Chapter 7 "Freedom Beckons"
"Hey…" Noah checked on his running mate. The two youths had just crossed the southern half of Dannagh Desert after fighting the consul of Colony 25.
"Hmm?" Mio opened her eyes after five minutes of rest.
"Are you okay?" he observed the paleness of her face.
"Not really…" her response nearly slipped past his ears from the howling winds.
"Where are you hurt?" the concerned Kevesi reached for the first-aid kit. "I packed a few bandages."
"I'm not hurt," she stared down at her crossed arms, neglecting to inform him of the pain in her shoulder.
"Huh?" he sat on his heels. "I-I don't understand."
"Clearly, you don't," the agitated Agnian brought her upturned knees closer to herself.
"Oh…" Noah soon caught her drift, slowly settling back into place. "You think I've made the wrong choice?"
"I don't know what's right or wrong anymore," Mio studied the stains on the legs of her military uniform. "But I do know that I shouldn't be here right now."
"We're almost out of the desert," the swordfighter gazed into the slightly obscured distance. The boulder which they were using to stay out of sight warmed their sweaty backs while they continued to recuperate.
Unfortunately for the fatigued duo, their rest wouldn't last for much longer as Noah felt his Blade start to vibrate again. Although he still couldn't understand why, he knew to take it as a warning that the consul was in the vicinity. Rising to his throbbing feet, the resilient Kevesi assumed a defensive stance in front of his Agnian ally.
"Soldiers who defy the will of the Flame Clocks…" a distorted voice echoed from no discernible direction, "need not exist in the eternal cycle of life!" Noah drew the inner sword from his Blade again, now aware that it was the reactive component of the set. Furthermore, he discovered that the intensity of the vibrations varied depending on where it was pointed. Using it like a detector, he determined the position of their guest in hiding who promptly dropped the invisibility act. However, it was not the consul as they'd remembered him but rather a reddish-purple monster of unspeakable horror.
"Wha…? What in the world… is this…?" Noah recoiled at the sight of what couldn't possibly be the consul whose armor he'd lacerated earlier.
"The charades end here, cretin!" the monster spoke with a most threatening tone.
"Consul? Is that you?" The ponytailed soldier barely recognized the voice from the depths of the garbled words. "What happened to you?"
"Do not concern yourself with matters above your caste!" the transformed consul roared as he reached for them with his giant, veiny hand. Noah dove to the side while Mio leapt onto the extended limb, her legs having regained just enough strength to perform her acrobatics. The monster under her feet didn't take kindly to being used as a platform, with his bulbous arms waving to shake her off. "Such impudent creatures! You will know your place!"
"I can't fight him!" Mio winced from the pressure put on her body upon landing. "I still can't summon my Blade!"
"Then run!" Noah swiped at his massive opponent whilst eyeing the lowlands in the distance. "Ribbi Flats is just over there!"
"What about you, then?" she hollered back, her entire frame now a shaking mess from the adrenaline.
"I'll handle him…" he grunted as his weapon gashed the disfigured consul near the shoulder, sending forth another puff of red motes. "You need to escape!"
"I… can't!" sweat tickled down the back of Mio's neck.
"Why not?" his concentration was hindered by her hesitation.
"There is no escape! There is no reprieve!" The bulky beast attempted to take advantage of the distracted soldier, smashing the ground with every punch or slam that missed by a hair. "Surrender to the flow, or cease to be!"
"S-spark…" the agile Agnian gritted her teeth before jumping onto the monstrous consul again, this time with her heels digging on either side of his head.
"Remove yourself at once!" both of his rumply hands rose to grab her.
"Don't you dare!" The panicked Kevesi impaled him in the chest, inciting a guttural growl from the oversized adversary. Satisfied with her contribution, Mio hopped off the towering shoulders. However, another landing on solid ground didn't do her ankles any favors.
"You…" The hateful eyes buried deep in the monster's unrecognizable face zeroed in on the defiant soldier who retracted his evidently nonfatal stab. Through the latest of many expulsions of red motes, the transformed consul outstretched his arm to form a proportionately enlarged chain between his fist and a jut in the land. Without even looking, he ripped the snagged rock out of the ground to use as a flail against the swordfighter. "I shall crush you with Aionios itself!"
