by J. Cee
“We share the same enemies. In fact, I’ve already aided you more than once.”
The stranger tossed something onto the ground in front of them. A shiny object rolled towards Kaine.
“Don’t forget the tournament. Prove your strength,” the stranger said. Then the stranger was gone.
Aeri and Kaine stared in silence at the empty entrance to the alley.
“What is that?” Aeri asked, pointing to Kaine’s feet.
Kaine reached down and held up a grisly trophy. It was the severed head of the Everborn warrior that had been chasing them, still crowned with a golden helmet.
Chapter 4
As soon as Ceph left Aeri at the warehouse, he dashed into the first building he saw. It was some kind of tailor’s shop. The shopkeeper looked up in alarm at the sudden noise.
“Hey, watch it! What—”
Ceph ran through the shop, knocking over a pile of leather tunics. He saw another door in the rear and kept running towards it.
“Stop thief!” The shopkeeper misunderstood Ceph’s intent. He pulled a dagger out from behind the counter and hurled it at Ceph.
Ceph didn’t have time to react. The dagger’s point hit him squarely in the chest, but it bounced off the thin fabric of his shirt with a clang. Ceph stopped in shock and touched his chest. The tunic was torn, but the skin underneath was unbroken. Bewildered, Ceph looked at the shopkeeper but didn’t see him. He heard noises from the ground and lowered his gaze. The shopkeeper had prostrated himself on the floor.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Forgive my mistake.”
Recovering from his surprise, Ceph ignored the shopkeeper and ran out of the shop’s back door. He darted down the street, turning down another side street, and continued zigzagging across the city. After several minutes of frantic sprinting, he found himself in a quiet alcove behind a restaurant. He paused to listen but couldn’t hear any sounds of pursuit. Taking a deep breath, Ceph began counting to one thousand. When finished, he stepped out into the street.
Ceph walked as calmly as he could, fighting the urge to check if anyone was following. His mind raced with what he should do next. Should he turn himself into the city guards? He could explain what had happened. Surely they would understand? No, the guards obeyed the Everborn, who were beyond reason. They were vicious gods who cared only about sating their appetites.
He could buy passage on a riverboat going down the East Line, pretending to be a normal human. Would they chase him all the way to the Tenth Zone? Ceph knew that Kaine’s warning about traveling further east was true, but he was different now. Could he survive beyond the Tenth Zone? In any case, he would need money for the fare, which meant going home. Would it be safe to return home?
What Ceph really needed were answers. He knew where to find them, but he’d need money for that, too. That settled it. He’d sneak back to his room, take his money, and leave quickly.
Ceph was renting a room in an old widower’s home in one of the less desirable parts of the city. At fifty coppers a month, it was the cheapest room he could find that didn’t risk him getting robbed or stabbed on the way home from work. Still, the neighborhood had seen better times, with street urchins and beggars both common sights.
After twenty minutes of walking, Ceph arrived at his home. He didn’t see anyone suspicious around, other than two beggars at the street corner. Ceph entered the home, relieved to find that his landlord was away, and opened the door to his room.
Ceph’s room was more of a closet than a proper room. There were no windows. Piles of clothes and other belongings lay strewn haphazardly from floor to ceiling, as one might expect from an eighteen-year-old living by himself. There was no room for a bed in these cramped quarters, and the room wasn’t even long enough for Ceph to lie down properly without bending his legs.
A particularly dirty pile of soiled breeches in the corner gave off an extra pungent odor. Ceph reached into the pile with one hand, searching. He felt something different from the clothes and pulled the object out. It was a thick scroll wrapped around two wooden rods.
Ceph sighed as he unrolled the scroll partially and read the opening words. This was his guilty pleasure. Romance stories. These were the forbidden kind that likely originated from the North Line. Ceph scratched his chin in worry. If he wasn’t coming back, he should probably get rid of his collection. He rooted around in the laundry pile until he found the remaining scrolls. Ceph left the room to throw the scrolls into a fireplace before returning. Once again, he searched the pile of dirty laundry.
This time, Ceph withdrew a small bag from the pile. He opened the bag to check the copper coins inside and then closed it, sitting in silence for a bit longer. Ceph had his money, but he lingered in his room, not wanting to leave yet.
