Meet by the fire.

Day 4062, he counted as he watched the brilliant amber light of the rising sun reach over the expanse of flower filled rolling hills to reach this magnificent manor, the house accepted the warm embrace in a sickeningly peaceful solitude. The sign should be here any day now, he thought, watching the beautiful sight in agony, waiting for the day he will be released from this prison. 

‘Thomas!’ the young master squawked from his bedroom behind Thomas. Fuck, he felt himself sucked back into his uncomfortable and embarrassingly flagrant suit as he assumed his not so flagrant role.

‘Yes, young one?’ Thomas responded with a friendly smile as he opened the door. 

‘Bring me my breakfast please.’ the boy commanded with his hands without raising himself to meet Thomas’ gaze.

‘As you wish.’ He closed the door, and proceeded down the stairs.

‘Oh, he’s certainly up quite early today isn’t he, Thomas?’ prompted the lord who owned the manor, Albert.

‘Yes, truly caught me by surprise.’ he responded with a chuckle, because the boy had woken up earlier than expected today, too early. The lord left Thomas to continue making the breakfast for the next fifteen minutes, five minutes spent cooking, ten spent making the array on the tray match the beauty outside the window. Thomas knew he was done once he felt the urge to put a fist through it, this boy didn’t deserve to see anything so beautiful, none of this family should. He brought it upstairs to the boy who actually bothered to look in his direction for once, only to make sure the food was up to standard. ‘Here you go John, would you like anything else?’ 

‘Not right now, but I’ll need you once I’m done, so just wait.’ he pointed to the corner by the door he had just entered through, the one Thomas had become well acquainted with over the past 10 years. Thomas gave a sigh masked with a smile, wondering when his day to leave would come.

****

Day 4063, the sun rose once again, it’s crimson body creeping over the hills. It’s color reminded him of his lost brethren, whose blood was spilled so that these people could live on this magnificent land of rolling hills. The very hills that sadly now, only brought back memories of the mounds of corpses that filled the place half a century ago. No signs today, that’s fine, so long as I’m able to leave this wretched place soon, I’ve waited long enough.

****

Day 4064, and the sun was slightly obscured by a wisp of smoke in the distant forest, it waved at him as lovingly as the warmth of the sun, which he now felt truly for the first time in years. But that moment was halted once the boiling of his blood overtook the relaxing warmth of the sun, when he heard ‘Thomas!’ ring in his ears, the same one he had heard every excruciating morning at his post. It’s Jari, he responded internally, yearning to hear someone call him by the name his people had given to him once again.

That day he did his tasks quite gladly with a finality to them, since he knew they were going to be his last times doing them. Cooking the food, cleaning the rooms, rinsing the cutlery and most importantly leaving the oven on to let it heat up. They were all done with even more care and with a wider grin than usual. 

This genuine glee even caught the attention of the lord's wife, Angela. ‘You seem in even better spirits today, Thomas, it’s actually quite infectious.’ 

His beaming face met her and she noticed something, ‘Actually, there’s something else too… Your eyes, they seem different, they have a glow to them.’ 

He chuckled, laughing at himself regarding this day as nothing more than 4064, ‘Have you heard of the  Vapaa people Angela?’, Those guys really do have great timing, picking today.

‘Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t say I have.’

‘Really, nothing at all?’ he asked. How can she not know what her husband had done, how can she live on these lands without knowing anything about them?

‘Well, it was a people long lost to time, I’m the last one left to my knowledge.’ he said, watching her face contort into a pity that caused his heart to twist with her eyebrows. ‘Today is actually the most important day of our year, it’s the day when our god blessed our people, so it is when we’re most in tune with our land and our god, for whatever reason our eyes turn to this golden colour when that happens.’

‘Wow, I never knew you were anything but our Thomas.’ she replied before turning away and heading up the stairs.

****

Later that day, Jari watched the sun set for the first time, since he’d normally be tending to his masters at their dinner table. But today was different, today he served his land, his people and his god. Today he wasn’t Thomas, as he had freed himself of his masters, and he was about to free them from their bodies, so that he could feed them to his land.

