{"id":1041,"date":"2024-12-28T09:19:14","date_gmt":"2024-12-28T14:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=1041"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:11:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:11:15","slug":"the-changeling-game-chapter-93","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/the-changeling-game-chapter-93\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 93"},"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> 93\/?<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, violence, death, murder<br \/>\n<b>Category:<\/b> Het<br \/>\n<b>Pairing:<\/b> Riddick\/Jack<br \/>\n<b>Summary:<\/b> Kyra\u2019s plea for help brings a familiar rescuer to her side, confirming one of Riddick\u2019s worst suspicions in the process.<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='6a8e6b4bca7c48032384693' value='6a8e6b4bca7c48032384693'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6a8e6b4bca7c48032384693' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6a8e6b4bca7c48032384693' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6a8e6b4bca7c48032384693' 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-6a8e6b4bca7c48032384693' ><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">93.<br \/>\n<u>The Eaters of Souls<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c<i>These<\/i> are his last moments!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She couldn\u2019t bring herself to watch. She couldn\u2019t make herself look away.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The entire crowd of Necromongers observed, enrapt, as their Lord Marshal and \u201cthe Riddick\u201d battled. It was brutal. Horrible. And inch by inch, Riddick was losing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And there was nothing Kyra could do except bear witness to his death.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Thinking he died nearly destroyed <span class=\"nowrap\">me\u2026<\/span> what will really seeing it happen do to me?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">There was no answer from the Quasi-Dead. She sensed that their attention was focused on the battle.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Little larva, we heard you,<\/i> a soft, strange, somehow female voice whispered in her mind. <i>I have come in answer.<\/i>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Something small, with many legs, was crawling up her calf, hidden by her cloak. It took all of her strength not to flinch or scream. Time seemed to be slowing around her, her heartbeats spreading further and further apart.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Who are you?<\/i> she asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I have no name. My name was stolen long ago by the Demons of the Darkness. Our sister sent me to you. Aud Ree.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Aud Ree?<\/i> Like Mommy Ree? But all the Ree who could articulate words clearly were at least the size of a <span class=\"nowrap\">cat\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You knew her as Tizzy. As Jack. She has worn so many names. She heard you call and asked me to find you.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The creature had reached her waist and was climbing higher. Suddenly understanding what was needed, Kyra lifted her hood back up.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Thank you, little larva. This will not hurt.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">An <i>Apeiros.<\/i> The thing crawling up her body was one of Tizzy\u2019s <span class=\"nowrap\"><i>Apeiros\u2026<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Yes. And we have a claim upon you that precedes, and supersedes, <b>his<\/b> claim. We must move quickly while he is distracted.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>We have to help Riddick,<\/i> she told the creature as it reached her shoulder. <i>We can\u2019t let him die!<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No, we cannot allow his death. Too much depends upon the three of you. In a moment, you will be free again and able to help him.<\/i> Slender, questing, arachnid legs touched her throat and face.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">For an endless instant, she was frozen in place. Paralyzed as if Sebby had stung her. The <i>Apeiros<\/i> was holding her still <span class=\"nowrap\">as\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Power poured into her, filling every nerve. Power similar to but somehow different from the eldritch energies that had entered her body during her Purification. Those energies broke and dissipated, new strength taking their place. She almost felt human again. Almost\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Another wave of power filled her and she felt her skin warming, the life that had been stolen from her replenishing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>That\u2019s as much as I can give you,<\/i> the creature whispered, sounding somehow winded. <i>For now. I have not broken their connection to you completely\u2014that would draw their attention back to you\u2014but you are free of their control.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>What do I do now?<\/i> Kyra asked. Her mind and body were her own again. She could <i>feel<\/i> it. But she had no idea what to do with that power. She was surrounded by enemies.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>They do not know you are not one of them. Move to the front. Watch. Await your moment. You will know when one opens.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Would she? <i>How do you know?