The Dream Shifter

Chapter 271

Everything came to an end. He faced such reality with his men. Death surrounded them all, watching and waiting. Simonides knew it was inescapable. 'Execution orders…they're all still just kids…but I have my orders…' Through his mental turmoil, Simonides caught sight of Abeiron. It drew him away from his conflictions.

Abeiron ordered a young officer off into the camp. He still worked to finish bringing the camp under order. The papers in his hand passed off to his assistant. "Take these to the quartermaster. The fighting ruined many of our supplies. Report back immediately after meeting with him. I need to know how many to send out to resupply us."

"Yes, sir!" The officer disappeared off behind one of the tents.

Simonides approached Abeiron, now finished. "Commander."

"Captain? How long have you been there?" Abeiron caught himself a little surprised with the proximity of his Captain. He beat himself up a little inside for not noticing him.

"We have new orders from the capital." A thin grim line drew across his lips. The words from the General echoed through his mind again. His entire meeting replayed to pack more weight on him.

The change in Simonides was not lost on Abeiron. He knew his Captain well enough to see when something was wrong. 'What are these orders that it has the Captain so upset? It's rare to see him like this.' A bit of concern and fear settled into Abeiron. The more he allowed his mind time the worse things he produced. "What are the orders?"

Simonides returned to his time with the General on the orders. Something else other than just the execution orders weighed on him. If possible, it meant something even direr. Simonides felt everyone was on an uncontrollable spiral to destruction. He hoped he could avert the worst possible outcome.

Demosthenes nodded to confirm Simonides' suspicions. A slightly pained expression crept through the cracks in his face from the weight of the words he delivered. "It is the same for any traitor of Atlantis. You've been granted the permission to execute her along with all of her sympathizers."

'Execution orders!? What's happening in the capital?'

"This is no longer about capture. Kill everyone connected to Captain of the Guard Eudokia Ismene. No exceptions, Captain." Demosthenes paused measuring out his words as he watched Simonides features change. "I understand this hard to hear, it surprises me as well. The council hoped to resolve these matters in private and limit the dishonor, but things have changed."

"Changed, sir?"

"Yes, your last report about the intruders. The more it was reviewed the more certain the council is that she is the leader behind it."

"But I haven't seen her in their group, sir. I wouldn't forget her face."

"Yes, but don't forget that she is a very skilled MP user. She could easily disguise herself."

"Yes, sir." Simonides thought about the implications of fighting Eudokia. He knew her strengths well enough. There was few in the military that would not recognize or even fear her. She held a position closest to the King and young enough to earn it through hard work rather than nepotism. "I understand, sir, but capturing her—"

"The council already knows. They are in deliberations on mobilizing the Omega Division."

Simonides sank a little in his seat hearing the words. He could not believe it. 'Mobilizing the Omega Division…' They were never mobilized until there was a large size emergency. Only individuals deployed, even for capturing criminal MPs. The mobilization of the division for a single person was unheard of in their history. 'The last time they were mobilized…Atlantis shook…'

He knew he had to face the responsibility of the title he held. Doubt still filled his mind with the orders and their reasons. It did not make any sense to him. "We're mobilizing all forces to move out as soon as possible. Our orders are the capture of the traitor Eudokia Ismene, leader of this rebellion!"

He knew he had to face the responsibility of the title he held. Doubt still filled his mind with the orders and their reasons. It did not make any sense to him. "We're mobilizing all forces to move out as soon as possible. Our orders are the capture of the traitor Eudokia Ismene, leader of this rebellion!"

Abeiron took a step back. He forced the Captain's words to replay in his mind just to be sure he heard correctly. Shock bled into his eyes unable to hold back any longer. "The Captain of the Guard, sir?!" His hand developed an uncontrollable shake.

Still questioning himself, Simonides turned his head away from the Commander. His gaze fixated on the horizon in the direction of the capital. "Yes, those are the orders we have." He tightened his hands into fists thinking about what he just did. It left a bitter taste in his throat. 'I just disobeyed a direct order from the General. Only the future knows what'll become of the path I've chosen.' The doubt he held could not be swayed. His gut told him there was something else going on that he still did not understand. He could not turn away. Not when everything felt so wrong.

"…but…it's Eudokia Ismene…" Abeiron found himself caught between his words. He knew her like the Captain when she was stationed at the South Gate, but she was unlike any other MP he had ever seen. "How is it even possible, sir? It doesn't make any sense! She loves Atlantis, she wouldn't start a rebellion."

"Perhaps it is a sign of the changing times. The world's become unclear and nothing is straightforward anymore." Simonides turned away from his view and tilted his head back at Abeiron. A harsh expression cut through his face. Resolve built up, unwilling to submit to the currents.

The Commander took a step forward suddenly getting a feeling that his Captain was about to plunge himself into darkness. "Sir, what you're saying…"

"Abeiron, there's shadows everywhere. I can barely even see my own hands anymore."

"Captain?"

Simonides broke his standoff with his uncertainty. He marched away from Abeiron with purpose in his step. "I'm going to find some answers. The orders stand. They are from the capital. Get every able body man and woman ready to move out!"

