Sure enough, out of the darkness emerged the patched together boat they had traveled to Hailia on. Out on the front deck steering the boat was Will’s Uncle.

“Ahoy!” he yelled. “Well, if it ain’t the younguns!”

“Captain!” Tella shouted, spring forward and running down to the dock to meet him.

“What’s he doing here?” the wanderer asked happily as she followed Tella to the dock.

“Eh lasses! Nice ta see ya again! Bessie missed yar company.” The captain bellowed as Bessie came to a halt. The captain pushed the boarding plank out and ambled down to the dock to meet them. Demus, Will and Collin slowly walked down to the docks. Demus turned to Collin and whispered,

“Who is this man?” Collin smiled and bit his lip.

“That’s Will’s Uncle. He’s… Quite a character.” Collin said. Will remained silent as they stepped on to the docks.

“Will me boy!” the captain said catching sight of him. “How are ya? You look peeked! These people been starving ya?”

“Uncle,” Will began, “What are you doing here?” the Captain’s smiled faded just a bit, but he laughed, in spite of himself.

“Right to the point aren’t ya lad?” he said. “Just thought I’d stop down and have a look at this pretty city.”

“That’s not a real answer.” Will pressed. His Uncle smiled slightly and leaned close to Will, whispering,

“I believe it has something to do with… yar friend.” He said, a twinkle in his old eyes. Will gasped slightly and was about to say something, but the Captain moved away, looking at the others.

“Hurry now all of ye get on bard. We haven’t got all night. I’m sure Avrai is not the safest of places, especially now. Come on! Come on!” Tella, the wanderer and Collin hopped on board, followed slowly by Will and behind him, Demus. Demus was about to step on, but the Captain blocked his way, and looked up at Demus with a strange expression. Demus blinked, pausing.

“I don’t ‘llow men folk on me Bessie, other than family and children.” The captain growled. Demus stepped back in surprise, staring at the man. The captain’s face broke out into a grin as he laughed, slapping Demus on the back and pushing him onto the boat.

“But yar one of Will’s friend, so I’ll make an exception! Ahahahaa!” he laughed, closing the gate and walking away. He stopped a few steps away and turned to look at Demus, eyeing his suspiciously. “But don’t let me catch you trying anything on me Bessie.” With wide eyes Demus nodded gulping.

“Y-Yes sir.” He said, hurriedly agreeing. The captain smirked and walked away. Demus stood staring after him dumb founded.

“What was that all about?” Demus asked. Tella laughed.

“He gets funny about his boat.” She said. Demus blinked shaking his head.

“I guess we know where Will get’s his strangeness.” Demus said looking at Will. Will was silent, staring off into the darkness in the direction that his uncle had gone.

“Will?” Demus asked. Will blinked, focusing his eyes and looking over at Demus. Demus stared at him a moment then asked, “Are you alright?” Will frowned and shook his head.

“I’ll be right back.” He said and stepped away, moving to the ladder going to the lower deck where his uncle was.

“Wait Will!” Tella said. “I need to talk to you.” Will winced slightly, unwilling to meet her eyes.

“… Give me some time to get things sorted out first.” He asked. Tella frowned but finally nodded, letting Will go down below.

 

The captain stood on the bottom deck leaning on the rail looking out into the water. The lights of Avrai were quickly fading from view as Bessie moved along in the water. Will slowly moved to join his uncle, leaning on the rail.

“… You said your coming here had to do with a friend of mine?” Will asked. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.” His uncle said, unmoving, still looking out on the water. Will frowned and stayed silent. The captain shifted, taking out a pipe and sticking in his mouth to chew on.

“A few hours ago I was anchored off near the Arean boarder, watching the patrol boats like I do sometimes. Them are some beauties I tell ye… Well I was watching them, and then they all broke formation, and started sailing north. I couldn’t imagine what was going on, patrol ships never leave their posts… So I decided to sail down into Arean waters, just see how close I could get to Area… Never figured I’d get this far. When I saw the lights from Avrai, I started to turn around, knowing that I shouldn’t be able to get this close and that something must be up… But…” at this point the captain paused, adjusting the pipe in his mouth. Will waited patiently. “As I was… about to turn around I saw… A young man… out on my deck.” The captain shook his head and trailed off into silence. Will’s hands tightened on the rail.

