In a world overrun by Aberrō, unusual magical monsters, humans can only find refuge in the city of Aeternum—a domed paradise safe from the dangerous world outside. The people of Aeternum live peacefully and uninterrupted, but something is off. To protect Aeternum, families are split apart, taken away, and valiantly sent outside to defend Aeternum from the Aberrō.
“Aeternum protege, fiat aeternus.”
Cassius relives his experience as a Fender, and finds himself in a new group. They are tasked with protecting the Permanentia, the barrier separating Aeternum from the outside world. Blissfully unaware of the danger that lies past the Permanence, they travel deeper and deeper into the outside world veiled in mystery. What are they really protecting, and will they die protecting it? Cassius knows there’s an untold truth somewhere in this cold world, and he will find it.
Aeternum Vale
Chapter 1: Aeternum Protege
He shed blood both red and colorless. Both metallic and odorless. Two Cassius' were maimed that day.
Cassius’ boots sloshed in the dark, murky mud—his feet sank deeper into the ground. His gadgets clinked around his belt as he ran, his face caked with dirt. He heard someone scream, “Aeternum protege!” A blast of light shot out in his peripheral. He felt something latch onto his boot, causing him to fall into the mud. He gasped into the dirt, inhaling the sludge. His hearing became fuzzy.
“Aeternum…”
“Fiat aeternus!”
Cassius recognized the voices, “…Glaz? Silnny?” His curiosity grew into panic as he tried to move his unbudging foot, he was sinking into the mud. “Glaz! Silnny! Nochka?! Glaz?!” Cassius tried to lift his head, hoping to see a single person, anybody, but his neck gave in. He screamed into the mud for their names, Glaz! Nochka!
“Cass!” A voice overcame the chaos swirling in Cassius’ ear. “Get up, Cass!” Cassius felt a warm hand take his own in the cold mud, lifting him. “Silnny?!” He yelled out hysterically, his eyes still covered in mud.
“Nochka!” The voice yelled back as he wiped away the mud on Cassius. “We have to run!” Nochka grabbed him by his arm. Cassius felt weak, he looked at Nochka’s hand with relief. A loud gurgle interrupted their escape.
Then, it was gone. Nochka flung his arms and screamed, “My hand! My hand! Where is it?! Where’s my hand?!” Cassius gripped Nochka’s loose hand, feeling it grow cold in his grasp. With a gasp, Cassius opened his eyes.
He looked around and saw the wooden floors and tattered ceiling of his base with his hand on the cold refrigerator handle. He held it tightly, his veins bulging from his forearm. The sounds of chaos fled from his mind, leaving only the fridge’s hum.
“…Cold.” Cassius held his hand there, caressing the handle with his thumb, before opening it. He grabbed a yogurt cup and settled down on the rough concrete floor. He looked at the surrounding dining room. The wooden chair and table were splintered and chipped. The shoddy cooking appliances were scattered.
I should clean up before it’s time, Cassius thought as he got up and finished his yogurt. He cleaned the kitchen and dining room, the only truly dirty rooms in the base. The weapons room hadn’t been fiddled with for nearly a year now. The sun shone brightly through the windows as Cassius washed the dishes and wiped everything down. When he finished, he wiped his wet hands on his shirt, which brought the stains to his attention. I need to clean myself too. Cassius entered the empty communal shower. He brushed his sodden brown hair to the side as he looked down at the drain, watching the grime go. He rubbed his face with a blank stare, feeling the scar running across his face. He flexed his fingers as he washed in between their crevices. He finished and left the shower while he dried his hair with a towel when a buzz came from the intercom.
“Attention, Southern Squad. New Fenders are arriving today, 8/22/57. Be sure to introduce them to the barracks as well as the other facilities. I repeat–” The rest was shut out from Cassius’ mind as he settled down in the tattered living quarters. Scattered chairs surrounded him, and he looked out of the window, watching the recruits line up outside the barracks. That fast? Hell…
***
Dust kicked off of the cracked earth with little patches of grass as a drill sergeant, covered in a baggy black uniform yelled, “Fenders of Southern Squad!” He stood tall and sturdy in front of the line of soldiers, “You have been made aware of your position and job! From now on, you take care of yourself, and you take care of your fellow soldiers! We will not be sending you little care packages every week! You’ll only receive food at the beginning of every month, and you’ll make sure it’s spread evenly. I’m also paid to remind you that your job is to kill the Aberrō, and keep them out of Permanentia! That shouldn’t be hard to keep up with, and I don’t want to see you get lazy! Am I understood?!”
“Aye!” They all yell out in salute, some more discouraged than others. Cassius scanned them from a distance, his boots dragged along the dusty ground as he paced on the dry grassland. Many of them didn’t look older than 20, some looking further in their adult years.
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“Now, the first concentrated attack on the Permanentia was 9 months ago in this perimeter. Some of you have been dragged here from the other cardinal squads to support the Southern Squad, and you will also have leadership in this squadron. You know who you are, I don’t need to tell you. That is all. There will be inspections on your activities in a month or so, and the new deal of food has already been supplied.” The Sergeant pointed to a pile of boxes on the side of the barracks entrance. “I will now take my leave.” The Sergeant casually walked past the line of soldiers, Cassius’ attention was brought to the massive grass field separating the barracks and the walls of Aeternum. The dome of Aeternum was huge and towered over them all. It’s mass was so wide that the end was never in reach of his sight. Cassius got lost in staring at it, the reinforced steel on the outside glowed and seemed to flow like water along its surface.
