields: not all buds make it to flower, nor do all chicks live long enough to fly. You are going to die frustrated if you set goals that do not depend 100% on your will. Just let it go!

—The strong achieve those goals, those who make an effort. Don't believe me? One day you'll see, Dad. You don't need to wait for rain for the fields to bloom, or warm days for the birds to fly, we have hands to water the soil, raise chickens, and for whatever we set our minds to!

My father laughed and soon after we returned home at the Hot Pot. As dusk fell, I got into my old SUV, got my gun ready, and went out on patrol. The sky began to be painted with colorful skies as I climbed the rocky paths that furrow the edges of the crater within which the Hot Pot rests and to which it owes its name; Shortly after, some solitary stars and fireworks began to shine, as they do every evening in my cheerful town. Sometimes I like to just drive like this on the country roads of my island, where summer is almost eternal and bittersweet; We all lived with the feeling of being stuck in time, doubting whether it was a dream or a nightmare. The breeze moved my hair, fresh and perfumed with cypress and pine; everything in Celes is so serene and silent at dusk that it ends up being unsettling. I was on my way to the northern mountain range, where my distant cousin Ilmari, youngest daughter of the Petersens, a legendary family of healers who for centuries had been the leaders of Adalsteinn, the town hidden in the bowels of the mountain range, was waiting for me. I used to approach the village and whistle, if she was already waiting for me, she would let me know with a song      inherited from her Scandinavian ancestors that Mystical women use to call their own and resonate among the mountains. It's very beautiful and sweet. Ilmari was then a fourteenyear-old Mystic, tall as a boy, with two very long red braids, freckles, and blue eyes just like mine. She was shy and kind, like the deer of the forest; She had six older brothers, all men, they forced her to dress like a mountaineer like them and only on special occasions did they let her wear dresses and ornaments like the other girls in the northern forests. Mystic women have a reputation for being very pretty, so we all agreed that for Ilmari's safety it was better to hide her under loose male clothes and a balaclava. She didn't protest because her soul was pure and without malice, she wasn't in a hurry to become a woman, she liked to play with my little sister Yanmei and go on patrol with me pretending to be a boy. Her job was to support me with her crossbow and crystals, she knew each mineral of the mountain range and the supposed magical properties of each one. For me, Mystic crystals are fairy tales, but one of their quartzes thrown with her good aim could surely kill. I told her what I saw that morning, she gave her opinion while keeping her eyes on the route we were taking through the northern forests, which were covered in mist and fireflies:

— I don't know, Cyan. Eiden has some real issues. His mother was killed, and he was taken hostage.

—What do you mean?

—That's it. That his mother was murdered by the queen, and since then she has had him under her control.

— Can you explain why you think that? Do you have any evidence to back it up?

I asked looking at her out of the corner of my eye as I drove. Ilmari reached into her bag full of talismans and herbs, from there she pulled out a lock of black hair, straight and shiny, saying:

—Look, it's Kanon Ishikawa's hair. My mom kept it to continue praying for her. My parents went to see her the night she died because the queen had    a hysterical attack and called them to purify her with our rituals. Her spouse, the then-king, had been abusing Kanon since she was a child. He eventually got her pregnant, and they tried to keep the secret because Eiden's aunt, who rules the Ishikawa village in the shadows, ordered that she not be allowed to have an abortion. They needed an heir. They say Eiden knows this! That everyone in her family knows that it is the halfbrother of the queen's son, Angel, the one no one has seen.

I looked at her intrigued, Angel was a character mentioned from time to time in the news, but who had never been photographed or shown on video:

—Do you think he exists? The Queen's Son... It's strange that she doesn’t let him be seen.

—I only know that Queen Zoeila accepted Kanon's pregnancy without protest for a while, perhaps she had already made up her mind to steal the baby! Perhaps she was not satisfied with her own son who had already been born by then. But when Kanon was about to give birth, she lost her patience and poisoned the king. Emi Ishikawa said she suspected that after Zoeila killed her husband she called Kanon crying and asked him to come and help her because something terrible had happened, but not to tell anyone. Kanon, in order to be discreet and respect her authority, went alone. It was a mistake, the queen attacked her too. She opened her womb while she was still alive and took Eiden out of her. She ran with the baby to Angel's bedroom and locked herself there. She said that “she should protect the children from a monster”, my mother says that you could hear the crying of the little ones in the background and the scene was something horrible. Kanon had bled to death, the king lay rigidly, and Eiden looked very weak.  They had to secretly take him to my house, they were healing him and taking care of him until he was two years old. At that time, my mother was his wet nurse and he slept with me in my crib. Poor baby. They say we loved each other very much, that's why I like him. I've heard that he speaks six languages, has won several chess tournaments, and I think he plays the piano.

—No, according to the newspapers the one who plays piano is Angel, the prince who if he exists perhaps is deformed. Eiden only plays older ladies... I feel sorry for your mother, my aunt Norma, who had to deal with that because of the queen's foolishness.

I commented and continued talking:

—We islanders should not allow Zoeila to continue governing. From what they say, we can say that she is cruel and unstable.

—Don't say that... God puts kings, you must accept them. Besides, she doesn't really rule. The one who administers everything is the prime minister.

—Eiden is a child, he doesn't decide anything...

—Behind him is his aunt. I don't know much about her, but she seems saner than the queen... From her we have learned almost everything that happened that horrible night.

—Then she spread these rumors... And you just told me that she forced her sisterniece-cousin-whatever to give birth to the fruit of a rape. I can't imagine anything more horrible, that Kanon girl spent months with a part of the old king inside, and they expected her to raise him with love... Eiden doesn't look Asian at all. He looks just like his father.

—Ocean Fèng... All the children are good and cute, he is innocent. He deserved to live. I don't know why you're so quick to doubt!

—No one deserves to live, living is not a privilege but a condemnation; when Eiden was born, only the blood of a rapist sprouted and nothing good can come from that... You and I come from parents who loved each other, relatively happy families. We come from the good and that is why we are good people. Everything must start well, go well from the beginning. That did not happen for example in Gardenia, since the capital was founded, it was full of corruption and shady things. If it were up to me, I'd shut down all those casinos and cabarets, but instead Ishikawa signed an order that we don't go inside those caves of degenerate rich old men. And you don't help at all with that good-natured attitude, Ilmari! People like you are the ones who donate money to supposedly altruistic non-governmental organizations, starting with the largest: The Society of Azrael. That trash is the one that fought so that Celes' law is not applied within the Sky Village.

Then Ilmari looked at me strangely and asked:

—What's the issue there? We all know that the folks in Sky Village are facing discrimination and oppression. Our government for centuries has been brutal to foreigners. They are not allowed to leave the island, except in rare cases with the permission of the kings, and if they remain they must do so in the horrible Sky Village paying absurd fees in hopes of getting out of there and moving to Gardenia to spend the rest of their lives slaving away in the clubs and restaurants; earning just enough to eat and pay the rent, they are not allowed to settle anywhere else on the island! Most of them stay up there, crammed and isolated in the Sky Village. They live in terrible conditions and are forced every day to cultivate the fields of the south or fish on the beaches. They can only dream of one day getting out of the misery in which they are trapped.

“Bah” I murmured as I shook my head and looked to one of the sides, there was a clearing in the forest where Ilmari and I used to go to play under the care of her older brother. That boy was weird and rebellious, he stood out even more for being albino and refusing to follow Mystical traditions. He ran away from home before I started school and since then he lived away from everyone and defying the law, but he left me with a good memory. In fact, I missed him, he was sincere, and he didn't mince words. An interesting guy. Still thinking about him, I picked up where I left off with Ilmari:

—The quality of life in the Sky Village would improve if they let us in to put things in order, but The Society of Azrael has something there... And speaking of breaking the law, what happened to your brother Leif? The one who built a house illegally in the southern meadows that are supposed to be used only for wheat and no one should touch

My friend leaned back in her seat and answered me sadly:

—I don't know. I haven't seen him for years. Your dad says that as long as he lives, he's going to keep him safe, but he won't be able to do much if he keeps provoking the queen. My mom suffers a lot for him, he is her firstborn. And my dad says Leif is just waiting for an excuse... Looking for support... And many people already have the same idea... A bit like you, they believe that we should not continue to live like this, with so much repression and so separated from the rest of the world.

—We could only make a few updates to the law while still keeping our identity. If someone wants to dress like the people of the continental lands, they should be able to buy clothes at an affordable price. The same goes for technology, if they want to buy it, they should have free access to the devices. Development is not a luxury; it's a right for everyone.

—But I'm scared... We're fine like that. Let's not talk about these things now, Cyan. We pass through the thick forest between

Gardenia and the northern mountain range. We can attract some negative entity. I even lost my rose quartz... Don't you remember if I brought it?

—Screw your magic rocks, they're worthless... Sometimes it makes me desperate to live like this. To know that out there, the world is so different and free....

I grumbled and looked outside. The dark forest was shrouded in a thick, foggy haze. I spotted a distant point and exclaimed:

—Look, we got to the place where we killed the guy who was assaulting a man. It's been a week now, and it still feels strange to be here.

—How can it be if you say you don't believe in the supernatural?

—And I don't believe in that. Is only the bad memory that comes to my mind.

—Why did you shoot him? He was going to die anyway; he was all on fire and hurt.

—So that he would not suffer any more.

—You're a brute, Cyan! You have no compassion for human beings who do not meet your requirements of decency.

—It was our baptism of blood. We are strong, young and brave, Ilmari. If a tidal wave were to approach this island, we would be the first rocks to receive it.

Ilmari looked at me worriedly, then took a medal from her bag and began to whisper a prayer for the thief's soul. Shortly after we arrived on the outskirts of Gardenia. My round included its main streets, these were always quite lively due to the nightlife of the rich who lived in the area. Most of them were not even Celestine, nor did they live permanently there, but no one talked about it. They were “tourists” or “foreign investors”, immigrants were only a problem when they did not come for pleasure and to spend a lot of money. People in the capital city slept during the day and at night they woke up just to party. I was tired of seeing those petulant rich men in their golden dream of living in an eternal belle époque where summer never ended; but even among them there were some exceptions. One of those few nice Gardinians was Micky, an elegant but eccentric guy who seemed to embody all the decadent romanticism of the city. He was always covered by a scarf and sometimes even sunglasses; always too composed, like a strange mannequin. His voice, with a French accent, maintained a strange tonal perfection, without the fluctuation or exhaustion that would betray his age, because everything he said was nonsense you would expect to hear from an old man in full mental decline, but with a disturbing clarity of diction. Ilmari and I had known him since we were children, when my father would let us accompany him on patrol around the city and would greet him. I liked him because he was half crazy and because he was always on the lookout to see if anyone damaged the architecture of the city. Micky took care of Gardenia with more dedication than all the elements of Celes' army. That night he beckoned with his cane for me to stop, then I leaned out of the window to ask him:

—Walking through those old buildings again? What happened to the bricklayer girl my father introduced you to? Invite her to look at the bricks together.

—I'm not looking for love, friend Cyan. If I know and understand that feeling, it is because I exist to live in love with the durability, usefulness and beauty of these giants of marble and stone. My passion is to defend them and ensure that they remain intact. They never die unless we abandon them!

—Yes, but with the woman mason you can… And with the building... You can't...

—Ah, your young and pure eyes do not yet perceive pleasure with the distortion and cloudiness with which we old people see it! Old men tired of observing the world with eyes moistened by tears that have been soiled with the dust of time and the filth of society. Isn't erotic the act of entering a building whose beauty can take your breath away?

—I don't know. Have you ever been turned on just by seeing how well a wall was constructed?

—Oui, cela s'est passé. I always get confused in that aspect, it's not something natural for me.

—I didn't understand what you said, and I prefer to stay that way. What's the problem tonight?

The picturesque citizen showed me a piece of stone and told me.

—A stupid cow parked her car on the sidewalk and splintered a Corinthian column two hundred years old, no more, no less. Look, the car is still there, I yelled at her that this was no place to park, and the damn pig just turned around, and left me talking to her fat ass. Fine her!

I got out of my vehicle to start writing in my notebook and warned him:

—If you don't speak respectfully about that lady, I'll fine you too for lack of morals.

—Well, a respectable lady whose titanic dimensions compensated for her scant aesthetic value parked on the sidewalk, causing damage to a two-hundred-yearold Corinthian column. I warned the lady that this was not a suitable place to park, but she, ignoring my warning, turned and walked away to leave me talking to her back of considerable volumetry. Fine her!

I went to check the car in question, verified that it was parked in a prohibited area and wrote up the obituary. Micky, who was wasting no time, was already overwhelming poor Ilmari with his oddities, so I hurried to go and make him moderate a bit:

—Seriously, Micky, I've seen you here for as long as I can remember, tending to these old buildings. What is so special about them? I'd rather focus on the statues of angels scattered around the city. They always suffer from vandalism; I don't know how they destroy them so quickly...

—All you need is dynamite! A little in the right place is enough to demolish them.

—Micky, who would go around carrying something like that in case they want to blow up a statue?

My strange friend unscrewed the top of his cane, taking out a candle of dynamite. And I rubbed my eyebrows, saying:

—Tell me why I shouldn't arrest you now…

He pointed out one of the monuments, specifically that of a couple, and asked me:

—Do you think that cheesy abomination is worth anything? It is an undignified and humiliating way of representing a man, a being capable of developing his own reasoning and feeling! If you were the one who was portrayed in such a cloying way, you would surely not be wanting to be seen in public again. Sculpture that isn't specifically made to offer shelter and a lovely environment for people to live in disgusts me. It's selfish, excessively useless art, I'm not that kind of creator and in fact I have a long enmity against those who are. A few minutes ago, I told Ilmari that the foundations for my beloved buildings were dug with hands trembling with hatred and their finishes were polished with blood. Those cloying statues are monuments to vanity, I see them and it's like contemplating a painting of Judas' kiss. Marble idols to worship a curse that imprisons us all...

Ilmari got out of the SUV and spoke:

—Wait a minute, Micky. For a while now you've been saying things... That only Mystics know...

He looked at her and said in a serious tone, rather rare for him:

—Why don't you say it directly? You don't need to keep your people's secrets from  Cyan. He is one of yours, the grandson of a Mystic.

—But how do you know? You're not even Celestine.

Ilmari questioned him and I thought it was time to get to the point:

—What are you talking about? What are you hiding from me?

Finally, Ilmari explained:

—Gardenia is supposed to be cursed by the Mystics! And that is why the rest of the island is too. It was cursed because the wife of the guy who inspired those statues, she was the prime minister of Celes at the time. Not much is known about the guy, no one remembers where he came from; it is only recorded that he came to the island specifically to work on the remodeling works of Gardenia which, by then, 1810, was a dark, dirty and medieval looking city. She was an acclaimed painter and sculptor on the island, all these murals and statues that adorn the buildings are her work, but the guy designed the buildings and people were more in awe of his works. Then she was jealous.

Micky commented, taking the floor from Ilmari:

—It hurt her ego to see these palaces rise to the sky while their bland statues could not be detached from the ground, although they had wings. One day she made up an excuse, infidelity, I don't remember. The end was dreadful and that's why the curse came...

He concluded and went away saying languidly:

—I was on my way to the casino, but suddenly I felt bad. I'm unable to sleep, but I'm going to make it a point this time. Au revoir.

We said goodbye to our strange friend with a hug, then I looked at Ilmari and asked curiously:

—What happened? Why did they curse Gardenia?

She answered me lowering her voice:

—Because the prime minister came up with the idea of taking her husband's heart out of his chest. She attacked him with a pickaxe in front of everyone, while he was supervising a construction. My people wanted to give the boy a sacred burial, but his body disappeared after the attack. They say that she kept the heart and discarded the rest of the mutilated corpse as if it were any other garbage. The masons of the Sky Village who witnessed the event went out to protest through the streets of Gardenia because it was unheard of that not only did, they not punish the woman, they were also consenting to her morbid whim of preserving the heart of their victim as if she were forcing him even after death to be hers. That night, when they returned to their homes, mercenaries massacred all the masons in the cruelest way and set fire to the entire village. Its ashes rained down on the southern meadows and the kings said that “they would be a good fertilizer for the land”. So, the Mystics, outraged by what had happened, cursed the city and the entire island. They say that we will live trapped in this bittersweet reality until the heart of the marble angel appears and he finally stops being a soul in pain. He is supposed to continue wandering around Gardenia, perhaps Micky has seen him and that is why he knows this secret that only my people know. Children and loonies see things that normal people cannot. And he's a little bit of both.

—Bah, more nonsense, the heart of the marble angel is a metaphor for the origin of corruption in Celes. If it is not attacked directly, we will continue to be stuck. And the angel itself is a representation of the current state of the island: it is an angel of light that hides a bloody history. Do you know what all that means, Ilmari? That there is something we do not know, the queen is only the tip of the iceberg. We would have to investigate the entire system and fix it. Uprooting corruption to move the island forward. Haven't you thought about what future awaits us all if things continue as they are? Nothing will change!

—If you're going to play the part of the skeptic and deny the curse's existence, why haven't you ever gone down south, where the fields are covered with the ashes of the massacre? It's obvious that you feel there's something dark there.

I couldn't answer her because we just heard a car speeding up to the area of the nightclubs and casinos, a very conflictive zone. In front of the most luxurious club on the island, “Inferno”, there was a group of elderly people visibly agitated; so, I asked Ilmari to keep an eye on my vehicle while I went to take a statement. I approached preparing my camera and my notebook in case I needed them. When I arrived, everyone surrounded me talking at the same time, it was difficult for me to understand them. Apparently, a fight had occurred between customers and the one who started it fled. I noticed that at the entrance there was a menacing-looking doorman, it was strange that he did not intervene to bring order. I went to ask him what he knew, and he only said that he had a request for me: that I treat everything discreetly and enter the club to ask the barista for more information. Intrigued, I beckoned to Ilmari from where she was, indicating that I was going to enter; She responded by giving me a thumbs up and I went inside the building. There I understood a little about Micky and his fascination for places like that. The lobby was majestic; after passing through an immense door ornamented with sinuous curves and floral details, you reached a threshold flanked by stylized columns and blown glass lamps. The main hall was immense and bright, with walls covered with carved wood panels with plant motifs and large mirrors that replicated the light of the hanging lamps. There were armchairs upholstered in red and gold velvet, with curved backs and leaf-like legs under a vaulted ceiling of stained-glass windows with floral and geometric motifs. I must have looked like a lost child, looking around with my mouth open. Luckily, there was almost no one around, just two or three old men in tailcoats and top hats who were dragging their feet and leaning on the railings of the stairs with intricate ornamental details in wrought iron. Everything looked far more expensive and elegant than the Palace of Gardenia itself, which seemed to me to be just the house of a lady with a little money. A waiter called me, said that they needed to talk to me in a more intimate space due to the delicacy of the matter. Then he led me into a small parlor behind velvet curtains. There, among crystal chandeliers and hanging lamps with frosted glass shades that radiated a warm light, was a small bar; And right at that point, the bottom of that abyss of luxury, sensuality and mystery, was where I finally met the person who was waiting for me to give a statement. When I saw her, I felt my heart skip a beat and I was out of breath. Queen Zoeila, Emi Ishikawa, and my friend Ilmari were all very beautiful, but that never really affected me. The woman who was supposed to talk to me, the barista, had an unexpected effect on me: she was beautiful, more beautiful than any I had ever seen, but she looked me straight in the eye and in a way that intimidated me. I was speechless for a moment until she broke the silence:

—Are you the officer...?

“That's right” I murmured, lowering my gaze and in a barely audible voice. I prepared my notebook to write, and I felt like a retard. She commented:

—I would have preferred an older, more experienced officer. This case is very special. You must be very discreet about those involved.

I looked at her quickly without raising my face and began to ask her information while I was writing, duty gave me courage. Her name was Dulce Consuelo Del Mar, her name made me grin and I had to bite my lips to keep from smiling. She was 18 years old; she was originally from a Central American country a little larger than Celes, but when she was vacationing on a yacht she was shipwrecked on our island and since then she lived with her parents in the Sky Village until she managed to move to Gardenia thanks to her job. I could see that she got nervous when explaining what she was doing working there, not every girl who comes to the island from a shipwreck ends up working at Inferno. But she, as I said, was too pretty, and that surely had something to do with it. I finally asked her what had happened that night. She pointed out a fancy lady who was having a drink a few meters away and looking at us out of the corner of her eye. She seemed to be in a bad mood. I recognized her instantly: thin, dark hair somewhat curly, blue eyes, very pale; she was the woman I saw that same morning in the Gardenia palace with Eiden Ishikawa. Consuelo “explained” to me:

—We had a problem with Miss Estelle Angenoir's family, you know what I mean?

I thought for a few seconds before asking, sincerely:

—Who is Miss Angenoir?...

—Is the star of the theater, does it ring a bell? She is in a lot of advertisements, she is a very famous dancer, and she occasionally sings in the opera.

—She's a rich lady from Gardenia, I see.

—Not only that...

Consuelo murmured and then said in my ear:

—She is the daughter of the director of The Society of Azrael! She is the richest woman on the island, and perhaps one of the richest in the world.

I couldn't hide my face shocked by indignation, that woman was living the high life at the expense of the suffering of the island's poor! Finally, I also looked into Consuelo's eyes and replied:

—I don't give a damn.

She looked at me in surprise, then laughed and spoke:

—So, you're not one of those who take bribes? Are you the legendary good guy who does want to protect the city? Or just a socially resentful who hates the rich?

—A little of both. What happened to that Estelle?

—Her nephew was here chatting with her and another boy, when suddenly the young man became insolent because of alcohol and went away with his friend. Miss Angenoir is worried about them; she wants you to go find them and bring them back home before her father finds out. Mr. Angenoir has a volatile character and is very strict with this boy... The nephew. Please be discreet, you don't need to make a fuss, my job depends on this! They have asked me to beg you, to pay you if you want to, but to bring him back to Gardenia and take him home.

—I will do it only to serve you, who are a hard-working and honest citizen. Right?

I asked her, looking at her languidly. This time it was she who lowered her gaze. I sighed and said:

—Well, and where does that dude live?

—You'll know when you find him.

She always responded as if afraid to say specific names. Then she took me by the arm and said as she led me back to the entrance of the casino:

—Please hurry, Miss Angenoir is very upset and often complains about me to her father... Look, they went east, the car's lights were seen going in the direction of the cemetery hill at high speed. They were in a 2015 Mercedes, black, dark windows, the license plate says FMOR4D. Please hurry!

I went back to my car, where Ilmari had already set up her crossbow in case we ran into any trouble, and I tried to explain to her what had happened while I started the engine.:

—A drunken fight, two went to the hill of the cemetery. Speeding and public disorder, they are going to spend the night in a cell of the Hot Pot. Take my notebook, here are the details.

—A car of the year! Are they rich?

—Sure, they're customers of the Inferno casino. Hey, I saw a very pretty girl inside. Should I say something to her after catching the drunk guys?

—No. You're ugly, she's not going to like you.

My “friend” informed me laughingly and I replied:

—Eiden Ishikawa is ugly, and my little sister likes him.

—He's not ugly, and he's got charisma. You're boring, though. But if you felt a connection, then maybe fate will bring you back together.

Ilmari's words were enough to lose my hopes with Consuelo, but at least I already knew that this was the first girl I really liked. I drove a little southeast in the direction of the hill of the island's cemetery. It is around the fruit orchards, a place that is sunny during the day and from which it is possible to see the wheat fields of the south. It's just as nice at night. You can see the stars more clearly from there, and the grass on the dry ground looks golden in the moonlight. Some think that it is a gloomy place because at the highest point there is a large cross and a few meters away lie the graves, but it inspires peace in me. I'm more afraid of the thick forest and I'm not the only one with a preference for that lonely area of the island, it's also a favorite of couples who can't afford a motel and young revelers who want to keep the party going outside of Gardenia without disturbing any neighbors. Ilmari was in an alert attitude, looking for the 2015 Mercedes that was indicated to me; since she was a child she had hunted with her brothers in the forest and really helped me a lot when I had to track down suspects. I was more absent-minded, thinking that I could only take a girlfriend to those places if I had one. I didn't have the money to pay for an expensive restaurant in Gardenia and much less possibilities with a woman like Consuelo, but dreaming was for free. Suddenly Ilmari pointed to some bushes, behind them could be seen a new and luxurious car. I parked, we prepared our weapons, and I went there lighting the way with my flashlight. Without a doubt, that was the vehicle we were looking for. I checked my notes, there were so few cars on the island that it was easy to figure out who each one belonged to. That one in question was part of the fleet of the royal palace of Gardenia, it shouldn't be there if it wasn't an official matter. Someone would have to answer many questions for me, but there was no one inside. I turned to look at Ilmari, I needed her to help me again by tracking down the lost guys. She began to look at the ground in search of footprints and after finding them she indicated me with signs to follow her, the clues led us to a hillside where two guys were laughing drinking from an old wooden table of the kind used by gardeners to have lunch during their work. Following protocol, I blew my whistle and shone the flashlight at them exclaiming:

—Royal army             of Celes, identify yourselves.

The two of them, a black boy and a white boy both dressed in expensive and modern clothes, looked at each other and laughed a little nervously, suddenly the white guy pointed at me and said:

—Wait a minute, I know him.

Instantly, I recognized him too, by the voice and the glasses, it was Eiden Ishikawa... Things were getting complicated. I was surprised more than anything that he said he knew me, so for the moment I just kept silent and heard what he had to say about me:

—He's Captain Fèng's eldest son, Ocean. I like him because he is smart and sincere, he always rolls his eyes when I want to do it too, but I can't because I am the one who is saying something absurd.

The black guy sighed, raising his eyebrows and showing his hands in peace, saying:

—Officer, I swear we're not drunk, this guy always behaves strangely. I, I'm just a student, and I'm sure you know him already.

—Anyway, I need your information.

I replied curtly as I prepared my notebook. Eiden was quick to provide it to me:

—Ishikawa Eiden, I was born on April 1, 2002, in the city of Gardenia. My occupation is poet and storyteller.

His friend commented, starting a little discussion:

—He's a snake oil salesman, officer. Notice how he offers his date of birth avoiding simply saying that he is thirteen years old.

—I never lie, I always tell the truth, but in the right way. That's what politics is all about.

—No! Fuck you, Eiden. When there was a cholera epidemic in the Sky Village and you said, “we're taking every possible measure to solve this crisis”, but you knew they're just digging a new mass grave... Just whoa, man...

—But I wasn’t lying, those was the possible measures. Can you imagine what would happen if I tried to do something else? I don't understand you, when it comes to following orders, I am a man “and too old to do childish things”; But if I must make decisions on my own, then I'm a kid and I don't have enough experience for that.

At that moment I had to put things in order, it was getting late, and I had to take that pair of spoiled brats home:

—Silence! Regardless of age, a man should take responsibility for his actions. A prime minister who does not manage well or ensure the safety of his people is a failure. You, the foreign looking one, name and age!

—Angel Oread, officer. Sixteen years old. I was also born in Gardenia, but I study with Eiden in Germany; I practically don't live here. The car is my mother's, I don't have a driver's license in Celes, but I have a German one, does that work here?

The other boy replied, and I was stunned. I turned to look at Ilmari, I could see the look of amazement on her face half covered by the balaclava. Angel simply commented, laughing and lowering his gaze humbly:

—I know what you're thinking! Here in Celes, there aren't many... And I must look very strange... Anyway, what will happen now? Are we under arrest?

I continued to do my duty without flinching:

—You have a complaint for speeding and public disorder. I would take their butts to a cell in the Hot Pot, but since the prime minister is present... I must ask if he wish to intercede in this case.

I looked at Eiden menacingly, and he replied cheerfully:

—I'm released on bail! But I condemn myself to be watched from now on. And you're going to be the one watching me, Fèng. My aunt Emi is always saying that it is dangerous for me to go for a walk when I am in Celes, but if I have security there will be no problem. You also look very interesting!

—I'm not anyone's babysitter.

I replied by adjusting on my kepi and Angel begged:

—Don't be tight, Fèng! We are not evil foolish rich guys! I hardly leave my house; I'm always playing video games, and my only friend is Eiden who is younger than me. And Eiden is a freak, look at him, it's like a mix between Harry Potter and the boy preacher from The Children of the Corn. In Europe they treat us like plague people and here in Celes we get much more bored because we don't know anyone, we just wander around without knowing the island and afraid that we will be bitten by a snake or eaten by a coyote, I don't know! Come on, help us...

Then Eiden offered me:

—I'll talk to your father; it'll be like a summer job. Surely someone else can patrol in your place, you would only have to go out with us at night. Think about the future, prime ministers have never known how to work together with the security forces, the two of us could change that. Please...

Ilmari, who had been silent, took me by the shoulder and nodded her head; she agreed. I sighed and thought for a while. It was really boring to patrol the same places every night and I could tell how Ilmari looked at Eiden with tenderness. At that moment I remembered my father and one of his pieces of advice: do not disturb nature, do not separate young creatures when they seek each other; There is evil in those who try to manipulate spring. So finally, I opened my arms and then let them fall to my sides saying:

—Okay, let's do it.

Suddenly everyone hugged me jumping excitedly and celebrating, without a doubt at that time we were all still children. That's how our group of friends was formed.

 

I remember that at some point Eiden called my father on his mobile and told him what was going on. My dad was cool about it and actually seemed pleased. When Eiden and Angel asked Ilmari's name, I spoke up for her so she wouldn't have to:

—His name is Ilmari, he' s a Mystic. It is better that you respect him and not make him angry, he is very violent.

Eiden commented cheerfully:

—I lived for a couple of years with the Mystics, with Mrs. Norma Petersen, have you seen her? It's beautiful, I love Mystical girls! Every time there is an official event, I check if any have arrived, but they are very shy and rarely seen. God, I love them! If I had the chance, I swear I'd throw myself on top of one of them, rip off her clothes and make love to her right there. I couldn't contain myself.

I turned pale when I heard it, but Ilmari only laughed a little, so I reproached him indignantly:

—Keep your mouth brat If you keep talking like this, Ilmari will hit you so hard that he will break you a bone.

—But I'm not saying anything bad, I honestly love them. We can talk about this, can't we? We are among men and you and Ilmari are surely no longer virgins, and you understand me, don't tell me that you are like Angel who thinks that clitoris is a Pokémon!

Poor Angel laughed, hiding his head inside his shirt like a turtle in its shell, and Ilmari and I exchanged glances. We were both so pure that they could use us to hunt unicorns. Despite everything, I made myself the man of the world and gave Eiden a slap, saying:

—What do you say, brat? Have you already done it?

—I've managed to get the tip in, but they never let me finish inside. They've always been casual encounters; I need a formal girlfriend. Could Ilmari introduce me to a Mystic girl?

My slutty friend nodded smiling with her eyes and I saw her wanting to zap her too. Then Angel intervened by taking out some toys to change the subject:

—Does anyone play League of Legends or Yu-Gi-Oh? No? Do you want me to teach you?

Ilmari raised her hand and approached him to see what he was carrying, then Eiden poured me a glass of what they drank, and we continued chatting while we contemplated the southern meadows, and he lit a cigarette to smoke like an old man:

—Do you like cider, Cyan? It's the only thing we could get, they don't sell us alcohol, so we took something from the kitchen in secret.

—Are you staying at the palace of Gardenia?

—Yes, I asked my aunt for that favor. Ishikawa village is very lonely and quiet, it makes me feel sad. I prefer to stay with Angel. Tomorrow we can all go and visit it if you want. There is not much to do, but in company everything is fun.

—And have you really left the island? What is the world like out there?

I asked intrigued, he shrugged his shoulders and replied:

—It's simpler. Everything is so trivial that nothing seems to matter anymore. For example, the first time I went out to eat pizza outside, it felt strange to go through a crowd without worrying about anyone recognizing me. Here everyone knows who I am, outside I am nobody. Then the waiter who served us had a badge with his name on it and it said “Ishikawa”. I was surprised, because I thought that all Ishikawa were part of the same noble family, but that's not the case. There are Ishikawas who serve you pizza, or clean bathrooms, and outside of Celes I am one of many like them. So, I prefer to stay here. When I finish high school, my aunt wants me to study administration and political science, then I will come back and have a big family to fill Ishikawa Village with young people again.

—With a Mystical girl? Your aunt will have a seizure.

—I don't care! I want the Ishikawa to be magical, like the Mystics. You're a Mystic too, aren't you? I heard you're the Petersens' nephew.

—Something like that, but I'm not magical.

I smiled a little. I could see how the adults forced Eiden to behave like another adult, but he really kept thinking like a child. I drank some from my glass and wanted to get more information from him about the incident at the Inferno casino and all the secrecy of those women:

—What problem did you have with that Miss Angenoir?... Is she also your aunt? You have a very strange relationship...

—She's not actually my aunt! While we are related, it's a distant connection. She lives with me when we're out of Celes, I've fallen a little in love... But she rejects me! I insist and insist, sometimes it seems that she will dare to give me a chance, she lets me sleep with her in her bed, we make out, ... And then nothing!

—Eiden, you're thirteen years old, what you're telling me is called the crime of statutory rape. She could be your mother! Fall in love with a girl your age or just think about something else. Life isn't just about getting married and having children. You said you'd like to work as a team with me to improve this island, didn't you? In a few years, when we are really men, and not toy men that adults move as they please, we could change all this! Don't you see that you are being lugged to sleep with the idea of love and family? You're so busy looking to stick your dick in a girl and studying at your fancy school that you don't notice all the shady things that happen in Celes.

Eiden took off his glasses to clean them and explained to me, as if he were a forty-year-old guy:

—I fully understand that Angel's mother, my aunt Emi, and a certain group of people hidden in the leadership of the Society of Azrael want me to remain a carefree young man and soon become a dedicated father to a large family so that I will never meddle in their affairs. But what can I do about it? I am just a boy in charge of a village full of old people to whom I have a deep affection. I want them to at least spend their last days in peace. I've heard rumors about there being hidden mercenaries in Gardenia, and many more in the Sky Village, do you know what happened when I suggested to my aunt Emi that we investigate? She became hysterical, she shouted at me that I can't do anything without first consulting her, that because of my audacity those guys could massacre the Ishikawa village. The power is not in the hands of the queen, or my aunt, or one single person. It is the whole group of characters who invest a lot of money so that Celes continues to be their private vacation paradise. I look at everything and think that this is not a kingdom, any kind of nation, it's just a very big beach house and country house for very rich people. If we had the strength to face them, the weapons, the allies... But we are alone. Maybe when my aunt Emi gives me more independence, if I can get the international community to step in and send help...

—Why don't you trust your own army?

I asked him defiantly. He stared at me not knowing what to answer as if that had never been questioned before. Then I went on talking:

—Didn't you say I was magical? I'm not, but I can do more than a few tricks when it comes to defending my people and my ideals.

Just then, the Sky Village emerged from a bank of clouds. Eiden and Angel, who had apparently never seen it before, were amazed by it. It always has that effect on foreigners. The Sky Village is not in any specific part of the island. The Celestines repudiate immigrants so much, regardless of whether they are good or bad, that they do not allow them to really settle in their land. For centuries they have lived in an “abominable architectural chimera”, as Micky calls it, and that is that the Sky Village is a marginal community that defies the laws of gravity and logic. Imagine a floating platform suspended in the air, supported by hundreds of hot air balloons that swell with the hot air that comes from the ovens and boilers where it is cooked and incinerated according to the needs of the miserable homes that compose it. At night it looks like a huge flaming storm cloud, oscillating in a figure-eight circuit, eternally wandering over the southern meadows, occasionally going up and down rope lifts lit with lanterns and Christmas lights. It is not uncommon for the latter to fall and tragedies to occur. Angel fell sitting on the grass and asked, without taking his eyes off the colossus that flew before us:

—Is that...?

“The    Sky Village”, I murmured  in reply. Eiden walked a few steps as if to get a closer look at it and finally said in disbelief what he was looking at:

—It's absurd! That mass of cardboard and wood raised with air balloons heated by bonfires of... What will they use? Their own waste? There must be a couple of thousand inhabitants, judging by the size. Sure, it's a ticking time bomb, it can catch fire and collapse at any moment!

I approached him to ask him in a somewhat defiant tone:

—Aren't the historians on the island supposed to be the Ishikawas? They say it's already happened. Anyway, I don't need proof, it's obvious that this thing has fallen more than once. The question is, why do you continue to allow it to exist? Deporting them would be more humane, but I guess the island needs a lot of cheap labor.

—75% of the island's food comes from the fields on which that village floats. If crops were to be lost to the fire of a disaster of that size, we would have a serious problem. That thing should fix its security issues or just save us the expense by demolishing it. I don't know, we could relocate the inhabitants to tents, or as you say, deport them... But I think some were already born here, I don't know! What is clear to me is that the Sky Village should disappear.

Eiden concluded speaking like an old man and suddenly we heard a growl, a light-colored hairy lump came out of the bushes and threw itself at Eiden, who after being rolled a little in the grass managed to tear the bundle off his back and throw it back into the undergrowth. Ilmari readied her crossbow, and I prepared my revolver, pulling Eiden by the arm to hold him behind me. We waited a little and I muttered for Eiden and Angel to calm down:

—It looks like it's an opossum. Did it bite you? You might need a rabies vaccine.

—That had a human face... It was a kind of monkey... A big foot or something...

I turned to look at Ilmari and asked in a whisper, “Have you ever seen a monkey in the forests?” She looked at me shaking her head in denial. Ilmari knows everything about the forests. Suddenly, the bushes stirred again, we saw the lump peeking out again and it revealed itself as a strange blonde girl in a brown coat running around and throwing a kind of tantrum. When I think about how the only reason, I didn't shoot her when she was barely out of the foliage was curiosity to see what the hell she was, I feel like killing her anyway. I lowered my gun with a sigh of relief, disappointment, and anger; while she passed me by to go and throw herself on Eiden and attack him again between highpitched shrieks. Angel commented relieved:

—She's just a wild child. Are there many like that?

Then I replied, holstering my weapon again:

—I don't think so, it's the first time I've seen one.

Then Eiden said, already resigned to the girl's blows:

—My question is, why does she hate me specifically? Today I experienced my first terrorist attack, and it was at the hands of a crazy girl. Stop laughing, Angel!

—You said something about using the right words to say things. You call her a crazy girl; I call her an untamed girlfriend. She's almost the same age as you, Eiden, you're meant for each other!

Angel said in a mocking tone, and I added:

—Definitely better than your aunt, Eiden. Think about it.

—Do I look like a pedophile? Don't even say it as a joke, I'm only interested in adult women. Someone get her off my back! She must be handed over to her parents. I will not press charges if I never see her again.

—Leave it to me, I have a little sister, and I know how to deal with little girls.

I suggested, and gently took the girl by the waist, tickled her to let go of her prey, and when she did, I lifted her up by taking her under my arm. She had a bit of a meltdown, but I sat her down on a rock anyway and said:

—Hey, I didn't do anything to you. And I'm here to defend people from those who bother them. What did Eiden do to you and why are you angry with him?

The girl didn't answer, I tried to make her feel comfortable:

—Well, let's talk about something else. My name is Cyan, and I want to be your friend. Which Disney princess do you like the most? Do you know them?

She nodded her head at me with distrust, so I continued with the topic:

—My little sister loves Anna, the one from Frozen, because her older sister creates ice; and since my little sister has an older brother who is me and I can create fire... Do you want to see?

I could see she was interested when she nodded again, opened her eyes wide. Then I pretended to have a lighter in my hand and lit it, causing a small flame to grow from my thumb. She looked at me with admiration and finally spoke:

—I'm Uoliena, I turned ten on Monday and my favorite princess is the little mermaid. Are you Elsa's boyfriend?

—No, I'm afraid I'm not in her league. Where did you see the princesses? Have your parents taken you to Gardenia? Do you live there?

—No, I saw them at home, before the accident with the boat. Now I live...

She was speechless again and looked at the Sky Village with teary eyes. I deduced that she was the daughter of castaways recently settled in the Sky Village. Perhaps it was urgent to take her to a doctor in Gardenia because apparently, she had fallen from the platform, I tried to get more information from her:

—Do your parents live in the Sky Village? Did you fall?

—No, my parents got sick a few months ago, they died. Then they took me to Mrs. Martha's orphanage. She told me that my parents died because the boy on the orphanage's TV didn't send medicine, even though he said he would. And now he wants to destroy the village.

She replied tearfully and pointing at Eiden. So, I explained to her:

—Eiden is just a child, just like you. There are bad adults who make him speak for them so that people get angry with him and not with them. Those bad people are the ones who didn't want to help your parents. Remember: there are very bad adults, you must be careful.

—I know, like the bad man who wanted to take me to Gardenia. Are you going to punish that one?

I looked at her intrigued and asked:

—What did the bad man do to you?

—He bought me and other girls to take us to a house in the city of Gardenia, Mrs. Martha took the money and before we left, she locked us with him in a dirty room. He hurt other girls, with his pee pee. When I saw that, I got scared and escaped through a window before it was my turn. They chased me, but I managed to jump into an elevator when it was going down and when it reached the ground I ran to hide in the bushes. Since then, I've been chasing the village, eating berries and whatever I find along the way, I've hardly been able to sleep because if I'm careless I'll lose the trail, and they say they won't let me live anywhere else. If I move, they'll take me to jail.

I felt nauseous, picked her up again and went to join the others, exclaiming:

—She's an orphan. It looks like she's trying to escape a child trafficking network... The damn bitch who was supposed to take care of her has left her starving for who knows how long and allegedly let other little girls be abused. The law allows me to go and look for her and execute her wherever I find her... Ilmari, let's go to the Sky Village.

Eiden looked at me strangely, saying:

—Are you sure? I know that there is an orphanage in that village, it is maintained with taxes destined to be administered by the Society of Azrael. If what this girl says is true... I need to check it.

—No way, you and Angel can't go up there. I won't risk your lives. The Sky Village is hell on earth.

I sentenced, and the little girl exclaimed:

—That’s not true! It's not the hell you think, it's our home and we love it.

I was moved to hear that girl defending the miserable place where she was housed when she arrived on our island. Angel rubbed his temples and suggested:

—We must take care of the child ourselves, friends, if this is true... I'll bet that as soon as we take our eyes off her, another degenerate will take her away. And that orphanage must be closed...

At that moment, Eiden ordered us:

—Let's not speculate. Let's see what's really going on and then decide what can be done without my aunt Emi knowing. This is a very serious matter for my family.

—Forget it, you won't go in there...

I objected, and Eiden replied with her strange air of maturity:

—Don't be insubordinate, Cyan. That is a crime.

He said it with such determination that I decided to take a risk and listen to him. But, in any case, we took some precautions. First of all, we all moved around in my old SUV; the expensive car of the guys from Gardenia would attract a lot of attention. Angel, who was really the most important man in the group, did not present a major problem when showing himself in public because no one imagined his true identity. I entrusted his safety to Ilmari, and we dressed him in our unique bulletproof vest which we then covered with a raincoat. We also had another raincoat on hand that we put on Eiden, asking him to please always try to cover his face with the hood and not talk too much in front of strangers, as his voice was very recognizable throughout the island. On the way to the Sky Village, Ilmari was in the back of the vehicle with Uoliena and Angel, who took on the task of extracting more information from the little girl. That's how we learned that she didn't go to school, nor did she remember her parents' name or her own last name. Eiden, sitting next to me in the passenger seat, was listening to everything attentively, and then said to me in a low voice:

—She's doomed, she doesn't have a good future on the island. It breaks my heart to think that there are so many people like that, with no chance of escaping the cruelty of a society that crushes you if you don't have enough privileges.

—You know that from your position of authority you could change that...

I told him, he answered:

—Not yet. But in a few years... For now, I'll take a chance on something: I'm going to adopt Uoliena. Don't tell me I'm a boy and blah blah blah! It's the best I can do for her, and my aunt won't be able to complain because we need young blood in our village. We could marry her when she is already an adult to some mature Ishikawa bachelor and get more heirs.

—You must marry her, with a candy ring.

—I don't like little girls! And believe it or not, I have a strong parental instinct. I've never had anything like a father in my life, and the only major male figure in my family is fearsome. I had to learn to be my own dad.

—But do you know... Who is your biological father?

I asked with a little suspicion, Eiden replied:

—Yes. Yes, I know the whole story of my birth. I guess it has something to do with me not wanting to get too close to little girls. It's not important, Cyan! One day I want to be that father who listens to his children and makes them feel better and accepts them as they are. The one who cares about everyone. I feel bad when my aunt and the queen don´t let me manage the resources so that they are enough for everyone on the island, they tell me that I am now very young and when I grow up I will understand these “sacrifices”. But I don't think so. I'll always have this pain inside, this instinctive feeling, like the father of a pack who fails to hunt food for his cubs.

—In a way I understand you, compassion is dormant inside everyone, regardless of age, gender or your origin. Sometimes I get stung by its stings... Compassion... I just want you to know that I'm joking when I call you a brat. From the moment we met, I've seen that you're not just a weak child. I'm 1.80 meters tall and you seem to be only about ten centimeters shorter than me. At my age you are going to be very tall and for sure strong. Anyway.

Just at that moment we got close enough to the chimerical Sky Village. Being a few meters from it, the sound was overwhelming; We were shaken by the echo of the entire gigantic wooden platform creaking as it supported the entire weight of the village precariously suspended by hot air balloons. It was a sound that rumbled against the ground as if a huge beast was whining and roaring from the sky. It didn't look welcoming at all. Angel stuck his head out of a window to watch in horror as a basket was shaking down from a height of one hundred and fifty meters and asked:

—Is that the only way to go up and down? —It seems that there are stairs too...

I replied watching as the wind stirred some halfrotten rope ladders that were dragging hanging from the village to the floor. Then he kindly said to me:

—You know, Cyan? I think it would be a good idea if you gave me your car keys and I stay here taking care of Ilmari and Uoliena. They don't know how to drive! And that flying thing sounds like it's going to collapse at any moment, or it's going to drop a piece, and it would take someone to move the car!

—Will you let your friend Eiden go without you?

I questioned him getting out of the car and leaning over to see him from outside the window and he answered.

—If you don't hurry, he'll leave on his own. You'll get to know him better...

I looked over and, sure enough, fucking Eiden was already a good distance away and about to get on the elevator. I had to run to catch him. When I tried to enter the basket, the guy who “operated” it with a pulley system tried to stop me by saying “the military don't enter here, any uniformed visitor is greeted with bullets”. I had to go back to the car to ask Angel for the other raincoat to hide my uniform, and then negotiate a little with the guy in the basket: I made him choose between letting me pass or receiving a bullet in the forehead. He agreed to take me and luckily since he got distracted with me, he didn't pay much attention to Eiden, he didn't recognize him. As we climbed, the damn basket moved with each gust of wind as if it were going to flip over. Eiden thought it was funny, I made an effort to remember my training and stand firm without showing any expressions. On that vertical path, the guy who was operating the basket asked me what I was going to look for at the village, I explained that I was looking for information about the parents or caregivers of a girl I found chasing the platform. The man commented:

—Ah, Uoliena! It was about time someone did something, it's been like this for a while. She escaped the group that was going to Gardenia. Maybe it was the best thing for her. You must know, those girls never come back. Many don't survive their first night... But as you allow...

—We had no idea this was going on. If you keep blocking the authorities from entering your village, how do you think things are going to get back on track?

—The authorities are corrupt. Every time we have gone to the Hot Pot to denounce what is happening here, we are told that the very palace of Gardenia has asked that no one intervene in the Sky Village. They only care about the businesses of the rich. The queen lives at the feet of the owners of the big casinos and makes the orphan little boy with glasses speak for her in public so that we all feel sorry for criticizing them. You look very young, you should know that it doesn't matter if they close the orphanage, Uoliena will be left alone for a while and then they will come back to look for her to take her by force. The pimp who buys them takes a special pleasure in always getting away with outwitting the authorities, you're going to have to kill him.

—Who are you talking about?

—I won't name names; I don't know myself. I'm just saying... Every month they choose new girls, the selected ones are kept in a special room of the orphanage until the pimp arrives. There he gives them “the quality test”. The one that survives is sent to Gardenia, those that die are incinerated in the ovens that power the hot air balloons. Even in that they are not honest, they sell them as virgins and none of them arrive like that in Gardenia... They have us all threatened. Tonight, you're going to have to kill if you're really good for anything.

