The water, stale and lukewarm, came from a satchel. It tasted in equal parts of pleasure and pain. Let us halt and meditate on that sensation. A dying thirst stated.

Obviously I could not speak: my vocal cords as frayed and  stringy as the rest of my body. The larger of the two men pulled out a hunting knife and stepped forward ready to make true on his promise.

- A Spoiler of Endings. (I am alive to write this after all)

 

###

 

"See you soon K. Get ready to bring the heat." Joshua snapped his cell phone shut and dragged it along his torso. "Right, Kael has my jacket. Hm. Ready to bring the heat," he said again. "That's such an awful line." He waited for a reaction from the Farmer or Emilie, but it wasn’t they who spoke:

"Yeah, that really sucked."

The surprise speaker didn't strike Joshua with dread, only abject confusion. Like sticking your head in mud and then trying to see. Sitting with arms across his chest and his casted leg thrown out, Pieter-- the Not-Man-in-Black-- sat on a hay bale at the rump of the wagon.

"I thought we told everyone to get off the wagon. What are you still doing here?" Joshua asked, but the boy merely gestured to his broken leg and then gave an exaggerated shrug. "And you didn't think to speak up? We're talking about kidnapping and death, and you don't ask to get let off?"

He spun on the Farmer. "Don't you slow down!" Joshua raised an accusatory finger. "If we're going to be attacked, it's going to be on flat ground where we have light, not in the middle of a dark canyon. And you," Joshua rotated back to Pieter, "what were you thinking? Seriously?"

Joshua could almost see the boy's cheeks blaze up in the dark as he sunk further into his seat. "Not a lot happens around here. I thought this was interesting."

"Dying is interesting?"

"I'm going to be honest with you," the boy said, cocking his head up, "I'm not taking this as serious as any of you."

One more person who I'm going to be responsible for.

 "Fine. We get to the house and you all go to the back and stay safe." Joshua noticed Emilie's eyes watering, so he gave her a thumbs up and a chintzy grin. "Don't worry. I'm going to beat the bad guy."

He would jump in front of a bullet for these people, or anyone really. He'd doze off during restless nights imagining that glorious end. But right now, what terrified him was the prospect of failing. No one dies this time. Not again.

###

As the call with his brother ended, Kael cursed. He still hadn't found the Syche and now this. He was unfamiliar with the grid the Farmer lived at, although he did have an idea that it lay a mile or two to the west. All thanks to Joshua not shutting up about his walks there every day. His brother loved maps, and he loved directions.

Kael stood behind a cement support pillar on the second floor of a balcony that overlooked the fairground. He hadn't spotted any suspicious activity. The only thing to catch his notice was someone who he pegged as a plainclothes cop-- the shielded posture, defensive positioning, and constant scanning of the crowd gave it away. The man had received a call and scurried off leaving no one else for Kael to be suspicious of. No one was looking for him, or if they were, they were doing an excellent job of hiding it.

Kael moved forward and placed his hands on the banister, gritting his teeth. It wouldn't matter. Even if he gave away his position, he'd be on the move. Kael closed his eyes and felt the flow of energy that rooted in his gut and spread out through his limbs; it was a part of him like his heartbeat, unrecognizable unless he focused. And he focused now.

The energy surged through his body, he anchored it with his mind, and then sent it out in every direction. It was like a blast’s shockwave spreading out in a dome, like a telepathic sonar. Each human and their life force presented a black hole. The snow, the wood, the asphalt-- everything physical he could sense: feel his powers coursing through the world, beckoning him to focus that power and flood that material. Kael wouldn't, because if he answered that pricking sensation in his mind, everything he did infuse would explode.

But there was a third category, separate from your standard humans and combustibles. When a Syche used their powers, they flickered like an imagine fighting to be seen in a static blizzard. If they stretched out with their powers, the space was worse than a black hole. It felt cut off from reality.

Kael's power evaporated from the air like fog on a hot day; no Syche using their powers. He planted a foot and leaped over the banister, landing on a patch of concrete below. He didn't roll, his body ricocheted off the hard ground and he was running already.

Heads turned, only mildly interested. He wove through the crowds in the square, jumped up to the sidewalk, stumbled only once on a patch of black ice. Kael cleared the town in a minute and ran through the dirt walls of the farmland.

He ran a mile in the thick fog before he scrambled up the embankment, his hands getting muddy. Seeing nothing but the black swirls, he stooped back down and placed a finger to the grassy hill. A bright line of orange light snaked from his skin and through the hilltop, illuminating the night sky and burning away the grass in an explosion. For the two seconds of clarity as the mists receded and the night abated, he could see his surroundings.

Two grids down on the left. The only house with a light on.

The mist and darkness already wrapping back in, Kael skidded down the hill.

His ankles buckled on the rough rocks of the driveway as he moved through the entrance between the two hills. He slowed down to a trot as the house solidified in the mists, his chest barely moving. He stretched his powers out once again, feeling the surroundings, creating that bubble of Sychakentic energy. Nothing to the sides, nothing behind. Ah, but ahead! Four black holes in the house.

