“Joy is what we choose to keep

  no matter the circumstance.

  Happiness is our natural response

  to good things happening to us.”

  - Jaglar O’klar

  Chapter 21: Return of the King

  Maria’s last words haunted Red. They resounded in her head, like ripples on the water of some eternal truth. Try as she might, she could not escape it, despite putting thousands of kilometers between her and her newfound friend.

  “Friend,” she gently whispered, surprised to see her thinking of Maria as one. Red did not have friends. They were a liability. Yet what was life without some liabilities? Ever since she had escaped, life had felt somewhat like it had before: a fight for survival. Nothing more. There was no purpose behind her life, other than to make it to the next day. She began to wonder lately, for the first time in a long time, if there was something more.

  R.U.D.E. sighed.

  “What?” she asked, brought back to reality.

  “Can we turn around now, or do I need to keep wasting fuel?” he reasoned.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “That look on your face… you whispering to yourself. Isn’t it clear, dummy? Even I can see what your heart is telling you, and need I remind you I’m a robot?”

  Her blunt companion was not wrong. Sooner or later, she was going to turn

  The Horizon around. Back to the battle she had been running from her whole life. Not the physical battle, but the spiritual one. The one between her fear and her hope. Between her selfishness and her destiny.

  Maria’s words haunted her once more.

  “I hope you find yourself someday.”

  Maria, at the time, probably thought Red could not hear her when she said it. But of course, she did. Excellent hearing was one of the many tools in an assassin’s arsenal. Red stood up, and began walking towards her cabin.

  “Where are you going, dunderhead?” R.U.D.E. called back.

  Red did not bother to answer. Her mind was focused elsewhere now. Back to another gift her brother had given her. One she dared to not put on until she could look at herself without shame.

  “No more shame,” she stated to herself, grabbing the hat from its compartment in the wall.

  The hat, which was nothing more than an oilskin, leather outback cap, was nothing special where she originally came from. To her, however, it meant the world, just like her droid did. It was from her brother, and that meant it was special.

  She could see her little brother playing in it. How he pretended to be a great cattle rustler, defeating the bad guy in epic fashion just before supper time. A tear streamed down her face as she remembered how he had gifted the hat to her one fateful birthday.

  “You’re my hero, sis! And a hero can’t go without a trusty hat,” he said, smiling up at her with his little round face. It was his favorite thing in the whole world, and yet he had gifted it to her. Quite frankly, it was the only thing he had at the time.

  She had only worn it once. Since the Pendulum Palace, she did not dare. She felt unworthy of it. At first she hesitated, but with new determination, she put it on her head. It was meant to be on her head. She could see that now. Now, it was time to earn that trust her brother had had in her all those years ago. It was time to be the good guy. She wiped the tear away from her face, and yelled back to the cockpit.

  “R.U.D.E., turn the ship around! We’re going to Paradign!”

  “Arrrgh! I’m so tired of being right all the time!” he howled in frustration.

  *

  It was a stupendous moment. One that would surely go down in history. Paradignians and Kenzanites, working right alongside one another in battle against the Triumvirate masses. To think that the rival nations put their differences aside to join hands was beyond unprecedented. Should Magnus not be fighting for his life and the life of his country, he would have enjoyed the occasion more thoroughly.

  The fighting in Vult was fierce, especially now that Paradignian troops had been united with their former foes. Magnus, Lima, his son Losefa, Gar, Pickett, Checotah, and Naf all worked together with the ground troops, while Maria and the crew of The Night Witch fought alongside Paradignian and Kenzanite air units in the sky.

  The Kenzanites, who had been given access to Vult through the Northernmost gate, had flooded into the city, attaching themselves to various Paradignian legions that had been fortifying the Eastern wall. Their air units had joined with the Paradignian fleet to the South, and were pushing against Triumvirate forces engaging them from the East.

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  Despite all these things coming together for his forces, Magnus was still losing the battle. If things did not change, and quickly, Tulius and his Triumvirate army would drive them from the city. Standing on the front lines in Charlie, Magnus valiantly stood beside Paradignian and Kenzanite forces. The King and his soldiers were fighting shoulder to shoulder.

