Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2 (56 page)

“Basilard saved me from
the Exile by giving me his own blood.” She flipped her hair and it shined in
the room’s light. “I’m as good as his biological daughter.”

“
Legal ward
,” Basilard
said coldly; so coldly, Zettai shivered. “I am responsible for her, but she is
not part of the clan. I am her legal guardian.”

“The Trickster had to
twist his arm to do even that much! He was going to watch me die!”

“I remember you wishing
as much after our last training session.”

“That wasn’t training;
it was a beating! You could have just given me the knowledge like the Exile
did. Then I’d be as good you are already.”

Eric watched with
interest. Their mutual killing intent was raising and he could eat the weakened
victor. Then a memory of his own training under Basilard surfaced and he
changed his mind.

“If I did that, you
would turn into a clone of me; body
and
mind. I took a serious risk with
you. Be grateful and work harder.”

“I’m sorry
my life
did so much damage to your precious reputation! It’s bad enough that the rest
of my
blood
family treats me like a disease, but you too?”

“We’ve been over this.
From their perspective, you
are
a disease because you were reborn with a
forbidden art. You can prove them wrong by growing up.”

“Abyss! You’re as bad
as my real dad!”

Nolien cleared his
throat and said, “Speaking of real dads, Eric, do you have any questions
regarding Professor Haburt?”

Eric’s eyes
spontaneously shifted from those of a human to something resembling a cat’s. It
was slitted and feral. When he spoke, it was not with a human voice, but
something deeper and savage.

 “Can I eat him?”

“
No,
” said Basilard,
Kallen, and Zettai. Nolien, Tiza, Sathel, and Retina didn’t say anything.

Eric’s eyes returned to
human form and he asked his following question in a voice more typical for
humans of his age and experience.

“There’s some kind of
punishment in store for him, right? I remember I avoided punishment for killing
an orc, but that was to save someone’s chastity and my little sister declared
me innocent. However, Haburt has done more than that and I doubt his little
sister can do such for him.”

No one knew who he
meant by “little sister,” so everyone but Kallen and Basilard, who noted it for
later, ignored it and moved on.

As a group, they
decided not to press charges against Haburt for working with Mr.15. If he went
to jail, Vaya would have no one to rely on and Kasile would have one less
person pulling for her in the coming Mana Mutation Summit. Tiza herself pushed
for this idea. No one knew why, but she said it was not “out of the goodness of
her heart.” 

Haburt returned to the
University of Roalt to analyze his research and write his papers. The first one
concerned Dengel and Mana Mutation and would be submitted to the upcoming Mana
Mutation Summit as part of the agenda. This satisfied the royal Powers That Be
and justified the grant they gave him to travel to Ceiha. The second one
concerned his common man interest. It would go through the process of peer
review before publishing. This satisfied the academic Powers That Be and his
own curiosity. It also justified altering history books and the inevitable
debates with his colleagues.

Vaya was living with
him under the name “Sonya.” Unlike Zettai, she didn’t have a “neat” story like Bladi
Conversion and so one was created for her. According to her official
immigration papers, she was a citizen of Ceiha and her parents abandoned her
during a food shortage. Haburt picked her up off the street and adopted her out
of compassion. To lessen the chance that someone would see a resemblance to his
dead daughter, Haburt changed a few characteristics with help from Basilard.
Now she was a brunette instead of a blonde and with eyes to match.

“Next question: Does
Mia know I’m all right?”

“No one outside this
room does.”

 “Abyss! She must be
worried sick!”

He ran out of the room.

High above Tariatla,
Tasio did pinwheels among the stars. His joy radiated brighter than any of
them. It obscured the sky with divine splendor and blocked the stars from
sight. Local astronomers were cursing him at that very moment for interfering
with their work. He couldn’t care less.  

“IT WORKED, MOTHER! FOR
THE SECOND TIME IN A DECADE, IT WORKED!”

He spun in a circle and
drew clouds towards himself. Then he pushed them aside along with moisture and
air currents. This would lead to odd weather in the region for the next couple
of weeks. Naturally, he would be blamed for it.

“I was afraid I would
have to set something up myself, but then Nulso spun that little plan of his
with Mr.15. All I had to do was whisper a few encouraging words in a little
girl’s ear. It was worth it to overturn her fortune. So much change so quickly;
hope and despair cycling; all these things do best please me, falling so
preposterously.”

He rolled his eyes and
waved his hand.

“She’ll be fine. Anyone
her age that can survive on the streets of Ceiha as long as she did can handle
Bladi Clan intrigue. She will transform in time and trigger more change for
you.”

He leaned back to
examine the moon. It was shining brightly with the sun’s light.

“The more important
outcome of this event is that Eric overcame his hatred of Dengel and
re-embraced his idolization. Holding these two feelings in his heart for the
same person is precisely the outcome we wanted. His next adventure will be to
harmonize the monster with the mercenary.”

