{"id":1039,"date":"2024-12-24T19:28:34","date_gmt":"2024-12-25T00:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=1039"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:11:20","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:11:20","slug":"the-changeling-game-chapter-92","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/the-changeling-game-chapter-92\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 92"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\ntt {\nfont: .857em menlo, monaco, consolas, monospace;\nmargin: auto;\n}\nh2 {\ntext-align: center;\n}\nh2.chapterhead {\nmargin-bottom: 2em;\ntext-align: center;\n}\n  .nowrap {\n    text-indent: 0;\n    display: inline-block;\n}\n<\/style>\n<p><b>Title:<\/b> The Changeling Game <small>(Formerly <i>Identity Theft<\/i>)<\/small><br \/>\n<b>Author:<\/b> Ardath Rekha<br \/>\n<b>Chapter:<\/b> 92\/?<br \/>\n<b>Fandom:<\/b> <i>Pitch Black<\/i> (2000); <i>The Chronicles of Riddick<\/i> (2004); <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> (2004)<br \/>\n<b>Rating:<\/b> X<br \/>\n<b>Warnings:<\/b> Adult themes, controversial subject matter, harsh language<br \/>\n<b>Category:<\/b> Het<br \/>\n<b>Pairing:<\/b> Riddick\/Jack<br \/>\n<b>Summary:<\/b> With no other choices left, Kyra accepts Vaako\u2019s \u201cinvitation\u201d to join the Necromonger Armada\u2026 and discovers, too late, who is controlling it and what its true mission is.<br \/>\n<b>Disclaimer:<\/b> The characters and events of <i>Pitch Black,<\/i> <i>The Chronicles of Riddick,<\/i> and <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> are not mine, but belong to Universal Studios.  I just <i>wish<\/i> I were in charge of their fates.  No money is being made off of this.  I\u2019m writing strictly for love of the story.<br \/>\n<b>Feedback:<\/b> Absolutely, the more the better!  Shred me, whip me, beat me, make me feel grammatical! I post \u201crough,\u201d so I can always use the help. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<input type='hidden' bg_collapse_expand='6ae36d2f63f0b7040579242' value='6ae36d2f63f0b7040579242'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6ae36d2f63f0b7040579242' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6ae36d2f63f0b7040579242' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6ae36d2f63f0b7040579242' class='bg-showmore-plg-button bg-green-button  '   style=\" color:#D9ECFB;\">Long post is long. Click to read the story.<\/button><div id='bg-showmore-hidden-6ae36d2f63f0b7040579242' ><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">92.<br \/>\n<u>The Fall of the Black Fox<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDo not touch her!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">As one, the soldiers surrounding Kyra froze. Physically, anyway.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Their minds were still barraging her with thoughts of the vile things they wanted to do to her body, full of their excitement over how her warm, soft, living flesh would feel against them. She was trying to block those sick images from her head in preparation for the coming fight. She couldn\u2019t isomorph away from them\u2014in Elsewhere, she was surrounded by Crematoria\u2019s intense dawn inferno\u2014but she could isomorph <i>them,<\/i> or parts of them, as they came at her. Grab their <span class=\"nowrap\">weapons\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cStand down.\u201d The same male voice came again. \u201cGo to your duty stations. I will deal with her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Smoldering resentment filled the room for a moment, but the soldiers obeyed and filed past the man who, she realized, she\u2019d watched hoisting the Guv high into the air and then breaking her friend\u2019s back across his armored knee.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The Necro commander\u2019s hair was a dark red, almost black, and cut strangely, shaved on the sides and longer up top, with tight braids falling to midway down his back. His skin was pale and sickly-looking, his hazel eyes rimmed in red. He was about five inches taller than her and had at least eighty pounds on her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">One soldier stopped by him. \u201cMy Lord, I must protest. You are married. Surely you can give the men this <span class=\"nowrap\">breeder\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThis is no breeder,\u201d the \u201clord\u201d said, his gaze never wavering from her. \u201cYou saw her fight. She will be a magnificent Knight of the Legion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">For a moment the soldier was rendered speechless. His frown deepened. \u201cServing under you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHave a care what tone you take,\u201d For a moment, the \u201clord\u2019s\u201d gaze left her and he bent a frown upon his underling. \u201cShe will serve under my command if the Lord Marshal wills it. Try my patience again and I will give her a spear, and then we will see how she <i>serves you.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOn a platter,\u201d Kyra opined. She hated it when people talked about her like she wasn\u2019t even there. \u201cA <i>little<\/i> one. Could probably even fit both of you on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The \u201clord\u2019s\u201d mouth curled into an appreciative smile as he met her eyes. Then he turned another glare on his underling. \u201cLeave us now. Tend to your duties. If you or the others wish to see the Underverse, you will put aside your unworthy fantasies. Now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYes, my Lord.