The midnight air was freezing. Kota did not feel the cold. His skin was burning.
He stumbled over a shattered brick. His boots dragged through the deep, black soot of the Whiteflame ruins. Suddenly, a violent spasm gripped his torso. It forced him to his knees with a choked gasp.
Clutching his chest as a sharp spike of dark energy ruptured outward. "I have to keep it down. I can't let them hear me."
A dense shockwave of Yen erupted from his skin. It shattered a nearby stone pillar into a dozen fragments. The black steam swirled frantically around his arms. It hissed as it evaporated the midnight dew.
He gritted his teeth. He forced the volatile current back beneath his flesh. Ten minutes later, another flare up tore through his veins.
He dragged himself across the uneven stone floor of a collapsed corridor. His fingers dug into the ancient mortar. The sheer volume of the power flowing through his internal pathways was staggering. It did not belong to him. It felt like an ocean trying to force its way through a narrow leather pipe.
"My chest feels like iron is grinding against my ribs." Kota thought.
He collapsed against a fallen slab of dark stone. His breath came in short, ragged wheezes. The dark steam coming off his skin was thick enough to obscure his legs entirely. Every time his heart beat, a low, resonant hum echoed through the stone courtyard.
It vibrated the very marrow of his bones. He was running out of space. The internal pressure was climbing higher with every passing hour.
Another violent tremor rocked his frame. Kota clamped his jaw shut. He held back any sound as the sheer agony of the restriction made his eyes water. A second shockwave ripped outward. It tore a deep fissure into the stone courtyard.
The masonry cracked like glass under the weight of the dark essence. He crawled forward. His muscles trembled so violently he could barely keep his balance. Each outburst left him weaker.
He left a trail of scorched earth and splintered wood behind him. He dragged his failing body deeper into the dark, open perimeter of the estate.
The pale gray light of dawn finally broke through the heavy clouds. It illuminated the thick layer of ash covering the ruined estate.
Leiya sat up sharply against the stone wall where she rested. Her eyes widened as she stared at the empty space beside her. She threw herself forward. Scrambling to her feet.
"Where is he?" she cried, her voice cracking as she scrambled to her feet.
"Thorne, get up right now! Kota is missing!"
Thorne groaned, rolling away from the column he used as a backrest. He rubbed his face. His heavy boots kicked up dust. "Calm down. The kid probably went to look for firewood or something."
"Look at the ground, you idiot!" Leiya screamed, her hand shaking violently as she pointed out toward the open courtyard. "Does this look like a firewood run to you?"
Mira scrambled up from her spot near the low wall. Her small hands gripped the frayed edge of her cloak as she looked at the destruction. "The air feels heavy, Leiya. It smells just like his bad days at the sanctuary, but so much worse."
Jaeger stepped over from the edge of the ruined roof line. His posture was rigid as his eyes tracked the massive, blackened trench cutting straight through the stone tiles.
He looked at the shattered pillars, then at the lingering black fog. "Whatever is happening to Kota is completely out of control. That is fresh destruction."
Leiya did not answer. She stood in place, her mind racing as she mentally scanned her own knowledge of his physical collapses over the last two years.
"April sixth," Leiya said, her eyes scanning the open courtyard.
Jaeger stepped up beside her. His brow furrowed as he looked at her. "What does April sixth mean?"
"It's his birthday," Leiya told him, her voice tight with rising frustration as she kept her focus entirely on the destruction. "Whenever we are near that time, his Yen starts to leak and he has outbursts that are uncontrollable. The dates line up perfectly every single year." She looked back at the others. "We need to move before he hurts himself!"
"Lets go, everyone grab your things," Thorne growled, his lazy demeanor vanishing instantly.
They quickly cleared the campsite and left to look for him. They ran through the open ruins. They followed the zigzagging path of scorched earth and shattered stone. Mira struggled to keep up.
Her small boots tripped over the loose rocks as the thick pressure in the air made it difficult to draw a full breath. The air grew thicker with every hundred paces. It tasted heavily of burnt charcoal and volatile pressure. The ground beneath their boots began to vibrate. It was a low, rhythmic throb that pulsed like a dying giant's heart.
At the far edge of the southern outer wall foundations, the trail ended.
Kota was slumped on his side in the middle of a massive, cracked courtyard. His body was completely motionless. He was curled into a tight defensive ball against the stones. Violent, heavy shockwaves of dark Yen rolled off his skin. They pulsed outward in raw concentric rings that slammed into the surrounding masonry and kept the perimeter entirely clear.
Leiya took a few steps forward. A sudden spike of black energy hissed outward from the pulse. It scorched the tips of her boots and threw her backward onto the ash.
"Kota!" she exclaimed, pushing herself back up.
Mira ran forward to help her. The sheer force of another expanding shockwave forced her down to her knees. She stared at the volatile pulses with wide, terrified eyes. "Is he dying, Leiya? What is happening to him?"
"Stay back, Mira," Thorne said, his hand dropping to her shoulder to keep her in place. "Don't get too close."
Jaeger tried to approach from the left flank. The raw force of the next pulse pushed him back before he could even get within five feet of the boy. He retreated quickly, his pale face darkening.
"I knew he was enormously strong, but this is terrifying," Jaeger muttered, his jaw tightening as he braced against the heavy air.
Thorne gripped his sword tighter, looking over at Leiya. "How did you deal with these outbursts in the past? What stopped them?"
"I never stopped them," Leiya said, tears of frustration stinging her eyes as she watched Kota's chest rise and fall under the continuous pulses. "They stop on their own."
Mira looked up from the dirt. Her small frame trembled under the heavy gravity of the energy.
"How are we supposed to help him?"
Leiya looked back at the center of the destruction. Her shoulders dropped in complete defeat.
"We can't help him. We can't do anything right now."