Part III

The Legacy

Chapter Nineteen

“Ne– Nevis? I have the same… power as Nevis?”

“Yes, he was known for wielding the power of the Halos Avian. Your flames are nearly a perfect match to his.”

“And this… Nova guy. He was also a legacy?”

“Yeah, he inherited the ancient hammer from the Halos Soldier.”

“Okay…” I say, processing, well, everything.

“Ray, I need you,” radios Warden Conall, and Ray sighs.

“I was taking too long anyway,” says Ray, walking toward the door. “I’m glad you’re awake, Mateo, and I’m sorry for dumping all this on you. I’ll be around, so do your best to rest up.”

“Will do, thanks, Ray."

He exits the room, and I’m left lying there with a lot of information to sort through. Sorel and his team of scientists visit every few hours, running tests and whatnot. Anja and Josh also check up on me in a much more.. peaceful manner.

I am sore, but I guess my body is healing much faster since I am awake now. Falling in and out of sleep throughout the night, I’m completely back to normal by morning and discharged.

***

“You went to see him again?” asks Conall.

“He’s a legacy, I’m interested,” replies Ray.

“You never saw him fight,” says Conall. “How is he?”

“Tired but doing better than expected.”

Conall gets up out of his chair, “Good. You’ve spoken with the Scouts?”

“Not recently. I’ll leave it as a surprise.”

“Hmph, alright,” grunts Conall. “It’s still early, but the Clovers are making preparations.”

“For civil war?”

“Mhm, I’ll learn more about it tomorrow.”

***

Arriving at the hall for breakfast, I wait in line to get my food. There are more people here than I remember. Eyeing my friends, they all look so much stronger than when I last saw them. They haven’t realized I am here yet, and honestly, I’m surprised how well my limbs are working, considering they were severed and reattached. Becca did say they are as good as new... all I know is heavenly flames is a lot more powerful than I thought it was.

With a tray of cold oatmeal, dry pancakes, and some cereal, I turn to face the mess hall. Locking eyes with Toriana, who, even after a year, still has an entire table to herself, her gaze narrows, and she smiles. Tilting her head toward my friends, I nod and walk down the hall. Some people recognize me, while others either forgot or arrived after I fought Toriana. Maybe the beard is throwing people off. Russ and his goons have relocated further back in the mess hall, so at least I didn’t have to deal with him.

Approaching the table, Joey matches my gaze and slowly nods his head. He mouths something to Ayden beside him, and a moment later, Ayden looks at me and jumps out of his seat. Hurrying around Joey, Ayden wraps his arms around me, and I quickly pass my plate to Joey. Makani has also risen out of her seat, waiting for her turn.

“Missed you man,” says Ayden. “‘Bout time you woke up!”

Hugging Ayden back, I say, “Glad to be up.”

Our embrace ending, Ayden ruffles my hair, “Almost didn’t recognize you because of all this damn hair!”

I laugh, feeling the hair behind my ear, “Yeah, can’t believe it got this long.”

Turning my attention to Makani, we do our handshake.

“Everything alright?” I ask.

Makani replies, “Better, actually, but now I gotta share a cell again.”

I jokingly purse my lips, “What a nightmare.”

She chuckles and sits back down, “Don’t just stand there. Sit and eat! How long's it been since you’ve eaten?”

“I had some mango earlier,” I say, taking a seat.

“Mango?”

“Yeah, Sorel always hooks me up.”

“Well, tell him I like apples, pears, pineapples… anything but strawberries,” says Ayden.

“You got something against strawberries?” asks Joey.

“The way you eat them just… nah, hate ‘em.”

Joey peculiarly nods, and I say, “I’ll pass along the message.”

“And you?” I asked Joey.

“Looking forward to having my center back,” he says, flashing a smile.

“Paulie not cutting it?” I joke.

“No,” his smile drops. “He’s… not around anymore.”

“Oh…”

“You're fine. It’s how things work now.”

