Chapter Twenty-Five

“That night, I killed my father,” says Deniz, having just woken up from another nightmare.

Lying down in bed beside him is a woman named Raven, who rolls over to look at Deniz. Another leader of the Amlovos rebels, Raven is the person Deniz trusts the most.

“You’ve already told me this story–”

“I know,” says Deniz, pushing some hair out of Raven’s eyes. “I just– can’t stop thinking about what happened to the others.”

Touching Deniz’s hand, Raven asks, “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”

Deniz frowns, “I have to after what I saw.”

“For twenty years, he lied to me,” he continues, Raven letting go of his hand. “He kept them locked up on a deserted island in the Groundlands. The things he said that night revealed everything… I’ll never forget them. When I stormed into that dungeon with my iris pistol cocked…”

Raven endearingly rubs her thumb across Deniz’s cheek.

“How the Clover Trine ever allowed a monster like my father to live such a luxurious life… they have to go down. Before, I hated Nevism because of my father, but I learned from being a tepran that there are still so many good people here in Opuree. People who are worthy of good lives and being protected from people like my father and the Clovers. Nevism was never the problem.”

“I know,” says Raven. “And together, we’ll fix everything wrong about this country. Just like we promised each other, right?”

Deniz smiles and kisses her hand, “Right. Today’s finally the day that we’ll save this country.”

***

“Where is he?!” anxiously shouts Ray, staring at my empty bed.

“Mateo might have gone back to our parent's graves,” says Eric. “It’s still early. I bet he’ll be back soon.”

Biting down on his lip, Ray shakes his head, and the Scouts don’t seem very convinced either.

“No, we need to find him!” says Ray before an alert goes off on his phone.

Reaching for his pocket and checking what the alarm is for, Ray’s face goes pale.

“What, what is it?” asks Eric.

“The Amlovos… have started their uprising a day early. The Clovers are calling you guys to action.”

Keeping a level head, Joey asks, “What do we have to do?”

“Fortify the line of defense along the Skylands. Stop the rebels from making it to the castle.” “Okay,” says Joey, making his way to the front door. “You heard the man, let’s get to it.”

“But Joey, what about Mateo?” asks Ayden.

“It’s like Eric said, he’ll be back,” replies Joey, lacing up his Defiantos.

With Ray and Eric staying behind at the house, the Scouts set off.

***

Receiving a call, the warden brings a phone to his ear, “This is Conall.”

“The Amlovos have begun their uprising. Have spare inmates on standby,” orders John, immediately hanging up afterward.

Returning his phone to his pocket, Conall starts rubbing his temple.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“The uprising… has begun.”

“But there’s still a whole day for the Clovers to step down!”

“I guess the rebels wanted the element of surprise,” says Conall, reaching for a remote and turning on a large television behind us.

Live video footage of the Amlovos stampeding through the Groundlands is being aired on-screen. There are hundreds of rebels. When activating orasi, I can’t see their gemcores; maybe orasi doesn’t transfer through electronic technology.

***

In another part of Soulbell, Sorel has just learned that the Clovers have stolen five of his best test subjects. Infuriated, he opens a hidden room and unlocks a transparent enclosure. Inside is a project he has been secretly working on for some time. A glowing red-orange silhouette illuminates an articulate human figure; a cyborg’s eyes flicker to life as it exits the dark containment capsule. Covered from head to toe with a white titanium alloy, the cyborg carries a katana behind its back in a scabbard.

“Tryoid, come with me,” orders Sorel.

As they rush to Conall’s office, Conall is alerted that Sorel is on the move by Amy, one of his trusted guards who often covers night shifts, but it’s already too late.

“Can you see the warden?” asks Sorel, Tryoid by his side.

Activating a Resu ability, Tryoid stares through the walls and detects the heartbeats of two individuals. As he does so, I’m alerted of somebody’s presence nearby and slide off my ring, ready to use it at a moment's notice.

“Somebody’s here…” I whisper, and Conall pulls out his iris pistol.

Tryoid turns to Sorel and nods, showing two fingers.

“Who else is in there?” asks Sorel.

“The Avian,” replies Tryoid, his voice robotic but lacking in static.

“Knock him out first,” orders Sorel and Tryoid unsheathes his katana.

