The Great Hearts II: A Game of Gods

by David Oliver

  He looked bemused. “I did say that they were my personal collection. Each item in here I have used and put to rest. I tend to find that my fighting styles change over the years. I go through phases of using bladed weapons and then a generation later I pick up a bow and master that instead. Over time this collection amassed itself.”

  Nothing. Nothing else that I had seen or experienced up to that point had remotely made me understand that the Emperor was no mere mortal more than that moment. There were easily a thousand weapons in that room alone and from the sound of it that number didn’t comprise the Emperor’s entire collection. If the Emperor was speaking the truth and had used and mastered each one of these tools rather than having bought them for the sake of collection then he wasn’t just old. He was positively ancient.

  He must have seen the look in my eyes for he gave a small grin and patted me on the shoulder. “Try not to think about it too much Calidan, knowing you, your head will explode from trying to do the maths.” Stepping back he appraised me thoughtfully. “Hmmm, you’re tall and getting taller. A long blade will always be a useful addition to further that advantage. Your strength is nothing to be sniffed at either but with Seylantha as your Great Heart bonded, speed and ferocity will always be your primary tools…” he murmured his way along the walls of the armoury, touching a weapon here and there, hesitating at some before moving on with a shake of his head.

  “Ahhh,” he exclaimed as he lifted a blade from the wall. “My old sun’wala.” He flipped the blade over and presented the handle to me, “try her. I have a feeling that you two will go together well.”

  The hilt was plain, with black wrappings protected by a plain steel hand guard. The blade itself was a silvery colour that shimmered in the light as I took the sword’s weight. It was light. Surprisingly so, considering that the curved edge of the blade was longer than that of a traditional sabre by nearly a third again. The width of the blade at the tip was wider too, giving it a savage heft as I swung it experimentally. I looked at the blade with profound curiosity. I would have to practice to become comfortable with the extra distance of its reach so as not to overcommit where I didn’t need to, but if I did then the extra length and power would complement my preferred fighting style brilliantly.

  “She’s beautiful,” I whispered reverently. “What is she?”

  The Emperor positively beamed. “She is something I created many years ago. I call her type of blade a sun’wala. As you can tell it is a longer version of a sabre with a flared tip similar to that of a cavalry sabre. For most people it would be too long and possibly too heavy to wield with the same speed that a normal sabre could be, but for someone like you or I then the drawbacks are minimal and the benefit of the extra reach and power is not to be sniffed at.” He patted the blade fondly. “Vona here, served me well through many a battle.”

  “Vona?”

  The Emperor grasped the hilt and then with a sudden burst of motion swept the blade in an arc. A piercing sound cut the air, like the sound of wind howling through a small aperture. Handing it back he shrugged.

  “Vona means sing in an old, dead language. She whistles when you put enough power into your strikes to cleave the air. Not particularly useful for stealth missions for obvious reasons, but the sound became synonymous with death and my enemies trembled when they heard it,” his voice took on a note of fierce pride as he spoke, his eyes lost in memory. After a moment he shook his head and focused on me. “Imperators are often feared. It’s an image that has been carefully cultivated. A terrified individual is more likely to make mistakes. People want to help you to stay out of your bad books. Did you ever wonder why so many people know, deep down in their bones, what an Imperator looks like when they are truthfully rarely seen?”

  I shook my head and he shrugged. “We share the information, a word here and there. Now when some cancer upon my empire is removed by the Academy then even if it was done with no witnesses people will talk about how the swish of long coats was heard down the street. Image, Calidan, is a powerful thing. And so with this sword I have no doubt that people will soon swear that the whistling wind is the sound of your blade. It gives you power, of a sort. Use it well.”

  “I can’t thank you enough for this,” I whispered, staring at the blade in awe. It truly was a thing of beauty.

  The Emperor shrugged again. “I told you, I take care of my own. She is a wonderful blade and will serve you well, but she is just a normal tool. Keep serving me well and one day I will upgrade you with something that will make Asp look normal.” He gave me a wink and nodded his head in the direction of the infirmary. “If you’re happy with that blade then let's go and see your friends shall we? I’m sure that they are just as anxious to see you after all this.”

