Chapter 37
Chapter
37: Father
A sharp pain jolted through my body, turning my
stomach inside out. I felt a rush of heat spreading like wildfire. Eli lay
there, motionless on the ground. I could see blood rushing out of her chest.
With my left arm flopping to my side, I rushed to her. She was alive, but her
heartbeat was fading quickly. I placed my right hand on her wrist. I knew I
could do it. I had done it just the day before. But how? There was no time to
figure it out. It was now or never.
There was nothing I could think of doing.
Thinking wasn’t working.
Yet, I had it in me somewhere.
I have it in me.
Still holding on to her wrist, I allowed my heart to
bleed. There was no explaining it. I let go of my own life for a second and let
my heart beat for her….
My heart became
hers.
It was an
unsettling feeling. Yet, there was something beautifully tragic about it.
I was dying.
With every passing
second… I was dying.
So,
this is what it feels like.
The more energy I transferred to Eli, the more I began to
weaken. I was feeling queasy, my head violently hurting. I turned to see if
Evian was still there, with the enemy. But I couldn’t find him.
Had he really been
there? Or had it been a figment of my imagination? Another vivid dream maybe.
Then there was Eva. I felt another jolt go through my
body. This wasn’t a dream. She was here, in the flesh. The girl I had left
behind four months earlier, was here right now in the middle of the forest
pointing a gun at me.
She had shot me.
Her face was
hardened, and her eyes were cold. There was nothing about her as I had
remembered it.
Eva… It really is Eva… How can that be? Why here? Why
now?
Yuki joined me and pressed on Eli’s chest to stop the
bleeding.
Our eyes met; they were worried. So was I.
“It’s ok, I’ve got this,” I lied in a lowered voice. “As
long as I am alive, I will not let her die.” That, I meant.
Fiori stood still but he was slowly losing his calm
demeanor.
Why isn’t he doing something? Why is he so cautious!
Now is not the time!
From the corner of my eye, I saw Eva raise her gun once
more. It was aimed straight at me. I was certain, this time she wouldn’t miss.
But before she could steady her arm, before she could
pull the trigger, Evian appeared behind her. He had a club in his hand, a
good-sized tree branch. Without hesitation, he smashed her over the head with
it. A vicious attack that the poor girl never saw coming. She dropped heavily
to the ground like a stone, the gun in her hand along with her.
I let out a sigh of relief.
The General took a step forward….
Then all went black.
“Hurry,” he said. “I don’t have much time.”
Evian had appeared before me. Around us, there was
nothing but infinite darkness.
“Kill the General, kill the girl, kill the soldiers, then
disappear for ever.”
“How? Why? What’s happening out there?” I interrupted
him.
“I am controlling their minds. I can’t do it much
longer.”
I shook my head in
disbelief.
He tried to
explain: “For the soldiers, you are a dead body on the ground right now.”
He sounded
exhausted, out of breath.
“And the blank cartridges?” I asked.
“That was Ashe’s last mission for Fiori, before she died.
You, all of you, owe her your lives.”
“And Eva?” I questioned.
“I can’t manipulate her. I can’t get into her head. She’s
like us. She is dangerous. She wasn’t supposed to be here. I don’t know why she
came.”
“You are coming with us! Right?”
“I can’t Fenn. I am one of them.”
“But you said it! Together we can take them down!
Together we are stronger!”
“It’s true! But right now, it is not possible.”
“I am not leaving you.”
“You have no choice! There are things that need to be
done.”
We were face to face in this empty space. Yet, it felt
like a precipice separated us. My brother stood right in front of me, forever
out of reach.
“This is where we
part ways. You have things to accomplish. I have things to settle.”
“No! NO!” I
pleaded. “Why aren’t you coming with us?”
“I can’t. I need
to stay here. I need to cover your escape; I also have some unfinished
business.”
His image started
to fade away.
“Wait, don’t go,”
I screamed. “What should we do? Where should we go?”
“Fiori knows; I’ve
laid out the path for you.”
“Wait! The
reports! Are they true?”
“Leave Antarticum
Fenn. Leave while you still can.”
His voice echoed
as his body dissipated into the darkness.
I opened my eyes.
How long had it been? Not very long it seemed. Eva was still on the ground, but
she was stirring.
General Marshall
took another step forward.
Eli lay
unconscious at my feet in a puddle of blood.
And Fiori, Fiori’s
stillness was disconcerting.
Yuki kneeled
beside Eli.
