| |
James woke up and was surprised that he hadn’t died. Did his family win? It had to be the only explanation since Warrior Seven wouldn’t have left him alive.
His eyes fluttered as he groaned. He had been stupid taking the front with so little energy left. After all, he had been the only one that hadn’t died yet. But what choice did he have? They couldn’t die anymore. Ten surely wouldn’t order their resurrection.
James lifted his head and was surprised to see a pair of unfamiliar feet by him. He raised his head up even further and he saw Warrior Seven crouched down and glaring at him.
“I was wondering when you would wake up,” he said. “Come on. We have to finish this.”
“What are you talking about?” James whispered, afraid of the answer. He slowly climbed to his feet as his vision cleared, and that was when he saw the truth of the matter.
They were all dead.
Each and every one.
“That’s it,” he heard Ten say from above. “At the very least, Catherine is done.”
“Wait!” James cried. “Wait, we have to make a deal of some kind.”
“There’s no deals to be made. You are at our mercy. But I will give you a slight chance, if you are willing to listen.”
“Of course,” James said. He was ready to take anything.
“I want you to join us, but I already see that based on your level of energy, there is no way you can defeat Warrior Seven. And the reason is because you have not yet died. You are fatigued. I am offering you a chance to gain your strength and then you will resume your fight with Warrior Seven in a couple of hours.”
“I will,” James said. “But what about them? What happens to them?”
“All of them are placed in suspension for now. Even Catherine. I will say that there is a chance that I will be merciful and revive her, but only if you behave yourself and hear what I have to say.”
“Anything,” James said. Ten jumped off of the ledge and floated down to the floor below. He landed gracefully on his feet and approached James cautiously.
“I want to give you some of the answers you seek, but in order to do so, you will have to keep an open mind and completely behave yourself. If you act out in any way, Catherine will be allowed to die.”
“I understand,” James said. He wasn’t going to jeopardize a chance to save her, and besides, Ten was right. He was tired. He wasn’t able to see what Warrior Seven could do, but it was apparent that he was terribly strong.
“Wait here,” Ten said to Warrior Seven. “We will be right back.” He turned to James. “Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to them.”
“Where are we going?” James asked.
“This way,” he said, picking up the pace toward the east wall. When they reached it, a hidden door opened and they stepped inside, coming upon a narrow walkway that reminded James of the Sage Academy’s. It reminded him of a question.
“Did one of your people build the Sage Academy?”
“Yes,” Ten said as they walked along the walkway. It seemed to go on for miles. James could not see the end, and yet, there was something even more disturbing around him, though he wasn’t yet sure of what it was. The air was thick and it smelled like waste. The moonlight above cast an eerie glow under the midnight blue sky, and the cloudless night was not comforting like it usually was. James glanced around him and saw forests in the distance, but what was below? He was about to look when Ten tapped his cane against James’ chest.
“Not yet,” Ten said. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
“What’s down there?”
“First, I must tell you, that whatever we do, it’s for the greater good.”
“And what’s that?’ James said, trying to calm himself down.
“We have been taking people from Terra,” he said, pointing below, allowing James to see what was there. James looked over the edge and saw mobs of people walking around, all of them quiet and stumbling along as if they were brain dead.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because the future needs to continue. They are the only ones that are able to procreate, and so determining the frequency and parameters of the next generation falls upon us. They wouldn’t do it fast enough on their own, and we are one of the few groups of people that can protect them from outside threats. Our illusions. Our distance away from any civilization. It is all for them.”
“So this is what you stand for now? Kidnapping and forced breeding?”
“It is what we deem is necessary, and even that ideal may change with the wind. I wasn’t lying earlier when I said that we believed in nothing. We have determined that once someone aligns themselves with a certain ideal, they begin to neglect their own personal growth. By staying fluid, we are able to stay powerful in an ever-changing world.”
“But how do you decided whom to side with when something like the upcoming war breaks out?”
“We side with ourselves,” he said. “That’s it. We’re not going to get involved in the war, and we’ve decided that we are going to affect the outcome of the future. Once the war is over and they have mostly killed one another, our people will rise.”
“See, that’s your real goal. You want to rule the world.”
“I never said that.”
“But that’s what’s implied. By using these people from Terra, you’re going to be building an army of your own, so that you can take over the others and implement your way of things. It’s the same thing you’re doing right now. Forcing me to align with you.”
“No one is forcing you to do anything. You could easily have continued the trial against Warrior Seven, but your allegiance lies with those lying dead on the floor.”
“It’s because they are my strength. I become more powerful when I see them in pain, it hurts me more than anything that I could experience on my own, and when we’re not in battle, they bring me a happiness that I can’t describe. It’s not this cold mutual agreement like you and your warriors have, or what those people down there have. They don’t even look like they’re aware of what’s going on.”
“We have to keep them sedated so that we can have them procreate.”
“This is disgusting,” James said. “I can’t believe that I found this.”
“It’s only disgusting because of your self-imposed morality. If you were in our position, what would you do? Huh? What would you do to preserve the future?”
“If people have to be forced to procreate, or subjected to torture, or have to watch their friends die in order to comply to an ideal, maybe the future isn’t worth saving. The Sages, the Solons, the Ancient Knights, Paragon...from what I’ve seen so far, we’re all flawed and doomed, and we all think that we have the answers. I’m sick of it.”
“You came here looking for answers as to what the original Sages’ code was. Now you have found it and you’re going to reject it even though you’re a Sage yourself?”
“I’m not a Sage anymore,” James said. “And I never will be again.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ten laughed. “None of you matter.”
“I want to make a deal,” James said.
“Go ahead,” Ten chuckled.
