It felt like some cruel joke that I would find myself in this situation. A second chance at life, and I might end up in jail for murder within the hour. No, stop it Xavier. Calm.
Given where I found myself, there really were only two choices. I try to hide the body, greet the people, and pray to the Gods that they would believe some story about waking up covered in blood (which wasn’t even a lie), or I just run for the hills.
Since I didn’t know even remotely where I was, and I felt like my body had been trampled by a horde of duskhorn, I decided on the latter option. Time to get to work.
I immediately started to pull the body back towards the altar, an act that despite my ragged body, felt distinctly easier than it should have been. Add that to the growing list of things that I needed to reassess with my new nature. I managed to get the old man back behind the altar, spotting the fallen tapestry that was easily large enough to hide the body beneath, not body, the old man. Getting the clergyman under the tapestry was exactly as revolting as expected considering the tapestry was covered in grime and mold from Gods knows how long sitting in this forgotten place.
Time, as it seems, was almost up as the voices grew ever closer. Close enough that I could parse out some of the words being said.
“Mere minutes away from losing your bet, are you sure you don’t want to bail out now?”
“Hell no!”
With nothing I could do to rid the blood covering my body, I raced out of the front of the church, mentally bracing myself and preparing to lie my ass off.
“Help!”
I cried as I crossed the boundary of the church, leaving the stale place for the first time since awakening in this strange place. Right away I noticed that the two individuals were far further than I thought they were based on what I had heard. Was it possible my hearing had improved? Another thing on the list, I mentally noted.
I kept running until I reached the two, falling to my knees partly to play up my desperation and partly due to my exhausted legs. Looking up, I was met with two striking women. The first of which was a tall woman with long blond hair tied up into buns with long locks trailing down from the buns on both sides of her face, paralleled by the two bangs framing her face and blue eyes. She looked fierce and confident, something which practically oozed off of her visage. She wore what looked to be a customized piece of leather armor, looking like some fusion of studded leather with plate mail pieces on her right shoulder and left knee, oddly asymmetrical.
The other woman was shorter, matching my own height closely. She had curly brown hair and an exorbitant amount of freckles covering her face, like someone had flecked them on with a paintbrush. She had striking yellow irises that made me question if she was half-human? Humans were still a majority in Kistram, but there were multitudes of other races that were growing in population ever since it became less of a taboo and more normalized. Half races in particular were growing very quickly as soon as the stigma around many other races collapsed into the common understandings people have.
“Pebblestink!” The shorter girl cried out, backing up a number of steps from me. Not surprising, it was honestly more surprising the other woman held her ground so firmly when a bloodied man came running up to her.
“It’s okay, Phern.” Spoke the taller woman, as she stepped between myself and the smaller girl- Phern, so it seemed. She pulled a small metal circle from her belt and moved it out towards me. In an instant, the circle extended into a blade, ending just before my nose. Cute. She most likely had a lot of practice with such a contraption to know the distance so confidently.
“If you’re trying to set up a robbery please make it quick. I’ve no patience for the pleading victim routine.”
“I-I… what?” To be completely honest, I had not expected such a response, but the idea of bandits using a lure like this did make some semblance of sense. “No, I’m not a bandit, promise!”
“Oh, well if you say so.” The woman lowered her sword and breathed a sigh of relief only to thrust the sword right back towards my nose, glaring right into my eyes with her own deep blue eyes. “Come on, you didn’t think that would sound convincing, did you?
“I-Okay, sure, doesn’t sound great, but I don’t know what else to say!”
“You can start by explaining why you’re covered in blood.”
“Um, I know this doesn’t help my case, but…I don’t remember.”
The shorter woman peeked her head out from behind the taller and squinted at me for a moment before speaking.
“I think he’s telling the truth, Cecelia.”
The tall woman, Cecelia, looked behind towards Phern with a quizzical expression, clearly doubting her judgement, to which Phern simply responded. “Y’know, gut.” Pointing at her stomach with a lopsided smile.
Cecelia took in a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose with her other hand before letting out the breath with exasperated sigh. “Phern, one of these days we will end up dead because of your ‘gut’.” Despite her frustration, Cecelia retracted the blade, placing the circular contraption back onto her belt. “Okay bandit, tell me your sob story, and make it compelling, I love an entertaining lie.” She practically spat out.
