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Unfortunately, he didn't know how to respond. Defend himself? That would just sound like excuses. Apologize? And show further weakness? What would that accomplish? Hoping for mercy? Pointless.

He just had to keep in mind that Jercash needed him just as much he needed Jercash. All these mental games--the threats and manipulations--Jercash could only take them so far, since Lozaro was the only one of his subordinates who could use the Red Rift.

A quiet laugh escaped from beneath the Knife's thick mustache. "You wouldn't happen to be thinking that you're... irreplaceable, now would you?"

Lozaro's blood ran cold.

"Loz, Loz, Loz... Shame on you. You're more than old enough to have learned this lesson by now, aren't you?" Jercash leaned in even closer, and the world around him began to distort in that familiarly horrific way. "Everyone is replaceable, my friend. So why don't you go ahead and start trying a little harder for me, hmm? Before I have to show you how upset you're making me."

And all the stars in the sky went dark as Lozaro began to see visions of himself filling the horizon. Countless instances. All screaming in agony., stretching and drowning in an ocean of madness.

Lozaro only wished that he could look away.

-+-+-+-+-

The Candle was burning, but not with fire.

It was ardor. It was life. It was awareness and concentration.

The flow was somehow even more pristine than when he'd started, but Abbas was of no mind to be marveling at the Candle's majesty, at the moment. Nor was the Candle itself of such a mind. It knew itself well enough. And it knew him, too.

They'd learned much about each other in these past few days. Perhaps that had been the stepping off point. The final breakthrough they'd needed.

Abbas Saqqaf understood that Cocora's Candle was a deeply flawed entity. Not the perfect masterwork deserving of endless reverence. He'd been a fool to have ever thought such. Inexperienced and ignorant. Childish, really.

He saw. And he understood. He held the truth in his hands.

No Fusion Forge was perfect. The term 'masterwork' only applied to them in the most informal sense.

It was so obvious to him now.

Their flaws were precisely what set them apart from one another.

The Candle being a petty, jealous, passive aggressive, gaslighting, inhuman monstrosity was a necessary element of its operation.

As was its desire to conceal all of those qualities from him.

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Had the Rift's power manifested already? The more he thought about some of the things he'd seen Jercash do, the more he began to wonder if perhaps--

Hmm? Where'd he go? Jercash had just been over there by a materialized building, talking to a group of Idkin, but now he was--

"Something botherin' you, Loz?"

Lozaro might have jumped out of his own skin, if not for the tickling notion in the back of his mind that Jercash was already behind him.

Again.

This was the third time the man had done this in as many weeks, and Lozaro still wasn't entirely sure how he was pulling it off. And yes, other servants of Jercash's level were known to be capable of such feats, so it wasn't necessarily the Rift's doing, but...

Whatever the case, he didn't have the luxury of dwelling on it right now.

"...No, sir," he said, forcing his voice to remain steady. He knew that Jercash took a certain pleasure in rattling him, so perhaps it was unwise to try and deny the man that indulgence, but he had his own pride to think of, too.

"No?" said Jercash, circling around to the left. "You sure about that?"

Lozaro could feel the Rift responding in unison with the man's words, the red glow reverberating seeming almost like a visual representation of his voice. Could Jercash not sense that, too? Perhaps it felt like nothing at all to him? Like the sound of his own voice in his head?

"...Why are you asking?" said Lozaro, still bracing himself.

"Mm, I dunno. Just a feeling I got. Like something's off with you. Like maybe you're a little distracted by something."

Ugh.

"I need you to stay on task, Loz. Things are coming to a head with this Intar business. Lotsa dice being rolled, at the moment. And you, pal? You're one of those dice." The man paused, perhaps to let Lozaro say something, but it didn't last long. "So why have you stopped rolling, hmm?"

Lozaro felt a shiver down his spine and tried to ignore. "I-I haven't, sir. But progress is--it's not always a linear path, you see. I assure you that, I'm doing all I can to--"

"Bullshit." Jercash was right up in his face now, hand on his shoulder. "You've stalled, Loz. Don't lie. I can tell."

Now that sounded like the Rift talking. Which was even more terrifying, Lozaro felt.

Next page tomorrow

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