Chapter 7 - Hope for the Unseen
Veil watched as the tiger Unseen quickly approached her, keeping a close eye on the ball and chain created by his power. Once he got within a few yards of her, he abruptly stopped and loosed the weapon, aiming for her head.
Veil was quick to react, sending a few of her plasma balls to intercept the attack while dodging to the right. As the effects of their powers collided with each other, the Unseen gaped as he saw his weapon get melted straight through.
"Shit!"
He glared at Veil briefly, then turned his attention to the other Unseen.
"Dom, Asma, with me! Arc! Take the others and get out of here!"
Two of the Unseen, a goat man and a spider woman, nodded and started running to join the fight. The roadrunner boy Veil noticed earlier, evidently named Arc, now had a shimmering silver halo over his head and nodded to the tiger man before speaking up.
"Ah, right! Everyone, hold on to me, we're getting out of here!"
Arc stretched his arms out, and the remaining six Unseen took hold of them. With a flash of his halo, the group seemed to disappear. As Veil looked on in shock, she heard the faint sound of wind blowing where the group of Unseen used to be.
As the scene was unfolding, Chanda had paused her sermon. The moment Arc's halo flashed, she started speaking quickly and unintelligibly, and her own halo started to glow brighter as she did. The flames surrounding the arena walls grew more intense as Chanda continued to speak, and they soon spread to block the pit's exits.
The group of Unseen reappeared moments later in front of the exit they had been brought in from. All of them were gasping for breath, and Arc looked particularly drained, with his halo fading as he panted.
"Are you so eager to leave without giving the truth of Serapis a chance?" Chanda's voice echoed from the flames. "Using the Goddess's blessings against Her faithful will only end poorly for you. But if you submit to Her grace now-"
The tiger Unseen turned and glared at Chanda. "Can't you get it through your head!? We're not interested! Just let them leave before we-"
The flames burned even brighter, silencing him. "I will not abandon any of you, Unseen. Your souls as they are are forfeit to destruction, and as a Hand of House Ardeo, I refuse to let that happen to any under my care!"
"Hmph, then maybe I should stop fucking around with this slave, and cut off the Hand that's holding us instead!"
The tiger Unseen started running toward Chanda. As he did, his halo flashed, and his destroyed ball and chain disappeared. A moment later, it reappeared completely undamaged, and he began to swing it over his head.
Veil gasped and started running toward Chanda as well, her power already providing her with more plasma balls as she ran. At the same time, the other two Unseen that the tiger man called started approaching her to block her path.
With a quick movement, Veil ducked out of the way of the spider woman's multiple reaching arms and sent a few plasma balls to prevent the goat man from getting closer. She briefly winced as one of the balls grazed his arm and he stifled a cry of pain.
When the tiger man had gotten close enough, he flung his weapon at Chanda. At the same time, Veil sent a volley of plasma balls to block the attack.
The clash started and ended in an instant. Chanda, who had ducked and flinched as the Unseen's attack started heading her way, opened her eyes to see his weapon had once again been destroyed by Veil's intervention.
"Don't you dare try to hurt her! She's just trying to help you!" Veil cried, glaring at the tiger man. "Miss Chanda, focus on the sermon! I'll keep him busy!"
Chanda nodded. "Thank you, Veil. Now, as I was saying, the Goddess has a place for each of us in Her Divine Plan…"
As Chanda's sermon continued around them, the tiger Unseen focused his attention on Veil as he recreated his weapon once more. In the moment that followed, Dom and Asma regrouped with him, and they all started rushing at Veil. As they did, she created a huge supply of plasma balls to ward off her multiple attackers.
"Why the hell are you helping these slavers anyway?" the tiger man said, flinging the ball and chain at her, "You should be on our side! No one should have to be a slave! Don't you want to be free!?"
"Freedom without Serapis," Veil replied as she dodged the weapon and held plasma balls between herself and the other two Unseen, "I can't even imagine living like that! You really think it's better to live without the comfort of the Goddess watching over you?"
"Comfort? What comfort?" The spider woman asked, dodging past Veil's shield of plasma balls on her right to grapple her, "Some distant goddess demanding our worship, an oppressive caste system stamping out our hope, how could we be comfortable with any of it?"
Veil moved quickly to the left to avoid the female Unseen's grasp, narrowly avoiding a punch from the goat man by creating more plasma balls to get between the two of them.
"Not to mention guys get screwed harder by your religion too," he said as he stopped and backed away from Veil's searing defense. "Me and Evan here, and all the rest of the guys, we'd end up being even worse off just because we were born 'wrong!'"
