Infiltration 6
At first, SoYa was relieved to see TsuYa’s attacks slowing down. The battle was relentless, leaving him struggling to fend off the Marked speed and strength. His mind churned with the weight of memories that threatened to bring him to his knees.
Once he knew that ShiKon and KiNa were clear of the chamber, SoYa was at a loss of how to proceed. The battle started and remained largely defensive from his stance. He knew that TsuYa’s mind wasn’t his own. The thought that the control of Zeromus was there and still that strong was terrifying to him.
Everything Zemi said was true…
The Arweinydd’s energies flowed around him, supporting his strikes, dodges and spins. Without him, SoYa wasn’t certain he’d be able to maintain his stand against the Marked Champion. It had been a long time since he last faced the darkness that had stolen his brother’s form. He wasn’t as young as he used to be. But TsuYa seemed to have not changed, not even aging a day.
Why is he slowing down?
The fevered, feral glow in the Marked’s void-like eyes didn’t recognize him. His motions were still driven by the one single command and the flow of crackling Chaos around him. But there was no denying his lost of stamina and the lack of strength in his blows.
SoYa swung his staff around as TsuYa stumbled, fighting to keep his balance. The blunt of the weapon caught under the haft of the scythe and sent the Marked tumbling backwards, splayed on the debris-strewn floor. He didn’t make an attempt to get back up.
Suspicious, the mind mage kept his grip tight on the staff, waiting for some sort of trick or unexpected twist to the battle. It didn’t come. TsuYa was genuinely down, and for nothing but a battle that would have been little more than a spring-day workout in earlier days.
Has time affected him too… and it just doesn’t show?
That’s when SoYa saw the wound on his brother’s shoulder. It dripped with a thick, black blood that oozed slowly down the torn sleeve. Squinting, he could make out the shape of KiNa’s dagger lying on the chamber floor. It smoked at the touch of the Marked blood, obviously the instrument of the attack.
TsuYa gave a sound of pain, curling in on himself, one claw-like hand gripping his wounded arm. Sweat glinted along his brow in a fevered sheen. In the midst of what appeared to be pain, he seemed to be coming around.
“Poisoned,” the Marked hissed.
“What?” SoYa’s face paled. He looked back and forth between the dagger and his brother, trying to digest what this meant, on top of everything else that was flooding his mind.
“The kid… was on an assassination run,” TsuYa smirked a bit. It was a smirk so familiar that SoYa could feel something in his chest ache.
“What was he thinking?” the mind mage shook his head and took a step forward.
The Marked hissed at him, bristling like a cornered beast, “Don’t come closer. He had the right idea… he wanted to kill me and stop this.”
SoYa’s mouth went dry with shock. “KiNa is not a killer. That’s not how I taught him.”
“He’s one of yours, then,” TsuYa chuckled. “Yes, I can see it in him. He hesitated… until someone else’s back was against the wall…”
“I never told him to do this! This isn’t how we work!” the mind mage balled his fist, taking another slow step forward.
This time, the Marked didn’t hiss. Instead, he responded with surprise, “SoYa… you’re leading Anarchy… aren’t you?”
The man stopped, staring down at his brother’s pained face. He didn’t know how to respond as his heart rate began to increase. Anything that TsuYa knew, his master, Zeromus knew, too. And likely, the entire Manor would know.
This is it. I’m dead. Anarchy is done.
But TsuYa only laughed, “Good for you.”
The laughter quickly turned to wheezing.
“Tsu… I…” SoYa reached out to him, then he knelt down. “I didn’t know you were here. I didn’t know… I couldn’t remember… Zemi brought me… he Awakened me… I…”
“I know,” came the hoarse voice. “I know about you. And AsaHi. And your kid, FuSoYa.”
The mind mage paled. “You remembered it? All this time?”
He couldn’t imagine the kind of suffering his brother endured. The only one who remembered a broken past, once again imprisoned to carry out the whims of the Dark Arweinydd who had transformed him and taken his humanity.
“The Dark Sygnus’ curse didn’t take me,” TsuYa muttered bitterly. “I wasn’t Awakened like you and the others. I don’t remember how I got here, but the Manor got to me first. Zeromus made sure I was put in a position to control this world.”
“I can help you,” SoYa offered, reaching a hand out. He didn’t know if there were tears in his eyes, but if there weren’t, there should have been.
“I don’t want your help,” the Marked snarled weakly, showing his fangs.
