Until We Break (17 page)

His fingernails dug into her neck, and she suspected they might be poisoned, because she found her energy being drained at an alarming rate.

After several agonizing moments of this, he hurled her away from the plane. Still stunned from the fight and the suspected poison, she didn’t have the wherewithal to fly. As she fell, she thought back to her chillingly accurate prediction that she could very well die today. She then thought of Ev, of the moments they shared, and of the moments they would
never
share. Sobs began building within her, and it seemed she was unable to stop the sadness from overtaking her.

Before she plummeted to her death, she breathed one last prayer, this time directed to Ev in the hopes that it would reach him.
Before I met you, my life was darkness. You were the light that saved. I know it’s selfish now, but please—save me again!

She suddenly felt a tingling sensation, and her body began to glow. She then realized this was the power a goddess of love possessed. Without even thinking about it, she reached out into the vast distance that separated her from Ev.

She knew. Somehow, she knew. She would reach him.

* * *

Deep in the darkness of his mind and his self-destroying thoughts, he saw a light. It grew in intensity and warmth until it completely enveloped him. At that moment, a wealth of knowledge unfirled inside him. Everything he had missed, all the battles of the war, suddenly became known to him.

He understood now. A goddess of love could provide not just guidance, but
knowledge
. And Maya had done exactly that.

Ev’s eyes burst open. All sorts of feelings threatened to overwhelm him, but there was no time. Maya needed him.
Now.

At speeds he didn’t even know he was capable of, he exited the infirmary in a flash and headed towards her.

* * *

Maya continued to fall, knowing full well she would die once she hit the ground. She hadn’t recovered from the poison or whatever that was, and she couldn’t summon the strength or concentration needed to fly.

Suddenly, though, something caught her. Ev! It was Ev! She called out to him with elation, but couldn’t be heard over the cacophony which surrounded them.

He flew back towards the plane, lending her his own god energy to heal. He was no doctor, but he knew enough to do that much. Her own healing ability had been inhibited by the poison

* * *

They returned to
Vinguard 1
’s interior to find Exodus Squad fighting with a dozen suits. Neither side seemed to have gained an advantage. And although she so badly wanted to catch up with Ev, they needed to do something about this.

Maya, now healed enough to once again fight, couldn’t fire off any arrows in this confined space, so she once again began wielding her bow like a club, cracking the head of a suit who had his back to her. He went down unceremoniously, and she moved on to the next one. She spared a glance at Ev, and saw him effortlessly dropping enemies. Even Exodus Squad seemed impressed by his prowess.

Before long, they had turned the tide and the enemies were defeated. But had President Lambda survived? If he hadn’t, all their struggles would be for nothing. She tried asking the exo-suited soldiers, but even inside the plane it was just too loud. She tried pantomiming and pointing towards Lambda’s private room, and the soldiers shrugged; apparently they had been too busy fighting the Zero Grade splinter faction they hadn’t been able to check.

Exodus Squad motioned for them to take their seats. Maya guessed the plane would be landing somewhere for repairs.

She and Ev sat down next to one another. Ev took her hand in his, and looked at her lovingly. She seemed to be his whole world now. She smiled back at him. The feeling was, without a doubt, mutual.

* * *

The plane landed at a small airfield a few hundred miles from Dokiu. Maya felt relieved when Joe Lambda exited his private room, seemingly unharmed.

He strode over to where she was seated. “I want to thank you, Miss Brünhart. Exodus Squad says you fought to protect us, along with… this young man. I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve been introduced.” He seemed slightly alarmed at Ev’s presence, and who could blame him? This mysterious stranger had shown around the same time as the attackers.

Ev got up to shake his hand. “The name’s Ev. Ev Bannen. It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. President. I wasn’t quite old enough to vote for you in the last election, but I would have.” He was oddly cheerful.

Lambda furrowed his brow. “I’m sorry, but that doesn’t quite answer my question. Who are you?”

“Sorry,” Ev said. “I’m with the Academy. Maya’s a very good friend of mine, and… it’s hard to explain, but I knew she was in trouble. I flew over here as fast as I could.” That was an understatement; he had gotten to them in record time.

Maya nodded. “It’s true. You can trust Ev; he’s one of us.”

“Well, if Miss Brünhart vouches for you, that’s good enough for me,” Lambda said.

Maya said, “Mr. President, I’m glad you’re unharmed, but how are you going to get to Dokiu now? The plane is wrecked.”

Sighing, he replied, “I don’t know. A car won’t get us there in time.”

The answer, though, was immediately given to them. Inside each of their heads, a voice addressed them.
This is Athena of the Flawless Few. We will temporarily lift the ban on Academy aid within the Faust Kingdom. Maya Brünhart may fly Joe Lambda to the cathedral in Dokiu.

Lambda shook his head as if to get the voice out of it. “That was… different.”

