Chapter 75

[THE GREAT ONE]

[HEAL]

Why isn’t it working?

[HEAL]

Why isn’t the magic… the metal.

Oh, no.

It’s the iron, the steel.

[HEAL]

How is there so much?

How?

It’s in the way. I need to pull it out, but it’s so deep.

No... no, no, no-

[HEAL]

Imra! Imra, can you hear me?

Say something!

[HEAL]

Please, Imra! Please, say something!

[HEAL]

Why won’t it work!

What’s the point of magic- what’s the point of being able to do this, if it doesn’t work?

COME ON [HEAL]

Please.

Please work.

Oh God.

There’s so much blood.

I can’t… it won’t…

No.

I’ve never failed before.

I won’t now.

[HEAL]

How dare they… how dare they.

[HEAL]

How dare they steal from me.

[HEAL]

HOW DARE THEY STEAL FROM US.

[HEAL]

IT DOES NOT WORK.

It will work.

[HEAL]

SHE IS GONE.

She’s not gone.

[HEAL]

THEY HAVE TAKEN HER FROM US, GREAT ONE.

No, no, I can save her. We can save her.

[HEAL]

WE CANNOT.

Please, just help me. Help me save her.

[HEAL]

I SERVE YOU IN ALL THINGS, BUT NOT IN THIS.

PLEASE.

[HEAL]

SHE IS GONE.

Gone?

How can she be gone?

She was just here. Imra was just here.

STOLEN.

Stolen…

Gone.

Left.

Close the door and locked it.

There's no key.

My magic doesn't do a damn thing. No matter how hard I try, no matter how much that other voice shouts and screams in my skull.

It’s useless.

My words don't do a thing.

No.

They never have, really. No one can ever even hear me anyways.

But, Imra could.

She could hear me. She could understand.

But now she can’t.

There’s nothing there. Just flesh, and blood, and iron… so much metal…

DEATH.

Death…

She’s dead.

We can’t heal the dead, can we?

NO ONE CAN.

Why not?

Why the hell not?

IT STEALS.

Steals…

Takes and takes and takes, cuts our threads short before we weave the stories we were meant to tell.

What would Imra's story have been?

Tell me.

Tell me you son of a bitch.

I CANNOT.

What would her life have been? What would she have become? What was the point: for someone to change so much, to learn so much, to give so much, only to be taken away?

What was the point of her leaving now, after everything we'd been through?

Please.

Please.

Tell me.

Tell me, God. If you’re out there, if you’re watching, listening to what’s happened here.

Large Frog God.

Tiny Snake God.

Anyone at all.

Tell me why?

WE ARE ALONE.

Yeah.

Of course we are.

They’ve never answered.

Not once.

The only answers I’ve ever had are my own twisted delusions.

It’s just me.

US.

Alone.

Alone in the dark.

Night.

I guess it’s here now.

Cold.

In the desert, at night it’s cold. Out here in the flats, there's wind. There's chill.

Taking.

Always taking.

All these corpses, and it still hasn’t taken enough.

NEVER ENOUGH. WE ARE HATED.

They stole from me.

Stole from me.

It's not fair.

It's never been fair.

Not in this life, not in the last one. None of this is right.

YOU DECIDE WHAT IS RIGHT, GREAT ONE.

None of this is.

These people… look at these horrible people.

Standing over Eveth, with a sword.

Everyone with a weapon.

Like some sick game, they can pick up a blade and cut another person down. They can do it with a smile, like its nothing.

So tough, so strong…

That’s how it works, isn’t it?

It's so easy! It's so easy to just cut, put a hole, to break something.

It's so easy.

TO TAKE.

So easy.

SIMPLE.

So easy, so easy, so easy.

SO VERY SIMPLE.

It's the same story, played out again.

Wrong…

All wrong.

It's all wrong, don’t you see?

I DO, GREAT ONE.

It doesn't matter what's right or just. It doesn't matter if there's something still to be told, or if there's something beautiful just on the horizon.

This world isn't built on what's fair, or what's right.

It's built on the stronger killing the weaker.

Killing, and getting stronger.

IT IS NATURAL.

Stronger, so that they can go on killing.

STRENGTH BEGETS STRENGTH.

More, and more, and more.

BETRAYAL BEGETS BLOOD.

So easy.

IT IS.

You all think it's so easy to kill.

You're all so fucking proud of how good you are at it, thinking you're something special.

Thinking your skills, your strength, your power is what really matters.

It's just a sick game.

Something I never wanted to play.

I don't care about this world anymore.

I don't care about being human.

I don't care about being a good person.

I don't want to be a good person.

I just want everything to burn.

LET IT.