Spiritbound [Spirit Magic, Military, Progression] (Book 1 Complete)

A flash of azure engulfed the trio's vision as they stood on the steel platform. The humming sound faded into silence as the darkness swallowed their surroundings before getting repelled by the gentle radiance of embers that lit the stone arches. All around them were watchmen preparing for their next sortie. Custodians stormed through the corridors in organized chaos while carrying supplies and wounded members of the Order. Tucker and Ray observed their surroundings before getting shoved from behind to move forward.

"Let's get moving; we can't block the platform," Alex said, stepping off the platform. "There are a dozen of us requesting permission to return to the Order and sortieing out for their next mission. If we linger too long, it sets the custodian's schedule back."

Tucker's steps fell in rhythm with his mentor. He kept his eyes forward and asked in a low but firm voice. "How many of us are heading to Alexandria?"

"Honestly? I don't have the slightest clue," Alex replied. "All I know is that the Head Administrator wants to meet you after your latest achievements. It's a good opportunity to see what the deployment would be like, so choose your questions carefully."

"Don't forget you also gotta speak to that kid still," Ray chimed in while following closely behind them. "It's been a while since we've left the bastion, so odds are she probably already knows what happened."

Alex glanced at Tucker for a moment before falling deep into thought. Their steps echoed softly through the corridor, and soon he forced the words out. "If you're looking for closure… now would be the time, Tucker. Once you speak to the Head Administrator, we'll be heading out shortly after."

Tucker released a short breath through his lips before shaking his head. "You already knew that Adira was connected to the golems, didn't you?"

Alex shifted his eyes to the end of the corridor. "I didn't," he admitted. "However, I saw the memory orb and what happened at the bastion. Your reaction just confirmed it. Unlike the others, I won't tell you that you made the correct decision. That you did what was right. That's something you'll have to decide for yourself."

"But I've lived long enough to know one thing—" His eyes flicked back to Tucker. "It's better to leave as few regrets as possible."

Tucker quietly passed the stone pillars without uttering another sentence. The words resonated with his heart, yet felt even more detached from what he wanted to do. Ray was right that Adira wouldn't understand why he had failed to save her friend. Only time would help her come to terms with the events that transpired at the bastion.

Time he wouldn't have to give. He convinced himself with each passing second that it was the right thing to do. Not how he killed the boy, but why. Of the rain that drowned out the surroundings and the hundreds of men who died on the battlefield just for a chance of victory. But no matter how much he thought about it, Tucker couldn't bring himself to do it.

The burden of death was something children shouldn't be exposed to. It was a belief that Tucker held dear to his heart. Yet, the thought of Adira discovering the truth of what he did tore apart his soul. The look of disdain and hatred that would manifest in her eyes. The very sight would be the last scene he would see of her until they met again. If they ever met again.

He could tell her everything that happened, at the cost of Adira hating him. Despising every fiber of his being for failing to protect her family. For lying to her. And despite how much he wished for the result to change, it never would. It was better for her to hate him than to feel betrayed if the truth ever came to light. Because at the very least, she would have something to hold on to so that she could continue to move forward.

Alex stopped in the corridor and took a deep breath. He stared at Tucker. "We're here."

The trio stood before a pair of steel doors with scriptures etched across the surface. A familiar sight that Tucker had seen countless times after spending days at the Order. He hesitated for moment before placing his hand on the surface of the characters, reading them in his head word by word.

Loyalty in silence, honor in deeds.

"We'll wait here for you," Alex said. "Go do what you need to do."

Ray leaned against the stone wall beside the steel doors. "Try not to take too long; we can't spend too much time here—gah!"

Alex struck the side of Ray's chest with his elbow while clicking his tongue. "Ignore him and go on with it."

"Thanks, I won't take too long." Tucker placed his hands on the steel surface, gently pushing the doors open as the metal hinges loudly groaned with each passing second. His eyes fell on Charles, who turned his head towards the entrance to the scholars' chamber.

The pen slipped out of the old man's trembling hand before clattering against the stone floor. For a long moment, he stood there unable to believe who he was seeing. The white strands of his hair had been combed back, revealing the circular glasses on his face. He rubbed his tired black eyes trying to make sense of who had returned. But before he could say a word, a gasp pulled his attention.

Charles looked back to see Daniela's violet eyes focusing on Tucker. She held onto Adira's hand; her long black hair was tied into a ponytail. Yet in her eyes was a sea of emotions filled with confliction. The old scholar clenched his hand and held it before his mouth before dryly coughing.

"Oh my… oh dear me. I seem to have forgotten to get those pesky tomes that Oliver requested." He turned to Daniela. "Would you be a good sport and help me fetch them?"

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Daniela worriedly gazed at Adira, watching as the young child clenched onto the white seams of her dress. With the creases in the fabric and fragile light, her eyes shined brightly in the chamber. Yet a hint of pain ached in the young girl's heart.

"Adira…" Daniela softly spoke. "If you want me to stay by your side… just say so."

She shook her head without taking her eyes off Tucker. In a moment, Daniela felt Adira's grasp weaken before finally releasing her hand. Without uttering another word, Charles gave Tucker a gentle nod before standing beside Daniela. He placed his hand behind his apprentice's shoulder and ushered her to leave with him. Their steps echoed through the chamber, and then it was just the two of them.

Adira and Tucker.

The child who had been turned into a weapon for the Empire and the man who discovered the secret to defeating it. A trace of sadness flickered in Tucker's eyes, pulling at his heart as the memories of rain hammered in his mind. The boy with crimson hair and eyes, whose life was cut far too soon crashed into his consciousness. And no matter how much he tried to push the words out, not a single one escaped him.

