Kai

  Kai threw himself low, hands on the floor, fighting to grasp onto the uneven incisions within the earth. The ground beneath their feet swayed viciously. Stone fragments rained down from the ceiling. The entire cavern appeared to be oscillating from the violent tremors.

  A deep rumbling bellow suddenly echoed across the chamber. He grimaced, the pressure in his ears climbing to an oppressive degree from the thunderous resonance. Finally, the clamor ceased. His head rattled. Sweat drenched his back. His heart was racing propelled by an instinctual terror. What the hell was that? The noise didn’t sound like anything natural. Nothing that the earth should have produced. If anything, it was vaguely bestial.

  The commotion at the bottom of the chamber snapped him out of his stupor. The earth tremors continued without rest, but the chaos was now accompanied by the panicked cries of the slaves. Even the Zal’Khari warriors seemed to be discombobulated as they struggled to maintain order. Weapons were raised. Commands were being yelled. Spears thrusted and blood spilled to put a halt to any resistance. It was clear that even the Zal’Khari were afraid of the source of the bellows from earlier.

  “Inaya, make a decision!” Emil suddenly yelled.

  His hands were twitching. His stance already lowered for combat. His eyes, wild. Feral. Like a starving beast who had just found his next meal. Emil was inching to jump into fray. Kai looked down. The Zal’Khari warriors were distracted with keeping the slaves under control and the ongoing earth tremors.

  There was no better time to attack.

  Please don’t.

  He pleaded in his mind as he glanced at the Inaya. The last thing that he wanted was to fight a dangerous battle in a cave that was threatening to collapse. He silently begged her to make the safe and rational decision. Was this unplanned assault really necessary? They could secure the Azurite mine slowly with a well-thought-out strategy. Why risk confronting something that even the fearless Zal’Khari were terrified of?

  Inaya faced the rear of their group. She pointed at two of the Dhazara warriors and ordered them to fall back to the entrance to deliver news of what they discovered. Kai’s heart sank. The next words she uttered nearly broke his spirit.

  “We fight. Eliminate the Zal’Khari and seize the mine!”

  Emil reacted immediately. His skin glowed red. Blaze triggered, sprouting wing-shaped flames from his shoulders. Like a bloodthirsty hound unchained from his shackle, he charged ahead towards the lower levels of the spiraling cavernous chamber.

  “Follow him!”

  Kai whimpered. For a moment, he considered turning around and sprinting towards the passageway where they came from. He wanted no part in this battle. No part in this insanity. Emil might have gone mad in his obsession to avenge Van, but all Kai wanted was to get out of the Saar. He wanted to visit his ailing mother. He wanted to speak with the old priest that taught him how to use his Gifts. Hell, he would even consider going to back to the Academy or helping out with the restoration efforts in Isarelle.

  Anything but here.

  A hand shoved him forward before he could make up his mind. It was the other Dhazara Exalted. Cabi was a large, broad-chested man. He had a severe expression on his face as though he had read his thoughts of escape. Malice radiated from his gaze. Kai swallowed nervously. Not a single word was exchanged, but he knew—he had no choice but to chase after Emil if he wanted to live.

  Goddammit!

  Running down the subterranean chamber was a nightmare. The shaking was unrelenting. Rocks continued to rain from the ceiling, the loud thump of their landing made Kai grimace each time. It was nearly impossible to stay upright with the unsteady ground. Every few seconds the violent shaking would send Kai into the air. It was a miracle that none of the remaining Dhazara warriors had been knocked unconscious by falling debris or flung off the edge of the spiraling platform.

  Emil was gaining distance at the vanguard. He looked completely in his element, relishing in the chaos as he sprinted down the spiral without hesitation. His footwork was immaculate. The unsteady floor seemed to have no effect on his pace as he dodged the falling rocks without a single glance up. Was he secretly using Bulwark to augment his senses? Kai couldn’t tell. The ambient mana in the vicinity was too dense and chaotic for him to read—not when it was already taking everything he had just to keep up.

  Flames suddenly lit up.

  Emil had made contact with the first contingent of Zal’Khari warriors. The wing-shaped fire on his back lashed out like blades, cleaving through the throats of the first pair of enemies. Amidst the chaos, the Zal’Khari were unprepared to react to the unexpected ambush. They were no match for Emil’s speed regardless. A wave of his hands and the flames warped in response like an obedient creature. His wings separated into thinner tendrils and sharpened into knives to strike multiple enemies at once. The Zal’Khari didn’t even have a chance to make a sound before they collapsed. Their throats had been incinerated beyond repair as they wordlessly suffocated to death.

  The entire confrontation lasted a few seconds. Emil didn’t even slow down as he stormed past the fallen enemies.

  Do we even need to be here?!

