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Greyashe chapter 315

Page history last edited by Sakaki 10 years, 6 months ago

 

 

 

Greyashe chapter 315 is entitled 'A fiery end of innocence.'

 

Previous chapter 314: Malease.

Next chapter 316: Ripple.

Summaries page.

 

-Short summary-

 

The invetible showdown between two juggernauts leaves Van in an unlikely --and tragic situation.

 

-Long summary-

 

Several years earlier, the Kaiser mage had sent out word that he requires magicians of ‘unique’ caliber to serve with him. Many jumped at the chance to serve the man who is (or was) the pinnacle of all magic, but his requirements proved too much for many of them. One man however rose to the occasion and outperformed the rest. He is Langston Hydon a man who’s affinity for flame agape is rivaled by no other. Some rumors had suggested that he had come from a broken home, abandoned by his father and mother at a young age and left to fend for himself. That might explain his short temperament and ruthlessness, as even the slums in Aerhaart are no place for the weak. Hydon had only answered the Kaiser Mage’s call for his own gain –everyone would have no choice but to respect a man who serves the highest authority in the country. Yet once he got the position, he saw what true power is from the most unlikely of sources. The Kaiser mage who had been in a near death accident and subsequently lost his power had built up a reputation so rock solid that the mere threat of him taking action was more than enough to cause even the most nefarious wrongdoers to think twice. Hydon quickly realized what true power is. Anyone can run about brandishing their strength in a misguided sense of bravado, but to strike fear in the hearts of men without doing anything is the true way a man knows he has reached the pinnacle of his growth.  To Acheron he is that ‘power’, the right hand advisor who destroys anything that cannot be intimidated. Acheron had trusted him with that seat beside him, with his secrets and in essence his lifeline. For someone who had nothing before they met, it was more than he could ever ask for. That is why the person who took that man away from the world, the person who would kill Acheron and then continue to live and run from his crime must be dealt death. No, more than death, he would be dealt fear that is pregnant with death a hundred times over. Hydon would kill Aschner and then…

 

And then…

 

He lumbers through the forest barely keeping his flame powers in check, as that feeling, the lust for chaos and violence has eaten away at his being completely. If had only not given ‘vengeance’ quarry in his mind perhaps he would have noticed his actions slowly becoming further from his thoughts and that his plan consists of a mere action without a follow up. It is precisely what Azha was concerned of but has no power of stopping….and exactly what Butcher had intended when he summoned the ‘recall’. Magicians would continue to facilitate magic, but now rather than the magician using his power for his own benefit, magic would use the magician as a toy or instrument for murder. Hydon’s normally rational mind has been completely taken over by his thirst for vengeance, and he has paradoxically become stronger and weaker because of it.

 

Aschner is deep in the forest looking for Van eventually finding him by a stream filling his water rations. He marvels at the boy’s steadfast dedication to preparedness, and remarks to the boy that he’s going to make a fine example of discipline yet. Van shrugs a shoulder and replies that he just didn’t want to go thirsty should he decide to abandon Aschner since –after all he does intend to go back to his friends sooner or later. Aschner smirks and asks if Van has any idea of how to find them? Van looks back at him, his eyes activated and replies with a deadpan ‘yes’. The war hero laughs and turns around to leave reminding him of what he had been against doing when the two first went into training? Something along the lines of ‘not seeing into his friends’? How quickly children change their mind when confronted with reality. Van glares at him as he stands with his back turned, and Aschner continues as if he’s face to face with the boy. He reminds the boy that they are in a situation that demands they be flexible. Now that he sees how convenient his heritage is, maybe now he’d stop denying himself it’s use? What’s the point of having one hell of a pair of glasses if one is going to continue walking around with a myopic field of view? Van responds that he can uses his eyes any way he pleases, and that he only intends to use his ability to find his friends. After they have been reunited, there won’t be a need and he’ll stop. The last thing he wants to do is to look into them without their permission to unmask secrets they fight hard to keep so effortlessly. No matter what kind of ideas Aschner puts in his head, this core conviction will never change.

