Chapter 6
The Deliberations
“So, what’s next?”
Meredith’s feet came to a clipped stop upon the first steps into the town proper. Banging and clanking had resumed inside the garage, the only distinct sounds left in her hometown. However, Meredith only had attention to give to Emil, the boy folding his arms in expectation of an answer. Vivian quirked an eyebrow, curious, herself.
She wasn’t sure how to answer them, sucking in a breath and looking to the blue sky above.
“Moving forward is hard…”
“Tell me about it,” Vivian said, her cough hiding the sly smirk behind her hands. “You’re always so damn upbeat, but when you hit the ground, you hit the ground hard.”
“Yeah…I need to fix that,” Meredith said. A few clouds traveled over that azure surface. She wondered if Crea’s realm was what rested above that, the object of Marcus’s desires, no doubt having something to do with the reason he’d taken Eddie’s soul. She didn’t know for sure, but Vivian was right, and she knew she couldn’t live with the possibility of something knocking her down so far again. “There’s still a lot of this doubt in me, and pain…but I want to find a way that it won’t shut me down.”
“How do you plan to do that?” Emil asked. He was more pointed than before, though she thanked him for the brusque demeanor.
“Not sure. I’ve done nothing but think for the last month, and never arrived at any answers. What is a Guardian? What’s the Corps? Why am I always so scared when I face the Reap…Marcus?” Meredith breathed upwards, the damp strands of her hair not even moving. “Until now, the answers were pointless, if there were any. But Vivian, loathe as I am to admit it, you knocked one of them into me.”
“Ooh, so you owe me. Glad you know your place.”
“The Corps is the ideals we hold to as Guardians. What that means…I think that might be different for every one of us,” Meredith told them, ignoring Vivian’s usual barb. She turned to her friends. “To Marcus, it isn’t. It should be the same for everyone in the entire world. He doesn’t want to give us a choice, no matter how much he pretends otherwise.”
Vivian and Emil looked to one another, and they started to smile. Meredith felt embarrassed, rubbing behind her head. It felt like they were praising the fact that she had returned, but she didn’t feel that way at all. There was still so much weakness and fear inside of her that she wanted to get rid of it all. Not to mention, one of her major questions wasn’t answered. She didn’t feel worthy of acting as their leader. Vivian took it in stride.
“You’re right. He’s pretty adamant about forcing his opinion on everyone else. But what are you going to do about it?”
“Me? I want to find out what being a Guardian means to me,” she said. It was a simple statement, but one pushing her feet along the cobblestone to the Corps building where the three adults she knew best (aside from her parents) were gathered, taking a break from the raucous reunions inside. “I thought I did, but going on my journey, seeing Eddie find his own purpose, and then everything from the Games and after…it told me that I had no idea. I didn’t know what I was doing, and most Guardians didn’t. They looked at the trials as tasks instead of wanting to truly find and better themselves. I don’t want that for me. Not if I’m going to become the kind of Guardian he and everyone else would be proud of. The kind that’s unique to me alone.”
“You want to take the Trial of Enlightenment, don’t you, Childs?”
Meredith now stopped in front of the building, feeling the eyes of Amelia, Matthew and Clive upon her. The captain looked uncomfortable, having heard her entire statement and feeling the weight of his own failures as a Guardian. She smiled to him, the first genuine one in a while, and he took heart. Then she adopted her stern expression to address her commander.
“I do.”
“Well, then count me in,” Vivian added, slinging an arm around Meredith. She tried to remove the blonde from herself, but it didn’t work, subjecting her to the hideously toothy grin. “I wanted to be a Guardian, and that hasn’t changed. It’s still a trial I haven’t completed.”
“Guess that means I should go along,” Emil agreed, shrugging his shoulders. He was floating above the ground, but Meredith yanked him back down, waiting on Amelia’s answer.
The commander sighed. “The Corps as we knew it is gone…by all rights, the trials should be, too.”
“All the more reason for us to take it, commander.” Amelia frowned, her lips pursed, and then she came closer. Her eyes bored deep into Meredith’s. Nothing needed to be communicated. Meredith was resolute, the fire lit once again. Her commander smirked.