I stood cautiously and shakily, my haggard legs threatening to collapse as I did so. “M’not a bandit. I’m Xavier Sylberith, student of Varenthell Academy. I-”
“Ha! Varenthell? You’re gonna be a little late for classes then, bandit.” Cecelia smirked as I furrowed my brow. Seeing my confusion, she hesitantly continued.
“We’re near Multon, you’re faaaaaar too south to go to Varenthell.”
“No I-I… what? Are you serious?” I looked to Phern to see if she gave any indication of the taller woman attempting to lead me on for some pathetic joke. The look of resigned confirmation told me all I needed to know. “But, I was just there. Next thing I knew I woke up in that church covered in blood. I don’t know how I got here.” It wasn’t so much a lie, as it was an absence of truth. I figured not telling them about the twisted ritual I stumbled into in the basement of Varenthell Academy was in everyone’s best interest. The less they knew, the less they would fear me. Not something I’ve ever thought before, but I suspected there would be a lot of ‘first times’ for me in the coming future.
Like my first kill.
No, that wasn’t me, that had to be something else. I don’t even remember it.
“You’re a very fast sleepwalker then!” Chimed Phern, now fully stepping out from behind Cecelia to join in the conversation.
“Right. Well, bandit-”
“Xavier.” I interrupted. I wasn’t even sure why I was correcting her. I had never been fond of the name Xavier, something about it just felt off. Nonetheless, I preferred Xavier to being called bandit.
“-you aren’t giving me a lot to work with here. Soaked in blood, wrapped in… whatever that sad excuse for an abstract mummification is, and across nearly the entire Empire of Kistram feels like three strikes towards being a liar.”
“Cecelia.” Phern once more gestured towards her stomach, causing Cecelia to roll her eyes and continue speaking.
“Despite Phern here being so willing to trust you, I think you ought to give me one good reason to help you, as you so frantically asked.”
I struggled to find some reason for them to hold on to in order to gain their trust. At the very least, I needed to keep them from going into the church, lest I be framed for murder and cannibalism.
“Uhhh… I need help getting to a town?” I smiled, nervously.
“Do I look like a guide? I’m not walking you to the nearest town like some good samaritan aspiring to be captain of the guard one day.” Cecelia crossed her arms across her chest.
“Wouldn’t being a good samaritan be a good thing? I mean it’s in the name…”
“What part of my demeanor says ‘good samaritan’”?
“...the charming smile?” I gave an awkward smile.
“You hear that, Phern? The bandit here says I’ve got a charming smile. I’ll point you in the direction of Multon, but I’m not walking you there. I don’t want to be around when everyone starts freaking out at the blood covered mummy strolling into the city.”
“Do you know any places I can wash, then? Ponds, streams, lakes?”
“Bummer, I left my ponds, streams, and lake book at home today. I almost never leave home without it.” Cecelia deadpanned.
“You joke, but Tholet’s Aquatic Altiloquious Across Kistram is a helpful book for long journeys.” I replied.
“Ew. He wasn’t lying about being a scholar. Just… wander around until you find some water, I’m sure it won’t be hard for such an intelligent reader of Tolet’s Aquatic Asshole Amplifier or whatever.”
I frowned. “It’s Tholet’s Aqu-”
“Yeah I don’t give a shit bandit, I made fun of it on purpose. You ever been bullied before?”
Before I could answer, she continued to speak. “Who am I kidding of course you have.”
“Fine, whatever. I’ll just find it on my own.” I huffed and started to walk past the two women. As soon as I passed the two of them, I heard what sounded like a gasp come from Cecelia. The sharp change in her tone from boisterous to concern made me turn around to check if something had happened. When I whirled back around to face her I was met with a Cecelia very unlike the one I had just spoken to. The confidence was replaced by a pale shock, which immediately faded back to her standard confidence when she noticed how I was staring.
“Well aren’t you something, bandit?” She spoke with an unsettling mirth for someone who just looked like they saw a ghost. I started to go over every possibility in my mind for what she could possibly have just realized about me. Did she recognize me? No, there’s no way, I’ve barely traveled south of the capital in my lifetime.
She cut through my thoughts with a follow-up. “If you make it to Multon alive looking like that, you’ll be cut down a few steps inside. Not that it would matter much.” The last part was whispered, but as if to confirm my suspicions from earlier, I was able to pick up on something that surely would have been inaudible before my rebirth. If you could call it a rebirth. Hearing the end of her words only served to confuse me more. Not that it would matter? She seemed harsh, but would she really just send me to my death?
