December 8, 2111
James Stone
Dawn had hit, and the sky glowed orange and yellow, with thin streaks of green streaming from one side of the sky to the other. It was gorgeous. My unit and I didn't, however, have much more than a few seconds to soak in the view. We were on the move. Already on the outskirts of the city, we came to a seaport. Down a vast network of stairs, all of us followed Jeremiah towards the docks.
"This may be the mercenary in me talking, but are we really just going to trust altar boy over there with our lives?" Shadow-Walker, next to me, whispered.
On the other side of me, Valiic had overheard Shadow-Walker and answered for me, "I, for one, sense that trust is a cherished virtue in him."
"I don't trust someone without a dark side. And besides, didn't he seem just extra eager to join our super elite boy band."
I added, "Considering our situation, I believe putting our faith in the man of faith is our best route home." Shadow-Walker and Valiic nodded their heads. "Anyway, Shadow. That's of little concern to me at the moment. I wanna know if you were able to convert our weapons?"
"Funny story there. See, I was able to convert Silent Dagger and Valiic's cannon… his especially took a while. By the time I got to yours, my hands, my beautiful mechanic's hands, were smoking out. Flat tire or something," he snickered with his nose.
I was a bit disappointed, but I knew the matter couldn't be helped. Shadow-Walker did his best, and for me that was enough. "It's fine. I've a feeling Frost and I won't be sent to the lion's den empty-handed."
Shadow agreed. "With so much on the line, they'll let us use all the weapons we need."
My gaze switched to the wooden docks within the confines of a miniature gulf; a massive boatyard as silent and motionless as the still waves. "How long till we arrive?" I called to Jeremiah.
"Two weeks even. Our boat will be filled with supplies, and I've planned two rest stops on the way. After all, we'll need to restock."
"Why so long?" Shadow asked.
"The land of the Blood Forest is expansive, and we have to sail around it in order to avoid danger."
Jeremiah nodded me over to him and led me directly to a wooden booth at the gate entrance of the docks; the rest of my unit hung back. Walls of wooden stakes lined the area, keeping people from entering. He reached in the windowsill opening of the booth and pushed a button. There was a tumbling sound from within before a corelinn male appeared. "Two humans!" He paused. "Oh, you must be the ones Witna spoke of. Jeremiah, right? Jeremiah Sun of-or something like that?"
"Jeremiah's good." He nodded. "And we are."
"Well, best of luck, then." He pulled a level down, and the gate lifted up.
Jeremiah signaled for all of us to enter, and we followed him to a boat. It was the first one on the dock; large and styled artistically in a manner similar to many of architecture of the city. Design-wise, this boat looked like it could be a cousin to old-age, human-created deck boats mixed with yachts. One by one, we climbed a tiny ladder to enter the boat. I sat at the back left with Shadow-Walker. Frost was laying down on the back right. Jeremiah took the captain's chair. Valiic took a front seat, with Brad occupying the adjacent couch.
Jeremiah turned the engine over, and the boat hummed. He backed us out of the dock slot, and we began our journey to retrieve this ever so special weapon.
Minutes in, the wind was in my face, and the spray of water cooled me down. The journey heading towards inevitable conflict to save a planet had begun. I, however, wasn't about to let the direness of it all eat away at me. Instead, I opted to let the moment take over me. The ride was relaxing, so I let my feet extend to the foot stool in front of me; my back and ass were against the waterproof padding.
Shadow-Walker, eyes partly closed to the wind, reminisced, "I don't remember the last time I've been on a boat."
"That's about as surprising as seeing green in spring. Ever since hovercraft options became more military-viable, boats have become a niche commodity," I added.
"Outside the military, boats only serve for leisure and sport," Frost agreed from the back right seat.
After about half an hour, Jeremiah pulled open a drawer and tossed back two binocular-looking devices to me and Frost. He pointed to a cliff face at the corner of the Blood Forest far in the distance, which looked like a dot sticking out of the ocean-river. "Look there."
I placed the device to my face and tried to adjust the length to fit both eyes, but they were too wide - clearly made for the different facial structure of the corelinns. Instead, I used just one eye and gazed in the direction he pointed. The view made the hairs on the tips of my toes stand. The cliff jutted sharply out of the ocean-river at steep inclines. Jagged rocks protruded where the water met the rock, but in contrast to the barren cliffs, atop lay what appeared to be fertile grasslands large enough to build a colony. Further past the grasslands were thick forests full of black and dark-gray trees - the Blood Forest. Along the grasslands were the ruins of a trailer park, with a research center at the middle of the colony. The stomach-tuning part was, it had the same technology and design characteristics of humans and qwayks. It must've been remains of Project Outreach.