Effortlessly, the mutant man swung his new weapon at the two soldiers who dodged it with hardly a second to spare. The rock shattered on the ground which sent equally dangerous, razor-sharp debris in all directions. Now with an additional chain in his other hand, the consul pulled two more rocks from the ridge to fling at his stupefied targets. Managing multiple projectiles simultaneously proved to be his undoing, however, as he left himself open for the nimble swordsman to slip through the middle.
"Just leave us alone!" The brave swordsman thrust his unsheathed Blade again, this time nicking the core in the center of the otherworldly body. The ensuing, distorted scream of pain was enough to hint that the threat had been sufficiently neutralized. Indeed, as the motes billowed out once more, the chains and Mio's bracelets fizzled away like dust in the wind.
"That is quite enough…" the monstrous consul declared at the sight of his latest, gravest wound. "Clearly, we have taken things too far." Within seconds, the massive muscles withered down to the familiar red armor. Wisps of purple matter leaked from between his fingers while he clutched his damaged core.
"Consul?" the pacifist lowered his sword, shaken himself by how close he'd come to making his first kill.
"Ensuring your punishment is not worth risking a silver rank colony's safety while they remain scattered by your impertinent rebellion." The caped man's voice had also returned to normal, albeit strained from their two fights.
"Suddenly you care about their lives?" Noah slowly circled around him to be with Mio.
"I do, and so should you… for you are still bound to the Flame Clock which you have so uncharitably abandoned," the consul reminded his recusant. "Besides, it cannot feed if there is nobody left to serve it. What a tragedy it would be if the most efficient colony on Aionios were to fall."
"Most efficient?" the ponytailed soldier repeated, wary of another rant. "Has every battle we've had out here been by your orchestration?"
"I prefer to call it guidance, through which Colony 25 has maintained dominance over this land for longer than all of your lives combined!" the red-armored hierarch declared with a ragged grin behind his mask. "A shame it is, then, that you shall no longer partake in its victories! Consider yourself banished from Dannagh Desert!"
"Is that supposed to be a punishment?" the former salvager upheld his grimace, beyond exhausted of dealing with the blowhard.
"Verily, for no other frontier may give rise to stronger soldiers," the consul attempted to castigate the one who'd bested him, "the pride of Kev-"
"Enough!" Mio shouted from behind Noah to the rambling consul who suddenly found himself struggling to stand. Peering down upon himself, he discovered one of her ring swords imbedded between his fingers into his already damaged core.
"Wha…?" a torrent of penumbral matter spewed from his chest.
"Sparkin' tyrant!" she approached him bravely, teeth clenched in steaming anger. "You tortured my allies! You… you tortured me… treated me like I wasn't human… made me wish I'd never been born!"
"M-Mio…?" the pacifist nearly dropped his sword.
"What have you done… to me?" the caped foe gasped at his rapidly deteriorating state.
"That was for the anguish you've caused us," her face was flushed now.
"H-how… dare you besmirch…?" he fell to one knee, his red armor now aglow.
"Stop talking… please…" the cat-eared Agnian heaved. Drained by the relentless heat, her stance slackened as she dropped her other ring sword in the sand. Noticing her infirmity, Noah quickly disengaged his Blade and caught her from falling herself while the consul slowly flickered away before them. The astounded Kevesi observed how the motes were white this time, similar to a soldier's natural homecoming.
"Come on, let's find you some shade," Noah gently pushed her towards the canyon wall.
"I shouldn't have shouted so much," she regretted her outburst on the consul. "How can you stand the heat?"
"I'm used to it," he helped her sit before rummaging through his bag. "Spark… sorry, I didn't pack any water."
"Then why don't you just finish me off, right now?" Mio pursed her lips as a drip of sweat tickled her nose.
"What…?" his sights zipped back to her.
"You know what I'm talking about," her arms were crossed again. "Bring your Blade back out."
"So, you do think I made the wrong choice." Noah remained on his knees in front of her, disappointed but unsurprised by the resumption of this contentious matter between them.
