Sudden pressure bore down on me, flattened the land and buried me deep into the ground until only darkness surrounded me. The rock crumbled as I grabbed at it, unable to support my weight under the enhanced gravity field. I extended my arms and with a wide stroke of my limbs pushed myself to the surface.

Rock and dirt eroded to fine dust as I swam through the outer layers of the earth’s crust. I re-emerged to the sun, just in time to see the ivory blade fall down upon me. I met the blade head-on with my skull, and both chipped in the process.

“That hurt,” I mumbled as a sudden headache hit me.

“It was meant to,” Tobias’ playful voice reached my ears.

His foot hit me in the sternum. For an instant, no momentum was transmitted, and I remained floating in mid-air waiting for something to happen. The instant after, a mighty gravity wave struck me and sent me flying high up into the sky like a reversed comet. The earth around me was also swept away and debris the size of houses filled the atmosphere.

Tobias appeared next to me, brandishing his blade. I turned my body in a fraction of a second and pushed us away from each other, sending the both of us slamming against the falling rubbles.

I kicked the support away and reached Tobias. I slashed at him with an open hand, aiming at his right shoulder. He intercepted me with the plate of his sword. My skin got cut open but his sword was shattered. I was sent flying higher into the sky, while he fell down quickly to the earth.

The excessive force I had put behind the attack dislocated bones in my hand, but it didn’t take long to put them back into position. I continued to rise, sightseeing while the atmosphere began to thin.

My body was tugged suddenly as my ascension was abruptly stopped and my fall began in earnest. I met the ground at a speed much higher than the one I had while climbing. I immediately ran at Tobias, leaving behind the wide glass crater I had just created. We impacted each other, pushing each other to a standstill.

He was frowning.

“It was my favourite blade,” he commented on the stump that remained of his weapon.

“Should I say sorry?” I frowned in turn.

“You do not need to. It’s just mere melancholy”

His aura coloured the environment once again. The more he used his power, the more I felt the nature of this power and its origin. It was indeed just an echo, but once it had been nourished by the true source.

I tried my luck interfering with this power, but I only managed to make the blue colour waver for an instant. Tobias giggled but his eyes remained focused.

“It’s different,” he chuckled, kicking the ground and taking his distance from me.

He swung his weapon and a concentrated gravity wave hit my body rearranging my inwards. It wasn’t particularly effective, but it was still annoying, like an itch inside the head. He continued to swing in rapid succession, while I avoided and got close to him.

“The Black freed their authority into the aether, The Candor focussed it into the flesh and The Green buried it into their Garden,” he began to illustrate.

Our tibias met and both cracked.

“The Blue bound it to their bloodline, but didn’t constrain it to the land. I do not possess the authority, but the rights to its echo are with me”

“So, until I get my piece of self back, I won’t be able to stop you from using it”

“That is so”

“How bothersome”

I threw a hook at his eye but met his forearm. I sunk into the ground while he skid across the land. I immediately moved to follow him, but a chasm appeared suddenly and I lost my footing. Tobias hit the back of my head with his heel. I spun in place, planted my feet on his thorax and pressed him away.

“Are you having fun?” I asked Tobias.

He emerged like a mole from underground while laughing soundly.

“Isn’t this enjoyable?”

I answered with a big smile. I had never been so entertained.

Tobias stood up and brushed the dirt off his body.

“Let’s leave this useless thing behind,” he threw away his broken weapon.

The ivory sword pierced through the ground and disappeared into its depths, leaving behind a scorched mark.

“Wasn’t that your favourite sword?” I tilted my head to the side, feigning ignorance.

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“Indeed it was. It was less useless than others,” he chuckled.

We met halfway and clawed at each other. His fingers scraped my skull and dug out my left eye, while mine opened up his belly. He grabbed my head and turned it one-hundred-eighty degrees, snapping my neck. I clenched my neck muscles, turned my body around and kicked at him with all my might.

His spinal column bent in half as he flew away. He remained standing and got himself upright in less than a second. He stretched himself and parried my open-hand thrust.

“It truly makes me remember my youth,” he began to reminisce.

“Your youth?”

“I had just reached maturity and it was one of my first travels,” he lunged at my arm with his teeth gnashed.

“You must have experienced a lot in the Otherlands,” I relocated his jaw with my knuckles.

“It’s a pity I can’t experience them anymore. The first time I did, I met a mighty lizard and snapped its neck,” he dented my skull with his elbow.

“Then I’m glad snapping mine reminded you of it,” I inverted his knee with my toes.

