Chapter Text
Esteban's feet touched to the ground.
Almost immediately, everything around him got drowned in raw sunlight. It bounced off every surface in reach, going crazy in its own structured patterns, and came back to him like an echo of his own light. And just like that, he managed to see where he had landed, what was all around him and even the way they moved and reacted to him. Just like in the Condor's body.
But unlike his former type of light vision, this was much more intense. The light was everywhere, emanating from him instead of simply coming to him. It was overwhelming, making him dizzy and disoriented, and much more faster. Everything around him seemed to move in slow motion, and he didn't understand what was going on.
He tried to turn around, to see the gigantic form of the Condor, a glimmering bird shape in the mess of light that was his field of vision. It was moving, twisting about, writhing as the light powered it and as it tried to fight off the invaders that were desperately holding on to it.
He knew Killa was strong, and would easily win over them even when wounded. He had nothing to worry about. For now, he needed to find his friends.
He leaped forward in a run start, but everything suddenly accelerated around him and he found himself several dozen feet from where he had stepped. Disoriented, he tried to stop himself from going even further, and to return to where he was. But that only resulted in him getting more and more lost, and to almost crash into some ruins.
“Esteban!”
It was Killa's voice.
“What are you doing? Hurry up!”
“I'm trying!”
He tried to get back onto his feet from where he fell, but only tripped more. His body was lighter than a feather, and his own movements seemed too fast, putting him off balance every time he moved so much as a finger.
“I can't control myself! It's too fast!”
“You have to try!”
The Condor was trying to take off and get Ambrosius and Laguerra off its cockpit, but it was difficult to do so with a faulty tail. It was perhaps as off-balance as him, with its wounded wing. Yet the voice kept sounded out in his head, through some light-borne connection the two of them shared.
“Don't think with ordinary physics.”, it continued. “Just focus on where you want to go, and go!”
“That's easier said than done!”
The flying ship was likely where his friends were held. He needed to focus and get there, if he wanted to save them! Don't think with physics. Do as you've been instructed.
He gathered his forces, and jumped up, letting the light guide him. As expected, he weighed next to nothing, and ended up way higher than he would have liked. But at least he could correct his fall, and land where he wanted. He reached out and grabbed one of the sails, sliding down in an awkward manner until he ended up on the ship's deck. Talk of a strange way to get somewhere!
Even though it was disorienting, it did make sense. What he considered his current body was made of pure light, a secret Killa had carefully taught him and that reminded him of the luminoprojections of the Great Sages, that they've seen in the second City of Gold. The ancient secret of moving light, as perfected by the people of Mu, and that allowed him to craft a temporary vessel of solid light to host his soul. This definitely was somewhere up the strangest experiences he's known in his life, but right now he had other things to do than to ponder on it.
What in the world is going on!?
He turned around, always at that dramatic speed, and managed to see someone coming his way amongst the brightness. And seeing the way they had their sword drawn, they weren't very friendly. Instinctively, he raised his fists, in a defensive posture.
They rushed at him, but their movements appeared slow and easily predictable. Esteban had no trouble quickly stepping aside and avoiding the blow of their blade, this time ending up much less farther than before. Quickly returning to his initial position, he pushed them down onto the deck, making them trip and saving him some time. The brightness around was starting to be obscured by something he didn't recognize, a darkness moving around that veiled the path of light. He ignored it, and set to work his way down.
He tried to open the doors to the lower deck, but had no idea of how to do so. Frustrated, he banged his luminous fists on the wood, and they made no sound whatsoever. However, the more he touched them, the more they spawned this dark veil that blurred his vision. He was about to wonder what was going on, when everything became bright again, and the door opened on its own. Quickly, he made his way down, and that's when he heard.
His friends were there. And they were crying for help.
“Tao! Zia!”
He rushed to their side, not without moving all over the place again like an excited firefly. They screamed at his approach, but he had no reason to blame them.
“Are you alright?”
Esteban! You have to help us get out of here!
The ship's burning down!
“Burning…?”
He looked around. In the mild darkness of the room, bright spots were moving over the walls, slowly but surely, spawning more of that blurry shadow. In a thrust of realization, he saw this was actually fire and smoke that were forming whenever he stepped.
He was pure sunlight, and his mere touch was a burning weapon.
“Quick! Let's get you out of there!”
