The sound of the second shot hadn’t faded by the time the bullet slammed into Will’s head. It couldn’t kill him, of course, but it jerked his head to the side, and he was knocked flat into the bleachers below him. Beside him, Michael crouched low, turning in the direction of the shots, and raised both his hands. Jerik acted at virtually the same time, using one of his charged long-range beams of energy. There was a massive explosion at the place where the sniper had been.
“Dad!”
The single word, shouted by Kiera, brought back a horrible memory for Will Andrews and Charlisa.In their minds, they were instantly transported six years back. Will in particular could see the body of unconscious Fire Nexians around him, as if this reality had been nothing more than a quick hallucination. He could see Edward’s pale face clearly in front of him, the life gone from his brown eyes.
He snapped out of his horrified memory as he saw Eric run over to the nets. Ignoring the electricity currently coursing through the net, he grabbed hold of one of the sides and flung the trap off of the Alpha. Turning to Kiera, he said quickly, “Get your dad into the air! He might survive if he’s not on the ground!”
But grief seemed to have crumpled her, stunning her in place and preventing action. Nick ran over and hauled one of his alpha’s arms over his shoulder, then with a grunt, propelled both of them skyward and out of sight. The silence that followed their departure seemed to press upon them with immeasurable weight, almost suffocating them.
“I think it’s time you tell me what’s been going on, Eric,” James said. His eyes were hard with anger as he turned to face him. “What is this you said about another world?”
“I’d like to know that as well,” Will said, vaulting over the bleachers and landing a few feet away. He didn’t come any closer, but he was undeniably on guard, ready to react. “And you, Jerik. You said that the boy was an ‘Ancient’. What exactly does that mean?”
Jerik looked a little uncertain as all four remaining Alphas turned to stare at him. Michael in particular seemed the most upset. “Barr, what is this? Answer Will at once.”
“Don’t bother.” Grimr, who had been lying on the ground until now, pushed himself to his feet and dusted himself off. “I’ll be the one explaining.”
He took several steps forward, and both Will and Michael raised their hands, expecting a fight. Grimr put up a cautioning hand. “I’m not going to fight you, Alphas. You’ve lost enough today, and I take no joy in attacking an enemy while they’re so badly hurt. Your death is not the true goal.”
As quietly and covertly as he could, Eric moved to stand at Grimr’s side. He glanced over at Megan with raised eyebrows, but she didn’t move. Grimr spoke again into the stunned silence, continuing to address Will directly. “I don’t have time to explain everything, because I intend to leave here while you are all still too weak to pursue me. I am from another world. Not the same one where the Nexus originates, if you must know. Where I am from, I’m tasked with keeping balance and stopping any potential threat to my world.”
He gestured at Eric, Megan, and Jerik. “Several months ago, these three were brought with me to fulfill the mission of purging the Nexuses from Earth.”
Will opened his mouth to interrupt, his face clouding with anger, but Grimr spoke before he could utter a single syllable. “I did not orchestrate this event. I don’t know nearly enough Earth humans to achieve that goal. My plan was to reveal myself after the games had concluded.”
“Why do you care about something that’s taking place in another world?” Will asked sharply. He showed no great surprise at learning of another world. Then again, Eric thought, he knew the true origins of his powers, so perhaps learning of a third world didn’t come as that much of a shock. “We’re not harming you here, are we?”
“You are not,” Grimr said. “But the one that brought that power here was never meant to leave his world.”
Will’s eyes narrowed, and they all saw him mouth something. “Tobias.”
“In his world, and for those in the know, he is named Naturas,” Grimr said. “Tell him that the Warden says he must return home.”
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“The Warden?” Will asked, clearly thrown. “I thought your name was Natal… Wait just a second!”
Grimr had taken a step back, clearly intent on leaving, but Will moved forward too, as did Michael and Bai Xiao. In a moment, they were surrounded on all sides by hostile Nexians, their eyes glittering with hatred. Eric looked again to Megan, silently asking her to make a choice. She pursed her lips, then shook her head, and he let out a long sigh before turning to Will.