  I nodded, lost for words at the richness of the gift he had given me and followed him out into the hallway to find my friends. It’s funny how in hindsight just how blatantly obvious his buying of my loyalty was, but to my young and naive mind I was lost in awe and didn’t question any further. If I had known what I know now I would have taken that blade and stabbed it in his throat. It wouldn’t have done much...but at least it would have been something.

  ✽✽✽

  The Emperor

  The Emperor swept into the room, dismissing the watching guards with a nod of his head. Ex-Imperator Erethea Laniel stood fastened to the wall, her arms manacled with engraved chains that glowed softly with purple light. She looked beaten and battered, the guards obviously having shown their dislike for her attempt on the Emperor’s life.

  She watched him through lidded and swollen eyes but said nothing in the face of the Emperor’s piercing stare.

  Eventually he sighed and sat down, the very air itself compressing to hold his form. “Why?” he asked simply. “Why did you do it? Were you not treated well?”

  Erethea spat out a bloody ball of phlegm and tilted her eyes in his direction. “You like to think of yourself as some hero that comes to protect and to save,” she ground out hoarsely, “reasoning your actions in terms of acceptable losses and collateral damage as though weighing them up on some invisible abacus. But sometimes those losses aren’t acceptable.” A tear tracked through the dried blood that caked her face. “I still remember your Imperators purging my home. The indiscriminate violence. The lack of empathy or humanity as they took life after life in fear of a threat that none of us had heard of, let alone seen.” She locked him with a steely gaze. “I stood there in the remains and swore to have my revenge. And He…He was there to help me do it.”

  “He is a monster,” the Emperor rumbled.

  “You are both monsters!” Erethea spat. “I wish that you would both do the world a favour and die, but you’re both too cowardly to face each other properly. Instead you plot and you puppeteer and I am just one such puppet.”

  “And you do this knowingly?” he mused; surprise evident on his face.

  “We’re all puppets at the end of the day, dancing on the strings of those more powerful. For me, Charles gave me training and the opportunity to one day put an end to you. For what you did to my family I would happily stain my soul all over again.”

  The Emperor stood; his curiosity apparently satisfied. “For what it’s worth, I am sorry for your family,” he murmured as he made to leave.

  Erethea barked a laugh. “No you’re not. I don’t think you even understand the concept of empathy. Whilst Charles is a monster through and through, you’re a wolf in sheep’s clothing, pretending to care when the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.”

  The Emperor paused with his hand on the door before turning back, his expression amused. “You’re right,” he chuckled. “You literally mean nothing to me. Just like you meant nothing to Charles. You are mayflies, your sparks sputtering in and out of existence so rapidly that I can barely keep track. You should be thankful that I remember your name.” He shrugged and turned away. “Or not, for as you said, I do not remotely care.”

  He opened the door and w
aved a hand, binding her mouth with seraph as she tried to scream after him.

  “Enjoy your stay Erethea.”

  Present Day

  The demonic figure lay helpless, its muscles wasted to a fraction of the intimidating strength that I so vividly remembered. Thick metal clamps that had presumably had to contend with the might of a skyren at its prime now easily held the beast in place as it half-heartedly bucked, doubtless eager to try and finish the job that it had started so long ago.

  I took a step closer and the thing on the table gave a croaking growl through a throat long disused. Its body was festooned with a variety of tubes of different sizes that led into a number of machines dotted around the room. Even though the building looked to have been abandoned a long time ago it appeared as though the skyren’s body was still slowly being harvested, with a small trickle of ichor slowly making its way down a see-through tube before my eyes.

  I honestly didn’t know how to feel. Before me was the enemy. Not the Enemy, as the Emperor would have us fight, but my enemy, my foe.

  My nemesis.

  And whilst I revelled in the sight of it brought so low I couldn’t help but feel strangely bad for it - did anything deserve such a fate?

