Chrysalis

by Kayne Sampson

  The victory felt hollow to Keta. He wished that the two of them could have seen eye to eye. To fight again alongside his best friend would have been his ideal outcome. But, at the very least, Xuan still lived.

  “I’d urge you to give up now. Little tricks like this probably won’t work as well on Master Inferno. However, you’ve earned your right to challenge him, as we agreed. We Demons are bound by our oaths.”

  Keta nodded, and then added. “I’m sorry Xuan.” The Demon, still with that idiotic grin on his face, nodded back towards him. He had wasted too much time. He had to find the others, and he could only pray that none of them happened up Master Inferno before he did.

  “So yeah, I’ll just be here standing around like a jackass for a while, I guess…” was the last thing Keta heard before he stepped into the fog again, and his vision turned dark.

  ***

  Tianna had been talking to Sephiel as they moved through the fog with the others. And now she was alone, separated from the pack. She wasn’t afraid. She had been expecting magic from the start. After that run in with Inferno and that Demon witch, she knew things would just get crazier.

  That girl had said this was the tether between this realm and the Realm of the Heavens. The place where the gods dwelled. She had believed that they had all died and that was why the world was as messed up as it was.

  “Damn it all, the Xegin are the best chance this world has in restoring order. And we’ve just lost most of our leaders,” Tianna muttered to herself sadly. Delta, for all his faults, had been looking at the big picture. She had seen the data. It was the most practical, but the resolve to act on such a tyrannical level was immense. She wondered what Tyrannes would have done in this situation.

  She knew that the correct path in this situation was to assist Keta. If anything, it would allow her to atone for her part in allowing Delta to almost complete his plans. She had been led to believe by the general that there was no changing the Humans. But Keta’s optimism for a better future sounded appealing.

  Besides, somebody needed to make sure that the others were on the right track. Keta and Max were skilled warriors, but they were also young, prone to acting without thinking. They needed to learn the ability to think like Xegin.

  But right now, the Xegin couldn’t help. They had been all but splintered thanks to the interference of the Brotherhood of Shadows. Tianna’s decision to help fight against them was a moral one, but it was also personal.

  After what seemed like an eternity of walking, she noticed somebody up ahead. She had been anticipating running into a hostile, especially considering the cryptic words of their guide, but she wasn’t prepared for what actually awaited her.

  Standing before her, with helmet in her left hand, right hand on her waist, was her comrade and friend, General Zeta.

  Zeta looked equally stunned, regarding her with an odd look. For a long while, neither of them spoke. They both knew the implications of what was happening. One of them had entered with one party...which meant the other had gone in with another.

  Tianna broke the silence first. “Why are you here?”

  This elicited a smile from the Xegin soldier. She chuckled. “Direct as always, huh? It’s good to see you alive Tianna, by the way,” Zeta said, walking closer to her.

  Tianna blinked. She realized that from her people’s perspective, she was probably reported MIA after the last battle and considered dead. “I’m sorry, I misspoke. It is good to see you. But I must insist you answer my question. Why are you here?”

  Tianna’s breathing slowed as Zeta continued towards her, stopping at an arm’s length. Zeta raised her right hand, and Tianna flinched until she reached out and placed it on her shoulder. “I’m here because of you, Tianna.”

  Tianna frowned. She needed answers now and her helmet was stifling her so she removed it and held it at her side. She stared at Zeta with unseeing eyes, though everyone close to her knew that she could see better than others. And the woman in front of her knew that wasn’t all she could see if she wanted.

  But she wanted to hear it from her, instead of going through her mind. “I don’t want to steal your memories, Jessica. I want you to explain to me what you are doing here. Because from what it looks like to me, you are aiding the Brotherhood of Shadows.”

  Tianna wanted her thought process to be wrong. She wanted her friend to have wandered into the light, totally by coincidence and somehow before Keta and his entourage, despite having no knowledge of it.

  But, she was a Xegin. The ability to calculate odds was second nature to them. And the odds of that being true were abysmally low.

