The relationship was even more outrageous to Kaeron's religious mentor, Chief Elder Kandalabryx Aztlamon of the Black Sect, who saw it as a grave violation of ancestral and racial integrity that obstructed Kaeron's adherence to the Black Sect. So, for this reason, against Armacron's objections, he devised a murder plot. Conspiring with the Eternal Night Division or "END" (a Huëy terror group), Elder Aztlamon arranged to have Ankas kidnapped and sacrificed to Solvix Solis, the god of Tlautatan, the Underworld. Armacron had already tried bribing Ankas to leave Kaeron, but he had refused, leading Elder Aztlamon to argue that this was their only recourse left.

The END kidnapped Ankas while Kaeron was at work, but he came home to find them still in his house, so they took him too. Together they were transported to a warehouse where Elder Aztlamon and his acolytes were going to sacrifice Ankas while Kaeron watched. It was then that Armacron intervened, raiding the place with IGATA (the Inquisitorial Gendarmerie and Anti-Terrorism Agency).  He had been swayed by a secret meeting he had with Ankas two weeks prior and determined it would be worth more to keep his son than keep his lineage.  

The murder plot caused immediate backlash, with the Grand Consul Yerna Thacroterra and the High Prophet both making statements condemning it and defending Kaeron's right to determine his partner. Elder Aztlamon was arrested for misuse of clerical power and subsequently executed by Kaeron Kanthromex himself.  Following the execution, Kaeron and Ankas got engaged and consolidated their union in sacred concubinage.  Armacron supported them, even meeting Ankas' family and paying the bridewealth. There was a solar eclipse the day of their ceremony. 

Today, Kaeron and Ankas live peacefully and comfortably at Kaeron's home, the Lesser Kanthromex Estate, in Inhentys Lapydah.

KAERON KANTHROMEX

He plays polo occasionally, which his father is a fanatic over, and does weightlifting as a hobby. Part of the Ixokai honor code involves powerful men keeping the skulls of their enemies, so Kaeron, following with Ixokai elite tradition, keeps the skulls of the men he has personally executed while working for the Inquisition. As of today, he has close to 200 skulls which he keeps in his office behind a glass case, a common practice among Inquisitors. 

As a Huëy Black-Sect-adhering government official, he is part of the Society of Nine Swords (a Black Sect only, government official only, secret society) and the Huëy Citizens' Council. Apart from this, he is a member of Scalene, a Huëy-only secret society that even includes the Grand Consul, Yerna Thacroterra.

Kaeron's basement is furnished and extremely large, containing many rooms and hallways, including a gym, lounge, and antique chambers. In one room in particular he keeps Ansal Kerzatan's (Ankas' abusive ex-boyfriend) flayed skin, outstretched and mounted on a wicker frame. He calls it the "Kite of Ansal". Another room is kept locked; this room is for Black Sect rituals involving human sacrifice and torture that he hosts at his home. Armacron usually officiates the rituals. 

ANKAS SHAMI KALIMAX

IN-DEPTH STORY

After meeting Kaeron at the Sheep-stead, Ankas would eventually come forward and divulge everything that had happened to him, resulting in Ansal’s subsequent arrest, sentence, torture, and execution according to Ixokai law. Ansal Kerzatan was flayed alive and Kaeron kept his pelt as a trophy in his home.

Ankas was now alone again in the strange city. Even though Ansal’s apartment was allotted to Ankas as reparations for the abuse following his execution, he did not want to stay there any longer, but he also did not want to go back to the Mass Housing Blocks. It was during this time that Ankas’ sister, Calkinu Kalimax, was able to move to Inhentys Lapydah to be with him and they rented an apartment where they lived together so he wouldn’t be alone. He was able to heal and breathe during that time, talking to Kaeron frequently at work. They were dating by the end of that year. Calkinu couldn’t stay long however, a work emergency demanded she return to Monodor, leaving Ankas to either live in that accursed apartment or rely on mass housing units again. He opted for the MHBs, but since he now had a property under his name, he was ineligible, so he just decided to rent an apartment instead of living at Ansal’s old place, even if it cost him his entire wage. He wouldn’t stay there long though, for Kaeron soon offered him a room in his estate.

