Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 144277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 721(@200wpm)___ 577(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 721(@200wpm)___ 577(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
I ignore him. Because I did protect her. I did save her. I did it all right!
The speaker crackles, just once. Then stillness as another memory comes to mind. Small, it is. Like a drop of water on a parched tongue in the mid-day sun.
“I want to know things, Jasina. I want to understand what’s happening to us. I’m tired of the lies and I want the truth. I think it’s up there in that room. And if you want the truth as well, then I would like you to join me so we can find it together.”
"Do you understand what she is, Finn? She is the closest I’ve come to perfection. A maiden who glows without death. A spark that recharges. Do you realize what that means?" A silence here so I can contemplate what it means.
And I know what it means. It means… we lose.
"It means I win the Game of Gods."
A static pulse rolls through the floor, like the Factory is listening too. "The others talk of freedom, of revolution, of faith. But I play for reality. I am the architect of the Grand Design. And this girl of yours will be the spark that gets me my final tower between worlds, where every system, every soul, will realign to me.
Now the voice lowers—soft, intimate, cruel.
"So stand up, Augment. You were made for this moment. Your fight is the matchstick I strike against her skin. Let’s see how brightly she burns."
Something buzzes in my head. I fall to the ground, hands over my ears, trying to make the high-pitched screeching go away.
But it’s not external, it’s inside me.
White-blue flash.
CRADLE ARRAY: ACTIVE
SPARK INTERFACE: STABLE
FEMALE CONDUITS – ONLINE
This is when I see them. I’m on my feet again, not even aware how that happened. I scan the three men standing before me. Tags pop up as my eyes sweep across the room.
OPPONENT 578-A-DAINRIK
UNIT 3-ALPHA-PRIME COUPLER: 578-B-VEYRA
OPPONENT 577-A-ZAYLEN
UNIT 2-ALPHA-PRIME COUPLER: 577-B-MAELIS
OPPONENT 576-A-UNKNOWN
UNIT 1-ALPHA-PRIME COUPLER: 576-B- ELSHA
Each man’s eyes glow blue. Spark comes out of the back of their necks as a flickering wave of blue static—arcing high up into the air, flowing through the thick pane of glass that separates us, the combatants, from them, the Maidens.
But it connects us too. This is what Xi was talking about. Jasina is powering me. I can feel her. The other women are powering my opponents.
This is a death match.
We fight until we die.
Last man standing saves the girl.
I almost laugh.
White-blue flash.
SPARK FEED RAMPING — LEVEL 3
TARGETS LOCKED
BEGIN COMBAT IN 3… 2…
I strike. Swinging before I even lock on my target. My fist lands, flesh cracks, bones fold. Someone screams—it might be me.
I blink. Dainrik’s already down. Neck wrong. Blood everywhere.
White-blue flash.
Zaylen lunges. I don’t feel it when he hits me, I only feel it when he stops moving. His arm’s still twitching on the ground.
White-blue flash.
The last one moves differently—calm, brutal, practiced. No fear, no fire. Just precision.
Power surges through me like I’ve been hit with lightning. We collide in the center of the room, and for a second, it’s like watching someone else wear my body. I stab my fingers through his throat—his spark explodes across my face in a flash of blue light. In the same moment, his fist slams against the side of my head with the force of thunder, cracking bone, snapping me to the side.
He drops fast.
I drop slower. My knees hit first, then my shoulder, then my cheek hits the floor, slick with blood—his and mine.
I roll over on my back, looking up at the ceiling.
This is when I see her.
But it’s not her.
It’s her spark.
Tiny wings flicker in the air above me. A shimmering, like a perfect summer night. Swirling like a tidal pool along the Tau City canal. Soft and pulsing, like a heartbeat.
Her voice in my head…
“You settled for me.”
“I didn’t settle for you, Jasina. You’re the only damn thing I’ve ever done right. I didn’t save Clara. I saved you.”
“And now,” her fluttering blue butterflies land on my cheek and whisper in my ear, “it’s my turn to save you.”
40 - TYSE
The minute my eyes open inside the arena, I know one thing.
It’s not enough.
Whatever spark Clara gave me, it’s not enough.
Because I’m in a makeshift cage, hangin’ high above the mutants, and they are comin’ for me. And it’s not like the cage bars were put there to keep me in—or keep them out. Because there’s too much space between them. Even a guy as big as me can slip through.
This isn’t a prison, it’s a trap.
And the predators below are comin’ for me.
They’re climbin’. Hand over hand, claw over claw, swarmin’ up the metal beams like ants after meat. Half of them aren’t even whole—missin’ eyes, draggin’ limbs, sparks sputterin’ from half-dead augments. One lets out a shriek as it slips, falls, and another one climbs right over its body like it didn’t even happen.