House Sett had always been a house considered part of the ‘low nobility’. Compared to the other noble houses, they had little money. But they still had the title.

Without a keep to be sheltered in or house staff to take care of him, Khemti Sett became well acquainted with the ways of commoners.

He’d seen the injustices perpetuated by the noble class and the hostility each class harbored towards one another. In Alazar, it was especially bad. Nobles would kill commoners as casually as they would spit in the sand. The same went for when they kidnapped and kept common women and girls. The commoners would hunt nobles for fun if they ever got angry enough. They would perpetrate the same crimes against noble women as nobles perpetrated against common women.

And the King of Alazar called it justice. Survival of the fittest.

So Khemti had dedicated himself to creating a world where the upper and lower classes could intermingle. Where movement between the two was based on merit and wealth, not bloodline.

That was why he entered the Bellirex. To save the two classes from each other.

That was why he followed Mattiew into this battle.

But to think that Andar Callione would empower himself with eldritch magics or...whatever that was.

This battle was quickly becoming about more than just the destruction of the Imperial class system.

It was no longer Khemti’s responsibility to strategize and command. It was now his responsibility as a sorcerer to steel his resolve and face enemies too powerful for the commoners in his army.

But this was just too much.

Khemti and Adriana sprinted through the city as Andar Callione chased after them, soaring through the sky with his newfound power of flight.

“Stop running from me, Sett! You don’t want all your soldiers thinking you’re a coward, do you?” Andar taunted.

Callione and Sett soldiers alike stared in shock as Khemti ran from Andar.

“How far would you say we are from him right now?” Adriana panted.

“What?” Khemti asked.

“We need to determine his range. How far are we from him?”

Khemti spared a glance backward. “Maybe twenty-five, thirty paces?”

“Ok.” Adriana said. “Watch for when he moves. And don’t stop running.”

“Huh?”

Then Adriana stopped.

Khemti didn’t follow her example, but he looked back as her entire body crackled with crimson energy.

He only saw a flash of darkness move through the air. Adriana was safe thanks to her sorcery, but the surrounding ground erupted into shattered bits of cobblestone.

He attacked at maybe...ten?

Khemti fired a volley of sand pellets at Andar’s face, distracting him long enough for Adriana to catch up to him.

“Ten paces.” Khemti said, as they started running again.

“If you won’t stop, I guess I’ll just have to make you face me!” Andar roared.

Khemti spared another look back and almost stopped as Andar’s sorcery instantaneously killed eleven more of Khemti’s followers. Their innards and blood sprayed everywhere like a crimson rain of gore.

“No!” Khemti screamed, but Adriana grabbed him by the arm, practically dragging him with her.

“Let them go!” Adriana snapped. “He’s baiting you!”

Khemti tore his arm away from her. “I don’t care! I’m done running!”

“We can’t fight him without a plan!” Adriana argued.

“Then let me buy you some time to come up with one.” Khemti knelt and pressed his fingers to the ground.

In all reality, Khemti’s abilities were not limited to sand. It would be useless outside of beaches and deserts if that were the case.

His powers could manipulate all forms of sedimentary earth. Silt, gravel, sand, as long as it was small and made of rock.

Andar scrambled towards him on his spider legs.

Sediment was everywhere, thanks to rubble and debris. And so it was all connected. And so Khemti truly had no limit in range. The only limit was his willpower.

This power alone allowed him to surpass the wealthier noble families in Alazar. It allowed him to achieve his dreams. And it would allow him to protect his people.

As someone with greater power, it was his responsibility to protect those who simply couldn’t defend themselves.

But he couldn’t do everything for them. The best he could do was open the path. For his people. For Adriana. For Mattiew.

Now that Khemti was facing it, he could feel it. The evil radiating off Andar.

He could no longer be called human. Something beyond humanity had changed him. Something that set off a primal, instinctive aversion in Khemti’s core. As though a thousand generations had been taught to fear the slightest presence of this...thing.

Ancient Kings...give me strength.

