The End of the Fantasy (Book #6 of the Sage Saga) (7 page)

He didn’t even bother putting on his royal robes and crown. He opted for his armor and his sword. Rushing through the halls of the castle, he pushed past his subjects, walking like zombies into the hall, the crust still settling in their eyelashes and sockets.

“MOVE!” Zain shouted as he reached the end, pushed open the large gold doors and began running down the stairs that led into the foyer and the castle entrance. There was a number of soldiers already standing on the polished stone floor below, helping each other put on their steel helmets, chain mail and gauntlets. Zain ignored their pleas for his attention. He continued pushing forward until he reached the castle entrance, and against all suggestions he shoved open the doors. It was what he feared most.

The Kingdom was on fire, and memories of Thorn flashed through his mind. This time though, there were no dragons or Reds or balls of fire rolling throughout the structures. There was a mass of flesh, like a swarm of locust, running along the rooftops and through the streets. They were swift and brutal, devouring everything in its wake. Someone grabbed his shoulder and he nearly turned around to punch the guard in the face.

“It’s the Yama,” the guard said, his identity unknown for his face was completely shielded by a helmet of iron. Only the slits revealed a pair of concerned and very blue eyes. “This cannot be an illusion. Not with how many there are.”

“How did we not see them coming?” Zain demanded, slowly closing the castle doors. His subjects and guards immediately came to his aid and closed the door in his stead. “An army that large? And how can they be that fast?”

“From the few scouts that made it,” Bein shouted, jogging down the stairs, “we’ve theorized that their energy fluctuates depending on their intentions. They can be very powerful but then they lose a great deal of speed. With great speed, they lose strength. We think that right now, they are using their speed to quickly overtake us but still, they are not very powerful. They are simply using strength in numbers.”

“Send the Enforcer to cut them down.”

“Already done. He’s on his way. However, he is new to the job, so it will take more than he to overcome them. The people are being slaughtered.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Zain muttered. “Order an evacuation if it hasn’t already been done. I need every able-bodied fighter to start hacking away at that mass. The quicker we form our own swarm, the easier this will be. They only have the advantage because they caught us off guard.” Another explosion went off again outside and Zain grit his teeth. He didn’t like being on the defensive.

“Sire!” A guard shouted from his right. “Someone is trying to get through the tunnels!” Zain looked down at the hidden entrance under the center of the foyer floor, the door beginning to slowly rise from its foundation.

“Well, kill it!” Zain shouted as the door flew upward and toward the ceiling. The guards began pointing toward their swords toward the hole, but a tar-black hand suddenly reached up and grabbed one by the collar, pulling him down into the dark. A crunching sound followed as they heard the guard screaming.

“What was that?” Bein exclaimed as he waved to a guard at his side. The guard threw him a sword to defend himself with.

“I can’t see anything,” one of the guards said as they remained vigilant. Suddenly a bright yellow light lit up the darkness and the guards began to gasp as they realized what the source was—an eidolon.

“It’s a Sage!” one of the guards said as the Sage leapt from the hole and into the air. The Sage was bald and wearing a yellow Sage robe that was so bright that Zain had to squint his eyes. The Sage landed on his feet and began taking out the guards one by one as Zain looked back to the hole. There was Quietus coming out at an alarming rate.

QUIETUS!

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Zain muttered as he rushed forward to take out one of the Quietus. His blade clashed against its forearm scythe and he was barely able to push it back. Bein joined the fray but he was quickly overtaken by the mysterious Sage. The Langorans were strong, but they were no match for the Quietus. The creatures’ reputations preceded them, and all of the training that the Langoran guards had undertaken was suddenly overcome by raw fear.

It took only a couple minutes to realize how horrible the situation was. Zain sighed and backed away from the massacre, knowing that they would all save him for last. He grabbed one of the guards near him and whispered in his ear.

“Hide! Quickly, near the secret bed chambers. Take what information you overhear and then head to Prattle. Tell Tyuin what has transpired here.”

“How long should I wait?”

