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    TWENTY


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


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    Sarien’s father seemed to know the city like the back of his hand as he navigated the endless streets. Wayfarers appeared at a few points, but no one glanced in their direction. Sarien assumed it meant that his barrier was working.


    “We’re here,” Ein finally said.


    “Where is here?”


    He waved at a large sign emblazoned with the Slayers’ emblem. “The Slayers’ headquarters in Nexus. Think of it as a glorified guild seat.”


    “We’re just going to stroll into your headquarters and ask to see your sister? Shouldn’t I locate her with the wayfaring?”


    Ein shook his head. “The Wayfarers will detect you, with or without your protective bubble.”


    A pair of young Slayers exited the building with a Wayfarer on each side. Ein pushed Sarien forward and then strode through the opened door.


    “Don’t worry, I’ll do the talking,” he whispered.


    A clerk sat behind a wide wooden desk. He wore glasses hung precariously on the tip of his nose. His nose twitched, and he licked his lips while glancing to a Wayfarer, who stood at the opposite wall looking grim. The Wayfarer kept his eyes on Sarien and Ein but said nothing.


    “My good man,” Ein boomed, reaching out his arms in a grand gesture. “I have come to find the rebellion. Can you please direct me to their nearest hideout?”


    Sarien groaned as the Wayfarer jumped and hurried forward with his hand outstretched. A white light tinged with purple formed in the palm of his hand. Ein turned swiftly and grabbed the Wayfarer’s hand with his own while swinging his right in a short arc, connecting his fist with the Wayfarer’s jaw. The man went limp.


    The bespectacled Slayer sighed. “Ein. What are you doing?”


    “Rasmus, my dear friend!” Ein spoke while searching the Wayfarer, coming up empty. “No medallion on this one.”


    “Of course, he has no medallion,” Rasmus said.


    Ein got to his feet and faced the surly clerk. “Rasmus, meet my son.”


    Sarien waved, not sure to make of the situation.


    “What do you want me to do about an unconscious Wayfarer? There’ll be a price to pay.”


    “We’re here to liberate you from the Wayfarer oppression. <i>You’re welcome</i>.”


    Heavy steps thudded down a set of stairs. “What is that racket?”


    “Now you’ve done it,” Rasmus said with a hint of amusement.


    Ein winced.


    “Who is it?” Sarien asked.


    “You’ll see,” Rasmus said smugly.


    The steps thundered into the next room. A door flung open suddenly. Papers scattered from the force and Rasmus threw himself onto the table to prevent his stacks from falling.


    “Stupid hunters,” he said.


    “WHAT IS GOING ON DOWN HERE?” The broadest man Sarien had ever seen bustled into the room, carrying a thick wooden pole in fists large enough to envelop a person’s head. The man’s girth was so wide that he had to enter through the door sideways, but he only stood tall enough to reach Ein’s shoulders.


    “Have I found the rebellion?” Ein asked, his voice calm despite having a stick pointed in his face.


    “There is no rebellion!”


    “Len. There is always a rebellion.”


    “There is no rebellion,” Rasmus said.


    Len waved at the Wayfarer on the floor. “What did you do to that one?”


    “Do you know everyone in Nexus by name?” Sarien asked.


    “I am a well-respected member of the Slayer organization,” Ein said.


    Len guffawed then scratched at the back of his bald head before looking at Rasmus. “Do you know this one?”


    Rasmus looked miserable. “Sure, I do. It’ll be bad news.”


    “Anything we can do?”


    “I’ll accept full responsibility,” Ein said graciously.


    “You’ll let us throw you into the hands of the Council?”


    “No, no. We just escaped from their clutches.”


    The Wayfarer on the ground stirred and let out a groan that was cut short by a thwack from Len’s staff. “What if he was to disappear?”


    “Can’t you blame my father and say you chased us away?” Sarien offered.


    Len and Rasmus looked at each other for a long moment, then Rasmus shrugged. “Fair enough. Just get out of here and leave me alone.”


    “What about the rebellion?” Ein asked.


    “There is no rebellion,” they both said in unison.


    “Can you at least direct me to Sofia?”


    It didn’t take them long to locate the apartment Sarien’s aunt resided in over a dressmaker’s shop in the outskirts of town.


    “Of course there’s a resistance,” Sofia said when Ein asked.


    Ein threw Sarien a smug smile.


    “But it’s complicated.” Sofia handed Kax’s cube to Sarien. “I confirmed that this is empty, by the way. Had some friends look at it.”


    “Complicated how?” he asked, eyeing the void prison.


    “You’ve been gone a good while, Ein, so you probably don’t know this, but many Slayers, and even Wayfarers, fought back against the Council after they unseated the Gatekeepers and introduced chaos to Nexus.”