\u201d The other man stalked out of the room.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">For a moment there was silence. Kyra continued to study her possible opponent, trying to spot any signs of weakness. He held himself like a trained warrior, balanced and powerful even at rest. She could take him down, but not easily.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>But I can do <span class=\"nowrap\">it\u2026<\/span><\/i> Part of her wanted to just for what he\u2019d done to the Guv.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat is your name, girl?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cKyra.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He paused, waiting for her to say more. When she didn\u2019t, another small smile appeared on his face. \u201cWhere are you from, Kyra?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cEarth, originally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">His eyebrows went up. \u201cThere are very few in the \u2019verse who can make such a claim. Which sublight colony ship were you on?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe <i>New Christy Pilgrim.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He looked surprised, then thoughtful. Then, after a moment, she could swear she saw a lightbulb go on. \u201cThat makes you the Black Fox of Canaan Mountain, does it not?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>These Necros know about the New Christy Massacre? Crazy.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt does.\u201d No point in denying it. She\u2019d admit what she needed to; he wouldn\u2019t get any of her actual secrets from her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow did you come to be on Crematoria, Kyra Wittier-Collins? You and the other survivors of the massacre were exonerated some time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Well, that confirmed the conversation she\u2019d overheard Toombs and Logan having, anyway. \u201cI don\u2019t think that exoneration covers the seventeen men I killed on New Queensland.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Or the mercs she\u2019d killed on Tangiers Prime. But she would never tell anyone about that.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDo you like killing men, Kyra?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Weird question. \u201cYou got no idea what they did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat wasn\u2019t what I asked,\u201d he said, his expression calm and interested. \u201cDo you like killing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It had been, she thought, one of the few things that had calmed her in Crematoria whenever everything became too much: setting her sights on one of the nastiest of the men in the place, someone cruel and brutal and vile of mind, and destroying <span class=\"nowrap\">him\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYes. I do. And I\u2019m one of the best at it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He nodded, his small smile back. \u201cThen I am glad you came aboard. As I said before, you will make a magnificent Knight of the Legion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou want to make me a Necro?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe are Necro<i>mongers<\/i>. The dealers of death. There is no army that can stand before us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Except,<\/i> she thought, <i>an army of <span class=\"nowrap\">Riddick\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But he had fallen, too.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat do Necromongers do, exactly?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHumanity should never have spread as it did. It does not belong in this \u2019verse. We are cleansing the \u2019verse of the human infection so that all can be reborn in the Underverse. You can help us bring salvation to billions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Religious fuckery. She could hear it in his words, in his sudden pious tone. She hated religious fuckery.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Not like I can ask him to stop the ride and let me <span class=\"nowrap\">out\u2026<\/span> shit.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBy killing people?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAre you not one of the best at that?\u201d he countered, a tiny, challenging smile appearing on his lips.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI might be interested.\u201d Might not, though.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">His tiny smile grew by a fraction. \u201cCome. Let\u2019s get you cleaned up and fed. This ship is not equipped for conversions with no Purifier, and given your association with the Riddick, the Lord Marshal may wish to speak with you before you receive your marks. But I imagine you are tired and hungry after how hard you fought.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnd you\u2019re not?\u201d He\u2019d briefly seemed staggered by whatever had happened on the runway, but now he seemed cool as <span class=\"nowrap\">a\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026corpse\u2026?