The answers Simonides sought brought him to the medical tent, once more. He came to them after the last fight, but he watched their opponents in action. Most of the information he needed he already saw. However, he was forced to stay away from the fighting and direct his men around in the chaos. He had no chance to learn anything about them. Worse, all those that fought them were so fatigued from the fights he could not speak to them.

He had to wait, again.

Simonides was done waiting.

Heber stood in front of Simonides. The young man already knew what Simonides wanted, but refused him access. "I can't let you see them yet, sir! As their doctor, they need their rest. The mental fatigue for most of them was far beyond any safe limits. They are not ready, they're too exhausted."

A narrow look carved into Simonides' eyes. He refused to back down. "Heber, as I recall you're not a real doctor, only a nurse. You can't give me any orders."

Grinding his teeth a little, Simonides had hit the sensitive point in Heber. Heber tried to hold his ground against the Captain, but had nothing left to stand upon. He fell back on the only thing he had left. "Doctor Silas gave these orders."

"I've not heard this from the doctor. Can you find him for me, so that I may speak with him?"

Heber started to move in the direction, but motioned to the Captain. "If you follow me, sir. I can take you to him."

"I'll stay here. It would cause more trouble in a place already so busy."

Thinning his features, Heber already knew what Simonides planned, but could nothing. He was left in a terrible position and could only rush off to find the doctor before the situation grew worse.

Once Heber left sight of Simonides range, he pushed through the cloth divide between the sections. He found all of the MPs he sent out and those he put on patrol in the room. Bakkhos stared up at him from a relaxed position on the cot with a bit of a smirk on his lips.

"Still clever, while you're being cruel, I see," commented Bakkhos. The middle-aged man lifted himself up a little from the cot to meet Simonides.

Simonides pulled over a stool and sat down next to Bakkhos. The harsh expression remained on his face. "I didn't come for idle chatter."

The smirk disappeared from Bakkhos. It turned him to appearing almost tired. "I can see the look in your eyes. Things are different and you want some answers from what we learned during our fights with the kids."

"What do you know?"

"Straight to the point." An arm came up from under the sheet to rest on his knee. He leaned in a little, preparing for his tale. "We've all seen it, even you, Captain. Something's not right with them. They don't behave to our expectations. They do things that should be impossible."

Past fights he watched played through Simonides' mind. He assumed it was something he did not understand about their powers. Yet his gut told him he missed something. 'He's figured it out. What makes them different.' The answer seemed within reach finally. Simonides leaned in, almost desperate. "What is it about them that is so different? Are they that much more powerful of MPs?"

Bakkhos shook his head. "It's easy to think that, but no that's not even anywhere close to the truth. The reality is that they are reality, strange as it sounds." His confusing words made Simonides expression sharpen. "I mean they aren't one of us. There's a reason they speak a different language and it's not because they're exiles. They aren't even Atlanteans or Meso Prosecho users. They are foreigners, Japanese since that's what language they speak."

Some of the pieces fell into place for Simonides, but it only introduced new questions. It made his mind spin in circles. A horrible realization came to him through all of the confusion. "How can that be possible? If they aren't MP then they should just be normal humans."

A sigh came from Bakkhos. He placed a hand where Chiharu struck him. "I would normally agree, but these are the facts, even if we can't explain them. It's why our fights aren't like normal fights between two MP users."

Coughing from the corner, Phontine forced herself up with her body still suffering from physical stress on top of the mental stress they all felt. "I think I can give a partial answer to it."

Bakkhos perked up, curious to Phontine's interruption. "Oh? You learn something from them?"

"What did they tell you?" ordered Simonides, already turned around in his stool to meet Phontine.

Phontine dropped back down in the cot unable to keep herself from getting lightheaded. "I thought she was just lying to me, but what I saw was just too impossible to be explained in any other way. They aren't normal humans anymore. The one I spoke to called herself Masa. The way she spoke made it seem like an event happened recently to change them."

"It was one of us, she said," spoke up Stamatia, her fatigue kept her voice soft. "She said she was Japanese. Fumiko Terauchi was her name. She said one of us was to blame for what happened to them."

"One of us?" repeated Simonides. The new pieces of information sent his mind running everywhere to put things together. It was the answer that explained everything, but it was an impossible an answer. Until they arrived, there were two facts about humanity, those without the Meso Prosecho power and those with it. 'This throws everything we know away. 

It completely changes everything! It changes how we fight them! This is it! This is what I needed, what Athene was trying to tell me!' Simonides stood up thinking he was done.

"There's more you need to know," called Bakkhos. "The way to defeat them."

Simonides froze on his words. It was more than he hoped. "If you know how to defeat them, why didn't you win?"

"Because there is a condition to defeating them."

"A condition?"

"We are the only ones that can defeat them, because of our power." Bakkhos began to jester with his hands to get his point across. "In a normal fight between two MPs, it comes down to superior power and concentration. The stronger field beats the weaker field. However, they don't use fields to create their powers. Their powers are real. This means that we can void their powers, but the condition is that we must know what all of their powers are. If we miss even one then it may be enough for them to win, but with all of their powers negated they'll be normal again."