“Was that
the
Athena?” Ev said.

“Yeah,” Maya said. “She contacted me earlier to warn us about the attack. Apparently someone doesn’t want peace, and decided to keep the war going by killing President Lambda.”

“That sucks,” Ev replied. He then added with no small amount of satisfaction, “For them, I mean.”

Maya said to Lambda, “Mr. President, would you excuse us for a moment? Ev and I need to get caught up on a few things.”

“Certainly.”

After he left, Maya turned her attention back to Ev and hugged him. “I was worried I’d never see you again. Conscious, I mean. You don’t know how much it hurt to look at you lying in that bed like a vegetable.”

“It wasn’t any fun for me
being
that vegetable. I can’t describe it… I was lost in darkness after Hades swallowed me up.”

“Ev,” Maya said. She wasn’t sure if she should say what was on her mind. She had no idea how he would take it. Still, she decided to go ahead. “We went to Upton to save you. When we went into your house, we found…” She couldn’t finish that sentence; the words were too horrific to voice.

He turned away from her. He balled his hands into fists which started to shake uncontrollably. “Are we really going through with this peace shit? How can you be OK with that?”

“I’m so sorry for this, Ev. You can’t imagine how sorry I am. But if we don’t do this, a lot more people are going to die. I know you want to be the god of justice, so you must know there’s no justice in that.”

They sat in silence for a minute before Ev said, “I can’t forgive them. I’ll
never
forgive them.” He was seething.

She put a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to forgive them. But please, don’t try to stop this. There’s been enough killing.”

Silence followed. Finally, he said, “OK. I won’t interfere. But only because that’s what you want. If it were anyone else, I would tell them to go yur themselves. I’m holding back for
you
, Maya.”

She kissed him. “Thank you, Ev.”

Chapter XIII

Dokiu lay some thousand miles east of Kornia and a little to the south. It was a circular city in the middle of a snowbound valley between two mountain ranges.

Instead of having many smaller buildings like other nations, the Faust Kingdom built its cities using a handful of gigantic buildings carved out of ice. One building might be a housing complex home to thousands of people, while another might contain all the city’s offices, while still another would be home to emergency services such as police and the hospital.

The city streets consisted of wide avenues which traversed Dokiu in circles and had to be constantly swept for snow which fell year-round. There was an entire office dedicated to maintaining the streets, and they worked all day, every day.

On this day, the weather was unseasonably warm, being slightly above freezing, and the sky was, as usual, drab and completely cloudy. The sun seldom shown upon the Faust Kingdom.

Maya landed Joe Lambda in front of the city’s only church, a massive frozen
hamagogue
which rose a hundred feet into the air, ending in a magnificent ice spire.

The other delegations were already present. Martin Ernst, the blind chancellor of the Murnau Islands; Sylvia O’Donnel, red-haired president of the Tru Republic; Sean Jackman, headstrong prime minister of Chrichton; and numerous members of Zero Grade. No representative from the Faust Kingdom was present, because they were already completely loyal to the Lost Gods. They would agree with whatever Zero Grade decided.

Zero Grade’s sole representative stepped forward. He had
long, shaggy brown hair, a leather jacket which showed his hairy chest, and tiny sunglasses which hid his eyes. “My name is Set,” he said, declining to shake Lambda’s extended hand. He then turned his attention to Maya. “Ah, Miss Brünhart. It has been a while.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, scrutinizing him intently. “Have we met before?”

“It’s no surprise you don’t remember me. You were unconscious when I brought you aboard the
Sancta Praesidium
.”

“You were the one who captured us!” Ev exclaimed with realization.

Set examined him with disgust. “Ev Bannen. You have a lot of nerve showing your face here. But, on the other hand, I’m impressed; the true superman doesn’t bow to outside pressures like a sizeable bounty on his head. Be thankful the Flawless Few sent me to negotiate in their place. If one of them were here, they would filet you in an instant.”

“I’m aware of their hatred,” Ev said. He struggled to suppress the growing rage inside him.

Maya changed the topic of conversation by saying to Set, “But we saw the
Sancta Praesidium
get sucked into the giant maw created by the Ark of the Covenant. How did you survive?”

“I wasn’t inside it. I left to pursue Arcturus Reich, who fled upon activating the Ark. Shortly after I lost sight of him, the
Praesidium
was destroyed.

“But enough pleasantries. Let us go inside to begin the…discussions.”

They entered the
hamagogue
and found themselves in a cavernous hall filled with hundred-foot-tall windows made out of stained glass. Each window depicted a different Lost God, but since (until recently) no one knew what any of them looked like, the faces were blank.

They sat down at a large round table in a small area overlooking the pews below. Maya and Ev stood off to the side to observe.

“Dammit, Ev!” Bethos, who had apparently been waiting inside, stormed up to Ev with a fire in his eyes. “What in the name of me are you doing here? You’re the last person I wanted attending this summit. Hell, even
I’m
taking a risk being here.”

