by CJ Davis
“How are we going to know what to do without you?” Anna asked.
“Between the three of you I’ve told you most of my Centennial experiences,” Menelik replied. “I believe in the three of you. You’re the strongest group I‘ve ever been with. You’ve already seen firsthand what you’re capable of. You’ll have to continue to follow your instincts.”
Menelik coughed.
“Well, we’ll have to try to get you back to the gates of Asgelot,” Rajiv said. “It’s too dangerous for you to go back in your condition.”
“No,” Menelik replied with absolute certainty. “The Reds will definitely win the Centennial if you give them that much of a lead.”
Anna hated to hear this, but she knew Menelik was right.
“If I have to crawl the whole way,” Menelik said. “I will make it back.”
Three-seconds after Menelik made his declaration a collective loud moan was heard off in the distance. The group looked out into the darkness, and couldn’t see anything. The low-hanging fog had now completely crept in and covered the savannah. The fog was so thick they could only see the tips of the grass. The moans continued, but were getting louder and closer.
“I thought we got all the Lost Souls,” said Anna.
“We did,” said Rajiv. “More of them must have been drawn into the sounds of us fighting.”
Anna was the first to spot them. It was the most terrifying sight she’d ever seen. A massive hoard of Lost Souls was coming directly at them, like a wildfire making its way towards a dense forest. There were so many creatures in the mass, that it would be impossible to count them all.
“That’s impossible,” Anna said. “There are so many of them.”
“We have to get you out of here,” Reese said. He squatted down and put a reassuring hand on Menelik’s shoulder.
Reese and Rajiv eased Menelik into a standing position, only to find that he was too weak to walk.
“You cannot carry me out of here,” Menelik said as Reese tried to maneuver his friend onto his back. “They’re moving in faster than you can run with me. We’ll all be killed, and the Reds will win if you don’t put me down right now.”
“We’re not going to leave you!” Kate yelled at Menelik. “They will rip you apart!”
“There’s nothing you can do to stop that from happening!” Menelik snapped.
“He’s right,” Reese said solemnly. Menelik’s weight was slowing him down. Menelik’s biggest advantage, his strength and size, was now his biggest liability.
“The hoard is gaining!” Rajiv screamed.
“We can’t do this!” she cried. Her words were almost lost in the sobs that racked her body. “We can’t leave him.”
“We have to, and we don’t have any time to spare!” Rajiv said, his eyes filling with tears.
Menelik shoved his companions away, hissing with pain as he landed heavily on his side. Rajiv and Reese stumbled to their knees several feet away from the force of the blow. Reese squeezed his eyes shut, acknowledging that even at the cusp of death, Menelik was using his strength for the good of the Blues.
“Leave me now!” cried Menelik hoarsely.
The Lost Souls piled onto the great Centennial warrior.
Menelik shrieked in pain and terror as the hoard ripped and tore at him. He was completely swallowed up by the mass. A moment later a burst of light blasted into the dark savannah, and Menelik was gone.
Anna shook with horror when the bright illumination revealed just how big the Lost Soul hoard actually was. There were thousands of the creatures going as far back as the horizon.
The three of them jogged away from the slow moving creatures into the darkness with their heads down.
They just lost their best warrior, and their best chance at winning this Centennial.
After a few moments Rajiv finally broke their silence. “Now I’m pissed. There’s nothing that will stop us now!”
Anna grinned. Revenge was much more satisfying than despair.
“We’ll win this Centennial for Menelik!” Reese declared.
“Yeah, let’s go win this thing,” Anna said. “It’s time to take the power back.”
The three remaining Blues jogged with new found determination toward the Clouded Mountains.
Chapter 28
The East side of the arena was going berserk. The Reds waved flags, danced and cheered feverishly. They couldn’t contain themselves after watching the Blue’s strongest warrior flash into oblivion. Morkel sat proudly above them all.
On the other side of the arena, Arshan's head hung low. Like every Blue in the coliseum, he sat in shocked disbelief. People wept around him, softly, as though any loud cry would make the whole thing real. Menelik was one of the most celebrated Blue warriors of all time, and he was now gone. Horus’s eyes filled with tears.
“Menelik will always be remembered,” Arshan said. “We’ll construct an enormous statue to honor him.”
Horus looked as if he was going to speak, but his lips just quivered.
Arshan stood and sang an ancient song the Blues reserved for fallen heroes. Horus and the others around him stood, and sang as well. Before long every Blue in the stadium was singing the glorious song. Everyone including Laskious, sang the prideful, yet sad song, with passion. The Reds actually stopped cheering for a moment in awe of thousands of people singing in harmony. Menelik’s loss was huge. He would always be remembered.
After the song was complete, the Reds didn’t waste any time starting up their cheering again. Svante watched the Reds in disgust.
"This is pretty much worst case scenario," Svante said to Horus and Arshan.
Arshan struggled to accept the current reality. Could a warrior as strong as Menelik really be gone this early? Are three untrained, first-time, Blue Centennial warriors the only thing standing in the way of a Red Centennial victory?
