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Chapter 25:

Dust To Dust

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The Ahrman Empire capital city of Parigrah

Two of the king's royal guard invited the sun's rays on their partially covered bodies. Taking advantage of a tranquil moment, Tasha and her generally fit, darker haired, comrade, Breuke. Gentle ocean waves, cloudless sky, a light breeze in the air; it was a good day for a tan.

For Breuke at least.

Tasha turned over, keeping the sun back with her hand. It must be noon by now. A frown formed on her face as she turned her hand front and back. “Three hours of sunning myself for nothing!”

"Still nothing, huh?" Breuke said, lifting dark lenses from his eyes.

She fisted her rune. "Do you this thing!?"

Sabastian shook his head. "I don't want anything to do with that."

With clenched fists, she kicked up sand on her way to the ocean. Tasha opened her hand and glared at the rune in her palm. She didn’t hesitate to throw it in the water.

“I hope you sink like a stone!”

"Do you think that was a smart idea?" asked Breuke.

She looked at her arms, stretched her neck over her shoulders, and extended her legs one at a time. “I’m looking better already.”

“There you are!” a man shouted. He rushed up to her as if the world were aflame.

“I know we've been out of the palace for a spell, Fin,” Tasha said, wiping sand from her body. “We're heading back now.”

“Lady Tasha! Sir Breuke! I have terrible news!” Fin said.

“It must be. You’re looking even paler than me.”

“Haggard has been destroyed! Completely devastated! It’s horrible!”

“What?! How?! When??”

Fin shrugged. “The king wants all the royal guards to accompany him to the city right away! You must hurry!”

Tasha looked back at her rune drifting away and sighed. “I’ll be right there. I need to get something first.”

Fin stomped his foot in the sand as Tasha waded into the waves. “Please, lady Tasha! This is no time for a swim!”

“Come here you nasty little...!” she said, plucking the rune from the water. “Looks like I’m not done with you yet.”

Midaharia capital city of Ras Almal

A chariot flew through the late afternoon sky. Two huge propellers beating in the wind announced its coming long before the massive ship came into view. With two Midaharian flags fluttering on its bow, the chariot descended slowly behind the emperor’s compound.

Lahan stood well away as the spinning blades gradually reduced speed. A small set of the emperor’s personal guards were the first to step foot on solid ground. They assembled in their usual left and right positions as emperor Taimoor left the vessel, smiling like a father after watching his child take its first steps.

Two of his closest war strategists followed him.

“Emperor!” Lahan called over the sound of slowing blades.

“I didn’t expect to see you here, Lahan,” said the emperor, continuing on his path to the compound. “Have you not read my notice?”

“Why didn’t you tell your generals when and where Catalyst was to be used?”

“There was no time to brief you,” one of the strategists replied.

“I did not ask you.” Lahan moved in front of the emperor, causing him to stop. “Emperor, I believe Idris was in Haggard when you used Catalyst.”

“Why would he be there?”

“Because the Rebirth Destroyer was there. Idris wanted to bring him to our side by using Isa’s rune. I’m certain of it.”

The emperor stepped around Lahan. “That’s a pity.”

“If you had informed us ahead of time, I could have saved his life!”

“If Idris was careless enough to abscond with his comrade's rune, he deserved his fate.”

Deserved his fate?! Lahan clenched the hilt of his sword.

“It’s best that you find a replacement for him and Tears, at full tilt. Our borders will be under attack very soon.”

First Tears and now Idris!

One of the strategists walked up to Lahan holding a map. “We’re going to need you to command a large regiment near Iltasha just in case of--”

Lahan snatched the map from the man and slapped him in the face with it. “Emperor!” he shouted as his highness walked away. “We are men! We are not disposable!”

Pausing to look back over his shoulder, the emperor said, “You are a means to the end of the Ahrman Empire, Lahan. Save your anger for the enemy.”

