The Final Lesson, page 26
part #1 of The Final Lesson Series
“You masked freaks seem to love messing around with other people’s lives just to take a swing at me,” he bellowed, leaning forward, the chains giving way slightly before jerking him, his back slamming against the brick wall. He exhaled, hissing down at the woman, “Why don’t you let me down and I’ll swing back?”
“Because then we’d have to kill your friends. And I doubt that you’d like that.”
“You’re bluffing, hard.” He hoped that was the case. The masked warriors didn’t take threats lightly. The woman sighed, digging into her cloak, revealing a silver orb. Rem sat back and watched as she manipulated the orb’s properties, a projection appearing before them.
“Kirian. Prince Remiel needs some convincing. Show him his friends.”
A plumper man with the mask of a bear on his face broke into laughter, his dark green hair standing up on all ends. “Man, he’s not as silly as I was hoping, but that makes it more fun! All right, you three are gonna be my little playmates! Who wants to play the first game?” Silence. Rem’s heart was pounding against his chest. “No takers? Then I’ll just have to pick for ya!” He was pointing a finger off to the left. “Eenie, meenie, miney, girlie, get over here!”
“Don’t you dare!” Rem recognized the retaliating voice as Lancett’s.
Now that Rem got a clear glimpse, there were significant differences in their situations; Lancett was bound in chains, whereas Solus was tied in rope, neither of them able to face one another due to being in chairs facing away. It almost seemed to show a power difference given that Solus wasn’t in possession of any magic. It would be harder for him to escape from a rope than it would be for Lancett, who could ignite the thinner material.
The man sprang forward and grabbed hold of a girl with singed red hair, her face streaked with tears, which only aggravated the bruises on her cheeks. She cried out when he grabbed her arm and dragged her into view, holding her face up close to the crystalline orb in his possession.
“See the pretty girl?” Kirian mused. “If you don’t comply, she’s gonna die. Say bye-bye!”
Rem’s heart stopped beating for a few seconds, his head swimming in confliction. “S-Sien…”
“Remiel!” Solus exclaimed. “Don’t listen to them! You know they’re trying to corrupt you!” Rem shook his head, gritting his teeth, staring at the concrete floors. “Don’t take their bait! It is our duty to-”
“Oh, wanna rebel now, eh?” Kirian grasped Sien’s arm, bending it against her back, causing her to scream. Rem’s head shot up at the cry. “A healer is no good with a broken arm or a severed spine.”
“Don’t do this!” Lancett cried out. “Please!”
“Let her go!” Rem roared, fighting against the chains, the brick plastering beginning to give way against his weight and heightened rage. “I’ll kill you! Leave her alone!” The woman behind the mask smirked, sensing the bloodlust burning through his frail body.
“You’re a coward, hurting a woman!” Solus hissed, Rem’s words ringing through him.
Kirian pinned Sien’s arm further and she grunted in pain. “You shut your mouth, servant boy.” Solus’s eyes darkened, and he shut his mouth tight as ordered. Sien was still an innocent civilian through and through—he couldn’t afford any unnecessary casualties. This was meant to be their fight.
“You’ll be all right, Sien! Don’t worry!” Lancett assured, trying to pry his hands free from the chains around his wrists. Solus was digging his nails into the rope, hoping that the durability wasn’t as strong as he perceived.
“He’s right, you know,” Sien spat. “You are nothing but a coward, hiding behind a mask, thinking that you’re doing Adrylis good. I’ve heard all about you from my father, ever since you emerged from the shadows.” Solus’s eyes widened by the words that followed, “You’re an elite group of reject Maesters and Arcana that want magic to-” The man pushed her to the ground, slamming his foot onto her back, causing her to shriek.
“You’re just a child,” he snarled. “You don’t know anything about what we’ve been through!”
“I know enough!” she pressed on, her nails clawing into the ground to compensate for her throbbing back—wiping out one pain by adding another. “I don’t have to be an adult to know that this is wrong!” Solus could feel the ropes beginning to tear, and his fingernails continued to work furiously.