“If I defeat the rest of your warriors, I want to be able to leave here with all of my family and friends intact. We won’t bother you, and you don’t bother us.”
“You won’t win.”
“I guess we would see. Do we have a deal?”
“Sure,” he said. “But if you lose, you will be drugged and used as a breeder. Perhaps we can create a race with a quarter of their blood leaning toward the Quietus line.”
“Fine,” James said turning around to head back to the arena. “Let’s get this over with.”
“I’ll be up on the ledge,” he said with a smile. “I wish you the best of luck.”
He doesn’t want me to join the Ancient Knights, James thought to himself. It’s to create that Quietus line of his. All of us are just things. We’re always things.
James realized that this was how the Solons felt about the Sages. They were used. They were only valuable when there was a great conflict coming, and it was wrong. It was all wrong.
All anyone wanted was to be respected and loved.
And all James truly wanted was to preserve that.
For all of Allay’s flaws, it was the closest to home he had ever felt, and with all of his concentration on war and making the Sages more powerful, he had forgotten just how being united with a group of like-minded individuals could bring about great change. It didn’t take a lot. It didn’t take a whole lot of compromise.
The journey for the five stones.
Catherine and seven Sages.
It was when they had been at their best, although physically, they were at their weakest. They had changed the world, and they could do it again. They just had to stay focused on each other. No one’s beliefs were unimportant. No one person was higher than any other, and no one had to rule any of the other.
“No more,” James said aloud as the hidden door closed behind him. Ten was already on top of the ledge with the man that could resurrect the dead.
“No more what?” Ten asked curiously.
“I get it. You aren’t the Ancient Knights. At least not all of them. Because anyone that had a heart would not be doing what you do. The ones that I truly want to talk to are somewhere else, probably hiding with other Knights just like them, trying to live a peaceful life and enjoying the company of each other.”
“So that’s who you will seek if you leave?”
“No, I’ll forge my own path from here on out,” James said. “No more seeking. I have to take care of myself and my loved ones. If we come across some of the others, then great. But if not, it doesn’t matter, I know where I stand now.”
“How wonderful,” Ten scoffed. “But what will your beliefs get you? How will you survive this day?”
“I was thinking a lot about that,” James said. “And though I don’t like the answer, it’s the only way I can see all of us getting out of here alive.”
“A plan in which you’re all alive? This, I have to see.”
“It’s simple,” James said, his body beginning to transform before Ten’s eyes. His skin began to darken and his neck elongated as Ten looked at him in horror.
“You plan on absorbing all of us?” he scoffed in disbelief. “You wouldn’t. There’s no coming back from that. If you manage to take all of us, you won’t even be able to think straight. We will taint your soul. You won’t be able to distinguish between what is us and what is you.”
“Gideon took on a great burden for the sake of his people,” James growled as his teeth began to sharpen. “He saw the endgame, and that is what I’m looking at now. I will take the risk so that they can live, and so that we can see a brighter tomorrow.”
“Catherine will never be able to look at you in the same way again.”
“That’s what I’m counting on. She may not like what I become at first, but she’ll stick by me through it all, and her heart will see me through. We love each other, and that means she’ll show me the light after all of the darkness I’ve consumed.”
“Your marriage will never be the same.”
“Nor will your lives,” he said as the tar black ooze covering his body fell over his eyes, nose and lips completely. Looking faceless and rippling with raw power, he glared at Warrior Seven. He ran forward and tried to tackle him but Seven dodged him with a sidestep. James didn’t miss a beat. He ran to the wall and brought Warrior four down to the floor. He screamed and flailed his arms as James allowed the ooze dripping off of him cover his victim.
Warrior Seven ran over to assist and James erupted from the ooze in his white Sage robes and his black eidolon in his hand. He slashed Seven across the chest and then tried to get his face but his opponent threw back his head and then punched James in the face, sending him flying into the east wall. James dug his claws into the wall and put the soles of his feet up against the surface. He waited for Seven to get close and then he launched himself off of the wall, leaping over Seven’s head and running straight for what was left of Warrior Four.
James sucked up the muck that had been Warrior Four and it seeped back into his body, giving him all of Four’s memories, powers and strength. Seven approached and James blocked one of his blows, parrying it with his arm turned white eidolon. He pushed Seven back and then extended his hand out toward Warrior Five who was beginning to run away. The Quietus ooze launched off of his body and right onto Five’s back, slowly covering and absorbing him as he fought against it.
James received a fist literally through the gut. Seven’s fist came out the other side of James’ back and he felt his body go limp and numb. James winced and bit down on Seven’s forearm as hard as he could with his sharp fangs. Seven growled, trying not to cry out as he tried to head-butt James. After the third punch, James let go of Seven’s arm and bit his fist instead.
Now Seven was pissed. He took his arm out from James’ body and tried to pry his mouth off of him, but James held on strong, using the time to heal the gaping wound in his center. He was already feeling the surge of new life within him, and the healing was going faster than normal. He still felt like he couldn’t beat Seven one on one, but it was only a matter of time.
James nipped at Seven’s hand that had previously punched through him and Seven flinched. That was all James needed. He head-butt Seven in the face and then kicked him square in the chest. He didn’t even look back to see how far Seven had fallen. James ran to Warrior Five, now nothing but a puddle of black ooze and James reached a hand toward it.
The ooze jumped onto his body and he sighed in relief as he felt the little bit of energy he had expended return and more. He wasted no time and sending the black ooze right at Seven who was only a couple of seconds away from thrusting his fist right through James’ skull.
Seven fought against it harder than the others, kicking at it and stretching it out.
James ignored him.
There were more important scores to settle.
He looked up at the old man watching him from above.