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou will find that, after you become one of us, the exertions that could deplete you as an ordinary <span class=\"nowrap\">human\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2014A<\/span> breeder,<\/i> his mind added, but she had the sense that the word carried a connotation of <span class=\"nowrap\">slavery\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u201c\u2014will<\/span> be trivial to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She wouldn\u2019t drop her guard, not completely. But this man was making an offer that had no small amount of appeal to it. She wondered if one day <i>she<\/i> might be able to break men over her knee, too. That thought did have its allure. \u201cOkay. What\u2019s <i>your<\/i> name?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cLord Vaako. Come, Kyra. It\u2019s time for you to begin your new life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It took them only a little over two days to reach Helion Prime, something that surprised her but that Vaako had been happy to explain. There was a Star Jump corridor between Helion and Igneon that took only half of that time; the rest was spent in sublight transit. It was a heavily used route; while the general population of the Helion system had been led to believe that the energy it supplied other worlds came from their own sun, the truth was that the rare plasmas they traded in came from the powerful emissions of that young neighboring star still in its infancy, harvested as those emissions passed strategically positioned collectors. Energy, Vaako added, that had enabled humanity to spread entirely too far through the stars, polluting too many worlds.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">In the interim, she was able to shower, to dress in garb that Vaako said was \u201cfitting for an acolyte,\u201d and even join him and the other soldiers at meals. The Necromongers had a preference for intense flavors in their food; curiously, they seemed to perceive the food as almost <i>bland.<\/i> She found herself wondering if their senses of taste had been compromised by their conversions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Not that she cared much; Tizzy had been the foodie. Kyra mostly just ate to refuel.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The men spoke of prior campaigns and kill counts, and slowly thawed to the idea that she was meant to be one of their comrades in arms, and not a spoil of war, as she shared some of <i>her<\/i> kill stories, including the things she had done in the past to men who tried to get too familiar. True to Vaako\u2019s word, none of them touched her. Not even him. He was, as she had heard, already <span class=\"nowrap\">married\u2026<\/span> and known for his scrupulous fidelity.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Which was a relief. She found that she was warming to him, in spite of how they had met, and was glad that there wouldn\u2019t be any amorous intentions on his end that she\u2019d have to deal with.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Helion Prime looked nothing like she remembered.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She had only spent one morning on its surface as she and Tizzy fled Aceso for the spaceport, and they hadn\u2019t traveled through the best parts of town as they did so. Still, the sky had been blue. The air had been fresh. The buildings hadn\u2019t been piles of <span class=\"nowrap\">rubble\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was almost as if someone had tried to turn that world into another Crematoria. The sky was a foul yellow-orange that stank of fires and death, and the graceful, signature architecture had been reduced to tumbled wreckage. Hundreds of years of painstaking creation destroyed in a <span class=\"nowrap\">day\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">This was what Necromongers did to worlds. They were killing on a scale she could barely even comprehend. A scale that far exceeded what she and Tizzy had feared might be done to the people of Tangiers Prime if the Quintessa Corporation ever real&#173;ized\u2014<span class=\"nowrap\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Oh fuck, what if they decide to go there next?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">This wasn\u2019t something she wanted to be party to. But she wasn\u2019t sure she had any kind of say in the matter. Beneath the veneer of \u201chonored guest\u201d that Vaako had layered onto her situation, she was still a prisoner.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Vaako\u2019s scout ship had landed near a massive craft that he called the <i>Basilica.<\/i> He led her up its steps and inside.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI must take you to the Lord Marshal first,\u201d he told her as they walked. \u201cHe will need the news of the Riddick\u2019s fate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She stuck close to him as they entered an enormous cham&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">ber\u2026<\/span> a <i>throne <span class=\"nowrap\">room\u2026<\/span><\/i> and walked toward the throne. Other groups of people were hurrying into the room, and several men were descending staircases from higher levels as well.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWho is this?\u201d she heard someone ask.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">A stunningly beautiful woman, her skin maybe a shade or two darker than Riddick\u2019s and her black hair drawn back into a tight and elaborate bun, had walked up to Vaako and had taken his arm. His wife, Kyra assumed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThis,\u201d Vaako said, nodding in Kyra\u2019s direction, \u201cis Kyra Wittier-Collins, the Black Fox of Canaan Mountain. An associate of Riddick\u2019s, and a proficient warrior who I am presenting to the Lord Marshal for conversion. Kyra, this is my wife, the Dame Vaako.