The tavern did not at all resemble its prior form. Dust swarmed alongside its perimeter, rising and falling as if on pace to the wind. Charred segments of wood sporadically fell off its roof and walls, forming countless piles of ash that resided upon its now dirt-like ground. But worst of all was its stench; it was sickening and abominable, so strong that Adon and Ankita had no choice but to hold their breaths and cover their noses.

“What is this?” Adon whispered.

“This is your tavern,” Zueki grinned, wrapping his arms around Adon and Ankita’s necks, as he dragged them into the heap of burning rubble. “What else would it be?”

It took less than a moment for them to reach the body. Countless layers of bone protruded sporadically out of unnatural pores located across its body. Piles of organs and guts surrounded its half decayed perimeter, enveloped in an ocean of its own pale, red blood. And the blue skin that once resided in thick, comfortable layers over its strong, yet soothing face, was charred and deformed, sagging to the ground like an overheated marshmallow positioned too close to a fire.

“What did you do?”Adon fell to the ground, his hands covering his grieving eyes. “What is wrong with you?”

The once derisive face of Zueki turned stern and serious. It was as if he had transformed into a different person.

“Look, Adon isn’t it? This world and every living organism within it have one common flaw: weakness. Take homo-sapiens for example, we are truly weak creatures; in fact, in terms of pure strength and power, we reside far below most other species in the world’s ecosystem. And although we have immense intelligence, there have always been plenty of other humanoid species–such as the divgin–who are far more intelligent than us.

“Now, you may be thinking to yourself, if homo-sapiens are so weak, then how have we survived all this time?”

“I don’t care about your shitty history lesson,” Adon screamed, struggling to escape Zueki’s boney chokehold. “You killed my father, you-”

“We didn’t,” Zueki whispered, averting his eyes towards the ground.

“What do you mean you didn’t kill him? His body is right-”

“We didn’t survive,” Zueki continued, completely ignoring Adon’s interruption. “For hundreds of thousands of years we were tortured, starved, and murdered, fighting for survival. With dull pieces of stone and wood we battled the divgin, each other, and nature itself. And a little over 10,000 years ago, when the divgin discovered how to use the infinite gene, our already doomed species seemed to be destined to extinction.”

“How does something that happened 10,000 years ago justify a murder?”

“It was us infinites who saved the homo-sapiens, learning from the divine one of our immense and extraordinary infinite power. It was us who protected this world. It is us who protect you.”

“You are no protector to me.”

“I am the protector of this world,” Zueki muttered, as if he was speaking to himself, “I must protect them. I must protect us all. Even if it means they must suffer in the process. Even if it means that they must die.”

He turned towards the dead body of Chuck with a blank, emotionless expression, “This divgin–this creature–is one of the greatest threats that I have ever faced. In all honesty, the only reason why I ventured to this town in the first place was to kill him.”

He sighed, turning his depleted eyes towards Adon, “I had heard that the divgin was fostering a son. Threatening you and attacking you was my plan to lure him out. I never intended to continue the harassment after the divgin was dead, but the Ikhurites had found you and if I didn’t intervene then you would surely-”

“You used him?” Ankita screamed, “You used him so you could kill his own father?”

“He couldn’t have been a great father,” Zueki sneered, “he was just a divgin after all.”

“Just a Divgin,” Adon slowly rose and turned to Zueki. His eyelids had run dry and were now filled with red, pulsing veins. “You before that you once lost everything; that ‘I couldn’t possibly understand.’ Well, I do.”

Adon began to walk towards Chuck, his pace slow and rhythmic, “I once had a family. I don’t remember a lot about them, but I am certain that they loved me,” he turned towards Zueki, “And do you know who killed them? It wasn’t some ‘great danger’ or ‘external threat.’ No. It was the Ikhurites. The people who you Infinites command to protect this world and its people.”

“I’m sure they did something that deserved such discipline-”

“So, missing a Tax Day is deserving of death but the murder of an innocent, living, breathing, intelligent being isn’t?”

“Once again, I'm an Infinite and he’s a divgin. It’s a very different-”

“No it’s not!” A cascade of tears dripped down Adon’s cheeks, “every single person who has ever protected me has been taken from me by you and your stupid rules. My mother and father were killed when I was eight years old! Do you understand how hard it is to live life alone at eight? So what if your family was killed. So what if you had to fight some shitty war and become some shitty infinite. It doesn’t give you the right to inflict your pain on my family.”

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“What are you going to do?” Zueki cackled, “Are you going to throw a menu at me? Are you going to bash my head in with a pan?”

“I don’t know how I’m going to do it,” Adon stated, anger flowing out of his body, “but I’m going to torture you till you wish you died with the rest of your worthless family.”

“What did you just say?” Zueki questioned angrily.

“That you're a disgrace, and that means that your family must have been the same,” Adon turned to Zueki, an enraged grin consuming his cheek bones. “I bet they are in Tartorious. They probably even deserved their horrendous deaths. Oh, that must have been a wonderful moment for you. Walking towards that terrifying stench. Seeing their deformed, ugly faces, moments after their murder. And the pain you must have felt; I can’t even imagine. Hey you know what? After I kill you, you can have a nice family reunion down there. Maybe they will even put all of you in the same pit of burning lava.”

