The Legendary Warrior (Book 5) (20 page)

Suddenly, Bastion wasn’t in Languor anymore. He was on a beach, but
he didn’t recognize it as such. He had never seen such a place before. He stumbled as he took a step onto the sand and he nearly fell on his face, if it wasn’t for his Gladius catching him. He could hear the ocean behind him, but he fought the urge to look. The Yama had impressive tricks, but he wouldn’t fall for them. Bastion looked around until he saw the transformed Yama, standing on the wooden dock. He was glaring at Bastion, but he wasn’t moving.

Bastion was hesitant at first. Why wasn’t it trying to attack him? W
asn’t this new place Yama terrain? Surely it would have the advantage. But then Bastion began feeling the pull beneath his feet. The energy tether coming from his soles. Yes. That had to be it. The Yama was casting an illusion of some kind, but he was still stuck. The vines Bastion had summoned still had traces of his energy within him. He could still feel the Yama struggling.

Bastion smiled and leapt up
onto the dock, until he was nearly nose to nose with the Yama. He wanted to taunt it, but then he remembered how tricky they were, and he decided to just end the façade. Bastion cocked back his Gladius, and then he slashed it across the Yama, from his left shoulder to his right hip.

The illusion lifted instantly, and he was back in Languor. The transformed Yama was still in his vine trap, and now he had a long diagonal stripe across his torso. His head was bowed low as he tried to heal it. The Yama’s ally, in vines next to him, began screaming silently. Its mouth was open but no sound came. Still, what scared Bastion more was the aura coming from the stone within
it. The Yama was about to summon its power!

Bastion ran over to the Yama and stabbed it in the chest slowly, until he reached the stone.
He didn’t want to just cut the Yama open and risk the stone rolling out. Another Yama could easily pick it up and use it again, so he had to make sure his work was precise.

As the Yama’s mouth gaped open in agony, he pushed the blade in until he pierced the stone, cracked it, split it, and then destroyed it completely. One more slight push, and the rest of the blade would cut
into the Yama’s heart.

Bastion was suddenly grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground. Another big Yama, but considerably weaker than the two he had just faced. Bastion cut off its head with a meager swipe. Another Yama tried to pin him down with its hands. Legs gone. He tried to finish it off but another one came out of nowhere and pushed his lying body with the wind somehow. Bastion
hit the corner of a house but he used the wall to propel himself upward onto his feet. The Yama who had pushed him stretched his hand outward again, and a gust of wind flew at his face, but Bastion just ran into it, as fast as he could.

Bastion cut off the wind-controlling Yama’s only arm, and the winds ceased. Two more Yama came at him together, moving so fast that if he slowed down for an instance, he would have been destroyed, but he kept up with their blinding pace until he saw his opening. A slice across one’s back, another cut across one’s chest, and they both fell.

Only the transformed Yama was still standing. Somehow it had cut itself out of Bastion’s vines, and now it was stumbling toward him.

*              *              *

It was a dumb move, but it was all he had left, and he could already see Bastion looking out of the corner of his eye at Catherine. He knew that if the young Sage decided to attack his love, he wouldn’t have the strength to stop him. And he had to keep her safe at all costs. She was all that mattered. She was all that ever mattered.

He was just a soldier, and he was blessed to even have
had the opportunity to die for Catherine, let alone gain her love. There had been a lot of torment in his life, but so much joy as well. He had become the greatest warrior of his time. He had married the Queen of Allay. He had proved the village wrong when they said he wouldn’t amount to anything, and most of all, he had been happy. After the journey for the five stones of power, he had gained five years of peace with his sweetheart, and each day was more wonderful than the last. Realizing how much he had achieved, he was happy to die for her once more.

As he stumbled toward a puzzled Bastion, his mind wandered back to the old days in the Academy, when he
had jumped off the balcony to save Catherine from Kyran’s attack. It was only a test of hers, but death was the consequence for failure regardless, and he knew Catherine needed more time to pass. Back then, it was just a simple crush for a simple girl, but he was ready to die all the same. She was worth dying for, even back then. So beautiful, so contagiously happy, the way she laughed and how she fought for her people, it was the kind of thing fairy tales were made of, and he was damned if it was going to end while he could do something about it.

