Incident 27 (6 page)

Could
it be…?

* * *

Arcturus
entered the sleepy hamlet of Blasdow, a remote village in the Tru Republic. Children were playing in the gravel roads, sheep were being tended to in the
fields, and overall there was a strong sense of peace and normality.

Well
, Arcturus, thought,
time to for that to change
.

He
snapped his fingers, and a multitude of dark shapes rose up from the ground.

Soon he will come, and we can begin for real.

* * *

Freya
rushed into Bethos’s office. “We have a problem,” she said.

“What
now?” he asked.

“I’ve
been in the Prayer Chamber monitoring the thoughts of the world, hoping to gain
some clue as to where the Ark is. Suddenly there were frantic prayers asking
for help. A village in the Tru Republic is under attack by monsters.”

Bethos
raised an eyebrow. “Monsters?”

She
nodded. “Yes. Dark; large upper bodies with spindly legs; claw-like hands.
Sound familiar?”

Giving
a frustrated exhale, he said, “Refghasts.”

“Request
permission to send a team. Some second-years should be enough to handle a group
of refghasts.”

He
leaned forward in his chair. “Granted. And I think I know who you want to
send.”

“That’s
right,” she said confidently. “A group of students who have proven they can
handle high-level otherworld enemies.”

“Better
get to it,” he said.

* * *

Ev,
Maya, Jaysin, CiCi and Daryn Anders found themselves summoned to Freya’s
office. “Thank you for coming,” she said from behind her desk.

“What’s
this about?” Ev said.

“A
village in the Tru Republic has come under attack by refghasts. Several people
have barricaded themselves in the cellar of a house, but it’s only a matter of
time before the monsters get to them. We need a team to fly over there and kill
the refghasts.”

Intrigued,
Jaysin said, “You mean…?”

“That’s
right,” she said. “It’s time for your first official mission. Since you handled
the Nephilim so well, this should be no problem for you.”

“We
certainly sent those refghasts packing in Stiftung,” Jaysin said.

“Until
Maya shot us,” Daryn added.

“Watch
it,” Ev said. True or not, he wasn’t about to let Daryn say such things. He had
considered the ginger a friend up until recently, but now he wasn’t so sure.
Daryn had been bitter about Maya’s betrayal even during the Stiftung Crisis,
and that anger had only grown since then. Was this due to the developmental
disorder—Ashbury’s Syndrome—Daryn suffered from? Ev just didn’t know.

“Is
this going to be a problem for you?” Freya asked Daryn.

Daryn
straightened up and adopted a professional posture. “No. No problem. No problem
at all.” Ev seriously doubted his words.

“Good,”
Freya said. “Now, Daryn, since you come from the Tru Republic, I trust you know
the way to Blasdow?”

He
shrugged. “I’ve passed through there a few times. It’s a ways from the major
economic centers. Anything that happens in Blasdow won’t be noticed for quite a
while.”

She
nodded. “Very well, then. Because of your military upbringing, and your
knowledge of the area, I’m putting you in charge of this mission. Think you can
handle it?”

“Absolutely.”

“Good.
Now hurry up and get over there.”

Chapter
IV

The
True Kingdom was located a few thousand miles south of Mt. Orleia on a massive continent. Comprised of industrious, hardworking people, the nation
recently entered a golden age of prosperity.

The
Tru Republic had a humid, temperate climate which contributed greatly to its
vast, bright green plains, peat bogs and marshlands. In addition, the continent
was rimmed with rock-strewn inlets.

The
primary exports of this nation were food and livestock. In the center of the
True Kingdom lay the major cities and industrial centers, while the further out
one went, the more rural the settlements became.

The
village of Blasdow was located on the northeastern edge of the continent,
several hours from its nearest neighbors. It was mostly farmland out there,
with a dozen or so houses interspersed throughout a few square miles. A single
gravelly road ran through the heart of the village. Aside from that, there were
only dirt paths going here and there. A few trucks could be seen, but nothing
else in the way of vehicles.

Per
Daryn’s orders, they landed a ways outside Blasdow, behind a large hill. They
then made their way into the village and stopped in the center of town.

“This
is bad,” Ev said. “There’s no sign of anyone here. The place looks empty.”

“No
sign of any refghasts, either,” Jaysin said.

CiCi
looked around nervously. “Do you think we’re too late?”

