Ch 30: you crazy motherf*cker

Ace was sipping on his Bocari Sweet, calmly lounging in one of the burgundy chairs, looking out into the deep, ink-blue sunken night. While he would’ve preferred to be sitting on the windowsill, he didn’t want to block Snow’s usual view. The silent beauty was staring blankly at the empty streets, indifferent to the world around her.

She looks so…peaceful.

Despite being the quietest amongst the Spearhead, her air of indifference struck Ace as the most idyllic. Perhaps in Snow, he saw something he himself couldn’t attain—a sense of inner peace. Was he just reading too deeply into things? Who knows. It was one of those nights.

The atmosphere was wispy and uncertain. Like the bubbling lava hidden under the cradle’s soil, the Spearhead left each of their deeper thoughts unspoken. At times like these, even a sliver of doubt could fracture into chasms in the future.

“It’s probably just an afflicted. Nothing to worry about.” Oden held his hands on his hips with a smile on his face, though Ace couldn’t tell if it was genuine or not. But Shell could.

“Isn’t it past your bedtime?” he signed, face planted in the table.
“Afflicted? What’s that?” Ace said, suddenly feeling everyone’s eyes on him.

Hiro released an awkward laugh. “Is your amnesia kicking in again? Afflictions like powers and stuff. Ya remember right?”

“Y-yeah, of course!”

“Do you need me to remind you again?”

Ah, nice cover, Hiro. It must be common knowledge.

Ace thought back to a late-night conversation at Hiro’s hideout, a memory tainted with the stench of nicotine.

Afflictions. It all began in the small kingdom of Peronce: brick walls and white fences. Where dreams were left to die for farms and cattle, a random adventurer stumbled in out of nowhere into the middle of nowhere. He was powerful. Blessed, they called him. Powers given from a higher power, not from runes or aether, he could perform miracles and slay even the strongest of beasts.

Eventually elected king, his power only grew with use. Visions and broken promises of turning Peronce into a grand empire, the streets were painted with hope and ambition. But then he spiralled.

It started with violent outbursts, strange dreams, and murmuring voices. The Mad King lost his mind, and with it, the kingdom he loved. He killed all his subjects before the guilt killed him, too.

There are two sides to anything in this world: ground and sky, light and dark, yin and yang, good and evil.

People with these powers weren’t considered blessed. They were ill. Afflictions were misfortunes. Chasing the type of power no one could understand would only drive you insane.

There was always a cost. Like playing with fire, messing around with the flame, you might just get burnt.

Though there was one thing that struck Ace as odd. You’d think that power systems would be complementary and interlaced, having originated in the same world. Yet runes and afflictions were independent of each other and fundamentally different. Sure, it could’ve been a coincidence. But Ace didn’t think it was.

“Hellia said, The Cult of Worship is on the move again.” Mira stood addressing one of the many elephants in the room; she hated the silence. “You don’t think they’ll…attack, do you?”

She said that, but what she truly feared was far, far more terrifying.

“The Mass disappearances. I think they’re plotting something. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were building an army.” Shell raised his head from the table, covering his face with his hood.

“The three priests of Celestia. If they attacked, even with Hellia, I don’t think we’d stand a chance. No one’s even survived a run-in with them before.”

“We have.”

Everyone, Ace included, turned their heads to Hiro.

Wait, we have?

Only upon seeing the lack of a smile on his face did they realise he wasn’t joking.

“What were their powers like?” Shell sprang up from his chair.

“He was strong. Not as strong as me though.”

“Yeah, I knew it was bullshit.” Shell sank right back into his chair.

“We didn’t fight him, we just ran into him in the Barrens.” Ace said.

“And he let you leave? Unscathed?”

“Well, kinda.” Hiro scratched his chin. “He sort of just showed up out of nowhere. He had a creepy mask and the densest aether I've ever seen.”

“More than Hellia?”

“Hmm, it's hard to say. They could have both been suppressing theirs.”

“What if the radicals and the Nexus legion are working together?” Mira said, her words carrying the air of caution. She was beginning to cross the line no one dared to touch.

If it were true that The Nexus Legion managed to synthesise a cure for Scourgenesis, then they had simultaneously become the world’s most powerful country and the world’s target. Once word got around, everyone would be after them. So then, why wasn't anyone attacking them then? Scaria’s walls should be caving in by now, were the Syndicate just quicker to get the information?

“Hellia returned today, right. So, where has she obtained this information?” Ace asked.

Mira smiled. “That’s the thing. We don’t know. She’s always like that, keeping us in the dark.”

Oden took a deep breath; he already knew where this was going. “You should know better than to question her majesty's choices. There’s bound to be a reason.”

“We’re her personal task force. If there’s anyone she should be sharing information with, shouldn’t it be us? She’s decided to strike first now. To initiate this ‘war’. She didn’t even ask the people first or explain the situation, and now we're sent on an errand to kill some beast. Doesn't it bother you to be mindless pawns?”

Mira scanned from one face to another. They didn’t care. Not as much as she did.

“Too scared to stand up for anything again, huh, Snow?”

Shell stood up, his gaze locked onto Mira, but she ignored him.

“Oden, I know you don't care. Hellia’s lapdog after all. You said you’d retire years ago, that you couldn’t go through another war. Yet you come barking when she calls.”

It was true that he was past his prime. Oden had planned to leave his duty many battles prior, having witnessed the deaths of his comrades again and again; he thought that it was finally his time to join them. But his pride wouldn’t let him. He was a simple man who wanted nothing more than a warrior's death, and he would continue to serve until the day it happened. His movements were only growing slower, and his body was weaker day by day. The battlefield was catching up to him, and he was letting it happen. The least Hellia could have done was relieve him of his duties, but she continued to string him along. Mira couldn’t stand such a sight.

She marched out of the lounge, disappearing into the hallway.

As the rest of the Spearhead filtered back to their rooms, Ace turned back to one individual who was still sitting in the lounge.

“Not going to bed yet? We’re up early tomorrow, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. Goodnight, sweet cheeks.” Hiro flashed a grin, lighting a cigarette.

                                                                           ***

The Phoenix Cradle — South Hill

GONG. GONG. GONG.

A haunting chime echoed through the clock tower.

The floorboards whimpered under Hiro’s steps as he ventured into the darkness. A deathly face jumped out at him. Hiro threw a kick instinctively, hitting only air.

A tall, slender man. So thin, with his cheeks sunken into his skull, he looked sickly. Like a walking corpse. Dressed in black, with slicked-back hair and formal clothing, he placed his arm on Hiro’s shoulder.

“I-I didn’t recognise you.” Hiro stammered.

“The time is almost here. Well, are you ready?”

Hiro rustled through his trench coat, pulling out a flash drive and a belt strapped with metal parts and wires. “Everything’s prepped.”

A smile stretched across the sickly face. Unable to contain his amusement, he burst into cackled laughter. “I knew you were crazy. But for you to go this far…you crazy motherf*cker.”

The day he’d waited all his life for was fast approaching. Everything else that had happened was merely a lead-up to it.

“I think we can trust Ace enough to tell him.”

The smile faded into bared teeth. “You? Trust someone?” His arm, though thin, lifted Hiro with ease. His bony fingers dug around his throat. “Don’t go switching up on me now and risking throwing everything away.”

Releasing his slender fingers, Hiro collapsed to the floor with choking breaths.

“Make sure you come back alive tomorrow. Be cautious, Hellia is hiding something. I can sense it even from here. It isn’t any normal beast. Let the others risk their lives in your stead.”