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When I woke,I was shackled, held fast to a table in a too-bright room I didn’t recognize. I blinked myself awake, grunting as the room came into focus. An electric shock hit me suddenly, causing my muscles to contract painfully. When it receded, I looked around and caught sight of the wicked Sovann’ash soldier standing over me, smiling his twisted smile at my pain.
“We’ve been looking for you,” the man hissed, letting his charged fingertips trail across my skin, just enough to make me writhe in discomfort.
“Well, you’ve found me. Now what?”
“You’re going to tell us where the rest of your people are, so we can put an end to this matter once and for all.”
“Never,” I gritted, although the soldier grasped my leg, sending jolts throughout me before I could even finish the word.
“I don’t see why you have to be so difficult. You and the rest of the Vaclan Brotherhood have done nothing to slow down the Sovann’ash. Your efforts have been a complete waste. So much so that we have not even spared the effort to find you and destroy you. We merely assumed that the lot of you would die off in your own time.” He turned to me, his face twisting up in another ugly sneer. “But we’ve grown impatient, and you keep presenting opportunities for us to put this farce to an end, so congratulations. You’ve got our attention, Vaclan slime.”
I turned away, unwilling to look at the soldier any longer. I could not bear another moment of seeing his putrid face hanging over me, the sick glee so plain in his expression.
“I’m afraid I cannot help you. Kill me, because I will never give up my brothers.”
Or Cosma. That was what I really wanted to say, wasn’t it? I had faith in my brothers. They could fight off a Sovann’ash attack, probably. But Cosma was in there, too, and I could not knowingly put her in danger. If anything happened to her… I shook myself back to reality. Now was not the time to let myself get distracted.
“Oh, I intend to kill you either way. But perhaps if you tell me what I want to know, I will not make it so painful for you.”
This time, he grabbed my metal arm, unleashing all of his power into the electronic components that tied it my body until I felt the internal cords burning up under my skin. I could even smell the smoldering of my flesh along with the acrid scent of the wires melting together.
Memories of that day came flashing back to me in an instant, and I was drowning in them. Fragments of images, Mia falling to the ground, being dragged away, the sound of alarms blaring, the sight of my own arm laying in the dirt, yards away. It was all too much. I couldn’t take it.
I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed, twisting against my shackles until they cut into my flesh, and still the soldier continued his torture. My own screams drowned out the sound of his merciless laughter.
I don’t know how long it went on. I lost all sense of time in my nightmares. When I finally came back to myself, my good hand was curled into a tight fist. My mechanical one was useless, laying limply at my side like a burnt out barrel. A name was floating through my mind, repeating over and over. I could not make sense of it at first, but slowly I heard myself saying it. A weak whisper, scraping past my lips when nothing else made sense. Cosma. Cosma. Cosma.
It was her. Cosma. She was the one, the only thing my mind could latch onto in its perilous, fractured state. Cosma. I had to get back to her. She was waiting for me. I’d left her.
After some time, I looked around and realized I was alone. The soldier had gone at some point, leaving me a shaking mess upon the table. Now, it was just me and the stark lights of this empty room, shining their way into even the deepest shadows of my heart, revealing what I had been unable to see all along. Cosma.
Swallowing, I lifted my head just enough to look down at my predicament. It did not look good, and I imagined the soldier would soon return, especially if he realized I was no longer screaming. I had to act quickly, however I may.
Slowly, I flexed my toes and my fingers, testing the extent of the damage to my nerves. The Sovann’ash ability to electrocute anyone with a single touch was not something to be trifled with, but I had never faced the full effect of their power before. It was no wonder they had taken so much of the universe under hand. And with the new technology they had unleashed upon me, I would not be surprised if they took even more. Who could stop them?
I had no time for those thoughts, though. For now, all I could do was wriggle my extremities and try to loosen the shackles. They did not give.
Closing my eyes, I lowered my head back to the hard table, breathing slowly. I needed to think. I needed to think of anything but Cosma at this very moment. I needed a plan. A plan that would get me out of this room and into the nearest ship so I could be on my way.
There was a scraping sound, and I did not need to open my eyes to know my soldier was back. The dull click of his shoes on the floor brought him right up alongside me and I tensed reflexively, waiting for that electric touch. When I cracked my eyes open, I saw his hand waiting, inches from my skin like the threat it was.
“Are you ready to talk?”
I sighed, closing my eyes and trying to remain strong.
“I will not tell you anything.”
“I figured as much. That’s why I brought this.”
He dragged the last word out until I opened my eyes, despite wishing I could ignore him. But then I saw it. The necklace, Mia’s ashes, dangling over my face. It swung lazily back and forth like a pendulum, my eyes following it even as my mouth dropped open in shock.
“I heard you’ve been searching for it for some time,” he remarked, giving me a sarcastic smile.
I could not find my words. It was like someone had sucked all the air straight out of my lungs and I was suffocating in my hatred. Pure, unrivaled hatred for the Sovann’ash and everything they had taken from me.
“I thought you’d want to see your dear sister one last time before I dispensed with you. Do you think she would be proud of you? Seeing you here like this?” Every syllable he uttered was drawn out into a disgusting hiss that made my stomach turn.
“Stop talking,” I warned.
