Chapter 16: A Shade of Darkness
“Too? You mean-” Atma looked at the Dark Knight’s hands, but realized he wouldn’t be able to see past the black steel gauntlets.
The Dark Knight nodded. “Now’s not the time. They won’t send just the Echidna, they’ll want to make sure that you’re dead. We need to get out of here as soon as possible.” He looked around the square, piecing together what he could from the aftermath of the situation. He pointed to the home where the woman had been dragged off by the gangsters. “Is the girl at this house still here?”
Atma paused for a moment, first thinking of the woman he’d failed in saving, only to realize she’d mentioned a daughter she’d been struggling to care for. “Yes, I think so.”
“Then we need to hurry and find her. She won’t be safe here.” The man was quick on his feet for being completely covered in armor, his eyes darting around as he barged into the house.
“What’s her name?”
“Mia, but don’t bother calling for her, get looking, and we can get her somewhere safe.”
Atma was a bit puzzled, but nodded, the three fanning out across the house. Atma wasn’t quite sure where to look, checking in closets, looking behind corners, stopping as he heard a scream, and rushed to find its source. Sienna had found the little girl in a compartment under the floorboards, likely hidden there.
Sienna reached out to the little girl, who couldn’t have been more than six years old, but even then it was debatable if she was that old. Her eyes were red with tears, but she’d managed to keep quiet, fighting back making a noise until Sienna had found her. She had wrapped herself tightly in a blanket, refusing to budge and trying to hide herself, covering her head. “Oi, Mia, kid, we’re here to get you out of here, come with me-” Sienna recoiled her hand, as the girl lashed out from under her blanket. “Ow! She bit me!” She shook her hand. “I’m trying to help you here kid!”
The Dark Knight skidded down from upstairs, and gestured for Sienna to back off. “Just, hold on a second. She can’t hear you.” The little girl peaked out for just a moment as she felt the floor creak slightly with his footsteps. He got in between the little girl and the pirate, he spoke clearly, and tried to enunciate so she could more easily read his lips. “It’s me, Shade, we’re here to help.” The little girl was wary all the same, holding tightly to her blanket, though not so much as before. Still, she wore it like a hood, peeking out to see what exactly was going on.
Atma stepped up now, crouching down. “My name is Atma. What’s yours?” He signed slowly to her. Her eyes seemed to light up, as she responded. Atma spoke while she signed, so she could read his lips too, and the others could follow along.
“Mia.”
“Mia, we need to go. It’s not safe here.”
“Yes, but my Mom-”
“I will help her, she wants you to be safe.”
“Yes, but-”
Atma hadn’t spent much time around kids her age, except the children of a few nobles, but he still realized that ‘yes, but’ was very much a favorite phrase of theirs. “You know him?” He gestured to Shade. Mia nodded timidly. “Please, we need to go before more bad people come.”
It took her a moment, but the little girl nodded, and mouthed, “Okay.” She raised her arms, and Shade picked her up, holding her firmly, yet gently to his chest.
“Follow me,” he said, “There’s a place on the outskirts of town, where we’ll be better off.” The Dark Knight stepped out of the house, hearing a commotion of what sounded like more goons on approach. “Dammit, they’re not far off now, try to keep up!” Once again, he moved deceptively fast, Atma and Sienna doing their best to keep pace. At random, he would break left or right down a street or alleyway, in an attempt to make sure there wasn’t a clear trail to follow, though he seemed to do it a bit less as he realized Atma and Sienna were starting to lag behind. Sienna wasn’t nearly as fast as she was strong, and Atma was feeling the fight with the Echidna catching up to him, his muscles and joints were sore, and as he made turns, it felt like he had been just short of pulling something. There was silence, as they reached the outskirts, even outside of the walls meant to protect the city. There hadn’t been anyone in this part of the city in a long time, even seemingly before the takeover of the Oni.
Shade slowed to a walk, and gently let Mia down, and walked beside him. She held tightly to his gauntleted hand, but kept glancing back at Atma, who was still a few paces behind. Atma felt just a little reinvigorated seeing her on her feet, a smile creeping back onto his face.