“Why isn’t Fiori
doing anything?” I muttered. “Why isn’t he fighting? What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s waiting for
Marshall to make his first move.”
“His first move!
We’ve been shot at! Isn’t that enough?”
And Meyer; I searched.
Our eyes connected. Fear tortured his countenance. He had always been facing
his computer. It was the first time, Meyer faced death. Nothing could have
prepared him for it.
I felt sorry for
him.
I remembered how
shaken I had been my first time.
My
first time… when was it?
The memory had
come and gone in a flash.
Eva was still
staring at me.
There
is nothing I can do for him. This is a fear he’ll have to overcome himself.
I turned to Fiori,
looking for orders.
I knew exactly
what needed to be done; what I had to do to stay alive; what I had to do to
keep Eli and Meyer alive; all of us, alive. But the orders, the commands, had
to come first.
Except, they
weren’t coming!
Instead Fiori
seemed paralyzed, engaged in a battle of fortitude.
“Fiori! Say
something,” I yelled at him.
The General
laughed.
“Check mate. I am
only sorry the game had to be so short,” Marshall snickered.
“FIORI! Snap out
of it!” I yelled again.
“Shush little boy,
this is where the tale of the Great Fiori ends.”
Marshall continued
to move forward; everyone else remained still.
“FIOR….”
“Ready?” Fiori
finally spoke, looking straight at me.
The feelings he
was harbouring sent a shiver down my spine. His voice was calm and easy, but
his eyes held the coldness and ferocity of Antarticum’s winter. It was my first
glimpse of what I had always suspected weighed heavily on his soul. The
darkness he tried so hard to supress by aspiring to be a good man.
“Ready!” I replied
solemnly.
“Yuki! Ready?”
Fiori spoke again, though this time, the intensity in his voice revealed a
sickening urge to kill.
“Ready Sir!” Yuki
responded back with unsettling enthusiasm.
Yuki lifted Eli
off the ground and ordered Meyer to follow them.
Fiori looked at me
one last time, giving me a chance to back out. If I wanted to run with Yuki,
Eli and Meyer, this was my chance. My last chance. But I didn’t go. I stayed
right where I was needed the most, my feet solidly planted on the ground,
standing side by side with Fiori.
“Alright then,”
Fiori smirked as the wind rose.
A war cry
resonated through the forest.
A sudden burst of
rage filled the clearing; humanity reduced to animalistic instinct. I ran left
toward the closest soldier. A boy, not much older than me. He was busy firing
at will, imaginary bullets. Caught in Evian’s mind, he was completely oblivious
to the reality about to unfold. I raised my right hand and struck the nape of
his neck at the base of his helmet, where the skin was exposed. I didn’t close
my eyes, instead, I looked straight at my unwitting prey.
“This one’s for
Ashe,” I whispered in his ear.
It felt good.
I watched as his
body hit the ground, his helmet rolling off to the side of my field of vision.
I swiftly moved on
to the next soldier.
Are
you watching Fiori?
I slipped my hand around
his throat. Down he went. I kicked his helmet from my path and continued with
my mission.
Next?
The ensuing soldier
looked so focused. He was older, bigger, more confident in his stance. But
still, he was caught up in an imaginary struggle. I poked him on the nose. Like
a house of cards, he collapsed.
Evian had been
right, the two of us together were a force to reckon with.
And with every
soldier I dropped, it became easier.
I didn’t take
enjoyment in what I did that day. But the energy I amassed within my body made
me feel invincible! The strength flowing through my veins like a warm liquid,
opened up new sensations and a freedom I had never experienced. I moved faster.
I felt stronger. I became more agile. All my doubts disappeared.
But as I moved
about the circle, I could see Fiori facing off with the General.
I
need to concentrate. Fiori knows what he’s doing. Everything will be alright.
I marched on, each
time placing my fingers on the nape of a defenseless soldier’s neck.
Faster!
Faster!
I knew these
soldiers were Aethereusians. I knew they hadn’t joined the military by choice.
I knew they were slaves to their DNA. The truth is, I was no different then
they were. But in that moment, I believed my life was worth more than theirs.
It was selfish, I know. I didn’t want to die. But also, I was starting to
believe… maybe I could really make a difference.
My father had failed
at reuniting the two species.
My father had
failed on so many levels.
I would not be my
father.
I didn’t know how,
but I knew I would put an end to what my father started. To what the tilt
started.
I
can do this!
But before I
could, we had to put an end to the General and his squad. We had to escape. We
had to regroup. We had to stay alive….
