Where The Dead Ones Go Book 4 -Union-

Chapter 13

"For real?!"

I nodded at the son of Koalemos and sighed, "For real, Syden. Eonia and I have confronted Vivet about the final battle and she flat out told us that we will lose it for sure."

"And she knows it before Typhon appeared in our frontlines?" Zenith asked to which I nodded once more, "So that's why she is begging us and the rest of the Alliance forces to disengage or face certain annihilation."

Syden shook his head as if he finds what our friend did completely stupid, "I mean, who will, right? We are supposedly at the c****x of the battle and suddenly, one of the integral people in our endeavor wants us to turn tail and run. I didn't. Nobody in the Auxiliary Class did."

"And you are telling us that it is just another part of the trap of our friend, Councilor Andrade?" I looked at the old man who smiled in agreement.

"It is, Your Highness. After all, if you were Typhon that time, don't you think the best moment for you to make an entrance is when one of the leaders of the resistance is calling for a retreat?"

I nodded slowly as everything started to make sense now.

Her seemingly erratic and confusing actions during the days and hours before the Second Fall. Her words of encouragement and trust in me as if I am her only hope.

The defiant and confident look on her face as the very flames and rage of Typhon consumed her body with her husband and cousin.

"But for what?" Zenith asked quietly that made us all look at him, "For what reason will she sacrifice even her very own existence? I still don't understand."

"Not an invalid string of questions, my Lord," the old man agreed at his train of thoughts, "However, all is for the greater purpose. She merely sees Typhon as nothing but an obstacle. Her Majesty is looking at the true enemy of mankind."

Syden scratched the back of his head in confusion while I just look at Asher who, like me, seemed to know the answer to Vivet's seemingly erratic behavior and her real goal.

"The real enemy of mankind is mankind itself..."

"What?" Zenith asked in disbelief but Syden seemed to be finally getting it.

"Mankind, now that I think about it, she is also deeply concerned about the lack of drive, perseverance, and innovation of our era."

"Exactly, my friend. She is worrying so much about what will happen next after the war. What if we did defeat Typhon, what's next? Are things going to return to the way they are or..."

It is the High Priest who finished my sentence, "Take the first step towards the new Golden Age full of wonders and marvels."

"So the true enemy she wanted us to defeat is not Typhon alone, no, it is the darkness inside the hearts of man that we must vanquish," Syden said slowly, "The true darkness must be experienced if we are to appreciate the light."

"But is she really that hung up on that so much that she is willing to let millions upon millions of Tierans die? To let the gods and goddesses themselves lose their very physical forms and exists barely as beings of thoughts and powers?" I asked in a hushed voice as if I feel I am sinning against my very close friend by asking these questions.

The councilor heaved a sigh and shook his head, "While I am privy to some of Her Majesty's course of actions because of His Benevolence's words in my mind. The mysteries of her heart is beyond my understanding. What I am sure of is that like her father before her, she possesses all the distinct qualities the best of Vietan dynast members possess through the ages. Kindness, sympathy, and understanding. A hard head and a soft heart. I don't know how you see her as a person, as a friend, comrade, and classmate but to us who sacrificed everything in her name. We know for certain that she is not the kind of girl who will sacrifice innocent subjects just to reach her goals. The standing order of the God of Time, Space, and Reality stands to the loyal people of Novus Zepyranth. To support in whatever way we possibly can Her Majesty and her comrades on their journey to defeat Typhon and bring about the new, brave dawn of a Golden Age of prosperity, peace, and stability that this dying world once had many eons ago."

"But why are you all doing this? What's in it for you? For all of the people whose existence is tied to Novus Zepyranth?"

To our surprise, the old man walked towards the open meadows and see children, Novus Zepyranthians, and refugees playing together as if there's not a single problem in this husk of a world we are living in right now.

"There are many who are here believes that what we are doing is the right thing. Most are loyalists of the Vietan Dynasty, while the others are wishing the same thing as Her Majesty does. To see mankind reach, surpass even, the Golden Age we were in. A few are returning the favor to the god of time who helped them before."

Syden took a step forward and asked a very personal question that made the councilor bow in embarrassment, "And you?"

"Me? Well, as the only member of the Imperial Council who supported Her Majesty through the eons, I think I am honor-bound to watch the plans she set forth in motion unfolds no matter the result is," he answered in almost a whisper but chuckled and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "That, and I want to live again with my daughter who paid the ultimate sacrifice to serve her liege. I guess when you reached the age I am in now and existed for thousands of years, you will surely wish for the same, would you not?"

The son of Koalemos just cried quietly when he heard the solemn wish of an old man wanting to meet his child once more.

I bit my lip as Asher, Zenith, and I shed a tear for the simple yearnings of a father.

"Pretty selfish, isn't it?" Councilor Andrade asked as he returned to us with a small shy smile on his lips, "Here you all are, lost far more people than I did but still, fighting for the world. Such young, noble hearts. This is one of the reasons why I and my comrades are still doing our job even though we have all the reasons to leave our posts. His Eminence said that he is not forcing anyone to stay but looking at you children. We just can't let such well-intentioned souls on their own without support."

Zenith laughed hollowly at the old man as he look at his toy plane, "You, selfish? Why, sir, you are not the only one who wishes for the same thing. I am still hoping to see again my family once more, eh, Asher?"

The son of Lytta barked repeatedly and hopefully as he pranced around the children with his dogs.

"I want to hug my mother and father once more, Councilor Andrade, that's not that of a different wish from yours, won't you agree, good sir?"

