Lance's head felt like it was going to explode from Lithia's tutelage. The fact that she'd managed to get Lance to feel Foundation was proof enough to her that the old bag was as good a teacher as she claimed. None other had managed to teach Lance to feel the Flame before, the Spiral Queen had a way of simplifying it in a way that no other magician could. Lance's cousin Lolena, for example; she would always say that she'd feel 'tingly' and that Lance needed to feel tingly too.
That made no sense to Lance whatsoever. Make herself feel tingly? She'd felt like a moron trying it Lolena's way, but Lithia's methods actually seemed to bear fruit. She emphasized utilizing one's own imagination, rather than physical sensations. As a result, she no longer felt like magic was out of her grasp, in fact, using Lithia's way may just be the key to becoming a mage, at least for Lance. Feeling the Flame was easy now, but grasping it was something else entirely.
It was easier to focus too, now that Jason had finally retrieved her clothes and Watcher's cloak. Everything was right with the world now, at least it would be once Michael and Cat were returned.
"Imagine your hand reaching out toward the Flame," Lithia began, "Now feel the warmth of it, remember the sensation of fire against cold palms, and grab it!" She urged excitedly.
Lance reached for it as Lithia instructed, but right as her hand touched the Flame, she felt nothing, as she had the other times before this.
She shook her head, "It's no good." Lance sighed, opening her eyes.
Lithia shrugged, "Take a break then, allow your mortal mind some rest, then try again."
Lance nodded, standing from the cold steel ground, "Why do you offer to teach me for nothing in return?"
Lithia's wrinkled features softened, "Next to the rigors of love, teaching is my passion. I do this for myself, not for you or Jason. It brings me pleasure to elevate others through my supremacy, it proves to me that I am still the greatest at something, even when everything else has been stolen from me."
"I see, I suppose I'm just shocked that you want nothing in return." Lance told her honestly.
"I am getting satisfaction in the work as my return, woman." Lithia scowled, "People are not meant to rot away in a box all day, sitting down and doing nothing. Purpose and work is what gives joy to life, the saddest people are the ones that lay about, weeping about how useless they are as they decay in their darkened chambers." She shook her head, "They rot themselves inside and out by not working or pursuing a passion. If you did not Watch your precious Faewood, what would you do?" Lithia asked, curious.
Lance hesitated, "I'm not good for anything else, really."
"Dung." Lithia said dismissively, "People only think that because they do not apply themselves. What if you're good at painting or growing plants? Or baking or blacksmithing? This is why it is important to pick up hobbies, so you can learn where your innate talents reside." She leaned forward, "And once you find something you are both passionate and skilled at, you will attain true happiness. Now little Lance, what is it that you would do if not Watching?"
This was not a conversation she was expecting to have with The Spiral Queen of myth. Yet she could not simply leave her question unanswered.
"I love drinking." Lance admitted, "It isn't a skill I know, but if I were to be unable to fulfill my duties as a Watcher, I think I would like to make my own drink. Mead, ale, wine, things of that sort."
"There you go!" Lithia nodded, "Promise me this Lance, when you inevitably retire from adventuring, I want you to pursue brewing."
Lance was at a loss for words, simply staring confused at Lithia. Why would she want her to promise something like that? Why did she even care? She was evil at her core, wasn't she? Wanting others to learn new skills to attain happiness didn't make sense for the Lithia she knew from myth.
"If you don't promise me, then I won't teach you anything more." Lithia told her firmly, leaning back in her throne.
What was the harm in it?
"Alright then, I promise that, in the event that I retire from my duties, I'll take up brewing." Lance nodded.
"Yes, good." Lithia nodded back, "Also if Jason does not agree to be in my harem, I give you my blessing to marry him."
"Grandmother stop!" Nolvi shouted, palm going to her brow.
"What!?" Lithia shouted back, "It's not every day I let go of a thick slice of man-meat like him, I'm being generous!"
"I-" Lance opened her mouth to complain.
"No I's young lady!" Lithia shouted, "You two would be so adorable, why if we were back in the Second Age I would be tempted to make a movie about you two."
Lance squinted, "A what?"
Lithia then frowned, all enthusiasm gone, "It's nothing. Ancient technology from a bygone era, trampled underfoot by the unceasing march of entropy."
"I see…" Lance replied, unsure what to say.
