Well, that wasn’t what I expected. Not that the Night Manager didn’t seem like a pain in their necks, even if not as much as me. But they wanted to get rid of her. And they wanted my help.
“No,” I said flatly.
Neither of them looked happy about that, although Sofi was more irritated while Ildat looked incensed. His face flushed green, he got to his feet, his chair knocked over. I reached in my pocket for the little knife, getting out of my own chair as he started walking towards me.
“You do not get to—“
“Ildat, sit down.”
Sofi’s order cut him off, and it looked for a moment like he might argue. Then he quietly grabbed the chair off the floor and sat back down. I let go of the knife, releasing a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
Sofi turned her attention back to me. “You do realize that you are divinely obligated to pay us back for aid rendered to you?”
“No, I don’t,” I replied. “Because it was never explained. But also, if there was some divine force going around making sure everyone is paying what they owe, the Night Manager wouldn’t have been promising free rent for whoever could make me cough up what I owe them. They’d just make me pay this money I supposedly owe.”
There was the possibility I owed nothing at all, but that seemed so distant to not really be worth considering.
“It’s true we cannot compel you to aid us,” Sofi admitted. “We can, however, inflict a penalty for not paying us for services rendered.”
“Curses. Starting with undoing the healing Sofi gave you.” Ildat’s smile was an angry one as he leaned uncomfortably close. I could imagine what those layers of teeth would do to my face if he got angry enough. I forced myself to breath slowly. If this did turn south, trying to fight my way out wouldn't help. The glint of light on razor-sharp teeth wasn't helping me keep calm though.
“For why the Night Manager has not done the same already, you technically have not been in breach of your contract yet, merely on the edge. Something you did likely made her decide you were at risk of just vanishing from the Hotel. And the process requires a hefty price. One she is not willing to pay but I am.”
“Let’s say I believe all of what you’ve said. Being cursed doesn’t sound like something I want to experience. But I also don’t want to get involved in some plot to overthrow your boss. I’m grateful you saved my life. Not grateful enough to immediately throw it into some conflict I’m not involved with.”
“She put a hit on your head,” Ildat observed.
“Sounds like I already had one on it.” I tapped the poster. I hadn’t read it in detail the first time, but looking now it was clearly a wanted poster. I didn’t know what a Vorde was, but apparently, I was worth a hundred thousand of them. What language was it in, anyway? I couldn’t even remember what languages I knew, so another question for later.
“One inside the hotel. The regular one doesn’t count inside. Our main service is protection from forces outside that might wish to harm you.”
“So this is less a hotel and more a paid protection service. Got it. But again, she hasn’t done anything to personally piss in my oatmeal. I get out, and let bygones be bygones.”
A bit of a lie, she had pissed me off with her taunting over the loudspeakers. But I could live with that if I got out of here.
“She won’t return the favor,” Sofi warned. “Her reputation as manager of this hotel means that she cannot afford to let a single person leave with debts unpaid.”
“Ultimately you’re small fry compared to most patrons, but that just makes it so if you do pull it off, her reputation gets hurt even more.” Ildat gave me a grin that made my skin crawl. Too many teeth in that mouth.
“You have the nicest way of putting things you know?”
There was a flash of anger behind Ildat’s eyes before he replied. “I do, don’t I? As nicely as possible then. Take the deal being offered.”
I tried to lean back in the chair but gave up as soon as I realized it would probably end with me hitting my head. Was I pushing this too far? Possibly, but after the last day of trying to survive, I wanted to not be subject to others’ whims.
I was tired again after that climb, I was still damp, I was hungry, and despite the amount of rain I had just walked through I could really go for a drink. In short, I was irritated enough not to care.
“Look, at the end of the day, what do I get out of this? I avoid being cursed, but in return, I’m putting myself in the position to be screwed over even worse.”
“A bold assumption, since you do not even know the plan yet.” There was an undertone or irritation to Sofi’s voice, flatness gaining an edge of irritation.
“Let me turn that on its head, since I don’t know your plan, why should I trust that it will be successful?”
Silence followed for a few seconds. Sofi looked frustrated, and Ildat looked frustrated and like he wanted to eat me. I was just pissed. We were at a stalemate, and not much better than when I had first woken up at the table. Even assuming they didn’t try to coerce me into this scheme, I was still stuck in an unfamiliar place with people who I couldn’t really trust. I did not want to spend most this conversation afraid that someone was going to take a bite out of me.
Well, they wanted payment of some kind at minimum. I imagined a gun that created black holes had to be worth something.
“Look. I don’t know if it will cover it, but you want my debt repaid? I’m sure you have the gear I fell down here with. Assuming the gun didn’t get wrecked by the water, take it, and I can do something small to make up the difference.”
Whatever her other skills might be, Sofi was a skilled actress, because I barely caught the flash of surprise across her face. Ildat less of one as he took longer to compose himself.