“I see.” He said. The captain nodded and they went back into silence.

“… I’d better go up and make sure Bessie’s steering right.” He said, moving off, leaving Will. Will gave no response, merely stared off into the night as they moved.

 

 

The Captain climbed up to the upper deck and walked to the small windowed room where the steering wheel was. He noticed that Will’s friends had moved into the room and were sitting on the benches attached to the walls of the room. It was light inside and gave the room a nice cheerful feel to it.

“Goodness… You yunguns amaze me.” He said as he walked in, “Got all the way to Avrai and didn’t get yourselves killed. That’s an accomplishment that is.” They glanced at him, but no one gave a response. The captain frowned.

“What’s wrong with you all? Got something caught in yar teeth? I’ve never seen such gloominess, especially from people who should be glad to be alive.”

“We are glad to be alive but…” the wanderer sighed.

“We failed.” Demus said. “Whatever it was we were supposed to do, we didn’t do it. Instead, all we’ve done is trigger the invasion of Betamy.”

“Invasion eh?” the captain asked. “Serious stuff…”

“Betamy will fall.” Tella said.

“Eh now!” the captain shouted, “Don’t talk like that! Yar the princess am I right?” Tella blinked and looked up at him.

“You knew?” she asked. The captain nodded impatiently.

“Why else would I let a bunch of hooligans on me Bessie? Come now, you more than anybody has to be positive. If you know this in invasion is for real, then don’t you think you should contact the castle?” Tella blinked frowning.

“What? Contact them?” she asked. He nodded.

“I’ve got an Arean communication device. Betamy got anything that could pick up its signal?” the captain asked. Tella nodded.

“The military does… They could contact anyone I need…”

“Where did you get an Arean communication device?” Collin asked the Captain. He smiled.

“Stole it off an Arean ship. My, she was a beauty, of course not as good as Bessie, but a looker, none the less.” He laughed, opening a drawer and rummaging through it.

“Ah yeah, here you are.” He said handing it to Tella. Tella took it and looked it over. It was a small black thing with a tiny screen, like all the devices she had seen Areans use before. She frowned, handing it to Collin.

“Make it work.” She told him. Collin rolled his eyes, taking the device.

“This could take a while.” He sighed.

 

 

 

Will bowed his head, trying to keep himself numb, but it was wearing off. The water below him sloshed against the side of the boat, as Bessie cut a path through it. Will closed his eyes and focused on the sound of the water, letting his head come down father, resting on the rail. He could feel the motion of the boat, rocking him.

Someone else was there. Will squeezed his eyes shut, pretended he didn’t feel the presence behind him. He wanted to be alone a little longer.

“You can’t hide from me forever.” Fairien said. They waited a moment in silence.

“… I guess I should thank you.” Will said finally. Fairien shifted slightly behind him but made no acknowledgment. “You sent uncle to pick us up, didn’t you?”

“… I didn’t do it to save you.” Fairien answered coldly. Will flinched and nodded sadly.

“M-mm.” He said letting his chin rest on his arms. Again there was silence.

“I don’t know why I joined you.” Fairien’s voice said quietly and emotionlessly. “I… should have known better than to trust one of Minerva’s creations… I’ve made another mistake.” Will pulled his shoulders around him, remaining silent.

“Maybe it was a mistake.” Will said softly after a moment. Fairien turned to him sharply.

“Maybe?” he asked, stepping over to Will’s side to glare at him. “How can you say that? Do you know what you did?” Will buried his face deeper into his arms.

“Yes.” Came his muffled reply.

“No, I don’t think you do.” Fairien said. “You let Minerva go, and now, she out there taking her army to Betamy so that she can kill my people. They are all going to die because of you!” he paused looking away, continuing in a broken voice, “You were the one person I thought I could trust with anything…” Will pulled his head up, straitening himself and looking into Fairien’s eyes.

“He was a child Fairien. A child who was created to be a sacrifice.” He gazed back down letting his shoulders fall. “Can you imagine what that would feel like…?”

“No.” Fairien said. “And neither can you.” Will remained silent for a moment.

“I still think what I did was the right thing.” He said quietly. Fairien’s eyes hardened into anger.

