The stone wall I impacted shone with wards as I smashed into it. I slid to the ground in a heap of pain and heat. I felt like a Brute punching bag as I assessed the damage to my body.
“How are you going to show me what Perdition can do, when you barely know how to wield the power it contains—the power you contain?”
“Perdition…is different,” I countered. “I can feel it. I know it, but the power—”
“I killed you several times today,” Calisto said as she walked over to where I sat on the ground and extended a hand. I took it and got unsteadily to my feet. “The only thing you showed me was how quickly you would have died out there.”
I remained silent.
She was right. I was operating on anger, arrogance, and bravado. Her calm experience undid my bluster and stubbornness with ease. She held onto me as she walked me back to my bed. Mercy came into the room and approached. Calisto held up a hand stopping her.
“Your sword,” Calisto said, looking at me. “Retrieve it.”
I sat on the edge of the bed and caught my breath, looking over to where my weapon was. Perdition lay on the floor where I had dropped it. I made to let go of Calisto and go pick up my sword, but she held fast to my arm with a grip of steel and shook her head.
“What? I’m going to get it,” I said, trying to remove my arms from her vise-like grip. “Let go.”
“No. Retrieve it from here.”
“From here?” I asked, looking across the floor at where Perdition rested. “It’s too far.”
“If it is, then you don’t deserve to wield it,” Calisto said, her voice as hard as her grip. “Retrieve it…from here. Or lose it. Your choice.”
NINE
She didn’t know what she was asking.
I had barely managed to manifest my weapon, and now she wanted me to reabsorb it from across the room. What she was asking was impossible.
“You probably think it’s impossible,” Calisto said, echoing my thoughts. “If you drop your blade in battle, do you think you will have the opportunity to run to its location and pick it up?”
“I expect that if I drop my blade in battle, I’d resort to other methods of staying alive.”
“With a normal blade, I would agree,” Calisto said. “With your blade, leaving it on a battleground would prove to be a tremendous liability.”
“A liability?”
“You still don’t understand?” Calisto asked. “You wield a dark blade. Now you and your blade have been infused with the Jade Demon. You…are…linked. What do you think happens if your blade is taken from you now?”
“I’m assuming nothing good?”
“Perceptive of you,” she answered with a short nod. “If the Unholy get their hands on your blade, do you think they will just return it in a spirit of fair play?”
“No,” I admitted. “That would be foolish.”
“Do you think any enemy you face will allow you that luxury?”
“Thinking like that will get me killed,” I said after a few moments, keeping my gaze fixed on Perdition. “But you don’t know what you’re asking.”
“I don’t?”
“No, you don’t,” I said. “It was nearly impossible for me to even form Perdition in this new state”—I glanced over at where my blade rested—“and now you want me to get it from over there.”
Calisto released me, placed her hands together, and separated them as she reformed her blade. The next moment, she extended her arm, throwing her blade into the wall across the room. It buried itself into the stone with a resonant thunk and vibrated in place.
“You mean you find it difficult to retrieve your blade from a distance,” she asked. “That is your problem.”
“Great, now you really sound like Gan,” I said. “What is my problem?”
“That you think there is distance between you and your blade. You keep saying it’s over there when it isn’t.”
“Unless my problem is with my eyes, I’m seeing both our blades across the room at this moment. You expect me to believe my blade isn’t sitting on the floor way over there?”
Without taking her eyes off me, Calisto rotated a wrist and her blade transformed into blue and white energy. The stream of light shot across the room and into her hand, materializing into a sword again, which she swung around in one smooth motion, stopping as the blade rested against my neck.
“Yes, I do,” Calisto said with a nod as her sword disappeared into her hand. “Aside from the strategic aspects, think about the consequences if an ally tried to pick up your sword in the heat of battle. Their death would be immediate with Perdition in this state, and completely your fault. Very few would be immune to its effects.”
I looked over at my sword. Black smoke was wafting up from the blade, tinged with green energy. It had been dangerous before the Jade Demon was fused with it; now it was beyond lethal.
If someone did try to pick it up, it would be the last thing they attempted to do before the power within Perdition obliterated them where they stood. There was no way I could believe my weapon was meant for anything else but death and destruction.
That was its purpose—that was my purpose.
Something inside me fell into place. Something dark, but welcome. I was aligned to the sword now. I may not have had the strength to use it, but I knew what it was for—I knew what I had to do.
“I won’t ever let that happen,” I said, determined. “No one is going to lose their life that way.”
“Really? You can barely form it now. What’s to stop someone from picking it up if it ends up on the ground? Your strongly worded warning?”
I glared at her.
“Not everyone has your skill, and I’m not usually this weak,” I answered. “It’s not that easy to strip me of my weapon.”
“The enemies seeking you out now are not only fearsome, but skilled. If you are operating under the illusion that they lack the ability to strip you of your weapon, I may as well end you now and save you the agony of a horrible death.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Confidence and ignorance are vastly different things,” Calisto said. “I will not have you be exposed to danger under the impression that you are now invulnerable because of the Jade Demon. Never forget, your mother was killed. She didn’t retire of old age…Hunters rarely do.”
