3.1.1

Content warnings: brief flashbacks of patricide

~.~

A frown crossed Karyme’s face as she walked into the planning room—or maybe the “conspiracy theorist room” was a better name for it. The corkboard walls were covered from corner to corner with sticky notes and colored string, and the desk against the far wall, which had been frequently occupied by Joshua as of late, was probably the only neat part of the room. Everything else looked like organized chaos—even the sticky notes and diagrams on the wall were written in gibberish.

No, not gibberish—a needlessly complicated cipher.

Karyme’s power told her that this room belonged to Haku. Hopefully they won’t mind if we borrow it for a while. Karyme crossed the room and sat down on one of the bean bag chairs next to Joel, who was typing away on a laptop that most certainly did not belong to him. Silpa’s laptop, her power supplied. Karyme would have to figure out where Joel found that later. For now…

“Did he sleep at all last night?” Karyme asked, jerking a thumb towards Rae, who was meditating in the center of the room.

“Nope!” Joel said cheerfully.

“...Did you sleep last night?” Karyme ventured, raising an eyebrow.

Joel frowned. “Of course I did! I’m not Josh.” Karyme bit back a smile. Joshua’s brother was so different from Joshua that it was almost disorienting.

“All right, Mister Cartographer,” Karyme said lightly. “So, what do you have for us?”

“Well, Rae and I put together a map of Kai’s stuff first, like you asked us to,” Joel said, tapping his chin in thought. “And it’s a good thing, too! Josh came storming in here at like 5 am, uploaded the map onto his crystal, and then stormed right back out.”

“As I expected,” Karyme said with a laugh. Joshua could pretend not to care about Kai as much as he wanted, but such pretenses crumbled in the face of Karyme’s power. “The team going after Haku’s soul fragments will probably swing by soon.”

“What about Haku?” Juli asked, popping their head through the door.

“Good timing,” Karyme replied. “Come on in—I think Joel’s got a map for you.”

“Good, good,” Juli said, nodding sagely. They skipped over to the cluster of bean bag chairs and tossed their teleportation crystal to Joel. “Here ya go, man in the chair!”

Joel caught the orange gem with a grin, then started typing away even faster on the computer. As Joel occupied himself with transferring coordinates over to the crystal, Juli shot a worried look at Rae.

“Uh, is lawyer man okay?” Juli asked in a stage whisper, leaning towards Karyme.

“Lawyer man can hear you,” Rae grumbled, cracking open one eye. “This isn’t my first all-nighter, anyway.”

“Uh huh.” Juli sounded entirely unimpressed. “Dude, I know that using your power gives you a headache. You must have a hell of a migraine right now.”

“That’s an understatement,” Rae said evenly, massaging xyr temples. “But it was necessary. The faster we work, the better.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Karyme sighed. “For now, though, even if you rush to map out the locations of the other soul fragments, we don’t have enough manpower to act on that information, so you need to pace yourself. Go get some rest.” Rae looked like he had something to say about that, but he was interrupted by the ding of Joel’s laptop.

“All set!” Joel said with a thumbs up. He tossed the crystal back to Juli. “Happy hunting!”

“Thank ya kindly,” Juli said with a mock bow. “We’ll keep you updated on how things go.”

“Be careful,” Karyme warned. “We’ll be helping from here, of course,” she added, gesturing towards the crystal ball that sat on the floor between her and Joel—the same crystal ball that had allowed Karyme to witness everything happening in the arena during the mafia fighting tournament.

“You mean, me and you will be helping from here,” Joel interjected. “Rae’s going to take a nap.”

Rae shot Joel a withering look. “Point taken.” The lawyer rose to his feet with a sigh. “I can’t believe I’m taking orders from a teenager.”

“Well, you always were a pushover,” Juli said with an impish grin. Rae opened his mouth to respond, but Juli cut xem off. “Anyway, I’m gonna go get Peter and Dani! See ya later!” They were out the door before Rae could even respond.

Karyme chuckled. It seemed Rae would not be catching a break this morning.

~.~

Nanjing, China was not where Joshua had expected to spend his morning, but that was where the first set of coordinates from Joel’s laptop had led them. According to Karyme, Joshua, Morgan, and Lian were now standing on the grounds of Gan Jia Xiang Elementary School. A wrought iron fence circled the perimeter of the grounds. In the center of the plot of land, atop a hill, sat a squat building of white wood with a red tiled ceiling, and the yellow stone path up the hill was flanked by neatly curated flower arrangements.

The main school building wasn’t the focus of Joshua’s attention, however. Off to the side was a warehouse-esque building with paneled walls and a clouded glass ceiling. Joshua’s bracelet—the last remnant of Kai’s soul—seemed to be pulling him in that direction.

“This way,” Joshua said curtly, pointing to the warehouse. He stalked off in that direction without even waiting to see if Lian and Morgan were following him.

“Well you’re a ray of sunshine this morning,” Morgan muttered, falling in step behind Joshua. He ignored her—it wasn’t worth riling her up when she could potentially lose control and hit him with lightning again.