  In between the various charges and retreats of their foes, Magnus had discussed with his advisors a plan of action. They could not stay on the defensive much longer. Their best bet was to make a calculated strike, and remove the head of the snake: Tulius. According to Gar, the prissy little man could be in one of two places. Either behind the front lines at an F.C.C., or in his command ship: The Desecrator. Given his cowardice, it was most likely that he was aboard his ship.

  “Maria! Any news?!” Magnus asked, using his mech’s coms reaching out to her.

  “The Desecrator is too well protected!” she said, sounding preoccupied with the fight. “Even if you could breach their defenses to get a boarding party in, they’re too many on the ship. You need to win the fight below!”

  This was not good. Magnus realized that without getting to Tulius preemptively, they would need to destroy all of his forces. The chance of that happening was diminishing by the moment. They were outnumbered 2-1, and the odds were growing against them.

  Just when Magnus thought things could not get worse, a warrior descended from the skies. Slashing through seven of his allies with just the swipe of his scythe, the cowled warrior smashed into the ground, causing a great earthquake in the immediate vicinity.. Magnus, due to his mech, withstood the blast.

  The hooded figure, whose dark skin and muscular form could be seen by his exposed arms, rushed him. Gathering more wind with his mighty weapon, he launched it towards Magnus and his compatriots. The blast swooped Magnus, Gar, Lima, and the rest of their party off their feet and then flung them onto the ground. Activating his scythe, the hooded figure tried to cut through Magnus’ mech to kill him.

  “You!” Gar roared, rising to his feet. It appeared he recognized the hooded figure.

  Before the warrior could continue to dig into Magnus’ mech, Magnus punched his foe off of him. The blow threw him off, his hood also falling off his head, as the scythe wielding warrior flipped and landed on his feet. In addition, Magnus’ punch also broke the mask that the warrior wore.

  As Magnus and the assassin rose to face one another, he could not believe his eyes. He nearly dropped his sword at the sight. Tulius was not lying to him back at the prison.

  “Brother…” Magnus spoke.

  He knew those eyes from anywhere. It was the brother who had run away all those years ago. The one Tulius had told him still lived. Craspus was alive, and in service to the Triumvirate, no less.

  “What have they done to you?”

  Attached to Craspus were wires and coils, connecting his mask to his head. Although the mask was broken, it was still attached. Now, only his right eye was exposed, showing he had an inhuman level of focus.

  “Must...kill…” Craspus muttered, charging toward his brother.

  Magnus did not want to fight him, but he had little choice. The Triumvirate had corrupted his mind. He could only hope his brother was in there somewhere. Craspus’ scythe clashed with Magnus’ sword mid air, as the assassin leaped above his foe.

  “I’m not your enemy, Craspus! Try to think!” Magnus cried.

  As brother fought brother, Gar tried to step in, but was halted by Lima.

  “This is not our fight, brother,” Lima insisted. Gar, filled with rage, would not be stopped.

  “You’ll pay for what you did to them, murderer!” Gar roared, sprinting towards Craspus. Magnus attempted to dissuade him, but his lack of focus was capitalized on by his opponent. Hurling him off into the distance by a gust of wind, Craspus focused his efforts on cutting down Gar.

  “Brother!” Lima cried, running to aid him.

  Magnus, activating the thrusters on Charlie, halted his backward momentum, and flung himself towards Craspus. Activating his shield, Magnus rammed into the back of his brother, just before Craspus decapitated Gar. Gar, who had been knocked over by another wind attack by Craspus, quickly rose to his feet.

  “Both of you, fall back! I’ll handle this,” Magnus ordered.

  “I can-” Gar interjected.

  “That’s an order, General! Go!” Magnus roared, preparing himself to defend against his brother’s attack. Begrudgingly, Gar did as he was commanded. Lima did the same.