  Zeta laughed. “My, my. You wish to be like the rest of us, huh? Very well, then. Let’s talk. After you were defeated in that last battle and we couldn’t find you, I heard from the soldiers. They told me you had been defeated by a Human general.”

  General Ivaldi. The man had been nothing but a cover for the master of the Brotherhood of Shadows, Inferno. He had been pulling everyone’s strings, masterminding the whole war to cover his actions and provide enough turmoil to allow the chaos to cover the land. Keta had explained it all to her. And it made her furious.

  “You know what he is, don’t you? What he did to us?” Tianna demanded.

  Zeta waved a hand. “Of course. Because after I heard this, I left the war camps. I rushed to find this man who had killed my friend.”

  Despite her normally composed self, Tianna gasped. For a general to leave the army during war time to pursue personal issues was treasonous. To Xegin, this was unthinkable. What her friend had just said didn’t sound like she was Xegin at all.

  “Hold on, it gets better,” Zeta said. “When I found him, I challenged him to a duel to avenge you. I’ve never been more soundly thrashed in my life. But he said he had no interest in killing a fellow Demon. He revealed himself, his true self, to me. He told me that you still lived and that he was sorry to have been forced to involve the Xegin.”

  Tianna did not remember much of her battle against the Demon. It had been over quickly after the man had shed his Human disguise. She had listened to his rants about a better world and had come to the conclusion that he was insane. He wanted to fix the world through destruction just like General Delta had.

  Tianna shook her head. “You can’t listen to him, Jessica. He is a madman who intends to wipe out all Humans. That includes us.”

  Zeta gave her a curious look. “You know, Tianna. I’ve never been like the rest of you. But I have always strived to give it my all for the Xegin. I wear my title with pride. I am Zeta, general of the Xegin army. And though I may not be the most calculated, I care deeply for my people.”

  “Which is why it has occurred to me that I might need to take steps to prevent you from destroying yourselves. Particularly in a situation such as this. You see, you seem to take it upon yourself to save the Xegin here. I have already done so,” Zeta said, shoving an armored thumb to her chest.

  “What do you mean by that?” Tianna asked.

  “I have already asked the Master for clemency for the Xegin. He promised to spare me, being a Demon, and offered me a chance to fight for him. I agreed, on the condition that he spare the Xegin as well. Though Human, they embody the highest values of the people of this world. He accepted.”

  Zeta stood there, beaming. She looked like a dog who had just caught a rabbit outside and had brought it back to show its owner. So she was surprised when Tianna ran forward and grabbed her by the shoulders.

  “Are you an idiot!?” Tianna yelled, her helmet falling to the ground. Zeta stared at her with wide eyes, taken aback. “We already had one Xegin general threaten to commit genocide! We don’t need another taking his place!”

  Tianna was shoved backwards quickly, a move she did not anticipate. When she recovered her footing, she could tell that her friend had not responded well to her words. “I’m doing what is necessary to ensure our survival. That is the Xegin way!” Zeta said, angrily.

  Tianna could not keep
her emotions back any longer. Everyone around her was going crazy it seemed. “It is absolutely not the Xegin way. When Tyrannes protected the Demons and formed Teforia, he sought to bring the clans and the Humans together. What would he say if he saw what we were doing to his country?”

  Her words must have hit home with Zeta, because she was quiet for a few seconds. “I don’t know,” she said at last, walking backwards. She knelt down and picked up her helmet that had been dropped in the short scuffle.

  Tianna watched the scene play out in her mind’s eye. Zeta was standing with her head down, both hands on her helmet. She seemed to be in deep contemplation. Tianna used the time to recover her own helmet. Had her words changed her friend’s mind? Xegin dealt in probability. And the odds of success in her current endeavour were pretty even.

  Perhaps she needed something to balance the odds in her favor. “What he’s doing is wrong. Sanction had been destroyed years ago, and yet Keta had been continuing their work all on his own. He’s reformed the order and his allies are doing their best to stop all this. Sanction...they are the closest resemblance to what Tyrannes hoped to accomplish all those years ago,” Tianna said, speaking with conviction.

