Jerome took to the skies as soon as he left Farryn through the southern gate.

“Leave the city and keep going south until the aura in the air hurts your eyes and skin. Make any move to reach the Royals and you’ll never see them all again,” Hedon’s note had said.

Jerome flew as fast as he could. He flew over farmlands and cattle ranches; over small settlements and villages. But all thoughts of enjoying the flight were non-existent in his mind.

After a long while, his eyes began to hurt, and water uncontrollably. He also felt a slight prickling sensation on his skin.

I must be getting closer, he thought.

Over a thousand paces away from him was a very long unnaturally-formed canyon. The canyon spread out in a straight line from northeast to southwest, he couldn’t see the end on both sides.

Jerome hit the ground and took off running straight towards the canyon, praying in his heart that his family was still alive and well.

What aura is this? He thought.

The intensity of the aura in the air was stronger now and he had to wipe his eyes from time to time as he ran.

Bang! Someone hit him on the head when he was only a few dozen paces away from the edge of the canyon and he tumbled over.

Pain shot up Jerome’s spine. The pain was dizzying, but he forced himself not to pass out.

“Hedon! This is between me and—!”

Bang! He took another hit in his side and he felt his ribs crack. Jerome turned to lie on his side as he coughed up blood.

He reached for the mind-calming stone—in a specially made pocket in his robes over his heart—and the pain clouding his mind receded just enough for him to make out his assailants.

Someone kicked him in the jaw and he spun in the air. Just before hitting the ground, Jerome stretched out his hand and Suzie lashed out as quickly as lightning.

“Urgh,” his assailant grunted and tried to get away from him. But the flowing steel wrapped around his leg and pierced his skin, draining the iron in his blood in a few breaths of time.

“Adama’s gauntlets! Heavens, he’s bonded with Adama’s gauntlets!” Someone exclaimed.

“Stop gawking and attack!” Hedon roared some distance away.

“Hedon, we can talk about—” he was saying but Hedon’s goons rushed him in a pincer attack.

Jerome dodged a fist, maneuvering around to kick out at another. His legs gave as he was kicked in the knee. There were at least six Blanks assaulting him at once.

He tried to stay calm and clear-headed but the pain was all that occupied his mind. Jerome took stock of his increasing wounds as punches and kicks rained upon him. He quickly released Suzie and another Blank dropped dead.

“Damn you!” someone roared as the Blanks shot backward. That was two Blanks dead and no one wanted to risk it anymore.

Hedon cursed in his heart. His father was going to punish him for losing two Blanks in one night.

He quickly dragged out one of his hostages with him from his hiding place a dozen or more paces away from the fight. One of the newly promoted Drudges he'd bought from some Third-Tier family he couldn't remember.

“Hedon, there’s no need for this,” Jerome called out as he stood up with a busted knee. His body wasn’t healing fast enough and it frustrated him.

“You have no right to speak to me, you peasant!” Hedon roared as he dragged his captive along, coming closer.

Doti. Jerome’s heart went cold as the beast reared its head.

“What did you think was going to happen? You assault a member of a Great clan and think there are no consequences?!” Hedon said as he unsheathed his sword, holding it against his captive's throat.

“Hedon let him go. Let them all go, you have me now,” Jerome said with great restraint as he tried to keep the venom out of his voice.

He reached for the mind-calming stone but someone hit him on the head. Jerome went down on one knee.

Who was that? He thought. That punch was really heavy, damn it!

“Je…rome,” Doti tried to speak.

“Don’t speak Doti, it’ll all be ok. Everything‘s gonna be just fine,” he assured as he tried to keep blood out of his eyes.

His skull had cracked from the last hit and he was on the verge of passing out from the pain. Doti had lost a lot of blood. Both his arms were broken and he couldn't cycle to get rid of whatever had paralyzed his core.

Jerome could smell the piss and sweat on him. He thought about how long his family had been held captive and his anger rose again. No. Must stay clear-headed.

“Let them go? I’m here to teach you a lesson!” Hedon shouted, “You’ve got to own up to the consequences of your actions! You think because you've got the Royal family behind you, you can act however you feel?!

“Against me you’re nothing! Nothing I say!

