31: Culling and socializing
There were no lessons on the 7th day, because no-one would be able to focus. Too many would be eager to leave for the town, or to kill.
The group came across Sandra and her friends before they were about to leave, but Garion had an idea.
“Sandra, how about you introduce us to your friends?”
Sandra frowned. “You are up to something. What is it?”
Garion nodded, dead serious. “I don’t want you to go to town. I expect there are going to be a lot of deaths, and you are not the kind of person who would hang out with people violent enough to protect you. I do not want you to die!”
“What do you care? You have caused me nothing but problems, and now you fake kindness!”
Garion told her, “Listen! I have never deliberately caused you problems! I just don’t want you to die!”
Harlen told them, “How about we go to the Main Hall, and see how fast the gems appear? That should tell you how deadly things are. We were heading there ourselves.”
Sandra’s group was a bit hesitant, but Garion told them, “You can leave any time you want. Would it hurt you to just stay back a bit?”
They reluctantly agreed.
The hall had other people there, and beach chairs were set up.
Already there were over 20 gems up there. As they watched another 5 joined.
Sandra’s group was shocked.
Garion nodded. “I’m glad we stayed behind.”
Sandra asked “How could this happen?”
Drenak frowned. “Felinia and Gallen. They test the students. Either you survive by being smart enough to avoid being killed, or you are tough enough.”
Sandra was still shocked. “But even with that, how can all these deaths occur so quickly. It’s not even 7 in the morning yet!”
Drenak just shook his head sadly. “That means people have had 7 hours to set up traps and ambushes. They could leave at midnight.”
“Why don’t people work together to stop this?”
Drenak sighed. “You don’t get it. You are used to people abiding rules and violence being limited. This is a warning to wake up! You can’t afford to be like that out there. Felinia can’t afford to let her potential underlings be like that. You need a way to protect yourself. By giving us this place, we can actually stay safe while people learn it.”
“But all those dead!”
Even as she said this the number of gems almost doubled.
Drenak simply told her “Yes. And how many are killers hunting each other as competition? How many were killed by people defending themselves? How many were killed by those empowered people living in the town? My advice is to stay in the school grounds until the first wave of death ends and to train!”
While watching the gems, Drenak asked, “I don’t think you have introduced you friends, Sandra.”
She hesitated and pointed to the morbidly obese woman, “This is Zoe.” A flamboyantly gay man was identified as Samuel. A transgender person was called Jackie. An Asian woman was called Lisa. Seems were parents were Asian, but she wasn’t. An angry looking black man was called Frank.
It seems they were all trying to be leaders of different clubs dedicated to helping their own people, and Sandra was trying to unite them to overthrow the ruling elitist system.
Garion frowned. “What system?”
Sandra started going off “The Whit Cis male hetro-centric capitalist patriarchy?”
Garion group was confused, and Garion said “I have no idea what any of that means.”
“It is the system the ruling elites have created to oppress minorities!”
Jane frowned. “But here the ruling elite are a woman and a gender fluid supposed guy. Felinia isn’t even fully human. Those two are the ruling elite, as far as I can tell.”
Sandra’s group was speechless.
Sandra managed to gasp out “But what about the rest of the world?”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Jane shrugged. “Each place can make its own government, as far as I can tell. Felinia doesn’t care about that, or more precisely, I don’t think she is officially allowed to get involved in it.”
“What do you mean? Surely she can do something to help the oppressed. She said that her Domain was Outcasts, so this puts minorities in her Domain!”
Harlen told her “I think you misunderstand. Drenak and I grew up learning about Domains, so we might be able to help. Outside of the multiverse she has Outcasts as her Domain. However, here she has a responsibility that prevents her favoring any group. She is not allowed to get involved, directly. What she can do is recruit people who can take care of them as their Deities, and teach them what is needed to succeed.”
“But surely being in charge means she can decide what happens?”
Drenak frowned. “Does a judge or police officer have much say in what laws are enforced, or make up the laws as they desire? She must be an impartial judge and enforce her rules fairly for all. To favor one group of mortals and aid them would throw her neutrality into dispute. I guess many others will learn this facet of their duties to their horror.”
Frank growled out “So Felinia and Gallen won’t help the black people?”
Drenak told him “She will give them the same options as any other group has. What more can you ask for?”
“She should be helping the oppressed!”
“She is by giving them this chance.”
Jane had been watching the gems and called out “Look up people!”
Everyone looked up, and hundreds of Gems appeared all at once. As a guess there could even be a thousand in that single spurt!”
