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    The keep in Tyralien was the last place Kax would have guessed that he would end up in—the library no less. Returning to Fyrie would take days. What a pain.


    He’d been in this library once before as a boy. Goslin visited Tyralien with his family and Kax accompanied his friend. It hadn’t been long after his parents were murdered. Much of that period of his life was a blur, but he remembered Hart joining them that visit, and the three of them played among the stacks in this musty place, climbing the shelves, and terrorizing the poor librarians.


    A different time indeed.


    Now, the library was dead quiet. No. Kax tilted his head. He heard the slight rasp of a page flipping somewhere deeper in the rows of bookshelves. He knew Sarien wouldn’t send him here without a good reason.


    He glanced out one of the few windows as he passed, looking out into the city he helped save not that long ago. It looked the same. Dull.


    Walking past stacks after stacks of books, Kax concentrated on his void. Being touched by that gray flame shook him to his core, but as far as he could tell, he remained unharmed. Though, he knew that a few more moments engulfed in the gray flames was something that he did not want to ponder too deeply.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Kax.


    He stopped and looked around, frowning. "Hello?"


    The sound of pages frantically flipping stopped, and the silence grew tense.


    Avatar.


    It was in his mind.


    Who are you? Kax asked.


    You’ve long been part of me, and I part of you. Together, we make a whole.


    "Who is there?" a young, but dry sounding voice asked into the silence.


    Kax rounded another set of shelves and came face to face with a young man about Sarien’s age. Ben.


    What are you talking about? Kax asked with his mind.


    "Are you Ben?" he asked the young man.


    The young man narrowed his eyes and reached a hand forward, almost like he was throwing something, but nothing happened.


    Ben’s eyes widened in surprise. "You don’t have any bones?"


    Kax’s blade ripped through skin, flesh, organs, and bones all the same, not stopping until Ben was split apart.


    Dead like all those before him, and like everyone else, he joined the silent theater of those touched by Kax’s void. They regarded him in silence, like always, but something had changed. There was a presence there that hadn’t been there before.


    Just like that, my Avatar.


    "I’m not your anything," Kax said, speaking out loud now that he was alone again. "Who are you?"


    You know who I am.


    "I do?" Kax asked, his voice teasing.


    I am the Core. The End. The Slaying. Now tell me, what does that make you?


    Kax grinned. "I am the Avatar."