Apple Arcade's best games can be hard to find as there's a lot to choose from. The platform is a subscription-based gaming service from Apple that is only over a year old now, but it is stronger than ever. With over 40 new games released on Apple Arcade in 2020 itself, the gaming service for iOS and Mac devices continues to easily justify the Rs. 99 monthly subscription fee, and it's even bundled into the Rs. 195 a month Apple One subscription, which also includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, and 50GB iCloud storage. For a mobile gaming enthusiast, an iOS device with an Apple Arcade subscription is an absolute must-have, as Apple continues to add high-quality premium titles to the list month on month.
However, that huge list can sometimes be confusing or even intimidating, if you're trying to find the best picks among the dozens of games now available on the platform. We've played many of the games launched on Apple Arcade this year and here is our list of the best Apple Arcade games for 2020, in no particular order.
Creaks
Coming from a game developer known for the quality of its artwork, Creaks throws you into a secret giant mansion accessible through the walls of the unnamed protagonist's bedroom. Once you climb down the first ladder, you're tossed into a world of strange furniture-based monsters, friendly bird people, and a haunting soundtrack. Although a platformer, Creaks has you solving puzzles and tricking the monsters as you cross each stage, and descend lower into the mansion.
Although the puzzles start off simple and the initial monsters are easy to trick, the game progressively gets harder to crack, but never discouragingly tough. Although not the most in-depth or technically advanced game on Apple Arcade this year, Creaks is definitely the most addictive and engaging one you can find on the platform.
Beyond Blue
- The long road to Beyond a Steel Sky is almost at an end Revolution Software has released a new trailer (via IGN) for its third-person RPG Beyond a Steel Sky, the sequel to 1994 cyberpunk DOS.
- 'Beyond a Steel Sky reminds me a lot of the Telltale games, but better.' 90% – GameWatcher 'Beyond a Steel Sky is in many ways respectful of genre traditions but with modern wisdom and presentation. The game can be enjoyed without prior knowledge of Beneath a Steel Sky but obviously, it has a lot of gentle nods to its predecessor.'.
- دانلود موسیقی متن فیلم Beyond a Steel Sky. Album: Beyond a Steel Sky (Original Soundtrack) Composer: Alistair Kerley Genre: Score Date: 2020 Audio codec: MP3 Flac Quality: 320kbps lossless Playtime: 01:23:18 Preview: Albums. 01 Prologue – Motion Comic 02 Opening and Union City Theme 03.
Beyond a Steel Sky composer channels the sci-fi soundtrack greats Laced With Wax interviews Alistair Kerley — the UK musician tasked with scoring the follow-up to cyberpunk point'n'click classic Beneath a Steel Sky.
Quite easily the most graphically advanced game on Apple Arcade this year, Beyond Blue puts you in a photorealistic underwater reef as an environmentalist diver, tasked with discovering the secrets of a particular reef, and documenting the various forms of marine life living there. Although the main plot is rather simple, the individual missions are interesting and educative, as you get to see all kinds of whales and fish up close.
This is a large game in terms of size and updates, and was a bit buggy when we first played it earlier this year. However the family-friendliness, educational aspects, and sheer beauty of the game itself makes Beyond Blue one of our favourite games on Apple Arcade this year.
Little Orpheus
The simple nature of mobile gaming means that storytelling often falls short, but Little Orpheus bucks this trend entirely to tell perhaps the most entertaining story we've seen on an Apple Arcade game yet. This Soviet-themed game puts you in charge of an explorer who claims to have traveled to the centre of the earth and discovered all of its hidden secrets, but there's always an unspoken seed of doubt as to what's really going on.
The core gameplay is simple platforming, as you pass obstacles, race through time-trials of sorts, and explore unbelievable levels in the theme of a cold-war era TV show. It's a bit too simple at times and never really gets too challenging, but play this game for the gripping story alone.
Spyder
With cheerful artwork that sits somewhere between comic books and children's cartoons, Spyder puts you in charge of a sentient robotic spider tasked with completing missions for a spy agency. As we mentioned in our review, Spyder is like a ‘60s Bond movie starring Wall-E,' and we love it for that exact reason.
