"The Body Cannot Defy The Mind." : A Lazarus Graim Tale

i. 

“Urghh! Move, Mutie" Regina‘s face contorted. “Get out of my way! You disgust me!”

She was pleased with her acting even though she was cut to her core upon hearing her husband’s venom spitting from her lips and take aim at this wonderful being. She had been very young when her husband had decimated the village, killing her parents and family. A commanding voice in her mind reminded her : 

“Continue.”

She shoved him but he didn’t move, not a millimetre. 

“Did you hear me freak? Get outta my way!”

So many years under Rex‘s cruel tutelage had almost numbed the young girl. A girl who had spent summers cataloguing the new radioactive wild flowers, chasing four winged butterflies laughing with her sisters at they harvested their meagre crops and tended to their chickens. Happiness was now the meagre commodity. By some miracle this amazing soul came to them. Slowly she had let that young girl out of her prison. 

She watched X1’s equine nostril’s flair. She knew her scent made him weak. She observed him contain himself and bow low. It pained her to put on her arrogant air and stride past. The court had many eyes and wagging tongues and they needed to be careful. Once again she heard X1‘s voice in her mind.

“Are you forgetting something?”

It’s true she needed to play the part if they were to survive.

“Do that again Mutie and my husband will have you vaporised, clear?”

The disgust in her voice and anger in her eyes, was an act. She felt X1’s look and she ached to stay.

“Keep moving.” Said the voice in her head and she continued to walk

ii.

Many, many moons have past since the Leaders of the Free World in a fit of childishness decided that their only option to save face was to unleash fiery hell, untold misery and mass genocide on the Earth. The survivors of that ominous day have struggled to establish something resembling civilisation. To say they’re failing, considering the tools they were left with, isn’t fair. Nonetheless they were pretty wide of the mark. 

Human nature left to its own devices and delivered unto its own fears and paranoias isn’t fertile ground for civil discourse. In fact since that day life has been a veritable shit storm of the kinds of dark madness that only this species visit upon itself. Thus when a small settlement of humans digging new graves discovered the bunker, it was a gift and a curse. The inhabitants were, what could only be initially described, as different. It appeared that a by product of the global apocalypse was that some sapiens and their offspring were so altered that they no longer conformed to the norm.  

iii.

Rex Adam, The first of his Name, Protector of Sapienshire, Destroyer of the Foreign, Dominator of Mutants and Saviour of Humans was uneasy. 

“Ungrateful fuckin’ freaks of nature! I should have firebombed that site the day of its discovery. Rained hell fire down, as I have on all who oppose me!”

He turned to look at his beautiful queen.

“What say you my love?”

“Now my Rex, please do not rile yourself over those not worthy.”

She looked on her king and husband and automatically her stress levels rose. The man had the intelligence of a worm, the sexual grace of disabled gorilla and the diplomacy of a nuclear warhead. If left to his own devices Sapienshire would have been assimilated by any number of rivalling warlords but she’d managed with the assistance of the mutants to keep him from pushing them all over the edge towards annihilation. Today was no different. She looked into his mad dark eyes lowered hers and demurely purred,

“My Rex, X1 is a worm and does not have the intelligence or skill to mastermind a coup.”

“Regina, my love, do not underestimate that filth.”

“I do not. I trust to your superiority.”

He pushed his chest out, strode over to her and held her face softly.

“You do my queen?”

Her jawline felt the pressure of his thumb and fingers. 

This is new. She thought. Does he know?

She tried to pull back but his hand flexed and held her jaw. She looked into his eyes.

Shit! He knows! 

“Rex, you’re hurting me.”

“Am I my Queen? My apologies.”

He did not release her.

“Regina, how long?”

“How long, what?”

“That’s enough!” he shouted, “Yeomen, remove this traitor from my sight!”

In rushed his personal guards and surrounded her. Regina stiffened as they laid hands on her. 

“My Rex, what is the meaning of this?”

“Do not call me that! Forth Yeomen, to the cells with her. May her and her lover have one last night together, consider it a parting gift, my love.”

The last two words were said with stinging savagery. She didn’t cower, this degenerate had not earned her respect, not in the slightest. 

“So you know. Finally I am released from the shadows. No longer must my heart hide. Heed my words Adam, you would be wise to practice restraint.”

He snorted and mumbled to himself. Turning she saw the madness in his eyes as the spittle flew from his lips. The cold smack of saliva on her cheek startled her. She shook her head in disgust at him. She decided to switch tacks. 