“For I am Alvric!

I am the boisterous storm!

Sharthu could never tame me!”

What’s going on? Jerome thought as warning bells went off in his head. He could feel wind essence begin to swirl around Hedon like it was embracing him as his robe billowed out around him.

“N’tdaea brought his legions against me!

Like a great wave, he rose up to trample me!”

“But where is Sharthu?!

Where is N’tdaea?!”

Jerome was starting to feel mounting pressure from Hedon. He could tell that those weren’t ordinary words the teenager was speaking. He could also tell that Doti was still a Drudge, and wouldn’t last long under such pressure.

Doti straightway crumbled from the pressure Hedon was releasing. He hadn’t eaten in days; he had been beaten and pissed on and mocked, and he couldn’t take anymore.

His eyes and skin hurt already from the aura in the air, add to that the crippling pressure from his captor—every muscle in his body went limp. Hedon was literally holding him up.

Hedon put more force in his sword hand, drawing blood from his captive’s neck. He continued with his utterance when he noticed Jerome tensing up, preparing to attack.

“The heavens were torn asunder!

The sea split in two!

Alas!

They are nowhere to be found!

For I alone stand victorious!

I,

Alvric!”

“Listen Hedon, they shouldn’t have to pay for my mista—”

Hedon cut through Doti’s throat.

~~~

Doti did not want to believe what was happening. He fell off the cliff down into the canyon, blood spraying out of his neck like a fountain as Jerome ran toward Hedon. He tried to cycle but it was like trying to walk through a brick wall.

Why did you have to offend someone so powerful? Doti was angry. He was angry at Jerome, at the psychotic teenager who held him and his family hostage. He was angry at himself for being weak. He’d been wanting to show Jerome what he was capable of now; to show him that he could now keep up when next they took on the blind man in the slums.

At least you can fight to save the rest of our family, he thought and his anger toward Jerome faded away. He remembered every one of their faces. The hard times they had together. The times they went out to scavenge for resources. How Jerome helped to dress their wounds when anyone bled from cuts. Jerome had always been the one to take care of them anytime they ventured out, to defend them in times of trouble. And now he was fighting for them.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Doti heard the sound of rushing water before he hit the river beneath him. Just before he lost consciousness he saw someone else being thrown off the cliff.

“No,” he wanted to scream, but his voice came out as a whisper.

~~~

Hedon wielded his sword with great dexterity as he dodged the whip-like strings from Jerome’s flowing steel gauntlets.

“Each and every one of your friends will suffer before their death, Jerome,” he slashed at Jerome’s newly healed knee, drawing blood. “It’s inevitable.”

Jerome rushed forward, pushing down the pain, as he tried to move past Hedon and his goons. After Doti got thrown off the cliff, Hedon’s goons started bringing out his friends to stab and throw them off the cliff. The sad thing was their wounds weren’t fatal. If the fall didn’t kill them, the bleeding would.

They made sure he watched as they selected those they sent to their demise. But they left the female caregiver for later. Ms. Tara was a woman in her prime. She was already past seventy, but she looked to be in her early twenties.

These whoremongers want to have their way with her. Never! He realized their plans as he pushed through the haze in his mind for clarity.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. You better hurry now, little fish,” someone taunted him from behind and they all laughed.

Hedon struck again, making sure to avoid the steel whips. He was way faster than he was before. Jerome raised his hand to block as he watched them stab Dreamer in the gut and toss him off the cliff. He transformed the whip in his other hand into a blade and stabbed at Hedon who shot back with quick reflexes. Jerome followed him as they exchanged blows. But Hedon was a lot faster, his weapon heavier. Jerome attacked low, transforming the gauntlets into a makeshift spear.

“You’re a very skilled sacred artist, Jerome,” Hedon praised as he dodged the spear. “Unfortunately for you, being skilled enough,” — Hedon countered with the sheer force of his Will — “...is not enough to save your friends.”

Jerome’s knee gave and his spear transformed back into gauntlets as the pressure from Hedon increased. He felt like a mountain was dropped on top of him. Hedon hacked down with his sword and Jerome leaned away, just enough to avoid injury to his face.

