God Rising
Chapter 119
Written by: AtheistBasementDragon
Edited by: The Usual Gang Of Drunken Perverted Idiots
AN: Another double release day, day four as promised. :) I have to work again tomorrow unexpectedly, but I'll get as much done as possible, in the meantime, enjoy, blah blah blah, leave reviews and tell me what you liked and didn't like, and of course, join my discord (Invite code in the author description)
...Prart, the Crypt...
Neia and Momon were silent for most of the walk until they began to descend the stairs, finally Momon chose to break the ice. "The Sorcerer King did not mention you being... this quiet." He spoke up casually. "To the contrary, he praised your public speaking." He added.
Neia's face took on a wan smile that he could not see from behind her. "I killed a very close friend, not even a handful of hours ago, I'm going down here to see his body. When I had lost myself in my anger, when... that event... happened after his death, none of my friends could move, even my wife couldn't move. If I hadn't been able to shift the direction, I could have killed both Lakyus and my wife and myself and hundreds of my soldiers and broken the entire southern wall, leading to the complete collapse of the city and the death of everybody who was counting on me. What can I say after that?" She asked, feeling the guilt over the implication.
"That you did what you had to do, and that you didn't kill any of your friends, or your wife, or your soldiers on the wall." Momon replied, "There are a lot of 'could haves' in the world, but they don't matter, only what 'actually happens' matters. You can't feel guilty of things you didn't do." He advised sagely.
She smiled, "You remind me of him." She voiced gently.
"Who?" He asked, slightly tilting his head.
"The one I... well I called him my father when I thought I was going to die, guess I should be a little embarrassed about it now, thankfully he didn't mind... the Sorcerer King, I mean." She said weakly, anxiously as their footsteps echoed on the stone steps that twisted down into the ground below.
"Oh. How so?" Momon asked.
"You didn't have to try to make me feel better, but you did anyway and you gave me some good advice, I'm not that great at taking good advice but... I know it when I hear it." She let out a grave chuckle and trailed off for a moment, then she continued, "You also 'feel' like he does, like you share the same noble spirit, it feels like I am talking to him, so... please forgive me if I'm too forward or familiar with my words."
"It's alright." He said, nodding slightly, "But why did you call him father? Are you truly related in some way?" He cocked his head curiously as he spoke.
She shook her head, "Not in the traditional sense, no. But... he did give me life, and I found a new purpose in service to him. I haven't had a father in a long time, and even when I did have one, well I guess he wasn't bad, but he bore greater love for my mother than for me. So I was never very close to him, even though I have some things in common, my eyes, my skill with a bow, my ability as a scout. My mother was a skilled paladin, but she'd get lost in our own house if nobody pointed her to the exit." She smirked a little at the memory.
"So, it's just, the Sorcerer King... Ainz... it felt right to call him 'father' when I thought I was going to be torn apart, so he'd know how I felt, even if he only heard it second-hand at the end." She laughed a little awkwardly, "I hope the other guardians don't mind much."
They came to the bottom and approached a heavy wooden door that was obviously several centuries old and rarely used, with a thick layer of dust being one of the telltale signs. Neia turned the handle, opened it, then stepped into a room lit with a handful of stones that were enchanted with continual light magic. There were a number of slots carved into the walls along the length of the room but only four stones, clearly it was intended that the stones be moved around according to need. The room was long and had several tables set to waist height, each one roughly broad enough to hold a body over seven feet tall.
There were pillars every ten feet or so, carved from one solid piece of rock and polished smooth, Neia didn't recognize any of the designs on it, but they spoke of great antiquity. None of it bore any resemblance to the architecture or designs above ground. "Wow. The manor must have been built on top of this place." She muttered, impressed in spite of herself.
However she felt about the room was now quickly forgotten as she had a task in mind. A quarter way down the room she saw a body on one of the stone slab tables, there was only one body it could have been. She approached and stood at the right hand. She enfolded it in hers and looked him over. He was very pale, the blood had already pooled in his back, and part of his body had been covered to give him some semblance of dignity in death, she looked at his face, his eyes were open and white as ice. She looked down at him in melancholy.
"I'm sorry I killed you." She choked out. "If I'd let you stay in the city, you might have been fine, you almost certainly would have been. Or if I'd sent guards with you whether you wanted them or not, maybe they'd have kept you safe. We had a great run, you and I. Accomplished a lot, the truth is, you saved more lives than I did, and I learned a lot from you. You were like an uncle to me after awhile, not just another mission. I hope you can rest easy, wherever you are, as soon as I'm able, I'll go visit your wife and beg her forgiveness for letting you come to this end." Neia said in a small, almost little girl-like voice.
