Chapter Twenty-Seven

Fighting outside Grant Castle, Ayden uses mineral remake to reinforce his leg, and the imbued sword striking him breaks in two. Swiveling around, Ayden punches the daylights out of two more rebels, earning himself a little space. Looking over at me, Ayden grins before transferring his gaze toward Joey’s volcanic terrain. Having used his Camo Flush to bait in enemies, Joey distracts the rebels while the castle guards take them out from off angles with iris-imbued weapons.

Jumping over to Joey, Ayden fires a gem fist and takes out a hidden rebel with his rifle trained on his friend. Deactivating Camo Flush, Joey’s crozier glows as he uses the molten rock around him to create a small structure for protection.

“How’s Mateo doing?” asks Joey.

“Deniz has been forced out of that giant form. They’re now fighting in the sky.”

Joey nods, and the molten rock around them erodes. Looking around, the last of the rebels have either been killed or forced to retreat. Making their way over to the edge, a crowd of Mako and castle guards have gathered and are cheering. Joey deactivates his realm.

Completely drenched, their Defiantos squish with every brief landing as Tori and Makani hop from island to island back toward Grant Castle.

“What’s the plan now?” asks Makani.

Using orasi to watch the fight from afar, Tori replies, “We need to go help Mateo now in any way we can.”

***

Swinging his trident at me, I hear a chime and block with my left arm. Switching his grip, Deniz tries to lacerate his trident across my body to behead me, and I duck under it just in time. Circulating iris into my right fist, I throw a punch at Deniz’s stomach. Weaving out of the way, Deniz’s trident flickers, and some water hooks around my ankle.

Damn it!

Before I can escape its grasp, Deniz attempts to strike me in the face but I’m able to soften the blow by just barely managing to block his fist with my forearm. However, not able to circulate iris to my forearm fast enough, the impact still packs a powerful punch. I’m sent hurtling down through the sky, plummeting through an entire island before popping out at the bottom and plunging into the ground of another island below. Shaking my head, I open my eyes to see Deniz blitzing through a waterfall, rapidly approaching me. Gathering water from the waterfall toward his trident, he amplifies the potency of his next attack with channeled iris.

Lasering a gushing torrent of water at me, I push myself off the ground with my wings and narrowly dodge. Instantly getting punched across the face, I’m sent barreling through a thick tree trunk, splitting it in two. A second later, my back slams into the concrete wall of a building, and blood spews out of my mouth. The two halves of the tree topple over to reveal a rapid surge of purple water zipping through the air between them. Dazed, I’m too slow to react as the jet of water blasts into me. Rocketed toward an adjacent island, I slam through the walls of multiple buildings before getting spit out on the other side of the island.

Blood spilling down my face and arms, I catch a blurry glimpse of Deniz in pursuit. His trident disappearing, Deniz channels iris into his hands as he crashes down onto the ground on top of me. A thin dust cloud erupts as I barely evade his attack with a quick leap to the side. Promptly exiting the dust cloud, he throws a punch at my midsection. Moving out of the way, I counter with my own punch at his shoulder. Going back and forth in hand-to-hand combat, neither of us uses any abilities as we both block and evade what could have been crucial blows. Finally, I am able to land a fierce strike to his chest, and he is sent flying backward.

Healing myself from my earlier injuries and deactivating my realm, I prepare to vault after him.

Even as a solo wielder, he’s incredibly strong!

As Deniz crashes into an island straight ahead, I activate velocity pulse. On top of him in an instant, I ignite my fist and strike his helmet, slamming him down through the building and out the bottom end of the island. Channeling more iris into my hands, my eyes and hands flicker blue and white in unison as I wrathfully cast a sizzling flare at Deniz.

Manifesting his trident again, Deniz gathers water from the clouds and waterfalls around him to catch himself mid-flight. Then, firing off a water cannon-like defense that meets my flare head-on, an explosion followed by a massive steam cloud spreads through the sky.

When Tori and Makani arrive at the castle, Joey asks them, “You see him on the way up?”

“Yeah, it’s an even match,” answers Tori, a tingle brushing along her skin as Deniz and I exchange blows.

“Are you going to join the fight?” asks Ayden.

“No, I’d only get in the way with how little iris I have left,” replies Tori.

