The Last of the Sages (Sage Saga, Book 1)
Page 18
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The Langoran came the same as before, silently coming to fetch the prisoners, without any of his own thoughts or reason to relay. James and his cellmate silently obeyed, reserving their strength for the battle to come. What they didn’t count on was James being the only one fetched. His cellmate tried to stop him from being taken, but was quickly cast aside. James could do little but accept his fate. There were still only three Langorans with Alexander, just like before, with Keel observing everything his master did.
“I have made my decision,” Alexander declared.
“And what is that?”
“You are going to become a Sage, or you will die trying.”
“What!?” James exclaimed as Alexander nodded his head. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know how an Allayan becomes a Sage. What I do know is that every Allayan has the potential to, even if few reach it. I figure I might as well see what I can do with you. If you manage to release your eidolon, you won’t know how to use it for a while, and I will study you in the meantime. Once I discern you’re becoming too strong, I will kill you. How does that sound? Not so useless after all!”
“And how are you going to make me a Sage?”
“I have a few ideas in mind. My favorite is the one we’ll implement right now. It’s called, ‘pushing you to the edge.’”
Alexander wasted no time in hitting James in the stomach, laughing as James realized what his ominous plan entailed. Alexander motioned for his lackeys to work on James, making sure they didn’t kill him in the process.
James tried to separate his mind from the pain, but it was all too real. His body refused to go numb this time, each consecutive hit making his flesh more and more sensitive. His wounds burned and his eyes became heavy. Whenever he was about to lose unconscious, Alexander would cease the torture for a moment, and let him rest long enough to regain consciousness. He could hardly think anymore. Not clearly. A jumble of thoughts tore through his mind, but as soon as he tried to focus specifically on something, it was taken away.
He tried in particular to remember Catherine. It couldn’t have been more than a few days ago, yet he felt like he had been away from Allay for years, from Catherine even longer.
He forgot what her smile looked like.
And he grew angry, increasingly so, when he couldn’t remember the pattern of her freckles, the sound of her laugh, and the calming of his soul when she was with him. And in no time at all, James’ mind joined his body in the suffering…
And then he suddenly gave up, dispelling all thoughts of Catherine…he tried to bring her back, but all that came to his mind was the negative. He figured…she had probably forgotten about him already. Too busy concentrating on the Kingdom and the tasks at hand. How much time did he actually take up in her daily thoughts? How important to her was a simple recruit that failed at everything he attempted? What did he matter?
He tried to bring her smiling face back to the forefront of his mind but it was just so difficult. There was only the pain being inflicted on him, verbally and physically, nipping at him like an annoying dog, irritating him, chipping away at the ice that was his resolve. His blood boiled, his vision blurred, and all he felt was rage well up within him. The blows were getting worse, but the verbal abuse was far more damaging. The jeers and the taunts brought him back to his school days, when he was made fun of for the little things, for just being who he was.
He didn’t see Alexander anymore. He could only see his own inadequacy, his own failures. He saw how he needed more, how if he could only have a little more power, he could save not only himself, but his new Langoran friend, and he could stop Alexander and his gang of thugs from attacking Allay.
It wasn’t the people he was worried about. They had their protectors. Arimus and the others were sure to make short work of Alexander and the Langorans. Sure, they weren’t Sages, but they had the determination and the will to achieve their goals…while he always fell short. He was never good enough. He could never aspire to be Achan or even Dominic, as much as he loathed him. He was just worthless…nothing, and he was angry. He was sick of being the punching bag, and the butt of the jokes.
Whether he got out alive or not didn’t matter anymore. He was tired of fighting to survive, he wanted to survive to fight, to cause pain to all those who took advantage of others. To cause fear in the hearts of those who vehemently did harm to the innocent. He wanted to kill Alexander, simply because he was arrogant, and because he was confident that James couldn’t do a thing. It would be Alexander’s downfall, and even if James sacrificed his life doing it, Alexander had to die, by his hands…in his hands.
“What, are you getting tired?” Alexander yelled at one of the Langorans who had just dropped James to the ground.
The Langoran grunted.
“Heavy? Are you kidding me? He’s like 170 tops. Pick him up again. We’re not done until he becomes a Sage.”