  Kai clenched his jaws, trying to not to stare at the corpses. The stench of burnt flesh had already reached his nose. He fought the urge to throw up at the smell’s haunting familiarity. The aroma was disturbingly similar to cooked meat. The fact that he nearly salivated at the smell made his stomach churn.

  “Speed up!” Inaya yelled, “Don’t let Emil stray too far ahead!”

  Easier said than done!

  Emil was already tearing through a third group of Zal’Khari warriors. If Kai had any lingering doubt that he was a Steiger Cleaner, all of it had been put to rest. The mechanical efficiency in his movement. The lack of hesitation. The lethal attacks that looked trained and honed to perfection. He was convinced that there was no other explanation for the insanity before his eyes. How else could someone explain that all of this was done by an Exalted Academy freshman?!

  Anna was right. He paled, remembering his caustic behavior on the night Emil revealed his secrets. I can’t believe I even thought to chew him out for being the Flame Weaver!

  “Intruders!”

  “Exalted in their ranks!”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Warnings came from the lower levels of the subterranean chamber. The Zal’Khari were finally aware of their intrusion. The hum of phenomena and the metallic click of crossbows immediately filled the air.

  “Stay back from the ledge!” Inaya warned as a stray bolt hit the shoulders of one of the Dhazara warriors.

  The storm of projectiles thrown at them was sickening. Were there more Zal’Khari below than they realized? The only thing keeping them alive right now was the difference in elevation. The enemies didn’t have adequate line of sight at their positions. That, along with the persistent earth tremors, made them difficult targets to hit.

  “How far do we have to run?!” Kai yelled, gritting his teeth as a chunk of stone blasted into the ledge of the platform, “We’re going to give up our height advantage at this rate!”

  “Just a bit more! The bottom of the chamber is almost within my interference range!” Inaya shouted back.

  The fourth contingent of Zal’Khari warriors was ready for Emil’s attack. Crossbow bolts cut across the air, finally slowing down his reckless advance. Blaze was ill-suited to defense. Emil instead relied on his footwork, adeptly weaving out of the path of the projectiles. It was as if he could see a few seconds into the future as he somehow anticipated the trajectories. Pockets of fire spontaneously combusted to break off any stray bolts that he was unable to evade.

  Without warning, Emil suddenly unleashed a firestorm. Flames fanned out in a wide area in front of him, spanning the entire width of the spiraling platforms. The Zal’Khari crossbowmen’s suppressive fire slowed as their line of sight was suddenly blocked. Kai watched Emil dashed onto the nearest cavern wall. For a moment, his body was lateral, perfectly perpendicular, as he sprinted against the surface of the wall. It was a ridiculous sight. Bulwark must have somehow allowed him to remain balanced. When the fire dissipated, the Zal’Khari warriors were helpless as Emil plunged into their ranks. Flame tendrils wrapped around his body, tracing his lethal movements.

  It was mesmerizing. Disturbing. The sheer fluidity and power behind his actions was like watching a dancer on stage. A waltz of death. Emil was the main actor. The Zal’Khari, his extras.

  “Hunker down!”

  Inaya finally gave the orders to stop running. Cabi stepped forth to create a makeshift battlement along the ledge of the platform. His Gift granted him the ability to mold and manipulate anything that he touched. Dhazara warriors took positions behind the battlement with their crossbows. On Inaya’s mark, they fired down upon the hapless Zal’Khari below.

  The number of deceased was adding up on the lower levels of the subterranean chamber. A loud war cry echoed from below. Kai peeked over the battlement. The slaves were now in full revolt as well, emboldened by their unexpected ambush. The Zal’Khari suddenly found themselves flanked in between a two-prong assault.

  It was working. Their attack was working.

  But Kai’s elation didn’t last long.

  A stampede of footsteps came from the one of the nearby passages littered along the spiraling platform. A group of approximately thirty Zal’Khari stomped out of the entrance. Armed. Their eyes clamored for blood, ready to fight. Amidst the chaos and the absence of resistance inside the mines, Kai hadn’t even considered the possibility of reinforcements.

  Their path to Emil was suddenly cut off. Emil was locked in combat with a Zal’Khari Exalted. The remaining contingents along the spiral had gathered together to defend against his assault, leaving the Zal’Khari at the bottom of the chamber to fend against slave revolt themselves. Either way, Emil was in no position to help them.

  Kai felt his heart slam against his chest. The Zal’Khari reinforcements in front of him screamed as a collective. The shrill war cries inundated the air with bloodlust. The cacophony pounded against his ears—each syllable clawed against his skin, seeping with malice. He almost froze until the head of a spear flew directly for his throat.

