Mattiew wanted to hold Adriana so close to him they would never be apart again, but before he could really revel in the feeling, Adriana pushed him away.

She cried. “Stay back! Stay away from him!”

Mattiew didn’t approach her, but furrowed his brow in confusion. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

“Mattiew…” Alo’aharu pointed.

He followed the elemental’s gesture to the top of a nearby building, where a green, scaly, and young version of Andar Callione stood, with canvas wings and ivory horns. The only reason he could even tell it was Andar was by the noble linens draped over him.

“What miraculous timing!” Andar grinned. “My daughter, her dog, and my dog. All in need of discipline. All showing up to receive it.”

Andar launched off the rooftop like a speeding arrow.

“Mattiew! His curse uses your hatred!” Adriana screamed. “Get away!”

Andar had closed the distance before Mattiew even registered her words. Andar’s shit-eating grin was all he could think about for a moment. Pain erupted in his left arm.

A flash of blue light caused Andar to land several yards away.

Alo’aharu stepped forward, their palm smoking.

Mattiew looked down at his arm as Adriana positioned herself away from Andar to his right. It was dripping with blood and covered in shallow lacerations.

“Mattiew, honey, we need to run. Now!” Adriana insisted. “My father...no, you couldn’t even call him that anymore. That thing is invincible. We need to-”

Mattiew set his hand firmly on Adriana’s shoulder.

“We need to stand and fight. Even if the three of us are still outmatched, we’ll find a way through. Together.” Mattiew locked eyes with Adriana, doing his best to assure her. He’d never seen her this fearful of anything before.

But fear was to be conquered, not obeyed.

Adriana calmed her breath and nodded.

Mattiew turned to face Andar, Alo’aharu and Adriana standing behind him on either side.

If Khemti could find his way to them, maybe they’d even have the upper hand.

Andar sighed, looking over the three. “How do you like it, Nikoliades? My new form. The power of the Scaled One now ripples through every fiber.”

“I think you’re a crazy person.” Mattiew said. “I think you need to be put down.”

Andar flexed his taloned fingers. “Put down? You mean like I did to the Sett boy?”

Mattiew clenched his fist. Hatred would only strengthen him. That’s what Adriana had said. But keeping it suppressed would not make it go away.

Mattiew kicked a spear on the ground into his hands. “You seem intent on becoming a god. Why don’t I introduce you to the rest of your kind?”

“I encourage you to try.” Andar goaded.

“Tell us everything.” Mattiew looked at Adriana.

“His range is ten paces.” Adriana said. “His curse allows him to use your own hatred to tear your body apart from the inside. There’s a slight rush of darkness that precedes it. I think that may be a way to evade it. His new body shatters obsidian, but I don’t know how it fares against metal.”

Mattiew started forward.

Andar chuckled. “After all that insistence of keeping out of my range, your first move is to close the distance?”

“Your ability has a range of ten paces. My spear is only five.” Mattiew said. “So you have the range advantage.”

Mattiew stopped just before his approximation of the range.

“Go on...Take the next step.” Andar said. “But the slightest inkling of desire for vengeance, the smallest drop of contempt, will tear you limb from limb. So try not to think about how I forced you to lie to every friend you’ve ever made. Or how I was completely willing to kill your beloved wife. Or the million of commoners and Nightborn I make suffer every day.”

Mattiew took the step.

Nothing happened.

Andar frowned.

Every ounce of effort Mattiew had to spare was spent trying to think about the day that Mattiew and Adriana first bought their vineyard. They’d been saving for two years to buy the land. They signed the contract on their anniversary as a gift to one another. A gift of new beginnings.

In a flash of movement, Mattiew ran the tip of his spear into Andar’s abdomen and punctured his flesh. Just like any other reptile, Andar had a soft underbelly.

Andar choked on his own shock

The anniversary. Only think about the anniversary.

Mattiew ripped the spear out.

That day would’ve actually been about new beginnings if it weren’t for-

Something rippled across Mattiew’s vision. A shadowy reflection of the vineyard.

Shit!

Mattiew leapt backwards, causing the dark vision to fade from his mind before the curse of spite could touch him.

“Mattiew, what in Irkalla was…” Adriana started. “Did you have a plan there?”

“I wanted to know if I could escape the Curse.” Mattiew said. “I can...but it’s really hard to tell when you’re about to slip.”

