Page 3698 -- CCCIV.

Chapter Three Hundred Four: ‘Awakening of the Sun...’
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Abbas Saqqaf groaned as his eyes eased open. They resisted. They wanted to stay closed. And he wanted to let them, too. But in his gut, he knew he couldn’t. He knew something was amiss.

He tried to sit up and encountered more resistance there. He pushed through that, too.

He found a dimly lit room around him. A bed beneath him. The smell of morning dew in the air.

“There you are,” came a voice on his left. “Welcome back.”

It was the Lord of Warrenhold sitting there, he realized between blinks. The young black man had a grip on Abbas’ forearm. Instinctually, he wanted to ask why, but when he laid eyes on the glowing object in Hector’s other hand, he became much more interested in that.

The Living Core. Hector was holding it. Hector was using it.

Abbas stared.

“Your family has been worried about you,” said Hector, letting go of him, “but not as much as they would have been, if they knew just how close you and Worwal came to killing yourselves. Before I let anyone else in here, you and I need to have a talk.”

Worwal? Ah, there he was on the right. To his eyes, reapers were regal horned lizards with ethereal black-and-white flames tracing the outlines of their bodies.

‘It seems we’ve upset our host,’ said Worwal.

“I’m not mad,” said Hector, sounding quite mad. “But this thing you’ve created is incredibly dangerous. I wish you would’ve at least told me more about it before actually trying to forge it.”

Ah...

Abbas had to clear his throat before speaking. “Yes, well... with the benefit of hindsight, I would have to agree. It did not seem such a dangerous idea at the time...”

“Creating a living, thinking interface didn’t seem that dangerous?” said Hector.

The doubt in the young man’s voice made Abbas feel suddenly defensive, but he had to ask something else first. “What have you learned of it so far?”

“Oh, quite a bit,” said Hector. “I’ve learned that it’s capable of making moral judgments. I’ve learned that it can influence you emotionally. I’ve learned that it can manipulate soul power and ardor. But most importantly, I’ve learned that, personality-wise, it’s kind of a dick.”

Abbas almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Almost.

When dealing with this particular person, Abbas was somehow beginning to feel as though incredulity was to be expected.