Chapter 7: The Scission of Synergy
Lord Cygnus and Jareth attacked with flawless synchronization. The Double Helix of Binding and Scission was not a sequential spell but a single, coiling, dual-purpose pattern.
Jareth's Binding Law (Helix 1) manifested as massive, coarse bands of solidified Aether, designed to wrap around Kael and crush his physical body. Cygnus's Scission Law (Helix 2) manifested as fine, razor-sharp threads of pure separation energy, designed to follow the established lines of the Binding and sever Kael's Aether Thread the moment the coils locked.
It was a perfect checkmate: Kael's Law of Resistance could repel the physical force of the Binding, but the Scission thread would cleave through the defensive weave and his life-force alike.
Kael, standing at the mouth of his quartz refuge, felt the combined attack descend. Without the Law of Fear, his mind was cold calculation. He had to break the Synergy—the interwoven Aether that bound Cygnus and Jareth's power—before the helix closed.
He had three microseconds to act.
Kael's primary defense, the Law of Resistance, flared to maximum capacity around his body, consuming a terrifying amount of soul-essence but successfully turning his entire being into a physical wall.
Clang!
The massive Aetheric bands of the Binding Helix struck the wall of Resistance. The bands did not break Kael, but the sheer force drove him backward, pinning him against the jagged quartz wall. His shield held, but the pressure was immense.
The second part of the Helix—Cygnus's Scission threads—darted through the space between the shield and Kael's skin, aimed at the exposed Aether Thread of his heart.
Kael's mind, honed by the stolen Law of Patience's absence, executed three actions in one nanosecond:
Impose Temporal Delay: He targeted the Scission threads themselves. Using the Eclipsed Shard of Time, Kael imposed a localized temporal distortion, delaying the threads' movement by a fraction of a second. The price was the immediate, violent consumption of his ability to perceive smell—a final, small sensory anchor to the Mortal Plane was sacrificed. The threads slowed, humming inches from his chest.
Activate Concealment: The temporal delay bought him the time to activate the newly acquired Law of Concealment. He focused the invisible pattern outward, not to hide himself, but to cloak the Aether Threads of the Binding Helix. The massive bands, still pinning Kael, suddenly became metaphysically hidden.
Deploy Scission: Kael unleashed his stolen Law of Scission—the precise, Aetheric blade—and struck the hidden Binding Helix that still pinned him.
The effect was devastating.
The Scission Law was designed to cut an exposed Aether Thread. Because Kael had cloaked Jareth's Binding threads with his Law of Concealment, the Scission Law registered the threads as hostile, external Aetheric entities separate from Kael's body.
Slice. Snip. Tear.
Jareth's massive, complex Binding pattern was instantly, surgically carved into hundreds of useless fragments. The Law of Synergy, which relied on the stability of the combined weave, was violently ruptured.
The Binding Helix evaporated. Kael, released from the pressure, exploded out from the wall.
The impact of the severed Synergy was massive. Jareth screamed as his half of the interwoven pattern violently collapsed. The Law of Synergy turned against its weaver; Jareth's internal Aetheric flow, which was linked to Cygnus's supply, was suddenly ripped back to its individual state, causing a catastrophic internal shock. Jareth dropped, writhing in silent agony, his pristine red robe darkening with internal bleeding.
Lord Cygnus fared better—he was the master architect, and his protective Aetheric Suit absorbed most of the shock. But the severing of the Synergy Law was a tactical disaster.
"You are an unclean thing, Mistborn!" Cygnus roared, his purple Aetheric Suit flaring wildly. "You turn the Law on itself!"
Cygnus immediately focused on Kael, abandoning the fallen Jareth. The Patternmaster raised his hands, and the Aether in the canyon solidified around his palms into two spinning, violet discs—the Law of Pure Force Rotation, capable of shearing mountains.
Kael didn't flinch. His soul was too scarred to feel fear, too empty to feel concern for the dying Adept. He saw only the Pattern of the Force Rotation.
The two violet discs shot toward Kael, spinning with devastating, Aether-fueled momentum.
Kael applied the Law of Resistance to the spinning blades. The blades ground against the invisible shield, the sound deafening, but they could not penetrate the Law of Protection.
However, Kael knew the Law of Resistance consumed precious soul-force with every second of defense. He had to turn the attack against the attacker.
