CHAPTER 28

Two Worlds

The world does not consider the desires and dreams of men. Even the greatest lords and Grievar, those who have left their indelible mark on empires, will become the same dust as the lowliest creatures. It is crucial to contemplate this insignificance often.

Passage One, Seventy-Fourth Precept of the Combat Codes

Cego watched his brothers fight within two different worlds at once.

He saw the Slayer and Shimo within the onyx Circle set in the blasted ruins of Albright Stadium. Most of the Ezonian crowd had fled, while the Flux army stood steadfast in the stands to watch their leader fight again.

And Cego watched Silas and Sam within the ironwood Circle set atop the dunes of the island. They traded blows as the blacklight storm crashed around them, the wind now gusting fiercely, throwing sand across the shore. It was the same place that Cego had seen his brothers fight thousands of times before, and yet he knew this time, only one would survive the bout.

Sam did what he’d done that day so many years ago. He took punishment.

Silas threw a lightning-fast cross, and Sam let it come in, turning his head slightly as the fist blasted into his orbital. But Sam timed the strike with his own simultaneous counter, a full-throttle leg kick, catching Silas in the soft spot above his lead knee.

Silas smiled and shook it off; a single kick wouldn’t slow him down. The Slayer came in again, this time with a piercing body shot that cracked Sam in the ribs.

Cego’s mind blurred back to Albright Stadium to hear the drumming boots of the Flux army, goading Silas to destroy another within the bloodstained onyx ring.

The rebels were unmoving in their devotion to the Slayer; though some had fallen to stray debris, all eyes remained on the bout. A group of Flux lieutenants had come down to the fighting grounds; Cego noted Wraith, Ulrich, and N’auri standing at the base of the platform.

Cego glanced behind him and saw that the Whelps still watched from atop the stone head. He wanted to tell them to leave, to get themselves to safety. He desperately wanted to tell Sol to escape while she could.

Back on the island, his brothers moved at a steadfast but breakneck pace. Both were under the spell of the blacklight, both moving ahead of time and countering each other’s techniques.

But in Albright Stadium, all in attendance were transfixed on the Circle and the two combatants within. In this world, the two brothers looked like a seamless whirlwind of violence. Punches and parries, kicks and evasions, clinches and sprawls all melded together at a speed that none had witnessed before.

The Flux was used to seeing the Slayer pick his opponents apart. But for once, this boy in the Circle with him, Kōri Shimo, was striking back. He chopped at Silas’s lead leg repeatedly, throwing his full weight into every kick despite receiving punishing counterstrikes each time.

Cego saw Wraith watching in awe from the bottom of the platform. The lieutenant had devoted his life to a mastery of combat, and yet seeing this display in front of him, he’d likely concluded he’d wasted his time. The two in the onyx were on another level.

Silas threw two swift jabs that rocked Shimo’s head back and followed with a cross that cracked his nose. Blood dressed Shimo’s face but he continued forward, always returning the favor with another low kick.

Cego wanted to shout to Shimo in the arena, to Sam on the island, to protect himself. He wanted to scream that the boy needed to keep his hands up, tell him he couldn’t take any more damage.

But Cego knew that was not a strategy to win. If Sam focused on his defense, he was engaging in Silas’s fight. To win, Sam needed to lose.

Sam slammed another kick into Silas’s lead leg, and Cego could see the Slayer hesitate momentarily. He paused the frenetic pace and narrowed his eyes.

Silas knew what his brothers were doing. He remembered what had happened on the island on that day so many years ago.

But as expected, Silas couldn’t stop coming forward. He wouldn’t restrain himself against Sam to save his energy for Cego. It wasn’t in the Slayer’s nature to hold back. He needed to go for the kill every time.

Sam chopped at the leg again, and the Slayer countered with a vicious head butt that threw the boy to the sand in a heap. Cego watched his little brother stagger back to his feet, his face a crimson mask.

Red lightning flashed and the midnight sky opened to a deluge of oily black rain droplets, showering the sea and shore. Silas wrapped his hands behind Sam’s head in a clinch to drag him into a barrage of knees.

Sam tried to cover up and pummel to push Silas away, but the boy didn’t have enough strength. A knee slammed into Sam’s chin and another into his ribs. Cego could feel his brother’s body breaking, both on the island and in the arena; his spirit was fading.

