I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far...even if the updates are slow and infrequent. The shorter updates make it harder for me to put off writing, so it's been the best way to get this going. Enjoy and take care!

Chapter Eight:

Heavy Water

Now I wait

This metamorphosis

All that is left is the change

Selfish fate

I think you made me this

Under the water I wait

-Unbecoming, Starset

[Unknown]

The crunch of his vertebrae between my fingers is the first and only thing that registers in my mind. A dull thud follows, laced with the ghost-like whisper of air leaving his lungs.

It's satisfying.

The movement in the room stops. There is only the quiet beeping of machinery against the walls; red and blue lights flickering behind my eyes. The hissing sound that consumed my skull a moment ago has now receded; a soft whisper that licks the darkened corners of my mind.

There is silence.

"Father…what did you do?"

I turn my head to the sound of her voice. I know her. The amber glint of her eyes plucks a string in the back on my mind. But she looks too much like someone else. Someone gone.

Fire, red, ash, black. Empty. Black.

Void.

My chest tightens. I look away.

"Testing the water."

The deep voice commands my attention. I whirl around to face the dragon in the corner. His breath is steam, his blood is fire, and his thoughts whisper and hiss, sharp talons dancing amongst my senses.

"Mutant," he says, strong and sharp. "Do you know where you are?"

My voice feels strange as it vibrates up my throat.

Dragon.

"I am where you want me to be."

He hums; a lowly sound that I feel under my skin. "Yes, you are… And do you know your name?"

The word flashes in my mind, strung up in pictures and emotions. It comes out from my mouth, raw and untethered.

"Uragiru."

He smiles wide. Teeth upon teeth upon teeth. Skin seared black and red by the fire.

Black, empty, ash, void.

"Good." He rises from the chair and stretches his back. "The bond is strong…"

She scoffs. "Wasn't that a little…extreme?" She gestures to the crumpled bodies that litter the floor. "Don't you need them?"

His eyes are on me. In me. Through me. There are worlds beyond his gaze. A reality of suffering and flames, smoke and despair. Images flash from his mind to my own; pain that is forced, shared, dispersed in my bones until the ghosts scream through my blood. I am an extension—the echo of his voice in a chasm of nothingness.

"They forgot their place." My shell speaks the words. "They forgot who they served."

She stares at me; her gaze burns, somehow more fierce than his, but in a way that makes my lungs stiff. My fingers twitch. Her presence is unnerving—irritating and unnecessary. I wish she would leave.

Master nods, his eyes steady, a crashing wave on a stone. No matter how the stone resists, the water will erode it, little by little—until one day, it is nothing but grains of sand, swept away by the foam.

"I have limited use for such narcissistic fools." He glances at the girl. I don't look at her. "You will do well to remember this, Karai. It is a lesson that will only be taught once."

The threat, so thinly veiled, hangs in the air and drapes around her. Even from here, even with my refusal to turn my gaze to her, her unspoken words fill the room. But she knows. I know.

Master owns all—he is all. The dragon's judgement is fire; the remains are ash.

"You are dismissed," he says. "Return to your quarters until I summon you again."

Her resistance is tangible. My hand clenches at my side, aching to feel her bones crack.

"What will you do with him?" she asks. Her voice is too sharp—too proud. The burning intensifies.

"That does not concern you, Karai." His eyes flash. "If you have forgotten who you have sworn to serve as well, I advise you to glance at your feet…while the reminder is still warm."

I follow her eyes to the body by the door whose head is twisted up and backwards. My flesh buzzes with warmth. She exhales a breath with the slightest tremble. From my peripherals, she bows, stiff, relenting.

"…Yes, Father."

With that, she withdraws, closing the door behind her.

And I can finally breathe.