Sol Boxset

by Samuel Small

  He was speaking to the Void King.

  Then Jake’s head jerked back, his temple filled with intense pain. Stars danced around him as he took in his enemy, a Void with its arm bloated into a club. Elizabeth cut off the arm then stabbed into the creature’s head. “I can’t have you losing your composure,” she yelled as she cut off a whip-like arm that reeled toward her. “One is enough!”

  Jake understood what she was getting at just in time to witness a sharpened arm barrel toward him. He stepped to his left and avoided it then chopped it off. Elizabeth cut into the Voids madly, taking out patches of flesh from them before they were even able to contort. The area around her was stained with that black mist and she disappeared into it.

  That’s a good idea, Jake thought. Bury himself in combat so that he didn’t get distracted. Jake charged for the cluster of Voids and swung wildly, not caring about his own safety since he knew these creatures were lethargic and slow. As long as he was quick about it he’d be able to get them before they got him, that’s what Elizabeth had just taught him.

  But something once again reached Jake’s ears as he stabbed into the skull of a Void. Shouting, not that of fear, duress, or even anger. Of confusion. Of disbelief. Jake gritted his teeth and tried to resist the urge to look back, focusing more on the horde of creatures. About seven of them broke from the pack and hobbled toward him, their arms shifting and popping into makeshift weapons. Some were sharp spears, others blunt and ready to beat him to death. A few others had twisted edged blades, like scythes. Jake had to attack before they did and leapt into the crowd with a sweeping motion of his sword.

  He managed to cut through three of them with that powerful arc, leaving their top halves suspended in the air and then fading into mist before he lunged to his left and dug his sword into another at his side. The two he’d left alone each had an arm contorted into a weapon: one a club, the other a blade. They hobbled toward Jake just as he tore his sword out of their kin, then brought it up over his head. He felt weight slam into him, causing his knees to bend from the force. He sprung up and tore his sword to the side, leaving both Voids stumbling from the sudden parry of their weapons, then he cut both of them down.

  As he turned from the force of his own distressed swing, Dante came into view. Jake didn’t want to stop, but he couldn’t help it. That thing, the Void King’s lips were parted and moving, an indication that it was capable of human speech. Dante listened with his teeth clenched.

  Then some sort of force hit Jake’s sword and sent it spinning out of his hand. Before he could reach it, something wrapped around his shoulders and pulled: a Void’s wet, telescopic arms. Another wrapped itself around his waist, then another his neck. It was way too much force for him to resist and Jake found himself being pulled down quickly, despite his frantic resistance. He glanced to either side, where plumes of black smoke drifted: an indication that his comrades were fighting much more efficiently than he was managing but too far into those shadows to see him. He wanted to cry for help but the tentacle around his throat tightened and left him speechless and gasping for air.

  At last Jake’s eyes rested on his last hope, the only person capable of seeing him and assisting. By that time Dante stared at the Void King’s feet, whose bottom half seemed to melt into the ground like paint thrown into a bucket of water. Something at the back of Jake’s mind told him this was strange, that he shouldn’t accept it as reality so casually, but he wasn’t able to process why as his head became lighter. The tentacle coiled around him fully and tightened. The world began to go hazy, blackness creeping into the edges of his vision. Jake made one last pleading gaze at Dante, who stared into the space where the Void King had vanished. Just before the darkness enveloped Dante completely he looked at Jake and made direct eye contact. Those eyes looked lifeless to Jake.

  Then the darkness took him.

  Chapter 8

  As if the sound originated from underwater, Jake heard someone call his name. Again and again and again. His body shook but he was only vaguely aware of the sensation. With each shake of his torso he felt consciousness pump back into him. His body wasn’t simply moving on its own, a hand was there. On his shoulder, shaking him and causing his head to bob back and forth. Pain returned. The back of his head throbbed as if it’d been hit with a club.

