Not Enough

Zach retaliated with all of his power. His strikes were true and fast, their trajectories hidden through Time. His opponent was faster, but that didn’t matter. Zach could cut through the River of Time, jump to the wave at its front and attack back, in the moments before the banks of the River solidified.

Kael attempted to block, but Zach’s will thrummed in his mind, his Skill singing. He swung and connected. His perceptions were focused and he leaned on his Skill, pushing it forward into what it was always meant to be.

He was surprised when his vision winked out, when the world seeped away and he was transported someplace else.

Notifications blared in his head, familiar and nearly forgotten.

Skill quest canceled, understanding triggered. Understanding of |Sealing|. Vision of greatness initiated.

He was in a grand hall, white banners hanging from pillars arranged alongside the walls. A procession led a chained man up to the center, where a regal woman waited. She looked down at the prisoner with cold eyes, filled with no pity. The man before her was a criminal, and he had been judged. He shook his head, tried to break his chains, but it was futile. She placed a hand on the pleading man’s chest, and her will made reality bend. Zach knew instantly and intimately what had happened. His power was sealed away from him. He was pulled out of the vision as the man dropped to the ground, crying.

He was disoriented for a moment, which allowed Kaeliss to retreat and escape his reach. But Zach knew that he had hit his target, sealed what he intended to seal.

|Of Precision and Sealing| became |I Seal Your Power| and his attack had closed off Kaeliss’ core from him. He no longer could touch his Qi. Zach felt the side-effect of the skill as half of his vision faded away and he went blind in one eye. He had expected something like that, one part of the skill had been precision.

He was surprised by the vision, he hadn’t gotten on in a long time. He knew how they happened, and why. They were shown to those who followed a path that another had followed before them. One day, someone would see him as a vision, see how he made his |I Strike Through Time| against Hastur, and it would give them inspiration, it would give them guidance, show them what was possible.

What Zach saw was more than just the skill. It was the belief and determination to stand and judge. Zach had the same skill she did, but he knew instinctively that he disagreed with the woman.

She offered no second chances, no opportunity for change and growth.

Stolen novel; please report.

Zach turned his eyes to look at his opponent, Kaeliss. He was shaken by Zach’s blow, but he was still in the fight. He would not stop. He would never stop. Their fight had shown him that. The Knowledge had become apparent, there was no changing his mind, nothing that Zach could do that would make him change his course.

He took a deep breath and blinked, it was time for him to end this.

The fight changed in an instant. One moment, Kaeliss was pushing Zacharia back, even without Berion’s help. And then Kaeliss retreated, and Zacharia pushed ahead.

Berion watched from afar, his fingers twitching. He was afraid, and he couldn’t even tell what it was that frightened him so much.

Kaeliss was on the back foot now, his opponent was… everywhere. His attacks came and went in between moments, Time was bending around them. They were blurring together one moment, and then fighting as if they were in slow motion another.

It made Berion’s head ache. Space was being twisted, not by anyone’s intention, but as a side effect of what Zacharia was doing with Time.

Berion could feel it, it was fraying at the edges as Zacharia’s blade burned through it in a way that made Berion’s perceptions give him nausea.

Kaeliss was firing every trigger in his armor, attempting to gain ground, but it was no use. There was a clear difference in their power, even with the Soul runes giving Kaeliss an incredible amount of physical stats, boosting all his powers, it wasn’t enough to overcome someone who could bend Time to their will.

Berion watched Kaeliss trigger the one time use Obliteration runes in his gauntlets, then stab forward with both hands. Dark red and black lighting lanced ahead, and harmlessly passed through Zacharia as he faded in and out of Time, skipping forward to a moment when the attack had already passed through his position.

Kaeliss froze for a moment, and Zacharia’s blade ripped open his armor across his chest from below, then continued and cleaved through Kaeliss’ helmet. Blood spilled out, and Berion panicked.

He saw his friend’s death, and he reached out to Space.

My Space, My Rules manifested around them, and he switched Kaeliss with Air, bringing him out of danger.

Frozen Space hit Zacharia next, trapping him within an area in which no Essence that moved through Space could move any longer. Zacharia’s power over Time would overcome it, but he was made out of Flesh and Blood, and he needed Space as much as anyone.

Berion turned to his friend and drew a rune string quickly. Om-Rem-Evu—a healing string. The wound on his chest started closing, but slowly than Berion would like.

“Kael, we need to—”

Kaeliss shook his head and reached up, tearing his ruined helmet apart, then glared down. His eyes were wild and unfocused. He had a wound across his snout, he was lucky that he didn’t lose an eye.

“Why?” Kaeliss whispered.

“Why what?” Berion asked quickly, his perception noticing the shaking below them. His power wouldn’t hold Zacharia for much longer. The Plane of Space was filling him to the brim, and his will on it wasn’t enough to fight the nature he had given it.

“Why am I not strong enough?” Kael asked.

“Kael,” Berion started. “Tellisa and Exiled Shell are gone,” he said slowly. “Fethum hadn’t joined the battle yet, and… I can’t find him. We need to leave.” Kaeliss should’ve realized that this aura around them caused True Death. He had probably seen the same notification Berion had.

Berion had failed them all. He couldn’t have kept his attention on all the battles, not while keeping Kael alive. He should’ve joined the fight fully, if he had fought… But… his heart wasn’t in it.

“We lost Kael,” he said, then after a moment added. “This was wrong, you know that it was. We never should’ve made any deals with Ra’azel.”

Kael turned and looked at him, but somehow Berion didn’t think that he was seeing him, not really.

“No,” Kaeliss said, and Berion felt a moment of hope.

Kaeliss raised both of his hands and started carving runes, stringing them together in a way that Berion recognized.

“Kael? What are you doing? You can’t do that, you’ll die!”

His Soul was poured into the runes, so much so that the glow of the runes was tearing a hole in Space that was wailing inside of Berion’s head. And he knew that his friend had made a decision.