Andar removed his hand from his wound, revealing a completely healed patch of scales.

“I’m surprised you still bleed red, Callione.” Alo’aharu taunted.

Andar snarled. “That will change soon enough, slave.”

Mattiew flourished his spear. “We won’t be able to take advantage of his confidence like that for much longer.”

“Do you think you can kill me, Nikoliades?” Andar asked, “With nothing but iron and wits? What can you do, Mattiew? What can you do that could harm me?”

“I can do a lot of things.” Mattiew said. “For example, I’m quite skilled in sleight of hand.”

Mattiew reached behind his belt and produced a small platinum circlet, fashioned after a serpent eating its own tail. The Ouroboros of Tiamat.

Andar’s eyes widened. “What are you doing with that?”

“You’re concerned?” Mattiew asked. “‘Cause see, the Empress of Veyshtar was nice enough to leave this unguarded for me. When I first saw it, I felt a little something coming off of it. It wasn’t mana, but it was a power of some sort. A power I felt because I’m not a sorcerer. I had a theory. Maybe this little circlet actually holds some power I can use against you.”

“Put that down!” Andar demanded.

“Why?” Mattiew asked. “What could I possibly have left to lose?”

Without a moment’s hesitation or faltering in composure, Mattiew lifted the circlet and placed the crown atop his head.

***

Alo’aharu circle around a wide radius, easily double Andar’s range, positioning themselves away from Mattiew as his body slumped to the ground. Adriana rushed to care for him.

Alo’aharu generated a small orb of raw mana and used it to fire a volley of twenty projectiles that twisted and turned through the air, making dodging near impossible.

Andar soaked up the impacts. His gaze focused directly on Alo’aharu.

Alo’aharu’s rage boiled as they fired off a flurry of energy blasts. They did nothing.

“I understand your grievances, Alo’aharu,” Andar said. “But don’t you tire of this charade? Come back to me and I’ll forgive your transgressions. You’ve earned it.”

Alo’aharu gathered up a large well of mana and unleashed it in a massive cone of blue energy that would’ve burnt any normal life form to a crisp.

Andar cackled.

Alo’aharu put more energy into the attack, but it was to no avail.

“You can’t defeat me, Alo’aharu.” Andar said. “Your only options are to die with these two or join me.”

Alo’aharu clenched their fists.

“Join you?” Alo’aharu scoffed, “Join you for what? So I can get a fucking gold bracer on my arm? So I can let you put me in another cage without bars? Every day, I looked to you to tell me what was the best for me because I thought you recognized my loyalty and efforts. But I understand now that it was all just a bid to keep me docile. It was a carrot you could switch out for a stick as you pleased.”

“You were a slave.” Andar said. “You should’ve been thankful to get what little you did.”

Alo’aharu responded with a pillar of crackling energy that slammed into Andar’s chest, forcing Callione to dig in where he stood.

Alo’aharu advanced. “You only wanted me to think that! You wanted me to convince myself I didn’t deserve the right to live! I see your manipulations now! I don’t need your gold! I don’t need your clothes! Those things are not enough! Sparing my life is not enough! I don’t need you to give me what I deserve. I will take from you what you’ve denied me! All of us Nightborn will take it from you!”

Alo’aharu was not just an arcane elemental. Not just a Nightborn. Nor were they just a slave.

No, Alo’aharu was a person. Someone compassionate, impulsive, courageous, and judgemental at times. But all of those things made them who they were. They would rise above Callione and become something greater.

“I hope that revelation put you at peace with your demise.” Andar growled.

The image of Andar as an old man, constructed from pure darkness, flashed in Alo’aharu’s mind.

Some invisible force gored through their body, lacerating every inch.

For a moment, Alo’aharu’s mind was a whirlwind of fear and contempt as death became imminent to their reality.

Then their body reformed.

The ashy, almost cloud-like substance that made up their body wasn’t severed. It rebuilt itself anew, like nothing had happened.

The mana they’d absorbed from Harpax rushed into the gashes and filled the holes in their being.

Alo’aharu closed their fists. “I think...not.”

Alo’aharu filled their fist with all the mana they could spare and delivered one solid, explosive punch to Andar’s jaw.

Andar staggered backwards from the force of the blow.

Alo’aharu didn’t stop there. Two more to the jaw. An uppercut. An elbow strike to the teeth. Another flurry of three.

