Zeph Kaizen's Arc

Chapter 13 of 51

The enforcer came through the trees at a walk. He was taller than the last one and wore no armor at the chest, only a black wrap and the Saiyan crest burned into the leather at his shoulder. Zeph kept his breathing on the count. Open. Close. Open. The tiger crouched by the overhang where Keji lay under a shelf of packed snow. The enforcer did not speak. He crossed the clearing in three steps and swung. Zeph named the refusal and slid sideways. The strike passed his ear. He named it again and struck the man's ribs. The enforcer grunted and swung back. Zeph took the second hit on the shoulder and felt something crack. He released the door on purpose, took a breath, opened it again. He needed more than this. He needed Zento. He needed to ask how the old ones had gone gold, what door was left, what he had not tried. But the ancestor had come only in the still hours, when Zeph could sit and breathe long enough to reach him. There was no sitting now. The enforcer would not allow one count of quiet. Zeph tried anyway. Between bursts he reached inward for the pale eyes, the blue sash. He got nothing. The enforcer's fist broke through and struck his jaw. Zeph went down in the snow. The tiger moved. It hit the enforcer at the hip and drove him backward into the tree line. The man rolled and came up with a blade. The tiger circled him. Zeph pushed himself up on one arm and spat blood. He could not meditate. He could not reach Zento in the fight. That door was closed to him for now. Then Keji spoke from under the overhang. His voice was thin but clear. "Zeph. The realm." Zeph looked at him. "The old ground," Keji said. "Where they trained. Stone and ritual. You cannot ask him here. You must go to where he stood." "Where is it?" "East of the ridge. Below the broken pines. A hall of stone with an orange sun cut over the door. You will feel it before you see it." Keji coughed. "Finish this one. Then run east. I will hold." Zeph stood. The tiger was bleeding along its flank but still on its feet. Zeph named the refusal again. I will not lose him. I will not lose this. The warmth came fast now, faster each time. He chained three bursts and closed the distance. He struck the enforcer's knee, then his throat, then the base of his skull. The man dropped. Zeph turned to Keji. The old man's eyes were half open. "Go," Keji said. "The tiger stays with me." Zeph did not argue. He faced east and started to run. He had failed to reach Zento in the fight. He would reach him on the ancestors' ground or not at all.