Rem’s eyes were flashing amber, his sense of perception and reasoning dulling out the more that he was forced to endure this torture. “Stop,” he growled, lowering his head to the woman. “I’ll do what you want, just… just let them go.”
“I’m glad that you see it my way.”
“Prince Remiel!” Lancett retorted. “Hold on, that’s reckless, you’re-”
The woman looked at the orb, clenching it in her hand and causing it to dissolve, crumbling away like dust. Rem watched the shimmering particles fly past his face, silent. “You will relinquish your life to us, Highness. The fate of Adrylis has always been on your shoulders.”
Leilana was certain that the world was spinning too fast. The sky looked green. Or were they supposed to be trees? Oh well, either way, she was making progress. She was skimming over her map, expanding the landscape every so often and peering over the landscape. She remembered bypassing a bunch of rice paddies on the ride to Linarus, and if memory served her correctly, they should be coming up soon. When she decided to stop for a spell again to see her progress, she noticed the rice paddies, and further east stood what was left of Linarus. She broke into a run, her muscles aching at the sudden change of pace. Her breaths were becoming labored, her vision spotting every so often.
Her first steps along the once tranquil pavement nearly made her double over. She could smell decomposition and taste the ash in the air. Bodies were littering the ground, not a soul left to whisper any pleas. The wolves were gone, some of the beasts fallen at the hands of defenders. She was stifling sobs as she progressed forward, her feet sloshing along the blood-stained trail. She reached up her arms to wrap around herself, trying to swallow down the tears.
Please, she thought. Please let her friends be safe. She couldn’t bear losing anyone else.
Her first stop was Midstream. It was in tatters, glass everywhere, chairs overturned, booths ripped apart, but no one seemed to be around. She rested a hand on the counter. She could still hear Sien trying to offer them drinks, even wanting Leilana to rebel against the limits of age and have a sip. There were no corpses, which meant that her friends weren’t around. She skimmed the halls, and still no trace of anyone. The beds were empty, the bathrooms clean as if people left without a trace. That was a sign, right? That meant that they were out of the crossfires for now. Maybe Rem and Solus had reached the tavern in time to get people out. But even so, where were they now?
She stepped outside, climbing the upward hills. If they weren’t low on the spectrum to avoid the wolves and potentially Lunious, maybe they sought out shelter elsewhere. Upon reaching the top, she wasn’t surprised to stumble upon a massive shrine-like building hidden beyond the trees.
“I feel a pull,” she mumbled. They were here. They had to be.
“I want to know why your leader killed my parents and burned my kingdom to the ground. I know that it was him. I don’t know anything about him. I’ve never even seen his face. But there had to be a reason why he wanted us dead. It couldn’t have been my magic—my mother took care to make it known that my powers were untouched until I was ready.”
“You’ve yet to see your real potential,” she told him, removing the mask, brushing her pixie cut red hair out of her blue eyes. Rem slowly looked up at her, his mouth agape. “In the right hands, you could single-handedly end of the world.”
This is going nowhere fast, Rem thought to himself, his fingers twitching in anticipation. He could hear the wall beginning to break apart. “You have given a request to have my life, the least that you can do start giving me these reasons. What is this guild?” She supposed that he had a point. He was primed to die, what was the harm in giving him the answers that he craved?
“We are known as the Order of Helix,” she began. “We are a group comprised of Maesters and Arcana that failed their pilgrimage. But the choice was never ours; we seek revenge for our failure. And we seek the power that is comparable to Warlords.”
They were mere apprentices hunting down someone that could be out of their league, but now his face had a touch of confusion. Somehow things weren’t adding up the more that he listened. Someone had to be leading them.
“You say that you want to ascertain the power of Warlords, but what does it have to do with me? I’m not a Warlord. I was born a Maester, but I am not nearly prepared enough for such feats. If anything, you’re flattering me.”
“It’s easy to see what lies on the surface…” The woman drew a dagger from her robe’s sleeve.
