Until We Break (10 page)

“Just making conversation.”

“You know what would have been nice?” she asked. “Making conversation as a family.”

“The two of us are a family.”

“I mean a
real
family. More than two people.”

“Well,” he said, “we’ll be able to do that once they arrive. We have
so
much to talk about, after all.”

“We certainly do. I just hope I don’t end up butchering our dear parents before we have a chance to catch up.”

He shrugged. “Accidents happen.”

* * *

The Faust Kingdom took up the entire North Pole. It was a massive country of perpetual blizzards and subzero temperatures. Only a few resorts were tourist-friendly with quality skiing; the rest of the nation consisted of some of the most inhospitable regions on Narska. In fact, half the continent consisted of terrifying mountain regions. The Faustians, though, were a hardy people, and built their cities to endure the frigid conditions.

The Faust Kingdom actually began sailing the seas decades before the Tru people, though they were on opposite sides of the world and so wouldn’t encounter one another for many years. The First Faustian Dynasty began years before under King Regnal who had united the various warring tribes through brute force and bloody conflict. He believed the sword was the best diplomat, and had no qualms about proving it. And while later Dynasties opted for more peaceful solutions to problems, they still revered their founder. At the time of Ev’s entry into Divine Protector Academy, the Faust Kingdom was in its Tenth Dynasty.

Izanagi and his wife arrived at the gates of Kornia, located several hundred miles north of the southern coastline. The city had been built at the base of an extensive mountain region, and the parts not facing the mountain were surrounded by a fifty-foot wall of ice built centuries ago to protect Kornia from invaders.

The spouses found the gates abandoned. Normally one had to stop at the toll booths here and pay a fee to get into the city. They feared for the citizens, and wondered what their children had done to them.

Beyond the entrance was a long street lined with tall buildings made of ice. They knew from experience the buildings’ interiors would be lined with metal or concrete to protect occupants from electrocutions from all the wires they had running through.

After passing through this street, they came to a gargantuan courtyard, and here they discovered what had happened to the thousands of residents. The Kornians hadn’t been killed as Izanagi and Izanami had thought, but were bowed to the new arrivals. They looked half-dead from frostbite, yet were clearly still alive.

One of them, a fortyish man wearing a thick beige parka, stood up to address them. “We welcome you, Lost Gods. I am Sven, mayor of Kornia. The others foresaw your arrival and bade us wait for you.”

“How long have you been out here?” Izanagi said.

“Several hours. There were times when our faith started to fade, but we remained in place to await you.”

“Is this all that’s left of the resistance?” Izanami said as she looked them over.

Sven looked confused. “Resistance? What would we be resisting?”

Izanagi replied, “You know, the invad—” He stopped short as he suddenly realized how ridiculous he and his wife sounded. While the rest of the world had put up a fight against Zero Grade, the Faustians worshipped the Lost Gods. Why would they resist them? “Never mind. Thank you for waiting for us. Can you take us to our fellow gods?”

“Yes. Of course.” He turned to walk away, but suddenly fell down. The cold had been too much for him.

Izanagi turned to his wife. “Izanami.”

“Right.” She generated a warm wind and had it blow through the courtyard, warming everyone up.

“Thank you,” Sven said. “I am not worthy.”

Izanagi nodded. “It’s all right. Perhaps you could just tell us where the other gods are.”

Sven pointed to a gargantuan building a mile or so passed the courtyard and up a hundred-foot flight of stairs carved out of the mountain. “There. The governor’s hall. We were more than happy to give it to them.”

“Thank you,” Izanami said. “Now, please, get inside where it’s warm. But first…” She raised her hands and generated a field of brilliant green energy which covered all the Faustians. Within moments, their frostbite and hypothermia was healed.

“I neglected to mention my wife is the greatest healer out of all the gods.”

They all examined their once-again-healthy bodies, astonished. “Oh, thank you! I am not worthy!”