“The gun alone is an overpayment, never mind the suitcase,” Sofi replied, then frowned, scrutinizing me “You really don’t know anything do you?”
I shook my head. “Like I’ve been saying, no I do not. Also, why would the suitcase be worth more?”
When I checked inside it, there were useful things, but nothing that looked expensive.
“It’s your main tool of trade,” Sofi continued “it’s worth a little less without someone inside it, and it’s a fell device to be sure, but that doesn’t detract from its overall worth.”
Oh. They meant the suitcase that had the person in it. But that made no sense.
“I left that in my room,” I said, “it shouldn’t be down here.”
“Material link,” Ildat interjected, “expensive, but considering how much your services were in demand, not a surprise.”
To them, not to me. I didn’t even know what services “I” performed for people. Given what I had found in the Suitcase, likely not anything good.
“Okay. Well, that’s getting off track. Since these items are apparently worth more than my life, trading one should be more than enough then?” I asked. I couldn’t care less about the corpse-carrying suitcase, so ditching that and getting out of this was only a benefit in my book.
“Technically yes,” Sofi said reluctantly. “It’s not a payment I would prefer but it would technically qualify.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
It sounded like pulling teeth for her to admit that, but it was clear there was another option available. So I had a choice in this. I could just give them the suitcase, clear out, and…crap. I was stuck.
I discharge the debt I owe to these two, stroll on out, and do what? I knew even less about this place than the hotel. And irritating the manager of this place seemed a perfect way to ensure no one would help me out.
I sighed. “Okay. I’ll give you the suitcase. But helping you depose the Night Manager. That’s still on the table. But I’m not getting forced into it. I join on my own terms. That palatable, or a dead end for you?”
Sofi tapped the top of her desk. “Palatable. At the very least, you will be more willing, I hope?”
“If I’m not being coerced, I’ll definitely be more willing,” I confirmed. “In terms of what I want, honestly I just want information.”
“Educating travelers once again,” Ildat observed before chuckling. Sofi gave him a pained look.
“Your former job, not mine Ildat. Education in the ways this world works and other questions you may have, within reason. Nothing that I or any of the others who will be joining want to keep secrets for personal reasons.”
I shrugged “Wasn’t going to ask. No offense, but prying into your two’s personal lives is very far down on the list of questions I want to ask.”
“I will draw a more formal agreement later today. Albeit, if you truly do not possess your memories and need to be taught everything from scratch, well. We could always use another warm body at least.” Sofi seemed lost in thought, then opened another drawer, going through papers again.
“Like that’s not ominous,” I commented.
“Don’t pay it much mind, Sofi just always talks like that.” Ildat gave me another grin, which was not helping with my nervousness.
“I do not, Ildat,” The Underneath Manager said, fixing a disapproving glare onto her employee. “If that business is concluded, do you want to start your questions now, or perhaps some food?”
“I can’t remember the last time I ate, so personally I’d prefer food, but shouldn’t you be busy? Quota and rain and the hill..well not being eroded, which is probably a question in itself?” I was ravenous, to be honest, but it did seem weird that the manager of such a large place could set this much time aside. Especially given what was happening outside.
“It can mostly handle itself. And even if we were to meet the new quotas, I doubt the deluge would stop. Consider it less a punishment for us to meet their quotas and more a personal reminder of the power they wield,” Sofi said, giving the phone an irritated glance. "We'll know well in advance if the hill's collapse is faster than its repairs.
I could sympathize. Mostly because she had just tried the same thing with me. ‘Join my cause or we will curse all your wounds back on you as the start’. Still, I would forget that. As for the hill erosion bit...a question for later.
“Sounds like a raw deal. Want to talk about it over dinner?”
***
Dinner turned out to be lunch, and lunch was fish stew. It tasted divine, although that could be my empty and exhausted stomach doing the evaluating for me. Strips of pale, succulent flesh mixed with chunks of a vegetable I couldn’t identify. All of it was laying in some thick red liquid that was honestly closer to a sauce.
The texture was tough. It was closer to beef than fish, my mind told me in terms of what it knew. My tongue probably couldn’t tell the difference. Although that might be because I had shoveled so much into my mouth that there was barely any space for the tongue.
“Do you want to ask some of your questions now?”
Sofi’s voice cut into my single-minded devouring of the meal. She had barely touched her own bowl so far, while Ildat meanwhile was making a faster pace than me. He was already on to his second bowl.
“Sure. First question, what did you mean by deposing the Night Manager? Just so I know what our goal is?"
Sofi took a small bite, took her time with the fish. "In essence, forcing her out of her position. Killing her is a possibility but not desired."
"That makes me feel a little more comfortable," I admitted.
"Feeling a little squeamish about killing someone?" Ildat asked, tone teasing.
My mind went back. To shrill insect screams and the sound of crunching carapace. "Yes," I replied flatly.
