The End of the Fantasy (Book #6 of the Sage Saga)

by Julius St. Clair

  “They don’t sound scary,” Marie scoffed, but Talia shook her head.

  “They’re not, but it’s the power they wield that is. With a word, they can command the entire Yama army and probably this entire city to carry out their bidding. Not to mention this bridge controller of theirs. If Bastion is to take over his job, he must be very strong.”

  “They could be lying,” Marie offered, but no one had the strength to retort. Marie looked to Wilheim for answers. “All of this is true? No offense, but you don’t seem like a fighter to me.”

  “I’m not,” he replied nervously. “Not really. But it’s my techniques that make fighting a moot point. I’ve had my fair share of wins on the battlefield.”

  “I hate that expression,” Marie sighed. “Moot point.”

  “Well, I don’t have a list on what and what does not offend you.”

  “Begin making one. Moot point will be the first item.”

  “Does anyone believe this though?” Daisy asked them all. “That Paradise and Oblivion are two worlds like ours? All this time?”

  “How is it any different than the sun and the moon?” Marie asked her. “Just because we can’t reach them, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t there, just waiting for visitors to one day land on their surfaces.”

  “It’s just…it puts a lot of things in a different perspective.”

  “Makes dying a little tolerable, doesn’t it?”

  “With confirmation that these places exist, I guess it does.”

  “Which is something we don’t have,” Catherine butt in. “We only have their word that Paradise and Oblivion are there. We haven’t seen it. Though I have no reason to believe they would lie. I assume someone in the city must have asked for proof before agreeing to become a Delilah.”

  “It’s real,” Wilheim said, nodding slowly. “I promise it is. If you tell Tillian and Veer that you will become Delilah, but you have to see the proof…they will show you.”

  “If this is all true, what does that mean for Allay?” Talia asked. Catherine shrugged.

  “We’ve already given up our allegiance to Allay. So that doesn’t really matter.”

  “And of the Yama? What about them and what they’re doing to our home? We might have left but it’s still home.”

  “As painful as it is to say…I don’t think it matters what we do. A force beyond our control has been set in motion, and it’s up to Allay and the other Kingdoms to decide how to face it. Besides, once Bastion arrives, I am sure the Yama will come back here. There would be no reason to keep them out there.”

  “They did say the Yama were on their own once they’ve received their orders. It’s possible that they will stay put.”

  “Even so, what can we do?”

  “I’m surprised, Princess,” Marie said, scowling at her. Catherine frowned right back, for she knew that Marie only called her Princess when she was being condescending. “This doesn’t sound like you at all. Turning your back on the deaths of others?”

  “This is a greater cause,” Catherine replied with a heavy sigh. “If the Delilah are working toward an everlasting peace, then that is what I feel we should assist in. Their tactics are…questionable, but it’s not much different than what any of us would do, given the same conditions.”

  “Long ago,” Marie said, pausing to take a sip of tea from her white and blue flowered tea cup, “there were two great sects. Two Orders. One believed in Paradise and Oblivion. The other did not.”

  “Where are you going with this?”

  “This is a story that Prattlians tell their children,” Marie said. “Let me tell it.”

  “Fine,” Catherine sighed. “Continue.”

  “There were two groups that believed in two different absolutes. One believed in the afterlife. The other did not. Neither could confirm nor validate their beliefs one way or the other, but they both believed strongly. Great debates occurred. Some began fighting for their stance, deciding that their opinions and speculation was stronger than that of others. In the end, one side grew tired of the other and so they completely annihilated them. The end.” Marie took another sip of her tea.

  “What?” Talia scoffed. “That’s the end? C’mon, Marie. Tell us the rest.”

  “Unfortunately, my dear Sage…that is the end. The end of the matter that is.”

  “Who killed who?” Daisy asked.