Momon stood quietly beside her as she spoke. When she stopped, Momon asked, "Was this man an asset to the Sorcerer King?"
Neia looked over at him, "He would have been, had he lived, he was very impressed with the justice of my god and he put considerable wealth behind seeing it through, many of the elves that swelled His Majesty's ranks, came to them because Tinamoc put his own money towards buying them and risked his own life hiding them away. He's a merchant, most of those tend not to count anything but coins, or understand the world in any way but in terms of profit and loss. But Tinamoc was different. He treated life as if it had worth independent of coin, and with the influence he had, well he'd have been able to kick off the trade in this entire country, and perhaps more, if the corruption had been purged." Neia said with a note of pride in her voice for her deceased companion.
Momon was quiet. "Can he not be resurrected?" He asked.
Neia sighed somberly and shook her head, "I don't think so, I asked about that once, if a person isn't strong enough, their bodies will be reduced to ashes, and he's been desecrated enough." She said, dejectedly.
"I see." Momon said, "But there was no magic or anything used on him that would prevent him from returning or that would have changed him to something else if he were strong enough otherwise?" He asked.
"No, nothing. I killed him with the bow that father... I mean Ainz... loaned me." Neia said, her voice rife with uncertainty at these questions.
"The Sorcerer King treasures your service." Momon assured, matter-of-factly.
Neia nodded numbly, "Thank you." She replied, still looking down at the body.
"Enough that he instructed me to do whatever it took to ensure your life was not snuffed out." Momon continued.
"I will thank him later, when I give him the head of that bitch this evening." She said in a still, small voice. "But why do you say this to me now?" She asked.
"Because he gave me something to make sure that you survived, even if you died at another wall." He answered.
He then reached into a pouch and slowly drew out a wand, he then placed it on the table, next to Tinamoc's body, in front of where she stood.
"What is this?" Neia asked, picking it up curiously as she gently set Tinamoc's ice-cold hand back on the table.
"A single use item, the same one he used on you when you died on the wall the first time, when you were just a squire, well, not 'the' same item, but the same type. They're single-use tools that vanish after being applied. This will restore Tinamoc to the world of the living, even if he would be ordinarily too weak to survive resurrection." Momon explained.
Neia gingerly clutched the wand to her as one would a newborn. "But..." Her eyes went wide, "...wouldn't using it be like stealing from him? He didn't authorize me to do this after all." She clearly wanted to do it.
Momon shook his head. "What kind of father would he be, if he were upset by something alleviating his daughter's suffering? Moreover, this man is an asset, so there is a 'royal' reason to do this as well. You can use this without guilt, I guarantee it. I swear it on my name that this is his will." Momon stated with certainty.
She looked at him uncertainly, she desperately wanted to believe him.
"I have all necessary discretion in these matters, you may trust in me, Neia Baraja." Momon said, and touched her shoulder and gave it a gentle, reassuring squeeze.
'He's so much like...' Her thought trailed off as the conclusion was reached.
"I believe you." She said with a conviction in her voice, "Tell me how this works, please."
A minute or two later, there was a sudden intake of breath from the body on the table and the white eyes of the dead were again full of life.
His head turned left and right in alarm. "Neia, why are you crying, why am I laying on a table, where is that..." The questions poured out of him as fast as his dry lips could move, his voice raspy as he struggled to use his vocal chords properly. "By god, I feel like I've been dead for a month." He said with a groan.
Momon chuckled as Neia hugged Tinamoc, "Only a few hours, not so long as a month. What do you remember?" Momon asked casually.
Tinamoc tried to move his arms to return the embrace, but they barely swayed. "Ah, I was tied to a stake, I remember looking up at Neia for some reason, the bow..." He trailed off, Neia leaned back, breaking the embrace and resting her hand gently on his chest.
"I killed you." Neia confessed. "You're my friend, but I put an arrow in your heart and ended your life." Tears ran down her cheeks like rivers, "I didn't want to do that, if I could have done anything else..."
Tinamoc didn't look at her. "I see... I honestly don't know how I feel about that if you want the truth."
"Remedios was torturing you in front of me, she kept stabbing, and stabbing, she was starting to do that to you, the things she... the things she did to me before we left Hoburns. I have no right to beg your forgiveness, not for letting you get captured, not for letting you get hurt, and definitely not for taking your life. If there were a way..." Neia's sentence died, but though he didn't look at her directly, he could see the haunted expression on her face when Neia said, 'the things she did to me' and he began to understand.
