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Chapter 44: A Bond between
The long silence had been with them throughout their ascent. Even though there were malign beings which prowled the halls, they did not stir meaninglessly. The mist that roiled all around them was silent as well. Their footsteps, the three girls made great effort to emulate Scipio's silent steps, seemed to be all that disturbed the dead silence.
Every day, Scipio went away here. At the very bottom of the dome was a vast library containing tomes of great knowledge. Scipio poured over them daily, occasionally finding facts he needed amidst recipes, maps and history scrolls. Today had been most useful. He had found the final piece to a puzzle he had long started to piece together. Only now, it has been around twenty five years since he had started, was he able to complete it.
The three behind him huddled together, either scared of him or something else.
How his time was wasted. Why would he bother climbing all the way when…
He suddenly stayed his feet. The girls hadn't noticed and bumped into him.
Backing away slowly, Pyriah's hand drifted to her sword's hilt. 'I imagine you have changed your mind.' She said slowly.
'Tell me, when you came here, were you in a level, or at the very bottom of the dome itself?' Scipio's back remained facing them.
'At the very bottom, at the base of a hallway.' Reena said quietly.
Scipio thought, there were many ways to die here but that did not include falling. Falling…
He turned around suddenly, Pyriah's grip on her sword tightened and she unsheathed it automatically. Yfae drew her guns and Reena brandished her daggers. The sheen of their weapons was amplified by the golden mist.
Scipio raised both arms slowly, 'I mean you no harm.' He smiled at them, his smirk was met with deathly glares full of contempt.
'Don't believe me?' He walked towards the edge of the hall, an abyss before him. He slowly took the Gatling gun dangling from his back and tossed it casually into the abyss. There was no sound, it had been many moments since he had cast it and there was not a thud.
'See, I'm unarmed.' Scipio said earnestly. The girls eased their weapons away from him but still kept a tight grip on them.
'There are many phenomena in this place,' Scipio paced about, beginning to explain, 'one of which is that time is stilled in some places here,' the girls still stared at him with much doubt and mistrust, 'what goes down, ends up.' He bowed to them with a cocked head. He took a few steps backwards until his heels protruded from the precipice.
'Fall with me and I assure you you'll be at the topmost level in a few minutes.' He said to them with a soothing tone.
'Maybe lacking a few pieces as well.' Pyriah said darkly.
'I won't let a beautiful girl like you die.' Scipio replied with the same grave tone. A strange feeling coursed through the three, strangely it was trust.
Scipio leaned backwards and fell, a smile etched across his lips as he plummeted downwards. He started to laugh and then his laughter was lost in the deep dark of the pit.
The girls' eyes widened as they saw their only hope of escape disappear.
Sighing, Pyriah looked at her two other companions whose gaze could not be averted from the place where Scipio fell. She sheathed her sword and inhaled deeply.
'Yfae, Reena,' She called to them in a strong, unmoved voice, 'we have only each other to loose, so,' she stepped closer to them and placed a hand on each of their shoulders, 'I think we should fall together.'
'And if we die?!' Reena was quick to add, an edge of fear, doubt and anxiety in her voice.
'Then we die together.' Pyriah smiled at them, she rarely did this. Yfae was able to muster up a smile as well, and Reena soon. They nodded at each other.
They locked arms and dove straight into the pit, all of them shouted in unison: 'VALIANT FEATHERS!'
XOXOXOXOX
Scipio was beside his Gatling gun. Its firing mechanism was dented and it would be incapacitated for who knows how long. Scowling at himself, he disassembled the mechanism and started hammering it into shape with a chunk of hallway he tore from the edge of the cliff.
It had taken him around half an hour to repair his weapon. He reassembled it carefully and set it aside.
Where are they? He asked himself, if their deaths came he had little concern. However, there was something with their company that made him forget all that's happened to him in the past decades. If they did die, he would feel a loss, even though it was a small loss.
He shook his head in disapproval of himself. Since when did he care about anyone?
When I was fifteen maybe.
He knelt in a meditative way and started to breathe deeply. There was a song he learned in the library which he found extremely soothing. It was from a place called Spir, from what he knew. The parchment where it was writ was partially burned; the last few letters completing the name of origin were burned away.
Breathing in deeply again, he closed his eyes and began that solemn hymn, if any of his men saw him doing this, how they would have questioned: Scipio, the judge killer singing a song of peace.
He began the first lines slowly and calmly.
Ieyui
Nobomenu
Renmiri
Yojuyogo
Then there was stillness, he breathed again before he continued.
Hasatekanae
Kutamae
Then he was silent again, the hymn did wonders to calm him. He sang it again, his voice echoing across the dome until it was filled with that song and a glorious golden light.
XOXOXOX
They had been falling for some time now. They were holding each other tight; Yfae and Pyriah closed their eyes and bowed their heads while Reena would not cease screaming.