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Said Dame was regarding her as if she were something that had clung to the bottom of a shoe. Lovely. She kept her face bland, slipping back into the manners she\u2019d been taught in the Enclave and giving the other woman a respectful nod and the curtsy due an Elder. \u201cMa\u2019am.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Dame Vaako\u2019s eyebrow arched. \u201cInteresting girl. Why is she not on her way to one of the Stews?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cShe killed twenty-four of my men. I think she planned to kill even more if any of them tried to touch her in an unseemly way. Conversion seems the better choice, wouldn\u2019t you agree?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">His wife looked impressed, albeit unwillingly. \u201cBy all means.  I shudder to think what she might do in the Stews if you had sent her there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Actually, Kyra reflected, Dame Vaako seemed to be contemplating that scenario with barely-concealed glee. Whatever \u201cStews\u201d were, the woman hated them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat news of the Riddick, Vaako?\u201d A man\u2019s voice called out. Kyra faced forward again. The speaker was sitting on the throne, his shrewd gaze giving the lie to his indolent posture.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe Riddick is dead, Lord Marshal,\u201d Vaako intoned, bowing. When Dame Vaako bowed also, Kyra copied their move.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnd who is this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Vaako repeated much of what he had told his wife, adding more details about her for his commander\u2019s benefit. He touched briefly on the New Christy Standoff and Massacre, noting that Kyra had been one of the children who escaped in the wake, and the one credited for killing five Colonial Marshals during the massacre and three more in the aftermath, including their leader, \u201cRed Roger\u201d Fiennes. Some of what he was saying confused her. She thought things had played out differently, somehow. Maybe the accounts he had seen were <span class=\"nowrap\">wrong\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cShe was twelve at the time, my Lord. She was later sent to Crematoria for seventeen murders on New Queensland, and personally killed twenty-four of our soldiers while she and the Riddick were attempting to escape Crematoria.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAn extraordinary r\u00e9sum\u00e9,\u201d the Lord Marshal observed. \u201cWhat now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOnce she is converted,\u201d Vaako continued, \u201cI recommend training her to be a Knight of the Legion, unless you wish otherwise. I volunteer to train her and have her serve under my command.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra could feel how much that displeased his wife. Didn\u2019t she know her husband had no interest in anyone but her?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI will consider it. We do need a few more women in our Amazon regiment,\u201d the Lord Marshal said with a smirk. \u201cIs it true that the Riddick is dead, Kyra?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It hurt to think about even now. She swallowed and nodded. \u201cI didn\u2019t see him die, but I saw him dead on the ground. He <span class=\"nowrap\">wasn\u2019t\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She couldn\u2019t finish. <i>He wasn\u2019t breath&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">ing\u2026<\/span> I couldn\u2019t <b>feel<\/b> him any&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">more\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWere you two close, girl?\u201d His voice was gentle, but she could feel the intensity of his regard. This wasn\u2019t some idle question.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah. He, <span class=\"nowrap\">um\u2026<\/span> rescued me when I was younger, and came to Crematoria to rescue me again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI should like to see this.\u201d The Lord Marshal rose from his throne. \u201cTake her before the Quasi-Dead. I wish to know everything about her time with the Riddick. And his death. Where is the Purifier who accompanied you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDead as well, Lord Marshal.\u201d Vaako glanced at Kyra, his expression uneasy and regretful.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cCome this way, child,\u201d his wife said, releasing Vaako\u2019s arm to slink around him and take hers. \u201cThis shouldn\u2019t take long. And then you will begin your conversion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">There was nowhere to run, even if Kyra knew what she was suddenly feeling a need to run from. Helion Prime was an airless rock in Elsewhere; she couldn\u2019t slip across to escape. And even if she fled, what then? What was left of the world was dying.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She walked with Dame Vaako instead, waiting and watching, trying to figure out her next move.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The Dame led her into a chamber behind the throne and over to a dais in its center. \u201cStand here, child. Don\u2019t resist. The only one resistance will hurt is <i>you.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Another new <span class=\"nowrap\">one\u2026<\/span> you have brought <span class=\"nowrap\">us\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">There were voices in Kyra\u2019s head, voices that shouldn\u2019t be there. Her legs buckled and she collapsed on the dais, struggling against the feeling of strange minds rifling through her mind and her memories.