“Everyone keep moving!” shouted Minx as we quickly made our way up the stairs. Individually, the feat was a rather simple one, but with all of the people involved I felt as though I was surrounded by a herd of eager and frightened catt...
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Tanex had come back with Xemmsur in tow, and as everyone took their seats once again, I remained silent as death. Tanex waited a moment and began to make the bridge of his fingers again. It seemed to be is most calming position of thought. I crossed my arms around my stomach and waited.
“Well now…..we have everyone for the most part and a couple of guests in tow,” Tanex started. “Aidex ….would you mind explaining what is going on to Xemmsur?”
My eyes moved vertically downwards towards the quite black haired girl. She seemed to be shaking a bit as she looked up at Tanex.
“I’ll do it this time,” the sharp voice of Xyta rose. My eye trailed to the blond girl as she walked over to Xemmsur’s chair and began explaining. We all waited patiently, and as I read Xemmsur’s face, it changed from a bit of shock to calm and then to shock once more.
“Now,” Tanex’s voice rose from the silence. “Returning to your question Triskix, when considering the lives of those we are choosing to end in order to complete this goal…..”
“Please! Tanex! Please tell me there’s another way! It’s wrong!” Nyx’s voice rang like a bell through the room.
Tanex gave Nyx an almost cold look in response. His head shot straight at me and his fingers began to rap together again.
“Sometimes death is an only option,” Tanex answered coldly. “I will not sacrifice any of us here nor Triskix’s Elites at Organization Oblivion….”
“Enough,” I said calmly. It was the voice I used when giving orders. Tanex eyed me carefully. He was trying to read whether or not I was serious. “If you are planning to end others to save others, I would rather let the living live. I will not have people die to get others back. It reminds me too much of Sora’s antics. Lest we all forget that he destroyed the XIII to get his friends. I will not make a mockery of the XIII in this way.”
An almost cynical smirk ran off of Tanex’s face. “Coming from the man that planned to do this with Xraktos….” He answered.
“As a pact made with Xraktos, I am bound by the extremities of the pact and one of those was complete and utter willingness to kill,” I answered. “And as a measure of his machine, Xraktos plans to use Leser Nobodies….a large amount of Dusks….You are just making a situation more brutal and it is out of the limits of order in this respect.”
Tanex seemed to be considering this carefully. There was a look on his face of not only quiet irritation but a calm realization. My eyes moved sharply to each face in the room daring any of them to challenge what I had said, but none seemed to want to even try. I let my red eyes pas everyone once and then focus in on Tanex.
“Growing a conscious must be strenuous,” Tanex started.
“It is not a conscious. It’s order,” I answered.
Tanex gave a sharp laugh. It chilled my bones and made me wonder for a moment if RaXi had entered the room. My eyes gave a quiet trail around the room and seemed to meet Lexian’s eyes that had also been trailing the room.
“As cynically ordered and hilarious as always Triskix,” Tanex’s laugh continued. “The reason we cannot use Dusks is simple. There are simply not enough of them to power the machine at the intensity that we would need. The Dusks’s numbers have sharply declined in the last few weeks or so for unknown reasons, and at the rate they are declining, we won’t have enough to gather. On the other hand, a large mass of stronger nobodies has started to emerge…Call it…Evolution….maybe.
"But this group which used to be a fraction of the nobody population has started to grow increasingly. We can use this population even better than the Dusks. There would be less of them to gather, and in the end we would have less competition. It is a win-win situation the way I see it. Triskix, for your own good, you’d better kill that conscious before it starts eating at you and you end up like Axel.”
The sharp Axel reference made me want to kill. Fire sparked on the floor, and both Xyta and Aidex screamed. Each flame whispered and begged me to let them eat more….My eyes shifted, and I glared at Tanex who just gave me a happy face back.
I closed my eyes and left the waves of anger rush over me. But with the anger came an even sharper understanding. I did need to kill it. Was not my goal to revive the XIII and atone for Axel’s misdeeds? Was that not what I had intended all along? I did need to kill it. I was angry over what? Deaths? Someone else’s death when I had a job to do? I slowly began to strangle the last breaths of protest in my mind.
As I opened my eyes again, my face was completely composed. Tanex returned this expression with a composed look of his own.
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<_< shoot another brain-soul killer. I think I've been shot.
