The Esoteric Design: Disbanding Hope Read online

  “And what about the other woman? Ivory?”

  “She…she’s with Dovian. She’s safer with him than she is with us,” Aria mumbled, watching the dark clouds pass the Hawk.

  “We’ll get them back. There’s nothing we can do right now, though,” Troy added.

  “R-Roger.” Aren nodded.

  Aria deeply inhaled, her lungs suddenly itching. She gave a raspy cough and felt the warmth rising in her throat. Choking, she coughed again, her hands gripping at the metal of the cabin floor. Her coughing fit worsened, and the red hot blood gushed, slapping against her hands and the floor. She dropped to her side, giving a rasping breath as she tried to calm the fit. Her ears were ringing, the blades of the Hawk thumping into her mind. She thought she could hear her name being called. Was it Troy? Or was it Aren? She couldn’t tell.

  "Dovian…" Aria tiredly called out in her mind. The Sorcēarian wasn’t there to heal her wounds this time.

  With glassy eyes, she continued to watch the gloomy clouds. She felt her body shake as a bright flash of lightning pushed from one cloud to another, causing an eruption of thunder to rumble as it splintered into the earth. Large droplets of water fell from the sky, some of the specks splashing against her pale, sickly face. She smiled, trying to record the look and smell of natural rain, lock the memory in her mind. It always rains on Ives. It always rains when Dovian has a bad day.

  “We have to get her to a hospital!” Troy shouted. He tried speaking to the woman, but she seemed too far away. The torrential rain flooded into the cabin, mixing with her blood. “Get us home ASAP!”

  Troy removed the woman’s helmet, running a hand through her wet hair. He had only seen her like this one other time, and if they didn’t get her to the hospital soon, he feared she wouldn’t make it.

  “Aria!” he shouted.

  Looking at his partner, Troy groaned, feeling the effects of his morphine wearing off. Grabbing his side, he dropped next to the woman, grimacing in pain. He didn’t realize he was in just as bad shape as she was.

  “Troy?!" Aren called out.

  The soldier didn’t respond. Instead, he stared at his partner, not noticing the sides of the copter closing in as the Hawk 90 took the form of a jet and took off at full speed back to the City of Fountains.

  "Trusty Steed"

  Chapter 2

  Walking through the dark tunnels, stoic as ever and lost in his thoughts, Dovian made his way into a large, cavernous opening. He needed to get away, think a little about what had just happened to him. Did he actually agree to join Sapphire’s side? Did he actually throw away the last fifteen thousand years of his life? Everything he had fought for, everything he had lived for, should have died for, was now all for nothing. He simply threw it all away. The thought stirred in his brain, making him realize that if he had simply done that to begin with, all he had ever known would still exist. Heaving a heavy sigh, Dovian slumped his shoulders as he lifted his head and finally noticed his surroundings.

  Covering the floor of the great cave were dozens of lizard bodies. Dovian’s sight moved from one body to another, taking in their closed eyes, their drooping neck flaps, their unmoving clawed hands. He frowned. They were all dead. His little, scaly friends were all dead.

  A trail of corpses carried his gaze to another monstrous beast–a rather large demon, one of Sapphire’s creations. Dovian noticed the hundreds of claw and bite marks marring the giant's skin, revealing the reason for the lizards’ demise. They had tried to take the creature down.

  Dovian looked up toward the light source flooding in from the top of the cavern. It was quite an extreme fall. It pained him to know that the poor, little reptiles were probably frightened in the last moments of their life. But why would they try taking down one of Sapphire’s creations? Frilled monitors weren’t necessarily known to be brave creatures when it came to teaming up against foes much larger than themselves.

  A low howl echoed from the opposite side of the hollow room, alerting Dovian. He slowly walked around the giant, careful not to step on any lizards. Cautiously, he tilted his head to look at the source of the sorrowful wail. A low, shuddering breath huffed, and the clattering of small rocks sounded as the air gushed out of another giant beast’s nostrils. Dovian’s frown deepened as he looked upon the king-sized frilled monitor that lay broken and bloodied on the cave floor. Pitiful golden eyes stared at Dovian. The large creature puffed out another breath, a wheeze rumbling as it tried to bark at the nearing Sorcēarian.

