God Rising: The Cult of Ainz
Written by: AtheistBasementDragon
Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots
Chapter 200: Almost Goodbye
...Ruins of Wenmark...
When Neia was gone, it was like the opening in the ceiling could finally allow light to enter again, the feeling of being shrouded in the cloak of a starless night was gone with her. Such had been the tension that none had realized their breathing rate had changed, until it became normalized and deepened with a collective sucking in of precious air.
Boabdil stood up, casting his chair backwards with a loud clatter. The echo of its fall had not even faded when he went to the floor and pushed his forehead down into the ashes towards where Enri was still seated and trying to process all that had just transpired, her heart pounding in her chest, her body still shaking as it shed the fear that engulfed her with the glare of the monster. She caught his action out of the corner of her eye, and slowly moved away from the table she turned to look down at General Boabdil, "What are you doing...?" She asked, still lost in her own thoughts.
"Thanking you. Your proposal might have just saved mine from near total extinction. Had it come from me, I doubt she would have accepted it, as I am still of the Theocracy." Boabdil said with a voice choked and heavy.
Enri shook her head and held out her hand to help her enemy up, he took it, gratefully and slowly rose to his feet, "No, we all did something there, she I think, deserves more gratitude than I." Enri raised her left hand and gestured to Nua, who sat still and stared at the remnants of the door the Black Paladin had shattered.
"Maybe, but... I have to know... why? Why would you do that for us? Why would you tell her 'no' after everything?" Raymond said with an introspective awe that had never risen in his life.
Nua didn't look over and for some time, did not answer. When she finally spoke, it was in a tiny but steady voice. "Because... Nothing she did would have given me back the baby boy I would have had, nothing she did would get rid of the scars on my back, or rid me of the memories of humiliation and fear. When we first got here, and I listened to her speak, I admit, I was longing for her to do all that. I listed in my head all those I wanted her to come and destroy. That list grew long, very long." She paused her speech for a moment and wiped a sniffle from her nose.
She then continued, "It grew so long that... I felt I was seeing the future, the sight of her laughing maniacally over the ruins of your capital, blood and flame, wailing and the gnashing of teeth... she would do it, I believe she 'could' do it. But as I thought about that, I thought about you... Raymond. You're a good one, you bled for us, abandoned your gods, you killed for us, your friends... they died for us. Aalon spent years building up the embers of resistance, I know that there can be good ones. I don't want to be the one that sentences those to the fire, maybe we can't save them all... but that doesn't mean everybody has to die either. Either of the other ways... that will get me all the revenge I could ever want, so there's no need to kill everyone."
Raymond looked over to where Boabdil was watching and listening. "Do you think there's any chance our nation isn't the villain after that?" Raymond asked as Boabdil looked at the bruise where the heavy collar she'd previously worn, had marked her fair skin and the slender curly haired blonde elf still shook in her seat.
"No... no I do not." General Boabdil replied. "I'll write up the addresses where the Crossroads slaves are held, if it matters, I had sent them with their own provisions, the city should be barely aware of their existence outside of the cardinals themselves, and they shouldn't be starving. I owe a great debt to my enemies, and when this is all over, that debt will be repaid over my remaining lifetime, if I survive all this, that is."
They descended from their elevated position then, their steps echoing in the dead hall of the dead city, and a few moments later a pair of gates opened to take them to their respective positions, and with a few steps, they were gone and left the sun to shine down into the now empty room, where a skull that had skittered away and teetered on the edge, finally fell down the steps, landing alone and facing the broken entrance, where it would stare, as if expecting visitors that would not come and pick it up, for centuries.
...Kami Miyako...Raymond's Home...
Raymond exited the hole in reality to find himself again in his office, with Solution waiting for him, leaning against the wall and looking bored with her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"How'd it go?" She asked indifferently.
"Well, some people will probably live, but it's a tossup on who, so... good, I suppose. Better than I expected." Raymond replied as he went behind his desk. "How are things here?" He asked in turn as Nua and Boabdil stepped through the gate as well.
"You've got a visitor hiding out in the bathhouse, and the coup got going in earnest, went on till this morning, I assume the bald guy hiding in the bathhouse is related to that, he wanted to wait inside, I wouldn't let him, not with all these elves here." Solution said flatly.
"Good thinking, Lady Solution." Raymond remarked smoothly, "Can you ask His Majesty to empty my house, and tell him there is one more set of hidden survivors to be evacuated."
Solution raised an eyebrow curiously as Boabdil strode purposefully over to the desk, snatched up a quill, and scribbled the warehouse numbers down, then slid the paper over to Raymond.
"There, I've kept my promise. Now all we can do is hope that monster keeps hers." Boabdil remarked grimly.
"I always keep my promises." Solution said, affronted.
