40 - Countdown

I fell asleep easily after a busy first day of preparations, though Katie tossed and turned. One of the times she woke me up, I cuddled her in a hug. That seemed to help her sleep.

The morning came quickly anyway, and we returned to what we had been doing before, though I had some of the expanded building crew trade places with the javelin throwers, so that we could have more people helping out on the wall when the wave arrived.

I saw more of the process of wall building on day two, as the work wasn't obscured by the surrounding forest. Stone was dragged on sleds from the forest, likely smashed off of surface-level stone pillars that jutted out of the ground. Sand for the concrete was also brought in on sleds from the river, and they mixed . That took the bulk of the workers. Two people used axes made from shells like the scorpi-snake from our first day to clear the trees ahead of the wall, with Silence and I using our Soulblades when Jack somehow started catching up. 

Multiple times, I found I had stopped to watch Jack work. Obeying his large - yet simple - gestures, the fallen logs morphed into replicas of the first. Stone that took three men to drag rolled on its own to stack atop a manually-placed foundation. He had a spiny pink tub of mixed cement that flowed like water to fill the gaps in the stone. It was though the various parts of the wall were eager to come together. 

Katie and Tim kept an eye on the monster wave, one from the air and the other from treetop, confirming that we only had this day and one other to prepare before the charge towards the middle of the third day. At lunch, I took an air-step flight above our camp to see for myself. I could see motion in the distance, but nothing clearer.

By the end of the day, we sat all together under a red-orange sunset sky, gathered for dinner. I sat on a simple bench with my adopted daughter, and we waited for the others - the people who had worked the hardest - to be served before we would join the line. My wife had left for an extra scouting trip, and had predicted that she would return after dark. 

Our wall had doubled in length, surrounding and expanding the majority of the town in front of the Temple, but not quite reaching the Temple's southwestern corner. The construction crew showed signs of stress and exhaustion during dinner, after being pushed so hard. I even heard curses in complaint as they passed us. I didn't blame them. It was hard work. 

Eventually, our turn came around. Celine and I stood up and took our place at the end of the line, the last two people to get food besides the chef Nate. As the line shortened to having one person in front of us, Celine froze in place, then squatted down, her hands over her ears. She murmured something repeatedly. I let the Ancient possess me to hear what she said, and it chilled me.

"He's coming. He's coming. He's coming."

"Who's coming?" I asked.

She didn't hear me, seeming lost in the craze. I knelt down to her level, and looked her in the eyes. Gently, I took her hands from her ears. She fought me slightly, but let me take her hands. 

"What's going on?" I asked her.

"He spoke to me. He's coming. The one who made me like this."

I brought her arms around me, and I hugged her back. "You'll be okay. I won't let him hurt you again. I'll protect you."

"You can't. If he gets too close, you'll lose yourself. Run away. We have to run away."

She started sobbing on my shoulder. What monster could do this to her? She was the Innocent, for Justys's sake. We had onlookers, now. Nate, with a bowl of stew waiting in his hands, Thomas, Cameron, Chiyo, Sophie, and many others who sat nearby watched in concern. 

With ease, I stood up, carrying Celine in one arm, and holding her below her hips. She remained clinging around my neck, having returned to repeating "He's coming." The Ancient sensed my intent, and withdrew, making his cloak disappear.

"It looks like Celine has had a rough day. I'm going to take her to bed."

"Are you going to come back for some?" Nate asked, raising the bowl he held.

"It might take me a while. Go ahead and get yourself some. I'll serve myself when I get back."

"If you're sure." Nate said, then he took a wooden spoon from the small pile, and joined the others who were eating.

I carried Celine to my house, having the Ancient repossess me once we were out of sight. Celine continued to repeat that he, whoever "he" was, was coming. I carried her upstairs, and sat her on her bed. I gently pried her arms from my neck and sat next to her.

"Who is coming?" I asked.

"A monstrous, malevolent immortal. He was once contained, but now he comes this way."

"How do you know that?" 

"Our bond is too weak for him to control me this far away, but it's getting stronger. Like how you are bound to the Ancient, he bonds to Soulblades, and beings like me."

"What is his name?" The Ancient asked with my mouth.

"The Adversary."

The Ancient shuddered. The memory of the two beings in my dream brushed my mind, specifically the older brother. A memory I had never seen - one of the Ancient's. He withdrew, forcibly depossessing me. I made an effort to speak to him telepathically, but the Ancient had put some kind of barrier between our consciousnesses.

With nothing else I could do, I repeated my promises and held my daughter as she trembled silently.

She finally fell asleep in my lap. Silver moonlight filtered through the window behind me, competing with torchlight from below. Not wanting to move and disturb Celine's sleep, I stayed sitting on her bed, contemplating.

Celine was obviously terrified of whoever was coming, and the Ancient knew something too. From the combination of my glimpse of the Ancient's memory, and what Celine had said, this 'Adversary' would be a problem. Something terrifying.

Katie arrived with two steaming bowls perhaps half an hour later. "Nate tells me you didn't eat anything. I brought you food."

I accepted one bowl gratefully, and she sat cross-legged on the floor. "The others said Celine looked terrified. What's up?"

"Someone is coming. Someone evil and powerful. The Ancient knows something, but when Celine revealed who it was, he shut his consciousness away and put a barrier up. I think it's his brother."

"He has a brother?"

"Yes, and by Celine's account, the brother, called the Adversary, has the ability to bond with and possess Soulblades."

"That's a weird ability. Kinda like the Ancient's ability to speak with other Soulblades without a bond."

"I suspect he has the same amount of power. The Ancient has a lot of mana of his own. He's only let me tap into it on occasion. If that much mana was used for evil..." I trailed off.