Remus hadn’t felt so angry since his showdown with the Supreme Fiend.
The power radiated from him with enough force to incinerate anything he laid his hands on. Unfortunately for Ash, that would be him.
His hands glowing pure white, he grasped the man once more, and this time, Remus didn’t intend on letting go.
Together they went tumbling for miles, rolling across the ground, mud splattering in the air, ears popping and skin chafing. After what felt like a minute of pure, mad scrambling, Remus’ feet found ground, and, still holding on tight to Ash, he threw the boy ahead of him.
The last of his strength was focused into his arms, every muscle fibre pushed to its limit as he threw with the intent to kill. Koa’s brother or not, Remus had seen what had happened when Koa hesitated. He couldn’t make the same mistake.
Ash smashed into the ground metres away, a crater forming with him as its centre. Wind blasted off, and before Remus could see what was left of his opponent, he fell to his knees in a coughing fit.
Gods above, this fight had only been five minutes at most, and nearly all of Remus’ reserves were gone. But luckily for him, Ash couldn’t be in much better shape either.
One thing was for certain: Ash was a far weaker Right-bearer than any Remus had previously encountered. Remus was alarmingly strong for his Rank, but Ash couldn’t have been too high up the Divine Ranks for Remus to be so easily subduing him. Enhanced by Enos or not.
When Remus noticed he was leaving a trail of Ichor in his wake, he had to reconsider how easy this fight had really been.
After stumbling to a stop, Remus looked down at Ash.
If Remus’ Ichor was overflowing, Ash’s body had more gold outside than in.
Remus pinpointed all of his remaining power into his finger. A wick of blue fire danced there, swirling and swirling until it seared a fiery white. He pointed it towards Ash’s forehead, fully believing that, with any passing second, he would take the young boy’s life.
Life: It could be the most fickle thing of all. Ash’s existence erased with but one release of power. One flare of his Mark.
One more time, Remus looked into Ash’s eyes.
His stomach twisted as colour returned to them. He blinked, and that expression of confusion . . . Remus bit his lip in frustration. This didn’t feel right. This was a child.
No. This is just another one of Enos' servants now. It’s unfortunate, but you can’t let someone like this out into the world. Remus took a deep breath. This would be so much easier if his leg would just stop shaking.
“What is-” Ash’s words, sounding alarmingly like the lackadaisical self Remus knew him to be, were swiftly cut off. Remus blinked, and a darkness seemed to leak into Ash’s eyes.
Lips parted, and a voice that did not belong to Ash spoke.
“Shoot the boy.”
Remus stumbled back.
“What Remus, were you intending to do something else with an attack at the ready? Don’t try to tell me you summoned that blow just for fun.”
“Who are you? Are you-”
“Enos? The Orginiator? Bah, what difference does it make? You have a job to do whatever the case. Shoot. The. Boy.”
Remus blinked. He scratched his side. He looked away. He did everything but acknowledge the reality confronting him.
Step by step, he backed away.
“Ash isn’t going to get any weaker, you’re aware of that?” Enos’ voice was so piercing, each word like a knife pressed against Remus’ skin. “He will only continue to acquire more of my power. You may be strong enough to best him now, but in the future?”
Enos barked in laughter. Praise Infinity, what was it with all of Remus’ enemies suffering from insanity? Maybe that was a trait innate to the Unbounded. As natural to them as destruction was to the gods.
“This boy will become strong enough to topple nations.”
“You’re bluffing.”
Enos smiled, using Ash’s face like it was a mask of flesh. “Make your choice.”
Remus' hands shook one time too many. He cursed under his breath, lowered his finger, and let the power nesting there disperse. Seconds before he sprinted back to the others, failing miserably to block out the outside world.
----------------------------------------
The scene at the table held a much different tone, the second time around.
As soon as Remus had found Koa, Octavia, and the Feast Clansmen, who were wise enough to hide away from the battle at the nearest opportunity, Octavia led them into the spiderweb castle. Koa was unconscious the entire time, and as soon as they arrived at the entrance of the base, two Arachnid clansmen had pulled Koa onto a gurney, and rushed out of sight.
Now they sat by his hospital bed, stale coffee the only thing keeping Remus awake. There were a few awkward minutes where Remus could imagine about five hundred places he’d rather be, as he did his best to recount the madness he’d just experienced. He didn’t even have time to appreciate the impossible architecture of the place. The fact that only silk thread was keeping the tens of floors from crashing down upon them, was one fact too many for his boggled mind.
“So Enos has control over my brother.”
