"So… is there an actual plan?"
How long had Rose been pretending to pray before Dezel spoke again? His question might have startled her if his voice hadn't been so low and soft, albeit edged with a growl. At first, Rose only let out a long breath in response. He'd known her basically all her life, right? Why start asking stupid questions like that now?
"Of course not," she told him, and though she intended her words to be flippant, she couldn't hide an undercurrent of worry. Dezel didn't even have to respond for her to realize that she sounded uncharacteristically uncertain; he just looked at her, with his blind eyes, and Rose sighed again.
"Well, sort of," she amended. "I'll tell the priest I hear the voices of the seraphim, and that they're telling me to look for the iris gems." She paused, shaking her head. "They probably won't believe me, and even if they do, they might not know anything—but, as Sorey said, it's worth a shot. We don't have any other leads at the moment, anyway."
"I guess you're right," muttered Dezel, shaking his head. "I don't like this, Rose. The sooner we get this over with, the better." She stared at him, astonished despite herself; when he specifically used her name after she already knew he was talking to her, something was definitely up. She found herself recalling, with a small and reminiscent smile, the amount of effort it had taken for her to get him to call her by anything other than 'you'.
"What?" demanded Dezel, the barest hint of defensiveness in his tone, and crossed his arms over his bare chest as if to shield himself from her eyes. Rose couldn't help but smile faintly as he hugged his arms around himself uncomfortably, his lip tugging slightly up to reveal sharp teeth in the beginnings of a snarl. He had zero reason to be insecure or ashamed about his appearance, and in any case, she hadn't been checking him out anyway.
…Still, it was pretty cute that he thought she was. Given the way she'd been acting towards him lately, she couldn't in all honesty say she was surprised he assumed that to be the case. "Nothing," Rose decided, turning her eyes back to the altar just as one of the doors opened.
She let out a somewhat strangled sigh as a figure emerged; of course it was the pale-haired, dark-eyed priest in charge of the offering bowl. Then again, this could be her chance to explain herself; at the very least, the priest didn't look surprised to see her. Silently, he half-smiled at her and beckoned her to come closer, and—once Dezel had put his hat back on and passed her by, so he wouldn't get left behind—she got to her feet and approached him.
They did not speak until they arrived at the entrance to the labyrinth of color-coded corridors, before the epigraph that Masedra had memorized. How long ago had she stood in almost the same place, examining this monument with Sorey…? Everything seemed so much… simpler back then. Before Forton, before the four trials, before Heldalf and Maotelus. Rose never thought she'd miss those days, but looking back, they'd been pretty easy.
"Kneel before the inscription," commanded the priest, and Rose jolted to action and hastily obeyed. "O holy one, cast thy purifying light upon this corrupt soul," intoned the priest. "Eternal light of sacred powers, ever true and undefiled, grant this wanton sinner before me the majesty of thy judgment. Absolve her of her sins, and grant her safe passage; restrain the wicked, and render demons to ashes. Let the gods give grace."
"Let the gods give grace," breathed Rose reluctantly, unsure whether she was supposed to speak aloud, and perhaps a minute of silence followed her whisper. Surely they weren't actually waiting for the heavens to strike her down? Rose dared to glance at the priest out the corner of her eye, only to find his eyes closed, flickering beneath their lids, as though he stood in solitary meditation.
But even as she watched him, his eyes opened again and focused on her; there was no time for her to act as though she had not been watching him, and she felt the color rise to her cheeks. "I am Father Amethor," explained the priest coolly, his eyes as piercing as ever as he scrutinized her carefully. "What troubles you, my child?"
Rose swallowed. It was surprisingly easy to feign shyness, given the general surreality of the situation. "I—I think I can hear the voices of the seraphim, Father," she mumbled, as timidly as she could. If she wanted to pull this off, she had to step outside herself for a moment and take a leaf out of Alisha's book. Be polite and diffident, she told herself firmly.
Amethor laughed lightly, and Rose sighed; of course he didn't believe her. But her thoughts and body both froze in shock as he spoke: "That is hardly a surprise," he chuckled softly, though there seemed to be something… off about his benevolence. "You wear a pact ring, do you not?"
