A Peacekeeper's Oath pt. 3
The mystery begins to reveal itself...
For those looking to get caught up, here are links to…
Now, let’s get into part 3…
The apartment had the familiar stench of death. It may have been familiar, but it stung Celie’s nostrils all the same. In the hours that followed the discovery of the murder, Akashi went to investigate a potential break in the sorcerer smuggling case while she continued investigating the crime scene. One other member of Investigations assisted a team from the Clean-Up department in carefully taking the body of Erosa Carson down from where it hung. They placed the body on a gurney and carefully pushed it out of the apartment.
“Don’t let them take the body yet.” Celie called out.
“Yes ma’am.” The Investigation’s team member - an average height woman with short curly brown hair - replied. She jogged out of the room after the team.
Celie scanned a coffee table jammed against the wall near where Erosa was found. That’s where she found a photo in a simple black picture frame. Celie grabbed it and took a closer look. She didn’t recognize the backdrop, but in the picture Jona and Erosa Carson were standing in a city street that was plastered with beautiful vibrant reds. The ground was showered with rice and the sky overhead was filled with fireworks that mimicked the divine goddess Guayaxella’s cosmic creation. Something wasn’t quite right about the photo but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
The photo made her heart ache. They looked so happy. So full of love. Jona wasn’t even looking at the camera, he was looking at Erosa with eyes filled with more love and care than Celie thought was possible from one person. Celie swallowed and pushed the grief away from her mind.
“The Clean-Up team is in the hallway with the body waiting for your word, ma’am.” The Investigation Peacekeeper announced as she entered the room.
“Is the apartment complex still locked down?”
“Yes ma’am, of course.”
Celie grunted in reply. She continued staring at the photo, trying to puzzle out what she couldn’t make sense of.
“Looks like they lived in Ravyn’s End once upon a time.” The Peacekeeper said from over Celie’s shoulder.
“That right?” Celie was surprised that the apartment manager, Jules, was right.
“Definitely. That’s Ravyn’s End architecture if I’ve ever seen it. Harvest festival gives it away too.”
“Is that why there’s rice everywhere?” Celie asked. She was surprised that this random Peacekeeper had so much knowledge about the distant city of Ravyn’s End, but she decided to trust her judgment.
“Yep, that’s why. Ravyn’s End is one of the last cities to still praise Guaya every year. Most cities don’t bother anymore. Most harvest festivals are dedicated to Cairo. Only in Ravyn’s End do they praise the peace goddess for their harvest.”
“Did you watch a travel show about southern Astra or something?” Celie asked, not expecting an answer.
“My father’s from there. We went back a couple times before the Ravyn’s End civil war started. I bet that’s why they came here…” The woman shook her head, “Terrible. Just terrible. To run away from all that just to end up like this.” Celie nodded. It was a truly sad thing. She couldn’t wrap her mind around why Jona had done it. Or if he even had. It seemed cut and dry, but what if it wasn’t? Maybe the benefit of the doubt was warranted in this case.
The Peacekeeper reached her hand forward and poked Erosa in the photo, “Do you see that garb?” In the photo, Erosa was adorned in an outfit made entirely of glass beads. The glass reflected the natural nebula of her skin, making Erosa look like a vibrant, glowing, piece of the sky plucked from the cosmos. Celie nodded.
“I’ve never seen an outfit like that before.” She remembered that Erosa was found dead in a tunic typical of someone who worked for a cleaning service for people in the upper levels of the city.
“That’s because those are the garbs of a priestess to the goddess of the cosmos herself. This wasn’t just a xella - this was one of the xella. The xella priestesses of Guaya are some of the most honored people in all of Ravyn’s End culture. How’d she end up in a garbage apartment in Halenite?”
“There’s our question.” Celie replied. As she stared at the picture, she started thinking of how beautiful Erosa’s eyes were. Many xella tended to have eyes like galaxies. They swirled and curled, stardust kissed the tails of comets as they cascaded around in hypnotic patterns that were never truly moving how you expected. That was when it clicked.
“His eyes.” Celie said abruptly.
“What is it, ma’am?” The Peacekeeper asked.
“Have we recovered Erosa’s head yet?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Why not?”
“Well, not to say we don’t want to, but -”
“Keeper, find her head. I need to check something. Then we can turn it over to Clean-Up so they can get out of here.”
