by Zac Atie
“Magic is like another soul within you.” Dante says, “It chooses what Magic it’s comfortable with to adapt to, whether it be from it’s own will, from your ancestors proficiency with it, or from your surroundings growing up... It can be forced also, like with Veronica. Your proficiency is with Lightning, mostly due to your technology that you were surrounded with. You can evolve any magic, even if your Magic Pool does not bode well with it. However, surprisingly, the hardest and mostly beneficial to evolve is your affinity.”
“And when you evolved yours... You lost your sight... Correct?” Bastion asked, “Worth it, I hope.”
“I can still see through hollow sight... even though, I saw things. Enough to make me change...” Dante said, “As I told you... I sent my son to his death. I sent Trigoma... I sent him to his death, also... I’ve killed my family. For...”
“I don’t get you...” Bastion said, confused.
“Perhaps it’s for the best,” Dante said, “No matter. You’re expected to be dragged out to the Arena, and slaughtered.” Dante says, “But...”
“What?” Bastion asks, trying to keep himself together. Beneath the tough exterior he was trying to put out, he was scared. Terrified. “I would rather test your skill. In full combat. A death match, between me and you.” Dante says.
“Why?” Bastion asks. Dante doesn’t answer. He opens the door behind him. “Wait!”
“What?” Dante asks, “What is it?”
“If you kill me out there, I want you to promise me... Let Veronica go.” Bastion pleads.
“In the long run, it won’t matter if her life ends here or not... Not if I kill you. But fine.” Dante says, then walks outside. “Take the boy to the cells,” Dante said, “Do not hurt him, or the girl, or you’ll pay with your lives.” As the guards entered the room to take Bastion to the cells, Bastion sighed with relief, and a smile appeared on his face.
Bastion was dragged into the room with the cells, where he saw Veronica in a cell at the back of the room. She looked up, shocked and worried at what may have happened in the torture room. Dante can be heard outside, giving a speech, but through the walls it was impossible to hear the exact words he was saying. Bastion is shoved into the cell next to her, and the guards leave. The two say nothing for a while, then Bastion says, “Im glad you’re okay...” Veronica looks back at the ground.
“You seem to be the only person still alive who is...” Veronica said.
“Hey... I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t talk like that anymore...” Bastion said.
“I... I didn’t mean it like that...” Veronica says, “I'm... Trying to say thanks.”
“For what?” Bastion says, “I’ve gotten us both killed...”
“Now who’s talking all depressed?” Veronica said, plainly. Bastion chuckled.
“Finally learnt what humour is, have you?” Bastion asked.
“You certainly don’t seem very bothered by what’s about to happen...” Veronica said.
“And what do you think is about to happen?” Bastion asked. He could see that Veronica was trying to hide her fear. Her hands were trembling. “We’re going to be executed. That’s why everyone is outside, right? They’re out there, ready to cheer like barbarians when our throats are slit like cattle...”
“Jeez, Veronica,” Bastion chuckles, “Were you always this grim?”
“How is this funny!?” Veronica barks.
“Retract those claws, honey. You’re going to be fine.” Bastion said, “Dante knows who you are. He’s agreed to let you go.”
“What?” Veronica asked. She momentarily looked relieved, but then concerned. “Hold on, what about you?”
“I'm gonna be stripping to my underwear and go back to the gladiator days with Dante.” Bastion said, smiling. He didn’t seem all that bothered, he was of course, but he didn’t want Veronica to see. He wanted to be cool, if he was going to die. The nerdy side of Bastion always wanted to go out in a bang, giving a cool speech before jumping into the jaws of death. But it wasn’t cool to Veronica. “What? You’re going to fight him?” She whimpered, “But... NO! You can’t! He’s going to kill you, Bastion! You don’t understand!”
“Cool off, girl. I-“ Bastion began.
“Bastion, shut up! Stop your stupid jokes!” Veronica shrieked, slamming the bars with his bare hands. Then she fell silent. “Why? Why did you bother with me? You’re going to die... because of me...”
“Veronica...” Bastion said.
