What is treasured must be preserved

Chapter 32

What is treasured, must be preserved

“I need you boys to take what I’m about to teach you seriously. What I’m about to teach you will give you great power, greater power than you could ever imagine. So, with that comes a certain discipline needed to harness this gift I’m imparting to you. I learned this technique while on my journey around Aurora. Now, Onyx, Sebastian, observe closely.”

The elder Kezonto wrapped his hand around a metal post he had protruding from the ground. He shook the post, it barely moved, he tried to bend it with all his might, but the sturdy material didn’t flex an inch. Kezonto from a distance, unable to make out the words his father was saying, observed with admiration. Alongside him, his older sister Avilla, and his friends Viyah and Obsidian viewed the training session. Avilla was listening to Viyah talk about the birds she had made friends with at the park earlier in the day, while Kezonto and Obsidian were too mesmerized by the training session to care about anything else. Forced to watch from the sidelines the two boys gripped their wooden sticks tight in their clutches. Their jaws dropped, eyes widened as the two of them witnessed the elder Kezonto demonstrate the power of essence to his two young students.

The once stubborn metal post was easily bent and twisted at the elder Kezonto’s whim. Onyx and Sebastian looked in amazement at the feat their mentor was putting on display.

“This is essence, this is what I will be teaching you to harness.”

***

He slowly started to open his eyes, his vision once blurry started to focus. The consistent vibrations he felt on his chest brought him back to consciousness. Obsidian didn’t move, instead choosing to look up at the night sky of Busaya, surprised he was still alive. Placing his hand to his battle armor, obsidian manifested his cellphone. Still laid out on the ground he raised the device to his face to look at the screen.

“One-hundred and thirty-six missed texts from Sandra.”

His phone disappeared into light particles, and his hand fell toward the ground. He didn’t bother answering back, Sandra would have to wait and stew in her worry a little longer. He rolled to his side, breathing in the strong stench of burnt tobacco from the cigarette resting next to him. Obsidian straightened up his arm and lifted himself to his feet, stumbling to regain balance after being knocked out. He picked up his pistol, holstering it, he then scooped up his rifle and broke out into a sprint. Running over the bodies of his comrades and through the blockade, Obsidian advanced over the bridge to support his brother.

***

Onyx was pushed back in an eruption of sparks from clashing steel. The sacred ink, under Keyon’s control, wrapped around Onyx’s sword hand restraining him. He yanked his arm back and reached with his free hand to get a grasp of the ink and free himself. It was futile, he grabbed nothing solid as the sacred ink bled through the crevasses of Onyx’s fingers and through the openings of his hand. The ink engulfed Onyx's hand and forearm, solidifying with the application of Keyon’s essence. Binding and trapping Onyx, Keyon applied more essence to the sacred ink, its hold on Onyx tightening.

He dropped his sword to the ground under the sheer pressure from his restraints. The bones in his forearm, hands, down to his finger were slowly being crushed. He could barely feel the tingling in his fingertips, he could barely feel anything anymore. Manipulating the sacred ink, Keyon raised Onyx’s arms over his head, slightly lifting the soldier off the ground. Gripping the hilt of his sword tight Keyon thrusted the blade through Onyx’s chest.

Onyx grit his teeth in pain as Keyon twisted the blade in his chest. Coughing up a misting of blood that rained down on Keyon, Onyx looked down on Keyon from his elevated position and smiled. Keyon’s emotionless burgundy eyes staring deep into his own as he watched Onyx’s life slowly slip away. Onyx channeled whatever essence he could muster to keep his heart pumping.

“You held back during our fight, you had plenty of opportunities to get the upper hand and take me out, but you didn’t. You know who I am, my father’s sword style, and can even harness essence. Who exactly are you?”

“Kezonto, you fool, you're so blinded by all those emotions you’re harboring you can’t see the truth staring you in your face. How could I kill the one thing she treasured most in this world, her baby brother.”

“No, it can’t be, Onyx?”

“Hey kiddo, it's been a long time, good to see you’ve grown big and strong.”

There was a moment of silence between the two as Keyon released the sacred ink’s hold on Onyx. Allowing him to fall toward the ground, Keyon sheathed his swords and walked closer. Not saying a word, he knelt closer to Onyx, his emerald eyes barely open, his voice faint.

“You look like your father, you know that it's scary”.

Keyon was silent and just listened to Onyx’s last words. It was too late to take back what had transpired. He was in shock, what were the chances that Onyx survived the attack that day, what were the chances that he would be the one guarding the Founder. Did that mean that Obsidian was alive as well?

“Leave my brother out of this, please, he has no idea you and Viyah are still alive.”

“Viyah died a long time ago Onyx, how did you know that we were alive?”

“Sebastian, Sebastian told me about everything, find Sebastian….”