As Tryoid vanishes into thin air, Sorel waits outside, thinking to himself.

You’re not the only one who wields an ancient ability, Mateo.

Hearing two thuds from inside the room, Sorel watches the door, and a few moments later, Tryoid drags both his targets out of Conall’s office. Delighted, a malicious grin spreads across Sorel’s face.

***

Gazing down at the Midlands, the Scouts stand on an empty, abandoned skyland with a wide open area. Faintly hearing the roar of battle cries, brief flickers of light vanish as quickly as they appear from below. So many Midlands have been pillaged or destroyed, causing strings of black smoke to rise into the sky around them.

“The Groundlands are probably in even worse shape,” says Tori, and Ayden hums in accord.

“We don’t have long, so here’s the plan. We split up into pairs, cover as much ground as possible. Work together to take down any rebels, and no matter what happens, do not leave your partner. There are still castle guards above us that should be strong enough to deal with anybody who gets past us,” announces Joey, and the rest all nod in agreement.

“That’s the most efficient strategy I can come up with that would conserve as much iris as possible,” continues Joey, not looking away from the Midlands. “There’s only four of us, five when Mateo returns, and we don’t have an infinite supply of iris. If the Clovers are correct about the Amlovos numbers, we’ll eventually be overwhelmed.”

Joey faces his friends again, “Communication is vital. Don’t play the hero. If you’re tired, let your partner know. Because if we don’t, it could cost us our lives. If anybody gets tired, return to this island and recuperate. Realistically, both pairs will get overwhelmed and fatigued around the same time, so we’ll all be forced to retreat here. And from there, we all have each other's backs. One of the only ways to make it up to the castle is through this island, so we’ll hold it down. Any complaints?”

“No problems here,” says Makani.

“I think I should team up with Makani. Her wind will make a great combination with my ice,” states Tori.

“Guess that means I’m with Joey,” says Ayden, a grin on his face. “Hell yeah, let’s do this.”

As the treacherous sounds of war grow near, Joey says while the pairs start in different directions, “Remember the plan, follow the plan. I’ll see you all on the other side.”

***

Waking up in the middle of the dueling arena with our hands tied behind our backs, Conall and I check up on each other first. After, I try to burn through the rope, and surprisingly, it isn’t imbued with wentworth. My hands set free, I burn through Conall’s rope, and he thanks me.

“Why didn’t he use wentworth?” I ask, rubbing my wrists.

“Who knows, he let me keep my gun too,” replies Conall, patting his waist.

How long have we been out? And why didn’t Sorel restrain me or steal my legacy ability? That thing from before… what was it?! I should’ve activated compass ring sooner!

“Halos Avian, it has been a pleasure studying you,” booms Sorel, and I look over to the skybox he’s watching from. “Your abilities were a marvel to watch. It's unfortunate things had to end this way.”

“What do you want?” I yell.

“Andrew Conall,” says Sorel, ignoring me. “Long ago, I thought we understood one another. To test the limits we have restricted ourselves within, to go beyond and evolve into what humanity can become! At one point, didn’t you also want to see that? Didn’t you feel the same as I did? Looking at you now, I never could’ve guessed this is how you would end up. How far you’ve fallen, it’s a shame seeing how pitiful of a man you’ve become since your time as a Mako officer. You’ve lowered yourself to where you eat and breathe amongst murderers and savages! These barbarians don’t live to better our species! And yet you bathe and sleep under the same filthy roof as humanity’s disposable trash! Are you not humiliated?!”

“Sorel, you may justify your actions by saying there’s some greater purpose behind ‘em, but you leave a trail of blood wherever you go. Tell me something. If we both turned out so differently, how come we ended up at the same place?”

“I’m nothing like you! You’re forgetting you’re in the arena while I stand up here! And today, I’ve decided to hold a special event! My friends, let ‘em out!”

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Around us, dozens of doors open, and inmates start to spill into the arena.

“Looks like we were a little too early to the party,” I say, inmates surrounding us on all sides.

Looking around at everybody, Conall says, “That son of a bitch went and rounded up every inmate in this damn prison.”

Once everybody is inside, Sorel closes off all the doors again.