“Since when do you do the whole hand sign thing?” Sienna wasn’t out of breath, but she certainly wasn’t full of energy either.
“I first started learning a few years ago, when the war ended. A friend came home, couldn’t hear quite right, so he, my brother and I took it upon ourselves to learn.”
“Do you have friends?”
Atma shrank a bit as he slowly turned to her, awkwardly. “Two if we don’t count the others.”
“Sorry,” she said, turning away from him briefly. “You seem like you were raised pretty much just to do your whole nobility thing. Didn’t think you really got around socially. You’re not exactly the most street smart person I’ve ever met.”
Atma sighed. “You’re not wrong, I admit. My friends are Dante, who I knew because of his family, and Conseil, whose family has served mine for generations. Conseil’s why I learned.”
She seemed a bit taken aback. “You learned signing, this whole complicated thing, for the sake of a servant?”
“Yeah, for all the time he was in our lives, he deserved that much. Is that surprising too?”
She was silent for a moment as they approached a few scattered buildings, resting on the edge of the mountains. “You’re a sweet person.” She spoke gently, he almost didn’t hear her. “Do you know how many of the people who come to the Tempests are people thrown out because they lost their purpose? Too many. Some want adventure, others money, most of them want a home. Myself included. Most nobles would see a man like Conseil, label him useless, and get rid of him. You went out of your way to help him.”
“Not just him. People like her.” He gestured to Mia, as they came up to a building that was near decrepit, but just on the livable side. Looking at it, it was hard to identify at first, but, seeing a fallen sign near the entrance, it became clear that this was an abandoned Guild House.
Shade raised his free hand, and knocked rhythmically, waiting for a moment as a series of locks and latches were opened from the other side. Another child, maybe ten years old, peeked out, before opening the door. “They’re all with me. Tristan, I need you to gather everyone up, tonight we need to play it real quiet.” The boy nodded, eyeing each of them as they passed through. He locked the doors tightly, before stepping on a path that had clearly been marked as to avoid where the creaky floorboards were. It seemed a bit much, but given that people were hiding out here, it clearly was a system that worked. Shade knelt down to face Mia. “Mia, Granny Agatha is here too, you remember her, right? She used to babysit you.”
The little girl nodded, and followed the Dark Knight as he guided her to a back room, which would have once acted as housing for traveling guilds, but acted as a makeshift dormitory for the few people who had managed to hide out. Mia ran excitedly to an older woman she recognized, Shade breathing a sigh of relief as the girl embraced her. Tristan returned shortly after, with an exaggerated salute, as a boy his age might give. “Everyone’s coming boss!”
“Boss?” Sienna grinned. “Got yourself a little gang going here too?”
“Not nearly enough of us here for that,” Shade half chuckled, as the people holed up in the old guild house gathered around. He took a head count, a total of fifteen people, counting himself, Atma and Sienna. Half were Tristan’s age or younger, a couple were teenagers, and the rest were older, and well past their primes. “Alright folks, things got a little noisy in town today, so we’re locking down and playing dead for now. I don’t want anyone leaving right now, there’s going to be too many Crimson Oni running around to try and evade. Tina, Austin, I’m looking at you two specifically. I don’t care how boring you think it is here, if I catch you even trying to do something stupid, you’ll wish the Crimson Oni had been the ones to catch you.” He glared down at the pair as they whispered to each other, snapping to attention as he called them out. “And don’t think I don’t know about your ‘secret tunnel.’”Shade sighed. “But I can appreciate the ingenuity in using the old smithy’s waste tunnel as an exit. You two are going to make sure that tunnel is ready in the event we all need to evacuate.” Shade went on to make note of their food supply, and how much of a commotion had been stirred up in town. He was upfront, but not overly blunt in his explanations, he let them know that the grip that the Oni had on the city was still tight, but they hadn’t dedicated themselves to hunting the people hiding out in the guild house. It wasn’t an overly long briefing, following its conclusion, Shade pulled aside Atma and Sienna to a dusty old room that had once acted as a smithy.
