Too Stubborn to Die

Book 4: Chapter 5

Aaron would have loved to say that their conversation with Kayden ended quickly. And that the leader of the rebellion saw the wisdom in his request, and followed him without further convincing.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t.

In truth, the ordeal was a grueling back-and-forth that lasted far longer than he would have liked. But eventually, the man gave in. Unfortunately, Kayden insisted on being bound like a contortionist, with ropes tied all over his body, and his arms pulled back.

In all honesty, it was hard to imagine the man as a leader. He seemed to have so little confidence and self-worth. It made emo-phase Talia look positively cheery in comparison.

But worst of all, the extent of his bindings certainly didn’t look necessary. In fact, holding the rope that wrapped around his neck made Aaron feel altogether uncomfortable. But they had a job to do, and he was just happy that the man wasn’t arguing about it anymore, and so he let it go.

Leading the bound man, they traveled back across the dungeon floor, taking a few hours to pass over the extensive territory, even at high speed.

Soon, they passed into Jayden’s territory and found a significantly more built-up region. However, it appeared equally as weak as Kayden’s was. With mostly E-grades and a few weak D-grades.

Some time after that, they finally reached the primitive capital. Walls wrapped around it, and a blanket of hovels covered the land. Kayden pointed the way, and they soon found Jayden standing amongst a crowd of his followers, welcoming them before this palace.

Despite being slightly tiring to deal with, Aaron’s face lit up. If this went well, they could descend past the first floor in record time. And with any luck, that would mean they’d get a chance to snatch a few rewards before having to leave.

But as they descended down to the gathering, Aaron didn’t miss the strange look on Jayden’s face.

There’s definitely more going on than these guys are telling us.

Since both brothers could apparently see fate, he had little doubt that they both would have been reading it in the lead-up to this event. Although he couldn’t know whether that meant Jayden knew about his discussion with Kayden.

Ultimately, fate wasn’t that easy to read; Aaron was well aware of that. There were so many divergent threads of fate that the thread that became reality could easily be missed. And even though their traits were obviously different from his own, he doubted that aspect could change. That said, there was also a good chance that both men had seen this, and neither had decided to tell Aaron what would happen.

He had come to the conclusion that they were being played. But since the people of this floor were as weak as they were, he decided to see it through. After all, if the rewards they promised were true, then it might still be worthwhile helping them.

Aaron touched down in the circle created by Jayden’s followers and stepped forward, holding the rope that was tied around Kayden’s neck. The rows of primitive soldiers raised their spears with every step Aaron took.

“I did as you asked.”

“Ah, yes. You did. You brought me my brother, as requested.” Jayden rubbed his hands together. “Who would have thought things would become so difficult. Certain paths are so very hard to read.”

“Are they? So, there is more to this? ‘Bout time you did some explaining, mate. You need to tell us what’s going on. For starters, your brother here tells me he just wants to escape the dungeon.”

“Ah, yes, it must all be very confusing. Especially with Kayden in your ear. He is… well, some might say the worst parts of a person. Life is certainly easier without self-doubt. But I certainly didn’t expect him to go renegade on me.”

“Err, what are you talking about?”

Aaron had no idea what this man was trying to say. Sure, Kayden was a little annoying, but they were brothers, weren’t they?

“What this renegade won’t have told you is that there are powers beyond either of us that want to keep us in place. Powers best left unchallenged. Fate is a strange thing. But if you follow every thread and make a plan for every possible outcome, you can do a pretty good job of predicting it.”

“So, you did know we’d come here?”

Talia didn’t even say anything, summoning her avatar and preparing to fight.

“It was one of many possibilities I predicted, yes. You could have killed him and rid me of that memory. We could have gone back to being normal, and my connection to fate would have been severed. I would have lived out the rest of my days as a confused old man. But at least our world would survive.”

“Oookay. And so what now?”

“Well, this is certainly the more interesting future of the two,” Jayden smiled widely.

“Wait… wHaaT?! RaaRRGAh!”

Kayden fell to his knees, roaring in agony as he ripped at his hair. “PAIN! Paaaaiiinnn! Agonizing PPAAAAiiiinnn!”

“It will all be over soon,” Jayden said, stepping toward them.

“Wait, what are you doing to him!” Aaron raised a hand. “You’re not killing your own brother, are you?”

“Hahah. You don’t understand a thing, Aaron Dober.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Jayden raised his hand, and suddenly, Kayden began to pixelate and disintegrate into little motes of matter that flew through the air toward Jayden, and within seconds, he was gone.

“What the…”

“Calm yourself, Aaron. That was not my brother. It was simply my other half. A half that I intentionally split to hide myself from them. My true name is actually… J’kayden,” he paused for dramatic effect. “I didn’t, however, expect that my other half would go rogue. But that, I suppose, is a risk of playing with forbidden traits.”

“Huh? I’m fucking confused now.”

“So, you’re whole now?” Talia said, looking just as confused as she wrapped her mind around what had happened.

“Indeed. But we haven’t much time to discuss such matters. They will be coming for us now. Now that I am whole, they will sense my presence, and the threat it poses against their prison.”

Aaron rubbed at his temples.

Above them, the clouds began to darken and fill with crackling energy, brightening them with flashes of purple.

“What the hell is this?”

