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CHAPTER 23:

BLOODLINE, PART I

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After they exited the Hypogaeum, Nowell and Matthew had entered a wide tunnel. The tunnel was dimly lit by hand-sized orbs that lined the ground next to the walls. Matthew took this as a sign that humans had been here before- the orbs didn't look natural, in any case. For a long time, they had been walking silently through this corridor, wondering if it actually led to anything. At last, though, Matthew vague human figures in the distance.

"Do you see what I see?" Nowell asked him.

"Yeah, I think," Matthew said, with a breath of relief. "It looks like we've been on the right path after all."

As Matthew and Nowell ran forward, they began to hear voices echoing down the walls of the tunnel. Matthew couldn't make out what they were saying, but it didn't take him long to recognize Tyrell's voice, and the second sounded somewhat like Amiti's. The third voice also sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. All three voices seemed raised and angry. As they got closer, the figures drew into focus.

Indeed, there were Amiti and Tyrell. Both were on the ground and seemed fairly injured. Standing above them was a familiar, black-clad man donning a mask. Light was gathering at his hand, for some reason.

"It's Arcanus!" Matthew whispered.

"I know," Nowell hissed back. "Quiet, they might notice us!"

The two quickly hid themselves behind a large rock. Thankfully, there was no indication that anyone had noticed their presence. They seemed quite preoccupied.

"Trust me, my son," Arcanus was saying, "one day, you'll thank me."

Matthew wondered who Arcanus was talking to. He knew Tyrell's father was Garet, so did that make Amiti Arcanus' son, then?

"Stop it!" Amiti cried. "You have no idea what's good for me! Take me, do what you wish with me, just let him go! I won't try to escape ever again, I swear!"

"It's far too late for me to stop now," Arcanus shouted. "All this energy needs to go somewhere!"

"Holy crap!" Nowell hissed. "Tyrell's gonna be killed! We've gotta do something."

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Tyrell grimaced, closed his eyes, and waited for his end to come. He knew there was no escape now. I guess my life wasn't a waste,he thought. I helped save Weyard from the eclipse and I died trying to save a good friend. It'd be great if I could've lived longer, but this wasn't a waste, at least.

But after a few seconds passed, Tyrell still felt oddly quite alive.

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Matthew quickly got up from the hiding place. He knew he had to act fast, but at the same time he had to be smart about it. With his psynergy, he carved out a moderately sized chunk from the stone lining the walls of the cavern. If he could aim well enough, he could at the very least disrupt Arcanus' focus and mess up his aim, and hopefully that would be enough to save Tyrell's life for the moment, he figured.

Matthew didn't get a chance, though. He was too late. Arcanus unleashed an enormous beam of light from his palm, and Matthew let the chunk of rock fall to the ground. And then he saw Amiti run in front of Tyrell, taking the blast for him.

As the blast from the beam cleared, Nowell quickly grabbed Matthew's hand and pulled him back behind the rock. "There's nothing we can do now," she said. "If we let him see us, we could have the same fate…"

Matthew supposed that was true, but it really was a horrible thing to come to terms with.

Images from the Luna Tower flashed through his mind. Who knew what catastrophe he had helped cause this time? And while in Belinsk they did manage to save Eoleo and Hou Ju in the end, it seemed now that at least part of their reason for even coming to this isle had been in vain.

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"Myalkni!" Tyrell heard Arcanus cry in disbelief. "My son, you fool! You fool, you stupid, idiot fool!"

Tyrell opened his eyes to see Amiti lying in front of him. His clothes were torn and his chest was burnt black. His head was turned to the side, with his hair falling over his face. Amiti weakly turned his head to face Tyrell.

"Tyrell," he choked, "this… is for everything I owe you..."

"Amiti-" Tyrell said, but he was cut off.

"Tyrell, you deserve a full life, for everything you've done. I… couldn't let you die when… you came to save me from myself here," Amiti grimaced, struggling to speak. "Go, Tyrell, live on… but this world needs people like you…"

"Don't try to speak anymore," Tyrell said softly. How could you do this to me,he protested silently. I came to bring you back, but I'll return with only a corpse and memories.

