Total Eclipse of the Heart: Part 6 – Loss and Gains: Sometimes the
truth can just make things more confused.
By
Deborah (Kosagi) Brown
Skies of Arcadia and all associated characters are copyrighted to Overworks and Dreamcast. They just hang around my Gallery to cause trouble.
I take a deep breath. So, he's not bothering with putting obstacles in our way. And why should he? There's just the four of us and only one a really effective fighter. I have to wonder what plans Vyse has. He has to have plans, surely. He can not have come down here so utterly unprepared.
Though I have to admit much of his style has always had a seat of the pants quality to it. Just go right in and face off with whatever dangers until the goal is found and dealt with. I think that might have been what confused Galcian and I. We planned. We plotted. We tried to account for every variable. Except we couldn't account for him. Not for a man so utterly willing to put himself at risk in ways that we couldn't comprehend.
So is that what Vyse is doing here? And if so, will it work yet again, or has his famed luck finally run out.
Galcian eyes us. He hasn't changed much. If anything, he seems almost younger. Stronger. Memory tries to rush in on me, facing him down in the Fortress. Confident of my strength, certain of my skill. Only to learn – too late – that he was something more than I could ever match. I never saw him use Total Annihilation since then, not until the christening – I think it requires a great deal of power and that he saves it for special occasions. I suppose I should be flattered that he considered me to be one.
"Well, well, well. Ramirez. How nice to see you again." He looks at me and another memory flashes through me. His gentle, loving, expression. If he were closer he could touch my cheek and I would fall to him No. I will not. I force the memory back. It is strong, yes, as all my memories are, but there are too many other memories that stand in his disfavor. Not the false love he claimed to give me. Not the tenderness that soothed my frightened self when I could not understand what had been done and could not fully remember who I was. Just the memory of torture, inflicted at his orders. Just the memory of how he manipulated and used me.
He seems to recognize that gambit's failure as he turns to look at Alphonso. "And you, coward. Do you really think to stand against me?"
"If if I have to Yes. I won't win, but I'll stand." Alphonso's voice is shaking with terror, but he's staring Galcian down. I have to admit a grudging respect for the man at this moment. In the end, at least, he's found his courage.
"I don't recognize the one," Galcian continues, glancing at Ilchymis and clearly dismissing him. "But no matter. You're the one I expected, Vyse. Though you are early, and in the wrong ship entirely. I would dearly love to know how you made it past my guards in a life ship. You've taken chances before, of course, but I wouldn't have expected you to leave the Delphinus only halfway through the vortex." I realize one part of Vyse's plan. The Delphinus has acted as decoy, descending into the vortex and keeping Galcian's eyes turned away from the Far Horizon.
"Guards?" Vyse asks, shrugging. "Didn't see any. Maybe they deserted you."
Galcian smiles smugly. "I doubt that, very much. I offer you one chance, pirate. Surrender to me and I will permit your crew to live. Defy me and my gigas will rip your ship apart."
***
Vyse swallowed. Gigas? Now that was unexpected. At his expression, Galcian smiled and waved a hand. An image formed in the air between them, projected from what, Vyse couldn't have said. An image of the Vortex and, at its base, five agonizingly familiar figures. The Red, and Green gigas perched on the rocks. The others circling around – Blue, Yellow and, surprisingly, a new Purple, an arcwhale not as large as Rhaknam, but still huge. Only the Silver Gigas was missing.
"I'd have a larger welcoming committee of course, but Zelos Well, let's just say that there seems to be nothing left after you got done with him. Still, even five gigas are certain to be the Delphinus' doom."
Vyse had to admit that, if the Delphinus were to be foolish enough to continue further into the vortex it would have no chance against such a group. Not five gigas at once. Not alone. He took a deep breath. "Answer one question, Galcian. Where's Fina?"
"The Silvite girl? She is beyond your reach, little pirate. Beyond anyone's reach within this fragile blue planet." Galcian smiled. "No other questions? Not even a demand to know how it is I survived?"
Vyse shrugged. "Does it matter? You needed to be stopped. You still do."
"No," Galcian agreed. "It doesn't matter. And I would not answer even if you did bother to ask. Some things are simply beyond your understanding, little boy. Now. Surrender."
