Finding my Parents in Another World-Chapter 39: (Raorka) The Uncomfortable Truth

There was an immediate chaos of voices as everyone took a moment to register Rowena.

"Rowena??"

"You’re safe?"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"The Witch is the kidnapper after all?"

Rowena raised a hand, as if to calm down the cacophany that had risen.

"I can explain everything, but I believe since Raorka has come to the same conclusion as I had, I will let him explain it. Maybe once he does, you will understand my choices." Thus saying she sat down on her chair, this time fully visible.

"Light magik?" Raorka asked as he turned towards Artemis, who nodded.

"A simple matter of making sure light rays are not reflected from her, but rather just pass straight through her. Rendering her invisible to the naked eye." She explained.

Raorka nodded and then turned towards the group. He took another deep breathe and then began.

"To understand these series of kidnappings, to understand the kidnapper themselves, we need to go back a few years. Forty years to be specific. When Artemis here fought against Old Gotuj. As a result of which, she was gravely injured.

And who was it who nursed her back to full health?" Raorka directed this question to Lumina. She was taken aback at being asked a question abruptly, but she slowly said, "My mother."

"Indeed. And at that time you were a small child yes?"

"Yes, I was five years old."

"But your mother told you about the Witch Artemis right?"

"Yes."

"What did she tell you?"

Lumina paused for a moment and bit her lips. She looked around once before sighing and answering.

"She told me that her magik was what sustained the dome of Temuril."

There was an audible gasp. It seemed even Maris was not aware of this fact.

"Indeed. And that’s when the dome cracked right? And your mother told you that it was because the Witch Artemis had been grievously injured by the dragon that the dome had cracked?"

"Yes." Lumina said, nodding. A look of resignation had come over her face.

"Good. Now that we have established that, let’s go forward a few years. Twenty-five years to be exact, when you were thirty years old. It was Lucerne’s fifth birthday. Do you remember that time, Lumina?"

"How could I forget?" She said darkly.

Raorka winced. He didn’t want to do this, to dredge up past trauma. But it was necessary.

"You were kidnapped. And held for almost a year right? Will you tell us who the kidnapper was at that time?"

Lumina didn’t respond. She just stared blankly ahead.

Raorka sighed and continued,

"Fine we will come back to it later. Now when was the dome fixed Artemis?" He turned to the elf, who had been listening intently and jerked up at suddenly being called.

"Uh, about fourteen years ago."

"And why did you fix it at that time specifically?"

"Because Lumina requested me to." She said, her brow still furrowed quizzically. It seemed that Rowena hadn’t shared with her the identity of the kidnapper.

"Where is all this leading?" Jareth asked, a tone of frustration creeping into his voice.

"Patience, my man, patience. Now another thing happened fourteen years ago, besides Lumina’s return and the fixing of the dome. Do you remember it?"

All of the others looked in confusion at each other except for Lumina, Maris and Rowena, all of three of whom looked despondent.

"I’ll tell you then. Fourteen years ago, Mayor Rokar came into power." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

.XX.

The silence was deafening. It seemed as if everyone had lost the ability to speak, to breathe.

Finally it was Lucerne who spoke.

"What are you implying?" she asked quietly.

"It’s quite convenient isn’t it? Before Mayor Rokar, no other Mayor could fulfill their promise of fixing the dome. I checked the book that Rowena was reading, it had the details of every Mayor of Temuril. Correct me if I am wrong Rowena, but after the Cracking of the Dome till Mayor Rokar, all the other Mayors lasted no more than one term right?"

"Right." Rowena said gravely.

"So it’s quite a convenient coincidence right? There is a simple question we must ask. Who does giving the dome benefit?

Of course it benefits Artemis, as it is her creation after all and she wouldn’t like to see it broken. But she could have fixed it whenever she wanted to.

It benefits the ordinary citizens too certainly. The dome is the unique shining point for a town like Temuril.

But even more than that, the one person the fixing of the dome benefits the most is Mayor Rokar. Why, just that simple act has allowed him to become extremely popular among the citizens and stay in power for fourteen years now.

Now that we know that Mayor Rokar is the one who benefits the most from the fixing of the dome, the question naturally arises- why was it Lumina then who requested Artemis to fix the dome? What benefit did Lumina gain from that?"

At this point Raorka looked once more at Lumina, hopefully. But again she didn’t volunteer any information.

