"Acuzio, should we give him a handicap?" Aphra said as she swung her sword around wildly. The air hummed and sang as she wildly moved it around. There was no finesse or artistry with her movements. She played with the blade as if it was the first time she'd held one.

"It wouldn't matter," Acuzio said. His lizard form shimmered as his magic burned into view under his scales.

"Oh, that's right, you're already crippled. That's a big enough handout for these weaklings." Aphra said with a jarring laugh at her own joke.

Red watched the two siblings interact with banter, which he recognized as unequal. He had witnessed it countless times during their previous excursion together. For some reason, Aphra or Mordecai always called the shots. Acuzio listened to her and did as she bade. Acuzio seemed stronger than Aphra; he had far more skill, yet Aphra sat back as she ordered Acuzio around.

Merin mentioned things she knew about her ancestral family members, but nothing explained why these two had such an uneven dynamic. Why did Acuzio obey Aphra? Weren't they both Gods?

Why did Mordecai or Aphra control Acuzio? Maybe Red was wrong, and Aphra was more powerful than Acuzio. But nothing he had seen made that the obvious answer. The magic that burned in their bodies wasn't equal; one was clearly more substantial than the other.

"I should take off an arm," Aphra said. "That would give these baby chicks a chance."

Red barely had time to comprehend the words before Merin shimmered into the room. She was standing in the sole piece of moonlight that broke through a boarded-up window. She stood there blinking her eyes as her body adjusted to its new circumstances.

"Fucking Cael," Aphra said.

Red looked away from Merin to see Aphra throwing her blade at Merin's head.

Red didn't think before he moved and caught the blade with his bare hands. His hands burned with a strange sensation, making him drop it mere heartbeats later.

"Oops," Aphra said. "Did I forget to tell you the special properties of that blade? Merin can inform you it is a family heirloom of sorts."

The cuts in his hands were growing under Red's stunned eyes. He didn't flinch or embrace the pain; Red compartmentalized it. He turned to lock eyes with Aphra and directed his drops of blood directly at her. A wall of flames blocked them as it burned them into vapors. But Red's attack wasn't finished. His blood dispersed into the tiniest of droplets, and he located each speck.

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The vapors snuck towards Aphra, but when they landed, nothing happened.

Red watched as Aphra's smile grew more crooked. "You didn't really think that would work, did you? If you did, then I feel sorry for your dodo brain."

Aphra's words landed seconds before she did right in front of Red.

Her bare hand reached for his throat, and Red barely had time to think before his body reacted. He grabbed her clawy hands, intending to break her fingers.

An intense heat seared his open flesh. Red ignored the pain and punched Aphra in the face.

That slap of flesh sounded like a bullet hitting diamond cement.

Aphra stood there, unphased by anything Red threw her way. His fist was captured with both arms. He tried to remove them, but clearly, her tiny stature hid her true strength.

"Weaksauce," Aphra said as she flipped her body to aim her leg at his head.

Red raised his shoulder to block the direct hit.

It never came.

A shield of shimmering moonlight covered his flesh and barely held off the incoming attack from Aphra.

"Merindah," Aphra said with a tsk and a shake of her head. "How annoying of you to get in my way." Aphra let go of Red and aimed to punch the moonlight wall with her fists. She shattered it before her fist touched it and sent the shard of lights in all directions.

Red attempted to heal his hands during this brief distraction. He wasn't thrilled that his magic couldn't fix the flesh that was splitting even under his eyes. His hands were going to fall off if he didn't get the wound under control.

Merin's cool, firm hands grabbed his hands, and immediately, her touch erased the searing pain. She did quick work, and brand new tender flesh replaced the cracked, decaying skin.

"That blade...Where did you get it from?" Merin said, looking away from Red to stare at Aphra.

Aphra held out a hand, and the blade made a musical noise as it flew over to her. It landed in her hand, and she held it up with a shit-eating grin, "Oh, you mean this old thing?" Aphra said. "I found it." She sang the words teasingly to her rapt audience.

"Give it to me," Merin said with a fierceness in her voice that made Red proud.

"Gladly," Aphra said, throwing it at Merin.

Red moved to intercept it but was stopped by Merin. "Don't touch it. It can kill immortals," she said.

Merin then sang a sharp, strange note he didn't recognize to the whooshing blade. The blade seemed to because it stopped its frontal assault to pause midair.

She held out her hand, and in response obediently, it came to her gently with its hilt out like a well-trained dog. Merin wrapped her fingers around it and glared at Aphra and Acuzio.

"This was my father's blade. How did you come to have it?"

Aphra shrugged and rolled her eyes at the question. "Ughhh, what is the obsession these fuckers have with asking stupid questions."

"Answer me!" Merin shouted.

"I did. Ask better questions." Aphra said with a bored expression.

"You must have stolen it," Merin said.

"Can one really steal from the dead? Isn't that just repossession for the living?" Aphra said. She directed that question at Acuzio.

"Passing on things is all the dead can do for the living," Acuzio said.

"Agreed, enough with the chit-chat; let's get back to punching the lights out of each other!" Aphra said, cracking her knuckles.

"This isn't chit-chat. I want to know--"

"You're so boooorring. Can't you do something fresh and unique for once? Here I am killing time with you, and you find a way to make it longer."

Merin's eyebrows twisted on her face, and it was the only warning everyone else in the room had before the entire building collapsed over their heads.