3.2.3
Updated: Sep 20, 2023
Content warnings: possession, major character death, suicidal ideation, body horror, description of pre-existing injuries (detail below; skip if you prefer surprises)
It is implied that a character is possessed by an alternate version of himself. This is not mean to be an accurate depiction of DID (see disclaimer here).
Major character death—described from the perspective of the dying character.
It is implied that a character almost let herself die.
A character’s body shatters, with liquid shadows seeping through the cracks.
A character’s injuries are briefly mentioned: bruises, a missing limb, broken bones
~.~
Auster was gone.
Joshua was vaguely aware of the others speaking in the background, but he couldn’t parse the words. All he could do was stare blankly at the space where Auster had been mere seconds before. It felt like his brain was stuttering to a halt. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t feel. Everything was numb.
Auster was gone.
Raw fury flooded Joshua’s being. The past two months had been hell on earth, and while Auster and Joel had always been in some danger, it had mostly been hell on earth for Joshua alone. But now—now Auster was right in the path of fire and he had done absolutely nothing to deserve it. Auster could be dead and Joshua wouldn’t even know.
“You!” Joshua stormed up to Ilia, eyes alight with anger. The young woman was still on the floor, cradled in Morgan’s arms, and Joshua did not care in the slightest. “How did you not know this would happen?!”
“I-I’m sorry,” Ilia breathed, eyes brimming with tears. “I couldn’t—”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it!” Joshua yelled. “Sorry won’t bring Auster back!”
“Joshua, stop!” Lian cried. They wrapped their arms around Joshua from behind, pulling him into a hug. “I know you’re upset, and you have every reason to be upset, but it’s not Ilia’s fault!”
“Upset?” Joshua roared. He tried to pull away from Lian, but their grip was firm. “You think I’m just upset? How can you possibly—”
“Joshua.” Joel’s voice trembled as he looked at his brother. “I’m—I’m worried about Auster, too. But we can’t save him unless we calm down and think.”
Joshua stiffened. He was still shaking with rage, but that quiet fear in Joel’s eyes—it was too similar to the look Joel had always had when their father was still around, and now Joel was looking at Joshua that way. Maybe Joel was simply afraid for Auster—or maybe, just maybe, Joel had finally caught on to the fact that Joshua was a murderer governed by uncontrollable fury, just like his father.
The anger in Joshua’s chest twisted into a cold, deep-rooted dread. He was still trembling in Lian’s embrace, but for very different reasons now.
“I’m sorry,” Ilia said shakily. At some point, Morgan had helped her into a sitting position, and she was now leaning against the wall. “I really, really am. But I—even when I look forward, trying to figure out who took Auster and where they went, I can’t see anything. And there’s only one way that could be true.”
“The Necromancer took him,” Karyme said quietly.
Joshua’s blood ran cold. Logically, he had already come to that conclusion—after all, only one person was strong enough to break into the pocket dimension like that. Hearing it said out loud didn’t make it any better.
“So we have no way to know where Auster is now or if he’s still alive,” Lian said miserably.
“Well, he’s probably not dead,” Morgan said bluntly.
“How do you know that?” Joshua snapped. Lian’s grip around him tightened. “Are you psychic now, too?”
“It’s negotiation 101,” Morgan shot back. “Don’t kill the leverage.”
Her tone of voice was calmer than Joshua expected. Normally, she would have risen to Joshua’s challenge, but the urgency of the situation seemed to have cooled her tongue.
“Morgan’s right,” Dani agreed. “The Necromancer was trying to get Joshua—probably to get Kai’s soul—but he got Auster instead. Auster doesn’t have a bracelet, but he’s still useful as a bargaining chip, so bitchboy probably won’t kill him until he can trade Auster for a bracelet.”
“So we should wait for The Necromancer to come to us?” Juli asked.
“Absolutely not,” Rae said firmly. Joshua’s head snapped towards Rae. “I attuned myself to Auster right before he disappeared.”
Relief flooded Joshua’s system. He couldn’t believe that he’d ever considered the lawyer useless.
“Where is he?” Joshua croaked.
“I didn’t get to finish attuning to Auster, so I’m getting two signals at once,” Rae explained. “One is coming from an area in Detroit, and the other is pinging in Tunisia, right next to Kai’s last soul fragment.”
“That seems… kind of random,” Lian said with a frown. “And also convenient.”
“Nah, nah, Detroit makes sense,” Juli countered. “It’s a pretty big hub for the Maceo Syndicate—the political branch of the Soul Stealers. Makes sense that Mr. Death Guy would take Hoodie Man up there.”
“And if The Necromancer was trained by The Ennead way back when, it would make sense for him to know some of the soul fragment locations,” Peter pointed out. “Since those locations are tied to important memories for the Ennead.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Karyme agreed. “I think Detroit is the place Auster was taken to immediately when he was teleported away, and after that, The Necromancer took Auster to Tunisia to find Kai’s final soul fragment. That said, there’s no way to tell for sure. He could be at either location, honestly.”
“So we split up and check both places,” Joshua ground out. “Same teams we were using for the soul hunt. My team will go to Tunisia.”
Saving Kai was not Joshua’s priority at the moment—not with Auster’s life on the line—but if Karyme’s hunch was right, Auster was currently in Tunisia, so going there would be killing two birds with one stone. Sending the other team to Detroit was just insurance.
“Sounds like a plan,” Dani said firmly. “We’ll turn the mafia base in Detroit upside down.”
“And Rae, Joel, and I will make sure the two teams are up to date on each other’s progress,” Karyme asserted. She made eye contact with Joshua, eyes shining with determination. “We’ll find him, Joshua.”
“Yeah!” Joel chirped. His smile was muted as he placed a comforting hand on Joshua’s arm. “We’ll protect him. Everything will turn out fine!”
Joshua swallowed down a bitter retort. None of them had addressed the elephant in the room—the fact that even if they found Auster, they had no way to guarantee that they could take down The Necromancer. Both times they had encountered The Necromancer before, the Ennead had been there to protect them. This time would be different.
Joshua, Lian said softly, directing their thoughts only to him. They took Joshua’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Don’t think about whether we can do this. We’ll succeed because we have to.
Joshua grimaced. He wanted to believe that everything would work out. No, he needed that to be true. If Auster died now, Joshua would never be able to forgive himself. Joshua had always had a target on his back, ever since he’d gotten his wings, but Auster—Auster had been a normal guy living a normal life until Joshua had painted a target on his back. If Auster died, there would be no one to blame but Joshua.
“Let’s just go,” Joshua said miserably. Lian was right—moping was a waste of time at this point, and the clock was ticking. With a deep breath, Joshua clicked the teleportation crystal in his hand and hoped beyond hope that Auster would still be alive by the time he got there.
~.~
When the group arrived at the Amphitheatre of El Jem, the stone structure was bathed in the eerie greens and yellows of fading twilight. From the outside, it looked like a twin to the Roman Coliseum. The outer wall was dotted with three levels of evenly spaced stone arches, but it collapsed about halfway around the ring, revealing a stone arena encircled by steps that probably acted as seating long ago. The Necromancer was standing in the center of the arena, and at his feet was a rope-bound hostage—Auster, from the looks of it, though Lian couldn’t tell from their spot at the top of the stairs.
Well, well, don’t just stand there. Why don’t you come in?
The Necromancer’s voice rang in Lian’s head, sending a chill down their spine. His tone was a mix of cold and cocky that Lian had only ever heard from bullies and predators.
So he knows we’re here, Ilia said shakily. And he’s blocking my teleportation.
It wasn’t a surprise, really—they had arrived using Ilia’s invisibility for cover, but they knew that The Necromancer would be able to see through and undermine anything Ilia tried.
We can still see you, Karyme chimed in. But it’s fuzzy. The other group has a much clearer image.
Which means The Necromancer is focusing more attention on us, Morgan muttered. Great.
What now? Lian asked.
We play by his rules, Joshua said through gritted teeth. And when the time comes, we stick to the plan.
