Chapter 19: A View

Meno couldn't stop staring at the Kryptea that stood twenty meters away, atop the grassy hill overlooking them. He was standing at a distance by Liv’s orders. Apparently, even she felt uncomfortable with them around. The Kryptea had arrived just two days earlier, but the entire planet was abuzz with them. Every news outlet, every soft-spoken conversation in the hallways, every word over a drink after a long day's work, involved the Kryptea.

Meno had been excited to meet one, and was glad when they got the invitation from Liv - which none of them had expected after their conversation with Harold - to come into the farmlands and watch as the field harvests took place in the far west of the city outskirts. He had been amazed at watching the entire landmasses rise into the air on grav platforms into large carriers that hung lazily over the shining city when he had first seen them. But, his focus was pulled by the figure that stood in the distance.

Both Paba and Angie had warned him not to introduce himself, like he had with almost everyone that he had met so far. Apparently, thrusting his hand forward and declaring his name was embarrassing enough for them, but doing it to a Kryptea may have construed the action as an attack.

‘They aren’t thinkers, Meno, they see you coming with your hand ready to strike and they will…’ Paba had drawn her finger across her neck while elaborately sticking out her tongue and hanging her head.

It didn't matter anyway. As soon as Meno got close to him, he froze up. The imperious figure made him nervous, and the warning that he had been given rang through his mind.

Liv had been provided the Kryptea that didn't hold any weapon, the largest of the three. He stood almost two feet taller than Meno and had a build that bulged with muscles, without a hint of fat. His eyes were cold, nearly vacant in a way. There was no caring in them, at least not at first glance. He also did not have a name, and so they were to call him 6. The designation was due to the Kryptea not yet becoming a full citizen of Lacedon by either executing or killing someone in combat in order to take their name.

Once Meno had a chance to think about it, he started to wonder at the cost of becoming something like a Kryptea.

“...but if you live in the temple, why do you have the farmhouse?” said Paba, pointing to the old, though well-taken care of wooden farmhouse, tucked into the trees that lined the hill behind them. Angie, who was standing behind Meno, let out a small groan as he heard Liv tinkle with a giggle. Apparently, Paba’s brashness was thankfully appreciated by the First Daughter.

“Sometimes it’s nice to get out of the temple”, she said as she brushed the grass with her hand. “I think we need to remember sometimes that we belong to these lands first”. She had begun to fascinate Meno in moments like this. Here she sat, in a fine dress fit for the temple, surrounded by her Advisor, their two exo-suited guards, who stood just a few meters away and holding the title of First Daughter, and still, she seemed so normal. Perhaps his inexperience with new people was at fault, and that he just didn't know what normal really was, but he couldn't help but wonder about her as a person. She seemed so natural, yet was adorned by all of these restrictions.

He wondered at his own thoughts on that. Were those restrictions?

“I think one of my first memories is from that old farmhouse”, she said, looking back at it fondly. “Just me and my parents, in that house. I think my mother was singing to me, but I can’t remember the song. I always think it’s strange, the city is never visible through the window in my memory,” she said, almost longingly looking over the white stone scatter of buildings below the grace of the statue of Det’em. Harold looked down at her with a soft understanding smile.

Meno caught a shake of Angie’s head from the corner of his eye, aimed at Paba, who was probably about to say some smart-ass thing. Liv seemed to snap out of her reminiscence,

“I don’t remember the trees or anything else, but it’s probably a fabricated memory rather than an actual one. What about you, Paba? What was your childhood like?” Meno and Angie both shifted to see the usually brash girl tighten up a bit. “Were you always on Seviv?” Paba’s eyes darted towards Meno and Angie. He smiled, excited to hear, but Angie’s brow furrowed.

“Um, no, but I was taken there as a young kid. I was…” She was floundering. Meno knew that she was keeping things to herself, but he didn't mind. He understood why you would. What he was loving, though, was watching her squirm a bit. “I had an uncle who worked at the Manin university”, she said almost exclusively to Angie in a somewhat sheepish tone as she replied to Liv. “He took me with him to try and get me a better education”

“That’s quite a place to go and study as a child”, Liv said, and he suddenly saw the game that the young diplomat in training was playing. “Why did you leave? Most don’t”. Harold had warned them that Liv would dig. Paba again looked desperately at Meno and Angie. He didn't help,

“Yeah, Paba, you never did tell us”, he said with a smirk. She looked incredulously at Meno, sighed, and then answered.

“There was…a boy”, she said, dipping her head.

“It didn't go well?” said Liv, continuing her dig without any hesitation, though she said it kindly.

“He got me into some trouble, and…my uncle thought it would be best if I left”. Meno suddenly felt bad for goading her. He had never seen Paba so vulnerable. He had never seen Paba vulnerable at all.

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“Ah, first loves”, said Harold whistfully.

“What was his name?” said Liv, continuing her pursuit. Paba swallowed and pulled a blade of grass up from the ground.

“Hal”, she said almost defeatedly, holding onto her pendant with her free hand. “We were going to do some crazy things”, she said as though lost in her own thoughts.

“Well, I’m quite sure, knowing you, that you will be able to do those crazy things anyway”, said Liv, trying to liven the sullen Paba up a bit. Meno mouthed the word sorry to Paba, but just the very edge of her lip twitched in acknowledgement. “Seviv must be an amazing place, though?”