  “Those who believed in Paradise and Oblivion killed those who didn’t, bringing on nearly five decades of almost universal acceptance of the afterlife. It wasn’t until that generation’s children grew up and questioned the status quo that alternative thought began to spread once more throughout the land. Of course, by then, the parents weren’t so eager to kill the dissenters, given that it was their own flesh and blood.”

  “Why would you tell your children that story?” Talia asked in disbelief. “It sounds horrible.”

  “It’s to remind us of a few basic Prattlian principles. First of all, without concrete evidence, one opinion does not, and cannot, supersede another. While it is fine to believe in something down to your core, it’s not good to impose or force that view on others, which brings me to my second point. No matter how hard you fight against the belief of someone, it will never take. As long as the world spins, there will always be balance. No matter what. You would think the believers in the story would usher in an age in which all looked to the afterlife, but it didn’t stay that way for long, and now, as if to make up for those five decades, there are now more people in the world who don’t believe in the afterlife…than those that do. The Allayans, and now the Delilah, are the only ones to completely have faith in this claim.”

  “And so Prattlian children hear this story,” Catherine said. “So that they try to find the truth in things.”

  “We are a people plagued with rambling and conjecture,” Marie said, shrugging her shoulders. “Heck, our Kingdom’s name is Prattle. So…we try to tell our children not to fall step by step in line with the ways of adults, but as you know, children tend to imitate rather than listen.”

  “I think unintentionally you’ve made a point though,” Talia said, leaning onto the table with her elbows. “The Delilah, as well intentioned as they may be…they won’t be able to carry out their mission for long. Even if they succeed, and everything goes their way, it won’t stay that way forever.”

  “As a matter of fact,” Marie chimed in, “I would be willing to wager that their time is close to an end. If you think about it, they have already been on top for a while. With the stones of power at their disposal, they’ve been keeping our Kingdoms rather busy.”

  “But that would be up to Bastion though, wouldn’t it?” Daisy said. Everyone at the table turned to her and she blushed at the sudden attention. “I mean, if he’s to be the bridge controller, what he says goes. What happens if Bastion refuses to take on the job? Depending on how old the current controller is, wouldn’t that be the end of everything? What happens if no one is controlling the bridge?”

  “Sounds like the old days will return,” Catherine said. “At least according to Tillian and Veer.”

  “Or worse,” Talia said. “Our world becomes inhabitable. You heard them talk about the atmosphere, and how it was different in Paradise and Oblivion. What do you think happens to us if the three worlds merge again? We’d probably die.”

  “And what if Bastion wants that?” Daisy asked, causing the table to fall silent. “What if…with all he’s seen, he thinks that’s the better way? Better than all the suffering?”

  “That’s why Tillian and Veer designed this charade,” Catherine said. “They want Bastion to think how they want him to think. Alone, so that he has no attachments to this world, but also feeling as if everything he’s endured has been leading up to something. Those that are lonely tend to latch onto the first thing that gives them meaning. So if becoming this bridge controller gives him that purpose, he’ll take on the job with open arms.”

  “Perhaps,” Marie said. “But there has b
een setbacks, hasn’t there? Languor for one. From how this all sounds, Languor didn’t go the way they planned.”

  “They wanted me with him,” Daisy replied, bowing her head. “Or they thought I would go with him…but I couldn’t. I just…I’ve seen too much of what he’s capable of. He’s a very sweet boy. He really is…but there’s a darkness inside of him as well. He’s done some horrible things.”

  “He needs both light and darkness to control the bridge,” Marie said. “When we all die, he’s the one deciding who’s going where. So he’ll need that sense of justice to make the right decision. Send the wrong person to Paradise and there’s conflict all over again.”

  “He’s still just a kid though…we both are. He’s not ready for that kind of decision making.”

  “They had to get him young,” Wilheim said, speaking up. “Before either of your Kingdoms indoctrinated him, or he got too many friends, or fell in love. It had to be done.”