“Sam!” Cego called out. “You need to give in; he’ll kill you!”

Cego saw Sam and then Shimo, the boy meeting his eyes for a moment before pushing Silas back with all his strength.

This was why Shimo had trained in the onyx. This was why the boy had spent his entire time at the Lyceum in the catacombs, torturing himself against the Guardian for days, years, decades. Shimo had known the punishment would come again at Silas’s hands and he’d need to be ready for it.

Shimo threw the leg kick, not with near as much power as he’d started with, but still cracking Silas in the same spot above the knee.

Silas tried to close the distance, finish his brother off, but as he put weight on his forward leg, he staggered. The tree was starting to topple.

“You think these games will stop me?” Silas laughed, the black rain on the island streaking his face and soaking his long hair.

“This is no game,” Sam growled as he launched himself at Silas to throw another kick.

Silas saw it coming this time. He crouched to catch Sam’s leg and drove forward to put the boy on his back. Cego blinked to clear the water from his eyes, and Silas was already on top of Sam in full mount, slamming hammer fists down onto the boy’s head as if he were beating a drum.

Cego watched as Sam’s head bounced repeatedly against the ground. He desperately tried to cover up, but Silas was relentless. Cego could feel the boy’s spirit sinking into the wet sand.

“Sam!” Cego screamed. “Please don’t leave me again. I need you here!”

Sam’s head lolled to the side and he met Cego’s eyes again. He smiled through his broken teeth.

Silas snarled as he wrapped a hand around Sam’s throat. “You chose the wrong side.”

The Slayer uncoiled his body above his little brother’s prone form and brought his elbow down, driving the sharpened point into Sam’s skull like a spearhead.

Sam’s motionless body sank into the rain-soaked sand. Crimson veins pulsed across the island sky, and Cego returned to the stadium, where the Flux stamped their boots in thunderous applause.

Shimo was a bloody mass on the stained canvas.

“He was always my favorite brother.” Silas frowned, looking down at his work before meeting Cego’s gaze. “You, though… you always bothered me.”

Cego fought the tears, the rage, the urge to charge Silas.

“Is it because I threatened you?” Cego asked. “That I could harness the blacklight just as you could?”

“It does not matter.” Silas smirked and motioned for Cego to step forward.

Wraith appeared at the edge of the Circle and reached in, meaning to drag Shimo’s body out.

“Don’t touch him,” Cego growled, and the lieutenant backed away.

The black rain fell harder on the island. Cego stepped within the ironwood Circle, not meeting Silas’s stare. He bent down and lifted Sam’s body from the slick muck.

In the stadium, Shimo’s body sagged in Cego’s arms as he walked down from the platform. He looked at the boy’s shattered face, so different from Sam’s, but the way his head lolled against Cego’s chest felt familiar.

Cego carried Shimo back to where the Whelps were waiting by the statue. He met their eyes but he wouldn’t let the tears come, knowing the fight that lay ahead of him. He couldn’t let his brother’s sacrifice be in vain.

“Take care of my brother,” Cego said, passing Shimo’s body into Dozer’s waiting arms.

“We will,” Dozer replied, Sol nodding beside him. They understood.

Cego turned and walked back toward the onyx, where Silas waited.

Cego left the world behind.

He entirely forgot the crumbling arena, the rebel army pounding against the stands, the Flux lieutenants surrounding the Circle, his friends watching him anxiously from atop the crumbled statue.

Cego forgot the Lyceum and the Citadel, the nation of Ezo, the war between Grievar and Daimyo, the thousands of years of rage boiling over into this rebellion.

He forgot the sacrifices that had been made for this moment, the faces of Weep, Joba, Farmer, Murray.

And Sam. Cego even forgot his brother’s broken body set behind him.

When Cego stepped into the onyx again and let the blacklight take him, he left the world. Unlike the previous times Cego had trained on the island, he didn’t leave a part of his mind back in reality. He let it consume him fully because he didn’t plan on returning.

Cego had been born on this island, in this Cradle. The blacklight had fed him since he’d first opened his eyes. He would be the last to see this place, as long as he could bring Silas down with him.