Everything had changed. Ceph’s life was over. Why had this happened to him? His eyes welled with tears of frustration and anger. Ceph hated the Everborn and anything to do with them. Ever since his parents had been killed in a meaningless fight between Everborn, he had done everything he could to stay as far away from them as possible. Yet here he was, a monster of some sort. Like them.
Ceph looked down at his left forearm again. Corpus. The blue sigils glowed. Yes, he was a monster. His earlier levity with Aeri had been his way of dealing with the situation. He hated the Everborn. He hated himself. He didn’t know what else to do, except cry in frustration.
That wasn’t true. Ceph knew what he had to do now. He needed answers. Ceph would figure out how to stay alive. He stood up, looked one last time at the remnants of his old life, and closed the door behind him forever.
* * *
An hour later, Ceph was standing in the Pagan District in front of two neighboring small shops. The left one had a sign reading “Myrtle’s Mystic Mind.” The right one had a sign reading “The All-Knowing Dalia.” A smaller sign below that read “Love potions and shoe repairs also available.” Ceph decided to go with Myrtle.
Ceph pushed past heavy curtains to enter the mystic woman’s shop. It was dark inside, and for an uncomfortable moment, Ceph wasn’t sure what was in front of him. As his eyes adjusted, he realized that someone draped in a patchwork of multicolored shawls and wraps was seated behind a desk. He could only make out a pair of eyes peeping out from under the mass of clothing. On the desk was a dimly lit crystal ball.
“Hi, are you Myrtle?” Ceph asked.
“Twenty coppers per question,” the mound of fabric replied.
“Huh?”
“Take a seat. Twenty coppers per question.”
Ceph sat down in a wooden chair opposite the desk. He opened his money pouch and counted out the payment.
A gloved hand snatched the money out of his hand. “Yes, I’m Myrtle. Next question. Twenty coppers.”
Ceph stared dumbfounded at the brazen hustler. “If that’s how it is…” He stood up to leave. He’d try his luck with Dalia next door.
“Wait!” Myrtle closed her eyes, placed the tips of her covered fingers to her head, and hummed. “Let me guess. You want to ask about a girl. Age 16 to 21. About 160 centimeters tall. Pale skin, long silver hair, red eyes.” She opened one eye to look at Ceph. “Right?”
Ceph sat back down in astonishment. “Did you read my mind?”
“Maybe.” After a moment, Myrtle laughed. “Cute and gullible. I like it. Here.”
Ceph looked at the paper she handed to him. The sheet was made of the cheapest parchment, the kind that the town crier gave out. It had his name on it.
“Wanted for heresy. Name: Ceph. Gender: male. Age: 18. Height: 180 cm. Occupation: Sanitation officer. Description: tanned complexion, short brown hair, brown eyes. Reward: 100 silver.” There was a disturbingly accurate black and white sketch of him below the text.
Ceph’s hands grew icy cold. He eyed Myrtle nervously. “You’re not going to turn me in, are you?”
“Of course not. It’s obvious this is an Everborn affair, and I don’t help Everborn vermin.”
“But how did you
know about Aeri?”
“Aeri? I see. Turn it over.” Myrtle twirled her finger at the parchment.
Ceph read the other side. “Wanted for heresy. Name: Unknown. Gender: female. Age: 16-21. Height: 160 cm. Occupation: unknown. Description: pale white complexion, long silver hair, red eyes. Reward: 500 silver.”
Ceph gasped. Five hundred silver was a staggering amount of money for someone like him. At ten coppers per silver, that was enough money to pay for nearly a decade’s worth of rent, not that he still had a room.
“Let me guess. You want to know if that girl likes you?” Myrtle asked with a grin in her voice.
“Yes—no! Nothing like that. Do you know what the Beastspawn is?” Ceph’s eyes narrowed. “If you really are a mystic.”
“It’s adorable when you doubt.” Myrtle’s fingers danced lightly across the surface of the crystal ball in front of her. The crystal ball brightened and pulsed with light. Myrtle appeared to be reading something on the ball’s surface. Ceph leaned over the desk to get a better look.
