The first thing I lost was sound.
One second, the aircraft's engines were roaring behind me.
The next, I was inside the storm.
Everything vanished.
The aircraft.
The mountains.
The sky.
Even Ygros.
Gray swallowed the world as I fell through a wall of cloud, my body spinning before I forced my shoulders down and spread my arms.
The wind should've been deafening.
Instead, it sounded distant.
Muted.
Like I was underwater.
"What the…"
My voice disappeared almost as soon as it left my mouth.
I looked up.
Nothing.
Looked down.
Nothing.
Just endless gray.
The sword in my hand pulsed.
Cold traveled through my fingers and into my wrist.
Not painful.
A warning.
I tightened my grip.
"Yeah. I know."
The blade pulsed again.
"I don't like this either."
For some reason, talking to the sword made me feel slightly less insane.
Slightly.
I checked the altitude display strapped to my wrist.
The numbers flickered.
8,204
6,117
9,882
I smacked it.
"Helpful."
Static crackled in my earpiece.
"Kai… do you… copy…"
"Evelyn?"
"…signal… unstable…"
"I'm falling through a nightmare cloud. Signal's probably not the biggest problem."
No response.
"Great."
The clouds shifted.
For half a second, I saw the mountains below.
White peaks.
Black rock.
Miles of wilderness.
Then lightning flashed somewhere beneath me.
Beneath me.
I frowned.
Lightning wasn't supposed to do that.
Another flash.
This time it traveled sideways through the clouds.
Then another.
For a few seconds, blue-white veins spread across the storm in every direction.
Beautiful.
Almost.
Then every bolt bent.
Not randomly.
Toward one point.
Ygros.
The clouds opened.
And I finally saw it.
My body forgot how to breathe.
The cameras hadn't done it justice.
Not even close.
Ygros stood in the center of a massive valley, surrounded by mountains that suddenly looked embarrassingly small.
Thirty feet tall.
Maybe more.
It was difficult to judge because nothing around it felt like a useful comparison.
Its body was covered in overlapping black armor that reflected almost no light. Six arms extended from its torso, each ending in hooked claws long enough to split a person in half without effort.
The upper half of its body looked vaguely humanoid.
The rest didn't.
Its legs bent strangely.
Too many joints.
Too much armor.
A long segmented structure extended from its lower back and disappeared behind the ridge.
Not quite a tail.
Not quite anything I wanted to think about.
Then there were the eyes.
Red.
Six of them.
I hadn't been able to see all six from the aircraft.
Now I could.
They opened one after another.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
All of them looked up.
At me.
My stomach dropped harder than the rest of me.
"Oh."
Ygros moved its head slightly.
Following my descent.
"Oh, that's bad."
The sword pulsed.
"I know."
The ground was approaching quickly.
I reached for the parachute release.
Three thousand feet.
The storm screamed around me.
Two thousand.
Ygros didn't move.
One thousand.
Still nothing.
I pulled.
The parachute exploded open.
My body jerked so violently upward that pain shot through my shoulders.
"AH!"
The sudden change sent me swinging sideways.
I grabbed the straps.
Below me, the mountain ridge rushed closer.
Too fast.
Way too fast.
The wind caught the parachute.
I swung toward a cliff.
"Nope."
I released the harness.
Instantly, I dropped again.
Five hundred feet.
I twisted.
Four hundred.
Sword away.
Both hands free.
Three hundred.
I pulled my knees toward my chest.
Two hundred.
Ice crawled across my boots.
One hundred.
"Come on…"
I kicked downward.
Ice exploded beneath me.
BOOM!
The blast slowed my fall for half a second.
That was enough.
I flipped.
The ridge slammed into my feet.
Snow erupted around me.
My knees buckled.
Pain shot through my legs.
I rolled forward, hit the ground shoulder-first, bounced once, and slid nearly thirty feet before driving my fingers into the snow.
I stopped.
For a few seconds, I just stayed there.
Face down.
Alive.
"…Nailed it."
My legs disagreed.
I pushed myself upright.
Nothing broken.
Probably.
I checked my knees.
Still knees.
Good start.
Then I remembered where I was.
The humor disappeared.
Slowly, I looked up.
Ygros stood on the ridge above me.
Waiting.
"HE MADE IT!"
Cheers erupted across Times Square.
Thousands of people who had never heard the name Kai Skyline an hour earlier screamed as the young hero landed on the mountain.
