Cyrus

As much as I wanted to trust Magnus and the Obsidian Outlaws, I had to admit that I still had my doubts. Knocking out Kate and the ensuing fight with Lucy had made me question my decision more and more.

Those growing doubts had been immediately thrown aside as soon I had seen Kate draw the flames into herself, transforming her familiar form into a nightmarish blaze. Her flames lashed out at me and I was barely able to dodge out of the way, watching in horror as Sean was burned alive.

Those screams immediately brought me back to that day four years ago. My home in Kenbry engulfed in a blazing red inferno. I had fled from that fire the one place I could, but now it seemed to have followed me.

Sean was someone I barely knew, but he had shown me kindness where I had never expected it. To see him taken from the world so swiftly and brutally reignited a long dormant rage I had struggled to suppress after my family had been taken from me.

I turned to the blazing being with Magnus, Alice and Lucy beside me and raised my repeater. I didn’t know if it would have any effect but I still fired directly at the ground below the demon without any hesitation.

The shot exploded through the air and collided with Kate in a split second, a deafening boom followed by a superheated screech ringing out. I managed to keep a sturdy grip on my repeater despite the recoil, immediately starting to run to the side even as the spot that Kate had been standing was engulfed in a thick cloud of starsand.

“Take her down!” Magnus shouted over the roaring explosion my shot had caused.

Everyone around me followed my lead and took action, not foolish enough to wait and see if anything remained once the starsand settled.

Alice and Magnus both unloaded a brutal barrage of bullets into the glowing cloud as Lucy staggered over with her blastpick, twirling it above her head with both hands. As soon as a fiery blue arm emerged, pointed straight in my direction, she swung her new ruby weapon and pulled the trigger on the handle.

Whatever attack that Kate had been conjuring up quickly dissipated as the point of the pick pierced through her fiery arm with explosive force, causing her to let loose with another pained cry as the air around her started to violently shimmer.

The starsand that had been whipping around her bright body scattered and cleared in an instant. I could finally see the damage my first shot had caused her.

The rubyshot round had seemingly detonated right underneath Kate, causing her to take the full force of the explosion. It looked like the flames wrapped around her body had been ripped away in places, taking chunks of the researcher with them.

There were several spots where I could actually see bone, her clothing and flesh seemingly having melted away. Kate’s legs in particular were an absolute mess, but even as I watched the blue fire that remained started to spread over those gaping wounds.

Wherever the flame spread flesh and bone mended, knitting back together in a gruesome display that made me feel sick. The idea that this creature I had once known as Kate was even still a person anymore was difficult to accept.

She was a total monster now. A true demon.

“Lucy! Get back!” I tried to warn the Rook but she was already doing her best to ready another attack.

“Not yet!” Lucy screamed back at me, taking a second to unload all six rounds of her revolver into Kate before tossing the empty gun aside and swapping back to the pick.

I didn’t know how she could even stand to be so close to Kate when the heat was so overwhelmingly intense. It was enough to melt regular bullets but Lucy just kept swinging her pick about in a wild frenzy, stopping Kate from conjuring up more devastating attacks.

Her individual blows didn’t seem to be doing much actual damage, but each one caused the flames to flicker slightly as Kate staggered and stumbled backwards. It was an onslaught that couldn’t last forever but it gave the rest of us plenty of time to reload and prepare.

I saw that both Sparkle and Shimmer were circling around to Kate’s other side, not getting too close but prepared to support Lucy if she made a mistake.

“Now! Fire!” Lucy delivered one last overhead blow before diving backwards.

As soon as Lucy screamed the order I did exactly that. Another round of rubyshot whistled through the air and slammed straight into Kate’s torso before detonating.

Once again the flame armour engulfing the researcher was thrown from her with great force, leaving much more of her body exposed than my first shot. I could actually make out part of her bloodied face this time, her burning fury directed straight at me.

She wanted me dead, and I knew the next time she recovered her armour she would rain down hell on me. We couldn’t give her the opportunity.

Thankfully, Magnus and Alice had waited to unload their own guns on Kate. They both rushed forward, firing at a slight upwards angle as they ran.

Their bullets were melted as soon as they got close to Kate’s blazing aura, but thanks to how the pair of Obsidian Outlaws had aimed them the burning metal slag ended up on a collision course with the exposed flesh of our shared target.

