A moment comes when I suddenly stop.
There are blackened corpses everywhere - I'm huge, and they're piled almost thigh-deep in places. They are all cooking and blackening as I stand there. My chest is heaving - I realize I'm trying to suck in more air, can't through the mask - I drop it, and immediately have to choke down puke.
The stench is too much. What do a million smoldering dead bodies smell like? I'll never have to ask. I'm an expert now on smoldering dead bodies. Come to me for all your smoldering dead-body needs. A laugh sneaks out and thickens into a sob. I take a last big gulp of air - the Eyeless are swarming over the latest line of their own mangled dead - or re-dead - and I come forward.
They've already overrun this position, and the one behind. I hear they're at the command center, then the radios went static-y so I only hear pieces of shouts or screams.
They've overrun the position, but not me.
***
I'm back on the Sennin, trying to scrape the charred flesh from my armor. I notice that the others hardly notice the smell anymore. I don't really either. A lot of it sloughed off when I shrunk back down, raining back down on the Eyeless and terror-stricken Goshi idiots screaming and running among them, panicked, crying blood. At the back are First Minds now. The Spaghetti Guy. That's when I decided I was actually going to leave. I know there isn't much I can do against Spaghetti Guy.
I also saw something that can't possibly be right. I thought - now Moses, that was a long time ago, that isn't now. That was when we first got the Sennin, when Trencher and Julian were...before you...before Katashi Blade...before all of that. When you went to the fire. When we met the Dusk Sages. That was the green-island-story. Now you're in the killed-by-eyeless-story.
But now they're the same story. "Did you see it?" Rei asks.
I'm kind of at a loss.
***
We meet back at the big machine. The God - no, the Artifact - has bonded to Sousa-whoever's machine, like it bonded to me. There are six conduits. I can't help but think legs, arms, heart, head - where they came out of me, when I got what's by far my biggest scar. They're talking and then Zipporah is there. She whispers something about our baby moving, quickening. I stop paying attention and start thinking of names - something like Goshi? To remind us? Goshen? Midian? That's a cool name. But what about a girl. Miriam? A family name.
Jin-Kalys is gesturing, then flaring his big flaps of colored skin, they're all talking to each other...I don't need to know what they're saying. The island is coming, flying through the fucking sky, and we have to bring it down. Jin points and I look up - there is a small orange mote nearing the top of the sky.
Before that mote gets to the top of the sky, over the city.
I find myself thinking...its just an island. Someone put it up there, and so we beat that person up and it comes down. Simple.
Rei says a name she keeps saying, but I finally hear her. Nero.
***
I remember my promise. When we met Nero. Arrogant son of a bitch, full of threats and dressed like a pansy. I wondered if I could shove him through that vent into the lava. Rei warned me against it. But I promised him. You get in our way again and I'll kill you. I'd never forgotten the promise, because I'd never said anything like that before. It just came out of me.
***
Tanuki is going ape-shit. He wants out so bad. It makes me happy, as it always has, to not give him what he wants. We're long past the point where we could have a good working relationship. Fuck you, big-balls. And, if I get my way, goodbye.
Rei is arguing with "Ama-chan" again. And she has a plan. I hope we're talking to Rei this time, and I hope, without even knowing what it is, that her plan fails. There's only one plan, and its where we die and the Enemy dies with us.
***
We land on the island, now barren of anything but sick plants and Kyo-tee-shee, and Kyoshi does...something...and I forget the promise. Light flares out of him, starts coming out of his mouth. The island wavers and drops a few hundred feet. I'm still on the Sennin. They're talking to Nero, but I can barely hear - their voices are so thick and slow. "...you're still alive!..."
"...wonderful..."
"...end malice..."
I'm looking at a schematic for a spaceship, listening to someone talking about our history, the history of the Cheldrun. We...we filled the stars, once. We flew between points of light that even light had to wait until it reached. We had worlds and worlds, moons, metal worlds that we built circling planets.
And the First Minds...were like the Dusk Sages. Some rebelled, and they became the Enemy, that chased us here, that is over our heads right now, driving their army forward. I look down at my hands, and light spills out...we could fly. I'm on the island now, and the fight is on.
All eyes turn to HighDive. I fill with every image of every frustrating damn thing she's ever done, my fists clench, but I know this is just a Kata - and then she's completely covered in knives. They rush past me and I feel the wind when they do like shots from a tank that barely miss, like artillery hitting the building next door. Everything slows down.
She's spinning in the middle of them, a tiny fucking squirrel hardly bigger than one of the knives, and she's just poking them with her paws and feet and grinning to herself. She's never there to hit...and as they miss her, the over-shoot, and go whirling back at Nero. I watch and grin and gape as fifty knives slash him and slam into his body, tearing up his stupid clothes.
Kyoshi attacks, slashing. Una shrieks and tears into him as she flies past. I throw myself into the column of energy that's holding him up and as I sail past, I hit him with an earthquake that sends shards of green gem slashing past us both and I go sailing up into the air.
As I fall and spin I watch another storm of knives miss HighDive entirely and slash into Nero instead, this time hitting harder than tank shells. He's staggered and the island falls a bit. We attack again, but the most dangerous thing to him are his own knives.
The next attack comes at us all. He's done with HighDive kicking his ass - everyone gives up at stopping her at some point. I throw up a dome to protect who I can ...and see Una fall and Kyoshi torn apart. Then High Dive circles the world in green fire, and winds us back to the moment before Kyoshi collapses. I use all of my energy, throw up two domes - "this is easier if you stick together" and let the knives hit me. I remember the tank shells from the battle of Stardown. They ping off of me, slowed by Rei's shield, and I feel energy flow into me.
I land, and Una is using her power again
I feel a heartbeat in my chest that isn't mine, echoing, I feel it through my feet, the whole world pulsing
You are mine.
The world is speaking to us. I feel like I burst out of my skin, filled with...something I can't even describe. Too much me. Too much Karia.
And suddenly the island is falling through the sky.
Nero is a...teenager? Standing there, touching the green NeverGem beneath his feet. "What was that? What was that voice?"
That was Karia, Nero. He yells at us to get off the falling island. Aimi is landing the Sennin. We're really, really doomed if we stay.
My promise. I remember the six conduits. I surprise myself.
"No. We need you with us." He argues for a second, the sky is falling away and I know the ground is rushing up toward us. "This is how we end malice." I grab him and brush past a surprised Rei into the Sennin and deposit him inside as we all scramble in, just in time.
Millions of kilos of green NeverGem island slam into the mountain range encircling Stardown, heaving the first few mountains aside, throwing up a cloud of green gem that blots out the sun and chokes everything in fine green dust. It grinds longer than I'd think, visibly shaking the ground, collapsing buildings in Stardown that are still standing, putting huge cracks in the ice that the refugees are fleeing across, until there is a rolling wave of chunks of NeverGem, some crashing down into the valley of Stardown, before it clatters to as stop.
Everything has stopped to watch. I can see that the Goshi soldiers have turned and are all fighting the Eyeless now. They must feel what I feel, what Rei and Kyoshi feel...what Nero felt.
***
Nero is just a kid. We explain to him what has to happen. That he's been chosen by Karia to save the world.
I think of Mokuzai. He's got Mokuzai's Kyo-tee-shee in there. I saw it when we fought him on the flying island. Mokuzai was chosen to save the world. Mokuzai, not you you sniveling monster. You're a kid and I wish things had been different for you, but you've killed more than enough to make you all grown up in my book. Old enough to fight, to change you mind...old enough to die.
And he seems to want to. He makes sure that the machine will kill him before he agrees. I save feeling bad about this for later.
For now, I'm making sure my promise is kept, by the machine if not by me. We can't feel bad for every twisted bastard child who tries to kill millions of people, who clearly killed the last of the Dusk Sages so that he could have more power. There's so much to feel bad for at this point that this little broken kid is just a drop in a big, big bucket.
***
We land, and we're ready. I get to see Zipporah one last time. One last time. What do you say? They're talking and I'm not listening. She's clinging to me and we're crying.
I can't help thinking about the future. I forget about the past. I think about...the world without us, without the Oni, without the renegade First Minds or the greedy, stupid Kyo-tee-shee. Will she name him Moses, if he's a boy? Will he grow up Prill or Cheldrun? Or will it be a girl? Do Karians know that kind of thing?
Its time. The end is here. Kyoshi goes onto the Sennin...to say goodbye. Goodbye.
As I gently stand up and sidle toward the Sennin, I practice saying it. My mind can't wrap around the word.
I set Zipporah on the ramp up into the Sennin. I try to say goodbye but what comes out is "I'll see you again, one way or another. But you can't be here when this happens."
Real romantic. Will they put that on your tombstone?
Will there be anybody to carve a tombstone?
We just look at each other as the Sennin lifts off. I keep looking long after its too small to see clearly, faded into the green dust still raining down on us. I just...ran out of things to say.
I walk back to the machine, walk over to HighDive. I've been saving a surprise for this moment, once I learned what had to happen with the machine. I stand over her, point to the armored plate on my chest.
"Lefty-loosey?"
Her eyes light up. She straightens, reverently. I can see her little heart pounding through the fur of her chest. She scampers up, puts a pay on one of the bolts holding the armor in place.
I've loosened it. Her eyes go wide. Wicky-wicky. Wickywickywicky...and the bolt falls away, clattering to the floor.
The moment is interrupted.
Jin-Kalys says the Oni need to be lured here. I grimace at HighDive - sorry - and tighten the bolt back down.
I've got a little mana left. I run for the stairs, swelling so that I can just step past them. I leap over the battling Laughers, trailing cinders, and land amongst the Eyeless, shield up and batting them aside. And that's it. I'm all out.
***
I met Suraisu-Oni and snapped off one of his drill-arms, tossed him into the air, shot him, so that he was visible from a long way off, and then ran back to the chamber.
I leap inside, shrinking, and see the other Oni have found us already. Kyoshi is saying something -
"We've come here to fulfill our purpose. In the name of justice, we will create balance. We will find the power to forgive, and will bring our people freedom. And there will be peace."
I grit my teeth and jam the cable into my chest, having knocked the plate protecting it free. We all do the same, Nero last (I think of jamming the thing in his chest if he hesitates too long, but I don't have to). The Oni come down into the chamber. Chunks of us are teleported away. HighDive withers and dies of old age in a sea of sludge. Una is incinerated. And - just as Rei, dying, gestures and the cable slips out of my chest - Suraisu-Oni's drill bit erupts from my body.
I grab for the cable, but my hands are covered with this slippery rainbow stuff. Then I think I'm dreaming because Zipporah is here, puts a hand on my arm, looks at me and then slides the cable back in. Its a happy dream, this dying-dream. I reach back, find Suraisu's head, think of Mokuzai a last time, grab his head and twist until I hear the squeal of machinery tearing.
"My child will live in a world without you."
***
The rainbow stuff falls out of all of us, is devoured by the Oni, who shovel it into their mouths, slurping it up, down to the last drop -
But the last drop catches, won't come out. I feel Tanuki laugh. This isn't funny, Tanuki.
Yes it is, little-balls.
***
Everything goes backwards, fast, faster, rainbow goop rushing into us, the Oni deflating and becoming like ghosts, then being sucked in, and it all flows through us into the machine. There is swirling light everywhere - all of the Kyo-tee-shee, swirling madly like stars - and they're all sucked in, and there is a burst of light, and the Wandering Star is torn from the sky, breaking apart, chunks trailing fire like burning hail...
***
The tubes slide from our chests easily. It is entirely quiet. The green dust has settled onto everything, like we've been lying here like this for years, undisturbed. Jin-Kalys is crumpled in a corner, in a kind of lizardly shock. Zipporah is sprawled out on the ground in front of me.
The wound in my chest is gone. I pick up Zipporah, and in a daze, climb the stairs.
The city is...a mess. The Eyeless are all gone. There is gore and charred remains of buildings everywhere.
From the park nearby, where the Anakarix were draping their wounded in the trees, Boristakan, looks around, looks at me.
We start laughing.
***
Back inside, HighDive has found her battered, pitted, scarred pot, filled with the names of the dead inside. She turns it right-side-up, rubs out the names written there, fills it with water, and starts making pasta.
Showing posts with label Campaign Journal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Campaign Journal. Show all posts
Episode 38, Part I: The Last Day
Oni.
Always the Oni, pressing our defensive lines. I can feel the after-echoes of a thousand panicked soldiers. Moses's thoughts shine like a beacon, and Kiyoshi's are, as ever, veiled behind the void.
The Oni are attacking en masse.
We have no choice but to face them. We're the only ones who can.
We go.
There they are, striding across the battlefield like demons. Karaku-Oni lays a dozen bunkers to waste with molten light. Asamu-Oni flows over a division and it ages to death even as it fights. Suraisu-Oni sends piledriver after piledriver blow towards a mecha edged in silver flames, and I realize at once that this is Ichirou, fighting at the side of his men. Before we move, I drape a telepathic sensory net around the minds of each of my companions, and a window-within-window field of their own perceptions snaps into being in my sight.
We are as prepared as we will ever be.
We leap from the Sennin and descend on the battle, katas whirling. I get a brief glimpse of Suraisu-Oni sending a bludgeon my way. Then something hits me, and my thoughts are scattered. I land on my feet, barely. There is heat, and a bright light, and I look up just in time to see Karaku-Oni's molten beams converging on... me.
There is heat, and pain, and a bright green light, and then darkness for the instant between the destruction of my optic nerves and the cooking of my brain inside my skull. ... For an instant, it seems to take forever. I have time. Time to realize that I'm about to die. Time to realize that I've failed. Time to feel the heat searing through my face and my body. Time ... reverses.
There is pain, and then a glorious burst of vision, and I can see the world again. Karaku-Oni's beams flow back into his wingtips, and I ascend. The damage caused by Suraisu-Oni is undone, and I ascend. Back... back... back into the Sennin, and suddenly we are not yet upon the battle, and High Dive is panting for breath.
I stare.
"High Dive," I manage after a moment. "... Thank you."
The others are determined to stop the Oni, and I cannot let them go alone, but I will not suffer the same fate again. I refuse to die such a meaningless death.
We leap from the Sennin, and I head straight for Suraisu-Oni. With one hand I call up a hundred black tentacles, each one seeking out a target in the horde of eyeless below, each one sustaining me, filling me with power. My mind expands, and I focus it all into my right hand. My psychic knife crackles with energy as I descend towards Suraisu-Oni, and all at once I see Mokuzai, mangled and dead, beneath those pistons, and my vision goes red.
I plant the blade in the Oni's chest and hiss, "This is for Mokuzai, you bastard," releasing a massive pulse of psychic energy directly into whatever it is that passes for the creature's nervous system.
It looks down at the blade for a moment, almost nonplussed, and then falls over, paralyzed.
I feel... satisfaction.
I have no time to dwell on the minor victory. Kiyoshi, Una, and the others are already in motion. High Dive dashes to the front of the battle and does... something. There is a green pulse of light, and every Oni and every Eyeless on the battlefield immediately turns its attention to her.
In an instant, she's gone, dashing off towards the horizon with the Oni and the Eyeless army in pursuit.
Moses and I exchange incredulous looks. Then he and Ichirou pin the paralyzed Suraisu-Oni and lop off his head with Ichirou's mecha-sized katana.
I watch for a long moment as my friends rush into battle. Moses striding forward, glowing like a coal, Kiyoshi carried in Una's talons as she carries him from location to location, High Dive leading the entire enemy army by the nose, and I'm at a loss.
What can I do to help here? Even with my katas, I'm not much of a fighter. There's nothing I can do here that will equal their efforts.
The whispers of a thousand panicked thoughts catch my attention, and I realize abruptly that there is something I can do after all. I sit atop the bunker even as Ichirou descends to direct his army, and I reach out with my mind, brimming with power.
I am Ichirou.
I am Lightning.
I am Matthew.
I am a soldier drowning in his own blood.
I am an artillery operator, determined to do her job.
I am an officer, frantically directing his men and hoping desperately that they don't realize how fucking terrified I am.
I am a Heishi, watching the battle with jaw dropped open and horrified beyond all measure.
My mind expands. More. More. More.
This soldier. That soldier. A dozen over here. Fifty officers across the battlefield. Sixty artillery operators. More.
I am Allskin, Biomade, Mechified all united within one mind:
I am Cheldrun. A thousand minds united, until 'I' is a term which scarcely holds meaning.
I see the battle from a thousand viewpoints at once, and the intensity of the experience nearly overwhelms me.
Then I begin to exert my will. To direct myself, and through me, our army.
Moses grapples with Asamu-Oni. Una and High Dive do battle with the great rotting beast. High Dive flashes across my perceptions in the blink of an eye.
The battle rages, and my joy is infectious.
I can see. Everything.
All one and one all. Kiyoshi and Una have destroyed the great beast and seek out their next target. I spare a moment's attention to telekinetically extract Moses from Asamu-Oni's body, and another to send a blast of black energy into the horde of Eyeless that had surrounded High Dive at last.
I gesture, and she floats towards me.
Una snatches her up a moment later, and I release her, returning my attention to... everything.
A moment later, she deposits High-Dive in my lap. I absently rub the Zipsum's belly as we wait for her to recover from having exerted herself far too much.
