by Jarod Meyer
“Gentlemen,” he said, nodding and trying to walk past.
One of the sentinels put a hand on his chest. It wouldn’t have stopped him, but he didn’t want to hurt the man. William looked up at the body attached to the arm. He was a pretty boy. Short curly hair and well-groomed features. The two that flanked him were more brutish. William could tell they were trying to seem tough.
“My brother was killed at the battle of the twin soul,” the pretty soldier said.
“William sighed, but looked at him again. I’m sorry for your loss, your brother honors us all in the next life.” William pushed past him, but the man continued.
“And you dishonor him with your life!” he spat.
William turned. He said nothing, instead deciding to let the man just get it all out. “It is because of people like you that there is darkness and evil in the world. It is because of people like you that there is sorrow in this realm. You should go to Dichonia and live with the rest of those wretched beasts!” the sentinel spat.
“Perhaps I will,” William replied, sourly. He shouldn’t have done this however, because it pushed the man over the edge.
The solider lunged, catching William with a bare fist to the jaw. He slid back on the smooth marble floor. The commotion around was instant and people began to converge on the scene. The small, pretty-faced man lunged again as William wiped a small droplet of blood from his now throbbing lip. It felt like everything slowed down. William knocked the man’s arm down and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground. His iron grip began to crush the sentinel’s throat. He watched, somewhat detached, as his fellow soldier gasped for air.
There were many hands on both of them then, ripping and pulling them apart. A Justicar from the Adjudicator corps landed between them. William shook his head, trying to snap himself out of his rage. He hadn’t meant to react so violently, but they shouldn’t have provoked him, not in his current state.
The Justicar spoke first. “What goes on here?”
The pretty-faced sentinel that attacked William writhed on the ground, clutching his throat and gasping for air. He looked between the two in assumption.
“Guardian, you assaulted this sentinel?” the man asked.
Someone from the crowd spoke up. “No, my lord. The sentinel struck first in anger.”
William had only seen a judgment given once before. He had read about the rest in his studies. The Justicar turned to the sentinel who spoke up, and stepped so close their faces almost touched. He reached out and grabbed his right hand.
“Can anyone else corroborate this?” the Justicar asked, studying the man closely.
William half expected his attacker’s two cronies to dispute this claim, but he soon realized that they didn’t want to risk being accused of lying from a Justicar.
“Name and rank sentinel?” the Justicar demanded, turning to William’s attacker.
The curly haired man struggled up to his knees, William’s hand print still on his throat. No one spoke, and William wished that someone would speak up for him.
“Gerald of Helios…. First Sergeant in the Nordic quarter Sentinel corps, third watch,” He managed to sputter out.
“First Sergeant, you are found guilty of assault on a fellow officer. You are hereby sentenced to one full Archonian cycle of imprisonment, and shall be marked with the brand of wrath,” the Adjudicator declared.
William’s brow furrowed. A full year in Archonia was a long time. He shook his head in dismay.
“No. He didn’t assault me,” William said quickly. The group looked to him.
“Guardian, I have two witnesses that have attested to this attack. Are you accusing them of lying?” the Justicar asked, raising his eyebrows.
“No, Sir,” William caught himself. This was technically a formal hearing. “I mean. I don’t press charges.”
“Guardian, you do not have the authority to levy charges. It is the duty of the Justicar to gather evidence and do such,” the Justicar responded emotionlessly.
It felt like talking to a machine. The man had undergone a complete purging of emotion and opinion. He now looked at everything impartially and maintained perfect objectivity.
“Sir, what I meant was. He is grieving. He lost his brother in the battle. Please, dismiss the charge. I forgive him,” William said, searching the man’s cold eyes.
A murmur swept through the on-looking crowd. The Adjudicator locked eyes with William, which made him begin to feel uneasy. Then the man’s perfectly groomed head snapped back to the sentinel on the floor.
“The fact that he succumbed to anger cannot be overlooked. The judgment stands, take him away,” the Justicar said.
