IX.2

Sanctuary: an open-ended field where the ground was an ocean deep, and a bright blue sky above. Every time I got myself in a difficult situation, this place gave me enough clarity to think. Today was not the case. I sat down, crossing my legs, and waited. The waves of the water rippled as a harsh gust of wind blew past me. He was there, and I knew he would come.

“Fire. Death. The impending wave of darkness. A blackened goddess looming over the mountain of corpses. This was the future we have yet to see, and destined to stop. You were tasked with one objective and now you appear at Sanctuary once again.”

I turn to face him, eye-to-eye. He was wearing his usual black cloak, as always. His hood wasn’t enough to cover his entire face, yet only a glowing yellow left eye was to be seen.

“Do you need to remind me? Seen it many times and there are many more nightmares to come.” I looked away. “There has to be a way to end this. What can I do to achieve that?”

He shook his head. “It’s not what you can do, it is what you have done that is more important, Aren Damoder.”

I narrowed my brows. “What?”

“The sacrifices you have made make no progress to divert the future. How many more lives shall be ‘sacrificed’ for the greater good?” He grunted. “Are you saving others for a future they do not know of, or stepping on the innocents help satiate your own sanity?”

“I saved those people back there, at the forest!”

“You were only willing to save the girl: they were commodities at best. If it were between them and her, you wouldn’t even hesitate to let them be slaughtered. The tortoise was all but a means to an end. You lectured the girl about the principles of heroism: a hypocrite, you are.”

I threw my arm to the side. “Sacrifices, greater good? What do you know?! At least I am trying to do something! What more can I prove to a person who won’t do anything?!”

“For a thousand years, you tried to—”

“For a thousand years, I tried to save this world! Shut up, you know nothing! I won’t give in and I will try everything I can to—”

“And where did your efforts lead you? Back here, back to me. Even for someone like you, who has saved the world from its own demise, cannot achieve the impossible.”

I sucked my teeth and clenched my hand into a fist. “You bastard… Have you given up? I don’t care, I will fix this.”

“Fix, no fix: it does not matter. What you proclaim can never change this simple fact: you have sacrificed the wellbeing of others for your own benefit. There are many ways to change fate, and you choose the latter.”

Memories of me killing people flashed into my mind. They repeated over, and over, and over again. I held my head and closed my eye until it finally stopped. The sky turned into pieces of glass, shattering as they fell to the ground. The ripples of the water turned into small waves as the winds howled. Sanctuary was falling apart.

“You son of a bitch, this is not over! I will prove to you I am better than you!”

“The tower of corpses continues to pile. The future remains ominous, and I fear for the worst to come. Heed well. Once I take the reins of Fate away from the Gods, once I end all this suffering…”

“You will never be a hero again.”

“Grrrahh! Get out of my head!”

I summoned my sword, thrusting it at Him. He vanished in a flash of light as the ground crumbled. Before I knew it, the darkness of the depths embraced me.

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Aren shot up, thrusting his right arm in front of him. He breathed heavily and put his free hand over his heart. He was no longer at the Sanctuary and returned to the actual world. It pained him to meet that person once again, and the words he spoke of continued to etch into the back of his mind even then. Still, it gave him some relief it was over, and he expressed it with a deep sigh. When Aren looked to his left, he recoiled back, surprised to see someone standing there. It was a middle-aged man with a large scar across his pale-skinned face. He narrowed his gray eyes and took out a pipe to smoke. After taking a deep breath, he exhaled and Aren coughed, swiping away the cancerous air.

“Ack, ack! Hey, what the hell?! Why did you blow it at my face?!”

“It’s a habit, sorry.” The strange man grabbed a seat and sat on it backwards. “I don’t think it is normal to wake up like that. Bad dream, huh?”

“Who are you and where the hell am I?”

“Name’s Frank Wolfenstein. Call me Stein because I hate it when people waste pleasant air on that name. Don’t you forget it.” He took another hit from his pipe and let the smoke out into the ceiling. “And you, good sir, are in the Royal Academy’s infirmary. Miss Hawkwood and Merlin recovered you after the supposed battle. Oh, and that giant tortoise too. You know, a lot of students—”

Aren touched his right eye, noticing his eyepatch was not there. He grazed his neck and did not feel the soft linen of his scarf. “Where’s my stuff? Wait, I know where this is going. Let me guess.”

“Guess away.”

“You have my stuff, willing to give it back when I answer some questions of yours. Classic.”

Stein added more tobacco into his pipe. Aren offered to light his smoke with his fire magic, which the doctor accepted. He continued to puff away, chuckling. “Offering light to someone you don’t know? It’s either bold or foolish of you to trust a stranger so easily.”

“Nah, you don’t look like a schemer. You give more of that straightforward-guy impression to me. Got some years under my belt, so I can tell.”

“Oh ho? Spot on, kiddo. You were close. Someone else has your equipment. That person really wants to meet you. Although, I have some questions of my own before we scurry along.”

“Ask away. I have nothing to hide.”

“First off, you are not a normal person. People use magic to heal their wounds, whereas your body can explosively do it on its own.” Stein lowered his smoking pipe. “This is comparable to demons or other godforsaken creatures. Are you the same as them, Mr. Aren?”

“Dunno. I can breathe and interact with things like a normal person, that’s what I know.” Aren’s stomach rumbled. “I also know that I’m very hungry. You guys serve grilled steaks here? I’m on a STEAK for them.”

“Hilarious, I’m dying in laughter.” Stein rolled his eyes and rubbed his pipe. “Besides your obvious hunger, do allow me to inquire about your person, especially your eye.”

