Silence covered the arena in a blanket, a stillness settling over the crowd as Lucius’ words sank in. A god? Lord Benvolio had been a god all along? The adventurers began to shout all at once, surging forwards in a rush of bodies. Calls for explanation mixed with screams of denouncement, and even cries of support could be heard. Christoph blinked as the coliseum shook above him, rounding on Diana as she struggled to stand.
“Lord Benvolio is fine,” the small god said, his words piercing through the roars of the crowd. “I’m not a god right now.”
“Did you know?” Christoph asked. Diana nodded at his words, reaching out to grasp at his arm as he rose beside her.
“We need to leave,” she said. “This news will shake the city to its core.”
Christoph hesitated a moment before turning around and pulling the elf onto his back, holding her legs as she hooked her arms over his shoulders. How many people had known? Roethus must have, and Diana… did that mean the council knew as well? No, that would hardly matter in the end. The city was promised as a haven of freedom for the people of the world, and the adventurers would demand answers even if the council knew nothing.
Pushing the door open, he entered the long hallway connecting the inner arena to the outside world. Tournament staff streamed through the narrow passageway, darting through the doorways that lined the hall in a mad frenzy of pounding feet. Christoph could understand their plight. As employees of Lord Benvolio, the crowd might end up turning on them as well. It would be best to leave the area as soon as possible.
“Damn fool.” Diana’s sighed softly in Christoph’s ear as he hurried past the staff. “He’s been wanting to tell the guild for years, but Roethus always stopped him short.”
“I can see why,” Christoph said as they exited the stadium. Citizens of the city were streaming out of the main entrances in hordes, and some of the adventurers were fleeing as well. It seemed that nobody had much faith in the future of Manitas City. “For now, let’s go see Geoff. He’s holding the skimmer for us in the stables.”
Making his way towards the west gates, Christoph was almost at the city center when a familiar flare of mana caught his attention. He couldn’t see it properly due to the crowds and the afternoon sunlight, but the presence was confirmed when the beast-woman stepped around the corner, a dark-armored knight following close behind.
“We meet again,” Leila said with a sneer. “How nice it is to see my sister’s slave cavorting around with the piece of trash that stabbed her in the back.”
“I have no business with you,” Christoph replied, leaning down to let Diana step heavily onto the ground. “Why chase us so far? Don’t you have a clan to oversee?”
“No business?” Leila laughed at his assertion, ears bobbing with each note. Reaching out, she tapped at Gideon’s shoulder, sending him around to flank the two of them. “The clan has business with both of you.”
“I-” Christoph began.
“I didn’t come here for you, though, I came here for her.” Leila’s eyes shifted past Diana and him, focusing on something in the distance. “How long are you going to keep us waiting, dear sister?”
Christoph’s heart lurched as he turned to follow Leila’s gaze, another familiar aura appearing behind a building nearby. Freezing up, his tainted memories of the village washed back over him all at once. Forcing his legs to move, he took a step backwards before Diana’s hands clutched onto his upper arm.
“Wait,” she said. “You can’t run from this forever.”
Christoph felt his skin began to crawl as the aura moved towards the corner of the building, but the woman who stepped into sight was nothing like the Emilia from his memories. Her face was less harsh, her figure smaller and somehow more fragile looking. He felt his face contort into a frown at her appearance, eyes drifting over her as she limped towards him, patches of skin visible where her fur had been torn away.
“Emilia? I-”
Christoph’s words were cut off as she rushed towards him, knives flashing out around his body. He moved to block her attacks, but her slender limbs belied her desperate strength, and she pushed past his defense. Had Diana not taken a step back in shock, the poisoned daggers would have caught her in the torso. Throwing the beast-woman back, Christoph fought to control his nausea, the feeling of her furred form enough to make the bile rise in his throat.
