Chapter 91

Twice and Thrice

It was happening again, Sylas realized. The symptoms were all the same--and, unlike the previous times, they appeared even more aggressive. The castle had only been aware of it for the last few days, yet over twenty people had already been bedridden, with three even dying. Just like before, Master Audin attributed it all to the ‘winter chills’, but Sylas knew that he couldn’t ignore it anymore.

“It’s intentional,” he concluded aloud, standing up and leaving the ‘hashnery’, a morgue-like room where corpses were held for additional inspection.

What confirmed it for him more so than anything else were the inconsistencies--it didn’t occur naturally within every loop. It was clear that his actions were affecting it, but his actions never affected natural phenomena. After all, just because he did something didn’t mean it wouldn’t snow tomorrow. Similarly, it didn’t mean a plague would choose to not infect anyone.

Clearly, as his actions affected the castle itself, the nature behind the disease elected not to infect the people--or the other way around, all dependent entirely on the circumstances that the world, the objective world, didn’t care for.

His frown deepened, anger rousing once more. It was a person, once again, that judged the people inside the castle and condemned them to death. Sylas wasn’t angry with the dead--whether they were zombie-like creatures that only knew war, or even another Kingdom entirely, their attacks at least stood tall to the scrutiny. They had a purpose, a goal. But Tebek, Dyn, the human scum that sicced the dead onto the castle...

He was angry with the living. With the unhinged vermin feasting on the carcass of kindness shown to them by being allowed to live and breed among people. The heartless who stirred fires and then ducked behind the curtains, laughing while watching others die for their creed. He’d hated them on Earth, and he hated them here. Nothing has changed, not in the hearts of people, anyway. Demented existed here as there, wearing the mask of sheep to cover the demons in their eyes.

Knowing that it was intentional, however, didn’t tell him who was doing it. What's more, uncovering who was doing it... was almost impossible due to the nature of it. After all, the plague could have been started in a number of ways--coughing at someone, smearing something at them, spiking random water well, or a herb, or cattle... unless he caught someone in the act, it was all but impossible to trace the origins back to a specific individual.

“It’ll be a long loop,” he sighed. There was only one way, in the end--work his way from the top. Cross off every single person in the castle, one by one, by shadowing them. Eventually, he’ll find his culprit. “Huuuh. A few years at least, right? Well, if I don’t luck out early on.”

He already planned on crossing off a few names without inspection--Valen, Derrek, Ryne, and him. Though there were quite a few others he was fairly confident in, he wanted to be beyond thorough.

“One by one,” he mumbled. “One by one.”

Months passed swiftly while Sylas crossed one name off the list after another. By now, he had stalked so many souls he had grown entirely numb to it. Despite doing despicable things, he felt... nothing. Not anymore, at least. In fact, last night he watched two people have sex and didn’t even flinch or for a moment think he was doing something awful.

And yet, despite it all, he was yet to come across anything suspicious. Well, that suspicious. He’d seen people steal, gossip, cheat, and do many, many, many awful things, just not quite as awful as unleashing plague upon the castle. Furthermore, each and every time he chose to wait until the plague began spreading through the castle before pulling the plug on the loop.

And, at the start of each loop, he was forced to write down the list of names of all the people he’d checked already lest he accidentally did it twice. By now, he knew some of the people inside the castle better than he knew himself--and it was hardly a happy occasion.

“Another name crossed off,” he sighed, finishing off the cup of wine. “That’s... all the maids, right? That leaves... the young butlers, and a few guards,” he began to tap away with his finger, leaning his head against his free hand. “If it’s not any of them... is it really natural? But triggered by something specific that I can somehow alter without consciously choosing to do so? Shit, for all I know, maybe my shit is the source, and--no, no. No. Right? Nope, nope. God, I’m going mad, to even entertain that idea.”

“What idea?” a somewhat solemn, yet attempting-to-be-chirpy voice interrupted him, causing him to jolt.

“Ryne?”

“That’s me!” the young girl exclaimed, the sound of the staff rapping against the stone floor finally entering Sylas’ ears. “You didn’t hear me come in?”

“No,” he said, standing up and walking over to the young girl, helping her to a seat. “Are you alone? Where is your maidservant? Shit, I’ll have to reprimand her--”

“Leave Julie alone,” Ryne quickly said. “I sent her off to a well-deserved break. I... I wanted to try and coming back... alone.”

