He was there.
Al was shouting at him, but words no longer had meaning, they were just rough noises that initiated the stabbing pains radiating through his skull. If he could only move, even if it was just his finger, he could shut the damn wav-com off he wouldn’t have to spend his last moments listening to his friends suffer.
There was a pull at his hand and he tried to shift his blurry vision over, but even his eyes weren’t responding to his command. After a small click the wav-com fell to the floor beside him, silent now.
“Are you finally going to die?” The voice of the Man of Mist hissed in his ear.
Cold hands wrapped around his neck and lifted him to his feet. Even if he could focus his eyes, he would only be faced with illusion.
“So it’s just you?” He asked Sky with a laugh, “The only thing that stands between me and the fate of the Living is a pathetic boy? I’m a bit disappointed I must say. That other boy, that little freak in the mask, he hardly gave me much of a fight either.”
“Soul.” Sky tried to picture him in his mind. There was no way Soul could lose. “You’re a liar.” It couldn’t be true. Someone had to come. Someone had to get to Lil’May. “Zar.” He cried, someone had to answer him.
The Man of Mist tightened his grip around his throat.
Zar! Please!
The hand on his throat was torn away in a black and white blur as something smashed into the side of the Man of Mist, driving him back and away.
Sky dropped to the ground. “Soul.”
“Don’t touch him!” Soul screamed, kicking the Man of Mist back even farther. Soul’s clothing was soaked in what Sky could only assume to be blood.
“Kid’s now a day’s just don’t know when to die!” The Man of Mist laughed and jumped over the railing, down to the ground floor of the house.
“Sky,” Soul knelt down beside him. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Kill him.” Sky pushed out.
Soul nodded. “I understand his tricks now, I will not lose again.”
“Where, oh where could that little book be?” The Man of Mist sang merrily into their heads as he pulled down book shelves and tore open closets.
“Be strong Sky, I’ll be right back.” And with that, Soul jumped out of view.
Sky rolled to the side. Wanting to see what was happening. He couldn’t die now, not yet. Zar! Please! Answer me.
Stop shouting I can hear you. Zar’s beautiful voice was music in his head.
Zar, please, I need my power. I need to heal these wounds.
There is no more power. Not without a link to the Snow. Zar sounded so far away.
There has to be something. Sky pleaded. Sara once said there was no central point, he remembered her words. She said it was like it was a part of me.
If you open it up that way, you’ll be consumed by the Snow.
I won’t be consumed, I can control it.
I doubt it…but I’m not ready to end our fun just yet. Zar paused and was silent. There was a hum in the back of his head and a wave of lightness washed over his body, followed by the greatest weight he had ever felt. Was this it? Was this what dying felt like?
Open your eyes, prince. See the flow of energy, find the Snow. It exists in the space between space. Sync your body to it, it’s a part of you, accept it, and it will open to you.
Sky pulled his eyes open and forced them to focus. He could see it. And he had seen it before. It was just as Zar said. The Snow surrounded them; it flowed along with life and was a part of it. He could feel it, the steady drone, the vibration of existence. He held his hand out and looked up, through the ceiling, through the roof and out into the blue of the sky. I can touch it, mom. I can touch the sky. He smiled, the most wonderful feeling rushing into every cell of his body, filling it with energy and life. I can touch it…and He clasped his hand into a fist, feeling the weight of the molecules in the air, I can hold it.
He was on his feet before he even thought about it. He glided down the stairs, barely feeling them beneath him. Soul and the Man of Mist were fighting, or rather, Soul was being tossed around like a rag doll as the Man of Mist laughed.
He wasn’t real. He saw that now. The Man of Mist, he wasn’t real at all. Sky walked forward, unnoticed by his enemy.
Soul stood slowly in the corner, using the wall as support. From the way he stood up straighter and looked away, Sky could tell that he had seen him, but wisely said nothing. Sky continued his journey, step by blissful step towards the black robes, no longer swirling or menacing.
“Where are you really?” Sky said calmly.
The Man of Mist turned towards him, his blank wooden face plainly visible now without illusion to hide it. He was a puppet, and nothing more.
He lunged at Sky, but Sky had no fear.
“Where is your master?” He grabbed the puppets hand as it was swung at him.
“You will die!” It screamed in his head.
The wooden fist he held in his hand and the body attached to it – he wanted it to disappear.
“Sky, stop.” Soul’s voice called out to him.
No. This puppet, this Man of Mist, it had cost them so much. “You can hear me, right, puppet master?”
The funny thing about molecules was that while in order to create something, complex combinations must be perfectly executed, but to destroy them, all it took was a little more space.
“You started this, remember that, and I will end it, slowly, and painfully. I will find you.” They were his feelings put into words and his words were put into action as the puppet, the once feared Man of Mist, dissolved into nothing.
“Skyden!” Soul yelled, but he couldn’t hear him.
The world around him began to grow. He saw it all, the building blocks of reality. How they fit, and how they could be taken apart.
“It’s taking you over, you have to stop.” Soul’s hands were on his shoulders. “Zar, stop him. Zar!”
He was right. His thoughts had become disorganized and full of chaos. He was losing control.