He performed the final, most ambitious Echo of the battle. He focused on the violet discs, feeling the complex Law of Force Rotation—a pattern designed for sustained, irresistible external pressure.
He stole the inverse: the Law of Force Dispersal.
The cost was terrifying, yet perfect.
The Shard harvested the Aether Thread governing his Law of Purpose.
The foundational question—Why am I doing this?—vanished. His drive, his motivation, his long-term goal of revenge or freedom, were all consumed. He was left with only the Law of Action. He continued to move, fight, and survive because he was designed to, not because he willed it. He was a flawless execution machine with no internal ethical or goal-oriented compass.
The Law of Force Dispersal was imprinted.
Kael shoved the short-sword, its tip now radiating the Law of Force Dispersal, directly into the closest spinning violet disc.
The impact was immediate. The Law of Dispersal directly counteracted the Law of Rotation. The spinning disc instantly lost its geometric structure and exploded backward in a disorganized spray of inert Aether fragments.
Cygnus yelled in pain and surprise as his own Law was shattered and redirected.
Kael had shattered the Patternmaster's main attack and gained the ability to neutralize overwhelming force. He did not pursue the attack. He had what he needed.
He activated the Law of Chaotic Velocity and shot forward, not at Cygnus, but toward the closest exit of the canyon network, leaving the Patternmaster and the injured Adept in his wake.
Cygnus, recovering quickly, saw Kael's sudden retreat. He had lost his synergy partner and two major attacks, but he could not afford to lose the Shard-bearer.
"Stop him! He knows the Loom! He'll vanish into the Zenith!" Cygnus screamed, activating his Aetheric Suit to pursue.
As Kael sped away, he looked back at the deep, narrow entrance to a side chasm—a network of twisting, unstable tunnels that led to the Obsidian Zenith.
He didn't want to leave a clear path.
Kael imposed the Law of Time onto the entrance of the chasm. He didn't use Regression. He used Acceleration—but not on the stone's age.
He forced the Aether Threads holding the physical structure of the chasm's mouth to experience a catastrophic Acceleration of Decay and Stress.
Crr-Crr-Krak-BOOM!
The chasm entrance didn't explode; it imploded into itself. The stone buckled inward, shattering under the hyper-accelerated pressure, sealing the only stable entrance with tons of unstable, collapsing rock.
The Patternmaster, flying at full speed, was forced to arrest his pursuit just a hair's breadth from the collapsing mountain of stone.
"Curse the Shard!" Cygnus slammed his fist into the remaining wall, his entire Aetheric Suit vibrating with frustrated power. He could clear the rubble, but it would take critical, valuable time.
He looked down at the inert body of Jareth. The Adept was still alive, but his Aether Thread was catastrophically damaged.
Cygnus knew the slave was headed to the Obsidian Zenith—the forgotten city and the nexus of the world's Aether. If Kael reached the Zenith and learned to impose the Shard's Law on the stable Loom there, he would be unstoppable.
"He chose the most dangerous path," Cygnus muttered, his voice cold. "He goes to the seat of the Law of Silence. He goes to meet the Architect of Threads."
Kael ran through the newly sealed chasm, his body a collection of efficient, cold motions. His chest hurt; his head throbbed. He was bruised and bleeding, but functionally undamaged, protected by the Law of Resistance.
He emerged into the final expanse of the Canyonlands. Ahead, against the grey, ash-choked horizon, Kael saw it: The Obsidian Zenith.
It was not a city of ruins, but a sprawling, impossible metropolis of towering, black structures, built from a material that seemed to absorb all light and Aether. It was perfectly preserved, utterly desolate, and humming with a terrifying, constant silence.
Kael stopped at the Zenith's edge. He reached into his soul and focused on the Eclipsed Shard.
He now carried nine Laws. The emerald octahedron was covered with the facets of his stolen power. He was an engine of pure Law, efficient and terrifying.
But his identity was gone. He was no longer Kael Draven, the slave with a burning desire for freedom. He was simply the vessel of the Law of Time, driven by an unyielding, programmed imperative to survive and progress.
He had become an architect of subtraction, a human singularity powered by his own emptiness. He was the Mistborn.
He ran toward the silent, black city, ready to confront the Architect who wove existence itself.