Courage (17 page)

Donai hung up a bag of IV and connected it to the IV port, then gave the bag a few squeezes. Aerigo felt the liquid’s coldness as it streamed into his burning veins. “Jenna, swap out the bags every half hour, or however quick Aerigo goes through them.” His pocket beeped, startling him. “Oh, and the food is by the elevator. Mind getting that too?”

“Be right back,” Jenna said.

Aerigo looked at Rox and his heart twisted.

“She’s still alive, Aerigo. We just treated her for the last round of attacks on her body. Her final challenge will be to see how much of her right arm, if any, she gets to use again.”

Aerigo looked at his ocean blue sodium crackers, unable to look at Rox anymore. He couldn’t help but feel terribly guilty about her current state of health. He couldn’t think of a different series of choices he could have made, other than to have never searched for Rox. He never should have forced her into the position where she had to protect him.

“I know it’s not what you want to hear, but an arm is a small price to pay for surviving dragon venom. Why do you look so guilty?”

“I was supposed to keep her safe.”

“From what?”

He wanted to blurt “everything” but it was a ridiculous thing to say. “It’s a long story. I really need to force myself to eat right now.”

“No worries. I ordered you a little bit of everything from the cafeteria, even some dessert.”

Aerigo raised an eyebrow at the doctor.

Donai put up his hands and broke into a full smile. “Save it for Rox for when she wakes if you don’t want it. Jenna, Skitt, and I all believe you did a damn good job saving her life.”

Aerigo reached for a cracker and stuck one corner in his mouth. It felt like trying to swallow sand. His mouth wouldn’t salivate. He barely swallowed it down and put the rest of the cracker back on the tray, then heaved up the cracker. Salty acid filled his mouth, but he swallowed it back down. He had to keep bland food down before he could eat any protein or carbs, which arrived through the doorway on a hovering metal cart being guided by Jenna.

“Whoa! How’d you do that?” Donai said, his eyes bulging at the almost empty IV bag. “Let me get a lot more. Do you still weigh about 525 pounds?”

“Yes. I need a lot of water. I don’t know how much though. Sorry, I’m not much help.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ve been researching Aigis.”

Jenna said, “No wonder it felt like we needed a forklift to get him on the gurney!” She walked over with four large bottles of water in her arms, each as long as a forearm. Aerigo hoped that was enough to make food go down and stay down. Jenna set the waters on the tray and loosened their caps. “Aerigo, I need you to take a few sips from each so I can add an electrolyte mixture to them. It’ll make the water a little sweeter. Is that okay?”

Aerigo nodded. Anything to keep his body from going into shock. His legs were starting to cramp up. He took the first bottle as Donai swapped IV bags, and took a swig, then set the bottle down, and did the same thing to the other bottles. The electrolyte powder turned the water a leaf green as Jenna carefully poured the packet in. She poured an entire packet into each bottle, then capped and shook them individually. Aerigo sucked all four bottles down one at a time, making each bottle crinkle as it collapsed on itself. He stopped halfway through each bottle to catch his breath, putting up a hand when the doctors advised him to slow down. They didn’t understand how fast his body would burn through the water. Maybe he should’ve said something first, but too late.

Aerigo’s thirst was almost completely quenched by the end of the fourth bottle, but at least he felt ready to eat, despite still not feeling hungry.

He handed the last collapsed bottle to Jenna, reached for the cracker he’d bitten in to earlier, and popped it into his mouth. This time it felt and tasted like a cracker, however his stomach rejected it, along with some of the water. Aerigo managed to swallow it all back down and forced himself to keep eating. All that water he drank was soaking into the rest of his body like a thirsty desert plant. His stomach felt empty already.

Aerigo forced down one cracker after another, and his stomach heaved up every other one for the first couple of minutes. Once he was halfway through the package, his stomach accepted them greedily. He began to eat faster.

