Savior of the Damned

September 7th

Phaedra stared at Aurelius as he watched her enter the control room. “Torin, leave us,” he said. “Though don’t wander too far.”

She watched as Torin sulked out the door, shoulders locked as he slipped away. Turning back to Aurelius, she watched as he stared at her. “You lost it,” he said.

“Well, maybe—” Phaedra started, when Aurelius cut her off by grabbing her by the throat. She thrashed in his grip, trying to tear his hand off her as she choked.

“I don’t tolerate failure, Phaedra,” he said, lifting her up onto her toes. She worked her mouth as she tried to remove his hand, unable to do much more beyond that if she didn’t want to hang from his fist. He squeezed slightly and an electric current shot through her, causing her muscles to jerk even as she gasped for air. “In case you’ve forgotten, you’re much, much harder to kill now than when you were once alive.”

After what felt like a lifetime, he dropped her on the floor. As she vomited up bile, the door opened again, and Torin helped her to her feet. “Take her out of my sight,” Aurelius said, voice dripping with disgust. “Wait for your next orders.” Phaedra watched as he turned his back, the door slamming shut between them as soon as she and Torin had cleared it.

Phaedra couldn’t make her limbs work if she wanted to. Torin got her arm up over his shoulders and put a hand around her waist, steering her out the door and down the hall. Phaedra said nothing; it took all of her concentration and then some to put one foot in front of the other and not pitch forward.

Eventually, they stopped along a familiar hall. Phaedra looked up to see they were standing in front of the infirmary. Torin used his free hand to open the door and then helped her inside.

“Why don’t you leave?” she coughed out through a gritty, pain-filled throat as Torin helped her lay down on the bed.

He shook his head. “Because there is no way out, except through death. Just rest for now. I’ll watch over you.”

Phaedra wanted to protest, to say she hadn’t slept a wink since she had arrived, but it was useless. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and the waiting darkness took her.

***

Phaedra stood in the old playground she and Demeter used to play at, the one from before their parents died, and they fled the spreading violence. It wasn’t Demeter standing next to her, though. It was Eldren, who she had met after Haven fell.

“This isn’t real,” Phaedra said. “We’re just dreaming.”

“Can’t we pretend this is real?”

Phaedra looked at him as the swings creaked behind them, then went back to looking over the city, intact. She knew she was dreaming because the city had fallen like so many others. “We can’t dream forever.”

“I’m trying to do everything I can here. Just come back to us, Phae.”

“I’m trying.”

“She says you’re not listening hard enough.”

Phaedra tore her eyes away from the view and looked over at him. “Listening for who?” she asked, afraid to assume.

“That voice that whispers to you, too quiet to hear unless you know what to listen for. You haven’t been listening close enough, heard all she’s had to say.”

“No, Eldren doesn’t speak that way,” Phaedra snapped. “You’re not my friend. Who are you?” She demanded, conjuring up the Command Word to reveal his true form as she reached for the unflinching figure.

***

Phaedra sat up with a gasp, heart racing so fast she knew it was going to explode. She looked around her, disappointed to see the same flat black walls and dim lighting. Looking around some more, she gasped again as Torin came into view. “I didn’t want you waking up by yourself,” he said, voice pitched low.

Phaedra looked at him, at the thick scar on his throat, at his passive expression. She felt her own throat, felt the thick, white scars where the dog had torn it out. “Oh,” she said, not sure if she should look away.

Torin broke eye contact first, looking down at his hands. “We’ve all been there, where you are,” he said. “But none of us ever felt the way you do, not to the rest.”

Frowning, she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the cot. “So why not leave? Stage a revolt? Something? Anything?” she said, forcing herself to whisper.

“Then why don’t you?” He asked, voice sounding less malicious and more tired. “It’s not for lack of trying.”

Phaedra fell quiet; as she sat there, a little voice called out that she needed people she could trust. She looked around but didn’t see anyone else but her and Torin.

“They didn’t have a choice either,” he said. “None of us did.”

Phaedra looked at Torin, as if seeing him for the first time. He had slumped forward, to rest his elbows on his knees, posture full of defeat. He was The Magus, who served Aurelius, she was more than aware. Having faced him herself, she knew why Aurelius used him. But this wasn’t the posture of a man who loved his role. This was someone who had given up.

Phaedra got the urge to touch him. Something told her to forge a connection. Frowning, Phaedra reached out and grasped Torin’s hands. He went still under her, and she felt a small spark of life. Phaedra hummed to herself, as this was different than the spark that animated them, the one that came from Aurelius. Torin looked up at her, and Phaedra saw the park again, heard the creaking swings, and knew what she was listening for.

