by Zac Atie
“Damn you, Duty.” Rickol hissed. “11th Company, attack!” He roared, charging at Ultimali. A sick smile made its way across Duty’s face. Ultimali shook his head, slowly. “Such a blind fool, you are, Rickol.” Ultimali whispered to himself, so quiet that nobody could hear, not even the child, still clutching to his leg. “But, I will not kill you. The world needs more fools.” Ultimali opened his eyes, and then disappeared, leaving the child clutching desperately to nothing but air. Rickol was way ahead of what was left of his company, and Ultimali had appeared behind him. Ultimali had backhanded the back of Rickol’s head with his right hand, sending him flying forwards, face first into the grass, unconscious. Ultimali also had his left arm outstretched, with his index and middle finger pointed at what was left of his company. A small spark appeared at the end of his fingers, and from that, furious, black flames erupted around the 11th company. Their screams were immediately drowned out, and the flames were scorching hot even from where the child was standing. Duty felt it too, but he didn’t care. The flames were doused at Ultimali’s command, and the bodies were visible only through ash and the Arcana that they had left behind. The wind blew the ashes from their corpses along the grass, where they got lost. Duty raced at Ultimali, intent on killing him. When he reached him, he swung his Arcana, but Ultimali simply batted it away with his hand. Again, Duty swung the Arcana, only for Ultimali to telekinetically grab one from the dead. He parried Duty’s blow with the Arcana, kicked him backwards, and then slashed his face, purposely hitting the Elric insignia above his eye. “You don’t deserve to be called an Elric.” He hissed. “Your father’s death was unfortunate. I wished my hand was not forced, but it was. That memory alone will not tell you the reason as to why I killed him, but his time was coming to an end anyway. My love for Xelphan was that I allowed him to achieve one final goal before his death. Then, what came next was necessary.”
“You’re a monster! I hate you!” Duty bellowed, like a child.
“You’ve turned yourself into a monster.” Ultimali retorted. “Look around. Look at what you’ve done, inhumanely slaughtering civilians as if they were cattle. I kill my enemies with the grace and honour they deserve, but you butcher them. You’re twisted.” Duty clenched his teeth, angry at the insults. His eyes were wide with rage. Ultimali turned towards his temple. “Go home.” He says. “The final favour out of my respect for your father. Go home and live, change your ways, and I’ll forgive this monstrosity.” But, again, Duty was not listening. As Ultimali walked away, Duty rose to his feet and charged at Ultimali from behind. Ultimali simply clicked his fingers, and out of nowhere, Duty exploded. He exploded into liquid, all of himself, his body, his clothes, his Arcana. It all exploded into a tsunami of blood and acid, covering everything within the area. As the rain of blood and acid landed on the ground and buildings around him, Ultimali closed his eyes and said “A fitting end for a monster. Rest in peace, all the same.” And with that, he retreated back to his Temple.
Zaxxarius was already falling into another Magic Pool by the time the memory had ended. He had remembered everything, the fury Duty had felt, the feeling of the Arcana cutting his face, how twisted he was when killing the citizens. Everything. But he didn’t feel anything from it, it was not like he had experienced it in first person. It was just a memory, tucked away behind layers of his own memories, beyond the reach of his morals. But, he did learn something from it. He felt like he knew how to actually use an Arcana now, though he only felt as if he could. He didn’t know if the techniques would actually appear out of thin air when he actually got to trying it out. Zaxxarius also felt odd about something else. He had assumed Ultimali was good, and that he did not kill Xelphan, but he practically admitted that he did right then and there. Then again, Ultimali was supposed to be a man of mystery. Was it for the greater good? Whatever the case, he landed in the next Aura. He hadn’t even noticed what it was on the way down. He got up, and looked around. He was inside a palace. He looked up at the sky... There was a roof. He had came through the roof without damaging it, like some glitch in a video game. He looked around the palace, then he realised, there were people gawping at him. “What a peculiar boy.” A woman behind him said. “Indeed, is this the jester?” A man said.
“Ohohoh, a human Jester! Who would have thought? Won’t this be a sight?” Another said.
“Erm...” Zaxxarius said, getting up. “I'm looking for an Elric... somewhere. Do you, uh, know where she is?”