As they made their way down the stairs, Lian sent a concerned look Joshua’s way. His hands were fists at his sides, and his jaw was clenched so tightly that Lian was sure he’d grind his teeth away completely. He was so clearly on edge, and there was nothing Lian could do to console him, because Lian was scared too. They didn’t know Auster as well as Joshua did, but the thought of Auster dying felt like a noose around their neck. There was so much they wanted to show Auster—and so much more they wanted to know about him, too. He couldn’t die here. He couldn’t.
The Necromancer kept his back to the group even as they entered the gladiator’s circle. Now that they were closer, Lian could see that Auster was bound at the hands and wrists with some sort of glowing silver rope. He wasn’t moving, which means he was probably unconscious—Lian refused to consider the alternative—but other than that, he looked uninjured. Considering the fact that The Necromancer could wield dark lightning and absorb energy, this didn’t mean Auster hadn’t been in pain, but at least he hadn’t lost a limb or something.
“Welcome, welcome,” The Necromancer said smoothly. “How can I help you today?”
“Just stop it,” Joshua snapped. “And tell us what you want.”
“Let’s make a trade—your friend for Kai’s soul. Give me the bracelet and I will give you your friend here unharmed.” The Necromancer turned on his heel to face the group. “Is that what you thought I would say?”
Lian swallowed. Of course it couldn’t be that easy.
“That is how I would phrase things if I were trying to negotiate with you, I suppose,” The Necromancer said, his tone aloof. “But negotiation is for equals, and equal we are not.”
“Wh-what do you mean?” Lian said weakly.
“It’s quite simple, really.” A shark-toothed grin spread across The Necromancer’s face. “Your friend here was never leverage. He was bait.”
The Necromancer snapped, and the restraints around Auster’s ankles and wrists began to elongate, snaking up Auster’s limbs. Joshua barreled towards Auster, arms outstretched, but even with his super speed, Lian knew he wasn’t going to make it. Tendrils of silver light were already closing around Auster’s torso, draining his energy. Panic rose in Lian’s throat. Auster was going to die. Auster was going to die.
And then there was a flash of green, and the silver chains around Auster shattered.
Lian gasped. Standing in front of Auster, sword at the ready, was a ghostly green figure with chin-length hair and long, flowing robes. Before Lian could get a look at the figure’s face, it blinked out of existence, but they already knew who it was.
Somehow, Kai had come to their rescue. Lian didn’t know how it was possible, but it had taken The Necromancer off guard, too, and Lian knew what that meant: an opening.
Lian clapped their hands together, and the loudest, most ear-piercing shriek they could summon rang through the air, centered right on The Necromancer’s ears. The Necromancer reeled backwards, and Morgan summoned a gale to send Auster flying towards Joshua, allowing Joshua to scoop Auster into his arms and launch himself as far into the air as he could.
“Very good, very good. Your teamwork has improved since last time,” The Necromancer crowed, clapping his hands together in mock applause. “But it’s hopeless, you know. He won’t be able to protect you again, and you still can’t leave here unless I allow you to do so.”
He’s right, Karyme said grimly. I think that was the most Kai could do.
Then we need to get the marble, Ilia said firmly. Stick to the plan.
Before Ilia could elaborate, The Necromancer fired a beam of silver light at Joshua and Auster, and Ilia hastily conjured a royal blue barrier to protect the duo. It shouldn’t have worked—there was no world in which Ilia was stronger than The Necromancer—but as the attack collided with the shield, something strange happened.
The barrier reflected the beam back towards The Necromancer.
Shock flickered across The Necromancer's face. He extended a hand to reabsorb his attack, but something about the light was fundamentally different now, and when the energy came into contact with his fingertips, it did not obey his command. The blast of energy sent The Necromancer flying backwards.
He recovered quickly, landing on his feet with ease, then sent a wave of silver crosses at Joshua and Auster. This attack, too, was reflected. The Necromancer was ready this time, however, and he teleported out of the way.
What the hell? Ilia breathed. How did—
Ilia, look out! Morgan cried.
The Necromancer appeared behind Ilia, sword raised, and by sheer luck, Ilia managed to materialize a royal blue labrys, blocking the jump attack—except now, their weapons were locked together, and The Necromancer was easily overwhelming her. Black flames crackled along his blade as he poured more of his strength into the attack, sending cracks through Ilia’s axe, and her arms shook with the effort of keeping the sword away from her neck.
And then the flames started to turn white.
The Necromancer stumbled back, sword falling from his hand as the flames he’d called forth seared his hands. Ilia looked just as shocked—too surprised to launch an attack of her own—but Lian was already sprinting towards The Necromancer.
Morgan! Lian yelled. Launch me!
A gale of wind lifted Lian into the air, and Lian hit The Necromancer in a flying tackle. They were not stronger than him, but they were taller, and they used their height to their advantage as they rifled through his pockets. The Necromancer writhed in an attempt to break free, but Lian had him pinned down pretty firmly, and whatever Ilia had done to him was apparently thwarting his attempts to summon his powers. Still, Lian’s search was fruitless.
“Looking for this?” The Necromancer snarled. With his one free hand, he dangled the marble in front of Lian. “It’s useless unless you have the bracelet!”
Lian grinned. The Necromancer was just as cocky as Karyme had expected him to be.
“Joke’s on you, then,” Lian said cheerfully. “You’ve left your ears exposed.”
They clapped their hands around The Necromancer’s ears and released a rousing rendition of that one Fornite song like it was a flashbang grenade. The marble slipped out of The Necromancer’s hand, and Lian caught it with a smile. As their fingers closed around the green soul fragment, the bracelet around their wrist began to glow, and a flash of light enveloped them.
Switching bracelets with Joshua had been worth it after all, it seemed.
~.~
The sun was high in the sky by the time the guards brought Ven and Kai out to the arena proper. The two had been kept prisoner for slightly more than a week now, but that week had been spent in darkness, chained to a wall in a shared cell in the basement, so it was Kai’s first time actually seeing the arena.
It was a circular stone structure, built like a coliseum, with arches carved into the outer wall at even intervals. Gates large enough to accommodate even the biggest shadow beasts were embedded in the stone around the arena at twenty foot intervals, and the walls themselves were sanded smooth to prevent prisoners from climbing out. The stands were filled with dark-skinned refugees shouting expletives at the prisoners, their lips contorted into angry scowls, spit flying from their mouths.
Kai paid them no mind. As a prophet, he was used to dealing with anger from the people he failed to save. Instead, as the guards twisted his arms around the thick wooden stake behind him, he focused intently on the texture of the chains used to tie his wrists together, looking for any structural weaknesses he could exploit.
There were none, of course. The chains were perfectly suppressing his powers, just as he expected.
Kai turned his gaze to Ven with a sigh. At least Kai’s feet were brushing against the ground; Ven was too short for even that luxury, and she was pinned to the stake high enough up that she was practically suspended in the air. Despite the purple bruise over her left eye and the deep yellowing gash on her right arm and the fact that she hadn’t been allowed to eat or sleep all week, she maintained a serene countenance as she surveyed the crowd.
Kai shuddered. Anything other than a smile just looked wrong on Ven’s face. She shouldn’t have to act strong like this to placate a crowd. She shouldn’t have to be anything more than the exuberant six year old who had asked Kai to make them breakfast every morning, the kid who had proudly knocked Kai down and asserted their place as the fourth of Karai’s chosen even though Kai was almost a decade older, the kid who still requested piggyback rides two centuries later.
Ven shouldn’t have to be anything more than Kai’s little sibling.
Kai ground his teeth as he averted his gaze, unable to look on any longer. He was going to kill their captor—not because he cared what happened to him but because he couldn’t stand that this was happening to Ven.
One of the gates ground open and the crowd immediately fell silent. A young man emerged from the darkness, one hand on the hilt at his waist. Sunlight glinted off of his metal breastplate, illuminating the brilliant red of the robes underneath, which popped against the dark cloak around his shoulders. The golden hoop in his left ear shone brightly against his ebony skin, and his hair clung to his scalp like a black sponge, tapering out as the tight curls approached his hairline.