Leilana stepped inside of the shrine, encompassed in shades of grey, the lights dim. She was running her fingers along the wall to keep herself from tripping, fumbling around in the dark. She couldn’t hold the Lasette in her hands to use any form of light; it was simply too heavy for her to hold in one hand.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, flinching at the coolness. Her vigilance heightened when she was pushed back into a brick wall, temporarily losing her breath at the contact. Standing before her was a masked man, greatly resembling Lunious and Mitholus. He was wielding an iron ball and chain, thrusting it at her. She narrowly dodged the attack, the ball slinging into the wall next to her. She couldn’t help but stare at the indent before sliding out of the way of a second strike.
Well. This was a peculiar turn of events. So now these weirdoes were trying to pound her into ground beef. That made it easier to confirm that they were protecting something or someone. And that someone was likely a captive Rem.
She opened the Lasette, dashing away from an impending ball to wall contact, ducking away behind a stone statue. Now that she was crouching, her head was pounding, likely from the rapid movement to avoid the whole shebang of death by metal balls. She shakily inhaled, sweat rolling down the back of her neck, holding up a hand before slamming it on the ground, a burst of lightning striking from the heavens, cutting through the stone walls.
Leilana glanced up at the crumbling ceiling and watched as the bolt electrocuted the man’s body, causing him to scream in agony. His mask split in half, blood was pouring from his mouth and eyes, his flesh beginning to melt away under the intense heat. Leilana watched the sight in horror, covering her mouth with both hands.
The man was human, just like her, and she was killing him.
The man let out a yell, hurling his ball and chain at her, knocking her to the floor. Leilana winced in pain at the contact, coughing harshly as she rose to a sit. No. It shouldn’t have mattered if any of them were human, for their acts were still so inhumane. They wanted to kill Rem, slaughtered an entire village for the sake of reaching him and kidnapped her friends. They were stopping at nothing to try and achieve their goals, even at the cost of other lives.
She was clenching her hand into a fist as he set himself up to attack again. Not a word he spoke to her, and here they were as enemies. Two different moralities. Two different understandings in this fickle game of life, where only one could emerge and continue moving forward. She swung her hand out as he drew closer, the electrical surges still fluctuating off of his body.
“Interasan (bind)… kinzaiver (quell)…” His movements didn’t still until she balled her hand up again slowly, his legs and arms binding together, constricting him. Her arm was quaking under the pressure, magic siphoning out of her body to keep him in place. Focus. The focus was impenetrable.
“Go on!” the man hissed.
Stop, she wanted to scream at him. She didn’t want to end up hurting him. She couldn’t stand the idea of taking any human lives, even if it were necessary.
“If you’re gonna hold me down, you may as well kill me!”
You know that you want to. Another voice chimed in, taking her by surprise, though her focus didn’t wave. Kill him. Kill him. No, no, she wanted to beg. This wasn’t the way. You want to save your friends, don’t you? Solus needs you… Rem wants to grow with you… let them be your guide…
Her mind slipped through feeble cracks. Her eyes snapped open at the sound and she shakily exhaled, lowering her hand. His body became too bound to itself, his bones crunching together. His corpse slumped onto the floor, unmoving. His mouth was hanging open, the dried blood still fresh on his face, streaking down. Leilana dropped to her knees, clutching her stomach while vomiting on the floor.
“What’s with the light show?!” Kirian hissed, looking back towards the door, slightly jerking Sien’s hair along with him. “Always something around these parts, isn’t there?” Solus was watching the man closely, his wrists finally unbound, the ropes around his chest loosening. He was holding them together with his hands to keep from drawing suspicion. His eyes were laced with anticipation, his foot bouncing.
“It sounded like electricity,” Lancett began. “Maybe a mage got a little antsy?”
“No one around here gets that antsy!” Kirian retorted, stomping his foot on the ground. “A-At least I’m not antsy!”
“You’re not going to go check it out?” Solus asked.
“Like I’m that stupid,” Kirian scoffed, turning his back to answer a call on his own crystalline orb. “What?! What’s going on, what’s with the sounds?”