“We can help with that though, right Phern?” The short girl began to nod vigorously as Cecelia continued to speak. “If you’re willing to travel with us, that is. Seems simple, right?” Phern, who was still nodding her head, was then stopped by Cecelia nudging her with her arm. That girl was strange, to put it lightly.
“A minute ago you wanted nothing to do with me, now you want me to stick with the two of you?” Clearly, something had changed. I was wracking my mind attempting to piece together what could possibly have changed in such a short time to not only shift Cecelia’s demeanor, but also her intentions. It felt like an itch under my skin to not understand the intentions. “Why would I be cut down? I already told you that I’m gonna find a place to wash the blood off before I go into the city.”
Cecelia smirked, an expression which I am already beginning to associate with trouble. “Oh, blood is the least of your worries, dear.”
Dear? What makes her think she can call me dear, and… why did it feel nice?
No, stop. Cecelia obviously spells trouble. I mean, not literally, but you get the point.
“Care to tell me what I should actually be worried about then? Or are we going to keep doing this weird dance where you don’t actually tell me what I want to know?”
“You’ll find out soon.”
“Oh fuck off, I’m sick of you dodging my questions. Give me an answer or I’m gone.”
“You want the answer? Right here? Right now?”
“Yes! That’s all I’ve been asking for!”
Phern glanced from Cecelia, then to me, repeating the same motion as we argued before daring to speak up as she saw Cecelia start to walk towards me. “Cecelia! Come on, you don’t hafta do that.”
“Do what?” I asked, eyes narrowing at the blonde woman who was currently taking steps towards me with such grace that it almost distracted me from the anger clearly radiating in her eyes.
“I’m giving you the answer you’re so desperate for.” Cecelia responded with a clear agitation in her tone. ‘So what’, I thought, I have no patience for the odd game of keep away we’re playing. Clearly she has information that’s important, and yet she won’t just come out and say any of it.
“Good!” I said. Or at least I intended to say that. When I had opened my mouth to speak I could only choke instead. My face twisted into that of confusion as I looked down to see that Cecelia had managed to unsheathe her sword from her contraption and make a clean swipe at me before I could even process what had happened.
Warm, was the first sensation I felt, as I looked down to see a thick stream of blood flooding out of my neck. I struggled to process why Cecelia had just sliced clean through the front of my neck. I couldn’t tell if the lack of blood flow was the culprit behind my slow thinking. The second sensation I felt was cold. My entire body started to grow cold as I choked, making one last look towards a frustrated looking Cecelia and a mildly annoyed Phern. The next thing I knew I had collapsed onto the ground to meet the unsettling embrace of death once more.
Well, shit. For someone who got a second chance at life, I sure fucked it up real quick, didn’t I? I floated in the same uncomfortable void that I had previously found myself in, beginning to think about how I fucked everything up so quickly. Maybe next time I should-
“What?” I spoke softly, surprising even myself with the fact I was able to speak so clearly. The sun beamed directly into my irises as I opened my eyes to see
The Church
I was alive? I moved my arm to check my throat only to find both my arms restrained. I felt a pat on my shoulder as a familiar face moved to stand in front of me. Cecelia smirked in her signature style as I sat tied up to one of the stone pews inside of the church I had just managed to leave.
“WHAT THE FUCK?” There was simply no time for pleasantries with this woman, especially given the fact that she had just cut my throat without so much as a warning.
“Gods you are an interesting specimen, aren’t you? You were really banking on me not knowing how to identify a Deathless, huh?”
“What? What are you talking about? H-How am I alive? What d-di-did you do to me?!”
That did something. Not sure what it was that I said, but something amongst my panicked cries made her suddenly look confused once more.
“You’re questioning how you’re alive? I didn’t think Deathless could get brain damage.” Cecelia seemed genuinely lost for words for a moment. I watched as the gears turned in her head, finally clicking and arriving at some sort of conclusion. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem like she was happy with the result.
“Oh my Gods. You don’t know what you are…” Her voice turned somewhat breathy as she spoke, like she was having trouble understanding what she had already figured out.
“No? Should I?”
