Eternity's War

Book 1: Chapter 20

Roman sat patiently at the table in White Shadow's base. He began to feel a little calmer after his short nap, but now more confused than ever. Skye sat opposite at the table and had already begun to bring him up to speed on the current situation and the problems they all faced.

"I don't want to go back out to the city," the young man admitted, fear in his voice. "I just want to go home."

"I know," Skye acknowledged with a smile, doing his absolute best to reassure him. "But it's not safe there for you. Nikolai will come for you anywhere. The safest place is with me."

Roman groaned, his mind starting to become numb and delirious. "This is ridiculous," he muttered under his breath.

"It is," Skye agreed. His strategy was to try and befriend Roman so that he felt somewhat safe and comfortable. It would be the best way to ease him into the new lifestyle. "We live strange lives here, and sometimes I question why we're even doing this."

"Then why are you?" the curious boy asked. "Why can't you and Nikolai just leave each other alone?"

"It's not that easy," Skye laughed. "Nikolai and White Shadow are caught in an endless game of cat and mouse. And to be honest, I don't see it ending any time soon. Or ever, for that matter."

"Can't you just kill him? I'm against murder, but if he's such a bad person, and if your lives are at risk, just kill him and be done with it."

The suggestion was one that Skye had heard from both Sierra and Juliet in the past, but he still did not quite know how to respond to it. He paused and thought about which words to use. "We can't," he finally said. "We can't kill him."

The strange statement baffled Roman. "Nikolai said that earlier back in Shangwu. You can't, or won't?"

"Can't," Skye said. "Believe me, we want him dead. It would make our lives so much easier. But to put it quite simply, he can't be killed."

Roman raised an eyebrow and started laughing at the incomprehensible notion. "So nothing can stop him?"

"That's right."

"You can't use your sword, or shoot him?"

Skye paused again. The conversation was far from easy for anyone to grasp. "Yes, physically he can be killed. He's still human, like all of us. But we can't get close enough to him. He possesses a powerful type of telepathy in which he knows when an attack is imminent. He can read your intent."

Roman sat and pondered the explanation. "So you're saying that if you tried to kill him, he would know?"

"Correct. And he would evade the attack with ease."

"But how?" Roman asked. "He doesn't even have eyes."

"Well, he can sense," Skye explained. "He senses everything around him. He doesn't even need eyes." He smiled inwardly, mindful of how ludicrous the concept must sound to the newcomer. "And, to be honest, he can actually see better than any of us, even without eyes. Well, that's what he claims anyway."

Roman glanced at him speculatively, unsure of what to make of the peculiar revelation. It only further fuelled his growing level of overwhelming bewilderment.

"As Nikolai puts it," Skye continued, noticing the bemused expression upon his junior's face, "it's the mind that sees; not the eyes."

Roman stared blankly at Skye, allowing himself enough time to process what he was hearing. "So he can somehow see, even without eyes. And you can't attack without him knowing. Is that why you didn't attempt to stop him earlier in the city?"

"That's right. We've given up, more or less," Skye admitted.

Roman frowned. "Given up? What do you mean?"

"I mean," Skye explained, "we've given up trying to kill him. We don't know how to stop him, so we have to learn to live with him."

Roman's face was one of pure shock. "I don't understand," he said. "So you're telling me that White Shadow is trying to stop Nikolai, but you don't know how?"

Skye grimaced. He was aware of the answer but didn't want to admit it in such a moment when he was so earnestly trying to prove his faction's credibility. "Yes," he admitted. "But there's more to it than that. Ren started White Shadow long before she ever met Nikolai or myself. When she and the others moved to Athenia, we were a simple vigilante group fighting for justice. Eventually, Nikolai turned against us, and he has been the enemy ever since. But that's a story for another day. In the meantime, we need to tell you more about Black Dawn and the threat you face."

Roman let out an obvious moan, reluctant to learn any more about the different ways in which he might be killed.

Skye got up and knelt beside the young man, placing his arm around him. "I know," he said quietly, acknowledging the stress of the situation. "I know it's hard, and I'm so sorry that you have to go through all of this. It can't be easy. But I give you my word that I won't let anything happen to you." He placed a large tablet on the table in front of Roman. "And if you know your enemy, it might just save your life tonight."

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