Shaking his head, Vyse sighed. "No, Galcian. I cannot. I will not. I don't know what game you're playing. I don't know how you survived. But I can't let you win. The people of this world deserve better than a petty tyrant for a ruler."
"The people of this world deserve only their utter destruction," Galcian answered with a sneer, drawing his great sword. "I shall destroy every human on this planet, all to ensure my ascendancy. I might have let you live, to serve us, but I see now that you are all untrustworthy."
Vyse might have spent some of his mental energy on trying to figure that last sentence out, but he was too busy fighting now.
***
Ilchymis ducked back into the shadows. If the others lost he'd have no hope of survival but without any fighting skills of his own he was more useful here. From those shadows he watched the others. Vyse leading the fight, every third blow a Pirate's Wrath. Beside him, Alphonso fired off his cybernetic weaponry, his shots clearly near to useless except as a distraction. As for Ramirez, he seemed to recognize his physical strength was simply not up to the task. Instead he threw spell after spell, using up the tiny spell-boxes he'd gotten from ship's stores. Tiny little magics against someone like Galcian, but serving to irritate the former Admiral further.
From his vantage point, Ilchymis tossed his own spells. Sacrulen, Sacrum, and – when necessary, Riselem. Most often it was Alphonso who needed that help, but at least one was needed for Vyse and several more for the weakened Ramirez. For the first time in his life Ilchymis longed for fighting skills. He wanted, badly, to help. Was I wrong to come? Should I have let someone else, someone who was a better fighter, go in my place? But in the end, he realized, it wasn't going to matter. Because no matter what they did, the one spell they couldn't take was the one Galcian would almost certainly cast, once he decided to stop playing games.
Total Annihilation.
***
I sense it coming. He's kept his attacks to the purely physical for several blows. The last time I'd faced him I'd thought that that meant he had nothing left, that I was winning. I was a fool. Still, I know what I have to do. There's so little of me left, though, that I am certain to die of it.
It'll be worth it if I can take Galcian down with me. Just before I'm certain he's about to use that spell again, I prepare myself, taking a deep breath, intending to cast the most powerful spell I know. Before I can, however, I see Alphonso glance from me to Vyse. Then he races forward, screaming incomprehensibly.
The little fool. He's lost all control, is simply attacking blindly. It's a hopeless effort, surely. I have to hold back my blow, however, long enough to allow him a chance to get out of the way.
It becomes a moot point. He throws himself onto Galcian, wrapping his arms and legs around the man. It would be easy for our enemy to throw the idiot off, but he is given no time to do so as an explosion rocks the hallway, centered around him and Galcian.
As the smoke clears I hold my breath, partly because the dust and ash is almost too much for my weakened system, but more because I half expect to see Galcian standing there with that smile on his face and our doom upon his lips.
There is nothing. For a long moment absolutely nothing. For a moment I think we've won. For a moment I almost believe Alphonso's sacrifice was worth it. Then something moves. Something that is not Alphonso. It isn't Galcian either.
In the flickering light I see it. A shape I recognize but cannot comprehend.
A looper. A black looper.
***
Vyse stood there and stared blankly at the thing floating amid the wreckage. Below it was a single form, half slagged metal, the other half charred flesh. Of Galcian there was no sign and it was with slow understanding that Vyse realized what had happened. Had Galcian ever been human? Had he instead concealed his true Self beneath a guise that had allowed him to join the Valuan military. A guise that had allowed him to fight his way up through the ranks. To finally stand at the top, where he could achieve his goal.
It still seemed impossible. Loopers were animals, surely? Yet this one stared at them with a strange sort of intelligence. Then, as loopers were wont to do, it ran.
"I don't believe it."
From behind Vyse, Ilchymis said, "I saw it too. I don't understand, but that was definitely a looper."
"We fought something like that in the Rift. The weirdest thing." Vyse shook his head, then turned to Ramirez. "Hey you okay?"
Ramirez swayed, let Ilchymis catch him. "Damned fool. I would have killed Galcian He didn't need to sacrifice himself."