Kaeron was everything that Ansal wasn’t: he was protective, caring, enormous in height and build, intelligent, and wealthy. One quality in particular however proved troublesome; Kaeron was powerful and the scion of the Kanthromex Clan, an extremely influential Ixokai Huëy family whose patriarch, Kaeron’s father Armacron Kanthromex, was the Grand Magistrate of the High Tribunal. Armacron was an outspoken figure, adhering to the Black Sect and displaying an unwavering support for order, capital punishment, religious purity, racial integrity, and tradition through his rulings and speeches. A proud Ixokai Huëy man, he saw his race as noble and fair; though other races might also be of esteem and honor, he nonetheless saw every race’s beauty as inherent to their homogeneity. Racial minorities of far-off corners of the Republic like the Hasgathites had no place in an Ixokai Huëy bloodline, much less a lineage as elite as the Kanthromex Clan. 

As Kaeron and Ankas’ relationship became increasingly close, they found it hard to keep it a secret, and eventually Armacron (and with him the public) caught word.

Armacron was enraged that his firstborn son (to whom the birthright belonged), who had just fumbled a possibly fruitful marriage with an Ixokai Huëy woman of proper esteem (Astalix), was now galivanting around with a squalid, northern wilderperson (as he saw it). Kaeron resisted his father, to Armacron’s growing fury. The White Sect advocated for the pair, arguing what they were doing was within the bounds of both the law and sound doctrine. Nonetheless, the Black Sect held firm its position that Armacron had a right to a proper lineage and racial homogeneity within his family. The relationship embarrassed Armacron greatly: the heir of his lineage forfeiting his birthright for a Hasgathite. 

The backlash was heavily felt by Kaeron and Ankas themselves too, being the targets of harassment and degradation, especially Ankas, who was often heckled on the street. Kaeron himself was subjected to heavy harassment and mockery at his work, especially at the hands of Hyrzamax Alantrotheix, a fellow inquisitor. On one occasion, the inquisitors of the different districts of the city were gathering for a meeting with the elderly Prime Inquisitor of Inhentys Lapydah, Iselix Maxalan Klasmasir. Kaeron and Salasnax were with the other inquisitors in a long waiting area, and Hyrzamax was there “playfully bantering” with Kaeron about his situation. It gradually became less playful until Hyrzamax and some of the others were outright mocking Kaeron. It wasn’t until Hyrzamax said something particularly offensive about Ankas that Kaeron lost his temper and struck him across the face, beginning a physical altercation. 

Kaeron was disciplined instantly, being taken to Prime Inquisitor Klasmasir’s office. Klasmasir heavily reprimanded him, stressing that Kaeron was his primary pick for a successor, but that his actions were unacceptable. He suspended Kaeron for six months without pay. He explained to Kaeron that had it been anyone else, he would have let them off easier, but since Kaeron was of such high status and performance, he was holding him to higher standards than everyone else. It was for this reason that he was disciplining him more harshly than he would anyone else, instead of taking it easy.

The shame piled upon Kaeron and his family exponentially. Now suspended from work, over such a high-profile incident, Kaeron locked himself away with Ankas in his massive home, hiding from the public eye. It was during this reclusion that a plot was hatched against them.

Among the opponents of their relationship was the 96-year-old Chief Elder Kandalabryx Aztlamon of the Black Sect. He was Kaeron’s religious mentor in the Black Sect and had mentored his father Armacron before him. Aztlamon had lost the right side of his face and his right arm to an acid attack, leaving him extremely disfigured with a robotic arm. A racial extremist, he saw Kaeron’s relationship as a blatant affront to racial integrity, ancestral piety, the honor code, and Black Sect values. More extreme and impulsive than Armacron, Aztlamon started twisting his hand into action. First, the Kanthromex Clan offered 2 million units to Ankas in exchange for his breakup and disappearance from Kaeron’s life. He refused. Aztlamon then took the natural next option: killing him, to Armacron’s dismay and objections. Aztlamon tried getting him on board with the murder plot, but Armacron threatened legal action if he went through with it. Aztlamon, of course, did not care and secretly went through with the plot anyway without him.