He had seen the reality of life plenty
by then. The fruits of his laziness firsthand. He didn’t blame his father for calling him out on his worthlessness, or the villagers for their truth. He knew what he was, but Catherine was special, and someone like her was worth preserving. Even a bum could see that…

And so he had run toward the assassin
Kyran like an idiot. No Sage powers. No eidolon. Not a hope in the world. And with a stupid smile on his face, he had swung at his opponent, and in the process…became a Sage.

It was an accident. A complete accident he
had become a Sage. And yet, if he hadn’t put his life on the line, he would have lost all those years with Catherine and the others. He didn’t expect to gain more years now, but he could exchange his life for theirs, and then they could be happy, and make more memories and laugh again.

That put a smile to his face.

That made his sacrifice okay.

*              *              *

Bastion knew the Yama would speed up at the last second, to try to catch him off guard with one last burst of energy. The young Sage waited for it, but the Yama made the attempt. He just kept walking forward, until he was only a couple feet away from Bastion. The young Sage left nothing to chance. He stabbed the Yama through the side and it lost its motor functions in the process. Its chin fell onto Bastion’s shoulder, and just as the young Sage tore the Yama open from side to side, he heard a whisper in his ear.

“It’s me, James.”

It was the equivalent of every cloud over the sky disintegrating into the ether. It was like
his eyes were cleansed with the purest of water. One moment he was relishing in his victory over the Yama, and in the next, James was hanging off of his shoulder. Behind his former mentor, a slaughter lay before him.

Arimus
had lost his only arm and he was now nursing it against a wall, crouched low to the ground as he kept his head down. Shanelle’s head was gone. Krave was torn in two. Zhou and Talia had gaping wounds across their chest and back respectively. Daisy’s legs had been taken from her. Catherine was hanging within his vine trap, and she was barely conscious while she attempted to close the hole in her chest. And…Kent. There was Kent.

He had found him
, but it was not how he thought their reunion would be. Kent’s head had also been severed. And now, his voice would no longer be heard. His life only a memory. The moment when Kent left him and he had chosen to torture the Order members…that was the last memory of his friend when he was still alive.

Bastion cried out
only once, his voice so sharp and sudden that it scared the surviving Sages to attention. He fell to his knees, and James’ lifeless body fell with him, rolling off of his shoulder and onto his back. James groaned the moment he hit the ground. Bastion’s mouth gaped open as he looked at them all one by one. His friends. His family. His allies. Injured, maimed or worse, all by his hand.

He looked at his hands, stained with blood, and he buried his face within them, crying so hard that his stomach hurt.

No one said a word.

A distant thud
from behind the wounded and dead garnered their attention. In the distance down the street, Orchid walked with Sway in hand, dragging him by the back of his shirt. The unconscious Sage’s face was bleeding but from what they could sense, he was still alive. Bastion lifted his tear and blood stained face, and looked at Orchid in her cold and uncaring eyes.

“Good work,” she said to him, and he trembled in anguish. He felt like throwing up, and his heart
was beating so fast that he clutched his chest.

“What did you do?” Catherine gasped from her vine trap.
She began fighting against her restraints but Orchid pointed a finger at her.

“No one moves, or I begin executing, starting with James.” Catherine stopped moving.

“You won’t get to him,” Bastion sobbed, putting his hand on his mentor’s shoulder.

“
It won’t matter if I die in the process,” Orchid said. “I have finished my work.”

“What have you done?” Bastion’s voice cracked. Out of the corner of his eye
, he saw Daisy crawl over to Kent, examining his face for life. He turned away and grit his teeth, fighting back another flood of tears.

“What was necessary,” Orchid said. “For the good of everyone. I simulated the Yama.”

“There were none?” Arimus shouted, and Orchid turned to him and put a finger to her lips.

“Not a one, Sage,” she said. “They were all manifestations. At least…the ones in the beginning.”

“How were you,” James whispered, his eyes still closed, “able to manifest so many?”

“Because my power is greater
than you know. You Sages have gotten so used to relying on what your eidolon tells you that you don’t realize that what lies before you could be a trick. I may have bided my time before I showed you what I could do, but make no mistake, I was the true threat all along. Lakrymos was a pawn. He was a manifestation of me.”

