Arc 2, Chapter 29: The Brother

  Darkness pressed from every side.

  Ash's arms lay deadweight at his sides, too heavy to lift. Beneath him, the hard ground had dissolved, leaving him floating in the dark. Shadow chewed through his thoughts.

  Then color flooded his vision.

  Beneath the crimson sky, an endless sea of red lilies stretched to the edges of the world. They filled every inch of the expanse, a pale, silent ocean that choked the ground.

  He lay pinned at the center of the red field, the only break in the perfect, frozen carpet of petals.

  Then the stillness broke.

  Lilies crawled closer, their stalks sliding across his arms. Petals brushed his skin in strokes that made the hair stand up

  He tried to push himself up, but his arms collapsed. The stems had wound around him, sliding beneath his shirt to scratch against his ribs. Every time he exhaled, the weight settled heavier across his chest.

  *What—*

  *Where am I?*

  *—the blood—*

  *What happened to —?*

  His eyes moved across the crimson expanse above.

  *This place again.*

  *I know—I failed.*

  He squeezed his eyes shut.

  *Everyone. The corruption. I couldn't—*

  Wet struck his cheek.

  Another heavy drop splashed against him. Then another. The impact felt dense and warm.

  He opened his eyes.

  Red poured from the sky. It hammered against his forehead, his cheeks, ran hot across his lips. The iron smell choked the air.

  Blood streamed down his neck and soaked through his shirt, pooling heavily against his ribs. It filled his mouth when he tried to breathe. He gasped for air and swallowed copper.

  The ground beneath him softened into warm mud.

  He blinked to clear the thick fluid coating his lashes. Shapes emerged through the red haze.

  Black silhouettes surrounded him in a tight ring. They held sharp steel that showed his face twisted across the blades.

  They stepped closer. The bloody mud swallowed the noise of their boots to leave only the sound of the downpour.

  *What are these things?*

  The figures stepped closer.

  *They're going to—*

  *I failed anyway.*

  The Seed pulsed in his chest.

  *She—*

  Heat flared behind his ribs.

  *She's in the library. I told her—*

  The warmth spread through him, stronger now.

  *No.*

  *I can't—*

  *She's waiting.*

  *The library—Still waiting for me.*

  Steel hovered inches from his throat.

  *Get up.*

  His fingers twitched. The flowers held him flat, stems wound tight across his chest.

  *I haven't—*

  His arm shifted an inch before collapsing back into the mud. The weight pressed him deeper.

  *—change anything yet.*

  His shoulders lifted off the ground. The stems bit into his ribs. He fell back.

  His head rolled to the right. Two points of light burned through the rain of blood, past the circle of armed shadows. Behind them, a black figure sat on a throne of dark stone, tattered armor barely visible against the red haze.

  The figure’s gaze found him.

  Heat erupted behind his eyes. It flooded down his neck and crashed into his chest, where the Seed pulsed in response.

  Crimson light exploded from his body. The flowers blackened instantly, stems crumbling to cinders. The blood rain hissed and evaporated before it could touch him. The mud beneath him baked hard and cracked.

  The flames roared upward, reaching for the red sky like a pillar of light trying to consume the place itself.

  The red sky cracked. Fissures spread like breaking glass. Pale grey light bled through the fractures.

  Ash pushed against the ground. His arms trembled but held as he lifted himself onto his hands and knees. The throne flickered in the distance while the black figure watched him.

  The cracks multiplied until the armed silhouettes blurred into smoke and faded away.

  The surface beneath him shifted.

  Rough stone pressed cold against his palms instead of mud.

  The scent of smoke mixed with the metallic smell of blood while thunder rolled in the distance. The eastern sky broke through the red expanse and erased the throne and the figure.

  Dawn stretched above him, illuminating the ruined buildings.

  The shrine platform held firm beneath his boots. Crimson fire still burned across his skin, painting the broken stone red.

  Cool wind touched his face to replace the blood-soaked heat.

  Ash stood.

  —

  Light fell in sharp lines through the shrine's narrow windows.