Two sentinels on watch in the corridors scooped up his attacker and bound his hands roughly, like he was a common criminal.
William sighed and stepped back as the rest of the crowd dispersed. That very same day he had succumbed to his own anger, and even in the great council chamber he showed wrathful tendencies. Yet this man struck him once out of sheer anguish and now he would be locked away for a full year?
Normally he would put up more of a fight, but was to weary, and decided that there was nothing more he could do. By the time he got back to the Guardian wing it was dark.
He headed straight for the small chamber with the statue of Hangaku Gozen. Then sat down cross-legged, staring out the window. His mind was so stretched that he fell into a meditative trance almost instantly.
* * *
William’s shaggy hair whipped back against the roar of a gigantic beast. Four eyes followed him, and four arms tried to crush him. It had a very ill temper. The rest of his unit was incapacitated.
“Save them!” someone behind him shouted.
They told him this was a lesson in calculated retreat. William scoffed. More like chaos and retreat, he thought.
The tree trunk thick arm descended from above. William casually sidestepped the blow, and arched his sword, severing the limb. The beast yelped, sounding almost sad.
He jumped into the air, sank the blade into its neck, and twisted. Releasing his grip on the blade, William back flipped off the enormous hulk, dodging a flurry of wings from the conjurer’s next wave of creations. He had plenty of time to think.
Another week had passed since his last meditation. And that session had only been two hours. His training had increased his strength and speed two fold. His newfound speed was incredible as well as his reaction time. The creature’s wings appeared to beat so slowly it was almost comical. He pinpointed them, blasting each with energy from his palm. They were consumed in the grey balls of light, and disintegrated.
A heartbeat later, humanoid creatures, wielding blades, closed in. Their heads were shaped like ravenous dogs. William guessed their conjurer was Egyptian. They closely resembled Anubis, from his studies of ancient times. William caught a blade, as if it was made of plastic. With a steel fist he struck the creature shattering its sternum and surrounding ribcage.
The rest of the fight was downhill. These beasts couldn’t stand against William’s strength.
“What was that?!” Aeros shouted at William, who brushed of the dust and dirt covering his armor. “You were instructed to save as many lives as you could, and cover a retreat.”
William looked over at his unit, who sat idly, acting as the incapacitated team.
“I saved them all. I thought you would be happy,” William replied with a shrug.
“There may be a time when your enemy overwhelms you, and you need to make a choice. I pray I am not there when that time comes, Captain,” Aeros said in a harsh whisper. Then he shouted so that everyone could hear. “You will hold the atlas ball for the remainder of the session while a true Guardian shows us how to perform a calculated retreat.”
William rolled his eyes, barely stifling a curse.
“A true Guardian would not retreat,” he scoffed, heading over to the atlas ball.
He hefted his familiar chunk of stone off the ground, as he’d done m
any times before. It was a common punishment. He didn’t know if a ranking officer had ever been scolded in such a way, but it didn’t really bother him. Effortlessly, he lifted the massive, round ball up above his head, and then knelt down into the correct position.
This punishment was actually quite relaxing compared to everything else in his life. He tried watching Aeros’ drills, but his mind kept drifting to Angelica. She cut him deeply. She didn’t even have the guts to say goodbye. She simply left. And why? Because he wouldn’t hide the truth? Or, because she thought she was so much better than him?
A stone arced in, surprising him, and hit him between the eyes. The pain snapped him back from his thoughts, where he found Katrina and Juarez laughing hysterically.
“Oh that is really funny,” William said, readjusting the ball on his back.
“I haven’t seen you under that thing in many months, Amigo,” Juarez said with a smirk.
“Yeah, well, apparently I have trouble following orders.”
“Always have, and always will,” Katrina chimed in.
William nodded, but almost lost it when he saw a blistered symbol on Katrina’s arm. She was wearing a close fitted Gi with no sleeves, and he could clearly see the brand burnt into her arm.
