It did not feel as though I were falling at all. In fact, the second I felt my second foot fall away from the ground, I found myself back in the Meeting Hall.
It was as though no time had passed in the slightest. Except for one thing. Nobody was shuffling awkwardly anymore. Instead, everybody was staring at me open-mouthed.
I looked around the room awkwardly for a moment. Nobody said a word. It would be an understatement for me to say that you would’ve been able to hear a pin drop.
‘LOC 0,’ I said plainly, before leaving my stand, and I didn’t stop.
The moment I felt the fresh air hit my skin, I unfolded my wings and soared upwards. My mind and heart were racing. Had I really just done that?
Half of me was impressed that I had not been smitten during my rant towards the Gods, but the other half of me did not care. They deserved what they got. I had meant every word that I had said, and I was not going to double back on myself.
Sure, if they offered help then I would have to accept it. But if they were going to act in that manner, and act as though helping their kids was a federal offence, then I would certainly not take to that decision kindly. And this was all presuming that this whole thing escalated, which was another issue entirely.
Maltor and I had fought once. I had known deep down that he was not dead, and of course, I had chosen not to tell anybody. But I had never really expected him to hunt me down for revenge. Yes, I had had my visions over the past year, but I had dismissed them as strange nightmares. Now that Maltor had shown his face I was growing uncertain as to whether or not those dreams were visions or not.
And then there was the issue of Maltor’s goal. What did he want? Revenge? To take control of RoCity? Or was it something more? Had he set his sights higher? Because I would certainly not be dragging RoCity into this whole thing if all he wanted was my head. I would defend it myself, no mass death involved.
We needed to talk. Me and him. Just like old times. No interruptions, just the two of us spilling our thoughts to each other. Maybe if his goal was something larger than revenge I would be able to kill him. Maybe.
By this point, I had flown to the roof of The Tower, and I found Charlotte standing on the roof. She appeared to have been watching me fly around, but she smiled when I landed as though she hadn’t been.
‘How come you’re up here?’ I said, sounding unintentionally angry.
‘Because I knew this is where you’d come,’ she said, shrugging. ‘How was your first time at Mount Olympus.’
I trusted Charlotte, so I opened up just a little bit. ‘Terrible.’
She smirked. ‘It usually is for most people. What did they say?’
‘I’m not telling you that,’ I said quickly. ‘I’m not telling anyone. Apologies, but no.’
She nodded slowly. ‘I knew you’d say that, too.’
‘I’m not that predictable.’
‘You tend to be after someone’s known you for a while.’
I gave her a pointed look. ‘Oh, if you want to know something, I’ll tell you this: be thankful I’m still alive. Zeus and Ares were ready to hang my head on their front porch.’
‘Were you really that bad?’ Charlotte asked as her eyebrows shot up.
‘Yes,’ I said plainly. ‘But they deserved it. I told them to sod themselves. And that point still stands.’
The sky grew a bit darker for a moment before returning to its usual colour.
Charlotte took a deep breath. ‘And how did the meeting go? With the politicians, I mean.’
‘Better than the one at Olympus,’ I said, turning my gaze from the sky to her. ‘I told them that we’re gonna keep the LOC at 0. But if we have to move it to I then I won’t really mind, I guess.’
‘And that’s been finalised?’
‘It better be,’ I said angrily. ‘We don’t know what Maltor wants. There’s no point putting the city on a whole lockdown if he just wants revenge.’
‘That’s a good point,’ Charlotte said, nodding slowly as the wind caused her hair to fly around wildly. ‘But, if you don’t mind me asking, what if he does escalate things?’
‘Then I have to fight,’ I said, not looking at her. ‘I swore an oath to protect this city. And I will. If he pushes this into a full-on war, then I’ll have to fight him. Properly. And if he does choose to escalate things then he is not the Maltor that I know.’
‘I know,’ she said, placing her hand gently on my shoulder and causing a shiver to run down my spine. ‘I know how hard this is for you. But we’re here, you know that, right?’
I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes tightly. ‘Yeah, I do. Thanks. Genuinely. But can I ask you something?’
‘Anything,’ she said calmly and without hesitation.
‘Whenever he next shows his face, let me deal with him, please. Don’t let anyone else interfere. I want to talk to him.’
‘Whatever you say, sir,’ Charlotte replied, and I could hear the smirk on her face.
‘Thanks, loads,’ I said hastily. ‘But, if you don’t mind, I think I need to go down to my room. I need to gather my thoughts, you know?’
She smiled. ‘I know.’
