It’s not over, Terico thought. I will find him again. Soon! If I don’t find him, then he will come to me, using his golden Nexi. And I’ll be ready for him. I’ll have more of the Elpis than him.
And I’ll kill him!
I’ll finally kill him!
At last... I will kill him...
It strained Delkol to even move, but he forced himself to keep running down the glass-walled hallway through the underwater city. He hated to leave behind a piece of the Elpis stone, but there was nothing he could do about it at this point. The power of his Elpis fragment had overwhelmed him, and it was too difficult to deal with three fighters and a dragon under such conditions. More importantly, the eigni of the city were likely starting to awake from their mindlessness, what with Ganto dead. The city guards would realize what happened, and find Delkol’s airship stationed at the dock. The airship was well armed, but it wouldn’t take long for Vursa defenses to at least damage it.
His Brotherhood wouldn’t be able to destroy Vursa the way they burned Edellerston to the ground, and the eigni masses could prove useful once again some time in the future. The last thing Delkol needed was to be stuck in this city. And now that he had the golden Nexi, it wouldn’t take long to locate the other two Elpis fragments. Delkol could always return to Terico to retrieve his Elpis later—preferably when Delkol had three of the other pieces.
It’s only a matter of time, Delkol thought as he made his way up the spiral staircase. After so many centuries, the Elpis will finally be whole again. The king of Fiefs will have no choice but to stand down then.
No... I won’t even give him the choice. He and every member of that royal court must pay with their blood. They have denied me. They have denied my father. They have denied my grandfather. For hundreds of years now, they have denied every rightful heir to the throne. Denied them even the chance to speak up on the matter!
Outcast us! Forced us out of their fertile country and into a pitiful wasteland! None of us have forgotten the many injustices the Shires have had to suffer. None of us will just sit idly and let the Fiefs have their way forever. It’s finally time for retribution to be payed.
It’s time for all the decay and iniquity of the Fiefs Kingdom to crumble beneath my power.
All these years of preparation will soon pay off... And at last I will claim my rightful place as king over all the land!
He let his hatred for the Fiefs Kingdom drive him on up the stairway. Livid with rage against the iniquities of the Fiefs, Delkol planned all the steps he would take to bring down every single person associated with them. In his mind, he could clearly see himself powered by the infinite Nexi energies of the full Elpis. No army in all the world could stand against him then.
I wish you were still here to see me now, Father, Delkol thought. To see my rise to power. The return of the Shires in all their former glory...
But with the full Elpis, the glory of the Shires would be even greater than it had ever been.
With this knowledge so deeply ingrained in Delkol’s heart, there was no doubt in his mind that nothing would keep him from achieving his goals. His brother Augurc would never consider challenging him again, for one thing. The ministers of his kingdom were easy to please, as long as his Brotherhood continued to bring back riches from their conquests. And that foolish boy Terico would pose little threat. Delkol acknowledged Terico’s power via the Elpis, but there was little mystery to that boy’s mind.
Delkol reached the portion of the city above ground, and hurried straight to the dock. There were already eigni out and about, but most still looked tired and confused. Delkol kept behind the crudely-painted buildings so the civilians wouldn’t notice him. It was simplest to just avoid the attention of the masses, and therefore keep the city guards from figuring out what had happened.
He soon reached the dock, and caught sight of his airship already floating a ways in the air. Just as Delkol hoped, the captain was smart enough to raise the airship as soon as it was clear the eigni were in control of their own minds once more. Delkol ran past the confused civilians gathering at the dock, and pushed past the line of eigni standing on the pier. They were speaking amongst themselves, some of them asking questions about what had happened the last couple weeks, the others having difficulty remembering specifics. Amongst them were eigni pointing up at the giant dirigible, and Delkol noticed a couple yellow-uniformed guards running amongst the crowd.
