Green Eyes

Selene turned to see Brutus gently alighting on the top of the second level, even with her. He looked calm as if this were the most natural thing in the world for him. It made Selene’s blood boil to see him.

“You will not touch him,” she ordered standing over Johann.

“Him?” Brutus looked casually at the Esthorian. “He is but a pawn, a bonus, a nothing. It was never about them; it has always been about you and me.”

“You wanted me,” Selene snarled as she ignited her fists. “Now you’ve got me.”

“Manasseh wanted you,” corrected Brutus. “He thought that we could train you to be our servant, to be our weapon but I knew better. I knew that we could not coexist; one of us would destroy the other.”

“Then let’s finish this,” Selene challenged.

“Indeed,” Brutus inclined his head, “Let’s.”

Selene opened with a blast of fire from her left hand that she followed up with a telekinetic punch with her right that launched the sorcerer into the air. But to her dismay, Brutus merely hovered there as if waiting for her to join him in the sky.

“Did you think you were the only one to master flight?” he taunted her. “Come up here, if you dare.”

Selene leapt into the air after him, racing towards her arch foe only to be met with an invisible wall that slammed her back down to the Temple. She crashed through the roof and collapsed to the floor, getting the wind knocked out of her in the process.

“I must admit, I am disappointed,” Brutus mocked as he floated down to the gaping hole Selene had left in her wake. “But then again, what could I have really expected from someone who lets her friends and family die in her place?”

“How about this,” Selene growled as she mentally grabbed the sorcerer’s legs and pulled him inside before swinging him back up through the roof. Tapping into her developing flight, Selene soared out of the Temple after him.

“Impressive,” admitted the Viceroy as he coughed to refill his lungs with air. “Very impressive. Such raw, wild power. No wonder my men didn’t survive the night your mother died.”

“You killed my mother?” Selene demanded as Brutus gingerly stood to his feet.

“You don’t know, do you?” he questioned, regarding Selene curiously. “They never told you, did they?”

“What are you saying?” Selene commanded as she reignited her fists. “What did you do to my mother?”

“Me?” Brutus gestured to himself. “I did nothing. You, on the other hand,” he pointed a finger at her, “you burned her to death.”

“What!?” Selene’s hands went cold. “You’re lying.”

“Am I Selene?” challenged Brutus. “Think back to how your mother died. It was in a fire, wasn’t it? And you came out unharmed? Now tell me, Navi, how is that possible?”

Horror gripped Selene. “A Navi cannot be hurt by her own fire,” Selene quietly admitted as the awful truth sunk in: she had killed her own mother.

“You are a murderer,” Brutus hammered home the point as he suddenly grabbed her and tossed the stunned Selene up the steps of the ziggurat.

“Your father knew the truth but he never told you,” Brutus told her as he picked her up again and slammed her against the side of the Temple. “Those you call friends knew the truth and never told you.” Again he threw her farther up. “You think you are loved Selene,” he taunted as the Viceroy grasped her and hauled her high in the sky above the Temple, “but in reality, you are surrounded by those who lie to you.” He hurled Selene down with every ounce of his considerable power.

Selene crashed through the roof of the Temple’s pinnacle, barely bracing her fall and rolling to the corner of the Creator’s Chamber. Part of her mind screamed to get up but she was broken, physically and emotionally. She had no more fight left in her.

“Face it, Navi,” Brutus sneered as he landed in the chamber with her, hands crackling with lightning, “you are alone.”

As Selene turned to face him, she saw the burning ball that represented the Creator’s presence hovering where it always had and she remembered her vision. Suddenly energy began to flow through her but it wasn’t her energy; it was coming from outside and flowing through like she was simply a conduit.

“No,” she croaked in reply, “I’m not alone. I’m never alone. YAH!”

Selene whipped around and unleashed a tidal wave of energy at him. The Viceroy was lifted off his feet and driven through the thick stone wall, shattering it, and tumbling down the steps. Rejuvenated, Selene strode down the steps towards him, pinning him in place with one hand and forming a ball of liquid fire with the other.