  “Lakrymos and Orchid played right into Veer and Tillian’s design,” Catherine said, turning to Marie. “They thought they were doing the right thing by siding with the ‘Delilah’ and going against the Yama, when really, their enemy and ally were the same all along, playing them like puppets.”

  “A lesson we must consider when determining our next course of action,” Talia replied. “Marie, you may be free and clear of all this. I’m not sure what they want with you, and whether you would be made into a Delilah, but Daisy’s life is hanging by a thread. I suspect that if we take off for our homeland, they will bring our manifestation down. Lakrymos made mention of them having this capability in his stories.”

  “There are anti-air measures,” Wilheim confirmed. “You wouldn’t make it far.”

  “It depends on what you want to do,” Daisy said, looking up at Catherine with teary eyes. “I know my place. If you think it is in your best interest to help the Delilah, I don’t want to cause any rifts. I will accept my fate.”

  “No,” Catherine replied. “You’re still with us. You’re still one of us. Zhou, Sway, Arimus…they got us here, and I’m going to make sure their deaths counted. I don’t care if they are in another world or not. That doesn’t matter.”

  “So what do you have in mind?” Marie asked. Talia crossed her arms and Daisy sat up as they all looked to Catherine for her decree.

  “We need confirmation,” Catherine said. “So we will get that first. But as far as their invitation—either we all become Delilah, or none of us will. If they won’t let Daisy in, it wasn’t worth joining.”

  “Then what happens…if you don’t join?” Wilheim asked, and Catherine glared at him, knowing full well that whatever she said next, it could fal back into the ears of Tillian and Veer.

  “Then we find Bastion,” she said to him directly. “And we tell him everything we’ve learned. The good and the bad. We’ll let him decide what to do, but I have a feeling that after our suggestions, he won’t be so keen on helping the Delilah.”

  “Tillian and Veer wouldn’t like that,” Wilheim warned. Catherine leaned in close and whispered into his face.

  “Good.”

  * * *

  “So all you can get me is a cabin, huh?” Lily said, sitting on the “floor” of the wind sphere with her legs crossed. Bastion chuckled and adjusted the eidolon in his hand so that it now pointed to his right. The sphere changed course immediately.

  “What did you want, a mansion?”

  “I was just wondering what you were thinking. Do you really see us living in the heart of Prattle? We’ll be test subjects. Maybe not physically, but definitely from afar. I can see them putting little traps in our path. Maybe some faulty platforms and leaky roofs over our home, just to see how we would react.”

  “Call it a summer home.”

  “So that’s not going to be our real house?”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever have a place where I’ll truly feel safe and secure, but if it’s out there, we’ll find it. Somewhere nice and secluded.”

  “I don’t know,” she chuckled. “The more that I think about it, the more the cabin is starting to sound great.”

  “Oh, stop playing around.”

  “Just think about it. Getting up in the morning and bumping my head on the roof because it’s so small. Then I’ll awkwardly bend over our stove, which will be literally inches away from the bed, and my butt will be in your face while I make us burnt pancakes.”

  “Why is this place so small?” he laughed.

  “I’m just figuring that it will be. It’s not like you asked for a huge one. They’ll give us the shack, I’m sure. The smallest place there is, so we’ll be forced to go outside and be assessed.”

  “I don’t know, we could make a small place work.”

  “If you’re serious, then I’ll do more than burn the pancakes. I’ll set the cabin on fire.”

  “At least the breakfast will be done,” he chuckled. His laughter waned as he furrowed his brow. Lily stood to her feet.

  “What is it?”

  “I think I might have found it. The Yama homeland. There’s a lot of people in this direction. Large landmass. It’s worth a shot.”

  “I think you’re right,” Lily said, stretching her hand forward, matching Bastion’s stance with his eidolon. “That’s too bad. I was kind of hoping that we would find a brand new world altogether. That wouldn’t be so bad. We could start over.”

  “And leave everyone behind?” Bastion winced. Lily scowled at him.

