"Where is group one? Do you have any news?"
"Not for a while," replied the minister in an unsteady voice. "I gave them the order to go back up…"
Faïz didn't bother to listen to the end of his sentence. He turned off the radio contact with Min and started to go towards the lake, crossbow in hand.
"Where are you going?" cried Ray, barring his way.
"To check if they're fine!"
"Have you lost your mind?" he growled, determined to hold on to his friend. "If you get seen, we're all lost!"
Faïz looked at the group of commandos, who didn't flinch, and realized, after a few seconds of reflection, that Ray was right. Nevertheless, Zoe was his priority.
"They don't have anymore oxygen," articulated Faïz gently to try to control himself in this situation that was beginning to elude him completely.
"You have to trust them! They'll do it."
The young man took a step back and sighed deeply before adding, looking reassured,
"You're right, everything will be fine."
Ray, relieved, then lowered his guard. Suddenly, without expecting it, he found himself stretched out on the ground. Faïz rushed towards the lake without his friend being able to stop him.
16
My friends and I returned to shore and then slowly removed our masks and oxygen hoses to fill our lungs with air. Lexy was lying on her stomach, her body half in the water, while Asarys and I were pulling the shell out of the lake. Suddenly we heard hurried steps coming in our direction. Without waiting, we removed our oxygen cylinders from our backs, all of our senses on alert, ready to face the danger together. My heart was racing. The adrenaline in our veins made us forget the state of exhaustion in which we found ourselves.
"Faïz," I cried, relieved when I saw him crossing the misty curtain.
I rushed towards him to throw myself into his arms. He squeezed me so tightly that I almost missed the air again. His hands went through my hair and then over my face and down my back. No doubt he was checking that I hadn't broken anything. Faïz abruptly parted his face from mine to plunge his eyes, filled with doubt, into mine.
"Thank God! You're alive."
I turned to the girls, who were staring at us, eyes wet, not daring to move.
"I'm happy to see that you are all doing well," added Faïz.
He seemed to thank them with his eyes. Asarys then bent down to carry the heavy shell in her arms.
"You…you got it?" whispered Faïz, astonished. "You did it."
Lexy nodded solemnly, hands on hips.
"Hey, we haven't eaten dust with Malika the past few weeks to come back empty-handed!"
A triumphant grin appeared on the corner of Faïz's lips, making him irresistible at that moment. Cries in the distance got me back to my senses.
"Stay here!" he ordered, looking again like an angel of doom.
"No way! I refuse to sit idly by."
"For once, Zoe, listen to me!"
Although the tone of his voice hurt me once again, I denied giving up and managed to hold his sharp gaze. He didn't have time to lecture me. Running steps resounded all around us.
"Ray?" groaned Asarys, strangled by sobs, pleading with Faïz with her eyes.
"I'm going!" he replied, a serious look on his face.
Before he even had time to take a step, figures appeared, surrounding the four of us. The heavy fog prevented us from distinguishing them properly. Panicked, my friends and I huddled against each other when suddenly Faïz threw himself on us to make us face down. The shock was so violent that it took me a few seconds to realize what was going on. Darts were circling all around us.
"Zoe!" yelled Faïz above me. "Go get the radio to ask for help. Lexy, Asarys, protect the seashell and don't return under any circumstance!"
Like the girls, I did so without waiting. After only a few meters, several fighters were already chasing me, ready to pounce on me. I was about to reach the packages, which had been left by the lake, when simultaneous attacks against me caused me to lose my balance and fall to the ground.
"Zoe!" shouted Lexy a little further away, the shell in her hands.
"Go away!" I yelled with all my might. "Save yourself!"
Asarys found it difficult to hold on to her friend to prevent her from coming to my rescue. I quickly got up, scanning my surroundings and looking for my enemies, who had vanished into the wild. In the distance, I could discern the screams and blows of a fight between the bloodthirsty warriors and our team. I walked the last few meters, running out of breath. At the end of my run, I grabbed my radio.