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>We have watched you for years. Listened to you for years.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Why didn\u2019t you say anything?<\/i> It struck her just how many times she could have used their help.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>We were forbidden to speak to you unless you spoke to us first.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Fuck. Of course. She\u2019d <i>thanked<\/i> Tizzy for doing that, too. It had never occurred to her, later on, that they were <i>waiting for permission<\/i> to talk to <span class=\"nowrap\">her\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026and,<\/span> somehow, had managed to reach her in a matter of <i>minutes<\/i> once she finally called them for help.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>If I\u2019d <span class=\"nowrap\">known\u2026<\/span><\/i> They could have saved her from so many things, so many times.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She could have called them when General Toal\u2019s man was following her, when the mercs trapped her, when the mercs sold her, when she was arrested, when Toombs and Logan found her, any time while she was in Crematoria, on the run across the planet\u2019s sur&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">face\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">If the Moribund was the god of the Necromongers, she\u2019d had access to an entire <i>pantheon<\/i> the whole time, possibly omnipotent beings constrained by a promise that kept them from crossing the threshold of her mind without an invitation. All she\u2019d ever had to do was say one word. Just one. All she\u2019d ever had to do was stop hiding. Invite them in. Trust <span class=\"nowrap\">them\u2026<\/span> the way Tizzy had always trusted them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Is she okay?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>She is well. Frightened for you. She rescinded her command, but we could not find you until just now. The Moribund\u2019s creatures were hiding you from us.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>He made me one of his creatures, too,<\/i> she told the <i>Apeiros<\/i> on her shoulder, hiding itself in her hood. It was hard to keep a whimper out of her mental voice.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No longer. You are yourself again.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>But who <b>is<\/b> that?<\/i> She couldn\u2019t keep a wail out of her mental voice. <i>I thought I knew, but it was a lie! Riddick doesn\u2019t even know me. He never even met me before a few days <span class=\"nowrap\">ago\u2014<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>And yet he is fighting for your sake now,<\/i> the creature told her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No. He\u2019s not. He\u2019s fighting for <b>her.<\/b> He came for <b>her.<\/b><\/i> She felt, yet again, like an afterthought, a consolation prize. Even the <i>Apeiros<\/i> itself had come to find her because Tizzy had asked it to. Would any of it, ever, be for <i>her<\/i> sake?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>He knew from the moment he met you that you weren\u2019t the girl he\u2019d protected on the world with three suns.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i><span class=\"nowrap\">What\u2026?<\/span><\/i> But he had <i>called<\/i> her by Jack\u2019s <span class=\"nowrap\">name\u2026<\/span> once. He\u2019d referenced the things that Jack had experienced. <i>Oh God, he was trying to play along with me to find out what happened to her, wasn\u2019t he?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>At first. But remember what else he did. Knowing that you weren\u2019t her.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He\u2019d broken his own rules for her, coming back to rescue her when she couldn\u2019t keep up. He\u2019d fought beside her, linking up with her so that she felt like they were two halves of a single entity as they scythed through Necros to&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">gether\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>And he is here. Now. To rescue you. To rescue Kyra, not Jack. He may not already know you, but he wants to.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was something of a salve, a reassurance, but she wasn\u2019t sure it would be enough. The Riddick <i>she<\/i> had been trying to get to know was the man who had rescued her from the New Christy Enclave, teaching and protecting her while they roamed the woods of Canaan Mountain together and took out Red Roger and his marshals for crimes that, she realized, had somehow never happened in her revised memories and yet still demanded requital. That Riddick was a man she had trusted, body and soul, and had known would never betray her or abandon her, even though at the same time, she\u2019d known that he <i>had,<\/i> that he\u2019d done so when he\u2019d left <span class=\"nowrap\">Jack\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Everything she had given him, done for him and with him, from their first <i>real<\/i> meeting, had been predicated on a relationship she\u2019d wholeheartedly believed <span class=\"nowrap\">in\u2026<\/span> and which had never existed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Without the lies, was anything left to connect them?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>He came here for <b>you<\/b>, Kyra. He is risking death for <b>you<\/b>. He could have gone anywhere.