Blaze stared at Kael, horror freezing his blood.
“Tu… turn him back,” Blaze whispered, then shouted. “Turn him back!”
“He was making too much noise,” Akkad said calmly.
“I hate noise.”
Blaze shook, his eyes never leaving Kael.
“Turn him back… turn him back… turn him back…”
The words broke apart as he said them, looping, decaying.
....
“Why?” Blaze screamed.
“Why do you want to save me, Bill? I have no family. I’m a monster. Just kill me already!”
“I… I hate noise,” Bill muttered.
“I want peace. We’re family. Family shouldn’t make noise.”
“Blaze,” someone said urgently, “Bill killed all the children back there. The only one who came back was a frozen—”
“Shut up!” Blaze roared.
“He wouldn’t do that. If he could, why didn’t he kill me?”
“We’re family.”
The words echoed, hollow.
Kael tilted his head.
“Kael … will you help me fulfill my selfish desire?”
“As long as I have his head,” Kael replied.
“I hate noise,” Bill whispered.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
“He was making too much noise.
I hate noise.
I hate noise.
A family shouldn’t make noise.”
....
“How pathetic,” Akkad said.
“His brain broke before his spirit.”
Akkad raised his blade and stepped forward.
Then stopped.
A sharp pressure kissed his neck.
Finn descended from above, scythe pressed tight.
“Die, you son of—”
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Blood fell like rain.
Crimson drops streaked down Blaze’s face like tears.
Finn hung impaled on an ice shard, lifeless.
“He's too loud,” they said in unison.
“Even immortality can’t heal the mind,” Akkad said, towering over Blaze.
His red eyes burned as he stared at the phoenix that once held light.
“The tragic story of the phoenix has begun,” Fiona said as the gate activated.
Blaze raised a bloodied finger to his lips.
Time froze.
“Snap out of it, Blaze.”
Everything froze.
Bill stood before him—chained, broken, bruised beyond recognition.
“Bill…”
Blaze collapsed, crawling toward him.
“Is that my name?” Bill asked softly.
“I forgot it. I forgot why I live. All I know is pain.”
He coughed, blood staining his lips.
“Do you think there’s something beyond pain, Blaze?
A paradise… maybe?”
“I couldn’t save you,” Blaze sobbed.
“Save yourself, that the voice i keep hearing.”
Bill’s voice steadied.
“No one can save me but me. That’s why I keep fighting. That’s why I don’t give him full control.”
“He’s done horrible things,” Bill continued.
“Forced me to watch. Taunted me every second. Told me there is no paradise.”
Blaze shook his head.
“Then why do you keep living?”
Bill smiled faintly.
“There is no paradise in my reality.
I fight because fighting is the only language my soul remembers.”
“If you want peace,” he said,
“there must first be war.”
“I can’t,” Blaze whispered.
“I’m not strong like you. I can’t fight alone.”
Bill placed his bloodied fist gently on Blaze’s head.
“Your eyes told me your story. I’ve been holding Akkad back from his full power.”
“I saw a spark in you,” Bill said.
“I knew you could win.”
He wiped Blaze’s tears.
“Do not be discouraged, do not be dismayed..."
"I am with you.”
“No force. No demon. No principality will stop us from conquering., i swear this with my blood ”
Blaze became a child again.
Small. Shaking.
He looked up at his chained brother.
“Rise,” Bill said.
Blaze stood.
“Run, brother I will be with you wherever you go ”
Blaze ran and he grew as he ran , his child like womder living him like a decaying rose yet he kept running.
Time shattered.
Akkad struck.
Nothing.
His arm disintegrated mid-swing.
Blaze stood behind him.
The ground split—lava and ice twisting together.
“I see,” Akkad laughed.
“You’ve tapped into a form similar to Fiona’s.”
“You’re not a cheap copy after all.”
They advanced toward each other.
Bill smiled.
Akkad grinned.
Blaze was indifferent.
