Hello, everyone! Here is the second chapter of "A5". This is the start of the "alternate path" idea I had mentioned earlier. I hope what I write here makes sense in the canon/original timeline and characters. In any case, here we go.
DISCLAIMER: The 'Amulet' series is created and illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi, and published by 'Scholastic'. The author owns any original characters and custom elements included into the story.
Onward!
Once Cielis understood it was going to have to fight, its citizens had gone to work. The lack of people to work on different jobs made production slower, but the city was still able to create two major forces to engage the elves. It was better than staying in isolation and hiding until an even worse attack befell them.
The first force was a new generation of the "Cielis Guard", soldiers ready to leave their home city and fight for Alledia's freedom. Caleb had seen some of them on the streets or passing by in small groups. The second force was a group of pilots for the "Colossus" mech units, including Navin. Navin and Caleb had not met often over the past months to discuss what the young "Commander" was doing, but the sign none of those mechs had been severely damaged from "test drives" gave Caleb good hope for Navin's future.
Frankly, it wasn't Navin he was worried about failing; he had seen Navin pilot Charnon House, the Luna Moth airship, and the Albatross airplane, all with great skill. Almost like he had been meant to do it. A bizarre thought to Caleb, but he kept it in the back of his mind. That thought joined a lot of others in the back of his mind, not really organized as much as stuffed in that space in the hopes of keeping his focus on other current events.
The biggest current event on Caleb's mind was figuring out how he was going to help when the time came to leave Cielis and fight the elves. Everyone else seemed to have a set role or was working towards one. Emily was a Stonekeeper, while Navin was a "Colossus" pilot. Leon was a Resistance fighter, and Trellis was another Stonekeeper and a rebellious son turning against his father's rule. Vigo was the third Stonekeeper among them, and someone who had known Silas Charnon for many years.
Outside that immediate group, Karen Hayes was the mother of Emily and Navin and an emotional support to them both. Miskit and Cogsley had proven their capabilities by surviving on their own after being taken away by wyverns near the Golbez Cycle. They had also demonstrated human emotions and caring despite being robots built by Silas.
Caleb does not see a clear role for himself in the conflict. In fact, given Max has shown his amulet's Voice can hypnotize Caleb, going to fight Max might make things better for the elves. However, to not go and not provide support when the Hayes would be in trouble goes against what led Caleb to support the family in the first place. His obsession to keep the Hayes happy helped him get to where he is now. Should he keep acting that way until the end of this war?
Better not take the risk. As he walked out to the "Garden of the Keepers", Caleb reached into his pocket and rubbed the black feather that he kept with him. I don't want to anger even more people by being reckless.
There was one way he knew of for dispelling risky thoughts: physical work. He knew he was going to get the chance before today, and it was confirmed for certain when he saw Leon was already in the garden. Leaning against one of the nearest statues to the entrance, the fox-man had some specific objects by him, including a wooden pole as long as himself and some foam pads of various sizes.
Leon wore a more loose-fitting outfit of brown vest, tan long-sleeved shirt, and khaki pants; his furred feet had no need for shoes to be comfortable. Caleb had on a spare set of T-shirt, pants, underwear, and shoes; all those clothes were colored the same shade of muted green, because all of them had been donated from one of the Cielis Guard. It was not his usual running outfit, but he figured it would fit for another type of workout.
Leon noticed Caleb approaching almost immediately. "Good morning, Caleb. Have you stretched already?"
"Did so while running," Caleb replied. "Thanks for choosing a shadier spot this time, I don't want to pass out from heatstroke."
"Don't be dramatic. You have not suffered that badly during any of our sessions."
"Yeah, yeah," Caleb dismissively said as he breathed in and out with slow motions, readying himself for a new "session": in reality, this was his training in hand-to-hand combat. Leon and Caleb had approached each other about this idea at nearly the same time after their prior adventures. The fox-man proved to be a quiet teacher, with eyes sharp enough to spot any mistake Caleb made. After some initial aggression on his part, Caleb realized he could treat this like a class back at school rather than something from an alien world. It certainly helped that Leon was helping him learn basic moves, not some advanced technique like swordplay.
While Caleb reflected on why he was here, Leon had prepared the first activity of the day by tying one of the foam pads around a thin tree close to their position. "Show me a few motions to start with," he told Caleb once the human had come out of his thoughts. "Punches and kicks together. Aim for the center of this pad."
They were going in strong today. Caleb felt he could handle that, and he showed it by walking up to the tree and assuming a practiced fighting stance with little hesitation. With his right hand being his dominant one, he kept his left foot forward and his right foot back, both pointed at the tree. He raised his fists up towards his face, assuming a boxing position as he bobbed on the balls of his feet.
As Leon watched, Caleb slowly sent two punches, and then stepped back and gave two kicks with his right leg into the pad. None of them were at the center point, but the motion between them was fluid. Caleb also made sure to not give much force behind any of his attacks, so he did not accidentally hurt himself by hitting the tree instead of the pad.