Tyrell saw Amiti go still, and he reached over with his left hand to close his eyelids. As he did so, however, he saw the ring on his finger. And he remembered the day he had received that ring. Amiti's words from that day echoed in his head.

"This isn't just a family heirloom. It's also endowed with Psynergy-like properties. You can tap into it to heal even of the deepest wounds."

That was what Tyrell remembered Amiti telling him. He withdrew his hand and grasped the ring, drawing forth whatever psynergy was in it.

Streams of white light enveloped the blue-haired prince, and when they receded, Tyrell could see that the gaping wound in the middle of his chest was gone.

And then, Amiti blinked. Tyrell's heart leaped. There is some good in this world after all, he thought.

"I… what…" Amiti stammered. "Why am I still alive?"

"Your ring," Tyrell answered. "I healed you with it."

"But… he's still here, isn't he?" Amiti said. "My father... Tyrell, you should have ran away…"

Right, Arcanus is still here,Tyrell thought with a grimace.He'd been watching this whole time.

Tyrell looked up and saw Arcanus staring at them. He hadn't said a word. Tyrell wasn't sure what the emotion he saw on Arcanus' face was, but it was more than he had ever seen on that face before. Was it fear? No, not quite. It was somewhere between terror, confusion and disappointment. It was an odd mix.

"I realize now that I will never understand you," Arcanus said at last. "We are so alike, and yet, it turns out, you were right. We are irreconcilably different after all. "

"Funny," Amiti remarked. "I was just beginning to think that deep down, we are more similar than I had ever thought before."

"No, I can't even contemplate sacrificing myself with such futility," said Arcanus.

"I think you understand more than you admit," Amiti replied, "but I hope you know now you will never take me back alive."

"You silly creature, how could you get like this? Maybe you are really your mother's son as much as you are mine…" Arcanus mused aloud. "Go."

"You're actually letting us go?!" Tyrell asked, incredulous. "After all that?"

"Yes, go," Arcanus commanded. "Leave my sight, fast, before I change my mind."

Tyrell helped Amiti to his feet, and the two began to walk away. Before they got far, however, Arcanus called for them to stop.

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Matthew peeked his head out over the boulder to see Arcanus walking straight toward him. He quickly ducked back behind the rock.

"I'm afraid he might've seen us," Matthew worried. Nowell quickly hushed him. Arcanus was talking.

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"One more thing," Arcanus called. "You might want to stop my other son and your Jupiter adept companion from killing each other."

Just as Arcanus said this, there was a sudden rustling sound from the tunnel to Arcanus' side.

Arcanus glanced in the direction the sound had come from. For a second, an ironic smirk flashed across his face.

"They should be off in that direction," Arcanus said, pointing to the tunnel behind them. "I suggest you hurry."

And with that, he took off down the other tunnel, the one closer to himself.

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"One more thing," Arcanus was saying. "You might want to stop my other son and your Jupiter adept companion from killing each other."

Beside him, Matthew heard Nowell gasp in shock, like she had just realized something horrible. She started to get up, but Matthew stopped her, restraining her and cupping her mouth. At first, she resisted him, but then she gave up, shook her head, and mouthed an apology to Matthew. He let her go.

He must surely know we're here now, Matthew fretted silently.

"They should be off in that direction," Arcanus instructed Amiti and Tyrell. "I suggest you hurry."

He's coming…

Matthew's heart pounded as he heard Arcanus' footsteps approaching. He readied his weapon and psynergy, and motioned to Nowell to do the same.

And then Arcanus passed by the boulder and stared straight at them. "Did you think you could hide from me?" he asked. "I knew you were here as soon as you arrived."

Matthew stared silently back at him, feeling like a cornered animal. He gripped his sword tightly.

"There's really no need to try to hide from me," Arcanus told them. "I mean you no harm. In fact, I must thank you. You've done me a great favor."

"Were you planning for us to open that crypt for you?" Nowell asked. Dread filled Matthew's heart.

"Perhaps I was," Arcanus said with a smug smile. "I suggest you run along now," Arcanus said. "Don't you have a couple of people you want to save?"