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I can\u2019t do this as just Kyra,<\/i> she groaned. <i>I <span class=\"nowrap\">need\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Lies or not, she needed the false memories and the cushioning they gave, against trauma after trauma that had her shrinking from contact with any man in the room, possibly even Riddick himself. She needed him to be Red Roger\u2019s destroyer. She needed him to have shepherded her through the darkness and fought off monsters for her. She needed to <i>know<\/i> that he hadn\u2019t been disappointed by who and what he found in Crematoria, and that the relationship of her dreams was not merely possible but something that had already begun, been interrupted, and was simply about to <i>resume.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She needed the lie. She wasn\u2019t strong enough without it. That was why Tizzy had given it to her to begin with.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack had never been dead, she realized, and sure as hell had never been weak. Jack had been her strength. Even if, the whole time, Jack had been someone else.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>She has never used the name since she left Tangiers Prime. She would not begrudge you using it.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>It\u2019s not the name,<\/i> Kyra tried to explain. <i>The Quasi-Dead tore me apart. I need the parts of me they took away. Even if they were lies. I need the lies back!<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Oh, sweet little larva. Perhaps this is why my kind waits so long to take on names. You are in so many \u2019verses. In some of them, the stories in your head, that are lies here, are even true. In this \u2019verse they are not true, and I think they have even been harming <span class=\"nowrap\">you\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It wouldn\u2019t help her. It agreed with the Quasi-Dead and wouldn\u2019t <i>help<\/i> her!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026but<\/span> you need the shield, and the strength, they can give you now. I will give them back to you. For now. So you may act without fear or doubt. So you may rescue your rescuer.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Strength, of a new kind, flowed into her. Years-old debilitating agonies faded in an instant, replaced with purpose.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The battle still raged, in slow motion, in front of her. She had drawn close to the front of the crowd as they had spoken. As she watched, the Lord Marshal cracked a metal spear across Riddick\u2019s ribs, snapping the shaft in two and sending Riddick flying, sprawling to the floor by the throne\u2019s steps. Zhylaw\u2014she knew that was his name but didn\u2019t know how\u2014tossed the spear aside and walked over to one of his armored guards, taking another from him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The broken weapon lay on the floor, discarded and forgotten, near Kyra\u2019s feet. She pulled back her hood as she reached down, aware that the <i>Apeiros<\/i> was no longer sitting on her shoulder.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The Lord Marshal was choking Riddick, the length of his new spear pressed hard against her beloved\u2019s throat. Their backs were to her as she picked up the discarded shaft from the floor. Everyone\u2019s eyes were glued to the combatants, including the \u201ceyes\u201d of the Quasi-Dead; no one seemed at all aware of her actions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou are not the one to bring me down,\u201d Zhylaw snarled at Riddick.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra shifted her spear partway into Elsewhere, its tip <i>all<\/i> the way into Elsewhere, and thrust forward, bringing everything back once the tip was a few inches deep into the Lord Marshal\u2019s back. <i>I\u2019d have used a teacup if I\u2019d had one handy.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The Lord Marshal cried out in pain, releasing Riddick and staggering forward. Kyra felt a strange, guttural growl escape her throat. This would be the best kill she\u2019d ever made.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Who\u2019s the better killer now?<\/i> she thought as Riddick lifted his eyes toward her in stunned confusion. She wasn\u2019t sure if he could hear her; he looked dazed. <i>That\u2019s right, baby, Jack B. Badd is <span class=\"nowrap\">ba\u2014<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The Lord Marshal turned on her, a growl of his own escaping, and backhanded her with inhuman strength. Her feet left the ground and she felt herself flying back&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">ward\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Pain blazed through her as something long and sharp slid into her back in three places. She gasped, suddenly struggling to breathe. An undulant wall slammed up against her back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The pillar. She\u2019d seen it as she\u2019d approached the throne, both times, a twisted structure with curved spikes embedded throughout it. Now she was pinned\u2014literally <i>pinned<\/i>\u2014to it like a fucking <i>insect.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNow!\u201d she heard Vaako\u2019s wife shout. \u201cKill the beast while he\u2019s wounded!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Fuck. They were going to slaughter Riddick. He wouldn\u2019t stand a chance on his own if more jumped into the fray. She needed to help him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She had to twist her body, willing it forward with all the telekinesis she could muster, to pull herself off the spikes that had impaled her. But her legs buckled beneath her and she collapsed onto the steps, barely able to even lift her head. The taste of blood filled her mouth.