“We felt the same way,” says Joey, seeing blue and purple flashes clashing beneath him. “Although, in a battle like this, I don’t know how much use we’d be.”

Smashing into the ground of yet another island, Deniz lands on top of me in the small crater I’ve formed. Trying to stab me in the head with his trident, I dodge twice and then block his third assault with an elastic flame barrier. My flames slow the trident's momentum down just enough to where I only feel an insignificant poke on my cheek. The trident suddenly sparks, and water gushes around my flame barrier. My own eyes flashing blue and white, I expand my flame barrier and block out the water. Quickly drawing in a breath, I briefly open a small gap in my elastic flame barrier and puff out a wrathful inferno point blank at Deniz.

As if he expected me to do that, he retreats into the air with minimal damage. I activate velocity pulse and quickly smash an iris-enhanced fist into his torso. He can only partially block the full potency of my attack, but the blow still sends him racing twice as fast through the air. After burrowing through another island, Deniz pops into the spectators' view at the castle grounds. As he coughs up blood, I’m chasing after him in hot pursuit.

Quickly activating my velocity pulse again, I boost myself just behind him, scorching him from his blind spot with a point-blank attack. His battered armor barely holding up, Deniz swivels around and counters with his own close-range attack, his water whip piercing through my worn-down armor and slicing across my chest.

Grunting, I propel myself back with my wings, circulating iris toward my chest to heal it. Not wanting to give me the time to heal, Deniz rushes toward me, trident in hand, ready to pounce.

Forced to activate velocity pulse again for a third time to dodge, I try to retreat to the furthest Skyland I can, but my heart suddenly lurches with agonizing pain, and I’m thrown out of velocity pulse. Feeling like I am being strangled, I plummet into the side of a building, tumbling along the hardwood flooring until I get ejected out the other side onto some grass. Unable to stop coughing, I’m too weak to regain my footing. And with my vision as white as fog, I’m unable to determine where Deniz is coming from as he bursts toward me.

This must be what happens… if I use all three pulses so close together…

Unable to heal my chest before Deniz’s trident spears my right leg, I wail in agony through my coughs as I blast a wave of flames all around me to try and thwart Deniz away. But Deniz doesn’t budge, my weak flames hardly tickling his armor. Stepping down on my right foot to hold it in place, Deniz heaves the trident out of my leg, blood instantly spilling out of the wound as he impales my right leg once more.

Another harrowing yell escaping my lips, Deniz says, “It’s almost poetic. Isn’t it?”

“Wha…t?”

“Look around. This used to be Kavi’s house.”

My vision a speckled view of white and color that’s slowly clearing up, I shakily turn my head to see if Deniz is telling the truth. That’s when an image flashes through my mind of Kavi in a pool of blood, and I register that it’s the same exact view as that night.

“You know, I never wanted Kavi to die. He was like my mentor when I was first starting out as a tepran. One of my people killed him while I was away, and then they kept it a secret from me. When I learned you were in prison for murdering a tepran, I didn’t know you were framed for Kavi. His name wasn’t on your file. I didn’t even know he was dead until after I talked with you.”

“Get… to the point.”

“If the Clovers had just opened their eyes to the world that exists now, one of my rebels wouldn’t have felt the need to kill Kavi. His death never should’ve happened. In fact, I wouldn’t have ever started this movement, and all of these people wouldn’t have suffered because the Clovers are too blind to see the truth. No matter how much fortune, influence, or power you have… that all goes out the window if you can’t escape the grasp of somebody stronger than you. If we want to survive, the current Opuree would’ve had to fall one way or another and be reborn as a stronger nation.”

“So you… think this is… the best alternative?”

“It’s the only alternative. Mateo, you and I are different from the rest. We’re legacies, but somehow, we’re on opposite sides in this battle. I don’t get it. What are you fighting for? The Clovers are the reason your family has been destroyed. They’re at fault for Kavi’s death! And no matter how you look at it, the people who died today, their blood is on the Trine’s hands! Their ignorance, entitlement, and stupidity are the root cause of all this bloodshed! So, why fight for them?!”

Not giving him a quick answer, Deniz twists the head of his trident into my leg, and I emit a groan.

