PHOENIX

"𝙲𝙷𝚁𝙾𝙽𝙾𝙾𝙾𝙾𝙾!" The voice swept up around the tornado and querulously ventured, echoing far into the distance, loud enough to break that muffled overtone of thick thunder and rain which had in this division swelled to monstrous extremity. Phoenix had for a moment been surprised when he registered that the voice was his own. Chrono looked down with those glittering ski goggles and viciously pulsing infinity symbols on his palms, his body still glitching and jerking without any reasonable cause, water brushing over the shoulders.

  "YOU GONNA RUN AWAY?!" Phoenix wiped his face and meekly walked forward, wondering if he had enough strength left in his teenage frame to take on such a powerful man, such a crazy man, such a fearless man. And that was something solid enough to deliberate: after having taken such a powerful blow from Phoenix, what else was there he could do? He didn't have enough power left to slow time and strike him in the neck—the weak spot, it appeared—and there was no chance Alysia could get anywhere near him; all he had to do was use that stop-watch, or whatever it was that God had embedded in his system, and time itself would bend to his will. No. That couldn't be right. In order for him to amass such power he would have to sacrifice a great deal of strength, and was he truly arrogant enough to waste it all to win one fight? Maybe. And if that was the case, all Phoenix had to do was live long enough, all Alysia had to do was keep him busy, all Valerie had to do was attack him even once. Or, actually, have her ghostly pets do the job for her.

  "YOU IMPETULANT WORM! I'LL END YOU FOREVER AND EVER FROM THIS GAME!" Chrono's voice croaked to the point where the deep, godly undertone had tapered into nothing. After twitching uncontrollably again, two large infinity symbols emerged above his shoulders, glowing briskly with the same whites and blues showcased in the clocks, though with a much more blinding intensity.

  This is new. Those aren't clocks anymore

  "Stand back!" said Alysia. She activated her power and all of her features enhanced to fire, but she didn't levitate, and Phoenix believed that this was a conscious effort as opposed to a lack of power. Raising her arms, she added, "I know what's going to happen! Trust me and stand back!"

  "Okay!" said Phoenix, completely dumbfounded. He didn't know what was going to happen, nor did he understand why Chrono was holding back these abilities. Was he going all-out now? Nevertheless, he crept back, keeping his eyes on Chrono. With jet-speed, Chrono zoomed forward in the direction of Alysia, casting a long tail of white light behind him, falling like a star across a pitch-black void. The infinity symbols followed, orbiting and twirling around his body, each shedding comets' scuts.

  "YOU PATHETIC WORMS! I'LL SHOW YOU GOD!"

  Upon reaching the bottom, or coming near the bottom, Alysia waved her hands in a circling motion, summoning a bright white-gold portal the size of a car door. Phoenix flung back, coming to his senses, and a deep horror twisted evenly through his body. Or maybe it was panic; the feeling was difficult to describe. He tripped over a rock and fell onto the ground. He didn't look back but instead focused his eyes on what was about to happen, wondering with sudden surprise how this was going to play out.

  Chrono paused in an instant, mere inches from the antimatter gate. But the infinity symbols kept propelling, flying into the portal seamlessly. Moments later another portal opened up behind Chrono and out came the very same symbols. They bashed into his head and sent him sprawling into the ground. They exploded into bluish white fairydust and fluttered off into the prevailing wind. Seizing this opportunity, Alysia flashed forward, as did Valerie, as did Phoenix. But Chrono froze Alysia and Valerie before they could even scratch the surface of his nylon jacket, which by now divulged a huge tear slicing down the back. Recognising this, with a great deal of panic indeed, Phoenix conjured what little power he had left and flashed forward before the man could pick himself up off the ground. Valerie's magical direwolves did the same, lunging into his flesh and taking great, big bites. Chrono screamed, and Phoenix whipped a bolt of lightning through his skin—at first as squat as a flicker, thickening within a second.

  "GET OFF ME YOU WORMS! YOU LITTLE BOY! YOU LITTLE LITTLE BOY!"

  "I'll show you little boy—!" Phoenix tipped forward and the lightning flew out. Spitting down his arms and legs and entire torso were webs of electricity so powerful that even Phoenix himself winced. Each streak snapped and crackled until covering Chrono's face completely and through them that devilish shit-eating grin contracted into a grimace so terrifying that even the depths of hell couldn't hold a candle to it. A tooth shot out of his mouth with a blood-soaking trajectory, splattering onto Phoenix's face. Through one of the ski goggle lenses that cracked due to the pressure appeared a nonplussed eye shimmering with a purple iris. Ignoring this for the merest fraction of a moment, Phoenix dug his fingernails into the misshapen line on Chrono's neck and pumped bolt after bolt into the muscle, not stopping for as long as he could. Blood came spewing out around his skinny black fingers, swelling to globs, and then to mighty thick wads. It was stone-cold, but he didn't care. The ghost dogs bit into either arm and held him in place.

  After about thirty seconds or so, Alysia regained control, and Valerie did, too. At the same time, a bluish smoke floated out of Chrono's eyes and mouth and ears, journeying up around Phoenix's shoulderblades in a scent that resembled gunpowder.

  Tears welled in Phoenix's sockets as he continued to eject web after web of lightning into Chrono's body. "This is why we have to kill! This is why the world can't be a simple walk to the end! People like you exist! You stinkin' bastard! You killed innocent people!"

  Through his own groans, Chrono managed to spit out a response: "You killed my family, you deserve death, you impetulant, little—" But the words didn't fully arrive, for by then his glittery purple iris had peeled shut, and his mouth softened until all that was left was a regarded straight line. Goggle-eyed, Phoenix retracted his hand from the gash in Chrono's neck, expecting him to vanish into a billion molecules just as the Shadow had done, only to be met with an unconscious body.

