Caleb PoV
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….
….
“Uh… hi?”
I was in a white void, deep, shockingly dark, despite white being everywhere there was no light.
Except one… a massive figure, taller than Leshy, as large despite being kneeled down, was contained in chains.
Narinder, the Bishop of Death, sat before me, Aym and Baal watching.
“…
is anyone going to say anything?…
This is a bit awkward.”
They just kept looking… what on earth was going on?
Ceres PoV
I stuck my sword into the rock, why was the rain getting stronger, there would be a flood at this rate.
This was the worst time to try mountain climbing.
Why couldn’t I just get a second convenient stone?!
The wind picked up, I was flailing like a fish, barely holding onto my sword, goodness that is a nice sword.
Keep holding on…
The rock cracked, and I tensed, before it broke off making me free fall into a large tree.
The leaves caught me as I shot through them, before landing on the ground, surprisingly okay…
I stood shakily, my hooves trembling, that would definitely bruise.
I saw a church of Leshy, so I had the Red Crown form into a hood to block my head from easy detection.
It was very useful having a shapeshift crown.
I snuck in and sat in one of the pews, but it was empty except for one person wearing a hooded cloak, but the hood was off.
Green fur covered him, and forehead, skin spheres were on his forehead, with two horns, with moss drifting from them.
“Ceres, I know your scent… so you are the lamb they are after.” Amdusias, the general of indoctrination, stood.
He looked at me, familiarity in his eyes.
A grim exhaustion making his voice drag; “Please don’t tell me you are here to kill me.”
Caleb PoV
“So… just going to give me the silent treatment, I can do that too.”
Initially, I was terrified, but now I was just annoyed.
I was summoned here for whatever reason and the guy who summoned me won’t say a word.
I mean goodness I literally just stopped Gethel from being hurt, talked to Leshy like a salesman, and then…
Am I dead?
“No, little mortal, death has not graced you yet, but it will soon.
My avatar favors you… she is weak like Ratau, but you… you are intriguing”
Ok… now I’m terrified again.
Young Ceres PoV
I was running faster.
I would win this game of tag, because whoever won would get to be Yngya in our next game.
I know my parents say that the game is disrespectful because Yngya died, or something, thousands of years ago, but who cares, she still has disciples.
As I ran I decided to hide, can’t tag you if they can’t find you.
Then I saw a little worm, he was so ugly.
He was green like a bunch of other worms, but he had those weird sores on his head, so pale. Find the original chapter at g.com.
I think one of them had a mouth on it, gross.
“Hey, Worm, you want to be friends?”
He looked at me, and shied away, “My mom said not to talk to strangers.”
“But you’re talking to me.”
He gasped, “You’re right!”
“And that means I’m not a stranger.”
He considered, we both knew that didn’t add up, so we both started laughing hard.
I reached out my hoof, “I’m Ceres”
He reached out a podium, “I’m Amdusias, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Hey, you wanna play with us?
After tag it’s Festival of the Lamb.”
“That sounds cool, what’s it about?” He seemed curious.
I leaned in with a smirk, whispering like a coconspirator, “Oh, it’s actually based on something from before the bishops.”
His eyes widened, “before?!
Like the previous Pantheon, with Homa, Horus… I don’t know his name.”
“Yeah, that one, and wanna know something cool about that pantheon?”
He blinked, curious, but nervous, probably thought he’d be hanged as a heretic for this, he was so funny looking; “Sure.”
“One of the gods was a lamb.”
His mouth dropped, “No way!
There was a lamb god?”
“Yep, and we’re gonna play a game about it!”
He followed me, and I introduced him to my friends, and we played, even the disciple Koka watched us.
Smiling that we made a new friend, she made us pie.
… those days were amazing.
Ceres PoV
But they’re gone now…
Now, there was only pain, and I stood before that funny little worm, one of Leshy’s generals.
“…
I hoped we would never meet again.”
“So you’d never have to face what you did.”
He looked at me, his eyes cold, “So I wouldn’t need to fight you…”
I looked at him, my eyes twitching, holding myself as still as the dead… “I need a commandment shard, you’re one of the worm’s generals.
I assume you have one.
Now, will you give it to me, or will we see if your god will defend you now.”
