Restart Again: Volume 2 by Adam Scott (best adventure books to read .TXT) 📗

here.” I picked up the needle and rolled it casually between my fingers. “Your previous associates weren’t much for talking, and they never wanted to answer my questions.”

“All are granted gifts in accordance with their ability,” it replied. “These ones serve a purpose as they are.” The former councilor looked me up and down. “You have shown your ability to us during this time of change. You would be granted many gifts.”

I shrugged. “I’m not really looking for gifts.” With a flick of my wrist, I pushed the needle down into the small notch in the table. My heart fluttered in my chest, and I took a final centering breath before pressing my thumb down onto the button. “They won’t do me much good anymore.” Mana flowed down my arm and was whisked away through the needle, bringing on another dizzy spell. A deep whirring began to rumble out from the hallway at my back.

Gorat watched the movement impassively. “We have this body’s memories. We saw you reject its call to stop us many decades ago. Why do you resist us now? The Dominion would elevate you beyond mere flesh and blood. You would become eternal.”

“Blood,” I chuckled. “Funny thing about that. I spent my life here studying blood. I’ve discovered things your Dominion doesn’t know…” I trailed off momentarily as my stomach lurched and my vision blurred. “There is power in blood. And eternity...that isn’t a gift.”

“Mortal minds cannot understand the divinity of the Dominion. It would be—”

“Your Dominion,” I yelled, panting, “is over. Your Dominion can’t understand that it lost the second I pressed this button.”

Gorat tilted his head to one side. “This is untrue. The Dominion still stands.”

“The Dominion still stands because I’m allowing it. When I tire of this conversation, Hedaat ceases to exist, and with it, your Dominion.” I laughed. “If you kill me before that point, Hedaat disappears. If my hand leaves this button, Hedaat disappears. The Dominion lost, and I beat you.”

“This is untrue. You do not possess the power you say you do.”

“You’re right about that,” I admitted. “But blood does. And you’ve given me more than enough of that these past few days.” A violent shiver ran down my spine. My body had begun to ache all over as my mana reserves started to dry, and I knew the time had come. “I rejected the call to stop you, and people died. People that I cared about. Before I die, I want all of you fuckers to know that I was the one that stopped you. I’m the one who—”

A violent spasm shook the left side of my body. My arm convulsed upwards and smashed into the underside of the table, knocking the sword from my grip. When it left my hand, I felt a deep pang of longing in the back of my mind, but it quickly faded into a thick fog. I watched it clatter against the stone floor and come to rest at my feet. The weapon looked so familiar, but I couldn’t quite place why.

There was a strange tingle in my right arm, and I realized that I was extending the last bits of my mana outside of my body through a small metal pin in the table. Reflexively, I withdrew it back into my core, afraid of what might happen should it run out. When the energy came back the room fell quiet, which confused me; I hadn’t realized there was a rumbling sound until it had gone away.

I took the pin from the table and studied it in my palm. I knew it was important in some way, so I slid it into my pocket for safekeeping until I had time to study it further. As I looked up and became aware of my surroundings, I was startled by the massive figure kneeling at the opposite end of the table; there was a lingering sense of anger in my mind as I stared at it, but I didn’t feel any fear. I was frustrated by my lack of understanding of the situation, but I tried my best to keep my face neutral.

The figure spoke, its voice alien and echoing. “You look unwell.”

“I’m fine!” I snarled in response. “What would you know about it anyway? What do you even want? Why are you...are you even…” My head bobbed forward as I dropped in and out of consciousness momentarily. Alarmed, I pushed away from the table and attempted to stand, but my legs were heavy and unresponsive to my commands. “Leave me,” I muttered pitifully. “I want to be alone.”

The creature stood and slowly rounded the table. A massive arm reached down and picked up the blade below me, which looked hardly long enough to be a shortsword in the giant’s grip. “No, don’t. That’s...you can’t—” Another convulsion took control of my body, knocking me over the arm of my chair to land hard on the stone floor. I hardly felt the pain through the heavy, creeping numbness in my limbs.

From somewhere above me, I heard a chorus of voices call out in unison. “You were an honorable opponent. The Dominion will remember you with great respect.” A metal grating sound began to echo around the room. “You will suffer no longer.”

With the last of my energy, I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling with unseeing eyes. The dense fog in my mind had spread to my senses, and it felt as if I was slowly fading away into nothing. I closed my eyes and sighed, happy to have a chance to rest. It had been so long, and I was so tired.

A gentle, cool weight pressed down on my chest and cleared away a layer of exhaustion. I tipped my head up and squinted my eyes, eventually finding enough focus to reveal that the light blue sword had been laid across my chest. It brought a smile to my face, and I struggled to drag my hand up the length of my