Page 91 of Children of Anguish and Anarchy

I see the moment I lost Baba for good. The arrow that cut through his chest. The warm pool of blood that leaked from his body. The last breaths of life he took in my hands.

“Has it pushed you to your knees, Tzain!”

I swing and I see my sister as the Skulls dragged her away. I feel the way they mutilated her body. I feel all the pain I wish I could take away.

“Ha!” I cry out. The Skull’s axe snaps in half as I fall to my knees. The tears I cage inside spill free. My body heaves as they fall.

The pain of my past leaks through me, spilling onto the emerald-brick floor. The realization hits me like a wall.

My life has been an endless war.

Köa walks over to me. The warrior lifts his hand. I expect him to attack, but he places it on my shoulder instead. The warrior bends down, meeting me eye to eye.

“Thisis your strength.” He squeezes me. “This is the power you wield.”

THELâMINAS STEP INrhythm as we make our way into the jungles outside the city. The thick green canopy hangs overhead. Damp soil flattens under our bare feet.

Köa leads the way of all his men, gait unbroken despite his limp. I don’t know where he’s taking me. I don’t know the weight of what I’ve done. But for the first time in moons, I don’t feel the pull of the bloodmetal.

The hold the Skulls had on me is gone.

“Um irmão de osso!” the Lâminas chant as we walk. “Um irmão de osso!”

After all the time spent training, I recognize the words.

Um irmão de osso.

A brother of bone.

We reach a clearing with a flattened, weather-beaten boulder at its center. All the Lâminas circle around. I try to join them, but one nudges me into the clearing. Köa stands at the boulder, arms crossed.

“Um irmão de osso!”

A shiver travels down my neck as I make my way to the center. A ring of stone torchlights ignites the moment I step in. Flames dance across the warriors’ faces. Their shadows loom large behind them.

Köa motions to the boulder, and I lie down. His fingers glow green as he removes his ivory barong. Another Lâmina enters with a tray of supplies. I scan the stone vase filled with molten black ink and the obsidian-glass needle, poised to pierce my skin.

“Really?” I can’t hide the hope from my voice as I scan the armory on Köa’s own chest. Köa stares back at me, cutting with his green gaze.

“Você está pronto para lutar com seu próprio poder?” he questions me.

Are you ready to fight with your own power?

I stare at the ivory barong in his hands, considering the full weight of his question. All I wanted was to keep my sister safe. To keep her out of Baldyr’s reach, I was willing to do whatever it took. But the man I became in that cave is someone I never want to be again. I want to fight with all of me.

I want to unleash the might hidden within my own strength.

“Estou pronto,” I affirm. The corners of Köa’s lips twitch at the sound of New Gaian. He motions to the Lâminas, and they prepare. Two warriors grab my ankles. Two more grab my wrists. My pulse spikes as Köa stands over me, searching with his ivory barong.

A strange heat passes through my torso like a snake. One of my ribs starts to glow. Köa doesn’t give me a chance to brace myself.

My eyes bulge as Köa stabs the obsidian needle straight through the bone.

“Ah!”

The Lâminas hold me tight as the black needle digs. The moment the needle hits the rib, the glow intensifies. Köa reaches for the stone vase of molten ink.

“Um irmão de osso!” Köa shouts. He lets the stone vase pour free. I can hardly breathe as the molten liquid breaks through me, searing straight through my flesh. My skin molds and remolds before my eyes, revealing my skeleton. The Lâminas struggle to hold me down as a deep crack ripples through the glowing rib.

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