The next two days of security talks between the Conjunction and Ruskedan governments passed by without incident. The members of RED-1 stood guard invisibly inside and outside of the Pargrad Council Building. They would stop any Ceders or other terrorists that might be lying in wait.
Months earlier, Prism had enchanted RED-1’s communication ear clasps, which they usually called their comm-clasps. The long-lasting “enchant” magic granted the comm-clasps the ability to turn their wearers invisible for hours at a time. The enchanted ear clasps needed to be recharged by Prism every night to maintain their magic. The task wasn’t nearly as taxing as the act of actually creating the enchantments in the first place.
“I thought you were going to die the first time you enchanted one of those things.” Leanna said as she watched Prism draw mana into her ear clasp during their penultimate night within the council building. “You were sweating non-stop for an hour.”
Ursun and Lorias stood guard outside of Colonel Chereff’s room. The two senior members of RED-1 silently discussed the fate of the limbless Ceder prisoner, who they’d handed over to the Ruskedan military, through their telepathic link. It was time for them to switch guard duty with Leanna and Srell.
“That was six months ago. He’s a lot stronger now.” Srell said.
He and Leanna stood over Prism, who was crouched and silent. The three of them were in their shared bedroom within the west wing of the building. Leanna and Srell’s PAWs hung down from the side of the hard chest portion of their combat armor. It made it easy for them to ready the weapons without holding them all the time.
“Inscribing lasting magic on objects is really hard, no matter how powerful I become,” said Prism as light shined from his closed fist while he charged Leanna and Srell’s dark-red ear clasps. “Especially here on ?ba. Enchant magic is just harder to use here than most worlds I’ve been to. I’m guessing that’s why there aren’t any signs of applied magic on this world, at least from what I’ve seen over the past year.”
Prism stood up from his squatting position and handed Leanna and Srell their fully-charged comm-clasps in the darkened stately bedroom. Leanna thanked Prism while Srell simply nodded. Srell soon left to relieve the others of their guard duty. Leanna could see the tiredness in Prism’s eyes once they were left alone together.
“You’ve been working yourself to the point of exhaustion almost every day for the past six months.” Leanna said as she leaned forward towards Prism, whose head was bowed low. “And you, the pluckiest guy on our team, hardly even smiles anymore. What’s been going on with you?”
Prism had been asked the question too many times to count since the Sguvan Civil War had begun. He’d initially dreaded being deployed to such an active, embittered warzone so soon after he’d enlisted with the Red Wolves. The mercenary company was more ethical than most, but it was still in the business of killing its designated enemies. Prism had started to wonder whether all the killing he’d personally done was truly helping to end the larger conflict between ?ba’s nations, the Centuries-Long War.
The months had dragged on since the civil war began, and his team hadn’t been ordered to intervene. The civil war had turned into a proxy war between the Conjunction and the Monarchist nations that supported the enigmatic Queen. The constant state of anxiety of not knowing when his team would get involved had worn Prism down like a used-up eraser.
“I’m worried about the Sguvans.” Prism said softly.
“Aren’t we all…”
Leanna looked away from Prism and shook her head. She ran a gloved finger over her small forehead while she thought of what to say next.
“The civil war is all we talk about these days. Everyone’s worried about it. But until Pack Command decides how we can best help…”
“It’s been six months, Leanna.” Prism said as he tightened his hands into fists. “Ursun really thinks that I’ll just make the situation worse over there, doesn’t he?”
“You’re telling me that you haven’t peeked into his mind to find out for yourself?” Leanna side-eyed Prism while she asked the question with a mischievous smirk.
“I don’t do that! Your private thoughts are your own, you know that!”
Prism leaned away from Leanna, crossed his unclothed arms, and furrowed his brow at her. He wore only a black cotton shirt and red leatherine pants, since he slept between recharging his teammates’ comm-clasp and boot enchants.
