Rise of the Young: Warriors are not made; they are forged (The Ascended Book 2)

by Bygott, Hugo C.

Wei Long walked over to them. Her eyes were red from the lack of sleep, and she looked far less formidable now as if her confidence as a leader had been torn apart. “Still no sign of Kry?”

  Athena lowered her eyes.

  “Not yet,” said Abel.

  Thrace tried to keep their spirits up. “I’m sure he’ll be here. He’s stronger than all of us.” He turned to Abel. “No offense, Abel.”

  Abel showed no emotion and turned away.

  “It’s already dark, and we haven’t seen a sign or signal from him,” said Wei Long. “So many have died already and many from my faction.”

  Eclipse stood up and flipped Kuro back into her scabbard. “There are no more factions here, Wei. There is only us. We have passed that point now.”

  Wei Long bowed. “You’re right. I didn’t mean to single out my faction. I’m sorry. I only wanted to say that if it weren’t for Kry, Sonus would have killed me.”

  “Even when we thought Kry had changed and the darkness started to take over him, there was still a part of him which remembered,” said Eclipse.

  “It’s still there, Eclipse. Kry’s darkness is still growing, and if he doesn’t come back soon, then he’ll fall further,” said Abel.

  Eclipse looked up into the sky; the moon continued to shine on her. “I believe that no matter how much darkness enters him, he can still be saved.”

  “I thought that once, too,” said Abel. “And I was wrong.” He stood up and walked away to be by himself.

  “What’s wrong with him?” asked Inessa as soon as he left.

  “Something happened to him in the past, but he won’t tell me what it was. He’s like a closed book. He acts like Kry sometimes,” said Athena.

  Eclipse hoped Abel was wrong. She still believed in Kry and what he could do. There was something special about him. She vowed to protect him no matter how far he would fall. She still believed.

  “I can’t believe Sonus betrayed us,” said Inessa.

  “I can. We all knew what kind of person Sonus was. He killed Xu, and he was always jealous of Kry. The only thing which surprises me is that he didn’t do it sooner,” said Thrace.

  “I wished I’d killed him,” said Wei Long. “There was no justice this day for his actions. I vow that the next time I see him, I’ll drive my dagger through his heart. He destroyed everything.”

  “We all want to see justice, Wei,” said Yujin, who had returned from helping an injured student. “But for now, we have to accept our losses and prepare for the next battle. It isn’t over yet.”

  Gustav walked over to them. “We should have dealt with Sonus sooner. We let him grow and turn students against us. Now look at us, broken and hopeless. How many of us are even left to fight again?”

  “More than you know,” said Yujin. “We aren’t the only ones who can fight against the Shadow Government.”

  “Then who?” asked Gustav. “We’re all dead, sooner or later. There’s nowhere left to go.”

  “Gustav, I’m still willing to fight. I’ll fight until I can fight no longer. Are you so willing to give up this easily? I thought you were stronger than that,” accused Eclipse.

  Gustav said nothing and then walked away.

  “Many have lost hope, Eclipse. The Shadow Government has instilled fear into us all,” said Athena. “What can we do?”

  “The only thing we can. To fight, until we destroy everything the Shadow Government stands for,” said Eclipse.

  “Good luck with that,” said Thrace. “No one can beat them.”

  “Kry can,” responded Eclipse. “I know it.”

  “Even if that were true, Kry isn’t here. And I’m not so sure your faith in Kry is justified. He’s strong, but he’s only one man. The Shadow Government is made up of many Ascended Users, and they have vast resources,” said Thrace.

  There was a groan from the darkness.

  “And him? Why did you even bring him here?” asked Thrace.

  “I agree. It wasn’t a good idea to bring him,” added Akira.

  Michael sat up and continued to groan. He looked around and saw the faces of the students. On every face there was anger. He tried to crawl away.

  “Don’t be afraid, Michael,” said Eclipse.

  Panic was written in Michael’s eyes. “Where am I?”

  “Don’t tell him. I don’t trust him. He might find a way to tell Bellum our location,” said Inessa.

  “I think we should throw him off the cliff,” said Wei Long.

