“Me neither,” Marie said. “But I know that the only way I can rectify their loss is to keep moving forward. Opposition will always come, but remember that it never, ever lasts forever. Such is life.”
“I guess I can hope,” Catherine said wearily. “It’s just that I’m tired of this. Losing the people I love...we need to make this mission a success.”
“Then do what is necessary,” Marie said. Catherine nodded and turned to Talia.
“How long has it been?”
“Four hours,” Talia replied, staring across the wasteland. “She should have been back in half that time.”
“We may have to continue on,” Marie said, but Catherine put up a hand near her face, asking for her to be silent.
“No, we’re waiting. Her part in this is crucial.”
“She may bring more than we can handle.”
“That’s the risk we’re taking.”
“Well,” Marie said, shrugging her shoulders. “As long as you’re aware of the decision you’ve made.” Catherine glared at her and then looked back over the wasteland. It took ten minutes more before they heard a shout in the distance.
“Get ready,” Catherine said, unsheathing her eidolon. Talia did the same. “Daisy will probably be exhausted so it might just be the two of us.”
“Fine with me,” Talia said. “I don’t know what happened to the rest of our group…but these Yama are still going to feel my wrath, no matter how their battles concluded.”
“I was thinking the same.”
“Oh, you Sages,” Marie laughed as the shadows in the distance became clearer. Daisy was running front and center, and there were a dozen Yama behind her, running so fast that she was forced to transform in and out of her Sage robes to gather up enough speed to stay ahead. From the way her robes flickered in and out, it was obvious that she was exhausted. Catherine wasn’t sure if they could wait any longer.
“Let’s go,” Catherine said as she sprinted forward. Talia laughed and followed behind, already in full Sage garb and ready for action.
The Yama behind Daisy were grunts. No one serious from what Catherine could tell, but that didn’t mean they were the only ones nearby. There could be scouts in the area, or the real contenders might be scanning the vicinity from a distance, assessing how many opponents were before him. Even as Catherine swung her eidolon through one of the Yama’s chest, she couldn’t help but think of Zhou, Sway, and her parents…already captured by the enemy or worse.
She thrust her concerns to the side, forcing herself to conceal her emotions as she always had, as she suspected she always would. There was never rest in leadership. There was only power naps. Breaths of pause. Flashes of fun. Bursts of joy. Anything more, and everything under control would be thrust into chaos.
She didn’t hate the life she had been given. On the contrary, it had prepared her for yet another battle. Another war. One that the Yama thought was easily won. They were probably feeling confident since they managed to reduce her troop to half.
But they were underestimating her.
They apparently forgot who they were dealing with.
Catherine smirked as one of the Yama stopped in his tracks, deciding to forget the chase for Daisy and opting to end one of biggest oppositions to their army. Catherine was unmoved. Though the Yama were harder to decipher under their thin armor, they weren’t unreadable, and they certainly weren’t invincible. She let him decide when to make the first move.
She studied her enemy as Talia took care of the others. Daisy had run past them all and toward Marie, falling onto her knees in the purple dirt and coughing until her throat was beginning to get hoarse. Marie rubbed her back as she watched the scene unfold before her. Talia taking on eight Yama while Catherine stared down one. The other three Yama had already been killed.
“You’re not a grunt,” Catherine said finally, her eidolon searching past the armor, the goggles on the Yama’s head, and its stone-like grey skin. She saw the pool of potential lying beneath him—no—her. It was a female underneath the armor. Not that it mattered. The Yama was sure to spill her blood as quickly as the males.
“You’re not that strong,” the Yama spoke, with a raspy throaty voice like the others. They all sounded the same except for their leader back in Old Prattle. At least, she thought he was their leader. There was no way to tell, and after dealing with Thorn years ago, it was best not to assume anything.
Catherine didn’t take the conversation any further. She arched her blade upward toward the Yama’s head, who jumped back and evaded the blow. She crouched low for a moment in the sand and then she leapt forward, swinging at Catherine with her long bony fingers and sharp talon-like nails. Her eidolon screamed information into her being, letting her know that the tips of her fingernails were laced in some kind of foreign poison. Catherine made sure she didn’t touch it, and she decided that her eidolon shouldn’t either. The Yama had to have had taken precautions against the Sages. Could their poison affect eidolons as easily as their bodies?
Catherine grunted and parried a blow, forcing the Yama’s right arm to go flying to the left and knocking her off balance. Catherine didn’t bother righting her blade for a killing stroke. There was no time. With her free hand she extended her palm forward, right into the face of the Yama, and then her eidolon emerged from it, shooting out from the middle. Within a second, her eidolon had traveled back into her body and out her hands. It was the kind of technique that James would have done. Realizing that made her feel warm on the inside.
The Yama was dead on impact but she left nothing to chance. Grabbing the hilt of her eidolon as it reached the end of her palm, she swung her sword down onto the Yama’s neck and severed the head in one clean stroke. Catherine glanced over to her left and saw that Talia had already finished her work. As they had discussed, she had left one alive, sans its arms. Talia grabbed the back of the Yama’s neck and brought it to Catherine’s feet. The Yama growled as its face rubbed against the dirt. Talia reached down, grabbed the back of its neck again and picked it up, bringing it to its knees. Catherine reached down and ripped the goggles from its face. She tried not to gasp at the sight before her.