“Well, I guess you might be right. If it brings you upright, then there’s no harm in it. Goodness knows we can use more Guardians like that…” Amelia’s words betrayed the contents of her soul. The wish for a better Corps, with Guardians who didn’t pass by mere whims or self-serving desires, but an enduring flame that could lead the world into a new future. “All right, you’ve got yourself a trial, then. But first, it’s time to regroup. You in, Childs?”
The question was meant to be heavy, an extension of their hand to ask if she was entering back into the fight against Marcus and the Order that awaited. It probably should have been more difficult, or provided more hesitation in her current state, but Meredith knew the path before her. “I’m ready to fight.”
Amelia clapped her hands, the sound of wind rolling through the town like a crack of thunder. “Guardians, Lacardians, and everyone in between, gather round. We’re back in action!”
“Back in action, commander? Wasn’t aware we ever left it,” Jay said from the door, poking his head out. He was grinning like he’d heard the whole thing, and soon he fell, with Emily on top of him and the Lacardians dogpiling them moments after.
“Don’t be obtuse, Jarvis,” Emily said, slapping her compatriot. “The rest of you mind getting off? I’d prefer we have these important conversations indoors and on chairs.”
“Good suggestion, Emily. Better to be away from any prying eyes,” Amelia concurred. Meredith watched her commander turn on her heel, the bright smile reaching her eyes. It made her realize just how much her negative attitude had affected those around her. “Chop chop.”
“You realize we’re not Guar-ow! Felix, I get it!” Conrad yowled, being pulled further in the building by his friend. Meredith allowed a chuckle to escape her lips and she glanced to Matthew. He nodded, and everyone turned inside the Corps headquarters.
It was smaller than Meredith remembered, perhaps from the influx of those few survivors, or the fact that she’d grown up in the time since she’d last been inside. The place was most definitely livelier than she would have expected, with those that weren’t part of Tempest Squad completing some duties and running for the largest room in the base. Meredith followed them, with Emil and Vivian flanking her as they squeezed inside the room. Many were seated there, while Amelia was in the center, placing herself on the long table. Across from their trio was Victor Lacroix, and the not-too-happy Brynn. She did light up on seeing Meredith, the two girls exchanging nonverbal greetings as she touched her healed arm.
“As you’re aware, we failed in our first objective,” Amelia announced to the room. Whatever meaningless chatter had taken residence faded to silence. “The last month had us preparing to take Marcus, or at least a couple of his priests, out. We sowed the rumors of the Bow being back at Lacroix Manor, and waited. They took the bait, but due to…okay, technically foreseen circumstances, we failed in holding to it and I very much doubt we killed any of them.”
“You failed that badly?” Meredith asked from the corner of her mouth. She received a kick to the back of her leg from her snipe at Vivian.
“However, we gained a valuable piece of information, isn’t that right, Lacroix?” Victor lifted his head, but it was Vivian who stepped forward, asserting the dominance she’d taken from her father.
“Something’s wrong with Marcus.” With her declaration, Vivian turned to look right at Meredith. She instantly knew what it was.
“His soul?” There was a small nod, or a guess of one, at least. Meredith didn’t want to reach out with her own soul, for fear they might make contact. Still, she thought on the events she’d tried to forget, and they burned an indelible conclusion in her mind. Her hand reached up, touching to the scar on her cheek, fading a little, but still present. “His wound must have hurt, and he’s using the souls inside to patch it up…but that has to come at a cost, forcing so many souls to bend to your will. Even asking for the permission of your souls wasn’t enough to fully heal my wounds, so I can only imagine…”
“Either way, it provides us a distinct advantage we need moving forward, especially since we know they still don’t have the Abyssal Blade,” Amelia said. She had absorbed the information, crossing her legs and leaning back on the table. Her eyes traveled over every Guardian there, ascertaining their readiness for the next battle. “That puts us in a tight race, but one we still have a chance to win.”