"That's where I'm from," Jeremiah said.
"I wanna see." Shadow-Walker reached for the device, and I handed it to him.
"How did you survive where others weren't so lucky?" I asked.
"Faith."
"Walked headfirst into that one." I rolled my eyes.
"--Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:20." Jeremiah gave a subtle tip of his head.
"Once, a long time ago, I believed in the divine. But even then, if someone told me faith alone can move a damn mountain, I'd look up and down at them stupid. In my experience, faith only gets you so far. I've found that only the bonds we have as brothers in arms is what has kept us alive." I gestured to my crew.
Jeremiah smiled. "Such a bond is a gift. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: To lay down one's life for one's friends.John 15:12-13."
"I'm glad you, me, and the lord can agree on one thing."
"If you want a mountain moved, it's as easy as talking to the dor'o. Mountains are kind of our thing," Shadow-Walked weighed in. "And it is science that moves that mountain, not faith. Science is what disproves faith."
"Science doesn't replace God. No, science leads us closer to him," Jeremiah claimed. "To say science and faith are mutually exclusive from each other is an injustice to them both."
"But of course it is, Jeremiah," Shadow said, with sarcasm. "Especially when his name has goody-little angels like you to defend him." Jeremiah was kind enough to laugh with Shadow.
I got up. Valiic was sitting in the front, silent for too long. Today was an especially hard day on him, since it was the day of his cohinlation - the day Narrisa and Valiic became partners in life, and a day especially sacred to many maelkii houses. I couldn't find it in me to see him this way much longer. So, I made my way over to his seat and sat next to him. With the heavy wind, I knew we could keep our conversation away from prying ears.
"Valiic. We'll get off this planet, and you'll be able to talk with Narrisa again. On my life, I promise you." I placed my hand on his back to comfort my friend.
"I can see her, James. I can see her. When I close my eyes at night, I see her."
"In your dreams?"
He nodded with a heavy head. "I'm there in a dark room and the only light is coming from the window. I see her and those dytirc children. They wonder why their mother is so sad. They stare at Narrisa as she stares out the window in tears. She's waiting for me, James. I can see it clear as day."
I didn't know what to say. Her being alone, raising two dytirc children on a qwayk home world is no small feat. She traded one hostile territory for another. The key difference is, those living on Jaba-Qwayk won't be hostile towards her as much as they would towards those poor kids.
The other matter, of course, came down to how she would make it financially. Given that we are MIA, that would also mean our paychecks had stopped flowing. As soldiers of the ARW, we are paid on a per mission basis with a small base cut. As legionnaires, one of more elite ground units, our pay is rather handsome. Yet, none of that money will see Narrisa with us gone. Even if Valiic hadn't thought of this himself, I wasn't going to be the one to add more worries to him.
"Narrisa's strong-willed. No doubt lays in my mind that she'll be able to handle herself." I patted him on the back, hoping to ease his depression away with each pat.
"I pray every day to have half her strength and will. I can't live without her, and every day I'm away-- I know this is a test placed on my path as a warrior, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't challenging."
"Guys like us will face obstacles every day. And those obstacles will mess with your compass. But I know you'll always remember true north." I gave him one more pat. He acknowledged my words with a subtle nod.
"So what is this weapon that we're supposed to get?" I caught Shadow asking Jeremiah.
"It's a sword called the Blade of Wrath. One of the Seven Weapons of Sin."
"Did you say seven deadly sins? As in what old Catholic churches preach against?" I asked.
"There's nine mentioned in the Book of Ancient Prophets," I heard Valiic mumble to himself. He seemed too occupied with his own sadness to want to contribute to the conversation, and I couldn't blame him for it.
"Big Daddy heard weapons," said Frost.
"Yes, weapons," Jeremiah reiterated. "Granted, it does seem to have similar symbolism to the capital sins. Pride - hubris and arrogance. Gluttony - Wasteful consumption, not just of food. Envy - desire, wanting what others have, critically, in a resentful manner, which tends to be more about depriving others of what they have. Sloth - less about laziness, as it is about apathy and unfulfilled potential. Greed - desire, specifically about the accumulation of material things, to hoard them and own them for the sake of ownership. Lust - desire, not of material things or of things others have, but of everything else. Lastly, wrath - vengeance, inability to forgive, often fueled by rage."
"So even the sins are the same. Sounds like these weapons were named after the seven deadly sins," I concluded.
"Or the sins were named after the weapons," Frost countered.
With aid from the water's breeze, I felt my hairs stand up as the ship fell to silence. There was something unnerving about that idea. Yet, our quest hinged on obtaining one - a quest for sin, so to speak.