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

void. It was as if I had been burned away from the inside until everything I had been before was gone. Everything, apart from a singular thought that repeated over and over again inside my vacant mind, until it became an overwhelming roar of my own voice.

Make them suffer.

---

Now do you understand?

The dark, disassembling pain of death covered every inch of my body when I regained consciousness, and Amaya’s voice in my head was the only thing that kept me together. If I still existed in the physical world, I couldn’t perceive it; none of my senses registered anything apart from the pain. You made all of that up. That wasn’t my memory; that’s not how it happened. I’ve never...how could I forget that?

You didn’t forget it, you repressed it. There’s a difference.Her voice oozed with condescension as it continued to echo inside my head. Part of you stubbornly refuses to accept your true power. Something about holding on to whatever scraps of humanity you have left, I’m not really sure. Whatever the reason, the end result is the same: you’ve chosen to hide those memories from yourself.

Then why are you making me remember it? Who are you? WHAT are you? My head spun as I struggled to get a handle on the situation.

Does that really matter? I’m trying to help you, after all. You should be thankful.

You stole her voice. You stole her face. It matters.

I heard her sigh. Is that what you’re hung up on? There was a momentary pause, and then another familiar voice responded. Would you prefer Alda’s voice, then? I’m not calling you Master, if that’s what you’re hoping.

ENOUGH! My anger seemed to push back against the pain, and I felt some semblance of my body return to me. If you’re going to kill me, do it. Otherwise, leave me the fuck alone, and never come back.

The voice began to oscillate back and forth between Alda and Amaya’s voices interchangeably. Oh, I’m not going anywhere. You need me now more than ever; that power will tear you apart without my help.

A clear, shining image came to me through the darkness: Lia, sitting beside me with tears in her eyes, explaining the fear she felt when I tortured Jack during our escape from the dungeons. No. I’m never using that power again.

I heard the voices laugh, a sharp, cruel noise that chilled me through to my core. It’s a bit too late for that now, Elden. The floodgates are open, and soon you’ll...you know what? Why don’t you just find out for yourself. I’d hate to spoil the surprise.

My senses returned all at once. I attempted to gasp and bolt upright, but I was stopped by the presence of firm hands pressing over my mouth and chest. I was lying on the floor of the abandoned building at the edge of the plaza, with Lia and Val kneeling over me. When my eyes shot open, they looked at each other with relief before carefully removing their restraining hands. “Primes, Lux, are you alright?” Val said under her breath.

“I’m...not sure,” I answered, propping myself up on my elbows and wincing as the burning under my skin increased in intensity. “How long has it been? What happened to me?”

“It’s only been a few minutes,” Lia explained, leaning in close to inspect my eyes. She grabbed my chin and turned my head side to side, continuing the check-up as she spoke. “The Strategist is leaving the city tonight. He said that ‘his part to play is over for now, but your work has now truly begun.’ Before he left, he told all the men that anybody who wanted to ‘take the next step towards a brighter future’ should stay here, and their ‘improvements’ would come soon.”

I scanned out over the plaza again and found that at least fifty men had stayed behind after the rally had ended, waiting for their promised “improvements.” My jaw clenched as I pictured them all transforming into mindless Thralls, with their grotesque purple eyes all staring directly at me. Somewhere in the back of my head, I heard my own voice whisper to me. They all deserve to suffer.

There was a tangible snap at the base of my neck, and the world around me flickered and changed. My surroundings faded to black and white, but the entire room sharpened into unbelievable focus; Lia and Val were both outlined with a vibrant red, and their weapons burned brightly against the drab backdrop around them. The pain that had been consuming my body vanished all at once and left me feeling in near perfect condition, apart from a tingling sensation in my right hand.

“We cannot let the Strategist escape,” Val stated. “Though it might mean a mad dash through their defenses, it is the only way to ensure that—” Her thought was cut off by a round of gasps from all of us as I held my hand out before me.

Jagged black lines scarred my skin, slowly crawling from my fingertips up to the palm and back of my hand. Faint wisps of dark smoke seeped out from the marks, and licks of familiar black flame danced across the surface of my skin. Val sat transfixed as her eyes widened, while Lia reached out towards my burning hand with terrible recognition in her eyes. I threw myself backwards, spinning the right side of my body away from my companions.

My voice echoed in the back of my head again, louder than before. Kill them for what they did to you.The burning in my hand surged at the thought, and I felt the black energy crackle up past my wrist. “Stay back,” I whispered desperately. Whatever part of me had caused the dark fire was growing in strength, and it began to take a more conscious effort to hold the flames at bay. “Please, stay back.”

Lia’s hands trembled, still outstretched towards me but no longer moving forward. “Lux, I don’t understand...what’s happening?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.