Chrome: Chapter 5

The Ballad of Cage & Smoke

The Ballad Continues…

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CHAPTER 5

Smoke scowled at the citadel.

Cage gaped in awe.

He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the stone city. The rocks vibrated with pure, undiluted power—building blocks for the beginning of the end. He shouldn’t be here. A feral warning screamed in his bones, begging him to scramble backward through time and space, through shadows and oblivion, to the safety of their humble cottage, their pocket of peace. But it had never been safe, not really. And there had never been peace, not with the dizzying pulse of risk beneath every ragged breath. They had been made to suffer. Forged to fall. The gods, their parents, had crafted them to die.

“We are the Guardians,” the robed leader said. “And I am called Fei.” The other robed skeletons fanned around her like a sun. “It is our duty to protect this castle and the gem within. Without the Heart of the Stars, this world—and all worlds—will fall.”

“So you’ve said,” Smoke snapped.

“So I have.” There was humor in the leader’s voice—in Fei’s voice. Cage struggled to see the woman within the bones. “We need your help.”

“You demand it,” his sister said, another snap, a whip against flesh. She crossed her arms and scoffed at Deadrock, as if the height of mankind were no better than a moldy toilet.

Fei sighed. Her crown had appeared atop her skull—without explanation, of course. Cage had a feeling, a fear, that it would always find her.

That Fei would always find them.

“We will train you,” Fei said. “You will know great power. You will command great respect.”

“I want no hollow words,” Smoke hissed. Her voice slithered over the cobblestone border like an upturned basket of snakes. “I want to live.” She glanced at Cage, and for a split second, he saw turmoil in her eyes. “I want him to live.” Her jaw ticked, and she scowled again. Behind her, the sun set on the citadel, a smudge of orange on towers, spires, and statues. “I will accept nothing less, and you can promise me nothing more.”

Fei rested against a stone railing, hands clasped, legs crossed. It was easy to forget she was dead, and death was the least of her dangers. “You are right, daughter of death. I cannot promise survival. Life is not guaranteed. But he”—a nod at Cage—“will die regardless. Whether that is of old age, of apocalypse, or in battle, I cannot say. Only you can.” Fei tensed as a gust of wind curled off the mountain, then she leaned forward, blue-fire eyes burning like coals. “What I can promise, however, is that if you do nothing, he will die soon.”

Smoke kicked a stone at Fei and roared, a hurricane of sound, a clatter of wrath and pain and hate. “No,” she barked, but even Smoke could not defy death itself.

“Yes,” Fei said with sympathy, but not apology. “This is your path. This is your fate. Without you both, there is nothing left.”

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We Await Your Return…

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