29. My Beloved Sister
Chapter twenty-nine
My Beloved Sister
With the innovation of the neurospace, brainwashing no longer required the prying open of eyes like I had seen in older mindshows.
If anything, it made my efforts to fight more futile, but I would take the relief where I could have it.
Ad campaigns, subliminal messages, and all other forms of cognitive viruses were so commonplace that brainwashing was almost forgotten.
Dokkaebi and the Correction didn’t have time to subtly shape my mind. I was in their possession and a danger as long as I believed in the Luxist conviction.
So they did what they had to.
Odd colors and sounds that inspired revolting thoughts of betrayal began, but that agony was short-lived.
Rather, I was given a brief reprieve, though what came during that pause was worse than any form of torture or conditioning.
Zhu had shielded me from the initial barrages of cognitive warfare, but he could not save me from this.
Ralia lay prone on a surgical table. No oxygen to keep her breathing, no IV tubes with anesthetics to keep her asleep, no blood transfusing into her paling body.
She was naked. Her scars were a tapestry of the vile nature of our work.
Looking at her bare body, I knew she would have made some remark about it, turning even this dire circumstance into a joke.
I let out a noise that sounded like a laugh, though it was the pained, tearful beginning of an agonizing bereavement.
I choked, screamed. I felt my agony go visceral.
This could not be. Tevon had died, just as I feared the rest of us would, but not her. Not Ralia. Ralia could never. If this were a work of fiction, she deserved the plot armor more than any of us.
I couldn’t even begin to fathom what her absence would mean for our efforts going forward. All that mattered was the person, not the tool that she was.
This was my sister with a connection stronger than blood. They treated her like an oyster, tossing aside the useless shell to remove the pearl in her head.
They did just that. I vomited. Though I was in my neurospace, I felt it run down my body. The excess liquid ran into the cracks between me and the chair I was strapped to.
My throat burned as I continued to cry out. The vomit in my esophagus made it even worse. Everything inside of my neck cried for relief, but I could not provide it. They killed her. My dear, dear Ralia was dead and there was nothing I could do to change that.
We had lost.
I continued to watch.
They pried apart the remnants of her skull and the chrome on the back of her head. Her head looked like a dissected avocado with the core standing out like a gem ready to be plucked.
They made a cut below the neck and sliced away any excess nerves as they removed her brain and the stem dangling below.
Her brain had a few augments from where she had taken damage in Arabasia, but nothing else mattered in comparison to the violently vibrant blue glow in her brainstem.
I saw the chromatic case that encased it as the light dimmed after exposure.
Despite the horror of it, I felt relief in finally knowing what it looked like.
The Bite. The device responsible for this chain of misery that bound each of us Imps.
The woman who had plucked the brain placed it in violet infused water. Everyone else in the room clapped their blood covered gloves together, causing red to splatter on their white gowns and face shields to make them look like the murderers they were.
I shook my head, but the image would not leave my mind. I tried to message Boyband, but any outside communication was blocked.
“Ralia.“ My voice shook as I let her name leave my lips like a final prayer for her spirit’s ascension.
Hope was dead.
I cried. I cried harder than I ever had in my life.
My head throbbed from all the crying. I was inconsolable and the propaganda they forced on me had no effect. I couldn’t focus on any of it regardless of the amphetamines and focus tabs they used to amplify the neurowashing. Maybe Zhu protected me. Maybe it was my ascension.
I didn’t know.
I didn’t care.
The only thing I felt besides an exacerbating pain was burning hatred for the Correction.
“Where’s Kim?” I cried. I think my voice echoed, but the auditory input of my neurospace left me half-deaf.
No answer.
I hadn’t expected one, but I still had to try.
“Kim!”
Still no answer.
A fix triggered. My mind felt light as if a thick fog had rolled in and continued to cloud everything until I lost consciousness.
I awoke sometime later, still having no idea if any of this would end. Why hadn’t they extracted my Bite, just as they had done for Ralia?
“Because I am not the same as Dokkaebi.”
Zhu? You’re here?
“As always.”
I—
“I know your pain.”
I forget that you lost a brother today too, in a way. Were you close to Sha?
“In life, yes.”
Right,. The whole posing as him thing.
“As long as I have been a Gui. It pains me to realize that I knew the illusion more than the man himself. I’m rather split on the matter.
I thought I knew Sha during our Western journey and the three kingdoms, but that was a fraction of the time we spent together.
Your relationship with Ali prior to his betrayal might provide some insight to how I feel. ”
That was nothing compared to what you are experiencing.
“The pain of betrayal is the same. My wound may have cut deeper into my past, but it is the same suffering.”
Yours just has more baggage.
“I’m sorry, Zhu. I really am.”
I am sorry for Ralia.
“Thank you.”
I know my words do nothing to heal your wounds, but I hope they are a sufficient salve for now.