“Not
necessarily,” Daryn said. “I don’t see any bodies. If the refghasts had
slaughtered everyone, there would be corpses everywhere and gallons of blood
staining the streets.”

“Good
point,” Maya said.

“I
don’t need
your
praise,” Daryn shot back.

Ev
got up in his face. “Listen, you—”

His
words were cut off by a series of dark shapes rising up from the ground.
Refghasts. The things were every bit as ugly as Ev remembered. They just looked
so…wrong. For one thing, they had no faces, but they still could talk. Their
heads resembled oily, pitch-black beach balls.

“
Divine
Protector
,” they rasped.

Daryn
responded, “Glad you know who’s here to kill you.” An oversized hammer
materialized in his hand. Everyone else brought out their weapons. Maya, a bow;
Jaysin, a staff; CiCi, two chakrams. “Don’t shoot us this time.” Daryn was
obviously speaking to Maya.

“Don’t
worry,” she said. “I won’t.” Ev had no doubt about that. She had their backs.
Things would be different this time.

He
looked down at his hands. Sucking at conjuring as he did, he would have to once
again rely on his fists. No matter, he decided, and quickly slugged the nearest
refghast. Its head exploded into what looked like motor oil. That had not
happened the last time he punched one; he was noticeably stronger now.

Maya
unloaded arrows into refghast after refghast, downing each one with ruthless
efficiency. Jaysin bashed them with his staff, and CiCi sliced them into oily
chunks with her ringed blades.

However,
the most fearsome warrior was Daryn. He pulverized any refghast that got in his
way. His hammer pounded each and every monster into dark cobbler. His ferocity
had only grown since he and Ev first met.

Ev
entered into a physical dance with the demonic beings now infesting Blasdow. He
seamlessly dodged and blocked their attacks before responding with fierce
blows. He utilized his fists, his feet—all the weapons he needed were attached
to him. He smashed refghast after refghast.

But
despite not being very strong (compared to gods, at least), the monsters at
least had sheer numbers on their side. They kept coming, and there was seemingly
to end to them.

Well,
Ev thought,
at least I don’t have any plans for the rest of
the day
.

* * *

After
a while, the refghasts in Ev’s vicinity died out. He looked around and realized
he had strayed quite a ways from the rest of the team during the battle. He was
now amidst a cluster of houses, and he didn’t see anyone else around.

A
voice behind him suddenly said, “Is it safe to come out?”

He
whirled around to see a young man standing in the doorway of a house. The
stranger appeared to be at least ten years older than Ev. He didn’t look like
any Tru citizen Ev had ever seen. While the people of this continent tended to
be fair-haired and spoke with an accent, this guy had jet-black dark hair and
didn’t speak like a Tru.

“You
live here?” Ev said.

The
man shrugged. “Not really. I’m just visiting.”

“You
picked a hell of a time to visit. Those monsters could have killed you.”

Strangely
grinning, the stranger said, “I can handle myself. Still, I’m glad you came,
Ev.”

Ev
froze. “How do you know my name?”

He
kept grinning. “Why don’t you come inside and let’s talk about it.”

The
mystery man strolled into the house like he owned it. Intrigued—and
suspicious—Ev followed him into the living room. “Where are the people that
live here?” Ev asked.

The
man replied nonchalantly, “Down in the cellar. They barricaded themselves down
there when the refghasts showed up.”

That
only raised Ev’s suspicion. “So you know what they are. Are…are you the one who
brought them here?”

He
took a seat on the couch. “Relax. No one has been injured. I just wanted to
scare them so they’d pray for deliverance from this crisis. Once the Academy
received the call, figuratively speaking, I knew they’d send a team of
second-year students—they don’t send you on missions until your second
year—with experience fighting otherworldly entities. Since you survived your
encounters with the Nephilim, sending you here was a no-brainer.”

“You
seem to know a lot about me,” Ev said. “Have we met before?”

“Yes
and no.”

“Ev!”
Maya entered the house. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried about you. I…”
She suddenly noticed the stranger. “Bethos be damned. Arcturus Reich.”

Arcturus
smiled at her. “Nice to see you again, Maya.”

Ev
was baffled. “You two know each other?”

There
was alarm in her voice. “He’s a member of Zero Grade. Every now and then he
would come to the castle on errands.”