“That’s for Sean!” Magnus whooped as Kate cried out in absolute agony, the superheated metal splashing against her in several spots.

As Kate raised her arms to protect her face both Shimmer and Sparkle darted forward and slammed their spiked tails into her.

We were actually doing real damage to the demon now. I could repeatedly strip away her armour and then the others could move in to take her down.

Kate was seemingly struggling just to recover while we all reloaded and Lucy staggered back to her feet. We had the advantage.

Or so I thought.

There was one crucial thing that myself and everybody else present had all been forgetting.

Just as I managed to finish working the lever of my repeater, aiming the barrel at the center of Kate’s body, she raised both her hands high in the air. I hesitated for just a second at the gesture, wondering if she had realised she couldn’t win and was trying to surrender.

Then she began making a series of rapid gestures with both hands and I realised what was really happening.

“She’s using her Soulgate!” I cried out, but it was no good.

We were all skilled fighters, but none of us could move fast enough to dodge bolts lightning.

The crackling blue energy lanced out in several bolts from Kate’s bloody fingertips. Before I could even move an inch one had arced straight into my chest.

My entire body was wracked with unbelievable pain and then everything just seemed to shut down. I saw the world around me in slow motion as I was blasted backwards off my feet, my ruby repeater slipping free of my grip.

Is this really how I die? What has all this been for? I came out here to escape the same flames that took everything from me but all I did was delay the inevitable. If I was going to die in an inferno, why here? Why not at home with my family?

The thoughts racing through my head weren’t about how to beat Kate or what I should do to survive. I saw my entire life flashing before my eyes instead.

Those happy days in Kenbry, playing with Lucy and the others as a child before we went to different schools and gradually drifted apart. The time I had spent in the library, reading up on magical academies like Lunar Heights and wishing I had a Soulgate of my own.

I thought of my plans to become a traveling merchant and cross the great Elderwood to sell and buy wares to other nations. Hitting the road alone or with a trusted companion, spending nights traveling under the stars.

I wanted to see the world and go on adventures, maybe settle down one day with my own shop once I found somewhere I really loved.

Maybe in another life. I’m sorry everyone.

Seeing my past and the long-dead hopes and dreams of my future flash before my eyes as I was thrown through the air only lasted an instant, then the terrible agony took me as I crashed into a nearby building.

My vision blurred and faded to black as I struggled to move even a finger. I must have passed out for a few seconds before I jolted back awake, my smoking body convulsing with even more pain.

I had barely survived the lightning blast, but I was no longer in any condition to fight. From my position I could just make out the prone forms of Magnus, Lucy and Alice slumped across the street.

They seemed to be twitching irregularly and it was clear they wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon. I could still feel my body, but mustering up the strength to move it was another matter entirely.

“Still alive? Scorch really does a number on my control.” Kate’s cold voice called out.

I struggled to turn my head from my seated position against the cracked wooden wall to face her. Kate was strolling towards me at a leisurely pace, the twitching forms of Sparkle and Shimmer behind her. It seemed their diamond armour hadn’t protected their biological parts from the lightning.

Kate’s body was still burning in places, patches of blue slowly spreading across her outfit and sealing up her many wounds. It was the most vulnerable she had been since the fight had started yet nobody was there to take advantage of it.

The Rooks and other townsfolk that must have been in the saloon had done the sensible thing and ran for their lives, and with Magnus down there would be no Obsidian Outlaws or crystal creatures coming to my rescue.

“Usually, a blast like that is enough to stop a heart for good. Guess y'all are lucky the Scorch is still messing up my Soulgate.” Kate grinned as she casually bent down and picked up my repeater, still heading right for me. "Not that it will save ya for long."

“Why me?” I managed to grunt out the words.

“Why not? If I went around showing off these powers I’d draw too much attention. Ya made a fine bodyguard, for a while at least. I would have roped along some Rook but honestly? Ya’ll were just too fun to tease and much more gullible.” Kate shrugged. “If ya hadn’t come after me, I would have just disappeared. But ya just had to play hero and come to the camp.”

“D-didn’t know it was you…”

“Maybe not, but if ya got away and started spouting off about what ya saw then the wrong people would find out eventually. Was plannin’ to kill ya goblin friend for the same reason. Now I’ll have to burn the whole town to the ground.”

“Why? What could be worth all this?”

