THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 231. HIS VOTE

"I have not taken my vote yet," the supreme mandra said after a while, as if the whole standoff had not fazed him. His aura was calm. Deadly calm, even, and his words were even calmer.

With that statement, he waved for everyone to leave the hall.

"The council meeting is adjourned. You all may leave!" The mandra’s voice was still as calm as ever. The council members seemed to deliberate what he was saying before they loosed their defensive and aggressive stances. They had already angered him once and it was wise they did not do it twice. He raised his hand to Tsaka too, and as if Tsaka could read the man’s thoughts, the shadows that had been lurking in the room, making it look darker, dissipated, and the room looked even lighter. Dawn was starting to break, too. The room cleared out, and the shadows disappeared, and after a moment, only sagiri stood staring at Tsaka and the supreme mandra of Tagayia.

Tsaka had not sheathed his weapon yet, and he still looked skeptical about the safety of the mandra. The other members had left the hall, but Sagiri could still feel them lurking around the hall. Even the shadow corp was not far off.

"Putting your weapon away is in your best interest, boy," Tsaka said after a while, but Sagiri still held onto Nokai tightly. He could not trust anyone’s word, and the dark and strong aura still surrounding the mandra was still heavy, and he did not know whether he could trust him yet. He also did not know if he could kill the man just yet, even with his current strength.

"I do not care what a northerner says. You want me to put away my weapon so you can kill me," Sagiri said, his hold on Nokai tightening even further.

"If I wanted to kill you, I could have done so when you were weak over the last few days. I can even kill you now. But I won’t. You have friends and parents in the north. Don’t you wish to know how they are and how your friends are doing?" the mandra finally spoke again. His voice was not hurried. It did not sound like a threat, yet sagiri had a feeling it was. How had the mandra known he had been weak during the last few days?

"A beast can sense another, and right now you smell even more of a beast and something bitter, and your human scent is dying," the mandra said, and even with his face completely veiled, he could tell the man was sniffing the air. "Whatever lives inside of you will kill you before anyone kills you if you don’t learn what you are," the mandra added. Thus was the second time someone had addressed the archive as someone. Sagiri still had no recollection of what he had done during the time he blacked out. He would go through that later. He had been carrying an odd feeling since then. "I don’t need to kill you when you are already dying," the supreme mandra said, and sagiri froze.

"What do you mean?" Sagiri asked, feeling even more uneasy. He did not feel sick or as if he was dying.

"You have to ask yourself if the anger and rage you have been giving in to is yours. A beast is driven by one emotion. Whatever it is might not be a beast, but giving in to it makes you no less than a beast." The supreme mandra continued talking, and with each word, Sagiri’s hold on his weapon tightened.

"So what are you saying? Are you going to use my parents and friends to bargain or to turn me into a weapon too?!" Sagiri Seethed. Taziraka did not seem fazed by the outburst yet again, and his calmness was beginning to anger sagiri even more.

"I have no use for a weapon that can not control their primal urges," Taziraka said, and sagiri did not know whether to be pissed or heed the advice. Well, the north had turned him into what he was now. They are the ones who had forced him into this state of always giving in to the anger, and they did not have any right to act as if he was at fault.

"Sheath your weapon and follow me," Taziraka finally said before he turned around and headed for the exit as if he expected Sagiri to follow. He did not even spare another glance, nor did he seem to mind that Sagiri could attack him while his back was still turned. Tsaka followed after the mandra. Even he kept his back straight and did not look over his shoulder.

Sagiri seethed for a while longer, feeling the rage inside of him build, then simmer, then fade in waves. He was not going to sheath Nokai, and so as the footsteps of the mandra faded away, with his right hand man beside him, Sagiri found himself following them. He could have pushed the archive out and gotten away, but the mandra and his parents and his friends. It might not have sounded like a threat, yet he felt it was a threat. He could not get a bread on the man at all. He was the ruler of the whole tagayia, and he might have been naive to think he did not have eyes everywhere, and he had a feeling he knew where his parents had always been, even under Salka’s care, and he had just not made his move.

Sagiri walked slowly behind the two men, still burning with rage at having not killed Felunka and the special units general and that man. Sagiri could still feel eyes watching him from the walls as he walked behind the mandra and Tsaka.

Even so, since the mandra did not wish to make him a weapon, he could follow through and see what the man had to say. He could act calm until his parents were safely out of the north and even n’varu and the others from the south. He was sure nothing would happen to his other teammates since they are from the north.

The three walked out of the convergence hall and into the morning light. Still, Sagiri could feel eyes on him as he walked deeper and deeper into the heart of Alika City.

Just what did the man want from him now?! What did the North want!!