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cShow me her memories of the Riddick,\u201d she heard the Lord Marshal commanding them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>We see a great many memories of the Riddick in her mind. A day\u2019s worth of true memories. The others are either not her own, or are lies. She has believed in them for years.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">No! That wasn\u2019t true. It wasn\u2019t possible!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>The girl, Jack, that the Riddick thought <span class=\"nowrap\">of\u2026<\/span> she knew her. They traveled together. Jack shared <b>her<\/b> memories of the Riddick, in an attempt to impart <span class=\"nowrap\">strength\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Her mind was unraveling. Locked in the grip of brains far more powerful than her own, Kyra found herself reeled back, seeing how the New Christy Massacre had <i>really<\/i> played out all over again, watching the destruction of everything she had loved <i>or<\/i> hated as a <span class=\"nowrap\">child\u2026<\/span> witnessing her mother\u2019s mur&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">der\u2026<\/span> reliving the retribution she eventually was able to wreak upon the men who had violated her and her <span class=\"nowrap\">mother\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026and<\/span> Riddick had never been there. He had never rescued her, never watched over her, never taught her any of the skills she\u2019d acquired. She had been alone on Canaan Mountain.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She had had no one.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Her life spooled out again before her. More than three years of agony, exploitation, and lost time before <i>Jack<\/i> appeared in Aceso and the feedback effect of two espers in close proximity began to build between them, forging a <span class=\"nowrap\">bond\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>An esper. She is an esper. Powerful even before our purifications. She will be an extraordinary Quasi-<span class=\"nowrap\">Dead\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The escape, and the run to Tangiers <span class=\"nowrap\">Prime\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>She has crossed a threshold. She knows the way to another \u2019verse\u2026 not the Underverse but one she calls Else&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">where\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhere is the Elemental?\u201d she heard the Lord Marshal call out from a distance. Someone replied, but she didn\u2019t catch their words. \u201cGood. Make sure she stays there until this is completed. She is to know <i>nothing<\/i> of what we learn from this girl.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra, meanwhile, was plunged back into the chaos of defending the <i>Scarlet Matador<\/i> passengers from the Quintessa Corporation, the Spaceport Explosion, the arrival of Duke Pritchard and the stab wound he gave <span class=\"nowrap\">her\u2026<\/span> recovering in bed while Jack, now calling herself Tislilel, told her stories about <span class=\"nowrap\">Riddick\u2026<\/span> the stories becoming infinitely more real when Tizzy\u2014her <i>sister<\/i>, Tizzy!\u2014realized she could share sense memo&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">ries\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Tizzy?<\/i> She shied away from the minds constraining her and called out to her sister. If she was anywhere near, anywhere still in the \u2019verse, maybe she would hear.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The Quasi-Dead kept plundering at her mind, revealing all the secrets she had tried to keep, all the things that could get millions mur&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">dered\u2026<\/span> but now she was in the thrall of a marauding force that intended to murder billions upon bil&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">lions\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Tizzy!<\/i> she called out again, trying to feel her sister somewhere out there.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Her life continued unspooling before her, before <i>them,<\/i> every secret and bit of suffering exposed. She saw, as if from the outside, her growing conviction that Jack\u2019s memories were her <span class=\"nowrap\">own\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You are not Jack,<\/i> the Quasi-Dead whispered in her head. <i>You never were. That name belonged to someone else, along with all the memories you treasure so <span class=\"nowrap\">much\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She wanted to deny it, to rail against them and cling to the dream of a world with three suns. She couldn\u2019t; they wouldn\u2019t let her. Trying to hold on anyway filled her head with agony that brought her to the edge of screaming.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She screamed inside instead, pouring every bit of her torment into a final call, grasping for the bond they had once shared. <i><b>Jack!<\/b> Help me!<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You will not speak to outsiders again,<\/i> the Quasi-Dead told her, and she felt something muffling her awareness of the minds around her. Cutting her off. Suddenly she could only feel <i>them.