It took all Rose's strength not to turn her head and stare at him. "O-oh," she stammered, gazing down at the ring on her finger and trying desperately to formulate an appropriate response. "Is that what this is? I… I received it as a gift."
Thankfully, Amethor did not inquire further into the ring's origins, merely nodding once—the motion slow and shallow—in acceptance of her awkward alibi. "What do the seraphim tell you?" he asked her, a strange and half-subtle intensity to his voice.
"Th-they ask me to gather the iris gems," she managed; she couldn't meet his insistent dark eyes. Excellent liar though she may be, she'd never considered herself much of an actress, and it was much more nerve-wracking than she would have anticipated for her to act differently for extended periods of time. (Then again, at least her princess persona allowed for lack of eye contact.) "I don't know why."
"Do they ever reveal their presence, or simply convey divine messages?" asked Amethor gently, urgently, and Rose mulled the question over in her mind, keeping her expression as blank as possible. She couldn't so much as look at Dezel to consult him; how much of her hand she should show was up to her, and her alone.
"Sometimes… I think I see people," managed Rose uncertainly, daring to look up at Amethor's face with affected fear. If she wanted to keep up this ruse, she had to take all the unease he inspired and bring it to the surface in a normal human reaction; somehow, she doubted that many innocent girls shared her personal instinct to slam this priest against the wall and interrogate him till she got answers.
"I too was frightened at first," Amethor reassured her kindly, evidently buying her act (to her secretive satisfaction), "but if you only open your heart, they will show you the way… as they have shown me."
Caught in the middle of an inhalation, Rose almost choked. "C-can you see the seraphim, too?" she spluttered, her eyes widening in genuine shock, and this time she couldn't resist turning her head to stare up at him and search his pointed face. Okay, of all the things she had definitely not been expecting, that was probably the least anticipated of them all.
…Then again, the more she considered his behavior and attitude, the more it made sense; Rose wished she'd kept a closer eye on him during the service to see if he'd seen her interacting with the seraphim.
"Yes, child, I do," responded Amethor quietly, his eyes glittering like obsidian. "In fact, I have reason to believe there is a seraph with you now." And he directed his sharp and solemn gaze directly at Dezel, inclining his head in a gesture of respect: Rose traced his gaze, praying her recognition didn't show on her face, to find that her seraph's jaw had slackened slightly in shock.
She had only a split second before Amethor turned back to her, however, and made a split-second decision. Imitating Alisha had gotten her through most of her confession, but now, it was time to try Lailah's over-the-top improvisation on for size. No matter how terrible an actress Rose was, it had worked on Sergei, right…?
Taking a deep breath, trying to calm her pounding heart, she clasped her hands before her as if in fervent prayer. "If indeed I am graced with the presence of a seraph," she managed, squeezing her eyes shut to avoid having to look at either member of her in all likelihood incredulous audience, "please, if you would deign to speak to my unworthy self…"
She trailed off, unsure where the sentence should go from there. Sure, she'd successfully used the word 'deign' (Alisha would be impressed), but grammatically speaking, she had no idea what could possibly come next. This was unpleasantly reminiscent of Rosh's language tests, back in the day, only she was under a hell of a lot more pressure to perform in the present.
Fortunately, Dezel interrupted her racing thoughts. "I am with you," he replied simply, in his usual stoic fashion, and Rose stifled a sigh of relief that he had come to her rescue. Too late, she realized that she did not jump as if his voice had been unexpected; she stole a sidelong glance at the priest to find that all his focus thankfully rested on Dezel instead.
"If I may ask, what greater purpose have you given this girl?" asked Amethor, his gaze calm and level as he surveyed Dezel carefully. Though he was several inches shorter than the seraph, and a good deal less powerful, his gaze never wavered, and Rose might have been impressed if she hadn't been so nervous.
"She must assemble the Earthen Historia and bring them all to Lohgrin," replied Dezel warily, and Rose winced. How much of the truth should they really tell a man as mysterious and unnerving as this…?
Regardless of Dezel's potential misstep, the show must go on. "I am but one human," protested Rose, her voice acquiring a more dramatic tinge. It was remarkably easy to get carried away, she realized; she'd have to keep that in mind whenever she got annoyed with Lailah's antics from here on out. "How am I to find the iris gems alone?"