The remains of the Ahrman city of Haggard

They landed one after another. Half a dozen chariots wrapped in the colors of the Ahrman Empire set down just beyond where Haggard once stood. Smoldering piles of stone, brick, and wood are all that remained.

Rescue teams with heavy moving equipment rushed to the debris. Medics weren’t far behind. A seventh Ahrman chariot cast a shadow over them as it circled the devastation.

The king and his royal guard stood on the deck, surveying the destruction.

“It’s worse than I thought,” Sisten said.

“Are you able to hear anything, Tasha?” King Lisador asked.

Tasha shook her head., her long coat swaying in the wind. “I need to be on the ground.”

Lisador waved his hand down, signaling the pilot to land. Tasha jumped off the chariot as soon as it was close enough to the ground. Her restless legs carried her swiftly to the city’s remains.

As the smell of death entered her nose, the sound of frightened voices filled her ears.

A half charred hand stretched out of the rubble. Tasha knelt down and touched the three fingers that were left on it. Suddenly, her vision was taken over by the dead; the last moment of its life as a massive, flaming boulder rained down.

The scene ended abruptly; the hand turned to dust.

“Goodness gracious!” Tasha exclaimed.

“What did you learn?” asked the approaching king.

“The sky, it opened up with these enormous rocks! They were on fire!”

“Meteors, lady Tasha,” Lieutenant Alba said. “This was no doubt Catalyst’s work.”

“A Rebirth?” said Sisten.

Tasha navigated her way through broken stone and crushed bricks. “Sisten!” she shouted back, motioning for him to follow.

The king turned to Alba. “What is Catalyst?”

“One of the deadliest Rebirths in existence. And as you can see, nothing could survive its power.”

Tasha caught her stumble as she climbed over the remnants of a wall. Some mounds of debris didn’t require much footwork; others required climbing tools. She had no choice but to stop.

“I can hear him,” she said, looking around.

“Hear who?” asked Sisten.

“There,” Tasha pointed at a stone pile. “He’s under there!”

“Who is?”

“Your brother, Val!”

Recover teams moved slowly, being careful not to cause any more injuries to the buried. But, the only bodies they found were lifeless shells that turned to dust with the slightest touch.

Standing on a high point, Alba watched the winds scatter the dusty remains.

“Could the Midaharians be responsible for this?” asked the king.

“I wouldn’t put it past them.”

“I will strangle the emperor myself if he had a hand in this!”

“Lisador!” Sisten shouted. Steam rose from his right hand as he stormed up to the king like a raging bull and punched him to the ground.

“Calm yourself, Sisten!” Alba said, quickly moving between the two. "This isn't helpful."

“My brother is dead! Dead because of you!” Sisten raged.

“How was I to know Val was here?” the king said, wiping blood and heat from his chin.

Alba shoved Sisten back. “He was in Haggard by my order. I sent Val after the Rebirth Destroyer. Haggard was one of the closest port cities in the area. It made sense for him to be here after fleeing my estate.”

“He was,” Tasha added. “That silver-haired boy was one of the last things Val saw, before...this happened. As far as I could tell, the kid was trying to help.”

“So who dropped the meteors?” the king asked, as Alba helped to his feet.

“It was that emperor, you halfwit!” Sisten said. “If you had taken his threat more seriously, both my brother and Haggard would still be here!”

“Aiden was likely their target,” Alba noted. “Haggard was just the icing on the cake.”

“Did you find Val’s rune, Tasha?” the king asked.

“Yes,” Tasha said, hesitantly. “But I was hoping I could use it?”

“I’m relinquishing it to Breuke, Tasha,” the king ordered. “We’re going to need all the firepower we can find before we attack Midaharia.”

As the royal guard followed their king back to the chariot, Alba looked up at a lone vulture rounding the skies. He walked away with a grin on his face.

Nearby...

The vulture broke from its figure-eight flying pattern and flew off. As it landed in a field miles away from the ruined city, the vulture morphed into Jaff. He turned back, gazing at the smoke rising from what remained of Haggard; Farah’s final resting place.

