Book Read Free

Hail's Disciple

Page 11

by A. J. Morton


  I hesitated, rising to my feet. “It had to be done to save Ubiax—”

  My statement was interrupted by a left hook to my cheek, knocking me back off my feet. “SHUT UP!” Travis bellowed. “Xander is GONE! The only friend I’ve ever had is gone and it’s ALL. YOUR. FAULT! You may as well have murdered him in cold blood!”

  I grabbed my cheek. Blood and tears dripped down the side of my face. But as much as my face stung from the blow, it was nothing compared to the pain that his words had brought. He was right after all. It was my decision that brought about his end. I was just as good as a murderer.

  Travis let out a sigh, unclenching his fists. “Got anything left you wanted to ‘talk’ about?” He asked facetiously. I had no answer. “Didn’t think so.” He turned to go back into his room as I watched him, completely speechless.

  Travis… Who am I?

  Travis stopped in his tracks. He turned around, glaring at me. “What was that?”

  I recognized those words. Xander had asked that question just hours before. I could feel his soul stirring within mine once more.

  I continued where Xander left off. “Who am I, Travis?”

  Travis almost seemed ready to punch me again, but instead, he just stood in place. “I… Don’t know.” All his fighting spirit seemed to have left him. “How am I supposed to know who you are… If I don’t even know who I am?”

  “Understandable,” I said. “To be honest, even I don’t know who I am anymore. I used to think myself a goddess. For a while, I was just a wayward spirit. But honestly… I have no idea who I am now.”

  I closed my eyes, standing once more. We weren’t too different, Travis and I. Now that I thought about it, the same answers that I was seeking just now he had been seeking for his entire life. An entire life of not knowing who he was or where he belonged.

  I turned to exit the ship. “You may choose to follow me, or you may not. Should you follow me, I can tell you more about who you are.” I began to walk out of the quarter deck. “Who knows? Maybe it’ll give you a reason to fight.”

  I went back to the front deck and headed down the gangplank. I was almost down before I heard Travis’s footsteps behind me.

  “Fine,” He said. “I’ll play your game, Glacia. But nothing you say will convince me to fight for you.”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  And the two of us walked into the bustling Dominion of Terra.

  Chapter 14

  The town around us buzzed with energy. The merchants were making their trade and the passerby citizens were loud and boisterous. I pulled my cloak over my head. Travis followed closely beside me as we wandered through the commons. He gazed around, taking everything in.

  The Dominion of Terra had been like this for as long as I could remember, even after the Umbrans came. The Terrans were an optimistic folk after all. Even the end of their world as they knew it couldn’t crush their spirits. But something about this still seemed unnatural. The number of Umbrans wandering through the town was significantly dwarfed by that of the Terrans. Should the Terrans have wished to stage an uprising, it wouldn’t be difficult at all. But still, they trudged along as always, as though this were commonplace.

  “Why…” Travis’s voice suddenly cut through my thoughts.

  “Hmm?”

  “Strelitzia told us that the Umbrans began their siege long before the Disciples came,” He said. “So why are you gods only just now bothering to do something about it?”

  I couldn’t meet his gaze. What seemed like an eternity went by before I could finally answer him. “Because we couldn’t do anything about it.” I looked into the sky. “The stories you mortals tell about us will make us to be unstoppable beings of pure power.”

  Travis cocked his head. “And they’re wrong?”

  I stifled a laugh. “We’re far more powerful than any of you mortals, I’ll give you that. But we have our limits.”

  Travis’s eyes brimmed with curiosity. “What kinds of limits?”

  “Well, for starters, the stories will tell you that we can never know the embrace of death. That we’re immortal,” I explained. “They’re almost true. We can live for a very long time. Our lives end when our bodies have expended the last of their nigh-upon infinite magical power. We used the last of it to create you mortals and to form Ubiaxus as you know it today.”

  “Then how are you back now?” Travis asked.

  “While our bodies are ephemeral, our souls last forever,” I answered. “It is as Xander said. We are no gods. We are just mortals with way more power than we know what to do with. When our bodies die, our souls lie in limbo until they can find bodies that are suitable for them. ‘Suitable’ meaning having souls that are similar to ours.”

