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Chapter 15: Two Ends of a Spectrum

Chapter 15: Two Ends of a Spectrum

 

"DROP IT," HE SAID. 

FELIX shrugged. There was a strange lilt to his voice when he said, "I was curious, so I talked to Leone about it, since I was going to be working with you. It wasn't a Demon, was it?" He paused and Daniel gave him no response, devoting every shred of his concentration to the task in front of him. He didn't want to listen. The sooner he got this done, the sooner he'd get away. Felix went on, "And you couldn't stop the guy that killed your parents, because your powers weren't developed yet. So you watched your parents die as they protected you. And you couldn't do anything about it. You still can't do anything."

"You're going a bit too far, Felix." Daniel gritted his teeth. "You might want to stop before I..."

"You lack the courage to attack and trust your magic," he pushed on regardlessly. 

Pale eyes bored into Daniel from an image in his memory. You should have seen me a few hours ago. You might be saying something different now. Felix was testing him, but right now he really would rather fail. He didn't want to learn this – how to break and enter and take things that weren't his. 

"Daniel—" Something brushed at his mind.

"Stop that," he said sharply. His mind was a fist, knuckles clenched, and her was swinging and Felix dropped. The layers were gone. The door to his mind was splintered. All that was left was that pulsating brightness, no longer dimmed by the barriers that had surrounded it. He touched it and on the floor the Delegate convulsed. 

"Felix? Mister Fancy Pants? Are you okay?" The questions were useless. He'd cracked him open like an egg so he couldn't expect him to be okay. Now around Daniel, he'd never be okay again. But he’d asked for it. Influencing me…

"I'm sorry," he said, backing out the door. "I thought you said you'd keep me out."

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"You don't have a weapon, right, girl? Here, choose," Dax said, pushing open a door after they had walked down a corridor. She stepped in and covered her eyes with her fingers as Sol remained by the door. The light was blinding. Through her fingers she saw weapons lining the walls, shining. She could've grabbed them all if she could. It was magnificent. 

There were curved ones and straight ones, and short ones and long ones, blades all gleaming as if they were freshly polished. Dax led her around the walls of the room, where the various weapons hung on racks. "That," he pointed to a long thin sword that looked like Calida's, "is a foil and this is a broadsword." He hefted a wide flat blade. It looked like Robert's. 

"These two are on the opposite ends of the spectrum of swords, but for you..." The short Beast turned back to the racks, stroking his goatee. What happened to me choosing? 

Sol, who was floating - there wasn't anything under his robes, not even feet - by the door, pointed towards one particular rack. "I would suggest those, Mr. Dax."