The arrangement remained the same. A War Maiden was to glue herself to Adam's side at all times. He exchanged a stalkerish, rich girl for an equally-as-stalkerish, fiery tomboy who was also a walking fire hazard. Lovely.
With Saria's arrival, Lucy now possessed autonomy within the MOB. Not that she was capable of much in her current state. She chewed down a vitamin-laden ration bar and sank into her pillow.
"Go ahead, you two. I'll be fine tomorrow." She said.
"You sure, Luce?"
Lucy yawned and placed a hand on her forehead. She hummed for a moment. "I'm ninety percent sure. Think the worst of it is over, plus I've some resistance from my second campaigns. I'll fill in some paperwork in the meantime."
"Paperwork." Adam said, his tone dripping with disbelief. "In this sorry base."
Lucy snickered, sputtering as she did so. "I suppose it's more like research. There's a couple of documents backed up in my combat harness and—oh, I don't want to bother you with the details, Chosen. Do your thing with Saria, Chosen. I'll look forward to it tomorrow."
"Luce, you better…"
"…shout if I need anything. I know Saria. I know." Lucy reached out and matched Saria's palm with hers. Their fingers intertwined, with Lucy's slender digits running across Saria's callused grooves. "Don't you go and twist your stomach out of worry, Saria. We'll find Madeline. It'll take time, but we're here, the Chosen is here and our connection to Her has been restored. Madeline's a tough young girl, too. Graduated faster than the two of us, remember?"
"She jumped around the room and almost knocked over her doll rack." Saria said, wistful.
"She's gonna love to meet the Chosen. So let's not worry, okay?" Lucy grasped Saria with her other hand, and the two girls basked in each other's touch and warmth, like those brightly lit windows Adam peeked into on Steeldale's cold winter lights. Recognisable, comforting and impassable—much like his youth.
The two girls smiled at each other. The tension slipped off Saria's shoulders. Adam turned away, an acidic taste on his tongue.
"For the Chosen, I'll say it again. It's great to have you back, Saria." Lucy said.
"Yeah. Same here, Luce. Have a good rest." Saria pulled back and Lucy slid back on her pillow. Her eyes closed, and she entered a deep sleep. Saria placed the covers over her, raised her finger to her mouth, and guided Adam out of the room. The door slid shut with a soft hiss.
"You done yet?" Adam asked. "Cool. Let's check out the base. There's a few places you need to set on fire."
"Actually…" Saria began.
He gave her a flat stare.
"Chosen, I know we're busy, but can I do this one small thing first?" Saria said, clasping her hands together. Adam prepared himself for the worst. That bitch of an ex-girlfriend always pulled this stunt whenever she wanted his Joe—a ganger with dreadlocks and a funny accent—to buy her a new bag or whatever. It reached the point where the guy almost got whacked trying to steal another group's chemical stash.
"This better not waste time."
"No, no, it won't! It's super important. I'll work two hundred and sixteen percent faster if we do this first. Please?"
"Geez, fine."
He ended up wondering why she felt the need to ask. Saria wanted to commune with the Goddess. She hadn't found the time to do so in between taking care of Lucy, guarding his unconscious form and hunting the valley for Penny. Zero chance he could turn this down.
The Prayer Hall was the same as when he and Lucy left. Desolate, cold and smelling of rubble. Adam pushed a couple makeshift barricades aside, while Saria swept up the area in front of the mural and turned a few holo-emitters on. The windows were boarded shut. The War Maidens didn't want the red skies to light the mural.
Saria stood in front of the faceless Goddess, silent. She knelt down in the same spot, on one knee and head bowed. She placed the hexagonal plates Lucy recovered on the mantle with the rest. The emitters hummed, projecting sparkles and lines of Astraean text in an archaic, rustic font.
A hurried cross between a gasp and a sob emerged from the girl as she spoke.
"Dear Goddess, it's been six, eight, a dozen…I'm super sorry, I honestly don't know how long it's been since we last talked. Sincerely, thank you for sending your Chosen to purge me and Lucy of our corruption. It's only been a few days since I regained humanity, but it's so awesome to think straight, taste food and hold a conversation with my best friend again. This humble War Maiden thanks you for your Compassion and Faith, and will do her best to protect your Chosen and help complete his journey…"
The words echoed through the hall, alongside her stumbles, her half-breaths and her underlying uncertainty. It was the hesitation of a muscle memory out of sync with the rest of the feelings.
