You drink voidfish ichor for a second time, and as you look around the room at everyoneâs faces, you remember the last time you saw them
Not the last time you saw these faces--youâve been seeing those for over a year, now, and theyâre practically pointless--you remember, rather, the last time you saw the people you spent a century with;
Lucretia, sad and anxious but not nearly so haunted as she is now;
Davenport, that stoic look returning as he realizes youâve all caused a new war, and itâs on his face more often than it has been in the past few decades;
Merle, coaxing you to join his personal dancing classes--heâs trying to lighten the mood, but you refuse;
Magnus, joining you on some of your searches for Lup, knowing heâs not very handy for your quick sweeps but wanting to help anyway;
This umbrastaff, in her hands, the last time you saw her;
and Barry, smiling as he falls, chest splitting with a wound you inflicted--
You killed him and he haunted you. And you couldnât even do the courtesy of recognizing his skull.
And Lup is dead and she haunted you too, the last of her memory casting flames from your umbrella.
You all died there, ten years ago, on that ship. You all died and youâve been haunting these shells of people, this planet thatâs been dust since long before the Hungerâs assault began,
and you point her staff at your killer.
âTen,â you say, your voice cracking. âNine.â