***
You bolt awake, sunlight streaming through your windows.
L'Neeri.
You have to warn him.
You get up, frantically, throwing on the nearest clothes you can find. As you run out of your room, your hair whips behind you. You activate Rising Star and the light envelops you, sending you careening across the Tree that is your home. You slam into the air of the western limbs. You shoot across the distance, the Tree's gargantuan branches rushing by you as you hurtle like a golden bullet. Within seconds you notice movement in one of the many vast void-like openings in the Tree's branches, there, moving at great speed, is a boy falling sideways. And he is being chased.
Der'ii the Branded One flies in pursuit ablaze with terrible, ochre and white fire. The flames jet out from him like fountains of molten air and water, horrible fonts of destruction, propelling him after his quarry as quickly as L'Neeri falls.
You hear Der'ii over the rushing wind, he laughs at the chase, relishing in it. He was going to kill this Branded One, no matter the cost.
His path carves a smoking wake of burning leaves and branches, while he killed your friend, he was going to destroy your home as well. You streak after them, pushing yourself to speeds that rival those of your attempt to outrun Sero.
L'Neeri suddenly banks left, curving his alien, horizontal descent right at you in a visibly futile attempt to lose his adversary. Der’ii doesn’t waste a moment, a torrential blast of flames jets out of his bare feet with palpable force. The wave of destruction engulfs buildings and branches alike, setting them inescapably ablaze. Der’ii’s chase resumes, him drawing ever closer. The blazing Branded One reaches his outstretched hand towards his quarry as if to grab him by sheer willpower. His rough face a horrible mask of terrible determination. But suddenly, he notices your vaguely human blur of light flashing right at them. You curve around to their right, attempting to move past L’Neeri to get at the flaming man.
L’Neeri twists his whole body in the air to face Der’ii, screaming incoherently in desperation. He thrusts out his hand and you see without seeing the air between the two men warp and distort. It seems to lens, mold, and move around an invisible sphere, everything seeming to converge on that point.
Der’ii’s eyes widen. He tries to swerve by jetting another wave of flame that destroys everything behind him only for him to get sucked right into the sphere. He screams in agony, his body appearing to be crushed by whatever L’Neeri just did.
You slam right into the sphere, grabbing hold of the Branded One inside and rocketing out the other side, barely feeling any of the sphere’s crushing force. You carry the burning man through the air, ramming him and yourself into an unoccupied branch with all the speed you can muster, your Rising Star exploding in a wave of golden light. Der’ii leaps up out of the wooden crater that you created with his body, flames jet out of his extremities as he spins around like a top, pushing you away from him in fear.
“I knew it!” Der’ii yells, spreading his arms and turning his face to the sky, “Why didn’t you prepare me for this?! Why do you want me to suffer?!”
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
L’Neeri finally, roughly, lands next to you, his eyes are wide and he is breathing heavily, he nods to you as if acknowledging your ability.
“Have I not suffered enough for you?! What more do you want from me, Sa’Bel?!” He is still for a few moments save for heavy exhalations through his teeth. You and L’Neeri exchange a worried, yet relieved glance. You two are together and you can stop this insane man from destroying everything you know.
Der’ii turns to you, his hard face twitching violently, murder alight in his eyes. He launches himself forward, flame propelling right at the two of you.
You dodge to the side, L’Neeri mirroring your movement to escape the Branded One’s fiery grasp. L’Neeri leaps upward, ascending into the air before swooping back down on the offensive. You throw arrow-like bolts of hard light at Der’ii, causing him to make evasive maneuvers.
A deadly dance of light, fire, and the invisible force tying everything to the ground begins. You and L’Neeri attempt to overwhelm your foe, bearing down on him in force. L’Neeri and Der’ii trade physical blows with one another as you keep the flaming man guessing with walls and bolts of tangible light.
Your mind races as you fling bolt after bolt at him.
Why isn’t anything working? You think frantically as Der’ii manages to slam a fist into L’Neeri’s stomach, causing him to fall away from him.
Often, as you began to realize, your bolts would strike Der’ii but do very little besides annoy him or distract him. The best you were doing was peppering his clothes with holes, the former of which had already begun to burn.
You glance at L’Neeri after putting up a wall to give yourself some time. He stands, doubling over and holding his stomach, gritting his teeth in pain before shaking himself and leaping again into the air.
You nod at him. You had better finish this quickly. You go on the attack again, this time with a silent plan.
Der’ii roars, a guttural sound that sounds more animal than human, before charging the two of you.
You scream, clapping your hands together. Walls of light slam into existence around Der’ii, one by one boxing him in. He slams his fist against them, trying in rage to escape.
L’Neeri, seeing the weakness of his killer, swoops down towards the caged Branded One. He crashes into the box, slamming his right hand into the side.
Der’ii screams as the crushing, invisible sphere appears inside the box, inescapably compacting him.
You turn away from his agony, his screams as he dies. This is the right thing, You tell yourself, he was going to kill L’Neeri. But then a terrifying thought occurs to you. I was also going to kill him. I agreed too.
You shake your head, trying to dispel the thought. You wave your hand, dismissing the box of light.
Der’ii’s screams cut off. You don’t turn to look.
You begin to walk away but stop when you hear coughing and retching. Der’ii was still alive. Alive, crawling with broken limbs, and speaking.
“I–” He heaves, vomiting all over the ground, “I am not unaccustomed to–” he heaves again, but nothing comes up, “Suffering. I can handle one more hour of this torture… One more minute, if it means–”
Der’ii stops crawling forward. He reached to his left arm, grasping it with the remaining fingers that work.
“SALVATION!”
He explodes with hellish light. Crimson, cerulean, white, and black flames erupt from around him.
He stands, whole once again. But missing his arm.