Chapter 72: Ashes of Loyalty
The air was thick with tension as Little 7 and the Shrouded One turned their backs on the eerie mirror. They moved in silence down the hallway, but something heavy hung between them—unspoken truths waiting to surface.
At last, Little 7 broke it.
"I shouldn't be alive," he said quietly, eyes forward. "I was dead, you know. The Master brought me back."
The Shrouded One stopped in his tracks. "What do you mean?"
Little 7 exhaled slowly, his voice quivering. "When I was younger, I lived with my brother in the outskirts. We were just kids... Then came the fire. It swallowed our village. I died that night. Or, at least, I thought I did."
He turned, meeting the Shrouded One's eyes. "The Master found my body. Or what was left of it. He used something—I don't know what—but it pulled me back. I woke up, not as myself, but as a puppet with memories that weren't mine. He told me I'd been wandering the woods with my brother... that we were orphans. That he saved us."
The Shrouded One's jaw tightened. "But none of it was true?"
"Only the part about my brother," Little 7 whispered. "He existed. But he died. Everything else? Lies stitched into my mind. I didn't remember who I was until the pain from that mirror pulled it loose."
He paused, searching for the right words. "I wasn't just revived—I was reconstructed. And I hate him for it."
The Shrouded One closed his eyes. "He did the same to me. Stole my bloodline, killed my parents, made me think I was chosen."
Their gazes met again—no longer just companions, but survivors of the same cruel experiment.
"He never loved us," the Shrouded One said bitterly. "He just wanted control."
"Then let's take it back," Little 7 replied. "All of it."
They didn't wait. By dusk, the quiet village began to stir with smoke.
The first to fall was the master's former mansion , Little 9 set it ablaze with a flick of his fingers, watching it burn with grim satisfaction. Then came the Master's old training hut, filled with relics and scrolls—reduced to ash by Little 7's hands.
They didn't destroy anything else, but Master's properties as a message for him to draw him out .
And it reached him swiftly.
Percy stood by the Master's side in the dim cave chamber, his hands bloodied, bandages wrapped around his ribs. A faint glow from the red crystals lit the Master's face as he read the report.
"They're burning it all," Percy whispered. "The old house. The training hut. Even the outer storehouse."
The Master's grip tightened. "Who?"
Percy swallowed. "Little 9... and Little 7."
The Master stiffened. "Little 7 is alive?"
Percy nodded. "And they've turned on us."
For a moment, silence reigned—so heavy it felt like the cave itself might collapse.
Then the Master's voice, cold and slow: "Send them a message."
---
That night, as the two boys stood watching the flames dance, a messenger hawk descended with a scroll tied to its leg.
Little 9 read it aloud:
> "You think yourselves clever, but know this—I created you. I raised you. I know every weakness carved into your bones. If you keep this path, don't blame me when I stop being kind. I will end you both."
Little 7 spat into the fire. "Let him try."
---
The very next morning, Percy appeared, stepping through the remains of their once home like a ghost. His expression was torn—anger and pain blending into something unreadable.
"You're really doing this?" he asked quietly.
The Shrouded One stepped forward. "He made us weapons, Percy. You saw it too."
"He saved us!" Percy snapped. "All of us! You wouldn't even exist without him."
Little 7 clenched his fists. "That's exactly the point."
The clash was sudden. Percy moved first, striking low with a blade laced in smoke. The Shrouded One dodged, retaliating with a burst of searing wind. Little 7 charged from behind, his fist glowing with purple energy, knocking Percy to the ground.
But Percy was fast—wounded, but not weak. He parried, flipped, cut deep into Little 9's shoulder before being slammed into a tree by a telekinetic blast.
He groaned, rolled, and disappeared into the brush.
---
In the secret house, Percy collapsed before the Master. "They're serious," he gasped. "They won't stop."
The Master's gaze burned. "Then neither will I."
---
Word traveled quickly.
Elara sat under the canopy of trees, a smile tugging at her lips. Ariella paced nearby, her brow raised.
"They're fighting him," Elara said.
Ariella nodded. "Let them destroy each other. We'll be left to clean up the pieces."
"No," Elara said slowly. "We'll be ready to take the last piece."
"The source," Ariella whispered. "The pot."
Elara's eyes gleamed. "While they war with each other, we hunt the power."