Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON TWO (Ongoing)

Part 3.18

1,000 YEARS IN THE PAST
PROMETHEUS, PHAEDRA

"I knew the Phaedreans were sanctimonious liars," Oedipus said, dismissing Scion's excitement with a wave of his hand. "It was their mad king who started the war." The emerald mist around him curled into the shadows. "But to think that we are related to them...it is not something to be proud of. The public would be demoralised if they knew. Still, the information is valuable. It will serve us."

Scion watched Oedipus as the amber lights of Prometheus's towers flickered over his face. As sunset deepened, the lights became redder, making the city prettier and casting strange shadows over Oedipus's face.

He expected Oedipus to be pleased with him. Instead, Oedipus took the information that Scion handed him with satisfaction, inhaling the victory as if it was his own. He didn't say thank you or praise his courage. The Phaedreans, Scion realised with a tinkle of sadness, always said thank you.

"I have another assignment for you," Oedipus said. "This one is not like the last one. It is very important."

Scion thought the history of his race was very important, but he didn't say this. He remained silent, because he'd come to realise that Oedipus liked him better that way.

"The Phaedreans are like a plague," Oediups continued. "You strike one down, but he inevitably gets up again. Even those who have been severely injured will eventually reform themselves. We have come to accept this, but perhaps we should not. I believe there is a way to get rid of a Phaedrean for good."

"For good?" Scion scrunched up his nose. "But energy is always recycled."

Oedipus chuckled. "That's what we were made to think. But, my dear boy, there is a way to destroy energy. It is an ancient power known to the Phaedreans. I do not know its name or how one may access it, but I know that it exists, and that the evidence is somewhere in Prometheus."

"Destroy energy?" That didn't sound right. What was forever was forever. It didn't end.

"That is correct. If we were to gain access to this dark power, we could deal heavy damage to the Phaedreans. We could destroy them for good."

Something twanged in Scion's stomach, like a string vibrating. But the vibration sounded upside-down, wrong.

Oedipus smiled, and his smile was upside-down too, like the Phaedrean dawn, spilling shadows instead of light. "Find me the secret of this dark power, just as you found me the tale of the Brother Kings."

Something churned inside Scion, turning over and over itself, gathering a little more discomfort each time. He didn't like the idea of destroying energy. It was all wrong and upside-down, like a dark sun or a swimming bird. Like Oedipus's smile.

But he had to do it, didn't he? He should do it. It was just another weapon. He shouldn't be afraid of a weapon.

Yet the idea of ending the Phaedreans didn't fill him with pride. He didn't want them to go. Amarat was his friend, and so was Onyx. Lazarus was his teacher. He'd shown Scion so much more warmth than Oedipus ever had. They were his people, even though they were Phaedreans.

He'd always thought he never needed friends. After all, he never had any. But what he had with Amarat and Onyx filled something inside him that he had not known was empty.

Getting approval from the Ariadni was like trying to draw water from emerquartz, but Lazarus gave it to him to easily, as if he himself was simply enough and worthy.

He liked being worthy. He liked being enough. Was this what Zenith and the other boys at school felt? This enoughness?

Scion had everything he wanted, but it wasn't on Ariadne. It was on Phaedra with Amarat and Onyx and Lazarus.

He would find some way to spare them, he decided. Even if Phaedra fell, he would turn them to Ariadne's side, and they would be protected. He didn't have to choose. It wouldn't come down to his planet or his friends.

It couldn't.

He did not know which one he would choose.