Savior of the Damned

June 27th

Phaedra walked up to the gates. They were closed, which she didn’t find surprising. The bushes and vining plants were so overgrown on the wrought-iron fence she was a little worried she wouldn’t be able to open the gates. She looked to either side, but all she could see was the length of the fence. The bushes looked to be blackberries, and Phaedra stopped for a moment to have some. When she had last been at Temple, they were small and green, but these looked ripe enough to eat. She groaned as the berries burst with a tart sweetness. Being somewhat dead meant she could eat for pleasure but didn’t need the sustenance. It was frustrating. Aurelius supplied food and drink, but it was nothing like this.

Phaedra went back to the wrought-iron fence and looked at the lock. It was a thick rusted chain with an equally rusted locked. Hoping she could break it, Phaedra first yanked on it and then banged it on the iron bars. She frowned when it didn’t break. Lock-picking was a skill she never learned. That only meant she couldn’t be stealthy, however. A blast from her spell cannon would do the trick. Phaedra stepped back and loaded a cartridge. Aiming, she braced herself and pulled the trigger. The spell cannon roared in her hand, deafening her for a moment. Sparks exploded everywhere as the spell hit the chain and it fragmented into a million pieces, twisting some of the gate bars as well.

Holstering the gun on her bandolier, she stepped forward and gave the gates a push. They didn’t want to move, but a good push got the rusted hinges to open, squealing with the effort.

The grounds, now that she could see them, were a riot of overgrown plants. What was once a pleasant villa had been taken over by the garden and surrounding plants. The pond in front was a sea of green growing things. Phaedra glanced into its depths to see the fish swimming. She resisted the urge to divine something from its depths. She was sure she could, but she didn’t want to mess with any latent magic left in it.

Walking towards the back of the villa, there was a massive greenhouse. It sprawled over a good part of the land, surrounded by trees that hid it well. Something pulled her towards the greenhouse. She knew it would be in there.

Reaching the greenhouse, Phaedra worked the door open. It creaked, raining rust and dust down on her as the door opened against its will. She stepped in, looking around her in awe. It was a two-story greenhouse. Most of the plants in here looked well and truly dead. There were freestanding aquariums in here, but they were dry, the plants and fish that once lived in them long gone.

Phaedra knew something was here. She shook her head, trying to clear the cotton from it that seemed stuffed between her ears, and started looking for the source. The dead plants in the greenhouse had exposed all the hidden secrets. Regents were behind pots or hidden where leafy green plants would have obscured them. She found a small scrying mirror, which she pocketed, along with some hag stones and small crystal balls the size of large marbles. Those things, however, weren’t what she was looking for.

Phaedra went up the wrought iron staircase and found books. They were on gardening. Handwritten notes on plants whose names Phaedra had only heard in passing, or not at all, were scattered on a small table shoved into a corner. A low shelf held more dead plants on top, as well as tools. Broken plates littered the floor, the remnants of lunch perhaps. Drag marks were visible on the floor under the thick layer of dust. Phaedra followed them to a small room whose door sported a shattered frame. There was no body, but there was no reason to expect one.

The room had been torn apart as if someone had been looking for something. The buzzing in here was even more intense. Phaedra shuddered; her mouth was dry. She didn’t want to find it, but she didn’t have a choice. Aurelius had spared both her and Demeter, but her luck wouldn’t hold out forever. And after seeing what he did to Torin, she didn’t want to risk his wrath. But giving him an artifact to become a literal God didn’t seem any better. The voice whispered something about how she couldn’t, but what other choice was there?

Sounds from the first floor reached her ears, and she pressed her back against the wall. Creeping out of the room, she tip-toed to where she could see. Down below were two people, one with long black hair and one with short red. They murmured to themselves, trying to be quiet.

“Are you sure someone was here?”

“Are you blind? Look at all the dust that’s been disturbed.”

“But why here?”

Phaedra realized with a start it was Eldren, with someone she didn’t know. They had their backs to her and were examining the places where she had pilfered the items. “Hey,” she said, voice too quiet.

The two people jumped, spun, and stared up at her. “You’re alive,” Eldren said. “I saw . . .” he looked at her throat and then looked down for a moment. “What do we do now?” He asked. “Because I know the uniform you’re wearing.”

Phaedra would have preferred a punch to the chest versus hearing those words. “Eldren I . . .” she didn’t know what to say. All the things that came to mind seemed pointless to say, and it made it hard to speak words of friendship.

“You’re here for it, aren’t you?” he asked.