Remus jolted at the words. “How long have you been awake?”
Koa sounded groggy, and understandably so. “Long enough to hear what happened. Space? Really?”
“Space.” Remus confirmed. “I really thought I was going to . . .” Remus took another sip of his caffeine, the chemical fighting an internal war to keep him awake. “ . . . die there.”
There was an uneasy silence.
“I’m not sure if you made the right choice or not.” Koa’s words were like ghosts, and Remus was sure they would haunt him for a long time. “And that’s what scares me.”
“Can we save him?” Octavia asked.
“This seems like uncharted territory.” Barley looked at the ground at his feet. “Gods, we should report this.”
“We’re sending messengers as we speak to every major city. Aside from First Rite of course, but I’m sure a few God-Graced would have already sensed the battle.”
“We need to kill Enos.” Remus gritted his teeth. “But if that’s an obstacle even the gods are struggling with, I don’t have the faintest idea how it can be done.”
At that moment, there was a knock at the door of their room.
A clansmen neither Koa nor Octavia seemed to recognise stood gawkily at the door, holding an envelope tightly in both hands. “Apologies for interrupting. I was instructed to give you this as soon as possible, Master Koa.”
Koa received the letter with suspicion. “Thank you.”
The girl was gone as fast as she had arrived.
Watching him open the envelope, Remus could tell it was a page from a newspaper. The memory of certain articles made Remus' palms sweat.
“Remus.” Koa swallowed, and Remus did not like the look on his face. Not one bit. “You want to see this.”
Like a man dragged to his execution, Remus walked over to Koa. The first thing his eyes landed on was Violet’s name. His heart twisted in his chest.
“What?” He put the newspaper down, immediately setting himself to pacing around the room. All that caffeine he had downed hit him all at once. “What the hell? What the hell?”
Clove stared at him with obvious intrigue.
“It’s Violet. She’s killed Nova.”
No wonder Enos was willing to pull a move as wild as giving a teenage, human boy a Divine Right. Remus should have been happy for Violet, overjoyed, but he couldn’t process the news. During that Rebirth, committed to menial tasks in Eclipse . . . Violet had become like a myth to Remus. A figment of his imagination he’d occasionally obsess over, but who, ultimately, had no hold on his reality. After all, he didn’t think that their lives would ever intertwine again. She was as real to him as anything his mind conjured.
“Apparently she’s been working under Maris, with Veida, as part of her criminal service. Looks like they finally made a breakthrough.”
Octavia looked at Remus strangely. Her question ran laps around Remus’ head. His thoughts were like kids playing in the burning playground of his mind.
Do you love her?
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Gods, he needed to sleep.
“Remus.” Koa’s voice caught his attention. “If I agree to join your rebellion, will you promise to help save my brother?”
The hairs on the back of Remus’ neck stood up. Had he heard him correctly? “I couldn’t possibly ask you to do that.”
“Are you insane?” Octavia interjected. “I know you’ve just had a bad fight, but did Ash hit your head?”
“Octavia, please. Everyone won’t care that the newest Right-bearer is my brother. They’ll only care that Enos has another servant; a new pawn to play with. A servant they’ll kill if given the chance. My brother may have lost his way, but he doesn’t deserve to die.”
Remus recalled the nasty direction his own train of thought had been chugging along to during that fight with Ash. His guilt was evidence enough that the words were true.
“Who's to say we can even bring him back, Koa? You’re injured, and Ash could fly back here to attack any time. You need to stay here.”
“I’ll stay for the rest of the Duration, enough time to report to any God-Graced that come here looking for answers. Besides, my injuries are cuts and bruises at best. I’ll recover within the next day or two. In the meantime, Remus can gather troops from Beckett’s army. They’ve been pretty bored as of late.”
“I don’t know how to feel about this.” Remus mumbled. In theory, this should have been spectacular news, but something didn’t sit right with Remus. “I know I originally came here looking for your help, but after what’s happened, after I’ve had some time to think, I’m not so sure anymore. I don’t want our friendship to be purely transactional. I’m sorry if I’ve made it seem that way, as of late. We’ll be focused on returning order to First Rite, and I couldn’t sleep at night knowing I was keeping you away from dealing with your own kin. I know more than anyone the importance of family.”
Koa smiled warmly, but Remus could only focus on the litany of cuts scattered across his face.
“For once Koa, I’d have to agree with your friend.” Octavia sighed. “But I know by that look on your face that you’re being insistent. If you’re going, I’m going too.”
“No.” Koa immediately countered. “No.”