 

Aschner admits that he is proud of him for having convictions or at least being able to use the word correctly in a sentence, but this is not the time to stick stubbornly to foolish ideals. They are at war with something that cannot be seen or felt, but can use others as it wishes. If they are unable to keep up then death is assured. No matter how much Van might think he is on some sort of moral high road, he’ll only end up in ruin if he does not learn to change his ways immediately. Aschner then walks away leaving the boy to fume in silence as he fills the water rations. Although he’s not one to complain about his elders, and often views a lesson from anyone who’s willing to teach him important, he really hates admitting when Aschner is right. He can keep his conviction and still fight against the sentinents if he puts his mind to it! There has to be a way! He then gathers the water and stands in thought for a moment, a frown taking over his features. Come to think of it, if Aschner has  no idea how to use his abilities or how to teach him to use them, why bother training him in the first place? Why give him so much freedom of movement? Van had all but declared that he intends to abandon the war hero, and despite him being honest about it or not Aschner had responded with more lessons? At first the boy thought he has some insidious plan to keep him from leaving but he doesn’t sense that at all. So then what is going on? It’s as if Aschner is preparing him for something greater…something that he won’t be around for?

 

Aschner strolls a bit into a clearing and stops. He then smiles grimly and greets someone, thanking them for giving him enough time to try to talk sense into that child. Though he’s sure none of his words got through now, there still may be hope in the future. A figure surrounded by smoke and ash slowly lumbers into the clearing and stops only feet away from Aschner. Hydon’s hands, feet and head are on fire, and he glances over at Aschner, his eyes an unholy white. Sadisic glee on his mind and expression, he responds it was no big deal, since those will be the last words he ever speaks. Oh wait. No. He’ll be begging for death when he’s done with him so he lied. Aschner opens his palms and white bolts of energy dance in his hands. He comments that at least he can make Hydon work for his vengeance.

 

Hydon roars and the fires bellow as Aschner uses his specialty: chaos magic. The energy gyrates as the trees and ground shake and an mini explosion rocks a nearby tree causing it to fall on Hydon. In a few moments however the tree is incinerated as Hydon emerges from it unharmed and completely on fire. Aschner pivots back as another fireball slices the air at blinding speed. Hydon seems to become fire itself as he jets across the ground in a red burst of brilliance, but Aschner shakes him up by placing his palms on the ground and causes pyres to launch out of the ground forcing the literal fire man to swerve and to avoid crashing. Aschner’s foot sinks into the ground and he prepares two more balls of energy, slamming into Hydon in an effort to slow his momentum and smother his flame. The chaos magic causes different effects from exploding tree branches to summoning clouds and earthquakes, a literal representation of the clash of two titans; men who both had been deeply affected by the death of the former Kaiser mage.  Aschner can feel himself losing ground in his deadly bout of tug o’ war, and quickly disengages his magic allowing himself time to dive to the side as Hydon the fireball careens into the forest, igniting trees in his wake. Aschner then points into the forest with two fingers and making a sweeping motion upward with his hands causes a ground eruption of soil rocks and sediment that rains down on the fire magician. The war hero can feel the effects of the ‘recall’ claiming him the more he taps into his magic, but has no choice but to continue this wild dance in hopes that he can either escape or defeat his foe. Unfortunately Hydon is fast as he is powerful, leaving both the former and latter as fevered dreams of a madman. It is all that he can do to keep up with Hydon, much less come up with the means to defeat him.

 

The forest erupts into flame and Hydon marches back, his flaming aura reaching the sky. He smiles maniacally, those all to eerie white eyes almost reflecting Aschner in their furor. He can’t help but return Hydon’s grin with his own, as he throws off his jacket and pounds his fists together. Forget his earlier bout for penance, the effects of the recall and his own survival demand that he give this fight his entire being, even if it means being burnt to ash. The two charge at each other again and again grapple via fire agape and chaos magic. The ground tears around them and the nearby trees shiver in fright as the two trade blows that echo like thunder claps around the valley. Aschner is on the receiving end of a blow to his temple, that causes the whole cheek to erupt in flame. He quickly douses it in dirt and returns fire with a pyre to Hydon’s chest that sends him flying.  Aschner then sends a small ball of chaos magic at the fire magician that explodes in several different colors. All the while thinking that this is how life should be…a constant bet against ‘death’. A struggle in which each person’s effort it tested and put on the line to choose whom has the right for survival. Why he hadn’t felt this way since he had…

 

The face of the former Kaiser mage suddenly appears in his peripheral vision, and Aschner remembers now how he had fought Acheron in a battle for his life, and had managed to win because of a strike he dealt while the Kaiser mage had been distracted by the effects of ‘Angel Fall’. He hadn’t meant to kill him, but he didn’t want to die either. He then realizes…the situation is far too similar to be dismissed as mere ‘coincidence’. He is being distracted by a phenomenon outside of himself in a life or death battle, which means that he too should be…

 

The ghost of Acheron hiding in Aschner’s peripheral weeps.

