Sacrifice
Dust's cry of anguish tore through the Everdawn Basin, halting the battle on both sides as the Souldiers vanished. It gave the Moonbloods little reprieve, as the knowledge that their hero was in pain gave them no comfort. Horrified and worried beyond their wits, Ginger, Sanjin, Ash, Kim and Taka began racing back towards the dais within the Royal Army side of the battlefield, meeting little to no resistance along the way.
Back by King Julius, Fidget was desperately shaking the body of her friend, still lying unmoving on the ground, his face down and hair covering what might have otherwise been visible.
"Dust? Dust!" Fidget yelled. "Wake up! Come on! Get up!"
Almost as soon as he'd blacked out, Dust began to stir and, after a few moments, pushed himself upright. Fidget's relief was short lived, as she quickly noticed that the Blade of Ahrah hadn't blinked back into life.
"Dust?" the nimbat squeaked nervously. "Are you…are you okay?"
"Dust?" a husked voice came from underneath's Dust's tangled mess of silver hair. Fidget squeaked in confusion — why had he said the name like he didn't even recognise it? Fidget's nervous confusion turned into utter horror when the boy turned to face her.
Those eyes weren't the eyes of her Elysian Warrior. They weren't the eyes of her best friend.
These eyes were blood red, and murderous.
"EEK!" Fidget screamed in terror. "D-D-Dust?!" she stammered.
"That is not my name!" the boy shouted, striking out at the nimbat before she had time to react. The blow sent Fidget flying across the battlefield, spinning, dazed and out of control. Luckily, Ginger caught the nimbat before she hit the ground.
"Fidget!" Ginger exclaimed as she caught her. "Fidget, are you okay?"
"D…Dust…" Fidget stammered weakly in reply. "He's…done something…to Dust…"
But the others were already well ahead of Ginger and didn't hear the nimbat's warnings. On the dais, the boy-who-was-not-Dust rose to his feet before kneeling before King Julius. When he spoke, his voice still had the youthfulness of the young Dust, but had a different quality to it: cold, calculating, and old beyond his years.
"Your Majesty," he greeted formally, "I am in your debt."
"It has been too long, my friend," King Julius smiled. "Rise, Cassius."
The boy answered to the name without question, and rose once more to a standing position. His eyes examined his youthful form, narrowed and sharp.
"Those Moonbloods cursed my soul into this form, did they not?" he asked, his voice dripping with hate.
"You are correct, my friend," the King confirmed. "They twisted your mind, tricked you into killing your own comrades…as well as your friend."
"Gaius…" Cassiust spoke softly, for the first time his voice ringing with something akin to regret. King Julius picked up the Blade of Ahrah and handed it to the boy. The sword was silent, and did not start glowing again as Cassiust's hand closed around the hilt.
"Let us make those beasts pay for what they have done to you," Julius said. Cassiust nodded, and it was at that moment that Ash and Kim arrived.
"Dust!" Ash shouted, her finger stuck into a page in her magic tome. Next to her, Kim drew his pistols and pointed them at the King.
"Step away from him!" he warned. Neither Dust nor King Julius paid any heed to the threat.
"Listen to these creatures," King Julius sneered. "Still believing that you belong to them." The Moonbloods frowned and shared a glance. What was going on? "Show them who you truly are. Show them what happens when a soul is released from their magic."
The boy turned around to face the Moonbloods, who staggered in confusion and horror at the sight of his eyes. Red, deadly…and yet somehow eerily blank, despite how sharp they were.
"Dust…what's he done to you?" Kim asked shakily, backing off as the boy approached. Ash followed suit.
"Whatever he's been telling you, it's not true!" Ash insisted. "We know who you really are and you're not…"
"Quiet," Cassiust hissed. "You Moonbloods defiled my soul…stripped it away from the Life Thread when my life rightfully ended!" His words were bitter and dripping with hate and anger.
"Dust, that wasn't…!" Kim began to protest but Cassiust had already raised the Blade of Ahrah, preparing to strike.
