15 Cold

Baga, Fenrir of Wind - Humans have a way of demanding more than they deserve. I keep them beneath my wings and at the mercy of my storm.

I continued, my voice cold and cutting like a winter’s night as I explained the plan. It was simple, but most good plans are. Once I finished, silence choked the room. Aether turned towards me, the interlocking pieces of black stone smoothly sliding. He said, “I never knew you were so cunning, Jack. That sounded…almost evil.”

I said, “It’s Deluge’s plan for the most part. I just wanted them all to die. He wanted more than death. He wanted them to suffer a betrayal at the hand of their god.”

The lethal, toxic tone of my voice spread through the room like a malignant cancer. At the edge of my vision, a pair of shaking hands wound tight, the knuckles white with fury. They were my own. Relaxing my grip and grimace, I turned towards the others, each of them staring in open surprise.

My heart sank as Joan said, “Jack, why the hell would you do that?”

Glancing at the floor, my shoulders drooped before Aether replied, “I agreed to follow you, but I won’t help with this plan. It originated from the wrong reasons. This is nothing like the noble journey you spoke of.”

Razor folded over on Aether’s shoulders before she said, “It’s a clever plan, in my opinion at least. I don’t see a thing wrong with it.”

Sophia nodded before she said, “It doesn’t sit too well with me. A little calculating for my taste, but I can’t see any real flaws with it.”

Joan turned towards Sophia before saying, “How can you agree to something so...underhanded?”

Sophia raised an eyebrow as she said, “Are you serious Joan? These people tried killing us. They’ve experimented on people like they were tools. They killed Petra, for Gaia’s sake.”

I shook my head as I said, “No, I killed Petra.”

They all turned towards me, my sketch finished. I handed the picture over in silence to Sophia. As I walked out, Sophia jumped up and grabbed my wrist. She said, “No, that’s not true. You saved her from being used anymore by the palisade. I know what type of experiments they were doing. None of them were good.”

I glanced towards her before I said to the room, “Do you know what happened to her remains after I killed her?”

Silence answered me back, so I said, “They melted into the floor. Her flesh kept crawling at me, even after her death. Even if I chewed it up and spit it out, the meat kept crawling, so I swallowed the pieces that didn’t stop. I ate her before she ate me.”

Joan gasped and Sophia released her grip as I continued, “I stole the gems they used on her. That’s where the lit alexandrite came from. Her body.”

I turned towards Joan and said, “I’ve eaten people. Sometimes to hide their bodies or for survival, but the reason matters little. It doesn’t change what I’ve done.”

I turned towards Aether and Razor as I continued, “I retched acid onto the faces of my victims. I’ve stabbed arms through their throats. I’ve eaten human heads as they screamed in horror.”

I turned back towards Joan and Sophia before I said, “I’ve assimilated living people. I’ve murdered children. I’m more decayed and diseased then Petra ever was. I am a walking plague, and in my wake, I leave an all-consuming shadow.”

I gripped my hands before piercing them with a stare, strong as steel and heavy as a giant’s heel. I said, “This plan of mine, it’s nothing by comparison to what I’ve done. Killing the remnants will be brutal and bloody. I’ve tried giving mercy before. Petra and Alistair died for it.”

I turned towards Sophia and Joan as I said, “We lost our home for it. If I’d just killed anyone who’d speak out, maybe the palisade would never have known. I won’t make the same mistake twice. Even if I must swim through oceans of blood and climb mountains made of corpses, I will never let it happen again.”

Unshaken and unyielding, I said, “I will not lose those dear to me. I will not lose my home.”

I turned and left out of the cave, my steps echoing in the clean cavern. They laid there, wordless and wide-eyed. After reaching the surface, I walked towards the city with the sun setting in the distance. After a minute or two in, Deluge reached out for me and said,

“Lashing out at your friends to vent your hatred. You’ve matured.”

I frowned before I snapped, “And so the derisive parasite comes in for another lecture. What will it be about this time I wonder?”

“Temper temper. Why don’t you listen to me. We share the same body after all.”

I rolled my eyes before I said, “Then what is it?”

With a thoughtful tone, Deluge said, “I understand your frustration.”

“How can you understand? I don’t even understand myself.”

“Up till our journey, you’ve hidden the vicious, wrathful piece of you. Now that you’ve exposed that darker side of yourself, you believe they’ll no longer love you. That makes you vulnerable, vulnerable and afraid.”

I stopped walking before I glanced down. I frowned as I thought, “You mean...I’m afraid they’ll leave me?”

Deluge replied, “In essence, yes. They deserve the ridicule, however. Gaia can only be stopped with ”

I glanced upwards, lost in thought. Deluge often spoke the truth, in an unfeeling and callous way, but truth nonetheless. All this time, I’d succeeded and flourished without exposing my real struggles to Joan or Sophia. They never saw how severe or unyielding my problems could be. Now that they did, I felt vulnerable.

Even more painful, I couldn’t blame Joan for wanting to go. She made a hard choice; leave with me and abandon everything or pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Staying had carried more than its fair share of consequences, like traveling for years without rest.

After thinking it over, I knew I’d overreacted. After I cooled down, I’d apologize for my outburst. They deserved better than that childish, abrasive attitude. I promised to strive for better control or at least understanding of my emotions. That process would take time. Almost anything meaningful in life does.

With my thoughts handled, I thought towards Deluge when I reached the city, “Thank you for your insight. I calmed since earlier.”

“They won’t hate you over something so small. You underestimate them. I on the other hand-”

I grinned before replying, “Honestly, I prefer your loathing. Anything else just doesn’t feel sincere.”

“You know me well.”