Triskix: you're not the only one. T_T;
“Tanex, Triskix. You both stated something toward the beginning that has kept running in my head. You said something about that ‘they both `are part of a pact.’ So does that mean that they both are still in that pact correct? Do you know the details of that pact they share?” Nyx asked breaking the silence in the room.
“Also Xraktos… is a human in a sense; he’s not a god, right?” Nyx continued. “ And you said before that “Pactmakers are humans who get special powers from gods and summon spirits.” So does that mean that there is someone above Xraktos that holds a pact over him? Is that the same pact that is held over Xerebus as well?”
A picture had started to form in my mind from the fragments of thought I had gathered from Xraktos’s mind. Tanex seemed to be watching me do this and waiting for the outcome.
“Martel is the key of the pact Xraktos and Xerebus share….” I said carefully choosing my words. “I believe they made a contract with themselves about retrieving Martel….And I think…..the reason Xraktos wants to get into ‘Where Nothing Fades’ is because Martel is there….”
“So Martel became a nobody and then faded,” Tanex concluded as he strummed his fingers together. “That would explain how a goddess could disappear without a trace. Then their pact is a competition to see who can retrieve Martel first.”
“And then whoever can get to her first would keep her for his own and the other would be forced to never see Martel again as an extension of the pact,” I finished.
Tanex eyed me wryly.
“I wouldn’t have concluded that,” Tanex said sharply. “Can you provide me with a reason you would?”
I remained silent for a moment wondering exactly the same thing. Silence engulfed the room again. The only sound was Tanex’s tapping fingers. When I didn’t answer still, Tanex seemed to smile a bit.
“So that is your measure of the pact,” he started calmly smiling.
Then it hit me. I remained silent. Tanex continued to smile.
“He can rip you to shreds materially, but you have been slowly doing the same thing to him mentally…..interesting Triskix….very very interesting…..I bet he believed that he could shield himself from it with his own power…..but a pact is binding…….interesting Triskix…..very very interesting…..how much have you shredded of his mind? How much do you know of now by shredding it? Tell me Triskix….”
“Tris?”
“Triskix?”
“Pyro?”
I felt my skin crawl as I heard my name being questioned like that. Each of the apprentices wanted to know now…..know it fully. I looked away for a moment, and as everyone in the room began to sense that I was not going to hand out answers, a subtitle sigh went though the room. Tanex gave a quiet nod.
“To answer your question Nyx-dear,” Tanex started. “Aside from what Triskix here just said, I have a very incomplete analysis of that part of the situation, but it is slowly coming clear indeed. And as to your second question, I believe Xraktos has started to reform pacts with gods, but an interesting point you bring up though is Martel’s pacts.”
“Martel’s pacts?” Nyx asked.
“Yes,” Tanex answered. “I believe that Martel formed a pact with Kratos before she faded, and this has harbored him due to her absence. I do not know the extremities of this pact and judging by Triskix’s face I doubt he knows either. But it is one of Xraktos’s largest weaknesses, and if he revives Martel, there is a chance that it will actually hurt him more due to the shock of a revived pact.”
“Tanex,” I started. “Why do you know so much about the Pactmakers Council. Is it not secretive?”
Tanex gave a silent laugh.
“Cruxis’s information has only started to come to light due to its extinction. I only got a hold of one of the pactmakers books in the last year or so, and the fight to get it was astounding…..It seems years back there was a rebellion within Cuxis as a whole and in the end the Leaders of Cruxis were killed off. Without proper leadership, Cruxis’s group faded away as arguments continued to ravage it.
“Now do not miss interpret, there are members of Cruxis alive, but they are weak descendants and most likely do not have the knowledge of their own ancestors. These people are of no threat to anyone.” Tanex answered. “It appears that Kratos was the last of his kind…..and now his nobody Xraktos carries that on now….”
“Is it possible that Kratos led this rebellion?” Lexian asked. This was the first time he had really spoken, and my head turned to see his face. Tanex gave another silent laugh.
“It is very possible and actually quite likely,” Tanex answered. “From the information I gathered, I only found that there was a rebellion. It states nothing of what the rebellion was about, but if it had to do with Martel then it is very likely that Kratos was the head of this rebellion.”
The room fell into silence again.
