Save Me

  “Hi, Em,” Theo tried to say with a smile as he walked up to his teacher, not sure if he should feel thankful that he had waited for him before following Moriya.

  “Hello, my dear,” responded Em warmly, giving his student a soft look and a few affectionate pats on the head. “I’ve missed you.”

  Beginning to feel like absolute scum for his half-hearted, barely lukewarm replies these past few months to the only person he could call his father figure in life, Theo nodded remorsefully as Em spoke. “I’m glad you’re here. Your replies recently haven’t felt like you. I was planning on coming to visit this weekend to sort out any misunderstandings.”

  “Mm.”

  That was all Theo could do as he kept his head down, forgetting all that he had come here for; in place of the anger of being kept in the dark was now shame. That was always how he felt in front of him, like he had always done something wrong, that his worries and concerns were always so minute. That all he was…was just a child.

  I am a child, aren’t I?

  With Em’s hand on his shoulder ushering him forward, Theo stole a quick glance out of the corner of his eye to espy the smile on his mentor’s face that rarely ever dropped, even when doling out punishments. Even when he had to stomach hearing Moriya’s name for the second and third times. Even when he had heard about Theo’s dreams and uneasiness.

  You’re being ridiculous, my boy. Everything will be okay. Don’t worry. I’m here for you. I’ll always be here for you. I gave you a home and cared for you all this time. I wouldn’t have done any of that if I hadn’t loved you. You trust me, right?

  When they arrived at the front courtyard, it was empty save for Moriya’s cloaked figure in the center of the stone stage, as if ready for a challenger to step up. He wasn’t facing them, however. For someone with little feeling left, even he had the time to take in the view—the MATS building was one of the highest in the city, so it was a treat to see the sun rise and color the orderly, pristine gray-white buildings, the blue of the morning still not yet lost to the rest of day.

  “It’s a beautiful view, isn’t it?” began Em in a friendly tone as he let go of Theo and walked onto the open terrace, heading past the child professor to the railing at the very end.

  “It’s alright,” responded Moriya dispassionately as Theo closed the doors to the courtyard and walked past him, not forgetting to give him an apologetic look. “The view of the Lycean Plains from the Academy is better.”

  Faintly smiling as he stood beside Em on the balcony of the open courtyard, Theo rested his arms on the railing and set his head down on top, like he always liked to do as a kid. Except now, he didn’t have to step on the bottom railing to reach.

  “Ha, ha. I must admit, not much beats watching the sun roll over the plains. As a child, I would often forsake sleep and sit on the steps of my class workshop to watch the morning come and go.”

  “Surprised you still remember despite being an ancient relic.”

  While Theo could not help but chuckle, the old sorcerer’s reply was patient and reminiscent. “Some things…you never forget, no matter how much time passes.”

  Feeling more at ease now that he was watching the people below them go about their day, the carts pass by, the fountain by the central square bubbling, the steam rise from buildings, the sound of birds…Theo let out a long, tired breath.

  “Em, have I changed?”

  “We all change.”

  “You said I didn’t sound like myself in my letters. What did you mean?”

  “They sounded forced, like you couldn’t say what was really on your mind.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “Isn’t that for you to tell me?”

  “No, I want to hear what you have to say first.”

  Em lowered his hood, clasping his hands behind his back as he gazed out into the day, the sun barely reflected in his murky, wise eyes. “You must be worried about the state of the world and the Academy, especially with all the Chasms opening. The entirety of Chloris may soon meet the same fate as the sanctuaries.”

  Theo did not reply. He just stared at the profile of Em on the rooftop courtyard, wondering about the giant shadow of truth veiled behind the deliberate words. Wondering…how peaceful he looked, for once.

  “You must be worried about what’s going to happen to you,” continued Em carefully. “If you’re going to be sent off on a mission and die for something you don’t believe in. If this is the last time we’ll be able to chat like this. If this is the end.” He met Theo’s faraway stare. “It will only be the end when you decide it is, Theodore. The world is at your mercy. I am at your mercy. The Earth Mother is at your mercy.”

  Theo froze up at first, like a child being scolded. Unable to do anything but watch as Em laid out the truth for him, all the holes and countless lies that tainted every step.

  “Theo.”

  He turned back to Moriya and met his neutral stare.

  But when the professor didn’t continue, Theo found himself able to speak again. He turned toward the city. “Does MATS really believe that killing commoners and invading their homes is going to save the world?”