“You can’t make my decisions for me.” Octavia scowled. “What do you want me to do? Sit here placidly after all that’s happened today, while my husband travels across the globe? No.” Octavia shot Remus with an icy glare. “I’m joining.”
Remus looked to and fro, between Koa and Octavia’s awaiting expressions. Had either of them listened to a thing he’d just said? “Guys, I don’t know about this.”
“Remus. If we join, do you promise to do everything in your power to save my brother?” Koa’s words suddenly gained a lick of authority. “In exchange, I, Koa, honourable ambassador of the Wild goddess Chantal, vow to do everything in my power in exchange, to help your fight against the tyrant Damosh.”
The covers of Koa’s bed trembled, the wooden material of its legs beginning to shake uncontrollably. It only took Remus a single breath to realise what was happening. He was making an Oath. Remus hadn’t done such a thing since his first meeting with Maris. Indecision bled into his heart.
As the walls of their room began to shake, Octavia, Barley, Clove, and Tess all looked on to Remus, their faces aghast.
Making an Oath was no small endeavour. If they both did this, there was no going back. The pair of them would have to go ahead with their campaign to save Ash and take down Damosh, even if they were to perish in the process. It was do or die.
But what other choice was there? It wasn’t like Remus would back down now. No-one around them seemed to object. He looked to Octavia, who, after a second’s indecision, nodded hesitantly. He had her consent.
“I, Remus of the Carpentry and Ambition Clan, honourable ambassador of Tanish and Arcus, agree to all conditions.”
Some invisible presence pulled behind Remus’ naval, and his entire body flinched. There, he thought he could feel the confines of the Oath, like a chain tied around his very spirit. If he focused . . . the last Oath he had made with Maris sat there like an old friend. Memories of the conditions he’d been tied down with floated across his mind. He had agreed to assist Maris against the Frost Clan, and reveal all he knew about Nova.
But no, it was more complicated than that. He had vowed to fulfil any request Maris asked of him. Surely that had been a one-time, done-deal?
Remus frowned. If that was the case . . . why was the Oath still binding his spirit? He put the matter aside for the time being.
Koa leaned up out of his hospital bed, and with that smile of bravery somehow still on his lips, shook hands with Remus.
Octavia scoffed. “You’re both mad.”
Koa shared his smile with her. “You wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Remus stood by a window, looking out into the gloom. It was so late out, so dark in a way words struggled to define, that he couldn’t even see his own reflection.
Clove came to his side, the others all busy with their own conversations. He appeared more sober than he had ever been. “What are you thinking about?”
“I’m thinking . . . “ Remus thought he could see a series of barracks through that impossible dark, if he tried hard enough. “That I’ve got to give quite the speech tomorrow.”
----------------------------------------
Remus could not have asked for a better audience than Beckett’s army.
“We will watch by the sidelines no longer!”
A clamorous cheer threatened to deafen anyone in the immediate vicinity.
“We will not stand idle as Damosh slaughters our families!”
Remus was sure the very foundations of the building must have been shaking. He surged power into his Mark, causing the deep blue of his eyes to brighten, so as to be the most powerful light source in the room.
He had purposely kept only a few torches lit for that very purpose. Now, his eyes, and his eyes alone, would be the sole object of attention. The few hundred or so men gathered there all looked on with awe.
Remus had always struggled with public speaking. But this? This was more fun than he had experienced in aeons. Finally, purpose reinvigorated every cell in Remus’ body, the very Oath binding his soul seeming to approve. Well, one of the two, anyway.
“Damosh’s days as King are numbered!”
The loudest cheer yet.
Remus allowed silence to envelope the room, catching his breath as his chest visibly rose and fell with each inhale and exhale. Affronting a normal tone, he bowed. “I would greatly appreciate it, if you considered joining the Talents of the Future.”
He left the room in chaos.
Backstage, Koa handed him a cup of water. The Feast Clansmen were practically bursting with excitement. “That was amazing!”
Koa raised an eyebrow. “When I told you to have a talk with my boys, I wasn’t expecting that. They sound ready for war.”
A frenzy of excited screams only punctuated Koa’s comment.
Remus laughed, feeling as light as a feather. “You don’t approve?”
“Oh, I certainly do. I won't be surprised if your numbers increase by a few hundred. I might even add a limit on how many can join. We can’t leave Territory Two undefended.”
The fact that was even a possibility only brightened up Remus’ day. He had been twisting and turning in bed all last night, wondering if that Oath had been one idiotic mistake too many. But this was just the thing he needed, to prove to himself that things could work out.