  More panic filled Michael’s eyes.

  “No one is throwing anyone off a cliff.” Eclipse walked over to Michael. She then went down on one knee and looked him in the eyes. “Which Michael am I talking to?”

  Michael was shivering. Eclipse wrapped her blanket around him.

  “Thank you,” he said, his eyes still wandering to the angry faces glaring back at him.

  “Which Michael?” repeated Eclipse.

  Michael wrapped the blanket around him tightly and began to sob. “I made a mistake, Eclipse. Botulinia did something to me. She changed me and made me think in a totally different way. For the first time in a long while, my mind is clear, and I can think for myself.” Michael looked up at her. “Where’s Kry?”

  Eclipse felt sorry for him. She could see in his eyes that he was a broken man. “Kry isn’t here.” She sat beside him. “What happened to you?”

  “Be careful, Eclipse, he might be acting. I still think we should throw him off the cliff,” threatened Wei Long.

  Many students cheered, showing their agreement.

  “No, please! I’m not acting. I’m not going to tell Bellum anything. I wouldn’t know how, even if I wanted to,” pleaded Michael.

  “Lies! His mistress killed many of us. Let us have some justice with his death!” shouted Wei Long.

  Other students began to stand up and shout for justice. Eclipse pulled out Kuro and pointed it toward them. “No one is going to hurt him. He was Kry’s friend before all of this. He was deceived by Botulinia just like many of her staff. We should not be so willing to judge him. He’s harmless.”

  “He might seem harmless now, but once our backs are turned, he’ll return to them. I’m not sure if I can even sleep well knowing he’s around. He might try to kill me in my sleep or any one of us here,” said Wei Long.

  “I won’t! All I want is to go home and…” Michael paused. “Sarah…what have I done…”

  Eclipse was unsure if she could stop all the angry shouting to have Michael killed. There was so much hate toward him, and she understood why.

  “Ilya is dead because of those machines. He died trying to help us!” shouted a Russian student. “I say we throw him!”

  Chants soon grew, and the students were becoming angrier at having Michael in their presence.

  Yujin and Seranay tried to calm them, but it was no use.

  “If anyone is to be blamed, then it’s me,” said Dr. Rhodes as he came to Eclipse’s side and stood in front of them all.

  The death calls died down. Eclipse showed her gratitude toward Dr. Rhodes.

  “I’m the one who made those machines. Yes, those destructive killing machines were my creation, and there’s not a moment that goes by that I don’t feel guilty about what I’ve done. They are Purifiers, made for only one thing: destruction. So, if you want to judge this man behind me, then judge me as well because I was the maker of all this. Michael, for all his faults, fell for the beauty that is Botulinia. She deceived him, manipulated him, and turned him into a puppet—a puppet among many who have followed her blindly. And I’ve seen how many of you male students behaved once you looked at her. Now, imagine that she spoke into your ear, touched your skin and made you feel special. Many of you would also succumb to her gifts of manipulation. She’s a Blade for a reason, and Michael acted of no volition of his own. She did the same to me. I know the feeling and the power she has. I wish I could unmake those machines, but I can’t, and I’ll live with that forever.” He turned to Michael and looked into his e
yes. He watched Michael carefully before returning to face the students. “His eyes are clear and void of manipulation. Whatever Botulinia did to him is no longer there. There’s only a scared young man who wishes his life back. He’s no different to you all.”

  The students began to speak among themselves, but the angry voices soon dwindled in the night.

  Eclipse touched his arm. “Thank you, Dr. Rhodes.”

  “I’ll still be watching him,” said Wei Long. “And I’ll be watching you, too, Doctor.” She turned to leave.

  Dr. Rhodes sighed. “I’m so tense. I think I need a drink.”

  “Sorry, Doc, you won’t find any of that up here,” said Thrace. He offered his hand to him. “The name’s Thrace. Impressive work with the machines. They got me good.”

  Dr. Rhodes prepared himself for an argument.

  Thrace laughed. “No problem, Doc. I’m not here to fight you. I just wanted to say that your son is a gifted User. Despite his young age, he learned so much with Kry and me in our classes. I’m happy he got his voice back.”