“Ah ah ah.” Myrtle pushed Ceph away. “Trade secrets. No peeking.”
After a few more seconds of tapping the crystal ball, Myrtle spoke. “Ooh, this is a big one. You know there hasn’t been a true prophecy in a hundred years?”
“What?” Ceph sputtered in confusion.
“Nevermind. A year ago, the Tetramorph issued its first real prophecy—not that malarky the Adventurer’s Guild puts out, mind you—the first real prophecy in a century. It prophesied that the Beastspawn would usher in the end of days. The Tetramorph promised glory and great power to the one who slayed the Beastspawn.”
Ceph didn’t know exactly what prophecies were or who the Tetramorph was, but he understood enough from the context. He didn’t want to waste payments on unnecessary questions.
“That doesn’t explain why cultists would want to help the Beastspawn.”
Myrtle held out her hand for another payment. “Twenty coppers.”
Ceph didn’t budge. “Nope. That’s part of the original question. If you gave me a complete answer, I wouldn’t need to ask again.”
Myrtle glared as she withdrew her hand. “Not so cute anymore.”
She tapped lightly on the crystal ball’s surface again with her fingers. “There are various cults. The local one is called… the First Believers. They believe that the Beastspawn will overthrow the Everborn and set up a new world order. They idolize the Beastspawn, claiming it to be the child of the Creator.”
Child of the Creator? Wasn’t the Creator some old legend about the first Everborn? No one cared about that stuff anymore. It didn’t help Ceph, either. He held out twenty coppers. Myrtle snatched it again.
“What are the Onceborn?”
“Hm.” Myrtle went to work on the crystal ball. “There are rumors that ordinary people can gain the powers of an Everborn. Rumors that are mostly associated with cultists like your First Believers.”
Ceph was tempted to demonstrate the truth of the rumors to Myrtle, but he decided against it. “Anything else? Anything related to the Beastspawn?”
Myrtle gave Ceph a curious look. “Not much. Rumors within rumors. Some say that the Onceborn are weaker than the Everborn. Others say that they are stronger. Another rumor that Onceborn can become Everborn. I don’t see anything related to the Beastspawn. Nothing clear.”
Ceph pointed at Myrtle’s crystal ball. “Is that all it can do? All you gave me is rumors.”
“This is an Orbus 2600. The best in the scrying business, I assure you.”
Ceph grumbled and checked his money pouch. He had enough coppers for two more questions. There was one burning question he had to ask, even if he risked wasting one of his remaining questions. He handed Myrtle another twenty coppers.
“How am I connected to the Beastspawn?”
Myrtle’s fingers danced across the surface of the crystal ball again. She paused to view something, frowned, and spent another minute tapping on the crystal ball with her fingers. There was a sudden loud bang from the orb. Myrtle jerked her hands away with a sharp cry, slapping at a piece of her wrappings that had caught fire. A wisp of smoke curled away from the now dark crystal ball. Ceph caught the acrid scent of burnt rubber.
“Damn! Warranty’s expired too.” Myrtle looked at the crystal ball in disgust. She pointed at Ceph. “This is your fault. Sending me after forbidden knowledge like that…” Ceph couldn’t understand the rest of her mumbling.
Disappointed, Ceph stood and turned to leave. “I guess I’ll be going then.”
“Hold on!”
Ceph glanced back at Myrtle. Her head was cradled in her hands, as if she was in pain.
“Are you okay?”
Myrtle grimaced and stared straight into Ceph’s eyes. “They’re here. Run!”
Ceph jump backward at the force of her words. Not sure what else to do, he dashed out of Myrtle’s shop and onto the streets of the Pagan District.
After walking for a minute, he realized he no longer had his money pouch. He must have dropped it when Myrtle startled him.
“Tricky mystic,” Ceph muttered to himself. As he began to retrace his steps to the mystic woman’s shop, he heard someone cry out from down the street.
“Over there!”
Ceph froze. A cluster of city guards was running towards him. For a moment, Ceph wondered if they were after someone else, but he was the only person on the street. He was clearly their target.
