Broken stood in the middle of a blasted and desolate section of Asan Paril. All other activity was on the fringes, outside the area that had been ripped apart by the cyclone.

Here, there was Broken, beside him, a poisoned and dying man, and all around them, remnants of destroyed buildings. That was all.

Mai was gone, off to somewhere, and Eton the demon had gone as well, off to find her. What Broken had to do was find her first.

And while Broken’s carefully crafted plan was in shambles, he was not out of options. He had prepared well.

“Claw-Back!” he shouted to the night sky. “Come to me!”

Only a few minutes later, the giant black owl dove from the sky, and landed on Broken’s right shoulder.

“Do you know where Mai is?” Broken asked the bird.

She replied in the language Makini spellweavers had crafted when they had given Great Blacks sentience.

“Yes, Broken,” Claw-Back hooted. “I’ll guide you from the air. Savel has her.”

Claw-Back glanced at Ishad, hooted mournfully, and rushed up into the sky.

And Broken began to run to follow her.

It was said that Great Blacks flew far faster than a man could run. And yet, Broken paced the owl.

He wasn’t running, so much as doing what Eton did by blurring, except in a slightly different fashion.

He was moving with the wind because he had to, and not because he had a demon ability.

In mere moments, Broken had cleared the radius of destruction the tornado had caused, and into the chaos that the less destroyed regions of Asan Paril were experiencing.

Makini soldier fighting Paril guards, Paril civilians running for cover, one last giant green cave spider rampaging—he passed by them all. Obstacles were no barrier to Broken, as he followed the trail Claw-Back blazed from the sky. He flowed over them, no matter if the obstacle was as small as a cart, or as big as a villa.

There was nothing that he would let get between him and Mai.

And then, suddenly, Broken saw that he was nearing the docks. A lone Paril ship Broken could see from a distance making itself ready for launch. And then, Broken knew where Mai was.

On the ship, Savel was preparing for launch, making ready to run the Makini blockade. Broken couldn’t let that ship leave.

The street that led to the docks did not curve. It was straight. Broken barreled down its length, darting around the Paril guards who protected the area.

As Broken neared the ship, came within two dozen feet of the still-lowered gangplank, two guards interposed themselves in his way.

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Beyond them, Savel was just then pulling Mai up the gangplank. She struggled against him, but to no avail.

Broken had to get to her. He cut down the first guard with his blade in a fraction of a second, even as Claw-Back dove from the sky to help him, even as the dozens of other Paril guards all around rushed to impede him.

As Broken turned to deal with the second guard, Claw-Back slammed into the adversary’s chest with all the force of a hundred foot dive, her talons extended.

The guard fell to the ground in a pool of blood, instantly dead, but as Claw-Back detached herself from the body, a crossbow bolt shot from behind Broken, and killed her then and there.

The owl limply dropped beside the guard she had risked her life to fell, and Broken glanced back at those who had done the deed.

A hundred Makini, give or take, obviously aware of Savel’s plan to escape, and trying to prevent that, were charging down the street.

Claw-Back had been caught in the crossfire.

Suddenly, the two dozen or so Paril guards on land realized they had bigger problems then Broken, and moved to intercept, even as those on the ship hurried to use the time their fellows were buying for them, to shove off.

On the deck now, being wrestled away from Broken’s sight, into a cabin, was Mai.

There are so many different enemies, thought Broken. Claw-Back and Ishad are dead. But Mai is not. I can still save her.

Broken took advantage of his newfound ignoral, and turned to the ship. Just then, though, he heard a distant whisk, a rush of air, and suddenly, Broken saw that Eton was standing atop a nearby building.

The demon threw something at the ship.

A vial.

Symbolically, Broken’s heart stopped, as the vial arced to the cabin where Savel even now was dragging Mai.

And then, there was an explosion.

Chunks of ship flew everywhere. Oddly, it seemed as if the damage, to the ship at least, had been mostly cosmetic, but looking at the burning wreckage, that sailors even now were trying to put out, but there was one fact that remained.

There was no way Mai and Savel had survived such close contact with the explosion. Savel, Broken could care less about, but Mai…

Mai was Broken’s reason for existence. He had lived for months with no purpose other than to protect her.

And now she was dead.

Broken had lost his purpose.

The truth of the matter was, all things existed for a reason. Some things existed purely to survive, despite all odds.

Broken was not one of those things.

He had lived for Mai, and now that she was dead, he saw no reason to surpass the odds.

Not a single, tiny reason.

Broken’s senses vividly took in everything around him. His mind watched, detached.

Broken saw the Paril guards fall before the strength of the numerous and disciplined Makini.

Broken saw the Paril ship put the fire out, and leave dock, using well the time their fellows had sacrificed their lives to give them.

Broken saw the Makini approaching him.

As the ship that carried Mai’s corpse sailed into the distance, to the blockade, Broken turned more fully to the Makini.

A hundred of them, maybe more, were coming at them.

Broken felt the sword in his hand. He wondered how many he would be able to take down, before their numbers overwhelmed him, and destroyed him.

Five? Ten? Twenty? Thirty? Forty? Fifty?

Or, in the strength of his pure rage, would Broken be able to massacre them all, go on to Eton, and see how many pieces a demon had to be sliced into before it finally died?

Broken didn’t know. And he didn’t intend on finding out.

For the truth of the matter was, Broken didn’t believe in vengeance. After a deed was done, beyond all hope of possibly undoing it, what good would it possibly serve to make sure more lives were ruined?

The Makini who ever now came at him had families, lives, every last one of them. Now that Mai was dead, Broken had nothing to protect.

And so, he didn’t see how the Makini were his enemies, anymore.

As they came at him shouting, Broken sheathed his weapon.

As the Makini crowded around him, Broken got to his knees, and raised his hands over his head.

They stripped him of his sword, manacled his wrists behind his back, locked his legs in irons, and blindfolded him.

And Broken let it all happen.

He didn’t care, anymore.