The Esoteric Design

by A. R. Crebs

  “No, we’ll find another way. What if you kill us all? What if you kill yourself?” she said.

  “There is no other way!” Dovian turned, giving her a look of desperation. “I have to try.”

  “Come on!” Troy tugged on Aria, pulling her toward a shop where Kovacevic had kicked in the door.

  “No! We can’t leave him out here!” she argued.

  “He can handle himself!” Troy struggled with the woman. “God damn it, Aria! You aren’t in control anymore! This is a time where you need to retreat!”

  Aria met Dovian’s eyes. He nodded at her and began growling, pulling at his back apparatus once again. His fingertips dug underneath the tips of the metallic wings on his shoulder blades. Aria didn’t know exactly what the apparatus did, but it looked painful as it began to separate from his skin on the edges, blood covering his fingertips. Dovian never returned Aria’s stare, and she finally let Troy pull her inside.

  Ivory looked panicked. “Will he be okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah, he’ll be okay,” Aria affirmed, leading the girl to the basement of the building.

  Filing in one after another, they all four rushed to the basement window, looking up at Dovian, who struggled with the apparatus. The two Spewers were nearing him, only meters away. Giving up and pressing the buttons on the device instead, Dovian lifted his staff and began throwing the last of his energies at the creatures. The streets were littered with Brawlers, the alleys full of Brutes, and there was still no sight of Euclid.

  A loud rumble filled the air, and just as the two Spewers readied to spill their guts onto Dovian and set him aflame, they burst into nothing.

  “What the hell was that?!” Troy shouted. He stared upward in awe, his face nearly pressed against the small pane of glass.

  Dovian did the same, watching the skies with an open smile on his face. Did he know they were coming?

  Another rushing rumble sounded, and the alleyways lit up with mortar fire. Heavy artillery fell from the sky, obliterating the Brawlers. Dovian remained on the streets, helping in the fight. He sent pulse after pulse toward the creatures, shoving them all into thick piles to be annihilated by the air fire overhead.

  “It’s Cherno! They sent their reinforcements from the mountains!” Aria cheered, hopping on the balls of her feet. Due to the constant chaos, Aria had forgotten about the Cherno military that had been sent as backup in case things went haywire during the signing. Apparently, the Roma military had their own backup as well. They had their best bombers with precision aiming blasting away at the enemy. Within seconds, the war had made another turnaround. Euclid’s beasts didn’t stand a chance.

  A gushing roar sounded and water rushed over the sides of the buildings, extinguishing the many fires in Saray. Aria and the others waited, watching the demon hoards diminish. Within half an hour, everything was quiet, and the whole town smelled of sulfur and ash. Saray may have been nearly destroyed, but it still stood.

  Aria, Troy, Kovacevic, and Ivory slowly ascended the stairs from the cellar. Once outside, they found the streets full of noisy civilians and military personnel alike. Cleanup had started immediately and so did the celebrations. It was surreal. What if Euclid attacked again once they all had let their guard down? That question was dismissed as Kovacevic received an update that the reactor was empty. Euclid was nowhere to be found and the same went for the reactor core. What Euclid wanted with it was unknown, but as for now, there were no reports of any nuclear blasts that had annihilated any other city-states. Luckily, Saray had their reactor backed up with traditional methods, the whole procedure set up for in case Euclid stole the core. Now, at least Saray wouldn’t be having a nuclear meltdown. They would just have to live by old-fashioned standards, through the use of Saray’s natural gas reserves. Sure, it was ridiculously expensive, but it could always be worse. Saray could’ve easily met the same fate as Athenia.

  “There you are,” Troy said.

  Dovian neared the group. His face was covered in black soot, drenched with sweat and water. He gave them a faint smile. He looked utterly exhausted.

  “How you feeling?” Aria asked, handing the man back his cape.

  “Like I just fought a war,” he said unenthusiastically. Flapping the cape, he twirled it about his body and quickly fastened it back into place.

  ‘Ah, there’s sarcastic Dovian,’ Aria thought. She frowned once she caught his staring at Ivory.