Getting a spoonful of cereal, I glance at Toriana and recall the last thing she said to me.

***

After settling back in, I’m caught up on everything I’ve missed. Makani is now a tri-wielder, picking up an Ano ability called ‘Cloud Charm’.

Her cloud charm is made of iris, and through a process similar to photosynthesis, the charm can absorb and store iris energy gathered externally. Once her charm has stored up enough iris, Makani can create a temporary protection barrier around her entire body. It may take some time to collect enough iris to use the cloud charm, but having her protective barrier up offers considerable support in all aspects.

Joey has become a dual wielder. He was careful when choosing his next ability, and he finally decided to steal a Soma ability, ‘Camo Flush’. With camo flush, Joey can change his body’s appearance to blend in with the surrounding environment. Additionally, if Joey is in close vicinity of another person, Joey can alter their appearance to fit his desires. This can make them easier to spot, but if he chooses to change another’s appearance, that individual is given a vague radar of Joey’s general location.

Joey has the most wins with four, while Ayden and Makani have three. None of them have a loss, either. Remembering the five stages, I activate orasi and look at all their gemcores.

Huh, Ray wasn’t lying. Most of their gemcores have emerged, but their original abilities have all reached the evolution stage. No surprise that Joey’s Hazard Shift appears to be the most developed gemcore.

Looking around the hall, only a handful of others also appear to have reached evolution. But like Ray said, Toriana is definitely the most developed. Before, I couldn’t tell if she even had gemcores, and even as I look at her now, I’m still unable to see the stage of any of her cores. She must’ve noticed what I am doing, though, because, after a second, all her gemcores come into view. She wields an orange, purple, and blue gemcore of varying densities. However, I can only determine the stage of the purple and blue gemcores, both at evolution.

So, wielders at the advanced level can control whether they let other people see the stage of their cores. Interesting… only one of Toriana’s gemcores has reached the advanced stage, which confirms that a wielder doesn’t need all of their cores to be at the same stage to unlock the traits of that stage. I mean, I only have one core that’s reached evolution, and I can see the stages of everybody below me in the hall, a trait of an evolved wielder. Even now, I can’t see the shape of her elemental ability, so there’s no doubt that she classifies as an advanced wielder.

“So, you spoke with Ray?” asks Joey, and I quickly swivel back around.

“How do you know Ray?”

“We’ve been talking to him, or I guess… he’s been talking to us. Either way, he’s the reason we remained hopeful about you.”

Ayden and Makani nod in agreement.

Ray… I’ve grown to trust these guys, but it’s dangerous for you.

“He tell you about the Amlovos too?”

“Yeah…”

“Thought so. Most of these new guys were Amlovos rebels who got arrested.”

So, they might know something about Kavi…

As breakfast ends and we head out to the yard, Joey tells me I should sit out for the day. We argue for a bit, but Joey is adamant about not letting me play, so I go to find Toriana. After some searching, I locate her near the edge of the yard, meditating. As I approach her, she smiles.

“It’s been a while. You still up for this talk?”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Of course, our fight is the only one I remember in great detail. Hard to forget someone like you.”

“Not much worth remembering, in my opinion. You made a fool of me, forced me to go into a coma, and you’ve gone ahead and become an advanced wielder.”

“Do you hold a grudge?”

I pause and recall our fight, “No.”

“Right answer.”

“Huh?”

“There’s no reason for you to worry. You made it to evolution in just over three months… you’ll catch up faster than you think.”

“Maybe, but is this what you wanted to talk about?”

“No,” Toriana opens her eyes. “Since the day you arrived, I could tell something was off about you. Most people come here not knowing what to do. They’ve done something terrible and are now answering for their crimes. They don’t know their purpose or who they are anymore, and they’re forced to accept that they’ll be behind bars for a very long time. And when they realize that, they lose the light in their eyes.”