“Now that the past has been explained,” Tanex said starting to strum his fingers together again. “The only thing that is left of this meeting is the layout of the present and the future. Firstly, I am aware of Xraktos’s machine that he plans to use to revive the XIII or so he says, and I found it mildly enough intriguing to look into it.
“This machine is some of the most advanced technology of this time period. It uses actual nobody life force to work somewhat like a gummi ship to reach ‘Where Nothing Fades.’ The original problem with accessing this world through the gummi ship was that ‘Where Nothing Fades’ has no light ties that tie the other worlds together. Instead, ‘Where Nothing Fades’ is tied to the other worlds though the shadow ties, and it takes so much energy to transport to ‘Where Nothing Fades’ that that if a single nobody tried to get there by themselves, they would end up forcing themselves to fade.
“So instead, Xraktos has made a machine that uses multiple stronger nobodies at once to open a portal. When put in simple terms like this it may not seem complicated, but do not be fooled. I have been researching other methods to access ‘Where Nothing Fades’ but it seems that Xraktos has hit the nail on the head with this machine. The only problem is the amount of energy used would cause all the nobodies who power the machine to fade to their deaths.”
Tanex seemed to be waiting for this to soak into everyone’s thoughts.
“I do not see this as a problem when debating about the fate of the XIII,” Tanex continued, and his voice seemed to become darker.
I looked down a bit and let my hair slide over my face making diagonals. So Tanex had the same plan as Xraktos then……
“Who are you planning to use,” I asked.
Another silence ate into the room.
______________________________________________________________________________
X___X sweet God that killed my brain. *head/desk*
Triskix:.......*pokes Soji*..........dead as a doornail .__.
Caex: lol......
Triskix: wtf are you still doing here?
Caex: .__. I got summoned :/
Seta: X3 *glomps Caex*
“Well then to begin,” Tanex began as he rested both his elbows on the arms of the chairs and brought his fingers together in a bridge shape. “I’ve retrieved our little pyro which only leaves Xemmsur that we must get later.”
I remained silent and waited for Tanex to continue.
“That being said,” Tanex continued. “RaXi and Marlex are doing a bit of recon work that will not be disturbed at this time.”
A quiet nod went through the ground, and I began to wonder just how long Tanex had been planning this get together and exactly when he had started gathering people. I could feel Xraktos’s mind trying to pry into mine, and a scar that extended from the base of my left elbow to my wrist ripped. A steady stream of blood started moving down my arm, but I ignored it and crossed my arms.
“Also,” Tanex said turning to me. “There is the little problem of what you did to yourself Triskix…..Binding your mind and body to another by ways of a pact especially being what Xraktos is………”
“Tanex,” Erxia cut in carefully to avoid Tanex’s anger. “You have kept that to yourself this entire time. I believe it is time you explain.”
Tanex gave a smile for a moment.
“Triskix knows what Xraktos is,” Tanex smiled. “But for the sake of everyone in this room……you see….Xraktos is a pactmaker.”
Silence engulfed the room, and a nervous laughed erupted from Xarin. A quick glance from Tanex and silence was all that was left.
“A pactmaker,” Tanex continued as if the silence hadn’t emerged at all. “No that isn’t quite right….pactmakers…yes plural….Pactmakers are a race that appeared centuries ago first in the Coliseum and then in a few other worlds. They are humans who have secured special rights and powers with gods and other higher plane creatures known as summon spirits.”
“What would the god who made the pact get out of it though?” Sraixen ask very calm and collectively.
“The god that secures a pact with a human then has the ability to use that human when he needs in any instance,” Tanex answered.
“Pactmakers can make pacts with other humans though as well,” I said calmly. Tanex gave me a smile. This was what he was going to explain next apparently.
“What don’t you explain,” Tanex smiled.
I fell silent for a moment and considered this. I would not be made a fool of especially by Tanex.
“A pact between two mortals is also known as a shouraisei,” I started. “It is where a magical bond allows two people to access things each would need of the other. It starts as a contract signed in blood, and the extremities of the pact are written out in the contract.”
“Indeed,” Tanex answered. “Those were the exact words that were writing in the text of the packmaker book. Xraktos presented it to you like this then?”
“Yes,” I answered.
Another silence fell.
“And what were the extremities of your pact then,” Tanex answered.
I remained silent. One of the extremities was that we were both to keep quiet about the limits of the pact. Tanex seemed to sense this because his fingers beat against each other quietly in a calm sense of irritation. I looked over and saw a few of the apprentices staring at me, but there was nothing to say when you can say nothing.
