Page 85 of Godslayer
I’m gonna figure it out.
But not right now.
NowI am watching about a dozen augments pull Clara to her feet. For a moment, I think the absolute worst. They crowd her, reachin’ for her. And maybe it would play out like my worst nightmares, but then all the men part. The crowd literally splits in half, and another man appears. Obviously augmented because his eyes are lit blue to indicate he’s workin’.
My heart is pounding in my chest as words are said. Words I can’t hear.
But then he turns, almost as if he can see me. His eyes are lookin’ for me. His face is—wrong. It looks like it’s melting, that’s how ugly it is. Like he was burned in a fire.
I don’tthinkhe can see me, but he knows I’m here. Feels or something. Because he is very careful with his words.Enunciating each sound of each letter, making sure I can read his lips. Because he knows. Somehow, he knows I live in the veil. HeknowsI’m watchin’.
“TyseSaaaaaaarinen,” he sings his words. “Come andgeeeeeether. Or she is mineforeeeeeever.”
Then somethin’ happens. The whole world flashes and glows bright blue. I stumble backwards, arm up to my eyes, because that flash is so bright, for a moment I’m blind.
When the light is gone, so is the world.
And I am back in the sparkstone cave.
Alone.
For a moment I think, That’s it. It’s over. I’ve lost her.
But before I’m even done thinkin’ that, I’m yellin’, “No!” And I’m back, watching. But this time, that man, the augment, he’s waitin’ for me. Smiling. Offering me a hand. Except, it’s nothishand.
It’s Clara’s.
“Come on,” he says, again enunciating so I can read his lips. “Come back, Tyse. Because this is the last offer you’re gonna get and if you refuse, she’s mine by default and you will never see her again.”
Without thinking, I reach through the veil and take Clara’s hand.
The next thing I know, a fist comes at my face.
It connects and everything goes black.
Here’sthe weird thing that happens next…
I’m outside my body. Floatin’ above a large… stadium, I guess? That’s what it looks like. Not something modern and sleek, like the sportsball stadium in Tau City, or even some of the smaller venues. But something… old. Ancient, maybe. Not like pre-Sweep ancient, just something crumblin’ and dilapidated. Somethin’ left over.
But it’s not abandoned. It’s full of fuckin’ men. And from this perch above it all, lookin’ down, I see that every single one of them is an augment. Their glowin’ blue eyes watching me—real me—as my unconscious body is carried through the crowd on a rail. I sag over the rail, my stomach pressing into the rough, splintered wood, arms wrenched behind me, legs dangling on either side like dead weight.
Rope bites into my wrists and ankles beneath the beam, keeping me lashed in place as the augments hauling me shift under my weight, their shoulders braced against the wood.
My head lolls forward, blood dripping from my mouth in slow, red strands.
The augments watch me like hungry wolves as I’m carried toward a stage.
When they get me there, they cut the ropes and I tumble off the side of the rail like a sack of meat.
I can’t feel anything when I hit the floor because I’m not in there. My body is vacant right now because I’m up here, above it all. Watchin’.
But when I wake up—do I wake up? If I wake up?—either way, that shit’s gonna hurt.
And I’m gonna bepissed.
A man walks out on the stage and all the augments go wild. Yelling, screaming, cheering.
At first, I can’t make it out. Then… words form.