At this, he expressed
relief.

“From mook transformed
into mercenary. It was simple enough. I’ve done it countless times but
monster?
That’s a rarity. Now he’s one step closer to being the tool you need to fight
Uncle Odor.”

He pouted.

“But I like calling him
that. It makes him mad. I wish I could do something about his pawns. A little
accident here and a bolt of divine retribution there and it would be over.
Nulso would be dead without backlash for us and Lunas would be dead too and so
would his blasphemous claims. If we’re lucky, the shock and anger will make
Epideus implode and take the Grand Obelisk with him.”

He bonked himself on
the head.

“You’re right. I need
to remember my own advice. It’s the same reason I allowed Selen Esrah’s coup to
play out and why I didn’t help Eric in Ceiha: change, development, and free
will. With Kallen’s help, it will work with minimal involvement from myself.”

He smiled fondly at the
thought of his favorite follower.

“Without her, he’d
still be a savage mongrel in a cell. It’s a pity that she couldn’t keep her
kimono and such on. I would have loved to snatch a ‘beauty and the beast’
photo.”

He cocked his head and
nodded.

“Yes, yes, it’s going
well, but right now, it’s just a crush – simple puppy love. You know that
Samael will make an appearance soon and that will be a useful occasion for them
to bond further. As for
Kallen
, it’s just metaphysical right now.
Something more personal is about to develop on its own. All three of them will
be ready. All they have to do is survive the summit.”

Eric’s Journey continues!

A spear wielded by
the Trickster's Choice against a shield wielded by the Ordercraft Prince.

Eric pulled out his
staff and assumed a battle stance. “It will do fine.” 

He moved into a thrust
and Lunas blocked. He struck left and right and Lunas parried each time. Eric
put more strength into his strikes, but he couldn’t budge Lunas; his skill with
a shield pushed his strength aside each time. Then Eric feinted for the
prince's eyes and stepped forward into a swing with the butt that swiped Lunas
off his feet. His head hit the ground and the crystal blade nicked his ear.

“Again, Your Highness?”

Eric offered a hand to
help him up and, when Lunas grabbed it, he shifted it into a Grendel’s. For
just a moment, there was instinctive fear in Luna’s eyes. They faced each other
and again Lunas took the defensive by standing still and blocking attacks. Then
he took the initiative. By deflecting a blow and stepping closer, he set
himself up for a punch to the nose. Eric stumbled and Lunas shoved him with the
shield. Eric lost his footing and Lunas dropped the pointed end of the shield
between his legs.

“Again, Trickster's
Choice?” 

Lunas offered a hand to
help him up and, when Eric grabbed it, a second hand reached out; a ghostly
parasitic one like Nulso. For just a moment, there was instinctive fear in his
eyes. The invisible feelers probed his mind and spirit. If he hadn't fought off
such attacks from Nulso, he wouldn't have noticed at all.

Their dance continued
and, this time, neither gained an advantage. The chaotic mercenary struck with
many and diverse attacks, but all failed to break his opponent’s guard. The
lawful prince repelled every attack, infiltrated his opponent’s mind, and
physically counterattacked when possible, but he failed to break his opponent’s
will.

If he wants in so
badly, I'll open the door and welcome him.

Eric unfurled his
spirit just enough for Lunas to sense his monster madness. It permeated his
sense of self so finely that it was easy to hide in public. It was also easy to
give eavesdroppers flashes of it to scare them. A monster’s mind is
unfathomably chaotic and savage, frightful for anyone. Someone like Lunas would
fear it all the more for his lack of experience. Once he was sufficiently on
edge, Eric struck him with the Right Arm of the Grendel. Lunas blocked with the
shield but the force of the blow traveled through it and knocked him off his
feet and several feet back. Lunas lowered the shield and revealed himself as
fresh as a daisy.

“Mr. Watley, you didn't
tell me it was going to be
that
kind of duel.”

A grey-white mist
gleamed within him and the shield blazed golden-brown. Lunas grounded himself
and fired a shot of chaotic energy. Eric dodged and the shot vaporized the wall
behind him. Lunas fired again, Eric dodged again, and another section of wall
disappeared. These weren’t just holes, they were
voids
. Eric
half-expected eldritch beings from beyond time to crawl through them.

Lunas fired a third
time and Eric dodged into the path of the fourth. He Grendel-jumped to avoid it
and kicked off the air to avoid the fifth.
I have to end this now!

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Born in Kansas, US, Brian Wilkerson grew up playing
Final
Fantasy
and watching
Power Rangers
. During middle school, he
discovered Cartoon Network's anime programming block “Toonami” and was inspired
to write fanfiction based on its shows. All together, they inspired him to
write his own original stories.