The route back to the safe-place was difficult. The latest earthquake had been the worse yet, and it had had significant effect on the castle.

  Hallways were blocked by collapses. Bridges had crumbled and fallen. Some areas were entirely missing, towers and walkways having slipped off and fallen to the jungle far below, only ragged holes and tears of stone remaining where they had stood.

  The first major issue was that the stairway they would normally use to gain entrance to the interior of the bastion was blocked, the entire thing collapsed and full of stone. The group was also somewhat weighed down, as he’d stripped bionic limbs and valuable components, such as sensor pieces and reactor cores, from the Cyborgs. Once more he found himself with reason to be glad he had the group. He wouldn’t have been able to carry all the Cyborgs components, their guns and ammo, and Maxine’s radio equipment, all on his lonesome. Sometimes the most mundane benefits proved the most important.

  As Nicolai and the others circled, looking for another way, they found continuous obstacles. During this time he noted that the bastion across the way seemed to have fared better. He could spy a bridge that led from their side, to the other side, then another intact bridge on the other side would take them close to where the safe-place was, allowing them to avoid the collapse blocking the route on their side.

  The bridge was open and exposed, but their only option. Nicolai and the others headed across the bridge to the far bastion, and at this point weren’t too far off from the tunnel. At Azure’s urging, they performed a quick deviation to the old safe-place.

  To Nicolai’s surprise John and Cait were both there. The two emerged from the tunnel as they arrived.

  ‘You came!’ said Cait, a smile lighting up her face, surprised but pleased. She was carrying a bag in one hand, and the delivery drone in the other.

  John strode immediately toward Azure, the two crushing together in a hug. Azure buried her face in her fathers chest as he held her tenderly. She showed none of the embarrassment she had last time at the public display of affection. Nicolai could make out some of her quiet words, ‘—so worried—.’

  Maxine and Daksh were standing to the side, out of the way, and talking quietly.

  It seemed that all was well in the world. Looking at the group, his Mask was smiling. I’m doing well looking after them. They were like his pets, in a way. It was the duty of a good owner to take care of the creatures under his care.

  ‘What happened down there?’ he asked Cait. She and John were both covered in dust, suggesting the mine and prisons hadn’t been spared from the collapse. As his Soul Sense played over them, he found their Seeds. Both of them were almost complete, by his judgement, but not quite.

  ‘Everything was falling apart,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘I think the mine’s are done for. Bugs everywhere, too. It’s a warzone.’

  Nicolai nodded. Much as expected, then.

  ‘Were you two down in the prisons?’ asked Maxine with interest, coming forward.

  ‘That’s right,’ said Cait, giving the short woman a strange look. ‘You sound familiar. Wait… are you…?’

  ‘Maxine,’ said the smiling Radio woman, extending a hand.

  ‘And I’m Daksh, I’ve heard all about you,’ said the man, stepping up after her.

  ‘You’ve been busy,’ said John with surprise, as Cait shook with Maxine and then Daksh. Her eyes were wide, seeming almost star-struck.

  ‘It was me and Perro’s idea, mostly,’ said a smug Azure, one arm still wrapped around her father.

  ‘I imagine someone else did the heavy lifting,’ murmured John, shooting Nicolai a thoughtful look.

  ‘Merely working to improve our stock,’ he answered blithely. ‘Here,’ he said, shrugging an SMG off his shoulder and handing it to John, glad to be lighten his load alongside the pretence of helpfulness. He now carried an assault rifle and sniper rifle alongside his AA-12, and had given the other assault rifle to Beth. In total he’d gained two assault rifles and two snipers, both better than the old bolt action rifles, after returning to Maxine’s tower. Jo had the other new sniper.

  He was excessively pleased by these gains. Both the assault rifles and snipers had a Trade Link price tag of 20,000 points each, meaning he had gained the equivalent value of 80,000 points in equipment from the Cyborgs. He’d been surprised to find the snipers, but he imagined the injured one had been unable to carry the quite bulky and weighty weapons. They’d been left, because the Cyborgs had expected to come back for them. They hadn’t imagined they were going to their deaths; few people made plans for that particular possibility.

