An Asnean Odyssey: Bastien

Part 3

Twenty

Bastien

- “Please, I don’t want to wake up...”

“Hey, look at that! You’re awake!”

“Why can’t I stay dead...?” Bastien asked himself as he looked around the claustrophobic room. He was tucked carefully into the tattered sheets of a mahogany bed with a middle-aged man standing beside him. The man had messy white hair that dangled in front of his eyes, one of which was covered with a faded black eye patch that had an eyeball painted onto the outside. His clothes looked old, but well-kept. He wore a black undershirt with a crimson jacket that was covered in straps and buckles, while his pants were a deep blue. The room itself was made of crumbling stone with faded carvings of mystical beasts, clearly an underground ruin of some sort. The bed and the small stone table that had a set of clothes messily tossed on top took up almost all of the space in the room.

“I could throw you back into the ocean, if you’d like,” the man chuckled through golden teeth.

“That would probably be preferable,” Bastien responded as he sat up. The blanket fell onto his lap, revealing his pale, cracked skin. “I’m naked.”

“Yeah, your clothes were...” the man paused to think for a second. “Did you ever change your clothes? Like, at all? ’Cause I had to burn ’em.”

“That bastard just tossed me in the sewer like a piece of trash,” Bastien looked at the man once more before putting on the clothes that were on the table.

“Do you want some privacy? ’Cause I can come back.”

“You’ve already seen me naked, what would be the point?”

“I suppose you’re right...”

“Who are you?” Bastien asked as he rubbed the side of his head with his fingers. “You said you pulled me out of the ocean. Why?”

“You don’t recognize me? That’s a shame, I didn’t think I’d aged that much,” the man replied. “You look exactly the same as the day we met. Well, except for the horns. And the arm.”

“Who are you?”

“And the cracked skin, the creepy wing, the-”

“Who?!” Bastien yelled, to which the man smiled.

“Gage. I killed you once. That’s why I pulled you out of the ocean. Well, that and you wouldn’t stop bleeding. It was killing all the fish.”

“What?”

“Your blood tainted the water. Took years for it to start to clear up. My island is a bog now.”

“Years? How long have I been dead?”

“That’s an odd thing to ask,” Gage stroked the gray stubble on his chin. “I guess it’s been about, oh, I don’t know...ten years since I found you?”

“Ten years...” Bastien sat down and stared at the wall for a moment. “Ten years...”

“So, tell me, how’d ya do it?”

“Do what?”

“I put a blade through your chest. How’d you survive?”

“What do you see when you look at me?” Bastien opened his arms to welcome Gage’s gaze.

“Half a demon, I’d say.”

“I’m cursed,” Bastien spat the words quickly as if they left a foul taste in his mouth. “I cannot die.”

“Sounds like a blessing to me.”

“You don’t know how wrong you are,” Bastien collapsed back onto the bed and placed his face in his palms. “Tell me something now. What happened after that bright flash of light?”

“You remember that, too, eh?”

“Remember...” Bastien said quietly to himself. “This is what memories feel like?”

“That woman you were with exploded into that light once I caught up with her. She had grown wings and sped to your side. I decided it was probably best to just leave with my ship.”

“I wonder why Duke lied...”

“Duke?”

“The vampire that I was with.”

“He was a vampire?” Gage was visibly taken back by the revelation. “That explains a lot.”

“I suppose I’m also technically a vampire.”

“Is that why you can’t die?”

“Part of it, yes,” Bastien looked up at Gage between his fingers. “A rather large part of it, actually.”

“That means you need to drink blood, aye?”

“If I wish to regain my strength, yes.”

“Do you?”

“As of now, I have no need for power,” Bastien rose to his feet. “I just want to find somewhere to die.”

“You just said you were immortal,” Gage was perplexed.

“If dragons can curse me, dragons can kill me.”

“Dragons?” Gage lead Bastien out of the room. “I’ve never heard of those before...”

“Why would you? Leinhardt is the only one left that would know of them.”

“No one is left, then,” Gage corrected as the pair entered a large, partially collapsed chamber. The stone ceiling had fallen, demolishing half of the room. Rotted, decaying trees could be seen in the starlight through the gaping hole. Among the rubble, half of a stone table remained.

“He’s dead?”

“Yeah. Poisoned by his son.”

“And what of his son, then?”

“Disappeared a few years ago. I’d wager he’s dead, though.”

“Why’s that?”

