Chapter 13: The Mug

The temple looked the same as it had on his first day.

The altar was cracked down the middle, and the chipped mug sat at the edge of the stone.

Sera's light stood over it, and for the first time it had a face.

It was a woman's face, plain and tired, with short dark hair and shadows under the eyes.

Brigid had followed Wes the whole way without a word.

Now she stood at the foot of the steps with her hand on her sword.

Tamsin sat on the altar rail and swung her boots, and Gravel lay across Wes's feet.

"Ask," Sera said. "All of you. I'll answer what I can."

"What are you?" Brigid said.

"A woman named Sera Marsh. I was the night-shift world designer at Halcyon."

"Night shift," Tamsin said. "The mug."

"The mug." Sera almost smiled. "I built this temple on my own time. Nobody asked me to. I liked it here."

"You built the class," Wes said.

"As a joke. A class that lends the player a second body. Wren was my test avatar, the one I walked around in while I built."

"So she's yours."

"She's mine. The first Surge opened the door, and I've been standing behind it since."

Wes looked at his hands.

They were his own hands, with the scar on the left thumb from a kitchen knife.

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