Chapter 11: The Promise
"What?!" May cried out in disbelief. "York! You can't be serious!"
"Yeah! You're lying!" Annabelle joined in.
"Excellent choice, York!" Rothar laughed. "Now then, if we-"
"Not so fast, Rothar," York interrupted. "I have conditions that must be met."
"And they would be?" Rothar asked.
York began, "Since I cannot completely trust you right now, I will have my Jokers guard the girls. Should there be any indication of you trying to harm them or cheat me out, we will escape. Or if I must, I will have these girls killed. Absolutely no danger must be present to us. I also have to be in the room when the process occurs. To my understanding, from what you've said, there's a need for a soul from a live human but I did not hear about the resurrected needing a body. Anne's body is still in her grave. I will need more details."
"Is that all?" Rothar asked.
"Yes, I believe that about settles it. Just in case, I will stick close to the girls with my weapons in hand," York replied.
"Very well, I have no problems with those conditions," Rothar stated.
York called forth four Jokers. "I expect you all to protect these girls from everyone except me. Understand?" He commanded.
"Roger!" the Jokers exclaimed.
The Jokers moved into a square position. Each Joker stood at a corner, five feet from each other.
"All ready to go then?" Rothar asked.
"We are," York replied.
"All right, I'll tell you more about the process while we get there," Rothar stated.
They began to follow Rothar. Annabelle held onto May's right hand while May was thinking of the situation.
I can't believe York actually accepted. He made a promise to us! We're so close to the end! He seemed cruel at first, but from just the few days we've been here, he seemed to be a genuinely nice guy. He has two close friends to count on. He could talk to me and Annabelle about his past. He made it clear that he wanted to get us back to Empyrean. So why choose to throw us away now? Sure, Anne may be the one he loved and would like to get back, but how would she react if she was brought back? He made a promise to Anne and the both of us to make Arad better, too. That means he'll have to take down Rothar eventually. There's not even a guarantee that Rothar will actually succeed with bringing Anne back. In any case, the minute everyone's guard is down, I might just have to escape with Annabelle and try to get on the Magatha by myself. Don't know if I'll actually succeed but it's better than just waiting around to die.
As they walked, Rothar explained the process of bringing someone back to life.
"It took me many years to develop this thing," he began. "I got started because I remembered some special things about bringing people back to life. There used to be a large group known as Crusaders. They went down the holy path, being righteous and supporting their allies. With enough experience, they learned how to bring someone back to life should that person die. But that spell they use can only be cast when a person is still alive. And it was only temporary."
"So you went on to find a way to do the same for someone who was already dead," York stated.
"Exactly," Rothar replied. "Crusaders made me look further on resurrection. Surely there must be other ways to revive people. And there was! Have you ever heard of Revive Tokens?"
"I have not," York replied.
"Haha, it's not surprising!" Rothar laughed. "These Revive Tokens were ancient artifacts that could, as the name says, revive someone. However, these tokens don't exist anymore. But the properties on those tokens were amazing. If you were to die, you could be brought back to life all by yourself. Since your body is immovable when you die, the only explanation would be that your own soul could activate the tokens. Yet, if you were to travel with some friends and you all had tokens, a person could revive another dead person with their own tokens. One of the greatest magic lied in those tokens. And I sought to create something similar. I looked over hundreds of books, worked countless days on machinery, and made many mages help me out. Finally, it was complete. But it wasn't exactly like the Revive Tokens. Unlike those, I needed sacrifices. Now here is how it goes: The first thing, of course, is that you need a sacrifice. After that, you bring them to the room and put them in one of two large containers. We can either look up a database on what the person looks like or hook up wires to your head so that the device can generate an image of your desired person. Once the soul has been extracted from the sacrifice, the other container, which also has a bed, will create your person's body back along with the soul. It's an incredible process. Even when only a face is available on the database, the body is restored perfectly. It's like the souls of our loved ones are just out of our reach, and when we bring them back, their souls bring their bodies back as well, like they're both connected even if the body isn't present."
"Interesting," York replied. "So what happens if your new body sees his or her own corpse in a grave or something?"
"Don't know! They still retain their memories from before they resurrected but how they react to it depends on the person," Rothar answered.
