The Circle of Duty

by Owen Elgie

  "It would appear that the energies which were absorbed into the stone to free me from that spatter of humanity have destroyed what abilities it held." It breathed deeply as it fought to hold onto an infernal rage.

  "I could feed from you through the echo of the stone but that is lost to me as well now." Its functioning hand balled and straightened reflexively as it spoke, still never taking those golden spheres from me. My eyes darted around, desperately looking for something, anything which could come to my aid.

  "Which means that the only way for me to do what needs to be done and correct this monstrosity I've been marooned in, will be to rip, that, stone, from The Messenger before using what's left of that child to make me what I need to be." The staccato delivery made it even worse. I knew what was going to happen but I couldn't do anything about it. I spasmed against the bonds again but I was too weak to even crack the stone. The Bulk kept its face close to mine and its decaying breath poured over my senses, another display of its control.

  "When I've done what I have to, I'll return to you, boy. I will show you what The Hive has at its core and, who knows, I may even make clothing of your flesh for my servants."

  "You will not so much as harm a scale on his mighty frame," detonated into the tension. The clarion voice rang like the tolling of a bell of the mightiest purity and it caused the Bulk to wince and flinch back away from me. I recognised the voice and knew it couldn't have come at a better time. Turning my head as far as I was able, I could see Em suspended in the darkness above me, those glorious wings of hers outstretched and casting their cleansing light everywhere. Her face, though, showed that she was badly injured. Blood was congealing but that didn't hide the fact her left eye was swelling shut, she had multiple lacerations and what looked like a horribly broken nose. She was still shrouded in her crystal armour for the most part but now it was hugely damaged in so many areas, spidery cracks reaching to almost every part of it. The Bulk noticed too and sludged forwards again.

  "And now you threaten when you are so very far from capable of actually delivering on the threat. That seems unwise little one." The voice was one of concern but was used as a threat.

  Em ground her teeth and it was only now that I really looked beyond the injuries, that I could see the strain she was under. She was standing before a vastly stronger foe as she fought with herself, doing everything she could to hold herself together. Her voice, which I'd heard as a pristine explosion of authority, had been fractured, held together by will. Both of her fists were closed and the knuckles white with the effort. She was struggling to do the minimum. She was going to get herself killed to protect the Guardian.

  "You can't Em," I pleaded with her limply, begging that she would listen to the order of her master. "You can't throw your life away, please. Now more than ever it's you we've got to protect." She tilted her head. "It's not me, it's you. You're the one." My pleading was left to just hang in the air and I could feel both of them watching me as if expecting something further. Em spoke next but her voice was now cracking.

  "My Lord. Both you and that thing have made a very grave mis-calculation of me." She turned back to face the Bulk. "You have both deemed to speak of me as a singular. Little one, that I am the one to be protected. I am afraid that this is very far from the truth." Silence became silence became silence as the tension expanded. What the hell was she talking about?

  "You see," she continued, "I am so very far from being alone as to be the tip of a mighty spear," and with that she relaxed and expelled the breath she'd been holding onto, let her hands fall limp, and withdrew all of the power she'd been holding into the wall of cloaking of hers to reveal a swarm of fast moving, screeching and hooting Tayne, all blazing onwards at the Bulk with a fury so far beyond anything this race had ever mustered that no-one would believe who hadn't witnessed it.

  The Bulk was powerless to resist.

  The Tayne, still so hugely warped and corrupted, simply relied on gravity. There were so many of them that they didn't need to do anything else but crash into the monstrosity in a torrent of flesh and claw. The Bulk just screamed. It had shown that it was able to withstand the pain of anything which was thrown at it but now it was being defied. Its plans were openly being mocked, and by those who it had deemed to be nothing more than the weakest of the weak and a race to be bullied. The Tayne, in contrast, were ferocious. Not a single one of them did anything but attack. There was no hint of cowardice, no uncertainty in their actions or fear. Each and every one of them was finally taking the chance that their whole people had been wanting to take as they stood up for themselves.