He stared at the Slayer standing across from him within the ironwood ring. The great waves reared even higher, eating away at the shore and crawling up the dunes toward their perch.

Cego let the blacklight pulse through the sinews of his body. He could feel it coursing through his blood, beating with his heart.

He wouldn’t let Silas rest. Even standing still, his brother was keeping the weight off his front leg.

Cego charged.

The brothers swirled into their familiar pattern of violence. They’d danced so many times before, decades of training together condensed into each moment of action. Silas attacked with superior strength and speed. Cego evaded, countered, tried to look for the slightest openings in his brother’s defense.

Silas weaved from a series of Cego’s jabs, caught a kick to the abdomen, and countered with a hard cross that Cego parried. Cego responded with a kick above Silas’s knee, watching his brother wince as it landed.

Lightning flashed again and the entire island shuddered beneath the thunder. Another wave crested the bluff and spilled more sea at their feet.

Silas bared his teeth and sprang forward at Cego, launching into a maelstrom of attacks. A kick blasted into Cego’s midsection, followed by a spinning elbow that caught him at the back of his head.

Cego stumbled, barely supporting himself with an outstretched hand stuck into the slick sand. He bellowed and threw himself forward, grabbing Silas’s waist and lifting him into the air. He wanted to smash the Slayer through the ground so that he’d never stand again.

But as Silas’s back touched down, he was already spinning beneath Cego, entangling his legs. Silas got ahold of Cego’s heel and ripped at it.

Cego attempted to free himself of the heel hook, pulling back, but his knee came apart on the way out. He didn’t feel the pain, but he knew the damage was done as he staggered to his feet.

“Now we’re both without a leg.” Silas smirked from across the ring.

Lightning pulsed as another giant wave crested the bluff.

“Sam was a necessary sacrifice,” Silas said.

“You sound like them,” Cego replied, wiping black water from his face.

“Who?” Silas slowly circled.

“The Daimyo, your sworn enemy,” Cego said. “Always talking of sacrifices that need be made.”

“This is different,” Silas said. “I fight for a new world order. A place where we can finally be free.”

“It’s no different,” Cego said. “You’re the same, willing to trample all in the way to mold the world as you see it.”

Silas shook his head and looked skyward. “It’s happening.”

Cego followed his brother’s gaze and saw the veins of lightning hanging above, not dissipating. The red streaks crisscrossed the black sky like tears in some vast fabric.

“This place, our home,” Silas said, “it’s coming apart.”

“How can that be?” Cego asked. “The island is not real.”

Silas laughed. “This place is as real as anything else, brother. It’s what made us who we are, blacklight born. This island is a part of us; it knows us. And it can die with us.”

Sol watched the brothers fight from atop the broken statue. It was not only her attuned to the match; all left in the stadium were transfixed on the beings of combat that traded blows within the onyx.

The fires had died down and the screams quieted, but a new source of energy pulsed from the center of the stadium.

Cego and Silas moved at an impossible speed within the ring, throwing strikes that Sol could barely track. A mist rose from their luminous bodies, and a strange darkness hung above them that seemed to envelop the surrounding light.

Sol watched a spectral from a neighboring Circle waft too close to the onyx and disappear within the dark cloud.

“I… I don’t know how they’re doing it,” Dozer whispered from behind her, for once the big Grievar mirroring Sol’s thoughts.

“Incredible.” Abel’s voice trembled.

“Spirits be with them,” Brynn said, in awe.

“Let’s be hoping your spirits side with Cego,” Knees said. “Else we’ll all end up like Shimo here.”

Sol tore her eyes from the fight and looked to Kōri Shimo’s broken body set on the stone beside her. A lithe girl hovered over the fallen fighter.

Xenalia, the head cleric from the medward, had suddenly appeared, walking into the smoke and ash of Albright when all others had been fleeing.

Xenalia had immediately started working on Shimo. Though Sol had thought the boy dead, the cleric had injected a needle into his heart and his chest had heaved, giving way to shallow breath.

“I will need you to move him to the medward when the time is right,” Xenalia said to Sol and Dozer without looking up from her work.

“Of course,” said Sol. “But… if Silas wins, we may not have a ward to return to.”

“That I cannot control,” Xenalia replied as she opened one of Shimo’s eyelids and peered in. “What I can control is trying to stabilize this Grievar.”

