Koma fell through the air like a star losing its light. The sky, which had only moments ago been warped and screaming under his command, was now eerily still.
His body flickered with the last remnants of his phantom step. He appeared and disappeared in jagged, ghostly intervals as gravity reclaimed him. There was no grace in the descent. His eyes, usually sharp enough to cut through the soul of an opponent, were glazed with the grey haze of total exhaustion.
Just as it seemed his body would be broken against the jagged bedrock below, Koma stopped. One moment he was a plummeting weight. The next, he was perfectly stationary, suspended in the air by a sheer, stubborn act of will. He remained there with his hair splayed across his face. His chest heaved in ragged, heavy hitches as his body screamed from the massive Yen deficit.
Below him, the crater remained a jagged, glowing scar on the face of the forest. Hykee hovered above it. His legs were braced and his arms still trembled with the aftershocks of the black lightning. The three dancing lightning strides continued to circle him. Their hum was so loud it vibrated the very stones, but the target they were meant to consume was no longer a threat. Hykee watched the hunched silhouette of his brother, his own mind struggling to process the sudden shift in the atmosphere.
"He stopped?" Hykee whispered. His voice was barely audible over the crackle of the electricity.
Koma slowly lifted his head. The lethal glow in his eyes had faded, leaving behind a hollow, glassy exhaustion. He looked at Hykee, but he didn't look at him as an enemy. He looked at him as a nuisance that had finally cost him too much energy.
"I'm done," Koma rasped. His voice was thin and lacked its usual booming authority. "I'm tired. The fight is over."
Hykee felt a surge of indignation. "You don't get to decide it's over! Look at this! Look at what we've done!"
Koma didn't answer with words. He simply closed his eyes. With a final, flickering shimmer of his phantom step, he vanished. There was no parting blow and no grand exit. He simply ceased to be in the clearing, leaving behind only the scent of ozone and the cooling heat of the atmosphere.
High above, the sisters remained frozen in their flight. Kaola was the first to move. Her wind wings fluttered frantically as she scanned the empty air where Koma had just been suspended.
"Koma?" she screamed. Her voice cracked with a mix of terror and disbelief. "Where'd he go?"
Lokee reached out and caught Kaola by the shoulder. Her grip was like iron. "He's gone, Kaola. He retreated to recover. He reached his limit."
"What are you doing?" Kaola demanded, struggling against Lokee's hold. "He's hurt! We've got to find him!"
Lokee turned her head. Her gaze was sharp and unforgiving. "Why are you so eager to help someone who literally wants you dead?"
Kaola flinched. Her wings stuttered for a second. "He's our brother, Lokee. He's our blood."
"Blood is just a liquid that spills when he decides you're no longer useful," Lokee snapped. "Look at the ground beneath you. He was ready to delete us along with the trees just to satisfy his ego. Stop chasing a ghost that wants to put you in a grave."
Kana stood behind them. Her hands were pressed to her chest as she watched the black lightning continue to swirl around their brother hovering above the crater. "He looks like he doesn't know what to do," Kana observed. Her voice was small and shaky.
Hykee drifted through the air toward the empty space, then stopped. "Come back!" Hykee roared. The sound echoed off the mountainside. "Come back and finish it, Koma! You don't get to just walk away!"
There was no response. With a guttural yell of pure rage, Hykee swung his hand to the side. The three dancing lightning strides tore away from him and slammed into the base of the mountain. The impact was deafening. It was a massive explosion of black light that carved a new cave into the side of the peak. Hykee didn't wait for his sisters. He just turned and walked into the shadows of the remaining trees, leaving them behind.
Far from the scorched earth, the air grew thick with an ancient pressure. Kova moved with a steady pace. His eyes were fixed on the horizon where the fabric of the world seemed to fray. Beside him, Koa walked with a weathered map, but her pace slowed until she came to a complete halt.
"Kova, wait," Koa said. Her voice dropped as she rotated the parchment. She looked at the jagged landmarks around them and then back at the ink. "We're somewhere that's not on this map. I don't recognize this terrain. It isn't shown here. The landmarks don't match Father's notations."
Kova stopped. He looked over at the parchment where the ink seemed to bleed into nothingness. "We're going to the cave where it all started. The source. Once we get to the beginning of Father's adventures, we scour the entire terrain. We'll find clues tying to our father's past, Koa. After that, we'll follow a different map and look for the three eyed horseman."
Kova looked toward the distorted horizon. His voice became a low, resonant rumble. "Our father had marked on that second map where the three eyed horseman is kept. We're going to retrieve its bones."
Koa looked at him with wide eyes. "Bones? Kova, that sounds like a burial ground for something that should stay buried."
"Koma is bored, Koa," Kova replied. His gaze shifted to the ruins. "The world has become too predictable for him. He needs something that'll cure that boredom. Something to challenge the ceiling he's built. The plan is to retrieve those bones so I can revive the three eyed horseman. Once it's brought back, it'll provide the stimulus he craves."
Juno scanned the perimeter, moving with a silent, predatory grace. Her eyes missed nothing as they approached the boundary of the known world. She remained a silent shadow. Her expression was unreadable and her focus was absolute as she watched the distorted landscape for any sign of movement.
At the Sanctuary, the midday sun hung high in the sky, washing the greenery in a bright, unforgiving light. Kota stood before Elowen. His pack was slung over his shoulder. Beside him, Leiya, Mira, and Thorne were already prepared for the long road ahead. The air was filled with the scent of pine and the soft rustle of leaves.
"You don't have to do this alone, Kota," Elowen said softly. Her eyes squinted slightly against the afternoon glare.
Kota looked over at Leiya with a small, tired smile. "I'm not alone," he said firmly. "I've got Leiya."
Leiya stepped forward, placing a hand on Elowen's arm and offering a sincere nod. "Thank you for helping us," she said. "I won't forget."
Mira and Thorne stood in the background. Their expressions were resolute. They were leaving the quiet behind for a journey that promised to be far more dangerous than anything they'd experienced before.
"Be safe," Elowen whispered, watching as they turned toward the treeline.
Kota took one last look at the area, then at Leiya, Mira, and Thorne. With a final nod of goodbye, they stepped into the shadows of the forest. They left Elowen behind as they began their journey into the unknown.