  The Bulk swung at the mass of Tayne with both arms, again relying on brute force as its only option, but the Tayne were able to surge around those massive limbs in a torrent which was already forcing the creature back. After each impact on the Bulk, the lucky ones just speared away in any direction they could to re-join the melee. Those who weren't so lucky littered the cavern floor around the Bulk having been no match for the pulverising force that thing could inflict. I watched on with a kindled ember of pride that in all of this, no matter the outcome, at least I'd helped the Tayne.

  As the fighting continued, animal warrior calls filling the air, Em lowered herself before me and started to punch her way into the stone holding me in place. It crumbled apart and I crashed to the ground, unable to hold myself upright without help. Em was quickly to my side and whispered into my ear.

  "My Lord, can you hear me? Please, you must be alive." Her voice was pleading to the ether, begging that the Guardian was alive. I opened my eyes to show her the good news but still wished it had been because she'd wanted 'me' to be alive rather than just the Guardian. She exhaled a giggled breath of relief and hugged at me tightly.

  "I can't move." My body was smashed. "I've used up what power you gave me." She blushed slightly, though still strongly enough for me to recognise under all the blood on her face, probably at the perceived slight of daring to assume one of her superiors was in need, and looked away. "I meant no disrespect my Lord. Just to provide you with the greatest chance of victory." More admission that she was still willing to defer to the special few. The Bulk roared from behind her and she span to face it, arms raised before her ready to fight. Mounds of fallen Tayne littered the small space we were in and the stream crashing into the Bulk was diminishing almost visibly. It was winning. The Tayne, though vast in number, just weren't doing enough damage. Despite their effort, their sacrifice, they just didn't have the tactics to be able to defeat an enemy like that.

  I planted my right hand to the floor and did my best to rise. I just had to help the Tayne. I couldn't let that thing win but more importantly, there was no way I was going to let it destroy the entire race in the process. I barely moved a foot from the ground before all of the power washed from my arm and I crashed back down. Em turned and was back to my side.

  "Do not try my Lord. You are in no position to be able to defeat that brute." I tried a second time to stand but had the same result despite her request. I was here to fight. Em spoke more forcefully the second time. "My Lord. I've been doing some thinking of my own. I have devised the perfect response which will achieve all of our goals." She smiled wolfishly before adding, "We can save the child."

  My eyes must have lit up at the possibility of finally being able to rescue Maria. That had been the driving force for everything I'd been doing up to this point. That was why I'd dragged everyone around with me on this quest and for so long it had looked that she was going to be yet another victim.

  Em ghosted from me, her wings of energy being quickly drawn back into the fabric of her suit and doing her best to always keep the Tayne swarm between herself and the Bulk. Travelling with the ease of movement of a cat, all stealth and liquid grace, she made her way across the area towards the crushed rock which had held the others for the casting Leatherpants had been weaving. Roar after roar filled the air from the Bulk as it continued to thrash at the cloud of angry creatures which were still attac
king for all they were worth. Eventually, Em reappeared from the mound of broken stone, but she carried with her, slung over her shoulder limp like a bag of sand, Hairy. She returned the same way she'd come to drop the big Argentinian next to me. What was she doing?

  Next she rushed to scoop up what was left of Maria. The light had been extinguished from her and she looked as if she were breaking apart like wet sand. Motes of her spilled through Em's fingers as she cradled the child to her chest, moving as fast as she could to return to where I was. She carefully eased Maria onto the floor next to the still unconscious Hairy. I just watched on with a worry building.

  "What are you going to do?"

  "I'm going to bring all of the energy of the Guardian back a single point, remove it from the child fully, and give it to our new Guardian." She sounded almost giddy as she shook out her hands in preparation.

  "You will most certainly not." I was ablaze within my Dragon body and although unable to move, I wouldn't let her do that.