They approached Rothar's headquarters. Guards stood by every five feet. The walls were lined up with guards, and the various buildings and roofs around the area were secured as well. Rothar's building was a large, cylindrical building. Oddly enough, a rectangular prism-addition laid on top of the building. Lights could be seen flickering from several of the windows. Weapons poked out from other windows and on the roof. A path to the right of the building went to the Magatha, secured with even more guards.
"Quite a stronghold you have here," York stated.
"Always have to be safe, of course," Rothar replied.
They entered the building. Inside, even more guards lined up the walls. Hallways connected and rooms were situated between guards. Several stairs went to the next floor. Bright, white lights illuminated the place.
"I assume you have guards lined up the same way on every floor above as well?" York questioned.
"You'd be right," Rothar replied.
Dang, May thought. With so many of Rothar's goons around, my chances of escaping dropped drastically. I'll have to think of something to get past them. But what?!
As they climbed higher and higher, May grew more nervous as she tried to devise a plan. After a few minutes of climbing, they reached a door that was blank. Whereas all the other rooms were marked with things such as "Training," "Information," and "Experimentation," this lone door stood unmarked. For May and Annabelle, it felt as though that door was their final door in that house called life. Rothar opened the door and the rest followed.
The inside of the room was similar to that of the room which Lilith was situated in. Several computers were lined up on a table. Wires ran throughout the area. Assorted technological sounds beeped and clinked about. The place had an eerie, green glow. In the middle stood a large device. As Rothar said, there were two containers, one of which had a bed. Between the containers was a large, rectangular machine that connected the containers together.
"Here it is, my greatest invention ever," Rothar said. "I'll show you the process with a different guy first. Bring him in!"
A door to the right side of the room opened and a man was brought in by two guards. The man struggled to break free as he was pushed closer and closer to the large machine.
"Let me go!" The man shouted. "Damn it, Rothar! You think you can do this to someone who served you for years!"
"As a matter of fact, I do," Rothar replied with a smirk. "Put him in."
"I swear to Cain I am going to kill you," the man threatened as he was forced into the container.
"Now then, let's see. Who should we revive?" Rothar wondered. "Maybe Kotetsu."
"I know all about your stupid machine's flaws!" the man yelled as he hit the container while Rothar continued looking up his database. "Once you get the guy back, he'll have a bit of my personality! Because of you, my soul's corrupted enough to take over his emotions a bit. Using me just for show for your new little friend? Hah! I'll be back to take your life!"
"Alright, Kotetsu it is! He's a nice guy, but this guy's soul will make him be just a little mad. Good enough proof for York," Rothar stated, ignoring the man's words.
Rothar pressed a button and the machine turned on. Lights flickered, sounds hummed, and the man's body started to disappear. The man screamed in agony as his soul was sucked into the center of the machine. When the man fully disappeared, the soul started to move to the other container. As the soul moved, a body started fading in. A man appeared and opened his eyes.
"Where am I?" Kotetsu asked.
"Ah, Kotetsu, good to see you're back," Rothar stated.
"Rothar? What am I doing here?" Kotetsu asked. "I remember I died while trying to steal some food."
"I brought you back to life," Rothar replied. "There's only one problem."
"Problem? What's the problem?" Kotetsu asked, starting to sound a little threatening.
"The problem is that I need to sacrifice a soul to bring you back," Rothar explained. "And the guy I sacrificed had a bad soul. I'm afraid you won't be like your old self."
"What do you mean by that? I'm still the same old Kotetsu!" Kotetsu raised his voice.
"I'm afraid not. Look, you're starting to not be calm. You always kept a level head," Rothar replied.
"I'm completely calm! You bring me back to life and then tell me I'm not myself?!" Kotetsu angrily yelled.
Rothar sighed. "Alright, lock him up," he commanded.
Guards grabbed Kotetsu and started to take him out of the room. "Oh so now you're choosing to lock me up?! After you just brought me back?! Just you wait, Rothar, I'll-"
Kotetsu was cut off once the door closed behind him.
"As you can see, corrupt soul means corrupt person," Rothar said. "But you've seen it in action, so all we need is a pure soul and we'll be golden."
"It is interesting, indeed," York replied. "Very well, let's get started."
This is it, May thought. I have to do something now!
Annabelle held on tight to May's hand.
