Chapter Six: Escape from Vigoor
Rachel and Alma had been working overtime lately.
Rachel descended from the building and brought down her warhammer to strike the head from a fiend. The great dinosaur creature fell headless to the ground. Many others came, however, humanoid monster with spines and long spines for hands.
Rachel parried their strokes before bringing around her axe. She cleaved through two of them with one stroke. More came, but then Alma landed among them, knuckles readied. Before the fiends could move Alma unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks that crushed each one in turn.
Rachel rushed to aid her as more of the creatures appeared in still larger numbers. Despite the trouble, Rachel found herself smiling. She and Alma moved in tandem, almost as one entity, slashing and crushing everything that came.
Until at last a vast bloated mass of tentacles arose before them. It groped for them, but Rachel leaped over its slashes and hacked off one of its huge limbs. Even as she made an opening Alma surged forward and punched it.
Hard.
So hard, in fact, that she broke right through the hide, the flesh beneath, and came out the other side. The beast spewed blood everywhere as it descended. Rachel spun her hammer around, before holstering it. "Well, that takes care of that hunting mission, I'd say."
Alma looked up, covered in slime. Crossing her arms, she closed her eyes. An aura surrounded her, and the slime was burned away. Drawing out a bag, Rachel began to hack the heads off of the field and put them in. Alma did the same to the tentacle she had cut off.
"I don't know why Illustain suggests we hunt these things individually." said Rachel. "Luring them into one place with our auras and slaughtering them as they come works fine." They'd learned to project auras of their blood, attracting lesser fiends.
Alma said nothing.
So they began the process of lugging the proof of their victory back to the bounty office.
"If there is one thing I hate about this job, it's all the bag carrying." said Rachel.
The Bounty Office was located in Han's Bar, which was also a local watering hole. Han himself was a short, black haired man with a long mustache and goatee. He countered out the money he owed them.
"Five, six, seven, eight, and nine hundred." said Han. "Here you ladies go." He finished and offered the money.
Rachel took it and countered it out herself. It checked out. "Thanks, Han."
Han nodded and glanced to where some of the dancers were performing for some businessmen. Americans by their complexion. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what are two sweet things like yourselves doing fighting monsters?"
"I think you know the answer to that, Han." said Rachel.
"Sure, but there are other, safer ways of making a profit." said Han. "I could see you girls becoming major attractions at a place like this. You've got the looks for it."
Rachel leaned forward on the table. "If that's the way you feel about it, feel free to take it up with Doku."
Han flinched. "No, I'd rather stay in his good graces; thank you."
Rachel stood up. "Let's go, Alma."
As they walked back to the Dworku Monastery, Rachel stretched an arm. People were crowding the streets, but they gave Rachel and Alma a wide birth. Everyone knew that were Doku's proteges.
It was actually somewhat annoying. You couldn't talk to people.
"Man, fiend hunting is getting way too easy." said Rachel. "These things drop like flies. At this rate, we'll depopulate every lesser fiend in Vigoor." Alma crossed her arms and frowned at her. "Oh lay off, I'm only joking."
They let themselves into the main gate and found Illustain waiting for them. The old man had his staff in hand, and he eyed them with an unreadable expression. "Another successful hunt, then?"
"You guessed it, Illustain." said Rachel. Nine hundred more dollars to her savings. Soon she'd have enough to strike out on her own.
"I'm pleased to hear it." said Illustain. "Follow me."
He led them into the altar hall. There they halted, and he turned to them. "Rachel, Alma. You two have become great champions for Vigoor. Hundreds of fiends have met their fate at your hands. You've made people throughout the empire much safer."
"All in a days work." said Rachel.
Illustain remained silent for a moment. "On that note, I have excellent news for both of you."
There were two kinds of excellent news with Illustain. News that was excellent for Rachel and Alma. And news that was excellent for the Empire. It had been the latter a lot recently. "What is it?" asked Rachel.
"I've just received a message from Lord Doku himself." said Illustain. "He has succeeded in his mission and is on his way back to Tairon as we speak. In a few days, he'll be here."
"Okay, so what's so important about that?" asked Rachel.
"Well that's just the thing." said Illustain. "He has retrieved the Dark Dragon Blade. Legend says that the Dark Dragon Blade has the power to transform those mortals into fiends. The transformation is that much more powerful when the mortal is strong in the blood of fiends.
"Ordinarily you two might have to spend years working to achieve ascension. But now, with the Dark Dragon Blade, you will be able to ascend as soon as Doku returns.
"The Emperor himself has authorized your ascension."
Their ascension? So quickly? Rachel had been expecting it to take years. "That's great."
"You don't seem happy." noted Illustain.
"I'm really, just uh, let me speak with my sister in private about this." said Rachel.
Rachel led Alma to their room, and they sat down. Rachel quickly made some coffee, and they sipped it. Alma eyed her, waiting expectantly. She knew Rachel had plans for the money.
"Alma I've been thinking." said Rachel, sitting down. "I think we ought to get away for a while."