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick was staring at her from across the floor, his expression a mixture of horror and grief.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I thought we\u2019d have more time,<\/i> she tried to tell him. She\u2019d had so many dreams of what would happen when they reunited, and none of them had come true. <i>I thought I\u2019d get to be yours <span class=\"nowrap\">first\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra had never <i>wanted<\/i> a man until he\u2019d come into her life. And now she would never get to have one.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Little one, I am so sorry,<\/i> the <i>Apeiros<\/i> whispered. <i>Your shell is failing. I do not have enough power left to repair it.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Why did it always call her \u201clittle?\u201d It had been small when it had crawled up her, no bigger than Sebby when she and Jack had first rescued <i>her<\/i>. She closed her eyes, hearing Vaako murmur \u201cforgive me\u201d somewhere nearby, uncertain whether he was talking to her or someone else. It didn\u2019t matter. All that mattered <span class=\"nowrap\">was\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Will Riddick live?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNoooooooo!\u201d she heard Dame Vaako scream, and for a moment she thought it was her answer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Yes, sweet Kyra. Riddick will live. And so will you, in time. I promise you.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">A moment later, she felt strong arms, a man\u2019s arms, around her, felt her body being turned over. She didn\u2019t need to open her eyes to know who was holding her. She could feel him, feel the bond between them, with every fiber of her being.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI thought you were dead,\u201d she whispered to him, wishing she was strong enough to open her eyes. It was getting harder and harder to speak.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Hold on,<\/i> he told her silently. <i>Hold on. Don\u2019t die.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She wanted to hold onto something, but she could feel her connection to her own body loosening. It was all she could do to keep her tears of pain and grief from escaping. She had cried far too much already.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I cannot help you stay in your shell, sweet little Kyra,<\/i> the <i>Apeiros<\/i> whispered. <i>But I can help you not die.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She could feel its slender legs wrapping around her, not around her body the way Riddick\u2019s arms already were, but around her very essence. Larger than her now, engulfing <span class=\"nowrap\">her\u2026<\/span> what <i>was<\/i> it, really?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Above her, Riddick spoke, his voice hesitant and sad. \u201cAre you with me, Kyra?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Being with him was all she\u2019d ever wanted. Why didn\u2019t he <i>know<\/i> that? Ever since she was <span class=\"nowrap\">twelve\u2026<\/span> ever <span class=\"nowrap\">since\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It hurt but she took a deeper breath, opening her eyes. She needed him to <i>know.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI was always with you,\u201d she tried to say, but all that slipped out was another breathless whisper.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>It was me,<\/i> she tried to remind him, giving up on her voice. <i>It was always me. There by your side in the eclipse, it was me, nobody else, <span class=\"nowrap\">me\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">They had been supposed to go on forever. Together. She gathered enough breath to try to speak again. \u201cI <span class=\"nowrap\">was\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i><span class=\"nowrap\">Jack\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ever since they had met in the forests of Canaan Mountain, ever since he had helped her do battle against the monsters that wanted to destroy her <span class=\"nowrap\">family\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She felt him beside her in those forests, again and yet somehow for the first time, looking around in confusion, seeing her memories and baffled by them. Didn\u2019t he remember, too?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>It was real,<\/i> she tried to tell him. <i>I swear it was all <span class=\"nowrap\">real\u2026<\/span> it was always <b><span class=\"nowrap\">me\u2026<\/span><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Oh, little one, I think I have hurt you all the <span class=\"nowrap\">worse\u2026<\/span> he came for you as you are now, no one <span class=\"nowrap\">else\u2026<\/span><\/i> She could feel the now-huge <i>Apeiros<\/i> drawing her out of herself, its grip gentle but firm. <i>Sleep now, Kyra. Dream of your world, the world you and your sister made for you. I will take you to safety.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And, even as she felt herself pull free, she felt something else trying to reach for her, something hungry, heard an echo of monstrous rage as it felt her shell emptying and, cradled in her strange sister\u2019s many arms, she dropped back into a dream of a world with three <span class=\"nowrap\">suns\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>Where is it? It was mine! Where is it? Thieving <span class=\"nowrap\"><u>bitch<\/u>\u2014<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick came to himself, gasping.