The Eye of the Bedlam Bride — Chapter no 16

[ 16 ]

th <Note added by Crawler Tipid, 4Edition> I killed my best friend today. I wish I had never made it this far.

“NO… NO,” ANTON SAID.

A bolt of lightning crashed through the room, coming from the ceiling. It hit the newly-repaired floor tiles and shattered several of the pieces. They flew through the room like shrapnel.

The star appeared on my map. A man formed, right where the lightning hit. He stood before Anton and Paz on the other side of the room.

The back patch on my jacket vibrated, the sensation oddly reminding me of a phone on silent.

You are in the presence of a deity. The Scavenger’s Daughter has opened her eyes. She fills with power.

Temporary effect: All-Smash Related Attacks +300%.

Ogun was human-sized, buff and dark skinned, holding a giant war hammer over his shoulder. He wore a leather apron with no shirt, shorts, and a necklace made of sharp, white teeth from some massive creature. His eyes were nothing but white light. He emanated a yellow glow.

It was as if someone had dropped a grenade into the room. We all stared, waiting for the inevitable. I examined him.

God of Blacksmithery and Armor Ogun. Level 250.

This god is not sponsored.

Warning: This is a deity. He is invulnerable on this floor.

This god has been temporarily summoned to this location. Summoning rules apply.

Ogun is an outsider. He is one of the old gods, originally a member of an obscure pantheon that has since dissipated into time. He spends his days at his celestial anvil, angrily creating armor, piece after piece, but no one knows why he toils or what becomes of the armor when it’s completed.

It’s said his creations have a strange shape, all designed for four- legged beasts.

Ogun is no stranger to conflict. He is—well, he was until a minute ago —the last surviving member of an ancient pantheon that was known for its bloody conflicts. Like most of the older gods, he isn’t the same entity he once was. In the great Halls, he is considered a god of blacksmiths and armorers. He once was something even greater.

His power and ambition makes him a strong contender for the celestial throne.

He’s here now because Ogun strongly believes all punishments should be handed out in person.

“For a god that’s always making armor, you’d think he would be better dressed,” Donut muttered from the back of Mongo, who screeched in agreement.

“Don’t move,” I hissed. “Don’t bring attention to yourself. He’s here for them, not us. But get ready for plan Exit just in case.”

“Just you, me, Mongo, and Bomo? Are we going to abandon the others?”

“Yes.”

Plan Exit was for me to hit Protective Shell while we both downed Invisibility potions. We’d get outside and then Donut would Puddle Jump us as far away as possible. I looked nervously at Mongo and the massive cretin standing behind us.

“I gave clear instructions,” Ogun said at the cowering forms of Paz and Anton on the far side of the room. His calm, even tone held a hint of a Caribbean accent. He didn’t sound angry, which somehow made him seem even more incensed. The god didn’t need to be physically huge or loud to give off an air of pure, unbridled rage. “You managed to chase off Asojano, which might’ve saved you. But you also unleashed my sister back into the light. That is unforgiveable.”

“No,” Sister Ines called. “That wasn’t Paz and Anton. It was them.” She pointed at us.

Ogun ignored her. “I should never have allowed you the privilege of worshipping me.”

I was frozen with indecision. Despite what I’d just said to Donut, I felt as if we should be doing something. Anything. Should I help? How? Even if I could get them out of here, then what? The god would just follow. My new nipple ring came with a spell, Black Nimbus, that would temporarily remove all the benefits of being a worshipper of a god. Maybe it would save them from getting a smite. I could only cast it on one of the two men, but did I dare try it? Ogun only had eyes for his two worshippers. The last thing we wanted was to gain his attention. It’d be like trying to stop a train by stepping in front of it.

“Leave them alone!” Sister Ines cried, coming to stand between the god and the two men with the still-falling health. The god paused and cocked his head to the side, regarding the cat woman, finally seeing her. She pulled her magical trident and brandished it at the deity. “You’re not a real god. They only worshipped you because you promised to protect their minds, and it didn’t work! They didn’t do what you said because they were charmed by that other one! They didn’t repair any of the shrines. It was those two behind you!”

She made a threatening move with the trident, which was equal parts brave and idiotic.

Ogun grunted with amusement. He waved a hand, and she froze in place.

Her trident fell to the ground and shattered. A Shelved debuff appeared and started to count down. It had a six minute timer. Holy shit, I thought. She’s lucky he didn’t turn her to ash.

