Heyo stands. The chains around him vibrate for a second and then give way without a sound. He takes a step. Nothing else moves. The flames stop crackling for a fraction of a moment, and even the heat seems to withdraw from him. He does not look at the flames or the bodies. He steps forward. Nora steps back without understanding why. Ka?ro stops crying and lifts his head. Heyo continues walking. A chain forms around his ankle and breaks on the next step. He does not hurry. His face is masked by blood. His eyes remain open. His breathing stays steady. He keeps moving toward évra.

  évra steps back. Once. Twice. Three times. Then she stops. Her smile disappears. She tilts her head slightly. Her shoulders broaden, her arms harden with muscle, her legs anchor into the ground, and her pupils contract. She says nothing. The crackling of the flames fades but does not disappear. The smoke no longer rises and hangs in the air. Nora swallows without knowing why. The air catches in her throat. évra watches Heyo and waits for him to look at her. He does not. His pupils react to nothing. His reflection does not tremble in the flames. His shadow lags slightly behind him. A chain forms around his throat and breaks when he takes another step.

  Nora understands these are not restraints. His gaze passes over her without stopping. A second passes. évra’s fingers close once in the air, empty. Her shoulders tense before she decides to move. Her body has already chosen. Her instinct tells her to kill. No one breathes. She attacks.

  évra launches forward with all her strength. The ground bursts beneath the impact. Heyo steps to the side. A blade is already in his hand. The trajectory changes by the smallest angle. évra strikes anyway. Heyo meets her with his sword. Metal hits metal. A chain forms around the blade and fractures. Heyo absorbs the force of the blow. Another chain forms around his hips and breaks during the motion. He pivots and the angle shifts again. évra raises her arm.

  A chain snaps around Heyo’s wrist. It gives way in the cut. The arm falls before the blood follows. It rolls once and stops. The sword sinks into her neck and stops a breath from the trachea. Blood flows. évra smiles. She steps back and strikes her own face. Once. Twice. Ka?ro stops evaluating the fight and begins evaluating Heyo. He recognizes nothing.

  Heyo walks forward again. A chain forms around évra’s ankle. It cracks and breaks. évra places her foot down and finds nothing. Her heel searches for support and there is none. Her pupils widen slightly. Her core tightens to correct the angle. Too late. Her balance disappears. One point of support is gone. The cut is precise. Her body tilts at the wrong angle and she falls. Her gaze searches for Heyo. He is already gone from where she last saw him.

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  A chain appears around them, stretched tight and intact. A second chain forms and does not break either. Heyo lets himself fall toward her. His breathing remains steady. His body follows the motion. Nora takes another step back without understanding. Her skin prickles. Ka?ro stops trying to understand the power and instead tries to determine how to kill him.

  A third chain appears, thicker. Heyo’s fingers tremble for a fraction of a second from overload. The three chains vibrate, rigid and refusing to break. Nora opens her mouth. “Heyo—” The rest never comes out. évra understands. Silence freezes for a fraction of a second.

  The chains crack and shatter all at once. Heyo does not defend himself. He grabs her. The contact lasts too long. One second where nothing resists. The air contracts. The ground disappears. For a fraction of an instant there is no up or down. The air becomes too heavy to breathe. Then everything returns at once.

  A brutal explosion erupts at the point of contact. The air compresses and then tears open. The ground does not tremble. It collapses. The ruins rise before being pulverized. Nora is ripped from the ground and thrown several meters away. Ka?ro disappears into a wall that breaks under the shockwave. The flames are blown out in a single violent gust. The light flickers. The sound arrives late. Then nothing. Total silence. For a moment the sound does not return. Dust falls slowly. At the center nothing is visible anymore.

  At the center of the crater, évra stands. Or rather what remains of her. Her body is blackened. Parts of her skin have split open. One arm is still missing. A portion of her torso has been torn away. She remains upright through a rigidity that is no longer human. The ground around her has vitrified. The shockwave passed through her. She took the impact. She does not look at Heyo. She assesses the damage. She does not attempt to breathe.

  Farther away, Heyo lies on the ground, thrown out of the center. His body is not torn open and not burned like hers. His chest rises slightly. His eyes are closed. Only one chain remains visible. It does not vibrate. It does not break. It binds nothing.

  Nora pushes herself upright. The ringing persists. She hears nothing and for a moment believes she is dead. She cannot remember the exact instant when the explosion began. She looks first at évra in the center of the crater and then at Heyo. Fragments of chains still circle his legs but they no longer vibrate.

  She walks closer. Her shoulders tense before she even takes the step. Her legs move despite the tension in her calves. She is trembling, not from the cold. Then she sees him. The chains around his legs fade and their outline blurs. Dust settles around them. When she stops two meters away there is nothing left around his legs.

  She reaches out a hand without knowing why. Nothing on the ground. Nothing in the air.

  Nora steps back.

  She understands.

  He is not holding anything anymore.