Mask of Humanity

Nicolai gazed at John, his eyes squeezing at the man’s face, guessing at his thoughts from the movements of his facial muscles.

He’s not keen on making this decision, even if they call him leader. He’s just going to see which way the lot of them are leaning, and go with it. Nicolai wanted to snarl. His hands twitched around, fingers catching at the bindings.

It was just a bunch of twine they’d looped around his wrists and tied. He started twisting and rubbing his wrists, slowly pulling at them, and found they weren’t all that tight. Clearly they hadn’t felt much need to ensure he was well tied, with him injured and fourteen of them to his one.

Truth be told, they had reason to be confident. Much as part of him might wish it, he wasn’t at all sure he could kill them all before they killed him, though he saw one of them, the young man, had an Orb of Rejuvenation. The indicator said it was a third full. If he could get it, things would change. But before that, he ought to see what could be done with words.

‘This is where you’re living, then?’ asked Nicolai, looking around, eyes lingering on the furniture beside the door, the things they would barricade it with come night. ‘The Chosen chased you out of your old hide, didn’t they?’

Glances were exchanged, and he read the thoughts behind them. This isn’t a very safe place. They need a new home. He struggled not to grin. This was it, this was his way out.

‘I have a safe place, very safe. The Chosen can’t get to it,’ said Nicolai. ‘It’s just me there. Plenty of room for all of you. Would be nice to have some company.’ He smiled up at them.

‘We can’t trust him!’ howled the lawyer, and opened his mouth to rant on, eyes on Nicolai’s Seed, but John cut him off. For the first time, the big man looked fully engaged and invested in the conversation.

‘Where is it?’ he asked.

‘I’d show you on my map, but my hands are bound.’ Nicolai shrugged his shoulders.

‘Mmm.’ John frowned. ‘The bindings stay on.’ He glanced at Nicolai’s Seed, and Nicolai could see the wheels turning in the man’s eyes. He felt an urge to sigh. John wanted his Seed, too.

‘Your Seed is finished, isn’t it? Complete?’ asked the lawyer suddenly, and there was a sneaky lean to his eyes, some kind of plan in there.

‘It is,’ said Nicolai, willing to see where this was going. He could tell the lawyer thought himself very smart, but Nicolai found him easy to read. Worth keeping an eye on, but not a serious danger.

‘How many Seeds did you feed to it?’ asked the lawyer, smiling. ‘We worked out it should be about fifty, for someone without augments.’ He sneered. ‘A Raw like yourself. How many people did you kill?’

They were all frowning at Nicolai and the Seed now with that thought in their mind. Nicolai almost laughed. The lawyer had given him a good in. ‘I didn’t kill anyone,’ he said.

The lawyer let out a derisive laugh, turning to the others. ‘You see? He’s full of it! Come on!—’

‘None of you examined the helmet, I take it,’ Nicolai broke in, nodding to the Soul Trap, which was on the table by his Seed. ‘I used that. It’s called a Soul Trap. It allowed me to complete my Seed without feeding it other Seeds. Go on, see for yourselves,’ he urged at them.

The teenage girl with his ring was closest, standing by the table, and she reached out, her hand flashing with gold as she touched the helmet, then she looked at the air above her Mark, reading words which were invisible to any but her.

‘”This Soul Trap was made by hands with little experience, but even so it is serviceable,”’ she read aloud. ‘”It allows one to capture weak souls, forcing them to take on a physical form that may be used for various purposes.”’

‘Weak souls means the undead,’ added Nicolai helpfully. ‘Those blue wisps that pop out their skulls when you kill them. I just put an Oma crystal on the helmet’s crown to activate it, wave it over and catch the blue wisps with it. They turn into this liquid stuff which my Seed eats, increasing its Soul count. That’s it.’ He shrugged as big as he could manage with his hands bound. ‘No need to kill anyone. My hands are clean.’ The final words made him want to giggle, but he managed to press the urge down.

They all clustered around the table, reaching out and examining the helmet themselves, all of them seeing it in a new light. The lawyer remained where he was, his teeth grit as he stared at the others, then he threw a glare at Nicolai who met the gaze without expression.

He knew the lawyer wouldn’t be won over. The man had lost his Seed and wanted Nicolai’s. But that didn’t matter. If the others sided with Nicolai, he won. The man looked to Nicolai’s Seed, greedy desire glinting in his eyes, and Nicolai’s eyes narrowed. Actually, that’s a problem. Looking at that face, he felt it likely the man might just grab it the first chance he got and run.

In spite of this, Nicolai wasn’t overly worried.

