The End of the Fantasy (Book #6 of the Sage Saga) (16 page)

“You gave me chills back there,” Lily said from inside the sphere. The winds around them were moving so fast, it was if the sphere was made up of solid circular walls of grey and brown from all the dirt the air had picked up. Bastion was staring straight ahead, searching the lands and vast bodies of ocean before him with his eidolon, but he smiled all the same.

“Chills, huh?”

“Yeah, threatening Tyuin. That scared me a bit.”

“I didn’t mean to scare you. It was meant for him,” he chuckled.

“Oh, don’t worry,” she laughed. “They were good chills. I didn’t know you could be such a bad ass.”

“Yeah, that was my mother’s first choice in naming me,” he said, glancing at her for a moment. “But she felt like it wasn’t strong enough.”

“Yep,” Lily said, putting a finger to her chin. “Bastion is definitely much scarier. In other lands you’re probably in scary stories and children’s nightmares.”

“Wouldn’t be anything new,” he said, and she chuckled.

“Guess you’re right.”

“Hey, Lily.”

“Yeah?”

“You scared? Or nervous?”

“Of finding the Yama homeland?”

“Yeah…I mean…for all we know, they could have been the ones to create you. And if so, that means they could probably shut you down when we get there.”

“Is that what you’re worried about?”

“It’s crossed my mind.”

“Well, there’s an easy fix,” she said, putting her hand on his chest, right over his heart. “When we arrive, you place me right here, and even if they turn me off or shut me down, whatever we think they can do…it won’t matter. I’ll be right inside of you. At that point, all you have to do is kick some butt and get me turned back on. Simple, right?”

“Yeah,” he laughed nervously. “You know me. Mr. Nightmares and all that.”

“Right.”

Bastion turned his attention back to his forefront as Lily kept her hand on his chest. She could feel his heart beginning to pump faster, and she smiled when she saw a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead. Without questioning why, she crouched down and slipped under his outstretched arm—the one holding his eidolon out—and then she stood up in front of him, until they were nose to nose. Bastion tried to keep his attention off of her, but she wouldn’t let him stray too far.

She kissed him gently on the edge of his jawline, his cheek, his lips, and then she continued to do so, refusing to stop as she wondered what Bastion thought of it all.

Naturally, he didn’t care.

“And so they just let you leave?” Marie asked, leaning back on the wicker chair. Sitting at a coffee table in the middle of Delahcourt city, Catherine bowed her head and sighed as Talia, Daisy and Wilheim shifted nervously in their seats. Catherine lifted her head and refused to look at Marie. Instead she glanced to her side and watched the crowds of people talking excitedly and walking together. None of them looked like warriors, yet she now knew that each and every one of them were. But she couldn’t dwell on that now. She had a grave decision to make.

“Well?” Marie asked, breaking Catherine’s concentration. The former Queen turned her attention to the Prattlian and gave her a weak smile.

“I wouldn’t say leave. More like…given us a reprieve. They want us to think over what we’ve talked about and give them an answer before dusk. They’ve allowed us the use of our manifestations to get back and forth between their headquarters for now.”

“They don’t sound scary,” Marie scoffed, but Talia shook her head.

“They’re not, but it’s the power they wield that is. With a word, they can command the entire Yama army and probably this entire city to carry out their bidding. Not to mention this bridge controller of theirs. If Bastion is to take over his job, he must be very strong.”

“They could be lying,” Marie offered, but no one had the strength to retort. Marie looked to Wilheim for answers. “All of this is true? No offense, but you don’t seem like a fighter to me.”

“I’m not,” he replied nervously. “Not really. But it’s my techniques that make fighting a moot point. I’ve had my fair share of wins on the battlefield.”

“I hate that expression,” Marie sighed. “Moot point.”

“Well, I don’t have a list on what and what does not offend you.”

“Begin making one. Moot point will be the first item.”

“Does anyone believe this though?” Daisy asked them all. “That Paradise and Oblivion are two worlds like ours? All this time?”

“How is it any different than the sun and the moon?” Marie asked her. “Just because we can’t reach them, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t there, just waiting for visitors to one day land on their surfaces.”

“It’s just…it puts a lot of things in a different perspective.”

“Makes dying a little tolerable, doesn’t it?”

“With confirmation that these places exist, I guess it does.”

“Which is something we don’t have,” Catherine butt in. “We only have their word that Paradise and Oblivion are there. We haven’t seen it. Though I have no reason to believe they would lie. I assume someone in the city must have asked for proof before agreeing to become a Delilah.”