"I can't believe you! I thought you…" Mio paused upon realizing that she was exerting herself to yell again. "I thought you'd go through with it… and take my embers."
"When did I ever say I would?" his brows came down together. "In fact, I explicitly remember telling you that I wouldn't."
"But I pleaded for you against your own commander," she pouted, casting her frustrated gaze upon him.
"And I'm glad you did," he kept his intentions unhidden. "Otherwise… I don't know what I would've done."
"I was ready to die, too," the dejected Agnian continued to repine.
"Were you, really?" the ponytailed soldier tilted his head at her.
"Yes," she nodded once. "You're the only one I respected enough to do it."
"Fine, but there's no way you could've been okay with dying in a situation like that." Noah rose to his feet, now towering over her while she stayed glued to her ledge. "Even if it would've been by my Blade, how could it have been dignifying with how the consul had set it up? Everyone was watching, and… they laughed at you. I saw your fa-"
"Stop it!" Mio hunched over with her hands clutching her forehead. "I don't… want to remember that…" The contrite Kevesi hung his own head in regret for letting his words pry too deeply.
"I'm sorry…" he opted for a simple, muted apology.
"Why couldn't you have just…?" she looked up to him again, hardly mollified.
"I've never killed anybody, not even an Agnian," the pacifist restated tirelessly, proud of the fact in spite of his former friends' reactions to it. "You heard the whole thing… with my team."
"I don't believe you," her stare was vacant, feeling like she'd gotten nowhere with her rescuer. "How can anybody live on without killing in this world? How have you survived?"
"You know that as well," Noah dared to crack half a grin at her outward vexation. "After all, I did spare you."
"I'm not thanking you for that," Mio's tone diluted into grayness.
With a moment to think, the steadfast Kevesi soon realized that he'd kept her from death three times already, through one way or another. The two youths had only known each other for a little less than a week, but it felt much longer to him after everything that'd happened. Noah couldn't imagine how it must've seemed to Mio who'd viewed every day following their first encounter as potentially her last. Before he could ruminate further, however, he received communication through his Iris. Assuming that it was coming from Colony 25, he braced himself and raised two fingers to his temple.
"Noah, you're still alive?" The voice on the other end was familiar, indeed.
"Fonse…" Both apprehension and relief washed over the banished Kevesi.
"Where are you, man?" his former teammate inquired quietly, a hint that the call wasn't intended to be heard by others.
"I'm still in the desert, though barely," Noah chose his words carefully, no longer trusting their alliance. "If I tell you further, will you send somebody for me?"
"Well, that depends," Fonse played it coyly himself.
"On what?" the ponytailed soldier started pacing around nervously.
"Whether or not you want me to," the mace-wielder specified, sounding stiff and monotonous.
"No," Noah's sights lingered on the northeastern horizon toward his former home. "I-I'd rather you don't."
"Right," Fonse swallowed a chuckle. "I gather… the consul's no longer on your heels, eh?"
"Oh, um…" the pacifist hesitated with his divulgence again, "you could… say that."
"Did you fight him?" the redhead prodded for more.
"I did, but I had some help from…" Noah spun around to face his fellow runaway, only to discover that she'd left without him, "Mio!"
"Who?" Fonse sounded appropriately confused before putting the pieces together. "That Agnian girl you liked talking to? Wait, are you with her right now?"
"I was, but she's gone on ahead," the swordfighter started jogging after her.
"You're not coming back, are you?" the mace-wielder presumed, stifling himself once more.
"That's correct," Noah confirmed without a second thought. "This is the new path for me, wherever it leads."
"I figured…" a sigh and a pause gave away Fonse's disappointment. "Well, I wish you luck out there."
"Thank you," the ponytailed soldier couldn't help but feel heartened by the kind regards.
"Honestly, mate…" the redhead wasn't quite finished, "after this morning, I don't think I'd mind leaving, too."
"Oh?" Noah momentarily stopped in his tracks, struck by the idea of having him tag along. "Will you?"
"Nah… not without Denize," Fonse was quick to retract, "and she's not going anywhere."
"I see." The former salvager figured as much but held no grudges, nonetheless. "Keep her safe. I know she will do the same for you."
