Raiten:

  Before the sun can fully crack over the horizon, I calmly walk over to Saegor and peel his head up from the log. He wakes up immediately and his eye goes wide, but I cover his mouth and put a finger to my lips. The old mancer squirms. His leathery hands clasp onto my wrists, palms heating up with magicks.

  Maybe he thinks I’m out to get him after last night’s debacle. But I’m not the same man as yesterday.

  I lean down and whisper: “Glory to the Entity.”

  His resistance ceases. He raises an eyebrow, confused.

  I uncover his mouth. “Follow me. We have a lot to talk about.”

  …

  We find a roaring, frothing stream that levels down to the bog we’ve passed. The water here is much clearer. Some fish are caught swimming against the current. Their scales are silver and they gleam brightly in contrast to the woody earth.

  The briars smell clean for once. Fresh. Perhaps getting past the bog was the worst of our woes.

  As I enter the leg-high water, I spot a deer sipping from the water upstream. It perks its ears up as Saegor walks on some crisp fall leaves behind me—and like how all other deer react at the slightest noise, this one snaps its head up and looks directly at me.

  That’s when I notice that it's a spirit. A wooden one, like Umbrahorn. The deer’s eyes are of an ebony oak that look soulless and sad.

  The spirit hops away when the mancer wades into the edge of the stream.

  “That’s the first big spirit I’ve seen in a while. Probably means there are less plagued in this area,” Saegor mutters. Then, he turns to me. “Well, I assume you wanted to talk in private then.”

  “Can you put up a sound barrier or something?”

  He shifts uncomfortably for a moment, as if unsure of what I plan. To be honest, I don’t have a plan. But this feels right.

  Eventually, he nods and weaves his hands through the air, whispering something in soft Incanta. A shield much like Kiren’s forms around us. The WUSH of the water echoes.

  “So, the witch visited you last night.”

  I nod.

  “You don’t seem surprised I know.”

  “I figured you would. Kiren told me you know enough dream magicks to at least set alarms for all of us.”

  He nods slowly, fingers twiddling in anticipation of… something. But I show no aggression. My voice is calm and level. I crouch down and stare at my reflection in the rushing water.

  “She showed you her past?” he asks.

  “Yes.”

  “And… what now? Why call me out here?”

  I roll up my sleeves, reach my hand into the water and splash it lamely about, stirring it up. The reflection warbles.

  “Nothing. I figured I’d ask for your side of the story. The real side by the way—not whatever you gave us last night.”

  Saegor’s eye narrows. “And who said that wasn’t the real story?”

  I laugh. “Come on old man, I might be uneducated, but I’m not an idiot. Besides, after the shit you pulled on me yesterday, you owe me this much. After all, like you said, we’re on the same side.”

  “Are we still?”

  “Of course. Do you honestly think I care about any of this shit, Saegor? What does it matter if you were a Harbinger or a Disciple or that you worshipped an Entity that feeds on children’s souls?” The old man stiffens as I list off the secrets of his past so casually. “I only care about one thing, Saegor. That’s why you picked me, right? I’m a good soldier.”

  “Uh…huh. Alright. Then why do you want to know my side of it?”

  “A show of trust. You lost that much last night. This is your chance to gain it back.”

  A bird chirps outside of the sound field. The twittering is muffled here… almost ancient-like.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  I reach my hand deeper into the coolness of the water. Touch my fingers to the rocks and feel their smoothness.

  “Alright. Fine. Have it your way, Raiten. But, you understand that this stays between us.”

  “Why would they believe me anyway?”

  He relaxes his shoulders. “Fair enough. Well kid, the Entity—”

  I clutch onto the rock and chuck it at his head. He waves his hand up and some particles of ice do come forth to block the shot—too late.

  The rock bangs off his head. His chin snaps up.

  That’s the thing with magicks—see an attack coming, and you can almost surely block it.

  But let your guard down, and…

  Before he can react, I sweep his feet with a low kick and he falls to the water face first, blood dripping from his forehead.

  I clutch a tuft of his hair and push his head deeper into the stream.

