And Then There Was Hope

by Greg Dragon

  “Everything I did for you, I did to help us both, Alysia Knight. I cannot interfere with your world once the lost have taken it; I told you the truth. I trained you to destroy the six champions of the lost, and I told you that it would force them into a state of retreat. That too was true. Yet you listened to an Ert, a champion of Yalem’s oppressive elite, one of the reasons why the lost are the lost!” he snapped, then closed his eyes to compose himself. “You took everything that we taught you, everything that we warned you about, and you threw it away all because a man claiming to be your father told you that I am the bad one.”

  Alysia listened to his words and felt ashamed because it was true. She weighed the pros and cons of the Twilight Sword and the help that Chaos had given her. She had become stronger with the Twilight Sword, and Chaos had saved her family with the foods he had given her. Since her alliance with the Ert, she had become even stronger, but she had seen her friends killed, become gravely wounded, and she lost the feeling, the hunter’s sense to track down the lost.

  What if Chaos was right and she had allowed herself to fall into a trap planted by the enemy? She thought on how Euphoria had healed the Chinese soldier, the way it healed her when she cut into the lost, and the way it armored her body when faced with too much danger.

  “Isobel, I don’t know what to do,” she whispered to the girl, who in turn looked up at her, wide-eyed and helpless with her mouth slightly agape. But Alysia saw a slight shifting of her pupils moving left to right and that was all the indication that she needed however.

  “Chaos, enough games. The last major demon is revealed and you grabbed me right before I was about kill it. You have helped but you helped to push your own agenda, to help yourself and your war. You care nothing about my world, my family, or me. You also pretended that I was the sole wielder of the Twilight Sword, that it was some sort of special heirloom, one that would drive the lost back to Yalem.” She laughed and threw her head back in frustration. “The truth is, there are plenty of magical weapons that can make humans like me into something much more, aren’t there?”

  Chaos didn’t respond but gave her a slight smile that reminded her of a child being caught doing something naughty.

  “You captured these poor kids, gave them a test they could never pass, and you lie to them that they are your chosen, your special corps that will do the greatest good in your home world. Answer me this, Lord. If the home world was so terrible, how is it that your wife lives so luxuriously there while you travel to other realms playing warrior? Shouldn’t she be seeing some sort of desperate situation for you to rectify through this recruitment?

  “Don’t answer that; I know. Yalem is actually a peaceful, happy place. You’re probably some secondary prince who thinks he’s owed a throne, and in order to usurp it, you need an army. But of course your army cannot come from Yalem because your brother, cousin, or whomever holds the throne will know what you’re doing and crush you before you have a chance to start your glorious coup!”

  “Stop it! Shut up!” he yelled at her, and then drew the Twilight Sword and held it at her threateningly. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, and I don’t need you corrupting the Garot anymore than you have done to Isobel!”

  The room made a rumbling as the warriors began to discuss what was going on between their lord and Alysia. Some had drawn their weapons and inched close, but as they did this Isobel leapt forward with her own sword out, disarming the closest boy and bounced back in a defensive stance, daring him to come forward.

  Alysia focused on Chaos. She thought about what he was capable of, and as she drew Euphoria, the silver armor ran the length of her limbs, all the way up to her face. The warriors saw the armor and backed off quickly. Some scurried out of the room and some hid under the table.

  “Ert! You’ve become a bloody Ert!” Chaos screamed at her, dismayed at her appearance and Euphoria, which pulsed brightly as its point neared the Twilight Sword. “I thought there was time to save you and have you rejoin our cause, but you have betrayed us, Alysia Knight. You’ve taken three of my warriors, indoctrinated them with the lies of the Erts, and now you stand before me, armored in their uniform, and savage!”

  He pulled back his sword and sheathed it, then waved his hand to clear the room. The young warriors rushed out, and before long, the place was empty except for Chaos and the armed women who faced him.