Izanagi didn’t like giving commands to mortals, but in this case, he insisted on them getting inside where it was warm. After that, the couple continued on to the governor’s hall.

The hall itself was actually a medieval castle, built centuries earlier when Kornia was just a military outpost. It consisted of a series of large stone buildings with adjoining ramparts. The Faust flag used to be buffeted in the wind above the hall, a symbol of Faustian strength and resolve. However, now it had been replaced by Zero Grade’s emblem.
We’ll have to do something about that
, Izanagi thought. But first, their errant children needed tending to. The couple raced up the stairs and into the hall, where a teenage servant girl bowed to them.

“Welcome, Holy Lords. I am Greta. My other masters have bidden me take you to them.”

“At once,” Izanagi said.

“Right this way.”

She led them down a flight of stairs into the basement. Izanagi thought this a strange place for a meeting between long-lost family members, but then again, gods were strange people.

Yet when they got down there, they found a huge cavernous area. The basement had been carved out, and now there was a bright, shimmering abyss below a balcony which clearly had not been part of the original space. A few dozen people sat staring at the churning mass like a surreal version of operating theaters in hospitals. The abyss roiled like an underwater volcano.

A male voice called out, “Welcome, dear parents. You’re just in time for our reunion.” Two figures floated up though the hole in the basement while the audience bowed their heads in reverence.

“Our children,” Izanami breathed from the base of the stairs. Those two words overflowed with emotion only a mother could know.

“You speak as someone who actually cares,” Awashima said, bile rising from her voice.

“We have committed terrible wrongs. We ask your forgiveness,” Izanagi said.

“Forgiveness?” Hiruko laughed bitterly. “I must inform you that it’s too late for that.”

Izanami stretched out her hand. “Please. We were young and terrified. When you two were born, we believed you to be a curse. We cast you aside, unable to deal with it. But we were wrong to do that. Take my hand, and we can finally be a family.”

Hiruko floated over and reached out to do just that. But at the last second, he pulled away. “Ha! You two are truly pathetic to think we’ll just forgive you like that. If you want us to be a family again, sacrifices must be made.”

“What kind of sacrifices?” Izanagi asked, deathly afraid of what the answer would be.

With a lecturing index finger, Awashima answered, “Oh, don’t worry. You two needn’t do anything. In fact, the only way this will work is if you
don’t
do anything. You see, we have assembled an audience today and positioned them over this very special mass of Big Bang energy. Surely you recognize the Ultimus Point below?” The spouses nodded. “Yes, well, this deposit of primordial power has the potential to turn select people into gods. Normally, it takes years of distant exposure, and only those with the correct DNA get to become gods. But when you jump right into it, surprising things can happen. We’re going to command our worshippers to do just that, and you mustn’t interfere.”

“No!” Izanagi yelled.

“Don’t do it! You will die,” his wife yelled to the audience.

But Hiruko said, “You’re wasting your time. These Faustians are fiercely loyal to us, and for the chance to become gods—and please us in the process—they’ll do anything.”

Izanagi balled a fist. “We won’t let you do this.”

Awashima gave a condescending smile. She was enjoying this too much. “Oh? I was under the impression you wanted us to be a family. Allow this to happen, and we swear we’ll leave Zero Grade and come over to your side. It will be everything you’ve ever wanted.”

“After all,” her brother added, “what are the lives of mortals compared to the happiness of gods?”

“Mortal lives matter just as much as gods’,” Izanami insisted.

“Your choices are simple. Either allow this to happen, or fight us and risk many more innocent lives. This close to the Ultimus Point, who knows what will happen?”

Izanagi’s hand went limp. Like it or not, he was giving his assent. He stared into his wife’s pleading eyes; they were just as conflicted and wracked with guilt as his.

“We cannot let this happen,” she said.

He just shook his head, unsure of what to do. No matter what they did, someone was going to die here.

Chapter VIII

“I take it you’ve agreed to our terms,” Hiruko said. “Very well.” He pointed to a man sitting closest to him. “Jump.”