“You’re not worried about yourself?” Sol asked. “The Slayer has sworn to destroy all Daimyo.”

Xenalia looked up at Sol. “Are you worried about yourself at this moment, Solara Halberd?”

Sol looked back to Cego and Silas battling in the Circle, the darkness around them growing thicker. She was only worried about Cego making it out of there. She only cared that her friends survived this day.

“No, I’m not,” Sol replied.

“Nor am I,” Xenalia said. “I know nothing of the fighting ways and I certainly am no believer in the spirits, but I have… faith that Cego will prevail.”

Sol had never heard a Daimyo speak in such a way, especially a cleric, devoted to the scientific process.

Brynn nodded vigorously in agreement. “We must have faith.”

“Why should we?” Sol asked. She’d seen Silas standing over her father’s body, watched him kill Murray right in front of her.

“There are forces at work greater than you or me,” Xenalia said, her eyes flicking to the strange cloud of darkness enveloping the platform. “I must admit, I do not fully understand these forces yet. And when one does not understand, one can either fear or have faith.” The cleric was quiet as she watched the fight in the Circle. “Cego taught me that.”

Sol nodded. She was done fearing and so she would have faith. But she would also be ready to help Cego when he needed it.

A sudden blur from above tore Sol’s attention from the cleric. A giant steel form crashed to the ground across the stadium. An Enforcer.

Sol turned to see several more steel bodies hurtling through the air, leaping across the arena in vast bounds.

“They’re alive again!” Dozer shouted.

The entire battalion of dormant Enforcers seemed to have come back online, and they were going after the Flux. The mech nearest to the stands released its charge directly into the heart of the rebel army, incinerating two dozen men and leaving a raging swath of flames in its path.

Another Enforcer hurled itself into the stands, swinging its steel arms and rag-dolling rebel bodies in every direction.

Sol saw Wraith sprinting away from the platform where Cego and Silas battled.

The Flux lieutenant ran directly at one of the mechs on the fighting grounds. Just as the Enforcer released another charge into the stands, Wraith leapt onto its back, his hand spikes crackling free. He slammed his fists through both sides of the mech’s head and the beast tumbled backward.

N’auri was there to meet the fallen Enforcer, leaping onto its chest and punching her energized fists through to the pilot’s compartment. N’auri’s hands emerged with blue blood dripping. She caught Sol’s gaze from across the grounds and flashed her sharp-toothed smile.

“Take the Enforcers out; deploy all hand-to-hand weapons!” Wraith screamed, and the Flux army began to pour from the stands onto the grounds to meet the mech battalion. Many of the Flux activated their own weapons, spectral spikes and charged knuckles flaring to life.

Sol watched as Wraith punched a spike into an Enforcer’s knee joint and whirled around to duck the giant arm of another mech.

“Should we help them?” Dozer’s eyes flicked back and forth between the fight in the onyx and the battle now raging across the stadium between the Enforcers and the Flux.

“It’s not our fight.” Sol shook her head. “We need to stay here, guard Xenalia and Shimo. We need to have Cego’s back if he needs us.”

“I be fine letting these Flux and mechs kill each other off,” Knees agreed.

Sol watched as the rebels swarmed an Enforcer, crawling atop its shoulders and slamming their fists into it. The mech launched itself into the air and came down on its back, leaving a mess of bodies beneath it.

The Enforcer stood and was met by Ulrich, who bellowed as he charged and grasped the mech around the midsection. The Knight yanked both of his hands forward as if he was trying to lift the beast.

To Sol’s dismay, the top half of the Enforcer’s body slid to the ground, the pilot within halved along with his mech.

“I was starting to think there wouldn’t be any fighting left for me today!” Ulrich grinned as he raised his twin crackling fans to the air.

Another Enforcer trampled several rebels as it charged across the grounds. It spun and punched a man in the face, exploding his skull in a shower of red. A rebel leapt in front of the Enforcer, rolled beneath a swinging arm, and punched a spike into the mech’s foot.

N’auri.

The Enforcer threw a punch to the ground and N’auri twisted out of the way, piercing the mech several more times across the lower body as she spun.

