27 - Rematch

We all crashed at the Temple. Staying up past midnight had taken its toll, and that was only to be expected.

The next morning, I awoke to the sound of trees getting chopped down. I stepped outside the temple to find Silence hacking at the nearby trees furiously.

The memory of the little girl crumpled under the strike of Silence's sword flashed through my mind. "We knew before we attacked that he would use innocents if he was put in danger."

Silence stopped, her slim, but firm muscles glistening with sweat in the early morning sun. She was breathing heavily, and furious.

Dozens of trees had fallen to her fury already. Some of them more than three feet wide.

"Mistakes happen. We fail. But at the end of the day, we were still trying, right?"

She sat on a stump she had created. I sat on another one near her. With my new perspective, I saw the tears flowing from her eyes. In the two months that I'd known Silence, I had never seen her cry before.

"...It really bothers you, doesn't it. It woke you up, and won't leave your mind. 'How could I have done that?' You ask."

She looked at me inquisitively, another tear falling.

"I wandered the Interplane for I don't know how long. All because I had failed to talk sense to a friend of mine. I was mad at me, and I was mad at him. But there was an old man I met on my journey. He lived on a world where magic was utilized for amazing, impossible technology. But what he said struck a cord with me. 'Why are you burning the present in the fires of the past?' he had asked. But even after I heard that, it wasn't easy to change, when bitterness was so ingrained in me, but something changed. And eventually, I was able to accept my mistake, and realize how I could do better next time. You can get past this too."

She smiled. It was a sad, reluctant smile, but it was still a smile. "Thank you." she said. Her voice was rough, from not being used for two months, but soft and with the hint of a Japanese accent.

I was stunned for a moment. Had I imagined it? Silence said something? It seemed unreal.

She smiled at me again, before getting up and leaving to check her traps.

After taking a moment to breathe and finish waking up, I started on bricks. Thomas eventually came out to help, and Juliana and Katie went back to sewing clothing. Thanks to them, we now each had a spare change of clothes. Thomas joined me at the brickworks. Silence came back with a few housecat-sized rabbits an hour or so later.

"What do we do now?" Juliana asked. "We have a nearly-immortal madman coming after us with an army."

I thought over the previous night. It was a pretty rough defeat. Thankfully we hadn't lost anyone, but Silence was injured... There was something strange about that wound. It was apparently more agonizing than her willpower could deny.

"Nothing worked on him." Thomas said.

"Wait," I interrupted, looking to Juliana, "Something did work. Fire."

"That's right." Katie agreed, "he didn't teleport when you caught him on fire."

"Now that you mention it," Juliana said, "That's not too strange, considering that both he and the person he switches with keep their own clothes."

"So we have a way to hurt him."

"It's nonlethal too, so even if he switches out, we won't kill innocents!"

"The disadvantage, though, to fire, is that it was easy to put out. Do we have a way to make it last?"

We talked about potential plans over lunch, which was more monster meat wrapped in leaves. Now that we had a basic idea of the Boss's basic tactics, and our one strength against him, new options had opened up.

We all were gathered around a drawing we had made of the enemy camp, based on our previous attack. Thomas gestured toward the simple cage doodle. "Maybe if we cut a hole in the bars here, his control over the others will be weakened. If there's no jail to be stuck in, some of them might try to turn--"

Thomas was interrupted by a golden flash where Silence was standing. The Ancient created an impact barrier between Katie and the golden flash, just in time to intercept the dueling cane's point. The Boss was here.

I reached back and grabbed my sword's hilt. The others were still in shock.

"You always spoil the fun, Ancient." the Boss's noble demeanor was nearly fractured by the manianical statement.

"Don't get stabbed!" I shouted. The others scrambled back, grabbing onto their weapons.

"What's this?" the man in a suit asked, looking over the map in the dirt, "Attack plans? Oh dear, you mortals are so hopeless."

Orange wisps gathered around him. One touched his elbow, igniting his suit. The Boss patted it out, glaring furiously at us. "Now, now, surrender peacefully, and I'll give you a clean slate. I've already taken your best fighter. She will always be in my power."

I didn't dare strike. More orange wisps darted towards him. He flashed gold. The woman who had been stuck in the ice stood in his place, and the wisps ignited. Juliana waved her hand, and the flames pulled away, but the damage was done.

"Please," the woman whispered, tears falling down her cheeks, "just stop. It's pointless."

She flashed golden, and the Boss stood there again, standing straight and regal. I had a ridiculous idea.

*Ancient, teach me the ritual.*

*It's too long. But if I sing it, I will be safe. How do you plan to...*

I sheathed the Ancient in my belt.

"Boss, I see you're much more powerful than we are. If we are to become your minions, start with me."

"Marcus? What are you doing? We can't just surrender!" Juliana shouted.

"Who are you to order me around? I will mark you in the order I choose."

In a flurry of motion, he lunged over to strike Katie. I stopped his blade before it could reach her.

"You may be too powerful for us to defeat, but I can waste your time if you don't take me first."

"Such a nusaince. Very well." In another blur, he pivoted and lunged toward me. My shoulder. He was aiming to hit my offhand shoulder. As it hit, I grabbed the middle of the blade. A searing pain burst from my shoulder. I screamed, not unlike Silence had, as a new mental presence entered my mind. I dropped, pulling the sword with me. It was yanked out of the Boss's hand in a lever motion.

In a flash, the man in a suit was only wearing a t-shirt and jeans. I felt the foreign presence try to take over my body, but another took its place.

A cloak billowed out from my prone form.

"Take the swords inside the Temple!" Ancient shouted with my lips.

The others ran off, while my head felt torn three ways. The Ancient and I were both wrestling against the mental presence of the Boss, who was trying to assert control.

*Marcus! You hold his mental presence off. I'll sing the ritual!* the Ancient said.

I slammed my cognitive force against the willpower of the being that had lived for centuries longer than I had. As though like an adult shoving a child, he pushed back. I was losing ground.

The Ancient began singing. It was a mournful tune that seemed familiar, though I had never heard it before.

I had to change something. At this rate, the Boss would interrupt the Ancient's song.