"Good," Leon said after Caleb had reassumed his stance. "You've kept your form steady. The next thing is your power. Every blow you strike wants to carry weight and impact to your target."
Leon moved over to Caleb, the teenager stepping aside to give Leon enough space to work with. "For example," he instructed Caleb, "a steady punch can be like this." Quickly assuming a more forward stance than Caleb had, Leon punched the pad with his right fist, hitting the pad dead-center. Caleb heard the whuff of air around the impact zone as he saw the pad compress. "If you give a lot of power, you will get a lot of impact. But that takes a lot of weight, so you will tire out faster."
Leon withdrew his hand and shook it once. Caleb did not assume he was tired from just that, so that had been for show. He did not object to it.
"Strike with less power," Leon continued, "and you can hit faster and keep going for longer." Leon demonstrated this by sending three quick punches into the pad, like a combination attack. "A combination of more and less power will give you an edge in a fight by keeping your opponent on edge." He stepped away from the pad. "Take your stance and try it yourself."
Caleb nodded and took his stance again. The first punch he sent was a light strike with his right fist, which he snapped back from and brought up to his face for defense. As the tree did not attack back, Caleb made another hit with his right fist and then followed it up with a stronger hit from his left one. This left him slightly off-balance, which he rushed to correct.
Caleb risked glancing at Leon as he reassumed his stance. The fox-man said or did nothing to indicate he was angry with Caleb's actions so far. Caleb took a cleansing breath, readied himself, and shifted forwards before dealing four consecutive punches to the pad, two with each first. He ended the combo with a curved punch with his right fist that made the pad give a satisfying whump.
"Good." Leon nodded once, giving no additional signs Caleb had done a satisfying job. "Now, show me your kicks. Remember what I said about power."
Caleb repositioned himself, stepping farther back from the pad and tree so he could extend his feet better. He gave one kick with his right foot, and then a second one. When he tried with his left foot, his weaker foot, his second kick swung wide. A short, "Wah!" was heard as Caleb fell to the ground. He coughed once before telling Leon, "My foot slipped!", which was true enough.
Leon helped Caleb get up slowly, the teenager making sure nothing was sprained by his fall as he got back on his feet. "Balance is important," the bounty hunter told Caleb. "Keep your stance, you've done this before."
Caleb nodded and went back to the pad. His next attempts did not work much better; he had to move in awkward ways to get a kick where he wanted. It wasn't letting him demonstrate what he was learning. When Leon told him, "Let's try this instead," he was relieved to hear it.
Leon took two other pads, smaller than the first one, and tied them on higher and lower parts of the tree trunk. Now there were three areas for Caleb to kick at. He looked to Leon for some words on what he should do, but Leon just gestured towards the pads and let him act as he wanted. Caleb took a few moments to look at the pads' positions, and then raised his right leg for a few quick strikes.
"Hah!" Caleb kicked at the lower pad, a good blow with his foot and heel. "Hyah!" He snapped his leg back and kicked the middle pad with a lighter but faster motion. As Leon watched, Caleb drew his leg up and kicked the upper pad with a final shout. The strike was not right on the pad, but there was enough force to cause the tree to shake a little. A single leaf fell from the tree, but only Leon noticed it; Caleb was too occupied with not falling again and whirling his arms for balance.
Once he had righted himself, Caleb panted for breath, his hands on his knees, a few beads of sweat sliding down his face. "Good," said Leon, prompting Caleb to smile back. "Take a break, and we'll move the pads to a new location." He then handed Caleb a canteen of water, which he took gratefully and sat down on the garden's soft ground.
The water helped Caleb get some energy back, and along with that came a sense of accomplishment. He was learning. He was getting stronger. He could better protect people in danger. That was what he wanted.
Two days later, a sense of unease spread among Cielis's inhabitants. Human or machine, everyone saw what was going to occur. The big day for deployment had arrived, and every capable person went to the shipyards and docks to see the travelers off. A sizeable chunk of the population was heading out, leaving skeleton crews of a few squads and enforcers to police the largely empty floating city.
Large groups of people wearing the uniform of the Cielis Guard moved to board one of three airships similar to the one Max had used to escort the Hayes and their party before. The big differences with these airships was their much larger size and the hooks and cables they used to carry the three "Colossus" mechs that would be hanging beneath them. Smaller craft would be traveling alongside them, including the Luna Moth airship herself piloted by cat-brothers Enzo and Rico. These craft would carry important individuals and supplies not worth keeping on the main craft.
Caleb did not see the assembly of these forces, or the loading of the giant robots. After a training session with Leon in the early morning, he had been brought by Miskit to join Emily with her and Vigo, per her request. They all now stood inside a central command chamber near the departure docks for the airships. Here, scientists and technicians processed the logistics behind the loading and equipping of so large a force. Computer monitors and terminals were positioned in a circular ring, the bottom of that ring split apart to make room for a raised metal walkway. That walkway led to the center space of the chamber, where a gigantic holographic orb played out various images of maps and recorded videos.
