Arc V: In His Absence...

  Chapter 46 – Ethan...

  “Yes, Robert,” said Linda. “You were saying?”

  Robert nodded. “The shipment will be coming in tomorrow afternoon, ma’am.”

  “Splendid. Seems like we have a big day tomorrow.”

  “Ma’am? It’s just a shipment… like any other.”

  Linda smiled. “Oh, I think we’ll be hosting some arcane friends in the morning as well.”

  “Oh, that.” Robert smiled. “Of course.”

  “Well, you can take off now. It’s getting late… in fact, it’s already late.”

  The assistant thanked the lady and quickly left.

  A servant entered. “It’s done, ma’am.”

  Linda nodded. “Did you leave the tray as I asked?”

  “No, ma’am. Miss Camille asked me to leave it outside.”

  “Outside? Where? And where is she?”

  “I left the tray on the entryway table, next to the door, ma’am. And miss Camille was sitting in the hallway… by the window.”

  ‘Oh that poor soul…’ Linda sighed. “Well, alright. That’ll be all.”

  She looked at her watch – it was half past midnight, 11th of August. After finishing her tea, she set aside the cup and finally left.

  The 45-year-old walked across the polished marble floor – her structured leather house slippers echoed faintly under the high ceilings. With curtains drawn but not fully closed, the house had already settled into routine rather than sleep. The servants had disappeared silently, all of the furniture had been neatly arranged and covered with dust covers, and only a few of the recessed ceiling lights and the soft wall sconces, spaced far apart, were still lit gently illuminating the space.

  Eventually arriving at the foot of the curved staircase, Linda stopped. With closed eyes, she shook her head before moving on. By the time she arrived upstairs, she had let down her blonde hair. It fell to the top of her slim black cigarette pants complimenting her brown silk blouse.

  She walked through the long central corridor and arrived at the door of the last room and saw the tray still there on the table – a glass of milk, cookies, some left over pasta, and a glass of water. She looked over. Camille was sitting alone on the window sill. She had her arms wrapped around her folded legs, and with her head resting on her knees, she was staring out the window. It had just started to rain. Moscow’s skyline lay muted under the drizzle and city lights blurred into soft halos against the wet glass.

  “Cami,” she softly said. “Why didn’t you eat, sweetie?”

  The Sokidu looked over. “I’m not hungry, mom…”

  Linda took a step forward. “Hon, you haven’t eaten much since you got here.”

  She noticed her daughter’s teary eyes and paused.

  Camille looked away once more.

  Linda took a few moments, adjusting her blouse and the tray next to her, before walking up. Settling beside her, perched on the edge of the sill, she kept sitting silently staring at the bandage on Camille’s wrist – it was still red. She finally placed her hand on it.

  “I don’t know how to ask about the things that almost killed you,” Linda said, whispering.

  Camille took her head off her knees and leaned back retracting her arms as well. “I’m alright, mom. It’s already healed.”

  Linda nodded and looked away. Pointing towards the room door, she asked, “How’s our guest doing?”

  The Sokidu sighed. “Pretty good, I’d say.”

  “Did he wake up?”

  “Mm-mm. Nope.”

  Linda looked at her. “But you said he’s good now.”

  “Compared to what he went through, mom… yes, he’s fine. But not really. It’s a miracle he’s alive even.”

  Linda observed Camille for a few moments as she once again began staring out the window.

  “What happened to you guys out there?” the mother eventually asked.

  “It was a war, mom,” the daughter replied as she crossed her legs and sat straight. “What happens happened.”

  After a pause, she shook her head dismissively and added, “Besides, I didn’t even get to fight…”

  Her voice shook saying that.

  Linda leaned closer. “Is that why you haven’t said his name even once?”

  The Sokidu looked at her mother but remained lost for words.

  “My informants gave me the news, honey.” Linda took a few moments before she slowly added, “Talk to me, Cami, please.”

  As her eyes welled up, Camille tried to smile, but it faltered at the corners. Her chin trembled. She looked away.

  “So…” The Sokidu pointed at the tray as she cleared her throat and gathered herself. “Did you put olives in my pasta?”

  Linda smiled and nodded. “Like always, sweetie…”

  Camille slowly stood up. “Well, I think I should check up on our guest as well.”

  She picked up the tray, opened the door, and quickly walked into the room.