Kai smiled bitterly. Perhaps calling their captor a young man was being too generous. He was over a century old, after all.
“Today, we execute two prisoners of war,” the man announced, his voice laced with rage. He acknowledged his audience with a raised hand. “Today, we see the death of two of the many who uphold Karai’s way, who perpetuate the miserable suffering you have experienced. Today, we see them pay for their sins!”
The crowd roared in glee, a wave of pumping fists and stomping feet crashing through the stands. Kai scowled.
“Mateen, you can stop this now!” Ven pleaded, searching the cloaked figure for any signs of pity, any signs of the boy who had trained with him. “You were one of Karai’s chosen—one of us. Please, Mateen!”
“Leave him be, Ven,” Kai spat. “Mateen is dead. This monster who controls the shadow beasts at will is hardly one of our own.”
“You’re right about exactly one of those things,” Mateen said coldly.
He stalked over to Ven and Kai, his face a mask of rage. There was something slightly off about the lilt in his walk, the ice in his stare, the tight grip he had on the hilts of his swords. Ven inhaled sharply. He couldn’t access his powers very well right now, so he couldn’t verify his suspicions, but he knew, somehow.
Mateen’s soul splinter was in control.
“I refuse to be part of a group that lets people die because ‘Karai willed it,’” Mateen said thinly. Anger shone in his oaken eyes. “If you can’t save anyone with all of your power then what good are you really?”
“We tried our best!” Ven cried. “None of us are happy with this outcome, Mateen. None of us. We don’t enjoy seeing people in pain, but there’s only so much we can do!”
“Are you sure about that?” Mateen said snidely. “These people don’t agree, and neither do I. You don’t even try to make new timelines—you just traverse what little you can see in the name of neutrality, and you watch the world burn without a care in the world! Where were the great prophets of Karai when these people watched their home get torn apart by a useless war? Take a guess.”
Mateen’s steely eyes bore into Ven, asking for an answer she couldn’t provide. Ven bit her lip. Mateen was right, in a way, but he was also so horribly wrong.
“Mateen, I know why you’re doing this,” Ven murmured.
“Like hell you do!” Mateen roared.
The hard rage in Mateen’s gaze made Ven squirm, but they held their ground. His eyes weren’t fully black yet, but if Ven didn’t act, the soul splinter might win for real, and then Mateen would be beyond saving.
“I know that it hurts,” Ven said quietly. “But Skye wouldn’t have wanted you to do this.”
Mateen stiffened. The hurt on his face was so raw and deep and it made Ven wish that their powers weren’t being restrained so they could share Mateen’s pain. They wanted so badly to ease his burden, even just a little.
“How dare you,” Mateen hissed. “How dare you mention her name? Because of your uselessness, she’s dead. With all your power you could’ve saved her, and yet none of you did because it was her ‘fate’ to die. You could’ve saved her!”
Xis voice had risen to a shout by the time he was finished, and xe was practically spitting in Ven’s face, but Ven didn’t care. Mateen was in there somewhere. Ven opened their mouth to retort, to try to reach Mateen, but a shake of Kai’s head silenced them.
For Kai, it was clear: there was no winning Mateen over. Xe was lost.
Satisfied that the conversation was over, Mateen took a step back and unsheathed his swords. The curved twin blades gleamed in the oppressive sunlight as the young man looked back and forth between his two prisoners, gaze emotionless once more. There was nothing personal in his ruthless examination of his prey.
“If you want to hurt Ven, you’ll have to kill me first,” Kai snarled. He wrapped his legs around the post and yanked forward in an attempt to slip his wrists through the metal cuffs. Instead, the restraints tightened, biting deeper into his cracked skin. It was enough, though—Kai felt the restrictions on his power lift, just a little bit.
“So be it,” Mateen replied with a shrug. His strides were slow, deliberate, as he walked towards Kai, swords outstretched.
With a deep breath, Kai closed his eyes, letting all thoughts of Ven seep out of his mind. The image of a forest green flame faded into view behind closed eyelids. Kai focused on the pulse of the flame, synced his inhale with the flame’s surge and his exhale with the flame’s wane. In response to Kai’s will, a wreath of emerald fire spiraled outward from Kai’s chest, licking at the restraints around his wrists. They did not break just yet, but again, more of his power was freed.
Kai switched his focus to a point halfway between himself and Mateen, and a ghost flickered to life at that spot. It resembled Kai down to the last detail except for the green glow of its skin. The figure stood with jian in hand, one foot shifted back into a defensive stance, its long braid swinging in the wind.
Mateen cursed under his breath and, with a swing of his sword, summoned a veil of red flame around his blades. If it was a fight Kai wanted, it was a fight Kai would get.
Mateen dashed towards Kai’s aura clone and slashed downwards across the clone’s chest with his right hand. Kai’s clone blocked the attack with his jian, giving Mateen the opportunity to hook his left sword around Kai’s blade. Mateen then forced the clone’s blade downwards, allowing xim to use xis other sword to stab Kai’s clone through the shoulder—except Kai was ready for that, and he vaporized the clone’s shoulder before Mateen could get to it, sending Mateen stumbling forward with his own momentum.
Seizing the opportunity, Kai willed his clone to bring its sword down on Mateen’s exposed back. Just before the metal tip pierced Mateen’s flesh, xe dissipated in a flash of red light.
Kai cursed. The restraints were preventing Kai from sensing where Mateen had disappeared to, giving Mateen the distinct advantage. Mateen now had the element of surprise.
Perhaps if Kai hadn’t been weakened by a week in captivity, he would’ve had the strength to keep fighting. As it was, even this little bit had taken his full concentration. Because there was a slight delay between Kai’s thoughts and the clone’s actions, Kai had to remain at least three steps ahead in the battle, and tracing Mateen’s moves before he made them was giving Kai a migraine—not to mention the strain from forcing his powers to break through restraints that were specifically meant to block them.
A wave of dizziness washed over Kai, robbing him of his full focus for just a split second, but that was all Mateen needed. In a flash of red, he reappeared behind Kai’s aura clone and vaporized it with a slice through its torso.
The attack sent a starburst of pain through Kai’s head, and he barely registered that Mateen had launched a beam of energy his way until the scarlet light was close enough to blind him completely. It was only by pure instinct alone that Kai managed to erect an aura shield between himself and the attack.
Ven winced. It looked like a close fight to the inexperienced eye, but Ven knew better. The beads of sweat on Kai’s face and the strain in his expression were a dead giveaway. Within seconds, cracks laced the surface of the translucent green barrier around Kai, and that was when Ven knew they no longer had a choice. They didn’t want to fight Mateen, but it was time to act.
Ven closed their eyes, syncing the pulse of the golden flame with their breathing cycle. Slowly, they let the golden light envelop their entire form, and they willed the light to surge forth and defend Kai. Right as Kai’s shield collapsed, a brilliant shaft of yellow light shot through the air, and the scarlet beam dissipated with a sizzle.
Mateen scowled and took a couple of steps backwards, surveying the situation anew. He hadn’t expected Ven to jump in—Ven was passive by nature—but this didn’t change things much. With the power Yaran had given Mateen, Ven and Kai couldn’t possibly win.
Mateen’s eyes flared with red light as he looked between Kai and Ven, deciding which to kill first—except Kai had asked to fall first, right? That made the choice easy. A fount of red and black fire burst out of the ground in front of Mateen, and from this pillar an aura clone sprang forth, rushing towards Ven. Mateen smirked. That ought to keep Ven busy for a while.
Mateen turned back to his first target. One look at Kai—chest heaving, sweat dripping down his face, eyes struggling to stay open—and Mateen knew the battle was over. He sheathed his swords and, with one last look, closed his eyes. It only took a few cycles of deep breathing for Mateen to slip into the red-tinted mindscape.
