Chapter 36: The Timekeeper

Zack, Yami

“The king of Vholeria has invited you to a duel?” asked Maya dumbfounded. Both Zack and Maya’s feelings were mutual as they stood over Yami’s desk.

“Aye, The king acknowledging little old me, puts butterflies in my stomach, Maya” Yami said with a smug smirk. Zack began to pace around Yami’s study, then turned back to press him on the matter.

“Y’know he probably wants to kill you, Yami,” said Zack

“Well, the feelings mutual. I want tae destroy his devil relic and ta do that…I need to kill him, so it all works oot” Yami spoke with an air of casualness that was unseen from someone to be challenged by Lord Orphzus himself.

“Why do you want to destroy his Devil Relic?” Asked Maya, “Wouldn’t it be a valuable asset to us if we succeed in dethroning Lord Orphzus?”

“Aye, maybe…You lads will have tae hear me oot on this but Red Wing’s goal is’nae to become the ruler of Elden. It’s tae destroy all the Devil Relics to eliminate magic from the world,” Both Zack and Maya turned to face Yami with shocked expressions. Somehow they became even more speechless now than they were a few moments ago.

“You want to…get rid of magic?” Asked Zack with a concerned look on his face.

“Aye, If there's no magic in the world then folk win’nae be traded aroond like tools. Nor will there be any hierarchy based aroond magic. Folk will need tae rely on their hands again. It will put everywan in the same basket. Men and women will be equally capable as each other, and hard work will be the determining factor. Nae someone’s magical aptitude,” The two stood stunned at his words. He… wants to get rid of magic altogether? The image of the Dark Slayer flashed in his head. No! Even if I've put that goal aside for now. I still need magic to take him down.

“Yami are you sure this is a good idea? The world practically relies on magic and so do-”

“Calm doon mate, I’ll let you keep yer magic so you can catch that Dark Slayer lad. It’s handy you ar'nae keen aboot him. We're gonna need his Relic as well.” Zack felt slightly embarrassed that Yami was able to read his mind like that, as if he was so predictable and still on the path of revenge.

“You mentioned you need all of the relics to eliminate magic, correct?” Asked Maya.

“Aye, I did,” Yami said leaning back in his chair and resting his arms on the sides.

“How do you even know if it’s possible to eliminate magic? And why would destroying all the relics achieve that?” Maya followed up.

“Well, short answer…I dinnae ken,”

“So you're just making a guess,” Zack said dismissively and slightly agitated by the brazen choice of his words.

“Ah ah,” Yami said holding his hand up, “I did’nae answer that last question,” He then stood up and placed his hands on the desk.

“Trust me lad’s, I get it’s a bit of a drunken man’s tale. But I do believe destroying the relics will eliminate magic,” Yami paused as he thought about how to condense his knowledge to a concise form as to best convince the two.

“Right here’s how…ken that Devil Relics are dated in the history books about a century ago? Theirs no recorded history from the royal family's before that time so it's safe to say they found their way to Elden around a hundred years ago,” Both Maya and Zack leaned down closer to listen to Yami as he brought his voice down lower.

“Now look at magic, magic is roughly aboot the same. Recorded history dates back aboot seventy-five years. That was as far as back as I could find to the first recordings of a Ketan using water magic,”

“Are you hypothesizing they came from the same force of nature?” Asked Maya

“No, no quite,” he replied before quickly returning back to his explanation. “Now, we've been telt that there are magics and magicless, two separate races…I believe that is a lie. Everyone has magic, just no everyone can use it. You ever wondered why magic only starts tae work once we reach a certain age? Almost like it's part of puberty. Then, there’s the wee fact that magic is the blight of Devil Relic users. They feel the burn of fire magic and all other kinds more than any other folk. Nae’body kens why but we accept it as it is.”

“So, here’s this ald man’s theory. I believe that we all have magic in us, we always have, even thousands and thousands of years ago, but, its been so wee and unused that our bodies hav’nae learned how to use it as a tool. Then, once the Devil Relics were found in Elden, it was only twenty-five short years before the first examples of folk using projected magic and spells were found. Almost like our bodies were now using that dormant part of us tae use against the Relics they were so good at harming. Instead, however, folk decided to use magic as a tool for daily conveniences and misunderstood its true purpose.

