Icarus

by Samuel Small

  Upon seeing Sara her eyes softened, and there was a hint of sympathy in her expression. “You allow your past to control you,” she said, then immediately moved on, leaving Sara dumbfounded. Out of the corner of his eye Jake looked at her. Lennon did say that her predictions weren’t limited to the future, and it seemed that the ‘tell you more than you know about yourself’ deal was true. He didn’t have time to think for much longer, as the lady was standing before Dante, her eyes narrowed. He dared not know what she must have seen in him.

  “Pure evil,” she spat, then turned away.

  “Eh?”

  “Inside you will be pure evil,” she said, then turned to the rest of the group. “You would be wise to stay away from him.”

  “Dante is the kindest person I know. Sure, he may be rough around the edges, but deep down—” Sara began.

  “What you have witnessed is nothing more than the lingering embers of empathy left within him. Given time, they will be snuffed out. When that time comes, do not allow your obsession with your past relationship lead you to ruin along with him,” she said, then turned her back on them. Sara’s features tightened into rage, and Jake thought that she might attack the frail old woman, but Dante placed a hand on her shoulder. She recoiled slightly from his touch, then faced him. He shook his head, then turned and took his first step out of the building. The woman’s voice called out from somewhere.

  “These are not predictions of things that will be, but things that may be if time flows in its current direction. I warned that girl about her obsession with the past: that goes double for you, boy. There is still light within you yet, and if you nurture it with kindness it can grow and burn anew. If you suffocate it with hatred as you have been it’ll lead to your ruin.”

  His hands in his pockets, Dante mumbled, “It’s not that simple,” then left the dark room. Sara quickly followed after him and Jake let out sigh. This Oracle, in the beginning at least, seemed to be full of fluff, but based on everyone else’s reactions she had to be either incredibly lucky or the real deal. Dante’s most of all. Ordinarily, if such a statement about his character was made he’d freak out and jump straight in with the insults, and this woman’s revered status would mean nothing to him. In this case, he just stood there staring off into the darkness. It was almost as if he accepted what she had to say as true.

  Jake shook his head. He was reading way too much into it. Her predictions were all too vague and easy to say in a mysterious way. You’ll be important, obsessed with the past, hell – even a nod to Jake and a wink. They were all such simple things that could mean anything. As for Dante, if she heard anything about him at all she’d be able to come up with that prediction. Jake apologized to Lennon for his comrade’s reactions, but he just laughed it off, saying that was usually what happened. Taking that as a sign that they’d get no resistance, Jake likewise thanked the Oracle and was on his way, Elizabeth trailing behind him.

  Chapter 6

  Ahead of Sara, Dante looked about the grassy area like an animal on the prowl. She could have sworn that along with the large looping shifts of his head, he was frantically sniffing the air. She wanted to call him an idiot, but there was something about how involved he was with his weird ritual that she could only stare in awe as he strutted around the area. Finally, once he started making boxes with his fingers, he turned to her and asked, “Which way is south?”

  Ordinarily Sara would simply point to the sky and indicate the North Star, but it wasn’t quite dark yet, the sky only just now dipping into light orange hues. Instead she turned around and realized that Lennon had said something about them being in a northern area. “Straight ahead, probably,” she said.

  Before she could ask him why, he walked away with long strides. She had to jog to catch up then match his pace. She kept looking at him out of the corner of her eye, trying to catch his so she could spark up a conversation, but he kept his head forward and glared at the blank area before him.

  After a while, they reached the edge of the island. Directly ahead were a series of mini-platforms that led to a large one, a scene that wasn’t unfamiliar to Sara. She looked at Dante, an eyebrow raised.

  “Is this the one we were at last night?” he asked, his gaze focused on the stone building floating at the end of the line.

