The Book of End's End: Fighting Dogs - Chapter 14-15 (Patreon)

Unity watched the distant figure of Lavastro Kaiosyni disappearing back into the tunnel, murmering a silent word of thanks to whichever mystic had set up his seat’s view magnification.

Muscles moved beneath her skin with each step, visible through the tissue-thin silk adorning her, shifting like the pistons of a steam engine. Thick, dense and mechanical.

Pit, but those legs look like they could drive any machine.

He eyed the woman for a few moments more, enjoying as much of the sight as he could before she reached the tunnel and put an end to it. Unity barely minded. A few seconds to look at that arse was ample time for him.

“Could you try to be less obvious when you’re oggling her?” Unison asked from behind him, voice thick with the weary resignation he seemed to reserve for everything Unity did.

“Why bother? Nobody has a decent line of sight to me in this box anyway.” Answered Unity, not bothering to turn as he spoke to his brother.

“Would you care if someone did?”

Unity’s smile was hidden by the back of his head.

“Probably not,” he admitted, “It’s not like I haven’t been caught doing worse.”

“And how exactly did that end for you, again?”

He knew what Unison was referring to, just hearing mention of the incident made his fingers twitch with a phantasmic pain.

“With a hard-learned lesson, and a brother who seems not to acknowledge it.”

Unison’s steps were a low shuffling across the stone of their viewing box. He appeared by Unity’s side a moment later, leaning across the balcony. Eyes on the horizon, words on him.

“I’ll acknowledge your moment of personal growth when I don’t need to keep an eye open to make sure you don’t grab another fistful of someone’s chest. How does that sound?”

People began to file out from the stands below them, and Unity found himself watching as they moved. There was something captivating about the sight; thousands of bodies, thousands of judging eyes, all melted free of their scrutiny and hostility. No more judicial than droplets in a great stream.

“What are you thinking?” Unison asked, drawing his eyes back.

His brother’s face held more than a touch of concern, his eyes more than a shade of suspicion. It was an unpleasant look to receive, but Unity loved him for it all the same. It held no hate, no disgust. Something he could expect from no one else.

“A lot of things.” He told the man. To Unity’s own surprise it was the truth, at least in part.

“I mean about the Sieve,” Unison pressed. “You didn’t get through the first stage so easily as you expected.”

“Oh, that. What can I say? Lady luck is as vicious a whore as Kaiosyni.”

A smile creased Unison’s mouth, smoothing away the rough edges of his face and giving the sanguine rubies of his eyes a disarming glint.

“It was poor luck that had you thrust your arm infront of that girl’s spear, was it?”

Unity fought his face as it threatened to betray him, hiding his thoughts beneath a smile.

“It was an impulse that overpowered my temperance, a problem I’ve had for some time now.”

To Unity’s frustration, the knowing smirk on his brother’s face didn’t diminish a scrap.

“How about our little chat with Kaiosyni?” He blurted out, “You seemed quite disappointed at her foregoing a public meeting between the Gemini and myself.”

“I told you before we came here that we were expected to fulfil certain duties. Failure casts a poor reflection, as does unreliability.”

Unison’s answer was perfect. No hesitation, nor any great tension threading his voice. It would surely have fooled most.

Unity wasn’t most.

“Failure does reflect poorly, but this would hardly have been yours alone. Phoria himself picked my two guards, didn’t he?”

“The Alliance isn’t so understanding.”

His brother’s answer came with such bitter sincerity that it came close to banishing Unity’s doubt.

The Alliance was the bloated, pus-oozing carcass of a once-great empire, exhaling miasmic shit as it split from the pressure of its own

putrefaction. He knew better than most, having seen first-hand the fat maggots writhing in its festering sludge, calling themselves Faction Leaders and Princes.

But so too did he know that, if there was one thing the maggots hated more than Zora Mylif’s bastard son, it was the artificial child of her and Xia Lorisel.

Unison had told the wrong lie to the wrong person.

“We both know they’d love nothing more than to pin this on me, I may as well be a political shield for you. What is it that really pissed you off about what I did?”

The look his brother gave him defied expectation. Lacking in embarrassment or irritation at being caught out, holding only bafflement in their place.

“You think I’m talking about me? Unity, I’m angry because you put yourself at risk with what you did.”

He didn’t meet his brother’s eye, didn’t want to.

“You should keep your concerns for yourself.”

It was a weak protest, even in his own ears, and his brother was moved no more by it than Unity would have thought.

“Like you?” Unison asked. His voice was no softer or more yielding than granite, somehow dragging Unity’s gaze around to meet his through words alone.

“Yes, like me. You can take care of yourself, I’ll do likewise. That way neither of us needs to worry about the other, or be weighed down by some idiotic sense of duty.”

Neither of them said anything for a moment. The crimson of Unison’s eyes suddenly held a fierce intensity, like rings of fire blazing in the dusk.

