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Of course he would go back. Every step they took without being accosted by guards only solidified Krux's decision. He would get Aspheera to safety, and then he would go back and help his sister kill the emperor.

While there were no guards in the palace proper–at least, not where they were–the same could not be said of the gates. Krux ducked behind a hedge with Aspheera and eyed the two guards blocking their path to freedom.

Aspheera flicked her tongue, tasting the air. "There are people ahead," she informed him.

"I am aware," Krux hissed. "Do you have any ideas how to get past them?"

"Well, if my eyes hadn't been injured–"

"Never mind." Krux rubbed his vengestone cuff. "I'll figure it out."

Aspheera snorted. "Of course you will."

Krux took a deep breath. All he had to do was get the guards away from the gate. It was nearly morning, so perhaps when there was a shift change–

"I don't understand what you're telling me."

He snapped his head up.

At the gates, he saw an unfamiliar man and woman. The woman was tall, with her hair tied back in a bun, and the man was a good few inches shorter with a mustache. He tried to catch as much of the conversation as he could.

"What are you saying?" said the woman. "I can't come in because someone has been impersonating me?"

"Not you," the guard said awkwardly. "Just, uh… she claimed to be a relative."

"And you believed her?"

"She carried a letter from your father that we thought was legitimate."

The other guard cleared his throat. "More to the point," he said, "there's an active situation going on, with multiple prisoners escaping. We can't risk you getting hurt, especially not with your illness–"

"Out of my way," the woman said.

"Excuse me?"

The man grabbed her arm. "Lilly," he said, "you can't."

"This is my father's fault!" she snapped back. "He got some–some idiotic idea in his mind, and now he's making it my problem!"

"Lilly, we can get a room at the inn. Sable said it was fine."

Krux noted the guards reaching for their weapons. Made sense; they had already dealt with one impersonator of the Earth bloodline.

Lilly didn't seem to notice or care. "That's not what's important, Lou!"

"Please, Lilly, think of Cole!"

She stopped at that. The guards watched her as she breathed in and out. Finally, she said, "Fine," wrenched her arm out of the man's grasp, and marched away. Lou raised a hand in an apologetic gesture, then followed her.

One of the guards went with them. Krux weighed their odds against just one man instead of two, and nodded to Aspheera.

Aspheera, predictably, didn't see him. "There's less of them now," she hissed. "Do you plan to do anything?"

"Aura said we would have to fight our way out," Krux whispered back. "This is where we fight."

"Oh, excellent. Have you forgotten I can't see and you have no powers?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

Aspheera shook her head. "Fine. What do we do?"

Krux ducked out of the bushes and pressed his back to the palace wall. The guard didn't notice him immediately, so he crept closer. His heart pounded, and the vengestone cuff felt heavy on his wrist. Just one man, he told himself. He could fight his way past one man.

He was spotted before getting much closer. "Hey!" the guard shouted. "Master of–"

Krux threw a punch. His bare fist collided with the guard's solidly metal helmet.

Pain shot through his fingers. Krux staggered back, clutching his hand to his chest. The guard recovered much faster than he did, as Krux soon found out when the vengestone bludgeon hit his side.

The next thing he knew, he was on the ground.

"You're damn lucky we want you alive," the guard said. "The same can't be said for your friend in the hedge."

Krux swore and tried to stand up. The guard kicked him and he collapsed again. "Stay down," the guard said, "or else–"

"Or else what?"

The voice wasn't Aspheera's. Krux waited for his head to stop spinning before he looked up.

Tezrus, now recognizable as a constrictai in the dim light, squeezed his tail around the guard until his armor crumpled inward and blood ran from the human's nose. When he released him, the body crumpled to the ground. Tezrus moved around him and held a hand down to Krux.

Well, he thought, accepting Tezrus' help to stand, if he hadn't been marked a traitor yet, he would be before the morning.

Aspheera left the bushes to join them. "Great," she said, eyeing the body. "Now we've killed someone."

"We're at war, aren't we?" Tezrus flicked his tongue in and out. "More are coming. Where do we go?"

"Out," Krux gasped. His side screamed at him with every motion, but he forced himself to straighten up. "You go. I have to help my sister."

Tezrus tilted his head. "You are injured," he said. "You saved my life. Am I expected to let you end yours?"

"I won't die," Krux said, and his words came out with more confidence than he felt. "If you must repay me, get Aspheera out of here."

"Then allow me to improve your chance of survival. Show me that cuff."

Krux held out his wrist. Tezrus took his hand and put the cuff in his mouth. With a crunch, the constrictai's teeth broke the vengestone without harming the skin beneath.

"There," Tezrus said, releasing him. "Now go. More humans are coming."

Krux nodded. He could already feel his powers returning. "Thank you," he said.

The pain in his ribs was rapidly becoming tolerable; the guard hadn't been trying to kill. Krux glanced back one more time to see Aspheera and Tezrus leave the palace, and then he ran as fast as his body would let him.

---

The palace was quiet. Krux flinched at every pained grunt that escaped him, but there were no guards–or anyone else, for that matter. He navigated through the palace towards the emperor's quarters, his heart pounding faster the closer he got.

He was right next to the doors when someone grabbed him from behind and clapped a hand over his mouth. Krux momentarily panicked before he heard Aura's whisper. "What are you doing here?"

Krux shook his head. When Aura removed her hand, he whispered back, "I'm here to help."

Aura released him. "I haven't completed my mission," she said when he turned to face her. "There are no guards. He may not be here."