“That speech really did a number on me. I’ll be outside getting some fresh air if anyone needs me.”
They all nodded, and as Remus left the massive hall through the back-exit, Barley patted his shoulder for a job well done.
Outside was an odd contrast to the equivalent of a rock concert that was happening inside. Remus’ hands were still clammy from his initial nerves, but thank the gods, events could not have played out any more to his advantage.
It had been a few days since the attack. Koa had recovered within a day, and, by some miracle, no-one had been permanently injured or killed. Thanks to quick-thinking, the Arachnid Sect had evacuated the area as soon as they had sensed Ash’s approaching power, and seen the incoming meteorites.
They would be departing any day now. Koa and Octavia simply had some affairs to deal with back at the Insect and Arachnid Clans, but things seemed to be operating as smoothly as they could be, after the disaster that last year had been.
It was beginning to rain. Remus perched himself on a rock that protruded out of the ground, appreciating the moment of triumph as best he could. He had learned to appreciate all spells of weather. Even the rain. A little heat from his Mark was enough to get rid of any uncomfortable cold, and the gentle paint-brush sound appeased the most unruly sides of him.
He closed his eyes, and focused.
He knew the theory behind advancing to Vanguard with as much detail as any of his regular techniques. It was the one path for reaching Splintered Rank that didn’t involve sacrificing either your Boundless Vault, or your Mark. And after working so tirelessly to cultivate either, Remus wasn’t going to give one of them up so easily.
A Boundless Mark. The divine construct he longed for so deeply. Only a few things in this world sounded more appealing. Damosh’s head, the prosperity of the Carpentry and Ambition Clans. Violet. He shook his head with enough force to make that last thought go away.
His current Mark now, depicting Tanish in a showdown against the Fire god, Ashbel, would be coloured the shade of Infinity itself.
He smiled at the thought, the prospect igniting a fire in his heart that warmed him despite the incessant downpour. Then Remus scowled, upon recalling the difficulty such a task posed.
Barley's gentle nudge still bothered him. Was the old man right? Were his emotions the problem?
As much as he was inclined to deny the likelihood of something so simple being the root cause . . . perhaps Barley was onto something. The last year had been round after round of emotional turmoil. Even now, he wasn’t completely over it. He still wept at night, as much as he tried to muffle the sounds with his pillow, at the memory of his late grandfather. Not every night, but often enough that it was a regular occurrence.
If only he had been faster to arrive at the scene, or stronger. If only a thousand tiny little things had gone differently, he would have been able to save the man. Remus wanted to scream with frustration. Now he was finally on the precipice of marching up the Divine Ranks again, to acquire the additional strength he so desperately needed back then, and it was memories, of all things, that was inhibiting his ascent.
The rainfall no longer seemed so calming.
Remus took a deep breath, returning focus once more to his Vault and Mark. With the attention of a monk, he let everything else that made up this world slip away. There was no water slapping him in the face, the breeze screaming all around silenced, and even the constant sensation of his own body fell apart.
Just him, his thin wisp of awareness, and two heavensent constructs.
Taking one year to ascend to a Rank as high as Splintered was not strange in the slightest. If not for Remus’ impossible track record, there would have been no reason for him to be so enraged, so irked beyond reasonable sense. But he had defied the odds countless times before, done things he should never have been able to do. Scaled summits that made him feel sick just imagining the peak.
No. He would not settle for above average, or even greatness.
The man who would kill Damosh would have to be something else altogether. An anomaly unlike anything the world had seen.
Emotion. He felt it ebbing within him, sinking into his focus like corrosive fangs.
His attention on his Mark was slipping.
One deep breath, two deep breaths.
His anger dispersed like grains of sand, swept away by the wind.
Without a single thought in his head, Remus began to command his Mark and Vault. At first, there was no noticeable change. But Remus would not let despair reach him. Both constructs felt different to his awareness: alert.
Slowly, the distance so small, it was hard to gauge if he was simply imagining it, Mark and Vault alike crept closer to each other.
As if there was no more auspicious moment than now to interrupt him, the equivalent of a brick wall collided with Remus’ senses.
Remus’ eyes snapped open, and Mark flaring into being, blue fire encased his form.
His body had never felt more primed for a fight. And an ugly one at that.
“Is that any way to regard an old friend?”
Remus blinked. Then he blinked again, just for good measure. That binding on his soul tightened, and the origin of the rainwater sticking his ginger locks together became apparent.
Maris.
“Long time no see.” She bared her shark teeth at him eagerly.