You need to stop. Close it. Deny the Snow! Zar yelled into his thoughts.
Sky placed a hand on his stomach, he felt the blood, he felt real. That’s right. He belonged to this world. He was a part of the Living. Sky closed his eyes and clutched at where he had been stabbed, by Sara’s knife. He needed to stay - he needed to see her again, to see Al and his dad. He needed to stay in the Living. He needed to live.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Al knew they were done for. Their current position at the edge of the town square had been chosen after careful strategic planning to be the prime location to protect the townspeople, but now with their limits close at hand, he realized that they had backed themselves into a corner.
Sara and Roland had joined them – Sara willingly, Roland only because he didn’t want to be alone.
Time had lost meaning once the fighting started. They had fought their way to the square in the center of town with the plan of blocking the one route the soldiers would have to the populace.
“Stop backing up, Roland!” Sara shoved his gangly form forward, into Al’s back.
“Guys!” Al bellowed back, his power and his patience were running low.
Without use of their guns and swords, the soldiers were relying on brute strength, blunt objects and their shear numbers to push them back…and it was working. The Captain was using the last of his energy to create a barrier around them, but Al knew even he was close to the end of his reserve.
“We need to run!” Roland cried desperately, pushing against Al’s back again, trying to shove him aside. “This is stupid!”
“Shut up!” Al screamed, letting what energy was left in his body rise. “We’re the only one’s who can protect this town. Who else is going to fight for them?”
Beside him Sara and Lee straightened their tired and battered bodies with recharged spirits.
“We won’t give up.” Sara growled and wiped at the deep gash above her eye that bled free
ly down the front of her face.
Lee’s face hardened and he stepped closer to the edge of the barrier. “We will fight until the end.”
“And then you’ll die, you idiots.” Roland laughed in disbelief. He backed up further into the safety of the barrier, sucking up more of its power.
Zero came up from behind and passed them, out into the open air. “Not today.” Zero formed his hands into a sign, concentrating his power.
The soldiers that rushed at him were driven back by a wave of energy that left them blackened and unconscious. The second line of men and women hesitated. Al leaned forward in unison with Lee and Sara, all of them ready to strike as soon as the enemy dared to move.
With a bellowing battle cry the soldiers charged and the three answered with their own roar of fighting spirit.
Lee hit head-on into a dense group of rough and burly foot soldiers. Being raised an Agon warrior had giving Lee the advantage over his enemy at every confrontation, and this time was no different. He fought with such precision and accuracy that all that dared to gather near him were left in twitching heaps on the ground. Al couldn’t imagine what would have been like to fight an entire army of Lee’s.
Al’s biggest advantage was his speed and size, and just as it was with Sara, no one expected the power that was expelled from each hit or kick. He had been raised by Marcus Kane, and he knew how to fight when he needed to. He had managed to keep his Telic powers in check throughout the fight to conserve energy, but with his physical abilities weakening, his assets were going to have to be pulled out.
The confidence that had weaseled its way into his mind was smashed out as a large rock crashed into the back of his skull.
“Al!” He heard Sara screaming.
His vision faded in and out of focus as he struggled back to his feat. A fist flew at him but was blocked by Sara as she took the blow to the guts. She swung back and knocked the man clear off his feat. Al stared in awe at her strong, straight back.
A shout of rage called his attention behind him in time to see a scrawny soldier holding a long shard of glass tightly in his bloody hands running at him with his murderous eyes trained on Al’s. There would be no time to dodge, he poured the last of his energy into defense. Bracing for impact, Al squeezed his eyes shut.
And then…nothing happened. Al’s eyes sprang back open to see the soldiers all standing still, their arms falling to their sides as looks of bliss and joy overran their expressions.
There was a rustling a few lines back, and then he saw him. There was no mistaking those dark, wide eyes as he walked slowly towards them with the crowd of soldiers parting around him as oil from water.
“What is this?” Sara took a step back. “Con!” She sounded relieved and terrified at the same time.
“Con.” Al pushed passed Sara, but was instantly pulled back.
It was Roland who growled the name and spit it like a curse. “We might need to run.”
“No one is running.” Zero snapped back.
Con stopped a few yards away, keeping his distance. “Been awhile, Zero-Eight-Four. Look’s like ya’ll need some help, eh?” His posture and voice were casual, but the tension in the air around them was obvious.
“Seraph.” Zero snarled. He walked forward cautiously, waving off any attempt to stop him.
“I go by Con now.” He returned Zero’s cold stare with a smile.
“What do you want?” Roland yelled in Con’s direction, but stayed safely behind all of them.
“Have you seen Soul?” Al asked, shifting Con’s attention away from Roland.
“How do you think I got here, kiddo? There is no way we could land that ship here without getting shot down.”
“Seraph.” Zero said moving slowly towards him, “You want to help us, that’s why you are here, right,” He held up his hands, showing he meant no harm, “so please, help us.”
Al couldn’t believe his ears. Did Zero just ask for help? It was true that they were in a desperate situation and he hadn’t really seen a way out of it, but for Zero to plead must have meant they were truly beat.
Con searched over them. “You guys are idiots.” he finally laughed, looking back to Zero. “You thought the few of you could take on an entire battalion? Seriously?”
