How no-one could save Tritonia

Chapter 1: Intervention

The golden haze of sunlight drew forward over the grey mountains that dominated the skyline, while a chilly wind caressed the trees like soft, fluffy animals. A tall man, auburn hair, dark blue suit, golden-clad black trousers, topped with a gold and ruby crown, stood on the balcony that overlooked the central square, glowing with the colour of dawn. He remained there, tall and proud as over the next few minutes his regal looks slowly drew people out of the tall European buildings, with their beautiful, grand facades.

  It’d only been 10 minutes but now King Ioanis and his Queen Elia stood out together, receiving a standing ovation from the ant-like people below. Hastily, Ioanis delivered a short but well-spoken speech to the people, and then they applauded again as the couple turned around and went back inside.

  “I do hope the election do-”

“Does swing in our favour?” Ioanis interrupted, finishing Elia’s sentence. To him, it seemed like she had asked 25 times before, “the people love the monarchy. They love us.”

Elia let out a long, painful sigh, resting her thoughts in the fact she knew her troubles and worries were legitimate.

“There will be no revolution.” Ioanis comfortingly told her.

“Promise me?” Elia replied, crying out silently for his reassurance.

“I promise.”

But that promise would be hard to keep, Ioanis thought to himself.

  That night, Elia lay in bed, alone. She clutched a vial tightly in her right hand, with a small canvas label on it, with the word ‘Billy’ carefully embroidered onto it. Although it was a restless night, she had a peaceful sleep.

  Elia woke up, dazed, her limp body curled up in a heated leather chair. She was in a limo, next to her husband, who was wide awake. Through her blurred vision she could make out an arid bushy forest, and what looked like a border checkpoint. In the distance was a white, embroidered palace, standing high above the sea of sand and rock below. Ioanis pointed to the palace..

''That's where we are headed,'' he said softly in her ear, ''Aparty Palace. We just need to cro-''

There was an ear splitting explosion, followed by what seemed like hours of silence, as they were tossed around the splintering limousine like rag dolls, as a blue inferno swallowed them whole. Ioanis opened his eyes to see black. Jet black. And as minutes turned into hours and hours turned into millennia, he remained there, in the endless void.

Chapter 2: Iujado

  Ioanis woke up again, but to his dismay, it was all black still. He was laying in cosy, jet black sheets which sandwiched him onto a jet black mattress as he lay his head on jet black pillows. The walls, jet black; the ceiling too. The bedside table, the chandelier, the carpet, all jet black. The window, the window frame, the fireplace, the mantelpiece, even the art-deco painting hung above his wall, they were all simply jet black. He could see it, yet every single detail was indistinguishable from each other. Was this hell? Was this the purgatory he hoped he wouldn’t be shipped off to for his sins? No, it was worse, he thought. He was at his house.

Suddenly, yet so predictably, an adolescent burst through the jet black door into the void that Ioanis lay in. He wore a tattered white t-shirt, and ripped denim jeans. He had short, scruffy ginger hair, oddly pale skin and hypnotic blue eyes that stretched far into his soul. Ioanis knew him, but honestly, he thought to himself, the teenager that stood in front of him must have just escaped a lunatic asylum.

“Why, uh… didn’t you drink it?” the boy shouted, in an intolerably petty tone.

Confused, Ioanis looked at his bedside table, and there was a (jet black) mug with a label with the words ‘Drink me’ embroidered on it.

“Billy, why am I here?” Ioanis demanded.

“Don’t give me that tone, young man,” Billy replied, quick to speak, “oh.. Just kidding! How are you?”

“Fine, thank you,” Ioanis irritably answered, slowly sipping the mysterious fluid in the mug, “Where’s my wife?”

“She’s in the other room.”

Elia came into the room, followed by another lunatic asylum escapee, at least that’s what he looked like. He looked like the typical, stereotypical crazy scientist, and indeed he looked like one. Ioanis vaguely remembered his name, but knew him simply as Doc. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He had collapsed of exhaustion. Another few hours wouldn’t hurt, he thought. And minutes turned into hours, and hours turned into eternity, he lay there in his little void, immersed in his jet black surroundings. A little peace and quiet, he thought. After all, today had been a pretty hectic day for him.       

  At dusk that day, they all sat on the large patio, overlooking a cold, snowy mountainscape. The air was bitter and frosty, and they all had winter jackets on.

