"Crowley, we're going to visit the village, okay?" Ziru said to the snoring adult monkey.
Whoever formed this group put the worst people together. It had an obnoxious rainbow-haired kid, a hairy animal who raged and screamed bananas everywhere, a blind and deaf brat who pretended to read and know every hair on your skin, and a paper blank man who could attract all the weirdos to his ass.
Could this get any more ridiculous?
The adult monkey continued to breathe loudly in his sleep and choked when a fly flew inside his mouth. Ziru and I cringed when he sat up as he coughed violently and held his neck. Once he was done choking to near death, he lied back down and turned away from us. He proceeded to snore as if nothing happened.
"Where did the fly go?" Ziru asked.
I shrugged. "Straight into the doom of digestion probably."
Both of us got out of the shrine, leaving Crowley vulnerable to any monster attacks.
Lucian, Kox, and that other weird sickly-looking guy were gone by the time we woke up. Ziru bothered me about going to the village because he claimed that he saw something interesting to poke our noses into.
I was only staying here because Sin commanded me to watch over his precious bed toy. I had no idea how this pesky rainbow-head got me to tag along with his annoying games.
"There!" Ziru whispered and pointed at a small tent that could fit two people.
"What's in there?" I asked him.
He narrowed his gaze. "When we were waiting for Lucian-onii, I noticed that people kept on going inside that tent without coming back out. That tent could probably fit two to three people, right?" he asked me.
"So, you want to go inside?"
He rolled his eyes like it was the most obvious answer.
"Duh."
I wasn't the one planning suicide here, so why was I being talked down to like I invented stupidity?
I huffed. "I wasn't finished yet. So you want to get inside, get caught, and be part of whatever shit show these villagers have in their cult-like activities?"
There were more men than women and nearly all of the women had babies inside them. It could be a coincidence so I try not to overthink it too much, but it was still eldritch.
How come grown-ups end up being worn down in the head?
"Are you coming or not?" He asked, hoping that I wouldn't choose the latter of the options.
"I'll stay here and wait for you to become dead meat," I snorted, causing his smile to drop.
I had eaten children for most part of my life so saying that I would consider eating Ziru didn't cause me any guilt. When I lived with Buck and the twins' wagon of brats, I thought it was strange to be playing with livestock.
"Coward," he mocked.
"Like that's going to change my mind," I laughed and turned around to go back to the shrine.
"We don't know where Lucian-onii is, maybe he's in there," Ziru said and I paused.
Sneaky bastard.
"Why would he be there?"
He grinned. "Well he's concerned with that Saint guy and that Saint guy is up to something. You wouldn't want anything bad to happen to Lucian-onii, do you?"
I underestimated this kid's intelligence. I'll decrease his bovine level of cognition to ninety-nine percent. If I were to make him my dinner, I'd leave the brain in fear of having my own get replaced.
"If we're going to do something that would likely end up getting caught, might as well wake up that monkey you left behind," I pointed out.
He looked up in thought and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, you're right. One more unreported move and Crowley would lose his fur. Wait here!" he said, dashing out of the bush we were hiding in.
I only told him that so he wouldn't get in my way.
I generated electricity from the tip of my index finger. A strong bolt of lightning shot at the biggest tent of the village which then caused a general panic. A fire broke out from the huge shelter and the villagers attempted to kill the growing blaze with buckets of water.
That will keep them busy.
I stealthily sprinted towards the tent that Ziru mentioned. I hid on its side when two men came out in a hurry. I peeked and found a passage leading downstairs.
I was hoping I would find nothing.
The flight of stairs was very lengthy. I thought it was never going to end. It was like traveling towards another village but through these pesky stairs made by pesky adults.
The scent of moldy air reached my nose. As soon as I arrived at the bottom, a muggy environment welcomed me. The cave was huge. I was smaller than I ever was. Droplets of water echoed; an eerie darkness loomed at every corner.
