VOL. 1: CHAPTER 8: THE WEIGHT OF STAYING HUMAN
Morning did not arrive in Kaloi's City.
It failed its way in.
Light crept through the cracks of Latvier's upper halls like it wasn't sure it was welcome, pale and cautious, filtered through layers of warded stone and old intention. The church didn't greet dawn with bells or prayer. It received it the way a veteran receives news: without surprise, without comfort.
Sionu woke with his heart already beating too fast.
For a split second, he didn't know where he was. The ceiling sigils above him looked like a map drawn by someone who didn't believe in straight lines. His body felt heavy, not with gravity like Ultimo's strain, but with memory. Every nerve carried a quiet after-image of electricity, like phantom pain without pain.
He inhaled.
The air was clean. Grounded. Latvier's air always was.
That was how he knew he hadn't dreamed the night before.
He sat up slowly.
Across the chamber, Ultimo was awake too, sitting still for once, elbows on his knees, staring at his hands like they might confess something. Blitz lay on her side nearby, eyes open, watching the wall like she'd been awake longer than either of them.
None of them spoke at first.
The city outside murmured faintly through the stone, distant engines, distant sirens, distant fear. A living organism learning how to live with an infection it didn't understand.
Blitz broke the silence.
"You feel different?"
Sionu nodded. "Yeah."
Ultimo exhaled. "Same."
Blitz glanced at him. "Different how?"
Ultimo hesitated. "Like… I gotta keep myself calm or the room get mad at me."
Blitz snorted softly. "Welcome to emotional regulation, deluxe edition."
Sionu rubbed his face. "It ain't just physical. My thoughts feel louder."
Blitz looked at him. "Louder how?"
Sionu searched for the words. "Like… every decision echoes."
Blitz didn't tease him this time.
She understood exactly what that meant.
1) KAEL'S WARNING, REPEATED
Father Kael arrived without announcement again, as if the building itself delivered him where he was needed. He carried a cup of dark tea, steam curling upward in lazy spirals that refused to disperse.
"You're awake early," he said.
Ultimo shrugged. "Hard to sleep when your insides got opinions."
Kael handed the cup to Sionu.
"Drink," he said. "It will help your SOL settle."
Sionu took it carefully. The liquid was bitter, grounding, earthy. It tasted like roots and smoke and something ancient.
As he drank, the static under his skin softened.
Blitz watched closely. "So what's today?"
Kael didn't answer right away.
He studied them instead, eyes measuring not strength, but fracture points.
"Today," he said finally, "you learn the cost of staying human."
Ultimo frowned. "That sounds expensive."
Kael nodded. "It is."
He gestured for them to follow and led them deeper into Latvier, past chambers Sionu hadn't seen before. Some rooms were empty except for sigils. Others held people meditating, sweating, trembling, whispering prayers to nothing and everything.
One man screamed softly as shadows detached from his feet and crawled back like reluctant pets.
A woman wept as her hands shimmered with light she couldn't turn off.
Blitz slowed. "How long they been here?"
Kael replied, "Some arrived last night. Some have lived here for years."
Sionu's stomach tightened. "Years?"
Kael met his gaze. "Not everyone leaves Latvier."
Ultimo stopped walking. "Why not?"
Kael answered honestly. "Because outside asks for more than they can give without becoming something they hate."
The words settled heavy.
They reached a circular hall with no markings except a single line etched down the center of the floor.
Kael stopped.
"This is the Balance Hall," he said. "No power amplification. No suppression. Only truth."
Blitz crossed her arms. "So what we do here?"
Kael pointed to the line. "You walk it."
Ultimo stared. "That's it?"
Kael nodded. "Power reveals itself when you try to remain ordinary."
2) ULTIMO AND THE FLOOR THAT TALKS BACK
Ultimo went first.
He stepped onto the line cautiously.
At first, nothing happened.
Then the air thickened slightly, like pressure building in his ears.
Ultimo took another step.
The floor creaked.
Not from age.
From resistance.
Ultimo's brow furrowed. "Okay… okay…"
Kael's voice was calm. "Don't fight it. Don't submit. Acknowledge it."
Ultimo swallowed. "Acknowledge what?"
"That you are not separate from it."
Ultimo closed his eyes and took a breath.
The pressure eased.
He stepped again.
The floor remained solid, unbroken.
Blitz's eyebrows lifted. "Look at him."