Although the controls were a bit fiddly, the graphics and gameplay more than make up for it, with a good combination of puzzle solving and physics-based exploration. Although there aren't too many levels, Spyder does keep you hooked through each stage, which takes about 20-30 minutes to complete.
Beyond a Steel Sky
A sequel 26 years in the making, Beyond a Steel Sky is a follow-up to the 1994 point-and-click adventure game called Beneath a Steel Sky. Naturally, it comes with better visuals and gameplay, with the story picking up 10 years after the events of the first game. The world still involves a lot of pointing, clicking, and dialogue, but the styling and sheer depth of the gameplay makes this an impressive title for the Apple Arcade platform.
The game did sometimes feel like it was dragging things along, with too many dialogue options that tend to last longer than they should. However, the post-apocalyptic cyberpunk storyline makes this a fun game to play for an hour or two at a time. The sheer detail and depth of Beyond a Steel Sky is what earns it a spot on our list of top Apple Arcade games in 2020.
Do let us know via the comments what your favourite Apple Arcade games are.
Will iPhone 12 mini become the affordable iPhone we've been waiting for? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.
Five years after she debuted with An Ember in the Ashes, Sabaa Tahir is finally bringing her beloved story to a close. A Sky Beyond the Storm finishes the story Tahir began in her 2015 bestseller, but the journey has been much longer for author herself. 'I began writing Ember 13 years ago,' she tells Bustle. 'I have spent more than a decade of my life writing, breathing, laughing, mourning and celebrating with my characters. They are a part of me, as familiar to me as my hands or my face. So when I wrote the final words on the final page of the final book, I felt as though I was saying farewell to my best friends, to a piece of me.'
An Ember in the Ashes launched at a time when multi-doorstopper YA fantasy series — think Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen and Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses — were at their height. But as an #OwnVoices novel, written by a Pakistani American woman and starring multiple characters of color, Ember was unlike most of its peers. It was the first in a long line of YA fantasy novels from South Asian and Muslim authors, hitting store shelves ahead of Roshani Chokshi's The Star-Touched Queen, Swati Teerdhala's The Tiger at Midnight, and Hafsah Faizal's We Hunt the Flame.
But according to Tahir, there's still much work to be done to diversify YA publishing. 'Over and over, authors from marginalized groups are told, 'We already have a book like this,' or 'We already have an author like you.' But books by marginalized authors shouldn't be a quota you fill,' she says. 'How many vampire books written by white authors? Dozens. I've nothing against that, but authors from marginalized groups deserve the same respect. Just because authors have similar experiences or ethnic backgrounds doesn't mean their stories will be identical. We contain multitudes and our work is meaningful and distinctive.'
Beyond A Steel Sky Soundtrack Trailer
While Tahir doesn't have any immediate plans to return the Ember series after A Sky Beyond the Storm, she'll continue writing and pushing representation in publishing forward. 'All I can say for sure is that I want to do something different with my writing,' she says of her next project. 'Maybe explore some darker terrain.'
But before you start longing for Tahir's next work, read on for an excerpt from the hotly anticipated A Sky Beyond the Storm.
Excerpt from A Sky Beyond the Storm, exclusive to Bustle
I: The Nightbringer
I awoke in the glow of a young world, when man knew of hunting but not tilling, of stone but not steel. It smelled of rain and earth and life. It smelled of hope.
Arise, beloved.
The voice that spoke was laden with millennia beyond my ken. The voice of a father, a mother. A creator and a destroyer. The voice of Mauth, who is Death himself.
Arise, child of flame. Arise, for thy home awaits thee.
Would that I had not learned to cherish it, my home. Would that I had unearthed no magic, loved no wife, sparked no children, gentled no ghosts. Would that Mauth had never named me.
'Meherya.'
My name drags me out of the past to a rain-swept hilltop in the Mariner countryside. My old home is the Waiting Place — known to humans as the Forest of Dusk. I will make my new home upon the bones of my foes.