Kiyoshi can't get close to the thing that had been Katashi Blade. I send out the telepathic call: "Concentrate all artillery fire on this point." This point? The Oni.
He ignores the first volley, his shield absorbing the majority of it.
... He is not so lucky with the second. The Oni vanishes in a storm of smoke and flame.
The battle rages on. High Dive returns to the fight, and brings death everywhere she goes. Asamu-Oni is dead: Moses killed him. Garandu-Oni is dispatched a moment later, and then all at once, it is only Karaku-Oni who remains.
Una fights him like a mad thing, and I do not understand her actions: she is nearly killed, but she does allow Kiyoshi and High Dive the time they need to close.
Karaku-Oni sees me. Rei-me. I am almost unaware of the danger. What does it matter if a part of me falls away? What is one part next to this... this... magnificence?
A molten beam strikes me in the chest, and I know pain, fear, and darkness. The gestalt shatters, and I am only Rei again. Minds whip about every which way for an instant... and then I come back to my senses, staring up at the figures of Kiyoshi and High Dive and Una as they tear Karaku-Oni to pieces.
It is done. The battle is over. I look down at my chest and see the flesh knitting over the exposed bone, pain receding, muscle and tissue actively regenerating.
Una's influence.
As soon as my lungs are functional again, I let out a long, slow breath.
We've won. For now. And yet I can't shake the feeling that something is about to change. ... I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. As Una helps me to my feet, I briefly wonder where Nero is in all this.
---------------
Elder Moon wants to speak with us: we return to Jin-Kalys' sanctum, and we there hear her make her case.
She thinks he knows how to solve the riddle of peace. I am ready to dismiss her at once, but something stops me. A feeling. A strange thought, bubbling up from my memories of the gestalt, and for a moment I'm not sure if I'm Rei, Ichirou, Matthew, or something else entirely.
I hear her speaking as if from far away, but much closer is the old, familiar whisper of Inase Spark, drowning out even Amaterasu's insistence that I must not do whatever it is that Elder Moon is suggesting.
Thoughts of fear. Thoughts of relief.
I rise to my feet.
Moses can sense Zippora's pain and horror, and I wonder how that's possible: he's no telepath. Aimi knows. She can sense it immediately, even on the other side of Stardown. Kiyoshi hasn't given enough thought to the psychic consequences of having been intimate with a telepath. She knows.
Elder Moon is speaking, and I'm trying to think of a way to overcome the Oni by force of arms, and all I hear is my father's voice.
"Obsessed with death, with pain, with suffering. If death is all you can see, then death is all you deserve."
I look up, startled.
There he is, with the void all around. There he is, looking older now, as he did when I saw him in the wreck of the Bosphorous.
Inase Spark.
"I don't want to die," I say.
"Is that really true?" he asks.
... No. No, it's not. You can't feel the joy of battle and not wish to taste it.
"You're not alone, Mikomi," he says. "You have long held things worth fighting for. Do you have anything worth dying for?"
I stare at him for a long moment.
All at once, I'm standing with the others in Jin Kalys' sanctum, and Elder Moon is echoing my own words back to me even as Amaterasu shrieks to drown her out: "We must be willing to sacrifice ourselves by the thousands - by the millions - for one another. Wasn't it you who said that, Rei?"
...
Sacrifice.
She wants us to use the machine. The machine and Moses's machine combined. Sacrifice.
Purpose.
I nod. I understand. Amaterasu disagrees, but for once, I ignore her.
I think I finally understand Purpose.
And that's when everything goes to hell.
Always the Oni, pressing our defensive lines. I can feel the after-echoes of a thousand panicked soldiers. Moses's thoughts shine like a beacon, and Kiyoshi's are, as ever, veiled behind the void.
The Oni are attacking en masse.
We have no choice but to face them. We're the only ones who can.
We go.
There they are, striding across the battlefield like demons. Karaku-Oni lays a dozen bunkers to waste with molten light. Asamu-Oni flows over a division and it ages to death even as it fights. Suraisu-Oni sends piledriver after piledriver blow towards a mecha edged in silver flames, and I realize at once that this is Ichirou, fighting at the side of his men. Before we move, I drape a telepathic sensory net around the minds of each of my companions, and a window-within-window field of their own perceptions snaps into being in my sight.
We are as prepared as we will ever be.
We leap from the Sennin and descend on the battle, katas whirling. I get a brief glimpse of Suraisu-Oni sending a bludgeon my way. Then something hits me, and my thoughts are scattered. I land on my feet, barely. There is heat, and a bright light, and I look up just in time to see Karaku-Oni's molten beams converging on... me.
There is heat, and pain, and a bright green light, and then darkness for the instant between the destruction of my optic nerves and the cooking of my brain inside my skull. ... For an instant, it seems to take forever. I have time. Time to realize that I'm about to die. Time to realize that I've failed. Time to feel the heat searing through my face and my body. Time ... reverses.
There is pain, and then a glorious burst of vision, and I can see the world again. Karaku-Oni's beams flow back into his wingtips, and I ascend. The damage caused by Suraisu-Oni is undone, and I ascend. Back... back... back into the Sennin, and suddenly we are not yet upon the battle, and High Dive is panting for breath.
I stare.
"High Dive," I manage after a moment. "... Thank you."
The others are determined to stop the Oni, and I cannot let them go alone, but I will not suffer the same fate again. I refuse to die such a meaningless death.
We leap from the Sennin, and I head straight for Suraisu-Oni. With one hand I call up a hundred black tentacles, each one seeking out a target in the horde of eyeless below, each one sustaining me, filling me with power. My mind expands, and I focus it all into my right hand. My psychic knife crackles with energy as I descend towards Suraisu-Oni, and all at once I see Mokuzai, mangled and dead, beneath those pistons, and my vision goes red.
I plant the blade in the Oni's chest and hiss, "This is for Mokuzai, you bastard," releasing a massive pulse of psychic energy directly into whatever it is that passes for the creature's nervous system.
It looks down at the blade for a moment, almost nonplussed, and then falls over, paralyzed.
I feel... satisfaction.
I have no time to dwell on the minor victory. Kiyoshi, Una, and the others are already in motion. High Dive dashes to the front of the battle and does... something. There is a green pulse of light, and every Oni and every Eyeless on the battlefield immediately turns its attention to her.
In an instant, she's gone, dashing off towards the horizon with the Oni and the Eyeless army in pursuit.
Moses and I exchange incredulous looks. Then he and Ichirou pin the paralyzed Suraisu-Oni and lop off his head with Ichirou's mecha-sized katana.
I watch for a long moment as my friends rush into battle. Moses striding forward, glowing like a coal, Kiyoshi carried in Una's talons as she carries him from location to location, High Dive leading the entire enemy army by the nose, and I'm at a loss.
What can I do to help here? Even with my katas, I'm not much of a fighter. There's nothing I can do here that will equal their efforts.
The whispers of a thousand panicked thoughts catch my attention, and I realize abruptly that there is something I can do after all. I sit atop the bunker even as Ichirou descends to direct his army, and I reach out with my mind, brimming with power.
I am Ichirou.
I am Lightning.
I am Matthew.
I am a soldier drowning in his own blood.
I am an artillery operator, determined to do her job.
I am an officer, frantically directing his men and hoping desperately that they don't realize how fucking terrified I am.
I am a Heishi, watching the battle with jaw dropped open and horrified beyond all measure.
My mind expands. More. More. More.
This soldier. That soldier. A dozen over here. Fifty officers across the battlefield. Sixty artillery operators. More.
I am Allskin, Biomade, Mechified all united within one mind:
I am Cheldrun. A thousand minds united, until 'I' is a term which scarcely holds meaning.
I see the battle from a thousand viewpoints at once, and the intensity of the experience nearly overwhelms me.
Then I begin to exert my will. To direct myself, and through me, our army.
Moses grapples with Asamu-Oni. Una and High Dive do battle with the great rotting beast. High Dive flashes across my perceptions in the blink of an eye.
The battle rages, and my joy is infectious.
I can see. Everything.
All one and one all. Kiyoshi and Una have destroyed the great beast and seek out their next target. I spare a moment's attention to telekinetically extract Moses from Asamu-Oni's body, and another to send a blast of black energy into the horde of Eyeless that had surrounded High Dive at last.
I gesture, and she floats towards me.
Una snatches her up a moment later, and I release her, returning my attention to... everything.
A moment later, she deposits High-Dive in my lap. I absently rub the Zipsum's belly as we wait for her to recover from having exerted herself far too much.
Kiyoshi can't get close to the thing that had been Katashi Blade. I send out the telepathic call: "Concentrate all artillery fire on this point." This point? The Oni.
He ignores the first volley, his shield absorbing the majority of it.
... He is not so lucky with the second. The Oni vanishes in a storm of smoke and flame.
The battle rages on. High Dive returns to the fight, and brings death everywhere she goes. Asamu-Oni is dead: Moses killed him. Garandu-Oni is dispatched a moment later, and then all at once, it is only Karaku-Oni who remains.
Una fights him like a mad thing, and I do not understand her actions: she is nearly killed, but she does allow Kiyoshi and High Dive the time they need to close.
Karaku-Oni sees me. Rei-me. I am almost unaware of the danger. What does it matter if a part of me falls away? What is one part next to this... this... magnificence?
A molten beam strikes me in the chest, and I know pain, fear, and darkness. The gestalt shatters, and I am only Rei again. Minds whip about every which way for an instant... and then I come back to my senses, staring up at the figures of Kiyoshi and High Dive and Una as they tear Karaku-Oni to pieces.
It is done. The battle is over. I look down at my chest and see the flesh knitting over the exposed bone, pain receding, muscle and tissue actively regenerating.
Una's influence.
As soon as my lungs are functional again, I let out a long, slow breath.
We've won. For now. And yet I can't shake the feeling that something is about to change. ... I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. As Una helps me to my feet, I briefly wonder where Nero is in all this.
---------------
Elder Moon wants to speak with us: we return to Jin-Kalys' sanctum, and we there hear her make her case.
She thinks he knows how to solve the riddle of peace. I am ready to dismiss her at once, but something stops me. A feeling. A strange thought, bubbling up from my memories of the gestalt, and for a moment I'm not sure if I'm Rei, Ichirou, Matthew, or something else entirely.
I hear her speaking as if from far away, but much closer is the old, familiar whisper of Inase Spark, drowning out even Amaterasu's insistence that I must not do whatever it is that Elder Moon is suggesting.
Thoughts of fear. Thoughts of relief.
I rise to my feet.
Moses can sense Zippora's pain and horror, and I wonder how that's possible: he's no telepath. Aimi knows. She can sense it immediately, even on the other side of Stardown. Kiyoshi hasn't given enough thought to the psychic consequences of having been intimate with a telepath. She knows.
Elder Moon is speaking, and I'm trying to think of a way to overcome the Oni by force of arms, and all I hear is my father's voice.
"Obsessed with death, with pain, with suffering. If death is all you can see, then death is all you deserve."
I look up, startled.
There he is, with the void all around. There he is, looking older now, as he did when I saw him in the wreck of the Bosphorous.
Inase Spark.
"I don't want to die," I say.
"Is that really true?" he asks.
... No. No, it's not. You can't feel the joy of battle and not wish to taste it.
"You're not alone, Mikomi," he says. "You have long held things worth fighting for. Do you have anything worth dying for?"
I stare at him for a long moment.
All at once, I'm standing with the others in Jin Kalys' sanctum, and Elder Moon is echoing my own words back to me even as Amaterasu shrieks to drown her out: "We must be willing to sacrifice ourselves by the thousands - by the millions - for one another. Wasn't it you who said that, Rei?"
...
Sacrifice.
She wants us to use the machine. The machine and Moses's machine combined. Sacrifice.
Purpose.
I nod. I understand. Amaterasu disagrees, but for once, I ignore her.
I think I finally understand Purpose.
And that's when everything goes to hell.
Episode 37: Oni Unleashed
Time... reversed. That is the only way to describe it. One moment I am dodging out of the room as a giant explosion rocks it and watching in horror as the shrapnel rips Una apart and the flames incinerate Rei and the next... everything stops, then reverses. The next thing I know we are standing in front of the First Mind again and he is saying something about not having to track us down. We all seem stunned except High Dive. Somehow she is behind this, but... how? Rei decides not to wait around for a repeat performance and teleports us away. For a moment I am tempted to remain behind to cover their retreat but I realize that there is always the chance that it would simply ignore me and go after the others anyway so I allow myself to be taken away with the rest.
We arrive in the middle of a battlefield. Gogajin are striding about like invincible titans smashing tanks, soldiers, and Hei Shi alike. It is a slaughter and for once our side has the advantage. Then, predictably, the First Mind catches up with us. Una was waiting for it however and it is immediately greeted by a giant blast of destructive energy that sends it flying back into the building from whence it came. That was not enough to finish it of course and a hard fight ensued. Rei finished things off by doing her eclipse-causing super telekinesis thing again, this time combining both the building smashing and the waves of fire. It was true catastrophe; for the other side of course. The First Mind was defeated (though strangely we heard no announcement of a new Oni at its death) and the Goshi army as far as we could see was destroyed.
No sooner had the smoke cleared than we received reports that the Enemy had routed our forces in Starbreeze Canyon with the help of a giant Oni. That the enemy dead were raising as Eyeless and overrunning the front lines. And that the forces advancing from the former location were threatening to cut off the retreat of the latter. No rest for the wicked it seems; we called the Sennin in and hastily made our way to Starbreeze Canyon to give our main forces enough time to retreat from the relentless onslaught. Balder chose to remain behind with his fellow Gogajin, something for which I cannot blame him.
It was fully night by the time we reached the canyon and there before us was the most massive Oni we had encountered yet. It was easily three hundred meters long, two hundred meters tall, and one hundred meters wide. It strode through and over the canyon on six giant segmented legs with two enormous pincers before it. Goshi troops swarmed before, under, and behind it and both they and the very face of Karia showed signs of the proximity: festering boils and cancerous growths seemed to bloom up from the ground where the Oni stepped and magically, sickeningly, grow from the bodies of the nearby soldiers. We knew what we had to do: we swooped down to introduce ourselves.
When we got close we heard the characteristic partially-internal voice of an Oni. It boomed, "I am Kyansu Oni the One Who Corrupts." Oh. Fun. I also noticed the feeling of absolute wrongness as we approached and activated one of my Katas that protects my purity of body. A good thing too because I then saw everyone else start to grow the horrific tumors and boils that were affecting the troops below.
I shouted at Moses that I was the only one who could approach it safely so I should be dropped onto its back alone while the rest of them dealt with saving the last remnants of our forces fleeing before the vile horde. He ignored me of course. Logic does not count for much when it means leaving your friends in danger; I would have done the same. Thankfully Una activated a Kata that healed the corruption as fast as it spread. Barely.
The crew was scared so I yelled a bit and whipped them into shape. I may not be a soldier but I know a good deal about getting reluctant underlings to do their job. I commanded them to drop us off on the back of the beast and get out of its range. That they did and we dropped one by one onto the massive bulk. Just before we jumped I told Moses "Dig me a way to its heart." I am not sure if he heard me or not but when he landed he actually punched through its hide and ichor started spurting out. So I aimed for that area and when I landed I unleashed all of my hatred and revulsion for the Enemy into it. I guess I overdid it somewhat because the next thing I knew I was coming out the other side with nothing but air between me and a horde of Goshi soldiers a hundred meters below. Thankfully Keibatsu had drank deeply and I was easily able to survive the fall.
The Oni was slain and now all we had to deal with was a couple million Goshi soldiers. Things were frantic for a short time and then Rei cut off part of the battlefield by lacing one of her walls of fiery death across the width of the canyon. It was almost comical watching the soldiers pushed through by their comrades behind to heap up in front of the thing. We quickly dispatched the rest of the soldiers on our side and met up with our own troops. They were being commanded by Matthew, the giant Mechified we had met back in the Griolsa village. All of them were heavily wounded, exhausted, dispirited. And who could blame them? Rei tried her own strange version of cheering them up and I promptly took over before she said something that had them committing suicide. Then Moses decided he had not had enough and he showed us what a giant Mechified really looks like. Striding forth he casually walked through Rei's wall that had caused the deaths of so many Goshi soldiers and we heard the sounds of death and destruction from the other side. After a few minutes he came back and shrank back to his normal, albeit still rather large, size. The wall flickered and went away. And as far as the eye could see down Starbreeze Canyon there were dead Goshi soldiers and smashed tanks. It was about this time that things went bad.
The Goshi dead started to rise, their eyeballs bursting in the sockets. And we heard voices and saw towering forms rise up above them a few hundred yards away. "I am Suraisu Oni the One Who Tears" and "I am Rensu Oni the One Who Binds". Hurriedly I told Matthew to get his men and flee as far and as fast as they could. They needed little encouragement. As the Eyeless horde rushed us Moses encompassed us in another of his impenetrable domes. I looked around at the state of my companions. Moses was hurt a little, High Dive seemed tired, Rei was fine as far as I could tell, and Una was unconscious, probably from over-exertion as I saw no visible wounds on her. I told Moses to call the Sennin back and use it to get everyone out of here. I told him that I would hold back the Eyeless so that our troops had the chance to get away. I could do it. Keibatsu hungered.
