Chapter 30 (and he cannot lie)

                                    

                                          
Kael drags me into the tunnel, and Berrtie hacks away the ceiling so it collapses over the tunnel mouth, locking us in darkness. The sun is rising. Or, a sun, made of Chondra's light. Zadia argues we should go out there and help; with the sunlight in half the sky, we'll be matched with the night warriors.
	Nomsa laughs at the idea of Chondra bringing the sun up during the night time. Chondra's not actually the Dawn so it won't last, it'll leave us exposed, ripe pickings for the night warriors.
	But we could win before Chondra's power gives out, Zadia says. 
	But we've never faced the night warriors on equal footing, none of us know how to fight against an opponent at full strength. We can't win fast.
	The ceiling caves in again and an armored night warrior crashes through the dirt, solidly landing boots-first. Nomsa screams; Kael drags me, running deeper into the tunnel with Berrtie stumbling and trying to pick up my feet scraping over all the rocks.
	Zadia shoots the night warrior's eye slits with a zap of light, but she can't have much energy after summoning the spirits--the night warrior's helm crackles with shadow, and the vapor vanishes. They strike Zadia in the stomach with a blade, and call nightfire down on her head. She blocks that with a puff of mist, but her shirt blooms red. Berrtie gives up scrambling for my feet.
	Nomsa grabs Zadia's arm and yanks her off the impaling blade, breathing mist to clog up the gut wound. The night warrior swings for her too; it's Hundred-fold, a flash of light outlines her button nose inside the helm.
	Berrtie's blade blocks the saber, sparking silver. "Go wake up Troy!" she yells.
	Yes. Why am I not awake? I drift to the surface. Why am I dreaming all of this happening?
	Perseverance's spirit taps my shoulder. So I twist, grinning up at him. "Are you proud of me?"
	At my feet, in the dead grass, I hack up Humility's soul into perfect triangles, and I throw them at Chondra's rising sun. It implodes. I throw the rest of the pieces at Chondra, then her guards, and they die, skewered. Chondra falls from castle-height and makes a nice dusty poof on the prairie. The sky sinks to black, poked with stars and a sliver moon.
	"Yes, I'm so proud of you, boy," Perseverance weeps. "You are stronger than I."
	I grab his jaw and kiss Perseverance on the lips. I suck his soul out. He goes limp in my arms and I hold him in the nothingness, skin on fire. "Are you happy I killed the man you kissed?"
	"So happy," he weeps.
	I kiss his soft soul and suck his spirit out. His lips linger. "But you were happy you kissed him."
	He weeps, curls away. "No. No, I wasn't--"
	I kiss his spirit and suck his heart out. "I'm kissing you."
	"Yes, but--"
	I kiss his heart and suck his desire out. "Do you like it?"
	The dripping cloud of his craving cannot lie.
	I breathe out the ashes of his shadows, his falsehoods, his goodness, his guilty want, his sadness but also twisted relief at Humility's cut-up pieces. "I kissed someone who isn't a girl, and I loved them," I whisper.
	Perseverance's soul trembles before me, in the nothingness. I crouch, my boot brushing his fingers splayed on an imaginary floor. "Are you proud of me?"
	"How could...I?" He reaches up, grabbing my shirt to pull himself up, head digging into my solid chest, legs limp behind him.
	I lift him by the chin. I kiss his soft soul and suck his spirit out. "Do you love me?"