“Yes ma’am.” She gave a frantic salute as she began running around the room. Just as Celie was about to put the photo down, she decided to turn it over. Crammed into the back of the picture frame was a small piece of paper. Celie unraveled the paper and read it.
Goddess of peace, goddess of all I hold dear.
Grant us love, for I abandon not your ways, but embrace them.
In love I find you. In love I see all that is glorious.
All that is beautiful.
I become closer to you,
Through love.
We become one
J&E
“Prayer or poem?” Celie mumbled to herself as her ring activated and she scanned the page before sticking it into her pocket. She took the photo out of the picture frame as well and stowed it away. It may come in handy if she interrogated the husband.
“Ma’am?” The Investigator sounded out of breath.
“What is it, Keeper?”
“I found the head.” Celie turned around and saw she had dug through the closet and found Erosa Carson’s head burrowed deep in a corner. From what Celie could tell, it looked to be the same corner that she and Akashi had found Jona Carson laughing and crying. The Investigator began backing away, “I’m sorry, ma’am, I think I’m going to be sick.” She rushed out of the room in a hurry.
Celie approached with caution before kneeling down by the head of Erosa. She stared in wonder at the wide open eyes - no, the forced open eyes. They had lost the luster and energy of the photo, but they were still clearly hers. She pulled the picture out and referenced it again.
Erosa Carson’s eyes were mostly the same - even in death. Jona Carson's, on the other hand, were brown in the photo.
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In the early evening, an emergency meeting was held with all department heads in attendance. Before the meeting, Celie briefed Akashi on what she had found, then they created a report together to present to Monroe and the other department heads. By the time the debrief was coming to an end, the entire room of hardened veterans were squirming with discomfort.
“Once the scene was locked down, we found the head in the closet. Her eyelids had been removed with a knife as far as our analysts could tell. The victim is confirmed to be Erosa Carson. A member of the department had a suspicion that Erosa was a priestess to Guaya, so we cross referenced Ravyn’s End records. A priestess by the name of Erosa Cygnus disappeared from the temple to Guaya about a week before Erosa Carson arrived in Ravyn’s End.” Celie was beginning to wind down on the debrief.
“So, she eloped with Carson?” Monroe asked.
“We believe so. The suspect was her husband - Jona Carson. He’s also from Ravyn’s end. Records show he was a construction worker both in his home city and here in Paradia. He had expressed fear of the civil war to family, and reports showed that he had a crush on a priestess of the temple. Seems like she felt the same way based on the love prayer and photos we found in the home.”
“Interesting background,” Monroe said with enough disinterest to make it clear to Celie that she didn’t care, “and was the knife used to remove the eyelids the same as the one used to decapitate the body?” Celie nodded,
“Yes ma’am. He - it was a blunt knife.” Celie felt disgust rising up inside her but she fought to ignore it.
“This is madness. Chaos. What else do we know? Are we certain the husband did it?”
“Our best are still on it, but as of right now, we’re working under the theory that there’s some sort of extraplanar influence.” Akashi added. “Interrogations haven’t been going well. He’s not a fan of the blindfold it turns out.”
“Blindfold?” Monroe raised an eyebrow.
“Yes ma’am.” Celie continued, “Sorry, I must’ve missed that note in the chaos. Something about his eyes - they disrupted Akashi during the arrest. He lost control. Medics checked Akashi over - there’s no neurological damage but they did find disruptions in neurological communication between higher level function and motor control. They didn’t see any lasting damage but there appeared to be a sudden drop in functional connectivity followed by some sort of extraplanar influence. Akashi is pretty certain it had something to do with the man’s eyes - a strange green.”
“Oddly similar to yours, ma’am.” Akashi added.
“That so?” Monroe leaned forward on her elbows.
Akashi nodded.
“Interesting. And what do you think that means?” She asked.
“Not sure, ma’am. You wouldn’t happen to have any ideas, would you?” Akashi asked.
“I can’t say I do. He must’ve been a sorcerer trying to control his wife. Maybe she found out and things went south. He lost it. Broke.” The room all nodded along. Celie leaned forward, putting her hands flat on the table,
“Ma’am, you can’t keep using sorcerers as scapegoats for everything that goes wrong in this city. This man isn't a sorcerer. Investigations have found that there’s something off, but it wasn’t him. He didn’t have any magical connections or magical strength, but there was something in that room. My working hypothesis is that he was being manipulated by some sort of creature or something.”