“It’s real,” Wilheim said, nodding slowly. “I promise it is. If you tell Tillian and Veer that you will become Delilah, but you have to see the proof…they will show you.”

“If this is all true, what does that mean for Allay?” Talia asked. Catherine shrugged.

“We’ve already given up our allegiance to Allay. So that doesn’t really matter.”

“And of the Yama? What about them and what they’re doing to our home? We might have left but it’s still home.”

“As painful as it is to say…I don’t think it matters what we do. A force beyond our control has been set in motion, and it’s up to Allay and the other Kingdoms to decide how to face it. Besides, once Bastion arrives, I am sure the Yama will come back here. There would be no reason to keep them out there.”

“They did say the Yama were on their own once they’ve received their orders. It’s possible that they will stay put.”

“Even so, what can we do?”

“I’m surprised, Princess,” Marie said, scowling at her. Catherine frowned right back, for she knew that Marie only called her Princess when she was being condescending. “This doesn’t sound like you at all. Turning your back on the deaths of others?”

“This is a greater cause,” Catherine replied with a heavy sigh. “If the Delilah are working toward an everlasting peace, then that is what I feel we should assist in. Their tactics are…questionable, but it’s not much different than what any of us would do, given the same conditions.”

“Long ago,” Marie said, pausing to take a sip of tea from her white and blue flowered tea cup, “there were two great sects. Two Orders. One believed in Paradise and Oblivion. The other did not.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“This is a story that Prattlians tell their children,” Marie said. “Let me tell it.”

“Fine,” Catherine sighed. “Continue.”

“There were two groups that believed in two different absolutes. One believed in the afterlife. The other did not. Neither could confirm nor validate their beliefs one way or the other, but they both believed strongly. Great debates occurred. Some began fighting for their stance, deciding that their opinions and speculation was stronger than that of others. In the end, one side grew tired of the other and so they completely annihilated them. The end.” Marie took another sip of her tea.

“What?” Talia scoffed. “That’s the end? C’mon, Marie. Tell us the rest.”

“Unfortunately, my dear Sage…that is the end. The end of the matter that is.”

“Who killed who?” Daisy asked.

“Those who believed in Paradise and Oblivion killed those who didn’t, bringing on nearly five decades of almost universal acceptance of the afterlife. It wasn’t until that generation’s children grew up and questioned the status quo that alternative thought began to spread once more throughout the land. Of course, by then, the parents weren’t so eager to kill the dissenters, given that it was their own flesh and blood.”

“Why would you tell your children that story?” Talia asked in disbelief. “It sounds horrible.”

“It’s to remind us of a few basic Prattlian principles. First of all, without concrete evidence, one opinion does not, and cannot, supersede another. While it is fine to believe in something down to your core, it’s not good to impose or force that view on others, which brings me to my second point. No matter how hard you fight against the belief of someone, it will never take. As long as the world spins, there will always be balance. No matter what. You would think the believers in the story would usher in an age in which all looked to the afterlife, but it didn’t stay that way for long, and now, as if to make up for those five decades, there are now more people in the world who don’t believe in the afterlife…than those that do. The Allayans, and now the Delilah, are the only ones to completely have faith in this claim.”

“And so Prattlian children hear this story,” Catherine said. “So that they try to find the truth in things.”

“We are a people plagued with rambling and conjecture,” Marie said, shrugging her shoulders. “Heck, our Kingdom’s name is
Prattle.
So…we try to tell our children not to fall step by step in line with the ways of adults, but as you know, children tend to imitate rather than listen.”

“I think unintentionally you’ve made a point though,” Talia said, leaning onto the table with her elbows. “The Delilah, as well intentioned as they may be…they won’t be able to carry out their mission for long. Even if they succeed, and everything goes their way, it won’t stay that way forever.”

“As a matter of fact,” Marie chimed in, “I would be willing to wager that their time is close to an end. If you think about it, they have already been on top for a while. With the stones of power at their disposal, they’ve been keeping our Kingdoms rather busy.”

“But that would be up to Bastion though, wouldn’t it?” Daisy said. Everyone at the table turned to her and she blushed at the sudden attention. “I mean, if he’s to be the bridge controller, what he says goes. What happens if Bastion refuses to take on the job? Depending on how old the current controller is, wouldn’t that be the end of everything? What happens if no one is controlling the bridge?”

“Sounds like the old days will return,” Catherine said. “At least according to Tillian and Veer.”

“Or worse,” Talia said. “Our world becomes inhabitable. You heard them talk about the atmosphere, and how it was different in Paradise and Oblivion. What do you think happens to us if the three worlds merge again? We’d probably die.”

