♦Kai's PoV♦
"Dhuma, is what you just said true?" I asked my new contractor.
"Kai, what are you talking about?"
If what Dhumavati had just told me was true, what could it mean? My mind started to race. My overactive imagination conjured up various scenarios, but none of them made any sense.
"You can speak to her, too, right? Tell her, Dhuma."
"Apologies, girl. I should have noticed sooner."
"Noticed what sooner? I don't understand. Who are you, and what are you talking about? Where are you, and why can't I see you? Kai, what is happening?"
"..." I didn't answer her. How could I? Memories of my sister sobbing for our parents flashed through my mind. She took on so much for us. I owe her everything. And now she's going to have that wound reopened and toyed with. I clenched my fist until my knuckles turned white and blood seeped from my palm.
"She may look like her, but…" Dhuma hesitated.
"Uh?" Kaya's face is contorted in confusion, but she's smarter than I am. From the start of Dhuma's sentence, she's already started to put the pieces together.
"This person is not your mother."
"Kai, w-what is she saying?" Her face turned pale. "How could it not be—" but Kaya was cut short.
"Finally, finally, finally, finally! Eighteen years I've waited! Eighteen fucking years!" The woman whom we thought was our mother began to yell incoherently and threw her arms up, as if she was thanking the sky, and the sound of a gruff middle-aged man replaced her kind voice.
"W-What are you talking about?! Who the hell are you?!" my sister yelled.
I couldn't understand. The person in front of us looked and sounded just like our mother, not even a moment ago, but it became more than clear that she was an impostor. Her skin had begun to rip and tear, and the sound of bones breaking filled the air. Her limbs elongated, and she grew at least half a foot in height. My mother's once beautiful hair had become gray and thin, covering a pasty face with a crooked nose, clearly having been broken before and then set wrong.
A tall, thin, bony man now stood where our mother did. My sister's face was overcome by horror, and the corner of her eyes had tears in them. Kaya remembered our parents more than I did. Having Mother here again must have been like a dream. A dream that very quickly turned into a nightmare.
"Well, well, well. The last time I laid eyes on a Hendrix was more than a decade ago," the pasty man said. Then he pointed an ugly, misshapen finger to his temple and said, "No, wait, I guess it was this morning! In the mirror!" The man cackled and broke out into another fit of disgusting laughter.
Kaya began sobbing, her mind unable to cope with our mother returning to us, only to have the illusion shattered. Again, I felt my blood boil, and another thread of my reason snapped.
It's no exaggeration to say my sister raised me. She's only five years older than I am. She was a kid, too, when our parents disappeared. Yet, she took on a burden heavier than most could bear. Sure, we had help from others in the Commoners' Quarters, but still, her burden was a heavy one. I did my best to learn and help, but it never felt like enough.
I'll never be able to repay the compassion Kaya showed me.
A long time ago, I found out some other kids were picking on my sister because she never played with them or the other kids. I promised Kaya that if anyone made her cry, I would make them cry three times harder, even without magic. And after finding one of Father's swords, I practiced by myself tirelessly for years. While I couldn't use magic before, I wasn't, by any means, useless in a fight.
No matter what happens, I will protect my older sister, I thought.
"Hey." I took a deep breath. I was freaked out, but anger was outweighing the fear. "Why were you impersonating our mother?"
"The Hendrix couple sure was incredible. Talented, strong, and kind as can be," he said as he turned to me, bones creaking and cracking as he did. "Unfortunately, they held strange beliefs. They would yap on and on about 'one true being' that ruled over the land and magic itself. It really, really pissed me off."
I froze, and a bead of sweat formed on my forehead. One true being… Magic itself… It couldn't be. This man was talking about Dhumavati. But more than that, he said our parents believed in her. Did that mean that Mother and Father disappeared because the church saw them as cultists? Did the church of Centuros cover up our parents' deaths, under the guise of simply eliminating a couple of heretics?
And if that's true, what's this monster's purpose here?
Kaya stopped crying at the mention of our parents' beliefs, most likely confused. The creep noticed her sudden silence and turned his attention to her. He craned his neck at a jagged angle. His bones rattled or cracked with nearly every movement.
"Children, children. Do either of you have even the slightest idea how evil the belief system your parents practiced is, the weight of their sins? The blasphemy they preached couldn't be tolerated. They had to be exterminated—like the rats they were," the bony man scoffed.
"...Exterminated?" I repeated the Bone Man's words, questioning what I had just heard, or maybe the reality of it all.
From our perspective, our parents never returned from a quest. Given their strength and their rankings in the guild, we found their disappearance strange. But unexpected events occur all the time on guild quests. We chalked it up to an unfortunate accident, thinking maybe there were stronger monsters to deal with than they expected.