  "We haven't come this far to simply conduct a Bridging. That isn't going to save the child, it'll kill her." The din around me didn't stop her hearing but her face didn't show the expression of being rebuked. She just smiled slightly.

  "Please just watch and all will become clear."

  And with that she drew in a massive breath before reaching out her hands, one towards Maria and one towards Hairy. The effect was instant. An incandescent blaze of purple light exploded into being around the three of them, forming a shell of energy. The Bulk, now under attack from all angles, flashed towards the light and was fast to recognise what was happening. An orangey yellow light was lifting from Maria to flow directly into Em. But that wasn't all. That same light was forming all around us, that light which had washed away from Maria was now being dragged back to her, back to Em. At the centre of her chest, visible clearly through her suit and armour, was a purple fire coming from the remaining piece of the Drake Stone as it was used to channel all of the energies Em was using. The energies in that stone burned away at the suit above it as she worked.

  The Bulk screamed and howled as it tried to beat a pathway through the Tayne. They in turn had started to use a more co-ordinated attack and instead of the single fighters attacking in a close space, now they were truly working together. Marveling at what was happening around me, I could see groups of Tayne linking and locking arms over shoulders and shoulders to backs to become a single solid force before hurling themselves into the Bulk to drive it back. Hit after hit went in as they engaged with wave after wave of repulsion and forced that thing to retreat from what it was attempting to reach. I couldn't believe it. They were scrummaging the Bulk away.

  Inside the shell of power around Em, the golden yellow light was swirling and billowing as more and more of it was drawn in until, finally, the last fragment entered the shell and Em was able to drop her head and relax as she allowed the power to pass through her, through the Drake Stone, and into Hairy. His eyes flashed open the instant the first tendril of power touched his chest, his back arching in involuntary spasm and a howl of a beast emanating from him. Amidst the Tayne, the Bulk howled out as well, clearly recognising the fact that it was being beaten to the punch, and began to increase its wild flaying to reach its goal.

  Inside the shell, the power dimmed as it was pulled through Em until the darkness returned and Hairy was left limp on the floor, his body twitching at the residual effect. The shell collapsed to reveal that, her power now gone, Maria was fading away.

  "Save her please!" I begged Em as my own humanity took over and my Dragon form gave way to a return to the human. Laying on the floor, naked, I pleaded again and again, trying to rouse Em from the slouch she was now in. Tears rolled down my face as I did and there was nothing I could do about it. The Bulk laughed. Beyond the mountain of Tayne who were fighting like experienced warriors, the Bulk barked out a laugh.

  "She's done what she needed to do hasn't she? She didn't listen to you and your plan of saving the child. She just followed the rule of The Circle. Protect the power." I didn't have the chance to respond before Em lifted her head and for the briefest of moments, locked eyes with me. I could see a deep sadness in her for the first time and, unexpectedly, a single tear fell slowly down her wrecked face. In that silent second, she smiled that sadness, before plunging her fingers into her chest, surrounding the Drake Stone in an iron grip, and ripping it from her flesh. A wave of low sound spread out in all directions and Em's shoulders rolled forwards under a great weight, her hand clutching the Drake Stone falling to the floor and beginning to blaze with angry heat as the power of that crystal began to burn away at Em. The Bulk and I both screamed but Em just slammed that stone into what was left of Maria for all she was worth.

  The stone floor cracked beneath the child and a howling wind climbed up to gale force everywhere. The Tayne were scattered in all directions and even the Bulk was slammed away against a huge rock pile. Sitting in the eye of the hurricane, there was a relative stillness but the energy in the atmosphere put my teeth on edge and made my throat constrict. There was a static which twisted at you, a power so vast and timeless that it was clear that no-one would truly contain it. In that space, I watched on as all of the lost energy of Maria was rapidly reassembled around that heavy piece of crystal. She had an expression of pure serenity on her face as it did, as if she were finally coming home. Finally the hurricane lost a fragment of its energy. Then a piece more. Maria was solid again but remained laying on the floor. Hairy was struggling to his feet next to her with an expression of pained awe all over his face. Em also stood, gingerly before stumbling slightly. Hairy was there to steady her and nodded as she straightened her back.