'Meherya.' Umber's sun-bright eyes are the vermillion of ancient anger. 'We await your orders.' She grips a glaive in her left hand, its blade white with heat.
'Have the ghuls reported in yet?'
To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Myst, Cyan is offering a never-been-done-before, historical anthology of the complete series. With this bundle, you get all 7 Myst games together for the first time and updated to run on macOS 10.13 and Windows 10 operating systems. Myst 25th anniversary collection dvd.
Umber's lip curls. 'They scoured Delphinium. Antium. Even the Waiting Place,' she says. 'They could not find the girl. Neither she nor the Blood Shrike has been seen for weeks.'
'Have the ghuls seek out Darin of Serra in Marinn,' I say. 'He forges weapons in the port city of Adisa. Eventually, they will reunite.'
Umber inclines her head and we regard the village below us, a hodgepodge of stone homes that can withstand fire, adorned with wooden shingles that cannot. Though it is mostly identical to other hamlets we've destroyed, it has one distinction. It is the last settlement in our campaign. Our parting volley in Marinn before I send the Martials south to join the rest of Keris Veturia's army.
Desperados III OST spans across three chapters, each featuring a unique musical identity that follows the journey of John Cooper's Gang. Composed and produced by Filippo Beck Peccoz and recorded with the help of several outstanding soloists, ride towards the horizon with Desperados III's Official Game Soundtrack! The Desperados III soundtrack is dulcimer meets hurdy-gurdy meets electric guitar meets modular synth. Based out of his studio in Munich, audio director and composer Filippo Beck Peccoz, used S-Gear exclusively for electric guitar sounds.
'The humans are ready to attack, Meherya.' Umber's glow reddens, her disgust of our Martial allies palpable.
'Give the order,' I tell her. Behind me, one by one, my kin transform from shadow to flame, lighting the cold sky.
A warning bell tolls in the village. The watchman has seen us, and bellows in panic. The front gates — hastily erected after attacks on neighboring communities — swing closed as lamps flare and shouts tinge the night air with terror.
'Seal the exits,' I tell Umber. 'Leave the children to carry the tale. Maro.' I turn to a wisp of a jinn, his narrow shoulders belying the power within. 'Are you strong enough for what you must do?'
Maro nods. He and the others pour past me, five rivers of fire, like those that spew from young mountains in the south. The jinn blast through the gates, leaving them smoking.
A half legion of Martials follow, and when the village is well aflame and my kin withdraw, the soldiers begin their butchery. The screams of the living fade quickly. Those of the dead echo for longer.
After the village is naught but ashes, Umber finds me. Like the other jinn, she now glows with only the barest flicker.
'The winds are fair,' I tell her. 'You will reach home swiftly.'
'We wish to remain with you, Meherya,' she says. 'We are strong.'
Beneath A Steel Sky Soundtrack
For a millennium, I believed that vengeance and wrath were my lot. Never would I witness the beauty of my kind moving through the world. Never would I feel the warmth of their flame.
But time and tenacity allowed me to reconstitute the Star — the weapon the Augurs used to imprison my people. The same weapon I used to set them free. Now the strongest of my kin gather near. And though it has been months since I destroyed the trees imprisoning them, my skin still trills at their presence.
Iron Sky Soundtrack
'Go,' I order them gently. 'For I will need you in the coming days.'
After they leave, I walk the cobbled streets of the village, sniffing for signs of life. Umber lost her children, her parents, and her lover in our long-ago war with the humans. Her rage has made her thorough.
A gust of wind carries me to the south wall of the village. The air tells of the violence wrought here. But there is another scent too.
A hiss escapes me. The smell is human, but layered with a fey sheen. The girl's face rises in my mind. Laia of Serra. Her essence feels like this.
But why would she lurk in a Mariner village?
I consider donning my human skin, but decide against it. It is an arduous task, not undertaken without good reason. Instead I draw my cloak close against the rain and trace the scent to a hut tucked beside a tottering wall.