They still hoped that what Scipio said was true, even though that hope was fast falling like them.
Pyriah and Yfae held Reena tighter, afraid that they would be separated and then…
Light ignited all around them, illuminating the abyss in a glorious splendor. There was no more silence. There was a soothing song which resonated within the dome, the crystal was glowing brightly.
Reena stopped screaming as Yfae and Pyriah looked up, or down. There was solid ground before them, at their speed of descent they would…
All three of them started to scream; they closed their eyes and buried their faces. At last, their end.
There was a sudden jolt, as though they had clipped some protruding object. Scipio held Pyriah by her ankle so as to suspend them from the ground by a few millimeters.
'See?' Scipio said, leaning down, 'topmost.'
He shook the other two girls from Pyriah, with much complaint the two fell to the ground. He then raised Pyriah a little higher and then flipped her slowly, propping her in his arms. He slowly placed her on the ground as slowly as a warrior would lay the fallen to rest.
'T-thank you.' Pyriah said disbelievingly. Scipio got up and bowed. The Gatling gun was strapped onto him again.
He walked away from them, the song had subsided, and as he did before, he fell willingly and deliberately into the abyss.
Reena launched to her feet and raced to the edge of the hall. 'We'll see each other soon?' She screamed into the gaping hole. Her shoulders slumped and she squatted, head hung.
'Why?' Pyriah asked Reena. Reena looked at Pyriah with a sorry, expression.
'Even though he's been a threat to us, he did help us out right? Twice already.' Reena slashed at the ground.
'That's true, so?' Pyriah folded her arms and looked passively at the darkness below.
'We never got to thank him.' Reena stood up and dusted herself, 'Oh, poopie!'
'I did.' Pyriah said.
'Yeah, but what about me? I didn't get to do so.' Reena's face contorted, she obviously felt an obligation.
Yfae went to her giggling, she then wrapped an arm around her neck, 'You sure that's your reason?' Yfae giggled again and smiled at Reena.
'Well, yeah?' Reena exchanged looks with Pyriah. Pyriah's eyebrow rose slowly, sensing mischief. Reena began to glance from side to side, doubt in her green eyes.
Yfae's smile widened, 'I think you have crush on him, don't worry I'm sure he'll be fine. You can thank him some other day.'
'Hey! T-that's not…!' her face was already blushing, she pushed Yfae away, 'I don't like him that way, I just …' Yfae was leaning on Pyriah while she was having a fit of giggles while Pyriah was hiding a smile.
'Hey!' She lunged at them, and they piled up on the ground. First there was an awkward silence and then all three of them exploded into laughter.
Their laughter echoed through the halls, like Scipio's hymn.
For a time it lasted. Long before the three had went their way and gone, their laughter resonated. It had been a long, long, time since anyone ever laughed here.
XOXOXOX
Ortal shifted restlessly in his armchair. The foundries, the manufacturing plants and the engineering department had not received any form giving them consent towards the development of new weapons and ships as Ortal had inquired.
He wondered whether Scipio was doing this to irritate him or because Scipio judged the moment to be least opportune.
Since when was Scipio careful?
Ortal had read all the battle reports and all the field reports regarding the Judge Scipio. Indeed he was in service when Drace was still fourteen. He had rendered justice to infidels who challenged the ministry and the empire, he had executed criminals and more importantly he had fought countless battles, he had been a Judge Majister for as long as anyone could remember.
His battle reports were indeed something worth of legend. His kill rate was astounding. The recorders were, if their records' verity could be trusted, able to come up with a number beyond human: in one battle against a detachment of Rozzarian infantry which lasted for three hours, Scipio was able to fell two-thousand and forty-eight men, alone. Ortal had to admit to himself that the man is a legend and that to trifle and cross him would be most unwise.
But his patience could not remain relentless towards silly games.
Had Scipio truly desired to end Ivalice in one gigantic war, Scipio would have been very quick to act. Ortal knew little when it came to how Scipio acted. He knew that he was reckless; any soldier who followed him would surely never return. He knew that he had little patience for the games of others. He knew that he had a battered childhood. He now also knew that he was indeed Nabradian.
How Scipio thought and utilized his cunning was something which constantly eluded his comprehension.
Ortal dismissed his impatience and decided to allow Scipio to attend to his matters in due time. Normally, he would have summoned Scipio and would have him a taste of his rage at his apparent lack of progress. He did not like having anyone above him, yet in his current precarious situation he had to be most careful.
Scipio was a wild card. His loyalty would certainly be less than what he had spoken it to be.
Ortal stood up from his chair and paced around his office. The moment he should falter, all his dreams of dominion would be lost to a sea of despair.
He would not allow it, now that the victory is so close.
He will never allow it, now that the victory is at hand.
