by Brandon Chen
Tetsu said nothing. It was true. What had Darien been doing all those years when he had been in the Lost Sands? Why hadn’t he come out of that desert sooner to help all of the people who were out there suffering?
“At least you have done something,” Ramses said. “I’ve heard from your girlfriend that you actually have spent the past couple years building up relations between nations in the east. You’ve been pulling together an army, and an enormous alliance of the strongest eastern empires of Dastia has banded together to strike against your enemy, Persia.” He smiled. “That’s impressive.”
Tetsu’s face turned red and he looked at Kira, who was still wrapped around his arm. “S-She’s not my girlfriend!” he murmured, flustered. “What about you? You don’t mind seeing injustice?”
Ramses’ expression hardened. “I see terrible things every day and I’ve done even worse things in order to survive.” He sighed, averting his eyes from Tetsu. “But I do have a young daughter, and in order to protect her I had to become a Persian Magus, thus forcing me to fight battles that I did not want to fight. I hate watching unjust things happen, Tetsu. But I am not brave enough to risk my own wellbeing for the sake of others, as you are. I almost feel powerless because correcting the small injustices that occur every day in Dastia is like attempting to tackle minor symptoms while the disease itself rages on. To try and become a vigilante, and judge all the wicked while saving all of the innocent, would be the same as trying to correct a fault of mankind. It’s an impossible task.”
“But I believe that saving the life of one is better than not saving a life at all,” Tetsu said, smiling at the free slaves that followed them. “Wouldn’t you think so?”
Ramses gave the slaves a glance and smirked but said nothing.
It took the group several hours to walk through Persepolis and make their way up to the castle. No guards questioned the party once they recognized Ramses and simply allowed the group to pass. Walking on the fragile grass of the yard just outside the large castle of Persepolis, Tetsu couldn’t help but remember a distant memory.
The three friends, Yuu, Tetsu, and Darien had all laid on the grass in the yard outside of Persepolis’s castle to gaze upon the stars together. Darien loved to look at the stars when he was thinking. Yuu thought that praying to the stars would allow for the gods to hear him. Tetsu simply thought the night sky was beautiful.
It felt so distant, almost like a dream. Tetsu looked up at the grand castle that towered before him. Somewhere in here was the bastard, Cambyses, who had plotted to overtake the throne to accomplish his own agenda for Persia. After all these years, would the king recognize Tetsu if they crossed paths?
Ramses stopped suddenly and pointed to the slaves. “I am willing to grant all of you freedom. However, in order to earn your freedom, I want you to find the way to my room in this house under my order. Ask nearby guards for directions. Make sure that my family is alright and I will meet you there shortly.” He reached up and pulled his skeleton necklace from his neck, tossing it to one of the slaves. “If anyone questions you, show them this and tell them that Magus Ramses has sent you.”
One of the slaves caught the medallion and nodded swiftly. The group of laborers scampered off, filled with newfound vigor and motivation, into the castle.
Kira raised her eyebrows. “Um, I thought that we were going to go to save your family first? Shouldn’t we be following them?”
“We will,” Ramses said. “But we have some business to settle with Persia’s king first. After all, it would seem that he stole the throne from the true heir of the empire,” he said, beginning to walk forward towards the castle.
Tetsu blinked, walking after the Magus. This guy couldn’t possibly be thinking of assassinating the king, could he? That would surely change everything in the Persian Empire. But that didn’t necessarily mean that it was the solution to all of Persia’s issues either. Not to mention, the king was surely heavily guarded. How was this all going to work out?
Ramses clicked his fingers, sending a tingling sensation shaking through Tetsu and Kira’s bodies. “I’ve placed an invisibility spell on the two of you. Just make sure to stay near me and don’t make any noise, otherwise you’ll be caught. Follow me closely.” They had reached the end of the castle yard and were now walking through the entrance of the castle.
Tetsu could feel beads of sweat forming on his cheeks as he and Kira slipped past two guards, who were simply gazing forward at the courtyard. The soldiers had ignored Ramses’ entrance, given his high status. However, without the invisibility spell, Tetsu and Kira would’ve been deemed suspicious and the entire mission would’ve immediately gone downhill once they were spotted.