The ghuls trailing my ankles yip in excitement. They feed off pain, and the village is rife with it. I nudge them away and enter the hut alone.
The inside is lit by a tribal lamp and a merry fire, over which a pan of charred skillet bread smokes. Pink winter roses sit atop the dresser and a cup of well water sweats on the table.
Whoever was here left only moments ago.
Or rather, she wants it to look that way.
I steel myself, for a jinn's love is no fickle thing. Laia of Serra has hooks in my heart yet. The pile of blankets at the foot of the bed disintegrates to ashes at my touch. Hidden beneath and shaking with terror is a child who is very obviously not Laia of Serra.
And yet he feels like her.
Not in his mien, for where Laia of Serra has sorrow coiled about her heart, this boy is gripped by fear. Where Laia's soul is hardened by suffering, this boy is soft, his joy untrammeled until now. He's a Mariner child, no more than twelve.
But it is what's deep within that harkens to Laia. An unknowable darkness in his mind. His black eyes meet mine, and he holds up his hands.
'B-begone!' Perhaps he meant for it to be a shout. But his voice rasps, nails digging into wood. When I go to snap his neck, he holds his hands out again, and an unseen force nudges me back a few inches.
His power is wild and unsettlingly familiar. I wonder if it is jinn magic, but while jinn-human pairings occurred, no children can come of them.
'Begone, foul creature!' Emboldened by my retreat, the boy throws something at me. It has all the sting of rose petals. Salt.
My curiosity fades. Whatever lives within the child feels fey, so I reach for the scythe slung across my back. Before he understands what is happening, I draw the weapon across his throat and turn away, my mind already moving on.
The boy speaks, stopping me dead. His voice booms with the finality of a jinn spewing prophecy. But the words are garbled, a story told through water and rock.
Craft the world - bosses monsters. 'The seed that slumbered wakes, the fruit of its flowering consecrated within the body of man. And thus is thy doom begotten, Beloved, and with it the breaking — the — breaking —'
A jinn would have completed the prophecy, but the boy is only human, his body a frail vessel. Blood pours from the wound in his neck and he collapses, dead.
Creaks
Coming from a game developer known for the quality of its artwork, Creaks throws you into a secret giant mansion accessible through the walls of the unnamed protagonist's bedroom. Once you climb down the first ladder, you're tossed into a world of strange furniture-based monsters, friendly bird people, and a haunting soundtrack. Although a platformer, Creaks has you solving puzzles and tricking the monsters as you cross each stage, and descend lower into the mansion.
Although the puzzles start off simple and the initial monsters are easy to trick, the game progressively gets harder to crack, but never discouragingly tough. Although not the most in-depth or technically advanced game on Apple Arcade this year, Creaks is definitely the most addictive and engaging one you can find on the platform.
Beyond Blue
- The long road to Beyond a Steel Sky is almost at an end Revolution Software has released a new trailer (via IGN) for its third-person RPG Beyond a Steel Sky, the sequel to 1994 cyberpunk DOS.
- 'Beyond a Steel Sky reminds me a lot of the Telltale games, but better.' 90% – GameWatcher 'Beyond a Steel Sky is in many ways respectful of genre traditions but with modern wisdom and presentation. The game can be enjoyed without prior knowledge of Beneath a Steel Sky but obviously, it has a lot of gentle nods to its predecessor.'.
- دانلود موسیقی متن فیلم Beyond a Steel Sky. Album: Beyond a Steel Sky (Original Soundtrack) Composer: Alistair Kerley Genre: Score Date: 2020 Audio codec: MP3 Flac Quality: 320kbps lossless Playtime: 01:23:18 Preview: Albums. 01 Prologue – Motion Comic 02 Opening and Union City Theme 03.
Beyond a Steel Sky composer channels the sci-fi soundtrack greats Laced With Wax interviews Alistair Kerley — the UK musician tasked with scoring the follow-up to cyberpunk point'n'click classic Beneath a Steel Sky.