As she continued to dodge attacks, Veil put some distance and plasma balls between herself and the trio of Unseen. With Chanda's words of hope echoing in the background, she could only stare as they apparently fell on deaf ears.
"That's really what you all think? You, you don't think Serapis could love you if you converted…? You're really sure that death is better than worship?"
Evan let out a grunt. "I'll be damned, that's the first logical thing any of you Serapeans have said since you dragged us here!"
"I…" Veil sighed. After a brief glance up at Chanda, she created even more plasma balls with her power. "I guess you're right about that… The being damned part, I mean… I'm sorry, I didn't want it to have to come to this…"
With a flash of her halo, the plasma balls instantly started rushing towards the trio. The three Unseen gasped and split up as Veil's projectiles started pursuing them. Evan started swinging his ball and chain wildly, recreating it over and over as it collided with a constant stream of plasma balls. Over time, his halo started dulling and he grew more winded with each flash of it.
The other two Unseen weren't nearly as fortunate. Without any blessings from Serapis, Dom and Asma had no choice but to run in panic as Veil used her blessing to attack them. The crowd whooped and cheered as they ran, and Veil's heart sank with each passing second.
In time, one of Veil's plasma balls made contact with the spider woman's back, and she fell to the sand, too exhausted to even let out a scream of pain.
"Asma!" The goat man cried out, before befalling the same fate as her.
"Shit, Dom, Asma!" Evan shouted with what little energy he had left. With his attention turned to his fallen comrades, he barely had the chance to react as another of Veil's plasma balls struck him in the chest and made him collapse to the ground as well.
"Evan! No!"
Veil turned her head as another voice called out. Behind her, the rest of the Unseen were watching on in horror, and one of them once again stood out to her. Arc was standing in the middle of the group, wavering with his gaze fixed on the only other powered Unseen in the arena.
"U-uurgh…"
Evan let out a groan, and Arc let out a sigh of relief. Veil stood motionless, with the remaining plasma balls hovering over the three Unseen she had taken down.
"T-they're all still alive," she said, giving Arc a glance as tears started to form in her eyes. "I didn't want this… I didn't want to have to kill anyone today! But if none of you are willing to listen…"
Veil's halo flashed, and the group of plasma balls hovering over Evan started to descend. She closed her eyes as she started using her power to take another life.
I know they're just Unseen, but…
I'm sorry, Miss Chanda… I… I failed you…
"Wait! Stop! I'll convert!"
The scream caused Veil to pause. Though Chanda's flames continued to burn, they were no longer carrying her voice. Even the noise from the crowd had been reduced to mutters and whispers in response.
Slowly, Veil opened her eyes. A quick glance toward Evan revealed he was still alive, staring out as her plasma balls floated mere inches away from his face.
"A-Arc… D-don't let her-"
"Evan, come on! Dying like this isn't worth it! You dying like this isn't worth it! I… I've been listening to Chanda's sermon, and if she's telling the truth, we might actually be better off worshiping Serapis!"
Arc looked over at Veil, who returned his look with a stare.
"Giving up freedom and being a slave… I can't imagine it'll be a great life. But it's still living, and there's hope in that! Slave girl, um, Veil? You've been trying to get promoted, right?"
"Um, y-yeah. It's not easy, but I've been trying to become a Servant…"
"See? There's some hope there! We might not have to give up on freedom if even she's been reaching for something better than being a slave!"
Evan gave Arc a long stare. After a long while, he finally spoke up.
"Arc… you sure about this? Didn't you leave Anduruna to-"
"I left," Arc said, shaking his head, "so that we could stick together. Can't really do that if we're dead, can we?"
"I… I guess you're right… about a lot of things, really. This whole Divatollo thing might not be so bad if we give it a chance. Probably beats dying, at least… Dom, Asma, how about you? Feeling up for it?"
Dom looked up at the plasma balls still hovering over him. "I… Fuck it, might as well. Can't really be that much worse than Anduruna, right?"
"If there really is a way up from being a slave," Asma said, "maybe it won't be as bad as we thought. Gonna have to get used to all that mandatory praying though…"
Veil looked at the three Unseen and let out a sigh of relief. With a smile, she canceled out her power, and the plasma balls hovering over them disappeared.
"Oh, thank Serapis," she said, lowering her frills.
Arc turned to face the remaining group of Unseen, who had been speaking among themselves the whole time. "So, how about it? None of us really want to die over this, right?"
A few vague murmurs among the group put a smile on Arc's face.
"Everyone seems to agree!" He shouted, looking up at Chanda.
