44.
Get Out of My World
Eden watched Vance, studying the fire in his eyes. Even though it had
only been a few months, he seemed impossibly older.
Naomi respawned her orbs and twisted her fingers, spinning them.
"Your father sent me here, Vance. He's very disappointed in you."
"Bullshit," he shot back. "Tell me what's going on."
"I'll tell you nothing!" Naomi shrieked, sending the orbs flying
toward.
"Vance!" Eden shouted, scrambling to stand up.
The Albavitrean stood his ground, keeping his eyes on Naomi. Psynergy
began to resonate in his arms, and as the orbs closed in, he reached up and caught
two in each hand. His fists glowed and he lowered them, gripping the psychic weapons
like a child's marbles.
"What is this?" Vance smirked. "Some kind of joke?"
In the next moment, he squeezed his fists together, shattering the orbs
to pieces. Psynergy dissipated into the atmosphere, and Naomi’s jaw slipped
downward.
"I'll give you one more chance, Naomi." Vance took another
step toward her. "What are you doing here?"
"We're going to get you, Vance!" she screamed, speeding toward
him through the air. Psynergy poured out from her helmet, energizing her legs.
"You need to die, just like Victoria!"
"What did you say?" His right hand flew out as Naomi closed
in on him, crushing her cheek with a loud crack. She screamed and went tumbling
across the ground.
Vance was next to her fallen body in an instant with a glowing right
arm outstretched. His hand curved down in a wide arc, cleaving the other two orbs
with ease.
"I'll kill you!!" Naomi shrieked, in between hysteric howls. "You
little rat!"
"You won't kill anyone," Vance said, then grabbed her by the
neck of her suit and picked her up off the ground. "And you have no right
to say my mother’s name."
Naomi continued wailing and babbling incoherently.
"And if you ever try to harm me or any of my friends
again," Vance continued, jerking Naomi in rhythm with his speech, "I'll
kill you."
He dropped her to the ground and returned to Eden.
"Are you okay?" Vance asked quietly.
Eden stared back in shock, speechless. Why does he seem like a completely
different person?
Vance stared at Eden with warm, compassionate eyes, noticing the dumbfounded
expression on her face. "I know you could’ve taken her. Sorry for butting
in."
"Vance..." Eden muttered, picking herself up from the ground
and throwing her arms around him as best she could. "Thank you."
As Eden hugged Vance, he faltered for a moment, but did his best to
return the gesture. For the first time in his life, he was consoling someone,
and he didn't feel nervous or self-conscious at all. Instead, he thought of his
old house in Pennsylvania, and then his father in California, wondering how he spent
his days.
Vance glanced up to the hollowed-out mountain that stood before him, and
he remembered how quickly he had been able to speed through it once he sensed Naomi’s
aura.
"Eden..." Vance whispered, feeling her red-orange hair on his
hands. "What happened to the mountain?"
"Oh, I did that," Eden murmured. "I'm so tired I can barely
move."
Shaking his head in disbelief, Vance continued to look around Eden and
Azuka’s campsite. Eventually, his eyes focused on the tired, decrepit-looking figure
of Naomi as she frantically tried to crawl out of sight.
No...Vance thought,
turning his eyes back to the woman he held in his arms. Eden's more important
right now.
Slowly, Vance lowered Eden back down to her sleeping bag. "You
clearly need some rest. Where the hell are Captain Azuka and Cliff?"
"She went to go find him..." Eden coughed. "He's been
gone for a while."
Vance closed his eyes and tried to extend his aura as far as he could. Off
to the east, he felt two faint, pulsating glows. "What, he thinks he’s too
good to stay here and train with you?"
Eden chuckled. "Good to see you haven't completely changed."
Eden and Vance talked about their past few months of training while
they waited for Cliff and Azuka to arrive. Finally, they spotted the two Knights
rocketing down from the hills. Azuka looked as pristine and powerful as always,
but Cliff looked haggard and tired, with a thick beard lining his face.
"Bout time." Vance tossed his black hair over his shoulder.
"Where the hell were you?!"
"Vance." Azuka sent him an inquisitive nod. "What
happened here?"
Vance glanced over at Cliff, then turned back to the captain. "Someone
attacked Eden while she was asleep."
Azuka and Cliff looked to Eden for some sort of confirmation. She
nodded her head slowly, wincing as she did so.
"I’m just lucky I noticed," Vance said. "Thanks to the
work Eden did on the mountain, it didn’t take me long to get here."
"Good thing you were here," Azuka said plainly. "Where
is the intruder now?"
"Hell if I know. She ran after I kicked her ass," Vance
replied quickly. "And I don't ever want to see her again. Anyway, that's not
the problem. It's who she was: Naomi...my stepmother back on Earth."
"That's impossible," Cliff blurted out. "She's an Earthling,
isn't she? How could she get here?"