  “If my internal compass is functioning properly, no, but—”

  Before she could continue, Dante leapt from platform to platform, not seeming to care whether or not he fell. Sara shrugged and followed. Knowing Dante, all would be revealed when he did or didn’t get his way. As long as he didn’t destroy the thing, and she didn’t think he would given his recent above average behavior, she was going to be okay.

  Dante began toward the building, then took a quick look back. Sara initially thought he was checking to make sure she was all right, but she noticed that his pupils seemed to be focused on something far behind her. She turned to see where he was looking, but only saw the black silhouette of the city, hazy in the gathering darkness. He grabbed the building’s stone entrance and slid it open.

  “Why’re you followin’ me anyway?”

  “Why are you at this temple?”

  He got the thing open and stared into the darkness beyond. Again, he made a backward glance, but not at Sara. He leaned against the entranceway, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

  “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

  “What, you want to brood alone in some old temple? Did the Oracle hurt your feelings that much?” Sara said with a challenging smirk. She thought he’d jump at the chance to get into a shouting match with her, but he only stayed slumped in the entranceway, staring back.

  “Sure, whatever you gotta tell yourself to leave me alone.”

  “Dante—”

  But he shifted again, still standing in the entranceway, and Sara realized that he wasn’t positioned there for no reason. He was trying to block her from entering. And those eyes, usually filled with fire, seemed dull and tamed. They lingered on her for a moment, then cut away. “Just go,” he said.

  Sara didn’t know what he was on about, but she was sure he wasn’t going to explain it to her anytime soon, and that ticked her off. Out of everyone in the group, he seemed to gravitate toward her the most, and sure he was cold and brash, and to an extent he always would be, but still. You’d figure after all the time they’d spent together he’d at least let her in a bit. Sara stomped her foot, and an icicle shot out of the ground and flew just past Dante’s head. The wind from it ruffled his hair, but that was the only reaction she got from the boy. He continued to stare dead on at her, his hands stuffed into his pockets. He was in no mood to play around.

  Sara turned and scoffed, paying special attention not to let her posture slump, although every muscle in her body seemed to want to. She hopped over the floating masses of land and to the other side. Once there, she stuck her tongue out at the orange-haired boy, who only looked on apathetically. When he’d seen that she wasn’t going to follow, he faded into the darkness of that structure and out of sight.

  ***

  “That may be true, but I still don’t understand how a culture can create a populous this, well, indolent,” Elizabeth said.

  “You’d be surprised what kind of effects environment can have on human psychology. Why, there are even some studies that…” Jake trailed off on some scientific rant about nature versus nurture, and Elizabeth nodded in tandem with everything he said, listening intently despite the subject matter being something that most would find boring. When he finished his long-winded speech, Jake leaned back on the bench as if physically exhausted. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Elizabeth smiling at him, although it may have just been his mind tricking him since it was far too dark to make out anything for sure.

  “I still think that there’s a limit. The average citizen here is just so apathetic. There have to be chemicals in the air or something,” Elizabeth said.

  “If there were, wouldn’t it have aff
ected us by now?”

  “Perhaps we have an immunity.”

  “If anyone were to have an immunity, wouldn’t it be the people who live here?”

  They continued with the back and forth exchange, and Jake thoroughly enjoyed having someone to bounce ideas off of. Usually Sara was smart and knowledgeable about the same things as him, but she wasn’t passionate about it, nor did she research things on her own time. Elizabeth, on the other hand, seemed very well read. Not only did she know a lot, she was able to articulate and apply that knowledge to all kinds of situations. Why, they were having a passionate discussion about whether the apathetic nature of the people of the country was a result of the culture that surrounded them, some kind of biological agent, or an outside influence making them behave in that way. In this moment Jake was very happy, smiling as he brought about his next big point. Elizabeth too, was smiling and nodding, waiting for him to finish then coming right in with her next opinion or counter-argument. It was great, but short-lived.