“Why are you protecting her?” Emilia trembled where she landed, rising up to her feet in confusion. Tears began to well in the corners of her eyes as she took another step forwards, the pair of adventurers retreating in turn. “Let me kill her, Christoph. This is all her fault, she turned you against me!”
“What happened to her?” Christoph asked. Sparing a glance towards the elder sister, he moved to create distance between Diana and the others.
“You don’t remember?” Leila asked, raising an eyebrow before her face hardened in disgust. “What a mess.”
“Christoph?” Emilia’s voice floated over the sounds of the panicked adventurers in the distance, and he shuddered at the familiar call. “Come back to the village with me. I promise I’ll take care of you. I promise I won’t let you die.”
“I don’t…” Christoph stepped away from the sisters, blocking their path as Diana made her escape. “I can’t go back.”
“That’s too bad,” Leila said as she advanced towards him. “We’d never seen anything like that man’s powers. Being able to reach into someone’s mind and rearrange their thoughts… Bastias was able to correct the changes, of course, but our god’s touch holds an influence of its own. I doubt she cares much about your feelings at the moment.”
“You belong to me,” Emilia said, drawing near. “Body and soul.”
“Liam got to her?” Christoph asked, drawing his sword. “You couldn’t stop him?”
“What are you talking about?” Leila asked, cocking her head to the side as her ears flickered upright. “You helped him do it, remember? You and the elf bitch both.”
“What-”
Christoph’s stunned reply was abruptly interrupted by a sudden crushing weight, a furred hand closing over his head with a flash of blinding light as Bastias descended upon the city.
“Give me a moment,” the god said, reaching an incorporeal hand into Christoph’s skull. “You’re going to need a clear head for this”
…
The plants glowed softly in the darkness, petals shining with a blue-tinged light that only Christoph could see. Diana was running ahead, and his feet crunched over the field of flowers as he chased after her. They hadn’t spoken since Liam had woken them, but even so they both knew they had to flee this place. Christoph brushed past a dozen roses with each step, their blue glows fading to leave a pitch-black trail in his wake.
“Christoph!” Emilia’s voice called out to him from within the darkness, but he ignored her anxious cries. Liam was there. Liam would stop her.
“Christoph!” Her voice was closer now, and he pushed himself to his limits, sprinting faster over the uneven forest floor. Up ahead, he saw Diana’s mana signature dim as she rounded one of the forest’s gigantic trees.
“Christoph, please wait!” Speeding ahead, the beast-woman came to a halt in front of him, her chest heaving with each gasped breath. “Please don’t go.”
“I have to leave,” Christoph replied. He had to go, there was somewhere else he had to be. He wasn’t sure where it was, but he knew it was waiting for him.
“Why?” Emilia asked. “Why can’t you stay? Is it about your soul? That was all lies, Diana was just lying to you.”
“I know that,” he said. For some reason, the worries he’d had back then seemed so far away. How long had it been since he’d escaped from the clan? “I just… I just have to go.”
“Please don’t.” The cat-girl was close enough to reach out a hand towards his chest, now, and he could see her face creasing with worry as the rhythmic thumping of footsteps approached. Liam was coming.
“I-” Christoph began.
“Stay with me.” Closing the distance, Emilia wrapped her arms around his body. Relaxing into her embrace, he was struck by a sudden feeling of unease. “Don’t leave me behind,” she said. “I’ll go with you if you want, but just-”
Emilia’s words left her as Diana appeared out of the darkness, slamming the beast-woman aside with a blast of magically charged air.
“Christoph!” Diana turned back towards him, pushing him away from his former mistress. “You need to go now. Please.”
“Diana?” Christoph tried to make sense of his feelings. Why did he need to leave? Why was Diana so insistent that they make it out of the forest so quickly? What had Liam done to them?
“Christoph, please-” Emilia braced herself as Diana sent another shockwave in her direction, sliding backwards through the field of flowers that Christoph had blackened with his presence. Reaching out a hand towards him, her fingers twitched anxiously.