"I suppose I should be grateful that I am alive." Tinamoc said practically, "So thank you for that I think, even if I do feel mostly dead still." He tried to force his lips to turn up in a smile, but it came out looking rather sickly.
"How long before I can move again?" He asked, "This table is... very cold. It was probably much more comfortable for me a few minutes ago." He winked to show he was joking, and Neia choked out a laugh when she saw the twinkle in his eye.
"Hours probably before you can move around, weeks or months before you've truly regained any degree of strength." Momon said casually.
"So what else happened after I took my dirt nap?" Tinamoc asked with a degree of joviality in his voice, "I assume we won."
"We did, not without heavy cost, of the hundred elites with me, twenty five died in the battle and will have to be sent to Nazarick for resurrection and retraining to restore their strength, we don't have an exact count, but around one in every four of the soldiers who fought today, died from our side, however early estimates suggest that roughly seven out of every ten or better of the other side is lying dead outside the walls." She reported, forcing herself back into the role of the professional soldier.
"I see." He said thoughtfully, "I have no head for soldiering, but ahhh... the woman who had me, she's dead, right?" He inquired hopefully.
"I have her head in a bag sitting next to my feet." Neia responded happily, pointing her finger down her side, "I'm giving it to the Sorcerer King after this." She explained.
"Good." He snorted, "But since we're confessing things and apologizing, I owe you one." He said solemnly, then turned his eyes toward Momon. "I'm sorry to ask this of you, my good man, but... could I please have a minute alone with the Pope?"
Momon nodded, "Of course." He replied, he gave a small bow of his head and retreated from the room.
When the door shut, Tinamoc looked over at her. "I betrayed you." He opened up in a whisper.
"What do you mean?" Neia asked in shock and disbelief, her eyes went wide in stark contrast to the threatening narrow glare she typically wore.
"First, you should know what happened. I wouldn't have been caught, except I rendered your salute without thinking as I rode, and Astraka saw it, so that mistake was mine, not yours. Second, he had me... questioned. I held out as long as I could, and well, it wasn't that long." He explained, if he had been sitting up, he'd have hung his head in shame.
"I did my best, but he broke me, I gave him my name, and that was all he needed, I didn't know he was giving me to Remedios, but it wouldn't have mattered. Once she got me, well, I gave up everything I knew, which wasn't much, but it was enough. Enough for her to understand that I wasn't just some expendable client, that we were friends, and she was able to use that to hurt you. I ended up telling them everything about you, right down to your favorite thing to drink first thing in the morning. Tinamoc took a breath, savoring his ability to do so, but also regretting the words he had to form with it, "I'm sorry... I was weak, and I died guilty of the gravest of sins. Weakness."
Neia was quiet for awhile and then she laid her hand over his heart. "Tinamoc, look at me." She said tenderly.
He managed that much at least.
"If everybody were strong all the time, we wouldn't know what weakness was in the first place, you're a 'merchant' strong in mind, you're not a warrior, you're not trained to withstand torture, but you dealt with people who knew exactly how to use torture for their personal gain. It would have been a miracle for you to hold out in those conditions." She gave him a tender smile, "The one who was really guilty, is the one who hurt you beyond your ability to bear it. If you feel you need my forgiveness, you have it." She said happily as she reached up to wipe her nose and eyes clean... and smearing her face with blood as she did so.
"Maybe so, but I accepted your ways as my ways, and my betrayal, however unwilling, was not less of a betrayal, if I had held out, how different would things have been?" He asked rhetorically.
"Maybe a lot, maybe a little, but you're alive, we won, Remedios is very, very dead, and that means things have worked out, if not perfectly." Neia replied thoughtfully.
"True enough, though I must still find some way to atone for my wagging tongue.." He said, "However, in the meantime, one thing still bothers me." He added in a troubled voice.
"What would that be?" Neia asked with concern in her voice.
"I told you before. That this table is really... really uncomfortable and I can't seem to move off of it, could you maybe see your way to sending someone to me with some clothes and ask that they help me get to a bed and some food, I haven't been eating well lately and I'm both tired and half-dead on top of that." He said, winking again. Neia half-cried, half-laughed.
"I'll send someone down immediately, just... don't you go anywhere." She winked at him and he rolled his eyes.
"You're bad at jokes." He claimed, only half-teasing.
"Long as I'm good with my bow, I can live with that." She acknowledged that with a happy shrug, and walked out the door to meet with Momon.