  “You’re not completely off with the assertion that I started a coup,” Chaos said.

  He paced the hallway, picking up fallen cups, fruits and plates that his warriors had knocked over as they beat a hasty retreat.

  “Yalem may seem peaceful and quiet, and yes my wife does live a life of luxury there. But resources there are sparse. Millions of people are starving and made to live off the land, and I know I can give them these things if I was able to take the throne.”

  He spun on his heels and faced Alysia. “You have to believe me that no matter what choice you make today, I intend to continue with my plans. Yes, it involves going into worlds and pulling out their greatest warriors, and yes, it involves telling half-truths whenever I need to. There are things at play here that are much bigger than you and I, Alysia Knight. But you will always make it about you, your parents, and your stupid friends, won’t you? Consider the fact that these so-called major demons that you’ve been killing were once very much like you: warriors, chosen, but transformed into something stronger, something that would be able to lead others in a much bigger war. You are here, challenging me now because you are the strongest, despite having an Ert blade and wearing an Ert costume.”

  “Izzy,” Alysia said suddenly, as if she wasn’t listening to him. The small girl looked at her and nodded. “Could you go back to my world and protect my family? Jasmine is all by herself against that thing, and while I sit here discussing things with Chaos, I fear they are getting closer and closer to their doom.”

  Isobel looked doubtful, as if her place was there with Alysia, facing down the lord of Chaos. But she knew Alysia needed her to help keep her family alive more than she needed her to play bodyguard, so she nodded, sheathed her sword, and touched her hands together to leave the realm.

  “Thank you,” Chaos said suddenly, and then motioned Alysia over to sit with him at one of the bigger tables.

  She wondered why she should trust him. He could snatch her life with two quick moves, but she wondered about their rules. Maybe Chaos is disallowed from hurting us while we are in this limbo. It could be why he kept a Dibolosa-type around, to do the dirty work for him, she thought. She sat across from him and looked down at her hands. The constant fighting, climbing, and shooting had turned her hands into unsightly shadows of their former selves. She had always kept a manicure, moisturized her hands, and kept them presentable, yet now they looked as if she did construction, or constant yard work without any gloves.

  She retracted the armor that covered her face, but left it just below her chin in case the lord chanced a swing at her exposed neck.

  “I have a serious question for you, and I want you to answer it candidly, Chaos,” she said suddenly, biting into a plum and ignoring its delicious taste to keep her eyes looking forward. “If you lie to me, I will stay with the Erts and will force you into kumite right here and now. From the way you’ve been acting since I pulled on this armor, you don’t want that, and I can undo many hundred years of work for you and your kind. Am I right?”

  “What is your question?” Chaos asked.

  “Oh, well, it’s like this,” she began. “You robbed us of thirty years—”

  “Your people robbed you of thirty years,” he corrected her.

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “I mean that the earth fought back, and the lost couldn’t evolve. We kept you all frozen until the major demons were in place, but that took thirty years. Thirty years of war and destruction to break the human spirit, thirty years of recruiting more like you to make sure that your world could be saved
,” Chaos replied with a sad expression on his face.

  “Maria, the little girl who was with us; I know you know who I’m talking about. Is she one of yours? Is she like me? A girl trying to right the world under the illusion that she is our only hope?”

  “Yes,” he said finally and took a long drink from a wine glass as if he wanted to drown the memory. “But Maria, or Hope as we named her, was filled with much hurt, pain, and anger. You fell to the Erts because they planted one of their own into the life of your mother so many years ago. They knew my pattern well, and prepared for me through you.” He sighed and drank again. “But Maria was different; she was taken by the lost.”

  “What happens when I kill her?” Alysia asked.

  “The lost will return to Yalem,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “Leaving our world decimated, with people dead and everything wasted? How in the hell is that even fair? We were so advanced … the things we were doing with technology, medical, transportation. We advanced for thousands of years only for a bunch of infighting demons to run us over in their crap. No, that cannot be it. God would not do this to us. This can’t be it. You have to tell me that you can take it back, that you can … I don’t know, reverse time or something and put things back where they were before.”