  She had fallen from grace herself, in both following General Delta’s plans and fighting for revenge instead of for her country. She had to both redeem herself and reclaim the Xegin ways. And she needed to guide her friend, before the woman made a mistake she could never come back from.

  There was a long silence between the two of them. Tianna stepped forward at last. “Jessica?”

  Zeta, general of the Xegin army, and her closest living friend, raised her helmet and placed it on her head, securing it. “You and I have both faced that man, and are lucky to have survived. You are always telling me to act like a true Xegin and calculate my moves.”

  “It is time I make a correct one, worthy of the Xegin. We are hopelessly outmatched against the Master. But I can save our people by joining him. And I won’t let you get yourself killed by fighting against him. If I have to beat you unconscious here and now to prevent your death, then I do so gladly,” Zeta said, her glowing red eyes illuminating through the helmet’s visor.

  Tianna sighed, hearing the resolve in her friend’s voice. “Is that Xegin enough for you, Tianna? I can save our people and they don’t have to do a thing. So, if you insist on this folly, then you’ll have to go through me. Because I will not let you throw away your life,” Zeta said.

  Tianna faltered for a moment, hoping to hear something else from her friend. But there was nothing else. She knew what was happening could not be avoided. Zeta’s logic was sound. In order to protect her people, she would join the winning side.

  Tianna wanted to avoid this fight and continue on. She needed to help Keta take down Inferno. But it seemed like there was no way around this. So she lifted her helmet to her head and it snapped into place. She lowered her faceplate, looking into the eyes of her friend turned enemy.

  I hope you will be okay on your own for a bit, Keta. There is something I need to take care of, Tianna said silently to Keta, though the Kitaan would never hear it. Drawing her sword, she said solemnly, “Well then, come.”

  19

  “Keta? Xegin ladies?”

  The moment Max walked through that fog had he been taken away from his allies. Keta and the others were nowhere to be found. For the first time since joining with the Kitaan, he was all alone. But he was a Demon confident in his own strength. Nothing would deter him from his mission.

  When he had first met Keta, he had been a simple pawn of the Brotherhood of Shadows. He had always looked up to his uncle Inferno so it had made sense. They had not told him what they really intended to do, or that they would take Luna in the process.

  Even when he had joined with Keta, he had more or less been a pawn, following the Kitaan’s lead. No, a pawn was the wrong word for it. More like the muscle for the man. Regardless, he was not used to being on his own lately.

  That little girl had mentioned that this place was fueled by chaos. He wondered what that would entail. It didn’t matter either way. Nobody could defeat him; he was a greater Demon after all. He was the only one who could stand up to his uncle. That was why Keta had brought him along. He couldn’t fail him.

  Max walked for a few minutes, following the translucent lights in the mist. They were quite beautiful, for a place named from chaos. He didn’t know what he had been expecting, but it hadn’t been this. He entered an area with stone slabs strewn about. Upon closer inspection, he could see figures upon them. And one of them was Luna!

  “Luna!” Max exclaimed, running forward to the stone she was laying on. But she didn’t respond to his voice, eyes remaining closed. Max frowned, and shook the girl. Still nothing. “Luna? Wake up. It’s me, Max.”

  “She won’t wake.”

  The voice caught Max off guard, and he nearly jumped. In his excitement at seeing Luna, he had not realized that there was someone else other than the figures on the stone slabs. Lurking close by was Forsythe, garbed in his Brotherhood robes. He was staring at him with glowing eyes, his face looking even more pale than before.

  Max stood up straight, looking his old friend dead in the eye. This was the first time the two of them had met since that fateful day in the Darkrune Mountains. Back then, he had been an initiate of the Brotherhood of Shadows. He had turned his back on them when they tried to kidnap Luna.

  And his friend had stabbed him in the back.

  Max didn’t know how to begin. He was sure a scowl appeared on his face by now, but he had more important matters to attend to. “What do you mean she won’t wake?” Max asked.