Tiptoeing through the castle, Tetsu found that it was actually quite hard to keep quiet while walking. He couldn’t let his footsteps echo otherwise it would sound as if Ramses had two or three pairs of feet. Yet, trying to follow Ramses at his quick pace without making sound at all was rather difficult. The marble floor made it especially hard.
Passing through lines of soldiers and squadrons of Persian guards, Tetsu felt like a ghost. He smiled as he and Kira slipped past dozens of Persians, all of whom didn’t even acknowledge their existence. Invisibility was awesome.
Ramses walked through two giant golden doors and into an open throne room. The room was surrounded by a perimeter of treasures as well as a squadron of guards that all observed Ramses’ uninvited entrance into the king’s room. The Magus presented himself before Cambyses, who stared at the visitor with a surprised look on his face.
“Ramses, is that you?” Cambyses said, leaning his chin against his knuckles as he sat upon his golden throne, looking down at the mage. “Zahir had informed me that you were killed along with Amam and Shazir.”
“Well, he was wrong,” Ramses said, eying two Magi that were standing at the king’s side. The two radiated intimidating auras that made Ramses’ back straighten. He stormed through the silent room, his footsteps echoing in the silence. The soldiers and Magi pierced him with their hostile glares, but Ramses kept his face as hard as a stone as he knelt before his king. “I have returned, milord, and I am here to provide whatever service it is that you want me to perform.”
One of the Magi got up on his toes and whispered something into the king’s ear. Cambyses raised an eyebrow and lowered his eyes, his face paling a bit. Tapping the arm of his throne impatiently, the king smirked. He pointed at Ramses with such assertive authority that the mage flinched at the king’s action. “Zahir actually mentioned the possibility that you survived. He said that the only way that you would survive is if you received magical treatment from someone. You were surrounded by foes with not a single magical ally for miles. The only way that you could be alive right now is if you were saved by the enemy.” Cambyses’s eyes flashed with victory and a sly smile split across his lips. “Zahir, as a result, proposed a theory that your return would mean that you’ve conspired with the enemy. Isn’t that a funny thought?”
Ramses kept his expression hard, but a bead of sweat raced down the side of his face. He felt extremely hot, as if there was a sun inside of his chest, radiating heat to the rest of his body. Ramses knew that Zahir always thought ahead, but there was no possible way that he could just predict that Ramses would return as a traitor. This was only a theory. But was the king going to rely on such an untrustworthy prediction? “It is funny, milord. Why would I betray the grand empire of Persia?”
“I don’t know,” Cambyses said, his gaze suddenly reflecting hostility. Ramses gulped at the intensity of the king’s terrifying stare. The king continued to tap the arm of his throne rapidly and impatiently, as if he were waiting for something. “Why don’t we ask your friends?”
Tetsu’s eyes widened and suddenly the two Magi appeared behind him and Kira, flashing across the room with inhuman speed. The two invisible intruders were pinned to the ground before they could even react to the king’s trusted mages. Tetsu felt a calloused hand grasp the back of his neck a
nd force his face downward, slamming his cheek hard against the marble floor. He grunted and glared up the king. The cloak of invisibility that shrouded the two invaders slowly vanished. How had Cambyses known that they were there? Was Ramses’ magic not potent enough, or was this whole situation just a giant trap?
Tetsu glanced around the room and saw that several of the soldiers had unsheathed their swords. They wore looks of shock upon their faces. It seemed that they definitely hadn’t expected for Ramses to secretly sneak two intruders into the throne room.
“You really thought that we wouldn’t be able to sniff out a dog from the Hayashi clan?” one of the Magi snarled. He had a scar tearing across his left eye and was completely bald, revealing his oddly circular shaped head. The man wore a full, skinny, black suit that clung tightly to his body. Wrapped around his waist was an iron chain whip with two sharp scythes at each end. He had Tetsu’s arms pinned behind his back and laughed. “Is this a joke or something, Ramses? You have no faith in our abilities as Magi, do you?”
Ramses gritted his teeth and said nothing, looking away, defeated.
