Lugos

Osawa and Vahn followed Haru down the stairs of the officers quarters, falling behind when Haru made it to the central hub of the Palamidia’s Tower.

Osawa almost lost sight of him among the white coated soldiers that clotted the cavernous room. The circular construct of the area made it difficult for the foot traffic to move in any kind of logical way, and people wove and ducked between bodies as efficiently as possible to get through. Stairs lead up from there to different wings of the Tower, stopping at various floors and bypassing others, but only one of the staircases rose through the entirety of the Tower until it reached the precipice.

Haru disappeared up that staircase, his black hair a sharp contrast against the white of the walls.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Vahn muttered behind Osawa as they shoved through the bodies that had been upset by Haru’s route through them.

“It’s where Velinius usually is,” Osawa replied.

“That man is stone cold crazy,” Vahn said. He shifted to the side, avoiding a Prospect with her arms loaded down with sealed missives.

The Prospect leapt in place when she recognized him, the papers falling from her grasp and sliding over the floor. Vahn stooped to retrieve them, forcing Osawa to kneel to help.

“He is going to get us killed,” Vahn hissed to Osawa.

They slid the papers into a pile and Vahn offered them to the girl. She saluted, bowed, then saluted again before snatching them away and disappearing into the crowd.

“If she is alive,” Osawa said. “I’m not the one who will have to tell her that Haru isn’t.”

Vahn didn’t reply. Either he was too annoyed to, or he knew that Osawa had a point.

Finally making it through the bodies, Vahn hit the stairs first. His legs ate them up two at a time, and Osawa had to move faster to keep up. The white marble twisted through the walls of the tower, moving behind and beyond the rooms nestled within, a cold and unifying reminder wherever they went. They continued through the spiral, chasing the faint echoes of Haru’s footsteps.

The pair reached the top of the stairs and the hall widened. Ahead, the doors of the Temple whispered shut.

The doors loomed at the end of the hall, twice the size of any other in height and width. The marble was carved in a basket weave but unlike any other room, vertical wood handles set in the door were warm and inviting to the touch.

Inside, the Temple was one of the only places not washed in white. Long, dark wood benches within were lined up from the front to the rear of the temple. Fluted pillars, carved at the base, and soaring colonnades reached skyward, drawing the eye to the rib vault ceiling and the glass dome above. Three oversized chandeliers were suspended above the central aisle, their light refracting off of thousands of clear crystals. Frescoes and stained glass windows spanned over the walls, the myriad colors a shock after the sameness elsewhere.

Osawa and Vahn stepped into the vestibule, staying in the dark recess inside of the doorway.

Velinius stood in the semicircular apse in front of the Temple’s altar. She was looking up to the rose window, dark in the dim of twilight. Her hair was braided tightly at the nape of her neck and the light cast from the chandeliers caught the red that glimmered in the dark brown of her hair.

“I hope you do not intend to disturb the sanctity of this place,” she said without turning.

Haru stood just below the steps to the altar, his hands clenched into fists at his side.

“There is nothing sacred here,” he replied.

Vahn made a low groan in the back of his throat, and Osawa raised a finger to his lips to quiet him.

Velinius turned to confront Haru, her movements unhurried. Her eyes were a honey brown, but the cold of the expression tempered whatever warmth they may have held.

“This is a place for quiet contemplation,” she said. “Not your….” she waved a hand toward Haru before clasping it behind her back once more. “Whatever it is this time.”

It would be near suicidal to try and come between Velinius and Haru.

Osawa exchanged glances with Vahn, gesturing forward with a nod. Vahn shook his head and signalled for them to wait. His violet gaze was intent on the scene playing out before them, seeking his own confirmation.

“What did you do to her?” Haru asked.

Velinius shook her head, “I am sure I do not know what you speak of,” she replied, something like pity in her voice.

Haru took a step and flickered out of view, reappearing just before Velinius like a trick of the eye. He grabbed her by the coat, pushing her back into the altar.

Velinius wrapped her hands around Haru’s wrists, deadening the hit, and leaned close to him. She tilted her head, her face a breath from Haru’s.

“I know I bear some resemblance to the departed Legatus,” she said, then pulled back. She straightened back to her rigid stance. “But do not think that you can lay hands on me.”

Velinius’s words cut true and Haru released her, backing up a step. She righted her jacket, smoothing the folds where Haru’s hands had been.