“Until the enemy is done with their display.”

“Should I get the Queen?”

“Your mission is to survive and play the messenger. Don’t mess this up.”

“Yes,” he said, running away. Zain nodded toward a couple more guards near him.

“Don’t fight them unless I say so,” he ordered as he heard the last of the opposition give its last breath. There was only him and the two guards at his side now. The young Sage that had cut down so many of his men stepped toward him and smiled.

“Hi,” he said. Zain fought every urge within him not to tackle the smug-faced boy to the ground. But he had grown some brains in his short reign as King. He knew that attacking wasn’t always the best option, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to fight against an eidolon easily. Still, he slowly expanded his muscles, carefully increasing his mass so that it wouldn’t appear intimidating…at least not at first.

“I’m Mason,” the Sage said, and Zain nodded. He had heard that name before. But who was he? What was his importance? Zain looked past the young Sage to see the Quietus standing behind him, hunched over and waiting for orders. Zain took a deep breath.

Remember…information is what you seek.

“Allayans and Quietus?” Zain said, as calmly as he could. He could already feel his face getting hot. “And I take it the Yama swarming outside are your illusions?”

“The real deal,” Mason said. “We have formed an alliance.”

“And why tell me this?”

“Because your Kingdom has fallen, and a lot quicker than we expected I might add. You were the only opposition really. Prattle doesn’t have warriors, just some meager defenses.”

“I wouldn’t underestimate them.”

“Oh stop. Even you wouldn’t be afraid of them. Languor could have taken them over whenever they pleased.”

“So now what? You’ve overtaken the Kingdom. What are you going to do? Burn it?”

“It will be a Yama base for now,” Mason said matter-of-factly. “Then we’ll burn it.”

“What are you doing?” Zain scoffed, shaking his head. “A young kid like you joining with the Yama and roping the Quietus into this. This is foolish.”

“Says the loser,” Mason replied. “And I’ll have you know that I’m not just some kid. I’m the Master of the Allayan Order.”

“What happened to the previous Order Master?”

“That doesn’t concern you, does it?” Mason snapped. Zain crossed his arms as the two guards at his sides were noticeably shaking. They could sense it as well as he. The end was near.

“So what happens after Prattle is taken? You think the Yama will just leave Allay standing?”

“Our ruler and that of the Yama have come to an understanding.”

“Or they’re using you all. Don’t you know your history? Thorn had the Kingdoms turn on each other so that we would all be weaker collectively. If we hadn’t formed an alliance when we did, you probably wouldn’t have been born. You wouldn’t be standing here right now, talking out of your childish mouth and falling for lies.”

“Show respect,” Mason said, gripping his eidolon tightly. “I haven’t disrespected you.”

“Just killed my people...that’s all.”

“Not all,” Mason said. “After all, we’ll need slaves, right? That’s what will become of the Langoran people…slaves.”

“And the Quietus?” Zain asked, looking back at them.

“They will be our most prized warriors.”

“Allay, Yama and Quietus aligned. Sounds like an alliance ripe for failure.”

“I think we’re done talking,” Mason said as he quickly sliced his eidolon through the guards at Zain’s sides. Zain had barely seen him move. Before he realized what happened, he found an eidolon at his throat.

“Bravo,” Zain said. “You’re almost victorious.”

“Are you really bringing up Prattle again?” Mason laughed. “I’m telling you, they are no threat to us.”

“I’m not talking about them. I mean the others. You know.” Mason searched his face for a moment, then he sighed and grinned.

“Bastion,” Mason scoffed. “You’re talking about him, aren’t you?”

“The boy is talented,” Zain smiled. “Talented enough to take out every one of you here I would say. And let’s not even mention Catherine and her merry band. Just think about what she did with only herself and Seven Sages. Should she join with the Prattlians in time, she’ll have even more allies to take you down.”

“Catherine and Bastion are a joke.”

“Not a very funny one though,” Zain smirked. “Catherine alone was able to bring Thorn, Quietus and even this Kingdom to its very knees. Think about that.”