Chanda looked down and smiled. "So it seems. Serapis has truly smiled on all of you on this day!" She looked around at the crowd. "Sisters and brothers, children under Serapis one and all! Today, ten new children have agreed to come into the loving embrace of the All-Mother! No longer shall they languish as Unseen, but rather they shall begin their journey toward purification as slaves! Let us all rejoice for them!"
The crowd started out quiet save for a few scant cheers. In time, though, the cheering picked up and started dominating the air in the arena. Among the cheers, Veil could hear her own name being called out among a good portion of the arena goers, and she smiled.
I can't believe it… We… We really did it! Thanks to that Unseen, Arc, they all agreed to convert!
Moving up from Unseen to slave though… I wonder what that's going to mean for them…
—
Once the arena match had properly concluded, Chanda thanked Veil and Mistress Adelin for their help. As a show of good faith between Houses Ardeo and Tenebri, she also offered to provide them with a few of the new slaves from the match, as well as a number of provisions for their temple to Serapis as a personal gift.
When everything had been settled on, Arc, having been the first one to agree to convert, was brought back to the Tenebri estate. The fighters among the new slaves, Evan, Dom, and Asma, were promised to be brought along with the temple provisions some time later, after their wounds had been treated.
Moments after returning to the estate, Mistress Adelin sent an order for the House's tattoo artist to prepare for a new slave to be tattooed. Once the preparations were confirmed to have begun, Veil soon enough found herself in a small room with the Mistress and Arc.
"D-do I really have to get a tattoo though?" The former Unseen asked. "I, I'm not that great with needles…"
"We've all had to do it at least once in our lives," Mistress Adelin replied. "If it makes you feel any better, the fact that you're now a slave of House Tenebri means you only have to get one."
"And following the House's tradition, you can cover your left hand with your prayer talisman!" Veil said, smiling and holding hers up to show Arc. "So a symbol of your devotion to Serapis can always be close to you!"
"Ah, r-right. That. I've gotta be honest, Veil, it's still gonna take some getting-"
"Okay, I've got everything ready, Mistress!"
The tattoo artist, an older looking mouse woman of the Walker caste, peeked in through the doorway. As she made her way in, Arc paled as he saw the crude metal needles she carried.
"Spir- I mean S-Serapis… Y-you're gonna tattoo me with those?"
"Calm down, boy. I've been doing tattoos for House Tenebri pretty much my whole life. From this slave girl here up to the Mistress herself, all my work has come out clean and clear! I assure you, you're in good hands!"
Arc started looking around and breathing heavily. The tattoo artist just sighed.
"It's going to be one of those days, then. Mistress Adelin, if I could ask you and your slave to hold the boy down while I work…?"
"Of course. Tenebri Veil, if you would take Slave Arc's hand and hold it out, I will be able to handle the rest."
Veil nodded. "Of course, Mistress."
The Mistress nodded back and activated her power. Before Arc had a chance to react, the two of them grabbed him: Veil held his taloned hand out as the tattoo artist prepared her equipment, and Mistress Adelin held him in place with shadow claws reaching out from all over the room. Before the tattooing could begin, Arc gave Veil one last pleading look.
"Sorry, Arc, but this is part of being a Serapean. I promise I'll make it up to you when it's over."
Veil held on to Arc's hand, and winced as she saw the first needle being stuck into it. The wince became a full cringe as she heard Arc scream. With a shake of her head, Mistress Adelin reached out with another shadow claw to hold his beak closed, and the tattoo artist worked for several hours applying the sigil of House Tenebri to the back of Arc's hand.
—
The sigil of House Tenebri started with an oval with a diamond in the negative space in its center. Surrounding it was an elongated crescent over the top of the oval, and two triangles that were the same size and level as the diamond flanking the sides of the crescent on the outside.
If there was some deeper meaning to the symbol, it had long since been lost to history. But even though its meaning eluded her, Veil recalled each detail of her House's sigil vividly. The past few hours had been filled with those very details being marked on Arc's right hand with exquisite care after all, just as they had been on hers some eighteen years ago.
Now that the afternoon passed into the evening and that harrowing experience was behind them, the two slaves walked through the estate. They did so partly because Mistress Adelin commanded Veil to get Arc acquainted with his new home, and partly due to Veil's promise to make the tattooing up to him.
"I still can't believe you really made me do that…" Arc grumbled. "I've always hated needles… I swear, the whole time I was tempted to just use my power to get out of there!"
