Kastori Devastations (The Kastori Chronicles Book 2) (20 page)

He turned around and saw a lone figure in black robes with golden stripes and blood stains in front of him, with his back to him. Cyrus took two steps toward him before he turned around, revealing a dark, faceless void where the face should be. He pulled a sword out from its sheath, a long, thick blade with a black stone in the hilt. With his free hand, he pulled the robes back, revealing long, auburn colored hair.

No.

It’s not him.

It’s her.

No…

The figure removed her mask, and Cyrus’ legs went weak.

Celeste.

38

How long has it been since I saw Typhos? At least a few days. I don’t know anymore.

Celeste looked down at her body, which had shriveled from a slowly worsening diet. The muscles in her body had become less defined.
Not gonna be able to help Typhos much in this state.

She thought about her reality and struggled to believe she wasn’t in a world of Typhos’ creation.

The sound of boots clanged on the hard floor. Celeste gulped as she sat up on her bed, pressing her back against the wall. The door opened in a controlled manner, and Typhos entered with his hands by his side.

“Good evening, Celeste,” he said. “I know it has been quite a while since we last spoke. I needed some space and would like to apologize once more for my uncontrolled outburst toward you. I acted inappropriately, and I am sorry.”

Is he sincere? Or is this a ploy? It seems awfully real to be a trick.

Maybe he’s just that good.

Or he just wants me to join him that badly.

She looked the man up and down and saw that he had discarded his typical robes and sword. He carried no weapon, an encouraging sign that steered her toward the more optimistic possibility.

“Thanks,” she said, trying not to show too much appreciation.
It can change at any moment.

“Now that we have that out of the way,” he said. “I have come to talk about the future and what I have in store for you. I have ambitions beyond Monda and Anatolus. I don’t need you to control these worlds since I’ve done it myself. But I would like your help in what lies beyond.”

Typhos raised his hand, and the black void appeared, but only temporarily. Seconds later, the emptiness filled with stars and nebulous galaxies, some green, some red, and some yellow in all directions—even beneath Celeste. It gave her the illusion of floating.

“Impressed?” Typhos said.

“Yeah,” Celeste admitted.

“This is just the tip of what I can do,” he said.
I know. Thanks for the reminder of Calypsius and my father.
“You see just a sliver of what I wish to control—namely, everything. But let’s focus on what has my attention.”

The sensation of flying through space hit Celeste, and within seconds, she saw a familiar planet, one with a single continent and a mountain so high it seemed to jut into the reaches of space.

“Anatolus, my… home,” Typhos said bitterly. “Once home to the corrupt and incompetent council and chief, I managed to decimate it and take it for myself within a couple of years—and only then because I hadn’t learned my full potential. Calypsius served as a wonderful proxy for me until you showed up. I am still furious about that, but if I replace Calypsius with you, I would feel much better.”

Celeste ignored Typhos as she looked closer at the rendering of Anatolus.
There’s no meteor impact. There should be something.

This is out of date. The ship’s not even there. He has no idea what’s happening on Anatolus right now.

If they’re alive…

“I have no use for Anatolus. The planet is uninhabitable and all life will surely die soon.”

Celeste angrily turned to him.

“You don’t know anything about my friends and brother,” she said. “If you want me on my side, you may want to understand their power.”

“An interesting lie for someone without any leverage or living allies,” Typhos said ominously, adding nothing more as the view switched from Anatolus to a similar-looking planet.

“Home,” Celeste said.
As it was before he came here. Beautiful. Clean. Only natural storms. Life everywhere. Nothing burned into ash.

“Yes, your planet was, admittedly, tougher than I expected, but victory was still inevitable. And now here I am, all these years later, and I hunger for more. There’s something about the thrill of conquest that gets you going like nothing else can.”

That sounds exactly like Crystil.

Two sides of the same coin?

“Let me show you what I have in mind now.”

The void flashed to a new world, one mostly brown with only splotches of water—a planet where water was the most valuable, and scarcest, resource. Storms enveloped the world.

“Nubia,” Typhos said, with almost an intense level of awe that bordered on worship.

A second planet appeared, white as snow and with nary a cloud but also no sun nearby.

“Vostoka,” Typhos said, his voice not quite as intense.

A third one, full of storms, vegetation, and rivers, came to view, lining up with the other two planets.

“Tapuya.”

Celeste held out a hand to each world, as if she could grab them. They seemed so different, but in this vision, they all carried a special allure she felt drawn to.

“These three planets contain the most powerful magic that the Kastori know of. The Kastori say that one powerful enough to absorb the planet’s magic would also destroy the planet in the process—but if one tried to and were not strong enough, they would die trying to absorb the power, and the planet instead would grow even more powerful.”

“And you would destroy them for your own personal gain?” Celeste snapped.

Typhos shrugged, disgustingly nonchalantly.

“Taking over Monda served a personal need. You could say that these three serve my power needs. If I could collect the magic from all three planets, I wouldn’t just stop at the known worlds. I could find other worlds, and conquer them too.”

“And to what purpose?”

Typhos did not answer as he lined up the three planets with Monda and Anatolus.

“It all starts with these five worlds. Anatolus, my home. Monda, my first conquest. Nubia, the essence of black magic. Vostoka, the essence of white magic. And Tapuya, the essence of red magic.”