There should have only been three: Joshua, Farmer, girl.

Kael drew in air sharply and raced towards the house. He jumped to the porch and focused on the door handle, now emblazoned a neon orange as if it was a thousand degrees. The metal popped and shattered in a lackluster explosion that shook the door. Kael leapt forward shoulder first.

Four faces turned in surprise as he barreled through the door, slid on the foot rug, and fell on his butt.

"You okay?" Joshua asked, rushing forward to give his brother a hand. "It's slippery around here but there's no excuse, really."

Kael leapt to his feet instead, scanning the room with his hands guarding his face. "I sensed four, who is--" Kael's eyes met Pieter's. "Who is this twerp?"

Pieter averted his gaze and chose to scratch at his cast instead. Whatever irreverence the boy treated Joshua with, Kael was already a different story.

"There was a mistake," Joshua answered his brother's question, in a fashion. "Pieter stowed away on the wagon coming back."

"How do you stow--"

"Bigger issues K," Joshua interrupted, pushing the door closed and barring it with a chair. "We're expecting company soon-- a local County and whoever kidnapped Bartholomew."

"And how--"

"The girl is Barthlomew’s daughter." Joshua's head bobbed to Emilie who hid at the top of the stairs, already snuck out from her room. "I was setting an ambush at the entrance between the hills but one of the other hills exploded, so here I am."

"That was me. Couldn't find you."

"Tried calling?"

"Literally the next step if that didn't work."
            The thumping of boots joined the conversation as the Farmer emerged from the backroom with a shotgun under one arm and a stamped box of traditional magcon shells in the other. "You know we call those big dirt mounds durlops, right?"

"I name them individually," Joshua added. "The one on the right side of your property is Silvestro, and the one on the right is his therapist, Felictae."

"Everyone, shut up," Kael shouted, massaging his temples. "Let me focus. You," he pointed at Pieter, "get in a backroom with her." He pointed at Emilie. "Near a back entrance so you can escape if needed." Kael turned to the Farmer but didn't need to say anything. The man had already loaded the bullets in both chamber and was busy adding the first primer.

"Car's pulling up." Joshua said, his back against the wall, one eye peeking out through the blinds. "Now it's a question if it's the cop or the. . .. Oh."

"Oh, what?" The Farmer grunted, cocking the shotgun.

"I see what I'm missing now," Joshua continued, glancing back with a wary eye on the shotgun. "The County is wearing all black. And it looks. . ." Joshua peaked out the blinds. "Yeah. He's putting a mask on right now."

"He's also the Syche," Kael grunted, kicking the chair wedging the door away. "Hey Josh, we still competing to see who bags the Man in Black?" He flicked his brother a sharp grin. "I think I'm going to win that bet right now."

Kael threw Joshua's coat to the side, the hairs on his arm bristled as he walked into the wind. The squeaky floorboards on the porch heralded his entrance to the ring like trumpets. He walked down the steps as the Man in Black/County/Syche exited his car dressed head to toe in black robes than hung loose around his body, obscuring his form and making him shapeless.

Both Kael and the man's power permeated the air, pushing against each other.

"You're the Syche I was sensing earlier then?" the Man in Black said. "I did hear about you." He took a second to look down at the mud on his boots before shaking them and moving closer. "Girl in there?"

An orange fissure of energy formed at the edge of Kael's control and snaked through the ground like the crack of a whip. The man bent his knees to dive but it was too late. The ground erupted, violently. Not the pretty show of concussive force Kael had displayed the other day against the drunk. This explosion that singed the air was meant for a Syche.

“What you get for talking so much.” Kael reached out to find where the man’s body-- alive or dead, conscious or not-- lay.

A bulge had formed in his opponent's bubble with Kael's attack, the physical display of his element overriding the raw power that hung in the air. But the kidnapper's bubble still held, so he wasn't just alive, but conscious and using his powers somewhere out in the billows of swirling steam.

Kis own bubble of protection buckled. Straight in front, Kael felt his energy split like a spear pierced it. He threw himself backwards and felt the air leave his lungs. Above, something dark and very solid bolted past. Kael heard it slam into the side of the house and splinter the wood.

So the man controlled a physical Element: Metal or Blood.

He rolled to the side and out of the solitary light emanating from the house’s front window. He held his breath as a thousand more tiny projectiles whizzed in a crescent, pelting the house and the ground behind him like miniature artillery fire.

Holes riddled his bubble now and his opponent's power flowed into those unclaimed spaces, free to call his ammunition back and use it again.

Covered in mud and spitting it out of his mouth, Kael raised himself up by the kidnapper's car, using it as cover. If the man was a Metal Syche, then this could be a death trap, but the night was darkness compounded on fog.

And that darkness was his friend in this engagement. As the only type of Syche present whose abilities generated light, winning a game of hide and seek would be easy.

Kael braced his mind, taking a calming breath, driving the jitters from his fingertips. Calm and in control, just like he was taught. Evaluate the situation.

