Count Your Blessings

the VOICE In reality's shadow the blind see best She had asked, and he had come. As Samuel seated himself and murmured into the deep dark of the Underground, the shrine burst to life. Light pulsed and rushed through the indentations in the floor just as they had the first time he had been there, flitting about and within the statue until the young woman was there again, the Voice stepping out before him with her hands clasped before her. "Your fellow Ascended," she said softly without having to move her lips, speaking directly to him. "The Old Gods. Not once did you think to come to me - you, the first to receive me since my freedom?" Because it had been Samuel there in the shrine, along with Archebold, who had drank deeply from the well of the Voice. "How does your 'upgrade' suit you, bright one?" She knew, but she would hear it in his words.