by Gage Lee
“Fine,” Reyes said. “You have behaved honorably thus far. But if you think the Wardens’ absence will give you an opportunity to escape, know that we designed this facility to hold draconic prisoners. Even a master will face insurmountable challenges.”
“I won’t give you an excuse to kill me,” I said politely.
The Wardens left in silence and disappeared through the wall without a trace. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe the Consul didn’t have other eyes and ears observing us, but those she could control to some extent. It had to be enough.
I laid out the entire story, from the end of the Empyrean Gauntlet to this exact moment. I held nothing back, because Tru had been right: the only way to earn trust and allies was to be completely honest.
And I desperately needed Reyes to become my trusted ally, if only for a short time.
I watched her aura as I spoke. Her position was softening, her hatred of me mellowing into something less vile and destructive. The truth, as horrible as it was, as dangerous as revealing it to Reyes was, seemed to work.
She didn’t say a single word as our time together stretched out. I stacked facts like bricks to build my case, one layer at a time. When I’d finished, Reyes held her silence.
The only sound was the tapping of her fingernails against the table between us. She took a seat at the end of the table, fingers still tapping, and watched me for any signs of a lie or half-truth.
I was confident she wouldn’t find any reason to doubt my story. Not because I was an expert liar, but because I’d been truthful.
“I’ll need time to corroborate what you’ve told me,” she said.
“We don’t have time,” I said. “Xaophis is spreading. We have to stop it. Every minute we delay is one more student taken under its control.”
“You’re asking me to trust you with only this outlandish tale as proof,” Reyes snapped.
The truth had driven a wedge through Reyes’s defenses. Her hatred of me warred with her duty to protect Empyreal society. But my story alone wasn’t enough to convince her. I had to open the crack wider to get what I wanted.
“You think I dishonored your clan,” I said. “Trusting me now is a risk, there’s no denying that. But if what I’m telling you is true, and you know in your heart that it is, all the damage I’ve done will be erased in a stroke. You will be a hero. The world will revere your clan.”
My words struck home. I saw Reyes’s aura fill with aspects of hope and greed. She lowered her head, momentarily lost. She wanted me to pay for what I’d done. But, just as much, she wanted her clan to be honored, not merely feared.
I didn’t dare say anything while she considered her options. There was one last bomb in my arsenal, but dropping it was a last-ditch attack. It would be far better for us both if Reyes agreed to help me without it.
“Elder Warin,” she said at last, “you make a compelling case. But the fact remains. You killed my niece. You drove my grandfather, one of the great sages of our time, to an untimely death. For that, you must pay. Your tribunal will begin in twenty minutes time. I will send your counsel in. This meeting is over.”
“Wait,” I said. It was time to drop the bomb. “I can bring one of them back. If you help me, you can have your niece or your great grandfather again.”
My words hit Reyes like a bolt from the blue. Her aura filled with hope and anger, and tears brimmed in her eyes. Her jaw fell open as she considered my offer.
Then she pushed her chair back from the table. “You’re more of a monster than I ever imagined.”
Consul Reyes fled from the room.
From me.
The Team
REYES DIDN’T COME BACK for a very long time. I spent those lonely hours questioning the Flame.
Could it at least give me a sign I was on the right path?
Silence.
Any tips on beating Xaophis?
More silence.
There were so many questions, and not a single answer. Thanks a ton. I couldn’t even get the stupid thing to roll over, which made me wonder if it had gone into a healing coma after our last encounter with Xaophis.
“You better not be sleeping on the job,” I grumbled. “Pull it together or a lot of people will think I’m really dumb.”
Of course, it wouldn’t much matter what anyone thought if the Flame didn’t wake up. I’d be super dead and Xaophis would have free rein to do whatever it pleased.
None of that worrying about what the fire inside me might, or might not, do did a thing to make Reyes appear. She’d kept me waiting past the tribunal’s scheduled start time without a peep from anyone. What felt like hours had passed after that, leaving me with nothing to do but meditate.
So that’s what I did.
I cycled jinsei through my core and purged all negative aspects from my aura until I was sparkling clean. I was careful not to go too deep, though. If Xaophis found me with no allies nearby, I’d be in for a world of hurt. I coasted at the highest levels of meditation, just skimming the surface enough to keep my core topped off.
“Don’t move,” Reyes’s voice crackled through a hidden speaker somewhere in the conference room. I was on the floor, legs crossed, hands resting on my knees. I’d chosen a spot in a corner so I wouldn’t have to worry about the door opening into me or getting stepped on when someone came through the wall.
“I’ll be right here,” I said, opening my eyes. “What took you so long?”
Reyes entered through the conference room’s wall, alone, and this time she dropped wearily into the seat at the far end of the table. “There are Golden Wardens just outside this room, so don’t get any ideas. I’m tired, and as much as I’d like to see you dead, you’re more valuable to all of us alive.”
It was hard to see Reyes from the floor. I craned my neck as far as I could without moving, and just caught her eyes over the top of the table. “You checked out my story?”