People staggered and one said “So many dead!”
Drenak was grim. “I know a lot about battles and mass slaughters. Often it is the wounds and sickness that kill, not the fighting. There are going to be maimed survivors. Others will be scared in mind because I’m willing to bet a lot that there is going to be rape, and not just of females either.”
He turned back to Frank and told him “Many people here don’t give a fuck about anything regarding others, except how they can use them, or if they are a threat. You want to help oppressed people, I wish you well. Just remember that Felinia and Gallen seem to have a sick sense of humor and can assign where we get sent. It is entirely possibly they will put you as a starting deity for a white tribe of people without black people anywhere nearby. It might even be a good idea.”
“Why would that be a good idea? It’s horrible and wrong!”
“Because if you were in charge of a black people near a white tribe you could be trying to cause problems for the white tribe’s Deities. Have you even thought about what Domain you will try for?”
“What? No. Why?
“Because it shapes a lot of things.”
Jane hesitated, but spoke up, “You could be for ethnic pride and unity. Helping your followers unite and grow stronger while having pride in themselves. Part of the doctrine would be to stop other races oppressing yours or seeking to control them.”
Frank nodded, but Jane added after the nodding “And a Nazi spokesman could do the same for a white tribe.”
Frank was stunned.
Garion told him “Listen, you need to plan for the future, including when Pantheons merge. If you want to try being a Deity for something that helps black people, go ahead. We aren’t going to stop you. Just remember that if you pick something that Felinia and Gallen consider silly, they could make an example of you, and have fun doing so!”
He looked at the rest of Sandra’s group. “All of you need to remember this!”
Sandra was getting angry, and Drenak asked “Why the anger?”
Jane got an idea. “It’s her Power! It has to be! She draws strength from followers!”
Everyone looked at Sandra. Eventually she told them “Gestalt Collectivity. The more followers I have, the more people are likely to listen to my arguments and think about them.”
Garion whistled. “Damn! That is impressive. Dangerous as anything in the wrong hands. You have to be careful and think about things properly, or you could mess things up for everyone.”
Drenak asked “What Domain do you seek?”
“I seek to make things fair for everyone, and prevent future injustices.”
Drenak nodded. “Fairness is a large Domain, but a nice one. Overlaps with Justice a fair bit as well. However, I doubt you are the kind of person who is willing to sit down and look over the minute details of a matter in dusty tomes in order to discover the root of a problem. You are the kind of person who has to go out and act, and encourage others to act as well. You have to be careful of mob mentalities when you do this. Consider your methods in details.”
The other people were asked what they sort, and they all sort different things. Sandra offer to help them by using intersectionality to recruit people for the cause of social justice.
Jane shook her head. “She planned to use her power to get people to join, using you and your followers to boost her. Even without her power that is how it normally works.”
Garion said “I wonder how many of your club members and potential recruits are being killed right now.”
By lunch time students were making their way back. Many were bloodstained, and there were quite a few injuries. There were now thousands of gems on the ceiling.
Shade emerged from the shadows just inside the school grounds and whistled as she walked back to the dorms, tossing a power glove into the air and catching it as she went. From the dripping blood the hand was still inside. She also had other items people had on them before. Some still had body parts attached to them.
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Felinia seemed depressed and asked Gallen “How bad was the slaughter?”
Gallen thought about it. “We lost almost 3 thousand students to death. Roughly another thousand are seriously injured, or seriously traumatized. The locals on the other hand, were trained and prepared. We only lost around 600 of them.
“On a side note, Shade was active, and she specifically targeted a few people.”
“Really? Who?”
“Rapists and those who had been openly condoning slavery, discrimination and other things, including murdering innocents. She is getting used to using Shadow walking to assassinate people.”
“Anything else of interest?”
“Yes. Various students have kept body parts and items from victims, including Shade. I suspect those who kept body parts plan to use them to draw powers and Domains from them. Various kills were made by the victim being eaten alive, or drained by others.”
“Did anyone get a following among the locals?”
“Yes. Those who protected the locals have gotten their support. Most of them are those who serve the expected Domains. However, Shade has some fans among the more rogue like locals who admire her abilities, and the people she saved from rape. On a side note, no-one reached the Cat Shack, but a group of thugs tried to harm Bakat, thinking she was a harmless old cat lady. Their corpses are being used as cat food. Well, I presume they are corpses by now. You know how she is just as well as I do. She is getting a lot of respect from the locals.”
Felinia just shook her head