Ethos and Logos

"What do you mean he left? He's not seriously going to talk to Orion, is he?!" I asked Tavian with a nervous tone. He shrugged, putting a backpack on before running to the elevator.

"I don't know, but if I can intercept him in time, this can be avoided. Starting conflict this soon is an awful idea, it blows our element of surprise away from Orion and reveals our position. If Orion captures him, he'll get our location out of him." He said.

Tavian slung a sword over his back and walked over to the elevator, before stopping in his tracks. In an instant, I was shrouded with some feeling that left me on alert. Like a sixth sense warning me of danger, I turned my back, looking all around.

"Tavian… do you feel that too?" I asked him while continuing to analyze my surroundings. Tavian was staring at one of the lampposts on the wooden road connecting the houses to the main platform.

"The lights are out… it's barely dinner time, it's silent, and the lights are out… this is the protocol for an intruder. Who could've gotten in…?" Tavian asked, putting his hand to his mouth to think.

She scared us, but Ellie showed up by the elevator wall, whispering beside us to let us know she was there.

"I'm not sure where the intruder is but is there anything you need me to do?" Ellie asked. I wonder if they had an idea for things like this... has it happened before?

Tavian pointed towards the south side of the base. "Guard the southern and eastern front. Play scout up here, on the base level, until you see something, then make the decision whether you should attack or not. Sky, you're with me." He said, tapping the button to lead the elevator to us to bring us down.

"Understood. Sky, our training was to stop you from killing, but you can still use it. Disarm your opponents and kill them that way." Ellie said, before running off.

"I will!" I whispered to her, strengthening my resolve. Tavian continued to stare at the large, wooden platform while we both waited.

"I pray I can get to Carl in time. Worst case, we might have to abandon him and play a game of defense." He said, but I shook my head.

"That's not happening, I won't let him die under any circumstance, even if this decision would've killed him, I won't let it happen." I reaffirmed this to Tavian. He nodded.

We took the elevator down to the ground. We were completely silent the entire time, just listening to our surroundings. I couldn't hear anything, and Tavian said we were clear, so we exited, quickly covering the elevator back up with the fake boulder.

"Here, take this sword. Use it if you need to, I'll sit back and shoot with this bow." He explained to me. Tavian threw me his sword and I quickly set it up for use on my back, while he slid down into one of the bushes to our right and peered ahead with his binoculars. I sat beside him, looking with him in Carl's direction.

"If there's an intruder up there, the guards will handle it, but down here, that's a different story. If there's one intruder, there's always another, that's how Orion's rules work." He explained to me. It was easy to forget he knew about Orion's tactics, so I had to take advantage of his knowledge. I nodded, staring dead ahead.

Then, the feeling of dread I got earlier arose again, and it made me shake.

[SYSTEM ALERT: DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!]

Time slowed down to an almost perfect stop as I looked ahead of Tavian to see a birch stick leading to the metal tip of the arrow close in on Tavian's skull. I rose my hand up and caught it before it connected and effectively saved his life.

The wood shattered around my hand and Tavian gasped in surprise while staring at the metal point.

"A-Amazing... how could you have known that was there...?" Tavian asked me while sliding behind the cover.

"Look at that! Catching an arrow in midair?! That's gotta be the White Stone, wouldn't you say so, Logos?" A man asked his partner.

Logos... what a weird name...

"Aren't we supposed to kill that thing, Ethos?" Logos asked his partner this time around.

Ethos and Logos? Definitely weird...

"That's right, Logos. You ready to add to our kill count?" Ethos asked his partner.

Logos slid a mace clad in metal that looked different than usual and pointed it at me.

"Can I fight the White Stone, please?! I want to see his skill for myself... didn't they say he was missing an arm and an eye as well? How is this the right guy?" Logos asked Ethos again, pacing back and forth with his mace.

"Tavian, are we safe down here? It looks like it's only those two, should we trap them in the base? My friends can help us fight them." I offered the idea to Tavian, but he shook his head, putting his hand on my shoulder and pulling my ear close to him.

"There is a staircase in one of the trunks, just like the elevator. I'm going to break the first few steps, to distract them. Can you do that for me, or is it too much?" Tavian asked me. He was relying on me... this would be our first cooperative mission together. I can't let him down.

"I don't have a choice, do I? Find your opening, I'll handle these two." I told him.