Because his hands were free, now, or could be in a moment. After twisting and slowly pulling at his binds long enough, he had loosened them enough that he could wriggle free in a moment. For now he didn’t do so, as if they decided to take them off he didn’t want them to see he was already free. It would damage the trust he was attempting to build between him and them. But if things did go sour, he could have them off in under a second.

‘We should test it,’ said the bionic-armed woman. ‘Make sure.’

‘You’re right,’ John agreed. ‘There’s those dead spearmen wandering around down the hall. We can test on them. Who’s coming?’ He looked around at them all and people started to their feet, looking eager.

‘And after that?’ Nicolai broke in, watching John.

John stared at him, then at the others, judging the mood. ‘If you’re telling the truth, and if you’re willing to lead us to the safe place… you can join us.’

Very kind of you. Nicolai kept his face blank, holding in a sneer.

They grabbed weapons and filed out the room, Nicolai counting them as they left. The young woman took his ring of flight with her, John took his glove of shielding. Finally, one who’d been silent throughout, a guy with a bionic eye who’d immediately pinged Nicolai’s threat radar simply due to the hard look to him, his grim silence, and unwavering stare he’d been treating Nicolai to since the start, was carrying his rapier.

They left the rest of his things on the table. In the end, only the teenage boy, the old man, the lawyer, a pair of woman who’d sat in the corner and hadn’t said a word, and the little girl who was with them, remained.

Nicolai focused on the lawyer, whose eyes flicked between the others as they left, and Nicolai’s Seed.

There came half-a-minute of tense silence as those remaining all stared at Nicolai and one another. As soon as Nicolai judged those who’d departed were far enough away, he acted.

‘These bindings, I think they’re cutting my blood flow off. I can’t feel my fingers.’ He grimaced with fake pain at the soft-hearted old man.

Predictably, the old man’s expression weakened. He looked to the lawyer and the youth. ‘I’m going to let him loose.’

‘What?’ The teenager gasped the word, eyes growing wide and round and worried. ‘Shouldn’t we wait for John?’

‘Let him loose? You’ve no right to make that decision! He stays where he is!’ brayed the lawyer.

‘Do you have any water?’ Nicolai said, then twisted his body a little and gasped with pain. ‘God, I think I’m bleeding again.’

‘I’m setting him free,’ the old man said, scowling at the lawyer. ‘He can sit in a chair and have a drink until the others get back, and I can check his wounds. Let’s inject a little civility into things, shall we?’ The old man grabbed a knife and started towards Nicolai, who smiled gratefully at him and leaned forwards to present the bindings.

‘No!’ screamed the lawyer. ‘You idiot! He’ll take the Seed!’

‘It’s his Seed, anyway,’ said the teenager, frowning at the lawyer. Nicolai could see there was some dislike there, a fact he took note of.

The lawyer’s face twisted with desperation and anger, his eyes flitted around and landed on the Seed then a decision was made and he lunged forward, reaching out.

Nicolai ripped his hands out of the bindings and leapt to his feet at the same moment as the lawyer grasped his Seed.

The lawyer went for the door but Nicolai shoved the old man out of his way, lunged across the room and got between the lawyer and the exit. His wounds were burning but the pain was nothing in face of the risk to his Seed. The old man was yelping and stumbling, shocked and confused, and would have fallen but the boy caught him and steadied him.

The lawyer froze as Nicolai blocked his way out, then he stumbled backward, clutching Nicolai’s Seed. His eyes were wide with surprise, his mouth hung half open.

‘Give it back,’ Nicolai said as he stepped after the lawyer who backpedalled faster. He attempted a patient tone of voice but he heard the snarl of rage coming through. As he passed by the table his hand drifted over it and he palmed one of his knives, holding the blade flat against his wrist, angling his arm to hide it.

The lawyer retreated into a corner, clutching at Nicolai’s Seed. ‘See!’ he shrilled, staring about. ‘See! He was lying! He’s been loose for who knows how long!’

‘Because I knew you’d try and steal it,’ Nicolai hissed. ‘Give me my Seed.’

‘Put it down. Come on Tom, you don’t want to be like this.’ The old man, ever eager to involve himself and already recovered from the shove, materialised between Nicolai and the lawyer.

‘If I can’t have it, no one can,’ snarled the lawyer, and his hands clenched tight and a high squeal sounded from Nicolai’s Seed, a sound that spiked at Nicolai’s ears and wrapped around his chest and squeezed as though the lawyer held his very heart in his dirty thieving hands. ‘I’ll break it! Let me have it or it dies!’ yelled the man.

‘Tom, no,’ said the old man in a slow, calm voice, raising placating arms. ‘Let’s talk about this. I’m sure we can find a way. Give me the Seed, and let’s all calm down.’