Some laughed.
Some hugged.
A few people had already begun chanting his name.
"KAI!"
"KAI!"
"KAI!"
The boy sitting on his father's shoulders threw both fists into the air.
"He did it!"
His father smiled.
"He did."
Neither understood how small an accomplishment landing would soon seem.
At United States Hero Command, nobody celebrated.
"Impact?"
"Within acceptable range."
"Vitals?"
"Elevated. No major trauma."
"Ability output?"
A technician stared at the reading.
"Minimal spike during landing."
President Evelyn Cross leaned forward.
"Ygros?"
"Still stationary."
The room quieted.
The general beside Evelyn frowned.
"It watched him fall for nearly a full minute."
"I noticed."
"It could've attacked."
"I noticed that too."
"So why didn't it?"
Evelyn stared at Ygros.
"I don't know."
She hated saying those words.
They were becoming increasingly common.
One of the analysts raised a hand.
"Madam President?"
"What?"
"We're getting something strange from Kai's environmental sensors."
"Define strange."
"Sound pressure."
Evelyn looked toward him.
"What about it?"
The analyst enlarged the data.
"During the descent, his microphone registered a seventy-three percent reduction in environmental sound."
The general frowned.
"In the middle of a storm?"
"Yes."
"Equipment failure?"
"We thought so."
The analyst changed screens.
"But the aircraft recorded the same thing as it passed over Ygros."
Evelyn looked back toward the creature.
"So the storm became quieter."
"No, ma'am."
The analyst swallowed.
"The storm was just as loud."
He pointed toward the graph.
"The sound stopped reaching the sensors."
Nobody said anything.
Evelyn felt the cold return.
"Add it to the file."
The analyst nodded.
A new entry appeared beneath Ygros's growing list of unknown phenomena.
ANOMALY 07: LOCALIZED ACOUSTIC SUPPRESSION
Seven.
They had found seven things they couldn't explain.
The battle hadn't even started.
I stood slowly.
The wind had returned.
Snow tore across the ridge, catching against my clothes.
My earpiece crackled.
"Kai."
Finally.
"Evelyn."
"Status?"
"Cold."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
"Kai."
"I'm fine."
A pause.
"Ygros hasn't moved."
I stared upward.
"No."
"Do not interpret that as hesitation."
"I wasn't planning to."
"Remember the objective. Observe. Test its defenses if possible. If you determine the threat is beyond your capacity, retreat."
I almost laughed.
"Retreat where?"
Silence.
"That's what I thought."
"Kai."
"I know."
I pulled the ice sword free.
The blade whispered as it left the sheath.
Frost crawled across the air.
Not fell.
Crawled.
Tiny crystals formed around the edge of the blade, hanging there despite the wind.
The weapon felt eager.
That worried me.
I'd learned something about magical weapons during training.
The stronger ones weren't alive.
Not exactly.
But sometimes they had instincts.
Preferences.
Things they responded to.
This sword liked cold.
It liked movement.
And apparently…
It really liked Ygros.
"Calm down," I whispered.
The blade vibrated.
"You're supposed to listen to me."
Another vibration.
"Good talk."
I took one step forward.
The mountain groaned.
I stopped.
A crack formed beneath my boot.
Then another.
Then fifty.
"Oh."
The entire ridge collapsed.
I jumped.
Rock and snow disappeared beneath me as thousands of tons of mountain broke loose.
I drove my sword into the cliff face.
CRACK!
The blade caught.
My body slammed against the rock.
Pain shot through my shoulder.
Below me, the ridge vanished into a white avalanche.
I dangled above the abyss.
"…Okay."
My breathing came faster.
"Definitely not doing that again."
I looked up.
Ygros hadn't moved.
Not one step.
But one of its six arms was extended.
A single claw pointed toward the place where I'd been standing.
My blood ran cold.
That wasn't the mountain.
Ygros had done it.
I hadn't seen how.
No movement.
No attack.
Nothing.
One second the ridge existed.
The next it didn't.
"Did anyone see that?"
Static.
Then Evelyn.
"No."
I stared upward.
"That's not what I wanted to hear."
"What happened?"
"The mountain stopped being a mountain."
"Kai."
"I'm serious."
I pulled myself upward.
The sword slid through stone as if the cliff were soft clay.
That helped.
I climbed.
Ten feet.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Then I reached the remaining ridge and rolled onto solid ground.
I immediately moved.
