Ch24-6: The Old World’s Passing

“Kudako…” Zemi’s voice cracked as he spoke the name.

“Zem,” AsaHi took his arm in a comforting motion. “He’ll be alright. I’m sure.”

“No… He isn’t alright,” the Dreigiau turned his gaze downward, face pale and strained. Words didn’t have to speak the feelings that were emanated.

SoYa didn’t have to hear it. He knew. The Dragon Warrior had fallen and would not be returning to them. And despite the power of the great Watcher from the Time Before, he had doubts that even Aur could hold up against the darkness and death of the wild-minded Sygnus.

So many. We’ve lost so many… is there really nothing left for us to do but run?

“Lord Dragon! Please hold your concentration. You too, Lady Wolf!” NaDo’s voice cut through the moment of mourning.

-Excuse you! My name is Lady Zazo. Get it right, Earthian!-

It was enough to draw the Arweinydds’ attention back upon the task at hand. Everything that had been said about the Vision Stone was true. It rose up before them, a pillar of brilliant blue light that shown straight up into the sky. Where its light shimmered, even the darkness did not touch. Something about the glade surrounding the Stone felt safe and protected — but SoYa could not say how much longer that would last.

The machine that NaDo set up next to the Stone was a marvel of technology, even more so than his ships and the endless lines of gadgets that ran the length of the walls of the Shellab. All wires and hums and tall flat looking screens, it somehow managed to tap into the vast energies of the tall Vision Stone. Under the right hands, NaDo had said, the Stone’s power might even be bent to the user’s will.

It’s hard to believe that a little boy can trigger all this…

KiNa’s hands were little, but the right ones. The moment the child placed his palms against the slick touch pad of the machine, the stone had burst into a brilliant light. The distant sound of ancient song rustled through the winds of the glade. And the tallest crystal face along the side of the Vision Stone had flickered with an image.

Just as NaDo described…

The picture wavered, glowing before them. A land that was not their own. But a living world just the same. There was no sight of city nor structure. Just a rolling forest and long green hills. A place that gave the feeling of peace. Perhaps safety, if hidden away from the searching eyes of the Dark Sygnus.

As the three Arweinydd focused their powers around the machine next to KiNa, the image of the distant land became more and more clear. More stable. The shimmering ripples of a riftway had spread across the face of the stone. It had become a gateway into this strange new world.

And now, the winged people were filing through this rift as quickly as they could. Women and children were assisted by the soldiers, feet shuffling up the slick crystalline incline that lead to the rift. Their faces were haunted with the fears that hung just over the edge of the forest — they could feel the pressure of the prowling death coming ever closer. No one dared to hesitate — even a completely alien land was less frightening than the Dark Sygnus’ wrath.

There were so many people. So little time. And knowing that Kudako and Aur could only hold the Sygnus at bay for a short while, SoYa didn’t know how they would get everyone to safety.

“AsaHi,” the Athrylith took her by the shoulders and started nudging her towards the stream of moving people. “I want you to go.”

“What? SoYa! I’m not leaving you here!” she protested instantly, just as he knew she would.

“Please! I’ll follow you. Don’t worry! I just have to know that you get through safe,” he tried to reassure her. At this point, they both knew that nothing could be promised.

“Don’t leave me, SoYa…” AsaHi hung on to his shoulders, tears in her eyes.

“I won’t leave you. But I have to help make sure everyone else gets through safely. That includes you,” he told her.

A broken sound. An uncharacteristic sob. Her strength had finally been spent in the face of so much death and loss. AsaHi threw her arms around his shoulders, burying her face into his tunic. It was the hardest thing he could do to force her to let go. But he did, giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead.

One of the soldiers saw his plight and took AsaHi by the upper arm, “Come with me, Miss.”

“No!” she tried to struggle. But he was far stronger as he led her towards the rippling face of the Stone.

SoYa could only watch, his heart aching.

AsaHi turned and reached back towards him. She called his name frantically, but he couldn’t hear her voice above the hum of the machine and the rift winds. Then, in a flash of soft blue light, AsaHi had stepped through, fading into the crowd of winged people. Lost to his sight.