He partially listened to me. He lowered the dome when we heard Aimi chime in that she was hovering over us and High Dive snatched up Una and hopped aboard. Moses said he was staying with me and so did Rei. I told her that if she was going to stay I needed her to deal with the Eyeless who had passed us by when we were holed up, the ones who were even now running down our fleeing men. She nodded and started after them. I did not have time to muse over the fact that I had just sent a teenage girl alone after a few hundred Eyeless. Instead I rushed forward as fast as I could, calling on the power of my Kata and Keibatsu to clear the way. Hundreds of Eyeless fell like grain before the scythe and in moments we had reached the pair of Oni. I immediately launched an all-out attack upon Rensu Oni and Moses tackled Suraisu Oni.
The fighting was fast and hectic. I am not entirely sure what happened, but suddenly my arm, along with Keibatsu, simply was no longer there. My mouth opened in a silent scream of horror as I fell to my knees in shock, blood pumping unabated from my shoulder. "So easily unmanned?" the Oni mocked me. "We are coming for you. Tomorrow we will bombard you and wipe your pitiful race from the face of the planet." Before it could finish me off High Dive appeared and attacked viciously. I grabbed a nearby discarded rifle and fired wildly at the thing, missing completely. Then High Dive cried out. Her legs had been removed at the knees. Dropping the useless gun I stepped over her, guarding her tiny, whimpering form with my own as best I could. And I did the only thing I could think of: I reached my remaining arm out and I fell as deeply into the Void as I could. I concentrated. I meditated on Keibatsu and our oneness. Wherever the Oni had sent it I called it back to me. Nothing happened.
I distantly heard a scream and a raptor's cry then I felt myself being lifted by a grip around my waist. It did not last long and I vaguely noted Una crashing to the ground missing a wing. She and High Dive lay bleeding in a heap. I glanced over to see Rei laying on the ground a ways away convulsing uncontrollably. A landslide on the side of the canyon marked where Moses and Suraisu Oni were presumably now buried. Rensu Oni laughed. "And so it ends." I knew that I was our last hope. It was my duty to save us, all of us. And Keibatsu came. Silver light and runes raced up my left arm as the blade that was part of me sprang forth once more. The Oni seemed mildly surprised and said "That will not help you." Then I attacked. With everything I had, my most powerful forms with no thought, only one purpose: cut. Do not give the enemy a chance to breathe, to think: cut. Do not hesitate, do not allow weakness to creep in: cut. Cut them down utterly, cut where they are weakest, cut finally, and decisively, and without mercy. I owed it to the rest of them. Cut.
The howls of rage faded as Rensu Oni disappeared. I breathed. "Wanna bet?"
* * *
We recovered the next day as best we could. The front lines had all been overrun. The refugee camps were being shelled by Goshi artillery. Eyeless were everywhere and the Oni made regular forays, presumably to lure us out. We had all survived though, if barely. Una had been able to restore our missing limbs with her miraculous healing. Jin Kalys still insisted that a greater sacrifice was needed and several ideas were put forth. Moses had the Surgeon cut out what he called the Machine God: a First Mind artifact that had been fused to his body all this time, that had given him much of his power it seemed. They cut it out and Jin Kalys studied it to see if it would be a proper sacrifice. Moses looked somehow... diminished... without it.
I could see that we were losing. We needed something, something big, some master stroke or this war would end with our inevitable defeat. It was just like a game of Go. Our opponents had us where they wanted us and were simply going through the motions until they finished us. Who knew when the bombardment would begin? We needed a gambit. Something on which we could stake everything; our last chance. If Jin Kalys' calculations could not do it then I had an idea: attack the Wandering Star. Foolish, yes, but maybe our last hope.
Then the radio blared. The Oni were attacking the last lines of defense. All of them. We left to face our salvation or our doom.
We arrive in the middle of a battlefield. Gogajin are striding about like invincible titans smashing tanks, soldiers, and Hei Shi alike. It is a slaughter and for once our side has the advantage. Then, predictably, the First Mind catches up with us. Una was waiting for it however and it is immediately greeted by a giant blast of destructive energy that sends it flying back into the building from whence it came. That was not enough to finish it of course and a hard fight ensued. Rei finished things off by doing her eclipse-causing super telekinesis thing again, this time combining both the building smashing and the waves of fire. It was true catastrophe; for the other side of course. The First Mind was defeated (though strangely we heard no announcement of a new Oni at its death) and the Goshi army as far as we could see was destroyed.
No sooner had the smoke cleared than we received reports that the Enemy had routed our forces in Starbreeze Canyon with the help of a giant Oni. That the enemy dead were raising as Eyeless and overrunning the front lines. And that the forces advancing from the former location were threatening to cut off the retreat of the latter. No rest for the wicked it seems; we called the Sennin in and hastily made our way to Starbreeze Canyon to give our main forces enough time to retreat from the relentless onslaught. Balder chose to remain behind with his fellow Gogajin, something for which I cannot blame him.
It was fully night by the time we reached the canyon and there before us was the most massive Oni we had encountered yet. It was easily three hundred meters long, two hundred meters tall, and one hundred meters wide. It strode through and over the canyon on six giant segmented legs with two enormous pincers before it. Goshi troops swarmed before, under, and behind it and both they and the very face of Karia showed signs of the proximity: festering boils and cancerous growths seemed to bloom up from the ground where the Oni stepped and magically, sickeningly, grow from the bodies of the nearby soldiers. We knew what we had to do: we swooped down to introduce ourselves.
When we got close we heard the characteristic partially-internal voice of an Oni. It boomed, "I am Kyansu Oni the One Who Corrupts." Oh. Fun. I also noticed the feeling of absolute wrongness as we approached and activated one of my Katas that protects my purity of body. A good thing too because I then saw everyone else start to grow the horrific tumors and boils that were affecting the troops below.
I shouted at Moses that I was the only one who could approach it safely so I should be dropped onto its back alone while the rest of them dealt with saving the last remnants of our forces fleeing before the vile horde. He ignored me of course. Logic does not count for much when it means leaving your friends in danger; I would have done the same. Thankfully Una activated a Kata that healed the corruption as fast as it spread. Barely.
The crew was scared so I yelled a bit and whipped them into shape. I may not be a soldier but I know a good deal about getting reluctant underlings to do their job. I commanded them to drop us off on the back of the beast and get out of its range. That they did and we dropped one by one onto the massive bulk. Just before we jumped I told Moses "Dig me a way to its heart." I am not sure if he heard me or not but when he landed he actually punched through its hide and ichor started spurting out. So I aimed for that area and when I landed I unleashed all of my hatred and revulsion for the Enemy into it. I guess I overdid it somewhat because the next thing I knew I was coming out the other side with nothing but air between me and a horde of Goshi soldiers a hundred meters below. Thankfully Keibatsu had drank deeply and I was easily able to survive the fall.
The Oni was slain and now all we had to deal with was a couple million Goshi soldiers. Things were frantic for a short time and then Rei cut off part of the battlefield by lacing one of her walls of fiery death across the width of the canyon. It was almost comical watching the soldiers pushed through by their comrades behind to heap up in front of the thing. We quickly dispatched the rest of the soldiers on our side and met up with our own troops. They were being commanded by Matthew, the giant Mechified we had met back in the Griolsa village. All of them were heavily wounded, exhausted, dispirited. And who could blame them? Rei tried her own strange version of cheering them up and I promptly took over before she said something that had them committing suicide. Then Moses decided he had not had enough and he showed us what a giant Mechified really looks like. Striding forth he casually walked through Rei's wall that had caused the deaths of so many Goshi soldiers and we heard the sounds of death and destruction from the other side. After a few minutes he came back and shrank back to his normal, albeit still rather large, size. The wall flickered and went away. And as far as the eye could see down Starbreeze Canyon there were dead Goshi soldiers and smashed tanks. It was about this time that things went bad.
The Goshi dead started to rise, their eyeballs bursting in the sockets. And we heard voices and saw towering forms rise up above them a few hundred yards away. "I am Suraisu Oni the One Who Tears" and "I am Rensu Oni the One Who Binds". Hurriedly I told Matthew to get his men and flee as far and as fast as they could. They needed little encouragement. As the Eyeless horde rushed us Moses encompassed us in another of his impenetrable domes. I looked around at the state of my companions. Moses was hurt a little, High Dive seemed tired, Rei was fine as far as I could tell, and Una was unconscious, probably from over-exertion as I saw no visible wounds on her. I told Moses to call the Sennin back and use it to get everyone out of here. I told him that I would hold back the Eyeless so that our troops had the chance to get away. I could do it. Keibatsu hungered.
He partially listened to me. He lowered the dome when we heard Aimi chime in that she was hovering over us and High Dive snatched up Una and hopped aboard. Moses said he was staying with me and so did Rei. I told her that if she was going to stay I needed her to deal with the Eyeless who had passed us by when we were holed up, the ones who were even now running down our fleeing men. She nodded and started after them. I did not have time to muse over the fact that I had just sent a teenage girl alone after a few hundred Eyeless. Instead I rushed forward as fast as I could, calling on the power of my Kata and Keibatsu to clear the way. Hundreds of Eyeless fell like grain before the scythe and in moments we had reached the pair of Oni. I immediately launched an all-out attack upon Rensu Oni and Moses tackled Suraisu Oni.
The fighting was fast and hectic. I am not entirely sure what happened, but suddenly my arm, along with Keibatsu, simply was no longer there. My mouth opened in a silent scream of horror as I fell to my knees in shock, blood pumping unabated from my shoulder. "So easily unmanned?" the Oni mocked me. "We are coming for you. Tomorrow we will bombard you and wipe your pitiful race from the face of the planet." Before it could finish me off High Dive appeared and attacked viciously. I grabbed a nearby discarded rifle and fired wildly at the thing, missing completely. Then High Dive cried out. Her legs had been removed at the knees. Dropping the useless gun I stepped over her, guarding her tiny, whimpering form with my own as best I could. And I did the only thing I could think of: I reached my remaining arm out and I fell as deeply into the Void as I could. I concentrated. I meditated on Keibatsu and our oneness. Wherever the Oni had sent it I called it back to me. Nothing happened.
I distantly heard a scream and a raptor's cry then I felt myself being lifted by a grip around my waist. It did not last long and I vaguely noted Una crashing to the ground missing a wing. She and High Dive lay bleeding in a heap. I glanced over to see Rei laying on the ground a ways away convulsing uncontrollably. A landslide on the side of the canyon marked where Moses and Suraisu Oni were presumably now buried. Rensu Oni laughed. "And so it ends." I knew that I was our last hope. It was my duty to save us, all of us. And Keibatsu came. Silver light and runes raced up my left arm as the blade that was part of me sprang forth once more. The Oni seemed mildly surprised and said "That will not help you." Then I attacked. With everything I had, my most powerful forms with no thought, only one purpose: cut. Do not give the enemy a chance to breathe, to think: cut. Do not hesitate, do not allow weakness to creep in: cut. Cut them down utterly, cut where they are weakest, cut finally, and decisively, and without mercy. I owed it to the rest of them. Cut.
The howls of rage faded as Rensu Oni disappeared. I breathed. "Wanna bet?"
* * *
We recovered the next day as best we could. The front lines had all been overrun. The refugee camps were being shelled by Goshi artillery. Eyeless were everywhere and the Oni made regular forays, presumably to lure us out. We had all survived though, if barely. Una had been able to restore our missing limbs with her miraculous healing. Jin Kalys still insisted that a greater sacrifice was needed and several ideas were put forth. Moses had the Surgeon cut out what he called the Machine God: a First Mind artifact that had been fused to his body all this time, that had given him much of his power it seemed. They cut it out and Jin Kalys studied it to see if it would be a proper sacrifice. Moses looked somehow... diminished... without it.
I could see that we were losing. We needed something, something big, some master stroke or this war would end with our inevitable defeat. It was just like a game of Go. Our opponents had us where they wanted us and were simply going through the motions until they finished us. Who knew when the bombardment would begin? We needed a gambit. Something on which we could stake everything; our last chance. If Jin Kalys' calculations could not do it then I had an idea: attack the Wandering Star. Foolish, yes, but maybe our last hope.
Then the radio blared. The Oni were attacking the last lines of defense. All of them. We left to face our salvation or our doom.
Episode 36: The Foe from Beyond the Stars
I feel...fire...can see light flashing through my closed eyelids...green...green...green green green greengreengreen... ...and this is what I remember, before it all goes backwards.
The day is bright and clear, and we can all see the Varan getting larger and larger, trailing smoke and flames that blot out the sun, a huge burning hulk falling out of the sky. People shout that Una is falling too. Kiyoshi runs forward to help people out of the forward bunker. I run after him when I get my feet moving again - they're rooted there while I gape up at the Varan like an idiot. Its like a moon crash-landing on a city. It boggles the mind, is bigger than words. As it falls, it pushes air out of the way and there is a sound like a tornado coming closer.
Then it lands. Before I can even think about it, a steel dome erupts out of my back, extending up and around Kiyoshi and me. The sounds of the crash, and a wave of heat, crash around us, and then we're inside a vast steel bell, ringing and ringing as tons of burning slag hit it...and then the heat bombs start going off...
I realize that we'll have to dig out, or else we'll be buried under the burning wreckage of an airship the size of a few city blocks. I hope...I hope Una is alive.
Kiyoshi and I don't talk about it.
We hear the sounds of artillery above us, and then the rumbling of tanks from a distance, shaking the walls of the tunnel I'm digging to get us out. I hope I'm going the right way. If not...we'll come up in the middle of what sounds like a tromping mob of Goshi soldiers. Not talking about Una makes me think about her. I can't believe she brought down an airship. Well, no, I can, now that I think of it. And now we have the only airship that we know of. Vorax 1, Varan 0. Game point.
I dig up carefully, listening, having Kiyoshi listen because I miss a lot of things. Then we come up and look - we can see the edge of an army that covers everything to the horizon. In the other direction, we see our own bunkers. We make a break for it.
Everyone thought we were dead - and we will be unless we do something about those soldiers.
As they come in, I block off a passage with some soldiers behind me. We've set up some barriers to hide behind, but I'm bulletproof, and all they brought to this fight were bullets. That was a bad move.
Things turn against us until Rei...I panic for a second, thinking that she's going to become an Oni, that someone's killed her. I am Rei-Oni, the One Who Listens to My Kyo-Tee-Shee Too Damn Much. But no. The tentacles are hundreds of meters of fire, and she incinerates (a new word I learned) the entire forward force of Goshi's soldiers, leaving behind glass - how did the glass get there? Oh, right, the heat - and piles of ashes.
Goshi stops the push. Maybe they're starting to re-think things.
Una and Rei end up in the infirmary again. I wish Zipporah would rest, but I know that's not going to happen. Una mentions having been shot by tanks twice so far today. It's the kind of thing we don't blink at much, but others in the infirmary just stare. Its still weird to be stared at like that.
As the second surge is coming, it comes through the lines, there are Zipsum attacking our artillery. I can't believe it. They are still going to try to kill us. And HighDive...I dunno. We're arguing, and then the bombardment of our bunker starts.
I'm wiping grime off myself and getting ready to fight again when a young Mechified says something over the din of artillery as he passes us with a crate of fresh rounds. About how it's good that there are people like us, that it gives him hope. He looks familiar, but we've all got so much more to think about...
Shortly afterwards there's a bang, and a crate bounces past us trailing smoke. Cog! Cog? Could it have been?...Rei summons a wall of burning darkness, and the army halts in front of it. They try to march through and soon realize that they just burn when they do, so some try to go around. We just shower them with bullets through the barrier, and focus our defense on the flanks. They pile up and get confused, the march stopping at the front but it takes a long time to get orders all the way back. They're packed in, milling around, taking cover...and then the order comes to show Goshi my little surprise. Charges in the bunkers and tunnels beneath the burned glass that Goshi's lines are marching over just that moment go off, exploding and tearing through their soldiers and tanks with waves of glass and stone and dirt. Then we all come up, charging when the wall falls, and tear into them. Rei rips up the brains of the tank operators. The fight goes on, once its won. Goshi retreats again, but not far enough.
A Zipsum messenger comes to the command center. He reports - the High King of the Gogajin - Grim! - is charging the center of Goshi's army with a Gogajin army. He calls on all brave hearts to join the battle, and to meet him in the middle.
Finally, some sensible damn Karians.
I push. I feel it tipping. We need to go now. We have the Sennin. Una destroyed the Varan, the only thing keeping us grounded and pinned down. We need to go now! I call for command to pack the Sennin as full of tough bastards as they can. We pack into the ship. As we're getting ready, I see Zipporah restocking the supplies of the Sennin's infirmary...and my heart stops. I take a deep breath, walk into the infirmary, and close the door.
It's not for me, or for you, but for the one who's coming soon now. I know, I know you would. Yes, I'll see you soon...I lie. I guess she knows, but she doesn't say much more after that. What do you say, standing in an infirmary that still has blood stains from our friends, still smells like burned flesh; outside you can hear soldiers climbing aboard and joking to calm themselves down, getting quiet when Varissa joins them, purring in a scary way.