“You are still alone, Navi,” he laughed at her through the blood frothing at his mouth. “Your friends are not what they seem. They’ve not only been lying to you about who they are but what they are.”

“You have so got to die,” Selene retorted coldly as she released the ball into his chest.

It exploded within him, incinerating the Viceroy of Kalashon from the inside out and reducing him to a pile of ash in a matter of seconds.

A rainbow of emotions flooded Selene as she fell to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks. Peace, anger, joy, sadness, pain, and above all relief as she relived the last seven months of her life. Her father, mother, Jael, Maria, and others had all died at the hands of this man but it wasn’t out of revenge that Selene had killed him. No, it was to give purpose to their sacrifice and she had. No more would Brutus, Sorcerer and Viceroy of Kalashon, kill and destroy at will. His tyranny was over.

“Selene,” a weak voice sounded in her mind.

With horror, Selene realized that she had almost forgotten about Johann. He was still alive. She fairly ran down the broken steps to where she had left him.

He was still there, joined by Pedro and Andrew, who seemed to be more or less whole again. Panting, she skidded to a stop and knelt by the old Navi’s side.

“How is he?” Selene asked Pedro.

“He’s alive but failing,” the Anorian informed.

“Can’t you heal him?” Selene demanded more sharply than she intended.

“I’ve tried, but he won’t let me,” Pedro defended. “He just wants to see you.”

“Johann? Johann?” Selene called to the Esthorian whose eyes barely flickered open.

“Selene, is that you?” he rasped.

“Yes, I’m here,” she responded, grasping his hand in hers. “Let us heal you.”

“No,” he almost imperceptibly shook his head. “My task is done and it is time for me to rest.”

“Your task? What task?” Selene questioned.

“You,” Johann’s emerald eyes focused in on her. “You were my task.”

“I don’t understand,” Selene replied.

“The task the Creator gave me was to train the next Kalashonian Navi,” he explained. “I have done that and now my work is complete.”

“No, no it isn’t,” Selene frantically countered as she watched him fade. “We still need you. I still need you.”

“You are ready for your work,” Johann tried to smile. “Someday, when you are old, you will understand.”

“You can’t leave me,” begged Selene.

“The Navi are now yours,” Johann charged her as his hand went slack in hers and his green eyes dimmed.

“No. NO! You can’t leave me!” sobbed Selene as she felt him go cold. “YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME!”

“It’s okay, Selene, it’s okay,” Andrew grabbed her and held her tight as she cried, his own tears running down his face. “We’re going to be okay,” he repeated over and over while they cried.

*******

“So Brutus is gone then?” Andrew finally asked after they had cried until there were no more tears to cry.

“Yeah,” Selene sucked in deep breath and pulled herself from his arms. “He’s gone.”

“Then that’s it; we won,” Pedro declared with visible relief. “We won.”

Selene didn’t answer. Instead she pulled her knees up to her chest and stared out over the wrecked city. Across it fires were burning and would continue to burn until they ran out of steam. Below dozens of her fellow Navi lay dead, and with them dozens more sorcerers.

The Armageddon Scenario. Her mind went back to that conversation as she took in the utter devastation. Jared might have undersold it, she pondered with an internal shake of the head. What was it Mara had said? This had been Manasseh’s plan all along? And she’d been forced to follow it like a puppet on strings.

“You think this was a victory?” she finally questioned aloud, raising an eyebrow. “This was no victory. With the Navi destroyed, what’s to stop Manasseh now?”

“But it’s over, right?” Pedro’s eyes widened. “The sorcerers are gone, right?”

Selene’s eyes drifted past the wall to the western horizon where the sun was slowly dying. As it sank, so did her heart. For the last six months of running, Selene had believed that her true enemy was Brutus. But now she realized that he had been little more than a pawn. This “victory” meant nothing because the true foe sat in a castle far to the west with the setting sun.

“No,” she shook her head. “This isn’t over; this is just beginning.”