I smiled slightly back at her before striding past and opening the hatch in the floor. I jumped down and promptly closed it behind me.
I was tired. I was so tired that the next few minutes felt like a blur. I was not really paying attention to what I was doing, and before I knew it, I was lying on my bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Well, my mind wasn’t really blank, but I was trying to ignore the flurry of thoughts. I ran my hand through my hair, wishing that life wasn’t the way it was. Wishing that he was still dead. In a way. It would’ve been better if I hadn’t killed him. It all would’ve been better if it weren’t for Amy. If she had not resorted to brainwashing children, then none of this would’ve happened.
Thinking about Amy reminded me of somebody else. Alfonso. Alfonso was a man that I had a strange connection with. I often had dreams from his perspective, if that made sense. Like dreams where I saw the world through his eyes. Saw his memories. And in those dreams, he had mentioned a few times that he could see through me, too. Whenever I had those strange dreams, it felt as though I was Alfonso. And the fact that he could see through my eyes was strangely comforting and terrifying. I had to find him. I promised myself over a year ago that I would find him and get answers out of him. And I would follow through with that promise.
It was not long before I fell asleep, but my night was anything but peaceful.
First, I dreamt that I was standing in front of Titan in a blank white room. It was a strange dream. The two of us stood in complete silence for what felt like forever, and then he smirked and the dream shifted.
I then dreamt that I was aboard some sort of flying ship. It’s hard to describe, as the dream itself was hazy, but I could definitely tell that my friends and I were aboard a flying ship and that we were flying to Scotland. The reason remained unknown to me.
Then my final dream. That was a strange one. Maltor. He stood in front of me, in a completely black room. All I could make out was his face. The two of us stared at each other, and he had an evil smirk on his face for the entirety of the dream. At some point, something seemed to ignite in his eyes and his smirk grew.
‘We were friends, you know that?’ he said slyly before I found myself sitting upright in my bed, panting.
Glancing at my clock, I saw that it was only 6:45 in the morning. And it was a Thursday. I had school. I didn’t want to go.
Technically, I was able to just deny going to school whenever I wanted. I still tried to go as much as possible, but I had a feeling that there would be a steep decline in my attendance now that Maltor had shown himself.
I got dressed into the school uniform and propped myself on the sofa in my living room. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, knowing exactly what I would see.
‘Reports are again finding an increase in suspicious activity around RoC-’ was the first broadcaster.
‘Many people doubt that the Prime Minister will be able to-’
‘Many residents fear-’
‘Trust in the PM is wavering-’
I threw the remote to the floor after turning off the TV. I had had enough. Fortunately, before I could have a full-on breakdown, there was a knock at my door. This was especially strange as none of my friends were ever up this early.
I glumly walked over to the door and opened it quite violently. I found Asbel standing there. He smiled awkwardly upon seeing me.
‘Bad time?’
‘Good time,’ I said gruffly. ‘Come in.’
After I had shut the door behind him, Asbel found himself a comfortable spot on my sofa and I joined him. The two of us sat in silence for a while before I decided to break the tension.
‘Sorry for yesterday, and don’t you dare apologise back,’ I snarled, without even looking at him.
He put his arm around me in a sort of brotherly way. ‘Well, sod you then. I’m not sorry. I’d do it again any time.’
I winced.
‘You okay?’ Asbel said immediately.
‘Yeah, just got a sharp pain in my head, don’t worry about it,’ I said tightly. ‘And I have a very bad feeling about today.’
‘You say that quite a lot these days,’ Asbel said, smirking.
‘Yeah, I suppose. I just don’t know what to do anymore; it’s like nothing will be good enough,’ I said glumly.
‘Well, I have never been the leader of a place descending into war, so I don’t know what to say,’ Asbel said bluntly. ‘But I can try and help in the best way that I can.’
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
‘Nah, that’s exactly what my Aid is for,’ I said, staring at the opposite wall. ‘Don’t trouble yourself.’
‘You coming to school today?’ he asked, changing the subject.
‘I can try, I guess,’ I replied slowly, still not looking at him. ‘But I don’t know. I have a horrible feeling about today. Something is gonna go very, very wrong.’
Asbel and I kept up casual banter. The subject of the conversation shifted many times, but he did a good job of keeping me distracted from the negativity. We laughed so hard together that I started gagging, and before I knew it, an hour had flown by and it was time to try and go to school.
Asbel opted to walk to school with Jay, whereas I took the opportunity to fly. It never got old. The feeling of the harsh winds stabbing through my body and wings was a thrill like no other. It made me feel alive.