  ‘Thanks,’ said John, taking the SMG.

  Nicolai gave him a nod then moved on, casting an expectant look at the bag in Cait’s hand. She raised her eyebrows but handed it over. It was good weight, bulging with Oma crystals.

  ‘What about the prisoners?’ he asked.

  Cait shrugged. ‘Don’t know. Last time we saw them, before it all went crazy, they were fine. Whether that’s still the case… who knows.’

  ‘How was their Seed progress?’

  ‘Almost there,’ she said. ‘We stopped feeding their Seeds when they got to about eighty percent, as you said to.’

  Nicolai nodded. He’d observed previously that a Seed could be integrated earlier than one hundred percent, at around ninety, so had chosen eighty as a safe cut-off point. When he had time, he would seek to go down into the prison and see if they still lived. If so, he should be able to get them to at least ninety relatively quickly.

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  In a short time they’d all sorted themselves out and the group continued, winding through the castle, and this time they managed to find their way back to the safe-place.

  Everyone was tired, and the moment they were through the hole in the wall they were dumping what they’d been carrying. At the stairs up to the safe place, faces peered out. Sara, Katie, old Ben. The old man emerged, carrying an SMG, smiling, relieved, the others following behind. His eyes widened when he saw Maxine, and he glanced at the others, questioning. Daksh approached him, looking to explain.

  Nicolai’s eyes flicked around, watching for threats, finding none. Everything was fine. But then he felt a sudden chill in the air, and his brows drew into a frown.

  There came a ripple in the aura.

  His eyes were drawn to a corner where the shadows were strangely deep. ‘Cold here, isn’t it?’ spoke someone. Nicolai’s lips drew back in a snarl as he felt its emergence.

  Angry dark flared in the corner of the room, causing the others to turn in surprise.

  The True Demon Paxolnaz stood before them, towering to the ceiling, chains writhing around it.

  The others cried in horror and the cries only grew as a palpable wave of dread rolled out from the demon, crashing through the room, instantly breaking Nicolai’s Soul Sense.

  Rage boiled up inside of him. He recognised this enemy, and the dark that remained his hated what the demon had done last time. Stripped them of agency. Infected them with fear, the same fear that was now tearing through them.

  Not again. Nicolai’s teeth grit and ground, veins standing out on his face as he struggled with his locked-up body. His knees hit the floor. Snarling and spitting he tried to move, tried to stand. He could hear the others wailing in terror, full up of that same primal fear he battled with.

  Now, he felt the change within him. Where some of the dark, the true dark that had always been with him, resisted and hated the Demon… there were now also parts of it that were subservient. That wished to bend the knee. Within him, the dark tore itself apart into warring pieces.

  Everything in him teetered, balanced on the razor’s edge. Nicolai didn’t know whether he was winning or losing, all he knew was that he had to resist, that he refused to lose again. He attempted to assist the dark that was resisting, straining to flex his frozen Soul and give it more power.

  He let out gasp of air as all of a sudden the thing he was fighting against disappeared, retracted by the Demon. As it moved away, he saw it clearly, glimpsing it in the moment before it returned into the demon. A cloud of spiritual dark infused with willpower. The demon’s Soul Sense, one that felt far different to his own. A sneering, contemptuous sea of jagged, hungry dark. A sea that was strangely textured and shaped, but in a way that spoke of a kind of alien sophistication. A higher level.

  ‘I have returned to complete our deal,’ said Paxolnaz, its gaze settling onto him. The bloody burn of its eyes seemed to narrow. ‘You have removed what I gifted you. Why?’

  ‘The bit of yourself you left in me?’ Nicolai said, knowing what it spoke of. The little worm it had left in him along with the instructions for reaching the sword, which Cyberwarfare had found. He forced himself to match its stare, even as it made his eyes ache. He shoved himself to his feet, and strained to change his expression into one of calm indifference.