“Then let’s stack the deck, yeah?” Emil now joined. He had grouped himself with the Lacardians, each of them smug and self-assured. “I think we have a few big advantages against Marcus that even he doesn’t realize. Beyond the ones you mentioned, of course.”
“Would these be the ones you’ve tried to talk with me about?” Meredith asked. Conrad winked in her direction, conveying that he knew all about what was going on. “That souls can be removed?”
“Returned is the way I’d put it,” Emil said. He seated himself on the back of one of the chairs, looking pointedly at her. Meredith felt just a bit uncomfortable by how many eyes were on her, but she was determined to listen through it. “I’m not talking about to a body, either, but to the world’s soul.”
“I don’t even know how you’d do that. I can’t touch Marcus’s soul,” she reminded him, and all of them. “If there’s one thing I learned about Soul Magic, it’s that I can’t touch other users of it. Or if I can, it would be at huge detriment to myself.”
“But you can touch other souls,” Matthew said in a rumble. He grunted from where he sat, hands locking in his survey of her. “Marcus has accrued a great many souls inside, including that of Eddie’s, yes? They’re all trapped inside there, and if what Miss Lacroix has said is true, they’re not a part of his soul.”
“So, I can…remove them…” The possibility was one she hadn’t really though she could consider. Yet the Montgomerys’ final request was louder than ever, asking her to save their son’s soul. Now, it almost seemed like she actually could, except… “I don’t know how to remove souls.”
“Rico does.” No one in the room liked hearing that. “You said it yourself, Mera. He uses Soul Magic the same as you, and his specialty was siphoning straight from them. I’d imagine he could use it to remove souls or teach you to do it.”
“You’re assuming he’d want to help us,” Vivian said, her disbelief manifesting in an extra scoff. Emil shrugged, but his suggestion was put out there. “And even if he did, Rico and his pathetic Renegades disappeared, remember? We’d be right back at square one, leaving the Abyssal Blade as our best option.”
“Not necessarily true,” Emily said from her corner. She was seated on a chair, Jay on the armrest as both shared the information. “I have to wonder if we just didn’t look close enough…or far enough.”
“Far enough? The whole world is closing in. There’s nowhere else to look.”
“What if there is?” Brynn’s question shifted the eyes to her. “I’m just a city girl, but…have we ever considered beyond the falls. Beyond the edge of the world?”
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“No one’s ever managed to go there, Brynn,” Meredith pointed out. Yet once their eyes locked, she could see the gleam surfacing in her friend’s eyes.
“No one that we know of. But of all the people in the world, there are just three soul-users currently alive, right?” Brynn began pacing, stopping in front of the remnants of Tempest Squad and scanning them for anything to corroborate her theory. “Maybe that’s the key, and maybe Rico cracked it.”
“It’s possible. Much is tied to souls in this world. Perhaps, with the instability that is likely in the world’s soul with the Weapons weakening, the path to beyond the falls can be linked to that, as well.”
“You’re probably right, Mr. Matthew,” Emily concurred. Every eye shuttled back and forth like a sports match, excited for the next piece of information revealed. “When we went to the Silacian Archipelago, it had been to a Renegade settlement, but there were more than just the ones we were involved in. Those islands are probably gone now, but so close to the edge…one has to wonder if Rico knew there was a way to get beyond.”
“It may still make him beyond our reach, you know,” Amelia interjected, reminding them of the sobering fact that they were speaking theory as opposed to fact. A disturbed and depressed silence fell at her reminder.
“It’s still a reach we can try to make, commander,” Emil spoke, quiet but firm in his resolution. “We’re on even footing when it comes to the Abyssal Blade, the only thing standing between Marcus and his insane vision, but he still has the upper hand. Even with the wounds he suffered and whatever is going on in his soul, he’s still beyond dangerous. He can take our souls at any time. Meredith and Rico are the only counter to that. Can we really pass on an opportunity here?”
Mutters returned, all in general agreement with Emil’s point. They were hanging to a thread of hope in what they could do. It felt like a longshot, and Meredith could see that plainer than anybody, but deep down, knowing who it could save, from Eddie to Silva to…her brother…she knew they had to try. Her attention was given to Amelia, the commander watching her in consideration as she deliberated the options in her head.