“Some people in this country might think of this uprising as the day of darkness that Nevism had foretold. When I was a child, I always thought on that day, some otherworldly, unstoppable monster… or demon would come to Thera. But as I got older, I learned that our world doesn’t need any monsters or demons like how my child self imagined them. I learned that we are those monsters.”

“No… shit. It’s taken… you… this long to… figure… that out?”

Deniz’s gaze sharpens, “As a kid, you’re innocent to the real world. You’re–”

I chuckle through my agony, and Deniz demands, “What’s funny?”

“Maybe for… you… that is… true. But... to those of us… who had to fight… every day… because people… above us… didn’t ever help… we knew how… screwed up humanity… was… since we were born.”

“I’m fighting for the Grounders too. I’m fighting for everybody in this country.”

“So why specify… that we’re… different from you? Why still call… us Grounders... if you want… to help us? Grounder… or Flier… we’re both just… humans. Kavi… died because you… promoted that hatred… and disgust… toward a group… of people… who you can’t… stand.”

“And it’s those people who are the root of the problem. If you want to erase a problem, you tear out the roots first. By fighting me… do you think it’ll make you a hero?”

Thinking back to when I asked my father a similar question and he couldn’t answer, I reply, “No. But at least… at the end of the day… I know I’ll be proud of… what I fought for. I know I’ve made… mistakes in my life, and that… I’ll regret choices I made… even today… for the rest of my life, but when it comes… to those I care about… I’m pretty sure… I chose the right side… to fight for.”

Ripping the trident out of my leg, Deniz raises it again to put me down for good, but with all three velocity pulses regenerated and my facade of weakness lowering his guard, my eyes spark blue and white. Activating velocity pulse and enhancing my fist with heavenly flames, I strike Deniz with a sharp uppercut, breaking through his armor. Blasting myself away, my wings flap with life as I fly back to the castle. A disoriented Deniz is slow to react, giving me enough time to reposition even with my injuries.

I can’t run on this leg anymore. I have to stay in the skies…

Snapping out of it, Deniz swiftly makes up the distance, materializing thin frozen spears that he rifles through the sky at me at blistering speeds. Activating compass ring, I follow my ears guidance and fly around each attack of his. Only once I hear Deniz is close and there is a slight opening between his attacks, I turn around and cast a powerful flamethrower attack at his position.

Swerving out of the way, Deniz quickly materializes three more spears that whistle toward me at a frightening pace. But I am prepared for this, and thinking back to one of the first lessons Joey taught me, Deniz hasn’t noticed the minimal iris I purposefully kept channeled near my wrist.

A surge of iris erupts through my veins, and I dash past Deniz when he least expects it. Recognizing his mistake in following up with a blind attack, Deniz quickly tries to adapt his strategy and use water to evade my ambush, but with velocity pulse in full effect, it is too late for him.

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Circulating iris into my hands, I engulf Deniz with a violent blast of heavenly flames. My flames blast through his half-prepared ice shield, burning through his weakened armor and searing onto his back. Not even the iris he’d channeled there to defend could relinquish my flames' devastating potency.

Roaring with everything I got, I know this attack is my last chance to win. I’m running on fumes when it comes to iris, so I muster every bit of strength I can, and Deniz’s body eventually gives out. His trident vanishes, and a second later, the water underneath his feet dissipates. As he starts falling through the air, I’m about to go after him when my chest suddenly jerks in pain once more. Bringing both hands to my chest, breathing becomes exceedingly difficult very rapidly.

I should’ve healed… shit.

Channeling iris into my hands, I heal my chest just enough to get by.

I'll do my leg later.

Somewhat regaining my ability to breathe, Deniz has fallen out of sight, and with such little iris remaining, I can’t risk going after him. Hovering in the sky, I slowly start lowering myself.

With that final attack, I’m sure he died... or at least he has an injury grave enough to where he can’t fight anymore. If he’s not dead, even the weak soldiers below can take care of him now.

My pulses recovering, the loud cheers and chants I have been blocking out finally meet my ear. Turning around, there’s a large, high-spirited crowd of Mako soldiers, castle guards, and my friends. Not knowing what to do, I do the only thing that feels kind of natural.

Spreading my wings as wide as possible, I triumphantly raise my fist.

