The Katapies Experiment; Part 15

 Leuko 

     I was going to do it. Finally. I was going to talk to Exan Malis. My murder victim. 

     Finis said that Clarette told him that Exan was buried in the public graveyard near the castle. The walk there was long and slow, with overgrown trails and steep uphill paths. When I finally arrived, I wanted to scream. 

    It was terrifying. The textbook image of a graveyard, with red-eyed crows and spiders and who-knows-what lurking in the shadows of dawn beyond the rusty metal fence. I really wanted to leave at that point, but I steeled up all my courage and walked in. Exan’s tombstone took me a while to find, but eventually I spotted a small, neat gravestone with blood-red flowers in a small vase next to it. 

    Sure enough, it had Exan’s name printed on it neatly, with the text ‘May she rest peacefully in the serene shadows of death’ engraved below her name. By then I was beginning to feel uncomfortable about the whole thing. Exan had family, she had friends, she had a good life before I killed her. 

     Finis did too. So did Peros Libitus, so did Deccie’s siblings, so did everyone that died in that damn contest. 

    I managed to suck it up eventually and Summon her. She rose out of the ground disoriented, yelling gibberish as she walked towards me with a furious look in her mist-covered eyes. She tried to grab my coat and was even more shocked when she phased right through it. 

    “Hey, hey, Exan, calm down...” As Exan sat down on the gravestone with her head in her hands, she finally began spitting out words. 

    “I am NOT going to calm down. I spent TWELVE YEARS training to KILL YOU, and WHAT do I get? NOTHING EXCEPT FOR A DEAD BODY AND A CHEAP GRAVESTONE WITH A SAPPY QUOTE ON IT. I wish I was alive so I could RIP YOUR HEAD OFF, CRUOR.” 

    “I-I’m so sorry, Exan, I just wanted to apolog-” 

    “I DON’T NEED YOU TO SAY SORRY. I’M DONE WITH THIS WHOLE ‘I’M SO INNOCENT’ MASK YOU’VE PUT ON!” Exan took a deep breath. “You meant to kill me. I don’t know how you did, but I saw the intent in your eyes. And with a dragon? You really wanted to make a fool out of me, huh?” 

    “I didn’t mean to make a fool out of you, I swear-” 

    Exan cackled dryly. “AGAIN with the fake innocence. Stop faking and own up to the fact that you’ll never be perfect, Leuko. No one’s perfect. Some are... less perfect, some are more, it all depends. And you’re not even close to perfection.” 

    “I know, it’s just... Okay, I don’t know. You’re right. I shouldn’t have killed you like that. What did your parents say about that?” 

    “Nothing. They didn’t even request a spirit Summoner. That's the thing about this. My parents only had me so I could beat everyone in the Necron Contest. They planned it out and everything. I bet they’re so disappointed in me right now.” Exan’s spirit smirked, but behind the mist, I could see a bitter look in her eyes. 

    Usually, when Summoners died, their family members called in a spirit Summoner to help plan the funeral. Basically, the dead person’s spirit attended their funeral, so everyone who knew them could say their goodbyes personally, before they were put to rest again. It was basically a tradition in Necron, so I was kind of taken aback that Exan’s parents didn’t even consider it. 

    “I’m... so sorry.” 

   “Will you stop apologizing? You killed me and you’re still acting like a meek little spirit Summoner. I don’t even know how you did that. Was it cheating or something?” 

   “Uh, maybe? I don’t know. I read over the records of the contest and it hasn’t happened, as far as I know. I had to find out how to do it on my own.” 

   “Well, what did you do? You swallowed something before you turned into that dragon thing, but what was it?” 

   “A dragon’s spirit. The skeleton is still buried on the edges of the city, so I Summoned its spirit, bottled it, and drank it. When I was about four, my mom caught me swallowing our dead cat’s spirit, and it made me kind of turn into the cat. Sort of. I’m not sure how it works.” 

   The fury in Exan’s eyes disappeared. “That’s... interesting. Has anyone else tried drinking a spirit? Would it work on anyone other than a spirit Summoner?” 

   “Well, I haven’t delved too deep into it yet. I only know what happens when a spirit Summoner drinks a spirit. I don’t even know if it’s ethical...” 

   “Shut up already. What happens when you bottle someone’s spirit, anyway? Do they disappear forever or can you take as many bottles as you can? What would happen if you drank a Summoner’s spirit? Or a Mage’s? What about a Messenger’s? Would you get wings? There are endless possibilities, Leuko!” 

   I looked at her excited face and smiled. “I’ll try to figure it all out. You really like experimenting, huh?”  

   “Yeah, guess. You know, I sometimes wished I could spend my days just playing around with chemicals and try to do something other than killing. I could have written thousands of notebooks, been a figure of admiration, a pillar of knowledge...” Exan bent her head and grimaced. “Guess I’m not doing any of that now.” 

   “Well, I don’t think you would have done any of that if you were still alive, either.” 

   Exan glared at me and let out a slow breath. “And why is that, Cruor?” 

   “The life in luxury after winning the contest isn’t real. Finis even told me the tallest tower in Necron is just for storage purposes. We weren’t pampered, we weren’t spoiled. We were left to die.” 

   Exan rolled her clouded eyes. “Sure. Why are you here, then? Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, dead? Something’s fishy with your story, Cruor.” 

   So I explained everything to her. Every detail of the cave where we lived for weeks, every little word about Isabelline and her guards, a complete recap of the Corrus War. I even outlined how Eclipe ran away and Tsuni’s reaction. And Exan listened to every word. 

   She even asked questions about things I would have never thought about reviewing, like if I knew what some of the Messenger guards looked like. After an hour of talking about the whole, extensive history of Katapies as a whole, she was finally satisfied.  

   By then I really needed to go back to Finis, as he would probably want to know everything Exan talked about. So I nodded a goodbye to Exan and walked to the entrance of the cemetery. 

   Before I left the cemetery, I turned around and paused. “Should I bring your parents here sometime? Let you, uh... say your goodbyes?” 

   Exan snorted. “More like make them cry. I’ll make sure they remember me.” She turned her head to the sky, which was already at the peak of noon.  

   Exan was already beginning to fade into the light, as the sun evaporated spirits. She smirked and waved before disappearing into the sunshine. 

   As I walked away from the graveyard, I let myself smile. Maybe Exan didn’t hate me completely.