Realizing what Ramirez meant, Vyse shook his head. "I didn't want either of you to sacrifice yourselves. So? He got there before you did." He moved over to Alphonso's remains. Nothing, not even Riselem, was going to bring the once cowardly Admiral back. "He wanted to redeem himself too, you know. Don't begrudge him this one little triumph amid all his mistakes." In a way, it was a prayer and he hoped Alphonso would appreciate it in the afterlife. He didn't add that – as a sacrifice – its results were probably temporary. Whatever else Galcian was, he was almost certainly still alive.
"I would rather you redeemed yourself in a less final manner, anyway," Ilchymis added gently, supporting the weakened Silvite. Ramirez looked at him, then pulled himself upright, turning away, but not before Vyse saw the tear trickling down the pale-haired man's face.
"Stupid fool," Ramirez muttered and it wasn't clear if he meant Alphonso, Vyse, Ilchymis or himself. "All right. What now, Vyse?"
"We still have to find Fina. Keep an eye out. That thing might come back. Ramirez, if you have any clue what Galcian meant about Fina being out of reach of anyone on this planet, feel free to say so." Vyse sheathed his swords and started down the hallway again. I hope Aika had the sense to keep the Far Horizon back as far as possible. I don't want her running into those gigas. Enrique was only supposed to bring the Delphinus down half-way, so he should be okay. Worry over his hot-headed friend wasn't going to stop her if she thought she'd be helping. "The sooner we get out of here, the better."
Ramirez shook his head, "No thoughts. None at all. If my mind got any blanker I suspect I'd fall down and die." He almost sounded regretful, but when Vyse looked at him, there was a wry smile on the Silvite's face. "The only thing I can suggest is to search, and perhaps to look for those Crystals while we're at it."
***
Ilchymis watched his patient with a critical eye. Ramirez was tiring faster now, the stress of the battle almost too much in and of itself. He should be resting, not walking through broken hallways trying to keep his footing. Failing that, he should be allowing someone to help him. To carry him if necessary.
Suddenly, Ilchymis made up his mind. It would aggravate the young Silvite no end, but he wasn't going to let Ramirez exhaust himself further. Not when he was still needed. Taking the smaller man by the shoulder, he turned Ramirez to face him. "Get on my back," he said.
"What?"
"Get on my back. Doctor's orders. Don't argue with me."
Ramirez stared at Ilchymis, then glanced at Vyse, pleadingly.
"Don't look at me," Vyse denied. "I think he's right. You're dead on your feet. You're going to end up being carried, conscious or unconscious. For your dignity's sake, you may as well just let him carry you now."
With a sigh, Ramirez nodded. "One laugh. One smirk," he warned, "I still have a pyres box on me."
Vyse shrugged, obviously fighting back a smile as Ramirez climbed onto Ilchymis back. "When you're ready?"
"Keep going," Ramirez grumbled.
Ilchymis rose to his feet, walking beside Vyse, longer legs allowing him to keep up easily. Ramirez was so light on his back. Far too light. He wasn't wasting away – he was no lighter than he'd been before – but there was just plain too little of him. The healer forbore to say as much, though. He knew how little appreciated the sentiment would be. Instead he asked, "How much further?"
"Just keep going. You'll know when you get there."
***
I feel foolish. Like a child. I also feel somehow comforted and it is a feeling I would like to cherish if it weren't for the fact that I don't deserve it. I think about Alphonso and I understood what drove him to his desperate action. Vyse is right, though. I ought not begrudge him his success. Especially when it's probable that I will have my own chance at it. Galcian was a looper? That thought still boggles my mind and leaves me bewildered. Something some vague memory tries to work its way through my skull, but it's not succeeding. The bone is too thick, no doubt.
Too, I am distracted. I want to curl up against Ilchymis and go to sleep. I am so very tired. Tired enough to cling to him. Tired enough to ignore what little sense is trying to work its way past my loneliness and self-hatred. I want so badly to accept the compassion he offers me. To accept his gift without fear. I cannot. I must not. I understand now that there is more than mere kindness behind the offer, that he cares and that he worries about me, but to let him would be wrong. Not when I am still broken.
Still, it is just good to be next to him. I cannot cling to him forever, but I am selfish enough to cling to him for this moment.
Then a door opens and we step into paradise.
***
Staring around the room, Vyse said, softly. "I've been here before." The room was huge, glowing a soft sweet blue tinted silver. Then he'd been floating in it, but now he stood on the floor and stared up and around, mesmerized.
