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“It must have been Gideon,” Arimus said aloud as he ran across the rooftops. He then sucked his teeth. “I should have tried to kill him then and there...even if I failed.”
A scream from below demanded his attention and he abruptly stopped in his tracks as Chloe was still a considerable way off in the distance.
“What’s wrong?” he shouted to the young woman in the flower apron below. She fell to her knees as she buried her face in her hands.
“Cirrus has been attacked by Cimmerian. And my son is there.”
Arimus didn’t bother asking her anymore questions. As rude as it sounded, he didn’t have time to hear her story or what her son’s loss might mean. What bothered him most was how Cimmerian was able to get past the first two major cities and several towns without being detected. It couldn’t be an army. Perhaps a small militia. But then why only send a few people to begin the war? Was it to see how Paragon would respond?
And most important of all...why now? What had set them off now that had no effect before? Arimus feared the worst.
He kept running across the rooftops as he allowed his blue Sage robe to fall over him. It didn’t comfort him. He barely felt an increase in strength, and he wasn’t sure if it was because he was feeling inadequate or if he had just gotten that much weaker over the years.
“CHLOE!” he shouted as he reached the edge of a mansion. A half of a mile away, he could see a blur of green and blonde flashing across the open city square, cutting down every citizen that screamed or yelped aloud. Once he said her name, the blur came to a halt, and Arimus groaned.
Chloe was in her full green Sage garb. Her hair was pointing out in all directions and was half-silver and half-blonde. The longsword, clutched tight in her right hand, was dripping with the blood of Paragon. Her eyes weren’t the vibrant and happy-go-lucky portals he had admired from afar. Now they were as black as a bottomless pit. No matter what their team did in the past, he could always count on Chloe to be herself. Kyran protecting her was a part of that, but still, she was always the soul of the team. The moral center. The innocent one.
No longer.
“Chloe, you’re being controlled. This isn’t you...at all.”
Chloe looked at him, and for a moment he thought her words were having an effect on him, but then she vanished from his sight, and he was sure it wasn’t because she was running away.
Instinctively, he willed his windmill eidolon to come forth and it was half-way out when Chloe appeared behind him and cut through his side with her longsword. Thankfully he had turned a bit so he wasn’t cut in two, but the motion still sent him falling off of the edge of the roof. He tried to land on his feet, but the fall was so short and his motions were so awkward that his back ended up slamming into the pavement. The wind was knocked out of him as the rest of his windmill eidolon finally formed.
Chloe’s feet appeared by his head and he barely summoned a wind in time to push her away. She was only thrown back a couple of feet, but it gave him enough time to get back up onto his feet. Arimus grunted and tried to catch his breath. Chloe examined her body, wondering what happened to her when Arimus decided to make a move.
He swung his eidolon at her side, trying to wound and not kill, but she saw it coming the moment he wound his arm up. She blocked it as if it was a child’s toy, and then she kicked him in the chest. Staggering back, she took advantage of the situation and lunged forward, plunging her longsword straight through the center of his chest. Arimus gasped as she lifted him off of his feet and then flung him off of her blade, sending him flying through one of the walls of a nearby home.
Being durable, the home didn’t collapse. Arimus took the full brunt of the impact.
Arimus knew it was a losing battle. Chloe was far stronger than he was, and if she started using her techniques, she was as dangerous as Bastion. Arimus felt a drop of blood trickled down his forehead and into his eye. He wiped it away and tried to climb to his feet but his body was creaking. It wasn’t that he was old. He just hadn’t fought a real battle in so long that the signs were showing.
Chloe sprinted forward at breakneck speed and Arimus grit his teeth. He couldn’t take her down. But he might be able to keep the people out of harm’s way.
Arimus stuck his windmill eidolon out in front of him and began twirling it in his hands, sending forth a linear wind tunnel that hit Chloe right in her chest. She was knocked off of her feet but she caught herself in mid-air. She landed back onto the soles of her feet and then continued the assault. He sent more winds to engulf her and they were able to tilt her off balance, but it wasn’t enough to stop her completely. She reached him and he put more of his energy into the next gust.
Just as Chloe tried to cut off his head, she went spiraling above him in a makeshift tornado. Her arms and legs flailed as she screamed at him. Arimus knew she was furious by now, but that would make no difference as long as he kept her at bay.
Using the winds as his invisible hands, he placed her on the rooftop above. Once she was free of his grip, she tried to jump off of the roof but he had already jumped up and pushed her further across it. Chloe went somersaulting backwards as he landed on the roof with her.
“I’m sorry I have to do this,” Arimus shouted. “But this is only until you come to your senses.”