Eventually Kaeron returned to the Inquisition. During his suspension, his district had been assigned to Hyrzamax, and it was a total mess. For weeks Kaeron worked arduously to clean up after Hyrzamax’s incompetence. It was during this time that Armacron, fearing the murder plot, met with Ankas in secret to dissuade him one last time. No one was present but them, their exchange was heated but Ankas did not back down. Agitated, Ankas left, leaving Armacron to ponder deeply what he had heard. Kethinatli, Kaeron's mother, then had a careful talk with him going over the whole ordeal. 

Two weeks later, the Eternal Night Division, a Huëy supremacist paramilitary group, under commission of Aztlamon, broke into Kaeron’s home while he was away to kidnap Ankas. When Kaeron returned, he found them still in his house and what ensued was a brutal confrontation. He fought ferociously, biting off noses and snapping ribs. At one point he went into his basement to retrieve an antique sword, which he used to slaughter the END assassins until they shot him twice and knocked him unconscious. The END transported Kaeron and Ankas to a warehouse where Aztlamon was waiting. There, they prepared Ankas as an offering to Solvix Solis, to be sacrificed on an underworld portal to send his soul directly into Tlautatan for eternal torment. Just as the sacrificial blade was drawn, IGATA raided the warehouse with Armacron leading them. Armacron brought with him an edict he had drawn up, sentencing Aztlamon to death on the spot. Aztlamon was arrested and subsequently taken in for processing. 

It turned out that Ankas succeeded in making his case, for Armacron decided that preserving his traditional lineage was less important than keeping his firstborn (a sentiment that was only strengthened after seeing Kaeron’s injuries), who undoutably would have instantly comitted suicide upon Ankas' death. Armacron’s intervention saved Ankas’ life, and for that, Ankas was so grateful that he fell into Armacron's arms and embraced him tightly upon seeing him.

Armacron agreed to bless their union, seeking reconciliation with his son. Swearing a sacred oath according to the Ixokai Honor Code, he pledged not to seek Ankas' harm ever again on pain of his own death via decapitation.  Kaeron and Ankas moved to solidify their relationship in sacred concubinage (the homosexual alternative to sacred matrimony in Ixenthacronism). The whole ordeal with the murder plot was an outrage; if there is anything an Ixokai person hates more than disrupting tradition, it’s breaking the law. The call for justice was swift against Aztlamon: he was charged with misuse of clerical authority, a class A felony. The crime made him Livestock of the State and carrying a legal penalty of impalement after torture. Armacron sought the full legal penalty, but Yerna Thacroterra, the Grand Consul of the Republic, intervened with a partial pardon which removed the torture from his sentence. Thacroterra saved Aztlamon from torture but permitted his execution by live impalement.

At his execution, Thacroterra, Armacron, and Foroslasax Anarechmon the High Prophet of the Ixenthacron Church (highest figure of the clerical hierarchy) were present (along with several other functionaries) to watch Kaeron Kanthromex personally impale him. The surviving members of the END who had participated in the conspiracy were subsequently arrested and tried for domestic terrorism, becoming Livestock of the State and receiving the legal penalty of flaying after prolonged torture. On top of this, they were charged and convicted of kidnapping, which carries a legal penalty of anal evisceration.  The entirety of the END was not disbanded, however, and its leadership actively protested the convictions. It wasn't until the High Prophet issued a statement that zealotry for the sake of lineage and civic squabbles was unacceptable, that the END finally accepted their guilt. He stressed there was precedent for what Kaeron and Ankas were doing, affirming the White Sect position, and chastised the Black Sect for seeking murder. The Black Sect accepted the reprimand. Following this, Thacroterra addressed the nation at the People’s Palace to disavow Aztlamon’s plot and the overblown harassment of an adult Huëy man pursuing a legal relationship with a preexisting theological precedent. 

