The Yama are strong, but in large numbers they are manageable. They get in each other’s way.
That’s when he heard Sway cry out in pain. Zhou turned around to see Sway being grabbed by his dreadlocks and forced onto his back. The momentary distraction was all the Yama needed to stab him through his left side, right in his ribs. Zhou decapitated the Yama that attacked him and then continued swinging blindly.
It was a winless battle, but a necessary one.
* * *
“And therefore,” Zain’s advisor read, “we request your assistance post haste. We fear that by the time this letter reaches your borders it may be too late but even so, we will fight until there is not one citizen or Sage left at our disposal. We will be resilient, and wait for your help, in which we will then be able to vanquish the enemy before us, and continue the age of peace that we have enjoyed in these past few years.”
The advisor put the letter down and looked at the eight men before him, sitting at the long table in Zain’s recently declared “War Room.” Nothing much had changed in the old meeting hall, just the title. But even so, the atmosphere had undeniably been changed. The weight that hung over Zain and his most trusted advisors and warriors seemed to get even heavier upon the letter’s final words.
“What a joke,” Zain scoffed, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. “Seeker doesn’t sound like that at all.”
“We’ve never heard his voice personally,” Oin replied, drumming his fingers on the table.
“I’ve had over a hundred reports describing him,” Zain replied. “On how he spoke. They even gave me a few demonstrations. This man,” Zain stopped to poke a finger into the wood. “This man…he is trying to pull something.”
“Allay is asking for our assistance,” Bein said, the advisor who read the letter. “And we have been allies with them since Thorn’s defeat. If the Yama—”
“It could be a trick, did you think of that?”
“I know that the Yama in Languor were illusions, but—”
“And it’s not conceivable to think that that Sage isn’t doing it again? Using illusions to turn Allay against itself.”
“It’s not impossible,” Bein said sheepishly.
“I don’t want to give them aid.”
“Let’s say it is true,” Lopin spoke up, one of Zain’s best fighters. “What if the Yama, the real Yama…have arrived?”
“What does that change?”
“It means that they will come after us eventually.”
“There’s no guarantee of that. The Sages are the ones with the grudge. The Sages are always the ones with the problems. The world may be better off without them. You know what, yeah,” Zain said, sitting up. “Think of how our Kingdom was before Catherine and her Sages came for the stones. How prosperous we were.”
“Have you forgotten about Thorn already?” Bein said. “If they hadn’t come, we would have been annihilated by his hand, and the same can be said for these Yama.”
“I swore to never help Catherine again.”
“This isn’t Catherine. This is Seeker requesting our help.”
“And I’m saying no,” Zain said. “Unless you can all give me a compelling reason to act, I say that we take care of our own for once. Have you taken a census among our fighting youth lately? We lose our young ones to the Sage Academy every month. They are promised grandiose ideals and dreams fulfilled when nothing can be further from the truth. They learn that at the Sage Academy they are looked down upon and there are no classes that cater to the Langoran way. Yet they don’t return to us, and why is that? It’s because they are too embarrassed. What Langoran would return here after choosing to spend so much time with Allayans?”
“If we had an Academy, perhaps that would remedy the situation.”
“It wouldn’t be hard to build,” Oin said. Others nodded their heads.
“And that’s what we need,” Zain said. “I think we’re ready for a change. In order to preserve our culture and our future, we need to start working toward a common goal. I am tired of having our people look at the Sages in awe. It’s disgusting. Given the proper training, we can be more powerful than they.”
“I think that with the right moves, we could become the dominant Kingdom,” Bein said. “Allay holds that title now, but it’s only because of their role in the Thorn fiasco. With the controversial changes in leadership happening in Allay, people are beginning to doubt that Kingdom’s decisions. This is a time for us to step in.”