"My name is not Dust!" he yelled, striking out with the sword. Kim barely pulled Ash out of harm's way as she screamed in terror and the two began to run, unwilling to unleash magic or bullets on the boy they'd come to consider such a close friend. Cassiust was hot on their heels and soon cut them off by a small lava lake.
"Kid, stop this!" Kim begged, defending Ash the best he could.
"My king has freed me from your spell and I intend to honour my debts!" Cassiust shouted. "Be gone from this world!" He began to attack once more. Ash screamed his name in desperation but the blow was blocked by a spear — it was Sanjin.
"Sen-Mithrarin!" the Moonblood engineer grunted. "Have you gone mad?!" The name seemed to enrage Cassiust even more than 'Dust' had.
"Do not call me that! I am not your puppet!" he bellowed. Sanjin yelled at Kim and Ash to run, knowing that while he could not hope to match the boy's skill, he could at least buy his only child and her friend some time to escape.
Cassiust was skilled, and somehow seemed even stronger and faster than Dust himself had been even though his physical body did not appear to have changed. Sanjin was only able to block a small number of blows, but everything else was too fast to predict. Cassiust fought with every inch of skill and speed as any other assassin and Sanjin realised that this was because that was what this boy had become…the soul of the assassin had been awakened.
Sanjin eventually found himself disarmed and thrown to the floor, with the warrior-turned-assassin that was no more than a boy poised to deal an ending blow over him. Exhausted from the heat of the volcanoes and the fight itself, Sanjin tried once more to appeal to the hero that he'd once fought alongside.
"Dust…please…" he panted. "This isn't you…wake up!"
Cassiust let out a yell of pure frustration and began bringing the Blade of Ahrah downwards towards Sanjin — it would have no doubt run the Moonblood in two if it weren't for Taka's timely intervention.
"Ungh…!" she grunted and she forced the boy away from Sanjin — Cassiust was strong, but he was still only thirteen. "Snap out of it, Kid!" Cassiust snarled at her.
"You're no better than any of that filth!" he growled. "If you stand with my enemy, you will fall to my blade!" Take shoved him away and shifted into a fighting stance, one knife poised above her head and the other held in front of her. Her face shifted into a deadly glare — if anyone was going to knock Dust back to his senses, she was going to do her darnedest to try.
"Bring it, Shrimp," she hissed, inviting the confrontation. By now, Ash and Kim were a safe distance for Cassiust to not go after them, but now it was Sanjin's turn to retreat to safety. Taka didn't know if she could beat Cassiust, but she knew that she had to buy time, and she was both stronger and faster than Sanjin.
The fight resumed, and Taka was much more able to keep up with Cassiust's attacks and was even able to attempt a few strikes of her own. Cassiust was still fast, and blocked each blow and parry with ease that Taka hadn't seen in Dust when they'd fought merely the previous day. In the end, Taka grew weary and although she refused to fall to her knees, she too became exhausted from the heat of the Everdawn Basin combined with the strain of fighting.
"Stop…stop this!" she pleaded. "The king has you under some kind of spell!" Taka couldn't think of any other reasonable explanation for her friend's sudden change in behaviour.
"Shut up!" Cassiust snapped. Taka could see his eyes, and noticed the same blankness behind the sharp red. Something wasn't right about this boy…even though the conviction behind his cutting words were there, he himself didn't seem to be all there in his eyes.
"Dust, listen to me!" Taka implored. "You're not thinking clearly…"
"And stop calling me 'Dust'!" Cassiust cut across, again swinging the Blade of Ahrah to kill but this time he wasn't interrupted by another weapon blocking his path, but rather an arrow suddenly caught his sleeve and buried itself into a nearby stake. Another well aimed arrow stuck itself into the same stake, this time going through the boy's trouser leg. The attack caught both Cassiust's and Taka's attentions, and spinning around Taka was astounded to see Jarin standing on a boulder a short distance away, another arrow knocked into an ebony bow inlaid with silver and ivory.
"You…!" Taka spluttered.
