Chapter 14: Parallel Wounds

The boy stood alone.

In the middle of the ruined camp.

Behind him…

The city burned.

Ahead of him…

Licht.

Between them lay broken stone, shattered walls, and bodies that had yet to grow cold.

The wind rolled through the ruins.

Neither of them moved.

“I won’t let you get away.”

The boy’s voice shook.

Not with fear.

With grief.

Licht slowly turned his head.

His pearlescent eye settled on the boy.

For a long moment…

Neither spoke.

Then Licht sighed.

“…Why are you here?”

His voice scraped against the silence.

“I spared you.”

Another pause.

“Do you wish to throw your life away that badly?”

The boy tightened his grip around the crude daggers strapped to his waist.

His knuckles turned white.

“I won’t die.”

Licht’s gaze flickered.

Only for an instant.

Those three words.

So simple.

So absolute.

They echoed somewhere deep inside him.

A small boy.

Seven years old.

Too frightened to move.

Too frightened to fight.

Too frightened…

To save her.

The memory disappeared.

The boy stepped forward.

“I don’t care how long it takes.”

Another step.

“I don’t care if I lose an arm.”

Another.

“A leg.”

His breathing became ragged.

“I don’t care if I lose everything.”

His voice cracked.

“I’ll kill you.”

He took another step.

“I’ll kill you.”

Closer.

“I’ll kill you.”

Closer still.

“I’LL KILL YOU!”

He exploded forward.

The pavement shattered beneath his feet.

Chunks of concrete launched into the air.

He became a blur.

Licht moved.

Not toward the boy.

Toward Iris.

THOOM.

His foot struck her side.

She was sent tumbling across broken stone before she even understood what had happened.

She rolled several times before crashing against the remains of a collapsed wall.

Licht never looked at her again.

“…You’re pissing me off.”

The boy was already there.

His dagger flashed.

Licht answered with a straight punch.

The air burst apart.

The boy vanished beneath it.

Not backwards.

Down.

He folded his body almost impossibly low, the punch screaming over his head.

The shockwave blasted dust through the camp.

The boy planted one hand against the ground.

Twisted.

His body spun like a wheel.

His foot rocketed upward.

CRACK.

It slammed into Licht’s stomach.

Licht’s forearm intercepted it just before impact.

The force still pushed him back half a step.

His hand snapped shut around the boy’s leg.

The boy’s eyes widened.

Licht turned his hips.

Then threw.

The boy became a missile.

BOOM.

He crashed through the side of a ruined building.

Stone erupted outward.

The entire structure groaned.

Then collapsed.

Silence.

Only for a heartbeat.

The rubble exploded.

The boy launched back out.

Faster.

Far faster than before.

Pieces of concrete still fell around him as he sprinted through the cloud of dust.

His feet barely touched the ground.

Licht watched him.

“…I knew it.”

Annoyance.

Nothing more.

“So that’s your answer.”

The speed.

The strength.

The way his body ignored what should have broken it.

Licht had seen it before.

Not in another person.

In himself.

Two monsters born from the same nightmare.

Only one had managed to hold on to what little humanity remained.

“BASTARD!”

The boy roared.

Licht disappeared.

The earth beneath him collapsed inward.

The two met in the center of the camp.

BOOM.

Their fists collided.

The shockwave ripped through the ruins.

Broken windows exploded.

Loose concrete rolled from rooftops.

Neither yielded.

The boy’s hand slipped behind his back.

Steel flashed.

Two crude daggers.

He drove both forward.

THUNK.

One buried itself through Licht’s left arm.

The second pierced his shoulder.

The force staggered him.

Only slightly.

The boy smiled through gritted teeth.

“Got you.”

He grabbed Licht by the torn clothing.

Pulled.

Dropped onto his own back.

His legs coiled.

Then exploded upward.

WHAM.

Both feet drove into Licht’s chest.

The throw sent him soaring into the sky.

Higher.

Higher.

Until he disappeared above the rooftops.

The city suddenly became quiet.

The boy looked up.

Waiting.

A whistle cut through the air.

The daggers.

Licht had ripped them free before reaching the peak.

Now they screamed back toward the earth.

Fast enough to tear the sky apart.

BOOM.

A sonic boom followed behind them.

The boy didn’t flinch.

He reached upward.

Caught one.

Spun with its momentum.

The movement flowed seamlessly into another throw.

The dagger screamed back toward the falling Licht.

Licht tilted sideways in midair.

The blade skimmed past his cheek.

His hand shot out.

He caught it.

His body continued falling.

Closer.

Closer.

The ground rushed upward.

The boy launched himself.

Licht descended.

Neither slowed.

Neither hesitated.

BOOM.

They collided again.

Steel met bone.

Elbows.

Knees.

Foreheads.

Shoulders.

Neither fought cleanly.

Neither cared.

Every strike carried enough force to crater the earth beneath them.

The ruined camp disappeared beneath clouds of dust.

Far away…

A long…

Guttural…

Scream echoed through the city.

Then another.

Then another.

The horde was close.

Very close.

Still…

Neither looked away.

Neither even acknowledged it.

To either of them…

The world had narrowed to a single person.

Across the battlefield…

Iris watched.

She couldn’t breathe.

The two figures vanished.

Reappeared.

Buildings crumbled every time they collided.

The earth split beneath their feet.

They looked less like humans…

And more like two natural disasters trying to erase one another.

Her knees buckled.

She caught herself against a broken wall.

Tears blurred her vision.

“…What…”

Her voice broke.

“…What did I do…?”

No one answered.

The boy rushed forward again.

As their rage becomes in sync.

“I’LL KILL YOU!”

The two disappeared into another explosion of dust…

As the screams of the approaching horde grew louder.

TYSM FOR READING