“I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... This whole time, I’ve been hard on you, taking out my own personal anger on you, pushing you around... Now you’re going to die for me... I'm not worth it... I'm not worth anything...” Veronica said, “This is all my fault...” She says, placing her head in her hands, crying uncontrollably.
“Veronica. You are worth something. You’re a good person, something your mother salvaged from your broken soul, something that I fought for... Even if I didn’t save you in the way I had hoped to, you’re still going to be okay. Your Uncle hates Sanctum, he’ll not turn you over to them... He’s not what you think he is. I saw the way you stopped in front of him, angry at the sight of his face, his resemblance to Trigoma. While he may not be a perfect person... I think...” Bastion didn’t know what else to say, “Stay here, Veronica. In the village. The people respect you already, Dante will exonerate you of your crimes... and his son will still be avenged. I'm happy I was able to save you, Veronica... Really.” Veronica looked at Bastion, tears crushed against her face. “Bastion...” Veronica sobbed, crawling over to the cells bars that connected the two. She reaches her arm through, and outstretches her hand towards Bastion, who was out of reach. “Come here...” Veronica pleads, smiling slightly. “Come...” The doors open, and the two guards enter, grumbling about something. “You don’t fucking deserve to fight for your life, especially against our Emperor,” One of the guards snarl, “But it’s his will. Get out here.”
“Bastion!” Veronica said, arm still outstretched. Bastion ignored her plea. He wished he could at least send his mother a kiss in text form, Talia a heart, and Vander... well, a thumbs up would suffice for him. But, it was all too late. The guards drag Bastion out of the cell, leaving behind a screaming, wailing Veronica.
Bastion is shoved out into the Arena. It’s brighter out here, and the crystals that were once dim were now bright, momentarily blinding him as if they were Stadium lights. He wishes. He wishes he was at a Stadium now, going to play football, a sport he despises of course, but it’s better than almost certain death. The Blue Magi in the stands cheer for Dante, and despise the one that killed Enlin and the father of his Bride-to-be. All sorts of insults flew at Bastion, even a few projectiles. This is nothing like what would have happened at the Red Magi settlement. The people here ARE rather brutish... Veronica was right. Would he save them, if he knew that this sort of sick thing would have happened? It was a question, however, that he did not have time to answer, as Dante McAllister stepped forward. “This...Child. This child entered our territory, no, entered our HOME, and took the lives of Crix and my beloved son.” Dante said, and the crowd exploded with angry insults. “This man sought my life, sought our honour, and tarnished our home. Now, he will pay the price. There will be no execution... but a slow death. A warrior’s death is too good for this man, I agree, but alas. A quick death is, also.” Dante steps forward. Magi at the front of the stands, dressed in guard uniform, creates a large shield that was easy to see through around the audience, so there are no casualties. “You first.”
Bastion summons a bolt of lightning to his fist, and fires it forward, missing Dante, he fires again, and again, and eventually charges at Dante. He reinforces his fist with lightning, and attacks as if he was in a boxing match. Dante was incredible, he places his left hand behind his back, and he raises the palm of his right hand in unison with Bastion’s strikes, and Bastion’s strikes don’t even reach him. They stop, a wall of solid air blocking his punches several millimetres away from his hand. Bastion
becomes frustrated, and jumps back, summoning fire within his hand, and he fires it. Dante vanishes, then reappears in front of him, to Bastion’s shock and panic. He dematerialised his body to evade the attack, a very hard move from what Varnis had told him. Luckily, it doesn’t last forever, only about a second, but it was enough to bring Bastion off guard. Dante kicks Bastion in the stomach, winding and wounding him, knocking him across the arena. Laughs and cheers erupt from the stands as Bastion hits the ground, wincing. He feels the ground begin to move, and the square grid he was laying on begins to rise slowly. As he looked around, he saw that some other grids were also raising, all to different heights, most only a few feet off the ground, but a couple towered over others. They went up to the stands, which were rather high, so it did not block the viewers’ view. Bastion was now above Dante, and he got to his feet, taking this opportunity to lay siege upon him from above, firing off bolts of lightning like he was Zeus destroying the titans from Mount Olympus. The bolts were strong, though Dante made Bastion look weak by blocking the bolts of lightning with one hand, smiling malevolently. Eventually, Dante stamps his left foot, and a grid of the floor raised. Using your feet to move the earth below you was not a common trick to using earth, unless you were bare footed, because some magic is wasted through the leather on your shoes. Bastion’s lightning bolt was still in mid air, going towards Dante at the time, and the lightning simply disintegrated as it hits the stone. Bastion realised that this stone floor was the same stone that the castle was built with, which is smart, because the