Chapter 13: Fighting Fate

Thaleo sat in his room, his eyes bound to the flickering lantern above. He remembered the look on his father’s face as he read the letter. His narrowed eyes as they danced along the page. The gradual dawning of fear and disbelief. A shaking hand resting on his chin. Luria had glanced over the letter. Reality had finally begun to set in. The revelation that Thaleo had yearned for had finally come to pass. The future of Serya would change. This was what he wanted, so why did he feel hollow? The plague of the world below would not be ignored; it would eventually find its way to their doorstep. No matter how much they tried to ignore it, no matter how much they tried to run, it would come with a reckoning. It didn’t care whether or not they were ready.

Then, the guards came from the forest path with Nico on a stretcher. Thaleo watched as they glided from the forest path through the manor’s back entrance. He stared. Thaleo wasn’t sure what happened. When he asked, he received no answer. It was urgent. Everything had happened so fast that he was still trying to understand.

“Is he okay!?” Thaleo asked.

“I-I don’t know!” Cathis said as she struggled to keep up with the procession of guards. “Please, move, Lord Thaleo!”

He was cast aside as they moved past. He couldn’t help because he wasn’t an artisan. Luria was. She followed after them to offer what help she could. Taizu followed as Nico’s father. Thaleo was left alone, halfway between the porch and the bridge over the pond. Nico was bleeding. Why was he bleeding? Shouldn’t the blessing have healed him?

Thaleo’s eyes moved from the lantern to a bound tome atop his desk. The journal he wrote during his days in the Underworld. It was unmarked with no name and no title. A book only his eyes had graced. A glimpse of the world that he had experienced for a year, a key to his state of mind. Pages he penned for the sake of his arguments and little else. It was his weapon, his blade to shed the veil of ignorance that plagued Serya. A blade that might have found its mark in his own flesh and blood.

Thaleo leaned back in his chair, the back of his hand resting on his forehead. The lantern overhead flickered. A breeze blew inside from the partially opened window.

“Sounds like you’re having a bad time,” a voice echoed from outside the window.

“Do you know what happened?” Thaleo said.

“Happened?” The woman grinned. “Whatcha talkin’ about?”

“To my brother. What do you know?”

“Oh, the uplander boy,” she said, almost feigning ignorance. “Ezra roughed him up a bit, that’s all.”

“He might die.”

“I doubt it.”

“How can you be so dismissive about—”

“Hey, you wanted this, didn’t you?” She lay on the roof outside, her head poking through the open window. “We’re just giving time a helping hand.”

“Jagna, this isn’t what…”

“What you planned?” Jagna licked her fangs. “No, fairly sure this is exactly what you wanted. Take a slice of the Underworld and bring it to the Overworld, right?”

Thaleo shook his head.

“Don’t deny it. You brought in the Pathfinders and imported the rem at the same time.” Jagna chuckled. “Bringing the solution to a problem you imported. You really do have the makings of a Phemerian politician.”

“If they had only listened, then I…”

“You and I both know how uplanders think, Leo.” Jagna reached a hand out toward Thaleo, pinching his chin between her fingers. “It doesn’t matter where they are. If they can’t see the problem, then there isn’t one.”

Thaleo only had his own experiences to go on. He hadn’t been across the skies like Jagna. She was only two or three years older than him, but they were from different worlds. She was a smuggler, a sky pirate—she made a living by being duplicitous. Her struggles didn’t end there. She wasn’t human either, so she was judged as a Regmata. They say their souls are corrupted, cursed by the Sea in one way or another. So, her struggle was something he didn’t fully understand. All he could do was sympathize with her plight as a victim in the Underworld and nothing more.

“For real change to happen, sacrifices have to be made. Those are your words, not mine.” Jagna smiled, tilting her head. Her hat floated to the ground as it fell from her head. Her fur-tipped ears twitched on her scalp as her silver hair fell loose around her shoulders. “You wanted a revolution, and you got one. Now, we just have to wait for nature to take its course. Things will be sorted out and everything will turn out alright.”

Thaleo grasped Jagna’s hand and tore it from his chin. “If my brother dies, then was any of this worth it?”

Jagna frowned. “You’re the only one who can answer that question.”

Thaleo stopped. Nico’s wound didn’t heal. He had always been frail, but was something like that even beyond Serya’s power? He frowned. The idea of his brother dying made him sick to his stomach. The idea that his death meant nothing hurt him even more. He didn’t have the chance to live, to make choices, to truly make something of himself. If the letter was enough to give Taizu pause, then the idea of losing a child might push him over the edge.