“Kat, what the hell,” he tried to say, but she interrupted.
“I am not a saint either, William. I have done things in my past that merit these brands. You cannot just be mad at me…I am not the only one,” she said, looking at Juarez.
The healer lifted up the sleeve of his blue tunic to display a blackened scar burnt into his flesh.
“You guys didn’t have to do that,” William said, sadness gripping his insides.
“We didn’t do it for you, Amigo,” Juarez responded. “We all have things that we need to be reminded of.”
William could usually count on Katrina for rash decisions, but Juarez was the level headed one. So William at least felt confident that he meant what he said.
He was still annoyed, but in his heart he was glad that his friends did this.
“I apologize that I missed the training this morning. Juarez, you’re dismissed. Katrina report,” he said, his tone formal.
They snapped to attention. Juarez bowed low, and sped off. Katrina spoke.
“Sir, four of the initiates have failed and will be pursuing sentinel training. Nine remain, and six more have arrived as of this morning.”
“Six!?” William exclaimed. “I have to find out why they keep sending them to me for training,” he said, mostly to himself. “Get the new ones started and I will make sure to be there tomorrow to oversee their training.”
“Sir, may I speak freely?” Katrina asked.
“Yes, Kat, of course you can,” William replied. She relaxed her stance, and moved a little closer.
“Somebody told me that you have gotten faster,” she said, her eyebrows raised.
“Fast enough to catch you, soldier,” he responded.
“Prove it,” she said. William looked over at the training field, where drills had come to an end. Technically he no longer needed to be under disciplinary action.
He burst into the air, before the rock struck the ground. Katrina was fast, faster than anyone was at her rank. But with William’s newfound power she seemed utterly normal. It was only now that William really noticed the change inside. His training with Meredox put him on a whole new level.
Katrina’s smile was gone. Now she looked determined. William slowly gained on her, just as balls of light flew backwards at him. He dodged and twisted to avoid them, but one of the energy blasts found his chest and exploded, leaving a smoking scorch mark on his armor. And yet, the ball of energy hadn’t been powerful, it was only a diversion. He shrugged it off, without losing any ground.
Katrina descended. He knew what she was doing. She was faster on foot. When her feet caught the dirt she jumped slightly ahead. William let fly a single ball of energy. It hit right in front of her, forming a crater in the dirt. Katrina couldn’t dodge in time, and tumbled into an ungainly front flip, before skidding across the grass. He was on her in an instant, pinning her to the ground.
“That is not fair!” Katrina shouted. William pointed at the scorch mark on his chest.
“I’m sorry. What’s not fair?” he asked, with a playful laugh.
A grin broke out on her face, and she started to laugh as well.
Katrina forced her way up from the ground, and pressed her lips against his. William recoiled, and looked at her, alarmed and a little shocked. She didn’t apologize, just watched him as if waiting. Her beautiful emerald eyes, which were normally so hard, were now soft and inviting.
William couldn’t help himself. Instincts took over, as he grabbed her and kissed back. They melded for a long moment, their bodies coming together, moving with a shared passion, until his mind was able to take hold again. He jumped up, backing away. Kat didn’t move, her disappointment and rejection worn openly on her face.
“I’m sorry. I…I have to go,” William said, dashing off and leaving her sitting there in the field.
His feelings were everywhere at once, first to Angelica, and the pain of her rejection, and then to Kat, and the attraction he hadn’t even realized was there. He cursed his ignorance, and his blindness. He should’ve noticed Kat’s interest sooner.
Had he led her on? Was this his fault?
William ran a hand roughly through his hair, trying to stifle the confusing emotions as he headed towards the entrance to the training grounds.
Meredox was already waiting for him as he landed. His new teacher was now clad head to toe in his armor.
Oh shit.
CHAPTER SEVEN
WITHOUT LIGHT
“I have one final lesson tonight,” Meredox said, simply.
William briefly pondered what it could be and followed the dark-haired man into the air. They flew straight east out of the city, moving towards a towering mountain.