  Dr. Rhodes shook his hand. “Thank you, Thrace. You’ve no idea how much he means to me. I just hope he can stop worrying about Kry.”

  “Where is he now?” asked Eclipse.

  Dr. Rhodes pointed to the far end of the mountain where there was no light or shelter. “He said he wanted to be alone. He hasn’t said much since we got back. I’m worried about him.”

  Eclipse put Kuro back into her scabbard. “A father never stops. I’ll speak with him. Your son and Kry were close, like brothers. Maybe, I can try and be a sister to him.”

  Dr. Rhodes smiled under the moonlight. “I think he would like that.”

  ****

  The mountains were beautiful, mighty, and strong. Whisper looked into the distance, thinking about Kry. Why had he not come yet? He wanted to show him that he could speak again and tell him the whole story of Geminae.

  The stars in the night sky were mesmerizing. He started to count them one by one, giving each star a name. He did not know why, but it comforted him. He wondered if Geminae was alive, but her wounds were severe, and most likely Botulinia had already killed her. Why had Geminae even helped him? At first, she kidnapped his father just when they had been reunited, fleeing across the water after Dominus had been killed. The Blades, though, turned against her on the orders of the Shadow Government. However, that alone was not sufficient to explain why she had defended them. There were a lot of things Geminae did that confused him. Geminae had also kept it a secret that Dr. Rhodes was his father. She was not the same Geminae who had helped kill her own sister. Deep down, the death of her sister affected her more than she even realized. She even had told him to tell Kry she was sorry, but he did not know whether he would ever get the chance. He prayed Kry would return. Even though Kry had become distant and darker, in the end, he had helped everyone. He needed him. He missed him.

  “Aren’t you cold?”

  With his green eyes, he could see Abel sitting not far from him. He had known Abel was there all along but did not want to disturb him. “I could ask you the same thing.”

  Abel remained where he was. “You’re thinking about him aren’t you?”

  “I think you are, too,” replied Whisper.

  Abel did not even look his way and only stared out toward the stars. “Your friend thinks Kry can be saved from the path he’s on. I’m not so gullible.”

  “You mean Eclipse? I don’t think it’s gullibility. We knew him before he came here. We know where he comes from, and we’ve been through tough times together,” said Whisper.

  “Do you really know where he comes from? Eclipse told me what Makai said. We all thought Kry was one of those two boys who the Shadow Government supposedly killed during the User Civil War. Who knows what the truth is now,” said Abel.

  “The truth is this, Abel. Kry came from a family that loved him, a family that raised him. I met his parents, and they took me in when I was alone. He had love in his life,” said Whisper.

  “And now he has none of that. All dead, taken from him. I’ve seen it happen before. The loss of someone you care about makes you different. It changes you. You may be surprised when the Kry you remember never returns,” said Abel. “The darkness is still inside of him. I felt it during our fight, the anger and the lack of empathy.”

  “He still has some empathy left. If he didn’t, why did he help us?” asked Whisper.

  Abel was silent.

  “You fought well, Abel,” said Whisper. He could tell that Abel’s defeat hurt him more mentally than it did physically.

  “Not well enough,” said Abel. “I will train harder for the next time we fight.”

  “He’s an Ascended. Even you can’t beat his level of energy generation,” said Whisper.

  Abel smiled in the dark as if a fire had been lit inside of him. “Aiyax beat him, and she wasn’t an Ascended. He can be defeated with strategy, and who’s to say that we, ourselves, can’t reach the level of Ascension?”

  Whisper turned around to the sound of footsteps drawing closer.

  “You’re ambitious, Abel. You and Kry are more alike than you realize,” said Eclipse.

  “And very different,” said Abel as he got up and walked back toward the lit area of the camp.

  “He’s a brooding type, isn’t he?” said Eclipse.

  Whisper smiled. “You used to be like that once.”

  Eclipse sat next to him. “I must have been fun to be around.” She looked at his glowing green eyes in the dark. “I still can’t believe you can speak. To tell you the truth, you sound very different to how I imagined.”

  “I sound like a kid is what you mean,” said Whisper.