Nicolai saw how the lawyer’s eyes moved away from him and settled onto the old man. Desperate. Afraid.

Distracted.

Nicolai shifted his grip then snapped his arm out, whip-like, and launched the knife in one smooth motion.

The knife zipped in a straight line across the room, arrowed past the old man and drilled into the lawyer's right eye. The man fell to the ground and spasmed with the throes of death.

A good throw, Nicolai thought, pleased. The others all let out screams and yells of surprise, everyone moving and scrambling, trying to work out what to do and whether they should run, except for Nicolai who knew exactly what to do.

Nicolai shoved past the old man who was white-faced with shock and mumbling something. He flipped the dead lawyer’s arms aside and saw his Seed, there on the ground. He picked it up and let out his own gasp, one of relief, a knot inside of him coming loose as he found it still alive and hale. It squirmed happily in his grasp and he put it quickly into his mouth.

He turned and lunged towards the young man who backed away, eyes wild, hands raised defensively, but the boy backed up into the wall and could retreat no further. Nicolai stopped before him, and saw that this one wouldn’t be fighting back.

He reached out and grabbed the Rejuvenating Orb hanging from the boy’s neck, wrenching it away so the chain snapped. He brought it to his mouth, pushed the funnel down and breathed in. A burst of healing mist came into his mouth and into his lungs and he felt his flesh itch and crawl as injuries healed.

‘H-hey!’ the young man yelped in shock and anger.

‘Thanks, I owe you one.’ Nicolai flashed a friendly smile at him, then tossed the empty orb back and the young man caught it reflexively as it knocked into his chest.

‘Why would you do that!’ the old man screamed as Nicolai turned back to him, his hands dragging at his hair. ‘You killed him!’

‘He was going to destroy my Seed,’ Nicolai said coolly. ‘I had no choice.’

‘You were lying.’ The old man goggled at him. ‘You said your bindings were too tight!’

Nicolai paused, teeth grit, staring at the old man, uncertain how to precede, wrestling with the darkness and simmering rage writhing within him. Why the fuck does it matter that I lied? The worthless-lawyer-cunt-bastard had wanted to destroy his Seed. Surely any reasonable human would have acted as he had.

He struggled with himself, momentarily uncertain. He needed to make a decision, now one of them lay dead. Should he leave immediately, or try and talk things out?

I don’t want to kill these people. They aren’t bad people. They could even be useful. All of this was just… a misunderstanding. But they had stolen his things. But they’ll give them back. I’ll make them. Then, they’ll take my band off for me. Maxine said we should work together. The darkness snarled at him, confused as to why the words of some woman over the radio mattered, but Nicolai was convinced that she should be his touchstone, his moral guide, alongside Kleos and the memory of Harold.

‘You murdered him!’ howled the old man.

‘He wanted to destroy my Seed!’ Nicolai roared back, the words exploding immediately out of him, as though they’d been primed just beneath the surface.

There was a unified flinch from those in the room as his shout echoed off the walls, and the old man gaped at him, mouth working silently. In the ensuing silence Nicolai sucked in some heavy breaths, trying to think. He looked around at the worried faces.

He was being overly emotional. The threat to his Seed had led to a sudden and surprising loss of composure. Not to mention, their argument was getting a little repetitive.

He paused, trying to muster something new, and thought that he needed to establish himself as calm and reasonable and in the right before the others got back. That, or kill everyone, take everything, and leave. Then hunt the rest of them for what they’d stolen. His mind spiralled into dark imaginings, seeing himself creeping through corridors, killing them one by one as they fled in terror. The dark urges within purred at the thought. An enjoyable game.

Nicolai took a deep breath and turned and smiled at the old man, raising his hands. ‘Let’s calm down,’ he said, as much to himself as to them. ‘There’s no need to argue. He was a problem to me, and to all of you. Unreliable. Better he’s gone.’ It seems I’ve decided to stay.

‘He was one of us! He was a good man!’ The old fellow looked like he was close to tears.

Nicolai snorted, confused and disgusted, struggling to keep it all down, trying not to let it overwhelm him. He stepped past the old man to the table and began gathering his things, tying the pieces of armour back on, attaching the knives to himself.

‘What are you doing?’ The youth was staring at him with worry.

‘These are mine,’ Nicolai explained in the most calming voice he could manage, and while he re-equipped himself his eyes moved slowly as he considered the two men and the women in the corner. He thought about how difficult it would be to kill them.

It wouldn’t be difficult. It would be easy. Very easy. Something shifted within him. His mouth filled with saliva and he tasted blood and iron. He grit his teeth, working to push the homicidal urge down, but it was close beneath the surface and pressing, pressing, trying to rise and become real.

His breaths were coming faster.