“I imagine you have questions, but, let me properly introduce myself. You can call me Shade, Shade Deimoncheir. I’m the one trying to liberate Zanch.” He was shorter than either of Atma or Sienna, if only by a little bit, but he wasn’t in the slightest bit insecure about it, with a clear confidence in himself. “This place is my hometown, but I’ve been away traveling for a few years. As you can imagine, coming back to find the place like this isn’t exactly a welcome surprise.”
“I figured something like that.” Atma rubbed his chin. “You seem far too strong to just let something like this pop up.”
“My thanks, but you give me too much credit. There’s only so much I can do. I could wage a one man war on the Crimson Oni, or I could defend these people. As it stands now though, I don’t have the manpower to do either particularly well.”
“You say that, but you took down that monster when Atma and I had to give our all to cripple it.”
“Let me rephrase, I can’t do both. The regular goons are one thing, but if they let out more Echidnas it’d be a bloodbath. More than either of those, Douji has this one guy on his payroll, well and above any of his enforcers, a mercenary of some kind. And there’d be no preparing any of these people to try and defend against him. If he finds this spot, I’m the only deterrent to keep them safe.”
“So you’re shackled in place unless you can make a decisive strike at the head, right?”
“I can only make quick runs to find supplies, or other people who need to hide out. That mercenary, if he’s not by Douji’s side, is actively trying to find me. Douji, on that note, is either hidden away at the mayor’s mansion, or the mines, overseeing the dig. If I hit one, the other would go straight on lockdown, and could send Douji’s men all over in a killing spree.”
“So, you’d need to attack both spots at once to make sure neither could fortify or start attacking civilians.”
“Correct. I’d hoped you were the help I’d called for when I heard the commotion in the city, but instead, I ran into you.” He sighed, and his eyes met Sienna’s. “You, Miss Tempest, need no introduction. I overheard some squabbling from some of the Oni while they were running through town, so I went looking for you myself. I’d hoped maybe you brought some sailors, but it seems like you’ve already got your escort, hm?” He nudged his head in Atma’s direction. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure which Tempest you were, but given the red, and your unmistakable beauty, you’d be Sienna Tempest, or as the sailors like calling you, Bloody Bull Shark.”
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“Do they,” Sienna replied through gritted teeth. “Well, yes, I’m Sienna Tempest, but ditch the nickname.”
“Noted, I get the feeling I’d find out how you got it.” Shade may have said it, but his tone of voice said he wasn’t the least bit scared of her, though not out of a failure to understand her strength. Shade turned his attention to Atma. “You though, you’re a bit harder to place. Or, you would be if you didn’t forget to remove your family crest, Prince of Deponess.” He reached out and poked the eagle crest on Atma’s chest with the slightly pointed tip of his gauntlet’s finger.
Atma recoiled back, though Shade didn’t make a move to insinuate any kind of threat. Sienna shook her head, to tell him not to answer, but Atma couldn’t ignore the obvious, Shade wasn’t their enemy, and he had claimed to have a mark too. “You’d be correct. I am Atma Sigurd Ornicius, Prince of Deponess.”
“On your pilgrimage then?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I just got done telling everyone we’re not going anywhere, we have time. Abridge it for me.”
Atma nodded, and took a few minutes to catch the Dark Knight up with his journey. “So, I’m trying to clear my name, I don’t know how, but I will.”
Shade’s eyes narrowed somewhat. “That is, provided Raine doesn’t kill you first.” The Dark Knight sighed. “Well, it’s interesting at least. I’ll help you out, but I’m going to need your help too.”
Atma seemed to get the idea. “You want us to hit one location while you attack the other.”
Shade nodded. “If Raine really is on your tail, you can’t afford to stay here, this place is definitely on the list of stops Raine’s going to be making. We need to strike as soon as possible if we’re going to make it out of here, and if you’re going to escape Raine and the rest of the Deponesian fleet.”
Atma turned silently to Sienna, who didn’t meet his gaze. “And your help you mentioned before?”