Phaedra grabbed Torin’s face with both hands as he looked at her, and she shoved power into him. Tapping directly into the Celestial Fane, she pulled as much as she could stand and pushed it into Torin. He tried to rock back, hands grasping at her wrists, but didn’t yell. Phaedra flooded his bond with Aurelius and severed it. He gasped as the bond fell away to be replaced by hers.

“Phaedra—”

“We have to get moving now,” she said, pulling Torin along with her as she stood and ran. The first person they encountered was the one who could stitch Resurrected flesh back together, someone she didn’t know, and Phaedra took her too.

“We need Luca!” Torin shouted.

“I know!” she said, taking the next person she encountered. With each person she took, her power swelled. Could she do this? She didn’t have a choice now. A plan would have been better, but the only thing driving Phaedra was her need to escape, a need that eclipsed everything else.

“What did you two—” Luca stopped talking as Phaedra reached up and grabbed his face, overwhelming the bond Aurelius had on him to replace it with her own.

“We need weapons,” Luca said, dragging the party to the armory. They put on the bandoliers and grabbed cutlasses, and they were off again. Chaos ensued as Phaedra took every person who crossed their paths that wasn’t threatening. Phaedra knew as soon as the fighting started, she had taken as many people as she could have dared. They were out of time.

An explosion from a spell cannon near Phaedra’s head made her duck behind a corner. Torin looked at her with wide eyes. “I can’t call lightning in such a small space. It’s too risky.”

“What about thunder?” she asked as Luca used a shield bracelet to seal off most of the corridor.

Torin bit his lip. “We’ll be deaf for a moment, but I can.”

Luca stepped out of the way and Torin pointed down the hall, shouting something Phaedra couldn’t make out. Thunder pealed in the hallway, deafening in the small space. Phaedra’s ears rang and she couldn’t hear for a few precious moments.

She peeked around the corner to see people knocked flat. They groaned and tried to move as her hearing restored itself. “We need more!” Still sounds like I have wool stuffed in my ears.

“Then you do something,” Torin said, voice harsh and strained.

Phaedra thought and conjured up those same memories of interruption. “Impede,” she said, targeting the people in front who were standing up. In front of her eyes, with the power boost afforded her from taking so many of his thralls, they flew back, slamming so hard into the wall Phaedra could hear the stone crack.

The men behind the ones that had died turned and ran as Torin whistled. “Temple doesn’t fuck around.”

Phaedra huffed and gestured at the people behind them, advancing down the hall with Luca providing cover.

“We’re not getting out without disabling Aurelius,” Torin said. “I wish you had given us time to plan something.”

“It was on impulse. I wasn’t thinking.”

They raced to the throne room, where Aurelius met with his generals. They broke in with a blast from Phaedra’s cannon that deafened everyone around them. Ears ringing, Phaedra strode in and fired a second shot. It dissipated around Aurelius.

“I should have known you’d do something like this,” Aurelius said, snarling.

Phaedra could feel Luca move up to stand in front of her. Knew he was going to use the shield bracelet to protect them. And when he did, she smiled to herself.

“Cristiano’s gone,” Torin shouted as Luca drew his spell cannon. “Some of his generals are missing too,” he added, drawing his own gun.

Aurelius got his hands on one of the nameless Resurrected that Phaedra had captured, and he turned into ash before their eyes. Phaedra paused. She couldn’t get too close and risk everything.

“I should have left you dead,” Aurelius said, moving around, trying to keep his back to the wall as he sidled for an exit.

“That’s your mistake and not mine,” Phaedra said, firing a shot at him that left scorch marks on his clothes. “I took a third of your forces stationed here. That’s had to have hurt,” she said, loading another shot into the spell cannon. “Because you’re not a magus, you’re not a swordsman, you’re a bitter old man who’s outlived his usefulness.” The anger in Phaedra, at the mistreatment of the world and her and her sister, was amplifying her magic abilities. Phaedra tapped directly into the Celestial Fane, and pointed at Aurelius and shouted, “Alliga!” He screamed, a hollow, rage filled sound, and slumped forward onto his knees. Breathing hard, Phaedra hoped it would buy her enough time.

“Phaedra, what are you doing?” Torin yelled. “Finish him and let’s go!”

“If I bind him, it’ll slow his men,” Phaedra shouted back.

“Then finish the job!” Barked Luca, holding men off at the door. “Because they’re not weak enough yet!”

Phaedra pointed at Aurelius, cowering before her, and started to conjure up images of rot and decay when someone slammed into her.

“Sister, what are you—” Demeter gasped as Phaedra grabbed her and severed her bond with Aurelius. “What?” she whispered, eyes going wide.

