Kastori Revelations (The Kastori Chronicles Book 1) (29 page)

But nothing would happen, so it didn’t matter. Because he was Cyrus Orthran, heir to the empire, and if he couldn’t have that, he would have his own world, taking it from Calypsius.

And yet…

“Whatever happens tonight, whatever happens to us, know that I’ve always loved you and always will. I’m your brother before anything else, and with that comes all of the brotherly love I can provide.”

It was a hard thing for him to say, for Cyrus rarely expressed how he felt. He felt comfortable talking about relationships, but not love, not the end, and not to the people he cared about the most. But when he saw his sister’s eyes dampen, he, too, felt comfortable indulging. A sniffle broke the dam holding back his tears, and soon, the two embraced once more, not letting go until all of the tears had poured out.

As Celeste cried, Cyrus looked at the cockpit and saw Crystil standing up and leaving his view.

“You know, the way you two get along, I swear it’s like she’s your sister.”

“I know,” Celeste said. “She’s the big sister I never had. And she can be the big sister you never had, but you have to be willing to be that. Sometimes, you can’t worry about your support being reciprocated. Crystil sure didn’t give back the effort I gave her at first. But she came around. You should do the same.”

But the notion of her being that way didn’t sit right, no matter how hard he tried to believe it.

“I’ll think about it,” he promised, the emotion of his talk starting to creep up in his voice.

Suddenly, a precora appeared, looked at both Cyrus and Celeste, and scampered off quickly.

“He was afraid of your hair, so bright it blinded him,” Cyrus said, desperate for a light moment.

“And he was so overwhelmed by the size of your ego he needed to run away to breathe,” Celeste said.

Cyrus laughed.

“I’d say this was a beneficial break from our duties,” Cyrus said, bringing another short laugh from Celeste.

50

Crystil hatred of isolation was fading.

It should have been devastating to be in a quiet place and deal with ugly flashbacks.

But now, with tonight putting her life and her mission on the line, those paralyzing memories had begun to fade in favor of pleasant nostalgia.

As she watched Cyrus walk over to Celeste, Crystil’s mind raced back to when she’d seen him walk out in a storm, and she’d felt like a failure. Except now, with the gift of time to let the story unfold, she’d seen she had not failed. If anything, the incident had pushed Cyrus to become a better man.

Crystil also thought about that day when she went down in a heap with a shattered tibia with Celeste. She thought she’d lost her to poison. Instead, she had gotten her close enough to the ship for Cyrus to finish rescuing her.

Just like teamwork in the caves saved Cyrus from the lupi. Yes, people die. You tell your soldiers all the time. Listen to your own words. Dyson, Emperor Orthran, Eve, your brother. Those are tragedies that were out of your hands, not failures that stain your past.

She couldn’t completely accept the fact, as the commander wanted to assume all of the responsibility, whether hers or not. Did Celeste get hurt? Her instinct was to take the blame for putting the young girl in a compromised position. Did Cyrus walk off? Her gut reaction was to believe she had pushed him out.

But she could accept that the sign of a great commander was not just assuming responsibility, but recognizing what she could and could not control. It was bad luck that Dyson’s ship was destroyed—but it was also good luck for her since if it wasn’t him, it was her. It was circumstantial that she grew up without a father, not something she could affect.

Feeling a sense of peace was not something the commander could completely embrace. The Monda military had done a marvelous job of turning her into the perfect soldier, for better and for worse. But it was nice to feel better about herself before she went off on her most dangerous mission yet.

She turned back to her quarters, taking a nap with the few hours remaining before Calypsius came out. She felt confident she could finally have a pleasant dream.

51

The sun descended from its zenith in the sky, and with every further drop, each member of
Omega One
retreated further into their default personality. Crystil became silent, a stoic militant figure focused on the mission and nothing but the mission, even after her brief nap. Every thought that crossed her mind was a question, pondering how to defeat Calypsius and making sure she had covered all her bases. Cyrus talked frequently, often saying a minute’s worth of words when one sentence would have sufficed. He talked about how he was going to rename the planet Cyrus Land once they won, which drew the occasional laugh from Celeste, but mostly nervous silence otherwise from as the three humans convened in the cockpit of the ship, waiting for the arrival of the Kastori.

It was the one thing that worried Crystil. Celeste’s default state of mind in brutal situations was skittish and anxious. She could push past it before the first trigger was pulled, but they hadn’t gotten past that point. Would she react well when the battle began? Or would she revert to the scared girl who had made them fail on
Omega One
?

Despite planning for the worst, Crystil genuinely believed Celeste would come through. It would be a long battle, not a one-shot showdown, and even if she panicked in the first few minutes, she could pull herself together and fight.

Celeste stirred, and Crystil looked over the cockpit to see Kastori appearing.

“Game time!” Cyrus shouted. “Whoooo! Who’s ready to fry some Calypsius meat for breakfast tomorrow? It’s no bacon, but just as good as sausage!”

The two girls ignored Cyrus and made their way to the airlock, with Cyrus trailing just behind. Crystil noted the humans had no weapons, but she also quickly followed that by acknowledging weapons wouldn’t do much good against Kastori.

When they had finished climbing down the ladder replacing the airlock, Crystil saw multiple rows of Kastori waiting, all wearing their masks and staring at her. The sight made her queasy—it only took one of them, now ready to cast magic, to go against Erda and execute them. Crystil got a bad feeling that, at best, this was a moment where the Kastori would leverage their power to take everything away from them and, at worst, would execute them and take their technology for themselves.

“Kastori!” Erda shouted from the front. Crystil’s gut sunk lower, thinking this was the call to attack. “Remove your masks. You do not need them right now.”

Someday, I’m going to get over this and trust them.

Someday is way off, though.