"Zoe here… We are…we are surrounded and in great difficulty. We need help. Send in backup!"
"Negative," Min said. "The request has already been made to us before you, and we will remain in our positions. Your group of commandos is the only one authorized to fight on our lands. Our army will never intervene for the interests of another country!"
"It's for the interests of all of us!" I screamed in anger, trying to hold back my tears of rage. "There are too many of them. If you don't help us, we will all die."
"Where's the ruby?"
"With Asarys and Lexy."
"Give me their position! I'm sorry, but I can only guarantee their safety. Unfortunately for you, there is nothing I can do."
I was shocked. The leaders of Eros didn't intend to help us. They just stood by, ready to intervene to protect the stone so it would be safe, but at the risk of other lives here.
"They are on their way to the entrance of the cemetery," I finally let out in a barely audible voice.
The only thing that comforted me was that my two friends could be saved. Behind the violent beating of my blood hitting my eardrums, I heard on the radio the cries of Barthey and other members of our government, who were trying to make the leaders of the country see reason. The sound of footsteps treading the water suddenly caught my ear. I began to pray with all my might that it would be Faïz, but the shape that was beginning to for in the nebulous mist wasn't him. In shock, I recognized the leader of the barbaric clan who had presided over the funeral ceremony two days before.
"Zoe?" Min asked.
Paralyzed by the dreadful spectacle before me, I could barely breathe. The man, with features distorted by the abominable cruelty that inhabited him, easily took hold of my radio and put it to his lips, which split open in a chilling smile.
"Sorry, the girl had to go away," the man said in a low and hoarse voice before crushing it with his boot.
In a flash of clarity, I pulled myself together in order to lead this dark, cadaverous character as far as possible away from my two friends. I turned around, tearing my gravity bracelet from my wrist to start running as fast as possible to the other side of the lake. During my run, I risked a glance behind me and noticed, disoriented, that the man wasn't after me. Where did he go? I slowed down, lungs on fire, trying to catch my breath with difficulty. At that time, I couldn't say whether the fog of the island was an advantage or a disadvantage. Eyes fixed in front of me, without being able to see him, I still perceived his presence. The monster was there, very close, lurking behind the mist. His smell of sweat, mixed with that of humidity, floated in the air.
Suddenly, a violent shock struck the back of my knee and knocked me to the ground. Stunned, the man jumped on me. I quickly shifted my body a few inches to counter his assault. When I got up, I struck him a violent and rapid blow in the hollow of his neck with the side of my hand. This attack destabilized him for a moment, but the guru quickly regained control of himself and grabbed my arm to immobilize me on the ground. A cry of pain escaped from me. Facedown, I saw an arrow not far from me, hidden under the cherry blossoms. Taking a deep breath, I lifted my head to hit my enemy's skull with the back of it. He pulled away with a howl of rage, loosening his grip on my arm.
I got up to rush to the arrow. As the guru was about to throw himself at me again, I saw the shadow of Faïz come out of nowhere and counter our adversary. They both rolled on the g
round. If Faïz was unharmed, the face of the other warrior was bloody. Indeed, his superhuman force didn't leave much chance to this soldier of death. For the first time, I saw the terrible impact that a Leviathan could have on another human being. However, at that moment, I was happy that Faïz could benefit from this advantage. Dazed, the man wobbled, wiping his bloody face, which was partially mixed with soil. Faïz immediately rushed towards me.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his features twisted with concern.
"Yes, yes."
A stifled laugh forced us to turn around. The man looked at us with a demonic smile that split his face.
"Kushisake will be happy with this offering," he said, plunging his gaze into mine, his eyes sunk into his protruding sockets.
An icy chill ran through my back. This warrior didn't have an ounce of fear in him, despite the violent attack he had just been subjected to.
"It's over!" growled Faïz. "For you, everything ends here."
"You're wrong," exulted the warrior, cracking his neck. "Before I kill you, I want to hear you beg me to spare her."
He then pointed his finger at me and asked,
"Goddess, have you ever danced in Hell?"