“We have to escape,” Luca shouted from the entrance. “Now!”

Phaedra took off, trusting everyone was following her, Luca providing cover. Disabling the Resurrected who tried to stop them was easier than Phaedra hoped. “You know how to fly?” Phaedra asked Torin as they ran towards the courtyard where the ’ships were.

“Not well,” Torin said, voice strained. “But we don’t have a choice unless you converted one of the pilots.”

Phaedra felt the information at her fingertips in an instant. “Damn,” she said.

“Been through worse,” Torin said as the company boarded a ’ship. Luca kicked the gangplank down and the few who had survived with them started firing as Torin activated the controls and flew the ’ship off.

Phaedra watched as the lone ’ship that went after them abandoned pursuit after a short distance. She hoped it would stay that way, but there was no way he was going to let this go.

“You left him alive,” Torin said, standing at the controls as Phaedra walked up to him.

“I wanted to make sure we could get out.”

“He’s not going to be bound forever.”

Phaedra set her jaw. “We’ll figure something out. We got out, right?”

“Why don’t I feel better, then?” Torin asked. Phaedra stared at his back, unable to think of anything to say.

Chapter 24 Eldren

September 14th

Time passed at an agonizing crawl. Eldren tried to lose himself in the radio’s repair, but it was no use. Worries of Phae plagued him. All he could do was think about the what ifs. What if they didn’t succeed? What if they did? No one had ever escaped Aurelius’s grasp, but Phae was so certain she could get away that he believed her at the time. But in the two centuries Aurelius had been in power no one had ever gotten away, and with the time that had lapsed it seemed more and more unlikely she’d get away at all.

The team Orso had thrown together at the last minute were people he didn’t know, though Abraham and Simone vouched for all of them too. The only one he knew prior was Elena, who just said she was tagging along more than anything else. Why Orso put her in charge, though, was anyone’s guess.

No one discussed what they were going there for, and Eldren couldn’t bring himself to ask what they had been told. Part of it was he didn’t want to spill anything he wasn’t supposed to talk about, but part of it was the looming fear of failure that hung over their heads. If they didn’t know what was going on, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t successful. It was a bitter resentment that it was even something to think about. But nothing was set in stone, and he didn’t want to get everyone’s hopes up.

They landed, and everyone descended the gangplank in silence. No one talked, and he didn’t want to break the oppressive quiet, instead whacking a path through the underbrush with a machete supplied by Simone. It didn’t matter if they found the path anyway, since it was certain death if anyone found it before they were gone.

Through the break in the trees that loomed ahead, they could see Temple rising above the canopy. Eldren’s breath caught again at the sight. He shook off the feelings of foreboding and marched everyone up to the courtyard doors. The dirt and dust that coated everything were still disturbed, and a quick glance showed Eldren that no one else had been through after him and Merethyl left.

Merethyl held a hand up. “Elena, find a place to camp while Eldren and I go find it.”

Elena hustled the men and women toward one of the rooms that converted into emergency housing thanks to pull out bunk beds. Everyone was silent and given how many bodies they had, it was eerie. Not one peep. Not one laugh, one cough, or anything. It added a weight to the mission that made Eldren’s shoulders itch. “We’ll get set up in there,” Elena said as she put her pack down. “We’ll wait for you here.”

Eldren looked at Merethyl, who squared her shoulders and walked away. Following behind her, it was a straightforward task to follow the trail of footprints left in the dust to where they had descended prior. Silence hung over them, thick and choking, and Eldren found it difficult to breathe.

“It was the War ’stones that we lost track of, and I think it’s here,” she said.

Eldren nodded and walked to the room where he had once left Phae to die. His throat was tight and painful and for a few seconds, his vision swam. If I had insisted on staying . . . but no. She was okay. That’s why they had come back, after all.

Eldren’s shaking hands revealed the door, and it swung open. He stepped through and grabbed the equipment the two of them had abandoned at the door the last time they had come through. The same strange hum was here, sounding like an engine that was badly in need of repair. Eldren stooped and picked up a lantern, concentrating on his Indeus as he conjured up memories of fire. The wick ignited, and he signaled Merethyl to follow with her own.

Down into the catacombs they walked, neither of them willing to break the silence. Eldren knew when they were close, he could taste it. It helped the hum also grew as they drew closer. “I don’t see where it could be,” he said.

“Because it’s in a pocket.”

“Where?”

Merethyl brushed her fingers against a crack in the wall, causing one stone to fade away. The hum faded as well, leaving a strange emptiness behind. “Here,” she said, reaching in. “The elves did not make this pocket, the dwarves did,” she said, withdrawing a mechanical heart. Eldren watched as her fingers danced over the surface and opened it to reveal the object they were looking for.

