"Osric! Get out of there! It’s a trick!" Kael’s voice screamed through my headset.I stared at the woman in front of me. She looked like my mother. She smelled like her. The kitchen was warm, and the tea was steaming. It felt so real."Don't listen to him, Osric," she said softly. "He just wants to take you back to that cold water. Stay here with me.""It’s not real!" Kael yelled again. "Look at the edges of the room! Look at her eyes!"I looked closer. Her eyes didn't have pupils. They were just glowing white circles. I looked at the wall behind her. The wallpaper flickered, showing cold, purple metal for a second."You aren't her," I whispered. My heart felt like it was breaking."Of course I am, baby," she said. She reached for my hand.I pulled away. My hands weren't human. They were covered in black scales. I was still a monster."My mother died years ago," I said. My voice grew louder. "I saw the ship go down. I saw the fire. You’re just a machine!""I am the World-Eater," the v

"Elowen, stop! Put that needle down right now!" I yelled.I scrambled over the debris of the shattered lab. Everything was a mess. Glass shards crunched under my boots. The smell of chemicals was thick enough to make my eyes water. Elowen didn't even look at me. She was holding a syringe filled with a thick, pulsing purple liquid. It looked like liquid starlight, but it felt evil."The labs are gone, Osric!" She shrieked. Her hair was matted with sweat. "They took everything! My research, my equipment, my life! Do you think I’m just going to let them win?""We can find another way!" I shouted. "Jax is outside. Kael is coming. We can regroup!""There is no regrouping!" She barked. She turned to face me. Her eyes were bloodshot. "The Thorne family is coming for my head. I have one chance to become something they can’t kill. I have to evolve!""That’s not evolution!" I said. I stepped closer, reaching out a hand. "That’s raw essence! It’s unstable! You told me yourself it melts the DNA o

The "Mother" shadow from the trench was gone, but the vibration remained. It was like a beat that I could feel in my teeth. It was coming from the very center of the machine's primary chamber."Osric, stay back! It’s still pulsing!" Jax yelled, his voice echoing through the damp, narrow hallway. I didn't listen. I couldn't."The readings are impossible, Osric!" Kael’s voice crackled in my ear. "The energy isn't destructive. It’s... it’s organized. It’s a biological frequency!""It’s a heartbeat," I whispered. I stepped into the final room. The floor was covered in a thick, translucent moss. In the center sat the true core. It wasn't a glowing cube or a set of wires. It was a massive, translucent organ, pulsing with a soft, blue light. It looked like a heart the size of a house."Don't touch it!" Jax screamed, reaching for my shoulder. "We don't know what it’ll do to your scales!""I have to know," I said. I pulled away from him. "Elowen called it a nightmare. Silas called it a weapon

I hit the metal floor hard. The liquid-metal figure was gone, pulled back by the ship hovering above. My head was pounding, and the Pearl in my eye was vibrating so hard I thought my skull would crack."Osric! The blue light is fading! Can you hear me?" Kael’s voice felt like a drill in my brain."I’m here," I gasped, "Jax! Where’s Jax?""Over here, kid!" Jax yelled from the shattered doorway. "That tin-man tossed me like a rag doll. Is it gone?""For now," I said, looking at the massive core. It was glowing a bright, angry red. "But the harvest is still coming. Kael, how much time do we have?""Ten minutes, maybe less!" Kael shouted. "And Osric, the toxicity levels are spiking. If those ships lock onto the filters, they’ll suck out every drop of clean essence left. The world will be a desert in an hour!""Not if I change the settings," I said."Change them? That's suicide!" Jax scrambled toward me. "The machine is falling apart. If you mess with the intake, the whole trench could col

I lunged sideways just as a thick, blue thorn cracked the floor where my head had been. The basement of the Thorne Manor was a humid mess. Elowen didn't look human anymore. Her skin pulsed with a starlight glow."You're making a mistake, Elowen!" I shouted, scrambling to my feet. "The forest is killing everyone in Oakhaven! Look outside!""They aren't dying, Osric," Elowen said. "They’re being recycled. Why save a broken city when we can have a perfect world?""Because people aren't trash!" I roared. I charged at her. She raised both hands, and a wall of vines shot up from the floor. I didn't stop. I channeled the heat from the Pearl into my shoulder and slammed through the growth. The wood splintered like dry glass."Osric, the filter!" Kael’s voice barked through my comms. "It’s right behind her! You have to trigger the purge before the World-Eater sinks too deep!""I'm trying, Kael!" I yelled."You can't reach it," Elowen hissed. She moved with a liquid speed. "The machine is tire