Kade looked around the ruins of the mountain range of Karavash, now the final resting place of yet more ancient Elders. That included his near-brothers, and the man who had made him feel safe for the first time on this deadly world. He felt an exhaustion beyond his body, deep within his Soul, and for a moment he just looked out across the destruction that their battle had caused, his mind turning blessedly blank.
And then he felt the World Shaper waking up.
He spun away from the enormous crushed mass that had been Karthas, and looked at the circle of runes that glowed ominously nearby. They had hoped that the death of Karavash would mean the end of the ritual, but a glance showed him that wasn’t the case. The final runes were now nearly completed, and they were almost touching the artifact.
Kade limped back to the simple white rod, desperation giving him the strength his body lacked. He felt his knees hit the cold stone, the muted thud breaking the disturbing silence that was such an odd contrast to the songs of battle that had echoed through the mountains only moments ago. Reaching forward he tentatively placed both hands atop the artifact, trying to find the strange familiarity he’d sensed in the brief moment before Karavash had struck.
He could tell immediately that something had changed. There was a distinct flow of power, leaving the rod and feeding back into the runes. Karavash hadn’t been bluffing: something was already happening, something too late to stop. But he could still sense a presence within the World Shaper, something vast, and ancient beyond imagining. The Lost God remained trapped within; there was still time.
Kade tried to force the ticking clock out of his mind, understanding that the added tension would do nothing to hasten his task. He wasn’t sure exactly what he could do; the rod was seemingly indestructible, and held impossibly tight within the stone. The stone itself had clearly been empowered somehow, as it was the only peak that remained undamaged by the explosive powers that had erupted nearby.
Think, think, think, he told himself, but there didn’t seem to be a logical solution. The only hint was that distant fragment of familiarity. This thing–well, half of it–had been inside him for decades; it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that some connection remained. He tried to focus on that lost feeling, a presence inside him he’d never known was there, but had still been a part of him.
He thought back to those moments that he’d felt like his mind was pulled into some hidden inside realm. He remembered that strange surreal place, and what he’d seen–his own Soul twisted and shaped into an endless chain, wrapped around something forbidden, something that was itself a prison for a being beyond the limits of his own consciousness.
He felt for that place inside himself, and the expansive nothingness he felt was a shock. He realized in that moment that he was truly free, as Sythkara had promised him he would be, and only the loss of those fragments of long-dead men finally illuminated the constant influence they had been on him. Now he was alone in a way that had never been possible before.
Strangely it was in that lack, that he found himself able to focus at last. It was like having everything torn from his Soul Core had left a physical scar, and he could sense the texture of it, deep within him. He tried to trace that feeling with senses he didn’t fully understand, and there it was, that haunting familiarity.
He now truly understood that he’d been forged around the World Shaper, and not just as a concept explained to him, more like he’d found the blueprints left within him. Kade struggled to make sense of what he was discovering, hoping it would lead to some kind of helpful conclusion. He involuntarily glanced down at the glow on the runes, inching their way toward the artifact with alarming inevitability.
He forced his eyes shut, determined not to let this happen. He wouldn’t let the deaths of so many be wasted, he wouldn’t allow the Cycle’s devastation to return to this world. Kade was going to save the world…because there just wasn’t anyone else left to do it.
He found the scar again, and this time there was the sense of a shape, as if the broken rod still belonged inside his soul. The actual World Shaper was now complete, but he didn’t think that mattered. His Soul wasn’t a physical object after all, but he thought the scar could act like a destination for the artifact, if only he had some way to drag it back inside of him.
The obvious answer finally came to his mind, and he didn’t hesitate before reaching out with his chains. The endless, glistening black steel raced forward to engulf the World Shaper, wrapping around it over and over as Kade tried to do…something. He thought back to the dark time at the village of Bolos, when he’d used his chains to connect the sick directly to his Soul, and hoped desperately that those same pathways would work for this.
Suddenly thunder erupted around him, and even with his eyes tightly shut he could feel the light of the moons gathering up above. The Gods were gathering, and he was running out of time.
He turned his mind back to the seemingly impossible task before him. Nothing was happening. His hands were shaking and frustration was clouding his tired mind. Why wasn’t this working? He again made himself think back to the village, something he rarely let himself do.
It wasn’t the same, somehow. When he’d reached into those people and pulled the Chaos from within them, it had been pure energy. Chaotic, deadly energy, but energy all the same. Now he was dealing with a solid object, an object made of…metal?
His eyes shot open at the realization, and he pushed some of the chains aside to feel the smooth surface of the World Shaper with his bare hands once more. It was cold, and he had little sense for these things, but yes, it felt metallic in an alien way–as if the metal were alive beneath his fingers.