“Did you want to watch Mahito kill them Will? He would have. He wouldn’t have thought twice about killing all of your friends in the bloodiest way possible. Did you want to see that?” he paused lowering his voice and continuing. “Do you want to watch Minerva kill my Betamians? Do you want to see the looks of terror right before they die because they can’t do anything to save themselves? I’ve seen it. I watched as the Areans slaughtered the Hailians when Deocrates fell. I watched as they burned Malibius. All because Azrael wouldn’t fight back.” He shook his head and said darkly, “I guess you’re the same way.” Will stepped back, turning away.

“I’m sorry.” He said finally. “I can’t kill.”

“… Then you’ve failed me.” Fairien said. Will looked up in surprise and hurt, staring into Fairien’s angry eyes. Will dropped his gaze away and turned back to the sea trying to find something to say. Fairien continued to watch him.

“Will, this isn’t over you know.” He said softly. “Minerva still needs to be killed. We are eventually going to run into her… When that happens… like it or not, I’m going to need you. You’re going to have to kill her.”

“Why me?!” Will shouted, swinging around. Fairien frowned.

“Because you and I are joined!” He said. “I have to allow you to have some consciousness and your going to have to watch and yes, kill her.” Will shook his head not accepting his answer. Fairien growled angrily. “Don’t you understand what I’m saying?! If Minerva isn’t killed she will destroy this world!” he shouted. Will looked away and closed his eyes. He stayed silent for a moment, thinking before finally speaking.

“… When that happens… When we meet her again… Possess me completely.” Will murmured. Fairien gasped. Will opened his eyes and stared solemnly at Fairien. “I know you haven’t been possessing me completely. There has always been a degree of my consciousness there present in my actions, even when you were in control… If you take that away and possess me completely… Then we won’t have a problem.” Fairien stared at Will in disbelief.

“Do you know what you’re asking? If I do that, I’ll kill you!” he shouted. Will nodded.

“I thought that might be the case.” He said, “But it won’t matter. You said that it needed to be done…” Will trailed off into silence, waiting for Fairien’s answer. Fairien stared at him a moment more, then dropped his gaze angrily and squeezed his eyes shut.

“Don’t make me choose between love and hate.” He said gritting his teeth. Will blinked, looking over at him. “I won’t kill you idiot.” Fairien continued. “You know that. You just don’t want me to be mad at you.” Will frowned.

“That’s not true! I am willing to let you possess me! You’re the one saying no.” said crossing his arms. Fairien rolled his eyes.

“You’re not getting out of your duties that easily.” He said. “Besides, we’re stuck together remember? I can’t have you dying.” Fairien sighed, “… I guess, we wait. We do our best and deal with things as they come… As always, eh?” Will nodded. Fairien turned looking up at him shaking his head. “I just hope you and I don’t screw things up any worse than they already are.”

“Then we’re still in this together?” Will asked. Fairien nodded.

“We always have been. That’s not changing.” Will smiled slightly. Fairien found himself smiling and reached out, ruffling Will’s hair fondly. Will blinked as his smile faded slightly.

“Hm, what is it?” Fairien asked, noticing his expression. Will shook his head.

“Fairien…” he murmured but stopped. Fairien frowned.

“What?” he asked. Will dropped his eyes down to the floor.

“I wish,” he whispered, “I wish, I was created by you.” Fairien froze, staring at Will. Will slowly moved his eyes up, meeting Fairien’s.

“Don’t say that.” Fairien said.

“Why?” Will asked.

“Just don’t.” Fairien said. He continued in a quieter voice, “I couldn’t have made someone like you.” Will looked away and didn’t answer.

“Come on.” Fairien said, “You need to go see your friends and talk to them…” he smiled, “They’re worried.”

“Of course they are…” Will muttered. “It’s going to be hard to explain all of this…”

“Yes.” Fairien sighed. “It is.”

 

 

                Will and Fairien slowly walked up toward the steering room where everyone was gathered. As Will was about to open the door Fairien pulled him back.

                “Wait.” He said looking in. “It looks like Tella’s doing something. If you go in now, you’ll interrupt.” Will scowled.

                “Me? You aren’t coming?” he asked. Fairien shifted uncomfortably and looked away.

