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    TWENTY-THREE


    <h2 style="text-transform: uppercase">SARIEN</h2>


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    “Where is everyone?” Sofia breathed. Her words whipped away from her, carried on the wind.


    “It’s not always like this, I take it?” Kax asked.


    “No,” Ein said. He must have hoped for something different for his homecoming after all these years. His expression was that of disbelief and simmering anger. Sarien had never known his father to be an angry man, but these past few days had proven otherwise. Sarien didn’t blame him.


    “Where do we go?” Sarien asked, holding up a hand to shield his face from the increasing downpour. His clothes were soaked, and he shivered in the chill.


    “There,” Kax said, pointing. At first, Sarien stared at his friend. The rain didn’t touch Kax. Neither his hair, face, nor his clothes had a speck of damp on them. Looking at him standing there, pointing out across the city, Sarien thought he appeared dream-like, like he didn’t belong to this world. To any world.


    Kax caught his eye and repeated himself. “Over there, pyromancer.”


    Sarien narrowed his eyes and craned his neck, but no matter how hard he squinted, all he saw was darkness. “What are you talking about?”


    “There’s a light in one of the windows of a warehouse on the far side of town. Also, I saw some movement by the building’s perimeter.”


    “What building are you talking about?” Ein asked.


    “The big square one next to the tower thing.”


    “Do you know it?” Sofia asked her brother.


    Ein pursed his lips and stared out into the distance. “Sounds like the boy is talking about the grain storage, but that’s just a really large barn. Nothing interesting about a barn.”


    “I’m telling you, there’s a light in that window.”


    “Should I take us inside it?” Sarien asked.


    His father held out a hand, as if to physically stop him. “No, not this time. We don’t know anything about what’s in there, or in the city for that matter. It’s best to use caution.”


    Kax let out a defeated sigh. “Are you sure at least one of us shouldn’t charge in? Element of surprise? I could do with a little mayhem.”


    Ein’s voice was firm. “No mayhem.”


    “You people never let me have any fun.”


    “You people?” Sofia asked.


    Kax grumbled and started down the sloping street toward the grain storage facility, muttering to himself about unfairness and dullards.


    It was eerie walking down the deserted streets with empty windows gaping at them as they passed. Their steps echoed against the stone, with no other sounds joining in other than the never-ending patter of rain. Sarien felt as if he was desecrating a tomb.


    Suddenly, they were attacked. Streams of fire shot out from the buildings.


    Sarien froze in surprise. Thankfully, the others were better prepared. Ein met fire with fire, as drops of rain hissed into steam around them. Sofia’s darkness blossomed in the palm of her hand, and it consumed the flames, consigning them to the void.


    Kax was nowhere to be seen, but it became apparent when streams of fire disappeared one by one.


    Ein lowered his own fire and Kax peeked out of a window, holding up a piece of fabric. Even in the dark street, Sarien recognized it instantly. Red with golden embroidery.


    “Pyromancers,” Sarien said.


    Ein looked back the way they’d come. “We should get out of the open. They must have spotted us when we entered Sanctum.”


    “Or at any point during our little stroll down one of the widest streets in this place, making more sound than rampaging bulls,” Sofia suggested.


    “Or that,” Ein agreed.


    Kax jumped down and landed next to them, grinning. “Nice to see some people from back home.”


    “Anyone you recognized?” Sarien asked, peering up at the darkened windows.


    “Nope.”


    They moved toward one of the narrow side streets. Each house they passed was dead quiet.


    “Where did everyone go?” Sarien said.


    “I don’t know but Sanctum houses tens of thousands. That many people don’t just up and disappear,” Ein said.


    Sofia grunted and elbowed Ein in the side, and Sarien’s father glanced to a building. He pointed. “I grew up in that house, me and Sofia both.”


    “Which one?”


    “That one.” Ein waved behind them, but Sarien didn’t hear him. He heard the sound of heavy rain pinging off metal.


    “Archers!” Sarien yelled, throwing himself to the side and lighting his gray flame. Just as Sofia’s darkness consumed the pyromancer’s flame, Sarien’s worked as a perfect barrier against the more mundane weapons. Two arrows flitted through the air and vanished as it flew into the barrier.


    Sarien seethed at the cowardly attacks. He stood and stoked his flame, pushing it to grow until it was large enough to swallow a pair of horses or a whole wagon.


    “Go away!” he screamed, directing his gray flame at the archers. They stood on top of a building, readying their bow for another strike.


    His gray flame grew massive as he hurtled it through the air. It enveloped the building and between breaths, it was gone. The whole structure along with four men was consumed by Sarien’s void, leaving nothing behind.


    His magic tore them apart and scattered their parts to faraway worlds across the universe.


