IRON GOD | 1: Peripeteia

[13] Kolo: Exposure

Kolo didn't bother trying to argue with Qila and Xigon. After the duel she had witnessed, she knew better. Azvalath was another story. She was more than eager to give him grief. Once the Masters dismissed the two of them, she followed him down the stairs and thought about how hilarious it would be if he were to trip all of a sudden.

            "So," said Azvalath. "Have Channei and Lalek been treating you well?"

            "Yes." She pulled her snow goggles off and shoved them in her pocket. "Though why do you ask?"

            Azvalath looked over his shoulder at her. "I know we didn't get off on the best start, but anyone who ends up here is my brother or sister, as far as I'm concerned." He jumped off the bottom of the stairs and ran over to the pool of crystalline water. Styzia's bluehole shimmered red as she joined him. The light from her eyes glared off the water's surface.

            She glanced at Azvalath, then back at the pool. "What are you doing?"

            Azvalath sat down and gestured for her to sit beside him. She plopped herself down next to him. He dipped his finger in the water. "I get how you feel. Really, I do." His shoulders sagged. He sighed. "Not one of us came here willingly, and anyone who tells you they did is lying."

            Kolo cocked her head. "Why not run away, then? I guess you're scared of being hunted down again."

            "No, actually," said Azvalath. "All of us are free to leave whenever we want. That's why the bluehole isn't restricted." He flicked the water. "There's no punishment for leaving. Yet no one has ever left because we have nowhere else to go."

            Kolo raised her eyebrows. "No one ever?"

            "Of course not," said Azvalath. "Out there, we really have no right to live. Our existence blurs the line between mortals and gods. Most people can't accept that." He looked up. "I don't remember where I came from. Only the story that Master Qila told me. First, though, I want you to tell me anything you know about yourself."

            Kolo opened her mouth, then struggled for words. "Nothing, really. Just running everywhere from you."

            "Do you remember when it started?" Azvalath asked.

            She shook her head.

            "I remember," said Azvalath. "We were informed that the entire village of Howl Hollow had died in one night, after they had all developed a mysterious sickness that morning. Xigon and Qila went to investigate. The only survivor they found was one extremely damaged girl." He looked at her. "You got away from them, though. That's when they sent me out. I chased you for months."

            "Only months?" Kolo looked down at her hand and clenched her fingers. "It felt like forever." She tried to remember a place called Howl Hollow, but as far as her memory went back, no such place existed. For all she knew, Azvalath had made the whole story up. "Is any of that true?"

            "I know it sounds absurd," said Azvalath. "I sometimes wonder if Master Qila made up the story about how I got here. I really don't remember it all that well. She told me that my father sought Master Xigon's help in curing me of seizures. He did, of course. And then he and Qila took me away because I'm a descendant of the Iron God." He shrugged. "I don't remember ever having a father. It's been so long. Never remember having seizures, either."

            Kolo pursed her lips. Through the ceiling, she heard Master Qila shout something unintelligible. She looked up. "What're they doing up there?"