Chapter Eleven: Garden of the Gods

Cathy proved to be incredibly adept at finding both food and shelter during the trek down the mountain. The rain that started up around midday made the terrain muddy and slippery; she knew a small cave that the tired group gratefully took refuge in. Even better – to Astral, at least – was the fact that they could finally light a fire and get warm. He was exhausted. While the summoning did wonders for gaining Cathy's trust, it sapped him of the little energy he had left, and an irate Yuma had to support him as they made their way down. When they reached the cave, he fell asleep almost immediately, and for a wonder, he had no dreams.

When he did finally wake, he found Yuma sitting on the opposite side of the cave. He held a sheaf of yellowing papers and was writing on them with intense concentration. Astral didn't want to interrupt, but he felt a stab of curiosity.

"What are you writing?"

Yuma paused in mid-stroke and looked up. "I'm writing our experiences. Captain Kamishiro always stressed the importance of keeping a journal."

"I see." Astral frowned. "Where are Kotori and Cathy?"

Yuma gestured vaguely southward with his free hand. "There's a village a few miles away at the base of the mountain. It's a trading post of sorts; I've been there a couple of times. Kotori needed some herbs, so Cathy went with her."

"Why didn't they wait until we all headed that way together rather than make two journeys that way?"

"She said she needed them for you," Yuma said in a clipped tone. "Since you were unconscious for nearly seven hours before she left."

What? "How long have I been out?"

"About fifteen hours." Yuma set the paper aside and crossed his arms. Astral sighed inwardly, knowing exactly what was coming next.

"You wouldn't have been out for over half a day if you hadn't been careless. I absolutely-"

"-forbid me from doing it again?" Astral lifted an eyebrow. Yuma's mouth tightened. "I am not a child. And you are my bodyguard. I am not obligated to take commands from you."

"As your bodyguard, I will not half-carry you down a mountain because you can barely stand after summoning. Which is what always happens and it was entirely unnecessary."

"Gods, would you two stop arguing?" Kotori and Cathy had arrived and were both staring at them; Cathy with a curious tilt of the head, and Kotori with a frown and narrowed eyes as she tossed a small bag aside with such force that Astral wondered if the vials inside would remain intact..

Yuma mumbled a stiff apology and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes. "What took you?"

Kotori slumped against the wall next to Yuma and crossed her arms. Cathy took up a spot next to Astral. Neither woman looked at the other.

"Cathy decided to draw attention to us rather than keep our hoods up and our heads down, and ended up getting me involved in a petty dispute that evolved into a tavern brawl." Each word Kotori spoke dripped with more venom than the last, but if she was expecting disapproval from the lieutenant, she would be sorely disappointed.

"What?" Yuma managed through his laughter.

"It's not funny, Yuma!" Kotori threw an empty salve vial at his head. It missed by inches and shattered against the wall instead. "She got in a fight with armed mercenaries!"

"What were you even doing in a tavern?" Astral couldn't imagine a place Kotori was less likely to step foot in than a tavern.

"That's not important!" she snapped. "What is important is that Cathy threatened to kill a man and feed him to the wolves, and then they had at it until I had to intervene!"

"No one asked you to butt in," Cathy snarled, nails digging into her palms. "He was killing my friends and trading their bodies. He deserves death."

"Hey, that's enough!" Yuma pulled himself to his feet and held out his hands. "Cathy, I understand you're angry but we are being hunted too, and need to keep out of sight."

Cathy snorted and crossed her arms. "I only came with because I wanted to find who killed my family. I'm not the one who's scared of the bears."

Yuma took a deep breath, but Astral interrupted him. "That is understandable, Lady Cathy." He ignored Kotori's indignant Lady and gave Cathy a gentle smile. "We do need to be careful, however. We will never find who killed your family if we attract too much attention."

Her brows furrowed and she watched the small fire flicker. "I get it," she said finally. "Sorry." The word sounded unfamiliar coming from her.

Astral gently patted her shoulder, and she tensed. He realized too late that she probably hadn't had any human contact in so long that it was an unwelcome feeling. He frowned a little before turning to Kotori. "Lady Kotori, Yuma said you went to get herbs for me…?"