"The one we just saw, I mean." Boabdil remarked dryly.
"Oh, I think she does, too. What that means for you, I look forward to seeing." She grinned inhumanly, her beautiful smile becoming inhuman before the laughter started.
"All that is well and good but... it's time to get you out of here, Nua. Lady Solution, is it time?" Raymond asked as he handed the paper over to her.
"Out?" Nua asked with surprise etched on her face.
"Yes, out, safe, gone, leave, go somewhere safe so nothing bad can happen to you here. You've done everything you promised and more, I don't want to risk your life during the siege, the monster will be on her way here, when she arrives, no matter what the outcome for the city, it's over for me." Raymond explained calmly.
"Raymond... You can't mean that?" Nua asked softly, taking a step closer to him.
"We've gone over this, I'm a Cardinal, a former Black Scripture. Maybe I'm on the right side now, but I have a lifetime to answer for before the present. If she doesn't kill me outright after His Majesty's protection officially ends, well maybe Solution will make me lunch, but more likely I'll be arrested and sent to prison, after that, well I don't plan on telling any lies. Everything my country did, everything I did for my country, must come to light. I won't deny it, I won't hide it, I'll tell them everything. After that, I'll be lucky if they only hang me instead of giving me to their demons." Raymond reached out and put his hands on Nua's shoulders, her body was shaking visibly and she clutched her hands together at her chest.
"Nua, it's alright, when they come for me, it means you'll finally, after over a hundred and forty years... finally be truly free. Nobody will take you, nobody will hurt you, nobody can ever own you, you or any of your people ever again. What happens to me next... it's just the final act in centuries of wrong. I'm OK with that, let me say goodbye to you before that happens."
She shook her head, "No. You set me free! You're one of the good ones! You gave up everything, your place, your power, your wealth, you're getting nothing?" Her head moved in a constant shake. "You can't even keep your life?" She whispered and reached out to touch his chest with the tips of a few fingers.
Raymond shook his head, "Knowing what I know now... I can think of nothing else that might atone for the past... helping you, your people... I've done my part to make things right, I'll finish up the next few days, I'll try to stop the worst of things and save what I can, and after that... I can't escape what I've done. But it's alright, I promise it is. Whether she kills me, or Dominic does, or Yarvin does, or the Sorcerer King does, whether it's quick or done through time when I sit in a cell until time takes me... I'll know you're out there somewhere, safe, free, along with a whole lot more. And despite everything I'd do differently, I'm glad it got this far. I'd rather my life end where it's going to, than live ten times longer, without having known you."
"Raymond... please. Please don't make me go, let me stay and help, let me make sure you're at least taken into custody alive. Neia knows me, at least by sight, she'll listen to me. If I'm here, she won't simply kill you when Solution's protection ends." Nua's hands cupped his bearded jaw as he looked down.
"Solution, can you take her out of here, please?" Raymond asked with a weak smile.
"So you'll break your promises then?" Nua asked sharply, her tear filled eyes going hard and wide. "You promised I could kill Kasa. Her life is mine. At least give me that much time! One more night here, just one." She urged desperately as Solution took her shoulder in an unbreakable grip and made to pull her out of the room.
"Wait... yes. I did. Fine, tonight, but tomorrow we entreat His Majesty to take you out of here." Raymond said regrettably.
"Please... live." She whispered quietly as Solution's grip relaxed.
Raymond kissed her forehead lightly, "I can't promise anything, but no matter what happens, I got to see you bloom to life, and that is worth dying for. Now why don't you at least go eat something, it's been a long morning, I want to go see this mystery guest in the bath house."
"That's cheating." Nua whispered and wiped her eyes.
"Black Scriptures never cheat, we just change the rules to what lets us win." Raymond said with a tearful wink. "Solution, take care of the rest while I go see our guest, would you?" He asked as he headed for the door, barely noticing that she'd inclined her head in agreement to his request.
...Forton...
Aorli stood on the open field atop a small elevated wooden platform. A half a bowshot away a gate was opening and elves were starting to stream through, as they exited the field and looked around in awe at the spring weather they were experiencing in the localized area, they were pointed by others of their kind toward the platform where Aorli stood waving enthusiastically.
A handful of elven guards were standing around the platform wearing shining ornate armor that marked them as native to the Elf Kingdom, but devoid of helmets so that their elven features were clearly visible. As the work camp elves began to draw closer, awed expressions and joyful ones, and not a few open weeping, occurred on numerous faces. When the trickle finally stopped and the numbers were in the thousands, all standing and lined up in neat order with the assistance of Aorli's staff, she finally began to speak.