  “Look at the mess you’ve gotten yourself into,” Dovian mumbled, placing a hand on the lizard’s snout. The creature clawed at the ground, trying to move. Another garbled moan escaped it as it attempted to breathe through a collapsed lung.

  “Now, now….” Dovian ran his hand along the creature’s neck, eyeing the faded tattoo. He gave a crooked smile. “King Petey. You are always getting yourself into trouble. First you steal the onions from the gardens, then you eat everything in the kitchen including the tables and chairs, and then you get yourself into all sorts of peril even when thrown into the caves…looks like you haven’t changed a bit.”

  Blue light trailed from Dovian’s fingers as he began healing the creature, his staff glimmering with a similar hue.

  “Only bigger,” he sadly whispered. “You get bigger every time I see you.”

  Memories from long ago flickered in the Sorcēarian’s mind as he watched the suffering creature that was once considered a pet. Dovian’s eyebrows raised; his lashes fluttered at the sudden onslaught of remembrance. Taking a sharp breath, Dovian trailed his fingers over the tattoo. “She…she would be so proud.” He shivered.

  After so many years, he tried so hard not to be taken down by the memory of her. So hard, in fact, that he had somehow managed to force her from his mind. How could he forget? How could he even forget for one second, let alone so many years, her?

  “My God! What have I done?” Dovian moaned as he lowered his head. Who was he? How terrible was he to have even forgotten her? “My sweet Lita. My dear, little Lita.” One of his hands gripped the robes covering his chest. Tears lined his eyes as faint memories of an adorable, spunky young woman with green eyes and wild hair of silver spun with gold flew through his mind. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry!” Dovian whispered, gripping his chest with a shaking hand. “I couldn’t save you, either….”

  Lita’s death was as painful as I’Lanthe’s, possibly even more so. Perhaps the constant memory of her would have broken him further. Dovian had to filter something in order to spare his sanity, for what little he had left. But he didn’t understand why he would choose to forget her. No, there was no excuse for it. The possibility that he had even forgotten one memory of her, along with so many others he had known, left Dovian feeling ill. What did he have left to hold onto if he didn't allow himself the joy of their memory?

  A small groan sounded from Petey once again, bringing the Sorcēarian back to reality. Dovian sniffed, abruptly composing himself. He looked worn and tired; the constant reminder of his past was beginning to wear him thin. Patting the lizard on the side, he smiled again.

  “You’re not as good at healing yourself as you used to be, are you?” Giving another call of light, Dovian finished treating Petey’s wounds. “Still spoiled as ever. Always getting what you want. I think she taught you that as well.” He hummed a small laugh.

  Petey slowly stood, his golden eyes flickering with radiance within the dark cave. Rearing, he gave a loud and proud call, the sound rippling against the walls. Dovian folded his arms, unimpressed at the spectacle, eyeing the creature.

  “And I see you’ve been eating a few too many albatross eggs. You’re rather plump.”

  Petey eyed the tall man. Dovian stared in return.

  “And what, precisely, put you in this predicament? You didn’t try to eat this demon, did you?”

  Petey honked in response, hissing with his tongue flickering as he hunkered low, eyeing the dead monster behind Dovian.

  “L
et me see.” He placed his palm between the lizard’s eyes. At the touch, the reptile’s pupils turned milky-white as Dovian searched the beast’s memories.

  Like the flickering of photographs, the last couple hours of Petey’s life played in a jostled order. There was the recollection of eggs, dark caves, demons, lizards, bright sunlight and rocks in the deep valley. There was a helicopter, Aria and Troy looking up in fear, a very familiar frilled monitor that had a very familiar waddle, and more eggs. Next was a vision of Aria calming Petey and climbing on his back. Then finally the long chase that involved the greatest leap of faith which led to Petey sacrificing himself and his little friends in order to save the two soldiers.

  “How very noble of you, Pete,” Dovian murmured.