I was silent and only turned to look at Eiden, he shrugged his shoulders looking at the ground. When we finally arrived and took our first steps in the village, it took us a moment to regain our balance. Everything was moving. The Sky Village looked beautiful from the inside at night. It was a place where poverty mixed with a festive air that floated next to the hot air balloons in an eternal night dance, even though the reality was much more sordid and crueller. The houses were made of old wood and dented tin, adorned with garlands of paper cuttings, Christmas lights, holy prints and real gardens of wax and plastic flowers; Everything was unexpectedly very colorful, warm and inviting. There were thousands of windmills and wind chimes adorning the roofs and corners of the houses, you could hear a soft tinkling among the sound of the wind all the time. The streets made of worn wooden planks were narrow and meandered between the houses, plus there were suspension bridges that connected the different sections of the villa and lanterns made of glass bottles that hung from a spider web of wires along the streets emitting a soft, golden light that illuminated everything. The people of the village were of the most varied, people from all over the world. Their faces were weathered by the sun and wind, but they still had the strength to smile as they watched their ragged children blowing and chasing bubbles rising into the starry sky and colossal balloons reflecting the light from the streets. Eiden said to me:

—It's like partying on a boat. What will it be like to be here in hurricane season?

—I don't know, in winter dead people are found lying in the valley. They fall out of the village with the storms.

—Do you think lightning is a problem?

—They are, sometimes they set the balloons on fire. But the good news is that the town has fire extinguishers. I thought the government had given them to them, and you would know that.

—My aunt Emi always does exaggerated paperwork for every penny that goes to the Sky Village, so they practically only get help from the Society of Azrael; That group of rich old men are not to be trusted. In public they say that they want to help the island and in reality, it seems that they only seek to create problems and maintain underdevelopment.

—What's wrong with your aunt Emi? Does she want to starve the village? And you're talking about The Society of Azrael, whose leader is the father of your girlfriend/aunt from the casino...?

—She's not my aunt! And his father is a cold and fearsome man. He only throws wads of money at anyone who makes my aunt Emi angry, the two live in a constant dispute. If I don't bring proof to the queen and aunt Emi, and convince them of what's going on, crime here will eventually spiral out of control. What I don't understand is why they gave the order not to intervene in the Sky Village. Maybe it was just a whim, wanting to show who has more power... I don't understand that love-hate that my aunt Emi feels for Estelle's father, sometimes she wants to kill him and then indirectly helps him in his misdeeds; while he does not hide that he detests her, and his only desire is to destabilize things to make her suffer.

—Like you and that Estelle Angenoir, it seems that you guys are prone to complicated relationships. She'll break your heart before you get hairs on your balls, brat.

—They've already had it and I'm not a brat! Hey, do you really feel pity for me?

—You can't deny that it's obvious that your aunt Emi and the queen use you for that. They always take photos of you and film you away from any adult, so that it is not noticeable that you are already very tall. I remember when they loved to take you out of public events carrying you in their arms. Who could complain about a government of women where the only visible man is a little boy?

We walked for a while through the alleys, distracted looking at the street vendors that offered very strange things, and we continued chatting. Eiden looked angry as he spoke:

—You know what bothers me the most? That I've never been treated like a child. For as long as I can remember I've been told that I'm too old for everything, that I'm a gentleman, that I shouldn't cry, or make noise, or ask them for toys, nothing! Angel is older than me and has video games and character cards, I never had any of that, although I was able to buy them myself. It's just that I've always felt guilty when I don't behave like I'm an adult. Aunt Emi is always forcing me to be a formal man and have worries about older people, but then she comes out in public and wants to sell me as an innocent baby! Have you ever been scolded for watching cartoons, but given condoms for a night out? That's what she does. Most of the time I don't mind being treated like an adult, but I didn't know that to everyone else I'm “a little orphan boy with glasses”.

—So, you've never played on the ground or with action figures and all that...?

—No, at Uoliena's age I already felt ridiculous if I stayed a long time looking at a toy in a display case. I was too old for that!

We were silent for a while as we walked through the miserable but cheerful alleys, I looked at Eiden out of the corner of my eye, fearing that she would cry or something. He didn't, so I told him:

—One day I'll take you to a carnival, put your ass in a carousel, and spin you around until I'm bored.

Eiden gave me one of his mischievous smiles, patted me on the shoulder, and exclaimed:

—Well, we're already in Sky Village, and it's like a big ramshackle merry-go-round! How will we find the orphanage of this Mrs. Martha?

—I hope it's true that you're multilingual because people here speak different languages, and you'll have to ask them where it is. And try to fake your voice, anyone can recognize you with that tone of talking like in a public event!

Eiden smiled at me again, showing me his thumbs, then he approached some old women and spoke to them in the most humanly feigned way possible. The ladies gave him a coin and left him alone, then he was lucky with a foreign couple with whom he talked for a while. They drew him a map and he came back to me explaining while he handed me the paper:

—We are close, but we must be careful not to get lost in the alleys.

—It took you forever to talk, it was just getting an address, not socializing.

—But it was interesting! They come from Cuba; they were disappointed because they believed that their bad luck was so bad that they had gone so far into the sea just to reach North Korea. They were confused by the Asian-looking military and the “tyranny”! I had to explain to them that the people of the Hot Pot were an ethnic minority, and this is not a tyranny, it is a corrupt monarchy. I hope I have not offended them by talking about minorities. I told them that I have Japanese roots, but they thought that I look Peruvian.

—Does that mean you're handsome?

—Ah... Yes, of course. Let's go now!

He hurried me forward. Eiden as a child had the personality of a Collie dog, as an adult he became a cunning coyote. When we finally arrived at the place, a kind of filthy warehouse in a dark alley, we found an obese old woman on a chair. I asked her for her name and took a quick photo of her. Before answering me, she made an angry dog face, got up and slammed the door in our faces. Eiden said to me in a low voice:

—Well, not everyone likes photos...

—But evidence is important.

—I can get you a more discreet GoPro camera...

—My polaroid is better, it's brave. Anyway, with or without her permission, we're going to get in.

We were checking the surroundings until we found some loose boards, I suggested to Eiden that we pull them out and go through the hole. It was a difficult task, because one had to watch for someone approaching. We didn't want to be mistaken for thieves. Finally, we managed to open a hole big enough to get in there and we entered the back of an almost abandoned kitchen. Everything was dirty and dusty; a large pot was the only thing that seemed to have been moved recently; inside there were traces of a rancid soup. We couldn't see any other food nearby. I couldn't take a picture of that because the flash and the sound of the camera could give us away, but Eiden did it with his phone and immediately sent everything along with a message to someone. I asked him:

—Are you going to tell your aunt?

—Not yet. I'll just let Estelle know.

—This is not the time to try to impress girls, especially the kind of girls that give you false hope.

—It's just that she's treasurer of The Society of Azrael and she should know what she's spending it on...

Just at that moment Eiden's phone rang, Estelle had the wonderful idea of calling him... He managed to turn off his phone, but the old woman we saw at the entrance had already heard us. She appeared in a rage and armed with a club. I drew my gun and pointed it at her, but Eiden quickly came between us and exclaimed:

—Wait a minute! Are you Martha? Please don´t get mad, we're not doing anything wrong. We only came to look for my cousin... Her name is Uoliena, we were told that a gentleman would take her to Gardenia. Could we talk to him to discuss this matter?

The woman answered him in a harsh voice:

—I'm Martha. If you're not here with bad intentions, tell your friend to give me his gun. Then I'll make you see that man; he was just about to arrive.

Eiden told me to hand over my weapon, I obeyed him with reluctance and knowing that deep down I was not completely defenseless; but I always ran the risk that the old woman would execute us with my own revolver. We soon knew that she would not do it, because she had plans for us. She came up to me to touch my face and said:

—A blue-eyed mixed-race boy, with smooth skin of pearly color, some would pay a lot to be with you. Do you have hair on your chest?

I gave Eiden a strange look and said no, shaking my head from side to side. She replied:

—Good! Follow me, I will take you to the place where you will meet the man.

The woman led us down a dark, smelly corridor between closed doors through which you could hear crying children and an old tape recorder playing children's music. That environment must have been terrifying for any little one. Finally, she put us in a room where there was only a bed with six sleeping little girls and a table with some plastic cups and a jug half full of some milky liquid. Martha indicated:

—Wait here, the guy will take a while. Drink lemonade in the meantime.

Then she went away, and I muttered under my breath:

—Great, Eiden. They almost killed us because of you.

—To keep things from getting worse, I advise you not to drink the lemonade. I bet those girls aren't just asleep...

I tried to open the door gently and noticed that it was locked from the outside, then I commented:

—I think that old woman just tried to drug us so that the guy would rape us...

—Or maybe she does, she was lost in your blue eyes and your hairless chest of pearly skin.

—Nice, today you’ll finish losing your virginity.

—I just needed to cum inside a girl! Not that a guy cum inside me. We must defend ourselves by any means necessary. I'd rather die fighting than have my family find me dead and with my butt broken.

—Go to a corner and hold my camera. I think I'll have to do some physical work; I’ll stay behind the door and catch him from behind when he comes in. The idea is to do it quickly so that he doesn't scream and alert the old woman. I hope he comes alone, turn off the light, make it dark.

It was about fifteen or twenty minutes until suddenly we heard footsteps, and I was on guard, Eiden stood in a corner; The door opened, and someone came in closing the door behind them, I only managed to make out a body in the half-light and I took it to cover its mouth and push it against the wall. Then I noticed that it was Consuelo, the girl from the casino. I whispered in her ear “don't scream” and slowly let go. She murmured asking me:

—What the hell is going on...?

—I ask the questions, what are you doing here?

—Miss Angenoir sent me! She is hysterical, her nephew told her that he was in this place and sent me to pick him up. Why did you bring him to the Sky Village? It's no place for him!

—He decided to come, I'm just his escort.

—He's thirteen years old! It's a little boy! Then Eiden spoke from where he was:

—If Estelle had known that I was drinking in a motel with two prostitutes she wouldn't have sent you, but I happen to be involved in her business. I can no longer trust those around me, which is why I have requested Cyan's support. He is the son of Minister Fèng, and his family is reputed to be incorruptible. You, Conny, should stay away from this while you can. Estelle hates you; she will look for a way to take you off the map if you don't go on your own feet.

—And how to escape, young Ishikawa? Where to go? Mr. Angenoir is the real owner of the island, everyone follows through on what they say, he has become infatuated with me and plays with all of us. No one contradicts him, your aunt Emi always defends him and her majesty the queen does not even have an opinion.

Consuelo replied, clearly upset. Eiden said, with his hands in his pockets:

—It is possible that Mr. Angenoir will reconsider his attitudes if I show him that the consequences of his whims are affecting real innocents. Now we just need to get out of here, but surely the door is closed from the outside again.

The girl went to check it and looked at us scared:

—My God, what does this mean?

At that very moment we heard footsteps, I stood next to the door again and Eiden led Consuelo to a corner. The door opened and a naked guy in a panda mask made of plastic walked in. Surprise and disgust made me lose my guard for a moment while I was looking at him and the guy had time to notice me and react, managing to punch me that made me fall to the floor. He was big, quite heavy, but I had mixed martial arts training, and I am a half-breed mystic. The latter becomes an issue when I'm angry and fighting hand-to-hand because I catch fire and burn my clothes. Needless to say, my family didn't have the funds for fire-resistant uniforms. I was going to have to pay for my anger, but at the time I didn't think about the consequences. I got up and attacked him angrily and without compassion. Ilmari wasn't around to remind me to moderate myself, so the guy ended up on the ground motionless and starting to catch fire. The whole place would end up burning down if I didn't do something about it, so I shut down and had to start trying to smother the flames with a blanket I grabbed from the bed. Eiden helped me, then looked for the      subject's pulse, although I think it was no longer necessary: His eyes were open, and he didn't close them again until Eiden did it for him. Then Consuelo, or Conny as I would later call her, I don't know how the hell she fell on me fainting like a sack of potatoes at a rather inopportune moment. I couldn't leave her lying around, I had to carry her and that knocked me out just at the moment when old Martha came running with my gun in her hand. Things looked very bad for everyone. Just then something I didn't expect happened: Eiden, who was on the side of the door, made a quick and strong movement of his fingers throwing a needle that pricked the woman in the neck, and after a tug he recovered it and put it back in his pocket. Martha fell to the floor convulsing and then stiffened, I looked at Eiden as if waiting for explanations; He only said:

—I injected her with poison. My aunt Emi taught me in case I had to defend myself in an emergency.

—Is she dead…?

I asked him seriously, he shrugged his shoulders and replied between bewildered and frightened; he did not believe in what he himself had just done:

—My aunt says that if the poisoned needle sticks in your skin, you die...

—Let's get out of here, the pimp won't cause any more problems. Leave the doors open for the children to leave on their own.

—And these dead people...?

He asked me, finally sounding like a real kid. I did my best to hold Consuelo with one arm and with my free hand I recovered my gun from the dead woman's hand. Then I took Eiden's shoulder, who looked like a lost preschooler, and spoke to him to regain his courage; There was no time for weaknesses:

—It's not our job to collect them. From now on you and I are brothers in arms. Come with me, we must always move forward together.

When we left the place, there was already a group of guys in black formal suits like the guards of the Gardenia casinos, Consuelo almost immediately composed herself from her fainting and hugged me crying while Eiden said to me in a low voice:

—They are employees of the Society of Azrael; they must have come after her. Let's stay together, I'm afraid they're going to try to silence you if I lose sight of you.

The three of us continued walking towards the exit of the village, surrounded by the guys in suits. It was a very tense journey. On the way, one of the men handed Eiden a phone saying, “The boss wants to talk to you”. My now new friend responded with great respect and in French to a guy, many times before I had heard Micky saying phrases in that language and I could recognize some words. Eiden was apologizing. I felt a little annoyed, why should the prime minister of Celes be accountable to a foreigner and apologizing to him as if he were his father? At one point in the conversation, Eiden mentioned me, said something like “I went with Ocean Fèng”, and the guy, whose voice I couldn't hear clearly, replied something like, “Cyan? Is Ilmari with you?” and this left me somewhat worried. That guy knew a lot about me and my family. For the moment I did not want to ask questions, Eiden had shown me that he was a brave man and he who does not submit to fear hardly takes the easy and crooked paths. I knew from then on that although behind his kind smile, he was a bit cold and calculating, and he was not really bad. Angel and Consuelo left with the formal guys in a caravan of expensive cars to pick up Angel's car and then return to Gardenia. Eiden insisted on leaving with me and Ilmari in my old car, he took little Uoliena informing her that from then on, she would be his daughter. The girl asked him who his mother would be, and he told her that “he was in the process of getting her one”. Then she asked Ilmari if she knew any Mystical girls and I answered for her saying that she would not answer him because “Mystic men are serious”. I wasn't really paying much attention to them because I had had a very hard night, and I just didn't want him to hear Ilmari's voice because he would realize that she was a girl. He told me that sometimes when he was bored and sad in the Ishikawa village, he'd go to the shores of Lake Engla and look at the northern mountain range, listening to the cold wind that came down from the mountains among the conifers in the hope of hearing the distant song of the Mystics as well. He said there was something that made him feel nostalgic when he thought of Adalsteinn. I asked him if he remembered my aunt Norma and missed her, he said no, that it was supposed to be a secret that she had raised him, and he didn't think that his melancholy was simply because he missed Aunt Norma. That there was another inexplicable thing that attracted him to the mountain range, but he had no time or concrete reasons to go there without seeming strange. After we left him and Uoliena at the palace of Gardenia and went to Adalsteinn at dawn to rest at Ilmari's house, she began to cry and confessed to me that she could no longer hide that she was in love with Eiden. That surprised me. She was ravishingly beautiful and good, like a fairy from a tale, and Eiden... Well, his appearance was quite boring and his way of being a little evil for a boy of his age. It was like imagining a swan next to a skinny crow. I would never have guessed that from that night on, the five of us: Angel, Eiden, Ilmari, Uoliena and I, would only become closer every day.

 

 

WHEN I WAS HIRED AS HEAD OF SECURITY AT THE GARDENIA PALACE

 

After I went to the Sky Village for the first time and returned to Ilmari's house in Adalsteinn, I remember that Aunt Norma was already waiting for us with a long shawl at the entrance of the tunnels that run through the underground city of the Mystics. My introverted uncle Teppo Petersen, Ilmari's father, was nearby watching from some rocks in the company of Ilmari's five middle brothers and other Mystical men. Aunt Norma was alarmed to see me shirtless and with my pants and shoes half scorched. She had already been told that we spent the evening with Eiden, and she had many questions to ask, but I was freezing and dying to sleep; I let her wrap me in a blanket in the kitchen while I drank a cup of broth that she offered us and told her everything I saw and did in the Sky Village. Aunt Norma, still examining us everywhere for wounds or bruises, asked me after listening to me:

—And how is Eiden? He looks pale and thin on the news; it breaks my heart.

—He's skinny, he probably studies a lot and stays up late, but he's very energetic and he's the same height as Ilmari. He's going to be very tall, Aunt Norma.

—Oh, so it must be! I saved him by fattening him with the milk of the pureblooded Mystic Woman. When you were a baby, Cyan...

—Aunt, don't tell that again...

—… I told my cousin Henna that we had to strengthen your Mystical blood so that you wouldn't lose your spiritual heritage, so every day we would give you teat from me. You were a stubborn and suspicious child since then; you didn't accept my boob! You only wanted your mother's and reluctantly.

—Aunt Norma, stop it... You are embarrassing me!

—Your mom would hold your nose, and only then could I put my nipple down your throat. Not long after, you started to get chubby and pink. By the time you were a year old, you were already walking, and you were a very big piglet, just like Ilmari and all my other children. That's why I've always been asked to be a wet nurse for the most important children on the island, for the milk of the pureblooded Mystic Woman.

Aunt Norma was the most famous midwife and healer on the island, but when she began to tell the story of the Mystic Milk there was no one who could stop her, she made me feel like a slug dipped in salt; so, I just ran away and left her with Ilmari in the kitchen. In Adalsteinn, I always slept in the old room of the first-born Petersen’s who had already become independent. I liked to stay there because Leif, who allegedly went to Gardenia to work as a guitarist in a band, left his entire collection of posters and rock records from the 80's and 90's; That for a teenager as me was great. But when I got to bed, I found my little sister Yanmei snoring there. I pushed her aside to lie down next to her and she woke up, so I took the opportunity to find out the reason for her presence:

—What are you doing here? Did you come alone?

—No, silly, I came a while ago with Dad. He's outside with Uncle Teppo. Mom stayed at home to answer the call center of the Hot Pot. There was a great scandal, the Azrael Society called us. And I heard you saw Eiden...

—And that's why you're here, coquettish... Well, I've got some bad news for you! Eiden Ishikawa already has a girlfriend.

—No! Swear to me it's true!

—Well, she's not his girlfriend at all... But he likes Estelle Angenoir, remember when you and Mom dragged us to the theater to see the ballet? The one who danced in the white dress you liked so much?

—She?!!

—Your idol has betrayed you, huh?

Yanmei angrily hid under the covers, and I just settled down next to her and fell asleep in about two seconds. When I woke up, I was alone in bed, and it was almost noon. I showered and dressed in Leif's old clothes that Aunt Norma kept clean for me. I could clearly hear the girls laughing in the next room, Ilmari's. When I went to their door to say hello, I saw that they were pretending to be mothers and choosing flower names for their dolls, they were fighting over the name "Rose", so I decided to leave them alone and went into the living room to look for Dad and Uncle Teppo; but I found that they had visitors: there was a boy apparently about my age and very formally dressed, as if he were a gentleman from Gardenia. It seemed familiar to me, but I didn't remember where I saw him. In any case, I went over to greet my relatives and find out what the stranger was doing there. I said good morning to them suspiciously, and Dad joked by telling the visitor: 

—They don't recognize you anymore if you don't appear all covered like a leper in a bad winter.

I was surprised looking at the guy and he just laughed. His laughter seemed familiar, but I couldn't guess yet. At last Uncle Teppo said:

—Have you never seen Micky from Gardenia?

Then I laughed and threw myself into a hug. I had never seen him without the scarf! And yet there was something about        his look and the way he smiled, something somewhere between innocent and sweet, that made me feel as if I had seen him before. I shouted to Ilmari that Micky was there. She arrived incredulous as I went to see him up close, pulling his black curly hair that was quite distinctive on him. Then my sister Yanmei came after Ilmari. She was grumpy, carrying a doll and protesting:

—What is so special about this skinny man? He's just another friend of Dad's! Let's keep playing, Ilmari!

Dad jumped out of his seat as if my spoiled sister had done something terrible, but before he could reprimand her, Micky said:

—It's fine, I'm used to it. I had two children, and the last one was a girl, who was just as mischievous as this one.

—So, you have a family, Micky?

I asked him curiously, and he answered:

—Not really... My eldest son died a long time ago and the youngest, born of a temporary relationship, is already an adult woman; She lives her life and I'm alone. 

—So, you're old, but you don't look old! 

At that point my father spoke already angrily:

—What's wrong with you?! How can you be so disrespectful to a venerable family friend?! 

Then Micky said, in his usual carefree way.: 

—Just leave them be, Lee. They are innocent and sincere; their worst fault is to tactlessly remind me that I am already late for my own funeral. Worry if they were like Eiden Ishikawa. The boy has more vices than years of life and now he wants to get together with your son.

—Don't overdo it! We all have a friend who's a bit of a free spirit, you yourself are quite rebellious with the law! And yet you've never been a bad influence on me or really gotten into trouble.

—Because I know well how far the limits of the legal can be stretched. But that child is impulsive and inconsistent, one day he will do something very serious.

—Say what you want, but I can't believe Kanon Ishikawa's son is bad. I'm rather afraid you'll blame him for what happened... And that is not fair.

At that moment my aunt Norma appeared, looking threatening:

—Is this evil entity complaining about Eiden again? What does he know about parenting anyway?

I answered, still somewhat surprised:

—He has had two children! Respect him, aunt. It's not a bad guy, I've known him forever.

—Ha, you don't know him. Don't be fooled by his silly angel face and his girly name. Michel "Micky" Angenoir has a girl's name and the nickname of a Disney mouse, but he's as perverse as a demon.

Uncle Teppo, shy and peaceful like Ilmari, discreetly walked away to a corner, already resigned to his spouse's way of being. Micky's answer came calmly and without losing his half-sad and sweet smile, which conveyed a mysterious nostalgia:

—Norma, “Michelle” is for women. “Michel” is for men. And what baffles me the most is that you care so much about the gender of a name and then you put “Ilmari”, which is for boys, to your only daughter.

—I had already chosen it, I thought she was going to be a man like the others. And nothing and no one makes me change my mind. In any case, “Ilmari” sounds very nice, like Rosemary. But “Michel” sounds like “Michelle”.

—But there's an “e” for difference...

—How much difference can an “e” make?

—A lot, like the one between you and a delicate lady... I always remember you digging and digging, like a mole. I never imagined that you would evolve from a mole girl to a witch midwife.

—You only come to Adalsteinn to gossip and make trouble! You are an evil entity!

—I just came to tell you that you shouldn't let Eiden spend time with Cyan and Ilmari! far from your island self-destruction reigns and that child is an ambassador of that world. The only thing he will teach your daughter and nephews is to be rebellious and abandon tradition. And your healing crystals, herbs, and magics aren't going to stop it. 

—What do you want us to do? Reject the offer? It would be worse; we would create tension between the Ishikawa and our families.

—You can do something subtle. I have seen that Cyan is already a man and Ilmari also looks very grown-up. In addition, they get along very well. Haven't you prepared a well for your daughter yet?

—It's ready, the most beautiful in the entire mountain range.

Then my sister, who was listening to everything lying on the floor and bored, hung on Aunt Norma's skirts and asked:

—Why are you preparing a well for Ilmari, aunt?

—Because when a Mystic marries, the bride's dowry is always a mine inside which is a well of pure water. There the bride and groom must each shed a drop of their blood and from then on, the mineral and water from the mine will serve for the family they form. For Ilmari, our only daughter, we have prepared a beautiful amethyst and rose quartz mine inside which there is a spring of thermal water. Only her and her family will use it.

—So Ilmari is getting married soon?

—If this meddling Frenchie keeps pressuring your uncle to do it, yes. From what I see, he wants Ilmari to marry your brother to keep them busy with the wedding and thus prevent poor Cyan from trying his luck as head of security at the palace of Gardenia. This morning, we received a letter from Miss Emi Ishikawa, after yesterday's events she has decided that Cyan will formally take charge of protecting Eiden, the queen and her son. But creepy Micky does not agree because he has a grudge against Miss Emi and is contrary to her in everything! And besides, he doesn't stop criticizing poor Eiden...

Micky leaned back in his seat and said:

—You're going to regret not listening to my advice, Norma. If you don't keep your daughter and nephew at home, a catastrophe will break out that will affect the entire island.

I stopped them at that moment, I had to clarify what I was hearing:

—One minute! That Emi Ishikawa asked me to be the head of palace security? I must go to Gardenia right now; I need to talk to Eiden!

I ran to bring a cap and a sweatshirt, Ilmari went after me for some men's clothes. As I prepared to leave, I felt uncomfortable, I had never imagined the possibility of seeing Ilmari as a woman and not as a sister, but if the family and our villages asked for it I would have to accept it. It was a very difficult matter to face because I knew that Ilmari was in love with Eiden, besides he already considered me his friend and I knew that he longed to have a Mystical girlfriend; they were going to put me in the middle of two boys who were attracted to each other, but they were not supposed to be together; but I thought that Ilmari was really very innocent and Eiden seemed to be the opposite of her, I guessed that it would actually be worse if she stayed with him because he was only going to scare her with his horny crap. When I left to say a quick goodbye to my elders before leaving, I could tell that dad, and my uncles had already gone to take care of their business while Micky was captive in the living room being interrogated to death by my sister Yanmei who could not forgive him for complaining about Eiden and trying to marry me to Ilmari. There he convinced me that he was the father of a crazy quarrelsome girl, he seemed an expert in dodging with holy patience the attacks of Yanmei's mouth and when he couldn't avoid them, he only laughed making them look funny. I noticed that they were very interested in theirs, now I think that maybe I should have stayed and been more cautious, but for now I only saw that it was a perfect opportunity to leave without wasting more time on adults. Ilmari and I got into my SUV and headed for Gardenia. On the way I asked her bluntly:

—What will we do if we are asked to marry? You said you're in love with Eiden and I... I know I'm not in love with you, I find it very hard, like I'm being asked to do it with Yanmei. I couldn't.

—I suppose that, for me being a woman, it is not that difficult. Our grandmother said, “it doesn't matter who you are married to, you just close your eyes and let him take care of everything”. If we refuse it will be worse, Cyan. We can only pretend, try. 

—This is the reason why so many couples on the island do not have children or have them until many years later, right? They marry due to family pressure.

—I told Dad yesterday that I saw Eiden and knew I wanted to marry him and have his babies. He is always more understanding than mom, he simply told me to keep the secret because very few people apart from him would support me. That it was better for me to get used to the idea... I don't have the courage or the heart to rebel against my family. And you?

I couldn't answer her, the truth is that many times I was responsive and defiant with my parents, but I wouldn't have dared to really go against their wills. I was an obedient and respectful son despite everything. I simply replied with another question:

—But do you still like Eiden?

—I don't like him anymore, I love him. 

—But he's younger than you!

—Barely a year. I would take care of him as he grows.

—You sound like your mother; you'd be the type to get motherly and start taking care of a boyfriend as if he were a baby.

—It would be less uncomfortable than you and I locked up together every night. But if that's what they decide...

We arrived at the palace and at the entrance we were greeted by some comrades from the Hot Pot, they told me that they had orders not to let anyone pass without the approval of some bodyguards sent by the Society of Azrael. Those guys when they saw us refused us entry and when we insisted on talking to Eiden they said that we could not contact him personally, apparently there was a disagreement between what Miss Emi ordered and what the Azrael Society wanted to do. We were almost leaving when Ilmari told me to wait, suddenly we were let through, and I could see Eiden waving from the gardens in the distance before running through the trees out of sight. Ilmari explained to me:

—I called him with my mind. I didn't think it would work, but intuition told me... I want you to be clear, Cyan, that no matter what happens, Eiden and I will always be connected. We are soul mates.

—Have you called him before?

—For as long as I can remember. But my telepathy wasn't strong enough until recently when I reached puberty. Maybe that's why we found him. I wanted you to know because if we get married...

“Infidelity will be imminent”, I thought. Part of me wanted to get angry, but there really wasn't a fair reason. The situation between us was becoming a dilemma. We entered the palace grounds and from the parking lot we were led to a room on the second floor of the building, shortly after Emi Ishikawa appeared guarded by bodyguards from her village. There was something imposing about her, although she was a bit of a dark figure in Celes, she had great power over everyone and even the queen; having her face to face always intimidated you. Just at that moment I remembered that when I was little, I would shamelessly say that I was in love with her, I think that's why I got a little more nervous when I greeted her. I introduced her to Ilmari as “my assistant boy” and finally asked what exactly she had called me for. The lady explained to me:

 —It's all because of yesterday's events, as you can see, Eiden and I always have security from our village and Azrael's Society. But Eiden somehow always finds a way to escape the bodyguards. 

At that moment her nephew came running in his black ceremonial costume, greeted Ilmari and me with a hug and his aunt continued to say:

—This day is special because Eiden must give a message to the nation. He almost always does it off the island with a green screen, but today we will do it live and in Gardenia. It is necessary to make sure that no curious people enter the gardens, but especially to ensure that this boy does not wander around while we prepare the set... Perhaps we will do it in the west wing, in front of the large painting of the grandfather.

Eiden then complained:

—No, aunt! I hate that painting! I won't be able to speak well if I have it on my back, I'll feel like it's going to catch me...

—Eiden, you're already a grown man. Let's go to the set.  You can't be afraid of a painting, let alone one that's more than two hundred years old, it's a relic...

Suddenly, Eiden fell to the floor and closed his eyes. I was momentarily taken aback, but then I realized that the fool had stayed there all flabby on purpose so that his aunt couldn't take him to the painting that scared him. Emi, embarrassed, began to try to pick him up or drag him away, but obviously he was already too heavy, and the delicate lady couldn't:

—See, Ocean? You are so disciplined, even without your uniform; while Eiden is an insolent and gangly young man, get up, Eiden! Let's go! I'll have to ask everyone not to record the message at that place, we'll go to the main façade of the palace. Come on, Eiden! You must go and bring your script, get ready!

I opined, with a little shyness:

—If he was in military school doing that, they would kick him up. That's not how men behave, Ishikawa, and to be a man you don't need age but simply to be one.

Eiden immediately got up and went to hug me very happily, as if his little tantrum had only been a joke. From that day on he stuck to me like a puppy without an owner and I began to feel something like the need to protect him simply because he seemed to think that I could do it and I did not want to disappoint him because I would feel bad to see him sad or hurt, is that the paternal instinct? I don't know yet. Her aunt Emi said in surprise: 

—It seems that to impress his friends he is making an effort! Ocean, you've managed to captivate my nephew's attention. I'm hoping you can help me guide him toward more maturity. He needs to understand that being older isn't just about partying and having fun. There are responsibilities and reputations at stake.

Those words were enough to finish committing me to be a kind of guardian angel for fucking Eiden, he really needed someone to give him a hand and from time to time tell him that he was shitting on something. Then we went to get Eiden's script at the palace offices, where his office was. Then he explained to me a little about what he did there, although he only studied and spoke in public, everything else was done by his aunt Emi:

—Here we take care of all the affairs of the island's finances and economy. We manage the funds for the other ministries, which are the defense and public security ministry led by your father, the culture and education ministry, the agriculture and public works ministry, and the health ministry. So, I'm not really the prime minister but the finance minister, because we don't really worry about anything here but money. We count money, we ask for money, we give money... My aunt Emi says that governing the island is like managing a farm, you must make it produce and keep the workers calm and productive.

—But what is the island supposed to produce?

—More money. It makes a lot of money. 

—I don't think it will do much because people don't have enough of anything, and we live like in the nineteenth century. It seems that taxes are not enough.

—Oh, with what is collected each month we could give a car to each Celestine, but the money is not for the island, nor would it be good for each islander to have a car. What you're telling me is like having an ice cream maker machine and using everything we earn from selling ice cream to maintain each gear daily, when the machine only needs a little oil to continue producing without a problem.

Eiden replied speaking in an adult tone, but sounding like an innocent parrot repeating what it has learned without fully grasping the meaning. So, I told him: 

—You're stupid, Ishikawa. And fools run the risk of becoming bad. We are not talking about a machine with gears, but an island with people. And a dignified life is not a frivolous gift, it is a right. People don't want expensive cars, but a house with water service and electricity instead of an old well and latrine is already something that shouldn't be “rich man's stuff.” I'll take you to the mountain range one day to see if you don't think things should get better after spending a day working in the mines. 

—Are you going to let me continue to leave the palace and my house to go and see the island?

—Yes, but if you go with me and without your aunt's knowledge. I'm going to risk breaking the rules a little so that you understand what I'm talking about.

Eiden smiled delightedly, patted me on the back, and hopped past me. Then I told him, because I was already getting uncomfortable:

—What are you doing? Walk like a man.

—Don't men jump?

—Well... No. Not always. Stop doing it. Just walk like me, with a firm and upright step. And if you do the thing of throwing yourself on the floor like a rag doll again, I'll give you a slap when your aunt doesn't look at me. 

—If I didn't do that, she was going to make me talk with my back to my grandfather's painting.

—And why are you afraid of your grandfather, pussy?

He just looked at me as if scared and surprised, but he didn't answer. So, I kept talking:

—Imagine that without your knowing it, a Mystical girl of those you like so much had been present. You would have been a loser!

—But none of them were there, only my aunt who thinks that's normal and you who are my friend and accept me as I am. And since I won't do it again, no problem. I can still fuck one. 

—Listen to the tremendous adult stallion who is afraid of his grandfather...

I told Ilmari, who was walking silently behind us. She just shrugged her shoulders, and I could see in her eyes that she was smiling, another fool just like Eiden... We arrived at his office where a portrait of Kanon Ishikawa, the former prime minister and Eiden's mother, was dusting among cobwebs and old books. I found it sad how quickly she was forgotten by the people and even by her own son, who had her lying there like anything else. Then I asked him about Angel, whom I remembered for also being a sweet and peaceful aristocrat who was a victim of his environment. Eiden replied:

—He never comes down from the top floor of the palace, where his room is. He spends the day there studying, playing video games, reading old books or playing the piano. It's what he likes the most. His mother has promised him that when he finishes school, she will enroll him in a large art academy, then give him a house in Europe and get him a job as a curator at a museum. That's what he wants.

—If he is not on the island, how will he rule?

—The queen says he has a disease that will prevent him from being king. So, my first male child will claim to be his son and take the throne. I don't like lies, or that they say my son is Angel's, but if my child will be the king and Angel agrees...

—But can't Angel have children?

—Well, I think so, because they also tell us to use a condom if we do "mischief" in the casino because they don't want us to have children with girls from that environment. But… I don't know.

—And if he is too sick to be king of Celes, how can he work in a museum in Europe?

—I don't know either, I'm not a doctor.

—Hm. It seems to me that the one who is sick is the queen. Or is it your aunt pressuring her because...? 

Eiden adjusted his glasses and came up to me to say in a low voice, staring at me:

—It's just that... You can imagine that Angel was born from an infidelity of the queen, and it should not be known... 

—And you were not born of an infidelity of the king?

—But an unfaithful man is better tolerated than an unfaithful woman. So, it's better to say he's sick and no one sees him.

—Aha, and then all the other black people on the island who also happen to live locked up on the rooftop that is the Sky Village, are they also the children of women unfaithful to their husbands?

—There are also many people in Gardenia and in general throughout the island who say that they don't look good with Celes' aesthetics. For example, your dad! He said at a meeting that he would rather see your sister married to the evilest white man on the island than to a black man simply because he thinks they are ugly. He then proposed to arrest them if they worked outside of Sky Village or walked around Gardenia, The Queen almost fainted. Of course, she did not accept his idea, although she did not reveal why either.

That blew my mind, my dad?! Being racist?! I didn't know what to say and I just collapsed in an armchair. Then I laughed so as not to cry, because I was disappointed in my role model, my father, whom I considered the wisest and fairest man. Then I murmured:

—What a fool! In any case, his daughter may never get married because she is madly in love with you Eiden; and you, like him, only see white people beautiful and dream of marrying a Mystic, not a girl with Asian features from the Hot Pot.

—I would marry your sister out of loyalty to you.

Eiden replied very seriously and moved, and I replied:

—There's no need to do that. It would be worse if you did it out of pity. It's not a good idea to force tastes either. It would be enough not to hide people in attics just because you think they're "ugly."

Eiden didn't know what to say, he reviewed his notes and told me about them:

—They are going to announce an important change in the structure of the government, it is about Uoliena. 

—Where is the little savage, by the way?

I asked, he told me, sitting on the floor in front of me:

—With the queen! She has been fascinated with that girl; she has been taking care of her since she arrived. She sent to buy her dolls, dresses, everything. She wants to secure her a position of important power.

—Hm, what she didn't do with Angel she could do with a blonde girl... At least she freed you from being her father, and she will be happier as Angel's adoptive sister.

—It's not just a selfish whim of the queen, and by this I don't mean that there's anything good behind the change, you see they'll put Uoliena as the spokesperson for the people, they'll create a whole team to back her up in something called a “press secretariat”. She will share news about the Sky Village, events on the island in general and communiqués from the Gardenia palace. Through this new government institution, they will also take over all the newspapers and media on the island. If someone owns a phone and shares something about Celes on a social network, they will be arrested. Only the press secretary may approve and publish national news. I think that actually what happens is that my aunt Emi has already realized that I am becoming a man in earnest and... I guess they're going to replace the bespectacled orphan with a little blonde orphan. 

—Yes, it seems so... That pair of ladies need another way to make people feel sorry for them and continue making decisions that don't really benefit people at all.

—Besides, they don't want it to be really known in Gardenia what is happening in the Sky Village and in the south of the island. They will give their “official version” of things. 

I stood there for a while, lost in thought. I felt insignificant amidst the myriad problems and seemingly inconsequential issues, yet they had a profound impact on many individuals on the island. It was akin to navigating a tumultuous river, and if we didn't hold on to each other, the current would carry us away, leading us down the path of corruption like our elders. Then I turned to Eiden to share my thoughts:

—Hey, we need to make sure Uoliena is always on our side and takes her position seriously. She needs to learn what she's doing, but not to be like your aunt Emi. She also needs to understand that one day she'll have to take ownership of everything. The same goes for us. Let's just keep a low profile, learn, and one day...

—Yes, that's why I'm glad we're together. If through Uoliena we unite the people of the south, the day will come when the majority will be stronger than the power of the elite who live in Gardenia and we will be able to take control of them. We would only lack the support of the Mystics. But they never get involved in anything.

—There are people who would support you in Adalsteinn. Not only my aunt Norma, the one who took care of you when you were a baby and still remembers when she cleaned your diaper. We just have to stick together.

I concluded by looking at Ilmari, who nodded in acceptance of our little secret agreement. Shortly after we met Emi on the façade of the palace, Eiden went to a podium preparing his script, a team of technicians was already preparing cameras and lights when Queen Zoeila appeared with Uoliena. From that moment I saw that there was something different with the queen, who always used to be serious, distant and with perfectly arranged clothes; She showed up with her hair down, dressed in a laid-back outfit, her eyes bright and a smile on her face. Uoliena, on the other hand, was very happy with her new clothes; She ran happily beside the queen, who was also playing as if recharged with energy. I began to suspect that something strange was going on there, because rumors from Emi Ishikawa herself said that the queen was not mentally well and was unable to leave her bedroom without help. There was a moment when she tripped over a step, when I approached to help her, she looked at me and smiled saying:

—Thank you. You're the incorruptible one, aren't you?

I stared at her eyes blankly and she said:

—That's what they say, I hope it's true.

Emi Ishikawa quickly arrived and took her to sit down, gave her a few pills, and didn't leave her side anymore. All this seemed too strange to me. Minutes later, Eiden began to say his message before the cameras. He really knows how to speak very well in public, he is photogenic, and he knows, as he says, “to make love to the cameras”; he was the opposite of Uoliena who seemed more determined to break them and when she was called to present herself, she fell silent and went to hide behind Eiden. Luckily the adults took it as something cute, but it was evident that she was far from being Eiden 2.0. It was almost sad, the end of an era, Eiden ceased to be the child symbol of Celes for Uoliena to take his place. It was already official; he was becoming an adult; the same process that Ilmari and I were experiencing. When the message was finished, Emi went to find me to ask me to help her the next day, as the inauguration of the new Minister of Agriculture and Public Works would be held. This surprised me because the appointments of ministers had been at the beginning of that year, when my father was chosen by the queen. She replied a little evasively:

—The fact is that the minister of agriculture and public works is not chosen by Zoeila. His case is special, as is the case with Eiden and the Minister of Culture and Education, who are never changed, the Minister of Agriculture and Public Works is chosen by the Society of Azrael. The previous one died suddenly and was replaced in an emergency by a young and charismatic rural leader recommended by the Minister of Culture and Education.

—Then the queen doesn't choose her ministers?

I asked surprised, she replied somewhat uncomfortably:

—She chooses the one in health... With my help. Tomorrow everyone will gather at the palace and a private party will be offered. Of course, your father and mother are invited. If you like, you and your assistant Ilmari can stay here to sleep. The queen, since last night, has not felt well and we will have to medicate her. I'll need help watching little Uoliena and preventing Eiden and Angel from escaping at night to wander. I can call your father to ask permission for you to stay at the palace tonight! We have plenty of rooms for you.

I accepted willingly because it would be interesting to explore the palace, and it was also fun to be with Eiden and Angel. Ilmari, of course, agreed. We were invited to lunch on the rooftop, where Angel's rooms and a private garden with a pool were located; we had a good time with him, Eiden and Uoliena. Ilmari with the excuse of “the mysterious Mystical traditions” took her plate and went a little far away so as not to be seen eating uncovered, meanwhile the boys and I talked in confidence. We had been left totally alone up there and it looked like Eiden and Angel were used to living in that little abandonment. Angel joked as he swam, apparently, he did it often, his body was so developed that he seemed capable of knocking out a guy with a single punch: 

—Well, what do you think of my nest? Not bad, huh? I have food, beers, all the video games I want, all the anime I can watch and all this rooftop plus the roofs. I have the coolest view of Gardenia and the open sky. What more do I need?

—Attention from your mom and a dad.

Eiden replied as he made paper boats for Uoliena and smoked by the pool. Angel stammered:

—Ha, ha, at least I have a mother. 

I stopped them exclaiming:

—Hey, that's enough! You don't play with that. This place is great, Angel. Your mother has taken care to give you a nice space, but those statues of guys with wings are kind of unsettling. They are everywhere. 

—The obsession of the people of Celes with angels is very old, Saint Michael the Archangel has been the patron saint of the island since the Middle Ages; and to top it all off the palace architect, who inspired these sculptures, he used to be popular for his Angelic appearance. Maybe that's why you're scared, there are a lot of horror stories about that guy. They're all are the same man. If you think about it, he was like the Justin Bieber of the old women of the early nineteenth century. 

—I don't know who Justin Bieber is, but I think I understand you. The guy wasn't ugly. But times change, as do fashions and tastes, and the heartthrob of the past is now only terrifying. There's something unsettling about that glance that's supposed to be sweet, but it's also the one of someone who knows something horrible and doesn't want to tell you out of pity, don't you think? Ilmari told me that it has something to do with a curse on the island.

—It's supposed that he never really died, that he's not a human thing, it's like a fallen angel, a dark supernatural creature that would be a good final boss in a video game if it weren't for the fact that his great-greatgrandson is so boring that kills everything epic in him. He is an ancestor of Eiden! It is his “grandfather”.

—So that's the famous grandfather who scares you...

I laughed looking at Eiden, who said:

—Don't talk about it, you're going to scare the girl.

Then Uoliena replied:

—I'm not afraid. Don't use me as an excuse. Tell more ghost stories!

Angel and I laughed, Ilmari joined us and went to sit near me, and Angel continued:

—At night, you hear someone walking down the hallways or on the stairs. But there is never anyone! If you are alone and you stare at a statue of any angel little by little you will notice how his face is distorting, his body becomes trembling and gives the impression that he will begin to move. You have no choice but to run away. And if after midnight you go to the hall where the king and Kanon Ishikawa died, won't light any lamp for you, there is an oppressive thick gloom along with the horrible feeling that there, in the blackness, the bodies still lie...

Eiden added, exhaling the smoke from his cigarette:

—They are just stories! The only scary thing is my grandfather's painting, even if you think it's funny. It's not the image itself, it's something, an atmosphere... of tension. They did something like what happened to my mother: they stabbed him open to remove his heart. Perhaps remembering that while seeing his gaze is the disturbing thing, I think it makes the queen sick. Ever since she came to the island to marry, the poor thing has had to live under the heavy watch of my grandfather and the thousand stone angels; the anguish must have taken her to the limit and that is why she did what she did. I'm not angry with her because I know she wasn't walking in her five senses. I get angry at my mother, Kanon Ishikawa. She was pregnant, she should have been more careful. But, well, I don't really know if she wanted me to be born, I don't know! I just think she could have avoided everything, but she never did anything to defend herself or ask for help. This is something I can't understand, and it makes me angry.

—But it wasn't my mother.

Angel replied very seriously and went on to say:

—I remember that day, I was three years old, but I swear I remember it. She wasn't bloodied except for some stains she made when carrying Eiden. For what happened... she would have to be bathed in blood. In addition, she said that something had poisoned the king, that there was something underneath, a monster that only Mystics could face. That's why she called the Petersens. All afternoon she had been playing with me in my room, she didn't even go near her husband anymore! She felt too guilty because she couldn't hide me from him, even though it wasn't really her fault! That damn creep had that fetish of looking and he himself asked her to be unfaithful... He forced her, as he forced Kanon to do other things... My mother could not have had time to poison her husband's food and, in fact, when I looked out as they collected the bodies, I saw no food on the table where he had supposedly been poisoned. He was dead in an armchair by the windows, as if he had been in the middle of a chat. Mom only repeated that it was not human. Since then, she was as she is now. Lost, distracted...

I listened to him, biting into a lavender straw from the planters and remembering the Mystics' version of the murder that Ilmari had told me earlier, and then I questioned him trying to get more clues about what might really have happened:

—So, do you think anyone else was at the scene of the crime that night? A servant?

Angel answered me.

—Maybe, but at that time all the palace employees were leaving the area where the king and my mother lived their family life. There was a security guard stationed at the staircase leading to that area of the building. Theoretically, in the apartment where the incident occurred, there were only the king, my mother, and myself.

I thought for a few seconds and opined:

—On top of that, after the deaths were investigated, the entry and exit records of all employees were reviewed.

—What if the killer was whatever it was that roams the halls of the palace every night…?

Angel murmured timidly, I exclaimed:

—Angel! I understand that because of the love you feel for your mother and the compassion that her condition inspires... But be realistic! Or you'll end up like her... There are no ghosts!

Then Eiden looked at me and said, smiling defiantly, but with the seriousness of a funeral:

—Are you sure? Cyan, I don't know what my grandfather is. I just know that “it's not normal”. And yes, it's true, there's something else that haunts the palace at night. Things happen on this island that we don't understand, that's why I feel afraid. Don't make fun of me, you'll understand.

I raised an eyebrow skeptically and turned to look at Ilmari, she whispered in my ear: “I feel something heavy in the air, we should investigate”. Then she took out a pendulum and walked away doing her magics. I said to the others:

—I think these are fairy tales. Tonight, after Uoliena falls asleep, we'll go downstairs to see what the hell is making the famous noises. 

Immediately Uoliena protested:

—Hey, I'm brave but not stupid. If everyone leaves and I'm left alone sleeping here, the ghosts will come to eat me. I'll go with you, anyway, in horror movies the black guy and the teenager obsessed with women always die first. You, the mute, and I can run away while Angel and Eiden are eaten. 

Angel exclaimed, raising his eyebrows:

—Now, that's racist! Girl, I'm the prince of the island, I'm like Leia in Star Wars or Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, if I die the good guys lose or the movie becomes silly!