  The air smelled of old wood and burnt incense. In every corner, people waited. Some sat against the walls while others lay on beds of folded cloth.

  Murmurs drifted through the room together with an occasional cough or a child’s whimper.

  Mira knelt beside an elderly man. Her palms pressed against his chest, sending a steady pulse of heat deep into his damaged tissue. Beneath her hands, the man's ragged breathing finally settled.

  "There," Mira said, pulling her hands away. "Rest now."

  His eyes drifted shut after a single, small nod.

  Mira pushed herself upright. She wiped sweat from her forehead, but the motion faltered as a sharp throb flared in her palms

  Footsteps echoed at the entrance.

  Her brother walked through the doorway. The tension left her neck as she watched him move

  He waved and smiled, then walked to an empty corner and sat with his back against the wall. From his pocket, he pulled a small book.

  She turned to the woman with the bandaged arm and reached for a fresh cloth.

  The air in the shrine seemed to cool. The press of the crowd didn't feel so heavy anymore. Her hands found a steady rhythm as she worked.

  Her brother's humming reached her from the corner.

  Mira looked toward her brother.

  His head was bent over the book.

  She blinked.

  His face appeared out of focus. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second.

  When she opened them, the edges of his jaw were bleeding into the wall.

  His features shifted and ran like wet paint. Eyes stretched until they lost their shape.

  His face broke apart. Pieces drifted away from each other, no longer connected.

  Where his features should have been, only a grey smear of movement remained.

  A wet, rattling cough broke through the quiet. The woman with the bandaged arm leaned forward, clutching at her throat.

  Mira forced herself to look away from her brother.

  She reached for the woman’s shoulder, but her fingers sank into skin that felt like soft clay.

  The woman’s face was dissolving.

  Features slid apart like melting wax. Her eyes stretched into long, horizontal streaks. Her mouth widened into a dark void that reached her ears.

  Mira shoved herself backward, her heels scraping against the floor.

  The murmurs in the shrine stopped all at once.

  Every person sat up.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Across the room, faces were melting into grey smears. Fragments of features drifted in the air like smoke.

  The group turned in unison. Featureless heads pointed in her direction. Every blank face tracked her as she moved.

  Dozens of arms rose throughout the room. From every corner, fingers pointed at her.

  "Poison." A dry hiss rose from the crowd. Syllables rattled through the room as air pushed through the dark voids of their faces.

  "Poison." Doubling in volume, the chant began to echo.

  Voices overlapped until the sound became a physical weight against Mira's ears.

  "Poison. Poison. Poison."

  Her brother stood at the back wall, the grey smear of his head tilted in her direction

  "The healing draught—" His voice cut through the murmurs. "—you gave it to me."

  His words silenced the room.

  Mira tried to swallow, but her throat had gone dry. A cold, hard knot tightened in her stomach.

  The chant surged back, vibrating through the stone and rattling Mira's teeth.

  "Poison. Poison. Poison."

  Her palms jammed against her ears, but the sound pushed straight through her skull.

  Eyes squeezed shut, the rhythm still pounded behind her thoughts.

  Curling into a ball, she pressed her forehead against the freezing floor.

  *I followed the recipes,*

  *I measured the doses. I saw them wake up.*

  A sharp sting started in her fingertips.

  She lifted her head to look down at her palms.

  Black lines were racing through her veins, spreading like a stain through cloth. The darkness crawled toward her wrists and turned the skin a deep, bruised purple.

  Each beat of her heart pushed the stain further. Her forearms turned the color of bruised meat.

  She looked at the crowd. Their skin had the same darkness creeping through it.

  The poison burned through her arms as it spread.

  *I did this—*

  Her eyes dropped to the stone beneath her palms. It felt like ice. The struggle left her limbs, and her breathing slowed until the air barely moved in her lungs.

  The chanting faded into a dull hum before stopping entirely. Silence followed.

  "—I failed them."

  She stared at her ruined hands, watching the darkness pulse in time with her heart.

  A scream ripped through the quiet.

