Blood of Decusia

Chapter Thirteen

My mouth went dry. The fate of this world, of all worlds perhaps, rested on me. Just a few days ago, I was insignificant, floating through life. I never had a purpose, never had anyone needing me for anything. Now, I had the power of legends and was the only thing that stood between this world and absolute annihilation. I could feel my breath start to hitch. None of this made sense, I wasn't a hero. I wasn't a fighter. I was just a girl.
Adolphus, seeing my internal distress, grabbed my hands.
"Clove," his voice quiet, but firm, "I know this is a lot to ask. I know you've already lost so much, but you are stronger than you know. You were born for this. A child of both Fauna and Lupidium blood. You have power coursing through your veins."
"Sage had this blood too," I whispered, "And look what he did."
He sighed.
"Your brother was consumed by memories of the past and vengeance. He's not a bad man, but just made some bad choices."
"But-"
"You are not your brother," he interrupted, "I can see you are full of sadness, but not hate. You are also haunted by your past, but you have lived these past 10 years as normal as you could. You are trusting and kind. You are like your mother."
His last words hit me hard. I had been told I looked like my mother before, but I had never compared to her in this way. I felt my chest fill with warmth, with power. This was my mother and father's world, where my brother had lived for 10 years, and even though I had only been here for two days, something about being here felt right.
"Ok," I said, standing up, "I'll do it."
Adolphus remained sitting, but I could see a spark in his eyes that hadn't been there before.
"There's something else you need to know," he said, his voice serious.
There was a lot I needed to know, like how to take down a powerful being, convince a king to give me his most prized possession, etc.
"As long as that stone is around your neck, you must not be the one to wield the Bellatoro."
I raised an eyebrow.
"I'm supposed to retrieve it, but I can't use it?"
He nodded somberly.
"The magic behind these stones is an ancient and dark type of magic, unknown to anyone living. The power from one is already dangerous, but two or even all three could have dire consequences. The magic could warp your mind, consume you, or worse."
"So what am I supposed to do?"
"The Bellatoro can only be wielded by a powerful person who is truly worthy and since it is the human essence and the weakest of the three, it needs the power of one of the other stones to truly unleash its power."
I looked at him, confused.
"Someone who deserves a second chance."
"Sage," I breathed.
"There are many men and women who could wield it," he said, "But Sage is the only one who can draw out its power to the level needed to face Dominius."
It made sense. If Adolphus was to be believed, then we were the only ones that had any chance of beating him. Regardless of whether or not I believed it, Adolphus did.
"Your parents would be so proud of you," he whispered, "I wish there was another way."
I took a step back, my eyes stinging.
"Me too."
He gave me a small smile.
"When you come back," he said, "I'll tell everything I know about your father."
When, not if. He believed in me, just like he believed in my father, my brother. They had let him down, but I wasn't. I couldn't.
I turned and headed to the door, but Adolphus put a hand on my shoulder. I turned back to look at him and I could see the sadness not only in his eyes, but his whole face. It made him look so much older.
"If you find your brother," he said, softly, "Bring him back."
I didn't respond and walked outside, running directly into Asher. The amusement was completely gone from his features and he had a reddish mark that was quickly starting to bruise on his jaw.
"Listen," he said, not really looking me in the eye, "I shouldn't haven't done that."
When I didn't answer right away, he sighed and continued.
"I'm assuming you know everything now and obviously there's some rough feelings about what happened with your brother, but that's no excuse. That's on him, not you."
It wasn't much of an apology, but I assumed that it was as genuine as you could get with Asher.
"You were a prick," I said.
He dropped his gaze again.
"But," I continued, "you were the only one willing to tell me the truth. It doesn't matter what your intentions were, you told me the truth."
He looked up, surprised.
"I know my family hurt you, hurt all of you. I know you don't know me and this may just seem like meaningless words, but I promise I will do whatever I can to try and fix things."
Asher looked more uncomfortable than I had ever seen anyone. He clearly didn't expect the conversation to go this way. Instead of waiting for a response, I turned and walked away.
"He's by the river!" he called.
I didn't answer, didn't even look back, but I headed toward the river. As I walked by the houses, I could see people looking at me curiously. Not with hate, so I'm guessing that Asher didn't spread the word about my arrival. I meant what I said to Asher, I didn't know him or these people, but I would try to do everything I could to fix the trust my family had broken.
I knew why Adolphus wanted me to bring my brother back. He wanted him to face justice, justice for the betrayal, the lies, the deaths, all of it. A part of me knew that bringing  him back was the right thing to do, he needed to face the consequences of his actions. The consequences that he ran away from, leaving an entire village without closure.
But another part of me wanted to believe that it wasn't my brother that committed these awful crimes. It seemed impossible that the Sage I knew was so consumed by hate and rage that he was willing to sacrifice so many lives to get his revenge, lives of  people who had taken him in as one of their own. People who were once my father's family. If I did find my brother in the end, would I have the strength to keep my promise to Adolphus?
My thoughts were interrupted when I reached the river and saw Marcus sitting on the bank. His back was to me and he was hunched over, diligently cleaning his knife. As I got closer, I could see his body tense, as if he could sense me, but he didn't turn, didn't say anything, just continued to clean his knife.
I didn't say anything either. I just sat down next to him silently and stared into the massive forest on the other side.
"I'm going to Tenebris, to face him."
His face betrayed no emotion.
"I need the Bellatoro, so I'm going to the King and ask him for it. Then, I'm going to kill Dominius."
A few days ago, hell even a few hours ago, that sentence would've sent me into a fit of hysterical laughter. But the words came out steady, with some hardness behind them. My conversation with Adolphus had changed something in me.
I still had so many questions, but talking to him cleared some things up. I knew more about who I really was, where I really came from. I didn't know if I would succeed, but I had to try. Dominius had taken so much, not just from me but from countless others.
I expected Marcus to turn away, not laugh at me, but tell me that I was insane. Instead, he squeezed my hand, a smile breaking across his face.
"Simul usque ad consummationem saeculi," he said.
"What does that mean?"
"Together until the end.  It's an old Lupidium saying."
I smiled back. I felt guilty that I was leading him on a suicide mission, but I was glad I didn't have to face my nightmare alone.
"I swear you both have a death wish."
The voice came from behind and I whirled around to see Warner behind us. He sat down on the other side of me.
"Warner-," I started.
He held up a hand to stop me.
"I don't want to die," he said, "And this mission will most certainly end in tragedy. ."
I swallowed hard.
"But I know if Marcus dies, there's gonna be a shrine to him and people crying. His ego, even in death, will be less inflated if they're also mourning me too."
I couldn't help but smile.
"So, we have to travel to Majestas and retrieve a thing of legend that has been guarded for centuries and if we do manage to convince an egotistical king to hand it over, we have to make it through the Tenebris Mountains and then defeat an all powerful being with magic older than time," Marcus said.
"Just another day for us," Warner murmured, standing.
He stretched his arms, as if we were going for a hike and not a mission that could very well end in all of us dead.
"It's going to be a long trip," he said, "At least a few days, so we're going to need to stock up on food."
Marcus hopped up.
"And weapons too," he added, "We're gonna need all the help we can get."
I noticed that both of them had two smaller knives in their belts, with Marcus also having a long sword while Warner carried a bow and quiver on his back. I opened my mouth to ask what weapon I needed, when a piercing alarm started blaring.