CHAPTER ONE
White-hot pain blossomed in my right side as I staggered back. I looked down to see a dagger buried to the hilt in my right shoulder. I reached over to pull it out.
“I wouldn’t do that just yet, vessel,” said Maelstrom. “The pain you will undergo will be exquisite.”
I pulled it out and bit back a scream. I could hear him, his laughter a distant sound I barely registered through the haze of agony.
“I give you a piece of sound advice and you refuse to listen,” he said, chuckling and shaking his head. “Others tell you to throw your life away and you blindly leap. Why is that, Dante? Are you in a hurry to die?”
“Because it’s the right thing to—”
The slap came so suddenly I didn’t have time to register his movement. My face burned from the impact.
“No. Wrong. Right or wrong has nothing to do with it,” he said, rolling up his sleeves as he walked around the room. “You say you are a warrior, but all you have been doing is following orders like a good dog. Are you a dog?”
“I am a warrior,” I said.
“You are a liability. Do you even know why you are here?”
“I’m in a circle of reflection…”
“Were in a circle of reflection,” he said, now smiling at me. “Now you are here. Do you know where here is? Did they tell you what the circle does? Of course they didn’t.”
“It will help me restore access to my chi and lead me to the third foci.”
“The trials of this circle will restore access to your chi,” said Maelstrom. “A circle of reflection shows you who you really are. It shows you the part of you that must be overcome. Only then will you have access, if you succeed. It will not, however, lead you to the third foci. That is something you must discover on your own. Do you know the cost of the third focus?”
He stepped into the light and I saw his face clearly for the first time.
“You’re blind,” I said.
Maelstrom looked at me with eyes that were blank and out of focus. Gray film covered the irises, two pools of milky white holding me in their gaze.
“Not as blind as you,” he said, sitting back at the table.
Around us, the small house was quiet. It was plain and sparsely furnished. Maelstrom was dressed in simple clothing, a black shirt and black slacks. His feet were bare and he rested his hands lightly on the table as he looked at me. The rolled-up sleeves of his shirt allowed me to see he had identical glyphs burned into his arms. It was unnerving, looking at an older version of me. I sat in the chair opposite him and rested my hands on the table, placing the dagger between us.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“You invited me,” said Maelstrom.
“I what?”
“I am only here because of you. This is a circle of reflection. Did you think you would be able to avoid me, vessel? Here, of all places?”
“Lucius, his shadow, removed you,” I said.
Maelstrom laughed then. It was a cold and hollow sound, lacking any warmth.
“You stupid fool, I am you,” he said. “I am the darkest parts of you. The parts you refuse to accept. I am the small, still voice in the height of the night that whispers truths to you.”
“No, you’re wrong. You are not a part of me,” I said, as the anger rose in me and I manifested a sword in my hand.
He looked down at the sword and smiled. It was a twisted thing, full of malice.
“Really; where did that come from, then? Your loving nature?”
I looked down at the sword as the anger rushed through me. I removed my hand and it disappeared. He laughed again. I pushed back from the table and stood up. I could feel the anger in my blood rising.
“What, you thought this was going to be all chants and seated meditation?” he said as he manifested a short staff. “That doesn’t apply to you, vessel. You were a warrior. Now you’re just useless.”
“I am still useful,” I said. “I can still help.”
He stood and smashed the table with the staff, shattering it and sending splinters in every direction. I covered my eyes with an arm. When I lowered it, the small stone home had disappeared. We stood beside a large reflecting pool. White, marble steps descended into the pool from where we stood. The water itself was still and deep blue, and reflected nothing. Green grass surrounded us on all sides as we stood in the middle of a vast field.
“We are going to do this in a manner you understand,” he said.
I manifested the sword in my hand and took a defensive stance. The staff in his hands thrummed with power.
“Prepare to reflect,” he said as he lunged at me.
He brought the staff down, attempting to crush my skull. I raised the sword and parried, driving the staff to the ground. He bent over, reversed direction and slammed a back kick into my midsection. I fell back, gasping for air. My shoulder throbbed in pain.
“Pitiful. You are a disgrace,” he said.
He swung the staff around at my legs and I jumped back, causing him to miss me by a fraction of an inch. “Why are you here? To reflect? What do you have to reflect on?”
“I need Shadowstrike. I need to stop Lucius before it’s too late.”