  “I’m confused. Leave who behind? There’s no one back there.”

  “I don’t want Tyuin and the others to be killed.”

  “I don’t either…but I’m just wondering why you care so much. We just met them.”

  “I think…I think,” Bastion sighed. “I just wished I had someone looking out for me when I was younger. Tyuin and the Prattlians, the remaining Langorans, the Allayans…even the Quietus…they’re all counting on me in their own way. I know I shouldn’t care. Especially with how I’ve been used…but I want to be better than that. I’m finally in a position where I can be the one who decides how everything turns out. I have control over my fate, and I want to show them that being selfish isn’t the answer.”

  “You wouldn’t be selfish,” Lily whispered. “You would just be letting them find their own way to survive. Why do you have to be the one to save them all?”

  “Getting cold feet?” Bastion said suddenly. Lily nearly jumped at the change in his tone.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Now that we might have found the Yama world…you’re thinking about being shut down, aren’t you?”

  “It’s crossed my mind,” she whispered. Bastion turned to her for a moment.

  “Don’t worry. I’m afraid of being shut down too. Just because I’ve survived this long…it doesn’t mean I’ll make it today.”

  “Not if I’m with you,” Lily said with confidence. “If I’m with you, you’ll have all the power you need.” The winds around them began to thin as they neared the mountain in front of them. Bastion took a deep breath and sheathed his eidolon as the sphere began to descend.

  Bastion was about to make one last joke, just to hear Lily’s laugh again, but when he turned to face her, she had already transformed back into her stone form. He sighed, picked her up, and held her close to his chest.

  Chapter 17 – A Sealed Fate

  “Welcome back,” Tillian said happily as Catherine, Daisy and Talia walked through the clay door and into what they knew to be the “Yama Headquarters.” Catherine darted her head back and forth, looking around the room.

  “Where’s Veer?” she asked.

  “Preparing for Bastion’s arrival,” he said, nearly jumping up and down with excitement.

  “He’s on his way now?”

  “Yes!” he said, clapping his hands together. His red hair was bouncing around so much that it looked as if it was going to pop off at any second. “I think you know what this means.”

  “The completion o
f your work.”

  “Yes!” he shouted, his excitement echoing off the walls. “But quickly, before he comes…have you made a decision? If you are to be Delilah, we would love for you to help us with persuading Bastion to our cause. Any way you can.”

  “About that…there are two things. First, either we all become Delilah or none of us will.”

  “I already told you that—”

  “—if Bastion’s on his way then how do you think he’ll react when he finds out that Daisy was going to be killed by you and your Yama?” Tillian’s mouth dropped as Talia nodded her head slowly in approval. She didn’t even see that coming.

  “Fine, fine,” he said quickly, glancing at Daisy as if she was a disgusting insect. “I guess we can bend the guidelines a bit. What is your second request? Quickly.”

  “We want to see the bridge between the worlds for ourselves. To know that they actually exist.”

  “Oh, that’s an easy one. I’ll be more than happy to show you. But can we wait until Bastion arrives? I would love for him to see it as well.”

  “Of course,” she replied. “But before we go out to meet him, what happens if he hears everything you have to say and he still decides that he doesn’t want to be the bridge controller?”

  “I don’t know…I hope that doesn’t happen. But worse comes to worse, we may have to force him.”

  “Force him?”

  “It’s a complicated process, but if we can get him harnessed to the machine that acts as the conduit, then we can use his massive amount of energy to run it. Someone else can decide who goes to Paradise and who goes to Oblivion from here.”

  “So in essence, you really only need Bastion’s body.”

  “Yes, but we would prefer if he could do the job completely by himself.”

  “I see,” Catherine said, catching a concerned look on Talia’s face. “Well, we’re going to meet him outside. Feel free to join us at any time…and Tillian?” His eyebrows perked up at the sound of his name. “Thank you so much for this opportunity.”