<13>
Rei suddenly found herself in the middle of a long straight corridor.
It was a well-lit corridor, despite the lack of windows or lanterns or any other source of light. At each end of the corridor was a door.
She unconsciously recalled the ordeal of drawing out her Seraphim weapon.
Why must everything be an image test? she thought.
Behind the door on one end of the corridor lay her Abaddon powers.
On the other end, her Seraphim powers.
The doors opened only so long as she held them open. As soon as she let go of the door, it immediately slammed shut. That meant she couldn’t just hold one door open, rush to the other end, and then open the other door. Even with Abaddon speed, the first door she opened would be closed before she had even gone halfway down the corridor.
The doors could not be blasted or torn open—not without destroying the corridor. I guess that means any forceful mean of activating both Abaddon and Seraphim powers would break my mind.
She remembered that the hooded figure claimed to be able to control space and time, and that he wished for her to acquire the same ability. What would that mean in this context?
Maybe that’s what this whole dream is all about.
Perhaps she could be in two places at the same time? But that’s more about being able to split or clone herself than about controlling space or time.
If I can’t change my physical self, then that leaves… the corridor itself.
Rei concentrated, and the doors began to draw closer to her. Soon, both doors were within her reach. She opened them, and then…
* * *
Did I overdo it?
The hooded figure looked at the immobile figure of Rei with some concern. He had wished to impress upon her the difference in their strengths in order to force her to grow, but he didn’t wish to break her spirit entirely.
Did I overestimate her? From the first time he met her, he was impressed in the strength of her will, and he had high hopes that she would endure any test he would throw at her, but perhaps the divine flame spells from a world in constant tumult might have been too much for the young woman.
Suddenly, Rei opened her eyes. There was something different in her gaze. Acting immediately on instinct, he took a step back from her.
‘Do you see it now?’ he asked, his voice laden with caution.
Neither instinct nor caution aided him. While he was speaking, Rei disappeared from his sight. Before he could register what had happened, a fist struck his face.
As his head reeled back from Rei’s punch, his hood fluttered backward, revealing his face.
Rei stood over his figure on the ground.
‘Kinu,’ she said. Not a question.
‘You’re not surprised,’ he replied. Also not a question.
Rei shrugged. ‘What better place to have an influence on human affairs and watch your creation?’
Kinu got to his feet.
‘Congratulations on joining me and Eru on the threshold. But don’t think that it means your journey is over. Our duel continues.’
‘Fine by me,’ said Rei as she sheathed her longsword and materialised a flail in her right hand.
‘Sol Invictus,’ she said, and the horizon to the east began to glow, even though sunrise was yet to come.
She raised her flail high in the air.
The thundering of hooves could be heard from the east.
She lashed down her flail hard in front of her.
A chariot of light rushed from the east.
‘Not hesitating to use your strongest weapon, huh?’
Kinu stood fearless in front of a weapon that had levelled a hill.
‘Ve-hoshek al-paniym tehom.’
A wave of congealed darkness surrounded him. He pointed his finger at the chariot of light, and the darkness washed over it, consuming it completely.
‘So it’s not actually unconquerable unless I use true sunlight,’ said Rei.
‘I doubt it,’ said Kinu with an enigmatic smile. ‘This darkness is said to be older than creation itself.’
As he spoke, his figure flickered and then disappeared. Rei drew her sword with her left hand and swung it in an arc in front of her. The flail in her right hand traced a similar arc behind her.
The reason for her action was soon made apparent when Kinu reappeared at her side. But instead of striking at her with his cane, he had to block a sword that was rushing towards him at full speed. Rei must have anticipated his attempt to parry, as she used her sword and her flail to trap his cane.
‘Summanus,’ she said; a sigil drawn by her feet glowed in response.
A single bolt of lightning struck the ground where Kinu stood. But he was no longer there.
‘I have your weapon,’ said Rei as she swung her sword towards her back, expecting an attack from that direction.
Kinu was indeed behind her, but he was not about to attack her, as he stood many paces away. Nor was he preparing a spell.