  He ducked at the last second, evading instant death. Sweat crawled down his back. The realization that he had nearly died finally snapped him out of his stupor. Kai uncorked the canteen strapped to his side and released its content. Water spilled into the air before freezing in place. He grasped the tiny volume of liquid with his mind, weaving and distilling its shape into fine needles. The size was infinitesimally smaller than he was accustomed to, but it’ll do. He could work with this.

  “Puncture!”

  The water needles descended upon the Zal’Khari vanguard. The tiny needles were almost impossible to track with the blue haze of dense mana lingering in the vicinity. The Zal’Khari cried in pain as they raised their arms to cover their vitals. Blood dripped from the surgical slits made by the needles. It was hardly enough to incapacitate a well-trained warrior, but the stinging pain should have felt debilitating.

  Kai used the opportunity to rush into melee. He drew his daggers and slashed at the nearest enemy. His blade tore a hole across one of the Zal’Khari’s chest. The metal sunk into the flesh with alarming ease. He hesitated. His hands felt loose. The dagger, unnaturally light. His mind trembled at the dissonance. He was killing someone. He was about to take a life.

  So why did it feel so easy?

  His victim screamed from the attack. Their eyes locked onto each other. Kai froze as he drowned in the madness in the Zal’Khari’s ebon pupils. The hate. The insanity. The indignation. Emil’s warnings suddenly played in his head.

  “Make sure you kill them completely.”

  The Zal’Khari lunged forward. Kai tried to retract his dagger for a counter, but his enemy rushed in, forcing the blade deeper into their body. Their teeth flashed with glee, desperate to plunge the molars into Kai’s neck.

  “Haaa!”

  Kai cried as he lashed out with his free hand. Mana shrouded his fingers and imbued them with an unnatural sharpness.

  Squelch!

  Like a blade, his hands went clean through the Zal’Khari’s neck. He felt flesh and bone pass through the gaps of his fingers. The viscid sensation was horrific. He almost puked as he gawked at the lifeless eyes of the decapitated head on the floor.

  I did this.

  His body was shaking.

  I just killed someone by cutting their head off.

  His stomach churned. His eyesight suddenly blurred.

  “Kai! Move!”

  Inaya’s voice drove him to look up. The rest of the Zal’Khari reinforcements charged. Spears and swords descended upon his body.

  I’m sick of this!

  His hands glowed blue as he snapped his fingers. Blood from the fallen Zal’Khari suddenly sprung up from the ground like a whip. A dull ring pattered through the air. The bloody tendrils were surprisingly sturdy as they deflected the oncoming steel.

  The crux of Kai’s issue was the arid and dry nature of the Saar. The lack of a water source took away his Gift. But Liesel’s realization from the day before gave him a new possibility. Technically speaking, there was plenty of water around them.

  In the animals. In the people.

  When viewed from a more morbid perspective, humans were just walking bags of blood. And blood was largely composed of water.

  In the midst of a battlefield where blood was spilled constantly, there was actually plenty of water for Kai to work with. All it demanded of him was a change in mentality.

  Frankly, he was repulsed by the idea. Desecrating the dead by seizing control of their blood felt blasphemous. Amoral. The mere thought disgusted him and it tore him apart that he was even considering the disturbing act. But he was desperate. The humiliation of being a burden to Emil and Anna. The shame of being responsible for Van’s death. The indignity of being robbed of his Gift and his agency.

  It wasn’t until he witnessed the Zal’Khari’s savagery that he had a change of heart. There was no honor in battle. No glory. Whatever na?ve ideals he held was obliterated. Emil made sure of that. His friend’s rampage made it abundantly clear that nothing else mattered except survival. To that end, there was no room for his misplaced apprehensions.

  He steeled his nerves, cutting off the inhibitions of his subconscious. Blood seized from the fallen Zal’Khari transformed into shivs. The nasty scarlet projections carved into his enemy’s ranks. With every attack that landed, more blood spilled, adding to the volume that he can control. As the battle went on, his strength grew. But the screaming revulsions of his mind grew louder as well.

  He hated it. He hated everything about what he was doing. In response, he submersed himself deeper into the violence to not give himself a chance to hesitate. It was a vicious cycle born from his own self-loathing.

  An erratic distortion of the ambient mana broke him out of his trance. Kai spun around to the source as he caught a blur in his periphery. Someone had landed behind their formation. There was a flash of something metallic. One of the Dhazara warrior was suddenly choking. Blood sprayed from the gaping hole in his neck. Without another word, he collapsed over the ledge and fell onto the bottom of the chamber.

  The air seemed to chill.

  Kai found himself staring at a familiar figure. The interloper wore vivid tattoos of the Zal’Khari across his bare chest. The lower half of his face was covered. The mask depicted the bared teeth of a smiling visage.

  Nasir had arrived.