  ‘That wasn’t a gift. It was a spy.’

  The Demon let out a chuckle that rolled around the room, echoing off the walls.

  Glancing to the side, Nicolai saw the others staring at it, cringing on the floor. He didn’t want them to witness him and the Demon talking. It wasn’t good for his image. Though, at least it shouldn’t be able to harm them as he’d specified it would not be able to harm his dependants, and the group counted.

  ‘Everyone out,’ said Nicolai. ‘Up the stairs.’ He finished speaking but his Link remained active, as he sent a follow-up warning over Local. ‘It is dangerous here, this creature might kill you all.’

  They all gathered, eyes round with worry, making towards the stairway.

  That was when Paxolnaz spoke again.

  ‘No. They stay.’ Nicolai saw the demon wave a writhing limb and heard yelling from behind, his gaze snapping back to see a wall of fire now filling the entrance to the stairway. Paxolnaz didn’t give him time to protest, as it continued to speak.

  ‘I thought you might remove it. But even so, bad behaviour must be punished. I am amending our Contract.’

  Nicolai’s eyes widened. What?! That was possible? This was very bad. Could he kill the Demon? No. Could he escape from whatever it was about to do? Unlikely. Probably impossible. So what could he do?

  Nothing. The thought made his teeth clench and his stomach boil, the darkness writhing out of its cage and sending tendrils through him, not supplanting him but merging with him, becoming a whole. His Soul Sense shivered and twisted around him, turning red and dark, twisted like the demon’s. His Soul bulged, writhing over his skin. How he would love to destroy it, to annihilate it. But we are too weak. But one day, we won’t be…

  ‘Ahhhh,’ seethed Paxolnaz. ‘There it is, there you are. So close to perfection. Just a little in the way. Do not worry overmuch, little demon. I only wish to aid you.’

  Nicolai shook his head like a dog, fighting at the dark. He could feel that the hole was opening and alien energies were spreading through him. All of this only aided the—no. Quiet. His will clenched like a vice, seizing at the warping cage. He made his mind blank, eyeing Paxolnaz, considering the possibility of it being able to hear his thoughts.

  From within the dark bulk of the True Demon, something glowed. The glow brightened then something shimmering with a gentle golden radiance emerged.

  It was a woman’s head, formed of gold, and only about the size of Nicolai’s fist. Its eyes were blinded, wrapped by a strip of cloth. From the taste of the ripples of Aura it released he recognised it as a Symbiote. From one of the green orbs of information in his Soul, one that unfolded when he set eyes upon the Symbiote, he learned that, more specifically, it was a Heaven path Symbiote. His eyes widened at the sight. It was exactly the kind of thing he needed.

  The golden head’s glow intensified, and the strip of cloth on its face lifted. Just a peek. A sliver of one golden eye was revealed, settling onto Nicolai, who tensed, wary. The thrill had awoken and was swelling through him, preparing for the fight, and Nicolai dimly remembered being Zero-Twelve. His Soul became something tight and sleek and ready, even the dark falling into place, a furnace feeding into the thrill. Not at the same level,

  He felt an odd sensation from the Heaven’s Mark on his hand, reaching into his body, into his Soul. A pulling sensation, a nasty itch. He raised his hand and stared at the gold Mark, which was rippling. Tiny words of gold were being pulled out of his Mark, and they flew through the air, a mass of them that hummed around like golden honeybees. At the same time, similar golden words emerged from Paxolnaz.

  All of these words met between them, joined together and settled before the golden head. The head opened its mouth and sucked, and the words began to be pulled into it.

  Nicolai sensed the Demon’s will, its Soul Sense, moving out and wrapping around the Symbiote, like smart and flexible hands at work on a complex tool, twisting tiny dials, pulling levers, pressing buttons. It looked like a complex process.

  The demon seemed to expect that he should be stunned at this moment, frozen with fear like the others, but in his current state of mind its influence on him was lessened.

  Nicolai threw his Soul Sense out and it slammed into the process like a tiny hammer.