Krux grimaced and put a hand to his aching side. Aura's eyes followed the motion. "Are you hurt?"

"Not badly," he said. "They… they said they didn't intend to kill me."

Aura nodded. "I doubt I'll get the same treatment," she said dryly. "We need to confirm the emperor is gone, and then we need to leave ourselves."

"Right," Krux said. "Aura–"

He didn't hear the crossbow fire, but he saw the bolt pierce Aura's neck.

Krux's hands were glowing gold before her body hit the floor. Time rewound, bringing him back to the moment before Aura approached him.

He held up his hand to signal to Aura and peered in the darkness further down the hall, but there was no one visible. His sister stopped right behind him. Krux took a deep breath and shoved back the memory of her wide-eyed in horror and clutching the wound in her throat.

"There's someone there," he whispered.

Aura's breath caught. For one, terrifying moment, he thought she had been shot again–but she whispered back the next instant. "Where?"

"Don't know. Down the hall, but I can't–"

Aura disappeared. Krux immediately took a step back–undoubtedly he would be seen in the green flash when Aura used her powers. Was he imagining the figure in the shadows? A spark of gold flickered across his hand as he prepared to go back in time once more.

"Look out!"

Aura slammed into him and crashed to the floor with him underneath her. His ribcage screamed in pain. Krux gasped, the breath knocked out of him.

"That's enough, you two."

Even after all this time, the voice sent a chill down Krux's spine. Aura rolled off him. Krux's heart dropped when he saw the bolt protruding from her shoulder. She met his eyes briefly before facing the emperor.

The emperor stepped closer, illuminated by the full moon. He pointed the crossbow down at them with a fresh bolt. "I didn't expect you would ever come back, Master of Time," he said. "I take it this is Acronix?"

Krux's mouth was dry. "You knew," he said. "You knew this whole time."

"That you were a twin?" In the dim light, Krux could have sworn he saw the emperor smile. "Of course. I saw it for myself."

"Bastard," Aura snarled. "If you knew–"

"I did not know you were alive," the emperor said. "If you interrupt again, I can correct that."

The memory of Aura dying flashed in his mind. Krux threw a time-stop at the emperor without thinking. In his rage, he missed.

The emperor looked more annoyed than anything else. "You're supposed to be wearing vengestone. Are my guards so incompetent as to not limit your powers?"

"You will not harm her." Krux struggled to his feet and moved in front of Aura. "I won't let you take her from me again."

"I took nothing from you," the emperor said. "I wanted you both dead. It's inconvenient to have the element of time split, and if you had been killed, your powers would have returned to your mother." He clicked his tongue. "That wasn't an option, so I made do."

Behind Krux, Aura managed to stand, swaying slightly and clutching her shoulder. "Krux," she whispered. "We have to end this."

The emperor took a step towards them. "Where did you go wrong, Krux?" he said. "You were a respected member of the elemental masters. You were a worthy successor to your mother. In this palace, you had everything. What made you throw it away?"

"I had nothing," Krux snapped.

"The kingdom could have given you anything you wanted."

He raised his voice. "I wanted a family!"

The emperor wasn't moved. "You left your father to die alone. You don't care about family."

"Krux!" Aura pleaded.

Krux clenched his jaw and inhaled through his nose. He had to focus. The war would never end with the monstrous human emperor in power. They had to finish the mission. He exhaled.

"Aura," he whispered, "take my hand."

"What are–" Aura glanced at the emperor. "Never mind. I… I trust you."

She reached out and clutched Krux's hand like a lifeline. The emperor's expression hardened.

Before he could speak, Krux called his powers and reversed time once more.

Never had he taken someone with him while going back in time–he wasn't sure if it could be done. But Aura was his twin, another Master of time, and if he could share his powers with anyone, it would be her. The conversation unwound. The bolt returned to the crossbow. Krux and Aura stood in the dark hall and time resumed.

Krux immediately turned to Aura. "Do you remember?" he asked.

Aura blinked and put a hand to her throat. "I remember," she said slowly, as if in a daze. "I remember… you took me back in time?"

Krux nodded. "We need to finish our mission," he said.

Aura nodded and grabbed Krux's arm. Before he could react, her power surrounded them, and in an instant, they were standing next to the emperor just as he fired the bolt. He turned to face them, his expression contorted in rage. Aura hit him over the head and yanked the crossbow out of his hands.

The emperor stumbled back, glaring at them. He didn't look nearly as imposing as he did when Krux was a child. "Of course," he said. "Of course it would be you."

"Shut up," Aura said. She drew a knife from her robes.

Krux found his voice. "Wait!"

"For what?"

The emperor turned away. Krux hooked his arm around his chest and pulled him back.

"Tell me," he hissed. "How did my mother die?"

"Is that all you want to know?" Krux felt the emperor's quiet laugh. "It was not me who killed her, I can say that truthfully."

"But she was killed," Krux said. "What happened to her?"

"Your mother," the emperor said, and didn't continue, breathing hard.

Aura moved closer with the knife.

"She was a traitor," the emperor said. "A traitor, a coward, and a lying bitch. I would have slit her throat myself had she not done it for me."

Rage clouded his mind. The body spasmed in Krux's grip; he didn't realize Aura had struck until he felt hot blood spilling down his arm. He let go and the emperor fell to the floor.

Wordlessly, Aura held out her hand. Krux took it, and the two vanished in a flash of green light.