THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 77: 77. CONSEQUENCES

It had been two weeks since the attack on the Galka War Academy had happened. The evil boy had been killed by Senraki or something. Sagiri could not know that because he had been kept away from everyone except Captain Fuwuka, who oversaw his progress in the medical wing, where he was also isolated from everyone else. He had not been able to ask about how everyone was faring and how Lotaga was faring. Part of the reason was that he was kept in isolation, which was not far from being in prison. After all, every move he made was monitored.

The other reason was Fuwuka. The man would rather die than entertain mere talk to a student. Sagiri had tried to talk to him when he woke up to ask what had happened and about the others’ situation, but he had just given him a cold look and ignored him. Sagiri and Fuwuka had never exchanged words outside the first-year cadets’ combat arena, and he did not want to push his luck.

After the incident, after he had been stabbed, he had blacked out for a whole week, and when he came to, his wounds were halfway through healing themselves. Not even the healers had been allowed to witness his recovery, even after he woke up, and only an old healer guy with bad eyesight had been allowed to treat him. As things stood now, he had no way of explaining why most of the wounds on his body had completely healed. The wound close to his heart that almost ended his life was taking some time to heal, but even if it could be as good as new in a few days.

The worst feeling was not knowing what had happened after he passed out or how everyone was doing. It was also not knowing what awaited him when he woke up. He remembered killing not one but three men in his rampage. The star-shaped marking intruder, especially, because he had killed him right in front of Captain Salka, Principal and Marshal Senraki, Kiuga, Kaka, and N’varu. There was no denying that he had been able to move while he was injured pretty badly. He needed to come up with an excuse for his actions because lying to get out of it was not an option this time around.

That also did not sum up his problems. Ever since he woke up, something had happened to him. It might have been the injuries or the odd feeling he felt after turning sixteen, but he had become a beast of food. He did not have anything to do in the pristine and empty room apart from asking for food to eat. Yes, ever since Sagiri woke up, he had not been able to stop eating one bit. He got hungry as soon as he finished eating, and he was lucky the healer kept allowing food to be brought to him whenever he asked, saying it was good for recovery. He could feel his bones enlarging physically as if he was experiencing a fastened puberty.

His other problem was himself. He was his own enemy now. After turning sixteen, his body had finally broken something blocking his growth so far, and he was growing faster than a plant. There was no physical result yet, but he knew it couldn’t be long before everyone noticed something was changing with him. Growing an inch taller in a week was not frowned upon, but growing a couple of inches overnight was not going to help his case at all. It was as if his body was working against him, and he did not know what to do.

Just as he finished his seventh meal of the day, and it was barely midday, Fuwuka suddenly entered looking grim.

”The marshal will be back tomorrow from the hearing of the attack. You are to get ready to meet him early in the morning.” That is all he said before leaving. Sagiri had also been sleeping a lot between meals, so he passed out and ate passed out again till it was deep at night. When Fuwuka showed up again sagiri felt like it had been days instead of mere hours.

”It is time. Carry him and help him clean.” Fuwuka said, signaling to the two favorite juniors beside him who had tortured him in the endless pool when he first arrived. They did not look as shaken as on the first day, and the only explanation was that Fuwuka had rubbed off on them. He was molding them to be like him.

”I can do it myself,” Sagiri said, already having heard enough of people prodding and poking him. He had also become more confident after what had transpired. He did not feel bad for killing those men either. He had tried to search for the person inside of him, before he turned sixteen, who was skeptical about hurting others, but he seemed like a distant memory. His days in isolation had not helped him at all, and he felt on edge and ready to defend himself if need arose.

”No, you will not,” Fuwuka said, stepping more into the room. It seemed that Senraki had left the duties of watching him to the Captain and gone south with the other Captain, or who knows where Salka could be, especially if Lotaga was...

He stopped his line of thought and turned to face Fuwuka. He might not have noticed it, but he had grown an inch taller. It was probably not much against one of the Chimera clan of the Bami tribe, who were genetically giants, but it gave him a little confidence.

”And why is that?” He asked, his voice coming off colder than he expected. He had stopped feeling hot and cold after he turned sixteen that night, and also after he was stabbed by the Tamelku twins. The cold and hot had moved to his personality, and it had been doing that a lot since he woke up. Only now it was cold.

