Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

are, anymore. Listen, and learn, as I tell you the true and terrible history of the Blood Runners."
    A headless human body strode into the chamber, carrying a simple wooden chair before it. The skin between the shoulders was perfectly smooth, as though the well muscled body had never had a neck or a head, nor ever felt a need for them.
    It came to a halt beside the trolley, and set the chair down gently. Scour sat on it, arranging his robes comfortably. The headless body turned and left. It didn't seem to need a head to see where it was going.
    "Just a servant," said Scour casually. "Our will moves them, and nothing else.
    Think of them as meat machines. Our tech has taken a different turn; our wonders derive from the endless capacities of the human body and mind, not the cold metals and crystals of your limited tech. Now; where shall I begin? With the Summerstone, perhaps? No; further back than that. You need to appreciate how old we are. How unspeakably ancient.
    "Before the Empire was, we were. Before Humanity spread itself across the many worlds, we were already old. Separate, even then, though only human, following our own hidden ways. When Humanity went to the stars, we found a world for ourselves. Centuries passed, as we remade ourselves in our desired image. Not like the Hadenmen, with their limiting reliance on tech, but through genetic engineering and body sculpting. Where Humanity dared not go, we went gladly, ignoring all restraints. We dreamed the impossible, and made it real in flesh
    and blood and bone.
    "We became long-lived, vastly improved hermaphrodites. Man and woman, in one flesh. All the pleasures, aptitudes, and resources of both sexes, in one powerful body. We lost the ability to make children, but we wanted to live forever in our own flesh, not our offspring's. I was alive then, as all who lived then are alive now. Not in this body, admittedly. Our identities live on in the mindpool; passing from one body to another down the long centuries. As one body wears out, I leave it to die, transfer my consciousness into the mindpool, and then download myself back into the new body I had prepared previously. That's why we wear the ritual scars on our faces; they identify the inhabitant of the body. Flesh is finite, but we go on forever."
    "What… what happens to the minds and souls of the new bodies you create?" said Hazel, to prove she was paying attention.
    Scour shrugged. "We drive them out. Newborn souls are no match for minds that have endured for centuries."
    "That's how you survived Owen's attack," said Hazel. "You just moved on into another body."
    "Of course. We are always prepared. The extent of his power surprised us, so we decided to wait and watch till you had temporarily exhausted your powers, and then pressed our claim to you again. You belong to us, Hazel d'Ark, and we will have our pound of flesh, and more besides. Don't wait for Owen to come and rescue you. No one can come to where we are without our permission. The Obeah Systems are more a state of mind than a state of matter."
    "Power source," said Hazel. "You must have some kind of power source. To fuel your… science, maintain the mindpool. The Summerstone?"
    "Very good, Hazel. You're almost fully awake now. Yes, the Summerstone. It
    helped make us what we are today. It maintains our existence, defends us from our enemies, ensures our survival. All our power, to create and destroy, has its heart there. Would you like to see it?"
    He gestured with one hand, and a great slab of stone was suddenly standing at the foot of the trolley. Hazel lifted her head to see it better. A great conical shape of solid stone, gray and pitted, it was roughly eight feet in diameter, and its tip touched the ceiling of the chamber. It looked like it weighed tons, and Hazel was vaguely surprised the floor didn't crack under its weight. It looked… solid, dense; realer than real. And strangely, hauntingly, familiar.
    "Do you recognize it?" said Scour, studying her face closely.
    "No. Where did you find it?"
    "The same place you did; on a planet once known as Haden, and before that, the Wolfling World. What you're looking at was once part of the Madness Maze. We stole it, and brought it here."
    He gestured, the stone disappeared. Hazel let her head drop back onto the trolley, her thoughts churning. "That piece of rock was once part of the Madness Maze? But…"
    "Yes, yes, I know. You saw a high-tech structure. But the Maze's appearance is largely