He quickly located their binds, and went to undo them. But restrained himself, and instead very slowly touched to the ropes, which broke into hot bits after a second. Tao and Zia quickly stepped away, and went to help the others, still coughing from all that smoke.
We have to return to the Condor!
“We can't, it's still wounded!”
He banged on the door to the outside, and his fists quickly burned through it, opening a big enough way. Everything was starting to get darker, and flaming boards and beams were falling onto them. The ship would not stand much longer.
“Get out, everyone! I'll be right there!”
Leaping off, he jumped into the air again, and landed on the Condor's wing. Killa was still trying to shake the intruders off, but Ambrosius was holding tight onto the steering shaft.
I will not let a mere machine be stronger than me! You will do as I say!
Ambrosius, the ship is burning! We have to get out of here!
Esteban fumed in rage at the idea of this man laying his hands on his orichalcum body. In one fast step, he got right at his level, and grabbed his arm as hard as he could. The man screamed and tried to get away, his sleeve burning along with the skin underneath. In doing so, he let go of the commands, and the Condor quickly dropped its head to throw him off-balance. He leaped off and bounced around in the air, landing on its neck.
“Killa, are you alright? Will you be able to fly out out of here?”
“I can try and force it, but that will definitely damage my tail. We can't afford that.”
His friends were coming over, escaping the ship whose flames were still burning high. He tried to quickly think of a way to get everyone out of here.
“Do you think we can repair the damage?”
“Don't even think about it!”
“What? Why do you say that? Is there a way, or not?”
“Esteban, no. You don't have enough energy left to drive the corruption away!”
“But we can't just stay here where they can catch us!”
Through a touch of his hand to the machine's neck, he forced its beak open so his friends could get in. But suddenly, something on the ship exploded, and the earth shook under their feet. Sand flew everywhere, stones of the ruins fell down, and more rotten orichalcum crumbled away.
“We have to!”, he insisted. “We're in direct danger! If the ship's engines explode again, we might not survive it!”
“The Condor will protect your friends from damage. Nothing will be able to hurt it.”
“Don't say that! You're not indestructible, we both know it! Please, let me help!”
“You don't understand! You won't be able to survive this! And I can't fathom losing you again!”
“Why can't you just trust me? Why won't you let me do this?”
“Because if you try to heal that damage by yourself, you'll never recover from it! You're too young! You've only been the Condor's soul for a month, whereas I've been here for fourteen years!”
At that, only silence came from him. Shocked, confused silence.
“Fourteen…? But…I thought you were as old as Mu?”
Killa didn't reply. Esteban could feel the light around him waiver, and he understood his luminous form was slowly fading away. How long has he been out of his body?
“You're already disappearing.”, the other said. “You can't hold a solid form for more than ten minutes. Can you imagine what would happen if you tried to repair this damage all by yourself? You'd definitely be lost, and I would never see you again.”
Another explosion shook the ship, and the cries of his friends barely came to him in his silent confusion.
“If one of us has to do this, it has to be me. I've been in this body for longer than you have, I know how it works. I know how to use my light.”
He tried to think of something to answer. He tried to say something, to counter these arguments, but found nothing. So he lowered his head in defeat, and let his light come back inside his physical body.
He felt his wings, his beak again. He felt the pain that still nabbed at him. He felt the power, the might of the Condor, all contained within himself. He felt the effects of gravity and his own weight pressing against him again.
And he felt miserable that he couldn't do anything to help himself.
“You really are a stubborn child.”, Killa said, somewhere in the back of his soul. “But you are a caring one. You have your mother's kindness.”
“How could you know?”
To that, he was only met with some amusement.
“Believe me. I know her way better than you think.”
And before he could say anything, the light bounced out in every single corner of his being.
It was as if all that built-up energy within him had suddenly decided to release. He could feel every little pore and crevice of orichalcum getting filled with light, every little particle inside getting full of energy and raw potential. The pain that he could still feel in his feathers seemed to be pushed away, swept away by this force that kept expanding and rebounding in his body, a force that he had trouble keeping still and contained.
The ship was spitting out dangerous black smoke that slowly filled the air. The turbines had already blasted, but if the main engine was to blow up, then the Condor would suddenly be caught in its damage. He tried to keep steady as sensation came back into his wing and tail, slowly. Very slowly; way, way too slowly.