“Keep going,” NaDo coached. “We’ve almost got everyone. We’re doing a lot better than I had hoped.”

Despite the positive words, SoYa could only glance back over his shoulder with a worried frown. The shadows and mists were moving again. And approaching fast.

“NaDo… Maru… you should take KiNa and get through,” Zemi’s tone was concerned. He, too, saw the motion in the forest behind them.

“Just a little bit more, Lord Dragon,” NaDo assured him. “We have to make sure the machine is properly dismantled and the rift shut… or there’s a chance we can be followed. That would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?”

As the last of the winged people gathered through the gateway, SoYa saw a lone figure holding back. A figure he recognized instantly.

“JouKa, what are you doing?” he rushed over towards her. “You have to get through the rift.”

“We’re beginning the dismantling process,” NaDo announced. “Everyone get ready to make a run for it!”

JouKa turned with a silent, haunted face. “I’m not goin’.”

“What? You can’t stay here!” SoYa protested. “You’ll be killed.”

“Then I will. But I’m not goin’. This is my world… my ‘ome. I’m not lettin’ some winged freak push me outta it!” she gave him a hard glare.

He took her arm, “Be reasonable! You’ve got nothing to gain by getting yourself killed here.”

She jerked her arm away quickly, backing away with a snarl. “Gain? Everything is gone! KoGu is dead! TsuYa is Marked! Our ‘ome is destroyed. People are dyin’! Tell me what’s worth seein’?”

“Power down, eighty percent!” NaDo’s voice warned.

“JouKa!” he reached for her again.

She dodged back, “You don’t order me around, Neffie! Go save yer own skin. I’ll take care of myself!”

“Seventy-five percent!”

SoYa drew in a frantic breath. He could see that nothing short of forcing her was going to work… and they just didn’t have the time.

Before he could reach out for her again, a deafening crack broke the sky above. The shadows and mists rolled in, struggling to press upon the brilliant blue of the Vision Stone. But the Dark Sygnus strolled forward, unaffected, long glimmering black blade held ready in one hand. It dripped, heavy with gore and blood.

JouKa gave a horrified scream, reeling away from SoYa’s hand. He could only stumble back in shocked astonishment as the girl whirled around and took off running. Not into the rift of the Vision Stone. But into the depths of the forest, the opposite direction of shadows and mists. He shouted her name, watching helplessly as she vanished between the trees.

The Sygnus’ laugher was chilling as he advanced. His smile was hollow and void of any emotion. His voice low and level, “Zemi Dreigiau… you sent your pets to do an Arweinydd’s job. And then you mourn their death. How hypocritical.”

With a flick of his wrist, the Dark Sygnus heaved a heavy, curved sword forward, tossing it at the Dreigiau’s feet. It glittered with a deep golden sheen, decorated by the etchings of a long, majestic lion. It, too, was splattered with blood.

Zemi’s face contorted at the sight of it. A sudden rage burned in his eyes, focus breaking away from the rift, shifting to the harbinger that stood before them.

“Zemi! No! Don’t — crud! Energy levels dropping drastically! We need to get out!” NaDo shouted a warning.

“Hypocritical. Just like everything you’ve ever said to me,” Lucci hissed.

“No! It was never like that! Never!” Zemi snarled, moving towards the Sygnus with a deadly furor. “We took you in! Cared for you! Gave you a home and even trained you! How could you turn on us like this?!”

“Did you really think that your so-called care,” the Sygnus drew the word out in disdain, “Could stop what I was meant to become? I didn’t kill these people, Dreigiau. Your idealistic hope did!”

A rumble rose up in Zemi’s throat, his eyes locked on the Sygnus.

Lucci lifted his blade, ready. A sickly smile crossed his face, “That’s right. Let me drink your power, Arweinydd. You would give me far more than these little Earthians have.”

“ZEMI! RIFT IS CLOSING!” NaDo’s voice bellowed, trying to break through the rage.

Zemi didn’t flinch. It was as if nothing but the Sygnus existed to him at this moment — the clashing of wills, a face-off of natural enemies that stretched back into ancient times, back to the Time Before.

Sygnus and Arweinydd.

And if legends spoke rightly, the Arweinydd would lose.