“You won’t attack us,” he said, speaking calmly. “We’ve not broken any of the Nexus Charter rules. In fact, Nick’s the only one to do so, by attacking Grimr.”
“The hell you haven’t!” Bai Xiao spoke up for the first time, his eyes narrowed to slits as he regarded the two of them. He raised his fists and stepped forward, but Will threw up an arm to stop them.
“Wait!” He said loudly. “He’s right. We can’t prove they had anything to do with this attack. But Eric, why would you turn against us? I thought you counted us as family.”
Eric offered the man a small smile, the corners of his mouth barely tilting up. “You were very kind to me, Will. I’m sorry that I used you for my mission. But my real family is waiting for me in another world, and I have to complete my mission before I can return to them.”
The truth of that, and the obvious emotional impact of his words, both combined to stagger Will back a step. Even Charlisa at his side seemed affected by the reply, her eyes moistening slightly, though perhaps that was just a response to the grief of the day. “I really am sorry. You are a fine person, and I don’t like being your enemy, but there’s nothing I won’t do for my wife and daughter.”
“That’s enough of that,” Grimr said shortly. “You’ve made your intentions clear. There’s no need to explain them. Jerik, Nick, Megan, now is your time to choose. You either stand with me or against me.”
He looked to Megan first, who had tears streaming silently down her face. She was quite clearly terrified but shook her head resolutely all the same. “I’m not helping you destroy the Nexuses, Grimr. They’re my family now.”
Grimr seemed unsurprised. He looked to Jerik next, who said boldly, “I have absolutely no intention of helping you, Ancient. I will fight you with everything I have.”
Behind him, Nick nodded in silent agreement. Closing his eyes for a moment, the only sign of his exasperation he was willing to show, Grimr took in a deep breath. “Very well then. You three are fighting a losing battle, but I will not attempt to force you. Eric, it is time for us to leave.”
They took a step back in unison, then another. One or two of the Nexians moved with them, but Will’s voice cracked out again, this time with an unmistakable hint of command. “Do not move! Let them leave. Unless they attack, we cannot harm them.”
Eric and Grimr continued to walk backward out of the spectator’s area, their eyes sharply regarding the faces of the Nexians before them. Eric watched Edward particularly closely, seeing the disbelief on his face slowly turning to anger, then to rage. His lip curled as he glared at Eric. Unlike his father, there was no hint of understanding or compassion for his own conundrum.
Only when the entrance to the spectator’s area was nearly out of sight did Grimr and Eric finally turn their backs on it, immediately breaking out into a light jog and running for the outskirts of the city. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, their ears tuned for the sounds of any pursuit. Finally, Eric felt he had to say something. “Why didn’t you act right then?”
Grimr gave him a sidelong glance, taking some time to form a reply. “You think we should have struck while they were so low?”
Eric shrugged. “It’s not the most valiant option, but it makes the most logical sense. They were clearly combat-ready, even if they were exhausted. It’s not like they were unengaged innocents.”
“You sound very much like your mentor,” Grimr observed dryly. “But it wasn’t a moral reason that held me back. We were heavily outnumbered with all of them in one place. We would have most certainly failed.”
It was a new experience, hearing an Ancient state the facts of failure so plainly. He was used to their overwhelming power and experience never failing to solve any problem that presented itself. “I suppose you couldn’t just use your trait to fight them.”
“I could have,” Grimr said, “But no Ancient magicks. To do so would be to destroy my form.”
Eric knew that, of course. His one experience with channeling ancient magic had done severe damage to his body, and nearly killed him. Samuel had later explained that, when using ancient magic, you drew upon the closest source of Ahya’s life force. You channeled your very limit, no more and no less. If there was no source nearby, that energy would instead be taken from your body. For more powerful Ancients such as he and Grimr, that amount of energy would instantly shred their physical forms into nothing. While that wouldn’t be enough to kill them permanently, reforming that body was a lengthy process.
“I suppose if you lost your physical body here, it would be much harder to recover,” he said. Grimr glanced at him again but made no comment. “Figured as much. Well, I like your idea of taking them on one at a time. Who should we target first?”
“Not yet,” Grimr said shortly. “There is something we must tend to first. We need more allies.”