“Now, what would happen if we took oot the Relics? Presumably magic may go away with it, the same way magic came into folk through the arrival of Relics. If one goes…so does the other,” There was seconds of silence among the three. Both Maya and Zack looked at one another for some sort of affirmation.

“I must admit, your research in seems to be rather…extensive,” Admitted Maya.

“Well, thank you kindly princess,” Zack, however, stood up straight from the desk to look down upon Yami.

“But do you know this will actually work? If magic stays the same and Relics no longer exist then you may make an even worse world for us,” Expressed Zack.

“Aye, you're right,” Yami said as he took a stand and stood face to face with Zack. “I din’nae ken what will happen. But, that’s life. Sometimes you need tae make a hard choice were you're no sure of the result. Sometimes, a risk needs to be taken in order to gain. The trick is the no be dependent on the ootcome, Zack,” Yami then placed a hand on each one of their shoulders. “I think I’ve said this before but you can back oot if you want tae. You can both pursue what you want in life. But this is the path I want tae take, and I plan on seeing it oot till the end. I’m more than happy for either of you to leave or join me,” Zack placed his gauntlet hand on Yami’s shoulder after a few moments of silence and met his own eye with Yami’s

“You’ve saved my life twice now Yami, you gave me the words I needed to not let my vengeance consume me and what life I have left, and I told you my own revenge can wait until the magicless are free of their oppression. You’ve been the one man I feel right in following after Matthew’s passing, so if you believe this is the right thing to do, then I will do what I can to help.” Yami gave him a warm smile, then shifted his gaze down to Maya’s feline eyes.

“And wit aboot you? Do I have our Ketan princess’s help too?” he said with a quizzical smile, to which she nodded in response almost immediately.

“You do, I share the same gratitude towards you as Zack does. While my personal motives way on me greatly…I believe they are best put to one side, the freedom of the magicless in Elden is what matters most,” she said raising a small fist to her breast. Yami gave them both a firm pat on the shoulder and returned back to his desk with a large smile spread across his face.

“You had an old man worried for a second there, but I'm over the moon you're willing to stay with me,” He said, searching through the many papers on his desk to search for the letter sent by King Orphzus. Zack quickly turned to Maya and gently took a hold of her small arm.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked with concern in his voice. “Bringing you to Vholeria might be a bad idea. You still can't use your magic without pain and-” he trailed off as his voice became quieter. “If Yami is right, you might lose your magic…Are you sure you…want that?” Maya turned fully to face Zack, looking up into his one available eye, and brought both her hands to her chest, clasping them together tightly.

“If I’m being honest, I still don’t know how I feel about losing my magic. But I know to hold on to it for the sake of other’s suffering would simply be selfish,” She took hold of Zack’s gauntlet and released his grip on her arm, lowering it down slowly. “I promise I won’t do anything reckless in Vholeria. I’ll leave that to you,” She said with a smile.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I’m not reckless, Maya I just-” Zack stopped himself as he noticed Maya and even Yami all the way across the room, both gave Zack a knowing look. Zack recalls the last time he ran in danger, it had been only a few days since he fought that alien-like creature. Choosing to fight the giant alone to keep it away from Maya.

“You are a wee bit mate,” Yami interjected across the room which gained a small giggle from Maya.

“I…I just wanted to protect y-” blurted out Zack before he was then interrupted once again.

“Right!” Yami shouted as she slapped his knees to take a stand. “Enough with your words of wooing mister assassin.” He said as he took his red jacket off his chair and made his way to the exit of his study. “The battle is taking place in one week according to this letter. So we best get a move on if I’m going to make it to my date on time,” Yami stopped just before leaving and pointed his finger towards the two of them with a cheeky grin. “You lovebirds behave now,” he said before closing the door on his way out. Maya blushed profusely, her red face contrasted greatly with her ash-white hair.

“I’ll speak to you later,” he said quickly to Maya before then storming towards the door in pursuit of Yami once again. Thank Atlus this mask covers half my face he thought as a blush creeped onto his face.