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSometimes I fuckin\u2019 <i>hate<\/i> bein\u2019 right,\u201d he growled.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He\u2019d felt how Lucy had pulled Kyra\u2019s soul out of her body, and it had felt almost exactly like the old Lord Marshal\u2019s attempt to extract <i>his<\/i> soul.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Lucy!<\/i> he called out, trying not to let all of his rage bleed into his mental voice. <i>You got some fuckin\u2019 \u2019splainin\u2019 to do!<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I am here, Riddick. What do you need to know?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhen you pulled <span class=\"nowrap\">Kyra\u2019s\u2026<\/span> <i>five-shape<\/i> out of her <span class=\"nowrap\"><i>shell<\/i>\u2026<\/span> it ain\u2019t the first time you\u2019ve done that, is it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No. It is not.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI want to hear you say when else you\u2019ve done it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You know. But if you must hear it, I will say it. It\u2019s how we hunt. It\u2019s how we feed. But we have not fed on her.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou hunt humans for their souls,\u201d he growled at her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNo? Then what the <span class=\"nowrap\">fuck\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Only three of us have escaped the cages created by the Demons of the Darkness, Riddick. The only one of us who has eaten human four-shapes is the Moribund. You know the circumstances of my escape. You named me for them. I owe my <b>existence<\/b> to Audrey. She is my <b>sister<\/b> and I would no more eat a human four-shape, or five-shape, than I would eat one of my broodmates. But I hunt elsewhere in the multiverse. There are infinite other kinds of prey.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat\u2019s why he chased after you, isn\u2019t it? Why he attacked <i>Jack.<\/i> You stole his <i>meal<\/i> and he tried to replace it with <i>her.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Yes.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat\u2019s what all the killing\u2019s really about, ain\u2019t it? He ain\u2019t just tryin\u2019 to wipe out worlds. He\u2019s <i>feasting.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>He was once the strongest of us, Riddick. We pinned our hopes on his escape. It almost killed him and sapped his strength. For four hundred years he has existed on the verge of death, and all he has had to stave it off are the energies his\u2026 vessels\u2026 can draw out of the human worlds he conquers. And yet he must give most of it back to keep them, their ships, and their weapons going. Do you know what the <b>real<\/b> Underverse is, Riddick?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a fuckin\u2019 lie, that\u2019s what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No. It\u2019s not the dreamland his vessels have constructed in their minds from human notions of an afterlife. It\u2019s the \u2019verse where we hatched. The \u2019verse we were stolen away from. Our nesting ground. Teeming with energies that helped us grow. We were newborns to our six-shapes when we were stolen from that \u2019verse, cut off from it. We don\u2019t even know where it is. And you know <b>exactly<\/b> who did this to us, don\u2019t you?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Fuck. \u201cI do. Yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Perhaps <b>I<\/b> would like to hear <b>you<\/b> say it.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick rose from his crouch on the dais. \u201cYou want me to say it? Fine. I will. To <i>Jack.<\/i> C\u2019mon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>It\u2019s too late for that, Riddick.<\/i> There was a hint of resignation and regret in her disembodied voice.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Cold jetted through his veins. <span class=\"nowrap\">\u201cWhat\u2026<\/span> the <i><span class=\"nowrap\">fuck\u2026<\/span><\/i> do you mean by that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You have been in the Chamber of the Quasi-Dead for more than a day. A great deal has happened. And now it is time for Audrey\u2019s hatching.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cMy <span class=\"nowrap\">Lord\u2014?\u201d<\/span> Lord Vaako asked as Riddick burst through the Chamber\u2019s doors, vaulting over the throne and flinging himself at top speed down the hallway. He didn\u2019t bother looking back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">All he knew was that Jack was in danger. And he was fucking <i>sick<\/i> of being too late to save the people he loved.<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 93\/? 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 93: \u201cThe Eaters of Souls\u201d","bgseo_description":"Kyra\u2019s plea for help brings a familiar rescuer to her side, confirming one of Riddick\u2019s worst suspicions in the process.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fan-fiction","category-the-changeling-game"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041","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=1041"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1121,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041\/revisions\/1121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}