"Where?" Ilchymis asked softly. From his voice he was obviously equally fascinated. "What is this place?"
It was Ramirez who answered, voice shaking, little tiny giggles escaping him as he spoke. "Paradise It's paradise So much So many Oh please. Please let me have some." He sounded so strange. And yet, there was something familiar to his tone. "Everywhere. They're everywhere. PLEASE!"
Ilchymis set him down and both men knelt beside the giggling Silvite. "What do you mean, they?"
"Everywhere, can't you see them? Can't you feel them?" Ramirez' tone was hysterical and his fingers were scrabbling against the wall. "Please. I need them Feed me Please feed me"
It was the last few words that brought the memory back to Vyse. "Cupil used to act like this, when he'd find a cham" his words trailed off at the look on Ilchymis' face. "What is it?"
"Chams. His body was Cupil's."
"But I thought he became human when he took over Cupil's body?" At Ilchymis' shake of the head, Vyse continued, "Didn't you tell me"
"I said he was indistinguishable from human. But he can change his shape - and where do you think his sword comes from? He's a silver creature with a human mind. Which means that what Cupil wanted, he wants. There are chams here, aren't there?"
"This is the Silver Shrine's archive. It might make sense that there are chams, yes, or something similar. But where."
"Here here Please" Ramirez pounded helplessly on the wall. "Help me I need them"
***
Ilchymis put his hands on the frantic Silvite's shoulders. "Shhhh. Ramirez. You have to stay calm. We'll figure something out." He was beginning to understand and he said as much. "No wonder the seeds didn't work. Or worked only a little. He's not human. What happened when Cupil ate chams? Didn't he get stronger?"
Vyse's expression shifted. Then his sword was out and he was pounding on the wall as hard as he could, shattering the glass. Beyond were crystals inset into the wall and he began prying them out one by one, dropping them beside Ramirez.
Rather to Ilchymis' surprise, though, Ramirez didn't grab at them. "Are you sure those are chams"
"They are Please give"
"They're chams, believe me," Vyse said. "And I think he needs someone to feed them to him. I remember now. Cupil never took a cham on his own."
Ilchymis nodded and picked up a crystal, putting it in Ramirez' mouth. The look of ecstasy on the Silvite's face made him certain. This was what Ramirez needed. The only way to restore a body damaged by the Silvite's overuse of power.
Feeding cham after cham to Ramirez, Ilchymis could see slow progress. In the strange lighting it was difficult to tell, but he thought Ramirez' color was improving. He seemed to breathe more evenly, though his anxiety to get more seemed endless. Vyse had smashed open several windows and Ilchymis had fed the Silvite what seemed like hundreds of the tiny crystals. At last, however, a strange look came over the young man's face.
"Oh Oh my" He lifted a hand and something seemed to bulge out of its center. "Oh dear"
"Ramirez?!"
***
I feel so strange. I want to consume everything in the room, but at the same time I know I must not. I've already eaten too many as it is. The knowledge in them, bits and pieces of all my people have learned over the years, is almost overwhelming, but I force it back. I have another, more pressing task. Somehow I have to re-establish control over the Cupil side of me.
Doing so wouldn't be a problem ordinarily, but my assimilation into Cupil's body was incomplete, owing to my awareness of the process. I was unable to properly overwrite Cupil because I understood what was happening. Because my human mind could not fully accept interweaving itself with that of the beast. Not being assimilated allows me to shape change, but it also makes me rather susceptible to Cupil's natural obsession with chams.
Ilchymis is shaking me. "What is it? What's happening to you"
"Indigestion?" Vyse asks, kneeling on my other side and grinning at me.
Somehow I manage to grin back, even as a large lump finishes forming off my hand. "Something like that. I'm in control again. Feed this one, though. Fina will need him." This one is a new silver creature, a baby right now, but with enough chams in him he will be strong enough to replace Cupil.
Rising to my feet, I stretch. Moons! I feel alive again. Really, truly alive. No better about what I've done, but the aching tiredness that has accompanied my every thought and action in the last few days is gone. I laugh and find Ilchymis smiling at me with a relieved expression. I find myself smiling, foolishly, back.
