Free The End of the Fantasy (Book #6 of the Sage Saga) by Julius St. Clair

business transaction,” she laughed, stepping toward him.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I’m saying that we’re helping each other…but let’s enjoy each other too.” She kissed him softly on the cheek, and Bastion kissed her back on the lips. She smiled and he closed his eyes.
    He wouldn’t lose her.
    He just wouldn’t.
     

Chapter 6 – What We Need
    “You tired?” Zhou laughed manically as he cut through another Yama. Sway groaned and kept swinging his eidolon, barely nicking the Yama’s skin. “Come on, put some elbow behind your swings!”
    “I got stabbed, remember?” Sway retorted, angrily slashing a Yama in two.
    “So?”
    “So? So, I got stabbed! This guy…saying ‘so.’” Zhou glanced behind him momentarily to see Sway fighting off dozens of Yama, all clamoring over each other and fighting for their turn at the young Sage. Though they were in the forest, it certainly didn’t feel like it. The very top of the forest canopy was visible and a bit of sunlight still illuminated the area, but otherwise, all they saw was Yama, climbing on top of each other and forming large flesh walls that towered high over their heads. The Yama at the top would jump down into the invisible ring below, attempting to overcome their opponents. It hasn’t worked yet, but it managed to scare Sway every time they tried. He was having enough trouble keeping his eyes all around him, let alone above. He prayed that they wouldn’t begin popping up from the ground. He would have a heart attack at that point.
    “It’s just a scratch,” Zhou grunted as he pressed his blade against the abdomen of three Yama, pushing them backwards into the wall. “Let the adrenaline tell you so.”
    “There’s no way we’re getting out of this,” Sway muttered. Zhou slapped him upside his head, breaking Sway’s concentration and causing him to get cut by a Yama claw on the leg. He decapitated the Yama and went back to keeping his front clear. “Why would you do that?” he asked Zhou and he heard the Master Sage chuckle.
    “Of course we’re not getting out of this,” he declared, almost happily. Sway figured he had just lost his mind.
    “I don’t know why you sound so excited about it.”
    “Because we’re still fulfilling our duty,” he replied casually, cutting through a Yama’s back. “Don’t focus on the future, and especially not death. Take in the moment and embrace the present. The present will eventually become the future, and all will be taken care of. Our Queen gave us an order. That order is our lives now. Nothing else matters.”
    “I don’t know how you can think so linear,” Sway said, his breath beginning to catch in his lungs. He tried to steady it, but the onslaught of Yama wouldn’t allow it. He could feel that his end was near.
    “Fine, let’s debate your way of thinking. Let’s say we make it. Good. We survive another day. If we die, as long as we keep the Yama at bay, who cares? We give the Queen what she needs and our fellow Sages the time they need to form a plan, defeat the Yama, and all is well. We did our job. Whether we think of the future, hold on,” he stopped to kick a Yama in the face, and then he swiped through a couple more that had fallen from above, cutting them into pieces by the time they hit the ground. “What was I saying? Oh yeah…whether we think of the future or dwell on the past, the present is all we reside in, so let’s just get the job done.”
    “I guess,” Sway gasped. His chest burned, and he grit his teeth as he felt another dreadlock being ripped from the crown of his head. “But even with the whole present thing…you do know that—”
    “—these Yama are not the heavyhitters?” Zhou replied. “That these are just the grunts and so that means Catherine and the others will have to face the real threats?”
    “Yes,” Sway whispered, falling to one knee. A Yama leapt to back of the young Sage’s throat and began to bite through his neck. Zhou reacted