Another slug slurped out of my body and hit the ground. The level-3 slug hissed and jumped at Mongo. It met the same fate as the last one.

Ogun spent a moment admiring the frozen cat woman. He sidestepped her and approached the form of Paz, whose health was deep in the red. Both Anton and Paz were on the ground, hunched over in pain. Anton sobbed.

Donut: CARL, WHAT DO WE DO?

Carl: We wait for it to pass. What else can we do?

Donut: HE’S GOING TO KILL THEM.

Carl: For their sake, let’s hope that’s all he does.

The god leaned forward, reached out, and placed his hand against Paz’s

face. The handprint sizzled where it touched flesh. Paz was already in so much agony, he barely seemed to notice this. His health stopped descending.

His body flashed, and then his health bar disappeared. The god had healed him. Ogun stood and Paz’s health immediately started to descend again.

“Paz, you are no longer under my grace. For your failure, I am taking your ability to heal this condition you now suffer. Go in darkness, and when you pierce the veil, you will find yourself alone and without armor.”

“No,” I heard myself say. No, not say. I shouted it. I took a step forward.

I had a boil on my cheek, and I knew it was about to pop. “Fuck you. Go fuck yourself.”

The god looked over his shoulder. “I know who you are,” he said, finally acknowledging me. That was it. He turned his attention to Anton, who was crab walking away. The man’s health was almost gone.

Goddamnit, I thought. A wave of helplessness washed over me.

I took another step forward, and I cast Black Nimbus on Anton. Then I clicked on a scroll of Heal, first on Anton, and then immediately another on Paz.

Anton glowed with dusky light. A black crown formed over the tattooed man’s head. The shunned mark disappeared. For a moment, Anton’s eyes met mine.

The god stood, as if contemplating. He completely turned to face me, literally turning his back on Anton. I felt a simultaneous surge of hope and dread. The boil on my cheek exploded, and I grunted with pain. Mongo greedily snatched the slug away. I had two more boils forming. One on my right arm, and one on my thigh.

“Black Nimbus,” the god said. He sounded more curious than angry.

“That was a good attempt. But all you have done is removed this man from my protection. From my mercy. Not from my wrath. I was going to do the same to him as I did his companion.”

The god shrugged, and then he took a step backward. He stepped directly on Anton’s head, and he crushed, killing him. Just like that, as if he was nothing.

“No,” Paz cried from the ground. “No, cousin. No!”

The god kept his glowing eyes locked on mine the whole time.

“I am not evil. I am not unreasonable. But there are rules. One of those rules is that you must know your place. If I didn’t hold Emberus in such high esteem, I would crush you, too. Now tell my sister I said, ‘Welcome Back.’”

He poofed away in a shower of sparks, like that of a hammer striking

molten steel.

Ogun has left the realm.

The Scavenger’s Daughter has closed her eyes. The benefit fades and will completely dissipate over the next ten minutes.

His sudden disappearance gave me a full view of Anton’s ruined body.

The blood was shockingly red against the blue and white tiles.

The only sound was the bubbling of the fountains and the pained rasps of Paz.

I ran up to Paz. The handprint of the god sat sideways on the man’s face, and the burn had removed the skin where flesh met flesh, leaving nothing but red muscle and the white of his teeth. His nose had been spared, and he still had lips, but they were burned and depressed, like his face had been made of clay.

I swallowed. I made this happen. I made this happen because I insisted on saving Yemaya.

“Paz,” I said, taking the man’s armored hand. He clutched onto me tightly. The shunned marker was gone from over his head. Behind us, Sister Ines remained frozen, looking away. “We’re gonna get you into the club.

We’ll see what they can do.”

His health was slowly fading. The god had made his debuff permanent.

There would be no healing, not of this, and we all knew it.

“I remember it all,” Paz said. “Ogun, he cured me of everything.

Everything except the Inevitable debuff. I don’t worship him anymore.” He let out a groan. “He promised he would fix it, and he did. But only at the end.”

“Carl, what is he talking about?” Donut asked.

“Just hang on,” I said, searching my inventory for something that would help. Nothing. I had nothing.

“Maybe it’s better this way,” Paz said, coughing. “The sister was so afraid we wouldn’t go to heaven because we’re pretending to worship these gods.”

