Old Friend

  “Okay, I swear the note says it’s here.”

  “Faris, this is a park.”

  “Maybe…we’re just not seeing it.”

  “Faris, this is a park.”

  “Okay, I may only have one functioning eye, but I swear to the Earth Mother, I’ll pull off this eyepatch and tell you it’s supposed to be here.”

  “How about you—”

  “They say it…Second, no? Is this Second or Third? Maybe we make wrong turn?”

  “Here, give me that.” Theo snatched Faris’s piece of paper to scrutinize the scribbles for himself.

  “It’s going to say the same thing,” grumbled the caster, sticking his hands into his pockets with an emphatic sigh.

  Faris had uttered no lies, the only thing on the paper being 6L2Q #59, Second Quarter Bookery. The dogged dignitary and awkward Ancient hadn’t even asked for a map.

  He recalled the hexagonal city in his mind. The palace in the center, the rows of main streets ‘Loops’, the columns separating each of the six equal segments ‘Quarters’. They had walked down the main street, which was considered the First Quarter, and then counted six roads down before making a left. Going counterclockwise, not having hit another main street yet, that would put them…

  “You’re—it goes counterclockwise. If we went down the First Loop and made a left, then we’re in the First Quarter. We still have to keep going, you fool,” groaned Theo, waving the piece of paper in front of his classmate’s face.

  “Okay, okay, okay,” muttered Faris, grabbing back the piece of paper as he turned away from the park and continued walking.

  Immediately feeling bad for calling Faris a fool, the class lead jogged up to walk alongside his sulking classmate. “It’s okay, we’ve still got time.”

  “My directions not so good, either. Theo is just too good,” chimed in Darius to placate the surly Faris as well. “Whenever I go visit other sanctuary, I get lost lots. Only one I know how to go back to easily is Hythe.” He laughed lightheartedly. “Go straight up from Academy! Very easy, compared to hidden ones like Anasot. You would think, being so old, I would remember better! This is simple mistake, no harm at all.”

  As they continued walking down the silent street, Theo took some time to admire the houses. So many of them were tall, and some even had storefronts on the ground level and living quarters up top. It was not a sight he had seen often, not even back in Syarktos. Most buildings didn’t go past four or five stories, and save for the main streets, homes were built somewhat far apart, never so cramped.

  “Oh, there’s the next Quarter,” Faris pointed out when an opening for the next street came into view.

  Theo nodded and glanced behind them, noticing that there weren’t as many people around anymore. Magic and spell-candles weren’t permitted, so it was probably not commonplace to stay outdoors too late. “Once we cross to the other side, we’ll be in the Second Quarter. Number 59?”

  “Yup.”

  Glad that they were almost at their destination, especially because it was getting late, Theo did a final cursory glance around them as they walked up to the Second Quarter.

  “You didn’t even let me get the detoxifying agent!”

  That voice. I recognize that voice.

  “That’s because we have some at home.”

  And then he stopped entirely, followed by his classmates.

  Two shadowy figures, walking side by side. One a head taller than the older one beside them, who was almost their spitting image. Both holding big brown paper bags in their arms, facing each other as they conversed.

  “It wasn’t even that expensive. I could have paid for it.”

  “That’s not the issue, come on now.”

  “But I wanted to bring some along with me to…”

  One figure stopped, and so did their companion.

  “To…to…”

  There was no mistaking it.

  “Cyril,” uttered Theo.

  Their ex-healer couldn’t believe his eyes, rooted to the spot as his intense stare darted from the tactician to the weaponsmith and then to the caster.

  “Who might these—”

  “Dad, could you give me a moment? I’ll meet back up with you at home.”

  Not prying, Cyril’s father shifted his bag over to one arm and held out his other arm to his son. “Let me take this from you, then.”

  “Thanks.”

  When it was just the four students, Cyril made the first step, tone hostile as he honed in on Theo. “What are you doing here?”

  “It’s been a few months,” replied Theo calmly, trying to quell the rage that was emanating from his former classmate. “It’s good to see you.”

  “I asked you what you’re doing here. Did Kor and Sel let you in?”