She looks at me, “You were different. The look on your face may have been trying to conceal your buried emotions, but you didn’t have the look of a criminal. Your eyes still had life, and they told me you would do anything to make it out of Soulbell. Even now, they still shine.”

“I’m young. People often mistake that kind of thing for ignorance.”

“I don’t,” she scoots back against the wall. “I’d like to tell you a story. If you don’t want to listen, I won’t make you nor hold it against you.”

“Come on, as if I would believe that,” I say. “You’ve been a loner ever since I got here. I bet you haven’t even told anyone else this story.”

“I haven’t.”

Processing her response, I sit beside her.

“I was raised by two people. The first was my faithful father. He was a cop, and he was killed in the line of duty when I was nine. The second was my aunt, who took me in after her brother passed. She lived alone, and I always thought she was the coolest person in the world. But after my father died, my aunt became different. She blamed her brother for his own death, always saying that he was too passive and that he would never do what it takes to get the job done. My aunt swore that if my father didn’t let people walk over him, he wouldn’t have died that night.”

“That’s one way to look at it.”

“Despite her feelings toward my father, she cared about me. She trained me so I could handle myself in the real world, and by the time I was an adult, I was no longer the petite, polite girl I once was. Besides the scarce lashing out, I didn’t have much to complain about. I had a job, food, a place to live, and somebody who always had my back.”

Thinking about Kavi, I listen as Toriana continues, “But one day, my aunt asked me, ‘Do you want to avenge your father?’ I didn’t know how to answer, so she answered for me. My aunt might’ve taught me how to stand up for myself, but I never learned how to stand up against her. She manipulated me and told me for years that my father's killer was this... inhumane... monster who wanted to kill me as well. That killing him was the right thing to do... she insisted that act was justice."

"The man who killed my father was eventually released a few years from Soulbell due to good behavior. I was twenty-six at the time," Toriana rests her head against the wall behind her. “It took my aunt almost a year to track him down. And when she did, we raided his home, armed with my father’s guns. We were on top of him before he could do anything, and I pinned him to the ground. While I held him to the ground, my aunt berated him for killing her brother, the only blood she had left. She ordered me to drag him to the corner of the room, and once he was trapped there, I circled back behind her, just wanting her to end it. But then, the man began apologizing over and over. As he groveled in front of us, he begged for our forgiveness, telling us he was sorry and that he’d changed. He had the same eyes you did.”

Fiddling with her fingers, Toriana resumes, “I thought I had resolved myself, but suddenly, I wasn’t so sure. With a gun in his face and nowhere to run, he was so helpless and fragile. And surprisingly, my aunt's conviction also began to waver, the gun shaking in her hand. She then fortified herself, shouting that the woman behind her was the orphaned daughter of the man he killed. That’s when the man began crying, repeatedly apologizing over and over. The man was different from how I thought he would be… he was weak. It was… tough for me to watch.”

“And your aunt?”

“She raised me to be strong and self-sufficient, not cruel. But as my father’s killer wept before us, she couldn’t find it in her heart to forgive him. She shot him three times in the exact same spots that my father had been shot. And in between each gunshot, she screamed at the man that this was what her brother had to go through. The pain that a good brother, man, and cop who only wanted to help people was forced to endure. She preyed on the man, chastising him for what he had done until she finally put a bullet through his brain, ending his life.”

Toriana looks at me, “At that moment, I found my aunt to be weaker than my father’s killer. As the man’s body went limp, another gunshot sounded. I had shot my aunt, and she was now dead, too. That’s when I noticed a picture had fallen and cracked, and when I looked at it, it was the man with a pregnant woman. I don’t know how I reacted to seeing that photo... because the next thing I remember was explaining everything to the Mako after turning myself in. I took responsibility for the deaths of both people and was sentenced to sixty years.”

“I’m–” I start, not knowing what to say.

“It’s okay, you don’t need to say anything.”

Relieved, I nod.