combatants can’t even see each other in hollow sight through the stone. This arena was a lot more tactical than it actually appeared, and Bastion figured that he wasn’t going to beat Dante was simple strength. It had to be through wit. Dante lowers the grid, and fires off a ball of air enveloped in flame, but there’s nobody there. Dante looks around, but sees nobody, then he detects a hint of Aura from his left, and Bastion comes around the corner, shooting fire in the direction of Dante. Dante jumps back, not having time to erect a shield, and barely gets out of the way of the fire. Then, Dante shoots a thin bolt of his own lightning, which Bastion dodges, but is again attacked by melee attacks by Dante as he rushes forward, dematerializing his body for extra speed. Bastion blocks, and through mere luck, after dodging the second blow, he connects with a thunderous left hook to the jaw. Reinforcing his right hand with electricity, he hits Dante with all his might into his stomach, though Dante’s skin was hardened, it was still a devastating hit. If he didn’t harden his skin, the fist would have burst through him. Dante was knocked back, and the second he hit the floor, he got onto his knees and he slammed his fist into his palm then slammed his fist into the floor. The grids surrounding Bastion rose at an astonishing speed, and Bastion could tell that he had converted and executed that spell professionally. Unfortunately for Bastion, one foot was on the grid in front of him, so that foot and his body was brought up, but he lost his balance and fell backwards onto the hard ground. From there, he could see that the grids around him had closed off the area around him, and he was trapped.
Dante took this moment to jump on top of the structure and channel fire down into the abyss that Bastion was trapped in. Bastion erected a shield, though it didn’t touch the walls. It was hard, but if the shield had touched any of the walls, it was come apart and he would cook, which almost made him panic, but he kept a cool head. During the fire, Bastion took his right hand off the shield, and grabbed his belt to his jeans, undoing it. When the fire stopped, Dante looked down to see if he had been successful in his work. Unfortunately for him, Bastion was not dead, and up from the dark tunnel, threads and broken down material shot up at him. Bastion had broken down the belt into threads, extended them, and reinforced them with Magic. It took up a lot of his magic but he had an idea. The threads shot up towards Dante and it wrapped around his arms, legs, and body. Before Dante could cut free, which he could, the grids around Bastion came down, and he went down with them. Bastion’s grid also raised, though he had used his feet for all the grids to move, so he had used up a lot of his Magic to the point of being weak. However, there was one more injury to add to this plan, and that was that the grid behind him was down the quickest, so he hopped back and yanked Dante down into the middle grid, which was shooting up. Dante slammed into the upcoming grid, and nearly bounced off the grid into the ground below, which would have been great for Bastion, but he didn’t realise that he could have done this. The threads in his hand were still fastened onto Dante, and the force of the blow had snapped them, saving Dante from the fall. The spectacle left a lot of Magi angry, some even wanted to smash down the barriers and come to the aid of their Emperors. Even the guards were tempted, but they knew the consequences of this. Dante was impressed by the move, but he knew that if he didn’t move soon, he really would be annihilated by Bastion. Dante got up, and looked for Bastion. He couldn’t find him. He predicted Bastion would be waiting for another chance to strike, or trying to think of another trickster strategy. But no, from behind, Bastion raised a grid and attacked Dante with the rest of his Magic infused into his hand, a high frequency lightning fist, ready to punch through Dante’s back... But Dante decided to quit playing around and fight at his best, so he spun around, and placed the side of his fist against his mouth, so he could blow through it. Inside, he infused his hand with magic that intensified whatever magic would through it, and inside his throat, he began to convert a spell. For Bastion, the results were disastrous. As Dante blew, fire erupted from his throat. As it went through his fist, the fire erupted into the makeshift firestorm, and engulfed Bastion in flame. He flew backwards, smashing into the Barrier on the other side of the room, and fell onto the floor below. His body was broken, and bruised, and he had no Magic to heal himself with. The fight was over, he had failed. The crowd cheered with relief as the victor looked down on his opponent. His expression was a mix between pity and disappointment. He had expected, no, more like hoped, for more. But Bastion was content expected this outcome. How could he possibly beat a strategist and a skilled fighter that had 2000 years of experience more than him? He had been a Magi, for what, a month? His feats so far had been impressive... Though, at least, his mission was successful. “Well... I came here to save Veronica, and her uncle will likely take care of her now. He doesn’t seem completely heartless... no... I'm sure Veronica will be fine, but... It sucks that I lost. I... don’t want to die... I wish perhaps... Damnit...” Bastion thought inside his head, as the voices of the crowd faded... Faded into nothing.