  Mouth agape, Phoenix thought, Killed his family? I didn't kill his family?

  Phoenix snapped back to find Alysia and Valerie standing behind him. They were panting heavily and looked visibly weakened, perhaps from having been frozen for a good deal of time.

  "What is he talking about? Who killed his family?"

  Alysia stood forward, still catching her breath, withdrew that menacing star-shaped blade from her pocket and sliced into Chrono's neck with a comic SLASH! sound, the blood spewing out but not jetting. Phoenix's mouth petered open even further and when it could extend no more he started shouting.

  "Who killed his family?!" And by that time, the body beneath Phoenix began softening—began fading, it seemed. "I'm serious!"

  "Look," said Alysia, standing back and straightening her posture, "I have no idea, but it was probably some bullshit to get you to spare him. Do not be so foolish, Levin; this man has been around for as long as the game has, and during which time he has killed more than what would reasonably justify his actions. So even if it were true, it would still be out of bounds."

  "But . . ." Phoenix started, reverting his gaze to Chrono once again. At first the face peeking through his shattered iridescent ski goggles and mask went, burning away into molecular dust, taking off into the raging tempest, which at that time had eased to a degree that was at least noticeable. Then the torso and arms vanished, with a lot more speed, too. Gone. Poof. Just. Like. Dust.

  We are nothing more than particles, recalled Phoenix. That God up there doesn't give a shit.

  When the whole body crackled away like a dimming fire in a forest, Phoenix picked up the remains of his ski goggles and nylon suit. "That's . . . sad," he finally finished.

  "It is," said Valerie. Suddenly her direwolves disappeared, and all her features were back to normal. "But he's done far worse things, love. He killed children. Never feel bad for a pig like him."

  Still grasping the nylon suit and goggles, Phoenix stood up wordlessly.

  That's so, so sad. This man went haywire because he had his family taken from him . . . probably. I don't think he was lying, I really don't. So . . . does that mean he went around looking for his family's killer. But how come he got to have his family and I . . . don't. Is it because he was here when it all started, right at the edge, right when God woke up and decided to put humanity to the shitty test of walking across 375,000 miles. About that much. I ain't really understand why he went on to kill everyone in his path, as if that would solve everything; it would make much more sense to just . . . keep moving. Move to the end. Whatever's there, at the end, that's what I wanna know. I wanna know if I'm able to get out of here, if there's a way for all of us to live, if there's some secret I don't know that will somehow help not only myself but Alysia and Valerie and, hell, even Zamora.

  And Alex, I know she's out there; God gave me a sign. And Zamora . . . God, I need to know what she has to say. If Alex is out there, then I need to get to her as soon as possible. If not, then . . . Well, I'll need to win this game, be the only damn winner if need be, so that I can see her again. And my parents . . . Them, too.

  "Levin," said Alysia, bringing Phoenix out of his web of thought. She trod next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, patting him a little. "There's nothing to get worked up about. He was probably lying anyway. He's a deceptive maniac."

  "I know, I know," replied Phoenix promptly. "It's just . . . damn, I didn't know this world could be so complex. And this is just the first guy on Zamora's list of assholes. How much worse can they get?"

  Alysia shrugged. "No idea. A lot of the names on her list I have never even heard of. She's been around as long as Chrono . . . so, this ki—I feel strange calling it a 'kill', but that's what it is, isn't it?"

  "More like revenge," said Valerie, nodding. "And it was piss-scary revenge, too."

  The storm thinned a good bit now; the tornado took off in the opposite direction, tapering seamlessly in the distance until all it looked like was a runny cloud.

  "Revenge for who, though?" asked Phoenix. "Revenge for the people that he killed, or for Zamora?"

  "Both," said Alysia quickly. "Definitely both. Like I said, he has killed more than the average person can count. That's all that matters."

  "I guess." Phoenix snuck a glimpse over his arms, realised there was no longer any electricity, and drew the nylon jacket over his left shoulder. His silver jacket was badly ripped now, with cuts everywhere from the top to the bottom. His tracksuit trousers were still intact, though, even if they weren't the best piece of clothing to wear in a rainstorm. It wasn't like he could decide the weather of every division; he wasn't that sort of weather-caster.

  "Are you thinking about your friend, what's her name?" asked Alysia.

  "Alex," said Phoenix. "Alex Ramiro. She's my best friend. I just hope Zamora can find her."

  "I made a promise to you, didn't I? If she's out there, Zamora will find her."

  "I know, but . . . I don't know, this world is massive. I don't understand even a quarter of it, I'm new, I have this power . . . and . . . there seems to be no way to gauge what happens. If every division is different, it's unpredictable. I've only been to two, saw another one just beyond the urban city, and I'm wondering if there are civilisations out there . . . and if so, is Alex a part of them? You know, like the Castle. How many of those are there?"

  "There are a lot," said Alysia. "But not every one has someone like Zamora. She's a leader, she's a helper, she can help us all leave this game."

  "Help us leave?"

  "Yes. She has a plan."

  "A plan? What's the plan? I thought there could only be one winner?"

  "Yes, but that doesn't mean we all have to die. That just means one person will win. If someone lives long enough to survive this game, then to me that's a victory in itself, Spiral or no Spiral."

  "So what is it? The plan?" asked Phoenix, thoroughly intrigued now.

  "I'll explain everything later, for now we have to get back. And I'm sure you're anxious about what Zamora has to say to you. Okay?"

  Phoenix nodded, thinking that there was more hope in this world than he had originally believed. He even felt happy for a brief second. Brief, but existent.