Onyx couldn’t finish what he wanted to tell Keyon before expiring, his essence finally depleting causing his heart to stop. With Onyx’s demise complete, Keyon's quest for revenge was finally realized. He rose to his feet looking in the distance toward Busaya, a soft breeze sweeping over the bridge. His demeanor eased up, noticing the outline of Shima and Locke rushing toward him. Keyon slowly advanced forward meeting Locke and Shima in the middle of the bridge. Keyon stared at the two of them before collapsing into Shima’s arm and burying his face in her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around Keyon’s warm body, lacing her fingers around his sweaty neck she whispered in his ear.

“It's ok Keyon, it's over now, you did…”

Four shots echoed over the emptiness of the bridge as Obsidian lowered the scope to his rifle, he watched as Shima’s body fell toward the ground.

“That’s what you get you bitch.”

He felt her fingernails dig deep into his neck and drag across his skin as her body slowly slipped out of his grasp and fell toward the ground. Keyon and Locke looked in shock at Obsidian in the distance. Locke didn’t hesitate and rushed at Obsidian not caring for his own safety. Obsidian raised his rifle toward Locke and was about to fire when he was struck by several throwing knives Keyon furiously launched at Obsidian. One caught him in his mechanical hand, while another one pierced his knee and foot. Obsidian’s accuracy was heavily affected by Keyon’s attack, allowing Locke a clear path toward the soldier. Unleashing a bone crushing combination of punches and kicks, Locke bombarded Obsidian, putting him on the backfoot and forcing him against the bridge’s guardrail. With one last lightning-fast uppercut Locke knocked Obsidian over the railing, sending the soldier plummeting into the bay of Busaya.

“Shima, hold on, we're going to get you help.”

Keyon scooped Shima up in his arms, picking her up off the ground and standing up. She winced in pain, breathing heavily as she started coughing up blood. Locke slowed down his stride as he approached Shima and Keyon.

“I should have let her take him out when she had the chance.”

“This isn’t on you, Locke.”

Keyon held Shima in his arms looking down at her, her gaze never leaving him. He said nothing and darted back toward the city of Busaya with Locke right behind him.

“There is a small fast-food joint.”

She struggled to get the words out, it was hard for her to breathe, and she was slipping in and out of consciousness. She felt a hard slap across her face that woke her up and brought her to attention once again.

“Small food joint, two blocks from Northern Garden Station, Lorenzo, Ki… “

“Stop talking Shima, save your energy.”

“She is leading us to the others so we can get out of here.”

“Others, what do you mean by 'others'? Who else is there besides Ki and Lorenzo?”

“You’ll see when we get there, but there is someone there that might be able to save Shima. It’s important that we hurry up.”

Both Keyon and Locke picked up their pace, listening to Shima’s directions.

***

“As long as they have Shima with them, they’ll be able to find us, don’t worry, let's keep it moving.”

Ki reassured Autumn and Haiden, the whole time cradling Atif who was still recovering from her injuries. He followed behind the mysterious Mafioso Lorenzo, with Autumn and Haiden following close behind. Digging into his jacket Lorenzo pulled out a set of lockpicks. Letting his cigarette dangle from his lip, he got to work on the locked door of the fast-food restaurant.

“So, how do you know Kezonto and Shima anyways?”

Ki keenly observed Lorenzo at work, watching as he effortlessly disengaged the lock and opened the door for the others. He took a drag out of his cigarette before taking hold of it in his hand and speaking.

“We were travel buddies and roomed together on the journey here. Don’t know too much about the two of them. One got anger issues, and the other, well the other one is something else.”

He grinned slightly thinking about Shima, and her many attributes. Closing the shop's door behind the others Lorenzo took the lead once again. He showed the way toward the back of the shop and a secret entrance to Busaya’s underground service tunnels.

“Autumn, you should let me look at your wounds.”

“I’m ok Haiden, thank you. Let's just hope Locke and the others catch up fast so we can get out of this place.”

“I sure do hope Locke is ok.”

Haiden lowered her eyes as she followed Autumn and the others. Lorenzo looked back at the group, listening to their conversation. Descending a set of stairs and walking down a long tunnel Lorenzo and the others approached a solid steel door. Reaching into his jacket again, this time removing a slip of paper that he carefully unfolded glancing at the various numbers and symbols scribbled on it. Lorenzo casually inputted the passcode on the keypad adjacent to the steel door. The screen on the keypad flashed bright red and Lorenzo raised an eyebrow. Surprised by the fact that the passcode he had purchased was invalid. He tried again, and again, he tried different combinations, but nothing worked.

From the corner of the basement the optical lens of a security camera zoomed in and observed the group standing before the door.

***

“This sure has turned into a shit show.”

He placed two empty glasses on the counter, slipping a single cube of ice into each. Popping the cork to his bottle of expensive spirits, pouring the golden-brown liquor into each cup. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, grabbing hold of the glasses he walked back to his workstation. Sliding in his chair toward his keyboard, Sebastian looked over the various monitors displaying various vantage points throughout the city. He slouched back in his chair, removing his glasses and rubbing the corners of his eyes. Wiping away the tears accumulating as he looked at the lifeless corpse of Onyx on the screen.