But it was not all good times up there. My head was throbbing, but this time it was not due to an abundance of thoughts, or at least I didn’t think it was. I felt nearly scared to see what the day would bring. The dark feeling in my stomach only grew when I landed at school and saw Ethan waiting for me.
I always carried my bag in my hand when I flew, so I hurled it onto the grass and grabbed Ethan’s shoulders desperately.
‘They want us to fight, Ethan,’ I said wildly. ‘The Gods. They told me to take the two of us to a man in Switzerland and train to fight. I don’t want to, Ethan. I don’t want to.’
He stared at me blankly. ‘What?’
‘If this escalates, Ethan, will you come with me to Switzerland? To train? So the gits above can be happy?’ I asked, still sounding desperate.
‘Yeah, I guess,’ he said awkwardly. ‘But we need to talk more about this after school.’
Then an overwhelming feeling of dread shot through my body. I was wearing my magical belt, as I always did, so I placed my hand on the grip of the sword in the left hole and whirled around, frantically scanning the surroundings.
My magical belt was easily the greatest thing I had. It had two sheaths for my swords, a pocket above for my wand, even though it had been destroyed in my fight against Amy, and multiple more pockets lining the sides. And the greatest thing? I couldn’t feel it. The belt made everything feel weightless once it was tucked inside.
Now, I had genetically modified vision. Due to 2% of my DNA makeup being avian, I could see much further and much better than the average person. So, what Ethan couldn’t see, I could.
There was a silhouette, about the size of a human, gliding along the sky. It was too far away for me to clearly see who it was, but the answer was already narrowed down to one.
I watched for a moment as the figure moved steadily through the sky, seemingly looking for something.
'Impossible,' I breathed. ‘Why? Why have you come back so soon?’
‘What?’ I heard Ethan say, but he sounded distant. ‘You’re not speaking English.’
‘He’s looking for me, Ethan,’ I told him. ‘Keep my bag safe.’
And with that, I jumped into the air, outstretching my wings to their full extent. I hovered for a moment, debating whether or not to go for him. I only wanted to talk. That’s all I wanted. A talk.
I flapped my mighty wings and soared away from the school, watching it get smaller and smaller as I flew. I also saw the shocked faces of my peers shrink, but I did not have time to worry about what they were thinking. He was back. And I knew what he was looking for.
I shot forward through the sky, my mind reeling. It always happened so quickly. They always showed up at the least expected time.
I just wanted to talk. That’s all I wanted. I didn’t want to fight him again. I simply wanted to ask a few questions. And all he had to do was answer. So why was my hand placed firmly on the grip of my sword?
He had noticed me, and I could tell. He had stopped gliding through the air, and instead, he was hovering and facing my direction. His wings flapped tremendously to keep him afloat, causing his body to shoot up and down slightly with each beat.
He, too, also had a belt for his swords. When we had fought five days ago, he had only used a singular sword. But it seemed as though if we were to fight right then, then he would be dual wielding.
It was also strange to realise how much he had changed in just five days. Just being near him made me anxious. Feeling his cold blue eyes stab into mine was a feeling that I had not felt since Amy.
‘Maltor,’ I said slowly. ‘I want to talk. That’s it.’
When he spoke, his voice was quiet and cold. He sounded both hopeless and vengeful. Most likely because he was. I also realised that it was the first time I had heard him speak since he had returned.
‘Then take your hand off of your sword, Albert.’
I stared at him, unblinking. His face showed zero emotion. Not even a smirk. Not even a glimmer in his eyes. Nothing. He wasn’t there. He wasn’t Maltor.
Our wings were perfectly in sync. Every time I shot down, so did he. Every time I shot up, he followed. The two of us did not stop staring at each other. The tension was palpable.
But, I slowly took my hand away from my sword. He made no move to grab either of his.
‘This world,’ Maltor said coldly, ‘it’s imperfect. People like them need to be removed. The weak should fear the strong, Albert.’
‘What?’ I said, appalled.
I was certain that I had heard those words before, but I couldn’t quite remember when, or who had said them. But I was certain. No way Maltor would’ve kn-
‘Amy,’ I said quietly. ‘Amy said that, too, you know?’
Maltor raised an eyebrow. ‘She said that to you, too?’
‘Yeah,’ I snarled. ‘On that morning we fought her.’
He remained silent.
‘Maltor,’ I said cautiously. ‘Amy…you don’t realise what she did to you. Maltor, she brainwashed-’
He thought he could do it. He thought he was quick enough.
