Kastori Restorations (The Kastori Chronicles Book 4) (14 page)

Good
, Crystil thought, her face remaining like that of the stoic commander. As long as they kept Typhos off Monda, that gave them the chance to build more ships. Typhos didn’t need to be defeated, but he could not have the first strike.

“I’ll give you my report here,” Crystil said, straightening up in her seat. “We’ve increased our productivity schedule. We have three fighters ready to go. These are fighters that can do things our technology wouldn’t have come up with for centuries, thanks to the Kastori here. They are magic-resistant, have magically-endowed weapons and can maneuver in the air so tightly it would seem impossible. It also helps that we can churn these ships out at about one every day and a half. If we were to run into, say, Calypsius, we would stand a much better chance of winning just based on the agility of the fighters.”

“Excellent,” Celeste said.

“Won’t do much good against Typhos,” Cyrus said. “That’s on us. But you can knock out whatever monsters he sends our way.”

Whatever it takes. I know my role and my duty here. I’m not going to Anatolus.

“The fighters are designed to handle a fire blast from a monster like Calypsius or a lightning strike that downed many of our fighters before we fled to Monda. We are also producing guns that are also magically enhanced and are resistant to red magic. It’s not perfect, but it puts us in a much stronger position than before.”

Crystil firmly believed that they were not only in a much stronger position but that if Calypsius returned, they would defeat it with much greater ease. Though her ships would not have the volume of firepower
Omega One
did, it would have far more maneuverability. They also had the advantage of knowing what to expect and having greater manpower. In her mind, as long as the Orthrans could defeat Typhos, they could bring peace back to Monda.

As long as they don’t get hurt.

Cyrus.

“How is Pops,” Cyrus said. “Have you seen him since?”

Crystil smiled, both at his question and the timing of it.

“He’s physically fine. I have tried to get him to speak to the people, but he is afraid that they will not like him because of the casualties we suffered. I did my best to explain to him that if anything, the people will want to see him more now from a position of vulnerability, but I’m afraid stubbornness is an Orthran family trait.”

Cyrus laughed and pointed at Crystil with a wide grin.

“We are not stubborn! I will fight to the end to prove that!”

“Case in point,” Crystil said with a wink. “In any case, though, we need a plan. I need it, at least. When will you two leave for Tapuya?”

“Tomorrow morning,” Celeste suddenly interjected with an odd smile that Crystil couldn’t figure out. “I need some rest. Cyrus needs some time for recovery after that disaster on Vostoka. Typhos is not in any shape to go to Tapuya.”

Cyrus shot her a surprised look, but Celeste did not look to her brother. Crystil shrugged, not thinking anything of it.

“Then for the rest of today, I will be working. You two, given your duties, don’t have to work in the warehouse. In fact, I would basically say you are prohibited from doing so. But come and find me if you need anything.”

“We most certainly will,” Celeste said, again with a smile that confused Crystil.

But the commander put it out of her head as she walked out of the room, just happy to have the two of them back alive.

23

When Crystil departed, Cyrus and Celeste took the opportunity to rest. They each took their own rooms—just one of four people in the entire warehouse who had that luxury, along with Crystil and their father—and immediately collapsed on the bed. Though not night yet, with the lack of windows and the barely-bright lights in the room, Celeste felt as though she could easily fall asleep.

She would under most circumstances. But she knew she had found herself in anything but most circumstances. Her mind still wandered to the previous days. She thought of their short time on Nubia—all of the bodies they had bumped into in the hallways of the complex. The data they had collected. Running into Typhos for the first time since he’d left her for dead.

Then she raced to Vostoka, and how they could not do anything for Novus. How much power she’d absorbed. The weak monster Typhos sent.

Weak. Like he… susceptible, perhaps?

His monster was nowhere near what he has produced before. If this is the case, then maybe his mind is not as strong in its belief as before. If ever there is a time outside of battle and having him pinned to get him to change his ways…

She closed her eyes, but not with the purpose of falling asleep. She instead concentrated on Anatolus and saw a thick field of energy around the peak. She said his name.

“Typhos.”

By her vision, it appeared the word bounced off the energy, unable to reach her brother. Determined not to quit, however, she said his name several more times, hopeful that just one would break through and reach him. She said it quickly, she said it with great concentration, and she said it softly. None of it seemed to break through.

But then he walked out of the peak toward the stairs.

“Typhos.”

The word reached him. He paused, looking upward in thought. Then he fell to his knees and bowed his head.

“Celeste. What do you want?”

His voice had an edge, but not the kind of mindless anger that she had come to associate with him. It also sounded weakened.
But not as weak as I’d expected.

“I want to talk to you, Typhos. You have the power of Nubia. I have the power of Vostoka. If we fight, we’re just going to draw to a stalemate for the rest of our lives.”

A pause came. Typhos appeared to bob his head, as if in laughter, but Celeste did not hear it.

“That didn’t seem to be the case on Monda.”

“Because your anger got the best of you, Typhos. You are not angry now. And I know what to expect.”

A pause came. Celeste garnered hope from his silence. She had feared that saying he was not angry would produce heavy venom, but it instead seemed to produce deep pondering.

“Why should we keep fighting if this is the case? Why should we bring destruction to each other when we can try and let each other live?”

“Destruction?”
Typhos replied, and Celeste swore sadness filled his voice.
“I bring destruction because my life is a series of destructive moments. I will bring destruction because I have no choice. If you absorb Tapuya’s power, I am no longer the most powerful being in the universe. I am no longer worthy of the titles I have achieved and strive to achieve.”

