Story:Kings of Strife/Part 54

Part Fifty-Four
A single person stood in front of them and in front of the gate that led into Castle Kornelia.

When he saw the armored sentinel, Silverius paused and pulled onto his lover’s arm. He said nothing at first; still breathless from their ceaseless running and the powers he had used for hours to aid them in their quick movement, he took the moment to catch his breath and wheeze.

“I see her,” the Chosen said before he could open his mouth. “I have seen her for days now, in that same position. Motionless. She waits.”

“We finally made it,” Silverius wheezed. “We can’t stop here. We’re running out of time, you said.”

“I meant it. She will not let us pass, but we must pass, regardless.” Silverius could not help but stare at the Chosen’s profile beside him; she looked strikingly noble and strong for a moment, but for the first time since they had reunited at Icarun, she wore a strange, painful sadness on her like a cloak. “I will handle her.”

“No,” he said, remembering the last time the two of them had fought. He had only barely managed to drive her off… but he was stronger now, more resilient, less attached to his own well-being, and more experienced with the wiles of the Crystal of Wind. She would fall beneath him now, he knew. “Let me.”

The Knight started to walk again, and Silverius had no choice but to follow. “You are the stronger of us, and the one with the destiny, Crono.” The Knight glanced at him, but it did not feel she truly saw him. “This is mine. I must handle this with her.”

“…Are you sure? I… I can’t…”

“Don’t worry. You won’t lose me. Not again. She had never been able to defeat me.”

“…”

“I mean it. You have faith in me, don’t you?” She squeezed his hand in her own.

“…”

“I know. You don’t have to say it. I know what you’re feeling. I swear to you that she will not defeat me. Can you swear me the same?”

“Of course. I am ruin now.”

The Knight nodded, and Silverius steeled his gaze. They had said all they needed to, and the Knight was growing closer. She had been leaning backward onto her oversized lance impaled into the earth with her arms crossed; now that the two were within her earshot, she stood to her full height and rested a hand on the tall hilt of the weapon, her golden eye burning brightly even through the grating of her horned helmet’s visor. The Lance Knight struck a powerful figure for some minutes as Silverius and the Chosen Knight approached, with the thin rays of the looming sunrise causing the Knight’s silvery-crimson armor to sparkle and shine with brilliant glory. The spires of her armor towered and curled as always, bravely cutting up to the turbulent dark sky above them. When the two were merely ten paces away, the Knight suddenly ripped off her helmet with overly-animated energy. A plume of wavy blonde hair fell around her shoulders and covered her right eye. They both stared at her only visible golden eye, and both could feel the overwhelming physicality of her hatred.

Silverius and the Chosen Knight stopped advancing when the Lance Knight did this. The Chosen was the first to act; she walked forward, a gentle wind blowing her raven hair about her strong face, and she raised her hands to her chest level. Looking at her from an angle behind her, Silverius was reminded for a moment just how intimidating and strong the Chosen could be.

“Envy does not suit you, sister,” the Chosen said. “Nor blindness.”

“Shut your mouth, C0,” the Lancer spat. She spoke strongly, angrily; a deep contrast to the calm fury of the Chosen Knight. “We are no sisters. Not any longer.”

“Would that this could be the truth. It would make this easier.” There was the sadness in her again – just for a second.

“You have no right to speak about making things easy. If you really believed that, you would never have betrayed us. You would never have betrayed me.”

Silverius’ eyebrows knitted together. He could not find it in himself to interrupt this dialogue, not when it meant he could learn something about once-Maria that he had never known before. The Lancer, every time they fought, had been incredibly protective of “Maria”, to a crazed extent. Silverius had never had the courage to ask the Chosen Knight about that part of her life, if she even remembered all of it. Now that the Lancer did not even look him over or speak anything to him, was this his chance to understand what had occurred between the two?

“I did what was right, L9. I wish you would see that. I wish you would see the truth behind what the Leader wants.”

“The Lord,” Lancer hissed. “Don’t you dare disrespect our father by calling him out of his true name.”