“When I got here, it felt like I was surrounded by different versions of my aunt. They thought I was weak, so they tried to use me. I didn’t let them. Using the skills my aunt taught me, people began to leave me alone. I hated myself for relying on those skills… everything around me was screaming at me that she was right for what she had done. Until... I met you. You were the first person I spoke with that seemed honest and pure despite how broken you always looked.”

“I didn’t look that depressed, did I?” I joke.

“To me you did, but maybe I just felt like I resonated with you somehow. And when you learned about iris and started racking up wins, I began looking forward to our inevitable duel. I wanted to see up close why you were fighting so hard. And during that fight, I grew to respect you more than anybody I’ve ever met.”

Looking out at the yard, I say, “Well, would you like to know my story?”

***

After telling her everything that has happened since my father passed, the tense atmosphere lifts. I realize that while I am still talking to the queen of Soulbell, she is still a person.

As lunch rolls around, she says, “You can call me Tori.”

“And you can call me…” I start.

Tori raises her eyebrows in anticipation, but I have nothing.

“Mateo,” I awkwardly smile. “Would you like to come train with us later?”

“I might check it out. And would the Scouts be interested in joining me for lunch?”

“I thought I was the only one you liked?”

“I don’t mind your friends.”

I’m about to accept, but instead of speaking for everybody, I say, “We’ll have to come to a decision.”

Tori stands up and says, “Thanks for stopping by. I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, you too…” I reply, still seated while she walks off.

***

“Are you sure you heard right?” asks Ayden, in line behind me.

“For the sixth time, yes. Just trust me,” I reply, exiting the line with a tray full of food.

Facing the entire mess hall, I try to keep it cool as I walk over to Tori’s table.

Honestly, I wish I hadn’t heard her right. Everybody’s watching me…

Sitting at Tori’s table, I swear the entire hall audibly gasps as whispers follow. Each of my friends sits at the table one by one, and it feels like the whole mess hall is staring at us. What makes it worse is that Tori is still on top of the table, staring at us without saying a word. Desperately resisting my body’s urge to tremble, I build up the courage to say something.

“You gonna stay up there or come join us?” I ask, my voice shaky.

Tori looks at me and smiles. Shuffling herself off the top, she takes a seat near Joey. Joey glances at Tori, not knowing what to say or do, and this might be the first time I’ve seen Joey uncomfortable. Unable to control myself, I struggle not to laugh, which makes Ayden stifle a laugh too.

“Get over it. You’ll be fine,” says Tori, biting into a cold chicken sandwich.

That’s right, she’s just another person.

Giving us a cautious look, Joey scoots a little closer to Tori before picking up his sandwich.

“See? Not so bad,” says Tori, still chomping away.

Lunch is awkward, but the tension eventually loosens. We start chatting as normal, and Tori mainly remains quiet. While I let Joey keep me out of basketball, there is zero chance I am sitting out of training. I tell him I’m going to at least work on circulation, which he grudgingly allows. With Tori there, she teaches us some new iris techniques that work well for her, like seeing how long you can use iris to stay attached to the wall while circulating iris between your left and right arm.

As I continue to get back into the groove of things and rekindle my relationship with iris, I officially rejoin Joey’s basketball team. Aaron, Emily, and Scott welcome me back with open arms, and I am happy to be playing with them again. Our rivalry with Ayden’s team is still going strong, and just like before, our basketball game is a highlight of every day.

Ayden’s new evolution form is beyond cool. He learned that his gems also developed every time his Gem Grip ability broke through to the next stage. At stage one, he could create Amethyst gems. Stage two was Emerald; now, his gems are Ruby at stage three. Also, with his increased control over mineral remake, he can sheath himself with gems anywhere on his body, making for some sick designs.

As for Joey, his crozier still manifests when he activates hazard shift, but his clothes also transform to match his realm. His crozier also seems to have gained some new terrains, with more tiny symbols engraved into the gold material on his crozier to exemplify that. While he doesn’t have complete control over it yet, Joey can sometimes intentionally transform the environment into one of the original terrains he had access to: forest, mountain, desert, tundra, or plains.