“My uncle. But it’s hard to say when he’ll be here, if he’ll even be here. The man’s such a wanderer it’s hard to know if he’s alive or dead somewhere in the world. I sent a carrier bird off to where he last sent me a letter, but, eh, at this point, you’ll do. The basics of the plan is that while I attack the mayor’s mansion, you go after the mines, and get people out of there, and whoever doesn’t find Douji goes to help the other after they’re done with their half of the mission.” Shade gestured to a set of doors in the smithy, opening them wide to reveal a stash of weapons, left to gather dust and webs. “The guild didn’t really last here, most folks here don’t have the desire to go out on an adventure, and the miners didn’t see much point in establishing a guild. Ultimately, this Guild house was just unsustainable without any real interaction or funding from any of the people here.” He pulled a sword from the wall, swinging it for a moment, before balancing it on its flat to test its weight and overall balance. “Still, they left behind a few friendly little treasures, made from some of the local stuff.” He tossed the blade to Atma, who did much the same in getting a feel for the blade.
“It’s not a bad sword at all, lighter than I would have thought, but it doesn’t seem brittle either.”
“That’s mythril for you,” Sienna answered. “It’s just about one of the most valuable ores you could ever try to sell. It’s lighter and more durable than iron, and far more heat resistant, so it’s a bit harder to work with, but the best airship engines all want to use this. It’s why we smuggled some of this for Zanch in the past, it’s too lucrative to not tax the hell out of.” She inspected the walls for a weapon she liked, settling on a battle axe, smaller than her previous one, but still a fair bit larger than most might be able to use. “To be honest, this feels a bit too light. That’s going to take forever to get used to…” She grumbled a bit, before turning back to the wall, to see if she could find anything better.
Atma returned the blade to the wall, finding a spear his size instead. He paused for a moment as he did so, his eyes falling back on the mark on his hand. “Shade, you said you have a mark too?”
The Dark Knight nodded. He unclasped his gauntlet, revealing a black mark on the back of his right hand. Whereas Balthazar’s had been the symbol representing Mercury, and Atma’s Jupiter, Shade bore the mark of the Moon. “I can’t say I know for sure how I got it. About a year ago, I woke up with it. I thought I’d just gone a bit too wild, and didn’t remember it the night before, but then, I ran into this monster, something I’d never seen before, and-”
“It burned, didn’t it?”
“It happened to you with the Echidna, didn’t it?”
Atma nodded. “I don’t know why or what it was, but it felt like my body was screaming at me that that thing couldn’t be let free. But that wasn’t all, see, this mark, it only showed up today. And my friend, Balthazar? His mark appeared just after we ran into Sienna.”
“So you don’t have much more to go off of than me, do you?” Shade sighed. “Well, it’s part of why I want to help you. This mark, there has to be something more to it.”
“Did you meet her? Lilia I mean?”
Shade’s eyes narrowed. “That’s creepily specific.”
Sienna raised an eyebrow as she tuned back into the conversation. “Who?”
“That’s the woman in my dream from last night. She’s the one who gave me the mark.”
“So dreamgirl does have a name,” she quipped, to his obvious embarrassment.
“Not that kind of dream girl. I hesitate to call her a dream at all. Before we ran into you Sienna, we came across an old temple, littered with these symbols, a temple dedicated to the Goddess. I’m thinking this woman is exactly that.”
She tilted her head, not quite buying into it. “I’m not much of one for religion, all things considered, forgive me if I’m not exactly convinced.”
“Neither am I, but a bit rubs off when one of your friends is a devout follower.” Atma’s mind briefly returned to Conseil. He shook his head, trying to process everything. “But mysterious marks appearing following strange dreams? Marks that burn near monsters, or her telling me I’d find others who would bear the mark? Surviving an encounter with the Siren and Kraken, only to run into you? Sounds a bit like divine intervention to me.”
“Call it what you want, I’m in charge of my own destiny.” She sighed. “So what, you’re some chosen king? Are you going to invoke some divine right to rule?”
“I honestly don’t have an answer for you.” Atma scratched the back of his head, as he tried thinking of what to say next to her. “There’s too much we just don’t know. It could be a curse, for all I understand.”
