Page 41 of The Last Feast
“They did this,” the woman says as she lays her hand on my back.
The recording flickers, rewinding to show Hana waving at me with a smile on her face before it speeds up to the flames.
“You can hurt them, Auguste.” She continues rubbing my back as my vision blurs. “For her. You can hurt them.”
Whoever invented the stages of grief never allowed the masses to know it’s not a change?—
it’s an addition. My denial is still there, but anger takes control as I plead, “I’ll do it. I’ll do anything.”
The red-haired woman rises to her full height, then steps back out of the glow of the bulb like I could care what she looks like. “Good.”
I’m submerged in darkness as the flickering stops, and the only light coming from the bulb is the muted orange of the flints now that the power has been taken away.
The woman’s voice echoes around the space as she explains, “As a man of science, you understand Newton’s Third Law has always been believed to explain motion.” Her heels click as she walks to my left, and I sit up, staring into the dark. “However, physics provides an explanation of the universe. For every force in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” She walks around me, stopping behind me. “The natural order provides a balance, an equal and opposite reaction to ensure the world doesn’t fall into disarray.”
“I said I’ll do it,” I grit.
“Yet, I didn’t say I accept you,” she says slowly, timed with the click of her heels. There’s another click, one that’s deadly andrecognizable in the dark as she presses a gun to the back of my head. “Do you forsake all others except for The Order?”
“Yes.”For Hana.
I don’t flinch when she pulls the trigger.
The barrel clicks as she reloads the chamber then asks, “Do you submit your will to correct the order?”
“Yes.”For Hana.
Another click, another reload, another question.
“Do you give your name to correct the order?”
“Yes.”For Hana.
Another click, another reload, another question.
“Will you die to correct the order?”
“Yes.”For Hana.
Another click, another reload, the original question.
“Do you forsake all others save for The Order?”
“Yes.”For Hana.
There’s no click this time.
She steps back and coolly says, “Welcome to the first stage. You may stand.”
24
FROM THE ASHES
As Hana lays unconscious from smoke inhalation, she’s unaware her sacrifice was in vain. Auguste has surrendered his life to a more sinister power.
There are no gods, angels, or demons where The Order is concerned. Not when they were the original handlers, and their goal, however altruistic they make it seem, has risen from the same emotion all wars have come from—insult.
Their egos were too inflated to accept they had been replaced, so they’ve lied and told Auguste he’ll be fighting to undo the damage they once profited from. After all, there’s something poetic in Hana being the catalyst, considering they were the ones who facilitated her living with Erik and Martha.
