Chapter 166: Exoskeleton (1/2)

There was no convincing required for me to suck on the gas which knocked me out. If Jake, previously known as Pieter, wanted me dead he could have dropped the container in the sea. Hell, he could have left me at the Huan Estate.

Hours past and I woke in a haze of delirium. Mechanical whirring sounds reached my ears, and I could not focus my eyes; everything was a blur.

There was a garbled sound and only one word was clear, ”Under.” And then everything went black again.

One of the things about anaesthesia is the patient usually remembers nothing. Something about it stuffs around with your neural mechanisms which is intentional on the drugs part.

But not me.

I saw the ancient Chinese dude floating on a cloud again but just as he recognised me I was pulled away. He had the hide to smile and wave at me as I was sucked into another space.

A frog jumped and splashed - I was sitting next to a pond. I looked around and there was moss, rocks, mushrooms, and fungus all over the place. Then I saw her standing there staring at me in surprise. It was Mother.

”You are here,” she said, and her eyes twinkled with amusement.

”I guess I am. Where is here?”

She pointed and said, ”Look out in the distance what do you see?”

There was a green translucent film at the edge of the garden, but I could see past it and I recognised the grassy area and tree line immediately. It was the glade.

”I'm here?”

”I am just as surprised as you are.” She smiled and approached me. ”But I think I know how you came here. I added your core to the sacred willow this morning. It is now part of the land core.”

I stared at the pond. It only now hit me that I really died in the game. There was no coming back to my old body; I died, and they held a funeral for me.

”Do not worry,” she said softly. ”I think all will be well. And I have the pleasure of your company.”

I stood and looked down at myself. I was naked but it wasn't the Svartalfar me, it was the real me with one exception; I was translucent too. I was a ghost.

”How did you recognise me?” I asked.

”I know how you feel and who else could do this? You are one of a kind.”

”One of two don't you mean?”

”Maybe.”

My feet dangled in the pond. I could feel the cool waters or at least I think I could. I missed the carefree days when I stayed near the glade. There were always urgent matters taking us away but when I was here I was happiest. We'd train, run, eat, sleep, and of course bang like nymphomaniac rabbits.

”I miss it here,” I said.

She sat beside me and whispered softly to the tiny fish. ”Do no be afraid; no harm will come to you.”

I looked up at her and then across the rock pool. ”How is it so big in here? The tree is only a few feet wide.”

Her melodic laughed filled my ears. ”This is my domain. It is not as it seems.”

”This is where you disappear to. Do you sleep on the rocks?”

She shook her head. ”I watch and think. I do not need sleep; it is enough I am here.”

There was a light in the depths of the pond. ”Where does that go?”

”A meeting place for the Mothers.”