Quite easily the most graphically advanced game on Apple Arcade this year, Beyond Blue puts you in a photorealistic underwater reef as an environmentalist diver, tasked with discovering the secrets of a particular reef, and documenting the various forms of marine life living there. Although the main plot is rather simple, the individual missions are interesting and educative, as you get to see all kinds of whales and fish up close.
This is a large game in terms of size and updates, and was a bit buggy when we first played it earlier this year. However the family-friendliness, educational aspects, and sheer beauty of the game itself makes Beyond Blue one of our favourite games on Apple Arcade this year.
Little Orpheus
The simple nature of mobile gaming means that storytelling often falls short, but Little Orpheus bucks this trend entirely to tell perhaps the most entertaining story we've seen on an Apple Arcade game yet. This Soviet-themed game puts you in charge of an explorer who claims to have traveled to the centre of the earth and discovered all of its hidden secrets, but there's always an unspoken seed of doubt as to what's really going on.
The core gameplay is simple platforming, as you pass obstacles, race through time-trials of sorts, and explore unbelievable levels in the theme of a cold-war era TV show. It's a bit too simple at times and never really gets too challenging, but play this game for the gripping story alone.
Spyder
With cheerful artwork that sits somewhere between comic books and children's cartoons, Spyder puts you in charge of a sentient robotic spider tasked with completing missions for a spy agency. As we mentioned in our review, Spyder is like a ‘60s Bond movie starring Wall-E,' and we love it for that exact reason.
Although the controls were a bit fiddly, the graphics and gameplay more than make up for it, with a good combination of puzzle solving and physics-based exploration. Although there aren't too many levels, Spyder does keep you hooked through each stage, which takes about 20-30 minutes to complete.
Beyond a Steel Sky
A sequel 26 years in the making, Beyond a Steel Sky is a follow-up to the 1994 point-and-click adventure game called Beneath a Steel Sky. Naturally, it comes with better visuals and gameplay, with the story picking up 10 years after the events of the first game. The world still involves a lot of pointing, clicking, and dialogue, but the styling and sheer depth of the gameplay makes this an impressive title for the Apple Arcade platform.
The game did sometimes feel like it was dragging things along, with too many dialogue options that tend to last longer than they should. However, the post-apocalyptic cyberpunk storyline makes this a fun game to play for an hour or two at a time. The sheer detail and depth of Beyond a Steel Sky is what earns it a spot on our list of top Apple Arcade games in 2020.
Do let us know via the comments what your favourite Apple Arcade games are.
Will iPhone 12 mini become the affordable iPhone we've been waiting for? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.
Five years after she debuted with An Ember in the Ashes, Sabaa Tahir is finally bringing her beloved story to a close. A Sky Beyond the Storm finishes the story Tahir began in her 2015 bestseller, but the journey has been much longer for author herself. 'I began writing Ember 13 years ago,' she tells Bustle. 'I have spent more than a decade of my life writing, breathing, laughing, mourning and celebrating with my characters. They are a part of me, as familiar to me as my hands or my face. So when I wrote the final words on the final page of the final book, I felt as though I was saying farewell to my best friends, to a piece of me.'
An Ember in the Ashes launched at a time when multi-doorstopper YA fantasy series — think Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen and Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses — were at their height. But as an #OwnVoices novel, written by a Pakistani American woman and starring multiple characters of color, Ember was unlike most of its peers. It was the first in a long line of YA fantasy novels from South Asian and Muslim authors, hitting store shelves ahead of Roshani Chokshi's The Star-Touched Queen, Swati Teerdhala's The Tiger at Midnight, and Hafsah Faizal's We Hunt the Flame.
But according to Tahir, there's still much work to be done to diversify YA publishing. 'Over and over, authors from marginalized groups are told, 'We already have a book like this,' or 'We already have an author like you.' But books by marginalized authors shouldn't be a quota you fill,' she says. 'How many vampire books written by white authors? Dozens. I've nothing against that, but authors from marginalized groups deserve the same respect. Just because authors have similar experiences or ethnic backgrounds doesn't mean their stories will be identical. We contain multitudes and our work is meaningful and distinctive.'
