God Rising: The Cult of Ainz
Written by: AtheistBasementDragon
Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots
Chapter 183: New Beginnings
...Nazarick...
Sebas strode through the door with the same calm air he always did, his face a mask of dignified tranquility, he shut the door behind him with the grace of a dancer as his eyes scanned the room. Well-appointed quarters by any standards, if not luxurious, they were still sufficient by the standards of the world to be fit for the Kings of the New World.
However as soon as he entered, he knew all was not as it should be. A small frown formed on his face. Then he heard it, the very faintest of cries, with a small sniffle to end it. 'The dining room...' he thought, and his long powerful legs carried him across the living room and straight into the room where, to his shock, Tuare sat with her face in her hands, propped up on her elbows.
He went immediately to where she was and knelt beside her. He removed a handkerchief with one hand, and reached out to touch her cheek with his free one. "Tuare..." He whispered softly, she looked up.
Her eyes were puffy and red as she turned to look at him, a crooked smile formed on her face that trembled from the sheer effort of making it. She reached out with trembling hands and took the cloth he offered. She then dabbed her eyes and laid it down on the table.
"Tuare?" He asked in a quiet voice as she reached up to where his hand touched her cheek, and there, her hand covered his. Her heart beat a little faster.
"S-Something happened... I... I got hurt." Tuare whispered in a cracked and broken voice.
Sebas didn't say anything, he remained kneeling by her side and let her move at her own pace as little by little she related how Neia had injured her. He kept his face neutral as she spoke, allowing nothing to show until she finished recounting it all, including their encounter in the hall after the ruling was made.
"Tuare..." Sebas whispered again, and slowly enfolded her into his arms as she let herself slip into the comforting embrace of the man she loved. "I'm so proud of you... you're the best of humanity... my creator would be so proud of you, just as I am, to name such a price. How I wish he could see you now. And... believe me, I will have 'words' with Neia over this. She will never lay a hand on you again."
Tuare's eyes widened and her embrace around him tightened, "Husband... no. I truly believe she is sincere, she didn't mean to, it was an accident, with anyone else, it wouldn't... it hurts more 'because' it was me. She confessed after all..."
Sebas placed a hand atop her head and stroked the long strands that ran down her back, steel resolve in his gentle touch, he didn't look down at her as he replied, "No, I helped teach her, I helped train her. She became what she is, in part because I helped her become so. I cannot be satisfied until I have spoken to her myself."
"If that is what it takes to ease your heart, then Sebas... do what you must. But first... first ease the heart of your wife, I want... I want the safety of your touch." Tuare whispered, "The safety of your strength, nothing else but you, 'all' of you will do." She said with the faint rose blush to her cheeks that she still got when she broached the quality of boldness in the desires of her body.
He didn't carry her to bed, he let her slip from his embrace, but the touch of one hand to the other did not fall away, instead she held his own, and walked him out of the room, and in the direction of their bedchamber. He followed, letting her take comfort in her sense of control and confidence from her safety in doing so with him.
The door shut behind them with a gentle 'snick' sound as the door knob turned into place. It had barely done so when she approached him and began to undo each button of his shirt while he stood, statue like, allowing her resolve and confidence to grow with every inch of steel skin exposed, until there lay nothing between their eyes and the bare flesh of their own but a mere bit of empty space. Only then did she take his hand again, and draw him to the bed as she moved backwards, then there lay no space between them at all, and that did not change for several hours time.
...Sorcerer King's Office in Forton...
"Wait... Your Majesty... am I... am I not to stand trial as one of the rulers of the defeated nation? I don't expect that my scant time in support of Raymond will be sufficient to atone for the things my country did." Berenice said with her mouth remaining open after she spoke, unable to think of more to say, or to really accept what she had just heard, it opened and closed in silence several times before she finally allowed it to close and stay that way.
Ainz shook his head, "No, as far as the world knows, you died attempting a coup d'etat against Cardinal Dominic. The only one who knows you live, outside of Nazarick of course, is Queen Zesshi, and she I think, will say nothing. Therefore there is no point in dragging you back 'from the dead' to answer. As it stands, this 'accident' it seems, has given you a chance to start your whole life entirely over again, or nearly so."
Berenice chewed on her tongue as she thought the matter over, she seemed to find the floor very interesting as she considered everything, and then at last she brought her her eyes up to the undead monarch again. "What of Raymond, Sire?" She asked hopefully.
Ainz propped his arms up on the desk and folded his fingers together in front of his jaw. "Raymond, of course, will have to answer for his time as a ruler. He is after all, still very much alive and very much a public figure, a few months of decency don't erase everything before. In all probability, he will be put on trial, and depending on how that goes, he will then be handed over to Queen Zesshi, or perhaps he can be sent to hard labor or a time of imprisonment, the exact end has yet to be determined for him."
"Can I... not offer to take some of his sentence?" She asked hopefully, her eyes fluttering as her mind raced.