"We had so much back then. We had even landed on Rhetyna and touched the Endless Sky beyond, even if only for an instant… We could have seen so much, Theopalu, everything the Overseer had to offer." Lithia continued, her eyes growing distant, the main emotion on display being longing, "The Shards were at our fingertips, waiting to be explored, but you dragged us back here, you damn fool, brought us back to be trampled age after age by the Pillars… we could have been free." She said with emphasis, wrinkly hands squeezing one another. "I never should have listened to you, there is no beating Daxhar." She said, a violent coughing fit coming over her. When she regained her breath, she continued angrily, "He is waiting beyond the Pillars, waiting for them to snap beneath him, then we'll be doomed… the Shards had been the only escape, but like a fool I listened to you!" She screamed, whole body going rigid. "The Final End is coming!"
Lance stepped back quickly as Lithia's rant devolved into an incoherent mess. If she snapped, Lance wouldn't be long for this world if she stayed nearby.
"Grandmother!?" Nolvi asked, placing a hand on Lithia's shoulder.
Lithia froze for a long while before eventually, she blinked, turning to stare at Nolvi, their spiral eyes a perfect match for one another, "Forgive me dear, I seemed to forget where I was… a luxury I'm rarely afforded these days."
"Who is Daxha-" Nolvi began.
"Silence girl! Speak not that name!" Lithia shouted, "Do not even think it, names have power, uttering that one will bring about your doom!"
"But you were fine?" Nolvi asked, confused.
"I am a special case, the Pillar-Gods need me to keep the Seat of Death, but you two?" Lithia asked, pointing to them, "If you say that, you would be smote on the spot. Forget I uttered that name. Count yourselves lucky that we are in this prison, for if they had heard me say it, you would have been killed just for that alone."
Lance didn't need to be told twice. Lithia was senile and dangerous, but there was nothing but truth in those maddened eyes. If the name Daxhar would cause the Gods to smite her, then it would never leave her lips. Still though, that last thing Lithia said was unnerving… what was 'The Final End', and why could the Pillar-Gods not hear them in this chamber? And if they could not hear her, why would they have been able to hear them? Before she could summon up the courage to ask these questions, she heard heavy footsteps charging down the incline.
Lance turned, running out of the chamber with a smile on her face as she saw Hoplite approach with a massive crate in hand, held above his head. He placed it down on the ground before removing his helmet, a pool of his magma blood pouring out from it and down his armor.
"What happened!?" Lance shouted, running up to inspect his face.
Whatever damage he might have sustained, he'd regenerated from it already, but what could have caused that to happen?
"I fought Wurmdring again. He hit me hard, but he Burnt himself with Foundation. He is neutralized now, and more importantly-" He continued opening the top of the crate to reveal Michael and Cat, curled beside one another, "I got them back."
Michael was naked as the day he was born, his skin deathly pale, whereas Cat was wearing the same kind of rags Lance had been forced into when she had been imprisoned. Michael didn't rise from the crate, but Cat did, on shaking legs she stepped out of the crate, just staring at Jason with gratitude clear in her eyes.
"Thank you sir!" Cat began to weep, "Thank you!"
Lance, on instinct, wrapped the small woman into a hug. Cat immediately returned the embrace, burying her face into Lance's shoulder as she continued to weep.
"You brought more friends!?" Lithia shouted from her prison, "Good, I could use more servants!"
"Grandmother not now." Nolvi urged.
"Pah!" Lithia complained, the two beginning to argue back and forth.
"Private?" Jason asked, leaning over the crate.
"...Yes sir?" Michael asked, not leaving the box nor opening his eyes.
"I understand that the enemy forcibly mutated you, but you are still human, no matter what they might have told you." Jason replied, his eyes sympathetic.
"Sir, permission to speak freely?" Michael asked.
"Granted."
"They made me into a monster, sir. Ain't nothing human about me anymore, it might have been better if you'd just left me back there… I don't know when, but I'll get hungry again. I don't want to hurt anyone." Michael said, turning his face up to look at Jason, opening his eyes to reveal that they had turned from a bright blue, to a dark crimson.
Jason shook his head, "Negative marine, the body is only one thing that makes you human, your spirit is still human, your mind is still human- just remember that."
Lance could only read despair in Michael's eyes, nothing else… all other emotions were seemingly absent, buried beneath that overwhelming dread he felt. She wanted to cry looking at the state of him, how could the dwarves stomach their own cruelty?
"Can you do me a favor, sir?" Michael asked, voice grim, "I want ya to do me in-"
"Negative marine." Jason snapped, "Don't talk like that."
Cat broke the hug with Lance, turning to look down at Michael, "Thirty-Seven's right… don't be saying things like that Mike. What would Nate think? He wouldn't want you to die." She tried to reason.
"I'd hope he'd kill me too." Michael replied, shutting his eyes again, "But who am I kidding? He's probably dead, everyone's dead but us. There ain't nothin' worth living for no more."
His face scrunched up before he turned away, back shaking as he let out silent sobs.