  The familiar image of the trapped beast put me too much in mind of Seya and my thoughts darkened instantly. In a flash I was at the side of the skyren, Asp out at its throat.

  “Do you remember me?” I snarled, half wanting to kill it out of a desperate, burning need for vengeance and the other half wanting to kill it to end its torment.

  A muffled grunt from Cassius and I saw that he was by my side, Oathbreaker out and ready to use. His swirling eyes were unreadable, but I knew that he was just as ready as I to put an end to the cause of our misfortune.

  The creature’s eyes held no fear, just rage and perhaps an inkling of understanding. I knew what a skyren was capable of. They were intelligent creatures; their minds quick and sharp. It might not recognise or even understand us - some had the ability to speak but those that the Emperor had captured over the years had either possessed enough willpower not to talk despite his best efforts or lacked the function - but I bet it could remember its actions all those years ago.

  “A village up on the Tordstein mountains,” I barked, grinding my blade into the flesh of its shoulder and eliciting a pained growl. “You slaughtered everyone. My parents, my friends. Everyone, except for the two who escaped.” I gestured to Cassius and myself and thought I saw a glimmer of recognition in its eyes.

  “You deserve to die for what you did,” I growled, twisting the blade and hoping to feel some satisfaction in the act, but nothing was forthcoming. Somehow I was being robbed of the satisfaction of my revenge and I hated it.

  The lights flickered and I spun, my senses flaring. Behind us, standing as though he had been there the entire time, was a short man with wispy blonde hair and glasses.

  “You’ll find that Akzan won’t be the most talkative of subjects I’m afraid,” the man said softly. “I had no use for his tongue you see, so ensured that he wouldn’t be using it ever again.”

  I stepped away from the writhing beast who was fixating hate filled eyes on the nondescript man and levelled Asp in his direction.

  “Who are you?” I demanded. “What is this place?”

  He laughed, the sound boyish and joyful. “Oh he prepared you well this time didn’t he? You would have thought that an assassin of the Emperor would be more knowledgeable about his target.”

  I shook my head, perplexed. What was a human doing all the way out here? “You’re not my target,” I replied shortly, “the skyren on the table is. It slaughtered my village long ago.”

  The man chuckled. “Not just your village I’m afraid, Akzan had a right old time back then. Unfortunately he, Koranth and myself didn’t quite see eye to eye in the end and Akzan attempted a little coup. We couldn’t be having that so he ended up having a nice relaxing holiday here where he proved to be very useful.”

  Koranth, why do I know that name?

  I stared at him, digging through my memories. Had I ever met this man before? I didn’t think so.

  “Who are you?” I repeated again, shifting my stance so that I was out of Cassius’s way in case things turned ugly.

  “Charles is the name,” the man said brightly, doffing an imaginary cap. “A pleasure to finally meet you. Took you long enough to get here. I was beginning to wonder if my skills weren’t what they used to be.”

  My brain sparked, sending me back to the desert all those years ago to when an artificial woman told us of a man who helped end the world. A man in thrall to a creature he had released from another world. A creature called Koranth.

  “I can see that things are starting to click into place for you,” Charles continued. “A little slow on the uptake aren’t we?”

  “You’re the person Ash spoke of, the one who brought about the Cataclysm,” I whispered, eyes wide as I tried to think of a way out of the situation. If he was who he said he was then going up against him would be practically suicide.

  “I am indeed. I believe that your Emperor calls me something different. The “Enemy’, if I’m not mistaken. An amusing enough title and somewhat accurate, if not very imaginative.”

  “Why are we here?” I knew this couldn’t be a coincidence.

  “You’re here because I requested it and I imagine that your Emperor has some tricky plan up his sleeve to finally allow you to be here. The amount of black seraph I had to pump out to get your friend turned in this direction was quite surprising, but in the end it was enough. I’ve long been wanting to have a chat with him.”

  “What about?” I questioned, moving a half step closer.