“That can’t be,” Bastion said. “I saw his soul.”

“You saw what I infused into him from myself. And it was also why you were able to beat him so easily. That was but a fraction of my power, designed to test your ability. Through that fight I found out that you are far more powerful than even I realized. Though I could kill you even now, I won’t because I have seen what lies within you. If only you were able to draw it out. If only those around you weren’t holding you back from your true potential. After the fight with Lakrymos, I feared that I would lose you. I had to formulate a plan that would steer you right on track. Thus I began planting the seeds of what would become this day. The day in which you would lose everything, so that you could embrace your destiny.”

“How did you do it?” Catherine asked
weakly. “The illusions?”

“Manifestations are a combination of
Langoran size manipulation and Allayan fashioning. With the energy of our souls, we are able to create grand illusions. Creating swords, buildings, new places, copying what’s in our dreams…but they are still illusions. The raw energy and core of every manifestation is our soul. And so, with that in mind, I used my energy to cast fine energy shells around you, manipulating every one of your senses. I spent a whole day putting my energy under Languor, and when it was time, I let loose. Every Yama you killed today was either a Langoran, or one of your own people. None of you are innocent.”

“Because we were tricked,”
Arimus said. “And nothing more.”

“I used your pride against you. Because I know that the
Allayans of today believe that they are all knowing and righteous in all that they do. I knew that you wouldn’t try to reason with the Yama. You wouldn’t study them or try to understand. You would just kill them, and in turn, you killed each other. Now the traitorous James is out of the way. The stone in Catherine is destroyed. Your numbers are down, and more importantly, Bastion is born anew. I have won.”

“No you haven’t,” Bastion said, rising to his feet. “No, you haven’t.”

“Don’t do it,” Catherine pleaded with him weakly. “That’s what she wants.”

“But by killing me you’re insuring something like this doesn’t happen again,” Orchid said with a smile. “Killing the enemy seems to be all you Sages know, isn’t it?”

“You tricked me,” Bastion cried.

“It doesn’t matter. You’ll have to live with this day. Your friend Kent is forever gone. Daisy will never look at you the same way no matter how much you want to believe she will. The others will see you as dangerous and treat you even more like the tool and weapon
that you are. Your only choice at this point is to give in to what you have felt inside of you from the day you were taken into Quietus. That you are a god. That you are going to completely destroy the Yama, and in order to do so, you must give up your humanity. You must cast away friendships and sentiment and love. You must train and get stronger. To embrace the darkness that others cannot, all so that you can guide them into the light. You may be lost, but they will be saved, both in this life, and in the next. Now do what you know needs to be done.”

Bastion tried to hold back the tears, but they streamed down his face against his will. He called forth his eidolon, and gripped it tight in his right
blood-stained hand. Orchid stared at him with sympathy.

“I know the road is hard. But to be a true Sage, and especially one of Legend, it must be done.
Lakrymos is the one they sing of and praise, and yet he was just the public face of the Sages. I was stronger than he and yet I stayed in the background, because I knew what needed to be done. We were born from the shadows, Bastion. We do not enjoy it, but we receive satisfaction in knowing that the world will go on. Hear what I say. The Yama. The true Yama…they are coming. They look just like I showed you, but it will take more than strength to defeat them. If I, one Sage, was able to do all of this, then just think about what they can do as a collective. Do you understand?”

Bastion nodded. Orchid smiled, and then she closed her eyes and stretched out her arms.

Bastion raised his eidolon over his head.

B
ut then he hesitated.

With a sigh he let his eidolon disappear, and he put his arms to his side. They stood there in silence, and then Orchid opened her eyes.

“I am disappointed,” she said, and he shook his head slowly.

“I don’t care.”

“We’re doomed then.”

“T
hat doesn’t mean you won’t pay for what you did here.”

“I won’t pay for a thing,” Orchid said. Before he could move toward her, she punched him as hard as she could in the face, sending him onto his back. Bastion clutched his face
tightly as she stared down at him with contempt. “If any of you try to harm me in any way, I will kill you. Now that we have lost our only hope, I have a Kingdom to prepare.”