"Marine, pull yourself together." Jason told him, "You don't know that everyone from The Sparrow is dead, you are just stressed from the captivity. You're free now, we can still link up with the survivors, they couldn't have all crashed in the Fiendwood. Are you really just going to give up?"
Michael hesitated before saying, "No sir, I won't." He said finally, rising from the crate.
His face was completely dry, no tears had come out during his weeping, an effect of the vampirism perhaps? Michael's eyes still bore that despair, but now a hot hatred burned within them as well.
He bared his newly grown fangs, eyes going wide as he growled, "I'm gonna kill them all. Kazon, the Long Chumps, I'll take em' all out, just watch me."
Jason's eyes still looked worried, but there was an undercurrent of relief there as well. "Neutralizing Kazon is currently the priority. I have to brief you on the events of the past few days." He continued, his worry eclipsing the relief, "There are aspects about me that are different now, I won't be hiding it from either of you." He continued, directing his attention to Cat as well.
Michael frowned, red eyes confused, "What do you mean, sir?" He asked, "You look the same to me."
"Try to remain calm." Jason said, taking a deep breath, "You don't have to take orders from me anymore, either of you."
Michael and Cat both shared a look, "Sir?" Cat asked, bright brown eyes confused, "What are you talking about?"
"I apologize, let's start from when we were all captured." Jason told them, putting his helmet back on.
He then went into detail about the last few days, about how he had met Lithia, had a mental breakdown, how he'd broken Lance free and learned to utilize Foundation, he left nothing out. Then, he finally reached the most important revelation.
"I'm not Hoplite anymore." He said after a brief moment of hesitation, "My name is Jason, and I don't serve in the Eighth Arm any longer."
Michael's despair increased tenfold, and he fell to his knees, staring in shock at Jason. Cat gasped, putting her hands to her mouth.
"Sir, you ain't thinkin' straight." Michael attempted to reason after a moment of shocked silence, "It's been rough but you know as well as I do that ain't how things are supposed to be. Is this some kinda test to see what we do?" He asked, relief filling his red eyes, "No worries, sir, I wouldn't play into somethin' like that. We know you're loyal to Jyn to the end."
Jason didn't reply, simply staring at Michael.
"Sir?" He asked.
Still no reply.
"This isn't funny, sir." Cat told him firmly.
"I'm not joking." Jason insisted, "We've been tricked by Jyn, he was never a human. I know now what he really is, and I know that I'm more than just a tool."
Michael and Cat both froze, shock clear in their eyes. Lance wondered if she should say something to help alleviate the sudden tension, but her words failed her. Sorrow filled Michael's eyes then, mixing with the despair as he buried his face in his hands, once again silently weeping. Cat however, was outraged.
"What the hell do you mean!?" She shouted, "How dare you say that!? What's wrong with you, what happened down here, you can't be serious! Jyn is the ultimate human he-"
"He was never human. The whole time he was a native to the world we're on right now. He was a child of the Pillar-Gods, and was exiled to our dimension, where he eventually found Earth. I'm not saying that he didn't help humanity rebuild after he arrived, or that his rule wasn't needed for us to reach the stars…" Jason told her, "But he lied about being human, for whatever reason. I don't know if it's because he wanted us to trust him more, or if he feared we'd rebel against him, but for whatever reason, Jyn hid the truth. Me and the other Hoplites are all his children, we weren't grown in a lab, we weren't injected with his DNA, he selected three-hundred women and had us that way. Because of that, I can use Foundation, because he could as well." Jason explained, "Humans from Earth can't use it, they don't have the Blood of Zodd, I do. That alone is proof enough."
"I can't believe you've bought into this… this garbage!" Cat shouted, tears welling in her eyes, "You of all people! Think about this rationally-"
"I've had plenty of time. This is the only real answer that makes sense. This is why I told you that you don't have to take orders from me anymore, as I'm not a part of the Eighth Arm." He sighed, "I understand if you want to part ways with me, but I want to let you know that I still want to find the crew of the Sparrow eventually, but after that, I'm going to live my own life."
Michael looked up, a scowl on his face, but his eyes… by the Pillars she'd not seen so much conflict since Jason had been on the precipice of madness. Outrage, sorrow, and betrayal were dominant, but there was also an undercurrent of… satisfaction? It was barely there, Michael himself probably wasn't even aware of it, but a small part of him might have been glad that Jason no longer saw himself as a tool, even if he couldn't admit it to himself.
"Please don't do this!" Michael pleaded desperately, "Please don't!"
Jason's fists clenched, "I've made my decision, I am a man."
Michael's jaw dropped as Cat continued to sob, wiping at a steady stream of tears.
Michael then turned to Lance, "Talk to him, make him see sense, he listens to you!" He begged.