She slid her eyes from their fixed glare on the cave opening toward Astral. "Yes." She leaned over and grabbed the small bag she had thrown aside. "Though why you need those particular things is beyond me. It was very difficult to acquire them."

Yuma narrowed his eyes but said nothing. Astral was glad for this; his relationship with Yuma was already strained and he didn't feel like explaining that he had asked Kotori during their trip up the mountain to get him some herbs.

But he had to explain what he intended to do with them now.

"I need to commune with the Astral World," he said softly, taking a small bowl and cup from his knapsack. He poured water into the cup and set it near the fire before turning back to the herbs. It was a simple ritual, but with a complicated list of ingredients; cinnamon could only be found in the islands south of the Tenjo Kingdom, and juniper berries grew only on the trees in the northern mountains near the remains of the Dragoon Village. He crushed the cinnamon sticks and berries before adding mesquite and myrrh – both found only in the arid, rocky Sargasso Waste. He hadn't expected that Kotori would be able to find any of these things in a remote trading post near the mountains, but he supposed he could attribute that to a blessing from the gods.

His three companions watched silently as he placed a handful of the remaining juniper berries in the cup. He took a drink of the lukewarm tea and winced at the intensity. He had once coerced a manservant into getting him a small glass of gin; he liked the taste of juniper tea but adding too many berries reminded him too much of the strong, burning gin, which he had not enjoyed.

It helped him sleep, and that's what he needed to do.

He held a small, uncrushed mesquite twig over the fire to light it, and used it to burn the incense.

"I don't know how long I'll be out," he whispered. "With luck, it will not be too long."

"Be careful," Yuma murmured.

Astral's lips twitched as he closed his eyes and began the long, silent prayer, breathing in the cacophony of smells; the sweet cinnamon, the woody myrrh, the nutty mesquite, and the piney juniper. His head became light, his breathing shallow, and he felt the distant sensation of falling…


A lone flame flickered on the candle sitting on the nightstand, filling the room with the sweet aroma of caramel toffee. It was a soothing smell. A calming smell. When they were young, Kaito would light one for Haruto to help him sleep. As he got older, the familiar scent helped Kaito sleep, too.

But he slept very little this night, and from the warm, uncharacteristically heavy breaths on the back of his neck, he knew Chris wasn't sleeping either. His arm was draped over Kaito's waist, hand linked loosely with one of Kaito's, and his chest pressed against Kaito's back. Kaito shifted, pulling Chris's arm closer to his body. Chris's face pressed into the nape of his neck and he kissed it gently.

Neither wanted to move, because both knew this would probably be the last time they could lay like this, the last time they could try to forget that the lives they had carefully built together were falling to pieces around them.

I gave them my soul to protect my brothers.

But they took my brothers' souls anyway.

"Chris." Kaito's voice was barely a whisper. "I don't have a choice."

Chris's hand tightened in Kaito's. He leaned his head close to Kaito's ear. "I've told you everything they've done to my family, Kaito. Please don't let them do the same to yours."

Kaito pulled his hand away as he sat up and looked down at him. Chris's hair splayed all over his body, over his pillow, even off the side of the bed; at his blue eyes, full of something Kaito couldn't quite place, something unfamiliar on his former mentor, best friend, confidante.

"You told me to give in to them," Kaito said in a low voice. "You told me to do the cowardly thing and kneel. I'm doing just that and now barely a week later, you're telling me I should fight them. Which is it, Chris?"

Chris brought himself to a sitting position and grabbed Kaito's wrist. Kaito's jaw clenched and he tried to pull away, but Chris's grip was too tight. "If you give them your soul, they'll take Haruto anyway. Please, Kaito."

Fear; that was the look in his eyes, and his voice was full of distress. For a fleeting, tempting moment, Kaito wanted to kiss him again, to smile against his mouth, to let Chris's hands explore his body. For a fleeting, tempting moment, he wanted to throw himself into his lover's arms and pretend that it was ten years ago when they began their unsanctioned and secret affair.