“It looks like . . .”

“Nothing?” Merethyl said. “It’s a leaf and eggs, which means it hasn’t started to awaken yet.”

Eldren looked at it. “Will these really make people into gods?” Eldren clutched his own ’stone, the thought dizzying. He didn’t feel any different. But that didn’t mean much, not when the ’stone hadn’t fully awakened.

“They have before, no reason to think the magic has changed just because they changed hands.”

He took the ’stone and stuffed it into his pocket. “Let’s go back.”

***

Time seemed to stop, lacking all meaning, as all they could do was wait. Two of the men and one woman played cards, two other women talked to Elena, and the last man with them was relaxing on a bunk, eyes closed. Eldren paced as Merethyl sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes also closed. It had been days; days of waiting; days of wondering if Phae would even show with her new friends. Eldren’s skin crawled at the thought of her bringing the enemy with her. Phae, he trusted; after all, she had taken that same risk on him. But this was different. He wasn’t a mass murderer.

A massive crash sounded from somewhere outside, and everyone came to attention, drawing spell cannons and cutlasses. “Let me go first,” Elena said. Eldren nodded, and they ran out of the room and to the front courtyard. Outside a ’ship had crash landed, and coming out of the wreckage were a few men, led by none other than Phae. She looked over at him and smiled a dazzling smile, waving, and tugged on Torin’s arm to point at Eldren.

“Phae, what happened?” Eldren said as he came up to her.

“Do you have it?” she asked.

“I do.”

“Good.” Her mouth tightened. “We need to go.”

“Good luck with that,” called out a man’s voice. “I’m surprised you freed yourself, Phaedra dear, but it won’t last. Now hand over the Godstone like a good little girl.”

Eldren looked at the speaker. He was taller than Eldren, though not by much, with blond hair and smooth, ageless skin. He was frowning and appeared unarmed, though Eldren also noted how Torin, especially, jumped. Eldren stood shoulder to shoulder with Phae as he drew his spell cannon. “Just like old times?” He asked.

Phae leveled her spell cannon at the blond-haired man. “Just like old times.”

Eldren and Phae both fired as Torin called lightning down. Elena shouted something and brought up a shield, much larger than anything personal Eldren had seen before.

“You can still hit him!” Elena called out from the back.

On cue, Phae holstered her spell cannon and drew her cutlass. Pointing, she spoke one word, “Impede.” The blond-haired man faltered, grimacing as he was flung back to hit a tree. It impressed Eldren as a flurry of spell shots hit the shield from the men that joined the one they were fighting. The shield fell as more shots hit it, causing them to duck into Temple and find hiding spots to regroup.

“You can do better,” Torin snapped.

“I’m useless if they swarm me,” Phae countered.

“We don’t have time to fight,” Eldren said, firing at another one. “Phae, can you weaken them so we can get away?”

Elena loaded a shot into her cannon and fired it, ducking back behind cover as it struck something. “We can’t make our stand here,” Elena said. “We have to get underground.”

Uncomfortable memories flooded Eldren. “Phae, I’m not leaving you behind this time.”

Phae ducked out of cover, fired, and scrambled back for cover as another volley of fire came their way. “I’m not making that mistake again.”

“I’m out of ammo,” a voice called out, unfamiliar.

“There’s more in the armory,” Phaedra, Torin, and Eldren all called out at once.

“Good point to retreat maybe,” Elena said, firing again. “I just used my last shot.”

Two people ran over to shut and bar the doors. The shield system that protected Temple from invasions seemed to be holding for the moment, not that the thought brought Eldren much relief. Once the doors were closed, they stood up and booked it to get away. Simone had posted herself by an entrance that they hadn’t used before, just in case. It was just a matter of finding the right exit. Eldren prayed that the shield she was using to hide from magic finding them held as they ran.

They were just inside the massive Temple when an explosion knocked them to the ground. The doors at the gate had blown open, taking much of the wall on either side with it.

“We have to run!” Torin yelled, grabbing Phae and ripping her to her feet. He sounded tinny and far away, and the world swam in an uncomfortably familiar pattern as Eldren leaped up. He helped the woman next to him as Elena brought the shield up again, already recharged.

“It won’t hold forever,” Elena said. “I suggest we leave, and now.”

“Wait,” Phae said. “Drop the shield, I’ll back you all up.”

“Idiot,” Eldren snapped. “That’s how you got killed last time.”

“Then help me.” Phae’s eyes bored into his.

“I’ll help too,” Torin added. “The three of us can hold them off long enough for everyone else to escape.”