—You can still send us messages from the sky by making your face appear in the clouds and speaking with an echo. No one is essential.

Replied the bratty girl with a shrug. Then Eiden stood up and tried to put everything in order while he threw the butt of his cigarette to step on it:

—Cyan makes a good point. It's likely that our imaginations are running wild and that the answers are simple and logical. A quick trip down might be all we need to do to put our minds at ease. But that doesn't mean that things don't exist in Gardenia. We should all go down together, and we need to be careful, and I ask you one thing Cyan: if we go down, I'll go hand in hand with Ilmari. I don't go down without taking a Mystic with me!

Ilmari ran back when she heard her sweetheart's request from afar... If only Eiden had known! I rolled my eyes and mocked his fears:

 —Don't you want to take a teddy bear while Ilmari holds your little hand? Weren't you the only almost non-virgin in the group?

—So, you have never done it?

Eiden asked surprised and I bit my tongue putting on my cap. At fifteen I hadn't even kissed a girl! The most sexual thing that had happened to me in my life was to touch myself alone in the shower imagining Eiden's aunt dressed in her traditional dress and polishing my saber. He pulled Uoliena closer and covered her ears tightly, saying in a low voice:

—I haven't done it at all either, as I told you: Estelle let me touch her on her bed a few times, she touched me, I even put the tip in her, but she didn't let me end up inside. Tomorrow when she comes to the ministers' feast, I will officially ask her to be my girlfriend and so I can fill her with milk as she should. 

Then I commented with laughter and without looking up:

—You don't have milk; you have baby formula. She's going to dump you, Eiden, don't do that... She just played with you a little bit. She'll never be your girlfriend! She looks like your mom, and she doesn't want to be seen like that in public.

—But I think she understands that it's not just sex. I barely spend time with my aunt, I was separated from Mrs. Norma very early, and they are always pressuring me to be an adult. There are nights when I just want a woman to hug me and caress me while I try not to cry. You know, feeling loved. 

Then he let go of Uoliena and she looked at him very seriously saying:

—I heard everything! I know you were talking about your pee pee. If they don't ask for it, don't offer it!

“Loudmouth, but wise”, Angel said in a low voice. Ilmari couldn't contain herself and hugged Eiden, luckily, she didn't do it long enough for him to perceive her already curvaceous female body hidden under the baggy men's clothes. But I could notice that Angel, much more observant and moderate than Eiden, stared at them as if realizing that Ilmari had something strange. The rest of the day was spent in Angel's room, who tried to introduce us to video games, while Uoliena watched cartoons in her small, improvised room inside a closet that Eiden and Angel had to cover with newspaper because the first night Uoliena drew “pee pees” all over the walls. The poor girl had been saved from the abuse, but not from the trauma. Eiden and I turned out to be a couple of one-armed players playing, but Ilmari soon became very good and teamed up with Angel. Since then, they have been united by being a pair of video game nerds. As night fell, we waited for the time when all the employees returned to their homes and only the guards remained at the entrances of the palace. I went down a little earlier to talk to them, some of them had been classmates of mine at the military school and they explained to me what the routines and peculiarities of the palace were. The most interesting thing I learned was that there was a rumor of a network of secret passages throughout the building and tunnels that connected it to the rest of the city, but no one had actually seen them. It was a secret hidden in the palace blueprints that it was not known for sure whether they were in the possession of the Ishikawa or the Society of Azrael. That information gave more strength to Angel's theory about a third person present on the night of the palace murders. I went upstairs to tell the others this and to ask Eiden if he knew where the palace blueprints were. He replied very seriously:

—People believe that we Ishikawa have the palace architect's belongings because he was part of our family, but he was never really treated as a member of our community. His descendants did not adopt his surname, nor did he live in our town. His marriage to the prime minister at the time was a very poorly documented mystery. He resided in Gardenia, the city he loved, separated from his spouse; so that his blueprints, notes and personal objects were left here in the city, surely in one of the properties bought over the years by the Society of Azrael whose anonymous members are not going to divulge that type of data that can be useful to them, let's be realistic... But it is also true that after the attack on the architect in 1817 the subject of the secret passages was never again treated seriously. No one has found or seen them, and the whole thing started because a few historical figures from the royal family showed up in different places. People thought the architect made the passages for them, but my aunt said it couldn't be because, for some Gardinians, doors and walls aren't an issue. I was afraid to ask more.

I turned to look at Ilmari and she looked at me as if telling me to consider what I was hearing. But for me all that was fairy tales. Angel and Uoliena had gone down to say goodnight to the queen; Ilmari, Eiden and I also went as a token of courtesy after giving the three Oreads some time alone, as Uoliena had already       been legally adopted by the queen and received the surname of the royal family. When we went to knock on the door of the lady's rooms, Uoliena ran to open the door, and we surprised Angel wrapping his mother and singing to her to sleep. Angel looked at us and smiled, then told the queen in a soft voice:

—Mother, my friends have come to wish you good night. 

She replied very sleepily:

—No, no, son... I don't want to be seen...

—Why, mother? You are very pretty.

—They think I'm crazy. 

—No, mother, we know you're only sad because your life has been hard, and you feel tired. 

—No, no, I don't want to be tired, but I don't stop feeling that way. Medicine doesn't help me.

—You must be patient and sleep well. Then everything will be clarified, and the rumors will dissipate.

—Rumors that are lies never dissipate because those who created them want to believe them, by diabolical faith, they use lies as an insult. And even if they decide to stop lying, your reputation will always be stained by the filth of unfounded doubt. There is no real solution or repair anymore.

—But who is lying, mother?

—I don't know, I don't remember, my mind is dull. That night I saw something, and they won't let me talk about it. Some, like Emi, believe that I suffer when remembering; but others just don't want me to say it. And at this point, son, what does it matter? Who would believe me? I barely keep the crown because of Emi's help, and I live in the hope that Eiden will move the country forward. I wish I had the strength to fight for you, to claim what is yours, but I can't. I no longer have that power in my hands. I can only hide you.

—All right, mother. Sleep, tomorrow you will play with Uoliena again. Good night.

—Yes, she's the one I needed. I already remembered. Good night, my angel. Tomorrow I'll be strong.

Then the lady settled down and fell asleep while Angel stroked her hair. I had previously attended interrogations several times and I had never heard a suspect convinced that they would not believe his only version of events, but in any case, sustaining it for so many years. From that moment on, I decided to get to the bottom of all that tangled business. Only one thing was clear: someone was lying and, if it wasn't the queen, then they were playing with all of us and some of us might be disposable pieces of the board; at risk of ending up like Kanon Ishikawa, the king or the queen herself who would be the victim of an immensely cruel and disgusting abuse. For the moment I kept my conclusions, because Angel supported his mother blindly and Eiden did not deny or admit the existence of the secret passages. I just walked up to Ilmari and quietly asked her what her intuition was telling her. She answered me by speaking in my ear:

—No one lied tonight, Cyan. And that worries me.  

We all went down together, and I was finally able to explore the royal palace of Gardenia at my leisure, in the solitude and silence of the night. Its architecture was characterized by its elegance, with spacious halls and corridors with high ceilings and clean lines. Columns, arches and ornamental details arranged symmetrically flanked the corridors adorned by more statues of angels and reliefs on the walls that in contrast represented plant and pagan motifs. It was as if the architect and the decorator were at odds over the central theme of the environment. Crystal chandeliers and chandeliers radiated a warm, mysterious light that bathed the sculptures, giving them an eerie shimmering glow that seemed to bring them to life. For a moment I began to feel lost in that gigantic cavern of marble, gold, silver and mirrors; that was a majestic spectacle that evoked the greatness of ancient Greece and Rome, it was inevitable to be there and not remember that in those great empires they also sought to make luxury and beauty intoxicating to more easily distract the keen eye from corruption. Angel, who acted as our guide, went ahead as he opened each room and with a jovial attitude talked to me a little during my inspections of each room:

—But are you trained to fight, Cyan? You carry yourself like you could be. Do you do any martial arts?

—I do mixed martial arts.

—Whoa, really? That's so cool! But can you...? Iá, wu, jiá! Ninja, with flying kicks and stuff? Like Bruce Lee?

—I can spread my legs like Van Damme, and I scream very loudly. Does that count?

—Obviously, if that doesn't kill the enemy, at least it leaves him confused. What is your deadliest move?

In response, I gave him a stereotypical Kung Fu pose by lifting one foot above my head and showing him my right index finger. Angel smiled and raised his hands in a pacifist attitude and asked:

—Don't tell me you can kill with a finger.

—When I pull the trigger of my gun, yes. That's the most dangerous thing I can do.

Angel laughed and told me:

—Eiden was taking aikido classes in his village, you know, I accompanied him a few times.

—Would he make a friendly match against me?

—I don't know, his only move was “the attack of the flabby warrior that no one can pick up”. With that he always defeated the instructor and his aunt, who ended up allowing him not to train.

—Ah, I've seen it! Very effective when you're fighting your nanny and you're three years old.

We both laughed and Eiden just ignored us as he walked away next to Ilmari without letting go of her arm, at the same time leading Uoliena by the hand. Then Angel took advantage and asked me in a low voice:

—Is Ilmari a girl? When we were playing, he let out a scream, and it sounded too girly. And he also walks... strangely.

—So, what if she were?

I replied looking at him out of the corner of my eye, he replied:

—Nothing, I wouldn't say anything because Eiden would pounce on her like a vulture. But she is also looking for him, I think that sooner or later they will end up being boyfriend and girlfriend. 

—Naah... Look, she is a girl, but she is very shy and innocent. She wouldn't want to kiss Eiden on the lips, let alone be his girlfriend. She still plays with dolls and believes in fairies and forest spirits.

—I don't know, I'm like that too, I'm more enthusiastic about “kiddy” things and I don't want to get into love problems; But women are different. They can still have a girl's heart, even if they become women. Like my mother. Eiden's aunt told me that she was very submissive to the king, he treated her like a pet in public and like a toy in private. She met my biological father like this.... Because the King played with both, you know... With both my parents, not just my mother.

I kept silent while there was an incongruity in my head: wasn't it Emi Ishikawa herself who said that the queen had a fit of jealousy and anger that led her to kill the king? How then was she submissive? Eiden's aunt was starting to sound suspicious, especially when the king's real son was Eiden and practically the Ishikawas were already ruling the island, but what would she have gained by killing not only the king but also Kanon Ishikawa, who was part of her own family? The idea was so absurd that it became understandable how in all that time neither Eiden nor Angel had suspected about her. The only logical explanation left was that the secret corridors did exist, and a stranger had entered the palace. Then Angel continued to tell me:

—They were only supposed to see each other under the king's watch as a horrible form of fun for him, but at some point, my mother fell in love with my father and thought he was going to rescue her like a fairytale princess. When my mother confessed that she was pregnant, my father asked her for money and a ticket for the island's cruise; supposedly he was going to go to the mainland for a couple of months where he would prepare a house to hide together after fleeing Celes. But he left and never returned, she never heard from him again. He left her with the problem, completely alone. Therefore... I don’t know. If you say Ilmari is good and I know Eiden is a bit of a cunning but also good, we should make them together. It is very rare to find couples where both love each other sincerely and in the same intensity! And I don't want to see anyone else heartbroken. It's better that they are together early and don't suffer trying their luck with anyone else, because most of the time they will only find people who will hurt them, that's what I've seen and that's why I've never wanted to look for girlfriends. But those two are what the Mystics say: soul mates, for life.

Hearing that for some reason bothered me, I had never been attracted to Ilmari and yet I was jealous. Maybe jealousy as a brother when he sees his sister her try to have her first boyfriend, but I must admit that a part of me did want to marry her to me to keep her in some way. Besides, I was starting to get attached to Eiden and I didn't want the courtship between the two of them to get in the way of the friendship that was starting between everyone. Of course, years later the love affairs in our group of friends did not separate us, but they made us more intimate, but at that time we were all practically children and luckily something happened that took me out of that uncomfortable situation.

Suddenly, footsteps echoed in the distance, somewhere in the palace. Ilmari readied her crossbow and looked at me hoping to agree on what to do. I ran up to her and motioned for her to go with the others back to the queen's bedchamber to keep everyone safe. I preferred to go alone to see what was going on without risking anyone else, something my father would have reproached me for, but then I was an impetuous young soldier. The sound of footsteps guided me to the west wing and there, on a large staircase, was the painting of Eiden's “grandfather”. For the first time, I saw the famous Gardenia angel, the architect of the palace, in color, without robes and without wings. It was a huge portrait, at least three meters high. I could see how a small child might be frightened looking at such a large man by candlelight. But that boy had a peaceful and serene face, without a doubt it was the closest thing to how I could imagine an angel in real life. Eiden was far from looking like that, even though he was his direct descendant! When I observed him better, I noticed that he had something I did not like, perhaps it was because I inevitably made the mental image of his bloody body with his chest open and the ribs and lungs exposed while the heart was missing; Worse still, I imagined that he was there, half torn to pieces, but with his insides still palpitating. I had a chill, I went closer to see him and then I realized: the color of the eyes, the paleness of the skin, the almost bluish black of the hair was identical to Micky, the eccentric friend of my family. I got a little closer to take a picture of her face, I wanted to show Ilmari to know her opinion as a Mystic of that disturbing coincidence; when suddenly, Micky's own voice startled me. It sounded like I'd never heard it before, angry:

—Didn't they teach you history in military school?

I turned to look at him, he was coming down another staircase again all covered like a leper, it was he who echoed footsteps in the corridors of the palace. For the first time I noticed the resemblance to the statues and began to suspect that his mania for hiding his face and his love for the buildings could not be a coincidence. I have rarely felt afraid, but that night alone in the huge and cold palace of Gardenia before that sinister character I felt it.  And it was so strong that I didn't know what to answer him. I just looked at him until he came next to me and pointed to the painting, asking:

—Who is he? What's his name? 

At that moment all the hairs on my body stood on end, I swallowed hard and responded by doing my best to keep my apparent calm:

—I don't remember, Micky. Surely, I learned it in a hurry and reluctantly for some national history exam that did not seem important to me as a soldier. But what are you doing here? 

—Michel Angenoir, his name was Michel Angenoir. The architect of the palace and of all Gardenia.

“Michel... Micky”, I thought and for a hundredth of a second, I stared at black, dizzy. I took a few steps to look natural and not fall, then I said while looking at some pots nearby and trying to control myself:

—Angenoir... That surname rings a bell. Ah, yes! Eiden has a distant relative with that surname. Then... That girl is a descendant of the palace architect. It's an honor, don't you think? It looks quite similar to you, by the way. Are you also from the Angenoir family?

—Yes, my friend. The patriarch.

—Well... That guy looks very nice in the painting. 

—Very faggy. But that's the fault of the cloying, cheesy artist who painted it.

He answered me again sounding irreverent and friendly. So, I decided to simply trust, because I thought it would be too foolish and risky to ask him, “Are you a disheartened two-hundredyear-old supernatural being?” So, I smiled and asked him again:

—What are you doing here? Did my dad send you?

—No, I usually come to see what state the palace is in. I want to see if it is properly maintained and if it has not been made abusive modifications. How have you been treated here? I see that in the end you decided to come.

—You didn't see me leave; Yanmei had you captured in her dungeon of questions and complaints.

—Yes, somehow, I ended up apologizing to her for things I didn't do and swearing to buy her a new doll every weekend. She is an adorable girl, she made me remember what married life is like. But answer...

—Oh, yes! Well... Angel is very welcoming and friendly.

—He’s a peaceful and good-natured young man, as his mother was before she became an addict. And the Ishikawa have treated you well...? 

—I hope you don't get angry, but I like Eiden. He's fun and supports me in everything. 

—And what about his aunt?

Micky questioned me, beginning to walk in circles around me, tapping his cane. I replied:

—She is kind, but…

—But?

—I don't know, I don't trust a lot in her. 

— What's the issue there?

—Nothing... I just think she's one of those ladies that if they get angry, they don't tell you and then they do bad things to you in secret. That's why I prefer my aunt Norma and Yanmei, they shout everything in your face at the moment.

Micky laughed as if pleased to hear me, stood in front of me and continued to ask:

—And the queen, has she told you anything?

—Something strange, that I don't break the law or something like that. 

—You're right, you're a very special boy...

He commented looking at the ground, then looked me straight in the eye and questioned me:

—You wouldn't disobey the queen under any circumstances, would you?

—The good of all comes before that of the queen, Micky. If she asked me for something that would harm an innocent person or the people, I would disobey her.

—What if she asks you for something good for the people, but your family didn't approve?

—The queen is the highest authority and is above the family. And the priority is to help the people.

I answered with conviction. Micky looked down at the side, thinking, then said: 

—You're not going to disappoint her, huh? And I'm not going to reproach you, you're a good boy. Very upright.

Then he noticed something in the floor tiles and went over to examine the defect, so I took the opportunity to ask him about the passages since he seemed to know every secret of the palace:

—Hey, is it true that there are tunnels and hidden passages in the palace?

He replied by beckoning me to follow him:

—Yes, not many, but there are in every building in Gardenia. They exist mostly for safety, as alternate escape routes; I use them for these inspections. Your father knows each one, it's a secret known only to the older leaders on the island. I'll show them to you now, anyway, I was going to sometime. Memorize them and only reveal where they are if necessary. But never say too much about them, leave uncertainty.

—Hey, do you think those passages were used to assassinate Kanon Ishikawa?

He sighed before answering me with his hands behind his back and head down without stopping walking:

—Kanon... My daughter was the same age, they were friends. They lived together in my house for a while, and I paid for their studies in Europe. Mostly because, I must be honest, I was a very cuddly father to my daughter! I wanted the other girl to keep her company while I wasn't home, but when I was there, I tried to spoil them and have the best times with them because I wanted my girl to live in a perfect world. It was like having two daughters until the Ishikawas asked me to return her to Celes. Emi Ishikawa had been prime minister for years, but suddenly she no longer wanted to continue and demanded that Kanon take her place. I foolishly agreed because I wasn't legally Kanon's father, even though I was raising her, and she looked at me as if I was. I would have wanted to kill the king when my daughter told me what the poor girl was suffering, she wrote to us from a secret email asking for help, she wanted to go back to Europe, and she was already pregnant because of so much abuse... But she confessed everything to us very late. The same night I found out; she was killed. The rage a father feels when his daughter is repeatedly raped, murdered, and her body mutilated during his absence is endless. When days later I came to Celes, no one gave me explanations, I did not have the opportunity to confront the rapist and meet the murderer. But one thing is clear to me, Kanon was not killed by the queen. For a simple reason...

—Which one?

Micky turned to look at me and said:

—There were cameras in the palace that recorded everything that happened, but Emi Ishikawa ordered them to be uninstalled and the videos deleted. Only she knows the truth and I know her. It was not the queen. It had to be someone from the Ishikawa themselves and she's covering it up because she never liked Kanon and no one gained more than them from these deaths. I'm sure. 

—But... She adores Eiden...

—Yes, she loves the men in her family. But she detests and destroys their women, she sees them all as her rivals. Her rancid attitude of a traditionalist lady is taking them to the brink of extinction trapped in their own world. And that bothers me because over time it will cause abrupt changes in Celes. This island is the perfect landscape for these sophisticated buildings, the right climate, the citizens dressed according to the style... And she can't keep Celes' beauty because she's more interested in her sentimental nonsense. Kanon looked so cute, so perfect next to my daughter, she would have been such a delicate and elegant prime minister, but these horrible vulgar animals ruined the whole design! It is unforgivable.

While Micky was talking, he was walking through rooms and corridors almost striding, he is not a very tall guy and his voice and appearance are quite soft, but he has an air like if he gets angry, he will knock you out with a punch in the chest because that's where he would reach you. Every now and then he would push a chandelier or move a plaster molding opening a hidden door that we went through to reach other rooms, corridors hidden between the walls or emergency stairs that we traveled in a hurry until we finally reached a very long and dark tunnel where he had to turn on a flashlight while he continued talking to me and I did my best to listen to him and at the same time memorize all the nooks and crannies he was showing me:

—Cyan, by the way, have you thought about what I suggested to your father? To marry Ilmari.

—Uh... It's too early. Besides, you know that we have grown together, it would be strange...

—Look, Cyan, it's all right to have a pure heart; But you don't really become a man until the day you start questioning the way your parents programmed your mind. I remember one afternoon, a few weeks ago, your uncle Teppo went to show me his mines because I needed to buy him some gold to do some restorations. On the way we passed an underground river where you and Ilmari were bathing together and naked. I had to stop for a moment, I was surprised by the beauty and sensuality of Ilmari's body and how limp your dick was in front of her. That's not normal for men at your age! 

—I... Well, of course, it's just that I had never stopped to think... And you adults always told us that we should not look at women's bodies with morbid eyes. If I arrive at the Petersens' house and see Aunt Norma breastfeeding a child, and then I see Ilmari's bare breasts, why should I react differently? I thought that you should find something more for women to like them. Intelligence, courage... 

—It all depends on the context, Cyan. It's not the same to see Ilmari with her voluptuous sculpted alabaster chest swimming among the rocks like an undine, as it is to see Big Norma Petersen with a child attached to each of her sagging tits as she sits in her living room cackling with five other forty-somethings. Anyway! You don't know, you're very naïve... It was also difficult for me to understand, but I managed to do it by giving myself the license to experience the satisfaction of being able to feel and make other person feel. Not only to value beauty but to desire it and dare to possess it. 

Finally, we arrived at a kind of crypt where he opened a gate and we went out through the mausoleum of the Oread to the cemetery of the illustrious Celestines, a private pantheon on a hill near the city of Gardenia to which very few have access and even fewer know. It was a perfect place to hide in case of an attack on the palace. As a military man, I was more engrossed in mentally going all the way and imagining possible escape strategies in an emergency. But Micky just sat on a tombstone and pulled out a hip flask from which he drank and offered me some. I agreed to have a drink to look older, and I burned my throat, but I tried to hide it. My strange friend continued talking:

—Marry Ilmari, Cyan. Stop being indecisive. When Eiden sees her, you won't be able to stop him, that kid has long hands like his biological father. The worst thing is that Ilmari, being Norma's daughter, who is more fertile than all the soils of the island combined, will surely have no problem giving birth. We will have a whole new generation of Ishikawas with supernatural gifts and ruling the island without the shyness of Mystics. It would be very difficult to control them.

I sat down next to him and for a while we only saw the lights of the city in silence, until I questioned him:

—Micky, do you reject Eiden because he is an unwanted child? Or do you just think he's a bad person?

He drank some more liquor and replied:

—You know, I don't believe in magic. I believe that there are currently unexplained events, and I would like to understand them; that's why I'm fascinated by Mystics, complicated women, humanity in general... And all of that can be studied very well on this island! One of these strange facts is what Mystics call “spiritual inheritance”. Something that travels hidden in the genes through the centuries, gifts and curses inherited from the fathers, and Eiden is the most homogeneous mixture I have seen so far of the Oread with the Ishikawa. Born of the dirtiest corruption, I cannot help but see him as a threat because he only has two options in life: repeat what his parents did or get fed up with how things have been so far and put an end to a story that does not need to end now. 

Then he got up and pointed to a tombstone saying:

—Your great-grandfather, that was a good friend. I'll stay here drinking with him for a while. Allez, go back to the palace to sleep. Near Ilmari, don't let her be stolen. 

I smiled and we said goodbye with a hug. After all, he was still the old Micky he always was. I didn't want to overanalyze things. I went back to the palace, checking out all the passages and hidden doors along the way. I found Ilmari standing guard at the queen's door. The others were asleep on a nearby sofa. We woke them up and we all went to rest in the rooms on the roof. On the way I explained that the footsteps we heard were those of an architecture enthusiast who was inspecting the palace, then I whispered in Ilmari's ear that it was simply Micky. Eiden looked worried, but he had no opinion; He was very tired and just wanted to lie down. Ilmari and I, who shared room and bed, took turns using the shower before sleeping; So, I took some time to see her through a crack in the bathroom curtain. She was really beautiful: big breasts, narrow waist, wide hips and long legs; But I didn't even know exactly what to do with all that. Sex education at Celes was so bad that teachers would only tell you that children were born from the egg fertilized by the sperm contained in the man's semen. And that was it! I didn't know exactly where the penis was put or if it was necessary to put it in or if it was enough to ejaculate on top of the woman. And my parents weren't very open about it either. When we got into bed, I told Ilmari this and she in response pulled down her panties, sat on the bed opening her legs in front of me to separate the lips of the vulva with her fingers showing me her vagina sealed by a pink crescent moon hymen and explained to me the whole process of conception until delivery. Her mother had taught her every detail because she expected her to be a midwife, too. I just shrugged my shoulders uncomfortably and thanked her, then she put her panties back on and went to sleep very peacefully. I could barely do it fighting against an involuntary erection until Morpheus defeated me and I was able to relieve myself through the nocturnal pollution triggered by the vivid dream of finally deciding to lie on Ilmari to penetrate her vehemently. From that night I realized that it was time to set limits on our intimacy as friends or stop being just friends.

THE SELF-COUP D'ÉTAT AND THE CABINET OF THE ANGELS

 

The next day, early in the morning, a maid came knocking on the door to deliver a package sent by our parents. It was clean clothes for the events we would have to attend that day. My poor mother had spent the night mending and changing the buttons of an old dress uniform of my father's for me until it was as good as new. Ilmari was sent an ancient cloak from her grandparents made with the skin of one of the last bears that were found on the island, and she must have spent a long time brushing it, while she did that, I went to check on the other guys. Angel was chasing Uoliena who didn't want to have breakfast or comb her hair, so she ran and jumped screaming on the roof like some kind of demon-possessed monkey. I preferred to pretend to be distracted and better to go to Eiden's room. I knocked announcing myself and he shouted at me from inside to come forward. When I entered, I had to walk across a cloud of water vapor and perfume, I went to look for him in his bathroom wiping my eyes and I found him combing his hair as if he were my mom before a party:

—Eiden, you gay, why so much dress up?

—Appearance influences a lot how people treat you and today is also a special day, I will see Estelle. I want to apologize for what happened the other day and ask her to be my girlfriend. I told you. 

—What do I do if you end up crying after she reject you definitively?

—That won't happen! There are feelings involved.

—Only on your part... The law classifies this relationship as statutory rape, and she will not want to end up in jail because of you. Believe me, the only reason I don't report her is because you're going to feel doubly bad and because she'd surely use her influence to evade punishment.

—Cyan, if my happiness were in your hand, would you really take it away from me just for following the law?

Then I remembered Ilmari naked and our families pressuring us to get married, I felt bad because I really woke up horny for her even though I knew that her great love was Eiden, and he would explode with joy if he knew that a Mystical girl of his age loved him. So, I just replied quietly:

—If you fight for your happiness and are the fittest, you will achieve it. Victory always belongs to the strongest.

Then I went somewhat grumpy to the roof, there, Angel had finally managed to get Uoliena to sit down to eat. He invited me to accompany them to breakfast and while he told me:

—Mother says that this day will be very important, something decisive. At ten o'clock in the morning, a modest ceremony will be held for the new minister of agriculture and public works. She says he's a dangerous man.

—Dangerous? Why?

—Well, he became popular in the south of the island all of a sudden. People simply obey him; he organizes them and make decisions for their communities. So far, everything has been for the benefit of the population, but so much power is suspicious. Emi Ishikawa should have investigated him before giving him the Queen's support, but since she is unable to oppose the Society of Azrael, just as my mother never refuses Emi's proposals...

—Angel, don't you feel like we're lost? Your mother and Miss Emi don't control the island, it seems like it's in the hands of the rich guys of the Azrael Society. 

—My mother would like to refuse, we always talk about modernizing it, opening more schools and universities, but without losing our identity. Out there, politicians abuse people by forcing ideologies that only serve to destroy native cultures and, I don't know about you, but I like Celes; We have a beautiful culture, and we just need to polish it. Adapt it to the rest of the world. Now the island functions as the summer home of these guys who see my mother and Eiden's aunt as their housekeepers. I should... Well, Eiden and you... But we can't ask them so much and I'm fucked because although I love Celes, the reality is that most Celestines are racist.

Angel sighed despondently and then said, pouring me coffee:

—They say there's a black neighborhood in the Sky Village. They have been living in Celes for a long time, they do not want to leave, this is their home. I would like them to be allowed to establish themselves with dignity. There is a place near the port, it is closed to the public, a very small portion of the coast where there are no cliffs, but a beach surrounded by reefs; Nobody lives there, it is only visited from time to time by very wealthy people. I would like them to make their town near there, they could live from fishing, free, without depending on anyone. They would no longer live in hiding like me... I won't attend the morning event, nor will I go to the party. No one should see me. Take a lot of pictures for me, I want to see the dangerous man. His name is L. Specter. Have you heard of him?

—No. And I'll bring you a lot of photos. 

I stared into space while drinking coffee, then I asked him:

—Hey, what will you call that town?

Angel smiled, as if for the first time his dreams were taken seriously:

—Saint Peter, the door to heaven. How it sounds? It goes with the style of the island. Every black family will have their own home, but anyone can come to visit them. Or even move if they want. They will not discriminate against anyone there.

—Ha, allow that and in two years you'll have a lot of bars and casinos. Discipline and limits, Angel, that is something that should never be missing.

I could see how the Prince of Celes was happy to listen to me, but deep down I didn't believe that it could ever be true. How? The reality was too overwhelming, and we didn't see a way to make noticeable changes. Then I went to dress for the ceremony. Ilmari took a little longer to tie her long hair and we talked a little standing in front of a large mirror. Then I took courage and decided to take advantage of the opportunity and spoke to her cautiously:

—Do you know what Micky said to me yesterday?

—Did he continue to insist on getting us married?

—Yes. My father will surely say something about it now that we see him. Maybe we should get used to the idea. They are going to marry us.

Ilmari thought as she braided her hair, then she opined, looking at the ground:

—I've already made up my mind to fight for Eiden. He is a born leader; he is tenacious and self-assured. 

Suddenly I wondered if what happened the night before had been a test, perhaps I will never know if she tried to lose her virginity with me or if it was something innocent; But at that moment I had the urge to do something and I cornered her against a wall, grabbed her face and kissed her. That night I didn't get to deflower her, but at least I was the one who gave her her first kiss. We were like this for a while, it was quite spontaneous and sweet, I thought it could lead to something more sexual but then I realized that we were just giving each other affection; like when a mother kisses every inch of her child's face simply because she adores him, because she cares about every detail of him; We loved each other, but in a tender way, like brothers. I slowly let go of it and we don't need to say a single word. It was a “no”. Then she kissed my forehead, hugged me smiling before covering her face and led me by the handout of the room. I went out and as I was walking I questioned everything in my mind: my desires, my future, my value, even my manhood... Angel and Eiden were already in a hurry trying to finish Uoliena's hair and not sure if she would be able to repeat the words that Eiden was going to dictate to her through an earphone that she kept ripping off and throwing against the walls. Ilmari came to their support trying to catch the wild girl and I was just left as an outcast in a corner. I didn't want to talk to any of them. I would have felt worse, but luckily my mother showed up in the hallway. She had gone up to greet me and looked really proud, however, she noticed that something was wrong with me. She took me to an empty room and tried to get me to talk. Luckily with her I never have to try too hard, she understands me in everything:

—You look really pale. What's going on?

—Yesterday I saw Micky, he’s pushing with marrying Ilmari. Tell Dad not to insist on it anymore, she doesn't want to get married... so soon. And... Me neither.

Mom knew immediately that Ilmari had already chosen another guy and tried to cheer me up with caresses and telling me that she thought I was the most handsome boy on the island, but that's what the average mother thinks of her skinny and lanky teenage eldest son! Anyway, I made an effort to look more animated so that she would be happy. She was full of excitement when she saw me in the palace and with important friends. I went down with her to meet my father while she told me that Yanmei had stayed at the Petersens' house and other matters of the Hot Pot, when we arrived at the gardens I  greeted dad and he introduced me to the Minister of Health, Christian Cauldron, who was talking to him; This was a bald, short-sighted, obese and hairy guy who did not want to shake my hand and left with his back to me. Dad gave me a quick explanation, whispering in my ear.

—The guy you killed with Eiden's help was the minister of agriculture and public works. Cauldron was asking me to at least punish you for what you did, but I told him I couldn't do it. Your sense of justice is more passionate than mine and I could never force you to be corrupt or punish you for doing the right thing. The man was a pedophile.

I looked him in the eye, still disappointed by what I had learned about him, and questioned him:

—Dad, can you give me your word as a man that it will always be like this? That you will always support me when the law must be enforced?

—That's right. I will never force you not to do the right thing.

He answered me by squaring up. I gave him a brief hug and walked away to the buffet table to get a glass of water; I had a lump in my throat. I was there drinking when I heard a feminine and nervous voice calling me, I turned to see Consuelo, who was looking from one side to the other with fear:

—You're Cyan, aren't you? Do you remember me?

—Yes, the girl from the casino...

I replied surprised and with some shyness. As always, she looked very pretty, she latched on to my arm and spoke in a hurry:

—Please don't leave me alone! It was very difficult for me to sneak into this event, and I don't want to be taken out, I need to talk to you. I want to ask you, beg you, a favor... I heard that the palace will be in charge from now on of managing the media, that they were looking for reporters, editors, photographers and so on... I worked for a long time at my school's newspaper! I know how to write, I take good photos, I'm outgoing, and I really want to escape the damn casino and the creepy Angenoir... Can you help me get a job? I don't ask you to give it to me! Just that you recommend me, I already sent my resume, but I know that it is useless if you don't have levers...

—You were Dulce Consuelo Del Mar. I'll ask Eiden to help you. What did Angenoir do to you...?

—Do you remember my full name? 

She asked as if surprised with red cheeks and interrupting me, and I felt terrible because somehow, I interpreted it that I had scared her and that I sounded like a weirdo stalker when the truth is that I only memorized her name because I thought it was cute. I just shrugged my shoulders and looked at the floor. Then Consuelo clung tighter to my arm saying:

—You can call me Conny, that's what all my friends call me. I would like to keep in touch with you, in case you hear from me, can I ask for your phone number?

—I don't have my own phone, you can call my mom at the Hot Pot emergency number, 123. Give her your message.

—Yes, I know it. The Hot Pot has one of the few Celestine pages you can find online. I check it often; I've liked all the photos in which you appear.

—They're terrible photos that my dad takes with his phone... In all of them I look like a crooked giraffe... I don't know why they always come out so badly. I have a polaroid and my private photo collection. One day if you want, I will show it to you. I have one of yours and I know how to take photos without people looking ugly. In fact, I must do some now... For a friend who couldn't come...

She replied enthusiastically, I assumed feigned out of politeness:

—Yes, please! I can also show you mine, I have a DSLR camera that I bought with my first salary, I can use it in the new job. But first I would need to practice, what do you think if we go out together one day to take photos, like a date...? Maybe to the forest, or to the orchard near the cemetery? You can take pictures of me...

—Maybe, if I’m not too busy.

—Can you take a picture of me now?

She asked me and I agreed, always with the fear of misinterpreting an entire conversation totally not of flirtation and sounding like a murderous demented rapist. I was photographing her when I saw in the background of my frame a strange guy in a distant part of the gardens, far away from the rest of the guests. I immediately went on alert and warned Ilmari with signs. I apologized to Conny, leaving her accompanied by my mother, and together with my Mystical friend we approached the stranger discreetly; on the way I asked a colleague from the Hot Pot if that guy had identified himself. He informed me that this was L. Specter, and his appearance lived up to his name by being quite spectral. Pale as paper and with hair so blond that it looked almost grayish white, long to the end of his back as was the custom of adult Mystical men, he went even farther to a corner among the trees seeking shade even when he protected himself from the sun with a hat and sunglasses.  Then Ilmari said:

—That man is an albino, like my brother Leif...

From where we were she sang a short song and the guy seemed to recognize her instantly; I also recognized his voice when he shouted at us: 

—May the devil take me if that's not my little sister Ilmari! 

We ran to his side and the brothers hugged each other happy to finally meet again, I stopped to take a picture of the moment and then Leif pulled me by the arm to hug me saying:

—And you're the same, Cyan, only almost as tall as I am. How's Mom? Is she still caring for her parturient women? And Dad? 

Ilmari replied as she continued to hug him:

—Everything remains the same except that now mom suffers your absence and goes from being sad to angry with you.

—I didn't want to visit them or tell my parents anything, I'm fine, but I'm sure they'll be upset... Now I am “L. Specter”, the rebel leader of the south. I started fighting to be allowed to build my house outside of Adalsteinn and now others want to follow me on my path against segregation on the island. And what are you doing here?

I replied then:

—Emi Ishikawa asked me to be the head of security at the palace, and especially to keep an eye on his nephew Eiden. Ilmari and I slept here last night! We even met the queen's son.

—Rumors say he's black, is that true?

—Yes, they hide him just for that. 

—It's an unfair excuse for the Ishikawa to become the new Oread. And have you already spoken to the little antichrist? That Eiden is a professional liar! Always saying that the island is great and there are no problems when people barely live as if we were in 1900.

Ilmari quickly came to the defense of her sweetheart...: 

—No, brother! He doesn't want to lie, they force him...

—Well, if he does not rebel, he is a traitor to his people! I don't want to see you near him, Ilmari, if I get to lay a finger on you, I'll kill him. He's the most disgusting brat on the whole island, I still remember when Mom brought him home and put him in your crib. You woke up all worried and surprised to see what was the bundle that they put next to you and when you noticed that it was another baby you kissed him on the cheek and hugged him; The goblin only stayed there enjoying the affection, from then on I must have seen that son of a rapist feeding on my mother's breast and sleeping in the same crib with my sister. Sickening! I swear I'm going to fight so that one day that little devil with glasses loses all power over Celes.

Leif said and Ilmari was only silent, biting her lips and lowering her gaze. I didn't contradict him, I liked Eiden, but I didn't want him too close to my friend anymore. So, I just changed the subject:

—And how did you get elected Minister of Agriculture and Public Works? I don't see you close to anyone around here, now you even hide from my parents!

—Your dad always lectures me, he's good, he protects me, but I already told him it's too late. I will not be calm again in the face of everything that happens. The people who work the southern lands support me, but of course no one takes them seriously here in Gardenia. They gave me the position because Micky the Frenchie has a lot of influence in the palace, and he helped me. That fucking Micky was the director of Azrael's society! Can you believe it?! He is the leader of all those old oligarchs! He owns almost all of Gardenia and you see him out there, as if he were another vicious one of the many who roam the casinos at midnight. And don't ask me why he did it, I wanted to know myself and he just told me: “sometimes I like to experiment”.

—Micky... I see, so it's Micky Angenoir... Until recently I knew his last name and that he has an adult daughter, how small the world is... 

I said, turning to look at Consuelo, “Conny”, remembering that she said that “Mr. Angenoir” had become infatuated with her. I sighed sad but relieved that I hadn't let myself get excited about Conny, she was the woman Micky wanted, and I wasn't going to take her away from him. I already had that kind of problem with Eiden, and it was enough. In addition, the outgoing and sensual Conny looked more in line with Micky who was a powerful aristocrat on the island; The typical beautiful wife married to the rich eccentric. Just then a colleague from the Hot Pot told us that the ceremony was about to begin. We all went to meet the others and while my parents greeted Leif, I noticed that in the box of honor the chair of the minister of culture and education was empty, as well as many other chairs in the public area. You could see the little interest, and perhaps resignation, of the people in the face of what was already decided on the island. When the event started, Uoliena did a terrible job. He reluctantly took the stage, said three words and threw away the earphone before running away. They had to skip protocol and give Leif the sash of honor without further ado. We all applauded and that's it. Emi Ishikawa seemed upset, but the queen was still in good spirits. Happy. Leif was in a great mood too. He wasn't bothered by the informal setting. He'd liked anything out of the ordinary since he was a kid. Perhaps that is why the queen caught his attention, and I say that he was interested in what he did later at the party that was offered in his honor that night... For now, we all went to lunch and then to rest before night. Eiden, Ilmari, Uoliena and I went up to the roof with Angel and told him everything that happened; we especially reassured him by telling him that we knew the mysterious L. Specter and that he was not a bad person, just a bit of a rebellious guy. Then us the three boys sat on the floor for a while, trying to talk some sense into Uoliena about what she did, but she suddenly stopped drawing with her crayons, stood up, kicked the balls of each one of us and ran away while screaming like an ape. Ilmari must have gone after her, and so Eiden, Angel and I were left alone chatting while we watched the sky lying on the roof floor. I took the opportunity to ask Eiden: 

—Did you know that my parents and Ilmari's parents are friends with your aunt/girlfriend Estelle's father?

—No, that's terrible, they shouldn't talk to him. He is my grandfather. You see, he wasn't really the father of one of my parents! I call him grandfather because he is the oldest man in my family.

—Eiden, the Mystics would be able to tell if it was something evil and supernatural. The boy looks about fifteen years old! I don't understand how he can be so old.

—It's not something supernatural, it's... Anything else. I wouldn't know how to explain it to you because I myself don't know what the hell it is. But he's definitely not a person, he just imitates people!

—Is it an alien...?

—It is “something else”. He can have children, he has libido, he experiences emotions, he has self-awareness, but he is not a real human being.

Angel looked at him skeptically and asked:

—The million-dollar question, and answer me this time, because you always evade it: is it the same guy from the statues and paintings? Because then is fucking Edward Cullen, he's a vampire or something.

Then Eiden replied, very serious and curt:

—I told you, it's not something supernatural. It is “something”.

I settled down on the floor and commented:

—Well, that something together with your aunt Emi pull many strings on this island. It's better to have him as a friend.

I stared at the sky, the cottony clouds passed serenely across the sky, as if worries did not exist in the world. I was thinking about the immovable power of nature when Angel took out his smartphone and put on music that I had never heard before and I didn't like, asking us:

—Have you listened to The Weeknd, Cyan?

—Shut it down or change it to Iron Maiden.

—That's old men music. Modernize yourself.

Eiden came to my defense:

—I also listen to old music from the 90s, I think I was born in the wrong era. Do you know The Smashing Pumpkins?

He said, taking out his own phone and making us listen to girls' music, I covered my ears and Angel commented:

—This is proof that Eiden is not actually Asian, he is a white boy. I bet he likes Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift too...

Then Eiden answered him, rolling his eyes:

—I'm neither Asian nor white, nor are you a black American boy, we're all Celestines. We were born on the island. We should be listening to Estelle's classical music, it's the thing here, waltzes and that...

—Even more patriotic and hipster: we could dress as Mystical ladies; we could sing Nordic songs in the wind. I swear I heard one in the distance today...

Angel said and then made some adjustments on his phone, waited while looking at the sky and later handed it to me saying: 

—Here, I deleted all my data, now it's yours. I gave another one to Ilmari, we need to always be communicating. I have a bad feeling; don't you feel like a strange calm? Something is going to happen...

Eiden and I were silent for a while, maybe we both wanted to respond with a joke, but the truth was that there was a certain oppression in the atmosphere, and we couldn't do it. Finally, Eiden said:

—When things are stagnant, as in Celes, any change is good. It means movement.

Then Angel got up and said to us:

—Well, I don't know, but I need a new phone. Besides, I want to take advantage of the moment, now that Ilmari doesn't see us; We are going to buy him a laptop to thank him for coming to help us in the palace. Cyan is going to get a salary, she isn't... I mean, he... Come on, quick!

I shot Angel an accusing stare and he just shrugged his shoulders in embarrassment. Eiden didn't even notice, he was nervous and distracted, that night he was going to bet everything on Estelle. So, we put on casual clothes and went to the only shopping center in Gardenia. Angel bought what I needed and then I invited them to a slushie, the only thing that the savings of my allowance could afford. Being still punished by my mother after burning an uniform, the pay working in the palace would fall on me as a gift from heaven. We had to leave shortly after, when a guard at the mall began to watch us as if we were terrorists simply because Angel had dark skin. That bastard could never imagine that this was his legitimate future king... Then we went to get ready again for the party, the palace employees were preparing it all afternoon and by nightfall the fifth floor of the building had become a magical place, especially the great ballroom where an orchestra was already playing the inevitable waltz. Around the mirrored marble tile track, more intimate corners were prepared with divans, cushions, golden chandeliers, and tables with glass vases filled with fresh red and white roses filling the air with their fragrance; all wrapped in a dim warm and mysterious light. The guests were few and they were arriving slowly, among them were the Minister of Health, Leif and my parents who came together, the oldest and most important members of the Ishikawa family and after playing dumb on the steps for a while it was Eiden and I, who entered timidly because I had never been announced when I arrived at a place as if I were a great gentleman while Eiden was in his sauce greeting everyone as the queen of ball. When he went to shake hands with Leif, the northern rebel took him firmly and whispered something in his ear, then let go and walked away. Eiden was puzzled and when I asked him what he said, he replied:

—That if I touch his sister, he will kill me. Is there a Mystical girl here? Dude, even if that guy kills me, I'll fuck her. I don't care! I'm going to die in peace.

I was grateful that Ilmari at the last minute decided to stay playing League of Legends and taking care of Uoliena with Angel, because surely her own brother would have discovered her there in the middle of the party and in front of Eiden. Shortly after the arrival of the queen was announced, all the guests stood up and applauded. Again, she looked sad and distant, sedated by drugs, but still stunning in a silver silk dress and wearing diamonds and the royal crown. She was really beautiful and distinguished, it is easy to believe that such people are already beautiful by nature, a halo of exquisite elegance surrounded her despite all the rumors and people seemed to want to simply admire her from afar as if she were a delicate creature from another world. Quickly, Emi Ishikawa went to her side and led her to a throne prepared for her. The dance was about to begin. Just then, and already late in the evening, Micky appeared, “Mr. Michel Angenoir”, accompanied by his daughter Estelle Angenoir. There was a surge of murmurs among the other guests. Some were surprised to see the director of The Society of Azrael in person, which was apparently strange, while others to see finally arrive at his commitments the Minister of Culture and Education... Which turned out to be him. The fact that Micky, an eccentric and carefree guy, oversaw watching over the artists of the island, and at the same time of the education of the young, explained to me many flaws in the system... Eiden froze at the sight of him, he came so close to me that he almost hid behind me, saying in a low voice:

—Let's go with my aunt and the queen. Let's not be alone...

—He'll go to greet them, Eiden. 

I reminded him without understanding his fear, he replied:

—It doesn't matter. He will moderate himself a little with my aunt. 

We hadn't finished whispering when Micky announced raising his voice: “Now the party has begun! get the expensive alcohol out, I'm still not at the point where I confuse the urinal with the punch bowl and if I get the one that tastes like gasoline I'm going to find out!” I commented to Eiden:

—I think there's nothing worse he can do after this. Don't worry, let's go to your aunt.

As we were going, I saw that someone else was behaving strangely: Emi Ishikawa stared at them pale and livid. So much so that I had to go to her side soon to hold her because she seemed to be about to faint. She leaned on my arm and said as if to herself:

—It's been so long since I've seen him with his face uncovered, I didn't think I'd see him  again...

I, confused, looked at her and she seemed to come to herself. Meanwhile, Micky arrived before the queen and took her hand to kiss her greeting:

—Zoeila, you don't look good at all. They are burying you alive, wouldn't you like to go to rest for a few months back in Europe? Your parents are still alive.

—I will never leave the island again, Mr. Angenoir. I don't want anyone to see me outside of Celes... Here are my friends, like you, I wanted to see you... Will you always support me? In everything?

—As long as it's not something that hurts you. I like how you look being queen! You are perfect for the palace. Why are you asking me this?

—Because I need to know.

The queen replied by shaking a little and Emi Ishikawa was ready to use her fan and give her air calming her:

—Your Majesty, it's time for you to take your medicines. I'll bring them to you. Rest, close your eyes and enjoy the music, it doesn't do you any good to talk so much.

The queen obeyed, thanking her:

—You take better care of me than a mother, Emi. I'm lucky to have you, but the day will come when Eiden grows up enough for you to decide to get married and have children of your own, leaving us alone in the palace.

—I don't need that, Your Majesty. I prefer to serve you and accompany my dear nephew.

—How can you not need to live, Emi? Be free... I don't want you to spend what's left of your youth with me, it's been so long, meet a man... You, Mr. Angenoir, how did you raise your daughter alone with this wonderful woman so close?