“I see you are not yourself. May I ask who is my accuser? What evidence you have that emboldens you to treat me thus, your loyal wife.”

“Harlot! Your midnight moans shook the corridors outside your chambers… I do not know how that corruption got back to his quarters so speedily and I do not care!” 

His voice rose an octave.

“Take her Yeomen! I will not hear another word!”

She was manhandled towards the door. She tried to stand her ground but they were too many and too rough. He called out after her as she was shoved towards the cells.

“Do not fret my Queen, you and that dirt dweller will live long enough to see every mutant die.”

iv.

They’d emerged from their shelter quiet and humble. Long were the days since they’d seen the sun. Their bodies were pale and muscular. Evolution had seen fit in its adaptive wisdom to remove their eyes cover their ears reduce their mouths and widen their nostrils. Upon touching the surface and meeting mainly unwashed humans their olfactory senses were overloaded. Many collapsed or fell to their knees. Rex Adam smiled at their suffering and interpreted it as fealty. He decided in that moment against wiping them out. That however was the limit of his compassion. He commanded them to be chained inspected and evaluated. 

The next day his Yeoman Commander reported to him that the creatures were forty in number. They could not see, hear or talk. Their sense of smell and touch appeared to be their main way of interpreting their surroundings. They had immense strength. Some had tentacles, others arm and legs. They did not speak but seemed to instinctively react to each other when in each other’s presence. Rex Adam began to regret his compassion. He was more than disappointed at the uselessness of these new subjects. He called a war council to decide the fate of these foreign things. It was decreed that the next day their home was to be destroyed. Those with tentacles to be euthanised, the rest put to work. 

On the morrow morning Rex Adam awoke to find one of these creatures at the foot of his bed. He wanted to call out but the creature raised his arms in a peaceful gesture. Rex Adam understood. If the creature had wanted him dead, he would be. An uneasy alliance grew out of this event. These mutants or as the free subjects of Sapienshire called them, dirt dwellers or Muties returned to their underground enclave. They were all marked with an X and a number as they had no means of taking or speaking human names. As the seasons cycled their integrity, strength and courage proved advantageous to Rex Adam. Many times, when called upon they had defended Sapienshire from the idiotic wars, scuffles, border contentions that Adam found himself in. Out of a sense of begrudging respect Adam appointed X1 to his War Council. A bond was forged, but human nature is fickle and all bonds will break when the heart of man is gripped by fear and jealousy.

v.

“My love, he has gone to far this time”

She felt his words echo in her mind. How long had it been since his mind had reached out to hers? How long had their secret communion blossomed? Ohh at first it hadn’t been easy. She believed she was going mad the first time she felt a strange presence inside her head. This hadn’t stopped him. He continued with such melodic charm that he over powered her fear. His telepathy allowed a kaleidoscope of beauty and kindness to blossom in her mind. She was in awe of what transpired in her mind’s eye. It touched her in a way that her oaf of a husband never could. Regina was a quick learner. Before long she was able to control his telepathic visions and she made sense of the images. She discovered that if she focused her thoughts that she could create a reply. Now it was X1’s turn to be surprised. An exchange began, a deep friendship grew through their telepathic link. The evolution of this connection naturally led to them sharing intimacies. Before long and with much practice they discovered that they could make the other shake and shudder from sexual pleasure. Regina was unaware but this was a singular revelation for her lover. X1 realised that he could invoke physical reactions through mental manipulation and a seed of perilous yet liberating thought began to take root.

vi.

X1 sat cross legged and composed. He guarded his thoughts. Regina was tapping at the edge of his consciousness but he needed space for himself. Was this the moment? Were he and his kind going to break free? 

“My love, we are at the crossroads, are you ready to walk a new path?”

“Yes, let us be free of this stupid man and his ignorance!”

“So be it.”

The door to the dungeon creaked open in shuffled a scared Yeoman. One look in his eyes revealed that though aware of what he was doing it contradicted with every fibre of his being; yet he was helpless to stop himself. He took a key from his pocket unlocked Regina’s cell door and held it open once she was out he handed her the key. Regina witnessed the terror in his eyes as X1’s final command was executed. His entire biological being was overruled and the Yeoman fell lifeless to the floor. She turned to the cell of X1 and opened the door. He walked slowly out, head bowed as if he bore a heavy weight. Regina rushed forward and held his smooth head. The melancholy of the voice in her head almost broke her heart.