My breath stopped. I recognized Kushisake's sentence, when we'd met above this chasm, like the gates of Hell.
"The only place where you will see us dance will be on your grave," replied Faïz, who rushed at him.
He grabbed his opponent's neck and lifted him without difficulty to propel him towards the ground. It was then that the guru closed a shiny, silvery ring on his wrists before crashing to the ground. Faïz immediately froze and seemed to stiffen, thus mitigating the impact of the Kobold's body on the ground. I rushed over to him, aware of the evil power that these bounds gave off. He collapsed in my arms.
"These…these bracelets… It's the same spell as the ring in the cave," he articulated with difficulty.
I tried to take them off with all my strength, but in vain. The warrior, a little further on, was standing again and was now slowly walking towards us, as if he were savoring the agony of the weakened young man in front of him. That triumphant smile on his face made him even more terrifying and paralyzed me with dread.
"Go away, Zoe!" gasped Faïz, who seemed to suffer a thousand deaths.
"No! I can't give up on you," I yelled, almost to tears.
"Don't talk nonsense. I won't be able to fight knowing you're right by my side, in danger."
I straightened up, staring at Faïz with a sorry look, and placed myself between him and the colossus, who was jubilant in front of this spectacle.
"We are finally going to be able to fight on equal terms," he declared, clenching his fists, fangs forward, and his eyes filled with hatred. "Are you sure you want to die first?"
"Zoe, don't do that," begged Faïz behind me, trying to get up. "Leave!"
Without listening to him, I walked with quick strides towards my opponent, who tried to punch me in the face, but which I managed to dodge by lowering my head. I took the opportunity to give him my knee in his stomach, which made him bend in half, then, with my elbows, I struck him violently between the shoulder blades. There followed a violent fight in which I took many blows and was repeatedly thrown to the ground. My sweeps and my hooks only slowed him down, as he was undeniably much stronger than me.
I crawled facedown on the ground, my body completely bruised, looking for the arrow I had seen a few moments before. Suddenly, a kick in the ribs literally took my breath away. A second one lifted me. I screamed in pain and then turned on my back. The guru above me was holding the object I was looking for in his hands.
"Tonight our angel of death will taste your blood and feed on your soul," he declared, his eyes mad.
He lifted the arrow, ready to plant it in my heart. It was then that Faïz jumped on the warrior. The two rolled a few meters and the first ended up defeating his opponent by blocking his head with his leg and exerting pressure on his elbow, a pressure that forced the bloodthirsty leader to give up. This arm key paralyzed him completely.
"I'll take care of it," yelled Faïz, "go joi—"
He didn't have time to finish his sentence. The kobold, with his other hand, stuck the arrow into his lower abdomen. The warrior thus freed himself from the grip of his opponent and straightened up without much pain. As he watched his victim drain of blood, I threw myself in a rush of despair on his back, beating him hard with my fists. He threw me brutally on the ground, next to my beloved. We were lost. Bones broken, I slowly dragged myself towards Faïz, who was trying to articulate something. I sprawled across his body like a shield, to protect him one last time. The shouts in the distance made me realize that our group was in great difficulty. Our soldiers wouldn't last much longer. Only the girls had a chance.
And my father? Oh my God. At this painful thought, I closed my eyes, waiting for death. Suddenly, a noise in the air coming to break the tranquility of the sky made me open my eyes. The heavy fog, as well as the cloud cover, participated in the propagation and the amplification of this sound phenomenon. It was then that targeted shots pierced the foggy mass around us. It took me a few seconds to realize that fighter planes were coming to our rescue.
"Barthey managed to convince them. They came," I stammered in a low voice, letting my tears flow.
The warrior, distraught, looked over him.
"It's impossible! Eros signed a treaty. The army must never intervene on… No… How is it possible?"
Soldiers appeared, faces hidden. They surrounded us, then a man addressed the Ainu guru directly, threatening him with his weapon. The man had no choice but to surrender. The head of the Brotherhood fell to his knees, head bowed without responding, accepting his fate.
