Solomon is woken up by Grayson after having a surprisingly good night’s sleep. The lack of a dark figure chasing her in her dreams certainly made it better, she can only imagine how well she’ll sleep once she’s home.
“Alright already…” She says, sitting up in the bed. “I’m awake, what is it?”
“Solomon, it’s close to noon.” The goat states. “You’ve already slept through breakfast.” The cat’s eyes widen as checks her watch to confirm. “Slept a little too well…” She’s heard about how some cats can sleep for up to fourteen hours a day or even longer, but she never could imagine doing that herself.
She quickly gets out of bed and follows the goat through the halls of the castle.
“By the way, the showers are cleaned every single day. Sometimes twice.” Grayson informs the cat. “The main halls were cleaned overnight to not bother people during the day.” Solomon’s almost impressed by the lengths the fox goes to keep the castle clean. She takes out the map, her eyes are drawn to the lounges.
“Why don’t we go there?” She shows the map to the goat, holding a finger over where the lounges are.
“It’s nothing special, really.” Says Grayson after glancing at the map. “But it’s about the best place if you want to get to know some people here.” Solomon considers that. It sounds like the opposite of what she wants to do, she has no interest in forming any kind of bond with these people. Not after seeing them as an angry mob.
“Sheila…” Her mind wanders to the lioness. “I’ll make this right. Just you wait.” In reality, she owes nothing to her or the organisation she’s with, but she still feels like she can’t just leave her in a place like this.
“Yeah, let’s not go there then.” She says, looking down at the map. Grayson stops to answer a question asked by another cultist as Solomon walks on, oblivious. All of a sudden, she bumps into Wraps, who she didn’t even notice.
“I’m sorry!” She exclaims, looking up at the taller person. Their eyes may be covered, but she can tell they’re looking straight at her. After a short pause, they walk on without a word. “Can you even speak?” She views this person the worst in the castle for one reason: she has no idea who it is or what their motives are. She can tell quite easily all of that when it comes to Luxor, but Wraps on the other hand… They could be here for any reason. She briefly considers just asking them directly, but that thought is quickly discarded.
She takes a look at the map again, only for a few seconds before turning back to Grayson, who is still talking to that one person. Wraps is nowhere to be seen now, which Solomon finds quite concerning. She waits for the goat to finish the conversation, which was apparently about the whereabouts of a broom. The two then agree to go to the library, as it’s a place Solomon is already familiar and somewhat comfortable with.
There are even more people at the library than there were the day before, about half of the entire cult from what Solomon can tell. Each desk and chair is occupied, with the exception of the bean bags once again. They haven’t even been moved from the way she left them. Out of curiosity Solomon takes one of the few books labelled as “Truth”. The cover of it is completely white.
“I don’t think you’ll like that one.” Grayson remarks. Now the cat is even more intrigued.
She opens the book on the first page. She can tell that it was all written in upper case with a typewriter, reading the following: “I WAS CHOSEN BY A HIGHER POWER TO BE YOUR GOD. YOUR BELIEF IN ME IS JUSTIFIED. NOW HARK, FOR YOU SHALL KNOW THE TALE OF A TRUE GOD IN THIS REALM. ONE THAT OF POWER, LIGHT, AND THE DEATH OF BLASPHEMERS.” Solomon closes the book and puts it back, feeling like she has read enough. That’s one tale that can wait, in her opinion, doubting that it’s even true in the first place, as it’s definitely written by Luxor.
“Told you.” The goat says with a smile, crossing his arms.
“Grayson!” Says a coyote as he rushes over to the goat, which seems to annoy the people trying to read.
“Yes?” Grayson turns to face him with a mix of confusion and slight fear in his expression.
“His Radiance requests an audience with you.” The coyote states as he grabs the goat by the wrist, practically dragging him out of the library. He gives Solomon a reassuring look as he leaves.
She nods and smiles at him.