“Eh?”

Aren glazed his hand over his right eye. This singular organ limited his genuine power. If his right eyelids were to open, the release would cause a burst of energy, toppling down even the most stable structures. His hidden strength gave him massive drawbacks, however: using it would force his body to shut down in a deep-state of sleep when his power deactivates. To be unconscious out for a couple of days was the best outcome, since it could go on for weeks or months.

Anyone could recognize the iris of his eye. He was a famous hero, and there would be no doubt a text of his physical appearance would lie around in some library. So, keeping his right eye closed was best to conceal his identity and for the safety of others around him. He could not tell this to the doctor, let alone hint it, so he tried his best to avoid such an answer.

“W-What about it? Nothing interesting here,” Aren said. “L-Like I said, I got nothing to hide! Haha…”

Stein’s gray eyes flared in excitement as he got close to him. “It is a functional working eye. Why keep it closed? That iris is fascinating. Many feline species similar eyes to yours: is it that your eye is proof your ancestors are from such line? About your superhuman regeneration capabilities: how fast can you heal? Can I test the—”

“Woah, woah, easy with the questions! Take it somewhere else, man… Also, you are, like, too close for comfort. Are you into that thing?”

“Oh, sorry. Got too excited.” Stein backed off and cleared his throat. “Though I want to ask you more questions, you remind me of what is needed to be done. Let’s get a move on. The person meeting you can’t contain their excitement any further, like me.”

“Aw man, I just woke up. Are you at least going to do a physical to see if I’m okay?”

“Already did. Come on now, I got to substitute for a test tomorrow, so chop-chop.”

Aren got up from his bed, seeing he was in a blue hospital gown. “Uh, you don’t expect me to go out on these, aren’t you?”

“Hope that there’s no student wandering about in these hours. Come on, let’s go.”

Aren narrowed his eyes and nodded, following the strange doctor out of the infirmary and into the Academy Halls. They walked along an open corridor with a large garden at the center of the square-like pathways. He looked up, seeing the Gothic-like architecture with marble columns holding the tops, each carved with a creature. There were some students out and about, though they ignored him. They were too busy hanging out with friends or studying in their books. A group of adults came by, telling them to go back to their dorms due to curfew.

“This is how you Damorians go around and about. Can’t put my tongue on it, but it’s peaceful here, despite the ongoing civil war.”

“That’s everyone’s reaction when coming here. These Damorians you speak of are students,” Stein said. "Some of them aren't even from here: a prestigious school like so gets the attention from many countries aside from ours."

“Students, eh? What do you teach them?”

“We teach them the ways of magic, ways of armed—”

“You lot are teaching children to fight?” Aren let out an exasperated sigh. “The mere thought of an institution creating child soldiers is… well, it hits close to home, as a matter of fact.”

Stein fixed his round glasses. “There’s more to it, clam down. The Academy is a place of learning various arts. Though some come here to train in the wars to come, there are others who wish to learn the science of this world and use it to further enhance our technologies. Like this.”

He led Aren to what seemed to be a large shaft. They walked up to a small platform, and the doctor closed the gate in front of them. He pushed a lever until it was next to a crown symbol. The floor trembled, and the platform made them ascend higher into the Academy. Aren glanced around to see circle-like metals rotating around vigorously. A technology he had never seen before.

“This is an elevator. Some fellow named Elisha invented it. Don’t know much about it, but it makes going up so much easier,” Stein said. “Elisha was a student from the Academy. See? It’s not always conflict.”

“... A place of learning, huh? Kinda reminds me of someone who once advocated that.” Aren perked up. “Are we gonna see anything new? I was thinking of metal rods that can shoot out other metal rods or something…”

“Probably. I haven’t been keeping up with the trend. We are heading close, so prepare your hello speech.”

The elevator slowed down, then halted with a loud thud. Stein pushed the gate to the side and gestured Aren to follow him. Aren looked around, seeing everything decorated in ivory, gold, and luxurious cloths. There were many maids going around, cleaning every single nook and cranny from dust and dirt.

“You guys have the money to afford all this? What the hell…” Aren uttered. “Unless, um, you know, they are your slaves or something.”

“Nope, they are all workers earning their coin, rightfully so. This is all thanks to the Eadburt family. They provide the money for the Academy’s maintenance, which includes the buildings and staff.” Stein turned around, seeing Aren stopped moving. He raised his brow. “What’s wrong?”

“The Eadburts again? So, their reach of influence expands to here as well.”

“Heard of them?”

Aren laughed nervously. “Let’s just say I had a run in with one of their… compatriots.”

“Is that so? Well fun fact, the family is also responsible for keeping this kingdom together. The mercenaries who protect the villages and Damore’s soldiers are backed by their gracious efforts.” Stein took out his pipe to smoke, exhaling the smoke to the ceiling. “Have all the money to afford this crap and still make more than they can lose. Wonder how they do it.”

Aren showed his palm. “If they have all the money in the world, they can easily end this war. From the sound of things, it looks like this Civil War business has been happening for a while, so it kinda makes me wonder.”

“Exactly. He too thinks this is all suspicious.”

“He?”

“The person you’re about to meet. Come on.”

Eventually, they ended up in front of a black door at the end of a hall. Aren felt a powerful aura gushing out of the doorway, expressing his concern with a frown. Stein knocked on the door upon approach.

“Housekeeping. Just kidding. He’s here,” Stein said.

“Come in,” a mysterious voice replied.

Stein opened the door and what Aren saw made him tremble in horror. It was something far worse than he’d expected.