He unsheathed both of his swords and brought them up in a sort of ‘X’ motion. In return, I unsheathed The Santrrer Sword and perfectly blocked his attack. Whilst the two of us were locked in this stalemate, I brought my left leg round and delivered a swift kick to his side.
He tumbled backwards through the air, coughing. I winced. Maybe this really would escalate.
I angled my wings slightly and dived down after him, pointing my sword at his stomach. But I forgot one crucial detail. Maltor’s wings were designed to be fast and agile, whilst mine were made to allow me to fly for long periods of time.
He rolled midair and as he swung his left sword down, I spun and held my spare arm out. This may not have been the smartest decision as this meant that he cut my left arm off from the elbow down.
Pain spread throughout my upper body like wildfire and it took all I had to not cry out in pain. My arm fell through the air, and I made a mental apology to the poor soul that it would land in front of.
I swung my sword around, making a huge gash in Maltor’s stomach. He winced slightly and I took the opportunity. I tightened my gut and the wind became wilder. Concentrating hard, I imagined Maltor being forced back by the wind. Sure enough, the wind followed my command.
Maltor’s body spiralled down towards the ground and I dived down after him. It did not take long at all to reach the ground; we had only been about sixty metres up. He crashed into the road below, and the singular car that had been driving hastily stopped. A cloud of dust arose from beneath him and as I landed I heard him coughing and spluttering violently as he tried to stand.
‘Maltor,’ I said as I slowly approached him. ‘What did she tell you?’
‘I told you, didn’t I?’ he snarled, leaping to his feet. ‘She told me-’
‘Everything you wanted to hear,’ I finished. ‘Maltor, this isn’t you. And you know it. Where is the Maltor I knew?’
‘That Maltor is gone. Forget him. You’re the one that killed him, Albert,’ he said quietly, his blue eyes full once again of cold hatred. ‘You killed him that night.’
‘D-Don’t say that,’ I murmured. ‘I didn’t want to. We can talk this over!’
‘Talk what over?’ he said, slowly limping towards me. ‘You’re only a step in my plan, Albert. Don’t act as though you’re the end goal.’
‘Then what is that end goal, huh?’ I said determinedly. ‘Do you wanna end RoCity?’
‘I want to make the world right,’ he said calmly, still walking towards me. ‘And you cannot stop me.’
It was as though it had been planned. The two of us lunged forward, jabbing. Our blades clashed and we repeatedly brought them back and forth, parrying each other’s moves perfectly. Not a single blow got through. It was astounding. It was as though we were acting out a play. Our moves perfectly countered each other. Our eyes were still furiously locked onto one another’s, and my arm was moving so quickly that I thought it would pop off.
Steam was heavily pouring from our wounds and the air around us was growing hot. We were healing faster than we were damaging each other.
Grunting, I planted my feet into the ground and jumped backwards out of reach. Then, I took a deep breath. Who needed training? Flames danced up the body of my blade and I charged forward so quickly that it looked as though I had teleported.
And it got through.
My blade pierced his stomach and came out the other side. He merely grunted.
‘You’re familiar with stabbing me in the stomach, aren’t you?’ he said quietly.
My rage evaporated. It felt like my entire body had gone numb.
‘Wha- Maltor!’ I cried desperately. ‘I-’
He brought the bottom end of his sword down onto my head and the world span. I fought desperately for a moment before finally managing to yank my sword out of his stomach.
He hacked and slashed at my body, and furious waves of pain spread through me and it took everything I had to stay conscious. All I could see was blood and the glistening light of his blades. The sun bounced marvellously off of their pitch-black surfaces.
My entire body was begging to give up. My stomach, face, legs, arms, and everywhere else had been severely injured. I was losing.
Blood gushed out of my wounds and fell to the ground with some of the most disgusting sounds I had ever heard. I had to pull myself together. I had to fight. This was not Maltor.
I poured every last ounce of strength that I had into my legs before springing to the right, just out of his reach again. Panting, I eyed his movements carefully. He paused in his tracks and slowly turned to face me.
I put every bit of my willpower into healing my body. More specifically, the gaping wound in my stomach. It felt as though it were on fire.
‘This is a sorry sight,’ Maltor toyed. ‘Aren’t you supposed to be powerful? Look at you. I’ve diminished you to a bleeding mess.’
‘You’re…you’re not the Maltor I grew up with,’ I said quietly, still panting as steam poured from my stomach. ‘This…this isn’t you.’
‘I’m going to save the world, Albert,’ he said coolly. ‘And you can either join me or die fighting me.’
