Jak Koke - Clockwork asylum

Lethe continued to follow him. "Where are you going, Billy?"

"Go away. I'm going to rest. I'm so tired."

Lethe thought about it for a moment. There had to be something that would draw Burnout's soul back to his metal body, something this young boy would find enticing.

Then it came to him.

"Billy, you want to see a magic place?"

The small figure stopped. Turned. For a moment, Lethe could see the excitement behind the exhaustion in the boy's eyes. Then a look of suspicion crossed the young face. "What magic place?"

Lethe came up close. "There is a place in the meta-planes, a spike of mana. There's so much magic there that it fills your whole spirit."

Billy's eyes narrowed. "I've heard of that place. A lot of people died there. What's the magic in dying? I mean, if you're dead, how're you going to enjoy it?"

Lethe laughed. "Billy, I can show you a side to that place that very few people ever get to see."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Look." Lethe formed an image of Thayla in his mind. He drew from his memory of her song, of the sheer perfection of her beautiful magic. He showed Billy the power of the white light that radiated from her.

The small boy drew breath as the vision took him.

After a minute, the vision faded.

The boy looked up at Lethe. "You've been to this place?"

Lethe nodded.

"And this is a real place, not just something you made up?"

Again, Lethe nodded.

"It's wonderful."

Lethe laughed. "Yes, it is. Would you like to see it?"

A small fire seemed to light behind the weary eyes. "You could take me there?"

"We can only go together. You have to come back with me, back the way you came."

The small boy looked upward, his eyes trailing the silver cord that stretched out of sight into the darkness overhead. Then he looked downward, in the direction he'd been heading, and such longing filled the boy's eyes that it made Lethe's heart hurt.

"But I'm so tired," said Billy, in a tiny, child's whisper.

"I know you are, Billy. But this place is worth it. I promise."

They stood there like that for a moment, then Billy looked up and faced Lethe. "All right, if you promise." Together they struggled back up along the silver strand.

Ryan woke to the sound of crickets.

For a long moment, he didn't open his eyes, he simply savored the feeling of clean sheets beneath him and the smell of fresh air.

Even the dull pain in his chest and on his hands and face was welcome.

I'm alive.

He opened his eyes to silvery moonlight peeking through the miniblinds. The window was open, and the blinds rocked gently in the soft breeze blowing into the room.

Ryan felt good. Sore, tired, spent, but good nonetheless.

He was in one of the small guest rooms in the mansion's west wing, the walls were a soft magenta with oak wainscoting stretching up from the floor for about a meter.

A nice, simple room, compared to the luxury of the rest of the place. It suited Ryan just fine.

Ryan turned to the oak night stand next to the bed, and there, lying on a cushioned bed of real velvet, was the Dragon Heart. Ryan could feel its power, feel the pulse that drew him to it like the proverbial moth to the all-consuming flame.

Ryan stretched out a bandaged hand and clumsily grasped the Heart. He pulled it to his chest.

With a thought, he tapped into its power. Instantly, he felt the healing of his body accelerate at such a rapid rate that he found himself sitting upright without any complaint from his chest.

Ryan looked down and saw a piece of elegant stationery resting next to the velvet.

With care, Ryan peeled the bandages off his left hand. Even though the skin of his hand was fully healed, small, circular scars remained. He felt his face. It was covered in bandages as well.

He picked up the paper. There was a note inside, and he recognized the handwriting immediately. He leaned back against the pillows and read the flowing script.

My sweet Ryan,

I hope I am able to be there when you wake, but if not, I wanted you to know how much I love you, Ryan Mercury. I love you more than I can say, more than I will ever be able to express. v There are still dark days ahead, for both of us, but I know we will succeed. You have a mission that you must finish, I understand that, but even when the path seems dark, know this: there is one who loves you more than life itself.

I'll wait for you, Ryan. Unfaltering, unwavering, because I know you will return, just as I knew you would come for me in the arboretum.

With all my love, Nadja.

Ryan smiled, feeling the tightness of his newly healed skin.

He looked down at the Dragon Heart and thought about Nadja's words. She wasn't completely correct. He didn't have to leave if he didn't want to.

Ryan felt the Heart's power fill him.

I could keep it.

The idea made him giddy, just as it had the last time. When he had been consumed by Roxborough's personality and had decided to keep the Heart. To have all this power at his command, the wonders he could do.

Then, without bidding it, Miranda's face slipped into his mind. Her final request had been to make sure her sacrifice had meant something, that all the ruin and destruction hadn't been for nothing.

Ryan knew he was more than a little responsible for her death. He looked down at the new scar tissue on his hand, and that hand balled into a fist. Those scars brought the image of Nadja, soaking wet, nearly killed because of Burnout's desire for the Heart.

And my own.

As long as he kept it, he knew that wouldn't stop. There would always be those who desired it, and one day someone would come along with enough power to take it away from him.

Then it would all have been for nothing.

Ryan felt the Dragon Heart's power wane inside him. With it, his desire to possess the artifact faded as well.

Ryan looked out the window at the beautiful sunshine.

"Don't worry, Dunkelzahn, you're going to get your way, as usual. Even dead, you're still going to get your way. But there's a difference this time, you bastard. I'm not doing this for you anymore. I'm not doing this for some holy crusade to save the fragging world either. I'm doing this for me, Dunkelzahn. You hear me? I'm going to finish this thing for me, and for everything and everyone I hold dear."

Ryan smiled to himself. "But you knew that, didn't you, old wyrm? You knew this would be the only way I'd take on the mission. By making it my own."

Ryan carefully set the Dragon Heart back on its velvet bed, and watched the breeze gently rock the blinds. "Be at peace, you old lizard."

Ryan smiled, as a single tear fell from his eye to be quickly absorbed in the bandages on his face. "I miss you."

The steady drizzle of rain spread a glossy sheen over the mirrored glass skyscrapers of Wonderland City. Alice brooded, her head bent as she watched the ground, seeing the reflection of the buildings in the shiny black of the street.

She stopped suddenly, taking a long drag from her cigarette. She gave up, admitting to herself that she didn't know what to do. I need outside counsel.

Wonderland placed the call for her.

"Hello?" came the man's voice, remarkably alert considering what he had been through. And his image came on-line. White bandages covered his head and face, though his silver-flecked blue eyes shone like glittering jewels.

"Ryan," Alice said. "Are you all right?"

"I've seen better days."

"I need your advice."

"You need my advice?"

"I don't know what to do with Rox."

"What have you done already?"

Alice told him about locking Roxborough in Wonderland, about torturing him with his own disease, and when she was finished, Ryan sank back into the pillows of the bed he was in.