“Power. Simple as. My boss gave me the mission to find out about Magnus and his group. Scorch is only big enough for one Sovereign, and when I get back I’ll be rewarded with even more of her power. If ya think this is impressive just wait, she could burn down this miserable town with a snap of her fingers!”

I struggled to think of anything more I could ask to try and buy more time. At this point, I didn’t really care about the answers I was getting. I just needed to delay Kate as much as I could.

I still had Sean’s old gun in one of my duster pockets. If I could find an opportunity then maybe…

Kate quickly dashed any hope of that as she suddenly delivered a rib-shattering kick to my chest, following it up by leaning in close and grabbing the black revolver from my duster.

“Figured ya might still be carrying this. Won’t be needing it anymore.”

She casually tossed the revolver over her shoulder before leaning down and grabbing my rubyshot bandolier. Still reeling from the impact of the kick I was in no position whatsoever to stop her as she removed it and held it in her other hand.

“Ya know something, Cy? I only knew ya for a couple of days but ya left an impact. Think I may hold onto these, to remember ya by.”

“It doesn’t belong to you.” I growled.

“Oh right, it’s ya partner isn’t it?” Kate laughed in my face, casually tossing my gun up in the air and easily catching it. “I never did name this thing did I?”

I felt the rage building up stronger and stronger inside me. I hated the person standing before me more than anything.

She had made me open up. She acted scared and had me comfort her. She made me break my code and trust her as more than just a client. Because of her, I had felt ready to open up and try to let more people in.

Then she had burned my world and my life in the Scorch to the ground.

I wouldn’t let her win. I wouldn’t let her destroy the town and the Obsidian Outlaws. I wouldn’t let her kill Lucy, Zari, Vera or any of the others here I had met, however briefly.

I wouldn’t let her destroy me or my future. Even if it had been fake, my time in Clearvein had taught me something about myself.

I still cared. I still hoped. I could still love.

Ryan…

As Kate was making a show out of twirling my repeater about and theatrically thinking up a name, I heard a voice whisper to me. It was distantly familiar to me, like something I hadn’t heard since coming to the Scorch.

It sounded like… my sister?

Keep… each other… safe.

The voice whispered again and I felt my whole body turn ice cold, the heat and pain momentarily gone. What the hell was happening?

I still had my obsidian mask on, but Magnus was out cold. There shouldn’t have been anyone able to send messages to me. Where were these messages coming from, and how were they coming to me in the voice of someone long dead?

Kate was doing her best to keep taunting me but her words and threats were having no effect anymore. I was instead focusing on pushing my thoughts into the mask.

Who are you? Is this real?

I’m… partner.

The voice came through disjointed and irregular. It was definitely my sister’s voice, but it sounded as if the words were coming from someone who had never actually spoken before.

Each word seemed like an immense struggle for them, but they sounded like they were trying their hardest to speak to me.

Will… help. Don’t… give… up.

“Hello? Somewhere else ya got to be Cyrus?” Kate spoke up before I could think of a response.

She was pointing the barrel of my ruby repeater directly at me now, having backed up several steps from me. The perfect range to shoot me without risking getting caught in the explosion.

“My partner…” I whispered aloud, my eyes growing wide as I stared at the beautifully crafted weapon Kate was holding.

“Ya really think this ever made ya special? It’s just a tool Cy. A child could use it. If ya wanted real power, ya should have been born with a Soulgate. That or found someone truly powerful to serve. Maybe my boss would have been willin’ to help ya. But I guess ya picked the wrong side.”

“I’d never help someone like you. You use people for your own sick games. I want power, sure, who doesn’t? The difference is I’m not willing to give up who I am.” I took a deep breath, wincing as the pain almost made me pass out once again.

“Oh yeah, and who’s that? A hero? A professional?” Kate idly worked the lever of my repeater, priming the next shot. “Because from where I’m standin’, ya just look like a dead man.”

Kate’s flames were starting to cover the majority of her body once again. I had an idea of what was going to happen next, based on what the voice had told me, but if I wanted to survive the next few seconds I would have to move fast and with all the strength I had left.

“I’m a crystal gunslinger. If you want to find out what that really means, pull the trigger.”

Kate glared at me, her expression unmoving. I braced myself for what I knew was coming next, sending one last thought through my mask.

Thank you partner, for everything.

Goodbye… partner.

The voice answered me just as Kate squeezed down on the trigger of my ruby repeater. My most loyal companion through my years in the Scorch. My only lifeline. My partner.

