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CYRUS
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I’m ready. Ready to sacrifice it all in order to capture this Shrine, to get one step closer to my goal. Cy’s Ryoku pool should have filled up exactly according to his mental math. Cy closed his eyes and took in as deep of a shallow breath as the dagger in his heart would allow. He pulled up his Menu.
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[?9,290 // ?10,000]
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Why didn''t it fill? Did I forget to carry the remainder? Ah, hell. Whatever.
Cy walked through the gate. The world around him turned black on the other side, and Cy fell into the vortex void.
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[Shrine Rule: The relative importance of your sacrifice will correspond to your Vessel’s power and overall potential.]
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Cy crashed down into a sturdy chair. The wind was knocked out of him, but he resisted the urge to gulp down air. Instead, he slowly filled his lungs with air. His heart raced, desperate for oxygen, but he calmed himself down and controlled his breathing. Better have a look around.
He sat in a wooden chair before a long wooden table. To his right was another setup exactly like his, though no one sat in the chair. On his left resided two rows of benches, one staggered behind the other. In front of him sat an ornate wooden desk, raised up higher than all the rest. Its chair was also empty, and bronze judicial scales hung on the wall behind it.
Shackles ensnared Cy''s wrists and ankles. They bound him to his chair. A metal restraint, like from a psych ward, wrapped around his temple and pushed it back against the rigid seat back.
This moment brought him right back to the executioner’s stand in Coralhaven. He broke out in a sweat. Feeling claustrophobic, Cy thrashed around to escape.
A Djinn appeared at the judge’s presiding table on high. Cy looked directly into the third eye. Rolls of curled hair flowed off its head like a wig.
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?? Cyrus of no Surname, you stand on trial, accused of sacrificing those around you to achieve your own ambitions. ??
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‘Stand’ on trial, now that’s a cute—
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? Silence! ?
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The Djinn slammed his gavel on the desk. Cy averted his gaze.
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? ?A jury of your peers have been summoned to judge your misdeeds. ? ?
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Four doppelgangers of the Djinn appeared on the stacked benches to Cy’s left side, three on the bottom row, one on the top. Each Djinn’s body trailed off into a tail of smoke.
“But I haven’t sacrificed anyone! I never killed anyone to get ahead in—”
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? ? I warned you, silence. ? ?
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The Djinn said slowly. A zipper ripped across Cy''s lips and sealed them. The judge waved its hand around in the air.
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? ? Show him of what he stands accused. ? ?
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Another Djinn, another doppelganger, appeared at the stand to the right of Cy. You must be the prosecutor.
All the Djinn''s tails trailed off. It seemed like they each terminated in a singular point near the Judge''s tail. A fine mist grew from that singularity and filled the courtroom. Cy found himself in the midst of a funhouse maze, where mirrors lined every wall. Haze enveloped it, just like the courtroom.
Another labyrinth. Great.
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ENVY
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The needle poked her finger, and Kat winced. A small droplet of blood coalesced on her fingertip. The usual green acid bubbled out as well. She placed her finger in her mouth and sucked off all the blood, then she removed it to study the wound. There was no sign of any damage done; she''d already fulled healed. Some blood, however, remained on her fingertip. Kat glanced at Jules.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Still moping.
She looked the opposite direction, where Cy had just left a few minutes ago. He walked along a narrow path and never looked back at her. The sun rose just above his head.
Still an absent-minded ass. Which one of you do I like the least right now?
She went to wipe the blood off on Jules'' white shirt she was currently mending. Tempting, but I better not. Whiskers purred beside her.
“You know,” Kat said to her Familiar, “it’s so sexist that I have to Tailor the clothes.”
“Katarina, you are the best Forger in the group—”
“Yeah, obviously. But that doesn’t make me a Tailor.” Whiskers fanned out his three tails. “Don''t give me your physical comedy crap."
“The truth is, we need a larger Party with a variety of crafting Skills," Whiskers said. "We''re only going to become greater outlaws as time passes. Going into cities and having Tradies repair our armor and weapons will become increasingly more challenging.”
Kat unrolled her jacket and put it on. They were on a tropical island, but she couldn’t help but shake and shiver lately.
“So,” she said, “you assume we are staying with them?”
“I am here for you, my dear Katarina. But I cannot make a decision for you. Tell me what’s on your mind, child.”
Kat threw aside Jules’ armor. “I am listless, directionless. I feel like I have no guiding light… I guess I miss Pop. I miss his advice.”
“He is not here. I am. Now speak, what is it you want?”
Kat crossed her legs and leaned forward, attentively.
