The Broken Halo

Simon moved for several minutes before a thought made him slow down. His gaze dropped to the dull-grey spatial ring of the rebel that was still wrapped inside layers of compressed wind and space.

He called out to Lilith.

[Lilith.]

[What?]

[If I place the three cases inside the Sword Daemon’s spatial ring, can Korran’s tracking devices or runes leave an imprint on it?]

Lilith answered without hesitation.

[No.]

Simon waited for more, but nothing came.

[Why?]

[Because it belonged to my father.] She replied, sounding as though that should have ended the matter. [And because Korran’s methods are poor and lacking. They cannot leave a mark on something of that level.]

[What about the trackers already inside the cases?]

[They will still exist. They simply will not be able to reach beyond the ring.]

Lilith’s voice carried enough arrogance to make it sound as though Korran had tried to scratch a divine artifact with a blunt nail.

Simon accepted the answer and continued moving.

He did not teleport. The tracked ring remained outside his own spatial ring, and he did not want its movement to suddenly reveal that the carrier possessed spatial abilities. Instead, he used the wind to cross the broken land quickly while keeping close to the shadows of the low ridges.

By the time he found a suitable hiding place, he had travelled far from the convoy and from the location where he killed the rebel.

It was an old lava cave beneath a low black hill. A narrow split between two rocks led inside, but the cave beyond was wide enough to contain the Furnaceback Centipede’s corpse. The walls were thick, the air was dry, and Simon found no beast tracks, fresh scents, or hidden formations.

He did not enter immediately though.

He was already approaching the limit of the Shadow Eye beneath Wagon Eighteen. Its view flickered between blurred shapes, and maintaining it was beginning to consume more mental and shadow energy than it was worth.

Simon watched Sonya, Akaza, and the Biggest Kev one last time.

Then he dispelled it.

The black pupil beneath the damaged wagon dissolved, and the fragment of mental energy sustaining it returned to his Sea of Consciousness.

The second Shadow Eye was already gone. It had existed inside the Furnaceback Centipede’s moving shadow, and when Simon stored the corpse, the shadow disappeared with it.

Simon memorised the cave’s location, then moved away from it.

He travelled in another direction until several small hills and ridges separated him from the cave. Some minutes later, he stopped moving and grabbed the spatial ring.

There was a restriction on the spatial ring, and Simon intended to break it open as quickly as possible.

Simon pressed two fingers against it and sent his spatial perception through the surface. He found the thin barrier separating him from the storage space, then pushed his spatial energy into its weakest point.

The restriction resisted for several breaths.

Then it broke.

Inside were the two narrow black cases marked with three pale lines and the round case bearing the broken-circle mark.

Simon transferred all three cases into his spatial ring, and the spatial disturbances completely vanished.

Not weakened.

Not delayed.

But gone completely.

Simon spread his spatial perception across every part of his ring. He examined its boundary, the space around the cases, and the connection between the ring and his body.

There was no foreign imprint and no spatial disturbance trying to escape.

Lilith had been right.

Simon then emptied the rest of the rebel’s ring. He found healing medicine, low-grade hell stones, food, spare clothing, false-skin adhesive, a city token, a black travelling cloak, and several ordinary tools prepared for the mission.

Nothing was left inside when he finished.

However, the dull-grey ring had carried the marked cases long enough for Korran’s trackers to leave an imprint on it. Even without the cargo inside, that faint connection would remain for some time.

Simon held the empty ring between two fingers and compressed a small current of wind behind it.

He flicked his wrist.

Whoosh!

The ring shot across the cracked lands, passed above two ridges, and continued toward the north-east. Simon followed it with Sky Eye until it became a tiny black speck and finally disappeared into a distant field of smoking cracks.

If Korran followed the lingering imprint, Black Horn would follow an empty ring moving away from Simon’s true destination.

Simon turned around.

Now that the cases were hidden inside the Sword Daemon’s ring, he teleported back to the old lava cave.

He checked the cave again before entering, then sealed the narrow opening behind him with several slabs of stone he found outside the cave and inside the cave.

Only then did he bring out the Furnaceback Centipede.

The enormous corpse filled most of the cave. Its black plates scraped against the walls, and its dead head rested near Simon with four jaws hanging open. The eye Sonya destroyed remained a dark, ruined hole.

Simon placed one palm against the broad plate above its head and his lips parted open slightly.

”Devour.”

The corpse trembled, then a powerful pull spread from Simon’s palm and travelled through the entire beast.

At first, nothing visible happened.

Then the blood inside its wound beneath his hand began moving.

It flowed against gravity and entered his palm. The same thing occurred throughout the centipede’s enormous body. Blood, bodily fluids, and the remaining essence inside dozens of segments were dragged forward through flesh, organs, and veins.

The vents along its sides released one final cloud of smoke.

Then they began collapsing.

The thick flesh beneath the black plates shrank. Its hundreds of legs curled inward, while the gaps between its segments widened as moisture and vitality disappeared from them.

The Furnaceback Centipede had once looked like a living building covered in armour.

Now it was becoming an enormous mummified shell.

Devour continued pulling.

Heat entered Simon first.

Then came a violent stream of demonic energy, followed by strength so dense that the bones in his arms, legs, and back began to ache. His veins darkened beneath his skin, and every muscle in his body tightened.

The centipede’s corpse grew drier.

Its eyes sank.

The flesh around its jaws shrivelled against the bone.

Cracks spread across several plates as the body beneath them lost everything that had once supported their weight.

Simon did not remove his hand though.

The flow weakened gradually until Devour could find nothing else worth taking.

The corpse remained, but it was only a dry, hollowed husk.

Simon finally lifted his palm, and his entire body trembled. Then he closed his eyes as an immense power surged through his veins.