The Yama weren’t as strange and creature like as she thought they would be. In fact, the Yama before her had eyes that were very human. Possessing human-like almond eyes in shape, violet retinas stared back at her. Its skin was also tan, but composed of flesh just like theirs was. The male Yama grit its sharp pointy teeth, making a low screeching sound that made her skin crawl. The Yama was bald like the others, but after seeing its eyes, and how the skin was not grey underneath the goggles, she wondered if it was merely shaven. Perhaps James had been right. Maybe they did all share a common ancestry.
“You’re human,” Catherine stated, waving a finger to Talia and giving her a signal. Talia nodded and started walking away from them, in order to scout the area for more potential threats. By now, Daisy had gained her breath and she was making her way slowly to Catherine’s side.
“I’m not human,” the Yama said, but Catherine wasn’t convinced. Her eidolon glowed brightly by her side, its colors rippling from the tip of the blade to the hilt like it was on a rotation. The Yama’s eyes darted toward the sudden movement but then he looked back at Catherine.
“I’ll let you live if you tell me what I want,” she said low. The Yama shook his head.
“I’m dead regardless…for failure.”
“Then join us.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
“You might have a chance at revenge by sticking with us. You could regenerate your arms. Not now, of course. But as long as I don’t hurt you anymore from here on out, you might be able to manage one. At least, according to how it works for us. For you, you might be able to regenerate no matter how long a limb has been severed.”
The Yama said nothing.
“What’s your name?”
“It doesn’t matter what my name is. You don’t care. Your friendly tactics are meaningless.”
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“Or I’m being genuine. I’m sure you’ve heard of me. I’ve pardoned many that made an attempt on my life. I show more kindness than might, and my heart is very soft. You know that you can have a life with us.”
“That was before you lost your husband. Loss changes people.”
“The Yama weren’t the ones to kill my husband.”
“You wouldn’t kill Bastion either,” the Yama scoffed, flashing its shiny and pointy teeth.
“Maybe not,” Catherine nodded. “But nor would I join him…what’s your name?”
“Oyin,” he replied, looking behind his captor. Daisy and Marie were right behind her.
“They won’t do anything without my say,” Catherine stated matter-of-factly.
“I have nothing to gain by siding with you. Nothing at all.”
“Fine,” she sighed, closing her eyes. She didn’t want to do this. “Then let me say this. Your people…if they find you in the wasteland like this, they won’t just kill you outright, will they?”
“No,” he said, breathing rapidly. “They will make me an example…so that the other soldiers will strive to get stronger.”
“That’s what I thought…why do you have an allegiance to them then? They don’t care about you.”
“I don’t care for allegiances. I care about the end. Nothing more.”
“Is that you personally, or the Yama in general talking?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“How do the Yama survive if they only use one another?”
“The Quietus were a warrior race that collectively fought for the greater end. Individuality didn’t matter to them.”
“That’s not true. You might not have seen the village in Quietus before it was destroyed. But there were plenty of individuals, fighting against the status quo and the illusion that they had to deny who they were for the Kingdom as a whole. If you have an opinion, then you have a voice. And that goes for you and the rest of your army. Whoever is at the top saying that the Sages should be annihilated, they are carrying out their own agenda. They don’t know us, and you’re just being used like a puppet.”
“You don’t understand,” Oyin scoffed. “There is no personal agenda. There is only the greater end. That’s all there is.”
“What are you talking about? What is this greater end?”
“You don’t understand.”
“Are you talking about Paradise and Oblivion?”
“You don’t understand,” Oyin repeated, staring hard into her eyes. “You will. But by then it won’t matter. Once the Yama set their sights on something, it can’t escape. They control everything, know everything…and no one has ever given them a proper challenge…ever.”
“Tell me where the Yama homeland is. What direction would I go from here?” she said as she waved her hands around her in the air. “I’m thinking east.”
“Why would I tell you? You will find nothing that will help you there.”
“So it’s west then?”
“Just accept your fate.”
“North?” The Yama sighed and shook his head, bowing it so low that his chin nearly touched his chest. Catherine chuckled as she glanced over at Marie. Marie nodded and Catherine backed away from Oyin.
“What is it?” he asked. Marie stepped forward, but not too close.
“It’s in the north,” she declared, and Oyin remained silent, his eyes wide in surprise. “Your body language more than gives it away. You were so quick to retort when Catherine mentioned the other directions but as soon as she said ‘north,’ you decided to refrain from your declarations of doom and gloom.”
“That means nothing,” he spat at her. “I was just tired of her interrogation.”
“Still,” Daisy said, shrugging her shoulders, “it’s good enough for me.”
“Considering the way our continent is shaped,” Catherine said, “coming in from the north would be a great place to arrive from. Just imagine,” she paused to draw a map into the purple sand with her eidolon. “The land begins with Allay in the north east, then to the southwest we have Languor, and to the far northeast is Old Prattle. The new Prattle is practically right on top of Allay. But right smack in the middle of the far north,” she said, pressing her stick in the middle of the diagram. “There is nothing but wastelands. I’m sure the Yama army came from this general location. They can reach any kingdom they like from here without being seen. Of course, this wouldn’t be possible in the old world, when everyone was divided.”