Bodies littered
the ground around me. The sounds of the soldiers falling still echoing in my
head, were being amplified by the rising wave of guilt in my heart. I started
panicking.
What
have I done?
I
am on a mission, I tried telling
myself.
In truth, we all
were. That’s what I kept repeating to myself.
Only a few
soldiers were left.
Good!
But as my thoughts
strayed away, Eva lifted herself clumsily to her feet. With her hands still
shaking from the assault, she pointed the gun straight at Fiori. It was then
too, that Evian collapsed from exhaustion.
The illusion
trapping the soldiers dissolved.
“Don’t move!” Eva
screamed. “I won’t hesitate to shoot!”
The threat was
geared at both Fiori and me.
Fiori slowly
raised his hands in a steadfast manner, no quiver in his stance.
I followed suit.
Without taking her
eyes from us, Eva moved toward Evian who lay face first on the cold hard
ground. With one hand, she swiftly took his pulse while she held the gun on us
steady with the other.
She’s
good at this, I thought. She’s
done this before.
That realization
was enough to justify my actions.
I
am a good person; they were bad!
“He’s still alive
General! But he won’t be a threat for us today,” she announced with a smirk as
she kicked him hard in the ribs.
Evian groaned
meekly but didn’t move.
The kick had been
for Evian, but the smirk had been for me. I felt a pinch in my heart.
The remaining
soldiers rushed toward me, but just as they were about to grab hold, Eva
screamed again: “STOP! Don’t touch him!”
All four men
stopped in their tracks. It was my turn to smirk.
She
knows about my Heighten Characteristic after all.
Has
she known all along?
Did
she know when we were back at the orphanage?
Probably. I conceded.
The General moved
toward Fiori; his weapon holstered.
“Check the pulse
of the soldiers on the ground,” he commanded his remaining troops.
“As for you
FENN2409, you stay where you are. One move and Eva will shoot you.”
His scowl turned
to Fiori: “I had my doubts over the years. I always thought that sooner or
later Evian would stray. But it was a worthy gamble for us. We knew he had a
Heighten Characteristic like no other. We never forbid him to use it. As a
matter of fact, we encouraged him to use it. It was our opportunity to study
him. To understand him. To learn all about his capabilities. It is, in part,
thanks to him, that we were able to train the greatest military weapon ever known.
And let’s not forget the parts Fenn and Eva played. But you know all of this.
Don’t you, Fiori Falx.”
He leaned closer
to his prey and squinted. “Now the question is… what were you planning to do?
What did you hope to achieve?”
He turned to me. I
had no idea what he meant but he had my full attention.
“In Nova Urbi, you
were kept under very close surveillance. We needed to find out more about your
triggers. When my daughter Eva became infected, one might think that I would
have been devastated like most parents would have been. But in the end, it was
the perfect opportunity to have eyes and ears within the orphanage system.”
A gasp escaped my
mouth before I could stop it.
I looked at Eva.
She was staring off blankly into the distance.
Infected?
“She kept detailed
notes of your abilities. Of your reactions to different stimuli. She was inadvertently
blessed her with a Heighten Characteristic of her own. Although nowhere near as
powerful as the one your younger brother was doted with, it proved to be very useful
in our efforts to control you. And of course, to start a particularly
successful assassination program. You must have heard about it. Did Fiori tell
you how ruthless you were the first time you…?”
NO.
NO. NO! I screamed in my head.
I was nauseous, dizzy,
confused. The noise in my brain would not let go. I didn’t want to hear what
was about to come next.
“ENOUGH! FATHER!”
Eva shouted. Her cold empty eyes on me again.
The General raised
his hand to quiet his daughter. He might as well have hit her, for the way she
slumped back reminded me of a beaten child.
The General’s
speech continued with a much graver tone: “We quickly realized how powerful you
could be when paired up with mind control. So, you see, as long as you were
with Lianna, we didn’t care. She was a harmless fool, a stupid little girl. But
you understand, it was problematic for us when you and Evian teamed up
together. Evian knows too much. Cooperatively, you are a threat that must be
disposed of.”
He took a long
pause… looked around and cheerfully said: “But it’s ok now. Today is a great
day. Tomorrow, I will be known as the man who single-handedly took down the
bomber of Nova Terra, and the dangerous Aethereusian outlaws, the Li siblings.
“They are all
unconscious General. None of them are dead!” announced a soldier in a feeble
voice, after having checked the pulse of each of the fallen enemy.