The mech wobbled, wires hanging from a gash along its leg, but threw itself forward and caught N’auri in the shoulder with the bulbous head of its cannon. The Emeraldi’s body spun like a top through the air and lay still in the dust.

“Stop!” Knees shouted. The Venturian pointed to Brynn, who was already running across the grounds toward N’auri’s fallen body.

“Abel, stay and help Xenalia if she needs it,” Sol directed the little Desovian, who nodded.

Sol jumped from the statue, Knees and Dozer following.

Brynn was standing protectively in front of N’auri, the massive Enforcer limping toward her.

“This be a regular thing now; you trying to get me killed for this girl?” Knees asked as they arrived at Brynn’s side to face off with the approaching mech.

“Maybe,” Brynn grunted, and threw herself at the Enforcer.

The steel beast stopped mid-stride and fell face-first to the ground before the Jadean even closed in. Wraith stood behind the mech with his spike dripping the blue blood of the pilot he’d impaled.

Sol heard a moan and N’auri slowly came to, holding her injured shoulder. She looked up at Brynn and smiled.

“Who are you with?” Wraith advanced on the Whelps, his hands’ spikes blazing. “The Flux or the enemy?”

“Neither,” Sol replied. “We’re here for Cego.”

“Then you choose the enemy,” Wraith said, nodding to the ongoing battle between the two glowing combatants in the onyx. “Once the Slayer finishes off his brother in there, he’ll want to destroy all who oppose the Flux.”

The lieutenant took another menacing step toward the Whelps. “And so, I might as well do the job for him now.”

“No.” N’auri stood slowly and stepped in front of Brynn. “I won’t let you hurt them.”

“You dare to turn on us?” Wraith’s eyes went wide. “You wish to throw away everything we’ve fought for—why? For this rabble?”

“Yes,” N’auri growled, raising her own spike glowing with azure flame. “I happen to like this rabble.”

“So be it,” Wraith said just as Ulrich stumbled past, the big Knight on his heels as an Enforcer stalked him. “We’ll let Silas deal with you.”

Wraith turned and charged after Ulrich and the pursuing mech.

Brynn put her hand on N’auri’s shoulder. “You… you’ve given up on the cause?”

N’auri shook her head. “No, but I think I’ve found a better one.”

“Much as I hate to break up this moment, we’ve got to get back to Xenalia,” Sol said, turning and sprinting toward the broken statue.

Her eyes widened as she stared at the place where the onyx Circle had been on top of the platform. It was gone, entirely shrouded by the strange darkness.

Cego was in there, and Sol could do nothing to help him now.

Pulling his foot from the slick sand, Cego checked Silas’s incoming low kick. He countered with a body shot, and Silas let it through, only to return the favor with a stinging jab that further deformed Cego’s nose.

Silas laughed as the storm grew stronger, crimson streaks now lacing the entire sky. Another wave smashed against the dunes and soaked the combatants.

Cego knew his brother enjoyed this. Silas loved fighting more than he loved the kin he claimed to fight for. Combat was the reason Silas had been put on this planet.

Cego had also been created to be a weapon, but he wanted to live for more. Deep in his bones, amid the sinews and dark energy that held him together, Cego wanted to survive to see those he loved again.

Perhaps that made him the weaker of the two.

With a low shot, Cego attempted to throw his brother into the black seawater beneath their feet, but his attempt was stuffed and he paid for it. A swift uppercut blasted his body and a sharp elbow slashed his face.

Cego spat blood into the water and charged. He couldn’t slow the pace. He knew Silas would sink his teeth in at any show of weakness.

He rammed a cross and two jabs at Silas. His brother evaded and countered with a series of body shots that thudded into his ribs. Cego planted his good leg and threw a leaping knee that caught Silas on the chin and knocked him backward.

“You’ve improved, Strangler,” Silas said as he ripped a tooth hanging from his mouth and tossed it into the sea.

“That’s not me anymore,” Cego replied as he leapt forward with another flurry. His brother dodged and countered with a knee that cracked into Cego’s sternum.

Cego’s next breath came with sharp pain. He staggered backward, nearly falling into the water. He bent over and labored for breath, looking up at Silas, a silhouette against the incandescent sky.

His brother had always been stronger. Nothing had changed between the two. Silas would win this fight once again.