A house crashed to the ground behind him, but he refused to investigate. Chloe was his main concern. He knew that Cimmerian was taking advantage of Chloe’s rampage. He knew that Gideon and Orson were probably behind it all, and he knew that he couldn’t do much on his own. At least he could save another life or two.
He would have to be content with that for now.
***
“NO,” KYRAN WHISPERED as his eidolon finally picked up a signature to go with the noise. James felt it at the exact same time, and his fists clenched tight as soon as he realized the ramifications.
“Chloe,” James whispered. Lily’s eyes widened.
“That’s Chloe?” Lily asked in grave concern. “Then...” she turned and looked back toward where they had come from. James knew what she was thinking. Bastion was still in Delilah and there was no one there to stop him if he lost control. James sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“He might still be under Gideon’s influence, but I don’t think he’ll set Bastion off unless he needs to. As far as Gideon knows, the damage has already been done in Delilah. Winona was smart in making it look like we escaped. Acclimating Bastion into their society will take a lot of time and energy.”
“Why are we talking?” Kyran growled as he began crossing the bridge from Terra into Paragon. James took note of how the bridge shivered and shook as the assassin crossed. Once Kyran was on the other side, he took off into a full sprint while becoming invisible.
“Kyran, wait!” Lily shouted, when James cleared his throat.
“No point,” he said. “We wouldn’t be able to stop him if we wanted.”
“And why are we taking our time?”
“Because Chloe is the decoy,” he said, lifting his arm and sticking his eidolon out. “I’m sure Gideon wants to use her to ruin our place in Paragon, but that’s not enough. If he’s going to take over, Paragon needs a reason to put him in charge. I can...I can sense others. I think they’re from Cimmerian but I’m not sure. The information detected through my eidolon about them is similar to that of the man we encountered a few days ago. “
“Then the war has begun.”
“Not necessarily,” James said, starting to head across the bridge as he kept his eidolon outstretched. “It all depends on how this day ends.”
“So Chloe isn’t the priority?”
“No, Gideon is. Same as before.”
“You think we can stop him? Just the two of us?”
“I’m not sure. And that’s what Gideon is counting on. He’s using our feelings for Chloe to keep us divided.”
“Bastion and I couldn’t take him down, and you’re weaker than he is.”
“Thanks for the confidence,” James laughed. “Now, let’s try targeting the Cimmerians. If they really are part of Gideon’s plans, he might intervene to save them, and that’s when we give him everything we’ve got.
***
ARIMUS FELT HIS ENERGY wane the moment he shot a wind tunnel toward Chloe and it didn’t even faze her. Her longsword slashed across his chest and he fell to one knee, crying out in pain as she cocked her hand back and slashed at his chest with another swing. He fell to his other knee.
Chloe raised the longsword over her head and prepared to bring it down upon him when she heard someone say her name from behind.
“Chloe, stop this,” Kyran said. Arimus opened a weary eye and grinned once he saw his old friend standing there. If anyone could get through to her, it was him.
Chloe spun around to face him.
“Chloe, Gideon is controlling you,” Kyran said. “This isn’t you. I know this isn’t you. Cut it out.”
Chloe sprinted at him and Kyran disappeared from her view. But that didn’t deter her. She stopped in her tracks, reached out, and grabbed him by the throat. He reappeared and tried to kick at her while she raised him high above her head. She cocked back her hand with the longsword and prepared to plunge it through him when her arm was pulled back. She angrily looked back at Arimus who was using the wind once more to hold her arm.
He sent another gust her way and it made her stagger forward. Kyran used the momentum to thrust his legs up, wrap them around her forearm and then use it as leverage as he pushed the rest of his body back. He wrenched his throat free from her grip and then back-flipped off of her. He rolled out of the way before she could retrieve him once more.
She turned around and glared at them both. She crouched down low, preparing to run at them when a scream in the distance caught her attention.
“Let her go!” Kyran said low to Arimus, sticking a hand out toward him. Arimus didn’t respond. He watched as Chloe took off running toward the source of the yelling.
“She’s going to kill them,” Arimus said angrily, barely standing to his feet.
“She’s going to kill more than that if we don’t come up with a strategy first.”
“We don’t have time for this.”
“You think I don’t know what’s happening?” Kyran snapped. “She’s doing the one thing she hates the most! That’s my wife out there! So shut up and let me work!”
Arimus was taken aback. He had never heard him yell like that before.
“Okay,” Arimus said weakly. “Let’s talk.”
“I can take her down,” Kyran said, “but not with brute strength. I’ll have to hit her just right or wrap my arm around her neck and get her to stop breathing. I’ll need your winds to distract her enough. Her back has to be to me at all times, and she can’t sense I’m coming.”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“You’re going to have to hurt her bad enough that you’re all she wants.”
