‘Don’t be afraid to hurt them. They’ve lost all my respect,’ Ma’an said. The two certainly had an advantage, speaking a language their opponents did not understand. 

Meanwhile, Ma’an understood all tongues spoken there and the Astral Order could not communicate without him intercepting.

‘What about killing?’ Yorell asked. He was on edge, it was clearly visible in his gaze, but he still controlled his movements.

‘If you have to, you may,’ Ma’an responded coldly. He had truly had enough of this endless feeling of pursuit. The longer it took to come to a confrontation, the more anger accumulated in him. ‘Show me what you can do, Yorell. They won’t hurt you when I’m here,’ he said. 

Their opponents had initiated their attack, and from all directions things started moving. 

They were right, Ma’an could not possibly keep track of all his surroundings, so he had to prioritise. 

His first encounter was with the paving stones from below. They came flying up from his feet and meant to hit him in the head on either their way up or down, but neither succeeded for he directed them back at Liëll, who dodged them. 

'...!' Then Ma'an's clothes were pulled down, taking his body to the ground. His limbs were folded onto the road under the heavy weight. 

Yorell noticed it was Yiü doing this, and the others were ready to strike. Without thinking, he threw them onto the ground by their clothes too. He could not keep them on the ground, but they were caught off guard by his participation anyway. 

In response, one of the wizards broke a window and shot the shards at him. 

Ma’an intercepted a few by turning them away, but Yorell got pinned into a wall, several shards in his clothes and skin. Ma’an gasped, and with a kick, he let the wizards tumble like ragdolls in the wind.

‘Don’t touch him,’ he said as he got up, the spell broken off by Liëll falling over. 

With a swift movement of his hand, he took all the glass out of Yorell and threw everything at the others. 

'Ngh…!' Yorell fell to his knees, feeling his body stunned by pain. 

All wizards now focused on their target, so Ma’an was too busy to tend to Yorell and had to dodge all sorts of objects thrown at him while maintaining the focus on every cell in his body and Yorell’s. They tried to manipulate everything around him, in order to confuse him enough to break his bones or tear his skin. 

Ma’an wouldn’t let them, though, and kept himself together. He could not get to them either, for they too were skilled enough to prevent that. Seeing that he would eventually tire out if it went on like this, he decided to step it up, even though it would deplete his energy greatly. 

And so he ran towards the wizards and slammed one of the strangers into a wall with a sweep of his arms. 'Gfh–!' The impact was so great that the bricks cracked, and blood splattered everywhere.

‘...You have not learned a thing,’ Liëll said.

‘Just leave us alone!' Ma'an yelled. ‘You travelled the world just to be killed by me!?’ 

Liëll chuckled. ‘Killed by you? Ma’an, if you get angry now you’ll be the one losing your life here. Be careful.’

‘Acting like I’m the fool while you come here with only four Stargazers. Not the wisest move, I would say. I don’t want to kill you, but if you don’t leave, I see no other option. I will defend myself. I did not come here just to be stopped by you, servants of tree cutters,’ he spat at them. 

Liëll didn’t bother responding. 

The anger he had incited was already enough, and Ma’an had lost his focus ever so slightly. 

Their magic got to his skin, and sliced parts of his arms and face. That’s all they could do, fortunately, but it hurt Ma’an greatly and it only became harder to prevent other spells from getting to him. 

Before they could truly hurt him further, Yorell saw an opening too, and twisted Liëll’s arm so that it tore the ligaments in his elbow and wrists. 

'...?!' Liëll screamed and released Ma’an from his mental grip. 

Ma’an followed by running up to him and punching him in the face. This gave him room to loosen his focus and turn to the other two remaining Stargazers. The fourth had not moved since hitting the wall. 

Yiü lost confidence, and took several steps back. 

'......' Ma’an took a deep breath– 

And blew up the street. 

The road split open in flames and crumbled rocks flew everywhere. 

The people of Daumat must have woken up from it, thinking some horrible sea creature had attacked. 

But then all was quiet. 

With a sigh, the fire ceased almost immediately, sparing most of the surroundings. All of the wizards on the dark road were blown to the sides and covered in dust and gravel. 

Ma’an instantly got up, and knowing what the plan was, so did Yorell.

‘Are you okay?’ Ma’an said in a panic as he approached him.

‘I’m fine. Are you?’ Yorell said, sounding lively for the way he looked; all covered in blood and dust.

‘Me too. Let’s go. We’ve got a train to catch.’ Ma’an grabbed his hand and they fled the scene, not looking back.

・・・

They came to the station, Yorell carrying Ma’an on his shoulder, because that was faster and Ma’an was exhausted. 

They were both wounded and filthy, but hopefully they did not catch too much attention. 