  Her head jerked up.

  *What—*

  The scream made her skin crawl. The pitch lurched too high, then dropped too low. It cracked and splintered mid-sound.

  Another cry followed.

  *Who—*

  It clawed at her chest and pulled at the center of her ribs.

  *Is someone—*

  The scream came again. It was a high, thin wail that made her heart hammer against her skin.

  *—calling me?*

  Her breath caught as she recognized the pitch of the voice.

  *Brother?*

  A tear slid down her cheek and struck the stone beside her hand.

  *He's trapped. He's calling for me.*

  *I—*

  She pushed against the stone.

  *—didn't save him yet.*

  Mira felt the weight of her body trying to keep her pinned.

  *Get up*

  Her arms shook under the effort. She ignored the sight of her blackened fingers and forced her legs under her.

  *Move.*

  She rose on unsteady feet. Swaying, she wiped the tears from her face with her stained hands.

  Red light seeped through the shrine walls.

  Sharp fractures spread across the stone until the entire room glowed crimson. Fire rose from the floor.

  The heat didn't burn Mira’s skin, but the flames turned the benches and cloth into dust.

  The crowd stood still as the fire spread. Features began to return as the grey smears smoothed into familiar shapes.

  She saw the old woman and the farmer. Even the children. They looked at her and smiled.

  For the first time, the tight knot in Mira’s stomach unraveled.

  "Wait—" She looked around at them. "—Just a little longer."

  They dissolved into white light.

  The shrine walls crumbled after them while the floor fell away into a dark void.

  Everything burned.

  Her brother stood at the center of the collapsing room as the distortion around his face finally cleared.

  "Elian." She smiled softly.

  A high, frantic scream broke through the roar of the fire.

  Elian, in front of her, didn't move.

  His lips remained pressed together while the sound came again from the darkness behind her.

  Mira ran across the cracking floor and threw her arms around the silent image of her brother

  "I hear you," she whispered.

  She pressed against him, arms wrapped tight around his chest.

  "I'm coming." The crimson flames surged over them both.

  The dream broke apart into a thousand red fragments.

  Mira's eyes snapped open.

  Dawnlight hit her face. A cool wind moved through her hair.

  She was standing on the shrine platform, feet planted firm against the stone.

  —

  The shrine was a smear of grey and brown. Mira blinked, but the edges of the broken pillars wouldn't sharpen. Colors bled together until the sky and stone were one. A wall of heat hit her from across the platform. In the center of the glare, a tall shape stood.

  Crimson flames moved over his limbs. Two spots of red light glared through the fire.

  *Ash.*

  *You brought me back.*

  Ash didn't move, yet he held her gaze through the heat. A faint smile crossed her face.

  She straightened her back against the ache in her knees. Lifting her chin, she looked toward the ruins of the village. "We end this now."

  Mira lifted her hands.

  Her fingers shook as she pulled the first words from her throat.

  "From earth’s embrace, life renewed."

  The stone beneath her boots began to hum. Vibrations traveled up her legs and rattled her jaw.

  Gritting her teeth, she pushed the next line through the pressure building in her lungs.

  "Through broken flesh—" her voice hitched. "—make whole what’s torn."

  Fractures split the floor. Green light poured from the cracks and turned the grey stone into an emerald glare.

  Mira kept her chin high even as the air grew thick with the scent of wet soil and crushed leaves.

  "Mother’s arms, receive them all."

  Power pressed against her chest like a physical weight.

  Her vision blurred, but she breathed in the light and let it tear through her throat on the final words.

  "Gaia’s vessel, rise and stand."

  The platform groaned.

  "Earth Gate: Mother's Embrace."

  A column of radiance erupted from the stone and reached toward the clouds. Within the glare, a massive figure took shape. The woman towered over the ruins of Willowden, her head rising far above the tallest rooftops. She stood with her arms spread wide and her palms open toward the village below. Her skin pulsed with a green glow that matched the throb of blood in Mira’s ears.