  Linda remained seated after the door closed, listening to the rain. For a brief moment, she allowed herself to think of Hugo – not the man the world had known, but the boy who had once filled this house with noise. The world had claimed him. But it had not broken her daughter. Then she rose, composed once more.

  Camille placed the tray down on a corner table. A few tears escaped before she could stop them. She leaned her back against the closed door and sobbed softly.

  Until suddenly, she felt movement. Opened her eyes she looked at Vincent lying on a bed in front of her.

  ‘Did he move?’ she thought.

  Wiping her cheeks and rubbing her eyes, she stepped closer and observed – a weak tremor moved through his arms and a pained twitch pulled at his jaw while his eyelids fluttered.

  Camille placed a hand on his forehead. ‘He’s fuming,’ she thought as she leaned against the edge of the bed. ‘But his Ki is behaving differently than before… time for a full checkup again.’

  The Sokidu applied a camouflaging spell before placing a hand on the bounty hunter’s chest – she charged her Ki and sensed through his Ki networks.

  ‘That’s interesting,’ she thought, closely observing the flow of Ki within his body. ‘There is definite recovery in some parts, but that should be impossible! How is the Dark Ki not harming him? His Ki came in direct contact with it. Something isn’t right…’

  However, due to Vincent’s waning Ki and weak Ki clusters, Camille could not even attempt to heal him. She got up and sighed. ‘At least he’s showing some signs of life…’

  The tired Sokidu picked up the glass of water and went and sat on the sofa chair next to the bed.

  “It’s a miracle,” she whispered, reached over to the bedside, and turned off the lamp.

  Leaning back, legs tucked beneath her, she stared at the rain sliding down the glass and the trees swaying in the wind. Her eyelids grew heavier as she followed the movement of the leaves and the branches. Tired and spent, she soon fell asleep.

  A few hours later, Vincent regained consciousness. He tried opening his eyes. It took some effort, but they barely opened. At first he could not see anything. His heart was pounding in his chest.

  ‘Am I alive?’

  The bounty hunter had finally woken up from a nightmare where he had been running for hours, witnessing the horrors of his life over and over again. He was hurting mentally, but now physically as well – slowly regaining his senses, he could now feel the pain all over his body.

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  He closed his eyes and tried to move. His body did not respond. He tried harder. This time, the right side responded while the left remained paralyzed. He waited a few moments and then realized that his Ki was not flowing to or from the Ki Clusters properly. He tried to push himself to turn but did not have the strength to do so.

  Having a hard time breathing properly, he once again opened his eyes and kept staring at the ceiling.

  ‘What happened?’ he wondered. ‘Where am I?’

  He could not remember properly. The images were blurry and details were missing. With some effort, he finally turned his head and looked at the curtains falling on the window.

  ‘Light,’ he thought. He could now see, albeit not as well as he would have liked. ‘Is it morning?’

  The sun had already come up but was being blocked by the cloudy conditions in Moscow that day.

  Vincent turned his head the other way and observed the room for a brief moment – it was spacious and had luxurious furniture adding to the splendour. Turning his head straight, he looked at the ceiling again. This time, even in the dimly lit room, he could see the crystals hanging from the round waterfall chandelier.

  Just then, he felt movement to his left. Making a lot of effort to look over once more, he saw someone sleeping on the sofa chair. Her face was turned away, but he could see the messy hair, yellow sweatshirt, brown trousers, and striped socks. He observed for a few seconds before realizing – ‘That’s that girl, Camille. What’s she doing here?’

  A sudden sharp pain shot through him and he closed his eyes shut tightly. He tried but could not remember meeting Camille. The pain forced him. He tried to call her.

  “Ca… mi…” He barely could get the words out of his mouth.

  It stung in his chest and in his head like a knife being driven through him. Using the one mobile arm, he pushed himself slowly to the edge while he kept trying to call her. The words never formed and Camille remained asleep. Vincent did not realize – he had pushed too far. His fall woke Camille up.

  “Oh God!” she hurriedly got up and rushed to the bounty hunter’s aid.

  As the Sokidu helped him back to bed, she could not help but ask, “What happened?”

  With barely open eyes, Vincent looked at her but could not reply. Just moments later he closed his eyes. She observed as he lay there – half his body flinching while the other half remained motionless. He was breathing heavily, sweating profusely, bleeding, and in excruciating pain.