“Over there, Jester.” A woman pointed. He saw a Blonde woman with short hair, plain looking, playing with a child, chasing him around a throne, before catching him an tossing him up in the air, making him wriggle and squeal in her arms. She was praising and laughing with him. Zaxxarius approached her, making a mockery of herself in front of everyone. It looked like a tea party of some sort. “Erm, excuse me?” Zaxxarius asked. “Are you... Xita?” The woman looked up, her eyes widened, and a smile appeared on her face. “Oh my! Look, Tesla, it’s one of your, uh... Great grandsons! I think, is that how it goes? No, of course not, I think it’s uh... great nephews? Oh, my, he is handsome isn’t he?” The boy just stared at Zaxxarius, like children often do.
“Erm, thank you, but uh... I was hoping to... talk to you.” Zaxxarius said.
“Look at this Jester, thinking he can have his way with our dear Xita!” A bystander said. “You’ll have to go through me!”
“And me!” A woman said, standing up.
“Now, now people!” Xita said, laughing. “This one is merely one of my cubs. I’ll be back soon, I’m just taking the boy next door.” She said, pulling Zaxxarius aside.
“No, Xita, my love! Not him! Me! Oh, woe is me! Today is indeed bleak!” The man cried, falling to his knees.
Xita takes Zaxxarius to her bedroom, out of the way of the people outside. Zaxxarius was rather confused with what’s going on. “So... You ARE Xita, yes?” Zaxxarius asked.
“I suppose I don’t really look and act like an Overlords.” The woman said. “But, yes, I am indeed Xita.”
“Oh, I see. I’ve already spoken to Duty.” Zaxxarius said.
“Duty... Ah, such a wretched boy, my brother. Became Overlord, and then tried to kill me when I told him to calm down! To calm down, I say! My word, that boy was wretched.” Xita said. “It was all that hype of him being the Overlord to succeed Xelphan. I suppose that would turn any boy insane, but he could have overcome it if he had just been mature.”
“So, you’re his sister? Also a daughter of Xelphan.” Zaxxarius asked.
“Ah, yes. I was born 17 years before our father died, and Duty was 1032 when he died, so there was a huge age difference between us.” Xita said.
“Wait... but... He died in 629 CY, right?” Zaxxarius asked. “How could he be that old?” Xita laughed.
“Oh, silly, that’s just a date! Cazria has been around for over a millennia before we started that date. CY stands for Crusader Years, so it starts counting from the date we began the crusade.” Xita said.
“Oh...” Zaxxarius said, feeling stupid. Logic was starting to be thrown out of the window once he had discovered Cazria. “What’s going on here, by the way?” He asked.
“I decided since I died, I’d live in the real world again! Well, it’s not real, but it’s a world of peace, and it feels real. If you want it to. If you poke me, I feel it. Of course, you’re just a phantom here, like Illuminos was inside you.” Xita said.
“Uh...” Zaxxarius said. “Yeah... I suppose he was.”
“At some point in your life, he was placed inside you. Probably when dumb Vander wasn’t looking.” Xita said. “Ah well, I’m not here to lecture you. I'm here to judge you. I'm impressed easily, though.”
“If you already know about me, then why... do this?” Zaxxarius asked.
“We see your memories, snippets of important parts. We don’t know your personality, much like you don’t know ours, at first. Your memories have no moral influence on us, we just know what happened. If you’re a tyra
nt, I don’t think I’ll give you my vote... You must have been quite a speaker to get Duty’s vote, though...” Xita said.
“He was just misunderstood...” Zaxxarius said. “Well, not really, on second thought.”
“Haha!” Xita laughed.
“So... If you don’t mind asking me, what happened? What was going on around the time of your death?” Zaxxarius asked. “Ah, it was most interesting... I was really serious around that time, because it was a WAR!” Xita laughed. “You may have heard of it. The Rollysiam Rejection War.” Zaxxarius thought back to Korreal, when he was talking with Yaevinn. He had spoken of it back then, on how the Ispii were brought into Cazria. “Well, the Yopellion republic decided to shoot us down when we decided that we’d listen to all the Ispii, instead of just them. Then, they had the gall to invade us! I was at the portal site when it happened. We fought to the death, but hey, I was killed.” Xita said.
“Oh... well, I’m sorry.” Zaxxarius said.