“Well,” Mason said, with no expression on his face. “That’s not saying much.”

He sliced his blade across Zain’s neck.

“We’re falling fast,” Catherine said. Marie and Talia looked at her as she stared out over the wasteland. They had been standing still for hours, but they were certain Daisy would be coming. They had to have faith. It was all they had these days.

“What do you mean?” Marie said, fanning her face. Used to colder temperatures, the wasteland was making her hotter than the others. She was grateful that it wasn’t a desert though. If there had been sand all around her, reflecting the rays of the sun, it would have been downright unbearable.

“Think of how many there are left,” Catherine replied. “That doesn’t bother you?”

“It’s not like we chose this adventure,” Marie said. She wiped the sweat from her brow. “Is there any water left?”

“Nope,” Talia said, looking through the pockets in her cloak. “We’re supposed to be leaving soon though, so I’m sure we’ll find water quickly.”

“We can’t lose anyone else,” Catherine said. Marie looked at her in puzzlement.

“But you will have to if it’s necessary.”

“How can you sound so cold?” Catherine asked her in disbelief.

“Because it’s how we Prattlians think. We see the bigger picture. The fact is, all that we lost was necessary for our survival. If we had stayed and fought Thorn years ago, we would all be dead right now. At least we still have hope. Who knows what answers we will get from the Yama homeland?”

“Still doesn’t sit well with me.”

“Me neither,” Marie said. “But I know that the only way I can rectify their loss is to keep moving forward. Opposition will always come, but remember that it never, ever lasts forever. Such is life.”

“I guess I can hope,” Catherine said wearily. “It’s just that I’m tired of this. Losing the people I love...we need to make this mission a success.”

“Then do what is necessary,” Marie said. Catherine nodded and turned to Talia.

“How long has it been?”

“Four hours,” Talia replied, staring across the wasteland. “She should have been back in half that time.”

“We may have to continue on,” Marie said, but Catherine put up a hand near her face, asking for her to be silent.

“No, we’re waiting. Her part in this is crucial.”

“She may bring more than we can handle.”

“That’s the risk we’re taking.”

“Well,” Marie said, shrugging her shoulders. “As long as you’re aware of the decision you’ve made.” Catherine glared at her and then looked back over the wasteland. It took ten minutes more before they heard a shout in the distance.

“Get ready,” Catherine said, unsheathing her eidolon. Talia did the same. “Daisy will probably be exhausted so it might just be the two of us.”

“Fine with me,” Talia said. “I don’t know what happened to the rest of our group…but these Yama are still going to feel my wrath, no matter how their battles concluded.”

“I was thinking the same.”

“Oh, you Sages,” Marie laughed as the shadows in the distance became clearer.  Daisy was running front and center, and there were a dozen Yama behind her, running so fast that she was forced to transform in and out of her Sage robes to gather up enough speed to stay ahead. From the way her robes flickered in and out, it was obvious that she was exhausted. Catherine wasn’t sure if they could wait any longer.

“Let’s go,” Catherine said as she sprinted forward. Talia laughed and followed behind, already in full Sage garb and ready for action.

The Yama behind Daisy were grunts. No one serious from what Catherine could tell, but that didn’t mean they were the only ones nearby. There could be scouts in the area, or the real contenders might be scanning the vicinity from a distance, assessing how many opponents were before him. Even as Catherine swung her eidolon through one of the Yama’s chest, she couldn’t help but think of Zhou, Sway, and her parents…already captured by the enemy or worse.

She thrust her concerns to the side, forcing herself to conceal her emotions as she always had, as she suspected she always would. There was never rest in leadership. There was only power naps. Breaths of pause. Flashes of fun. Bursts of joy. Anything more, and everything under control would be thrust into chaos.

She didn’t hate the life she had been given. On the contrary, it had prepared her for yet another battle. Another war. One that the Yama thought was easily won. They were probably feeling confident since they managed to reduce her troop to half.

But they were underestimating her.

They apparently forgot who they were dealing with.

