“Silvano, he…!”
With the way they were standing just now Jerome Ulime was able to observe only Military Assistant Bartel and had to look over him to see the other person. Only after gathering his thoughts and raising his eyes to give an answer Jerome Ulime finally looked above the military uniform and saw the almost statue-like features of an undoubtedly profound person. For decades now every single history book or documentary has had a significant piece reflecting this person’s life and actions. A face he has seen almost everywhere: on holographic transmissions, digital images, stylised illustrations, anti-military posters, the list goes on, but he could never imagine meeting him live, right in front of him.
‘ADMIRAL CARNAGE! In person? Why… how??! Here!?’ and ‘…asking about Silvano’s death?!’
While Jerome Ulime’s brain was in chaos the Admiral having his gaze back at the breathless body said almost indifferently.
“Arrest, interrogate.”
In a soundless and seamless manner 3 soldiers stepped in as if from out of nowhere and arrested the “mourning husband”. Who came to his senses and started to panic only when touched.
“Your Honour, there must be some kind of misunderstanding, I’m here to part with my lawful spouse. He passed away after long months of suffering, maybe for that reason I may seem apathetic because for me it feels like he can finally rest. Please understand my deepest struggles, we went through all that together and I suffered what he did… it was torture for all our family… please…!"
While Jerome Ulime was trying his best to talk himself out and get free the Admiral didn’t spare him even one more glace. The “suffering” husband was taken away and to the surprise of Military Assistant Bartel Admiral Carnage raised his hand, placed it on the chest of the deceased and while sliding down to the abdomen said in a low voice.
“Where are you running to?” He spoke with a tiny smile as if talking to a child.
Assistant Bartel was shocked to witness this but then he was left speechless when he noticed that Admiral’s eyes had the very special crimson glint in them, which can be called the symbol of his military dominance and inhuman strength.
The “Soul” - the certain wavelengths - cannot be seen or heard or felt directly. But there are few individuals whose strength is so great that at critical times their eyes reflect a light or a colour which only very few people who possess considerable strength or have special sensitivity can see. The more people can see the light the greater the strength of the person. One of the few sayings that survived from old times ‘Eyes are the mirrors of the soul’ is said to be the definition of this phenomenon.
Not yet recovered from the previous shocks, Military Assistant Bartel was petrified to see how the most revered Admiral bent down, hugging and carrying the almost unsightly, miserably thin body. Honestly it looked like it wasn’t heavier than a handful of hay. Light, dry, inanimate… looking more like an object in the large hands of Admiral Carnage who swiftly walked toward the vehicle. Military Assistant Bartel didn’t dare to even suggest taking the body from his superior but the second pilot waiting by the military vehicle ran ahead and kept offering to overtake the task but only received a dismissing gaze from the Admiral. So, the personnel hashed their movements, opened the door of the vehicle, then Admiral Carnage effortlessly bent down and got inside all the while carrying the breathless corpse. The Admiral gave order to fly to the military hospital. Only after hearing the destination Military Assistant Bartel asked, slightly panicked.
“He should be dead, right? Impossible, I scanned the vitals. Dead for over 20 hours”.
“You cannot see what I see”.
This was said in a patient tone but still annoyed that his assistant still questions his actions, while he can’t blame anyone as they truly don’t see what he sees. One of Admiral Carnage's special strengths is that he can see the souls of people. So far the only person known to fully possess such talent is him.
What caught his attention, when passing through rows of repeated patterns of deceased and mourning people, were the gold and silver shining sparks cruising around in an unsightly lifeless corpse. Like waves hitting the walls of this shell of a body desperately trying to stop it from decaying, refusing the final death.
What a strange sight. Having lived for quite a long time this was the first time Admiral Carnage has seen such a sight, usually at the deathbed the soul thins, shatters and dissipates dissolving into the surrounding world, and only then the heart stops, bodily functions cease and the decay starts. He has seen this happen for far too many times, engraved in his logical understanding. And now something out of the ordinary happened. Something very sad and tragic. Having seen so many souls Admiral Carnage has started to grasp certain characteristics. Like now, he sees a scared and terrified soul of a young person haunted and tormented by something, unable to resist or fight back and still too stubborn to give up. The soul keeps concentrating in the fists, hitting hard the knuckles from the inside, as if trying to make them into fists to fight back. Then runs to the brain and the heart giving his best to hold them back from disintegrating. But when the Admiral placed his hand over the sparks to appease him, the soul ran away, hiding deep inside of the body like a frightened little child.
Afraid that the little guy will neglect “his job” of keeping the body from completely dying while hiding from him, the Admiral stopped teasing the restless soul until they got to the hospital. He tried to gently tone down his presence to help the soul to feel at ease all the while the stiff body wrapped in his uniform clad brutal looking arms. Even if the scene looked absurd the subordinates didn’t dare to take glances, they stayed dutifully at attention with indifferent eyes looking straight ahead. The Admiral didn’t look much different either with his gaze out of the window just patiently awaiting their destination, the only difference was that he had a stiff body in his arms.