He looked at me and sighed, “I do have one, but whether I did or not, regretfully I cannot let you leave, but, critically… I no longer need Leshy’s protection, as I have his blessing.”
Amdusias pulled a knife out, and before I could react, stabbed his gut.
My eyes widened, and I took a step forward, but stopped myself… I didn’t care… there was no reason to care… he killed himself, that’s all.
I walked to the chest, then my wool stiffened, and I lunged to the side, as a mass of green furred flesh barely missed me, and then Amdusias roared… he was an ascendant…
I shaped my crown into a sword and charged, and he lunged at me, a garbled roar.
I sliced his stomach, but he spat poison, making me dodge, but it melted part of my fleece.
I stood, and finally I got a clear look.
Amdusias was like a ball, double my height, almost as large as Caleb, jumping around, his eyes were red and bugging out of his head.
His mossy horns were now pure wood, with green flecks.
His actual mouth was marked by various jagged fangs.
This was going to be hard, I leapt forward and sliced, but he responded with a stream of fireballs, each blast carving through the church’s walls and creating a crater outside.
I dodged behind the pews, but his poison melted through them and the ground.
I avoided 10 separate charges.
I dashed back, instincts flaring, as he launched at me, full roar, acid spewing across the room, and when he landed, the ground shook, and the church began to collapse.
He was still clearly low end, likely new to being an ascendant.
As long as I landed one solid hit, I should be able to win… the problem was that he didn’t stop suppressing my approach.
… there was no space to get close, he knew how vulnerable he was.
I leapt up, the ground splitting under me, the force of that landing still spreading, and he took advantage to shoot at a top speed, creating a blast of sound as the wind snapped under his movement, but I was ready.
I slashed, ready to bisect him, but he spewed acid, and I flipped and blocked with my fleece and wool, yelping as my flesh burned, but I slashed, and removed a horn.
My back was burning, and I could feel the acid eating through it, and his poison entering my bloodstream…
I had to finish this fast.
If I kept playing safe, then I would lose, and Caleb would die.
I shot forward, the air pressing against me, but I began to spin, and sliced through the air.
Amdusias launched back and shot both poison and fire at me.
I ignored it, my wool blocking the fire, but the poison melting through, my nose began to smell of burning flesh as I continued my charge.
I would not dodge, I would not waver, that’s what he relied on.
Amdusias’s face, even in primal form, had shifted to terror, blasting repeatedly, burning my flesh and striking me with poison.
Then he bumped into a tree, and broke it down, but that slowed him just enough, I smiled.
One of my eyes was unable to see and was dripping down my face, but I didn’t need that to hit this, my blade went straight through that center ball, and I pulsed my energy into him, causing him to shake before exploding into fur and flesh.
In the center of the muck was the gasping Amdusias, I held my sword to his neck.
“Give me the shard, or I’ll find it off your corpse.”
He smiled, “If I give it to you, I’ll die, and if I don’t, I’ll die.
Not much of a choice, is it?”
“I don’t care what happens to you.”
He laughed, a dark thing, “You really think I believe that, Ceres?” He coughed horribly, “Tell you what, I’ll do a fun thing… How about I join you?”
I shook, “What, so you can tell the Bishops where to find that too?!” I shouted, my voice hoarse, as the poison kept spreading.
“If you don’t we will both die, and I will not tell them…”
“What do you mean?”
“I am a venomous worm, you really think I don’t keep antivenoms on hand?
Also, I have little love for Leshy, I respect what he once was, but he is no longer that.”
“…
… Fine, but if you step an inch out of line, you will die.”
“Perfect, hah… Antivenom is in my top left pocket, your shard is in the bottom right.”
I drop to my knees and take the needle out of his pocket, and inject myself.
Already my veins begin clearing.
“That is really potent…”
“Made it myself, it’s constructed from my own antibodies.”
I blinked… he would oddly enough be a good doctor… I looted the commandment shard, and picked him up, slinging him over my shoulder.
“What, no ‘Oh, Amdusias, you’re so cool!’ really?”
“Another word and I drop you and walk off.”
“Goodness, alright.”
I felt like dropping him off… that was 2 words so it would be fair… but he would definitely die if I did…
Oh, how I hate myself sometimes…
I carried him back to camp, hopefully Caleb would still be holding on when I got back.