"Ginger asked me to help," Jarin cut across before Taka could reprimand him. "You alright?" Taka nodded, speechless from the shock. Things only continued to escalate as Ginger herself ran over towards Cassiust, unarmed and undefended.
"Dust!" she cried, with every tone of firmness as would come from a mother. "Enough!"
By this time, Cassiust had wrenched the arrows from the stake and had freed himself — the arrows themselves hadn't cut flesh, merely torn fabric, so he himself was unharmed. A flash of recognition crossed his eyes when he saw Ginger, but it wasn't because Dust was recognising his mother.
"You…" he murmured before his voice raised in tone again. "You were from that village in the mountains… A Moonblood Sympathiser!" Ginger stood her ground, unfazed. In the background, the Moonblood army had all but retreated. Sanjin, Ash and Kim stood nearby, with Ash cradling a still weak and frightened Fidget in her arms.
"Dust, listen to me!" Ginger ordered firmly. "This is not you!"
"Your precious 'Dust' is gone!" Cassiust snapped, as if saying that for the tenth time would finally make the others listen to him. "My king has awakened me from a slumber I never knew I was in… I will not fall under such spells again!" Something about the boy's statement made Ginger pause in thought for the briefest of moments.
Awakened?
Elder Grey-Eyes had spoken of Dust's souls awakening if their names were ever spoken…
"Son…please," Ginger murmured gently, kneeling down so that she was at eye-level with Cassiust, who in turn paused momentarily at the movement. "Don't do this…"
"This 'Dust' is your son?" Cassiust snarled. Ginger nodded, tears starting to well up in her eyes.
"Please…I beg of you," she whispered. "Give him back to me."
"He is gone," Cassiust insisted, his resolve returning. "It will bring me no more pleasure to kill you than it did for me to kill that boy all those years ago, but you stand with my enemy. And I will cut you down."
Once more, the Blade of Ahrah was raised. Taka had backed off a short distance during the exchange in the hopes that Ginger would be able to get through to Dust, but now she jolted forwards to protect the woman.
"GINGER!" she yelled.
"MOVE!" Sanjin shouted, but Ginger remained in her kneeled position. Her eyes stayed fixed on Cassiust's face, when she suddenly closed them as if in a desperate plea as she shrieked…
"JIN! HELP HIM!"
Cassiust suddenly jolted, as if having a severe reaction to Ginger's words, and stumbled forwards, fumbling with the Blade of Ahrah before it fell from his grasp and clattered to the ground. Ginger caught the boy before his face became best friends with the floor and watched as his eyes went as wide as saucers, suddenly seeming much clearer than before as they switched from crimson red to the same blue as her own.
"Wha…what's going on?" he murmured with a fearful confusion. "What am I…doing here?"
"Dust?" Ginger frowned. The boy looked up at her, his eyes constantly switching between dark blue, crimson red, and the pale silver-blue that Ginger knew her son to have.
"Ginger?" Dust shook, no doubt addressing the woman with Jin's soul in the foreground. "What's going…? Why am I…?" Ginger hugged the boy close and began rocking him gently in an attempt to calm him down.
"Dust, deep breaths," she said gently. "I'm here…"
On the dais, King Julius was enraged. He raised his sceptre skyward, the Eye of the Life Thread glowing dangerously.
"No!" he bellowed. "Cassius! Fight against it! Strike them down! I command it!"
Dust began flinching again, once more battling against the magic that the king controlled. He turned around in Ginger's arms to face the King, but made no move to answer him…instead he looked at him with an expression of pure betrayal on his face as his eyes flashed red again.
"No! No…stop it…" he begged. "Your Majesty…Julius…" he spoke, the colder voice of Cassius returning but this time laced with fear and confusion. "What are you doing?!"
"Do not question your king!" Julius roared. "I order you to raise your blade and strike these traitors down!"
The Eye shone like a small sun and Dust cried out in pain, clutching his head as he tried to block out the magic that was ever threatening to take control of him again. Ginger pulled him even closer to her, as if she could somehow act as a shield to the power of the mystical gem.
