Inevitable Ascension

Chapter 22 - The Mark of the Condemned

Violina's very being screamed unceasingly from within her. Vision blurred and senses dulled as the hands of nameless, faceless monsters shoved her along. Lux's final seconds repeated over and over again in her mind, forcibly occupying her total mental faculty.

It had all happened so fast. She couldn't understand how it was even possible. Lux was the pinnacle of innocence and the purest soul ever to grace mankind. History had taken strong note of the contemptuous vermin that slithered the earth, but the world did not even ask Lux's name before tearing her from existence. Had she committed even a single selfish act in her lifetime? Perhaps making Violina wait while she rolled gleefully down a hill, or when she made her share a guest area with the rocks she had personified and befriended in the pit. Lux was true light shining in darkness, and the darkness had snuffed her out.

Violina found herself in a dimly lit mineshaft with three other Condemned toiling nearby. A mining tool like the one the girls had discovered during their escape from the museum lay at her feet, but she had zero intention of using it.

Violina realized she had been foolish. She had been willing to sacrifice herself for a better world, but sacrificing Lux carried far too steep a price. The very people Lux was trying to save killed her without mercy nor rationality. The world did not deserve her. Violina knew now it did not deserve either of them.

Reflecting on everyone she had ever known over the course of her life, the only one worth saving was gone. In a heartbeat she would trade all their lives for Lux's. Her mind spun in an unending cycle of sorrow and loathing. The world deserved to die. It had its chance—dozens of chances even. Now it deserved to drown in toxicity and fire.

"And what's this?" A rough, bitter voice interrupted Violina's thoughts. "This here Blessed bitch thinks just 'cause she was 'bove us out there, that she's 'bove us in 'ere. Ain't even workin'."

Violina ignored him and continued to stare at the ground.

"You seein' this?" He turned to the other Condemned still digging into their sections of the wall. "Won't even talk to me. Well guess what? You're Condemned now. Just 'cause immortalium still runnin' through you, don't make you better than us."

Violina picked up a couple shards of immortalium and slowly ran her finger across the sharpness of their edges.

"Why didn't they just separate it outta you?" he demanded, taking a couple steps closer. "It ain't fair that the rest of us are condemned to die while you're just condemned to serve!"

Violina abruptly looked the man in the eye. "I'm not condemned to anything. You want immortality? Here, let's see if we need the Consecrator to make you immortal." Instantly she hurled one of the shards at the man, sinking it deep into his leg.

Recovering from the shock of the attack and growling in pain, the man tried to take a swing at her. Violina dodged around to the back of the pathetic, limping man and thrust the second shard through his ribs and into his heart. With a wrenching thud, his body hit the stone.

The two other Condemned looked on in terror as Violina, showing no hint of remorse, picked up a fresh pair of immortalium shards. One of them grabbed the other from behind in a chokehold and pointed a mining tool at his throat. "Don't come any closer or I'll kill him!"

Violina laughed softly and continued her approach. "You don't seem to understand how hostages work." She shot another shard from her hand, burying it between the captive's eyes and killing him instantly. "Hostages only work when their lives are of worth."

Horrified, the remaining man dropped the body, seconds before an immortalium shard struck his face in like fashion.

Violina stepped over the corpses. "Guess you do need the Consecrator."