Spin of Fate, page 35
With a blast of dark energy, the binds around Meizan snapped.
Nicely done, Chief!
He slid into position by Kanna’s side, sword poised to attack. A few feet away, Zenyra took advantage of the commotion to twist away from Aranel’s blade. She unsheathed a knife and drew it to Aranel’s throat.
The chief made to pounce. Meizan threw an arm out to stop her.
“Wait,” he said under his breath. “If we don’t time this right, she’ll slit his throat!” Kanna shot him a livid look, but Meizan held his ground. “We need him conscious. We can’t defeat her two to one.”
“Fine,” Kanna grunted. “But whatever you’re planning, make it quick.”
Aranel’s eyes met his across the Void. Meizan held his gaze, waiting for a signal so he and Kanna could charge. All Aranel had to do was not get himself stabbed. Sending chitrons to harden the air around his neck would do it.
Aranel’s jaw tightened, sword shuddering in his hand. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed.
Then Aranel swung his blade around to point at Meizan’s chief.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Meizan growled.
“Picking a side,” Aranel said, his face unreadable.
“Like hell you are.”
Meizan tossed the sword to Kanna—it was hers to begin with, and she needed it more—before drawing a pair of serrated knives and pouncing on Aranel.
The upper seemed just as exhausted as he was. Aranel’s movements were slow and heavy as they traded blows. Out of the corner of his eye, Meizan could see the chief bearing down upon Zenyra, blade whirling rapidly.
“Meizan,” Aranel grunted between strikes. “Why are you resisting? Her vision—one realm—do you not want that as well?”
“What makes you think that?” Meizan flipped back so he was out of reach of Aranel’s blade and released a throwing star.
“The shields are unfair, as is the current separation!” Aranel caught the throwing star on the tip of his sword and whipped it back at Meizan. “This is for the better for Malin.”
“You’re in no place to decide that!” Meizan yelled, ducking the throwing star to swipe his knife at Aranel’s chest. “How can you trust a flaming word she says, after what she did to those children? After what she did to Aina?”
“Her methods were unforgivable, I admit!” Aranel’s face was pained as he parried Meizan’s strikes. “But all that’s done now! If she doesn’t succeed, those erasures will have been for nothing, and innocent children will continue to suffer! Zenyra’s trying to make the realms more equitable, the universe a better place.”
“Better how, you self-righteous pile of shit?” Meizan shouted. “Once the shields break, there’ll be nothing but a giant, burning war! Do you really believe Zenyra’s going to be able to curb the violence? End centuries of hatred with a few sugary words and breaths of fresh air?”
“Even so, the war will be temporary.”
“Burn you, Aranel!” Meizan aimed a punch at his face, reveling in the satisfying crack as his fist met its mark. Aranel tottered back, clutching at his jaw, and Meizan lunged at him in a fury. “You’ve never been in a damn war! You have no bleeding clue what it entails!”
“I’ve read about Kal Ekana,” Aranel insisted. He brought an arm up to shield himself from Meizan’s next punch. “Did you not hear what Zenyra said? Since there’s no death this time—”
“That’ll only make it worse, you maggot-brained moron! War only ends when one side dies! Without death, it’ll be an endless cycle of violence, more brutal than anything you could imagine!”
“Even more brutal than what plagues Malin now?” Aranel blocked Meizan’s next punch and used the momentum to spin into a kick. “You think I want a Malini army invading my realm? You think I want Mayana to suffer because of the Preservation’s selfishness? But I’ve seen the lengths those frauds will go to conserve their authority. A war is not ideal, but if it’s the only way to force the Preservation out of power and change things for good, then so be it!”
“Not ideal?” Meizan’s shin slammed against Aranel’s, and he pivoted away. “Those battles by the Muzireni and at Incaraz were nothing, Aranel! Nothing compared to the hell that will break loose if those shields come undone! If all of Malin and Narakh are unleashed upon your stupid, soft upper realms. Your Preservation may be liars and frauds, but the Narakhi are much, much more dangerous. And once your realm is destroyed, they’ll turn on mine!”