Alexander reached toward James’ left shoulder, but before he could touch it, his ring and pinky fingers were gone. It took only a second for him to process. When he realized what had happened, he stared at his dismembered hand, cut clean, and stepped back as fast as he could. Clutching his hand in horror, he fought back the urge to scream and glared at James in rage. His left eye twitched at the thoughts of what he would do to him, how he would make James suffer. Alexander took a deep breath and smiled the best he could, seeing his captive now for what he truly was.
“So,” he tried to say as calmly as he could. “You are different.”
James didn’t hear a word he said. He had wanted Alexander’s throat, but the fingers would suffice for now. His consciousness gone, there was only rage. In the split seconds he had taken Alexander’s fingers, James’ eyes had widened at the sides, eyelashes forming at the bottom of them and coiling with the ones on top, to defend his eyes from harm. The hair on his arms and body had seemed to disappear, his skin turning a silver-black, smooth as marble and just as hard. Yet it appeared as slick as oil, and occasionally it rippled as such. His neck had extended forward, giving him nearly 360 degree motion. His hands had grown extra opposable thumbs on the sides, as his fingernails grew and sharpened slightly. His teeth had lost their dullness, turning almost into fangs. The hair on his head remained but it was slicked back, spiking in the rear. His muscles grew bigger, still toned, but rippled. Bones, the shape of scythe blades, came out in pairs on his forearms.
James had felt none of it, but he smelled the fear in Alexander the moment he had taken two of his fingers. Although the scent had subsided significantly since the beginning of James’ transformation, he was dying to smell it again.
“I’ve never seen one in person…” Alexander mused, while stepping deliberately behind the Langorans, with Keel following him closely. “A Quietus...how can you be a Quietus?”
James could feel the slight tremble in Alexander’s voice. He concentrated on that, assessing just how powerful Alexander and the Langorans were. He felt the power ripple through his veins. His hands told him they could crush their skulls. His legs revealed they could outrun their chase… if he wanted to have fun and play with them, not because he was outnumbered. He could almost taste the salty sweat dripping from their brows, each drop counting the seconds until their demise. James didn’t move, but reveled in what he smelled, what he saw through his slit shaped eyes. He could see every major artery in their bodies, like a sort of heat vision overlaying an x-ray film. He could see the blood coursing through their veins, and it told him everything.
He saw when their nerves sent signals to the right hemisphere of their brain, signifying they were thinking about how to beat him. He could see the blood rush to their hands, getting ready to throw a right hook. He saw it all, and before he realized it, he made quick work of his enemies. Besides Alexander and Keel, only one Langoran happened to survive the onslaught and, being quicker than the others, attempted to retaliate for the loss of his brothers, while defending his
leader.
Alexander ran to the entrance and Keel headed in his direction, while the remaining Langoran immediately stood in James’ way. James was shorter than the Langoran but, as he glared at him, his neck stretched upward so that he was eye-level with him. James turned his head side to side slightly, getting to know his prey. Before the Langoran could react, James’ scythe blades shifted so that the blades pointed forward. James smiled slyly, his teeth glistening in the dull light, and then he plunged his arm well into his enemy’s stomach. The Langoran tried to grab James, but James was already withdrawing his blades and moving behind the Langoran, toward his true prey, Alexander.
Alexander had already covered his escape though as Keel swung his massive fist toward one of the pillars that held up the underground ceiling. The foundation crumbled under the pressure and debris began to fall from overhead. Alexander laughed as he continued to make his way above ground, leaving James behind to be crushed.
Alexander was gone, yet James stood still. All he could think about was the feeling that he was missing something. James turned his neck backward to see the unconscious Langorans and then instinctively noticed his friend standing in the back, staring in shock over what the Allayan recruit with the broken leg had just become.
James eyed him suspiciously, but sensing no threat, examined him more to find out exactly why. The Langoran stood there, staring at him as the walls fell down around them .The Langoran was pointing toward the ceiling, but James already knew it was falling, already knew there was a boulder headed right for his crown, but he didn’t care. He wanted to test his abilities, test his speed, and dodge it at the last second, but his Langoran friend wasn’t aware of that. He ran toward James to save him.
James growled, but the Langoran had already jumped through the air, toward the boulder falling on James’ head.
James swung an arm at his cellmate, and then everything went black…