The other Magus had a head of curly brown hair that wrapped like a bowl around his head. He wore a long white robe made of fine linens with golden sleeves and had leather slippers that revealed his purple painted toenails. Smiling wickedly and widening his crazed, red eyes, the Magus towered over Kira. He sat on her back and took a bundle of the struggling mage’s hair in his hand, letting the strands fall through his hands for a moment. “So … silky. Hey, Sahad, you need to touch this!”
“Let go of my hair, you freak!” Kira screamed, struggling against the man’s iron grip.
“Whoa!” the creepy Magus yelped in response to Kira’s rebelliousness. “We’ve got a fighter!” He burst out in hysterical laughter, holding his stomach while his other hand gripped Kira’s wrists behind her back.
Sahad, the Magus with the chain-whip, sighed. “I don’t share your abnormal fetishes, Jafaar.”
Jafaar raised an eyebrow at his partner. “Huh? Abnormal? I have no idea what you’re talking about!” He grabbed another handful of Kira’s hair and held it up to his nostrils, inhaling a deep whiff of her scent. “Ah, so sweet!”
“Let her go, you freak!” Tetsu roared, struggling against Sahad. He thrashed about, trying to break himself free from the Magus’s grip. But the man that was restraining him was clearly experienced. He shifted his weight according to which way Tetsu was struggling so that the mercenary couldn’t break free.
“Oh, we’ve got a couple over here!” Sahad scoffed. “I never thought that a girl as beautiful as this one would take a liking to scum from the Hayashi clan.” He grabbed the back of Tetsu’s head and slammed the man’s face hard into the marble floor. There was a hard crack and blood spurt from Tetsu’s nose. Pain exploded from the man’s face and stars danced before his eyes. “Now shut the hell up before I cut off your tongue and make you choke on it. That’s not the cleanest way to die, trust me.”
Tetsu gasped, wrinkling up his stinging nose. Blood streamed freely from his nostrils and he groaned as he was again bashed into the ground, this time landing hard on his cheek. Squishing the side of his face against the floor, he soon realized that there was no way that he could escape from this precarious situation.
“Your new companions seem to be struggling,” Cambyses said, looking at Tetsu curiously. His eyebrows went up and a sadistic smile stretched across his face. “Oh my. Tetsu, is that you? All of these years and you’re still up and kicking? I was wondering why a member of the Hayashi clan was here, still alive. After all, the genocide of your clan seemed to be a success so far. One of my first mandates when I first became king was to increase funding for the extermination squads that were executing the members of the Hayashi clan. As a result, we’ve cleansed this country of hundreds of your family members!” He laughed. “Isn’t that wonderful?”
Tetsu clenched his jaw, glaring up at Cambyses with disgust. “You’re a sick man, Cambyses. Just because you murdered the original king and stole the throne for yourself, you believe that you’re all powerful now? In reality, you’re still just a little man shouting big words and….” He grunted as Sahad smashed his face into the marble ground once more.
“DIDN’T I TELL YOU TO SHUT UP?” Sahad boomed in Tetsu’s ear, causing the man to shiver. He brought the heel of his foot down and drove it into Tetsu’s spine, sending agony surging through the mercenary’s body. “Talk one more damned time, scum. One more time, I DARE YOU!” He reached to his side and unhooked his chain-whip, whirling the iron chain in a circular motion. The blade of the weapon was spinning at such a high speed that it became a mere blur. The Magus glared down at Tetsu with an irritated look. “I have no problem executing one more member of your cursed family.”
“Tetsu!” Kira cried as Jafaar gently stroked her cheek, causing her to tremble with rage. But as much as she wanted to strike the Magus in the face, Kira knew that she couldn’t move.
The sinister mage shushed her with a light giggle. “It’ll be okay! The two of you just have to shut up. If you do that maybe we won’t have to gouge out your eyes. Maybe.” He burst out chortling hysterically.
Ramses still held his stone-cold expression, as still as a statue.
“So, Ramses,” Cambyses said, extending his hand to the two intruders. “I’ll give you a choice. Decapitate Tetsu right now and I’ll spare the girl and let her go free. I’ll even restore you to your position as one of my Magi, and I’ll forget about your betrayal. Your family will still be underneath my protection, and life for you will resume.” He smiled. “All you have to do is execute this man that you’ve only just met.”