“Interesting hypothesis, Keeper Green. I’ll need to think about this.” Monroe leaned back in her seat and put a hand over forehead. “This is messy. Very messy.”
“I agree ma’am, but don’t worry, Investigations will get to the bottom of this. We already have our best working the case. Once we get him talking, we’re thinking this case will crack wide open.” Akashi said with a reassuring smile. Monroe smiled and nodded. Then she let out a long drawn out chuckle,
“No.”
“Excuse me?” Celie gasped, “No? Ma’am we’re Investigations, this is literally what we do. If this is a sign of something bubbling up and trying to destroy Paradia, we should get ahead of it. It could be linked to the sorcerer circle, but we don’t know yet. We need to do more research.”
“Oh, Miss Green, I absolutely agree with you. This is ghastly, just terrible. That’s why you’re going to drop it and I’m going to pass it up to my personal spec team. They’ll handle it from here. Clear?”
“Ma’am, I -”
“Keeper Green. Drop it.” Monroe snapped. Celie froze. She felt the wind shift in the room. Providence Monroe’s eyes flashed slightly and a faint glow of light came off of her. “This has been productive.” She said with a smile. “All of you go ahead and forget everything you heard and discussed today. Investigations will turn over all files to me and I’ll handle this personally. Let’s move on. Akashi, how was your investigation into the sorcerers?”
“I - I -” Celie stammered.
“Dead lead, Prov. We really thought we had something, but I think they’re getting smarter after the last three were caught. Something tells me they’re going into hiding. Keeping a real low profile. They had left the remains of a summoning circle, but it looks like it failed. They must be looking for something specific.”
“That’s too bad. Oh well, keep plucking away at it. The sooner we have more evidence, the sooner we can get that ban in place. Dismissed.”
All the department leads collectively got up and left the room. Except Celie. Celie was left standing at the head of the table, Monroe sitting casually on the other side of the long table.
“Miss Green, is there a problem?”
“I -” Celie felt something. Something was wrong, but so familiar. How many times had she felt this before? What was this? She couldn’t process what exactly it was, but something was happening. Celie needed to think. She needed to make sense of what she was feeling. She needed to get out of the room.
“Keeper Green?” Celie snapped back to reality.
“Hm?”
“Problem?”
“No. No, ma’am. No problem.”
“Okay. Dismissed then. Off you go.”
“Yes ma’am.” Celie rushed out of the room, her mind reeling.
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Celie threw open the door of her apartment and immediately sat down at her dining room table. Her ring projected all the data they had collected from the crime scene. She immediately began downloading it to a local file on her ring’s memory. Before she could finish, the file bloomed with a red warning sign. She was locked out of the now classified file. Celie let out a low growl as she smacked the table.
“Damn it…” Just then, a message came through,
“Everything okay?” Akashi’s message read.
“100%. All good.” She knew she couldn’t say anything through a message. She wasn’t sure what was safe and what wasn’t. She thought for a second then sent another message, “Gonna do some gardening tonight. Need to clear my mind.”
Akashi replied with a thumbs up and the conversation ended. Celie rubbed her eyes then stood up. She walked across the dining room, through the living room, and to the balcony. She was on the 71st floor of an apartment in the Medullary district. She opened the sliding door and was immediately looking out at the looming bone white Medullary building in the center of the district. All around it were buildings alight in neon lights and transports cascading across the sky.
Beneath her feet was a collection of garden plots shoved onto her little balcony. Celie sat down on her knees in the doorway, grabbed a trowel, and got to work on maintaining her plants. She reached for the fertilizer that was hanging on the balcony railing and began spraying it into a newer plot of what she hoped would be sweet peppers in a few months. She got new soil ready and started planting micro dew trees that she had gotten in the Mod district. They were supposed to be seeds that created small dew trees that would fit on her balcony and produce dew fruits that could fit in her hand. She gently began to plant them.
This was the most peace and clarity she had felt since the last time she worked in her garden. It cleared her mind and let her think freely for the first time in a while. When her hands dug into the soil and she saw those little green leaves poke out of the earth, everything made sense. She took a deep breath. Just as she felt her nerves beginning to calm, another message pinged on her ring. It was Gee.
“Have you talked to him yet?” Celie felt her anxiety flood back.
“Not yet. Now’s a really bad time.” She replied out loud. The ring transcribed her words and sent the message off.
