All three moved.
Drako reached them first, closing the distance before Kel could fully read the shift in his shoulders. Solara stepped across Kel's line and caught the first attack with her forearm, redirecting Drako's fist just enough for it to miss Kel's face by inches. Kel immediately moved around her, planted his rear foot and fired a cross toward Drako's ribs.
Drako caught the punch against his forearm, and Kel pulled back before the counter could come. He had already learned what happened when he stayed too close. Drako's knee rose through the exact space Kel had just abandoned, while Solara attacked from the opposite side with an open palm aimed at his chest. Drako turned his body, let the strike slide past and swept an elbow toward her head.
Solara bent beneath it, and Kel caught the shift in Drako's weight before the next attack began.
"Back!"
Solara didn't question him. She jumped away as Drako's leg swept through the street, his heel cutting through empty space where both of them had been a moment earlier. Drako landed smoothly and looked between them, clearly enjoying what he was seeing.
"Better."
Kel's breathing was already heavy.
"You're starting to sound like my teacher."
"Your teacher sounds intelligent."
"Don't let him hear you say that. His ego's already bad."
Solara almost laughed, but Drako moved again before she could answer.
This time he came directly for Kel. Kel watched the hips, shoulders and feet, trying to remember everything Drako had spent the last several minutes beating into him. A slight turn of Drako's rear heel warned him first, and Kel shifted before the kick arrived. The shin cut past his body. The shoulder moved next, telling him the elbow was coming, and Kel ducked beneath it.
For one brief second, everything made sense.
Then Drako changed the rhythm.
His hand caught Kel by the back of his shirt before Kel could react.
"Oh—"
Drako threw him across the street.
Kel crashed shoulder-first into the dirt. Pain tore through his ribs as he rolled, but he forced himself back to his feet before Drako could follow. Solara was already moving between them, her palms open and her stance lowered.
Drako stopped.
"You two are learning."
Solara kept her eyes on him.
"We're still standing."
"That's what I meant."
Kel limped back beside her. His body had gone beyond normal exhaustion. Every movement felt borrowed now, held together by Internal Qi, adrenaline and the strange heat still feeding him from the burning settlement around them. His muscles shook beneath the strain, but he reminded himself that Roku had escaped and Luno had gotten the civilians away.
That was enough.
Kel didn't have to defeat Drako.
He only had to keep breathing.
Solara glanced sideways at him.
"Still with me?"
"Unfortunately."
"Good."
"Your definition of good is getting weird."
Across from them, Drako rolled his shoulders.
"Are you two always like this?"
Kel and Solara answered at the same time.
"Yes."
They looked at each other.
Drako laughed.
Then his Abyssal Qi surged.
The pressure struck the street hard enough to make the remaining flames bend away from him. Kel's knees nearly buckled as the invisible weight settled over his shoulders again. Solara lowered her stance beside him, and Drako's smile slowly disappeared.
"Now let's make this difficult."
Miles away, three figures cleared Transmorra's outer wall and dropped into the Badlands.
Keyla landed first, with Red and Blue touching down behind her. None of them slowed. The three Running Rebels accelerated across the dark wasteland, leaving Transmorra's lights behind as Qi strengthened every stride and allowed them to cross ground that would've taken ordinary travelers hours.
Red glanced toward Keyla.
"Tell us what we're walking into."
Keyla kept her eyes ahead.
"Drako."
Red's expression immediately changed.
"That's a bad night."
Blue didn't joke.
"How many others?"
"Unknown. Roku reported infected humans, armed fighters and actual Abyssal beings throughout the settlement."
Red looked toward the horizon.
"And Solara stayed?"
"With Kel."
Blue glanced toward Keyla.
"The Durnfield kid?"
"That's the one."
Red gave a low whistle.
"Harven's going to love this."
"Harven doesn't know yet."
"He'll love it even more."
Keyla didn't respond.
The distant horizon flashed. A second later, the ground trembled beneath them and a shockwave rolled across the wasteland. Dust shifted around their boots as all three stopped at once.
Keyla turned toward the eastern darkness.
Even from this distance, she could feel the faint residue riding through the air.
Abyssal Qi.
Dense, controlled and ancient.
Her expression hardened.
"That was Drako."
Blue stared toward the distant glow of the burning settlement.
"And somebody trying very hard not to die."
Keyla immediately started moving again.
"Then stop talking."
Red grinned.
"That's the Keyla I know."