"Block it out, Dust!" she pleaded. "Focus on me! Listen to my voice!" she continued, shouting above the ambiance of the Eye. "I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere!" she promised.
"Stop…please…!" Dust whimpered. "I won't…"
"I COMMAND IT!" King Julius bellowed with every ounce of anger as a raging storm. The power from the Eye of the Life Thread surged so greatly that even the others felt it. The pain too much to bear, Dust wrenched himself away from Ginger as he continued to struggle against the pull of the magic seeking to place him under control again. Ribbons of light began snaking around him, as if trying to chain him and bind him into submission, and Ginger and the others could do little else but watch helplessly as they tried to call out to their friend.
Dust eventually raised his head after what felt like an eternity, but to everyone's amazement, his eyes were still pale-blue; shining in defiance as he glared at King Julius. His irises flashed between pale blue, red and dark blue when they suddenly closed and Dust himself fell limp to the floor, the ribbons of light vanishing in fragments that dissipated into the smoky air.
"DUST!" Ginger screamed, scrambling over and picking up her unconscious son. He was as limp as a doll in her arms. The others raced over, with Fidget squirming out of Ash's arms and onto Dust's chest as Elder Grey-Eyes also joined the scene.
"D…Dust!" Fidget cried, trying to wake her friend by tugging his hair. Ginger shook him as much as she dared.
"Sweetheart!" she yelled desperately. "Come on, Scamp! Wake up! Look at me!"
"Come on, Dust!" Ash shouted.
"Don't do this now!" Jarin cut in. Elder Grey-Eyes stooped down and noted the silence of the Blade of Ahrah. He examined Dust briefly before glancing upwards — the Souldiers were closing in.
"There is a way to help him, Ginger," he said quickly. "For now, you must leave this place."
"What do we do, Elder?" Ginger asked, clutching Dust close. "How do we help him?"
"Seek out Lady Tethys," Elder Grey-Eyes instructed. "She will be able to help you. You will find her in the depths of the Cirromon Caverns." He urged the party to get moving as the Souldiers began congregating once more, joined by the Royal Army forces. The group ran for the Blackmoor Mountains with Ash gathering as much energy as she could to cast one final Flameless Light. It cleared out some of their pursuers, but not nearly enough for them to be in the clear.
"We're not getting out of this," Kim panted. Sanjin turned around, unable to glance over his shoulder due to an unconscious Dust being slung over them.
"You are," Elder Grey-Eyes assured. "Keep going, and remember — seek out out Lady Tethys."
"Elder?" Ginger frowned as Grey-Eyes stopped in his tracks and turned to face the oncoming army.
"You must leave, Ginger," he insisted. "I will keep them at bay long enough for you to escape." The elderly Moonblood's plan was all too obvious.
"But…!"
"Go!" he ordered. Seeing that there was no changing his mind, Taka began dragging Ginger and Ash away while Jarin tugged at Sanjin and Kim's arms to keep them moving. As they ran, Elder Grey-Eyes planted his staff into the ground and began murmuring an incantation in Ancient Cynthak, bringing forth a river of light from fissures in the very ground itself. The Souldiers could not stand its power, and neither could the Royal Army…
…nor could any living being in the near vicinity.
"Dust…" Elder Grey-Eyes spoke softly as the light began to engulf him. "I am sorry…for everything. I hope that someday, you find peace. Forgive me."
As the spell tore through the Everdawn Basin, the party consisting of Ginger, Fidget, Ash, Kim, Sanjin, Taka, Jarin and an unconscious Dust reached the Blackmoor Mountains, turning around only to see the light tear a valley in the mountains that made up the volcanoes, and a void in which the husked screams of souls…both living and dead…could be heard as they were dragged back to the Life Thread.
The Moonbloods and Ginger broke into tears. For a few moments, the group stood on the mountain side, silent in mourning as Ash conjured a tiny memorial into a boulder:
In memory of Moonblood Elder Grey-Eyes.
A warrior, mentor, and leader.
May the Overseers of Elysium grant him peace.