Her eye hasn't left me since she boarded. A Psion officer named Qinziq sits across from me. Most of the seats in the drop-hold are empty. Calus's words ring in my ears over the storm-rush of reentry: "The ship is yours to claim." Our disheveled Thresher rattles through lean Nessian atmosphere. Soon we will speak to the liar, and separate from it the truth."įRENETIC SCRAWL INKED IN THE MARGIN READS: Smuggler's switches still working. His voice resounds from all of them simultaneously. To be seen…" Calus pauses to heap the drama, "…for what we really are, underneath the surface, is bliss." All four statues step forward to bear Calus's vessel. It was luscious, and so many tasted so much. But their chilling little fleet came and went. They promised to return to me, to uplift me-that we may dance together among the stars and drink of their dying ecstasy 'til the end, as one. "When the Darkness found me adrift in the cosmos, rejected by a people I had made, I thought to have found a confidant. "Sounds like you got swindled… ?" I quickly blunt the question with respect: "…Emperor?" And yet, I have been betrayed by one I thought to be the final divinity." Like me, they have neither the capacity nor the reason. " Calus's voice spills from the containment vessel and floods the room. Deep orbs illuminate in the faceplate, like wild eyes in the open pitch of night. Calus looks through me, eyes like clumped chalk, as the last Councilor fastens a faceplate into position. Beneath the throne, hoses bubble viscous royal wine into the sealed frame. Nacre runs smooth around the frame and into a throne-like cup of sullied nobility. Mechanisms within the plates engage as plum light emits from the slits between them. Come, come… look upon me and let my Councilors assuage them."Ĭouncilors lay more thick plates over Calus's living misery, brushing past me as they finish and exiting the room with my inhibitions. "Your thoughts are as open as your fears, Katabasis. His skin is mottled with sickly translucence that grips my stomach. I grit my teeth and look on, stepping sideways to see him from a different angle. They are, as I am: one collective self, as Nothing is. My automatons stand as monuments of my image reflections of my breadth. You assume this flesh satisfies me? How small. "I am no more trapped here than you are by your Light. My thoughts stink of disgust, and he can smell it. Few have seen this," Calus wheezes from inside the cage, his voice like taut suffocation.Ĭalus's withering form swells and jostles. They huddle about a towering cage of filigreed alloys and woven circuitry, fitting the plates to it with sacramental focus, until the cage becomes a tomb around a pearlescent seat supporting a lonesome figure within. Taxidermy wrapped around terrified eyes and final moments.Ī clutch of Councilors watches me as they take mechanical plates from three other identical statues of Calus surrounding them. The statue points toward a domed chamber its curled walls sport every kind of trophy. I've come to take the job." I turn it like an offer. Should I have this room moved, that you may stroll the Leviathan's halls that much longer and appreciate my hospitality?" "You're early, but I suppose your tribe is always ahead of the pack, Hunter. Its likeness mirrors the Tribute Hall's automaton and many other statuesque bots I'd spoken to him through. A manufactured version of Calus stands tall on the other side. Past, with prime far behind.Īhead, a Legionary in loyalist gild nods to me and swings open a door. Polish the veneer and present them on a platter, but when you peel back the layers it's just… old. His inner halls don't gleam-reminds me of stories from the Golden Age. My eyes catch on the runs in Calus's crestfallen banners. I enter the belly of the Leviathan, unattended. The words seep experience into your open mind…Ī royal invitation got me as far as the inner reliquary. This page is blighted with mold and the imprint of a memory… 3 ENTRY 3 - Lust and Reappropriation Pt.2 ENTRY 2 - Lust and Reappropriation Pt.
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