    His father put his arm around Sarien, careful not to touch the gray flame. He cleared his throat. “That one.”


    The gray flame withdrew. “What?”


    “Never mind,” his father said, his tone gentle. “It doesn’t matter.”


    Sarien stared at the building. Sections of the lower floor remained, but it appeared as if someone took a sharp knife and had precisely cut away at the building, leaving clean, incisive lines behind.


    Kax stood with hands on hips. “Not bad.”


    Sofia’s lower lip trembled, but her voice came out as steely as ever. “Whatever that power of yours is, nephew, it’s strong.”


    “Thank you.” Pride swelled in his chest. Not from Sofia’s comment, but from the fact he had finally been the one to spot a problem and deal with it before anyone else. He hadn’t frozen.


    “They’re testing us,” Ein said as they resumed their trek through the city.


    “Seems unlikely,” Sofia said.


    “Why’s that?”


    “The Council has had this place in an iron grip for years without anyone attempting a rescue. They couldn’t have known we would come here.”


    “What’s going on then?” Kax asked.


    “They left people behind. Patrols. With all the noise we’ve been making, they’ve had ample time to set up ambushes along the way.”


    “Perhaps,” Ein said, his voice doubtful.


    “Let’s just hope they haven’t sent word to whoever is in charge,” Sarien said.


    Kax skipped ahead. “Why? It’s more fun with a little challenge.”


    A thick beam of bright light lit up the night and sliced into Kax’s head, obliterating it. Kax landed on his feet and turned his body to face the origin of the light. His face was gone, nothing but the void remained.


    “Rude,” he said, setting off.


    Sofia yanked Sarien and Ein back and out of the way from where the light struck. It left a round hole in a nearby wall.


    “What was that?” Sarien asked.


    “I’m actually not sure. It was surprisingly advanced. Something from the Death flow, if I had to guess,” Ein said.


    “Death flow?” Sarien asked.


    “Later,” Sofia said, running down the narrow alleyway.


    Kax caught up to them soon after, his face reformed.


    “How are you doing that?” Sarien asked, his voice hushed as to not attract more attention than necessary. They were moving close enough now that he didn’t have to shout to be heard over the rain.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    “Doing what?” Kax asked.


    Sarien gestured to Kax’s face and body. “You keep regenerating back to your normal form.”


    All he got for a reply was a shrug.


    Sofia placed a finger to her lips. The group was drawing close to the large barn-like structure. From where they stood, Sarien couldn’t make out any signs of life.


    Ein darted carefully from building to building, glaring up at the empty windows as if daring someone to appear. To Sarien’s surprise, they didn’t run into a single soul as they approached.


    His father’s eyes flitted back and forth, and a crease appeared on his brow. “I don’t like this. Why haven’t they raised an alarm?”


    Kax tried the door. It screeched loudly, the sound echoing through the night. He smiled sheepishly. “It’s unlocked. Want to head inside?”


    They moved inside and was instantly consumed by the dark as the door closed behind them.


    Ein lit a small flame in the palm of his hand. It gave away their location in an instant, but they had little choice. It was either that or stumbling around blindly in the dark.


    Ein’s flame revealed a short hallway that ended in a set of stairs. There was a door that seemed to lead into the main area of the structure that, as Ein had said earlier, was a storage facility of some sort.


    “Stairs or door?” Sofia asked. She kept a shimmering ball of darkness floating above the palm of her hand. It drew in the light from Ein’s flame when they stood too close, making it even more difficult to see.


    “We split up,” Ein said. “If there’s someone here, we need to question them.” He turned to Kax, scowling. “No killing. You hear me?”


    Kax placed a hand on his chest and looked at Ein with mocked innocence. “I would never.”


    Ein narrowed his eyes. “Best if you come with me. Sarien and Sofia, why don’t you check upstairs?”


    “I’ll go with Sarien, but we’ll stay on this floor.” Sofia went over to the door and waited with her hand on the handle.


    Sarien lit his own flame. Like before, it gave poor light to see by, but it was better than nothing. Sofia turned the handle as Ein and Kax started up the wooden stairs, each step creaking and groaning under their weight.


    Sarien entered first through the open door. He marveled at the emptiness beyond. It was just one big room, at least as far as he could see. Holding the flame up above his head, the walls beyond were barely visible in the gloom. At first, the ceiling was low, but as they made their way into the room, the space opened up above them.


    Sarien took another step inside, moving gingerly to avoid the cloth mounds lying on the ground. The opposite wall was too far away to see, and Sarien turned to ask Sofia what they should do when he bumped into one of the heaps.


    Spinning to catch himself, Sarien cursed his clumsiness as he fell. His gray flame winked out and when he brought it forth again, he screamed.


    A pair of dead eyes stared back at him in the darkness. “It’s people,” he hissed. “They’re dead.”