 

Aschner’s neck hisses as fire Hydon grabs it and presses him down, using his white hot hand to pierce his chest from behind. A trail of flames slowly subsides in his wake revealing that he had jettisoned himself at his opponent at high speed.  The searing pain ceases Aschner’s thought processes as the flame hisses and he can feel his body falling limp. He is nary allowed even a moment of despair as the flames on his neck begin their hot erosion, and his chest simply oozes away from him. Before long it is done, and his head momentarily gazes at sunlight before finding itself nestled in scorched grass.

 

Van runs down the slopes in the forest looking for Aschner, only now understanding that he had repaired a mind that still defies him. He thought he had figured Aschner out, and that he knows all hee needs to know about the war hero. Upon realizing that he is in fact still two or three steps behind, Van seeks Aschner out to find out the meaning of his cryptic lessons. What had he been trying to teach him? Why had he gone out of his way to place him so firmly under his tutelage? These questions gnaw at the boy’s subconscious so ferociously that he trips over a root and slides down a hill on his backside. Van breathes out a sharp hiss of pain, and sits up slowly, realizing that the landscape before him is charred barren. He then hears a noise at his side and turns quickly to see it.

 

Hydon’s flame is extinguished save for a few smoldering embers on his elbows. He grasps Aschner’s still dripping head in his left hand by its hair, the blood sizzling the ground as it drips. The skull is partially exposed right over its left eye, a slow burn threatening to reveal it entirely.  Hydon breathes heavily, an animal fresh after a kill. His eyes are still that unholy white as he looks around his surroundings. His clothes are in tatters, and his hair completely singed off. Some of his fingers are burned together on his right hand and some of his ribcage is exposed.

 

Van is completely immobilized by fear. His eye only making the sight worse by showing him the bitterly warped psych of the once human thing that stands before him. Hydon stares down at him and for a moment their two eyes meet. Van bellows out of fear and runs in the opposite direction as fast as he can. Unbeknownst to him, that meeting of the eyes had caused just a little bit of agape be exchanged, leaving him open briefly to the effects of the ‘recall’. He suddenly stops running and looks back at Hydon who simply collapses to his knees. Even if it is with the aid of agape, a human’s body was just not made to sustain such temperatures. As such he is immobilized, and unable to pursue Van who is unhurt. Van could just walk away from him and safety is guaranteed but…

 

Vividly hears a disembodied voice asking him where he’ll run? How long will he continue to run? Isn’t this why he broke the rules and accepted magic? Despite his friends? Despite his heritage? If he will not use it now then when? After it is too late to do anything? Why should he have to run when he did nothing wrong? He’s never done anything wrong. Never. He just wants to help his friends and defeat those ---the sentinents that threaten everyone. Yet he has always been too late and underfoot, and because of him so many were made to suffer. Even the goddesses had taken Claire from him and he had willingly accepted as the greater good. When will he be rewarded for his sacrifices? When will he be able to finally have his moment?

 

When will he finally stop running away?

 

The boy takes unsteady steps back to Hydon and stands over him with an expression caught between rage and fear. If he doesn’t do something now, this person could recover and come to harm him or worse someone he cares for. This shallow and meek individual who allowed agape to use him like a tool. For once, let him do it…let him do this….

 

Outstretching his hand Van touches Hydon’s forehead and finds himself inside the mind of Hydon. He stands in the middle of a lake covered in flames that strangely isn’t hot. He sees a figure sitting alone nearby and walks over to him slowly. The figure is completely shrouded in darkness, except for his eyes which are open wide and his mouth which is open partially as drool slides down the side of his face. The farseer knows this is the psyche of the man whom had killed Aschner…the agape no longer controls his thoughts as he has the presence of mind to know who this figure once was. Yet…yet the fear…he could fix him like he did Aschner but….

 

Van’s hand flashes white and the fire around them is extinguished. He then looks at his hand and then back at Hydon’s psyche.

 

He drives his hand through the shadowy figure until light erupts from its back. The figure grasps his arm and looks up at him one more time before expiring with his arm through it's chest.

 

In his own body again Van looks down and sees that life mirrors the inner world and that Hydon had grabbed his arm in an futile effort to fight against his fate. Langston Hydon is dead, and Van Rayleigh, fourteen years old son of Colin and Anna Rose Rayleigh from the town of Greyashe had killed him. Truly a fitting end to innocence.

 

Van places his right hand and then left over his face and allows a quiet sob as the remaining trees droop over the scene their branches shivering in the gentle wind as they offering both pittance and mourning.

 

 

 

 

 

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