Here, the two immortals’ souls manifested as pillars of flame: one a majestic green, the other a burning crimson. As Mateen approached the blazing green bonfire, he hesitated. It wasn’t his first time seeing Kai’s soul, of course, but it had always intimidated him. In those flames, Mateen could feel the quiet concern of the person who had taught him how to fight, layered with the sting of betrayal—but angry though Kai may be, Mateen could tell that Kai did not yet wish him dead. If he backed down now, Kai would still find it in him to forgive.
But you cannot forgive him, Mateen’s soul splinter hissed. He let Skye die.
Mateen thrust his hand into the green pillar, fingers closing around Kai’s soul, and pulled as hard as he could.
Kai couldn’t breathe. It was like the air had been cut off from his lungs. Unspeakable pain coursed through his body, tearing a scream from his lips. Every fiber of Kai’s being clung desperately to his body, willing his soul to stay attached to his mortal coil, but no matter how hard he tried, he could feel his grip slipping.
A shiver ran down Kai’s spine. He could see the black tinge around Mateen’s flames as they encompassed his own—a sign that Mateen had been fully possessed by his soul splinter—but some of Yaran’s power was undoubtedly mixed in as well. Kai couldn’t win against that. He wasn’t strong enough. He wasn’t.
Ven was going to die here, and it would be Kai’s fault.
On the other side of the arena, Mateen’s aura clone battered Ven’s shield bit by bit, attacking with a ferocity that Ven had never seen before. They tried to keep up the barrier, but their time in captivity was starting to take a toll on them, too. Dots danced before Ven’s eyes, and they could barely see straight, making it hard to track the clone’s movements. Still—
Ven was more worried about Kai.
They chanced a look over at their brother and froze. Mateen was standing right next to Kai, one palm braced flat against his chest. Red fingers were closing around Kai’s forest green flame, trying to snuff it out, and it was working. Panic rose in Ven’s throat, and the surge of emotion revitalized their shield, sealing the cracks Mateen’s aura clone had made.
Hold on, Kai, Ven’s said telepathically, their voice cracking with desperation. Jinal will come rescue us soon. Just hold on…
Kai could barely hear Ven’s voice, but it was enough to turn his thoughts to Jinal. He could see her in his mind’s eye now, feel her fingers intertwined with his own, hear the gentle lull of her voice as she sang lullabies from villages long destroyed. He had promised her his hand in marriage. He had promised not to leave her. He had promised.
As the green halo of light around Kai faded, the red glow of Mateen’s hand pulsed stronger still. Kai’s vision was too dark for him to see Mateen’s face, but Kai could tell from the hot breath on his neck that Mateen had leaned in close—that what Mateen said next was meant for him alone.
“You promised to keep me safe, too, didn’t you,” Mateen hissed. “But promises are cheap, Kai—especially coming from you.”
Something snapped.
With a final burst of emerald green, the glow around Kai’s body dissipated completely. Ven watched in horror as Kai’s eyes glazed over, the tension draining out of his body, head lolling forward.
No. No, no, no, no—
Ven screamed.
Tongues of gold and black flame swirled agitatedly around Ven’s trembling form, and when they glared at Mateen, their eyes still held a certain ferocity—yet something had changed. When Mateen launched a wave of crimson fire in Ven’s direction, Ven didn’t even throw up a shield. They just stared at Kai’s crumpled form, tears rolling down their face, and in that moment, they realized what they had lost. With a resigned sob, Ven closed their eyes and let the tongues of red flame engulf them whole.
~.~
Joshua let out a shaky breath. Adrenaline was still pumping through his veins, and his heart was racing, and without the comforting weight of Auster in his arms, Joshua probably would have lost it just a little bit. He could still feel Ven’s visceral horror, Kai’s overwhelming despair, even Mateen’s all-consuming rage. And experiencing the pain of a soul being yanked from its body—
None of Kai’s memories up to this point held a candle to that.
How Kai and Ven continued to live with Mateen after he had brutally murdered both of them was beyond Joshua. Clearly this vision was from a long time ago, and at some point the Ennead had put the whole thing behind them, but it was still haunting to think about, especially knowing what Mateen could do. He hadn’t seen it himself, since Morgan had knocked him out with lightning just moments prior, but apparently Mateen had almost destroyed three people from the inside out in the mafia tournament. And Joshua was supposed to just trust this guy?
Auster began to stir in Joshua’s arms, and Joshua quickly threw all of those thoughts out the window. In the wake of the vision, Joshua had forgotten that he was still holding Auster—he hadn’t even checked if Auster was okay.
“Josh…?”
Auster’s eyes fluttered open. His gaze was clouded, and there were bruises around his wrists where the rope had been, but he was alive. He was alive.
Joshua pulled Auster into a tight hug, burying his face in Auster’s shoulder, and he knew Auster could feel the tremor in his hands and the tears on his hoodie, but he didn’t care anymore. Auster was alive.
“Don’t you ever do that again,” Joshua hissed, voice too soft for anyone but Auster to hear.
“I—” Auster swallowed. “It was necessary.”
“I. Don’t. Care.” Joshua pulled away, forcing Auster to make eye contact with him; forcing Auster to see his red, swollen eyes; forcing Auster to see that he was enough to make Joshua cry. In that moment, Joshua forced Auster to see that he mattered.
“Never again,” Joshua said firmly. “Are we clear?”
“Y-yeah.” Auster averted his gaze. “Yeah, we are. Where are we, anyway?”
The ambivalence in Auster’s tone, paired with Auster’s clumsy deflection, did not inspire confidence in Joshua. He wanted to press the point further, but now was not the time—not when they were standing in some unknown location and The Necromancer was still on the loose. With a sigh, Joshua rose to his feet, making a mental note to corner Auster later.
The two of them were standing on a cobblestone pathway in a garden of sorts, surrounded by shrubs and flowers and trees of various sizes and colors. A large plum tree laden with flowering pink blossoms rose to the group’s left among a smattering of ferns, and to the right Joshua could make out the silhouette of a pond on the other side of the foliage. A pavillion peeked above the trees in the distance, and the sweet smell of flowers filled the air, accompanied by the soft trickle of a waterfall nearby. Morgan, Lian, and Ilia were standing a small distance away, perhaps to give Joshua and Auster privacy. They were mid-conversation when Joshua and Auster joined them.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Morgan asked, frowning at Lian. Joshua could already tell from Lian’s trembling hands and shaky smile that the answer to that was no.
“I-I’m fine!” Lian said quickly. “Just—that vision was a lot to see. That’s all.”
“Uh huh.” Morgan narrowed their eyes. “Peter’s right. You are a shitty liar.”
“I’m not—”
“It was disorienting,” Joshua interrupted. “And anyone would be flustered. The way that vision kept switching points of view was confusing.”
Lian shot Joshua a grateful look. Joshua rolled his eyes in reply. He wasn’t saving Lian from interrogation because he believed them—he just knew they wouldn’t admit to their feelings now, so pushing the point was just a waste of time. Joshua mentally added Lian to his interrogation list, right under Auster’s name.
“Why did the vision keep switching points of view like that?” Morgan asked. “We’ve never had one like that before.”
“Because,” Ilia replied, tapping her bracelet. “There wasn’t just one soul fragment in that marble. There were three.”
Joshua's gaze flicked from the yellow bracelet around his wrist to Ilia’s red one. Sure enough, the beads on both bracelets were twinkling a little brighter, as if they had just been revitalized. It made sense, really, that Ven and Mateen would also have soul fragments at this location, given how important the moment was for them as well.
“Oh, right.” Joshua slipped Ven’s bracelet off his wrist and handed it to Lian. “This is yours.”
“Thanks!” Lian said lightly. They took the bracelet from Joshua with a smile. “I would give yours back, but it’s gone.”
“Gone?” Joshua frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Kai’s soul must be complete,” Ilia explained. “Or, um, I think it is. Karyme would probably know more, but I can’t reach her, and the crystals aren’t letting us leave, either.”
“Great,” Joshua ground out. “Let’s hope Kai’s the one who brought us here, then.”