“I’m just messing with you.” Leanna giggled quietly and stepped over to touch Prism’s shoulder in the dimly-lit room. “But maybe you should take a peek, just to get out of this funk that you’re in.”
Prism pushed Leanna’s hand off of his shoulder and looked at her as though her breath smelt bad. He scrunched his nose and turned away from her, taking a few steps towards one of the large beds in the room.
“Even if I did that, which I wouldn’t, what if I’m right? What if he is still holding Jaik’s death against me?” Prism said tearfully with his head still turned away from Leanna.
Her eyes widened when she heard Jaik’s name on Prism’s lips. It had been a while since she’d thought of the young doctor. Hearing Prism’s pained voice told Leanna how guilty he still felt.
“None of us blames you for that. Ursun wouldn’t have made you a Red Wolf if he did. You’d still be a contractor, and you’d probably be working on your own.” Leanna softened her voice while maintaining her rationality.
“All this senseless killing…I’d be gone if I’d had to fight alone. I would’ve left this world by now. Maybe I still should.”
A chill ran through Leanna’s bones when she heard Prism’s icy words. He’d never spoken to her like that before, and she couldn’t remember him mentioning leaving ?ba with such bitterness. It was as though a stranger was suddenly standing in front of her.
“I didn’t know you were suffering this much…” Leanna said, watching Prism’s fists shaking at his sides as his back was still turned to her. “We’ve been through so much, but we still know so little about you. You keep so much to yourself. It isn’t healthy.”
Prism turned his head to look at Leanna. She saw the wetness around his eyes and the quivering of his lips. She thought he might run over to her and start sobbing like a small child.
“Come on Leanna, time for our shift change. You’ve had plenty of time to chit-chat with your best friend.”
Lorias stepped into the room with Ursun close behind him. The two tall men towered over Leanna when they stood close to her. She nodded to them both before looking back over at Prism. He’d wiped his eyes and had turned around the moment he’d sensed Ursun close by.
“I’m here for you. We all are.”
Leanna communicated privately to Prism through their telepathic link. Prism’s short, quick nod told her that he’d put his guard back up. She cursed Ursun and Lorias’ bad timing before walking past them and into the long hallway to join Srell on guard duty.
“What’s her problem?” Ursun asked Prism as the commander took off his comm-clasp.
“Nothing, sir. Nothing at all.” Prism said before taking the small clasp from Ursun’s much-larger hand.
****
The next day was the final day of the security meeting, and everyone was on high-alert. There weren’t any other terrorist attacks, in part due to increased military presence throughout Pargrad Square. Prism sat cross-legged with his eyes closed atop the roof of the Pargrad Council Building during the meeting. He used his expanded magical perception to detect the presence of anyone within 50 meters of the building. Srell had called him a glorified motion detector when Prism had performed similar tasks in past missions.
Prism could, in fact, detect a great deal beyond the mere motion of the people within his field of perception. He could sense the immediate emotions of each individual around him, their general anatomy, and even the state of their health. The humans of ?ba may not be able to use magic, but their bodies contained magic's constituent energy, mana, just like everything else on the planet. To Prism, that mana revealed volumes about the beings that possessed it. Each mana signature, as Prism called them, took the form of a colorful flame that surrounded each person's body.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
One mana signature in particular caught Prism's attention during his time on the rooftop. The person's mana felt oddly familiar, like a distorted sense of nostalgia. When he focused on the person, Prism grabbed his chest as he felt his heart suddenly beat faster.
"Chaik..." Prism whispered aloud.
Prism nearly woke from his meditative trance as his attention narrowed on Jaik's twin brother. Prism knew that Chaik was a soldier within the Ruskedan military, but he hadn't imagined that the young man would be deployed in the same remote area as him. Prism hadn't seen Chaik since Jaik's funeral a year earlier, not that he'd had any reason to meet the soldier. Chaik hadn't shown any interest in getting to know any of his late brother's friends or associates, even when Prism and his teammates had tried to speak with him before and after the funeral.