“Uncle Jaff!” Aiden said, rushing up to Jaff. “What did you see? Is Farah...?!”

“Gone, Aiden. She’s gone.”

“I--I can’t believe it.” Aided frowned. “If only I was stronger! If only I--!”

“There’s nothing either one of us could have done to save her.”

“I can’t let this happen!” Aiden paced back-and-forth, his fists aglow. “I can try. I can...I can go back in time and warn her; warn everyone!”

“Don’t do anything foolish, Aiden!’

“I have to try Uncle Jaff!”

“Aiden! Stop..!”

His uncle’s voice echoed around him. Aiden’s body rippled like a puddle of water disturbed by a stone. In an instant, he was out of his time but in familiar surroundings. Somehow he went too far back; back to the fishing village.

Aiden saw himself strapped to a bed with Rajul standing over him, both frozen in a moment of time. At that time he was surrounded by lights and runes, but one rune, in particular, stood out. It was a new rune, bathed in entirely different markings and cupped in Rajul’s grasp.

“Hello, Aiden,” a voice spoke. Aiden spun around, looking for its source, only to find himself at a different scene. Rajul was flat on his back, the runic symbol of the new Rebirth burnt in his chest.

“The old man was a poor host,” the voice echoed. “A strain on his overworked heart...”

Another change of scenario and Aiden was back in Alba’s library. He saw himself seated across the table with the Ahrman.

“The heart in this one was stronger.”

Alba left his seat, his body blinking in and out of reality like static. It blinked again and Alba was dressed in a long, purple cape and white suit. Feathers of red and black rose out of his shoulders; his face hidden behind a hood.

“This one suits me just fine. For now.”

“Who are you?!”

“You know who I am,” he said, vanishing in front of Aiden’s eyes.

“You can't be...!”

He reappeared directly in front of the young man. “Don’t look so surprised. You brought me into being, just like it was written you would.”

“No..” Aiden said, stepping back into a wall.

“The destruction of the world at our command was also foretold. I've already touched the east. Now, I just need you,” Alba said, placing his hand on Aiden’s chest. “..to join me...”

Shadowy energy sprawled from his fingers, slowly covering Aiden’s body. “So I can spread faster.”

“Aiden!” Jaff’s voice suddenly reverberated in Aiden’s ears, pulling him out of Alba’s clutches.

And back to reality.

Aiden’s eyes flew open. Blue sky was overhead and Jaff was staring down at him. "You were having a bad dream."

Ain jumped into his uncle's arm. “Thank goodness! Uncle Jaff, it’s you!! I’m so glad it's you!”

“Easy now. You’ve got a nasty bruise on your head from those falling rocks.”

“From catalyst?”

“Yeah. I couldn't blame you for having nightmares. I'll probably have a few myself after what we escaped.”

“A nightmare. That's all it was.” Aiden sat up, rubbing the bruise on his head. “Is Farah...is she..?”

Jaff sat back and shook his head. “Noone survived that Rebirth. Remains are just turning into dust. It’s a terrible thing.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Rebirth of Invisibility. "It was on top of the rubble."

"Oh, no! That was her's!"

"There was another rune nearby but one of those Ahrman might start wondering why a vulture was carrying Rebirths."

A tired exhale drained from Aiden's lung, his eyes fixated on the rune. Farah didn't deserve to die; no one did. With all of the power and possibilities flowing through his veins, why wasn't resurrection wasn't one of them? “I wish...I wish I was strong enough to save her; to save everyone."

“You can't save everyone, Aiden, not with that power you have. It's dangerous." Jaff sat up and looked his nephew in the eye. "I saw you slipping away back there, that's why I struck you. I was afraid I was losing you."

“Uncle Jaff," Aiden paused, shifting his focus to the ground. "I--I want to go to that island Farah was going to take me before.”

“Khalina Island? They don’t allow men on that island. Why do you want to go there?”

“I want to...I need to learn more about what they predicted; what I'm supposed to do so I can prevent it.”

And stop damnation.