“You're really asking for it, boy,” Zueki gritted his teeth, “I’ll send you right to the place where your parents and Chuck are. I’m sure they are having an amazing time talking about how much they love you while screaming and burning in an eternal fire.”

“You should have died long ago, you asshole.”

“And you should have never been born, swine.”

The air around Zueki’s body began to glow a bright yellow while his spiky hair began to float. On the floor, the light bulbs that had fallen and shattered during Zueki and Chuck’s fight, once again sparked and flickered. An immense weight seemed to be placed upon Ankita and Adon causing them to fall to their knees shaking.

Adon turned to Ankita, his legs shaking from the weight placed upon them, “Ankita, please go. I’m the one who started this fight–I should be the one to finish it. Please find somewhere safe for both you and our son.”

“Ok, Adon,” she answered, beginning to crawl towards the tavern entrance.

“Like I’d let her leave,” laughed Zueki as he grabbed Ankita who was now lying flat on the ground.

Adon glared at Zueki, “Get off of her.”

“You love her don’t you,” Zueki continued, “I would even say that you two are family. You are having a son together after all.”

“How do you know that?” Adon asked, his face pale with fear.

“I know everything about Ankita,” Zueki grinned, “she was born in the year 10042 within Jerasilium, Edenia, on Sivan, 7th: the day of the infinite trials. I also know that her mother died during childbirth, and her father died last year giving her ownership of the family pharmaceutical shop. I also happen to be great friends with her doctor, who just so happens to be an Ikhurite that I hired.”

He paused, turning to Adon, “I have information on the lives of every single person that you have a connection to, Adon. To successfully and safely eliminate the divgin, I had to do everything I possibly could to lure out your emotions first. So-”

“So, you threatened my girlfriend, because that was the best way to anger me,” Adon interrupted angrily, “I don’t even understand. Why do you want to kill divgin so badly? What makes them so dangerous? Sure, they fought against the humans in the great war, but Chuck did absolutely nothing to harm or endanger any human. The tavern actually allowed for humans to be happy. For you to come in here and kill him without even giving him a trial-”

“They killed him,” Zueki whispered, “The divgins killed my brother.”

“If your brother saw you now, he would wish he never loved you in the first place,” Adon uttered, engulfed in rage.

“Stop.”

Zueki closed his eyes, brought his hands together, and began to float. The air within the tavern became thin and dry while piles of dust that had accumulated on the floor began to rise.

“You might as well have killed him yourself,” Adon continued, the air around his body turning red and wavy, “There is no way a brother could ever love you.”

“You don’t know my brother!”

Zueki thrusts his hands forward and an enormous stampede of lightning bolts flashed directly towards Adon. Although Adon knew he should fear the bolts, he felt a strange sense of ease as they rushed towards him.

Clasping his hands behind his head he imagined a manifestation of the air around him forming on his fingertips. Within seconds, he felt a strange heat enveloping his hands, causing him to thrust them forward in sudden surprise. As if perfectly timed, the armada of fireballs that he had formed collided directly with Zueki’s lightning bolts causing the two elements to explode in a cascade of heat and smoke.

“H-how did you do that?” Zueki stated in shock, “Only the divine one has ever stopped my Call of the Divine, you couldn’t possibly-”

Zueki fell to the ground coughing–he had reached his limit.

“Ikhurites!” Zueki screamed between his sporadic coughing.

A group of ten or so Ikhurites ran into the tavern and began to converse with Zueki.

“Lord Zueki!” They shouted. “Lord Zueki, are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” he answered angrily. “We are leaving. The boy can do as he pleases.”

“Yes, Lord Zueki!” The Ikhurites responded, picking up Zueki, and beginning to depart from the tavern.

Adon sighed with relief. Thank the divine one that he didn’t have to fight Zueki. He barely understood how he released a fireball in the first place, let alone how he stopped Zueki’s “Call of the Divine.”

Adon had lost so much: his safety, his father, and his childhood; yet, he still had Ankita, and with her, he knew that he could continue onward.

“Wait!” Zueki shouted, just feet away from the collapsed tavern entrance. A stupendous, childish smile spread across his face, “Bring the girl too. This boy has potential. He can be of good use to us in the future. She is important to him, and we can use this girl as a bargaining chip.”

He turned to Adon and laughed. “Goodbye, Adon. You may have won the battle, but you certainly did not win the war.”

“Adon!” Ankita screamed.

“Ankita!” Adon responded, hurrying towards Ankita while trying to replicate the fireball barrage he had made just moments before, “I’ll save you! I’ll do something! I promise!”

One of the Ikhurites following Zueki clasped his hands together and began to levitate. Just moments later, a strange circular portal opened up in front of him housing a large, high-roofed room with banners of all twelve Kianian nations dangling from its ceiling.

“If you want her back,” Zueki said, turning back to Adon, “Take part in the next infinite trials. We recently lost an infinite and could use someone powerful; even if they are as exasperating as you.”

With all of his strength, Adon sprinted towards the portal. He refused to lose anything else–anyone else, especially Ankita. But by the time Zueki finished speaking, the Ikhurites, Ankita, and Zueki had completely vanished into the portal.