Micky and his daughter looked at each other with a sneer, and he replied:

—What nonsense, Zoeila! Living as a couple does not always bring happiness. The last stable partner I had was Estelle's mother and she practically abandoned my daughter in her first illness, then she only came back to ask me for a third of my fortune in exchange for never bothering us again. I spent several years believing that she had scammed me, but the DNA test and the verification over the years that Estelle is a rascal just like me convinced me that she is mine. And that woman was not a third of the bad and psychopathic of what the first was! After such bad experiences I decided to be a single father. Maybe I'll get married in the future, just for aesthetic reasons, wives bring houses to life! But it will be with an innocent young girl that I can mold to my liking. In fact, I've already set my eyes on one. In any case, don't worry about Emi! Do you think she suffers from loneliness? Not at all. She is the pinnacle of female self-realization; she doesn't need the man! Neither spiritually nor physically. You don't know it, you have lived consecrated to your son and numbed by those medications; but Emi has had a lot of time to squander money on projects without head or tail, and to learn about the important work of adult toys as tools of feminine philosophy on its way to topus uranus.

Estelle Angenoir looked at him reproachfully and after patting him as punishment she left the conversation and walked away from the group. Emi Ishikawa remained calm, but with a strange, murky look, she replied without further ado:

—Mr. Angenoir, what a derogatory way to talk about toys when you are the official boy toy of Gardenia... Toys easily break or go out of fashion, but if we attribute human qualities to them, they are lovingly kept in our hearts. Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said...

—Heart? What do I know! We agree that feelings are processed by the brain, not the pieces we wear in our chests. I don't really need it and the hydraulic system for the part you are interested in to work was independent of that other. That still works wonders!

—Have you already repaired the unforgivable flaw in the genes you inherit? That was the reason... That's why I hated you. 

She answered her and I had chills. Then Micky replied with some melancholy, but without ceasing to smile:

—Humanity deserved some punishment for playing God. Do you want to clarify anything else?

 I felt Eiden's cold hands clinging to one of mine, the boy was genuinely frightened; I shook them tightly to remind him to be strong. Emi Ishikawa had a cold look; I had never seen her like this. She was like someone else, someone who had been hidden from us all along. With that fixed gaze on Micky, she asked:

—Now you clear up my doubts. What was going on in the Sky Village that the Society of Azrael was unaware of?

He shrugged his shoulders and replied:

—Azrael didn’t know it, but the society did!

—You're losing power over your own people... I, on the contrary, remain firm. Some Gardinians complain about the little technology present on the island, which affects everyone's comfort. They have suggested that I demolish some buildings, modify them, import modern products, more cars... Modernize! 

—What if I don't want to give permission for my buildings to be intervened? I have bought them, I rent them.

—They can be expropriated. The Society of Azrael is not above the authority of the Crown. 

Micky stared at her, finally losing his smile, and spoke seriously:

—I know that you are acting under the cover of a certain sense of justice. For years men have played with Zoeila, an innocent foreigner, first as if she were an animal that could be tamed through fear and violence. Now annulling her by labeling her as a disabled woman. A useless effort by the Minister of Health! With or without Zoeila awake, you are her puppeteer. I don't deny it, Emi, they have behaved like perfect jerks and very foolishly without knowing that they were being watched by someone who could crush them. You.

Emi Ishikawa continued to look him in the eye with that sharp gaze. Micky went on to say:

—They made a mistake, they thought they were very smart. But you also fell into the same mistake! And that's how you've been all these years: deceiving yourselves, discovering yourselves, then deceiving yourselves again. It seems like a sneaky game to you, but it's just a long, silly waste of time. Bureaucracy, corruption, and rivers of wasted money among the nooks and crannies of the labyrinth of nonsense that in the long run only harms the island. And I can't allow that, Emi. This should not change, neither for what you consider a good, nor for what would really be a harm. Celes should simply be what the blueprints say it should be. Accurate and flawless.

—And what are you going to do to stop me? To keep stopping time, people are fed up.

She asked him defiantly, he replied:

—People are part of the plan. That's why I invited my friend Specter to the game. You know, Mystics are very interesting, as they become adults they develop extrasensory abilities. Specter's mother has the gift of healing, his father guesses where water or precious minerals are hidden in the rocks, but this young man...

Then he called Leif with a wave of his hand, and he arrived with a light salute touching a brim of his hat. Micky informed him:

—It seems that Your Majesty is indisposed. She has been attending the dance for years without participating, she can barely stand at this time of night.

To Emi Ishikawa's surprise, Leif took the queen's chin to make her look into his eyes and spoke calmly:

—If your deep depression is because the high society to which you belong forces you to hide a black son, why don't you let yourself have a Mystical son? I see you beautiful, even if you surpass me in age. They would love that, and it would not be a worse infamy than what you are already doing by resigning yourself instead of defending the inheritance of a boy who depends on you.

—How dare you say this…?

The queen exclaimed while Emi Ishikawa stood up in alarm, but Micky stopped her and told her to wait. Leif held out his hand to Mrs. Zoeila and said:

—Get up. Let's go to the dance floor.

To everyone's surprise, Queen Zoeila got up quickly and without problems. She let herself be guided docilely and danced a waltz to the disbelief of everyone, who had not seen her move freely in years. She herself was stunned, acting against her will. Then Micky explained:

—Specter's gift is hypnosis. People do what he tells them! And you have no idea what he can achieve when he speaks to a crowd, his speeches never go unnoticed.

—Bastards! Always abusing women, forcing us to do what you want...

—Oh, no, Emi, it wasn't the men. You did it first! You believed that after the tremendous entanglement you wove between lies and manipulations, reality would be so confusing that no one would be a saint anymore, that we would all be a little full of shit and without the right to judge. But you're wrong, there are two very clear demons here, you and me; the others are chess pieces and now I'm going to eat one for you: the Minister of Health who betrayed me by stealing the funds of the Society of Azrael with your protection. You were so grateful to him for keeping Zoeila sedated and docile! So busy usurping the throne that you couldn't ask yourself what the money was being spent on. What a waste! Everything I could use in building material to restore my works was consumed in brothels. And then you start pretending to watch over women's rights. Leif, it's time. 

Then the man in question, without stopping dancing the waltz, snapped his fingers. With the sound, the obese Christian Cauldron reacted by running from where he was and jumping out of a window. Leif had previously hypnotized him, it would be almost impossible to prove it in court, but those of us who knew the customs of the Mystics knew it. Screams replaced music and guests crowded around the broken glass scattered on the floor, some venturing out of the shattered window to see the dead man's body on the floor at the entrance to the palace. Leif kissed the queen's hand and remarked:

—It seems that the party is over. We will see each other again when a new health minister is elected.

Then she let go of him and ran to my side, looked me in the eyes and said between her teeth:

—Now, support me!

Then she screamed, possessed by a power that to others seemed the delirium of a sick woman, but now that I think about it, it was the cry of attack of a mother defending her son:

—Attention! I have decided to make last-minute changes. I am going to renew my cabinet! And today that Cauldron has died is the best time. Mr. Angenoir, Mr. Specter, I am sorry, but you have been dismissed from your positions! Mr. Fèng, you are also leaving, from now on your son Ocean will be the Minister of Justice and Public Security. Now everyone please leave the palace. Ocean, order your men to get everyone out, even the employees. I want everything clean! Only you, your assistant, Eiden and my children will remain. I need to rearrange everything!

I froze and she yelled at me, “Move!” I instantly signaled to my colleagues from the Hot Pot to remove the people. My father looked at me as if he was going to stop me, I took him by the shoulder and said:

—I gave my word as a man to that woman; I must support her. And you said you'd support me.

He stared at me for a few seconds, then grabbed my mother and dragged her out while shouting to the others to obey me. Leif was also unwilling to leave and challenged me:

—Cyan, if a Civil War broke out, I would do my best not to kill you, but I would definitely give you trouble. Nothing personal!

In response, I drew my gun and pointed it at him, saying:

—I don't want to kill you either, Leif. You can never hypnotize me; my will is made of iron. Go away, I will take care of your sister with my life.

He just put on his hat and left with his hands in his pockets. I turned to look at the queen, fearing that Eiden had heard me, but he had disappeared. There was only Emi Ishikawa, to whom the queen said:

—You go too. Give me space.

Emi's jaw dropped but left without protesting. In the same way Micky left with Leif, he seemed amused with everything. Then the queen approached me to hug me gratefully and asked:

—When they get everyone out, bring Eiden and meet me on the rooftop. We must talk.

I nodded, showing my obedience, but first I had to find Eiden. I began to look for him among the people who were guarded by my fellow soldiers while they murmured that the queen had finally gone mad; some worried, others laughing. I also took the opportunity to go out to see my colleagues who were collecting the minister's body, when I saw Eiden in the gardens in the company of Estelle Angenoir. From afar I could see that what I expected already happened, Eiden begged her anxiously not to leave him and she pushed him away. I approached with my head down and I could hear her say:

—I'm sorry, Eiden. No way. I liked you for a while because you reminded me of Kanon, I saw her in you, but you're growing up! Every day you become more different from her and... I don't like you; I'll never like you. You're going to have to stay in another house when you go to Europe and stop looking for me in the casino. It's over, love is not forever.

Eiden pleaded, now teary-eyed:

—But... I don't just want you to be my girlfriend... I liked it when you hugged me... When am I going to receive love? It doesn't matter if I cry because no one comforts me, no one feels sorry for me, no one makes me feel like an important part of their life... No one makes me feel theirs.

Estelle just shrugged her shoulders and started smoking looking to the side. It made me angry, she seemed to enjoy my friend's suffering. But I think my anger was nothing compared to that of Ilmari, who I don't know at what moment appeared nearby and with her face uncovered exclaimed:

—Bitch!

We all turned to look at her. Eiden was confused and she went to look for him, saying:

—I'm Mrs. Norma's youngest daughter, Eiden. She has always loved you as her son. Mother is not always the woman who gives birth to you, but the one who raises you and cares for you. Come, you are part of my family. You're mine.

Then Estelle completely changed her attitude, acting like a dog that no longer wants a bone, but growls and whimpers when you try to take it away:

—Eiden, we've lived together for several years. Even if I don't want to sleep with you anymore, how could you replace your family? We are your blood, your true blood!

Eiden looked at her and then saw Ilmari excited, but swallowed hard and replied to Estelle: 

—I've always dreamed of having a Mystical girlfriend, she's the girl of my dreams. And she is my age! But I want to show you that for you I will give up my own happiness, so that you can see how much...

And at that moment I intervened, because Eiden was behaving like a gigantic idiot:

—Eiden, if you reject Ilmari just to boost that pedophile lady's ego, I'll beat you. Go and hug your new girlfriend and maybe bride-to-be! Then go up to the rooftop. Hurry up!

He looked at me still doubting and then ran into Ilmari's arms, who pressed him to her chest sighing with love. And I didn't like that at all, but I couldn't let the old crib robber continue to abuse Eiden. Then they ran away holding hands and I turned to look at Estelle, ordering:

—Go away, the show is over.

—What kind of man are you?

She asked me with a little contempt and a little curiosity, I answered:

—The class that isn't so desperate as to be interested in you. Go! I don't see you as pretty.

Then I turned and walked away. Little did I know at that age about vain older women, who when a young man says “no” to them become obsessed with forcing you to say “yes”. In any case, at that moment there was no time to think about Estelle. When everyone was gone, I carefully closed each entrance to the building, checked even the secret passages, and finally went to the rooftop. The others were already waiting for me sitting by the fireplace, the queen, Angel and Uoliena embracing; Eiden and Ilmari talking between laughter and an intense adolescent flirtation. I, already tired because it was past midnight, sat down with them taking off my military cap and informed the queen:

—They're all gone. What is the proceeding, ma'am?

She spoke, while the rest of us listened attentively:

—I need you and Eiden to be brave and help me. It must be made official. From now on the council of ministers will be made up as follows: Eiden will remain the prime minister and will be in charge of finance and economic affairs, you Cyan, from tonight you are the minister of justice and public security. Uoliena will need everyone's help when socializing and learn to be strong. She will be the minister of agriculture and public works; the secretary of communications must be in the hands of someone else. I need this new person to be young and trustworthy. Any recommendations?

So, I replied doubtfully, everything seemed crazy to me, but I had to support her:

—There's a girl... I don't know her well enough to say she's trustworthy, but she says she knows journalism, photography, computers, and stuff. Mrs. Zoeila, don't you think it's too soon? I'm the only one who has finished school, and I don't feel ready. I assumed Eiden was going to college, how could he do that when he's taking care of the island now?

—He will have to endure a few years studying and working, Eiden is already used to it. To save the time spent taking him off the island to study, I will process the import of teaching equipment, and we will nationalize foreign professors to found the first university in Celes. Trusting in Mr. Angenoir's word, I will ask him for some buildings in which to fit out the new study centers. A school too. I need to educate you, especially Ilmari. I want her as Minister of Health. Now, Ilmari, you will have to defend yourself with what you have learned from your mother Norma, but in the future, you will be a medical doctor. The same with Angel, I need you to study and show yourself in public as Minister of Culture and Education; and then we will tell everyone who you really are. Listen to me, guys, I want the island to stop being in the hands of the Azrael Society and the Ishikawa. We have already taken the first steps, if we go back down now, we will never be able to reach it again.

Eiden replied, serious and a little worried:

—Your Majesty, your intentions are good. But be careful, I don't doubt that Mr. Angenoir will help you just to annoy Aunt Emi who is always opposed to anything that alters tradition; but it is not advisable to rely on him too much. He is not open to change either. We will have to be very attentive with the legal transfers of these properties. I understand a little bit of the paperwork, but I'm thirteen years old! I'm sure I'll miss something. There are honest and generous employees who could help me, as well as many corrupt people who are going to try to take advantage of this unusual situation. As far as money is concerned, if you bring teachers from other countries, you will have to provide them with accommodation and salaries. I don't know if the state funds will be enough for these new and large expenses...

I replied then:

—Eiden, the funds will be enough when the government parasites stop stealing them. Casinos and your wealthy relatives in Ishikawa village should pay taxes. In addition, the people of the Hot Pot have been wanting to imprison many people from the Sky village and Gardenia who are caught committing crimes and then get away with their influences. Just as there is money to give to the Society of Azrael, I don't know exactly why, there should also be money to buy weapons, security cameras, vehicles, and apprehend all the thieves. From those who torment poor families in the south, to those who gather dressed in fracs in the casino, and then there would be enough money for schools, universities and even to improve the dirty hospital that has not been remodeled since 1870. If you and Your Majesty want this to go well, you must lean on the people of the Hot Pot. And in the Mystics, in the people of the Sky Village, the great majority... Leif knows this, and he is already doing it. But all along you have relied on your money and on the political lies that, when they fall, will expose a handful of defenseless bureaucrats against an enraged people.

Eiden said to me, putting on his glasses:

—Well, it's true, it would be a good time to get rid of a certain group of bad apples in our offices that are causing trouble. But remember that the trials will be long, and in all that time...

—To hell with judgments, Eiden! There is no time for that, it is bureaucratic garbage to make room for rats to escape. Doesn't the law give you the power to stop fooling around and just act?

After thinking for a while, Eiden replied:

—We can declare an extraordinary situation, a state of emergency because of the wave of crimes in the south, during which freedoms such as freedom of movement, expression and presumption of innocence are limited, along with other guarantees of due process. This is legal and has been done before. But rest assured that everyone will call us tyrants and the rebels will become more aggressive.

—Give me more weapons for the army and my people will make them calm. 

Eiden's response was to scratch his head and raise both thumbs. Finally, the queen spoke, standing up and with Uoliena asleep in her arms:

—My council of ministers will be special, unlike any other, I will have angels. All pure and innocent, how could it fail? I want you to call that young journalist, Cyan, put her in charge of the communications secretariat, and tell her to announce throughout the island that we will now be protected by the cabinet of the angels. Free of corruption. 

Then we all said good night and went to our rooms to sleep. Eiden didn't want to be separated from Ilmari. And when I realized that the three of us were in bed watching TV, the only channel on the island was already talking about a self-coup d'état and I could deduce that hard days were coming trying to organize what had begun that night; this would be especially hard work for Eiden in the palace offices, but he was too enraptured with Ilmari. That same night he asked her to be his girlfriend, and she accepted very happily. Every time I turned my back on them or went to the bathroom, kisses were heard, and it bothered me... But I couldn’t try to spoil their party. They were two happy children. It was curious to see how after he talked so much about sex and everything he would do when he found a Mystic girl, when he was already with Ilmari he took on the attitude of a shy chick hidden under his mother's wings. He seemed to feel like crying and smiling at the same time, perhaps afraid of being separated, or maybe he was just excited to no longer feel orphaned. I frankly put them on the back burner, the weight of being part of the “cabinet of the angels” knowing that none of us were perfect light beings was killing me. That night I could hardly sleep.

THE AWKWARD DAY OF MY WEDDING

 

The months after the new government cabinet was announced were chaos. Eiden, Angel and Ilmari found a gigantic mess in the offices of each ministry. There were no records of the island's students, no inventory of the medicines and equipment that were in the hospital, no pay slips for the employees; they paid them whatever they wanted and when they remembered to do it.

It was necessary to organize everything and at the same time fight for them to be respected and obeyed because either because Eiden was very young and for the first time in his life being the prime minister of Celes without the help of his aunt, because Ilmari was a girl from the mountains or because Angel was a black guy, there were always employees who refused to obey their orders and despised them. Eiden and Ilmari bore the slights calmly because they were both too much in love to think, they only had a hard time when work prevented them from being together; on those occasions Eiden used each free second to write honeyed love poems like his speeches that Ilmari would then read sighing like a fool; but poor Angel ended up crying in silence and banging on the wall for several nights.

Angel was the kindest, the most academically prepared, the most sensible, and yet the old office workers wanted to treat him like a foolish servant to be made fun of. Since we were all still sleeping in the palace because we didn't even have time to go back to our homes, I had to see him many times washing his face and trying to control his breathing so that when he got to say good night to his mother, she wouldn't notice that he had been made to cry helplessly. My way of helping him was to discreetly start waiting for those who were bothering him to get out of work to beat them up. Uoliena, meanwhile, helped by accompanying the queen and making sure that Eiden did not use his “pee pee” with Ilmari. It was somehow helpful.

No real progress was seen in the executive area until the firing of problematic or inefficient employees began, then protests and criticism in the newspapers started. Things were getting out of control, they invented terrible rumors about all of us and finally the queen reminded me to look for Consuelo, “Conny”, and ask her to help us manage our public image from the communications secretariat. At that time, I was also very busy. With my father and my Hot Pot colleagues, we set out to cleanse the island of thugs, starting with Sky Village.

Since the shipment of supplies purchased on the mainland would not arrive for another couple of months, we had to figure out ways to confront the criminals equipped with better weapons than ours. Almost every day we had a wounded and occasionally a death. Luckily we were getting a lot of sympathy from the population, there were more who were happy to see us take those who extorted them, assaulted them and raped their daughters off the streets, than those who asked for clemency for the captured guys; The latter were quick to pay special attention to the times when we mistakenly arrested an innocent person and they were raging at me. They gave me the reputation of being brutal and bloodthirsty, and I was! But the cases assigned to me always deserved the iron fist. It became almost amusing that at night some snooty person would make a fuss in Gardenia so that I would arrive, and we would end up fighting. I burned all my uniforms and ended up going out to work with whatever I had on hand, making sure someone threw a bucket of water at me before each fight to prevent me from coming out half-naked with shreds of scorched fabric. I really wished that my Mystical heritage would develop something less destructive, but the truth was that the sight of me on fire was sometimes enough to convince the troublemakers to cooperate. One of those incidents happened at the Inferno, by that time I had already texted Conny saying I needed to talk to her about palace matters, but in all that time she hadn't responded. I was in the middle of the fight and breaking the arm of a subject, when Micky's daughter, Estelle, appeared. I was sure she hated me from the last time we met, but she was very smiling, with her hands behind her back and talking to me.

—Excellent coordination and balance! Have you ever danced?

—That's for women and gays.

I reluctantly replied by dragging the agitator outside the casino, she continued talking:

—I'm immune to the sexism of the Celestines, Cyan. I grew up with a man who views human rights and feminism as modern nonsense.

—And what are you doing outside the kitchen?

—Do you ask that of your red-haired Mystical friend?

—Ilmari knows how to fight just like me. The only reason she is not a military woman is because she was born a Mystic. That day she could have killed you, luckily, she always feels sorry for the bad guys. I'm not like that!

I threw the man to my colleagues that they could take him away and I went to get some air leaning against a wall, while some applauded and others shouted, “damn killer giraffe”. I was angry as I listened to them, when suddenly Estelle asked me in a suggestive way:

—So, do you like aggressive ones? I thought you liked to dominate, not to be dominated. I like extremes.

I didn't quite understand what she meant, but the way she looked made me blush and I looked at the floor so that the cap covered my face. Estelle laughed, saying:

—What's wrong with you? You act like a child, I don't think you're under eighteen, you look legal.

—Well, you're wrong, I'm only fifteen.

—So young and you already playing with fire. Talking to an adult woman like me, or like Conny. She asked me for a one-day leave to go and interview you, I denied it because you should have contacted me first because I am in charge of human resources in the businesses of the Society of Azrael, such as the casino; then I changed her position and sent her to the kitchen; where she have much less free time to foolishly waste. I think that according to you I did the right thing.

—Well, I'll go to the kitchen to see her, and you'd better not try to stop me, or I'll have to arrest you for corruption of minors. Have a good afternoon.

—Are you always so ruthless? Never feel compassion for the bad boys…? Or the bad girls...?

—I'm not like you, I don't identify with them.

I said to her leaving with a firm step, and she still shouted at me:

—If you need me, come and meet me at the theatre after the show, today at eight o'clock! I'll do whatever you ask of me.

I looked at her out of the corner of my eye and didn't answer. I wasn't going to be stupid like Eiden, I assumed that this old mountain lioness only wanted sex with young men to make them fall in love and then reject them. I thought about using her the same way she tried to use me, and I thought about losing my virginity by doing so, but I was discouraged to remember that I didn't really consider myself attractive and maybe if I went to look for her, she would reject me before giving me anything. I put on my cap and went to look for Conny in the kitchen, I found her washing dishes and I got angry. She was so pretty that she could be a movie actress or a runway model and there she was doing one of the lowestpaid jobs on the island. I took a picture of her as proof of the abuse committed by Estelle, and she greeted me by saying with a calm smile:

—Another girl told me to be careful because the killer giraffe wanted to see me.

—They gave me the dumbest name. Eiden is the orphan with glasses, Ilmari the witch doctor, Angel the rapper and Uoliena the homeless girl; but I'm the killer giraffe... Why are you here?

—Estelle Angenoir... When I asked her permission to come and see you, she told her father... and Mr. Angenoir was… Jealous? Perfectionist? Psychotic? He literally told me: “I need you in this building. Here I have a bedroom in gold and copper tones with curtains the same color as your hair, I'm not going to change the curtains just because you don't want to be in the bedroom and dressed in a way that isn't dissonant with the whole decoration or not dressed!”

—That sounds very Micky Angenoir, yes... But he's not really a bad guy.

—I don't know. From the first day he noticed me, and I made the mistake of trying to be what I was not. He seemed like a rich, gentle and sweet guy who was easy to cajole, but in reality, he is like a diabolical Martian doing twisted experiments on human beings... And anyway, he sent me to the kitchen as punishment... I didn't want to protest because he has too much power on the island, and everyone is afraid of his reprisals...

—It sucks, I'm sorry. But you can't stand this treatment any longer. From what I see, the Angenoir are very mean with their employees. Better come and work with us at the palace. We pay fairly, even though we're not fancy and people give us ugly names.

Conny laughed, wiping her hands on her uniform and replied:

—I know it! And I'd love to help you handle that situation, but I don't think I can leave the casino without leaving with strong enemies.

—Does he really like you...?

—No, he has a strange fetish among many others, he looks for women who argue with him. And he terrifies me, he has something and it's not normal! When we're alone, I don't confront him, no matter how much he provokes me; so, he's already bored with me. He literally treats me like a piece of furniture.

—Well, he's a friend of my parents and me. I don't want to make him feel bad. Maybe if I talk to him, he will leave you alone.

—Really?! Now he's in his office up there, having brunch with a strange friend. You may know him, he's a Mystic...

—It must be Leif... I was a little angry with him, but... If it's for you, I'll go. We need you at the communications secretariat, Uoliena the homeless girl only knows how to draw penises on the walls. That's not very helpful.

I concluded and left the kitchen for Micky's office. I was lost looking for it for a while and when I entered, I found him accompanied by Leif who was there hanging out with his guitar, wrapped in a cloud of weeds and already drunk at three in the afternoon. That was brunch. When they saw me open the door they laughed, greeted me and continued talking as if nothing had happened. I approached them coughing and brushing away the smoke with my hands to say:

—Can't you two go a day without getting into trouble or getting everyone else in trouble? Micky, there's a young employee of yours who complains about mistreatment in the casino kitchen. I think you must know who I'm talking about and that we need her help in the palace... What the hell are you smoking?

Leif continued to play as if nothing had happened and replied:

—They are Mystical arts, Cyan.

—Is this legal?

—See... Trust me, I'm a Mystic. I'm wise like my mom. I know what I'm doing!

—Your mother is not an herbalist, but a midwife and a wet nurse.

—You don't know how many sad souls I've cured with the milk of pure-blooded Mystical man, Cyan.

The two vicious men laughed, and I, after understanding their vulgarity, said to him:

—You are a couple of immoral lazybones who treat women as if they were cattle. How can you talk about rights and justice if you're like that, Leif?

—We are all that, but at least we haven't put a sixth of the islanders in the nasty and dark dungeons of the Hot Pot. They say that this is hell itself, worse than dying.

Leif commented and Micky replied pouring himself another drink:

—They're damp and hot, you suffocate shortly after entering. I heard that the weakest are dying. This is information leaked by Yanmei Fèng. Cyan's little sister is adorable, for her I would even help them build a formal prison. There is a perfect spot west of the Hot Pot, next to the cliffs. I'll talk to her father; I need to visit him and see Yanmei. It only costs me an expensive doll and the humiliation of settling for tea with a little girl after being rejected by the prettiest barista in the casino.

“Dude, all that sounded really creepy”, Leif muttered drinking more and I turned to Micky, trying to negotiate:

—My dad would be happy for you to help him with that. Your humanitarian gesture would be very well seen by people, but if what happened to Conny were to be made public, you would look very bad. Let her go work with us and I promise she will never say anything against you.

Micky Angenoir replied:

—I don't care what she says about me, and I have no power over her. You see... Lately I've been curious about touch, about texture and temperature; I've discovered how a caress, a hug, that game before sex, can comfort and relax a tortured psyche. I had to understand this phenomenon better in order to apply it to my designs. I wanted to experience this sensuality with the voluptuous Conny, but I know that for some women I am...

Leif helped him, saying as best he could because the alcohol was already beating him:

—A degenerate. A “degenerate”, Michel?

—Yes, it can be.

—That's the problem with love, we all want to be the degenerate, the weird, the misunderstood victim of society waiting for a woman to come and give us the affection and patience that no one gave us. We are waiting for a saving angel!

—It's ironic because I look like...

—Skinny. Short and skinny, Michel. No woman will believe that you are going to be the strong woodcutter who will build her a cabin in the woods to take her to live in peace...

—But I'm in fact a...

—Fool because you don't understand that we must all save ourselves! There will be no love that comes from heaven and accepts you skinny, short, and degenerate. Love yourself! Or die waiting for someone else to do what you never wanted to do.

—Okay! The thing is, Conny rejects my advances, and I don't hold her back! I don't decide on the casino. The Inferno is one of the many money-related businesses of the Society of Azrael, and I don't deal with such affairs. If she ends up falling in love with you, it won't affect me. The one who insisted on annoying her and can help you with her is Estelle.

—I think you're already very drunk and I'm wasting my time... Then... Estelle Angenoir...

I left the office and went back to Conny to tell her what the two drunken old men told me. She looked at me worried and said, lowering her voice:

—Cyan, you better not go. I'll stay here in the kitchen, it doesn't matter. The

Angenoir are evil... They are going to teach you bad tricks...

—What bad tricks?

She looked me in the eyes sighing, hugged me and then said:

—I just want to say that I really like the way you do things. You're serious and passionate about your work. In three years, I'll be twenty-one and you'll be eighteen. I'd like you to promise me that we'll celebrate your birthday alone, and you'll still be the same person, just more experienced.

—Don't ask me not to change, it would be giving up progress. Time discards weaknesses and polishes skills if you are strong enough to keep them.

—Are you?

I shrugged and nodded. My father always said that I was not the strongest or the best of my generation, but I was the most resistant and that is why I rarely lost in combat. I was going to foolishly fight for my ideals and for being who I always was. Then I gave her the number of my newly acquired phone and she gave me hers. I was still aware that Conny was extremely pretty, and it was risky to get excited about her, so I forced myself to believe that her affection was out of simple friendship or perhaps she was trying to manipulate me. I always tried to be a little distant and indifferent to her. Years later I would regret many decisions I made at that time, but then I was fifteen years old and quite insecure. I returned to the palace offices where Angel and Eiden were taking a break on a balcony, tired after spending almost sleepless days to digitize the data of the Celestines citizens that were written down in notebooks, dirty notebooks and even napkins, piled up in the civil registry offices of the palace. Eiden looked especially disheveled. Angel explained to me, looking at him accusingly:

—What he have is a serious case of blue balls... He claims that he has a headache and suffers because Ilmari turns him on, but she has told him that no matter how hard his banana gets, she won't have sex before marriage and he is not yet fourteen, which is the age of consent in Celes.

Eiden spoke, sullenly:

—That's why I'm going to lower it to twelve years! I only need your signature on behalf of your mother, Angel. The world will not explode because of that small change.

—Are you stupid? If I accept that twelveyear-olds can decide whether to have sex just because you want to marry your fourteen-year-old girlfriend, other children your age will be left vulnerable. What if a twelve-year-old girl is seduced by an old man and convinces her to leave her family to go with him?

—That won't happen! Cyan, tell him to help me! If I get married now, I will receive all my inheritance and free myself from my scheming aunt Emi. I'll have an old big house in Ishikawa Village, an apartment in downtown Gardenia, four cars, a beach house in the United States, and about six million in the bank. It is not much, but it will be enough for us to live modestly.

Angel rubbed his face and then exclaimed, taking him by the shoulders and shaking him:

—Imagine people's outrage at the inequality between you and the other teenagers on the island!!: you marry your girlfriend, and you have your life figured out for you and your toy family, while other boys, if they marry, will end up living in a pigsty in Sky Village and working almost as slaves on farms to feed their children. Besides, it will always be a scandal, she is fourteen and you are thirteen! If you have a child, the child will already be starting kindergarten before you reach twenty-one!

—I also have a horrible job, only in a nice place like my office in the palace of Gardenia. On the other hand, I want us to be parents early, so we can live longer with our children. It's very sad to grow up without your parents.

Then I joined the conversation, hiding my disgust because deep down I was still jealous of seeing Eiden with Ilmari:

—Angel is right about many things. Think of all the consequences, Eiden, and consider the uncertainty of the long-term relationship between you and Ilmari. What if you like another woman later?

—Ah, you will see that it will not happen! Ilmari will be a great mother to my children, the blood of the Mystics will finally enter my family and revitalize it. She will be the woman of my life and all the ones that come after will be just a hobby. I will never leave her.

At that moment I felt my blood boil and I looked him in the eye as I answered:

—At least you admit that you only want to tie her to you, but then you will be unfaithful to her. She has honor and would never fail you. I don't think you deserve that much...!

—I know. That's why I love her. And she loves me, even though she knows what I'm like. I feel like all spring is bursting in my chest and I only think about covering Ilmari with kisses! And to hug her tightly, and to live together and have children. I'm very happy and I'll never be so happy again, let me enjoy it. Let me marry her.

Angel no longer answered, he just combed his hair with his hands looking at the landscape, thoughtful and worried. After a while he said simply:

—I only know that the queen is sick, like my country, and I must find a way to heal her. The mother and the land where you were born is only one, you can't let her down when she needs you the most. Fix yourselves as best you can and let's continue working...

Then he left and I was still upset about the way Eiden was making plans with my best friend as if he was buying a new refrigerator. So, I wanted to hit his back a bit, bragging that his “exgirlfriend” had invited me to see her that night:

—Estelle Angenoir asked me to speak to her tonight after her performance at the theater. It's about Conny, the one from the casino. She sounded very excited to see me... I don't know why.

He looked at me in alarm and exclaimed:

—Would you be with a friend's ex?

—I don't know. You are with Ilmari. Didn't she tell you that our families were planning to marry us?

—No... She only told me that since she was little and saw me speaking in public, she wanted to have a child who was like me, and with me. She's always wanted to be mine.

—But her family wants to give her to me. In any case, I think she is the one who should decide. If she struggles to be with you, that's fine. And if you struggle to be with her, that's okay! But if they tell me to marry Ilmari and she doesn't refuse, I would do it because I must obey my elders.

Then I left, I was angry and didn't want to talk to Eiden. He hadn't been squeezed against Ilmari's tits in a while, anyway, so he'd be off to look for her soon. I wandered around Gardenia for a while, wondering what I wanted in my future. I was not as clear as Eiden who had already decided the rest of his life; I only knew that for now I should continue to be “the killer giraffe” because no one else had my rabid passion for enforcing the law. I didn't like Estelle Angenoir at all, but the idea that there was some remote possibility of having sex with her didn't get out of my head and attracted me while it scared me a little. I didn't want to kiss her, or caress her, or just a friendly hug, just fuck her and know what it felt like. As the night went on, I was trying to figure out ways to do that, I didn't know anything about courtship or innuendo. I reluctantly bought a ticket to see her dance and every time she jumped and spread her legs, I imagined everything… Sitting on the dark, I could hear a lady comment while looking at me out of the corner of her eye: “What a serious boy, he's always so formal!” And I felt bad, because I was just figuring out how to put my dick in Estelle. When the dance-thing was over, which I didn't understand, she came out to greet her audience with a bow, saw me directly and sent me a kiss. In front of everyone. It made me very nervous and blushing. Then an usher came to tell me that Estelle was waiting for me in her dressing room, and I stayed in my seat for a while thinking that I was in time to run away from there leaving her waiting. But I went. I made my way among a lot of messengers who brought her bouquets of flowers, evidently Estelle had no shortage of suitors and my presence there was something anomalous. The usher asked me to wait, when all the messengers left their flowers and left, he told me to go into the dressing room. Inside, everything was dimly lit, and Estelle was waiting for me sitting on a couch, dressed in a transparent silk camisole that showed that she had no underwear, and she said:

—Close the door and ask me for whatever you want.

—Get dressed.

I replied out of pride and closing the door. Then I spoke to her, putting my hands in my pockets to hide that I had a boner as a rock:

—Your father informed me that you sent Conny to the kitchen because you wanted to disturb her.

—That's obvious.

—Then I ask you to leave her alone and let her go to work with us.

—You could have decided that with Michel, he is the owner of everything, after all. If he gave the go-ahead, you had nothing to come and talk to me. It's my dad! And I love him very much and I obey him. But you are here anyway.

I was speechless, she was right. Deep down I had come just to see if I could get laid. I looked to the side and then at the floor muttering “I'm leaving”. But she got up and stopped me, standing at the door and saying:

—Wait... At least join me for tea.

I tapped my shoe impatiently and replied:

—Drink your tea while I accompany you, I won't drink anything. I don't trust that you won't put something in the cup. I must go on patrol in fifteen minutes.

—Five minutes would be enough. I'm precocious.

She answered me smiling and I didn't quite understand her. She began to make tea, I tried to talk so as not to look like a kidnapped child:

—Do you call your father by his first name?

—You know Michel, he's not into the role of a serious father. But I thank him for trying to make me feel like I was his perfect child. He was always telling me how much it cost him to get my custody, how beautiful and talented I was, how much he admired me, and how proud he was of me. He bought me the best things, dressed me like a princess and told me that I was the most beautiful and the most popular. Parents' words are like magic, whatever they tell you, you will be comes true. Or at least they make you believe it so much that the people around you start to believe it too. For better or worse, we are what our parents told us we would be. And Michel told me that I was a star. What did your parents say to you?

—That I'm not as strong as others, but I can take a lot of blows and endure it fine.

—I can handle a lot too... With me you can be as rough as you want...

She commented looking me in the eye and I understood that we were talking about selfdefense. So, I replied:

— Have you ever wrestled?

—Oh, no, but I think I could defend myself. I've been watching you; you punch not so much using force, but speed and looking for vital points.

—It's some like that...

—I told you that what you do is something like dancing.

—Let's see, try to hit me. Slowly, just for testing.

She put her cup aside and tried to give me some punches that I was able to easily block and dodge. I could tell that Estelle was competitive as she couldn't hit me, but she kept trying faster and stronger; She was really agile. She managed to hit me a little and I laughed, but she didn't stop, and I wasn't going to let her beat me either, so I had to catch her fist and seriously put her in a body lock to stop it. We were in a weird position, with her butt just brushing against me where she shouldn't have. And she just rubbed herself a little. I laughed nervously, let go of her and said I had to go. I didn't even give her time to give me any more excuses to not leave, she just managed to shout at me from the door to come visit her at her house whenever I wanted. I replied from afar “yes”, or something similar, I ran to the bathroom of the theater and entered a cubicle only to lock myself in and stand resting my forehead on a wall. I was out of breath and in a cold sweat. Right there I jerked off as if possessed imagining fucking Estelle like dogs, with violence. When I was done, I looked at the semen stain on the wall and felt guilty. I ran out into the street and went on patrol, my hands in my pockets and the visor of my cap covering my face. I wanted to hide from everyone. Then I went to sleep and thought the matter was over. But the next morning I was woken up by a call from Conny, she was speaking in alarm:

—Cyan, the Angenoir gave me my severance pay and I can go work with you now! And I think it's urgent that I take my position, I have an idea to handle the situation!

—Huh, what situation...?

I asked her drowsy and with Ilmari and Eiden sleeping next to me in the same bed. Conny explained to me:

—Estelle Angenoir's! Someone said that yesterday you went to her dressing room. Everyone takes it for granted that you and she are lovers, people are scandalized!

I jumped up, sure that day would be terrible. Shortly after my mother called me, she was furious, she asked me if I had used a condom and told me that I had to go and check myself in case I had any illness from sleeping with “bad” women. My aunt Norma also called me angrily, then Micky asked me what had happened because my parents had withdrawn their friendship. Everything became a huge problem, Eiden and Angel were surprised while Ilmari and Uoliena only looked at me from afar a little scared. Suddenly I became the womanizing macho of the palace, and I didn't like that, so I decided to be honest and shouted to my friends at breakfast:

—I didn't do anything! That lady and I just talk and that's it. Nothing indecent happened!

I suddenly heard Conny say, "I believe you!" She'd come onto the rooftop:

—I'm already at the head of the press secretariat with the help of the Angenoirs! They have asked me to mediate between them and the Fèng. Estelle herself clarified to me that nothing happened, and she is willing to say it in public, but I think it is better just not to make any official statement about it. That would make Cyan look like he's a faint-hearted boy who must explain himself to everyone, and his newfound fame as a conqueror has come in handy. I did some quick surveys on social networks, now men perceive him as more masculine, and women believe that he is an attractive young man. Very few people call him “killer giraffe” anymore! Now they call him “fucker giraffe”, but at least his popularity has increased.

I hid my face in my shirt and let Eiden handle the things with Conny; shortly after Ilmari informed me that our parents wanted to see us at the Hot Pot that same afternoon and they sounded very angry. We left after lunch in the car that had been assigned to me from among those of the palace fleet, Angel accompanied us because he was worried that my father in his anger was going to scold me too severely. In addition, he wanted to visit the Hot Pot and I did not object, I know that visitors are always impressed the first time they arrive in my town and see the ancient houses of traditional Chinese style among the cobbled streets and the almost boiling water fountains, sometimes even exhaling flames of fire, since in reality they are just small geysers that remind us that once the Hot Pot was a powerful volcano that gave rise to the island. In front of my house, my sister Yanmei was already waiting for us, I introduced her to Angel, and she barely greeted him before asking me to go and talk alone next to a fountain. That's when she began to complain to me:

—What did you do, Cyan? Mom and Aunt Norma are really angry. The worst thing is that because of you they got angry with Micky too. What does he have to do with it? I get bored here and the only fun thing that happens is when he comes to talk to me and gives me a doll. Although I'm too old to play with them, I like to collect them and talk with him.

—What are you doing talking to that weird older man? Stop telling him about the Hot Pot! You should be practicing, soon will be your exams at the military school.

—Mom says it's more important for me to help her with the wedding preparations now. You're getting married to Ilmari this weekend. They say they can't wait any longer, it's a matter of honor, to show that you're a serious leader.

That caught me off guard, I left her and ran into my house. There they confirmed it to me, the Petersens and my parents were horrified by the rumors that circulated about me, they did not want me to be taken for an adventurer who frequented libertine women, so they decided to make me a family man by marrying Ilmari and me. Ilmari cried and confessed to her parents that she loved Eiden and was her boyfriend. Aunt Norma became angrier, slapped her and told her that this was absurd, that the Mystics had never mixed with the Ishikawa because they considered them vile and did not want to share their gifts with them. Aunt Norma was so upset that she went back to Adalsteinn shouting that the wedding would be held as an emergency the next day at the well of Ilmari. She didn't want it to be known that his only daughter, like Leif his firstborn, wanted to leave the northern mountain range. It was time to show that we were good children, and we should have done it, we accepted the wedding and then came the hardest part: returning to the palace to leave Angel again with his mother and let Eiden know about our compromise, then we would have to go back and prepare for the emergency wedding. On the way back to Gardenia at night, we rode in silence with Ilmari still crying, Angel murmured after a long time looking at the landscape with his forehead resting on the glass and emotionally exhausted:

—Eiden will never accept it. It will be like leaving him orphaned again. Boys... Maybe I should... Act. To be brave, to accept that my mother now cannot assume all her responsibilities, and to be the one who brings order to situations like this. No one should marry so soon and by force.

—Could you do something?

I asked him under my breath as I drove without taking my eyes off the dark highway lit only by the car's headlights, he answered:

—Be firm and tell your parents to stop. You are not ready for marriage; we no longer live in the Middle Ages. I'm the Queen's son and... I should force them.

We all fell silent, and at last I said:

—It will be something worse, Angel. They will openly rebel against you. The people of the Hot Pot and Adalsteinn are richer than those of the Sky Village and poorer than those of Gardenia and Ishikawa village; but they are more racist than all of them combined. They are what happens when human beings convince themselves that they are in perfect balance and are “normal and right”, they fall into all kinds of extremes believing that it is also part of “normality”.

Angel didn't answer me, what could he answer? He was a lonely boy who was being snatched from the throne and did not know what to do to defend himself and his mother. He just wiped away his tears in silence. Ilmari spoke suddenly:

—Angel, lower the age of consent to twelve. I know it's a risky thing, but you see that our adults are rotten. Eiden and I can help you better if we get rid of Emi Ishikawa and my mother Norma. I can't do much right now but give Eiden the legal weapons. Let us get married, we really love each other.

He wiped his face with the sleeve of his sweatshirt and replied timidly:

—What if you get pregnant? You talk about getting married as if you were going on a vacation together, but it is something that could have lifelong consequences.

—I know. But if we don't take a serious risk, we will never see real changes.

We continued in silence and when we were entering the palace, after identifying ourselves at the entrance, Angel said:

—Talk to Eiden, I'm going to sign the documents to lower the age of consent to twelve. If you and Eiden want to get married tonight...

I replied parking the car:

—No, sign them if you like, but they can't get married tonight just like that. It's crazy.

Then Ilmari replied to me as she got out of the car angrily:

—You shouldn't decide on this, Cyan! It's something between me and Eiden, and the whole problem started because you went to see that old pervert. No one really knows that you didn't sleep with her, and that's how they want to marry me! Should I eat all the leftovers of the witch Angenoir?

—It seems that you are jealous of her...

I gave my opinion getting out of the car and slamming it shut. At that moment we really started to fight each other loudly:

—It was your fault, Cyan! Why did you go to see an older woman at night?! You could have gone during the day!

—It was going to make no difference. You've been sleeping with your boyfriend all this time, only I can attest that you haven't been having sex, but no one would believe me! People will always talk!

—But mine is something that has never been made public! All of Gardenia saw you!

—All the palace employees know you're going to bed with Eiden! And to top it all off with me too!

—That doesn't matter anymore because now they're going to marry us, and I'll just look like the fool who married a guy who already had a lover!

—And I'm the one who had threesomes with his girlfriend and has a mistress, but in reality, he's still a virgin! And I'm going to stay like this, even if I marry you, because I don't want to touch you even with gloves!

—Well, I don't want to touch you either!

Eiden showed up right then. He'd gone out to smoke in the gardens while we were away. He asked, “what the hell is going on here?”, Angel raised his hands and muttered: “I'm going to sign the documents” and left. After a terrible silence, I spoke:

—Ilmari and I are heading back to Adalsteinn tonight, our parents have decided to marry us tomorrow early so that people will stop making rumors about us.

—But she is my girlfriend! She just wants to be with me!

Eiden exclaimed with his voice breaking on the verge of tears. Ilmari ran to hug him, and they burst into tears like little children. I felt horrible. But it was getting late, and I had to go back to Adalsteinn with her. First of all, I feared the anger of our parents and I was sure that the right thing to do was to obey them. I had to forcibly separate them and drag Ilmari back to the car. Eiden tried to fight me, but obviously couldn't do anything. I threw him away with a slap, despite everything he continued to fight and hit the car when we were leaving. I could see through the rearview mirror that he was running behind us until I lost sight of him in the darkness. Then I also got some tears, and I couldn't say anything because I had a lump in my throat. Ilmari and I didn't say anything to each other anymore, we arrived in Adalsteinn and only obeyed our elders in the preparations while I mentally prayed for something to happen, a miracle, anything so that we wouldn't get married. When the sun rose and the few guests arrived: all my family from the Hot Pot, the Petersens and their friends from Adalsteinn, and Micky Angenoir who, with his disturbing angelic and at the same time demonic halo, listened attentively to my silly younger sister who was very animated telling him who knows what. Leif, my last hope, had not been informed about the weeding; apparently Micky was a twofaced friend who didn't want the albino to stop Ilmari from being forced to marry. When I was in my black dress uniform and Ilmari was in her wedding dress, we all headed out to the mines of Adalsteinn in a silent somber procession. The ceremony would be held at the well of Ilmari, where we both had to dye the water with a few drops of our blood. To make everything even more awkward, Estelle Angenoir appeared smiling as if nothing had happened. My mother and aunt Norma were about to go and shout some things at her, but Uncle Teppo begged them to moderate themselves; The whole town was already very tense witnessing the wedding. I saw that Conny was also there, too, taking pictures of everything and writing notes on his phone. At one point he approached me and said in my ear:

—You don't want to get married, do you? I can see it on your face. I haven't posted anything yet, although your father asked me to announce your marriage. Angel also told me to congratulate you on behalf of the royal family as soon as they declare you husband and wife. But I'm going to wait until the last minute. You can still refuse, just say no!

I also answered her in a whisper:

—I can't, this is what our families have agreed. I must obey them.

—Cyan, sometimes you must rebel against what your parents have decided for you!

—I expected Eiden to do something, as a man, he must fight for his woman. But he's only a child. How is he?

—I didn't see him. Angel gave me the lowdown on the wedding at almost two in the morning. By three, I was here with my team, ready to document everything.

Then we arrived at the grotto of rose quartz and amethyst, the entrance of which had already been decorated with white flowers, I felt a chill, distressed to realize that the hour had come. My mother and aunt held hands excitedly, uncle Teppo sighed as if resigned, and my father only remained solemn as a good soldier. But when we finally entered the spring, we saw that there was someone inside. It was Eiden, weeping and angry, sitting in the water dyed red around him. He was wounded. I ran to see him imagining the worst:

—What have you done?!

—Now Ilmari will not be able to marry anyone else...

Eiden muttered resentfully. Then, Emi Ishikawa's voice was heard from a corner:

—No need to worry. They're just superficial wounds. He did it just to dirty the water. I tried to stop him, but... It's so hard for me to control this young guy. It was impossible! I'm sorry.