‘Thomas, you bastard! Why have you done this to us.’ Albert weeped, watching his blood drip from Jari's trembling fingers.

‘Why…’ Jari began, completely astonished, he closed his hands into a fist, ‘Why! Surely you’re not foolish enough not to know why,  Albert.’

‘I haven’t the faintest clue… Thoma-’

‘It’s Jari you scum!’

‘Jari…’ Albert repeated, ‘That sound like the na-’

‘The name of a savage, an animal, a  Vapaa, Remember?’ he walked over to the now speechless old man and slammed his fist onto the stone wall beside him, cracking the entire thing and jolting the feeble man’s head forward, ‘You remember giving the order to exterminate us so you could live on these lands right? And here I thought you wanted me here as a pet, a way to further disrespect us now that you have our lands all to yourself, but no, it’s worse. You don’t even know what these so called animals look like!’

‘Animals? I never called you that.’ he said shakily, trying to bring a friendly smile through the terror on his face.

‘Oh really, so I suppose Duncan is just a liar then.’

‘Ah fuck, you’re with him and the revolutionaries…’ He spoke as if sadness had replaced his fear once he realized he was speaking to a rebel, ‘Kill me, I have nothing more to say.’ He knew he couldn’t escape this execution, he understood this wasn’t just revenge, it was part of a much greater plan. Jari smiled.

‘But what about your wife and child Albert Robinson, wouldn’t you like to say goodbye?’

Albert looked up in complete horror, ‘N-no, you haven’t.’

‘Told them the truth? Of course I have, I couldn’t just kill them without informing them why.’ Jari's grin grew wider, revelling in the moment he had dreamed about everyday for a decade, he knew just how to keep Albert's suffering at its height. ‘That’d just be cruel.’

Jari raised his arm skyward, before forcefully pulling it down as if he were yanking chains. The roof immediately crumbled from above him. The rock, wood and two people that fell through were then suspended by Jari until he stepped out of the way and let them fall, their bleeding worsening when they hit the ground.

‘Angela?’ Albert called weakly, as she was first to rise from the fall, unlike their son who was still a dust covered blubbering blob of meat and blood.

Angela didn’t respond, she simply acknowledged his words before disregarding them by looking at the floor, anything to avoid looking at him.

‘Angela, no!’ he began before begging her for forgiveness, sparking some rage in Jari, but he let him carry on until the man veered off into cursing Jari after a minute or so of his wife’s silent ignorance.

Meanwhile his son finally became animated ‘Father!’He began running across the room, ‘Don’t worry, I forgi-’ the boy's words ended abruptly as a hole was put through his chest by nothing but the burning, golden eye Albert could see through the gaping hole in his boy’s chest.

‘You-’

‘You don’t deserve forgiveness from anyone, Albert.’ Jari intruded as he walked toward the grand doors of the house for the very last time. He brought down more debris to separate the remaining pair, and block any escape. As he exited, he opened the oven and pulled the flames out onto the furniture and closed the door with a sardonic grin. 

He met with his fellow rebels at the gates, the screaming of Albert still audible despite him being so far away. ‘It’s been a while, Jari, you guys really are much more powerful today, good thing you were posted on your home turf.’ one of the men said with a smile illuminated by the magnificent bonfire behind Jari.

‘How’s the rest of the plan.’ Jari responded plainly.

‘All is well, everything went down without a hitch.’

‘I don’t like that, not at all.’ Jari grumbled, he had learned that whenever things seem to go well with plans, it meant that  they couldn’t see where the flaw was and couldn’t act on it.

‘Oh relax.’

‘You know I can’t, Levi. You know how slippery these bastards are… Where’s everyone else, we were all supposed to gather here after taking out our main targets, right?’

‘Ah, good point.’ Levi responded, he turned and pointed at an approaching light on the horizon, ‘They’re right there.’