"Look, I said I'm sorry, okay? It's just something you have to do when you pledge your life to Serapis! And at least the Mistress was right and you only had to get one!"
"Yeah, I guess… Ugh, this thing still itches though…"
His right hand was bandaged, with a fresh slave tattoo in black ink settling beneath the cloth that had been wrapped around it. He rubbed at the cloth with his left hand, which now had a simple clay prayer talisman wrapped around it.
"Hey, don't mess with it so much! You don't want the artist to have to do it again, do you?"
"I… Urgh, no thank you! Once was more than enough! I swear to… I guess to Serapis now, if I end up being a slave for the rest of my life, it'll be worth it to never get another tattoo again!"
Veil looked down at her own slave tattoo. "I… I really am sorry, you know. I guess it's a lot different if you get it before you can remember. But let's stop talking about tattoos for a bit. I've still got to show you around!"
"Ah, right. It'd probably be good to figure out where everything is, after all. If I'm going to be working and living here from now on…"
"It's a great place to live, actually! I think you'll really start liking it once you spend a few days here!"
Giving him a smile, Veil took Arc by his left hand and started leading him around the estate. With stars in her eyes, she showed him everything that she could think of that made her home special. As they passed by each building and shrine to Serapis on the premises, she saw Arc's mood lifting, though he still seemed to be a little down.
"Hey, Arc?" Veil asked as the two of them stood in front of a small shrine nestled in between buildings, "I just realized I've been dragging you all over the estate, but is there something you would like to see?"
"Well, I," Arc started, then gave Veil a stare. "Wait, you actually care what I want to see?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I care?"
"I was just an Unseen this morning, and I'm a guy besides that… Given everything I heard back in House Ardeo, shouldn't that mean that I'm worth less than dirt to you?"
"What? No, I mean we're both slaves now so… And besides that, you were the one who convinced the other Unseen to convert! That's worth some respect at least!"
"I really think that was more because of Chanda's preaching. And you also had our only fighters pretty much beat the moment you got serious. But me? I'm barely worth respecting. If I had the chance, I would've just run. It's all my power's good for, and it's all I've ever been good for…"
Arc sat down at the base of the shrine and looked up at Veil.
"And getting everyone to convert? It was better than dying, so in a way, I ran from that too."
"Arc… I think what you did was pretty brave actually. Back in the arena, you saved peoples' lives, you know? People whose lives I would've ended up taking because I couldn't get them to listen to me."
"I, that was all just-"
Before Arc could say another word, Veil grabbed his left hand again.
"And besides that, Serapis also blessed you with a power! Sure, the Precepts say She doesn't care about Unseen, but I think maybe She saw something in you."
"Veil… You really think so? To be honest, I'm not so sure about that. I mean, my power awakened years before I even came to Serapeum!"
Veil paused. "Well, um, maybe She had plans for you that were more important than where and how you were born! But maybe we should stop talking about that. For now, I want to know what you want to see."
"I, well, I guess I'd like to see what you have to read around here…"
Veil blinked. "Wait, you can read?"
"Uh, yeah. Pretty much everyone in Anduruna learns how to read early on in life. You can't?"
"I can't, not at all… But I know someone who can, and she's got plenty of scrolls for you to read too! Just follow me!"
Veil grabbed Arc's hand and helped him to his feet. Together, the two of them made their way to their next destination. Some energetic chatter filled the air between them as they walked, sending any questions about Arc's power and Serapis's plans to the back of their minds.
—
As the evening slowly turned to night, Veil and Arc arrived at Nuha's hut. Following a hug shared between the two girls, the group started talking about Arc's situation. Naturally, his desire to read left Nuha with even more questions.
"Wait, you only just became a slave today, but you can read?"
"Uh, yeah, and if you're somehow wondering about it, I can write too. I'm from Anduruna, remember? Is this gonna be something I have to explain to everyone?"
Veil stared at Arc. "You can also… Serapis, Andurunan education sounds amazing!"
"I mean, it was mostly just a lot of boring drills pounded into our heads. The Social Learning Centers back there really aren't that special."
"Maybe not in Anduruna," Nuha said, "But we don't have anything like that here. Slaves like Veil aren't allowed to know how to read, and Servants like me aren't allowed to know how to write."
"Really? Pretty much everyone in Anduruna learns to do both of those things as a kid!"
"No wonder there are whole Houses devoted to Reaping then… Slaves that can read and write would end up being a lot more valuable to whatever House they end up serving in!"
Arc looked down. "Yeah… you know, we've just been talking about me being able to read and write, and I haven't even had a chance to do any of that yet."
