Zeph Kaizen's Arc

Chapter 18 of 51

Zeph shut the heavy door and turned back to the chamber. The air inside had changed. It felt thick, like breath held too long. The stone floor where he had meditated all morning gave off a low hum he had not noticed before. It came from the far corner, where the young Saiyan had first slumped against the outer wall before crawling to the step. Kaine stood in the center of the room, arms folded. His yellow eyes tracked the hum. "You feel it." "Yes." Zeph pressed a palm to the floor. The stone was cold, but a sick warmth pushed up through it. "It's him. The one I let die." "His ki soaked the wall while he begged. It seeped in." Kaine's jaw tightened. "Zento will not come while this stink is here. The door to him is fouled." Zeph closed his eyes and tried anyway. He held Keji's face in his mind and refused it. The warmth answered under his ribs, then guttered out. The hum from the corner drowned it. He opened his eyes. "How do I clear it?" "Burn it out with a clean ki. Yours." Kaine walked to the corner and set his hand flat on the stain in the stone. "Sit here. Open both doors. Pour them into the floor until the sick warmth is gone. If you break before it does, the hall stays closed to Zento for good." Zeph knelt where Kaine had marked. He set both hands on the stone. He opened Refusal first, then Stillness on top of it. The merged state took hold. He pushed it down through his palms. The floor fought him. The dying man's fear pushed back. Zeph felt the young Saiyan's thirst in his own throat, the cracked lips, the hand at the door. He almost pulled back. He named it instead. "I refuse this guilt." He held the merged door open for a count of ten, released, opened again. He chained the bursts the way Zento had taught him. Ten. Rest. Ten. Rest. On the sixth burst the hum broke. The sick warmth thinned. On the eighth it was gone. The stone under his hands went clean and cold. Zeph sagged forward. Sweat ran off his chin onto the floor. "Try him now," Kaine said. Zeph steadied his breath and reached inward. The door to Zento opened at once. The small white-haired figure stood before him in the quiet, arms loose at his sides. "You cleaned the room," Zento said. "Good. Now the next payment." His pale eyes held Zeph's. "The tiger. Hold its face. Refuse it as you refused the old man." Zeph's chest tightened. He had known this was coming. He had not known it would be next. Outside, something new landed on the roof. The talons were heavier this time.