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Or she did, until a tremor beneath her feet tore her from her task. She steadied herself against the pedestal, while glancing around frantically and trying to ignore the panic welling up inside her.
There was nothing to be seen. No cracks in the walls, no intruder, not even a ripple in the water. She put her hands back on the crystal. It was vibrating slightly. Had it done that before? No, she was sure it hadn't. She reached out for the Staran again and the black mass. As soon as she got close to it, the ground started to shake again. This time, she didn't let go of the stone. She was beginning to realise that the shaking wasn't physical. It was in her mind.
Something was fighting back. But Macey had been fighting off the Voice for weeks, if not months. She was experienced in mental fights by now. This shouldn't scare her. It was only another challenge, nothing more. She reached out again, continuing her scan for the black mass's weak spots, but as soon as she seemed to have found something, the thing wobbled and changed its shape. It was continuously turning and twisting, reforming every second or so. How was she supposed to deal with this? She was sure this was the reason for the Staran's disease. A parasite, embedded deep within them.
"How do I get you out of there?" she whispered to herself, struggling to get a grip on it. It was too slippery and slimy. "And how did you get there in the first place?"
At least now she knew what was wrong with the Staran. It was rather easy to see.
She prodded the black blob with her mental fingers. Suddenly, black sparks shot up, forming a line leading out through the hole in the cave ceiling. A moment later, they'd disappeared, but a suspicion was forming in Macey. She prodded it again, and as before, tiny black flecks sparked. It was as if the mass was sending out a call for help. As if it was connected to others of its kind.
Macey focused on the blob again, but this time, she expanded her senses, exploring its surface.
Yes, there it was! A tiny black string, reaching up into the air, disappearing through the hole. She tried following it with her mind but didn't get very far. Still, it was progress.
Now she knew why healing the Staran wouldn't be enough. Even if this blob disappeared, there were others out there. And maybe they'd be able to infect the Staran once again. They needed to find the root of this strange dark
power.
But she didn't want to leave here without having at least tried healing them. Otherwise travelling on them would get harder and harder with every day that passed and this black mass was allowed to eat the Staran up from the inside.
Somehow, Macey knew that this wasn't going to be a physical battle. No, this was what had been foretold: she was going to fight a mental battle, one within herself. Maybe now was the time to feel a little scared, but she was too determined to let fear get in the way.
She took a deep breath and plunged herself into the Staran, head first. Her body stayed behind but her mind flew along the misty stream of power that was the Staran. Lives and memories flashed past her, far more intense than the short glimpse she'd been given earlier. They were too fast to understand, though, no more than whispers and echoes racing past at an astonishing speed.
Was this what it was like for Cam and Flint to travel on the Staran? She'd never asked them but it seemed it was a lot more comfortable for them than for her - when she had her body with her. Right now, it wasn't too bad.
She flew further, searching for the black mass. But it ended up finding her.
Suddenly, she bumped against an invisible barrier and fell to the ground. She was standing on flashes of light, intermixed with splinters of images and memories. There were whispers in the distance, too faint to understand. She looked up, searching for whatever had stopped her flight. There was nothing. Not even a strange shimmer in the air.
The ground rumbled without warning and Macey swayed, reaching out for something to hold on to but there was no pedestal this time. She fell to her hands and knees, for the first time feeling the cool texture of the ground. She'd been on it barefoot - she was naked, after all - but it was different touching it with her fingers. It was like pliable glass, strangely cool and soft at the same time. And pretty.
No, it wasn't. Black lines were forming in front of her, turning into a spiral swirling on the ground until it became a perfect circle. Macey scrambled to her feet and stepped away from the black circle, but once again, something stopped her from moving further away. With her back against the barrier, she watched as the black began to bubble and rise up, becoming three dimensional. A column. No, wait. A person.
She stared in horror as the black mass slowly turned into someone very familiar.
"Hello, darling," the black Macey said and grinned, exposing sharp black teeth.
15
It was like looking in a mirror. If that mirror was filled with black sludge and didn't quite make any sense.
Macey lifted her left arm, only to see Sludge-Macey do the same. It was disconcerting to say the least.
She closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them, and being disappointed to discover that her opposite was very much still there.
That was annoying. She'd hoped it was just a figment of her imagination. Albeit one that was sitting within her imagination to begin with. She had very little doubt that her version of what the insides of the Staran looked like was different from what they looked like to past Wardens. This was just her interpretation, and she was fine with that.
Opening her eyes, she sighed. Not just a figment of her imagination then. An actual obstacle to overcome. Macey took a deep breath. She could do this.
She could face herself and win.
Even if facing herself was quite possibly the scariest thing she could think of. This was well beyond anything the Voice could do to her. And well beyond any other kind of enemy. This was going to be every doubt, and every fear she had, all rolled into one, and presented in a way that could weaken her to her very core.
"What do you want?" she demanded of herself.
Sludge-Macey giggled. "Everything," it responded.