“We can break Zeromus’ control and bring you back,” the mind mage pressed. “Zemi is here with us.”
“A lot of good he did us before!”
SoYa could feel the dragon’s glow flicker a bit, weakening in the face of the retort. Frantic, the mind mage shook his head, “That was different. Zeromus is weaker now. Together we can help Zemi become the stronger one again, maybe even take the Manor from--”
“For what?” TsuYa spat. “To pass this world from one Arweinydd to another? You think that’s going to help anyone? Zemi’s just as bad as the rest - you can’t trust any of the Arweinydd, SoYa! They’re just going to use you.”
“No. I don’t believe that.”
“Oh really?” the dark eyes glittered. “You think he just gave you AsaHi so easily? You think he’s given up on what he really wants? It’s not you. You’re probably just the only one he can communicate with.”
“TsuYa!” he protested.
“You give him power and he’ll take the Manor and this world. Then he’ll take AsaHi, just like he always wanted,” the Marked’s words were slurring as he struggled to fight and stay aware. “You can’t trust… them… They use… us…”
SoYa couldn’t wait anymore. He leaned forward, reaching for the open, poisoned wound with frantic hands.
“No!” TsuYa pulled back. “Let me die!”
“I won’t!”
“Let me die and you'll be safe!”
“Safe?” SoYa argued. “It doesn’t matter if you die. Zeromus already knows who I am.”
The Marked’s face crumpled in unexpected sorrow. TsuYa turned away, voice broken, “He’ll hunt you. And he’ll use me to do it. You’ll die because of me.”
“I’m not dead yet,” the mind mage told him with more courage than he knew he possessed. He reached out and grabbed his brother’s shoulders in both hands, pulling him to look him in the eyes, just has he had when they were so much younger. “And you’re not dead either. Do you hear me?”
“Yeah,” his brother muttered, pulling it together. Then he followed up, “I still… think you’re… nuts.”
Then TsuYa fell silent, half curled on the floor. SoYa knew he didn’t have much time.
“Zemi,” he whispered to the shimmering energies around him. “Tsu doesn’t mean it. He’s just hurt and angry. Can you imagine the pain he’s experienced?”
There was no response from the Arweinydd. Not even a slight change in the white flickering.
“I could use your help. I don’t know if I can heal this,” SoYa gritted his teeth.
Still no response came from Zemi.
Shaking his head, the mind mage reached his hands out, placing them on either side of his brother’s wound. It had been such a long time since he last attempted a healing spell, not to mention one so intricate as to remove poisons.
There’s no time for doubt.
His green eyes flickered down to his brother’s motionless form.
No time for questioning. TsuYa is dying.
SoYa closed his eyes and willed the healing light through his form. The pale violet glow sparked around the edges of his fingers, struggling to ignite.
Please… please…
His mind reeled as he reached back to the murky images of his childhood. Of the lessons taught by his aunt –
Oh, poor Aunt Sara!
--who first fostered the seed of healing abilities within him. He was never as strong as she was, no matter how hard he practiced, mostly because his mind magic abilities were his true power.
If I can’t do this while I’m Awakened, I don’t think I can save him…
So many times, SoYa failed his little brother. So many times, he should have been there or seen the signs. Maybe if he intercepted the darkness, he could have stopped it before it took hold of his brother’s spirit.
I could never save you…
Even after they found a temporary cure for TsuYa’s condition, they weren’t able to protect him. If SoYa had eased his brother’s angers and ambitions, he might have been able to prevent the battle that was his brother’s final undoing.
Now, I’m going to lose him again.
SoYa wasn’t sure if he had a right to be happy to see that TsuYa survived. Not if it meant the kind of prison and torture his brother lived in. But as long as he was alive, there was a chance they might free him.
Zemi. Please help me…
That’s when the mind mage felt a different kind of warmth flow through his form. When SoYa’s eyes flickered open, he saw the familiar golden-white glow of Zemi’s energies mingling with the violet healing magics, empowering the spell. The light seeped into the wound, spreading in a webbed pattern through his brother’s infected veins, counteracting the poisons.
It’s working!
Stunned by the sight, SoYa found himself unable to do much more than allow it all to happen. Almost instantly, he could see the improvement on his brother’s face, the fevered sweat breaking. When he finally withdrew his shaking hands, he could see TsuYa breathing much more easily, now drowsing in a heavy slumber.
Thank you… thank you…
SoYa pulled his eyes from his brother’s form. There was no sign of the Arweinydd’s golden glow or his Awakened wings.