“What could he possibly want from him? I hope he’ll be safe.” She turns to have a look through the books that are not labelled as “Truth”. She finds a surprising number of romance novels, none of which actually interest her, Genesis finds them even less noteworthy, apparently. She decides to just go sit down at the bean bag corner and talk to the ancient feline. She’d much rather talk to him than any cultist, as long as he doesn’t have another outburst.
She sits down on the stack of bean bags and takes out her notebook, looking down at her hands.
“How do you think I can get that bat to charge my phone?” She asks, putting one hand on her pocket, touching the phone so he knows what she means. She lets him take over, a hand over the phone. He goes to write right after.
“I presume these devices need the power of lightning to function?”
“That’s one way to describe it, yes.” She looks around as he uses her hand to write and sees the electric bat enter the library. He spots her after a quick look around and heads in her direction. “Terrific.”
She interrupts Genesis and puts away the notebook.
“Solomon!” He says jovially with outstretched arms. The cat rolls her eyes. Fulmine goes to sit down on a bean bag, only to sink into it, almost falling off of it. “I can really see why people don’t use these.”
“What is it?” She asks, smiling at what just happened.
“Just thought I’d check on you.” He chuckles as he puts his hands behind his head, acting as if that’s exactly what he intended to do all along. “A small feline such as yourself in such a place… Don’t you want someone strong by your side?” He asks, his eyes meeting hers. Solomon can hear a touch of Italian in his accent.
Genesis feels quite annoyed at his statement. “Oh, if only you knew. You wouldn’t be saying that then.”
“I can handle myself.” She states, showing off her markings. “These hands are acidic.” The bat looks delightfully surprised.
“Well, aren’t you scary.” He remarks with a smirk, which Solomon doesn’t like. At all. “Let me show you something!” He sits up as best as he can on the bean bag. Solomon rolls her eyes again.
“Get on with it.” She says dismissively.
The bat powers up his magic and puts the tips of his index fingers and thumbs together, forming a triangle. Solomon raises an eyebrow at this. “What is he up to now?”
As electricity jumps around his arms, he pulls his hands apart, leaving the shape of a triangle floating in the air, tethered to his hands by arcs. Solomon can’t help but feel a little admiration, which she shows in her expression.
“Not bad.” She says, albeit in a dismissive tone.
“I can do other shapes.” Fulmine shifts his fingers, the triangle turns into a circle, then a square. Solomon doesn’t feel too impressed anymore. He then shifts his fingers one more time, the square turning into the shape of a heart, which catches her off guard. The bat smiles and winks at her before powering down his magic. Solomon feels her hands tingle.
“Pretty nice trick, now watch this!” Excited to see what Genesis came up with this time, she lets him take over. He makes her hand into a fist, holds it out, and to her surprise, raises a middle finger. She feels tremendous joy from Genesis as the bat’s smile fades a little. “How does he even know what that means?”
“Tough crowd, eh?” He remarks, crossing his arms. Solomon puts her hands in her pockets, she is certain that if he could, Genesis would still be laughing, judging by how emotions.
“I also don’t believe you answered my question.” Says Solomon. “What brought you to this society then?”
“I had some heart problems, heard I could have it fixed easily here. Came for the healing, stayed for the ladies.” Fulmine says with a laugh.
Solomon is about to comment on his behaviour when the lanterns start to shine bright, just like they did when she climbed into that bastion. The people begin to leave the library without a word.
“Oh, you do not want to miss this.” The bat says as he stands up. “Come, it’ll be in the hall.” He gestures to her to follow.
“What’ll be in the-” She begins to say.
“Just be there, or Our Lord will be angry with you.” He says and smiles cordially. “And you don’t want that, I tell you.”
Solomon gives in and follows him.
“Don’t want to get lost now!” He remarks, holding out a hand, expecting her to take it.
“I have a map, you know.” She retorts, briefly taking it out of her pocket. Fulmine shrugs as if to say “your loss”.
The two of them walk side by side all the way to the main hall, the tables have been pushed to the sides to make more room for the large gathering of people, it feels like there’s even more than Solomon saw before. Luxor is nowhere to be seen.
