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| - The heavy metal door opened and in stepped the third and final guest of the last party of the year. This year was ending with a bang, and with the next year being an election year, Wolnil Cristoph was positive he was to replace his niece, Vee. He was favored among many of the cities, most of all the capitol, Belaham. They said his aged face and mix of grey and black hair showed age and wisdom, but he still had a youthful spirit about him. This wasn’t so much a party, as only three people had been invited, but a way to treat his friends well. After becoming Kaiser, he wouldn’t be able to throw any sort of intimate party for six years and he wasn’t sure his three friends would still be breathing by then. Wolnil had made the mistake of getting a bit too tipsy before the party had started. “Helu, e’ryone,” he stammered out while he stood above them on the second floor of his mansion. He had been holding the banister for support. He had always feared falling off the second floor. The distance between first and second floor was a much larger distance than most people, with their simpleton houses. Wolnil’s house was far from simple. High ceilings, smooth metal walls that appeared to be stone and rich paintings were some of the nicest features but there were even more. He had one of the only houses to have clean water run throughout his house, but even better was the endless supplies of liquor. He had semi-monthly deliveries from ships all over the galaxy fly to Maynus and drop off the wonderful drinks. The rising price did, however, slow down the frequency of the deliveries and rising suspicion of the citizens made him more cautious. He knew most of the people would hate to hear about their Kaiser and his addiction for the finer drinks in life. “Hey, Rey,” Wolnil said burping, “what can I getcha?” Maybe Wolnil was a bit more than just tipsy. “Whatever your having,” Rey replied, laughing. Wolnil laughed too, but at this time, his liver thought everything was funny. “Not a chance,” Wolnil ended up saying. He let go of the banister and bent over, almost falling, and picked up an empty glass bottle. “‘Ere it is,” he said dropping the bottle to the ground floor. It shattered into a million pieces, to which Wolnil replied with, “Oops.” “Well do you have anything else?” Wolnil’s sister asked taking a swig from her own personal flask. If there was one thing a Cristoph never left home without, it was alcohol. “I see you were ready to have a party with or without alcohol,” Rey said to the older woman, acknowledging her metal flask filled with the golden liquid. It was funny how now that they were older, alcohol seemed to be the most important thing to them. It could be used to forget pain, mental and physical, but best of all, it could make any droning occasion into the talk of the town. That was why Wolnil loved it, it always ensured the guests left his home happy. Tonight would be no different. “Ah, here it is,” Wolnil said bending over once more and picking up a crate of his own home brewed whisky, he would save the fancy stuff for his night of celebration after being elected Kaiser. He dropped a bottle down to each of his guests and then popped the cork off for his own and took a big swig. It burned his throat. But it was so sweet it didn’t matter. “Thanks,” his guests said to him one after another. “Nooo probl’m,” he told each of them. Wolnil just stood and silently drank. Tomorrow he would have to wake up early and attend a number of meetings talking about the future. It would be the only bad part of being Kaiser, the meetings were known to be long and tiring. He would have to thank his niece for taking over for his brother after his untimely death. What a tragedy it had been. Nihalus had always been the thinker, but the two had grown apart after Nihalus left Belaham to pursue bigger and better things. Which he eventually did. Helping destroy the Gevorian monarchy had been a feat in itself, but installing his form of government afterward had been even bigger. He was never able to finish his plan to become the planet’s only true ruler as he was murdered by a silly girl who had lost her boyfriend. His niece wouldn’t understand what her father had been working for, so he didn’t bother trying to sway her into taking full control of Maynus. It was now up to him, the only Christoph fit to rule the planet till the end of his days. He would then pass the torch off to someone with similar desires, he didn’t care if his replacement would drive the empire into the ground, he was dead and he just didn’t give a frik. Wolnil continued drink, continued holding the banister and continued talking to his guest. This was one great party. — — — Wolnil tumbled over the stair railing, a tumble that he knew would result in his death. In his last moments alive, he thought about his past. His rare dog that died when he was a boy, his parents untimely end, the death of his fiancé on their wedding night. His whole life was filled with death, and this was no different. He didn’t fall by accident, this was by someone’s doing, as the case with all the death’s he had witnessed. Not just witnessed, but caused. One of his three visitors was the perpetrator this time, and before his death, he needed to know who. Rey Alus had been his friend from childhood, he had even been one of the few to play with Roggy, his dog. Wolnil never liked the dog very much, so he decided to kill it. Wolnil took his father’s service blaster and blew its brain’s out. Rey promised to keep the secret, and they remained friends as their skin grew wrinkles and their hair greyed from their many years on Maynus. Halea had been a wonderful sister, better than any a brother could wish for. They had been so close that when their parents informed them that they were both cut off from their funds, they killed them. No one knew there had been trouble in paradise, and they were never expected, it was just a petty robbery. They kept their money and were able to live lavishly for many years until the money pit dried up like a well in the rear sector. But even through tough times, they kept each other’s secret. Ailed had once been a beautiful woman, and through her years she retained some beauty. But not the beauty that had drawn Wolnil to her so many years previous. A beauty that drove him insane, so insane he killed his fiancé on their wedding night. He had been smart and made it look like and accident. The authorities never expected a thing. The plan would’ve been perfect except for when he told the love of his life, she stared away and told him her heart belonged elsewhere. But she promised to keep the secret, and she had for many years, until she grew old and seemed to have forgotten all about it. Now he was falling closer to the ground, from the looks of it he would fall on the broken glass from earlier. This caused his mind to race faster, he needed to know who had pushed. It couldn’t possibly be Rey, he had spoken to him moments before while Rey was on the ground floor and he was on the second. But then again, Wolnil