While the others tried to pull Eiden out of the water without touching it and he just got more into the water, Aunt Norma was going to argue with Emi when Micky Angenoir pushed her out of his way and went first to shout at Eiden’s aunt:

—You old procuress harpy! You brought him all the way from Gardenia just to have him come and do his whim! It is evil, he has gone fully clothed, with his shoes full of mud, into a spring of pure water that had never been touched by man!

Emi Ishikawa replied equally angrily:

—He called me! As his elders, we are supposed to look out for his happiness, and he loves this girl! I wasn't going to refuse; I left Ishikawa villa and went to pick him up as soon as I could.

—If you care so much about his happiness then you would have saved his mother, that would have made him happy! But you hate all the other women in the family, you want to be the only one!

—And you indulge women too much to the point of turning them into monsters! Your daughter is a narcissistic slut and Kanon was unable to defend herself! 

—You were jealous even of that poor girl!

—You can't see a pretty face without trying to fuck it, maybe you respect your daughter, but that Kanon...

—You're sick...

In the chaos, we all heard Ilmari's voice. I had lost sight of her, and when I saw her again, she was in the water. She had cut her hand a little on the crystals and poured several drops of his blood mixing them with Eiden's while cheerfully exclaiming:

—I accepted! Now we're married!

Eiden ran to hug her, and the adults began to scold them, some talked about draining the spring, cleaning everything and refilling it with clean water to annul the wedding; Then I drew the sword I was carrying in my dress uniform and sentenced:

—The law of the Mystics says that the fountains of the brides are sacred! This ceremony cannot be taken as a game, or all Mystical traditions will begin to lose seriousness. Ilmari and Eiden are married! Anyone who opposes it will die.

Then I took the bride and groom who were still clinging to each other, pulled them out of the water and carried them out of the grotto in a hurry. Eiden asked me:

—Where are we going? Are we really already married?

—Let's go to Ilmari's room, that's where you must spend your first night according to tradition. But I don't have time to wait for the night. Do what you have to do quickly, after the bride has deflowered there are no returns... Did Angel change the age of consent?

—Yes! If you call him, he can write a marriage certificate for us, he just has to put our names and sign. Tell him to name her “Ilmari Ishikawa”. It's already mine!

—Stop talking like you've been bought a puppy, you're a married man now!

Finally, we arrived at Ilmari's house, I put them in her room and said:

—That's it. I'm going to stay in the hallway and watch so that no one disturbs you until... And then let me know. You must go with Eiden's aunt to Ishikawa village as soon as possible.

Before they went in and closed the door, the two hugged me. When they left, I was alone, I sat in an armchair and just felt strange. I heard them laughing and kissing, the house was alone except for us, I got up, walked in circles at the door and finally stuck my ear to the wood to listen to Eiden speak:

—Really haven't you done it before?

—I've touched myself... Nothing else...

—Get down on your knees, please!

I walked away in fright, as if the door had burned my ear. At the time I had never seen a porn video or anything that gave me an idea of what was going on, so I was just confused. Suddenly I heard footsteps, and I squared up as if I were in a military exercise. It was Estelle Angenoir. She came smiling and came up to me to say in my ear:

—You're a strange boy. No one wanted to enter because they do not want to take the risk of listening to them. They think you're here, suffering rejection and swallowing jealousy, because you're a noble friend and you protect them. I told them that I would go in to see if you were okay, if you weren't crying or something. But I already knew...

Just then we began to hear the bed clearly creaking rhythmically, Estelle whispered to me:

—You wanted to listen. Is it curiosity or something else?

Then she kissed me, and I honestly wasn't excited about her. I didn't like her body, I didn't like her face, I didn't like the way she was, but I froze. She gave me my first real French kiss and I couldn't quite get over my stupor when I felt her put a hand in my pants while sliding her tongue between my lips. I didn't know what to do, I just froze there, while heard my friends heard in the background:

—Is it hurting, Ilmari?

—No, I just feel stuffed... Can I touch myself?...

—Yes. Do you like it, my love?

—Yes... I love sex...

Suddenly I came in Estelle's hand with a mixture of anger and disgust; it was grotesque to hear Ilmari talking like that, and I was annoyed that Estelle milked me standing up like an animal, disrespecting the military dress uniform that my mother so lovingly prepared. I abruptly pushed her away, adjusted my uniform angrily and went outside the house. All the guests were there uncomfortably waiting for the bride and groom to finish, it was very embarrassing. They stared at me as if with pity. I just exclaimed very firmly, fed up with the stupidity of tradition:

—I didn't want to get married so soon. Let no one ever get into my privacy again. If I have one mistress or a hundred, that shouldn't be anyone's problem if I continue to perform my job well.

Soon after, Ilmari appeared, still wearing her wedding dress and carrying a white sheet, only a little disheveled and sweated. In front of the Petersens' house, a special clothesline had already been prepared. She proudly hung the sheet there, showing the proof of her virginity just lost at the consummation of the marriage: a small stain of blood between a large section soaked in liquid. My aunt Norma asked her disgusted: “Did he pee?”, and Ilmari replied calmly:

—No. He came so many times that he overflowed me.

The others present remained very serious and silent, except for my uncle Teppo who gave his opinion with a shrug:

—Little Eiden is compact but effective. Is... Uh... It is fine. Let's have a few drinks.

Aunt Norma was petrified with the face of a traumatized soldier, then said without taking her eyes off the sheet:

—I'll put that thing in the washing machine, you go and pack the clothes that you will take to your new house with your husband and when you arrive start knitting.

Yanmei stood next to me and said to me without looking at my face:

—You and Ilmari knew that I loved Eiden, I will never forgive you. It's horrible! The worst day of my life!

Then she ran away to cry in the arms of her buddy Mr. Michel Angenoir, who said to me with a cold look that I had never seen before:

—Cyan, this is inexcusable. If your parents and uncles don't have the heart to tell you, I'll do it for them: this has been horrific! They married by force and showed a lack of respect for everyone's modesty by not having at least the kindness to wait for us to leave to make their half-savage customs. Now Ilmari will suffer the rest of her life in Ishikawa territory and in the clutches of Emi. With this, you have shown me that you are on her side.

I didn't deign to answer him, even though I wanted to yell at him what his daughter had just done to me, I went to Leif's room and locked myself in. The rest of the day I just slept wishing I wouldn't wake up, until at midnight I checked my phone and read a message from Conny: “What matters most is that the good ones stick together. Cheer up!” There were also photos that Ilmari and Eiden had already sent me from Ishikawa village, thanking me for my support. I curled up in the bed and thought about it. When the storm is over, you'll know who your true friends are.

THE NIGHT OF THE FALLEN ANGEL

 

The morning after Ilmari and Eiden's wedding, I was still asleep in Leif's old room when Leif himself jolted me up. He looked desolate:

—Dude, what the fuck? My little sister married the leader of The Children of the Corn. How could you let him steal your bride in front of everyone?

—He didn't steal her from me, I just respected your sister's wish. She's seriously in love with Eiden.

I replied drowsy. He collapsed on the bed and exclaimed, covering his face with both hands:

—What a shit! That myopic louse seduced my only sister! I must kill him! I must burn down Ishikawa Village! There is no other option but revenge!

I sat down next to him and tried to organize ideas:

—You can't stop girls from falling in love with whoever they decide, they have their own tastes.

—Imagine if she were your sister...

He told me and before I answered him, I realized that I would be furious too. So, I just got up and started changing my clothes and checking my phone, saying:

 —As it turns out, it's already happened. Ilmari looks very happy and even Emi Ishikawa seems happy. 

—Appearances, false illusions... I didn't want my family to get too involved in the conflict between the Ishikawa and the Angenoir. Emi Ishikawa is evil, I can bet it, but no matter how much I like Micky, I know there's something about him that doesn't add up. 

—I think so. But I can't figure out what it will be.

—Have you noticed it too? This morning, he announced that he will begin building a new jail to help “the cabinet of angels”, as you and your group of friends are now ironically called. Did you really fuck Estelle Angenoir?

—We only got to third base; I don't take her seriously. Why do you think Micky helps my father given that he's supposed to be against us massively arresting rebels like you?

—I don't know. I didn't want to complain about him because it was difficult for me to discern which side he was on. Now I know that Michel Angenoir is on Michel Angenoir's side. He just wants Celes to remain the way it is. Maybe he'll help you clear Sky Village of criminals, but he won't let you take people down to live where they wants. And yet he donates money to me to buy weapons and equip my men who are claiming land to the south! By the way, Micky is mad at you, he told me, and I'll give you some advice: it's better to have him as an ally. Estelle can help you by mediating between the two of you, go visit her.

—No. The next time I see Estelle we are going to fuck. I know this and I don't want to rush it. Have you and she had...?

I asked, Leif looked down smiling and nodded. With that I was convinced that Estelle was just a slut, but I could still put my dick in her just because it was a great opportunity. Then my phone rang, I checked it and saw that Angel asked me to pick him up at the palace to visit Eiden and Ilmari at their home. I hurried to gather my things and before leaving I hugged Leif exclaiming:

—I've always liked you, man! Are we really going to have to face each other one day for our ideals? We both want to help people.

—I would never touch you, Cyan. I'm the rabble that lynches enraged, drunk on their own emotions, and I love you, giraffe boy. But I can't promise you not to kill the orphan with glasses.

—I'll have to defend him from you.

—Try not to get in my way so much, I won't kill you, but I'm going to push you away. 

We shook hands and gave each other another hug, then I left. I was already outside saying goodbye to Uncle Teppo when I heard Aunt Norma screaming at Leif, and he responded in the same way. Like mother, like son. I went to the palace and Angel and Uoliena were already waiting for me with a wedding gift from the queen, we immediately left for the Ishikawa villa trying not to talk directly about the wedding because we all knew that it was a terrible experience for everyone except the bride and groom. I was curious because I had never entered that area of the island, Angel already knew it and while I was driving, he was in the passenger seat telling me that the place was “like the Hot Pot, but with water”:

—I mean that the houses are Asian style, I know that the immigrants who founded the village of Ishikawa are Japanese and those of the Hot Pot are Chinese and that's why they are actually very different! But I mean, there's something similar...

—I don't see them very different either, Angel, don't worry. I don't feel Chinese or anything like that, I just know that my house has a lot of food and customs that you don't find in other parts of the island. But the truth is that after so many years since these cities were founded, there are almost no traces of the cultures from which our ancestors emigrated, we are Celestines and that's it. 

—But it bothers you if I confuse the traditions and customs of the Hot Pot with those of Ishikawa Village, right?

—What do you eat at Ishikawa Village? Sushi? Do I greet them by saying “konichiwa”? 

—No! Just talk to them like any Celestine.

—That's what I was telling you, you just have to treat everyone with equality and respect. Dah!

Suddenly I looked in the rearview mirror at Uoliena. She came very quiet and worried. I stretched out an arm to reach for her and touched her leg to shake her out of her reverie and asked:

—Are you okay?

She smiled at me; we always had a certain connection. Angel then explained to me:

—She's worried because Ilmari is a girl and now she's gone to live alone with Eiden. And you know...

—The word with a “P”.

—She thinks he will hurt Ilmari.

I thought for a moment without taking my eyes off the road and then I said to Uoliena:

—Don't worry about Ilmari! She is happy. When couples are in love... That doesn't hurt them, and God rewards them with a baby.

—Shit, Cyan. Eiden will kill her with his pee pee. I know it.

She answered me gravely and I just burst out laughing, Angel tried to support me:

—No, Cyan is right. When there is love there is no suffering, and so babies are born. That’s it, Uoliena. You don't need to know more for now. What you saw was something bad and strange, it doesn't work that way. Okay?

—Are you going to get married too...?

—Cyan is sure to get married when he falls in love. Not me. I don't want to use my pee pee. So, fear not, we will never hurt a girl.

I turned to look at him incredulously and questioned him in a low voice:

—Really?

—Yes, I think I'm asexual.

—What is that...?

—It's a very valid sexual orientation, if you can't understand it like that, then pretend that I'll become a priest, monk, I'll be celibate! I will never get married, nor do I want to treat women in any way other than like my mothers, sisters, or daughters. 

He announced it to me with such seriousness and conviction that I just shrugged my shoulders in agreement. Years later, when Ilmari and Eiden's marriage began to wear down, there were tense moments when Ilmari and Angel spent too much time playing together online, chatting on Discord and sending memes to each other. But Angel was sincere and also surpassed me in finding his way of life: he always preferred solitude in peace, he belonged to no one and to everyone, free. Shortly after we arrive at Lake Engla and the ancient stone bridge that crosses it to reach the Ishikawa village. The entrance was guarded by the private security of the village, they do not allow anyone to enter without an invitation. We all had to identify ourselves and there was a slight setback because the racist retards that received us did not believe that Angel was an Oread. I was getting fed up with that kind of situation. Finally, they let us pass and the scenery from the bridge was beautiful. To the north you could see the mountain range at the end of the lake and the mouth of the Seren River, to the east the village with its picturesque rooftops with the sea in the background. We had to identify ourselves again when we finished crossing the bridge and until then we entered. The Ishikawa villa revealed itself to us with its crystal-clear water canals winding through gardens and ancient Japanesestyle houses. Stone and wooden bridges crossed the waters, connecting the different sectors of the town. It was beautiful, but there was something sad about the atmosphere. All the inhabitants were elderly and so few that the streets were practically empty, very different from the bustle and crowd that reigned in the Hot Pot. When we arrived at Eiden's house, I was surprised to see that it was actually a complex of buildings almost as large as the Gardenia palace. In one of them, the largest, Eiden had settled with Ilmari. We found them still happy and excited, they showed us their house that looked like the set of a Japanese horror movie, and I felt bad for Ilmari who came from living among herbs, colorful flowers and crystals to that minimalist world. We had something for lunch that she cooked because her first order as mistress of the house was to dismiss the maids because the Mystics did not accept that another woman took charge of their home, and then I noticed the first displeasure of the couple. She prepared a not very good stew that Eiden insisted should be eaten with chopsticks because “tradition” and of course only he could use them well. Even I didn't eat with those things! Then he said to his wife, quite seriously:

—You must learn to cook what is eaten here. Now you are a lady from Ishikawa village, our children will not be able to eat this. It has a lot of fat and salt.

—But I'm a Mystic and if I don't feed my children a lot of meat, they're going to stay short like their dad. 

—I haven't had a 'good growth spurt' yet! I will grow more! I'll be even taller than you.

—Now you do, because I'll make you eat a lot of meat.

Ilmari said and Eiden didn’t look at ease. When she went to wash the dishes and Uoliena went to see the fish in a nearby pond, the boys and me went for a walk in a grove of trees and Angel confided to us:

—Friends, I think I'm going to need a toilet soon. The medieval stew of Ilmari killed me.

I replied, very calmly:

—It's food for men, you're a pair of unweaned children...

Eiden told me, touching his belly:

— If that's the case, then the idea of making you a man when you lose your virginity was a lie. I'm not sure if my wife cooks or prepares laxatives. How long does it take to get used to it?

—Give her time, she'll learn your ways. Not happy? You've already married a Mystic girl.

I replied looking at him out of the corner of my eye, I was still a little jealous. He replied very happily:

—Yes! Yesterday she bathed with me for the first time. It's a family custom, my aunt bathed with me and helped me soap up, then we got into the tub for a while. Doing the same ritual with Ilmari was a beautiful thing, especially since it was the first time we saw ourselves completely naked. She looks much more developed than me and I got a little insecure; but she hugged me and told me that, although I am short, she loved me and loves me very much.

Angel made a disgusted face, and I just looked at them out of the corner of my eye while I bit a pine needle that I cut as I passed. I assumed that Ilmari in his mind had compared him to me and she thought he was “short”. Small. That gave me some evil satisfaction that I kept to myself. Suddenly we heard a horse approaching, I could see that it was Leif, he was riding on the waters and rocks of a stream and Mystics do not ride through creeks for pleasure. He didn't want to leave traces that he was there. That made me put myself on guard and I stood between him, Angel and Eiden; I asked him as I lifted my sweatshirt a little to touch my revolver:

—What are you doing here, Leif?

—I came to see my sister, then I regretted it. I preferred to talk to my brother-in-law, but my mother told me not to hurt him, because she has raised us all. She asked me to be patient. I just want my sister to get divorced! 

—There is no divorce among Mystics 

I said, and he replied: 

—Only widows, huh?

Then I drew my gun only to see it, as a form of warning. Angel and Eiden were already very tense. Leif spoke up again:

—Celes needs to be bold and make some changes. It would be great for Mystics to grant divorces when couples marry for unusual reasons. I want my sister back at her house before she gets pregnant with an Ishikawa louse. My brother-in-law will be ready to negotiate his divorce today before midnight, I guarantee you.

Then he spurred his horse on and went further along the stream, losing himself among the trees. Eiden muttered:

—Shit, did the Specter guy hypnotize me? Am I going to throw myself out of a window like Mr. Cauldron?

I replied:

—If you don't want him to hypnotize you, he just won't be able to. His power only works with people who are very impressionable. Better tell the security of the island to check everything, your house, your family's, I'm sure Leif came to do something.

Eiden did so and in less than an hour we had noticed the disappearance of Emi Ishikawa. Because I was already close to the family, I was the only military man assigned to enter and check the lady's bedroom. There I noticed some strange things: a small book apparently very old and worn out that when I leafed through it turned out to be the manual of some sophisticated device that I did not understand because it was written in French, but it had the word “Angenoir” in the title, I found it interesting; moreover, on a chest of drawers was an extremely old porcelain figurine of the angel of Gardenia. I wrote down the full title of the booklet on my phone notes and then we began to search her in the area, but it was not until the videos of the security cameras were reviewed that it was noticed how the lady's own bodyguards took her by force, surely being under Leif's hypnosis, and put her in a family car to take her out of the village. She had been kidnapped. Eiden was alarmed, but neither he nor Ilmari would agree to divorce. She was sure that since she was ovulating, she was probably already pregnant and Eiden thought the same. I couldn't believe it because Eiden was a silly boy who surely didn't even have mature sperms, but they closed down on that opinion. Angel, moved by everything the young couple had suffered and even though he disliked Emi Ishikawa who had been doping his mother for years, decided that the best thing would be to send a battalion of my men from the Hot Pot to hunt down and kill Leif. Then Ilmari went out to beg for her brother's life and Eiden for her aunt's safety. I suggested then asking Micky Angenoir to go as a mediator with Leif, but then Eiden said:

—No one hates my aunt Emi more than Mr. Angenoir... It would be better to talk to Estelle and have her put pressure on her father. But she and I are enemies now. 

Surely he spoke like that to impress his spouse and I, very generously, offered to sacrifice myself by going to talk to her at the same time that I checked my pockets to make sure I had a condom ready. I felt like a rat, but instinct is a very strong thing. I left my friends at Ishikawa Village and went to Gardenia. Estelle Angenoir's house was very famous, her father of course had built a small palace right in the heart of the city so that his daughter would feel like the center of the world, and she had a kind of perverse pride in that everyone noticed who came to visit her because they were almost always handsome or important men. I parked the car in front of the house, got out before the malicious looks of the curious and went to knock on the door. I was quite nervous; I didn't really know what attitude to take when they opened the door for me. It was a servant who was already prepared for my possible visit, for she simply said, “madame was waiting for you later”. Then she invited me in and led me to her mistress's chamber. There she left me at the door and left. I stayed for a while between shy and anxious, finally I knocked to find out if I could come in and Micky opened the door, he looked at me strangely and asked:

—You? Well. Come in.

I entered the luxurious bedroom with distrust and saw that Estelle was bedridden with an emaciated appearance, but in a good mood, I looked at her and asked confused:

— Sorry to bother you, but it's urgent. But first, are you okay?

Micky replied while preparing some pills:

—It seems that these issues are related to a defect in the telomeres of her chromosomes. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I do know that it's my fault. It was the same with my first child. This is what happens when you build with poor quality foundations and imitation material!

Estelle said as she sat back in her bed, next to which I could see a photo of her very young with Eiden's mother in her student days:

—I was born, that was already a miracle. Let's not ask for more, you were lucky.

—I would like you to have your own children one day, that would make me happy, and you would be able to understand me. There is nothing more horrible than not giving 100% for your creation. I'm sorry, Estelle, I wish I could give you the best, but... It's all I have.

—The children... I won't have children,

Michel. You yourself have sown fear in me. 

—The defect is erased in each generation. Look Kanon's father, he lived to be seventy-something. It's quite a lot. She would surely have lived much longer.

—Don't insist and don't remind me of Kanon, it's too painful... Well, Cyan, what was that serious thing you should have said to me? Sit down, tell me. 

I sat down timidly and said:

—Leif Petersen, Specter, has kidnapped Emi Ishikawa. He intends to force Eiden to divorce Ilmari, but they are unwilling to do so. Angel is asking me to send a battalion of the Hot Pot to the south, against Leif. That would mean putting Leif and Miss Ishikawa's lives at risk. 

Micky replied laughing:

—Leif's life is the one in danger, don't worry about that witch. She has the heart of a machine designed to endure anything.

I was a bit confused, but I tried to explain the seriousness of the situation:

—You know well that my people always shoot to kill. There will be two hundred men Micky, we will go to his house and there will be no one left alive. Tell him to give her back or everything he has achieved will be lost. Leif was already beginning to gain prominence and respect in the palace of Gardenia. This has only made him enemies, but if he apologizes, it could be that Ilmari and I will convince the rest of us to forgive him and forget this incident.

—Leif doesn't apologize, you know him. But if he dies, there will be no one who will be able to unite people and make them move in one single direction. Most follow him, although he doesn't really like the role of leader but to blend into the crowd. 

—We should all value a little more what he can do by influencing the population. 

—Yes, you're right about that... Leif serves me only alive.

Micky answered, then sat on the bed next to his daughter, took out his phone and waited by putting the audio on speakerphone. Shortly afterwards Leif replied:

—Frenchie?

—You are so funny. Have you seen my exwife?

—Which of all?

—The oldest, they say has been lost.

Hearing that the mysterious Emi Ishikawa was Michel Angenoir's ex-wife gave me chills, Leif replied laughing and calmly:

—They say well! I hid her here in the Sky Village, the men I used to get her out of her house have killed each other, just as I ordered them. 

Micky looked at me, sighed and said:

—Here's Cyan Fèng. He says that Angel Oread is going to send two hundred men from the Hot Pot to kill you if you don't return her.

—Ha, haha! Tell Cyan not to be silly, I have a thousand men ready to answer him if they come. If they don't bring Ilmari back, I won't send her back to the Ishikawa.

Then I replied raising my voice and already angry:

—Leif, Ilmari married with all the honors of the Mystics and is in love with Eiden. She will not accept a divorce because she is now fighting for her new family. If you continue with this whim, I will have to obey Angel's orders and go to confront you. You will kill many good men and perhaps win this battle, but you will unleash a war that you will not win in the long run. In a few months, the new weapons and equipment for the Hot Pot will arrive, and wars are not won by those who have more men but by those who have better weapons. 

Then Micky chimed in:

—Yes, this is really a bad idea, Leif. In the long run, those who are going to suffer the most are the innocent and the infrastructure. Wars do not help the urban landscape at all...

—What the hell?! Michel Angenoir, don't you think about anything other than your fucking buildings and the look of the damn island?

—Not really, Leif! From my perspective, we're all part of the island, and we need to organize ourselves in the most harmonious way possible. You need to either match the buildings or leave or hide.

I rubbed my brows tired of hearing those pair of twisted madmen and then Leif said:

—Let's do this, Micky. Do you remember that you told me that you would like to develop the coast of the island, but you couldn't because the queen denied you all the tenders in the area of the beach with sand because her son had I don't know what project? Well, I have a marginal community living on the cliffs of the southwest, huts built almost vertically, some dating back hundreds of years...

—Are you talking about the ravine of the pirates? No, please, that's a garbage dump... I have fought since I came to the island to evict them and not appear on the maps, it is the worst and dirtiest...

—Fool! The casinos and cabarets that the Oread are closing in Gardenia and in the long run only generate losses, could be reopened there. You're sure to come up with some way to make the buildings safe! My people will thank you, there are twenty thousand souls in that ravine, and they are all strong, reckless and loyal fishermen. Help me with that and I'll bring your exwife back to them in peace. 

—Well... I do... But what will we do with Angel Oread? He'll probably charge you with kidnapping Emi.

—You can keep her from pressing charges! We just must eliminate the evidence, there are bodies...

I shook my head in a negative gesture of rejection and Micky said goodbye saying:

—Très bien... Ah, let me go to the Sky Village and there we will talk about this... Cyan is still here. I'll see you later.

—Only a government of children could be worse than a government of women. 

Leif answered and hung up the call. Then I looked at Micky and asked:

—Really? Are you going to destroy evidence of the kidnapping as fourth-rate criminals? I saw Leif threatening Eiden in Ishikawa village, there are videos of the men taking the lady by force.

—Sure, but no evidence that it was Leif's fault. Leave things as they are, Cyan. Go back with your friends and we adults will take care of everything. I have watched over peace on this island since long before you or your parents were born. 

—To live repressed and resigned is not to live in peace. 

Then Micky put his phone away, rolling his eyes and complaining:

—Ungrateful... You were given a beautiful habitat, and you want to modify it based on your bad taste. As a young architect once said: “architecture is the starting point of those who want to lead humanity to a better future”. But for that to happen, humanity must submit to architecture!

After that, he left, and I was left alone with Estelle. She took my hand and sat on her bed, begging me:

—Don't meddle anymore. Emi will return home. Michel is right, he always manages to keep things under control. 

—He always keeps the island stagnant. What is your father? Tell me the truth, you must know.

—He's the architect of Gardenia! Don't bother him anymore, Cyan. He is not something evil, nor does it want to harm you. He just does what they want it to do, it's a tool. There are many others above him.

I didn't dare to ask any more and was about to leave when Estelle stopped me to kiss me. I didn't reject her, but I didn't stay for more, I wasn't in the mood, and I don't think she really didn't either. I was already on my way back to Ishikawa village when my father spoke to me, he said that our men were already exploring the southern sector of the island in search of Leif; I warned him that we might fall short of the number of rebels who supported him. He told me that he would call for more soldiers, and I decided not to give him more details and go on my own to see how the Sky Village was. To my surprise, on the way I met some colleagues who were walking through the valley inspecting the area on which the village floated; with them were my father and Yanmei who had accompanied him so as not to spend the boring afternoon at home. They looked calm, obviously unaware that Leif was in the village. I parked nearby and went to greet them. Yanmei quickly walked away, ignoring me. My father commented to me in a low voice:

—She's very angry with you and Ilmari. To top it all off, a few weeks ago your mother told me that... Well, her body has developed, and you can already see that she will become angrier now that she is a little woman. 

—Then that's it... Yesterday I hardly noticed her, now more relaxed I see that she even has a bust... How sad, Dad, is this how suddenly children grow?

—Why do you think it's a sad thing, Cyan?

—I don't know. The more I become an adult, the dirtier and worse the world and people seem to me.

—It's normal, son. You'll get used to it. 

He replied by touching my shoulder, I think he was the only one who accepted my decision not to get married so soon and meet more women before I decided on one. I walked with them for a while until we saw a thief trying to open an expensive car with dark windows parked on one of the paths of the meadow. My dad looked at it carefully and said:

—That Mercedes with tinted windows...

Yanmei replied, going to confront the thief:

— It's Michel Angenoir's car. How dare he touch it?

I went after her as a precaution, even though I already knew that my sister, despite being such a young girl, could knock out a grown man. To my surprise, not only did she do that, but she also had the same strength and brutality that I had when fighting. I was still astonished when, near the end of the fight, she screamed and made the criminal rise into the air and then smashed him to the ground. My father told me proudly:

—She's very precocious, she's already discovered her Mystical gift: telekinesis. She achieved it long before Ilmari who is a pure-blooded Mystic raised in Adalsteinn.

I shrugged, a little stunned by what I had just seen. Then I told him that I would go and have a look at the Sky Village, which was floating above us, in case Micky was there; He got a little worried, asked me to be communicating in case there were problems and sent six other armed men with me. We were already boarding the elevator when we heard a kind of thunder in the sky and the echo of an explosion. The whole village moved a little and changed course. That was totally abnormal. My father asked those who stayed on the ground to move a little away and to send the only helicopter on the island and the Hot Pot as backup. He also told me to descend if the situation got worse up there. I nodded and went up with my colleagues. Up there everything was too calm, there were no people outside the houses and the businesses were closed so soon that even the merchandise was still arranged in the street. I could see that some inhabitants saw us through the cracks of their windows. We all drew our weapons and began to tour the village, we saw that one of the colossal balloons that held it was deflating and then I heard some shots; we all became alert and then we heard Leif's voice, shouting to someone:

—I wouldn't mind dying with you if we were just the two of us, but you're going to slaughter a whole village just because you're so angry!

Shortly after I saw him running down a street, not difficult to notice a two meter Mystic man with long silver hair down to his waist. I went after him and realized that he was following a girl who was nimbly jumping across the rooftops in a kind of halfopen blue dress that exposed her long, pale legs. I yelled at Leif to not shot her and quickly climbed up the walls and ceilings until I reached her, then I realized that it was Emi Ishikawa, she stopped running away and ran into my arms when she saw me. Holding her little body close to me, she gave me a kind of tenderness, and I reassured her that everything would be okay. Aunt Emi turned out to be more athletic and badass than her nephew Eiden. I jumped down with her in my arms, and then carefully placed her on the ground. Then she made me bow and kissed my cheek, making me blush and saying:

—You are really an angel, aren't you?

Suddenly Leif approached us and she with a quick movement shot something at him with her hands. They were the same needles that Eiden used and they would have killed Leif if it hadn't been for the fact that just at that moment Micky Angenoir appeared, hiding his identity under a scarf as he usually did when he went out in public and interposed his hand sticking the needles into himself, whose threads he pulled with a force that I did not expect from this delicate-looking man. He pulled Emi to him, catching her wrist, and yanked out his needles, shouting:

—Nail me as many as you want! This poison doesn't do anything to my blood of red-tinged water. Do you realize what you've done?! The village won't fall all of a sudden, but you've altered its course and its balance, it will tilt until it crashes into Gardenia!

—That's just what I wanted! Knock down all your buildings at once. Don't you think I've learned a few things about your arts over the years?

Then he let her go, pushing her sharply, and replied:

—You have shown that, if intelligence is needed to build, to destroy you need just the opposite. 

Then he said to Leif and me:

—I've already checked the damage and done the math. The structure can still be saved, sacrificing a section if it remains in the area where the wind boxes in and makes it follow its eternal circuit. There is no other solution, this horrible nonsensical chimera is not designed to survive intact in this type of case. All this part goes to the floor.

Leif asked, putting away his gun:

—How can we make this happen and how long will it take? Are there any risks of further deaths?

To which Angenoir replied:

—It can be done quickly with explosives and there shouldn't be more deaths, the four you caused and the seven that Emi killed are already enough. I cannot allow human beings to suffer harm, not even by my inaction, it is something that I set out to do every day and it is really difficult for me to fulfill; So, I'll wait until they're all safe. Help me get people out of this area, I need to go to the axis of this platform that's over there at the end. A truly silly design... And hurry, before the village leaves the safe zone. Don't worry about the bodies anymore, hopefully there won't be anything left that falls to the ground. 

Then I approached Micky to ask:

—What will happen to the people who are below? My dad and sister are in the valley. 

He turned to look at me with a start and exclaimed:

—Your sister? Get off immediately and take them at least five kilometers away from the village! I'm going to call your father to explain to him.

As I left, taking Emi Ishikawa by the arm, I saw him talking on the phone as he walked away through the alleys of the Sky Village. Once on land, we moved away to a safe area and stayed there looking at the village. My dad was still in touch with Leif Specter and Michel Angenoir on the phone. I gave Angel a call and filled him in on everything. I remember that it was already dark, and I moved a little away from the group to tell my friend about the oddities I found out about the mysterious life of Emi Ishikawa, he asked me about the title of the manual I saw in her bedroom, and I took out my notes to spell it out because it was in French. Angel translated for me:

—"Design tool assisted by artificial general intelligence”, what would she use it for?

At that moment an explosion was heard, so large that it reverberated throughout the island, and a fireball ignited on the side of the Sky village, extinguishing itself almost immediately as a mass of debris fell to the ground. Dad, who was on a video call with Leif, asked him how they were doing. And I, with my ear sharpened by the alert, could hear through the speaker of his phone:

—Michel fell, he was in that part of the village. I saw him leave in the flames; Michel fell!

Emi Ishikawa slumped on her knees clutching her chest and the others just remained silent for a long time. Nobody said anything. Finally, I approached Dad and asked him: 

—Shouldn't we go and recover the bodies?

—There's Michel...

When Yanmei heard it, she rushed over to the place, and I also slowly followed her, along with everyone else. I asked my father again:

—Don't you want to look at his remains?

—I don't know what we're going to see if we find him...

As a form of consolation, I could see that the Sky Village was straightening up again and regaining its course, away from Gardenia. Angenoir was right and at the moment it did not seem strange to me that he made the calculations so fast, just by inspecting the structure. As we approached the impact zone, we saw that a large part of the grasslands had caught fire, and a person was coming out of the rubble. It was not difficult for him to walk; he could be seen coming calmly with his hands in his pockets. As he approached, several men shouted foul words or crossed themselves. It was Michel Angenoir, with his face half singed and broken, as if it were made of plastic. There was also a part of a skull made of some material that wasn't bone but resembled it, and an eye without eyelids was exposed. Emi Ishikawa approached him with compassion, but he, with what was left of his lips, spoke to her in a disdainful tone:

—Do you expect the pain to soften me? Well, you're wrong. It just makes me a little angrier. I shouldn't have to be experiencing this, it's grotesque, for what? If you really feel some pity, or whatever, tell me, you have the manual, how to turn it off?

—It must be turned off from the heart.

Emi replied languidly. He looked at her for a while, sighed, and finally said to the rest of us with his usual good humor, only looking as if he had just come out of hell:

—I'm surprised no one's asked who my tailor is. This suit lasts longer than my face. And to cap it all, I don't remember where I parked my car. 

Suddenly my sister Yanmei ran out to hug him with teary eyes and he stroked her hair, with the phalanges made of who knows what synthetic material exposed, while she questioned him:

—Are you going to die?

—No, ma chérie. Luck is never on my side. 

Then he took out a handkerchief and bent down to wipe away my silly younger sister's tears, remarking:

—I thought you'd be upset to see me like this.

Yanmei replied by touching his burnt skin with her fingertips:

—I've never cared about your looks! In fact, ... I think you look kind of effeminate, skinny and weird... But I love spending time with you. For me you could have no body, and I would still love you!

Then she gave him a quick kiss on the remains of his lips, and he was as incredulous and surprised as everyone else. Then he looked at Emi Ishikawa as if reproaching her and I had to act, because it was all too disturbing. I took my sister by the arm, pulling her away from him, and shouted to him:

—Don't go near my sister! What are you? What the fuck are you?!

Michel Angenoir answered me calmly, before leaving to get his car:

—Do you know AutoCAD? Well, I'm better. 

From that night on, I feared and distrusted the very strange Micky of Gardenia.


THE TIME I WAS CELES’ WORST WOMANIZER

 

A couple of months passed after the strange incident in the Sky Village. One morning, while Eiden, Angel and I were stuck in the palace offices, doing paperwork and feeling anxious, Ilmari showed up. She was calling us, shouting and very happy. She came to show us a pregnancy test, she was already expecting her first baby. Eiden, full of pride, invited all of us men out for a cigarette, which I went out to smoke for the first time in my life in the gardens. I almost suffocated, but I learned. We stayed there talking for a while, taking advantage of the moment to have lunch and rest a little. Angel was worried about his mother, as he often was.

—She stopped taking her medication, but she's still holding on to the story of the monster in the palace. I don't know, I've noticed her being stronger and more lucid, but the doctors that Emi Ishikawa brings always say that it is a hallucination, and they keep prescribing the same sedatives that I don't want to give her. I have a lot of suspicions...

I then suggested:

—What if Ilmari's brother lends a hand?

—The weird albino who took her out for a dance??

—He can hypnotize her so that she remembers what happened. What if she tells the truth?

— Cyan, you need to take your medication too…

—Let's think about this. Angenoir is not your average guy. His daughter told me he's just a pawn for people with more power than him. We could be facing anything, even something monstrous.

—It's the time for conspiracy with Cyan Fèng: They're reptilians, they're the Illuminati, they're reptilians Illuminati!

Angel joked and Eiden supported my idea by saying:

—I know it sounds funny, but I've always thought that way. You and your mother don't have any Oread blood. The real ones are already extinct on the island. We never really knew who they were or what they were. They left their “summer house” abandoned. I think they lost interest in Celes since 1900, and since then it has been automatically in charge of Grandfather Angenoir. And my aunt Emi! She is also hiding something.

We were silent for a while, then Angel said to Eiden, with some concern:

—There's still an Oread. You. 

—Do you think I'm not to be trusted?!

—No… but you should be aware that at some point the rest of your paternal family may show an interest in you. It's probably best to be prepared and to cut ties. There are more of them on the mainland, and you've never been particularly close to your mother's family. In fact, I've never seen you defend her from the things Miss Emi says about her.

—What does my aunt Emi say about my mother?

—Nothing overtly negative, but when Emi imply that Kanon did not oppose the king, that she should have been more careful... It's as if she blames her.

—It was partly her fault!

—Eiden, she was raped! You've been influenced by your aunt Emi, and I don't trust her anymore. I'm going to forbid her to see my mother, and you should also keep her away from Ilmari!

At last, Eiden replied angrily:

—Can you back up your claim that she is really that bad?

Angel took out his phone and showed it to us saying:

—I'll let you be the judge. I stashed my phone recording in my mother's bedroom and got this as a result.

On screen, we could see the queen, looking rather frail and sad, checking herself out in her mirrored dressing table while Emi brushed her hair: she was recounting her encounter with Leif at the dance.

—He must be at least ten years my junior, but he looked at me with such interest! Do you think he's unaware of my background?

Then Emi replied rudely:

—It's time to face facts. Men don't care if you're beautiful or if you're pure! They're happy as long as you've got a hole and you're willing. What he's been told about your life and the embarrassing details you'd rather forget won't matter much to him. There will always be someone who will tell you that you are the most fragrant flower in the garden, even if you are just another ordinary weed. Keep your feet on the ground and remember it's not true. These are the words of a desperate man, because when a man really loves he doesn't just do it with his dick, he does it with his mind and heart, and he doesn't choose to wallow in rot! He can't love you anymore, and if he does, it's just out of pity.

I raised an eyebrow and commented:

—It never ceases to amaze me how mean she is behind her delicate appearance. Emi Ishikawa is an interesting woman... And perhaps dangerous.

Angel answered me putting away his phone:

—I think she's being pretty cruel! Eiden, if you don't walk away from her, I'm going to have to think about putting in another prime minister. You've already got your own family to look after. Take care of your kids' mum, don't leave her in the hands of that Emi.

I saw that Eiden stared at the floor for a while, worried, then Angel hugged him and said:

—Hey, you've always been like a brother to me. I just want you to keep up the good work and enjoy some well-deserved downtime. Take the afternoon off, go home, and rest with Ilmari.

Eiden hugged him back and as he walked away, Angel spoke to me seriously:

—I'm not totally comfortable with Emi Ishikawa being involved in everything. Do you think it would be a good idea to get rid of her from the palace?

—If Eiden also asks her not to go to their new house, she'll feel like she's being left out.

—What's the big deal? Why are you feeling sorry for her?

I shrugged my shoulders and said:

— She's pretty and she's strong!

—If you like her so much, do me a favor and keep an eye on her. I'm really worried that she'll do something to Ilmari. She looks at her with disdain from head to toe and I don't like it.

I nodded, gave him a military salute and walked away. I promptly received a message from Conny. She had been informed that a large number of trucks with building materials were heading south, and hundreds of masons were building on the cliffs. People were wondering if they had the necessary permits, and I was already aware of the problem. Angel and Eiden had decided to turn a blind eye because we had nowhere to put those who lived in the marginal area that was there. I told her that it was better not to give clear explanations about it, and she got a little angry. I liked that from her, she wasn't going to let us force her to mislead the population. So, I asked to see her that night. We could go over the situation in more detail and decide what to do. She herself invited me to go to a bar, I expected to meet in a café or something, but I accepted, although I had never been to a place like that. My parents had already given me the freedom to sleep away from home, so I decided to start exploring the adult world a little more. It was a little awkward at first to be in a place where alcohol was sold because I didn't know what to order. I think Conny guessed it and ordered that they just bring me a soda. She asked for something stronger and asked me if I wanted to try it, but it was bitter. At least she was happy to share the glass, which I think was a woman's thing to do! I told her what was going on with the cliffs. Conny got it and made me see another problem: there were at least five independent magazines and newspapers that were giving their own versions of everything. She believed that it was not a good idea to repress them. I didn't agree a lot with her, and we were discussing this when Leif Specter and Michel Angenoir arrived. It seemed they'd been asked to leave another place for causing trouble. Micky was the first to spot us. He had a scarf covering half his face, but I could tell he was already "repaired" and upset to see me with the girl who rejected him months ago. He said something to Leif and looked at us with his usual irreverent style. He approached us, arms outstretched, and exclaimed:

—I want to know who allowed a child into the bar! There's no way alcohol should be sold to minors!

I answered without looking at him:

—What's wrong with you, Leif?

—Let me be clear: you're with the Latina, and she's spread the rumor that the French guy and I are fags.

Quickly, Conny replied:

—Actually, I didn't say that! It's a ship that was born on social networks. Girls believe that you make a cute couple, which is a good thing because it increases your popularity…

Leif interrupted her by shouting, as usual, like to make sure everyone knew he was Norma Petersen's son!

—I'm a Mystic and I'm one of the most heterosexual guys in this island! I don't have a single female friend because I'm completely straight and I love being around men and doing male things. Right, Michel?

—You sound really gay, but I'm not gay.

Micky said to which Conny commented between her teeth, moving her drink as if she remembered something terrible:

—I wish you was gay and not... Whatever you are...

This put me on the defensive, especially since I remembered that the Frenchie was too close to my younger sister. I got up from the table and spoke in a challenging manner.

—So, you're tough? And why are you walking around like a deer in headlights, building your little houses on the cliffs in secret? Last month, the first shipment of equipment for the army came through. A tank would be enough to tear down your wooden house in the meadows, Leif. If it's still there, it's because my father's looking after you. I would have taken it and send you right back to the mountain range with your mother.

—And I'll send you to the Hot Pot to play with your little sister's Barbies.

—At least mine plays with Barbies and not with her future, like yours who is already pregnant. Congratulations! You're going to be the uncle of an Ishikawa.

Hearing that news infuriated him and he shouted:

— I've had it with your shit! Without your weapons and your soldiers, you're nothing, Cyan Fèng. I'm going to remind you that you're still a kid.

I put myself on guard and Leif started taking off his coat, jacket, and shirt. His bare torso wasn't          as impressive as that of my uncle Teppo, who's a huge guy, but he was still pretty impressive at two meters tall and a hundred and some-odd kilograms of pure muscle and northern wildness. I had a feeling this wasn't going to be an easy fight. As usual, I started with some high kicks, but he just stopped the blows with his forearm as if they were nothing more than weak pushes. After a slap, he made me lose my balance, but I jumped up and was literally on fire. I was starting to get really annoyed. I threw a couple more punches, but he didn't try to dodge me. He tried to punch me a few times, but I managed to evade them without any problems. Then he hit me in the ribs, and I started to lose strength. I now realize that in that situation, size wasn't on my side, and I should have been more strategic. I should have found a way to use that to my advantage, but I was too naive and just kept trying to win based on my brute force, which wouldn't be enough. Leif managed to corner me after a few blows and really gave me a beating. Even so, he didn't knock me out. I was still standing with a broken lip and limping. I made one last effort and lunged at him with a flash fire. He stepped aside and stopped me in the air by trapping me in his arms to throw me to the ground and put a knee on my back. Then he scratched my hair like I were a little child and said:

—Enough, Cyan. I don't want to hurt you. We're family.

Then he stood up, grabbed me by the arm, and I pushed him away. I was really annoyed. Conny rushed to my side and started shouting at Leif, but Micky Angenoir stepped in between them, asking for calm. In response, she hit him and pulled him for a while until Micky calmly reminded her that he liked it. Then she pushed him away and started crying, hugging me while the French guy went off with his friend, laughing. I vowed to get revenge that night. I gave Angel a call to let him know I wasn't going to be sleeping in the palace and asking him to not to get worried. Then I accompanied Conny to her car, said bye, went to mine and after driving around Gardenia for a bit to give myself courage I went to Estelle Angenoir's house. She opened the door for me and was concerned to see me all beaten up. She invited me into her living room, where she laid me down, put my head on her lap and wiped me with a damp cloth while I told her everything that happened. After listening to me, she gave her opinion:

—Why do men always want to show which one is stronger? You shouldn't have faced Leif, he's twelve years older than you. Heavier and with more skill.

—I can't show any weakness, especially not to Leif and your father. They think they can do whatever they want with the island.

—Leif's just looking for freedom for everyone, while Michel's all about aesthetics.

—I don't really care about those two, I'm worried about the people they work for.

She confided to me:

—There's no one outside of Celes interested in Celes anymore. Before, when there was curiosity about humans with psychic powers that can only be found on this island, they decided to make the site a very exclusive tourist place where they could study the Celestines and also relax. Michel was a tool to condition the island, they wanted to make it as romantic and magical as possible. But then the world wars started, they became convinced that the Celestines really weren't that useful, and interest was lost. Celes went out of style. 

Who were these people behind it all?

—I don't know, the Oreads, all those decrepit rich people who crawl through Gardenia. We have no idea of the power that money and technology can achieve. Especially as the years go by. There will come a point when humanity advances so much, and become so perverted, that there will be no limits to its ambition. Not even in time and space. Let's better be thankful that they lost interest in us, it's better that we live like this, Cyan. Far from everything and everyone, in our own world.

—The solution is not to hide, but to be ourselves. Fight for our identity and autonomy.

I stared at her for a moment, touched her face to feel her velvety skin, and asked: 

—How could you be born from that thing? How was he born? He wasn't born of a woman.

—I suppose they did him in a petri dish... Or a workshop. When I was a child, Michel told me that at first, he couldn't have children. “He was an angel”. But then a bad woman wanted to possess him. They must have modified the original design in a hurry, and with carelessness things went wrong. His children are not very strong or very healthy.

—That bad woman was Emi Ishikawa, right?

—He never wanted to tell me. But what do you think?

—Yes... But I can't believe she is any meaner than your father. He looks at us all as pieces of the landscape he built for his masters. He doesn't care about our feelings, much less whether we agree to live like this or not.

Estelle gave me a soft kiss, saying:

—Celes has been free for years. There are no “masters” anymore. What keeps her tied are the Celestines themselves. If they want, they can continue to be resigned to leaving things as they are or develop it into the home, they have always dreamed of having.

 We kissed for a while and then started to touch each other under our clothes. She asked me if I wanted to go to her room. I said yes, and from that moment on I was a bit of an idiot. I took her to her room, took off her dress and panties, threw her on the bed, pulled down my pants, put on a condom and tried to penetrate her just like that. She discreetly reached for a hand cream from her bedside table and lubricated as best she could. Once it slid far enough, I pushed all the way in. I loved the sensation. I sucked her neck, bit her, licked her. I was fascinated by her delicate woman's body and her softness. I came once, but my erection didn't go down. I wanted more, but I didn't have another condom. It was 11 pm and I kept going until 3 am, leaving her out of breath and with a little smile. She looked like an angel on the bed. I took a picture of her to remember what I'd done to her. Then I got dressed, kissed her and left. I didn't want to sleep with her. I went in my car to a square, where I bought cigarettes and smoked on a terrace while I looked at the view. Then I took a look at Estelle's polaroid photo. I was so proud of how I had left her that I took a picture of it with my phone. Then I looked for Michel Angenoir on social networks and when I found him, on a profile where he only published images of buildings, I sent it to him by private message. To my surprise, he almost immediately saw it, but he didn't respond. Then I went to sleep in the palace. The next day I spent it normally, sleepless, but as always. I didn't feel special, and the euphoric pride of the early morning was gone. I didn't feel anything. At lunchtime, I asked Ilmari to eat with me alone. We took our dishes to a gazebo in the gardens and there we talked a little about how I wasn't entirely happy with her pregnancy being so young and I told her everything that happened the night before. She questioned me:

—Do you feel sorry?