"Beats me," Vance said. "But it was her. And that means
I'm involved, somehow."
"So, what now?" Cliff asked. "Do you still want to come with
us to the tournament?"
Vance narrowed his eyes. "Why wouldn’t I? We can take care of the
tournament, then maybe I’ll take a trip back home to see what’s going on."
"You sure?" Cliff pushed the issue. "We'll be in Enmetropolis
for about a week or so."
"What's your problem, Cliff?" Vance asked. "Call me crazy,
but it sounds like you don't want me to come with you."
"Well, we haven’t seen you for months," Cliff said casually. "I
wasn’t sure if something had changed. I'm more concerned about Eden, actually.
Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Eden cut in. "Just tired. How did your training
go, Cliff? I want to hear about it."
Cliff let out a sigh, followed by a momentary silence. "Both of
you have been in the back of my mind during these past weeks. I was scared, desperate...worried
that if I didn’t go hard enough, you’d both quickly surpass me. That if I didn’t
stay ahead of you, Eden, you’d never really care about me."
Cliff looked at Eden with honest, wavering eyes. "For some reason
I felt like I had some obligation to stay above you...like I had to be your protector,
or I’d be a failure. Now I've come to realize that you...you and Vance have
always been on a completely different level. All my own fears simply came from
my own insecurity."
Azuka stepped forward, giving her vice-captain a chance to relax. "We're
all being sent on what is, without a doubt, the most dangerous and crucial
mission the Guild has ever attempted. Vance, Eden, you’ve both proven to us
that you won’t merely be able to help out...you may be two of our greatest assets
for the upcoming war. In four days, we fight. These four days may very well be the
last days of our lives."
"Come on," Vance scoffed. "We aren’t gonna die. And that
includes you, Cliff – I want to battle it out with you in the finals."
Cliff smiled weakly. "You don't understand. This isn't some game
where you can make your own rules, Vance."
"I realize that," Vance replied seriously. "But I'm not
gonna let those assholes kill my friends."
"We aren’t beginners anymore," Eden added. "You can
trust us."
"I certainly hope we can," a strong voice sounded.
The group turned to see 1st division Captain Ravi standing
on a nearby cliff. She leapt down with grace, robes billowing through the air.
"The Seneschal sent me here to make sure everything was under control."
She slowly surveyed the four of them. "I see you managed to take care of yourselves."
"It wasn't a big deal." Vance shrugged. "How did you know
about her?"
"A Knight was sent here to bring Captain Azuka a care package. Along
the way, he was attacked by an intruder whose only known purpose was to find you,
Vance."
Vance let out a frustrated sigh. "Is the Knight okay?"
"He’s fine," Ravi replied matter-of-factly. "At the
moment, I'm more concerned about where the intruder went."
"I destroyed her weapons and told her to get out of my sight,"
Vance told her. "Not like she can go anywhere in this place."
"You fool," Ravi shot out. "She needs to be detained and
questioned at once."
"Look, I'm pretty sure I know where she came from," Vance
said. "And besides, she was looking for me. If she comes back, I’ll deal
with her."
Ravi looked unamused with the reply, and turned to leave. "I'm
going to scan the environment. You four should prepare to return to the Guild."
"Well, you heard her," Azuka said, rallying her students. "Let’s
head back to civilization."
*
Naomi stumbled through the wasteland, devoid of breath and strength, but
not willpower. She thought back to the moment when Vance had placed his hand on
her, glowing with that strange, purple energy. It felt as if she’d been hit by a
sledgehammer.
You’ll kill him yet. God will help you. You were just ill-prepared...it
doesn’t change the fact that Vance is a demon who must be purged.
As Naomi continued on her journey along the rough ground of Sagacia,
she tripped, slamming hard into the rough rock and biting her lip. As she raised
her head up, blood gushing down her chin, she saw a dark figure appear before her.
He was tall, with long, flowing black hair. As he came closer to, she grew
frightened, because he looked somewhat like Vance. Finally, Naomi got a clearer
look at his face, and realized it was an older man.
The man looked down at her with piercing eyes. "Hello there. You
seem to be a little lost..."
"Please," Naomi pleaded to her dark angel, "you have to help
me."
"This isn't a very nice place," he said, nodding. "I'll
move you somewhere better. Hopefully to a place where you can receive the attention
you need."
Naomi watched in awe as he lifted up a glowing purple finger and
slashed down through the air. She could see the threads of space and time split
apart as his finger ripped through the dimension itself, opening a makeshift gateway
out from Sagacia.
"Climb in," Averyl turned back to her, smiling. "You'll
be safe...I think."
Naomi had no choice, and so she moved forward, reached up to the portal
and crawled inside. It enveloped her, receiving her like a body of water, and
she was soon lost within its folds.
"Have fun in there." Averyl smirked as he ran a glowing hand
over the rift, sealing it up. "I know I would..."
Next: Pounds of Flesh