"Get down!" York commanded.
What?!, May wondered before both she and Annabelle were brought down by the two Jokers in the back. York and the two Jokers in the front each threw several cards to the guards and Rothar. The cards stuck to them while they were startled and exploded. The guards, all robotic, loss functioning while Rothar was pushed back to a wall.
"You two Jokers get the girls to the Magatha! Take down anyone in your path and do not let them get hurt!" York directed. "Meanwhile, you two Jokers fill this place up with any magic cards you have. Don't worry about me, I'll get to the Magatha somehow. Just start it up and leave!"
"Roger!" all the Jokers exclaimed. They all ran out of the room. A few sounds of metal being destroyed could be heard. Rothar staggered back up.
"You could have had your Anne back. You could have had her if you had just used those girls. But you've lost your chance. Once I'm through with you, those girls will be mine!" Rothar angrily yelled.
"I'm afraid I'm not letting you use this machine anymore," York replied. He attached several cards to the machine.
"And I'm afraid to let you know that you can't blow up the machine with your measly cards," Rothar smirked.
"I guess I'll have to kill you then," York stated.
"I like to see you try," Rothar taunted.
"But first, let's see just how well your machine can stand up to my cards," York attached one more card to the machine.
First, smoke began to appear. The smoke covered the entire room and then a sizzling sound could be heard. Right afterward, a large explosion occurred. When the smoke settled enough for Rothar to see the machine, the machine stood unharmed.
"Hah, I told you that you can't destroy this machine!" Rothar bragged.
But York was not in the room anymore. During the sound of the explosion, York slipped out of the room and escaped.
"Think you can escape? Not on my watch!" Rothar ran out of the room. Little did York know that Rothar had actually replaced his legs with robotic parts as well. He heard York running on the floors above him and quickly followed. Rothar did see a few of his guards down, peculiarly some with a strange type of bullet. When York reached the roof, which was surrounded by a five-foot wall, and peered over to the Magatha, he saw groups of guards down and the Magatha slowly starting to move.
"Great, they've already boarded the ship," York said.
"The only thing you're boarding is the ship straight to a terrible afterlife," Rothar said near the door.
"Sorry, I can't board something that's already been reserved for you," York quipped.
"You think you're such a wise guy," Rothar replied.
"Considering I tricked you into bringing us into your base and successfully got those girls onto the Magatha, I'd say I'm a wise actor," York retorted.
"But are you a good fighter?" Rothar ran right up to York and slammed straight into the spot York was standing. York only barely dodged the attack.
Not good, York thought. His speed is incredible.
York teleported himself to another spot and tried to use an electric attack. The card threw out several diamonds filled with electricity. Rothar simply blocked the diamonds. York brought out the same floating card swords he used to fight Kaigan. He charged at Rothar, slashing at every angle possible. A few cuts were made on Rothar's human arm, but nowhere else. Rothar landed a strong kick to York and sent him flying towards the wall near the door.
May and Annabelle peered out to the roof from the Magatha and saw York and Rothar fighting.
"This is bad, York seems to be losing right now," May grimly said.
"We have to do something!" Annabelle cried out.
"But we can't!" May exclaimed. "We're too far away, and getting farther head by the second. The only thing we can hope is that York figures out a way to beat Rothar.
York struggled to crouch. Fighting Rothar doesn't seem to be such a good idea. My physical attacks haven't done much against him except for some cuts on his flesh. But even my magic attacks aren't much on his metallic parts. And I won't be able to reach the Magatha if this keeps up for any longer. York began to stand up. In that case, there's only one thing left I can try. As he got up, he dropped a card behind. With another teleport, he appeared in another spot and dropped a card down. Rothar wouldn't let York teleport much more, as he rushed after York. York dodged Rothar's charge and quickly moved to another area, dropping yet another card. Rothar stretched out his hand and shot several particles of energy from his palm. York ran to avoid a few of the shots, but then threw several of his cards to counter them. As he countered, he laid down another card. Rothar then decided to use his fingers, which shot out hundreds of bullets a second. York was forced to put up a card shield and run. However, thanks to the shield, York was able to lay down another card to the ground. But as York was busy running and thinking of whether he had enough cards, Rothar was able to grab him and throw him to the wall opposite of the door. With another impact to the wall, York's body was covered in pain.