"Move."
The three disappeared into the darkness.
Back in the burning settlement, Drako's elbow smashed into Kel's guard hard enough to crack through the street around his feet.
Kel staggered backward as pain tore through both forearms. Before he could recover, Drako's knee shot toward his ribs.
Solara moved instantly.
Her hands met Drako's leg without trying to stop it. Instead, she curved with the motion, shifted her hips and guided the knee away from Kel.
Foss Flow Wing Chun.
Drako adjusted before the redirection had even finished.
He had seen it too many times now.
His planted foot pivoted.
Kel saw the turn.
"Solara!"
Too late.
Drako's other leg whipped around and caught Solara across the side. The kick launched her through the air.
"Solara!"
She crashed into the dirt and rolled several times.
Kel didn't think.
Internal Qi surged through his legs as he charged. Drako turned toward him just as Kel threw a jab. Drako parried, and Kel drove the cross behind it with everything he had left.
Drako caught his wrist.
Kel froze.
Drako twisted.
Pain tore through Kel's shoulder before his feet left the ground, and then Drako slammed him into the street.
BOOM!
Kel's back hit hard enough to knock the air from his lungs. Drako stepped over him and planted one foot beside his ribs while keeping hold of his wrist.
"You rely too much on strength."
Kel tried pulling his arm free.
Drako's grip didn't move.
"Get off me."
"Loud."
Drako twisted Kel's wrist slightly.
Kel gritted his teeth.
"Predictable."
Kel tried driving his other fist into Drako's leg, but Drako shifted out of range without even looking.
"Still trying to overpower me."
Kel stopped struggling for half a second.
Drako noticed.
"Good."
Kel glared up at him.
"I really hate when you say that."
Drako ignored him.
"Internal Qi makes the body stronger. Faster. Harder to break. You've figured out enough of that to be dangerous against people near your level."
His crimson eyes narrowed.
"But I'm not near your level."
Kel already knew that.
His ribs knew it better.
Drako leaned closer.
"Strength isn't going to save you from someone who's stronger."
Kel's jaw tightened.
"Then I'll get stronger."
"Eventually."
Drako smiled.
"If you survive."
Solara was moving again.
Drako sensed her before Kel saw her. He released Kel and stepped backward just as Solara's palms cut through the space where his head had been. She followed immediately with a second strike, then a short palm toward the ribs.
Drako redirected the first two.
The third slipped through.
THUD!
Solara's palm struck his side, and Soul Qi pulsed through the contact. Drako's body shifted half a step, but Solara retreated before he could counter.
For a moment, Drako simply looked at the place she'd struck him.
Then he looked at her.
"Good."
Solara breathed heavily.
"Kel was right."
"About?"
"That's getting annoying."
Kel forced himself onto one elbow.
"I told you."
Drako laughed.
Kel used the distraction to push himself upright. His legs shook violently beneath him, and his vision blurred before slowly clearing again.
Then something inside his chest pulsed.
Not the heat.
Not Internal Qi.
Something else.
Drako's laughter stopped.
His eyes shifted toward Kel.
"There it is."
Kel frowned.
"What?"
Drako ignored the question and stepped toward him.
Solara immediately moved between them.
Drako stopped.
"You feel it too, don't you?"
Solara didn't answer.
Kel looked at her.
"Feel what?"
She glanced toward him.
"The same thing from before."
Kel's breathing slowed.
That strange pressure behind his ribs pulsed again.
For a moment, the battlefield seemed different. The fire still burned, the smoke still moved through the streets and Drako still stood directly in front of them, but Kel became aware of things he hadn't consciously noticed before.
He felt Solara's fear.
Not panic.
Concern.
And most of it was focused on him.
Drako felt different.
Excitement.
Curiosity.
And beneath both emotions was something darker that Kel couldn't fully understand.
Not Abyssal Qi itself.
Intent.
Kel's eyes narrowed.
Drako smiled.
"Now you're listening."
Kel's attention snapped back to him.
"I can hear you just fine."
"Not with your ears."
Drako tapped the center of his chest.
"The Soul."
Kel remembered what Drako had said before.
Soul Qi.
He still didn't understand what awakening it was supposed to feel like. Harven had taught him that Soul Qi could be sensed through emotion, presence and intent. Kel had practiced it before, but it had always felt distant, like something he had to concentrate hard to notice.
This wasn't concentration.
Everything was simply there.
Drako took another step.
