What We Fight For

Elysia screamed, her body spasming as the Children of the Turning Gear blasted energy from their magical amplifier into her body. Green energy shot from her hands and eyes and mouth, pouring like blood from her body, but their desired result was still out of grasp.

“Damn it! Turn it off!” Professor Malphi said, slamming his fist into the controls. “Why won’t you activate?! The crystal is bigger than the one in Lugara was! The machine is reconstructed to the best of our abilities! And Van Harkov’s journal correctly identified you as displaying Void magic powers! You blew apart the damn vegetable in Gravine with it! SO WHY WON’T YOU ACTIVATE!”

Elysia looked up at him, panting but unblinking. “I don’t know. But by the First, I’m glad I’m frustrating you.”

Professor Malphi sneered at her. “Saphira! I’m getting lunch. Watch your friend. Make sure she doesn’t leave.” The workers all left the lab, leaving the two girls alone together. Saphira was wearing her mask, and all Elysia could see were the red eyes and her own face reflected in it.

“Saphira…” Elysia said. It had been the first word she had spoken directly to her since the whole ordeal had started days earlier.

“I can’t let you out,” Saphira said. “As hard as I try, I can’t move my arms to do what I want. I’ve been trying. You have no idea how hard I’m trying. But if my father tells me to do something…”

“I know…I’m sorry,” Elysia said.

“You’re…what are you sorry for?” Saphira asked, shocked by her friend’s admission.

“If I hadn’t been born, my parents would be alive. Kraelin’s parents would be alive. Lugara would never have been in danger. And your father might have never…” She looked into Elysia’s reflective mask, then laid her head on the table, facing away.

“My father made his own choices,” Saphira said. “I don’t know how much of my life is real, or how much was manipulated by him, but…meeting you and Kraelin was the happiest day of my life. No chip in my head could fake it. We sail together, or we burn together. And boy are we burning now.”

“Saphira…” Elysia cried on the table. “I don’t want to die here. I have so much I need to do.”

“And you will, Elysia. My father is trying to harness the Void energy you can use. This machine, it’s not only an amplifier. It’s an extractor,” Saphira said, gazing at the massive machine hanging above Elysia on the table.

“I still don’t even understand what they’re trying to do,” Elysia said.

“This…thing, it’s a monster. An ancient weapon the Children of the Turning Gear thought would be able to…what’s a good word…pollute all magic users. Like a virus. A Void magic virus. You’ve been through the Void. It isn’t exactly pleasant, is it Elysia?”

“No. It’s like being torn apart and put back together,” Elysia said.

“This machine was developed during the First Magic War. The Children were going to blast out a planet wide signal which would affect only the people who could use magic. All of this comes from the Void. However the First gave us the ability to use Talents, the Children back then thought the same energy could overdose the magically talented.” Saphira shook her head. “But it would require a human who could actually use magic directly connected to the Void. Unfortunately for them, Void magic users are incredibly rare.”

“Until I came around…” Elysia said sadly.

“Also unfortunately for them…they read the schematics wrong. Turns out I’m smarter than dad. They got this thing working enough to hurt you, but not enough to do anything meaningful.”

Elysia looked at Saphira hopefully. “You…how?”

“Took my own notes. Now, seeing what they’re doing, I can see how they misinterpreted the coded language in Harkov’s diary,” Saphira said.

“But…your father commands you…”

“It appears I only have to listen to direct commands. And I didn’t hear him say anything about interpreting codes in a book, did you?” Saphira shook her head sadly. “But all I’m doing is buying time.”

“Time for what?” Elysia asked.

“For your idiots to save you,” Saphira said. “Elysia, I have full faith those three will be able to bust out, but when they do, I’ll have to fight them again. Kraelin will…” Her metallic fist clenched. “I need you to promise me something. If you are at all able to stop him from killing me…don’t.”

“Saphira!” Elysia cried out. “All of us are getting out of here! Including you!”

“No! I don’t know what I’ve done under his command! You heard him! I could have done horrible things and I wouldn’t remember at all! If I could I’d rip this arm and eye right off my body! But I can’t! I hurt the only people to ever give a damn about me! If Kraelin has a shot…” Saphira turned away from her friend.