No, not nothing. Waves. It was the ocean area again. Did this mean he had slipped into unconsciousness? Was this where he would die, on an ocean, overlooking his life? Perhaps it wasn’t a complete loss, there were far worse ways. He sat on the water, looking at his reflection. “I'm young...” He says, smiling, “I'm alright looking. I have a way with words... smart... have a great mother... great friends. And here I am, dying. Already...” Bastion mumbled, out loud. Dying had a really large affect on him. His perspective changed, wondering if the path he went down was right... or was it wrong? If he had done something differently? Was he to blame? Or was it his body, his lust for magic, that led him to this? In the end, he figured there was no point blaming and being angry, as he had come here on his own free will. It was him who failed to beat Dante, not Veronica, not his mother, not Vander. This was his problem. What was his most admirable quality? It was something he never talked about, but changing the world for the better was something that he’d love to do. Nobody being judged by the actions of a few, respect for all, freedom for all... Bastion looked over toward the statue in the distance. He could tell that Illuminos was waiting to talk to him. “It’s often that in the final moments of your life, you realise who you are.” Illuminos said.
“Really? And who am I?” Bastion asked.
“It is not about names or titles. It’s about deeds, ideals, views. Your moral fibre.” Illuminos said.
“Does it actually matter?” Bastion said, “I couldn’t do
what I needed to.”
“You did what you viewed as right. That is all that should matter, and if it does not... Then what was the point in dying for the woman?” Illuminos asked.
“Right...” Bastion said.
“Not all people have this chance to look back at their lives before leaving. Not even many Magi.” Illuminos said. Bastion did not respond. Over a couple of minutes, Bastion thought only of the good things. His mother, and how she scolded him out of love and worry as he came home after sleeping on the park. Vander, and his little move, the ‘Vance’. How he would make Bastion laugh, be a loyal friend, and back him up whenever he need him. Talia, and how her love for him was comforting, and how it felt to have a bond like that with somebody. Yaevinn, extremely kind. He was practically the same as Bastion, only Bastion was more blunt and sarcastic when it came to the serious stuff. He was a great friend to him, and the whole village of Korreal. And, of course, Veronica. Veronica was someone he didn’t like at first, someone he was wary of. Eventually, he warmed to her, began to feel sorry for her, like her a little. Then It became deeper after the secret was let out. It became a close friendship. In another life, perhaps she would have been a perfect sister for Bastion... perhaps something deeper. A thought Talia would not approve of, and that Vander would pull out a Vance at, but nobody was perfect. Not that Bastion would dare venture that far. As for Bastion’s deeds, he was a loyal friend. He tried to stop the murders, which he ended up doing with Veronica’s help. He put his life on the line in the tunnels, and stuck his neck out for Veronica’s life. As well as all the things he did during his childhood. “Oh, yee of extraordinary blood. Wielder of lightning and guardian of life. Art thou happy with the life you have led? Was the journey worth it? Would you do it again? Did you grow stronger with each step?” Illuminos asked.