Ceph shot down the street, turning right at the first corner to squeeze between two tall brick buildings. He raced past the buildings and turned left on a smaller street that ran parallel to the original street. Ceph heard the shouts of guards behind him, but they were still out of view. He was frantically searching for a hiding place as he ran when someone suddenly stepped out to block his path. It was the Word.
Ceph stumbled as he tried to stop himself, hitting the ground hard and rolling. He pushed himself up from the dusty ground.
“I am curious,” the Word said. “You live. How?”
Ceph looked for an escape route. By now, the city guards had caught up, then had backed away to a safe distance once they spotted the Word, leaving it to deal with Ceph.
“The girl. She must be the key.”
Ceph tried to run, but the Word grabbed him roughly by his tunic. He paused as if examining him with eyes hidden behind the white hood. “What is this? An Everborn? Impossible!”
Ceph took advantage of the Word’s surprise to jerk himself free, tearing his tunic in the process. He ran two steps before the Word threw him to the ground.
Ceph lifted himself to his feet. “Are you going to kill me?”
The Word studied Ceph. “You seek to flee through death? To resurrect elsewhere?” The Word’s voice grew lower. “Fool. You may be Everborn, yet you understand nothing. I do not need to kill you to make you suffer.”
The Word had mistaken Ceph for a full Everborn. He looked for a way to turn that to his advantage. Before he could respond, though, the Word spoke again. “Perhaps you are right. Your death will prove that you are truly Everborn.”
The Word raised a palm to Ceph’s face. Ceph stepped backwards, thinking furiously. What was that thing he had used before? That shield? Something shield. What was it called? He couldn’t remember. Ceph panicked. He turned to run.
Ceph held his breath, waiting for the Word’s inevitable attack. Instead, he heard an angry cry. He risked a backward glance and saw flashes of energy. Someone was attacking the Word.
“Ceph, here!” Aeri waved at him from an alley.
Ceph veered towards Aeri. She lifted her hand and sent bolts of violet energy in his direction.
“Eek!” Ceph covered his head with his arms, but the bolts flew past him. He heard men screaming and looked behind. The city guards that had been chasing him were now fleeing.
“Come on, hurry.” Aeri waited with an outstretched palm. She grabbed his hand, and they both sprinted away.
After they had been running f
or a short time, Ceph pulled his hand away from Aeri and stopped. They were in another alley.
“We’re not safe yet.” Aeri reached for Ceph again, but he pushed her hand away.
“I’m not going with you. Thanks for helping me out, but—”
“You ungrateful idiot.” Aeri slammed Ceph into the side of the alley. Broken pieces of stone tumbled around him. Ceph struggled to free himself, but Aeri pinned him against the wall.“Do you know who that was back there?”
“What? Who, the Everborn? It’s the Word.”
“Not him. Kaine! Kaine’s probably dead now. He died so you could go free.” Aeri let go of Ceph, disgust on her face.
“Oh.” Ceph couldn’t meet Aeri’s furious gaze.
“But I don’t want to get involved in all of this,” Ceph said. “This is crazy. I don’t want to deal with the Everborn. I want to have a long boring life. I want to be normal.”
“You can’t. You’re a Onceborn.”
“I didn’t ask to be one!”
“Even if you try to pretend you’re normal, you can’t hide. The entire East Line is looking for you.”
“I’ll go so far east no one can find me. Or head elsewhere. The North Line. I’ve read about the North Line.”
Aeri looked at Ceph as if he was spouting nonsense. To be fair, Ceph wouldn’t have disagreed with her.
“Some Everborn have ways to find you no matter where you go. Do you have any idea how important this is to them?”
“I’m willing to take that risk.”
Aeri slapped Ceph hard across his face. Ceph touched his stinging cheek, remembering the dagger the poor tailor had thrown at him. Why did this hurt, but not the dagger? Nothing made sense.
“Don’t you get it?” Aeri shouted. “You died because you ran away the first time. Kaine died because you ran away the second time. Every time you run, someone dies. Stop running!”
Ceph stopped rubbing his cheek. “Why’s it my fault? You’re the one they really want.”
Aeri shook her head. “How many Onceborn do you think there are?”
