Only seventeen of the prisoners survived the brutal initiation, over half of them having failed at one step or another. Zu Mari stood with Lukas and Kia, the resolve in the two men’s hearts glinting like steel in their eyes as they assessed each other.

“I’m going to find a way to get Kia out,” Lukas said, his voice low and firm. “Even if I have to die to make it happen.”

“If we work together, we can burn this place to the ground,” Zu promised. “Then all your people will be free.”

Lukas stared at Zu, eyes growing wide with shock. “You… you plan to challenge even the Masters?”

“I do not know how, but I will find a way.” Zu clenched a fist. “I was sent by Serena herself, I will not fail.”

“Serena must be truly desperate. I know of no one outside Letranien who would dare acknowledge her.”

“Letranien?”

“The last of the Free Cities. It claims to be a haven for all, and hasn’t involved itself in the Power War, but it’s only a matter of time before the fighting destroys it as it has all the rest. With Avenriheen fallen,” his voice caught just the slightest bit, “Letranien is sure to be the Green Flame’s next target. And I fear Lightwall won’t try to defend it, after the losses it suffered at Avenriheen.”

Zu understood at once. “The war must be stopped, because Serena’s last faithful city lies in the path of conquest! Unless I destroy the Green Flame sect now, they will wipe out her followers and leave her lonely.”

He imagined her beautiful face streaked with tears, her deific glow subdued by grief, her hands held pleadingly… her face turned away for the help he’d promised and then failed to deliver.

Zu shook his head, driving away the false image of a future he would not allow to come about. “I will not fail!”

Lukas wavered, then shook his head. “If you think the best way to get out is to destroy everything, that’s your business. But I don’t want Kia caught in the crossfire. Once I’m satisfied that she’s safe, I’ll gladly join you in annihilating these bastards, but until then… I cannot offer you aid.”

“You will change your mind in time,” Zu said. “Until then, do your best not to die.”

He left the two to their reunion, dismissing their existence as unimportant henceforth until they saw reason and joined him as they ought. Then he roamed the balcony to see the others who’d passed the initiation.

The four women toward the front of the line who’d been unbowed by the pressure had gathered and were speaking softly together. They fell silent at Zu’s approach, eying him with clear distrust. There was enough of a similarity in their faces, the closely-matched hue of their almost purplish grey hair, that Zu immediately knew they were sisters.

“Good day. I am Zu Mari, here at the behest of the goddess Serena and seeking to bring peace to this world.”

The two nearest him drew back in obvious displeasure, suspicious looks spreading across all their faces. “A Serenaii would be best served by keeping his silence,” said one of them in a low voice.

“Or you would be best served by aiding me in overthrowing our captors?”

“There is no overthrowing the Green Flame. Why do you think we allowed ourselves to be taken? This is the best fate we could hope for. At least in service to the Master we keep our lives and some semblance of freedom. If we fought, we would find only torment and death.”

Zu’s blood ran cold. “You… allowed yourselves to be imprisoned and enslaved? Not out of some plan to eventually win freedom, but in genuine surrender to the aggressor?”

“Why would we seek to continue fighting?” asked one of the others, her voice a bit deeper than her sisters’. “Here we can live together, study together, and survive without trouble. As acolytes, all our needs will be met. It will be an easier life than that of many who live in so-called freedom. If it requires our unquestioning and unhesitating subservience, then so be it.”

Zu stared at them, horrified. “This… you all agree to this?”

“You have a brave and noble heart,” said a third sister with a faint smile. “But you are a fool if you imagine any plot of yours can overthrow this land. The Green Flame is the future of our world, and to stand against them is to perish. That is as simple as it is.”

“I see now why Serena sent me, and did not depend on her own people,” Zu said, jaw tight with suppressed rage. “All who remain here are cowards.”

“It is not cowardice to accept the world as it is. That is wisdom.”

“The world is only how it is because of your cowardice! If more people stood up to them, the Green Flame would never have come so far.”

“You misunderstand,” said the deeper-voiced sister. “All the world stood against the Green Flame, and he has subjugated countries one by one. He is too powerful to be resisted. You saw the smallest fraction of his power reflected in our Master, did you not? Think! If the youngest child of his dynasty can obliterate an entire city at a word, then what hope do we stand against the Green Flame himself?”

At her words, Zu Mari’s understanding of the world shifted. He looked at the tower upon whose side their balcony rested, then out across the sprawling beautiful city at its many towers and many palaces.

This tower belonged only to one child. Master Elvanis was not the lord of the Green Flame, but only one of many potential heirs. Perhaps even the weakest among them.

At the word of a child, the city had been destroyed. At the will of a child, people were turned to dust in the blink of an eye.

And yet that child could stand evenly with the strongest patriarch Zu Mari had ever met.

“I see why Serena sent for me,” he repeated grimly. This was a task so impossible, only Zu Mari could accomplish it.

And accomplish it he would.

“It is my destiny to rule the heavens. If I cannot do something so simple as this, then that destiny deserves to be forfeit.” He returned his focus to the four women, watching him coldly. “The offer remains open to you. If you ever tire of your enslavement, I will gladly accept your help in freeing your world from its tyrant. But do not stand in my way, for I will not hesitate to strike down any who seek to protect the Green Flame from the wrath of my justice.”

“It is as pointless to try to stop you as it would be to try to prevent mist from evaporating in a forge. The forge will not be extinguished and there is too much mist determined to throw itself away. Why should we try to protect the mist from its blindness? It will only try again, and we will be dampened in the attempt.”

“Your words are as flaccid as your courage. But at least you are wise enough not to stand against me. My offer remains.”

Zu looked over the others, but decided that he did not care for or about them. They were all products of this same hopeless world, the world whose very goddess needed to seek elsewhere for aid.

He could rely on nothing and no one but himself.