‘We…we can talk…this over,’ I murmured, glaring at him. My body was bending at an awkward angle as I tried to keep myself standing. ‘We…can forgive you.’
‘Yeah, but can I really forgive you?’ he retorted, and I heard a hint of anger in his voice for the first time.
‘No. You can’t-’
‘We’re powerful, Albert,’ Maltor said quietly, slowly beginning to walk towards me. He knew I did not have the energy to pull off another quick dodge. ‘We could level this whole city right now.’
It happened so quickly. The moment I heard him say that, I dived forward, catching the both of us by surprise. My blade rattled as I pressed it against the side of Maltor’s neck. I didn’t make an attempt to decapitate him, but it certainly scared him.
‘We made a promise,’ I whispered. ‘You would not dare.’
He kneed me in the stomach. All of the oxygen left my body, and I hit the ground retching.
‘Maltor, please, I don’t want to fight you,’ I said weakly, staring up at him.
‘Then don’t. Simple as. Nobody’s making you.’
‘There’s one small problem with that,’ I said, smirking. ‘I made another promise. A promise to protect.’
I pounced on him. Kinda. I more so awkwardly jumped into the air and spun around, kicking him in the side of the jaw. Then I brought my blade down, cutting off the entirety of his left arm.
Landing gently, I snarled, ‘And I’m so, so sorry.’
Electricity ran up and down my blade as I swung it round once more, catching his neck. It was only a shallow cut, but he recoiled tremendously.
I was about to swing my sword round again, but something made me stop. A dark form of energy seemed to be connecting Maltor’s bleeding shoulder and his lost arm. It was as though this energy was allowing Maltor to control the arm, or at least keep it connected, even after I had cut it off.
And, sure enough, the lost arm jabbed towards me, causing the blade to cut my right side as Maltor brought his other sword up to catch my foot. He cut it cleanly off.
I outstretched my wings desperately to stop myself from falling. And as I stared down at Maltor I felt a singular tear fall from the end of my chin. I had to fight him.
‘You want to do what she couldn’t, don’t you?’ I said quietly.
He remained silent.
‘You want to kill all non-Mutants, don’t you?’
He let out a terrific roar of anger and his cut-off arm shot towards me, and the blade pierced the side of my neck. I let out a terrible gargle as this arm suddenly dropped limply to the ground and Maltor leapt up and yanked the sword from my neck.
I dropped to the road below with a glum thud. My vision was blurring and I felt myself losing consciousness.
‘You lost,’ he spat after sheathing his swords. ‘Two-nil to me.’
And with that, he did that strange thing with the air that he did before. It seemed to warp and cave in on him, and then he was gone.
Panting, I tried desperately to get to my feet. Ethan would still be in Form at this point. That’s how short that fight had been.
And I accepted the tears. They silently fell down my cheeks and I realised quickly that there was nothing I could do to stop them. This is what was happening.
I leapt into the air and soared towards school. I was halfway there when I remembered to sheath my sword. Steam was still flowing from my numerous wounds, and I was still desperately trying to close the one in my stomach.
I was lucky that school wasn’t far. I was tired. I was trying not to fall out of the sky.
After crash landing outside the front doors, I stormed into reception. Mrs McDonald tried to interrupt my stride but I ignored her. I had to get to Ethan.
As I limped down the corridors, I left a trail of crimson in my wake. And I was using the wall for support. Every muscle in my body ached. I wanted nothing more than to collapse onto my bed and never wake back up. But I had to keep pushing.
The edge of my vision was getting fainter and fainter, and blood dropped from the top of my head and into my left eye, forcing it shut. And I was still panting. Gods, I would look like a mess when I walked into Form.
I didn’t even have time to think. Well, I did, but it hurt my head. The only thing I was focusing on was getting to Ethan. And as I stopped outside of our Form room, it hit me that I had forgotten exactly why I needed Ethan so desperately.
I placed my shaky hand on the door handle and opened the door. And the second I stepped inside, everybody else went quiet.
I could only imagine what I looked like. My left forearm was just a stump, I had a deep gash across my stomach, my eye was shut from blood, one of my feet didn’t have a shoe on, and I was pouring steam from all of my other wounds. Oh, and I had that stab wound in my neck. And I was panting like a dog.
‘E-Ethan…’ I breathed, ‘we…have to…go…do the…thing I said.’
‘Albert! Are you okay?’ Miss Thomas shrieked, and I felt her small hands grasp my shoulders.
‘I…I lost…again…Look at the…state of me…I’m gonna…pass…out…’