Chapter Text
Time slowed down to a crawl.
Rex thought he heard Vandham or Zeke yelling something but he couldn’t make it out. They seemed so far away now. Everything seemed so far away. The only thing he could hear, could feel now was the beating of his heart. The only thing he could see was the corrupted Blade standing before him.
The shock of that initial encounter waned, and in this moment of paralyzing fear, the image of the Severed was seared into his mind. Whether by the effects of the Cloud Sea, or some other twisted phenomenon, the Severed was barely recognizable as the Blade it once was. It seemed to have at once even appeared humanlike, but now its features were gaunt and hollow. Its skin now had the gray color of the tumultuous clouds above, splotched with dark purple bruises. Its long hair, still soaked with ether, stuck to its forehead, splayed out like the branches of a withered tree.
Only its dark gray eyes seemed untainted by the grim fate that had befallen it. Yet still, they were blank and lifeless, devoid of the vibrancy that Rex saw in Poppi’s or Roc’s or Saika’s. It was once a Blade just like them. It had hopes and dreams just like them. Its eyes once had that same vibrancy. Now, all it could return was that dull, hollow stare.
In that moment, Rex understood; what he saw reflected in the Severed’s eyes was the tragedy of Morytha itself.
It hadn’t attacked him yet. A good sign, but certainly not what he had expected. Of course, Severed were by their very nature unpredictable. There was no rhyme or reason to their actions. People weren’t even sure if they sensed the world around them. The danger was always real, though. Rex had heard tell of Severed attacks before, had seen the gruesome scars and crippling injuries of those who managed to survive them. Now, he was only seconds away from experiencing that brutality firsthand.
And yet, it continued to stay its hand, and only continued to stare past Rex. He didn’t dare move; at this distance, he wouldn’t be able to clamber out of the cockpit fast enough, and there was no way he would risk any sudden movements. And so, he stared back, and simply prayed that the Severed would continue to show him this strange mercy.
But before Rex could contemplate further, he spied movement in his peripheral vision and in an instant, time moved once again. Vandham and Zeke were charging toward him, weapons drawn and Blades following closely behind. Their ether links shone with an intensity Rex hadn’t seen before. Roc few above them, wings spread out and eyes locked on his target. Vandham let out a fierce cry, and tossed his weapons toward his Blade. With a flourish Roc snatched the twin scythes out of the air and went straight into an attack dive toward the Severed.
The Severed’s head twitched, and it was as if a switch had been flipped within it. All of a sudden, it moved at a breakneck speed, twisting its body around to meet Roc’s attack. The gust of wind created by the motion and the sudden impact buffeted Rex, snapping him out of his fear-induced trance. Seeing the Severed distracted, he wasted no time vaulting himself over the side of the cockpit.
The sounds of battle continued behind him, but right now Rex was only concerned with taking advantage of the opening he was given. With every last bit of his remaining energy, he sprinted back to the rover, back to Tora and Poppi, who were frantically jumping and yelling at him to get behind them.
He had no idea if he was in the clear. He would leave absolutely nothing to chance. As soon as he got close enough, he aimed his anchor shot toward the side of the rover. With a pull of the trigger, a wire-mounted anchor shot out, and flew straight for the side of the rover. As soon as Rex heard the thunk of metal on metal, he hit the trigger again. With a strained grunt, Rex did his best to brace himself as the anchor shot violently pulled him toward the rover. He dug his heels into the ground, and was able to slow down enough to avoid slamming into the side.
Having gotten himself to relative safety, the adrenaline running through Rex’s veins wore off, and he was finally allowed to feel all the sensations it had been blocking off. He collapsed to his knees. In an instant, the world spun. A sharp pain shot through his legs. His lungs burned, and every breath he took felt as if he were inhaling molten iron.
In the midst of the agony and confusion, Rex felt the touch of hands moving to support him.
“Rex-Rex! Rex-Rex!”
“Is friendpon alright?”
Tora and Poppi helped him back on his feet. “Thanks. Thanks. I’m alright,” he reassured them.
Though his mind and his vision was still hazy, Rex still strained his neck, and forced himself to look at the fight unfolding before him. A torrent of relief washed over him when he saw his teammates all still standing. They shifted into formation to surround and contain the Severed. In an attempt to disrupt the formation, the Severed moved quickly and unexpectedly, jumping toward one of them only to slink back and face another. Yet, Vandham and Zeke maintained the distance between them perfectly, matching the Severed move for move while always being in the right position to support one another.
Their weapons moved in an intricate dance, the glow of their weapons tracing an intricate dance against the somber background of Morytha. The wild sweeping rotations of Zeke’s greatsword, and the swift staccato strike of Vandham’s scythes moved as if the two were one, slowly but surely backing the Severed into a corner.