                “Never said I’d go in there.” He mumbled.

                “You’re afraid to go in, aren’t you?” Will asked narrowing his eyes and grinning. Fairien frowned at him and kicked Will in the shin. Will winced, rubbing his leg and glared up at Fairien. 

“Look, I don’t care what the hell you were told to do, put me through to the castle network!” Tella screamed, causing Will and Fairien jumped. Fairien gave him an I-told-you-so look, and they continued to listen to the conversation from within.

 “Do I make myself clear?! This is Princess Tella!” Tella shouted into the little black speaker. The others shifted uncomfortably, hoping Tella wouldn’t make anyone angry.

“But mam…” the voice said apologetically, “I really have to have authorization and-”

“Put me through or I’ll decapitate you when I get back! I’ll find out who you are, don’t even think you’ll get away!” Tella shouted.

“Ehh…” the voice wavered and then said, “Y-Yes mam… Uhh… I’ll… I’ll put you through now…”

“Good man!” Tella shouted, “Always nice to talk to a Betamian!” Demus twitched and lowered his head near Collin whispering,

“I think Tella is more insane than Will’s Uncle.” Collin laughed softly. The Captain smiled, but didn’t let them know he had heard. Tella grinned and cackled.

“No body says no to me.”

“You’re going to end up being one of those evil dictator types when you take the throne, you know that?” Collin said. Tella glared at him and grinned widely.

“Oh shut up! I know what I’m doing.” She said good-naturedly.

“We all hope.” The wanderer said softly.

“Receptor 557, Royal System or Betamy, how may I help you?” a new voice said from the speaker.

“Hello, I’d like to be transferred to Receptor 645 Avery Adina please.” Tella said politely. The voice at the other end squealed.

“Tella?!” the voice shouted. Tella blinked.

“Terlini?” she asked, “Is that you?”

“Yes! Tella, you’re alive!” the young girls voice shouted in joy.

“Who is that?” Will whispered to Fairien. Fairien rolled his eyes.

“Tella’s sister you idiot. You’re been told that. Why can’t you remember anything?” he asked.

“You want to be transferred to Avery?” Terlini asked. Tella nodded.

“Yes.” She said. “It’s very important.”

“In that case, wouldn’t you want to be transferred to the Chancellor?” Terlini asked.

“No, God no.” Tella said, “You know how he is. Completely useless. I suppose he’s the one who’s been running the country eh?”

“Yes. Oh Tella, its been bad and now-” Terlini started.

“Yes yes, I know, Terlini put me through to Avery, I’ll talk with you later.” Tella said impatiently.

“Oh, sorry. Okay.” Terlini said. There was a click and then a soft voice answered,

“Hello?”

“Avery!” Tella shouted. “It’s Tella. I need to talk to you, its very important.”

“Tella?” Avery asked in surprise, “W- Where are you? You’re alive? Oh-”

“Avery listen to me!” Tella shouted, “The Areans are invading.” There was a silence at the other end and then Avery’s voice came.

“Yes. We know.” His voice was calm and collected. Tella blinked in surprise.

“You know?” she asked Avery laughed.

“Tella, do you think we have no spies? My dear, we knew the moment they left Avrai. I have ordered evacuation of Verca, Terrebia and the surrounding area. Everyone is retreating to the Northern shelters, and we are in the bunkers under Terrabia.”

“Y-You can order evacuations?” Tella asked.

“Mmm… Indirectly anyway…” Avery said with a smile in his voice. “No need to trouble yourself with that. Anyway, where are you? You need to get somewhere safe because of all the people in this world you are a primary target of the Arean army.”

                “Yeah yeah…” Tella said. “What about our army?” Avery sighed.

                “The Chancellor has ordered them to the coast. In plain site of the oncoming ships.”

                “He didn’t. Please say-”

                “No. I’m afraid its true.” Avery said.

                “I don’t suppose you can ‘indirectly’ order them back into a more strategic location?” Tella asked.

                “I’m afraid not.” Avery said. “And you can’t order them back either. The military has been directed to take orders only from the Chancellor and no one else.”

                “What if I were to go to them, meet the troops out on the shore and order them back?” Tella asked slyly. “Think they would listen?”

