Chapter 33 · The White Void

"Get your hands off me!"

Kael didn't just scream it; he lunged. But there was no floor to push off from, and no air to catch. He was floating in a bleached-out nothingness that tasted like ozone and old copper. His wrist was clamped in a grip that felt like a vice made of ice—Vera.

She didn't let go. Instead, she yanked him closer, her face inches from his. Her eyes weren't the piercing, calculating amber he knew. They were flat. Empty. Like two polished stones at the bottom of a dead well.

"Who are you?" she asked. Her voice lacked its usual bite. It was a monotone, a recording played at the wrong speed.

Kael froze, his heart hammering against his ribs. "What the hell do you mean? It's me. Kael. We just—we were just fighting in the city. You were trying to kill me, and I was trying not to die. Again."

Vera tilted her head. The movement was robotic, devoid of any human curiosity. "Kael. Iteration 100. You are a variable that should have been purged. Why are you still speaking?"

"Stop talking like a damn manual!" Kael twisted his arm, trying to break the hold.