  The thought of weapons and combat brought Jake’s mind back to the here and now and his eyes sprung open as he sat up, nearly knocking into Sara who was at his side. He ignored her and rose to his feet, turning to the village in order to…

  But it was empty.

  Not a single Void was in sight, although there was evidence of a battle. The grass had been kicked up in several places, leaving patches of dirt, and some of the buildings had sustained damage. Just a few scrapes and gashes but it was still enough to tell that either Elizabeth’s sword or Sara’s ice had grazed the structures.

  Elizabeth, right. Jake didn’t see her, or Dante for that matter. He tried to turn but Sara grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back.

  “A Void grabbed you and pulled you into a group of them. One of them hit you on the back of the head.” Sara looked down and brought a hand to his forearm. Jake noticed that the movement was slow, she had to be absolutely exhausted. “Elizabeth kept you safe from the Voids that closed in on you while I dealt with the rest of them. It was really hard, but we managed to make it out alive.”

  “And Dante?”

  Sara opened her mouth to respond then winced and jerked her head to the ground. There was shouting behind him from a female voice. Jake turned around and saw Elizabeth a few feet away, her back to them, facing a seated Dante. He didn’t look at her as she waved her rapier in front of him, but based on her movements she was livid. It looked like at any point her rapier might cut open his throat, each swing she made seemed to miss by centimeters.

  With the knowledge that she might actually kill him if this kept going, Jake began to walk toward them. His feet crossed the grass with a smack, one that Elizabeth must have heard over her own shouting as she turned to him. For a moment her lips formed a smile but her features soon fell flat. She lowered her sword to her side and glared at Dante.

  “Why are you keeping him like this?” Jake asked, although part of him deep down thought he knew the answer.

  “He didn’t assist us at all in that battle. After those things got to you he sat down in the grass and stared at us with that damned look of his,” she stamped her foot with a loud thump, one that made Jake wince slightly. It gained no reaction from Dante. “He had a casual conversation with the enemy leader and watched as we fought a whole horde of them! And now he won’t tell me what they talked about!”

  “That isn’t all,” Jake said and turned to Dante. He still sat on the ground, his arms folded in front of him and his blank eyes staring ahead. “Your attack on the Republic was almost completely in tune with the Voids’. It wasn’t a minute after you attacked that I got a call on my comp. You also conveniently took out a majority of the Republic’s forces in the ‘confusion’.”

  But Dante didn’t respond to any of this, he only stared ahead.

  “Dante…” Sara’s voice, barely even there, whispered from Jake’s side. She kneeled in front of the boy. “I don’t know why you didn’t help us fight and I don’t know what that Void King said to you. I don’t know why you attacked the Republic or anything about your past. I want to believe you, but I can’t if you won’t say anything. All of the evidence adds up to only one conclusion, so I need you to say something. Why didn’t help us back there, and what is your relationship with the enemy leader?”

  “You’re all a bunch of dumbasses,” Dante mumbled as he turned his head away from Sara.

  “Excuse me,” Elizabeth shouted, taking a step forward. Jake stuck out his arm to prevent her advance. She stopped at his touch and turned to him, her mouth agape. He shook his head. They should let him speak, for now.

  “Wil— that big Void. It wasn’t their leader,” Dante said, rising to his
feet. He dusted off his jeans then stared dead into Jake’s eyes. There was such an intensity to his gaze that Jake knew everything he was about to say would be the truth.

  “It was the suited bastard: that demon. At least that’s my theory, and it’s about as good as any other.” Dante’s eyes shifted to Sara, locking with hers. “And as for why I didn’t fight back there… well, I’m not keen on killing humans.”

  “H-humans…?” Jake found himself saying, more to himself than anyone else. His mind hadn’t worked out all of the details yet but somehow the statement sounded right. The Voids used to be human, yes of course – he accepted it as a fact. But if you were to ask him why he believed it he wouldn’t have been able to give a single reason. His mind was too caught up in the realization.

