Circle of Death

by Thais Lopes

  Kelene came back at least, and I could see she was trying to stop crying. With a decided gesture, she wiped her tears with the back of her hands. I didn’t say anything, respecting whatever it was that had affected her like that. After a couple of seconds, she stopped running, and I did the same.

  “It’s here.” She spoke, but didn’t make any move to leave the pathway.

  And that was enough.

  “What happened, Kelene?”

  23. Kelene

  I could hear Lucio’s concern and, shaken as I was, it was almost enough to make me start crying again. I would never have imagined any of what Death had told me. And now I knew my mother had been close all this time, taking care of me, even though I didn’t know it. I took a deep breath, fighting to stay in control before answering his question.

  “Now I know what Death had been hiding all this time. And I wish I didn’t know.” Because if I didn’t know it, it would be because none of that was happening.

  He pulled me close for a hug, and to my surprise he seemed to understand what I meant.

  “I know. I remember what happened at the Intervention.” He whispered.

  “Then you understand. You know what she wants me to do.” I sighed, moving away and knowing that, even though he knew what happened in the Intervention, he had no idea that I was Death’s daughter. “I won’t act as she wants me to. I won’t repeat that day.”

  Lucio nodded, with a sad smile on his lips. Together, we turned around and left death’s pathways. We were in a field, with no buildings in sight no matter in which direction we looked. Perfect. The sounds of the fight reached us, coming from somewhere a couple of feet in front of us, but strangely hidden, as if there was an illusion there.

  “Can you see it?” I asked, knowing Lucio would understand me.

  “No.” He answered without stopping, still walking towards the sound, with his sword in his hand. “And I also can’t recognize what kind of illusion this is or who could have done it.”

  I didn’t say anything else. If he wasn’t able to recognize that, I had even less chances of doing so. When we approached, the illusion rippled and disappeared, letting us through, and we could see Death and the Nameless circling each other. Without looking, I knew the illusion – the ward – had snapped shut behind us.

  Death still held her sword, but the Nameless had already become tired of his game, and now used only his own power as a weapon. Death defended herself, dodged and tried to react, but her strength was fading. Only the vow she had made a long time ago kept her going. They didn’t notice our approach, and I suspected that the illusion had something to do with it. Alice wasn’t anywhere on sight, but that didn’t surprise me. She was probably near, in one of death’s pathways, waiting until it was time to fulfill her role in Death’s plans.

  While we ran towards the place where they were fighting, I instinctively called that power, Death’s Powers. Remembering what I had done when the Nameless attacked me, at the Sanctuary, I released that strength. He was thrown back, falling more than a hundred feet from us.

  Lucio was already beside Death, and she had an arm around his shoulders, using him to help her stand. I stopped beside them, with my arms slightly away from my body, my fingers already curving with the tingling of the power I was gathering.

  “You shouldn’t be here yet.” Death whispered. “Go back while we still can follow the plan.”

  “We won’t repeat the day of the Intervention, K’ujul.” Lucio answered, probably realizing that my concentration was in that man who approached.

  I stepped forward, ignoring the whispered conversation between Lucio and Death. The Nameless advanced slowly, staring at me.

  “You should be dead. No one should be able to survive after using Death’s Powers to push me away. Twice.”

  “I thought you would be glad to see your daughter has survived, even after you’ve tried to destroy her.” I answered with and ironic smile.

  He didn’t answer, but instead raised his right hand, his palm shinning as he got ready to attack Death for the last time, completely ignoring me, as if I would never be a threat to him. Quickly, I called my Power again, raising a dome around us.

  “Not it’s between you and me.” I said, raising my hands.

  24. Lucio

  “You shouldn’t be here yet.” Death’s voice was weak, and she leaned heavily on me. “Go back while we still can follow the plan.”

  I glanced at Kelene, noticing all her attention was on the Nameless, who had gotten up and was coming toward us. It was up to me to take care of Death.

  “We won’t repeat the day of the Intervention, K’ujul.”

  Her body stiffened when I said that name. I wondered if she thought no one still remembered who she had been before the Intervention, not even I, who had been trained at the same time she was.

  I saw Kelene moving forward, but that was her fight.

  “You remember.” Death whispered, her voice even lower, soft, even.

  “Yes, I remember. And I know what you want to happen here. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

  “Yes, it does.” She spoke, and now her voice had a little of the strength I had always heard. “It’s the circle. Everything has to die, even the one who embodies Death, so that someone more prepared can take her place. Lucio… K’inich. You are the only person who still remember the Sanctuary on its glory, the only one who received all the training. This is the last of the Sanctuary’s secrets, the one Death herself has always carried alone. Teach her, protect her, help her, please.” She finished speaking in a strangely solemn way.

  “I will do it.” I answered, realizing that there was really no other way. No one could escape the circle. Death had become weak in front of the threat which had appeared, and now she was about to be replaced.

  With a weak nod, she turned to where Kelene was. Now she and the Nameless stood inside an opaque dome. Instinctively, I noticed that he wouldn’t be able to get out of there, and we wouldn’t be able to approach, while she still had any strength.