Delkol shoved his way through the yelling masses and reached the end of the pier, where his airship was lowering a rope ladder for him to climb. He leaped off the pier and grabbed onto the ladder, which quickly began to raise back up. The eigni cried out and pointed at him, but the city defenses hadn’t gathered together yet. If Ganto was even a little intelligent, he would have confiscated and hidden the city’s weaponry, just in case some of the eigni regained their self-awareness somehow.
Once Delkol was pulled into the ship, he walked confidently past his Brotherhood followers and on to the bridge.
“Release fire Nexi on all the boats,” Delkol ordered. “As soon as the ships are burning, we leave this city.”
Terico had to have come to Vursa by boat, and Delkol intended to keep him from getting near any other Elpis fragments. It was never Delkol’s intention for the boy to obtain more than one piece of the Elpis, and it was vital at this point for Delkol to not take any more chances. He recognized his failure to retrieve the Elpis piece from Terico, and vowed to himself to kill the boy outright the next time they’d meet.
The captain skillfully guided the airship over each of the tiny boats below, while members of the Brotherhood dropped red Nexi from openings in the back of the airship. Delkol leaned his head out a side window to watch each of the ships erupt into flames, the fires guided by the Brotherhood members dropping the stones.
“Good,” Delkol said. “Now lead the airship away before Vursa defenses can begin launching Nexi at us.” He kept an eye on the scene below. The civilians ran off in their predictable panic, but the guards were too slow to organize themselves for an effective counter-attack. Most of the guards were probably still underwater, hurrying up the stairways to the upper city.
Once the airship was a safe distance from the city, Delkol sat down on the central chair of the bridge—a tall, red-cushioned chair made of jagged white wood, resting on a small raised dais. He took out his golden Nexi and smiled at its brilliant glow.
Show me where another Elpis fragment is, he thought. One other than my own. One other than Terico’s. Not even needing to close his eyes, Delkol could clearly see the capital city of the Fiefs Kingdom in his mind. An image of the castle appeared vividly in his head, followed by a hallway leading to an underground chamber.
“Tch, of course,” Delkol muttered. “They have a piece of the Elpis in their very castle. I wonder if even the king knows about it, though?” He sat up and slipped the gold-colored Nexi back in his pocket.
It was going to take some effort to get his hands on that Elpis fragment, Delkol knew. He had an inside man working for him in the Fiefs castle, who would at least be able to help Delkol sneak into the premises. He would need more firepower to act as a sufficient diversion, however.
“Send carrier pigeons to each of our other airships in the area,” Delkol ordered his second-in-command. “We’ll all meet together east of Yehvel.” There were three other Brotherhood airships conducting operations in this region. It would take a day at most for them to gather and prepare for the attack, and then it was only a matter of traveling to Setar, which wouldn’t take long by airship. Augurc’s ship would also have the death bird, which Delkol could use to fly down to the castle with.
As long as Delkol used each of his pawns correctly, there would be little trouble for him in obtaining this piece of the Elpis. The thought of the power that two pieces would bring him filled him with confidence. What chance would the castle’s royal guard have against him then?
Delkol smiled at the possibilities the Elpis would further bring
to him. “Once in Setar, we will make clear our intentions for the Fiefs Kingdom.”
Terico awoke and found a dark night sky above him. He was lying on a thin mattress, and his body felt like it had been crushed by an avalanche of boulders. A splitting headache turned his vision blurry, and for several minutes Terico simply stared at the spinning sky, half-hoping to die.
“Are you awake, Terico?” It was Kitoh’s voice, but Terico couldn’t bother to move his head to look at him.
“Somewhat,” Terico said, barely managing a whisper. Speaking was painful, filling his throat with needles.
“We were worried,” Kitoh said. “You hardly moved at all when Borely carried you up. We thought you might have used the Elpis too much.”
Terico didn’t respond. If anything, he wished he used it a little more. If only he was a little more powerful, he would have been able to bring Delkol down.