Following his heroism during the murder plot, Kaeron was finally promoted to Prime Inquisitor of Inhentys Lapydah, letting Klasmasir finally retire.  As a trophy, he kept Aztlamon's skull and robotic arm, which are now on display in his office. Kaeron was also offered the human pelts of the executed END members as compensation for their intrusion into his home, he accepted them but then delivered them to his father as gratitude for saving him. Swearing a sacred oath according to the Ixokai Honor Code, Armacron in turn pledged not to bring harm to Ankas ever again on pain of his own death via decapitation. 

Leading up to the sacred union ceremony, Ankas took Kaeron up North to Monodoros to meet his Hasgathite family. In return, Kaeron paid for his soon-to-be in-laws to travel to Inhentys Lapydah and meet the Kanthromex family. Ankas’ parents were extremely grateful to Armacron for saving their youngest child’s life, giving the family great gifts as dowries. In exchange, Armacron paid them a hefty bridewealth. The ceremony was scheduled to take place during a solar eclipse, a significant religious event for Kaeron as a Black Sect adherent. Largely out of the public eye by now, the union was sealed in peace, attended by just them and the priest. Kaeron and Ankas’ souls were officially bound for eternity. They live together to this day in Kaeron’s massive house, the Lesser Kanthromex Estate. In peace.

SUPPORTING CAST

His close friend, Zemekai Kalixkali, is the Minister of Commerce, and his other close friend Zalaki Kranoskrayat, is the Minister of the Exterior. His brother-in-law, Heneskar Slaurex, is both a high-end attorney for a major company and his personal lawyer. His father, Thastaerex, was the former Chancellor of the Republic (basically vice president) to the now extinct Albacran Kypron, and it was through him that he met both Kypron and Yerna Thacroterra, who is the incumbent Grand Consul. It was Albacran Kypron who appointed Armacron to the position of Grand Magistrate in 5500 AFT, which he has held ever since. 

He knows personally all the magistrates on the High Tribunal (his colleagues) and dines often with them. He is the president (or “Ancient Supreme”) of the Society of the Nine Swords (a Black Sect only, government official only, secret society) of which Hezmacron Itrayomezcan, the Minister of Ordnance and Defense, is also a part of.  As son of the Ancient Supreme, Kaeron's rank is automatically the Prince of Swords. On top of this, Armacron is an active member of the Huëy Citizens' Council and Scalene. Through his brothers he knows many congressmen, and through his friendship with the now extinct Chief Elder Aztlamon he knows the High Priest of the Black Sect. To add to all of this, he lives in the Astreyon Walled City, a gated community in Inhentys Lapydah where not only Kaeron lives as well, but many high-ranking functionaries and businessmen, including many of his aforementioned friends. 

Armacron is a dedicated and present father. His household in the Greater Kanthromex Estate consists of his wife Kethintali and his two sons Andaragon and Lantalix. The ribcage and the skull of Antalao are mounted on the wall overlooking the dining room. Armacron has an entire human skeleton in his office behind a glass case. He owns a cape of black dog pelts which he wears for his Society of the Nine Swords activities and government galas. Mounted on the wall behind his desk is a Karnaphys (sigil of Solvix Solis) made out of dog bones. 

When Armacron became Grand Magistrate in 5500 AFT at age 31, his future consulship seemed more than assured. Unfortunately for him, not only is a leadership change only considered every seven years, but a consulship election only takes place if the incumbent Grand Consul fails his evaluation.  So, since Yerna Thacroterra kept passing every end-of-term evaluation, Armacron never actually had a window of opportunity to run for office. Put plainly: Armacron never fulfilled his expectations because Yerna Thacroterra was too good at his job.  Even so, Yerna Thacroterra is a family friend and Armacron does not harbor any resentment towards him.

Armacron has tattoos on his chest, shoulders, back, and down his arms which mimic the Marks of the Venerable. He got these done on his own account following the War of the Hemisphere. He also considered getting the Mark of the Covenant permanently tattooed on his face the way they did it during the monarchy. 

Following the attack against him that cost him an eye, he wore an eyepatch for a couple years until it healed enough to be exposed. Because of this, you can usually tell the time period a picture was taken. If Armacron is in the picture, you can tell the approximate year by checking if he has both eyes, an eyepatch, or one visible blind eye.