‘Don’t drop your guard,’ he said. His cane, which had fallen to the ground as Rei swung her sword, began to glow brightly. Rei leaped away from it, her arms crossed in front of her head and body as she braced herself for an attack. When none materialised, she looked up to see that the cane had transformed into a red-haired, blue-skinned giant armed with a cudgel. It opened its mouth and shot a beam of what seemed to be concentrated flames at Rei. She disappeared just as the beam struck the ground where she stood, and she reappeared some paces to the right of her previous position. The giant turned its head toward her, and the beam of fire followed her, tracing a deep gash on the earth. Rei drew a sigil on the ground using her sword.
‘Portunus.’
A gate of iron twice her height, and as wide as it was tall, appeared in front of her. The flame from the giant’s mouth struck it dead centre, melting slowly through its multiple layers of metal. The few moments it endured the attack bought enough time for Rei to teleport to behind the giant. However, she didn’t account for its agility that belied its size. As soon as Rei appeared behind it, it turned around and raised its cudgel, as if it knew she would be there. She barely had time to cross her sword and her flail in front of her. As the giant’s enormous weapon struck Rei’s makeshift shield, she poured Abaddon energy into her legs, and then launched her body upward. The giant’s eyes widened as it found itself soaring through the air, propelled by the tiny girl it had tried to crush.
Rei used the sigil of Summanus, the nocturnal lightning, to vaporise the airborne giant.
During the entire time Rei had been fighting the giant, Kinu had not budged from where he stood.
‘Your mastery of the Abaddon and Seraphim arts is impressive. To think that just being able to use them at the same time would make you this strong.’
‘Any other exotic spell up your sleeve?’ said Rei, her weapons at the ready. She watched carefully for any sign of movement from Kinu.
‘Just one more,’ he said, pointing to the sky to the south. Rei gasped when she finally understood what he meant.
The purple columns of the sheolim continued to light up the slowly brightening sky.
‘I believe that my power was born from bloodshed,’ said Kinu, ‘and it will be strengthened by bloodshed. Unfortunately, the Seraphim diplomat with your party might be a little too good at her job.’
The sky glowed bright purple as the columns of sheolim doubled in width.
‘Well, if the Abaddon and the Seraphim aren’t going to use my gift to them, then I’ll help myself to it.’
Rei watched in horror as a pulse of energy travelled through the columns from the ground to the sky.
* * *
The sudden brightness jolted Cassandra, Zai, and their captors from their state of patient stillness.
The Abaddon soldiers blanched in horror as they noticed the pulse from the sheolim over Pelasgia, while the Seraphim emissary was transfixed by the sudden activity from the Abaddon sheolim.
‘Seraphim perfidy!’ cried the leader of the patrol, but to Cassandra’s ears, their accusing voices sounded unclear and distant, as if she were submerged in water.
It’s over, she thought. Her face dropped the mask of serenity and stared aghast at the horizon. Not even during the darkest hours of the previous war—not during the Battle of Pydna, when Pelasgia lost most of her early standing army and had to hastily arm her citizens against the legions marching southward, nor during the massacre of the elite Legio Alaude, when Etrusca felt helpless before the inexorable advance of the Princess of Eleusis—did she ever give in to fear. But this was no battle that threatened loss of territory or military strength. It threatened nothing less than annihilation, and neither soldiers nor civilians would be spared from it.
I was too slow. She realised, too late, that the existence of the sheolim, that the two races’ possession of this unknown spell, had drastically reduced the time she had to work out a peace. The next war would not be a steady stream of soldiers crashing towards prepared defences, but destruction rained instantly on the cities of their enemies. She had been complacent in her slow but steady progress towards peace. The pulse of light that cast an eerie glow over them felt accusing to her.
With a brief burst of power, she shrugged off the invisible chains the Abaddon had bound her with. She walked unsteadily towards the columns of the Abaddon sheolim. The soldiers behind her raised their weapons and began to rush towards her. Zai shouted a warning that failed to reach her ears. Another burst of power forcibly stopped the soldiers in their tracks before they could take a second step. What seemed to be a crown of laurel, but made of light, now adorned her head.
She had failed. Her country would die, and she would die as well, with the added indignity of dying in a foreign land to an abominable weapon wielded by her own country. What could I have done differently?
‘Cassandra! Have you forgotten your promise?’
Zai’s voice finally reached her ears, but she failed to derive any meaning from his words. Nevertheless, she turned towards the source of the sound.