“Are you alright?”, he asked inside of himself. “Do you think you can do it?”
“I can!”, assured Killa. “But the smoke is obscuring sunlight...the Condor's starting to power down!”
He could feel it, now. He was starting to feel more numb, his wings slowly losing sensation.
“I won't let this happen! Hang on tight!”
He focused up, to the sky getting covered in fiery darkness. This was the moment everyone expected him to act...but he wasn't sure whether he would be able at all to do it. Would his soul still manage to reach out to whoever could listen to it? He didn't believe it a single second.
But he had to try. He took in a big breath of light, and made his soul voice sound out.
“Mighty Sun, I do not know whether you can hear me in this form. I do not know whether you can still recognize me. But my friends and I need you more than ever. Please, Sun, make your rays pierce through the darkness! Chase away the shadows, and illuminate the Golden Condor!”
His body gleamed under the force of his wish, under the power he still didn't want to call his own. He thought it had failed, and already regretted his naivety; but a second later, the sun shone even brighter, and gusts of winds blew the black smoke away. He felt the warm rays hitting his back, and they filled him with hope and energy as he became aware of his body again. His engine activated, the cogs and pistons churning away for all to see through his exposed stomach, and his thrusters it up.
“That should do it. Fly us out of here, Esteban, as fast as you can!”
No need to ask him twice. He pushed on his tail, raised his wings, and took off into the sky in a dash of golden light. The moment after, the ship exploded in a blast of flames and thunder, pushing him even further into the air.
He was wounded. He was shook. But he was alive! They were all alive! Once the initial shock passed, celebratory shouts sounded out among the crew, and they were well-deserved.
That was so amazing!! Did you see all these flames?!
And how you turned yourself into fire!
Can we please...never do this again in our lives, ever?
Victory, victory!
He wanted to smile and shout along, but had no lips to do so. So instead, all he did was barreling in the air like he knew how to do, shaking his equipage a little more. Whoops, sorry there.
But despite his happiness, there was still something holding him back. Letting the Condor slow down to a cruise speed, he looked into himself, trying to reach out to this other soul inhabiting the machine.
“Killa? Are you there?”
Nothing answered, and his worry only rose. He thought they were done for, that the healing process had achieved them, but slowly he got a reply. Muted, silent, but a reply nonetheless.
“I'm here.”
“Are you alright? Are you hurt? Should I land? I-”
“Esteban, please. Calm down.”
It was quite hard to keep calm when his friend was likely about to die!
“I'll be fine. But I lost a lot of energy, and the healing process isn't complete. I will need more time to fully repair the Condor.”
“You need to rest. I'll take over, you can pilot in my stead while I-”
“Esteban.”
That somewhat stern tone calmed him down.
“I will be fine. But I need to rest and recover. I may be older than you, but this still took a lot from me. I think it's time for me to return to sleep.”
“Wait!”
He tried to assemble his thoughts. To formulate what he wanted to ask. But this was useless, since the two of them shared a mental bond of sorts, and everything he was thinking of could potentially be seen.
"...there's so much I don't know.”, he finally said.
Killa didn't reply right away. Perhaps some questions just couldn't be answered, or so he thought.
“There is so much I want you to know. But you have a quest to complete first, and I don't want to distract you from it.”
"...I know.”
He kept flying ahead, towards a safer landing place.
"...can I ask you a question, then? Only one.”
“Anything.”
He tried to think of a way to fit all of his questions into one. And needless to say, it was a very tough choice. So he just went with what he wouldn't be able to figure out by himself.
“Who's Wayra?”
There was silence for a time. And then, the sensation of an endeared smile.
“Wayra is the name your father and I chose for you, when you were born.”
He pondered over that answer for a moment. And then, he smiled in turn.
For everything was starting to make sense. Everything was coming together. And he didn't know how to feel about it, for he had no more heart to feel with; but he still had a soul that gleamed with happiness, and a mind to put together all the answers to his doubts.
“Thank you. For everything you ever did for me.”
“I would do even more, if it means you can live on.”
He knew he had no shoulders anymore, and that it was all phantom sensations. But for a moment, for a slight moment, he felt something strange and soft, as if warm arms had wrapped around them. And in that moment, he knew what it was all about, and enjoyed that sensation he's never known before, this touch he didn't know he needed after all this time.