Aztlamon was a close family friend of the Kanthromex Clan, and a loving husband to his extinct wife.  He lost the right half of his face, all sight in his right eye, and his right arm to an acid attack some decades ago.  For this reason, he had a robotic arm, no lips, and no nose cartilage.  His bare teeth were nonetheless pristine white.  Because of his lack of lips, his speech was distorted, producing a very distinct impediment. 

In accordance with Ixenthacron jurisprudence, he received no funerary rites because his crime (a class A felony) put him in the Livestock of the State category. He has no grave. Some of his bones and his mechanical arm were collected, but the rest of his body was incinerated and discarded. His unused, expensive, granite tomb was thus repossessed.  

Aztlamon was impaled alive which entails being left on the post until the flesh rots away. For this reason, his robotic arm was hacked off before his execution to prevent it from being damaged by the fluids of decomposition. His bones were only collected after his body had sufficiently decomposed, and they received extensive cleaning afterwards.  Usually, impalement destroy the skull but since Kaeron wanted to keep it, his head was angled so that the post came out through his mouth instead of the top of his head. This way, his jaw was just dislocated but the skull itself remained undamaged.

Regardless of his crime, Sleuon ultimately judged his soul favorably, taking into account his enormous history of clerical service and otherwise diligent penance record. Kandalabryx Aztlamon was allowed to enter Paradise, though with the condition that his soul would exist in the form of an elderly man for all eternity as punishment for his sin. He has both his arms in Paradise. 

AFTER THE STORY

Ankas arrived in Inhentys Lapydah in 5521 AFT. Kaeron met Ankas in 5522 AFT and this is also when Ansal died. From 5522 to 5523 AFT, Calkinu was living with Ankas while the relationship between Kaeron and Ankas was transitioning from friendship into dating. The main story takes place between 5523 and 5524 AFT, when the relationship became public, the scandal unfolded, and the murder plot took place and failed. Kaeron and Ankas’ sealing ceremony took place in 5524 at the end of the conflict. From 5524 to 5525 AFT (the present day) they have been living together as a sealed couple post-conflict. 

As of Today

Kaeron and Ankas live in Kaeron's house: the Lesser Kanthromex Estate. In 5524, shortly after their sealing ceremony, Ankas graduated from college. He has since lived in Kaeron's house as a homemaker, however. Kaeron works in the Inquisition as Prime Inquisitor of the city 5 days a week. He comes home to eat lunch every day and doesn't return until dinner. Some days, Kaeron has to work late leaving Ankas lonely at home. When this happens, the two usually call while Kaeron is in his office so he can talk to Ankas while he finished his work (while Ankas is still awake). They have an obese black cat Kaeron named Petroleum. 

Since Ankas is afraid of the dark, Kaeron had floor lights installed in the hallways of the house. 

Back when Kaeron first offered Ankas a place to stay following Calkinu's departure, he gave him his own room.  That room remains preserved with all his belongings and trinkets to this day. He still spends time there, especially since it is a lot smaller than the rest of the house. On top of this, he sleeps there when they cannot share a bed during the 20 day fast of Kanramet. Kaeron insists he should have the master bedroom instead while Kaeron sleeps elsewhere, but Ankas doesn't like how big and lonely the room is without Kaeron. Not to mention, the Femur of Antalao sits on display there. 

Kaeron and Ankas go out a lot since so much of the city is still new to Ankas even after four years of living there. Kaeron never runs out of new things to show him, especially with all of his family's aristocratic peculiarities.  The Kanthromex Clan will often host and attend luncheons, events, and outings which Kaeron is usually a part of. And if Kaeron is a part of it, he makes sure to bring Ankas along too. Ankas is particularly fond of the government galas the family attends, taking the opportunity to sport his best and most elaborate clothes as all the women do. Of course, his wardrobe was originally not exactly high-society-appropriate, so Kaeron's mother Kethintali helped him in expanding it. 

Ankas sometimes spends time with Kethintali while the men are away. He has become friends with the neighboring housewifes and regularly attends their brunches and tea parties. Some days they might go grocery shopping together and on others to the beauty parlor.  It is illegal for homosexuals to adopt and raise children but Ankas is nonetheless very good with them. 