”Do I need to spell it out, recruit? You killed three men above your skill set. Either you lied about your qualifications, or you are a threat to Tagayia.” Fuwuka said, and Sagiri’s eyes narrowed. He did not have a way of explaining what had happened, and hearing Fuwuka out, he could understand his logic.

”Yet if I were pretending, could I have let myself be bitten half to death by the Tamelku vermin?” Sagiri snapped the urge to punish the two boys coming back hard and making the cold in his heart turn to ice. He refused to allow himself to be prodded again. He was wearing a white combat suit which belonged to the healers’ unit, and he could only understand that his own combat had been torn to shreds, and before his suspicion was cleared out, he could not dress as a recruit of the Galka War Academy. He did, however, hate being accused. He did not intend to be kidnapped and forced to defend himself by killing in self-defense.

”It is my duty to take you to the questioning chamber. Your innocence will be proved when the marshal arrives,” Fuwuka said, standing his ground, not patting an eyelash, and Sagiri could tell even with his sudden surge of strength that day and rapid growth ever since he still did not stand a chance against Fuwuka.

”I will change myself, you can watch. I need my mask. I hate showing people my skin condition.” Sagiri stood his ground. He had not done any wrong, and if the Galka War Academy wanted to brand him a liar and send him out of Galka, then he could leave with honour and find other ways to find his benefactor. He had already been isolated and treated like a criminal, and that made the cold in his heart grow so much that it almost overwhelmed the warmth.

The warmth that he was starting to feel for his comrades, Lotaga and Salka. more so N’varu. If they hurt N’varu then he was not going to forgive them.

”Your full combat has been delivered to the preparation room,” Fuwuka answered. Sagiri closed his eyes for a moment before he moved. The two junior instructors walked beside him while Fuwuka walked at the back. Since they were already deep inside the central pentagon, they did not have to take many twists and turns before they came to the preparation room. It was basically underground, but not so far down like the endless pool. The central pentagon had so many nooks and turns that Sagiri was convinced it was a fortress for warriors before it became an academy, and then all the other pentagons were added on the outside.

Just like they had been instructed, the two juniors stood outside the preparation room and waited for Sagiri to take a bath. It was not lit so brightly, but it still felt invasive that they just stood outside. The markings all over his body were dormant now, and they appeared like a very intricate tribal tattoo. He washed quickly and put on his combat suit. It had always been a size bigger, but now it felt two sizes bigger in weight and one size shorter in height. It was as if he was growing taller, and all the nutrition went to the enlargement of his bones.

He did not know how long the transformation in his body was going to take, but the continuous hunger was torturous. He probably needed to get bigger uniforms, too.

It was in the middle of the night when he was escorted yet again to an interrogation room. This one is different from the last one. It was unnerving how he had been in galka war academy for a little over two months, yet he had visited two interrogation rooms. This one had a high table with four seats behind it. If he only had to guess, it could be Senraki, Salka, Fuwuka, and Torena to fill those tables. Torena was in charge of discipline, yet this seemed above his specialty. Senraki, the absent one, must have been one to chair the discipline council. The interrogation room did not end there, however, because behind where he would be sitting in a meditative position lay at least a dozen seats, which he guessed could belong to witnesses.

”You will assume your meditative position and wait for the meeting to begin at three. The classes must not be delayed any longer for the others.” Fuwuka said before turning around to leave.

”I’m going to be kicked out of the Galka War Academy?” The question tumbled out of Sagiri’s mouth before he could stop it. That was the one question he had wanted to know most. If they were going to kick him out anyway, then he did not need to defend himself.

”That depends on the marshal. He had to answer for the attack together with Konate’s Marshal and captains. I am waiting for the verdict as well.” Fuwuka said, his back still turned. Sagiri did not have to ask for any other answer.

The case had spiraled out of hand, and Marshals of both academies had been called to the ten schools council. No one could for sure know who would take the fall. him or the marshals.

He sat low in a meditative position and tried to distract himself from the hunger already biting at him.

”Word of advice, don’t lie to Senraki.” Fuwuka’s voice came again before the trio exited the room, shutting the door tightly behind them.

Not lying? That was suicide