“Just as I told you before, today is your chance to earn your freedom! You can do this in two ways! The first way is to steal the Halos Avian ability from your old buddy, Mateo Hernandez! The second way is to kill Warden Conall! If any of you kill Mateo Hernandez without stealing the ability, you will die! What are you waiting for?! Go!”

Inmates charge at us from every direction. Rolling up his sleeves, Conall closes his eyes as I burst into flames.

I shout, “Climb on my back! I’ll protect you!”

Circulating iris throughout his upper body, the ground cracks beneath Conall’s feet as he pounds his iron fists together. Using orasi, I see a singular green core inside him that’s reached emergence.

“I knew this day would come, and I knew I would have to be prepared,” says Conall. “Don’t worry about me. Just try to keep casualties to a minimum.”

Looking away, I reply, “I’ll do what I can, but no promises. We’re kind of outnumbered here.”

“Yeah, I can see that. I’ll back you no matter what. And if I’m about to die, don’t you dare try some sacrificial heroic shit to save me. Do whatever it takes to keep yourself alive.”

“You too.”

Flying up into the air, I circulate iris into my hands and blast a plethora of flames toward one direction of the room, taking out at least a few dozen inmates. Dozens more leap into the air, channeling iris into various parts of their body. Using velocity pulse, I quickly strike them down before they can attack, their bodies falling out of the air atop the horde that's collapsing on Conall.

Down below, Conall is weaving, ducking, and dodging numerous attacks while knocking out the inmates one by one. He may have only reached emergence, but his hand-to-hand fighting style has been polished through decades of service with the Mako. Bodies dropping around him like flies, Conall slams his fist into the ground, sending a small tremor and knocking over another wave of inmates.

“Duck!” I yell, and Conall ducks under a spear whistling through the air.

The spear pierces through three people, killing them as I jump down on Conall’s blindside with a deep breath prepared. Blowing fire out of my mouth, I spew a massive fan of flames to take out another few dozen inmates.

“That’s new,” says Conall, knocking another inmate out.

“Not really, just haven’t been able to use that one yet,” I say before activating velocity pulse again.

Running around us, I fortify my forearm with iris and knock out a massive line of inmates surrounding us like dominos. Then, after creating a ring of heavenly flames around us as temporary cover, I exit velocity pulse, needing to catch my breath.

Only one pulse left, have to wait a little...

“What’s your plan?” asks Conall, taking out the few stragglers who manage to find a way inside.

“The doors… I should be able… to burn through them. Just… buy me some time.”

“Understood,” says Conall, fending off another handful of inmates.

A pulse restoring, I get my second wind and fly into the air. Channeling iris into my hands, I shoot fireballs at every closed door, lighting them ablaze.

Realizing what I'm doing, Sorel yells, “Don’t let them destroy the doors! They’ll escape!”

I grin, “It’s already too late.”

Flying down, I scoop up Conall and fly toward the least defended gate.

Turning off the intercom and quickly leaving the skybox, Sorel commands, “Tryoid! With me!”

As we soar closer toward the open doorway, Conall’s left hand gets severed by an attack from Russ. Forced to circle back around, I lock eyes with Russ, who is showing off his new particle ability.

Russ… I don’t have time for this today.

Lashing out a fierce whip of flames, I incinerate Russ along with a few nearby inmates.

With Conall gritting through the pain, I ask, “Need to get down?”

Taking off his jacket, Conall replies, “No! Just seal it!”

Nodding, I carefully control my flames and cauterize the wound, “Done.”

Tearing off part of his jacket’s sleeve with his teeth, Conall wraps the torn sleeve around his arm. As he finishes covering the wound, we swoop down toward the next least defended escape option.

“Throw me down there!” shouts Conall.

“You sure?!”

“Damn it! I gave you an order! You want to get out of this shit alive or not?!”

Glancing at Conall and then the exit, I heave Conall forward toward the open doorway. Channeling iris into his only remaining hand, Conall slams his right fist in the ground as he lands, quaking everything around him. With inmates knocked off their feet, I swoop down next to Conall, and we run out of the arena. Turning back momentarily, I ignite the path behind us so we can’t be easily followed.