Luminous light blue crystals grew out from the rocky expanse of the cave. The ceiling stretched high above the ground. There was more than one route but I didn't need to trek each one of them. Only an adult would waste precious time on nonsense.
Glowing blue grass grew in fields. Once I stepped on them, the same colored birds fluttered away. Damn this. Why did I have to babysit an adult? If he could fight Sin in one-on-one combat, then he did not require any bodyguards.
I lazily sauntered to each entrance, taking a whiff of air to smell which passageway had a more interesting scent to it. This saved me from going inside and wasting time on a dead-end that an adult would usually end up dead in. I was down to one last route located on the far left. I stiffened when a bird flew out and carried the scent of rotting flesh. I took in a shaky breath and tried to calm myself. This was just a cave. Ta couldn't be the cause of the deaths here. Sin was stronger than him. Aramastus was much more powerful than him.
Shit. If I wasn't in a cave, that blatant warning of nature wouldn't have gotten to my nerves. It just had to be a cave reeking with death. My legs took me further inside. I was covered in more layers of sweat. Lesser crystals illuminated the area but darkness was never a problem with me. The stench became more prevalent as I saw a more caliginous area at the end of this passage. My vision naturally adjusted to the lack of light. There was some kind of statue there. It was a gargantuan one with how I could only see its feet from the opening.
My left foot stepped inside as a sacrificial offering. It was mildly submerged in water. I always imagined that I would lose a leg when I step inside an unknown territory that reeked of blood, flesh, and a whole lot of death.
The entire area was scented with pungent metal. Droplets of water continued to descend from the ceiling. There were things attached to the walls that I couldn't make out, but once the room was illuminated with torches that suddenly lit up, the hair on my nape and arms rose.
My eyes followed the successive flicker of torches that enlightened me of the circular structure of the area. The decaying flesh of newborn babies was stuck to the walls that surrounded the horned statue of a Soma. It had six vertebral tails with bodies of women pierced through each tip. Its form was painted with the rich color of life's essence.
I stood in place, unaware of how I should perceive the gruesome display of religion around me. My eyes stared intensely at the name engraved beneath the statue. The thumping in my chest became louder. Blood filled my ears and left the rest of my body chilling from the sudden drop of temperature.
Garmir
There were more words engraved beneath his name. I walked closer to read them.
"You shall become my blood and flesh if you offer me your gore and child. I shall rule the world for my disciples if my disciples will let me rule in their hearts and minds. No betrayer shall outlive the follower. No follower will suffer like the betrayer. I shall be the God who their hearts and minds desire me to be. Shed the last faulty believer from your bloodline. I will be your God..."
The last words were faded. I stepped back to organize my thoughts.
...
Yeah, I couldn't get my thoughts organized.
I stared hard at my feet which were muddied with blood and jolted when a body sprang out from behind the statue. He rolled to the puddle of ichor. I recognized his blood-stained face instantly.
"He–Hey! What happened to you?"
I squatted beside Saint , trying to stand him on his feet. The guy couldn't even carry himself or even try to cooperate with me. He couldn't contain whatever was tearing his heart apart. I had no idea how to tell him to keep his shit together.
Saint screamed. His scream pierced through my sensitive ears, causing vibrations to enter me and flick my own heart. I held him tightly against me.
"Hey...what's the matter with you?" I asked him again.
His whole body was rigid yet shaking with apprehension. Nothing stopped him from letting out his lamentation.
"They died. They died!" He wailed.
His pained words hit me.
His scream of woe wasn't for himself, it was for all the children who couldn't do it themselves. Saint was their voice. Saint was their embodiment of protest. Saint was here to shout what they couldn't and to carry what they couldn't bear any more. It was something that I would never do for someone.
'Rui, why don't you ever cry?" Buck asked me. "Why do you act like a grown-up so much? You won't be a kid forever, you know?'