    Ein slammed his fist on the table. “Good!”


    “Not good,” Sofia said, shaking her head. “What happens when a Wayfarer and a Slayer clash? When wayfaring touches the void?”


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    “No clue,” Ein responded.


    “Mine always tried to come together,” Sarien added.


    Ein pursed his lips. “Mine and Anja’s too, when we fought the Halvgudar on Maydian.”


    “Good thing they didn’t. It does not end well for either person.”


    “How so?”


    “The powers destroy each other and their wielders. It’s a gruesome death for all involved.”


    “So, Wayfarers and Slayers can’t fight against each other,” Sarien said.


    “A few could. Those who’ve learned secondary flows, like Ein, but it is not common amongst our peoples. The struggle grew into a stalemate, where each group relied on mundane weapons instead of their magic. The Slayers on Nexus were grossly outnumbered and were forced to set up a base outside the walls for a while.”


    “What happened?” Sarien asked.


    “We didn’t realize it at the time, but the Council hadn’t intervened in the fight. While they were gone, they broke into Sanctum. It fell in mere days.” Sofia paused, before continuing, “The Council has a new power. It has tainted their own, giving them new abilities greater than before. They fear nothing now, not even the Slaying.”


    “That’s grim,” Ein said.


    “It gets worse.”


    “Of course, it does.”


    “Their taint can spread to the willing and the unwilling alike. I’ve had friends fighting by my side one day and the next they’re standing in the Council’s ranks, their eyes tinted with purple.”


    “Wyndemir’s influence,” Sarien breathed.


    Sofia frowned, confused.


    “The Prime of Chaos.”


    She rubbed at her cheek, as if someone had slapped her. “So, it’s true then. We’ve had our suspicions but didn’t know for certain. They’ve put up a barrier around Nexus, trapping us inside. A few Wayfarers saw reason, thankfully, and have joined us, but they are little help when we can’t leave and mount a rescue on Sanctum.”


    Sofia was silent for a moment, then mouthed, “Prime.” She looked at Ein with apprehension as if she just realized something terrible. “The penitentiaries?”


    “Cracked open like eggs.”


    Sarien’s aunt fell into a sullen silence before slapping herself and walking to a basin and dunking her head under the water. She resurfaced with a gasp and said, “How do you plan to stop them?”


    Ein made as if to reply, but Sarien said, “I can fight against them, but I’ll need help.”


    Sofia gave him a look full of doubt. “There aren’t many Slayers left in Nexus and even fewer who are willing to take a stand against the Council and their ilk.”


    “I’ll beat the sense into them if I have to,” Ein said, matter-of-factly.


    “I was thinking we should focus on getting to Sanctum and freeing the Slayers first. Bringing down the Council is only one part of this. The much greater problem is finding a way of dealing with Wyndemir.”


    “Sounds like you’ve raised my nephew right, Ein,” Sofia said, approval shining through her expression.


    “I’m great at everything I do.”


    Sarien rolled his eyes. “Do we know what to expect in Sanctum?”


    “Afraid not. We rely on the Wayfarers both for transportation and sending messages, and no one can enter or leave Nexus without the Council’s approval. You must understand that we’ve been at this for years. Things have been dire for a very long time.”


    “We stole medallions from some Wayfarers which allowed us to pass through the barrier,” Ein said.


    “But we lost those,” Sarien added.


    “I’ve seen those, but didn’t know what they were,” Sofia said.


    “Do you know where we can find more?” Sarien asked.


    “Let me talk to my people. We should be able to track a few down before the day is through.”


    “Really?” Ein asked, obviously impressed.


    Sofia patted Ein’s head. “Little brother, let me show you how it’s done.”


    “We’ll need Kax,” Sarien said.


    Kax was wearing a medallion when he was absorbed into the void prison. Holding the cube in front of his face, he glanced at Sofia. “Mind if I stay here and try a few things with this?”


    She shrugged. “Knock yourself out. I’ve never heard of someone disappearing from their void prison.”


    “Thank you,” Sarien said, then thought of something. “Father, perhaps you should stay behind, too. If you leave my barrier, they’ll be able to locate you.”


    “Don’t you worry, son, they won’t surprise me again.”


    They left, leaving Sarien alone. Even with his barrier shrouding his location from the Wayfarers, he went to the door and locked it for good measure.


    Once he heard his father and aunt exit the building, he sat on the bare floor with the cube in the palm of his hand. The metal was cold to the touch, and each side inscribed with a pattern that, he presumed, were merely decorative.