Sprinting through the halls, I space out my velocity pulses to speed up our escape while ensuring I always have at least one emergency use available. Additionally, I continue to engulf the halls with flames behind us to slow down our pursuers. When possible, I even shoot fire down hallways we don’t take to throw people off.

“That door up ahead on the left! There’s a shortcut in there that Sorel doesn’t know about!” advises Conall.

Running inside what I always thought was a small storage room, Conall quickly kicks some cardboard boxes aside to reveal an underground trap door, “Down here.”

Scaling down a short ladder before hopping onto the ground beside Conall, I say, “Damn, didn’t know this place existed.”

Conall voices as we resume running, “It used to be part of the facility a long time ago. After two rights and one left, there’s a long hallway. At the end is a staircase that’ll take us back up to the first floor. From there, we should be home free.”

***

Standing beside Tryoid, Sorel demands, “Where are they?! How did you lose them?!”

Tryoid replies, “They have gone to a place that does not exist on the prison's layout. Their heartbeats are moving underground.”

“Can you tell where they’re going?!”

“They are running down a long hallway that leads to the Western edge of Soulbell.”

“Good enough! You’ll break through the ground above them, and we’ll cut them off!”

“Understood,” says Tryoid, taking out his sword and grabbing onto Sorel.

Sinking into a thin shadow, they rapidly travel across the ground.

***

After using velocity pulse again, I see a staircase.

“Wait, is that it ahead?!”

“Yeah… that’s it!” replies Conall, gnawing at the agonizing wound on his severed arm.

Suddenly, the ceiling above us caves in, and I grab Conall’s hand. Activating velocity pulse, we dart past the falling rubble, arriving at the bottom of the stairwell.

Sorel shouts from behind us, “Tryoid! Cut them down!”

Conall groans in pain as I tug him onward, struggling to breathe with no pulses left.

“Keep… moving! We... can’t stop!”

We climb the staircase and run down a short hallway with a fork at the end.

“Left... ahead,” grunts Conall.

Swinging a left, double doors come into view, sunlight peeking through the windows.

“That’s it.”

“Once we’re out, I’m taking you to a doc immediately. Ray definitely knows a flier who is one.”

“Sounds go–” begins Conall, but he goes quiet as we both sense an ominous presence behind us.

Looking back, a human cyborg swiftly leaps out of a shadow. Hastily activating orasi, I am too panicked to discern the gemcore's shape, but I see a golden hue inside the cyborg’s body.

It's a legacy?!

As I boost myself into the air with my flames, the cyborg slices Conall down at the legs with his katana. Falling to the ground, Conall catches himself with his last limb.

“Mateo! Go! Get outta here!”

Boosting myself away with my flames to create some distance, I subtly drop my ring to the ground.

“Tryoid, kill him. One of us can wield his legacy for the time being.”

As the cyborg disappears into his shadow again, my realm chimes. Not taking any chances, I engulf my entire body with flames and cast a wrathful sea of fire down the whole hallway. With velocity pulse on cooldown, I whip back around and bolt toward the double doors.

Without velocity pulse, the only way I get out of here is if I escape through those doors!

My flames luckily forced Tryoid to exit his shadow. Another chime sounds as Sorel retreats further back, and Conall keeps himself perched up on one hand. Hopping out of his shadow, Tryoid plants his feet and fuels them with iris. Hearing my realm chime again, I continue running, prepared for the cyborg’s attack as a pulse restores.

Using velocity pulse will only make me fatigued again. I have to defeat this thing without it...

Realizing what Tryoid is about to do, Conall channels iris to his iron-coated hand and pushes himself off the ground just high enough to punch Tryoid in the gut, stunning him. Tryoid lurches to the side, being thrown off balance for only a moment, but it is another half second that Conall buys for me to get away.

Falling back down to the bloody ground, Conall catches himself with his hand again and can only watch and wait as Tryoid dashes at me. Hearing another chime, I smirk.

Just as Tryoid is about to swing his katana at me, I spin around and blast a concentrated fireball directly at the cyborg’s midsection. Forced to swerve out of the way of my attack, I capitalize on his brief stagnation. Throwing a fistful of fire directly at Tryoid at point-blank range, Tryoid is scorched and rendered immobile for a short period.

“No!” yells Sorel, a worrisome look on his face.

