Who Lie in Wait

Akari pushed as far away as possible, her body crashing into another puddle of water as fatigue cramped her muscles. Turning her gaze towards the ground, she was taken aback by what appeared before her eyes… There were no reflections.

Sir Didact dodged out of the way as another projectile came hurling towards his direction.

“That’s a more efficient way to do that,” the general praised.

Sir Didact knew he was clearly outnumbered. The surgical script used on his hand was ripe with the scent of Azu. With him being the only person presumably capable of planting such a script unnoticed, it seemed plausible. But what bothered Sir Didact the most was the idea he would be assisting the Coordinator General. The only other option would be that the general had a means to activate dormant scripts placed by other users. A concept that seemed too farfetched for someone who had no script capabilities at all.

Attempting to use his shift script again, Sir Didact lunged his hand out towards the general. Unimpressed by the futile effort, the general fixed his lips to scold Sir Didact, until a sudden shift in the situation struck the general.

A tree came zipping down from the mountains, barely missing the general who leapt into the air just in time to avoid contact. The impact of it hitting the groound sent debris flying through the air, with Sir Didact covering his face from the onslaught.

Akari managed to skate by with only dust blurring her view. Seeing the danger she’d been placed in, however, made the general realize how troublesome a prolonged fight with Sir Didact could be.

Calculating about forty-five seconds until he would be able to use his shift script again, the general took the opportunity to strike, barely grazing Sir Didact who ducked out of the way, swinging his foot around in attempt to knock the general off balance. The general barely jumped over the leg swipe, launching two small pocketknives down towards Sir Didact, who used his forearm shield to deflect the attack.

Blood still running from his severed right hand and his vision in his right eye limited, Sir Didact needed to retreat, but it was unlikely the Coordinator General would allow that to happen.

A break in their battle, the general was still counting the seconds until Sir Didact’s shift script would be usable again. Meanwhile, Sir Didact himself mulled whether he should call a truce with the general. As two members serving for the Eyrie Empire, if one of them were to die, it would place a stain on the Sovereign.

“When I informed you of the Ayur and the girl he was traveling with, I never expected that I was playing right into your playbook, general. To think you would act against the empire for such selfish reasons.”

The general stood tall, with his face as stern as ever. “You may perceive my interests as estranged obsessions, but you simply miss what’s written right before your eyes. Do you know why I am the Coordinator General, Sir Didact?”

“Because someone who can’t use scripts serves no better purpose than to call shots from the sidelines. Throwing Eyrie’s warriors to their deaths while you sit on your ass unable to fathom what a real battle feels like.”

The general squinted at Sir Didact, finding his curtness to be a nuisance. “Yet you struggle to win this very battle we’re having right now.”

A mild smirk appeared on Sir Didact’s face as he rebuffed, “You consider this a struggle?”

The ground from either side of the general thrusted into the air, breaking into pieces as it lunged towards him. Even with his partially severed hand, Sir Didact was still capable of shifting tons worth of the environment at breakneck speeds.

CRASH!

Piles of dirt and stone slammed into each other like two planes hitting head on. Flattening into a solid wall. Certainly, the Coordinator General had been reduced to mush, Sir Didact presumed.

Finally free to acknowledge everything that had just unfolded, he was well aware of the trial he would face at the Royal Court for executing the Empire’s highest officer, especially during wartime. But Sir Didact had a hunch that the general was pushing a façade. As particular as his interests may have been, it was without question that he was likely the most intellectual member of the Elite. He made no hesitation to permanently injure Sir Didact, and his actions, following him quietly to this location rather than just ordering that he hand Akari over as a product of the Eyrie Empire, were certainly suspicious.

Something is going on…

Akari anxiously scoured her surroundings, wondering who lurked in the shadows watching them. She prayed it was Azu, but she couldn’t help but fear that Iddak and Saba were likely the ones lying in wait. And with Sir Didact having swiftly dealt with the Coordinator General, she knew it was only a matter of time before his focus returned to her.

“You’re thinking is too linear.”

Stepping from behind Sir Didact’s wall, the Coordinator General appeared fully unscathed, leaving Sir Didact speechless. Taking a closer look at the compressed wall of earth, he realized that nearly half of its length had collapsed to the ground before ever making contact with the general. To negate his shift script so effortlessly more than once… there was only one person who could be responsible.

“Do it,” the general ordered.

Turning to face Akari, Sir Didact was pained by the appearance of Saba standing over her. Without hesitation, she planted her hand down upon her diaphragm and began chanting a script.

“Define, trace script function: wrapper, print: running function, print: arguments, return result.”

Akari felt her mind separate from her body. Words melding into a mumble; thoughts swirled into a kaleidoscope of unrecognizable images. All sensation dissipated, and emotions became nothing. It’s the only way. There is no way. Reality is perception. Perception is false. We need to get home. We’ve never lived. We were already dead. She forgot. She remembered. He left me. He killed me. You killed me. I killed myself.