  “They did. What happened, Cyril?”

  But Cyril’s mind was made up, a distasteful, almost disgusted frown plastered on his face. “I refuse to play along with a murderer, no matter how righteous they think their actions may be. It’s not normal. And I don’t think you should, either.” He glowered at Faris, who was casually leaning against the first building down the alleyway with a downcast, indifferent look. “Least of all you, Faris. Or have you forgotten what happened in Cephelia?”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “I’m not here against my will,” Faris answered without hesitation, meeting his frigid stare with his own.

  Cyril shook his head again in disbelief, shifting his attention back to Theo. “She’s brainwashed you all into thinking that what she’s doing is justified. Where is she, anyway? Too afraid to show her face?”

  “She’s gone now.” He could hear his own words leaving his mouth—they were surprisingly unaffected, though he could feel his weak smile beginning to falter. “I’m not going to say that it was right for her to kill those people, but I know she had a reason for doing it, and I stand by her.”

  “Good riddance.” The royal’s expression contorted from anger into disgust. And then, just as he looked like he was about to say something else, his eyes glossed over, and he faltered. The disgust turned into dejection.

  “What have you been doing?” asked Theo kindly.

  “I…I’m back for a while. I heard the news about MATS and the Academy. All the chaos. I originally came back to lie low, but I’m heading back out soon. I’ve been traveling as a healer for MATS.” He lowered his eyes. “Can’t be part of a group because I didn’t graduate or anything, but I’m happy doing this. I’m happy not to be following—”

  Despite wanting to be kind, Theo couldn’t help but interject, “Do you think that what MATS is doing is better than what Ty did?”

  Despite the calmness behind Theo’s voice, Cyril registered the challenge. “What?”

  “Trying to reclaim the Ancients, going into towns, turning them upside-down to find them. Abusing their power. Killing innocent people in the process, calling them accidents and collateral damage when we know what it really is.”

  Cyril’s brows furrowed as he raised his voice. “Who are you to tell me what’s right or wrong when you’re working for the same organization? Didn’t Ty take innocent lives, too?”

  “Answer the question.”

  “You answer the question.”

  “No, I don’t think that what MATS is doing is better than what Ty did.”

  “Not surprising, seeing as you’re still in love with her.”

  Theo absorbed the caustic words and tilted his head inquisitively. “Tell me why I’m wrong.”

  “I don’t—I don’t need to tell you why.” He broke eye contact to catch a glimpse of Darius before returning to Theo. “We’re trying to keep them safe—have you seen how they’ve been disappearing? What are we going to do if they all get wiped out by the other states? If we don’t keep the others in line, if we don’t keep on putting pressure on them, then who knows what they’re going to do? You’ve read the reports, you’ve been to class, you know what inexcusable things they’ve done to the Ancients, the same treatment they’re also giving to sorcerers now that they think they’ve got the upper hand—can’t you see that it’s not just the entire institution of magic that’s at stake, but the entire species of Ancients? Isn’t this why you joined the Academy? Isn’t this why you’re here?”

  His sentence ended pathetically, his voice small and dejected as he tried to search for some common ground in Theo’s stony stare. “We’ve got to keep them safe,” he continued to say, slowly shaking his head. “We’ve got to make sure they don’t get wiped out.”

  “At the cost of commoners’ lives?”

  “It’s for the Ancients. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hundred lives, if that’s what it takes to recover a single one.”

  Theo was the one to shake his head this time. “Have you even considered for a moment what the Ancients want?”

  “What’s there to consider? Who wants to die?” Cyril countered in disbelief before finally addressing Darius. “How can you just stand there while your people are going missing and dying? How can you listen to them and follow along on this…this childish charade?”

  There could have been about a hundred ways that the Ancient could have answered the question, but he chose soft words, eyes reflecting the burning warmth of the setting sun. “I have faith. I have faith in the life the Earth Mother has given us. The path She has set us on. It has all led to this.”