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And something else. Something hideous, malicious, waiting close <span class=\"nowrap\">by\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">They took everything. They ransacked her mind and found everything she had ever tried to hide.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You will be a fine addition to the ranks of the Quasi-Dead, Kyra Wittier-Collins, once you have been purified and trained.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She was lying on the dais, in a puddle of tears, when two men came and lifted her to her feet. They were dressed like the man who had stayed behind on the runway of Crematoria, when everyone else was racing for the scout ship. When she couldn\u2019t manage to walk, they dragged her between them to another room, suspending her in a harness, restraining her, and <span class=\"nowrap\">then\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Pain, agonizing pain, on either side of her neck. Her body shuddered as she tried to break free, but she had no strength left to fight with.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>It <span class=\"nowrap\">hurts\u2026<\/span> it <span class=\"nowrap\">hurts\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>Let it happen. Let it in. The pain will set you free.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She knew that voice. She\u2019d heard it in night&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">mares\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>I will show you a world without pain. A world where the Demons of the Darkness are no more, and life is ever-<span class=\"nowrap\">renewing\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>It\u2019s <span class=\"nowrap\">you\u2026<\/span> oh my God, it\u2019s <span class=\"nowrap\">you\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>You are mine, little creature. Do not fight this.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She could almost see it in front of her, a perfect world, a place of peace and harmony and <span class=\"nowrap\">glory\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Another lie. No more true than Tizzy\u2019s narratives of Riddick rescuing her on Canaan Mountain.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Their Underverse is a <span class=\"nowrap\">lie\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">For an instant, she caught a glimpse of what lay behind the lie. Image fragments assaulted <span class=\"nowrap\">her\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026fire<\/span> crisscrossing the sky over New Marra&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">kesh\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026men<\/span> and women brandishing flaming swords above their heads, their eyes glowing silver like Riddick\u2019s, leaping onto the backs of creatures that looked like Mommy <span class=\"nowrap\">Ree\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026a<\/span> dying god pinned in place by a spear of <span class=\"nowrap\">rock\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026gnarled,<\/span> wrinkled hands clasping hers as an old, old woman, with eyes that made her think of Tizzy, murmured <i>It\u2019s almost finished <span class=\"nowrap\">now\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026a<\/span> stone box crumbling to dust in her hands, its dissolution reverberating through all of <span class=\"nowrap\">creation\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026her<\/span> long-lost stuffed rabbit, El-Ahrairah, lying on a pillow, but not the pillow she\u2019d left him on when she was <span class=\"nowrap\">six\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u2026Tafrara Meziane, tears running down her face, arm outstretched, hand splayed against the chestplate of a man in Necromonger <span class=\"nowrap\">armor\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026an<\/span> impossible, terrifying creature, both tiny and enormous at the same time, its obsidian skin containing the shine of galaxies, <i>sitting on Tizzy\u2019s chest and reaching out to touch her face with its <span class=\"nowrap\">claw\u2014<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No no no no NO <b>NO <span class=\"nowrap\"><u>NO<\/u>\u2014<\/span><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Darkness. Silence. Her life force, her will, was draining away, her skin turning cold and stiff.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You are his now, Kyra. Obedience is all. Fealty is all. The Underverse waits.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">But\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>It is the only truth you will need. It is the only truth you will have.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Silence. Darkness. Something new, something eldritch and powerful, was seeping into her where her life and will had once been.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">A second was a year. An hour was an eternity. She did not dream of a world with three suns. Her dreams were dead.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cLift her down. The Lord Marshal has commanded her attendance upon him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cRight now? Aren\u2019t we preparing to leave atmosphere? She\u2019d be better <span class=\"nowrap\">off\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cRight now. Do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She\u2019d forgotten all about the <i>things<\/i> piercing her neck until they were withdrawn.