  “Time travel?” Chaos chuckled.

  “That’s not funny. How is it far-fetched when you can move between realms, heal wounds through creature blood, and magic up some armor to protect yourself? Don’t act like what I’m asking is far-fetched! The whole world, and this whole lost thing, is far-fetched! So tell me, what’s the big prize in the end for me, for slaying the last master and proving myself the best? Offer up a real reward, or I won’t do it. I swear to God, I won’t!”

  Chaos stared at her and clasped his hands. He sat like that for an extremely long time, considering his options and thinking on what to do.

  "Silly girl, think about what you're asking. If I were allowed to manipulate time, I would simply go back and steer you away from the Ert who changed you. There is no time travel; the wheel only spins one way and if it can be reversed, well, that would be the gift of gods, now wouldn't it?" Chaos said.

  "So we're stuck, then? Is that what you're telling me? Stuck in a broken world, brought on by your stupid war and your stupid ambition. How is that even fair? Why can't we humans go to Yalem and destroy the place then? How would you like that?" Alysia replied, raising her voice without fully realizing it.

  "Alysia, the lost were coming regardless of anything me or your Ert father could do. It was written in your destiny. You got far in your advancements as human beings, but so have other races. Whenever this occurs, the powers greater than all of us find a way to reset things. You will not lose everything, since people like you and your father will remember, but it will be difficult." He stood up and walked over to his throne. "New monsters will appear once the lost have left, but they won't be as vicious or as plentiful. You will rise as a hero to humanity, but your Kingdom will be built out of rubble and bones."

  "What of the war, your war? Will you lose now that you don't have me?"

  "This is where I ask you to rejoin me, Alysia Knight, because our interests do align. See, I aim to destroy the lost, to prevent any more worlds from being destroyed like yours. You could join me, become my warrior, and once I've won, you would become a hero of Yalem. You could bring your family there and live a rich, bountiful life."

  Alysia smiled at the thought, "You sound like the devil, making promises you’re barely intent on keeping. Did you make the same promise to all your generals?" she asked, and he stared at her, wondering if her question was serious.

  "Anyway," Alysia said, "I need to get back and complete the circle. The sixth demon has my people held hostage and they need me."

  "Will you think on it?" Chaos asked, "Yalem needs you more than you know."

  "I will think on it," Alysia said and then pressed her hands together to bring on the blackness.

  ~ * ~ * ~

  The pyre of corpses was covered in orange flames that climbed so high, they nicked the wings Maria used to fly over them. Everything was ablaze: the bodies she had meticulously collected to make the sacrifice, the corrupted corpse that at one point had been her mother, and the trees that bordered it, those sacred trees. The fire would eventually reach the clearing. It would burn up the lost soldiers that had followed her and move on to the barracks, the bunker, and even more.

  She landed on a treetop and wept for a time. She had sold her soul to the dark one in exchange for her mother’s soul, but now it was lost; James Knight had seen to that. She retracted her singed wings and walked back through the trees towards the barracks. She would make him pay for what he had done, and then she would take his baby and bring it before the dark one. Maybe there was another way to get her mother back, and a brand new human child might be it.

  Chapter Five

  Alysia Knight opened her eyes to find herself back in the forest where she had been shot as she knelt down next to Isobel’s dying body. Bearing down on her was the dark-haired woman who Isobel called Hope. She shifted her position to hide behind a tree and the woman marched past her as if she hadn’t seen. Alysia moved quickly to get behind her and applied a chokehold, pulling her back. The demon was strong and before long they were crashing into trees and rolling on the ground as Alysia kept it locked and Maria fought to pull her off.

