22 Finding Evil 

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Bethen Burk, Grand Torturer of Palisade - Pain is primal, and often times, pulling out someone's nail isn't nearly as crippling as covering them in ants. Once they crawl into your lungs, you'll talk. They always do.

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If Solomon hadn’t warned us, Deluge and I would have crushed Abraham’s skull in our hands as if smashing a nut with an anvil. We’d have relished as his brain squeezed out from between our fingers, but that’s the monster in me speaking.

After gathering all this information, the sun settles in the horizon, so we all returned to Solomon’s quaint home. Within seconds after a divine dinner, Solomon slept in his room, snoring loud enough that his doorway rumbled. Joan and I entertained one another in the my room which hugged towards a corner of the house.

After the fun, we slept together before Deluge explored the city.

So I did, yet midnight hid more than few eyes waiting in the dark. After escaping the grasp of that insufferable woman, I skulked out towards the den, finding Sophia hunched over a table of stone as she researched the Donovan’s runes.

As I passed by, I said, “Avoid creating an abomination while I’m gone.”

She replied without glancing up, “Try being less of one when you get back.”

I grinned as I closed the door before burrowing under the wall guarding the palace. I hid in alleyways with a hood of hydra skin over my head as I saw the city. The Torches, lit with gemstones and souls, covered every corner. Much like Mareovosa, Plants of all sizes glowed and glimmered in the night. At one point, I viewed the city from atop a wall. Even I must admit, the strong stone and well cut wood of the housing meshed with the light in a sublime sight.

Like the memories of Jack’s mother, the city's aura melded into a fiery melody. Relentless and powerful, the bold sights crashed into the senses, overwhelming the quiet calm of night. Delicious as human flesh, I chomped and chewed into the sight with a ravenous hunger. By the time I walked through the entrance of Nelastra, I found myself sated and satisfied on the visual splendor.

But beauty can sustain for only so long, so after reaching outside the barrier, I maimed and devoured a horde of creatures before meeting with Aether and Razor under the outer wall. We hid under the first, just as before, though Razor fought of the mandibles and arms of many more insects than at Nern.

As I dug under the dirt towards the dim glow of the Alexandrite underneath, Aether’s muffled voice leaked past the ground,

“You may sleep now. I will let you do so.”

A loud popping sound echoed in the tiny opening before Razor snapped, “No, I may not. You’re ok with insects sucking on you. I can’t stand it. They’re filthy and vile and disturbing.”

I crashed through the ceiling as I said, “Try consuming a maggot or two. Their sweet and savoury, unlike the bitter decay of cockroaches.”

Razor smashed a centipede before saying, “Must we stay here for long? I’m already at my wit’s end.”

A wolfish smile fell on my face as I said, “I’m sure if you moved around more, they’d be less inclined on trying eating you.”

A worm ripped out of the dirt behind me before grabbed the mushy specimen and sucked out its insides. After I finished, Razor leaned on a hand as she said, “I can’t understand you, Deluge. You just...that was disgusting.”

I shrugged before saying, “It tasted like a blended mixture of meat and dirt. I’ve tasted worse.”

Aether leaned against the wall as he said, “Now that we are here, what are our plans?”

I glanced his way before I said, “Get the remnants then leave, though we must find them first.”

Razor floated towards me before she said, “Any details so far?”

With roots hanging from the roof, I leaned against a wall of the cavern before I said, “First we should find some means of entering through the barrier. I doubt crashing through it is an option, and they city has the resources needed for killing someone of Razor’s strength if you try barging through the entrance. I doubt they could scratch Aether, but he won’t kill anyone either.”

Aether placed a palm on the side of the wall towards the city as he said, “We could try finding an entrance beneath the city. They need air and water in there, like all living things.”

I squinted my eyes before nodding slowly as I said, “Of course. There must be an underground river or spring that feed the city its water. At one point, I neared the barrier. Air seeps in slowly.”

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Razor nodded before saying, “I can do the digging. Aether’s a tad heavy and clumsy for this task.”

Aether nodded as he said, “Yes I am.”

I chuckled before saying, “Well, since you’ve nothing else to whittle your time away with, what about mining for alexandrite? It may prove useful if we must store souls later, and it's something for you to spend your time on.”

Aether nodded before saying, “It is better than just idling here as I stare at this wall.”

I nodded before Razor said, “Sometimes it’s obvious that you were a tree.”

Aether turned towards her as he said, “I cannot be something I’m not.”

I raised an eyebrow as I said, “Do elaborate.”

“I am the soul of a tree given a mind. This body, this strength, everything is so unusual.”

