“Oh yeah?”
“Olivia!” I yelled out. “I don’t want that to be known. Least of all to a stranger.”
“I’ve been trying to persuade her to come with me,” Eckard said. “But she’s unsure.”
“What’s holding you back?” Olivia asked her, but Remi just shook her head.
“I’d rather not talk about that right now.”
“I might as well continue with what we were talking about earlier,” Eckard replied. “I can tell you anything you want to know about Paragon.”
“Is there really a war going on?” Olivia asked. “Or is it things our parents say to scare us?”
“The threat of war is very real,” Eckard admitted. “But no one is making any moves that would set things off. There’s a lot of flexing of muscles, but not much more than that. Paragon and Cimmerian have a few systems in place in which they can gather up their armies and perform drills if they want without beginning the conflict. Once the war begins, it won’t be over until one side has won completely.”
“Any idea on who has the better chance of winning?”
“Probably Cimmerian,” Remi muttered and Olivia scowled at her.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because he wants me to train with the other Sages.”
“The Sages are real?!”
“They’re probably not what we think. Remember, I can take out an eidolon too.”
“But they might be able to do more than that,” Olivia said in awe. “What does Cimmerian have that would make them the winner?”
“It’s because they are better organized,” Eckard sighed. “As much as it pains me to admit it. We have the Sages, but there aren’t many of us. At least…not ones that are willing to put their lives on the line for Paragon. Also, Paragon’s government is—and this is just my opinion—I think they are underestimating Cimmerian’s forces. If you look at history, it usually only takes one man or woman to threaten all of society. Now imagine all of those people congregated in one place, exchanging notes and perfecting their strategy. If I had to guess, Cimmerian has a very good chance of winning.”
“In your opinion,” Olivia said, “when do you think the war’s going to start?”
“Hard to say. No one’s in a rush. Could be decades. Centuries. Who knows? Since the worlds collided, we all have immortality now. Well, from old age and all that.”
“Yes,” Remi replied. “That might be true, but violence, illness and everything else affects us as easily as it did in the past. I never knew the old world, but I know that people valued life the same way they do now, if not more so. Now do you get why I’m not so ready to just go to Paragon with you? I could be taking that away from someone. The life they cherish so much.”
“Sorry,” Eckard winced. “Maybe I didn’t say things the way I wanted to. What I was trying to say is that despite our immortality, this threat of war could mean the end of everyone. New births are at an all-time low and a prolonged conflict could destroy humanity as we know it. We could pursue peace and living in harmony, but some are willing to risk everything for their own gain. Both Paragon and Cimmerian are guilty of this in their own ways.”
“So they’re the same?” Olivia asked in disappointment.
“Oh, no. Not at all. I mean, I can’t say for sure what Cimmerian is like as I’ve never been there, but I’ve lived in Paragon and it’s magnificent. Wide valleys and lush fields, gentlemen and ladies, mutual understanding and new inventions. Sunshine and cozy homes. It’s beautiful.”
“You think that’s why Cimmerian wants to take it over?”
Eckard shrugged his shoulders. “I have no clue.”
“What if I wanted to go?” Olivia asked, and Remi looked at her in shock. She had never even considered the alternative—Olivia taking her place. Her friend had been her rock and had kept her from the brink of suicide many times throughout their preteens. And even more than that, Olivia had made her laugh when no one else could and kept her positive whenever her parents questioned her existence.
“I admire your spirit,” Eckard said. “But I can’t. I don’t know if you would be a good fit.”
She scowled at him. “You didn’t even give me a chance.”
“What can you do?”
“I work with heat,” she said, putting the palm of her hand on the cot. Immediately a thin vapor of smoke began to rise from the corner. Eckard watched carefully as the wood began to glow a deep dark red and then a small flame appeared. She took her hand away and the flame disappeared.
“You can control fire?” he asked and she shook her head.
“Not exactly. I raise the temperature within my own body to heat up any object I touch to any degree that I please. I could make a sword more deadly. I can free myself from any prison. I can keep a group warm in the middle of winter. I can be very useful.”
“What’s the hottest temperature you’ve reached?”
“I don’t know exactly, but I’ve never felt any limits. My body seems to be immune.”
Eckard thought to himself carefully. “I’ll have to consult with a few people, but I think I might be able to make a recommendation. You can’t release an eidolon, right?”
“No,” she mumbled.
“What does it matter?” Remi scoffed. She didn’t want her friend to leave, but she certainly wasn’t going to hold her back on her behalf. If she left, she would miss her, but at least she would find some solace in knowing that she was happy. “It sounds like she has very useful qualities. What does releasing a stupid sword from your chest matter?”
“Because it’s a symbol of one overpowering their will which is far more important than just having basic abilities.”
Olivia was taken aback. “Basic abilities?”
“Since the worlds collided, the atmosphere changed the way people can defend themselves.” He chose his words carefully, as if he was making sure he didn’t reveal too much. “Before…anyone had the ability to release an eidolon while now…it’s quite rare. I was a Sage before the Collision, so my ability to release an eidolon isn’t so impressive. You, however,” he paused to ensure that Remi was listening. “…you’ve done it afterwards. Basic abilities are just that. Powers that anyone can possess.”