Rose didn't dare look at Dezel, but she wished she could see the expression on his face as he replied: "You must give your life to searching," he responded, a faint smile in his voice, "and by the strength of your faith, I know you will succeed."
When did he get so good at sounding godly? It was all Rose could do not to snicker at the shift; if the others were here, he'd never live it down. "O-oh, thank you," she exclaimed instead, filling her voice with as much exaggerated gratitude as was believable.
Amethor smiled thinly, but the gesture did not reach his eyes. "I may be able to help you," he told her. "I myself possess an iris gem, and one of my colleagues has one as well, though the fool regards it as a good-luck charm and took it with it on a research trip to the Lhitwerg Woods. I, however," he continued, "will obey the edict of the seraphim and make a gift of my iris gem to you. I am certain my colleague will understand as well, unless he too is weak-willed."
Rose almost responded with her traditional I owe you one, but remembered her Alisha impression just in time and instead remarked, "I am in your debt. How can I ever repay you?"
Amethor shook his head. "No repayment is necessary, my child," he chuckled. "If you can truly hear the voices of the seraphim, then you are a kindred spirit I have never before found. If you wish," he added, his eyes taking on a manic gleam Rose didn't like at all, "I can demonstrate the lessons they have taught me this evening. You are of course welcome to accompany her, honored seraph," he added, turning to Dezel and bowing humbly.
Rose frowned, taking the opportunity to look Amethor carefully up and down as he finally took his piercing eyes off her. His calm exterior belied a peculiar, restless excitement, betrayed in a trembling of his fingers, a twitch in his shoulder—and Rose gasped as Morgrim's earlier warning drifted back to the forefront of her consciousness.
A hellion, a seraph, or an extraordinarily resonant human… Rose was no detective, but Amethor definitely fit the bill. Dezel, meanwhile, inclined his head: "I will defer to her judgment," he said simply, nodding back towards Rose, and Amethor shifted his gaze back to her inquisitively, awaiting her answer.
…As long as she came prepared to kill, it should be fine. "S-sure," responded Rose, before she remembered abruptly to use more formal language and amended hastily, "That is, I—I would love to learn anything you have to teach me."
"Excellent," responded Amethor, offering her a smile that chilled her to the bone not because it was cold, but because it was genuine. For this to be the first real smile he offered… well, it didn't bode well for whatever he had in store. "I have long awaited the opportunity to share my teachings with those who may believe them. Please, meet me here at midnight," he added. "I'll give you my iris gem then."
Rose nodded, moving to get to her feet and leave—but Amethor pushed her down again by the back of her neck, his fingers like steel, pushing precisely against her pressure points. She gasped, tensing, and Dezel stiffened in her peripheral vision… but, alarmingly, the priest didn't seem to notice anything amiss about his actions.
"You must first be blessed," he chided her, and Rose forced herself to relax. "Primordial illumination, the fount of life for all things, roar forth this once and show us thy strength. Light, shine through and banish the darkness; guide this poor soul so she may rise anew, and grant her thine undefiled purity. Let the gods give grace."
"L-let the gods give grace," muttered Rose, and Amethor finally released her, his touch lingering. As she got to her feet in a hurry, he walked her and Dezel back to the main hall as silently as they had come in, as if leaving all evidence of his potential treachery behind. Dezel placed his hand on her shoulder protectively, and Rose jumped, struggling not to look at him.
As they arrived at the door to the altar area, Amethor's cool gaze seared them both, but Dezel's grip only tightened as he glanced over at him. Rose wished she could see his expression; Amethor's reaction betrayed nothing: "Until midnight, then," he told her, bowing deeply, and Rose glanced back and nodded reluctantly.
Whatever tonight brought her, it was going to be a long night.
True to their word, Sorey and Alisha waited outside—but Rose could tell within a few seconds that something had changed, and it wasn't good.
"All right, what's up?" asked Rose, brushing Dezel's hand off her shoulder reluctantly. Neither Sorey nor Alisha seemed able to meet her eyes; Rose bit her lip, her heart beating faster. Had the Scattered Bones been captured again already…? But Sergei had said…
It was Edna who answered first. "These stupid humans are fighting again," she remarked dispassionately, emerging from Sorey and tapping the point of her parasol against the latest post on the bulletin board across from them; Rose glanced over to find a poster announcing the official reignition of war between Hyland and Rolance.
