"In the last half century," Hugo said, "the Outsiders were responsible for averting a full-scale war, stopping a rogue Martial Artist from destroying the Eye, and keeping the Order in check. So, they didn't get the time to keep an eye on the Eye."
Camille took a moment as she stared wide-eyed. "You mean this stretches back to the Cult Wars?" she whispered.
Hugo nodded. "Indeed…"
"By the way," the young Sokidu looked around. "Are we safe to be talking about these things?"
"Oh, now she's worried!" Faris laughed. "Don't worry, kid. If they knew how to spy on us, we would've been sixteen feet deep by now."
After yet another pause, Hugo began explaining further. "It is said that the Cult Wars were about the Cults messing around with each other to acquire land and resources. And they say that the Eye had to step in and stop them. But it was, in so many ways, only a proxy war."
"They were using the Cults," Faris added. "It was an ideological war between the Eye and the Order."
"The Order," Camille said, wide-eyed. "What do they have to do with it?"
The friends smiled. "They were using the Cults just like the Eye," the Mystic explained. "It was a race to win as many Cults over as possible. And then it was all about using these Cults to hurt each other – a proxy war. It was in fact the Eye and the Order who wanted more land and resources, not the Cults."
"So many people died unnecessarily." Hugo shook his head. "Infrastructure was damaged, even sacred sites were not spared. The world was an arm's length away from an arcane world war, Cami. And because of the Order, it seeped into the plebeian world as well."
Camille shrugged. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, the Outsiders saw the struggle for what it actually was, kiddo," Faris said and brought a leg atop the other. "And they also had the balls to oppose the struggle. They didn't oppose the Eye, they didn't oppose the Order – they opposed the meaningless skirmishes and covert operations."
Hugo nodded and said, "And that's why they became public enemy number one. But, while they had the balls to oppose the meaningless proxy war, no one, and I mean no one had the balls to go up against the Outsiders in the '60s, '70s, and '80s."
"Hu-hu-hu," Faris laughed as he leaned ahead and smacked his knee. "No one!"
"Why?" asked Camille.
Hugo smiled and said, "Because of one Zaatsu, Master Warren Ford…"
"And the help he had… Holy hell!" Faris looked away. "His council! My dude! Mustaqeem Al-Gohari and then Vincent Von frikkin' Bergen!"
The Zaatsu giggled. "Yeah. And Warren alone was enough for the jackasses of the world. I mean that guy had a different kind of aura, man!" He looked at his friend and added, "We became Martial Artists because of Warren."
Both the seniors looked at Camille then. Hugo said, "You might've become a Martial Artist because your brother was one, or your father was one… but us? We just wanted to be like Warren Ford. I mean when that guy walked into the Academy… God, it was epic! The man was a stoic champion in a time of utter turmoil. He was a hero."
"Hero…" Faris whispered, gently. "Period."
Hugo nodded and continued, "Wherever he went, just his presence demanded respect! No one rushed to shake hands with him, no one wanted to meet him – the moment he walked in, we'd just bow… I'm getting goosebumps from just telling you!"
"No one dared to go up against the Outsiders while he was still around," the Mystic added, in agreement with his friend. "Mustaqeem assisted him from the shadows and later, Von Bergen provided an unshakable philosophical backbone."
Hugo nodded. "Yup. Warren had his flaws, no doubt about it. But he kept the predators at bay. Where he walked, respect followed. And where Vincent talked, controversies died. And Mustaqeem was there to support them through and through. They became the perfect trio."
It took her a moment to process it, but Camille eventually nodded. "So, the Outsiders ended the Cult Wars," she said, "by countering the Eye and Order's covert agendas."
Faris smiled as he nodded. "Yup, that's right, Cami."
"But the Outsiders were not decommissioned until the Basilisk's attacks in the '90s. I mean, if they had the power to do that, why didn't they just do it back then? Warren Ford was still alive in the '90s and Master Von Bergen was the Chief Seeker."
"The '80s and '90s are an unfortunate tale, kiddo," Faris said as he leaned back and let down his hair, removing his hair tie and tossing it onto the table. He sighed. "The Eye, being as original as they've been in centuries, began drafting in Cultist misfits during the '80s. They thought 'oh the Outsiders do it all the time. We'll do it too!' And that's where mister Ambris Ferrer came from."
