Klein kept forcing himself to the limit…
He pushed back with everything he had again for the umpteenth time, not attempting to advance or even flee, but merely to hit the brakes. He sought to slow the relentless drag of the purple thread just enough to buy himself one more second of genuine autonomy.
His resistance was far from perfect, but the precious time he purchased finally yielded results.
A new thread descended from above.
Pure gold.
It slithered down through the labyrinth, dragging itself across the fleshy walls, burning the corruption wherever it made contact and leaving smoking trails scored into the purple substance. It deviated slightly from the path established by the enemy tether, searching and probing the dark, until it finally found Klein and brushed against him.
It anchored itself to his core.