"Lastonbell is on the verge of falling to Hylander troops," supplied Mikleo solemnly, materializing to lean against the wall. "If they capture the city, they'll probably march on the capital as soon as they can. They think the Shepherd was working with the royal family to kidnap the princess."
Rose's breath caught; no wonder Sorey and Alisha seemed so despondent. They probably thought this was all their fault. Zaveid didn't seem to share the same concerns for their opinions, as he made his appearance and laced his fingers behind his head. "If Hyland attacks Pendrago, the siege alone will probably last months," he remarked. "And that, combined with this weather, will probably be enough to convince everyone that the apocalypse has come."
"That's ridiculous," returned Lailah, trying to scold him, though her voice sounded more desperate than anything else, and she did not show herself as she spoke. "There's no apocalypse; the world's just ending."
There was a brief pause, during which Edna rolled her eyes, and Dezel gave a faint choking noise a little like a laugh; Sorey let out a long sigh, but it was clear he wasn't paying the least bit of attention to Lailah and her paradoxical phrasing. "Please tell me you have good news," he murmured, glancing between Rose and Dezel.
Rose bit her lip. What could she tell him? Her meeting with Amethor may have netted her the promise of one iris gem and a hint to the whereabouts of the other, but… "Yes and no," she decided, crossing her arms. "I know the location of the last two iris gems, and one of them's here in Pendrago, but I have to meet with the murderer at midnight if I want it. His name's Father Amethor, and—"
"You what?" interrupted Zaveid, and Rose would have expected him to stare at her, but instead, his gaze slid over to Dezel, standing partially behind her. "And you're just gonna let her do this?"
"I would have objected if Amethor couldn't see the seraphim," growled Dezel, his frustration clear, and Rose narrowed his eyes as he turned to her. "Leave this one to Sorey and Alisha," he added, and she pursed her lips. "You and I need to get the Scattered Bones out of here before the Platinum Knights get on their scent."
Rose shook her head in exasperation. Of course he had a point, but… "Sorey and Alisha can take care of that," she told him. "Amethor knows what my pact ring does. And besides," she added, before anyone could interrupt, "if Sorey and Alisha go after him, the guy would never be brought to justice. He's asking for death, and I don't think either of them are killers like me."
"Please don't tell me we're splitting up again," muttered Mikleo, glancing sideways at his vessel; Rose followed his gaze to find Sorey looking crestfallen. "I'm not sure how much more of this Sorey can take."
Rose pursed her lips. "Only for a little while," she promised, as reassuringly as she could. "If we agree to start on our way tonight, then you can take my family with you to the outskirts, and Dezel and I can meet you there after the deed is done. Then, we can all travel together until we find somewhere safe to leave the Sparrowfeathers, and continue on our mission."
"But… what if you need backup?" protested Sorey, frowning. For all the concern in his words, it was all too clear that his mind was still on the reignited war; Rose supposed the Shepherd couldn't move on too quickly from a major event like that, especially if he thought it was at least partially his fault.
Dezel only scoffed at him, crossing his arms. "You think I can't even handle a priest?" he asked scornfully. "He may have high resonance, but he's still just a human. The point is," he continued, "I can protect Rose fine on my own. You should be worrying about how you're going to get the Scattered Bones out of town."
Sorey nodded once, shortly. "R-right," he responded reluctantly, and there seemed to be no more to say; Dezel's tone had left no room for argument. No one even seemed to breathe for a moment before Lailah voiced a faint suggestion that they return to the inn, and even then, most of them moved with shuffling steps, weighed down by uncertainty.
Even Rose couldn't help but move more slowly, burdened by doubt. Her job was to take life, and she'd have to make good on that again tonight. But did that really mean anything if she couldn't give that life back to her friends when they needed it most?
Try as she might, Rose couldn't for the life of her sleep. Once the Scattered Bones had been briefed, everyone had elected to spend as much of the day as possible resting in preparation for the journey to come.
But, though Rose tried continuously to close her eyes and drift away, sleep never visited. She couldn't stand insomnia, because it forced her to think; there was little else she could do except to mull over her life choices. Or lack thereof. She must have rethought her entire life at least five times by the time they headed out.