  “Of course it is.”

  The swiftness of the reply—he could not help it, the boiling words that tumbled out next. “How can you say that with such certainty? At the end of it all, if you triumph, will you stand on the corpses of those you have slain, all the casualties—deliberate or otherwise—and proclaim that you did it for the greater good?”

  “If the alternative is the death of all that I love and hold dear, there is no cost too steep.”

  Theo tightened his grip on the railing, feeling his fingers go numb as his voice descended into a whisper. “Turn back time. Start all over.”

  “After we finish the book, we’ll be able to set the world back on track. Bring back the trees, fix the Chasms, reverse the disastrous events of these Circles. We cannot have the commoners trying to stop what they do not comprehend.”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “Just because they understand nothing doesn’t mean you have the right to slaughter them.”

  “Many of the ignorant have killed our own. Like your colorless friend here.”

  “So that makes it okay for you to raze their villages, destroy their families to—what? Catch dissenters, maybe find some Ancients? Kill them before they kill you?”

  “The Ancients can’t hide forever. Those free from sin must be somewhere—and if we never find them, we need only a bit more time. A year, perhaps, and then the fighting can stop.”

  “A year? Going at the rate it is now, how many people are you expecting to kill? Are you going to take over the entirety of Chloris and expect the fighting to suddenly stop because you’ve achieved your goal?” Theo paused, realizing now what his senior’s words had meant. “Or is there going to be no one left to fight because they’ll be gone?”

  “The ones who understand the importance of magic will not fight us.”

  “That’s your plan? Does bloodshed really come that easily to you? Kill until you finish completing the archive, whatever those notes are, subjugate everyone who doesn’t agree with you and—”

  “I am disappointed that you came here to argue, child.”

  Theo could hear it—that hint of anger. Em was losing his patience. The time that he had spent away from home, at the Academy—it had always been smiles when he returned. Be it for the weekend or summer break, not once did they confront their old ghosts, their old demons.

  Dark nights in the basement. Rolls and rolls of bandages. Buckets to throw up in. Araise, Araise, Araise. I would die for you. I want to die for you.

  He had always just been so happy to see Em again. He didn’t want to fight. He didn’t want to tell him the truth. He didn’t want to see him angry. He wanted him to be happy. Happy, like when Theo memorized his spells. Happy, like when Theo did what was expected of him. Happy, like when Theo was a good, obedient child.

  Please break. Please, please, please. Why won’t you break?

  “At this rate,” began Em again, the veil of kindness ripped away, “if we do not find the Ancients, if we do not complete the texts, we will lose magic entirely. The trees have been eradicated, the number of living Ancients in our possession enough to count on one hand. Gone, that which we have made our purpose, our entire lives. The single thing you had said gave you meaning after a life of absurdities. The one thing that had saved you.”

  In the silence, the child slowly put his head onto his white knuckles, trying to still the shaking. Closing his eyes, returning to the darkness. Returning to that first year. Remembering what he had said to Ty. Remembering how true it had been in the moment, how true it must have been now. Em had saved him. Despite the endless list of tragedies, Em was his sole saving grace. It wasn’t magic. It was Em. Em.

  What if they were the one who saved you?

  If only there were an easy answer.

  His voice was shaky, barely audible. “You. It was you who saved me.”

  “It was both.”

  Hearing the words come out of Em’s mouth, in his matter-of-fact, silky smooth voice, finally gave him the pause he needed. He opened his eyes, lifted his head, and faced the sky. “Then let the world crumble. We deserve it. You deserve it for doing what you did.”

  A satisfying silence followed as the words sank in. The remaining flicker of falseness dispelled. “What are you talking about, Theodore?”

  “I know. About Krastoff. About who you are, why you’re here. Why you chose me.”

  “You don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

  Why had it always been so easy for him to memorize spells? Was it because he was inherently gifted? Was it because he was hardworking? Or was it because, for him, it was always a matter of life-and-death?

  Please love me. Please don’t throw me away. I’ll do what you ask. Anything.

  “Dark feed Light, Land bear Moon. Sun temper Sky, Sea renew Life. Mercy bring Death, Love connect Strife.”

  When he turned to gauge Em’s reaction, he could see he was livid, angrier than the time Theo had stolen a forbidden tome from his library. His dark eyes widened, and his gloomy complexion flooded with red. His hands were no longer clasped, now clenched fists at his side.