“He’s gone, I’m afraid,” Kitoh said, as if reading Terico’s mind. “That man you were fighting escaped in an airship, it sounds like.”
“Why aren’t we... on the boat,” Terico said. Glancing around, he could see eigni walking around and talking with one another.
“It... burned down,” Kitoh said. “All the boats in the dock were set on fire.”
Terico shut his eyes and gritted his teeth. He tried to clench his fists as well, but his arms were too sore to even move.
Delkol... Everything you do...
“The Elpis,” Terico said. “Do I have it?”
“Yes,” Kitoh said. The boy knelt down beside Terico so he could see him. “I’m assuming you mean the rock glowing different colors... The one you used to gain all those strange powers...”
“It’s a piece of the Elpis,” Terico said. “But it... it...”
It didn’t matter anymore, did it? It would be a long time before Terico got off this island. With everything in the dock up in flames, Terico was stuck in Vursa until another ship came. Jujor’s book on the Elpis probably burned to ashes along with Borely’s ship. And even if it survived, Jujor wasn’t around anymore to interpret all its data. On top of this, Delkol now had a Nexi that would lead him straight to the remaining pieces of the Elpis. Delkol and his legions of Brotherhood followers would obtain three pieces, and then head straight back to Terico.
And what would he do then? Three pieces of the Elpis would render Delkol’s power much greater and much more stable than Terico’s. As determined as Terico was to kill Delkol, he knew he would be no match for Delkol under such circumstances.
Jujor... Why did you have to die, old man? You were the only one of us who knew what we were doing. And all this time, I always questioned what you wanted out of all this. Why... Why did it have to end like this? I never understood why you helped me with this. Why you were willing to risk your life for this... or give up your life for this...
From the moment Edellerston burned down, he was there for me. Jujor never turned against me. Even when he had the Elpis fragment for himself, he waited for me to come back to him.
So why... Why couldn’t I help him when he needed me most? Why couldn’t I save him? Even with the power of the Elpis... Why are my efforts never enough?!
There had to be more Terico could do. He couldn’t let Jujor’s death be for nothing. If there was a way to get off this island, he was going to find it—and he was going to act immediately. Even though he couldn’t move, he was going to at least sort things out.
“The city,” Terico said. “Is everything back to normal?”
“Yes,” Kitoh said. “It’s kind of surprising, actually. Everyone’s trying to figure out what they’ve been doing the last couple weeks, and there is a lot of worry about the grand council... but otherwise everyone is just getting back to their homes, having their suppers, going to bed. This is my family’s house here. My parents are lending mattresses for everyone.”
“Your family?”
“Yes, it’s just me and my parents. We’re all fine, same with Borely and Areo.”
“Where are they?” Terico asked. He hadn’t heard Borely or Areo at all since he woke up.
“They’re here,” Kitoh said. He helped Terico sit up so he could see them. It made Terico wince to sit up, but he managed to keep from crying out in pain.
Areo was sitting on a mattress, her legs brought up to her chest, and her arms wrapped around her legs. Borely lay on his side on another mattress, his elbow against the ground, and his head propped up in his palm. The two were staring off into opposite directions.
“Something wrong with them?” Terico asked.
“Well...” Kitoh’s voice rose a bit. “I think they’re upset.”
“Yeah,” Borely said. “Upset.”
“Okay, angry then,” Kitoh said under his breath.
“I think I’m missing something,” Terico said.
Borely sat up straight and faced Terico with a grim expression. “Oh, you don’t know?” He raised an eyebrow and frowned deeply, then leaned back and raised a rigid arm, pointing at Areo. “She’s a conniving, blood-sucking vampire!”
Terico sighed. “Yes, she’s a vampire... But she’s perfectly fine. She won’t bite you.” Terico understood that most people didn’t have much experience around vampires, and he himself had plenty of misconceptions about them until he actually went to Istal. There were plenty of bad vampires out there of course, but there were plenty of good ones too. It now seemed a bit ridiculous for people to react in the sort of way Borely was.
