CHAPTER 14

You Deserve This

Maija woke suddenly, jumping from her bed. Hands were on her, grabbing her shoulders. She screamed, latching to them and pushing them away. Standing up fast, blood rushed from her head making it feel light. She stumbled back, on the verge of passing out and fell back to her bed, knocking the back of her head against the wall on her way down.

Her vision cleared and Erik was standing in front of her, a silhouette in the darkness. Framed by a window along the room's farthest wall was morning sunlight, barely bright enough to light a distant windwall giving it a dull, tired gray color, streaks of glowing yellow clouds drifted from the void at the base of the wall. Orange sand gathered at the window's sill, some pouring over into their room, gathering at the wall's base.

"I'm sorry- I'm sorry," Maija rose her hand cutting off Erik before he could speak.

"Jumpy?" he asked, his voice small and distant, Maija's ears still waking up.

She nodded. Then shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. "It started almost immediately. I would jump at the… stupidest things. I managed to get a hold of it with Makhai but it's just- getting worse."

"Well," Erik started, grabbing a belt, and wrapping it over his shoulder and across his chest, strapping holsters to his legs and loading them with weaponry. "I'll try to be careful. In other news, it's morning time and I don't think you want to be late for whatever Kaius has in store for us today."

Maija shook her head as dread took over. A sinking feeling in her stomach that locked everything up inside her. Like butterflies but the butterflies were as big as mantas and just as aggressive. She squeezed her eyes even tighter closed, blocking out the light Erik used to prepare himself for the day. Maija allowed that feeling, sinking and ever consuming to envelop her completely. She gritted her teeth, felt tears burning in her eyes, stinging. She gasped, sucking in air. Erik looked up at her, but she ignored him. Then she shut it all down, wrapped it tightly away, put it back on the shelf.

She stood, dressed in the same clothes as before and grabbed her bow and spear, attaching them on her back before taking her grappling hook and strapping it to her right forearm, feeling the comfort it quickly provided, its soft cloth padding reassuring her that no matter how she fell, something was there to catch her.

Within minutes, Maija and Erik stood in front of their door, both froze in a silent, mutual fear. As the first rays of sunlight shown through their window, casting an orange glow across the floor, Erik offered his hand, putting it out in front of them. Maija took it, squeezed hard once, before pushing the door open.

Kaius sat in his chair, lazily, now wearing a thick leather cloak, furry on the inside. His attire changed almost every time Maija looked at him. She and Erik stepped up the last few steps up onto the ship's top deck. Maija looked around, there were few people up at this hour. She looked past the ship, seeing no fleet around them. Kaius's flagship was alone. They had crossed a sandwall like they had been told, Maija had been asleep and hadn't been able to witness it. The air was already drier than the Remnants. It should have brought her some nostalgia, Badlands air had been the first air she had ever breathed. It only made her lose more hope.

Kaius stood when they entered, throwing something into his mouth (something that looked like fried eggs) and spoke, still chewing on breakfast. "Welcome, you two sleep well?"

Maija glared at him as she walked closer, airing an energy that said she had owned this ship's deck for far longer than Kaius had. She came in front of him and crossed her arms.

Kaius's gleefulness evaporated. "Right, today you will be given your first and only objective. This will prove of your worthiness so work together, which, I'm sure, you two will have no problem doing. You will be given a small crew and ship to retrieve an item I need to further my cause." He sat back down in his seat and pulling something from his jacket pocket and tossed it to Maija.

She flinched preparing the catch the thing at its usual path of trajectory situated somewhere down by her stomach but instead, the item floated, resisting gravity before it plinked against Maija's forehead and slowly drifted away. She snatched it out of the air and rolled it around in her fingers, two of them gloved, her index and middle fingers.

It was a three-dimensional, four-sided diamond carved into a white stone tinged with a slight green tint, blue cracks in the stone shown with bright blue light that shimmered and sparkled. The entire diamond felt cold to the touch except for the blue light, which was warm, almost hot.

Pure atlas. Pure atlas was much like normal atlas in property. The mineral had the power to render any matter associated with it in a direct connection or an electrical one, completely weightless. Given more atlas, the object became lighter and lighter until it floated, just like the four-sided diamond that floated inches above Maija's palm.

However, pure atlas had a single property that set it aside in value and utilization. It required no charge to remain without weight. No electricity was needed to provide anything associated with the mineral weightlessness. This one difference made pure atlas sought after by many and its rarity amplified that desire even more so.

Imagine the power of ships running off this atlas, without the requirement normal atlas posed. Not only this, but pure atlas was dangerously unstable and highly experimental. No one knew how it worked but it had been common knowledge how normal atlas worked. It needed an electrical charge to provide its effect yet pure atlas never ceases. It pulls an infinite energy from somewhere to provide weightlessness forever. From where, no one knew, and Maija didn't want to find out. This was one curiosity she hoped never to solve. It wasn't a surprise Kaius possessed some.

Maija passed the diamond to Erik who couldn't hold the surprise from his face. Kaius spoke up. "Pure atlas. A marvel isn't it. A mineral just like its counterpart, operating completely autonomously. No one knows how it does what it does yet, it still does."