“Childs…can you find the Abyssal Blade for us right now?” Meredith didn’t need to think before she shook her head. “Can you find it if we found Rico?”
She hadn’t considered it. Too often had she been at odds with fellow soul-users. However, she chose to hold to the hope. “Maybe.”
Amelia sighed, running her fingers through her hair while she made her final decision. “All right then. The course is set. Taylor, Tempest Squad, I want you to confirm whether your theory is possible. Go to where you think they may be, and if you find anything, return to base. No open communication. We can’t risk Marcus’s people listening in. The rest of you, shore up defenses here, do whatever research you think you must. And you three…”
Meredith was joined by Vivian and Emil in acknowledging the commander. They knew exactly where they were heading, and before they knew it, the teens had pounded their fists against one another. Amelia cleared her throat, standing to her full height.
“As soon as we find Rico, assuming our plan of removing the souls from within Marcus can work, we’re going after the Weapons. If that part of the plan can be successful, maybe we can do something about those blasted things before Marcus can use them,” the commander ordered. The Guardians stood taller, saluting their commander, forcing even the Lacardians to snap to attention. “Victor, I’d hate to give you any responsibility, but you and Captain Clive will be in charge of protecting Lumarina in our absence. I’d hate to see it lose its reputation.”
Victor was fuming at the implication.
Amelia started to give more orders to the different pockets of Guardians, from what was left of Flare Squad to the few recruits that had gotten out with them. Meredith recognized one of them as the floating girl, nodding to every word the commander spoke. She found a smile coming to her face when she turned out of the room, only for a hand to pull her back.
“Heading out so soon without a word?” Brynn asked. Now that she was close up, Meredith realized that the girl wasn’t dressed in her usual Home Guard garb, but a more combat-ready traveler’s look, complete with some fine stitchery. “You’re looking better.”
“Getting there.” Brynn nodded, looking a little too pleased with herself as she placed her hands into the pockets on her skirt. That prompted Meredith to look around, realizing the girl was alone. “Your boys aren’t here?”
“In the Metropolis. The Home Guard is efficient, but I didn’t want to keep them away too long; not when we were doing a covert mission.”
“I’m glad you helped out at least.”
“Well, someone had to pick up the slack for a particular someone,” Brynn joked, knocking her shoulder against Meredith’s. A small giggle tore itself from Meredith’s lips. “But nah, we’re all the same team here, and whatever Marcus wants to do to the world’s soul…well, that affects all of us. Can’t sit by and let the Corps take all the credit.”
“Ha, very funny. Guess I won’t let the Home Guard muscle in on our turf, then.” They shared in that moment of peace and Brynn raised a hand, but lowered it.
“Glad you’re feeling better, then. See you when I get back.”
“Y-yeah…” Meredith said. The pink-haired girl flounced off to Tempest Squad and Meredith squared her shoulders. She had something more important ahead of her, and it gave vigor to her steps out the door.
Her parents were waiting, something held behind her mother, wrapped in cloth.
“Leaving on another adventure?”
“More like continuing one, dad. But I’ll be back soon as that part’s done, I promise,” Meredith said. She nearly tripped down the steps to them, hearing Emil and Vivian exiting behind her, but watching from afar. “I…Thanks, mom, dad.”
“You’re our daughter, Mera,” her mother said, the sunlight reflecting off her glasses, giving her an unnatural luminescence. “Even if your whole body is broken, or you sink or lose your way, we’ll look out for you. And that goes for your brother, fool that he is.”
“Ray…” Thoughts of her brother came back, and she didn’t need to search Vivian’s soul to know of what he’d done. The mistakes he’d made were apparent, and the memory of him turning his back to her was indelibly seared. He was lost in a fog of Marcus’s making, making him a pirouetting puppet to his whims, ideals be damned. Meredith looked down to her parents, her fist tight. “Mom. Dad. I promise, no matter what I find in the Trial of Enlightenment…no matter what waits beyond, I will come home, and I’ll bring Ray back with me. I’ll sock him in the face if I have to.”