Rose's uniform had never felt so tight before, and her knives in particular felt incredibly heavy as they walked to the shrinechurch—as though they'd somehow absorbed all the blood they'd ever spilled. Rose smiled bitterly as she considered how fitting it was for her to bring them into a church dedicated to a corrupted god, especially if she meant to kill one of his followers.
"You ready?" murmured Dezel, glancing at Rose, and she nodded, somewhat more hesitantly than she would have liked. Her thoughts were with Sorey and Alisha and her family, and it probably showed. Nonetheless, she and Dezel took a breath together and pushed open the double doors. They had a mission to fulfill.
They took a moment to glance around the deserted main hall in search of potential threats, then made their swift and silent way to the back room. If Rose was right and Amethor was the killer, and if he had said he wanted to show her something, she had little doubt that he'd save the dirty work for her, but she couldn't be too careful.
As they neared the door, Dezel beckoned the breeze toward them to gauge the situation, and on it drifted the faint sound of a prayer: "The earth cries out; the din of this modest land hast the power to expel the unclean and cleanse the defiled. O breath of life that dwells in all creatures, come forth; let me free thee from thy torment, and enclose thee in the purity of my light. Foul affliction, life as thy sustenance, begone! Let the gods give grace," he added, finishing his rites just as Rose pushed open the door.
"Ah, it's you," remarked Amethor, glancing up at them from the three figures lying at his feet. Thankfully, his latest victims all seemed to be alive, though from the looks of things, they wouldn't be for much longer. A young teenage boy, a middle-aged woman, and an elderly lady all lay bound and gagged on the ground—the boy struggling, the others deathly still but for the shallow rise and fall of their chests.
Amethor smiled at Rose, and she struggled not to shiver. "Be not alarmed, my child," he told her, spreading his arms in a gesture of welcome, as if initiating her into some twisted religion. "This is the divine decree of the seraphim, and I have made good on my word." He stepped aside, gesturing at an iris gem sitting at the base of the monument. (Good; everything was going according to plan.)
Dezel, however, apparently had a few bigger things on his mind than the Earthen Historia. "How dare you!" he shot back forcefully, sinking fluidly into a combat stance, but Amethor only looked at him in cool bemusement. "Don't put this on us!" Maybe it was because he really had used Rose to kill others before, but there seemed to be a desperate undercurrent in his voice, as if he said it as much to convince himself as Amethor.
This did not escape the priest's notice, and his sickeningly earnest smile widened slightly. "All with malevolence in their hearts must be purified," he explained, as calmly as if reading one of its innumerable passages. "This is not death, good seraph, but salvation."
"You call this salvation?" demanded Dezel, gesturing agitatedly to the three would-be victims; Rose set to work strategizing. As long as Amethor didn't call any reinforcements, she'd be able to slit their bonds, no problem; after that, she had only to kill Amethor, and all may yet be well. "This is massacre!"
Rather than respond to Dezel's accusation, Amethor instead shifted his icy dark gaze onto Rose. "I can see you have come prepared for your task," he told her, looking her methodically up and down. "That's to be expected, given the ring you bear. She brought us together as teacher and pupil, and this shall be your first lesson."
"What the hell are you talking about?" snapped Rose, drawing her knives. "Who brought us together?" It didn't take a genius to figure he was talking about the seraph whose power Rose was borrowing, but she still would have liked to have a name to put to her enemy.
"Harsh words do not become a soul as pure as yours," returned Amethor, narrowing his eyes. "Everything comes at a price, and information is no exception. Plunge your purifying blade deep into each of their chests, and I shall explain." Taking a deep breath, Rose exchanged a guarded glance with Dezel… and approached the boy. Time to get to work.
He squeezed his eyes shut as she knelt next to him, his body stiffening automatically; clearly, he had given up on trying to escape, and instead lay there wishing—as Rose had done so often before—that his situation was a nightmare, and that if he stayed still enough, he could awaken to a better reality.
Smiling sadly down at him, Rose slid her knife under his ropes and sliced outward to free him: his eyes flew open as he felt the tension release, and as his body relaxed again, he almost drove his chest straight into her blade. She pulled it back before he could hurt himself, grinning down at him in sympathetic relief, but Amethor was considerably less pleased.
