“Okay, I get it.” Rosario tried again. “You… we… can command other beings that appear in the Convergence, but…” she bit her lips. “There are too many contradictions: I’m in this Convergence too, but when you tried to control me, it only gave me a headache. Same when I tried to reach Stefan. You can only control people when it’s through the parasite, which sounds more like finding an alternative to a problem you couldn’t solve. And now you showed me you can control the behemoths as well. Does that mean you can’t directly control human beings? And what about monsters? You control the small offshoot but not the plant. Is it because of their size?”

Cornwell finally nodded. “Much better. You see, it becomes more complicated when creatures have even a rudimentary nervous system, and even more when they possess a sense of self, but I believe with some practice it should be possible.”

That explained why he was unable to control the workers from the power facility after they had set themselves to attack her, even if it was through the parasite. Perhaps this mental invasion caused the nervous damage she heard the fishermen describe outside the tavern. Cornwell clearly wasn’t as powerful as she initially feared he was, but she had to give him credit for being resourceful.

Meanwhile, the mayor walked further inside the tunnel and focused on the root of another behemoth, instantly causing it to shrivel and the tree above to die. It seemed to have required some effort on his part because he took a few deep breaths before approaching the roots of the next behemoth and repeated the process.

Watching from a distance, Rosario felt paralyzed and took back any thought she had about his weaknesses. Felling a behemoth was a monumental task that required dozens of people and many of them would end up injured or worse due to the proximity of crystals. And now, in the time it took her to put her thoughts together, this man had killed two and was going for a third one.

“I need to do some weeding today, so apologies if I have to interrupt the lessons,” he said after a moment, catching his breath. “This would be so much easier for you to do." Rosario didn’t know what to say. Cornwell finished withering another behemoth and sighed. “If only you had come a week later, the creatures would have reached full development and fulfilled their task. We would not be having this conversation if that were the case, but I wouldn’t have to be rushing this now.”

Rosario’s eyes widened at the realization. She turned around and forced her sight to go past the mountain, into the valley and the monster forest, where the clusters of cocoons hung from the branches. The creatures inside twisted and scratched, trying to get out. Deeper inside the forest, some crawlers were already out, moving in the direction of the Highland. Rosario now understood that the behemoths that surrounded the valley, and the crystals they produced, were the only thing preventing the swarm crawlers from growing out of control; killing the behemoths, however, was now causing them all to hatch at once. Such a large number of creatures would create a swarm that would be impossible to stop. She turned around to see Cornwell reach for a black root, the kind that grew the red crystals.

“Stop! Don’t you know what that behemoth does? The crystals it produces, they can—”

“I am well aware of what it does. After all, I created the dark behemoths.”

“That’s impossible--”

“Did you seriously think this miraculous red crystal that defeats all logic could just conveniently happen? Here, in this place, lying there for us to use it? It took me years to develop it.” He now sounded irritated, and angry, and Rosario wasn’t sure if it was directed at her or himself. “But I was clueless back then and thought I was doing everyone a favor. This monster forest had been setting the town back since the Collapse, so I planted behemoths around it to stall the growth of the monsters. I soon realized this was only a temporary solution; the monsters were still growing, just slower, and would still attack the town from time to time, so I taught myself how to control the behemoths and fine-tuned their metabolism. As soon as I developed some prototypes, I foolishly propagated them around the valley and even made the mistake of sharing some of their crystals with the smiths, so they could begin working on them as I further refined my behemoths. My idea was to use them to destroy the forest before the monsters had a chance to hatch.”

“You gave the crystal to Old Man Fritz?”

He nodded. “He is an excellent asset. Perhaps losing his mind the first time he reached the Convergence was a blessing in disguise for him. Anyway, we’ll have to put this conversation on hold for now. You are welcome to stay by my side and get accustomed to your senses.” He turned around, ready to wither the behemoth.

Rosario didn’t hold back anymore and ran towards the mayor. According to his story, and what she heard from Leonie the day before, he might have had good intentions in the past, but it was clear that at some point during the last years, he had gone insane.