“Do we need him anymore?” Daisy asked, staring back at the Yama. He bared his teeth at her and Catherine shook her head. She turned away as Daisy killed their prisoner. Though she didn’t have a problem taking a life in the midst of battle, executing someone outright was a task she could not carry out. Some may think that she was childish for it, but it was the only way she could stomach who she was at night, when there was nothing but her thoughts to keep her warm.
The nights had gotten colder since James’ passing.
“We can take turns with manifestations,” Talia said, returning from her scouting endeavor. “That way, neither of us get too exhausted. I imagine that once we hit the borders of the Yama homeland, wherever that may be, we’ll have to be very cautious.”
“We’re headed north,” Catherine replied. “Do you mind going first, Talia?”
“I would have accepted nothing less,” she replied with a curt nod. She turned around and faced the open expanse, raising the palms of her hands in the air and closing her eyes. As if it rose from the pebbles of sand beneath their feet, a large winged creature began to appear into view, bird-like, with wings as tall and wide as a human. Its beak was short and nearly smashed into its face, and its beady eyes darted back and forth as if they were little black insects. There was wooly fur covering its body all over and it was as tall as wild grass, grey and brown in color. Talia looked back at them.
“I figured the fur could conceal us a bit.”
“Good thinking,” Marie replied, grabbing a tuft so that she could climb onto the bird’s back. Catherine, Daisy and Talia all leapt onto the bird and plopped down onto their butt once they landed. Marie muttered something under her breath as Catherine and the rest laughed. As the bird began to take flight, gaining momentum with each passing second, Catherine wished for it to slow down. After all, it could be the last glimpse she ever got of the wasteland. Though it was barren and seemed hopeless, there was a bright future underneath the surface. The top had been scorched, but not to the core. She figured it was an accurate metaphor to what Allay and the other Kingdoms were going through now, and she was uncertain if there would be anything left should they ever return. She was not abandoning them. She could never do that.
She hoped they understood.
Catherine bit her lip as they reached the bottom of the clouds, and the white mist took over her vision. The land was gone, and so they were off. Heading north into the unknown. She tried to keep a brave face, but Marie could see through it instantly. Catherine looked away in shame but the Prattlian reached out and placed a delicate hand on her shoulder. Catherine turned back and saw Marie smiling warmly. Catherine placed her hand over Marie’s. No matter what was coming next, they were in it together.
Someone to fight with…
At least she still had that.
Chapter 8 – Fusion
“Check, check, checking all vital signs,” Lily said as she tapped Bastion’s chest. Bastion laughed and pushed her away playfully.
“What are you doing?” he laughed. “That tickles.”
“Just playing around,” she said, giving him a wide smile with nearly all of her teeth showing.
“Now I don’t know if I want to do this.”
“If we’re going to fight the Yama, you don’t have much of a choice.”
“Uh-huh,” he muttered, eyeing her suspiciously. “You know, I was thinking…why would you be so eager to do this? You might fuse with me and then I start going on a rampage, using you left and right.”
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br /> “Joke’s on you. You’re the one that would be wasting years of your life, remember? You might use me, but you’re only hurting yourself.”
“Right, right. I forgot.”
“Are you sure you’re ready? Did you get enough to eat?”
“Meh,” he replied, shrugging his shoulders. The milac was as small as a mouse and it hardly had any muscles on it. Eating it was like biting into the fattest of sausage, but Bastion knew that beggars couldn’t be choosers.
“I think that describes that creature adequately,” she laughed. Bastion cleared his throat and extended his arms out, as if he was going to give Lily a hug.
“I’m ready,” he said, waiting for her to do…whatever she did to enter him. She bit her lip and hesitated for a moment, but then a flash of light came from the center of her abdomen, nearly blinding Bastion. He squint his eyes as he continued watching, wanting to see what she was doing, but he was unable. The light was far too bright.
It only lasted a few seconds. And then it seemed like there was more darkness than ever before. It was then that he realized that he felt alone. He looked around him and felt the cold scratch at his skin. The dark was suffocating and closed in on him, hoping to consume, and the ground beneath his feet was hard and sharp, making his feet ache and his calf muscles tremble. He suddenly felt weary. He hadn’t realized how much he had pushed himself until now. Lily had been there to distract him. To make him laugh and smile through the training. Now it felt like she had never been there.
He looked at the ground and saw her there. A very large stone that would take both of his hands to pick up. It was grey and cracked, with lightning blue glowing from underneath the crevices. This was her…five stones combined into one.
He couldn’t help but think of her terribly for a moment—as an object. He felt his superiority and power over her. How he could easily just stomp on the stone and end her completely. Or use her to carry out his will. He could leave her there—just walk off and let her feel the crippling effect of loneliness. There was so much he could do, and he felt terrible about the thoughts even manifesting in his head.
The End of the Fantasy (Book #6 of the Sage Saga) Page 8
