The child whispered my name again.
"Kael."
I turned toward the wall.
"All right. That’s enough. If you’re going to keep doing that, at least come out where I can see you."
Three knocks sounded from inside the stone.
Then a small hand emerged from the hidden compartment.
Mara raised her sword.
"Everyone, stay back."
The hand curled around the edge of the opening, and a child pulled himself out. He looked about eight years old, with messy black hair, bare feet, and clothes that had probably been fashionable several centuries ago.
He looked at me.
Then he smiled.
"You’re late."
I stared at him.
"You’re a child."
"You’re observant."
"You’re inside a wall."
"You’re outside one."
"Wonderful. We already have a genius among us."
Tomas slowly stepped behind Seris.
"I don’t like him."
"Nobody asked," Lyra muttered.
The child’s gaze dropped to the raven key in my hand.
His smile disappeared.
"Where did you get that?"
"Found it."
"Give it to me."
"No."
His eyes narrowed.
"I wasn’t asking."
"Neither was I."
The child vanished.
A fist struck my stomach before I could react.
I flew backward and slammed into the opposite wall. Pain exploded through my abdomen, and the key nearly slipped from my fingers.
"Kael!" Mara shouted.
She rushed forward, swinging her sword at the child.
He appeared behind her.
Her blade cut through empty air.
The child kicked the back of her knee, forcing her down, but Mara twisted and drove her elbow toward his face. He ducked just in time.
Her elbow struck the wall.
Stone cracked.
The child grinned.
"Oh, I like you."
Mara slowly turned her head toward him.
"Come closer."
"Why?"
"So I can introduce you to my sword."
"That’s not very friendly."
He disappeared again.
Lyra fired a crossbow bolt.
This time, it struck his shoulder.
The child looked down at it with mild curiosity before pulling it free. The wound closed almost immediately.
Lyra stared.
"That’s annoying."
I pushed myself off the wall.
"You’re telling me."
The system appeared before my eyes.
\[Unknown Entity Detected.\]
\[Classification: Incomplete.\]
\[Threat Assessment: Unavailable.\]
\[Warning: Target possesses authority over spatial displacement.\]
"Spatial displacement," I muttered. "Of course he does."
The child turned toward me.
"You can see it?"
"Unfortunately."
"Then you really are the first vessel."
Before I could question him, he disappeared again.
This time, I activated Stonehide.
Gray armor spread across my forearms just as he appeared beside me.
His heel struck my guard.
The impact sent me sliding across the stone, but I remained standing.
His eyes widened.
I swung a fist at his face.
He ducked.
I followed with a knee aimed at his chest.
He caught my leg.
For one ridiculous second, we stared at each other.
Then he threw me.
I crashed into Tomas and Seris.
Tomas groaned beneath me.
"I’m going to start charging you for this."
"Put it on my tab."
"You don’t have a tab!"
"Then this is a terrible time to start one."
The child landed lightly in the center of the passage.
He dusted off his vest.
"You’re stronger than the last one."
I pushed myself upright.
"Last what?"
He ignored me and looked toward Kaelen.
The prince had not moved.
His sword hung at his side, and his face had gone pale.
But he wasn’t frightened.
He was angry.
The kind of anger that came from recognizing something he desperately wished he could forget.
"Who are you?" Kaelen demanded.
The child tilted his head.
"You don’t remember?"
"No."
"Of course you don’t."
His smile returned, but there was no humor in it.
"You always forget the important parts."
Kaelen raised his sword.
"Answer me."
The child glanced at the blade.
"You used to say that before you killed people."
Kaelen attacked.
His sword descended toward the child’s shoulder with terrifying speed.
The child twisted aside.
Steel struck stone, scattering sparks.
Kaelen reversed his grip and drove the pommel toward the child’s jaw. The child blocked with his forearm, but the impact forced him backward.
Kaelen followed immediately.
A slash.
A thrust.
A low cut aimed at the legs.
The child dodged the first two attacks. The third sliced through his trousers.
He looked down at the torn fabric.
Then he looked up.
"You’ve improved."
"Shut up."
"Still terrible manners, though."
Kaelen lunged.
The child vanished.
A second later, he reappeared above Kaelen and drove both feet into his shoulders.
Kaelen crashed to one knee.
The child landed behind him and raised a hand.
Red light gathered around his fingers.
"Enough."
I moved before thinking.
Stonehide covered my right arm as I charged.
The child turned.
His eyes widened slightly.
I swung at his head.
He vanished, and my fist struck the floor.
Stone shattered beneath my knuckles.
"Missed," he announced from behind me.
I turned and swung again.
He disappeared.
A kick struck my back.
I stumbled forward, but instead of trying to turn around, I dropped my weight and swept my leg across the ground.
My heel caught his ankle as he reappeared.
The child lost his balance.
For the first time, he fell.
I grabbed his collar.
"Got you."
His expression brightened.
"Yes, you did."
He touched my wrist.
The world folded.
Suddenly, I was standing upside down against the ceiling.