As they advanced, the Curse of Spite ripped into their body over and over again. Eventually, Alo’aharu stopped trying to heal.

They grabbed Andar by the head and smashed his skull into the brick roads beneath them. And they feasted.

Andar’s body was so plentiful with mana that they couldn’t resist draining every drop they could get their hands on.

Their vengeance was finally here. Andar finally had to pay for his crimes.

“How does it feel?” Alo’aharu roared, their body crackling with power. “To suffer and know no salvation! To have your face forced into the dirt with no means of escape! This is what you inflict on thousands! Every single day! And this is how you’ll die!”

“You...fool…” Andar grunted.

Alo’aharu smashed his head against the road again. “What was that?”

“You’re a fool.” Andar roared.

As he did, the image of Andar flashed in Alo’aharu’s mind once again.

A pitiful attempt to cling to his power. They couldn’t be hurt by-

Alo’aharu’s chest burned.

They looked down to find a bright orange light growing beneath their dermis. Alo’aharu clutched the light as pain racked their body. Their innards were on fire.

Alo’aharu scrambled out of Andar’s range, confused and in agony.

“Such is the fate of those who refuse to let go.” Andar growled as he stood. “My power is too great to be absorbed. Burn on your own hunger for petty vengeance.”

Alo’aharu writhed, their core burning as the mana they consumed tried to eat them alive from the inside out.

***

“That’s one down.” Andar turned from Alo’aharu’s unconscious form, as the burning in their body calmed, to face Adriana.

Adriana glanced at her husband’s face, his eyes glowing, but his body still.

“I gave you a chance, Daughter.” Andar said. “I will no longer show you mercy.”

Adriana set Mattiew down gently and drew his sickle sword, standing to confront her father.

She inhaled, absorbing a wealth of mana from the surrounding air. Her entire body glowed with crimson light, crackling in arcs of red across the surface of her skin.

Andar scoffed.

Adriana affirmed her resolve and tightened the grip on Mattiew’s sword. “I’ve been taking the easy way out since I was a girl. The only way I get what I want is if I take the painful way. If I die while traveling that path, so be it.”

Despite the fear of death quickly fading from her, she still needed to survive if she was to buy Mattiew even a second.

She could not rely on luck anymore, no matter how much control she exercised over it. Fortune and misfortune couldn’t carry her to victory.

She needed her Curse of Chaos to live up to its name.

“One last thing. Don’t call me that.” She muttered, testing the balance of the blade.

“What?”

“Don’t call me your daughter.” Adriana growled. “You never earned that right.”

“Then let us duel Nikoliades.” Andar spat Mattiew’s name. “That it must end this way...is regretful.”

Adriana took up a stance. “You don’t have regrets.”

Scarlet lightning crackled around her as Andar attacked.

Andar rushed at her.

Adriana swung the sword through the air, causing a twister to appear and throw Andar off his course.

She cast her hand to the sky, as two clouds created a lightning bolt that struck down Andar with a bone rattling thunderclap.

She struck Mattiew’s blade against the ground, sparking a fire that quickly spread through the road.

Part of Adriana still wanted to take the easy path. Her entire family had twisted themselves into demonic monsters. Her mother had shown an inkling of empathy and got her heart ripped out of her chest for it.

Her father was trying to kill her.

Why was this happening?

Andar rushed towards Adriana and gored her front with his claws. Blood spattered across the road as she collapsed.

She cried out as Andar grabbed her arms, holding her up before him and threatening to rip off her extremities.

Adriana willed the ground to fall in on itself beneath them. She caught the edge of the opening sinkhole and pulled herself onto the street.

She caused the molten rock to explode from the earth’s depths, just barely missing Andar as he flew upwards on his wings and dove back towards Adriana.

His weight crushed her into the road. He kept flying, dragging her through the cobblestones. Each rock scarred and raked through her backside until she called down another bolt of lightning.

She and Andar both staggered to their feet.

Though she never faltered in her conviction to keep fighting, Adriana couldn’t stop the tears from welling up in her eyes.

Why now?

Until this moment, she had never once thought her father’s evil to be tragic. And now, the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him.

But he was lost. He had abandoned hope and was beyond saving.

The tragedy of their battle hadn’t dawned on Andar as he cackled with maniacal glee. Or maybe he realized it. And the epiphany had broken him. The results were the same either way. But she wanted to know that maybe…maybe some humanity still lived in him.