Dutybound

by Mark Aaron Alvarez

  Its plan had been foiled, and it was angry. Lucia could see that within its deep crimson gaze, but soon the monster smiled at her. This made her stomach turn and knot beneath her chilled skin. What can it possibly be planning now? Is this all just one big game? If it was, Lucia didn’t know the rules. Either way, she was committed to beating it this time. She would fight her fate no longer. This was her duty. Duty above all else.

  Luzanna was ushering her tribe through the stone stairwell, away from the chaos and hopefully to safety. She still worried about her father and the others, but knew she needed to honor Talon’s wishes. She had an obligation to her people. And he had placed his faith in her to protect them. She would not fail them. She couldn’t. Luzanna looked down to the beach from the top of the cliff, watching as they fought. She unclenched her fist, revealing the Elder Stone in the palm of her hand. Father, I will be your hope. And with one tearful nod, she placed the Elder Stone into the groove between the eyes of her mask, clicking it into its rightful place.

  Leo, Lucia, and Talon were left alone with the monstrosity as it slithered, trying to regain its strength. Lucia knew she had weakened it greatly by destroying its bladed limbs. Yet still, it was only a matter of time before it regained them. The matter at the base of the beast was churning, readying for another attack. Now or never, they had to execute. This might be their last shot to win and change the course of the prophecy forever. Lucia looked to Leo as she pointed to Talon. “Take him while it’s weak. We made a promise to Luzanna. If Talon survives, my father’s prophecy won’t come true. We can change everything.”

  “But what if you can’t?” Leo asked. “What if you’re not strong enough?”

  “I am strong enough!” she yelled. “Trust me. At the very least, I can drive it away. I won’t be able to destroy it, not in my current form, but I can see that Aldric survives. We can save them!” She looked into the sapphire of Leo’s eyes. “Please.”

  Leo could not find the words, but instead nodded in agreement. He ran to Talon as Talon gazed, almost frozen, at the beast.

  “Chief, we must take you to safety. Lucia has weakened it enough. We need to get you out of here and put this prophecy to rest.”

  “You’re wrong, you know.” Talon groaned weakly. “You won’t be able to change the course of Stello’s prophecies. The light drives a hard bargain. Its word is its contract.” Talon coughed and wheezed.

  Leo saw that the beast was not the only thing that was weakened.

  “That’s how we got here in the first place. The covenant . . . it’s broken.”

  “The covenant?” Leo asked.

  Talon stared back at Leo with wide eyes. They seemed far gone, afraid, and lost with pain. The words that then came from his mouth chilled Leo to his core. “This is only the beginning.”

  “Please,” Leo said, still winded. “Let’s go before it regains its strength.”

  Talon hesitated, looking toward Lucia. Her eyes were deadlocked on the beast. For over twenty-five years, Talon had kept this knowledge a secret. There was no way anyone could have known the things Stello did. No one could have been so precise or so accurate. No one could have predicted what the future would hold for these three youths. No one could have foreseen the trials they would face—none except Stello. But how? How could he have known all this?

  “Her father, he knew things . . . horrible things. How? I can’t say, but there has to be some sort of connection between him and the protectors.” Talon coughed again. “You’re all so young. It’d be hard for you to understand why I kept this knowledge a secret for as long as I did. It was my duty to the protectors to ensure that the knowledge would be safe. All so that balance could remain.”

  With those words, it all seemed to fit into place. Talon smiled to himself. “I think I see it now,” he continued, “the part I’m supposed to play in all this.” He picked up another spear and took one last breath, holding it deep within his chest. “Please, take care of her,” he said softly to Leo before he blasted toward the beast.

  Leo’s eyes widened as he reached out to grab Talon. “No!” he shouted.

  But it was too late. Talon dashed and threw the spear at full force into the beastly mass. With its great smile, it released a storm of blades from beneath the water.

  Lucia gasped as the blades shot toward Talon. How long had those weapons been in hiding? There was no way to tell for certain, but this was the trick to the monster’s grin. This was how it would win.

  The tentacles caught Talon, gripping him tightly before dragging him through the water and into the air. Leo watched in horror as they wrapped around his body.