The gun had never let me down, even when I had lost my arm it had continued to protect me. Now, it did so one final time.

Instead of firing a round of rubyshot into my chest, the ruby repeater backfired. The round detonated in the barrel with enough force to shatter the gun into nothing but ruby shards.

Kate barely had time to scream as the explosion engulfed her, setting off the entire bandolier of rubyshot she had stolen from me. Even with my eyes clenched shut the chain of detonations was so bright and forceful that it hurt.

The heat from it alone was enough to burn off my eyebrows and scorch my exposed skin in several places. I was deeply thankful Kate had backed away and wasn’t standing anywhere close to one of the others that she had knocked out with her lightning.

As soon as the deafening explosion came to an end I opened my eyes and willed my body to move. It was far from easy, but I knew that if I didn’t make sure things were finished then everyone in Clearvein would burn.

Kate was shockingly still alive. The chain of explosions having severely burned her and left her missing her own right arm.

The fiery armour and powers that her Sovereign had apparently gifted her truly were terrifying if that was the worst that nearly a dozen rounds of rubyshot detonating in sequence had done to her.

“H-how? I was supposed to…” Kate was stunned, her entire body shaking as the last smoldering embers of the blue flames left her.

I didn’t reply or give her a chance to finish. Instead I reached my left arm into my jacket pocket and pulled out my diamond-studded knuckle duster.

She may have been a bloody and burned mess, but with mages of her power you couldn’t afford to take chances. There was no telling what kind of magic she would unleash before letting herself lose.

Before she could do anything, I delivered a swift punch to the side of Kate’s head, knocking her out cold.

She was down for good this time. I wasn’t sure if I had killed her, but I was confident she wouldn’t be waking up again anytime soon.

With the job finally done, I slumped to my knees. That last burst of energy I had managed to muster up to make sure Kate was finished had left me now.

In what I knew were likely my last few seconds of consciousness I looked over to the others, my allies, that I had survived the fight with. Magnus was pulling himself to his feet and helping Alice up too.

Lucy was still lying face down, her blood soaking into the starsand around her.

She’ll be alright. The Rooks and townsfolk are coming now. I gave the order for the rest of the Obsidian Outlaws to withdraw.

Magnus’ voice came to me in a comforting whisper through the mask. I couldn’t muster the strength to answer but he made his way over to me, taking the dark mask off my face and leaning down to examine Kate.

“Holy hell, she survived all that?”

I gave a weak nod.

“Alice? Help me take her. We have to leave now.”

“What about Cyrus?”

“He needs treatment. We’ll have to leave him for now.”

“But how-”

“He has the mask. We’ll be in contact once we bring Kate back to the Sovereign.”

“Alright…”

Alice sounded unhappy, and I think she even tried to insist they bring me along too, but that was the point where I slumped forward into the starsand. This seemed to put an end to whatever discussion the two were having, and the next thing I knew I was feeling Magnus sliding my mask into one of my coat pockets.

“The Sovereign of the Scorch will want to see you soon, Cyrus. I think after all this, he owes you a lot more than forgiveness. He owes you a favour.”

Magnus had leaned in close to whisper those words me as he had given me the mask back, then I heard him and Alice rush off as fast as they could manage while carrying Kate. I couldn’t respond at the time of course, but those words would give me a lot to think about in the coming days.

“Over here! It’s Lucy!”

“W-wait a minute… isn’t that the gunslinger?”

The concerned and frightened voices came seconds after the outlaws had left. I tried to force my eyes open once more but couldn’t manage it. I just lay there as the townsfolk and Rooks swarmed me.

In the end, I was able to cling to consciousness just long enough to hear the town doctor, Vera, swearing loudly as I was brought to her. It almost made me want to laugh, but I doubted I would manage that for a long time.

I had lost something, or maybe even someone, very important to me that day. I didn’t think things could get much worse than losing my arm, but now I felt like a piece of my very soul was missing.

The only thing that could really compare was the pain of that day I had lost my family, lost the very sister that my gun had seemingly spoken with the voice of.

Jess… one day I know we’ll meet again. If that was you watching over me today… thank you.

I didn’t know if I would ever find out the truth to why my ruby repeater had backfired, or how it had spoken to me with Jess’ voice in those last moments. Regardless, I knew where my first stop would be as soon as I recovered from my latest batch of injuries.

The old man is really gonna kill me for breaking his masterpiece…