“Fine then,” Tanex answered the silence. “Now then, what exactly Xraktos and Xerebus are trying to accomplish? Well…it seems both of them have a long and very bloody past. Researching them was a pain in the neck, but the benefits were reaped nicely.”
“They are both part of a pact,” I answered.
Tanex looked at me and smiled. “Oh so you know too then,” he answered. “Getting into Xraktos’s head? Hah who would have guessed our little order pyro would go into the disorder of someone else’s mind….Why not enlighten the rest then…..”
I took a breath in for a moment, and the air stung my lungs.
“They both made pacts,” I started. I could feel Xraktos starting to try and rip more scars. “And……they both hold someone dear…..someone named Martel.”
Tanex smiled a bit.
“Your words only confirm my knowledge,” he started. “From what I learned, Xerebus is a god forced into nobody form, and Xraktos as we already know is a pactmaker that has become a nobody. Their original names are Erebus and Kratos. Martel is a goddess who disappeared from the worlds years ago for unknown reasons. It is my knowledge that Martel is Erebus’s sister as well as Kratos’s lover.”
I rested my head on my arm that rested on the arm of the chair.
“Don’t believe me?” Tanex asked smiling.
“Just waiting for you to continue,” I answered. “Don’t break the order by stopping in the middle.”
I caught looks of other apprentices including Nyx and Lexian. Lexian had stopped clutching his eye and was watching the meeting with an intense gaze. Every so often, Nyx would gaze down at the bottom of her chair, and I realized that she was watching the children down below.
“Continuing then,” Tanex answered. “From inferences and confirmations, I have learned the rest of this tale. Apparently, Kratos became the head of the pactmakers council also known as Cruxis, and it was soon found out about Martel’s love with Kratos. Of course, Cruxis found this distasteful and so did the gods. Erebus, who felt it was his job to protect Martel from herself, began to start clashing with Kratos. In the end this clashing broke both their hearts and caused Martel to vanish completely.”
I took these words in carefully. It made sense, and at the same time there were still questions that Taenx had not answered, and it was then that I realized that he didn’t have these answers yet or he would have addressed them. Where did Martel go then? Suddenly the answer rose in my mind. That was why Xaraktos was fighting to open the nobody realm…….Another question arose…..where did Cruxis go then? Why have I never even heard of Cruxis…..If Martel is in the nobody realm did she become a nobody once then? Were heartless even around the to break their hearts? My mind flashed questions that refused to give answers, but I kept my face as calm and composed as possible.
Fire had started to eat through the tiles on the floor. I was left standing there trying to explode right then and there. Again with this lecturing. Again with everyone thinking heck I went the wrong way. In an instant I couldn’t contain it anymore and seized the wall and started melting it. The brick and rock turned to liquid in seconds. I turned and walked away. Each step I took I could feel t feet sinking into the rock I was melting. I just continued down the hall.
I don’t know how I got there but somehow I ended up in another room. My mind took in everything around me, I realized it was a reverse of “Where nothingness Gathers”…..the room was black instead of white…..everything was the opposite. I stood in this room silently. And in a split second a circle of flames surrounded me. My anger started in for the chairs.
“Now……..” Suddenly I heard a voice. I turned around sharply and saw Tanex leading Lexian and Nyx into the room. I glared. Tanex had just turned his head to catch my glare.
“Hah and well well,” Tanex started. “Didn’t think you would be on your feet so fast Pyro.”
I cocked my head to the side and stared red eyed back at Tanex.
“Tris?” Nyx started, but Tanex turned abruptly to her.
“Nyx dear,” he started. “I believe that two little girls are starting to wake up…..would you mind going and checking on them?”
Nyx looked from me to Tanex and then finally nodded worriedly. Lexian didn’t say a word. He just stood there with his arms crossed. Once Nyx was gone, Tanex gave me a chilling look. I didn’t flinch. I just stared back wanting to burn everything and anything.
“Angry Triskix?” Tanex asked.
I didn’t reply. Fire started in for the bottoms of the chairs, but Tanex didn’t seem concerned. He turned sharply to Lexian and started talking.
“Sorry Lexian, but I have somewhere to be at the moment,” Tanex said. “I just remembered something hah. Would you mind….” He moved his hand a bit towards me. “Taking care of Triskix there?”
