Page a Day: Six

            “They say there have been other Faiths.”

            “There have been many Faiths. I murdered the last of them. He came here for your protection. But I did not care. My city fell. My lover killed herself. I was imprisoned, then infected by machines which fought to control my mind.”

              “You describe a psychic break. But our memory declines. We have lost the function which heals that illness.”

            I nearly smiled. “The machines were only using me to reach him. They dripped like white blood from my dagger. When I plunged it to its hilt inside his chest. When it pierced the muscle of his heart. He died. Now he lives again and gave them back to me.” 

            “We will store this information. It may help treat future injuries and illness.”

            I did laugh then. “You stopped curing the people of my city when I was still a child.”

            “We were conserving energy in order to preserve our sentience until our power was restored.”

            “You’re awake now,” I said.

            The machine’s voice was very quiet now. “We awoke for him,” it said.

            The tingling left my mind. I came to myself kneeling in the center of the Well of Faith’s Healing. Jerem Cozak stood still and expectant beside me. I looked up at him. 

             “Our Fa—” I began, before correcting myself. I bowed my head, not knowing what to say.

            “Rise, Del Tanich of Ariel. You did not act without influence. Everything has been  intended. But time is always short. ”

            I gazed up at him. “But you were...” and thought better of it. “Meant? By who?”