The sound of my 'child' squeaking happily as Vyse feeds it more chams is amusing, but I have to warn him, "Not too much or he'll bud off. He has no more sense than I did about the matter, so go easy after a few dozen. No more than 30 or so."
"Yes, mommy."
I give him a glare, but am in too good a mood to argue semantics. Instead I go towards the center of the room, forming wings so I can fly. Somewhere above me is another crystal. Another, far more important crystal. Galcian hadn't known it was there, I thought, or he would almost certainly have taken it.
***
Vyse watched the Silvite rise up into the air with a feeling of unreality. "Damn. Give the man some chams and he thinks he's an angel."
"More likely a demon," was the retort from the darkness above them. "Ouch. Drat it. Sharp glass. I'll be back down in a few minutes."
Looking at Ilchymis and seeing the healer's expression as he gazed up the way Ramirez had gone, Vyse smiled. "He's going to be okay." The Valuan looked almost sad.
"I know." Ilchymis answered. "It's selfish of me, but I almost regret his not needing me anymore." He shrugged, watching the new-born silver creature wriggle around them happily. Taking it in hand, he petted it with a faintly distracted air. "I've gotten so used to taking care of him."
Vyse thought he understood. Ramirez had needed Ilchymis so much in the last few days, though he had pretended otherwise. Now, though, the dynamic of the two men's relationship had changed and Ilchymis wasn't sure what to do. "You aren't selfish," he said softly.
"Yes, I am," Ilchymis disagreed. "I always have been. Even my kindness. A part of me wants him dependent on me. I liked it."
"Then you'll learn a new way of dealing with him." Vyse answered. "For what it's worth, I don't think good health is going to change how he feels about what he's done."
Ilchymis nodded and began picking up and storing more crystals. Vyse watched him for a moment before asking, "Uh why are you doing that?"
"He is at full strength now, but what do you think the likelihood is that he will acknowledge his limitations – should we come upon Galcian again?"
Vyse began collecting more crystals too.
***
"I'm back."
Ilchymis had to forcibly restrain the newborn silver creature from heading for the crystal Ramirez carried, which gave him a chance to fight back the last dregs of sadness that he wasn't going to be needed anymore. He'd wanted Ramirez to be able to stand on his own two feet, but it was hard to stop wanting to support the man, too.
Reabsorbing the wings, Ramirez walked forward and held out the crystal. "She wants to talk to you," he said softly and both men blinked at him.
With a smile, Ramirez sat down, crystal in his lap, fingers tracing its pale surface. His eyes were distant, and glowing a little. "Vyse," a voice said softly. Ramirez' voice, but its intonation was different, the Silvite accent stronger. "Thank you. Thank you for everything you've done. Our poor errant child has told us what has happened."
"Elder?"
"Aye. You could call me Fina's mother." Ramirez' voice was sad. "I was the only one that survived the crash. The others were shattered."
"I'm sorry."
"No. Don't be. It's better so. For us, such is not true death. They can be reborn, become the children that perhaps we would have been better off creating, rather than seeking to judge your world by our standards. Like Ramirez, I have had a long time to consider our errors."
Vyse sighed. "Elder. Do you know what Galcian is? Did Ramirez tell you what happened?"
"Aye. He did. But I fear I have no answers, only speculation." The Elder went silent a moment, as if collecting her thoughts. "You have been through the Black Rift. There you found a creature like the one that Galcian apparently turned into, yes?"
Vyse nodded.
"You know the legend of a Seventh Moon. It is no legend. The loopers belong to it. Their growth cycle changes them, transforms them from mere animals as they pass through each moon's power. Until, at long last, grown beyond all measure, they are drawn down to the Black Moon."
"Down," Ilchymis repeated, disbelievingly. Somehow he knew what the Elder was going to say.
"Indeed. You see, the Seventh Moon is Arcadia itself."
To Be Continued
Author's Notes:
Desert Phoenix: Whoa. Name change. Thanks for the review.
SonOfSanta: Heh. Don't worry, this is only about halfway through the story. As for being ahead, that's only because I wrote the main draft some time back. That and I'm an insomniac who gets her best writing done in the middle of the night.
Isis2K2: Well, as you see, Ramirez is no longer all weak and fragile. I don't think he could make it through to the end if he'd stayed in that state. It was just a matter of finding the right thing to heal him.