Page 10 of Alchemised
Her vision turned red.
Screaming surrounded her, blistering her eardrums and going on and on as her memories detonated inside her brain. A cascade of images tore through her consciousness.
Everywhere she looked, people were dying. Her hands were covered in blood. There were bodies everywhere.
She was kneeling on the floor, holding together torsos and faces and limbs, trying to put them back together, knitting them into wholeness. Again and again and again. Bodies raw with burns, so consumed by fire that she couldn’t find their features.
Always another body, and another.
The resonance burrowed deeper and deeper, and the screaming grew louder.
She saw Luc. Vivid as if he were there with her. His beautiful face, and eyes as blue as a summer’s sky, golden sunlight reflecting in them.
Then Luc was gone. Blood was everywhere. All she could see was a reddened light, fractured and disjointed, swimming overhead. And the screaming.
Her screams. Her vocal cords were shredded, raw pain tearing through her lungs and throat. A lancing pain through her heart each time she gasped for air.
The small man was muttering, “I wouldn’t recommend—” over and over with his arms cradled defensively around his own head.
There was a knock on a door, and Stroud reappeared, barely glancing at Helena.
“Mandl is on her way. And—” She hesitated. “I brought Shiseo. I thought he might have some insight into our prisoner. He did consult with the Eternal Flame. She needs a new nullification set anyway; I thought he might apply them before his departure.”
There was a quiet shuffling in the dark. Helena craned her neck as much as she could, eyes straining for a glimpse of the traitor.
A round-faced man with dark hair emerged, carrying a small case. He paused to bow reverently before the High Necromancer.
Morrough waved him towards Helena. “What kinds of vivimancy did the Eternal Flame utilise?”
Shiseo drew closer, and Helena realised he was Eastern. Far Eastern. He only met Helena’s accusing stare for a moment before he averted his gaze.
“I am sorry.” He bowed slightly once again. “I was only consulted on occasion due to my metallurgical knowledge.”
Helena released a small breath of relief.
“Surely you know something—you did work in their laboratories,” Stroud said, impatiently. “Do you recognise her, at least?”
Shiseo barely glanced at Helena.
“I believe she was a healer,” he said quietly as he returned his attention to his case.
Helena fought back a wince.
Stroud looked sharply at Helena, her eyes narrowed.
“Really? A healer, you say?” The way Stroud spoke was venomous. She cleared her throat, glancing around. “Of course I knew there were vivimancers who supported the Eternal Flame. As if martyring themselves could earn acceptance, even though the Faith spurned their gifts as an abomination.” Her eyes were scathing. “I just didn’t realise this was one of them.”
No one said anything. Stroud’s face reddened. “I’m sure I would have realised if I’d had more time to retrieve the Resistance’s records. But why would someone transmute a healer’s mind?”
Shiseo bowed to Stroud now. “I could not say.”
A growing sense of agitation permeated the room.
Morrough sighed like a gusting bellows. “He knows nothing. Apply the nullification and get him out.”
Shiseo bowed and lifted Helena’s hand as far as it would go, inspecting her wrist and the cuff around it. He had soft hands for a metallurgist.
“These are—a very old model. They do not fully suppress the resonance,” he said. He slid the manacle up Helena’s forearm as far as it would go, and it was as if the static of the suppression was pushed up towards her brain along with it.