You say...goodbye for now.
Aimi flies us out to the center of the Goshi line - just outside the barrier-dome. We come in hot, skimming over the army, dodging bursts of deadly smoke and shrapnel. Una has another gift - she closes her eyes, and the entire army of the Gogajin begins shining. I also see, from the blue light, small, darting figures moving through the opposite side of the Goshi army - Zipsum! Ha! It worked! They bloody listened! It's a miracle that's on par with Rei destroying a whole town. Una, Sloan, HighDive, Varissa - the Karians all seem to be glowing, fierce, larger than life.
We have to jump out because we can't land. I want to make a good first impression, so I jump out a little early, try to time it right, and shatter the wall of one of the compounds, shaking it so that it splinters apart, killing whoever is inside, cracking the ground, collapsing tunnels beneath. I let the ground shake until the others start landing in a far courtyard. We are Heroes of Karia, and we are coming for you.
We take the courtyard easily. The Hei-Shi try to ambush us, but they're as useless as the bullets were. You're running out of ways to stop us. We go down, following Kiyoshi, to the control center for the whole army - there are four dead bodies - one of them is Rain. Yes, miss Executor, you were wrong the whole time, and now you'll never get the chance to be wrong again. Everything is cut up, and I think of Nero and his knives. Then the room starts coming apart, and we have to get out of there fast. We come up, and almost bump into someone who seems familiar for the second I have to think. He's dressed like a scientist, and has these eyes...he says:
"Ah, good, you're all here. That will save having to hunt you down."
Get in line, whoever you are.
Everything goes insane. I grab him, and I'm on fire, and burning him, but not enough. Una is shouting for me to get out of the way. Kiyoshi attacks, and slams us through wall after wall as he cuts into the Scientist. I can barely hold on. He unravels me, my Kata taking some of it, some of it I can shrug off, but not enough for another one. Kiyoshi attacks again. I squirm out of the way of the unraveling. Again. Then he catches me, and I feel myself coming apart like I'm an uncoiling spring. There's more shouting, then a huge explosion and a rush of wind escaping the chamber, which might be part of the dream I'm having...
I feel...fire...can see light flashing through my closed eyelids...green...green...green green green greengreengreen... ...and this is what I remember, before it all goes backwards...
The day is bright and clear, and we can all see the Varan getting larger and larger, trailing smoke and flames that blot out the sun, a huge burning hulk falling out of the sky. People shout that Una is falling too. Kiyoshi runs forward to help people out of the forward bunker. I run after him when I get my feet moving again - they're rooted there while I gape up at the Varan like an idiot. Its like a moon crash-landing on a city. It boggles the mind, is bigger than words. As it falls, it pushes air out of the way and there is a sound like a tornado coming closer.
Then it lands. Before I can even think about it, a steel dome erupts out of my back, extending up and around Kiyoshi and me. The sounds of the crash, and a wave of heat, crash around us, and then we're inside a vast steel bell, ringing and ringing as tons of burning slag hit it...and then the heat bombs start going off...
I realize that we'll have to dig out, or else we'll be buried under the burning wreckage of an airship the size of a few city blocks. I hope...I hope Una is alive.
Kiyoshi and I don't talk about it.
We hear the sounds of artillery above us, and then the rumbling of tanks from a distance, shaking the walls of the tunnel I'm digging to get us out. I hope I'm going the right way. If not...we'll come up in the middle of what sounds like a tromping mob of Goshi soldiers. Not talking about Una makes me think about her. I can't believe she brought down an airship. Well, no, I can, now that I think of it. And now we have the only airship that we know of. Vorax 1, Varan 0. Game point.
I dig up carefully, listening, having Kiyoshi listen because I miss a lot of things. Then we come up and look - we can see the edge of an army that covers everything to the horizon. In the other direction, we see our own bunkers. We make a break for it.
Everyone thought we were dead - and we will be unless we do something about those soldiers.
As they come in, I block off a passage with some soldiers behind me. We've set up some barriers to hide behind, but I'm bulletproof, and all they brought to this fight were bullets. That was a bad move.
Things turn against us until Rei...I panic for a second, thinking that she's going to become an Oni, that someone's killed her. I am Rei-Oni, the One Who Listens to My Kyo-Tee-Shee Too Damn Much. But no. The tentacles are hundreds of meters of fire, and she incinerates (a new word I learned) the entire forward force of Goshi's soldiers, leaving behind glass - how did the glass get there? Oh, right, the heat - and piles of ashes.
Goshi stops the push. Maybe they're starting to re-think things.
Una and Rei end up in the infirmary again. I wish Zipporah would rest, but I know that's not going to happen. Una mentions having been shot by tanks twice so far today. It's the kind of thing we don't blink at much, but others in the infirmary just stare. Its still weird to be stared at like that.
As the second surge is coming, it comes through the lines, there are Zipsum attacking our artillery. I can't believe it. They are still going to try to kill us. And HighDive...I dunno. We're arguing, and then the bombardment of our bunker starts.
I'm wiping grime off myself and getting ready to fight again when a young Mechified says something over the din of artillery as he passes us with a crate of fresh rounds. About how it's good that there are people like us, that it gives him hope. He looks familiar, but we've all got so much more to think about...
Shortly afterwards there's a bang, and a crate bounces past us trailing smoke. Cog! Cog? Could it have been?...Rei summons a wall of burning darkness, and the army halts in front of it. They try to march through and soon realize that they just burn when they do, so some try to go around. We just shower them with bullets through the barrier, and focus our defense on the flanks. They pile up and get confused, the march stopping at the front but it takes a long time to get orders all the way back. They're packed in, milling around, taking cover...and then the order comes to show Goshi my little surprise. Charges in the bunkers and tunnels beneath the burned glass that Goshi's lines are marching over just that moment go off, exploding and tearing through their soldiers and tanks with waves of glass and stone and dirt. Then we all come up, charging when the wall falls, and tear into them. Rei rips up the brains of the tank operators. The fight goes on, once its won. Goshi retreats again, but not far enough.
A Zipsum messenger comes to the command center. He reports - the High King of the Gogajin - Grim! - is charging the center of Goshi's army with a Gogajin army. He calls on all brave hearts to join the battle, and to meet him in the middle.
Finally, some sensible damn Karians.
I push. I feel it tipping. We need to go now. We have the Sennin. Una destroyed the Varan, the only thing keeping us grounded and pinned down. We need to go now! I call for command to pack the Sennin as full of tough bastards as they can. We pack into the ship. As we're getting ready, I see Zipporah restocking the supplies of the Sennin's infirmary...and my heart stops. I take a deep breath, walk into the infirmary, and close the door.
It's not for me, or for you, but for the one who's coming soon now. I know, I know you would. Yes, I'll see you soon...I lie. I guess she knows, but she doesn't say much more after that. What do you say, standing in an infirmary that still has blood stains from our friends, still smells like burned flesh; outside you can hear soldiers climbing aboard and joking to calm themselves down, getting quiet when Varissa joins them, purring in a scary way.
You say...goodbye for now.
Aimi flies us out to the center of the Goshi line - just outside the barrier-dome. We come in hot, skimming over the army, dodging bursts of deadly smoke and shrapnel. Una has another gift - she closes her eyes, and the entire army of the Gogajin begins shining. I also see, from the blue light, small, darting figures moving through the opposite side of the Goshi army - Zipsum! Ha! It worked! They bloody listened! It's a miracle that's on par with Rei destroying a whole town. Una, Sloan, HighDive, Varissa - the Karians all seem to be glowing, fierce, larger than life.
We have to jump out because we can't land. I want to make a good first impression, so I jump out a little early, try to time it right, and shatter the wall of one of the compounds, shaking it so that it splinters apart, killing whoever is inside, cracking the ground, collapsing tunnels beneath. I let the ground shake until the others start landing in a far courtyard. We are Heroes of Karia, and we are coming for you.
We take the courtyard easily. The Hei-Shi try to ambush us, but they're as useless as the bullets were. You're running out of ways to stop us. We go down, following Kiyoshi, to the control center for the whole army - there are four dead bodies - one of them is Rain. Yes, miss Executor, you were wrong the whole time, and now you'll never get the chance to be wrong again. Everything is cut up, and I think of Nero and his knives. Then the room starts coming apart, and we have to get out of there fast. We come up, and almost bump into someone who seems familiar for the second I have to think. He's dressed like a scientist, and has these eyes...he says:
"Ah, good, you're all here. That will save having to hunt you down."
Get in line, whoever you are.
Everything goes insane. I grab him, and I'm on fire, and burning him, but not enough. Una is shouting for me to get out of the way. Kiyoshi attacks, and slams us through wall after wall as he cuts into the Scientist. I can barely hold on. He unravels me, my Kata taking some of it, some of it I can shrug off, but not enough for another one. Kiyoshi attacks again. I squirm out of the way of the unraveling. Again. Then he catches me, and I feel myself coming apart like I'm an uncoiling spring. There's more shouting, then a huge explosion and a rush of wind escaping the chamber, which might be part of the dream I'm having...
I feel...fire...can see light flashing through my closed eyelids...green...green...green green green greengreengreen... ...and this is what I remember, before it all goes backwards...
Episode 35: The Legendary HighDive Bludgeon
There's a bang like a hammer on a huge sheet of metal, rolling through the streets, throwing up dust and blowing out the gas lanterns set along the road like a racing strip - and she's gone. Seeing other people watch her, I realize that I'm just used to this sort of thing. And they don't even know about the smoked finger collection...or her iron pot. How long has she had that?
After a while, Susauryoku says that now she's either done it or is...dead. I don't think she's dead. Kyoshi walks off to find out, and so do I and some others. Its incredible how cold it is - cold as when I was outside the Seninn, blown out the hole in the Wandering Star. Kyoshi just goes in, though, and not long after he's got HighDive...and she looks dead. She's so small...and missing a hand - most of her forearm. I barely warm her up - she's frozen solid. I think of Mokuzai then push it away.
Una brings her back. I'm surprised by how scared I get when she might be dead. I feel like I talked her into going in there. It just...it all seemed to make sense. But if she's dead, then I was wrong, and maybe we're wrong about everything. Maybe we still are. But...
I don't know if she understands...but we're doing it. Bit by bit. Freedom. Balance. I don't know who Una has to forgive, or how Kyoshi needs to be just, and Rei still seems to be looking for a purpose...that isn't just being a tool of her Kyo-tee-shee that is.
The city holds a celebration for HighDive. She gorges on candy - how did she find any!? - and gives random speeches from the tops of buildings. She challenges all kinds of people to fights and races and high-dive competitions. She displays her set of fingers and demands Susauryoku's finger to add to the chain. Or maybe an ear. His choice, but she prefers the finger.
We rub her belly and the old man makes a hasty retreat.
The next few weeks go by real fast. The army is coming and its far more than any of us can count. And more refugees. The ones from Geneva Prime arrive, and they are still being fed by Karia. We dig tunnels and make preparations. I try to stay busy because a lot is going on - lots of hurrying around and meetings and looking at maps. I'm not even sure what we're looking at - moving colored shapes around and pointing.
I get to see Zipporah a lot. We go fishing some afternoons, but there aren't really any fish. She could sing some up, but that's not very fun. We also find some old buildings submerged in the huge lake up here. The buildings look different from the ones in Stardown - there is corroded metal and bits of glass in the mirk. Zip's a lot less interested in it than I am, so we leave it alone down there.
I tell people the army that's coming won't kill us all so that I can believe it.
When the first...the vanguard, they call it...gets here, there are already millions of them. We're told that they'll go for Crystal Fork to set up a command, and that we need to fight them there, make them pay, and then crush the town to rubble. Those are all things I've gotten good at doing, so I'm in - all of us are.
I've never fought tanks before. I just didn't know much about the military until these few weeks when suddenly they want me to help fight it ten to one. Its tough, but then suddenly Rei...does something. She's really frightening. She rises into the air and the sun is blotted out by some kind of huge shadow. And then the ground starts shaking and all of the buildings - all of them - tear themselves loose from their foundations. They just float there, as if they're waiting.
And then she tears the town apart. Before she's done, she crushes thousands, tens of thousands, of soldiers and tanks and rubble into a huge ball and hurls them past the horizon, crashing out toward Goshi's endless army.
She's found her purpose, maybe. I'm glad she's on our side. (I think she's on our side.)
We're interrupted to learn that Goshi is heat-bombing the refugees. I catch myself. I had started thinking that we were fighting an army, a bunch of normal, reasonable people. No. We are fighting monsters. We have always been fighting monsters, whether they are eyeless or they look like chief executives.
I used to think I could make them pay enough to convince them to stop. Now I know better. You don't send an army of 80 million halfway across the continent because its good for business.
Well then. We'll stop you the hard way - one at a time. Kyoshi goes off to chase the Varan away - they're not here to fight, just bomb helpless refugees.
At the same time, there is a mass offensive against the northeast pass, held by Susauryoku and a small force of the army we've patched together. Rei and I go there, and Una joins us. They're throwing up huge metal bridges over the river that we'd hoped would slow them down. No such luck. They swarm across, not even caring about the thousands who are being torn apart crossing the river. More just come to replace them.
How did they get talked into this? What do they think they're here for?
Then it is Una's turn - things are coming to a head, and I think we're all...changing. Becoming something more. She calls down an army of Tee-Shee from the mountains all around. They swarm down on the Goshi soldiers.
I remember the cavern of the "purple Vorax", the terrible visions there, the torture of the Tee-Shee, the collected agony of all life on Karia. I know what they're feeling. Then the order comes to cross the river and to strike now, to kill and rout them and chase them down. There are screams that you can hear even across the river. The tanks go wild and out of control. The battle becomes a slaughter.
I stop paying attention for a while. My face is warm and wet.
I wonder if the Cheldrun will ever have to feel what they've done to other Cheldrun?
There is a story I don't really understand about Zipporah sinking some boats, or their crew or something. Having to do with "nerve gas", whatever that is. When Rei says it, her eyes light up. She thinks I don't notice her looking at me but I do.
That night, the Zipsum come with "tidings of woe from the manyest of the Karians." Its...typical Zipsum. I think they breed so fast so that you can't exterminate them all at once, because everyone has to want to. Even Una. They're just unstoppable, like termites that are impossible to catch or hold still and are armed with poisoned knives and arrows. They are here to kill us, apparently.
After that we try to talk to them a couple times. Why do I keep forgetting and letting HighDive talk to people we don't want to fight? Only Una speaks Zipsum, I think, and maybe Rei, among us. Una tries because HighDive and Rei are hopeless at this kind of thing, and even Una comes back so upset she squaks and molts all over the place.
I get sort of desperate and angry. Just give them the damn fruit. They don't think with anything higher than their waistline anyway. Maybe that'll turn them on Goshi. I get flashbacks of the Riverswift tribe "trial" and I want to smash something.
Somewhere I get the impression that HighDive's tribe has been...wiped out? Or captured or something. She doesn't seem bothered.
I have no idea.
To top it off, the Laughing school of the Anakarix wander into our camp to help by not being helpful. Maybe the lizards and squirrels will fight each other, and save us fighting them off or being laughed at. That would be something to see. I hear the Anakarix can fight, but I don't think it'll happen at night either way.
Maybe they'll help Jin-Kalys with the math, I dunno.
Not long after, I get my chance to smash things. It shouldn't, but it feels good. Not so much after, but during...yeah. I see Hurricane, I see Katashi Blade, I see Rain on every one of their faces. I smash and smash and smash. Their bullets bounce off me. Their bayonets dull and snap off. A horrified look from Zip lets me know that I'm covered in dirt and gore.
One by one. If that's how we have to do it. One by one.
After a while, Susauryoku says that now she's either done it or is...dead. I don't think she's dead. Kyoshi walks off to find out, and so do I and some others. Its incredible how cold it is - cold as when I was outside the Seninn, blown out the hole in the Wandering Star. Kyoshi just goes in, though, and not long after he's got HighDive...and she looks dead. She's so small...and missing a hand - most of her forearm. I barely warm her up - she's frozen solid. I think of Mokuzai then push it away.
Una brings her back. I'm surprised by how scared I get when she might be dead. I feel like I talked her into going in there. It just...it all seemed to make sense. But if she's dead, then I was wrong, and maybe we're wrong about everything. Maybe we still are. But...
I don't know if she understands...but we're doing it. Bit by bit. Freedom. Balance. I don't know who Una has to forgive, or how Kyoshi needs to be just, and Rei still seems to be looking for a purpose...that isn't just being a tool of her Kyo-tee-shee that is.
The city holds a celebration for HighDive. She gorges on candy - how did she find any!? - and gives random speeches from the tops of buildings. She challenges all kinds of people to fights and races and high-dive competitions. She displays her set of fingers and demands Susauryoku's finger to add to the chain. Or maybe an ear. His choice, but she prefers the finger.
We rub her belly and the old man makes a hasty retreat.
The next few weeks go by real fast. The army is coming and its far more than any of us can count. And more refugees. The ones from Geneva Prime arrive, and they are still being fed by Karia. We dig tunnels and make preparations. I try to stay busy because a lot is going on - lots of hurrying around and meetings and looking at maps. I'm not even sure what we're looking at - moving colored shapes around and pointing.