Not because Ygros attacked.
Because I didn't trust the ground anymore.
I ran across the snow until I reached exposed rock.
Nothing happened.
Ygros lowered its arm.
I stared at it.
It stared back.
And something finally became obvious.
It wasn't waiting for me to attack.
It was watching what I did.
Testing.
The thought made my skin crawl.
"You're studying me."
Ygros tilted its head.
I froze.
"No way."
It couldn't hear me from here.
The wind alone should've swallowed my voice.
Ygros tilted its head the other direction.
Almost curious.
Then…
it spoke.
"Small."
The word reached me perfectly.
Not loud.
Not shouted.
It simply existed beside my ear.
I spun around.
Nobody.
My heart slammed.
"What?"
"Small."
This time I knew.
Ygros.
The creature hadn't opened its mouth.
I stared at it.
"You can talk?"
Nothing.
"Fantastic."
My grip tightened around the sword.
"Because this wasn't creepy enough."
Ygros's six eyes narrowed.
Then came another word.
"Sword."
I looked down at my weapon.
Back up.
"You like it?"
No response.
"Sorry. Not selling."
Ygros raised one arm.
Every instinct in my body screamed.
I moved.
The claw came down.
Not toward me.
Toward empty space fifty feet to my right.
I didn't understand.
Then the world exploded.
BOOOOOOM!
Something invisible tore across the ridge.
I threw myself flat.
The mountain behind me split open.
Not cracked.
Split.
A line carved through hundreds of feet of stone as if some enormous invisible blade had passed through it.
For one second, the upper half of the ridge remained perfectly still.
Then gravity remembered it existed.
The mountain slid apart.
My mouth went dry.
I stared.
Then at Ygros.
Then back at the mountain.
"…You missed."
Ygros didn't move.
I slowly stood.
No.
It hadn't missed.
The realization arrived quietly.
That was worse.
I looked at the destroyed ridge.
Then the distance between the attack and me.
Fifty feet.
Too far.
Even for something that size.
Ygros knew exactly where I was.
It had been watching me since I fell through the clouds.
So why?
"Warning?"
Ygros lowered its arm.
Its eyes remained fixed on the sword.
Something about that bothered me.
"You're interested in this."
The ice sword pulsed.
Ygros's upper arms shifted.
Not attacking.
Adjusting.
Its feet moved.
One backward.
One forward.
The same stance Emi had noticed from thousands of miles away.
I didn't know that.
But I knew swordsmanship.
And I knew fighters.
That wasn't an animal preparing to charge.
That was someone settling into position.
I swallowed.
"Okay."
I lifted the sword.
"That's new."
Emi moved so close to the screen that Frank had to lean around her.
"Back up."
"No."
"You're blocking it."
"Move."
Frank sighed and stepped sideways.
Emi barely noticed.
Her attention was locked onto Ygros.
Specifically its feet.
There.
A shift.
Tiny compared to its enormous body.
But deliberate.
She knew that movement.
Not the exact stance.
The purpose.
Preparation.
"He's measuring him," Emi whispered.
Beth looked up from her tablet.
"Who?"
"Ygros."
"What do you mean?"
"It destroyed the ridge."
"Yes."
"But not Kai."
Paul frowned.
"Because he missed."
Emi shook her head.
"No."
The room quieted.
"He didn't miss."
Toma rolled his eyes.
"You're giving a monster way too much credit."
Emi finally looked at him.
"If I threw my lance at you from ten feet away and missed by fifty feet, would you think I missed?"
"No, I'd think you're drunk."
"Exactly."
Toma's expression changed.
Emi turned back toward the screen.
"Something that can cut through a mountain from that distance doesn't accidentally miss a stationary seventeen-year-old by fifty feet."
Beth stared at Ygros.
"Then why attack?"
"I don't know."
Benny leaned forward.
"Maybe it was a warning."
Nobody liked that answer.
Because warnings required intention.
And intention required thought.
Kenya's fox appeared again.
This time it hid behind her chair.
Paul noticed.
"Okay, your ghost dog thing is starting to freak me out."
"Fox."
"Whatever."
Kenya reached down.
The spirit trembled beneath her hand.
She looked at the screen.
"It knows something we don't."
Beth's expression hardened.
"Which one?"
Kenya didn't answer.
In Japan, Bladeon stood inches from his television.
The woman behind him had stopped making jokes.