Razor floated over towards him as she said, “But you’ve grown rather adept at handling your body. You haven’t broken anything since our journey even. Deluge struggles more than you.”

I nodded as I said, “I agree.”

Aether glanced down as he said, “I move with the least amount of strength possible, that is all. The precision of carving comes not from control, but from ease. It is like moving through water that stays frozen after you leave it.”

I walked over and crushed a beetle crawling on his back before eating its remains from my hand. Afterwards, I said, “I know you’ve lost much since turning into a golem, but do try to appreciate what you’ve gained.”

I slid my hand across Aether’s back, scooping of the beetle’s insides from him as I said, “Think of Jack for a moment. He had to deal with my own influences. He was terrified at first, but he eventually grew tired of being afraid. You too will grow tired of being morose.”

Aether glanced at the ceiling before he said, “I may need centuries before I move on. Tree’s move slower than creatures blessed with movement.”

Razor leaned on his back as her legs swam in the air as she said, “But you move faster than any of us now.”

I added, “It is fine to grieve, but grieve for others, not for yourself. It is sad and shameful.”

Aether nodded before standing as he said, “You are quite blunt Deluge.”

Razor floated over before saying, “Blunt as a boulder.”

I shrugged before I said, “And you are denser than lead, Aether. If I told you in less caustic terms, you’d never understand.”

He nodded before staring at me for a moment, his purple eyes complimenting the blue glow of his runes. The crags and metallic spines on his back added an ominous air to the gentle golem as he said, “You are right. I doubt I will ever understand what to with myself or how to feel, but I know what I want. I wish for Sophia’s safety and success, and I want to stop any other living creature from being forced into a cold, lifeless shell.”

Since his first outburst at the memory of the magician who trapped him, an inkling of anger seeps into his voice as he says, “It makes me wonder, why did you and Sophia enforce soulforging in Nern?”

I raised an eyebrow as I said, “Jack despised the concept of slavery, so he used the superior modelling of the Donovan’s golems for eliminating the practice.”

Razor inched back from Aether, her hands and tail shaking as he stepped towards me and said, “Tell me, is slavery worse than being trapped in immortal bondage?”

Without backing away, I said, “That is only you, friend. The other golems slowly radiate back into the earth. Your alexandrite holds without any imperfection, so you will be trapped forever.”

Aether clenched his hand, booming a wave of wind that blew my hair back before he leaned over me and said, “For the first time, I am angry at you.”

Razor squirmed in discomfort as I said, “Good. I prefer harsh acrimony over self pity. You feel that desire in your chest? Control it. Mold it into something with meaning.”

I tap the multi-faceted gem of alexandrite implanted into his chest as I said, “I could care less what drives you, but watching you slump over in self sympathy, it disgusts me.”

In a motion faster than my eyes could see, Aether backhanded my face, but the blow ripped my neck from body. A small slither of skin held my head as my heart pumped blood from my rended veins. Grabbing my hanging head, I pushed my skull back onto my shoulders as I said,

“You know, Sophia dealt with the same trials as you.”

Razor writhed besides the cavern’s edge as Aether steamed, “What do you mean?”

My wound regenerates as I said, “She lives in another body besides her own. Her soul was moved into a baby’s after she shattered her spine. Do you see her staring at walls, recollecting her past tragedies?”

Aether stepped back before I said, “No, you do not. She stands against her fate. She is powerless and feeble and inept, yet she stands tall. She overcame her suffering. She strangled her agony.”

Like acid melting a man’s face, my words corroded the air as I said, “You are powerful, irrepressible even, yet you do nothing. Sophia holds only the might of her mind, yet she pushes her limits. From what I’ve seen, you have no limits, but they are something we will never see, will we? You will just stay comfortable, doing as little as possible despite your limitless potential.”

Aether’s hand loosened before I turned back towards the entrance I carved in the cavern. Turning my eyes back towards Razor, I said, “Excuse my harsh language, would you? ”

Her sleek hand twitched before I left them both in silence. I am not one for patience nor subtlety. I am brutal and brusque and carnal, but anyone I speak with will not hear the blighted muffling of a mask. They will hear Deluge. They will hear me.

Jack chided me once he awakened after I explained the events, but I doubted Jack’s preceding apology would dry out the seeds I’ve planted in Aether’s mind. I believed that Aether’s sadness generated from his lack of purpose. He held all this potential in his hands, but by never using that latent power, he eventually dreaded life. He drifted through his existence. I wanted my antagonization to become a catalyst for his growth.

In the end, it did.