The leader of the reservation touched his heart and nodded thankfully at Syden before looking in my direction.

"How about you, Your Highness?"

I raised an eyebrow at the venerable man as Syden, Asher and Zenith looked at me expectantly, "Well, I want to meet my mother and father again, just like Syden. That and I want to see my husband once more so I can beat him up for leaving me all alone an hour after he tricked me into marrying him."

"Let's gang up on him Gala once we're finished with Typhon. But for now, let's focus on "how" we can it."

Syden nodded quickly, "Yeah, we lost with the entire forces of the Alliance and deities behind us. Even trying to damage Typhon will be a miracle with our numbers."

"Boys, you must understand. As I gleaned from Councilor Andrade's words, Vivet "let" us lose last time, am I right, sir?"

He nodded and raised an eyebrow in my direction, "Indeed, Your Highness. You see, Typhon is not as strong as he wants to think he is when it comes to battle."

"Really?!"

"Really, Lord Syden. You see, before the decisive battle between him and the Alliance Forces, the goddess of wisdom and the god of war set aside their differences and worked in tandem to gauge and study the extent of the fighting capabilities of Typhon and the two found the catastrophe incarnate, for all the fear and terror he is exuding, to be easily conquerable even by the goddess of flowers herself in a strictly controlled one on one battle."

Asher barked repeatedly to remind me that our flowery friend herself singlehandedly defeated Typhon's shadow alone technically speaking.

"Yes, you are right! If Narcine can overpower Typhon's shadow, then there's a high probability that her mother, infinitely more powerful than her, can overcome him!"

Councilor Andrade nodded in agreement, "You see, it is not Typhon's strength that makes him strong. It is his ability to stay and never be defeated no matter what is done to him."

"It is like fighting a primal force of nature itself," Zenith muttered quietly as he began to walk back and forth wracking his brain, "After all, how can you defeat the very earth, skies, ocean, darkness, and the air itself?"

Syden nodded in agreement as he put on his thinking cap to help us solve the riddle our friend has left us, "Darkness, like Vivet's grandmother, Nyx, the primordial goddess of darkness, right? She is defeated and lost her physical form, yet she is "the" darkness itself, right? So if we compare her to Typhon, the being that embodies destruction and catastrophe itself, we can theoretically destroy his physical body, right?"

"That's what the Olympians and their allies did in the First Fall," I said to the son of Koalemos as I look at the green grass under me, "As we all know, he recovered entirely mere thousands of years later. Vivet wants to destroy, no, to eliminate him with utmost surety he will never recover and come back again to threaten mortals and immortals once more."

"That sounds like a paradox, Gala. You cannot eliminate completely an immortal even if you destroy its physical form. Just look at the Heavenly King and Queen. They still exist in some form one way or another. What Vivet wants is something that can be done but at the same time, cannot be."

Syden suddenly screeched in frustration as he miserably pounds his head for the answers that we seek, "Ugh, this is insane! What the heck was going on in that pretty little head of hers! I swear if I meet her again, I will personally ask her face to face what the heck she is planning to pull off."

"While I cannot offer any answer to the mysteries that surround Her Majesty and His Eminence's course of actions and thinking, I do believe that the answer lies west."

Asher barked inquiringly at the old man who nodded at the four of us, "Yes, west. To the continent of Pangea."

"Previously known as the territory of the Cretonian Union. What or who can be possibly there to shed some light on our problems?" Zenith asked ruminatingly as his eyes saw the countless beautiful flowers dancing in the soft breeze, "Flowers? Wait a minute! That's it! Narcine said that she will lay to rest her two friends in her homeland or what was left of it when we parted!"

I quickly looked at Syden who nodded at me and to Asher who barked in excitement, "The very demiurge who defeated Typhon's shadow herself. We have chalked it up before to the being of catastrophe's mere weakness and fake form. But Narcine is the one who showed us that he can be defeated."

"She may hold the knowledge as to how that monster can be vanquished for good!" Syden said excitedly as Councilor Andrade clapped his hand once and a dozen of Novus Zepyranthians soldiers gathered in front of him.

"We will assist you with everything that we have. Soldiers gather all the resources, necessities, and supplies they will need on their journey to the other side of Gearth. Order the mechanics to improve and hasten their maintenance and repair of the Elysian!"

His men saluted and scattered to fulfill his orders.

"You have already done so much for us all, Councilor Andrade," I said gratefully but he waved his right hand to say that it was nothing.

"Not enough still to catapult us from this dying world towards the birth of a new Golden Age," he replied seriously before kneeling on two knees respectfully and bowing his head, "I do have one request on behalf of Novus Zepyranthians."

Zenith blinked as we looked down on the almost groveling old man curiously, "What request that is so important you prostrate yourself to mere demigods?"

"I beg of you, find His Eminence! Though the world has fallen apart, the time and space barrier still managed to protect us. But its strength is continually getting weaker and weaker by the passing day outside our borders. We fear for his safety. He can only be in Pangea. The birthplace of time itself when all is nothing. Find him, make sure he is safe and sound. Though I fear his heart may be shattered beyond saving for Her Majesty has left him far too soon. He needs you, his friends, his comrades to support him in these dire times."

Asher softly nudges the man to get up as Syden, Zenith and I helped support the wavering man on his feet.

"No need to ask, Councilor Andrade. Kairos, Khronos, or whatever he is, is one of us. We will not leave him behind. That much we can promise," Syden swear that made the old man who has already witnessed the pain of two Falls managed to look hopeful at the four of us before crying silently in gratitude.