He leaned over, panting. Across from him, Aranel struggled to stay on his feet. Meizan couldn’t tell which of them was worse for wear. He’d broken Aranel’s jaw, from the look of it. But in addition to the black eye Meizan had received from Zenyra, Aranel had cut him in several places.
“You’ve outdone yourself with your stupidity,” Meizan said, wiping the sweat from his brow. “You think you’re helping those children, but you’re going to make everything worse.”
“I’m doing it for you too!” Aranel stumbled toward him, fist raised. “You, and Aina—”
Meizan blocked Aranel’s punch and aimed a kick at his head. “You don’t get it, Aranel. You never will.”
There had been a time, not long ago, when Meizan had reveled in the fighting. Felt alive amidst the excitement of it all. But he’d spent his whole life fighting, and it had gotten exhausting. The last thing Meizan wanted was to get himself and Kanjallen embroiled in another war, especially one that included the Narakhi.
Some souls were so twisted, so cruel, they needed to remain separate from the rest.
The chitronic shields around the realms could not break. Zenyra and Aranel could not win. Drawing upon his last reserves of strength, Meizan gripped his knife and charged.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Mother
Aina watched in horror as Kanna and Zenyra clashed in the Void. Not far from them, Meizan and Aranel exchanged blows.
What were they even doing in here? Aina wanted to shout out and break up their fights—but she was nothing more than a disembodied soul, her body left behind in Malin.
The white flash had lasted five whole seconds, and Aina had seen the torana materialize. She’d expected Zenyra to run in, but she hadn’t expected Meizan and Kanna to jump from the sky and follow. But they had, leaving Aina thrashing alone on the ground after Zenyra had tossed her back into Malin. Unable to move her body in time, Aina had projected her soul into the Void just before it sealed itself.
What had shocked her the most was Aranel—pious, soul-fearing Aranel—siding with Zenyra. Aina watched him fight Meizan until both were on the brink of collapse. She watched Zenyra batter Kanna’s body until she had exhausted her physically and chitronically.
Why are you fighting? Aina wanted to yell at Kanna. Zenyra’s plan will only help you! Help us!
But with each passing moment, Aina grew unsure. And Meizan’s arguments, shouted across the Void, grew more and more convincing.
What if Zenyra’s war never ended? The upper realms would be dragged into the same darkness and violence that plagued Malin, or one even worse once the demons of Narakh were unleashed.
And Kanna doesn’t even want that, Aina realized, ashamed. Once again, I thought I was saving her, when she never wanted to be saved.
Her shame boiled to a seething anger because, once again, Zenyra had manipulated her. Aina had let Zenyra manipulate her. She had foolishly believed in Zenyra’s vision of a world where she and Kanna could live together in peace.
Had Aina been in her body, she would have torn her own hair out.
How could I let her talk me into this?
She watched, helpless, as Zenyra knocked Kanna back and snatched the jeweled sword from her grasp.
“You will not wield that weapon against me,” Zenyra snarled. She strode toward the chitronic system with its glowing webs of light. Once again, her hands crackled with energy, this time amplified by the stones in the sword. “And you will not stop me. Not when I have come this far. Not when I am so close.”
Aina watched in horror as a bolt of energy shot toward the center of the chitronic web. She watched as Meizan shoved Aranel away from him and ran toward the beam of light, but he was too slow, he wouldn’t make it in time—
A shattering explosion rocked through the Void. Aina’s soul was whipped through the whiteness.
What happened? Did it hit?
Aina flew back toward the chitronic system, relieved to find it still intact. Meizan, Aranel, and Zenyra had all been knocked back by the force of the explosion, and Kanna…
Kanna collapsed midair in front of the webs of light, her face soaked with blood. Her legs had been utterly shattered and dangled uselessly from her waist.
But she had blocked it. Kanna had blocked Zenyra’s chitronic attack with her own body.
