Zeph Kaizen's Arc

Chapter 17 of 51

Zeph felt the heat under his ribs settle. He held Keji's face in his mind and let it go again, testing the door. The response came each time, smaller but steady. Kaine watched from across the floor and said nothing. Then Kaine's head turned toward the entrance. "Something followed the body," Kaine said. He stood. "The dead one on your step. His ki went out loud. It called." Zeph rose. His legs felt slow from sitting. Outside, a shadow crossed the high slot window and blocked the light for a breath. Then another pass, closer. Wings, wide and quiet. Not a bird he knew. He heard the drag of talons on stone above them. "What is it," Zeph said. "Old thing. Feeds on Saiyan ki. It smelled the young one dying and came for more." Kaine looked at him. "It will smell you next. You have been opening doors in here for an hour." Zeph moved to the entrance. The young Saiyan's body still lay on the step where he had let him die. Above the roof line, a large bird circled. Its feathers caught the sun in bands of blue and violet. Marks like old writing ran along its wings. It was beautiful and it was hunting. "I can fight it," Zeph said. "You can. But if you spend yourself on it, you will not finish the trial today." Kaine's yellow eyes did not move. "Or you close the hall. Pull the door. Stay inside until it loses the scent. The body outside will pull it away by morning." Zeph looked at the bird. He looked at the body on the step. He thought of Keji lying somewhere west with the tiger, waiting. Every hour spent here was an hour Keji did not have. He stepped out onto the top stair. The bird saw him and folded its wings. It dropped fast. Zeph opened Refusal and Stillness together, held for a count, released, opened again. The bird's talons passed where his shoulder had been. He turned inside its dive and drove his fist up into its chest. The blow landed clean. The bird cracked against the stone rail and fell. It did not get up. Zeph stood over it, breathing hard. The marks on its feathers dimmed. He had chained four bursts. He had not needed a fifth. Kaine came to the doorway. He looked at the dead bird, then at Zeph. "You are faster than yesterday." "It came because of the one I let die." "Yes. More will come. The hall is loud now." Kaine stepped back inside. "Finish what you started before the next one hears." Zeph dragged the young Saiyan's body off the step and laid it beside the bird. Then he went in and pulled the heavy door shut behind him. The trial was not done. The clock had shortened.