She had never before wondered where humans had come from, until now. Despite the desperation of the situation, the question felt strangely relevant. They were another race of sentient creatures, far weaker than either of the native inhabitants of Geos, but nevertheless quickly outnumbered the two as they reproduced more quickly. Humans would definitely benefit if the Abaddon and the Seraphim were to annihilate each other—
—maybe they are our real enemy.
—maybe the path to peace with Etrusca is through fighting a common enemy.
Unconsciously, she summoned a bow of light, the first time she had done so since mastering the sigil of Apollo. She had never needed a real weapon before—
—but if the real enemy of our races stand before me, then…
The imperious display of strength from one of the Seraphim royalty cowed the Abaddon patrol who had attempted to arrest her. They knew that they would be no match for her, but fortunately she had not trained her weapon against them, instead directing a cold gaze at her human companion.
‘What’s happening?’
The soldiers could not help but shout as they looked towards Pelasgia. The sky glowed like daylight as bolts of lightning repeatedly crashed into the sheolim there, and the roll of thunder was audible to them even at that distance. It was an overwhelming display of power that could have come only from the Prince of Olympia, directed at the unknown spell that had rebelled against him.
While the use of lightning sigils was not exclusive to Hyperion, the strength of his lightning far exceeded all others. The lowest level of lightning, perforating lightning, could be used even by non-Seraphim like Rei. A higher level, crushing lightning, required mastery of all the sigils of the Dii Complices. It was the storm Mei Lin had summoned against Eru.
Burning lightning, lightning that could rewrite the state of the world, was reserved for the Prince of Olympia, and could be called forth only on his throne. Like Eru’s cutting spell, though on a greater scale, the mysterious sheolim was ultimately subdued and extinguished by the full might of arguably the strongest being in Geos.
‘Etrusca is saved,’ muttered Cassandra, ‘but what about my homeland?’
Zai silently pointed overhead.
It was Rei, bright as the noon sun, riding the chariot of Sol as she drove back the pillars of sheolim.
* * *
Every time Rei came into contact with the sheolim, she had to resist the urge to flinch.
It wasn’t because of the physical effort required to push it back, even though she had to use much of her Abaddon-imbued strength to swing her sword, which had been infused with the sigil of Salus for protection.
The strain was more in her mind. Whenever she came into contact with the ominous beam of light, a harrowing sensation permeated her brain.
One strike at the sheol—she felt the pain of being impaled by arrows in the back.
Another strike—she felt a spear gouge out her heart.
Yet another strike—she felt her head leaving her body as a sword cut through her neck.
The sheolim flooded her brain with the memories of someone’s life coming to an end in a violent manner.
Seriously, what is this spell? she thought as she struck down another beam. Just by seeing it, you feel fear; just by touching it, you feel death, she recalled what Kinu had told her about the spell before she flew towards it. If you’re exposed to it long enough, the pain will rip the soul from your body. It doesn’t matter how strong you are—anyone who can die can feel fear of death, or at least the pain of dying.
Despite the revulsion she felt, she continued to drive her chariot around, preventing the sheolim from straying past the Abaddon wall.
Once she saw what Kinu had done, she had summoned the chariot of light, not to attack, but to carry her. It had taken to the sky at breakneck speed, barely reaching the first sheol pulse.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to be in two different places at once, as the storm of lightning took care of the sheolim on the Seraphim side.
‘That must be the Seraphim king’s work. What is the Abaddon leader doing?’
Barely had she finished her sentence when a dome of crystalline material covered the entirety of Etrusca. It neatly folded into itself, making it smaller but thicker, until it looked like mirror hovering over the sheolim. All that struck it were reflected back.
‘Finally,’ Rei sighed as she urged her chariot back towards Kinu.
‘Do you realise what you have just done?’ he said as she landed. His face was ecstatic, not the look of someone whose last trump card had been defeated. ‘You were equal to the strongest of the Abaddon and the Seraphim.’
‘What do you want to do now?’ asked Rei. ‘Do you still want to fight?’
‘My work is complete. I’ve raised you to godhood. What happens to me next no longer concerns me.’
Rei cast a half-deflated, half-relieved look. ‘So, you’d be fine if I arrested you and brought you to justice?’
