The Gemini Age: Book One

[14-1] The Break - Part One

    Magic pulsed through his body. It always had done, Karim knew, but he had never felt it like this.

    Light poured into his eyes. Karim knew he had been taken back into the hot, slick air of his pitch-black prison chamber, but he could not remember when he had arrived there. Every second raked over his senses with the swift swipe of a master reaper at harvest time. The taste of salt lapped at his tongue, the metallic air of blood perfumed every breath, and slight yet strong traces of nervous electricity leapt along his spine if he leaned back too far. Ambient sounds pricked the hairs on his neck, and louder sounds pierced with a pain that swelled to occupy his mind. The persistent rumble of the ventilation system brought a gavel to his eardrums, leaving him petrified beside the bones of his cell.

    He was not bound physically. He did not need to be. There was no lack of power pounding through his body, yet the weight of such magical wealth was more oppressive than any man-made chains could be. Magic throbbed through his body like rows of invisible needles pricking through his skin to keep his muscles tight. Karim tried to remain as still as possible in fear of the restless energy that rebounded around his limbs in search of a reason, any reason, to surge forth and explode.

    A door screeched on its hinges, and the firm press of Karim's nails into the side of his faded hair did little to relieve his agony. Each thud in the series of footsteps rattled inside his skull until he swore they trampled over his face, just beyond the reddish glare filling his vision. 

    "Don't walk away from me, thug! Where is she?"

    "I already told ye, it's out of my 'ands! Get lost, will ye? I've got things to do."

    "Oh, shut up! All you do is hide in that squalid little hole you call a security room. Some leader you are!"

    Some leader you are.

    The scar in Karim's chest burned, the memory so sudden that his ribcage threatened to splinter apart as he twisted in pain.

    Some Gemini you are.

    Though the footsteps had ceased their clattering, the sensitivity of Karim's throbbing ears placed the sound right outside his cell, inches from the back of his neck. Why was she here? Had she been here before and he had just never noticed? Had she come back to finish him off?

    "Yer dad's the leader, girl, whether ye like it or not. I'm just followin' 'is orders like the rest of us!"

    The room filled with warm light as a rush of heat tore through the air and struck a section of wall near Karim's cell. It smouldered over the surface, the slow crackle needling his mind deeper and deeper with every agonising second. "Drop the act! You wouldn't know loyalty if it was swilling in the dregs of your pint glass. You only know your own urges, and I won't let you cheat my father anymore! I'm ending this now!"

    Karim's magic took over. A thick-blooded scream clawed out of his throat to match how his nails tore at the thin flesh of his neck, the pain of both too intense to feel and yet always burning throughout his body. Without warning, a ring of fire burst from his hands and expanded throughout his cell. Earthen beams tunnelled through the walls to break into the cell, mineral specks sparkling with firelight amongst the crumbs of black dirt that followed. Karim's efforts to stop spurred the magic on to be more dominant, more destructive.

    Whether the door to his cell opened or he blew it off, Karim did not know, but as the light that had blinded him for so long began to fade he saw the shapes of people enter his cell. A whip of wind tugged at his ankles and sent him to the earth-crusted floor as arms locked around his neck, the heat of their strain searing through his flesh and crushing his few remaining thoughts.