Lightning Destroyer: Book Three in the Lightning Seeker Series ***
Highest Rank #151 Dystopian--- With Vale taken by the ruler of the AI's, Sky and Dash are at a stalemate. Taking up with unlikely allies, they set out to get her back before she can...
"You haven't been sleeping," Kebar said, sharp blue eyes glancing up at Vale as she entered the observation room. She hadn't bothered covering up the bruises under her eyes. It would imply she had something to hide, something she couldn't afford to do.
Kebar's eyes went back to the screens and it took all of Vale's self-control to continue walking toward him when she spotted herself on one of the screens from the night of the party. Panic rose inside, terrifying and threatening to unravel what little calm Vale had managed to scrounge up since the night she met Dash.
"I see you've met someone," Kebar's voice was terrifyingly calm. Almost a whisper in the otherwise quiet room filled with screens that overlooked the world. The room was called "The Eyes," and Kebar could often be found inside, assessing that the world was following the protocols that his ancestors had set in place. Very few things went unseen.
What has he seen?
Kebar motioned for Vale to sit in the only other chair in the room. It was her second clue that something was wrong. Kebar was very often surrounded by others. If he wanted to speak with her alone, then she had already failed whatever test he had set up. For that was his favorite thing. To set up impossible tests to see how quickly one fell and cracked into pieces.
Vale gathered her skirts, annoyed that she was still subjected to such large material around her legs, and sat down attempting the straight back, graceful posture that the elites were known for. Vale stayed silent as Kebar continued to look at the screens. Answering his unspoken questions was something she refused to do.
If he was going to accuse her of something, better to have him give her the details of her supposed crimes. The silence stretched, growing taught as billions of faces around the world came and went across the screens. The AI's were more than just helpers in people's homes. They were the eyes and ears of Kebar.
A memory prickled in the back of Vale's mind and she had to stifle a smile. It was no wonder why Mortem was so paranoid of all things technology. The room always made Vale uneasy. Prickling at a part of her that had been dormant.
Kebar's fingers brushed across the keys on a small screen at the base of a keystand in the center of the room and Vale had to close her mouth to keep herself from audibly gasping. Dash's face suddenly flashed across every screen. Green eyes bright as he smiled, black hair glistening in the moonlight.
The sight of him made Vale's chest ache. Both from panic and from want.
"I see you've met my grandson," Kebar said watching Vale's face.
The air left the room. Vale couldn't breathe as she looked at Kebar. "Grandson?" she whispered.
Kebar laughed, amused. "Of course. You don't think I'd allow some miscreant near you? Some wild child of the rebellion. That is Dashell Devinus, second heir to my empire."
Kebar hit another part of the screen and footage of dozens of Dash's began to move, each one doing something different. Some flew through the night sky, metal legs glistening, bright from the fire at his boots. Others crouched in broken streets, wrapping bandages around strangers' wounds, while others threw their heads back, laughing, faces being kissed by the sun. "He has a habit of playing at a rebel."
The screens suddenly went dark, leaving the room mostly black. Only a small ring of light from the floor remained, silhouetting Kebar as he watched Vale. "But I assure you, he was only acting under my request. A test. To see if you had truly come back to us."
Vale's heart hammered wildly. Dash? Kebar's grandson? A test? A part of the empire that he swears he is trying to destroy? He tricked me?
Vale, hid her shaking hands in the pockets of her deep blue skirts, hoping to hide the trembling that tried to work its way up her arms. "You say he is the second heir," Vale said quietly, her mind caught on a detail that seemed to snag at a set of unanswered questions in her mind. "Who is the first?" She ignored Dash's lie. She wasn't sure whether to believe Kebar. Everything was a game.
Kebar smiled, a sharp, glistening vicious thing. A smile that told Vale she had asked the question he had hoped for. Even when she tried to avoid the questions he wanted, she always managed to fall right into his game.
Kebar's fingers fluttered across the glass again, and a new face flashed across the screens. One of a boy with hair woven of gold that fluttered wildly in the wind and eyes the color of the sky, which matched Kebar's.
I know him... Sky... How did I forget you?
The sight of him seemed to shatter something inside Vale's mind. Fluttering images across her vision, swirling with emotions and memories that seemed to cut instead of answer questions. The sight of Sky hurt. A comfort turned into a vicious torture.
"Sky Devinus, first heir to my empire," Kebar said, impossible to see beyond the images that continued to eat at Vale's sanity. Her skull felt ready to combust.
Vale didn't realize she had fallen until her knees began to throb below her. "What... who.... What did you do?" she hissed, fingers digging into her scalp, the pain cracking down her mind.
"Reminding you..." Kebar said, his voice suddenly close, a whisper against her ear. "Of what happens when you forget where you belong. You are to marry one of my heirs. You are to be my knife. To be the weapon that brings the rebellion to an end."
Vale began to shake as the memories of Sky vanished, returning her vision to the dim room, the Room of The Eyes. She blinked back tears as the pain vanished, making her relieved that she could no longer picture Sky. The boy who had once meant something to her. The boy she was destined to unite with. She felt ashamed that the lack of him in her mind had taken away the pain. That her mind chose peace of seeing him.
"And before you believe that there is another path for you, know that I have planned for their... hobby," Kebar continued. "I know how to pull my grandson's back to me when I am ready for their part in this. They only have their freedom because I've allowed it. Because I am breaking you first. The more you fight me, the more of your memories I will take. Until there is nothing left of you but a shell that resembles Vale. Do not mistake me. The Rebellion has no power. Only the illusion of what I have allowed."
Kebar stood up and turned on the screens again, waving his hand through the air as the lives of millions flickered to life on the screens again. Their lives suddenly looked so fragile, so temporary. So easily destroyed. "Let them have their fun. It will be over soon."
Then Kebar left the room, leaving Vale trembling on the ground, feeling more broken than when she had first lost her arm.
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Will Vale be able to survive Kebar?
Will she believe that Dash is actually working at Kebar's request? Will Kebar erase all memories of Sky?
Will she be able to take Kebar or her father down? Or will Mortem have to do it?
Will Mortem agree to lead the society? How will that go?
What will happen next?
Chapter Question: What is your all-time favorite Sci-Fi series?
