Chapter Fifty-Four: The Mage Returns, Part 2

“Who do you think will be elected as Captain?” I ask Sia.

“Definitely Yue,” She responds. “She’s too popular to not be chosen.”

“That’s why she won’t be chosen,” Skai responds.

I’m at Ember On The Waters with Sia, Skai, Xavier, Th’ul, and Anni. We’re all on a break. Skai has gotten a job as a weaponsmith, and it's been grueling, but she's enjoying it. Her and Xavier’s relationship keeps on trucking. Meanwhile, Th’ul has been getting better at magic; High Mage Aegon told me he’s a prodigy, and, honestly, nothing surprises me about him. He could be a serial killer and I wouldn’t be surprised. His unemotional face reveals nothing about who he is, and sometimes I still don’t think I understand him.

“Skai’s right,” He says. “The Cultists would never let someone so popular and anti-Dautha lead their precious Vanguard.”

“It’s not really their Vanguard anymore,” Sia points out. “And isn’t the Parliament led by non-cultists?”

“Mostly,” Th’ul admits. “But they have enough people to make sure the Sterkona doesn’t become the next Captain. And yes, I know the Vanguard has dropped all ties with the Cult, but do you really think there are no Cultists there anymore?”

“There’s Joanne, at least,” I say, remembering Yue’s Cultist friend.

“She should be kicked out of the Vanguard,” Xavier scowls. “Anyone like that is a danger to the rest of the army.”

“Are all Cultists bad, though?” Sia asks, always positive.

“Yes,” I mirror Xavier’s scowl. “We can’t let any Cultists have any leeway in our society. The more they become normal in our society, the more rotted we become.”

“That seems extreme,” Skai interrupts. “They can’t all be evil. According to Yue, Joanne…”

“Forget about Joanne,” I say. “Joanne is just as much an accomplice to the battle as High Mage Eldor. Most likely, she didn’t fight in the battle, and was cheering Magefell’s downfall, and ours as well. She’s not a real friend, not as long as she believes what she does.”

“That’s extreme, Zade,” Sia tells me. “Maybe you need to rethink everything?”

“ME?” I ask. “Me? Rethink what? I used to think like you. Maybe I’m not the one who needs to rethink, Sia. You’re still immature, though, so I don’t blame you. Come back in a year when the Cult kills us all and tell me what you think!”

Sia cowers under my barrage. “I’m sorry. I was just trying…”

“To be helpful?” I shriek. “I bet if we asked the Cult what they were doing, they would say we were being helpful! Helpful doesn’t cut it, Sia. The world isn’t just sunshine and roses. Get used to it.”

“Don’t forget how the mages injured me!” Sia exclaims, standing up. “I know what it’s like to be hurt by the villains?”

“Do you?” I wonder. “You didn’t really have to see anyone die! Maybe you didn’t suffer enough.”

Sia whimpers and runs out the door, tears streaming down her face.

“Zade, that was—” Th’ul begins but I interrupt him.

“Too much, I know,” I hang my head. “I don’t know why I said that..”

Ever since I killed HIgh Mage Eldor, something changed in me. After killing someone in cold blood like that, I realized that I didn’t care about death and loss as much as I thought I had. Slowly, I’ve been feeling less about killing, about wiping out the Cultists. I’m a little worried about myself, but I don’t mind it. If this mentality helps me beat the Cult, then so be it.

I do feel guilty about exploding on Sia, though. She doesn’t deserve this; she’s been nothing but sweet to all of us, and I know I need to apologize.

“Be careful with her,” Skai warns me as I leave. “You’ve really hurt her. You don’t know what she’s going through.”

I nod and exit Ember On The Waters, customers gaping at me, recognizing me. Rumors will be circulating over me screaming at Sia, but I don’t worry about it.

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“Sia!” I call outside, not seeing her. A man outside the inn smirks at me.

“Looking for your girl?” He asks. “A man led her down that way.”

A scream splits the night.

Unsheathing my sword, I run where the man pointed, because, sadly, I recognized that scream. It was Sia, I’m sure of it.

I follow the sound of the scream.

Please don’t let me be too late.

I follow an alleyway to a dead end, and that’s when I see them. Three men, taking turns kicking and punching, and even slashing at Sia with daggers.

“Hey!” I yell, throwing Nightwielder. It strikes one of the men in the back and falls with a gurgle. The other two glare at me.

“It’s Helstrom,” One of them says, eyes widening. “Kill him.”

They both rush at me, and I swing at one of them, who ducks and punches me. The punch sends me flying, and I realize it’s magically-enhanced.

“So that’s how you want to play it?” I say, wiping blood off my nose, my body already erupting in a lightning-fire haze.

Screaming in rage, I throw lightning at one of the people, who simultaneously bursts into flames. Evidently, he isn’t a mage, and he dies like any Cultist should.