“You meddlesome worm!” Zenyra’s face contorted in fury. “Why are you so hellbent on stopping me? Even if there is a war, in the long run, my actions will benefit the realms! All four of them!”
Kanna coughed, splattering the front of her torn tunic crimson. Beneath lank, blood-drenched curls, her eyes glowed bright.
“I don’t care about any of that,” Kanna rasped. “Not when Aina’s future is worth more to me than the entire universe.”
Aina’s soul seemed to lighten at her words. Painful memories she’d kept buried resurfaced in an instant. And as Aina stared at Kanna’s haggard face in the Void, the memories shifted, revealing the loneliness and fear her mother had kept locked underneath a mask of fury.
The way Kanna had pushed Aina into Mayana, veiling the tremor in her voice with curses and threats.
The way she had scolded her daughter once Aina revealed her reason for descending.
The way her mother’s palm shook even as she slapped her.
Mama, you bleeding liar…
Aina took in her mother’s graying hair and premature wrinkles. The circles that ringed her eyes, a testament to sleepless nights guarding their hideout while Aina rested. The frail arms and bony frame, from years of skipping meals so Aina could eat another morsel.
Her mother would have lied to the very end if it meant keeping her safe. And Aina was stupid, oh so stupid, for not seeing through it all. For taking her mother’s words at face value and not fighting harder to remain by her side.
But not anymore, she thought, chitrons abuzz with elation despite the taint of the vandraghor blood. Once we get out of here, Mama, I’m going to stick to you like a leech. You can hit me and curse me all you want, and I’ll take it with a smile.
Whether or not the realms broke, whether they ended up in Malin or Mayana, there had to be some corner of the universe where Aina and her mother could find a new home. Nothing large or decadent. Just a small hut made of stone, by a stream filled with fish.
Zenyra had gotten to her feet, tucking a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. “Someone worth more than the universe?” she said to Kanna, her whisper carrying across the Void. “I can understand that. In which case, I am truly sorry it has come to this.”
“There’s nothing you can do.” Kanna coughed again, as Zenyra walked toward her. “That last attack drained your chitronic reserves, and it will be hours before they recharge. There is nothing in this Void you can channel. You have no way to break the shields.”
“It would seem that way,” Zenyra said. Her deathly calm sent fear jolting through Aina. “It would seem you did a commendable job stopping me, Kanna. I require a vast amount of energy to break the shields…energy that, as you said, I no longer possess.”
Zenyra’s voice morphed into a growl, and she reached into her pocket. “But you do, Kanna of Kanjallen! And so you shall pay for this with the chitrons of your soul!”
Zenyra lunged forward, swinging her arm. Aina’s mother made to dodge the blow, but her broken body was unable to react in time, and Zenyra rammed a syringe—filled with a shining, pearlescent liquid—straight into Kanna’s keiza.
Aina watched in terror as her mother’s keiza began to flash. A strange light seeped through Kanna’s veins and mottled her skin. Violent convulsions tore through her form.
Mama! Mama? What’s happening to you?
Aina sped toward her as Meizan tore across the Void.
“Chief!” Meizan yelled, catching Kanna as she fell. “Chief, get ahold of yourself!”
“Meizan…” Kanna whispered as her convulsions increased in intensity. “Tell Aina…tell Aina I’m sorry…and that I lo—”
Her mother’s words melded into a pained shriek, her forehead splitting open. Beams of light tore through her flesh, dazzling, like rays of the sun.
No.
“Get back!” Aranel shouted. He grabbed Meizan by the arms and pulled him away.
No, no, no, please, someone, do something, no—
Aina could only watch in numb shock as the crushing realization speared through her soul.
In a few moments, her mother would no longer be in this universe.
In a few moments, Kanna would be gone for eternity.
Sorken, Sherka, Azyaka, Andraken, if you exist, please stop this, please, I beg of you—
An earsplitting roar shattered through the Void as her mother burst into nothingness; her body, her being, her chitrons, all utterly erased from existence.