All kinds of important people have dinner over at the Greater Kanthromex Estate, including Yerna Thacroterra. Kaeron and Ankas attend often, leaving Ankas incredulous about who he's sitting across the dinner table from every time. Not just at a high-end venue but at his in-laws-house no less!

Every so often, Kaeron and Ankas will accompany Armacron on his polo outings. The polo club is in neighboring state, Atryon, and they typically drive there: Kaeron and Ankas in one car, Armacron and the rest of the family in another. Armacron usually has a chauffeur within the city, but during his road trips he likes to drive himself. Ankas loves watching the horses, he laughs at Kaeron's clumsiness in polo, and is astonished at Armacron's skill. 

Armacron had intended to cook a meal for his wife for the first time ever to celebrate their 31st anniversary.  Unfortunately, he cannot cook and he has no sisters or daughters he could ask to teach him, so he decided to ask Ankas to teach him instead. Armacron phoned Ankas while Kaeron was away, requesting Ankas teach him how to cook. Ankas, bewildered and shocked, accepted. Eventually Armacron was coming over to the Lesser Kanthromex Estate every week for Ankas' cooking lessons. When Kaeron discovered them he could not shake his astonishment, dropping everything in his hands upon seeing them together in his kitchen.

Salasnax Ingalao continues to accompany and check up on Ankas when Kaeron is unavailable. Salasnax enjoys Ankas' friendship, often bonding over their experience as foreigners in the capital. Ankas helps Salasnax with his home decor and Kaeron and Ankas regularly dine over at his house and vice versa. Ocassionally, they will go out to eat dinner together with Salasnax and his partner. 

Kaeron sometimes leaves late at night to meet at the Society of the Nine Swords gathering hall where Armacron reigns in his dog-pelt cloak as Ancient Supreme. Ankas knows he cannot attend, but neither does he want to, he finds the idea scary. Nine Swords meetings are obligated to take place at night, and they sometimes include open-air gatherings. The open-air meeting grounds are usually specially designed locations, but sometimes members with large rural properties will host them. These meetings are often the setting of Solvic human sacrifices, torture, and animal sacrifice. 

Scalene meetings are different. Since Scalene is not Black-Sect-exclusive, its meetings don't have to take place at night.  They take place in enclosed meeting halls either during the day or at night. The leadership of Scalene is illusive and meets publicly altogether only once every five years, but every week in private amongst themselves. Armacron used to hold the rank of Guardian of the Race, which he actually lost as a result of Kaeron´s scandal with Ankas. One of the requirements of holding the rank is to not participate in racial admixture, and Armacron had allowed it in his offspring. This was a significant blow to Armacron's trajectory in the secret society since all the ranks above Guardian of the Race have that same requirement by default. He nonetheless possesses a high rank for being a Huëy clan patriarch of extraordinary social standing, but he can never climb any higher within Scalene. Unlike the Society of the Nine Swords, Scalene is explicitly Huëy-only, so the racial exceptionalism is one of its defining features. Kaeron likewise can never rise to Guardian of the Race for his interracial union with Ankas. 

Ankas attends bimonthly convocation at the Temple of Sleuon Kaeron and his family go to. This gets him some looks since he is clearly the only Hasgathite in the entire place. It doesn't help that he's the only male there with hair down to his waist, not to mention it's bright orange. He has slowly gotten used to it however, taking comfort in the fact he is there with his new family. Regardless the temple is daunting, especially compared to the one he would attend back in Monodor, or even the one he attended when he first got to Inhentys Lapydah. 

Kaeron's torture room is sound-proofed to keep Ankas from having to hear the cries of agony. Armacron and the others also now bring the live offering in a human-sized case so Ankas doesn't have to see it when they arrive to the house and go into the basement. Even then, he feels uneasy whenever they're there.  Despite the basement torture, Ankas is no stanger to going down there, especially since Kaeron's home gym is there (which he loves to watch Kaeron in) and the rooms have very nifty things.

In 5525 AFT, Kaeron began studying his master's degree. 

The Near Future

The things in this section are yet to happen and thus have not happened yet as of 5525 AFT. These are looks into the near future of the Ixokai Maxotlan relating to Kaeron and Ankas.

