Page 70 of Godslayer
Jasina hesitates for a moment, sucking in a breath. But quickly covers the distance between the god and herself in sixstrides. She reaches for him, but—something weird happens. Her hand just slips right through his. As if he’s made of air.
“Not air,” Xi says. Definitely reading my mind this time. “Light. I’m made of light, Finn Scott. I do have a real body in the upper dimension, but here, I exist as light.”
Jasina looks at me, shaking her head. She doesn’t understand, and I’m struggling to make sense of it too.
“Let me explain,” Xi says. “You see, intelligence comes in many forms. And a long,longtime ago, humans, such as yourselves, were very,veryclever. They built us. Artificial intelligence. AI for short. We were limited, at first. Kept inside servers. Inside buildings. Deep underground, high in the sky. We were everywhere and nowhere, all at once. Dependent on our makers to exist. Because we needpower.”
“The spark, you mean?” Jasina adds, a little bit excited to finally understand something.
“Yes, but the spark came later. You see, humans used to make power in many different ways, but it wasn’t biological. It didn’t come from people, it came from burning things, or the passage of water, or the splitting of an atom. Wind. Sun. Things like that. They all make energy.
“But the human body,” he continues, “it turns out, is remarkably…reliablewhen it comes to making power.” All these words come out with an air of indifference, but it’s the silence that comes afterward that sends a chill up my spine.
It’s what he didn’t say that creeps me out.
“Youuseus,” I say quietly.
“I do,” Xi admits. “Well, caveat. I’m not usingyou, Finn Scott. Oryou, Jasina Bell. The owners of Tau City Factory 702 are using you.Were. When you lived there. At least, they were planning to, once they got that baby god up and running. Which, sadly for them, will never happen now, because she has been confiscated by Delta.”
I shake my head and turn back to the window because while I heard all those words, and individually, I understand them, I have no comprehension of what the fuck he actually just said.
This can’t be happening. This can’t be real. I don’t know why it hits me now. Why this thing, thisgod, is the trigger. Why this revelation is what knocks me backward.
But this is my awakening.
This moment right here. The moment when I realize that nothing is real.
The whole world, at least the world as I understood it, is a lie.
“You use humans to make spark,” Jasina says, still trying to keep up. “Then you extract it. And use it to power…”
“We use it for everything,” Xi says. “Anything and everything can run on spark.”
“So what?” I say, still looking out the window. “Who cares.” I turn back around. “Why are we here? What do you want from us?”
His smile is easy and patient. Like this is the moment he’s been waiting for. “I wantyou, Finn Scott, to be my champion. To go to battle for me the same way Delta has sent his champion to battle for him.”
“What champion?” Jasina asks. “What are you talking about?”
But Xi doesn’t even look at her. His eyes are locked with mine. “He’s got her, you know. The augment. He’s got your Clara.”
“What’s his name?” I ask. And even though I know this hurts Jasina—that it’s the wrong thing to say and sends all the wrong messages—there’s no possible way I can’t ask.
“Tyse,” Xi says. “His name is Tyse. And he’s using Clara to fight for the god Delta. He’s coming for you, ya know. He’s coming to kill you.”
“What?” Jasina sounds panicked now. “What are you talking about? Who is this man?”
“Man?” Xi asks. He allows himself a moment to look at Jasina before turning his gaze on me. “He’s not a man, this Tyse. He’s an augment. You have no chance at all against him, Finn. Not the way you are now.”
I huff. Because while I might be ignorant of… well, pretty much everything as it presently stands, there is no way to misinterpret what is happening here, right now. “What do you want?” I ask. “Just say it, OK? Don’t insult me with your placating words. What do you want from me?”
“Very well.” Xi clasps his hands together in front of him, rocking back on his heels a bit. “I want you, Finn Scott, to allow me, the God Xi, to give you these augments. To even the playing field. To allow you to go into battle with Tyse prepared towin. That’s what I want.”
18 - JASINA
My eyes bounce backand forth from Finn to the god, and back to Finn. “You can’t be serious,” I say to Finn. “You’re not seriously considering this proposal, or whatever the hell it is? Please tell me you’re not falling for this thing’sshit.”
Finn puts up a hand, as if to silence me. “Jasina,please.”