There was no use crying. I wasn't even given the chance to be a kid anyway.
'I just don't have the tears for it.'
That was always my reply to Buck's repeated question, but even I knew that it wasn't the answer that I wanted to give him. My voice was severed a long time ago. I was never given one. In a world like this one, children were always bound to weep. They weren't allowed to become children. There was no such privilege. I shoved Saint back to the puddle of blood and glared at him.
"Is that all you can do? Is crying all you can muster? Shut the fuck up!" I shouted at him.
He looked at me wide-eyed before breaking down into sobs.
"I co–couldn't save them. I let them die. I—"
"Crying won't change anything. Stand the fuck up and man up. If you're going to be a wimp forever I might as well stick you to the wall with them!" I snarled.
He tried to stand up but fell on his knees. His tears continued to fall. I stopped myself from feeling any sympathy for him. His voice cracked as he resumed to whimper and wither.
"I tried to save everyone. I tried..."
I turned my back to him. "You win and you lose. That's the reality. You can't save everyone."
"I-If I only have the strength. If only I was born strong. No one...no one had to die like this..."
I swallowed down the guilt in my chest and looked at him.
"No one would want to grow up in a world like this one."
What I was saying was harsh.
"To live as a child you're bound to be maltreated."
Most people would disagree.
"If you ask me, it would be better if I wasn't born at all."
But it was the truth.
Saint's lower lip wobbled. He mustered up every strength he had left to stand up.
"I'm sorry..." he whispered. "That we couldn't make the world a better place for children like you..." he murmured.
Trails of tears glided across his cheek.
It wasn't your fault. None of it was. This was just how the world works. You eat or get eaten. I clicked my tongue in an attempt to snap the thick line of heavy emotion stringing me up.
I grabbed his arm. "Let's just get out of here."
Saint remained in place, gently prying my hand away.
"Leave me."
"If I'm not mistaken, they'll kill you if they find you here. Are you dumb?"
He gave me a sad smile. "I have to put an end to this. They need me for their ritual."
I scoffed. "What do you—"
"Shed the last faulty believer— that's what it said right?"
I looked at the words beneath Garmir's feet and understood.
"But why?"
"If one sides with evil, don't expect them to be spared by evil. Their desires shall be their punishment," he explained to me.
Guilt and worry had stricken me into a panic.
"What about Lucian? He must be looking for you. You can't just do this to him!"
Why was I even persuading this guy? If he wants to die, I'll let him die.
He avoided my gaze. He bent forward to level his dried and cracked lips to my ears. His hands clamped on my shoulders tightly as his warm and shaky breath touched the side of my face.
"Please tell him..."
...
...
...
Fuck
Fuck
Fuck!
My tail shot up. I hung to the ceiling while watching the shepherds scurry into the passage where Garmir was. The big old man was with them. Will they kill Saint?
Should I care?
More energy pumped into my veins and I became even more jittery when Lucian came inside. I unhooked my tail from the ceiling and dropped down in front of him.
"Hello," he greeted, patting my head. I slapped Lucian's hand away.
"There's no time for that. Saint is in there and they're going to kill him!"
His eyes widened. His face fell blank, becoming more unreadable. His body twisted into a run, but the sound of the eruption took place, followed by the surge of powerful winds that blew us away.
The crow that Lucian was taking care of soared inside and transformed into the giant man he introduced us to. He caught Lucian's body while my tail was already hooked to the wall.
The cave crumbled. I was snatched from my place when the rock where my tail was anchored disintegrated. Skwak carried me together with Lucian. He flew out of the crumbled cave and avoided any falling debris. The village collapsed. Time stopped when Garmir emerged from what was once hidden and grinned from ear-to-ear.
Lightning struck around him and hailed at his feet. His red eyes glimmered in evil and treachery. He completed the words that I couldn't read on the plate, which spoke his desires and wishes if he was ever to be revived.
"I will be your God, your demise, and your end."