  The emerald glare hit the village. Light passed through the lightning cages and touched the infected villagers. On their arms and faces, gashes pulled tight. Bruises faded to a pale yellow before vanishing entirely. Beneath the skin, shattered bones snapped back into alignment.

  The split cheek of an old woman knit together. Smooth skin replaced the raw wound on a child’s shoulder. Despite the healing, the flowers remained. Black petals stayed fixed to temples and throats while dark veins continued to crawl beneath the flesh.

  The light from the statue dimmed. A sharp pain tightened across Mira’s ribs, making every breath a struggle. Her knees shook under the effort of holding the spell.

  Ash spread his arms. Waves of red fire broke from his skin and surged across the platform. The flames ate the black moss in their path while leaving the stone whole. Reaching the base of the massive figure, the heat forced the air to shimmer.

  Red light climbed the green column and smothered the emerald glow. The statue turned deep crimson as the fire reached the woman’s head. Only faint pulses of green remained, buried deep beneath the burning red surface.

  Crimson fire poured from the statue’s open palms. It flooded the ruins and hit the villagers in a wave of heat. The flowers on their skin turned to cinders. Petals curled inward and fell away as dust. Stems withdrew into the raw pink marks they had left behind.

  A sound like grinding stone rose from the monster. As the fire touched its mass, the creature’s flesh began to peel apart. Individual bodies separated from the central heap and drifted toward the ground. Wounds closed as they fell.

  Ash turned his head. His eyes, still burning with red light, found Mira through the haze. She held his stare as the air in the shrine began to cool. The crimson fire around Ash sputtered and died.

  His knees hit the stone with a dull thud before he pitched forward. His face struck the platform.

  Gudea stood on the collapsed tower with his spear drawn back. Storm mana crackled along the shaft and gathered with each breath. Below him, the creature’s mass began to peel away under the crimson fire. As the corruption dissolved, a smaller form became visible at the core.

  *Another one.* His breathing slowed. *How many has it been?*

  Storm light crawled up his arms and across his chest, flickering in rhythm with his pulse.

  "The storm cares nothing for intent." His voice was steady despite the chaos. "Only for what you have become."

  His fingers ached against the wood. The shaft trembled in his grip, pushing outward against his hold. He looked at the boy trapped in the corruption.

  *The sister ruined herself for you.*

  *Don't make me add to her grief.*

  "Let it judge the truth of your existence."

  "Thunder Gate."

  The air went still.

  "Storm's Will."

  He threw.

  The spear disappeared. It flashed halfway across the battlefield, then at the creature's edge, then at its core. Gudea tracked the impacts a heartbeat after they happened. The light carved through the corruption clinging to the brother but left the skin beneath untouched. The parasite turned to ash while the boy drifted toward the ground.

  Gudea turned toward the shrine.

  A massive woman of fire towered above the platform. She burned a deep crimson with her arms spread wide. Flames poured from her open palms. Below the statue, two figures lay on the stone. One boy facedown. One woman on her knees with blood running from her nose.

  A low whistle escaped Gudea. "That’s no ordinary healer."

  *Pushed themselves too far. Both of them.*

  A heavy, metallic crash echoed from the edge of the battlefield. The sound shook the stone beneath Gudea’s boots. He snapped his head back toward the noise.

  His spear was caught in midair. A wall of green mana had condensed in its path, the color of deep forest shadows. The spear's light ground against the barrier and threw sparks in every direction.

  "You couldn't let me have this one."

  The collision cracked the ground. Gudea watched the green mana grow thin and dissolve. The spear dropped and clattered against the stone.

  A voice reached him, bypassing his ears and pressing directly into his mind.

  *Return. Now.*

  Green light pulsed over his heart. The mark burned beneath his skin. He felt something inside his chest shift like sand falling through a glass.

  "Exceeded myself, it seems."

  He looked back toward the shrine. Above the platform, the massive crimson woman was breaking apart. The fire flickered and turned to grey smoke that the wind quickly scattered. Beneath the empty air, the woman had collapsed beside the boy.

  Neither moved.

  "Stubborn. Both of them."