  Talon didn’t struggle. Wearily, he let out a few words as the serpent tightened its grip and blood fell from the corner of his mouth. “Stello, dear friend, I’m sorry.”

  Lucia collapsed in despair, falling into the sand as the serpent held Talon in front of its face. There was nothing she could do. Even if he tried to escape, even if they made a run for it, the monster had hidden its weapons under the water. It was waiting for her to try to defy her father’s prophecy, toying with her. How could it have known? She had been deceived by the beast and her own beliefs. Her heart tightened as she cried out agony.

  The tentacles continued to coil around Talon’s body just like a serpent before devouring its prey. They pointed inward with their bladed tips, and the blades pushed forward and into the crevices of its many tails, impaling Talon within the beast’s grip. They came from all directions, each blade meticulously placed into the knot around Talon’s body. The beast watched playfully as Talon’s blood dripped into the water. Talon was shaking, seemingly choking, consumed with pain. The serpent chuckled as it positioned its last blade and gave its tentacles one quick turn, spiraling Talon’s body loose with the blades still intact. There was a shower of blood as the blades turned and shredded Talon to pieces.

  Lucia turned away and screamed, letting her voice reflect her terror as the scarlet shower stained the water a deep crimson. In her swelling sorrow, Lucia felt the Light Wings beat with emotion. Diamond wings sprouted from her back, shooting sparks into the sky, and her hands vibrated, emitting a gallant orange fire. The sparks enlarged, exploding brighter and higher as they trailed over the blood-red dead and up around the darkness, enveloping it in light and white clouds of heat. The light shot up into the storm of violet lightning overhead, towering into the sky and parting the clouds as the beast was engulfed in the fire of Lucia’s rage.

  It roared in its own pain as Lucia fell to the ground. “You will pay for what you have done. I will not forget! I will not forgive! I will show no mercy!” She was levitating as she poured every ounce of her pain into her hand. Her eyes shined as a halo formed behind her head. And with one final wave of raw emotion, she pushed with all her might sending a tempest of radiant energy toward the beast, which rippled through it causing it to squirm and wither.

  It let out another pain-filled roar as it began to slowly submerge into the depths of the sea. “You think you have proven victorious, but you are wrong.” It lowered its head. “At what cost did you decide to use your precious light?” it asked with a distorted groan. “You have learned nothing! This world belongs to us. As four—we’ll break you. We’ll destroy all virtue. You will know true sin.”

  A large rumbling came from deep within the earth. Lucia watched her step as her feet hit the ground. She hurried to Leo, holding him close as she looked up toward the cliff. “Something’s coming up from underneath,” she said while trying to hold her balance. She heard the ground splitting as the cliff began to cave in, and a violet ray of intense electricity shot up from beneath the city and into the sky.

  It vibrated a pillar of dark matter through the city, sending a pulse of dark fire through it. The anti-light swarmed, sending lightning through each building and spewing ashes in its wake. The entire cliff erupted and the earth swallowed the city, pulling everything around i
t in.

  Leo was panting heavily, his body in shock.

  Lucia held her breath and covered her mouth as tears streamed from her eyes. “Luzanna,” she whispered as she lowered her fingers.

  In a panic, they bolted toward the stone staircase. There was nothing they could do to escape the sense of dread escalating within their hearts. The catastrophe they fought so hard to prevent had happened, just as predicted. Talon was dead, just as the prophecy had foretold; the city destroyed and void of life.

  There was nothing they could do. Fate would, for now, remain unbroken.

  Chapter Fourteen:

  Losing Hope

  No one could have survived a blast like that, Lucia thought as she stepped into the ruins of Aldric. Its walls were torn, its buildings crumbled, reduced to rubble and ash. The once bright and prosperous nation, blessed by the grace of its knowledge, was now broken. The city, for some time, had shone brilliantly, like a lone star hovering over a silent sea. But now, in the smoke of this long-fated battle, that glow was replaced by the diminishing gleam of a dying pit of fire. The age of the Carist was no more, and the power of its light was gone.