That’s what it’s all about
, Celeste thought.
His past and a future he can never seem to catch.

“You know you don’t have to continue down the path you’ve gone all these years, Typhos. I understand that your past is filled with pain and sorrow. I understand it because I went through the same thing. What happened to you at the hands of Aida is unforgivable. But I know what it’s like. She is my mother too. She abandoned me at my birth. Typhos, you are my brother.”

Even while concentrating on the conversation, Celeste gulped. She didn’t know if he knew, and if he didn’t, she didn’t know how he would react. She could only hope that he would keep their conversation going.

“I know. I’ve known from the day you called her a mother figure in our prison.”

Sorrow filled his voice. Celeste noticed it even cracked when he used the word “mother.”

“The truth of the matter is, Celeste, when I knew I had a sister of some kind, I yearned for her presence. I wanted a stable family member in my life, one whom I would not have to compete with like a brother for attention. In my head, when I arrived on Monda, I thought that if I found you, and you would take me in, you could give me peace. But my anger toward Erda and your brother became too great, and that desire is lost. I only seek to destroy those reminders of my past.”

“You’re looking at it wrong. You look at life through the prism of the pain brought to you, and how you can get rid of that pain. I’m here to tell you to stop doing that. Cyrus and I give you an opportunity to have the family that you lost at a young age. Yes, there will be some struggle. But we can help you heal. You cannot change the past, as tragic as it is. But you can make the future better.”

Even at the distance the two had, separated by years of space travel and on two separate worlds, Celeste could see the kind of groan Typhos produced. It was a groan designed to stave off tears and to keep an emotional distance from her words.

“I cannot lie, Celeste, I would like to think in those terms. I truly would. My whole life, since the exact day I turned fifteen, has been about getting rid of the pain from my father’s death and my mother’s ugly betrayal. But every time I try peace, someone turns around and rips my peace away. My mother. The old council on Anatolus. And now, whether you like it or not, you and your brother’s presence reminds me every day of my mother and my father. I know that if I surrender and trust you two, you two will betray me.”

“No!”
Celeste cried out, but she knew as soon as she spoke she had no way of truly proving it. Only time could prove that—and with a battle looming between Typhos and Monda, with neither side willing to back down, she did not have the time.

“I do not believe you, for no one has ever given me reason to believe them. Even now, the woman whom I fell for as a child serves you.”

Celeste thought about retorting and reminding him why, but she didn’t want him to feel blamed for everything. She wanted him to feel accepted by her.
Punishment has to come, but not until we know he is changed.

“And even if I were to believe you, I almost killed you. I would have killed you if not for the sacrifice our mother made… one which should never…”

His voice trailed off, and Celeste went silent. She knew Cyrus would not be so forgiving. Even she shuddered at the memory, often having nightmares about the moment. She did have a part of her that wanted to take the route Cyrus desired, to kill Typhos and end any possibility of a threat once and for all. But she saw possibilities in him, and as long as that existed, she could not let it happen. Only monsters could she kill without thought. She did not consider Typhos a monster—just a man with monstrous tendencies forced upon him by his past.

“I am sorry for the way your relationship unfolded with your parents, Typhos. But Cyrus and I are not like that.”

“No!”
he exclaimed loudly in her head.
“No. I have no choice. I have to kill you and your brother. At best, I will banish you across the universe, to places I have not even sensed yet. But more likely than not, the only way I see forward is to kill you.”

“Why? To get rid of the pain? And what happens if you still feel pain, brother?”

The lack of response told Celeste he had no plan beyond killing them. She shuddered at a life full of misery even after accomplishing one’s goals.
That is why I must help him. Because if he is left to his own devices—

“Such a thing will not happen.”

“Typhos, please.”

Celeste’s voice had become pleading and as emotional as Typhos’.

“I am sorry, Celeste, but my reminders of Aida and Adanus are constant. You two are the most egregious examples. I will not know peace until you two are dead. I wish I had found you before my mind became so consumed with rage, but it is too late. I will go to Tapuya, I will take its power, and I will destroy you both.”

“Typhos! Don’t—”

“Goodbye, Celeste.”

He cut off the communication, but not before Celeste noted the emotion and grief in his voice as he said farewell to her. She opened her eyes and found herself back in the dimly-lit bedroom. She slowly rose and walked toward the warehouse. She went past the fighters being constructed and came to the outside, where she gazed upon the afternoon sky. She felt a fear that Typhos’ mind had gone too far and that he could not be changed.

But if that were true, he would not be the emotional brother that he was. He would’ve shouted at me, cursed at me, and been more bloodthirsty in his comments. His childhood broke him, but we can still put the pieces back together.

The two of us are of the same blood. The only difference is our father lived and loved us. We never wondered why Aida abandoned us until we were adults. We are of the same family, but with two impossibly different circumstances.

We can overcome those differences.

Celeste swore at that moment not to kill Typhos unless she would die otherwise. If he was as truthful in his weakened state as she suspected, then he could yet rise to the role of savior for the Kastori—and Monda.

24

Cyrus dropped into his room for just a couple of minutes before returning to the warehouse to work. Still guilt-ridden over the limited contributions he could provide, he wanted to do whatever he could to build ships. He shouldered heavy equipment, ran machines, and guided Kastori on the floor to spots where they could provide the most benefit.

After several hours, though, he became tired and removed himself from duty. He went back to his room and tried to sleep, but the trauma of the battles of the past raged in his head.