001 ✠ P I K E ✠ video

[pike]

[ The video cuts on and the screen is filled with the face of a young man, or at least part of a one. Some of it is obscured by a sweep of dark hair, other parts of it are painted red by a bloom of blood across his cheek and eyelid, up into his hairline. The impression is almost like the ring of an impact crater, only the crater is missing, leaving behind only the splash; the overall shape is smeared and made imperfect by water (is it rain? dregs from the fountain?) that drips from his hair and beads on his skin. His eyes (or eye, the other's cut off by the edge of the picture) is red rimmed and raw, its lashes stuck together and damp.

The picture shakes but there is a notable lack of breath or noise whatsoever beyond the scrape of something against gravel or cobblestone. When he speaks, the young man's voice is low and English and trembling with some sort of emotion. It's hard to tell which, though. ]

Not hell. Not eternity.

[ Those of you who once knew Nigel Colbie should recognize the voice, though his tone is markedly different. ]

What then.