“As much of it as I could,” she admitted. “I even checked with the First Scepter. He vouched for you. I can’t tell you how frustrating this is for me.”
“I think I’ve got a good handle on frustration,” I said from my seat the floor. “Can I at least sit in a chair? I’m getting a crick in my neck from trying to look at you.”
“At the far end of the table,” Reyes said.
I was glad the Consul no longer felt the need to surround me with armed guards, but she still didn’t trust me as far as she could throw me. Baby steps.
“There are a few things I’ll need,” I started, but she cut me off with sharp slice of her hand.
“Before you start a shopping list,” she said, “you should know that anything not directly tied to this quest is off-limits.”
“Okay,” I said. “Let me give you a short list of items I need and people I want to talk to.”
I gave her the list, and she nodded as I ticked off each item.
A bucket of jinsei waste.
Six aspect containment vessels.
A meeting with Clem, Eric, and Abi.
A visit with Christine.
Reyes tilted her head to one side when I’d finished, like a dog listening to a sound I couldn’t hear. She nodded again, then looked me square in the eye. I sensed the frustration in her aura and knew she hated every second of our time together. She’d expected a speedy execution.
Instead, she’d turned into the monster’s gofer.
“You obviously can’t leave this facility,” she said. “But we’ll arrange portals to bring the people on your list here. The waste materials and containment vessels won’t be a problem, either, though I’m not sure why you’ll need them.”
My heart soared. I’d thought Reyes would fight tooth and nail to keep me from getting anything on my list. “Thank you,” I said. “Our odds of success just went way up.”
Reyes crossed her arms over her chest and eyed me with skepticism. “If the First Scepter hadn’t vouched for you, I wouldn’t believe any of this nonsense. I’m still not entirely sure you h
aven’t cooked this scheme up with the dragons, somehow. You became cozy with them following the Empyrean Gauntlet.”
“I didn’t have a lot of other allies.” That was an understatement.
“You still don’t.” Reyes’s voice was sharp as a fresh scalpel. “If you make a single mistake or give me the slightest excuse, I’ll slit your throat myself.”
She left me on that note, vanishing through the wall without a trace. I went back to meditating, spiritually twiddling my thumbs while I waited for her to come through on her end. It was hard to shake the feeling that Reyes was setting me up to take a very long, hard fall. And every second that passed felt like an hour knowing that Xaophis was still on the rampage.
And then my friends came through the wall, and my doubts vanished.
“This place is crazy,” Eric said. “You must have really gotten on someone’s nerves if they locked you up in the Consul Triad’s basement.”
I chuckled and dashed across the room, throwing my arms around him and clapping his back. “You have no idea. Thanks for coming.”
I leaned down to hug Abi in his wheelchair, then rested my hand on his shoulder. “Thank you, I couldn’t do this without all of you.”
“Come here,” Clem said, her voice choked with emotion. She crashed into me and clung to my shoulders like I was the only stable thing left in a world gone insane. I held on to her, too, because I felt the same way. I kissed the top of her head, and her hair tickled my nose, filling it with a fresh, citrusy sent.
“We don’t have much time,” I said. “As much as I hate this, we have to get down to business. I have a plan, but I’m not sure it will work. It’ll be very dangerous, and even if we pull it off, I’m not sure we’ll get out of there unscathed. I don’t want to ask you to stick your necks out for me again, but I need you guys.”
Eric gave me a sarcastic smirk. “Oh, now you need me?”
“I always needed all of you,” I admitted. “I’ve been an idiot. But this isn’t about me. This is about stopping Xaophis and finishing our quest.”
“I’m always up for saving the world,” Abi said. “What do you need from us?”
“Your strength. Your faith that we can do this if we work together,” I said. “Xaophis is no joke. But if we pull this off, there will be much better days ahead for all of us. For everyone.”
I explained my plan, watching their eyes carefully for any signs they doubted me. I wouldn’t have blamed them; what I wanted to do was crazy. And it would put each of them in harm’s way.
“This could get all of us killed,” Clem said flatly.
“Or worse, mutilated,” Eric responded.
I felt sick to my stomach. Facing Xaophis would take more strength than I could muster on my own. I needed my friends by my side.
“I know I’ve asked a lot from all of you over this past couple of years,” I said. “I have no right to expect you to do any more for me. But I’ve carried this as far as I can on my own.”
Abi wheeled his chair a little closer, took my hand, and shook it firmly. “I’m in,” he said.
Clem looked away, tears in her eyes. Her body trembled with tension, and I knew she was wrestling with a terrible combination of fear and responsibility. She didn’t want to risk everything, but she also knew we had to.
Because the four of us were the ones the Flame had charged with saving the world. There was no one else.
“This is the last rodeo for me,” Eric said firmly. “After this, I have to think about my future.”
Eric’s words cut to the core. He was right. I’d cost him a guaranteed shot at the Battle Federation title. I’d endangered his relationship with Tru, and I’d risked his life more times than any friend should. He’d finally reached the end of his rope, and I couldn’t blame him for that.
“I understand,” I said. “Thanks for taking this last ride with us. It’ll be one to remember.”