  Travis nodded, seeming to understand. “I see… So, these ‘Disciples’ are your new bodies.”

  “Correct. The reason we could not take action to save Ubiaxus is simple: Because you, the Disciples, were not born yet. And subsequently, we could not intervene.”

  Travis looked around at the people around him, clenching his fists. “So, if what you’re saying is true… if we had been born but a few years earlier, my parents would still be alive?” He stomped his foot in frustration, the ground shaking lightly beneath his feet. “I wouldn’t have needed to spend my whole life on that island, questioning who I was and where I came from?”

  I looked into his brown eyes, brimming over with tears. “Well… You could think about it like that…”

  Travis scoffed. “Hmph. What other way is there to think about it?”

  “A short while ago, Kronos told me something.” I said. “Every action or inaction creates an infinite number of other timelines. Anything that happens creates an entirely different stream of events.”

  Travis blinked. “Huh?”

  “Think of it like this. If your parents had never run away from the Dominion, you never would have met Xander. And if you had never met Xander, he wouldn’t have any reason to fight.”

  Travis tilted his head. “Why not?”

  “Travis, I literally share a brain with the man,” I said. “When he made his decision to join the Disciples, his first thought was about you. About the dangers that you would need to face alone had he not accompanied you.”

  Travis was silent.

  I sighed. “Listen, Travis… For all it’s worth… I truly am sorry that Xander is gone.” I gestured around us. “He wanted this for you. For you to find the place where you belonged. So… I had to give it to you.”

  Travis looked at our surroundings, and at all the people surrounding us. “These people… I don’t know why, but… it looks like they’ve lost their will to fight. They may seem happy at a glance, but underneath… They’re screaming in outrage.” His balled fists clenched even tighter. I saw something new form in his eyes. Determination. He faintly glowed with a dark brown aura. “So, I’ll fight for them. To free the people who have lost their will to.”

  I beamed at him. “That’s the spirit.”

  Willing to fight until the bitter end. Looking at the resolve in his eyes, I couldn’t help but think of Terra. Travis had the same look in his eyes that she always did.

  The look of a warrior.

  * * *

  With Travis’s determination restored, the two of us returned to the ship. Kronos, Valerie, Xephyr, and Kai awaited us.

  “Perfect,” Kronos sighed in relief. “I saw a few timelines where you couldn’t convince Travis to join you… Luckily, that wasn’t the case.”

  I swept my eyes across everyone around me. Valerie’s eyes had regained their spark. Zephyr wore his usual smile. And Kai was looking off into the distance, just as calm as ever. They were ready for the battle ahead of us.

  Now that Travis had joined us, there was just one more person we needed to complete our roster of Disciples. “Where’s Strelitzia?” I asked Kronos.

  Kronos seemed distant, his eyes wandering off to the endless sea of dunes that were to our left. “She said she nee
ded some time to herself…” He said. “She went off into the desert about half an hour ago.

  “And you let her?!” Kronos knew as well as I that aside from the Terrans and the gods themselves, there wasn’t a living being in the world that could survive the desert. The resistance to the heat that being Pyrean gave her would only help her so much.

  Kronos seemed pensive. “There was something different about her. There was a blazing aura that surrounded her. I have reason to believe…” He swallowed. “That she’s entered a trance.”

  I felt all of the color leave my face. This was bad. Pyros didn’t think, he just went in headfirst to deliver justice. With him at the wheel, there was a strong chance that he would go and try to storm the Umbran Empire on his own, jeopardizing our entire plan.

  “We need to do something.” I started to walk off of the ship, but Kronos grabbed my arm, stopping me.

  “No. You can’t do that,” Kronos said.

  “I damn well can, you idiot,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “No, you can’t.” Kronos let go of my arm. “You know that as well as I do.” He looked deeply into my eyes. “While looking into the timeline… I found something out. You’re weaker, Glacia. Losing Xander’s soul… Took away a part of you. You just barely have as much power as a mortal.”