"Goodbye," the mace-wielder proceeded straight to the farewell.
"Yeah… goodbye, Fonse." Content with the exchange in the end, Noah deactivated his Iris and returned his attention to his running mate who'd nearly made it out of the desert ahead of him. "Mio!"
"Why are you following me?" the elusive Agnian didn't bother to turn around. "I don't need an escort."
"Escort?" the curious Kevesi closed the rest of the distance between them. "Where are you going?"
"Back to my colony, where else?" she huffed loudly, clearly still agitated. "I expect the other three will go there, too."
"Have you been in contact with them?" he wondered after having momentarily lost track of her at the beginning of his own call.
"No, but they'll be fine," her words hardly exuded worriment. "They've got a defender and a healer."
"What about you?" the swordfighter noticed her occasionally palming her shoulder.
"Why do you care?" Mio abruptly anchored herself, their position now mere steps away from the border between Dannagh Desert and Ribbi Flats. "If you're not going to take my embers, then we've nothing left to say to each other."
"Is that all I'm worth to you?" his arms were crossed. "Someone you've chosen to end your misery?"
"You're a Kevesi," her frown solidified on her smudged face. "It's a wonder that I see any worth in you at all."
"What does my affiliation have to do with anything?" Noah couldn't tell if she was doling out an insult or a compliment. "I don't care if you're Agnian."
"You're different, that's for sure," she continued to judge him, this time less acerbically. "I'd never met anyone else who hated fighting."
"Well, you're not exactly a typical soldier, yourself," he returned her sentiment. "Never met anyone who… yearned for death…"
"It really bothers you, huh?" Mio watched the rigidity of his expression dissolve, as did hers seconds later. The tail end of the desert winds played with their hair while the sparks between them fizzled out. "I'm sorry that I got you involved with my… problem. It's probably best if you forget about me."
"How can I, now?" the pacifist objected to her suggestion. "I… finally found someone who detests the war like I do…"
"Is that why you… want me to keep living?" the conflicted Agnian brought a hand up to her heart. "Me, of all people, despite us being on opposite sides…?"
"Y-yes," Noah averted his gaze, something which he'd hardly done with her. An image from his nightmare painted itself on the sand where he was focusing before he shook it out of his mind. As much as he wished to tell her about it, he knew that she wouldn't believe a word. "I just… can't fathom you dying, after what we've experienced."
"Mmph…" her other hand rose for her fingers to interlace. "Despite your efforts, I'm still… not in a good place."
"You think you can't avoid your consul for your homecoming?" the ponytailed soldier returned from his fog of perturbation in time to notice hers clouding up again.
"I've seen many try and fail," Mio slipped into her memories from her colony, flashes of which sent cold chills down her hot back. "Why would I be any different from them?"
"Have you already forgotten that you killed my consul?" he reminded her, a fact not yet sunken in for himself. "Did you even realize that you were no longer disarmed?"
"I… uh…" she observed her wrists. Indeed, the former prisoner hadn't noticed the absence of her restraints until now. "Well, you'd already beaten him down. All I did was…"
"You killed the consul," the encouraging Kevesi reemphasized. "If you can defeat mine, then you can defeat yours."
"But I told you, I couldn't have done it without you and your special Blade," she refused to take the credit. "What'll I do when it's my turn to go? I can't expect such power as yours to always be at my disposal."
"Fair point," Noah slouched momentarily from her logic, though he was determined to keep her out of the negative. "W-what if… we were to meet again? I want you to be able to go in peace."
"Assuming you're still around yourself," Mio studied his face upon his seemingly haphazard proposal. "Would you really have nothing better to do?"
"Can't say for sure, but I'm not going back to my colony," the pacifist declared before taking a deep breath. "I'm officially deserting the war."
"How? There's… no escape." His running mate shook her head, still drowning in disbelief.
"We've already escaped one trap, and now look at where we are," he extended his arms toward the neighboring grasslands. "Freedom beckons."
"All I see is a long walk back home," the strain in her legs came to mind.
"What I see is opportunity," his eyes glimmered with naïve hope.
"Opportunity?" the downtrodden Agnian alternated her sullen sights between him and the land which he was trying to endow with attraction. "Whatever for?"