Caleb felt pleased that the video playing on the orb did not come with sound. Displayed in high quality were images of burning buildings, broken walls, and a few still corpses wearing armor and carrying different melee weapons. Other images showed the perpetrators of the attack; elven soldiers, similar to the ones Caleb had seen in Nautilus and Kanalis.
In the shadows of some images, a greater monster appeared. Flying on gigantic wings and sporting the lower body of a spider, it darted over buildings as beams of green energy lanced out from its neck. Yet this creature was not making those beams. That honor belonged to someone sitting on the monster's back, riding it like a winged demon straight out of the Underworld.
One specific shot showed the rider in all their glory. Max Griffin. Alive and fighting with the elves. Caleb's wrists stung as memories dug at his current thoughts, prompting him to remember experiences he wanted to forget. Max had declared his side in the war, and it was with the enemy.
"The city of Fronterra, located near the border to Gulfen and the elves, has been destroyed." Vigo Light reported this to everyone else with him—Emily, Caleb, and Miskit—standing before the orb and its pictures. "These images show Max leading an assault into the city."
"Fronterra had defenders of its own," Miskit commented, a paw scratching behind one of his ears as he spoke. "Was that not enough to hold them back?"
Emily switched which of her hands held her personal staff, an object she had been learning how to channel her Stonekeeper powers through over the past months. "I think Max found a new power, or a new friend, to help him beat the odds."
Vigo turned to Emily. "We should try to figure out more before the elves take another city. Lucien is most likely their next target."
Emily needed a few seconds to process that along with Caleb. When the latter had figured it out, he quickly asked Vigo, "You're going to face Max head-on in that city?"
Vigo hummed in confirmation, his lips hidden beneath his beard for a moment. "That seems like the best way to end this problem before more people are killed."
She's also on a more equal footing with him. Caleb peeked at Emily's amulet as it hung inactive around her neck. Can she fight him now? She's had months of training to catch up.
"Navin and the other Colossus pilots will be taking airships to get to Lucien," Emily said. "We can join them and show the Guardian Council is back."
Vigo did not seem excited to present himself as one of the few surviving members of that system of government. "We will not be going with very much, Emily. Cielis is not ready to enter a long-term war."
"I don't think we'll ever be "ready", Vigo. We need to strike back now, or we will miss our chance. The best we can do right now is give the people down there hope."
"Hope helped Master Emily get to where she is today, Master Vigo," added Miskit. The older Stonekeeper took this in effect and nodded after a few moments' thought. Then he looked to Caleb and considered something else. "Caleb," he asked, "are you wanting to come with us to Lucien?"
Caleb took a step back from Vigo before he could open his mouth. "I-I… I don't know. If Max tries to control me again, then…" He left the sentence hanging; the implications were clear enough to everyone listening.
"We will stop him if he tries it," Emily promised. "Max had to be close to you to hypnotize you, remember? If he is on that giant creature, it will be hard for him to reach you the same way."
"Master Emily has a point," Miskit said. "But you must also remember that Cielis had dampened all Stonekeeper energies while Max was pursuing the Mother Stone."
"Yes," Vigo added, "it did. Even when Max was controlling you and fighting in the Garden, I could tell he had to focus hard on using his powers. Out there, he will have his full strength."
"No he won't." Emily stood firm against the others' reasoning. "He'll be fighting me and Trellis and you as well, Vigo. All of us are strong enough to fight him together."
"You may be right." Vigo did not appear upset by Emily's attitude, but he also did not fully support her choice. Caleb suspected Vigo was trying to keep everyone calm in a tense situation; if Caleb were in Vigo's shoes, he could not be doing what he was.
The big question Caleb had to decide on seemed simple, but carried lots of weight: Do I go with them or stay here? He thought about it until he realized the others were looking at him. They were waiting for his answer.
"I will…" Caleb gulped and wet his lips before suddenly turning to Miskit with a sudden though. "Miskit, is Karen going with Emily and Navin?"
Miskit blinked and slowly shook his head. "No, Mister Caleb, she is not. Unless Masters Emily and Navin absolutely insist she does."
"Mom doesn't need to do that for us. She's already done enough." Emily's face softened for a moment as her past memories brought back moments of tenderness.
"In that case," Caleb decided, "I will stay with her in Cielis."
Emily's lips pinched tight, but she accepted this with a nod. I know it is not what you want, Emily, Caleb thought, but it is my choice. The risk of you getting hurt by me is too great.
"Then it is settled," Vigo said with finality. "Caleb will stay in Cielis. But if we need you, Caleb, we will send you a message as quickly as possible. Cielis has two-way communication devices, and we will keep contact as often as we can."
"Good. Thank you, Vigo," Caleb said to the older Stonekeeper, and he almost added in a bow for good measure. He felt the weight of his decision lift off his shoulders and provide relief. Even though not everyone was pleased with the outcome, Caleb felt it was the right one for him to do. Whether that would be the right choice in the future was a problem for the future.
Alright, that's all for now. The next chapters will obviously take more time because I need to add original content to each entry. But I will be sticking to this path for Caleb's story, so I will upload work when I can.
As usual, any feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you for reading.
Draconos is taking off!