                “Absolutely not!” Avery shouted, “Don’t even think of such a thing! Do you realize what kind of danger you would be in? Please, tell me where you are! I’ll send someone to retrieve you and take you-”

                “See you later Avery.” Tella interrupted and clicked the radio off.

                “Okay everyone,” Tella said, “We have to get to the shore before those Arean boats do!”

                “That’s impossible!” Collin shouted, “Why don’t you ask us before we set out on one of you hair-brained ideas?”

                “Are you going to let those people out there die because of some idiot’s stupidity? Those people out there are my responsibility! I can’t let them die like this.” Tella growled.

                “Tella, I realize your duty to them, however, we do share this duty.” Demus said quietly, “Do you not think it would be polite to ask us first? We will be taking the risk with you.” He gazed up at her. Tella frowned, turning red and shuffled away, looking out one of the windows.

                “If you don’t want to come then you don’t have to.” She said finally.

                “I never said I didn’t want to come.” Demus said. “But please ask everyone before deciding for us.”

                “Hpmh.” Tella flopped down stubbornly and refused to answer. The captain cleared his throat and shuffled toward the door.

                “Yep,” he said softly as he left, “When the air gets too thick for me, I leave. Eh, boy, watch the helm for me.” He said to Collin. Collin nodded. The captain opened the door and stepped out.  He looked over to his left, spotting Will. He grinned, winking at Will, and walked off, disappearing below deck. Will paused a moment, then turned around, only to find that Fairien had disappeared. He scowled, and turned back to the steering room, resting his hand reluctantly on the knob.

You’re a jerk for not helping me with this. Will thought gloomily.

I’ve got some important business to take care of. You know, deity stuff… Sorry. Fairien told him.

Wimp. Will thought.

Mortal. Came the reply. Will sighed and opened the door, pushing himself into the room. His friends looked up at his entrance.

“Hi…” Will said sitting down shakily.

“So are we talking to Will right now?” Collin asked dropping his eyelids. Will blinked scowling.

“Well, at the moment, yes.” He said, kicking the floor.

“Hey Will,” Tella said, “You think we should go to Betamy, right? I mean, we can’t let the Arean troops just kill everyone! So are you up for it?”  her voice was falsely upbeat and it was painfully obvious. Will winced.

“I guess.” He said.

“… Will?” the wanderer asked. He lifted his head, meeting her eyes. “… Can you talk to us now? Can you tell us about… about what’s going on?” Will sighed.

“I’ll tell you as much as I know.” He said.

“Start with Fairien.” Tella said softly. Will nodded.

“…I guess we should just get to the point eh? Well, back when we first landed in Hailia, Fairien approached me, and asked if I would allow him to join his spirit to mine so that he could protect this group… Of course, I didn’t get what he was saying and well…” Will shrugged, “Anyway, he’s been with me ever since. He’s the reason we’ve survived all this way. When something terrible was happening, he would find someway to get us out of it… And when things got really bad and he couldn’t handle them, he would possess me and defend this group through me.”

“I see.” Demus said. “We guessed as much… Still, one this we don’t understand at all, the talisman. The Sword… It’s you?” Will nodded.

“I was only told about this… Wow, it was only last night… Back when we were in tunnel, Fairien told me about it. He said I… oh how did he say it?… I am an Iyokian you see, and that means that Minerva created me, just like she created all the other Iyokians… and then since Fairien joined his spirit to mine, I myself became a joint creation between the both of them, just like the talisman. The true talisman was with Fairien. It was sealed within him while he was mortal. I think he used its power to make himself mortal in the first place… Anyway, when he joined with me, the talisman and me, we became one somehow… I’m not even really sure how it works, but apparently only I can use its power.” Will finished. Tella frowned.

“Will, why did Fairien become mortal in the first place?” she asked.