“For our Holy Lords,” he said. Without any hesitation, he leapt over the railing and into the Ultimus Point. Izanagi expected him to fall quietly, but a piercing scream filled the chasm. It was twisted with pure agony, a macabre sign something had gone horribly wrong.

“I guess the energy doesn’t like him,” Awashima said with a shrug.

Izanagi couldn’t take it anymore. “Enough of this!” he roared.

“Are you saying you’d rather fight us to the death?” Hiruko said. It didn’t seem to matter one way or another to him.

“I will not let you sacrifice anyone else, even if I have to stop you by force.”

“You bore me,
Otou-san
,” Hiruko said. He pointed to the next person. “Jump.”

Just as quickly, the woman got up from her seat and jumped the railing. But she reappeared a split-second later in front of the stairs thanks to Izanagi’s god-speed.

“Why?” she asked him.

“You must not share the fate of the man before you,” he said simply. He then turned his attention to the remaining audience members. “Listen to me! We are not perfect. We make mistakes, and what you are witnessing today are some of our largest mistakes. Go home and find other gods to worship.”

But Awashima raised a palm to the worshippers. An orange ball of fire engulfed them, and they were incinerated instantly. “How disappointing. I was hoping we’d bolster our numbers with new recruits. Oh, well. At least we got to punish our thoughtless parents.”

“No!” Izanami screamed. She fell to her knees in emotional agony for the lives that were so needlessly snuffed out.

“I am sorry,” her husband said. “It appears we cannot be a family after all.”

Hiruko said, “Don’t fret about it too much. Even if you hadn’t interfered, we still wouldn’t have joined you. Our hatred simply runs too deep.”

“So be it,” Izanagi said. In an instant, he closed the distance between them and smashed his fist into his son’s face. But something wasn’t right; there was too much give, and no sound of crunching skull.

Hiruko’s head flew backwards and immediately snapped back into place like some sort of balloon. “Have you forgotten, father? I was born without bones. That is the curse you abandoned us for.”

Izanagi stepped back—though he was still in mid-air. “Truthfully, I was so focused on reuniting with you, I had forgotten. But if punches will not work on you…” He conjured a
tanto
, a Japanese short sword, and began swinging it at his son who was truly lost to them.

Without any bones to impede him, though, Hiruko was able to contort his body and dodge his father’s strikes.

* * *

Seeing her husband fight, Izanami summoned her strength to do what had to be done. She summoned a long pole-arm called a
naginata
which consisted of a long wooden shaft with a curved blade at the end. She twirled it about before lunging at her daughter.

“Mother’s getting serious!” Awashima exulted.

Izanami struck first, slicing Awashima’s collarbone and shredding her frilly outfit. To her surprise, though, her daughter laughed. “Our parents have forgotten much in their old age. I’ll remind you I absorbed my brother’s bones inside your womb, giving me a bone structure twice that of any god. Your weapon can’t hurt me.”

Awashima raised her palm and fired another incendiary blast at her mother. Izanami felt a flash of searing pain throughout her entire body and fell towards the Ultimus Point below her. But she managed to right herself just in time.

Awashima flew down and began pummeling her mother with powerful strikes. Izanagi used her
naginata
to block them, but her daughter displayed ruthless aggression, not giving her a moment to breathe.

Eventually, Izanami spotted an opening and bashed Awashima over the side of the head. It only served to briefly stun her, but it gave Izanami enough time to think.
I have to attack a part of her body that’s not protected by her bones. Either her stomach or throat. But can I really kill my own daughter?

The heart-wrenching decision took too long to make, and Awashima swiftly resumed her attack. This time, she raised both palms and fired off two blasts simultaneously. Izanami used her god-speed to dodge, but her daughter kept up the barrage. “How long do you think you can run,
Okaa-san
? Sooner or later I’ll put an end to you.” She was right, of course; she would surely succeed unless Izanami did something.

