Fascination

Chichen Itza was the same, yet there was a distinct change in the air. The sky was darker, as if it was dawn and the sun was setting, and a cool autumn wind brushed his hair.

'Where is everyone?'

The witches were gone. Nash's friends had disappeared. He glanced over at William's unconscious form. Red hand prints were left on his face, the red blood of the lake having stained him and his garbs, seeping into the chainmail underneath.

His breath hitched, eyelids twitching, and William muttered, "N-no, not…her…" His level had returned and the chills dissipated.

Kazi was fixated on him, running through ideas. 'If I leave with William, can I even come back here? To this specific rendition of the gate? I know for a fact that Server Rooms lead to different iterations of Gates.'

What if Sun-young was still here? And what if William attacked again? Kazi wasn't sure if he'd survive, even if Sun-young was fighting alongside him. The magic he displayed was so much thicker than the Wendigo's; her anti-magic katana would be trying to mine through an avalanche.

'I have less than two hundred mana.' He approached the twitchy body, eyes shadowing. 'Should I kill him?'

He considered it for a long minute.

'Save myself from the suffering. The effort. I should just kill him. I could. I could do it.

…but he's just a kid.'

He was Kazi Hossain. He was better than that. He had to be better than that.

Just as he was about to open his friend list to try and message Sun-young and Marta, his ears turned and he heard a whistle. No, not a whistle, a collection of hard, gusty winds.

He snapped his head above and saw a hupil flapping through the wind. He saw the golden earrings of the Kaloomte and grinned.

"Heeeey! Over here!"

Upon his signal, she came down with her magic carpet of wind. At six feet above ground, she deactivated the spell and gracefully descended.

"Kazi Hossain," Kaloomte' Yuritzi called. "Where have you been?"

"That's my question. Where were you? I know you got blasted away. Are you hurt?"

She didn't look hurt and she looked offended that he thought that. "Of course I am not hurt. Itzel possesses great healing magic."

He gave an apologetic smile. "My bad."

It had been what? Ten minutes since she got hit? William's energy blast was absurdly powerful and had he directed it at Kazi it would have shattered his barrier. The Kaloomte', having lost her immortality and not quite as powerful as him, should have been burned to a horrific degree. Itzel's healing magic must have been absurdly powerful.

"Where's Nash?" he asked.

Kaloomte' Yuritzi side-eyed him. "Gone with his friends. Why?"

"Already? How?"

Either that guy cared about his friends a lot or he hid his speed. Going from the Temple of Kukulcán to the Osario region would ordinarily take ten or twenty minutes, not five.

"Do you perhaps have trouble tracking time? You have been gone for five days, Kazi Hossain."

His soul felt like it had been trampled.

'What?'

"Five days," Kazi repeated.

"Five days," she confirmed. It was then her eyes wandered and locked onto William. "You fell a Warrior of Tlaltecuhtli. Unbelievable. Is there nothing you cannot do?"

"I guess not."

Kazi worked up a smile. Outwardly, he pretended to be okay. On the inside, he was swimming in questions.

'Five days? But how? We were in that dimension for a minute, max. Does time move differently there? Why didn't that happen with the Wendigo then?'

The solution, no matter which way he sliced it, converged as one. That dimension, wherever it was, must have operated on a different space-time. Otherwise, five minutes could not have become five days. The Kaloomte' had no reason to lie to him too. There was no significant purpose between claiming it was five minutes, five hours, or five days. Nash, his friends, and everyone else was gone regardless.

"That yellow-haired man's power resembled him—the killer." Kaloomte' Yuritzi summoned a ball of wind. "We should end him, here and now."

He wished he could be surprised. He wished he hadn't seen something like this before. He had. 'To think I was thinking to do the same thing...'

Kazi steadied himself. "Why?"

"This may be a relative of the man with the short blade." Her grey eyes darkened. "Retribution. My sisters and I can require retribution for what that man did to us."

It was just a guess but it seemed like the sisters hadn't told Kaloomte' Yuritzi that William was his friend. Maybe they didn't notice? Didn't matter though, as long as he could use that fact to his advantage.

"No."

Her ball of wind weakened. "...no?"

"He may have attacked those people, but he didn't kill them. Just the way I believed you and your sisters when they attacked me, I want to believe in this man."

"Even if he may rise up to kill you?" she asked.

"Even then." He lowered his eyes. "I'm strong. I've always been strong. And with strength comes the gift of mercy. Tell me, why do you worship gods? For their strength? No, we desire their mercy and wisdom. I seek that very same wisdom they themselves show to us."

"You think yourself a god? You cannot do everything."

"Nor can the gods, yet still you believe."

Kalmoote' Yuritzi did not respond. Her eyes travelled up his appearance, then locked onto his face. She looked into the deep hazel of his eyes, its beauty and its flawlessness. "I do not understand you," the Kalmoote' admitted. "Are you some sort of messenger? A god in disguise? I witnessed you fighting that avatar of darkness, yet still you spare him? And you speak our language so beautifully. I do not understand it. I do not understand you."

She looked at him in a bewildering fascination. Grey eyes lighting up as if she were challenged by a divine test.

Kazi hated that look.

[ Receiving call from Yoon Sun-young! ]