“… He was supposed to go to Area, like Azrael said, and see what the deal was with Minerva. She moved from Iyokia about twenty years ago and went to Area and ever since that time, she had been shutting out Fairien and Azrael’s foundings. Apparently they have to have these foundings, these energies from the mortal people to exist in their physical forms…” Will shrugged. “I don’t really get it, Fairien could tell you better than me, but I think since there weren’t any foundings for them in Arean, Azrael and Fairien couldn’t go see Minerva to see why she was shutting them out. They weren’t terribly concerned with it, until the war started a few months later. That’s when it became clear that Minerva wasn’t out to just keep them away from her, she wanted them dead. She killed off most of the Hailians, which nearly killed Azrael. Azrael and Fairien knew they couldn’t fight against her and they were getting weaker and weaker. That’s why in a last ditch effort, Fairien made himself mortal, planning to eventually go see Minerva and see what he could do about it. Since he would be mortal, he wouldn’t need foundings to go to Area… the only problem was, Fairien forgot who he was, and what his mission was. Worse, Minerva realized what was going on and sent Fairien dreams, telling him to go to Area prematurely. She set a trap for him, and killed him.”

“Hmm…” Tella said looking up at Will, “You could have told us this stuff earlier.”

“Hey! Fairien only told me most of this stuff last night!” Will protested. Demus laughed.

“I don’t think that’s what she means Will.” he said.

“Yeah, I meant all of it! I mean, why couldn’t you tell us about Fairien? Why couldn’t we know we had someone guarding us?” she asked angrily. Will flinched.

“Look, we wanted to hide Fairien’s presence as best we could… It would have made things even more dangerous for us if Minerva had known right off that I was carrying Fairien’s spirit in me. She would have doubled her efforts to kill me and the rest of you. As things were she thought we were all just sent to perform summonings… Something she wanted, so that she could just kill Fairien and Azrael and not have to deal with them any longer…Really, we would have just needed someone to summon Azrael, which basically, that’s what you were suppose to do, Demus.” Will said.

“I can’t summon Azrael, I told Minerva and I’ll tell you.” Demus said. “He’s gone.”

“Minerva said…” the wanderer frowned, “Minerva said that he wasn’t dead though.”

“Dead and disembodied are basically the same things.” Will said shrugging. “Deities with no power and no physical form are pretty useless.”

  “Well, at least we know kind of what’s going on now.” Tella said sighing.

“Minerva’s started an invasion now…” Demus mused, turning to Will, “Is she trying to destroy Fairien’s power now? By killing off the Betamians?” Will nodded.

“I would assume so.” He said.

“Then what can we do?” Collin asked.

“We stop them!” Tella said, “Like I’ve been saying! If we can get that Arean army to back off, we might have a chance!”

“Get the Arean army to back off?!” Collin shouted, “You’re an idiot! You think you have a chance against them?!”

“Well I have to do something Collin!” Tells shouted back, “What would you have me do? Sit back and watch them?”

“No.” Collin said folding his arms. “But we need to think about this first. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Heeeeeey!” came the captain voice from outside. “I think you younguns best come look at this!” he called. They rose quickly, striding out of the room and onto the outside deck. The captain stood outside, point ahead to several far off lights.

“The Arean warships.” Collin said.

“They’re sailing with their lights on? Are they idiots? Do they want to give their position away?” the wanderer asked.

“What have they got to be afraid of?” Demus asked.

“Yeah, you heard Avery.” Tella said, “They already know about the Arean ships and the Areans aren’t dense enough to think the Betamians don’t know about them. So what if they sail with their lights on? It probably works better to intimidate the Betamians once they come into sight…”

“Those poor Betamians…” the wanderer said softly.

“Ehhh… Poor us, more likely…” the captain said. “I don’t like how close we are to them ships… They just turned their lights on so I didn’t seem em… Now, there’s no missing us… Will! Get all our lights off! If they haven’t seen us by now they’re fools, but on the off chance we’ve not been seen yet let’s not give them the chance!”

“Yes sir!” Will said, running off to switch the lights off. Within moments Bessie was shrouded in darkness. As they stood together watching the ships the captain jumped slightly. He turned his head and stared at Demus with wide eyes.

“You lad, you heard it, didn’t you?” he asked. Demus nodded.

“Heard what?” Tella asked softly.

“A signal…” Demus murmured.

“There’s no mistaking it. One of those ships just sent a shot signal to the others.”

“Meaning…” the wanderer trailed off.

“Meaning we’ve been spotted.” Demus said looking out to the ships.

“Everyone…” the captain said softly, “Everyone get inside. Now.”