‘Captain?’ Somethi off. Abeiron turned around in search of Simonides, but didn’t find him. ging his sight, he pulled up to see where his Captain remained. “Captain Simonides!” he shouted, drawing all of his men to stop and turn. The soldiers froze with their Captain as a hostage. “…Captain…” Wrinkles of pain dug through his face.

  “Captain Simonides! I’m moving MPs in now to rescue you!”

  “It’s checkmate, friend.”

  “But sir!”

  “Follow the pn, Abeiron.” Simoightened his hand around the metal. “Initiate beta-four tingenbsp; You’re in and now! Don’t let any of them escape! Do whatever you must to keep Atntis—“

  Abeiron fumbled with the device, hearing Simonides suddenly cutoff. “Captain! Captain!” He couldn’t hear anything more. The st sound he was left with eg in his ears was the deadly cough of his Captain. His face turned blue and then white almost instantly.

  Blood sprayed out of the wound in his chest where the sword poked through. Simonides’ eyes drew wide while his pupils shrank. The pain of the bde yanked out of him made him cough in pain. All of the strength in his body suddenly fled him. He fell to the ground.

  “…nder, mmander…” A voice broke through the hazy. It was distant, but cleared up quickly. Abeiron opened his eyes. “ander?” It was his assistant, a young Sergeant. He reyed many of his orders through him when not addressing the men directly.

  Abeiron focused his eyes ba the horizon. Behind him the troops marched, most exhausted, but refused to give up. They were all determio find those that killed their Captain. “I’m fine, Erasmos.”

  “But sir, you’re not ag like yourself.” He had been with the ander for only a year, but w closely with someone habits became easily seen patterns.

  A bit of silence filled their void. Abeiron measured out his words and expressions. “I’m merely human as well, Erasmos. Even a day’s march is going to affect me.” Wrinkles dug around his eyes as he fought with himself. “It’s nothing to worry about.”

  While he graheir march would exhaust ahe Sergeant remained a little suspicious. Something told him there was something else further down b his ander. Unfortunately, he couldn’t be so bold as to make an assumption. “Yes, sir.”

  His assistant was surprisingly observant. ‘Damn, I o do better if he’s notig. I don’t know how long I keep this fa?ade up.’ Abeiron’s mind wandered again. Part fatigue and part turmoil, it made it difficult for him to stay focused for long. ‘It’s been almost a day since we’ve started looking for you, Captain. But you don’t expect us to find you, do you?’

  Chapter 218 – Moving Pieces

  “What?! You ’t be serious, sir!” shouted Abeiron before he checked his voibsp; He couldn’t believe what his Captain just told him about his pn. It had to be a mistake.

  Simonides waited until Abeirorained his emotions before tinuing. His tent in camp might have beey, but the walls had ears. It was important to him that his pn remained limited to those privy to its full details. “I’m telling you this because as fident as I feel about capturing them, real bat does not py out as smoothly as you pnned.”

  Abeiron still had trouble accepting what he heard. It couldn’t be right. It sounded like his Captain admitted defeat before the battle already began. “But we know everything about them. We’ll have victory this time, sir!”

  “We have to stop thinking iainties or absolutes with these kids. We’ve been overfident, even arrogant in our belief that we handle anything.” He preferred to believe he wasn’t as he described, but everything they did was routine. The kids were aion. “The reality is that there is always someoer out there.”

  “But Captain, you ’t mean to just give up.”

  Shaking his head, Simoarted to expin himself. “It’s not about giving up, but ensuring the peace of Atntis. I must accept that it is possible for my pn to fail. If it fails I’m not going to give up the ce to keep Atntis safe from those that might hurt it.”

  “The men—“

  “Won’t know about any of this. Abeiron, I need you to py your part in all of this. If I give you the signal, you’ll take and of the men. I will no longer be able to lead them, I’ll be sidered a traitor for my as.” Simoood up. He approached a pouch hanging from a pole supp the tent. A paper surfaced. He ha over to Abeiron. “This tains all that I fear will e to pass.”

  Simonides pressed his hand to the table they talked across. He leaned in a little. “I need you for this Abeiron. If this es to pass, take the men and follow after me. Keep up appearahere’s far more at work than be seen.”

  The past weighed on him heavily. He was entrusted with this burden from his Captain. He always was ready to support him in anything, but started tret a little the arrogance he had in believing he could do it. Hundreds of lives looked to him for answers. The only answer he gave them was to keep marg. ‘Is this the right answer, sir?’

  Abeiron thumbed absentmindedly over the paper hao him. The words on it troubled him nearly as much as the Captain’s pn. Fears of shadows and the unknown seemed to hang around Simonides in a way that Abeiron had not known. The man carried mas. He knew how Simonides maintained order in the South Gate. It was a heavy hand. It was a firm hand. It was a gentle hand. It was all those. It was how he led and why they followed him. It wasn’t something Abeiron could imitate, even in his wildest fantasies.

  My most trusted friend,

  There are so many things I don’t uand these days. Shadows lurk in dark, terrible ers. Death seems to be the only fort for anyone. Yet I will not wele it to reach the gates of Atntis. It is for Atntis’ future that I write this.

  Everything I do, I do for Atntis. Her future is the most important thing to me. The survival of our people.

  What I am doing will be sidered treasonous in our present day, but I believe the future will see my as justified. The events of te trouble me greatly. Our intruders hold mas that I have only scratched the surface of. I fear the truth may be far more terrible and darker than we imagined.

