“No,” I whispered, “Let them think me dead.”
Levenson raised an eyebrow but didn’t push the matter. He didn’t understand. I couldn’t afford the luxury of friends or family. I needed to cast myself free from them. It wasn’t that I thought that they would be safer, although that was true. It was simply that I couldn’t be who I needed to be while they were still a part of my life.
“Come, let’s get to work.” I said as I steeled my heart against the coming storm.
* * * * * *
Over the next few months I learned to walk again without assistance. As I had predicted the effort of keeping myself mobile had dwindled into a negligible amount. Most of the time I didn’t even think about keeping the field around me active, if I needed to walk somewhere the mana flowed to the required limb and I walked.
I would never be as graceful or as balanced as I had once been. I would never have the same control over myself that I had had as a boy. Those days were gone. That wasn’t the point. I wasn’t some boy attempting to take over the world in some damned fool quest. I was a Mage. I had been blooded and tested and broken. I had been remade anew in a crucible that would have broken most men. I refused to let my past actions dominate my future. I refused to let who I was dominate who I needed to be.
Our kind were sick. We had become irrevocably damaged. Perhaps we had always been a ticking time bomb – a time-bomb set to take out our species as a whole. For hundreds of years we had been quietly getting stronger and more arrogant. Our minds had been twisted with delight at our own power. We recognised nothing but strength and reacted only in anger when our will was thwarted.
I knew that Levenson wanted me to be a general, to lead troops into the battle, but that couldn’t be my role. I could play at it, but in truth I was to be an assassin.
If mankind was to survive this war, then my kind could not. My hand had led to this war; my hand would end it. One by one my kind will fall before me. I could only hope that I was strong enough. There is no greater defeat in this world than to surrender to your hatred. I had finally let mine consume me.
To be continued
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As an avid science fiction and fantasy reader Christopher George has been immersing himself in books from a young age. In 2004 Christopher completed his Bachelor of Multimedia at Monash University and has been working as an IT professional ever since. He currently lives in Melbourne with his partner, her daughter and three cats.
For more information about the book and the series go to
www.christophergeorgenovels.com
or like him on Facebook.
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