Chapter 41: Jak
Jak stood on the walkway, shaking, his head in such agony that he couldn’t move. He felt Tessa’s arms around him, holding him as he held her. She was so small, so delicate looking, yet so strong in every way that counted. Just the feel of her in his arms grounded him.
"Neck," he gasped. "Don’t let me fall."
"I’ve got you."
Through light that stabbed his eyes, Jak saw Toko on the gold throne of the Overlord, watched as the boy took the crown from Kamura and ripped out a circlet of the worm stuff. This was the God Core? It didn’t look like much. Tossing the elaborate metalwork down among the priests below him, the boy slipped the plain black circlet on his head. It flowed. It moved. It melded with Toko.
Near them, the remaining Selok host body, screamed and convulsed in agony.
"It’s alright," Tessa said. "We’re going to be okay."
But Jak could barely hear through the roaring in his head. Memories assaulted him, all alien memories. The hive, the egg chambers, host bodies, all of it strange to him, yet all of it eerily familiar.
There was a pulse.
It was a heartbeat, a deep breath, an awakening; it was all those things, yet none of them. Jak could feel it now. That thing on Toko’s head, the God Core; it wasn’t a connector, it wasn’t an enhancer, it was an interface, an interface to the entire Black Palace, to every artifact of Selok making across the entire planet. And now Toko was at its core. He was the nexus, the connection, the controller. And that was right. That was good. He straightened, breathing deeply for the first time in what seemed like hours. His pain faded, along with his fear, his confusion. This was good. This was right.
Most of all, it was right that Toko was Overlord of Shadriss.
Omniphage Invasion Page 41
