He turned back to Benny. “We’ll see what happens,” he said. “But I will never truly replace your parents. What I can promise is to be a friend though. How’s that sound?”
“O-okay,” Benny said wrapping his little pudgy arms around James’ waist and hugging him tight. James sighed heavily and looked over at Catherine. She was sitting up in her bed and giving him a smirk. He smiled back and they stared at each other so long that Benny started becoming concerned that they had turned into statues.
* * *
Bastion threw the man behind him over his shoulder and immediately ran forward to meet him before he landed on his feet. He punched the man in the spine while he was in mid-somersault and he cried out in agony, slumping off of Bastion’s fist. The attacker who had been punching him in the stomach earlier barely made it a couple feet away before Bastion grabbed the back of his collar and slammed it into the cobblestone. He slammed his foot into his opponent’s chest and silenced him.
Bastion surveyed the area although he wasn’t aware of self anymore. His eyes were as black as night and his teeth were starting to grind. His animalistic nature was antsy, and it needed something to hit. A voice behind him sought to reward him.
“Hey there,” someone said as Bastion slowly turned around. It was a stocky man with a spiked mace in his left hand. “Name’s…Deaf with an F,” he laughed. “Care to play?”
Bastion summoned his Gladius and approached him slowly.
“Oooo, you look dangerous,” Deaf chuckled. He reached over and rolled up one of his long sleeves with two fingers, revealing the tattoo of a crow with spiked wings. “But it looks like you’re about to tangle with the wrong man. Hope you’ve said your goodbye to your loved ones.”
Bastion leapt at him and Deaf saw it coming before Bastion even knew what he was doing. Deaf smacked him across the face with his mace, sending Bastion crashing into one of the little carts on the side of the street. There had been so much force put into the blow that it took Bastion a moment to rise.
“Take your time,” Deaf replied. “We’ve got all day, and I want to make this last. You’re Bastion, aren’t you? The great Bastion? The one that ruined our lives? Yes, I’m ready to savor this. Give me the opportunity to kill you, and I will take it. I don’t care what the little ones say.”
“What little ones?” Lily asked from behind him.
“Don’t you have a city to save?” Deaf asked, unconcerned with her arrival.
“It’s all taken care of,” she said. “You’re all that’s left.”
“Then you must not be paying attention. What about the second wave? The Sages should be here any moment.”
“Sages?” she scowled. “But you’re Cimmerian. Sages wouldn’t even dare to side with filth like you.”
“The times are changing,” he laughed. “Allegiances are breaking. Names are losing their meaning. I’m part of something greater now. Paragon and Cimmerian as one, it’s a brand new outfit.”
“Paragon’s sanctioning this?”
“No, they’re off fighting the lost cause,” Deaf said, yawning. “But while they’re busy dying, we can take care of the real threats like shorty here.”
“The Delilah have nothing to do with this.”
“Oh, they have everything,” Deaf said with bright eyes. “I heard they heard something. Something sweet. Something that will change everything. I’m looking to find out who knows what was heard.”
“Ugh, you’re confusing,” Lily said in disgust. “Just listening to you makes me want to take a bath.”
“I tend to make people feel that way,” he said. “But all this talk is pointless. You going to fight me or what? I was sent her specifically to take care of you and lover boy here.”
“Sure, you were,” Lily said. “Just like how the Sages have sided with Cimmerians.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Believe what you like. It’s the truth.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“Break me enough and they’ll step in. Call it a consolation prize.”
“Fine,” Lily said, moving toward him one step at a time, gauging him for weaknesses. He smiled and turned his back completely to Bastion who was still lost. For some reason though, the young Sage wasn’t moving.
“We got this, Bastion,” she called out to him. “Like we always do.”
“You don’t get it yet,” Deaf laughed. “Your era is over. All of you that have caused our suffering will get it a hundred times more and then some. The Sages will either join our cause or die trying.”