Wide-eyed, Camille whispered, "What? Wasn't he drafted by the Outsiders?"
"Yeah… and I'm a monkey's uncle… The Outsiders used to research assets for months, sometimes even years. Only if they passed every test and check were they drafted in. The Eye simply drafted whoever they thought was the strongest. They had an unshakable Warren complex…"
"Ambris's a Cultist drafted by the Eye… I did not know that…"
"Yup. Where the Outsiders drafted geniuses like the Amazonian princess, Marion of Amazon, these idiots drafted Ambris."
The Mystic looked at his old friend and asked, "You remember Master Marion Von Bergen, right? You used to work with her."
"Yeah, I worked as her backup for a bit." Hugo nodded and then began counting on his fingers: "One of the strongest enchantresses in the world, a Cultist leader, very smart, empathetic personality, Zaatsu, one hell of a Magicist, even knew Mysticism… there wasn't much she couldn't do."
"So, you see, Camille?" Faris leaned ahead once again. "Ambris was trained by the Eye. He became a Zaatsu, highly skilled and very powerful. I even went on a few missions with him. He was by all means an exemplary combatant – a one-man army. But eventually, he learned things the Eye didn't wanna tell him…"
Camille asked, "What did he learn?"
Hugo chuckled. "He learned that the Eye was responsible for the decimation of his Cult and their land. What he'd heard before about the Cult Wars had been little more than stories forged by some loyal Seekers."
Faris grinned as he shook his head. "But he didn't go rogue straight away. He went to the Seear and the Justice Council. And that was when he was hijacked by darker forces and pushed off the edge."
"And the Seekers became the focus of his aggression," Hugo explained.
Camille said, "That explains why he attacked and killed all the Seekers!"
Her brother nodded. "Hmm, but there's a lot more to that tale. Where even Warren and Mustaqeem in their prime wouldn't have been able to penetrate the walls of the City of Ayn, Ambris not only infiltrated it, but he targeted and killed the last contingent of Seekers so very easily. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? And amongst those who were murdered that night was the last Chief Seeker, Vincent Von Bergen."
The Zaatsu shook his head and added, "The Eye seldom attempted to stop Ambris. It was mostly the Outsiders hunting down the Basilisk and his goons. And the destruction he left in his wake provided Renekom and friends a golden opportunity to shut the Outsiders down for good…"
Faris smacked his knee once more. "Ah! No Warren, no Marion, no Vincent, no Yang… nothing! There were no heroes left alive anymore."
"True that, buddy. But I mean had it not been for Marion, we would have already been totalled by Ambris. Eye wouldn't have needed to do a thing…"
"Talk about a power couple, eh? That Vincent and Marion Von Bergen…"
"Oof, you can say that again…"
As Hugo straightened himself in his chair, Faris chuckled and said, "And do you remember their kid?"
"Oh God!" Hugo too giggled. "Don't remind me."
"Who're we talking about?" Camille asked, leaning closer.
Faris looked at her. "Vincent and Marion's son," he said. "They actually had two sons, right Hugo?"
"That's right." He nodded, looking away. "I think the younger one never even visited Ayn, but the older one… phew!"
"What about him?" she asked.
The Zaatsu shook his head as he smiled and looked at her again. "He was a genius of the kind that defies all logic, reason, sense, science, and everything else you can think of! I once saw him at the Royal Academy… came with his dad and Warren. They straight off pushed him to spar with the best of the Eye."
Hugo glanced at the clock and then sighed. Looking back at Camille, he continued, "So, that day everyone was attempting a technique called Cluster Thrusting. It's rarely used and quite hard to master. You push all the Ki into the Clusters and create a static charge and then unleash it in a single burst getting a huge boost of strength. All the Zaatsus were attempting it."
Faris said, "Yeah. And everyone had a good laugh when Obadiah Moore surprised the kid with that same technique. What was the boy's name again?"
Hugo shook his head and said, "I don't seem to recall. But anyways. So, then, Cami…" he looked at his sister again. "Fifteen minutes…"
As the friends paused, took deep breaths, giggled, and shook their heads, Camille too smiled and asked, "What?"