  Eclipse shook her head. “No, actually the opposite. You sound more mature. I still can’t believe Geminae helped you. She didn’t seem that kind of person.”

  “No one is more surprised than me. Maybe it was the shock that caused me to get my voice back,” said Whisper.

  Eclipse considered what he had said. “I think it was the power of your emotions. Her actions moved you to the point where whatever was blocking you from speaking snapped. I guess I should thank her if we meet again.”

  “I don’t think you’ll have the chance. She was badly injured when I last saw her, and Botulinia wasn’t happy that she had been stopped. I can’t imagine what Botulinia would have done to her after that,” said Whisper.

  Eclipse was silent for a time before speaking again. “When Kry gets back, he’ll be just as happy to hear your voice.”

  Whisper’s eyes glowed. “You still think he’s coming?” Even now, he was beginning to doubt.

  “I do. He has to. You and Kry are like brothers. Even though he has become distant, I believe he’ll come back,” said Eclipse.

  “Abel doesn’t seem to think so,” said Whisper.

  “Abel has his reasons. Those two are competitive. Abel’s ego is slightly hurt after Kry defeated him,” said Eclipse.

  “It’s more than that. I don’t know, but why hasn’t Kry come back yet?” asked Whisper.

  “I can’t answer that, but there has to be a reason,” said Eclipse. “Whatever it is, we’ll work together to help him find out about his origin and his mysterious headaches. If anything, we can only get stronger together.” She leaned against him and hugged him warmly. “And if things don’t work out as we hope, at least, I’m confident that you and I will stick together.”

  Whisper relaxed. Together, they looked up toward the stars.

  “Do you hear that?” asked Eclipse, suddenly.

  Whisper stood up. In the distance, he could see a small light approaching them. “Something is coming this way.”

  The light drew closer and so did the sound of an engine. “It’s a Purifier!” cried Whisper. “Bellum has found us!”

  Eclipse rose to her feet. “Get back to camp. We need everyone ready!”

  ****

  The Purifier roared in the night sky. It was on fire and looked like it had been
through hell. The control room window was shattered, and the arms and legs of the machine were fragmented and burning. Students everywhere were shouting for instructions. Yujin and Seranay had put all the students behind them while the Purifier prepared to land.

  Eclipse and Whisper rejoined them.

  “Wait!” Eclipsed shouted as she saw students drawing energy to fire.

  They looked at her with confusion.

  “It’s not Bellum! This Purifier helped us against the others!” Eclipse turned to Yujin. “Can you sense him?”

  Yujin closed his eyes and smiled. “Battle brother.” He then opened his eyes and raised his hand for everyone to stand down.

  Students looked at each other in confusion. The Purifier clumsily landed on the mountaintop, the fire burning fiercely. Yujin and Seranay released streams of ice at the flames, quickly putting them out. Many students were still wary as the metallic stairs emerged from the machine. Black smoke rose as the stairs hit the ground with a thud. A man slowly descended the steps with a cheeky smile. Eclipse had never been happier to see that mischievous smile and ran toward Rush, wrapping her arms around him.

  “Missed me?” Rush gladly accepted the embrace.

  She pulled away and glared at him. “Why didn’t you contact us sooner?”

  “I had some…complications. We can catch up later.” Rush looked over her shoulder and saw Yujin beaming at him. “Big man, I’m glad you’re still alive.”

  Yujin strode over and hugged him, lifting him up into the air. “Battle brother! I knew there was a reason why one of those machines went rogue.”

  Rush began to choke from Yujin’s powerful bear hug. “What can I say, I’m a rogue myself.”

  Yujin placed him down. “Who’s that?”

  Eclipse looked to the top of the stairs and could not believe her eyes. “Rhea?” she said in shock. “You’re alive!”

  Rhea slowly descended and did not know what to say.

  Eclipse embraced her. “I thought you were dead! We all did.”

  Rhea smiled and felt at ease with the embrace. “I almost was. I’m so glad to see you again.”

  “Rush! Rhea!” shouted Whisper, running over to them. He was just as surprised as Eclipse that Rhea was alive.