  Camille took it as an improvement. He was conscious.

  “I will try to heal these open wounds,” she said, smiling.

  He opened his eyes.

  “What happened?”

  The Sokidu paused for a moment, then realized it. Her head dropped as she sighed. “You don’t remember much, do you?”

  Vincent shook his head sideways ever so slightly.

  “Vincent, you killed Ambris.”

  His eyes were left as wide open as he could manage. “That’s… that’s impossible.”

  “You faced him alone at the Academy.”

  “Serpents?”

  “Yup. The Serpents of God were there too.”

  “And the… the D-Dark Ki?”

  Camille leaned back a bit and took a deep breath. With a nod she said, “Yup. You used the Dark Ki to kill him.”

  “I wasn’t… can’t be true…”

  He grunted. She sighed.

  “I saw it with my own eyes, Vincent. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have believed it either. Now, just please stop talking. I have to heal you.”

  The White Bolt closed his eyes as Camille put up the camouflage again and fired up her Ki. Placing a hand on his chest, she began to channel her Ki into his body. It immediately hurt. Vincent groaned as he looked away.

  Camille took her hand off. “I don’t understand.”

  Wrestling with the Dark Ki, Vincent’s Ki networks had become too fragile. Any external Ki was only going to damage them more, resulting in even more physical harm and pain.

  “I am so sorry,” she said, picking up some paper towels from the bedside. “Some of that Dark Ki is still lingering in your body.”

  Many of Vincent’s wounds had opened up again because of Camille’s Ki falling out of the many punctures in his Ki networks. She came and sat down at the edge of the bed, next to him, and began cleaning the wounds and redoing the bandages.

  “I am sorry, Vincent,” she said with a shake of the head. “I thought your Ki would respond.”

  Vincent looked at her and whispered, “Ethan…”

  “Beg your pardon…”

  He looked away. “My name… is Ethan.”

  Camille waited for a few moments then looked at the panting bounty hunter. “Vincent was your father’s name, wasn’t it?”

  He gave half a nod.

  “Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, Ethan.”

  Camille was smiling. Ethan asked, “Why?”

  “Huh?” She was cleaning the blood with a towel that had now gone almost entirely red. Placing it aside on a trolley, she helped him turn to one side and began tending to the wounds on his back. She used spells accompanied by the tiniest bursts of Ki to assist the flesh to heal itself. Too much, and it would have caused the wounds to deteriorate further.

  Eventually, she turned him back over and got up, saying, “You’re gonna have to drink a little water.”

  Placing the glass of water on the bedside, she sat beside his pillow and whispered, “Come on big guy…”

  The Sokidu sat him up and supported him with one arm as she picked up the glass with the other. He asked again, “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  Camille brought the glass to his lips. He drank in small sips.

  “Why’re you helping me?”

  “Why?” She rolled her eyes to look at him. “Shouldn’t I be helping you?”

  She helped him back down. Ethan grunted again and turned his head away.

  “You saved everyone, you know?” Camille chuckled. “I’m just trying to repay the favour, kind of…”

  The bounty hunter looked over and saw the bowl of water on a trolley with the bloody tissues in it. He also noticed the red stains on Camille’s hands.

  As her smile slowly vanished, she asked, “Why did you do it, Vince- ah, Ethan? Why did you protect the Eye and kill Ambris?”

  “I don’t know,” he replied quietly. “I can’t remember.”

  “Alright, then why did you save me in the forest… in Spain? Do you remember that?”

  “I needed to get rid of the clone I had formed. The spikes… perfect cover.”

  Camille smiled and leaned closer. With her head slowly shaking, she whispered, “I don’t buy it.”

  Ethan could not respond.

  “I think you saved us because you are a better person than you want people to believe.”

  “No.” He closed his eyes and looked away. “I’m far worse than they think.”

  “Yeah? How so?”

  He waited a few seconds, then asked, “Why am I paralyzed?”

  “I’m not sure.” Camille sighed. “Your Ki isn’t flowing to the left side properly. The clusters are damaged but not to worry. Not that I’m a medical expert or anything, but they’re getting better.”

  She paused. “I’ve gotta ask though…” The Sokidu smiled. “How did you do it? How did you undo the effects of the Dark Ki?”

  Ethan looked at her. “Very funny.”

  “What do you mean? You think I had something to do with it?”