I drew my sword and stood against the two people in front of me. It was here and now. Another fight would begin shortly. I had my practice, I can kill... I am stronger.

Before the fight began, I decided to try my luck with a question.

"Where is Carl?!" I yelled out to the partners. They looked at each other, then back at me.

"Are ya talking 'bout that kid we saw walking to our land?" Ethos asked me. I nodded, and they both started to laugh.

"Don't count on that idiot. You might as well forget his name." They told me.

I wanted to react to that comment... but they kept looking at the tree trunk with the elevator in it... why do they keep doing that...?

I took a deep breath, staring at the two. I tried to focus to the best of my ability, shoving aside the rage inside of my body to keep a level head. If I had tunnel vision against two opponents, the chance I die would be close to 100%.

Logos finally initiated the fight, running at me with the mace swinging backward. I kept an eye on Ethos as he ran to my left-hand side while his partner came straight ahead for me.

I ran at Logos to confuse Ethos and deflected his mace almost perfectly. After he was pushed back, I turned my body to Ethos and swung my sword downward, scraping against his.

The swords sliding their edges together caused shrieking and sparks to fly from the sheer amount of power behind the attack, and Ethos fell back as well. I repositioned so that I was facing both of them again and Tavian moved from the bush to the staircase, successfully fulfilling his plan.

The brothers split off onto my right and left side, and came in with attacks.

It was tough, looking at both of them and knowing I couldn't move without revealing Tavian's position... I had a decision to make.

Take the slash or the force behind that mace?

As they got closer to me, I had a moment of revelation within my mind. I told myself that thinking only two ways wouldn't be good for me. I needed a third way out of this...

And I made my decision.

I ran at Ethos and slashed at his body while peering toward the staircase Tavian was making his way toward. He would just have to listen to my plan.

Ethos and Logos were disoriented while I ran toward the tree trunk, and Tavian was surprised.

"Trust me! Take them into the base! I'm sorry, I don't feel safe fighting down here, there could be more!" I said to Tavian as I got closer.

Ethos and Logos were closing in and our opportunity was leaving. Tavian decided to listen and we both ran up the stairs. However, as soon as I ran past Tavian, he destroyed the wooden steps with his weapon, leaving it at the bottom of the trunk.

"Shit, the ladder!" Tavian shouted out. He went to go push the ladder down, but when he put his hands on it, two arrows shot up and pierced the top of the next row of stairs. The overlapping staircase in the tree trunk would be a terrible place to fight, but Ethos and Logos trapped us in this spot!

In fact, they shot through the floor and pierced the bottom of my foot, straight through my shoe. I wanted to fall in pain, but I knew I couldn't do that, and sucked up the pain while running further up the stairs.

"I didn't know there was a damn ladder!" I said to Tavian while running up the stairs.

"It was there for construction. Your plan was good, it was just unlucky." He told me.

Ethos and Logos were barreling up the stairs as fast as humanely possible, it was scary listening to them run up those steps, but we had the advantage, I know we did! We were almost at the entrance!

Tavian took off his backpack and threw it at Ethos, but he dodged, and barely slashed through it, cutting through everything inside of it. The water, the food, the bandages... like it was nothing. That sword is sharp!

Tavian pulled out the radio on his hip and spoke into it one more time.

"Ellie, make sure everybody is hidden. Sky and I will handle this. No matter what, stay hidden. He can't know about our forces." Tavian said, before slamming his radio into the wall and shattering all of the pieces in it.

"Show me your strength, White Stone," Tavian told me with a smile.

We busted through the door to the entrance and repositioned ourselves to look at it as Ethos and Logos came running through as well.

We were at a standstill, looking at each other while staying absolutely silent.

I need to prove to Tavian that I'm a good ally... and thank him for his hospitality. I have to do this.

Logos was smiling, saying how he wanted to kill me himself... and I smiled right back at him. It was invigorating, looking at somebody with the same mental state that I once had. Did he have a corrupt System as well?

I imagined how I would kill him. Could I steal his weapon from him and beat him to death with it? No, that's inhumane... maybe I would break his legs and throw him off the balcony.

"Ethos, I'm getting itchy here! How about... you take Tavian, and I'll take the White Stone." Logos said.

I drew my sword again and this time, pointed it at him the same way he pointed his mace at me.

"It's Sky to you. Just in case you need a name to beg for mercy from." I told him.