As soon as the Sergeant was out of earshot, the soldiers began to banter among themselves. Cassius lowered his eyebrows and crossed his arms as he turned to walk back inside the barracks. He retreated to the beds, which were all empty. The old squadron’s items had all been taken and “repurposed”, as the Sergeant would say. Cassius threw himself onto his creaky mattress and tossed a crumpled paper into the air. As he heard the new soldiers enter the barracks, he shuffled in his bed and quickly hid himself under the covers, only leaving his eyes above the sheets.
“Don’t kill each other over the beds! You idiots…” An older, slender girl tried to manage them.
“This is going to be boring…” A boy sucked his teeth as he settled down lazily.
“Hell no, you serious!? Did you not pay attention? The Southern border is beyond action-packed.” A younger girl yelled above the rest.
“Yeah, I sort of regret choosing this Cardinal Base, now…” Another boy muttered.
Cassius scanned them with the sides of his eyes, watching as each of them settled down on their beds. “Well, you shouldn’t,” The young girl says, “they said the other bases were boring, didn’t they?” She spread her arms out wide, “I mean, the whole Southern Squad got destroyed, and we’re gonna be even better than them!” Cassius’ heart stilled for a moment. The silence in the room was immediate and palpable. The older girl looked at Cassius, her lips pressed tightly together into a frown until she turned around. With a sigh, he got up from the bed. Everyone watched him as he walked past and out of the bedroom.
There’s no point in dealing with that. He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he went outside the barracks, instantly turning to the crates of food stacked on the side. He scavenged the top crate for a treat and found a bag of taffy. They won’t last anyway. It’s just more food for me. He popped a taffy in his mouth and sat against the crates. Fully relaxed, Cassius started to drift to sleep.
“Darn…” Someone groaned from the other side of the crates, followed by a loud zap. “Come on…”
God! Cassius jolted up, shaking the crate behind him, Always something, he rolled his eyes as he turned to see who it could be. It was a boy with blonde messy hair, wearing the black uniform just like the others, he looked perhaps seventeen. His fingers worked skillfully as he tinkered with a strange-looking rifle. Cassius put on a slight smile as he whispered, “I’ve never seen that model before.” The boy jolted up, dropping the rifle on the ground. “Urgh! Don’t do that…” He took a glance at Cassius before picking up the rifle, and then looking back again. “You’re the…”
Cassius’s smile dropped and he grumbled under his breath, “Right.”
The boy stared at his face, his mouth forming an “o” as he avoided eye contact, “Oh—oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”
Cassius waved away his concerns. He felt like the boy stood out among the others. “You remind me of an old friend of mine,” Cassius said with a blank face. “So, what’s its augment?”
“Um, it’s a—it’s an electricity augment, for...some reason,” he sunk his head back down to the rifle, “whoever made this and gave it to us wasn’t thinking, I guess. It’d make more sense to give it a power augment to—you know—make the bullets stronger, rather than just charging it for no reason… I’m taking the augment off now.” The boy began tinkering with the rifle again, disregarding Cassius sitting behind him. Then, Cassius felt another presence.
“Hey, um—“ The older girl from earlier stood behind him, “Cassius, am I right? I wanted to apologize for that girl’s—Temeri’s—behavior.” She had her hands wrapped behind her back, Cassius looked up at her from the corner of his eye. “I promise we’re not all like that, genuinely. I’m Nelia,” She reached out for a handshake, which Cassius accepted quietly, “you look experienced. How long have you been here?”
“Nine months.” He turned away again, observing the toffees in his hand.
“You’ve been alone for nine months?” — looked around and smiled, “You’ve done a good job.”
“I’ve slacked for the past week. I figured you would all take care of the rest.” Nelia’s smile started to fade, “I guess you have the right.” She leaned against the wall of crates and looked to the distant dome. “This part of the Permanentia is…” She looked into the distance, “…really barren. When was the last Aberrō storm?”
“Two weeks ago. There’s going to be another one today, though,” Cassius mumbled under his chewing.” Nelia and the boy turned to look at him.
“You’re serious?” Nelia questioned with a new urgency, “How do you know?”
Cassius sighed, “I mean, you come to recognize the patterns eventually. It’s going to be at…” Cassius looked up at the red analog clock above the entrance, “…now it’s 3 PM, so at 4:30–maybe 5-ish. That's my guess.” He continued chewing on the toffee.
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?!” Nelia ran off, nearly tripping on a rock as she disappeared inside the barracks.
She left the door open, she’ll let in bugs.
“You look ready,” he looked back at the boy, who was swiftly reassembling the augment, “so you decided to keep the augment?”
“There’s not enough time to put it elsewhere, so this’ll—“ He grunted as he shoved the augment phial back into the rifle. “—do.”
“Today’s won’t be too bad. I’m sure you can all handle it,” Cassius said with a smirk.
The boy grunted as he shuffled back up from the dusty earth and wiped his pants off. He then put his rifle on his back, wrapping the sling around his shoulder, "That sounded insincere."
“Maybe it did—“ Cassius gagged and covered his mouth, "Damn." He spit out the toffee and rubbed his stomach, “I think I ate too many. They weren't even that good..."
***
The rest of the squadron, led by Nelia came running out of the barracks, weapons in hand. Nelia stopped with her spear in front of Cassius, still sitting by the crates. She looked down at him with disbelief, stuttering on some words she never got out before heading back into the group. Their equipment jangled against their armor—Cassius gripped his soda can.
The boy next to him sat up to follow them, then looked back at Cassius, “You’re not coming?”
Cassius looked at the ground with dead eyes, holding his soda up as if he were toasting. “Good luck,” he feigned his excitedness, before letting himself go limp against the crates. The boy left without questioning him and disappeared into the dark forest. Cassius sat alone on the quiet, barren ground. “Maybe some of them weren’t so bad…” He took another sip and gargled it.
I wonder if they’ll make it out of that forest.