I get to see Zipporah a lot. We go fishing some afternoons, but there aren't really any fish. She could sing some up, but that's not very fun. We also find some old buildings submerged in the huge lake up here. The buildings look different from the ones in Stardown - there is corroded metal and bits of glass in the mirk. Zip's a lot less interested in it than I am, so we leave it alone down there.
I tell people the army that's coming won't kill us all so that I can believe it.
When the first...the vanguard, they call it...gets here, there are already millions of them. We're told that they'll go for Crystal Fork to set up a command, and that we need to fight them there, make them pay, and then crush the town to rubble. Those are all things I've gotten good at doing, so I'm in - all of us are.
I've never fought tanks before. I just didn't know much about the military until these few weeks when suddenly they want me to help fight it ten to one. Its tough, but then suddenly Rei...does something. She's really frightening. She rises into the air and the sun is blotted out by some kind of huge shadow. And then the ground starts shaking and all of the buildings - all of them - tear themselves loose from their foundations. They just float there, as if they're waiting.
And then she tears the town apart. Before she's done, she crushes thousands, tens of thousands, of soldiers and tanks and rubble into a huge ball and hurls them past the horizon, crashing out toward Goshi's endless army.
She's found her purpose, maybe. I'm glad she's on our side. (I think she's on our side.)
We're interrupted to learn that Goshi is heat-bombing the refugees. I catch myself. I had started thinking that we were fighting an army, a bunch of normal, reasonable people. No. We are fighting monsters. We have always been fighting monsters, whether they are eyeless or they look like chief executives.
I used to think I could make them pay enough to convince them to stop. Now I know better. You don't send an army of 80 million halfway across the continent because its good for business.
Well then. We'll stop you the hard way - one at a time. Kyoshi goes off to chase the Varan away - they're not here to fight, just bomb helpless refugees.
At the same time, there is a mass offensive against the northeast pass, held by Susauryoku and a small force of the army we've patched together. Rei and I go there, and Una joins us. They're throwing up huge metal bridges over the river that we'd hoped would slow them down. No such luck. They swarm across, not even caring about the thousands who are being torn apart crossing the river. More just come to replace them.
How did they get talked into this? What do they think they're here for?
Then it is Una's turn - things are coming to a head, and I think we're all...changing. Becoming something more. She calls down an army of Tee-Shee from the mountains all around. They swarm down on the Goshi soldiers.
I remember the cavern of the "purple Vorax", the terrible visions there, the torture of the Tee-Shee, the collected agony of all life on Karia. I know what they're feeling. Then the order comes to cross the river and to strike now, to kill and rout them and chase them down. There are screams that you can hear even across the river. The tanks go wild and out of control. The battle becomes a slaughter.
I stop paying attention for a while. My face is warm and wet.
I wonder if the Cheldrun will ever have to feel what they've done to other Cheldrun?
There is a story I don't really understand about Zipporah sinking some boats, or their crew or something. Having to do with "nerve gas", whatever that is. When Rei says it, her eyes light up. She thinks I don't notice her looking at me but I do.
That night, the Zipsum come with "tidings of woe from the manyest of the Karians." Its...typical Zipsum. I think they breed so fast so that you can't exterminate them all at once, because everyone has to want to. Even Una. They're just unstoppable, like termites that are impossible to catch or hold still and are armed with poisoned knives and arrows. They are here to kill us, apparently.
After that we try to talk to them a couple times. Why do I keep forgetting and letting HighDive talk to people we don't want to fight? Only Una speaks Zipsum, I think, and maybe Rei, among us. Una tries because HighDive and Rei are hopeless at this kind of thing, and even Una comes back so upset she squaks and molts all over the place.
I get sort of desperate and angry. Just give them the damn fruit. They don't think with anything higher than their waistline anyway. Maybe that'll turn them on Goshi. I get flashbacks of the Riverswift tribe "trial" and I want to smash something.
Somewhere I get the impression that HighDive's tribe has been...wiped out? Or captured or something. She doesn't seem bothered.
I have no idea.
To top it off, the Laughing school of the Anakarix wander into our camp to help by not being helpful. Maybe the lizards and squirrels will fight each other, and save us fighting them off or being laughed at. That would be something to see. I hear the Anakarix can fight, but I don't think it'll happen at night either way.
Maybe they'll help Jin-Kalys with the math, I dunno.
Not long after, I get my chance to smash things. It shouldn't, but it feels good. Not so much after, but during...yeah. I see Hurricane, I see Katashi Blade, I see Rain on every one of their faces. I smash and smash and smash. Their bullets bounce off me. Their bayonets dull and snap off. A horrified look from Zip lets me know that I'm covered in dirt and gore.
One by one. If that's how we have to do it. One by one.
Episode 34: The Place Where Stars Fall
It's not enough to want to change. It's not enough to regret the things gone by. Not really. Not after looking at the world through the mask of the Dusk Sage. There's never enough time for anything. Nothing ever seems to live out its real potential. Potential is invariably cut short. Snuffed out. Murdered.
By people like me.
As the Sennin lifts off from the clearing where Inari's grandmother once stood, with the tribute to the Vorax glowing down below us, it occurs to me for the first time just how alien the existence of a Dusk Sage must be. I look down at the mask in my hands. That's how it saw the universe. Every waking second, it could see what is, what was, what could be, what must not.
The sacrifice of the Vorax. An entire species put to the flame for one last chance to strike back at Malice. At the Cheldrun. Is there anything left of them within Karaku-Oni, I wonder? When we finally extinguish him, will we be destroying the last testament of the Vorax?
Revenge.
The potential existence of everything in the room with me is frighteningly short. The Sennin is not likely to last beyond another few months. Neither am I. I can't tell if that's what will be, what could be, or what is.
I take off the Dusk Sage mask and toss it lightly onto my bed.
Stardown. The place where stars fall. The person who named that place must have been a prophet.
We go.
----------------------
Stardown.
It stretches on for miles around the lake. Used to be a resort town, back before all this. Now it's a refugee camp.
Our arrival does not go unnoticed: there is a crowd there at the docks to meet us. Aimi is happy to be back in civilization. I'm not so sure. There's something about the Grand Chantry that's weirdly appealing, even for all that it lacks force and energy.
Here we are. Stardown.
Eventually, we're shown to a restaurant where we can get something to eat, and there's a humanoid lizard thing there. Una says that he's called an Anakarix. Ama-chan says that he'd have all sorts of tasty mana inside of him, and would I let her out for a second, please?
I think about it.
No. That's a bad idea.
I become lost in my thoughts for a time.
Stardown.
After dinner, we receive a tour. It's mostly dull, and as we walk, my thoughts wander again. It's easy to lose myself in a crowd like this. To become everyone around me. It's hard to concentrate with this many people, but I do. I find myself looking over the landscape with an eye for defensibility. That rise would make a serviceable firing position in a pinch. The buildings behind us would be good places to position snipers. That pass to the north would make...
The world dissolves into fractals.
Numbers. Lines. Points. Connections. Equations in the shape of Una smile at High Dive's antics. Equations in the shape of Kiyoshi look stern. Equations in the shape of Moses look horrified. I look upon my surroundings, and I see potential. Not how a Dusk Sage would see it, but how a strategist would see it. I see a line of dominoes rolling down towards us from the north, and another from above, intersecting with the northern line at multifaceted points.
I see a great hand reaching out of the sky.
I see millions of people calling my name. Calling Moses's name. Kiyoshi's. Una's. High Dive's.
Our victims.
I see all of Stardown drenched in the blood of Goshi soldiers, and I see millions dead at our feet.
I grin.
"Rei?" Una asks.
I look up.
I can't tell what she's thinking. She tells me that High Dive has agreed to... something. Something dangerous. Something about an inertial dampener in the center of the city? But when is anything High Dive does not dangerous?
We walk to the front of the street that leads to the main laboratory in Stardown, and as we walk, my grin doesn't fade, even as the conflicting horror at what I intend rises up in my heart to war with my delight.
Goshi is coming. I know what I have to do.
By people like me.
As the Sennin lifts off from the clearing where Inari's grandmother once stood, with the tribute to the Vorax glowing down below us, it occurs to me for the first time just how alien the existence of a Dusk Sage must be. I look down at the mask in my hands. That's how it saw the universe. Every waking second, it could see what is, what was, what could be, what must not.
The sacrifice of the Vorax. An entire species put to the flame for one last chance to strike back at Malice. At the Cheldrun. Is there anything left of them within Karaku-Oni, I wonder? When we finally extinguish him, will we be destroying the last testament of the Vorax?
Revenge.
The potential existence of everything in the room with me is frighteningly short. The Sennin is not likely to last beyond another few months. Neither am I. I can't tell if that's what will be, what could be, or what is.
I take off the Dusk Sage mask and toss it lightly onto my bed.
Stardown. The place where stars fall. The person who named that place must have been a prophet.
We go.
----------------------
Stardown.
It stretches on for miles around the lake. Used to be a resort town, back before all this. Now it's a refugee camp.
Our arrival does not go unnoticed: there is a crowd there at the docks to meet us. Aimi is happy to be back in civilization. I'm not so sure. There's something about the Grand Chantry that's weirdly appealing, even for all that it lacks force and energy.
Here we are. Stardown.
Eventually, we're shown to a restaurant where we can get something to eat, and there's a humanoid lizard thing there. Una says that he's called an Anakarix. Ama-chan says that he'd have all sorts of tasty mana inside of him, and would I let her out for a second, please?
I think about it.
No. That's a bad idea.
I become lost in my thoughts for a time.
Stardown.
After dinner, we receive a tour. It's mostly dull, and as we walk, my thoughts wander again. It's easy to lose myself in a crowd like this. To become everyone around me. It's hard to concentrate with this many people, but I do. I find myself looking over the landscape with an eye for defensibility. That rise would make a serviceable firing position in a pinch. The buildings behind us would be good places to position snipers. That pass to the north would make...
The world dissolves into fractals.
Numbers. Lines. Points. Connections. Equations in the shape of Una smile at High Dive's antics. Equations in the shape of Kiyoshi look stern. Equations in the shape of Moses look horrified. I look upon my surroundings, and I see potential. Not how a Dusk Sage would see it, but how a strategist would see it. I see a line of dominoes rolling down towards us from the north, and another from above, intersecting with the northern line at multifaceted points.
I see a great hand reaching out of the sky.
I see millions of people calling my name. Calling Moses's name. Kiyoshi's. Una's. High Dive's.
Our victims.
I see all of Stardown drenched in the blood of Goshi soldiers, and I see millions dead at our feet.
I grin.
"Rei?" Una asks.
I look up.
I can't tell what she's thinking. She tells me that High Dive has agreed to... something. Something dangerous. Something about an inertial dampener in the center of the city? But when is anything High Dive does not dangerous?
We walk to the front of the street that leads to the main laboratory in Stardown, and as we walk, my grin doesn't fade, even as the conflicting horror at what I intend rises up in my heart to war with my delight.
Goshi is coming. I know what I have to do.
Episode 33: Karia on the March
I wake up after having worse nightmares than usual. I dreamt that...hmm... I walk down the hallway to Kiyoshi's room and quietly push the door open a crack. Aimi is sleeping on the bed, and I lurch to the floor as reality hits me again. It really did happen and I really do have to face her every day now.
After a dazed minute I pull myself to my feet and follow the sounds of Kiyoshi doing his sword forms. I lean against the doorway with crossed arms until he finishes. He really is an amazing swordsman. His abilities of concentration alone put nearly everyone I've known to shame. He finishes and says good morning. I return the nicety and cut to the chase - before a certain someone can interrupt us.
"I hope that you really care for Aimi; because she loves you, and not like I love you." I give him a meaningful look. "If you don't respond in kind she may do something worse than try to kill herself." For a moment Kiyoshi pauses, and looks almost vulnerable, "But she's so young." I can tell that he does indeed care for her, but still holds on to his stupid Allskin sensibilities about how things should be. "I think you're going to have to look past that brother," I say gently.
Great Sages how I hate to be the one to encourage my brother to treat Aimi well! But after he (with some help) saved her from self-inflicted death, he can't just keep her as a friend or sparring buddy. He might not get that, but I've seen how she looks at him - or tries not to look at him. Kiyoshi is the person who cut through years and years of horrid training by Mama Pain and Dr. Soren. She's not going to let him be anything but her everything.
Kiyoshi nods, "Yes, I will care for Aimi." I smile supportively, but my heart creaks a little. Now I have to share my brother. I ask if he'll spar with a me for a bit to try and shake off my dreams... If only my dreams didn't follow me out into the daylight.
All of us separate on various tasks. I go get some clothes for Aimi to wear (deciding on some assassin-proper leather pants and a short kimono to tie over the top), as well as a few sundry extras. I place her clothes by the door and work on sharpening Griever after I punished it so sorely on my bed frame.
Late in the day, we all start trickling back in, and Aimi (thankfully garbed) pops into the room with us. She's painfully cheery saying hello to us all. My better nature thinks to ask if she's hungry. Suddenly realizing that she is, I beckon for her to follow me. We walk down the hall side-by-side, and I hear a some murmur from Kiyoshi about maybe not such a good idea... "Is there something besides birdseed?" she asks. I make a face, "Blech. I normally eat meat. Raw. Which you might not like either. We'll find you some normal Cheldrun food."
We sit eating together for a good while. Her asking me either very ignorant or very intentionally embarrassing questions. I try to answer as if I was talking to an innocent adolescent, which she is not, but it helps me keep my temper under control. Just when I get up the guts to ask about her motives for helping Namie, the rest of the group joins us. She asks Moses if he's going to start moralizing with her now too. "Uh, no." he stammers, then goes to leave. That surprises me; I thought for sure Moses would want a serious talk/smack-down with her, but then again the poor man is extremely overwhelmed.
I take him some food on my way to bed. He asks for the fork, then commences shoveling the food into his mouth extremely quickly. I guess he's been hungry! About ten seconds later an empty plate clatters to the floor, and he exhales. We chat for a bit about what he's been doing, and his main problems. I tell him I'll see if I can get crops to speed grow so that the people can take them for supplies. Wishing him goodnight, I wonder why I even bother adding the 'good' anymore.
Waking up, I find that Aimi has spread an entire arsenal out on the large table in the common area. "Wow." I can't help but say. She asks for a couple opinions, then I finally have presence of mind to ask,"What happened to your gauntlet-thing?" Her face kind of falls, "Oh, I smashed it. I don't know where it is." "Hmm." I mutter, "I think Rei had something like a gauntlet with her, but I'm not sure if it's yours." Aimi looks a bit surprised, "Rei didn't mention it to me." I shrug. Great, the sibling tiffs begin already!
I spend four oh-so exciting hours standing in the middle of a field, letting the energy from Karia flow through me, when finally the crop is ready for harvesting. Actually thrilled at the last, I fly quickly to our departure point to tell Moses about my success. Being a bit late I just land quietly on the stage and wait for Moses to say his piece. He bows his head at the end, holding Zipporah's hand. The sky begins to ripple (with water?), and I hope he knows what he's doing this time, because that box on his back is ticking again.
Suddenly the city grows. I mean everything that could possibly flourish - does. Giant trees, vines and bushes suddenly reach maturity, flower, bear fruit, then wither, leaving behind sustenance for his people. And then all the rail cars sprout arms and begin filling themselves up with the food! I am absolutely amazed, and then I am really upset.
I walk up behind Moses: "You could have told me you know. I could have done something more beneficial than growing a two-kilometer-diameter crop the whole morning - apparently." Moses looks sheepish, as he is so good at doing, "I didn't know what was going to happen." I try and look put out, but he didn't know what the first two 'things' would do, so why would he expect this one? "Oh, okay then. It's really amazing Moses." He nods humbly.
***
We all make it onto the Senin and head for the Grand Chantry for the regrettable (in so many ways) task of delivering Mokuzai's head. Several hours later Kiyoshi finds us a nice open landing spot right near the remains of Inari's Grandmother. Even this far away from the Chantry, we are greeted by Zipsum emmmisaries as we deboard. Sings-Like-Frog welcomes us and begs forgiveness for the lack of several (only-the-Prill-worry-about-them type) formalities.
We proceed first to the Choir of the Dead and Mokuzai's grandson - Twilight. He greets us warmly despite the reason for our visit. Many of us offer condolences, and he chides us all gently; he reminds us that it is he who should be doing the comforting - not the other way round. We are offered to stay vigil, or time to speak with a choir member, or freedom of the Chantry as we desire. Rei and I chose to be heard by the choir, each in separate rooms, for much of the night. I have the loss of all my people and guilt over not saving Mokuzai to unload. The idea of facing Elder Moon the next day seems much more daunting than the oni that killed her mate. The Prill that speaks to me at long length wonders what would give me closure, would a ritual help?
I nod. It seems just the thing. I think I would warm my heart beyond measure to know that anyone but me cares that the Vorax are all gone. After the sun rises, Mokuzai's effigy (with his real head) is processed out for the Prill death rites. Just as with elder Winter, at the end of the ritual, Mokuzai's remains turn into shining motes of light that disperse into the world. At least Karia has Peace, if not us. I try not to see Elder Moon standing stiffly to receive condolences from many Prill. Much to my horror, after the crowd disperses, she comes over to us.