  “You or Hugo… has to be one of you.”

  “Ethan… Hugo… he couldn’t have…”

  “What?” His expression changed. He tried to remember. “We fought together,” he whispered. “He was injured. Oh no…”

  Camille looked down and waited a moment. “He was badly hurt,” she said. Her voice shivered. “He… ah… he died, Ethan.”

  “No…”

  The White Bolt closed his eyes tightly and tried to remember. ‘I was there,’ he thought. ‘We fought together. He was putting up a great fight against Ambris.’

  “Did he… did Ambris kill him?” he asked.

  “Hmm.” She nodded, still looking down.

  He turned his head the other way. “Who else did I get killed?” he asked. “Did anyone survive?”

  It took a few moments, but Camille looked up at him. She saw a couple of tears trickle down from the bounty hunter’s eyes.

  “How many more did he kill, Camille?”

  “You killed him after that,” she slowly replied. “He never got the chance to get into the city. You killed them all.”

  After a pause she explained, “From what I could read, you killed Derek while he fought Ambris. When I got to him, he was barely alive. After his defeat, Ambris went to the Palace and destroyed a good part of it before moving to the Academy where you intercepted him. I got there in time to witness what happened at the Academy, Ethan. You killed them all – Ambris and all his partners.”

  He looked at her and asked, “You read that?”

  She picked up a journal from the bedside – the same one that Hugo gave her in the forest. She held it up and showed it to Ethan.

  “This belonged to my brother,” she said. “It’s a Seeker’s Journal… as I am sure you’d know…”

  The bounty hunter gulped, with much effort, then asked, “You’ve been reading that book?”

  “Yup. Since you’ve been out cold, I have been sifting through this, catching up on my history.” She smiled, looked down, and said, “I’m gonna need a lot of time to digest it all but events of the last ten years are recorded in this thing. So, it’s a good place to start.”

  Silence prevailed then. Camille kept sitting with a hand on Ethan’s arm sensing his Ki patterns. The bounty hunter on the other hand lamented his decisions. Guilt-ridden and wounded, he kept wishing it were a bad dream he could wake up from, but it was not.

  “I am sorry, Camille.”

  “For what?” the Sokidu asked.

  “I’ve been a fool all my life. Hasty, stubborn, and stupid… I’ve gotten people killed. I was the reason Ambris came back to life. I stole many remnants for them.”

  “To destroy them… you stole them to destroy them.”

  “I knew what they were up to… too stubborn to see the risks involved.” He could barely keep his eyes open. Gulping and gasping for breath, he added, “The Hearth must’ve killed hundreds. And Hugo… they all died because of me.”

  He paused for a few moments. With closed eyes he eventually added, “I can’t even apologize. I don’t even remember it all…”

  Camille placed her hand on his chest to check on his Clusters again. Ethan looked at her and whispered, “Let me die…”

  “No!” she quickly replied. “No, Ethan.”

  She moved closer and gently placed her hand under his cheek and whispered, “I won’t let you die, ok? Your Ki networks are unresponsive to external Ki, but they’ll heal on their own. We just have to give them time, that’s all.”

  He whispered, “Not certain…”

  She looked at him with scrunched eyes. “Why would you say that?”

  “Traces of Dark Ki… still there.” He closed his eyes tightly. “I can feel…”

  “No.” Camille interrupted him. Shaking her head, she added, “They are slowly dying.”

  “It’s ok… better this way.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  “I deserve this. I deserve…”

  She interrupted again, a bit louder this time, saying, “Stop it!”

  “… to die, Camille. I want this to happen.”

  Camille’s eyes misted over as she shook her head and whispered, “Don’t say that.”

  “I’ve cheated death… three times now. I’m a man out of time, out of place. I shouldn’t even be here. I keep making… same mistakes again and again and again. It needs to end.”

  She kept staring at him as he added, “You and your b-brother… were the last ones I would’ve wanted to hurt. I am… I’m s-so sorry, Camille.”

  “I forgive you, Ethan,” she whispered then closed her eyes. “Hugo forgave you too. Just please don’t give up! There is still hope…”

  “Hope…” he whispered.

  But by the time she looked, he had passed out once more. Camille panicked for a moment. She quickly stood up and got ready to try another spell but, as soon as she placed a hand on his chest, she felt it – every last trace of the Dark Ki had finally vanished…