The world wears red today.
Blanketed by snowglobe weather, the towering eaves of the Kingswalk forest shift in a winter silence. Carpets of white snow drape across the vast field at the heart of the forest. Flurries twist in the frigid air, sticking to the furred coats, crimson scarves, and frostbitten cheeks that wander down a stone promenade of massive statues on a mournful procession to the distant lakeside.
Rose petals litter the way beneath the statues- each of marble, beginning with humble Gage at the edge of the forest. Between our first Champion and the lakeside stretches a martial history of the warriors who have contributed the greatest pieces of our Section’s reputation. Few are anything other than human in shape. Many are fistfighters and brawlers. Yet of the hundreds of people who continue in the winding, silent procession beneath the statues, almost none stop to read the last words of those legends of the past.
All who come to the Kingswalk today carry a red-colored offering towards the lone statue that sits overlooking the lake, where a burgeoning crowd has formed in a wide arc around a hastily-erected stage. Most bring rose bouquets or crimson flowers given away for free back at the forest’s entrance. Others bring candles, clothing, or tokens of more martial nature. An angular, winged Mecha who towers above the crowd even bears a sword forged entirely from blood-colored metal.
Late to the service, I do not rush as I make my way to the lakeside statue, patiently waiting to give my offering. Each person adds their own gift and words around the base of a statue depicting Mars Mons in his middle years. The artist of the piece, a master craftsman who journeyed from distant Olympus after the news broke, captured Mars not in the midst of glory or combat, but in a quiet moment no one in attendance today would otherwise have occasion to see. His stone image sits like he would on the back porch of his estate, eyes closed in rest, the faintest hint of a hero’s welcoming smile playing on his lips.
I am watched as I kneel before the statue. Friend and foe alike populate the crowd today. Minding myself and the time I take from the other well-wishers, I draw out a small knife and lay it across my palm over the still-healing scar left by Gami’s tail. There I pause. Hand over the snow. Reflecting on what I would say to the man if I had just one more chance to see him.
“I am sorry, Mars,” I whisper to the white, knowing it will never repeat my words. “I am a monster.”
Wind howls.
I cut my palm and let the blood drip into the snow. Then I rise and return to the crowd.
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“It is with my deepest apologies that I stand before you, friends...”
Flanked by ten representatives of the minor and major leagues, Sasha’s frigid voice crackles over the assembly from a handheld microphone. A tattered red band encircles her head at the brow. She pauses to remove it and let her hair billow freely in the wind before continuing.
“I know many of you wished to give your condolences to Director Mons in person. Were she here today, I know she would be standing here until sundown to hear each of us tell of what a difference her brother made in our lives. I can only ask that you entrust those words to me, and I will carry them to her myself.”
I can’t tell if the wetness that stains her cheeks comes from the cold or emotion. Her voice sallies onwards unwavering.
“Three years. So short a time for him to be gone, isn’t it? We’ve had Champions with reigns a tenth that long in eras past.” Heads nod. “My history with Mars goes back so much further, as I’m sure does many of yours. It’s still… still hard to think about the future without him there like a beacon on the horizon. Like the Metro Blockhouse, Mars has been a fixture in our city since I was only a child. Something we could always look up to…”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I pay less attention to the speech as Aurix stirs beside me. Wearing heavier formal outfits in similar shades of funeral black, we both linger on the back wings of the crowd, exposed to the wind. Despite the soft ban on media for the event, a few photographers still drift nearby. I can never escape the vultures for long.
“I never thought he’d be so liked when all he did was leave for war,” Aurix murmurs, unnoticing of the media attention. He gazes out over the crowd with his chin held high. Thousands fill the promenade now. “There’s… so many people here.”
“Sasha’s story is one we all mirror parts of,” I say. “There wasn’t a child in my group home who didn’t want to grow up to be like Mars. Myself included.”
We both quiet respectfully as the speech begins to waver. Tears are shed freely throughout the assembly.
“Thanks for coming today,” he eventually says, once Sasha bows to applause and another speaker rises to take her place. His voice is thick with unwanted emotion. He swallows it down. “I would’ve felt awkward coming with anyone else. They didn’t know him like you did.”
“No need to thank me. I come every year.”
He grunts. “Not the only reason you’re here, I’m sure. You never go anywhere with just one.”
“It can wait until after.”
“Go for it. I’m getting tired of the cold.”
I wait for a moment as I watch Sasha return to the crowd, where she begins to shake hands and commiserate with the well-wishers. As the next speaker begins, I crook my head for Aurix to follow me back down the promenade of statues. Within moments, we are alone amongst the titans of the past.
“Gami knows,” I say as we pass under the spear of Sonorious. A red flag billows from the pole. “He knows your adopted sister still lives, and he knows I’ve been hiding it. I’m certain he’s been instructing Valance to seek her out. They cannot be allowed to find her first.”
“I told you once already, you should have hired a Hunter,” Aurix growls. “Subterfuge isn’t my thing.”
“I take it vengeance against the tyrant who murdered your father is also outside your interests?” I don’t even have to look over to know just how his lips curl into a sneer. “And I thought you’d be a touch more excited to meet the girl that stole your father’s praise for so many years, too.”
“I’m going to pay her back soon enough,” Aurix snaps. “But I can only do so much. I’m good at fighting, not crawling around the gutters. I don’t deal with cowards like her.”
“Don’t tell me again that you’ve found nothing. I’ve scoured a quarter of the undercity myself. You and Felix…”
“We’ve found rumors, but that’s it. Someone called the Ghost of the Vents who matches her description. And they’ve been off the grid for weeks.” He glares over at me, shoes crunching through a snowdrift. “We should have captured your sister then and there at the party- she knows where the bitch is. Why did you even let her go?”
“It was a tactical decision. I need Tay at full strength to have a chance at defying a Champion. She would never reach that if I forced her. She has to want it for herself. Cal is instrumental to that.”
“We don’t need her.”
“You’ve never seen Tay fight. Believe me when I say, if your father was the star, she is the supernova. She’s necessary.”
“Or maybe you just want to wet your dick in a familiar hole. Valance-” He cuts himself off, but it’s too late.
My steps trail off. “Continue, please.”
The sudden tension that escalates between us could cut skin.
“I asked her about you.” Midnight blue eyes stare daggers into me. Searching as best as he can. He’ll find nothing to latch his suspicions onto. I’ve spent years wearing masks in the company of far greater men than he. “She told me some things. You’re more connected to this girl than you said.”
My voice hardens to steel. “I am. Just as you are.”
I stride closer, a cold breath billowing from my lips. “You forget your place in this game, Aurix. You were nobody until the moment you wanted to stick your hand in your pot. Now you’re a piece on the board. Everyone is going to look at you for what you are: the son of the Showmaker. The son of our reigning Champion’s greatest enemy. I hope I don’t have to spell the rest out for you.”
He fumes in silence, eyes narrowed by instinctive anger at the tone I wield. The silence is all the compliance I need. He’s a hothead. Not a complete idiot.
“I am watched on every side. You still have the freedom of anonymity,” I say, striding from the snowfield. “Do your job, Aurix. And do it quickly. We’re out of time.”