In the Elif’s mind-realm, Danny stared aghast as the bone knife sawed through his skin. His flesh yielded like hot butter. The man reached in, the insides of Danny’s body being a honey-like energy field. The man scooped up the gold-dripping ruro globe with his dirty, long-nailed hands.
The crowds were wild, shouting, screaming. A second and third sickeningly loud crunch of bone rung out. The murderous carousel spun its vicious course. The words, 'Atmos, Atmos,' rang through Danny’s blood, taunting his soul. ‘This is how you are going to die,’ an inner voice seemed to be saying - the voice of Atmos. A weak grey light suffused the sky. The carousel slowed to a halt, one of the four men was still alive. The crowd were quietened, awed.
Torreano appeared behind Danny's attacker and kicked him square in the right kidney. The man gasped and dropped to his knees, still cradling the ruro in his hands. Danny stood up. His chest gaped with a bloody flap. A young woman was pulling at his shirtsleeve. When he looked across he nearly cried. He knew those eyes. The face was different. Everything was different. She was half-starved, dressed in rags. But to him she was the most beautiful sight in the universe. She had that same warm light in her eyes that he remembered.
It was Jodie - Jodie in energy form. Danny was amazed. How had she got into this reality? She must be super-powered psychically.
Jodie took the ruro from the praying attacker who fell into the dirt, his eyes glazed with drunken pain. She cleaned the globe with her own spit and wiped it upon her inner arm. Placing it on her chest, she felt her skin knit and move. The globe entered her flesh and shone from within.
She was stronger now than she had ever been. She held her right hand slightly above Danny’s chest and poured energy in. Danny felt an incredible heat and then coolness. The skin flap was completely healed.
‘Thinking Stone told me that I am the other half of the Nemesis Code,’ she whispered.
‘Quick, this way!’ shouted Torreano grabbing them both by the arms. He pulled them toward the building. Entering the house of the Last-borne, Torreano pointed toward the cream-carpeted stairs. Danny and Jodie climbed the stairs and entered one of the rooms. They sat down, hands touching, and meditated. A blazing field of white light sprung up immediately. They were a grand lotus of fire. A fire so bright it shone through the brick walls. Their minds joined.
Torreano stood guard. He had waited for this moment for all his life.