My bones gave up and disintegrated. I felt free. Nothing held me back anymore—not Time, not Death. Why? Only the Almighty might know… though, let's be honest, this world had its own version of god—and he was actively trying to kill me.
Let the clocks tick again. Let the hours resume their little race. I didn't care.
The claws flew straight into me—and passed right through. My new smoky-gray body rippled like mist and reformed.
Noah's eyes widened with utter disbelief, awe… and satisfaction?
That last part was weird, but I didn't stop to dwell. I just leapt—my body stretching into a long silvery thread—and shot forward like a torpedo…
…right into his slightly open mouth.
Like a cyclone, I spun through his veins, arteries, and capillaries. Control came faster than I'd expected—even my new mind had to catch up.
Roger the Strigoi jerked a few times, trying to reassert dominance—but it was too late. All his strings had been cut.
As I raced through his neurons and synapses, I picked up a lot of valuable intel.
Most importantly, I found the keys to his custom-built layer of Interreality. I could now destroy it with a flick of my mind—or better yet, start crafting my own.
Turns out, the former owner of this clever little brain had just taught me how to play god.
There were still so many things I wanted to learn… but I also knew that the longer I stayed in the Trip of the Shadows, the more likely I'd end up trapped as a formless wisp—stripped of memory, thoughts, and everything that once made me Alenari. I didn't know who'd nudged me toward this choice. No one had ever used a mind move like this before. But I just knew. On some weird, ancient instinctual level.
And then, just as I felt the edge of annihilation closing in, I heard a voice in my ears—noble, calm, full of quiet strength. And I thought:
Dad? Is that you?
Of course, no answer came. The voice simply spoke one word:
-Awaken.
In a small, dirty alley pressed up against the towering Wall, nothing had changed for years. The homes in this godforsaken corner of the City had been abandoned long ago. The poor souls who once lived here were relocated to cleaner, more respectable neighborhoods—and almost no one came back.