"Would you join me for the reception?" She doesn't look angry or bitter towards us, and we guardedly accept her invitation. After some exchanged niceties and polite conversation I can't hold in the guilt any longer. "Elder Moon, we can't express how sorry we are that we couldn't save him. We really tried." I try not to cry as to make a mockery of her much greater grief. She actually smiles sadly and says, "Child, I have never been able to keep Mokuzai from doing what he wanted to do. I certainly don't blame you for his stubbornness." I exhale and nod solemnly.
We decide we're going to leave the next day. It seems that I will miss witnessing the Vorax farewell rite, but other matters are more pressing than my cultural ego. We say our goodbyes, including to Moses' new good-family. Apparently he survived meeting Zipporah's kin. As we enter the open area where the Senin rests we see Inari's Grandmother surrounded by the Choir of the Dead. One comes to ask if I have some memento of the other Vorax, or some feathers of mine own. I am loath to part with the book of Vorax that visited the Grand Chantry (that was given to me that morning) so I give a handful of my feathers. They are more Vorax-y anyways.
The Choir continues in a spectacular ritual which culminates in a glowing ghost-image of Inari's Grandmother standing up, and its leaves filled with flying Vorax...tons and tons of them. Tears fall gratefully down my face. A Choir member approaches me and I hear something about "always tended" and "Vorax never forgotten". I try to vocalize an unspeakable thankfulness and slowly join the others on the Senin. As we fly away, it's long minutes before the shining light from the new memorial disappears from view. We will be remembered.
After a dazed minute I pull myself to my feet and follow the sounds of Kiyoshi doing his sword forms. I lean against the doorway with crossed arms until he finishes. He really is an amazing swordsman. His abilities of concentration alone put nearly everyone I've known to shame. He finishes and says good morning. I return the nicety and cut to the chase - before a certain someone can interrupt us.
"I hope that you really care for Aimi; because she loves you, and not like I love you." I give him a meaningful look. "If you don't respond in kind she may do something worse than try to kill herself." For a moment Kiyoshi pauses, and looks almost vulnerable, "But she's so young." I can tell that he does indeed care for her, but still holds on to his stupid Allskin sensibilities about how things should be. "I think you're going to have to look past that brother," I say gently.
Great Sages how I hate to be the one to encourage my brother to treat Aimi well! But after he (with some help) saved her from self-inflicted death, he can't just keep her as a friend or sparring buddy. He might not get that, but I've seen how she looks at him - or tries not to look at him. Kiyoshi is the person who cut through years and years of horrid training by Mama Pain and Dr. Soren. She's not going to let him be anything but her everything.
Kiyoshi nods, "Yes, I will care for Aimi." I smile supportively, but my heart creaks a little. Now I have to share my brother. I ask if he'll spar with a me for a bit to try and shake off my dreams... If only my dreams didn't follow me out into the daylight.
All of us separate on various tasks. I go get some clothes for Aimi to wear (deciding on some assassin-proper leather pants and a short kimono to tie over the top), as well as a few sundry extras. I place her clothes by the door and work on sharpening Griever after I punished it so sorely on my bed frame.
Late in the day, we all start trickling back in, and Aimi (thankfully garbed) pops into the room with us. She's painfully cheery saying hello to us all. My better nature thinks to ask if she's hungry. Suddenly realizing that she is, I beckon for her to follow me. We walk down the hall side-by-side, and I hear a some murmur from Kiyoshi about maybe not such a good idea... "Is there something besides birdseed?" she asks. I make a face, "Blech. I normally eat meat. Raw. Which you might not like either. We'll find you some normal Cheldrun food."
We sit eating together for a good while. Her asking me either very ignorant or very intentionally embarrassing questions. I try to answer as if I was talking to an innocent adolescent, which she is not, but it helps me keep my temper under control. Just when I get up the guts to ask about her motives for helping Namie, the rest of the group joins us. She asks Moses if he's going to start moralizing with her now too. "Uh, no." he stammers, then goes to leave. That surprises me; I thought for sure Moses would want a serious talk/smack-down with her, but then again the poor man is extremely overwhelmed.
I take him some food on my way to bed. He asks for the fork, then commences shoveling the food into his mouth extremely quickly. I guess he's been hungry! About ten seconds later an empty plate clatters to the floor, and he exhales. We chat for a bit about what he's been doing, and his main problems. I tell him I'll see if I can get crops to speed grow so that the people can take them for supplies. Wishing him goodnight, I wonder why I even bother adding the 'good' anymore.
Waking up, I find that Aimi has spread an entire arsenal out on the large table in the common area. "Wow." I can't help but say. She asks for a couple opinions, then I finally have presence of mind to ask,"What happened to your gauntlet-thing?" Her face kind of falls, "Oh, I smashed it. I don't know where it is." "Hmm." I mutter, "I think Rei had something like a gauntlet with her, but I'm not sure if it's yours." Aimi looks a bit surprised, "Rei didn't mention it to me." I shrug. Great, the sibling tiffs begin already!
I spend four oh-so exciting hours standing in the middle of a field, letting the energy from Karia flow through me, when finally the crop is ready for harvesting. Actually thrilled at the last, I fly quickly to our departure point to tell Moses about my success. Being a bit late I just land quietly on the stage and wait for Moses to say his piece. He bows his head at the end, holding Zipporah's hand. The sky begins to ripple (with water?), and I hope he knows what he's doing this time, because that box on his back is ticking again.
Suddenly the city grows. I mean everything that could possibly flourish - does. Giant trees, vines and bushes suddenly reach maturity, flower, bear fruit, then wither, leaving behind sustenance for his people. And then all the rail cars sprout arms and begin filling themselves up with the food! I am absolutely amazed, and then I am really upset.
I walk up behind Moses: "You could have told me you know. I could have done something more beneficial than growing a two-kilometer-diameter crop the whole morning - apparently." Moses looks sheepish, as he is so good at doing, "I didn't know what was going to happen." I try and look put out, but he didn't know what the first two 'things' would do, so why would he expect this one? "Oh, okay then. It's really amazing Moses." He nods humbly.
***
We all make it onto the Senin and head for the Grand Chantry for the regrettable (in so many ways) task of delivering Mokuzai's head. Several hours later Kiyoshi finds us a nice open landing spot right near the remains of Inari's Grandmother. Even this far away from the Chantry, we are greeted by Zipsum emmmisaries as we deboard. Sings-Like-Frog welcomes us and begs forgiveness for the lack of several (only-the-Prill-worry-about-them type) formalities.
We proceed first to the Choir of the Dead and Mokuzai's grandson - Twilight. He greets us warmly despite the reason for our visit. Many of us offer condolences, and he chides us all gently; he reminds us that it is he who should be doing the comforting - not the other way round. We are offered to stay vigil, or time to speak with a choir member, or freedom of the Chantry as we desire. Rei and I chose to be heard by the choir, each in separate rooms, for much of the night. I have the loss of all my people and guilt over not saving Mokuzai to unload. The idea of facing Elder Moon the next day seems much more daunting than the oni that killed her mate. The Prill that speaks to me at long length wonders what would give me closure, would a ritual help?
I nod. It seems just the thing. I think I would warm my heart beyond measure to know that anyone but me cares that the Vorax are all gone. After the sun rises, Mokuzai's effigy (with his real head) is processed out for the Prill death rites. Just as with elder Winter, at the end of the ritual, Mokuzai's remains turn into shining motes of light that disperse into the world. At least Karia has Peace, if not us. I try not to see Elder Moon standing stiffly to receive condolences from many Prill. Much to my horror, after the crowd disperses, she comes over to us.
"Would you join me for the reception?" She doesn't look angry or bitter towards us, and we guardedly accept her invitation. After some exchanged niceties and polite conversation I can't hold in the guilt any longer. "Elder Moon, we can't express how sorry we are that we couldn't save him. We really tried." I try not to cry as to make a mockery of her much greater grief. She actually smiles sadly and says, "Child, I have never been able to keep Mokuzai from doing what he wanted to do. I certainly don't blame you for his stubbornness." I exhale and nod solemnly.
We decide we're going to leave the next day. It seems that I will miss witnessing the Vorax farewell rite, but other matters are more pressing than my cultural ego. We say our goodbyes, including to Moses' new good-family. Apparently he survived meeting Zipporah's kin. As we enter the open area where the Senin rests we see Inari's Grandmother surrounded by the Choir of the Dead. One comes to ask if I have some memento of the other Vorax, or some feathers of mine own. I am loath to part with the book of Vorax that visited the Grand Chantry (that was given to me that morning) so I give a handful of my feathers. They are more Vorax-y anyways.
The Choir continues in a spectacular ritual which culminates in a glowing ghost-image of Inari's Grandmother standing up, and its leaves filled with flying Vorax...tons and tons of them. Tears fall gratefully down my face. A Choir member approaches me and I hear something about "always tended" and "Vorax never forgotten". I try to vocalize an unspeakable thankfulness and slowly join the others on the Senin. As we fly away, it's long minutes before the shining light from the new memorial disappears from view. We will be remembered.
Episode 32: The Very Long Night of Daitokuji Kiyoshi
I was running down a dark hallway with grey metal walls. (That's still new for me. Before I came to Geneva Prime, my dreams never had long dark hallways.) A loud booming noise followed me, metal footsteps. They came closer, closer, closer....*gasp* I sat up in bed with a sheen of sweat on my forehead. I was about to lay back down when I realized that the booming noise was real, and going down the hallway past my room.
High Dive had already left our room, so I peeked my head out and ran towards the source of commotion. To my surprise Aimi was in Kiyoshi's room - naked. I could tell by his face that he was in the Void now. And whatever came before, just now Kiyoshi seemed to be trying to capture his pink-haired (it's apparently natural by the way) charity case. Interestingly enough, Aimi said that she didn't want to fight any of us. But that didn't stop High Dive from running crazy circles around her to try and bind her. Some progress was finally made in that regard, when Rei stepped up to touch her sister. We stopped that little idea pretty quick. All of us had waited waaay too long to get our hands on Aimi.
As High Dive tied the last knot, Rei mentioned that Moses was fighting mecca by himself out on the street. What?? I glance at Kiyoshi, who glances at Aimi. "We must go help Moses," he says. We all agree and run out the door, leaving Aimi alone with knots and a dubious fate ahead of her.
I shifted into Vorax form and reach Moses just after High Dive. We are lucky enough to gather that Moses is badly hurt, just before seven more mecca come to join the fight - and not on our side. While I healed our mechified friend, and did wicked damage to a mecca trying to beat him down, two more mecca appeared as well as Rei and Kiyoshi. Luckily the two new mecca were fighting with us and Rei learned some nasty new trick that turned several mecca into rag dolls. It was rather unnerving, but as is her way, she was quite proud of herself. Certainly none of us were complaining at the moment! We made short order of the last of them, and Moses x4 molded a mecca pilot cage out of rebar.
He carried the enemy pilots back to our lodgings, and Kiyoshi, Rei, and myself each carried the inert body of the pilots who had helped us. Part of the walk back I was by myself strolling down an alley, when I heard someone say my name. Not knowing whether to expect friend or foe I set down the mecca pilot against a wall. I stepped forward a bit, "Who's there?" Quite suddenly Aimi appeared in front of me. Yes. The Aimi who I just found out had escaped. Griever twitched. "What do you want?" I heard myself ask.
"Kiyoshi isn't listening. Give this to him," and she handed me a sealed envelope. So now I'm a messenger for a teenage assassin's angsty, misguided farewell letter to Kiyoshi?? I tucked the letter bitterly under my armor, and she turned to walk away. Catch her! Finish her off! My mind cried to me. Why aren't you moving? Why indeed...
The look on Rei's face when she found out about the death of Sever and Stitch still haunted me, even though they deserved the death that High Dive and I dished out. What would happen when I told her Aimi was dead too? Also, Kiyoshi had captured her for judgment. My dear brother thought she deserved a trial, but the execution seemed inevitable - she admitted to killing Amuro Naimi. Not to mention all the other lives she's ruined. If I was just willing to kill some unknown mecca in a street brawl, why in the hell am I hesitating?
I feel energy begin to thrum. I am full of it. I know I can obliterate her, right now. But every step she takes from me feels like a pain in my heart. Speaking of, I shout out, "You broke Kiyoshi's heart you know." I thought she should know that Kiyoshi wanted to love her, before I killed her. She is laughing and crying as she takes another step. Right now Una! Let the power of Karia turn her to ash! Then I remember:
Karia wants Forgiveness. I scream inside my head. Nooo! Countless people have died in these last few weeks for far lesser crimes than hers! Another step. I remember Rei when we first met her, and how hard it had been for her to learn to respond to emotions with something other than violence. Step. Why in Karia am I letting her go?!? Step...Step. Moses is going to kill me. Rei will thank me. Kiyoshi will judge me. Step...Step...Step.
Time turns to sludge as she nears the corner of a building. This is my last chance. I can finish off the bane of Aimi once and for all. I begin to raise my hand as part of my brain knows what it should be doing, but my will evaporates...and so does Aimi. I stand trembling in the middle of the alley. What have I done???
After some painful number of heartbeats I remember my task. I gather up the mecca pilot just in time to hear sounds of battle from ahead. Did I let Aimi go just so she could immediately destroy us all? How could I have been so horrible and so stupid? Oh Karia, I hope you know what you're doing. I arrive at the next plaza just after some loud explosion went off. The pilot is set on the ground once again as I see that Rei is there, grievously wounded by shrapnel. I take the energy that would have atomized her sibling, and use it to force bits of rubble from her and heal her body.
There's no time to dally; there's obviously plenty of people left out there who want us dead, in a bad way. I'm told the final explosion was a suicide bomber of all things. We return to our lodgings. I remain in an agonized stupor while the others discuss tactics and plans. Something has been agreed upon, and people are about to depart for bed. "Wait," I say. I turn towards Rei while drawing forth the envelope, and poke her chest with each word, "Don't ever say I don't love you!" My voice nearly cracks with strain at every syllable. So I simply hand the note to Kiyoshi, and glance fearfully at Moses. "Goodnight," I manage to say and high-tail it to my room.
The next hour I spent with Griever, furiously attacking the rail of my bed. All the violence and anger that I should have showed to Aimi was visited upon that poor little bed. Why did I have to feel forgiving at that moment in the alley? Now I feel fear that she will kill many more people in her life, and that Moses will hate me for it. Heck, I'll hate myself for it. Why did she have to look so damn hurt and sad in the alley? And after she had just been completely non-violent with us! Can't I just enjoy getting back at someone, even once? With no pang of guilt? Please??
I sighed, and slumped exhausted against my shredded bed. I dozed for who knows how long, when once again my name was called out. But this time it was Rei calling my name. Oh Great Sages, what could be wrong now? I ran down the hallway (with Moses close behind) and saw Rei with Kiyoshi carrying a body.
It's Aimi.
I screamed in horror and jumped back. My head shook a negation. This can't be happening. They couldn't be asking me to heal her. I could see that she was very nearly dead. "She didn't kill Amuro Naimi, she saved her. Please help her," Kiyoshi said very seriously. He looked like he hadn't slept at all, and there was a pain in his voice that tells me that she really is more than his charity case. Moses was still furious that she was there and slammed his door shut. I was too confused to hold her body as I normally do, so I placed a ginger hand on her chest. I trust my brother, and I truly hoped he wasn't mislead.
Glowing blue tears mingled with salty tears of agony as Aimi's life is restored. I was this close to killing her. I would have destroyed someone trying to make a noble change, someone who my brother loves. If this was supposed to be a brutal lesson about the power of Forgiveness, Karia, consider the message recieved.
High Dive had already left our room, so I peeked my head out and ran towards the source of commotion. To my surprise Aimi was in Kiyoshi's room - naked. I could tell by his face that he was in the Void now. And whatever came before, just now Kiyoshi seemed to be trying to capture his pink-haired (it's apparently natural by the way) charity case. Interestingly enough, Aimi said that she didn't want to fight any of us. But that didn't stop High Dive from running crazy circles around her to try and bind her. Some progress was finally made in that regard, when Rei stepped up to touch her sister. We stopped that little idea pretty quick. All of us had waited waaay too long to get our hands on Aimi.
As High Dive tied the last knot, Rei mentioned that Moses was fighting mecca by himself out on the street. What?? I glance at Kiyoshi, who glances at Aimi. "We must go help Moses," he says. We all agree and run out the door, leaving Aimi alone with knots and a dubious fate ahead of her.
I shifted into Vorax form and reach Moses just after High Dive. We are lucky enough to gather that Moses is badly hurt, just before seven more mecca come to join the fight - and not on our side. While I healed our mechified friend, and did wicked damage to a mecca trying to beat him down, two more mecca appeared as well as Rei and Kiyoshi. Luckily the two new mecca were fighting with us and Rei learned some nasty new trick that turned several mecca into rag dolls. It was rather unnerving, but as is her way, she was quite proud of herself. Certainly none of us were complaining at the moment! We made short order of the last of them, and Moses x4 molded a mecca pilot cage out of rebar.