"I guess you're not a good fighter!" Rothar said, slowly walking towards York. "You barely put a scratch on me. Heck, you were just running away from me most of the time! I'm going to enjoy torturing you before I kill you." But little did Rothar know that he was walking towards the center of the ring of cards that York was able to place. As soon as he reached the center, York smiled.
"Diamondize!" York exclaimed. All the cards were raised slightly in the air and faced towards Rothar. All the cards were diamonds and they glowed immensely. Rothar was confused by what was happening but found himself unable to move. When he looked at his feet, he found a crystal forming over them and gradually covering the rest of his body. Rothar struggled to break free. Only his face was uncovered.
"Damn it!" Rothar yelled. "Don't think you won just because you got me in here!"
"Oh I believe I've won," York replied with a smirk as he stood up. "With being encased in pretty much the hardest, natural material, you won't be getting out of there anytime soon."
"So what? You can't kill me by stabbing me in the face," Rothar stated. "You know I've done modifications to my body. My face was no exception. I bet you want to know how I did it."
"Quite frankly, I don't really care right now," York replied. "I have to leave right now."
York climbed up the wall. I sincerely hope this will be enough to bring me to the Magatha. I just don't know if I have the energy left to make it, York thought. He produced a large floating card, about three feet long and stepped over it. The card started to fly towards the Magatha.
"York did it!" May happily exclaimed. "He's coming here right now!"
Annabelle cheered and hugged May.
When York was about halfway to the Magatha, York witnessed a terrible sight. His card started to slowly fade out. Not now! Not now! York screamed in his head.
"York's in trouble!" Annabelle yelled.
"Jokers! Can't you do something to grab him?" May asked.
"We should be able to!" the Jokers happily replied.
Before the card faded out completely, York jumped as far as he could. At that moment, the Jokers each cast a long line of cards. Two lines of cards each wrapped around York's hands. All seemed to be well but Rothar's screams could be heard. As it turns out, Rothar continued to struggle to break free while York approached the Magatha. At this point, Rothar gathered all his strength and succeeded in breaking through diamond casing. Rothar jumped onto the wall and then jumped off the building with his robotic legs. From there, he activated his rockets from the soles of his shoes and flew himself towards York.
"I will kill all of you!" Rothar yelled.
The Jokers were too busy holding onto the line of cards that held York, and York was not in any shape to retaliate because of those cards. But in the most critical time of all, something smiled upon them. Annabelle took out her gun and shot a single bullet towards Rothar. As Rothar flew, the ship moved, the distance great, and the night dark, the bullet traveled all the way and hit Rothar directly on his head. With a small shock before completely immobilizing Rothar, he fell straight down to the ground. York turned to the ship to see Annabelle still holding her gun. She was shocked to see that the bullet connected, just as everyone else was. With the danger now gone, the Jokers pulled York up to the ship without worry.
"Thank you, Jokers." York said as he stood. "And thank you, Annabelle. That was a very nice shot."
"You can count on me!" Annabelle replied with a smile.
"Looks like she did save you from an attack from behind after all," May said.
"Indeed," York laughed.
"So are you alright?" May asked York.
"I can move about fine, albeit with some pain. I figure once I wake up after a nice rest, my body will be quite sore. But other than that, I'm fine," York replied.
"Well I guess that's better than being dead," May sighed in relief.
"Of course," York replied. "Now then, we still have one thing left to do with Rothar's base. Have you set up the base with as many cards as you could?" York asked the two Jokers who had the job.
"Yeap! About 200 cards each!" the two Jokers replied.
"Excellent," York said. "Destroy the area."
The Jokers grabbed a card, and with a snap of their fingers, made the card disappear. Suddenly, Rothar's base and a small area around it began to be encased in ice. After the ice formed, lightning could be seen inside it. The lightning danced and grew inside it until everything was cracked into pieces. But that was not the end. After the scattering touch of extremely high voltage, a fire erupted to completely obliterate the buildings. In the black, murky night of Arad, the fire was a beacon of hope. The fire did not last long, but it was a spectacularly sight to see. The several buildings that were once there were now gone, the area covered in ashes and debris. The night was dark again, but the sun would rise soon. York returned the Jokers to their cards and they all went inside the Magatha.