Fiori’s head
dropped in a rage.
The General shook
his head in disapproval and addressed me directly: “You will never cease to
disappoint me Fenn.”
Disdain weighing
heavily in his voice, he then turned to his daughter and said: “Clean up the
mess. These fallen soldiers are useless to me now.”
He didn’t need to
ask twice.
Eva steadied her
hand. 8 gunshots resonated throughout the empty forest.
I closed my eyes
and hoped they didn’t suffer.
Taking this
senseless massacre as a cue, Fiori dove on his quarry, landing his first punch
with a clenched fist. The General, stunned by the sheer force of the impact,
stumbled backward.
A heavy cloud of
anger and hate descended on all off us. Fiori, by now, had beaten the General
to the ground with a violent aggression.
Horror-struck, Eva
stared.
Fiori was covered
in blood.
I was drowning in
guilt.
When Eva finally
pulled the trigger, it was too late. Evian had grabbed her by the ankle and
caused her to lose balance. The shot went off wide, greatly missing the
intended target.
That gave me just
enough time to jump on the nearest soldier rendering him unconscious. The other
three, ignoring Eva’s sound advice, grabbed onto me. Before they knew it, they
were face down on the ground.
Fiori was now
sitting on top of the General. His fury finally fading one punch at a time.
I watched him in
dismay, forgetting the direness of the situation.
It wasn’t about
escaping. This was personal.
The calm and
composed Fiori I had come to know, had unleashed years of hatred and anger.
I turned away,
unwilling to witness the General’s gruesome end.
“STOP! STOP!” Eva
screamed, as she witnessed her father’s demise. She leveled her gun directly at
Evian and screamed again: “STOP or I shoot Evian!”
Fiori didn’t stop.
“I WILL SHOOT
EVIAN!”
Fiori kept on
pounding the limp body of the General.
“I WILL…”
“FIORI! STOP,” I
screamed, my voice piercing through the forest.
Fiori froze, his
fist midair. Zoned out, he was breathing heavily.
He looked up at
the sky and let out the deep howl of a wounded animal.
I rushed to his
side.
Eva was stunned,
yet she still held the gun carefully on Evian.
“Let them go,”
Evian pleaded meekly. “You have me. Let them go.”
She didn’t move.
Her eyes were fixed on the lifeless body of her father.
“Let them live.
Let them die on their own,” Evian begged her.
She lowered the
gun and callously shot him, once, in both of his legs.
Evian’s whole body
jerked with each bullet, but he didn’t scream. His mouth clenched shut.
In great pain, he
begged again: “Let them go, Eva.”
She aimed her gun
straight at Evian’s head.
Evian didn’t
flinch.
“RUN!” she finally
ordered us.
“RUN! Before I
change my mind,” she yelled once more.
“RUN! And make
sure our paths never cross again. Go far. Far. FAR!”
I struggled to get
back on my feet. I grabbed Fiori by one arm and tried to pull him with me. He
was heavy and uncooperative; cumbersome.
“C’mon, let’s go!”
I beseeched him. Afraid Eva might change her mind.
He slowly got up
like a lubber and followed me.
I had a firm grip
on his arm as we ran through the dark forest. It brought me back to that day at
the orphanage when I had tried to escape with Eva. I had lost my grip on her
hand. I had escaped without her. I had left her behind.
I tightened my
grip on Fiori’s arm. I would not let him go. No matter what, I would not leave
him behind. Together we ran through the woods until we reached the rocky
foothills of the nearby mountain range. I had no sense of direction, no idea
where Yuki had gone. I needed Fiori to snap out of it. I needed to know the
rest of the plan. I was still holding on to the belief that there had been a
plan. That all this was part of his plan.
I stopped running
for a second. I had to catch my breath. I looked at Fiori, he was heaving.
“Where do we go?”
I asked him between two gasps of air.
He didn’t answer.
“C’mon, snap out
of it! WHERE DO WE GO?” I screamed right in his face.
He started yelling
and punching at random trees. He looked like a man who had gone mad. And in
that moment, I understood, it wasn’t part of his plan. It wasn’t part of any
plan. Fiori had surrendered to his own fury.
I grabbed Fiori’s
head between my two hands. The pain in my left arm was horrendous, but there
was no time to waste.
“Look at me. Look
at me! It’s ok. It’s ok. He’s gone,” I reassured him.
Fiori let out
another scream of agony.
“It’s ok, look at me. We’re safe. We’ve
succeeded. We are going to live,” I tried again.