He carried the enemy pilots back to our lodgings, and Kiyoshi, Rei, and myself each carried the inert body of the pilots who had helped us. Part of the walk back I was by myself strolling down an alley, when I heard someone say my name. Not knowing whether to expect friend or foe I set down the mecca pilot against a wall. I stepped forward a bit, "Who's there?" Quite suddenly Aimi appeared in front of me. Yes. The Aimi who I just found out had escaped. Griever twitched. "What do you want?" I heard myself ask.
"Kiyoshi isn't listening. Give this to him," and she handed me a sealed envelope. So now I'm a messenger for a teenage assassin's angsty, misguided farewell letter to Kiyoshi?? I tucked the letter bitterly under my armor, and she turned to walk away. Catch her! Finish her off! My mind cried to me. Why aren't you moving? Why indeed...
The look on Rei's face when she found out about the death of Sever and Stitch still haunted me, even though they deserved the death that High Dive and I dished out. What would happen when I told her Aimi was dead too? Also, Kiyoshi had captured her for judgment. My dear brother thought she deserved a trial, but the execution seemed inevitable - she admitted to killing Amuro Naimi. Not to mention all the other lives she's ruined. If I was just willing to kill some unknown mecca in a street brawl, why in the hell am I hesitating?
I feel energy begin to thrum. I am full of it. I know I can obliterate her, right now. But every step she takes from me feels like a pain in my heart. Speaking of, I shout out, "You broke Kiyoshi's heart you know." I thought she should know that Kiyoshi wanted to love her, before I killed her. She is laughing and crying as she takes another step. Right now Una! Let the power of Karia turn her to ash! Then I remember:
Karia wants Forgiveness. I scream inside my head. Nooo! Countless people have died in these last few weeks for far lesser crimes than hers! Another step. I remember Rei when we first met her, and how hard it had been for her to learn to respond to emotions with something other than violence. Step. Why in Karia am I letting her go?!? Step...Step. Moses is going to kill me. Rei will thank me. Kiyoshi will judge me. Step...Step...Step.
Time turns to sludge as she nears the corner of a building. This is my last chance. I can finish off the bane of Aimi once and for all. I begin to raise my hand as part of my brain knows what it should be doing, but my will evaporates...and so does Aimi. I stand trembling in the middle of the alley. What have I done???
After some painful number of heartbeats I remember my task. I gather up the mecca pilot just in time to hear sounds of battle from ahead. Did I let Aimi go just so she could immediately destroy us all? How could I have been so horrible and so stupid? Oh Karia, I hope you know what you're doing. I arrive at the next plaza just after some loud explosion went off. The pilot is set on the ground once again as I see that Rei is there, grievously wounded by shrapnel. I take the energy that would have atomized her sibling, and use it to force bits of rubble from her and heal her body.
There's no time to dally; there's obviously plenty of people left out there who want us dead, in a bad way. I'm told the final explosion was a suicide bomber of all things. We return to our lodgings. I remain in an agonized stupor while the others discuss tactics and plans. Something has been agreed upon, and people are about to depart for bed. "Wait," I say. I turn towards Rei while drawing forth the envelope, and poke her chest with each word, "Don't ever say I don't love you!" My voice nearly cracks with strain at every syllable. So I simply hand the note to Kiyoshi, and glance fearfully at Moses. "Goodnight," I manage to say and high-tail it to my room.
The next hour I spent with Griever, furiously attacking the rail of my bed. All the violence and anger that I should have showed to Aimi was visited upon that poor little bed. Why did I have to feel forgiving at that moment in the alley? Now I feel fear that she will kill many more people in her life, and that Moses will hate me for it. Heck, I'll hate myself for it. Why did she have to look so damn hurt and sad in the alley? And after she had just been completely non-violent with us! Can't I just enjoy getting back at someone, even once? With no pang of guilt? Please??
I sighed, and slumped exhausted against my shredded bed. I dozed for who knows how long, when once again my name was called out. But this time it was Rei calling my name. Oh Great Sages, what could be wrong now? I ran down the hallway (with Moses close behind) and saw Rei with Kiyoshi carrying a body.
It's Aimi.
I screamed in horror and jumped back. My head shook a negation. This can't be happening. They couldn't be asking me to heal her. I could see that she was very nearly dead. "She didn't kill Amuro Naimi, she saved her. Please help her," Kiyoshi said very seriously. He looked like he hadn't slept at all, and there was a pain in his voice that tells me that she really is more than his charity case. Moses was still furious that she was there and slammed his door shut. I was too confused to hold her body as I normally do, so I placed a ginger hand on her chest. I trust my brother, and I truly hoped he wasn't mislead.
Glowing blue tears mingled with salty tears of agony as Aimi's life is restored. I was this close to killing her. I would have destroyed someone trying to make a noble change, someone who my brother loves. If this was supposed to be a brutal lesson about the power of Forgiveness, Karia, consider the message recieved.
Episode 31: From the Ruins
My home was being destroyed and all I could do was watch. I knew it was necessary and for all the right reasons but seeing Geneva Prime fall (and knowing that the same was likely happening in every Cheldrun city on the continent with the possible exception of StarDown) was still a hard thing for me.
We set down on a plateau above the city to await Blade's inevitable counterattack. Quickly we made ready as best we could, preparing the battlefield where possible. We had no idea how he was going to come for us or what he was capable of so we tried to prepare for every eventuality we could think of. In this our imaginations failed us. With a tortured groan so loud we could hear it clearly from where we were standing, the remains of Goshi Tower twisted and writhed as we watched. It reformed itself until it rose into the air in the form of a massive airship, easily as big as the Rodan had been. This was certainly unexpected.
I knew that we did not stand a chance if we simply stood there and waited for this behemoth to strafe us so I yelled for everyone to return to the ship. Once aboard I strapped myself into the pilot's chair and we prepared to take off to try to face the Enemy, a gnat attacking a bear. That is when things went wrong.
The door leading into the interior of the Sennin opened and out strode Katashi Blade, his face a mask of fury. I immediately felt the weight of an unstoppable mind upon my own, trying to crush all resistance. It was even stronger than I had feared it would be. I managed to hold him off for the first few moments, barely. Luckily it seemed my guess that he would not be able to affect Karians in the same way that Cheldrun telepaths could not proved true as Highdive launched herself at him and attacked, her movements so fast that she was literally a blur. Unfortunately her blows seemed to be stopped by a force field of some kind no matter how fast they came.
Meanwhile my fellow Cheldrun who had not had the years of training in mental defense that I had found themselves helpless before the First Mind's power. Moses, Julian, and Trencher started attacking Una and Balder, as well as each other. Rei launched herself in my direction and I thought I might have to defend myself against her, but instead she quickly dispatched the Sennin's main control panel. It seemed Blade wanted us to be sitting ducks when his airship arrived.
For my part I harnessed the anger, the hatred, the aggression, and righteous fury that was bubbling through me and I launched myself at the Executor, trying desperately to bring his defensive field down. It seemed to work as Keibatsu sliced into his clothes over and over again, inflicting what would have been mortal blows to any normal man. Blade staggered back, his glasses broken, staring hatred at me with his glowing white eyes and then I felt the mental assault renewed and... things become blurry from there.
I vaguely remember the overwhelming thought that Una was a traitor. I remember Blade fleeing inside the ship and the Karians chasing him. I remember Moses trying to hurt me, or stop me... I do not know which and I cannot remember how I got away from him. I remember being filled with a feeling of vindication and then my mind cleared. And I remember wishing it had not, because there I stood within a corridor of the Sennin, standing over the still form of Una, Keibatsu in her heart.
I screamed with primal anger. I was beyond reason and my memories are just as foggy about this point as they are about the time during which Blade was manipulating me. I ran through the ship's interior intent on finding Blade at any cost. I would have cut down anyone or anything that stood in my way at that point without a second thought. Thankfully nothing did and I reached a chamber where Highdive was continuing her relentless assault on the angry First Mind, moving too fast for him to effectively counter. I struck then with all my might, and again, and... I probably would have kept mindlessly attacking, barely heeding the overwhelming pressure of Blade's mind against mine, but even my all-consuming anger was not enough to block him for long and I was overtaken by the urge to kill myself.
This thought was not one foreign to me after having killed my dear companion. I had dishonored myself after all. But I had a job to finish. Unable to stop myself from committing suicide I decided my course of action immediately. No thought, no mind. Just action. I summoned forth Tsukuyomi and spun around toward him and Blade. I reversed my grip on Keibatsu and plunged it into myself, through my own torse, through the stunned Kyo Tee Shee, through The glowing form of the Executor of Goshi Corp. I suppose that is one way to deliver your resignation.
I could feel Keibatsu feeding on the Enemy's body and suffusing me with energy, trying to counteract the damage it was simultaneously afflicting. Tsukuyomi just looked at my quizzically and stepped aside as if the blade did not exist, contenting himself to stand and watch. Blade on the other hand grimaced and pushed himself further down Keibatsu until he was standing directly behind me and whispered exultantly "Do it again." Unable to resist Blade's command I twisted the sword in my bloody hands causing more pain than my body could handle and I momentarily passed out.
When I opened my eyes I was lying on the floor, my mind clear once more, though I knew I was probably dying. I looked up and saw Blade stumbling and wounded and thought to try to get up and finish him even if it was the last thing I did. I had forgotten that at least one of my allies was still in the fight however as Highdive appeared out of nowhere and fell upon the wounded Executor, biting and stabbing faster than the eye could follow. Blade tried ineffectually to swat her away as he stumbled and jerked from the blows raining down upon him. Still intent on making sure he paid for all the deaths he had caused I continued to try to force my body to respond to my will. I had gotten mostly to my knees by the time Highdive's assault finally proved too much for even a First Mind and Blade's form dissolved in a blinding flash of rainbow colored lights. The next instant a voice spoke in a manner that it seemed to echo from within my own skull. "I am Rensu Oni, the One Who Binds." And then everything went black.
* * *
I awoke to find myself alone, lying on the cold floor of the Sennin, covered in blood. I was surprised and almost disappointed to be alive. Struggling to my feet I started looking for any of my companions that had survived. I found the spot where I had last seen Una. All that remained was dried blood. I heard voices and followed them where I found my friends. All of them, alive. My eyes filled with tears of joy and Una and I hugged for some time.
***
Julian and Trencher had died and we buried them up on the plateau overlooking the ruins of Geneva Prime. Goshi had retreated, leaving the city in our hands. Moses spoke only of leading his people now to safety. And I was bound and determined to help him succeed.
We set down on a plateau above the city to await Blade's inevitable counterattack. Quickly we made ready as best we could, preparing the battlefield where possible. We had no idea how he was going to come for us or what he was capable of so we tried to prepare for every eventuality we could think of. In this our imaginations failed us. With a tortured groan so loud we could hear it clearly from where we were standing, the remains of Goshi Tower twisted and writhed as we watched. It reformed itself until it rose into the air in the form of a massive airship, easily as big as the Rodan had been. This was certainly unexpected.
I knew that we did not stand a chance if we simply stood there and waited for this behemoth to strafe us so I yelled for everyone to return to the ship. Once aboard I strapped myself into the pilot's chair and we prepared to take off to try to face the Enemy, a gnat attacking a bear. That is when things went wrong.
The door leading into the interior of the Sennin opened and out strode Katashi Blade, his face a mask of fury. I immediately felt the weight of an unstoppable mind upon my own, trying to crush all resistance. It was even stronger than I had feared it would be. I managed to hold him off for the first few moments, barely. Luckily it seemed my guess that he would not be able to affect Karians in the same way that Cheldrun telepaths could not proved true as Highdive launched herself at him and attacked, her movements so fast that she was literally a blur. Unfortunately her blows seemed to be stopped by a force field of some kind no matter how fast they came.
Meanwhile my fellow Cheldrun who had not had the years of training in mental defense that I had found themselves helpless before the First Mind's power. Moses, Julian, and Trencher started attacking Una and Balder, as well as each other. Rei launched herself in my direction and I thought I might have to defend myself against her, but instead she quickly dispatched the Sennin's main control panel. It seemed Blade wanted us to be sitting ducks when his airship arrived.
For my part I harnessed the anger, the hatred, the aggression, and righteous fury that was bubbling through me and I launched myself at the Executor, trying desperately to bring his defensive field down. It seemed to work as Keibatsu sliced into his clothes over and over again, inflicting what would have been mortal blows to any normal man. Blade staggered back, his glasses broken, staring hatred at me with his glowing white eyes and then I felt the mental assault renewed and... things become blurry from there.
I vaguely remember the overwhelming thought that Una was a traitor. I remember Blade fleeing inside the ship and the Karians chasing him. I remember Moses trying to hurt me, or stop me... I do not know which and I cannot remember how I got away from him. I remember being filled with a feeling of vindication and then my mind cleared. And I remember wishing it had not, because there I stood within a corridor of the Sennin, standing over the still form of Una, Keibatsu in her heart.
I screamed with primal anger. I was beyond reason and my memories are just as foggy about this point as they are about the time during which Blade was manipulating me. I ran through the ship's interior intent on finding Blade at any cost. I would have cut down anyone or anything that stood in my way at that point without a second thought. Thankfully nothing did and I reached a chamber where Highdive was continuing her relentless assault on the angry First Mind, moving too fast for him to effectively counter. I struck then with all my might, and again, and... I probably would have kept mindlessly attacking, barely heeding the overwhelming pressure of Blade's mind against mine, but even my all-consuming anger was not enough to block him for long and I was overtaken by the urge to kill myself.
This thought was not one foreign to me after having killed my dear companion. I had dishonored myself after all. But I had a job to finish. Unable to stop myself from committing suicide I decided my course of action immediately. No thought, no mind. Just action. I summoned forth Tsukuyomi and spun around toward him and Blade. I reversed my grip on Keibatsu and plunged it into myself, through my own torse, through the stunned Kyo Tee Shee, through The glowing form of the Executor of Goshi Corp. I suppose that is one way to deliver your resignation.
I could feel Keibatsu feeding on the Enemy's body and suffusing me with energy, trying to counteract the damage it was simultaneously afflicting. Tsukuyomi just looked at my quizzically and stepped aside as if the blade did not exist, contenting himself to stand and watch. Blade on the other hand grimaced and pushed himself further down Keibatsu until he was standing directly behind me and whispered exultantly "Do it again." Unable to resist Blade's command I twisted the sword in my bloody hands causing more pain than my body could handle and I momentarily passed out.
When I opened my eyes I was lying on the floor, my mind clear once more, though I knew I was probably dying. I looked up and saw Blade stumbling and wounded and thought to try to get up and finish him even if it was the last thing I did. I had forgotten that at least one of my allies was still in the fight however as Highdive appeared out of nowhere and fell upon the wounded Executor, biting and stabbing faster than the eye could follow. Blade tried ineffectually to swat her away as he stumbled and jerked from the blows raining down upon him. Still intent on making sure he paid for all the deaths he had caused I continued to try to force my body to respond to my will. I had gotten mostly to my knees by the time Highdive's assault finally proved too much for even a First Mind and Blade's form dissolved in a blinding flash of rainbow colored lights. The next instant a voice spoke in a manner that it seemed to echo from within my own skull. "I am Rensu Oni, the One Who Binds." And then everything went black.
* * *
I awoke to find myself alone, lying on the cold floor of the Sennin, covered in blood. I was surprised and almost disappointed to be alive. Struggling to my feet I started looking for any of my companions that had survived. I found the spot where I had last seen Una. All that remained was dried blood. I heard voices and followed them where I found my friends. All of them, alive. My eyes filled with tears of joy and Una and I hugged for some time.
***
Julian and Trencher had died and we buried them up on the plateau overlooking the ruins of Geneva Prime. Goshi had retreated, leaving the city in our hands. Moses spoke only of leading his people now to safety. And I was bound and determined to help him succeed.
Episode 30: Bringing Down the House
Pain. My hands go to my throat.
Torn. Blood seeping out.
"Hello, sister."
Sever. Stitch.
Zippora, Raul, Terra, Julian, and Trencher are free, but their thoughts are like little fragments of pain and anger, refracting wildly across the room. Ama-chan's thoughts shine like the sun. Warm. Comforting.
I am bound in cables. Stitch's cables. Arms and legs and throat.
It hurts.
I can feel their thoughts brushing against my mental defenses, but for all the pain and all the blood, I am glad to see them.
"So you're both alive," I say, and it hurts to talk, and there my voice is at least half bloody gurgle. "I'm glad. I was worried."
They exchange glances, and I'm not sure if the troubled look I see there is real or just my own wishful thinking.
I briefly consider the possibility of grabbing Zippora and teleporting away: she's important to Moses.
"Before we kill you, sister, we need to know something from you," Sever says. "Think carefully. Do you know where Aimi went after she killed Amuro Nami?"
My thoughts race. Amuro Nami. I have no idea whatever, but I'm not about to tell them that. "I have an idea," I say, "But why would I give you the one piece of information that's preventing you from killing me?"
Their minds press against my mental defenses again, skittering across the surface like ice on a grill. Stitch looks frustrated, and he gestures.
