2.65 A Puppet King

The atmosphere in the Villa was electric, but Nolan couldn't relax, the latest announcement left him shattered instead of elated. As if things weren't bad enough already, he had been given a new assignment for the New Empire; King of Ebar. He couldn't believe it was legitimate, it had to be some sort of setup, like his entire life was seeming to be, was this a joke? First they made him a god, then he failed miserably as a Renovation Contractor with zero budgeting skills, and this nightmare had earned him the position of king? That he was to be the King of Ebar, was suspicious in itself. What happened to Orius? Did Atalon learn the truth about Dell? Had someone found out about his fundraiser?

         "Excuse me, I gotta go" He pushed Dena off his lap gently and made his way to the balcony, stood in the doorway for a moment, inhaling the fresh ocean air, the cool drizzle felt good on his face. He wandered over to the railing to watch the celebrations below, amazed still by the extents of the elaborate setup, everything was a setup? Was that Josh?

         Josh quickly disappeared into the crowd again. Thoughts returned to the Soloha, it was a Divine Intervention perhaps? The Soloha had saved the day, did Atalon know that too? He quantified the profits in his head again and again, each time the numbers were staggering. Every time he thought about it gave him a rush.

         Aroused, he glanced inside, the party was in full swing… He was beginning to realize what he and Torus were capable of. They were a good team, poised to pull off one of the most successful enterprises of all time, right under everyone's noses. This, here, was just the beginning of something really good, he could feel it…

         "Seems our little fundraiser is a raging success" As if Torus could read his mind, he joined Nolan on the balcony for words of reassurance. "I wonder how the Soloha will take off in Ebar?"

         "I imagine it will have equal success in Ebar!"

         "Exponential success if the king endorses it" he smiled, gently bumping him in jest. Torus knew the truth abut his new assignment. Nolan was just another puppet king, a king for the people to adore, there was no way Atalon would grant him control. He wasn't jealous, perhaps Nolan was to be given the glamorous position in Ebar with fun times and exotic goddesses, but his was the more powerful position. Fomora had to be established from the ground up, and that had it's own advantages. It was going to be rough, but he could eventually cut his strings. He would have the resources to do that, Nolan wouldn't. While Ebar was self destructing on Soloha, he would be building fleets to save them.

         Torus was the only one Nolan dare ask. "What happened to Orius?"

         "I wouldn’t ask that question around here" he replied, stiffening.

         ... Feeling watched, Neter glanced at the painting of Doctor Seton in the Moha Lab Waiting room as he walked through, it almost seemed alive. Bravely, he continued through the reception halls until he came upon a stair that led down to the lower lab.

         The lower levels of the Moha Lab were bustling with lab technicians, aribu in white coats were everywhere, too busy to notice his presence, no one seemed to care that he had no pass. He followed the red line on the floor down the bustling hallway, looking inside the offices for clues, when he came upon the doctor's name, engraved on a plaque outside a closed door. Beside it on the wall an inbox with a red folder inside. He glanced at the name on the folder... Zara? He knocked and held his ear to the door but there was no reply. Gently, he pushed the door open...

         The room was vacant, but in complete disarray, it looked like a renovation was taking place. A pile of red folders lay neatly placed on the desk beside a Crystal Skull. He lifted the cover of the red folder on top, but couldn’t read the cryptic language, it was an odd looking document, there were several inside. He pondered the stack, there were hundreds of them, hundreds of red folders filled with strange reports inked onto print quality parchment paper.

         He picked up the Crystal Skull, it was heavy, beautiful, what was it for? When suddenly the door burst open from behind, scaring him so much he dropped the Crystal Skull and it crashed to the floor, shattering into a million pieces.

         "GET HIM NOW!" Bell shouted to the troop. Neter dashed around the desk but slipped on the shattered crystal and fell crashing to the floor, giving the soldiers just enough time to grab him by the arms. With violent force, they yanked him back up and dragged him out of the lab.

         Defeated, Neter could only pray as the soldiers led him down the hall into the TLS program, but instead of locking him up in a cell, they led him straight past the tunnel to Hellias and down the long sloping tunnel that led to the smoking TLS program below.

         The tunnel opened up into an ancient Aquillan cave, lit by a blazing fire in a giant fireplace made of skulls, an eclectic marriage of ancient Solarian architecture framed into the rough hewn rock of the Underworld walls. Before the fireplace stood an ornate chair that looked like it had come from Dion's Salon. The guards sat him down and bound his hands and legs to the chair.

         Neter closed his eyes and tried to summon the strength to fight back, but he couldn't compete, there was no escape from the iron grip of Bell's soldiers.

         As if on cue, a drummer appeared, followed by the most hideous creature he had ever seen! She was like a huge octopus, her skin was warty like a toad, she left a slimy trail like a slug, she made Aquilla look good. He trembled in fear as the enormous beast approached him, smiling. He struggled like never before to free his hands but it was no use, he was securely bound to the chair. He knew who it was.
         "Hello my sexy..." she hissed, smiling wider, her gold teeth glinting in the flames. She leaned closer and ran her moist tentacle around his face, lifted a tress of his hair, ran it through her tentacles and leaned closer to smell his skin...

         Neter leaned back as much as he could, her breath was unbearable.

         "Mmmmm, my delicious! Welcome to your journey into the Promissssed Land" she hissed. "You may go to the land of Eternal Sunshine, but first you must confess all your sins to me."

         His mind froze, panic struck, suddenly he couldn't remember all of his sins! He was much too old, he had lived far too long to remember all of his sins!

         "There, there…" the Goddess touched his cheek. "Are you having trouble remembering all of your sins?" She slithered her tentacle around his neck, leaving a sticky trail. "Then let me help you…"

         Neter tried to scream but his voice was blocked. She gripped her tentacle around his lower jaw, forcing his mouth open. He struggled to break free but lightning quick, she held him tight in her grasp, the taste of her filthy slime in his mouth made him retch. He jerked his head back as far as he could but she only gripped his jaw tighter, opening his mouth wider.

         She peered down inside his throat, her beady chartreuse eyeball swiveled around in search of his depths, and without any more warning, shot one of her slimy tentacles down his throat into the pit of his gut...

        

         "AA-AAAG-GH!" Zara bolted up knocking the emerald tile onto the floor, giving herself an aftershock. Heart pounding and drenched in sweat, she glanced around the room wide eyed, stunned and disoriented for a moment...

         "It was just a dream…" Panting, relieved, she took a deep breath and calmed as consciousness returned, as the fragmented images faded away.

         She reached down to pick the tile up off the floor, luckily it was still in one piece. Even though it had only been a dream, she couldn’t help but be worried now, Neter had been gone a few days now. Was he okay? What if they had caught him? How would they ever know?