AN: OK, here is chapter two. Hope you like it, this is an interesting take on things, we don't know much about Zesshi's personality, she's shown to be especially cruel in Jade Tatsu's master work, "Cardinal of Sin" but that is some license on his part because we're not told just how she views this kind of behavior, which means of course "I" am also taking license with her character...but it seems right to me. What do you think?
Climb slept fitfully, the princess had come to visit him that night, and he was troubled by all that he'd heard. War, the scourge that had already ruined his nation once, and his golden princess was at the center of the storm once again, caught up in the machinations of the undead Sorcerer King that had utterly annihilated his nation's armies at the Katze Plains.
As he dreamed, his mind conjured the image of the undead carrying her away from him just for spite, and it woke him with a start, driving him to shoot straight up from his position on his back, gasping for breath and so drenched in sweat that he felt the need to change the sheets and take another bath, despite the late hour revealed by the pitch blackness he saw through his window.
He stood there pumping water into the tub and thinking over what he'd dreamt, he shook his head as if to shake the thought off like the water he'd cast from his hair after Zesshi had 'run him' into the ground. Strange and unknowable as the undead king seemed to be, pointless malice did not seem to be his way, so he dismissed the dream as just that...a dream, and slipped into the water to cleans the sweat from his flesh.
He looked his body over as he washed himself, he was covered in marks, bruises, scars, the results of the only two things that he had, stubborn training and loyal service, all for the sake of his princess. In a manner of speaking, he was quite proud of himself. He'd become the strongest fighter of the royal guards, save for men like the late Chief Warrior and his companion, Brain Unglaus. Easily Climb ranked as a top level gold adventurer...but then he'd topped off and had gotten nowhere.
He stretched out and thought about his battle with Succulent...not the most powerful of figures, but strong enough to be a member of Six Arms, and yet he'd fallen to Climb with minimal assistance. "I can't grow stronger, but I can grow more experienced." He remembered the advice he'd heard before. The more he knew, the more he could apply and the more options he had. Perhaps there was a hidden meaning there.
He thought about what he'd heard in the stories of Black Justice, their combat style focused on variation of options, a one handed sword method, a bow, and bare handed grips, throws, punches, grabs, in a sense, they made unpredictability and their variable options into a natural ability, each one giving an advantage to the other. Climb briefly imagined gouging at an opponent's eyes, and as they reared back, finishing them with a sword thrust, or running with a bow only to sling it and leap into a brawl...offense...offense...offense.
He splashed himself in the face and thought about it some more, and it stayed on his mind all the way until he went back to bed and drifted off to sleep, untroubled by further nightmares.
What DID trouble him the next day was the sudden dumping of cold water on his face.
"Good morning cherry." Zesshi said with her customarily indifferent but somehow also somewhat mocking expression on her face.
He snapped up flailing around, drawing...however against his will, a smile from her at his expense.
He put his hand over his chest and started breathing hard.
"Was that really necessary?" He asked, looking up and over at her.
She shrugged. "Maybe not, but...I was bored and...well you entertain me...at least a little...some of the time."
He sighed, "I guess I should thank you for allowing me to be useful?" He asked only half sarcastically.
"Yeah, you should be grateful, I mean you're still not worth it for me to mate with," he blushed furiously, "but at least you're more entertaining than dusty old trinkets."
"Plus, I brought you breakfast." She said and stepped aside, "Now aren't I a considerate jailer?" She asked with sweet, sweet sarcasm, dripping from her honeyed tongue.
"Ahhhh...yeah, fair trade." He said.
"First though..." She tossed him his practice sword.
"Chain your attacks." She commanded, and he did, over, under, slash, a firm kick to a place that would hurt men more than women, prompting her to laugh.
"You know I'm a girl, right?!" She laughed at him as she swatted the kick away.
He blushed, and attacked again.
"Good, good, always stay on the offensive, you're to weak to defend, so you have to attack, keep your enemy responding to you, if they're responding to you, they're not attacking your princess, and if you stop attacking, she stops living, go, go until you drop from exhaustion!" She shouted at him.
He continued, trying everything he knew, trying to get close, it was clear and obvious that she was just toying with him, limiting herself only to see what Climb could do, which as it turned out, was not much...but it was more than he had once upon a time. Eventually he tired, he stopped attacking, and then Zesshi attacked, she rushed in, palm to chest, and her foot behind his as she slid beside him, she pushed, he tripped and fell onto his back, and she put the tip of her scythe to his neck.
"Not bad cherry, for a weakling that is, but you are better than the average at least." She said.
"Thanks." He said and started panting and trying to get up.
They did two more sessions like that, and at Climb's request, she taught him a number of useful throws and grips. "You'll never be especially strong, but you can make your enemy's strength into yours." She told him...while bent over and looking him in the face as he lay on his back where she'd thrown him for the seventh time in eight minutes. He was sore, he was bruised, but he smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
"Now get yourself washed up and come and eat, I can't have our prisoner dying on us, and you're so weak its a wonder to me you do not die from falling out of bed." She said in a tone of voice that was only mockingly scathing. He sighed and obeyed, taking a warm bath again and cleaning up the sweat for the second time in a twelve hour period.