"What are you doing?" he demanded, striding toward her as she moved swiftly on to the other two: Rose nodded to Dezel, but he had already started flicking out his pendulums to hold him back. As Amethor struggled in vain against the much stronger Dezel's hold, Rose made quick work of the remaining ropes, and all three captives fled without so much as a look back.
"How can this be?" asked Amethor, his voice labored, and Rose and Dezel shared a faint smile as she turned to face them again. (Maybe she wouldn't be so much of a sinner if she didn't enjoy her line of work so much.) "How can you say that this isn't what the seraphim want? It was a seraph who showed me the way in my dreams, time and time again… that the world's salvation is my sworn duty!"
"Then maybe you should take a look at reality instead of dreaming all the time, huh," responded Rose, shifting her grip on her knives.
"Malevolence must be purified," protested Amethor, tugging against Dezel's grip, to no avail; his feet slipping on the stone floor, he sank to his knees, and stared up at Rose as she approached. "Is that not the most ancient of seraphic laws?" His voice had become low and rough like a bestial growl, fierce and almost threatening despite his prostrate position.
"Killing your fellow humans isn't the same as saving them," she returned, searching his gaze. There was no fear in his eyes, only frustration and a profound kind of confusion that ached at her soul. Amethor genuinely thought he was acting for the best; how could he have come to believe that…? "And they're not hellions, anyway. They're no more corrupt than you are."
But Amethor didn't seem to be listening; his eyes fixed themselves on her ring. "How did you come into possession of that ring?" he asked her mildly, examining it carefully. "Such intimacy with our seraphic guide and guardian should have made you our leader, not our enemy."
"What do you know about my ring?" asked Rose, narrowing her eyes.
Of course it would have been too simple for him to answer her; instead, he only smiled. "I'll tell you if you hunt down and sacrifice those lost lambs," responded Amethor, and Rose frowned. He hadn't bargained for his own freedom, as she'd expected; he was certainly a strange one.
"No deal," returned Rose flatly. No matter how crucial information about the ring may be, she certainly wasn't going to kill innocent civilians for it. Dezel shifted behind Amethor, pendulums tightening, and Rose glanced up at him to find him looking down at her with a clear question in his cloudy eyes: do you want me to make him tell us?
Rose shook her head, and Dezel looked away from her. They both knew that the knights would get wind of this before too long; there wasn't enough time for any kind of interrogation. They'd just have to figure it out later, on their own.
"I have nothing further to discuss with a woman who so staunchly refuses enlightenment," concluded Amethor, closing his eyes with an ironic sense of finality, but they opened again as soon as he felt the point of Rose's knife graze his chest: a perplexed frown flitted across his face as he took in the dagger, and she almost laughed. How could he not have foreseen this?
"May these weary bones find peaceful rest," she murmured, and plunged her purifying blade deep into his chest: as she gave her legendary farewell, she felt her ring go cold, as if the illusion masking her appearance had faltered. In the same moment, she thought she saw a hint of recognition amid the confusion in Amethor's dark irises. He opened his mouth as if to say something—but then his eyes closed forever, and he was gone.
*long sigh* Okay, I think we're done with the religious shenanigans for now. Finally…
alhelux: Thank you so much! I personally love world-building, myself, even if it's time-consuming and sometimes delays the actual writing of a chapter. I hope Berseria doesn't come along and overwrite all this, eheheh… *sweat drop*
Linake11: The reason I included that is because he sings at the beginning of each of his YouTube videos "A Tale About Zestiria" and "Void Dark & Dezel: Looking Back". His voice isn't quite Dezel's, since he pitches Dezel's a tone or so lower, but it'll give you the gist of it. Anyway, thank you for all the compliments!
lazycat66: I hope I don't end up killing you if a tiny amount of fluff like this is enough to set your heart aflutter, because once a ship sails, there's no going back!
PhoenixTheCat: Actually, I've never seen/played Kingdom Hearts, unless you count watching my friends play it when I was like, twelve. It's nice that you can see parallels that aren't there, though, because that just makes the story more accessible.
CWolf2: Thank you! I intend to try, at the very least.