  Aria and Troy were able to make it safely off the island. Dovian’s heart fluttered with hope and fear at the revelation. They were still alive, which pleased him. However, that meant they would end up crossing paths with him and Sapphire once again. It also meant they’d be getting in the way of the child’s plans and be in the path of danger and destruction. And when their paths did cross, Dovian would be expected to kill them. Was he ready for that? He swallowed thickly.

  Petey gave a loud snort. Dovian shook his head, looking at the lively creature.

  “I was correct in my assumption that you’ve been eating too many eggs. It’s all you think about,” Dovian lectured.

  Petey squawked, not minding that Dovian pointed out his plumpness as much as he cared about hearing the word ‘eggs.’ He stamped his squishy pads against the rock, his talons clicking. Dovian arched an eyebrow.

  “Come, I will feed you some eggs. You deserve them. But I expect you to share with my Hector. He has done a good deed, too, and I noticed from your eyes that he now looks a bit frail.”

  Scratching behind Petey’s fringe, Dovian led the way back into the tunnels from whence he came. Petey obediently followed. As the lizard waddled from side to side, he barely managed to fit through the opening.

  Cold sensations smothered her. From faraway, she could sense her body moving but not of her accord. Slowly her awareness brightened, pulling from the darkest reaches of her mind up toward the front, an expression of light flickering before her eyes. She couldn’t breathe. Something weighed her down, and the cold sensation–water–was too much for her fragile senses. Sputtering, she tried to take a breath but only found herself choking. The struggle caused her to awaken, her green eyes bursting open as another dousing of water gushed over her.

  Coughing, Aria tried to catch her breath as wave after wave barraged her. It was warm for a second and then cold as the air hit her. The sight before her left a searing white in her retinas.

  “She’s awake!” a foreign female voice called out.

  “Stop the rinse cycle! You’re going to drown her!” another shouted.

  “Sally, stop the rinse cycle, please,” the first voice commanded.

  Aria continued choking, her hands gripping the sides of her bare arms. She was shivering, her teeth clattering noisily in the white spinning room. Looking up, she caught the strange eyes of the robot above her. Its blue lit orbs flickered at the registering of its master’s command.

  “Rinse cycle aborted,” a low drone sounded.

  The water halted its frenzy, and Aria continued shivering inside the tub. Quickly, a burning sensation began to boil her insides. Groaning, she covered her bare stomach and began to curl on herself, falling back.

  “Catch her!”

  “Damn it, sedate her! The drugs are wearing off far too soon; we need to double the dosage until everything’s set back into place.”

  “Administering sedation,” the robotic tone alerted.

  A sharp sting poked the woman’s spine. Her vision blurred, colors of white and metallic-grey mixing with the glowing blue eyes looking down at her.

  “D…Dovian...” she whispered.

  As Aria’s body became weightless, lifting high above the tub, she trembled in the cold. Her dilated eyes tried to catch her surroundings and the source of the voices around her.

  “What’s she saying?”

  “No clue, she’s not here with us right now.”

  “Do…” the word sputtered between her lips, “Do-Dov…Do.”

  Aria’s vision faded fast. With fuzzy awareness, she felt her body being wrapped tightly in something soft and warm, her shivering quickly halting, and then she was placed onto a surface just the same. Her hair was tugged as something brushed through her locks with robotic fingers.

  Looking to the side, Aria noticed a blur of other colors. Her mind was numb to the frantic shouts and calls as a series of doctors and nurses ran toward the bed beside hers. Her ears were ringing with an atrocious high-pitched whine.

  “Not again!” one male voice yelled.

  “Get the epinephrine and the defibrillator; he’s going into cardiac arrest again.”

  A horrible shock sounded. Aria’s eyes widened as she recognized the man on the bed beside hers, his blurry body focusing momentarily as he jolted at the violent current. His messy brown hair matted against his unshaven face—Troy. Another blast caused his chest to rise, and Aria’s eyes were burning, her heart rate monitor beeping noisily in the room. The stress sent her mind into a whirlwind; her eyes rolling back as she felt her body grow heavy. Her sight went first, turning black as her heart pounded in her chest. The thumps were loud in her ears; her shaking hands gripped the blankets as the noise of the drumming beeps and bursting shocks faded far into the distance, vanishing with her consciousness.

