Page 78 of Stitches
He was mad. He was absolutely mad.
“I should have expected it. After all, the gemstones can harness the power of life and death, as you well know. They’re how your people crossed over to our world and what you used to ascend. You exploited the magic of gemstones like the Amethyst to become what you are, and I used the Amethyst to create the black crystals and power my experiments—the very Source Crystal that cursed us.
“It still took hundreds of life forces from discarded constructs to allow me to cross over. I knew it would take too long to do the same for everyone else. Besides, one small crystal only let me leave our lands. It didn’t make me human again or give me back the use of my legs.
“But oh, how lucky I was that day, exploring the outside world for the first time in so long. There was a highwayman in the wood who attacked me. I defended myself. Once he was dead, I pulled him back inside the barrier to see what would happen. He didn’t transform. Being dead, he was unaffected by the curse. And souls don’t immediately leave the body, you know. I had a hunch that if harvested quickly enough, aperson’s soul could power an entire crystal all on its own, and I was right. I tried once to use a soul from someone killed after they had crossed the barrier, but the curse rendered it useless. That’s why the barrier destroys us. No, I needed uncursed souls.
“I continued experimenting with my constructs, but the real work was in securing a soul for every inhabitant of the Dark Kingdom. Don’t you see? Any new spawn means a new sacrifice. With so many babes on the way, waiting any longer will only continue to postpone our freedom.”
“That’s why there were so many mounds,” Levi said with a shudder, “so many more bodies than you would have needed to make me.”
“There was the right amount to get what I needed.” Braxton shrugged. “And maybe I enjoy killing people.”
“You don’t mean that,” Ashmedai said, even if Braxton was mad.
“No? A thousand years is a long time to be alone, Ash.”
“You weren’t alone.”
“And before that brief tea we had some time ago, how often did you visit?”
The truth cut Ashmedai deeply, but he shook his head. “I am sorry for that, but you can’t blame my reclusiveness for you slaughtering innocents. Or your own choice to be reclusive. What you did is monstrous.”
“Monstrous?” Braxton chuckled in such a dark, cruel way that Ashmedai didn’t have to guess at the irony he was implying.
“I accept responsibility for my sins, but I never knowingly hurt anyone,” Ashmedai defended. “And everything you did, everything you hoped to accomplish, none of it explains Levi.”
Again, Braxton shrugged. “A single soul has its limitations. What good is crossing the barrier if we still retain our cursed selves? I knew there had to be an answer. I tested my hypothesis on animals first, simulating the frequency of the barrier here in my workshop.”
“The pulsing,” Levi deduced.
“Hypnotic, I’m sure, since it calls to the outside world. I wondered, if a true soul is more powerful than a construct’s, how much more powerful would multiple true souls be if stitched together? You may only have one soul alive in you now, Levi, but you were made from many. Your unique soul can activate the others I’ve imprisoned in every black crystal in the kingdom, so that all at once, everyone will be capable of crossing the barrier and become who they once were, never at its mercy again. In that moment, with that level of power, the land itself will be cleansed and even animals can be saved. We can turn a monster back into a… mouse.” He laughed.
Levi wasn’t cowering anymore but gently pushed from Ashmedai’s hold to step toward Braxton. “Then I truly meant nothing to you? I was just another experiment?”
Whatever else Ashmedai expected, it comforted him to see Levi’s question cause a crack in Braxton’s cold mask. “You are not nothing, Levi. You are everything. It took years to create you. Thankfully, highwaymen are plentiful. A few hired here and there ensured others were lured to the barrier for my use, and after I took what I needed, I’d simply bury the remains for the degenerates to loot later as payment.
“But you are not nothing. You were the first of my constructs to ever be truly alive, and you… surprised me, surpassing all my expectations. You will again when I usethis.” He reverently touched a hand to the large black crystal beside him, and it pulsed purple where his palm pressed. “My Onyx gemstone, the final step in not only freeing everyone but allowing us to become humans and elves and dwarves again.
“All that’s missing is you.” Braxton rotated his wheels again, pivoting to move behind the crystal, hiding him from view. “The right soul from the right body—one made from many.”
“Levi!” Ashmedai cried, sensing the danger moments before Braxton struck.
Onlyhowthat was Braxton made Ashmedai freeze as he saw him, for a creature coiled around the crystal from the other side, not a man.
If Shevah was half spider, then Braxton was an amalgamation of spider and marionette. Extra limbs had sprouted from his body, stitched together from stolen parts. There were six of them, giving him eight when counting his original arms, which also extended unnaturally now, while his legs, honest at least in that they could not carry him, hung limp as his new limbs raised him up to a towering height.
Some of them lifted Braxton, others wrapped around the crystal for support, and more still lunged for Levi.
“No!” Ashmedai snapped to his senses, diving forward to intervene.
He had Levi by the shoulders, just as one of Braxton’s limbs grabbed Levi’s waist, while most of Braxton still touched the Onyx gemstone. It flashed with sudden power and light so strong that Ashmedai was flung backward.
“Noooo!” he cried louder, leaping back to his feet even while he couldn’t see.
It was happening again.
It was all happening again!