Lance hesitated before shaking her head, "It is as Jason says, he is a man, not a tool. I won't tell him anything different."
Shock, before anger, "You did this to him!" Michael shouted, standing from the crate while pointing at her, "This is your fault! Putting those damn ideas in his head, you ruined him!"
Lance drew herself up, glaring right back at him, "Do you really think I forced him into making that decision!?" She shouted, anger rising, "How could you see this as anything but a good thing!?"
"Good!?" Michael shouted back, stepping out of the crate, "You just screwed us, without him the Eighth Arm's doomed!"
Lance scowled, "Then good riddance! Hells with your Eighth Arm, you should be happy that Jason is no longer a slave!"
Michael's lips drew to a line, red eyes wide as he put his hands to his head, right before he began pacing back and forth. A deep growl was rising from his throat, muffled by sealed lips. Jason looked poised to leap at Michael, and Cat simply continued to weep, unable to hold back her sobbing, face in her hands.
"If you would just listen to him-"
"Shut your mouth!" Michael shouted, wrath in his eyes, "Don't you ever talk to me again, Lance!"
"Marine!" Jason shouted.
"Don't you talk to me anymore either, traitor!" Michael shouted through tearless sobs, "I can't-" He gasped, "Just leave me alone!"
Michael then ran past Jason and up the incline, faster than she'd ever seen him move before. Lance moved to chase after him, but Jason caught her by the elbow.
"Don't." He told her, "He can make his own choices too, I won't force him to listen, and the last thing he wants right now is you chasing after him. I have a feeling he'll come back for his gear eventually, but whether or not he'll still want to work with us is a different matter." He then tilted his helmet toward Cat, "What about you?" He asked her, releasing Lance.
"Why are you doing this?" Cat sobbed, not raising her head from her hands, "I don't understand why you're betraying Terna…"
"I want to be free. That's all. I'm a human like you, at least half of me is, and humans were made for more than just servitude. I still want to protect humanity, but I don't need to do it as a slave."
"You weren't a slave!" Cat shouted, "You were a hero!"
"...The two aren't mutually exclusive." Jason replied after a moment.
Cat shook her head, backing away from him, "You don't have to do this." She tried to reason again.
"Your gear is in that crate over there, I had to reassemble it but it's in good working order now. I'll retrieve extra supplies for you and Michael so you can set off on your own. It was a pleasure serving with you both, as brief as it was. Good luck." Jason nodded.
This sent Cat into another fit of weeping, falling to her knees before she curled in on herself. Lance immediately grabbed one of the nearby blankets, throwing it over the woman with a sad frown. Cat didn't react whatsoever, still in the throes of her grief. Jason once again removed his helmet, turning to stare up the incline. Lance approached him, coming to stand by his side.
"...It'll be alright, Jason." Lance said, "I'm sure he'll come back."
She looked up into his golden eyes, seeing disappointment in them, with an undercurrent of sadness just beneath it.
"I was hoping he would stay." He admitted, "But he's just as loyal to Terna as any other good marine would be. I shouldn't be shocked."
"Don't give up yet," Lance told him firmly, "Once he has time to reason all this out, I'm certain he'll come to the same conclusions you did."
His shoulders slumped slightly, "I don't think so, Lance. After he comes back for his gear, I doubt I'll ever see him again. Same with Cat, after she pulls herself together. If they link up with the other survivors of the Sparrow, they'll inform them that I've gone rogue and they will want nothing to do with me, outside of arresting me perhaps. I'll be alone."
Lance frowned, "Who said that you'd be alone?" She asked, "Have you forgotten about me?"
Jason met her gaze, "I apologize, of course not." He said, "But there will be no other Ternans that will want to associate with me, not after they find out about me resigning."
"Try not to think about that, you don't know what they could have learned by now, you might have sympathizers." Lance said, placing a hand on his arm.
"I won't get my hopes up." He replied with a small frown.
"We have at least a few good years, Jason." Lance told him, "You would be surprised at how much a mind can change in that short a time frame."
"A few good years?" He asked.
Her features darkened, "Before the end of Decuma, the upcoming Godling War-"
"We'll have more years than that." Jason told her firmly, his eyes suddenly becoming resolute, "I'll stop the Godling War, then the crew of the Sparrow can live their lives on this planet in peace. That is how I'll save them, even if it isn't directly."
"Jason?" Lance asked, hesitating before continuing, "Do you really think you can do that?" She asked him, hopeful.
"Affirmative. For them, and for you." He told her, his golden eyes sparkling with determination, "I don't care if they hate me, I won't let them die. To do that, I need to stop this apocalypse before it can come to fruition."
Lance hesitated for a long while before she too became resolute, "I'll help you, I don't care how terrifying things get."