After he was bathed and dressed, he came out of the bathroom, then went and made tea, she sat in her usual place as he worked, and waited in silence until he poured a cup for each of them.
When he sat he gave a simple "Thank you." to her.
"You're welcome." She replied.
They ate in silence for a bit, it was a simple meal, biscuits, a bit of butter, a gravy dish, and a few eggs with cheese, but it was good nonetheless.
After awhile he decided to break the silence. "So..." he began a little awkwardly, "would you...maybe tell me a little about yourself?" He asked.
"What do you mean?" She asked. "You mean what do I do for the Slane Theocracy when I'm not guarding weak guard dogs? What do I do for fun...other than read really bad novels with absurd plot twists and bad predictable surprises? Or is it not completely obvious that I'm just a battle maniac wanting to have a baby with someone strong enough to be worth breeding with." She said asked somewhat bluntly.
"Are you maybe flirting with me a little?" She laughed and teased a blush from him, "I know, I know, I'm as beautiful as I am strong, blah blah blah, I've heard all the stupid lines before, and if you try using one of them I'll tear your tongue out and put it with the others." She said as she stirred her tea.
"Ahhh...no, that is definitely not what I was getting at." He said as he struggled to tell whether or not she was kidding. Her face was cryptic, hard to read. "You were...kidding about the tongues...right?" He asked with an uncomfortable amount of uncertainty.
She snickered, "Of course, you think I want to keep a pile of rotted meat somewhere, what am I a demihuman keeping midnight snack's handy? What kind of crazy person would sever a tongue?" She asked with a quizzical look.
Then she added with a smirk, resting her head in her hand as she leaned to one side and stirred some sugar into her tea..."I take something more valuable to men than that."
He looked at her in horror, and then when she began to laugh again, he realized she was joking about that too, and he gave a small laugh of amusement himself.
"No, what I mean is...I was just wondering where you came from, you know, what's your past, your history, I just wanted to know a little about your life?" He said, changing the question in such a way that he hoped any other questionable jokes might be headed off before she could think of them.
She set her biscuit down and folded her hands in front of her and looked at him blankly. "Why?"
"I'm sorry, did I say something I shouldn't have?" He asked, somewhat taken aback by her hollow answer.
She moved her hair aside and revealed the half elven ears. "Do you think anyone living in the Slane Theocracy with these...has a happy story to tell?" She asked.
"Oh...ahh...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...ah...it was stupid of me and I should have known better, please forgive the question and forget I asked." He said, his voice deeply ashamed and clearly sincere as he bowed his head.
She looked at him in silence for a moment, as if weighing what he'd said.
"You mean that, don't you?" She asked with some curiosity.
"Of course I mean that." He said, his head snapping up and looking at her with surprise. "I wouldn't have said it if I hadn't."
"You're not just saying it because you think I'll crush you?" She asked him.
"Oh I don't think you'll crush me, I know you will, regardless of anything else, that is our routine isn't it? I try to fight, you kick me into mush, I get healed, we do it again the next day. You pretend to be entertained by my constant failure, and I constantly try and fail to get stronger." He said simply.
"I know we've done that for a few days now, but I mean, you're not just apologizing because you think I'm going to hurt you for offending me?" She asked. Curiosity tinged her voice.
"Oh. No. I'm apologizing because I asked about something painful and unpleasant, which I should not have asked, you've been as good to me as anyone could ever ask of their...host...under the circumstances, and I said something insensitive...which I obviously should have known was a bad thing to ask in the first place." Climb said, rushing his words out as fast as he could, and bowing his head apologetically.
"Hmmm, I think you're speaking the truth to me." She said.
"Do most people lie to you?" Climb asked.
"Lots of times, and most of which I don't care about, but nobody ever 'really' says they're sorry to me, they do say it, but they say it without meaning it, best case they're just being polite, most of the time they're just saying it because they think they'll get hurt if they don't." She said.
"Does that include the man I met a few days ago, Cardinal Raymond?" Climb asked, "I admit I don't always make the best judge for these things, but he seemed to be very straightforward, and if he really was what he said he was, I find it difficult to imagine he'd lie to you out of some sense of fear of reprisal."
"No, Cardinal Raymond and I go way back, even to before he became a Cardinal, he knows I'm a battle maniac, but he also knows I'm not insane either, nor do I particularly enjoy picking on the weak, I don't see the point, OK so someone is weak, you beat them up...now what? It isn't like its an accomplishment, I mean what is more impressive, the person who kills a wounded squirrel, or the one who brings down a full grown dragon in straight up combat?" She asked.
"The one who took down the dragon obviously." Climb said.
"So why does someone kill the wounded squirrel?" She asked, "If taking down the dragon is the impressive feat?
"Well, either they just enjoy cruelty...or they're to weak to take down the dragon." Climb replied.
