the construct, that I was…was the grand architect of all your misery.”
“Ignore his words!” said Valeria. “Kill him!”
“But it wasn’t so.” Crasedes took a deep, agonized breath. “You made us. You made us both. You don’t remember it—but you, Claviedes, made all of this.”
begged Clef.
But Sancia knew he was not. The horror of it all was almost too much. For so long, she’d thought Crasedes had been a man, a high priest of some kind, or maybe a king—someone full of hubris and pride who had used his wisdom to acquire the permissions of God Himself and change into something powerful beyond comprehension…
said Gregor, sick with dread.
Crasedes coughed. “Free me,” he said.
“Do it!” bellowed Valeria. “Destroy him!”
“Free me now and let me save you from the death you don’t even know is coming.”
said Clef. He was sobbing now.
“Sancia,” said Valeria.
“Let me go,” whispered Crasedes.
“Sancia, I am warning you…”
“Let me go,” he gasped. “So I can stop her. So I can save you from he—”
Then Valeria’s voice filled up the chamber. “ENOUGH.”
41
Sancia turned and watched, astonished, as Valeria stood up.
Then she walked forward—away from the Foundryside lexicon. Something that, as Sancia knew, should not have been possible.
As she walked into the center of the ballroom, her remaining wounds and damages suddenly vanished: the dents and scars and bubblings smoothed out and withdrew until she was exactly as she’d been when Sancia had seen her three years ago in the Mountain of the Candianos—an immense, unstoppable titan of inconceivable strength.
“PROCESS BEGINS,” she boomed.
“No!” screamed Crasedes. “She’s got control of everything! She’s in all the machines! She’s going to remake herself!”
Valeria cocked her head as if listening to a sound that no one else could hear. And then she began to grow—to shift, to change, her shoulders widening, her brow crackling with thunder, her eyes growing black and vacant as if they weren’t eyes at all but gaping holes in the very fabric of reality. “ALL LEXICONS ARE NOW RETURNED,” she said. “ALTERATIONS COMMENCING. I AM…CHANGING. I AM…BECOME.”
The Foundrysiders backed away from Valeria, staring up at this immense golden figure, who seemed to be growing larger and more terrifying with each passing second.
Sancia watched as the head of the golden figure swiveled to look down at her. “DELIVERANCE,” she said. “I THANK YOU FOR IT.”
Valeria extended her arms and raised her face to the heavens, as if about to ascend like a glorious yet terrible golden angel.
said Berenice.
said Orso where he crouched behind the lexicon.
They watched as her armor began to glow until she became a bright, shining, semihuman figure, standing in the ballroom.
said Gregor faintly,
“NO MORE WARPINGS,” boomed Valeria.
“She’ll wipe out scriving for all of you!” cried Crasedes. “She’ll kill millions of people! Free me! Let me stop her!”
“NO MORE ALTERATIONS,” she said. “THE WORLD OF MEN REBORN ANEW, IN ITS PRIMORDIAL, SAVAGE STATE.”
The Foundrysiders stared at one another where they stood across the room, bewildered and filled with terror, and unsure what to do.
said Berenice.
Valeria grew even brighter, and then she pulsed strangely, like a thousand moths were dancing about her flame.
asked Berenice.
Sancia felt frozen. She looked down at Crasedes, smoking and coughing