Even though it was barely past 5 am in the pocket dimension, it seemed to be reaching early evening here, and the long shadows cast by the setting sun helped the group hide as they approached the gate. It was too quiet for Joshua’s taste, and he found himself tensing at even the slightest noise—the soft rustle of the breeze through the ankle-high grass, the tentative chirp of crickets in the twilight, the throaty caws of birds in the distance.

“Joshua, is there a reason you’re so tense?” Lian asked, their tone good-natured.

“It feels too easy,” Joshua said warily. “We step out of the pocket dimension for the first time in a week with waning protection from the crystals, and you want me to believe that The Necromancer hasn’t noticed?”

“We don’t even know if he’s alive right now,” Lian pointed out.

“We don’t know that he’s dead, either,” Joshua griped.

As the pair spoke, they reached the fence. There didn’t appear to be a gate right next to the warehouse, but that wasn’t really a problem for Joshua—he could just fly over the gate. As soon the thought crossed Joshua’s mind, a burst of wind blew his hair into his face, and he watched Morgan propel herself over the gate on a column of air.

Idiot! Joshua hissed, drawing on the crystals’ telepathy. What if there are security cameras?

There aren’t any, Karyme supplied. Joshua ground his teeth together. Well, fine. That solved one problem. The other problem was currently staring at Joshua with doe eyes and an innocent smile.

“Carry me over?” Lian asked. Joshua sighed. For anyone else, he would’ve said no, but it was true that Lian had no way over the fence, and there wasn’t exactly a toll booth around here.

“Fine,” Joshua said begrudgingly. “Just hold on.”

Joshua wrapped his arms around Lian’s waist. Lian was not, by any means, a short individual, but they were surprisingly light, and Joshua was able to heft them over the fence with ease, landing lightly on his feet. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Joshua loosened his grip on Lian, leaving the music teacher to stumble forward a bit from the momentum.

“Thanks!” Lian said cheerfully, giving Joshua a thumbs up. Joshua rolled his eyes.

Clown.

The warehouse doors, as it turned out, were chained shut and locked with a rusty padlock. Joshua doubted he could bust the thing with his bare hands, considering the lock was as big as one of his fists, so they’d have to find another way.

“Do not hit a metal lock with lightning,” Joshua said thinly, eyes darting to Morgan.

“I wasn’t going to!” Morgan protested.

“The clouds gathering overhead seem to indicate otherwise,” Joshua snarked.

“Spoilsport,” Morgan muttered. With a wave of their hands, the clouds dispersed. Joshua pinched the bridge of his nose. At least Morgan seemed to be getting better at controlling their damn powers.

“I’ve got this,” Lian said, cracking their knuckles. “Step back.” The music teacher walked up to the lock with a mischievous grin, and then the Vine boom sound effect echoed through the air as a concentrated beam of sound cracked the lock open. It seemed Morgan wasn’t the only one getting a better handle on their powers.

Joshua pushed the large double doors open with a creak. The inside of the building, as it turned out, looked nothing at all like a warehouse. A wide stone road bisected the area, and flanking the road were two fenced-off rows of crumbling stone statues. Most of the statues were no taller than knee height for Joshua, but there were a couple of lion dog statues in the corners that rose up to eye level. Behind the statues, hanging from the walls, were several placards, but Joshua couldn’t read them—the text was written in Mandarin.

“What is this place?” Lian murmured.

“A tomb.” Joshua wasn’t sure how he knew—he just knew.

Following the magnetic pull of the green bracelet around his wrist, Joshua led the group towards the back of the room. Between two turtle-themed obelisks sat a single tombstone marked with a placard. At first, Joshua thought the bracelet was guiding him to this tombstone—the central focus of the room—but then he was pulled sideways, towards one of the lion dog statues in the corner.

“Oh!” Lian exclaimed, pointing at the statue. “Look!”

Nestled inside one of the lion's mouths was a small marble glowing with the same shade of green as the single bead on Joshua’s bracelet. There was no doubt in Joshua’s mind that this was what they’d come for. Stepping lightly on the grass, careful not to knock into any of the smaller statues, Joshua gently plucked the marble from the lion’s mouth.

And then, he was hit by a vision.

~.~

Kai forced air into his lungs in an attempt to calm himself as he traversed the garden around his uncle’s tomb. His hands shook at his sides. As if trying to dissuade Kai from what he was about to do, the shishi statues on either side of the path loomed over him, glaring at him with beady, unforgiving eyes. The teenager shrank under their gaze, pulling his long silk sleeves tighter against his skin.

Well, the royal clothing is one thing I won’t miss, Kai thought, a wry smile crossing his face.

Won’t you? his soul splinter whispered back. Kai swallowed and looked away from the statues.

The walk felt simultaneously too long and too short, and Kai found his pace slowing as he reached the actual tomb. He wasn’t ready. Maybe this was a bad idea. It wasn’t too late, though. Maybe—

“Ah, Xiao Tong, what brings you here?” The middle-aged man who had been kneeling beside the tomb rose to his feet. His bright red robes pooled at his feet, and the morning sun glinted off of his regal headdress, but it was the commanding aura about him that was the most imposing. Kai gulped. And then, he did something he’d never done before—he looked his father in the eye.