"Right, so they feel strong, by reminding themselves that others are weaker, but that is a very relative kind of strength, you're strong relative to a weak guard, but you're weak next to me, its nothing to boast about to target ones that can't fight back, so I'm not going to just pummel some idiot just because they behave like an idiot in some small way. If I pummeled everyone for being stupid, well I'd never stop punching." She sighed, "There are so many idiots in this world."
"Oh, well...I don't really know what to say to that...I mean you're right...but..." He answered uncomfortably before trailing off into silence, and covered that discomfort by pouring tea for them both.
The sound of the tea pouring into the cup was the only sound in the room for several seconds, and when the glass pot clinked back onto the glass plate, Zesshi spoke.
"Fine." She sighed. "
"What?" He asked.
She sighed again...he made her do that a lot. "You wanted to know about my past?" She reminded him.
"Oh, well not if you don't want to say anything." He answered.
"What do you know of the elf king?" She asked.
"He rapes what he wants, and he wants a lot." Climb said distastefully.
"He wanted my mother." Zesshi said bluntly.
"Oh." He replied.
"Now here I am." She said flatly. "Its why my country went to war with him, to avenge her and give me a chance to kill him for what he did." She added.
"Wait...can I ask a stupid question?" He asked.
She looked at him dubiously. "Dumber than the one you already asked me, I've got to be honest with you Climb, I don't know what you could possibly...ever ask, that was worse than what you already did." She said, holding his gaze as she spoke.
"Perhaps I shouldn't ask then...after that gaffe, I don't want to top myself." He said. "Its just that...well maybe I'm wrong, but the implications of what you're saying seem particularly awful. Even for this kind of world."
Zesshi sighed and shook her head. "Alright, out of the most morbid form of curiosity, I'll let you ask this incredibly dumb question you've got burrowing around in your skull and find out what you think is making things so very much worse."
"This isn't easy to get at, its just something I started mulling over, its...going to take a few questions, if you don't mind." He said.
"Go ahead, but I'd better not be bored by it." She said.
"What doesn't bore you?" He asked.
"Not much, so you'd better at least make me laugh." She said with some annoyance.
"OK...so you work for the Slane Theocracy, they're basically your people...right, they raised you, your mother is with them, and so on...right?" He asked the obvious question.
She looked at him like he was an idiot, and did not answer, she only waved her hand for him to continue and get to the bloody damn point already, boredom began to set in.
"Well its just...the Slane Theocracy was at war with the Elf King...right?" He asked.
"Wow, that was a a stupid stupid question, you weren't kidding." She said bluntly and with more annoyance.
He blushed, and she sighed, "OK fine, yes, proceed, what are you getting at?"
"OK so the Slane Theocracy was at war with the Elf King because of what he did to your mother...but he also does this to his own people, right, like...a lot from what I learned while listening to the princess talk about him." Climb said, his voice indicating that he was leading to a point.
"Yes." Zesshi said, her eyes growing narrow with impatience.
"That means he has lots of other children too, doesn't it?" He asked curiously.
"I expect so." She said. "I've heard he's had thousands of them over the centuries."
"OK...and...forgive me for asking, but I've heard that the Slane Theocracy keeps many elf slaves, right, the ones captured in battle? They don't just go free, do they?" He asked.
"No." She said, "From what I understand, the elves they capture are sold into all kinds of work as slaves."
"And he doesn't give a damn about any of his children does he, does he keep them safe in the capitol?" Climb asked.
"No, he sends them out to fight, hoping they'll grow...stronger..." Zesshi said and began to trail off.
"So...doesn't that mean that the Slane Theocracy is having all your big...and little...brothers and sisters, tortured, abused, raped in brothels, mutilated, and sold off like animals...all over the country?" Climb asked. "It just...its hard to imagine that you're OK with this being done to your fammily, just because you and they share a father, how does it do anything to avenge what was done to your mother..." Climb trailed off.
Zesshi was obviously not listening anymore. She had been, as he spoke, reaching for the tea cup, but as he brought his line of inquiry to its conclusion, she froze, she stared straight ahead, her eyes, usually passive, bored, disinterested, or at most...with him at least, mildly amused.
This was new, her eyes,were usually narrow, but now they were wide with horror. She couldn't hear anything, there was a ringing in her ears a thousand times worse than when they'd been clogged by mud, water, or muck, it was loud as a scream an inch away, and every other sound in the world tuned out into nothingness as she realized what Climb had been saying, even before he'd finished speaking, she hadn't heard the last few words or so, she couldn't, because...
For the first time in her life, Zesshi Zetsumi felt sick.
AN: IMPORTANT 'GOD RISING' Announcement
God Rising Chapter 65 is up on the discord...and ALL God Rising chapters for the next few weeks, will ONLY be available on my discord server: /ArqYV5Q
FFN will only be recieving side stories for the time being, as the discord community grows. That is where all the latest news and beta reading is done, and all chapters are released there first. While beta reading does slow the release down somewhat, it has lead to considerable improvements and fixes before release, I wouldn't be NEARLY as happy with Chapter 65, as I am now with the readers giving an advance look. So...if you want the story quick, then that is where you need to be. If you're waiting on the FFN upload, expect to wait awhile.