  “Actually Saegor, I don’t care about what your story is,” I say, leaning down now. His arms flail and some of the water rises, as if to strike at me. I bring his head up from the stream and smash it back down. His concentration falters. The water falls. “You see how I lied to you there? Doesn’t feel good, does it? You evil fucking bastard.”

  He claws at my arm, infusing fire into his fingertips that burns through the wetness and sets my wrist ablaze. I puppeteer his head up and down again—hear his wheezing gasp for air—see how quickly his fingers shift from the orange light of fire to the blue of ice and how that ice spreads up my arm and cools the flame too fast and my grip tightens as the pain lances.

  Steam rises from my arm.

  I raise his head out of the water again. Let go. He pushes away from me and flails his hands up, wheezing for breath, mouth set in rage.

  “What—” he coughs. “In the hells are you doing?”

  I hold the arm up and admire how the burns crackle with ice. It's a new pain.

  “You’re in a weird position, Saegor. You probably could’ve tried killing me just now. But you didn’t. You held back. I think it's because you need me in the upcoming battle, but I’m not sure for what purpose.”

  “Are you stupid? Is that what this is—”

  “My best guess is that the only reason I was brought along into any of this, was to take care of the boy shogun. To kill Souta Matahashi.”

  He pauses.

  I smile. “Lightning isn’t an element you’ve fought before, is it? And you don’t want to take any risks. No no no, you want to settle your debt with Thraevirula. Alone. That’s why you set up this stupid expedition. That’s why you wanted three mancers to go at it alone, without Catolica’s help. You didn’t want them getting in the way. You wanted to control all the variables. Including me.”

  He scoffs. “You make it sound so calculated.”

  “I think you’re a careful man. Especially after last night. You knew that the witch was taking an interest in me so you set up precautions. Sowed distrust.” I walk around him, kicking up the water playfully and feeling my arm go numb with pain. “Well, you’ve gotten your wish, Saegor. Bravo. You’ve won.”

  He spits at my dripping sarcasm. “Get on with it kid. Tell me what you really want.”

  “Nothing. In fact, I’ll do what you want. I’ll stay quiet about all of this—I won’t tell a soul about what Thrae showed me. I’ll fight Souta Matahashi for you and you can fight the witch. And after I kill Masaru, we can be done.”

  When I don’t elaborate, he nods slowly, hands still upraised. “Is that it?”

  “No. One more thing actually.” I point to the blood dripping from his forehead, curling around his nose like diverging rivers. “You like eating flesh, Saegor. I wonder, have you ever tasted your own?”

  Dark magicks in smokey blackness curls around his fingertips. “Careful boyo.”

  “That’s actually what I was just going to tell you. Because, I can assure you, I will be a good little soldier for the rest of our sortie,” I say, clearing my throat now. My tone goes dead. “But if you pull anything like you did last night—if you try for even a second to go against me, I’ll feed you your own heart.”

  “You think you’d win against me?”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. I’ve beaten the witch twice already though, and she took your eye. So, the least I could get away with is making you blind.”

  He laughs. “You think that just because you beat her in a dream, you’ve won? Reality’s a different game, Raiten.”

  I hold my hands up placatingly. “Relax, Saegor. I told you: you’ve won. Now I implore you: take that victory. And. Move. On.”

  I think he finally understands what I mean now. His hands drop. He wipes the blood from his head, looks at the smear of it on his uniform, and scoffs.

  “You have a very convoluted way of getting your point across,” he says, staring at my arm now. “Cover that. We can’t have them thinking anything happened here.”

  Before I can reply, he undoes the sound barrier, and once more, the rush of wind, the forest, the birds and frogs and the whine of a fox—all sensation is rendered whole.

  He walks away muttering and cursing to himself about something.

  I watch his back and tilt my head.

  Then, the adrenaline wears thin and I dip my searing hand into the water. Hiss as the pain lingers forth.

  But all in all, I’m glad with this outcome.

  If I’ve learned anything from last night, it's how to lie. Because although I might cooperate for now, when this is all over…

  I’m going to tell Kiren. I’m going to convince him to leave Saegor behind.

  And then I’m going to kill the mancer who started all of this.