Solus gestured to Lancett, holding up one of his hands, wiggling his fingers to express his means of freedom. Lancett smirked. Sien was glaring up at Kirian, prying her hair free. Her limbs ached too much to move about the room, let alone heal herself—he’d made sure of that.
“What the hell do you mean there’s an unknown Arcana in here?” Kirian said sharply, keeping his voice low to keep his captives from overhearing. “No one is supposed to get further than the front door. You guys screwed up big time, and I can’t leave the premises.”
Solus unwound the ropes and carefully rose from the chair, tiptoeing over to Kirian and tapping his shoulder. “Pardon.” Kirian whirled around only to be met with a swift blow to the neck. The attack sent him tumbling to the ground, unconscious. Solus shook out his hand, grumbling, “Such meat on his bones…” Sien sighed of relief, clutching her bruised arm.
“Nice work there,” Lancett told him. “How did you do it?”
Solus looked at his chipped nails, holding them out towards Lancett with a half-hearted smile. “Compromise. I have been told to prepare for any situation. This was one of those times.” He rested his hands on his side again. “We need to find Rem.”
“Kirian said there’s an Arcana in here,” Lancett began. “I think it may be Leilana.” Solus didn’t look too pleased, his nose scrunching in disappointment. It better not be Leilana. He was clear about telling her to stay with Luna and keep her safe, and yet she ran away to help them anyway. Sometimes she could be so stubborn, but that was a price to pay for youth.
“You’re not helping her?” Lancett asked, noticing Solus’s almost cold expression.
“His duty is to Rem,” Sien answered, rising to a stand only to grip a nearby wall. “It was always to Rem. There isn’t anything we can do about that. We’ll support Leilana, and Solus can find Rem.”
“You want to go after Leilana when you can’t even help yourself right now?” Lancett retorted, grabbing the girl’s arm. “At least take the time to heal yourself.” Sien outstretched both of hers before holding up her hand to the ceiling, effectively freeing herself from Lancett, a crimson aura encircling her body. The wounds began to mend and close, the blood drying, shifting away from her body as if cleansing her. The physical pain had mostly dulled, but she was still stiff.
She smirked at Lancett after lowering her hand, flipping loose strands of hair out of her face. “You were saying?” Lancett rolled his eyes, and Solus was already set on his way.
“The two of you search for Leilana, make for the entrance and then leave Linmus. I imagine that Leilana’s going to need support because her body is still undergoing a flux.” Lancett raised an eyebrow at the remark. ‘Flux?’
“And where are you going after you find Rem?” Sien asked.
“We’ll meet you. It may take us some time, but try not to wait up too long.” He left the room.
“Wait, Solus!” Sien called out, “You don’t have your sword!” But by then, he was already long gone. Sien scoffed, resting her hands on her hips. “Just as reckless as the Prince…”
There has to be a way. There has to be some way out of this.
Rem was observing his captor’s movements closely. The dagger would do little harm if it were a mere prick, even if the wrong place. He gave a small tug on the chains, listening to the metal rattle. The plastering cracked under the pressure. His eyes widened. That was it—one good tug could set him free.
“You haven’t answered me,” Rem pressed on. “What do you need me for? You all have enough magic to overthrow me. I’m nowhere near ready for these so-called plans to eradicate you. And even without that, you have possession of my country—our country. Why kill me?” The woman plunged the dagger into his stomach, causing him to gasp, gazing at the blood seeping down the weapon.
“The plan was never to kill you.” She slowly dragged the weapon out of him, and he winced, panting. “Only to purge the darkness in you.”
“You can’t take away what exists in someone’s soul, their being,” he snarled, his fingers flexing before he thrust his arm forward, the chains and wall snapping apart, leaving him to hang. The woman stepped back, a bit surprised. “You are irrational and foolish to consider it.” He swung his right arm forward, falling to the ground, landing in front of her. His eyes were hazy, fluctuating around his over-anxious emotions. “My friends. Where are they?”