“I can’t say the philosophy doesn’t sound familiar,” Lily said. “Tell me, do you know a man named Gideon?”
“Nope,” Deaf said, shrugging his shoulders.
“He said something similar,” Lily said as Deaf’s muscles tensed. “He spoke of making us suffer for causing all of this.”
“I don’t know him,” Deaf said adamantly, “but I like the sound of the guy. Maybe he’s the one that brought us altogether, who knows? It doesn’t matter. Our cause is more than a name. More than one person. This is a force that you can’t stop. This is nature. This is the hand of a god. This is the way of a Solon.”
“Damn it,” Lily muttered.
Chapter 6 – Atone
“Gideon got out somehow?” Lily asked but she didn’t get an answer. Bastion tried to catch Deaf off guard, extending his Gladius out and willing the blade to grow in length. Deaf swatted the blade away with his mace and bounded toward the young Sage.
Bastion leapt at him but Deaf grabbed him by his robe and threw him over his head back toward Lily. Lily half-caught him, half-fell over at Bastion’s weight, but she quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and began yelling into his ear.
“I need you all here!” she shouted. “We can’t do this with brute strength alone. Delilah will fall without us!”
Bastion gnashed his teeth and roared at Deaf, but eventually he began to calm down. Deaf waited for the Sage’s eyes to turn back to normal and Bastion began huffing as if he was out of breath.
“Sorry,” he said. “I heard you, but it was hard to come back.”
“The important thing is that you did,” she said. “I think we should try fusion again.”
“But it doesn’t always work,” Bastion said. “And we haven’t done that in so long.”
“I want to,” she said. “Because then we can combine out power.”
“He’s that strong?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” she said. “It’s going to take all we got.”
“What is he?”
“He said Solon, but I’m thinking that he didn’t come from the Sage Academy.”
“Gideon must have had people recruiting for him.”
“Either way, we have to deal with this here or else Delilah falls.”
“Alright, let’s do it,” he said, giving her a nod. She smiled and closed her eyes. At first nothing happened, and Bastion looked to Deaf nervously, but the Solon waited for them patiently. He wasn’t scared at all by what they might do. Bastion looked back to Lily and she was beginning to melt. Bastion quickly grabbed her when her form was spherical and pressed it up against his chest, taking a deep breath as Lily seeped through his pores and through the walls of his skin, making her way to his heart and wrapping herself around his nervous system.
Bastion coughed and stood to his feet as he glared at Deaf.
“I’m in,” Lily said from within his mind.
“I know,” Bastion laughed. “Who are you talking to? I already know what you can do.”
“I wanted to make it sound like I was a spy.”
“It would explain a lot.”
“Funny. Hey, it’s filthy in here.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It has been a while since we’ve done this. You have a lot of memories and thoughts that I didn’t know about. Nothing serious, just…interesting, I guess.”
“Uh, could you stay out of there?”
“What’s this abou
t me nagging you to sweep the living room?”
“Well, it’s true,” Bastion blushed.
“Guys,” Deaf muttered. “I have appointments to keep.”
“Right,” Bastion said, banging the palm of his hand against the side of his head.
“You know I can’t feel that, right?” Lily said.
“We have a job to do. I’m going in.”
“Ready.”
Bastion ran forward as Deaf laughed to himself as he gripped his mace tight and waited for his opening. But Bastion’s speed had nearly quadrupled with Lily assisting him. Before he could compensate for his opponent’s increases, Deaf found himself flying in the air, with his jaw feeling as if it was going to fall off from the hinges.
He clutched his jaw and groaned just as Bastion kneed him in the stomach, having leapt into the air while he was still falling. Bastion punched him in the face as the back of his head hit the cobblestone and he nearly blacked out.
A Gladius erupted from his back and he cried out in rage. It was as if he was a child again, helpless to his trainers. What was this kid? Yes, he knew that Bastion was responsible for the Great Collision, but he never thought the young Sage could be this advanced. Wasn’t he one of the best that the Solons had?
