The fate of the weak. The fate of the weak. The fate of the weak.

Kio repeated his mentor’s words in his head, using them to bat away the various thoughts that assailed him. But there was an awful lot of batting to do.

Unda and Keler were dead, their bodies left behind in the slaughterhouse the three of them had made of that Tanga. They hadn’t been strong enough, even with the power their mentor had given them. That was the fate of the weak.

But however much he tried to cut away that dead limb their memory wouldn’t entirely leave him. Something whispered explanations at him; justifications for why they’d died like that. Surprise. Minor errors. Inexperience. And that Warden had been strong.

He spun his wounded arm in a circle. The pain was awful, but a good distraction. Kio reached the edge and turned and walked back the way he’d come, yet again.

The Warden had been strong. The bearer of false power had been strong. He’d been supposed to kill her, but here he was.

He looked at his hand. The skin was blackened and damaged from the power he’d manifested, leaving him with an odd mix of pain and numbness. If he’d just hit her then that would have been it.

He used his left hand to touch the cut above his eye. It meant another stab of pain in the arm, and a milder one from the cut. The woman had added to his mark. He would remember that fight every time he looked in a mirror.

He wanted to forget her. He wanted to remember her every trick so he’d do better next time. But he wanted to forget her. Her and her words. The past had to die, but it stubbornly clung to life and he hated himself for his own weakness.

Damn you damn you damn you.

He reached the other edge and walked back, faster this time.

What was he without strength? What was anyone? Strength was all that kept you from being eaten. And three of his fellows had already proven too weak. They’d thought they were strong enough, just like he did. And now they were dead. Was he too weak?

He spun his arm again. He reached the edge and turned around, speeding up a bit more. The thoughts kept coming at him. When he braced himself against one assault another one hit him in the back. Manda did it more than others, surfacing from the depths where he tried to bury things, bobbing up without warning like bubbles from a murky pool.

The sound of her skull giving in returned to his ears, as did the cries she’d made before the gathering’s collective chanting drowned them out. The mentor had accused her of contacting her parents, as a sign of her weakness. Had she? It was forbidden, but had she?

The bubbles continued; little flashes of memories he didn’t want. Manda speaking of her parents in confidence. Him admiring her curves as she sparred. The blood. The blood, and the piercing noises all those people had made.

He spun his arm with a quick, angry movement, and it finally hurt enough to make him vince and stop in his tracks. Kio hugged the limb up against himself. What was he doing? What was he doing and how did he expect it to end up?

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The time for rumination ended. Kio brought his breathing under control and forced all of that down, down, down where no one would see it, not even himself. Because the mentor was here, and Kio stood still as he heard the footsteps approaching him from behind.

Is this it? he asked himself before the inner lid was fully on.

“Kio,” said the rough voice.

“Mentor. I-”

“I have been told how things went,” the man cut him off. “Face me.”

Kio turned around and forced himself to face Avanon. The mentor stared into his eyes, and Kio could hazard no guess as to his mood. His bloodshot eyes were always terribly intense, and the strangely damaged skin always gave his face a fierce look.

“Unda and Keler are dead,” the man finally said. “Two more found unworthy. And here you stand.”

He gripped Kio’s wounded arm and placed his thumb right over the spot where the sword had passed through. Kio held his composure, if only barely. He surprised himself by holding it still as the man gripped tighter and pressed his thumb down.

“You three had a mission, for the sake of my allies, and you carried it out as ordered. Then along came the Warden.”

“She did, Mentor,” Kio said, and kept his voice soft to make hiding the pain easier.

“A factor none of you could have known would be there, but which you all knew was in general play. Is it true what I’ve been told?”

Kio of course didn’t know exactly what he’d been told, and the unknown had never been as frightening.

“She slew Keler and injured Unda. I fought her by myself after that, and some other people showed up and ganged up on Unda. I almost had her. I knocked her down and I almost had her, but she’d stabbed me. And Unda was dead and I was being shot at. I decided to report, and seek a better opportunity.”

The mentor took his other arm and lifted it up, so he could examine the blackened hand up close.

“And you Tunnelled away, a distance like you’ve never managed before. It must have been quick.”

“They were right on my heels, Mentor.”

The man maintained his grip on Kio’s gaze and arm both for a few breathless seconds. The sound of crunching skull echoed through his head again.

Avanon released his arm, but held his gaze.

“I believe you,” the mentor said. “I am merciful, Kio. I punish grave failure and weakness, and you are not weak. You are my success on this planet and you shall accompany me as I go to turn the tide of this war.”

“Thank you… Mentor,” Kio said.

“Yes, thank me. For it was I who gave you this strength, and do not forget it.”

“I will not.”

Kio took a deep breath.

“What about the others?”

The man’s hesitation hinted at it having been the slightly wrong thing to say.

“They will have one more chance, I think. One last wager with their lives to prove themselves to me. But that is not for you to worry about. You will join me in bending the fate of the Fringe. And after that… the razing. Then, Kio, then, you will have fully escaped the past and its weakness.”

“As you say, Mentor,” Kio replied.

“You may have your arm looked at now,” Avanon said. “Get to it. Be at your best for what is to come.”

The man turned and walked away, his fine blue cape fluttering a bit as he went.

Kio spun his arm around. He scratched at his birthmark. The bobbing continued.