“They had plans to shut the portal, but I stopped them. If I shut the portal, I’d be turning my back on the people that needed help from the Yopellion republic.” Xita said. “Was that right? Did I do the right thing? Or was I too nosy?”
“I think you did just fine.” Zaxxarius said. “Even if it was not an issue for Cazrians, how can we be emissaries of peace when we turn our back on the weak being exploited by the strong? No, that’s wrong, and that’s against what we believe in... I think.”
“Hahaha!” Xita said. “Oh, I like you! No, actually...” She paused. “I love you. You’re practically my great grandson! Or, Is it great great grandson? Or just grandson? I forget! Nonetheless!” She says, grabbing Zaxxarius’ face and pulling it in, kissing him on the forehead. “You have my blessing! Find a nice girl, will you?” She says, smiling, then magic is infused within Zaxxarius. Memories, behind layers of his own, seep into his mind. When Xita is done, she lets go of him. His vision blurs, as he fades into another memory. “I have to go see to my grandson! Or... Great grandson! Bye bye! Love you!” Xita shouts, as Zaxxarius leaves her Aura. Then, he sees her final moments.
Guns, and large firepower exploded in the background. The Defensive Artillery shot rounds into the portal, against the oncoming battleships and walker droids. Bio-enhanced foot soldiers shot through the portal, at the Cazrian army, who held shields steady, but a well-placed shot from a battleship Is all it took to destroy the shields and gain ground for the Foot soldiers to pour through. “No, mother!” A boy shouts, grabbing Xita’s hand. “No, stop it! Don't go!”
“Voltrin, LET GO!” Xita shouted. “Go home! Now!”
“You can’t!” Voltrin shouted. “They are invading us! They have large ships!”
“Go and command the ship, Voltrin!” Xita shouted. “You’re a prince of Cazria! They look to you as a Sovereign! Go and prove them you’re of Elric blood!”
“But!” Voltrin shouted.
“No buts!” Xita shouted. “I cannot leave the Crusader army here to die! There’s too little of us, and our guns are too few in number against the bombardment they are sending at us! I must be there, to save as many lives as possible so we can fight back!”
“Mother...” Voltrin said. Xita kissed Voltrin’s forehead.
“It’s alright. You’ll be fine.” Xita said. “Go and get a HQ battleship, and bring the Crusader army here. We’re in Metholi, they cannot possibly hope to defeat our army.”
“Alright...” Voltrin said, and he turned and ran. 14 years old, and he was going to command a battleship. Xita was proud. She had only commanded a battleship when she was 20, which was the age that Cazrians come of age, and are considered worthy of acts like smoking and drinking. Xita turned and raced back to the portal site. A battleship is halfway through the extremely large portal, towering over Xita. She couldn’t believe she erected such a huge portal. She summoned a ball of fire in her hand, and tossed it at the Battleship, exploding and revealing important parts of the hull in the process. “Focus fire on that weakness!” She yells at the top of her lungs. The guns fired on the opening in the battleship, and eventually, it fell from the sky, crashing into the foot soldiers below. Some had escaped the blast, and were still firing. Most people had erected shield, but Xita decided to drop to the floor below, and chase them down. The foot soldier fired at Xita as she ran at him, shield in one hand, bullet bouncing off. When she reached him, she cut him down.
More reinforcements were coming from the other side of the portal, to take the portal site. Xita hissed when she saw that, but in the midst of all the chaos, she saw a Cazrian on the other side of the portal. One of the missionaries! Xita evaluated the situation. They will kill her when they reach her, and she was merely limping back to the portal, weak. “Hold with everything you have!” She screamed, as she raced through the portal and toward the weak, injured woman. When she reached the woman, she saw a foot soldier on the back of a land vehicle fire a shot at her with an automatic spike gun, the equivalent of an automatic crossbow. Xita positioned herself between him and the missionary, and erected a shield. The bolts hit the shield. They were stronger than she expected, and the rushed shield left the bolts halfway through the shield. The land vehicle stopped, waiting for the rest to catch up. “Go! Now! Run, or you won’t make it!” She yelled.
“Thank you...” The missionary whimpered, limping away.
