“We’ve already held out for three weeks! We need to go!” said one girl.

“Yeah, if it was anybody else I bet you’d have tried to get us to move ages ago!” came another.

Lin tapped her foot and put her hands on her hips. “He’s the heir to this clan, and he’s the only person we have who can heal wounds with magic. We need to send out a party to find him and bring him back. We’ve humoured your pushy demands, but the wounded can’t be moved much further without things getting drastically worse. I’ve already spoken to the council about this and they agree.”

I snuck up behind Lin as silently as was humanly possible.

“You know, this sounds like a real problem. I wonder what would happen if this person never showed back up.” I said, sticking my head out from behind her.

The assembly of girls all freaked out, nobody had even noticed my approach.

Once they calmed down, Lin dragged me off to the tents of those who had been critically wounded and we spent the remainder of the time the sun was up acting as medics. While I was busy working my magic, Lin filled me in on what had happened. An ambush on the frozen fields by another clan had left a lot of people injured, which made very little sense being that we were the top of the food chain. Then Lin revealed that the attack had come from abysspyres, and everything fell into place.

See Scion is made up of five continents and shares a planetary space with this thing called the Abyss. Technically the worlds are right next to one another, but they were separated by a dimensional wall. On the side we live in, humans and your standard races exist. On the other were monsters; Abysspyres, metga, harpies, you name it and it’s likely there. Abysspyres cross over regularly, and they look like very pale humans, but they have a violet ring around their iris, they’re super strong, and they feed on life energy. Where humans have the Five Great houses of Scion, the monsters have the Four Kingdoms of the Abyss. For the longest time we were at war, and Grandfather Retzer took advantage of the turmoil to take power and make clan Ymir.

Anyway, once I had finished things up with the wounded, I set off for the tent the ruling council would likely be present in. The large tent had in it a small table that seated the five prominent “leaders” of the tribe from what I could see from the open flaps. A quorum is better than nothing, I guess. Really hope this will work.

I cleared my throat and announced my presence before entering the tent. I saw that of the ten normal leaders, only the five who had been around the longest were present, and of them I saw the one who would be my greatest ally in the coming argument. And so I started my presentation.

“Esteemed leaders, I come before you, having survived an ordeal with no support. At this time, I seek to make a request.” I announced, keeping as even a tone as possible.

Resin, the one who normally stood as my greatest adversary politically, looked shocked and a little put off… almost as if he had been hoping I’d kick the bucket. Can’t help but wonder if he was the orchestrator behind… no, can’t think of that now. I need him to be on my side right now.

“Great elders, I observed the damage sustained during my absence, and I feel that in the best interests of the clan, I must leave. I know a Miza has always been in power, but as I’ll not be of age to lead this clan for several more years, I see no reason for me to stay around and… drag down the rest of the clan. I’ve heard the dissent in the camp and I’ve seen the anger in the eyes of the wounded, I am no longer a welcome sight among our people.” I spoke in a measured fashion, looking each member in the eye in turn.

Resin looked almost as though I’d thrown hot oil on his face, but before he could make any comments another member spoke up.

“Child, for every member who may find distaste in you now, there are two more who would follow you to hell itself if you left in plain view. Your age and experience are the only detriment to you taking the reins at this moment. Beyond that, who would take your place as leader once we fall? This council is only designed to exist until you came of age.” Came the voice of the wizened Seleda, the oldest of the council.

“I would hear your answer to this as well.” Resin chimed in, trying to cover up his lack of a pokerface.

I sighed and took a deep breath in before speaking. “I shall leave in the dead of night, none will see me then. I also am allowed to nominate a successor, last I had been told. You could fabricate a tale that I passed in the night or some such and thus my claim to power passes.”

“I should assume Lash-“ Resin began.

“No, Lash will not be making it through the evening. My successor shall be Vulcanus. She seems to have kept things together during this trying time, I see no reason to remove her from the power structure.” I cut him off, my temper flaring. Lash, last I had seen, was the bastard who had put me under ice. A father who would attempt to kill his own son was no father at all by my book.

After moments of deliberation the council came to a decision. “If you leave this evening, we shall adhere to your request.”

I bowed and left the tent. My goals were accomplished there and I had no reason to hang around. That being said, I needed to go and settle another debt before I could leave… Sins of the father, passed to the son. It’s time to wash my hands in blood.

I slowly made my way in the direction I knew the Chaotix tent would be set, Lash made a particular fuss about where and why. I doubt even if he was injured anyone could stop him from getting the spot he wanted. And if Resin’s response was anything to go by, he was definitely still alive… for the moment anyway.

I burst into the tent on the furthest point of the camp, my rage almost seeping from my body. “Next time you should really finish the job.” I hissed.

Lash, my father, lay on the ground covered by the heaviest blankets we owned. It looked as though he had come down with a fever, or maybe even an infection from a wound. Whatever had happened, I was going to finish the job. So I pulled out one of the broken shortswords and levelled it at Lash’s head.

“Took you long enough, you disappointment. You had better get on with healing me, or do I need to remind you who’s boss.” Lash coughed, his voice coming out a grating wheezing sound.

“Not today you sorry excuse for a human, today I rid the world of your filth.” I all but whispered, stepping closer to him, my broken blade hanging around his throat.

I’ll skip the gory details; nobody really wants to hear about patricide. Let’s just skip to the part hours later where I finished burying the bastard in the snowy dunes some way from the camp. The walk back gave me time to plan out how exactly I would make my way after I left. It also made me feel worse and worse about what I was going to have to do to Lin. If I wanted to free her of me, then I had to kill her respect for me… kill the image of me she held to.

I got back into the tent city and made a guess as to where Lin would have set her tent. Being that her parents passed a few years back, she was left to her own devices as far as the clan was concerned. This meant she had her own personal tent where she could invite guests or help people hide out when she had the inclination. I found she had placed herself close to the medical tent, which made sense since she was often running about as a medic when people got injured.

I tapped on the tent’s taut wall, the hide transferring the sound fairly well, and announced myself. A few seconds later and I was given permission to enter. I closed my eyes and bowed my head a little as I entered, not out of need but out of respect.

“You know, I was worried about you. You were gone for so long, but I never gave up hope. If there’s any pre-teen who could survive on their own in the middle of a tundra, it would have to be you… or so I kept telling myself.” Lin said quietly, her bare back facing me. It looked like I had walked in on her getting cleaned up; talk about an awkward moment.

“Lin, I don’t know how I survived. I’m not even certain I really came back, not as the same person anyway. I spent two days out there making my way here, not knowing where or what here entailed, all the while trying to figure out who I was. When I thought about what I was leaving behind, and who I was, I hated it. I wanted to stop…” I trailed off, trying to figure out what to say beyond that.

“Stay with me, just for tonight, and we’ll talk about what we can do about it at first light.” She whispered, turning her face toward me.

For being just two years my senior, Lin was truly above and beyond when it came to acting like an adult. Maybe the loss of her parents catalyzed her transformation, or maybe it was the fact that we were raised and trained for bloodshed that made her act older than she was. What I did know was that I was about to rip her heart out once more when I left, and that would be the nail in the coffin for her innocence.

I grabbed a blanket from the side of the tent and walked over to her. Draping the blanket, and my arms, around her I uttered the last lie I would ever tell her. “I will, for you.”