After briefly conversing with him on their way back up the stairs to explain the nature of his sudden desire for privacy. "I see, well he's not a warrior, his body is quite soft, it isn't any wonder he broke." Momon affirmed casually.
"That is more or less what I said." Neia replied, "But he still feels very guilty about it, and he is nonetheless braver than one would expect, he could have ignored everything I wanted to do during our journey, he could have fired me, he could have reported me to the crown or sided with city authorities in Wenmark and I couldn't have done a damn thing about it, instead?" Neia's body visibly relaxed and she gave a tranquil smile to the hero beside her.
"Instead he chose to help even though it put him at risk, sometimes the brave are not especially strong, and you know, maybe that makes their bravery that much more impressive."
"How do you mean?" Momon inquired curiously as they came to the top of the stairs and started to walk back down the long hallway again.
"If I know I'm invincible, it isn't brave of me to go into battle because I can't be hurt. But if I know that I will bleed to death from even a small injury, how much braver do I need to be than the invincible person to do the exact same feat?" She asked rhetorically.
"A reasonable point." Momon agreed. "Now the battle is over though, and I need to go back. No doubt that Nabe is wondering what is taking me so long."
"I see, well thank you again Lord Momon, you are a credit to the Sorcerous Kingdom, I hope to see you again soon under more peaceful conditions." Neia said and rendered a professional salute.
Momon returned it brusquely, "I'll let His Majesty know to expect you... after you've cleaned up, I believe he probably hasn't forgotten the time you rushed over in your night clothes and reminded you that unless it is urgent, you always have time to change."
Neia blushed in surprise, "He uh... told you about that, did he?"
Momon nodded hastily, "Yes, with ah, much laughter."
"Yes, well then, I'll do that then, thank you again, Lord Momon." Neia voiced amicably, her hand waving goodbye as she went to get the attention of a servant before rushing off to clean herself up. He was gone before she made it halfway to the servant.
...Nazarick...
Two hours later, Neia was kneeling before the throne of the Sorcerer King with her gaze downcast as the guardians looked on.
Lady Albedo and Lord Demiurge flanked him on the left and right hands as Neia recited the events of the battle, omitting the personal details, unaware that most of them had been casually watching the struggle unfold at one point or another when possible.
When she was finally wrapping up, she reached into the bag in front of her left foot, grabbed the brown hair of the former head of the paladin order, and held it aloft. "As promised to you, my lord of lords, my king of kings, my only god, I present the head of Remedios Custodio, who learned painfully before death, that she could not bar your will."
Her evangelist voice carried every inch of meaning and intent with it as it struck the ears of those present, her loyalty was already beyond question, perhaps the only pure human adult for whom that was true, even those known to be loyal otherwise, did not hold the same status as one who promoted their lord as the god they knew him to be. So the power of her voice only enhanced existing perception, something Demiurge took great interest in as he watched her with great curiosity.
Albedo was smiling, something Neia rarely saw the succubus do, it was quite radiant, and it was only her absolute devotion to her god that gave her the power to keep her eyes on him alone.
"Demiurge, accept the head from Pope Neia. I believe you had a use for it, yes?" Ainz ordered.
"I do, thank you, my Lord." The archdevil acknowledged with a bow, and descended the steps. He took the head gingerly and returned it to the sack, then reclaimed his place at the side of the Sorcerer King with the sack held in hand.
"As for you, Neia Baraja, you have won a great victory. How can I reward you?" He inquired in a noble voice.
Neia was about to speak, but Ainz interjected first with his raised skeletal hand, "And do not say that serving me is reward enough."
She closed her mouth as she thought it over for a few moments. Finally, she revealed her request, "My Lord you have given me so much already that I am at something of a loss. There is one thing though, it might be nice. My wife and I are, well... you were at the wedding, we have not truly had time to ourselves, and there will be several days before my army is able to pursue survivors and invade the south, what with the wounded and all, may I ask for a weekend together here in Nazarick for us?"
Ainz sighed, "I suppose I should be glad you even ask for a little thing." He chuckled a little, "Very well, tend to your business tomorrow and then appoint someone you trust who can administer affairs in the city and for the army, then spend two days here, having full access to all of Nazarick's pleasures in our best guest room for that time." He waved his hand before him, encompassing the grand throne room. "My servants will grant your every request, I will appoint a servant to tend to you when you arrive."
"Thank you very much, my Lord." Neia expressed with so much gratitude in her voice.
"Now I have business to attend to. Neia, you may take a meal here or return immediately, I'll be in my office, but I do not wish to be disturbed unless necessary." Ainz announced, standing up from his highly decorated seat, and a moment later he teleported away.
