NOVEL NEXT Chapter 414: Gifts From The Blurred Man
The valley was silent again. The snow fell softly, a steady drift that cloaked the ridges and jagged stones, muting the land.
Death stood with his cloak pulled tight against the wind, though the chill never really touched him. It couldn't, not when every step he took killed life itself in a circle around him.
Luna had left a few minutes ago with Gaia and Atreides, taking them to their quarters and answering the endless questions that always followed when powerful beings were convinced to follow another's war.
Now he was finally alone.
His gaze lifted to the dark shape slumbering in the mist shrouded gorge below. The Skybreaker's colossal body could still be seen through the haze, its great shoulders and folded arms looking like a mountain that had grown a skeleton of steel and bronze.
The runes etched across its plating pulsed faintly, as though even in its rest the giant was dreaming.
In Death's chest, deep beneath ribs that never tired, he felt the switch. A cold orb of magic, pressing against his heart.
The Blurred Man had pressed it into his palm weeks ago, telling him that when the time came, all he had to do was close his hand and will it. The Skybreaker would wake. The weapon that once split the heavens would walk again.
But that was not the only gift he'd been given.
He turned from the gorge, boots crunching through the snow, cloak fluttering behind him.
At the far end of the valley, where the frost had melted to expose bare stone, a figure sat cross-legged in the shallow puddle that had formed. Steam curled from his shoulders.
The man raised his head as Death approached. His hair was black and tangled, plastered wet to his brow. One of his eyes was dark, bottomless, but the other was pale gold, sickly, luminous, and steady as the moon.
Water dripped constantly from his body, running in rivulets down his arms, into the puddle beneath him, as if he carried an ocean inside him that refused to dry.
Tam.
Death stopped before his aura could reach the man. For a moment, the silence between them stretched, heavy with the oppressive aura that lingered wherever Death stood.
But Tam did not flinch nor choke. Death could see it in the man's eyes. He had seen something far greater than even Death.
"Are you ready?" Death asked, his voice low, each syllable vibrating with the same inevitability as falling snow.
Tam exhaled, a cloud of mist curling from his lips.
"I was born ready." He said. His pale gold eye gleamed with a strange fever. "All I need is to get to Ren Ross."
Death tilted his head, studying the man. After a moment, he decided to ask the question on his mind.
"Why him? Why are you after Ren?"
For the first time, Tam's lips twisted into something not quite a smile, and at the same time, not quite a snarl. "Because he saved me."
The words caught Death off guard. His brow furrowed, the faintest sign of surprise breaking through his perpetual calm. "Saved you?"
Tam's jaw clenched. His voice lowered, the words thick with something… dark and festering.
"He saved me… but he was also responsible for her death. My sister." His golden eye burned, trembling faintly. "He might as well have struck the blow himself."
The light in Tam's eyes flickered as memories of his sister rushed in.
Zuzu.
How she laughed. How she pouted. It had been up to him to protect her. And he'd failed.
They'd grown up as Tidecallers, commanding water with the help of their Water Tree. And the stories. Of their comrades raiding on the Mare Dulce sea.
He'd always known of his sister's thirst for adventure. Every Tidecaller kid had one, no matter how small, but his sister's had been… more.
He'd done nothing to encourage it, but hadn't done anything to discourage it either. He'd been counting on the war she would have to go through for her coming of age to become a Tidecaller adult to give her a balanced view of the world.
But then, the Hungering Deep had appeared.
They'd seen it together. The giant maw that swallowed the sea itself. He'd known Zuzu was interested, but he'd also known she'd be safe on the archipelago.
Then, Ren had appeared to recruit a Tidecaller for his… adventures. Then, he'd taken his sister. His sweet, innocent Zuzu.
That in itself was enough reason for Ren Ross to die.
Death stood in silence, watching Tam's expression flicker minutely.
It was not confusion he felt. He did not need to know the details of why Tam was after Ren. All that mattered was the truth in the man's tone. Hatred. Grief that had emerged as an obsession.
"Then you will have your chance." Death said simply.
The silence returned, but it was broken by the faint grinding beneath their feet. A sound like earth being devoured.
Death glanced at the ground. "And the Iron Legion? The Blurred Man told me it was yours to command."
Tam lifted his head, the dripping water on his body intensifying until it hissed against the snow, the puddle beneath him swirling.
"They are nearly ready. The iron veins beneath this valley are rich and deeper than I'd imagined. The Legion has almost consumed it all. By morning, their bodies will be whole, and their ranks filled. They'll march when I command."
Death nodded once. He could already feel it. The vibration in the mountain, the gnawing hum of a thousand metal jaws feeding on iron and stone.
The Iron Legion, machines of war given hunger and will. Tam's army. The second gift of the Blurred Man.
He turned his gaze once more toward the gorge, to where the Skybreaker slept. Then he spoke.
"By morning," Death said, his voice a shadow that spread across the valley, "we march. Carthage will break. And it will burn."
Tam's golden eye gleamed in answer, the water dripping from his chin like tears.
The snow fell heavier. The mountain held its breath.
Morning was coming.