NO! Aina screamed.
She had no mouth, no voice, but she screamed, despair ravaging her being and threatening to rip her apart.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spied Zenyra channeling the last of her mother’s chitrons toward the glowing web. But Aina didn’t care because none of that mattered. Nothing mattered anymore.
Please, Mama, Aina sobbed. Don’t do this! Don’t leave me here all alone!
The last thing Aina saw before her soul was whipped away from the chaos was the pulsing threads of the chitronic system. They were taut and shuddering, but whole and unbroken.
Then the web gave a ripple. One of the threads snapped.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
A Shift in the Air
The Void heaved and shuddered.
The force of the explosion ejected Aranel and Meizan through the white torana and sent them sprawling onto soft grass. They were in Paramos, in the meadow at the heart of Ashkator, but for only a split second.
A silver torana materialized before Aranel. The air thickened and tightened around him as an unseen force dragged him through its pillars.
Descension, he realized morbidly. The megarya blood had worn off and his actions had caught up with him. He was falling back to Mayana.
A copper torana appeared a foot away and sucked Meizan into Malin. Aranel tried calling out to him, but Paramos sealed itself before he could get out a word.
He found himself in Kirnos, in the depths of Aran Kirenkar. Sunlight filtered through the gilded canopy and filled the forest with a warm, buttery light. As Aranel lay there, gasping for breath, he tried to wrap his head around what had just transpired.
Zenyra had attempted to harness the energy from an erasure to break the chitronic system. Not just any erasure, but that of Meizan’s clan chief. Aina’s mother, who she’d spent over a year trying to find.
Aranel sat up and promptly spilled the contents of his stomach onto the grass. It did little to quell the guilt that was festering within him.
Never had he meant for such an odious thing to happen. Never had he imagined Zenyra would go to such lengths.
But he’d known what she was capable of, and Meizan had warned him in the Void. Aranel doubted either of his teammates would be willing to listen to his excuses or apologies.
I as good as betrayed them both. Bile rose in his throat once more.
Yet despite the fact that Meizan—and Aina, once she found out—might be inclined to attack him on sight, Aranel wanted nothing more than to find them.
Meizan can break every bone in my body, but the least I can do is apologize. And figure out what we’re going to do next.
Because it was done now. Zenyra hadn’t destroyed the entire chitronic system as she’d intended, but a single thread connecting two seitarius cores had snapped. Aranel didn’t know the technicalities of how the system worked, but surely it would have some effect on at least one of the chitronic shields.
The question remained whether it would be enough to overthrow the Preservation and build a new, more equitable world. Or whether all the sacrifices, all the erasures, had amounted to nothing.
Aranel rolled to his feet and sprinted through the forest, careful to conserve his chitrons. The fights with Samarel and Meizan had exhausted him. He needed his remaining energy so he could cloudsurf to the torana and unseal it using the method Seirem had taught him.
As he ran, he glimpsed sweeping white robes between the slender tree trunks. Aranel ducked behind a patch of bracken and peeked through its golden fronds.
That damned stone-soul!
Seirem paced in the nearby clearing, accompanied by three Preservers. They spoke in urgent, hurried tones. Aranel was tempted to eavesdrop but dared not draw near. In his current state of exhaustion, with blood dripping onto the grass—curse Meizan and his nasty right hook—he didn’t think he could manage a chitronic concealment powerful enough to elude a Preserver.
Sticking to the shadows, he slunk past the clearing. He left Kirnos in haste and mounted his sword to scud across the sky.
Aranel brushed aside his fatigue and forced himself to fly more swiftly than he had during any of his races. He reached the Meruhirs before dusk and found the torana he’d used twice now to enter Malin, wedged between the glittering peaks.
Aranel had dismounted and taken a step toward it when he felt a faint twitch.
It was nothing but a shift in the air. A subtle heaviness. A hint of decay amongst the freshness of Mayana.
With a grinding scream, the earth gave a spasm and the heavens convulsed in fury.