‘You don’t seem to realise the significance of what you’ve done. It is a show of strength more striking than when I opened a gate between worlds. And everyone has seen it. Everyone will realise that another creature stands equal to their rulers, and they will fear you. They will look for you.
‘The world will no longer treat you the same way it did when you were merely a human mercenary. This is my last advice to you: do not face them—at this point, that would mean fighting them, for they cannot use reason on a creature they cannot understand—and hide. Influence them from the shadows, if you want, but do not display your full power until they are ready to accept you—or you can subdue them all without breaking them.’
Rei looked down on the ground, the expression on her face unreadable. ‘So this is another troublesome thing you’ve left me with.’ She then looked up at Kinu. ‘But I guess you fulfilled your promise when this orphan agreed to go with you.’
‘And I’m glad to see you’ve survived and showed me your strength.’
‘What will you do next?’
‘Who knows? Maybe I’ll complete myself. Seeing you become Immanuel means that my struggle is not futile. Sadly, I doubt my form would be the same as the beautiful gods of Geos.’
Rei reached for her sheathed sword. ‘Will you try to destroy the Abaddon and the Seraphim again?’
‘Everything I’ve done was to set up this stage. Either the bloodshed would have awakened me, or you would have awakened to stop me.’
‘And you won’t try bloodshed again to try to complete yourself?’
‘Not here. This is your realm now. I’ve been to worlds more bloodstained than this one, and I feel a greater kinship to their gods than I do to the ones here.’
Rei’s hand left her sword.
‘If what you’ve told me is right, then I have to make sure that I’m gone from here before anyone can arrive. So I guess this is goodbye.’
‘Farewell, child. May your new powers serve you well.’
With a small bow of her head, she disappeared from his sight.
* * *
Rei took herself back to the mayor’s mansion. Finding no one inside, she looked outside through the nearest window. She saw Zai and Cassandra, as well as a group of armed Abaddon nearby. They all faced Cassandra, keeping their distance, but maintaining a degree of wariness.
The reason for this was readily apparent. Cassandra, her gaze was locked at the sky, presumably at the remnants of the sheolim, wore a white crown and carried a bow of light in her arm—that must be her form as the wielder of the sigil of Apollo.
Why she would be in such a form after her declaration at the gate, Rei did not know.
Perhaps she thought that she could somehow shoot the sheolim down? Would that be enough of a reason for her to break her vow?
Of course, she could just ask them. Rei opened the window and prepared to jump down.
The alert Abaddon soldiers swiftly turned their attention to her.
‘Intruder!’ they cried as they pointed their weapons or prepared to cast spells at her.
‘Somnus,’ she muttered as she etched a sigil on the windowsill. Her body glowed intensely bright for a brief moment, and the entire group was knocked unconscious.
Zai, who had just been getting back to his feet, and Cassandra belatedly turned towards her as she leapt down.
‘Are you unhurt?’ she asked the two as she reached a hand out to Zai.
‘Feeling a little heavy, but otherwise, I’m fine,’ said Zai as he took her hand and pulled himself up.
Cassandra started trembling, and her arms fell limply to her side as the traces of the sigil of Apollo vanished.
‘I… I have broken my vow.’ Even her voice shook. ‘I have failed as a peacemaker.’
‘It’s fine,’ Zai began, but he felt that his words were useless as soon as they had left his mouth.
‘I thought… for a moment… that humans were the enemies… and that I could bring about peace by… eliminating them.’
‘Oh,’ said Zai. ‘So that’s why I had the chilly feeling of becoming Seraphim skewers just after I stopped being Abaddon flatbread.’
Rei closed her eyes for a moment. Then, she opened them and began to speak, the serious look on her face matching the earnestness in her voice.
‘You said that if you could just get the races together in a room without killing each other, you could chip at the wall between them, right?’
‘Those vaguely resemble words I’ve said before… but my experience with Tullius convinced me that, yes, I believe I could do that.’
‘Then I will give you a common enemy.’
‘What do you mean?’ said Cassandra, and Rei told the story of her fight with Kinu, and of his story about the old human world.
‘Kinu told me that because of what I’ve done, both races would hunt me,’ she concluded. ‘So why not use it to start on the path to peace?’