  Lucia stopped to search the ruins. She couldn’t prevent the stench of the decaying earth from entering her nostrils. It was like Pinea all over again—perhaps even worse. There wasn’t a trace of surviving life around them, no sign that anyone was alive. The smoke scalded her eyes as she covered her mouth. How could I let this happen? I was supposed to save them, she thought. This can’t be real. But it was. If it wasn’t, she would wake up at home, safe and away from the burden of saving a dying world. It would be nothing but a horrible nightmare. But, as fate would have it, this was her reality, her life, and now her duty. There was no running from destiny. She was neither anointed nor cursed, but rather trapped.

  It taunted her, the omen around her neck; forcing her to realize that no matter how hard she tried, she could not escape its call-to-arms. There was no life to live—only decay, ruin, ash, and suffering. Just as her father had predicted, there was no escaping the destruction of these great nations. No matter where she went, the darkness would follow, ready to condemn the very ground she walked upon.

  Leo stood beside Lucia as the tears in her eyes sparkled. Her pulse quickened as he took her hand. They walked farther into the devastation, watching the ashes still fall from the sky. The sight was mortifying, causing Leo’s blood to cool. What the beast left served no other purpose beyond frightening all who had witnessed the bitter scene. The blood ran thick across the ground, boiling on the crust of the heated earth beneath scattered bodies and broken lances. As they walked deeper, the sky darkened from the smoke collecting and hanging overhead.

  This was a testament to the power of sin and its hold over all men’s lives. If they could not save one, how could they expect to save them all? Despite the circumstances laid out in this hellish blur, Lucia prayed that her home would never know despair such as this. She prayed for no worse than what it had already experienced.

  As they approached the city’s center, Lucia was overtaken by a peculiar sensation. Tingles ran down the base of her neck, over her body, and into the tips of her fingers. She took a heavy breath before clasping a hand over the pendant.

  “What is it?” Leo asked. He secured his grip on her hand.

  “There is still life here.” Lucia gazed out into the flat wasteland of ashes. She watched the embers crumble beneath the sole of her boot and listened to the sizzle in the air, trying to isolate the source of the lingering intuition. “I don’t know how, but I almost feel her holding her breath. I can hear her cries.” She clenched the Light Wings, focusing her senses as she whispered. She stepped forward toward what was left of the city gate, the threshold where they had first crossed into this mystical fortress.

  “Where are we going?” Leo asked. He looked around, noticing the landscape changed. Overnight, the sky had darkened, and rolling green hills beyond the cliffs had changed into dying fields of tattered brown vegetation.

  Lucia pushed past the heavy rocks, casting them from each other. She dug into the wall of the gate with her hands. “Well”—she stepped back and stared at the rubble with irritation—“if anyone survived, they would have to be outside the city by now. Luzanna . . . ” Lucia closed her eyes and listened within her heart. “She’s alive.”

  Leo’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

  Lucia took another deep breath. She held out her hand and focused her sadness into her glove. With a heavy force, it expelled light into the rubble, causing it to explode into sparks of light, leaving an open way for them to cross.

  “I’m certain,” Lucia said with a breath of relief. “I can sense it. The Light Wings want me to find her.” She walked forward with ease, holding out her hand. Is my father ever wrong? Lucia couldn’t help but thinking. He expected great things from Luzanna . . . . Her fate—her future, too—was eternally bound.

  Unknowingly, she brushed the top of Leo’s shoulder as she crossed beside him. This sent his eyes darting to the glove. The brilliant gold gleamed against Lucia’s sun-kissed skin. Something had noticeably changed in her. There was a glimmer of strength that he had not yet seen in the time he had known her. And there was a deep focus in her golden irises, a strong will emerging from her fractured spirit. Her long lashes lined the wide almond shape of her eyes as they glistened with sympathetic tears that were filled with restraint. So much depth lay within those eyes, so much reason.

  Lucia saw no signs of life immediately, but still sensed it in her mind. Hope tugged at her neck. The pendant pulled her, even in its motionlessness, like it was after something, longing to find her. Life and light, she thought. They are connected. She tied the ends together. Understanding the rules of their existence was the core to the mystery of their journey. It wasn’t as if she had a choice. She had to contemplate this far-gone fantasy. But this was no illusion. She let out a deep sigh as she followed the internal piercing in her neck.