I can’t just stand and watch this! I have to do something!

SoYa thrust his staff forward, focusing his power into the stone. The staff that his father had once helped him craft… back when he had first learned what it had meant to be what he was, an Athrylith. And all that time they had spent recently… Father training him so hard. Teaching him. And Tsu.

Tsu…

And Aunt SaRa. Now Kudako. Aur. They would never see the light of this new world, the memories and sacrifices lost to the old lands. They would not be there to guide the struggles of the refugees that would have to work to start all over again. He was the last of the Ya family line. He alone, would have to lead the people.

And it’s all… your… FAULT!

A pulse of multi-colored power lit the staff’s stone, sending a shaft of light straight into the fray, slicing between Sygnus and Arweinydd. Unexpected, Lucci reeled back from the blast, a crackling pulse spreading across his shoulder, smoking where he was hit.

“ZEMI!” NaDo demanded.

Finally, the Arweinydd jerked his head around. He stared at NaDo, then at the wavering rift in realization. Whatever had held the Dreigiau captivated had broken as the Sygnus’ attention swung about, focusing with a terrible intensity on SoYa instead.

“You… the son of ZenToYa…”

It felt like the breath was being crushed out of SoYa’s lungs. Shifting tendrils of mist crept over the ground, towards his feet. But no matter how much he fought and threw his will against it, he could not find the strength to move.

“You think you can fight me when your father could not?” the Sygnus sneered taking a slow step forward.

Searing pain raced through his limbs, shadows moving over him, gripping him. For a fleeting moment, SoYa was reminded of the shadows that had taken his brother.

“Would you really give your life for your people? What would you risk to defend your homelands?”

“Every…thing…” SoYa croaked, fighting for breath.

“Then you shall be bound to share the tainted fate of Nefol,” the chilling voice cursed him.

The Sygnus’ silver eyes bore into his own, stripping away all the warmth in the world. SoYa doubled over, the pain becoming too intense for him to bear. His shaking hands struggled to keep grip of his staff, knees trembling and dropping him to the ground. His watery eyes could make out the darkness that had begun to stretch across his skin, spreading from his fingertips and up his arms.

“Power at 30 percent! Now or never!” NaDo’s voice edged with worry.

Faintly, SoYa could hear Maru’s pleading voice. “Take KiNa! Take him, Lady Zazo!”

-Don’t you think I have enough to carry?- the She-Wolf growled as she bore the Marked Champion towards the fading rift.

“He’s just a little boy! Please, take him!” a mother’s cry.

Even Zazo couldn’t seem to deny that. With a huff, the Arweinydd clamped down on the back of the child’s tunic, lifting the boy between her teeth.

“Mommy!” KiNa cried, little wings stretching and straining, reaching for his parents. “Daddy!”

“GO! GO!” NaDo shouted, slamming his fist on the machine as if to keep it running just a few moments longer.

The She-Wolf whipped around, lunging for the rift, carrying child and Marked through the final flickers of the blue Vision Stone light.

SoYa felt himself lifted from behind. Strong hands pulling him up, off his feet. The world jolted around him as his senses faded in and out of awareness. Distantly, he could see Zemi above him, carrying him.

“Lucci! You don’t have to do this!” Maru’s voice echoed from what seemed an immeasurable distance. “We know this isn’t you! This isn’t what you’d want!”

The Sygnus’ step faltered, but only momentarily. His voice was grave, “It’s too late for that.”

“No! No it’s not! You have to stop this!” NaDo begged.

SoYa felt the trickling light surround them as Zemi ran, carrying him to the rift. He reached back towards the wavering images of NaDo and Maru as they moved forward. He watched as they put themselves between the Stone and the Sygnus.

“I can’t!” Lucci cried and lunged forward, his fevered silver eyes locked upon the retreating Dreigiau.

The black blade lifted.

The sounds of screams. A crack like thunder split the air. A brilliant blue light.

The sensation of falling. Burning agony and choking breath. A terrible pain ripping through his body. Pain so overwhelming that drove his thoughts and senses to nothingness.

His mind reeled, struggling to keep hold of himself. But then that, too, was washed away.

There was no sensation left… followed by a deep, dark sleep.

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