“There was a rebellion a while back. I helped a few of them get into his castle.”

“Who rules Asnea then?”

“Oscar’s adviser, Balthazar, assumed the throne upon his disappearance.”

“Oscar is- was the son, then?” Bastien asked, to which Gage nodded. “Can you get me to Asnea?”

“What for?”

“I need to find the dragons. I can find my way from Asnea.”

“Could I come with you?”

“No. I have no need for companions.”

“You owe me for saving you,” Gage argued.

“Actually,” Bastien raised his voice. ”You owe me. I could be resting at the bottom of the ocean right now, blissfully unaware of my existence!”

“So that’s it then? You’re just going to ask them to kill you?”

“I’m going to demand it.”

“And if they refuse?”

“I’ll make them kill me.”

Gage burst out laughing. “Do you realize how stupid that sounds?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re going to force someone to kill you?” Gage choked out between breaths. “It’s just a ridiculous statement!”

“An ethereal being, actually.”

“How do you intend to force an ‘ethereal being’ to kill you?”

Bastien’s hand reached for his barren waist. “You didn’t find a sword with me, did you?”

“Nope.”

“Shit, maybe I’ll have to find Sverker, first,” Bastien pondered as he began to climb the rocks to the surface of the swamp. “I should get some armor, too. I’m tired of getting stabbed.”

“We’re leaving now?”

“Yes,” Bastien called down to Gage. “Every second is misery. I want to end it as quickly as possible.”

“What happened to you?” Gage asked hesitantly. “I mean, I get that I stabbed you and all, but why do you want to die so badly?”

“Everyone and everything I have ever known turned against me. I have nothing, no one, and nowhere to go. My existence is a lie. Does that help clarify?”

“Look, I know what it feels like to lose someone impor-”

“Everything!” Bastien screamed at Gage, who had begun scaling the rubble. “Not someone, everything! You can’t even begin to imagine how it feels!”

“Maybe not,” Gage sighed. “But this is all I have. I lost everything I cared about and then some. All I’ve got now is rot.”

“I lost my world. I lost my mind.”

The two trudged through the bog in silence. Gage casually strolled across the surface of the ground while Bastien’s feet sunk into the putrid earth with each step. When they reached the charcoal sands of the beach they stopped and gazed out at the mass of land across the copper sea.

“Your blood still taints the water,” Gage pointed out. “How were you planning on crossing?”

“How do you cross?”

“I jump.”

“So carry me on your back.”

“I’m not sure I can make it with the added weight...” Gage responded as he examined the bones clearly visible under Bastien’s skin. “You are pretty scrawny, though.”

“Perhaps my wing can help. It can’t just be for show.”

“It’d be handy if you had two, eh?” Gage joked, to which Bastien responded with a blank stare. “Alright, climb on.”

Bastien mounted Gage, who had knelt down. Gage launched himself forward, but didn’t quite get as high as he was expecting. The murky waters sloshed a few feet below them as they floated across the vast expanse.

“How do you do it?” Bastien asked. “Jumping across the ocean, I mean.”

“I have a handy little gem called a gravitation sphere,” Gage patted his pocket. “Her name’s Serena.”

“Her name?”

“It’s like a car, or a boat, right? You’ve got to give it a name,” Gage explained with pain in his voice.

“Or a sword?”

“Yeah, see! You get it!” Gage had begun to drift closer to the currents. Once he had fallen almost into the ocean, he pushed off from the waves, propelling the pair upwards again.

“Tell me about the rebels you mentioned earlier.”

“There was a boy and a girl, Skye and Liet. I tried to find them, but they disappeared with Oscar.”

“When was this?”

“About two years ago.”

“You think they’re dead?”

“It’d be a shame,” Gage replied. “But I suppose it’s possible. The girl was a genius.”

“What about the boy?”

“He didn’t seem like anything special,” Gage rubbed the stubble on his chin as he pushed off from another wave. “But there was just something strange about him.”

As they approached the shore, a demolished building was visible, with ruined rail tracks that drifted into the abyss. The metal beams that remained were rusted and weathered. As soon as Gage touched down, Bastien dismounted.

“You didn’t use your wing.”

“We still made it, why does it matter?”

“It means I can’t trust you.”

“You’re overthinking it.”

“I’m making observations,” Gage smiled. “What are you going to do when you make it to Asnea?”

“I told you already, I’m going to find the dragons.”