Phern made her way down the aisle and stood next to Cecelia, leaning forward to stare at me directly in the eyes before cocking her head to the side. “Yeah, silly! How could you not know that you were born a Deathless? You say you read fancy books but you can’t even know your own nature?” She put a finger on my forehead to emphasize her point. The insult was certainly aggravating, but I had more important things to focus on.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about! I wasn’t born a Deathless! I’ve been a human my entire life!” I pleaded my case as wholeheartedly as I could. In truth, I was terrified, none of this was making sense, I felt myself struggling to hold back tears during my pleas.
Phern immediately drew back, looking up to Cecelia. “My gut. I think it’s telling the truth?”
Cecelia scoffed at Phern, “No, there’s no way. We know it’s a Deathless.”
“I’m not! I swear!”
“Can it, bandit. I just slit your throat and you woke up just fine minutes later, we can see that you’re a Deathless clear as day. It’s starting to piss me off that you’re such a bad liar. Can you just recognize when you’re caught?”
“I’m not lying! I-” As much as I wanted to say I wasn’t a Deathless, the two women had a good point. How was I alive? Was it possible that the ritual…? No.
Right?
“This might seem strange but, what do Deathless usually look like?”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, really? I’m honestly so impressed with your tenacity that I’ll play along. A Deathless, which you are, can look like any regular person. But when they aren’t playing a human look-alike game, their true forms are shadowy monstrosities. Happy? Now please, I need to know how you think this is going to help you.” Cecelia looked extremely unimpressed and yet also… entertained? What a strange woman. I started to wonder if she was more than the human she looked like, she had just a sadistic streak.
Phern added on, “I’m not sure what you’re trying to do with this either, but I appreciate the attempt! I’ve never seen one of your kind try a strategy like this!” She laughed, like she was having a fun time interrogating and terrorizing an innocent, well, somewhat innocent man.
The answer told me what I needed to know, however. Shadowy monstrosity. If that didn’t describe the creature at the ritual, then I didn’t know what did. What did that mean for me, however? Did I become one of these Deathless when I died?
“I know how this is going to sound, but… is it possible someone can become a Deathless?”
“No, next question”
“Seriously! I didn’t want to get into it, but, I got caught up in some sort of ritual with what I think was one of those Deathless. It went wrong, and next thing I knew I woke up here and-” I thought back to the old man. I struggled to sputter out any more words as my mind could only focus on the image of that man. So many organs were missing and-
“Hey, bandit, stop dozing off.”
“Oh, sorry. I died and then when I woke up I think I… I think I did something terrible.”
“Oh! That explains Greg!” Phern piqued up and shuffled over towards the altar, pointing towards where I knew the tapestry lay.
“Greg? Was that the name of the clergyman?” I ask, trying to keep myself from spiraling back down into thinking about the scene I woke to.
“Huh? Oh I don’t know if that’s his name, but that’s what I named the body when we found it!” Phern smiled in a way that was extremely disconcerting considering what we were currently discussing. Does she usually name dead bodies when she finds them? How often did this woman find dead bodies?!
Cecelia, who had been leaning against the altar for some time, finally spoke up. I was already dreading what she would say, especially with how long she had been considering what to say. But when she finally spoke, it was in a softer tone than I expected.
“A ritual, huh?” The blonde woman stood, curling her finger around one of the long strands of hair that trailed from her buns near the back of her head. After a suspiciously long pause as she thought, she moved towards me, drawing her sword once more.
“Oh shit, no please you don’t have to-” It was too late, she had already swiped the blade across me once more. I closed my eyes and waited for wherever I was about to feel blood spraying from. After a few seconds passed, no warmth spread across any part of my body. I opened my eyes to find that the ropes tying me up had been cut loose. “Huh?”
“Let me test something real quick. Try to kill me.”
“Excuse me? I don’t really thi-”
“Come on, give it your all. Claws, magic, the whole shebang.”
I waited for Cecelia or Phern to laugh, tell me it was just some sort of sick joke. Enough time passed to show me that much to my dismay, they were not joking. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I was no warrior, anything but in fact. I was a student, striving to learn all that I can. While I studied magic, I had no real aptitude. What was I supposed to do against, well, her.
