The shockwave didn't just travel through the air. It ripped through the fabric of the atmosphere itself.
Standing on the spot where Kota had leaned against a crumbling wall hours before, Kaola felt the soles of her boots vibrate. Her breath hitched. It was a sensation she hadn't felt in years a cold, hollow pressure that made the hair on her arms stand up. It wasn't just energy. It was a puncture in the world.
She reached back and gripped the riser of her bow. She didn't notch an arrow. Instead, she closed her eyes and allowed her senses to flow into the weapon. The bow acted as a tuning fork, humming with the residual frequency of the blast.
Through the wood and string, she felt the jagged rhythm of a heart. It no longer beat like a human's. The bow pulled slightly in her hand, as if drawn by a magnet.
She looked toward the horizon. A faint violet hue stained the clouds. The twins stood behind her, eyes wide as the hum rattled their bones. They looked at each other, then back at her. The air was suddenly heavy with a static that tasted like iron and old silk.
Kaola narrowed her eyes. Her gaze sharpened. Her bow led her focus to the distant outskirts. Through the haze of dust and shimmering heat, she saw him.
He stood in the center of a crater. His silhouette was jagged. Wrong.
"I have eyes on him again," Kaola whispered. Her voice carried the weight of a dark realization. "He is awake. But he is not himself."
Deep within the silent halls of their sanctum, Koma and Kova sat in a room where shadows had a life of their own. The air here was always still, as if the world were afraid to breathe in their presence. They'd felt the pulse the moment it happened.
To them, it felt like an inversion.
Koma leaned back. His fingers were steepled in front of his face. His eyes were cold, reflecting the flickering candlelight. He didn't need to be told the hunt was stalling.
"I already know she is failing," Koma murmured. His voice cut the silence. "She is watching a metamorphosis she cannot control."
Kova didn't look up from the map. His expression was unreadable, but his tone was sharp.
"She cannot lead the twins. They're too much for her to handle, and her hesitation is becoming a liability. We should pull her. I was planning on stepping in anyway. The boy is no longer a simple target."
Koma tilted his head, watching the way Kova gripped the edge of the table. "And where is Koa?"
"I sent Koa to my void," Kova replied flatly. "She needs to be trained. If she's to survive what's coming, she cannot remain as she is. She needs to understand that she's powerful with training. We need her to be useful."
"Shouldn't you have sent Kana instead?" Koma asked with calculated indifference. "She needs training more than anyone. She's a liability on par with Kota in terms of being useless, and she lacks confidence."
Kova remained still. The silence stretched.
"If she's to survive what's coming, she cannot remain as she is."
Koma suddenly broke the tension with a sharp, jagged laugh. The sound was devoid of joy.
"I really want to kill that boy," Koma said. His eyes gleamed with eager malice. "But I know he is not even close to being as strong as father probably thought he'd be. It's a disappointment."
Koma stood up and began to pace the shadows. His movements were fluid. Restless.
"I give the mission to you. It bores me. Do what you see fit and yes, pull Kaola from the mission. I don't really care. I need something to fight right now. I am so bored. I just want to kill something, brother. Let me fight your void demons."
Kova looked up finally. His gaze met Koma's.
"If you seek slaughter, you will find it there. Don't lose yourself in the process."
Koma grinned. Kova waved a hand and sent him far north into the void. The space twisted and folded. Koma was banished to a desolate, frozen reach—far from the section where Koa and the whiteflame pests were kept. Kova wouldn't risk Koma's boredom interfering with his experiments.
Back on the road, the silence was more terrifying than the blast.
The raiders who hadn't been pulverized were scrambling. Their minds were fractured. The big man with the chain was a broken heap several yards away, his weapon twisted into a useless coil.
Kota stood in the center of the road. His head was tilted at an angle that looked skeletal. When he moved, it was with the precise, terrifying efficiency of a machine. One raider—bolder or stupider than the rest—lunged with a serrated knife.
Kota didn't turn. He simply reached out and placed a single finger on the man's shoulder.
Violet Yen surged. It wasn't a strike. It was a consumption.
The raider didn't even have time to scream. His skin turned the color of lead. His body began to crumble. In seconds, the man withered into a pile of grey ash that scattered in the wind. Just like the trees. Just like the animals.
"He's a monster!" one of the raiders shrieked. "Run! He's a monster!"
The remaining men scrambled backward. They tripped over their own feet as they fled into the darkness. They didn't look back. They only wanted to be away from the thing wearing the skin of a boy.
I'm a monster?
Kota wanted to chase them, but he stood perfectly still. His hollow eyes stared at nothing. The thought drifted through his mind like smoke, cold and detached. He looked at his hand—the same hand that had just reduced a living man to grey ash. There was no weight. No regret. Just a terrifying, empty silence.
Is this what I am?
"Stop!" Leiya cried out. Her voice shook with a terror she couldn't hide. "Kota, please stop! Just let them go!"
She was breathing hard. Her hands trembled as she looked at the spot where a man had just been erased. She was frightened of the person standing before her, but the sight of the two bleeding villagers snapped her back. With a sob, she turned away from Kota.
She began to tend the wounds of the strangers. She tore strips of cloth from her own cloak to stop the bleeding. Her eyes darted back to the silent figure in the road.
Kota didn't move. He didn't help. He only stood there as the violet glow in his veins pulsed like a dying star.
"Girl, why are you tending to the weak?" Kota asked. "Leave them. Let's go. You are my guide. Guide me to where we are supposed to go."
His voice was sharp. Menacing.
Leiya froze. Kota never spoke to her in that tone. The warmth that usually resided behind his words was gone, replaced by a freezing void. She looked up at him. Her breath caught in her throat.
The dream was gone. This nightmare was the first step toward the inversion.