City Of Blood (War Of The Elements Book 2)

by Perusko, Daniel

  "It's really you. After all this time, it's really you."

  She sung happily before locking lips with him. Dusk couldn't even move. Shock had paralyzed his nerves. His thought processes shut down. He couldn't even form words in his head. He was wandering aimlessly through an endless fog. Everything that happened with X, and none of it could compare to this. Jolts of confused euphoria swam through his body for a few moments before he finally managed to salvage a sliver of his composure. He grasped her by the shoulders and pulled her away from their tender kiss. By all means, this was a pleasant surprise, but he needed answers.

  "You, who are you?" He whispered, his breath nearly stolen away.

  The woman stared dumbfounded for a moment before her face scrunched into a pained realization.

  "You still don't remember me?" Her voice was filled with hurt.

  "That's not true." He replied. "I've seen you. Very recently in my visions, I've seen a woman who looks just like you, staring at me with the very same look you gave me when you first laid eyes on me, but that's all I know. I don't know who you are..."

  She ran her fingers through his walnut colored hair, the compassion spilling through her eyes.

  "Those visions, they are you seeing through his eyes. You and he are one in the same. I'm your lost love."

  "My lost...love?"

  She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed deep, disappointed but not deterred. She would guide him to the right path, that he might embrace the destiny that had been lost to him for millennia.

  "Eons ago, we lived alongside one another in this very city. Trained together, grew together, loved one another."

  "You said he and I are one in the same, you're talking about X?"

  "The very same."

  "How can you say that?" He asked. The anger was swelling inside him. "How do I even know any of this is real? First someone who claims to be me says he wants to wipe out nearly all of Earth, and now a beautiful woman appears out of nowhere claiming to be my lost love? Do you have any idea how insane any of this is?"

  "It's the truth." She responded.

  "How am I supposed to believe that? Where's the proof?"

  The woman's eyes sunk downward, staring at his left hand.

  "The proof is in your hands—those swords of yours. The ones that X himself holds. That is when he changed into something else. He ceased to be the man that I fell in love with, but eventually, several lifetimes later, he returned to his original self."

  "And how did that happen?" The cynicism in his tone was clear.

  "After the destruction of Mars, X reincarnated on Earth in the body of someone named David. Just like you, he started out with visions of the past, and of me. David was the second incarnation I met. I never saw you again after his death, until now. I've been waiting for millennia wondering when we might meet again."

  She was doing it again. Her heartfelt words were melting his resistance, making him just want to give in to her.

  "I feel like I'm missing out on so much. I'm so frustrated. All these answers I should know that I don't. You said that you've been waiting all that time for me...but I don't remember our past. I'm sorry, I really am."

  She gently placed her hand on his face, running her fingertips down slowly. He grabbed her wrist by reflex, used to being on his guard around others, before deciding against resistance, releasing her hand from his grasp. Her warm smile shined on his soul.

  "Don't be sorry. It's not your fault. David sealed all of his memories up until that very moment. That includes all of his previous incarnations."

  "He sealed them...why?"

  "At the time David met me, he too, started having visions of his past. When his full memory returned to him, he couldn't bear the reality of what he had done on Mars. Since X was his previous incarnation, he felt responsible for the genocide. He tried living with it, but he couldn't. He loathed himself day in and day out. With those memories, he also remembered the Eon Blade and its power intimately. I tried so hard to help him through it, but in the end he chose to forget. He sealed the memories, along with the Eon Blade's power, regressing back into a normal human. For him, ignorance was bliss. That is why you don't remember me. That is why this is the only place you can manifest the Eon's powers."

  "So when I go back to Septunia, I'll be powerless again?"

  "You won't have the power of the Eon, no, not until you accept X."

  "X..." Dusk spoke the name with a bitter taste in his mouth. "His descent into madness, it started with the war, didn't it?"

  The golden goddess released Dusk from her loving embrace, turning away in shame as her voice became drenched in sadness for the first time. "That war...that five hundred year war; that is my sin."

  "Your sin?"

  "It all started with me."

  "What are you talking about?"

  She spun around, hardening her expression into iron, ready to regale her lost love with the origins of the red planet's bloodshed.

  "The first incarnation that I can remember, her name was Kara. Long ago, before the Martians were at war, this was who I was. I lived a humble life in my birthplace in the Zaxin Empire. I had a unique power that had never before been seen. I too, had a sword akin to the Eon Blade, but it was something else entirely. Instead of being material, it was molded entirely by my spirit. Instead of being destructive in nature, it was restorative. I could heal the sick. As long as it was a living creature, I could cure them of the ailments that afflicted them. I made it my mission to go out and heal as many people as possible. I believed that to be my purpose. I found this work to be utterly satisfying, but these blissful days would soon end."

  "What happened?"