Beyond A Steel Sky Soundtrack Trailer
While Tahir doesn't have any immediate plans to return the Ember series after A Sky Beyond the Storm, she'll continue writing and pushing representation in publishing forward. 'All I can say for sure is that I want to do something different with my writing,' she says of her next project. 'Maybe explore some darker terrain.'
But before you start longing for Tahir's next work, read on for an excerpt from the hotly anticipated A Sky Beyond the Storm.
Excerpt from A Sky Beyond the Storm, exclusive to Bustle
I: The Nightbringer
I awoke in the glow of a young world, when man knew of hunting but not tilling, of stone but not steel. It smelled of rain and earth and life. It smelled of hope.
Arise, beloved.
The voice that spoke was laden with millennia beyond my ken. The voice of a father, a mother. A creator and a destroyer. The voice of Mauth, who is Death himself.
Arise, child of flame. Arise, for thy home awaits thee.
Would that I had not learned to cherish it, my home. Would that I had unearthed no magic, loved no wife, sparked no children, gentled no ghosts. Would that Mauth had never named me.
'Meherya.'
My name drags me out of the past to a rain-swept hilltop in the Mariner countryside. My old home is the Waiting Place — known to humans as the Forest of Dusk. I will make my new home upon the bones of my foes.
'Meherya.' Umber's sun-bright eyes are the vermillion of ancient anger. 'We await your orders.' She grips a glaive in her left hand, its blade white with heat.
'Have the ghuls reported in yet?'
To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Myst, Cyan is offering a never-been-done-before, historical anthology of the complete series. With this bundle, you get all 7 Myst games together for the first time and updated to run on macOS 10.13 and Windows 10 operating systems. Myst 25th anniversary collection dvd.
Umber's lip curls. 'They scoured Delphinium. Antium. Even the Waiting Place,' she says. 'They could not find the girl. Neither she nor the Blood Shrike has been seen for weeks.'
'Have the ghuls seek out Darin of Serra in Marinn,' I say. 'He forges weapons in the port city of Adisa. Eventually, they will reunite.'
Umber inclines her head and we regard the village below us, a hodgepodge of stone homes that can withstand fire, adorned with wooden shingles that cannot. Though it is mostly identical to other hamlets we've destroyed, it has one distinction. It is the last settlement in our campaign. Our parting volley in Marinn before I send the Martials south to join the rest of Keris Veturia's army.
Desperados III OST spans across three chapters, each featuring a unique musical identity that follows the journey of John Cooper's Gang. Composed and produced by Filippo Beck Peccoz and recorded with the help of several outstanding soloists, ride towards the horizon with Desperados III's Official Game Soundtrack! The Desperados III soundtrack is dulcimer meets hurdy-gurdy meets electric guitar meets modular synth. Based out of his studio in Munich, audio director and composer Filippo Beck Peccoz, used S-Gear exclusively for electric guitar sounds. Check out Desperados III, Vol. 3 (Original Game Soundtrack) by Filippo Beck Peccoz on Amazon Music. Stream ad-free or purchase CD's and MP3s now on Amazon.com. Desperados III, Vol. 3 (Original Game Soundtrack) by Filippo Beck Peccoz on Amazon Music - Amazon.com Skip to main content. Desperados III OST spans across three chapters, each featuring a unique musical identity that follows the journey of John Cooper's Gang. Composed and produced by Filippo Beck Peccoz and recorded with the help of several outstanding soloists, ride towards the horizon with Desperados III's Official Game Soundtrack! © 2019 THQ Nordic AB, Sweden.
'The humans are ready to attack, Meherya.' Umber's glow reddens, her disgust of our Martial allies palpable.
'Give the order,' I tell her. Behind me, one by one, my kin transform from shadow to flame, lighting the cold sky.
A warning bell tolls in the village. The watchman has seen us, and bellows in panic. The front gates — hastily erected after attacks on neighboring communities — swing closed as lamps flare and shouts tinge the night air with terror.
'Seal the exits,' I tell Umber. 'Leave the children to carry the tale. Maro.' I turn to a wisp of a jinn, his narrow shoulders belying the power within. 'Are you strong enough for what you must do?'