Jenna brought over the entire tray of food and Aerigo nodded when she asked if he was ready for a heavier meal. Jenna lifted the larger lid to reveal an assortment of grilled meats and vegetables, along with an assortment of fruits, rolls, and cheese. She lifted the smaller lid to reveal half a round white cake with white frosting. A high concentration of calories, but lacking in the vitamins and minerals he sorely needed. The food before him could easily feed four or five famished adults. “I believe I’ll need another tray of food later.” Arms no longer shaking and the cramping in his legs dispersing, he accepted the ceramic plate Jenna handed to him and began forking all the meat onto it.

“Do Aigis always eat that much?”

“No. Under normal circumstances, I eat maybe twice what you’d expect. Aigis are relatively calorie-efficient, but right now I need caloric energy before I can regain any more power. I’m far from done recharging. If I don’t have enough calories to burn while recharging, then my power would overwhelm my body and kill me. I’ve been at my limit for half a day now and this is my first meal in almost twenty four hours.” Aerigo began eating the red meat, which was perfectly juicy and tender. It didn’t matter if it had been tough and dry really. He would’ve eaten it anyway. He was the least picky eater he knew of. Food was food. It kept him alive. He would just think about something else if his taste buds disapproved.

In maybe fifteen minutes, every last piece of food was gone, except the cake, and Jenna and Donai had cleaned up the medical supplies off the floor and counter. Aerigo wanted to eat some of the cake, but his body was demanding that he go back to sleep. He downed two more bottles of electrolyte-filled water and passed out with the empty bottle in his grip. He began dreaming as his body slipped back into recharge mode.

“Finally!” a familiar voice said. “You’re stable enough for me to enter one of your dreams.”

Aerigo stood at the edge of the cliff just outside Phailon, right next to the roaring waterfall. In his dream the fall was quiet, serene as a stream, yet just as wide and swift in reality. Daio materialized before him and walked towards him with his hands in his pockets and a grin on his face. He wore a black Versaton tank top, cargo pants with metal bands around his thighs, carpenter boots, also with metal bands, and his dark hair spiked forward as usual. Even though Daio was smiling, he looked annoyed. He stopped five paces away.

“Hey there, princess. Guess who sent me because you wouldn’t listen?”

Part of his concentration still on recharging, Aerigo reflexively tensed up. He couldn’t remember the last time they’d conversed without distrusting Daio. He wasn’t a threat, though. He was just a dream. But he spoke like he knew what had been going on after Aerigo had killed him. “Why are you here?”

Daio lost his smile and rolled his eyes. “Apparently you’re getting dumber. How often do you clean your ears?”

“What do you want?”

“For you to listen. The other Aigis can’t seem to get through to you, so I volunteered--or rather insisted.”

“How’d you find the other Aigis?”

Daio gave him a look that conveyed Aerigo had asked a stupid question. “You really are getting dumber. I’m dead,” said he slowly and clearly, gesturing to his chest with a hand. “You killed me. The other Aigis are dead.” He hesitated a moment, then spoke with regret, “I killed a bunch of them, which is why they wouldn’t even listen to me, until your desperate stunt a while ago in this very hospital. Or was it just a few minutes ago? I don’t know. I can’t tell time anymore. Time is meaningless to the dead. Anyway, I’m rambling. I didn’t drop in to ramble. I’m here to help you stop my former master. I’m finally free to oppose him now.”

Aerigo almost lost control of his recharging power as all the gears in his brain ground to a halt. He reasserted his control, forcing the power to pour in slower than it wanted. “Why? You worked so hard to see his prophecy fulfilled, even of your own free will.”

“That’s what you were supposed to think, what Nexus was supposed to think--what everyone was supposed to think, really.” Daio snapped his fingers and conjured a plush leather chair. He sat down and sank into it with a satisfied sigh. “Feel free to make yourself comfortable.”

“I’m busy,” Aerigo said flatly.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re going to be a lot busier soon enough. But first let me explain myself.” Daio rested a leg over one knee and steepled his hands. “I’ve actually been in a secret race with you to an Aigis’s true power for the last few hundred years, ever since I realized Nexus would never stop commanding me against my will. Now do you understand why I pushed so hard for what he wanted all those centuries?”