“The ones that keep us in line. As I said, it would have been easier if you had just killed my rebellious side and let me forget. But now we have a problem to solve.

“Aaron, you can feel that? That power…” Talia murmured, her gaze fixed on the rumbling sky above.

“You feel it, don’t you? It’s the keepers. They’re coming for us. They know what I have planned. But they can’t possibly understand how your presence will change fate, Aaron Dober.”

At that moment, J’kayden’s eyes turned completely white, and for the first time, Aaron saw what true madness looked like from the perspective of others.

“What have you dragged us into?”

“You are my messiah, Aaron. You will bring us freedom. Breaking the yoke of the oppressor.”

Bright flashes of purple filled the sky, and then it began to part, and three robed figures descended down a ray of blinding light.

“Everyone, clear out! Make yourselves scarce. Everyone except Aaron Dober!”

“We need answers, quick!” Aaron demanded.

Things had spiraled out of control far faster than he had expected. And he wanted someone to tell him what the hell was going on before it was too late.

“It is all related to our trait. We’re more than just a fate seer. Both blessed and cursed, depending on one’s perspective. And we are linked to you, Aaron Dober. Thanks to your Fate Weaver trait and your peculiar powers, we can make great use of you. But only you can survive what will come next. Tell your companions to clear out, or risk the death of their souls.”

For the first time, Aaron actually believed what J’kayden was saying, and he turned and nodded at Talia. “Do it.”

“Are you sure? This guy has been bullshitting us this entire time.”

“Yeah, I know. But I’m kinda hard to kill.”

Talia rolled her eyes, but the concern never left her face. “Fine. Just try not to die too much.”

Aaron nodded as he looked to the sky. The three robed figures were getting closer now, and he could see their purple forms for what they were. Little, human-sized elephants with massive eyes.

Wait, I know what these are… aren’t they assistants?

“Deviation detected,” the middle one said. “Oh, we’re aware of you. So this is how you avoided detection for so long? You split yourself in two? Impressive.”

“These are our jailors, Aaron,” J’kayden said. “Those who would keep us here against our will.”

“Wait a fucking moment. I have no idea what’s going on right now. I thought you guys just ran the trials?”

“We do many things, human. But none of that is important now. This is my jurisdiction, and I plan to keep it running as intended. But you have not yet committed any crimes that require my action. And so I warn you once. Stand aside, and you will not be harmed.”

Aaron glanced at J’kayden, remembering everything he had told him, and then back at the assistants again. This wasn’t a battle he wanted to throw himself into, but something felt very off.

“You know, I saw some weird shit back in the trials. Things I’ve had wanting answers to ever since.”

“That is none of my concern,” the assistant said.

“Hey, J’kayden, how much of Kayden’s rant was true? Are you really just innocent prisoners in here? And secondly, do you actually have a plan on how to deal with this?”

“Everything he said was true. I didn’t just split that part of myself to hide from the assistants, but to make my life easier. It allowed me to live without my rebellious side. To live without vengeance. And yes, I do have a plan.”

“Oh, fuck me,” Aaron cracked his knuckles. “Looks like I don’t have a choice.”

“What do you mean?” The lead assistant said.

“What do you think? I’ve got a bunch of seemingly innocent people telling me that they are being kept prisoner in here for what sounds like sport, to be killed by dungeon crawlers. And apparently, I’m their salvation. I can’t exactly do nothing, can I?”

“That is exactly what you must do if you wish to avoid our wrath.

“Alright then, show me what you got.”

As confident as Aaron might have sounded, he didn’t really feel it. Not only could he not inspect these guys, but the power they radiated was nothing short of incredible.

But this was Aaron Dober. He was a stubborn bastard, and one that was infuriatingly hard to kill.

With an irritated grunt, he shot forward the trio of assistants, but suddenly noticed something wrong. His fate reading wasn’t working. It was just a mess of incomprehensible, blurry shapes and fuzzy images with loud static.

Great, so three assistants without my fate reading?

But it was far too late to change his mind. The assistants clearly knew which side he had picked, and a ripple of energy rushed from them, cracking the ground and making several of the weaker locals faint as they fled from the battle.

Yeah, okay. This might be a problem.

But what else was he to do? He was stuck in the dungeon now, and he had a feeling there was no escaping these three.

J’kayden better have a damn good plan!

Aaron’s brow bent in defiance, and he rushed forward with a clap of supersonic wind at his back. Even without fate reading, he was a combat expert, and he was going to put every ounce of everything he learned into this fight.

*Whack!*

He blinked, dumbfounded.

“Too slow,” the assistant said.

Aaron looked down at the elephant fist punched straight through his chest. It had blown almost the entirety of his torso out.

“Not bad,” he grunted.

As stubbornly as ever, he called on aether and attempted to heal his wound. But in a flash of action too fast for his eyes to follow, his head disintegrated.

But the strangest thing happened when his aether burst out, and brought him back to life.

He wasn’t standing around three furious assistants. He was staring at J’kayden just as the sky started to darken above, and the enigmatic fate seer gave him a knowing look.

“Do you understand now, Aaron Dober?”

Aaron blinked.

“Wait, did you just rewind time?”

J’kayden smiled. Then, Aaron smiled back.

This might actually be pretty fun.