Chapter 25 - An Embrace of Control

Wide-eyed, Adam stroked his hands through his hair, struggling to process everything that happened around him. His mind raced for an explanation, a reason to let it all make sense. What… how can this be? Why is this happening to us?

In the distance, a young Adam looked out over the walls of the fortress. He didn’t have a beard yet and his long brown hair flowed in the wind. He was lean, muscular, and looked powerful in his brown wraith-leather armour: a man in his prime. The young Adam wasn’t wearing bracers yet; the skin on his wrists was still unscarred. Although he stood too far away, Adam knew his eyes still had their trusted sheen of brown at that time.

Among most soldiers in the fortress, the fear was palpable. People prayed and prayed, feverishly kissing their silvered holy rings or whispering to little figures on their necklaces. Others stared blankly into the distance, looking like they might throw up. However, the young Adam yawned and stretched his legs, warming up his muscles. Like an oasis of calm amongst them, he looked relaxed and clearly eager to fight. A little impatient, even. He pointed at the approaching army of the Pure and smiled at someone beside him.

The old Adam gaped; the female warrior who had attacked them within the pyramid stood beside his young self, although he could’ve sworn he had never seen her before. Compared to the version they had faced at the time, she seemed young and fresh. Her armour was clean and she still had both her arms. She also lacked the mysterious chains that had been wrapped around her other version’s torso. Unharmed and just as relaxed as the young Adam, the warrior laughed and stretched out both her arms.

“So, Adam,” Emily said, biting off every word with rage. “Very kind to point out that is you indeed, you fell-handed liar. Mind sharing the jokes you’ve told that warrior over there? You know, the one who nearly killed us and who you claimed to ‘have never met before?’ ”

Adam was lost for words. “I don’t—”

“That can wait!” Oliver interrupted brusquely. “How can we be here?”

Emily turned away from Adam. “This reminds me of theatre plays in which they travel through time.”

Adam shook his head. “Time travel has never been possible.”

Emily raised her hands in the air in frustration. “Oh no! Things that aren’t supposed to be possible! Well, those certainly aren’t happening every damn day around here!”

Broad columns of purple light appeared at multiple places around the walls. In each column, a translucent image of the Prophet’s face was projected at the same time. A sophisticated-looking old man with neat white hair, a moustache, and high cheekbones. He managed to combine a friendly, fatherly smile with the unmistakable shine of command in his white eyes.

“My children,” the Prophet’s deep voice echoed throughout the fortress for all to hear. “I am not angry with you, for you all are merely confused and misled. Fear not. There is still hope, warmth, and forgiveness for those willing to listen.”

Although Adam and many others knew the Prophet wasn’t present on this battlefield, the projection alone was enough to stir the soldiers. Some panicked, others squeezed their eyes shut or put fingers in their ears, and some looked at the projections with awe.

“Under the commands of your egocentric, incapable leaders, you crawl through the dirt,” the Prophet continued. “You’re forced to live a life of regret, guilt, and suffering, and you’re expected to die for those who never cared about you. You suffer, you always have, through the consequences of actions of others and your own.” The prophet smiled sadly. “You don’t deserve this. And those ‘priests’ dare to expect you to thank Aves? Some Greater Being who falsely proclaimed himself to be a ‘god?’ How come you have to suffer, when He’s supposed to be so loving toward his followers?”

Oliver shivered, a bitter frown on his face. “I’d never thought I had to hear his filth once again.”

Adam nodded grimly. “Nor had I.”

“—allow me to help you, to save you, and give you the happy life you’ve always deserved,” the Prophet continued. “Allow me to free you from the lonely burden of difficult, painful choices. Allow me to guide you, to give you the life you were always supposed to have. Join me, in the embrace of love and unity of all who have joined together as One.” The Prophet looked stern, although a hint of sadness was still visible in his eyes. “However, I cannot save those who cling to their lies and resist the inevitable Truth. Shadows and evil must yield to everlasting light. And so, I shall remove the defiled until only the righteous remain. Until all who breathe are Pure.”

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As the columns of purple light disappeared, wildly enthusiastic cheering erupted from the Pure’s army. They sang and sighed in the utter bliss of eternal happiness.

Adam curled his lips with disgust, he remembered all too clearly what the Pure had done to those who disagreed with their ‘truth.’ “In the years after the war, have they found a way to change those who joined the Pure back to normal?”

Emily looked grimly back at him before she turned away again. Oh, right, their mother.

“Many have tried,” Oliver said monotonously. “They’ve never been able to return even a trace of their old personality.”

Adam rose, thinking about what they should do.

“Oh, look!” Emily said, pointing behind them. On the roof, strangely out of place in the fortress, was a familiar goldish-green spiral. Emily looked at it with relief and nodded. “That should be the way back to the Node! Let’s get out of here before the battle begins.”