Naturally the medical and military personnel were waiting when they landed, medics tried to carry the body but the Admiral didn’t hand over this strange corpse and carried him straight to the Emergency Room.
Only when very sensitive equipment was connected did everyone else stare at the stats amazed with this unusual case, when all the vitals were absent but there are still faint wavelengths active and, as medics amongst themselves call some soul characteristics, quite “beautiful”. It is strange to even use the word beautiful when looking at this body which reflects no particular attractiveness, what can be seen is just long-lasting illness and grief, whereas their experience shows that outstanding spiritual waves always match with exceptional appearance and vibrant personality.
What they abstractly call "beautiful" Admiral Carnage sees in reality, indeed there are impressive gold and silver spark-like particles, though they are faint and tired he could imagine how they could shine and dance around if the person was alive and wasn’t completely drained of his vitality. Usually, the soul fills the body in different densities but is present all over the body, concentrated in the heart, the brain, the limbs… occasionally changing the concentration depending on the situation but still present in every part and organ. When he was young and fell in love for the first time he was overwhelmed when he saw how the soul rushed to the lips of his future wife, then a young lively lady, and combined with her watery sparkling eyes at that time it was so lovely that he couldn’t stop kissing her. In his long life there was a time when Admiral Carnage found it amusing to observe the phenomena of soul’s behaviour in different people but in time this hobby became dull for him.
Now observing this young person’s lifeless body there wasn’t even half of the soul left, only around 10-15% was still present. And what angered the Admiral the most was that he knew how all the vitality of this teenager ran dry.
This unlucky male+ person was drained of his vitality and he could see with his own eyes exactly where it all went. Earlier in the crematory he asked the question to the “grieving spouse” as human behaviour is unpredictable at times and there was still a possibility that the boy willingly helped his lover by sacrificing himself. In that case the person receiving such grace and blessing would have gratitude, love, regret ingrained in his essence. But there was none of that, just panic and selfishness. The “mourning husband” may have looked kind of normal to others but was utterly nauseating to him. His body was packed, charged and fueled by the same soul particles as the deceased in front of him; the radiant glowing shimmers were restricted, stagnant, filling all the gaps that this person had in his ugly soul. His soul looked like a fisher’s net that had been left in a rotten swamp for decades, intertwining strings of green, brown and black colours. The disgusting nets were holding in place, confining, suffocating the shining soul particles of another human. But even dimmed and far from the original body they were more than enough for that monster, Jerome Ulime, to live full of strength and vitality.
“For how long were they married?”
While doctors were preparing to attempt to revitalise the breathless patient the Admiral asked Military Assistant Bartel.
“Seems to be for 2 years, since the legal age, that is 17. But I have checked that he had left his school in the village where he grew up at the age of 14, then moved to the city. Some neighbours of Ulime residence say they had seen a young man in a wheelchair since 3-4 years ago.”
“Hh.” Admiral Carnage made a nasal sound as this fell into his expectation; this kind of inhumane atrocity would take time to perform.
“We will start the procedure now!”
Medics announced and started attempting to restore heart function and overall bodily functions. They might not have attempted to do anything in this kind of situation, even with the anomalies, the body has been dead for almost a day. But with Admiral Carnage here they will try even if they don’t believe in success.
After several attempts to restore the heartbeat, the Admiral asked them to stop. He came very close to the body, placed his hand on the abdomen and used his soul to force the little guy out of his hideout. This force made the wary soul fragments tremble, almost convulse. The Admiral was using very little force, afraid to completely destroy the extremely weakened soul but it was enough to gather all the fragments together and move them slowly toward the heart.
To the surrounding people this looked kind of absurd, as all they saw was Admiral Carnage moving his palm and fingers on the corpse’s abdomen moving toward the chest.
“High voltage, now!” The Admiral ordered a resumption of cardioversion.
“But your hand, Admiral, you'll be hurt!”
After saying that the doctor wanted to swallow back his word, realising his worries are meaningless for beings like Admiral Carnage. They did as they were told to. As expected, the electric shock did nothing to the Admiral. Surprisingly there were some changes in the indicators but the stats of the patient improved for a very short period of time then went silent again. Admiral distorted his face and softened his grip.
“Come on, why are you weeping like that, I’m trying to help you” he sighed and let go of the soul which instantly escaped. “Isn’t this what you wanted, you didn’t want to die, kept fighting for life…”
For everyone present this was a strange conversation but nobody dared to talk.
“I’m not trying to hurt you little guy, I’m only trying to make your heart beat again.” Admiral Carnage paused, sighed and as if reasoning with a child.
“Silvano, right?”
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