Globe Tracers 3: Heritage of Triad

Chapter 9: Our Separate Ways

Kyle:

The ground beneath me was instantly- sand. I no longer saw the man's shoes and I sensed he really wasn't near me.

I stood up and looked around.

Behind me were my friends Xao, Jaden, and Judith.

As I looked at them Jaden was spinning around and looking at his empty arms. "Wha.... where... where's... Jess I..."

I put up a hand. 'Silly human.'

"It's okay Jaden. Tricksters- we've all worked with them before eh? They don't exactly give warning." Jaden looked back at me with a raised eyebrow and wide fearful eyes. "I made a deal for her life. They're going to keep her stable in the meantime." I bit my lip. "Now for our part..." I sighed. "Jaden, you and Judith need to go home."

Jaden folded his arms. "We're here to back you guys up. Mom said-"

I stood up straight. "You're here for an escort mission," I interrupted. "You're done, go home."

"I think we did very well," Judith said.

"Decent," I said. "But our mission is to attack the leprechauns directly this time. We have to bring down a ship- intact."

"Would not you need more help then?" Judith asked, she folded her arms too. "I mean as it stands, you had to let them just take Bart."

I looked into the sky. How could I possibly say what was going through my head? "Not exactly Judith, he had a tracker on him. I was tackling one thing at a time."

"Thou could have just said something about that," Judith said.

"At first there were leprechauns still hanging around cloaked but-eventually I could have..." I sighed, letting my shoulders down a little. "Look, I know I acted a little- like a jerk." She nodded. I looked over at Xao, who was just looking at the ground. "Maybe even bloodthirsty for a bit there." He looked up. "We've got a little time now I guess. I was desperate okay? I had to keep us moving... I had to keep myself moving. Look, I needed to get control okay? I'm the leader here. I have to make decisions and they have to be resolute- I..." I sighed. "Protecting all of you and getting Jess back is what matters." I closed my eyes. Things were starting to calm down just a little and... boy was the guilt settling in.

Jaden shrugged. "Oh, I understand. We all wanted to save Jessica. And frankly, good riddance to that creep Darius. He probably wanted another try at killing us, who knows what games he had in mind this time?"

"Kyle the way you acted earlier..." Xao gritted his teeth, obviously desperately trying to hold his tongue.

'He keeps crying over that monster... drat it all, I hurt a friend but- I did what I had to.'

I looked down. "Xao some people are just not worth..." But I thought better of what I was about to say... that and Xao was shooting me a pretty powerful glare.  "Well... I don't think it's the last life we'll be taking either. Leprechauns might not be humans, but they're intelligent like us, I guess I should see them as people." As to if I actually did see them that way...

Really I didn't know how I felt. Even my current feelings aside. The leprechauns had created the gargoyles, it was their fault the Purge happened all those centuries ago. All that suffering, the war, me losing my father- they created the gargoyles to help conquer earth. They as a people, in my mind, were beyond any compassion. My people thought they were saving earth and many even believed the gargoyles were really victims themselves, men made monsters by an evil empire. The leprechauns, however... what they did was to expand an empire and harvest humans like cattle. Everything about them was evil. They were demons. And yet... if I were to ask my father what gargoyles were, he would have said monsters... demons.