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“Where’s Arimus?” James asked Bastion as he joined him in the great meadow, just off of the border of Paragon and Terra. James suddenly found his attention divided as the flowers he crushed beneath his feet sprung back to life, as if he hadn’t trampled them at all. The grass did the same and he supposed that if a tree was cut down, it would follow suit. He had thought the hall in Altostratus had been excessive—building a skyscraper full of empty space, but if all natural resources were automatically renewed, perhaps it wasn’t a waste at all.
“Kyran took him somewhere,” Bastion said, standing to his feet from beneath the tall grass. He wiped the dirt off of his clothes even though there was none there. “Said he had important business.”
“Did you ask what it was?”
“I did. But they wouldn’t tell me. I really don’t know what goes on around here anymore.”
“That will have to change,” James smiled weakly. Bastion studied him meticulously and then crossed his arms.
“You have that look again.”
“What look?” James asked, shifting his weight nervously.
“That look that says you did something you regret. It’s all over your face. What happened?”
“I wish I could tell you,” James winced and Bastion shook his head as he turned around and stared at the field before him.
“So I guess things aren’t going to change just yet.”
“Where’s Lily and the others?”
“Achan and Lily aren’t coming. Lily’s still pissed over a fight we had last night, and Achan is still in that funk of his. You should really go talk to him.”
“I might soon,” James sighed. “I have no clue why he’s like this.”
“It’s because he has no reason to live,” Bastion said, turning around to face James. “We have no place here in Paragon. Maybe if there was no war coming, things would be fine. But as of right now, the people don’t want us here. And so we’re all alone out here, waiting for a battle that never seems to come while we lose our eidolons—the very thing that gives us our reason to exist in this world. Without it, we’ll be cast back to Terra.”
“Maybe Terra is where we should go,” James replied. “I would be lying if I said it never crossed my mind.”
“That might crush Achan even more. He’s the weakest out of all of us combat wise, and going to Terra...seeing Catherine...it might take away what little life he has left.”
“If that’s how he feels, then maybe we should send him on the next scouting mission. It will give him something to do.”
“And kill him off if it doesn’t work out.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“No, but it’s implied,” Bastion scoffed. “What’s going on here, James? Why won’t you just go and talk to Achan? You used to have a heart.”
“I still do,” James winced. “I really do. It’s...it’s the responsibility. I don’t know how to handle it.”
“Then don’t. Step down as leader and give someone else a chance.”
“But who? Who would want it? No one I know.”
“Exactly. No one you know. Do interviews. Test someone else out. Give someone new a shot at this. There’s no point in trying to make this work if you’re going to lose yourself in the process. Not everyone is born to be a leader. It’s okay to take care of yourself.”
“Let’s take Kyran for example,” James said, “what are the odds that he’ll listen to someone new?”
“Practically none at first,” Chloe answered, approaching from their side. James smiled at the sight of her. He couldn’t deny the feeling that burst inside of him—she was one of his favorite people in the entire world.
“Chloe, you made it,” James replied. Chloe skipped forward and gave him a hard hug, nearly squeezing the breath out of him. He let go and Chloe immediately started giggling.
“Love my new dress?” she asked, giving them a twirl. It was a green sundress, but this time it had lines of black running down the skirt of it. She also had her blonde and silver streaked hair wrapped up in a bun and held in place by two thin black sticks. Her green eyes shone as she saw the approval in theirs. But then she scowled and crossed her arms, catching the two boys off guard completely.
“So what’s this I hear about Kyran? What’s he done now?”
“N—nothing,” James stammered. “But...I’m thinking of getting someone new to be leader.”
“Who?” she asked, keeping her countenance stone-faced.
“Someone new maybe. I don’t know.”
“That’d be cool,” she said, breaking out in a smile. “To be honest, our group needs a bit of maintenance. Things are stale.”
“Like my marriage,” Bastion muttered.
“You’re thinking too much,” Chloe advised him. “Stop worrying about what will make her happy and just make her happy. Tickle the hell out of her. Give her kisses until she cracks a smile. Hold her hand and serenade her under the moonlight. It’s easy.”
“Is that what Kyran does?” Bastion asked mischievously.
“He would kill you if you knew the answer,” she said. “...But yes. Yes he does.”
“Why would you do that?!” Bastion screamed. “You should have kept that to yourself!”
“Oh come on, you’re stronger than he is.”
“But he’s an assassin. He could kill me in his sleep.”
“Or you could have Lily keep watch over you. She doesn’t have to sleep. See? There you go! Bonding together through your fear of death at the hands of my husband!”
“Noooo,” Bastion trailed off, holding the sides of his head. “I’m going to forget I heard anything.”
James laughed and scanned the rest of the field.
“So this is it?” he asked. “No one else?”
“Guess so,” Chloe replied. “It’s okay though. We’ll have more time to work out stuff once you pick a new leader. We need fresh blood to mix things up anyways.”
“I have no idea where to start.”
“We have hundreds of people to choose from. Most of them actual Sages. You’ll know when you’ve made the right decision.”
“I don’t even know what a Sage is anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“When we were in the meeting with the King’s official...the people there were saying how we have things backwards. We think we’re fighting for the right causes, but really, we shouldn’t be fighting at all until we’re called upon. We shouldn’t be so quick to jump into battle.”
“I think our problem is that we’re soldiers. If fighting is what we’re used to, and what we’re good at...it’s hard to settle down and relax. With all that happened in Allay, I don’t remember a time in which I could sleep soundly until I died and came here.”