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And, with that, Arcanus purposefully walked away into the tunnel.

"How long have you guys been here?" Tyrell asked Nowell and Matthew as they emerged from behind a boulder near the tunnel's entrance.

"Not that long," Nowell replied. "We arrived just in time to see you almost get killed."

"Long time, no see," Matthew said as he sheathed his sword. "We have a number of questions for you, and I'm sure you have the same for us, but it sounds like we don't have much time."

He turned to Amiti. "Amiti," he said, "this is Nowell. She's Rief's older sister."

"Pleased to meet you," Amiti said. "I'm sure you know who I am already, and I'm sure you agree this isn't the best time for introductions."

"I agree completely," Nowell said tersely. "But I would really like to know what's going on in here."

"We can talk as we walk," Amiti said. "There probably are indeed some things you must know."

"Okay, fair enough," agreed Matthew. "Let's go."

With that, at Matthew's lead, they began walking briskly down the tunnel that Arcanus had indicated.

"So, Amiti," Matthew said, "forgive me if I'm just misunderstanding something but… is Arcanus your father?"

"Yeah," Amiti said, with a breath. "He is."

"So what Tret said really is true," Matthew observed, "that you're a relative of Mia."

"What does that make us, Nowell?" asked Amiti. "Fourth cousins?"

"Third cousins," Nowell corrected him. She stared off into the distance. "I have another question, though."

"What is it?" asked Amiti.

"Arcanus said that we had to save two people from killing each other," Nowell said. "One was a Jupiter adept who was your companion… that's probably Karis. But he said the other one was his 'other son'…"

"It's probably Rief he was talking about," Amiti said.

"What?!" exclaimed Tyrell. "But that would mean…"

He trailed off.

"That's what I've been led to believe," Amiti said, picking up where Tyrell had left off. "I don't know any details, however."

"I… was afraid of that," Nowell said. "Horribly enough… it actually makes sense."

"Do you know something?" Matthew asked.

"It's just that…" Nowell started. "Well, my I don't remember much about my father. I know that he and my mother split up while I was a very young child, before Rief was born…"

"And you never learned who he was?" asked Amiti.

"No…" Nowell said. "I asked. A lot. But my mother refused to ever talk about him, and the villagers wouldn't tell me either. They always told me to wait for when I was older, when my mother was willing to tell me."

"Maybe they were trying to protect you," said Matthew.

"You know who Arcanus really is, don't you?" Amiti asked.

"No, I don't, actually," Nowell said.

"He's the same person as Alex, the traitor of Imil," Tyrell said darkly.

The news hit Nowell like a brick.

"No," she said. "Wow… I am an enormous frickin' idiot! How did I not realize this earlier?!"

"Calm down," Matthew urged. "We're not exactly safe here in this cavern, remember? We can't yell like that…"

Tyrell put his arm around Nowell and patted her side to calm her down. That irked her.

Nowell flung off Tyrell's arm and recoiled away from him. "Don't treat me like a little child!" she snapped.

"I'm sorry," Tyrell mumbled, looking away from her.

Nowell ignored his apology. "I don't know how I could've missed this!" she cried.

"How could you have known?" Amiti asked.

"The thing is," Nowell said, "they didactually say that before Alex betrayed Imil, he was betrothed to his second cousin, my mother, as is the common custom … how did I not see it?!"

"Well, you couldn't be from that time, right?" said Amiti. "You're way too young, aren't you?"

"I'm 17," Nowell said. "You're right, I'm too young. But it's not hard to imagine that the two reunited secretly, at some time…"

"You really think your mother would do that?" asked Tyrell.

"Yeah, that's exactly the type of thing she would do!" Nowell exclaimed. She brought her voice back down to a quieter pitch, looking apologetically to Matthew. "She always lectures me on being a virtuous young maid of Imil, on all my stupid duties… but in the end I've always known she was nothing but a pompous hypocrite."

"Why does that make her a hypocrite?" Tyrell asked.

