The Mindscape

Sleep was dangerous. When Vesper slept, she didn't dream of the Wastes. She went inside.

The Mindscape was a surreal mockery of a cathedral. The floor was made of sand that flowed upward like rain in reverse. The sky was a ceiling of grinding bronze gears the size of cities.

Vesper walked through the nave. She wasn't wearing her scavenger gear here. She was wearing a simple white dress she hadn't owned since she was five.

Sitting on the steps of the altar was a boy. He was glowing, his skin made of porcelain cracks.

"Hello, Vesper," The Child whispered.

Vesper sat down next to him. In the waking world, she hated Aion. But here, with the boy, it was hard to hate.

"Why did they do it?" Vesper asked. "Why did Helios throw you down?"

The boy hugged his knees. *Because I stopped the clock.*

"What?"

* There was a plague,* the boy said, his voice trembling. *In the First Era. It was killing the mortals. Thousands of them. Helios wanted to fast-forward time. He wanted to skip fifty years. The plague would burn out, yes. But everyone alive would die instantly of age. He didn't care. He just wanted the world clean again.*

Vesper stared at him. "And you said no?"

* I paused the moment,* the boy said. *I stretched a single second into a thousand years so the healers could find a cure. I saved them. But I defied the King.*

Vesper felt a tightness in her chest. She had spent her life thinking gods were monsters who played with humans like toys.

"You saved them," she whispered. "And they broke you for it."

* Aion loved them,* The Man’s voice echoed from the shadows of the cathedral.

Vesper turned. The Man stood there. He was tall, wearing robes of shifting grey smoke. He had no face, just a blur of features that looked painfully familiar—sometimes like the father who left her, sometimes like the lover she pushed away.

**Compassion is a flaw in a deity, Vesper. It creates drag.**

"It's not a flaw," Vesper said, standing up. "It's the only reason I haven't used the bomb under my seat."

The Man stepped closer. The gears in the sky slowed down. **You carry a Void-charge.**

"I do."

**Smart,** The Man said. He reached out, his smoky hand brushing her cheek. In the dream, she could feel the touch. It wasn't cold. It was warm. Human. **But you won't need it. We are almost to the Temple. Once we are restored, I will leave you. You will be rich. You will be alone. That is what you want, isn't it? To be safe?**

"Yes," Vesper said, though the word felt hollow in the vast cathedral. "Safe."

**Then sleep, Vesper. Tomorrow, we reach the end.**