At age 28, Kaeron finished his master's studies, getting his degree. Soon after, at age 29 in 5527 AFT, he began studying his doctorate. 

In 5526 AFT, at age 24, Ankas got a job at a prestigious restaurant which he did not keep because of the work culture. Ankas worked the evening shift so Kaeron would pick him up after he too got out of work. Ankas eventually quit.

THE JUBILEE

Yerna Thacroterra completed 25 years of rule in 5529 AFT so this piece takes place during his Silver Jubilee 4 years in the future.  By this point, Kaeron will be 31 years old and Ankas 27 while Armacron is 60 and Yerna Thacroterra is 76. During the Silver Jubilee, Ankas remained home watching from the TV while Armacron and Kaeron attended and participated in the event: 

The red sun savored titanic faces of glass on its joyful retreat from the earth. Purple shadows pooled at the bases of the buildings, kissing the sunlight goodbye on its way back to the sky. A bright white mirth paraded down the avenues, amalgamating in the Central Square betwixt the Grand Temple of the Triumvirate and the People’s Palace. Both sat solemnly on their thrones of spotlights, which encircled them amid the dying shimmer of dusk. All the while, the fervor of two hundred thousand souls rose and fell in tides about them, the tremendous gathering ecstatic.

Red, black, and white banners boasted their thick sigils in broad and splendorous undulations to the dashing of the wind. National flags and standards flickered upon the ocean of flesh, streamers and confetti speckling the rest. A monstrous zeppelin cruising overhead, the silver pill of its body terribly colossal, spontaneously illuminated by spotlight sways. The People’s Palace sat adorned as a bride for her groom, garlands of white flowers delineating her breadths of travertine. All manner of priests, emissaries, magistrates, statesmen, and generals condensed on her central terrace, high above the crowd. The lights powdered her colossal face, the banners framing that monumental balcony, with titanic screens flanking her on either side. The screens flashed on, and at once the crowd fell silent.

“His Excellency Yerna Thacroterra, the Grand Consul of the Republic,” announced a serene woman’s voice to the revival of the multitude. 

The screens tracked the emergence of an elderly man in black uniform, sparkling with silver insignias like the starry night sky. The visor of a black peaked cap with a white band hid his eyes, a heavy black cape trailing behind him. A tricolor sash sliced across his chest, silver epaulettes glimmering on his shoulders. The technocrats followed after him, among them Grand Magistrate Armacron Kanthromex. Yerna Thacroterra strolled over to the silver microphones arrayed at the railing of the terrace, a single gloved hand raised in a wave, camera flashes igniting about him.

Upon arriving at the edge, the second hand followed it; the screens locked in on his face, a broad smile white as his gloves. The technocrats and archpriests fell into place round about him, margins between them precise to the millimeter, the High Prophet already waiting for him at the balcony. The microphones gave a metallic hum as his finger brushed the middle one, silencing again the mob.

“Compatriots!” He raised both hands, eyes stuck in a perpetual, gleeful squint, “Sleuon be with you!” 

The crowd boiled over in response, echoing back his greeting. With a theatrical swoosh, he blew them all a kiss, wrinkles gilding the elegant slopes of his face, another lightning storm of camera flashes crackling over him.

“What enthusiasm you display for me,  compatriots. Such love spurs the beating of my aging heart on the eve of my Silver Jubilee. Blessed be all of you. Silver Jubilee for silvering hair, ey?  The majesty of Inhentys Lapydah radiates brighter tonight than ever it did these last twenty five years I have been with you. You are indeed, this day, that same priestly race and holy kingdom that Sleuon anointed, as in the day your fathers first procured His great favor from among the nations. Indeed, you have set your throne upon the heap of dead nations and fixed for yourself a crown of their bones, O Ixokai Man. You have been raised to heaven above the Disbelieving Gentiles, lording dominion over them, treading upon their heads as you go to and fro about the globe. The heathens are your footstool, and the splendor of eternity your inheritance. You are the witness of my life's work, and the reapers of the fruit of my reign. Indeed, when I look upon you now, I see not just a nation that has survived me, but a nation that has excelled me. And of that I am well pleased. For the nation that birthed me, I will leave having not just protected, but propelled beyond me, as all my predecessors have done before me. If Sleuon were to retrieve, this instant, my debt of life, I would be glad on it, for joy of how far you’ve come under my leadership. Such great comfort it is to know that my reign was not a failure, and that Patriarch Albacran’s hope for his successor was not in vain.”