Clem pounded her fist against my chest and glared at me. “This isn’t a joke, Jace. Be honest with me. How bad will this be?”
“With the four of you by my side and Christina’s help, I think we have a good shot at winning,” I said. “I’m at least fifty percent sure we’ll get out of there alive.”
That wasn’t entirely true. There was another potential danger with this mission that I had told no one about. The realization had come to me during my meditation. There were worse things than being dead, and this might be one of them.
But that danger would only apply to me. My friends didn’t need to know about it.
“A coin flip, huh?” Clem asked.
“That’s as good as it gets with me most of the time,” I said.
“Before Clem signs on the dotted line, let me see if I understand your plan,” Eric said. “You think there’s a beginning to the Grand Design?”
I gestured for them to take a seat at the table and busied myself pouring and handing out glasses of water. When I’d served everyone, I grabbed the fruit bowl and dropped it in the middle of the table.
“The Flame made the Grand Design,” I explained. “As powerful as it is, or was, it couldn’t make the whole thing at once. It had to start somewhere, right? I’ve seen the pattern it drew. It has to be a circle, like a spiderweb.”
Abi grabbed an apple out of the bowl and took a bite. He chewed thoughtfully, then asked, “Because the Flame had to leave itself room to expand?”
I snapped my fingers and pointed at him, nodding vigorously. “Exactly. There weren’t many mortals at the dawn of the Grand Design. There might not have been any. It had no idea how much space it would need to lay out the whole pattern. It must have started with a small circle, then expanded outward in all directions so it wouldn’t have to worry about fencing itself in. The further away it gets from its origin point, the more complex the design becomes, but it also has more space to spread out. As it approaches infinite size, it also has room for infinite complexity.”
Clem twirled a strawberry between her fingers. “And that’s where you have to anchor the core. In the middle.”
“Exactly,” I said. “It makes sense that the Flame would overwrite the old Design starting at the same origin. That would be a lot simpler than creating everything from scratch.”
“I agree with your logic,” Eric said, “but how will you find the Design’s center?”
“With Christina’s help,” I said. “She’s got what I need to get back to the beginning of everything.”
Before I could explain more, Reyes swept into the room. She eyed my friends suspiciously, then turned her attention back to me. “Your friends need to leave. The other person on your list is waiting to see you.”
“She’s not coming here?” I asked.
“That’s not possible. Once your friends leave the room, I will transport you to the girl,” Reyes said.
Her voice was icy, but her eyes were wary and frightened. Something about Christina had spooked her, no matter how stern a mask she put on.
“It’s all right,” I said to my friends. “We’ll be back together soon.”
Reyes gestured to the wall, and a translucent haze appeared. “If you’ll be so kind as to exit through this portal.”
My friends stood up from the table. “See you soon,” Clem said, and then they left me alone with Reyes.
“The girl—” Reyes started, but I interrupted.
“Her name is Christina,” I said.
“Fine, Christina is not well,” Reyes explained. “We have her in a holding cell on the suggestion of the Titans. She’s been... difficult... since joining their ranks.”
That surprised me. Christina was headstrong, but she played by the rules. Acting out was the last thing I expected from her.
“What’s she doing?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” Reyes said, her voice distant and haunted. She shook herself as if waking from a dream. “What should we do with the waste jinsei and containment vessels?”
“I’ll need access to them during my meeting with my clan membe
r,” I said.
“Former clan member,” Reyes reminded me. “I’m not sure what you would call her now.”
I followed her through the wall opposite the one my friends had left through and found myself in a short hallway with four Golden Wardens standing on either side. A glass door, its surface shimmering with scrivenings, stood at the end of the hall with a shiny silver case and a sealed container standing next to it.
“She’s in there?” I asked.
“For our safety,” she said. “The jinsei waste is next to the door. You can speak to the girl—Christina—through the door. The Golden Wardens will react violently should you try to open it, however.”
“You’re not going down there with me?” I asked Reyes.
“Not on your life,” she said. “There are two reasons I’m helping you. The first is that the First Scepter vouched for you. The second is the thing in that room. I’ve seen nothing like it, and if you can help us rid the world of its presence, then you deserve my aid.”
That didn’t sound good at all. I thanked Reyes again and marched down the hallway to see Christina.
I peered through the glass door. My former clan member sat in the middle of an otherwise featureless room, the robes of the Titans of Majestic Stone hanging loosely from her shoulders as if she were a child wearing her mother’s clothes. I tapped gently on the glass to get her attention.
Christina’s head turned in my direction in sharp jerks. She opened her eyes to reveal skinny black worms writhing in them.
Xaophis had her.
“I knew you’d come,” the spirit said, its voice a cruel mockery of Christina’s. “You finally figured it out, haven’t you?”
“I’m afraid so,” I said. “Your end is at hand.”
The dark worms churned across Christina’s eyes. Her thin lips cracked and split as the spirit within her twisted them into a dark smirk too wide for a human face. “You need this one, don’t you? I sense that. You can’t have her. Now what will you do?”