“Yami!” shouted Zack as he called out to the red-coated outline, his armor shifting and clinking as he jogged across the grass. Yami turned toward him with his signature nonchalant smile.

“Aye, You alright?” he said as a greeting. Zack came to a stop abruptly, causing his armor to clank loudly. Both his sword and The Frozen Blade rested on his back.

“What do you know about Orphzus? I don’t know how he fights and don’t want to hold you back,” Yami let out a small chuckle and patted Zack against his thick pauldron.

“Dinnae worry about Orphzus mate, I deal with him,” Zack’s face became confused and frustrated.

“You want to fight him alone?” Zack asked to make sure Yami was only making one of his bad jokes.

“Aye, wit? You worried aboot me?” he said with a smirk.

“Are you crazy? He’s a Devil Relic user, He’s the king of Vholeria and you saw that strange power he used on the ship,” Zack protested to try and reason with Yami.

“Aye, that’s all accounted mate, dinnae worry aboot it pal, he win’nae be any trouble,” he said casually once again. Zack became more frustrated at how lightly Yami was taking this.

“He’s one of the strongest men in Elden, you can’t take this lightly Yami! Let me help!” Yami only looked at him and let him calm down slightly before proceeding.

“Zack, You trust me right?” He asked sincerely

“I…I do, but this is serious Yami, we need to take him on with magic at the very least,” Zack protested. Yami sighed deeply before patting Zack on his pauldron once again and walking past the armored man.

“Right, come with me,” he said waving his arm. Zack hesitantly turned and began to follow him outside the lush trees of Sanctuary.

Both Yami and Zack stood deep within the woods outside of Sanctuary. The birds chirped and the gentle wind rustled the leaves. The fresh grass brimming with mana filled Zack’s lungs as he looked on at the red-cloaked man before he then broke the silence.

“So what’s this about?” Zack asked hesitantly as he shifted from side to side. Yami then smirked, holding out his hand and waving it towards himself in a taunting manner to Zack.

“Show us what you got!” he spurred Zack on. Zack took a step back and shifted slightly.

“You…want to fight?” Is he crazy? One good strike from my lighting will hit him hard.

“Aye, if you're so keen to join in, show me how you're gon’nae keep up,” he asked as he placed his hands in his pockets. The words of the Dark Slayer rang in his head, the night he still regretted deeply. Think you can cut me down? Zack clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.

“Fine! But I told you this wasn’t a good idea so don’t blame me,” Zack said as he flipped out his hand with small specs of mana slowly rising off the back of his fist. Yami only scoffed and kept his smirk on his face, his hands unmoved from his pocket. You are not bearing this alone, Yami! I will carry this burden with you! As Zack’s thoughts ended, lighting sparked in his palm violently and as it did, Zack raised his hand to the sky. He widened his stance and with a quick thrust, plummeted his hand down to the earth with a roar. What followed was the crack of lighting heard within the air, quickly accompanied by a bolt of purple lighting that descended from the sky. With the levin however, came four silver swords that manifested just as fast as the bolt above Yami’s head. The blades caught the lighting, destroying themselves in the process but ending the thunder's course of travel. It rendered the attack completely useless, with Yami still in the same relaxed position he was before the fight, still holding that same smirk. Zack stood still in his guarded position, ready to draw his sword as anxiety spread over his face and his teeth ground together. In a moment of panic, Zack reached to draw his blade but before he could reach it, Yami acted.

“Devil Ignition!” Yami stood straight and raised his arms up to his face while crossing his wrists and keeping his fists tight. Then, in a quick motion, Yami thrust both his hands out on each side and spread his arms out while leaning forward slightly, only just enough to keep Zack in his view. Upon his stance and the words leaving his mouth. A green ethereal sphere grew from Yami’s body and quickly increased its size to envelop Zack and the land around them. Altogether, the sphere was about twenty meters in circumference. Within this sphere the trees no longer shook, the birds no longer flew, time…no longer moved. Zack was frozen in place as he reached for his blade and was completely unaware of Yami’s action. However with closer inspection time was not stopped, only slowed to an incredible degree as Zack’s arm was still moving as he reached for his blade, though, it was almost impossible to perceive. Yami strolled casually over to Zack and undid the fasten on his belt that held his scabbard, it continued to hang in there even with nothing to latch onto and only the keenest of eyes could perceive its millimeters of movement as it dragged to the earth.