Without hesitation, all of the Kastori removed their masks and exposed their faces. There were old, young, male, female, white, black, mixed-skin, tall, short, and every other type of Kastori. Erda turned back around and walked toward the humans, with Crystil taking two steps forward to establish herself as the point woman.

“Hello,” Erda crooned, a warm smile on her face as she stopped at a comfortable but close distance to Crystil. “Good to see you all again. Do not worry, Crystil, it’s all right.”

Crystil could believe Erda by now and, as long as Erda was around, began to acknowledge the other Kastori wouldn’t betray her. The moments without Erda—such as with Amira—frightened Crystil.

“I have brought my strongest red and black magic Kastori for this battle, including myself, for a band of thirty.”

“Thirty?” Cyrus said, the shock in his voice clear. “That’s it?”

Crystil found the notion strange. It didn’t take more than a couple to have a devastating impact. Thirty seemed like overkill, if anything.

“I fear so, Cyrus,” Erda said, running counter to Crystil’s notion. “We could have brought with us some white magic Kastori, but truth be told, in a battle like this, you will not have a lot of injuries that require medical attention. Just the living and the dead.”

Crystil let out a long sigh.
At least it’ll be quick if it happens.
But she didn’t like the idea of Cyrus or Celeste fitting into Erda’s latter category.

“It is a beautiful ship you have,” Erda said. “Crystil, can I confirm that I may fly with you?”

“Yes,” she said quickly.

“Thank you,” Erda said, and she looked past Crystil, took a couple of steps, and stood in front of the Orthrans. “My two most powerful black magic Kastori will be joining you to enhance your Nakar 17s. Reya! Pagus!”

Two figures quickly emerged from the crowd, both wearing black robes. Reya was an older woman, not quite as old as Erda, with short black hair and a weary—almost resigned—expression. Pagus was a young-looking black man, bald and taller even than Crystil, with a cocky grin. Crystil felt amused fake concern at what would happen if he paired off with Cyrus.

“Reya, you will go with Celeste. Pagus, you will go with Cyrus.”

“Boom, baby,” Pagus said, high-fiving Cyrus, and Crystil’s “worst” fears were confirmed.

“These two Kastori know every spell I know and have mastered the elements. Together, with your weaponry, they can finally bring down Calypsius.”

“Hi Reya,” Celeste said, drawing only a quiet greeting from the older lady.

“Ready to make the sky erupt with fireworks from Calypsius?” Cyrus asked.

“Am I? Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve seen the stars? Man, a show might just blind me!”

The two shared a laugh as Crystil jokingly thought about sending those two beneath the surface, even if they won the battle tonight.

“As stated before, the Kastori not with a human will cast spells, but only with the intent of drawing his attention. We must act swiftly, and we must overwhelm the beast. Calypsius can heal himself, by our estimations in as quickly as fifteen minutes, and often shows no visible reaction to the damage we do to him. Quick, powerful action is required by your ship and your guns. Crystil.”

Projecting confidence, Crystil walked toward the middle, ready to address all Kastori and humans.

“
Omega One
has twenty thousand bullets and forty missiles in storage, which would be enough to wipe out an entire city—and should be enough to eliminate this monster. My ship has fuel to fly for days and will stay in the skies as long as necessary to win this battle. Though the ship is not the quickest, we have removed all excess weight. I am Monda’s best pilot and will push the ship to its physical limit.”

Erda nodded in acknowledgment and asked the three humans if they had anything to say. No one did. She turned to the Kastori.

“To everyone here, we have lived in terror of this monster for too long. We have suffered the shame of losing a planet that we loved and had cherished as our own, and because of my mistake, more have fallen. I saw the danger of this path, but I did not do enough to stop Typhos at the many points I could have. I will carry this burden with me for the rest of my life, no matter how tonight turns out, for we have all lost people that we loved, and destroying Calypsius will not bring those people back. But we can ensure that we do not have more people we regret are no longer with us because of the miraculous arrival of these three humans. They, justifiably so, feared us when they first met us and, again righteously so, still have doubts. You must understand where they came from—their world, ravaged by Typhos and his disciples, has been desecrated. What they knew of our race came strictly from their fight with Typhos. Understand them and earn their trust. For they, not us, hold the key to defeating Calypsius.”

Bold statement. We’re outnumbered thirty-one to three.

But it sure provides a nice boost in confidence.

“Our magic cannot defeat the enemy, but their firepower may do enough. They have as much a right to this place as we do, both because of their assistance to us and because we give shelter to those who need it.”

Crystil wondered if some Kastori still disliked the humans. More likely than not, though, Crystil thought they’d dislike any alien to Anatolus.

“Understand many of us will die. If we win, we will suffer heavy casualties. If we lose, we will suffer complete annihilation. While such a thought may sound frightening, I am not afraid to die. The peaceful, joyful life I once knew before Typhos’ downfall died a long time ago, and I do not wish to live a life in hiding or fear anymore. I know many of you feel the same way. It is for this reason, as your chief, I fight with you tonight, and I fight for you tonight, and I will fight to return Anatolus to the Kastori!”

Raucous cheers came from the Kastori. Even the three humans applauded the speech. Crystil could see why the Kastori had made her chief—as awkward as it was to admit to herself, Erda reminded her of Emperor Orthran.

“As commander of the humans, Crystil, is there anything you would like to add?”

Crystil did have a lot swirling through her mind, but she felt her words could not carry the same weight.

“I do not, Erda. Let’s go to battle riding high on your words.”

Everyone resumed their cheering, and Crystil looked up at the sky. It had begun to dim, and, at any moment, Calypsius would announce his arrival. She looked at Erda, who gave a simple nod back to her. Both leaders announced to their respective groups to assume positions, but before Celeste and Cyrus ran off, Crystil pulled them to the side.