    Sofia got down on one knee next to him. She examined the body of the one he tripped over. “Not dead. Imprisoned.” She helped Sarien to his feet.


    He moved to pull a canvas from one of the others, a woman. Then a man, and another man. Each of them wore the emblem of a Slayer. “There must be hundreds of them.”


    “Last count of the Slayers estimated eleven hundred and seven. This was before the conflict, so more might have been born, and many may have died defending Sanctum.”


    “A thousand people,” Sarien said, his voice echoing against the bare stone walls.


    “Catch the brat!” Kax yelled from up above.


    Sarien looked up to find his father holding out his flame and a shadowy object hurtling down toward them.


    Sofia and Sarien reacted at the same time, throwing themselves forward to catch whoever it was Kax was yelling about. They bumped into each other and Sarien braced himself. Right before catching the object, it disappeared.


    “What?” Sofia asked.


    Sarien, equally confused, called his flame and held it up.


    “Burn it!” Kax cursed. “The boy is rhinn, he can do some sort of traveling!”


    “I’ll try to follow!” Sarien shouted back, closing his eyes. Rhinn could only travel within a world, not to another. The boy couldn’t have gone far.


    “Wait,” Ein called out, but it was too late.


    Sarien found the strand linking to the boy. Throwing his entire being into the wayfaring, he followed.


    Sarien appeared on a rooftop near the storage building and grabbed the boy’s arm.


    He yelped, “Let go of me!” and disappeared from Sarien’s grasp.


    Leaping back into the wayfaring, Sarien followed. Their next location was on a field of grass outside of town. By the time Sarien arrived, Reze was already gone. He followed again and again, but to no avail. Even if he caught up to the young rhinn, Sarien couldn’t prevent Reze from disappearing again. Or could he?


    This time, Sarien waited a moment before following, hoping the boy might think he’d given up. He readied himself, stoking his gray flame.


    When he appeared, the rhinn boy’s eyes were wide with fright. He and made as if to travel again, but in the instant before the boy could use his power to escape, Sarien pulled on the wayfaring, taking the strands of power out of the boy’s grasp, adding it to his own strength.


    It was a lot. A huge amount, really. Enough to make Sarien gasp and lose his concentration for a moment. There was something different about the enormous well of power in the young rhinn that Sarien didn’t recognize. He’d seen it before but couldn’t remember when.


    “What are you doing?” the boy asked.


    Sarien grabbed his arm, opened a gateway, and stepped through, bringing them both back inside the storehouse and out of the rain.


    “Did you get him?” Kax asked.


    “I got him,” Sarien panted, brimming with power.


    They were all down on the first floor and Ein’s flame cast shadows over Kax’s face, giving his grin a wicked tint. “Hello Reze.”


    The boy pointed, his finger trembling in the air. “It’s you! The monster!”


    Kax explained, “Me and Goslin met him after a battle against the rhinn. He hid in a wagon full of straw.”


    “I didn’t hide!” Reze protested. “I was lying in ambush!”


    Kax pressed his hands into his chest and it disappeared into the endless void. “Want to try stabbing me again?”


    Reze pulled free of Sarien’s grip but rather than flee, he launched himself at Kax, who cackled maniacally.


    “You’re even using the same knife! You’re brave, I’ll give you that.” Kax didn’t bother to dance out of the way as Reze thrust his knife repeatedly into Kax, his arm disappearing into his void.


    “Boys,” Sofia sighed.


    “What are you doing here, Reze?” Ein asked.


    Sarien added his own question. “You’re working with the priests of Wyndemir?”


    Reze glared at Kax. “I mean, what else am I supposed to do? The rhinn were beaten by you people, and by monsters,” he shuddered, “or turned into monsters themselves. Where else was I supposed to go? Wyndemir is our god. The priests said I have to fight for him.”


    “Plenty of rhinn survived. They joined forces with us and are staying in Fyrie, our capital,” Kax said.


    Reze’s eyes glittered in the dim light. “Really? The priests said they were all dead, destroyed by Wyndemir because they rebelled against their god.”


    “Told you we killed our gods,” Kax said. “We’re working on doing it again.”


    Ein cleared his throat. “You sound like a decent enough boy. What is your purpose here? We saw a light. Was it yours? Are you alone?”


    Reze’s face reddened and when he spoke, his voice trembled. Sarien suddenly remembered how young Reze was. He was only a child. “They sent me here after we met last. Don’t know how long ago that was. Feels like forever. Found a candle. Don’t like the dark. Don’t like all those not-dead bodies.”


    “Any others with you?” Sofia asked.


    Reze shook his head. “Not in this building, but I’ve seen others in this city.”


    “Do you know what happened here?” Sarien asked, gesturing to the imprisoned.