“Fulmine!” A familiar voice shouts. They look in the direction to see an upset-looking Haemon heading towards them. Solomon is somewhat relieved to see that he isn’t so mad at her.
“Could you please show me some respect…” Says the sanguine bat. “And not do your antics with the woman who almost killed me?”
Said woman tries her best to hide her smile.
“Give me a break, Haemon.” Fulmine says with a slight frown. “I made an exception with your sister, who this kitty isn’t.”
Haemon grabs him by the collar and drags him away into the mass of people, muttering under his breath. Fulmine looks back and winks at Solomon. “These people, I swear…” Genesis apparently finds what just happened entertaining.
She looks down at the gathering and heads inside as well, not sure what to expect. She spots Grayson at the other side of the hall and heads towards him, only for the entire hall to turn dead silent, everyone looking up at the catwalk. It has no barrier to protect from falling down. Upon the catwalk stands the white fox, not saying anything. Rather, he takes off his robe and walks to the edge. “What is he doing?”
He holds his arms apart, palms facing up, and closes his eyes, so do the people in the hall. Some only open their robes, others take it off entirely. The fox then begins to shine, illuminating the entire hall. Solomon feels terribly confused at first, but understands it all when the light hits her. She opens her robe to take in the light, spreading her arms and closing her eyes as well. And his light… His light is utter bliss, the purest form of happiness. As if all the evils of the world are nothing but an illusion, the feeling of complete perfection courses through Solomon’s body. This light, HIS light… It is enthralling, overwhelming, entirely ineffable. Solomon feels like she could take in this light forever, such a beautiful feeling should be experienced by everyone, not just some cult in a castle… But she cares not for that. She is here to experience it, and it is the epitome of euphoria.
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And that’s when she feels a hand slap her across the face. She opens her eyes to look who dared to interrupt her happiness, but no one even seems to have taken notice of it. She feels her hands tingle, if Genesis could speak, she is sure he would be shouting. “Did he do it? But I didn’t let him take over… Was I so out of it?” She lets him take over her hands. He closes her robes and puts her hood on to shield her from the light. He then tries to get her to turn around, which she obliges. “That feeling of bliss… Why doesn’t he want me to experience it?” She spots three of the bats, all standing with outstretched arms. Wraps is nowhere to be seen.
She stands and waits there, the temptation to take in his light growing greater and greater. After more than a few minutes, she sees that his light is no longer shining, the lanterns also return to their original brightness. She turns around, pretending to have taken in his light. The people around her come to and those who shed their robes put it back on. So does the fox before leaving the catwalk through a door entirely too short for him to go through without bending down. Solomon immediately heads to Grayson as the majority of the crowd leaves.
“What was that?” She asks, feeling a bit panicked.
“Amazing isn’t it? To think that he can do that…” Solomon gently shakes the goat, his expression turns surprised.
“Grayson, explain to me right now what that was. Why didn’t you tell me about it?” She demands, scowling at him.
“He does this every day at noon. I was going to tell you at the library when I was called.” He responds, gesturing for her to keep quiet.
“Do you have any idea how I felt when I saw these people do… That?” She says, louder than the goat would like. “What was that?”
Grayson looks more and more panicked.
“Solomon, this really isn’t the time…” He says in a fearful tone, looking at her. No… Looking past her.
Just then, Solomon feels a hand touch her shoulder. A white hand. She whips around and comes face to face with Luxor, who has a blank expression. She immediately quiets down.
“I’m sorry, Radiant…” She begins.
“It is understandable to have questions. You are new here, after all.” The fox says with a smile, then looks at Grayson. “I expected you to have told her already, but I do not fault you for your mistake. She shall get to know about it, after all.”
Solomon then, almost on instinct, takes the fox’s hand in hers, looking into his white, glowing eyes.
“Please, Radiant One… Clear up my confusion.” She says in a lowly voice, which she hopes sounds convincing enough.
“Of course.” Luxor responds, leading her around the hall by the hand as he explains.