Giving the warden one last look, we make eye contact. With the same thought in mind, we both nod. With a second pulse freshly restored, I activate velocity pulse and run out of the prison.

“I have to save…” mumbles Sorel, running off down the other end of the hall.

Trying to keep himself conscious, Conall’s strength gives out, and he falls onto his back. Having lost far too much blood, he utters through strained breaths.

"You know... there are... worse ways to go out."

The ceiling above him then crumbles from the fire, and sunlight begins to peek through. Initially squinting, Conall stares through a small gap in the roof and sees me flying away.

Taking in that sight, Conall smiles.

"I was wrong... Ray. Looks like people... really can break free."

***

Approaching the ravaged Groundlands, my eyes twitch with frustration.

I can’t rest for even a second! I can’t even think! There was supposed to be another day and-! I just left Conall behind… shit! What about Sorel?! Is he following me?! And that robot?! What was that thing?! Are my friends fighting right now?!

Zipping through the Groundlands, the putrid sights, sounds, and smells of war have plagued the homelands I grew up in.

“The day of darkness has finally come!” shouts a petrified citizen below me, both sides having already moved on from the razed groundland of which his home resided. “Was the prophecy all a lie?! Where is Nevis?!”

“Do not lose faith in our savior!” replies a woman, also out of my earshot and emerging from her destroyed home. “Relinquish your faith, and you’ll meet your doom! Nevis will come for us!”

“Wait! What’s that in the sky?!” yells another woman. “Could it be… is that Nevis?!”

Gliding closer to a particular island, my brows scrunch together as I see a battle between the Mako and the Amlovos on my parents' burial grounds. Swiftly landing at their graves, the headstone is damaged to the point their names aren’t recognizable, and our knitted tokens are torn and marred. Picking up what was left of them, I bring them to my nose.

They no longer smell like her…

Clasping them tightly inside my quivering hand before putting them back, I glare at the rest of the graveyard. Witnessing people on both sides brawl like animals to kill each other, I recall something Deniz said.

‘Who are they to hold so much power when they’ve only spread things like grief, hatred, and violence throughout our country? If anybody will bear the weight of humanity’s sins, it should be me. It has to be me. Because at least under my rule, innocent families like yours won’t be ravaged.’

My face twisting with pure disgust and rage, I fly above the battlefield. My flames scorching brightly, I incinerate every Amlovos rebel in the field. I then fly to the next island to do the same, and then the next. With every kill, I can feel myself grow stronger, and the citizens of Opuree and the forces of the Clovers begin to rally, bow, or cheer for me.

Staring down at the Mako, I wonder why I’m not killing them too. Recalling the story my father used to read to me and my question that he never answered, I remember the answer that I gave myself.

Nevis was not a hero.

Flying to the next island, I scorch every Amlovos rebel in sight. Gazing at the Mako soldiers and officers who recognize me and cheer in support, I hover in the air.

But he protected those he cared about.

Making my way to the next island, another battlefield comes into view.

Humanity makes the world cruel. The Clovers set this country up to be full of discrimination, hate, corruption… and Deniz is only feeding into that.

Soaring down, I activate velocity pulse and take out another dozen rebels.

We’re selfish, hypocritical creatures that yearn for power and wealth and love and attention.

Flying back into the air, I once more soak in the sight of the visual aftermath of my violent actions.

And I’m no different.

Off to the next island, I think about everyone important to me.

I have people I care about too.

Burning another handful of Amlovos rebels, I watch them topple over and die. Transferring my gaze over to the Mako, they once again cheer.

So, this makes me a hero?

Pushing off into the sky toward the Midlands, only more fighting comes into view.

Hero, villain. Good, bad. Angel, devil. To rise one way means to fall in another…

Lowering myself in front of another battleground, the people who had just seen me ruthlessly carve out a blazing trail of destruction react to my presence. The Mako officers and soldiers praise my arrival while the Amlovos rebels ready themselves for battle with pure terror on their faces.

Anybody can become anything. All it takes is another person to believe it.

Incinerating the rebels, I carry on toward the Skylands.

But I’m not Nevis. I’m me.

Arriving at more battlegrounds, I keep an eye out for my friends.

And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep the people I care about safe.