Aerigo felt his stomach drop. He pitied his former friend. “Yes.”

“Good. You’re gaining some of your intelligence points back.” Daio propped an elbow on his chair and rested his jaw in his hand. “I must admit that it’s in my nature to cause mischief, not that you didn’t know it already. Over two thousand years ago, when we parted ways, morals, and goals, I began a downward spiral into a great internal conflict. I had what you and Baku taught me clashing with the will of my selfish master, which were as opposite as any two things can get. My mostly harmless mischief turned into outright cruelty. Instead of being the hero and protector like you that everyone loved, I turned into someone who caused nothing but chaos. I know you know all this, but I want you to know that a lot went through my head all those centuries.”

“You were twisted by your master,” Aerigo said unhappily. “I was always willing to forgive you if you’d stop it, fight it, and change back to who you were when not doing as commanded.”

“I don’t think you’ll really ever forgive me,” Daio said, looking at the river.

“Why not?”

“I’ll tell you later,” he said with a frown, then switched to leaning on his other arm. “Right now, it’s crucial that you focus on defeating Nexus.”

“I still don’t know how to unlock Frava.”

Daio smacked his forehead. “I can’t believe you’re the one who’s supposed to be the hero. You’re so
dumb
!” He put his hand down and looked up. “I figured it out not too long after I dumped you in this hospital centuries ago. I talked to Baku about that Mana power you unleashed on the Balvadiers, then
he
admitted there was one last chunk to unlock, but no Aigis could learn how to unlock it without another teaching them how. Long story short, I soon learned that all fifty of us living Aigis had no clue how to unlock the second half of our power. In fact, no Aigis has in eons. After a hundred years of hunting down every other Aigis and learning nothing, I had an epiphany that I can’t believe hasn’t struck you by now. I mean I really,
really
can’t believe you haven’t thought of it. They’ve been speaking to you lately for crying out loud.”

Aerigo stared, his mouth slightly ajar. “The dead Aigis have the knowledge,” he said in a shocked whisper.

Daio spread his arms and gazed skyward. “It’s a miracle! He finally figured it out!” He dropped his arms and let them dangle over the armrests. “They tried forcing the knowledge on you, but you are the stupidest, most stubborn person I’ve ever met, and with the biggest guilt trip I’ve ever witnessed. You need to get over what happened and embrace the rest of your power, or the last thing you’ll ever do is die at Nexus’ hand.”

“If you teach me, then I can teach Rox.”

Daio gave him a hard stare a moment and slowly rose to his feet. “You would throw her against the will of a god?”

“Not alone. Baku created her for a reason. I need her help.”

“She’s a child.”

“She’s brave and strong.”

“You’re a seasoned warrior and soldier. She’s never seen war firsthand.”

“She’s fought you, and right now she’s fighting dragon venom.”

“Oh, and that’ll make her prepared for Nexus?”

“I’m not even prepared for him!”

“Then you’ll die!”

Aerigo couldn’t think of a retort. Daio’s glare was so full of conviction that doubt crept into his mind. Yes, all this time he’d been wishing to keep Rox out of danger and wondering if training her was as pointless as Daio assumed, but as she rose--or tried to rise to every challenge before her, Aerigo’s hope for them gradually rose. The dragon venom was a huge setback that he blamed on himself, but even then Rox was showing strength and determination. And what she’d accomplished with the Blood of Earth magic...

“Everyone will die,” Daio said unhappily. “You never heard any of his rants. I’m sure Baku passed on some information, but you have no idea how selfish Nexus is, how completely envy controls him.” Daio stared at him, measuring him. “The kid was a desperate move on Baku’s part. Nothing more. Maybe she can help you get over your fear of your own power, but even that seems like a stretch.” He shook his head. “You better not depend on a kid to do your job.” He sat back down and steepled his hands once more. “Now, let’s back up a minute and talk about how an Aigis’s powers work.” He snapped his fingers and a blackboard materialized next to his chair. It hovered in the air with no visible support. “Do you know why our eyes glow in response to our emotions?”