Ultimo opened his eyes, surprised. "Oh. That worked."
Kael nodded. "Gravity responds to certainty, not dominance."
Ultimo reached the end of the line and laughed shakily. "I ain't break nothing."
Kael replied, "Yet."
3) BLITZ AND THE AIR THAT LISTENS
Blitz stepped up next.
The moment her foot crossed the line, the temperature shifted.
Sionu felt it immediately. Moisture gathered in the air, invisible but present, like a held breath before rain.
Blitz rolled her shoulders. "Yeah, I feel that."
Kael instructed, "Walk without masking yourself."
Blitz smirked. "I don't mask."
Kael didn't argue.
She took a step.
Mist curled instinctively around her calves, protective, reflexive.
Kael raised a finger. "That is instinct. Not intention."
Blitz exhaled slowly and let her guard down.
The mist thinned.
She took another step.
The air stayed calm.
Her jaw tightened. "That feels wrong."
Kael replied, "Because you are used to bracing."
Blitz paused, then nodded once.
She finished the walk without summoning steam, sweat beading on her skin like she'd run miles.
When she stepped off the line, the mist returned briefly, then faded.
Blitz wiped her forehead. "That was harder than swinging."
Kael said quietly, "Peace always is."
4) SIONU AND THE LINE THAT REMEMBERS
Sionu stepped onto the line last.
The reaction was immediate.
Not explosive.
Attentive.
The air around him vibrated faintly, like a power line humming overhead. The sigils embedded in the walls responded, glowing softly, not in alarm but recognition.
Sionu's chest tightened.
Kael's voice softened. "Walk slowly."
Sionu did.
With each step, memories surfaced uninvited.
The bike.
The green light.
Blitz at the stove.
Ultimo's voice on the phone.
The canister.
The blast.
Electricity stirred under his skin, eager, familiar.
He clenched his jaw and kept walking.
Kael spoke, precise. "Do not suppress it."
Sionu whispered, "Then what?"
"Let it be present without being used."
Sionu inhaled deeply.
The electricity settled, not gone, but coiled.
He took another step.
The line glowed brighter beneath his feet.
Sionu stumbled slightly as a wave of emotion hit him.
Guilt.
Fear.
Anger at the city.
Anger at himself.
The electricity surged in response.
Blitz stiffened. "Sionu—"
Kael raised a hand. "No."
Sionu stopped walking.
His breath shook.
"I did this," he whispered. "The explosion. People got hurt because I carried that package."
Kael didn't interrupt.
Sionu continued, voice cracking. "If I hadn't—"
Kael stepped closer. "You did not create the hunger. You were used as a door."
Sionu shook his head. "Doors still responsible for what they let through."
Kael replied firmly, "Only if they know they are doors."
Sionu met his gaze.
"And now?" Sionu asked.
Kael answered quietly, "Now you choose what you let through next."
Sionu took the final step.
The line dimmed.
The hum subsided.
He stepped off, exhausted but intact.
Ultimo let out a breath he'd been holding. "That was intense just to watch."
Blitz walked over and put a hand on Sionu's back. "You still here."
Sionu nodded. "Yeah."
But something inside him had shifted.
Not awakened.
Clarified.
5) CONSEQUENCES DON'T WAIT
An acolyte rushed into the hall, breathless.
"Father Kael," she said. "We intercepted a broadcast."
Kael's posture stiffened. "From Hale?"
The acolyte nodded. "They're sealing Sector Nine entirely. Forced evacuation for 'non-essential civilians.'"
Blitz scoffed. "Translation?"
"They clearing the board," Ultimo said quietly.
Kael nodded. "Yes. And they will blame Starborne activity for the suffering that follows."
Sionu's fists clenched. "So people gonna get hurt because of me again."
Kael corrected him. "People will get hurt because power fears witnesses."
Blitz's voice hardened. "So what we do?"
Kael looked at all three of them.
"You remain here today," he said. "You train. You stabilize."
Ultimo frowned. "And tomorrow?"
Kael's gaze turned distant.
"Tomorrow," he said, "Latvier stops hiding."
Outside, the city's sirens shifted pattern again.
Closer.
More deliberate.
Kaloi's City was tightening its grip.
And somewhere beyond sight, the hunger listened, patient, learning new names.
Sionu closed his eyes briefly, then opened them with resolve settling into place.
He was done stumbling blind.
If he was a door, then he would decide who knocked.
to be continued...