Another loud wave of cheering resounds, and exhaustion abruptly hits me. Flying down to Grant Castle and collapsing on the ground, my friends run over to check on me. Many soldiers and guards also try to approach me for various reasons, but Makani keeps them all back with her wind.

“Are you able to heal?” asks Joey, eyeing my leg and still wounded chest.

Wincing, I reply as my wings fade away, “No, used too much iris.”

Ayden snickers, “For once… you’ll feel soreness and pain like the rest of us for a lil while, though it’ll probably only be for a few minutes.

Chuckling, my chest rumbles with pain. And while they’ve kept their distance, the other blurry people around are still hollering, clapping, or bowing their heads in my direction.

A hand is then offered to me.

“Stand up. This is your moment,” says Tori.

Looking at her hand, I reply before woefully latching on, “Nah, it’s ours.”

Giving me a smile, Tori helps me to my feet. Once I’m standing somewhat upright, Ayden ducks his head under my arm and places his hand on my back for support. Offering my thanks for his help, I take in the sight before me. More people have gathered outside the castle, all cheering me and my friends on for our victory. And to my surprise, Eric and Ray are off to the side, cheering for me like the rest.

And that’s when I start hearing what they are calling me.

"Nevis! Nevis! Nevis!"

Glancing at my brother, something inside me ticks. Remembering the books my parents always read, I shake my head as memories of what this nation did to my family return to me.

No… not like this.

Untethering myself from Ayden, I take a few steps forward and leave my friends behind. The crowd quiets, and I begin to speak.

“Nevis… is a figure from our past. He is a warrior worth praising and respecting,” I say, looking around at all the faces focused on me. “But I am not Nevis. I am here today… as somebody who will fight for our future.”

“If you’re not Nevis, then who are you?” yells a man, and others repeat similar variations of his question with whispers layered in.

Igniting my wings, I take to the sky again, grabbing everybody’s attention.

“My name is Percival, and a new era is upon us.”

After an uneasy few seconds of silence, another round of cheers and applause commenced. As I descend back down, Eric and Ray run over toward me. The rest of the people try to do the same, but Makani continues to hold them off, her eyes a mint shade.

After giving me a quick hug, Eric starts rambling, “We saw like… everything! The way you punched that guy through the island and then… did you teleport?”

“Kind of… yeah. I’m glad you’re both okay.”

“It’s a miracle I survived, considering how reckless you were. What if one of those islands were mine?” asks Ray, crossing his arms.

“I– I made sure the fight didn’t go in that direction!” I stammer. “I’d never put you two in danger!”

“I know,” says Ray, his expression relaxing while I get confused. “Good job.”

Realizing he isn’t mad at all, I breathe a sigh of relief.

Lightly tapping his fist against my chest, Eric tells me, “I’m proud of you, man.”

“Thanks,” I smile. “I’m proud of you too. We’re going to be okay.”

Ruining our little moment, three castle guards break away from the crowd. Approaching us, we are informed that the Clover Trine would like to speak with us immediately.

Looking at them, I give a curt nod.

***

As Ray, Eric, the Scouts, and I trudge through the lavish castle halls, I realize how quickly everything has changed. A few days ago, I was just a convict at Soulbell, wrongly convicted… but still a convict. And now I’m here inside the most prestigious building in the country after defeating Deniz.

Entering the Clover’s throne room, we make our way to the center, and each Clover leader is seated in their usual position.

“Lord Nevis, Toriana, and co. Thank you for your service, and we commend each of you for defeating the Amlovos,” says Washo.

Resisting the urge to correct him, Elena adds, “Yes, you all portrayed excellent capabilities.”

“You nearly let Grant Castle be attacked, but yes, you did defeat them in the end,” notes John.

“These five each took out thousands on their own while your men could barely handle their own battles,” says Elena. “I believe your gratitude is in order.”

John scoffs, “Why yes, they did their expected duty. I don’t believe you’re–”

Pounding his armrest a few times, Washo regains control of the room.

“Lord Nevis, I wish to speak only with you,” says Washo.

After giving a brief reassuring nod to all of my comrades, they reposition themselves near the exit. Now standing alone between the three Clovers, Washo bows his head from his throne.

“Lord Nevis, thank you once again for your selfless acts. You have fulfilled the long-awaited prophecy of your ancestor, and your actions were for the greater good. I’m truly grateful to be alive today.”