  “And you are alright?” he asked the blonde-haired woman.

  “Just fine.” She nodded quickly, staring at her feet.

  “Well,” Kovacevic rubbed the back of his neck, “it’s been fun, kiddos, but I’ve still got lots of work to do. Got to count how many men I have left.” He began to walk away but paused. “You know, I always thought I had the best war stories, but tonight…tonight tops ‘em all! From now on, I can say I fought alongside a Sorcēarian,” he chuckled.

  Dovian gave him a single nod back in respect.

  “Hope to fight alongside you again someday, son.” Kovacevic lit a fresh cigar, puffing out white clouds. One would think he had enough smoke inhalation for the night thanks to the fires.

  “Hopefully nothing of this magnitude,” Dovian replied.

  “Aw, keeps you young.” He smiled. Kovacevic eyed Aria and Troy. “You kids keep yourself safe. Stay together. You make a strong pair though you may want to work on your arguing.” He winked.

  Aria gruffly folded her arms.

  “Get some rest. You all look like hell.” Kovacevic gave a small wave with his cigar before finally walking away from the group, yelling into his DNAIS. The action never stopped with the man.

  Dovian watched Ivory, who stared at the scorched and wet pavement. She intensely avoided making eye contact with anyone. Troy yawned loudly, ignoring the intense glare Aria was feeding the Sorcēarian and the suddenly awkward silence that befell them. They all remained that way a few moments, listening to the happy cheers lining the streets and music playing from all of the little shops and bars. One thing was for sure, Saray didn’t let a little war get in the way of their lives.

  “Come on, it’s late,” Aria grumbled. “We have to find a hotel.” She turned about-face and walked away. Troy followed quickly after her.

  “Okay,” Ivory managed to say above a whisper. She could feel Dovian’s stare burn into her back as she followed in pursuit with her comrades.

  Dovian waited a few seconds before joining them, his thoughts traveling for a reasonable solution. Ivory looked like a soft, gentle woman, but what had happened earlier to her didn’t make any sense. There’s no way a human, let alone a frail looking one such as her, would be able to snap a monster’s bones like she had and toss it like a piece of trash. And not only that, but Ivory didn’t feel right. Dovian had covered many wounds before, but he knew for a fact that her wound was fatal. She shouldn’t have lived through it. He looked down at his hand. No blood. There was no blood from her injury, and her stomach had felt hard, too hard. She was also cold. There was no doubt about it; Ivory was hiding something she obviously didn’t want the others to know about, and Dovian had a pretty good idea what her secret was.

  "Scarlet"

  Chapter 16

  Dovian plopped his heavy body roughly onto the old and floppy mattress of his overpriced hotel room. He sighed, the sound loud and low in the almost silent room. The murmuring of voices on the street could be heard along with the various sounds of traffic, cats mewing, sirens from afar, and the occasional crash of glass breaking on the concrete. The party in Saray was finally dying down. The low moan sounded again from the Sorcēarian.

  “What a tragic race…” he hummed, his voice coarse and empty.

  The man covered his eyes, shielding them from the light bulb that hung from the ceiling. The bulb had no cover; the ceiling fan it was attached to whirled in slow circles. There was a creak, probably the building settling. Dovian had noticed more than a few cracks and holes amongst the foundation. But who was he to complain? He had bee
n living in the ruins and rubble of an ancient race for thousands upon thousands of years before Troy and Aria ever came along. Troy, however, did mind. He threw a tiny fit about their current destination and was promptly hushed by an angry Aria. She had muttered something about keeping cover, being inconspicuous. Dovian had chuckled. Anywhere you go with a man like Dovian, you were going to be noticed; it didn’t matter how much of a rat-hole the hotel was or how discreet the location of said hotel was located.

  There was a knock at the door–probably not the sound of the hotel settling. Dovian ignored it. He took a deep breath and relaxed, closing his illuminating eyes. The hollow sound repeated, even louder than the last.

  “Dovian, open up.” It was Aria. Her voice was even duller as it called from behind the hollow metal entrance. Dovian decided to wait a second longer, one more second to piss off the woman, one more second so that her voice would saturate with annoyance. “Get off your ass and open this door.”