“Why are we sitting outside, may I ask?” began Elia, breaking the long silence. Billy chose not to respond, instead, he slowly ate the last bits of Bavarian veal left scattered on his porcelain plate.

“More importantly,” Ioanis added, “why are we here?”

“Well,” replied Billy, “considering your nation is overrun by Communist revolutionaries, think of it as a sort of… exile. Luckily we have the vial.”

“What do we need it for?”

“That is not of your concern. On that note, Elia, follow me.”

Billy led Elia through his eccentric mansion, going through corridors with blue polka dots and a white background, then the opposite, then completely jet black corridors, however, that wasn’t really surprising to Elia. They both entered into a gilded lift, which had, instead of buttons with numbers, a keyboard. A circular slot was on top of it, which Billy inserted a key into, before typing in a long password. The lift doors closed, and the vial’s liquid changed colour rapidly, making grinding noises just like an espresso machine. Then there was a ding, and two fold out seats appeared, with unnerving seat belts which worried Elia a little. They both sat down, opposite each other, fastening their seat belts.

“Are you ready?” Billy said, laughing.

Elia was speechless, and she began to laugh nervously, convincing herself it would be okay.

“That was a joke, by the way.” Billy said, chuckling.

The doors opened.

There was a wooden bridge that stretched as far as the eye could see, with a roof made of what looked like leather hides. Strange, she pondered. Then seemingly out of nowhere, a ginger boy, seemingly a teenager, poked his head through the top of the skin roof. Gingerly, he climbed on top, and began to pace along, hopping along the wood scaffolding holding the roof up. It was Billy, without a doubt.

''That is me, age 13,''' Billy said, pointing to his younger self, ''and, oh look, your husband too!''

A young Ioanis poked his head out momentarily, before dipping back down below. The young Billy froze for a moment, but proceeded to carry on. Then he froze again, but not by his own will to do so. Elia's vision went monochrome, and both Billys covered their eyes. The supports of the bridge midway between where the young ones were standing began to falter, and a few snapped. The water around them began to bulge up and out slowly, and the clouds drew nearer all at once. Thunder began to erupt across the heavens, and the sea rose up to the bridge. Then something happened. To Elia it was something because she didn't know what else on the godforsaken earth it could be other than a something. The bridge, no, the sky, everything, cracked like glass in front of her. The roof began to rot at lightspeed, revealing Ioanis, and causing young Billy to fall. Ioanis had his hands an inch apart, palms facing each other, a black orb in between shining a beam of light into the grey sky, the focus of the storm. Then, without warning, he moved his hands apart like ripping paper.

The seas parted.

The skies parted.

The bridge parted.

Everything moved away from everything, and in the new void, there was a flash of light.

And then everything returned to normal, except that young Billy vanished, without a trace.

''See?'' present Billy shouted.

There was no answer.

''He's not your husband,'' he continued, shaking, ''he's-”

The doors shut on the pair suddenly, and the opposite doors opened shortly after, back into the mansion.

“...god incarnate.”

As they walked upstairs towards Elia’s bedchamber, Billy began to open up. He seemed paler than usual at this time, shaking a little as he spoke, stuttering;

“I-I’m g...gues-s-sing you.. U-u-uh… worked i-it out…”

“He’s one of them, isn’t he..” Elia comfortingly responded

“Y..y..yes..”

“An Iujado.”

Chapter 3: Ability

''Elia?'' a voice shouted from downstairs. It vaguely made out to be Ioanis.

"Upstairs, quick!" Billy hastily whispered. Footsteps echoed from down the hallway, drawing closer and becoming louder.

''Elia?!'' Ioanis shouted out again, ''you answer me this instant!''

Billy and Elia ran down the next corridor, which got darker and darker the further they went. Eventually, they reached a plain white door, seemingly the only normal thing in the house. Entering the room beyond, Billy turned on the lights and locked the door behind him. There were a few shelves, each with fresh linens and towels, and bed sheets draped over them. A vent with a clip on cover was situated to one of the walls. Billy paced towards it, and detached the cover hastily. ''You've been waiting a while to do this, haven't you?'' she exclaimed, ''qu-''

There was an intense series of bangs on the door.

''Elia, go in feet first!'' Billy explained, ''you need to land on both feet!''

Elia gingerly slid into the vent feet first, and shimmied down enough so Billy could get in too. Billy followed suit, reattaching the cover as he went.

The door then gave way.