“It wasn’t one of our smarter moments.” Zero sneered.
“The townspeople are getting restless. They do not know what is happening out here, and think we are beaten.” Lee spoke up with urgency in his voice.
A cruel smile crossed Con’s youthful face, “Shall we show them that we aren’t?”
“Don’t kill the soldiers, please” Zero whispered too softly for any normal person to hear. “Just make them go away.”
The skin around Con’s eyes hardened and his mouth turned down. “You think that’s what I would do.” All around them the soldiers shifted, putting their useless guns up against their heads and their rusted knives to their own throats. “That I would just have them all kill themselves right here, right now?”
Their scattered circle tightened, Al pushed his back up against Sara who grabbed strongly onto Lee. The Captain was suddenly in front of them, his arms outstretched with his energy surrounding them.
Zero stepped boldly towards Con.
“Don’t push him. He’ll destroy the whole town.” Roland whispered desperately behind them.
“No.” Al replied in his own hushed voice. “I don’t believe that.”
Con backed away from Zero, his dark eyes growing cold, “You don’t know me.” The Soldiers lowered their weapons and began moving away from them. “You never bothered to know me. You never cared.”
“If I remember correctly, it was me that dug you out of that hole all those years ago.” Zero took another step towards him.
“Because of her. Because of Oh’May. You did it because your sister told you to.” Con looked away, out into the mountains, “She’s dead you know.”
Al’s heart dropped into his stomach. He had known it, he had felt it for a while now, but to hear it meant he had to face it. He didn’t realize he had stopped breathing until he felt Sara’s arms slowly wrapped around him from behind in the most comforting gesture.
Zero backed towards them, but never took his eyes off of Con as the soldiers began to drift away from them. Within minutes they were left with an eerie silence, alone with Con.
“They will return to base with news that the issue has been resolved and the occupation is to end. This town will be safe as long as the people stay quiet.” Con spoke blandly, his voice steady and stale as he watched the last of the soldiers amble out of sight.
“What happened with Soul?” Al asked again, not afraid to let all of his emotions out into his words. “What happened to my mom? We were too late, right. He killed her. The Man of Mist.”
Con tilted his head sympathetically, “I don’t know,” He smiled kindly at him, “All Soul said is that she has passed on, and that I needed to make sure you were safe.” Con began to turn, “As for the Man of Mist.” His gaze shifted up into the night as if listening to something far away. “That issue has been resolved for the time being.”
“What does that mean?” He demanded, rushing towards Con, but Zero stopped him before he could get too far.
Beside Con, Soul appeared. Blood covered his mask and hands, and Al could only assume that the black, wet material of his clothing was soaked in it as well.
“I can’t stop it.” Soul didn’t acknowledge them, his only focus was Con.
Con pointed to Roland, “Take him.”
“No, I need you.” Soul said, and then leaned towards Con, whispering to him.
With a nod of understanding Con placed a hand on Soul’s shoulder before looking back over to Al. “Meet us at your mother’s house. Follow the trail on the northeast side of town into the forest.”
“What’s going on?” Al didn’t like the way Soul was rocking back and forth, like he used to do when they were small and he was afraid.
“It’s Sky.�
�� Lee said, his eye’s trained on Soul. “You’re afraid for him.”
“No!” The Captain shouted and ran towards them. “Soul, what’s going on?”
“Where’s Sky?” Al screamed.
Before the ring of his own shout left his ears they had disappeared. His legs lost their strength and his knees hit the dirt of the street. Zero was yanking him to his feet before he could settle into his sobbing.
“Get up. We’re not done yet.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The dark in the light and the light in the dark. That was his existence for what seemed an eternity. There was nothing and everything, there were voices in silence. He wasn’t anyone anymore, he just was.
“Sky!” It sounded just like his brother. “Skyden, wake up.”
But he was awake. He hadn’t fallen asleep, in fact, he was more awake then ever.
“Just let him be for now.” That sounded like Con. “It’s gonna take some getting used to for him. How’s Zar?”
“He’s up.” Soul’s voice came back. “Hey, Zar! Eww, don’t lick that!”
Sky’s eyes snapped into focus. He was sitting up somehow, and outside of Oh’May’s home. The only thing in front of him was a little gray loax, its head tilted adorably. It almost looked just like the one he had seen earlier on the stoop, but this one had a strange symbol branded into the shiny fur of it’s forehead.
Did you miss me? It was Zar’s voice, and it was technically inside his head…but it was somehow different than before.
“What happened?” Sky found his own voice strange in his ears. Like it was a bit too loud.
Soul sat down beside him with a relieved sounding sigh. “Everything’s gonna be fine. All thanks to Con.” Soul lifted up his mask, Sky was surprised to see a smile underneath it. “He’s a genius.”
Con chuckled and plopped down on the other side of him, “I told you I get that a lot.”
“You were almost consumed by the power of the Snow, but he was able to bind it once again to Zar, but instead of holding him inside your body like before, he transferred him to this.” Soul gestured to the loax, “This amazing creature’s soul had moved on, and we are greatly indebted to it for the use of his former body.”
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