Erik flicked the piece of atlas back at Kaius, the diamond sliding across the air like it was on ice, landing softly in Kaius's palm. "I need you to retrieve a much… larger piece, left by the old ones long before you and me, in a facility titled simply 'Rebus.'"

"Why do you need this piece of pure atlas?" Erik asked, stepping up. "Pure atlas is very dangerous. What do you plan to do with it?"

"Learn to follow orders now," Kaius snapped at him. "Ask questions later, boy. You will be told when time is right. For now, you will retrieve this piece of atlas, undamaged and unused, do you understand. The piece is about as large as an atlas core itself and resembles the four-sided diamond I just showed you. Given its properties, it size should pose no challenge since it will be weightless.

"You will be provided a single week to retrieve it deep within one of Rebus's vaults, once then you will return to this ship and hand over this piece of pure atlas. Then, and only then, will you"- Kaius, who had been slowly pacing back and forth in front of them, now stood still, locked eye contact with Maija- "be let in on the bright future I have in mind for Foundation. And maybe, your past won't be so foreign to you anymore."

His eyes lingered on her for a second longer before he tore them away, continued back to his pacing, keeping his hands at his back. "Given your past Maija in scavenging, and yours, Erik in trade, I believe you will have no problem."

Maija glanced back at Erik, his face blanketed in red. Somehow, Kaius had known about Erik's past as well as Maija's. Either Kaius had done some quick digging through the night (which was very unlikely) or Maija's and Erik's meeting was far less random than they had thought. Maija wondered what Kaius knew about Erik that she had yet to learn.

"You leave in three hours," Kaius said in a cheery voice, clapping his gloved hands together and plopped back down in his seat. "Get prepared, you won't be back for some time."

"Just like that?" Maija asked before she could bite her tongue. "I come all this way, fighting through your lies to be here and you just send us away?"

"Yes," was all Kaius said, shutting Maija down before she could give any kind of rebuttal. "Return to your room, contact will be made shortly."

Kaius turned the chair which swiveled on its base but stopped, locking eye contact with Maija from the corner of his eyes. "Do not fail me on this. You know the consequences."

She didn't reply. Maija tapped Erik against his forearm and turned back towards the stairs. He followed as she directed them both back down to their room in the back of the ship, alone. She walked quickly, her feet loudly slapping against the deck, pulling Erik behind her by the wrist.

Maija tore the door open, let Erik in and slammed it behind her, taking her bow off her back but not letting it go. "This isn't going to go well."

"You can say that twice."

"Pure atlas," Maija said. She rubbed her eyes with her fingertips, sighing. "What would he need pure atlas for?"

"Why would anyone?" Erik asked, he sat down beside her. "Power. You saw what he did to the Temple. To Harbourage. That kind of technology doesn't power itself."

Maija looked up at him, looked into his eyes for a change. "Do you think atlas power cancels itself out? The energy contained within pure atlas might be able to sap up the energy within normal atlas holding islands and ships up."

"Kaius could be building the same weapon on a far larger scale," Erik said, certainty in his voice.

The room fell silent and Maija looked away, focusing on an empty spot on the floor. Erik spoke, his voice loud after the silence. "You know we can't let him have that atlas, Maija."

Erik was right. If the power of pure atlas just the size of Maija's thumb was able to sink islands, what was pure atlas the size of a whole core capable of? What kind of damage was Kaius preparing to inflict? Maija shivered, she could only imagine.

"Of course, I know, and I don't plan on letting him," Maija said, wrapping her hands around her arms, suddenly feeling cold. It didn't help, it felt as if her heart had frozen over, the weight of the situation chilling it. "I just need… to know first."

Erik swallowed, the sound audible in the quietness of the room. "Do you think, just maybe…" He spoke as if he was afraid of Maija. Afraid of how Maija might respond to what he was going to say next. "Maybe, figuring out your past may not be worth risking the lives of everyone left in Foundation?"

She looked back up him, backing a little away. He refused to make eye contact, but he kept speaking. "I mean if we mess up- if things don't go to plan- we could lose everything. Would you rather risk the uncountable number of lives and gain some knowledge, or forget about your past, grow past it, and keep everyone alive and healthy, unbeknown to them that their lives were ever at risk?"

Maija wanted to be angry. She wanted to say, Of course I care about these people. No one should suffer like those Kaius had already killed. But I need to know. For so long I've been walking in darkness. For so long I've lived inside a person I never understood. I need to know. I need to know.

But she couldn't. Erik was right, self-sacrifice was needed to do what was right. Kaius had said it himself, "One must give in order to attain." Maija was on a mission to gain the people of Foundation, to prevent a near catastrophic future for her world, she needed to give something up to achieve that.

You've given up enough already, a small voice whispered to her in the back of her mind. It was her own voice, but it couldn't be more different, a little demon sitting on her right shoulder. Kaius has destroyed what little of your life you had. Killed your father figure with no remorse. You deserve this. You deserve to know.

Maija stood, literally pushing the voice away with her hand. "I'll figure something out."

There was a knock at the door, cutting their conversation off. Erik stood and Maija moved to open it. She pulled it open, and a man stood on the other side, their eyes immediately meeting. Maija took a step back, her grip tightening around the bow still in her hand. It was Luke.