“I’m low on energy as it is,” Arimus said. “We won’t have long to do this.”
“Get more energy then,” Kyran said. “Come on.”
Kyran ran off and Arimus followed, unaware of the watchful eyes of Gideon above them.
***
“BE STILL,” JAMES SAID, waving to Lily on the rooftop of one of the mansions. They had found the Cimmerian group on the other side of Altostratus and it appeared as if they weren’t doing much. They stayed away from the general population, and they would go from house to house, breaking in, looking around, and then walking out with nothing in tow.
“They’re looking for something,” Lily said. “What could it be?”
“We don’t know enough about Paragon’s history to know for sure.”
“That’s something we’ll have to change,” Lily said. “If we survive this anyways.”
“We’re wasting time,” James said. “I didn’t want to do this, but we’ve got to help Chloe. I’m done waiting.”
James leapt off and right onto one of the five Cimmerians. His face slammed into the pavement and he was knocked out instantly. James found that surprising as he dodged a punch from another of the Cimmerian men and he responded in kind with an uppercut. The man was knocked out too.
“They’re weak,” James said to Lily as she dropped down next to him. “But don’t underestimate the situation.”
“Stop this,” one of the three conscious Cimmerians replied, backing up until his back hit the cottage behind him. They were all standing in the middle of the street, but with all of the chaos going around, James couldn’t sense a single citizen anywhere close. They were free to do whatever they pleased.
James examined the men closely as they literally shook in their boots. They didn’t look any different than one from Paragon. Their skin was a darker red from the heat in Cimmerian, but it was more of a tan than anything. It didn’t mean that was the color of their actual skin. They were well-toned and muscular, but they weren’t fighters. That was obvious. Two of them had brown eyes and the third had light blue eyes, as clear as water. They were men just like him. They had only woken up in a different land after they had died. James wondered what Cimmerian was like, but he didn’t have time to ask about that now.
“I won’t hurt you if you tell me everything I want to know,” James said.
The man with the blue eyes nodded profusely. “That’s fine. We will. We will. The man who left the message said that we could talk all we want if we’re caught.”
“Who’s this man?”
“I don’t know,” the blue-eyed man said.
“Does the name Gideon mean anything to you?”
“No...I never heard that name before in my life.” James could sense that he wasn’t lying.
“Alright, tell me more about this message.”
“There were two. The first one we didn’t get to read but our superiors were pretty excited about it. They started making plans immediately about how they were going to cripple Paragon and use us as decoys.”
“Decoys for what?”
“We’re not here to do anything but be sacrifices,” he said. “I...I’m not much of a fighter. I was a...it doesn’t matter what I did in my past life. I just...I can’t live like this. So I was sent here to be a distraction. Cirrus is the real target. I think the message said that was where Paragon’s Sorcerer weapons were.”
“The weapons that the Seven Sorcerers gave them?”
“Yeah, it’s supposed to be in an armory there. That’s the whole point of this attack. Destroy the weapons. That’s why there isn’t an army here.”
“We’re probably too late to stop that,” Lily said.
The blue-eyed man nodded. “They were in position days ago.”
“Part of why Gideon started messing with us,” James sighed. “To keep us from sensing that something was wrong.”
“The Seven Sorcerers won’t make Paragon more weapons.”
“Yes we know that,” James said in frustration. “Okay, what did the second message say? You got to read that one.”
“It said that after today...there would be no more Sage threats.”
James glanced back at Lily and once their eyes met, they both knew that they were thinking the exact same thing: Gideon intended to kill them all now.
“We’ve got to get back to the others,” James said to her, then he turned back to the Cimmerians. “Thank you for the information.”
James unsheathed his eidolon from his hip and slashed across their necks in one swift movement. Lily’s eyes widened in surprise as James sheathed his eidolon back into his body.
“I dulled the blade,” James said.
“Why did you—you said you wouldn’t hurt them.”
“We’re at war,” James interrupted, looking back at the two unconscious Cimmerians. “And while you, Bastion, Kyran and Chloe get to live a life of peace, that’s not what I’m signing up for. I’ve decided to change things. To make the world a better place...I’m sure Catherine will want to do the same. And in order to do that, it’s going to take sacrifice on my part.”
“But you gave them your word.”
“I hurt them so you and anyone else wouldn’t have to,” James said. “I’m choosing this path, not because I want to hurt people, but because being idle is even worse. I’ve seen both paths now, and even though I might have to get my hands dirty from time to time...it’s the better road for me.”
“Okay,” Lily said.
“I’ll only be deceptive when I have to.”
“You don’t have to convince me,” she said low. “It’s all of the Sages under Gideon that need the persuasion. They’re the ones you’ll be dealing with once this is all over.”