“So there are people out there that can do what I do?” Olivia asked.
“Probably. I haven’t seen it, but I definitely wouldn’t rule it out. It doesn’t mean I’m giving you a no though. We’ll just have to see.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Remi said to her friend. “Having an eidolon doesn’t mean a thing. And if the Sages are so focused on someone possessing one in order to join them, then they don’t deserve to win this war.”
“Maybe I should leave,” he said suddenly, and only Olivia was concerned.
“So you’ll come back and let me know what the answer is?” she asked.
“Definitely,” he said, giving her a smile. Remi noticed that he didn’t bother looking back at her. “You two take care. It shouldn’t be too long.”
He spun around and began walking away in one swift movement. Once his feet hit the dirt, they barely heard a thing. Olivia chuckled to herself.
“Well, he was cute.”
“You could go after him,” Remi replied.
Olivia shook her head. “He said I had to stay here.”
“But if you chase after him, he won’t be able to say no. Especially if you stay back and wait until he’s in trouble.”
“Or you could go,” Olivia replied. “You’re a better fighter than I am.”
“That’s debatable,” Remi sighed, closing her eyes. Though she had woken up just a little while ago, she could already feel the pull of slumber. She shouldn’t have shut her eyes, even for a moment. “Before I can think about going out there, I have to prepare my body a little more.”
“You’ve already been in training though. I’ve seen you practicing your sword techniques late at night.”
“I’ve worked on fighting, but not on surviving. I don’t know w
hat it feels like to go hungry for days. I don’t know what it’s like to have to run for a long period of time because I’m being chased. I’ve never experienced true fear or seen real danger. That’s got to change.”
“So how many more years are you going to spend in preparation?” Olivia sighed.
“Just one,” Remi said, facing her friend with steady eyes. “That’s it. And whether I’m ready or not, I’ll leave. How does that sound?”
“Who says I’m coming with you?” Olivia scoffed.
“Of course you are!” Remi laughed, unsure if her friend was serious or not.
She gave Remi a smirk. “You assume too much.”
“You would really let me go out alone?”
“How about you show me what you can do a year from now and then we’ll talk. I don’t want to be responsible for you if something goes wrong. If we leave this place, I want us to be equals. I’m not trying to sound mean. I just think that’s how it should be.”
“I wouldn’t want it any other way. I don’t want to be left behind.” Remi walked away from her and took a few steps out of the building.
“Where are you going?” Olivia called after her, but Remi didn’t have a reply. She didn’t have time to chat. If she was being honest with herself, she wasn’t sure if a year was enough time, but she had to try. She realized that there had to be a point in which she should just throw preparation to the wind and go for her ambitions. Perfection was a good thing to strive for, but it certainly wasn’t attainable. She had to come to terms with that.
Deep down she knew she couldn’t go with Eckard simply because the truth was all too clear. No matter how much she trained her body, it would always be weak. All she could strengthen was her mind. And that…would have to be enough.
Chapter 4 – Mind over Matter
“The atmosphere changes every day,” Olivia said as she paced around Remi.
Remi sighed and rolled her eyes. “I already know this.”
“No, you don’t. Otherwise you would have mentioned it.”
“Everyone knows about the atmosphere changes.”
“They know intellectually, but they don’t know emotionally and physically. Even now I can feel the transformation in the air around me. Foreign particles that were once settled are now kicked up and dancing all around me. I’m breathing them in and they are becoming a part of me, slowly changing everything that I am. I gain my power from the atmosphere, and—”
“—I gain my power from within,” Remi interrupted. Olivia paused and mulled over her words.
“What makes you say that?”
“Your abilities make sense. Being able to heat up your body? That’s something everyone can do. However, in your case, the atmosphere altered your cells in a way that you can go beyond that. We’ve seen people in our town develop super sight, or have the ability to control their flow of adrenaline, heal their sick bodies at a rapid rate or defy gravity itself. But me? What’s the point of what I can do? An eidolon is a part of my soul, but from what we’ve heard, people could do what I do before the worlds collided.”
“What are you really saying?”
“I’m saying that the atmosphere doesn’t affect me the way it does for you and the others.”
Olivia scoffed. “So you’re special now? Because that guy told you so?”
Remi waved her hands up in the air frantically. “No, I’m not trying to be egotistical. But I have put a lot of thought into this, and I just can’t shake the feeling that all of this has to mean something.”
“What I’m hearing is that my training doesn’t matter to you.”
“I don’t know if it does,” Remi said honestly. “But…I…I do want to hear what you have to say. Even if I might not be able to use any of your advice.”
“You should have just kept your mouth shut and told me afterwards.”
“I didn’t know how long you were going to talk,” Remi cringed. “And time is short. A year, remember?”
“Yeah, I know,” she muttered, closing her eyes. “Okay, well, what I’m saying is at least something you should consider. Just because you might get your power from within, that doesn’t mean the air you’re breathing doesn’t have an effect on you.”