“And what if Bastion wants that?” Daisy asked, causing the table to fall silent. “What if…with all he’s seen, he thinks that’s the better way? Better than all the suffering?”

“That’s why Tillian and Veer designed this charade,” Catherine said. “They want Bastion to think how they want him to think. Alone, so that he has no attachments to this world, but also feeling as if everything he’s endured has been leading up to something. Those that are lonely tend to latch onto the first thing that gives them meaning. So if becoming this bridge controller gives him that purpose, he’ll take on the job with open arms.”

“Perhaps,” Marie said. “But there has been setbacks, hasn’t there? Languor for one. From how this all sounds, Languor didn’t go the way they planned.”

“They wanted me with him,” Daisy replied, bowing her head. “Or they thought I would go with him…but I couldn’t. I just…I’ve seen too much of what he’s capable of. He’s a very sweet boy. He really is…but there’s a darkness inside of him as well. He’s done some horrible things.”

“He needs both light and darkness to control the bridge,” Marie said. “When we all die, he’s the one deciding who’s going where. So he’ll need that sense of justice to make the right decision. Send the wrong person to Paradise and there’s conflict all over again.”

“He’s still just a kid though…we both are. He’s not ready for that kind of decision making.”

“They had to get him young,” Wilheim said, speaking up. “Before either of your Kingdoms indoctrinated him, or he got too many friends, or fell in love. It had to be done.”

“Lakrymos and Orchid played right into Veer and Tillian’s design,” Catherine said, turning to Marie. “They thought they were doing the right thing by siding with the ‘Delilah’ and going against the Yama, when really, their enemy and ally were the same all along, playing them like puppets.”

“A lesson we must consider when determining our next course of action,” Talia replied. “Marie, you may be free and clear of all this. I’m not sure what they want with you, and whether you would be made into a Delilah, but Daisy’s life is hanging by a thread. I suspect that if we take off for our homeland, they will bring our manifestation down. Lakrymos made mention of them having this capability in his stories.”

“There are anti-air measures,” Wilheim confirmed. “You wouldn’t make it far.”

“It depends on what you want to do,” Daisy said, looking up at Catherine with teary eyes. “I know my place. If you think it is in your best interest to help the Delilah, I don’t want to cause any rifts. I will accept my fate.”

“No,” Catherine replied. “You’re still with us. You’re still one of us. Zhou, Sway, Arimus…they got us here, and I’m going to make sure their deaths counted. I don’t care if they are in another world or not. That doesn’t matter.”

“So what do you have in mind?” Marie asked. Talia crossed her arms and Daisy sat up as they all looked to Catherine for her decree.

“We need confirmation,” Catherine said. “So we will get that first. But as far as their invitation—either we all become Delilah, or none of us will. If they won’t let Daisy in, it wasn’t worth joining.”

“Then what happens…if you don’t join?” Wilheim asked, and Catherine glared at him, knowing full well that whatever she said next, it could fal back into the ears of Tillian and Veer.

“Then we find Bastion,” she said to him directly. “And we tell him everything we’ve learned. The good and the bad. We’ll let him decide what to do, but I have a feeling that after our suggestions, he won’t be so keen on helping the Delilah.”

“Tillian and Veer wouldn’t like that,” Wilheim warned. Catherine leaned in close and whispered into his face.

“Good.”

*              *              *

“So all you can get me is a cabin, huh?” Lily said, sitting on the “floor” of the wind sphere with her legs crossed. Bastion chuckled and adjusted the eidolon in his hand so that it now pointed to his right. The sphere changed course immediately.

“What did you want, a mansion?”

“I was just wondering what you were thinking. Do you really see us living in the heart of Prattle? We’ll be test subjects. Maybe not physically, but definitely from afar. I can see them putting little traps in our path. Maybe some faulty platforms and leaky roofs over our home, just to see how we would react.”

“Call it a summer home.”

“So that’s not going to be our real house?”

“I don’t think I’ll ever have a place where I’ll truly feel safe and secure, but if it’s out there, we’ll find it. Somewhere nice and secluded.”

“I don’t know,” she chuckled. “The more that I think about it, the more the cabin is starting to sound great.”

“Oh, stop playing around.”

“Just think about it. Getting up in the morning and bumping my head on the roof because it’s so small. Then I’ll awkwardly bend over our stove, which will be literally inches away from the bed, and my butt will be in your face while I make us burnt pancakes.”

“Why is this place so small?” he laughed.

“I’m just figuring that it will be. It’s not like you asked for a huge one. They’ll give us the shack, I’m sure. The smallest place there is, so we’ll be forced to go outside and be assessed.”