  "The more people I healed, the greater my reputation became. Eventually, the higher ups of the Zaxin Empire took me from my home, cooping me up in the Royal Palace. I was not allowed to leave without the Emperor's approval. No longer could I heal whoever I wished of my own free will. My powers were monopolized by the wealthy elite. If someone not of noble blood wanted their health restored, the Zaxin royalty would charge them a hefty fee. Most commoners could not afford this, and so my life for the next two years was spent caged in the palace, the most lavish of jail cells. I was given servants that would cater to my every whim. I forbade this servitude, but the nobles insisted upon it. Eventually I came to be a figure of godhood to the Zaxins, forced to be wed to the Emperor, worshipped by everyone, all the while being held captive in an expensive cage."

  Dusk couldn't say he was surprised. Tools in and of themselves were neither beneficial nor detrimental to mankind. It was the humans operating those tools which determined its function. The ruling elite of the Zaxins turned Kara's power, something purely beneficial, and relegated it into a profit making scheme. Those who already had the most belongings in that world still wanted more.

  "Then the war started because the citizens were outraged at the Zaxin government, right? They rose up and rebelled against them?" Dusk was pretty certain this had to be the case, but as it turns out, he was wrong.

  "It wasn't the citizens. It was the Republic of Plur. Their relations with the Zaxin Empire were already tense when Zaxin took one of their salforens colonies. Salforens is very similar in nature to your coal, albeit red in hue, and much less damaging to the environment. It fueled our vehicles as well as heating our homes. It was undoubtedly the most valuable resource on Mars. Each and every salforens mine was precious."

  While this was an interesting story, Dusk's raised eyebrow told the full tale. His mind was submerged in confusion. "What does this have to do with you?" He asked.

  "I was just a resource to everyone. The Plurs knew of me and my abilities. They must have been patiently planning their assault. One year later, it was the day of the Royal Wedding, I had officially become the Emperor's wife. The ceremony went without incident, until the after celebration. We held a grand parade on the streets of Zax that we might show off our 'happiness' for all to see. As I said,
I came to be seen as a goddess amongst the Zaxins, so the Emperor saw marrying me as a move to solidify his own power and gain favor with the people."

  "Everything seemed to be going quite smoothly, that is until a squad of highly trained Plur soldiers engaged the Zaxin convoy in a firefight. The streets erupted into pandemonium. Innocent citizens died as collateral damage. During the chaos, they tried to abduct the Emperor and myself. They failed in abducting the Emperor, but a few surviving Plurs managed to capture me and seal me away in Azin Luria, their stronghold. They told the Emperor if he wanted me back, he'd have to return the salforens mine to them, as well as lowering their trade price for rhimia, a precious gem that only existed in the lands of Zax. On top of this, the Plurs demanded the Emperor himself issue a public apology for their past seizure of their salforens colony. Naturally the Emperor refused their demands, declaring war against the Plurs in his outrage."

  "During my stay in Azin Luria, the Plurs treated me with care and assured me I could have whatever my little heart desired, except freedom. I was treated like a mere piece on a chessboard, a tool of war. To them, I was just another advantage to gain in their battle, just like the salforens they fought over. I fell into despair, seeing my future ripped away from me, destined to live the rest of my life as a caged bird and knowing that I would be the cause of a war that would take innocent lives. I wanted to help people, but I ended up killing so many. I even considered suicide. I thought maybe if I was gone the war would stop..."

  Dusk typically kept a safe distance from people, reluctant to get emotionally attached, especially now. Yet he couldn't help enveloping her, holding her in his arms. This woman, he just wanted to help her, to make her sorrow go away. He felt her reciprocate the embrace.

  "I'm sorry. No one should have to go through that. You only wanted to help others, you did nothing wrong."

  "If only that were true. When the Plurs took me, it signaled the start of a five hundred year war that would only end when hell froze over, literally. So many lives ended because of me, so much blood spilled because of me."

  Her graceful form trembled in his arms. Simply recalling these memories still brought forth a wave of sadness from inside her.

  "Not because of you. You can't control what other people do."

  "Every lifetime thereafter, I lived with the guilt. The guilt of being the root cause of a war that killed millions. Until I met X several lifetimes later, I kept the secret locked away, along with the healing blade that I still possessed. We travelled together for years. When I told him, he accepted me. I wasn't treated as a goddess or an object, but simply a human. To have someone accept that part of myself, it was beyond words. I tried so hard to stop the war in every incarnation, feeling a personal responsibility for all of the death and destruction, but I failed. That's when we found what we thought was the answer, but it was just more sorrow."

  "What answer?" If there even was an answer, Dusk had to know.

  "You already know the answer."

  Dusk closed his eyes and scoffed in disgust. "The Eon Blade, right?"