“I…” Christoph took a single step towards her before he noticed the man standing nearby. “I can’t.”
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“You need to leave.” Liam said, glowing blue eyes boring into Christoph’s own. “Now.”
“Let’s go.” Diana tugged at Christoph’s arm, attempting to pull him away into the night. “Christoph, let’s go.”
“Christoph!” Emilia’s voice cracked as Ginger nullified the mana in her body, fists thumping into the earth as she fell to all fours. “Christoph, why-”
Liam’s spectral hand plunged into her back, pushing her to the ground as he struck a blow to her very soul.
“On second thought,” Liam said, “stay right there. I’ve got something I need you to help me with.”
“What did you do to me?” Christoph asked. “What-”
The strength left his body as Ginger held out her hands towards him, and Liam ‘s hand closed around his arm as he fell. Lowering him to the ground where Emilia lay, the world traveller’s hands blazed with energy as he knelt down between them. His head lolling to the side, Christoph wetness on his face as Emilia called his name. He was crying?
“I’m sorry about this,” Liam said as his hands closed over Christoph’s skull. “I didn’t realize you were so fond of the girl. This time, I’ll make sure you make the right decisions.”
…
“How hypocritical,” Bastias said, releasing his hold on Christoph’s head. “Manipulating others to do your bidding in the name of free choice.”
“Hmmm?” Bastias looked up from where she had been nuzzling at the nape of Leila’s neck. “Are you talking about Benvolio, or the brat from the other world?”
“Is it done?” Leila asked, face flushing as she extracted herself from the god’s insistent grasp.
“Let’s see…” Holding up the adventurer by his hair, Bastias gave him a small slap to the face. “You still afraid of fur, boy?”
“Calm down,” Bastias said, running her fingers through Gideon’s hair in mimicry of her male counterpart. “It’ll take him a while to get all of his memories back. For now, we should leave before-”
“Before what?” The unnatural pressure over the area redoubled as Benvolio appeared from thin air. “Before I notice that you’re trespassing on my lands?”
“Eh…” Bastias’ beautiful face wrinkled in displeasure at the smaller god’s words. “You’re always so mean, Manny.”
“Don’t call me that!” Benvolio stamped one of his feet, a crater appearing underneath his chain-clad form. “You have no right to be here! How dare you come into my house, calling me names, taking my people!”
“The beast clans belong to me anyway,” Bastias replied, dropping Christoph into a heap of crooked limbs that Emilia pounced upon almost immediately. Ignoring the fawning cries of their subject, Bastias rounded on the smaller deity with a lascivious lick of their lips. “Besides, I always make it up to you, don’t I?”
“Not this time,” Benvolio declared. “This time, I want one of your people as compensation!”
“You can have this one then,” Bastias said, gesturing to where Emilia was clinging to the half-conscious figure of her former slave. “Those two come as a set now, anyway.”
“I don’t want her.” Chains clinking, the small god pointed a finger towards where Leila was standing nearby. “I want the other one!”
“What for?” Bastias frowned down at the short figure before him. “You aren’t still looking for a princess so you can pretend to be a man are you?”
“Still?” Bastias tilted her head. “And why Benvolio? I think Manitas suits you much better.”
“Don’t say that!” Covering her ears, Manitas stamped her feet again, pummelling the ground and shifting further into the crater she created. Lifting a chain-covered hand, the small deity levelled a punch towards the dual bodies of the beast god. Grinning at Manitas’ actions, Bastias moved to deflect the blow. There was a flash of energy, and a large portion of the city’s east was reduced to rubble.
…
The fallen pillar that Christoph was sitting on had once held up the entrance to the guild building itself. He could see the remains of the magnificently decorated ceiling nearby, and the cracking rumbles of the gods still echoed in the distance. Their fight had long since spilled out over the city walls and onto the plains, but the brief brawl through the city center had destroyed so much in so little time.
“Truly awe-inspiring, isn’t it?” Lucius asked, appearing from around the corner of a half-ruined brick building. “The strength of the gods.”
