Destiny

[jammi]

Slowly I came to, lying on my front in freezing cold mud. My arm burnt as if it was on fire. I groaned and rolled over, looking around groggily at my surrounding. The ruins of the library were bleached into monochrome by the early hours of the mornings overcast sky. Looking at my arm, I could see a small hole had been drilled into my flesh, the wound cauterised by the shot as it passed through. The flesh around the hole was a raw red, the skin cracked by the lasers heat. Another wave of agony rolled over me so I curled up in a ball, the mud matting in my hair.

After several minuets I dragged myself to my knees before struggling to my feet where I teetered, unbalanced. Still mentally numb from the pain that still wracked my arm, I looked around me once more. The mud to my left was crimson. The crimson trail led to the prone form of Harman. His head had been caved in. I swiftly looked away before my already unsettled stomach could react to the sight.

I staggered away from the corpse towards the safe. I had been brought to find that damn thing and been shot for it. I might as well retrieve the contents. Maybe I could sell them and buy a ship to get me off-planet, away from Bretonia...

I twisted the lock combination until there was a click and a slight movement from the huge metal door. I hauled it open with my good arm, peering inside, gazing through the shadows cast by the half-light. Something inside was casting its own light - an eerie blue-purple. I brushed some strewn papers out of the way to find a rectangular object, no more than seven inches in length and five in width. There were two small spikes that protruding from either end, and the thing was decorated by symbols which covered the entire surface. I remembered buying it. They symbols had not been glowing then.

Gingerly I picked it up, squinting to make out the tiny symbol my stomach lurched as I recognised it. It was the Greater Truth.

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