​​​​7 A High Price

Year 915YC, nine years & four months earlier

A MAN, WHO WAS not long ago a boy, wandered upon the edge of devastation. Wither staggered about like a drunk. He knew the light inside him was brighter than it had any right to be; it felt as though it seared his insides, causing his brain to boil. He had let it take him over, body and soul. He had set free the caged beast, and it had savaged the imperial redcloaks, sundering limbs, disintegrating flesh. Unfortunately, it hadn’t stopped there.

He had also murdered a quarter of the green-cloaked garrison, and many bystanders. They had gotten in the way, but Wither hadn’t wanted to kill them. It had been the beast, which unchecked was insatiable. It had been a desire for death, for blood. It was a darkness, which enhanced the brightness of the burning light.

Doubled over, he collapsed to his knees within a dark alley, unnoticed by the dead in the streets. He didn’t remember coming there, though he recognised the city. The light had led him to Lame, promising justice. He’d begun to suspect the lie. Lorn had been right. Something hid within him and it was dark, so dark.

Agony pierced his body as it went into spasm, and he rolled in the dirt. Hands grabbed and held him, cradling his head like a child’s. The boy named Grat, who had become a man, was dead. He knew it for truth. He stared up into a dark face with shining eyes.

Scatter whispered to him. ‘It is done. It is done.’

‘I don’t want this,’ he replied in a hoarse voice. ‘I don’t want this power. I hate it. Why did you do this to me?’

He saw the strain behind her smile. Lorn hated this woman, but he saw kindness, and a yearning to help. He had not expected anyone to come for him. ‘I gave you nothing,’ she said, ‘but the ability to reach your power. It was inside of you all this time. It lies inside of every living person. Few learn how to touch it. Few want to.’

‘Lorn said it was a darkness. It killed all these people.’

Scatter shook her head. ‘Every person has such within them. Many who touch it fail to control it. They rape, murder, and do terrible things. You, Wither, claimed your revenge, but you lost control. Unlike those others, you can learn to control it. It is a power unlike any other. The fault is not with the darkness, but with the inability of a person to tame it.’

‘No, there’s something else. Something went wrong.’

‘Many will die before the Viral Age. It is not for you to weep over them. I would rather you had not done this. However, it is done.’

‘I killed the innocent along with the guilty. I deserve death.’

‘You deserve whatever the Aidari decide. Nothing more, or less. You are one of us now, and our fate is entwined with yours. Would you have us die too? You are meant for a purpose, Wither. I don’t know what it is, but one day, you will.’

Scatter helped him to his feet, his body weakened by the spectralic magic he’d used. Putting one foot in front of the other was difficult. Had he not been thorough in his destruction, anyone could have put a blade through his heart right then. When he looked up and saw Lorn standing ten feet away, he wished someone would.

Tears filled her eyes as she looked from Scatter to Wither, back and forth. Finally, they settled on him. Pain and sorrow filled her face before it visibly hardened. He could not conceal what he had done. For some reason, he didn’t want to.

‘You will never be satisfied, will you?’ snapped Lorn, and though her gaze was on him, he knew she spoke to the Aidari leader. ‘You will never stop until we are all nothing other than common murderers, butchers. They will brand us terrorists after this, and they will hunt us. I want no part of it.’

‘The time of the viral is near,’ said Scatter, ‘and a reckoning. Many will die. You are not done with us, and we are not done with you.’

‘I will not be controlled.’ Lorn spat to the side, still not looking at the woman. ‘I will survive you, and you will know my wrath.’ In that moment, Wither saw a hint of something in her. A darkness of her own, perhaps. She turned from him and strode away. Raze and a new boy named Seth were at his side in moments, taking the burden from their leader.

He barely noticed them, eyes on Lorn’s back. He knew she would speak to him, again. She would acknowledge him, but it would not be the same. She would treat him like she did the others, as another Aidari.

Wither knew he had lost her, and the price had been too high.