“Don’t worry about that,” I said. “They’re not real. They’re just assholes, like everything else in this place. It’s play acting. That’s it. Here. Take this.” I pulled a fine healing potion and put it to his lips. As I did, the boil on my arm popped and the level-5 slug fell right onto Paz’s face.

“I’ll get him, daddy!” the slug cried. I flicked the annoying thing away

before it could chomp down. It flew, screaming across the room. Mongo shot off after it as Donut leaped to my shoulder.

“Don’t waste the potions,” Paz said, but he drank it anyway. “Look, brother. I gotta tell you something. You gotta be careful of her.”

“Who?” I asked. “What do you mean?”

“Sister Ines. She’s not safe. Don’t spend too much time with her.”

“I knew it!” Donut hissed. “What did I say, Carl?”

“Hush,” I said to Donut. “Explain.”

Paz’s armor flashed away, piece by piece as he stuck it into his inventory, leaving him wearing just shorts. He winced as he fell straight onto the tiles.

Behind him, the newly-erected fountain bubbled away merrily.

“It’s her race. It comes with a skill called Toxo… Toxo plasma something.

It makes people like her, want to protect her. You don’t even realize it’s happening. The effects are mild at first, but they get stronger and stronger as time goes on. And then eventually you’ll do anything to protect her. My cousin and I, we didn’t learn about it until it was too late. You don’t even know it’s happening. When you find out, you forget a minute later. That’s how it works. She told us one night. She gets like that sometimes, in a mood.

She feels guilty and won’t stop talking about…” He paused. “About the things she’s done. Oh, god, I hadn’t even realized. It makes you forget about that,

too.”

“Wait, she was charming you?” I asked.

Paz made a pained expression. “She reminded us once, I don’t know, maybe for the third or fourth time, and we knew we’d forget again in a couple of minutes. We both worshipped Ogun because the priest said he’d keep us from getting controlled. It didn’t work. Right after we worshipped him, we forgot why we’d done it. Sometimes, she pretended like she was sorry. But not always.”

I gave a sidelong glance at Donut, wondering.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that, Carl,” Donut said. “I don’t have that skill.

If I did, Katia would still be in the party, now wouldn’t she? You stay because I’m adorable, and you love me, and you wouldn’t survive without me. I don’t need some weird skill to make people like me.”

I regarded the frozen form of Sister Ines. She stood, facing away. She still had a few minutes on her debuff. “You’re saying we should kill her?”

He shook his head. “No. No, not at all. Most of the time, she’s not bad.

She’s not evil. But sometimes… You gotta understand. We all came in

together. Some of us thought it was a bad idea, but Elian said we needed everybody we could get. He’s dead now. Anton killed him after, after…” Paz took a deep breath. His health was already half gone again. His hand remained clutched in my own, hard as iron. “Oh god, he’d broken free, hadn’t he? She’d been on medication, and then in the dungeon everyone said nobody needed their pills anymore, so we thought it was okay. But she’s killed so many people.”

“What do you mean?” I asked again. “She doesn’t have the skulls.”

Mongo returned, triumphant. He posted up by my leg, waiting for the next slug to appear.

Paz winced in pain. “Not in the dungeon. Before. She was in prison for killing all the sisters in her convent. Poisoning them all.”

“I told you! I told you!” Donut cried. She hissed. “The dungeon picked the perfect breed for her. A Havana brown. I knew it.”

“Wait,” I said. “She was a fellow prisoner? We always thought she was a worker. You said she was.”

“I never said that. And we weren’t prisoners. We were guards. It was a women’s prison. We were outside, walking them to the med building when it happened. God, we’re the only two left. The sister and I. She’s gonna be the last one. Who would’ve thought? When it happened, the papers called her El Segador de La Habana. The Reaper of Havana.”

“A murderer,” I said, a chill washing over me.

“Mongo,” Donut said matter-of-factly. “Eat the nun.”

Mongo glanced up from the boil on my leg, which was about to pop. He looked at the still-frozen form of Sister Ines and then back to Donut and cocked his head to the side with a look that said, “Really? Can I?”

“Wait,” I said. “Donut, stop.”

Donut made an exasperated sigh. “Not yet, Mongo. But wait for mommy’s sign.”

“She’s insane,” Paz said. “She’s obsessed with the idea of sin. But compared to how she was before? She is so much better. She’s been better for a long time, before even. Since we’ve gotten into the dungeon, she hasn’t done anything bad or evil. She’s fought alongside us. If she didn’t have this thing, I don’t think we’d be any different. But… but you needed to know about it. I’d feel guilty dying knowing I didn’t tell you.” He closed his eyes and started to softly pray.