"No. No one can pay the price for anyone else, he was head of the Black Scripture for a long time, Zesshi has taken on most of the survivors of that organization to her service, a lifetime of devotion to her will do well enough, but Raymond was a commander, the greater the authority, the greater the accountability for them that wield it. You it seems, had a hand chiefly in civil affairs, and of the records we've... acquired, I don't see the things I expected, so you are, as it is, free to leave." Ainz answered.
Berenice repeated the last part of his sentence again and again as if it were a prayer. She impulsively prostrated herself, lowering her head to the floor, "Your Majesty... I was wrong, we were all wrong, we misjudged you at every step of the way from the first moment to the present, you are truly the wisest and most just king I have ever encountered."
Ainz accepted the praise passively, replying only with, "It is the job of a king, to strive to be that. I will not be a bad king to my children." His voice was that of an absolute monarch declaring the order of the world, and from her prostrate position, Berenice felt her heartbeat faster.
'Am I prostrating myself before a god, after all?' She wondered in awe.
"Majesty... with respect to your choice, I would like to... to travel. I would like to see the Elf Kingdom, I want to see what Queen Zesshi makes out of the place. While I am there... there is something else I want to do, and I pray your indulgence one more time." She said in a deeply honored voice still full of her earlier awe.
His silence granted her permission to continue.
She kept her eyes down in her prostrate position, but she spoke with firmness of voice, a pale imitation of the voice of the absolute monarch, but it was her resolve and she carried it firmly. "I will, when I settle somewhere, write everything down. Everything I can remember of my life in the Slane Theocracy, every sin our nation committed, everything we did, good and bad alike. I will make it so that nobody can ever forget or deny the things that happened, it may take me years, but when I am done, I ask that you release it to the public as the final Journal of Cardinal Berenice, let that be the last time I ever use that name."
"A minor request, I will grant it." He said with a casual wave of his hand, then asked curiously, "What name will you go by thereafter?"
"I lay that choice at your feet." She said humbly. "You have given me my life, it is proper then that you should give me a name to match it."
'Why does this always happen? I always end up with these burdensome choices... can't she at least spare me this much?' He wondered frantically as he scrambled to think of something suitable, and a faint, half remembered conversation sprung to mind.
'He's so wise, he gives such consideration to even trivial things... how could we have ever been so foolish as to curse his existence...?!' Berenice screamed inside her own head, glad that her prostrate posture hid the emotions of shame and reverence that covered her face.
The Sorcerer King took up, 'Wise Undead Pose Number Two' and leaned back while he looked away, as if recalling a distant past, which in a manner of speaking, he considered that he was doing just that as he named her. "In first world, the world I and my friends came from, there were many languages that died out, and one of my dear friends was a lover of those languages, he said they carried worlds within them. I always counted him to be rather wise, and enjoyed listening to him talk. One of the examples he gave, the word 'ber' meant 'to carry' and was attached to many other words. Another 'tra' meant 'between'. Therefore your name hereafter will be 'Bertra' because you have, however unexpectedly, carried yourself between two races and two worlds. Perhaps because you have two lives in two bodies, you may help form a bridge between elves and humans... or perhaps not, I leave that choice to you."
He then reached into his pocket dimension and took out a leather pouch, then dropped a handful of coins into it, and pushed it across her desk. "That should be enough for you to live anywhere, in any kind of way of life you wish. You can buy a very good sized farm in the countryside, or open a shop and buy a small residence in Crescent Lake, or even a small estate somewhere. Go, live your life, and reach out to us when you wish your humanity restored. If we've solved the previous problem, then it will be done, your old body will be yours to reclaim."
Berenice slowly stood, one foot at a time as the coins were slid over the table. She walked over and took the pouch without even looking within. Her eyes widened as she recognized the weight of a substantial amount of gold, easily what he said it was enough to do.
"Your Majesty... I... I do not know what I can say, thank you... for my life, for the name you give to me, it is beautiful beyond words. Thank you for the means to live, and... for the opening of my eyes to all I had been blind to before. If ever I can be of service... my feeble talents are yours to command." The former 'Berenice' replied with shining and grateful eyes.
"I will remember, and hold you to that." He replied nobly, "To whom much is given, much is expected, however you live your life, do not make it a waste of my will. Now, where would you like me to send you?" He asked in a surprisingly amicable voice.
"Would, just outside Crescent Lake... be too much to ask?" Bertra asked hopefully.
"Not at all." He replied patiently, and a moment later behind her, a [Gate] opened.
Bertra bowed deeply, "If I never come to you again, please know that this bow is the most sincere one I have ever given in all my life, and that includes the many times I have bowed before my... former... gods, I guess being an elf now, I can't follow them anymore. They would turn their backs to me as I am, so I will not turn my back on you. When you see Raymond... please pass on to him my gratitude for all that he did. And tell him that, even if I don't see him again, I will never forget him."
Ainz nodded politely as she straightened up, and backed her way into the portal, refusing to show her back to the eternal monarch.
Then his office, and the king himself, and the [Gate] were gone, and she found herself looking out over an enormous and shining blue lake that reflected the light of the moon like a perfect mirror. Little lights danced in the great city on the island, home to tens of thousands of elves, for a long time all the former Cardinal could do was stare in wonderment at the impossible place in which she found herself.
