The Great Belligerency [Round 4: Static]

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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The silence of the villagers was unnerving. Cole had reasoned that they were unable to decide on his fate; were they so paralyzed by this indecision that they were unable to do anything at all?

Then Cole noticed one of the figures surrounding him drop dead, before his image faded from the mindscape.

I hope he was a "Destroy" vote, Cole thought.

Then he realized that he could move again.

Looking around, he saw panicked faces throughout the mindscape. And then he had an idea.

"This is the fate of all who defy me!" he shouted. He'd feel rather silly if it turned out they were reading his mind and knew he was bluffing, but it wasn't as if he had anything to lose.

Panic rippled through the crowd of men, and a moment later, the mindscape dissolved, and Cole found himself back in the hut.

One of the three men in the circle before him was dead. Another was staring at the corpse, terrified.

The third stood up and faced Cole. An angry look filled his eyes. He carried himself with an aura of leadership.

"Are you the chief of this tribe?" Cole asked him.

The man glared.

"Unknown language," he said, nearly spitting out the words. "No place. Should die."

Then he let out a sigh.

"Powers fading. Cooperate. No choice."

By the look on his face, speaking Cole's language for even a moment gave the man a sense of intense disgust.

"What exactly are you talking about?"

"Village. East. Forbidden knowledge. Sealed. Broken. Destroy!"

Cole was losing patience. He changed his arm to a scorpion's claw, grabbed the chief by the torso, and lifted him up. The old man winced as Cole's bioelectric shock flowed through his body.

"Let's try speaking in complete sentences, shall we? I've gathered that you don't like me, and I'm not all that fond of you either, but the sooner you explain things in a way I can actually understand, the sooner we can end this conversation."

The chief growled, but he knew he was at a disadvantage.

"Your language is abominable," he said. "Outside our world. Unknown. That horrible word of yours is the only fitting one."

Cole started to squeeze.

"Get to the point already. I'm not here to argue philosophy with you."

"The village to the east. They looked outside this world, into the Unknown. They tried to tell us of it."

Had Cole been judging by the man's expression alone, he would have expected the other village to be building concentration camps.

"So we sealed their village, and all their knowledge," the Chief continued. "Their Unknown. But the seal has been broken. They are loose. And we cannot restore it! It is as though the knowledge has suddenly vanished!"

Balance, Cole realized.

"And you want me to help you fix it."

"We sensed other unknowns besides you," the chief said, looking incredibly disgusted. "One of them must be the cause."

"I imagine so. And if I do help you resolve this little problem, what will you do for me? Will you simply try to destroy me again?"

The chief grunted angrily.

"Leave this world," he said. "We make all knowledge of you and your horrible unknown language disappear. But cannot until problem is solved."

Cole flung the old man against the wall of the hut.

"Frankly, I see no reason to help you. Your least favorite word is 'unknown'? Mine is 'God'. And that's what you were until a few minutes ago."

Cole walked away. They couldn't stop him.

As he left the hut, he turned back towards the chief, gasping for breath.

"Perhaps now you can use your intelligence for something besides maintaining this world's ignorance."

***

Ambrose wiped the blood off her face. Minotaurus grabbed the horns of the ram charging him, and flung it into the wall behind him.

"We're close," said the minotaur. "Be ready. I doubt the weapon itself will be unguarded."

They walked further, and came to a chamber. A pedestal stood in the center, the blade of a sword plunged deep inside it.

A small crow perched on the sword's hilt.

"What took you so long?" it squawked at the duo. "I was sure you were going to get here fifteen minutes ago!"