“It’s not the same experience. Our species has stronger musculature”

He distanced himself from me. His aura became so dense his skin changed colour. The force exploded behind him and he moved at an incomparable speed. His fist met me right on my chin and I found myself floating so high I could glimpse at the stars.

I fell down once again and pierced deep into the ground. He was nowhere to be seen. As I perceived his arrival, I swam to the side and kicked myself to the surface. He continued to move underground, digging tunnels as he moved around.

I raised my foot and stomped on the ground, parting it in two. The grinning Tobias appeared in my field of vision. His blue aura tinted the land and the next moment a thunderous explosion shook the ground. I got projected far away towards the horizon, cutting the air like a violet comet.

I planted my hand on the ground and managed to stop after a few hundred metres. I pushed my body off the earth, leaving behind a crater and meeting Tobias head-on. My open hand dug through his belly while his outstretched fingers punctured my heart. I took his kidney for myself and kicked him away as my wound closed and my organs patched themselves.

“Good good. Let us increase the rhythm,” Tobias suddenly suggested, while kicking himself up to the sky.

“As you wish,” I followed right behind him.

We accelerated even further. Debris flew everywhere, allowing us to manoeuvre three-dimensionally, up to different layers of the atmosphere. We fought under the light of the stars, even if the sun had yet to set.

And so we continued, the ardour of our spar audible everywhere. The air was filled with the deafening cries of our fists and lungs while the land was covered by flesh and blood freshly torn from our bodies. The only way to inconvenience our opponent was to stress his regenerative capabilities, so it was much more efficient to maim than to bruise.

Three days passed like that. Even if we had spilt our masses over many times, we still looked refreshed. Tobias was incomparable to any other being I had met. He was a true mature archuman as I had envisioned them to be. Proud and unyielding.

I sighed. Unfortunately, this spar couldn’t last forever. I had never gotten so much fun, but it was time to move on. I grabbed his wrist, stopping him barely an inch before he could claw out my jaw. The gravitational charge showed signs of exploding.

I felt the power of The Blue course around me. It may have been just an echo, but echoes could be used to localise the source. It happened simply. A refreshing feeling washed over me and a sense of completeness filled my body. The gravitational pull dissipated and calm fell upon the two of us.

“Did you enjoy the spar?”

“I did indeed. The only time I experienced such enjoyment was several millennia ago when I got acquainted with an ethereal mistress that could not lie,” a satisfied smile filled Tobias’ face.

“Did you fancy her?” I asked with a grin.

“Our species were incompatible, but I still enjoyed her company. It’s a pity I left with her scorn”

“What happened? You have me curious”

“A few of her people asked for my name. They could not bear its weight,” he laughed and I did too.

“Anyway, let’s end this now, okay?” I asked him after calming down.

“Proceed. If you manage to,” he nodded, clenching every muscle in his body in preparation.

I moved and he did too. He grabbed my forearm with his right hand, but I had already hit my target. My fingers had dug through his flesh and found their way into his right shoulder. I turned my hand like I would do with a key and his limb detached from his body.

He barely bled and the wound closed immediately. He immediately found a new balance, even without his right arm. He stretched himself.

“I managed,” I let his arm fall to the ground.

“So it appears,” he stared at the missing limb.

He opened his mouth to speak again.

“Congratulations. You are the Patriarch of all,” he declared sumptuously.

“Hold it. It’s yet to end,” I reproached him.

“One should celebrate what is worth celebrating. Despite your true nature, I have many more aeons of experience. You should listen to my advice”

“Shut up,”

“As you wish”

We gazed in silence at the starry sky. It was completely different from that of my old home, but it was still beautiful to see.

“Have you already chosen a companion for the future?” Tobias intervened abruptly.

“... What?” I reacted, taken aback.

“Your kin is quite particular about progeny”

“What are you talking about?!”

“In my travels, I met a few that could be called your kin. Now that you are complete, I imagine you will also feel the call they did”

I remained motionless with my mouth hanging open. I didn’t know how to react. Less than ten minutes after losing his limb, he had decided to play matchmaker. It sounded absurd. I wanted to retort to his words, but I couldn’t.

Unfortunately, it appeared a few changes were beginning to take place in me. An archuman should not possess similar impulses. But with my soul on the road to restoration, it was clear my current nature was merging or being triumphed by my original ‘human’ one, or whatever it would become.

“What do you think about my daughter?”

“Absolutely not!” my voice thundered.

Tobias rubbed his chin with his remaining hand.

“... I can understand, although I do find it curious. It’s true there exists a peculiar bond between the two of you, but your kind didn’t appear to mind such…”

“Shut up”

“As you wish”