Kio scratched around his left eye. The habit simply wouldn’t leave him. The skin under the big birthmark had always felt different, but that didn’t explain why he always had to scratch at it. But what else was he going to do? This cellar was pretty much completely empty, and none of the others were saying anything. The only sound was Manda’s pained breathing. She’d refused painkillers for her broken knee and was stubbornly holding herself upright by leaning against a pillar. He’d caught her looking his way a couple of times but hadn’t looked back. So every few breaths he’d just scratch.

A dull, muffled boom passed through the gloomy, unpainted space, and everyone looked to the darkened landing. The footsteps came down rapidly, echoing like a drum band, and Kio thought for sure that he detected anger in them. He didn’t glance around at the others, but he got the feeling that he wasn’t the only one.

He reached the landing simply as noise, then stepped out of the darkness and became a silhouette. He stood still for some time, and held everyone’s laser-focused attention simply by being there. There was not a single sound in the basement.

Then he stepped forth into the meagre lighting. He wore his customary dark-brown, lightweight armour from the neck down, and a fine blue cloak hung from his shoulders. And yes, he was indeed angry.

“A stronghold lost,” their mentor said. “That is the news that greets me as I arrive! An important source of power blown up by our enemies!”

Kio joined everyone else in fanning out as the mentor came to a stop on the middle of the floor. Everyone except Manda. The target of his ire.

The strength that kept her up with one busted knee seemed to wilt a bit.

“I fought,” she said. She tried to sound forceful, but Kio could hear fear underneath it.

“You did not fight enough, clearly.”

“She had power.”

“You have power. I gave it to you. T-”

“Mentor, I-”

He slapped her. It was a solid, weighty hit that echoed off the walls and ceiling, and threw her head into the pillar. She narrowly managed to cling to it and stay somewhat upright.

“Do not interrupt me, child! You have power!”

He turned in a smooth circle, sweeping his hand wide over the entire gathering.

“You all have power that I gave to you! It is through me that you may ascend above the muck of the galaxy! The muck that I pulled you out of!”

He focused again on Manda. Her strength was bleeding away fast under the weight of his presence.

“I cannot hold your hand every moment! I taught you, my disciples, the rules to live by! Remove yourselves from your old lives! Be on guard against a galaxy that will happily destroy you under the sheer weight of the weak! Be on guard against the lies it would tell you! Manda, I know you contacted your parents once!”

“I did not, Mentor,” she pleaded weakly, and her voice started to break.

“You did! And I suppose you did so again, or failed yourself and your comrades on the path in some other way! More importantly, you failed ME, your guide!”

He spun again, facing the rest of his disciples.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Commander Treko and his Authority stand on the precipice of establishing a new order in the Nearer Fringe! One built on strength and power and the weeding of the weak and the degenerate! And yet even he understands the need for an alliance with me! It does not do to fail me so badly!”

He turned and grabbed Manda’s hair, and slammed the back of her head into the pillar. Then he flung her away from it and down on the floor. She landed on her bad knee with an agonised howl.

“WHAT DO I SAY?!” their mentor asked the assembly and threw his hands out wide. “WHAT IS THE ONLY SIN?!”

“The only sin is weakness!” one shouted dutifully.

“The only sin is weakness!” their mentor repeated.

“The only sin is weakness!” the rest of them said.

Kio felt his own voice join in, swept along as if by a current, as Manda lay where she was, her face contorted with pain, fear and heartache.

“The only sin is weakness! The only sin is weakness! The only sin is weakness!”

Manda shouted something. Kio couldn’t hear it over the echoing shouts. Their mentor reached down and took her by the neck with both hands. He hoisted her off the floor until her feet dangled above it. Through the near-maddening din of harshly echoing voices Kio heard bones break, slowly, as unstoppable pressure was applied at a leisurely pace.

They fell silent as Manda’s dead body flopped down.

“So it goes,” their mentor said. He remained stern, but the indignant fury was gone from his voice. “This is the natural way of things. The path is paved with those who did not endure.”

He pointed to two of those in attendance.

“Clean this up. You…”

He pointed at a different pair.

“Come here.”

That left no orders for Kio and so he turned around. His chest hurt and he felt dizzy, and he realised that he’d stopped breathing at some point. He started again, careful not to make the intake audibly sharp. Someone might notice. Someone might tell on him.

There was a faint tremor in his hands, and he silently cursed them for betraying him. Would anyone notice, or did it just feel stronger than it really was?

Manda was dead. She’d failed, and she was dead.

Move on, he told himself, as he heard her lifeless legs being dragged along the bare concrete. Move on. It was never going to be all of us. This is just the way of things.

He pushed against the tremor, forcing it out of his hands and down into the darkness, where it could wither and die, unseen by everyone, including himself.

The damn itch returned to his mark, and he scratched at it with his tensed knuckles.

He felt a hand grip his shoulder with uncomfortable strength.

“You did a good thing, Kio,” his mentor told him, now with a hint of softness in his voice. “You brought Manda to face judgement and justice, before the eyes of us all.”

The man turned him around and pulled him a bit closer.

“You have more potential than anyone else here. And that is why I know…”

He poked Kio in the chest.

“I know that that is why you retrieved her, after the destruction of the sanctum. Because you do not disappoint me, Kio.”

His hand wanted to shoot up and scratch at the birthmark, but he kept it still. The energy instead went into his voice.

“Yes, Mentor,” Kio said. “That is why. The fate of the weak.”

The man put his other hand on Kio’s other shoulder, with the same strength. The sound of cracking bone echoed in his ears.

“I believe we have a Kalero Warden on this planet. There are other options, but it is mostly the Wardens who travel, and get into battles that do not concern them.”

“The ghosts of Kalero are false bearers of power,” Kio recited dutifully.

“Yes.”

The mentor nodded approvingly.

“Yes, they are. But false though they are, they still have power. This issue must be dealt with. This is an enemy who will not cease until she has been destroyed. And if you are the one to strike the killing blow, then you will have earned my final and fullest approval. Then you will undergo the razing, and ascend to full power.”

“I will… strike the killing blow, Mentor Avanon.”

Kio knew his mistake even as his tongue formed the words. Hesitation did not show strength, and his mentor’s face darkened.

“I will strike the killing blow, Mentor Avanon.”

“One more time,” the man ordered him. The hint of softness had gone from his voice.

“I will strike the killing blow!”