“All life is precious.” Xita said. “Every time I bring violence into this world, I’ll make sure it’s to take away something equally, if not more evil!” However, when she looked back at the shield, the bolts had changed. The tips had opened, revealing a dart-like bolt inside. The bolts fired, and impaled Xita at several different parts of her body. Riddling with bolts, she fell to her knees, coughing, and the men on the land vehicle laughed, clapping and highfiving each other. “Yeah! Take that, you alien WHORE!” A man on the vehicle shouted. “Men are supposed to be gentlemanly.” Xita coughed. “Pigs... You shame my husband with your drivel... you shame my son...” Xita stood on her feet again, and the men raised their weapons at her, gasping. “For that... I’LL KILL YOU!” She shouted, and she hurled a fire lance at the vehicle. The lance impaled the vehicle, but it was, of course, on fire, and the vehicle used fuel. It exploded, tires flying off the machine. “There...” She chuckled weakly. “Now...” Another bolt hit her in her side, nearly knocking her off her feet. Another land vehicle. She repeated, and tossed a fire lance, in which the vehicle made a pathetic attempt to dodge. It exploded, and Xita threw another, and another, exploding the vehicles. The Cazrians on the other side of the portal watched with awe, however, their awe turned to horror, when the Battleship took notice of the destruction she was causing. The guns turned towards Xita. She noticed, so she erected a shield to shield her from the blasts, however, the guns were too strong. She made the shield harder and harder as it cracked, and she figured she may hold it as she edged back towards the portal, but the other two battleships joined in. Eventually, the shield was torn apart, and Xita was knocked backwards. The Battleship charged up a final, explosive blast, and shot it at Xita, and she was blown apart by the battleship. Xita was dead. However, in her final moments in watching the Battleship charge up it’s final shot, Xita smiled, thinking of the fury her son would unleash while re-taking the portal. Her victory was assured in the end, and she succeeded in saving the last missionary’s life. Her mission was a success.
Zaxxarius fell into the third Aura. It was obvious from the memory he witnessed that Xita was a brave woman who was cheerful and playful, but at times of crisis her playful side ceases and she became a warrior. She sacrificed herself for one single woman. That was true loyalty to her Kingdom, and she displayed bravery that Zaxxarius couldn’t imagine to accomplish. But for her sake, he’d try. Zaxxarius fell into a sea of green, lush forests surrounded him as he hit the ground. His sudden appearance startled the wildlife and they bolted out of sight. “Damnit!” A feminine voice shouted. As Zaxxarius made it to his feet, he looked toward where the voice had come from. He s
aw nothing... and then, an Arcanum arrow shot through the bushes and through Zaxxarius. For a moment, his heart leapt as he thought he was in danger, and he fell back like a human, as he realised he couldn’t use any many. However, the arrow just passed through him and hit the tree behind. He wasn’t transparent, nor could somebody simply push their hand through his body. It had gone through, and punctured his body, and there was blood in a trail to the tree in which the arrow impaled... but the wound healed. He had to obey whatever laws this world the overlord had created wanted, and for this world, it looked like killing was something that was allowed. Was whoever this was a realist? Or perhaps, he just liked killing, like Duty? He heard someone walking through the woods towards him. A woman, an Ispii, beautiful but not dressed very feminine. She had her bow pointed at Zaxxarius as she came through the woods, then she halted, and gasped with shock. “Oh, lord!” She cried. “Are you okay?” Zaxxarius chuckled.
“I'm fine.” Zaxxarius said, looking back at the Arcanum arrow. Blood had trickled down the tree after the penetration. “The arrow is all bloody! Are you sure?” The woman said, looking at the arrow on the tree, then circling Zaxxarius. “That’s... odd... But then again, you sorcerers do have a tendency to be pretty odd, with all that crazy magic that you spew.” She laughed.
“What’s going on, Aril?” A male voice said, coming through the forest the same way the woman did.
“Oh, nothing. I just hit somebody is all.” Aril said.
“What? That can’t be...” The man said, coming into sight. He was huge, a mountain of muscle. Zaxxarius had first thought a red hulk was coming towards him when he caught sight of him. He had short blonde hair, and a beard that was tied together by a bangle, the same as Sacrum. “Oh... Err. Hi.” Zaxxarius said, smiling. The man stopped in front of him, kneeling down. “I see, that’s how it is.” He said.