Luca scoffed, but nodded. “I’ll go with the others, so they have a chance if things go south.”

“Take the others with you,” Phae said. “Just in case.”

“Make sure you catch up,” Elena commanded.

Phae pointed her cutlass as the shield dropped and spoke a single word. Power flowed out from her and hit the men coming through the shattered entryway, sending them reeling. Torin flung his hands out and lightning flashed down from the sky, exploding with a boom on the people Phae had dropped.

“Damn Phae, you’re not messing around anymore.” Eldren shook his head and holstered his cannon, wiggling his fingers.

“How many men do you think Cristiano brought with him?” Phae asked, lowering her cutlass.

“Hard to say,” Torin said, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose with a finger. “You took a bunch of men, and a bunch on both sides died.”

Eldren held his hand up, calling on his Indeus. Warmth spread from his core to his hand, and fire erupted from the shattered remains of the door, preventing anyone else from coming through for the moment. That done, he reached into his bag and withdrew a few small mechanical bugs. Winding them up, he set them down, and they scrambled away. “That will hopefully slow down a few,” he said. “They’re outfitted with stingers that will immobilize the ones they hit. Time to go.”

“Hate to agree, but it’s Cristiano we’re up against. I don’t think we can take him on.” Torin adjusted his glasses, frowning as they turned.

The trio ran back into the building, Phae in the lead. She careened around corners until they found the armory. “Take as many cartridges as you can,” she said, stuffing her pockets. “We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

Eldren took as many as he could, stuffing as many as he could where they would fit. “Ready,” he said, voice shaking.

Phae nodded, and they left for the door she had locked behind him once upon a time. Eldren’s palms were slick, and he felt lightheaded. He didn’t want to lose Phae after everything, but his brain kept spitting the same fears out at him.

They were almost to the door when a shot came from behind him, slamming into the wall and punching a hole through the plaster and wood behind it. Eldren dropped and spun around, finding cover as he loaded. He looked around to see both Phae and Torin crouched behind pillars. It was too similar. Eldren felt nauseous, and the world swam.

Eldren loaded a cartridge into his spell cannon and peeked out, firing. The shot hit the Resurrected and blew past, but not without scorching his clothes. Phae growled and peeked out from behind the pillar, swearing as she pointed. “Torre,” Phae said. Eldren watched, shocked, as the man he had hit fell over and withered, turning into a mummy.

The blond-haired man that Eldren assumed was Cristiano stepped through with a shield up. “Tsk tsk, Phaedra. you can’t defeat me that easily.” He held a hand up and muttered something. Phae gasped as she stepped out into the open.

“Kill him now,” Phae roared, fighting against an invisible hand that was forcing her to comply. Eldren held his spell cannon up and fired, to no effect.

Torin roared something and dove out from cover, hands splayed wide, and barked words Eldren couldn’t catch. Cristiano dropped his hand and fell back as a wave of thunder clapped. Eldren’s ears rang, and he could see blood trickling down at least one of Cristiano’s ears. Cristiano brought up the shield again.

“Well, you’ve held back all these years,” Cristiano said, staggering to his feet. “But it’s not going to be enough.”

Eldren reached out to his Indeus and summoned up more images of fire. He held a hand up and threw it at Cristiano as Cristiano dropped his shield. Cristiano just laughed as the flames died down, only scorching the cuffs of his jacket.

Cristiano pointed to Eldren. “I know you have it. Give it to me.”

A compulsion filled Eldren and as much as he fought it, he couldn’t help but throw the ’stone to Cristiano. Phae screamed as Torin waved his hands again and threw another wave of thunder at Cristiano. This time Cristiano was prepared and blocked it with his shield, laughing. “That’s all I was here for. Let me help you find peace,” he said, and spoke a word. The pillar Phae had been standing behind shattered, and they all heard a groan from the ceiling. “Let’s see if you can survive a collapsing building.”

Cristiano ducked out of the room as debris started to fall. Torin went to race after him, face red, but Phae grabbed his arm and swung him toward the hidden door.

“We have to leave!” she said. “I promised Eldren we’d survive. We have to go.”

“But—”

Now!” Phae roared, making Torin flinch back.

As they argued, Eldren was undoing the locks. A chunk of the ceiling almost hit him, deflected at the last moment by something Torin did.

“Thanks,” Eldren said, ducking through the doorway and grabbing a few packs. He threw one at each of his compatriots, who took them. Eldren closed the door as Phae fished out the lantern. Torin watched her, curiosity written all over his face.

“Down the stairs,” Phae told Torin. “I’m assuming Eldren knows which escape route we need.”

Eldren found his own lantern and lit it. “Follow me.”