“Yeah, but how? Are you just going to ask around? I don’t think that’ll work,” Gage chuckled as the duo walked off into the darkness of the night.

“There’s a woman I need to find, Steiner. I know how to get to her from Asnea.”

“Steiner, as in the Magnificent Steiner?” Gage was shocked. “Like, the Steiner that’s responsible for pretty much every technological breakthrough in the last five years?”

“Most likely, yes.”

“Her creations are like magic,” Gage’s eyes sparkled in the starlight. “I heard Skye could rival Steiner, but I didn’t know her long enough to find out.”

“Magic huh? It is her.”

“Her?!”

“Why are you surprised?”

“Steiner sounds like a man’s name, that’s all...”

Bastien allowed himself to smile for a moment before the pair continued in silence to Asnea. When they reached the enormous city, Bastien found that it was now surrounded by wastelands on all sides. The core of the city was identical to how he remembered it, but there were large sections that had been built with enormous walls dividing them from the old city.

“What happened?” Bastien asked.

“I’m assuming you mean the scars,” Gage replied. “The rebellion I mentioned put a decent amount around the city. Raids are commonplace since Oscar disappeared. I’m not sure how experienced Balthazar is, but he’s been doing quite well at driving them off.”

“Last time I was here only one side was damaged...” Bastien’s empty gaze pored across the ravaged land. “I don’t know which way to go.”

“You can’t use any other landmarks?” Gage asked. Bastien tried to look out into the distance but couldn’t see through the darkness.

“Perhaps in the morning, but it’s too dark to see anything now.”

“Morning?” Gage looked confused. “There is no morning.”

“What...?”

“The sun burnt out around the time I found you. Leinhardt built a clockwork sun to take its place, but once Oscar took over, he shut it off and we’ve had the eternal night since then.”

“How fitting.”

“What’s that?”

“Perhaps I, too, shall succumb to the darkness.”

Liet

It felt exactly as he had expected. His stomach turning over, his blood crawling through his veins trying to find its rhythm. It was like he had been ripped to shreds and stitched back together in whatever manner seemed best. He was dizzy for the first few moments, but that quickly faded. He admired the absolute silence for a moment, then he blinked. And in that fraction of a second, Skye had come through. She was lying on the floor motionless, staring at him with those beautiful, chromatic eyes. A smile pursed her lips briefly before she began to suffocate on her own blood. The pink plasma poured from her neck and sprayed across the marble floor as she wrapped her hands around her neck in an attempt to stop the flow. A loud gargling noise filled the area as the air in her lungs seeped through her throat. Liet wasted no time in retrieving the stick of synthetic skin from his pocket. He rushed to Skye’s side and rubbed the paste into the wound on her neck, then grabbed her hand and lifted her head to his chest. He could feel her squeeze his hand as the gurgling stopped and she began to cough blood onto his shirt.

“You’re going to be fine,” Liet whispered in Skye’s ear. “I’ve got you.”

The couple sat like that for almost half an hour as Skye’s coughs became less frequent. Liet looked around to realize that they were in Sylvan’s study. The only source of light was what spilled in from the crystals outside. It was exactly the same as the last time he had seen it, except the books looked much, much older.

“Can you walk?” Liet asked as he rose to his feet and extended a hand to Skye, who grabbed it and lifted herself up as well. She tried to respond, but nothing came out when she opened her mouth. She tried again, and again, and again to speak, but her voice had left her. Skye’s eyes shifted to a deep blue as she grabbed Liet’s hand and forced it open. She began to trace letters in his palm.

“I-I’m sorry...” Liet’s voice shook slightly as tears gathered in his eyes. “I can’t tell what you’re trying to say...”

Skye stamped her foot on the ground, then her eyes lit up. She bent down and dipped her finger in the luminous pink blood that had pooled on the floor and began to write with it.

-I told you it would work.-

Liet smiled. “I knew you could do it.”

-We should look around. Lab first.-

“Okay,” Liet responded as he followed her outside. The town was coated with a thick layer of crystalline snow, which engulfed the cavern in light. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s been here in a while.”

-Footprints- Skye drew in the snow with her finger. A pair of tracks went from the rear exit of the cave and snaked around into each building, stopping at Skye’s lab. The pair followed the footprints to the open doorway of the lab. From there they could hear some people talking, almost shouting at each other.

“...useful!”

“What do you consider useful, exactly?” the voice sounded familiar.

“Anything that leads me to Steiner.”