  "With such power at our disposal, we could have made them agree to a peace. After X wrought devastation upon the Plurs and Zaxins both, the ones who held power decided the war was no longer profitable. They sought a new leader to usher in an age of peace. I was already in the public eye, having spent every waking moment lobbying for peace in my current incarnation, that our civilization might survive. In doing so I unveiled my secret, the spirit sword that only I could wield. It was a huge risk, but our species was on its dying breath, I had to do something. My lineage was then traced back to Kara, the one whom the Zaxins revered. Because I had been the Emperor's wife in my Kara incarnation, I had a claim to the throne. All of the conditions were right for my ascension to Empress, and so it was. Thanks to the new desire for peace among the Zaxin populace, I was named the new Empress of the Zax lands, replacing the current warmongering Emperor after he was conveniently assassinated. Under my rule, slowly but surely, we took steps towards restoring a healthy, less shaky relationship, between the Zaxins and Plurs."

  "Yet, my rule was merely a short twenty years. I thought we were making progress, but the end of Mars was fast approaching. You see, Zax had the majority of technology necessary for space travel. Before I could even negotiate an agreement where we might share technology, the Plurs had decided to rekindle the war, that they might take it for themselves. People had become desperate to leave the planet as our temperature continued to fall. I tried everything to keep the peace, but to no avail. The nobles were clearly dismayed that my thirst for blood did not match theirs. And so, one day, I began to fall ill. I had been poisoned with klentin, a Martian poison that makes it appear as though the recipient has died a natural death. Two days later, I died of heart failure. The way history tells it, I had died of a natural illness, but this was not the case."

  The woman let her hands fall to her sides, clenching the pent up anger into a fist as her voice began to seethe. "Unsurprisingly, the war's flames rekindled to full strength after my death."

  "Sounds like all of your lives on Mars were crazy." Dusk reflected out loud.

  "Not all, but I must say, ruling was rather stressful." She responded, the ire already diffused from her voice.

  "So the only way to create a peace on Mars was for X to cripple the people with fear. So what then? You want me to master the power of the Eon Blade and use it as a tool of fear among the Earth people? That's not true peace, it's just a lie."

  "And yet Earth, your homeworld, is delaying its destruction with the same tactic." The mystery woman countered him. True, the only thing that kept the delicate balance of peace in check were the nuclear weapons placed around the world. Even so, that couldn't last forever. One day that balance would be broken, and when that happened, it's highly likely the world would fall into a winter the likes of which it had never seen—a nuclear winter.

  "I never said it was the right way to go about things. Even so, I don't have the answer either."

  The white robed woman took gentle hold of his face with both of her slender hands, beaming a loving smile at him.

  "It’s not just power, there were legends that this mystical blade was really the answer to everything. That the one who draws on it would gain untold wisdom. The wisdom to end a world crisis. Perhaps with that wisdom, you can attain the answer that has evaded us all. Yet, in the end it snatched my loved one away from me and killed countless more. So it is not without considerable risk to take up the blade. Yet those who never take great risks will never receive great rewards."

  The mystical beauty sighed beneath the ruby glow that shone upon them from the buildings. "Maybe I shouldn't have told him about my past. He was always such a hopeful soul, so pure and kind. Yet after I revealed my secret to him, he spoke of his fellow Martians with such disdain. He wished for the suffering of those who continued to perpetuate the war. He was already going down the path towards hatred even before grasping the blade. I think the truth of my past is part of what pushed him to become that way. In that sense, I've been responsible for even more deaths since then."

  "Stop." Dusk interrupted her. "Stop blaming yourself for what other people do. No matter what happened in the past, the present is all that matters."

  "The weight of my burden is heavy, and I decided to share it with him, and now with you. Did I make a mistake again? But for the Earth to survive, you have to master the blade's power. "

  "Earth's survival is up...to me?"

  "If Earth continues its current course, it will be destroyed within fifty years at the most. That's why I can't blame X too much for his way of thinking. He sees no other way. Even so, it is wrong. Barring self defense, no one has the right to kill another."

  "Fifty years. So in my lifetime, then? I'd ask you what would cause Earth's destruction, but I think X already gave me a list. No pressure, right?" Dusk slipped in a cocky chuckle to shroud the apprehension he felt deep within.

 
She smiled and pressed her forehead against his, lowering her voice to a soft murmur.

  "Will you succeed where X has failed?"

  "I'd rather die than turn into him." This woman's presence made him feel like he could take on the universe. He was even confident he could conquer the Eon Blade's power with her by his side.

  "Drake, listen to me. X is simply a man who lost his way. Don't blame him, but don't become him either. You and he are two sides of the same coin, yin and yang. I know what you've been thinking lately—dark thoughts. Don't let yourself be consumed by evil like he was. As long as you stay pure and strong, you can conquer any challenge before you—even the collective weight of billions. I have faith in you. Just flow, and take what comes as it comes. I know you're going through a dark time right now, but I promise you it will get better. There is hope. There is love nearby if you know where to look."

  She was right. He had been through hell recently. Even so, this woman's words filled him with confidence that there would be a brighter tomorrow. She leaned in and kissed him one last time.

  "As much as I want to stay here and talk with you more, our time is coming to an end."