I had approximately half a second to appreciate the situation before gravity remembered its responsibilities.
I crashed onto the floor.
The child stood over me.
"Now you don’t."
I stared at him.
"I genuinely hate you."
"That makes two of us."
A sword flashed past his head.
Kaelen had recovered.
The child leaned backward, allowing the blade to pass inches from his nose. He caught Kaelen’s wrist and twisted.
Kaelen’s sword fell.
Before the child could strike, Seris rushed forward and drove her weapon toward his side.
He released Kaelen and vanished.
Seris’s attack missed, but Mara was waiting where he reappeared.
Her sword swept horizontally.
The child barely dodged.
Lyra fired another bolt.
This one grazed his cheek.
A thin line of dark blood appeared.
Everyone froze.
The child touched his cheek.
He stared at the blood on his fingertips.
Then his expression changed completely.
"You shouldn’t have done that."
The air compressed.
Every lamp in the passage exploded at once.
Darkness swallowed us.
"Everyone together!" Mara shouted.
A heavy impact shook the ground.
Someone cried out.
I activated Stonehide and raised both arms.
Something struck me hard enough to send me tumbling across the passage.
I rolled, caught myself against the wall, and immediately heard the sound of steel clashing nearby.
Kaelen was still fighting.
Even without light, I could hear the rhythm of his attacks. His sword cut through the air while the child moved around him with unnatural speed.
Then came a sharp metallic crack.
Kaelen cursed.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the raven key.
Its red lines were glowing.
"Please tell me you have a useful function," I whispered.
The key vibrated.
A new message appeared.
\[Resonance detected.\]
\[Spatial displacement authority identified.\]
\[Emergency function available: Anchor.\]
I didn’t bother asking for further instructions.
"Activate Anchor!"
The key flashed.
A red circle spread across the floor.
The darkness shuddered.
Something snapped.
The child appeared in front of me, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"What did you do?"
I grinned despite the pain in my ribs.
"Apparently, I learned something."
He tried to disappear.
Nothing happened.
His smile vanished.
I pointed at him.
"Now we’re getting somewhere."
Kaelen emerged from the darkness and attacked.
The child blocked his first strike, but without his strange movement, he couldn’t escape the second. Kaelen drove his shoulder into the boy’s chest and knocked him against the wall.
Mara was already there.
She pressed her sword against his throat.
"Move, and I’ll find out whether you can regenerate without a head."
The child glanced at the blade.
Then at me.
"You really shouldn’t have used that key."
"Funny. I’ve been hearing that a lot lately."
The red circle began flickering.
The child placed two fingers against Mara’s sword.
The metal turned black.
Mara immediately released it.
The blade dissolved into ash before it touched the ground.
He stepped away from the wall.
The red circle shattered.
Space twisted around him.
Kaelen rushed forward, but the child caught his wrist.
For a brief moment, neither moved.
Then the child’s expression softened.
"Do you remember me now?"
Kaelen stared at him.
His lips parted.
And then he whispered a name.
"Elian."
The child closed his eyes.
"There you are."
A strange silence followed.
Then Elian opened his eyes and drove his forehead into Kaelen’s face.
The prince staggered backward.
I blinked.
"Was that really necessary?"
"Absolutely," Elian replied.
Kaelen wiped blood from his nose.
"I’m going to kill you."
"You said that last time."
"And I meant it."
"Yes. That’s why you did."
Before Kaelen could respond, the floor split beneath us.
A deep metallic groan echoed through the mountain.
The raven key jerked in my hand, pointing toward the ground.
The system appeared.
\[Second Door: Seal integrity compromised.\]
\[Estimated opening: Imminent.\]
\[Primary condition detected.\]
\[THE HEIR AND THE VESSEL MUST BE SEPARATED.\]
Elian stopped smiling.
For the first time since we’d met him, the child looked genuinely terrified.
"No," he whispered.
The pounding began beneath our feet.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Each impact shook dust from the ceiling.
Elian grabbed my sleeve.
"We have to leave."
I looked at his hand, then at his face.
"Five minutes ago, you were trying to beat me to death."
"That was different."
"How?"
"You were annoying me."
"That’s your explanation?"
"Would you prefer the door opening?"
Another impact rocked the passage.
Elian’s grip tightened.
"Listen to me, Kael. When that door opens, something will come out wearing your face."
I glanced at Kaelen.
He was staring at the crack, his expression unreadable.
Then I looked back at Elian.
"And what happens if it finds us?"
The child swallowed.
"It remembers what you did to it."
The floor erupted.
A massive hand of black stone burst through the crack and seized Kaelen by the ankle.
He fell hard, his sword skidding away.
Seris lunged toward him.
Mara grabbed her before the ground could swallow her too.
I rushed forward and caught Kaelen’s arm.
Stonehide spread over my shoulder as I pulled.
The hand tightened.
Kaelen screamed.
Then something below the floor spoke in my voice.
"Let him go."
I froze.
The voice laughed.
"He’s already killed you once."
The stone hand began dragging us both into the darkness.