“I will save you, Saphira…” Elysia said softly. “I’ll save everyone! Nobody dies!”

*

Kraelin’s fist smashed into the keypad. A slight trail of blood had begun to form on it from his repeated punches. Jake and Alex watched him from the side, feeling helpless.

“It’s like the one inch punch from the old kung fu movie you showed me,” Jake said.

“Yeah, putting all his energy into one quick, powerful punch,” Alex said. “If the movies are anything to go by, and they always are, this shit is hard enough on wood.”

Kraelin grunted in frustration. “I don’t…I can’t do this! I’m supposed to clear my mind! Perfect stillness! But no matter how still I am I can’t…” He slammed his fist into the keypad again, more blood splattering on it. “I can’t do this! Elysia is going to die and I’m stuck in this damn cage!”

Alex walked over to him. “Yeah, maybe you can’t…” Kraelin shot him a nasty look. “I didn’t mean it like…look, you’ve been working on this for years, right?”

“Yes! With no…” Kraelin started.

“So maybe don’t do it the way you fail. You’re supposed to empty your mind. Why?”

Kraelin sighed. “A true warrior has to be still, calm, able to react to any situation without emotion or fear.”

“Bullshit. You’re terrified, right?” Alex asked.

“I…yes,” Kraelin said.

“Why?” Alex asked.

“Because…I don’t want to fail you. Or myself.”

“I think I get where Alex is going with this,” Jake said. “My bro here always says I don’t think before I jump, but I do. Like, when Elysia needed help way back in Oakmont Falls, I could have run, but all I could think of is not letting someone get hurt if I could help it. Hell, all I could do is think.”

“So try thinking,” Alex said, grabbing Kraelin’s shoulders and pointing him at the keypad. “Think. Don’t clear your mind. It doesn’t work for you. Fill it. I want your brain flooded with one thought. What are you fighting for, Kraelin?”

“It can’t be so simple. There is no possible way it is so simple,” Kraelin said, his eyes fixed on the control panel, his fist flexing. But something was starting to feel different. Was his problem simply a shift in thinking?

“You’ve got this, man,” Jake said. “I believe in you, Elysia believes in you, Alex…”

“I don’t believe in you,” Alex said. “Belief is faith. I don’t have faith in you. I have knowledge. I know the man who beat my ass into a hero. He WILL smash a hole through the control panel. He WILL save his friends. Now THINK, warrior! Why are you fighting?!”

Kraelin’s mind went back. Instead of pushing his thoughts away, he embraced them. Images of childhood adventures with Elysia and Saphira flooded his mind, the years passing in a blur as he felt each day of sunshine and rain, each moment Elysia had embraced him as a friend or Saphira as if she were something close to a sister in arms. He thought of the recent days, with Jake and himself bonding over their strength and dedication to helping their friends, with Alex providing him more laughter than he had experienced in years.

“And now…think of your future. What do you fight for, Kraelin?” Alex asked.

Kraelin could see it clearly. A simple, peaceful life. No more Twisted. A family at home to greet him. And a wife there, reaching her hand out. In a moment of extreme clarity, he saw the face of the woman who waited to greet him, as if he were gazing through time. He saw her face, her smile…and he was shocked at the face he saw.

“Yes. For you…” Kraelin said. He assumed his stance again. He filled his mind and body with his past, his present and his future. He poured all of himself into his fist. His eyes focused. His fist lashed out. And his voice screamed. “Punch of the Stone Casket!” he cried out, and as his fist slammed into the keypad a strange red energy engulfed his fist for the briefest of moments. He hit the control panel and then continued through as he destroyed the electronics operating the door, leaving a deep crater in the wall. With a screech and a hiss, the door opened slightly as the locks disengaged.

“Holy hell…” Jake said in awe as he gazed at Kraelin. “Dude…Kraelin! You did it!”

“I did it…I DID IT!” Kraelin screamed, blood dripping from his wounded knuckles. But Kraelin felt no pain. Only the immense pride of finally, after years of training, pulling off the move, and doing so during a time of great danger. He looked to Alex, who simply smiled and nodded.

“Told you so, dude. Now, let’s go kick some ass!” Alex said, throwing a thumbs up for his friend.