  The door swung open with a violent force. Dovian leaned against the frame, rubbing his messy, glittering hair. He yawned and eyeballed the woman in front of him. Her tiny fist was about to strike against his chest, the approximate location where the door pounding had earlier taken place.

  “Can I help you?” he drawled out long and low. Aria dropped her arm but kept her glare fixated upon his.

  “What happened earlier?” The woman’s tone was painfully boring.

  “…Earlier?” The lanky man blinked, shrugged, and shook his head all at once. The gesture did more than irritate the woman.

  “With you and Ivory,” Aria grumped. She folded her arms and leaned against the outside doorframe.

  “Oh, that.” Dovian tapped a finger on his chin for a moment and thought. At least, he pretended to. “She was wounded–”

  “Right. And…” Aria hissed.

  “And,” he nodded, “I healed her.” Dovian reached for the door and readied to shut it in the woman’s face. Her hand slapped against the surface, the sound like that of a ruler against a desk, and kept it in place.

  “There’s more to it than that! I saw you! What happened? What are you hiding? I swear to God if she–” Aria was interrupted.

  “I wouldn’t swear to Him.” Dovian leaned forward, pointing upward at the ceiling and rolling his eyes to the same place. “He doesn’t take kindly to such things.”

  “Like I care,” Aria growled, her teeth gritting together–perfect square pearls grinding against each other. Her jawbone set out to the side, and the muscles twitched with her anger. It made Dovian smile.

  “But you should.” The Sorcēarian leaned downward, his elbows propped against the door and the frame. “You see, you already have it in bad with ‘The Man.’ Any type of atonement would do you good.”

  “I’m not here for your holy talk!” Aria raised her chin, showing that she wasn’t at all afraid of this self-proclaimed deity.

  “You want my opinion?” his voice was a low whisper. Dovian stared directly into Aria’s eyes. Now she was becoming uncomfortable. He liked it. He liked to watch her tense up under his gaze.

  Aria remained firm, her eyes not tearing from his even though she wanted to. The fact was she couldn’t look away. There was always something mesmerizing about Dovian’s eyes, but tonight they seemed much more intense than usual. They glowed with a brilliant hue, one that was more heavenly than the stars. His radiant orbs could lure a person in and ensnare them, and that’s one of the things that bothered her the most. He was like a predator. He was like a deep-sea trench creature trying to lure her in with live bait, and that’s what she felt like. She felt like she had walked into a trap. Dovian had been in more than just a sour mood this evening. He had seemed downright murderous and insane thanks to the energy his back apparatus had fed into his nervous system. But still, she wouldn’t let him smell her fear.

  “Only on the question that I previously asked,” Aria replied. She stepped forward, resting a shoulder on the inside frame of his room. Now he couldn’t shut the door in her face. At least he’d have to shove her out and then close it, which Aria wouldn’t doubt that he would do. His usually peaceful behavior toward her was now nonexistent.

  “I think that you are jealous,” he simply stated. He received a brow raise in response. “And you’re angry.”

  “Obviously, more than angry,” she said with a lethal tone.

  “It’s all because you’ve lost control of the situation. You see, you’re a full-bred military woman. You have the power, you have the authority, and you have the skills. Problem is, you’re in new territory. You’re not dealing with humans, men with weapons more powerful than they can handle.” He leaned in even closer, their noses almost touching. “You’re dealing with more than you can handle. It’s all over your poor, little overconfident head. The military has you spoiled. You may have been drug into this war with me, but I bet more often than not you spend most of your time inside your safe haven, spitting orders and playing the strategy game with maps and toy soldiers. I bet you feel no remorse for those you send out to die, not caring about numbers but only results. Staring at the computer screens and watching the digital figures disappear like some video game, you send out drones and robots to do the cleanup so that all of you at headquarters don’t have to deal with the reality of it all. And, in the end, it’s you who gets the paycheck, the awards, and the ceremonies while all the others who did the dirty work attend the memorials and funerals to be buried or to say their final goodbyes to family members, friends, and comrades. I bet you wear that symbol proudly.” His icy eyes rested on her shoulder patch. “High-status,” he said with the same bitterness and sarcasm Aria had heard many times from the civilians and military personnel on base.