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The two Purifiers who had taken her out of the Chamber of the Quasi-<span class=\"nowrap\">Dead\u2026<\/span> eons <span class=\"nowrap\">ago\u2026<\/span> helped her don the robes of an acolyte. She followed one of them back to the throne room, where the Lord Marshal was beckoning her forward. Head down and covered properly like an acolyte\u2019s always should be, she walked up to the throne\u2019s steps.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat is your will, Lord Marshal?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI understand that your conversion is complete, Kyra. And that you are destined to become one of the Quasi-Dead. Is it well with you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No!<\/i> a tiny voice within her screamed. \u201cYes, My Lord. I look forward to serving.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cToday, however, I have need of a different service from you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Fuck you, you bastard!<\/i> the tiny voice raged, buried deep. \u201cMy Lord has only to ask.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSomeone you once knew will be coming. Stay close. Perhaps you can convince him to convert to the Way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You goddamn fucking son of a bitch, I\u2019ll never <span class=\"nowrap\">ever\u2014<\/span><\/i> \u201cIt would be my honor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt won\u2019t be long now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The attack was sudden and swift, a dark figure in Necromonger armor flying through the air, a knife raised in one hand, aiming for the Lord Marshal. <i>He<\/i> seemed already aware; before she could even gasp, he had turned the attacker\u2019s momentum against him and flung the would-be assassin across the main hall\u2019s floor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And for a moment, Kyra thought she had seen the impossible.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Riddick is dead. That couldn\u2019t have been <span class=\"nowrap\">him\u2014<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cStay your weapons!\u201d the Lord Marshal ordered the crowd in the hall. \u201cHe came for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The soldiers that had begun massing around the man, weapons drawn, moved back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cKyra,\u201d the Lord Marshal murmured. \u201cTo me, now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She obeyed, walking to his side and letting him turn her to face the crowd and draw her hood back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Oh fuck. Oh <b><span class=\"nowrap\">shit\u2026<\/span><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It <i>was<\/i> Riddick. Riddick sprawled on the floor of the main hall, staring at her in horror. He rose to a crouch, his eyes never leaving hers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Riddick! Oh my God, Riddick, please help <span class=\"nowrap\">me\u2014<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>He cannot hear you,<\/i> the Quasi-Dead murmured in her head. <i>You are ours, not his.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cConsider this,\u201d the Lord Marshal was saying as he and Riddick walked toward each other. \u201cIf you fall <span class=\"nowrap\">here\u2026<\/span> <span class=\"nowrap\">now\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Both men went still, facing off across the hall.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c\u2026you\u2019ll never rise,\u201d her master said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick tried to say something, but the Lord Marshal went on speaking.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBut if you choose another way\u2026 the Necromonger <span class=\"nowrap\">Way\u2026\u201d<\/span> He gestured back at Kyra.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Fuck, he\u2019s using me as a <span class=\"nowrap\">lure\u2026<\/span><\/i> She wanted to fight, to scream, to kill someone, but she couldn\u2019t move.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou\u2019ll die in due time,\u201d the Lord Marshal continued, \u201cand rise again in the Underverse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>There\u2019s no such thing! It\u2019s not real! It\u2019s a lie! It\u2019s the <span class=\"nowrap\">Mor\u2014<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Your relationship with Riddick was the lie,<\/i> the Quasi-Dead countered. <i>The Underverse is truth. The Underverse is all.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick was focused on her, his expression intent. Was he trying to speak to her? Why couldn\u2019t she hear him? She tried to will her way through the barrier that the Quasi-Dead had erected between <span class=\"nowrap\">them\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You will not speak to him or any other,<\/i> they said. They <i>were<\/i> blocking her!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The Lord Marshal\u2019s left arm came back, gesturing her way and beckoning her to him. She didn\u2019t want to obey, but she stepped forward and moved to his side. He put his hand on her shoulder and she expected to flinch the way she always did when a strange man touched <span class=\"nowrap\">her\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But instead, she felt <i>rewarded.<\/i> The greatest of them all had deigned to touch her, an honor beyond com&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">pare\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Fuck you all!