  It wasn’t long before, in the distance, Lucia saw the glimmer of metal beneath the canopy of a dying tree. Her soft, silent cry echoed in the void as the stone turned into grass. She pointed out into the field ahead of them and then, with an unexpected push, ran to her—the glimmer of shining metal hunched over, rocking in the distance. Lucia stopped herself. Leo put a hand to his lips as he picked up her mask and clenched his eyes shut, looking away as the girl grieved.

  Lucia called, “Luzanna . . . ”

  Luzanna’s bare face, round and pale, was facing down as her thick golden hair fell over her shoulders, draping over her breastplate. Tears rained from her sea-colored eyes. She hugged the body of someone Lucia herself could not recognize, but it wasn’t difficult to tell who this was. The features were all too prominent, all too similar to the girl who held her. A trail of blood pooled in the grass and mixed with the muddy earth. Lucia understood now that the only life she felt was Luzanna herself. Every breath and every cry was hers alone.

  “We nearly made it,” Luzanna cried while trying hard not to swallow the words. “But as we reached the gate, the blast caught the others, and my mother”—she choked as the words dug into the walls of her throat—“shielded me with herself. I pulled her from the ruins and brought her to safety. I tried to save her, but . . . ” Luzanna collapsed into a massive moan, holding on to her mother’s body.

  Leo held his breath as the tears formed in his own eyes. “Talon . . . .”

  At that moment, there was no way to tell if she was unsurprised or simply frozen by her grief, but Luzanna knew. “Father’s dead.” Her eyes met with theirs. Like an owl, she stared into almost nothing, entranced and broken as her eyes melted into misery.

  “I’m so sorry,” Lucia said. “We tried—I tried, but it wasn’t enough.”

  Luzanna stopped her. “It’s as I feared it would be, inevitable. That’s what separates myth from prophecy. Prophecies always come true.” She let out
another sob as she looked down at her mother, Ofelia Renon. “I want her to know peace. I hope they all do.” Her chest tightened with her breath, and her vision blurred with her thoughts. She tightened her hands and shut her eyes, begging for the pain to stop. “It’s all gone. Everything I’ve ever known has been taken from me. I’m alone, I’m scared, and . . . a part of me wishes I could have died with them.”

  Leo’s eyes softened. He stepped toward Luzanna and lowered next to her. Lucia did the same. And there, shoulder to shoulder, they mourned with her. They cried with her. They hoped with her, praying for peace.

  “We have to end this. There can’t be more. I know there will be, but there just can’t . . . ” Luzanna’s pale skin, so fair before, flushed to a light scarlet. With heavy fists, she lashed, slamming an armored hand into the ground. “How could anyone survive this? The world won’t—” She shook her head fiercely. Her anguish surged as her mind fractured.

  Lucia placed a warm hand on Luzanna’s ice-cold face. She felt her sadness. Her pain was seemingly infinite, her suffering endless. Lucia thought of her own mother and the words echoing from the day she left her home. I cannot lose her, she remembered thinking. Lucia lowered her golden eyes, focusing on this memory, wrapping and enveloping its light before sending it into her hand and into Luzanna. The light was warm as it coursed through her body, calming her blood flow and allowing her mind to be free from the overflow of despair.

  “Talon was very brave,” Lucia said. “He was a warrior, a chief, and a father. He fought to the end and did it all to honor you. And your mother—she did the same. I know this hurts, but they loved you, Luzanna. Their legacy lives on through you.” Lucia prayed silently, sending another wave of calming light into Luzanna’s body and mind. With a series of reassuring thoughts, it brought her out of the wrath and sudden hatred.

  Luzanna’s feelings burst into warmth, and the chills of fear and sorrow seemed to almost leave her completely. She flinched backward, her eyes drawing toward Leo’s as he held out her mask. She caressed it before taking it into her hands, grasping it as a sad cry echoed across the sky and soft water fell upon them. It was not heavy, nor cold, but soft and breezy. It was as if the world itself was consumed with grief. The sky grayed and the clouds descended, blanketing heavily over the terrain as Luzanna fell back to her mother’s side.