Chapter 49: The Path of blood
As narrated by the event keeper
Three days before the tournament began
Sleep had long abandoned Cipher. While his comrades surrendered to rest each night, he drove himself relentlessly, harnessing impulse acceleration to hunt for a way to thwart Skepto. Every failed attempt tightened the grip of guilt around his heart. He bore an unshakable oath—to him, the world’s suffering stemmed from his failure to unmask Number One’s treachery sooner. The dimming spark in his friends’ eyes was a mirror to his own despair, and it pushed him to a precipice. On this night, determination crystallized: he would step into the fire, no matter the cost.
He understood the stakes with brutal clarity—recklessness would spell ruin not just for him, but for everyone he held dear. Desperation fueled him as he sat, motionless, for a full day, eyes clamped shut, plunging into the depths of his mind for the answer.
Sane, ever vigilant, watched him from the shadows. She saw the toll his obsession exacted. Approaching his bedside, she pressed a hand to his forehead. His skin burned, a fever born of mental strain. She jolted him awake, shattering his inward spiral, and seized his hands, pulling him into the night’s embrace. The air was crisp, a fleeting reprieve from the heat consuming him.
Her gaze pierced him, seeing a man shackled by torment. “Let’s run,” she urged, her voice quivering as she gripped him tighter. “Forget it all. Let’s just... run and live.”
Cipher’s head bowed, his words barely a whisper. “We can’t. I have to find a way—”
“I know what you’re chasing,” Sane cut in, her tone edged with fear. “Peace in this world? It’s a ghost. Not while humans draw breath.”
Her words carried the weight of a life carved by anguish, and Cipher saw it etched in her face—a mind honed by suffering.
“Someone told me that once,” he said softly. “But I can’t stop, Sane. There’s still a flicker of hope for us. I have to fight for it, however faint.”
Sane turned from him, inhaling sharply. “I was ten, my sister twelve, when the Final Whisper took us in. Our parents were gone, and within a year, training turned to survival. I faced horror head-on and claimed it as my own. They called me ‘The Insane Reaper.’ Mission after mission, I never faltered, never glanced back. But that made me a liability. To leash me, they stole her—my sister.”
Cipher leaned in, captivated. She had never bared her soul like this.