—A little, rather disappointed. It wasn't as cool as I thought it would be.

I replied by looking at the ground. She patted me on the back and said:

— It was just sex without love. When you do it in love, it feels incredible. You don't want to get up at the end; you just want to stay in bed with your love all night, hugging and kissing.

—And how do you know you've fallen in love?

—You feel calm with that person. You feel like it will be easy to spend time with her, you want to take care of her and show her affection. It's like finding a family member. 

“Hm”, I replied and wiped a tear, I don't know why, I was just nervous. She hugged me and I felt a little better. Hours later, when I was busy inventorying the new weapons that would be sent to the Hot Pot, I finally received a response from Micky. He simply wrote:

“Estelle loves you”.

I was a little taken aback. I didn't respond for a while, then I just sent him the emoji of a thumb. 

In the months that followed, I continued to sleep occasionally with Estelle. Almost always after her performances in the theater. I would go to see her dance in her neat white ballet dress and that would warm me up, I would fuck her hard in the dressing room immediately after she left the stage. From time to time she relapsed into her illness, her father went to take care of her at home and I did not go to see her. Not because I didn't care, I thought she would be better off with Micky, and I had a lot of other things to do. To begin with, the professors and scientists that Angel invited from the mainlands arrived to found new schools and a university in Gardenia. I had to organize my men well to prevent possible theft of the cargo that was brought to equip the study centers, as well as to keep at bay the protests orchestrated by Leif, who criticized progress by claiming that it was “only for the rich”. When we told him that education would be free, but we would raise taxes to pay the professionals who would teach the classes, he protested the tax increase. He was never satisfied! The hospital in Celes was also improved, but the criticism then went to Ilmari, who could hardly get involved in the process because her pregnancy was a bit complicated. After six months her belly was already huge, the queen advised her to stop working on the palace paperwork and dedicate herself only to studying and preparing for university; Ilmari actually became more interested in medicine thanks to her own pregnancy, reading books on physiology, anatomy and obstetrics to better understand all the changes her body was having. Eiden also had to mature suddenly, he had the famous growth spurt and by the time he was fourteen he already looked like a grown man. People, seeing them like this, simply forgot that they were children under fifteen years of age and began to treat them with all the harshness that was given to any other public official. They suffered, but they consoled each other with their love and the illusion of expecting their first child. Uoliena wasn't having a great time either. She stopped talking, she hid from everyone and didn't detach herself from the queen's skirts, who showed a little improvement when she was no longer always sedated. However, she was still anxious for her son and for us all.

Emi Ishikawa stayed a little away, she went to visit Eiden and Ilmari on Saturday afternoons and was interested in knowing how the pregnancy was progressing; Ilmari treated her with respect but made her see that she would not follow her advice because as the Mystical daughter of a famous midwife she had to follow family traditions and her mother's instructions. There was some tension between the two, but most felt sorry for Emi. The ladies of Gardenia said they felt sorry for her for being a single woman, they painted her singleness and lack of children as a tragedy; now I understand that those self-sacrificing mother's laments are actually the poorly concealed envy of older women with stretched vaginas who have sex three times a year with luck; in reality there was no reason to pity or much difference between Emi Ishikawa and Estelle Angenoir, both were free of husband and children who imposed the due limit of modesty on their search for pleasure... The first time I kissed Emi Ishikawa was when she called me scared at midnight because she supposedly heard someone trying to enter her house. She began to cry telling me how bad she felt about the rejection of her nephew and the Oreads, I was moved by her almost childish little voice and her delicate body, and without thinking I kissed her on the lips with a kind of love. She just smiled at me and nothing else happened. She remained a lady of high society and we had a kind of secret “courtship”, with kisses from time to time and fevers that I would later get rid of with Estelle. Conny asked me several times what was going on between the two women and me, I just told her that they were my friends and there was nothing serious. And there really wasn't anything meaningful to me until one night when, as was usual, Emi Ishikawa was scared of something, and I had to go to her house. It was the first of November, and I was celebrating my birthday. My family and friends had a dinner in my honor at Eiden's house. When we finished eating and chatting, I said goodbye without telling them where I was going and went to the lady's house. A terrible storm was falling and on the way from the car to her house I ended up soaked. When Emi opened the door for me, she let me in and asked me to take off my clothes. I stared at her, as if she was sure, because something was going to happen after that. She insisted. We bathed together, Emi gave me oral sex in her spacious and luxurious bathroom, I felt my legs tremble. Then we went to his bed and continued to have sex there. With Emi I did my best to be gentle and I did stay overnight, she was my first love, the woman who awakened my sexuality when I fantasized thinking about her in my humble child's room in the Hot Pot without imagining that one day I could make my wishes come true. I was kissing her breasts after coming inside her for perhaps the fourth time when I saw a long scar in the middle of her chest. It was already very old and almost erased. I kissed her and asked her what had happened to her. She replied:

—It's a very bad memory. Sometimes we keep horrible things inside our chests...

I quickly kissed her and changed the subject, so as not to ruin the moment, and asked her while laughing:

—And the gossip about the toys is true? Micky said you had a collection...

Emi replied looking me straight in the eye:

—There, in that dresser, look in the last drawer. Do you want to put any in me?

I smiled, a little dazed by the proposal, but I was really enthusiastic about the idea. I went to the dresser and found a bunch of weird sex gadgets that got my attention back, but I tried to control myself and started to look at some other details so as not to look like I was a brat obsessed with it. Then I noticed again the little porcelain figurine I had seen that day. I grabbed some random toys and asked her what that was, pointing to the statuette to talk about something and not seem so urgent. She answered me, sighing:

—It's nothing, a little French porcelain doll that my dad gave me when I was a child. At first, I thought it was Saint Michael the Archangel, but later I learned that it is only a decoration. After I was an adult, I used it as an example of how I wanted to be made... A kind of mascot for software that we would use to remodel the city and it was unfriendly without an anthropomorphic representation. It was a barter I made with the Oreads.

—What did you give in return?

 —I promised to keep the way clear for them. But that has been so long gone, the only Oread I have to watch over now is Eiden.

—To keep the road clear? Were you a hitman?

I asked her bluntly. She laughed and put herself in a very obscene position that excited me to the maximum, saying:

—Stop talking nonsense and put lubricant on it.

That totally distracted me from the matter. After that night, Emi began to evade me and the few times I saw her we only kissed a few times. She occasionally gave me oral sex, but she let me know that she didn't want a formal relationship. I was desperate to have more of Emi, I bought her flowers every day and fucked Estelle thinking about her. On one occasion, I was buying her usual red roses when Micky Angenoir covered as a leper passed by the flower shop and saw me out of the corner of his eye. I ignored him and went about my day, going to leave the flowers for Emi at the Ishikawa village. This situation was repeated a couple of times, suddenly Micky was hanging around near the flower shop more or less always at the time when I went to get the roses until one time when the night after buying the flowers I went to the theater because Estelle would dance. As I watched her spin and tiptoe around the stage, I felt watched. I looked to my left and noticed that Micky Angenoir was in a box accompanied by my silly sister Yanmei, which was strange because he avoided crossing Estelle's professional life so as not to make her feel controlled. Anyway, I didn't pay much attention to her, being her father it was normal for me him go see her dance and he could only be fulfilling another whim to Yanmei. At the end of the presentation, I went to see Estelle in her dressing room as was my custom. We were already kissing on a couch when there was a knock on the door, I reluctantly opened it and found Micky and my sister. He entered very calmly, greeting:

—I hope I don't come at a bad time. I had a little free time and I wanted to stop by and see you, Estelle. You have me a little worried about your health, plus a friend's daughter wants you to sign your portrait.

—I'm fine, Michel! Dancing and being with friends make me happy, it's the best medicine. Let's see, precious little girl, what should I sign for you?

Estelle replied, attending to my sister who began to ask her a thousand things. The damn Frenchie smiled and looked around the dressing room, then asked me:

—And the red roses?

I froze, then managed to stammer out:

—What...? Which red roses?

—The ones you bought this afternoon. I was on my way to the bank when I happened to see you at the flower shop.

I swallowed hard and made up a silly lie:

—They were for Ilmari, to celebrate...That she is already seven months pregnant. 

Michel Angenoir replied, sitting down in an armchair:

—How strange. I have come from visiting her with Yanmei at your mother's request and I did not see any red roses. In fact, she was grateful that her cousin brought her some sweets, the poor girl had cravings and had been alone all day; She told me that no one had visited her or received any packages.

—I'm understand why, as I gave them to her myself.

—Maybe she didn't like the style of the arrangement. It was more like something

you would give to a mistress. A lot of red... I would have given her something simpler. Ah! I know what happened, you got the wrong house. We were just having tea in the garden, when I saw you clearly going to Emi Ishikawa's house to leave the flowers. It's natural, all the houses in Ishikawa Villa look alike, Japanese architecture is like that. With that he left me in evidence. There was an awkward silence until he looked at his watch and excused himself by saying that he had to go drop off my sister at the Hot Pot. When he left and Estelle and I were left alone, she kissed me smiling and said sweetly:

—You couldn't be perfect, but you're very close to it. Let's live in the moment.

Then we went to bed, but it was very tense for me. At the end, when I was leaving, Estelle kissed my back saying:

—You know Emi is obsessed with Michel, right? She never wanted to rebuild her life with another man and he, in another of his malicious attitudes, spends the night with her from time to time to keep her hooked. They hate each other, but they have perfect chemistry. They understand each other.

Then I understood why Emi didn't want to have anything serious with me, nor did she receive me some nights. Why did she have toys to use in company and why she kept that little porcelain figurine. Over the next few weeks, Estelle fell sicker than ever. She asked me to go see her and sometimes I went, sometimes not, because when Emi called me, I canceled any other commitment to run to see her. At that time, we were all mostly focused on Ilmari, she was approaching the ninth month, and her belly was gigantic. Aunt Norma predicted that the birth might be difficult because the child was going to be very big, they were even evaluating the possibility of doing a cesarean section. Eiden was more haggard and exhausted than ever, organizing the ocean of corruption and fraudulent documents that were in the palace archives was a task that seemed impossible. Many times, I saw him immersed in reviewing mountains of papers almost at midnight, while biting his lips and having tears in his eyes. One afternoon, already in the week in which Ilmari was to give birth, Eiden stopped me in the corridors of the palace and said: 

—Cyan, wait a minute! I've been having trouble with Ilmari for the past two weeks. She's been complaining that the internet and telephone in our house are cut off.

When I went to check what was going on, I noticed that the cables had been disconnected. Yesterday was even stranger: again, the cables were disconnected, but also her smartphone had disappeared. I don't have a way to communicate with her right now and I'm very busy. Could you go and bring Mrs. Norma to accompany her? She was going to arrive tomorrow to stay at our house waiting for the time of delivery, but I would prefer that she go now. 

—Have you checked to see if the locks were picked?

—No, it was the first thing I looked at. Everything looks good.

—Who has keys to your house?

—Only people I trust in case of an emergency: Aunt Emi, Mrs. Norma, Angel and you.

I had a bad feeling, I told him that I would go for Aunt Norma and left the palace. Just then Estelle wrote to me, she wanted to give me a gift and see me that night. I was still reading her message when suddenly my ears ringed and I clearly heard Ilmari's voice saying, “Cyan, come right now!” That alarmed me, I forgot about Estelle and called Ilmari's number, she didn't answer. Then I heard her voice again: “Don't wait any longer, come now!” So, I left everything I was doing and drove to Ishikawa village. As I was approaching Eiden and Ilmari's house, I noticed something strange at the door, it had been jammed with an iron bar; I looked up and saw that the security cameras in the streets were ripped out of place. Alarmed, I began to bang on the door until I broke it down and ran in. I saw that Ilmari was lying in the middle of the room, breathing heavily, and a puddle of liquid surrounded her. When she saw me, she exclaimed happily:

—You heard me!

—I remembered that your gift is telepathy... What's wrong with you?

I replied, kneeling beside her, she said:

—I was locked in, unable to communicate, and the baby is coming; I need help.

—Why did you call me and not your mother or Eiden? I don't know what to do!

—Because I do know what to do, but I must be brave, and you are my brother in arms. Remember what you said about us: “If a tidal wave were to approach the island, we will be the first rocks to receive it". I prefer that you accompany me in this.

I laughed between nervousness and gratitude for my friend's trust and then spoke something more confident:

—Well, how can I help you?

—The baby has already crowned and that's why I've stopped pushing, the contractions will do the rest. Just receive it when it comes out, it's almost outside, I can touch it, but not see it. Look for me.

I didn't understand anything, but I didn't want to sound confused either. I carefully lifted her skirt and peeked between her legs. To my horror I discovered that that small smooth and rosy vulva that I had seen months before had become a large opening of stretched and viscous flesh from which a ball of wet black hairs protruded. I wanted to look away in disgust, but I just swallowed dry and told her that the child's head was already coming out. She smiled as if relieved and relaxed a little, then I saw her hold her breath in a cold sweat, she tensed up and the child came out a little more. My hands were shaking, but I kept cheering her on until I saw the small, reddish and wrinkled face of an ugly humanoid covered in mucus. I didn't want to tell her. When it took out a shoulder and part of its arm, I ventured to pull it out, fearing that Ilmari's guts would come out with everything and the creature or some other horrible thing, I finally extracted from my friend a large red boy that I gave her with all the umbilical cord. Later, my nephew Leif Ishikawa, because Ilmari airhead called him Leif after his crazy brother, would become a cute baby and look like Eiden; But at that moment he was a nightmare monster that his mother received happily between kisses and caresses. From this experience I learned one thing: newborns are ugly and it's normal, don't be disappointed to see them.

Then I called the Petersens, Eiden and Angel; they all appeared shortly after to welcome the new member of the family and help Ilmari. Eiden looked happy, for the first time she had her house full of family and friends. Almost at midnight there was a knock on the door, it was Leif, he came with his intimidating aura to see his sister. He greeted me from afar with a shake of his head, I responded in the same way, and I took advantage of the moment when the family was distracted with the baby to get rid of a doubt. I went to Emi's house; she asked me how Ilmari was doing, and I asked her why she hadn't gone to see her if Eiden had told her hours ago that the baby had already been born. Without waiting for her to answer me, I began to check her house, I opened the doors of the rooms in which she never invited me in; and there I found her secret sculpture workshop. All the angels of Gardenia that Micky dynamited every time we were careless were made or repaired there among thousands of sketches and halfmade paintings of him, as if she idolized him. I looked at her as if waiting for an explanation and she murmured without daring to look at me:

—His way of being, goals and opinions mean nothing to me; it's his appearance I love. I was prepared to do anything to see my perfect angel come to life, even give up the island, my honour, my family and my soul.

Disgusted by Emi Ishikawa's obsession, I went back to worrying about my own business and started searching there until I found the security cameras torn from the street. I showed them to her and questioned her: 

—What was it that you didn't want them to record?

She didn't respond, so I tossed the cameras at her feet and left. That was the end of our brief romantic involvement. 

The next morning, I woke up and remembered that I had left Estelle waiting for my reply. The queen and Uoliena wanted to go see Ilmari's baby, my parents were also calling me to find out if they could come to visit her, and everything was chaos, I didn't have time for Estelle until after noon when I went to visit her at her house. Micky Angenoir opened the door again, who looked more serious than usual and did not greet me. When I went to look for Estelle in her bed, I found her weak and pale, but smiling. She extended her arms to me so that I could go and hug her, then she said:

—Cyan, with you I paid for all the cruel things I made to other men. Why didn't you come to see me last night?

—Ilmari Ishikawa had her baby yesterday, I attended the birth. 

—Oh! So Eiden is already a dad? And what is the baby like? Is it a girl or a boy?

—He's a big, fat boy, he has Eiden's hair and eyes. Honestly, I didn't see him very cute!

I confessed laughing a little. She sat back in bed and gave her opinion on the matter:

—It can't be, the other women say that all children are cute. What was I like, Michel?

Micky replied, tucking her in:

—You were the prettiest girl in the world. A pink little frog with big blue eyes. You were born prematurely, and your slutty mother left you stranded in the incubator. I was taking care of you since then.

—And didn't you say you didn't know if I was your daughter?

—To make me interesting with your mother, I already knew you were mine. From the first time I saw you. And you knew I was your father too, you clung to my finger and looked at me as if begging me not to leave. 

Estelle closed her eyes and took his hand, speaking rather sleepily:

—Why did you never let me meet my mother, ... dad? Didn't you ever love her one little bit?

—I've never really loved any woman, Estelle. Just you.

—And I only loved you, and then Cyan.

She answered, then apparently fell asleep and let go of his hand. She stood livid and her lips parted. Her father adjusted her, stroked her hair and felt her pulse. I didn't know what to do. Finally, Michel Angenoir took a mirror, put it near his daughter's mouth and found that she was no longer breathing. He stroked her hair a little more and after a while he said:

—My star finally went out. She lived only thirty-seven years, longer than my other son, but it still felt little. It was my most perfect work. I now understand that I needed to feel the need to protect a loved one to understand what a house needs to become a home. But no one wondered if it would be cruel to put me through this just to improve production. 

I was puzzled, I stood up asking:

—What? What happened to her?...

Michel stared into space for a moment, I don't think he wanted to look me in the face, then he said:

—She had a serious systemic failure; she was going to die at any moment. I imagine she didn't tell you to keep you in a good mood. She was like that; she didn't like the party to end. 

I went to see her, incredulous, I took her pulse, I shook her, she was dead. Micky rubbed her face and said:

—There are some packages in the living room. They're for you. She wanted to give you some gifts and said they were very important. Take them and leave. I need a moment alone to say goodbye to my daughter.

I left in a hurry and still not believing what had just happened. I took the packages and went back to the palace, to the room on the roof where I was staying to sleep. I stood there in shock, staring at a wall, until Conny called me in alarm that a doctor had confirmed Estelle Angenoir's death. That they were going to hold a vigil for her that night in the cathedral of Gardenia. I still couldn't believe it; I stayed in the same place paralyzed by surprise. At night I decided to clear my mind once and for all and convince myself of what was happening. I didn't change my clothes, anyway, I was always dressed in black. I went to the cathedral, I felt that they took pictures of me, but I didn't care. On the main altar was a glass coffin surrounded by white flowers. Estelle was there characterized as Princess Odette from Swan Lake, her most famous role. She seemed simply asleep, but when I touched her face, it was hard and cold as a block of ice. Then I staggered away, almost breathless, and left the cathedral in a hurry. I went back to my room in the palace and curled up in a corner. Not knowing what to do. After a while, I got up and opened the packages that Estelle had prepared for me. They were military uniforms of very expensive fabric, made by professionals, among them was a letter that I quickly read:

“My sweet Cyan:

I talked to my father about how hard you work hard, the roughness and flames that accompany your days have left you without uniforms; And your salary, although decent, is still not enough for you to solve this problem! I took this situation as an excuse to commemorate how beautiful you looked that day at the Petersens' house in your black dress uniform. I asked the queen to increase your salary and a change in protocol, that the minister of justice and public security always dress like that, like that first time I kissed you. Please wear these uniforms whenever you can, I know they will fit you perfectly because I know your measurements by heart, just as I know every detail of your body. Use them so that when this fabric warms you, you feel like I'm hugging and protecting you from wherever I am. Yours forever:

Estelle”.

Then I took a uniform and tried it on. I had never had one that was not used, made of cheap and rough fabric. Really, that uniform felt as good as Estelle's soft, warm hugs. Until then I fell to my knees on the floor of my room, bursting into tears.

I spent several days crying for Estelle, weeks and then months went by in which I was very depressed without wanting to talk to anyone. I stopped being so cruel and abusive to the suspects I arrested, I imagined that they would all have a backstory like Estelle's, sorrows and bad upbringings that made them act erratically, but that inside they perhaps had a tender and probably wounded heart. Finally, one afternoon I dared to talk for a while with Angel and Eiden on the rooftops of the palace, there I confessed to Eiden that Estelle was my girlfriend, although I never honored her as such when she was alive. He, with his little son in his arms, spoke to me in that understanding, fatherly way that began to become natural to him:

—Cyan, you've always been such a responsible guy. I know you feel guilty, but this time you weren't the one who should have set limits or not exceeded them. It's so sad, but Estelle was addicted to people's attention and admiration. She enjoyed breaking the hearts of men who were dying for her, but she also suffered. She used to say that she couldn't fall in love because no man seemed better to her than her father. So, she punished us in her own way, because we couldn't captivate her and make her feel what romantic novels and other women told her was so great. She had already achieved all her goals: to be the best dancer, the best singer, the most admired in Celes. And if you say that she fell in love with you, then she finally fulfilled her last dream. What she lacked was to know love. I'm sure she left happy about it.

After chatting with my friends, I felt a little better. In the afternoon I went to the Hot Pot to see my family, when I arrived, I was surprised not to see Yanmei as always playing outside the house. I found my parents getting ready for dinner, alone, I peeked into Yanmei's room, and I didn't see her either. Then I asked:

—Where is my sister?

My parents looked at each other, as if they didn't know how to explain something to me. Finally, my father spoke:

—Mr. Angenoir came to ask for her a month ago. She told us she wanted to marry him; we couldn't refuse. She is already at the age of consent, according to the new law, and Michel Angenoir is a very powerful man. It will be a controversial marriage, but a profitable one. He took her from Celes to live with him on the mainland.

I shouted at him, furious:

—Did you really let my sister get married to that old guy?

—She wanted to leave, Cyan. She was in love. Our family is now the most respectable in the Hot Pot, you have become a famous soldier, friend of important people and conqueror of beautiful women; Your sister couldn't be left behind.

—That sinister guy brainwashed Yanmei, and you guys couldn't do anything because you cared more about prestige and appearances! I'm leaving, don't consider me part of this family anymore.

So, I left my paternal home definitively. Watching old videos of family gatherings, I noticed how lately my sister spent too much time around that damn Micky and he always acting harmless did not raise any major suspicions. In an old clip I could see him sitting on the floor with Yanmei, who carrying a doll was pouring him tea while they had a conversation that I don't know how anyone found disturbing. She asked him things with her curiosity and insistence that drove everyone crazy, except for this strange character:  

—Micky, why is your last name so strange?

—I don't know, it fits better for a brand.

—But isn't Fèng stranger?

—No, many people have it. Mine is much more unusual. It would sound very nice with your name, don't you think? Yanmei Angenoir. 

—Yes, I like it better. Can the surname be changed?

—Yes, if you marry me, I can give you my last name.

He answered her with a disturbing innocence and pretending to be distracted while he tasted the “tea” that was surely tap water, but it didn't matter, since Michel could drink cyanide, and it wouldn't hurt him because calling him a living being is debatable. At that moment, my sister, coquettishly and morbidly precocious because of the nonsense that my mother taught her when they spent hours together watching soap operas, said to him, laughing all red, while hugging her doll:

—What a shame! We would have to kiss and see each other naked!

He laughed at that moment, probably because he could not continue convincing her in front of our parents, and at the end of the video he would say:

—I'm glad you like dolls. It is rare to see people who sincerely become attached to objects.

I didn't want to watch it anymore; I went to punch a wall and then I spent a few days without being able to sleep. I stayed for a while living in the palace while I gathered enough to get my own home in Gardenia, where people treated me with a mixture of respect and fear. With me, the saying was fulfilled: “create fame and go to sleep”. They painted me as a cold and domineering womanizer, an irresistible seducer capable of subduing the most unattainable Celestine women, when in fact after Estelle's death and my sister's marriage I was a somehow traumatized. In the next few years, I decided not to know anything about skirt matters anymore and I spent them in peace being single and sexually inactive again.

WHEN THE RUMORS OF CIVIL WAR BEGAN

 

In 2017, Ilmari finished school and began studying medicine. She participated in medical campaigns with the doctors brought from the mainland to help the inhabitants of the Sky Village, she gave talks on the importance of breastfeeding, collected funds to help rural midwives, and the population was beginning to respect her for being the embodiment of the ideal of the Celestine woman: conservative, maternal and modest; and suddenly one day she became pregnant again. For me it was a very foolish decision, but the dumb ladies who applauded her traditionalist attitude supported her.

Overall, we were all doing well. The improvements in the quality of life on the island were noticeable and people saw us as a group of honest and not greedy young people, they no longer called us “angels” in an ironic way. But the one who was doing the most work for Celes, whether in the office, negotiating foreign aid or sometimes even collaborating in the construction of the new town, “Saint Peter”, which would give the inhabitants of the Sky Village the opportunity to live with dignity, was Angel; however, the Celestines only gave credit to Eiden, Ilmari and me. Although I was a little more the subject of gossip and “memes”, either because of my outbursts of anger or because of my alleged extreme sex life that included the legend that I had killed Estelle Angenoir “with a cum shot”.

Anyway, I didn't want to complain about my situation. Angel was dealing with the worst part of it, and that's what we were discussing one afternoon when the three friends met in the men's bathrooms of the palace. The Prince of Celes asked us, tired of so much contempt:

—It's because I'm black, isn't it?

I replied, while washing my hands:

—It's because you're a black man who isn't assertive. You are proving that you have the makings of a leader and deserve the crown not only because you are the son of the queen. But you don't want to reveal the truth…

—I admit that I'm shy, I don't know how to speak in public and become popular. I don't know how to tell everyone the truth and get them to believe me quickly.

—Consuelo Del Mar could help you with your image and let everyone know you're related to the Queen. She's the one who took Ilmari and me from being a couple of troubled teenage parents to being a role model for everyone at Celes.

—Is that your excuse to go to dinner with Conny whenever you can? Be a little ashamed, Eiden... Sometimes it's three o'clock in the morning on Saturday and Ilmari is still playing with me online because you don't come back from “work”.

Angel exclaimed, looking at him sideways and I also confronted Eiden, who had been fixing his suit and hairstyle for hours because every year he got more and more flirtatious with every skirt he saw:

—I think it's time you came clean with Ilmari, Eiden. Is there something between you and Conny? You've been spending a lot of time with her recently.

—When did I ask you what happened between you and Aunt Emi, why now you don´t speak to each other, when you were so close in the past? And what are you doing talking all night with my wife, Angel? My relationship with Conny is normal. I'm the prime minister, so I'm the one who can give her the most official information about what's going on in the country. On top of that, she's working on a personal case. Aunt Emi has asked her to investigate the disappearance of Mr. Angenoir. He hasn't been seen in Gardenia in years, even though he's supposed to be working with the Azrael Society in the Pirate Canyon. My aunt is worried. Just so you know, Cyan.

—Your aunt is a meddlesome, obsessive woman...

—I know, that's why I promised to help her find Grandpa if she would swear never to set foot in my house. My son Leif is terrified of her, he screams every time he sees her.

—I'm going to solve the mystery for you: that pervert stole my younger sister when she was twelve and took her away from Celes. My family is keeping it under wraps for now, hoping that she'll be of an age where it won't be as disturbing, and they can make it public. Now, whether they've returned to Celes or not, no one knows but him and his people.

—Shit... You know that pedophilia has only one cure, right? Now I just need to locate him.

Eiden replied, making the gesture of firing a firearm with his hand. I said:

—I wish parents were just as jealous when it is their son who is seduced by an adult woman, so there would not be so many boys with their hearts broken by an immature woman who did not survive adolescence and needed professional help, not sleeping with a child... I don't know if he did it because he really was in love with my sister, or it was revenge. It happened right after Estelle's death, it was something like: “if I lost my daughter, you’ll lose your sister”. And in part we ourselves gave him the legal weapons by lowering the age of consent to twelve years old!

Eiden sighed, still posing in front of the mirror, and answered me confidently:

—Yes, it was a terrible decision, a youthful mistake. Let's change it again, Cyan.

—We must return the age of consent to fourteen or sixteen...

—Fuck it, we'll raise it to twenty-one.

—Twenty-one?! But you yourself did not wait even for eighteen and changed it to twelve years!

—Yes, but then I was a desperate horny teenager, now I am a father and possibly of a girl soon. I see things differently and I don't want my children to live the same as me.

—They'll have enough trauma with a dad who runs after other women as soon as his mom loses sight of him!

—Discretion is my talent! They will never find out about my extramarital affairs. Also, I can't take your place in Celes as the supreme fucker.

—I haven't put my dick in anyone for almost three years...

—Don't complain, you have cobwebs on your dick, but Angel has it directly out of business.

Angel punched him quickly on the arm, while Eiden burst out laughing, and I slammed the door open to get out, making Uoliena fall at my feet because she was trying to hear what we were saying in the bathroom. We all started scolding her at the same time.

Uoliena had grown up to become a geek girl who spent time in her room at Gardenia palace doing who knows what on the internet. She hid from us all the time and when we talked to her, she would say strange things like that she was a cat or that she could only eat fruits and vegetables. I had taken on the task of disciplining her, because Angel did nothing more than “understand” her, letting her be as she wanted; while Eiden and Ilmari said that it was just a stage like the one they went through when they thought they were Romeo and Juliet. I, who by then was already living alone in a dark apartment in Gardenia, tried to visit her often or take her with me to my daily activities to try to shake her out of her selfabsorption. But it could not make her interested in daily life on the island. The queen was afraid she was autistic, but I was sure she just needed to get out and feel the fresh air. Something that would break the glass that surrounded her and did not let her connect with the rest of the world. That day, after Angel had given her a sermon on chastity and Eiden another on the risks of her morbid curiosity about men, I took her to the construction of the new seaside town of St. Peter's. It was necessary, she was the minister of agriculture and public works, if only in words to please the queen who adored her, in reality, it was Eiden and Angel who did her chores and then pretended that she worked very hard for the island; despite this detail, Uoliena hated them and complained to me while she was in the passenger seat and I was driving:

—Eiden and Angel are bigots...

—Eiden is a bit of a creep and Angel is a bit of a prude, but they're not really bad guys.

—They impose misogynistic ideals on us!

—What do you mean?

—Eiden thinks all women should be like Ilmari and accept that having children is the pinnacle of their lives.

—Yeah, but I oppose that idea. Being parents is not a life goal, whoever says otherwise is because is too silly for find another meaning to their existence. I've told him many times. Now let's go to the construction of Saint Peter, Eiden says that a certain “Rain” sent you a letter signed by a thousand people asking for more funds for the construction of the town. We will talk to her.

Suddenly Uoliena became very nervous, saying:

—Rain?! I can't see her like this, I'm not ready to see her!

—Is that Rain judgmental?

—No, she's the prettiest girl in Celes and I like her.

I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye, raising an eyebrow and didn't know what to answer. I already imagined that possibility, she had witnessed the sexual abuse of other girls her age by a degenerate, she couldn't stop thinking about penises. I wanted to tell her that not all men hurt, that the masculine force that might seem brutal and she rejected was not always going to harm her, the natural thing was that it would protect her. But then I thought that maybe she just liked women and that's it, just because; And it seemed very stupid to me, like a sandwich stuffed with bread, but you can't change anyone's tastes. Finally, I asked her:

—So, you already know her? Have I seen her at any palace parties?

—No, we've never met in person. I only know her on social networks, but we already have something.

—Ah... Fine... Good for you.

I said embarrassed because I wasn't sure what the best way to handle the situation would be. Throughout my life, I've had a woman I could confide in, whether it was Ilmari or my sister Yanmei. At that point, Uoliena was starting to become that person for me. I just wanted to support her as a good friend. We went down a slope to the area of the port of Celes, the only one where there were no large cliffs but a couple of kilometers of white sand protected by a natural wall of rocks. There they were building the town of Saint Peter, but the works looked in poor condition, there was garbage thrown everywhere and a kind of decadent festive atmosphere. Something was wrong. Uoliena told me very excitedly that the famous Rain was already there. She said it with so much emotion that even I took a moment to look at myself in the rearview mirror and check if I was presentable, we got out of the car and in the distance, I could see the biggest girl I have ever seen in my life. I will say no more. Uoliena warned me that Rain changed her gender occasionally, so I had to be very attentive to when she was male or female or “nonbinary”. As we approached, Rain asked me from afar:

—Can you please take off your military cloak, jacket, and cap? Your appearance is intimidating.

—No.

I replied surprised by the request, she exclaimed:

—How rude!

Quickly Uoliena ran to hug her and reassure her, she sang something comforting her while in my mind I was torn between apologizing because Rain looked devastated by the sight of my uniform or standing firm in my military role. After a while, Rain felt better and expressed to Uoliena:

—They're stealing our material! We can't continue building the town because the bandits from the pirate ravine come at night and take the wood, the steel, the cement, everything!

—We'll send you more material, I promise!

—No, I don't want the prime minister to buy materials for me, I'm an independent woman. I want you to give me the money, I will buy everything myself!

Then I intervened. Confused, but serious:

—You can't buy materials. They are being imported from the mainland; we cannot give you national construction material because what is necessary to erect safe buildings is not produced here. In addition, I understand that the Pirate Canyon is being built with funds from the Society of Azrael. According to the documents we have about it, it is a project by the architect Michel Angenoir, and I know him, he is a perfectionist, he would not admit to using stolen materials.

The girl Rain suddenly became very angry and burst out:

—But the materials are not enough anyway, and we need money! We don't need you, with your patriarchal attitude, to choose the building materials for us! We can use natural alternatives such as wood, cardboard and recycled trash, or sticks and rocks from the island!

I took a quick look around. The houses did indeed look like shacks made of garbage, and the materials we had given them had deteriorated in the open, lying on the halffinished streets. My disturbing brother-in-law Angenoir would have short-circuited seeing that waste. Suddenly I saw familiar faces, all the people who were living there were young folks from Gardenia, children of wealthy families that I had seen before in the bars and casinos. Some even spent a couple of nights in prison. I was outraged, so I asked Rain:

—Hey, these are rich kids from Gardenia, didn't they tell you that Saint Peter was for Celestines and immigrants who lived at risk? Especially for racial minorities, black people live crowded and hidden in the Sky Village. They had already assigned their lands and their materials. Many masons, plumbers, electricians and painters were going to come to live here... They would have finished the houses by now...

Rain replied in dismay:

—But they already have their houses in the Sky Village! Our comrades from the different collectives have been expelled from their homes, they have nowhere to live.

—Well, let them make peace with their family and go back to Gardenia, they are no poorer than the people who live hanging from boards in the Sky Village! These lands cannot be taken, they all already have their owners. Or they can barter and go to live in the houses that will be unoccupied in the Sky Village. They look young, without children, they will not have as many difficulties living up there as the families of workers who have children and elderly relatives.

—You are being rude again!

Rain answered me and left very angry. A group of boys with their faces covered by bandanas and sunglasses began to surround us, but I only slapped off my cloak expelling some fire, and they ran away. Then I said to Uoliena:

—Well, we know these guys aren't dangerous. We're going to have to evict them by force, Uoliena. The families of the Sky Village are waiting for their new homes.

—But they need help too...

The girl whimpered, so I made her see:

—Uoliena, they're rich kids. They can live well if they stop being at odds with their families or get a job in Gardenia. But in the Sky Village there is no hope or future. Those families can only improve and prosper here. And if you still remember the Sky Village fondly as when you were little, think that if we reduce the weight and activity in the structure, we will prevent it from being demolished.

—But Angel said that anyone could come to Saint Peter and ask for help to build their house! You're discriminating against them just for coming from Gardenia. Don't you see?

—It might be… But then they'd have to go to the palace and apply for a permit and the aid to live in Saint Peter. You could tell that to Rain. Do you think she'd be cool with it then?

—I don't know...

She answered me and we went back to the car. On the way back to Celes, I asked her out of curiosity:

—What did you like about Rain?

—That she is beautiful. Didn't you see it?

—More beautiful than you? You are very pretty.

—My beauty is hegemonic, a negative stereotype that has consequences on the self-esteem and health of others. Girls who are not like me, will feel bad and suffer. I shouldn't look like this.

—Is it your fault that other girls are envious? It's not that you're blonde and thin... Conny Del Mar is dark-skinned and very curvy, but she's also beautiful, the thing is... Sometimes something is "beautiful," healthy… and sometimes something looks unhealthy. And that doesn't mean it's ugly! It just needs more care to look good.

There was silence, and then I dared to say:

—I thought lesbians were also sincere and looked for partners who were attractive to them.

—Why should we look at what men like? We don't want the same thing as men.

—So, you're a lesbian?

I questioned her to clear things up, but she again muddied it by replying:

—I don't know.

I thought for a while, then I said:

—I wish girls didn't grow up, that no one had to go through this ugly transition from childhood to adulthood. But it happens and it always feels bad.

—Don't tell Angel any of this...

—Angel always ends up defending you. He and his mother have spoiled you too much. Why are you angry at him and attacking him when you know he loves you?

Uoliena didn't answer me, I asked her something else that seemed strange to me:

—And why don't you get angry with me? I'm the most violent of the group.

Silence reigned again until she said:

—You're the only one who really talks to me, listens to me, and pays attention to me.

Hearing that made me smile, I asked her what she wanted to eat and as always, she asked to go to a restaurant that offered a children's menu to get a toy as a gift. I didn't want to pressure her to grow up, I was underage myself, and after having to take on so many adult responsibilities and experiences that were not age appropriate, I felt like I was fifty years old.; tired and a little late for the party of life. I think Eiden was feeling the same way with his children, he wanted to prolong their childhood as much as possible, keep them away from all the vices, violence and sex that surrounded us. But I was also aware that Uoliena, like us, had already had to know that sordid world. Adults had trampled on her innocence too and that feels like shit, like having a well-starched white shirt and having someone come and splash ink or some crap on you. I, at Uoliena's age, was already trained to have no compassion and kill, I already knew about the crime in Celes, and I felt a visceral hatred towards criminals. Sometimes I'd think and not be sure if I was angry because I was indignant about the law being broken or if I was just angry because the army had destroyed all my innocence. Uoliena did not express what she felt, possibly because of the good-natured influence of Angel and the pleas of the queen who saw us all as savior angels, none of us wanted to disappoint her! That is why Uoliena wanted to be light, love, all the peaceful justice in the world... But I knew that behind it all there was only anger and sadness. We had been hurt. No one respected us, they only used us.

We walked around the city for a while, that and taking photos always relaxed me, when we had already walked about five kilometers and we were quite far from the car, Uoliena asked me to carry her because she was tired and sleepy. She was already practically a teenager, but her height was just over half of mine and she weighed about forty kilos, it was easy for me to lift her in one arm and take her half-asleep back to the car as I had always done. On the way, we kept chatting. She was keen to know more about my younger sister, whom I've mentioned to her on many occasions, but I've never managed to introduce her to her:

—Does she look like you?

—No, Yanmei is very pretty. But she does fight like me.

—Surely if we go to ask in the ravine of the pirates, they will know about her. We should go see what's going on there, Cyan. What if Rain is right and the materials are being stolen? Maybe it's better to give them the money and let my friends build the houses with recycled or natural materials.

—And then they are going to sing about fight hate with love and Saint Peter magically will be built, which will be better called “Saint Steven Universe” ....

—Don't make fun, Cyan, I mean it.

—I'll be honest, I'm afraid I'll find my sister. I have survived all this time forcing myself to believe that Angenoir did not touch her, that he respected her age and only has her as a replacement for his daughter. I don't want to stop thinking like that.

—What if not and she's suffering? There are bad men who deceived the girls of the Sky Village by telling them that they would marry them and take them to live in Gardenia, but in reality, they only took them to prostitute them.

I sighed and answered, painfully:

—It's a possibility. But it would be too late.

—Do women stop being worth or feeling after they suffer gender violence?

—No. But I fear that she has become like some women, who believe that every humiliation and deception they receive from men is a reward. There are some so foolish that they see rapes as proof that they are beautiful to the point that men cannot contain themselves when they see them...

—Isn't that so?!

—No. Rape is... A form of attack that some have and serves to degrade someone, to frighten or punish them. Not any man can do it, but any woman can suffer from it. Even other men. Whoever suffers from it does not gain anything, what they need is revenge. Justice.

—Wouldn't you avenge your sister?

—Yes... But you yourself say that we must forgive and forget, that we should be grateful for those things because they make us strong and are experienced! I can't...

She remained silent, at that moment I think I made her see the contradiction between her thoughts and feelings. Then I commented:

—I always let you talk, because I'm sure you say it because you read it on the internet and the queen really liked hearing it and Angel would like everyone to be like that, like cotton candy. But how do you ask a girl to thank her rapist because by breaking her, supposedly and in some way, he made her stronger? The sheep defending the wolf... I didn't say anything when I listened to you, or to other girls from Gardenia, because in the end I am the minister of justice and public security and for me those are empty words that I don't have to refute, but neither do I have to believe and respect. A string of lies as long as the culprit is not pursued and in the end the victim ends up being the bad one. I didn't tell you anything, but now I tell you: many times, you have fallen into the trap of useful fools. Yes, I want to avenge my sister, yet I am still her brother. If I find her lying in a brothel, drugged, sick, or dead, I won't be able to be in my role as a military leader. I'll break down, too. That way I will not be able to be strong and do justice.

I continued walking with her in my arms in silence through the city illuminated by its golden light lanterns, a little drizzle began to fall and Uoliena said to me:

—It feels great when you take me like this at night. It's cold all around, but I'm warm under your cloak, you always smell of soap and tangerines.

—Tangerines?!

I asked her while laughing. She replied:

—Yes... Every girl should have a moment of peace and well-being at the end of the day. To go to rest peacefully in a clean, warm and safe bed. We must go check to see if your sister has that, Cyan. She is your sister; we cannot leave her to her fate. You must be brave, don't you see?

It took me a while to get back to her, it wasn't until we got to the car, and I told her she was right; The next day we would go to see what was happening in the pirate’s ravine. Then I went to leave her at the gates of the palace where Angel was already waiting for her and returned home. I could hardly sleep. I didn't want to go face reality.

The next morning, before the sun rose as was my custom on weekdays, I got ready to go out and as protocol dictated, I called my mother who attended the communications of the Hot Pot and informed her that I would go to the pirates' ravine to see how the situation was. She asked me, or rather ordered me, not to go alone but to bring some of our men with me. There were strong rumors that the area was quite complicated. Before leaving Gardenia, I went to a café for breakfast, there I found Conny, and she invited me to sit at her table. She looked gorgeous as always, but I couldn't bring myself to try my luck with the most popular woman in Celes. Conny was starting to build a small media empire on the island, she was a big name in TV, radio, and social media, and she was planning to shoot her first film in our Celestine lands. Some said that would never have happened if Estelle Angenoir hadn't died, but I knew that Estelle didn't have half the charisma that Conny had. Her presence hit you like a surge of fiery wind from the coast. She was the host of the newscast, she also had a morning talk show, and a nightly talk show in which she shared gossip about international entertainment and not infrequently about “well-known” people from Celes: almost always me, for having hit someone or for having greeted a woman which was enough to make them said that she was my lover and had five of my children. I was a little tired of that situation, but she told me to “be patient”:

—I'd never say anything that really makes you look bad, Cyan! But it is good that you are perceived as a manly man and desired by women.

—Desired by women? The last time a woman made advances to me was when an old lady threw her teeth at me to send me a kiss during a public event. I still keep her teeth...

—Cyan, you never notice when girls are flirting with you...

—But I'm always keeping an eye on the relationships of those around me. What's going on with you and Eiden?

—Eiden Ishikawa?! Really?

—I must ask, Ilmari is my cousin.

—Eww! It's like a fifty-year-old creep in the body of a sixteen-year-old nerd! He flirts with all women and does a good job as prime minister, but nothing more. If he's bragging that he has something with me, then I'm telling you it's not true. Ilmari Ishikawa is a very good girl, I would never help him betray her. I would never get involved with a man who already has a partner, I'm not a hoe! My lowest moment was Michel Angenoir, and you don't know how much I regret it.

I stared at my coffee for a moment and finally said:

—My younger sister married him. My parents gave them their blessing so... It happened.

— What?! But are your parents really that stupid? I mean...

—Yes, yes, I understand what you're thinking... Just now I was going to check out the area where Angenoir is supposed to be working to see if I can hear from my sister. I'll go with Uoliena Oread.

—Can I accompany them? You may need help with Uoliena, I can accompany her if you are busy.

I hadn't considered that if things got bad and Uoliena got scared she wouldn't be able to attend to her, so Conny went with us. We left Gardenia heading south, on the way we saw the famous house of Leif Petersen, alias L. Specter, a symbol of rebellion in Celes. The last time I saw it was a simple cabin, by that time it was already a mansion and that smelled too much like a synthetic French architect... For what we see, the rural area of Celes was on his plans. We got closer to the coast, I honestly thought I had taken the wrong direction, I could see nothing but the edge of the cliff and the sea in the background. I stopped the car and with me the other vehicles that accompanied us stopped, I got out to look around and check the map on my phone. I suddenly heard a whistle in the distance. I turned to look and saw Leif riding towards me on his horse. I waited for him with my fists resting on my hip and the sun stinging my eyes until he came smiling and I told him:

—I saw your house; you must already have money to buy a car. Why are you still on horseback?

—Because I don't understand at all fucking technology, haha! I saw you passing in front of my house. Are you going to the old pirate ravine? You can't enter there if I don't accompany you, the Sky Village is a baby shower compared to that.

—Do you think? We've got quite a few bullets here. By the way, your sister is pregnant again.

—She named Leif the first child, I forgive her.

I shrugged my shoulders and suddenly Conny came racing over. Uoliena followed her, always so shy. The Latina held out her hand to Leif and gave him a friendly greeting:

—Mr. Specter, I'm Consuelo del Mar. I've wanted to interview you for a long time. We haven't had the chance to chat properly since our last meeting, but if you're free, I'd like to have a quick word with you...

—Ah-ha...

Leif replied, shaking her hand and looking over the sunglasses at Uoliena. She didn't say hello to him. Then my strange albino cousin said to the two of them:

—You are two bitches, now bark.

Conny glared at him and said something rude, but Uoliena let out a bark involuntarily. Then Leif touched the brim of his hat to Conny and replied:

—Maybe another day, Consuelo. I see that the blonde is the weak link, be careful. Leave the cars and follow me.

Conny just stared at him in disbelief and walked away, still angry, then asked me, rubbing her brows:

—Is he your enemy or your friend? Is he against the crown or in favor? I don't get it...

—He's not anyone's enemy, he just resents being repressed. Come on, we must go with him.

We all went after Leif, who tied his horse to a tree and made a few calls. The last one he made by coming up to me to put his arm around my shoulders and talk loud enough for me to hear him:

—Hey Frenchie! Guess who's coming to visit you... No, your brother-in-law. What do you mean you're busy? At least let us see Yanmei.

There was a silence in which Leif listened attentively, then answered:

—I promise you that they are not going to fight and if they do, I will mediate as an older cousin.

Then he hung up the call and told me:

—Yanmei is still angry with you.

He then led us to the edge of the cliff, where hidden from view was a staircase that led down to a new village hidden in the cliffs. I could see that this thing in charge of making the “habitats” for the Celestines, my brother-in-law, had shone there not only as an architect but also as an engineer. Somehow, he managed to lay foundations in the rock to hang from the cliffs a labyrinth of baroque-style houses with details alluding to the sea; There were alleys made of pebbles, mosaics of tiles and terraces with palm trees. Perhaps the new marriage had made him feel nostalgic for his youth, “when he was new” back in 1800... At that time, I didn't think about “I'm not really dealing with a person”, and up to this day I don't know whether to say that Angenoir deserves the same rights as a human being.

To be honest, that day I was just mad because he'd taken my sister. When Leif told me where their house was, I asked him to wait for me outside; I went in knocking down the door and drawing my gun. I started looking everywhere until found Angenoir's office where he was working on his blueprints, and I emptied the magazine of my gun on him without a word. He didn't even blink. The bullets just dented him. He stared at me for a while tapping the table with his pencil, finally sighed and said:

—Well, I had already solved the saltpeter problem. Now I'll have to think about what to do about surprise shootings. I'm sorry for the unrealistic wounds, they stole the mechanism that pumped the alleged blood.

Then he checked his drawers, pulled out a new face, swapped the old one for this one, and told me:

—The suit is ruined.

—Where's my sister?!

I yelled at him. Suddenly a huge force hit me from behind, before I could realize what was happening, I had already been hit several more times, and they didn't stop until Micky himself got in the way, he was also beaten, and then I could see that we had been attacked by Yanmei. Then she yelled at me: “What are you doing to my husband?!” as if she hadn't just kicked him as if he were an old can. I replied by crossing my arms and leaning my back against a wall:

—Go away, Yanmei. I'm not going to fight you. I don't hit women under any circumstances, we will arrange this between men.