Chaik stood silently at the corner of a side street that opened onto Pargrad Square. He held his automatic rifle in both of his hands, his green eyes staying alert as he monitored his surroundings. The man seemed to have a permanent frown on his chiseled face, just as Prism remembered. The short beard that Chaik had sported at the funeral was now just a layer of faint black stubble that made him look even more like Jaik.
"I'm glad you're okay, at least." Prism thought to himself.
He let out a long breath before turning his perception away from Chaik. Prism knew that he wasn't Jaik. It would do Prism no good to project his grief onto the soldier as he had in the past.
The hours slowly drifted by as Colonel Chereff finalized the security agreement with the Pargrad officials. After the respective parties signed the necessary documents, a short banquet was held in the afternoon that lasted until dusk. Prism stayed on the rooftop until the colonel and her entourage were driven to the airport in a large, armored military vehicle.
He leapt from rooftop to rooftop in pursuit of them; keeping his senses expanded enough to detect any approaching threat. It wasn't until Colonel Chereff's plane took to the skies that Prism let his mind ease back into a normal sphere of sensation.
"That was rather anticlimactic." Leanna's voice was heard in the minds of her teammates.
"Yeah, sure was. I was itching to kill more of those cyborg freaks." Srell communicated over the telepathic link.
"Keep your bloodthirst to yourself. The less lives we have to take, the better." Lorias' smooth, baritone voice echoed in RED-1's heads.
"Agreed." Prism said both aloud and through the link as he stood atop the air traffic control tower of Pargrad Airport, invisible and relaxed.
"Oh come on. You two have probably taken more lives than any of us." Srell was quick to reply while he and Leanna stood on the airport's tarmac.
"That's exactly why they know the toll that all that killing takes." Ursun's deep voice boomed through the link. "Meet me back at the council building, everyone. We'll get some rest here before we fly back to the Peninsula tomorrow morning."
"Is any of that fancy banquet food left?" Srell asked.
"Plenty." Ursun replied.
RED-1 spent the rest of the evening eating and conversing with members of the Pargrad City Council. The politicians had lingered in the council building with the hope that they’d get to speak with RED-1 in person. Even the council's elected leader, Delegate Myrnophe, had stayed behind. He personally wanted to thank the mercenary team for ridding the city of the Ceder terrorists.
The mercenaries got out of their combat armor and changed into their less-intimidating leatherine uniforms for the night’s festivities. The event became a second celebratory banquet that was a lot less formal than the first one.
They stayed in the large stateroom where the first banquet had been held, which was in the center of the building. The green-painted walls of the windowless room featured large, rich tapestries embroidered with powerful human figures engaging in all manners of physical labor. The colorful tapestries were inlaid with golden thread and jewels to detail the eyes of the figures upon them.
A long wooden table ran through the middle of the room, upon which an assortment of dishes from across the Conjunction sat next to ornate plates and silverware. The room's ceiling featured detailed white paneling, while the wooden floor was largely covered with a diamond-patterned red rug. Several green marble columns made the room look even grander.
"We're elected because we're normal people. You don't see many rich people sitting on the councils of our country." One of the councilmen told Prism when he asked about their government.
"When we stop listening to what our people want, we get kicked out of office. We're not here to "interpret" the will of our people; we're here to carry it out." A councilwoman added passionately.
The councilpeople were far more plainspoken and unpretentious than most of the politicians Prism had met. One of them had been a janitor, while another had been a hairdresser. They came from all walks of life, and yet they talked to each other with a chumminess that put Prism's heart at ease.
"Unlike Etrysia's Four Families, our councils get their power from the people, not from some genetic aristocracy." The councilman from earlier said while crinkling his nose as he pointed his sharp chin at Lorias. When the man saw Prism look confusedly at him, the councilman leaned forward and raised his eyebrow at the short, bald mercenary. "Surely you know that he's a Rex, the family that presides over the Telyo gene class?" The councilman asked.