“I know,” Remi replied. She dared not say anymore. She could tell by the tapping of Olivia’s feet and her tense, raised shoulders that she was on the brink of going home. “So…what were you saying?”
“I was explaining to you how I gain strength from the atmosphere. It’s subtle differences because we’ve lived here all our lives, but I imagine that as we travel to the other worlds, things might change. Terra had a different composition once, and so the air might not be the same. It’s something I’ll have to keep in mind.”
“Me too. My eidolon might get weaker when I bring it out.”
“Hey, I have a question for you.”
“Yeah?”
“Can you do more than take out that thing?” Remi’s eyes widened in surprise. What made Olivia think of that? Now that she thought about it, it was the first time she had taken out her eidolon in front of her. That must have been a shock, and she wouldn’t be surprised if her friend now felt a betrayal of trust over it. It wasn’t that she was trying to be secretive about it. Just that she truly thought of the eidolon that low on the scale of importance. Still, the damage was now done, and there was no reason to hide anything else.
“I can do one more thing,” Remi admitted, taking a deep breath.
“Show me,” Olivia demanded, and Remi was happy to oblige.
“I can only do this for a few seconds, so pay attention.” Remi clenched her fists tight and concentrated on transforming her body. A second later, the dust blew away from all around her and she was in the middle of an invisible bubble. There was no air to be found inside, as if she had just been transported into the very vacuum of space. She couldn’t breathe, but again, it would only take a few seconds.
Her hair was suddenly cut short, as if the roots had receded inside of her head half-way, and the follicles had stiffened. Slowly, as if a caterpillar was spiraling around each of her winds, a trail of lily white fabric followed, clothing her from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head, donning her in a hooded robe that hung low enough to cover her forehead.
The bubble burst, and Olivia was slightly thrown back with the dirt around her flying into her face. The winds caused by Remi’s sudden freedom scrapped the walls of the buildings near them clean. Remi never understood why wind came out when the bubble burst, but she had to admit that it was a cool effect. Olivia was in awe over her friend’s transformation.
But as promised, it was only for a few seconds.
Suddenly, the robe disappeared in the blink of an eye. And Remi fell to her knees in exhaustion, sweating so profusely that her skin was getting clammy from the light breeze around them. Olivia rushed forward and grabbed Remi’s fallen poncho from the ground. She lightly wiped it off though it was now cleaner than it had been in weeks, and then she placed it carefully over her friend’s shoulders.
“What was that?” Olivia whispered and Remi tried to smile, but it hurt too much.
“I got stronger…just…just…for a second,” Remi rasped. She wrapped her arms around her abdomen and began rocking in place.
“It seems like it really takes a toll on you though,” Olivia observed. “Is it even worth it?”
“No,” Remi whispered weakly. Olivia bent down and wrapped her arms around her.
“We still have plenty of time to get stronger.”
“I don’t know…if I want to work on that,” Remi huffed, gaining back a little of her breath.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUTSIDE?!” a familiar voice screamed from in front of them. The two girls looked up to see that the raid group had returned, and from the sunken eyes and crestfallen faces, they had come back empty handed. Remi’s eyes fell upon her mother, glaring back at her with a clenched jaw and a fire in her eyes.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUTSIDE?” she screamed
as she stormed ahead of the pack and straight for Remi. Olivia tensed up as she saw the woman approaching, but Remi’s mother knew better than to attack her daughter. The blows may kill her and Remi could still be useful in life rather than death, even if it was only to be future bait for some horrible monster.
“I just wanted to get out the house,” Remi muttered. Her mother grabbed her jaw with her dirty hands and lifted her face until their eyes were level.
“You know that makes you sicker! And what are you going to do if you run a fever again? We don’t have any food to give you strength.”
“Then I would die, I guess.” Remi decided to test her.
“At least our house would get more to eat,” her mother spat on the ground. Remi bowed her head and her mother roughly let go of her jaw.
“No success?” Remi muttered as her mother turned to face the returning raid group. There were certainly less people than those that had left.
“None at all.”
“Where’s Father?”
“Still out there looking. I would be out there with him if we didn’t have more pressing business to attend to.”
“Business?”
“Bring the wretch forward.” Remi raised her gaze and saw four men carrying a long and dirty sack. Each of the men were bent down low, as the weight of what was inside drained their already depleted energy. They couldn’t make it to Remi’s mother. Tapped out of energy, they dropped the sack to the dirt and began huffing as they leaned onto their knees. Remi’s mother shook her head and proceeded to open one end of the sack, carefully untying the knots. When she was finished, the first thing that Remi noticed was a patch of hair sticking out.
Was it Eckard?
No, the hair was a lot different…but there was definitely a body inside.
“What is that?” an elderly man asked from behind Remi and Olivia. He had come out of his house to inquire about the raid group’s success, or lack thereof. “Are we going to eat it?”
“No, it’s not for eating,” Remi’s mother replied, giving the sack a good kick. It didn’t move in response. “But he might lead us to food one day. Call it an investment.” She nodded toward the four men who had now caught their breath, and they began pulling at the tail end of the sack, revealing the prize within.
The Last War (Book #9 of the Sage Saga) Page 18