“Then it’s settled,” Zain said with a smile. “Our next step is to begin formulating a plan that will transform our Kingdom into the dominant power it was always meant to be. The people won’t enjoy the labor at first, but once they see the rewards, attitudes will change. In the meantime, begin fortifying the walls. Close the gates to outsiders and send a message to Allay: assistance denied.”
“With pleasure,” Bein replied. “And might I say, that is an excellent decision you have made.”
* * *
Bastion winced in pain as his arm was torn from his body. He wanted to cry out and tell Lily to stop but he fought the urge. He had endured worse, and he was sure he would again. Lily took his other arm from him and this time his eyes shot open in alarm. He kicked at her instinctively but all he did was lose his balance. He fell onto his butt and tried to wriggle to his feet but Lily stepped on his chest.
It was only then that he realized that he might have made a mistake. If Lily…was the enemy, this was the moment in which he would die—when he was helpless and weak. Perhaps it was foolish to trust her so quickly. And why had he in the first place? A few kisses and kind words? A bat of the eyes and some time spent together? Bastion tried to tell her to stop when she suddenly stomped her foot down onto his throat. He gagged and began concentrating on the energy he had left.
It was supposed to be a simple training session. To increase his tolerance to pain and find the limits of his abilities. But that all wouldn’t matter if she killed him right now. He was stronger than her in general but not by a whole lot. At the moment, she had the upper hand in all areas. He was at her mercy.
And for the first time he truly thought about what death would be like for him. Would he find the peace he longed for? Would he open his eyes in Oblivion? Did such places exist at all or were they merely tricks? Illusions? Strange dreams and visions? He had heard the stories, but he wasn’t sure about it himself. There were reports of loved ones being taken up to Paradise. The whole ordeal with Thorn had been a big deal. Heck, the whole quest for the stones of power were to prevent the loss of Paradise. So if those two places didn’t exist, what truly awaited him in death? And more importantly…why was he already accepting his fate? Why wasn’t he fighting against Lily?
The foot removed itself from his throat and Bastion gasped for air. Lily put one hand on his shoulder and another on his waist, and then she awkwardly lifted him to his feet.
“You need to heal those wounds,” she said, her eyes darting back and forth at where his arms used to be. “You’re taking too long. I don’t want that to become permanent.”
“You didn’t…” he rasped as he began concentrating on the regeneration. “You didn’t kill me.”
“Why would I do that?” she cried out in shock. “What’s wrong with you? If you thought I was capable of doing something like that, why did you let me hurt you so badly in the first place?”
“I wasn’t thinking,” he replied, his two arms mostly formed at his sides. They were like two fleshy logs, solid and proper in width, but lacking the muscles that qualified them as “arms.”
“No, you weren’t,” Lily said through grit teeth. “Why would I kill you anyways?”
“You don’t know even know who your masters are and the kind of hold they have over you. They might be able to control you at will.”
“Or they don’t…and I just would have killed you myself, right?”
“I don’t know,” Bastion said, his eyes searching hers. “Let’s just say that I w
asn’t sure about you until now.”
“Yet you were ready to put your tongue down my throat.”
“Don’t be gross.”
“I’m being realistic,” she said, stomping a foot in the ground. “Why would you even make me think you cared about me if you thought I might kill you? I thought you understood me. I thought you knew that I hated to be USED! I made that very clear.”
“I didn’t use you. I wanted to kiss you,” he said, raising his fully formed hands. He used them to take hold of her arms and pull her close to him. He hugged her tight as he spoke into her hair. “And I still do,” he said. “Even you did want to kill me…I wouldn’t stop you.”
“What’s wrong with you?” she exclaimed, pushing him off of her. “Why would you just accept death like that?”
“Because I’m sick of life,” he said in exasperation. “Even when I realized that you might kill me…I didn’t fight it because I really wouldn’t have minded dying. This life I have now…it’s not my life. It’s not what I chose. I have this…power or responsibility, whatever you want call it. Whatever it is…I’m not in control. I don’t get to decide my fate or my purpose. At this moment, I’m just mindlessly moving forward, waiting for the day I reach the end.”
