Chapter 23
Lux helped Solis up from the ground. Solis stood and stretched as the blow he had taken from the Alpha left him quite sore. They had incapacitated the skriodyr so their next challenge was to go after the Alpha. When they were all prepared, they sped off toward Fira's portal where they were sure he was waiting for them.
Lux called out to the others as they were running, "If possible, it would be best to defeat him! However, if that is impossible, we must distract him until Ignis and Thaddaeus return with Fira!"
Telu, Solis, and Luna nodded in agreement. They hadn't run for long when they reached the top of the mountain where the portal and the Alpha awaited their arrival. They stopped in a group a small distance from where he was sitting.
The Alpha smiled, "I see you've accepted my invitation, and you made it here without even having to kill my friend. Unfortunately, now I'll have to do that. I told him that failure was not tolerable."
He stopped there and leaned to the side a little so he could see Luna. He pointed at her. "You, you're very impressive, you are. You guys have so many new tricks that I keep learning about, that makes this a lot more interesting. It'll almost be a shame when I kill you. See, I don't encounter mysterious types a whole lot in my organization. All the Imperials that I find roaming around Atlas have only one ability. But me, I'm kinda like you guys, I've got many skills."
"We have no need to concern ourselves with such things," Lux said. "I only desire to understand two things. First, how could you possibly be comfortable ending the life of one you call a friend? Second, I still wish to know what action of ours has caused you to seek such ruthless vengeance."
"Well, you're a rude fellow. I was just trying to find some common ground, but if you want to know so badly, then I will educate you. To answer your first question: power comes through fear. Others follow me because they fear me. I have to maintain the fear that controls their hearts or I will lose my power over them. That's the way life works, I can't be worried about whether or not people like me. I have to be 'ruthless', as you say, in order to obtain my objectives. In the end, there is no other way, men must choose between being liked or being feared. I have only found value in the latter."
Lux raised his eyebrows as if he understood something of how this man felt. "I have struggled with similar ideals in the past. However, I came to the conclusion that willing loyalty surpasses forced loyalty without contest. If you could gain the trust of your friends, their performance will grow more valuable every day. They will serve you out of a desire to see you succeed."
The Alpha laughed at him, "You are too soft! This man," he pointed at Solis, "disobeyed you earlier, you should've killed him for that action alone."
"That is his choice to make, and he took responsibility for that choice. I do all that I can to protect them and I take responsibility for them, but they know they can make their own choices at any given moment. However, I have worked tirelessly to earn their trust as a valuable leader. This way, they desire my leadership to continue, I have no need of fear. Ultimately, we all care for one another and choose to work together."
"If you think it's a good idea to have rogues on your team, then I can't even feel bad when I dismantle your entire crew. Anyway, that other question seems to weigh heavily on your mind so I'll humor you. I'll tell you why I've started this war. You did handle yourself quite well against my friend, the skriodyr, after all."
The Alpha stood up and began walking toward them. When he got close enough, he turned and started walking slowly in a circle around the group. His hands were behind his back and his eyes were looking slightly higher than normal as if he were watching the clouds.
"As I'm sure you guys are aware, the nature energy that we Imperials are utilizing takes years, even decades to harness. Well, my brother and I were constant dreamers from an early age. All we ever wanted was to grow strong so we could help those in need. Then, one day, our father fell terribly ill and we felt powerless to help him. The doctor in our town said he only had weeks to live. So my brother and I dedicated ourselves to finding something to heal our increasingly ailing father.
After a few days of searching, we heard stories of a miracle worker in a neighboring town. It was said that this person was capable of any feat you could imagine. My brother believed the stories and insisted that we go see the miracle worker. I was a bit more skeptical, but I wanted it to be true so I agreed to go with him to the neighboring town. When we finally found the person we had searched for, it wasn't exactly what we expected. This miracle worker was a young man, even younger than you guys, but he had white hair just like yours. We had never seen anything like it, but we didn't think too much about it since we were so young. We told him of our father, and we pleaded with him to help us. He was not the least but interested. He tried to get rid of us, but we were persistent. We attempted to persuade him for days.
All of our efforts were eventually for nothing, the white haired guy didn't want anything to do with us. He said we were getting in the way of his mission and we should go home. In retrospect, I do remember him saying that he wasn't capable of our request, but we didn't believe him at the time. He wouldn't talk with us anymore so we decided it would be best to follow him from a distance. We followed him into a forest one day and we watched as he battled a creature that was beyond our wildest dreams. It was an Ivy-based Damnum. Once he had slain the monster he retrieved something from its body. We hurried to question him about it, but he disappeared and we never saw him again.
The Damnum transitioned into a human woman in front our our eyes. My brother and I felt responsible so we took care of her. She warned us against the corrupting influence of nature energy, but we were willing to take the chance for our father and any others we could help in the future. Even though she didn't remember everything, she remembered enough to help us begin our study.
Since we were low on time and on resources, my brother and I did everything we could to learn enough in time to save our father. We took dangerous short cuts, and we spent every waking moment working toward our goal. Eventually, we got results, but they were the opposite of what we wanted. My brother lost control, my father ended up dying anyway, and I never gained the ability to heal anyone.
When my brother lost control, he turned into a Damnum. He was inside our house when it happened. Imagine my surprise when two more white haired people showed up in response to this nightmarish situation. They felt the nature energy my brother and I were channeling. They blabbed something about being protectors of the peace, and restoring natural order, but they did nothing to help me when I needed it. They said that it was our fault that it had happened, and they turned their backs on me and walked away.
You see, your people aren't so great. After I grew up a bit and became an Imperial, I began my own study of you and your history. You guys have done a lot more harm than you take credit for. Eventually, I figured out what I need to do: I have to delete your home and your people from existence."
Lux looked very shocked by the Alpha's story. He wasn't very sure what to say. He wanted desperately to tell him that he didn't remember correctly concerning his people, but the fact of the matter was that they still made mistakes. He had even heard stories about some who have ignored the suffering of others because they were too focused on their mission. However, he found that almost all of them regretted it deeply as they got older.
"I certainly do not mean to minimize your suffering, but I do feel that it needs to be explained," Lux said. "Most of our people that you have met, the one's carrying out missions, are terribly young when you see them. We are the first to ever grow this old while still on a mission. All regret actions from a past age."
The Alpha nodded slightly, "Yes, that thought had occurred to me. It doesn't really matter now, though. The damage has been done. Not to mention, in my studies, I have found that the truly horrendous deeds of your people weren't even from the young...they were from your leaders."
All four of them were both shocked and confused, but the Alpha just smiled at their ignorance.