  Turning to me, her face was still just as damaged as it had been but now it looked as if she'd aged. Not that she was suddenly covered in wrinkles and had grey hair, but there was a haunted experience in her eyes. She carried herself with the weight of a thousand regrets and it was that which stole away her youth.

  "What do you think to my solution?" She spoke as she approached where I'd propped myself against the stone. I tried everything I could to say something but I just couldn't. There was a gaping hole in her chest where she'd been forced to remove the stone and she was so very badly injured.

  After an age, I asked the only question I could. "What did you do?"

  She kneeled at my side, taking my hand in her remaining hand, the Drake Stone having destroyed the other, as she did. "I Bridged the child, but before she was lost I transferred the mantle of Messenger to her. She will be the one to take on the role from now." She breathed shallowly as she explained the point.

  "I wanted to save everyone," I protested, the tears still falling. "I didn't want to save one at the cost of another." Em smiled.

  "That is who we are. We can want but we must always return to the core of what we are charged with. The greater good." Her voice was tender, reassuring despite the situation. She stroked my hand as she looked at me as if she were consoling a distraught child.

  "Now, please stand up," Em ordered. I had no idea how I was going to be able to do that, my body had been drained. Yet when she heaved against my arm, dragging me to my feet I was able to steady myself and remain upright. Looking at her still stroking my hand, I understood what she'd done.

  "You've just given me the last of your power haven't you?" I hadn't intended the words as a rebuke but I just couldn't contain my emotion. She stopped stroking and smiled.

  "The greater good, remember," she replied before letting my hand fall.

  From the far edge of the arena, bubbled an angry cackle. The Bulk lumbered towards us and mocked us with its razor blade hatred. We both turned to face the thing and I raised my hands to fight. Em just watched it casually, not the slightest hint of emotion on her face. As it ponderously advanced, I became quickly aware that I was naked so wouldn't be the most imposing figure in a fight.

  "You see Guardian? When everything is said and done, all the actions of The Circle are, are attempt
s to protect its position, its power." It kept advancing slowly and it wasn't immediately that I could make out any of the details of it. When I did, I could see that the Tayne had done a huge amount of damage. It was covered in slashes and tears in so many places as to look more hole than skin. Fluid was pumping out of all of them to stain the floor in an ever growing river of gore that also contained chunks of flesh and internal organ that the thing was dragging behind it. I wanted to be sick. That horror had become so much worse than it had been originally. Mangled and ruined it may have been but it was still moving towards us. Clasping onto Em's arm, I turned to run. I had no idea where we would be able to go but I knew we had to try to escape. Em remained rooted to the spot despite her ever growing frailty.

  "Come on. We can get away from here. I can jump us out. You gave me enough power for that." I was pleading again but seemed to have the same effect as before. Em just watched the Bulk.

  "You're right my Lord. You have enough power for one Cascade Bridge but not yet. We can't leave that thing to escape. I'm sorry to say that the final part of my plan to defeat this brute and restore The Circle needs one more thing from you." Now she turned to face me, and I could see that the life in her was fading away. Without the Drake Stone to sustain her, she was going to die.

  "Anything for you Em. Name it." I straightened my back and accepted that she had made her choices for the good of the whole. She'd done what she'd done because she believed in what she was protecting. I would play the part of her superior to give her as much gratitude for what she'd done as the set standards of decorum would allow. She nodded curtly once.

  "I would like one kiss from you my Lord."

  The Bulk wheezed its approach but there was no other sound to interrupt this moment.

  "I cannot recall ever having engaged in such an activity but since we met, I've been able to feel such a passion coming from both you and Miss Thomich towards the other that it is something I feel that I should have the chance to experience at least once."