“At least you’re completely human,” she replied. “You can make friends and fall in love. Have a life with someone—”
“But that’s the thing. I can’t! Don’t you see? My life is completely bound to whatever I’m purposed to do. Any life I start with someone will just end in death, separation or strife. Any children I have…I’ll be counting down the days until I won’t be able to see them any longer. Any enemy that comes to our shores, I will be called upon to face them.”
“Isn’t that what Sages are though? Soldiers bound to their duty?”
“I DIDN’T ASK TO BE A SAGE!” Bastion screamed. She took a deep breath and clenched her jaw. She didn’t like being yelled at, but she knew he hadn’t meant the outburst to be toward her. “I didn’t want any of this,” Bastion cried, wiping a hand down his face. “I feel like I’m still a child and everyone wants me to make decisions for the entire world when all I want to do is play.”
“Boo-hoo,” Lily replied. Bastion looked at her in surprise. “Big deal. How do you think it feels for me? I could probably be called back to my masters at a moment’s notice. Scrapped and torn apart, my personality wiped clean. It’s horrifying, but I’m not going to let that paralyze me. I have to keep moving forward, try to figure out what I have to do to put myself in a better situation, and if I’m lucky, have a little fun on the way. You know, you should be happy. Because with all this suffering you’ve endured, at least for now, you still have me.”
“And for how long?” Bastion replied, clenching his fists. “How long until you’re taken away from me? Or someone captures you and begins using your power?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said with a sly smile. “That won’t happen unless you let it. You could divert your focus to something you can do…keeping me safe.”
“And in the meantime…you would be with me, helping me with whatever it is I must do.”
“That’s right. A mutually beneficial relationship.”
“A relationship,” he said, unclenching his fists. “Yeah, I can deal with that.”
“This isn’t a business transaction,” she laughed, stepping toward him.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m saying that we’re helping each other…but let’s enjoy each other too.” She kissed him softly on the cheek, and Bastion kissed her back on the lips. She smiled and he closed his eyes.
He wouldn’t lose her.
He just wouldn’t.
Chapter 6 – What We Need
“You tired?” Zhou laughed manically as he cut through another Yama. Sway groaned and kept swinging his eidolon, barely nicking the Yama’s skin. “Come on, put some elbow behind your swings!”
“I got stabbed, remember?” Sway retorted, angrily slashing a Yama in two.
“So?”
“So? So, I got stabbed! This guy…saying ‘so.’” Zhou glanced behind him momentarily to see Sway fighting off dozens of Yama, all clamoring over each other and fighting for their turn at the young Sage. Though they were in the forest, it certainly didn’t feel like it. The very top of the forest canopy was visible and a bit of sunlight still illuminated the area, but otherwise, all they saw was Yama, climbing on top of each other and forming large flesh walls that towered high over their heads. The Yama at the top would jump down into the invisible ring below, attempting to overcome their opponents. It hasn’t worked yet, but it managed to scare Sway every time they tried. He was having enough trouble keeping his eyes all around him, let alone above. He prayed that they wouldn’t begin popping up from the ground. He would have a heart attack at that point.
“It’s just a scratch,” Zhou grunted as he pressed his blade against the abdomen of three Yama, pushing them backwards into the wall. “Let the adrenaline tell you so.”
“There’s no way we’re getting out of this,” Sway muttered. Zhou slapped him upside his head, breaking Sway’s concentration and causing him to get cut by a Yama claw on the leg. He decapitated the Yama and went back to keeping his front clear. “Why would you do that?” he asked Zhou and he heard the Master Sage chuckle.
“Of course we’re not getting out of this,” he declared, almost happily. Sway figured he had just lost his mind.
“I don’t know why you sound so excited about it.”
