He sees:
In his day, Anton Sokolov fired the engines of industry, hurtling the Empire into a more sophisticated age. He dallied with nobles, wayward artists, and great inventors alike, drinking in all that life could offer. Leaving Dunwall for the last time, he headed to the cold north, contented at last, on a final voyage to take him home…
He sees:
Her.
There are things that never change, no matter how hard you try, questions you must answer. As Meagan Foster faded from the world, Billie Lurk stepped from her shadow, setting out to discover her truest self, and seeking the closest thing she’d ever known to family.
The world turns and the Outsider watches.
And he waits.
And he is ready for what is to come.
ALBARCA BATHS, KARNACA
18th Day, Month of Nets, 1852
“My lords and ladies, gentlemen and scoundrels alike!”
The chamber is large and rectangular, the ceiling high, the walls covered in acres of patterned tiles now stained and cracked, if they have even remained on the walls at all. The floor is tiled too, as though the whole chamber was designed to be wet. The hard surfaces reflect the voice of the fight announcer loudly as he paces the boxing ring, arms raised as he addresses those assembled. The crowd is sparse, but they are all here for a singular purpose.
They are all here to fight.
“You know the rules. You are here of your own free will. The choice you make is yours and yours alone. Don’t go crying to Jeanette if things don’t go how you want them.”
Some of the assembled snicker. Others remain silent, focused on loosening their muscles, adjusting the bandage wraps around their fists.
The ring in which the announcer stands is a makeshift thing, a high stage of wood built over the back half of the deep rectangular depression that otherwise dominates the chamber—an old swimming pool, the sides stained, the top covered with a heavy mesh grille. The fight announcer walks to the edge of the boxing ring and looks down at the man strapped to the chair that is bolted to the bottom of the empty pool.
The man is motionless, his head slumped forward on his chest. On the walls around the chair are fastened mechanical devices that hum and spit and the air around the man shimmers and cracks with power.
The announcer grins. Leaning on the ropes, he signals to the other end of the chamber. By the edge of the pool is a stand and on the stand is a box. Cables drop off the back of the box and fall down into the pool, spidering across the cracked walls to the arcane devices.
There is a woman by the box. Like the others in the chamber, her hair is short, her skin is scarred, and below her collarbone she displays a tattoo—a hollow triangle and a cross, the brand like an arrowhead on her flesh.
Like the others in the chamber, she is a member of the Eyeless.
At the announcer’s signal, the woman pulls a key from her belt. She unlocks the front panel of the control box, swings it open, then pulls down on the lever within. Immediately the hum of power ceases, and the yellowish sparking from the empty pool dies away.
The assembled brace themselves, backing away from the mesh, as the man in the chair snaps his head up, casting his gaze around them.
The announcer gestures to the cage.
“Is there anyone here tonight brave enough to fight the Black Magic Brute?”
The man in the pool rises from his chair. He snarls and flexes his muscles, the tendons in his neck sticking out like cables as he balls his fists.
As the announcer repeats the challenge again, Daud grinds his teeth and stares up at the gang.
Another night at the underground boxing ring, another night where he must fight for his life.
Daud lets the anger grow inside him, fueling him. Hewill survive. He knows it. He must survive.
Because he still has a mission to accomplish.
The Outsider must die.
The Outsider will die.
And then the first fight begins.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam Christopher is a novelist, comic book writer, and award-winning editor. The author of Seven Wonders, The Age Atomic, and Hang Wire, and co-writer of The Shield for Dark Circle Comics, Adam has also written novels based on the hit CBS television show Elementary for Titan Books. His debut novel, Empire State, was SciFiNow’s Book of the Year and a Financial Times Book of the Year for 2012. Born in New Zealand, Adam has lived in Great Britain since 2006.
Find him online at www.adamchristopher.ac and on Twitter as @ghostfinder.
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ADAM CHRISTOPHER
Empress Emily Kaldwin leads a dual life, fulfilling her duties as empress while training with her father, Corvo Attano, mastering the arts of stealth, combat, and assassination. A strange, shrouded figure appears in Dunwall, seeming to possess powers once wielded by the assassin known as Daud. Faced with the possibility that their deadliest foe has returned, Emily and Corvo plunge headlong into a life-and-death race against time. If they fail to learn the truth about this mysterious enemy, the result could be destruction on an unimaginable scale.
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