Billy silently turned his head, with his finger to his lips. He mouthed a 'shhh' sound gently. They both slowly started to shimmy down, until Elia's feet snagged on the edge, and then she carefully pulled herself over and on to the floor below. As Billy followed silently, he watched Ioanis scour the room as if he was a forensics agent, turning a blind eye at the vent. Disappointed in his findings, he stormed out.

''Close…'' Elia muttered under her breath, breathing a sigh of relief as Billy lowered himself down into the room. It was very bright, with walls painted in a glittery gold coating, accompanied by a fluffy yellow carpet to match. It seemed less eccentric than all the other rooms in the house, a sense of… normality.

''He knows.'' Billy whispered under his breath, wheezing in exhaustion, ''he knows you know.' Now there's nothing stopping him from doing as he wishes now the secret's out.''

''Can I just ask wh-'' Elia began, yet to no avail as Billy angrily hushed her.

''Now isn't the time to be questioning things,'' Billy snapped, ''You really think you can question me? You're in my house now, Elia. Your questioning will always be in vain. I can't tell you why this had to be done, it's just, it's the right time.''

Elia really had never been so puzzled in her life.

They took many turns and climbed many flights of stairs yet the design remained the same. Golden. There were windows in one of the hallways, each one with a different landscape; one was a desert, the other a field of corn. Yet it remained the same. Golden. Elia questioned this numerous times, and Billy would only return a simple 'because.'

They went into a room which had a blue sky and a cornfield which stretched for miles. Elia asked if it was really that big. He replied yes. Elia asked if it was also that high. He replied yes. At this point she didn't really know what to say, and she wasn't bothered with wrapping her mind around the fact that a 18 year old boy who lives in a mansion with a (genuine!) lunatic asylum escapee had pocket dimensions in his basement, or 5th floor, or.. well, she had lost count. Elia opened her mouth, hesitated, then closed it again, worryingly, before blurting out,

''About Ioanis's ability-''

Billy put his face in his hands, letting out a half-muffled scream.

''Just stay in this pocket dimension. I'll give you control over it and close it so nothing can get you,'' Billy quickly responded, ''back in a few hours, have fun, bye.''

Large metal doors closed over the hallway entrances. She was alone.

''How do I control it…'' she wondered. But not for much longer, as she waited for a minute or so, then opened the door to discreetly follow Billy through the eccentric hallways.

Meanwhile, Billy had advanced further into the twisting and turning abyss of his homestead. He had reached a golden-clad chamber littered with blue-glowing consoles, which lit up the room spectacularly. He began typing away on one of them at tremendous speeds, until a female computerised voice suddenly spoke to him.

''Oh, it's you.'' she said in a nearly monotonous voice.

''Sorry, I left your intelligence dampener on.'' Billy replied, typing away as he spoke. There was a click.

''Ahhh, thank you Billy,'' said the voice, in a deeper, menacing, less computerised tone, ''That tumour of yours has been latching onto my conscience far too long.''

''Well, I have news.''

''Do go on.''

''One of my… guests.. has become a bit power consumed. I was thinking maybe he could be-''

''A central system substitute replacement?!'' she said excitedly, ''If I'm right about this, he will replace me and you'll dampen his intelligence?''

''Yes, and I'll upload you back to your human form,'' he said, pointing towards a pod filled with a strange liquid, with a young girl inside. ''I'll swap you two, get you back in your body and drain your Iujado powers and let you go.''

''Really?'' the voice ecstatically exclaimed.

''Yes!''

Billy arrived back at the metallic door. A small camera peeped out of the middle of it, scanning his face, and flashing a green light signalling he could enter. He went to pull the lever, but the door didn't open. Strange, he wondered. He gave it another try. It didn't budge.

''Oh no.''

''What?'' replied the voice, her voice coming from a speaker in the ceiling.

''I think I left her in there for a tad bit too long. The pocket dimension is converting her...'' Billy proclaimed.

''Into what?''

''One of us.'' Billy said, chuckling.

Chapter 4: The Truth

Elia watched from behind a storage unit. Many thoughts were rushing through her mind at that moment, but she had one thing certain. She was going to confront Billy. She wanted the truth.

“Billy.”

. . .

“What is it dear?” Billy replied in a patronising tone.

“I want the truth.” she demanded, “Ioanis isn’t an Iujado he’s… he’s not pink… and his temperature is normal..

“Oh, my dear. It isn’t just some Iujado… it’s a process, dear…”

“What…?”