Lexian stared back at Tanex and didn’t say anything for a moment and then finally nodded. Tanex smiled and opened a portal. As he walked through, my glare shifted to Lexian. I began to wonder if Tanex had told him too about getting XIII back. That I had taken the ‘hard road’ and that he might be lecturing me. Flames began to digest the bases of each chair and started their way up.
“Triskix calm down,” Lexian said standing straight now. His arms remained crossed, and slowly darkness began meeting the red flames.
“Don’t you even dare think about lecturing me. I am not a kid,” I glared back. I felt anger run through me like blood. They were all thinking the same thing. They were all thinking I was just making a problem. I wasn’t...I wasn’t…..
Lexian stared back, and one red eye met one black. The darkness began to crackle with the flames.
“I am not lecturing you,” Lexian asserted.
“Everyone is the same around here,” I continued. The flames began to glow white hot. “They all think that I’ve made the biggest fool out of myself for trying to do what I thought was right. I don’t need Tanex. I don’t need RaXi. I don’t need lectures I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do! I’m going to do things MY way.”
Anger was in my muscles now. I wanted to fight. I wanted to tear something apart.
“Your way?” Lexian started. “Your way or Xraktos’s way? I am not lecturing you. I haven’t said a word. Don’t put words in my mouth.”
“Don’t you talk to me like that!” I snapped. “Just because you are free doesn’t mean you can tell me what to do.”
“Tris this doesn’t even sound like you,” Lexian answered. “And I am not telling you what to do.”
“Shut up!” I yelled.
Fire began to turn the floor into a completely melted pool of lava. I hated all of them. They were mocking me for trying to get back the XIII. They all wanted to see me suffer as I tried to make amends for Axel. Anger boiled my blood.
“You just wanted to get a full hardy laugh at seeing me chained up,” I started. “RaXi won’t admit it and keeps trying to play honorable heroine. It annoys me.”
“Triskix……you’re an idiot,” Lexian started. “None of us want to see that.”
“AND NONE OF YOU GET IT!” I shouted not hearing Lexian. I cocked my head to one side and fire shifted up the walls. “NONE OF YOU GET THAT……..”
“What,” Lexian answered.
“None of you get that this is my order and my job and my responsibility,” I answered.
“Triskix!” Lexian roared. “I AM DONE WITH YOU DAM BAD ASS LONER PROBLEM! ALL WE TRY TO DO IS HELP YOU AND ALL YOU DO IS TRY AND DO EVERYTHING ON YOUR OWN!”
The room seemed to swell with the silence that erupted after.
“We’ve tried to help you,” Lexian continued. “And you keep yanking your arm off trying to do things on your own. We never knew about Tanex’s plans, and…….”
“Where we you then,” I cut him off. “Where were any of you when I was alone? I have all of you to thank for my bad ass loner problems because ever since we all split, I’ve had no one…….”
“Triskix,” Lexian started. “When we all split up, none of us could find each other…..how do you expect….how could you expect…….”
“Last I checked,” I cut in. “When we split up we had no intention of fining each other. Or don’t you remember……”
Lexian gave me a look that I couldn’t place.
“What am I saying,” I started. “It doesn’t matter anymore. None of that matters any more. The past doesn’t matter…… All that matters is getting the XIII back, and I can do that myself.”
“If the past doesn’t matter…..why are you trying to bring back the XIII?” Lexian challenged.
Lexian ran his fingers through his hair and then something shimmered and was hidden again. I kept my face straight.
“Because even though……it doesn’t matter anymore….I have to make up for Axel’s mistakes,” I answered. I felt a chill run through me. I had never said it a loud before……and the words tasted weird on my tongue. The sounds of fire crackling with darkness started to subside.
“Then what?” Lexian continued. I didn’t answer. “Then what? What? Is this all to redeem Axel……is it? Answer Triskix.”
I took in a breath. “It………………has always been. And I know you know it which is why I can say it……”
Lexian moved his head a bit and sighed.
“It was already established that you took no part in it,” Lexian said coolly.
“But he was my master,” I answered. “And I still feel it……..feel like I caused it somehow…..”
“Triskix stop,” Lexian answered. “Don’t try and change facts to fit your cause.”
I stared at Lexian silently. The flames had stopped eating at the chairs and seemed to seep into the floor.