An idea suddenly occurred to her. She decided to stand her ground as Awashima launched more balls of white-hot energy down at her. Remembering an old American game called baseball, she swung her blade, knocking the balls back at her daughter. Awashima screamed as they exploded into her, causing Izanami’s heart to be torn in half at seeing what she was doing to her own child. She began crying uncontrollably. “Why? Why must I do this?”

But through the smoke, a voice replied, “Save your tears, Mother. No member of Zero Grade would ever be defeated so easily.” The smoke cleared, and Izanami saw her offspring burned but very much alive. Despite everything, she was unspeakably grateful.

But Awashima raised her palms again. This time, however, she did not fire off quick bursts, but instead generated a ball of fire five times larger than she had unleashed so far. “Don’t!” her mother yelled.

Her daughter didn’t listen.

* * *

Hiruko was currently wrapped around his father like a living rubber band. Try as he might, Izanagi couldn’t escape; Hiruko was on there tight, and he couldn’t get his
tanto
into position to stab him.

“How about I show you my other ability, Father. Can you feel yourself getting weaker?”

As a matter of fact, he could. Izanagi found his strength being sapped rapidly, and he didn’t know why. “How…?”

“I am called the Leech of Zero Grade. Both my sister and I have the power of absorption through physical contact. While she can steal bones and internal organs, I can siphon off energy. It won’t be long now before you can’t even move. So what do you say? Ready to admit defeat?”

“Never.” But he needed a way to back up his words. Overpowering his son clearly wasn’t an option in this situation, and he wasn’t positioned correctly to fly, either. But…perhaps he just needed a little push.

Concentrating, he generated gale-force winds which proceeded to buffet them about. “What are you doing?” Hiruko said, alarm rising in his voice.

“We need some fresh air,” Izanagi said, slightly embarrassed at the terrible pun he had just made.

The wind rocketed them across the cavernous chamber where they collided with the wall. Since Hiruko was pretty much covering his father, he took the full impact and came loose. Wasting no time, Izanagi stabbed him in the chest.

However, the attack merely stretched Hiruko’s skin without actually penetrating it. “It’s useless, Father. You can’t cut me.”

Nevertheless, Izanagi wasn’t about to give up. Among the Lost Gods, he had the rare ability to manifest his god-energy as a physical force. He summoned his remaining strength and poured it all into his blade which began to glow with a golden light.

“What is this?” Hiruko shouted.

“My responsibility as the father who failed you.”

The power erupted from the
tanto’s
tip, exploding into Hiruko’s body and tearing it wide open, unleashing a torrent of blood and organs.

As he fell, Hiruko reached out to touch his father, but couldn’t quite reach. Izanagi leaned forward and grasped his offered hand, but there was too much blood and Hiruko fell slowly into the abyss.

From below them, he heard his wife yell, “Don’t!” Awashima was there, and she had created a massive ball of fire which she was preparing to rain down upon Izanami.

* * *

Awashima hurled the ball at her mother. Izanami knew she should get out of the way, but that would only lead to more fighting with her precious child. It was better to just allow herself to be killed right there. She didn’t have her husband’s resolve or his will to fight.

But right before the incendiary attack hit her, she was whisked away in a blur and reappeared above Awashima with her husband by her side. “That was close,” he said.

The ball fell into the maelstrom of Ultimus Point energy and was absorbed by it. That appeared to be the end of it. Now there was just Awashima to deal with.

“Where is my brother?” she demanded.

“Dead,” her father replied.

“You lie! I’ll—”

She never got to finish that sentence, because the entire underground area began to vibrate violently. Below them, the roiling energies were twisting and shaking about in a frenzy.

“What’s going on?” Izanami said.

“Awashima’s attack must have destabilized the Ultimus Point,” Izanagi replied.

Apparently having forgotten her fallen brother, Awashima said to them, “What do you mean? What’s going to happen?”