  They have abilities impossible for reality. They a a way that goes ter to traditional thinking. And then there is the cil. Their as have been strange as of te. Add to it the name Eudokia Ismene. One most loyal to the than any, a traitor. Something I old you, but all the intruders have execution orders on them.

  It is only my specutiht now, but I believe the cil is moving to hide something, something too huge for any of us to learn. The movement of the Omega Division is too big for a single person, even Eudokia Ismene. I believe we are on the edge of a spiracy reag to the cil themselves. Something that they would kill to keep secret. I’m certain they’ve been moving i long before, but the current situation has created themselves a perfect cover up.

  If I’m correct I will know too mubsp; If they learn of what I know, they may e after me as well. So I must ask that you keep the status quo. Act ignorant and protect the men. Move as someone blind to the truth should, while keeping an eye open to the shadows.

  I’m sorry I must leave this burden on you friend.

  Simonides

  He read it so many times in his shock that the words remained an echo in his mind. No matter what he tried, they wouldn’t leave him. Abeiron feared that these might be the st words of his friend. He didn’t want to believe it to be so, but he knew him to be far too accurate in his predis at times. If things were as bad as he feared no one who knew even a piece of the truth would be safe. The Omega Division would silence everyone. It was easy to cover up things in the fusion befallen Atntis with the intruders.

  Buried deep withiandard ranks of the soldiers marg under Abeiron’s and was a on everyday fabsp; It blended in with everyone else. They didn’t look any different. It was the way they wa. Slowly, over mihey worked through the ranks pying up fatigue to fall out of the lines.

  When the opportunity came, they disappeared from sight pletely. No one khey were eve. No one evehey stood there for hours. Never missed.

  Freed from observation, they put signifit distaween the marbsp; Eventually, they dropped their disguise. “Following them will no longer bear fruit,” ented as. He grinned a little knowing something. “I resume my hunt.” The grin became a toothy one. The excitement of spilled blood overtook him a little.

  A thin disetal grew out of the air in front of him. O was wide enough, he stepped on it. It fis growth at just under a half-meter radius. as sat down before it sped off. “I have traitors waiting for me to find them!” A dark smile spread into a bit of ughter as he flew off into the distance.

  She was lost, again. Part of the problem was that Atntis all looked very simir out in the open fields. It was easy to lose the sense of dire unless familiar with the area. She should have been familiar with the area, but the loss of eyesight made things difficult.

  Athene could only make so much up with the aid of her power. She couldn’t force her eyes to see anything. She relied on an echo system that transmitted the forms of everything back to her. Her mind processed it all. It still only gave her a fuzzy image, as she wasn’t aced to it. Finding the way out of a room or navigating a town was easy. When there was nothing to bounce off it became a void and she could only trust in her feet not to stray.

  A break was the only thing she could do to recover her mental faculties aore her tration. Her emotions were so high on finding that man her powers stopped w and she didn’t realize it until she found herself lost.

  She turned her hand in the air. “It’s still light out.” The heat of the sun was the only way she knew if it was day ht anymore. “I left when it was almost night. It’s starting to feel a little cain. I’ve lost another day…” Atheed how much she lost in her search for him. “If I had my sight I’d already have found him. Damn that man…” Her mind faded out with stant whispers. Waking or not, he ed everything of her.

  Athene awoke to a distant rumble. The sistent noise was unfamiliar in the remote parts of Atntis. It was more likely to see a cart and traders. However, she khe differeweewo. Testing the air, she realized how long she slept. “Dammit! It’s night already.” The distant echo tinued.

  Curiosity led her to follow the noise. If something major happened, she o know. Following her ear mostly, she made goress trag it. The closer she got the clearer things became until she reized it as the sound of marg. A rge-scale march struck her as odd.

  Monit from a safe distance, she used her power to shape out things. The numbers were rger than she imagined. She immediately went to the most obvious answer. ‘This is the South Gate men. Captain Simonides was gathering all of the forces together for an atta the intruders.’ A thought came to her. ‘If they’re marg in the dire of intruders, I get my bearings again.’

  Keeping herself invisible, she moved in to get a clear read on the dire. She hoped to hear some idle gossip about pns. The soldiers had a tendency to talk. Anything she could learn would give her the advantage in her hunt.

  She found her dire, but none of the soldiers cooperated with her. None of them seemed ied in talking. Athene didn’t uand it. ‘It feels odd. Like there is a gloom over everyone. What happened?’ She wao reveal herself a some answers directly, but couldn’t risk it. The Captain no doubt was on the lookout for her.

  Trag up the group, Athene moved closer to the front. It was an hour ter, but she finally reached upon what she needed. Two soldiers chatteriween themselves bothered over the current situation.

  “I ’t believe we’re doing nothing!”

  “Why did the ander order us to turn around?!”

  “It makes no sense. We haven’t done anythi! We haven’t avehe Captain!”

  “I want a piece of those bastards so badly.”

  “Cut the chatter,” barked a superior officer, trying to maintain the crumbling morale.

  Athene’s eyes widened, not uanding what she heard. ‘Avehe Captain? What’s going on? They make it sound like…’ She couldn’t finish the thought. Athene hurried along the line. She had to know now. Her own pns didn’t matter anymore. She o ght to the source.

  In the front, she only found one person with a few behind. She assumed it had to be Captain Simonides. Using her power, she went more detailed on the s f her mind to make sense of it all. It wasn’t Simonides, but Abeiron. She went to the others behind Abeiron, none of them were the Captain. ‘Where is he? What’s happened?’ Atheurned off her power, revealing herself to everyone. Her eyes hardened into narrowed lines. “Where is Captain Simonides?”