It was a very dark moment for the Blues. Not only were they mourning the loss of a friend, but they were also coming to the realization that the entire existence of the Blues was now resting squarely on the shoulders of Reese, Anna, and Rajiv.
"The Reds haven’t won yet," Arshan said confidently, but his eyes said otherwise.
Svante shook his head. Arshan knew he was an optimistic person, but even Svante struggled to stay positive about the Blues predicament.
"Anything can happen still," Arshan said to Svante. “The three remaining fighters are very powerful warriors. I was impressed at how each of them handled themselves during the battle. They’re not out of this yet."
The three of them cringed as they looked across the arena and saw the Reds celebrating.
“They seem to think they have already won the Centennial,” Svante said.
“That’s not surprising,” Horus replied. “The Red’s always have been like that. They’re so full of themselves. It’s in their nature.”
“It’s as if they completely missed Anna’s use of her force field ability,” Arshan said slowly. “That’s an amazing power to have, especially in the Centennial.”
“I agree,” Horus replied. “An ability like that can be a game changer.”
“Indeed,” Arshan said. “You know, there’s no doubt she obtained that ability by her being an Inseparable.”
Horus nodded.
“It’s proof that her connection with Reese accelerated her training,” Arshan added.
“Hopefully their Inseparable connection will continue to give them advantages.” Svante said. “And by the way I can’t believe Anna is his Inseperable. That’s brilliant.”
The sounds of the Reds celebratory song were almost too loud to talk over. The friends lapsed into silence.
“I wonder what Reese’s strongest ability will be?” Svante said finally.
“I have a feeling it’s going to be super speed and quickness, but I hope we don’t find out until they absolutely have to reveal to Reese that Anna is his Inseparable,” Arshan said. “He needs to remain ignorant of his feelings for her.”
&nb
sp; “I’m not sure he will remain ignorant for long,” Svante retorted. “Did you not see that kiss?”
“Yeah, that was unfortunate,” Arshan said. “It was the only thing that saved them though. Let’s just hope that Cyrus didn’t see it.”
“Yeah, you can bet your soul on the fact that as soon as Cyrus is convinced they truly are Inseparables, he will do anything to exploit their love,” Horus added.
The three of them refocused on the holovision in the center of the Giant Coliseum to carefully watch for any new developments between the Blue and the Red Centennial warriors.
***
The three Blue Centennial warriors approached a narrow path leading up into the Clouded Mountains. Leaving the open savannah meant that they were now many miles away from the safety of Asgelot. The foot of the Clouded Mountain was covered with a dense forest that echoed with the grunts and growls of great beasts shifting in their unrest. It was still dark but the morning sun would start to peak out over the horizon any minute.
As they travelled, Reese found his thoughts turning time and again to Anna and the passionate kiss. Ever since that moment, he had confusing and unfamiliar memory fragments of Anna randomly appearing in his head. Over and over again, he saw her in a dark room nursing over him, a dense jungle, and by a large waterfall. They were vague, but he was certain that they were real.
Possibly the most perplexing part was that every time he thought of her, the name Kate, not Anna, popped into his head.
He desperately wanted to know why Anna would kiss him like that. Did it give her the ability to use the force field that saved them? The whole situation wasn’t adding up.
Anna finally broke the silence when they made their way past a sideways growing tree that hung over the mountain pass.
“We have to watch out for more Lost Souls, but I think our biggest worry in these mountains is going to be the larger beasts that roam in these woods,” Anna said. She caught her breath as she jogged.
“I agree,” Rajiv replied. “The beast attacks that Menelik talked about in these mountains gave me some sleepless nights during training. We have to watch out for dire wolves jumping down on us from mountain ledges that are higher up. If were not vigilant they’ll be gnawing on our necks before we even spot them.”
“Agreed,” Reese replied. “I’ll focus on the ledges.”
He leaped over a rotting tree lying over the path.
“After all, you just never know when something is going to pounce on you out here,” said Reese, raising an eyebrow at Anna, who was running nearby.
Anna grinned awkwardly.
“You know I’ve wanted to kiss you for a long time, and with certain death surrounding us, I thought I better take the chance while I still could.”
“It seemed that you kissed me for a different reason,” Reese replied defensively. “It was almost as if you did it to get that force field ability.”
Anna and Rajiv glanced at each other, as if to say, ‘he knows, now what?'
“You’re an observant one,” Anna said to Reese as they continued to run up the mountain path.
An awkward moment passed. She clearly didn’t know what to say.
“Listen, I didn’t want to say this, until much later in the Centennial, but circumstances have left me no other choice,” Anna said abruptly.
She stopped jogging and Reese and Rajiv slid to a stop, kicking up dirt. Kate grabbed Reese by the hands and pulled him close to her. She paused searching for the right words.
The world seemed to slow down as he gazed into Anna’s eyes.
“There’s no other way to say this," Anna said softly. She looked away. “I just…”
Reese gripped Anna’s hand tightly, “It’s all right Anna,” he said reassuringly.
“Reese, we…” Anna stumbled over her words. She collected herself and squeezed his hands back.
“Reese we are Inseparables,” Anna declared.
Reese’s stomach dropped. Shock swirled inside him. He just looked at her, trying to remember. Several seconds of silence went by.