The chains begin to pull at me, pulling me apart. He means to tear my arms and legs off.
We can't have that.
I vanish.
I reappear next to Stitch, and he whirls around, and his chains whirl with him. In an instant, I am bound again, but with one critical difference: my right arm is free.
"The first mistake you made," I say, "Is assuming that you had a chance in hell of beating me." I strike, aiming for a nerve cluster at the base of Stitch's neck. My aim is true, and he collapses, coughing and choking.
Sever flicks his hand upward in a sweeping motion, and I feel a horrible sense of tearing, and I look down just in time to see a terrible gash open across my body from my navel to my collarbone. There is pain, and blood, so much blood, and I can see my own ribs, and lungs, and something - the ground, maybe - smashes into the back of my head, and everything goes dark.
---------------
The empty void.
First Mind eyes.
Voices. Voices in the dark. Whispers. The Enemy whispers.
"One Who Hopes, will you fulfill your part in the conjunction that is to come?"
Of course I will. It is preordained. Who can escape their purpose?
Ama-chan whispers.
Mikomi, Mikomi, Reikomi, Mikorei...
The Void...
*FLASH*
Two little boys playing in the park.
It had only happened once. Once, when Mama Pain was away on business, and Doctor Soren said that children should play. I was fourteen. I didn't understand what 'play' meant, but Sever and Stitch did, and Aimi, and Malicious.
I sat at a park bench with Doctor Soren and Nero.
Four children playing in the park on a golden day in Geneva Prime.
Ash-gray buildings rose up all around the park, pulsing with spectacular displays of force and energy. All of the playground structures did the same, and all around it was green, green grass that was curiously empty and silent. No force. No energy. Just grass.
There were other children there, too. Other young Biomade, here for recreation. A few Allskin adults accompanying their young. An Allskin child told me my eyes looked funny, and when my mind touched his, I didn't know him. I didn't understand any of the things I saw in his mind. It was like trying to read the mind of the Zipsum that Mama Pain had brought in for us to try to scan. The Zipsum thought in triangles and mirrors. The little boy thought in joy and sunlight and play and family and petty self-will.
I didn't understand.
I watched while the four of them play, with Malicious supervising the games, and for the first time in my life, I felt envy: my own envy, and not someone else's.
Sever and Stitch, laughing, and their laughter wasn't cruel but joyful.
Aimi dashing away from Malicious and shouting at the top of her lungs, "You're it! You're it!"
Malicious racing after Aimi, then darting to the side at the last second to tag Sever. "Sever's it!" she shouted.
"Are you sure you don't want to go play with them, Rei?" Doctor Soren asked.
I looked up at him, and my mind brushed against the surface of his mental defenses. "Play?" I asked.
Nero shot me a sidelong glance, and then said with the savage honesty of a child, "Rei doesn't like tag. She always thinks that she's it whenever anyone gets tagged, because she's defective and can't tell the difference between herself and everyone else."
My cheeks burned, and I sank into myself.
The laughter of children echoed around the park.
--------------
I awake in Una's arms, coughing and spluttering as if I had just been resuscitated after drowning. The pain is gone, and the wound is gone, but the blood is not. My surroundings have changed. We are in the courtyard outside of the inn. Battle rages all around us. Sennin descends towards us, and Heishi are dying everywhere.
I look up at Una. "Sever? Stitch?" I ask.
Her eyes flicker. "Did this to you," she says.
I feel a lump in my throat, and a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Where are they?"
She continues walking towards the Sennin, carrying me. "... They're dead, Rei. High Dive was too fast."
The world falls out from under me. I push myself out of Una's arms, and she watches me for a moment, alarmed, but I'm not paying attention to her anymore.
There is an explosion near the Sennin, and Una looks torn for a moment, and then rushes over to help the wounded.
Sever and Stitch are dead.
Dead.
Dead, and dead.
What kind of word is that, dead?
A word of endings, darkness, and terror: a horrible, smothering sort of word, and filled with other horrible words like a corpse over-ripe in its corruption, overflowing the measure, and spilling its putrid excess into the terrified mind. A word for we know not what. A word for the descent of the Named into nonentity, and the jury still deliberating over whether any reascent is even possible. A word for all the piles of rotting leaves warming the gutters of the world.
Sever and Stitch are dead.
I'm screaming. I beat my fists against the earth, against the corpse of a dead Heishi.
The question...
And then Ama-chan is with me.
"Amaterasu-chan," I whisper. "... Feed. Take all the mana you can find."
She goes to work, devouring the White-Rock in the DisLocators, and I rise to my feet. I don't see the combat around me. Bullets whiz by my head, and I don't notice.
I open the basement doors and I descend.
There they are, Sever and Stitch, the blood all over the floor, their red eyes staring up at the sky.
Dead.
I stare at them for a long, long time.
"You're not ever going to leave me, are you Ama-chan?" I ask, and my voice is a small, broken thing.
Leave you? I can't leave you. Never ever ever, unless you die. I'm bound to you, remember?
It is a comforting thought. ... I don't want to be alone.
Then I'm back on Sennin. I don't remember DisLocating, but I must have. Kiyoshi is saying something, but I don't hear him. Una takes me by the hand and leads me down to a cabin. Mine, maybe.
It hurts. It hurts more than anything. My brothers are dead.
I cry in Una's arms, and she holds me, and murmurs words of comfort.
My brothers are dead, and it hurts.
Life?
------------
I don't remember much of the rest of the day. I do remember that I told Kiyoshi that I don't blame High Dive for killing my brothers. I was lying to him, of course. But part of what I said was true. You don't blame a soldier for killing an enemy in the course of a battle. You blame the people that sent the soldiers into that situation in the first place.
Katashi Blade.
The name is like acid on my tongue. It's taken me a long time to get here, and many people have died, but I'm here, and I know what has to be done. Katashi Blade sent my brothers on a suicide mission. He couldn't have expected them to survive. At best, he expected them to kill one or two of us before they were themselves killed.
There's something in me now, an emotional state I've never really felt before. It's not anger. It's not hate. It's not fear. It's not grief, though I feel that, too.
It's wrath.
Wrath enough to burn the whole world. I will kill Katashi Blade. I will always remember the broken bodies of Sever and Stitch in that basement: revenge be mine. Even if he is a First Mind, I am at least half First Mind. That has to count for something. He will know fear, he will know pain, and then he will die.
Truth might be changed by victory...
I realize suddenly that my fists are clenched so tightly that I have drawn blood. I am standing on the open-air bridge of Sennin. Moses is looking out at Geneva Prime in the distance. He means to call down another... plague, I suppose. He calls it deliverance. Part of me wants to stop him. Part of me thinks he's going to destroy Cheldrun civilization, but right now, a larger part of me doesn't care. What Moses is doing will draw Katashi Blade to us.
Kiyoshi stands close at hand, Keibatsu drawn. He's been very quiet since he learned what Aimi may have done to Amuro Nami. For a moment, worry for Aimi breaks through the haze of wrath, and I hope that there is enough of the Information Broker organization left intact to tell me what I want to know when this is over.
... I never should have drunk all that sake. But I needed something to make me forget the world, for a little while. I knew that drinking would break down the barriers in my mind that keep me separate from everyone until I'd sobered, but I did it anyways, and now Kiyoshi knows about Aimi and Nami.
Una asked me if I'd be able to resist the control of the First Minds. I told her it was more like being Home than like mental control, but that's not entirely true.
It's both.
Not for the first time, I wonder if I'll really be able to resist them if they ask me to do something.
They're firing on us. Heishi. Teleporting aboard. We've prepared a place to fall back to. A place to destroy all that come after us. Ama-chan laughs delightedly at the thought of eating so much mana in all those dead Heishi. I smile. Battle is joined, and for the first time since Marina, I lose myself to the joy of the slaughter.
Even as Moses calls down his plague, even as a horrible black cloud descends on the city, and the buildings begin to crumble, even as the Goshi Tower tumbles down into ruin, I smile.
Wrath.
Katashi Blade, we are coming for you, and I no longer fear your mental influence: I will take part in your damned fate.
... Life?
Torn. Blood seeping out.
"Hello, sister."
Sever. Stitch.
Zippora, Raul, Terra, Julian, and Trencher are free, but their thoughts are like little fragments of pain and anger, refracting wildly across the room. Ama-chan's thoughts shine like the sun. Warm. Comforting.
I am bound in cables. Stitch's cables. Arms and legs and throat.
It hurts.
I can feel their thoughts brushing against my mental defenses, but for all the pain and all the blood, I am glad to see them.
"So you're both alive," I say, and it hurts to talk, and there my voice is at least half bloody gurgle. "I'm glad. I was worried."
They exchange glances, and I'm not sure if the troubled look I see there is real or just my own wishful thinking.
I briefly consider the possibility of grabbing Zippora and teleporting away: she's important to Moses.
"Before we kill you, sister, we need to know something from you," Sever says. "Think carefully. Do you know where Aimi went after she killed Amuro Nami?"
My thoughts race. Amuro Nami. I have no idea whatever, but I'm not about to tell them that. "I have an idea," I say, "But why would I give you the one piece of information that's preventing you from killing me?"
Their minds press against my mental defenses again, skittering across the surface like ice on a grill. Stitch looks frustrated, and he gestures.
The chains begin to pull at me, pulling me apart. He means to tear my arms and legs off.
We can't have that.
I vanish.
I reappear next to Stitch, and he whirls around, and his chains whirl with him. In an instant, I am bound again, but with one critical difference: my right arm is free.
"The first mistake you made," I say, "Is assuming that you had a chance in hell of beating me." I strike, aiming for a nerve cluster at the base of Stitch's neck. My aim is true, and he collapses, coughing and choking.
Sever flicks his hand upward in a sweeping motion, and I feel a horrible sense of tearing, and I look down just in time to see a terrible gash open across my body from my navel to my collarbone. There is pain, and blood, so much blood, and I can see my own ribs, and lungs, and something - the ground, maybe - smashes into the back of my head, and everything goes dark.
---------------
The empty void.
First Mind eyes.
Voices. Voices in the dark. Whispers. The Enemy whispers.
"One Who Hopes, will you fulfill your part in the conjunction that is to come?"
Of course I will. It is preordained. Who can escape their purpose?
Ama-chan whispers.
Mikomi, Mikomi, Reikomi, Mikorei...
The Void...
*FLASH*
Two little boys playing in the park.
It had only happened once. Once, when Mama Pain was away on business, and Doctor Soren said that children should play. I was fourteen. I didn't understand what 'play' meant, but Sever and Stitch did, and Aimi, and Malicious.
I sat at a park bench with Doctor Soren and Nero.
Four children playing in the park on a golden day in Geneva Prime.
Ash-gray buildings rose up all around the park, pulsing with spectacular displays of force and energy. All of the playground structures did the same, and all around it was green, green grass that was curiously empty and silent. No force. No energy. Just grass.
There were other children there, too. Other young Biomade, here for recreation. A few Allskin adults accompanying their young. An Allskin child told me my eyes looked funny, and when my mind touched his, I didn't know him. I didn't understand any of the things I saw in his mind. It was like trying to read the mind of the Zipsum that Mama Pain had brought in for us to try to scan. The Zipsum thought in triangles and mirrors. The little boy thought in joy and sunlight and play and family and petty self-will.
I didn't understand.
I watched while the four of them play, with Malicious supervising the games, and for the first time in my life, I felt envy: my own envy, and not someone else's.
Sever and Stitch, laughing, and their laughter wasn't cruel but joyful.
Aimi dashing away from Malicious and shouting at the top of her lungs, "You're it! You're it!"
Malicious racing after Aimi, then darting to the side at the last second to tag Sever. "Sever's it!" she shouted.
"Are you sure you don't want to go play with them, Rei?" Doctor Soren asked.
I looked up at him, and my mind brushed against the surface of his mental defenses. "Play?" I asked.
Nero shot me a sidelong glance, and then said with the savage honesty of a child, "Rei doesn't like tag. She always thinks that she's it whenever anyone gets tagged, because she's defective and can't tell the difference between herself and everyone else."
My cheeks burned, and I sank into myself.
The laughter of children echoed around the park.
--------------
I awake in Una's arms, coughing and spluttering as if I had just been resuscitated after drowning. The pain is gone, and the wound is gone, but the blood is not. My surroundings have changed. We are in the courtyard outside of the inn. Battle rages all around us. Sennin descends towards us, and Heishi are dying everywhere.
I look up at Una. "Sever? Stitch?" I ask.
Her eyes flicker. "Did this to you," she says.
I feel a lump in my throat, and a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Where are they?"
She continues walking towards the Sennin, carrying me. "... They're dead, Rei. High Dive was too fast."
The world falls out from under me. I push myself out of Una's arms, and she watches me for a moment, alarmed, but I'm not paying attention to her anymore.
There is an explosion near the Sennin, and Una looks torn for a moment, and then rushes over to help the wounded.
Sever and Stitch are dead.
Dead.
Dead, and dead.
What kind of word is that, dead?
A word of endings, darkness, and terror: a horrible, smothering sort of word, and filled with other horrible words like a corpse over-ripe in its corruption, overflowing the measure, and spilling its putrid excess into the terrified mind. A word for we know not what. A word for the descent of the Named into nonentity, and the jury still deliberating over whether any reascent is even possible. A word for all the piles of rotting leaves warming the gutters of the world.
Sever and Stitch are dead.
I'm screaming. I beat my fists against the earth, against the corpse of a dead Heishi.
The question...
And then Ama-chan is with me.
"Amaterasu-chan," I whisper. "... Feed. Take all the mana you can find."
She goes to work, devouring the White-Rock in the DisLocators, and I rise to my feet. I don't see the combat around me. Bullets whiz by my head, and I don't notice.
I open the basement doors and I descend.
There they are, Sever and Stitch, the blood all over the floor, their red eyes staring up at the sky.
Dead.
I stare at them for a long, long time.
"You're not ever going to leave me, are you Ama-chan?" I ask, and my voice is a small, broken thing.
Leave you? I can't leave you. Never ever ever, unless you die. I'm bound to you, remember?
It is a comforting thought. ... I don't want to be alone.
Then I'm back on Sennin. I don't remember DisLocating, but I must have. Kiyoshi is saying something, but I don't hear him. Una takes me by the hand and leads me down to a cabin. Mine, maybe.
It hurts. It hurts more than anything. My brothers are dead.
I cry in Una's arms, and she holds me, and murmurs words of comfort.
My brothers are dead, and it hurts.
Life?
------------
I don't remember much of the rest of the day. I do remember that I told Kiyoshi that I don't blame High Dive for killing my brothers. I was lying to him, of course. But part of what I said was true. You don't blame a soldier for killing an enemy in the course of a battle. You blame the people that sent the soldiers into that situation in the first place.
Katashi Blade.
The name is like acid on my tongue. It's taken me a long time to get here, and many people have died, but I'm here, and I know what has to be done. Katashi Blade sent my brothers on a suicide mission. He couldn't have expected them to survive. At best, he expected them to kill one or two of us before they were themselves killed.
There's something in me now, an emotional state I've never really felt before. It's not anger. It's not hate. It's not fear. It's not grief, though I feel that, too.
It's wrath.
Wrath enough to burn the whole world. I will kill Katashi Blade. I will always remember the broken bodies of Sever and Stitch in that basement: revenge be mine. Even if he is a First Mind, I am at least half First Mind. That has to count for something. He will know fear, he will know pain, and then he will die.
Truth might be changed by victory...
I realize suddenly that my fists are clenched so tightly that I have drawn blood. I am standing on the open-air bridge of Sennin. Moses is looking out at Geneva Prime in the distance. He means to call down another... plague, I suppose. He calls it deliverance. Part of me wants to stop him. Part of me thinks he's going to destroy Cheldrun civilization, but right now, a larger part of me doesn't care. What Moses is doing will draw Katashi Blade to us.
Kiyoshi stands close at hand, Keibatsu drawn. He's been very quiet since he learned what Aimi may have done to Amuro Nami. For a moment, worry for Aimi breaks through the haze of wrath, and I hope that there is enough of the Information Broker organization left intact to tell me what I want to know when this is over.
... I never should have drunk all that sake. But I needed something to make me forget the world, for a little while. I knew that drinking would break down the barriers in my mind that keep me separate from everyone until I'd sobered, but I did it anyways, and now Kiyoshi knows about Aimi and Nami.
Una asked me if I'd be able to resist the control of the First Minds. I told her it was more like being Home than like mental control, but that's not entirely true.
It's both.
Not for the first time, I wonder if I'll really be able to resist them if they ask me to do something.
They're firing on us. Heishi. Teleporting aboard. We've prepared a place to fall back to. A place to destroy all that come after us. Ama-chan laughs delightedly at the thought of eating so much mana in all those dead Heishi. I smile. Battle is joined, and for the first time since Marina, I lose myself to the joy of the slaughter.
Even as Moses calls down his plague, even as a horrible black cloud descends on the city, and the buildings begin to crumble, even as the Goshi Tower tumbles down into ruin, I smile.
Wrath.
Katashi Blade, we are coming for you, and I no longer fear your mental influence: I will take part in your damned fate.
... Life?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Ruins
Cities