“Because we’re still fulfilling our duty,” he replied casually, cutting through a Yama’s back. “Don’t focus on the future, and especially not death. Take in the moment and embrace the present. The present will eventually become the future, and all will be taken care of. Our Queen gave us an order. That order is our lives now. Nothing else matters.”
“I don’t know how you can think so linear,” Sway said, his breath beginning to catch in his lungs. He tried to steady it, but the onslaught of Yama wouldn’t allow it. He could feel that his end was near.
“Fine, let’s debate your way of thinking. Let’s say we make it. Good. We survive another day. If we die, as long as we keep the Yama at bay, who cares? We give the Queen what she needs and our fellow Sages the time they need to form a plan, defeat the Yama, and all is well. We did our job. Whether we think of the future, hold on,” he stopped to kick a Yama in the face, and then he swiped through a couple more that had fallen from above, cutting them into pieces by the time they hit the ground. “What was I saying? Oh yeah…whether we think of the future or dwell on the past, the present is all we reside in, so let’s just get the job done.”
“I guess,” Sway gasped. His chest burned, and he grit his teeth as he felt another dreadlock being ripped from the crown of his head. “But even with the whole present thing…you do know that—”
“—these Yama are not the heavyhitters?” Zhou replied. “That these are just the grunts and so that means Catherine and the others will have to face the real threats?”
“Yes,” Sway whispered, falling to one knee. A Yama leapt to back of the young Sage’s throat and began to bite through his neck. Zhou reacted before it could go any further. With a quick swipe of his blade, he sliced off the heads of both the Yama and Sway, sending their bodies down to the ground in a slump. Zhou sighed and turned back to his work, but now he had all sides closing in upon him. He was able to kill a few Yama in the front, but with Sway gone, no one was there to get his back. A Yama leapt onto his back and he stuck his blade through its side. The Yama dropped, but the moment was long enough for the couple of Yama falling from above to land on top of him.
More Yama jumped on him, and he found himself crushed, his face pressed hard into the dirt and dead leaves. He felt his eidolon leave his grip, and a few seconds later, he felt it shatter. Wincing, he fought against the Yama on top of him, but there were too many. They began stabbing him, biting him, breaking him.
And the last thing he saw before his
eyes closed for good was the pink hat he had left on top of his dresser back in Allay. He wondered if someone would wear it, even though it wasn’t finished. Without the final touches it was an abomination. Simply a blueprint of greatness.
Why am I thinking of this? He wondered. He felt his eyes go heavy as he thought of one of the guards wearing the hat around the castle. It made him cringe.
What an ugly hat.
His body went slack.
* * *
“Should we take a break?” Lily asked and Bastion yawned. He shook his head no and looked up to the night sky. How long had they been training? When was the last time he ate or slept?
“You’re human, after all?” Lily said, stretching out her arms. “You still have to obey the laws given to them. Sleep is necessary.”
“I’m more hungry than anything,” Bastion said, rubbing his stomach. He sat down on the crater floor and let the dust kick up over him, falling on top of his hair and settling onto his clothes. Come to think of it, it had been a long time since he had showered too. And was he really still wearing the same clothes he had brought from the village?
He considered just stripping and then activating his Sage robe since it would be “cleaner,” but Lily was close by and also, there was that fact that he wouldn’t be able to maintain the form forever. That would be embarrassing to lose consciousness in a fight and suddenly be butt naked. He giggled at the thought and Lily raised an eyebrow.
“What’s so funny?” she asked, sitting down beside him. Even with the dirt all over her, she didn’t look dirty. It was like the dirt had merely infused with her clothing and skin and became a part of her, like it was an accessory to her attire.
“Don’t you need to eat?” he asked her, trying to change the subject.
“Nah, what we ate a couple days ago was enough,” she muttered. “I get hungry, but once I’m full, I stay that way for a while.”
“A couple days,” Bastion groaned. “Has that much time passed already?”
The End of the Fantasy (Book #6 of the Sage Saga) Page 6