“The only way someone will lose their life to Perdition is if I take it,” I told her, my voice dark. “No one is going to accidentally meet their end with my sword. It will be intentional…trust me.”
“The only way you can be certain of that is to keep it with you at all times, either in your hand”—she tapped my chest—“or within. Bring it here.”
I closed my eyes and focused.
I felt the presence of Perdition, a dark emptiness, calling to me from across the room. I reached out tentatively at first, feeling the edge of the darkness. It was a smooth coldness, like running my hand across a sheet of ice, bitter and cold, but part of it felt welcome, as it wrapped itself around me.
I surrendered to the cold and let it surround me. My initial reflex was to pull back, but I held on. The cold increased until it was unbearable and laced with pain. Even as I felt the cold constrict my lungs, I remained in its dark embrace. I felt the frigid finger of fear caress my thoughts, telling me to stop, that it was too dangerous. I shoved the thought away.
For a brief moment, the darkness retreated along with some of the cold. I took a breath and the cold slammed back into me, stealing my breath and enveloping me in a deeper frozen darkness.
I held it in my mind.
“I have it, I think,” I said. “It’s…it’s cold.”
“Bring it within,” Calisto said, her voice low. “You control it. Bring the sword within you.”
“I don’t know—”
“You know,” Calisto said, cutting me off. “You know this sword. You are the Jade Demon. This is your sword; this is who you are. Take it, and fulfill your purpose.”
I held onto th
e cold sensation. It increased until I thought it would freeze my very being. The fear crawled back, but I was ready this time.
I dove into the darkness. The smoke and green energy raced into my body with a snap, and a second later, the smoke and energy were gone. I felt Perdition deep within.
I was about to congratulate myself on successfully reabsorbing my sword when green light exploded from my eye, blinding me. Calisto’s hand reaching for me was the last thing I saw before everything vanished.
TEN
“It doesn’t look good, sir,” one of the nurses said. “We haven’t had a mindswipe victim in some time, and this looks like a severe case.”
“Can it be done?” Rafael said, turning to the nurse. “Is he too far gone?”
“There are…there are risks—” the nurse stammered.
Rafael made a mental note to calm down. He took a breath and focused on her. She probably felt she was just doing her job by preparing him for the worst-case scenario. Rationally, he understood her position. He was, however, caffeine and sleep deprived. His closest friend in the Order was lying in a bed, about to lose his mind, and he had run out of options.
“Life is risk,” Rafael answered. “Stepping out into the street is full of risk. Can he be treated? A simple yes or no will suffice.”
A mindswipe was a cruel and vicious form of attack. Within days, it slowly destroyed the mental capacity of the victim with something that mimicked an advanced case of Alzheimer’s disease. If left untreated, the victim would lose all capacity to recall simple memories and the ability to communicate. Forming words would become difficult to near impossible as the onset of seizures began.
Death followed shortly after the seizures as the capacity to breathe was compromised. Eventually, the victim would succumb to asphyxiation.
Gan had the advantage of a lifetime of advanced training to help him deal with the mindswipe, but Rafael knew it was a losing battle. No one survived a mindswipe intact, not without treatment.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly while looking up at the nurse who had entered the room. Gan had been prepped for the recall procedure and would undergo the treatment shortly. The nurse was just trying to make sure Rafael knew the risks.
Rafael knew the risks.
He had seen what happened to the victims of the Akitsu firsthand during the war. It was a fate worse than death, especially for someone like Gan, who had elevated his mental capacity above and beyond what most thought possible. If the procedure failed, he would make sure his friend died an honorable death.
The nurse remained silent, perhaps out of consideration for Rafael’s feelings or fear of the worst outcome. Rafael could see her making up her mind to be honest with him.
“Yes,” she said. “He can be treated, but the prognosis doesn’t look good. We don’t even know how he’s keeping the effects of the mindswipe under control. By now he should be losing control of motor functions and his mental capacities.”
Rafael looked down at Gan.
“He is not what I would call your normal patient,” Rafael said, looking up at her again. “Is the recall team prepped?”
“Yes, sir,” the nurse answered quickly. “We’ll do everything possible to make sure he comes out of this with his mind intact. The procedure will begin in ten minutes.”
“Thank you, nurse,” Rafael responded after a few moments of thought. “I’m certain you and the medical team will do your best. Please make sure they proceed as quickly as is safely expedient.”
“I’ll inform the team,” the nurse said. She glanced at the sleeping Gan with a look of concern mixed with pity before leaving the room.
“You can stop pretending you’re asleep now,” Rafael said. “She’s gone.”
“I’m not pretending,” Gan said, peeking through one eye. “I was in a deep meditation.”
Rafael smiled.
“You heard?” he asked. “The recall procedure was perfected some time ago, when the Akitsu and mindswipes were prevalent, but—”
“They aren’t foolproof,” Gan said, “and you haven’t had to use a recall in how long?”
“Since the war,” Rafael answered after a pause. “The Akitsu were all eliminated.”
“Not all of them,” Gan said. “I’m sure some survived the Order’s purge.”
“How did this happen?”