Before they had approached The Necromancer, Ilia had asserted that uniting Kai’s final soul fragment with the bracelet was the only way to get out of Tunisia safely, since doing so would allow Kai to whisk them away. Joshua had been wary of trusting Ilia after she’d failed to predict Auster’s kidnapping, but with no other choice, he had agreed to switch his bracelet with Lian’s, since he would have his hands full with saving Auster. That would let Lian go after the marble, and The Necromancer wouldn’t see it coming.
“How did you know the vision wouldn’t just make us vulnerable to attack?” Joshua asked, steely gaze boring into Ilia. “None of the other visions took us anywhere special.”
“Because of what happened on my first soul hunt,” Ilia said quietly. “When I was trying to save Haku on my own, I collected every piece except for two. The Necromancer beat me to those two pieces, and when he confronted me to take the pieces I had, his pieces united with mine. Haku pulled their own soul back together and used what little power they had left to—to save me.”
“And freeze you in time,” Morgan supplied.
“That too,” Ilia muttered.
“Great.” Joshua sighed. “Since Kai probably isn’t trying to freeze us in time, do we know why he sent us here?”
“Maybe this is the final step to bringing him back,” Lian suggested.
As if in response to Lian, two voices rang through the air. Joshua couldn’t make out what they were saying, but he recognized one of the voices as Kai’s.
“That way,” Ilia whispered, pointing to the right. “I think the voices are coming from the pond.”
Ilia led the group down the cobblestone path, weaving between flowering bushes and tall trees with flat leaves. As they neared the pond, the foliage thinned out in favor of intricate arrangements of dark stones, allowing the group a view of the pond before them.
The pond was dark and still. Clusters of lily pads dotted its glassy surface near the opposite shore, heralding the presence of a tall, white and black building that seemed to come straight out of a Chinese history book. The structure was all marble and wood, with a tiled roof that sloped into pointed corners. A similarly designed pavilion sat out front, and a flat wooden bridge zigzagged across the pond, connecting the pavilion to the path the group was on. A carpet of Chinese watermoss stretched off to the right of the bridge, dead-ending at a stacked rock formation.
“I think we’re in a Chinese garden,” Lian realized. “This is what the ponds usually look like.”
“The voices are coming from over there, right?” Ilia asked, pointing to the pavilion on the other shore.
Joshua listened intently, trying to discern the source of the sound. Ilia was right—the voices seemed to be coming from across the bridge. They were still slightly muffled, but Joshua could very faintly make out the words in what appeared to be a very heated argument.
“You never cared, is that it?” the first voice yelled.
The other voice—Kai’s voice—was calmer. “Think what you want, Shizuan.”
“What I want? This was never about what I wanted!”
Joshua winced. The words were so incredibly similar to something Joel had yelled at him once, during a particularly rough move between apartments. It had stung then, and it stung now, too. Joshua suddenly knew who the other voice belonged to.
“Kai and his brother,” Morgan said quietly.
“Yeah.” Joshua grimaced. “Sounds like it.”
That sounded like an argument Joshua did not want to interrupt, but if it was going to get them out of here faster, then so be it. He tried to step onto the bridge, but his foot ran into some sort of invisible barrier, and when Joshua waved his hands in front of him, he hit the same invisible wall.
“Dammit,” Joshua growled. “How the hell are we supposed to get across?”
“Tornado?” Morgan suggested, wiggling her fingers.
“No,” Joshua said flatly. “Absolutely not. I can fucking fly. I don’t need you flinging me into the water.”
“I wouldn’t do that!” Morgan protested. “My aim is getting better!”
“That’s not the problem!” Joshua snapped. “No matter where you aim—”
“Um,” Auster interjected. “Look over there.”
Auster pointed to the sky over the pond. It was hard to see in the light of the rising sun, but Joshua could just make out the shimmering outline of letters in the air. He couldn’t see well enough to read them, though.
“Wow, Auster, you have a good eye!” Lian chirped. “I wouldn’t have spotted that right away.”
“Oh, um, thanks,” Auster mumbled. A light blush dusted his cheeks as he ducked his head in embarrassment.
“Atop me should rest what matters most,” Ilia read, shading her eyes with one hand. “What does that mean?”
As soon as the words left Ilia’s mouth, there was a rumbling noise, and a stone pedestal rose from the ground, positioned just to the right of the bridge. Behind the pedestal, the path diverged into three branches, each marked by an imperial stone archway. The first was engraved with a diamond ring, the second with a shield, and the third with a crown.
“Puzzles!” Morgan groaned. “I hate puzzles!”
“Ditto,” Joshua muttered. “Does the old man make nothing easy?”
“You’re just mad because you can’t punch your way out of this one,” Lian teased.
“I am not!” Joshua said with a frown.
“Uh huh.” Lian gave Joshua an impish smile. “I totally believe you.”
“Let’s just check them one by one and we’ll go from there,” Ilia decided. “How hard can it be?”
Joshua sighed. Asking that question seemed like tempting fate, given the circumstances.
The group proceeded first through the archway engraved with the diamond ring. The path followed the shore of the pond in a gentle curve towards the opposing shore. As they walked, the flowers along the path grew more vibrant and plentiful, popping out in brilliant blues amid the increasingly tropical ferns. Joshua could’ve sworn he saw a mango tree at some point, but he was no botanist.
At the end of the pathway, a pedestal rose from the ground, and upon it sat a blue velvet pillow carrying a necklace unlike any Joshua had ever seen. The necklace was made of segments of black beads strung in four columns, alternating with braided golden chain, symmetrically arranged around a golden diamond-shaped pendant.
“What is that?” Morgan asked.
“Karyme would know,” Ilia said with a sigh. “But I’m honestly not sure.”
“Hmmm.” Lian leaned closer to the pedestal to get a closer look. Unsatisfied by what they saw, they reached out to grab the necklace—but as soon as their fingers brushed against the metal, voices rang through the clearing.
“—idiot, you weren’t really going to let him take your soul?”
“Sorry, Kai.” Jinal’s voice was so quiet, so broken, that Joshua almost didn’t hear it. “I couldn’t—I wasn’t—”
“It’s not your fault,” Kai said bitterly. “It’s his. But it’s—it’s over now.”
“Oh,” Jinal breathed. “Oh, you and Mateen being here, it means—”
“Yeah,” Kai said wearily. “They came. It worked.”
A beat.
“Jinal,” Kai said quietly. “You’ve—you’ve regenerated hundreds of times in this damn prison, and you still kept your necklace, even when—”
“Of course I did.” Joshua could hear the smile in Jinal’s voice. “It’s a symbol of our bond. The bride is never supposed to remove her mangalsutra.”
“Idiot,” Kai said hoarsely.
“Your idiot,” Jinal corrected. And then, softer: “Keep my soul safe, okay?”
“Of course.”
The necklace in Lian’s hands flashed blue, and the voices faded to nothing. Joshua’s mouth was suddenly very dry.
“That conversation was in the Soul Exchange Chamber,” he said tightly. “Right before they gave their souls to us.”
“And this necklace was Jinal’s,” Lian said softly, cradling the jewelry in their hands. “Something she kept with her through everything.”
“What could be more important than that?” Morgan murmured.
“I don’t know,” Ilia said with a frown. “But I still think we should check the other two paths just in case. You never know.”
The group was silent as they doubled back to the start of the path. It felt too jarring to talk after witnessing something like that, and there wasn’t much to say, anyway. Before they could try the necklace on the pedestal near the bridge, Ilia led the group down the path marked with the shield. Joshua decided not to argue—it was better to know all of the choices before deciding on what Kai considered “most important.”
Here, too, the plants grew more tropical as they progressed down the path. The cobblestones faded into gravel, and brightly colored ferns sprang out among short, squat trees and yellow flowers that were bigger than Joshua’s fists. The path dead-ended at a waist-high wall of white marble. Propper up against the slab of stone was a small wooden shield, the size of a dinner plate.