Internally furious by his words, I only give Washo a nod.

“Lord Nevis. As Opuree’s savior, you will be a beacon of hope for many years to come,” says Elena.

“For now, you’ll be free to live your life normally. But when the time comes, you and the other chosen fighters will serve us without question,” adds John, appearing uninterested and ignoring Washo’s glare. “This is part of your lifelong punishment for once being convicted. Count yourselves lucky. Not only do you still breathe, but you’re able to return to society.”

“How dare you disrespect the very people who just saved this country! Saved our lives!” yells Washo.

Disregarding Washo’s words, John wraps up what he intended to say, “You’ve served your immediate purpose and served it well, that I can’t complain about. For now, your work here is done. Go pretend to live normal lives. We’ll be summoning you again when necessary. Guards, take ‘em out.”

One of the guards walks over to me, but I can't take my eyes off John. He, no… all of them, make my blood boil with rage. As the guard turns me toward the exit, I pry my eyes away from that abomination of an animal and walk over toward my friends. But this time, as my gaze lingers on my friends, the people I care about most, I stop walking.

My jaw clenching with fury, I grip my hand as if I'm holding my token and fortify my resolve.

“I’m not done…” I say, my chilled tone making the entire room stand still.

Turning around to face the Clovers, my eyes spark blue and white as I trigger velocity pulse. A second later, all three heads of the Clover Trine are no longer attached to their bodies. Reappearing in the center of the room, I wearily take heavy breaths, my iris reserves still gravely low. Around me, my friends and the guards all stand in shock at what I have just done.

But not a single soul speaks up to oppose it.

“I’m sick of people telling us what we can and can’t do,” I say, facing my friends. “The Clovers, the Mako, Amlovos, Nevism, this entire country reeks of corruption that’s just been building and building and building on itself for centuries. Opuree needs a fresh start, and that start is now.”

***

A Few Months Later

Word really does travel fast. Like wildfire, what my friends and I had done first spread throughout the country and then the world over the following months. Everybody heard about the Scouts, not knowing we were once convicts at Soulbell. I became known as Percival, the powerful wielder who defeated the Siege of Kadillan. And the whole usurping of the Clover Trine was left publicly unsaid… but the people theorized as we expected they would. Some of the most popular were the rebels assassinating the Clovers, the Clovers escaping to a different country, or what became the most popular… Acirat influenced the uprising through manipulation on both ends. While we never outright stated that was the case, we definitely leaned into that to give the citizens a common enemy beyond our nation’s border. For the time being, it seemed to be working.

Deniz and the Amlovos rebels have spread fear and unease throughout most of Opuree, so we had to take measures to calm that storm. The Clover Trine’s government format was deposed as a council of seven was created. This council consisted of myself, Ayden, Makani, Joey, Tori, Ray, and the chief of the Mako officers, Ben.

And while a small percentage of Opuree’s citizens stood against our new government format, many actually supported us… hoping that with us in charge, they’ll be safe, at least for the time being.

When forming the council, Joey especially didn’t believe we should step up to such positions of power, to which I argued that if we didn’t… who would be able to do a better job than us right now? Most of the nation supports us for stopping the uprising, knowing they can rely on us for safety. We can’t afford to trust anybody besides ourselves right now.

Even after I made all those points, he still seemed reluctant; however, Joey eventually joined the council, noting that it was mostly to keep me in check.

It may have set us back at first, but slowly, we’re beginning to heal and connect again as a community. We raised our support for the Grounders, and the classes of Opuree were beginning to crumble.

As time passed, just the name “Percival” meant something in all corners of the world. To some, my existence instilled terror into their hearts, but others found hope in me and my story. As an advanced legacy wielder who defeated another advanced legacy wielder, nobody dared to touch Opuree, not even the Acirat twins. And this gave us time to grieve and rebuild.

The first thing we did was hold funerals for Conall and my mom, as well as everybody else who died during the Amlovos uprising. In total, over thirty-four thousand people perished during the uprising, about six percent of our population. Of those thirty-four thousand, it's estimated that we five were directly responsible for at least thirteen thousand casualties, a daunting truth following the actions we all chose to play a part in. And together, we bear and carry the sins of our actions with us.

