Chapter 10A: The Beast of Bones City

Chapter Ten

“I swear I saw this same shore inside my dreams. We danced hand-in-hand to a melody of screams. It was at Ember Bay that you entered this city, but it is on this shore that we enter eternity. I saw it in my dreams like it was written in the stars, as if to tell us that this destiny is ours. This is the place where the past and future collide,” I said to Aeliana as I held her hand at my side.

She said to me as she set her head on my chest, “In some ways it seems that our destiny’s a test. The stars align to illuminate a path, but they scatter the starlit road with potholes and hurdles so that most people are damned to see their destiny denied or rendered as a reverie that they can never achieve. The stars crossed us and cursed our path with heavier hurdles than most, but we shatter every obstacle that comes our way. We fought an Astrodeus cursed by the darkness and driven to destroy us, but instead we buried her beneath the beach where we will step with one foot into infinity.”

As if in a delicate daydream, we danced together beneath the stars on that beach like we were driven by an invisible melody. We danced together in an imaginary limelight like our lives were center-stage to some imaginary audience cheering on our every move. Though our golden-eyed enemy rolled in her shallow grave, we danced to celebrate our love and the eternity to which we would embark. However, this beach was much more popular than the shore of Ember Bay where we were united for the very first time. People splashed into the steaming shallows and surfed the starlit swells. Wanderers watched with wide eyes as we danced, but they eventually walked away. Picnickers sat in the sand and stared at the sea. Despite the plague, the people played without precaution; they scattered at only a slight distance from one another. We whispered our words quietly so that they were hidden by the breeze which swept over the ocean. The glow of distant lava illuminated the western horizon and sent a shimmer across the waves.

“I always thought you were the kind of man to avoid a crowd,” Aeliana said with a giggle which was almost too loud.

I answered as I set my hand right beside her head, “I think that it may be exactly as you said. I used to live my life as if it were a dream; I never thought I would find purpose in anything. I honestly thought I would drown in my own pain, so I beseeched the sky to sever that shadowed chain. They say to be careful what you wish for because it might one day come true, but across the badlands and the ocean I finally found you. Everything I have in this world was built by our will, so even a mountain to the sky is just another hill – there is nothing that the two of us together can’t fulfill. I can forge our future with the strength I steal from each kill. I once feared the stars and feared the crowds. I once feared the sky and its darkening clouds. I once feared that these people could somehow stand in our way, but I know now that they are just another obstacle to slay. We can kill all those who cross us with that black fire Array, and I will steal so much strength that the stars themselves shall sway.”

She said with a smile as she stared into my eyes, “I figured you would say something along those lines. This is what it means to see a future and force it upon an obstinate reality. People may strive to stand in our way, but with your hand in mine, I know we’ll kill them all.”

I smiled and whispered my affirmation, but then a distant commotion deferred my attention. A man slowly made his way across the beach with a small entourage around him. I thought nothing of it at first, but I saw through the starlight that several other beachgoers made their way over to him. He almost looked out of place like a fire in a snowstorm. While others wore swimsuits or casual clothing, he dressed completely in formal attire. The beachgoers tried to get his attention, but his bodyguards kept them at a short distance. Aeliana and I braced ourselves as he seemed to approach our vicinity, meaning that we could get caught in the crowd if we did not clear the area. However, I recognized this man as soon as he stepped close enough that the starlight overcame the shadows. His name was Hayatama, and he served as a city leader second only to the minister himself. Aeliana reached for her daggers in that moment, but I set a hand on her shoulder to relax her. Donovan stood among the men behind Hayatama, and it was then that I realized that our paths had not crossed as a coincidence. They had sought us out on purpose.

Hayatama offered his hand and announced as he arrived, “I hear you fought a monster and managed to survive. A witness said that the two of you together fought off an invader from beyond the walls. My source fled the scene at the start of the fight, but the results state the story from there. The fire destroyed half a block before our firefighters put it out, but we only found a few bodies in the area. I take it that that means you managed to murder the monster.”

“There’s too much evidence to get away with a lie, but in truth all we wanted was to just stay alive. l think we would rather keep this in the past,” I said as I tried to not talk too fast.

But Hayatama answered with an amused laugh, “You’ve got more backbone than the men on my staff! But it can’t be a coincidence that this is where we first meet, on the beach where our city gathers to celebrate the valorous heroes of our past. I would be honored if the two of you would join me at my nearest office, somewhere away from the prying eyes of onlookers.”

Though my instinct was of course to refuse his offer, I glanced at Donovan and saw him silently convey that refusal wasn’t a realistic option. I even saw a panicked glimpse in his dark green eyes as a whisper and a warning. I could sense from a distance that this man was mired in many motives, though this seemed inescapable for any politician in this city. I never once questioned it when the dark queen mentioned that her clientele included the city leaders. They were exactly the type of men to feign a life of love and service when in reality they were more monstrous than anything they banished beyond the city walls. They were glorified pickpockets at best and mass murderers at worst.

Regardless of my internal debate, Aeliana forced my hand and grabbed my arm. For the first time since she arrived in this city, she chose to feign civility instead of throwing herself into battle. I nodded in compliance with Hayatama’s directive, and so we walked away from the waves where we would one day walk waywardly into eternity. A pair of bodyguards stood beside us as we stepped across the sand, but the others spread to a short distance so that they could hold off the beachgoers who strived to see their city leader. A short while later, we arrived at an office just a few blocks from the ocean. I sighed with relief when I saw that he did not lead us to some underground dungeon, and for a moment, I held out hope that Hayatama was not a customer of the underworld.

(Note: There are still 3 more parts to this chapter)