“I love you.”, he whispered in a breath.
“I love you.”, she replied just as softly.
And just like that, the feeling disappeared. He tried to reach for it again, to make it last longer, to have it never end. But he knew it would be useless. So he just let it happen, and said nothing else.
He kept flying in silence, the pain in his body now a numb sensation. He would eventually heal, and it would go away. And then, he would only have to wait until the time was right, to try and call to her again. Maybe by then, they would be able to talk more...at least he hoped so. He still had so many questions to ask.
...Esteban?
It was Zia's calm voice that drove him out of his thoughts.
“I'm here.”
Your lights have gone very strange for a moment. Are you...are you alright?
“Yeah...yeah, I’m alright. Just a little shaken.”
He flew towards the sun, following what route felt most logical. He followed his instinct, deciding to trust his body and its quest for more light. In all the times that he had piloted the Condor, he had always trusted it to make the right decisions, and followed them to the letter. And now that he was one with his winged machine, he understood what truly drove his gears and turned his beak towards the next goal of their quest. It was just meant to be, after all.
“Let's continue.”, he decided. “Our quest is far from over.”
Ready when you are.
He felt Zia's hands grasp the steering shaft, awaiting his lead. He grinned in his head, and in a thrust of his tail, dashed towards the sun.
~~~~~
The cannon shoots. This time, it nearly misses, but hits the wall of the temple behind us. I can see the stones and spikes falling down right above as large cracks spread all over. I want to go away, but I go in the wrong direction, and one of the metal spikes stabs my arm.
Right into the joints. I can't bend my wing, it's stuck in this position. My course gets twisted and I cannot regain control. They're screaming something unclear, but all I want is to get away from here, to evade the fire of the ship's cannons. But I can't, his hands are too stubborn on my commands. I regain some height, pushing on my tail to evade the assault, but my bent wing refuses to obey correctly. I start to get afraid.
Suddenly, he lets go of the commands. The cockpit opens, and I feel something on my back. No! Don't tell me he's trying to get the spike out by himself?! I stabilize as much as I can, for we are horribly high above ground, and even the broken temple feels tiny from here. The ship is coming back up, it's trying another attack, and my fear turns to panic.
The sun reappears from the clouds, and I feel it shine bright on my hull. I feel the tension in my wing disappear. He's done it! I straighten up my wing, taking more light onto it, but his footsteps become more disordered.
The cannon shoots again. Quickly, whoever pilots me now orders me to dodge. I do so, avoiding the shot, but the footsteps suddenly disappear from me. With horror, I see his body falling down.
I act out of panic. I dive like a falcon, trying to beat the speed of his fall. Whoever pilots me struggles to get a hold of my wings, but I refuse to let them. I push even faster, stopping a few feet above the ground, and position myself. He'll fall right into my neck, and be safe! The others will catch him!
But in my hurry, I miscalculated. He doesn't fall where I expected him to. Instead, I hear something crashing down on my hull, something heavy that makes my metal feathers vibrate. I hear something breaking.
Time comes to a stop. It's like my heart has stopped beating a second time. I hear a scream, and another, and panicked voices all around. I don't know what to do. I want to scream, I want to cry, but I can't, trapped as I am in this metal body. I'm stuck and I'm scared, and he's now going to die by my fault, and guilt washes over me like a wave that drags me over in its rampage, and I cannot do anything, and I can't, please, tell me this is over, tell me this is not happening, please, anyone…
In the middle of these horrible feelings, a thrust of lucidity comes to me. I remember the secret Athanaos has taught me. The secret of immortality, of putting one's soul within an orichalcum machine. The secret he gave me so that I could survive.
It is a crazy idea, but I have none other. So I go in, and reach out. I reach out to him, call for him with the desperation of a mother searching for her child. I'm scared, and I know he is scared as well. But I'll be there, I'll be there for him, and I will not let him disappear.
In the darkness is where I hear his voice. A voice that screams and shouts, and begs and calls out.
“I don't want to die!”
You will not, my child. You will not die. Not when I am here to help you.
I reach out for him. He's there. He's there, and I'm there, and I’m here for him. He's got nothing to fear anymore. It will be fine, it will all be fine.
It's alright, Esteban. Everything will be alright.
Mama's here.
