The rain had turned the ground into a treacherous slurry of mud and ash. Kaito stood before the Sand-Viper, his breath coming in ragged, wet gasps. His chest wound from the village battle—the one Kage had stitched together with shadows—was throbbing with a dull, sickening heat. He wasn't recovered; he was a walking corpse held together by a god's spite.
The Fight: Weight of the World
"You look pale, boy," the Sand-Viper mocked, flicking a switch on his metallic gauntlet. "Let's see how you handle the pressure."
The Viper slammed his fist into the ground. Gravity Magic: Crushing Zone.
The air became like lead. Kaito's knees hit the mud with a bone-cracking thud. He tried to call on Kage, but his body was too weak to act as a vessel. Every time he tried to channel power, blood leaked from his nose. He lunged forward, swinging a fist encased in a flickering, weak flame, but the Viper simply stepped aside.
"Slow. Weak. Pathetic," the Viper growled. He delivered a brutal kick to Kaito's ribs, sending him spinning into the dirt.
Mizuki, still pinned under the iron-silk net, watched in horror as the Viper drew a heavy, blunt mace. "Stop it!" she screamed, but her voice was drowned out by the thunder.
With one final strike to the back of Kaito's head, the world went black.
The Vision: The Cost of Fire
In the darkness of his unconsciousness, Kaito didn't see Kage. He saw the past.
He saw his father, his face scorched and peeling from the heat of the Smolder Forges, coughing up black soot. He saw his mother, her hands blistered and raw, sewing the heavy leather boots for the Flame Clan's elite warriors.
They worked eighteen hours a day, only to be mocked by the High Fire Guards.
"Look at these Duds," a nobleman laughed, flicking a coin into the dirt. "Breeding more useless ash-rats. Work harder, or we'll extinguish your hearth for good."
Kaito saw himself as a child, watching his parents bow their heads in shame. The rage he felt then was the same rage Kage fed on now. The Flame Clan hadn't just used him; they had broken his family for sport.
The Awakening: Tied by Fate
Kaito's eyes fluttered open. His head felt like it had been split by an axe. He tried to move, but his arms were pulled back. He realized he was sitting back-to-back with someone, their wrists tied together with Anti-Magic Wire.
"Don't struggle," Mizuki's voice whispered behind him. She sounded exhausted and bitter. "It only bites deeper."
They were in a high-walled canyon. Nearby, Riku was huddled in a small iron cage, crying silently.
The Sand-Viper sat by a crackling fire, the smell of roasted chicken filling the air—a cruel contrast to the misery of his prisoners. He tore a wing off and chewed loudly, his cybernetic eye whirring as it scanned the perimeter.
"You two are worth a kingdom," the Viper said, looking over his shoulder. "The boy for the Flame General, and the girl for the Earth Lord. I'm going to be the richest man in the history of the Borderlands. By tomorrow, the Five Clans will have their prize, and I'll have my palace."
The Watchers in the Dark
Kaito looked up at the jagged rim of the canyon, hoping for a miracle.
High above, silhouetted against the pale moon, stood the three Grave-Keepers. The girl sat on a rock, swinging her legs like a child at a playground, watching the scene below.
"Should we intervene?" one of the boys asked, his hand hovering over a needle.
The girl smiled, her eyes reflecting the orange glow of the Viper's fire. "No. Let the hunters take them closer to the Earth City. It saves us the walk. Besides..." she tilted her head. "I want to see if the King wakes up when the cage gets smaller."
Kaito and Mizuki are captured, their powers suppressed, and a million-gold bounty sits just miles away.