“Where have you been?” Christoph asked, looking up from where Emilia had fallen asleep in his lap. The poor girl had been driven nearly insane by her desire to be with him, Bastias’ touch serving only to amplify her inner wants. The beast god truly was the deity of desire. Even their restoration of Christoph’s memories had focused upon his more intimate moments with Emilia, his childhood memories still distant and hazy “I’m not in any mood to fight right now.”
“I was waiting for Lord Leila to leave,” the high-schooler replied. “She’s not someone we can easily deal with if things go sour.”
“What do you want then?” Christoph asked. Leila and Gideon had left even while Bastias and Manitas had still been fighting nearby, heading back to the village now that their business was done. Of Diana, there was no sign. Christoph’s feelings of companionship had lessened with the removal of Liam’s alterations, but he still wondered where the elf might be going.
“I think I’ve figured out why you were sent to this place,” Lucius said. Sitting down, he held up a hand to stop Cliff and Sierra as they approached. “Don’t you want to know?”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Christoph replied, eying the siblings warily. “The last time someone told me they had figured that out, he ended up wiping my memories and giving me Emiliaphobia.”
“The church prayed for one hundred days before we appeared,” Lucius said. “Can you even imagine the amount of mana that went into those spells? The collective energies of the entire kingdom’s priests over those hundred days, just to summon four people from the other side. They weren’t even trying to summon us in the first place. They were trying to contact their god. They reached out to their god, and here we are. Why did they need to do that? The other gods live among their people as rulers. Why were we sent here by lord Progress? What was the point?”
“I’m not sure I care any more,” Christoph said. “What’s your point?”
“Did you know that the other races don’t consider the human god to be real?” Lucius asked, adjusting his spectacles with a glint of sunlight. “Do you want to know why? It’s because Progress isn’t here. He isn’t here at all, he’s back in the world we came from.”
“You think we were sent here to prepare for his arrival?” Christoph asked, stroking at Emilia’s hair as she slept. “Isn’t that just a wild guess?”
“I don’t think we were sent here to prepare for him,” Lucius replied. ” I think we were sent here to summon him. Think. In order to open the path, we need mana and knowledge. Liam and I are the knowledge, and you, you could be the mana if only-”
Christoph burst into laughter, throwing his head back as he roared. Slipping out from under Emilia’s head, he rose from the fallen pillar, standing over the young saint before him. Cliff and Sierra made to move from the side, but Lucius stopped them once again.
“You expect me to help you?” Christoph asked. “What’s to stop me from killing you right now, after everything you’ve done?”
“Look around you,” Lucius said. “Humanity is alone in this world with no god to protect them. We need Progress in order to survive.”
“I was born during one of Progress’ games,” Christoph replied. “My mother was a champion of some other god, and she slaughtered dozens of innocent women in the name of her work. She patched up the bodies with her machines, and I spent my childhood surrounded by walking corpses for toys.”
Christoph leaned over the smaller man, fists clenching as he continued. “When I was still too young to speak properly, your god sent his people to murder my entire family. I spent the next eighteen years rotting in my mother’s lab, with nobody but her dolls to keep me company. My father didn’t even know I existed until then. She’d kept me well hidden from the outside world. I left the lab to find him living happily ever after with his new family, with his new wife. His new wife, who just so happened to be one of your god’s champions. And now, just when I’m starting to live my own life, your god picks me up and throws me into this world, where his church tries to kill me at every chance they get. And you dare to sit here and ask for my help?”
“Lord Progress does not control his-”
“Don’t fuck with me!” Christoph’s roar drowned out the rest of Lucius’ reply, startling Emilia awake beside him. “I’ll gather your mana,” he said, words hissing out between his clenched jaws. “I’ll go out and slay your dragons, I’ll fight your monsters and gather your mana, and when you find some way to bring your god into this world, I’ll destroy him too.”