Kel felt the danger before the movement finished.
His body shifted automatically.
Drako's fist passed beside his cheek.
Kel's eyes widened.
Drako's grin grew.
"Again."
The elbow came next.
Kel ducked.
He hadn't seen the shoulder move.
He had felt the decision.
Drako's knee rose.
Kel twisted away.
The strike brushed his side instead of crushing his ribs.
Kel stumbled backward, his heart hammering.
Solara stared at him.
"Kel..."
"I know."
He didn't.
Not really.
But something was happening.
Drako followed.
Kel felt another flash.
Attack.
High.
Kel raised his guard before Drako's fist crashed against it. Pain shot down both arms, but he stayed upright.
Drako attacked again.
Low.
Kel shifted his leg before the kick came.
The shin missed.
Kel stared at him.
For the first time since their fight began, he wasn't only reacting to Drako's movements.
He was catching something before them.
A spark before the fire.
Drako slowly straightened.
"There you are."
Kel breathed heavily.
"What are you doing?"
Drako smiled.
"Me?"
"I'm beating you."
Kel glared.
Drako tapped his temple.
"You're doing the rest."
Solara stepped back beside Kel.
Her voice stayed low.
"Don't force it."
Kel looked at her.
"That's very helpful."
"I'm serious. Soul Qi doesn't work like Internal."
Drako answered for her.
"The body can be ordered."
Kel looked toward him.
Drako's crimson eyes remained fixed on him.
"The Soul has to answer."
For once, there was no mockery in his voice.
Kel felt another pulse behind his ribs.
Drako noticed.
"Your body knows how to survive."
The Abyssal Qi around him tightened.
"Now find out what the rest of you wants."
Kel raised his fists.
"Right now?"
Drako lowered into his stance.
"No better time."
Kel stared at him.
"You are genuinely insane."
"Probably."
Solara opened her palms beside Kel.
"He might actually be."
Drako laughed.
Then his Qi erupted.
Kel's new awareness drowned beneath the pressure. He staggered as whatever he had been sensing disappeared beneath pain, exhaustion and the overwhelming weight of Drako's presence.
Drako appeared in front of him.
Kel barely blocked.
The punch drove him backward.
Solara attacked, but Drako caught her wrist. She rotated with the grip before he could twist it and struck toward his throat with her free hand. Drako leaned away, and Kel came from the side with a hook.
Blocked.
Solara attacked low.
Drako stepped away.
For several seconds, the three moved through the burning street in a violent rhythm. Kel pressured whenever he could while Solara redirected whenever Drako committed. Drako adjusted to both of them faster than they could adjust to him.
Every time Kel thought they had found something, Drako changed.
Every time Solara redirected one attack, the next came from a different angle.
Two teenagers learning by the second.
One warrior carrying two centuries of answers.
The difference was brutal.
Kel's jab missed.
Drako drove a palm into his chest.
Kel crashed backward.
Solara stepped in.
Drako swept her leg.
She hit the ground.
Kel tried standing.
His arm shook beneath him as he pushed against the street.
Drako walked toward them slowly and calmly, like he knew neither of them had enough left to stop him.
Kel looked toward Solara.
She was struggling to rise too.
This wasn't working.
They had bought time, but every second was costing more than the one before it.
Then Kel's strange new awareness flickered again.
Something was approaching.
He froze.
Not Drako.
Farther away.
Three presences.
Fast.
Focused.
Coming directly toward them.
Kel turned his head slightly toward the ridge.
Drako noticed.
His eyes shifted in the same direction.
Then Solara felt it.
Her expression changed.
"Kel..."
"I know."
Drako's smile slowly faded.
High above the burning settlement, three figures reached the rocky ridge overlooking the battlefield. Keyla dropped into position first, Red landed beside her and Blue took the opposite side.
Below them stood Drako.
Kel.
Solara.
Red stared down at the destruction scattered throughout the streets.
"Roku really undersold this."
Blue was already reaching over his shoulder.
"He was tired."
Keyla's eyes locked onto Drako.
"No wasted shots."
The three rebels moved at once. Their bows came free, arrows slid into place and three strings were pulled back in perfect rhythm.
Below, Kel felt the pressure on the ridge sharpen.
Drako lifted his eyes.
For the first time since Kel had met him, the grin completely disappeared from his face.
High above them, three bowstrings reached full draw.
The night held its breath.
End of Chapter 42 — Closing Shadows