Ramses stood there looking at Tetsu, who was clearly suffering. Kira was shaking, horrified because she was so close to Jafaar, who was known for being deranged. Everything would be forgotten if he just decapitated this man that he’d only met days ago. That offer did not seem half bad, especially since Tetsu had been antagonistic towards him when they first interacted. Kira had saved his life. Ramses owed it to her to save hers as well, and with the way things were currently going, both Tetsu and Kira would die if Ramses didn’t make a decision. He would have to kill Tetsu. That was the best way.
Ramses wasn’t just thinking about Kira, but his family as well. Protection. Wasn’t that why he had joined Cambyses’s side to begin with? He had become a Magus of Persia for the sole purpose of protecting his family from the relentless massacres the Persians had carried out when they invaded foreign lands. Ramses remembered the gentle ashes that blew in the gusting wind as burning ancient buildings that he had seen all his life crumbled to the ground in a heap of destruction.
His home had become a conflagration from hell, an inferno filled with slaughtered corpses and incinerated homes. The Persian soldiers had stormed through Ramses’ old city, ransacking everything that they saw. Like savage barbarians, they despoiled his home, pulling him and his defenseless family out into the streets to be executed along with the rest of the victims of the razed city.
That was merely the fate of every nation that stood in Persia’s way. If they did not submit, they were mercilessly massacred. The Persians cared little for the lives of anyone but their own. But Ramses had been given a chance to live. Zahir had come just when his family was about to be butchered before him and had offered him a chance to fight at the Persian king’s side. In exchange for giving up his life to defend a lord that he didn’t really care about, he was given incentive: lifelong protection of his family. The very thought pleased Ramses. He would no longer have to fear that his wife and children would be killed at the hands of a powerful emperor, for now they would now be protected by one.
Ramses reached to his side and slowly unsheathed his sword, revealing its ringing steel as he walked forward towards Tetsu, his boots thumping loudly in the silence. Sahad grabbed the mercenary by his spiky hair and forced his head back. Tetsu looked into Ramses’ eyes with fading hope and he gulped, perspiration streaming down the
side of his face.
Tetsu closed his eyes. This was not how he had imagined dying. Betrayal. How blind could he possibly have been? Of course the chances of this Persian Magus going against them were extremely high. Why on earth had they volunteered to help him? It was a Persian Magus for gods’ sake! If his hands weren’t bound behind his back by Sahad he would crack his head hard on the marble ground for being an absolute fool.
Ramses pressed the cold metal of the side of his blade against Tetsu’s throat, watching as the sweat of the trembling mercenary dripped onto the untouched steel. The mage stared into Tetsu’s quivering eyes that were somehow still filled with courage, as if he didn’t fear his unfortunate fate. Courage. Hope. Ramses smiled. This man had plenty of it.
Clicking his fingers, a spark of light radiated from Ramses’ finger, filling the room with its blinding shine. Jafaar and Sahad cringed, staggering backwards as they grabbed at their burning eyes in agony. Cambyses covered his eyes with the sleeve of his robe, grunting. When he glanced back, he saw that Jafaar and Sahad were standing there in the center of the room. Alone.
A vein bulged from the king’s temple as his face turned red, swelling with rage. He slammed his fist against the arm of his chair and roared, “FIND THEM! FIND THEM NOW!” His soldiers didn’t need another second to process the command; they hastily sprinted out of the room to pursue the fleeing intruders. Cambyses gripped the ends of arms of his throne so hard that his knuckles blanched ghostly white. “That bastard really did betray me then, huh? Jafaar, Sahad! Gather the other Magi and have Ramses’ family executed immediately! He’s broken our accord.”
***
Tetsu stumbled through the narrow hallways of the castle, following Ramses. Slapping her bare feet on the marble floor beside Tetsu was Kira, her eyes trained forward. She had no intention of getting caught again after her encounter with Jafaar. She gripped her staff with two hands, ready to unleash magic at the first sight of any hostile enemy. “You helped us,” Tetsu said to Ramses. “I’ll be honest, I’m surprised.”