“You know how this ends,” Silas said as a glowing bolt struck the rising sea right beside them.

“I do,” Cego said grimly as his brother circled him in the black water like a shark. “But this time will be different.”

Silas laughed again. “Why will it be different, brother? All until now has been preordained; don’t you see? Our birth in the Cradle, our training on the island, our release into this broken world. He speaks to us both. I know you’ve heard his voice too.”

Cego stopped in his tracks, planted his feet, and let them sink deep beneath the muck. For just a moment, he looked past Silas, toward the dark horizon. He needed to stay here.

“You speak of Farmer?” Cego stalled. “I know it is he who speaks to you. It is Farmer who has spoken to us all. But how can you trust him? Farmer is not human. Perhaps he’s never been, since he raised us on the island, he’s always been a part of the blacklight… a part of them. The Bit-Minders.”

“I’ve considered this,” Silas said. “But it doesn’t matter who Farmer is, Bit-Minder or Grievar. All that matters is he wishes to destroy the Daimyo, just as I do,” Silas said.

“You’ve missed one thing, brother,” Cego said as he stared over Silas’s shoulder. “You’re only another piece in their game. You’re not some preordained or special being. You’re not meant to lead or bring in some new world order.”

Silas narrowed his eyes, bared his teeth.

“Farmer told me something, before I left the island, when you’d already gone,” Cego continued. “You know what he told me? He said that you were the weakest of us three brothers, Silas. Back then, I dismissed our old master. I thought he was patronizing me. I couldn’t understand how my older brother, who I’d never been able to touch in a fight, could be weaker than me.”

Cego tensed his body as he spoke, trying to keep his eyes on his brother.

“But now, I understand what Farmer meant. You are the weakest, Silas. You were the easiest for Farmer to control, to send out and do his bidding. You’ve always been a pawn. To forces older and greater than you. To the voice in your mind. To your own hatred. And your greatest weakness is you don’t realize any of it. You’ve had no choice but to follow the path laid out for you.”

Silas charged. It was an uncharacteristic move for Cego’s brother, who was a counterattacker. Still, Silas moved as fast as the lightning flashing above, and slammed a fist into Cego’s already-broken body.

Cego crumpled inward, and his brother followed with a flurry of attacks, each connecting, each sapping vital life from his body. Cego remembered seeing Murray fall to Silas in Kiroth. He’d watched the old Grievar’s lifeless form hit the ground with nothing left to give.

But Cego still had something left. He wouldn’t let those who had sacrificed themselves go in vain. Cego fell backward, nearly broken, but with a hand grasped on his brother’s wrist to pull him down. As the two tumbled toward the water, Cego hooked a foot behind Silas’s leg. He summoned every ounce of energy left within him to throw his own body backward while heaving his brother up and over his head. Tomoe nage. The same sacrifice throw Silas had hit against him so many times throughout their childhood. And now, Cego landed a perfectly executed throw on Silas, rolling on top of his brother, pushing him down into the muck.

Still, a curved smile broke across Silas’s face from below. Cego knew the smile wasn’t one of pride because he’d bested his brother for once. No, Silas smiled simply because he understood that his opponent had exhausted himself. Cego wouldn’t be able to hold his brother down for a moment longer.

But Cego didn’t need to hold Silas down. For once, he didn’t need to push harder. He didn’t need to fight anymore. He pulled his eyes from Silas to watch the gargantuan wave rise above them like a leviathan, ready to swallow the entire island.

Silas looked at Cego curiously before the curved smile left his face. The black rain stopped, and instead, a strange silence fell on them along with a vast, unfurling shadow.

“I’ve made my choice.” Cego closed his eyes.

The monster wave tore into the island, and Cego’s world became a swirl of sea and sand. He tried to grasp for some handhold, a root or rock or anything else, as the entire bluff was ripped offshore and dragged to the deeps.

In the froth and darkness, as Cego held his breath, he tried to will himself back to Albright Stadium, away from this place. But he couldn’t move; he was fastened to this world. His mind had come too far over this time.

Cego knew the tsunami that had swept over the island hadn’t been real, that the thick water that held him down was only in his mind.

But that didn’t matter.

Cego had grown from these dark waters. He’d been built on these black sand beaches. He’d been born of this blacklight.

And so, he would die here as well.