Ev explained, “For all we knew, this was a trap. I wasn’t about to let Maya walk into it alone.”

Bethos ranted and yelled, but ultimately gave up. “Fine. Your presence doesn’t seem to have set them off… yet. If they say you can stay, you can stay. Just don’t do anything to disrupt the negotiations.”

Nodding grimly, he replied, “I won’t. I promise.”

Bethos sighed and took his seat at the table.

With that, the Divine Peace Summit began. Jackman was the first to voice his opinion. “I’m damned well opposed to this whole thing. We in Chrichton don’t acknowledge
any
gods, and we’re certainly not going to bow down to them after they came to enslave us!”

“This isn’t about bowing down,” Lambda said. “It’s about finding common ground between humans and gods. I believe we can work out an arrangement that will be acceptable to all sides.”

“I do hope you’re not wasting our time,” Set said. His hands were steepled in an arrogant display of superiority.

“This
whole thing
is a waste of time,” Ernst said. He addressed everyone, yet peered at no one through his milky eyes. “Zero Grade can be beaten. It has been proven repeatedly as of late.”

“Now, now,” Lambda said. “If everyone will take a good look at those of us sitting at this table, I think you’ll see we’re not so different. We’re all sentient beings with desires and opinions. We just need to try and understand the other side.”

“What the hell’s there to understand?” Jackman said. “These Zero Grade grimes are just egomaniacs.”

Lambda raised a finger, saying, “Gods have different needs than the rest of us. They’ve been around for eons. They’ve basked in human adoration for all that time. They
need
it.”

“So we should just give it to them?” a skeptical O’Donnel asked.

Ernst agreed. “After all they’ve done, they deserve nothing. Let them have the fires of
Buschweiss
.” He was referring to Principal Orthodoxy’s (the religion of the Murnau Islands) belief in an afterlife for evil people. Buschweiss was filled with murderers, thieves, liars and women who stood up for themselves. Rapists did not necessarily go to Buschweiss (rape wasn’t a crime in their country) unless they committed other sins on top of that.

“And what of you, Bethos?” Set said. “Most humans don’t see a difference between your side and ours. Do you agree with President Lambda?”

Bethos took a deep breath and composed his thoughts. “Let’s get one thing out of the way right now. I don’t like Zero Grade. I don’t like anything about you. That being said, if it will end this war, I’m all for establishing churches for you. After all, you’re no less gods than the rest of us. If people want to worship you, who am I to say no?”

O’Donnel said, “But
do
people want to worship them? After the crimes they’ve committed against mankind, who aside from lunatics would willingly follow them?”

“The people of this country, for one,” Lambda said. “You’ve got millions of people right here who worship them, and I think they can find a niche in other nations.”

Set rubbed his chin thoughtfully. It was tough to read him; he played his cards close to his hairy chest. Ev wondered if they were, in fact, wasting their time here.

“And how would you convince people to come to church and worship us every week?” Set said.

Lambda replied, “We’re considering incentives packages—”

Set cut him off. “Absolute not! Zero Grade does not accept the adoration of bribed humans. The love must be genuine.”

Bethos chimed in, “You don’t need to bribe people. The fact is, everyone now knows without a doubt that gods exist. And for every god there is someone to worship them. Just look at me. I was a nobody a few thousand years ago, and now I’ve got more followers than anyone on social media. If you build the churches, people will come.”

There was silence as everyone pondered this.

“I’m damned opposed,” Jackman said.

“Yes, you’ve made your position quite clear,” Set said.

O’Donnel massaged her alabaster temple. “I’m not convinced, either. If I go back to my people and tell them I’ve capitulated to the enemy, I can kiss my re-election campaign goodbye.”

“People, people,” Lambda said, standing up. “I’m asking you to put aside your own interests and think about what’s best for your own nation. Building churches to the Lost Gods will save countless lives and end this war. Or would you prefer to go back to your people and tell them the bloodshed will continue?”

Set shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to us. We’ll have what we want regardless of what you humans decide.”

“You’re not helping,” Bethos said.

* * *

The negotiations (and arguing) continued for several hours. Eventually, though, the mortal delegates decided on a consensus. They would establish Lost God churches in their nations, but only a few at first as a way to test the waters. Set expressed his displeasure, but conceded that was probably the best they could have hoped for. “But if the people don’t come, we
will
have to resort to more…
emphatic
measures.”

“Just give it a chance,” Bethos urged him.

“Very well. On behalf of Zero Grade, we accept this arrangement for the time being. But don’t forget
your
end of the bargain, Academy president.”

“Of course,” Bethos replied. “Both the Academy and Zero Grade agree to remove our forces from human cities. The Ultimus Points in those regions will not be used by either side.”

“And the humans agree not to utilize them for military purposes,” Set added.