Infinity Blade: Awakening Read Free Page A

many times did I try to feed you that when you were growing up?” she asked him, sitting across the table and watching him as he spooned up the last bite.
    “Dozens,” he said.
    “And you refused every time.”
    “I . . .” It was hard to explain. He’d known his duty, somehow. Even from childhood, he’d known. The town’s expectations had held him to high standards, but the truth was that he’d held himself to them as well.
    “You always were an odd child,” she said. “So solemn. So dutiful. So focused. Sometimes I felt less like a mother to you, and more like a . . . an innkeeper. Even when you were young.”
    It made him uncomfortable when she talked like that. “You never speak of Father. Was he the same?”
    “I didn’t know him long,” she said, looking wistful. “Isn’t that odd to say? We met like it was a dream, married in under a month. Then he was gone, off to be the Sacrifice. He left me with you.”
    She’d come here to Drem’s Maw in order to get away from her old life. She had cousins here, though she’d never really fit in. Neither had he, even though the townspeople had claimed to be proud of being the ones to raise the Sacrifice.
    “He did have a sense of purpose,” she said, nodding. “The same as you.”
    “I wish I had that still,” Siris replied. He looked down at his empty plate, then sighed and stood. “I had hoped that now . . . finally . . . I could go about being myself. Whoever that is.”
    “Must you go, Siris?” she asked. “You could stay, hide here. We could make it work.”
    “No,” he said. I won’t bring this down upon you.
    “I can’t make you stay, I suppose.” She didn’t seem pleased about that. “But where will you go?”
    “I don’t know,” he said, gathering the cloak, wrapped like a pack with his armor inside of it.
    “Are you at least willing to listen to a little advice?”
    “From you?” he said. “Always.”
    “I wished to the lights of heaven that you hadn’t set your feet on this path. But you did, son.”
    “I didn’t have a choice.”
    “That’s foolishness,” she said. “You always have a choice.”
    Foolishness or not, it was still how he felt.
    “You set your feet on this path,” she continued. “So now you need to finish what you began.”
    “I did finish it,” he complained. “I killed the God King! What more could they ask of me?”
    “It’s no longer about what people are asking of you, son,” she said. She reached over, taking his hand. “I’m sorry,” she said more softly. “You don’t deserve this. It is true.”
    He looked down.
    “Don’t despair.” She rose, taking him by the arms. “You’ve done something wonderful , Siris. Something everyone thought impossible. You have fulfilled the dreams of your fathers, and avenged their deaths.” She pulled away and looked up at him. “Do you remember what we spoke of, on that night before you left?”
    “Honor.”
    “I told you that if you are going to do something, son,” she said, “you need to do it with all of your heart. You have something you didn’t have before. Hope. You’ve defeated one of them. They can be beaten.”
    She held his eyes, and he nodded slowly.
    “Good,” she said, squeezing his arms. “I’ll pack you food for your trip.”
    He watched her limp away. She’s right, he thought. I’ve done the impossible once. I’ll do it again.
    This time, however, he wouldn’t be hunting someone to kill. This time his quest would be more personal. Somehow, he would find the one thing he’d always wanted without realizing it.
    He’d find freedom.

Chapter Two
    T HE G OD K ING came awake with a deep gasp. It was the uncontrolled gasp of one who had been without breath for too long. The gasp of the dead returning to life, his heart pounding, his eyes opening wide. It was a terrifying, yet exhilarating feeling.
    It was a feeling he had never wanted to feel again.
    Around him floated the serene sounds of his Seventh