Khemti breathed in the largest amount of mana he’d ever held. His blood burned with light as his will connected with every granule of sediment from the coastline to the furthest walls of Rosalia.

“I should let you know, Callione.” Khemti muttered. “The God of the Earth still quakes before House Sett.”

A shower of pellets and projectiles and shards of silt, clay, sand, glass, and gravel formed, ready to fall upon Andar like a thousand simultaneous blades.

But that was only the beginning.

A hundred mirrors erected from the sediment all over the city, directing the eclipsed sun’s light in thirty different ways to create thirty different rays of heat intensive enough to start a fire.

He then melted the sediment beneath Callione into puddles of lava that erupted into spikes made of molten rock.

Khemti covered his own hands with molten rock, which he solidified into obsidian blades.

“This is the strength of my resolve!” Khemti roared. “House Sett’s magnum opus! Wrath of the Earth Mother!”

Don’t be mad, Msrah…

Khemti’s attack landed.

First, lava spikes hit, then the hail of stones, all while the heat rays seared Andar. And last, Khemti aimed his blades at Andar’s heart and neck.

The lava had been ineffectual. The heat rays did nothing. The projectiles collided with Andar’s skin like raindrops.

The obsidian shattered against Andar’s scaled hide.

Khemti had no time to react as Andar’s arm shot out, grabbing him by the throat.

“Your efforts. All. Vanity.” Andar growled. “Now die.”

Damn you, Thutmose.

The image of the King of Alazar flashed across Khemti’s mind as his body seemed to lacerate itself. The force of his body tearing itself apart threw him into the side of a building, throwing up dust as he made a crater in the stone.

“Sett!” Adriana exclaimed.

What...what was that? He never touched me…

Khemti struggled to move, but it was no use. He could barely lift his fingers.

The eclipse…Khemti wondered if Msrah was looking at the same eclipse in Veyshtar.

Khemti had insisted he stay in Veyshtar for the sake of his own safety. But now, looking at his prospects, Khemti wondered if he made the wrong choice.

But while Khemti’s heart dwelled on his husband, Andar Callione’s Curse of Spite captivated his mind.

He was so close. How hadn’t he seen anything attack him? Nothing except that black flash.

It had to have been something. It deflected all of Khemti’s attacks without Andar lifting a finger.

Without lifting a finger…

As blood trickled out from the corner of Khemti’s lip, he replayed the moment in his mind.

“Sett!” Adriana’s muffled voice called to him from somewhere in the background.

At the moment of the attack, Khemti had thought of King Thutmose of Alazar...The only man he could say he hated.

The only one I hate…

My hate…

Adriana had said something about not hating Andar.

But what if the power operated not on hatred for Andar...but all hatred?

Was it possible that Andar Callione’s curse weaponized his opponent’s own hate against them? Was it possible that Khemti’s own contempt had shredded his body?

But how? How were they meant to fight that? Their own minds would kill them.

Khemti had to tell Adriana...somehow...some way. At this rate, they would all die without a chance at defeating Callione…

“You bastard!” Adriana snarled as an aura of crackling red energy surrounded her.

“All that hatred...You’re next, my daughter.” Andar grinned.

Khemti tried to inhale mana, but his effort only resulted in vomiting up a gallon of blood.

Breathe...BREATHE!

As painful as it was, Khemti forced air down his throat and into his shredded lungs.

“Now perish.” Andar muttered.

Khemti exerted every ounce of determination and life left in his body. He shot a volley of glass shards at Andar from behind.

Callione evaded the shards, allowing them to fly straight towards Khemti. He let the shards stab and cut him. He could barely feel it.

“What the-” Adriana said.

It was the last of Khemti’s power.

Andar scoffed. “Pathetic.”

Adriana looked at Khemti, brow furrowed.

It’s the best I can do…

Khemti prayed to the Ancient Kings that she would understand.

Please...figure it out…

Blackness consumed Khemti’s last bits of consciousness. But a light blossomed in his chest.

Faith. Faith in his friends. Faith in his followers. They didn’t need him anymore. And he was happy for that.