"I know that, but Lorias isn't involved in any of his family's affairs. He's just a mercenary." Prism said carefully, not wanting to cause a scene.
"Fair enough. I suppose him being adopted probably precluded him from holding any sort of leadership role within his family, not to mention the attack on his family by those Rvljsan operatives that got his adoptive father killed."
The councilman spoke a bit too flippantly about Lorias for Prism's liking. But before Prism could voice his distaste of the topic, another councilperson joined the conversation.
"Oh goodness, I remember when that happened! That was around 18 years ago, wasn't it? It was all over the news for weeks. Those Rvljsans killed the Rex Family heir, I believe. They made a movie about the whole thing not too long ago."
The chatty councilwoman spoke with such an exaggerated theatricality that it drew the attention of several others who'd been talking nearby. Prism could see that Lorias was all too aware of what they were discussing. The long-haired man's piercing blue eyes stared harshly at the woman who so carelessly continued to talk about his personal tragedy.
"I can't imagine how it must've felt to lose not only your birth parents, but one of your adoptive parents years later. I probably would've run away from home too, just like Lorias did in the movie. The pain of it must've been too much to bear." The woman said while shaking her head and wiping her eyes as though she was crying.
"That's him over there, isn't it?" One of the councilmen who'd come over said after pointing to Lorias. The swordsman was standing across the room on the other side of the table.
To Prism's surprise, Lorias walked over to the group and bowed politely to them. He smiled graciously while he brushed his long golden strands of hair out of his face. He immediately charmed those gathered around him.
"Good evening. I saw one of you pointing at me, so I figured that I should make an appearance."
Lorias' warm, measured tone made everyone smile. Some even laughed as he disarmed the gossipers. Prism looked at Lorias and nodded nervously.
"Don't be fooled; these idiots are just as elitist as the Four Families that they're mocking. The difference between the two governments is that these people never learned any manners." Lorias' communicated solely to Prism over their team's telepathic link. "I know that you didn't start this topic of conversation, but I'm here to end it."
"We were just discussing that movie that was made about your life." The dramatic councilwoman said while rubbing her hands together like she desperately wanted something. "Did you have any input on the film?"
"None at all. I'm far too busy with my work to play at being a film consultant." Lorias said with a smirk.
"Oh my, that would mean that the film probably isn't as accurate as it claims to be." A councilman said with a raised finger.
"You said it, not me." Lorias smiled and said, making everyone laugh again.
Prism shook his head and walked away from the group while they were all focused on Lorias. Prism saw Ursun having a spirited conversation with Delegate Myrnophe, a gray-haired man who looked just as tough as Ursun. Leanna and Srell were seated in chairs on the far end of the room near its main entrance. The two of them were eating desserts with a group of Ruskedan soldiers that were also taking it easy. One of those soldiers in particular caught Prism's eye.
"Chaik!" Prism yelped before quickly walking over to join them.
"We were wondering when you'd notice him." Leanna said with a wink at Prism when he stood between their couch and Chaik's.
"Try not to act weird this time." Srell laughed and said, reminding Prism of how aloof he’d been at Jaik’s viewing, when Prism first ran into Chaik.
"I won't!" Prism yelled a bit too loudly.
Chaik simply stared up at Prism while Leanna and Srell laughed. Prism met the soldier's gaze and gulped hard, uncertain of what to say.
"What are the odds of all of us being stationed out here?" Chaik said, sounding like he was accusing Prism of something.
"It is weird," was all Prism could say.
"Your superiors must've taken the Ceder threat a lot more seriously than they made us believe." Leanna said.
"They were right. We've never seen k-tech like what they had." Chaik said, his voice almost exactly like his late brother's. "I'm just glad me and my men got here the day after the Ceders attacked."