“Why do you think you’ll find something here? I already told you this was an old rebel hideout. No reason for her to be here.”

“How do you know she didn’t help them? You don’t think it’s strange that they had such incredible technology?”

Skye stepped in and raised her finger, trying to interrupt their argument, but when she opened her mouth only silence came out. A strange man was rummaging through her lockers, tossing blood samples and prototype devices over his head as he frantically searched for something. Both men had their backs turned.

“I told you they had a savant with them. If you’ve got the right genes you can do anything.”

Liet followed Skye in the doorway and positioned himself in front of Skye. “Hello there!”

Both men turned around almost before he had even finished talking. The one that was going through the lockers wore a crimson shirt that stood out against the light purple glow of the cracks in his pale skin. The shirt was torn down the back where a single phantasmal bone wing had been forced through the fabric. His pants were simple, black linen. A single jagged horn protruded from the right side of his skull, while a small nub had begun to breach the surface of the other side, almost completely obscured by his ragged, charcoal hair. His eyes were deep purple and emitted an ominous glow. His lips were faded and cracked, as though he hadn’t drunk anything in years. One of his arms was a gnarled, metallic mess that shared the same glow as his hair and the cracks in his skin. The other man Liet recognized immediately.

“Gage, is that you?” Liet asked. Skye’s eyes turned bright pink.

“I guess they’re not dead, Bastien,” Gage commented as he pulled Liet and Skye in for a bear hug.

“How convenient,” Bastien replied. “This is the savant, then?”

Skye offered no response, instead taking Bastien’s place rummaging through the lockers.

“Not even a hello?” Gage joked.

“She’s been through a lot. I don’t think she’ll be able to talk again.”

“How’d that happen?”

“Oscar cut her throat.”

“Oh,” Gage quietly responded. “I’m glad you guys survived. I’m not going to lie, it’s been pretty lonely. Why didn’t you come find me?”

“We only just got back.”

“From where?”

“An alternate reality would be the simplest explanation,” Liet rubbed the back of his head. Skye had managed to find a small bracelet that she slid around her slender wrist. She ran her fingers along it and tapped it a few times, which caused it to project a blank hologram into the air in front of her, which she began to write on with her finger.

-What do you think you’re doing with my precious instruments, mister?-

“You’re in trouble now, man,” Gage whispered quietly to Bastien.

“I don’t care about your samples. I need to find a woman named Steiner. Do you know of her?”

-Give me some of your blood and I’ll tell you what I know.-

Bastien stopped breathing for a moment, his head filled with memories of Randgris. “Why is everyone so obsessed with blood...?”

“Probably because it’s in such high demand,” Gage commented. “Pretty much everything is fueled by blood.”

-When did that happen? How long have we been gone?-

“About two years. Your work was continued after Oscar’s disappeara- er, death.”

“What work?” Bastien interrupted.

-My work to use blood as a resource.-

“What good does that do?”

-It was either that or water-

“It’s going to be a lot harder to pick up on that subtle sarcasm,” Liet sighed.

“What if that wasn’t sarcasm...” Gage shot a confused look at Liet.

-I’ll let you boys decide- Skye winked.

“Do you know Steiner or not?”

Skye silently sighed. -I’ve only heard of her, but I’d still like a blood sample, if you’re willing.-

“Go ahead,” Bastien grabbed a scalpel from the table and dragged it through his wrist, spilling thick, onyx plasma onto the floor. “I don’t need it.”

Liet instinctively grabbed the synthetic out of his pocket and rubbed the remainder of it onto Bastien’s wrist, stopping the bleeding. “What did you do that for?!”

“You ever see a suicidal vampire?” Gage asked with a solemn expression. Liet remained quiet. “Well, now you have.”

The group was silent while Skye located a syringe and drew a couple vials of Bastien’s blood. -Thank you.-

“You can stop following me around now, right?” Bastien looked at Gage.

“You’re not going to come with us?”

“Steiner is my only interest as of now.”

“We could find her together.”

“No.”

“Why?” Gage began to raise his voice.

“I don’t want companions.”

“I’m sure you could use some help,” Liet cut in.

“I don’t need you.”

-There’s no point arguing.- Skye wrote as she placed the vials in her pocket and continued rummaging.

“Will you at least tell us where you’re going next?” Gage asked.

“Back to Asnea, then off in a different direction. Eventually I’ll find her,” Bastien replied as he headed for the door. “Goodbye.”