“If you don’t want to start, I suppose I can”
With that, Cecelia began to walk towards me. A gut wrenching sight given our last encounter ended before it even began. I began to backtrack through the aisle, pews on either side of me, and dried blood from the previous night beneath my foot. Terrifying as she was, I couldn’t deny there was something almost intoxicating with the way that she stalked towards me, like I was deep in the Rethusal jungle, being hunted by a panthyr. She had such intention and concentrated fury in her eyes that I could scarcely try to abscond from her gaze. The only thing that pulled me away from my trance, and the growing heat on my cheeks was her pace quickening as she closed the distance, readying her blade to strike.
Shit. Without much choice in the matter, I tried to give it my all. Since my rebirth, I noticed my sharper eyesight helped me to track fast movements much better. Had I not been so distracted when Cecelia first slit my throat, I most likely could have seen her unsheathing her sword to strike. It was perhaps the only advantage I thought I had in the current fight, so it was time to put it to good use.
Her first strike was a very simple slash directly down, something which I barely managed to sidestep before swinging a fist towards her jaw. Some part of me was praying to the Gods that natural instinct would kick in and I would form some sort of claws like Cecelia mentioned. I was not so lucky. Or fast, as it seemed. Cecelia simply leaned to the left to dodge the swing, grabbing my fist with her off-hand and twisting it around, forcing me to drop to the ground to avoid her breaking my wrist altogether. Instead of pushing her advantage, however, she simply let go and moved back a few steps.
“Come on. Do something for Gods sake. You can’t really be this pathetic? Even fledgling Deathless can put up more of a fight!”
“Yay!!! Go CiCi!” Phern cheered from on top of the altar down the aisle from where the fight took place, if you could even call it a fight.
The insulting display caused some anger to boil up inside of me. What was she talking about? Pathetic? I was just a student! I got back up and took a deep breath. I seemed to have some additional strength while dragging Greg, if I could land a single punch, I might be able to do some serious damage. Cecelia stepped towards me once more, this time waiting for me to attack first.
I’d oblige, of course. I ran towards the woman, leaning over and hoping I could grab her in some sort of tackle. Without a sword, I might be able to win in a pure strength situation. Yet again, she sidestepped my charge effortlessly, swiping the blade up my chest, and once more down my back as I passed her. I cried out in pain, stopping myself underneath the doorway to the church. I blinked away the stinging pain that coated my chest and my back. I hated the confidence she displayed, like I wasn’t even worth a drop of effort on her part.
My next attack went about as well as expected, with her reading my moves like she was reading a book. More than that, it was like she was writing the very book I was using to fight her. Every attack I attempted resulted in perfect counterplay. Another punch resulted in her slicing my pinky finger off, another swing caused her to bash my ear with her hilt, leaving an overwhelming ringing in my ear as I recklessly swung a foot out to attempt to sweep her legs out from under her. She jumped clean over my swipe, landing with her blade entering my heel. A clean twist and pull of her blade cut my achilles tendon, making me drop to the ground like a rock. I let out another cry of pain as I quivered on the cold stone floor of the church. My body ached, cuts and slices covering my body nearly head to toe. Cecelia pushed me from my stomach onto my back in order to look up at her chilling eyes.
“Nothing. Not a single bit of magic or talent. Were you not healing the wounds before my eyes I would have no idea that you’re a Deathless. Phern? Looks like your gut is right once more. This creature before us is just some unfortunate guy who found himself wrapped up in much more than he thinks.”
It was an odd sensation. I could feel injuries repairing themselves with little delay. Looking down at my chest, I can see what was a large gash stitching itself back together, the muscle and sinews tying themselves up so cleanly and neatly that seconds later you would have no way of knowing it was ever there. Some things took longer than others, it seemed, from what Cecelia said earlier, my neck being slashed open took a few minutes to recover from, the cuts heal up in only seconds. Even my achilles tendon is healing after just a few minutes. I truly wasn’t human, not anymore. I looked up at Cecelia and Phern, who had finally closed the distance once the duel had ended, my eyes told them all they needed to know. Sad, desperate, and red sclera from the tears that had begun to irritate my eyes.
It almost looked like something changed in Cecelia after our prolonged eye contact. Her expression softened, like she was seeing right through me, seeing me for what I was. A pathetic man, cursed to become a monster, with no easy way out.
“In all my time of hunting you creatures, I’ve never seen something like you. I-” Cecelia cut herself off mid-sentence, thinking of something better to say before continuing. “For what it’s worth. I’m sorry. You’ve become something terrible.”
For the first time since I met Cecelia, I felt like she was being fully genuine.