“Is there ever a good time?” Gee replied.
“No… no there isn’t. I’m sorry, Gee, I need to get things squared away first. I can’t - I’m not ready yet.”
“Don’t be sorry. Just get it done. Answer my calls. It’ll make things easier.”
Celie laughed out loud. She never thought the Panshin Pacè would care about anyone answering her calls. Celie closed the chat out without responding and shook her head,
“Can’t leave a job half done.”
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The next morning, Celie and Akashi were back at the diner. Celie watched outside as a couple - two xella - held hands as they walked past the diner and towards a nearby cafe. It reminded her of something she hadn’t thought of in a while.
“Hey,” She said to Akashi. Akashi raised his head from a report he had been reading and grunted in response. “Whatever happened to Sala?”
“Sala? From like two years ago?”
“Mhm.” Celie replied. Akashi shrugged,
“Man, I haven’t thought about her in a while. We went on like 3 dates. Didn’t work out though. Sometimes things don’t work.”
“Yeah. What about Tel before that? Same thing?”
Akashi shrugged.
“You ever think about settling down?”
“Used to.” He replied. “Figure it’s just not for me anymore - missed my train and all that. Then… sometimes I wonder if it was ever for me. There was this girl a long time ago. Everything in me told me I should’ve been into her, but I just wasn’t. I thought the world of her, but… not like that. It’s fine.” Akashi shrugged and set his hands on the table. “Not for me, I guess. I’m happy out here as a Peacekeeper, anyway. What about you though?”
“Don’t know. I’ve been so focused on covering your ass and bringing this city up to pace with the rest of the world that it never felt like there was enough time.” She brought her coffee up with a grin and took a drink.
“But maybe one day?”
“I’d like to think so. If I find someone and it happens to work out. I don’t know, we’ll see.”
“Just like that big old garden you’ve been talking about since forever?”
“Garden first. Love later.” Akashi laughed,
“You would say that!”
“Garden plans are coming along pretty good actually -” Before she could finish, a message came through on both their rings.
“Prisoner transfer complete.” It was an automated message that as far as Celie could tell didn’t come from any personnel that she recognized. The ‘from’ line was filled with a string of numbers rather than a name. Akashi raised an eyebrow,
“What’s this?” He asked.
“The thing Monroe told us to drop yesterday if I were to make an educated guess.”
“The what?” Akashi’s brow furrowed.
“Don’t act like you forgot.” Celie leaned forward. She felt a mixture of irritation and dismay at her partner.
“I didn’t forget.” Akashi said with a chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“Okay, tell me what happened yesterday then.” Celie crossed her arms and glared across the table at him.
“I went and checked out an underground sorcery ring. They left before I could get there. There was evidence of a summoning circle, but I didn’t see anything, and they didn’t leave anything behind.” Akashi said after a long pause. She could see him straining.
“Jona Carson. Ring any bells?”
“Was he one of the sorcerers?” Akashi asked. Celie felt the blood flush from her face. She could feel an overwhelming frustration needling at her.
“He killed his wife, Erosa. He did something to you. He looked at you and it messed with you. Does any of this sound familiar at all?”
“Uh… Celie? Are you okay?” Akashi asked, concern crossing his face. For a second he looked familiar. Like that young man she met in the Southern Calt, running from a big hulking beetle monster. This time though he wasn’t afraid of a monster. He was afraid of what was pouring out of her mouth. “You’re scaring me. We can take you to a doctor and get you checked or something?”
“I’m fine. You don’t remember the debrief last night? At all?”
“No - no I don’t - I’m not sure. I think I remember something vaguely. Monroe told us not to worry or something.” Celie could see him struggling to grapple with this strange memory he couldn’t get a grip on. His face twisted and he rubbed his temples. “Celie, should I be worried?”
Celie thought about the question. She wanted to bring Akashi into this, but something was wrong. Akashi couldn’t remember the important details. He couldn’t remember he was attacked. He couldn’t remember any of the things from the debrief. She could keep it to herself and protect him. For some reason it didn’t hurt her - didn’t impact her. She would be safe from all of this. The only way he’d be safe is for her to keep him out of it. She could let Akashi just do his job, and she could handle whatever this is. If she got too deep, she’d ask for help. She wasn’t afraid to ask for help. Everything would be fine. Celie tried to put on her most reassuring smile,
“No. No, you have nothing to worry about.” Akashi didn’t believe her, she could tell, but she knew he wouldn’t push. She knew he trusted her, and she had to take advantage of it. Celie took a drink of her coffee and set it on the table. “So, I’m thinking of taking a temporary leave of absence.” She announced.