Alma blinked in surprise. Rachel felt defensive. "Look the Dworku Monastery is nice and all, but I'm sick of all the kowtowing priests. And people we meet on the streets don't dare talk to us."
Alma narrowed her eyes.
"Don't give me that look." said Rachel. "We'll still hunt fiends; I just want to do it without Doku breathing down my neck. Think about it; we could make a whole career out of this: Rachel and Alma, the Twin Fiend Hunters.
"We wouldn't have to worry about Doku or the Emperor. We could be whatever we wanted to be." Alma kept looking at her. "It's not that I'm not grateful to Master Doku. But I want to live my own life. And as long as we're living here, we can't do that. We do whatever they tell us to do, and in return, we get free room and board.
"Look, how about this; We've got Fiend Hunter licenses. Why don't we slip out tonight and set up shop in an apartment in one of the outlying towns? We can do freelance work out there for a living.
"Master Doku already has the Dark Dragon Blade. He can wait a few years before turning us. And we can always go back if we want.
"What do you say?"
Alma shook her head. Rachel almost howled in frustration. "Why are you so dead set on staying in the monastery anyway? Is this about immortality? Come on, Alma. Who wants to live forever anyway? Can't we take a raincheck, at least?
"I'm not in a hurry to become a greater fiend."
Alma shook her head again.
"Well why are you in such a hurry?" snapped Rachel.
Alma finished her coffee and stood up. She motioned, and Rachel followed her through the halls and into the library.
The library of the Dworku Monestary was vast. It had many floors, all connected by staircases. It was a veritable tower of bookcases. Books on all kinds of things were found, and not all of them were available to the public. Some, those labeled heretical, were locked up behind metal grating. Rachel had always wondered about those.
Alma led her near these and then past. They came to a great book and Alma flipped through it. There were pictures of all kinds of powerful fiends in it. Some were dead. Others were alive and breeding.
But at last, Alma came to the one she was looking for. There were two fiends, in fact. Both tall, shapely women. Curvaceous and savagely beautiful. One of them had white skin pulsing with red energy and vicious claws. Her eyes gleamed yellow, and she had two curved horns coming from her head.
The other was taller and had a far more human appearance. It had a blue body, covered in tattoos of flame. Her left hand had many long claws on it. Her right was a long tentacle in the form of a whip. Rachel noticed both of them.
"Ishtaros and Nicchae." said Rachel. "The Twin Deities of Creation and Destruction. I remember the lessons Illustain taught us. The Vigoor Emperor created them first of all creatures. Ishtaros to create the cosmos. And Nicchae to destroy those parts that defied him.
"What about them?"
Alma flipped the page and showed her what lay beyond. Rachel saw what appeared to be a list of marriages. A family tree of sorts. Ishtaros and Nicchae had lain with many mortal men. The children they bore were in turn married into the other sisters family. Rachel had known that the ancient fiends had interbred with mortals. There was hardly a people on earth who didn't have some fiend blood in them.
But she hadn't realized the Ishtaros, and Nicchae's family trees were so mixed. "What's that, a book of bloodlines?" asked Rachel. "Is this it?"
Alma moved through the family tree and at last, came to two familiar names. Rachel read them. Their parents. Naomi and Jacob. Both had a truly vast amount of fiend blood within them. The blood of Nicchae and Ishtaros ran strongly in them. And the notes said that there were other strains of fiends in their blood as well.
In Rachel and Alma's blood.
"Oh." said Rachel. Then she looked up. "So what? Yeah, maybe they are our great, great, great grandmothers on both sides of the family. What does it matter? We've never even met them. And it's not like they left us a phone number when Mom and Dad died.
"Do you want to meet them or something?"
Alma nodded.
"Why?" asked Rachel. "Is our bloodline so important that he have to throw away our entire lives for it? Alma, when was the last time you saw a Greater Fiend having lunch at a restaurant or taking a walk.
"If they were there would be photographs in the papers." She sighed. "I just… I think that we don't know everything there is to know about it. And I don't want to rush into anything. I want to do some things in this life.
"Come on, let's go. Can't we?"
Alma remained silent. She looked down and finally sighed, before nodding. Then a shadow was cast over them. Rachel looked up to see Illustain approaching.
"Illustain," said Rachel, "we were just-"
"I am fully aware." said Illustain. "Lady Rachel, Lady Alma. As a priest of Vigoor, I ought to tell you that defying the will of the Emperor is a terrible mistake. And I should feel obligated to ensure you do not leave this monastery until Lord Doku arrives.
"I should." He shrugged. "But the monastery will still be here. And the Vigoor Emperor has existed since before time began. I doubt there is any harm in a few years of waiting."
Rachel was surprised. "Why are you doing this?"
"Choice is important." said Illustain. "No one can be forced to serve the Vigoor Emperor. I expect it is much the same with becoming a greater fiend.
"The point is, you must become one of the Emperor's greatest servants by choice. The Vigoor Emperor himself preordained it that way when he ordered the universe.