Catherine smirked as one of the Yama stopped in his tracks, deciding to forget the chase for Daisy and opting to end one of biggest oppositions to their army. Catherine was unmoved. Though the Yama were harder to decipher under their thin armor, they weren’t unreadable, and they certainly weren’t invincible. She let him decide when to make the first move.

She studied her enemy as Talia took care of the others. Daisy had run past them all and toward Marie, falling onto her knees in the purple dirt and coughing until her throat was beginning to get hoarse. Marie rubbed her back as she watched the scene unfold before her. Talia taking on eight Yama while Catherine stared down one. The other three Yama had already been killed.

“You’re not a grunt,” Catherine said finally, her eidolon searching past the armor, the goggles on the Yama’s head, and its stone-like grey skin. She saw the pool of potential lying beneath him—no—her. It was a female underneath the armor. Not that it mattered. The Yama was sure to spill her blood as quickly as the males.

“You’re not that strong,” the Yama spoke, with a raspy throaty voice like the others. They all sounded the same except for their leader back in Old Prattle. At least, she thought he was their leader. There was no way to tell, and after dealing with Thorn years ago, it was best not to assume anything.

Catherine didn’t take the conversation any further. She arched her blade upward toward the Yama’s head, who jumped back and evaded the blow. She crouched low for a moment in the sand and then she leapt forward, swinging at Catherine with her long bony fingers and sharp talon-like nails. Her eidolon screamed information into her being, letting her know that the tips of her fingernails were laced in some kind of foreign poison. Catherine made sure she didn’t touch it, and she decided that her eidolon shouldn’t either. The Yama had to have had taken precautions against the Sages. Could their poison affect eidolons as easily as their bodies?

Catherine grunted and parried a blow, forcing the Yama’s right arm to go flying to the left and knocking her off balance. Catherine didn’t bother righting her blade for a killing stroke. There was no time. With her free hand she extended her palm forward, right into the face of the Yama, and then her eidolon emerged from it, shooting out from the middle. Within a second, her eidolon had traveled back into her body and out her hands. It was the kind of technique that James would have done. Realizing that made her feel warm on the inside.

The Yama was dead on impact but she left nothing to chance. Grabbing the hilt of her eidolon as it reached the end of her palm, she swung her sword down onto the Yama’s neck and severed the head in one clean stroke. Catherine glanced over to her left and saw that Talia had already finished her work. As they had discussed, she had left one alive, sans its arms. Talia grabbed the back of the Yama’s neck and brought it to Catherine’s feet. The Yama growled as its face rubbed against the dirt. Talia reached down, grabbed the back of its neck again and picked it up, bringing it to its knees. Catherine reached down and ripped the goggles from its face. She tried not to gasp at the sight before her.

The Yama weren’t as strange and creature like as she thought they would be. In fact, the Yama before her had eyes that were very human. Possessing human-like almond eyes in shape, violet retinas stared back at her. Its skin was also tan, but composed of flesh just like theirs was. The male Yama grit its sharp pointy teeth, making a low screeching sound that made her skin crawl. The Yama was bald like the others, but after seeing its eyes, and how the skin was not grey underneath the goggles, she wondered if it was merely shaven. Perhaps James had been right. Maybe they did all share a common ancestry.

“You’re human,” Catherine stated, waving a finger to Talia and giving her a signal. Talia nodded and started walking away from them, in order to scout the area for more potential threats. By now, Daisy had gained her breath and she was making her way slowly to Catherine’s side.

“I’m not human,” the Yama said, but Catherine wasn’t convinced. Her eidolon glowed brightly by her side, its colors rippling from the tip of the blade to the hilt like it was on a rotation. The Yama’s eyes darted toward the sudden movement but then he looked back at Catherine.

“I’ll let you live if you tell me what I want,” she said low. The Yama shook his head.

“I’m dead regardless…for failure.”

“Then join us.”

“Don’t be stupid.”