“Not
quite,” Arcturus said. “I’m a freelancer now. I’ve tendered my resignation with
the organization. And those weren’t simple errands. I just used that as an
excuse to meet with Belial. He didn’t fully trust you, Maya, and he wanted to
make sure he had a backup protégé in case you ever betrayed him. It looks like
his fears were justified.”

She
shot him a venomous glare. “Don’t pretend you know anything about me. You were
with the organization willingly. I was there because I had no other choice.”

“Do
we
ever
really have a choice, Maya? Don’t our circumstances determine
our actions? At any rate, I’m not here for you. I’m here for Ev.”

“Me?
What do you want with me?”

“I
wanted to meet you face to face for the first time. You and I have quite the
history together, even though we’ve never formally met. How have you been doing
since…you…you know…killed your father?”

Ev
exploded. “How could you possibly know that?”

He
shrugged. “Well, to explain that, a little background information on me is
necessary. For instance, I bet even Maya doesn’t know I used to be one of you—a
student at Divine Protector Academy.”

“You
were?” she said.

Nodding,
he said, “That’s right. It was before your time. I made good grades, I had
friends, and I always tried to do the right thing.”

“So
what changed?” Ev asked.

“I
was kicked out due to a certain incident. Incident 27, to be specific. Did you
know the Academy keeps track of all its mistakes? Likely Maya here is now
Incident 28.

“Shut
up,” she said.

“Wait,”
Ev interjected. “Let him talk. I want to hear about this. What is Incident 27?”
He remembered something Freya has said when he first started using the Prayer
Chamber.
In the
past, we used to leave students unattended while they did it. But because
of…certain issues…we had to develop a way to link telepathically with you
during the process. We now require that a faculty member be present during
every prayer answering session.
Was this the “certain issues” she had mentioned?

“Well,
back in those days, we used to be able to use the Prayer Chamber unsupervised. One
day, I happen to hear the prayer of a child constantly living in fear of his
father. I took an interest in this little boy.”

Ev
stepped back, horrified. “No. It’s not true. Please don’t say it.”

“Think
about it, Ev,” Arcturus said. “Why did you kill your father?”

“I
had no choice. I had to do it or he would have killed my mother.”

“But
wasn’t there a voice in your head telling you what to do?” Arcturus said.

“

My
inner voice told me to. It was my survival instincts,” Ev insisted.

Arcturus
leaned forward. “No, Ev; it wasn’t. It was me.
I
told you to kill him.”

“No!
You’re lying.”

“Well,
then. Tell me if this sounds familiar. ‘There’s a knife on the table. Grab it.
Kill him! Kill that monster. The world will be a much better place without
him’.”

Ev
fell to his knees and clutched his head. “I didn’t want to do it! My dad, he
gave me no choice.”

However,
Arcturus would not be swayed. “But you
did
have a choice. You weren’t
going to do it. I sensed that. So I astral-projected over to you, and I gave
you guidance. Anni Bannen is still alive today because of me, and you’re a hell
of a lot better off with your dad dead.”

Maya
had had enough. She conjured her bow and pointed it squarely at Arcturus Reich.
“That’s enough! Why do you want to torture him so badly?”

Arcturus
regarded her coldly. “You think I
enjoy
torture? You think I’m the
complete opposite of Ev? I got news for you. He and I are more alike than you
can imagine. All it takes is one slight difference in circumstances to make
someone turn out like me.”

“Ev
is nothing like you,” she said. “You still haven’t told us what you’re doing
here, aside from causing emotional suffering.”

“It’s
not that complicated, really. I’m about to create a new world, and I want Ev to
be a part of it.”

“Why
Ev?”

“You
might say we’re kindred spirits. I was there for him in his darkest hour. I
understand him better than you ever will.”

“I
understand him well enough. Enough to know he doesn’t want whatever you’re
selling.”

He
gave her a smirk. “Please, Maya. You’ve known him—what? A year? I’ve known him
for
ten
years. I’ve been watching him, excited to discover what sort of
man he’ll become.”

Staring
icily at him, she said, “He won’t become like you. I promise you that.

“Now,
then. Can I assume you’re the one who broke into the Tower of Babel and killed Heimdall?”

“I
didn’t break in,” he said. “I used
this
.” He held his hand flat in the
air, and a familiar crimson object appeared in it.”