"Ribbi Flats is relatively untouched by Keves or Agnus," Noah dug into his knowledge of the central Fornis region. "There's plenty of space for crops and a steady supply of water to sustain them."
"It's a fantasy, I'm telling you," Mio felt her frustration rising within her again. "My own colony flew Levnises over this land to get to yours. There's no safe place to live."
"Surely, there must be," the swordfighter was equally insistent, "tucked away somewhere, if not here."
"Wake up, man!" her hands trembled in front of him, nearly grabbing ahold of his arms. "We're just soldiers, destined to die after ten years… or less!"
"Mio…" his mouth ran dry at her exasperation, "I don't know what else to say."
"In that case, we're done here." The cat-eared Agnian had run out of patience at last.
"I see," he slowly backstepped from her, his voice suddenly weak. "I'm sorry."
"Look… d-don't think I'm not grateful, though," she reeled herself back in. "You saved my allies."
"Right," the heroic Kevesi appreciated her acknowledgement at least, not that he was seeking any. "Well, um… be careful out there… please."
"Y-yeah…" her heavy gaze sank down to her sand-caked boots before returning to her rescuer, "you too."
He desperately searched for something else to say, anything to stall her departure, but no sufficient words surfaced in time. In seemingly the blink of an eye, she'd already put some distance between them, each step harder for him to watch than the last. The soldier whose life for which he'd risked his own had made her choice to carry on without him.
At a crossroads himself, Noah settled by a shallow pond at Sparres Barr, the expansive base of Ribbi Flats. To the north was Eagus Wilderness where Kevesi colonies reigned, while to the south was Rae-Bel Tableland where his geographical knowledge wasn't quite so extensive. Not wishing to be lured back into the war, the former was simply not an option for the nomadic pacifist.
After his tumultuous morning in which he'd defected from his own colony, Noah decided to spend the rest of the day right where he'd set up camp. Light on dried rations but far from unresourceful, he knew that he would have to live off the land. One hunted skwaror would provide him with more than enough sustenance to avoid starvation.
By nightfall, the swordfighter had a modest campfire going under a makeshift spit. His first night as a deserter was filled with deafeningly beautiful silence but for the crackling flames and the wildlife all around. Nobody from Colony 25 had come for him which suited him just fine. Instead, his mind lingered on Mio, his concern for her wellbeing having never wavered since their second fight. Still mystified by his nightmare, Noah felt like a part of him was now missing with her gone. Uninformed about her colony's name and location, he began to wonder if he'd ever see her again.
The ground was nowhere near as comfortable as his old bed, but Noah was tired enough to fall asleep where he lied, anyway. An hour would pass before the flames receded into the charred logs, though the warm glow continued to blanket his uncovered body. The slumbrous Kevesi looked so peaceful, the innocence of his face bringing a certain Agnian girl much-needed solace upon her silent return to his company in the middle of the night.
Author's notes:
That's a wrap for the opening chapters of this story. Now, the real adventure can begin! Before we put our hiking shoes on, however, I'd like to take this moment to thank everybody for reading so far. Seriously, the kind feedback helps drive me forward with each new chapter. It is greatly, absolutely, positively appreciated.
If you haven't already guessed, Colony 25 is located where the Desert Ferronis Hulk sits in Dannagh Desert. I'll make use of more Ferronis hulks as Noah and Mio journey along. While Solon and Yuzet came from the game, Fonse, Denize, and Lana were my own creations. In fact, I randomly made up their names and personalities as I wrote the first chapter. Intramural drama simply wouldn't have landed without a consistent cast.
Early on, my only plan for Noah was to lose one teammate, fight against Mio's colony twice, break her out of detention, and challenge the consul on their way out. Nearly everything else developed fluidly around this loose outline, including Mio's turmoil and the spilling of Noah's secrets. Even the consul's demise was a last-minute decision. Like I've stated in my Nia story notes, the characters seemingly write the dialogue themselves. Sometimes, even I don't know how the conversation will go until they start talking. It's easily the most fun part of the process for me.
Questions and comments are welcome! Thanks again for reading!