The real Man in Black was only here for the girl but walking into Kael’s bubble risked immediate death. It wasn’t like a man hunt would pose a problem if she escaped into the surrounding farmland on foot. All there was, was the fight.

He sent his power flowing forth through the ground, but not with an orange line of energy strong arming its way into his opponent’s space this time. The Sychakenetic energy he guided flowed through his own bubble undetectable and across the yard, to the opposite end of the field two hundred meters away. The distance created a weight on his brain, pinching it like a tight muscle. That was far enough. A brilliant fire ball erupted.

Kael peeked from cover, watching the night turn to day—locating the Man in Black distracted by the explosion. His opponent wasn't far, a hundred meters off and in the field, standing in a circle of newly planted ferrow.

Kael slammed his hand into the ground and sent three tendrils of orange energy into the man's bubble. He survived one explosion before, so time for overkill.

The blasts popped off as if wired in sequence, a half second apart. Three blasts three feet from the Syche in all directions. Kael grimaced at the light, but watched all the same as the multiple explosions became one, engulfing the Man in Black's outline until only fire remained.

He wanted the man alive, wanted to ask questions, but he wasn't sure what that required. Too little power, and Kael could die. And whatever happened to Kael, only worse could happen to Joshua and the others indoors.

The explosion climaxed, and within its core a dark shape materialized. Then the shadow became definite. The enemy Syche burst forth and sprinted at him, a shimmering veil of dark swirling liquid wrapped around him: Blood.

The explosion snuffed out, but heat and concussive force had changed the weather. Gone were the mists. Under the moons’ light, he could see the man coming to murder him.

He flipped over the hood of the car, ready to meet the fight head on. His foot slammed into the earth, sending one final, massive stream of orange energy ripping into the kidnapper's bubble. The outpouring of energy was gargantuan compared to anything else he had done that night.

            But his enemy wasn't just tenacious, he was bloody creative. The thin shimmer of dark liquid that swirled around him like a veil leapt forward and slammed down at the head of Kael's attack, throwing dirt into the air and extinguishing the advancing energy out. The blood rejoined the man as he advanced.

            It made perfect sense, but Kael had never seen anyone do that before. He could easily send another shot of energy out, deep in the ground and then curve it up, or even explode it then. But with only fractions of seconds to think, he ground his teeth and dove back over the hood.

            A sprinkle of light pings that somehow sounded sharp pelted the car broadside. A spear of blood shot overhead as Kael’s head disappeared behind cover. The man only had so much blood, but Kael couldn't wait to find the point of exhaustion; a tipping point that wouldn't exist if Kael let the man retrieve every bloody spear he threw.

Kael placed his hands on the car and infused it with energy. Soil, for whatever utility it offered, contained too much water and air for real power. Kael could shoot this hunk of metal off like a cannon, an explosion in his direction the likes of which would be meteoric.
            It was time for sheer overwhelming, uncounterable power.

 Kael popped his head up at the last second, aiming the blast.

He rose to meet a bright light, unbearable like a halogen searchlight, and flinched. The light had come from behind the Man in Black, his dark shape almost entirely consumed in the flood. In that halo, Kael could have sworn the Man in Black looked surprised too.

The Farmer's pickup slammed into the Blood Syche, pancaking him against his own car. Kael fell back as the car rocked from the impact, his concentration good and truly broken; the tremendous amount of energy he had stored in the car ready to explode now rushed out like a broken dam. He could feel the earth lap it up.

Kael stumbled to the side, getting out of the direct view of the lights and finally saw what was happening. The pickup truck backed off and the Blood Syche toppled over. The truck door opened, the lights dulled, and Joshua hopped out.

"Looks like I won that one," his brother gleamed. "I know you'll get mad at me for bragging, but come on!”

“Is it a win if they don’t know you’re there?”

Joshua sauntered over and joined his brother looking over the Man in Black, heavy breathing rattling the man's body. Joshua held out the back of his hand and Kael responded automatically, bumping it with his own. "He knew the last seven tenths of a second. Way more time than the other two Syches I've beaten."

The two Syches he referenced had been nothing more than fledglings who had only discovered their powers. In fact, Kael was still convinced that one of them still hadn't realized what they were. In any case, the one at their feet was a trained killer, and Joshua had scored the take down.

"Bring him inside, find a way to secure him?" Joshua asked.

Kael nodded before moving to grab his feet, Joshua at the head. Together they grunted, struggled, and slowly lifted his heavy body. His torso drooping between them in a "U". They waddled, each step an attempt to readjust and pull the Man in Black off the ground. As the brothers reached the porch, the Farmer came out to meet them, his shotgun up and ready to fire. "What happened to that guy?"

 "Hit the County with your truck," Joshua grunted.

"Why were you driving my truck?"

"To. Hit. Him. Try and pay attention."

"Is he alive?"

Joshua attempted to shrug his shoulders, but with the weight of the kidnapper in his arms, all he could do is turtle his head up and down.