Entering the building, they both tried to wipe the dust off of their clothes and hair, and with a cloth, they stopped most of the bleeding. 

The station was rather busy at this hour, yet quiet. People did not speak. They had to wait a little while in line before they had their tickets checked and they rushed to the train. 

Just in time for it to leave. 

About half of the train was full. The train had cabins to sit in which would open with a sliding door. 

The adjacent hallway was empty, and– 

That’s where Ma’an was grabbed by the collar.

'...?!'

‘How dare you,’ Liëll hissed. 

Ma’an turned around to face the now maskless man. His face was wrought in rage, his lips quivering. Tears had made stripes in the blood on his face. Ma’an hadn’t seen such a familiar face in ages, and he was stunned.

‘Why do you keep murdering, Ma’an!? Why? Your pacifism is only about judging others, isn’t it? Just a tool to get things to be your way. But when you kill someone, it’s just?’

‘I’m only defending myself and the ones I love. I’m sorry you can’t see the harm you do,’ Ma’an responded. His voice was calm. 

Yorell stood by him, motionless, trying to decide what to do. He did not have the skill to help. He would die if he used magic.

‘Defending yourself? Who did you defend when you murdered my brother, huh? No one but your own ego, you scum.’ Liëll scoffed.

‘Spirits,’ Ma’an bluntly said, ‘I defended the spirits of Kutrayamok.’

‘The tree? You killed my brother for a tree?’

‘I did, and it hurts me that you – or anyone of the Order – don’t see how important that is. Without Kutrayamok, there wouldn’t even be an Astral Order.’

‘You’re out of your mind, Ma’an. To think that such a respected Stargazer could fall so low. I should torture you before you die just to pay you back for all the harm you’ve done to us. You’re pathetic.’

‘I’m pathetic? You’re the one that has spent years hunting me instead of healing, my dear. That’s your own—’

‘Shut up. Just shut up. Forever,’ Liëll spat, and he started choking Ma’an with his hands. 

Yorell had stood by, but now punched Liëll in the face as hard as he could. 

The man let go of Ma’an and fell against the side of the train. His already broken face looked even worse, because to him too, Yorell was big. 

Yorell did not stop there, and kicked him onto the floor. 

Liëll fought to get up, but Yorell wouldn’t let him. 

Ma’an helped, quietly protecting Yorell from the spells that were cast at him, but found no grip on him. He took Liëll’s knives and threw them aside. 

Liëll, once a powerful wizard in Ma’an’s eyes, was now a disarmed pile of blood and dust on the floor. He was tired, so were they. 

Liëll started hitting Yorell and kicking him, but he was significantly weaker, physically.

‘Why don’t you kill me?’ he asked. 

The struggling slowly ended, and the three sat on the floor. Liëll was kept down by Yorell.

‘I feel sorry for you. And I feel sorry for taking your brother’s life. I don’t want to take yours too,’ Ma’an said.

‘But if you don’t, I’ll take yours.’

‘Why? Is that not what you’re fighting against?’

‘Why? What else am I supposed to do? I got orders, they want you dead and it’s my task.’

‘You can quit, just like me.’

‘And be chased by the Order like this? Think not. You’ve really lost it.’

‘You know that if it weren’t for the Order, I wouldn’t have had to choose between your brother and Kutrayamok, right? This is all because of them. Don’t be a fool, Liëll, you’ve read the tree’s stories. You know I couldn’t destroy it.’ 

Liëll shook his head. ‘No, Ma’an. You had a choice, and you made the wrong one. You’re despicable.’ He kicked Yorell off so strongly that he himself hit the side of the train with such an impact that he broke through and fell into the dark abyss outside.

His body faded quickly as the train went on at over sixty kilometres an hour. 

'...Haa…' Ma’an fixed the train by folding the broken material back and rubbing it so all tears and cracks disappeared. 

It was quiet, the sound of the train went ever on.

‘I didn’t understand any of that,’ Yorell said softly, wiping the blood off his cheek. 

Ma’an laughed. ‘I don’t think I even did. Let’s go to our cabin and sleep. I’ll try to explain somehow–’ 

'Ma'an…!'

But he fainted before he could get up again.

・・・

Ma’an watched as the Yaut Sea went by. 

Most of Doku was now behind, and so was the majority of their past. 

Strange to think that the most dangerous places on earth would bring them the most peace. 

Yorell sat down across from him and looked out the train window too. 

He had just gotten dressed. His hair was in an updo, red cuts were on his cheek and forehead. 

He looked beautiful in the morning light. 

Ma’an lay his hand on the small table between them.

And Yorell held it. ‘We’re getting there,’ he said.

‘We sure are. Thank you for everything.’

‘Anything for you.’

To be continued…