“You might have a chance at revenge by sticking with us. You could regenerate your arms. Not now, of course. But as long as I don’t hurt you anymore from here on out, you might be able to manage one. At least, according to how it works for us. For you, you might be able to regenerate no matter how long a limb has been severed.”

The Yama said nothing.

“What’s your name?”

“It doesn’t matter what my name is. You don’t care. Your friendly tactics are meaningless.”

“Or I’m being genuine. I’m sure you’ve heard of me. I’ve pardoned many that made an attempt on my life. I show more kindness than might, and my heart is very soft. You know that you can have a life with us.”

“That was before you lost your husband. Loss changes people.”

“The Yama weren’t the ones to kill my husband.”

“You wouldn’t kill Bastion either,” the Yama scoffed, flashing its shiny and pointy teeth.

“Maybe not,” Catherine nodded. “But nor would I join him…what’s your name?”

“Oyin,” he replied, looking behind his captor. Daisy and Marie were right behind her.

“They won’t do anything without my say,” Catherine stated matter-of-factly.

“I have nothing to gain by siding with you. Nothing at all.”

“Fine,” she sighed, closing her eyes. She didn’t want to do this. “Then let me say this. Your people…if they find you in the wasteland like this, they won’t just kill you outright, will they?”

“No,” he said, breathing rapidly. “They will make me an example…so that the other soldiers will strive to get stronger.”

“That’s what I thought…why do you have an allegiance to them then? They don’t care about you.”

“I don’t care for allegiances. I care about the end. Nothing more.”

“Is that you personally, or the Yama in general talking?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“How do the Yama survive if they only use one another?”

“The Quietus were a warrior race that collectively fought for the greater end. Individuality didn’t matter to them.”

“That’s not true. You might not have seen the village in Quietus before it was destroyed. But there were plenty of individuals, fighting against the status quo and the illusion that they had to deny who they were for the Kingdom as a whole. If you have an opinion, then you have a voice. And that goes for you and the rest of your army. Whoever is at the top saying that the Sages should be annihilated, they are carrying out their
own
agenda. They don’t know us, and you’re just being used like a puppet.”

“You don’t understand,” Oyin scoffed. “There is no personal agenda. There is only the greater end. That’s all there is.”

“What are you talking about? What is this greater end?”

“You don’t understand.”

“Are you talking about Paradise and Oblivion?”

“You don’t understand,” Oyin repeated, staring hard into her eyes. “You will. But by then it won’t matter. Once the Yama set their sights on something, it can’t escape. They control everything, know everything…and no one has ever given them a proper challenge…ever.”

“Tell me where the Yama homeland is. What direction would I go from here?” she said as she waved her hands around her in the air. “I’m thinking east.”

“Why would I tell you? You will find nothing that will help you there.”

“So it’s west then?”

“Just accept your fate.”

“North?” The Yama sighed and shook his head, bowing it so low that his chin nearly touched his chest. Catherine chuckled as she glanced over at Marie. Marie nodded and Catherine backed away from Oyin.

“What is it?” he asked. Marie stepped forward, but not too close.

“It’s in the north,” she declared, and Oyin remained silent, his eyes wide in surprise. “Your body language more than gives it away. You were so quick to retort when Catherine mentioned the other directions but as soon as she said ‘north,’ you decided to refrain from your declarations of doom and gloom.”

“That means nothing,” he spat at her. “I was just tired of her interrogation.”

“Still,” Daisy said, shrugging her shoulders, “it’s good enough for me.”

“Considering the way our continent is shaped,” Catherine said, “coming in from the north would be a great place to arrive from. Just imagine,” she paused to draw a map into the purple sand with her eidolon. “The land begins with Allay in the north east, then to the southwest we have Languor, and to the far northeast is Old Prattle. The new Prattle is practically right on top of Allay. But right smack in the middle of the far north,” she said, pressing her stick in the middle of the diagram. “There is nothing but wastelands. I’m sure the Yama army came from this general location. They can reach any kingdom they like from here without being seen. Of course, this wouldn’t be possible in the old world, when everyone was divided.”