Hugo exhaled slowly, then said, "Just fifteen minutes later, he briskly walked to the centre of the training ground again, pointed at Obadiah and called him to the middle, and challenged him. The Mystics and Zaatsus dropped their jaws so far down it felt like they would touch the ground! Not only did that sixteen-year-old kid understand the Zaatsus' technique after observing it for only fifteen minutes, but the bastard also countered it! And his counter was so strong, Cami, that it left Obadiah paralyzed for days!"
The friends laughed. Faris said, "Even someone like your brother would take months of practice to master and counter a concentration technique like that, especially if he'd never seen it before. But he took only fifteen minutes! A completely new, Zaatsu-level technique… no problems at all!"
Hugo ran his fingers through his hair. "When I was training with Warren, I once saw Mustaqeem give him a few books on Mysticism. The kid must have been fourteen or fifteen back then. Six months later I saw him doing a Continuum jump. I said to Warren, I said, 'MasterAl-Gohari's been training him well…' Warren looked at me and told me that Mustaqeem didn't even train him for a single day. He simply read the books and became a Mystic!"
"In six months, Cami!" Faris stressed. "In six months he jumped in and out of the Continuum by reading books. It took me three years of rigorous practice to attempt my first jump! Three years! And that too under the guidance of Master Al-Gohari. And he was ONLY FOURTEEN!"
"You're kidding…" Camille murmured, her voice caught between amazement and disbelief, a grin tugging at her lips despite the chill running down her spine. "What happened to him then?"
The smiles on their faces vanished quickly. Hugo whispered, "Ambris…"
"Oh…"
And silence took over the kitchen.
For the next several minutes, everyone kept staring at the ground. Camille was sitting on the chair with her legs drawn up to her chest, arms loosely wrapped around them. Hugo had leaned back in his chair while Faris was sitting leaning forward, one hand braced on his knee, tension written across his face.
Finally, the Sokidu looked up. "Why didn't anyone tell us all this?" she asked.
Hugo once again took a deep breath. "History," he said. "Do you remember what our white-haired friend said about history?"
"Those who write it can bend it to the prevalent bias…"
"Yes."
Faris too broke his silence and said, "Within a year of the death of Yang, they changed the syllabi across the academies. Almost all the books being read are new editions published after 2000."
The Zaatsu smiled. "Keeping tabs on academics was also a job of the Seekers… the loss of Master Vincent Von Bergen ruined us in so many ways."
"Vincent – that same name, eh Hugo…" Faris smiled and looked at his friend. "And then the bounty hunter's also talking about historical inconsistencies? Like, bro…"
Hugo looked away. "That's not the only relation between the two…"
The Mystic's smile slowly vanished. He turned towards Camille who also looked just as stunned. Looking back at the Zaatsu, he softly asked, "What do you mean?"
Hugo dropped his head. "You know what I mean…"
"What do you mean, Hugo? He's Master Von Bergen's kid? That same kid?"
"I'm afraid not…"
"Then who?" Camille asked, though the answer had already begun forming somewhere cold inside her chest.
"Older one was…" Hugo's voice choked. He cleared his throat, still looking down. "He was found dead but we never found the younger one's body. Nor did we ever find Warren."
"Never found?" she echoed, but her voice came out hollow – almost detached, like her mind couldn't quite keep up with the words.
Faris stood up. "What're you saying, buddy?"
Hugo looked at him. "I said what I said."
"Shit!" The wide-eyed Mystic had a hand on his head as he spoke in a whisper. "That explains so much… the magic, the precision, the skill… Marion, Vincent, Warren…"
Camille had her feet on the ground. She pushed forward to the edge of her seat. "So, is he carrying on their mission as well?" she asked.
Her brother shook his head. "No. I don't know what he's doing…"
A few seconds later, he added, "The damned politics of power took so much from us. Killed families, broke homes, and all for what?"
The room fell into silence. Not a word more was spoken until finally Faris stormed out. Camille too eventually resigned to her bedroom.
Hugo was left alone in the kitchen. His heart ached for the child who had lost his family, his soul ached for the home he had once let duty consume, and his mind raced, searching for solutions to the void his predecessors had left behind. Arms dropped to his sides and legs stretched out before him, he kept staring at the ceiling with half-closed eyes. A whisper escaped his lips. "Did I betray them all?"