"Oh! Let me get you a scroll, then! I've got one that I've been dying to know about!"
Veil walked over to a shelf and pulled a scroll out. Returning to the group, she unfurled the scroll and settled it on the ground between them. A quick use of her power created a small plasma ball to serve as a light, and she sat down and pointed at the words in the scroll.
"Master Sef always handles the martial arts parts of my training, so Nuha hasn't ever looked at this scroll with me. It's supposed to say things about Tai-sa-tib, but I've never really had a chance to know what it says. Could you read it for me?"
Arc gave the scroll a look. For a moment, his brow furrowed. "This is… well, it's a bit different than what I'm used to seeing. But to be honest, I'm kind of surprised that it's so similar to the writing we have in Anduruna, actually!"
"Wait, you didn't think you'd actually be able to read it? Even though we speak the same language?"
"Well, I guess I expected a bigger difference in our writing styles since the last time our cities really interacted with each other was about twelve hundred years ago."
"Maybe there wasn't much that needed to change over all that time… Um, besides that, what does the scroll actually say?"
"Hm, 'The nine-point-path is one of personal growth. Devotion to Serapis… becomes secondary to the… the art of honing one's own skill?' Looks like it's a commentary on the style's philosophy. Is that right?"
Nuha nodded. "Yeah, looks about right to me!"
"This is great!" Veil said, looking up from the scroll to give Arc a smile. "I was only able to read a few of those words!"
Arc gave Veil a blank stare. "Wait, I thought you said you couldn't read at all."
"Oh, w-well, I'm not supposed to be able to…"
Arc started to say something, but Nuha spoke up, interrupting him. "I gave Veil a few lessons back when… back when we thought she was going to be a Servant a lot sooner. If anyone finds out… Please don't tell anyone!"
"O-okay, but this is all leaving me with more questions. I promise I won't say anything if you just tell me what's going on with that."
Veil and Nuha looked at each other. After a moment whispering among themselves, Veil spoke up.
"Okay, we'll explain everything. First, did anyone from House Ardeo tell you about Binding Offers?"
From there, Veil started explaining her situation to Arc. Not a detail was spared about her Binding Offer to Mistress Adelin, her first fight and eventual friendship with Zahra, or even the struggles she had with her faith after that.
"…And that's what led to me helping with Miss Chanda's sermon today."
Arc blinked, still taking some time to process everything. "That's… wow. I knew the basics from the sermon, but to hear it all directly from you…"
"Yeah," Nuha said, rubbing her arm. "I was so sure that Veil would be able to do it quickly, too. So I ended up going against the Precepts and teaching her a little of how to read ahead of time."
"You won't tell anyone, will you?"
"Wh- n-no, of course not! In fact…" Arc looked Veil straight in the eyes. "I want to help you become a Servant."
"Arc… Really?"
"Yeah. Not just for you, though. I think the other new slaves could get something out of it too."
"You think so?"
"Yeah. None of us wanted to become slaves. Hell, I think they all just wanted to stay alive more, just like me. What I said to them back in the arena, all that stuff about hope? I was just talking out of my ass; I don't think a lot of them even really bought it. But if you actually end up getting promoted to Servant, and if they see you do it…"
"They would have something real to hope for, right?"
"Exactly! And besides that, you do want to learn how to read for real, right?"
"I… Yeah. I do. And I wouldn't have to hide my lessons if I was a Servant!"
"Well, that settles it! I'm going to help you become a Servant, however I can. For you, and for everyone else!"
Arc extended his left hand out to Veil, who reached out her own. The two shook hands with a serious expression on both of their faces.
"Okay! So if you're going to help me, first we'll need to convince Mistress Adelin to keep you on the estate. That should be easy enough once she sees that you can read and write!"
Nuha chuckled. "Plus that'll keep Arc far away from Master Kamal, right?"
Arc tilted his head. "Kamal?"
"One of the Walkers who's in charge of House Tenebri's farm. Pretty much every Tenebri slave has a horror story about him."
Veil grimaced. "He's the worst. Trust me, you'll hear more than enough about him the longer you stay here. But that's not important. For now, let's talk about the plan!"
"Okay, so what do you think about…"
Veil, Nuha, and Arc continued talking through the night, until the time came for House Tenebri's evening prayer. Once everyone had gathered before the great statue of Serapis, Arc spared a glance toward Veil and Nuha before looking up at the effigy of the Goddess. As he kneeled and began his very first prayer to Serapis, Arc knew that a shared thought remained in all of their minds.
Veil will become a Servant. However long it takes… And whatever it takes to do it…