"Goddess, your Providence sees all, so we both know I've done a lot of bad things as a Witch. I'm still not as smart as Lucy, or as benevolent as the Chosen." Saria said, and Adam made a derisive snort at that. She didn't hear him. "I'll accept any penance, any creed of Justice, any action of Humility, if that's what you want. But please, if you can, help my younger sister Madeline. Let her know that big sis Saria is coming for her. That she's sorry for failing to come back with the medicine, and that she'll work as hard to rescue her. This is a lot, I know. The Chosen said your Herald is having a hard time, so please help her first. If there's still a bit of stellari left over…"
Saria swallowed. "Then I guess I'm available."
Adam shifted in his place, uncomfortable. Was he supposed to be hearing this? This wasn't a prayer. It was a confession. His mind wandered to Lucy's time in the hall. Had she spoken the same doubts and fears as her friend back then? He had entered, thinking Saria's little speech to be annoying. Now, he considered she was talking to him, in a way. Why else would she be this loud?
At least Saria took her confessions seriously, unlike his ratbag of a father. Christian memorabilia had littered their old two-room house, ignored as his father drank himself away and their addict of a mother wandered the red-light district at night. This was a secondhand account from Mary—he had been only three when their family broke apart. His father committed manslaughter on his mother and vanished from Steeldale together. Arrested, suicide, pure cowardice, he didn't know. It left a deep impression on Mary, regardless.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
"What's the point of praying to someone who doesn't exist?" Mary had said, scrunching up a flyer and tossing it in a bin. "They expect some old fogey in the sky to solve their problems, but he can't do jack because he's not real. We have to solve our problems ourselves."
"Jackie says it makes his family feel better." Adam had said, referring to a quiet-spoken kid in the same class as him. He was five years old at the time. Three years before Mary left the orphanage and found her first and only apartment.
Mary had given him a sympathetic look. "It's not gonna fill his, or our, stomachs, Adam." And he believed Mary's lesson more and more over his years. A Bible girl got close to him, spouting nonsense, only retreating when Mary threatened to shoot her kneecaps off. The church down the road failed him when he'd been kicked out on the streets. Their donations, rosaries and Sunday services didn't stop the shooting in the apartment block two minutes over.
The Goddess of Astraea shattered Mary's argument and stomped it flat.
"I…what else should I prayer for? Oh, my parents! Mom and Dad. I hope they're safe. I hope they're not stuck thinking about me and are moving on with their lives. If there's still room, can you send a message telling them I'm alright? It might take a while, but I will come home, I promise. The same for Lucy's parents, too. She hides it well, but not from me. She misses them a whole bunch…"
The first of the Goddess's core tenets, inscribed on holy nickel at the founding of Astraea, was Providence. It stated the Goddess was the sole deity of humanity, as Her existence was provable and her effects tangible, putting her far above the old myths and legends of the pre-integration eras. The mystics were a product of the Providence.With a basis in reality, they surpassed the old rituals and entered the realm of definite scientific phenomena. It was partially why wielding [Psychokinesis] felt so smooth.
This ideal extended further than mere mystics. The Goddess's presence permeated throughout the bedrock of Astraean society. She was the colonies themselves, Her hands the citizens, Her eyes their technologies, and Her Wings Astraea's military might. There was a legitimately high chance She could accomplish Saria' request.
It was weird to imagine. How could you beat a church whose god they could prove without a doubt? Even he wouldn't have conducted half his violence, had he known an omnipresent, omnipotent power was looking over his shoulder the whole time. Maybe that was Astraea's secret. Big Sister is watching you, so be nice.
A treasonous trailing strand arrived with that train of thought. If the Goddess had existed back on Earth, could she have saved his sister?
He stared into the core of the pendant, then shook his head. It was too late for such fantasies. If the Goddess had wanted Earth so badly, she would have already claimed the place.
He looked forward and noticed Saria was finishing up.
"Give my feelings to my family back on Betuila. Let them know that I'll be home soon. And, I guess that's it. Thank you Goddess, thank you for letting Lucy and I feel you again, and this humble War Maiden will commune with you later. Stella Humanis Malkuea."
Saria bowed once more, stood up, and brushed her eye with her finger.
"I wasn't recording any of that." Adam said.
"Okay? I didn't expect you to, Chosen."
"A disclaimer. Just in case." He grunted out. "Feeling better?"
"Yeah, heaps! Thanks for accompanying me here, Chosen."
"It ain't like I did anything, Saria."