  Yet that still wasn’t enough for the royal, his voice frantic and in disbelief. “The Earth Mother? Do you even see what’s happening across Chloris? No god would allow for any of this to happen—no all-loving Earth Mother would let so many of her innocent children die and suffer like this, like they have for—”

  The Ancient lowered his head and shook it, the brightness in his eyes and smile fading. “I do not ask for understanding. I ask for an end to the suffering.”

  Cyril stood speechlessly for a moment before realizing that it was a lost cause. “I…I hope you all open your eyes soon. Like Alex—I’ve spoken with her, and she feels the same way. And then hopefully you’ll see that following in Ty’s steps isn’t as righteous as you think it is. That we’re not actually the bad guys. That maybe what you’re doing is destroying this world instead of saving it. Anyway.” Giving a final parting nod to his classmates, he lowered his gaze and stepped aside to continue on his way. “I’ve got to go.”

  Eyes following Cyril’s figure as it grew less and less recognizable, Theo felt overwhelming sadness wash over him.

  Do you trust me?

  “I trust you,” he whispered, staring off into the empty distance, feeling his vision blur.

  It’s okay. I don’t trust myself either.

  “What if what we’re doing is wrong? What if Ty was wrong?”

  The tears fell.

  “I want to trust her,” he continued to utter softly. “I want to trust in her sacrifice.”

  A warm, gentle hand patted him on the back. “Do you think that Ty was a selfish person? That she would do something purely for her own gain?”

  A lifetime. They hadn’t even spent a single lifetime together because of her burden. Saving the world. Saving Chloris. The Headmistress, the Ancients, the classmates she called her home. She always said that there was a choice, but for someone as kind, as innocent and uncomplicated as her, there was only one choice. It was one life for the world, and the life was hers. Was that selfish of her, to try to save everyone? To shoulder the burden of saving the Ancients herself? Was it selfish of her to have killed those people? Did she accept the mission from the Headmistress because of her own selfish desires to protect someone she loved?

  Theo slowly turned to Faris. He had that look again, the one he couldn’t just keep ignoring. The look he had to confront one day, one way or another. The sadness, the pity. The pain. The regret.

  Did she listen to the Elder at Hythe because she wanted to please her, because she wanted to be accepted? Because she was sick of being looked down upon, being treated worse than everyone else because she was born the way she was, something she hadn’t asked for? Was it selfish of her to act that way? To want to do something for her own people at their own request?

  He turned to Darius. The first one who had told her of her burden. He had told her that the reason for her existence was to be kept safe so she could destroy magic, all that time ago in their class workshop. He had told her to live.

  Do you think…we were truly happy? Back then?

  What do you mean?

  I mean…unburdened. By everything. The war, the truth…death. Back when fate had no plans for us, back when we were unshackled and free, back when…back when we were happy. Wholly, undeniably, happy.

  Darius had given her the burden. It was his fault that those halcyon days had ended. He knew about everything. It was his fault. It was the Ancients’ fault.

  “I’m sorry,” apologized Darius with a torn expression on his face, letting his hand drop from Theo’s back and bowing deeply. “I am so sorry. I am sorry for doing this to her. It is my burden to shoulder, and my burden alone.”

  “No,” he whispered.

  He looked down at his shaking hands. The ones that had burned Hythe to the ground and inadvertently invited the agonizing voices into his head. Voices that would not cease until all the sanctuaries were destroyed.

  It was his fault just as much as everyone else’s. He had his own part to play in her leaving. Ty had begun her journey because Darius had asked her, she had cemented her resolve by facing the Ancients, she had accepted the first mission because of what Faris had done, but…why she continued?

  It was him. It was his fault. It was his fault that she was leaving, that she had to go. Everything she had done, it was for them. It was for him. How could he have forgotten? He was carrying his own burden—the happiness he felt she deserved, the happiness he knew she gave up for them.

  Selfishness. Selflessness. Who really had a say? Everyone had their own agenda, each person a weapon to be used by the other.

  Where did that leave him? Where was he going, and what was he doing here? Who was using him, and who would he use? What was the goal, the endgame?

  He wiped his tears and turned around. “I’m…I’m going to look for Seth and Pia,” he breathed shakily. “We shouldn’t stay here any longer. We should go back to the Academy.”