  As Elizabeth trailed off about the possibility of something in the food or water that could have an effect on the people over time, her eyes shifted to something behind Jake, and she stopped talking all together. Jake casually turned to see what she was looking at, but her features contorted into one of sheer terror and she rose out of her seat, and he quickly jumped toward her, sensing danger.

  It was a good thing he did, as pieces of the wooden bench sprawled out to either side of Jake after a large crash. He pulled out his sword, Elizabeth following suit at his side, and took in an all too familiar figure, one that he hadn’t seen in a while but which left a permanent image ingrained in his memory.

  Slumped over the ruined bench was a dark figure, cast in a cloak with the hood up. It slowly rose to full height, revealing their garments to be well fitting and showing off a scrawny build.

  This was one of the members of that cloaked group, one who seemed particularly dangerous. They threatened to kill Jake back in Niflheim, and managed to block his sword with an open hand with seemingly no physical damage. Jake adjusted his feet to make sure he was ready to spring at moment’s notice, as the man pointed at him.

  “Not bad reflexes, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let you live. Your group is starting to become a problem.”

  “What’s with the change of plans?”

  “Don’t think I’ll go blabbing like the other one,” he bent down, ready to attack. “I’m using my discretion here,” he said, then launched at Jake, slashing his arms. Jake knew from experience that his hands weren’t normal, and stood his ground, preparing to block. He landed just before Jake without attacking, then shifted to the side and slashed at Elizabeth. She pivoted out of the way, leading the man to stop upright before her. He didn’t turn as Elizabeth countered with a quick swing of her rapier. It found its way into his midsection, but bounced off with a clang. Elizabeth’s face tightened with pain, and she gripped the sword harder, giving it another go.

  The result was the same. The sword bounced off the man, the only damage it dealt being a small tear across the fabric of his coat. Elizabeth winced and continued to attack with mad fury, digging her sword into his left, right, then left side as fast as she could. It had little effect, only sending the back of his coat flapping up from the momentum. Jake saw a slight shift in the man’s feet and called out to Elizabeth to be careful. She jumped back, just in time to avoid the man’s foot as he turned around with a fast kick. It cut through the air with a notable swish, then planted firmly on the ground. The man now faced Jake, his fists clenched at his sides.

  He jumped toward Jake and extended his fingers, shredding his gloves in an explosion of felt that drifted down. Jake blocked the man’s clawed hands just before they tore out his eyes. He gripped Jake’s sword, his hand seeming to shine as if made of silver, and clenched his fingers so tightly that the blade let out a cracking noise. He bore down further, showing an impressive amount of strength. Jake had difficulty keeping from slitting his own throat with the blade. As he stared into the dark hood that concealed the man’s face, Jake’s mind began working overtime.

  There was some kind of change of plans with his organization, there had to be. He may not have liked Jake, but it was clear that his objective was not to kill him, at least not before. But why target Jake, and why now? If he had learned too much, they wouldn’t have waited months to make a move, and there wasn’t much of a reason why they wouldn’t go after Sara too, since she knew as much as him.

  Jake’s eyes rested on the girl charging at the man from behind, frantically slashing at him to no avail.

  Back at the ruins, one member didn’t want Elizabeth to leave, even though it shouldn’t have mattered either way as far as they were concerned. This guy, he also said he was using his discretion, but that was in regards to his attack on Jake, which meant that his real target was…

  “Elizabeth, run!” Jake shouted, but it was too late. The man ignored Jake completely and turned around, bypassing Elizabeth’s blade and punching her dead in the chest. She stumbled, and surely he’d do some kind of finishing cut with his clawed hands. Jake had to think of way to disrupt his momentum, but even his sword had no effect so—

  There was a loud bang and the sky seemed to light up. The cloaked man stopped mid-swipe and turned to the left, where the area was lit up by rapidly pulsing blue lights followed by a howling wind. While he was distracted, Jake kicked him dead in the back, which forced the man to take a step forward. He turned his head from the shocked Elizabeth to Jake, and Jake could almost see the red anger rising from within his dark cloak. Still, the hood turned again to flashes and loud noises.