He raised his glass to Onyx, a toast to him and all his sacrifices, one last gift to his old friend.

“I’m sorry it had to end this way, I was supposed to share this drink with you Onyx, say hello to Avilla for me will you, our mentor too.”

Taking a giant swig of his drink, he let the liquor burn his throat. It eased the sharp pain he was feeling in his chest, it smoothed the lump he had in his throat. He gently tapped his glass against the other glass on his desk. He raised his glass to his lips again, taking another sip before placing his glass on the desk. He focused his attention on a monitor showing the streets of Northern Garden. Catching a glimpse of Keyon in one of the monitors, he viewed coordinated camera angles and started to follow the foolish child and his friends. His eyes shifted toward the monitor that had a viewing of Lorenzo and the others struggling with the maintenance door.

“Purple hair…There is only one person I know with that type of hair color.”

He looked back at the monitor with Keyon, then back to the one with Autumn. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, he knew he messed up bad, how, why were these two here?

“I swear the more things change the more they stay the same, you two are always up to no good. I guess I have no choice but to clean up your mess, huh Kezonto.”

Shaking his head he typed furiously on his keyboard, utilizing his technological wizardry. But before he could assist Keyon and the others there was an important matter at hand that he needed to address. Shifting his line of sight, Sebastian glanced at the progress bar on one of his many monitors. The program he had engineered for months was finished uploading to Busaya’s main servers and was ready to be executed. With a single strike of his keyboard Sebastian unleashed a virus that would destroy New Aurora’s control over the processed humans of Busaya. But it was a gamble, he didn’t know what was going to happen next. If it worked, would the processed humans regain their old memories or have no recollection of who they were in their past life. Or if he failed, the emotional toll it would take on him knowing he fried the brains of thousands of men, women, and children.

It was a risk he was willing to take, for the people of Aurora and their future, burdens of the soul were meaningless. Now all he could do was sit back, watch, and hope for the best. While he waited Sebastian figured he would lead Kezonto and his friends out of Busaya, where they could finally have that conversation, he promised his mentor they would have.

***

Locke busted the door down to the fast-food joint, stepping to the side Keyon rushed past. Listening to Shima’s faint voice guiding him, Keyon moved toward the back of the establishment. Rushing down the stairs, Keyon could hear Locke calling his name, begging for Keyon to hold on for a second. Reaching the bottom of the flight of stairs Keyon looked left, and then right. Listening to Shima’s faint whispers, Keyon went to turn right but was stopped in his tracks when Locke shouted his name.

“There’s something that I have to tell you, before we go any further.”

Locke paused for a moment watching as Keyon turned around to face Locke.

“When we meet with the others, it’s important that you keep your composure. I can explain the details later; I just don’t want you going in completely blind.”

Keyon was confused, but he trusted Locke, nodding his head Keyon prepared himself for what was ahead.

“Not even going to give me a hint or nothing, just be cool?”

“You’ll have to see them for yourself. Now come on, there’s no time to spare.”

Keyon nodded and dashed down the tunnel toward the others with Locke right behind him. The splashing of water echoed through the tunnel and the faint sound of Locke talking in the distance was all Shima could make out. She struggled to open her eyes let alone focus with her diminishing vision. Blinded by the lights passing overhead she could barely make out the outline of Keyon’s facial features. She smiled, nestling her face into his chest.

“I’m where I always wanted to be, ever since you were kids this is where I always wanted to be. As close as I could be to this warmth. Kezonto my abilities go beyond sensory, I can sense people’s true intentions, their true nature. Underneath all of it, all your loss and hurt is a gentle, loving, beautiful soul begging to be let out.”

She turned her head looking up at the man carrying her, her eyes started filling with tears. Slowly they trickled down her cheek, cascading across Keyon’s forearms. She reached up brushing her finger against his warm cheek.

“I’m sorry Kezonto, I wanted to be the one that healed you, but I guess some traumas run too deep, but I tried. All this murdering and seeking vengeance, let it be done with. It’s time to put the past behind you, it's time to heal Kezonto.”

Keyon looked down toward Shima, she was in bad shape and was losing lots of blood. But through it all she just stared up at him smiling. Locke, who was a couple of paces behind Keyon and Shima, was tearing up, fearing the worst.

“It’s time to become whole again, Kezonto.”

Keyon and Locke cut around a corner where they finally got sight of the others.

“HAIDEN, WE NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE!”

Lorenzo’s cigarette dropped from his mouth falling to the ground, Haiden jerked around at mentioning her name and Autumn and Ki turned toward the sound of Locke shouting.

“No, Shima.”

Autumn jumped up from Atif’s side who was resting against the wall of the corridor and rushed with the others to assist Shima. Lorenzo lowered his head, when suddenly a buzzing sound echoed through the hallway and the lock door finally opened.