Phaedra was quiet for a few heartbeats. “Yes,” she said.

“I can’t let you have it.” Eldren set his jaw even as his voice shook, and a hand strayed to his spell cannon.

Phaedra felt dizzy. Was this the answer she was looking for? “Take it. If I get it, I’ll give it to you.”

She watched as Eldren’s face first looked shocked, then elated.

“You’re still Phae,” Eldren said. “I thought . . .” he stopped, choking on his words.

“As long as I’m alive, I won’t bow so easily. I’m coming back, no matter what.”

Eldren took a step towards the stairs but hesitated. “Phae . . .” anger, sorrow, pity, and a dozen other emotions crossed his face as he faltered.

“I’m not sticking by his side,” Phaedra said. “It’s a temporary setback. That’s all.”

Eldren stiffened his shoulders. “All right. Let’s find it. We’ll check down here.”

“I’ll check up here,” Phaedra said, ducking into the room. She pulled the scrying mirror out of her pocket and thought of the ’stone. She didn’t want to risk too much power and alert Torin or Luca, or, dead gods forbid, Aurelius, but the mirror would be just fine for that. Images formed in the mirror as she called power to it, and the mirror showed her where the ’stone was.

Phaedra put the mirror away and pulled it out of its hiding place inside a false panel. It just looked like a mechanical heart, but the mirror had shown her what was inside. It was tempting to take it for herself. But it wasn’t worth the risk. Eldren needed it to save the world, after all.

She walked out of the room. “Hey.” Eldren and the elven woman looked at her. “You owe me one,” she said as she tossed the heart to Eldren.

He caught it, gasping. “Phae—”

A growing buzz sounded at the back of her head, and she drew her spell cannon. “You have to leave. Now.”

“Phae, I—”

“Now!” She aimed to one side. Eldren booked it out the back door of the greenhouse as the front door opened. Phaedra pulled the trigger, praying she missed both of them as the spell cannon roared in her hand. The glass shattered, the metal of the frame twisting out as the fire spell hit it.

“Damn it!” she heard Torin yell.

“I didn’t hear them come in,” Phaedra said, holstering her gun.

“They got it again, didn’t they?”

Phaedra nodded, unable to speak. Torin screamed and kicked a chair, sending it spinning. “You are taking the fall for this one,” he said, pointing a finger at her.

Phaedra swallowed. It wasn’t okay. It was the furthest thing from being okay, but she didn’t want Torin to suffer again. The least she could do was take his place this time.

***

Phaedra looked at Torin, who was pale and drawn. The ride back to the fortress had been quiet, and he had been drinking more. It had been a week of silence, and the feelings of rejection, when they were almost getting along, hurt.

Torin pulled out his flask and took a sip. “I’ll come with you. But he might force me to stay outside.”

Phaedra thumped Torin on the back, causing him to jump. “You don’t have to.”

Torin looked and her and harrumphed but said nothing. They walked towards the throne room where Aurelius planned with his generals. Phaedra wished it was the control room they were going to. She didn’t want others to witness this.

She knocked on the heavy double doors and they swung open. A sea of lifeless faces stared at her, Aurelius in the center with Cristiano. Phaedra strode forward and squared her shoulders. “We lost it.”

Aurelius looked at her. “Why?”

“I wasn’t expecting anyone to show up.” That, at least, was the truth. It was a new tactic Temple was using; she certainly had no reason to expect them there.

Aurelius looked over his shoulder at Demeter. “Well?”

“I was unaware Temple knew about the Godstones or their potential locations,” Demeter said.

Aurelius looked back at Phaedra and Torin. “Leave us.” Aurelius’s generals shuffled out of a side door. Torin, next to Phaedra, hesitated. “Torin, the same goes for you.” Phaedra refused to look back as Torin shuffled out of the double doors. Aurelius sighed. “Perhaps I assumed too much. Sit, Phaedra.” Phaedra sat down in the chair across from him, maps and papers strewn between them. “What do you think I’m trying to do?”

Phaedra laughed. “You’re destroying the world.”

“No. I’m trying to preserve what’s left of it.” Phaedra went still as he looked at her. “The world is dying, Phaedra. Humanity is stripping it of everything it needs to live, and no one is interested in reversing course.”

Phaedra scowled. “You can’t just kill off every living person because you want to save the trees.”

It was Aurelius who laughed then. “No? Why not? I spent years trying to enact change. I was laughed at. Ridiculed. No one could feel what I was feeling, no one could hear the cries of the Terra as she wept in pain. Instead, they called me a luddite.”