“You've misjudged yourself Unity.” Unison said at last, stare not wavering. Voice not shaking.

“I have myself gauged perfectly, dear brother. You’re the one with rose-tinted glasses.”

Lichos watched as Kaiosyni approached him in the tunnel, his shoulders pressed to a smoothed wall and hands held stiff at either side. The stance wasn’t needed, he knew. Outside of Wrath, he was just a bodyguard.

He stood to attention all the same. Something about the woman seemed to demand it of him.

“That went well,” He noted as she approached. Kaiosyni’s face registered his words only with the raising of a single eyebrow.

“Were you expecting otherwise?” She asked, voice imperious as ever.

Lichos wasn’t sure how to respond, settling for a shrug.

“Truth be told I wasn’t really expecting anything. Nobody tried to kill you though, so I’d say it went well.”

The corner of her mouth twitched into something precariously near to a smile.

“I’m glad to have your approval.”

She passed Lichos, plucking him from the wall to follow in her wake by presence alone. He felt himself match her smile.

Severe though the woman was, bearing strict and demeanor hard, he couldn’t help but like her.

So much that he risked a question.

“As someone with more experience, how would you say that display went?”

“I would say nothing. It was a simple task, one there was never any risk of failing at- and one that could scarcely benefit from being performed particularly well.”

Lichos eyed the woman, not missing the stiffness of her lip or tightening about her eyes.

“You don’t seem very happy with it, if that’s the case.”

He regretted the words almost as soon as they’d left his mouth. Kaiosyni shot him a sidelong look, staring with a dangerous coherence that almost seized his body into a reflexive salute.

“Don’t be so careless with your tongue, soldier. I’m not your comrade, friend or equal, nor will I tolerate being addressed as such. The occasional bit of snark is amusing, don’t push it any further than that.”

Feeling himself flush with rage as much as embarrassment, Lichos said nothing. His silence seemed an acceptable answer for the woman, as she turned back ahead without another word.

They continued in silence, his thoughts loud enough even without speech.

Lichos had made his mistakes before. Saved men he knew he couldn’t, defied orders he knew he shouldn’t, lived his life inches from a noose before finally learning to keep his neck farther away.

It seemed he’d need to remember more of those lessons around Kaiosyni than he’d thought.

Chapter 15

Crow stood straight and still, struggling to keep the nerves racking his body from showing.

He didn’t even bother trying to fight his eyes as they drifted around to the other contestants, already knowing that the fearful curiosity would prove stronger than his focus.

They stood not so far from him, all hundred of them. Set out into a ring, as he was, facing inwards and staring at one another. All spaced a half dozen feet apart, four score paces from whoever was opposite them.

None seemed half as worried as him, though fear and apprehension leaked through the cracks in all of their masks. It was of some comfort. Not much.

The crowd’s murmuring barely registered to Crow, rendered ephemeral by his quarter-hour’s exposure. A bizarre energy seemed to have taken them; half human excitement, half… something else. Darker. Hungrier.

He forced his mind away from the watching spectators and their poorly hidden lust for blood, focusing instead on seeing whether he could recognise any of the other contestants standing with him in the ring.

It didn’t take long for him to find his eyes drawn to the obvious.

Gemini Menza stood shorter than both the boys at her side, yet seemed somehow to loom over them as Crow stared. It was as if the girl herself weren’t there, merely a flash of something larger. Glimpsed above treetops or between mountain peaks.

By the Goddess’ tear, please don’t make me fight her.

She wasn’t touching her magic, nor even did she appear to be particularly invested in her surroundings. Cyan eyes were turned to the sky as she fidgeted on one foot and the other. Somehow, her power still cut through Crow like a knife.

Was this how Ethi felt, seeing me and Unity?

He banished all thought of his former teammate in an instant, still too slowly to keep the seed of bitter regret from planting itself deep in his gut.

Suddenly he felt urged to seek the Gemini out- to throw his power against hers face to face. Let her call on whatever magic a prodigy of such skill could and leave him broken in her wake.

It would be no less than he deserved.

After ten minutes of studying the clouds; their movements, forms and consistency, Gem had found herself stumbling onto an insight she’d heard no mention of by any scholar or naturalist.

They were incredibly boring.

But, if nothing else, less boring than the floor. Scarred sandstone made inferior patterns by far than the wisps of vaporous water miles overhead. That, and the unseemliness of any Menza’s gaze being at their feet, drew Gem’s eyes to the sky.

Unseemly. Pit, I’m starting to think like Karma.

Gem found herself unable to decide whether such a thing was bad or not. Certainly, any influence her friend’s tutelage had had was limited in extent.

Karma would have had her study the other contestants, treating every passing moment as a priceless opportunity to gain some sort of advantage.

She almost felt tempted to do so, suddenly aware of each second as it passed her by, but her gaze remained high. After all, Karma would have had her study purely out of caution. And caution had only ever served to slow Gem down.