“And don’t come back,” Bastion said, kicking him in the ribs. “The only reason I’m going to let you live is because you need to tell the Solons that Delilah is off limits. If your Sages are watching or sensing this fight with their eidolons, then they know of the utter defeat you just experienced.”
“We’ll be back,” Deaf groaned.
“You’re stupid,” Bastion said, kicking him again. “You come back, and I’ll be forced to take your life. That’s what will happen.”
“Okay,” Deaf seceded. He flipped over onto his belly and began crawling away but Bastion sucked his teeth and kicked him as hard as he could, sending the Solon flying out of Delilah and into the ocean in the distance.
“Does Delilah have any sports or leagues?” Lily asked.
Bastion chuckled and crossed his arms. He was about to make a quip when he heard clapping and laughing from behind him. He turned around and his face softened as he saw the Delilah coming out of their shops and homes. They clapped for him, rushed him, and patted him on the back. They congratulated him and thanked him, and he found his face flushing with all of the attention.
“Are you okay?” Lily asked as the Delilah grabbed his arms and lifted him above their heads, cheering him on. He closed his eyes and smiled.
“I’m just happy.”
“Oh,” Lily giggled. “Well, you should experience this feeling more often. I like it.”
“It’s certainly different,” he said, glancing down at the crowd below. Maybe siding with the Delilah wasn’t so bad after all.
* * *
“So, are you going to absorb me now?” Catherine asked as her multi-colored eidolon pierced through James’ chest. “Huh?”
“No,” he whispered as he grit his teeth and kicked her off of him. She landed on her feet and summoned the eidolon back into her hand. James started closing the wound in his chest. New white fabric appeared to close the rip in his white Sage robe.
“Then what makes you resort to that tactic?”
“It’s others,” he said, climbing to his feet slowly. He was surprised by how tired he felt. “I’m not Bastion. I don’t go insane when my survival is threatened. I care about the people around me most of all. If you were in danger, I’d do anything in my power to ensure your safety.”
“Then I’m the one that has to get stronger,” she said. “Or leave you altogether.”
“You’re not going to do that.”
“I don’t know,” she said, staring into his eyes coldly. “I would rather know that you were okay than see you turn into something that you’re not. Let’s try again, and this time, we’ll fight while you’re in your Quietus form. You might have to already be in that form for you to feel the urge.”
“No, I won’t.”
“We have to train, James.”
“No, it’s…it’s the kids. I don’t want them to see me in that form. It will scare them, and they don’t understand what the Quietus are yet.”
“Keeping them in the dark won’t save them. Not from war.”
“But isn’t that what we’re doing? Hiding? Shielding ourselves?”
“I don’t get you,” she sighed in exasperation. “You want to etch out this life for ourselves one moment, and then you want to fight in the war in the next. We have to make up our mind and stick to it.”
“I just don’t know what the right decision is.”
“Either way, a decision will be made for us. It’s weird. I thought with you absorbing others, it would turn you into a ruthless killer, but it’s actually the opposite. You’ve lost so much confidence and drive.”
“We’ve been through so much together, Catherine,” he said, approaching her with his hand outstretched. She looked at it, then she let her eidolon disappear. She reached out and took his hand and he pulled her to his chest, holding her head tight as she rubbed her cheek against his robe.
“And we’ll be through a lot more,” she said.
“I feel like…I feel like we never got to become who we were meant to be. The world around us won’t allow it.”
“I’ve heard this before,” she said, pushing him away gently so that she could look into his eyes. “You and your ‘what if’s.’ What is it now?”
“I wanted a family,” he said. “If I’m to be honest.”
“A family?” she asked, her eyebrows raising. This was new.
“Kids to be exact,” he said. “I was thinking that we would have some after you took the throne back in Allay, but we were busy then too. Then Lakrymos appeared and the Collision happened, and we were separated for so long. And now…now we can’t even have them. I would have liked to have a little girl with your eyes and freckles. Maybe a little of my curiosity.”