“Hellen never let Mr. Dimitri tell me about how they were raised”, he said loudly to Angie, trying to break the now near interrogation of Paba. It seemed that Liv received the message.

“I know”, said Angie with a hint of a smile, clearly picking up on what Meno was doing. Out of the three of them, his cover story was the easiest to wield. Nothing about it could ever be corroborated, so he could speak of his own childhood without any risk.

“She didn't want you to get any ideas, and Lor would have loved to have raised a little Kryptea” She was also watching the Kryptea, whose eyes were firmly set on Liv, as was his duty.

Meno and Angie’s relationship had become something of a guessing game, just in reverse. It seemed that they both knew quite a bit about one another, always falling in Angie’s favour, Meno found, but they themselves were just getting to know one another. So, they let the other know when they knew something about the other. He felt like using this piece of their newly forming relationship would also put everyone at ease. And with a slight adjustment to Angie’s cover story, being that she had known the village where Meno was raised, they could use it to seem more natural.

“Bit late for that”, Meno said, smiling as the wind picked up. “Are they all red?”. It wasn't exactly red, but more like a severe sunburn that didn't seem to bother them at all.

“They say it’s from their planet, Lacedon. It’s a binary star system, so their planet is constantly covered by harsh starlight. Others say it’s their food, others that they are covered in blood so much as children that it seeps into their skin”

“That sounds a bit dramatic”, said Liv, who seemed happy to pull away from her Paba inquiry.

“There are many rumours about the Kryptea, my lady”, said Angie. “I think sometimes the rumours are worse than the people they speak of”

“Very often the case”, said Harold, who stood beside Angie, not even reaching her shoulder.

“Doesnt matter” said Paba who seemed to be recovering, “There’s a certain threshold of danger that even stories have. Reach that threshold, and you stay the fuck away from me” she said holding her hands out. Liv raised her hand to her mouth and chuckled, as Angie shook her head, her eyes clenched.

“Are they all related? I mean, they’re almost identical, but it was only when I saw them that I wondered if they were, you know, bred”

“No, not all of them. Most are found, children left on battlefields, or sold into the Kryptean ranks, or children caught for petty crimes that clog up planets' prisons,” said Angie with ease.

“It’s barbourous”, said Liv, who was now also looking at the silhouetted figure atop the hill with his flowing robes in the wind.

“Then how are they all…the same?” asked Meno, looking up to Angie. She had a strange look on her face and said,

“Maybe we'd best speak of something else in present company”

“I don’t see a better time for lessons on the Kryptea”, said Harold, swaying on his heels, looking down at Liv, who urged Angie on with a nod of her head. With a sigh, Angie did as instructed.

“I don’t know if this is right or not, but it's the most realistic rumour that I have heard about them. Apparently, when children first arrive on Lacedon, they are put into the wilds of the planet” Harold nodded knowingly. “The planet is a large, hot desert with sheer cliffs and creatures that hunt them. Apparently, the creatures that hunt them have become so accustomed to hunting children after so many generations that they have evolved to do it better. They are left in the wilds for two years, and those that survive are then trained to be Kryptea. Survival of the fittest is the cornerstone of their House. As to why they all look the same, there are thousands of stories. If I were to guess, there may be some genetic alteration, or something to do with their food or something. Nothing ever sounded too plausible to me”

“Right on almost all accounts, Ms Lawrence”, said Harold, who looked up to the large ship swallowing the very land that rose up to it. They all shifted to look at the old man, “Yes, most are found after wars and conflicts, some are even offered from Houses that want better connections with the Kryptea themselves. You are also correct that they are left to the wilds of Lacedon for a period, but it is three years that they spend wandering the deserts of the world before they are trained. Where you may have been misguided is about the creatures that hunt them. You see, Lacedon is a very inhospitable planet, with high winds, heavy gravity and scorching surfaces. Most of the creatures have been hunted to near extinction, but you were correct about what has adapted to hunting them.” his gaze drifted to the Kryptea atop the hill. “You see, the most dangerous creatures in the wilds of Lacedon are the children themselves. And they have adapted to become more dangerous than any beast that ever roamed those sands”

“Holy shit” said Paba.

“The children hunt other children?” Meno said in disbelief. The old man nodded.

“They are taught to survive before they are taught to fight. That is the way of the Kryptea. It is also the reason that the Autarch felt it was necessary to rein them in after their crimes against the Sha-En”. Meno found himself thinking about the look of Liv’s Kryptea. That dark, heavy gaze that he wore. That lack. It had come at a cost. It had come at a cost higher than anything he would have ever imagined.

He heard Harold’s words echo through his mind as he watched the imposing figure watching down on them.

‘ I would like for you to protect Lady Olivia Traes, until the day that we need to evacuate her and yourselves from the planet’

He looked at the old man standing next to Angie. The old advisor just smiled down on him in that sage-like way. Meno truly hoped that protecting Liv, whatever the hell that meant, did not include having to get around those Kryptea.

He had grown up on stories of the Kryptea and their Silent Army. He had admired them, even revered them, but now, with three of them here, and standing face to face with one, he understood why so many feared the red-skinned warrior people of Lacedon.