Cassandra was silent for a long while as she processed Rei’s story.
‘I would never… I could never build peace on a lie, nor would I use hatred as a common ground.’
‘It wouldn’t be a complete lie—one of my kind did instigate and exacerbate the conflict. And even if you doubt what Kinu told me about the past, the Abaddon and the Seraphim were brought to the brink by the actions of two humans. Few might believe that the assassin in Caesarea was human, but the sheolim is unmistakeably alien to this world, and my action is further proof that there are things out there that’s beyond their knowledge or strength.’
Before the Seraphim could utter a word of protest, she added: ‘And fear, not hatred, would be your starting point. That fear does not come from deception; it was already in their hearts. You probably know that better than I do.’
Cassandra nodded silently, recalling the ministers of her brother.
‘What about you? Can you take on the role of a figure of fear?’
‘As soon as I rushed to the skies to stop the sheolim, I lost my chance to turn back. Besides, I guess I can manage,’ she said with a smile. ‘Zai and I will have to hide, and I’ll ask AA and Mei Lin if they’d join us, so I won’t be lonely.’ She fell silent for a moment. ‘If the worst come to the worst, I’d find out if I really am a god walking on earth.’
‘Does that mean this is farewell?’ Cassandra’s voice was breaking as she uttered the last word.
‘I’m not saying we definitely won’t meet again, but it probably won’t be for a very long time. And to be honest, after knowing how long Kinu hid himself, I don’t know if Zai would still be alive by then.’
Zai brushed Rei aside and took a step towards Cassandra. He then took her right hand in both of his.
‘Your excellency,’ he said as he gently kissed her hand, ‘it has been the greatest honour of my life to have served you.’ His face then broke into a grin. ‘And don’t worry, I’ll figure out their trick and become immortal myself.’ He let go of her hand. What she did next surprised him.
Cassandra grabbed his cheeks with both hands, as if to lock his head in place. Slowly, her lips drew closer to his, and both their faces glowed red. Rei loudly cleared her throat and turned her back to them, looking for something to distract herself with.
In the end, all Cassandra could muster was a peck on Zai’s forehead.
‘I release you from your service to me,’ she said as she let go of Zai’s head. ‘Farewell, and I pray that we meet again.’
‘Same to you,’ said Zai as he scratched his cheek. ‘Let’s go, Rei.’
She turned back to them and put her hand on Zai’s shoulder.
‘Do you know they are?’ he asked.
‘It’s the unmistakeable strong presence in the direction of our backs.’
‘And how would we get there without getting tangled with Abaddon patrols?’
‘Just hold on tight.’ She then turned to Cassandra. ‘Farewell, princess. Our time together was short, but I have great respect for you and what you do.’
Before the Seraphim could reply, the two of them disappeared from her sight.
* * *
After the horror of watching the sheolim activate, and the relief at seeing them stopped before they got far, AA and Mei Lin turned their attention back to the bound Eru.
‘What do we do with him?’
That had not been the first nor the second time she had asked that question.
‘I mean, he is the main suspect in that assassination that started all this, but I doubt he can be transported easily. And I don’t know if the masses are ready for what he knows.’
At that moment, a hooded man materialised out of nowhere beside Eru.
‘This is—’ he said as he suddenly fell to his knees. He was within the field of the invisible chains.
‘Wha—’ Mei Lin uttered a shriek of surprise.
The hooded men calmly uttered one word: ‘Hiratsets.’
AA felt his spell forcibly dispelled.
‘Mei Lin, the chains—’
‘We’ll be taking our leave,’ said the hooded man as he carried Eru and disappeared without a trace.
Mei Lin had just used the sigil of Mercury, but her dash left her clutching nothing but air.
‘Was that the guy Rei’s fighting?’
She barely had time to finish her question before, out of nowhere, Rei showed up with Zai.
‘Would you just stop popping in and out of nowhere?!’
Mei Lin’s frustrated scream was accompanied by a burst of power, causing the earth to shake and the wind to gust. Fortunately, Zai was standing behind Rei; otherwise, he would have been knocked to the ground.
Mei Lin’s irritation has not yet subsided, and she continued to vent at the newcomers, especially Rei.