“Yet he gave us no true names. And why would he… when we are simply expendable tools for him to further his goals of ruining this world?”

“V8 spoke similar lies as you, sister. And I killed her for it.” The Lance Knight raised her left hand and removed the metallic glove covering it. Her bare hand clenched into a tight fist and shook in rage. “I beat her face in, then I smashed her throat until it was pulp in my grip. And I will do the same to you if you continue to spew such disgusting mush in front of me. Has the first-cycle maggot next to you forced you to imbibe in such heresy long enough for you to believe it?”

The Chosen Knight sighed deeply, but that seemed to be the only mourning she had for her former comrade. “I changed on my own. I opened my own eyes.” Silverius felt a shivering in his spine – a realization of power. The Chosen must have activated her Tyrant eyes; he could feel the sudden appearance of strength and bloodlust in the air. “Will you keep your eye closed, sister? Will you continue to be steeped in vanities and false hopes, until the day you are sacrificed, as well? Will you let your life be a tribute for one who cares not about you?”

“Gladly,” the Lance Knight replied, her chin strongly raised against the wind. With the sun rising in front of her, her armor shone like it was made of solid, gleaming, Tyrant gold. “It is only through sacrifice for glory that my life has any meaning. The Lord is the perfected pinnacle of humanity, it’s next age, and wherever he leads mankind is a wonderful, blessed frontier. I would absolutely die for it.”

“Your misplaced loyalty saddens me like nothing else.”

“And your misguided sense of superiority disgusts me like nothing else.” The Knight lowered her body and gripped the hilt of her lance tighter, her clear and pale face twisting into a miserly grimace. “It was your arrogance that drove me to this, C0. Your vanity, your attitude. Just because you have two of the blessed eyes… Just because the Lord always loved you more… and yet… and yet… You would spit in the face of his blessings! You would leave behind everything that was supposed to be glorious, and disgraced us all! Did you ever think of what that felt like, to me, who strove endlessly and futilely to achieve a fraction of the power you did?!”

“…”

“You didn’t just throw away the blessings and guidance of the Lord. You threw me away.”

This visibly affected the Chosen Knight. “I never threw away your love. I could never disregard something that shaped me so…”

“Anything not embraced is cast aside. That is how this world works!” The Lance Knight lifted her massive weapon in a flourish, twirling it in the air before slamming it point-down into the ground. Impaled into the earth so, she leaned a hand on the top of her weapon’s handle, conflating herself and enabling her to look down on her twin. “Not once but twice you found pride in your treachery, and the rest of us were thrown about in order to cover for your absences. It was I that made sure my Lord’s plans succeeded despite your absence, and I who will usher in this new age of evolution!”

“My grand counterpart, you so steadfast in your doom… I was like you, once. I thought persistence had merit. I thought power was enough to change the world, to rule above chaos… but it is not enough. It is never enough. The world is already enough, with or without us. Power lies dependent on others, always either superior or inferior. It will never be alone, or sufficient. That is how the world works…”

“Shut up! Speak not of power, you lustful traitor. Attempt to best me no longer with your words when you cannot even best me with your swords. This strife which you call evil is styled as righteous glory to those who would be above man; come, summon your weapons, and watch as you and this hell of a world are torn apart, ripped asunder to be the foundation of a greater heaven. The Lord is soon upon this place, and the traps have all been set… but we will settle this first, and last.”

A single violet and transparent sword manifested next to the Chosen Knight’s shoulder. “I don’t want to kill you, sister.”

“It is too late for that, C0. Far too late.”

The Chosen did not turn around, but she spoke to Silverius, who had not even realized how long he had stood transfixed by the exchange going on in front of him. “Go, Crono. Leave us now. Find the child of rune in the castle – and save us all.”

He nodded. The conversation, at least, had allowed him to catch his breath and a second wind. “It’s almost over,” he simply said – and then he was in the air again, soaring over the white wall of the citadel and onto the great stone castle rising bodaciously in the center of the city. The last thing he saw of the two Knights was his lover, weeping silently and summoning weapons tenfold around her.

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