He might finally listen.

“I know what to do.”

“And what’s that?”

“My brother doesn’t have to die. There is someone who can help him.”

“Who might that be?”

“Serya.”

If the blessing didn’t work for one reason or another, then perhaps appealing to Serya herself might make a world of difference. A chance to save Nico and to meet with Serya. Two storn with a single stone. Thaleo turned away from Jagna as he walked toward the door. “I’ll be going to check on Nico and speak with my father. You need to leave, Jagna.”

Thaleo looked over his shoulder.

The only response was the sound of the cool, evening breeze.

She left before he had even finished speaking.

He sighed and pushed the door open, exiting into the corridor beyond.

II.

Liz saw a shadow moving in the window. And, apparently, she felt like she was being watched earlier in the day. Something that Alex would’ve loved to know, but there was no sense being mad about it now.

Alex jogged into the darkness behind Liz’s house. The setting sun made it harder to discern where the incline ended and the treeline began. She cupped a hand over her eyes. Her vision blurred as she submerged into the Sea. The unseen waters thrust forth, almost threatening to drown her. Then, she leaped into the air, yet her body didn’t move an inch. She peered into the treeline and traced a line going toward the horizon. Darkness obscured the forest below. Her vision distorted as the ground ascended toward her. Then, all at once, she was standing on the top of the hill. She shook her head as she fought the dizziness. The cost of the maneuver was the action taken to get into the air. A fair price to pay for convenience. Alex looked down the small incline. She descended as she stuttered her steps.

Aria had already given chase. Alex wasn’t worried, because if that girl found something, she would have seen half the forest in flames a bit ago. Alex regretted having to scramble back into Liz’s house for her weapons. She left the cloth-wrapped sword back since hoisting it would have taken time she didn’t have. The sheathed blade clinking at her belt would have to be enough.

Alex skidded to a stop at the bottom of the hill. She dashed into the forest without a second thought. Her body submerged into the Sea more with each step. Her feet, to her knees, to her waist -- Alex fought through the unseen water as she ran. As it pushed past her face and into her eyes, inky black blots manifested in the air.

A faint trail. It was odd considering the supposed size of the remnant. Larger remnants typically leave larger trails of corrosion. Alex wondered what it was they were truly dealing with. She had never seen a remnant who could dilute their presence like this one. If it was spying on Liz’s house, it must have had a reason. Apparently Liz had felt something watching her most of the day. Liz was smart, so Alex expected the maid to tell her if something was wrong. She hadn’t, for some reason or another. It frustrated her, but she had to focus on what she could do now.

Alex continued sprinting forward as the world blurred past. Her dash was controlled unlike the chaotic leaps she performed back in the Verconis manor. She couldn’t risk damaging Liz’s home. Now that Alex had confirmed they were tailing a rem, she had a hunch the rem that attacked the villager wasn’t the same.

She had seen the corpse. She hadn’t told Liz who, or what, it was. But, it was a child. As a Pathfinder, she had the awful privilege of seeing it up close. The body was mangled as if it had been squeezed like a grape. The marks on the child’s waist were still present. The rem wasn’t large. If she had to estimate it, it was about the size of the child. The priest had no words other than prayers to Serya for the loss. She touched the child’s hand, held her head low, and promised to do what she could for what little the sentiment mattered.

Alex stopped.

The inky blots thinned out.

She turned her head left and right. The trees surrounded her, making it hard to discern the trail. She had to find the rem. If she didn’t, even if it wasn’t the same one, someone could get hurt. Aria could get hurt. She had to keep going. She had to help Aria. Her hand started to shake as it reached for the hilt.

Then, an explosion.

Aria found it first.

“Dammit,” Alex mumbled. She sprinted to the source of the sound. It was beyond the thickening treeline. Alex pressed forward. Then, she heard the rolling of thunder and the crackle of lightning. The fight had intensified. Was Aria on the back foot? She hastened her run as she pulled herself out of the Sea. It continued caressing her shoulders as the current carried her sprint. She dodged trees left and right, dancing sparks in the air guiding her forward.

“Stupid mutt!” Aria’s voice boomed from the clearing beyond.

Her right arm glowed red and her left arm shined green. The sigils on her body shone with fury as she held her hands toward the rem. Lightning sparked between her fingertips. Her fingers weren’t blistered or burned from the dancing plasma. She thrust her hands out as if she were throwing the air.