“Who are they?” she asked.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. They’re long since gone. But their deaths don’t change the fate of the world. The planet is dying. The animals are dying. The plants and seas and everything. Humanity is killing its only home, and it’s not like we can go live amongst the stars.”

“You’re killing everyone because you’re bitter no one listened to you?” she asked, appalled at what she was hearing.

“No. Terra herself tasked me to purge humanity, for her sake and for the sake of what’s left.”

“That’s not your call to make.”

“I was once like you, before the magic took me over. I was even willing to die for my convictions, which I most definitely did. But the Terra has had enough. Why else would I come back? How else would I be gifted abilities beyond your comprehension?”

“That doesn’t justify killing every last human.”

“No, it doesn’t. That’s why I’m not trying to. Humanity has a chance at redemption, but it’s trial by fire. When I’m done—”

“It’s not your choice,” Phaedra interrupted, clipping each word. “Humans have a right to live their lives.”

“And what of the planet we live on?” he asked. “What about that? The trees, cut down for mining operations, the animals driven to extinction? The polluted waterways? Why shouldn’t Terra get a say in all that?”

“We can do better,” Phaedra said, her chest tightening with the words. “We have to.”

“But they’re not. Humans don’t care about anything other than themselves. They proved that when they killed me for speaking out against it. For studying forbidden magic, magic that would help heal the Terra.”

“Is that what happened? It’s not too late—” Phaedra said, cutting off as he turned away from her.

“I’m doing this to save what humanity hasn’t killed yet. I’ll make sure the humans left when I’m done don’t repeat those mistakes.”

“By becoming a God of Death?” she demanded, voice cracking as heat rose in her face. “How is a God of Death going to save anything?” Phaedra rose from her chair as Aurelius stepped around the table. “Besides, you killed the Gods. Or did you forget?” she asked, voice dripping with acid.

“When I died and came back a changed man, I challenged the Gods. I found where they hid away from the mortals, and I asked them why. And they supplied no answers. So, I killed them.”

“How was necromancy going to help?”

Aurelius laughed; it was a bitter sound filled with broken things. “That’s the thing. I wasn’t studying necromancy. I was studying horticulture magic. But they didn’t want that. They were worried I would stop their so-called progress.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Phaedra said. “Maybe it was just them. People are studying that now! It’s no longer forbidden, in fact—”

“The time for forgiveness is gone,” Aurelius said. “They had a chance, and they threw it away by killing me.”

“That’s the most self-absorbed thing I’ve ever heard,” Phaedra snapped. “You’re not a God, even now. Were they wrong to kill you? Yes, they were. That doesn’t justify any of what you’ve done since coming back,” she said, voice raising with each uttered word. “You could have been anything after death. You could have changed the world. But you used it as an excuse for your bitter, judgmental hatred of the people who killed you. And for what? To say you knew better all along? How do you know you haven’t killed or enslaved the person who could have made a difference?” Aurelius glared daggers at her, his eyes lit up with a fire that would have made almost anyone else stop in their tracks. But he couldn’t kill Phaedra. He could be as angry as he wanted, but he couldn’t kill her and risk everything. “Horticulture magic is thriving back home. People are making great advancements in your own field. People you’ve killed have been putting in the very effort you claim is missing. So that doesn’t fly with me.”

With a lightning quickness, Aurelius grabbed Phaedra by the throat, shoving her back against a table. She grabbed his wrist, but his eyes lit up with an inner fire. “Be still.” She dropped her hand against her own will, struggling to draw breath. Her vision started to go spotty before he dropped he hand, stepping back. “Tell me the truth,” he thundered.

Against her will, Phaedra told the truth. The whole truth. Aurelius crossed his arms, scowling, as she finished.

“I will not tolerate disobedience, Phaedra,” Aurelius said. “Torin, get in here and take her away. I’ll have Demeter deliver your next orders,” he said as Torin came in.

Torin all but ran up and grabbed Phaedra’s arm as her will returned. “Wait a minute,” she said.

“Phaedra, don’t,” Torin hissed as Cristiano came in the double doors, freezing as he saw his mentor walking up to them.

“I was hoping to see you two.” Cristiano strode up and reached out and grabbed Torin’s arm as the other man was walking away, jerking him close. Phaedra watched as Torin gasped and closed his eyes, Cristiano’s face just inches away, and she stepped up to knock Cristiano’s hand off Torin’s arm.

“What do you think—” Cristiano demanded, recoiling as Phaedra’s fist came up and connected with Cristiano’s face. Cristiano held his cheek as his face turned red. Aurelius laughed.