Catherine didn’t say anything. But then she stretched her neck out and kissed him lightly on the forehead. He felt a blanket of sorrow come over him as she grabbed the back of his neck and pressed his forehead against hers.
“I love you, James,” she said. “Don’t ever forget that. I’m sorry that…I spent so much time on my duties and not enough on you. That’s going to change though. I’m with you every step of the way from here on out.”
“But where do we step?” James asked. “Where do we go now?”
“We’ll figure it out together.”
“What are you talking about?” Benny asked, appearing at their side. Catherine beamed as she bent down to one knee and tussled his hair.
“Boring grown-up stuff,” she said. “Where’s the others?”
“Still rolling down hills.”
“Is that where you were?”
“Uh-huh. But I wanted you to come.”
“We’ll be there soon. Why don’t you head back over there for now.”
“Okay,” he said, running off as fast as his little legs could carry him.
“Want to go roll down some hills?” Catherine asked James. He nodded playfully and she laughed to herself. James was about to head in Benny’s direction when Catherine suddenly grabbed his shoulder. Worried, he followed Catherine’s gaze which was back toward the little cabin.
Someone was standing in the doorway, leaning up against the uneven frame.
James and Catherine approached slowly as they both allowed the tips of their eidolons to emerge from the palms of their right hands. James scowled once he caught wind of the familiar signature, but Catherine threw all caution aside. She rushed the intruder and leapt into their arms.
The intruder stepped out into the light and Chloe emerged. Her green Sage robes were draped over her and her blonde and silver hair was shining brightly as it surfed the breeze. She and Catherine were both giggling as they embraced, but James stayed back.
When they finally parted, Catherine wiped the tears from her eyes as she
waved James to come over and say hello. Chloe’s hearty countenance fell once she saw the concern on James’ visage.
“What’s wrong, James?” she asked. “It looks like you saw a ghost.”
“I’m happy to see you,” he said. “But I’m trying to figure out why.”
“I’m here to see you, silly!” she laughed.
Catherine shook her head. “James, you’re nuts.” She turned to Chloe. “He’s not been feeling himself lately, don’t mind him. You’re here to get us to join the war, aren’t you?”
“Your involvement is part of it, I guess you could say,” Chloe said, scratching her head.
“You must have been searching for a long time,” James replied. “To come all the way from Delilah through Terra and then Paragon, and we’re kind of far away from any of the cities.”
“Can’t fool you, huh?” Chloe laughed. “I thought that after all we’ve been through, you would be a little more receptive.”
“What are you talking about?” Catherine frowned.
Chloe took a deep breath before she continued. “Well, the reason I’m here is because of James. He’s been…the subject of a lot of conversation lately.”
James didn’t say anything as the eidolon picked up some strange materials coming from under Chloe’s Sage robe. Materials that screamed defense. She was protecting herself from something, but was it from what the war would bring in general, or him?
“Because he was a valuable asset in the past?” Catherine said.
“Now, we think of him as a liability,” Chloe winced at saying it.
“The Delilah? What do they want?”
“I don’t know how to put this…we want him to surrender and come with us.”
“Us?”
“Damn it,” Chloe said as James looked behind him.
“Kyran’s here too, isn’t he?” James asked. “Just waiting for the right moment to strike.”
“What’s going on?!” Catherine yelled, her face beginning to go red.
“We got word that James has absorbed an alarming number of Ancient Knights and has gained a considerable boost of power as a result. We know of the Quietus bloodlust, combined with his love for you. He won’t stop if you’re in danger, and should his Quietus heritage take over completely at some point, we might not be able to stop him. The Quietus people in general are bound to their traditions and private laws, but James didn’t grow up that way. He’s an outlier that has to be considered dangerous, especially with all the chaos happening around us.”
The Last War (Book #9 of the Sage Saga) Page 5
