Restart Again: Volume 2 by Adam Scott (hardest books to read txt) 📕

street with a sickening crunch. “You will not take this world!” I pointed my sword at the remaining guard’s face. “Do you hear me? The Dominion WILL NOT take this world!”

The man’s brow furrowed as he reached for the heavy mace at his belt, but he gave no reply apart from a low grunt. “What, nothing to say? You don’t remember me?” I spat at him. “Maybe this will jog your memory.” My sword drove forward into the guard’s chest far too fast for him to react, piercing through his Company standard armor to crack his ribs and spine. His body gave a single, violent shake before sliding limply from my blade into a rapidly growing pool of blood on the ground.

I could feel the world spinning out of control beneath my feet as I turned and walked back to Marin’s store. How could this happen again? Is this my punishment for abandoning Hedaat? The possibility of the Dominion causing the Attetsian situation had been on my mind the entire journey, but I had tried to convince myself it was only paranoia. The dead man on the stone behind me said otherwise.

“We have to go, now,” I said brusquely as I reentered the building. “Val, load the Company men into the back of the wagon. Lia, come with me; we need to talk.” Without waiting for a response, I made my way towards the back of the store.

“Lux, wait. You need to explain what is going on,” Val called after me. “Why did you kill that man?” I heard a soft sniveling coming from behind her, and turned to find one of Marin’s ears quivering just behind Val’s shoulder.

“Val, we don’t have time for this. I’ll explain later, so just do what I ask.” I paused for a moment in consideration. “Marin, your shop isn’t safe anymore. You’ll need to find somewhere else to stay, or preferably, just get out of the city entirely.” Satisfied, I turned back towards the far side of the store. “Lia, with me.”

A cold, gauntleted hand gripped my shoulder. “That is not an acceptable answer. You need to explain yourself, now.” Val’s grip softened in tandem with her voice. “I will be able to help you more efficiently if I understand the situation.”

I whirled on her in a fury. “Don’t be a hypocrite! You just led us halfway across the city for your personal secrets, completely ignoring our original plan, and what explanation did you give us? Absolutely fucking nothing, that’s what. And now that I’m trying to do your damn job and save your damn country, we suddenly have trust issues?” I slapped her hand away from my shoulder. “No. Fuck that. Do what I told you to do.” There was a long moment of silence as I stared through her impassive mask before I turned away. “Lia, now.”

There were no further protests as I stormed away to the shop counter. From behind me, I heard the sound of Lia’s footsteps approaching, and beyond that, Val consoling Marin in a low, gentle voice. I let out a long sigh when Lia reached my side. “If there’s any way we’re going to—”

“No,” Lia interrupted me. “You don’t get to talk to me like that.”

I turned to her, confused. “What?”

“I’m not your soldier to order around,” she whispered sharply. Her jaw was clenched as hard as her brow was furrowed, but her eyes were glassy as though she were about to cry. “I don’t care what’s going on out there; you need to speak to me with respect.” She paused for a moment before continuing with a waver in her voice. “You’re supposed to love me.”

It took me a few seconds to replay the events in my mind and realize how rude I had been. My brain felt split down the middle: half of me was ashamed at how I was acting, and how I had made Lia feel, while the other half continued to scream at me to take action. I was left stunned somewhere in the middle, feeling panicked and guilty.

“Lia, of course I love you. I, uhm, it’s just that…” My throat tightened as I struggled to continue to speak. “I think what’s happening here is the same thing that happened in Hedaat. The same thing that destroyed that world, and...killed me. I have to stop it this time, but I don’t know if it’s already too late. I didn’t mean to—”

“I know you didn’t,” she interrupted again, gentler this time, “but you did.” She reached up and cupped my cheek. “You don’t have to go through this alone this time, but you will if you keep trying to push everyone away. We won’t beat this if you’re all caught up in your fear.”

I nodded weakly, confident that my voice would break if I tried to speak. As much as I wanted to believe I was acting logically and decisively, fueled by rage against my old enemy, I knew it was just the terror of facing the Dominion again driving me forward. A primal part of me replayed the memory of my death in Hedaat on an endless loop in my head in an attempt to get me to prevent it from happening again. “I’m sorry, Lia.”

She pulled my head down to hers and kissed me on the forehead. “I know.” Her hand slid down and found mine as she looked up at me. “That’s why I’m here, right? While you’re saving the world, someone has to be saving you, too.”

Despite everything, I laughed. “Seems like you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you.”

“Oh, that’s okay,” she said with a smile. “It’s worth it.”

There was a flutter in my chest as I looked down at her. The idea of the Dominion forcing me into another life was far too much to consider for my already overloaded brain, so I pushed it down and replaced it with thoughts of how we should immediately proceed. “I guess I should apologize to Val and Marin.”

“Yes,