During all the chaos, over three hundred inmates escaped Soulbell and successfully fled to the closest continent they could, Taliarusa. Sorel, Tryoid, and Deniz were nowhere to be found, and regaining a handle over Soulbell took some time. But eventually, things were back under control. Amy, one of Conall’s most trusted guards, assumed the warden position at Soulbell.

There was some deliberation about what we should do with the Mako. On one hand, they were our nation's police force; on the other, they served as the Clover Trine’s secret agency and military. Ben, the chief of the Mako police force with whom I initially had a... contentious relationship with... helped sort through everything regarding the Mako. He was a high-ranking officer like Deniz, and he implored us that the police force was hardly ever involved with carrying out the Clover’s more sinister misdeeds.

It was a leap of faith trusting the chief, but removing somebody like Ben, who has been a dependable staple in the community for many years, would ultimately be a grave mistake for the nation. After working together for a while, the two of us eventually spoke one-on-one, and I told him that I had never killed Kavi. The chief didn't apologize for arresting me but responded that he believed me, perhaps his leap of faith into trusting me.

The matter went back and forth for a while before we finally compromised on locking up any Mako officers blatantly involved with washing and other cynical crimes. As for the remaining Amlovos rebels, although not many, they also found themselves serving some time at Soulbell.

Along with Sorel and Tryoid, many of Sorel’s scientists also fled Soulbell. That said, a few stayed behind, those who feared Sorel’s wrath and wished to untether themselves from him. We learned from one of the remaining scientists, a guy named Sam, that while he was at Soulbell, Sorel invented a technology capable of extracting gemcores and preserving them for an indefinite amount of time. Once removed from a human’s living body, the gemcores could be placed inside a metal tube about a foot long in length, and while none of us understood any of the specifics, the tube used iris and gasses from our atmosphere to prolong the gemcores' longevity.

With that knowledge, we first removed the gemcores from all the wielders still at Soulbell. As we discreetly hid the extracted gemcores in safe locations around the country, we moved the prisoners over into the newly renovated right half of Soulbell while we revamped the left to a similar standard.

Once both halves were up to scruff, Soulbell prison became whole again. With almost two thousand new arrivals, we kept close contact with Amy to ensure everything was going smoothly. We also ended up building the psychiatric hospital on another Groundland close to Soulbell.

Not wanting to continue ruling the country from above in Grant Castle, we felt a change was necessary. Like the waterfalls that flow from island to island, we wanted to connect and be able to communicate with all citizens much more easily. Quickly relocating our base of operations to the heart of the country, we built ‘Opuree Capitol Building’ in the Midlands, and the public approval was a healthy shock.

As for Grant Castle, we preserved its culture and faith as we transformed it into a religious site that anybody could visit. Nevism was no longer a religion enforced by the government, but many citizens remained faithful to their beliefs after the uprising.

Once our undertakings with Soulbell and Opuree Capitol Building were close to being done, the next order of business was upgrading our military. While I felt confident that we Scouts could take on anybody, even the twins, Deniz was absolutely correct about our general military being weak. We didn’t know how the citizens would respond to this concept, especially since so many had died just a few months prior during the uprising. So, when we proposed the idea of a stronger military to our citizens, we expected a major backlash.

Surprisingly, though, a vast majority of people supported the idea of an organized military… many even volunteered to be trained. Even with background checks, it was impossible to tell whether fragments of the rebels were still trying to make some kind of move, so we could only hope that this military development plan was for the better. Joey and Tori took on the mantle of training our brand-new military while maintaining prominent roles on the council.

Ayden was able to reconnect with his family, and while he still served our country, he spent a lot of time away. Makani, Ray, and I handled most of the civilian work, as maintaining a healthy relationship with the people was one of our main focuses. Ben, of course, kept up with his duties as the chief and had his hands full with the growing amount of illegal Herisin being sold. As for Ray, he’s set aside becoming a criminal attorney in light of his duties toward the council.

And with absolutely zero personal bias involved, I think everyone, even Ben now, agrees that Eric’s biggest service to our country is always making us amazing food. No kidding, going back to Ray’s place for dinner every night is the highlight of my day. And along with rehab, Eric’s love for cooking has really helped him fight off his addiction. He’s doing well for himself, and although it may not be much, I always subtly compliment my brother about his progress whenever I see him.