Not knowing what else to do to stop Cornwell from destroying the dark behemoth, she attempted to push him. The mayor, however, dodged her effortlessly and, with a quick movement of his hand, flicked her in the head.

At that moment, Rosario felt as if her body and mind were about to shatter. Cornwell had told her that touching someone in the Convergence was harmful and she had seen the effect on Stefan, but now she understood it firsthand. It wasn’t pain. It was fear. One so primeval it took over every fiber of her body, freezing her muscles and paralyzing her lungs. As she slowly collapsed to the ground, a lifetime of emotions and memories swirled inside her; so precious, yet held together only by an unstable surface tension that was about to pop like a mere soap bubble. She understood that, if he wanted, the mayor could finish what he started and send her into what she could only rationalize as nothingness. All she could do now was gasp for air and shiver, and feel un uncontrollable stream of tear running down her cheeks.

“Don’t try my patience,” the mayor warned. And not wanting to waste more precious time, he walked away to resume his task of killing of behemoths.

Rosario stayed in the same place for what to her felt like a very long time. Unable to move, she sobbed and cried in a way she had not done in years. When she was able to breathe normally again, she screamed and held her head, wanting to get rid of the avalanche of emotions past that had been taken from the corner where they had stayed for years. Eventually, it overwhelmed her to the point she passed out, and only came back to her senses when she heard the voice of the mayor. She was still in the same place, inside the road tunnel, as seen through the convergence. Now, however, there were barely any behemoth roots in sight.

“I suppose now you understand what I meant when I warned you about what happens when beings of the Convergence get to close to each other.” He said as he approached her, and stopped at a short distance from her. “I have been very understanding with you, Rosario. I tried to teach you to the best of my ability. I understand that to your old self, what I’m about to do is a horrendous act, but please take a moment to go over what you have learned today.” As he spoke, Rosario managed to get to her knees, and looked in the direction of the forest, where the swarm was already out of their cocoons. “Do consider how this is for me as well: the people of this town are like my family; they were the reason I kept on going after the Collapse took everything from me. I rebuilt this town from scratch, people trust me like they trust a good parent, and I love them dearly. If I wasn’t sure there was no escape from it, I wouldn’t have chosen to end their suffering.”

“What suffering?” Rosario muttered after a pause, still unable to get to her feet. “I’ve been traveling since the Collapse and I’ve never seen a place where people’s hopes are so high. Why would you do this to them?”

For the first time, her words seemed to take Cornwell aback. “Did I overestimate you?” he looked at her with a hand on his chin, and suddenly they were again under the endlessly white sky, standing on the stone floor covered with ankle-deep water. “Tell me, where are we standing right now?”

Rosario managed stand up. “A stone floor covered in water,” she answered mechanically, and mostly because she was too terrified of angering him again.

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“What do you see in the sky?”

“There is no sky. It’s just white everywhere.”

The mayor seemed concerned. “Nothing? Not even in that direction?” He pointed to a side, without looking there himself.

Rosario looked, but everything was the same and she couldn’t tell if it was north or south, west or east. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I see, I see… my bad, I apologize. Because of your higher affinity with the Convergence, I assumed your sight would also be better developed. I thought it would only take you a moment to accept reality after you saw it, but I understand your confusion now. I pushed you too far, too soon. Of course, my explanations made little sense to you. Still, I believe you will learn, and then you will understand and share my reasoning.”

Rosario was panting at this point. “You’re crazy!” she screamed before falling to her knees again. Her muscles still refused to obey her.

He stood in silence, looking at Rosario as if she were a toddler who needed a moment to calm down after a meltdown.

“We can continue with this conversation later, after I finish here. You will be safe in the castle, so please take some time to go over what you’ve learned today. I’m sure after some calm deliberation, you will understand why mercy killing is the only rational course of action.”

“You damn extinctionist!”

The mayor seemed offended. “Don’t be ridiculous, there is no such a thing. But I can see where myths like that come from.”

And after those last words, Rosario was back in the pitch-black cellar under the keep.

 *****