“You’re unfamiliar with how a mindswipe works?” Gan asked. “Well, first they—”
“The Nameless, not the mindswipe. It was supposed to be lost, inaccessible,” Rafael said. “Now Velos has it…Velos, of all people! He’s a madman. A homicidal madman.”
“It’s not Velos who has me worried,” Gan said with a small grunt as he sat up. “He can’t use that sword—it’s too powerful, even for him. Besides, he’s bonded to Retribution. If he thinks he can break a dark blade’s bond without lasting effects, he’s in for a rude awakening. No, Velos was getting the Nameless for someone else.”
“Who is it for, then?”
“More importantly, why wasn’t it destroyed, Raf?” Gan asked. “Why didn’t Regional give the word? We had the means. Fuma could’ve done it; he had the ability and the power to do so. Why was he stopped?”
“You know why,” Rafael said, turning away. “It was the ultimate check and balance to the named swords, both light and dark. Regional wasn’t going to destroy that much power.”
“Not when they could try and harness it for their own purposes,” Gan snapped. “Typical. Who gave the word? Was it you?”
Rafael sat back with a short bitter laugh.
“I may be a Director of Regional now, but this was decided long ago and is way above my pay grade,” Rafael answered. “You need to go much higher and further back to when Fuma was still part of the Directive. He wanted to destroy the Nameless, but was forced out and into hiding.”
“You mean they tried to kill him for dissenting on wielding world-ending power,” Gan said. “Isn’t that surprising. What about the lost hall? Who thought that up?”
“That was Fuma’s idea,” Rafael answered. “If they weren’t going to destroy it, he reasoned that at the very least it should be hidden so no one could find it.”
“We can see how effective that was,” Gan answered. “Does the check and balance have a check and balance? Tell me someone thought that far ahead, at least.”
“Someone did.”
“Who? What is it, and more importantly, where?”
“Unbeknownst to most, especially those in Regional, Fuma created a neutralizing force—one you’re actually familiar with.”
“Excuse me?” Gan asked. “I know I’ve been mindswiped, but I have no recollection of a neutralizing power to the Nameless. I didn’t think one existed.”
“Fuma feared this would happen, so he placed a neutralizing ward in the only entity that could stand against the Nameless.”
“Entity?” Gan asked. “It’s not a blade?”
“It is, but it’s entwined with this power,” Rafael answered. “The Jade Demon.”
Gan gave him a long hard stare.
“Emiko—the Jade Demon is dead,” Gan told him. “Is that your attempt at humor?”
“The Jade Demon you knew is gone, yes, but her daughter—”
“Sepia? No.” Gan shook his head. “It’s too much power. It will destroy her. Are you saying—?”
“Yes,” Rafael answered. “I think Fuma will try to infuse the Jade Demon ward into Perdition. If he does, Sepia will become the next Jade Demon.”
“How do you know this?” Gan asked. “Fuma doesn’t even know where the Demon talisman is.”
“It was in your office,” Rafael said. “Hidden in plain sight, I might add.”
“You gave it to him?” Gan asked, his voice a mixture of disbelief and anger. “Are you mad?”
“Have you met Fuma? Do you really think he gave me a choice?”
“Actually I’m surprised he let you leave his presence in one piece,” Gan replied. “Last I remember, he was disp
leased with Regional.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Rafael said. “He wanted to destroy the Order.”
“And you gave him the Jade Demon talisman.”
“It was the only way he would tell me how to find you,” Rafael said, looking away. “I’ve grown weary of losing friends, Gan. I wanted to find you before it was too late.”
“You should have let me die, you fool,” Gan said. “For all you know, he began the transformation.”
“It’s possible,” Rafael admitted. “But I wasn’t going to lose another friend. Not when I could take action.”
“You don’t understand, do you?” Gan asked. “If Sepia becomes the Jade Demon, we are all in danger. All of us. She’s not as strong as her mother—”
“Then why the concern?”
“You didn’t let me finish,” Gan said. “She’s not as strong as her mother—she’s stronger. But she’s not ready, and if she loses control of that power, the bodycount will be horrific. I have to go.”
Gan made to get out of the bed.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Emiko was a class-one Hunter,” Gan said. “Her power dwarfed Sepia’s. When she became the Jade Demon, the transition nearly ended her. We can’t let this happen.”
“You intend to go stop this from happening?” Rafael asked. “How?”
“I need to go find Sepia,” Gan said, becoming agitated. “If she becomes the next Demon, she won’t know how to deal with that much power. It will kill her.”
“You don’t even know where she is,” Rafael protested, pushing Gan back into the bed. “You can’t. I have my people looking into it.”
“Oh, you have people looking into it,” Gan scoffed. “Well, now I can rest easy. I don’t even know why I was concerned. Do you even know where to look?”
“I sent them to the Park,” Rafael said. “It makes the most sense considering the situation, don’t you think?”
Gan looked down at Rafael’s hand on his chest.
“I’m going to make a request, because you’re my friend,” he said. “Would you like your hand removed at the wrist, or would you prefer I remove the entire arm?”
Sepia Blue- Nameless: A Sepia Blue Novel- Book 4 Page 5