Zack reached for his blade but as his hand went to grab the handle, nothing was there, Zack only heard the clank of something falling to his feet and with his one eye, noticed that Yami had completely disappeared. Where did he go? Zack quickly darted his eye up to his empty hand to find his scabbard and his belt had fallen to the grass below. H-how when?! Zack stood confused and utterly dumbfounded as he tried to make sense of what happened, but his thoughts were soon interrupted by a voice behind him.

“Sorry mate, I didn’t have a nice way of telling you this,” Zack quickly raised his foot to pivot and turn but before he could, his feet were kicked off the ground, leading Zack to land harshly on the grass and as he raised his head and opened his eye, a translucent sword met his neck. The armored man quickly took in the situation and remained still with the point against his throat as Yami looked down upon him with cold eyes filled with malice.

“If Orphzus considers me his equal. You don’t belong anywhere near this fight, Zack,” Yami uttered with no humor in his voice. Zack could barely even recognize the man as he stood with his life held by a thread. He’s right Zack recalled the battle he had with the Dark Slayer on the ship. He was completely outclassed, yet Yami prevailed with ease. He recalled that Thomas had told him the same thing regarding Yami being the strongest. Fine. Thought Zack as he accepted handing the burden of Vholeria to Yami begrudgingly.

“I-I understand now,” Zack said carefully as the point of the ethereal blade was still held to his neck. As the sentence left his mouth, the silver sword vanished into shards of glass that rose slowly and shrunk like embers. Yami’s gripped fist loosened into an open palm as he offered his hand to Zack, his expression changing to one more neutral and inviting.

“Sorry aboot that mate,” he said more casually as he hauled up Zack by his arm, “Did’nae mean to give you freight…or well, Actually I did,” he said haphazardly. The two spoke side by side with one another with their backs facing, the gentle, quiet atmosphere of the woods continuing around them. Zack caught his breath before asking the first thing that leaped to his mind.

“H-how did you get behind me so fast,” Yami turned to him - to which Zack turned as well - with the man pulling a metallic hourglass from his trouser pocket. Zack looked at the object with a perturbed look. “A…devil relic…you have two?!”

“Aye, it’s called Timekeeper. That thing you just stood through was its Devil Ignition. It lets me slow down everything around me, even people.”

“Devil Ignition?” Zack asked without fully understanding the terminology of the Relics.

“Think of it like a show-stopper move, like when you put all your magic into one big spell. Every Relic has one unique to it and they all work in a similar way but some are a wee bit different, like this one,” He explained holding up the hourglass once again.

“That’s incredible, Orphzus won’t even see you coming,” Zack said taken aback by the utility of the Relic.

“Aye, if I get lucky, I told you he’s not far off my level. He won’t be that easy to kill. I know most of his tricks already though,” Yami admitted as he folded his arms and lowered his head.

“Like that sword, he used on the ship, that was a Devil Relic right?”

“Aye, The Sword of Nevan, it’s a sword that lets him swap between offensive and defensive stances, and it's that bloody defensive part that will be a pain to deal with,” Yami told Zack as if he had prior experience with it.

“What about that thing he did on the ship? When he took back Nalory, was that Nevan?”

“Naw, I’m still no sure but I think it’s another relic he has, but I din’nae ken how it works,”

“Can’t you just trap him with timekeeper like you did with me and kill him?” Zack asked

“That’s the plan, but it’s no a perfect plan. The area I slow down is kept in a bubble, and anything on the outside can break that bubble just like a wall. If that happens, it will knock me right oot of Devil Ignition and leave us wide open,” There was a moment of silence between them before Zack then broke the silence with his concern yet again.

“Alright, I’ll let you fight him alone, but if you lose, I will be next in line to fight him,”

“You win’nae need to worry aboot fighting him mate,” Yami said with a small scoff. The two then met eyes, never before had Zack seen Yami with such a stern look on his face, and with a determined and serious tone, Yami spoke.

“I will win,”