had had quite a bit of Maynian ale and his whiskey during the course of the night, for all he knew he could have blacked out. Even then, Rey had no reason to kill him, he was no heir to the minimal fortune he held on to. Halea, on the other hand, was. If he died she would receive what was left of his fortune, the two mansions being the bulk of it, but she had no reason to want his property. She owned more houses than she cared for and knew how poorly he had spent his money. A better reason for her not to kill him was their love for one another. They spent many occasions together, be it parties at the palace to family picnics. She was also the only one who knew and supported his recent attempts to rule the planet. She never had a desire to rule and had always been thought of as a little looney. Her eccentric nature had always been misunderstood by the people of Maynus, but she never really cared. But that only left Ailed, who had nothing to gain from his death. She was in no will and had never held any malice toward Wolnil, unless she began feeling guilty from knowing the truth, but that was impossible. She had lost the majority of her memories due to a rare medical condition. She hadn’t seemed to recover any over the years since she was diagnosed with Hereditary Memory Loss. Wolnil had never heard of it before Ailed was diagnosed, which was when he found out about its rarity. Even if she had, she must’ve cared for him in some degree to just confront him. Kill him? It didn’t seem to be what she would want, definitely a death as impersonal as a fall. Surely, it would pass off as an accident. She could even just blame it on her troubled mind, use some excuse to why she would have stabbed him. This troubling fact left only one more outcome. He had been more drunk than a usual night and walking up the stairs had been a challenge, but he couldn’t have tripped after stumbling around. But that wouldn’t make sense for he held tightly on the banister he was pushed over. Even, he could still feel the pressure on his upper back from where the killer’s hands had done the pushing. He knew someone pushed him, but the question remained. Who? Why would Rey want to kill him, this was what Wolnil thought hard about in his remaining seconds. They had retained contact through the years and never got into arguments. There was only a slight distance that had occurred between them two months ago, but they got past that. It had been smooth sailing ever since. He and Halea had never been in a singe argument. An amazing feat for two siblings so close in age. He couldn’t believe that his loving sister would throw all their years of happiness away for just a couple of houses. He knew that the property and history of the house were worth an unimaginable amount of coin, but she was old and had no children to pass any of her currency down to. But that only left Ailed, who over the past two years had a love affair with Wolnil. She told him that she kept the secret from her husband, a man who Wolnil had never met. He guessed that Ailed thought they would end up killing each other due to their undying love for the now elderly woman. Why would she kill him, she had confessed she still loved him earlier in the night. He just couldn’t be sure, and it drove him crazy. He needed to know, he couldn’t go into the afterlife not knowing. He couldn’t spend eternity in the Dalemon’s chambers without knowing who put him there. He also didn’t want to wait to meet them there, that would have been more torture than the Dalemon could ever serve up for him. Wolnil then hit the ground with a loud THUMP. Miraculously, he hadn’t died. He couldn’t move or speak, but maybe the doctors could fix him up. All he needed was one of the guests that wasn’t the perpetrator to help him and call for the medics to come, he could still be Kaiser. But there was no rushing to him, just two of the patrons slowly walked over, looked at him and frowned. “You said the fall would kill him,” he heard a woman’s voice. It was Ailed. “Even brilliant men are wrong once in awhile, my love,” Rey said holding his beloved’s hand. Wolnil couldn’t speak, his mouth wouldn’t open and he probably would’ve only leaked more blood if he had. So he just stared off at the two, shock on his face. His best friend and former lover were his killers. He couldn’t believe it. But there was one more thing he couldn’t believe. “Oh darn,” his sister said walking over and staring at his body. “He must be in a lot of pain.” “Nah, he should be numb,” Rey said as he kicked his best friend’s still breathing corpse. Wolnil didn’t move, he couldn’t. His body was numb but his mind still ached. The three people he had trusted with his life were the ones that betrayed and murdered him. Just his luck. His mouth began moving a bit, he looked like a fish out of water, gasping for the one thing that could comfort him. “Why?” He was trying to say, but the words just couldn’t come out. “What’s that, pal?” His childhood friend asked. “Are you wondering why we did this?” He continued on, “my whole life I’ve lived with the memory of you butchering your dog, but as much as it haunted me, I kept your secret. Then to find out you pursued Ailed after she confessed her love for me just makes me sick.” His face was a bright red color, a color Wolnil had never seen his friend’s face turn. He could never remember his friend showing any form of anger. “You betrayed me, you animal” Wolnil tried to tell his friend that he had never known about Rey's relationship with Ailed and if he had he would have left her alone, but his mouth would not open. Wolnil was now having trouble breathing, it seemed his systems were shutting down. He would soon die. His body began to relax, he tried to push himself to stay alive but he was just too tired. Blood still trickled out his mouth, it was uncomfortable, but it no longer bothered him. He just wanted to sleep, but his curiosity was too strong for his eyes to close without knowing the whole truth. “And you killed your fiancé to be with me,” Ailed continued as Rey stood quietly, holding his wife’s hand. “Then you still couldn’t get over me after I moved on. I knew something had to be done after you confessed that you still loved me, so I claimed to forget so many memories, and you believed me. I had to pretend that I loved you, which was a challenge.” She then kissed her husband on the cheek, his face had steadily decreased in color. All of this was happening because Ailed feared how Wolnil would have felt knowing his best friend had what he spent years chasing after. “Well, brother, unlike them this was nothing personal, I just wanted your houses,” his sister said. They had ruined everything. “Also, you should feel happy that it was I that pushed you. I’ll always love you, big brother,” she said kissing his forehead. Now he would never lead the Par, control of the plantet or be buried in the royal graveyard next to his brother and the few great leaders of the Gevorian empire. His eyes would close for their final time, and that they did. The End
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