When I awoke, my skull throbbed like I'd been spun in circles a hundred times. My vision blurred and spun for what felt like forever before settling. Both arms were yanked downward, wrists bound by chains—black, spectral things that phased through the walls themselves, tethered to nothing but power. The room was square, concrete floor and walls, a single iron door with a barred window.
My head pounded, my ears rang, and through the haze I heard footsteps. Heavy, deliberate. They stopped outside my cell. The door shrieked as it opened, and there he stood—the man with the snake-handled sword.
"Ah, so you're awake at last," he said.
I glared but held my silence.
He smirked. "Don't give me that look. You might carry the Yang spirit, but you don't even know how to use it."
I pulled against the chains; they didn't budge.
"Not that it matters," he continued casually. "You're going to die anyway. My name is Nazo. Remember it." He tilted his head. "And those chains? They're not ordinary. You'd need a mountain of power to break free."
Then came the screaming. Manny's voice, raw and agonized, echoed from somewhere beyond the door.
My chest tightened. "Manny—"
I pulled harder. The chains cut into me, immovable.
Nazo's laughter slithered into the air. "I didn't think the spirit would choose you as its host. Poor choice."
"If my brother dies," I snarled, "I will kill you."
His smile sharpened. He unsheathed his serpent sword and, without warning, sliced across my head. Pain seared. My ear hit the floor. I screamed.
Nazo crouched, pressing his palm against my scalp as the ear regenerated, a white aura weaving it back into place. His voice dropped to a whisper. "That is… if you can break out." He rose, sheathed the blade, and walked out, the door slamming behind him.
I hung limp in the chains, dizzy, Manny's screams drilling into my skull. Amoi's face flashed in my mind. I couldn't lose another brother. Not again.
I looked down. Mai's grandfather's garments stripped away, replaced with prisoner shorts, ripped and bare. My ring, though, still clung to my hand.
I clenched my fist. Power sparked. White electricity crawled up my arm. My body flickered intangible, and I fell straight through the chains. They phased downward through the floor like smoke.
I stood, staring at the metal door. "Not staying here." I walked forward—and phased through it.
A gunshot cracked. I froze. Guns? In Pansen? The thought snapped in my mind. Then I reached the window in the hall and saw the streets outside. Neon signs. Vehicles. Towers.
Nova1C.
Manny's scream pierced the air again. I sprinted.
At the corner, a figure in a black stealth suit dropped into my path. His voice was clipped, professional. "I cannot allow you to leave."
He struck the air with a kick, a shockwave slamming me into the wall. He was fast. Too fast. He kicked again at my head; I rolled, barely escaping.
I thrust my palm, but he intercepted, spinning and slamming his boot into my hand. My arm rattled. His heel cracked against my jaw, and I staggered.
A flash seared in my mind. Yanu Wenadow, the first Yang holder, flows through martial arts forms with divine precision.
The attacker leapt with a right hook. This time, I caught it. My other fist drove upward, uppercutting with white energy. His eyes rolled back, and his body slammed into the ceiling, leaving him crumpled.
I shook the sting from my knuckles. "Not today."
Manny's voice dragged me onward. I kicked through the next door.
There he was, chained to the wall, two robed figures siphoning his energy with threads of dark light. My vision tunneled.
I charged. My palms met bone and stone as I hurled them into the walls, their bodies cracking against them.
Manny slumped, barely conscious. I ripped him from the chains and summoned a portal. We slipped through—and for once, no burning, no searing pain.
We collapsed outside Yuki's walls.
The town was in ruins. Fires smoldered. Bodies littered the streets. With Manny limp in my arms, I staggered inside the gate. One of the armored men leaned against broken stairs, half-dead. I pressed my palms to his chest, healing him, but the drain burned through me. My energy flickered, low.
I carried Manny into an empty home, laid him on a mat, then returned to the streets. Survivors had to be here.
I found another of the armored men slumped against a wall, blood trailing from his skull. I placed my hands on him, forcing my last strength into his body. His breath steadied. I carried him to Manny, then returned.
Why Yuki? I thought bitterly. They were peaceful. Defenseless.
Inside the leader's hall, rubble filled the floor. A pillar pinned his body. He stirred faintly when I pressed his neck. Alive. I shattered the stone with one blow, and he gasped awake, thrashing.
"It's me," I said quickly. "Goshi."
His eyes focused. "What… happened to Yuki?"
"Nazo," I said coldly. "He attacked the town."
Recognition flickered. He spoke shakily. "He said he would bring an eternity of war. That, unless we handed you over, all of Yuki's children would be taken as reserves for his power. Then… the pillar crushed me."
I healed his leg enough for him to stand. He pointed me toward the other defenders—the last two armored men. "Find them. They were by the fountain."
I raced through the broken streets to the fountain. One soldier was pinned against a wall, another sprawled across a rooftop. Both alive, barely.
Then—shadows moved. Fluid. Unseen. A whisper hissed in my ear.
"Goshi."
I spun. Nothing.
Again. "Goshi." The voice warped, broken, achingly familiar.
"Amoi."
The whisper twisted, hateful. "You let me die. I hate you."
My lungs locked. The world tilted. I fell backward—
And Manny's arms caught me. His voice cut through the haze, muffled but insistent. "Goshi, don't listen. It's not him. It's something else."
My breath returned raggedly. I pointed weakly at the two injured men. "Check them. Are they alive?"
Manny nodded and bolted. Both still breathed. Relief barely formed when another figure dropped into the square.
Sword in hand. Scaled hilt.
My chest tightened. Recognition seared me.
It was Eqihr's blade.
And Eqihr was nowhere to be found.
I whispered hoarsely, "Eqihr… where are you?"