“Where are we going?” William asked.
“To the shrine of Kronos. His tomb lies deep below Tartarus.”
William knew this legend. On Earth, the story went that the gods trapped their father inside the mountain of Tartarus.
In his studies, William read that the city of Ionia sat at the foot of the mountain, and was home to the obelisk of Brahma. The obelisk was an energy source that separated the worlds of Archonia and Dichonia. It wasn’t long before William could make out the buildings in the distance.
His training kept him close to the capitol, so save for his trip to Mt. Olympus, William hadn’t seen much of his new home. He wasn’t complaining, after all, there was so much to see and explore in Helios, that he hadn’t really thought about the other cities much. Night had fallen by the time they reached the city, his sense of wonder taking over as he caught sight of the blue flame that lit up the city center.
A sharp looking stone pillar jutted up out of the center of the city, its surface bathed in the cool, blue glow. He didn’t need anyone to tell him. This was the obelisk.
Meredox didn’t stop. They flew past the obelisk and towards the foot of the mountain towering above. William dropped down quickly and followed Meredox to a stone platform high in the foothills. Meredox disappeared through a doorway set right into the mountainside. William let his inner energy flow, his gray light encompassing his hand. The shimmering light illuminated the entrance, revealing a narrow stairway which ran down into the ground.
William followed the stair for what seemed like an eternity. He couldn’t see Meredox, but finally spotted an orange glow. He extinguished his hand, and stepped into a room lit by torchlight. It was massive, with thick pillars holding up the ceiling, interspersed with statues of Kronos lining the outside wall.
Meredox stood near the end of the room, facing a large statue of the mighty Archon. The depiction of the archon seemed strange, almost alien in a way. A humanoid body, but elongated. The archon was clad in futuristic looking armor, like something out of a science fiction mov
ie. William noticed that the hand clasping a mighty axe had six fingers, not five. The hair was far too geometrical and seemed almost cartoonish as well. William wondered if the sculptor that had created it intended it to look this way, or if this was what Kronos actually looked like. Gabriel didn’t look like this.
William stopped just behind Meredox, and waited. Silence filled the room, and his mind began to wander.
“The Archon Kronos was destroyed in the war of souls, many millennia ago. He and his brother, Othin, perished in the battle that eventually ended the war. Do you know what they fought over?” Meredox asked, still facing the statue.
“Kronos wanted to destroy Lucifer, and his brother wouldn’t let him,” William replied, simply.
“Othin fought to save his brother from the same rage that drove Lucifer to evil. If Kronos was allowed to destroy Lucifer, he would have only succeeded in killing his brother, and taking his place,” he stated, pausing. “You will face evil in the underworld, William, and you will have to choose how you react to this evil. In the end, Kronos saw the light, and was saved by his brother.”
“I won’t fail,” William responded calmly.
“Then let your final lesson begin,” Meredox said, and raised a hand. A gust of wind rushed from his palm, extinguishing all the torches in the great hall. William was instantly bathed in darkness.
“In Dichonia you will face complete darkness. There will be times where you cannot rely on all of your senses,” Meredox whispered.
William snickered, and lit up his hand again to illuminate the hall, but as soon as he did, a fist slammed into his face, sending him flying across the room. The light disappeared instantly.
“You will only give away your position by projecting. It will also occupy too much of your body and mind,” Meredox said, his voice echoing off the stone walls.
William got up, and spit blood onto the floor. He let his aura flow over him, and hardened it like shell. It became another layer of protection over his armor.
William exhaled softly, and willed his body and mind to calm. He felt pulses of energy and slight variations in the room around him. Meredox was moving far too fast to pinpoint. He continued focusing on his teacher’s aura, but felt his body shake and his lumbar jerk viciously. He grumbled in agony as He stumbled forward almost losing his footing, but was able to turn the motion into a front flip off of his hands, where another strike from his teacher slammed him in in the chest.