The Medieval Delusion
Chapter 13
"I'm a thinker, not a fighter, William."
"Fight anyway!"
"Silly. Little. Boys. The power is with me!"
"Oh my god!"
Castle Xana was in view. It was a huge, gaudy affair, taller then any building Milo had ever seen. Odd rode to his left and Xanite to his right. All weapons were drawn. No one harbored any delusions about getting in without a fight. Indeed, a huge troop was patrolling the gate. At the back, Milo could see a man in the armor of a commander.
"I am Commander Julian!" the commander shouted from the gate. "Surrender immediately!"
"I am Sir Milo. I will see Xana," said Milo calmly.
"Of those facts I am aware. But none except Sir Milo shall enter the castle," said Julian. "If you wish to make a battle of it, I can comply. But first Milo enters." Milo didn't ask questions. He dismounted and ran into Castle Xana. The others tried to follow him but were immediately met by Julian's soldiers. The battle commenced.
Milo was running. He was going up the stairs and he was at the platform in front of the final flight of stairs leading to Aelita. A man stepped down from the passage. He was tall and his skin was white. His fingernails and teeth were yellow, but not organic yellow. They were sharp, robotic yellow. He wore a long blue robe. His nose was thin and ill formed. His mouth was a black slash across the bottom of his face. His fingers were peculiarly long, his fingernails filed to a point. Worst of all were his eyes. The pupils were not Eyes of Xana. The whole eye was. He smiled and Milo was more terrified then he had ever been in his life. But he didn't let it show. He spoke.
"Hello, Xana."
"Hello, Milo," Xana said, and his voice was demented. Evil. It cracked from low to high in a heartbeat. "You've caused me a lot of trouble. I've looked forward to meeting you face to face."
"We aren't face to face," said Milo quietly. "I know what you are. In the real world, a computer sits in an abandoned factory. Few people know of its existence. Fewer people care. It is ugly and unnatural. The only reason it is sentient is because an evil man threw a fragment of himself into it. So there it stands, proud as an atrocity, a crime against nature, the conscious, evil supercomputer stares out at the world. That's you, Xana. You are an evil act that went too far. I came here to stop it once and for all."
"And I know what you are, Milo Salian, boy warrior," said Xana. "You do not care. You stand in flesh and blood but see no one as your family. Your dismissal of everything makes you as isolated as I am. And that isolation makes us strong."
"I am not isolated. The thing that makes me strong is that I connect to other people. I have friends. I have a family."
"Look at the world this way," Xana said, raising his hand. A cloud of zeroes and ones flew at Milo and floated into his head. "You have nothing." And Milo felt despair and pain. But then he found the power to speak again, every word tearing against his throat.
"I have a girl to love. I have a brother. I have a friend who doesn't know the first thing about computers, and a friend who knows everything about them. I have a friend who dresses in black, and I have a friend who you tortured and possessed. Do you want to know what we have in common? We're all better then you." He rose, and silently took out his double-sword. Black smoke flew at Xana to form a double-sword in his hand. They started to duel.
"This is unbelievable! Milo is taking on Xana alone!"