“Either way, this?” Shade waved his hand with the mark. “This wasn’t always there, and neither was Atma’s.”
There was silence for a moment, as Atma clenched his fist. Lilia’s words had come true so far, but he was left wondering still if she really was who he thought she might be, and how much else would come to pass according to her. It weighed on him, as he turned back to the wall of equipment, trying to find some semblance of an answer with what little he had to go off of.
***
The man stood stoically upon the roof of a building near the abandoned Guild House, as night crept in, and with it, an even deeper haze over Zanch. He dressed in all black, save the bone white mask upon his face. Moonlight briefly peeked through the fog to illuminate his mask, though it was little more than a passing moment. His eyes were not visible though the black slit that acted as a visor for his mask, another void where it would be impossible to identify him. He wore a black duster coat, with a hood he wore up, hanging ominously over his brow. It flowed slightly in the mountain winds. He’d known of the hideout for a long while, keeping an eye on it here and there, careful not to alert the Dark Knight to his presence. He cared little for jobs such as this, where his contractor would simply suppress an area. He was certainly capable, though specialized far more in assassination. Miners and the like weren’t much of a fight, but Shade had been different, a real challenge amidst people who might as well have been practice mats. He kept tabs on Shade, not particularly concerned about informing his contractor, Douji. His leader, however, might find some amusement in the new arrivals in Zanch. Thanatos, however, would be more than content fighting them and Shade both.
The assassin leapt from the building, vanishing into an alleyway, to a secluded spot where he could meditate, and plan his next course of action. He sat, and from a pocket on the inside of his coat, unrolled a small leather wrapping and a thin vial, containing various small bones, scattered about. With a drop of fluid from the vial, he brought the bones near his face, and whispered gently to them. He cupped his hands around the bones, giving them a taste of his magical energy, the fluid doing the rest of the work. As he opened his hands, a small, skeletal bird formed itself from the bones black and red snews stitching the mismatching bones together, with whispers ever so slightly repeating and echoing as it spread its tiny wings. Despite its lack of flesh or feathers, it flew all the same, silently, into the shadows, vanishing into the dark without a trace.
He was not left waiting long, surprising, given his leader’s generally more laissez faire approach to command over the group. Whispers filled Thanatos’ ear, alongside the sound of bone scraping against bone, as the skeletal familiar emerged from the shadows of his hood, and caressed his mask. He remained silent as he took in the response, up until he felt the bony familiar begin to scrape back into the shadows, vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. “Understood. I will pass word along to Kronos and Nyx.”
***
Atma took the spear from the older man, as to demonstrate a more proper technique to him. A few of the kids, Tristan especially, had their eyes on him too, obviously intrigued. “The sword is a simple weapon, but a spear is going to be far more effective with less training. Remember, a sword can’t cut you if it can’t get close enough.” He showed off a basic grip and thrust. “You’re not all that strong, so let your momentum and gravity do the work. Keep your feet facing where you want to strike, and you move your body with the stab.” He made a show of making the motions as he spoke, stepping forward to thrust. “One arm is weak, two are stronger, but when you put your full body into it, goons like the ones in town won’t stand a chance, they’re too sloppy with any of their swordplay.” Atma handed the spear back, and stepped back to let him, and the others try, correcting them as they went.
“A good choice in fundamentals.” Shade was fully out of armor now, though he still kept a blade at his belt. His pants were black, and he wore a blue jacket, with a bit of fur at his collar, a bit more well suited to the nighttime weather. He had a white shirt on, which just barely hid something on a small chain Shade wore around his neck. Atma wasn’t overly curious, figuring it to be a personal memento. His hair, now liberated from his helmet, was wavier than Atma’s first impression had suggested, falling down to a medium length. “I can handle most weapons just fine, but a specialist will always teach it better. And to be honest, yours is a bit better for them than one of these.” He patted his blade. “Sword techniques aside, my Dark Blade arts aren’t something I would teach just anyone. Sure, I get powerful attacks like you saw before, but using them is taxing on my body.”