It was subtle, hardly even noticeable, but the child's trembling shoulders were enough for Tucker to realize that Adira knew. She knew what had happened. But the silence that came from her stung, and despite everything Tucker had done, there was nothing to redeem him.

Because this was the last chance they would have to talk face to face without distractions. To feel the hollow sting of betrayal and to cry with those who could support her. It was better for her to hate him now while he was with her than later. Better for her to have someone to blame—something to cling onto so that she could keep moving forward. All so she could live a better life, one without a hindrance like him. Even if it meant stepping over the ruins of what they once had.

Adira stood still as Charles and Daniela left the room. Her hands were quivering, and she didn't know what to say. It had been weeks—no, months since she had last seen Tucker. Yet so much had changed about him. The man who saved her hardly resembled the eager recruit he once was. The fire that burned in his eyes hadn't vanished, but it had dimmed. Turned into something colder, steadier, and tired. His long hazel hair had been cut short on the sides with his bangs flowing freely in the middle.

The youthfulness on his face was long gone, replaced by faint scars and lines carved by sleepless nights. Of too many battles he had survived. Something Adira wished for with all her heart. She had seen the memory orbs when Charles accidently revealed them in the scholar's chamber. The sound of rain entering their ears, and the chaos of the battlefield as men fell one after another.

She remembered it all too clearly.

As if it had happened right before her.

The blood dripped down Tucker's blade in a single instance that stretched for an eternity. The machine's gears clicking into place one last time. Under the rain-soaked sky. Beneath the shadow of the golem that was their prison. Everything happened so fast, yet every detail was as clear as day. The heartbreak, the tear that followed from Tucker's pained expression knowing that he was given no other choice but to kill Mitch. That he had failed her.

She knew Tucker did it to save his friends, but what about hers? Why did those she love have to die? The children who had never asked for anything but were lured into the cold depths by those who exploited them. Wasn't there anything he could have done?

The questions held her back like chains attached to her ankles. Every part of her wanted to hate him, to curse his name for what he'd done, but she couldn't. Adira wanted to believe that Tucker wasn't like the others from the tower. That he wasn't another cruel adult who saw her only as a tool, something to be used and discarded.

Those were the thoughts that spiraled through her mind as the cold steel blade ended Mitch's life. The tears streaming down her cheeks burned like fleeting embers as she watched her friend's final moments fade away. Yet even as Mitch laid there, bleeding in the iron casket, a faint warmth glimmered in his eyes. The same kind that could only be expressed with one emotion—gratitude.

She didn't understand why Mitch kept pushing himself so far beyond his limits even as his flesh melted in the canister. Why he refused to stop even when the pain had already claimed him. But then the words escaped his trembling lips.

Thank you… for saving me.

Tears fell from her cheeks as she stared at Tucker. Adira knew what he had been through, the battles in the memory orb that spanned from the open courtyard to the inner walls of the castle. How each step was paved in a path of blood. How he lost those close to him. The other watchmen and scholars who witnessed the battle unfold at Stafford didn't utter a word throughout the entire sequence. Unable to watch as thousands of enemy soldiers surrounded the few hundred that stayed behind to buy time.

They watched as Tucker gave his speech, how he sent those who were last of kin back first. How he didn't draw lots and instead chose to fight till the end. Only until his soldiers made it out did he plan to leave, but even as they ran back to the teleportation platform, he held the line.

Adira remembered watching with tears as Tucker fought at the entrance of the chamber. He planned to die there. After everything he had been through, and from their short encounter, she knew he was going to stay at the bastion until the end.

She wouldn't see him again.

The person who stood against his comrades in the dreadful forest to protect her.

The one who risked his life so she could live a life she used to only dream of in the darkness of the Emerald Tower.

But as she continued to watch the memory orb unfold without blinking, a person grabbed onto Tucker's shoulder. Someone he considered his brother. Luka had grabbed his shoulder and hurled him onto the teleportation platform in his place. The gut-wrenching scream that escaped the commander of the bastion was one they could never forget. Many of the watchmen stood in silence as the chapters of their comrade's lives ended in the blood-soaked halls of their fortress.

After days of waiting for a response, a letter never came. Adira thought he had forgotten about her. Forgotten about his promise to return. She stared at his weathered hands covered in scars, each one a silent story of his bravery. She tried to stifle her sniffles as Tucker knelt down on one knee.

"I…" he stopped for a moment, trying to piece together the words from his tremoring voice. Guilt held onto him, yet before he could finish, Adira threw herself into his arms, clutching him tightly as her sobs broke through the silence. Sightly holding him close as tears fell onto his shoulder.

Her quiet sniffles stopped him from saying another word. Tucker simply held Adira while wrapping his arms around the small frame that shook against him. All this time, he had been afraid—afraid of what to tell her, of how to explain what happened at the bastion.

His social skills were weak, and in the time spent trying to come up with the right words to say, he had forgotten the most important thing. That she was still just a child—one who had spent all this time worried sick about him.

Minutes passed before her sobs finally softened. She had lost her home, memories of those she cared about, but Tucker had brought her back to the Order. Given her something she never thought she'd find again. A place where she was no longer alone. To the others, she was merely a child a rookie had saved on a whim, but to Adira… she had found her home.

In a muffled whisper against his shoulder, she said, "Welcome home."

Tucker's lips slowly curved into a faint smile as he closed his eyes.

"I'm glad to be back."