  “Don’t you dare criticize me!” Aria shouted. “I’ve seen more war than you can imagine!”

  Dovian cut in before she could say more. “Oh, really?!” His volume rose to her level. He snatched her by the arms and dragged her into his room, slamming the door behind her. With a quick pound, he had her pressed against the wall with his arms locking her in the tiny space. “Enough to see an entire race ethnically cleanse its self?! Enough to see the world end nearly three times?! Enough to watch everyone you know and love vaporize and disintegrate between your very fingertips? Did you see any of that? Have you experienced a full war in first person? Were you the cause of any of it? Did you solely end a war? No…I don’t think so. I don’t believe you’ve seen what war can do to a civilization.”

  “I’ve been born and bred in this age of death and war!” Aria said.

  “But you didn’t know what it was before!” he retorted. “You only know of results.”

  “The results of your wars!” she alleged back angrily.

  “Brought on by your race!” Dovian hissed with spitefulness. “A horrid, disgusting race!”

  “At least my race has found a way to keep itself alive!” Aria caught her breath as Dovian gave her a look most grave. Even she knew she had gone too far with a remark like that.

  There was a long silence between the two. The sudden awkwardness of their positions made the air harder to breathe. Dovian could have sworn he heard the skittering of a runaway cockroach. Aria waited to see what would happen next. Would he say anything more, or would he just kill her right then and there? He lowered his gaze, the conversation had ended. Dovian would spare her that one mistake. But Aria’s initial question was still left unanswered.

  “This has nothing to do with the question I originally asked,” Aria spoke up, but her tone had somewhat softened.

  “Ivory?” Dovian raised his head. “You want to figure out what Ivory’s all about?”

  “Yes,” replied Aria.

  “The initial question which brought my previous answer: jealousy.”

  “What jealousy?!” Aria shouted. “Can’t you take anything seriously?!”

  “The jealousy of not having control over the current situation, not knowing who or what Ivory is, knowing that there’s something beyond yo
ur knowledge. And it’s the fact that I was there to save her, and I’m the one that knows her little secret. Ivory, the pretty girl who shares a secret with the Sorcēarian, the magical sorcerer from your little books you read as a child. We share a bond that you don’t understand, and you’re mad because you can’t figure it out. Maybe it’s just the fact that she’s prettier than you. She’s naturally different. She doesn’t need the hair-dye, makeup, tattoos, and optic enhancers. Ivory’s a beautiful girl. I know how women are. Doesn’t matter what rank you hold, you’re still a woman. Perhaps you’re all in a tizzy, and you want to find something wrong with her so you can rightfully accuse and alienate her.” Now he was low-blowing her.

  “This is ridiculous!” Aria threw her arms up into the air. Dovian swiftly caught them.

  “The fact that your face turns red every time Troy so much as glances at her gives you away. He acknowledges every curve and batted eyelash from every other woman and not so much a look your way unless he’s being hounded. You do keep him on a short leash,” Dovian said.

  “And you’re not worried about the fact that Troy may hit it off just right with Ivory?” Aria pursed her lips together. “I’ve known that man my whole life, and I know when he has a chance and when he doesn’t,” she sassed, giving in to the Sorcēarian’s petty game.

  “And what do you think?” Dovian almost purred.

  “It has nothing to do with our mission. I’d tell him to keep his hands to himself. And I noticed more than a few glares coming from your own eyes, Dovian.” Aria pried her arms free from the giant’s hands. “You keep changing the subject to something that you’re more interested in. You don’t like Troy at all. He’s got game, I’ll admit that. He knows how to get what he wants. And you, you’re sexually frustrated after fifteen thousand years of alone time and have suddenly been thrown into a mix of humans, half of which are women! And I’ve noticed your eyes fall upon me more than once. I think you, sir, are the one with the jealousy issue.”