"It's the duty of anyone from Imil to never again interact with someone who has betrayed the community," she said. "Yet Mother didn't just interact with him still, she made two children with him! And, maybe because she can't bear the shame, she punishes me with the obligation to be the wretched 'virtuous' temple guardian shecould never be!"

"I think you're being really harsh on her," Tyrell said.

"Shut up…" Nowell mumbled.

"You have no idea why she would do whatever she did," Tyrell shot back, "and you don't even know what-"

Matthew cut him off.

"Tyrell," Matthew said calmly, "I think we should really be focusing on rescuing Karis and Rief right now."

"Right," Tyrell said, with a submissive nod. "Sorry."

"Amiti," Nowell asked, "why would Rief be fighting Karis?"

Amiti said. "This is something that's really important to know, actually," he said. "Rief isn't just some captive here. He's also a commander of the Tuaparang now, and he is Arcanus' right hand man."

"What?!" Nowell asked, shocked.

"It's true," Amiti said.

"He's everything Arcanus wanted you to be, Amiti" Tyrell noted.

"Yeah, exactly," Amiti said darkly.

"Why would Rief be a commander for the Tuaparang?" Matthew asked. "And why would he fight Karis, rather than try to escape with her?"

"I really don't think Rief would try to escape," Amiti explained. "I don't think he can. He's under a curse by which he has to obey orders from Arcanus."

"Is this the same sort of curse that you were under?" Tyrell asked.

"Yes, in theory," Amiti answered. "It's similar to the curse I thoughtI was under. But there's good reason to believe that his is more real than mine, because Latakia could not have been the one to administer it. By the time he arrived on the isle, he was already under it, and he had never met Latakia before then… so it must have been Arcanus."

"So his is the real deal…" Tyrell lamented.

"I'm sorry," Matthew said, "but what is this curse?"

"He has to follow all the orders of his family members," Amiti said, "and also, he can't physically hurt them."

"Oh, this is just fantastic," Nowell carped. "So this curse overrides his will and forces him to fight against us as we try to save him?"

"Not exactly," Amiti said. "How these curses work is that at some point he agreed to some contract, possibly by accident. He's still able to do what he wants, but if he makes any action that violates the contract, he will be punished. I was punished with excruciating pain, but for him it's worse- he'd simply die."

"That's terrible…is there any way this curse can be broken?" Nowell asked.

"I don't know for sure of any way," Amiti said. "But it would make sense logically that you might be able to get the curse to kill itselfinstead of him."

"How do you figure that?" Matthew asked.

"Well the curse is enforced by the spirits that witnessed it," Amiti explained. "But there's reason to suspect the spirits themselves are bound too. Before he makes an action that could violate the oath, they warn him. But if we force him into a situation where every action possible would violate the oath, for them to warn him against any action, in essence advocating for the other, would be a violation of the oath by the spirits that are supposed to enforce it."

"And so you think that such a situation would break the curse?" Nowell asked. "Isn't this taking a humongous risk with his life?"

"I think they'd at least immobilize him," Amiti said. "And that would still be checkmate. But I suspect it could also break the curse. At the very least, it's worth a try."

"So how would we get him into such a situation?" Matthew asked.

"Well, thankfully enough, I have a good idea," Amiti said. "As I mentioned before, the terms of his curse are different than mine. I merely couldn't 'resist' any order, but for him its different- he can't resist their orders and he can't harm 'any family member' either."

"But if Rief were to be ordered by a family member to harm a family member…" Tyrell started. "…Wouldn't that be a problem for these oath spirits, or whatever?"

"It would, and that's exactly the point," Amiti said. "They would have to bind him both for and against the action. The spirits would move to tell him to follow the order, and then they would have to destroy themselves because they were bound to the oath too, and they broke it."

Nowell stared away at the wall, gritting her teeth anxiously as they walked. "How do you know all of this?" she demanded.

"Oddly enough, Arcanus told me," Amiti said. "He ordered me to never command or make any request of Rief. I asked why… and he actually told me."

"He trusted you with the information?" Matthew said.

"Maybe he was absolutely certain he could control me at that time," Amiti guessed. "I guess he is a bit too conceited for his own good sometimes."