"Some murder might be required, but they should be covered. It will likely not be too large an issue," Sofi assured me. Which only confused me more. Everyone was so casual about death. I could make some guesses as to why, but nothing concrete.
"Okay. Next question, what is this place? Because I know it’s not the earth, but outside that, nothing.”
“Well, the best place to start would be the beginning then. In the beginning, there was nothing material in this place-”
“A creation myth?” I didn’t particularly want to sit here for an explanation of how someone thought the world had come into being. I got another frown in return, although on Sofi they looked more like pouts.
“Not a myth. At great cost, someone was able to get this story out of the goddess herself, so its veracity is known for sure. For the fortune she demanded, its truthfulness is assured.” She peevishly replied.
I paused as I digested that. They had paid a goddess for this information? That suggested even more things I wanted to know about, and the fact that you could apparently pay a deity to do something suggested things about the theology here. I should know since the talk of paying god had sent a bunch more earth information into my brain as well. Could have gone my whole life without knowing about Swaggert and Fallwell and I’d probably be happier if I hadn’t, but here I was. At least it was easier to get that latest injection of from what I could tell useless information out of my brain as opposed to the last batch.
Taking my silence as a sign to resume, Sofie continued her story. “There was nothing material. Instead, it was where potential was formed, where new deities, worlds, and everything else awaited their chance to emerge into the material world. Little was defined about them, just the potential of what they could be, determined when they moved into the material world. Follow so far?”
“I think so. Baby universes and gods and whatnot, waiting to be born and molded.” I said, getting a terse nod in response.
“Essentially. In laypeople’s terms, at least. Then, somehow, a spirit breaks through here, a dead person’s ghost. No one knows how. It collides with one of these potential goddess’, forcing her birth in a world not designed to have the material existing in it. This forced material to be created instead, drawn from the material world and sucked into this place of potential.”
“So this place isn’t even supposed to exist?” I interjected, getting a terse nod in response.
“From what we know yes. Her existence in a place where things were not supposed to exist caused other things to get drawn back, being pulled into this place of potential as it yanked back the material. Thus forming this city. Which in turn has caused what was already here to change in response. The shadows are part of that.” Sofi continued, seemingly lost in the telling of the story.
“Yanked people fully formed out of where they lived before?” I asked.
“That, places, things, materials. Entire buildings or streets sometimes. Enough from the same places that it’s clear if you come here, no one realizes you’re missing back home.” Ildat chewed on a piece of fish, seemingly lost in his own mind. “Vanished without a trace, except they don’t even remember, is how it was described.”
That sounded like something personal, and that I shouldn’t pry into. So I moved to change the subject.
“Alright, so it’s a bit of a weird place, not shocking to me. You’re treating a deity a bit casually though aren’t you? Weren’t you freaking out over me trying to swear to a deity when we met?”
The last was directed at Ildat, who paused for a second from munching his way through another bowl. Bits of fish hung from the layers of teeth in his maw. mixed with the red coloration of the liquid, it gave a particularly uncomfortable vibe.
“She says she’s a god, she doesn’t really ask for worship and such like one,” he explained. “But she still pays attention. You draw on her attention, she’ll send it your way.”
“In particular the enforcement of deals and owed capital,” Sofi elaborated. “She also is responsible for the Curses for not honoring deals. Outside that, she mostly owns the majority of the city and charges everyone for living here.”
So the goddess is a landlady. “It’s a bit different than the kind of deities I’m used to.”
“It depends on the culture, although she herself seems…apathetic to what you call her. Or worship of her. She mostly is focused on making sure that everyone follows the rules set forth. Or at minimum, have a large enough bribe if you want to break some of them,” Ildat added.
“She doesn’t spread information about herself too much. The only reason this much is known is because it was the first time someone passed on her words to the public. It’s said that ever since Hakel Domark published this information all over the city after negotiating it out of her, future contracts involve strict confidentiality clauses.” Sofi took a break to drink from what I assumed was water.
“So she’s very secretive and doesn’t like people prying into her personal life. Is she the only deity here?” I was guessing not, given the shrine I had seen in Ildat’s house.
“Worship from other worlds is carried over here, clearly. And there are some signs they still respond-”
“Some?” Ildat interrupted Sofi.
“We can have that debate later if you really want to repeat it. Some signs they still respond. There are also some entities that are on the level of deities despite not claiming the title, some who claim to be deities but aren’t on that level, and a few others. And then you have the institutions.”
“Institutions? As deities?” For some reason, I was more than a little incredulous at that notion. Just…the idea of the bank being a deity seemed absurd to me.
“Well yes. The Insurance companies, for example. The power they wield is comparable, I would claim.”
“Okay, I have got to know what this insurance is like,” I said. It had been mentioned so many different times that I had to know how it worked.
“How about a practical demonstration?” Ildat offered, getting out of his chair.
“Sure, how do we do that?”
“I’m going to need to kill you.”