Instead, he placed his other hand on Chris's own wrist. "If I become stronger, I can keep my brother safe. My father agrees."

Chris's hand slackened and Kaito pulled free, untangling his legs from the sheets. He paused at the end of the bed, staring at the little toffee candle burning to a nub. His father had never found out about him and Chris. He thought perhaps Haruto knew, or maybe suspected, based on the small, knowing smiles on his face when he saw Chris and Kaito together.

It had been almost like a game, in a way; the two eldest brothers of the two kingdoms sneaking around, locking themselves in forgotten rooms in forgotten corridors, laughing when they almost got caught by a stray, nosy maid. It had been like a game because the two male heirs to their respective kingdoms shouldn't be lovers, shouldn't reject marriage despite all customs telling them otherwise because that would mean their relationship would have to end.

What children they had been.

Kaito stood up and covered himself with the robe he always kept near his bed when Chris was with him. He felt Chris's gaze on him as he walked to the door to his bath chamber. "Get yourself cleaned up." It was an unnecessary reminder. The door closed.

Chris let out a shaky breath and reached for his own robe. He swallowed the lump in his throat and tied the robe so tightly that it hurt his ribs. He had wanted to save Kaito from committing the same sin he had. He told Kaito that his brothers had been stripped and tied down as the Barians ripped out their souls and put them in the little gems now set in fancy gold bracelets. He picked up his own blue gemmed bracelet and turned it around in his hands. He didn't want Kaito to end up like him. He felt the tears flow again, something that shamed him. He had spent most of the past two weeks with tears running down his face. He had barricaded himself in his quarters crying after confronting Durbe, he had cried while making love to Kaito. That was all right; Kaito had cried too. It seemed they had both realized that this was the last time they could be together. A selfish part of him – a part of himself that he hated – was almost relieved, in a way.

At least we'll be together in hell.


He knew it worked before his eyes were even fully open. The sky was the clearest blue he had ever seen, made more radiant by the towering snow-capped peaks of a blinding white. He sat up and noticed that he was no longer wearing his dark cloak; instead, he was robed in a translucent blue cloth embedded in green emeralds. He had been here once before when he was a youth, with his parents, and the reason behind it was to figure out how to control his powers.

He could control them now, but he needed to know how to maximize their effect. He couldn't go on passing out every time he summoned Hope.

Pulling himself to his feet, he glanced around. He was at the base of the mountains, next to a crystalline lake that perfectly reflected the peaks. A forest loomed a short way off. It seemed as good a place as any to begin. It had been nearly fourteen years since he had entered the Astral World that he couldn't remember how long he and his parents wandered around before finding someone to help. He wasn't even sure they had been at this particular place; he seemed to remember an ocean, not a lake.

He walked for what felt to his body like fifteen or twenty minutes, entering the forest, where a small stream meandered through the towering trees, small golden fish lazily drifting through. He stopped to watch them for a minute, breathing in a different scent, one of cool mountain air mixed with a curious fruity smell, despite there being no fruit trees that he could see. It was so peaceful here.

"It has been many years, Prince Astral."

Astral jumped; he had been so engrossed in the fish that he had forgotten why he was here. He turned and faced a lean figure of no discernible age or gender wearing matching blue robes. Their mid-length hair had an almost ethereal glow to it, so Astral couldn't tell if it was white, or blue, or perhaps a white-blond. Their eyes were both so pale they appeared almost colorless, and reminded Astral forcibly of his own pale eye.

"Our Lord Eliphas sent me to greet you," the figure continued. Astral could detect no gender in the voice either, and could only assume this particular Astralite had none. "I am Rabelais."

Astral nodded and glanced at the mountains again. "Is this… the Astral World, then?"

Rabelais placed a hand to their lips and followed Astral's gaze. "This is but one plane. A low plane. A garden, if you will."

It was certainly a unique garden, Astral thought. "I have come to-"

"-seek our guidance," Rabelais cut in smoothly. "Of course. As you did in your younger years, you wish to understand your powers."