  The man snorted and shook his head. “As much as I like monologuing, why would I choose to reveal my intentions to you? You’re nothing. Just pawns in a game of gods.”

  It was my turn to snort. “Gods? You’re just men with more seraph than sense.”

  Charles’s smile only broadened. “And what exactly is a god? Am I omnipotent? No. Not yet anyway. But do I have the power to alter the world as I see fit, to create or destroy with the blink of an eye? Yes I do. And humanity has fallen so far since the times of the seraphim that you’re really all just a subspecies at this point so there is very little to challenge those few of us remaining. You’re tools. That is all. Only fit to be ruled over. So to you, Calidan - and yes I know your name, I’ve known it for a long time - I am a god. So tread carefully. Now, move aside and let me see to your friend.”

  I stepped in front of Cassius protectively. “You’ll have to go through me first.”

  Charles tsked, shaking his head. “Considering what I just said I would have thought you to have been more careful with your choice of words. Poor boy.” A nod of his head and I cartwheeled across the room to smash into the wall hard enough to crack the rock. “Now stay there whilst I have a chat with your friend.”

  Cassius didn’t take the sight of me being flung across the room lightly, with blinding speed he sent Oathbreaker screaming through the air only to stop dead at the merest look from Charles. Through the blood trickling across my eyes I could see the strain on Cassius’s face as he tried to move, but his body was completely locked in place. Charles approached and put a hand delicately on Cassius’s face. Instantly the big man’s eyes rolled back into his head and he convulsed, his back arching like he was in agonising pain.

  “Fascinating,” Charles murmured. “He did some good work; I’ll give him that. Hmmmm.”

  I could sense Cassius’s heart racing faster and faster, his body going into overdrive. Focusing my will I moved my hand one inch, then another. When I was satisfied my hand was in the right position I focused and unleashed Asp’s power at the figure tormenting my friend. The beam sliced through the air and upon reaching the Enemy it dissipated as though it had never been. Charles didn’t even flinch and if he had noticed my attack he certainly didn’t respond to it.

  I tried lancing a seraph bea
m at him, funnelling my limited supply into a cutting edge. Again it disappeared, as though sucked into a vacuum. Cursing, I looked around for something, anything. My eyes locked onto the red eyed skyren and the direction of its hate filled gaze. Better than death, I thought grimly as I willed a finely controlled layer of seraph into place over its body, carefully slicing away the tubing and then the restraints. Go and fucking kill each other.

  The skyren rose slowly, its emaciated form creaking and cracking as it stood on limbs that hadn’t seemingly been used in years. Yet within that form was still a huge amount of raw power, never mind whatever skills this Akzan possessed.

  Charles turned towards me and raised an eyebrow. “Releasing your mortal enemy is a bold move, I did wonder if you would.”

  “Is this all a game to you?” I ground out through gritted teeth.

  He rolled his eyes in despair. “I thought that much was obvious. Everything is a game. Your lives, the building and destruction of towns and cities, the rise and fall of empires. Everything.”

  Akzan took a step forward, the thud of its foot vibrating the room and Charles tilted his head back in its direction. “When you’re as old as I am, games are the only thing to alleviate the boredom.”

  Akzan let out a croaking roar and stomped forward, claws out and ready to rend. Charles raised a hand and the skyren stopped dead. Akzan growled and black energy swirled around its body, flaring against the unseen power that held it in place and it took another step. Charles smirked and stepped aside, twitching his hand as he did so and the skyren flew across the room to crash into the wall.

  But I wasn’t watching this crash of titans.

  I was watching Cassius.

  The gold in his eyes was shifting, swirling through the black and becoming blindingly vivid. His skin became almost translucent as light shone from within and a shimmering haze outlined his figure. As the light grew I could see his limbs begin to twitch, at first just fingers but in a matter of moments he was taking steps as though Charles’s control wasn’t there. He let out a piercing roar and Oathbreaker activated, flames rushing around the blade, but this time the fire was bright gold.