Pitifully.

The other one disappears, and I let the flames surround me, unwilling to let him anywhere near me. The man reappears next to me, and I slash, but the sword doesn’t cut. Instead, it goes straight through him and he disappears.

“I was wondering when I’d get to meet you, Helstrom,” The man appears again, and once again, he’s intangible. “I’ve been waiting to see how I fare against the man who killed a High Mage.”

The next time he disappears, I send a lightning bolt at him, and he shudders as it passes through him. Groaning, he tumbles to the ground.

“I have some bad news for me,” I growl, diving at him. “You shouldn’t have baited me.”

I smash into him and stab him. The man gurgles as I stab him again, smashing his head in. The blood pours over me and I let it flow through me.

I stab him again. This time his arm comes off and I pierce it again and again until it’s unrecognizable. Then I do the same for his other arm, then his legs. Once that’s done, I stab him over and over until every part of him is gone.

Until no one will recognize him again.

“Never attack my friends again,” I say to what remains of the man.

Licking the blood off the blade, I turn to Sia. She’s just barely conscious and I run towards her.

“Zade, you’re going too far,” She tells me. “You can’t live like this.”

Then she falls unconscious.

— — —

“I am so sorry,” I tell Sia when she wakes up in the hospital. “I never should’ve said what I said. I was wrong, and I am so, so sorry. I don’t want to minimize what you went through, and I didn’t mean to be so mean.”

“It’s fine,” She smiles. “I know you didn’t mean it.” I think she’s lying, but I don’t want to press the issue. “But thank you for saving me. How did you even know where I was?”

“I went after you to apologize,” I explain. “And I heard you scream. Truthfully, I’m just glad I arrived on time.”

“Do you really believe what you told me?” She asks. “That all Cultists deserve too?”

“What happened to you just proves it,” I tell her. “They would all do that if they were asked too. We all need our own morals. They have none.”

“I don’t think that’s true. They have morals, and I don’t think they’d go past them.”

“But what are their morals? They’d cross them if Dautha told them too!”

“Dautha wouldn’t tell them too. He’s an evil god, but I don’t think he’d kill for the sake of killing. Everything they do has a point, a goal, and whether the end justifies the means is up to us.”

“But the end is wrong, and that’s why they can’t do what they do.”

“Exactly! But does having the wrong ends really deserve death?”

“They way they do it,” I say. “Yes, they deserve death. Joanne would kill Yue if Dautha told her too.”

Sia sighs. “But she hasn’t done it.”

“But imagine everything else she’s done! She’s probably murdered dozens…”

“You don’t know that.”

“You’re right, I don’t, but I don’t want to take the risk of that happening.” I close my eyes.” I won’t let what happened to Astil happen to anyone else.”

“That was a personal vendetta, Zade.” She embraces me. “I know how much it hurts, but you can’t take it out on every Cultist.”

“I have no choice,” I respond. “All of them would’ve done it in Raakhshas’ place, and I can’t take the chance of it happening.”

“You’re thinking just like them!”

“But I have the right end.”

“How do you know that?” Sia asks. “Because according to them, you have the wrong end. The end doesn’t justify the means.”

“It must,” I respond.

“You’re becoming the villain here,” Sia warns me. “If you keep acting like this, you’ll just be a Cultist with a different name.”

“There are no villains here anymore,” I tell her. “Just bad people and worse people. There is no good side, not if we want to survive.”

“I can’t believe that,” Sia shakes her head.

“Then we won’t win,” I say sadly.

We fall silent as we embrace, and we stay like that for as long as we can.

— — —

For the first time in a week, Eva’s voice appears to me.

You’re doing great, Zade, she tells me. Your friends may not understand the sacrifices you must make, but you’re on the right track. Every Cultist is on the wrong path.

“Thank you,” I say. “I needed to hear that.”

Don’t forget your mission. Things are about to get tough.

“What do you mean?”

The Cult is recovering. On other continents, they’ve already begun to amass. They’re getting ready for something over there, and I think it has to do with your friend Jade.

“What about her?”

Something happened in Arcadia. I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon. Magefell is in grave danger again.

“So soon?”

You still have plenty of time, but you should get prepared. Fight the Cult, practice your magic, I’ll be with you as much as I can. Meet me in your dreams, if you can. I’ll be waiting. Good luck, Zade, and remember: don’t hesitate.

“I won’t,” I say as she disappears from my conscience.

Eva is right: I can’t afford to question what I’m doing. If I let the Cult live, then they will spread the virus. What I’m doing is right, just, and, no matter what my friends say, this is the right thing to do.

A knock comes at my door.

“Zade?” A voice asks, and my jaw drops as my heart leaps in joy.

I know that voice, but it’s impossible.