Page 1228

Hector blinked and stared at his hands. ‘I don’t understand...’

‘I do. We thought Haqq’s shield was destroyed, but it wasn’t. Rasalased absorbed it and returned it to you. Now you can materialize it from scratch. This must be what he was referring to when he said that you’d brought him a “gift.” Hmm. He did say that he sensed its “residue” in your soul. Must’ve been an effect of you using it. So then, I suppose, he figured that it belonged to you.’

‘But... that shield was... I mean, what was it even made of?’

‘The dark vertical stripes were tungsten carbide,’ Garovel recalled. ‘The rest of the shield was a combination of steel and titanium alloys. Or at least, that’s what Sazandara told us.’

‘So...’ That just made Hector even more confused. ‘So I’m able to materialize all of that stuff now?’

‘Seems like it.’

‘But, uh... what?’

‘Hmm. Try and make something with your left hand. Something that ISN’T the shield.’

A bit hesitant, Hector did so. His left hand tensed into a kind of claw-formation as he concentrated, and the result of his work materialized all at once.

It was the exact same shield again.

Hector frowned. He annihilated it and tried one more time, but the result was the same.

‘What were you trying to make?’ said Garovel.

‘Just a box,’ said Hector.

‘Hmm. So you can only make the shield, then.’

‘I guess so.’ He gave it another shot, just to be sure, but indeed, there was no change. The only object that he could materialize with his left hand--or with the left half of his brain, rather--appeared to be this shield. Haqq’s shield.