Lightning flew forth at the beast. It leaped to the side, the ground where it stood bursting into flame. The fire illuminated the rem’s body, revealing a four-legged beast. Its eyes were pointed and yellow, the eyes of a predator. It hugged the ground low as its form undulated. Black tendrils licked at the air like hungry snakes. They hissed before snapping forward, swimming through the air toward Aria.

Aria slapped the air with her glowing green arm. The wind answered her call, a twisting vacuum rending the air in front of her. The swerving serpents met the cutting winds in the air, their heads falling to the ground. The heads seeped into the grass, sapping it of its verdant hue.

Another wave of serpentine tendrils. Alex stepped in front of Aria, swinging her blade to the side. She cleaved one. Another swing into the sky. Another head fell. She stood her ground, the sword aimed toward the rem.

“What took you so long?” Aria said. “I can handle the dog here on my own.”

“I doubt that,” Alex sighed. “We work together. I’m not leaving you behind.”

“Okay, shut up! Here it comes!”

The rem howled as it dashed between the cover of the trees nearby, its form obscured by the darkness of night. It leaped off of the trunk of a tree then flipped forward into the sky. Its form lingered as it stared down. Time slowed to a crawl. Alex peered up, following the beast’s movement. Its hind legs pushed outward, its paws pressing against something solid. There was nothing there but the air. No, not just the air.

The Sea.

A splash ripped through the air, the sound of the invisible water’s motion.

The rem dashed straight down. It fell forward into a spin, jagged black spears ripping out from its body.

“Aria!” Alex shouted.

“I know!” Aria thrust her verdant hand into the air. She flicked her finger. Air whistled as it converged above her into a sphere. Fallen leaves lifted into the air, orbiting around Aria’s open palm. Aria raised her red arm into the air, her middle finger pressed to her thumb. Friction built between her fingers as they sparked.

The rem descended.

Aria snapped her finger.

A spark lit at the sphere’s center.

It exploded.

Alex shielded her face with a hand, her hair billowing in the blast.

The rem hit the ground, rolling past Aria and Alex. Loose soil spewed through the air as it slid to a stop The dog-like beast flipped into the sky, then landed, facing down the two Pathfinders.

“Alright, this is going to—” Aria leveled her green palm at the rem.

Another wave of tendrils. This time, they weren’t aimed at Aria. No, they were already underground. They tore themselves free, covering Aria with dirt and soil.

“Agh!” Aria winced, trying to rub her eyes free.

The rem pulled itself toward Aria using the groundbound tendrils. It closed the distance in the blink of an eye.

Steel screeched. The rem’s teeth clasped around Alex’s blade.

Alex stood as a bulwark between predator and prey.

“Cheap trick,” Alex said. “You’re definitely not a normal rem.”

She grabbed the rem’s snout with her free hand, forcing its mouth to clasp around the blade.

Its eyes narrowed. Its form convulsed, more tendrils flying forth from its body. They flew straight toward Alex’s head.

She fell backward. The tendrils missed just shy of her scalp. Alex dragged the rem with her on her descent. She threw both of her arms up, her grip never loosening for a second. She threw the rem behind her, twisting her body to land on top of it. As the beast hit the ground, it howled.

Then, a spike thrust forward from its neck.

Alex rolled to the side, her hand clinging to the sword’s hilt.

She was too late. The black spike tore through the top of her shoulder. Blood spilled onto the upturned soil. Alex grimaced, ripping her sword free from the beast’s maw. She rolled to her feet, taking a step toward Aria.

“You good?” Alex said.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thanks for the save, Lexi.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Is now the time to complain?” Aria said, lightning crackling at her fingertips. “Oh, you’re injured.”

“Don’t worry about it. Stay focused.”

Aria clasped her hands together. Lightning burst forth.

The hound leaped over it.

“Stop dodging!”

The hound dashed forward to the left.

Another pulse of lightning.

It leaped to the right.

“How is this thing dodging lightning?” Aria brandished her glowing green wrist. “Cheating bastard!”

Alex felt the air drift from her lungs. She coughed. “Aria, what are you doing?”

“Get in front of me and hold your breath!” she commanded.

Alex breathed deep and thrust herself forward. She was the bulwark between the advancing rem and Aria.