Finally, Bertra took a deep breath, and said joyfully, "This may be the start of the greatest adventure of my life... and I can't wait." A smile formed across her new face, she rubbed her hands together, and she took her first step forward.
...Ruins of Wheaton...
General Musan followed where he was led by the command team while those outside saw to getting his army situated for their short stay in the ruined city, the main building was... bloodstains aside, largely intact.
He stepped over a broken and burned table and chair set that lay strewn about the hall. "Cleanup is slow, eh?" He asked.
Skana nodded, "It is, largely because it doesn't matter, we got the bodies out of here, and out of the rest of the city, but we don't plan on leaving more than a small occupation force behind, there's just not that much left to occupy." She said in a chillingly casual voice, not even breaking her stride as her long steps carried her down the long hall.
"So I see... what happened?" He asked with surprise, "Was resistance that firm?"
"Sort of." She replied, "the fires are definitely almost entirely their work, they erected a defense in depth, destroyed a lot of buildings to create barriers that they then lit on fire, but if you get right down to it, it was the wrath of my wife. She... saw things." Skana shuddered at the memory.
"Things?" General Musan asked dubiously.
"Things." Skana said and closed her mouth so that it was obvious she would provide no more details.
"Yaksun." He suggested in a diplomatic tone of voice.
"Something like that. A breaker school. Where they and overseers learn their... trade, right in the middle of the city, not even on the outskirts, General Baraja... well she lost herself in wrath, it... did things, to the rest of us, or at least some of us, and this is the result. It might have gone this way regardless I suppose, but we'll never know." Skana shrugged.
"After Yaksun, all I can say is... fuck 'em?" General Musan replied bluntly as they came to a door. Though made of a pale white wood, that beautiful artistry was barely visible between numerous bloody stains scattered all over it where a number of people had clearly perished. 'Somebody made an unwilling stand here, guess whoever was inside locked them out, I wonder if the ones inside got to live?' General Musan thought to himself as he eyed the pattern of the stains that reflected panic and desperation.
When the door opened, he knew immediately as he looked around, 'No, no whoever was inside, did not live much longer.' A number of blood stains were scattered about, one that grew outward from under a desk that someone had probably hidden under, several stains on the large table, with deep thin holes where swords had stabbed through bodies and then gone through the wood beneath, and a final thick patch in a corner where a small knot of people had been trapped and annihilated.
All that, he concluded in an instant before his eyes fell to the table where a pale blue skinned woman stood up, though her hair was white and skin blue, he couldn't have mistaken her for any other.
"General Oma!" He said with surprise in his voice.
She gave him an enormous grin, and removed her head from her body.
His jaw dropped.
"I can look surprised too, you know, and I can drop my jaw even farther." She said and dropped her head before catching it near the height of her knees. "Yes, it's me, well... I guess you could say a new and improved me." She said pleasantly.
"I... wow, they didn't... I heard you were restored but..." He looked her up and down as he struggled for words.
"If you're wondering what I am now," she said crisply, "I'm a dullahan, a kind of undead being, a consequence of being restored to life with my body destroyed."
General Musan approached her slowly, as if not really comprehending, his slow, tentative steps eventually brought him within reach of where she stood. "What is it... like?" He asked with wonder.
"If you're wondering if I feel hate for the living..." She began uncomfortably, "no, I don't. Perhaps because I kept my memories, I... guess, but all I want is to serve Her Majesty again, and her lord, the Sorcerer King, who brought me back from death to reap the lives of our common enemies."
"No... not that..." General Musan said as the other commanders came into the room and politely ignored the reunion as they began to take their seats at the table. "I knew the moment you looked at me and made that ridiculous joke about dropping your jaw, that you didn't hate life. Hated good humor... maybe... but life... no." He said with a smirk before his arms went out and he embraced her tightly for a moment.
She grinned, "Glad to see you too, General." She said happily as he stepped back, then she pursed her lips, "Hey... do you mean to say my jokes are bad?"
"Oh yes, that was awful." He smirked at her thin lipped expression, "But that doesn't matter. I was really asking anyway, what it 'felt' like to have a body like this."
"Oh," She dismissed his mockery of her sense of humor 'for the moment', and answered pleasantly, "it feels great, I feel stronger than ever, like I could fight an army and win... and maybe I could. I don't know just how strong this body is yet. Perhaps we'll find out soon enough though." She said enthusiastically. "But save your questions for now, we can talk more about what happened later, instead," she gestured to a seat at the table, "sit, and let's go over the plan to attack Kami Miyako, we've got a lot to do to take the last bastion of opposition, soonest begun, soonest done, as you used to say. So let's get started."
General Musan nodded numbly but with an enormous smile on his face as he sat next to his restored protege, and Skana stood up at the head of the table. "Alright, thank you for joining me everyone, we've got a lot to do and little time to do it, so let's get down to business." She said in a fervent and professional voice.
'Neia... please be alright.' She thought briefly, then shoved the thought down and took the agenda out of a file an attendant placed at her right hand.