  “Human?” Elizabeth said with a flat voice. “Is that your reason for not helping us? Preposterous.” She once again raised her rapier. Dante’s posture made no change from the active threat to his life. It seemed that he would accept her judgment in full if she deemed his explanation inadequate.

  “Yeah,” he said, “think back to those villages. It’s not like we saw any injured animals, right? Hell, the horses weren’t touched at all.”

  “That doesn’t prove anything!” Elizabeth shouted. “Only that the creatures targeted people specifically, but since we know they have a leader that makes perfect sense. Stop grasping at straws you trait—”

  “The weapons,” Jake said flatly. Despite his voice not being raised in the slightest, Elizabeth stopped yelling, jerking her head toward him while she lowered her rapier. Her face indicated that she already knew what he was getting at.

  “Bingo,” Dante said. “The Voids don’t need weapons since they can contort their bodies into ’em. And what did we find lying all around the village?”

  “On top of that,” Jake said, “the villages were aware of a threat beforehand. They called the Republic for assistance and even hired Montasir. If they were really expecting a monster invasion and were ready to fight they wouldn’t just leave their weapons behind.”

  “Well, I suppose that explains why you didn’t assist us then,” Elizabeth said. “Anybody would be hesitant to fight them after learning their true identity. However…” She hadn’t let go of rapier, only lowered it, but with the statement she gripped it tighter. Despite it being held low she was ready to skewer the orange-haired boy at any moment. “That doesn’t explain what your relationship with that Void King is.”

  Dante opened his mouth to respond but quickly shut it and turned away. This seemed to be all Elizabeth needed, as she began to walk toward him, dragging her rapier across the ground and cutting a thin line in the dirt as she approached. It seemed that if Dante did not respond before she reached him, she’d kill the boy right then and there. But her path to him was halted when Sara passed in front of her. Elizabeth stopped but did not sheath her rapier.

  “Dante, it’s like I said. I want to believe you but I can’t if you don’t tell me anything. What exactly is your relationship with this William character?”

  “He—” Dante began but once again broke off. His fists were clenched tightly at his sides and trembling, either from anger or frustration. Sara wrapped a hand around one of his balled fists, prompting it to relax slightly. He shook her off. “He was nobody, just some guy who lived in a village near the Purists. His folks owned a supply store so I saw him a lot.”

  “That’s all? Just the son of some store owner?” Elizabeth said as she stepped forward, grabbing Sara by the shoulder and casually pushing her away. She raised her arm, her weapon shooting off light that blinded Jake, and pointed it at Dante’s throat. “Is that really all?”

  “Like I said,” Dante said without wavering, “just the son of a merchant I once knew. We came from similar circumstances, so I empathized with him.”

  “And what exactly were those circumstances?” Elizabeth asked. Dante’s mouth fell flat with no hint that he’d ever answer her question. To Jake, it seemed he was willing to die before telling her the truth.

  “That’s enough,” Jake said, prompting Elizabeth to lower her sword and turn to him. He nodded at her and she obeyed, taking a few steps back from Dante and giving him an angry glare that told him he wasn’t off the hook just yet. “Dante’s given a decent explanation for now. There’s a lot to go over, so I don’t want us getting bogged down with sensory overload. We’ll talk about it later but right now I just have to… process things.”

  “Right,” Elizabeth said, then turned on her heel and walked down the village path. Jake watched her silhouette fade into a cluster of houses. When she was out of sight, he turned back to Dante.

  The boy still stared at the ground but without the apathetic nature he’d had before. The way his hair hung in his face, he seemed almost sad… assuming Dante was even capable of such an emotion. He raised his head and locked eyes with Jake. Those weren’t sad eyes, but ones burning with determination. The boy walked after Elizabeth and Jake and Sara took his side, moving toward the glowing sun.

  They caught up with Elizabeth and moved along the path beyond the village. Jake knew he should call Major Miles and tell him what happened but he wasn’t sure how he’d phrase it. Hell, he barely understood what happened himself. The Voids had a leader but there was also that strange boy whose identity Jake couldn’t begin to understand. There was also the connection Dante had with this Void King, which was another layer of information he didn’t want to sift through right now.