  “I took that book away for a reason,” he growled.

  “I’ve got a good memory,” Theo shot back unflinchingly.

  “You have no idea what we’re trying to do. What this all means. What we’ve dedicated our entire lives to, all that we’ve had to endure until this point for the sake of magic, the price of prolonging tradition. Did you think I didn’t know that the world would crumble once the sanctuaries fell? We knew this before you were born—the only way to stop this, to defeat the Earth Mother and her plot for revenge, is to complete the dictionary. And when we stop it, the world will finally be free from Her grasp. The world will finally be free. We will be free.” And then he shook his head, a dark, ominous look on his face as if this wasn’t the first time he was trying to teach him this lesson. “I don’t know what lies were spoken to you, what you have been led to believe, but you are on the wrong side of this war, Theo. Change this foolish path you tread while you can still make the right choice. Before it’s too late.”

  Theo mirrored his teacher. He shook his head, let go of the railing. Stepped down, turned away. He had heard enough to know what his answer was.

  “Theo,” called Em after his first three steps.

  For a moment, Theo stopped. He wondered if it still would have been possible to save him. To turn things back somehow. Back to the beginning, back to where it all started. Start all over. A clean slate.

  Would you like to go back?

  “Ready to go?” asked Moriya.

  Try again?

  “No. No, there’s…there’s one last thing.” He turned one last time to Em. “You mentioned that after finishing your book, you’d stop the disastrous events of these Circles. What…what would happen if you were to achieve that goal?”

  Em spread his arms wide, gesturing to the world around them. “We’d be happy. Everyone would be happy. Everyone would be able to practice magic; everyone would be able to live in harmony. There’d be no more conflict. We could go back to how happy we were together. It’d be a new age of magic, and we’d spread it far and wide. We, the people, will be the new gods.”

  Happy…huh?

  “And Ty? What about her?”

  The old sorcerer’s face darkened. “Theo, I understand how much she means to you, and I’ve kept silent and played along with your childish whims because I care about you, but her existence is so intrinsically tied to the Earth Mother that her death is—”

  “No, that’s enough,” interjected the student as he continued on his way, understanding the look on Em’s face well enough to know what he was going to say.

  “Theo,” beckoned Em again, in a strange, captivating tone that stopped him dead in his tracks once he passed Moriya. “Theo, come back.”

  Crack.

  Theo turned back just in time to see something translucent shatter around himself, and the professor shift so that he was blocking the sorcerer’s view of his student. “You really thought that’d work with me here?”

  “Give him back to me,” seethed Em, rapidly advancing toward the center platform where Moriya stood, the one thing stopping him from reaching his student. “How dare you—he’s my s—” His voice grew to a cry as he lifted a hand to push the professor away, forgetting the crucial spell—

  Impale.

  In the blink of an eye, a massive obsidian needle erupted from the ground at the professor’s feet and straight through Emrys’s chest until he was ten feet up in the air.

  A gentle bell chimed, signifying the end of the battle.

  It had happened so fast that all Theo could do was watch in horror, wondering what the end to Em’s sentence was—knowing that nothing should have changed his answer.

  “I’d call you bold, but you seem to have forgotten that I was itching for a fight.”

  Blood spurted from Em’s mouth, and he still managed to snarl, a menacing, bloody smile on his face. No longer soft, no longer patient. “You take away the one I love, I take away yours.”

  As the sentence finished, the professor sent another obsidian needle into the abdomen of the sorcerer, utterly silencing him.

  “M-Moriya, that’s enough,” called Theo uneasily, feeling a deep-seated fear emerging as he watched the deep red blood ooze from his teacher onto the pure black. His eyes were closed, body limp like a doll. “We’ve got to get help.”

  Yet Moriya continued to cast—a Quickcast Ex spell, at that.

  “Wait!” cried Theo, reaching toward the professor and desperately trying to shake some sense into him. “Moriya, stop!”

  It was only then that the words stopped, and Moriya’s gaze fell on Theo. What he thought was going to be a face full of anger was instead filled with surprise. Wide-eyed, mouth open like he was unsure of what was happening, there was nothing but blankness in his eyes.

  “I think I’m angry, Theo. It’s been a while. I forgot how it felt.”

  “L…let’s go, professor. We’ve got to call someone to help him.”

  “Why? Not like he’ll die that easily.”

  “Come on…”