"Well I can think of only one reason. Mayor Rokar was the one who kidnapped Lumina fifteen years ago, and a condition of her release was that she help him get to power in Temuril."

He waited, looking at Lumina again. This time she did look up, and tears streamed down her face.

"Yes. You are right." She said softly, before breaking down in tears. Lucerne immediately was beside her, putting an arm comfortingly around her mother.

Raorka took a deep breathe.

"But I am still not clear on the motive Lumina. What was Mayor Rokar’s motive in kidnapping you? He couldn’t have known about the connection between you and Artemis, let alone between Artemis and the dome. And even if he knew why would he hold you for a year?"

Lumina sniffled for a while in her daughter’s arms, before looking up. Her eyes were still bloodshot, but Raorka noticed a steeliness in them now.

"That beast doesn’t care about power. He didn’t kidnap me so that he could get to power. He cares about only one thing: satisfying his lust.

He kidnapped me to rape me. He raped me every single fucking day from morning till night. Can you imagine that? Can any of you imagine that? Having your life reduced to being a sex slave of a brutal warlord? Oh the pain I have recieved in that year, it’s a wonder I didn’t lose my mind.

It was close, I was so close to going insane. I even tried to take my own life while in captivity, just so the monster wouldn’t abuse me the next day. Only one thought kept me going - returning to my daughter.

And so....." Here she trailed off, again biting her lip, as if reluctant to share more.

"And so you told him that if he released you, you could make him Mayor. And then he would be able to get any girl he wanted." Rowena finished softly, staring outside.

None of the others could say anything in front of Lumina’s impassioned confession.

"There’s no selection for the Royal Guard is there?" Raorka said slowly, realization dawning upon him.

Lumina shook her head. "He takes those girls with promises of sending them to the Capital. But all he does is rapes them to death and buries their bodies behind his mansion."

Lucerne looked as if she was going to be sick. The hands with which she held her mother shook violently.

"Why?" Maris spoke for the first time. Even though her voice was calm, rage burned in her eyes.

"He is not a man, just a monster of lust. And the demon with him just exacerbates the situation."

The word "demon" had an immense impact on the rest of them. Even Artemis looked at her in disbelief.

"The demons are dead." She finally said.

Lumina shook her head. "Not this one. This is a named demon - The Demon of Lust. I have seen her. I have seen her wings, her horns and the terrifying magik she is made of. Rokar is a monster of lust yes, but it is the Demon which gives him power, which strengthens him the more girls he rapes."

"Strengthens him?"

"A contract." Artemis said grimly, then looked towards Lumina for confirmation. Lumina nodded.

"What is a demon?" Raorka asked confused.

"Demons are beings made of pure magik. Unlike humans or dragons or elves or any of the other living beings in this planet, demons do not reproduce. They are artificially created organisms, made solely out of malice for life. They seek nothing but to end all naturally ocurring life." Artemis’ voice became graver as she finished her answer.

"Why did you think they were dead?"

"There was a purge many many years ago by the Kingdom of the Goddess. All demons were said to be killed in that purge."

"Named demons cannot be killed. They are immortal." Lumina’s voice came through, tired and weary. Artemis shot her a glance, before muttering to herself, deep in thought.

"So this Demon is kidnapping the girls?"

Lumina snorted derisively. "I doubt it. The Mayor is the one who is kidnapping the girls to satiate his never-ending lust. He doesn’t need a Demon for that, he is already much worse of a demon."

The venom in her voice was clear. Raorka shivered when he thought of the abuse she must have suffered during that one year as a sex slave of the Mayor.

"Why did he start doing this? When he already had girls willingly going to the castle as part of his royal guard selection?"

Lumina hesitated. She had no answer to this, and Raorka found neither did he.

"How did the Mayor kidnap the girls though? Without any struggle?" Lucerne asked.

"That’s easy. He didn’t. The girls were called out to him instead."

"What?!"

"Think about it, who is the one person in this town everyone wouldn’t think twice about going to visit? The one person you would never suspect would be a criminal? All the Mayor had to do was send them a letter, urging secrecy and telling them their services were urgently required and BAM, they would willingly leave their homes to go and visit the Mayor."

Raorka sat down on the bed after his explanation. He was tired, exhausted and revealing the truth hadn’t made him feel better.

It had made him feel much worse, especially as he looked towards Lumina who was still curled up in her daughter’s arms.