"Zoe?" cried Ray, who was rushing towards me, his face badly shaken.
I burst into sobs.
"Quickly! Ray, he… You have to heal him. He's going to die."
He took me by the arm and helped me to my feet. At that moment, my head started to spin and my vision blurred. The sound of his voice, but also that of the others, reached me from far away. Lots of people were busy around me. It was getting harder and harder to breathe as the seconds passed. It was then that my strength left me, and a black curtain fell over my eyes.
FAÏZ
"You should be sitting in that bloody wheelchair," Ray said, exasperated.
The young man ignored the remark of his friend, who continued to lecture him while he installed the chest containing the shell in the hold of the jet that was waiting to leave.
"Did you tell Zoe everything?" Ray insisted.
Faïz sighed before answering.
"I couldn't, and I can even less now, looking at her state."
"You're not serious. It's not just about you! You are my brother, a flawless landmark for me, but here I give up."
"What do you mean?" Faïz cut him off in an icy tone.
Ray approached the young man, his gaze threatening.
"It means that you made your choice, and I made mine!"
"My choice is the world. It's humanity, and everything else will go after!"
"If you really love Zoe, save her. Get out of her life for good. She deserves to go first, and you know it. For my part, you no longer exist."
Shocked by the words of his friend, Faïz didn't reply. He watched Ray walk away to board the jet without trying to hold him back, knowing deep down that he was right.
The inspector stood on the tarmac, watching the green landscape of the island for the last time. Faïz's approach didn't distract him.
"I'm happy to leave this island at night," Karl said in a low voice. "I'm leaving with this last image of Eros. It's probably better this way."
Hands in his pockets, Faïz approved the inspector's words with a long silence, then asked,
"I imagine you will be summoned to the Los Angeles Office of Internal Affairs on Monday? Threatening a political leader with a weapon. You risked a lot."
Karl shrugged as the only answer.
"Thank you. You saved us."
"What did the doctors tell you about Zoe?" asked the inspector in a more serious tone.
"She will surely have headaches for another ten days and must absolutely rest. My parents have been told. They will take good care of her."
Barthey, intrigued, quickly turned to observe the young man.
"And you?"
"Me?"
Faïz lowered his head and shook it vigorously, thinking back to his friend's words, then he said,
"I'm the one she's going to have to learn to hate."
Karl opened his mouth, then closed it again. He ran a hand nervously through his hair and stared again at the volcanoes in the distance, which overlooked the island.
"Think again," continued the young man with a sharp pain in his chest. "I don't want that role, but we both know what I'm going to do. Asarys, Alexia… Whether today or tomorrow, Zoe will end up hating me…like Ray. A Banshee is never wrong."
"Don't be too hasty to draw a conclusion. The threat from The Maestro left when we took the ruby out of the lake. It may take years, decades, or even several offspring before he manifests again. It's good news. In the end, you may never have the opportunity to confront him in this life."
"It doesn't change anything! The danger will always be there. He is sleeping and will come back one day, stronger. We must prepare ourselves and the future generations to be ready when that time comes."
The inspector nodded, sorry for the decision Faïz was making, but he understood the meaning of this sacrifice, which was necessary for the survival of humanity. Indeed, perhaps feelings had no place in this fight against evil. However, he secretly hoped deep down that he would be out of this world when that day arrived, and that human resources would have evolved to exterminate the attacks of this evil conductor once and for all.
17
On that morning, the sun was shining on the cemetery with such intensity that my eyes could hardly get used to the light again. An atmosphere of calm and peace reigned in that place, emptied of any population at that time of the day. I closed my eyes for a moment as if to better appreciate the heat that spread over my skin. It had been almost twelve days since we had returned to Los Angeles, and it was still difficult for us to find our routines again. I watched my two friends on the other side of Victoria's grave. Asarys wore a red bandana around her head and frantically chewed gum. I frowned when my eyes dropped to her ripped jeans and her mid-high boots with a metal sole and the lacing cord that passed through it.
DARK FAÏZ Book 2: Nothing will ever be the same again Page 18