“I do not think you are thinking clearly, Tribuni,” she said.

“I am the only one thinking clearly,” Haru said. “You wanted to control her, and when you couldn’t, you tried to get rid of her.”

Velinius’s features froze for a moment before recovering, but even Osawa caught the slight slip of cover.

Which meant that Haru would have read it like a beacon.

“I do not try,” Velinius said, no longer trying to conceal her intent. “I succeed.”

A blast of light erupted between the two, knocking Haru back.

Osawa shielded his eyes from the blinding blast. When he opened them and blinked away the colors that danced in his vision, he saw Haru.

He had hit the marble with a thud, unmoving as Velinius stepped down from the elevated daise.

Osawa rushed forward, Vahn at his heels.

The lights flickered.

Before the two reached Haru, the candelabras danced and flashed.

A wave of light scorched down the aisle, called to Haru’s side. Vahn grabbed Osawa’s arm and yanked him into the nearest pew, the two collapsing as the end of the wood bench splintered behind them.

Velinius swept her hands before her and a wall of light moved at Haru. He crossed his arms in front of him, scattering the attack around his body.

The force splintered with a howl so piercing it shattered the stained glass windows.

Vahn pushed Osawa’s head down, covering them as the shards rained into the temple.

Haru caught one of the tails of the light before it escaped and it turned blue in his hands, hissing and charged. He sent the lightning crackling at Velinius.

Velinius held her hands before her, ever calm, never flinching. When the lightning hit it split then, caught, orbited her body.

While Velinius was distracted with the lightning, Haru closed the distance between them. Light curved along the back of his arm into a blade, and Velinius created a shield to block the attack.

“What did you think you would accomplish with this, Haroun?” she asked. The lightning crackled in the air around her, but even the static feared to move a hair on her head.

Silence was Haru’s answer.

Vahn made his way to the other end of the pew that he and Osawa hid behind, then signalled to Osawa to move in.

Haru backed up and released the arc of light. Velinius redirected it with the shield and it streaked by Osawa, slicing through one of the marble columns. The top of the column slid to the ground and broke apart, splintering the floor beneath it.

The give in the support of the ceiling brought one of the chandeliers crashing down. Vahn jumped out of the way, rolling into a crouch as the crystals scattered across the marble.

Haru attempted to move through the light again, but Velinius caught him before he completed the transfer and yanked back. Haru was pulled out of the movement and he tripped backwards, hitting the ground. Osawa could hear the air as it left his lungs in a gasp.

Velinius stepped on Haru’s chest, keeping him down.

“I am curious,” Velinius said. She leaned her weight into the heel that rested on Haru’s diaphragm, stopping him from catching his breath. “How you can be so convinced that Ananke is alive.”

Vahn and Osawa moved in, but before they could get close enough, Velinius’s attention snapped to them. Keeping her heel in place, she lifted a hand.

Ropes of light twisted up Osawa’s legs and caught, yanking him to the unforgiving floor. Osawa put his hands out to catch himself, but his head knocked against the marble and his vision swam.

When he blinked it clear, Vahn was on his knees. Light was twisted at his neck and he clawed at a rope he couldn’t touch.

Velinius turned her attention back to Haru. “She was quite fond of her pet.”

Velinius’s hand twisted, tightening the rope around Vahn’s neck and he fell forward, catching himself before hitting the ground.

“You will want to be still,” she said to Haru. “We do not know what will happen if I lose my concentration.”

Haru opened his mouth to respond but Velinius reached forward with her free hand, pressing two fingers against Haru’s chest, and his voice came out as a scream.

Her cool detachment shifted to anger. She pulled back.

“What did you do?” she hissed.

Haru still struggled to breathe, but he clenched his jaw.

The blue of his eyes flashed gold when they met Velinius’s, and he smirked.

Her nostrils flared, then her composure returned. “Easy enough to undo,” she said, then pressed her fingers once again against Haru’s heart.

Before his screams broke, the door to the Temple opened.

Velinius released her holds. Vahn fell to the marble with Osawa, gasping for breath.

Velinius’s hands moved to clasp behind her back as the guards swarmed into the Temple. The guards moved in, glass cracking under their steps.

“These traitors made attempt on my life,” Velinius said, pressing her open hand to her chest for emphasis. “Take them so that they may answer to all for their crime.”

Osawa managed to sit up, only to be knocked down by a blow from behind.

His vision swam, but this time it did not return.