His face suddenly lit
up. He was back. There was confusion in his eyes, but he was back. I pressed
him: “What do we do? Where did the others go?”
“Doran…” was all
he said. “We need to get to Doran!”
“Then what?”
“It was ugly,
wasn’t it?” Fiori said, completely ignoring my question. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry
you had to see it. That’s the difference between a good and a bad person.
You’re a good person Fenn, the way you put those soldiers to sleep without
harming them. But me… I am irredeemable. What you saw today, is who I really
am. That is Fiori.”
“Yet, all the soldiers I refused to
kill ended up dying anyway. I might as well have killed them… and besides,
what’s the use of being a good person, if in the end, the people you care about
die because of you?”
“That is a question you will have to
answer for yourself. You and I might come up with very different answers Fenn…
but the only answer that matters, is the one that lives in your heart.”
“So, you think I should have killed
the soldiers?”
“Yes, I think you should have killed
the soldiers.”
“But killing the soldiers would not
have changed the outcome!”
“Not for them. Not for me. But
perhaps for you, the outcome would have been different… sooner or later, this
little bird will have to learn to fly on his own… We messed up Fenn. You and I
both messed up.” He grabbed his head with both hands.
“But it’s too late now.” I coldly
answered. “We need to get to Doran.”
Together we walked for another hour,
following the base of the mountain range until we came to a pass. I followed
him in silence, surprised he could navigate in this uncharted land. I trusted
that he knew where we were heading.
And he did.
I have no idea
how, but he knew exactly where to go.
As the night took
on a new shade of dark, we arrived on the bank of a much larger river. On the
other side, we could see the outline of a mountain range breaking away from the
sky. Two boats were anchored on the bank. Arno, Doran, Yuki and Meyer were
anxiously waiting, but with our arrival, relief spread through the group.
I rushed to Eli’s
side.
“She will be ok,”
Yuki said with a tender smile. “We were able to stop the bleeding. You did
well. You did more than enough. She’s resting right now. She will be happy to
see you when she wakes up.”
I brushed some
stray hair from her forehead. Her skin was as white as the moon.
“Where do we go
from here?” I finally asked.
“In the last few
weeks, I worked with Evian at preparing our escape route. I have a canoe, here,
ready with supplies. If we head north, it will bring us to the shore of
Antarticum. There, a boat is waiting to take us to Control Island B and
possibly beyond to the scorched continents. There wasn’t enough time to get
everything prepared, but I am confident we can make it with what we have…
especially since we’ll be leaving behind Ashe and Evian,” explained Doran.
“Let’s go then!”
Yuki said.
“It doesn’t feel
right though… does it…” voiced Doran, “leaving Antarticum behind.”
“Some of us have
family here…” Meyer added.
“Some of us have
unfinished business too…” I furthered under my breath.
“But then again,
if we don’t go now, then what? There is nowhere else for us to go,” Doran
conceded.
We all turned to
Fiori, who had kept quiet so far.
Up until now, he
had completely ignored the conversation. He was busy looking at the sky.
The night sky
truly was magnificent: green and purple lights dancing over our heads. It
didn’t feel right to bother him. So, we stood there quietly taking in nature’s
spectacle.
In that grave
moment, it seemed nature had succeeded in bringing us back our humanity. We
paused amidst the chaos and took a breath of fresh air. A new beginning was
right up ahead.
But after a while,
a weary looking Fiori turned and addressed all of us.
Standing there, a
broken man on the bank of the river with the northern lights shining behind
him, his confidence gone, he said: “I am not a good man.” He was struggling to
talk: “I have done horrible things. And it seems… it seems like I will have to
do many more of those horrible things. But maybe… maybe there is hope. Maybe if
I keep doing bad things, maybe one day… it will lead to something good. Maybe
it will all have been worth it. But until then, I am sorry. I am sorry for
everything I’ve done. And everything I am about to do. I won’t be going to the
shore of Antarticum. I am not going back to the scorched continents. I am not
going to run away. Not this time. Not until we put an end to this. Not until
everyone is free!”
“How?” Meyer
asked, skeptical as always.
“I am going to
destroy Antarticum. I am going to tear down the Land of the Gods. Outside these
walls, people are suffering. People are dying. Humanity is dying. I am going to
open up the continent to the rest of the world. And in order to do so, there is
someone I must visit. Arno, I believe you know her well...”
“…Dr. Nadja Bari,”
Arno and Fiori spoke in unison.
Comments
Post a Comment