25.

Lynn coughed violently. The entire library in front of him was engulfed in flames. He scanned the area frantically, attempting to find signs of survivors.

“Owen!” Constell screamed. “Owen! Owen!”

Lynn grabbed Constell’s cloak but the man shouldered him away and pushed towards the collapsing library. He repeated his brother’s name. Constell’s entire vocabulary dwindled to but one name. Lynn watched as he threw himself into the burning library.

Lynn considered his surroundings. He had absolutely no idea where to go. Even if he did enter the building, he wouldn’t be able to help anyone. He was a cripple. Nothing but a hindrance. But still, as he walked toward the fire filled entrance, guilt crushed him and his conscience labeled him a coward.

Then he saw a figure move in the doorway. A man wearing robes that appeared like shadows emerged. Spotting Lynn, it moved forward with confidence.

“Hello little friend.” The voice coming from beneath the robes caught Lynn off guard. It rang with femininity. As she approached Lynn could see the lower half of her face and the smirk that lingered there. White locks tumbled down out of her cowl. “I see I have you all to myself. How kind of you to come add your life to mine.” She extended her hand toward him dramatically.

A minute passed. Nothing happened. Her smile fell into a line.

“What are you?” she asked, her tone a concoction of horror and curiosity.

“Your people murdered each member of my family and left me alone. You took every piece of my world and caused it all to rot. You left me only pain. If you had taken even a fraction more, I would be dead right now. Or, I should say, I would be completely dead. You left me half alive. And you ask what I am? I am the half dead man who will murder you.”

The woman took a step backward. “But, we arranged for you to be gone. You’re not supposed to be here. The boy said killing a cripple would be simple. You’re not supposed to still be here.”

Rage pounded in his ears, never relenting, never allowing another word to be spoken tot he creature in front of him. Lynn flung himself at her.

They both tumbled into the ground. The woman was weak. Even weaker than Lynn. He found himself on top of her with a smoldering brick in hand. Her hood had fallen back, revealing fearful red eyes.

Lynn flung the brick down on her head, staining her hair to match her eyes. But still she lived, struggling under his weight, the dent in her head popped back in place, healing. So he smashed the brick down again, this time into her left eye. She screamed but Lynn could see, even as he lifted the brick, the wound closed and the mash reformed into an eye. So he brought it down again. And again. And again. And again. Finally, she stopped moving. The wounds bled on. And Lynn stood.

“You’re vermin, undeserving of any life. I will eradicate you all. Every. Last. One.”

“Silts...you killed one of them?” A panicked voice broke Lynn out of his vengeful trance.

He glanced up to see Tiara standing before him. Her dress was scorched, her hair a frazzled mess, and her entire body quivered as she spoke. Any demanding atmosphere she once held now shredded like scraps of parchment.

Lynn rose to his foot. Ignoring her question, he looked into the burning building. “How many more of them are there?”

“Over two dozen. They struck hours ago. What are they? Darius. Edwin. They both tried using their Artes to defend me. At first it seemed to work but when they got closer…when they got closer it was all over. Edwin pushed me back but they both…they’re gone.” The woman’s shoulders shook as she wept.

“Who started the fire?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know anything. What are they?” she repeated.

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“Dead men.” Lynn began limping toward the building.

“Wait! My son! Where is he? He went up to the mountain with you, didn’t he? Is he still there? Please tell me you came back alone.”

Lynn hesitated and glanced at the woman, once so composed, now broken under the pressure. “Constell went looking for Owen.”

Tiara collapsed onto the dirt with her face buried in her hands as she wept. “No. No. Why? My sons.”

“What do you mean? Where is Owen?” Lynn asked with a sinking heart.

“He went after them. He pushed me out of the way and chased after Vivian Topaz. The harlot ran for the city,”

“They’re in the city? Constell doesn’t know that! He ran into the library! We need to go find him!”

Tiara shook her head, still not looking up at Lynn. “He knows Owen will be wherever is most dangerous. He’ll be in the city. He’ll realize it.”

“I don’t understand. What is dangerous about the city?”

“That’s where those people all went. The woman you killed was the only one still here, left behind for stragglers.” She collapsed into another session of weeping.

For a minute Lynn considered attempting to say something but the words wouldn’t seem to come to his mouth. Nothing he thought of seemed quite right.

Instead, he stood and walked into the burning building. Smoke filled the corridors and flames sprouted from the carpeted walls and wooden floors. The heat never touched him as he walked through., feeling as cool as when he stood on the frozen lake. He raised his sleeve to his mouth to attempt not to suck down too much smoke as he limped forward. Blackened corpses lined the sides of the halls. Lynn told himself the smoke made his eye water as he avoided looking at any of the charred figures. Despite all the distractions, he knew his way around the library’s first floor well enough to navigate to the back doors, both of which appeared as if they had been ripped from their hinges.

The once green gardens that spread out behind the library were now a charcoal gray. Every plant withered and tainted. Life, in its entirety, was now snuffed. The only sounds that remained were the popping of the burning library behind him. The scene made Lynn’s missing arm itch with an unrelenting pain, enough that it nearly knocked Lynn to the ground. He found the stairs right where they had been all those months ago, they had remained untouched by the devastation.

Lynn cursed his painfully slow descent. His fake leg barely seemed to hold his weight and he found himself clinging onto the cliff-side for balance every time he stepped forward with it. When he finally reached the bottom, a man stood with his back to him. Lynn slowly approached him and fear clutched his heart when he realized the man before him was Quinton Silver.

“Lynn Jet,” he said with his back still turned. His voice was softer than Lynn had expected. Almost...tender.

“Quinton,” Lynn responded cautiously.

“My best friend was murdered before my eyes. I wanted blood. So I went to punish the man who did the deed.” He turned toward Lynn and Lynn took a surprised step backward, almost tripping in the process. Quinton’s face streamed with tears and his mouth quivered with every breath. “But I couldn’t do it. I just...I couldn’t do it. I pummeled him but I couldn’t kill the boy. He murdered my best friend trying to poison you. I saw him uncork and serve your drink. Others drank from the same bottle after he served you but they were all fine. The boy had been the only possible one.

“At the moment, I didn’t care why he wanted to kill you, it felt irrelevant. But then I was approached by another person. A man asked me to murder you, he believed we both mutally wanted you dead. He told me…he told me his assassin had already failed. It took all I had to not attempt to kill him there. I didn’t because I realized something. You’re special for some reason. I don’t know what it is but you’re different. They were afraid of you for some reason. A worthless cripple with less potential to become a Mystic than a sack of marbles.

“Today I watched as dozens of powerful Mystics were cut down in front of me in an instant. Nothing they could do could save themselves. But the people killing them, those same people, were led by the man who wanted me to kill you. He spared me because he was stupid enough to think I’d still kill you.” Quinton’s body shook as he breathed in and out. He bowed his head to Lynn. “So please. Let me kill him.”

Lynn took in all the information presented. He felt shame burn in him for all those times he named Quinton a brute. He observed while everyone else panicked at Quartz’s death. Everyone simply wrote him off as mental inept. The opposite had actually been true.

“I need to get to Vivian first,” Lynn said. “After though, I’ll help you however I can. We’ll kill them together.”

“Do you know where she is?”

“In the city.”

“This city is massive. But I know where the intruders are stationed. You help me murder them first and then they might know where she is.”

“I would need to question them before you killed them.”

Quinton shrugged.

Lynn stuck out his hand and looked in the wet eyes of the giant man in front of him.

Quinton grasped his hand, locking his forearm with his.

“Lead the way.”