    He closed his eyes and explored the void with his gray flame. It flared out around him, drifting to other objects in the room. Due to its nature, Sarien’s magic linked him to all things, no matter how mundane.


    Reeling the power back to his palm took some effort, but he managed it. The more power he pooled into the cube, the further Sarien saw into the void.


    At first, there was not a trace of Kax. Just a black nothingness without limit. But there was a limit. His father had told him as much, and if there was a limit to the void, Sarien would be able to find it.


    Pulling on more and more of his inner power, Sarien flexed and expanded his perception of the void. There was something strange about it. It did not contain an object or person, but it wasn’t entirely empty either.


    Troubled, Sarien cast his mind further. Not farther as in distance. He couldn’t quite explain what he was doing, not even to himself, but it was more like taking a step back to observe something from a different angle to gain a new perspective.


    The cube held a fraction of a fraction of the actual void, a cell in an endless nothingness. With a lot of concentration, he finally saw the limits of this particular prison. Once identified, moving beyond those walls proved easy.


    What he found astounded him.


    Sarien’s consciousness drifted above a black sea of cells. For the most part, they were identical. Each of them held an occupant, a person or being trapped in a void created by a Slayer. He sensed each individual and all the prisoners at once. Through his gray flame, Sarien saw the voids’ connections to the physical objects that housed them and their locations in an infinite number of worlds. Too many to see at once.


    Sarien’s head spun, and he withdrew, focusing on the cells. So many cells, but none contained his friend.


    Kax was nowhere to be found, but Sarien still felt his presence everywhere. Could he use the gray flame from within the void and end his search that way?


    Action immediately followed his thought. Gray flames erupted from Sarien and dispersed as a fine mist into the void, spreading out in all directions at once.


    At first, Sarien didn’t understand, then it dawned on him. Kax was not in one place nor held in one cell. Kax was everywhere. Being physically forced into this place must have done something to his altered state.


    Ever so gently, Sarien began to pull. If his friend was dispersed throughout the void, he’d need to bring the fractured pieces together to make Kax whole again. It didn’t make sense in his own logical mind, but it felt right in his gut.


    Casting his gray flame over such vastness should have been impossible, but in the end, it turned out to be surprisingly easy. Space and distance in the void did not follow the same laws as in the physical realm.


    Finding the work simple did not mean it was easy. He spent more and more of his power as he heaved Kax’s essence toward him. Something was pulling in the other direction. Was it Kax? Did he want to stay?


    No. Sarien didn’t think it was Kax’s doing. It was like pulling on the void itself.


    Not until he neared his limit, did the resistance begin to give. Ever so slowly, it came together. With something resembling curiosity, it allowed itself to be towed and drawn out.


    Little by little, the pieces came together. They resembled a sort of consciousness that Sarien didn’t understand or recognize.


    No, it wasn’t done yet. It needed more.


    Noise buzzed in Sarien’s ears and pain exploded across his face. It was a distant thing in the void, and he ignored it. Both his arms and legs began to tingle. This too, he ignored. What he couldn’t ignore was the flickering of his gray flame. His power strained and he knew it would need to end soon.


    The consciousness in front of him was being shaped piece by piece, and a flicker of recognition ran through it. Kax. A little more, Sarien told himself. It wasn’t whole yet, and there was something else along with it, black as the void. Sarien frowned. Was it actually the void itself?


    Sarien reached his limit. He heaved and pulled on the form, dragging it back out into the world with him.


    A thunderous roar sounded in his ears when he re-emerged into his body and an incredible force slammed Sarien against the wall. Stars flooded his vision after his head crashed against the floor, and he turned, groaning.


    Kax stood in the middle of the room. At least Sarien thought it was Kax. A dark, human-shaped void took in its surroundings with a mixture of disinterest and surprise. Wind blew across the room and rain pattered against the floorboards. Confused, Sarien saw that the ceiling was gone.


    “W-wha?” Then, everything began to hurt.


    Ein was getting to his feet, swaying slightly. “What did you do, son?”


    Sofia’s words were carried away on the wind and drowned out by the rain, but Sarien caught their meaning. “We have to leave this place. They’ll be coming.”


    “My barrier…” Sarien coughed and gritted his teeth. “They can locate us.” He coughed again, trying to move his limbs, but they felt like deadweight.


    Kax’s face was forming, like a mask plastered over the void. His grin looked unnatural, ill-practiced, and nothing like Kax’s mischievous smile. “Let them come.”


    Both Sofia and Ein stared openly at Kax, and Sarien’s father gave the young man a wide berth as he made his way to Sarien.


    Strong hands pulled Sarien to his feet. “Let’s go.”


    Sarien blinked the rain from his eyes. “What happened?”


    “You blew apart the building, son.”