But now it makes sense. No monster could best our parents.
"Yes, exterminated, boy. Your parents would sing the praises and teachings of a single deity. A single! Fucking! Deity!" the bony man starts raving with a mad look in his eye. He was bellowing so loudly that if it weren't for the silencing spell he cast while posing as our mother, we would easily be discovered. "Can you imagine something so preposterous?! How could anyone believe a sole, individual being gave birth to magic? Believing in that evil, forgotten goddess will only bring discourse and ruin. And you, boy, have made a deal with her. And because of your meeting, we must take action. The world as we know it will change—evolve—beyond her."
Dhuma, I think this guy's talking about you.
"I picked up on that. Be careful, Kai. Your magic pool has stabilized, but you've never used it. This guy is dangerous. You remember what I told you, right? For centuries, people who believe in me—"
—are wiped out. Marked as heretics. I felt my pulse quicken, and the heat rose from the pit of my stomach. Including our parents.
"Kai…" Dhuma starts, but I stop her.
No. There's no need. If our parents believed in you, that's enough for me, I said resolutely. To me, it didn't matter either way. I've already made a deal with her, anyway.
I didn't know if this bony man, himself, was the one who took our parents' lives. But it didn't matter. I knew enough. Even if it wasn't by his hand alone, he's surely connected to the people who did it.
"Well. It doesn't matter. Your parents were the last of those foolish people. Now there is no one left to spout such nonsense," he cackled, then his demeanor changed. "We do not harm children. Therefore, we waited. Now, the young lady is in her early twenties, and you, boy, have just come of age, correct? And judging by the look in your eyes, boy, you've already made a contract with that vile creature. We were right to bring that grimoire to you after all. Your desperation to 'fix' your magic became a better trap than we ever imagined, dear boy."
The dark grimoire that had seemed like my saving grace only a moment ago was a trap. And because of my short-sightedness, my sister was in danger. But how did they know about Dhuma's blessing and how it disrupted my magic pool when we were young?
"Excuse me?! Creature?!" I could hear Dhuma getting pissed in my thoughts.
He took a step towards my sister, causing her to flinch and emerge from her stupor.
"Stop! Don't come near me!" she screams in panic.
He only cackled, continuing his stride.
"Yeah. I've had enough." I stepped between my sister and the bony freak approaching her.
He stopped and turned his murderous grin towards me.
"If you insist on going first…" he chortled with an ugly grimace. "...I don't mind being exceptionally cruel. However, it'll be nothing compared to what your parents felt. And with you dealt with, another connection to the false goddess will be severed, leaving us free of her influence for at least another century."
I had no clue what he meant, but I maintained eye contact, extending an arm in front of Kaya. She's watched over and protected me since we were young. I always thought I'd never be able to repay her.
Dhuma, is what he's saying true? If I die, you'll be alone again?
"Each time one of my contractors has died, my connection between my magic and the world has weakened. If you fall, I may, indeed, be alone again. But don't worry about that right now. Kai, our contract is still new," Dhuma reminded me. "But I can feel it. I can sense your anger and frustration. Your heartache at what your sister is feeling. Regardless of how this turns out, I will stand by the two of you."
Thanks, Dhuma, I thought. "Hey, you, with the fucked up nose. How did you even know about the distortion in my magic pool?"
His eyes grew wide, but his smile grew even wider. "My dear, foolish boy! We've been watching you two since dealing with your parents. Not that a child would have noticed, though," he cackled again, his voice grating on my ears.
Still standing between Kaya and the freak, I made up my mind.
"Dhumavati," I said aloud. "We're taking him down."
At the mention of her name, the bony creep's maniacal smile dropped. The mere mention of her name seems to have upset him. Good. That's what I'm counting on.
"How? Your connection to your magic pool is fixed, but you've never used it properly."
"I've been studying magic relentlessly from the day I could read. I understand the theories more than most. It's just putting them into practice."
I stared the Bone Man down. Without breaking eye contact, I extended my right hand out in front of me and thought of my father's sword that I spent years practicing with.
"What are you playing at, boy?" the Bone Man asked mockingly. "You're going to take me down? How exactly? You may have contracted with the evil goddess, but surely, you can't just suddenly—?!" His grin fell from his face, a look of disbelief replacing it.
A mass of shadows burst forth from the palm of my hand and vortexed around it. I focused harder on the image of the sword, and the shadows formed themselves into a shortsword. Longer than a dagger, shorter than a regular sword. Aside from its pitch-black color and shadows that seemed to exude from its blade, it was the spitting image of my father's.
I could feel Dhumavati's silent approval and Kaya's gaze on my back.
But then, an explosion from the arena reminded me where we were. We're still under the spectator stands. And in the middle of Kusora Academy's Final Assessment.