The Jaeren ruins were silent as the spar began. It started as a dance. Kota moved with a fluid, toneless grace. His silver trail traced light patterns in the gray dust. Jaeger matched him. His white flames flickered like harmless candles on his fingertips. They were testing the air. They were feeling for the limits of the other's reach.
"You have the form," Jaeger said, sidestepping a blunt strike. "But you lack the intent. A Whiteflame does not move to touch. We move to consume."
The temperature shifted. The easy pace snapped. Jaeger surged forward. His hands became twin torches of ghostly heat. He was no longer playing. He was a master of the flame. He began to move with a predatory speed that made the air hum.
He is denser than Koma was, Jaeger thought. He is a collapsing star.
Kota's single heart thundered against his ribs. It was redlining. Every pulse sent a shockwave of pain through his limbs. His pupils were no longer circular. They were jagged cracks of liquid lead.
"Dodge!" the voice in his head screamed. It was a command that rattled his skull. "Dodge now, or the vessel breaks!"
Kota twisted his body mid air. A spike of white flame grazed his shoulder. It turned the fabric of his shirt to ash. He surged forward. His hand became a blade of concentrated silver energy.
Thorne and Mira watched from the edge of the rubble. Their faces were drained of color. Mira's hands were shaking so violently she had to grip her own elbows to stay still.
"Thorne, we have to go," Mira whispered, her voice cracking with pure terror. "We shouldn't be here. That Yen... it feels like the world is dying around him. It's suffocating."
"I can't move my legs," Thorne replied. His voice was a strangled rasp. His grip on his sword was useless. "It's not just power, Mira. It's an abyss. If he snaps, there won't be enough of us left to bury. We're standing on the edge of a grave."
Far above, the divine verse shivered. Two figures materialized in the circle of the Atrophies.
"Why are you calling for me, old man Krosis?" Isari asked. She looked around the circle with a sharp, condescending gaze. "But I only see seven of us. Two seats are still cold. Why have you pulled me from the Veil for a fractured council?"
"What is so important that you need me here?" Fenris added. Her eyes shifted colors like oil on water. "If this is about those children again, I might actually vomit. How come we want this child dead but didn't do this for the other ones who inverted?"
Krosis leaned forward. His presence was a tectonic weight. "Because this boy, if he fully inverts, has the potential to be a god that will rival us all. We had the Warden and his brother for the others. But Vesperos has disappeared and Vesperon is no longer with us. He needs to be revived."
Vesperia watched the flickering images looking for the lost eyes of the divine warden. Her eyes were golden. "And my task, Lord Krosis? You said I would be dispatched soon."
"Finish the memory. Find them eyes," Krosis answered. "Once you do that, you will be dispatched to the Onyx District to accompany Vesperos. Wait for the spark."
Back in the ruins, the spar had turned into a nightmare.
Jaeger lashed out with a sweeping kick, a crescent of white fire trailing behind his heel. Kota dropped low, the ground beneath him rotting as he slid through the ash. He countered with a palm strike, the silver energy snapping like a whip. Jaeger barely rolled away, the heat of his own flames flickering as the violet Yen began to bleed into the air.
Kota didn't stop. He was a blur of shifting shadows. Jaeger scrambled to keep up, his clinical focus beginning to fray. He threw a massive wall of ghostly heat, but Kota simply walked through it. The violet Yen was turning black now, thick and oily. It smothered the fire as if it were nothing.
Jaeger's foot caught on a jagged piece of rubble. He stumbled. For a split second, his guard vanished.
There is no way this is Koma's brother, Jaeger thought as he fell. No way. Impossible. I see why he wanted him dead.
"Stop, Kota! The spar is over!" Leiya screamed.
Kota vanished. He appeared over Jaeger, his hand inches from the man's chest. The silver energy was vibrating with the frequency of absolute deletion.
"Kill them both," the voice hissed.
Kill them? Why? Kota thought. I thought you wanted them around.
"He almost injured my vessel," she replied.
Why do you keep saying your vessel? Kota thought. Surely this isn't about your vessel being injured.
Leiya slammed into the space between them. She was exposed to the full, raw pressure of the leaking Yen. Blood began to stream from her nose. She tackled Kota away from Jaeger's heart.
Kota's hand struck the dirt instead. The ground vanished into a perfectly circular hole of nothingness. He looked up at Leiya. His eyes were not his own.
"Girl, you have perfect timing," the voice said through Kota's lips. The tone was ancient and terrifying. "Stop us again and you will be the one on the ground instead."
Leiya flinched. The coldness in his voice made her heart stop. Then, Kota blinked. The jagged lead in his eyes receded. He looked at her, confused.
"Get up," Kota snapped, his own voice returning. "What are you doing barging in? I could have hit you."
He stood up, his legs shaking. The resonance of the ruins began to hum in his bones. Inside his head, the voice began to laugh. It was a sound of pure malice.
"I was excited watching your little spar, boy," she said. Her voice was a dark, melodic hum. "You are very intriguing. Take that medicine. Take three vials. You will need it."
"Leiya," Kota said, his voice straining. "Give me the medicine. Three vials."
Leiya shakily got to her feet. Her hands trembled violently as she reached into her pack. She pulled out the glass vials, her eyes wide with a fear she couldn't hide. Kota watched her shaking hands as the sky began to turn a sickly, bruised violet.