Makani’s evolution form is more… bland. With her evolved tempest gale, the irises in her eye morph into a thin, mint color. That’s about it, but the entire point of tempest gale is to not be flashy, so it’s honestly not all that bad. I’m interested in seeing how her new form might change once cloud charm reaches evolution.

Makani also kept my token safe in our cell the entire time I was asleep, and I’m incredibly grateful for her doing that for me.

Tori stuck around, and I think we all just non-verbally agreed to let her join the Scouts. She never says much at meals, but she still has her own presence in conversations, saying some stuff here and there. I think Tori feels it is her way of somehow contributing to the group, barring her insights at training, which we all understand and appreciate. After speaking with her, it is nice having her around, and I am happy with how everything worked out.

Her abilities are also no longer a mystery. As I suspected, her ‘Ice Shurikens’ is an elemental ability. As for her other two... much more annoying abilities, one is a Resu ability called ‘Snapshot’. Inside her cube realm, Tori can halt the movement of any inanimate or lifeless object inside. My flames aren’t alive, so that’s why I kept losing control of them during our duel. Her third ability is also pretty straightforward, ‘Psychic Brawn’, a fancy way to say telekinesis. Psychic Brawn allows the user to mentally control the movement of any inanimate object that the user can physically lift. And when Tori’s in her evolved form, a chilled turquoise frost spreads across her forearms, face, and lower legs.

During training, Ray sometimes drops in to say a few things, updating us on what is for dinner or who is dueling that night. He also gives us insight into what is happening outside of Soulbell, mostly about the growing tension between the Clover Trine and the Amlovos.

One night, I take a break from meditating and play cards with Aaron, Scott, Emily, and Makani. During our game, a guard approaches and orders me to accompany him. Brought to Sorel, I’m at least given some mango slices for the efforts of my travels. Sorel is in charge of my post-op, and he just needs to double-check that there aren’t any underlying issues.

While being scanned, I ponder about how much Sorel must know about the iris and its history.

“Sorel, do you know anything about the iris meteor or how it worked?”

Taken off guard, Sorel asks, “What makes you ask that?”

But before I even have the chance to answer, he explains what he knows anyway.

Dating back to ancient times, humanity relied on a singular large crystal, the iris meteor. The meteor nearly brought an end to humanity, but it also ended up serving as humanity’s savior. It granted special abilities to people, which humanity used to revive civilization.

Testing me, Sorel asks if I know anything about the war between Halos and Kadillan. Seeing through him, I shake my head, and Sorel grows even more suspicious but continues with the story, telling me how incredible the battle was.

It was so fierce, in fact, that this battle caused the current state of the world today. Back then, there was only one large piece of land suitable for human life, but because of the sheer intensity of the battle, this land was broken into six separate continents humanity later named Opuree, Maracise, Acirat, Taliarusa, Racafi, and Iasa. Sorel even emphasized that the battle probably caused Opuree to become so much different from other continents of the world.

While the other lands were pushed away from the battle site, the land of Opuree was so directly impacted that it tore itself apart, iris causing various islands to propel themselves upwards into the sky. Being the closest continent to the battle, Opuree possesses the most natural iris in its local atmosphere, keeping the floating islands in place.

This insight was shocking, another layer unpeeled from the mystery of what iris is and our history with it. As Sorel finishes running his tests, he informs me that my next duel has been scheduled for the upcoming week and that he’s excited to see me back in action.

Despite my curiosity, I decide not to ask him anything else about iris.

On the way back to my cell, thoughts about the duel invade my mind.

If I win this duel, I can pick my next opponent for the duel after. It’s been fourteen months, and the rebels have only gotten more active, which resulted in more of them being thrown in here. Paulie might be dead now, but one way or another, I will learn about why Kavi was killed.

I clench my fist, my eyes sparking blue.

And if one of these new arrivals is actually the murderer… they’ll pay for it in the arena.