Ilia walked over to the wall, then shot a cautious look towards the rest of the group.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Just do it,” Joshua grumbled.
As soon as Ilia picked up the shield, three humanoid shadows appeared against the marble backdrop, one standing alone and the other two standing as a pair. The lone shadow launched a beam of dark energy towards the pair, but at the last second, the taller of the pair jumped in front of the attack, using his back to shield the shorter shadow.
“Ven! You need to run!” Kai’s voice was filled with desperation. “He already has Mateen, and now—if you stay, he’ll get us both!”
“No!” Ven wailed. “Absolutely not! I won’t leave you—not again!”
“That’s not—” The beam of dark energy intensified, eliciting a pained hiss from Kai. “Go warn the others!”
The taller shadow pushed the shorter shadow away, and then green flames enveloped the shorter shadow, sending it away. Ven’s anguished scream echoed through the air as the shorter shadow melted. And then the taller shadow shattered into pieces, leaving behind a single green marble.
As soon as the shadows faded, Joshua’s attention turned to Lian. Based on how they reacted to the earlier vision, Joshua expected them to be hurt by this one as well—and he was right. Lian was shaking like a leaf, eyes wide with horror. Joshua put his arm around Lian and pulled them close. Lian mumbled a thank you into his shoulder.
“That was fifty years ago,” Ilia said quietly. She was gripping the shield so tightly that her nail beds had lost color. “When they were training me. Right before—”
“Hell,” Morgan breathed. “He saved all the happy memories for last, huh.”
“So this shield represents Ven, then,” Joshua guessed.
“Yeah. Look,” Ilia said miserably. She traced the engraving on the front of the shield: a golden archery glove. “Ven uses a bow.”
“That’s…” Morgan frowned. “These are both important, then. What would you pick: the woman you love or the brother who reminds you of the one you left behind?”
A week ago, Joshua would have had an easy answer to this question, but now he wasn’t so sure.
Apparently no one else had an answer, either, because they walked through the third arch—marked with a crown—in relative silence. At some point along the way, Lian took Joshua’s hand in theirs, and it was only the slight tremor in their fingers that kept Joshua from pulling away. And, well, he wouldn’t admit it to anyone else, but it was nice to have some comfort, too, after the day he’d been through.
The final path wove through a bamboo grove that grew increasingly sparse as it went. By the time they reached the clearing at the end, Joshua could clearly see through the bamboo to the plants on the other side. The clearing itself was empty except for a single tree stump upon which sat a simple European-style crown.
“What the hell?” Morgan frowned down at the stump. “Does this seem out of place to anyone else?”
“Yeah,” Ilia said slowly. “Wasn’t Kai a prince in a Chinese dynasty?”
“They probably didn’t wear crowns like that,” Joshua agreed. “But maybe there’s a reason for it.”
“One way to find out,” Morgan said with a shrug. Without so much as a warning, she snatched the crown from its place. Again, voices filled the air. It seemed they would be privy to yet another of Jinal and Kai’s conversations.
“Kai, wait,” Jinal said sternly.
“You’re going to stop me in the name of neutrality, aren’t you,” Kai said tightly. “The Temple of Karai never interferes in mortal affairs, right?”
“No,” Jinal replied. “I’m going to stop you because you’re running yourself into the ground. Even you cannot defend an entire kingdom.”
“I have to do this,” Kai said firmly. “I abdicated the throne. I ran away from my duties. Saving them—ensuring that my brother’s legacy survives—that is the only way I can repent.”
“Your brother is dead.”
“I know!” Frustration surged in Kai’s voice. “I know that he’s dead, and I can never make it up to him now. But ensuring a safe, happy future for his people? That is at least a start.”
“They’re your people too, you know,” Jinal said quietly.
“Not anymore.” Kai’s voice was bitter and full of regret. “I do not deserve them.”
“You—” Jinal let out a resigned sigh. “Fine. Go. I’ll cover for you again if the temple elders ask.”
As the voices faded into silence, sunlight glinted off of the crown, and now Joshua could see clearly that the thing was made of cheap plastic.
“It’s fake,” Joshua pointed out, flicking the crown with two fingers. Morgan pulled the crown out of Joshua’s reach with a scowl.
“Fake and out of place,” they remarked. “Guess that’s how he feels about his status as a prince.”
“Yeah. Kai carries a lot of guilt,” Lian said quietly. They gave Joshua’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Reminds me of someone.”
“Wonder who,” Joshua muttered. He roughly pulled his hand out of Lian’s grip. “In any case, we’ve got all three items now, so we should be able to get across that bridge.”
“Sounds good!” Lian chirped. They skipped off into the bamboo grove, humming all the while.
As Joshua followed the others back to the bridge, he tried to puzzle through what mattered most to Kai. At first glance, the necklace and the shield were the obvious contenders, since Jinal and Ven meant a lot to Kai, but the crown—it was too much of an outlier. It felt too easy to say that the crown only symbolized the status of being a prince.
Joshua’s mind went back to the very first vision he’d gotten of Kai’s memories, back in Nanjing. When Kai had exiled himself, he had felt like he was letting his people down—and then, in the conversation they’d just heard, in the bamboo grove, Kai had even refused to call them his people because he felt undeserving. It was almost like…
“I don’t think the crown represents princehood,” Joshua said. The group emerged from the bamboo grove right as the words left Joshua’s mouth.
“What does that mean?” Morgan asked, tossing the crown between her hands.
“It represents duty,” Joshua explained, leading the group towards the head of the bridge. “Kai felt like he made a promise to the people he was supposed to lead, and then he let them down.”
“Oh,” Lian said softly, holding up the necklace. “He felt the same way about Jinal. Dying in that arena in Tunisia—he felt like he left her behind even though he promised he wouldn’t.”
“Then that means…” Ilia looked at the shield in her hands. “He broke a promise with Ven, too.”
“Right,” Joshua said grimly. “A promise to keep Ven safe.”
The words almost stuck to Joshua’s tongue as he spoke them, because Kai wasn’t the only one who had broken a promise to keep someone safe. Joshua’s gaze flitted towards Auster. The other man was as quiet as always, but his expression had a more anxious character to it, now, and that was all Joshua’s fault.
“So if you’re the Kai expert, which one do we use?” Morgan asked, looking to Joshua.
“All of them,” Joshua said firmly. “There’s no rule saying we have to pick one.”
“That… makes a lot of sense, actually,” Ilia said with a nod. She took the crown from Morgan’s hands, then handed the crown and shield to Lian. “All at once, then.”
“Right!” Lian placed the three items on the pedestal with great care. As soon as the items made contact with the stone, the crown and necklace melted down, forming a golden band around the shield, and in a flash of green, the invisible wall dissolved, allowing the group to pass.
The voices were louder, now, and the snatches of conversation were clearer.
“—can’t help you if you won’t tell me what’s going on!”
Joshua crossed the bridge as quickly as he could, not even bothering to check if the others were following. Speed walking like this would give him shin splints later, but he didn’t care. He could sense Kai’s soul on the other side of the bridge, at the pavilion. Almost there.
“Telling you will put you in more danger!”
Joshua was out of breath by the time he reached the end of the bridge. He could faintly make out the silhouettes of two people standing in the pavilion, looking out over the pond. One was clothed in imperial regalia, the other in simple black robes, and Joshua knew immediately that it was Kai and his brother.
“Are you going to explain now?” Shizuan asked.
“Yes,” Kai said quietly, averting his gaze. “Now that you have been marked as a hostage, keeping you in the dark serves no purpose.”
“Let us start with something simple, then,” Shizuan said evenly. “Why did you exile yourself?”
“I thought…” Kai swallowed. “I thought that if I maintained some distance, Yaran would not attack the imperial territory in search of me. I was wrong of course.” With a sigh, Kai turned his gaze to his brother. “Now that I am gone, he simply takes people hostage to provoke me.”
“Like me,” Shizuan said quietly.