Deluge spent that night hunting in the sewer for new prey. I outright rejected the suggestion when we were awake, but Deluge doesn’t listen. With him eating like a glutton, we grew ever taller and heavier with each passing day. Soon, no set of stairs would hold my weight throughout the entire kingdom.

Time flowed through my hands like air. After preparing everything for day of the attack, I finally walked back towards our base.

After squeezing through the entrance, the damp, cool air offered a pleasant change from the sweltering heat outside. After my entry, Sophia and Joan remained in the encampment, each piddling with whatever task they had at hand.

They glanced over at me as I crawled through the hole of an entrance. After exposing myself, I scratched the back of my head as I said, “Uhm, I just wanted to apologize for my outburst the other day. I shouldn’t have said what I did, and I understand if either of you want to leave.”

They glanced at one another before Joan pierced me with a grim, grisly stare. After an agonizing pause, Joan said, her tone like death, “I will stay here under only one condition.”

I held my breath for an eternal moment. Joan’s dour and dark expression sent a chill down my spine. In an instant, her tone altered to dapper and delighted. She said, “You’ll have to take me out on a really, and I mean really good date.”

Sophia snapped, “And I want a souvenir. A big one.”

I sighed in relief as my shoulders slumped. Before I brushed my hair back while forcing myself up. With a hand in my hair, I say with sarcasm, “Anything for you, your majesties.”

Joan jumped up and leapt over before embracing me with her hands around my waist. She replied after squeezing with all her strength, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. You’re just trying to protect us. I know you and Deluge have done things that you aren’t proud of, but I want you to know one thing for sure.”

She leaned back before she said, “To me, you’re my hero, not just some nice guy who’s fun to be around.”

I placed a hand on my chin as I said with a crooked grin and raised eyebrows, “You mean devilishly handsome and charming too, right?”

She lifts onto her toes before pressing her forehead against mine and saying, “I was thinking something more like dreamy and cool, but that’ll have to do.”

I hugged her, our eyes closing before youthful, goofy grins popped onto our faces. We giggled with each other before she and I released our embrace. Turning towards Sophia, I said, “I’ll make the souvenir special. I already have an idea.”

Sophia frowned as she squinted her eyes at us and said, “Alright then lover birds. Don’t mind me. I’ll just sit here and sulk.”

With a blissful in my eyes and joy on my lips, I said, “Thank you both. I was worried I’d went too far. I’d been bottling up inside for a while.”

Joan punched my side before she said, “Sophia explained a lot of what you said after you left. Deluge did nearly all of it, and even when he didn’t, you did all that stuff for some reason.”

Sophia rolled her eyes before she said, “You made it out like you're some monster or something.”

I turned both of them as I said, “Make no mistake, that’s exactly what I am.”

Joan frowned before she said, “Jack, no you’re not.”

I placed a hand on her shoulder before I said, “Wait until after today’s event unfold before you say so. You’ve never seen me actually fight before. It’s a macabre spectacle.”

She rolled her eyes before she said, “Whatever you say professor gruesome.”

I tickled her sides as I said, “You as well doctor doom.”

She giggled before she thrashed her way out of my grasp. In a desperate defense, she dug her fingers into my side, retaliating with a ferocious frenzy. We fought for ages if not entire eons before we laid against the wall of the room, breathless and upbeat.

Well, she was breathless at least. My capacity for movement far exceeded her own. As she caught her breath, I said, “It’s time for me to leave. I’d rather not be late.”

Joan frowned before saying, “Gone so soon? That’s no fun.”

After standing up, I leaned over and kissed her forehead. Placing a palm on her cheek, I said, “You’re right. There’s no fun to be had where I’m going.”

I reached the entrance before saying, “Goodbye. I’ll see you afterwards.”

Sophia chimed, “Good luck.”

After reaching towards the town, I neared the church as the sun passed directly overhead. The golems would attack from the front of the church. They thought I would flanked any would be defenders. Instead, I’d strike right at their center after they killed a few priests. I forbid the killing of citizens, and mentioned how they should strike fear in the hearts of the priests however they could. The more frightened the church was, the bigger the reward once I saved them.

I had rented out a room on the second floor of an inn near the church. The window of the room saw directly through a stained window, giving me an open view of the inside. The lead lining the glass glinted, and the hotel even had stone stairs. It was the perfect lookout.

With all these preparations complete, I waited for over an hour in anticipation. Waking me from my daydreams, a familiar yet new sound hit my ears through my opened window. The piercing, painful sound of actual bending steel ripped through the nearby air. A steel grate at the side of the church was forced open by stone hands.

Radiating red, a group of eight golems paced out, stomping through the alleyway. Townsfolk gawked, their faces following the golems. Their feet dug into the stone underneath them, cracking like breaking ice. The clear sky made them all the more surreal. Out of the alleyway and into the town square. After reaching the entrance, they slammed through the giant doors, each of their steps shaking the ground.

Splinters and planks of wood caved in around their feet before they strode towards the center of the church. The petrified priest stared with disbelief on his face. The earthen thralls paced with slow, steady steps, like a coming tide. Reaching the bishop, the front golem grabbed Favre by his collar and forced him overhead.

The arctic ice in the golem’s metallic voice reached even me as he said,“By the name of The Darkened One, we start a war against the church and the palisade. By his word, Gaia shall die as The Darkened One feasts on her flesh.”

Favre wheezed, “By Gaia’s name, what has this church done? What have I done wrong?”

The golem reached his fist back as he said, “Opposed the one, true god.”

I leapt through the window before crashing into the ground. The planks shook as I landed, fragmenting earth and launching dust in every direction. Those within the church silenced before staring at the window beside me, the lead lining bent like broken fingers.

I smashed my fists together as I said, “I wonder if golems bleed?”