That she could feel a hundred awed stares fixed on her from the circle of mystics only strengthened her resolve. She was the danger, not the one in need of petty advantages to overturn it.

Gem noticed one cloud, slightly bigger than the rest, was bifurcated by a fissure running from one edge to its median point. It intrigued her, made her wonder how exactly it could be split. It was hardly solid and cohesive, nor was the wind a cutting edge.

Karma would have known. It seemed she knew everything, even being only a few years older than Gem. Gilasev certainly would have been able to give her an answer.

Gilasev isn’t here. She reminded herself, smiling wider at the knowledge.

It was just Gem, finally. After years of her guardian angel hanging onto one shoulder and watching all she did, she was entirely alone. Alone and independent.

She lowered her eyes, bringing them to move along the line of waiting contestants. Free though she was, Gilasev’s absence instilled an uncomfortable feeling of vulnerability in Gem.

A smothering guardian angel was still a guardian, after all.

Unity looked from one contestant to another, finding himself wishing Unixian attire could take inspiration from that of the Taikan Empire. It was cold, and yet there were more than a few young women and men lined up that he’d have been happy to see in more revealing wear.

He slaked his hunger with imagination, but it was like bread and water on a tongue yearning for meat.

Pit, why does Unix have to be so cold? Why do I have to be from this cursed continent? Let me see some midriffs, you dull-eyed, rut-born cunts.

Lavastro Kaiosyni moved between two contestants so smoothly that her passing seemed barely to register as it gave them pause, dropping jaws and widening eyes.

It brought a smile to Unity, one which was redoubled as he took in the Taik’s apparel.

A dress, or something near enough to it, multi-layered and seeming to hang from the frame of Kaiosyni’s body rather than wrap tight around it. A strip opened along one side, revealing copper skin from ankle to hip. Unity mouthed a silent prayer of thanks to whichever Gods or Goddesses might be real that it was facing him.

She made her way deftly to the centre of the contestants, heads turning in her wake. Unity found himself near to giggling as he wondered how many of the idiots were concerned she might compete against them, eying her as she came to a stop.

Turning slowly, she brought her eyes around to pass over each one of the contestants now surrounding her.

Backs straightened wherever her gaze fell. Hands folded, shoulders squared and chins arched upwards in a defiance rendered paper-thin by the shaking of their owner’s knees.

The crowd made a ruckus as Kaiosyni pivoted, still as glacial as ever, and studied the contestants. When her stare reached Unity, he answered it with a smile and a wink. It didn’t seem to faze the woman.

Only when the cheering of the audience had begun to fade did she speak, voice pitched to a childish high and face twisted to as vacant a smile as any Unity had ever seen.

How does she do it?

“Welcome to the second stage of this year’s Sieve!” Cried the woman. “I thank you all; both for your attendance, and your patience as the event’s preparations were concluded. We will begin in just a few moments, right after I’ve gone over the rules one more time in case any present missed yesterday’s orientation.”

The sky was heavily clouded; white and grey drowning out the blue. What few streaks of sun broke through the vaporous curtain were thinned and enfeebled in doing so.

Unity studied Kaiosyni as she spoke, not listening to whatever script she was regurgitating- not caring to hear the task’s rules repeated for a third time.

There was no sight of contempt or bitterness across the woman’s face, nor even frustration. As far as he could tell, her positivity was no less sincere than his own boredom.

The ability to make masks that perfect, and you use it to convince Unix you’re an empty-headed bint. We’ll just never see eye to eye, will we Kaiosyni?

Gem found her concentration slipping as Karma spoke. She barely managed to wrestle herself back into the state of vital agitation she’d learned to enter after so much practice.

The world grew dim and distant near the end of Karma’s speech. Gem’s heart was a drum in her chest, her lungs a roaring waterfall. All other things drifted from her notice, consumed by the obliviating concentration she drove herself into.

“Now then, without further ado, let’s begin!” Came the Taik’s voice. It galvanised Gem, drawing her eyes into focus even as she felt the build of magic around her.

This is it.

Excitement bubbled in her stomach, making her squirm as if flies were hatching within. She fought to keep an unbecoming smile from her face, fought harder to keep the jittery energy from escaping as motion.

Thickening, deepening, the magic around her became impossible to ignore. Like the heat of a fire just far enough to be felt without pain, just close enough to push the line. It had a unique presence. Ethereal, almost, as if it were around her and a thousand other places at once.

Itamis.

Colour bled, light becoming liquid and sloshing around her. The crowd's buzz, reaching new heights at the start of the event, became muffled and beyond hearing.

Gem looked down at her own hand as she felt space break down and twist around her- the digits lengthened and thinned, widened and shortened. Folding, expanding, creasing and twisting.

Her eyes became unfocused, and the world shattered into a mass of impossible angles and shifting forms.

Then even weight was nothing to her.

Udrebam Sieve advert Poster, Location: Udrebam.
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Circa 1,195 I.E.