Bruno on one knee, his body slashed open, breathing heavily, his blood scattered across the torn-up cobblestones of the West district. He still held that fierce light in his gaze, despite his missing arm.
The two men stared at each other with unspeakable contempt. And that thing near Cassian moved around him like a divine servant.
— You fought well… Cassian breathed. But this was a lost fight from the start.
Bruno spat a bloody glob and straightened up. He was pushing his body past its absolute limits, no, far beyond what he could take. And as he released his energy, his veins turned black, his skin beginning to crumble. Then without warning, his fist slammed into the ground one last time.
He had entered the state of apoptosis.
The shockwave rattled the ruins, sending a violent spray of dust into the air. Cassian used his aura to shield himself but was still pushed back.
Bruno turned his head toward me.
His look, sad, warm, and exhausted, made me drive my hands into the ground and crawl toward him. Why did he have to go this far.
— Iron… listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. Death and goodbyes are things no one escapes, especially in our world. What's happening today must not stop you from moving forward. Rage and sadness should not be your only allies. Never stop opening your heart to others…
A sword slash went through him, tearing out a scream, and yet he still stood, his eye fixed on me.
— You think you're weak… but I believe you're destined to do great things in the future. I'm certain of it. Make their so-called eternal walls come crashing down.
He absorbed more blows from the blade tearing through him again and again. After each cut, a shining light leaked from his body, as if he were about to explode at any second.
— So just promise me one thing… when your moment comes, show them all who you truly are.
Cassian appeared in front of him, followed by his specter, and they struck in unison.
Bruno, in one insane last move, caught them both and locked them against himself. His bones cracked under the pressure Cassian exerted to break free, but he held on one more second. One more second he was giving me.
He turned his head toward me one last time, his blood-soaked smile looking strangely fulfilled.
— Iron… little brother… you are not alone. Not as long as Pedro is there… And you know he would never let anyone so much as make fun of you. As for me, I think I'll be able to watch over you from up above. But whatever it costs us, we'll be there… somewhere, watching over you.
Cassian sighed, almost annoyed at not being able to finish it.
In a move worthy of the devil himself, what Bruno was holding turned out to be nothing but his avatar, which dissolved into stardust before rematerializing to run Bruno through from all sides.
My brother's massive body went rigid, and some of his blood splattered across my face, making me cry out in despair.
And in his final breath, he whispered still:
— I was happy to be your brother, Iron… never stop moving forward.
Then Cassian appeared from nowhere and cut off his head…
Bruno had already released all the energy he had stored up, and more, so that the moment the blade touched him, the chain reaction created a massive explosion that leveled everything in its path, wiping out anyone still present in that place. The energy wave hurled my body far away, and at the same moment I felt a protective energy wrap around me, the final will of my late brother, Bruno Vongold.
Once the fury passed and the dust cleared, I expected the nightmare to be over. It had to be over. My brother's sacrifice had to mean something. But that was not the will of this world.
To my great sorrow, Cassian emerged from the rubble coughing up his guts, bloodied, his clothes in shreds, but very much alive. He let out a slight burst of laughter at the outcome.
He rose using his sword as support and wiped his blade clean of my brother's blood with a sharp flick.
He turned toward me, that damned smile of his crueler than ever.
— Ha… Hahaha… HAHAHAHA WOW!!! He still had that up his sleeve, he said, pushing back his hair in shock. Ah, Bruno Vongold, you gave me a real fight. But now you're gone, hahaha… You failed trying to drag me down with you, you poor fool!!!
My heart shattered into a thousand pieces. My last strength abandoned me. My tears ran down my face.
I had just lost my brother. And I had done nothing.
Useless. Again.
The world was falling apart around me.
Why had he followed me? Did he suspect something? I might never know. I told myself my story would end here. And then I understood that I would probably never see my friends again, Elias, Asha, Lyra, wherever they were. I wanted them not to seek revenge. I wanted to tell them I was sorry for not keeping the promise we had made. But I had been so naive. This world holds too much suffering, too much pain to hope to ever change it.
A cry tore out of me, a howl full of anguish, ripped from my soul, shaking my vocal cords and tearing my throat.
— ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!! I'm so weak, damn it. Why is all of this happening to me, why, why, why, WHY!
I slammed my bare fists into the ground over and over again, until my knuckles showed through. The blood mixed with the dust. My tears were uncontrollable. I had already watched Dorian die in front of me, slaughtered alive by Aegon. And now Bruno… my brother. My rock. The one who had just given his life for me.
There was no more justice. No more hope.
There had never been any…
I had become that kid again, rejected by the world itself, destined to be broken again and again.
I wanted to kill him. I had to kill him. I wanted to reduce everything to ashes no matter the cost.
Cassian was moving toward me. And so I started to run.
He watched me like you watch a wounded animal, howling its despair before the killing blow.
I summoned my blades and flung them at him, but before any could touch him they vanished one by one, weak, flickering…
And with him above me, I had nothing left but cunning to save myself. A fracture opened behind his head, but he instantly grabbed it.
Cassian had plunged his hand into my fracture.
Impossible. Unthinkable. But he had done it.
His fingers closed around the hilt of my burning blade, and he pulled it out of the void as if it had always been his.
I choked. My aura shattered all at once. My body trembled as if an organ had been ripped out of me.
— How… I said, destroyed by what he had done.
His smile was gone, he was no longer in the mood to laugh. That last attack had genuinely landed.
He turned the blade in his hand, studying it like a simple object.
Then, without warning, he drove it into my abdomen.
An absolute cold took hold of my gut. My own power was being used against me. I collapsed onto my back, my hands pressed against the gaping wound, blood pouring through my fingers no matter what I did.
Cassian leaned down one last time, his gaze locked into mine.
His eyes were like an endless, contemptuous sky, impossibly high, impossibly unreachable.
— Iron… now you are going to die. And I have made sure it takes the time it needs to. Time for you to measure the choices you've made until now, and what their consequences have been.
I lay in the dust, drowning in my own blood, my eyes fixed on the sky, praying to join my brother as quickly as possible and finally leave this world of misery.
Cassian wiped his hand, straightened up, and turned away from me.
— Your existence in our world will have been brief. But don't worry, I'll make sure this kind of incident doesn't happen again. Wish me luck.
He left the ruins without hurrying.
I lay there, alone. My organs in pieces. A terrible cold spreading through me.
And as my eyelids slowly fell shut, I couldn't tell anymore how much time had passed since he left. That's when a silhouette took shape above me. I struggled to make it out clearly, a motionless figure I didn't recognize, who seemed to be arguing with someone else.
But one detail caught my eye…
They were wearing a chain…
With a pendant in the shape of the letter "X"…
I tried to speak but nothing came.
And the world finally went dark…
Later, this event would be known as "The Work Town Incident."
— Well, they really made a mess of things here.
— The level of damage won't be buried by "Guidance", that's for sure… Does that mean we can finally make our move?
— Keira, take care of the kid. We're bringing him with us…
— Ugh seriously, you can see we're already hunted enough as it is?? And now you want to bring him back with us?
— Do what I tell you…
— There are moments when you're really just a damn a**hole, Izac, you know that…
END OF PART 1