  Blackness consumed the woman for an unknown amount of time. It could have been minutes, hours, or days. In the darkest recesses of the mind, time did not exist. Dreams did not exist. As soon as Aria’s eyes had closed, she found them fluttering open once again. This time, her vision focused after only a few seconds. Her body was no longer burning on the inside. She wasn’t cold and shivering. She could breathe just fine, and there was no ringing in her ears.

  Taking a slow deep breath, Aria let the air pass through her nose. The room smelled like antiseptic. She stared blankly at the ceiling above her. Long straight lights were implanted into the flat surface above her, shining with a dimmed fluorescence. Turning her head, she looked upon the bed beside her. It was empty. Frantic, Aria sat up.

  “Troy!” she gasped.

  Trying to stand, the woman groaned as she bent her knees to twist in the bed. The long thin IVs tugged at her arms, tangling with her as she fussed with the blanket. She was already breathing heavily, feeling drained and light-headed. The sight of the fresh scars running down the length of her legs from her knees to her ankles was alarming.

  “You had best stop moving so much, missy!” a nurse shouted from the doorway at the front of the room. She was middle-aged, small, round, and had her dark hair pulled tight behind her head.

  “Troy! Where? Where is he?” Aria asked, sitting half-turned on her hospital bed.

  The nurse looked over her shoulder, nodding at someone in the hallway. She quickly waved her hand toward herself before holding it out, gesturing to allow someone else to enter the room before her.

  “Troy? I’m not sure who you are talking about. You mean Sean? He’s fine. You shouldn’t worry so much,” the woman said.

  “S-Sean?” Aria asked with confusion.

  From the hall came Troy. Aria sighed with relief, unsure as to why the nurse was referring to Troy by his middle name. He was wearing colorless hospital attire–a long-sleeved shirt and baggy pants with matching slippers. A mechanical brace was secured about his hip and knee joint to help support him as he hobbled toward his bed. His eyes were dull and lined with dark circles, but as he looked at the alert Aria, they flickered back to life, and he gave a large lopsided grin.

  “Hey, look who’s finally awake,” he said, his voice raspy. “Certainly got your beauty sleep.”

  “I woke up, and you were gone,” Aria spat without much thought.

  He looked at her, his smile fading mom
entarily. “Well, that’s because I was out for a nice little walk.”

  “I thought you were dead.”

  Troy slowly lowered himself to sit on the edge of his bed; the nurse helped by holding onto his elbow.

  “What would make you think that?” he chuckled. “I’m indestructible; you know that.”

  Aria finally sat back onto her pillow, watching Troy from the corner of her eye. “I woke up once. I was being washed and carried back into my bed. Alarms were going off. I heard someone say you were going into cardiac arrest.”

  Troy dropped his head, not making eye contact with the woman. His hand reached for the sagging collar of his large shirt, and he tugged downward to reveal the top of his chest. It was bruised, the skin dark in the center, gradating into a bright red on the outside. A bandage hid the rest.

  “Burned me a bit, but I guess they were able to get me back,” he mumbled.

  “Sean is lucky. He had coded for about a minute before they got his heart back beating,” the nurse interjected.

  “You were dead?!” Aria shrieked, sitting up in bed again. Troy jolted at the volume.

  “It’s not that big of a deal.” He shrugged.

  “Not a big deal?! Damn it, you almost died on me! Forever!” she shouted.

  The nurse looked at the two soldiers, her eyes bugging slightly.

  “Yeah, well, so did you!” Troy snapped.

  “I didn’t…did I?” She stared at the nurse for answers.

  “You were in pretty bad shape when they brought you in. You were coughing and spewing up blood like I’d never seen. Most of your internal organs had been smashed in some way. Both of you had multiple broken bones. Sean’s chest had collapsed, and he was retaining fluid in his lungs and around his heart. Your lower legs were shattered. If it wasn’t for those armored suits and whatever kind of drugs you injected yourself with, you two woulda been in pieces.” She pointed at Aria’s scars on her legs. “We were able to place the bones back together, but you’ll need to rest a few more days to let the alloy set in.”