  As the fight continued, Craspus became a more dangerous opponent. Summoning wind so sharp that it cut Magnus’ mech, Magnus began to doubt the integrity of his own armor. Craspus had become powerful and dangerous. He used powers Magnus did not understand or grasp. Somewhere deep down, his brother had to still exist. As best he could, he tried to fight so as not to cause fatal damage. Craspus was not playing by such rules.

  Getting nowhere with his attacks, Magnus thought to up the ante. From his side, he began to launch heavy laser fire at his brother, hoping to overwhelm him. This did not work however, as Craspus either dodged or redirected his fire. Recovering from the attack, he managed to redirect the laser fire back at his brother, temporarily stunning him.

  Craspus, seemingly having grown weary of this fight, used his overwhelming power to summon a tornado. The whirlwind lifted himself, Magnus, and everyone within a 50 meter distance flew into the sky. Activating his rocket boosters to control his movement, Magnus took the fight with his brother more seriously, while those in his party regained their senses. Craspus was having none of it though, as he cut off the hand of Charlie with his scythe, only using a single strike. Magnus was thankful that it was not his actual hand, but now he was separated from his sword, which was now flying around dangerously in the whirlwind.

  Taking advantage of the momentary lapse of vulnerability, Craspus launched his scythe into the chest of mech, and with a mighty strike, threw his brother to the ground from 75 meters in the air. The impact took the wind right out of Magnus’s chest, and broke two of his ribs. With Craspus on top of him, driving the scythe in deeper, it was only a matter of time before Magnus’ death would come.

  “Brother, it's me! Magnus! Stop!” Magnus implored. Craspus showed no signs of even recognizing him. The Triumvirate had twisted his mind, perhaps beyond repair.

  Naf attempted to shoot a large laser beam from his eye at Craspus, but missed because of his lack of stability in the whirlwind. The others tried to shoot at him as well, but their lasers missed for the same reason. In his final moments of helplessness, Magnus tried to reach his brother one last time.

  “Brother! Don’t do this! You’re better than this! Think of mom, of dad!”

  Ignoring him, Craspus continued to push the scythe deeper in. Magnus could feel the heat radiating from the weapon onto his chest. Magnus groaned as it began to insert itself into his sternum.

  Just then, a thunderous crack from above could be heard. From the skies, a bolt of lightning fell down onto Craspus, striking him before he could do a thing. It flung him back, and ended his whirlwind. Knocked unconscious by the blast, Craspus and his weapon lay motionless on the ground, as Koga Kane and two strangers landed in the midst of them.

  “You’re… you’re alive!” Lima called out, seeing the all too familiar dark figure after landing to the ground. Quickly, he ran over to embrace him, as everyone around them stared in amazement.

  Before Lima could reach him, Koga’s little droid beat him to the punch. Naf climbed up his master, and clung to his master’s faceplate. He squeezed it in excitement.

  “Master! Much alive! So alive! Oh, master, master, master! Naf miss you!”

  Suddenly the little droid’s tone changed, as did the color of his singular eye. In frustration, he began to hit his master in the head. His little fists clanked on the faceplate as he wailed away at him.

  “Master! Never do stunt again! Me thought you dead, master! Such carelessness for poor, droid heart! Such pain!”

  Koga gently grabbed the droid off his face, and hugged it back. Naf could not help but melt in the stoic figure’s arms. The blonde girl gently giggled at the sight of Naf’s silliness. Koga then gently sat him down.

  “I missed you too, Naf,” he motioned.

  “Good to have you back, kid,” Gar remarked, anxiously looking as though they might be attacked at any point.

  “You’re one heck of a guy, you know that kid? You really had us thinking you were a goner!” Pickett teased.

  “Looks like I owe you another one, ‘Blight,’ Magnus said, stepping out of his armor to shake Koga’s hand.

  “At this point, I think we’re even,” Koga remarked.

  “How did you survive? And who do you have with you?” Lima asked, taking his turn to embrace him. Everyone drew in closer, either hugging Koga, or patting Koga on the back.

  “It’s a long story. Luminous here checked the news and saw what was going on. We came as quickly as we could. Now, what’s the situation?