    “No. They don’t tell me nothing.” He paused, then his eyes widened. “The priests said they took everyone who wasn’t like these people.”


    “The townsfolk?”


    “That’s right.”


    “Do you know of any black objects nearby? Did the priests mention cubes or anything like that?” Sarien asked.


    “They did!”


    “Where?”


    The boy stood a little taller and pointed his chin up. He waved his finger in the air and began speaking in an imperious voice. “Pay full attention to your task and perform it well, or you will take the creature’s place.”


    “Creature?” Sarien asked.


    Reze hugged himself. “Uh-huh. ‘The guardian standing over the sea of blackness’. That priest is a dramatic one, but he sounded scared himself, and he mentioned something about that blackness being cubes and whatnot.”


    “Do you know where this creature is?”


    “I’ve been looking around a little. It gets very boring here, you understand?”


    “Sure,” Ein allowed.


    “Been looking all over, almost got caught a few times, but they don’t know who I am. There is a place here being watched by several guards and when I snuck inside, I heard sounds.”


    “Sounds?”


    Reze made his already large rhinn eyes bulge and showed his teeth while holding his fingers out like claws. “Monster sounds.”


    “Where?”


    Reze pointed out into the darkness. “A big building. Don’t know what it is. By the edge of town, near a pretty statue of a woman feeding birds.”


    Ein nodded. “I know the place.”


    Kax handed the candle over to Reze. “Here you go.” Then he gave Sarien a questioning look. Sarien didn’t think his friend was asking him whether or not to dispose of Reze. He hoped he wasn’t.


    “Reze,” Sarien began. “You understand that Wyndemir and the priests are bad, don’t you?”


    “I told you, I didn’t have a choice!”


    “I’m not blaming you. Would you like to return to Maydian? I can get you somewhere safe in my world.” He thought of Tyralien with its high walls and relative safety.


    “You said some of my people are holding out in that big city? Furju was it?”


    “Fyrie,” Sarien corrected.


    “I can go there myself. I’d like to help.”


    Sarien shook his head. “You can’t, but I can send you there.”


    It’d been some time since Sarien thought of his friends who, undoubtedly, must be busy protecting Fyrie from waves of monster attacks. Sarien wanted desperately to check in with the others and to ensure that Wyndemir was still kept at bay by the rhinn travelers, but there wasn’t time.


    Reze looked a little confused, but shrugged. “I want to go there. I can help!”


    Sarien gathered himself. “I’m going to open a gateway to the wall by the main gate in Fyrie. The wayfaring is heavily suppressed so I won’t be able to hold it for long. Can you check to see if everything is okay?”


    “Of course, son.”


    “Ready, Reze?”


    Reze’s face was set with determination. “Ready!”


    Opening a gateway to Maydian proved just as difficult as when they left. If not for the massive spike of power from Reze, he would have failed.


    The gateway shimmered opened and Reze stepped through first. The boy looked around himself wondrously before he blinked away. Kax followed, with Ein close behind.


    “Don’t be long,” Sarien grunted, his whole body tensing from the effort.


    Sofia opted to stay behind.


    Sweat poured down his face, and his chest heaved and fell with increasing difficulty. A few breaths later, his vision swam. Still, he held on. His aunt put Sarien’s free arm, the one not completely blazing with gray flames, around her shoulders to give him support. Without her assistance, Sarien’s knees would have buckled.


    Kax and his father cut the timing close to the brink of Sarien’s exhaustion, and when they finally returned, even Sofia’s help wasn’t enough to keep him upright.


    “You look terrible,” Kax said.


    Sarien glared up at him from the floor. “What did you find?”


    “It’s rough out there,” Ein said. His beard looked a little singed, and there were several cuts and slices through the fabric of his coat.


    “The weather was better there than here, at least,” Kax said.


    “Fyrie is near falling. The defenders looked organized enough, but it was plain they’d been going for far too long. We gave them some breathing room.”


    “What about Wyndemir?”


    “Moving,” Kax answered. “A lot.”


    “Did you see Goslin?” Sarien asked.


    They both shook their heads.


    “He was likely busy saving the day elsewhere,” Kax said.


    Sofia helped Sarien to his feet and grabbed him when he wobbled. “Thank you. So where is this statue?”


    Ein eyed Sarien with obvious worry. “It’s not far from here, but perhaps we should rest first.”


    “I can go on.”


    His legs gave away and his father caught him. “I’m not so sure you can, son. Let me and your friend handle this one.”


    “Fine.”


    “What about me?” Sofia asked.


    “You stay with the boy and make sure he’s safe.”


    “Boy?” Sarien asked.


    “You’re still my boy, despite it all.”


    Sofia grumbled. “Fine.”