  “Ensure that no harm comes to that boy,” he said, and walked off into the night. Jake looked at Elizabeth, who was panting heavily with her hand over her chest. She just had a near-death experience and was only saved by what had to be one of Dante’s insane outbursts. Jake turned his head toward the flashing sky, locked eyes with Elizabeth, and nodded.

  ***

  Sara gave one last look back, as if she was a lost puppy who had just been abandoned. Dante couldn’t afford to have her sticking around for this shitshow, though, so he turned and entered the old stone building even though he would have preferred to just call out to those assholes. Whatever, as long as he was in here he might as well check out that hunch.

  He figured he had at least a few minutes until they showed up, as they had to wait for Sara to be out of sight, ensure no one else was around, then make it here, so he inspected the place. It was the same as the last tomb – same size, same carvings, same weird thing in the center, and not much in the way of a clue, but he was sure there was some fuckery going on and this place had something to do with it: indeed, those asshole’s presence confirmed it.

  So what was it? Were these pictures hiding some sort of secret? He doubted it, they seemed like some basic origin story to him. So was it this big slab in the middle? Dante grabbed it and tried to shake it, but it held firm. It looked like it was built into the stonework, so the only thing Dante could think of it doing was opening up and revealing a secret passage. Fuck it, this island didn’t reach low enough for there to be much more than a single room down there anyway, and if there were secret tunnels they wouldn’t be getting very far.

  It hardly mattered anyway, those assholes were going to be making their way to him soon. They probably didn’t notice that he had spotted them, so he’d be happy to catch them with their pants down. He stepped out of the dark room and into the dead of night. Sure enough, there were a few people, women based on their curves, in tight-fitting outfits crossing the pathway to the island. When they saw him, they stopped, then quickly hopped to the mainland, where Dante was all too happy to greet them.

  “Y’know, if you don’t want me to think there’s fuckery afoot, maybe don’t put ninjas on my six when I start looking at ancient monuments. Pretty much confirms my suspicions.”

  The girl in the front, who seemed to be the leader, stood silent, her fists clenched.
It didn’t seem she was going to say anything, but Dante doubted she’d let him leave either. He was going to have to fight either way, so he might as well try to piss them off first.

  “Still, I didn’t find jackshit in there. If you didn’t follow me, I would have thought it was nothing and given up. Real dumb move on your part.” He turned and took in the rest of the island. It was nearly barren, aside from a few trees that had fruit dangling from them. “So what’s the big secret, is it this fruit?”

  Dante got an immediate sense of danger as the last word left his mouth, and he blasted his energy into the ground so he rocketed way up into the air. Sure enough when he looked down he caught sight of a scythe of wind tearing through the air just below him, behind it the leader chick with her arm swept to the side. She looked up at him, her face obstructed by the mask but her eyes narrowed.

  Still in the air, Dante blasted to his left so that he’d avoid her next attack. “No way! It is the fruit!” The attack came up and rushed past him, sending his hair and clothes rippling from the shockwave. Looking down, he saw that four other members held their arms up toward him. Shit.

  Dante blasted to the left and right as he descended to make sure he was a moving target that was hard to hit. The volley of wind attacks punched through the airspace that he was in, but he continued moving from side to side, and by some miracle his feet managed to touch back down without him suffering serious injury. He’d been grazed a few times on the way down, there was a slash carved into the ankle of his favorite (and only) pair of jeans, a few drops of blood dripping down his cheek, but he’d had worse. Much worse.

  The leader kicked into the ground and lunged at Dante with frightening speed. He managed to duck under her fist as it came in and countered with an uppercut. He made contact, but it didn’t feel solid, and she went flying way farther into the air than he’d intended. She must’ve launched herself in the same direction as his attack in order to lessen the damage. He looked up at the girl, whose silhouette was high in the sky and clicked his tongue. The bitch was good.