After the initial shock had passed, Adam’s mind started to work again. He shook his head. “Not yet. I know someone around here who has some explaining to do; Caine was in this battle. That statue on the pyramid? I remember now; he was tasked to guard Agatha the Red in a tower. No wonder we didn’t recognize her at first, she changed quite a bit before she founded the Penduli and became known as the Queen of Glass.”

Emily gasped.

Oliver raised his eyebrows and snapped his fingers. “Agatha, of course! Maybe Caine conspired with her to form the Penduli, as far back as this battle! Time to pay those pieces of filth a visit.”

“Guys! Think for a second!” Emily said. “By the night, we’re in a siege of the Pure! We should get out while we still can!” Huh, odd, she’s not one to back away easily.

Oliver shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not much safer back there.”

“Who knows when we’ll get a chance like this again!” Adam said. “Caine should be right here. We’re not sure if he’s at the centre of that Node network and he might be guarded by hundreds of giants for all we know!”

Emily angrily pressed her fists into her sides. “So you want to take on the Queen of Glass at her prime with Caine? I didn’t know your death-whish was that urgent!”

“Getting cold feet, eh?” Adam laughed. “No, a straight-up fight would be our end, but we can check if we can catch Caine separately or off guard. Also, we might gather useful intel.”

Emily opened her mouth a couple of times as if she wanted to say something, thought for a bit, then nodded stiffly.

Adam looked out over the large fortress. Eulenschloss was built roughly like a semicircle, with the straight wall built against the mountainside to the east. The long curved wall faced the mountain pass outside. Adam, Emily, and Oliver stood on a barracks near the western edge of the fortress, while the tower where Caine guarded Agatha was near the eastern wall.

Adam pointed in the distance. “There it is, next to the main keep of the fortress.”

Oliver squinted at it. “So, how are you planning to get us past all the guards and soldiers?”

“I remember where the troops were placed.” Adam laughed grimly. “I guess being haunted by traumatic memories has its advantages now and then.” He studied the advancing army and the fortress for a moment. “The only way is near the southern wall where we can slip through in the chaos. Problem is, the Pure will get there soon.”

Adam, Emily, and Oliver sneaked over the rooftops, making their way to the southern wall.

“The Pure will focus on taking the walls to let their troops through,” Adam whispered as they hid behind a wall. A guarding Talon of Aves passed by in the distance. “They’ll hit the towers and the troops with trebuchets and long-range invocations.” Huh, nice to actually know what’s going to happen on some chaotic battlefield, for once. “Catapults will throw in specialized elite units as well, to cause chaos among our forces. Once they’ve ‘softened us up,’ their ranged weapons will focus on taking down targets like our ballistae. Their battering ram will go for the fortress gate. Pure infantry will try and take the walls with ladders and siege towers.”

“This is bizarre,” Oliver whispered. “Knowing what’s going to happen… you almost sound like one of those crazy ‘fortune tellers’ in trade caravans.”

Adam chuckled. “One of those predicted I’d have a long, calm life with a steady, administrative job in the city. With a big house and a loyal, loving wife. I really am on the right track, don’t you think?” Adam asked as panicking soldiers from the past rushed by below them, massive ballistae were readied, and the Pure prepared their siege weapons to rain death on everyone in the vicinity.

“Undoubtedly,” Oliver deadpanned.

A melancholic melody of trumpets sounded from the Pure army. The signal that their long-range weapons were almost ready; the final warning to surrender.

While running over the rooftops, Emily looked out over the massive number of soldiers outside the walls. “How did you survive this?”

“A surprise attack from the rear.” Adam pointed toward the exit of the mountain pass, in the distance behind the Pure. “Zachalynn is leading two regiments of heavy cavalry. She’ll wait until the Pure are fully committed to the walls before she charges in. The Pure have their siege weapons at the back of the army so they’ll fall first. Then, the rest of the Pure are trapped like rats between the walls and Zachalynn’s troops.”

Oliver shook his head. “Hard to believe this is the same woman. One day she’s just our Novaseering teacher, the other a war hero, and then the leader of the Starwing Order.

“People sure change,” Adam said with a grim frown. “Weren’t you quite fond of her?”

Oliver huffed and raised a finger. “Were, past tense indeed. And to be fair, she used to be an excellent teacher: precise, effortless authority over her students, and more knowledge and experience than all our other instructors combined.”

Emily scrunched up her face sourly. “Pff, I’ve met bricks with more flexibility though. I got hours and hours of gestures practice in detention for ‘lack of motivation.’ She just hated that I refused to take off my gloves. And she expected the same damn results from me as from Caine! Anything remotely resembling an ‘anomaly’ was punished, I guess that’s one trait of hers that stayed the same.”

Oliver sighed sadly. “Painfully true. It’s just… how can someone who did so much good turn out so wrong?”