Maro nods. He and the others pour past me, five rivers of fire, like those that spew from young mountains in the south. The jinn blast through the gates, leaving them smoking.
A half legion of Martials follow, and when the village is well aflame and my kin withdraw, the soldiers begin their butchery. The screams of the living fade quickly. Those of the dead echo for longer.
After the village is naught but ashes, Umber finds me. Like the other jinn, she now glows with only the barest flicker.
'The winds are fair,' I tell her. 'You will reach home swiftly.'
'We wish to remain with you, Meherya,' she says. 'We are strong.'
Beneath A Steel Sky Soundtrack
For a millennium, I believed that vengeance and wrath were my lot. Never would I witness the beauty of my kind moving through the world. Never would I feel the warmth of their flame.
But time and tenacity allowed me to reconstitute the Star — the weapon the Augurs used to imprison my people. The same weapon I used to set them free. Now the strongest of my kin gather near. And though it has been months since I destroyed the trees imprisoning them, my skin still trills at their presence.
Iron Sky Soundtrack
'Go,' I order them gently. 'For I will need you in the coming days.'
After they leave, I walk the cobbled streets of the village, sniffing for signs of life. Umber lost her children, her parents, and her lover in our long-ago war with the humans. Her rage has made her thorough.
A gust of wind carries me to the south wall of the village. The air tells of the violence wrought here. But there is another scent too.
A hiss escapes me. The smell is human, but layered with a fey sheen. The girl's face rises in my mind. Laia of Serra. Her essence feels like this.
But why would she lurk in a Mariner village?
I consider donning my human skin, but decide against it. It is an arduous task, not undertaken without good reason. Instead I draw my cloak close against the rain and trace the scent to a hut tucked beside a tottering wall.
The ghuls trailing my ankles yip in excitement. They feed off pain, and the village is rife with it. I nudge them away and enter the hut alone.
The inside is lit by a tribal lamp and a merry fire, over which a pan of charred skillet bread smokes. Pink winter roses sit atop the dresser and a cup of well water sweats on the table.
Whoever was here left only moments ago.
Or rather, she wants it to look that way.
I steel myself, for a jinn's love is no fickle thing. Laia of Serra has hooks in my heart yet. The pile of blankets at the foot of the bed disintegrates to ashes at my touch. Hidden beneath and shaking with terror is a child who is very obviously not Laia of Serra.
And yet he feels like her.
Not in his mien, for where Laia of Serra has sorrow coiled about her heart, this boy is gripped by fear. Where Laia's soul is hardened by suffering, this boy is soft, his joy untrammeled until now. He's a Mariner child, no more than twelve.
But it is what's deep within that harkens to Laia. An unknowable darkness in his mind. His black eyes meet mine, and he holds up his hands.
'B-begone!' Perhaps he meant for it to be a shout. But his voice rasps, nails digging into wood. When I go to snap his neck, he holds his hands out again, and an unseen force nudges me back a few inches.
His power is wild and unsettlingly familiar. I wonder if it is jinn magic, but while jinn-human pairings occurred, no children can come of them.
'Begone, foul creature!' Emboldened by my retreat, the boy throws something at me. It has all the sting of rose petals. Salt.
My curiosity fades. Whatever lives within the child feels fey, so I reach for the scythe slung across my back. Before he understands what is happening, I draw the weapon across his throat and turn away, my mind already moving on.
The boy speaks, stopping me dead. His voice booms with the finality of a jinn spewing prophecy. But the words are garbled, a story told through water and rock.
Craft the world - bosses monsters. 'The seed that slumbered wakes, the fruit of its flowering consecrated within the body of man. And thus is thy doom begotten, Beloved, and with it the breaking — the — breaking —'
A jinn would have completed the prophecy, but the boy is only human, his body a frail vessel. Blood pours from the wound in his neck and he collapses, dead.
'What in the skies are you?' I speak to the darkness within the child, but it has fled, and taken the answer to my question with it.