That thought crystalized his desperate plan. Kade had seen living metal thousands of times. He’d seen it as Drake reshaped himself. He’d witnessed Drakus summon waves of it, flowing into countless shapes and back again. He’d seen it in his own chains.
This was something he’d never tried before, but he knew his Soul Manifestation had metallurgic properties, and even if he wasn’t a Metallurgist himself, he knew they had the ability to reshape metal, to cause it to flow like quicksilver.
He felt himself release an involuntary sigh, and knew there was a touch of hopelessness to it. This wasn’t the time to learn an entirely new skill, one he wasn’t even sure was possible.
And yet, it may be this world’s last chance.
Kade tried to focus on every memory of metallurgy he had all at once. Every time he’d even vaguely sensed the complex play of energies that occurred when metal was broken down and reformed. Master of Energy helped, as he now had an intuitive understanding of how energy worked, but he’d never actively used the skill while Metallurgy was taking place.
His frustration was growing. This was like trying to figure out how to build a car by remembering the times other people had driven one. Wait, a car? He shook his head. This was exactly the wrong moment for his memories of Earth to come back. The only thing he needed right now was Metallurgy, and he needed it with an almost palpable desperation.
Suddenly he felt a hand on top of his own, and he looked away from the artifact in confusion. A familiar, empty-eyed helmet stared back at him, and Kade felt a surge of relief. Drake clearly had no business manifesting at this moment, as it was only strong enough to conjure a few, stringy chains. It was barely enough to form the weak hand that joined Kade’s on the artifact, however, it was enough to use Metallurgy.
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He could feel his companion’s desire to help him, the Aspect reaching out in mind as well as body. Kade felt a small smile touch his lips, after everything they’d been through together, it felt right to meet this final challenge together. “It’s good to have you back, buddy. I hope you’re up for this.”
“He’d probably be better able if he hadn’t worked so hard to save me,” said a blessedly familiar deep voice. Kade looked over to see a horribly beaten Edwin shuffling slowly toward him. “I could tell Drakus was trying his best to keep me alive. He might have been more effective if he hadn’t, but I don’t think that’s who he was.” He looked over to the remains of Karthas. “It appears Graves and Psylaric had a different arrangement.”
Kade was stunned, he’d gone from a loneliness he couldn’t describe to a reunion he knew he didn’t have time for, and he found himself trying to swallow a flood of emotions he couldn’t afford to let himself feel. “Edwin, I need you. The World Shaper–”
Edwin cut Kade off with a wave as he collapsed next to him. “I understand. Your familiar was using all of its strength to hold me together, but it still felt your need. There’s still enough of a connection between us that it was able to express that need to me,” he looked at his young friend with a tired smile. “I was hoping becoming a Metallurgist was for more than just being a vessel for an Ancient. Let’s get to work.”
Kade returned the smile, then closed his eyes and focused. Immediately he felt the difference, as Drake and Edwin’s wills joined him in his efforts. He tried not to think about the runes now almost fully lit, and instead lost himself in the sensation of two Metallurgists trying to impose their powers on the stubborn form of the World Shaper.
With the help of Master of Energy Kade understood what was happening in a new, and fascinating way. Suddenly the poetic description of the skill made sense, as he understood that what was happening was just another way of manipulating the energy of Iros. He suspected he’d now find that every power, every Path was really just a different flavor of the same principles–Souls shaping energy in all its forms, but he resisted letting his mind follow that rabbit hole.
The tension in him built, as nothing appeared to be happening, and the silver light of the moons was now bright enough to see through his tightly closed eyes. The Gods were calling back their lost member, and the power of their desire was like a physical force being imposed upon the world. Fear and hope battled within Kade as he fought the rising harbinger of this world’s doom.
He could feel the World Shaper, not just with his hands, or his chains, or even his mind, but with his Soul. As the forces of Metallurgy invaded the artifact and tried to remake–no, unmake it, he found he understood the object on a level previously beyond him. He felt the flow of energy, felt the resistance, and mastered it. All at once the World Shaper was laid bare to him, and with an internal scream of effort, he devoured it.
Kade was so surprised by his own success that he found himself falling forward, sprawling onto the rune-covered stone. He could feel the unusual sensation of the cold, living metal traveling through his chains, and he collapsed as his body was overwhelmed by the experience. Edwin was calling his name, and Drake protectively flowed over him, but they were past the point of being able to help.
Instead, Kade reeled as his Soul became a battleground between the competing forces of his own will, the World Shaper, and the unequaled fury of a trapped God. There was no pain, merely a sense of terrible helplessness as the powers clashed, the reverberations pushing against the comparatively feeble walls of his Soul Core.