"I wish to control them without draining my energy in the process."

Rabelais arched a narrow eyebrow and gestured Astral to follow them. "Come with me, Astral. I wish you to see something that may help."

Astral frowned at their back but followed closely. He didn't speak. They walked through the forest together, the trees becoming taller and closer together, obscuring the azure sky with emerald leaves.

Suddenly, the forest ended, right on the edge of a cliff with a sheer drop-off straight into the lake.

But that didn't make sense, Astral thought, they had been walking on a fairly level path the whole time…

"Such is the will of the Astral World." Rabelais watched Astral, eyes boring into his. "One can bend the very fabric of reality around with merely a thought. One can even turn mountains" –they nodded at the towering peaks- "into prairie."

Astral's eyes widened; the towering mountains and thick forest were simply gone, replaced by tall, waving grasslands that stretched as far as he could see. Even the smell changed, from the fruity mountain air to the smell of dirt and grass and horse manure.

Rabelais was behind him now, uncomfortably close, and whispering in his ear. "All it takes is to distance your soul from that of your emissary. Each time you call forth Hope, you give him a part of yourself. A part of your soul. It is draining, it is going to suck you dry." They reached around and tapped the amulet dangling from Astral's neck. "You hold the Key. Draw your power from the Key and not from your soul and you will become one of the most powerful Summoners who ever lived." They stepped back, close to the edge of the cliff – except the cliff was no longer there, but replaced by a rolling hill.

"How?" Astral turned to face them, hand clenching the key. "How do I do that?"

"That is your trial to overcome." Rabelais waved their hand and Astral felt his body deconstructing. He was angry now; he had come here to learn how to control his powers and received only cryptic answers.

"What do you mean by that?" His voice reflected his resentment. "How am I to overcome a trial when the means for overcoming it are not presented to me?"

"But they are, Astral." Their mouth twitched in a small smile. "But be cautious relying on others to help you with your trial. Yuma Tsukumo and the Kamishiro twins… are dangerous forces."

"What?"

"Be wary how involved you let yourself become with them."

Astral opened his mouth-

-and found himself looking right into a pair of wide red eyes.

"Yuma." The name slipped out of his mouth in a shaky breath.

Yuma grabbed Astral's shoulders and helped him sit up. Astral gripped Yuma's upper arm with one hand and winced at the pain on the back of his head. Cathy and Kotori sat a short way off, looking anxious; Kotori bit her lip and clasped her hands together while Cathy had a finger in her mouth again.

"You hit the ground pretty hard, Astral," Yuma murmured. "And you didn't make a single movement for twenty minutes. You didn't even breathe. I thought you-" He cut off, shoulders slumping. "Anyway, I'm glad you're fine. Did you learn anything?"

Astral looked down at his pendant. "I… have to unlock the powers I possess on my own."

Yuma Tsukumo is a dangerous force.

"Can I help?"

Be careful how involved you let yourself become with him.

"I think it's something I have to do on my own." At Yuma's tightened lips, Astral gave him a soft smile and gently pulled his arms away. "But your offer is appreciated."

Yuma nodded slowly, clearly not entirely appeased, but he moved away and let Kotori shove some kind of painkilling herb in Astral's mouth. He choked it down; it was disgustingly sour, like a rotting citrus fruit. But as he obediently swallowed the herb, he looked back at the young lieutenant stoking the small fire. What was it about him that worried the Astral World?

He remembered a conversation Captain Kamishiro had with Yuma a year ago, when the former Captain-Commander was killed during the overthrow of the Arclight Kingdom and Yuma was the sole survivor of the assault.

Your friends are dead, Yuma. The rest of us are going to be unless you tell us what happened. And yet you've given up. Where's your never give up spirit now? Tell me why you lived when they all died.

Did that incident have something to do with what Rabelais had warned him about? Was Yuma a danger to the Astral World? If so… what was he?

And what of the Kamishiros? Why would the Astral World be wary of the last two humans on the planet born with powerful Astralite gifts, gifts from the gods themselves?

He was suddenly tired again, but this time, it wasn't a physical tiredness.