  I looked down. So, he’d noticed. With Xander’s soul gone, I felt like I was getting weaker by the second. His soul was helping his body slowly adjust to the transformation into a god. And now with his soul gone, his body was unable to withstand my power all at once. It was slowly breaking apart.

  I curled my fists into a ball. “Yeah, and what of it? I will not let Ubiaxus fall because I was too weak to walk through a desert.”

  Kronos stepped back. “I sense that there is no changing your mind.” He sighed. Very well… Just… be careful.”

  I turned to leave, but Travis stood in my way. “Xan—Glacia… I’m coming with you.”

  “What?”

  “As a Terran, the harsh desert shouldn’t affect me, right?” He said. “In case anything bad happens, I wanna be there to help out.”

  I nodded. “Thanks, Travis.”

  The two of us headed far into the desert. It only took a few minutes for me to get fatigued. It was as though these vibrant sands sucked the life out of whoever walked on them. I probably wouldn’t have made it if Travis were not at my side helping me stand.

  We walked like this for what felt like hours on end until we saw a red speck in the distance. Strelitzia. Travis and I shuffled across the sand as fast as we could, until we finally caught up with her.

  “Strelitzia!” I called out with no success. I tried again, using a different name. “Pyros!”

  Pyros stopped, then turned around to face me. “Glacia.” He looked at me with a neutral expression. “What do you want?”

  “You know exactly what I want!” I said, furious. “What I want is to know what the hell you’re thinking!”

  “I’m thinking about ending a war,” Pyros scoffed.

  I shook my head. “Pyros, did the War of the Heavens teach you nothing? Gods can’t defeat gods! Trying to defeat Umbra on your own is tantamount to suicide! It’s Insane!” I yelled at him. “We need all ten of the Disciples for this to work. We need Strelitzia.”

  Pyros’s face remained neutral. “Even if I let Strelitzia out of this trance, she won’t listen to you, Glacia,” he said. “She was looking forward to creating a new world after this was over. One where all was just. We have dashed those hopes, Glacia. She won’t be alive to see justice brought into this world.”

  “But…” But I faltered. “But… I have to at least try. For Ubiaxus.” I clenched my fists. “Should Strelitzia be unable to, I will be the one to bring the justice she wishes for into this world.”

  Suddenly, some of the light in Pyros’s eyes faded. His aura seemed to dim. “You… You want what is best for everyone.” These words weren’t Pyros’s. They were Strelitzia’s. “You want the same justice that I do.”

  I nodded. “Yes, Strelitzia. With all my heart.”

  The vermillion aura surrounding Strelitzia faded until it all was gone. She fell to her knees. “What am I doing… This isn’t just.”

  I moved closer to Strelitzia, placing my arm around her. “No, Strelitzia. You have every right to be upset.”

  She looked up at me. “Huh?”

  “I admit, the gods messed up. If we had used every last drop of our power, we definitely could have taken Umbra down,” I said. “But we were selfish. We knew that doing that would kill us. So, we knowingly took the lives of ten of our followers. That… is an act beyond redemption.”

  I drew her into an embrace, my strength fading by the second. “Remember, Strelitzia… Your justice is the strongest thing in the world.”

  The two of us collapsed on the sand, smiles on our faces.

  Chapter 15

  I opened my eyes, finding myself back in the emptiness of my white room. Alone again. I rose to my feet, wandering through it for a while. There was nothing. No one. I was all alone here.

  Or… Was I?

  I felt a presence, growing stronger and stronger by the second. A voice spoke to me through the silence, distorted and static.

  “G… LAC…IA. AW… AKEN.”

  I shot up, looking around in a panic. I was back in Xander’s old quarter deck. Kronos was sitting at my bedside. “Rise and shine.”

  “Ugh… Rise and pain.” My body ached from yesterday’s excursion. “Is Strelitzia okay?”

  “Yes,” Kronos replied. “As are you, for that matter. You should probably thank Travis next time you see him. He’s the one who carried both of you all the way back to the ship.”

  “Noted,” I remarked, rubbing my throbbing head. “How long have I been out for?”

  “About twenty hours.”