“If exposed to samnsonium gas for long enough, the body gets certain… abilities. As you have already witnessed, hm?”

“You locked me in there to…. Poison me?”

“Yes, and it’s already too late..”

Elia felt some kind of force in her hand, as if it was pulling something. Then it appeared to her, as a handgun hurtled through the air towards her, she reached out, grabbed it, and fired at Billy at point blank range.

He said nothing.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!” Elia screamed despairingly.

But she got no answer.

The computer in front of her shut itself down, keeping what she saw as the truth out of her reach. However, she did notice a box labelled “Antidote.” Looking inside, it had a vial. Enough for one person, she thought, so using her initiative she didn’t drink it, but then it struck her.

“The vial..”

As quick as she could, she ran up to the main palace area, and went to the elevator that she and Billy rode. She looked in the vial mechanism. Nothing. She put the vial she found in and sat down. There was a ping, and the other vial popped out. The label with the words “Billy” embroidered on it was still there. She turned the label around and to her surprise there was more writing.

“You fool,” she said, reading it out loud, “there’s enough for one person, and if one of you doesn’t get the full dose, the other will fully convert into an Iujado. A shapeshifting, telekinetic killing machine. Choose wisely..”

Elia was distraught. Exiting the elevator, she found members of the Tremar family waiting outside for her.

“We saw you run into here!” said one of her sisters.

“Elia, darling, are you ok?” her mother cried, embracing her.

But Elia felt nothing. As her mother embraced her, there was a click. Elia stepped back, and shot them both.

She went looking for Ioanis, who she could hear killing other family members, and anyone one she saw she had shot until they were utterly, truly dead. The hand holding the vial was shaking, she was almost about to drop it, but as it fell from her hand, her brother caught it, and handed it back to her.

Clutching it, she shot him.

Elia heard 3 more gunshots go off in the distance, and after that there was silence. It was at that moment that it hit her - she and Ioanis were converting, and they had just killed their family. As she kneeled down in anguish, there was a click, and Ioanis poked her in the head with a gun. With the gun against her head, she opened the vial, and drank half of it, and closed the vial again, placing it in Ioanis’ empty hand.

“Drink it.” she said tearfully.

Ioanis, for a moment, went docile, choosing to follow the woman’s instruction, drinking the rest of the vial. He stood there, silently, before there was another click of the gun. Elia prepared for her life to end, but the gun then dropped.

“Elia, we just killed our whole family.”

“Ioanis… I know the truth.”

“Elia-”

“They engineered some kind of gas, it.. It alters their genetic code to become an Iujado or… or something like that…”

“Elia, are you sure?”

“Y..yes!” she screamed, tears streaming down her face, “Yes I’m sure! I….”

“No wait… I remember.. It’s all coming back to me. He put me… in this room..”

“Yeah?”

“And then I just… felt the urge to kill everyone.. I killed the doctor, e...even my mum…”

They embraced.

“Elia… there’s only one way to solve this.”

“How Ioanis… tell me how..”

The gun clicked for a third time, and he pointed it at her head.

“For the Tritonian people, no one can know about anything that happened in Aparty Palace.”

He turned the gun towards his head, “and disguise it as a mysterious killing. He threw the gun into the elevator, along with Elia’s gun, and pressed the button to send it into oblivion.

“Then how are we going to cover it up?” Elia said.

Ioanis wrapped his hands around Elia’s throat.

“Nonono… you can’t be serious!”

“Elia, your hands.”

Her hands had turned bright pink, and the pinkness seemed to grow up her arms.

Reluctantly, Elia did the same to Ioanis.

“I..if it’s the o-”

“It’s the only thing we can do for our people. For Tritonia.”

“....for Tritonia.” Elia said, but it would be her last words.

Hours later..

The news had spread. The King and Queen of Tritonia were dead, along with their family. House Crescido took to the news, and went out onto the streets with their organised volunteer army, effectively outnumbering and defeating the Communist revolutionaries already rioting. But that wasn’t it. House Tremar was well and truly over, and everyone wanted to grab the Tritonian throne for themselves.

It hurt the Tritonians. It was a stake to their heart. For no matter how many times they tried, it could never stop. There was civil war, leading to nothing but destruction. Then the monarchy was overthrown. Yes, the Iujado were kicked out but it always seems that doom is impending for Tritonia, especially as it enters another expansionist phase. Many people died to save Tritonia, but no one died and saved Tritonia. But this one time, maybe it just saved the world instead.