  Throughout the rest of the walk Jake straightened out the ideas in his head and where he thought their next destination should be. His comrades were silent for the rest of the day, each seeming preoccupied with their own ideas and revelations. Before Jake even knew it the sky was a burning orange and they had to set up camp for the night. He didn’t have to verbalize it, an exchange of glances with his teammates showed they were all in agreement.

  So once again the group found a place to stay, an area of the forest that seemed to be cut down. Stumps riddled the land like tombstones. After Dante lit a fire Jake and company sat among the dancing light provided by the flames, bathed in the melody of the night – birds, insects, and animals – without saying a word. They all knew what they had to talk about but nobody seemed to be willing to broach the subject for fear of damaging the ceasefire that held their team together for the moment. Jake glanced around the empty clearing and into the trees beyond, where anything could lurk within the shadows. After the coming conversation, they’d get to know whether or not Dante was truly an enemy… and if he was they would have to deal with him.

  Jake glanced at Sara’s pale face, shadows flickering across it. Would she help Jake and Elizabeth arrest Dante? Kill him if he tried to kill them? Then that brought the question of Elizabeth, too. Would she be willing to help Jake and Sara arrest an enemy of the Republic, a government she was currently resisting? Hell, even if they did arrest Dante, would she be there when they all woke up in the morning?

  If Dante was a traitor they wouldn’t be able to continue with the mission, and the Void King seemed incredibly powerful. They were content with toying with the group for now but if they launched another large-scale attack on the Republic Jake wasn’t sure they’d be able to make it out in one piece, no matter how strong the Führer allegedly was.

  “We’ve been dawdling here long enough. I believe it’s time for an explanation,” Elizabeth said finally.

  Jake looked at Dante. The shadows caused by the fire moved over his features like two-dimensional snakes, flickering in and out of existence. He didn’t appear to notice them, taking a large breath then allowing his chest to fall flat.

  “Some merchant’s kid. I saw him from time to time because I used to go with… someone to get supplies. He was like me so—”

  “That’s the same explanation as last time,” Elizabeth said.

  “That’s because it’s the truth.”

  And it is true, Jake thought. There was some kind of uncanny sincerity to what Dante said. A
fter all, he was extremely hesitant to tell them anything, so whatever he did care to give was unlikely to be a lie. Jake nodded in confirmation of Dante’s statement, which led Elizabeth to cease her questioning. She folded her arms and stared at Jake like it was his turn to ask something. He could only stare back, that was all Dante’s relationship with the merchant’s boy was, and Jake believed him. Just some vague acquaintance that he had some kind of similarity with. The only other thing that bothered Jake that he couldn’t seem to bring himself to ask was—

  “When did he die?”

  It wasn’t Jake who uttered the question but Sara, the one who always seemed to consider Dante’s feelings the most. When it turned out she had uttered the words everyone’s wide eyes turned to her. She looked from one comrade to the other, her hand hovering just under her chin. After a few seconds of looking back and forth she frowned.

  “Er, unless he didn’t die. I’m sorry if that was a leap in logic, but it makes sense to me. The Voids are all so… corpselike. I just assumed that they had died in some kind of horrible way. If their leader was—”

  “Nah Sara, that makes perfect sense and you’re right,” Dante said. He folded his hands in front of his waist. “William… died a few weeks back. If shit were a little different I could’ve—” Dante shook his head. “Nah, never mind. But it makes sense. What if when he died that demon did something to him? Like to his soul to keep him in this state of limbo? That’s how he sinks into the ground like that, cos he ain’t all there to begin with.”

  “That makes about as much sense as any other explanation,” Jake said, “but I’ve still got one more question.” He turned his narrowed eyes to Dante, whose tensed muscles indicated that he already knew the question before Jake asked it. Still, he stared on with a challenging look, as if daring Jake to ask.