Chapter 140

Chapter 140

The body disintegrated into dust before I could react.

There was an unearthly shriek as a metal paneled floor pockmarked with dirt and rust replaced the black and white diner tile. The booths and tables aged hundreds of years over the span of seconds, the cushioned seats growing a yellow patina of discoloration before eventually turning brown.

A familiar off-white wallpaper speckled with silhouetted flowers spanned the entire wall around a two storied hall. There was at least double the vertical space than in the diner, maybe triple.

This wasnt good. I kept my crossbow and saber at the ready and forced myself to focus.

If the diner and preparation memories were false, that meant I was missing time. Everything from escorting Sae out of the adaptive dungeon onward was suspect. Meaning, whatever preparations and plans Id made before entering were practically useless if I couldnt buy time to piece them together retroactively.

Your own sister. And you didnt even hesitate. The voice was harsh and throaty, yet simultaneously quiet. Like it was being inhaled rather than exhaled.

It was a sloppy imitation. You made more than a few simple mistakes that anyone who spent time with Iris would have easily picked up on. While I ran my mouth, I checked everywhere for broken legacy, finding it hanging on my hip. I could sense that Talia was within the blade, but she didnt seem to be responding to suggestion.

There was no grappling hook, meaning Id opted to leave Audrey behindprobably because I was worried the lithid could easily tamper with her simple mind.

A performer saves their best material for the finale. The lithid chortled. This time it came from above and behind me. I whirled, seeing only a dilapidated expanse of stoves and appliances that were arranged as if this was once an oversized kitchen.

Talia, I hissed, trying to wake my summon.

Her barely conscious voice rang in my head. Barely any meat on the bones. Let them be.

What the fuck did you do to her? I said, slowly rotating in place, looking for any sign of the lithid.

The eerie red glow that permeated the room pulsated as the lithid replied. The summon bitch? Nothing more than what I did to you. Shes even weaker now than she was in the cage. Helpless, even as I feasted upon her tasteless suffering. It cackled madly in a mix of pleasure and raw joy, and I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Impotent and mired in a past that never happened. She cant bring herself to move forward. Its so trite, so one-note, so stale.

There. I spotted a round, visual distortion on the stretch of wallpaper. I continued my slow pan of the room, waiting until my crossbow was pointed towards it and activated firing a bolt into the distortion.

Behind the square line-up of dilapidated appliances, in the darkness, I spotted what looked like an opening. A corridor hidden by shadows.

It didnt matter whether this was a complete hallucination or not. If I was able to distance myself from the lithidregardless of if that was literal or metaphoricalit would buy time to mentally regroup.

I reloaded my crossbow and raced into the corridor.

At first, everything was dark.

Then a single pinprick of light illuminated the hall. It grew larger as I kept up a steady jog until its form became clear. It was a single lightbulb, hanging by the cord from the ceiling. Maybe fifty feet down the corridor was another bulb.

I followed the line of lights, the only sound my own echoing footprints and heavy breathing.

My steps slowed as the final bulb in the row expanded, radiated a large, spotlight-like circle of illumination beneath it.

There was a picnic table seated on a bed of grass. And on the picnic table, I spotted a younger version of myself. He was wearing a long-sleeve shirt with a hood. Round glasses that did little to compliment his face. He was sweating as he leafed through a hardback. It was absolutely massive in his small hands.

Curious, I stepped around to the side.

Crime and Punishment.

I was never committed enough to literature to lug a Dostoevsky around in the wild. Which meant, if this was the day I thought it was, Id picked it out of an immature flare for the dramatic.

Like clockwork, someone in flip-flops with an ankle bracelet appeared across from me.

Her features were cast in darkness, but seeing as how the ankle bracelet was decked out with gold, there was only so many people it could be.

Im glad you called. Figured with everything going on, you might not want to see me. Daphne said.