Or maybe, Matthew thought darkly, he wanted you to know.

"Who counts as family members?" Tyrell asked. "Siblings? Cousins? Eighth cousins?"

"Probably immediate family, but I really have no idea," Amiti said. "All I know is that I qualify, as his half-brother."

"But couldn't he DIE if things aren't as you think?" Nowell demanded.

"Not taking the gamble is riskier though," Amiti countered, as he turned to look at Matthew. "If we don't try to remove the curse as soon as possible, Rief could kill Karis or any of us before we can neutralize him, and then even afterwards he'd be a danger."

Matthew nodded, thinking. "Amiti makes a good point."

"But couldn't we all just work to restrain Rief so nobody has any chance of dying, and then try to figure out how to break the curse, keeping him unconscious or something?" Nowell protested.

"I don't think it's that simple," Matthew said. "He may be your little brother, but he's also a dangerous fighter who can easily kill people, and he's under a curse which forces him to do so. Any of us could die trying to restrain him."

"You're just putting Karis' life before my brother's!" shouted Nowell accusingly. "I know what's going on between you two, but I can't let you gamble with my brother's life!"

"That's outrageous!" Tyrell leveled. "Did you even listen to what they were saying? It's not just Karis, Rief could kill any of us if we aren't careful! You have no idea what could happen!"

"Think about it this way," Amiti said, "if we give this a try, there's a chance no one will die. Otherwise, there's still a chance anyone could die, and that includes Rief too. We could kill him trying to restrain him. Karis could kill him. Anything at all could happen. This way, we can at least control what happens."

"Exactly," Matthew said. "And that's what we are going to do. Do you want to save your brother, Nowell? That's what we're trying to do."

"…Alright," Nowell said with a sigh. "We can't be far from them now, can we?"

And then, almost as if on cue, a man came charging down the tunnel in their direction. As soon as he caught sight of Matthew and the rest, he halted.

"I surrender!" he cried out, "Please be merciful with me!"

"Calm yourself," Matthew called back, "and come over here."

"Drop your weapons," Amiti commanded as he approached. Matthew looked over at him; Amiti hushed him with his finger. "I know what I'm doing," he said softly. "We need to be safe."

"Lord Myalkni…" the man said. He drew a dagger from his belt.

"Drop the weapon!" Tyrell ordered.

"I'd rather eliminate you slime!" he cried. "That'd be the best death I could ask for!"

With that he charged forward, dagger in hand and lunged at Amiti. Amiti swiftly dodged him, as Tyrell grabbed the man. Amiti rested his sword on the man's shoulder neck.

"You were saying something about surrendering?" Amiti asked. "Well you're in luck. It turns out I'm actually on the other side."

"What…?"

"Yes," Amiti said, "you're free to go. I wasn't sure if you were a trap before, but now I'm sure."

"I don't believe you," the man said as he struggled against Tyrell's grip. "Lord Rief said the same thing, and then he double-crossed us."

"He… what?" Nowell asked.

"When we prisoners broke out, he said he was betraying Lord Arcanus and he said he'd help us, but then he double-crossed us."

"Was a green-haired girl named Karis with you?" Matthew asked.

"Yes," the man said. "She was truly brave… she fought him to hold him back so I and others could escape, and we all scattered, trying to avoid being caught."

"Well, I'm telling the truth," Amiti said. "You know Lady Latakia? I killed her earlier today. You're free to go, just tell us where they are. We've trying to save Karis."

"They're… in the direction I came running from," the man said with hesitation.

"Let's go," Matthew said. Everyone nodded, and Tyrell released the man.

"Where are the other prisoners who escaped?" Matthew asked.

"We all scattered to avoid being caught after we escaped from Lord Rief," the man said.

"Once you escape this cave," Matthew said, "they're will be a boat. Tell any other escaping prisoners to wait there. We'll take you back."

"Where are you going?" the man asked. "She's probably finished by now, you know. When we left, she was already losing badly."

"Wait for us. We'll be back," reiterated Matthew.

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Author's notes:

Reviews are always pretty awesome.

Next Chapter: Bloodline Part II