“I don’t know,” Areo said, shutting her eyes. “If he goes off on another yelling rampage, I might suck him dry to get him to shut up about it.”
Borely stood up and raised his arms in the air. “You lied to me! I came here for you, you know! And then, from out of nowhere, you’re fighting that dragon with these long vampiric claws! All this time you were a vampire... What you did was just wrong. I was willing to fight anything for you... I did fight anything for you! I fought mindless eigni politicians, a dragon, and a near-invincible demon man! And did I mention the dragon?”
“Yes, and you nearly died,” Areo said. “We know.”
“And for what?” Borely yelled. “For lies. You deceived me. All this time you’ve been deceiving me. All this time you were just playing with me, scheming against me—and all while I was... I was interested in you!”
Areo gripped her legs tighter and tilted her head farther away from Borely. “If you were so interested in me, you should have at least noticed I was a vampire. The fact I ate nothing the entire boat trip should have been a good hint.”
“You were in the sunlight, though!” Borely said. “How was I supposed to know vampires could use a Nexi stone to go into the sunlight? Regardless, you should have at least admitted you were a vampire when I was talking about them.”
Areo looked back at Borely and stared wide-eyed. “It was obvious you hated vampires, so why would I tell you I’m a vampire?”
“Obvious?” Terico said. “What do you mean?”
“I didn’t tell you about this,” Borely said, “but my family was killed because of a vampire. They turned my brother into a vampire... and then he killed my parents. And then I killed him. And everything ended in one giant bloody mess. That’s how it always goes when vampires are involved.”
“Are you trying to blame all this on me?” Areo asked.
“I lost my boat because of you!” Borely said. “That little boat... was passed down from generation to generation in my family. It was all I had left after my parents and brother died. And now it’s gone. Everything’s gone.”
Terico could understand where Borely was coming from with this, but the arguing had to stop. It made sense for Areo to keep her identity a secret, so Terico couldn’t blame her for that. Borely just needed to accept Areo was a vampire and move on, because blaming her for his situation wasn’t going to help anyone.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Borely,” Terico said. “But you chose to come here with us. I realize you did not know the full story behind Are
o, but you have to let it go. Try putting yourself in her place, if you can. Would you admit you were a vampire under her circumstances? It’s not the thing you say when someone has let you know his family was killed by vampires.”
“It’s... it’s just too much to accept,” Borely said, shaking his head. “You could put yourself in my place as well, you know. I don’t care if you think Areo is nice. There’s no way to be certain with vampires.”
“Or anyone else,” Terico said. “None of us here know that much about one another, after all. But we’ve just been through quite a bit together, haven’t we?”
“Yes,” Areo said. “We have... gone through a lot recently.”
“More than I ever wanted to go through,” Borely said.
Terico closed his eyes and just breathed for a bit, trying to alleviate the pain in his head as best he could. When he opened his eyes he turned to Kitoh and nodded. “I’m sorry you had to see so much bloodshed today.”
“It’s okay,” Kitoh said. “I’m just glad the city is back to normal again...”
It was one positive outcome of this dark series of events. Terico smiled a bit, and Kitoh smiled as well. Even if Terico wasn’t able to defeat Delkol or retrieve the Elpis piece, at least he was able to help Kitoh save the city. Kitoh had his parents again, and life could return to how it was once more.
Perhaps it was still possible for Terico’s life to return to how it was once more as well. He still clung to that hope, as small as it was.
“About Jujor...” Terico said, not sure how to word his questions. “
We’ve buried him,” Areo said. “But we kept his sword, and the items he brought with him.” Areo let go of her legs and set them down flat in front of her, then grabbed a small pouch sitting beside her. She opened it and dumped its contents onto her mattress, revealing a few gleaming Nexi stones.
One of them was a color Terico had never seen before. A teal Nexi.
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