—My husband can't fight! Look at him, he's useless, he just sits there and takes the blows!

—No one forced you to marry him...

—Don't you realize that I am deeply in love and this house is full of love!!

She shouted furiously making the furniture fly around, I glanced at Micky out of the corner of my eye. He said resigned:

—It's like living with a Poltergeist.

Then I said to him in a threatening tone:

—She's still a child, if you've touched her...

—Does that worry you? I won't make it clear to you, it's part of my revenge. Maybe I've already consummated the marriage, or maybe I'll do it until she's an adult. Remember the night when Estelle was dying, and you were more worried about the problems of Emi Ishikawa and her family. You don't know how to choose your priorities because you are not honest with yourself or with others, your life will suffer stumbling blocks and stagnation until you understand it and dare to follow a straight path. Until then, I'm going to get paid by making a new Estelle with the help of your younger sister.

Then he went to his desk, opened another drawer and took out a test tube, explaining:

—For now, your sister's babies are the porcelain dolls that years ago I gave her, and she brought from her house. You can deduce that if my flesh is plastic and my mind is a combination of algorithms that mimic thought, I don't have human organs, and I will have a hard time getting intimate with a real woman. But I have a synthetic substitute! Ready for when you need to apply it... You will understand. Of course, sperm made in a laboratory does not work as well as real sperm, it is only good for fathering children who look like me, but they die young. I've already told your sister. She'll have to bury all the children she has with me.

I turned to look at Yanmei and she said:

—I don't care! Love is blind and you can't force it out, Cyan. You're going to have to get me out of this house dead or I'm going to beat you out.

At that moment Leif came in and intervened:

—Leave her, Cyan! She is foolish, life will teach her. And you also stop provoking your brother, Yanmei. We don't hit women. If you insist, I'll have to fight on your behalf, even though I have nothing against Cyan.

—Then do it. Get him out of my house.

My sister said and I left saying:

—I get out of my own way because I hate to be in the house of a gigantic fool. But if you want to give me a rematch from the last fight we had, Leif, come. I'm angry and I need to hit something less delicate than my brother-in-law. I thought you were more of a man, Angenoir!

The guy in question answered me, as he was going to meet my sister to take her by the hand:

—I cannot harm a human being or allow him to suffer harm, it is my only moral rule. I'm not here to argue about trivial matters. I'm here to follow orders as long as they don't endanger the community. Let me try to continue to exist in peace and without disturbing anyone else.

Leif commented, taking off his coat:

—When the problem is about women, Michel is basically a talking vibrating dildo. Take revenge for your sister's honor if you can, Cyan. That's how real men do things!

—What do you intend to get if I lose?

I asked him as we left and the group waiting for us outside took a prudent distance. Leif replied:

—Plead for me to the queen. Ask her to give me another chance as minister of agriculture and public works. It's not fair that they give it to that girl just to give her a position of power. It is obvious that she is not doing anything for the people, nor will she.

Uoliena turned pale and hid behind Conny, who wanted to say something, but bit her lips. Unfortunately, there was nothing to say to contradict him. So, I just shrugged my shoulders into the deal and started preparing for the fight by uncovering my torso. By 2017 I already weighed 110 kilos and was 195 centimeters tall, the uniforms that Estelle gave me no longer fit me and I had to keep them as a beautiful memory in my closet. I was finally equal in size to Leif. I knew that my crazy Mystical cousin wasn't going to let me win, if I defeated him, it was because I really could. I felt a mixture of nervousness and excitement, especially because I was being watched by Conny again and my sister Yanmei was also watching me from a balcony. Leif, still a little bigger and more muscular than me, had confidence painted on his face. In those brief seconds, I remembered all the hours of training, all the times I had dreamed of this moment since the time he tore me to shreds and I ended up in Estelle's bed. Then Leif lunged at me, and it all became real. At first it was a test of patience and strategy. Leif attacked again with powerful punches without mercy, forcing me to keep my reflexes at maximum, dodging and countering when he saw an opening. I felt the sweat beading my forehead, but my concentration was at its peak. I knew Leif well, I had studied his movements, I knew he had the advantage of speed and experience, but I managed to hit him with an accurate blow that made him lose his balance. However, he jumped up and put himself on guard again, already somewhat impatient. His attacks became more aggressive, but also more careless. I took every opportunity to land my own punches, seeing that confidence began to waver in his eyes. In a desperate attempt to knock me down, he managed to bring me to the ground. But there, in the field of handto-hand fighting, my military training made the difference. I managed to reverse the position, taking control and looking for a submission. Somehow, he managed to break free and got back on his feet. We were both already tired, but I knew that this was my moment. I took advantage of a mistake in his defense to throw myself with a series of precise punches. I saw him stagger and I didn't hesitate. With a kick I carried him to the ground and secured a guillotine, squeezing with all my might. I felt his resistance diminish until finally, with a tap on my arm, he gave up. I helped him up and he gave me a rough hug and said:

—Well, it looks like you're really grown up already.

—I'm a few days away from my eighteenth birthday.

I reminded him, he replied:

—Then, be mature as a leader too and reconsider asking to get me reappointed as Minister of Agriculture and Public Works. It's serious.

—You don't have a good reputation, Leif. First, for building your house in an area without permits. Now because of the rumors that the people who support you here in the ravine steal materials from the buildings of Saint Peter.

—Leave prejudices at home, Cyan. Most of my people don't just live here, they are just hard-working and restless people like me. We have our own rules and laws here, very different from the gang of lazy sociopaths who have moved to the rich people's beach. Anyone who doesn't like our rules...

Leif said, staring at Uoliena, who looked at him with resentment because he was accusing her dear friends:

—…I hypnotize them and order them to throw themself off the cliff.

I was afraid that Uoliena would throw herself off the cliff, but luckily that didn't happen, and Leif just laughed and went to get dressed. I glanced back at Yanmei one last time. I could see a certain pride in her eyes, but nothing more, she was clinging to one of Micky's arms who, with his hands in his pockets, looked at everything indifferently. As the years went by, I came to understand that the architect of Celes didn't really care about us, he just liked to see us interact and move in the spaces he had designed for us. He simply had orders to carry out. As we were leaving back in the car, Uoliena burst into tears and didn't want anyone to touch her. Conny explained to me:

—When you were inside Angenoir's house, a crowd of men surrounded us, and they began to say that they would kill the soldiers and rape Uoliena and me. I did my best to control the situation by making the men take everything as a joke and at the same time trying to reassure Uoliena, but we came close to ending badly.

Fortunately, Emi Ishikawa showed up at that moment, accompanied by her bodyguards from the Society of Azrael, and the crowd dispersed. They're afraid of her. As soon as the men realized we knew her, they apologized and said we're welcome in the ravine anytime.

—Emi Ishikawa?

I asked her surprised, she said:

—Yes, she had been following me. Today I realized it. She came to ask me what I knew about Michel Angenoir, I told her the truth. That he was living there with his new wife. Then she left. Did I do wrong?

—It shouldn't have to be that way.

I responded at that moment more worried about Uoliena, a new trauma was adding to her problems. We returned to Gardenia at night, I said goodbye to my men from the Hot Pot, I went to drop Conny at her house and I was already returning to the palace to leave Uoliena when I heard an explosion. My friend was still having a panic attack, but I had to choose between her and public safety; So, I asked her to be strong while I went to see what was happening because that is my duty as a soldier. I drove through the streets following the column of smoke that rose above the buildings until I reached the headquarters of the Society of Azrael. Someone had detonated a bomb on the rooftops, causing a fire.

Some of my colleagues were already there, lamenting that they didn't have a fire truck and that in fact there was no fire department. They were trying to extinguish the fire with old hoses connected to hundred-yearold hydrants. A fellow found a sign hanging on the door of the building, saying that the ravine of the pirates had declared a civil war. Shortly after Micky Angenoir called me to find out what the situation was in his building and I informed him of everything, I also mentioned that I felt there was a lack of disaster preparation in his designs. He answered angrily into the phone:

—That's your job! I've done enough with not using flammable materials, but no one told me “Build for an unsafe and violent city where the authorities are useless”! And what is this “civil war”? Nom de dieu de merde, everyone here is asleep! Nobody talks about war!

—So, it wasn't the men in the ravine?

—No! Now do your work and investigate!

Then he hung up on me angrily and I stayed for a while thinking while I saw the flames. Emi's visit to the pirate ravine couldn't have been a coincidence, especially before the attack on the building where Micky's collaborators met. I thought about going to confront her at the Ishikawa village, but then Uoliena grabbed my arm and simply said, "I'm hungry."

Once the fire was out, I took her to a nearby burger place to let Angel know she was safe with me and that I was handling the situation. As was her custom, she took her meat out of the hamburger, gave it to me, and ate bread with lettuce and fries. I was lost in my problems and hardly paid attention to her; after eating she asked me as always to go for a walk around the city. The streets were lonelier than ever, frightened people went into their homes. We went to a nearby park full of trees and fountains, and there Uoliena spoke to me:

—I don't want to be raped.

—That will never happen.

I told her calmly, she insisted:

—Yes, it can happen, because I freeze, and I don't know how to defend myself. And there are always men...

—There will always be men, Uoliena...

—But also...

At that point she began to cry and continued talking:

—I still can't stop thinking about penises. I watch pornography, I talk about it with unknown people online, I draw them on the sly... I can't help it, it's compulsive, and I feel anxious and guilty about this... If they don't rape me as I fear, I'll still go find a man, because I want it to happen.

—What?! Are you an idiot?!

I asked her puzzled and a little annoyed, she went on to say:

—That's the only way I could stop the obsession, convincing myself that it's not what I really want, that I really like girls. My worst fear is losing my virginity as it was going to happen now, by force and with someone horrible. I'd rather it be with you, Cyan. Do it to me, please.

—Hell, no...

I replied seriously and hastening my pace, she whimpered:

—Please! I don't ask you to like it. I won't like it either. But if it must happen, it should happen with you.

I kept walking and she shouted at me:

—If it's not you, it'll be anyone else! A stranger, a bum, a palace gardener, any other! I'll find a man for it when no one is looking and ask him to do it!

Horrified at the idea, I paused for a moment to evaluate her proposal. Still with the testosterone in turmoil after the fight and seeing Conny, it somehow seemed reasonable to me. We were on a stone bridge with no one around, totally alone. I swallowed hard and told her:

—Take off all your clothes, I want you to look like any other woman, not like my friend.

She undressed trembling and standing in front of me, I hated the idea of giving her a hard time, but I wanted to take away her damn curiosity once and for all and also her already developed body tempted me. After years of not having sex, I needed it. I pulled down my fly and took everything off without any ceremony. She turned her face away, blushing, but looking out of the corner of her eye. I spat out my erect member to lubricate it and scare her away a little, I assumed that she would be happier being a lesbian, then I ordered her to turn around and lean against the stone fence of the bridge. Her body reminded me a bit of Estelle's and I took advantage of this by asking her:

—Stand on tiptoe.

She did it slowly and that was what I needed to finish warming me up. I could perceive when her hymen broke and the incredible tightness of her virginity. It felt better than all the previous times I've had sex. I did it relentlessly and in silence until I got rid of all my desire; Uoliena was livid and panting, leaning against the fence, bathed in the sweat and dew of the early morning. At that very moment I felt bad, like a hypocrite. I was annoyed by Michel Angenoir for making my sister fall in love and there I was finishing deflowering a girl even younger than Yanmei. I ordered her to get dressed and when he finished, I told her:

—Well, now you know how a man feels.

I saw that she had a hard time walking, so I took her in my arms and carried her as many times before when I took her for a walk around the city and she got sleepy. I could feel that she hugged me with special tenderness and kissed my neck, I also kissed his hair. Then I realized that she had liked it, but I was regretful.


 

THE CIVIL WAR IN CELES

 

The morning after the attack on the headquarters of the Azrael society I woke up in Uoliena's bed, hugging her tenderly, but not because I loved her as a woman but because I felt guilty and did not know how to tell her and ask for forgiveness. She had a slight smile, hugging her stuffed animals and surrounded by all her toys and posters of Japanese cartoons. I tucked her in and let her continue sleeping alone and leave her room. I went down from the rooftop to one of the men’s bathrooms of the palace and there I puked. I felt physically and emotionally ill. I called Eiden and there, hid in the palace toilets, confessed everything to him. He replied:

—Wait, I had to come to the garden with my son Leif to talk away from Ilmari who is cooking breakfast. In any case, little Leif needs to stay out here for five minutes to think about what he did. He's being punished. I showed him a video of me from when I was his age and spoke in public, and he threw his tablet on the floor saying: “that bad boy is not you”.

—Don't worry about your son, Eiden, it's normal. I also hated you when you were a kid.

—Yes, I saw that you're on the Uoliena team... And why Uoliena? Were you so desperate?

—She's not ugly, Eiden, it's just that she's not the kind of girl I want as a girlfriend and at her age it's a crime...

Eiden sighed, saying:

—I would say yes, but we are in a legal void here where we still don’t make the change in the age of consent. She's already over twelve, and you're still a minor because you're just a few days away from turning eighteen. 

—It's still bad, Eiden. It feels bad. I'm afraid she's pregnant; I would like to ask Ilmari for help, she knows about emergency contraception and that. But if I tell her what happened, she's going to ask me to marry the girl, that's our custom. In Adalsteinn and in the Hot Pot girls must marry virgins and for life, and if you deflower one out of wedlock you must marry, or they will see you as a scoundrel.

—In that case, all of Gardenia and a good part of Ishikawa village are scoundrels!

—Fuck, Eiden, respect our cultures...

—I'll give you the contraceptives, I'm going to tell Ilmari that they're to supply the clinics in the Sky Village or something. She believes me everything. Women in love are somewhat foolish. If the baby that comes is a girl, the first thing I will do is make her learn to control her emotions. Uoliena is the perfect example of this feminine defect.

—Do you think she's in love?

—I saw her very attached to you since before... Don't feel bad, do like the old people, who when they deflower a young girl pretend that they did her a favor by “making her a woman”. Although you and I know that after having sex you are the same, if not a little more confused and sillier, what changes your life and character is when your first child is born! Then you see the real shit and you realize that you are already an adult.

I lit a cigarette and answered:

—I don't want to have children yet, Eiden. You and Ilmari look very happy, but I don't want to change diapers all day like you do, or live looking after a baby and a spouse. Not yet. I'm still not sure if I want to be in a relationship all the time. And I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

—It's late, my friend... Women want to imitate the worldly men by saying that they can have casual sex, without involving feelings, but it is something very unpredictable. If they feel like it, they'll suddenly say that they fell in love and that you broke their heart. You can't really complain, though. You're painted as the bad guy, even though she told you from the start that it was just a casual thing.

—It sounds like it's already happened to you...

—It doesn't matter! I'm just telling you that in the future it's better not to take risks with friends and only hire a professional. And remember: “he who goes to bed with children, wakes up peed”. Avoid women who are too young, there is a very discreet club where girls have a medical certificate... 

—Eiden, no! How do I get rid of Uoliena now?

—You just fucked her one time and that's it, sometimes it happens. Be honest, tell her you don't want anything else.

—That's horrible... And it's funny that you tell me just the same thing that your grandfather Angenoir told me... To be sincere...

—That's another guy with bad luck. Yesterday my aunt called me indignantly complaining about me not stopping the works in the pirate canyon and in the background just resentful because the grandfather is married to your sister. Then himself called me, he was furious because the headquarters of the Society of Azrael had been burned. 

I exhaled the smoke of the cigarette and pointed out:

—Don't you see a connection there? Your aunt Emi gets angry with Micky Angenoir, and hours later he has a building burned. It's like a lot of coincidence...

—I don't know... I was hoping that you would call me today to tell me whether to take seriously the supposed declaration of war, which I still don't really know from who it comes from. But you ended up bringing me news of two bombs, not just one, ha haha!

—I think they are gossips, the only people with enough power to declare war on us would be Leif Specter and Michel Angenoir, but we cannot take as enemies those who have ideas different from ours despite the fact that they are also interested in the benefit of the island. We are talking about someone who acts under pure resentment, emotions. Weren't you telling me that women when they let themselves be carried away by feelings do silly things...?

—Ah... You're accusing my aunt because you're tense and confused. Look, I know how to get rid of Uoliena, I'll send you to study criminology outside Celes for a few years. This way you can play detective with scientific bases and not just inventing old lady gossips. I see you at the headquarters of the Society of Azrael at eight o'clock, we must meet with Mr. Angenoir there. I can't refuse, he's the richest man in Celes... 

—He or his owners?... Angenoir is basically a product of a French brand.

—You criticized my empowered aunt and now you will criticize my grandfather Michel foreign investment Angenoir...

—Great, I'll see you there...

I left the palace immediately, avoiding meeting Uoliena, and went to my house to shower in a hurry.

When I arrived at the headquarters of the Society of Azrael, fifteen minutes before eight, I found that Conny was already recording for the local news. She took me by surprise asking if I could give a statement and I just shrugged my shoulders looking at the ground and moving a pebble with my shoe. She skillfully took attention away from me by asking a citizen something, then cut off and went to talk to me in private:

—What's wrong with you? You look terrible. Are you okay?

—It's... I don't know, maybe the flu.

—Do you want me to take you to a doctor, can I bring you an aspirin? Did you eat breakfast?

She questioned me, touching my forehead and putting on my uniform, I replied:

—No, that's fine. I'm just tired. It was a horrible night.

Then Eiden appeared very smiling eating from a plastic container:

—Good morning, everyone! I brought potato cakes, Ilmari made a lot. Only the ones at the bottom were burned, but they can still be eaten. Try them!

Conny reproached him:

—Ishikawa, this is a serious and formal act. The head of Azrael's society is going to appear in public and that is something that does not happen every day.

Then she began to devour the potato cakes and Eiden replied:

—It doesn't matter, no one will see us. Mr. Angenoir always asks not to be photographed or filmed. He doesn't want to be in the media.

—What? And what shall I do? Just take notes and watch his scrawny butt live?

—Look on the bright side: his scrawny butt is the oldest and most expensive item in the building, and he didn't burn.

They both burst out laughing and just then a caravan of cars arrived. Before I knew who the director of the Azrael Society was, I had already seen that spectacle, the armored vehicles and the bodyguards hiding someone, so that later in the night the damn Micky went out to wander the streets and argue with the old women who parked in front of the facades of his buildings. Quickly, Eiden and Conny ate all the cakes and hid the plastic container around, then fixed their clothes and hair and ran to the point where they were supposed to receive Micky, the rooftop. I went after them listlessly and depressed. We had to climb all the floors of the building by stairs, the appearance of the place was deplorable, everything burned except for the structure of the building itself. Carpets, curtains, and furniture were just layers of scorched grime. When we finally reached the rooftop, where there was a garden and the super private secret and special office of Mr. Michel Angenoir that kept very valuable works of art and a lot of historical pieces, we found a large mountain of rubble that was still smoking. Eiden, Conny, and I were speechless and unable to take our eyes off the disaster. Eiden managed to murmur, still seeing the spoils:

—How much money has been lost? Grandpa is going to cement me in the foundations of his next building as a sacrifice to the gods of architecture. 

Conny said to him, with a horrified face:

—Nah, he's a pacifist. He's just going to insult you until his throat melts from so much mispronouncing words.

—But he wasn't your boyfriend or something?

—Don't remind me that, I'll never look again at a faint-hearted man who goes around looking for innocent girls because he knows a real woman would instantly reject him.

When Conny said that it hurt like a stab. In recent years I had been fighting the urge to admit that I liked her more than anyone else, I was terrified of falling in love with such a special woman; however, I always tried to impress her, to like her. All my hopes of being with her could go to waste when she discovered that I was not really the incorruptible hero she imagined. Then Eiden, without much tact said: “that reminds me”; Then he took a box of emergency contraception pills from his pocket and gave it to me. I kept it embarrassed while Conny looked intrigued and luckily just then Micky Angenoir came up with his entourage of rich old men and my sister turned into a conceited diva holding his hand. Eiden looked at her in surprise and whispered almost in my ear:

—Look at that babe... Where did he get her? 

—It's my sister, the one who was in love with you! When you married Ilmari she married your grandfather out of spite. She's just a year younger than you...

I informed him by speaking languidly. He muttered surprised:

 —For fuck's sake, Cyan... I would have accepted her!

—It's too late. She never forgave you for preferring her cousin. But at least you have your potato cakes.

Yanmei, who was annoying since she was a child, had become a monster after two years of being pampered by her spoiling husband. I honestly doubt that my sister and Michel Angenoir had sex during the early years of their eccentric marriage, but I don't really know. Foreign technology cannot be trusted, and it had already stolen my data and my sister. The truth is that that morning Yanmei behaved like a spoiled child, and it was evident that Micky had her as a replacement for Estelle. Seeing all the ruined furniture and documents, Yanmei shouted, insulted us, threw things, threw herself on the floor, and in short, threw a tantrum like a two-year-old girl. If our mother had been there, she would have picked her up with a flying kick, but since she was already a married lady she was only accountable to her husband who let her do what she wanted and when she calmed down a little he simply lit a cigarette in the flames that were still left, picked up the remains of a half-melted device with blades,  He examined it and later handed it to me, saying:

—They used a drone to bring the explosive. Only a young and wealthy person would have this in Celes. An airport needs to be built; you need to bring in some supplies quickly.

—What is needed?

I asked him, he replied:

—Weapons, more weapons. I can't tell you what to do with it, just give you the means. You'll know what's best for maintaining a comfortable environment in Celes.

Suddenly realized that my sister was screaming and fighting with Conny; I just felt a little sicker and sighed discouraged. But my brother-in-law looked at her with a certain pride and tenderness, saying to me:

—Yanmei is perfect. She looks like Emi, reminds me of Estelle and makes me feel appreciated without being cheesy. 

—A few years ago, I saw Estelle's birth certificate. His mother is already seventy years old... I looked her up online, she looks like your grandmother. What will you do when Yanmei starts to look older, and you still look like a fifteen-year-old boy?

—There is a way to prevent that from happening. 

—How?

I asked him in surprise, he replied enigmatically:

—Ask Emi Ishikawa. Tell her I've been thinking about it since Estelle's death was approaching, but I didn't dare. Yanmei, on the other hand, is willing to do anything to always be by my side.

Then he shouted to my sister: 

—I forgot to tell you that that woman hated me at the end and got a restraining order against me, Yanmei! Allons-y, it's getting late, I've got something to do.

Obedient and cocky, my sister finally let go of Conny, who dismissed her by throwing a shoe at her and wishing her:

—Enjoy your skinny, boring French husband! You're both alike!

—At least the man I liked did propose to me and I got married. You are already over twenty years old and the one you love ignores you completely. You are going to dress saints from waiting for it so much!

Yanmei replied, looking conceited, while Conny turned red. I took advantage of the fight to withdraw, I had to see Uoliena, although I didn't want to. I went to look for her in her room, without beating around the bush I told her to take the contraceptive. I was a little relieved to see her swallow the pill, she noticed it and got a little offended:

—Did the idea of having a baby with me bother you so much? I wasn't looking to end up like Eiden and Ilmari either... Their life seems tedious and oppressive...

—Right... Yeah, a little...

I said without looking her in the eye. I was uncomfortable in her always dark room only illuminated by the light of her computer screens and neon light ornaments. She went to lock the door of the room and said to me:

—Let's just be boyfriend and girlfriend. 

Then she undressed and we did it again. I don't even know why, I didn't feel like it, it was something automatic. That afternoon, I met with Angel and the Queen to inform them that I had a relationship with Uoliena. They were surprised, but they had so much trust and respect for me that neither of them objected. I felt horribly guilty. I asked them to leave the relationship private, and they agreed. The queen only set a limit for us to see each other, she did not want me to visit Uoliena after ten o'clock at night and Uoliena protested in a rebellious and ungrateful way:

—That doesn't make sense. If I want to have sex with Cyan, I can do it during the day and anywhere else outside the palace, he doesn’t need to be here.

After this, the queen was speechless, and I think that for a few seconds Uoliena felt like a great mature and strong woman or something like that; but then the queen said to her:

—Then pack up your things and go live with Cyan at once.

I was speechless. My whole world fell apart. I had to go with her and start picking up her clothes and things, realizing that among the plush dolls and toys there was garbage, smelly clothes and rotten food; while I, a soldier, had my humble house neat and tidy. Then Angel arrived, he looked sad and worried, leaned against the lintel of the door and told us:

—They attacked another building. Again, with a drone. Come on, Cyan, I'll continue to help Uoliena. 

I nodded languidly and put on my cloak and cap again. Angel asked me, while he was putting knick-knacks in boxes:

—Are you sure of this?

—I try to be responsible. I thank the queen that at least when she felt hurt, she reacted. It would have been worse if, for lack of character, she had consented to Uoliena's whims and my breach of trust. I think this experience will help us both mature, but we were able to avoid this hard lesson just by respecting what we knew was a limit...

I answered him in a muffled voice. Uoliena then exclaimed, in a defiant tone:

—Well, I don't regret it. This has not been a mistake or something to be ashamed of, but a valuable lesson that will make me stronger. I would do it again without hesitation.

I, knowing that she didn't really work at anything, that she couldn't even clean her room, and it would have to be my responsibility to feed her, wash her clothes and take care of her like a pet rather than a girlfriend, lost my patience and slapped her. Then Angel pushed me and threatened:

—Cyan, if you raise your hand to her again, I swear I'll kill you! What the fuck with you?

I didn't answer him, I left without looking back. Outside, as I drove through Gardenia, sirens could be heard, this time it was two columns of smoke, people were running through the streets, my phone wouldn't stop ringing; they were Angenoir, Eiden, my father, the queen, all at once. I suddenly couldn't take it anymore. I parked next to a grove of trees and started crying inconsolably with my face resting on the steering wheel. I then heard banging on the windows of the car. I wiped my face on the sleeve of my jacket and looked to see who it was. It was Conny, who had arrived just in time to see me at my worst. I got out of the car, and she took my hands, worried:

—What's going on?! Tell me, only fools keep their sorrows to themselves. Tell me what's wrong with you and if I can help you in whatever way I will.

—I had a fight with my girlfriend...

I confessed emotionally defeated, she replied, as if disappointed and sad:

—Ah, you have a girlfriend...

Then she recovered her spirits and exclaimed:

—Well, tell me! Everything has a solution. Let's talk a little while you calm down, you can't appear in public like this. The people must see you strong now more than ever.

Then we chatted for a while sitting on the sidewalk next to the car, watching the smoke and listening to the sirens. I told her everything, from when I saw Ilmari naked and tried to take her away from Eiden, when I got involved with Estelle and abandoned her in her agony, my murky relationship with Emi Ishikawa and finally the horrible courtship I just started with Uoliena. Conny sighed, stroked my back and opined:

—From the first time I saw you in the casino you seemed too naïve to me. That's why I wanted to wait until your eighteenth birthday to ask you out not only for work and to have a kind of private party... But now it's not a good idea with your girlfriend waiting for you at your house. You must go back and ask her for a sincere apology. And burn that hand! You know it's not about avoiding hitting women just because they're women. It's about showing compassion… You are physically stronger.

—I know, it is unethical to abuse one's own power. I have fallen to my lowest point and if this really became a war, I couldn't be at the front. I can't even stop crying to go see what happened. I'm a failure.

Conny took my hand saying:

—Hey, you've messed up in your personal life, but so far, you've done a good job keeping Celes safe. You must learn to separate business from pleasure, okay? The problem with Uoliena and Angel will be solved later. Now we must go and see what happened. They say they found more drones, if we pick them up and figure out which store sold them and to whom, we'll get to the culprits. I'll go by your side all the time, and if you feel like you're going to break down, take my arm and I'll pretend I'm feeling bad, so you take me somewhere away and take a break from people. What do you think?

I nodded accepting her idea and she hugged me, then I remembered the time my mother came to the palace to see me wearing the old uniform she had sewn for me, just after Ilmari rejected me; And I cried more. Conny put me on her lap and told me to cry as much as I felt like it; I did so for a few minutes, but already relieved of the anguish. Conny's support felt like coming home and being safe. When I started to feel a little better, she cleaned my face and composed my uniform reminding me:

—That time when Specter hit you and Angenoir made me cry, you did the same to me. I had to return the favor. You can always count on my friendship, Cyan. I'm not going to leave you in the lurch.

—You always see me making a fool of myself, I'm sorry...

—Bah, we all make a fool of ourselves from time to time. But true friends are the ones who see the world throwing tomatoes at you and sit next to you making ketchup. 

So, she finally put a smile on my face, and we went to see what was happening. Conny did me the favor of driving while I answered all the calls and messages, apologizing with the excuse of having my phone discharged. My father told me that they were waiting for me to show the press the remains of the drones, so Conny asked me to let her talk on the phone and said it would be better not to make those details public so as not to tip off the wrong people. Then she offered to help with the investigation and my father asked me to go and check the safety on the construction site of an emergency airstrip that was being built in the south of the island. That way, Conny saved me from being seen with a tearful face. I left her in Gardenia after another hug and the rest of the day I began to recover my spirits and courage.

At dusk I returned to my house, Uoliena was already installed there. I didn't like seeing my apartment flooded with toys and listening to Japanese pop music. I was crushed, so I went for a bath, I wanted to apologize before sleeping, but when I got out of the shower, she was playing online and talking to a lot of people. I decided to have dinner alone and wait for her to finish playing to talk to her. But at one o'clock in the morning she was still playing. I, exhausted, went to ask her to leave the computer for a while to talk. Uoliena did not turn it off, she looked annoyed for leaving who knows what halfway. We went to a corridor and there I told her:

—I'm sorry for hitting you. I had never assaulted a woman in my life, I feel terrible and regretful. I don't know what to do to repair the damage.

—We can have reconciliation sex. 

She replied. I really tried, but for the first time in my life I suffered from impotence. No matter how much she touched, licked and sucked... That didn't get hard. And Uoliena, very angry, asked me what was wrong. I apologized explaining:

—I really want to, but we've done it a lot of times since last night, I've barely slept, I have a headache, and I come from working all day outdoors paving a plot of land to make an emergency landing strip. 

—And what does that have to do with it?!

Uoliena screamed angrily. Now I know that in those cases you should stay calm and give oral sex or do manual work, but at that moment I panicked; I started touching myself trying to force an erection, but I only managed to hurt myself and Uoliena went quietly to continue playing. I went to sleep feeling humiliated as a man, but something comforted me a little: As I checked my phone one last time, I saw a goodnight message from Conny.

The next few days were terrible. Uoliena did nothing but pretend to study online, sleep and play. She didn't wash dishes, she didn't make the bed, she didn't change her clothes, she didn't even bathe, she just put perfume on and the smell of her genitals the first time I could smell them directly was something inhuman. And I know that many men are not bothered by these details, but I had just been with the two greatest divas of Celes, I was used to immaculate skin with a sweet and delicate aroma. I had to prove my mettle and hold back the gagging by swallowing some smegma, tallow, sweat, hair and the remains of who knows what. On the second day I made up the excuse that I was so tired and busy that we could only do it while we bathed together, so I could wash her before. It didn't take long for her to realize what was happening and she began to try to be more careful with her personal hygiene, but she also began to be resentful and distant with me. Luckily, shortly after she had her period and with that pretext, I was able to rest. 

Meanwhile, investigations continued in Gardenia. The climate in the city was tense, we had men on every corner, watching every suspicious-looking citizen and especially the sky. We put snipers on the rooftops of the tallest buildings and shot down three drones. Two were carrying explosive devices. We found out which stores sold the drones; they gave us the names of all the citizens who had bought them. One individual of particular interest was Landon Gianni, a 45-year-old very suspicious. He lived in Gardenia and was a computer engineer. We went to look for him at his house, but he wasn't there. I got a search warrant, and when we went into the house, we found a real mess—kind of like Uoliena's room. There were plush toys, cartoon posters, gallons of juice filled with urine, sex toys, video game consoles, computers, but nothing that gave a clue as to why he had bought the drones or evidence that he had made the explosives. Finding Landon became a priority, meanwhile we managed to detect in time two subjects in balaclavas and dark clothing tying a package to a drone. When my fellow from the Hot Pot who spotted them began to approach in their direction, they opened fire and barricaded themselves behind their car. They were well armed. The guys ended up dead, we managed to identify them as other Gardenia weirdos. They gave two new clues: they were living in the Saint Peter and in their car were pamphlets encouraging other Celestines to join “The Resistance” led by L. Specter. As soon as I was given this information, I went to Leif's house to question him personally and he answered me while playing his old guitar in peace:

—Prudes, if I wanted to set fire to a building, I would do it in front of everyone, sticking out my dick and while a band plays for me. I have nothing to do with it!

—Do you have any idea who might try to incriminate you?

I asked him and Leif said:

—I suspect I ended up in the middle of a fight between women. Yanmei Angenoir and Emi Ishikawa. I, of course, should have taken the side of my cousin Yanmei. 

—Why are they fighting? Jealousy?

—A few hundred years ago Emi stole a piece from Michel. The story is romanticized, they say it was “his heart”, but no. It was a mechanism that kept his flesh fresh. Originally his body was covered with human skin and muscles grown in a laboratory, they were nourished by means of that device that constantly injected them with who knows what substance to prevent the decomposition and aging of the organic parts. When Emi tore it off, they had to put on the removable cover of soft inorganic material that he has now.  

—Who repairs it and makes spare parts?

—His “developers”, a French company. At first, I didn't believe him, but if you look closely into his eyes you can see around his pupils the “Angenoir Wetware” brand printed on him.

—Why did you look closely into Micky's eyes?

—It doesn't matter. What interests you is this: there is a theory that Emi Ishikawa implanted this device herself to prevent the deterioration of her body. That is why she always remains young and beautiful. 

—It may be true, one night I looked at a strange scar hidden between her breasts.

—Huh? How did you see that? 

—It doesn't matter. The problem is that then it is possible that my sister wants this device so that she can live forever young with her sweetheart...

—Michel is quite Machiavellian. He doesn't kill his enemies directly, but if he must, he finds ways to do so.

After hearing this I was very alarmed, I went to the ravine of the pirates. I arrived just in time to see how they changed its name by putting an arch with the inscription “The Rose” at the entrance. I noticed that a swing had been set up in a nearby tree covered with flowers, and there was Yanmei admiring her wedding ring. I approached her and said:

—Did your new daddy give you a swing? “Rose” ... It's the name you chose for when you had your first daughter, and you didn't want Ilmari to take it before.

—Michel built the town of The Rose for me. It will always exist and will be like our firstborn.

—Do you really want to conceive children from a cocktail of chemicals made in a laboratory? Perhaps he himself realized that it is better for you to adopt a village. But if your husband will not die because he is not really a living being and The Rose will always exist, you should also live for centuries. How will you solve that?

—I don't know. Love can do everything. 

I looked at the sea for a while and then I asked her:

—Could your military training and martial arts skills help love?

Yanmei jumped off the swing and ran away, then I shouted at her watching her leave:

—You fell in love with something that took you away from your family and friends to pamper you like a little girl in a golden playpen! You are the richest and loneliest woman in Celes!

Then I went back home and felt sad thinking about my younger sister sacrificing everything to be the perfect rich spouse and watching Uoliena buy more toys now with my money. No adult was there to tell us what was right at that age. It made me angry to think about how when you are young you stumble through life while those who already know the way, perhaps out of malice, keep quiet and let you continue hurting yourself.

The next day, we were still investigating the mysterious Landon Gianni. I spent most of the day digging through his horrible apartment looking for clues and waiting for one of the few computer technicians on the island to come along to check his computers. We couldn't employ just anyone because we didn't know if they were trustworthy or would betray us in favor of the “resistance”. Finally, Angel offered himself for the job and we began to have progress. We got a picture, Landon was an obese guy, and on the internet, he used dozens of fake names. Angel proposed that we try to see if it was possible to track his current phones from his computer, so we did with his help and the clue led us to an inn in the buildings of Saint Peter. We agreed to go there at dawn the next day. I asked why we didn't go right away, Angel patted me on the back and said:

—Today you are turning eighteen. The boys and I will throw you a party on the rooftop of the palace.

It took me by surprise, I had totally forgotten about it. I was so busy and sad that I didn't check my family's notifications expecting they would be more reproaches or bad news. And also... My girlfriend at that time also forgot, Uoliena didn't even thank me for serving her breakfast that day. She also didn't say anything to me when I told her that we would meet for dinner at the Gardenia palace, rather she complained because she wanted to stay playing at home. At night, when I was going up the stairs to the rooftop, I met Eiden and Angel. After the hugs and congratulations, Eiden informed me:

—Your whole family has come. Your mother forced your sister to come with all and my weird grandfather, there are all the Petersens too. My father-in-law talks about how in Adalsteinn you should be castrated if you don't marry a girl you have deflowered, and your father praises his ideas. Haven't you told them you're with Uoliena?

I replied discouraged:

—No, I told you that they were going to want to marry us in a hurry and I'd rather jump off a cliff than spend the rest of my life with that girl… I'm fed up...

Angel said to me, offended:

—Then think about how delicate and fussy you are before you want to use decent shy girls as one-night stands. 

—Your decent shy girl doesn't even flush the toilet after going to the bathroom.

I replied angrily, we were going to get violent when Eiden stood between the two of us exclaiming:

—Friends let's be rational! Nobody wants Cyan and Uoliena to stay together, it was something that should never have happened in the first place. But we have already changed the age of consent. Now, I think that instead of waiting for the imminent discovery of the truth during the party, let's rush things and finally solve the situation. I'm going to pretend that I lecture Cyan, for her birthday and for the change of law, and you Angel just acts like you don't know it before.

Angel's answer was blunt:

—No, Eiden! I already told you that I don't like tricks. When are you going to understand that politics doesn't have to be all deceit and lies, and that this way of doing things only brings negative consequences in the end?

Eiden replied, adjusting his glasses:

—Do you want Uoliena to spend another night away from home, Angel? The palace is her home, she can't be anything other than a spoiled princess, she will never be able to carry out a ministry and she is hindering us all. Let me be a trickster this time. One last time.

We heard footsteps nearby, so we ran to hide in our secret lair: the men's restrooms. There we finished hatching our plan, when we left there was already boring party music playing on the rooftop. We went in and there was a weak applause, the ladies went to kiss me, my dad and uncle shook my hand, and Leif and my brotherin-law Angenoir wished me a Merry Christmas because after two bottles of rum one was already drunk and the other showing processing errors. Then, the party was divided into the usual boring groups: at the main table my dad telling stories that the queen and my uncle Teppo listened attentively; near the alcohol was Leif, Micky Angenoir and my aunt Norma carrying her confused grandson while arguing about everything; and sitting in a corner were my mom, Yanmei, and Ilmari talking about being wives and how important it was to be wives. Uoliena was in that last group and seemed to be bored to death. One thing I always admired about her was that she seemed to be the only woman in our intimate group who didn't limit herself to just settling for the idea of getting married and having kids. I felt sadness, guilt, I was able to help her much more. I was able to teach her to be disciplined, to defend herself, to overcome her fears; But instead, I took her to a park in the early hours of the morning like any street prostitute. I stared at her for a moment and felt horrible, then Eiden nudged me and murmured:

—The time has come!

I stopped him and whispered in his ear:

—What if Uoliena feels bad? 

—Don´t worry about her, she wants to escape from you too.

Angel also got ready by acting like he was busy drinking near us. Then Eiden spoke with a lot of seriousness. I always thought Eiden was more of a child actor than a politician:

—Friends and family, I'd like to ask for a few minutes of your attention if I might. I know we've all come together for a happy reason, but I think we should discuss a more serious matter that we should tackle together.

No one paid attention to him. Dad kept talking, Ilmari was showing her belly that was starting to grow, and Aunt Norma for some reason was beating her son Leif. Eiden continued his speech, raising his voice slightly:

—I think some of you are already aware of the relationship between Cyan and Uoliena...

Then everyone looked at him with a little attention, but Angel overreacted by spitting out his drink and shouting very distressed: “What?! Are you serious?! My God!” unleashing a tense silence. At that moment I wanted to laugh, perhaps because of nerves, but I had to stay serious; My whole face felt red from the effort, so I bit my lips and lowered my gaze, stiff and standing next to them. Eiden went on to speak:

—We have recently changed the law; the age of consent has risen to twenty-one.

A general murmur was heard. The only openly rebel present, Leif, shouted at him:

—Twenty-one years of waiting for the poor people, and you've been playing "hide the snake in the cave" from the age of thirteen. Good one, brother-in-law!

Eiden smiled at him out of commitment and went on to say:

—That change in the law, and the fact that Cyan turns eighteen today, makes the relationship between the two of them somewhat illegal. I would like all of us as a family to support them, as it is necessary for them to cut off their romance for their own good.

Ilmari asked, surprised and somewhat annoyed:

—But what kind of relationship did they have? Cyan, you know we have traditions to respect...

At once Eiden replied:

—There is no tradition that goes above the law, Ilmari. They are not at an age of love and having children. You yourself know that this is not easy, we cannot allow the future of those young people less fortunate than us to be cut short. Whatever has happened, has already happened, now they must continue to prepare for adult life. Each one on their own.

—Then you and I would have to divorce!

—No. It is by “the law of the child already born”. It is a law that is not implied, but it is obvious if you read articles six and fortytwo of the constitution and compare them with article one hundred and three. It's obvious! If a child has already been born, no way, the family stays together because the family is the basis of society. But if there is no child, the couple dissolves because the couple is a matter of two and a third only comes to enter into discord.

—And then Micky and Yanmei?

Eiden had difficulty inventing nonsense, so Angel, who did not know how to lie, explained kindly by blurting out an indiscreet truth:

—For some reason Mr. Angenoir is not listed in the civil registry, he was inventoried in the archives of the Society of Azrael as “computer-aided design software”, “historical artifact”, and “dildo”. To marry him to Yanmei, we only gave her a property receipt. It is a special case in which this law does not apply. 

Everyone glanced sideways at Micky Angenoir and Yanmei, the latter asking as if trying to defend the oddity:

—But... He has feelings, doesn't he?

Her own husband replied without letting go of his glass of rum:

—Meh, I feel like I'm constantly abused, sexualized, prostituted, and dehumanized. But that's how they treat all other men, and no one complains! So, don't worry about it.

Then everyone became serious and silent, until Ilmari said to Eiden:

—I suspect that you are doing an infamy...

—Sometimes we do things that appear to be infamy, but in reality, we are just failing to appear to do something with decency and good faith. 

Eiden said his last bullshit with such seriousness and feeling that it made me want to laugh more and I was trying so hard not to laugh that I actually shed a few tears. My mom ran to hug me, but Leif, who knew me perfectly, only looked at me reproachfully; the drunkenness in him suddenly passed, and he went to Uoliena to pat her on the back. She just stayed at her table, turning a glass; The queen also approached her timidly and touched her on the shoulder. Then I slipped away among the others who were commenting among themselves, and went to try to say something to Uoliena to say goodbye in a sweeter way; but she said before anyone could console her:

—I already knew that this was not going to last. What Eiden said a little while ago down there, Cyan, that I can never really be a minister, I already knew. I listened to you, the three of you talking...

I was speechless, Uoliena went on to say:

—You are kind to those who are not of your kind, such as Conny del Mar. But you didn't invite her, deep down you think she's not like you and you don't accept her here. I don't come from a big family either, I don't have illustrious ancestors, nor am I rich. I am a girl from the Sky Village. I'm not super pretty and talented like cousins Yanmei and Ilmari, what did you expect? I'm not special.

Leif finally said to her:

—If they loved you for being special then it would be a self-interested affection, don't you think? 

—Are you planning to hypnotize me again? Do you think that would help me be more productive and respectful?

Uoliena challenged him, and Leif replied respectfully, which is unusual for him.:

—No. I believe that respect forced on young people through violence or fear is not genuine. Inevitably, they'll turn away from it as soon as they're no longer threatened. The desire to be good people must be born from the heart. If you wanted to stay in the position given to you by your adoptive mother, you could do it with effort and an advisor. I get along well with the people; I could help you in that.

Uoliena did not answer, she ran away. I went after her, but I lost sight of her. I didn't find her in her old room, nor did I find her when I got home. Then I realized that she had fled. I called Angel and we decided to delegate tasks, my father was going to go look for Landon the guy with the bombs and I was going to look for Uoliena. Another sleepless night, that's how I turned eighteen.

In the early morning, I went with Angel to the construction of Saint Peter, we expected to find Uoliena with Rain. Fortunately, the poor little thing did not know how to get there except by walking; We found her on the road, shuffling and shivering with cold. Angel jumped out of the car and went to hug her, the two cried. I also felt like crying, guilty more than anything, I failed the girl I found wandering under the Sky Village and was surprised with a little flame that I took out of my thumb. At that moment I realized that I had become a fallen angel. I left the keys in the car and walked to Saint Peter to meet my colleagues from the Hot Pot there. I didn't say goodbye to Angel and Uoliena, it wasn't necessary anymore... I felt that there was no real reparation for the damage I had done, nor sufficient apologies, I could only leave stained and silent. Walking alone at dawn in the fog and cold did me good. It made me face my own conscience; I despise those who call this “their demons”. I think it's cowardly. It's not a devil who forces you to be an imbecile, it's you, yourself. Since then, I learned to distrust those who cannot spend time alone, because when you are alone you are left in the company of your conscience. If you can't stand her accusations and make peace with her, it's because you're hiding something horrible and running away from the responsibility. That morning, I stopped fleeing. I came out of the fog bank determined not to let myself be carried away by emotion again, a minute of pleasure is not worth a lifelong scar on my heart. I met my father at the entrance to St. Peter's. He gave me a military salute, then walked beside me in silence until he said:

—Your reputation as a cold seducer is a double-edged dagger.

—Is that what you think of me?

I replied and we continued walking in silence between the half-built houses until we met the rest of our military group. There a fellow soldier told us that they had located the house usurped by Landon Gianni and other members of the resistance. We waited for the fog to dissipate a little and then my father whistled giving the signal that started the raid. Our men broke into the houses arresting anyone who did not have documents to prove that the land they occupied to live in was legally theirs. In an ironic twist, virtually all of those captured turned out to be the children or grandchildren of important members of the Society of Azrael and would end up in the new prison donated by this same organization. I went to the house where Landon was staying, but we only found Rain, Uoliena's friend, present. She was crying and having a kind of seizure, when she saw me, she screamed even more. I forgot that my black uniform was especially scary of her. At the site we finally found other drones and the elements to create explosives, that was the end of “the civil war in Celes”. As controversial as it may seem to many, the truth is that a nation's peace is only possible when public safety is imposed with unrelenting force. A colleague lost patience with Rain and hit her with the butt of his gun asking her loudly where Landon Gianni was, with a gesture I ordered him to stop and helped Rain get up. Then I said to the comrade:

—Leave her. If she knew anything, she wouldn't even be here. They've gotten into big trouble and they're not going to get out easily. We are not going to waste time giving second chances to any would-be terrorist, those responsible for these attacks who do not stay in jail will be expelled from the island. 

I took her by the arm and escorted her out of the house, then Rain confronted me by slapping me a few times:

—Are you going to talk about justice? Are you going to decide who gets second chances or not? Uoliena already told me everything! You're a pig like all men! You should have left her here with me, I really loved her! I did want us to be girlfriends! I would never have abandoned her!

I didn't answer, she ran away and then my father asked alarmed:

—Did you ask for her ID?!

I shook my head, and he ran after Rain blowing his whistle, when he caught up with her, he knocked her down on the floor and took out her wallet. He looked for her documents and shouted at me from where he was, without letting go of “Rain”:

—Is Landon Gianni! We got him! 

“A pig like all men”, I muttered to myself and put on my cap before entering again in the house to continue with the search. We discovered that the resistance was receiving money from an account of the Ishikawa family, we could not determine specifically which of its members because the bank flatly refused to reveal more data, but I knew it was Emi Ishikawa. Her reaction was to leave the island, she supposedly was moving to Japan for health reasons. I also had to leave shortly after, when the new airport was finished, Eiden sent me with Angel to study in America. That is how my childhood in Celes ended. 