  “I was never able to use Death’s Power as easily as she does.” K’ujul whispered, with a calm acceptance in her voice.

  Surprised, I noticed that the earth inside the dome was shaking. The Nameless was using his strange ability to control the elements, but Kelene could contain even that, somehow. And she was still, perfectly balanced, as if the tremors didn’t affect her. She had her back to us, but I knew her well enough to be sure she had an ironic and challenging smile on her face.

  I felt someone approaching and turned around, ready to attack, but it was only Alice. She had a dagger in her hand, the blade covered in faint blue lines, and had a determined expression in her face.

  “You don’t need to worry about anyone beside the Nameless. The ward will keep everyone else out, if there even is anyone willing to fight for him now that Seth is gone. I’ll defend Death, Lucio. It’s better if you are ready to act, Kelene will need you.

  I didn’t argue with her. I knew that look: it was the same Kelene used when she knew something she couldn’t tell. I waited until Death had her arm around Alice’s shoulders before moving one step away.

  “Alice, you should…” Death started, but Alice didn’t wait.

  “I won’t hide. I know Kelene, I trust what she taught me… And what my first adoptive mother taught me, too. I’m not defenseless.”

  K’ujul didn’t insist, and I looked at the girl, surprised. Who had been her first adoptive mother?

  “A daughter of one of the demon lords.” She told me, smiling.

  I raised my eyebrows, watching her with a new respect, but didn’t say anything, turning to stare at the fight that was happening in front of us.

  25. Kelene

  I didn’t know whether the Nameless was underestimating me or simply had no idea of what I could do. He was using that affinity to the elements to attack me, exactly the one thing I could most easily block. Even considering that I had inher
ited only a vestige of that ability, it was enough to make it easy to ignore the ground shaking beneath my feet. The air was full of dust being thrown at me, at such speed that the small particles became sharp. My face and arms were covered in tiny scratches, but they were so many that the blood was starting to fall. The only protection I had called was over my eyes, nose and mouth. I wouldn’t use more energy than the strictly necessary.

  Yes, he had hurt me. But the Nameless’ surprised expression was worth every drop of blood. Obviously, he didn’t expect me to be so calm while facing that attack.

  “What are you?” He asked, strengthening the wind, with something I could recognize in his voice.

  “You say you are my father and you don’t know what I am?” I said, not answering. Truthfully, not even I was sure of what I was.

  He didn’t answer me, only changed his stance slightly. I advanced, using a little bit of my abilities to ward off the wind and, at the same time, calling my Power. Suddenly the wind stopped, and I realized the earth wasn’t shaking anymore. It seemed that he had finally noticed I could continue resisting that indefinitely.

  Before the Nameless could do anything, I used Death’s Power to throw him against the dome around us. Surprised, I noticed it didn’t cost me anything to keep it up, while before just raising it would have taken all my strength. With a smile, I directed the power to keeping him there.

  But he resisted. With a large smiled that seemed wrong in his face, he spoke again.

  “Did you really think you could defeat me? Do you think I wouldn’t have searched for a way to defend myself against this?” His eyes glowed and he started muttering unknown words, in a language I recognized as a perversion of the Language of Death.

  I felt the power rising, and realized I would see one of the abilities that had made the Nameless so feared. Without knowing what else to do, and finally afraid of the power he was gathering, I changed my Power to the same pattern I had used before, making it burn like acid.

  It was the same as doing nothing.

  He advanced, not that I wasn’t keeping him trapped against the dome anymore, still muttering. My Power started to act as I put more and more strength behind it, burning the Nameless: first his clothes, than the external layers of skin. But he kept walking toward me, ignoring it. When the muscles of his outstretched hand became partially visible, I stopped. Yes, I was the White Hand and had killed more people than I could count. But never, ever, I had killed slowly, as I was doing there.

  I changed my Power again, and it didn’t burn anymore. With a deep breath, I concentrated all my will in stopping the Nameless. And he did stop, but not because of anything I had done.

  “You are weak, Kelene. Your Power is great, but your spirit is weak. I have no use for you.”

  Instinctively, I held my breath, realizing he had finished the enchantment he had been muttering all that time, and that the power he had called upon was only waiting for his command to be set free. But nothing could have prepared me for what followed.

  Even the air burned, and I could feel life slipping away from the earth under my feet. My own life was leaving me, and I felt myself burn when I tried to breathe. I could feel the perversion the Nameless had cast in my own bones, consuming everything around us. And then even my Power was drained and I fell, barely holding on to consciousness. Now, lying on the ground, I could feel the earth and the small plants revolting against the power that was working there, and then becoming something different. Nausea overtook me, and I needed all my strength to keep at least a minimum level of control. But it wasn’t over yet. I felt my own body starting to twist, trying to change, too. The dome around us disappeared as I used the last of my strength to keep myself intact.

  26. Lucio

  It looked like Kelene would be able to destroy the Nameless without many problems. We watched the fight, with all our hopes in the woman who had surprised even the Nameless, if we could trust his expression. But then something changed. He advanced, through the energy that burned, and I saw Kelene hesitate when his muscles started to show.