  The young man lifted himself off the wall and sauntered over to the stone to Luna’s side, ignoring Max’s angry gaze. “I mean that the ritual has already been completed. The Master has succeeded. You are too late.”

  Forsythe looked down at the girl, and placed a hand on her head, running it through her hair. He seemed more somber than he had before. But then, he had been friends with Luna as well. They all had been friends.

  And so, Max had decided he would try to at least approach this diplomatically, despite his own feelings. “The Master, what did he do to Luna? To all these girls?” Max asked.

  Forsythe looked up and stared at Max briefly, before returning to gazing at the girl. “Luna and the others, they were catalysts for the return of the goddess. They all had some of her divine power sealed into them. As you may have guessed, that was where her monstrous strength stemmed from.”

  Forsythe looked down at her, and Max thought he saw a look of longing on his face. Did his old friend really value strength that much? “He took it back from them. They most likely won’t survive.”

  Max moved forward and reached for the Demon, grabbing him by the neck of his robe. “Damn it, Forsythe! How could you do this? She was your friend too!” Max shouted, and he realized that he was crying. It had been a long time since he had last cried. The day his mother had left, perhaps?

  Max’s hand snapped back as Forsythe swatted it aside angrily. “You think I don’t know that, Max? Do you honestly believe I am such a monster that I would feel nothing for sacrificing Luna?” Forsythe said, his eyes narrowed but his voice full of emotion.

  This gave Max pause. Forsythe was the same as his uncle was. Willing to go to the depths of darkness to accomplish their goal.

  Instead, he let out a long sigh. He moved to Luna, and Forsythe didn’t try to stop him. He reached down with a hand and felt her cheek. It felt cold. Max never felt cold. He pulled his hand back and he made a fist, slamming it into the stone in frustration.

  The stone cracked, and Max let the pain wash over him, needing to feel something right now, something to distract him from the fact that he had failed. Luna was gone. The one person who had ever understood him completely, who had been his equal. No, she had been better than him. And that made him want to be better as well.

  Max collapsed to his knees. “Luna...why did it have to en
d up this way? I promised I would rescue you. And in the end…”

  Max had always known. Even before he could realize it, he had loved her. Even when they were beating the crap out of each other, he had felt connected to her. The nights they sat around under the stars, thinking about the future.

  And he had failed her when it mattered most.

  But he knew that now was not the time to fall to pieces. If he did, she would surely have scolded him. He had come with Keta to save her, but that was not the only reason. He had to stop his uncle from committing genocide.

  And that would mean he would need to recover the body and grieve later. Right now, he had a mission to complete. He turned to Forsythe, who had slumped against one of the other slabs. The figures on those ones must have been the other victims, the ones Keta had told him about.

  Those poor girls, Max thought to himself. But he had to focus. “Forsythe, where is my uncle?”

  His friend didn’t look up. “Luna is already dead, Max. It’s over…” Forsythe said, voice devoid of all emotion. Max could see it in the man’s eyes. His friend was broken. Had the death of a friend affected him that much?

  Regardless, there was nothing he could do. “It’s not over. This won’t be over until I face my uncle in combat. I have to be the one to bring him down. We are both greater Demons,” Max said.

  Forsythe scoffed. It was a bitter sound. “Ah yes, the great Max. Nobody can do anything but you.”

  Max frowned. Forsythe had said something similar back on Darkrune Mountains. But Max had no time for a pity party. With heavy steps, he made his way forward.

  Max fell forward as something crashed into him from behind. He hadn’t been expecting it, so he fell to the ground clumsily. He angrily pushed himself to his feet, whirling around. Forsythe had followed him. “You arrogant bastard! Did you think I would allow you to go without fighting me?”

  Max could not contain his rage. Flames erupted from his body in reaction, his eyes flashing red. “Don’t be an idiot, Forsythe. You can’t hope to even try to fight me. Be glad I didn’t pummel you for stabbing me in the back!” Max roared.