“Spoken like a true sister and our daughter,” her father chortled, taking his daughter into a hug. “I’m glad you can see your path forward, and we’ll help you in any way we can.”
On this note, her mother stepped forward, taking the wrapped object into view and unveiling it. Meredith blinked and looked up. “Your old one is a bit beyond repair…but you’re not the old you, Mera. You’re stronger.”
“I don’t know about that, mom. I’m still…” Meredith’s lips tightened, but still she breathed out. “I still need to save myself. That’s what a friend told me, and I know it’s right. Once I have, maybe I’ll be a little stronger…at least enough to save Ray.”
“And knowing that is what makes you stronger, Meredith.”
Her mother was insistent, anyway, pushing the object to her, wrappings and all. Her father had disengaged, and Meredith took it in hand, along with the piece of paper inside it. More than paper, Meredith realized it was the photo of the day before Raymond left on his journey. It was her mother’s reminder of what she fought for, down to his smiling face, full of ideals, and of Eddie’s. She offered a wan smile at that.
Looking to the invisible dark sky in the west, Meredith steeled herself. It was time to find the answer to her question. Time for her to save herself and move forward.
With that in mind, Meredith took the hilt in hand and pressed the button to extend her new sword into the sky. She was ready.
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Night was eternal over the alchemic settlement, just as it had been many months ago when Meredith first paid a visit to the location and its darkened palace. Approaching by one of the smaller skyships they had (admittedly, one of only three that had been salvaged), Meredith could tell nothing had changed. The sky still grew darker and the stars revealed themselves to the naked eye. Mixed in with this was the sound of the falls, reminding her that there was no safety anywhere in the world at this point. The edge was coming for them, slowly but with certainty.
Meredith breathed in, and clasped to the new blade her parents had made her.
It was functionally similar to the first one she had ever owned: a tube which contained the links of the sword that extended and provided a rigid structure. The hilt was black now, with a silver button, and when she pressed it, her new weapon forming, it reflected all the sharpness it contained. Inside that blade, however, she felt more than a tool, but everything that was represented in her journey so far. She could feel the way in which she’d changed, and the friends by her side. Her parents’ love was also there, as was the memory of her brother’s back, far and away. Most of all, she felt in that blade the promise to bring her brother home, no matter what.
She turned her eyes back to the ominous palace, now visible. Its black turrets were obscured by the night, even the burning fires that surrounded it doing nothing to highlight its borders. Below, Meredith knew the true settlement was there, but she couldn’t ascertain its state, even if her vision allowed her to glimpse the gathering of souls there.
Nothing was inside the palace before them.
“Looks scarier than the last time we were here, believe it or not,” Emil commented. He was holding to a railing, his feet lifted off the ground before Vivian dragged him down.
“Scary or not, we’re doing this. Don’t chicken out, Emil.”
“I’d be more worried about you. You and daddy were having it out for the whole world to se-yow!” Vivian had stomped on the boy’s calf, and he retracted his statements. Meredith didn’t contribute to the conversation, preferring to watch the settlement whose details could now be discerned. The skyship started to lower.
“Would you look at that?” Vivian commented when they did so.
Meredith knew exactly what she was talking about. While the details of the Abyssal Palace were still unknowable from the fires and lights strung about the area, they could see so much more of the settlement. Homes were restored, and the simpler craftsmen were back at work. Had she not been here shortly after it had occurred, Meredith would have never known this place had been desecrated by the Beastmaster. It was back to normal now, and Meredith felt her heart skip.
Souls cannot be broken.
Terrill’s past lesson came to her with a smile, and she realized that was no truer than now. The alchemic settlement was back on its feet. Life had moved on.
The skyship jerked to a stop just outside the palace entrance. It beckoned.
Swallowing, Meredith pulled away from the edge and made her way to the ground. Vivian and Emil were both right with her, and waiting for them was Amelia, staring up at the palace with a certain sadness. Two other Guardians, members of the former Flare Squad, marched past to take position at the front, acting as security on the otherwise abandoned building.