I grunted with pain as my leg boil popped. The slug this time was

noticeably bigger and had what looked like white and black paint on its face, almost like it was a miniature danger dingo. Mongo snapped it away before it could say anything.

Goddamnit. I needed to get this slug thing taken care of before it got too dangerous. And then figure out this Katia thing. But for right now, this moment, this was our most pressing issue. The nun would wake up in a

minute.

Carl: What should we do?

Donut: WE KILL HER. THAT’S WHAT WE DO. I DON’T WANT TO KILL A PERSON ANY MORE THAN YOU DO, BUT WE’LL NEVER TRUST HER AGAIN, AND SHE’S STUCK IN HERE WITH US. SHE KILLED NUNS, CARL. THAT’S ALMOST AS BAD AS

KILLING KITTENS.

Carl: That’s not who we are, Donut.

Donut: THEN WHY DID YOU ASK?

Deep down, I knew that would be the safest thing. But to kill somebody because they might do something bad? She hadn’t hurt anybody since she got here. I thought of her putting herself between the god and her friends in an ill-fated attempt to save them from Ogun. She’d been willing to die for her party members, and that said more about her than anything that had happened in the before times. She was one of us. The medications had been helping her, and it seemed whatever they’d done was holding now that she was in the dungeon, despite the trauma of everything. I didn’t want to hurt her. I liked her.

We can party with her. It wouldn’t be so bad.

The moment I thought that, a chill washed over me.

Carl: We’ll separate. It’s our only choice. We’ll warn everybody of her past and of that skill that comes with her race. Maybe she can find someone who is immune to the skill to work with her.

Donut: I DON’T KNOW IF NOW IS THE TIME FOR HALF- MEASURES, CARL.

I pulled another health potion, but Paz refused to drink. He only had two or three minutes left.

“Let me go,” he said. “It’s okay. Please, it’s okay. I just asked for forgiveness, and I think it was given. That fake god said I’d be alone, but I won’t be. I know it. My soul is at peace.”

I looked at the potion, and then I nodded. I put it back into my inventory.

Donut: CARL, KATIA SAYS THERE’S ANOTHER GOD COMING, AND SHE’S GOING TO GIVE US A QUEST AND WE HAVE TO DO IT, BUT SHE WON’T SAY WHY OR HOW SHE KNOWS THIS. SHE SAYS YOU’RE NOT ANSWERING HER MESSAGES. SHE SAYS SHE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT THE QUEST

WILL BE. SHE’S BEING VERY MYSTERIOUS.

Chrissakes.

Behind us, the nun became unfrozen, and she crumpled to the ground.

She immediately jumped to her feet.

“Paz!” the cat woman cried, rushing up. She pushed me aside and

grabbed his hand. I let her.

Mongo let out an uncertain growl.

“It’s okay,” Donut said to the dinosaur. “Just stay on slug duty. For now.”

“Paz,” Sister Ines repeated, ignoring us. She wept as she talked. “Come.

Come. We’ll go into the club. We’ll get you cured. Help, Carl. Why aren’t you helping? Why didn’t you get that shrine piece? This is your fault.”

“Don’t blame them,” Paz said. “I’m sorry, Sister. I told them what you are, what you did.”

“Don’t worry about that. Come. Get up. We must hurry.”

“No,” Paz said. His health was almost all gone. “Let me go.”

“You can’t give up,” she said. “It’s a sin to give up.”

The fountain started to bubble furiously.

“It’s not giving up,” Paz said.

“No, no, no. Please. You’re not leaving me. Everyone leaves me.”

“I’m sorry, Sister. Goodbye.”

“No,” Sister Ines shouted, her voice suddenly angry. “No! You’re not

leaving.”

She suddenly had a flag in her hand.

Holy shit, I thought. She’s not going to…

She jabbed it right into Paz’s neck.

The movement was so fast, so sudden it didn’t occur to me to try to stop

her.

Whoom.

Paz turned into a card.

We all just stared at the cat woman, who held onto the green card. Green, which was the color of a common card. Even she appeared stunned that had actually worked. Behind her, the fountain bubbled over. The water spilled

onto the floor.

Yemaya has made an appearance in the realm.

Eileithyia has made an appearance in the realm.