The Blunt Reaper

"Have you seen an ability like it before?" she asked.

"Not from a stabbing death." The instructor said.

The answer unsettled Rook more than it appeared to unsettle Mara. "You’ve seen something similar from another kind of death."

"Abilities capable of manifesting injury without an instrument exist," Talren said. "They are rare, difficult to control and usually costly. A Reaper who burned alive may create burns without flame. Someone crushed beneath enormous weight may collapse part of a body without applying force. In those cases, the Imprint remembers the consequence more strongly than the cause."

He looked toward Mara’s hand.

"Your death appears to have done the same."

The female examiner opened a fresh section of the tablet and began recording the findings. "Close-range manifestation. Complete puncture channel. No physical instrument. Potential penetration through layered material. Severe fatigue after a single controlled use."

"Moderate fatigue," Mara corrected.

"You are holding the table."

Mara released it. The examiner did not change what she had written.

Talren motioned toward a bench near the edge of the yard. "Sit. We will not test the Imprint again until the nausea passes."

"I can do it again."

"That is precisely why I am telling you not to."

Mara sat reluctantly. Rook remained beside her while the examiners gathered several paces away. Their discussion became too quiet to follow, though Mara caught fragments concerning memory depth, projection range and whether the effect ignored physical resistance or merely possessed unusual penetration.

Rook watched them. "They don’t know what it is."

"They know more than we do."

"That isn’t difficult."

Mara looked down at her hand. "It worked differently this time."

"How?"

"I could see part of it."

"There was nothing there."

"I saw a distortion, like a blade made from empty space."

Rook examined her palm without touching it. "You used it from farther away than before."

"Barely. My hand was still against the dummy."

"The wound began beneath your palm, but the effect crossed its entire chest. Against that second rank in the water, it stopped before it reached its core."

"I didn’t know where its memories were."

"That means you still need to understand what you’re targeting. The ability can pass through a body, but it doesn’t automatically find the part that matters."

Mara leaned back against the wall. "You sound almost useful."

"I witnessed both Culls. That makes me more useful than the people whispering over there."

"Maybe that’s why Elara made you come."

"Elara made me come because she enjoys suffering."

"Yours?"

"Primarily."

Talren returned before Rook could continue. He carried the completed assessment tablet beneath one arm.

"We will classify the Imprint as a direct wound manifestation until further examination," he said. "You are prohibited from using it unsupervised inside the Bastion."

Mara frowned. "Even if I’m attacked?"

"If you are attacked by an Abomination inside the Forty-Second, several larger problems have already occurred. At that point, use whatever keeps you intact."

"And during the search?"

"That will depend upon your control by the end of the week. For now, you will use the Imprint sparingly. Every activation forces you to recall the moment of death with unusual clarity. Repeated use may deepen the memory faster than your soul can withstand."

"What happens then?"

"You could collapse, lose consciousness or become trapped inside the recollection. In severe cases, a Reaper begins confusing the person before them with the one who killed them. And in the worst case..."

"You fall to corruption," Rook said.

Everyone remained quite for a moment, they knew Rook’s words had weight to them. An unbearable one at that too.

Mara looked toward the training dummy. "I couldn’t see who did it. The one who stabbed me."

"That may protect you from the final possibility. It may also make the memory less stable." Talren sat opposite her. "Tell me what you do remember."

Mara considered the question. The wound still seemed to pulse beneath her ribs, though no physical mark existed beneath her uniform. She closed her eyes without reaching deeply enough to activate the Imprint again.

"Someone was standing in front of me," she said. "Close enough to hold me. I didn’t see the weapon until it entered my chest."

"Were you restrained?"

"I don’t think so."

"Did you attempt to move away?"

"No."

"Were you afraid before the attack?"

Mara searched through the fragmented recollection. "No. That’s the strange part. I wasn’t afraid of them."

"Did you know the attacker?"

"I think so."

"How well?"

"I don’t remember their face or voice. I only remember how it felt to have them close." Mara opened her eyes. "There was something familiar about them. Kinship, maybe. They could have been my husband, my lover or my brother. Someone I trusted enough that I never expected them to hurt me."

Talren recorded the answer without pressing for a name. "That is sufficient for now. Do not force the face to return."

"Why?"

"Because your Imprint is already unusually clear. Pulling at the missing portions may strengthen it before you possess the control necessary to survive that strength. Or like Rook said, might lead you to corruption."

Rook looked toward him. "You’re telling her not to remember. Good luck with that."

"I am telling her to allow the memory to return at a controlled pace. There is a difference."

"She isn’t good at controlled."

Mara elbowed him in the side.

Talren ignored them. "The accelerated program will be divided into two courses. The first is physical training: movement, weapon handling, endurance, use of the Brand and controlled activation of your Death Imprint. We will establish how many times you can manifest the wound, how deeply it can penetrate and whether its cost increases with distance or the durability of the target."

"And the second?" Mara asked.

"Doctrine. Abomination anatomy, ranks, behaviors and methods of formation. You will learn how corruption progresses, how to recognize concentrations of memory and how different ranks protect the parts capable of being Culled. You will also study contract law, Bastion authority and the responsibilities of a Voluntary Reaper."

Rook released a quiet, irritated breath. "Cramming... For a whole week. Ugh"

Mara smiled at him. "You can wait outside."

The Brand beneath his sleeve grew warm. Rook looked down at it and then at her.

"You’re going to abuse that contract."

"I learned from the best."

"Voss?"

"You."

Talren handed Mara the assessment tablet. "Physical instruction begins once your nausea passes. Doctrine begins this evening. You will eat before both."

"Eat?"

"Your remembered body does not require food to survive, but your mind does. Newly awakened Reapers are particularly vulnerable to sensory deterioration after repeated use of a Death Imprint."

Mara rose carefully from the bench. Her legs remained slightly weak, but the training ground no longer shifted beneath her. "How long until the next test?"

Talren looked toward the clean hole passing through the center of the dummy. "When you can walk across the yard without pretending you aren’t exhausted."

Mara took one step, and the nausea immediately returned. She stopped before her legs could betray her any further.

Rook held out one arm without looking at her. "Take it."

"I can walk."

"Then walk."

Mara attempted another step and nearly veered sideways. Rook caught her before she fell, pulled her arm across his shoulders and began guiding her toward the preparation chamber.

She looked at him. "You seem remarkably concerned for someone who wanted to leave five minutes ago."

"The contract burns when you injure yourself."

"You’re helping because it hurts you?"

"I find pain motivational."

Talren followed behind them with the assessment tablet. "Bring her to the lower dining hall. Afterward, report to Classroom Seven for Abomination doctrine. Physical testing resumes tomorrow morning."

Rook stopped at the doorway. "You expect me to attend the classroom too?"

"The Vice Manager’s instructions were explicit."

Mara’s smile widened.

Rook looked from her to the examiner and then down at the Brand hidden beneath his sleeve. The faint outline of a white chain appeared between him and Mara before fading again.

"One week," he muttered.

Mara leaned some of her weight against his shoulder as they entered the preparation chamber. "Try to think of it as an education."

"I’ve survived three hundred years without one."

"That explains quite a lot."

Behind them, the instructors gathered around the pierced dummy once more. One examined the empty channel from the front while another inspected the matching wound in its back. Nothing remained between the two openings. There was no weapon, fragment or trace of whatever had passed through it.

Only the wound Mara remembered.

And the first indication that learning to control it might prove far more dangerous than awakening it had been.

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