Atma nodded, getting the gist. It was why Agravain’s fights ended so quickly whenever he sparred. He’d have an overwhelming offense, but ultimately, someone who could endure or evade for long enough could pick him apart, though it was far easier said than done. “Not many have the aptitude to use your techniques. I remember reading, though, in my studies on more obscure techniques, that you burn through your life force when you use them.” He had a rather concerned look on his face. “How accurate is that?”
“An over exaggeration from a scholar who saw an amateur, I’m sure,” Shade scoffed. “It’ll drain away at my stamina, sure, but unless I fight for a long period of time without support, I’ll be fine. It’s a bit like a mage using magic, but for me, it’s a physical investment.”
Atma wasn’t entirely convinced, but nodded. “Alright, just worried is all.”
“Don't worry about it, I’ll show you exactly what I’m made of tomorrow, and then you shouldn’t have any room left for concern.”
Sienna knocked on the doorframe, leaning against it as she listened in. “We’re all clear outside, the last of their patrols have gone back for the night.”
“Glad to hear it.” Shade turned back to the group of civilians, giving another headcount. “Alright everyone, it’s time to get all the lights. Austin, you’re with me on the next watch.” The teenager sighed, but didn’t argue with Shade. Shade turned back to Atma and Sienna. “You two better rest up while you can, we make our move at dawn.” He sighed. “We’ve got room on a couch, and a bit of light padding for the floor. Wish I could offer you something better, but a bed is about the most luxury I can get for everyone else.”
“I’m fine with the floor,” Atma said, before Sienna could get a word in. It didn’t take long for him to settle, the cushioning he had was minimal, but it was plenty for him to try and relax a bit. It was dark out in the front room, where he lied, bugs chirping outside. His eyes were heavy.
“You keep doing that, you know?”
Atma didn’t open his eyes to answer Sienna, just too tired to do so. “Doing what?”
“That thing where you take the path for someone else, even if it means something worse for you. You did it when we first met, you tried it again for everyone when Raine showed up after the underground, again this morning, and just now.”
“Right. Is there something wrong?”
“Don’t you ever just act for yourself, for what you want?” She glanced over to him, a bit of frustration in her voice.
“I just want to help people, Sienna.”
“Bull. You told me you wanted to be free. What does that mean, Atma?” The disappointment in her voice was clear enough that Atma didn’t have to see her face.
“It means I want what I can’t have.” He opened his eyes, turning to her. “I… I don’t want to be King. But being King means helping people, and I want to help people. But, I just want to live my life, like a normal person.” He took a deep breath. “To be the King of Deponess, I don’t think I could ever live for myself. It's always just for the people. The worst part of all of this is, it feels like, in a twisted way, my wish to not be King was granted-”
“Stop that.” She snapped, a bit louder than she intended, she had an angry restraint to her voice. “It doesn’t help. This is your first time having your life turned around, but for me, I just see a man who needs to stop wallowing in his pride and self pity. I don’t care if a goddess is involved in this or not, whether fate’s a thing or not. I had my life taken out of my control before. Never again, Atma, never again. When life gives you lemons, you throw a brick right back at it, and take control back.”
“I’m not sure I get it.”
She sighed. “If you want to help people, that’s fine. Help people. But do it because you want to. You want to live for yourself, find out what that means to you, because right now, I don’t even think you know what your freedom means. You have to fight for it though. Life’s a ferocious monster. You better do something, like throwing that brick.”
Atma was silent at first, thinking back on his journey so far, shorter adventures he’d had with Dante, little memories in the Academia before the fateful turning point in his life. “I think you’re right. But… every day I’m out here, getting to know you, Balthazar, Alice or Locke… I think I’m happier than I’ve ever been before.”
Sienna turned so she wasn’t directly facing him, unsure of how to respond.
“So thank you. Thank you for being here.”
“You really are sweet, you know that? The little girl, showing these people how to keep themselves safe? I think you’re being more honest about helping as you go, not the sacrificial leader like you were on the ship. You were smiling with them, that kind of smile that comes from the heart.”
He sat on her words for a moment, and closed his eyes again. A warm smile crept up on his face, as he reminisced over the night’s events. “Yeah, I guess I was.”