"We wouldn't have stood a chance against those cyborgs, no way, no how. You see the poor excuses for weapons we're given." A soldier sitting on the opposite side of Chaik said to the mercenaries.
"The higher-ups prefer to throw more bodies at a problem than to improve our gear. That's just how our military works." A baggy-eyed soldier standing next to the couches said before grabbing a cake from the table between them.
"Our sergeant’s probably the only one of us that could survive an attack from those Ceders. Heck, he'd probably kill some of them." A plucky soldier that sat beside Srell said with a smile. The soldier pointed at Chaik, who nodded his gratitude to the man.
Chaik leaned back in the plushy red couch and stared up at the paneled ceiling for a moment. Prism watched him closely, noting how similar the man's mannerisms were to Jaik's. Prism had known several twins in the past, and he knew how rude it was to gawk at them like they were a sideshow attraction. But the strange circumstances of Jaik's death and Chaik's sudden appearance were enough to rattle Prism.
"So, are you really an alien?" Chaik asked Prism with a nonchalance that took everyone around by surprise.
Prism shrugged and said, "I am. I'm an elementeitan."
Months earlier, the Red Wolves mercenary company had made Prism's true origin public in the hopes that it would stop the rumors of him being some sort of divine being. The rumors had been greatly diminished, but they persisted amongst the most religious members of the Conjunction.
"Have a seat, elementeitan."
Chaik patted the empty seat beside him on the couch. Prism tilted his head before sitting on the cushion and laying back on it like Chaik was doing. Leanna started to giggle again when she saw how awkward Prism was acting.
"Tell me something, Prism. How is it that I knew the exact moment that my brother died? And how is it that I heard him say your name shortly before I felt him die?"
No one spoke after Chaik asked his questions. Everyone but Chaik looked as though they were standing before a firing squad, Prism most of all. Prism managed to look up at the soldier, and saw that the man's gaze was fixed on his brown face. Prism sighed, knowing full-well that he owed Chaik an explanation.
"On most worlds, identical twins have an intrinsic connection. Their bodies' mana, or spirit as some call it, is linked at birth. This link remains no matter how far away the twins are, which is why you could sense your brother's passing even though he was hundreds of kilometers from you. As far as you hearing the messages he sent to me...I'm guessing that they somehow traveled through the link that the two of you shared."
Prism looked into Chaik's eyes as he answered the soldier's questions as best he could. Prism expected to see confusion on Chaik's face, but the man never looked even the least bit unsure of Prism's words. The only emotion clear on Chaik's face was relief.
"You shouldn't have told him that, not here." Leanna's voice echoed in Prism's head. Prism sensed Ursun agree with her through their telepathic link.
"Thank you for being honest with me. It sounds crazy to other people, but I believe in you and your magic." Chaik clenched his jaw and said calmly to Prism.
Chaik looked down at the table between him and Leanna and stared at the pink and white cakes stacked on a silver serving tray. The soldier seemed to be looking at something much farther away.
"If the Ceders believed in you, they wouldn't have died so pointlessly for their false god. They would've followed you, instead."
Leanna arched her eyebrow and Srell wrinkled his nose at Chaik's statement. Prism was about to ask Chaik what he meant, but the man quickly got up from the couch and left the room using the large wooden door behind the couch they sat at. The Ruskedan soldiers that had been seated beside Chaik and on the couch with Srell stared at each other for a few seconds. The soldiers then got up and followed after their commanding officer.
"That seems ominous..." Leanna said aloud to Srell and Prism.
"Should we go after him?" Prism asked in earnest.
"No, we don't want to make a scene. I think he'll be alright." Leanna said.
Srell huffed and put his feet up on the table beside the silver tray of cakes. He sneered at Prism before kicking the tray towards the elementeitan.
"Be careful what you say, Magical Boy. There are still plenty of zealots out there that think you're either God or the Fairy King himself." Srell’s voice blared in Prism’s mind while the Esdegonian gritted his teeth.