"Nah, you did. I already felt relieved when Lucy told me She sent a Chosen to help us. And now that you're by my side, it's like a plasma amplifier. Double the good vibes, get it?" She slapped him on the back. "I'm looking forward to seeing you pull your stuff."
"You really believe in this Chosen deal that much, huh?"
"Yeah! How could I not? I mean, you saved me and all. How could I deny that? I'd have to be a total buffoon, as Luce would say it" Saria beamed at him.
It was this type of comment that made him want to pull out her brain and inspect her cogs and wheels until he learned how exactly War Maidens ticked. The girls didn't like the Adam, the foul-mouthed, nigh-dropout, crapshoot of a Marine. They worshipped the image their Goddess had projected upon him without his consent. Neither of them would give him a second glance, otherwise.
But wouldn't it be nice if they liked you for you?
As if that would happen. No-one was capable of that, besides Mary. Oh, he tried believing that, in a distant, hazy month in his tenth year on Earth, and quickly learned the real truth.
…but it was a nice thought, he had to admit.
"Come on, Saria, let's go."
"Sure!"
Nothing had changed. He'd put up with these girls until he got strong enough, at which point he'd break free from this whole Chosen ordeal. He already made progress by purifying two War Maidens. It was only a matter of time.
So what if he had to play nice with the two girls? He could do that. It wasn't like he hated them. The two girls were more than capable, and cordial to boot. He'd put up with worse scumbags in his lifetime. Hanging out with Saria wasn't a big deal, not at all!
The Goddess's faceless smile seemed to follow him as he exited with Saria, as if She knew something he didn't.
----------------------------------------
"Ready for actual work now?"
The first item on Adam's list was to clear out the Mess Hall. The place clogged from floor to ceiling with overgrowth, despite there not existing any fertile soil within the building. Gigantic branches the size of his arm, entire canopies of dense leaves, flowers that clogged his nose and sent him into a sneezing, coughing fit. It was like an attempt to replicate the Amazon rainforest. Saria inspected it with caution. She'd been morose back in the hall, but the prospect of cleaning brightened her spirits.
"Any of these edible?" Saria asked.
"Why are you asking that?" Adam said.
"Hey, a Maiden's gotta eat fresh fruit sometimes. We can't live off MREs forever. They're not that healthy."
"Can't be worse than other things I've eaten…"
"Nope! Fresh vitamins and minerals are the best. Otherwise, you won't grow healthy and strong. Even we ADOs can't skimp on this. You need it more than ever, Chosen!"
"I told you, I'm not that short." Anyway, he couldn't detect anything edible here. Penny had talked about wild cloyfruits and specific herbs, which the villagers had seasoned their meals with. None of them were here. The plants didn't look right, either. He swore one of them waved a branch at him.
"Alright, stand back. It's my turn." Saria rubbed her hands together. Her fingers glowed bright orange, and then she unleashed a continuous stream of flame that blazed through the room. The heat billowed out instantly, causing him to reel back.
"What the hell—careful!" Adam shouted, "You're gonna burn everything inside!"
"Relax, we opened the windows earlier! Besides, I'm an expert!"
She held the flames for a few minutes before, then snapped her fingers. The flames died down in an instant, leaving behind smoke and a room charred black. Yet, it was not damaged. Saria had leveraged her control to burn away specific parts and leave the rest—furniture, utensils, stovetops—untouched.
"I'm good, aren't I?" She said, smug.
"Yeah, you are." Credit deserved when due.
A quick inspection revealed the plants had somehow grown out of the fridge. The plants had consumed most of the fresh food inside the fridges and the freezers. They found a large quantity of freeze-dried and sealed food packages, including more MREs. The two of them swept up the ashes, placing them in bags as fertilizer. They checked out the machinery.
"Not working." Saria said, disappointed. "Main power must be off. Are the generators broken, Chosen?"
"Actually…"
The place had emitted a continuous buzzing and hissing, loud and frequent enough for Lucy and Adam to give them a wide berth. They grabbed weapons from their stash and advanced onto it. Saria pushed the door open a crack. They came face to face with a swarm of mutated wasps. Each one was as big as a dragonfly, and they beat with quadruple, poisonous-yellow wings. Their stingers glowed a neon purple in the dark, painting trails across the darkness en masse. The noise was almost deafening.
Saria froze up for a second. Adam readied his [Psychokinesis] to slam the door shut.
Then, the word left Saria's mouth. "Disgusting."
What?
"Disgusting. Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting! I can't believe this!" Saria screamed. She drew forth a large shotgun off her back. "Chosen, let's burn these fuckers to the ground!"