“...”

“I made it, didn’t I? I did bump into a wall or two, but hey, ache is the source of wisdom.”

“... good job,” Sylas sighed, sitting down.

“Thanks. So, what were you mumbling to yourself?”

“Nothing clever.”

“Yes, I knew that,” Ryne said. “But your stupid thoughts are just as amusing.”

“... if you were a diabolical man of evil,” Sylas said. “And you wanted to start a plague in the castle... how’d you go about it?”

“... you--you’re saying that the plague isn’t natural?!” Ryne exclaimed in shock and horror.

“I just don’t get it,” Sylas sighed. “I went over the most common sources--food is secure, so are the wells, I even made sure the few animals we’ve got couldn’t be tampered with. But... nothing helped. I’m losing my mind over here. Well, I’d already lost it. But I’m losing the phantom of it.”

“Well, if I were a diabolical man of evil--a redundancy if I’ve ever heard one in my life--I’d use talismans.”

“T-talismans?”

“Sure, why not?” Ryne said, her hand caressing the desk until it ran into the bowl of fruit from which she picked a pear. “You place a few around the castle, and since the thing is so full of holes, you can just use the talismans to accelerate the spread.”

"... wait here," Sylas remembered something.

“Hm? What? Where are you going? Hey! Sylas?! Hey, don’t ignore me!!”

Something he’d forgotten--a possibility that caused his anger to swell up anew. It can’t--no, it totally can be.

Without turning back, he sped down the corridors and rounded toward the central wing, walking past the confused guards who’d never seen him this hurried. Rather than going outside the castle, he went downstairs, into the dungeons. He’d forgotten... but he remembered. Tebek.

The man was sitting behind the iron bars, but Sylas didn’t recognize him. Not necessarily because he changed, but because the last time Sylas saw him... was over eighty years ago, technically speaking. However, the man did seem surprised to see Sylas.

The latter, ignoring the questioning gaze, elected to cycle magic into his gaze and look for any outward trace. Sure enough, just as his teeth came crashing together, he saw the swirling tendrils of black framing the man’s edges. The very same tendrils he recalled seeing before Ryne blew up the castle.

“Of course it’s you,” Sylas growled like a dog, startling the starved Captain. “Of course it’s you, you vapid, shit-eating cumdumpster. Of course it’s you. FUCK!!!” Sylas roared, slamming his fist into the iron bar, causing Tebek to yelp.

“W-w-w-what are you... what are you talking about?”

“Selling us out twice wasn’t enough,” Sylas said. “But now you chose to curse the castle with a plague?”

“W-what--”

“ENOUGH!!! JUST WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!!!” Sylas ripped the iron bars apart with his bare hands without even realizing it, anger burning through his veins, and stomped into the cell, quickly reaching Tebek, picking the man up by his neck and pinning him against the wall. “WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!!!!!!” he screamed into the man’s horrified expression.

“I-I--I--I--AAAAGAGGGGGHGHHHH!!!!” without letting the man finish his excuse, Sylas gripped the neck tighter and slammed the man into the ground, breaking his spine in the process as both his legs went limp. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!!!!”

“I--I don’t---”

“Oh, fuck you to high-heavens,”

Snap.

A limp body fell to the ground, head bent unnaturally to the side, eyes wide open, foam fizzling at his mouth. Just as the body fell, a window appeared in front of him, startling him for a moment.

Congratulations!

You have completed a quest: Charted Dreams!

You have defended the castle against all odds and proved yourself worthy!

You have been granted a new reward: Archery Mantra --Soulseeker--

New Quest: Soulseeking Arrow

Content: Successfully alter arrow’s trajectory midflight

Reward: a new skill --Soulseeking Arrow-- (a once-a-day guided arrow that cannot be detected by sight)

Good luck!

Sylas stood still in confusion, the hurried footsteps belting against the stone approaching the cell. He’d figured it out--the last component. What he couldn’t figure out, however, was just how Tebek fit into the whole narrative. Just fuckin’ how...

“I’ll have so many questions for you,” Sylas said, taking out a knife from his belt. “I certainly hope you’ll be in the mood for chatting.”

You have died.

Save point ‘Death’ has been initialized.