“I want to marry a foreigner,” Kai said shakily.

“You what?” Kai’s father rounded on him, eyes wide with pure, unfiltered rage, and Kai took an instinctive step backwards. Kai had seen the emperor angry many times before, but as the perfect eldest son, he’d never invoked such ire upon himself. Then again, Kai needed to anger his father if this was to work.

“I want to marry a foreigner,” Kai repeated, this time throwing in a self-honorific that was sure to strengthen his father’s rage.

“You are the crown prince,” the emperor spat, taking a step away from the tomb behind him. “You dare insinuate that you have a choice in this matter?” Kai bit back the first thought that came to mind—that he’d never been given a choice, that even now he was doing this because he didn’t have a choice. As one of Karai’s chosen warriors, he would never get to choose his own fate.

“I don’t care what you think,” Kai said coldly. There was a slight tremor in his voice. “I’ll abdicate the throne if I have to. I’m marrying a foreigner.”

It wasn’t that Kai actually wanted to marry a foreigner. Sure, he had a crush on Jinal, but she was hundreds of years older than him and far out of his league. No, Kai had picked this tactic purely because he knew it would anger his father beyond reason. Judging from the way the emperor’s nostrils flared as he looked Kai up and down, it had worked.

“You are a fool,” his father roared. Kai flinched. He was practically shaking where he stood, but he couldn’t afford to back down now.

“No, you are,” Kai shot back. He purposely did not include the proper honorific for addressing the emperor. Kai’s father stiffened.

“Get. Out,” the emperor said thinly. “And do not come back. You are no son of mine.”

“As you wish,” Kai replied, bowing in mock respect.

Kai did not wait to hear the emperor’s reply. He turned on his heel and walked swiftly away from the tomb. As he wove between neatly trimmed foliage and vividly painted stone statues, Kai’s throat became choked with guilt. He should have been relieved—the whole reason he’d approached his father today was to receive his father’s blessing to leave, and he had succeeded. As of now, Kai was an exile, and nothing more. The heavy burden of the throne was no longer his—that alone should have been liberating.

But Kai didn’t see it that way.

From the moment of Kai’s birth, his destiny had been decided. Every minute of his life had been dedicated to preparing him to govern an empire, and while that upbringing had not always been pleasant, Kai still owed everything to his family—no, to his kingdom. For Kai, leading his people had always been a way to repay that debt. And so, with that last conversation, Kai had officially turned his back on everything he’d ever known.

Worse still, he’d dropped all of his responsibilities on his younger brother’s shoulders.

“At least now the kingdom will be safe from Yaran,” Kai muttered. Yaran had already proven that he had no qualms with killing people close to Kai to get to Kai himself. For now, that threat was limited to Kai’s family, but if Kai were to become the emperor, he’d be putting the entire population in danger with his presence.

By exiling himself, Kai was solving both problems.

As Kai reached the exit to the garden, his eyes widened. Standing in the shade of a tree, leaning against the trunk, was a teenager dressed in robes similar to the ones Kai was wearing. His hair was neatly pulled back in a bun, and his eyes were full of curiosity. Kai swallowed.

“Xiao Gang,” Kai said evenly.

“You’re back,” the teenager said with a smile. “I was waiting for you. I was wondering if we could—”

“No,” Kai said curtly, walking past the tree. “We can’t.”

Xiao Gang’s face fell. Kai felt like someone had just twisted a knife between his ribs. He didn’t want to hurt his younger brother—that was the last thing he wanted—but this was for Xiao Gang’s own good.

“Wait,” Xiao Gang said with a frown. He reached for Kai’s wrist. “Gēgē—”

“Don’t,” Kai said tightly, slapping Xiao Gang’s hand away. A breeze rustled through the trees. “Don’t call me that. I’m not your brother anymore.”

“What do you mean?” The palpable hurt in Xiao Gang’s voice was enough to break Kai’s heart.

“Hopefully you’ll understand one day,” Kai said softly. “That’s the most I can hope for.”

Before Xiao Gang could ask any more questions, Kai summoned a concentrated burst of air beneath himself, launching him into the air. With each step through the air, a translucent platform of forest green light materialized at Kai’s feet, guiding him further and further away from his home.

Kai didn’t look back.

~.~

Joshua stumbled backwards, breathing heavily. His eyes were wide with alarm, adrenaline pumping through his veins. A quick look around told him that Lian and Morgan had seen the same thing he had. It hadn’t felt like a random vision—no, something told Joshua that this was one of Kai’s memories.

Joshua struggled to get his breathing in check. Maybe it was just the initial shock of being subjected to a vision out of the blue that had set Joshua off, but more likely it was experiencing the raw anger radiating from Kai’s father. It felt too much like—

Beer bottles cracking glass a body slamming into the wall hands closing around a fragile neck

“Joshua?” Lian’s voice echoed at the edge of Joshua’s awareness. “Are you—”

“Fine,” Joshua said through gritted teeth. He stormed back towards the group. “Let’s just go to the next one.”

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