  Everything happened too fast after that. Death made a shocked sound, almost falling even though she was still leaning against Alice, and turned to me.

  “She needs you. Go!”

  At the same time, I saw Kelene fall and her body start to twist on itself in a strange way, as the Nameless walked calmly, with a triumphant smile on his face. I was already moving when the dome fell. I crossed into the circle where they had been fighting, but couldn’t feel anything of whatever it was the Nameless had done, and that was enough to tell me what it was. I would never be able to feel his perversions as I felt all other kind of power, because I was made of one of those perversions.

  For years I had worked on learning how to control my strength, to avoid accidents while dealing with humans. Now, I let all vestiges of control disappear, my own fear strengthening me.

  Before the Nameless could realize what had happened, I was in front of him, releasing all that strength, all that fear, in a single punch. If he were a normal human, his skull would have been crushed with a fraction of the strength I had used. Being what he was, he was just thrown far from us, unconscious.

  “Keep him away from us!” Alice shouted.

  “With pleasure.” I answered, my voice already sounding more animal than human. I knew it would be useless to try to kill the Nameless using physical strength, but it wouldn’t bother me at all to try it, when he regained consciousness.

  I saw Alice and Death approaching Kelene. I had barely glanced at her, lying on the ground, and what I saw wasn’t good. But I still had hope. Kelene couldn’t be dead, and Alice and Death would cure her.

  I quickly looked back to the unconscious man. Holding that thought tightly, I assumed and attack stance, alert to the slightest movement the Nameless made. If he went through me before the three women were ready, they would be dead.

  27. Death

  I approached the circle that had been demarcated by the dome. Inside it, the earth seemed to have been turned up, and I would feel the corruption of life that happened there. Somehow, Kelene’s Power had sealed the field of effect of the Nameless’ enchantment, which hadn’t escaped even after the dome fell. Unable to move any closer, I stopped around fifteen feet before the circle.

  “Bring her here.”

  Alice nodded, releasing me, and I sat down, too weak to stand on my own. Her stiff posture when she entered the circle was a clear sign that she could feel the corruption acting. But, as I had been sure would be the case, the enchantment didn’t include her. How had Kelene been able to do that? I could see her body moving strangely, almost as if she was convulsing, but she was still intact. With some difficulty, Alice dragged her to where I was, as Kelene no longer had control over her own body.

  I placed a hand on her face, noticing the sudden temperature changes. Her body was reacting to the corruption, she still had strength to keep its effects under control, but wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer.

  “You know what you need to do, Alice.”

  The young woman didn’t answer, her grim expression showing she had understood, and she placed herself in a position from where she could see both Lucio and the Nameless as Kelene and me. I had taught them that enchantment last night, but only Alice knew what it would do.

  Without waiting even one more second, I placed my hands over Kelene’s face and chest, and sent my will into her body, fighting the corruption that infected her. Life and Death were deeply connected, but it was possible to count in the fingers of one hand all the times Death, since the beginning of time, had sought Life’s power. I pulled the corruption, restoring Kelene’s body to the same condition it was in when she arrived there.

  The Nameless’ power now hovered halfway between my hands and the woman, like a grey-yellow mist. I wasn’t strong enough to negate it, and wouldn’t risk throwing it on the earth, even in the circle that was already affected, as that power might be enough t
o start a chain reaction that would escape Kelene’s containment. There was only one thing I could do.

  “Alice, now.” I spoke, my voice breaking as I felt the price of calling Life’s power fall upon me.

  Without looking away from where Lucio was, in front of the still unconscious Nameless, Alice bent down, taking Kelene’s hand, at the same time she grabbed my arm and started singing. Her steady voice rose, without hesitations, and I couldn’t contain a trace of pride. Lucio answered her chant, his line clashing against hers with a dissonance that was almost painful.

  I let myself be carried by the melody of power older then the Sanctuary itself, and soon felt power that which made me Death abandon me. In the same moment, I made that mist of power I had taken from Kelene enter me.

  I fell immediately, losing control of my body and my senses. How had Kelene been able to stand it for so long? All I could feel was the corruption spreading through my veins and Death’s Power leaving me. In the emptiness, I remembered the day I became Death. There were no Keepers to guide the transition of power, and I had to throw myself against the Veil, holding my predecessor with my own hands, fighting to get the power I would need. Maybe that was why I was one of the weakest to ever take the role of Death.

  And then I saw the Veils in front of me. My part was over, at least. For a moment, I was still concerned about what would happen. In the next moment, peace and oblivion surrounded me.

  28. Lucio

  Alice’s voice rising caught me by surprise, but I joined the chant without hesitation, recognizing the enchantment Death had spent the night teaching us, without saying what it would do. But, after what had happened there, I could already imagine what would be its purpose. As soon as our voices clashed in the dissonant melody, I felt that mental bond with Death be activated, the one I only realized existed the day before. I could see K’ujul slowly disappearing from there, while Kelene took his place. It was an effort to keep my voice steady.