  Gudea’s mouth twitched upward for a second before the smile disappeared.

  The mark on his chest flared. Green light spread across his limbs, and his body grew lighter. His arms faded. His legs thinned. The ground beneath him lost its shape until nothing remained.

  Pale morning light touched the ruins when Mira’s eyes finally opened. Stone pressed cold against her cheek.

  She pushed herself up from the platform, her head swimming. One foot dragged behind the other as she stumbled across the battlefield. Her hands swept the air, reaching for obstacles her eyes could no longer find. Shapes smeared together into a world of bleeding light and dissolving edges.

  Squinting at every blur, she searched for the color of his clothes.

  Her foot caught on a piece of rubble. She pitched forward and caught herself on hands that scraped against the stone. Pushing herself back up, she kept moving.

  "Where..."

  Her voice cracked on the word. Silence followed.

  Her hands found him before her eyes did. She felt the fabric of his shirt and the curve of a shoulder she had touched a thousand times. Brushing through hair she had combed from his forehead many nights before, she collapsed beside him.

  Her brother lay on his back. His eyes were open. Through the blur, she could only see two points of light on his face.

  "Your eyes..." His chest shuddered beneath her hands.

  Mira held still, afraid to breathe.

  "What happened..." His voice was so faint she had to bend closer. "...to your eyes?"

  She felt his fingers brush against her arm. They trembled their way up toward her face. She caught his hand and pressed it against her cheek. Tears ran over his fingers. His skin felt like ice against her palm.

  "It doesn't matter." Her voice broke on every word. "I can see you. I can see enough."

  "You're lying." The words barely reached her ears. "I can hear it... in your voice."

  A broken laugh escaped her throat and collapsed into sobbing.

  "You were always better at lying than me." Her voice cracked between the tears.

  "Don't talk." Her fingers dug into his hand until her knuckles ached. "Save your strength. I can heal you now. The corruption is gone. I can..."

  "No."

  The tone brought her back to childhood. It was the sound of every argument she had lost when his mind was already made up.

  "You can't," His voice was fading.

  "I can try. I can..."

  "Sister."

  The word hit her like a physical blow. He hadn't called her that in months. Mira’s breath came in gasps that tore through her chest. She couldn't stop herself. Months of holding her life together collapsed all at once. She sobbed against his hand, loud and beyond her control.

  His fingers remained against her cheek. His eyes stayed fixed on her face.

  "I'm sorry," she forced out between sobs. "I should have... I didn't know... I couldn't..."

  "You saved them." His voice was so weak she felt it more than heard it.

  Mira fell silent.

  "The village," he whispered, pausing to gather breath. "The people... you tried to heal."

  She shook her head. "I infected them."

  "You freed them."

  Her tears fell faster, dripping onto his chest.

  "Because you... didn't give up." His words came slower now, each one costing him. "Because you kept... trying to help."

  Her grip tightened on his hand. "I couldn't help you."

  "You did."

  His fingers traced along her jaw until they found the corner of her eye.

  "You gave me... something to hold onto." His voice grew fainter with each word. "When the thing inside... tried to make me forget... I remembered you."

  She bent over him and pressed her forehead against his. "Don't go."

  "I have to."

  "Please." The word cracked in her throat.

  "I've been... ready... for a long time."

  His chest rose and fell slower. The space between each breath stretched longer.

  "You'll be alright," His voice had faded to a whisper.

  "I won't."

  "You will. You're stronger... than you think."

  She shook her head and felt her tears smear against his skin. "I can't do this without you."

  "You already have."

  His hand started to slip from her face. She caught it and held it there.

  "The man... who helped you." He spoke so softly she had to hold her breath to hear. "Thank him... for me."

  "I will."

  "And take care... of yourself."

  "I will."

  "Promise."

  She pressed his hand against her cheek. "I promise."

  His chest stopped moving beneath her hands.

  Mira held her brother until the grey morning light spread across them both. Somewhere in the distance, a bird began to sing.

  .

  .

  .

  End of Arc 2