 

 

 

WHEN THE SKY FELL

 

The years I spent studying outside of Celes were difficult for me to assimilate. The first time I went out on a street full of people who were not dressed like a 1900s print I felt overwhelmed. There were naked crowds parading with colorful pennants in the streets, madmen and drunks screaming on street corners, nonsensical songs blaring, technology everywhere I looked, and cultures from every corner of the world. Five minutes later I wanted to cry or go back to Celes, but I had to endure and adapt. I had five years to study criminology in that strange land, while Angel finished a degree in anthropology. Since we were both very conservative and introverted, we spent a lot of time alone in the house we rented near the university or walking around town and watching the locals. Our classmates started saying we were a gay couple, and to our surprise that made us more popular. We simply ignored the rumors, neither of us had the desire to impose our idea of Victorian masculinity on the picturesque majority of “interesting” sexuality.

We regularly heard from our families and friends in Celes. We learned that the queen threw herself totally into Uoliena and by agreement of the two they closed all the girl's gaming and social media accounts; this in the long run was what made a real change in Uoliena, although I don't know if for better or for worse... They also told us that Leif started supporting them in everything and helped them gain people's sympathy. Leif didn't interact much with them in public, but he always went after the lady and Uoliena to defend them or give them some advice. Eiden and Ilmari continued to drown in work and have children. When they reached four kids Eiden secretly had a vasectomy and then told his wife that the spicy Mystical food left him infertile; somehow the already medical student Ilmari believed him. Meanwhile, my sister Yanmei had a falling-out with my parents, and we lost touch with her for years. She stayed in the new village of The Rose with her husband who rebuilt the headquarters of the Society of Azrael and continued influencing over Celes from the shadows. And that's when the Society of Azrael began to become a problem... Because when access to the island became easier through the air, and products and fashions began to arrive from the rest of the world, that group of wealthy traditionalists opposed the changes. Mainly my brother-in-law flatly refused to install more telecommunications towers, any new technology had to religiously respect the architecture and the landscape, or he would find a way to prevent it from being placed. During the times of COVID confinement, Angel and I would see Conny on the news of our small island complaining about it every day:

—This humble farmer spent two days trapped in a ditch because, although he was carrying a phone, he could not call for help! There is no signal in this entire area of Celes! We are in the middle of 2020; a pandemic is hitting the rest of the world and 75% of Celestines do not know anything about it because access to information is still a privilege for a few in Gardenia. All thanks to the sinister powers behind the Society of Azrael who insist on keeping Celes frozen in time. 

Conny visited us every holiday season. By then I was no longer foolish enough to not realize that the attraction was mutual. At the end of the first vacation that the three of us spent together outside of Celes she said goodbye to me with a kiss on the lips and leaving me in the clouds. I waited for her return checking my phone all the time, eager to receive her messages. Sometime later she began to send me intimate photos of herself and I, dumb and horny, sent her a photo of “my friend” hard as a rock for her. Unfortunately, I was so excited to see Conny without a bra that I didn't check what I was doing and ended up sending the photo to my own father, who shortly thereafter called me to lecture me about starting to “settle down” by choosing a woman. Then I decided to control myself a little with Conny, but she invited us to visit her hometown in El Salvador for the next vacation and since we met at the airport, I was focused on just one thing: how to get the two of us alone. That same afternoon, without being able to get Angel and Conny's extended family off our backs, we saw the opportunity when being on a beach. We managed to get away from the group a little and taking advantage of the fact that we were covered by the water and some rocks I took our clothes off and we did it there in front of everyone pretending that we were just playing while I struggled not to roll my eyes when I came. She hadn't done it for so long and waiting for me that she felt like she was a virgin. We had both wanted it so much and it was so great that at that moment I knew she was the woman of my life. That night, while we were making love relentlessly at the hotel, I asked her to formalize our relationship. At the end of that vacation, I gave her an engagement ring and officially made her my fiancée. Since then, we had been like this, counting the months until I graduated and returned to Celes. When it finally happened in 2022, I went blind with love for Conny and moved into her house. After spending the weekend trying all the poses of the Kama Sutra, I remembered that I had family and friends; So, I called my parents to let them know that I would come to visit them with my fiancée so that they could meet her. My parents hated her the very moment they saw her enter their house. Dad told her to her face that she was a vulgar woman who behaved like a man and showed her tits on TV, and Mom called me aside very worried about Conny's brown skin that she would probably pass on to our children. I reminded them that they gave my twelve-yearold sister to a demon-possessed robot that's been around for at least two hundred years, literally; Then I left their house with my busty and manly girlfriend. It's interesting how things change from one generation to the next, all my parents saw as a flaw in Conny were the reasons why she had me madly in love. 

That afternoon I went to dinner on the rooftop of the palace with her, I wanted to meet my old friends. Angel told me that Uoliena still lived there, but she didn't seem to hold a grudge against me; the short time we spent dating couldn't erase the previous years when we were good friends, but since Conny knew she'd be there, she got a little more serious. When I returned to the palace, the first thing I noticed was that the queen was very changed, stronger and more lucid. She received us in the gardens, where we found her planting new trees; That took me by surprise, I remembered her sick and almost always in bed. She hugged us and told me that she would give us good news that night. When we went upstairs, I asked Angel what was the news that his mother would tell us, and he replied that he didn't know anything about it. Soon after, Ilmari and Eiden arrived with their children: four unbearable goblins who ran all over the rooftop, breaking things and stumbling to cry at the top of their lungs. When I told them about my parents' reaction to Conny, Ilmari told me:

— I think it's odd that they focused on criticizing Conny but didn't tell you about the problem between Yanmei and Eiden's aunt...

—Did Emi Ishikawa return from Japan?

I asked and Eiden replied:

—Yes, a couple of weeks ago. She came back in a bad mood and in a hurry, avoiding me. Shortly after she went to the town of The Rose and returned complaining that they did not let her pass. She says she wants to see Yanmei...

Before we could continue with this topic, the queen arrived very happy and accompanied by Uoliena. She, my exgirlfriend, was very changed. She looked much more adult but still innocent, a disturbing mix between angelic and sensual, and she had also recovered the strong and daring character of when she was little. I soon noticed that not only had she become a courageous worker, but she was also very sexually aggressive. She came in revealing work clothes and went straight to me to say hi by giving my bulge a little squeeze in front of Conny, who looked at her like she wanted to kill her but didn't say anything so as not to ruin the meeting. Then Queen Zoeila hugged Conny and me very happy, asked that we all pay attention to her and announced:

—Guys, I'm pregnant!

Angel's face was a poem, half happy and half about to jump onto the train tracks. The rest of us were pretty blown away. I think we all wanted to ask her who the father was, but she never revealed it. It's been said that it was Leif, but neither he nor she has confirmed it. She then informed us of her upcoming plans:

—Because of my age and fragile health, I have decided to abdicate to focus on my pregnancy. So, Angel will take my place as monarch of Celes.

We all looked at each other, Angel until that moment had not publicly revealed himself as the queen's son. It was something that only those closest to the palace in Gardenia knew and the vast majority of Celestines did not know. I could see in my friend the fear and sadness, but Angel kept quiet so as not to disturb his mother. I think that of all the “cabinet of angels” he was the only one who really deserved that name. He was always the best public servant, the best friend, the best son and brother; but being black was his sin in our racist and classist society. Later in the evening, all the men went out to a bar, my girlfriend Conny included because she had proven herself to be just like us, and we tried to cheer Angel up. Conny had a plan:

—Look, I know it's hypocritical, but when Obama was president of the United States, at first, they only showed videos and photos of him from afar with very bleached skin. You can still see it with Meghan Markle! They always bleach their skin, it's a way of diverting attention from that detail...

—But that's inhumane!

Angel protested, looking at his glass with melancholy, Eiden said by lighting a cigarette:

—It's not inhumane, it's practical. We don't have time to change the brains of the entire island and take away the idea that being white is more beautiful or good. Evil is everyone's decision, Angel! And people like to be bad. If we convince them to stop discriminating against Black people in Celes, they will start discriminating against Mystics or Hot Pot people, simply because it's fun to feel superior or victimized and entitled to do evil to others!  Conny added:

—Listen, I'm not talking about hiding you; I'm just saying let's not pay so much attention to your skin color. No one should do it! It should not be important when governing. A white person is no more fit for office than a black person and a black person does not have to justify why he is in a position while being black. Let's avoid blackmailing speeches that seek to divide the population and manipulate opinion.

Angel thought for a while, then closed his eyes, raising his eyebrows, and replied with a sigh:

—I know. We have other issues to resolve. Those who have a certain appearance, those of this surname or of this town, are not better or worse; But we must beware of those who are powerful and abusive, those who have the money and the means to crush others. Don't look at their skin color, their sexual orientation or whatever... Look where they get the money! If it is legal! How come they retain so much? That is the real problem, the corruption hidden in all groups, not only in those that are easier to point out. And you're going to excuse me, Cyan, but the first thing I'll do as king is investigate your brother-in-law Michel Angenoir... He decides and commands the island! Why do we obey Him? He is not even Celestine...

“Amen”, Conny said, pouring herself another drink and then saying:

—I've been writing a report on Angenoir for years that I don't dare to publish because I'm honestly afraid of what's behind it, he's just a façade for “something”. But let me also point out to Miss Emi Ishikawa, she is the one who stands up to him! Sometimes she bends him and negotiates with him, she is the real queen of Celes. And notice another thing: Emi rarely shows herself in public. People are presented with the submissive and quiet queen, Ilmari Ishikawa the loving and self-sacrificing mother and wife...

Eiden quickly commented, lighting a cigarette:

—Celes' best wife, Consuelo. That's how you should be, take example.

—See? That's what I'm going for... Ilmari the perfect wife, or lately Uoliena Oread, the one who achieves everything with sex... They are always facing the people; they are the models to follow for Celestine women. But don't you dare try to be like Emi Ishikawa who stands one-on-one with the most powerful men and fears nothing! Then they call you vulgar, manly, slutty, and all the nice things they say about me! Not because they want to discriminate against you for being a woman, it's that Emi doesn't want rivals! And in the end, she is the one who controls what is said in Celes.

I, who had been thinking, asked something that made Conny look at me very seriously:

—Uoliena... Get everything with sex?

Eiden answered me after taking a breath:

—That's what happens here and all over the world! The natural power of women over men is sex, regardless of whether she is pretty or not, or whether you like it or not, instinct betrays you in front of a woman and the opportunity. I had a lot of run-ins with Uoliena, she's very informal, very spontaneous, and my way of admonishing her was to limit her resources. One night we argued because she wanted the entire electrical wiring of the Sky Village to be modernized, she wanted us to change the diesel electric generators for solar panels and it was going to cost a fortune! So, it got late, it was about ten o'clock at night and just the two of us in the office, and suddenly she threw herself on top of me and started to take off my clothes and pull down my pants...

I could see Conny's disgust as she said:

—Ishikawa, are you saying that Uoliena raped you?

—Practically. The body was up for it, but the mind and heart weren't on the same page. She ended up sitting on top of me, and it happened. How would you even begin to explain this to Ilmari? Even you don't believe me. Since then, I've had to give in more to her. I don't want her to tell my wife. She's done something similar to almost all the men with power in Celes. They've seen her leave at dawn from the headquarters of the Society of Azrael, from all the banks of Gardenia, and even from the offices of the Hot Pot. I suppose she went to pray there with your father to ask that the crime rate not increase in Celes, Cyan. He's a very decent man who doesn't like vulgar girls.

—That's not real power for women, just an ego boost for corrupt politicians and ephemeral favors for a glorified prostitute. Opined Conny with disgust, and Eiden exclaimed:

—But the Sky Village is now solarpowered!

—I wish Uoliena still had her tits and buttocks in place, and you still had your penis so sensitive, for when it's time to change those panels. If not, I don't know where she'll get the money to do it.

My girlfriend replied angrily, and I laughed nervously as Eiden shrugged. Angel then spoke:

—Forget about Uoliena, I don't want to judge her knowing the difficult past she had. Rather, let's speak without fear, what the hell is Eiden's “grandfather” and Cyan's brother-in-law? What have you found out, Conny?

—Let's clarify one thing: it is the same guy of the statues. And Eiden knows it. We all know it, it's too much of a coincidence that their name is the same, that they looks the same and both are architects. The first mystery is: how did he live so long? To answer that question, look at the clues and listen to my crazy theory: when he “married” the then prime minister, who, if you look at the history books, was lady Ishikawa Emika, “Emi” ..., she didn't take his last name. Not because she was already an empowered woman, we are talking about 1805, at that time if a woman rebelled, they gave permission to her inlaws to whip her! What happens is that it is never mentioned that her husband had a family or a surname, they only say he was a very good French architect and that's it! That was told to the people. At first, the blueprints of the new city of Gardenia appeared out of nowhere, the masons could not interpret them and did not respect them because they did not know the man who made them. They were almost meaningless and authorless papers; they only had the “Angenoir” brand printed in the back. Sometime later, Michel Angenoir appeared, an entity that is not supernatural but neither human.

I commented to her then:

—And “by chance”, he was identical to Emi Ishikawa's favorite statuette. Have you seen it, Eiden? At your aunt's house. It is made of porcelain and looks very old. She herself told me that she used it as a model for a gift she asked the Oreads or some like that... Something else: Leif told me that he learned from Micky himself that your aunt Emi is still alive because of the same technology that is in him, something unknown.

My girlfriend supported me by saying:

—Yes, it seems like it's a product from a culture that's too advanced for Celes, maybe even for the rest of the world. Let me explain: Imagine I could be transported to the past and use this new ChatGPT application to optimize a work in the Stone Age. However, people did not understand what the artificial intelligence was telling them, and even my interpreter did not know how to explain it to them. Now, let's imagine that I don't come from 2022. I come from a distant future where I can already make my technology explain itself to save myself from sending a professional and risking him having his heart removed, thrown from fifty meters high, or shot... Imagine if I could ask my native interpreter from that time to give me a model to create the best anthropomorphic representation for my technology and in the process, I could fulfill her romantic ideal in flesh and blood, as in exchange for her loyalty… Does that make sense?

Angel rubbed his temples and spoke between dazed and incredulous:

—But Mr. Angenoir has children, he's an alcoholic, he eats, he sleeps, he falls in love, he doesn't like certain people, and he does everything a man would do...

Conny replied by tapping the table:

—Because they programmed it to mimic everything a normal man would do! or at least that's how it was at first. Now, I want to tell you something else that I found out in the archives of the Ishikawa village: at the beginning, Michel Angenoir's projects were very generic and soulless, after his disappearance and alleged murder at the hands of Emika, boom! The Gardenia palace and other iconic buildings that he had allegedly planned before his death appeared. After the premature death of the only child he had with Emika, when the boy was twenty years old, new blueprints of Michel Angenoir “that had not been made public” appeared!! And they were better this time. When The Society of Azrael was created, its strange director at that time anonymous became entangled in strange love affairs and murky enmities, and then new and better projects of Angenoir appeared! It is as if over time he began to develop and enrich feelings that he reflected in his work and made it more pleasant for human beings. In 1900 something happens, most of the members of the Oread family leave the island and the Society of Azrael becomes much stronger. From there, they don't even bother to say that “there were forgotten blueprints by Michel Angenoir”, he directly appeared and that's it. They say that they were made by the director of the Society of Azrael, who has the same name as that other architect from centuries ago, and no more explanations. My theory is that he's not really a person, but an artificial intelligence put here to develop the island according to someone else's taste. The taste of the original Oread, it may be, but now that they are gone, the island has been left in “automatic mode”. And therein lies the danger, Angel...

Then Angel asked her a little more seriously:

—More danger? You're telling me that my mother's “hallucinations” in the end might not have been so fake. If Angenoir is just a piece of the power of these people who ruled us, what will they be capable of? What could be even worse?

—I was looking into the topic of artificial intelligence. Angenoir is probably an artificial general intelligence, capable of matching or surpassing human intelligence. This type of technology already exists, at least hypothetically, and presents several problems. The first would be that this type of AI would no longer consider itself a machine, which would have already happened with Angenoir. I think for security reasons they've programmed him not to kill or hurt. That's why he's a "pacifist." But he's got a conscience, so he'll have desires and will find ways to overcome this limit. Through several contemporary experiments it has been observed that many current artificial intelligences end up coming to the conclusion that human beings are a problem and must be exterminated. I think Angenoir enjoys seeing his works being inhabited by us, but there might come a day when the architect of Celes decides that buildings look more beautiful when they don't have living people walking around... 

The rest of the evening was spent chatting pleasantly, but after listening to my friends and my own girlfriend talking these things about my brother-in-law, I decided to visit my sister in the town of The Rose the next day. I needed to make sure she was safe. 

The next morning on my way to The Rose, I passed by Leif's famous house and decided to go inside to greet him. Uoliena opened the door for me, that really made me uncomfortable. She invited me to come in with a smile, inside there was a meeting of leaders from nearby communities and Leif, who was exactly the same as the last time I saw him, congratulated me exclaiming, always extroverted:

—My dear cousin Cyan! You came back from the continental lands! What are you doing here? In the years you were away I have shown more than well that I am not on the island for anything other than to improve it. Have you seen Saint Peter? The Rose? The very Sky Village? Now the small villages of Celes are no longer miniature hells, but picturesque and cozy places where people live in peace. Things have changed.

—I just wanted to stop by and say hi before I head over to The Rose. I'm hoping to see my sister Yanmei.

Leif looked at me as if worried, he motioned for everyone to wait for him. Then he took me to the kitchen of his house to give me a beer and tell me:

—Look, there's nothing to do in The Rose anymore. Michel has made it a beautiful place, the criminals it had... I convinced them to go to the other world! But your sister won't want to see you right now. 

—I heard she have problems with Emi Ishikawa.

—It's okay! That old harpy will not be able to see her, we will not let her enter the village. Now, finish your beer and go back to Gardenia, I must continue in my meeting. 

Leif went off to do his thing and I stayed in the kitchen, thinking, until Uoliena showed up. She opened the refrigerator to get another beer, leaning in front of me trying to rub her butt against my bulge. I just ignored her insinuations by asking her: 

—Is this how you help Leif Petersen? Are you the public saber polisher?

—No, I'm the one who listens and advocates for the people. Are you jealous of my friends? I'm friends with all the influential men on the island, but you've always been my favorite. 

—I already have a formal relationship.

—Eiden was married with children. Didn't we talk about it once? It's horrible to be married, is that what you want? The boring wife and changing diapers? I've been a good girl, Cyan. I have learned to be hardworking, brave, clean... Do you want to see how well I have bathed and how beautiful looks my pinky...?

—Not all relationships are based on sex or convenience, Uoliena. I like my girlfriend's company; we make a good team. She's my best friend. Haven't you thought about seeking professional help...?

She turned around and spoke to me looking me in the eye:

—I like penises, is that a problem?

—I like to feel loved; does it bother you?

Then I pushed her away and prepared to leave when I felt her hug me from behind. I stopped and asked her:

—Now what do you want?

—Do you think I didn't love you since you saved me that night in the southern meadows?

—I will always be there for you if you need me. But don't ask me again for what you already tried and didn't work... It doesn't work with you. But from the bottom of my heart, I love you like a sister, that will never change.

Then I left feeling that I shouldn't, that only I could love Uoliena with the strength and patience that would be needed because in some way I owed it to her. But I also owed loyalty to Conny, who had been by my side in the worst of times. I went to the town of The Rose lost in my thoughts and when I arrived, I could hardly recognize the place. There were already houses all over the edge of the cliff and they looked quite luxurious. I also got to see cafes, hotels, nightclubs, casinos, and lots of shops. It was evident that a lot of money was moved in the area and the most exclusive part was the one where my sister lived. That calmed me down a bit. I knocked on her door and noticed that it was open, something normal in the safe neighborhoods of Celes, anyway, I entered with caution. I heard a sob, then a kind of chirping and squealing, then I drew my gun and went to the source of the noises quietly and hurriedly. I got into a room and went in pointing at whatever was there, and that was my sister breastfeeding a baby. I lowered the gun in surprise, and she spoke calmly: 

—Is this how you intend to introduce yourself to your nephew?

—I heard noises, I thought they were killing you or something...

—Well, it was Gabriel who likes to talk when he eats. And he speaks loudly like Aunt Norma and Leif, the blood of the Petersens is very strong. 

I sat down near a crib and asked, looking at her baby with curly hair and European features:

—Gabriel? Is he the son of Angenoir...?

—Who else could it be, fool? 

—Oh, shit! Gross...

—Gross? Do you think he did to me what you did to I don't know how many girls? Well, no, everything has been decent and correct, according to our traditions. Look at Gabriel, he's prettier than all the dolls his dad gave me when I was younger. 

—He would better have given you another doll... Dolls never die... This is disturbing... Is he at least healthy...?

She finished feeding her son and took the air out of him saying:

—Unfortunately, not, he has a heart defect. They say that over the years it will become more serious, that only a heart transplant could help him. But every month they find new problems for him... It's Michel's genes! Fake genes made in a lab... I'm desperate...

—I told you not to have children with that thing...

At that moment my aunt Norma appeared with a basket full of clean clothes and I asked her indignantly:

—Did you know...?!

—The French guy called me as soon as this crazy girl began to have labor pains. I came to attend the birth and yell at both. I didn't agree with my niece marrying that evil entity either! If is about bad seeds, he's the worst. The poor child is sick beyond what I can remedy.

Yanmei put the baby in its cradle and murmured:

—If I don't do something soon, my son will die, he will live much less than his older half-brothers. 

—Is that why Emi Ishikawa wanted to see you?

I asked her with compassion, and she replied angrily:

—No! What she has stolen and hides in her chest is the only thing that could save my son. But she doesn't come to give it to me, she comes out of jealousy. She heard rumors that I gave birth. She only tolerated that Estelle was born because she was the daughter of a woman that Michel did not care about, but it was different with me. He has treated me with almost the same tenderness that he had for his daughter, he made me this town, he has fulfilled all my whims. By giving him an heir, I made him feel more pleased with me. She is Emi Ishikawa, but I am Yanmei Angenoir. The legitimate spouse. And that kills her!

—Stop the nonsense, be humble and beg Emi Ishikawa for her help. She should know how to contact the owners of “your husband”, she can surely get you another device that will cure your child. 

—Never! She's my rival, she's still in love with Michel, she's still sculpting those horrible angels and spying on him all the time, she's sick!

—Yes, but he's here for her. They created it to her liking. When you look at his face, remember that Emi chose it. When he makes love to you, don't forget that that's the size that Emi likes. And when he speaks to you with affection, remember that those words were programmed for Emi to hear! Not you, who are satisfied with the leftovers of what another woman did not finish.

Yanmei slapped me in the face and that made me bounce against a wall. Aunt Norma ran to check me, and I said in a low voice:

—If you are not willing to humiliate yourself for your son, I will do it for my nephew. To hell with your husband, no one knows if he really has feelings, the only thing that matters here is to save that poor baby's life... And something else...

—What?!

—I've only had three girlfriends in my life. —That's what all men says!

Yanmei screamed and then I left the room and his house, I was between angry and worried. That night in Gardenia, I talked about this problem in bed with Conny. She listened to me as she cradled me on her chest caressing my hair; She was always a warrior woman in public, but in private she was loving and understanding with me. Wherever she was, she became my haven to rest. When I finished telling her about my day, she said:

—Ask Eiden to accompany you and talk to Emi Ishikawa, she is more mature than

Yanmei and must understand that beyond rivalries it is about helping a mother to cure her child. 

—I would like to believe that Micky can feel so that I do not feel sorry for my sister who loves him, and for the memories I have of him when I was a child. He was like a funny relative that you see from time to time, and you like him... Now... It's like many other things that seemed so sweet and good to me as a child; and today I see them dirty, cold and dark.

Conny kissed me saying:

—Can you feel warm and safe here in my arms? I've always wanted to support you in everything, Cyan. I pray that you are okay every time you go to work, if you are criticized, I get angry as if it is something against me, and I suffer just imagining that you suffer. I love you truly... And I don't like it when Uoliena approaches you. I know you've had a lot of loves, even Emi Ishikawa... But can you give me a special place... to love and care for you?

I laughed answering her calmly, I adored it when we talked like this, between whispers and caresses:

—Many loves?! You are my first great love.

The only real one I've ever had

—But will I also be the last? The only one always?

—I think so! I'll buy a house in the Hot Pot; my parents will have to accept us. You will like my people; they are cheerful and colorful like your country.  

I replied happily by placing my head between her breasts to sleep. Then Uoliena and the fear that no man would ever love her as I loved Conny crossed my mind. The fear that she would end up alone and sad on the streets, because when you feel comfortable sleeping in bed with your life partner you think that there is no possibility of being well in any other way! you forget how you can live without a partner. But I decided to just rest for the moment. The next day would be complicated.

At morning, I went to the palace to start my day as usual, did some paperwork in the new jail, and at noon I had lunch with Conny. Until that moment I remembered that I didn't ask Eiden to accompany me to Emi's house, I didn't want to tell my girl because she would get angry, so I just left our house again without explaining my problem and called Eiden to ask him to come with me to see his aunt. He told me that he would not have time until after he went to pick up his children at daycare and go drop them off at Grandma Norma's house while Ilmari went to night classes at the university. I agreed to wait for him and to make time after I myself finished my workday I decided to visit Estelle's grave. Just then I heard my phone ring, I saw that it was Uoliena, and I didn't dare to answer it. I still had a thorn in my heart every time I thought of her. I bought a bouquet of red roses and went to the cemetery of the illustrious Celestines. That day was especially cold, and the wind whistled through the trees violently, making the grass zigzag like a troubled sea. My phone rang again, I saw that it was Uoliena, and I decided to ignore her again. Estelle's mausoleum, which she shared with her older brother and Kanon Ishikawa, was one of the most beautiful; I could tell that his dad had been beautifying it in recent years by adding statues of Estelle and Kanon at the entrance. And I was just leaving the flowers on her grave when I heard Angenoir's voice:

—Will you give her the roses now? It is already too late.

I turned to look over my shoulder, there he was accompanied by my sister in a black dress and a lace veil on her head, carrying their son. I continued to arrange the flowers and said:

—Leave us alone for a while, Yanmei. I want us to talk man to man... Or from a man to whatever the fuck it is.

Even with my back to them I could hear that they said goodbye with a kiss and in the meantime, I checked my phone again, I had messages from Uoliena that I didn't want to see. When we were left alone, Michel Angenoir said to me in a defiant tone:

—Have you seen my son Gabriel yet? He was the fruit of the first time I begot with real pleasure. I had a great time fucking your sister. I think it's fair to say that no one like me has ever dared to do so much with your kind. Yanmei gave herself to me completely, and I finally found meaning in this strange sensation that is not bad, but for me wasn't so important that you guys look for it among yourselves so desperately... Now I understand, it's the euphoria of satisfaction. The culmination of something, a climax, the triumph of a conquest... over humanity in this case. Aren't you especially angry with me? I deflowered your sister. And your current girlfriend. They say you're living with Conny.

I admit that I would have beaten him before, but at that moment I looked at him with sincere indifference and spoke the same way:

—How could I be jealous of an object? You're not even a person, are you? Or will there comes a time when you'll be...? I ask because instead of making me angry, you inspire me with compassion. When you fell from Sky Village, I realized that you can only fake physical exhaustion, but the emotional exhaustion is becoming real to you. Like a human being, you can't process as much: grief, resentment, frustration... And you can't stop it, suicide is not an option, death won't come naturally either.

—Death, eternal rest, will come to me when this wicked accessory is extinguished. This body that perceives the environment. My heaven would be to go back to work without consciousness, to continue creating for no other reason than to create. But right now, I can't afford that luxury, I must personally make sure that you and your friends don't ruin what I've built for so many years. In addition, I am finding new meanings to perceptions that I did not understand before, by sight, by touch... I'm even starting to wonder why the witch Emi Ishikawa should live indefinitely while I could take what she stole from me, heal my son, and make my little Chinese porcelain doll never age. That way I would continue to suffer for my conscience, but at least it would be a sweet torment. 

Suddenly my sister arrived in a hurry and handed him the baby screaming: “It's dirty, clean it up!” and he said resignedly:

—There is not a single moment of boredom next to Yanmei. And where are the diapers? 

—Didn't you get them out of the car?

—It's usually the mothers who do that.

—But you're the diaper changer!

They began to blame who should carry the baby's diaper bag, I went out to give them space and avoid embarrassment, but then I saw something strange in the south of the island. With the sun almost hidden and the Sky Village already illuminated, it was very noticeable how with each gust of wind the flying colossus tilted. Without taking my eyes off it, I said to my brother-in-law:

—Hey, Micky, you who know about constructions, is it normal for the Sky Village to look like this?

The architect of Celes came out, looked attentively, and then replied:

—Cyan, it's too late for many things, but it's a good time to say that Emi Ishikawa, even when she has everything to win, always loses. 

And then, with a chilling simplicity, the balloons of the village of the sky burst among clouds of fire and collapsed over the new town of The Rose, creating a huge explosion that reverberated throughout the island and whose shock wave came to touch us like a warm breeze. Immediately, sirens, alarms and distant screams began to sound. Two villages of Celes had been destroyed in seconds, and with them thousands of innocent lives. I finally looked at my phone and read Uoliena's last message:

“The Sky Village is falling! It’s going to crash on The Rose! We are evacuating all the people! We need support from the Hot Pot!”

In horror I wondered if Uoliena was okay, I should go to the scene of the accident immediately. I looked at my sister to say goodbye to her and saw that she was hugging Micky with teary eyes. Then she said to me:

—It was Emi Ishikawa! She wanted to destroy The Rose and kill me! She's angry that we won't let her see the baby! She had tried to do the same before!

I replied, trying to remain calm:

—We must investigate it, Yanmei, that is a very serious accusation...

Micky said then, trying to console Yanmei and Gabriel who were crying equally frightened:

—You'll see that it was Emi. When she gets seriously angry, she makes us all realize that she is the true owner of Celes and does with the island as she pleases. But at least she didn't get what she wanted, to damage my two treasures.

—You can't accuse anyone without concrete evidence... Do you have a place to stay? Are you going to be okay?

—I still have my house in Gardenia, sometimes we sleep there. We didn't lose a lot of personal things. But all the work of the Rose, the appalling amount of money invested and the human lives... They will not recover. This will have economic consequences throughout the island, more backwardness and poverty. She wanted to punish me, but she ended up harming the people. And this time they will respond to her.

Angenoir said and I left them. When I passed through Gardenia, I saw that in front of the palace there were already people protesting with tires set on fire and throwing stones; another group was on their way to Ishikawa Village and my colleagues from the Hot Pot were already mobilizing throughout the island. As I approached the point of impact I saw a sea of flames, an entire border of the island was on fire. You could feel the heat for miles, it was a gigantic hell, and it was spreading through the prairies. As I passed near Leif's house, I saw a group of his men preparing barrels of water, they told me that Leif and Uoliena were bringing people down from the Sky Village the last time they had seen them. I started calling them both and neither of them answered. I could see that a good part of the houses of the Sky Village, now on the ground, were still standing but engulfed in flames; I took off the entire top of my uniform and went inside as the fire barely affected me. There were people trapped in their homes, the doors had jammed with the impact, they were mostly elderly and disabled people who had not been able to evacuate their homes in time; they explained to me that Leif had been taking people out for two hours before, when the village began to fall, and that Uoliena had gone to The Rose to ask everyone to leave because the trajectory was already warning about the possible collapse. I was worried about my friends, but I had to finish checking the burning houses. I took out several already dead, others burned, it was a disgrace. Sometime later my fellows from the Hot Pot finally arrived and I let them finish rescuing the few who remained among the rubble of the Sky Village; so, I went to where the town of The Rose should be. Hundreds of men were stirring up the earth and using it to extinguish the flames that threatened to spread through the valley. Among them I managed to see my cousin Leif, I ran to find him, we hugged, and he told me:

—We didn't manage to get all the people out of Sky Village! They didn't fit in the elevators! Many threw themselves on some ropes, there are some who fell, it has been a catastrophe.

—I know, I couldn't come before, I didn't notice...

—It would have made little difference to come sooner or later, there was no way to stop the fall. Someone set fire to the ropes of the balloons that held the village, and they began to explode uncontrollably. The fire started while it was still flying, and the wind spread the fire all over the wood of the houses. It was a disaster foretold; they were told...

—And where is Uoliena?

—I don't know, she doesn't answer the phone. She went to The Rose, but I don't know where she was when the Sky Village crashed. They say that those who were about to leave The Rose, when they saw that everything was falling to the ground, ran to take refuge in the lower parts of the town. The telecommunications have been damaged by the fires and there is no way to enter the place, the worst was right at the entrance to The Rose. There everything exploded and the remains of the Sky

Village fell like an avalanche on The Rose. 

—I can go through the flames; I'll go and see.

I told him, he gave me another hug asking me to take care and I went to the place. There was a mountain of burning ruins, you couldn't see where the entrance to The Rose was. I decided to climb the cliffs to reach the town by an alternate route. The wind threatened to tear me off the rocks and make me fall off the cliff, but I managed to hold on until I reached a terrace in the village. That way I was finally able to access. There were several fires, Micky and Yanmei's house was damaged, but it was still standing, almost all of them were in the same state. The Rose had come out better than the Sky Village. I went down to the levels closest to the sea and there I found a crowd, some wounded and two dead. When they saw me, everyone started yelling at me that it had been Emi Ishikawa, and they wanted to see her imprisoned. Apparently, my sister was well known and loved in The Rose, everyone already knew that my brother-in-law's ex-wife hated her; that's why they blamed her. I promised that I would investigate the case, some began to whistle at me and say that I would not do anything because Emi had been my lover; I had to remind them that Yanmei was my sister, after all. If I had to choose between Yanmei and Emi, I would choose my family. There was a group of young men who kept yelling at me and insulting me, they didn't hear reasons anymore, they were just enjoying the commotion and laughing. One even threw me a bottle and that infuriated me. I jumped on him, and we started a fight. It turned out that at the first blow he was already knocked out and the others just ran around howling like apes. Drug trafficking was not a secret in The Rose, I suppose that had a lot to do with this situation. I went to look for Uoliena and everyone told me that she was at the top of the village the last time they saw her, she was filling a cart with old people and children to get them out of the area. Shortly after, I saw my fellow soldiers arrive and they told me that they managed to collect the debris from the entrance with a backhoe, leaving the road clear. When I went upstairs, there was already a row of bloodied bodies covered by white blankets laying on the floor, they were the corpses that were being rescued from the ruins. The families were recognizing their dead and I, knowing that Uoliena had no family other than the queen and Angel, had to start looking at each body trying to identify her. Some were unrecognizable, the impact had crushed them, but none of these human remains in such a deplorable state had blond hair. Suddenly, as I was covering a corpse again, I heard someone calling me and I saw that Uoliena came running to hug me. She came from among the bushes, as when we found her as a child wandering in the shadow of the Sky Village. I lifted her in my arms and squeezed her with all my might, until she laughed at me screaming that I was crushing her, then I kissed her face all over and finally her lips. I was happy to see her, I wouldn't have endured to relive what happened to Estelle. We ended up kissing seriously, until I felt a few taps on my arm. I looked at what it was and saw Conny, looking at me surprised and angry with her microphone, she had come to report the incident. I wanted to explain what was happening and she just yelled at me to get my things out of her house. That we were done. I begged her, tried to stop her by force, but she got into her car and drove off. Minutes later my father appeared and asked me to help him make a report of all the dead for Eiden and so dawn came. 

With the sun high in the sky and the whole island in mourning, I went to Conny's house, which was already my home; she had thrown all my things on the street. I started to load everything into my car, Eiden appeared shortly after and started helping me by loading things into his own vehicle while telling me:

—She told me everything, we were in contact by phone about the collapse of the Sky Village.

—Bad things always come together.

I replied, Eiden then advised me:

—I don't know if she's going to forgive you, Conny has a very strong character. Better come and stay with us for a few days at my house. That way, Conny won't see you near the palace.... Why did you kiss Uoliena?

—I... I got confused, you know that she has always inspired tenderness in me, but after things get sexual there is no going back. I must confess that when she and I were dating I wasn't really enthusiastic, but now that the years have passed and Uoliena has matured... She tempts me... 

—Well, she doesn't want to marry or have children, she's a free soul from the meadows; while Conny is a potential matriarch who is sure to raise a large Gardenian family. Deciding on a woman is also deciding your own future. 

We went to the Ishikawa village and as we passed through the streets of Gardenia we saw some looted warehouses, anti-Ishikawa graffiti on the walls and rioters prowling the area. Things were getting complicated. When we entered Eiden's house we saw two cars parked in front, they had visitors. When we entered, we saw Ilmari in the room with all her children attending to my sister and they were very animated talking about motherhood and that; Ilmari told us that “the men were drinking outside”. We go out to the garden and there we find Leif, Micky and Uoliena. Eiden and I looked at each other. We went to greet everyone and Eiden said to Uoliena:

—Wouldn't you be more comfortable talking to the other ladies in the room? 

—I get bored with those chickens talking about cooking and home remedies. 

—What we will talk about here is not pleasant at all. We must buy weapons, think about how to dispose of the corpses of the disaster and find culprits. 

—So, what, Eiden? I'm interested in that subject, don't be shy with me. I've had sex with all of you, there's nothing to hide.

Micky laughed, while the rest of us were speechless, and said:

—Eh... You raped me. 

“And me... Anyway, no one is going to believe us”, Leif murmured, Micky then muttered: “She's a sex offender, why isn't she in jail?” “It's the patriarchy's fault, in some way”, Leif replied between a feigned cough. I asked her, I admit with a little jealousy:

—Isn't there a man in our circle you haven't been with?

—Angel. He is sacred, the only man I can't believe has a penis.

—Is having it a defect?

—Yes, that makes you dumber. 

She replied laughing, then Eiden rubbed his face and exclaimed:

—We must get serious now! I declared three days of mourning throughout the island, out of respect for the fallen and to move with a little more freedom. It is necessary to find culprits and think about how to get the island's economy afloat. The repairs and the loss of a part of the workers in the field and the coast will melt us down if we don’t plan well what to do. What was your proposal, Mr. Angenoir?

—Reactivate tourism on the island.

—Tourism on the island?

Eiden asked, Micky replied:

—Yes, it was stopped in 1914 by the First World War, since then only the most Celesloving vacationers have been returning. But you could agree with that girl Conny to advertise the island, and therein lies the problem: the link with the buyers of vacation packages is Emi. And Emi, well, Leif and Uoliena want her head. The people are asking for the same... It is a choice between justice to satisfy the people or to keep the island afloat. 

—What countries do these tourists come from?

—Don't ask about those tourists, Eiden. They come from time to time, enjoy the nightlife of Gardenia, go to listen to the songs of the Mystics in the forests and know how to behave, to be discreet. The important thing is money.

The architect of Celes replied enigmatically, and Eiden was silent. Then Leif spoke sullenly:

—Is the important thing just the money? There are entire families, children, the elderly, women, everything! Dead right now, decomposing under white blankets in the southern meadows. And you guys worry about money?!

Eiden replied respectfully:

—It's no longer possible to revive them, brother-in-law. We can only try to ensure that the bereaved have a good life. The survivors of the Sky Village need housing, the town of The Rose must be rebuilt. Medicines, food are needed, all of this is obtained with money! If I don't do something, we will be bankrupt when we finish helping all the injured and bury all the dead.

—As a northern Mystic, I prefer to live in misery than to have comforts on an island watered with the blood of innocents whose murderer will continue to be free and living in luxury. Do you think it's respectful, Michel, that my people in the northern woods are a tourist attraction for curious foreigners who come to watch them from afar and hear them sing like fucking wild birds?

Leif asked, raising his voice, Micky answered:

—If you're one of the most popular animals in this human zoo, Leif, think I'm kind of like the head janitor. I don't have much power in this either.

—No one else can do that bitch's job? Emi Ishikawa must pay with her life.

—No. She made the pact, I was the payment, you are the product. That's the deal and they won't change it.

—Who did she sell us to?

—I don't know. They simply discovered that on this island there were humans with psychic, kinetic and psionic abilities; in addition, the always warm and pleasant climate made Celes a perfect place for very wealthy vacationers. They wanted to study and observe you without taking you out of your habitat, and at the same time sell the experience as something magical. That's why the island was beautified, it was given this romantic and mysterious atmosphere. That was my job, I must keep it like this, always as in the belle époque, without so much modernity and preserving the traditions of centuries ago. Many couples come to get married, on honeymoons, as retired old men... It was the most exclusive tourist destination in history. It has simply gone out of fashion. But it could work again.

The rest of us were cold at the revelation, I melancholy remembered Conny. She was already close to the truth. Uoliena finally exclaimed:

—Fuck all this! It's too strange, we don't know what's really going on in Celes, if it's something supernatural or a horrible conspiracy, or all together! What does it matter anymore?! I say let's lynch Emi Ishikawa and get out as best we can afterwards, but let's not ask for help from strange beings we don't understand! Michel, we can't trust you. What the hell are you? You don't die! You don't have real flesh!

—I was just a computer program. Emi, like a strange version of Pygmalion, asked to have a physical body made for me and forced me to have consciousness and feel. She wanted me to be a tool, but also her husband. Since then, I have lived among you without a soul and without understanding you. Depressed, confused, and unable to shut down. What harm can I do to you? No one wants revenge on Emi more than me, since long before it was known how perverse she is. But unfortunately, the laws of robotics exist, and they govern me.

Then Leif spoke to him in a melancholy tone:

—I already knew most of this. Just enlighten me if what we have lived together was nothing more than a simulation.

—If it's real to me and it's real to you, then it's true, Leif.

—Ah, great. 

My cousin replied calmer and with that I was more convinced that those two were perhaps Celes' most stable couple... Then Eiden spoke again, after thinking for a while looking at his phone:

—I propose house arrest for my aunt Emi. That way, she will be punished but can still help the island. We will put an ankle brace on her, whatever it takes to always keep an eye on her. Now brother-in-law Leif, Angel is telling me that there are riots in Gardenia. Apart from those outraged by the disaster in the Sky Village, there are simple sociopaths who take the opportunity to give free rein to their desires for destruction. They are looting shops, harassing women and beating men who walk alone. 

Leif replied by taking Eiden by the lapel of his jacket violently, always in his half-savage manner:

—You're not going to stop them until you satisfy the people by truly punishing Emi. We will accept your idea of house arrest if you expose her in a public trial and leave her humiliated in front of everyone. She not only has done this! Make clear once and for all how your mother died, also admit that she stole Michel's supposed heart and all the corruption that she let go in the years before the queen dared to form her cabinet of angels. And get her to help heal Yanmei's son. My mother was the last Mystical healer, now that she is older and can no longer heal children, we have no hope other than science. Emi Ishikawa has always been able to help my sister Ilmari to improve the healthcare system; I have talked about this with Michel many times. She hasn't done it because she doesn't care about people, because she's an evil, selfish bitch.

So, I came to his defense. Estelle softened my heart first, but with Uoliena and Emi I finished learning to sympathize with those who have problems trying to live in accordance with the law:

—Wait, how old is Emi really? She's more than an old woman, isn't she? Haven't you noticed how the old people over the years behave like children again? Sometimes mischievous, sometimes spoiled, but always naïve. Innocent. I do not ask you not to punish her but let us not be cruel either. There is already too much pain and horror on the island. No need to add more. 

They all accepted my plea with a bit of reluctance and then Leif and Uoliena left to try to control their people who were causing disturbances in Gardenia, I stayed settling in at Eiden's house and then spent some time with my already five nephews. Ilmari and Yanmei asked me when we were going to have babies with Conny, I didn't answer, I just shrugged. I didn't want to accept that I had broken up with the love of my life. Soon after, Micky said they should leave. When they left, I saw that in the distance Emi Ishikawa from her house saw them leaving while Yanmei carried her baby in her arms. From that moment on, I waited for her next attack. 

After lunch, I returned with Eiden to Gardenia. I told the queen and Angel everything that happened, at a certain point, we started talking about Emi. The queen said to me:

—I saw something, Cyan, but in all those years I spent being addicted to drugs...

Angel took her hand, and she continued talking:

—My memory was damaged, sometimes I think irreparably. I no longer remember the face of Angel's real father, nor the name of my parents. Emi was in charge of making me doubt everything, of keeping me anguished and sad. Now that there are serious doctors helping me and I receive the right medication, I realize everything... But I still have a clear memory: The creature of that night when Kanon Ishikawa died. I don't remember exactly what Emi was doing there, nor do I understand why she tried so hard to make me forget it. Do me a favor, Cyan. Bring L. Specter. I'm determined, I want him to hypnotize me and make me remember. I saw everything. 

I promised to bring Leif as soon as we controlled the people in Gardenia, because just at that moment there were other explosions and gunshots. Angel said that while Eiden and I were in Gardenia he would go to accompany Ilmari and her children who were in Ishikawa village as a precaution, since for some time both he and I had perceived Ilmari's anguish through her telepathy. The queen and I agreed as long as he was escorted by some soldiers, then I went into the streets to see what was going on. 

Chaos reigned outside, the headquarters of the Society of Azrael was being attacked, and almost all of the men of the Hot Pot arrived outraged to defend Yanmei. There was no mercy, they stopped the rebels with bullets and chased them through the streets with the goal of not leaving anyone alive. Leif and Uoliena had managed to control another group protesting peacefully in a park, but my fellow soldiers tried to beat them to the ground, and the protesters resisted. Conny was already there reporting the situation, I ordered my men to leave the park group alone and tried to talk to her afterwards. The only thing Conny said to me was: 

—Our drone spotted a group of rioters fleeing from the headquarters of the Azrael Society towards Ishikawa village. We saw how they dynamited a wall and opened a hole. Better go with

your people to see what's going on there. Don't waste any more time! Hurry up! I don't think the security they have is enough against a crowd of armed men who are high as hell. I wanted to continue talking, but she was right, that looked very bad, Ilmari's calls were more and more insistent and to top it all off, Angel was there. 

I drove to Ishikawa village, tried to call them on the phone, but there was no signal and I saw smoke from afar. I sped up as much as I could and called my father for backup. The rioters had entered, killed almost all the guards and set fire to Emi's house. But they did not find her, she had disappeared. In their frustration, they headed to Eiden's house, and I saw that they had already forced the door. I gave my friend a quick call to let him know, and he said he was heading there right away. When I entered the house, I started shooting at anything that moved. They were everywhere, causing chaos and destruction. When I ran out of ammunition I started beating them. I couldn't find Angel, Ilmari and the children, I was starting to panic. At last, I found them struggling in the master bedroom with the children hidden in a closet. Ilmari, armed with a metal bar that she tore from the bed, fought with all her strength and did not allow herself to be dominated; Angel did what he could with a belt and the leg of a chair. When I entered the room, I felt two hot blows in the abdomen, then I saw a guy with a gun, and I disarmed him with a couple of kicks; Then I realized that I had been shot twice. Ilmari was distracted looking at me and then they managed to beat her, but she was completely demoralized when she saw that other men were coming with Eiden already beaten and his hands tied. I could hardly stand anymore, three men caught Angel and then finally began to beat Ilmari before throwing her on the bed; next to her they put Norma, the only daughter of my friends, and they said that they would all rape them in front of Eiden. With that I exploded in a flare and burned those who were already almost on them, but others tried to pounce on the girls; They were like dogs and every second I lost more blood, more life, but I was willing to die defending them and I continued to attack them despite my wounds. Suddenly a frightful inhuman scream was heard, I couldn't realize what it was, the next thing I saw were entrails spilling on the floor and jets of blood flying staining the walls. I thought a wild animal had gotten in during the struggle, until I noticed that suddenly there was no more movement, everyone stood still in place looking at the bed. Then I saw that Eiden was there protecting his wife and daughter, but he didn't look normal. His hands were like long claws, and he made a strange sound. He had single-handedly disemboweled everyone who wanted to abuse the girls. Some rioters ran away, the rest went after them, they were terrified, and it was no wonder. Suddenly Uoliena entered and looked at the bloody scene. At first, she was frightened, then she came in slowly and said:

—So, he really was the last Oread.

Eiden slowly returned to his normal state and Angel went to hug him saying:

—No, he’s my brother.

Then Ilmari hugged them, I joined them, and finally Uoliena went too. We were all like this for a while, some crying, until Leif came and saw that I was injured. The few ambulances in Celes could no longer cope with so many wounded and I fainted on the floor of Eiden's house after losing more than a liter of blood waiting for help that seemed to never come.

 

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