“And then the seven sorcerers were mentioned...who are they?”
“They’re real?” Bastion asked.
“That’s what I said. Apparently the rumors are validated in the minds of the people. I have no clue what’s actually real, but supposedly, there’s some powerful weapons lying around.”
“Doesn’t really concern us though,” Chloe said. “It’s not our job. Neither is finding out if these seven sorcerers are actually out there or not.”
“It would be something to do.” Bastion said.
“No,” James said. “Supposedly the Sorcerers said that they would kill anyone looking for them on sight. And it’s not like we’re desperate. The war hasn’t started so we’ll stay put on that matter.”
“So we continue to train? That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Good,” Chloe said. “Because I want to preserve this place for as long as possible. It’s so pretty it makes me want to cry.”
“Oh goodness,” Bastion sighed as literal tears began to stream down Chloe’s eyes.
“I’m sorry. It’s just...I’m so happy here. And Kyran is too. He just won’t admit it. He would scold me if he saw me like this.”
“You two are ridiculous,” James laughed.
“So, what’s the lesson for today?” Bastion groaned.
“I have something,” Chloe said, and James motioned for her to proceed. “Well, I have been thinking about the atmosphere a lot lately. After all, it’s the biggest noticeable change since the Great Collision. It used to be rich and dense, but now it’s beginning to thin, as it mixes with the atmosphere from Terra, and to an almost nonexistent degree—Cimmerian.”
“You sit with your eidolon out, studying the air?” Bastion laughed.
Chloe punched him in the back of the head and he cried out in pain. She immediately smiled and put a finger to her chin.
“Yes, I do,” she said proudly. “And what I noticed is that this will have a big effect on our world. Let’s say the war starts and it goes on for a hundred years. By the time those years are up, we might have stopped fighting, because the threat coming from the very air we breathe might be that terrible.”
“What do you mean?” James asked.
“Paragon will no longer be the Paradise we see now. At some point, we might have to farm. We might need rain. There could be food shortages and famine. We could be fighting not to starve instead of against our enemy. And not just that. We already lost our ability to maintain other manifestations fifteen years ago. Just think of what could happen to our eidolons in another fifteen. And there’s the matter of people waking up with new abilities. Abilities that were once non-existent in Paragon. It has to do with the changes in the atmosphere.”
“Besides Eckard and a few others, we don’t have confirmation that the air is the cause.”
“Still, it’s happening, and there has to be a reason. I wonder how many more are gaining new and exciting powers on Terra, or even in Cimmerian.”
“Don’t get too excited about that,” Bastion chuckled. “We’ll have to fight that someday.”
“So what can we do?” James asked. “How do we fight this?”
“We can start releasing our eidolons more so that they can get used to the changes—adapt. And in the meantime, we can devise new strategies and techniques that will help us in battle, without the use of our eidolons.”
“I could focus more on my Quietus side,” James said. “I’ve only changed once since we’ve been here, and that was only to see if I still could.”
“No clue for me,” Bastion sighed. “I’ve definitely noticed that I’m getting weaker though.”
“We have to think outside of the box,” Chloe said. “Just like back on Terra when I first discovered how to create other manifestations.”
“Any ideas?”
“We work on our will first,” she said, extending her hand out in front of her with the palm up. In an instant, her eidolon appeared—a longsword that was nearly bigger than she was. Because it was a part of her though, the weight had no bearing on her grip. “I’m going to push my eidolon to its limits. I’m going to infuse it with all the energy I can muster and then let it drain. I’m going to let this sword, and my body, weaken until the atmosphere threatens to break it entirely.”
“What’s the point of that?”
“Because if my will is strong enough, I’ll survive. My eidolon will never crack, and as a result, it will become more durable for the future. That’s what I’m aiming for.”
“And techniques?” James asked.
“We should ask the Sages we normally don’t talk to,” she said. “Arimus, Kyran...all of us. We all know what we can do, but there’s so much untapped potential within the others.”
“Most of the Sages died not long after they first learned to release their eidolons. What could they show us that’s different?”
“You never know,” she said. “Twenty years have passed since then.”
“True,” Bastion said. “But that means they’ve also gotten weaker.”
“Weakness is a state of mind,” she said with a grin while she looked over her eidolon.
“Hey, who is that?” Bastion asked, pointing out in the distance. James and Chloe lifted their heads and tried to figure out what he was pointing at. It was a man in a long robe—bathed in an orange red, and under the afternoon sun, it looked like he was going to burst into flames.
Chloe extended her eidolon toward the approaching stranger and her eyebrows raised in concern.
“He’s not friendly,” she whispered. James and Bastion shot to attention, immediately summoning their eidolons, and their white and black robes respectively. Chloe followed suit, donning her green robe before they had finished calling upon theirs.
“Is he from Cimmerian?” James asked. “Can you pick anything up?”
“Terra, it seems like,” she said. “If he is from Cimmerian, he hasn’t been there in a very long time.”
“Another enemy in Paragon,” James muttered to himself. “What’s going on here?”
“Whoever he is, we can handle him,” Bastion said with confidence. “We’re three of the strongest Sages that Paragon has.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Chloe said. “Whoever this man is...he’s keeping his talents hidden. And that’s usually not a good thing. Guys, I know we’ve been rusty, but from the murderous intent I’m sensing right now, we better shake it off quick.”
The stranger was now in ear shot and they were able to see his face.
The first thing they noticed was the scowl plastered across it.
And the rage that it was born from.