"Welcome! I am Aorli, former slave of the Slane Theocracy, and former resident of the Elf Kingdom! Now presently speaker for the city of Forton under the rule of His Majesty the Sorcerer King! But you are welcome to more than here, you are welcome back to your native freedom! A lot has changed that you might not know about!" She called out to them. Standing still, she felt the rush of anxiety about speaking so openly to so many, but drew on her desperate resolve not to disgrace her liberators, not her sister. Not Climb. Not the Sorcerer King. 'I can do this... I practiced...' She thought urgently, grateful for the need to pause as cheers and tight embraces took the spirit of the crowd away from her for a moment.
The guards behind her were about to start pounding the butts of their halberds into the wooden platform to get the crowd's attention, but Aorli raised her hand up beside her head, indicating that they should halt.
She looked over her shoulder with a joyful smile of her own, "They're just happy, let them have that, I can wait a few minutes." Halberd butts gently touched the floor of the platform again, not making a sound.
She waited, and eventually the cheering, loud sobbing of happiness, dancing, and so on, began to fade as they one by one began to realize she wasn't finished.
Over the next hour she told them about the death of the Elf King, the reign of the new Queen Zesshi, the impending destruction of Kami Miyako at the hands of the one that the Theocracy called the Demon of the West, she told them that they were going to be given land according to what was available, and allowed to settle there if they didn't want to return to the elf Kingdom, finally, she ceased to speak and the crowds were silent as they took it all in.
"I and my government will assist in the process of assigning you to quarters temporarily, food will be provided as well as facilities for bathing, and over the coming weeks, you will begin new lives as free elves under the rule of His Majesty, the Sorcerer King." Aorli said enthusiastically, her broad smile lighting up the spring weather that magic had given them.
"Questions?" She asked, and a hand shot up.
"Yes?" She asked patiently.
"Which land is going to be ruled by the voice of god?" The elf asked.
"She is a religious and military leader, as far as I know she will have no other land to rule but her own house." Aorli answered.
Another hand went up. "Where is her house?" The elf asked hopefully.
"She has none. Her home was destroyed and her family killed years ago." Aorli answered grimly. "Her house is the kingdom of our god, so wherever you live within his empire, you are part of her house." Aorli answered with some bit of empathy in her voice.
Silence.
"I realize there are many questions, but assigning you all to where you will be for now, will take time and we need to get underway. Please form a single line and take what is handed to you and head for the gate, on each paper with a letter or number in the top right corner, board the cart that bears that symbol, if you don't see it lined up, it is out, and will return. Please be patient, and you will all rest your heads tonight, in real beds without anyone who wants to kill you, for hundreds of miles. You will be free, and you will be safe." Aorli said, and gestured to a nearby table by which they were to pass, and the line began to form up.
...Kami Miyako...Yvon's Home...
"It's healed, so now wake it up." Yvon said calmly as he looked over the naked, strapped down elven male.
A bucket of ice water was dumped over its face, its eyes shot wide open and it tried and failed to sit up as the chains yanked him back down.
"Where is Dominic?" Yvon asked coldly.
Yarvin looked around, the walls were stone and there was only one way in and one way out and it was clearly not an option for him.
"Who are you, Sir..." He asked deferentially.
"Blutus, hit it." Yvon remarked, and the behemoth approached and swung a club that cracked a rib in Yarvin's left side. He gasped and his eyes opened wide in agony.
"Where is Dominic?" Yvon asked again.
Silence.
"Hit it again." Yvon remarked indifferently.
Yarvin yelled sharply as the club broke another rib on his other side.
Yvon rolled his eyes when the elf didn't talk after that. "Listen carefully, elf. This will hurt until you say the word 'mercy' then it will stop, and I'll heal you, and you will tell me where Dominic went. I won't ask the question again, I'll wait for you to offer the answer. But don't worry, no matter what, I won't let you die, my divine magic will keep you alive as long as it takes." Yvon lightly slapped the chained animal on its cheeks and he went to take a seat.
Yarvin screamed his lungs out until they burst when the torch was brought close and his flesh began to sizzle, but the only words he screamed were, "Kill me! Kill me! Kill me!" And some occasional curses.
When the torch was gone, the lash was applied, and flesh, tattered and torn, fell in chunks to the floor. Still he only screamed, "Kill me!"
Yvon sait and watched as the ants were applied with a thin stick, and the little red things bit into the elf's open wounds, but still the animal did not speak except to beg to die.
Finally the elf passed out from the pain, and went completely limp.
"Clean the thing up, I hate to waste my precious mana on an animal unless it is going to die. Use one of those trash healing potions that takes hours, let it sleep in agony for awhile, its nightmares should torture it some, when it wakes up, we'll do all that again. But we'll start by gelding it next time." Yvon said with disgust.
"Yessir." Blutus said calmly as Yvon walked out of the room.