  “Twenty?” I hastily got up out of my bed. “That leaves us with only four hours to take down the Empire!”

  “Glacia, I’m the god of time. Trust me, I know. Relax. I have Zephyr on route to the imperial island as we speak. We’ll make it in time.” Kronos rolled his eyes. “And it’s more like seventeen hours and fifty-five minutes.”

  I sighed, calming down a bit. I could hear the sound of the sea through the walls. “Has Lumos awakened Adriana yet?”

  As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. “Hello. May I come in?” Dia’s voice said from the other side of the door.

  “Ah, yes,” Kronos said. “Come in.”

  Dia opened the door and entered. “Oh! Glacia! It’s good to see you awake.” She seemed like she was in higher spirits than the last time I saw her. I smirked. Lumos tended to have that effect on people. “I think Zephyr was hoping for some sort of epic speech before we went into battle.”

  I laughed. That sounded exactly like something Ventus would say. The joker. “Unfortunately, I doubt that there will be anything of the sort,” I chuckled. “How’s Adriana?”

  “She woke up about an hour ago. Physically, she’s a hundred percent, but mentally… Let’s just say she’s a bit… confused.”

  “May I talk to her?” I asked.

  “Sure, I don’t see a problem with that. Unless you do, captain Kronos.” She glanced at Kronos.

  “Captain Kronos?” I raised an eyebrow.

  Kronos snorted. “It’s just a nickname that they’ve taken to calling me. Surprisingly, I kind of like it.” He turned back to Dia. “As for your question, yes I believe it would be best for Glacia to speak to Adriana.” He smirked. “She seems to have gotten really good at giving reassuring speeches these days.”

  I punched him lightly on the shoulder. “Gee. Thanks.”

  Dia guided me into her room. Adriana was sitting on the edge of the bed, talking to Ana. “Wh-Who are you?” She asked, the moment I walked into the room. I noticed her shuddering. She was panicked. Afraid.

  Ana patted her on the back, consoling her. “Don’t worry, Adriana. She’s a friend.

  Adriana’s e
yes flitted back and forth between Dia, Ana, and me. She stood, extending her arm. “It’s n-nice to meet you,” She stammered.

  I took her hand and shook it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too,” I said. “I am Glacia, the goddess of ice.”

  Adriana’s eyes widened. “You’re a goddess?” She placed her hand over her mouth, “Oh my, isn’t that something…”

  “Lumos says she has some sort of trauma-induced amnesia,” Dia said. “She’s forgotten about Umbra, and the Empire, and even her own mother.”

  “But there is one thing she seems to remember,” Ana said. “Try attacking her.”

  “What?” Adriana and I both said in unison.

  “Just… Trust us,” Dia said. “You’ll be amazed.”

  I shrugged. I drew a blade of ice out of thin air and slashed at her with it. I wasn’t quite sure what happened after that, but the next thing I knew, I was on my butt, the sword of ice shattered. I looked her and gasped. She had drawn the greatsword of Umbra herself. Abyss Umbra. The look in her pitch-black eyes was a sharp contrast to the one that she had just a few moments ago. It was almost demonic, and full of bloodlust.

  Adriana blinked, and the terrifying look in her eyes going away. She stared at the sword in her hands, aghast, as though just realizing it was there. She dropped it, stepping back. The sword disappeared, evaporating in a hazy dark mist.

  “It’s incredible,” Dia remarked, scratching her head. “Even though she can’t remember a thing, when she’s threatened, her natural battle instincts still seem to shine through.”

  I stood, amazed by how quickly Adriana forced me to the ground. But more than that, she was able to wield a godly weapon even though she wasn’t the Disciple of Umbra? I suddenly remembered what Umbra had called her before she left us. A handicap. Umbra had always loved her little games, and I could tell that this was no exception. She didn’t just want to win this game. She wanted to have fun doing it. And what better way to spice things up than by giving her opponents an advantage?

  Still though, something worried me. Even for an Umbran, training in the Imperial fighting style, she was on a completely different level. It was more than just self-defense. It was a weapon. Why would an Umbran princess need to have that much power? Just what dark memories did this girl hold?

 

‹ Prev