“I just want a normal life. I don’t want to worry about fighting all the time. It’s been every day now for years. And I don’t want to lose control like Jules. You and Kaizen say there’s no Envy out there waiting to possess me, but I find that hard to believe. I’d rather not end in madness."
She studied Whiskers to see if he''d betray any hint of that being true. She continued after she failed to discern anything.
“I want my dad. I want to know what happened to my birth parents. I want to stop the Apocalypse. I want to kill Zeke. With my bare hands. Or a sharpened ax. Or a dull ax, covered in rust. I just want a goal in life, like everyone else, and most of all, I want Jules to come back to the world of the living.”
Whiskers sat patiently and listened to it all.
“OK. Let’s start with that last one. But first, what do you need?” Kat glared at him.
“I need you to show me some Salvos-damned compassion. To me. Even every once in a while.”
Whiskers tilted an indignant chin upward. “It appears I’ve been going too lax on you, then,” he said. “I’ve given you a brief respite from my duties this week, yet you still throw it in my face. What do you call this, what I am doing now?"
“Your duties?”
“I am charged with making you endure envy and jealousy, so it does not overcome you. Consume you. Other Familiars—” Whiskers glared at Rukia. "—Are not so aligned. It is a difficult task."
“Really? That’s surprising, because you are very, very good at it.”
“I meant it’s difficult for me.” Their green eyes stared deeply into each others’. “You are easy to rile up. I admit, it is occasionally fun, but it is not easy for me to treat you the way I must.”
Kat scoffed. Mangy little bastard.
“It is the duty with which I was charged,” he repeated. “It is not easy, but I am honored to do it.”
More cryptic, empty words from you. Kat paused to study his three tails. You did stay by my side, as much as you could, though. “Right. Moving on. I need a goal, is what I need.”
“I thought you just wanted one.”
“I need someone to help me—”
“You have friends. And me.”
Kat balked. “We are not friends?”
“I’d say we are more than friends, Katarina, which is why I distinguished it.” Oh.
“I want to find myself, Whiskers.”
“We lived in a bubble for eighteen years. You are just now finding yourself through hardships. Your time is coming soon.”
“Why do you seem so confident in your identity, then?”
“I am…old. And because of that, wise. Do not laugh at me, child. Specific knowledge doesn’t transfer through Cycles, but the wisdom remains.”
Kat hugged her knees. It’s not fair that everyone already knows what they want, and how to get it, and who they are. “I still need a goal…”
“Do you not have one?” Whiskers asked. He looked over at Jules. “Cy is off fighting windmills, while Jules fights demons and you fight your own great expectations. You are all fighting yourselves—by yourselves.”
“I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”
Whiskers hissed in his impatience. “You want one large, overarching goal, but what you need are smaller goals, until you’ve figured out what you want. Which for you will be difficult, considering your Sinful nature. Discerning truth through the fog that others leave behind for you.”
“Are you saying I don’t know what I want for myself?”
“Yes, clearly.”
Kat glared at him for a second, then she hissed back. He jumped in the air with an arched back and all his fur on end.
“Snap out of it, Katarina!” he shouted at her. “You died, you came back to life. So did I. You defeated your opponent single-handedly, and with grace, before that. Cy made a choice to keep his idiot girlfriend alive, and that put you in a very poor situation, but Jules decided to save you, and look at what he chose to sacrifice. Only Maddie and her crew know who you are, or else you wouldn’t have been beheaded and left for dead. And if she didn’t tell Zeke before, I doubt she will by now, as the punishment for being able to prevent Coralhaven, but turning a blind eye, would be immense. So why are you sad, really?”
“You are such an asshole.”
“I am trying to illuminate you. I don’t judge you. I truly don’t. I am peeling back the onion, so I ask again, why are you sad, Green Eyes?”
“Because I don’t know what I want!” Kat wanted to slap Whisker’s self-righteous grin off his face.
“But you just told me what you wanted. More than anything, I think is how you phrased it. Again, you’re just in your own way.”
Why am I like this? Kat looked at Jules, then stood up.
“Hold your horses, Katarina. Don’t seem so desperate, for Salvos’ sake.”
Kat rolled her eyes. “What now?”
“He needs you. Make no mistake.” Whiskers shifted his gaze to Rukia and Kaizen. “But he needs them, too, and just them. Say what you need. Do what you must. Then leave him alone.”
Kat stormed off. “Do I have your blessing now?”
“Always,” Whiskers whispered. “Not that it matters, apparently…”
Kat stopped and turned around to him. “Thank you.” She marched toward Jules.
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