“The body cannot defy the mind. If the mind says you are dead……Then it is so.”

Softly she held her forehead to his and her mind sent image after image of love and understanding. She stroked his cheek and their heartbeats synchronised. 

A searing pain drove them both to their knees. Regina crushed her hands over her ears trying to block out the screams the pain caused. But it was not an exterior noise. She couldn’t hide from her mind. X1 though momentarily paralysed took swift action. A singular command ripped through the ether. Thirty-nine minds concurrently took simultaneous action. Regina was suddenly free of the pain and the noise. X1 held her arm and helped lift her gently to her feet. She looked at him, a new curiosity in her eyes. 

“My love it is done. The lesson is passed on. Behold a new age.”

They left the cells and went to find the man who was at the root of so much suffering.

vii.

The revolution of that fated day was the founding story of a new age. The battle itself was swift silent and ruthless. Human after human fell lifeless as the mutants telepathically sent mental instructions and the biological followed to its demise. The mutants marched from their enclave to Rex Adam’s holding. Human bodies littered the way. Within the holding itself X1 strode the corridors and every human who offered resistance fell by the wayside. He held Regina’s hand and she led the way to the throne room. 

#

Rex Adam was scared. He had been looking from the battlements of his fortress looking forward to the explosions and fire that would incinerate his enemies. His plan was to then march his treacherous wife and that filth to the pile of corpses, have them cast on top and roast them alive. Now he knew that plan was not to be. He had been spying through his telescope and observed how his brave Yeoman had circled the dirt dwellers. An over zealous Yeoman had decided to stab one with his pike. This was the kind of initiative that made Rex Adam smile. The Mutie had grabbed his side and raised a silent scream to the heavens. In that moment the young Yeoman fell down. One after another the troop of Yeoman fell down. Rex Adam observed the manner in which they fell and quickly realised that they were not going to get back up. He’d fled the unnatural sights revealed through his telescope and hid in his throne room. 

His sword was drawn. He held it upwards in front of his face. He’d always trusted steel to make him feel strong, but now he felt no strength just a quivering weakness. The door opened, Rex Adam sprang out from behind it, struck blindly and felt that familiar sense of steel cutting flesh. He opened his eyes, realised he was looking at his wife’s shocked face and then he felt a voice in his mind that commanded “You are no more” and thus he was. 

Regina’s cry stopped abruptly as the steel bite into her neck. The carotid was severed. X1 had never experienced this amount of blood. He gripped her body as it slumped and her life source gushed out of her body. He placed his strong hands over the wound and attempted to staunch the bleeding. He entered her mind and out of desperation commanded her heart to beat slower and her lungs to calm. Her body was obedient. He heard her sweet tones in his mind.

“It is done my love. Cruelty has taken me. How I wished for us to usher in a new age together.”

“No! We will see just what the mind can do. Do you trust me.”

“For now, and ever.”

The bleeding had slowed. X1 called his kind to his aid. All 40 mutants surrounded the two heroes. X1 held Regina and sent out a message to his brethren. Never before had all 40 connected to form one mind. This hive glowed with psychic potential. The mutants held hands or tentacles and they swayed rhythmically. The hive dove deep into Regina’s consciousness and commanded her body to heal. Immediately chemicals, hormones, muscle tissue and cell structure responded. As the physical miracle unfolded X1 peeled away from the hive and singularly melded his mind with Regina’s. Though he had never had eyesight he now beheld his Queen and though he lacked tear ducts her hand wiped a tear drop from his smooth cheek. In their shared mental space their avatars pressed foreheads together. On the periphery the shape of his kin swayed and burst with light. The fated lovers were then cocooned in a healing amber glow.

He heard her gasp. His bloodied hand stroked her cheek. He laid his head on her chest and felt the thump of her heart grow strong. His thin lips formed a smile and he lifted her gently from the floor. His kin parted as he walked past they put hand or tentacle on him and the love that was received was pure and life giving. His thin lips formed a smile he bowed in thanks.

viii.

Sapienshire was released from the iron grip of ignorant humanity. Mutant kind and humans lived now side by side. Overtime they managed to persuade neighbouring warlords that cooperation not confrontation would be a wiser course of action. This humble kingdom rose to new heights and became a golden beacon in those dark times. The beautiful and bold Queen Regina and her wise and compassionate King X1 founded Lightshire together, spreading peace throughout the Millenia.