He panicked as the pressure mounted, knowing that he wasn’t strong enough to hold so much power inside himself. And yet, he had once, hadn’t he? His breaking mind desperately searched inside himself, feeling the war within, and comparing it to the visions of that mysterious realm that he’d entered only a handful of times.
The difference was immediately apparent as he was abruptly back in that impossible space. A terrifying globe of light was blasting and rebounding in every direction, and he sensed it was the embodiment of the raging deity, desperate to escape its prison. However, it wasn’t alone, as an infinite chain still drifted endlessly through the void, purposeless.
Kade didn’t hesitate. He knew that nothing should be able to contain the power that was rampaging inside him, but he also understood that his Soul was forged for exactly this purpose. The power of this Lost God might be limitless, but so too were his chains, and they were everywhere in this realm.
Suddenly the entire dimension was alive as the chains began to shift and move. They lashed out from every direction, and though the light tore through them like paper, there was always more. Soon the light slowed, as countless chains dragged at it, bound it, tangled it. The light thrashed in fury and desperation, but everywhere it moved only wrapped it in more chains, like running through endless spiderwebs.
At last the light seemed to slow, but the chains weren’t done. They began to wind around the light and what was hidden within it, cocooning the World Shaper and Lost God within layer after layer of a Soul created to be a prison. Kade had no sense of how long this took, no awareness of anything but the battle within him, but after an eternity of fighting, he knew it was complete.
***
Memories. They washed over Kade like a tidal wave, and he let them.
He was on Earth, living a challenging life. His parents didn’t understand what was wrong with him, neither did the doctors. He was always so angry, barely able to contain himself. Any day that he didn’t get into a fight was a miracle.
They started with the counciling. Then they moved on to the pills. Then sports, then the special school, then martial arts. But Kade couldn’t be helped. His parents were afraid of him.
He would stalk around his house, fuming and screaming. Or he would sit alone in the dark, the silence somehow as ominous as the outbursts. He got older, but he didn’t get better, just more dangerous. The fights got worse. The pills got stronger.
He was sent to reform school. The other kids were afraid of him. He was always furious, unless he was fighting, then he laughed. He laughed in relief, laughed in release, drowning in the rapture of feeling like himself for a brief moment.
He got older. The pills got stronger, the consequences got worse. People tried to retaliate. He made them regret it. Police were called. He joined the army. It was that or prison.
The army was sure they’d seen worse than him. They promised he’d learn discipline. They were right. As long as he could fight, he was happy. He was laughing. He was alive.
They gave him a gun. He hated it. He wanted to feel his fights slamming into the enemy. He wanted to tear them apart. They wouldn’t let him. He never saw combat. He started more fights. That was a mistake.
He was in a military prison. They wouldn’t let him near anyone else. He was alone. He was so angry. And then…then he was somewhere else.
He was in a cave, maybe. In a cage, definitely. He didn’t care. Someone was yelling at him. He didn’t understand the words at first, but the man did something and the words became clear. He was telling Kade he was a mistake.
Kade was angry, as angry as he’d ever been…and yet, he felt different somehow. The man kept yelling. Demanded that Kade tell him where the weapon was. Kade didn’t know what he was talking about. The man yelled louder. He opened the cage. He promised Kade would regret lying.
Kade felt joy as he reached for the man, but he wasn’t strong enough. He was thrown back against the wall. The man held him there like a struggling child. Kade felt his rage and powerlessness battling within him.
This wasn’t right. He couldn’t lose like this. He needed to fight. He needed to destroy this foolish little man who wouldn’t stop yelling his little words. Kade’s fury was a cold pit in his stomach–no, his chest.
The man was hitting him now, taking his time as he screamed in Kade’s face. Kade’s own anger was getting colder, getting stronger. He focused on the man’s strange watch to help ignore the pain. It was blinking.
Each strike made the coldness inside him worse, until Kade worried he might freeze from it. Kade couldn’t see anymore, his vision was lost to the pain inside him. Not from the strikes, but from something bursting inside his chest.
The man struck him once more, and Kade finally broke. The coldness poured out of him, and the screaming died as the man was torn to pieces. But Kade couldn’t concentrate on that, as he was feeling something different, something new.
As whatever was inside him flowed out, Kade felt…peace. He felt the rage dying. He felt a stillness inside. The anger and the pain and the drive to destroy, it was fading. But…everything else seemed to be fading with it.
He was losing himself along with his anger. He was his anger, and it was rushing out of him along with everything else. At last it slowed, and he felt something else that was new. He felt…fear?
He was alone, he was cold, he was frightened, and he was…who was he? He looked around the dark room, and all he could see was the blinking light…and the dead body.