“I’m guessing there are no more Guardians to protect this place,” Meredith said. Amelia wrinkled her nose, but nodded in answer.
“A large part of what we’d been doing was gathering what few forces we could, but many at the trial sites had fled…and Marcus had called in a great deal more to the castle. Leaves us a bit shorthanded.” Meredith said nothing further, walking past Amelia to the base of the steps that led into the blackened palace. The enormity of what she was about to attempt settled in her bones. “After this, we may be adding three more to our ranks. You’re sure about this, Childs?”
Without hesitation, Meredith turned back and answered, “Absolutely.”
“Then let’s waste no more time.” Amelia clapped her shoulder to take residence on the steps, herself. She faced the trio that awaited instruction, and her position allowed Meredith to take in the Abyssal Palace, its majesty on display. From the stained-glass windows up high, to its obsidian stone that refused to reveal its contents, Meredith could feel the power radiating from within. There was a magic core, she knew that much, but couldn’t possibly guess what that would mean for the trial ahead. So, she looked to Amelia for explanation. “This is the Trial of Enlightenment. Think of it as the end of the road for your journey before joining the Corps.”
“It sounds similar to the Trial of Self,” Vivian noted. “Any connection?”
“A vague one. Like many other trial sites, this stands where a magic core is,” Amelia explained. “In this case, a magic core of darkness. The Trial of Self didn’t have such things, but it was a very simple trial. Pass or fail. Live or die. This one is the same. You either succeed, or you do not.”
“And how is it we pass exactly?”
Amelia rubbed her hands together, piecing together the words to best answer Emil. It didn’t take her long to find the way to put it. “There’s an altar, deep within the palace, where the magic core rests. That is the end goal you must reach. Of course, it only seems that simple on the surface but…the palace is wily. Darkness, regret, pain, suffering…it has absorbed so many of those negative emotions over the centuries that it will test you with them. It doesn’t want you to reach its heart. Its soul, you could say, Childs.”
“I get it…” Vivian said. A mirthless chuckle escaped her lips. “We have to reach this altar, but the palace will try to stop us by hitting us with every negative thing we’ve ever felt in our lives, and the only way out of it…”
“Is to be enlightened.”
“Sounds like something that would change a Guardian’s mindset forever,” Emil said. He was looking at Amelia, the woman shaking her head. “Guess they all took the wrong message?”
“Who could say…? Perhaps we all have an inherently selfish nature, and those who looked at the Corps as a means to an end for their cushy lives had nothing to take away. I know that even for myself, I had to question why it was even a trial. I had no regrets…” Amelia paused, trying to smile but failing to. “Goodness knows I have a great many now.”
“How will you know if we’ve passed?” Meredith chose to ask, breaking up her commander’s reminiscence. At her question, Amelia managed to smile, though the teens saw it as more of a horrifying smirk.
“It’ll be enlightened.”
Ambiguous wording aside, Meredith took her statement as a final directive. It was time to enter.
The commander moved out of the way, allowing the trio to make their way up the stairs. The Guardians watched them go, silent prayers in their souls for survival and success. Meredith refused to waver, even if she looked back to both. Upon reaching the door, she stared out over the repaired settlement, and her soul stirred. Damaged, but not broken. Nothing was lost. She nodded, and the three stepped over into the hall beyond.
Immediately, it felt like they were doused in the oppressive darkness, more than there had ever been before. She couldn’t remember the same feeling last time, but her nerves steeled themselves, and Meredith stepped forward. “Let’s do this.”
“Into the abyss.”
“Hey, you think the name has a connection to the Weapon?”
“If there was a connection, the settlers or Mera would have found it a long time ago. Don’t be an idiot, Emil.”
“How about you not be so-”
SLAM!
The three teens whipped around, eyes widening at the sight of the door to the palace, ever-open, slamming shut and locking them in. Silence proliferated the halls, and it was a sure sign that the trial had officially begun. The blue flames on the wall flickered, as if with a draft, beckoning them inward, inviting their test. There was no turning back.
“Come on.” Meredith led them forward, deep into the abyss.