It’s nice to have someone to talk to. I remember back when I saw you lurking in the shadows and thought you would be my end. Look at us now. Why did you only appear then and not when I first received my Bite?
“We were dormant until Deleon chose to awaken us. We were always there to help power the implants, but it was not until Sun joined with Devóne that we could make ourselves seen.”
Was Tevon bound to a Journeyman, too?
“No. It was just the four of us bound to you, Ralia, Devóne, and Abbas. Tevon had a Gui, though I know nothing more. Akna’s is an example of Gui not bound to us.”
Keiro probably did, too.
“His memory still pains you.”
Yeah, I don’t want to talk about that right now.
“I understand after such a recent loss, but you will have to confront his story eventually. That enigma of a man has much that needs revealing.”
I’ve faced his past.
“You never explored the lead that took his life.”
I will. In time. Don’t tell me my time is running out. Subject change. How did you become a Gui? Is that like, your afterlife?”
“Oh, you have so much to learn. Think of it as a limbo for now.”
I assume not everyone becomes one?
“Yes.”
Only warriors like you.
“It is more related to ascendancy.”
Will I become one when I die?
“I do not know.”
Ralia? Is Ralia alive as one?
He didn’t answer. Part of me wanted to hope he was thinking, but I knew certain truths were better left unspoken when the point had been made.
I don’t understand why we’re still connected. Why didn’t they take my Bite as well?
“That should be my worry.”
I don’t want to end up like Ralia.
“At least you would not be weaponized against your will. I fear their intentions.”
Didn’t know you were capable of fear.
“I did not know I could be deceived by one of my closest friends.”
The door opened and the neurowashing came to an abrupt stop.
“PetNeb? Mister Petya Nebokov? Ah, there you are. I’m sorry I didn’t get to focus on you too much. Ralia and her whole Gui endeavor was a little more important to me. Nice to meet you formally, my name is Mister Kim.”
“I know.”
He smirked, adjusting his glasses as he approached me with hands behind his back. “A strong voice from such a strong boy.”
“I know your body’s fake so why bother with glasses?”
He scoffed. “You’re asking that before anything else? Not even going to address the–”
“I don’t want to hear you justify any of what you’ve done.”
“Very well. I respect that.”
“I don’t respect you.”
“Big surprise.”
“Whose identity did you steal?”
“Pardon?”
“You’re a zegging homunculus.”
“Ah, that. Not much theft involved and it’s more common than you might expect around here. Most of the council consists of Predecessing Homunculi.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Kim Jong Il, one of history’s greatest leaders.”
“So much that everyone mocks you by calling you Dear Leader?”
He scoffed again, then adjusted his glasses.
“Though society has changed”—he tapped the bridge between the lenses—“wisdom always has a specific appearance. I have to look like I once did to keep up the illusion of… this. That’s beside the point.
” He started to pace, swinging his voice in a singsong manner.
“I’m here to see how your neurocleanse has been.
” He stopped and stared me in the eyes. “Slam your head against your seat.”
I laughed, ready to spit in his face. He could try all he wanted but I was–
My skull slammed against the seat. My head throbbed with pain aggravated by anger.
“Delightful!” Kim rubbed his hands together. “Though I think we need a little behavioral augmentation.”
A voice spoke through the room’s speakers. It was familiar, but not enough for me to put a name on it. “We can worry about that later. I’ll debrief him now so we can get moving.”
Kim groaned. “Are you sure you want to risk that before the complete wipe?”
“I told you we can’t wait! The anomaly is going to send us into informatic hell!”
“Fine, Don. Do what you want.”
There it was.
“Thank you, sir.”
“Don’t take too long. Dokkaebi’s fusion will begin soon and I want him present for it.”
“So you can rub his dead companion in his face?”
“Not everyone is as vindictive as you. Put some sense into your head before you speak. If he is going to be integrated into the system, he needs to see what he will be serving.”
“What, are you appointing him to the council now?”
“No, but as the only person among us with a true Gui, I plan on using him–”
“But you promised me that you would let me use the Gui for–”
“Yes, yes, the anomaly. You’ve said it countless times.”
“You don’t seem to care for it.”
“Oh trust me, I–”
I turned to Zhu as their argument continued into more senseless disagreements.
Is this the hell I am going to be stuck in?
“I do not know.”
They can’t control you, right?
“I know nothing of what is to come.”
What the zeg? I thought you were supposed to be all knowing? Look, I’m glad we’re pals now, but that doesn’t mean I want you to get rid of your domineering confidence, no matter how cryptic.
“I did not know about Dokkaebi. I do not know what they will do with us, nor do I know what they will do with him.”
Ascend. Right? That’s always your answer, it should be now. Right?“Correct.”
“Hihow!” Kim patted my chick with too much vigor. “Are you listening?”
“What?”
“Follow me.”
I was free from my prisoner’s seat. My mind was unbound, but my body was Kim’s to direct. I followed him down a white hallway with no say over what would happen next.