Chapter 10 – Crusaders

            Xri tilted his head back revealing a blank, empty expression as the ship lifted slowly into the air. His eyes wandered over to Alos and then to Levitas. The intensity of his glare felt as though it was about to send Alos flying backwards. Levitas was still bowing his head.

            “This is unacceptable.” Xri said calmly yet with a distinct bite of anger.

            “Sir, by the time we could see the shi-” Levitas started.

            “THERE IS A REASON WE NEED HIM ON THIS SHIP! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION WE HAVE NOW BEEN PUT IN!?” The power in Xri’s voice echoed through the room, manifesting fear with each reverberation. His voice had dropped several pitches and sounded crystal clear.

            “Yeah I understand why he’s so necessary, but please remain calm.”

            “You said he was snatched up by Van, did you not!? Van is not just a fucking crusader! Van is THE fucking crusader!”

            The purple in Xri’s eyes began to deepen. His voice taking on a form unfamiliar to anything Alos had ever heard before. It was as though the spirit of a dragon had possessed Xri, overtaking his voice to project a sonic flame. He continued,

            “THERE IS A REASON WE DO NOT DIRECTLY CONFRONT CRUSADERS! WE CANNOT AFFORD TO BE ANY MORE INVOLVED WITH THE DIVIMATIAN GOVERNMENT THAN WE ALREADY ARE!”

            Levitas’ brow furrowed as his nostrils flared.

            “Don’t you think I know that!? For Menelich’s sake Xri, I used to be a god damned Crusader! I used to be the god damned Captain of the Rashakaan! Besides it looks like we have no choice but to be involved now.”

            Levitas cleared his throat, exhaling a deep gravely sigh as he placed his hand on Xri’s shoulder and metal visor met amethyst eyes, “Get a hold of yourself. Act like the Counselor you are.”

            Xri slowly peeled back the hand of Levitas, before tossing it aside. He shook his head slow with disdain at the rest of the crew on the platform, staring down every last crewmate. He then spun around and strode off towards his chambers. The rest of the crew stood in penetrating silence.

            “…..sooooo yeah.” Alos said in an attempt to break up the silence. Merick and Dardaños turned, shooting glares at him whilst shaking their heads. They walked off into the ship, remaining silent.

            “Kid, you really need to learn when to keep your mouth shut.”

            Levitas placed his hand on Alos' shoulder, walking him down the hall into the ship. “There is a lot you clearly don’t understand.”

            “You’re telling me. I don’t even know what a Crusader is, let alone that you used to be one.” Alos said, catching himself just after the words left his mouth. “Wait so are the Rashakaan Crusaders? I’m confused.”

            “Yes and no.” Levitas head bobbed from side to side as if he was considering a correct way to explain.

            “Crusaders are a section of the Divimatian government, similar to military or police. They act as a sort of defense or operative corp. Unlike the military or police however, the crusaders are given certain exemptions from laws.” Levitas’ raspy voice coughed in punctuation.

            “The Rashakaan are above even Crusaders.”

            “What kinds of exemptions? You make them sound like a secret police service.” Alos shrugged.

            “I'm gettin' to that.” Levitas held his hands out in front of him.

            “So in Divimatia slavery is technically legal, as in people can be considered legal property, and can be traded, sold, and so on. However, it is illegal to enslave a Divimatian through just capturin’.” He pointed to his right hand with his left pointer finger. “Typically the only way for someone to legally become a slave is by becomin’ an indentured servant, essentially signing themselves away through contract and no one is ever stupid enough to do that.”

            “Like what you did to me…” Alos’ face went flat, but his interest genuinely being piqued. “Then how does anybody ever become a slave?”

            “Well that’s just it,” Levitas placed his left pointer finger on the finger of his opposing hand, “the law prohibiting capturing only applies to Divimatian citizens.”

            Alos face took on a skeptical expression. “So why aren’t there bunches of Divimatian slavers then, running around kidnapping random people?”

            “There are, in fact there’s a whole portion of the economy driven by it,” Levitas’ left hand curled into a fist and slammed into his right hand, “and while most of them are just low-life bounty hunters and gangsters, the Divimatian government has an entire branch of their military devoted to the slave processing trade. Those are Crusaders.”

            “Oh... but why such the self-righteous name? I mean what are they even crusading for? Slavery?”

            “Do you know anything about Divima?” Levitas’ question snapped out at Alos like a snake.

            Levitas continued, “Divimatians see themselves as superior and therefore entitled to all non-humans, they are followers of the prophet and as such, see it as their moralistic prerogative. Even humans they consider defects are deemed inferior. What kind of Divima do they even teach in the UDA? Menelich, the prophet, founded the Divimatian Empire, and all citizens within the empire are appointed righteous by the Sovereign. Outsiders are either converted, thus becoming Divimatian, or deemed defects if they align themselves with non-humans and are made to be servants to the Divimatian power.”

            Levitas shook his head, “Sweet Menelich kid, what DO they teach you in the UDA?”

            Alos stood in silence.

            “Every citizen born in Divimatia is burned with the mark of citizenship.” Levitas took a deep breath and pulled the right shoulder of his shirt down revealing the mark of a D with a holy halo behind it.

            “Technically anyone is allowed, under Divimatian law, to go and capture non-Divimatians. Crusaders are just the only ones who are given airships and money by the government to go do it.”

            Alos followed along trying to put the pieces together, but something wasn’t fitting in.

            “Wait, so how do they have any exemption from the law? Don’t get me wrong, enslaving anybody is completely messed up and burning babies with brands sounds even worse, but the way you described it makes it sound like what they're doing is perfectly legal, at least over there.”

            Levitas halted, his face lowering towards the ground.

            “They are allowed to enslave Divimatians, they are allowed to do anything the Sovereign wants… and the Rashakaan, well they're even worse than the other Crusaders. They are the very hand of the Sovereign. They are the most powerful elite task force in Divimatia, each solider handpicked by the Sovereign himself. They capture citizens, silence civil disobedience, and murder so many some would consider it genocide.”

            “And worst of all, Van, the Harbinger himself, is the current captain. My former apprentice, the right hand man of the Sovereign. I can't help but fear the worst for Zeith...”