“And you need me for this… why?” Celeste said.

“Why?” Typhos said.

“Yes, why. Do you want me to have one of these planets?”

“Oh, don’t be so greedy, Celeste,” Typhos said with a sardonic laugh. “No, I need you to clean the planets out before I arrive, to make my job that much easier.”

“Of what?”

“You really don’t know,” Typhos said. “Child, your people have long inhabited these planets, and the Kastori have long hidden in their ranks.”

39

“What are you even talking about?” Celeste said, more confused than disturbed. “My father never said anything about us colonizing other planets.”

“Of course not, because you never asked him.”

Celeste folded her arms in defiance.

“See, it’s becoming apparent to me, Celeste, that while you love your father, you shouldn’t trust him. How much do you really know about him? Or your mother, for that matter? The woman who died giving birth to you?”

“What does this have to do with anything?” Celeste said, disturbed at the truth of what Typhos said.

“It has to do with the reality of the situation. You hate me, but you know I have always told you the truth. You love your father, but now it turns out there are plenty of secrets that you do not know.”

He never did tell us about going to Anatolus until the last second. But he was just protecting us.

“Tell me, Celeste, when you were going to Anatolus, was it a certainty that you would find it?”

“No,” she said defiantly.

“Strange. Your father had known of Anatolus before he shot you off into space. He lied to you to keep you on edge and focused. He told you, perhaps, that this was humanity’s last chance at survival when, in reality, he had to have known that even though we were coming to destroy him, we had plenty of use for human slaves.”

No, my father was honorable.

“And now you know another lie. That humans have not remained on Monda for your entire existence. That, in fact, your people have traveled to these other planets.”

“Why?”

“How should I know?” Typhos said dismissively. “Greed? Self-preservation? All of the things your race does when it sees an opportunity or anticipates danger? The why doesn’t matter. The what does, since depending on the level of sophistication on those planets, my arrival may be as easy as a single spell, or require a war. But how easy would that war be if I had your help?”

“I don’t believe you,” Celeste said suddenly.

She turned away, refusing to look at him.
My father would’ve told me everything. We never kept secrets in our family. He told me about Mom. He was real with me on that.

She felt the cold, non-scarred hand of Typhos on her shoulder. She pushed it away, but Typhos reapplied it firmly.

“I know what it feels like to have parents who lied to you,” he said, his voice far more emotional than Celeste had expected. “It’s a terrible feeling. Even I would not wish that on anyone.”

“How?” Celeste said, turning to face her captor. His head seemed to hang a bit lower than normal, and his grip softened as he spoke.

“It doesn’t matter,” Typhos said. “What does matter is that you can move past that. Use conquering these worlds as a way to get past the deceit.”

Woah.

It all began to click for Celeste.

“You can control these worlds however you want. You can use diplomacy, though I suggest not. It’s too slow of a process, and we have all the leverage as Kastori. I recommend you annihilate anyone who turns against you, and encourage the enemy to give up their cause and join you.”

Celeste, much to her dismay, felt confusion.
He’ll let me do it my way. I know how to do it diplomatically. Cyrus and Crystil liking each other proves that.

But he’s just going to destroy the planet eventually. Everyone will die.

“Is there any way you can take the power of the planet without destroying it?”

Typhos disgustedly snorted at the seemingly stupid question.

“You could, but you wouldn’t take all of its power. I don’t understand why you’d get to that point and not take it all.”

“Because the planet isn’t yours, and there would be people there?”

“Nothing but pawns to use or get rid of.”

No, no way.

But… you could play along. Find out more. Dig deeper into him.

“And what do I get out of this?” Celeste asked.

“You can have whatever you want, and I will give you whatever you need to get what you want,” Typhos said, and he extended his hand. “Join me, Celeste.”

He became disturbingly calm as he offered an oddly warm request.

“Please?”

This is your chance. Ask for something back from him. What gnaws at him? Learn more…

I know.

“I will if you answer me one question,” she said, causing Typhos to withdraw his hand. “Why do you hate Erda so much?”

She heard the heavy breathing from behind his mask and noticed his hands ball up tightly. She braced herself for a punch from him as she sucked her gut.

“That woman should mean nothing to you,” he said.

“She’s like a mother to me,” Celeste said, and suddenly, Typhos froze. He was in shock, as he didn’t move and his breathing became shallow.

“You want to know why I despise her so?” Typhos murmured, his voice almost a whisper. “She is a liar. And not just a liar of twisting the truth, but omitting it.”

He quickly brought the five planets to the forefront and changed the topic.

“You know what the offer is, and what your specific task will be, Celeste. You can take these new worlds however you want. But—”

He paused and walked over, putting his hand on her head and digging in.

“Get this through your head, Celeste. This offer will not last forever. Your questioning is aggravating, and your indecision is annoying. You are far closer to me deciding you are not worth it. Make a decision soon,” he said, shoving her to the floor in frustration. “Or I will make it for you.”

40

Is she really worth it, Typhos?

You know who she is. You know what this means. Could you tolerate having her around you forever?

The girl is incredibly powerful. She is fearless, despite her outward appearance. She has guts I only wish the guardians would have. If I turn her…

You won’t turn her. You have to kill her before she escapes. You want to deal with that power when it’s trained and ready for you?