“Yes.” Kai sank into a low bow. “Consider this my formal apology to you, Emperor Jianwen of Liang. I am sorry for abandoning my people and foisting such a heavy responsibility on your shoulders. I know there is nothing I can do to make up for it, but I hope this is a start.”
“Rise,” Shizuan said, a pained look on his face. “You can create tornadoes with just a thought. There is no need for you to be so formal around me.”
“That’s not—”
“Gēge.” Shizuan gripped Kai’s shoulder. “Consider your exile lifted. Please, feel free to visit any time you wish.”
Kai inhaled sharply. “I couldn’t.”
“You could,” Shizuan countered. “And in fact, I am giving you my express permission to do so.”
“I—” Kai took a deep breath and rose to face his brother. “Okay. I’ll try.”
Everything faded to black.
The ground, the foliage, the sky, the pavilion—it all melted away, leaving the group standing in a featureless void. It took Joshua’s eyes a few seconds to acclimate to the sudden darkness, and he was still blinking away the spots when Lian gasped at his side. Joshua followed their gaze.
Kai was floating in the air a few yards away, laying supine, eyes closed. In some ways, he looked almost exactly as he had when Joshua had last seen him—one arm conquered by gangrene, one leg broken, bruises and gashes along his good arm—but there were new injuries, too. Kai’s shirt was drenched in blood, possibly from a chest wound, and his broken leg was missing a foot. That wasn’t Kai’s most striking feature, however.
Cracks snaked across Kai’s body, emanating from the center of his chest, and there were a few places where pieces of Kai seemed to crumble and fall away as if he were made of shattered porcelain.
Joshua inhaled sharply. He’d known, of course, that Kai had shattered his soul, but seeing it brought into stark focus like this was deeply unsettling.
“Kai!” Lian cried. They took a step forward, ready to run to Kai’s side, but as soon as their foot hit the ground, a burst of shadow erupted from Kai’s chest, accompanied by an ear-piercing shriek that sent even Lian reeling backwards. The shadows coalesced into a humanoid figure a few feet from the group, blocking their path to Kai. Its face was indistinct, its form ever-shifting, but it felt… familiar, somehow.
Joshua didn’t care. This shadow was in his way, and today was already testing the limits of his patience.
“Hey!” Joshua yelled. “Leave Kai alone!”
“Leave…” A voice echoed all around them. It sounded warped, as if two people were speaking simultaneously. “I am very familiar with leaving.”
As the shadow spoke, liquid darkness oozed from the cracks in Kai’s body, leaching the color from his limbs, and the shadow’s form seemed to solidify a little, providing a clearer silhouette.
“If you’re so familiar with it, then shove off and—”
Wait! Ilia interrupted. I don’t think that’s an enemy!
What do you mean? Joshua snapped.
Just—just look at the shadow for a second, Ilia said urgently. Who does it look like to you?
With a scowl, Joshua examined the shadow. Its face was still fuzzy and indistinct, but the hairstyle—half up, half down, with bangs sweeping to the left—was one Joshua recognized.
Kai, Lian said quietly.
Right. I think that’s… part of Kai, Ilia explained. The curse—it divides our souls into two, basically. One part is just you, how you were before the curse took hold. And the other part… Ilia looked at the shadow with a grimace. Jinal called it a soul splinter. It’s a voice, a shadow that gives form to all of your flaws and insecurities.
Like that, Morgan guessed, pointing at the shadow.
Kind of. It’s usually more combative than this, at least for me, Ilia said with a frown. But considering Kai just had his soul shattered… maybe the soul splinter has broken off from Kai’s sense of self—or maybe Kai has lost his sense of self completely.
So what then? Joshua growled. What do we do?
We have to talk to it, Lian said firmly. And remind Kai of who he is and why he needs to wake up.
Joshua cursed. He was not good at comforting people, and he definitely wasn’t equipped to give an immortal therapy.
“Mister Soul Splinter,” Lian said carefully. “Do you think you can let Kai wake up now?”
“Kai?” The shadow gave Lian a blank stare as its doubled voice rang through the air once again. “Who is Kai?”
“Kai is—Kai is you, but also not you,” Lian said gently. “He was a prince once, and an older brother, and a husband, and he’s got lots of friends who care about him and want him back.”
“Oh…” The shadow gazed at its hands, which were becoming increasingly solid. “He sounds too good to be true.”
“Lian’s talking about you, old man,” Morgan pressed. “So that makes you too good to be true.”
“Not possible,” the shadow replied, shaking its head. Joshua could easily make out Kai’s facial features on the shadow now, and he wasn’t sure that was a good thing.
“And why is that, exactly?” Joshua asked, arms crossed.
“I abandon my responsibilities,” the shadow said, its voice hollow. “I take on more than I can handle, and then I leave my obligations behind, and I watch as everything falls apart in my absence, and I feel nothing.”
“That’s not true!” Lian argued. “Every time that you’ve had to leave like that—it wasn’t your fault! You didn’t choose to die in that arena, and you left your kingdom because you had no choice, and the last fifty years—that wasn’t your fault either!”
“I’m glad you think so,” the shadow said bitterly. “But I failed them all the same, and I will continue to fail them no matter how hard I try.”
“But—”
“Look,” Auster said quietly, pointing at Kai’s floating body in the distance. Darkness dripped from Kai’s colorless limbs, seeping through widened cracks and pushing apart crumbling pieces of flesh. The liquid shadows seemed to be creeping towards Kai’s heart with increasing frequency.
Joshua cursed again. This wasn’t working. Nothing was getting through to Kai, and judging by the shadows overtaking Kai’s body, they were running out of time. Desperate for a solution, Joshua started to sift through his memories of Kai for anything that could help—and then Kai’s last words to Joshua rang in his ears.
Say hi to Joel for me.
It had been a simple statement at the time, and it had hurt, because it had meant that Kai hadn’t just sacrificed himself so Joshua could escape alive. Kai had done so because he knew that Joshua had someone to take care of at home, and as an older brother, Kai knew what it felt like to be unable to fulfill that purpose. Kai had failed to protect the things that mattered to him, and he hadn’t wanted the same for Joshua.
Joshua took a deep breath. This approach wasn’t working, but he knew what would.
“You said, once, that the power you released gravitated towards people who fit that power,” Joshua said evenly. “But that wasn’t the full truth, and you knew it. Your power—it came to me because we—”
Joshua swallowed. It felt like too much to put into words, but as shadows crept closer and closer to Kai’s heart, Joshua’s resolve hardened, and the words came to him more easily.
“We’re similar,” Joshua said firmly. His voice began to rise as he spoke. “And that’s how I know that this—all of this—is bullshit. You think you can’t protect them? You think you’ve failed to uphold your responsibilities? Maybe that’s true. I can’t help you there because I’ve made the same damn mistake! But you—”
Joshua’s voice broke. He was practically shouting now as he put words to all of the frustration he had felt towards Kai in the last month.
“This is what I hate about you, you know,” Joshua said angrily. “You pretend that you believe, even for a second, that your actions don’t count. You sit here and say that you’ve failed to protect the things that mattered, and that failure makes you unfit to serve anyone ever again, but then you turn around and—and martyr yourself on watch duty all night long to protect me and Peter. It’s ridiculous!”
“Joshua’s right,” Lian chimed in. “You’re lying to yourself, Kai. As much as you’ve failed the people in your life, you’ve helped them, too—and you know that.”
“Exactly.” Joshua looked Kai’s expressionless soul splinter right in the eye. “All of this self-defeating shit—you don’t believe any of it. If you did, Auster would be dead, because you wouldn’t have come to protect him, and I would be dead, because you wouldn’t have died to protect me.”
“That’s… enough.”
The voice, weak though it was, filled Joshua with relief. It was Kai’s voice. He was awake.
At some point during Joshua’s tirade, Kai had fallen to the floor, and he was now struggling to prop himself up with his one good arm. His face was twisted in pain, and pieces of his left cheek were crumbling away, but his eyes were aglow with a vibrant green as he reached out with his gangrenous hand.
And then his fingers curled into a fist.
