Part 19

Slowly, the darkness recedes from my mind. My head still feels like it's in a vice, but I don't think I'm actually dead for the time being.

The body of the guard Mastaba made me kill still lies pathetically on the floor.

There is some kind of ultra-powerful killing machine lying dormant inside me. What am I? Mastaba's speech left me with more questions and provided no real answers. Furthermore, he seems to have constructed me in such a way that he has almost complete control over my body, mind, and senses.

That makes him far too dangerous to live.

I should check on Dane.



Dane: "Don't let them put me back together... I don't want to be walking around, like you."



Dane: "Just do it... KILL ME!"

Dane, that poor bastard... I really don't want to kill him, but I can understand why he wants to die. The only reason I'm still alive is my desire for revenge. Dane seems to just want it all to be over with.



I try showing the photo I found in Caynan's cell to Dane, hoping he can provide me with a clue as to who it belongs to.

Dane: "Who is she?"

Dane doesn't recognize the picture. Of course, his memory has certainly been erased several times over just like mine. I tuck the photo carefully away. Whether she was Dane's fiancee, or maybe mine, or somebody else's, it doesn't really matter. This photo and that stupid flute are the only things I have that remind me of the fact that I was once human.

Dane is eager to die, but I hesitate. If I leave him here, helpless, he's sure to die eventually unless Mastaba comes to piece him back together. In which case he'll just become another killing machine like me, only more firmly under Mastaba's control. What do I do?