Neia did not rise until the guardians moved, and when she did, Demiurge approached her. "You have a great deal of work ahead of you. However before you go back, know that I will be seeking your 'assistance' with an experiment soon, to understand the nature of your ability, how it is harnessed, begun, terminated, and so on."
"Of course, Lord Demiurge, barring the will of my Lord, I am always at your disposal in the advancement of his interests." She said respectfully.
"Very good then, I look forward to it. Are you going to have dinner here, or back in Prart?" He asked.
"I will return to my wife. I'm sure she's eager for my company." She answered cordially.
"Very well," he said, and a moment later a gate was opened for her, "I will see you again very soon then." He gave a polite smile when she bowed to him, and then she stepped through the gate and was gone. Demiurge's tail lashed with satisfied anticipation as Albedo descended from her position.
He looked over to the overseer. "You were unusually quiet there." He commented. "No sign of your usual contempt for humans in general, no taking her aside and telling her not to forget her place. Should I be concerned for the future of my experimental subject?" He asked with an almost mocking hint at genuine concern in his voice.
Albedo's hands were folded primly and properly in front of her and she gave Demiurge a smile that was very, very sweet. "Did you not see? She called him 'father' when she was about to die."
"What of it?" Demiurge asked dismissively, "We've already seen that she's very devoted to him. Would anyone else have almost lost their sanity because they failed to commit suicide on command?"
Albedo gave a gentle shake of her head, "Have I gained one up on the archdevil, the master of conspiracy?"
He gazed at her through crystal eyes and held his silence.
"We have discussed the fate of Princess Renner, did we not?" Albedo prompted.
"Yes..." Demiurge said thoughtfully. "Wait, you don't think our Lord means...?"
"I do." She answered, "Even for all our abilities, the best of our maids could not clean every manor, the wisest of us cannot administer every kingdom, you yourself have acknowledged the utility and the ability of that girl he created, you even called her revenge against Astraka 'inspired'. Also, there is the boy 'Goan' as further evidence, and that of the human maid, 'Tuare'. Our master's limitless mind has foreseen..." Albedo let her verbalization of thoughts trail off as she saw Demiurge's expression change.
"I see, but... this is so far in advance... wait you don't think this was the point of all his ventures out into the wider world on his own, do you? Could he have been 'talent scouting' all this time, to find jewels of all kinds so that as we hand the world to him..." Demiurge too, trailed off and he lowered his head.
"How could I not have seen it, I was so narrow minded, it's such an obviously masterful plan. I'm truly grateful to you Albedo, you are well placed as the Overseer of the Guardians." Demiurge said with ample praise in his voice.
"I only just realized it when she was kneeling before our Lord, she had a child's affection in her eyes, and our Lord did not deny what were nearly her final words. He even personally went out and saved her, as if to confirm it." Albedo's voice was filled with almost rabid enthusiasm, but her head too was bowed with shame. "If only we could more fully anticipate his plans, I fear he will one day despair of our ineptitude and abandon us as the others did."
Demiurge could not stop his body from shaking at the very suggestion. "No, please don't even suggest it!" He hissed with a chilled horror in his tone.
"I don't like thinking it, let alone saying it, but it haunts my nightmares still." Albedo said in a small voice. "We must make sure our efforts are redoubled, I won't intervene before our Lord when you experiment with Neia Baraja, but you must make absolutely sure nothing happens that might harm her. If he does intend her elevation, we cannot ruin his plan. We both know you could not bear the shame of it."
Demiurge nodded very slowly, with a grave expression on his face. "I will ensure my... assistant, is aware of that instruction. Our Lord made her a demoness of retribution and punishment, if she sees what guilt Neia harbors, she might overreach in her attempt to learn more."
"I'm still not clear on that concept." Albedo said with a frown, her finger laid against her jaw in thought.
Demiurge shook his head, "It's strange to me as well. I was thinking I would devise a series of experiments using various criminals, but until recently she was very busy utterly ruining one of our Lord's enemies. I should have been annoyed, but the truth is, I really enjoyed watching it all."
"I see." Albedo answered, "I've been far too busy to inquire further, but the last time I spoke with her it seemed like she had extensive plans for him. Why don't we have a drink and you can tell me just what was so interesting."
"It would be my pleasure. I have time right now, shall we go?" Demiurge responded happily.
"Please, after you." Albedo replied with the sort of warm smile that was reserved only for close comrades, and then they walked out of the room together.