“You won’t
win,” Arimus said. Orchid looked at him, and then she slowly looked at each of them, finally stopping at Bastion.

“If any of you want to back up that claim with more than words, you are free to. But considering what has happene
d today, I doubt you will. Even so, you know where to find me. Have fun burying your dead.”

Orchid walked away just as the pain subsided in B
astion’s face. He turned to confront her, but she was already gone. He stood to his feet and stared off in her direction, and he dared not to look at the others. He couldn’t bear it.

“Bastion,” Daisy said, and he instinctively found himself looking down at her legs. She was able to reattach most of the severed pair
, but they were still mangled and blue. She might not be able to run again. He slowly looked up into her eyes. “This isn’t your fault.”

“Stop,” he said to her. “Even if I was tricked…it doesn’t change the fact that she’s right. I can’t be around you.”

“Stay here,” she pleaded.

“KENT’S DEAD!” he shouted at her, his voice echoing down the street. A scurrying sound was heard from up above and he looked up to see
Langoran guards getting into position. “He’s not coming back,” he whispered. “I killed him. All of them. I’m not human. I can’t be...it’s the only way I can live with myself.”

Bastion turned and ran, just as Daisy yelled something out to him. He cupped his ears and shook his head as the arrows began flying at him. He was able to dodge them easily, but he almost wished they would hit
their mark. He considered it for a moment. To slow down and accept it. But he knew that it would take thousands of arrows to truly stop him, and if he was to die, he wanted to go quickly.

Daisy bowed her head as Catherine roared and released her multicolored eidolon, using it to tear through the vines around her. She fell to her feet and sheathed her sword, caring little for the swarming army of Langorans, coming at them from all sides. She rushed to James’ side.

“James,” she called out to him, giving his face a quick slap. “James, wake up.”

“Nice,” James groaned, his eyes fluttering open.

“You’re okay,” she laughed. “You just can’t stop making jokes.”

“Ah,” James sighed. “I wish.”

“Stop playing around,” she laughed, but then she examined his wounds. She noticed that they weren’t closing up…they weren’t healing.

“Hey, stop being lazy. You’re still hurt. Heal them.”

“Wish I could,” he said with a whisper. He had a smile on his face
, but his eyes were full with tears. His lips pursed suddenly and she could see his pupils beginning to lose their luster. She slapped him lightly again and he stared at her listlessly.

“James, you can’t leave me,” she whispered to him, and he gave her a curt smile.

“I died long ago,” he said to her, his lips nearly touching hers. “All this time…I’ve been in Paradise.”

“You’re a fool,” she said, her voice cracking as she reached down and kissed him tenderly.

“I’m your fool,” James whispered, and then he reached up to brush the back of his hand against her cheek. She closed her eyes and kissed it, and when she let go to look at him once more…he was gone.

It didn’t feel real.

She wasn’t sure if it ever would. But she did feel a part of her leave that day with him. She knew that from that day on she would laugh less, and perhaps never love again. James was a bum, but she was all his, and he fought for her like a knight in shining armor to his dying breath. As a lover, a wife, and a Queen…she couldn’t ask for anything more from her husband.

“I’ll always love you,” she whispered to him, placing a hand on his sunken chest. “I won’t forget anything you have taught me. Especially how to live. I won’t stop…” she fought
back the tears and bit her lip. Her fists clenched tight as she closed her eyes. “I won’t stop living. I know you wouldn’t want me to give up. I’ll keep on fighting, and maybe one day, I’ll be able to die as honorably and valiantly as you have.”

She considered her words after she had spoken them from the heart, and then she stood up quickly and turned to her warriors, the spirit of a Queen rising within her.

“As honorably and valiantly as they all have,” she said to them, forcing back her urge to break down. “Krave, Shanelle, Kent…the Langorans that have fallen. They will be remembered. We will take their loss and what we’ve learned from it this day, and we will use it to ensure that the Yama will not succeed when they arrive. None of their deaths will be in vain.”

“Well, I’m glad someone’s feeling encouraged,” Zain seethed from the roof. The Sages cast their heads upwards as he threw Marie over the edge.
A guard threw Ashalynn over right after her. “You can have them back.”