He chuckles. “And where is your army?”
Vraik stands with me. “We don’t need an army to beat you. We have already won.”
The mothership’s outer lights turn on. A light-green forcefield appears to hover around its monolithic body.
Over the years, I have spoken with him through hologram. Time after time, he appeared to look worse than before. But he hid his decaying body well.
He looks so much worse than I thought. If it wasn’t for these cuffs, I would have killed him by now.
Slain continues to walk toward us. “Do you really think you can beat me? I have killed your precious female. Rekker is now out of the picture. You cannot defeat that which you built. Each day, I grow stronger.”
Rekker… It can’t be true.
Slain is close enough to be seen.
His face sags. A green, pustulating ooze drips down from his eyes, nose, and mouth. When he opens his mouth to speak, his breath smells like rotting trash.
His body is… erasing. Turning immaterial.
“What has happened to you?” I ask.
“Nonexistence,” he says. “I am fading into the ether of this universe.”
He’s barely there.
I swallow, unsure whether to smile or scream. “I don’t understand,” I say.
He laughs. “I found the source of life. Resnyx. It has made me stronger.”
I can’t believe my ears. He’s taking the Resnyx.
“You’re dying,” Vraik says.
“No,” he mutters. “Soon, I will be God.”
“Impossible,” I whisper.
But the tightening in my chest seems to suggest a part of me believes it’s real.
I take another step forward, but within the blink of an eye, Slain throws his hands up. Using his mind, he forces me against the outside wall of the mothership.
Vraik runs to defend me, but he’s also subdued.
“Don’t you care about this planet? About our rebellion? We were supposed to make things right,” Vraik says.
“There was nothing to fix,” he says. “I never cared about progress. This planet was doomed from the start. Soon, I will abandon it. Right now, I need more.”
More Resnyx. It’s turning him mad. I’d rather be a living, breathing entity than a God.
“You can’t get more,” I growl, trying my hardest to push forward.
It’s like fighting hurricane winds. Eventually, I turn breathless and desperate.
He floats forward. “There is some left on planet Ferän,” he says.
“No,” I groan. “The slaves were ready to rebel. We never found it.”
The Emperor turns to Vraik. His voice turns louder than an air-raid siren. “Why must you lie to me?”