<\/i> she screamed deep within. The expression on the man\u2019s face infuriated her. Paternal, kindly, the lying fa\u00e7ade of a man who had absolute power and could imagine that anything he did, no matter how brutal, was his right and somehow innately good just because he was the one doing it. <i>You ripped apart my mind, you motherfucking son of a side <span class=\"nowrap\">of\u2014<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGo to him,\u201d He murmured, and she found herself obeying.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was ten steps to stand before Riddick. Just ten. She spent the whole time wrestling for control of her <span class=\"nowrap\">body\u2026<\/span> and losing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt hurts,\u201d she heard herself telling him, \u201cat first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Don\u2019t listen to me! It\u2019s not me! This isn\u2019t what I need to tell you!<\/i> Pain, she suddenly thought, was all she\u2019d ever known. Except for one brief <span class=\"nowrap\">time\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBut after a while,\u201d her mouth continued, out of her control, \u201cthe pain goes away, just as they promise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Everything they promise is a lie! Don\u2019t let them in! Help me!<\/i> She had called for Jack\u2019s help, too, but <i>she<\/i> had gone away, had been taken from her years ago, and now the last bits of Jack that Kyra had been left with were gone, shattered by the Quasi-<span class=\"nowrap\">Dead\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick\u2019s expression was dubious, distrustful, hints of both horror and longing on his features. \u201cAre you with me, Kyra?\u201d he murmured.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Yes! Yes, please help me! Riddick, please\u2014<\/i> \u201cThere\u2019s a moment when you can almost see the Underverse through his eyes,\u201d she heard herself saying. <i>His<\/i> eyes? No. Not the Lord Marshal\u2019s eyes. What she had caught a glimpse of had come from the Mori&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">bund\u2014<\/span> \u201cHe makes it sound perfect. A place where anyone can start over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She had started over so many times. What was one more? She never should have let General Toal separate her from Tizzy, never should have tried to link them staying together to <i><span class=\"nowrap\">him\u2014<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Tell him Jack\u2019s dead,<\/i> her Tizzy had said in their final moment together. <i>She wasn\u2019t strong enough to cut it in his world.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra never should have made them staying together about <i>him.<\/i> She should have just asked her sister not to leave her. What if, one day, her orders were to kill Tizzy? She couldn\u2019t even make Riddick hear her thoughts; how would she pos&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">sibly\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAre you <i>with<\/i> me, Kyra?\u201d he repeated.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Yes, Riddick, please help me. Please take me away from here.<\/i> She tried to move to his side, tried to say yes with her body if not with her <span class=\"nowrap\">voice\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>He is not yours,<\/i> the Quasi-Dead told her, forcing her to move on instead. <i>He never was.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She walked past him and into the crowd, surrounded by the Moribund\u2019s puppets. The Moribund\u2019s <i><span class=\"nowrap\">meat\u2026<\/span><\/i> She was his puppet now too, his meat.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cConvert now,\u201d the Lord Marshal was saying behind her, \u201cor fall forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She wished she\u2019d burned up on Crematoria.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And, somehow, she heard Riddick\u2019s whisper. <i>\u201cYou killed everything I <span class=\"nowrap\">know\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick\u2019s <i>survival<\/i> instincts had switched off. He was planning to fight to the death. <i>His<\/i> death.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra gathered all the strength she had left into a single, desperate cry. There were beings she\u2019d hidden from for years, whose power and strangeness had terrified her, but now she wondered why she\u2019d feared them at all when so much worse existed in the \u2019verses. She prayed that they might hear her now. She had nothing else left to try.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>SOMEBODY HELP ME!<\/i><\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 92\/? Fandom: Pitch Black (2000); The Chronicles of Riddick (2004); The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004) Rat","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"\u201cThe Changeling Game\u201d 92: \u201cThe Fall of the Black Fox\u201d","bgseo_description":"With no other choices left, Kyra accepts Vaako\u2019s \u201cinvitation\u201d to join the Necromonger Armada\u2026 and discovers, too late, who is controlling it and what its true mission is.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fan-fiction","category-the-changeling-game"],"permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1039"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1122,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions\/1122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}