  When she finally pulled away, Maria rolled to her feet. She dug out a handgun, which she then leveled at Alysia as she, too stood up from their scuffle. But Alysia rose with her hand on the hilt of Euphoria, and the armor slid up her arms rapidly and covered her entire body, including her face. The bullet from Maria’s gun ricocheted off its surface, and Alysia brought her sword up, then down, knocking the gun into the air and cutting Maria on the wrist.

  Maria recoiled from the cut and pulled out a crimson sword. It looked like an Egyptian Khopesh, its half-moon blade ending in a straight line that met the hilt, giving it the appearance of a question mark. She spun with blinding speed and hooked the back end behind Alysia’s leg, causing her to lose her balance. But Alysia bounced back up when she fell, raising her sword above her head, and then walking in a circle to use the trees as extra cover.

  They feinted in and out between the trees as they moved back and forth, trying to cut one another. Maria got frustrated, being used to fighting opponents that would stand toe with her, while Alysia used her environment and various other tricks to make things more difficult. She dashed in at one point, swinging her sword as she aimed to remove Alysia’s head, but she met air as the limber girl hopped backwards, dove past her body, and left a cut in her side that she hadn’t anticipated when she swung.

  She reeled and swung low, then high, each being countered by Alysia’s blade. She was being outclassed in their swordfight, so she spread her wings and made to take to the air to find Tracy and James Knight. Alysia saw what she was doing and dashed in to feint a thrust, Maria swung low and Alysia spun behind her while swinging, and managed to cut one of her wings off. Maria screamed and fell to her knees and Alysia hacked the other one off with one swing of her sword.

  Maria swung the hooked blade to get Alysia to back off, and stood up to face her as the blood poured from her wingless back. Her eyes grew red with anger and she rushed in on Alysia, pressing her attack with brutal strength. Alysia avoided her attacks by stepping behind the trees and jumping clear; she decided against using her armor in order to keep herself fast and loose. Maria pressed for several moments, and Alysia kept herself defensive, waiting for an opening to present itself.

  When Maria fell victim to a well-timed feint and swung prematurely, Alysia brought her sword down with everything she could muster. It shattered the blade and caught Maria’s shoulder. The woman fell backwards, holding her wound, too exhausted to stand again.

  Alysia looked down at her. It would take a single blow from Euphoria to drive her from the world. The lost would be rout
ed and they would take their leave immediately; at least that was what Chaos wanted her to believe.

  “I want to kill you, Maria. I want to take your head for killing Jaime and Koko the way you did. Every ounce of me wants to cut you right now, but I need to know why. Why did you turn into this?”

  Maria sank back down into the brush, feeling her strength fade with every passing minute. “I did it for my mother,” she finally said. “They promised me I could have my mother if I did this.”

  “You’re a fool,” Alysia said in reply. “You murdered innocents and betrayed your friends all because a demon told you that it would bring your mother back.”

  Maria didn’t say anything for a time and then looked up at Alysia angrily. “I’m not the only fool being led around like a puppet by a demon. Look at you, adorned from head to toe in their gifts. Do you think you have those toys for free? Do you think your hands are clean?”

  “I don’t fool myself for a second that my hands are clean, Hope—isn’t that the name they gave you? Maybe I should call you Hopeless. I know what I am, and I know who and what I have killed. But the difference between me and you is that I did this for humanity. You did it for a selfish dream, and the blood on your hands will never dry.”

  She stepped forward and drove Euphoria into her chest and held it there, letting the blade absorb the darkness and the shadow that had given Maria the strength and power to lead an army of demons. Maria screamed, and fought to remove the blade, even going so far as to touch its naked edge to try and pull it out of her. But Euphoria was like a vacuum for the darkness as it cleansed Maria’s body and nothing she did could remove it as it drained her quickly of her power.

  “WHY DON’T YOU KILL ME?” Maria screamed, so loudly that everyone within their vicinity heard it. Alysia could feel the heat of the forest fire getting close as she held the blade firm, wedging its tip into the ground to disallow Maria from escaping it.