“Well, say something,” Kate said.
Reese’s head was flooded with questions.
“Why can’t I remember us, why don’t I have intense Inseparable feelings for you, why have you been hiding this from me, and why wasn’t this in my tablet?!” Reese demanded.
Anna stared at him blankly for a moment.
“Here we go,” Rajiv said. “This should be interesting.”
“We wanted to keep this a secret from the Reds,” she replied. “As you probably know, Inseparables have amazing abilities in the Centennial, and we knew if the Reds found out, they would try to sabotage us somehow.”
“Like starting the Centennial early?” Reese replied. He let go of Anna’s hands and took a step back. “Do they know?”
“We don’t think so,” Rajiv said. “We’re pretty sure they suspect you are, but have no idea about Kate…”
“Kate,” Reese said. “So is that your real name?”
“Yes, we had to change it to hide my identity from you. There was only so much Laskious could do to alter your memory. We had to take extreme measures.”
“Why couldn’t you just tell me about us?” Reese asked, hating the plaintive tone in his voice. “Couldn’t you trust me?”
"For what it's worth, it was mainly your idea to keep it hidden from yourself as long as possible,” she replied. “You came up with it in our last Afterlife together. You didn’t want to make the same mistake your father made. We all thought that if you were unaware of our connection, than you would be more open to letting me be destroyed or harmed, if it comes to that.”
Reese calmed down slightly. “My idea huh?” As much as he wanted to be mad at her for lying to him, Kate was making perfect sense.
“You know what Cyrus is capable of,” Kate added.
Reese paused and tried to fully grasp what Kate was telling him. Could they really be Inseparables? How could he not sense it?
“So why do the Reds suspect I’m an Inseparable?” Reese asked.
“We’re not sure, but your Father believes they must have found out when you were jumped by Ling and her goons in the hedge maze,” Kate replied. “When he came to you, you had unleashed some of your super quickness and strength. Ling must have recognized that no Centennial warrior could possibly have been that advanced that early in their training without some sort of special circumstances. She must’ve reported it to Morkel, who surmised you, might be an Inseparable.”
Reese rubbed his hand down his grimy face.
“Dammit, if only I didn’t follow that little girl into the hedge maze,” Reese said. “Everybody told me, never go anywhere alone, yet I still went. It could end up costing us everything!”
Kate placed her hand on his shoulder.
“What’s done is done,” Kate said.
“What did my dad say?”
“He really doesn’t think you’ll be able to let me get hurt, or be destroyed,” she replied. “I suppose he fears you’re too much like him."
Reese shook his head.
“Your father's disapproval isn’t anything new,” Kate remarked. “He was against us being Inseparables from the very beginning. He never wanted you to face the same fate he had with Pantea. The loss of her nearly destroyed him.”
Reese tried hard again to remember more about Kate from before, but the memories of her in the jungle were still mere flashes.
“I have to be honest with you Kate,” Reese said. “I should call you Kate right?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“I don’t remember us. I believe you, I just can’t remember.”
“That’s what we want,” Kate declared. “If you fully remember us and your Inseparable powers are completely released inside you, you’re susceptible to physical paralysis, if Cyrus captures me, or worse.”
“That’s insane,” Rajiv said. “It takes love is a battle field to a whole new meaning.”
Kate glared at Rajiv.
“What?” Rajiv said. “It’s true.”
Reese thought back to what Arshan told him at the Asgelot gates. It was all coming together now.
“Laskious went through a lot of trouble to suppress memories in your mind,” Kate added. “However, he cautioned us many times that it wouldn’t be permanent.”
“Well I’m afraid that since you kissed me, I’ve had some fleeting memory flashes of us in a jungle,” Reese said, “but I can’t remember any of the details.”
“That’s troubling to hear, but it’s still good news that they’re short-lived,” Kate said. “We might still have luck yet. I was afraid that one kiss would flood your head with all of your memories of us. It was probably the confusion from the battle that helped to keep your memories suppressed.”
“Do we really think I can be literally paralyzed if anything happened to you?” Reese questioned.
“Yes, of course,” Kate said.
“So, if one kiss unlocked your force field ability, what kind of powers do I have bottled up inside me?” Reese queried.
“I’m not sure,” Kate said. “If I had to guess, it probably has something to do with your increasing speed and quickness.”
“That would be amazing," Reese said. He clutched his fist in the air. “Other than the fleeting moment in the hedge maze, I’ve not been able to move like that since. Maybe we should try to kiss again?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Kate replied.
“Why not?” he asked. “My ability could be more than enough to win this Centennial, and we could be home in time for an evening concert in the Blue hall.”
“What if your memories and emotions for me come flooding back?” Kate asked. “What if you don’t unlock any new abilities? We would be exposed, and in a much worse position than now.”
“That’s a good point,” Reese said. “Let’s hold off until we absolutely have to. I want to have a clear head going forward anyways, and if these Inseparable memories and emotions are as overwhelming as everybody is saying, we need to keep them suppressed.”
Rajiv was getting antsy.
“You two love birds have to wrap it up,” Rajiv said. “We are losing precious minutes having this little chat.”