‘And when did you learn to flit around like that?’
Rei was unfazed by her tantrum.
‘Well, if I hadn’t learned it, I wouldn’t have been able to do that,’ she replied, pointing to where the Abaddon sheolim had been.
Her logical answer must have acted as a splash of water to the fuming Mei Lin, as she shrank and muttered, ‘Well, that’s true…’
‘Mei Lin,’ said Rei, surprising the Seraphim by her formal tone.
‘Yes!’ she squeaked, standing up straighter.
‘How do you think the leaders of the Abaddon and the Seraphim will react after seeing what I’ve done?’
All trace of the earlier childishness disappeared from Mei Lin.
‘They will realise that there’s another being out there who’s almost equal to their leader in strength. I don’t know much about the Abaddon, but my brother’s ministers will see you as a threat.’
‘Would that be enough for them to overlook their differences and unite against me?’
The Seraphim stared at the young woman with eyes full of concern.
‘Are you sure that’s the life you want to live from now on?’ She was perhaps one of the few people in Geos who was an object of fear by an entire race. Now the human before her wished to volunteer to take on the same role, but for two races.
‘I don’t think I have a choice, anyway,’ said Rei with a rare smile. ‘If you’re that concerned, life on the run would be easier if my two teachers were with me.’
Mei Lin, as well as AA behind her, looked at her with surprise.
‘Are you sure about that? I doubt we’d be any useful to you. You’re probably stronger than the both of us already.’
‘I don’t think that’s true, but even if it were’—Mei Lin flashed her a look that conveyed her wounded pride—‘you veterans still have much to teach this greenhorn.’
Mei Lin turned to AA. ‘Look at this rude girl, calling us “old”.’ She turned back to Rei. ‘Well, if you would be that lonely without us, then I guess we have no choice.’ She then leapt up to AA’s shoulder. ‘We’d want to head back home first, though.’
‘I can help you get there faster,’ said Rei as she approached the two, Zai in tow.
‘Oh, no, I’m not letting you just move me ar—’
The four disappeared before Mei Lin could complete her complaint.
* * *
‘To the representatives of the government of Etrusca and Pelasgia, to our hosts, the government of Caesarea, to all our distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good evening.
‘It is the greatest honour of my life to be invited to speak on this momentous occasion. Having been told that I was the only one considered for the role makes me doubly proud.
‘Many might think that we are celebrating tonight is an end—an end to war, a war whose origins has long been forgotten, only that it seemed the natural state of things while we fought it.
‘We may no longer know how the war started, but we knew how it continued—through fear. And now we know how it would end—stop being afraid. The Abaddon is not out to destroy the Seraphim, nor the Seraphim is committed to ending Abaddon way of life. Instead, we need each other. What we are celebrating tonight is actually the beginning of a new relationship.’
At that point, Cassandra stopped speaking. Hyperion frowned when he saw her sister’s face. To most of the audience, she looked dignified and unperturbed, but to those who have known her since childhood, she may as well have been on the verge of tears.
The Prince of Olympia knew what had happened that night. Cassandra had told her the truth a few days later, and she made him swear never to tell anyone or to even write it down. Only the two of them knew that today’s truce was built on the sacrifice of a young human woman.
‘Today we forswear the weapons of our enemies, the sheolim that we thought we could wield, but was easily turned against us. Were it not for the prompt action of the two leaders, perhaps none of us would be here today.
‘Today, we turn our weapons not on each other, but on our real foe, who profited on our hatred and fear of each other. We shall not rest until we have hunted them down, and we ask the humans who silently bore the worst of our conflict to help us avenge the suffering these cowards have caused us all.’
Cassandra paused once more. To Hyperion, she seemed to be mustering courage, until her face set in resolution. She’s about to go off-script.
‘All of these we have agreed to today. But tomorrow, some day, perhaps we can build peace for peace’s sake. Perhaps we can live without fear—of ourselves, or of any other. But until that day, we must remain vigilant and oppose our enemies, wherever they may appear. Thank you.’
She managed to turn it back at the end. Smoothly done, thought Hyperion, joining the applause that greeted the end of her speech. You’ve expressed your real hope, at least. Maybe one day we’d all grow up to get to where you are, but until then…
Own Worlds 