“I told you she’s got spirit,” Aurelius said. Cristiano turned around, pointing as if to say something, but Aurelius dismissed him. “I need them to keep searching. Leave them alone.” Aurelius glanced at Phaedra. “Go. Wait for your sister to deliver the orders.”

Phaedra grabbed Torin’s arm and stalked out of the room, dragging him along behind her.

“Phaedra, let me go,” he said, jerking his arm out of her hand.

“He’s an absolute monster,” she said as Torin guided her into an empty room. “Both of them are.”

“Yes, I know,” Torin said, closing the door and crossing his arms over his chest.

Phaedra shook her head and punched the wall. “We need to get out of here.”

“If you have an idea, I’m all ears.” The exhausted tone Torin held was fuel for her anger.

“Fight back. No one here fights.”

“Because we all learned how useless it is,” Torin said, that same worn-down tone permeating everything. “It’s hopeless.”

“Yeah, I know. Death is a luxury we’ve all been denied.” She punched one hand into her palm. “I thought Aurelius was bad, but Cristiano—”

“Is an absolute devil,” Torin’s words were barely audible.

“What does he even want?”

“Beyond destroying everything possible?” he asked, tone a touch acidic.

Phaedra eyed him. “Something’s not adding up. How old is Cristiano anyway? And why is he so friendly with Aurelius?”

Torin looked down at the ground. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“He doesn’t want the destruction of the world. That’s too simple. He has to have other motives than watching everything turn to ash and dust.”

“I mean, it’s good enough for Aurelius,” Torin pointed out.

Phaedra held up a finger. “Yeah, but he has an end goal. Most people want something for their effort. A job well done is supposed to be its own reward, but few people actually follow that.” She looked at Torin. “Can I ask something?”

“Something tells me you’ll ask no matter what I say, so sure, go ahead.” Torin’s tone and body language screamed defeat as he slouched against the wall, head down, arms crossed across his chest.

Phaedra paused. “Did he ever say what he wanted?”

Torin’s shoulders slumped farther down. “He wanted the perfect pupil, remember?”

Phaedra paused again. “But beyond that. Did he ever slip up?”

Torin ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve worked to forget much more than I’ve managed so far.”

Phaedra’s chest hurt at the admission, and she stepped closer to Torin. “I’ll get us out of here. You and Luca and Demeter and everyone else who wants to go.”

Torin raised his head, his eyes full of things better left unsaid. “We should go wait for your sister,” he said instead, opening the door and stalking out.

***

Phaedra looked up as the door to the magic lab opened, heart beating erratically as she knew Cristiano had come back. It was a feeling of relief to see her sister instead. “He come up with where to go next?”

“Cristiano and I did, yeah.”

Phaedra blanched. “The last thing I want is to go where he orders me.”

Demeter looked at her, concern on her face. “I’m worried about you, sister. You’ve had such a hard time adapting.”

“I mean, we’re thralls to the King of evil. It’s hard to be pleased with my lot in life.”

Demeter smiled a sad smile. “It doesn’t have to be this way. And it won’t be this way forever.”

Phaedra lounged in her seat. “Yeah. Sure. He’ll grind everything to dust and then turn on us when everyone else is dead. Makes sense.”

“Just think about what I said. Give this to Torin.” Demeter held out a slip of paper that was folded and sealed with wax. “It’s your orders.”

“Demeter?” Phaedra called out as her sister turned away.

Demeter turned back to see her. “Yes?”

“He’s not . . . doing anything shady to you, is he?”

Demeter smiled at Phaedra. “I’m as safe as can be. I’m more worried about you.” With that said, Demeter turned and walked out.

Phaedra got up and went into the back room, where Torin was sorting through boxes of various items. “We got our orders.”

Torin looked up, frowning. “That was fast.”

Phaedra swallowed, a hard lump in her throat making it difficult to talk. “I guess Demeter helped Cristiano figure it out or something.”

Disappointment crossed Torin’s face, but he nodded as Phaedra handed it over, still sealed. He opened it and nodded. “Let’s go get Luca,” he said, putting the box to one side as he stood. “We should go right away.”

“My sister isn’t in danger, is she?” Phaedra asked.

“No more than you are. You’re hardly in a better position here.”

Phaedra looked over her shoulder at the door leading into the magic lab. “I don’t have a good feeling.”

“Probably because good feelings don’t exist here.” He folded the paper and stuck it in a pocket. “Let’s go get Luca and take off. The less time I spend on the fortress, the better.”