They watched the replay of the mountain splitting.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Bladeon slowed the footage.
Ygros raised its arm.
Kai moved.
The strike landed nowhere near him.
Bladeon paused.
"Interesting."
"You keep saying that."
"Because it is."
"That thing just cut a mountain."
"I'm aware."
"And that's interesting?"
"No."
Bladeon pointed toward Kai.
"This is."
She looked.
Kai was standing again.
Sword raised.
Not running.
"He's terrified," Bladeon said.
"He doesn't look terrified."
"He is."
"How do you know?"
"Look at his left hand."
She did.
Kai's grip was too tight.
His knuckles pale.
Bladeon smiled faintly.
"Good."
"Good?"
"Fear keeps you honest."
His smile disappeared.
"But look at Ygros."
The woman did.
Bladeon crossed his arms.
"It isn't afraid."
"Obviously."
"No."
His eyes narrowed.
"That's not what I mean."
Ygros shifted again.
Bladeon felt something he hadn't felt while watching a monster in years.
Uncertainty.
"It's curious."
I started walking.
Slowly.
One step.
Then another.
Ygros watched.
The distance between us was ridiculous.
Hundreds of feet.
Maybe more.
Yet somehow every step made it feel closer than the last.
I kept the sword low.
No reason to burn energy yet.
I needed information.
Range.
Speed.
Reaction time.
Armor density.
Abilities.
Anything.
I had almost none of it.
Which meant I needed to make Ygros show me.
The problem was that Ygros seemed to be thinking the same thing.
I stopped.
It stopped adjusting.
I moved left.
One of its lower arms shifted.
I moved right.
The arm returned.
"You're tracking me."
Ygros's eyes followed.
"Great."
I crouched.
The ice beneath my feet thickened.
Cold traveled upward through my legs.
My body remembered the training.
Don't think about the sword.
Feel it.
Its weight.
Its edge.
Its purpose.
The blade wasn't a weapon in my hand.
It was part of the movement.
Part of me.
One hundred percent mastery.
I understood every angle.
Every possible cut.
Every adjustment needed to make the blade do what it was capable of doing.
But understanding didn't mean my muscles could follow forever.
Didn't mean my bones could survive the recoil.
Didn't mean my body contained enough energy to feed the weapon everything it wanted.
Knowledge wasn't power.
Not by itself.
I breathed.
In.
Out.
Ygros waited.
"Okay."
I leaned forward.
"Let's see how fast you are."
Ice exploded beneath my feet.
BOOM!
I launched forward.
The world blurred.
Wind tore past my face.
One hundred feet.
Seventy.
Fifty.
Ygros didn't move.
Thirty.
Still nothing.
Twenty.
My sword came up.
Ten.
For the first time, I saw my own reflection in Ygros's armor.
Small.
Terrified.
Angry.
Alive.
I swung.
The blade screamed through the air.
Ygros moved one finger.
TING.
My sword stopped.
Everything stopped.
The blade rested against the tip of one black claw.
One.
Finger.
My arms shook.
I pushed.
Nothing.
Ygros stared down at me.
All six eyes narrowed.
Then it spoke.
Not aloud.
Inside me.
A single word.
"…Kita?"
My heart stopped.
For half a second, the entire world disappeared.
"What?"
Ygros's claw moved.
I never saw it happen.
Pain exploded through my body.
The sky replaced the ground.
I was flying.
I hit something.
Rock shattered.
My sword disappeared from my hand.
Then I hit the ground.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
I finally stopped.
For several seconds, I couldn't breathe.
Couldn't hear.
Couldn't see clearly.
Then pain arrived everywhere at once.
I coughed.
Blood splattered across the snow.
"…What…"
My hands shook as I pushed myself up.
Far away, Ygros stood exactly where I'd left it.
It hadn't followed.
It hadn't attacked again.
It was just…
watching.
My vision blurred.
I wiped blood from my mouth.
One thought pushed through everything else.
Not the pain.
Not the mountain.
Not the fact that one casual movement had thrown me hundreds of feet.
That word.
I stared at Ygros.
There was no way.
Nobody here knew.
Nobody was supposed to know.
My voice came out weaker than I wanted.
"What did you call me?"
Ygros's six eyes stared through the storm.
For the first time…
the First Apocalypse smiled.
And somewhere far away, every person watching the broadcast saw Kai Skyline rise from the crater.
But only I knew what Ygros had said.
Kita.