The sword slashed at his chest and Jerome felt the mind-calming stone crumble. He limped backward as he watched Whisper and another kid being stabbed. His mind was turning hazy, his anger threatening to break free of his control.

Jerome lashed out, catching Hedon off guard. A steel whip wrapped around his neck but before Jerome could tighten it, someone slashed at the whip, breaking it in two. Jerome felt pain shoot up his mind. His connection to Suzie was a soul bond. Any damage to the artifact was damage to him.

The beast took over.

Hedon once more experienced the strangeness of Jerome from Pilgrims’ Keep. The kid became faster and stronger all of a sudden like he was another person.

He fought savagely as Hedon expected, ignoring defense as he stacked up on injuries. “Don’t you care for your life, you beast?!”

Jerome just kept attacking. Hedon clipped him in the jaw with a fist and Jerome clawed at his face with sharp steel-tipped nails.

“Bastard!” Hedon struck faster and faster. He slashed at Jerome’s ribs drawing blood.

Jerome held onto his sword, pinning it down with his right arm as he stabbed Hedon with a transformed gauntlet. Hedon moved. Fast. One moment he was in front of Jerome. The next moment, he punched him in the throat from the side. Jerome turned to face him ignoring the pain, but Hedon had moved again. He kicked Jerome’s knee, shattering it completely.

One of the Sprouts Hedon came with, put a hand on his shoulder holding him back as another brought down Jerome, sealing his core.

“We’ve got company,” he whispered.

“Clear out!” Hedon roared.

They had come prepared for multiple eventualities. Hedon’s goons quickly threw everyone off the cliff not bothering to stab the rest of them.

They worked meticulously, quickly erasing every evidence of their presence.

“Pick him up,” Hedon commanded.

The Sprouts broke all four of Jerome’s limbs and picked him up, holding him in front of Hedon. Hedon inspected the kid in front of him before stabbing him through the heart with his blade. Jerome coughed up blood, staining Hedon’s robes, but he neither screamed nor flinched.

He only raged on as his body twitched from the pain, growling and snapping at the Alvric heir.

“You’re not worthy of a treasure such as Adama’s gauntlets,” he sneered while twisting the blade to inflict more damage.

With the death of its wielder, an artifact will become unbound, and ready for another to bond with it. Jerome’s eyes drooped slowly as Hedon pulled out his blade. His heart stopped beating and his vitality waned. His body turned cold, and sudden changes started happening.

Hedon and his goons were dumbfounded. Those holding up Jerome quickly tossed him off the cliff as their hands began to grow stiff. They looked at their hands with jaws wide open.

“What the hell was that?!” One of the Sprouts that held up Jerome asked, “I can’t feel my hands!”

“I can’t feel my hands either. May your soul know only torment in the afterlife!” The other cursed Jerome angrily as he tried to flex his fingers but found it impossible.

“Young lord,” they called out to Hedon expectantly. Only through his authority as the heir of the Alvric clan could they seek help from the experts of the clan.

“Even in death you’re a blight,” Hedon muttered looking into the canyon. “Let's go,” he said as he turned to face them. “Our physicians and Alchemists should know how to help you recover.”

“Gratitude, young lord,” they bowed.

He quickly took off his robe and tossed it off the cliff and a spare one was immediately handed over to him. Hedon observed the hands of his men as they ran back toward Farryn at full speed. Their hands looked like they were carved out of stone, and they were slightly opened as if they were in the process of making a fist. It was unnerving.

This could be trouble, he thought as he took a glance at their hands again. The Sprouts were unnamed and not as powerful as one would expect a named Sprout to be.

But they are Sprouts nonetheless. Father would not take kindly to crippling two of his Sprouts, he sighed as he thought of ways to evade the wrath of the Alvric Patriarch.

What sort of fortune did that kid obtain during Pilgrims’ Keep, those gauntlets… he clenched his jaw, holding back from cursing.

“I really wanted those gauntlets,” Hedon muttered to himself, but the Sprouts heard.

“We’re truly sorry about the gauntlets young lord, we’d come back to search for his body as soon as we…” one of the Sprouts said and looked at his hands with a pained expression.