“Really? What’s going on?” Akashi asked. “This seems out of the blue.” Akashi leaned forward, and signed, “What is it?” Celie shook her head,
“Trust me. Please.” she signed back, then continued, “I’m just feeling shaken up. I think I just need a break.”
“I understand. Yeah, that’s fine. If you’re just shaken up then… yeah… yeah. Do you need anything from me?” They were talking past the lies. She knew that he knew. She could feel that his questions were rooted in wanting to help with whatever she was going to do next, but the less he knew the better. Akashi was a vulnerability and they both knew it. Gods above, she hoped he knew it.
“Yeah, actually. You’d be making a huge difference if you covered both our workloads. That’s not too much is it?”
“Nah, you know me. I can handle it. Roll with the punches and all” Celie smiled and reached out. She put a hand on Akashi’s shoulder.
“No matter what happens next, I’m going to -” She stopped shy of what she wanted to say. Akashi nodded and smiled back,
“Why don’t you get some rest, Celie.” Then with a quick swipe of his hands he added, “Good luck.”
“Thanks. Yeah. I’m exhausted.”
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Celie hadn’t been on her own in years, but this time she was working outside of the law - the law she helped create. The case may have been pulled, but she knew it wasn’t over. She didn’t know how deep it went, but Monroe had to be involved somehow. She knew it wasn’t just some sorcerers. She knew it had to be something bigger. Maybe even something worse.
She spent the afternoon in her apartment looking through what little data she was able to download off the Peacekeeper database before the case became classified. She took out a notebook and copied down what little information the Investigation department had collected before the file was deleted.
Suspect: Jona Carson. 29 years old, Ravyn’s End native. Construction worker for the city development project under a supervisor named Bertrum. Devout worshiper of Guaya, the goddess of peace and the cosmos. Guaya unrelated to murder? Goddess of peace wouldn’t possibly condone murder in cold blood, right? I remember something about her disappearing… worshippers losing faith as prayers went unanswered.
Victim: Erosa Carson. 30 years old, ex-priestess of Guaya in Ravyn’s End. Works for a cleaning company in the upper districts. Speculation: She fell in love with Carson, then fled the city-state as refugees in Paradia. Lost faith? Never heard of a priestess losing faith. Guess that’s what happens when a god goes AWOL.
Body found tied to the ceiling. Head found hidden behind where suspect was found in back of closet.
Died before decapitation - asphyxiation. Screams were heard beforehand - Investigation wasn’t able to find evidence of what was being said, just that other residents were unsettled and concerned. The words weren’t clear. Another language? Or were they not using words at all?
District council’s appointed apartment manager, Jules, said in an interview afterwards that she didn’t trust the xella woman. She claimed that Erosa was a wasteland princess causing trouble. Ignoring this. Woman couldn’t get her story straight clearly. Claimed during preliminary discussion that she was kidnapped from Ravyn’s End.
Preliminary magical investigations noted that - I remember this part. Something was there, but it wasn’t interplanar. Extraplanar results weren’t clear either. Divination didn’t give investigation anything to go off of. Department diviner said something about being inside and outside of the realm. Not clear, probably a red herring.
Heads of Investigations both noted jade green eyes that had a faint glow as the suspect commanded them both to look at him. This. This is important. PM involved? How could she be involved?
The only thing left in the notes were incomplete images, power readings, and three dimensional renderings of the apartment complex. She glanced through them and wrote one final note:
I won’t know anything else until I talk to him.
Thank you so much for reading! Here we are in part 3 with two weeks to go until I celebrate one year! If everything goes to plan, I have a fantastic little surprise that I can’t wait to share to celebrate one year of sharing my fiction with everyone so stay tuned for that!
In the meantime, I’ll catch you next week for part 4! If you want more stories in the world of Astra, click here. If you’re enjoying my stories, feel free to subscribe! We’re about 30 away from 200 subscribers, and I’m hoping to get there before the end of the year (creating new goals for the fun of it).
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Anyway, thanks for reading and I’ll catch you next week for more of the mystery in Paradia!
Update: Click here for part 4
Monroe is a complete bitch....
Also, I love that Celie does balcony gardening to de-stress!