The effect was immediate. The shadow exploded in a burst of darkness, sending dusky tendrils into Kai’s chest with enough force to knock him back down again.
“Kai!” Lian rushed forward, kneeling at the immortal’s side, and Joshua followed without hesitation.
Kai lay unmoving on the ground. The return of the shadow to his core had sealed the cracks, so he no longer looked like a piece of fragile cookware—he looked human again, albeit completely still. As Lian helped Kai into a sitting position, he kept his eyes clenched shut and his arms pulled close to his chest. Green and black flames flickered sporadically at his fingertips.
“Are you okay?” Lian asked.
"M'fine," Kai said through gritted teeth. As he spoke, the fiery shroud around his hands started to trend more black than green, and he curled in on himself with a pained hiss.
“Shit!” Ilia breathed. She knelt behind Kai and placed a glowing blue hand on his back.
“What’s going on?” Joshua said hoarsely.
“The curse,” Ilia said miserably. “He’s got to rebalance the two halves of his soul again. If he fails, the soul splinter could take over.”
Joshua’s throat tightened with helplessness. It felt like he had practically poured his heart out and Kai still wasn’t fully back, not yet, and now Joshua didn’t know what else he could do to help. He couldn’t rub soothing circles into Kai’s back and whisper kind words like Lian. He couldn’t channel healing energy into Kai’s shoulder like Ilia. He couldn’t do anything.
For a second, Joshua just stared miserably at Kai as the immortal continued to struggle. And then Morgan spoke.
“Hey, old man,” Morgan said sharply. “You’re not going to protect anyone like that.”
Joshua blinked. It seemed like a stupid thing to say, but as soon as Morgan spoke, the pieces clicked into place in Joshua’s head. Kai was built to protect—and Joshua was, too. If Kai and Joshua were so similar, then perhaps Joshua just needed to provide the kind of support that he would want for himself.
“If you need any motivation, then here,” Joshua said, firmly grasping his patron’s good hand. “If the shadow comes back, it gets me too.”
“Yeah, and that would be a tragedy,” Morgan chimed in. Joshua genuinely could not tell if Morgan was being sincere or not.
Regardless, the flames at Kai’s fingertips began to fade, and his expression eased into one of measured fatigue. Joshua didn’t let go of Kai’s hand even as the immortal’s eyes fluttered open, and when Kai met Joshua’s gaze, he didn’t pull away.
“Think it's gone... for now..." Kai said with a weak smile. “Thanks.”
“...Don’t mention it.”
It wasn’t what Joshua wanted to say. He was still mad about everything—the prison break, Dimension X, having to clean up Kai’s mess with this soul hunt, the fact that his best friend had almost died.
But as he looked at Kai—at the shattered leg and the half-necrotic arm and the bite marks and the bruises and the stab wounds that accumulated in Dimension X—he couldn’t bring himself to yell. As much as Joshua had sacrificed everything to help the Ennead (and save the damn world at the same time, apparently), Kai had broken himself into pieces for Joshua.
So yes, Joshua was still angry, but he could understand Kai, too.
“Say hi to Joel yourself,” Joshua said roughly, pulling his hand away. “He won’t stop asking me about you.”
“That can be arranged,” Kai replied, a bemused smile dancing across his lips. “For now, though, perhaps we should focus on leaving.” As he spoke, the darkness around them lifted, leaving them in the pavilion in the Chinese garden once more.
“Where are we, anyway?” Morgan asked.
“We’re… inside my mind, so to speak,” Kai said carefully. “Some of the powers associated with the curse allow us to tap into the mindscape—a space built from the collective unconscious—but everyone has a personal slice of the mindscape, too. This is mine.”
“It’s beautiful,” Lian said softly.
“Glad you think so,” Kai murmured, bowing his head. “It’s nicer when I’m not in pieces.”
Kai snapped, and the garden faded into the muted colors of the pocket dimension foyer. It was eerily quiet, but Joshua figured it probably wouldn’t stay that way for long. Karyme, Joel, and Rae probably hadn’t heard them arrive just yet, but once they did, they’d tell the mafia trio to return, and things would definitely get noisy again.
“Do we need to help you to the infirmary?” Joshua asked, gesturing towards Kai’s missing foot.
“In a minute,” Kai said wearily. His speech was clipped, voice thick with exhaustion, and it looked like his energy was waning with every second that passed. “Need to fortify the defenses here. Can’t have The Necromancer breaking in again.”
“You look… really tired. Is this something I can help with?” Ilia asked. Kai shook his head.
“This space was created by the nine of us,” he explained. “It lives off of our energy—or lack thereof—and it will only truly respond to us.”
“Do you even have enough energy to pour back into this place?” Joshua asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No.” Kai gave a tight smile. “But matter can be converted into energy.”
Kai’s eyes slipped closed, and for a second, Joshua thought Kai had fallen asleep. Then, without warning, Kai’s gangrenous arm dissolved into a shower of luminous green orbs that melted into the walls and floor of the room, infusing the space with a green glow. In the face of this new vivacious green, it became clear just how faded the other colors were.
Joshua grimaced. That was a problem for another time. For now, at least, the pocket dimension was relatively safe again.
“That was… a little extreme,” Ilia said slowly, rising to her feet. “Effective, but extreme.”
“I guess he wasn’t using that arm anyway,” Morgan muttered.
“That, uh. That arm’s going to grow back, right?” Auster asked, turning to Joshua. Joshua simply shrugged in reply. Theoretically, the answer was yes, but Joshua had never actually seen it happen.
“Kai,” Lian said gently, shaking the immortal’s shoulder. “Are you awake?”
“M’awake,” Kai mumbled. It was perhaps the least convincing display of “awake” that Joshua had ever seen; it looked like Kai couldn’t even muster the energy to open his eyes, much less lift his head.
“Let’s just get you to the infirmary, old man,” Joshua grumbled. Kai mumbled something in reply—perhaps in agreement—but the words were too muddled to understand.
Helping Kai up was, as it turned out, quite the ordeal. He was taller than both Lian and Joshua, and with his missing arm, it was hard to find a way to support his weight. Joshua ended up hooking Kai’s remaining arm around his neck to keep him upright while Lian lifted Kai’s legs off the ground. Joshua then shifted until his arms were supporting Kai’s torso, and Auster silently stepped forward to give Joshua a hand.
“I’m going to let Karyme know we’re back,” Ilia whispered. “Are you sure you’ve got him?”
“Yeah,” Joshua said quietly. “He’s light.”
Lighter than he should be, really, and Joshua didn’t want to think about what that could mean.
With one last nod, Ilia stalked off towards the planning room with Morgan in tow, leaving Auster, Lian, and Joshua to carry Kai to the infirmary. The trip was short and uneventful, and the three were able to get into the infirmary with only a little bit of stumbling.
“Careful,” Lian whispered, leading the way to the nearest bed. “We don’t want to jostle his broken leg too much.”
Somehow, Joshua didn’t think that would be a problem. Kai’s breathing was shallow and even, and he appeared to be in a sleep too deep to be disturbed by pain from a broken leg. This close, Joshua could see that the large bloodstain on Kai’s shirt was not from one stab wound—it was from multiple, and none of them had really healed. The wounds themselves were not disturbing, really—Kai had been injured pretty much the whole time Joshua had known him—but when he was awake and walking around, it was easier to ignore the injuries. In sleep, Kai looked uncharacteristically fragile, like he could shatter again if Joshua wasn’t careful.
Joshua exhaled slowly as he helped lay Kai in bed. He would never admit it to anyone else, but he was relieved to have Kai back, even if the immortal wasn’t at full strength. It was reassuring to know that this doomed quest of theirs wasn’t quite as doomed as they’d thought.
“One down, eight to go,” Lian said quietly.
“Yeah.” Joshua looked from Auster to Lian with a weary smile. The day had just barely begun and he was already incredibly tired, but maybe there was hope after all. “Let’s figure out who we’re going to save next.”
Below are two tracks that correspond to this chapter and the last scene of 3.2.2.
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