The trees shuffled and creaked in the artificial wind. Leaves were stripped off their branches as they swirled toward the clearing’s center. The rem’s advance slowed, its leaps becoming shorter and shorter. The glow of Aria’s green markings shone so brightly Alex averted her eyes. She looked to the vacuum overhead, then at the rem. She stabbed her sword into the ground.

Aria was nuts.

The rem felt for the ground as it was plucked into the air by the growing vortex. It cocked its head toward Aria. It flicked its tendrils at Aria, but found them flying away from the target rather than toward. Its body drifted through the air, then righted itself. The current pulled the hound as if it were swirling down a drain. It flicked its head toward a tree. It rotated once around the center before brandishing its bladed tendrils a second time. It thrust them through the air, toward a smaller tree. The tendrils struck true. The rem retracted the tendrils as its body moved toward Aria. As it pulled them back, the tree loosened and flew through the air.

It was flying straight at Aria and Alex.

Alex opened her mouth to speak. She couldn’t speak.

Aria found herself pulled into an embrace. Alex gripped her sword and kicked off of the ground, leaping out of the tree’s path. She slid a few feet away, gasping for breath. “Pay attention!”

Aria scrambled for a breath. “T-that was your job!” She coughed.

The expanding vacuum ceased. The rem slowly walked forward, but stopped. It observed from a distance as Alex stood on guard.

“Can you keep fighting?”

Aria glanced at her hands. Her fingers twitched. She tried clenching her palms, but they wouldn’t close. She shivered. “I don’t know. I’ve been pushed this far before, so I can keep pushing.”

“Can’t have that.” Alex walked behind Aria, pulling off her red jacket. She draped it over Aria’s shoulders. She patted her on the back. “You’ve been fighting for longer. Let me tag in.”

“What are you going to do?”

“If you give it time to adapt, it’ll just counter whatever you throw at it.” Alex walked past Aria, resting her sword on her back. “You saw it. This thing could dodge lightning.”

“You know you’re just going to end up getting killed, right?”

“Maybe, but I’d rather die trying to save someone than do nothing at all,” Alex said. “But, I don’t think this is the rem we’re looking for.”

“What?” Aria hugged Alex’s coat close to combat the autumn cold. She saw the rem step forward, like it was gauging the distance between it and Alex. “I mean, yeah, this thing is smart, but I don’t think…”

“Yeah, don’t do that. Just watch.”

“Hey!”

Alex walked forward.

The rem matched her steps.

She breathed deep. She exhaled.

Alex stood on an ivory shore. The waves lapped at her feet. She stepped forward. Each step, another caress. The water slowly embraced her legs. Where the water submerged her legs, golden cracks appeared. Past struggles and injuries manifested as scars upon body and soul. The water stung. It hurt, but the pain was a reminder. A reminder of what came before.

“You’re kind of a fool,” the fisherman said to her. “You’re supposed to be doing that to other people, not yourself, aren’t you?”

His words rang in her mind. Her waist stung as it touched the water. She winced from the pain. Her wrists twitched. The gold cracks linked the scars together from her legs to her waist, a constellation of scars marked with gold.

“I knew someone like that once,” the fisherman said. “But, you’re just like him. Don’t get lost in the sea doing what you think is right.”

The Sea embraced her arms, her shoulders, and her neck.

“Keep walking toward the deepest end, and you might drown. But, if it’s you, you might be alright. Brave the water without fear, and the Abyss can never reach you.”

Her eyes opened.

She surged forward.

The Sea split.

The rem blocked with its tendrils. The tendrils didn’t fall to the ground. They vanished in the aftermath of the strike.

Alex gripped the sword with both hands and swung. The rem parried as its body buckled under the strain of the blow. It had no time to react, no time to dodge. Each strike came faster than the last. Another silver crescent carved itself in the air as it fell upon the beast. The rem leaped back, conjuring more spears to protect itself.

The spears snapped in two. The beast narrowed its eyes. It couldn’t keep up.

Alex stepped forward. The ground split, giving way to soil and rock. Alex swung her sword.

Steel sang as the blade snapped.

The ground screamed.

The rem flew through the air. Its body bounced on the soil, spinning and flipping before slamming into a tree. The tree tipped over as the beast strained to breathe.

Alex stood with the shattered sword in hand.

She stepped toward the downed rem, the shattered blade in hand. As she approached, something caught her eye.

Its gaze.

It wasn’t the hollow, listless gaze expected of a rem.

It reflected a familiar light. An awareness of the world around it.

It was human.