“Hmm,” Hedon nodded. “But it seems the universe has other plans. I don’t know if we’d be able to remove the gauntlets without…” He also trailed off looking at their hands.

They dropped the topic as their egos wouldn’t let them admit that an ordinary Blank crippled them.

“Hurry. Time may not be on our side,” Hedon said and they pushed themselves faster than before.

Hedon knew he must not be seen here by anyone. The Vorthes were known to have eyes everywhere and it’ll be bad for his family’s reputation if this got out.

Who would have known the kid obtained such a treasure in Pilgrims’ Keep?

“If it wasn’t for Adama’s gauntlets, I’d have made him suffer until he begged for death,” Hedon muttered. He was an Alvric. Nobody messes with the Alvrics. He clenched his fist as he raced forward.

~~~

Yun Vorthe arrived at the canyon to witness Jerome and Hedon fighting. He observed his illegitimate but necessary offspring for a very long time. Jerome had lost all sense of self and fought like an animal. But he still wielded visha stirh'aun with intelligence — like a predator.

He watched as the Alvric younglings tossed Jerome’s friends into the depths of Blade’s Edge canyon. And when he couldn’t take it anymore he revealed a bit of his presence. Not enough for the three Sprouts to notice his position.

After they scampered off, he walked unhurriedly to the edge of the canyon with his hands folded behind him, to continue observing Jerome.

~~~

Jerome crossed the threshold between life and death, but laws that were powerful beyond this plane brought him back among the living. His heart knitted itself as he fell and his vitality rose — barely. He opened his eyes and used Suzie to cling to the canyon wall. His rage refused to ebb as he fought for control. It fought back like a ferocious animal refusing to give in. It promised vengeance and strength; the blood of his enemies staining the land of Vorthe, their heads on pikes outside Farryn’s gate.

Strangely he wanted to let go; to feed his anger until every single one of them was dead.

No! He communicated his Will through every fiber of his being. His struggles lasted a long time before he was finally able to leash the beast. Then he discovered Ash, passed out, and covered in her own blood on a small outcropping in the canyon wall, a few feet to his left. The beast reared its head again as his emotions were stirred.

“Ash,” he tried to shout, but his voice came out a whisper. His throat felt sore and hurt badly. His mouth, bleeding.

The sound of the wind as it poured into the canyon was deafening. The aura stung his eyes and skin but he ignored it. He tried using Suzie to reach Ash and wake her up but couldn’t. Fatigue was beginning to set in. His eyes began to droop as his blood continued to flow. He wasn’t healing, at least not fast enough. He tried to cycle but it was like walking through mud.

The Alvrics….must…have done…something to my…core, he thought. Even his thoughts were sluggish. His control over Suzie began to slip as he weakened hanging there, thousands of feet above a dark nothingness, or so he thought. He tried moving his body but his arms were shattered, and they hurt really bad.

Something else was happening though. The shattered mind-calming stone had been moving like an ocean of sand covering his body as though it had a life of its own.

He didn’t notice this, however, for darkness took him over. And silence surrounded him as he fell, smashing into the river below.

~~~

Impossible! the Patriarch of the Royal family nearly screamed out.

In all my years, this has never happened before, heart beating fast beneath his chest, he was unable to keep still. He knew very well what this meant. If this kid could rein in the beast with just his strength of will, a lot of things would change.

It would mean...

He didn't dare finish the thought. He quickly picked up the girl Jerome called Ash. With a flick of a finger, she was hovering in front of him. Still passed out, but breathing. She was all bones and drenched in her own blood.

Yun sighed. At least saving this one could put the kid in his debt. He contemplated wiping her memory but decided against it. This experience would make them both stronger to face life.

He rose into the sky and looked down. His golden eyes were like bright suns penetrating the depths of the river as he probed his connection with the darkness inside Jerome.

“Six thousand years ago, I created this canyon to destroy one such as you — a beast that terrorized my people for decades,” he said, thinking back to how Blade’s Edge Canyon came to be.

“Yet in this same place, another offspring gives me hope,” Yun Vorthe muttered as he gazed hopefully at the heavens.

He took a step into the void as a soft golden light surrounded him with Ash in tow.