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KAIO
When my body reformed, I found myself in a room very similar to Bloodworm’s palace office. Yet, different. I turned slowly, seeing the viewing windows and realizing I was on a vessel several hundred meters above the snowy arena.
“Kaio!” A voice that sent joy flooding into my very soul greeted my ears.
I spun around quickly, just in time to catch Gwen as she threw herself into my arms, managing not to flinch when the wound in my abdomen sent a flare of pain through me. It might hurt, but the transportation had stopped the burning, and I could already tell it wasn’t fatal.
“Gwen,” I murmured, burying my face in her soft hair.
“I thought I was going to lose you,” she sighed back, running her hands up and down my back, as if to make sure I was real and not a dream.
“You almost did. I heard your voice in my head; it’s the only reason I had strength to keep going.”
“Give me the antidote now,” a new voice groaned nearby, the tone twisted in pain.
I lifted my face reluctantly, not wanting to break away from Gwen’s embrace. Even the smell of her was an aphrodisiac, making all my bad feelings fade away. If I had to give up the throne and leave Orenda, perhaps Gwen would stay by my side. I would no longer be a king, but I could still love her with every fiber of my being.
To my surprise, I found Bloodworm stretched out across his desk. Everything that had once dotted the wood surface of it was strewn across the ground. Cigars. Sandwiches. A bottle of some dark crimson liquid pooling in a blood-like stain.
“Give me the damn antidote, woman!” Bloodworm demanded, slamming a fist into his desk but then crying out in pain as the movement jostled his body. “Oh, god,” he mumbled, suddenly rocketing up and scrambling off the desk towards his bathroom. “I’m gonna shit my damn pants!”
I watched in confusion, and my bewilderment only deepened when Gwen giggled softly. “He’s going to be so embarrassed when he finds out.”
“Finds out what?” I stroked her back. I couldn’t stop touching her, and she was still touching me. I never wanted to be apart from her again.
She rose up on tiptoes, tilting her face and pressing her lips near my ear. “That I gave him an overdose of a fairly harmless medicine that causes truly horrific cramps and diarrhea. He thinks he’s dying though. I mean, I did give him sixteen instead of the standard two pills. Who knew a new treatment for nail fungal infections could be so useful?”
It took me a moment to process what she’d done. When I realized that it was Gwen who’d forced Bloodworm to pull me from the final battle, I grinned. “You are truly clever, Gwen Mitchell.”
“Well, what did I tell you about my work bag?” She shrugged, a twinkle in her eyes. “It was going to save the day one way or another—otherwise dragging it through hell would’ve been such a waste.”
The most nauseating sounds began flooding into the office, originating from Bloodworm’s lavatory. His groans and cries and squeals of pain were both disturbing and amusing. I almost, almost, felt sorry for him.
But I didn’t.
He deserves every ounce of pain.
I stopped myself, hating that the thought crossed my mind. It was ugly and cruel. Was it the use of the olde powers burying their seed inside of me? Would it blossom and change who I was?
Gwen hugged me tighter, and I realized that I’d never shielded her from my thoughts again.
It’s normal to be angry, Kaio. And it’s okay to have bad thoughts. I have bad thoughts all the time. The difference between good people and evil people is what they do after those thoughts. The actions they take.
I don’t know if I trust myself anymore. I admitted, my mind flooding with visions of handing J’onn the crown, of taking a ship and abandoning my home world. The citizens would be safer without me. And it was only right to hold myself accountable.
You’re being ridiculous, Kaio. You were in an impossible position, and you had to save yourself.
There is always another choice. I did not have to use the olde ways.
Then you would have died, Kaio! Do you really think that would have been better?
I truly do not know, Gwen.
Well, I do.
“Bloodworm, where are your people with the damn paperwork?” Gwen shouted, pulling away from me and striding towards the bathroom.
“They’re coming,” he moaned. “Just give me the antidote.”
