The monk closest to me doesn’t move. He doesn’t acknowledge me. Doesn’t even flinch.
But when my fingers graze his shoulder?—
Somethin’ gives.
Not a snap, not a tear. Just a shudder.
Like a plucked string.
And then?—
He comes apart.
Not like a man. Not like flesh tearing or bone breakin’.
Heunspools.
Threads slip from him in every direction, fine as silk, bright as stars. All at once, they hit me like a jolt. A jump from the Tau City Tower. Clara, dyin’ in my arms. Anneeta, dyin’ on the bench next to her.
Me, stealin’ spark from that family.
He’s gone.
The monk is gone.
Like breath in cold air.
Like whispers in an empty room.
Like a story, untold.
I stole it.
My hand hasn’t moved. My fingers still curl over what was the monk’s shoulder. But there is nothin’ left beneath them. No weight. No warmth. Nohim.
The monk was.
Now he isn’t.
The resonance in the cave shifts, like the song of it has changed, like the fabric of reality itself is registerin’ his absence.
I feel it.
I feel everything.
The pulse of the crystal. The chant in the air. The ripple of somethin’ vast, somethin’ waiting.
I flex my fingers. The tingle is still there.
I could do that again.
I could do that forever.
Rise a god!Rise a god!Rise a god!
I’m in the arena, standin’on a high, high platform. Way higher than I was. I have no idea how I got up here. No memory of nothin’.
But… it’s like I don’t care. Couldn’t care even if I wanted to, cause I don’t.
