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“No,” Freya sneers, sounding exasperated. “You are like me — a counter to the Fates — at least he thinks you are. I think he is mistaken.”
The man smiles kindly and rolls his head as he looks between us. His breathing is shallow. The light in his hand flickers. “The Fates are powerful Omegas that get stronger with every additional Omega life they drain. But what only a privileged few know is that the Fates have another reason for collecting newly ascended Omegas and tearing them away from their families…ripping their bodies from their souls…” His voice doesn’t echo in the cave. Why doesn’t his voice echo? Mine does. Freya’s does.
Fear swims closer to shore and flashes her fangs.
“They search for their doppelgängers, their counters as Freya says. The Omegas whose powers match their own… They’ve been searching for centuries. They’ve eradicated dozens of their own doppelgängers — Omegas that they’ve termed theFallen. It’s rather poetic, don’t you think? Speaks to their hubris.” He laughs and it’s a dark laugh, a sickly one. A little deranged.
“They believe themselvesfatedto save the Omega race. Because the Fallen can rise to match them in strength, they represent a threat and must be eliminated.” The light below his hand flickers again and, as he speaks, his voice comes out more labored.
Quietly, gently, I say, “Is that what happened to you?”
Silence falls between us. It’s pronounced and so oversaturated with sadness, the air can take no more. “No. I am not one of the Fallen. I am just an Omega who was ripped from my Beta family by Mirage City Alphas after I ascended and was brought to the Fates for their use. I was not strong enough to fight them. No single Omega is. And I have only the gift of sight.”“That is what I told the Fates. They do not know that I possess this ability. Say nothing of it. I only have moments left to live. I’ve been saving all of my strength for this. For you.”“They took my legs for the blood. With it, they can prolong their own lives by stealing my life force.”“The blood also binds us. They can hear everything you say and see everything you do. They have stolen my eyes and now, see through them.”
“Who?” I shout, startled. I look over my shoulder. Nobody there but Fear. And she’s close. Close enough to touch. Must mean Pain’s nearby, too.
“Do not respond out loud. Just listen.”“The Fates, of course. They want to rewrite the world and bend it to their will.”
“You keep saying the Fates,” I say, voice shaking. “But what about the Mirage City Berserker? He controls them and he wouldn’t want to get rid of Alphas. Unless he wants to take all of Gatamora for himself…”
The man just smiles. “Yes, of course. I misspoke.”“There is no Mirage City Berserker.”He groans in pain, his chest heaving. The light flickers wildly and I jerk back and suddenly I’m not in the cave anymore. I’m back in the garden, back in Dark City, back at Dragnovic Manor attending my own stupid Omega Ball moments before the world went to shit. I’m standing on high ground looking down at a bridge and my Berserker standing on it next to the Shadowlands Berserker. All Four Fates walk towards him past me, ignoring my presence.
And then I blink and I’m no longer on the hill, I’m down on the bridge and the Four Fates and the Berserkers are gone, no longer walking towards me, but the man from the cave is there. The Omega Ball behind him is entirely empty beneath my brightly lit flowery dome.
“Earth Omega, I am sorry to have to meet you here, but we are being watched,” he says. His voice echoes here, where it shouldn’t, even though back in the cave it does not.
“Where…where are we?”
“We are in the past. At the moment the Fates tempted your Berserker to betray you and succeeded.”
“Betray me?” I feel slow. Confused… And then I hear a slight tinkling sound and look down to see the loose end of a chain that Adam told me he’d never make me wear again, and then locked me into. My stomach sours and becomes weighted.
“How did they sway him?” I ask.
“They gave him visions of the future…” He runs his hand back over his hair, which is silky smooth and full. His dark brown or maybe black locks cascade to his shoulders, which are full and cloaked in regal reds and blues. He inhales and then releases the breath in a gale, unburdened by it. Unburdened by something. “False visions, to be sure, but even false prophecies hold power.”
His gaze flicks to mine and in this light, I can see that his eyes aren’t brown at all but the brightest green, brighter than emeralds. “The Fated Omegas do not have the gift of sight, so they steal mine. That is why I am still alive. But not for much longer. They discovered my lies in a previous prophecy I told and cast me out. My final submission to them is calling for you through your dreams, luring you into this trap here in this cave.”
A dagger of ice pierces my heart even though I know it shouldn’t. Some part of me had known that this was a trap already. “To kill me?”
“Yes.”
I take a step back.
He matches my retreat with a step of his own and his feet move in perfect sync with mine, as if he’d known I’d move before I did. “I’m not the one they sent to kill you. By setting the trap, my part has been played.” He takes another step. A wandering flower crunches under his velvet shoe. He looks down at it and says, “This garden that you created is lovely, by the way.”
“What are we doing here then? Stalling? Waiting for my executioner to arrive?”
“No. What the Fates don’t know is that this trap isn’t only for you.” His green eyes flash with fire and wickedness. He grips the railing of the bridge in one hand, brown fingers appearing alien and gaunt, shadows stretching over us. The lights of my Omega Ball go out. “This is my last act of resistance.
I had a vision once at the very beginning, right when I ascended, right when the Fates first got to me. I saw their rise to power. I saw the fall of the Berserkers, the fall of the Alphas. I saw the grey, diseased wasteland of Paradise Hole spread and watched cities grow smaller and smaller. I saw Beta children culled from their families in even greater numbers as the Fated became obsessive and desperate in their search for the Fallen. I saw Alphas kept in chains and used for breeding or killed in genocidal numbers. I saw Omegas with wild powers come and go, killed by the Fates to create powers even more colossal and violent and monstrous.
“I saw a rule unending, one where the Fallen had no chance because they could never overcome Fates who draw on centuries-old powers harvested from dead Omegas. I saw the end of civilization and an unending madness.
“And I saw you. Your Berserker fell at your side, dying to protect you. You died at his side, regardless. I did not see Freya in this vision. She abandoned you and you died alone, hand reaching for your Adam, but unable to touch him. This is what the Fates told your Berserker on this night.” He gestures around at the world with one hand and the shadows his body creates flicker wildly in the dark. I’m frightened, but Fear doesn’t make an appearance. She must be even more frightened ofhim.
“He is a weak male and he believed them. He did not know it, but by believing the Fates and the prophecy they foretold, he took the first step towards realizing it. He locked you in chains.” The chain at my neck tightens. “He abused your love.”
“I don’t love…”
