Ashen wasn't really surprised, not if he was being honest. A freaking genetic parasite was casually living inside him. He probably should be grateful he hadn't immediately turned to dust like the others.
'So let me get this straight,' Ashen thought, his mind feeling strangely numb. 'You are currently consuming my vitality?'
Nexis chirped back, a faint, almost amused echo in his head.
'Which means I'm currently dying?'
'That isn't helping.'
Ashen's mental reply was flat, devoid of any anger, just weary resignation.
A heavy silence descended, thick with unspoken dread.
Ashen sighed, a long, drawn-out sound that seemed to carry the weight of his entire miserable existence. He slumped deeper into the chair, the cheap plastic creaking under his weight, and rubbed his face wearily. His fingers pressed hard against his temples, as if he could physically squeeze the impossible truth out of his skull.
'Well, is there at least any way to get you out of me?'
He finally asked, a sliver of desperate hope he didn't truly believe in.
Nexis replied, a hint of something unreadable – perhaps even sympathy? in its mental tone.
'So I'm gonna die?'
The thought was a whisper, a strange echo of inevitability.
'So this is how it ends, huh.'
Strangely enough, fear didn't claw at him. He had lived most of his life steeped in it, a constant companion that had, over time, made him almost immune. Very few things could still invoke that primal terror in him, and death itself wasn't one of them.
What did prickle him, was what would happen after his death. Specifically… what might happen to his sister, Elara, once he was gone. Just the thought of her alone, vulnerable in this fractured world, made him feel sick, a churning in his gut that was far worse than any fear for himself.
Nexis interjected, pulling him from his dark thoughts. The voice in his head sounded almost… thoughtful now.
Ashen's head shot up, his eyes lighting up.
A fresh, startling jolt of hope surged through him.
'Well, why didn't you say that from the start?! What do I have to do?'
His mental voice was urgent, desperate.
Nexis began, its tone shifting to something almost casual, conversational.
The more Ashen listened, a cold dread began to creep up his spine. The surge of hope withered, replaced by a growing, sickening certainty that he was not going to like what came next. His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.
<…So all you have to do to stop me from draining you is feed me… with other people.>
Silence.
The single word hung in the air, a visceral shock. Ashen's mind reeled, utterly blank for a beat.
Nexis's voice, though still mental, had a distinct edge of impatience now.
Ashen didn't respond. His entire body felt rigid, a statue of disbelief.
'I heard what you said, you bastard!'
Ashen rebuked, disgusted by the mere thought of it.
'And I'm not fucking killing people and feeding them to you!'
Nexis replied, its mental tone annoyingly nonchalant.
'IT'S DEFINITELY A FREAKING BAD THING!!'
Ashen's mental shout was raw with fury and revulsion. His breath hitched in his throat.
'Do you even know what you're asking me to do?! I'm not an artificial machine like you who doesn't feel emotions or have any empathy! I can't just go around killing people and feeding them to you! And why must it be humans? Can't you get whatever you need from something else like animals?'
His thoughts tumbled out, a frantic, desperate plea.
'I'm not killing anyone.'
Ashen's reply was stark, resolute, a wall built of his last shred of morality.
Ashen could feel the blood drain from his face, a cold dread seeping into his bones. His mouth felt dry.
Before Ashen could even formulate a scathing retort, or before the full weight of Nexis's threat could crush him, the door of the underground room suddenly screeched open.
Mara's old but stern face came into view, her expression unreadable as she calmly walked into the room.
She stopped at the doorway, her gaze fixed on him for a couple of long seconds, an unsettling intensity in her eyes, before she pushed the door shut with a soft thud.
She walked up to the only other chair in the room and sat down comfortably, her movements deliberate and unhurried.
Silence.
The room settled into a heavy, almost suffocating silence, not warm, but charged with unspoken tension as they both just sat there, silently staring at each other. Ashen could feel his heart hammering against his ribs, suddenly hyper-aware of his own precarious situation.
'Her deal?' Ashen thought, trying to keep his mental reply even, despite his nerves.
'Do you usually talk this much?' Ashen found himself asking, a flicker of something close to exasperation.
Another stretched silence. Ashen felt a wave of frustration.
'But you sure did have a lot to eat, didn't you?' Ashen retorted, the bitterness seeping into his thoughts before he could stop it.
'That's different, okay?' Ashen thought, the anger returning.
'I don't know how, but it is different!'
"Do you have something to tell me, Ashen?"
Mara's voice cut through his internal turmoil, startling him so completely that he visibly flinched in his chair, his head snapping up to meet her unwavering gaze.
The sudden disruption of the silence made him jump, the conversation with Nexis almost forgotten in the shock.