Chapter 11D: Castle Made of Dirt

Elijah seemed to stop in his tracks. He became stuck in a standstill and set to reconsider all that he had heard. I could tell by the pain in his gaze that this was not the first time he had wondered about the source of his fuel; it was likely not the first time he had heard a similar accusation. He glanced over his shoulder at his ally who stood at a safe distance. This ally nodded slowly, but Elijah shook his head as if he could hide from reality. If he denied the apparent truth, then he could rewrite the repugnant reality.

“I will not fall for your duplicity,” said Elijah as he turned away from the city.

In that moment, Elijah threw himself forward at a superhuman speed. I forced a rock wall to rise in his path, but he came crashing straight through it in a rage-fueled slam. A shower of rock splashed into the water as he rushed closer, but it had distracted him long enough for me to unleash a high-speed sphere of spiraling fire. It struck him with a fiery shockwave which launched him back into the remains of the rock wall. The impact disoriented the swordsman, so I threw myself forward and thrust my sword in a desperate attempt to end this fight. But instead of sidestepping my slash, he swung his sword so swiftly that it struck my weapon out of my hand. He then bolted forward at a frightening pace and then stopped with his sword to my throat. His bright blue eyes glared into mine as he contemplated his next move.

“You can kill me if you like, but it will not kill malevolence – not when it is your boss who harvests and kills innocents. You already know what we wanted when we came here. What crime could we commit at a bay by the pier? Who do you save by stopping us from running away?” I asked as he contemplated the orders from which he might stray.

I could tell by the ambiguity in Elijah’s eyes that he was too righteous to kill a person if he suspected their innocence; he could not run the risk of killing a good person and becoming a hand of the malice he so clearly detested. Still pressing his blade to my neck, he looked over his shoulder at his ally who now ran across the sand. This enemy seemed to realize that I had nearly pacified his comrade, so now he approached to finish the job.

I explained to Elijah as I took a deep breath, “She had to take his power or else it would be her death. It’s true that we stole his fuel and ran, by freezing time itself as only she can. But he would have killed us if we refused him; there was simply no other way that we could win. But for the sake of justice, it makes no difference in the end. Hayatama will kill anyone whether a foe or a friend.”

After a contemplative pause, Elijah groaned angrily and dropped his sword in the shallows. He ran over to Aeliana and scooped her up in his hands, and then together we took off running at full speed toward the pier. Our other enemy shouted Elijah’s name as we made our escape, but I forced a rock wall to ascend from the beach; I even heard the delightful sound of him crashing straight into it. The quiet pier was a considerable distance from the shallows where I had buried countless victims of the dark, but the urgency spurred me to heighten my speed. When we crossed from the sand to the wood which stretched out into the sea, I saw the starlight shimmer on the surface of a dozen moored ships. A blast of plasma in the distance illuminated the beach with a white flash, but we were too far away to fear our assailant now. Even as we raced toward the end of the dock, Elijah whispered a heartfelt apology for attacking us in the first place. I could tell his whole world had crumbled, including his perception of himself, but he distracted his breaking mind for the purpose of saving those that he had wronged.

Even after his power expired and his strength returned to normal, Elijah continued to push himself forward with Aeliana in his arms. For as much as I wished that I could carry her across the world if I needed, I wouldn’t have had the strength to save her in that moment even if it was our only option. Elijah then burned more quintessence to empower himself with the strength he needed to save us. It’s no exaggeration to say that Elijah is a living legend, determined to stand for justice and build a better world. He fired every muscle in his body and soul to carry us to the small boat at the end of the dock. He had sacrificed his own future and any hope he had of returning to his previous life, all because I upended the illusion that enamored him with Hayatama. He couldn’t go back to the life he had even if he forewent his own morals, all because he had elected to help us.

Elijah said to me as he stared across the bay, “I’m almost sad to see our battle end in this way. I hope you manage to stay safe somewhere out there. I almost wish… that I could somehow go with you.”

“You will join us on our quest in my head as a guest,” I said to Elijah as I stabbed my sword through his chest.

His eyes widened with shock as my blade burst through his back with a bloody splash. Every muscle in his body tensed, and he weakly set his hands on the steel of my blade. Aeliana watched from a short distance as she set two oars in the ocean, but I stared only into the bright blue eyes of the man who had saved us. I could see pain and confusion flash through his eyes as vividly as the stars danced in the sky.

He asked me in the moment that his knees fell to the floor, “Did you lie about everything you told me before? You said Hayatama is a monster. I tried to save you!”

“It was more than a try; you saved me for sure. I told you truth when I told you those words. Your boss poses a threat to all innocent lives, but we pose a threat to both the land and the skies. We will warp existence itself to further our goal, and your power will help me when I devour your soul. I never claimed to be a good man or even benign, for we will wage war on the stars until they align. Your act of justice or goodness can’t derail our path; we’re on a journey to eternity and can never turn back. You turned against a man who left dozens to rot in the sand, only to save a man who will harvest everyone left in this land. You are a steppingstone to the future we swore to create, and now that I’ve killed you, it’s already too late.”

I thrust my sword deeper into Elijah’s chest and watched black fire engulf his body as he took his final breath. His head bowed as the Array burned through his soul and empowered me with a weapon which was beyond all control. Aeliana watched with a smile as I kicked his body into the swift sea, and then I crouched beside her with an oar in my hand. She kissed me deeply and ran her hand through my hair. Her hazel eyes narrowed with a glowing smile. I slashed the ropes which bound our boat to the dock, and then I kicked off it to push ourselves into motion. Elijah’s former ally ran across shore toward the place where the pier met the sand, so I summoned a searing sphere of spiraling flames. I launched the fireball at its fastest speed and struck the base of the dock with an explosive crash. The fiery shockwave engulfed the pier and ignited the six boats closest to the blast. Fire illuminated the sky and the sea as I sailed from the city with her hand clasped in mine.

This story was never one of a willful man striving to fix a broken world; stronger men than me have tried. This world has proven it has no place for heroes or champions, otherwise it would not reward murderers with the power to rewrite reality.

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