It only took a split-second of hesitation. The Severed lost its footing, and Vandham wrapped one of his scythes around its arm, restricting its movement. He seized the opportunity to grab its other arm, and hold it in place.
The intensity of Vandham’s ether link had reached a fever pitch as he committed his full strength to bringing the Severed completely under his control.
“ZEKE!” he bellowed. “DO IT!”
“Roger that!” Zeke answered. He raised his weapon high. A gentle golden glow briefly swirled around him before concentrating into his weapon, surging forth in lightning bolts that sundered the air around him.
He let out a mighty roar, as if to call the heavens themselves down upon them.
“ULLLLLLLLTIMAAAATE…..”
“I MEANT NOW , YOU DOLT!”
“...lightningfuryslashmax!”
With an annoyed grunt, Vandham released his grip on the Severed with a swift, solid kick that sent it reeling right into the path of Zeke’s strike. A flash of light blinked from Zeke’s weapon and for a split-second, Morytha looked almost heavenly. Then, the clap of thunder as the ground erupted where the Severed once stood. The shockwave threw a massive dust cloud into the air and ripped the ground beneath it apart.
All that remained of the Severed was its core crystal.
Zeke placed a hand on his hip and struck a triumphant pose as he admired his handiwork. With a wave of his hard, his weapon faded away, its form dispersed into motes of ether that floated up and away into the sky, then disappeared. Satisfied with his work, he jumped and started waving to Rex. Vandham, who had been thrown to the ground by the shockwave, picked himself up and stormed over to Zeke. Rex couldn’t quite make out exactly what Vandham was saying, but his wild, violent gesticulations conveyed more than any words ever could.
Rex lay back on the ground, and laughed in a way only a man who had stared death in the face could laugh. Poppi and Tora stood over him with looks of concern on their faces, but Rex saw past them. The skies of Morytha were still as dreary as ever, but right now they looked as bright and as warm as a Fonsett summer.
It felt as if he had aged ten years in ten minutes, but he had made it out with his life, and a story for the ages.
—
“Look sharp, Poppi! Grampypon always tell Tora to break new ground by standing on shoulder of giant!”
“Poppi think Grampypon too enamored with self-help manual…”
Rex smiled as he lay back in his seat. He had been relieved of his scouting duties since the attack. Tora had volunteered to replace him while he took the time to recover. He was tall for a Nopon, but even he was still unable to clear the top rung of the turret seat. To solve this problem, he had to turn to tried and true Nopon ingenuity, much to the chagrin of his Blade. His balancing act on top of Poppi’s head made for quite the amusing sight, but Rex couldn’t help but keep a concerned eye on the two of them.
“I wouldn’t be too concerned,” Vandham chimed in. “Nopon have a keener sense of balance than you’d expect from looking at them.”
“I’ve heard that they’re a safety inspector’s worst nightmare,” Rex answered.
“Hah! You ever seen a merc garage? Tora’s little stunt doesn’t even compare to some of the crazy setups they had!”
Roc, who until just now had been staring off into the distance, leaned forward. “How are you holding up, Rex?”
“Huh? Oh, I’m fine,” he responded.
Vandham looked at his Blade for a brief moment, then turned back to Rex. “Now, come on, Rex, there’s no need to play tough-guy. You nearly died out there. That’d shake up anyone.”
Rex chuckled. “I’m fine, honest. Really, it’s just all a bit…surreal. I guess it hasn’t really hit me yet.”
“That may be so. However,” Roc insisted, “You seem to have something else on your mind.”
Rex’s expression must have shifted in some telling way, because Roc’s eyes began to glint as if to say ‘I knew it!’ Vandham gave him a sly wink. “No use hiding anything from him, kid. Roc’s got a keen sense of intuition. Makes poker games absolutely infuriating, really.”
Rex chuckled. “Alright, you win. To be honest, I was wondering about the Severed.”
“Oh?” Roc answered. “What about it?”
“Did you notice? It was like it didn’t want to attack me at first.”
Vandham let out a gruff snort. “Sure as hell didn’t have any problem attacking me .”
“I just don’t understand why it acted like it did.”
“Who knows why the Severed act the way they do.”
“I always thought at that point, they were just mindless. But thinking back on it…it was almost like it was scared.”
“Scared, huh?” Vandham furrowed his brow. He seemed to be talking as much to himself as he was to Rex. “Well that might be the first time I’ve ever heard that one before. But I shouldn’t have to tell you that that’s the sort of thinking that shortens careers.”