"Doku means well, but he is working contrary to the Emperor's will by attempting to pressure you. You must make the choice for yourselves." He drew out a number of documents. "So I'm going to give you these. They should allow you to go anywhere in the Empire on a sacred pilgrimage. Legally speaking, all record of your passing is to be destroyed.
"We'll be here when you return."
Rachel smiled. "…Thanks, Illustain."
"No trouble at all, dear girl." said Illustain, looking around. "I've lived in these hallowed halls for nearly forty years now. Do you know what I've learned in them?"
"What?" said Rachel.
"Absolutely nothing." said Illustain. "This is a place of teaching for me. Not learning.
"The world isn't in here in the Monastery. It's out there." He pointed out a window. "And you two deserve to see it in something other than life or death missions.
"But you'd best take a different route. Gamov will be watching for you."
"Gamov?" asked Rachel.
"Yes." said Illustain. "Lord Doku assigned Gamov to watch you two. And he'll have people watching the outside of the Monastery at all times. Fortunately, his watch ends at the Monastery gates. And I know a way you'll be able to leave the city without ever going outside it."
Rachel blinked in surprise. That seemed like the kind of thing the secret police would crack down on. "How?"
Illustain smiled. "Beneath this monastery, there lies a system of tunnels that delve far under the earth. They stretch far and wide for miles in every direction.
"Gamov doesn't know about them. Now follow me; I've arranged for supplies to be set by the entrance."
They made their way out of the library and true to Illustain's word there were packs with supplies loaded. Rachel looked through and found the money she'd amassed there. Several thousand dollars, more than enough for her purposes.
Illustain motioned with a hand and found a lever on the altar. Pulling it back, the altar receded, and a staircase was revealed. It was lit by an unearthly light with no apparent source. Illustain motioned for them to follow and they did.
Alma hesitated only a moment at the top, before following.
They soon entered into a series of underground catacombs. Cobwebs were on the walls, and Rachel saw several bats hanging from the ceiling. There were many bodies laid to rest here.
"Why were these built?" asked Rachel.
"For many reasons my dear girl." said Illustain. "One of them was as a means for the high priest to commune directly with the Vigoor Emperor. Some of the passages lead to the palace. Over time we expanded them to contain the dead members of our order.
"Their spirits are transformed into guardians for our monastery." He turned a corner. "Then, of course, there is the Holy Grail."
"The Holy Grail?" asked Rachel. "You mean from that uh… King Arthur Legend?"
"Yes." said Illustain. "You see, there are many different religions in the world. But the Emperor is the ultimate force at the back of them all. One of them was a man in the middle east which the Christian religion centers around. When the Emperor took on the form of a human as part of his own purposes.
"He drank from a cup and that cup took on aspects of his incredible power. That became the thing which the Knights of Camelot all sought. Sir Galahad found it, and from him, it passed through a variety of guardians.
"Eventually it fell into the hands of the Knights Templar. But they became corrupt from their prosperity. So it was that the Vigoor Emperor engineered their downfall. He then dispatched Lord Doku to retrieve the artifact and brought it back here. It was… difficult, to say the least."
"What is it used for?" asked Rachel.
Illustain paused. "You know, I'm not really sure. The Emperor no doubt has some purpose for it. But I'm merely a priest if a high one.
"The point, my dear girl, is that the Emperor really is at the back of every great pursuit in life. Every civilization in history has developed according to his machinations, his plans."
"Then why don't we rule the entire world?" asked Rachel.
"Perhaps we do." admitted Illustain. "But as for why the Emperor has not raised his flag above all the capitals of the world, he may do so eventually. Personally, I suspect that he is waiting for a time when we are ready for him to rule directly over us. When the spirit of humanity is at last in alignment with his true nature.
"No doubt, if he wanted to, he could smash the American military and all others and seize the world by force. But it likely would not serve his purposes as well as allowing us to come to him of our own free will."
"Why are you telling us this?" asked Rachel.
Illustain shrugged. "Well, you two will almost certainly become greater fiends at some point. In which case you'll far and away outrank me. In fact, one could argue you already do.
"Now come, we've got to go through some rather tight spaces to get out."
The tight spaces sometimes required Rachel and Alma to duck low to press on. It got darker and darker as they walked. Several times Rachel's warhammer caught on the wall, and she had to work to free herself.
And then, quite suddenly, then came to a dead end. Illustain pressed a hidden compartment. The wall slid aside, and they walked through. Rachel and Alma emerged into the welcome air of daylight. Looking around, Rachel realized they were in the midsts of the wilderness.
"And here we are." said Illustain. "Head straight forward from this passage. Soon or later you'll run into a town called Vairal, which was once the capital before the days of isolation. You have all your things; do you not?"
"Yes, we do." said Rachel, hefting the pack. "Illustrain, you've been a huge help. I'll never forget you."
"Nor I you." said Illustain. "Though I expect we'll meet again, once or twice, before your ascension. Farewell." Then he ducked back into the tunnel. The door shut.
The world awaited.
Author's Note:
This chapter was surprisingly easy to right. Rachel's backstory is largely left up to the viewer'simagination so I'm using my imagination. Enjoy.