Not long after...Khemti Sett’s heart stopped.

***

Adriana ran as fast as she could, imbuing herself with as much good fortune as she could manage.

Andar was right on her tail, but she ensured that the ten-pace range of her father’s ability was never within reach of her.

Khemti couldn’t have just used up the last of his power to just try to get hit on her father. He wasn’t a proud or spiteful man.

Why’d you hit yourself, Sett? That has to mean something…

Adriana watched a stray lightning bolt from a Callione sorcerer strike a nearby building. Using her good fortune, she leapt up the falling debris like they were steps until she got onto a rooftop.

Though, her means of putting more distance between her and her father was easily cleared with one leap from him.

Perhaps, upon his death, Sett had actually seen and figured out how Andar’s sorcery worked. She found it absurd that she’d never seen it, despite living in his home for seventeen years. Though she had to admit that it was certainly keeping her on her toes.

Stabbing himself with his last attack…

Adriana ignored a crimson flash of light that came from the harbor. She just hoped that it was some kind of sign that Mattiew was doing well in whatever battle he faced.

Stabbing himself…

She couldn’t afford to let Andar follow her over to Mattiew. Not knowing even the little bits she knew of his ability could get him killed. And there was no reason to give Andar access to another ally he could use against them.

Hurting himself…

My father’s sorcery...how he weaponizes hatred...how is that possible? How is that supposed to be beaten?

The power of the Curse of Spite...was to rip apart someone’s body using the hate that already laid within them.

Adriana cursed under her breath.

The ability wasn’t a weapon that could be fought. It wasn’t an external threat. As long as you were within its radius, you died. Or at the very least, put on death’s doorstep.

The only possible external aspect to the power was that split-second rush of darkness that appeared before each death.

Dodging the Sunkiller’s attacks would be easier.

Adriana willed misfortune into the building beneath her as she leapt across to the next rooftop. The building collapsed, but her father jumped off its remains and close even more distance between them like some kind of draconic acrobat.

Nevertheless…

“Message received, Sett.” Adriana whispered to herself.

She just had to think. Without thought, she would succumb to panic and Andar would triumph.

Adriana stopped running for but a moment and put her full faith in her ability to put odds in her favor.

She pulled a short sword off the corpse of a guardsman and turned to face her father. Andar’s velocity would send him hurtling into her blade.

Adriana closed her eyes and thought only of Mattiew.

She swung, but only hit the air.

Upon opening her eyes again, she saw her father leaning back as far as he could without falling over. She leapt out of his range.

Andar scoffed, “So...I take it you’ve figured out yet another aspect of my ability.”

“It’s an impressive ability.” Adriana said. “But only if that person is letting aggression dominate their mind.”

Andar grinned, his mouth full of wicked draconic fangs. “So you’ve divined the nature of my sorcery. You truly are my daughter.”

Adriana gritted her teeth. “The credit should go to Sett...His death won’t be for nothing.”

Andar chuckled. “Even if you are aware of my ability, what can you do about it, daughter? Your sorcery is a mere manipulation of odds. By consuming the blood of the Scaled One, I have removed your greatest weapon. You cannot cause disease or dysfunction in my body. No blade can pierce my scales. No flame can burn me, no force can rattle me. Regardless of my sorcery, I can still kill you.”

Andar slammed his fist into the rooftop they stood on, causing the entire building to explode into rubble.

Adriana’s sorcery prevented the debris from hitting her, but she didn’t have enough good fortune to not slip and fall with the rest of the building.

She landed on the road, pain blooming in her side as her body coped with the two-story drop.

Adriana scrambled to her feet, fueled primarily by adrenaline, and kept running.

She was off balance and panicked, but she had to keep running. She had to keep-

Adriana slammed into someone, who caught her arms before she collapsed.

Olive skin. Black, braided hair.

Adriana looked up and met the gaze of two beautiful brown eyes.

“Mattiew…”

Adriana’s husband let every muscle in his body relax before wrapping her in the tightest embrace she’d ever known.

“I’m here, Adriana…” He choked. “I’m here.”