Rex shuffled in his seat. He knew that Vandham was right. He knew that there was no way that the Severed could even feel fear, or really anything at all. He knew that there was nothing else to be done here; to end such a non-life was rightfully considered a mercy. Salvager policy was to terminate all Severed with extreme prejudice. There was no way to return them to their previous state, and no way to reawaken them once they had returned to their core crystals. For all intents and purposes, they were to be considered already dead. That was the tragedy of their existence. To be doomed to wander. To be forever stuck in a sick parody of life. Corpses that were only animated by way of the ever-unknowable nature of Blades, a danger to anyone they may have cared about.
Rex had thought he had seen that tragedy in the Severed’s uncharacteristic mercy. But in the end, he knew he had to accept the reality of Vandham’s answer.
“Yeah…Yeah, you’re right, of course. Sorry about that.”
He sat in quiet contemplation as the conversation died down. Vandham stared at him intently. He sighed. “Ah, hell. Listen, Rex,” he said with a sigh, before reaching down to get something in his pack. He held it out to Rex.
“Hm?” Rex looked up. “Wait, that’s—”
In Vandham’s hand was the Severed’s core crystal. Devoid of ether, the crystal itself had lost a lot of its luster, and was left a dull cobalt, marred with a reddish-brown as if stained with dried blood.
“You oughta have this.”
Rex said nothing, only stared at the core crystal resting on his palm. If the Blade hadn’t been Severed, such a gift would have been ludicrously exorbitant. As it was now, however, it was of little use to him. A core crystal that could not be resonated with was little more than a pretty rock. That wasn’t to say that they were completely worthless. Much like a fighter pilot would keep a running tally of their victories, Drivers collected the core crystals of the Severed they managed to take down as a way to demonstrate their credentials for mercenary work.
“Shouldn’t Zeke get this?”
“What, for nearly killing me with those Architect-forsaken theatrics of his?”
“Again with the ridicule!” Zeke yelled from the driver seat. “I’m not even a part of this conversation!”
“If you don’t want to be ridiculed, maybe consider just killing the damn Severed when I tell you to kill the damn Severed!”
“It’s not my fault people like you can’t appreciate true swordsmanship. The Ultimate Lightning Fury Slash Max is—”
“A load of Ponio-dung you came up with after a romantic night with a bottle of Urayan vodka?”
“I…I…You know what, I refuse to dignify that with a response. Hmph!”
“Hah!” Vandham snorted, then handed the core crystal over to Rex. “Ah! Anyway, here ya go, kid.”
He reached out and took the core crystal. Given its size, it was a lot heavier than expected. Rex could see his own blurred reflection on its surface as he idly turned it around in his hand.
“Still, why give me of all people this?”
Vandham’s response was short, but Rex immediately understood its meaning: “Rule Seven.”
“Ah,” Rex smiled. “I get it now. Thank you.”
Vandham gave him a knowing smile. “Just promise me you won’t stand there gormlessly the next time this happens.”
“Hah. All right, I promise.”
“Good. It’s bad enough having to babysit the One-Eyed Monster over here.”
“You know,” Zeke retorted. “I didn't have to go along with you on this little excursion. I could have still been back there relaxing with the main group.”
“Ah, we both know you would have been bored out of your mind, anyway! Couple of hours without the promise of something to swing at, and you start getting that twitch in your eye again.”
As the two former mercenaries shared a hearty laugh, Tora called out from his post. “Oh! Big ship! Straight ahead, straight ahead!”
“Hey, I thought I told you to stay down, furball!”
Much to Zeke’s aggravation, Tora continued to jump up and down in jubilation. With a few deft hops, he descended down onto the deck of the rover. For a moment, Rex forgot what was on his mind as he marveled at just how nimble Nopon actually were.
With a lively flourish, the Nopon gave a happy salute. “Tora spot big Gormott ship! Maybe Anguished Solomon! ”
Rex thought about correcting him, but couldn’t find it in him to rain on Tora’s parade. The mood on the rover shifted completely as Vandham once again rallied the team in preparation for setting up the reconnaissance beacon that would call in the rest of the salvagers on the Maelstrom . Once they did so, the job of sweeping and clearing the wreck would thankfully be left to others, which suited Rex just fine. The events of the past few hours had left him completely drained.
And so, he turned his attention back to the gift he had just received. He took the core crystal and made sure it was secure in his coat pocket. He gave it a tap, as if to reassure it. Whoever this core crystal once belonged to was long gone now. It would never again awaken into a Blade. This was the tragedy of the Severed. The tragedy of Morytha. From now on, it would serve as a reminder to Rex of the weight of his actions as a Salvager. It was never just junk they were picking up, after all.
Rule Seven of the Salvager’s Code: ‘Never forget you are human.’