His voice thundered about the square. The eager crowd devoured his every word, teary-eyed and silent, smartphones in hand.

“The Republic is the Land of Majesty. The Republic is the Devourer of Nations. The Republic is the Bondservant of Sleuon. The Republic is the Heir of Five Thousand Years. The Republic is the See of the Earthly Dominion, a Holy Kingdom wrought of souls and fed on blood, that has risen from time immemorial to exercise kingship over all manner of man. All glory be to the Republic! All glory be to the Fatherland!”

He clenched fistfuls of heaven’s canvas, high above the carpet of men; a multitude so thick and dense that from such heights, it was the likeness of television static. The horde sang back a threefold chant of glory to the Fatherland, beset on either side by the two monuments that crystallized their right over the world.

“You have rendered unto me this unshakable loyalty, so now I render unto you a morsel of flesh to consolidate my service to you before Sleuon,” At that, the crowd tensed in anticipation, holding its breath for agonizing enthusiasm of what was to come, “Behold, I bring to you a parasite plucked from the holy soil of our allotment. A monstrous, illusive creature who for long years was as a cancer unto you. An animal who with the help of Prime Inquisitor Kaeron Kanthromex, has been reined and brought before you this very night.”

The multitude murmured in delight, hands clasping together and fists coiling.

“He was a prince of terror last you knew him,” he put a finger up, “but he comes to you now a slave. Behold, my compatriots: Uzur’an Enphaga, the leader of the Arsau Pharon, the terrorist plague!”

The crowd erupted as doors flew open on a lower terrace without a railing, phones raised in exhilaration, the zeppelin eclipsing the moon. Kaeron Kanthromex and his men drew out a shackled man, the screens following along. Uzur’an kicked about, bloodshot eyes peeled, beady red. Yellow tongue lolling, they dragged him out by the neck, bare as a slave. Reaching the edge, they collapsed him. He sat there slumped over, panting, the likeness of a hairless baboon. Two barefoot priests in garments and masks of human skin flanked him and Kaeron on either side, wielding scepters of snake rattles, another wave of flashes washing over them. 

“Now isn’t that a sight,” the Grand Consul marveled, “This seething ape has stolen from us countless lives, putting in peril everything we have worked for, impeding our steady advance.” 

The left screen held on the macaque while the right screen flashed footage of the Arsau Pharon’s rampages and terror attacks of years past, to the indignation of the crowd. Those all-too-familiar heaps of white bags deposited in neat succession into chasms of dirt, pavement smeared in blood, and buildings torn asunder.

“So it is my unspeakable pleasure to announce, on this day of my Jubilee, that he will be subjected to torments inconceivable and achings unmentionable. Lacerations unimaginable, and agonies inexperienced since the foundation of the World. A grievous anguish of flesh which no man has ever felt, nor shall ever feel again in mortal flesh. Then, at the climax and conclusion of his infernal holiday, he shall be presented as a living sacrifice unto Sleuon Kaprotheix, the God of Our Fathers, Anointer of Nations, and Patriarch of the Universe!”

The crowd leapt and jeered in the utter ecstasy of their revile for the slouched image of Uzur’an regurgitated by the screens. They clapped and cheered and laughed and cried and waved and jumped about. The terrorist coiled and squirmed, all to the bellows of Kaeron’s laughter. A tangle of matted hair seeping from his scalp, he muttered obscenities through yellow teeth. Sallow skin constricting his monkey ribcage, a contradiction to his bloated stomach hanging over his lap. The priests pranced around like savages, howling, the rattles swinging about in the chained monster’s face.

“You would have been better off, Uz', had you never been born,” Kaeron kicked his jaw shut, mustard splinters of tooth spraying out.