“This is my gift for my believers. I started with giving them only one minute of my light. Then one more for every piece of stolen light we reclaimed. Now, my believers receive eight minutes of my pristine light every day.” People have gathered around them, eager to hear his voice. “It is my way of repaying their loyalty to me.” He looks down at Solomon and crouches down to be on her level. “Does that explain your question?”
Solomon nods in acceptance.
“I apologise for my outburst, My Lord.” She says, trying to look and sound as humble as she can.
The fox smiles and spreads his arms, expecting an embrace, which Solomon gives him. She then steps away from him as many others go to embrace their God. “Fake or not, he knows how to influence people. Eight marks of light… No wonder his mind is the way it is. If Genesis doesn’t want me to accept this “gift” of his, I won’t.”
As Solomon goes to leave, she spots the bat with the silver and grey markings. Now that she takes a good look at her, she resembles Haemon in some ways. Same nose and ear size, build… She has to be his sister, now that she knows that he has one.
The bat then quickly glances at her, which causes Solomon to look away. In her peripheral, she sees her approach.
“What are you looking at?” The bat asks in a rather unfriendly tone.
“I was just wondering…” Solomon says, facing her. “Are you Haemon’s sister?” She asks, trying not to look scared.
“I am. What of it?” She responds, tilting her head. Solomon can’t help but look at the bat’s markings.
“What’s your name?” She asks in the most respectful voice she can manage.
“I’m not telling YOU of all people! You almost killed my brother!” The bat sounds insulted by the mere thought of it.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” Solomon says indignantly. “The next time I get stabbed, I’ll say “Please and thank you” and ask for another!”
The bat seems like she wants to say something, but stops herself from doing so as she turns to leave. The cat wonders what those markings could be when put together.
“Genesis.” Solomon mutters. “What do those combine into?” She asks quietly as she takes out her notebook. Genesis writes many symbols, which turn into one word made up of only four letters: rust. Evidently, he did not have a simple word for it.
“Rust? Metal and wind… Well then.” A thought lingers in her mind, a shot in the dark, but she feels like she has to try.
“Rufina?” She asks after taking a few steps to follow the bat. She stops in her tracks and looks back at Solomon in complete bewilderment.
“How did you…” She begins to say before she quickly shakes her head. “I need to talk to you. In private.” She gestures to her to follow. “So this is Rufina… If that really is rust, then no wonder it’s a sore spot for Ludwig.’
Solomon is led to one of the towers, or “Study Rooms” as they are labelled on the map, feeling a sense of apprehension from Genesis. Rufina eyes her suspiciously along the way. When they arrive there, the bat opens the door and checks inside. She then gestures to her to come in.
As she enters, the door behind her is closed, followed by Rufina grabbing her by the throat and slamming her against the door.
“He sent you after me, didn’t he?” The bat demands, with an outraged look in her eyes.
“What do you… Mean?” Solomon manages to say with great effort, grasping at the bat’s hand. She could use her magic on her, but it would cause her more trouble than good in the end, it most likely wouldn’t exactly convince Rufina that she’s not here for her.
“Don’t act like you don’t know!” Rufina’s grip tightens. “That would-be heap of scrap sent you to take me and my brother out!” Solomon wants to answer, but can’t say a single word because of her grasp. Her vision is getting blurry. She needs help, his help.
She lets Genesis take over, who punches the bat in the face immediately, catching not just Rufina, but Solomon by surprise as well.
“Calm down!” She yells, holding out her hands threateningly. “Are you talking about Ludwig?”
“I knew it!” Rufina shouts, baring her claws. “If Our Lord learns what you are… You’re finished, Acid One.” She doesn’t even look surprised about the fact that The System acquired such a power.
“You were with them once, weren’t you?” Solomon asks, her mind racing. “Ludwig is True Metal, and you’re rust… No doubt he had problems with that.”
“He was afraid!” Rufina exclaims, furious. “After we saw the life we could have, away from him and his monstrous, metal facility… He sent YOU!”
Solomon feels decidedly in the wrong, she may not have been told to take her and her brother out specifically, but if she had the lack of morals, those two would have been part of the death toll.
“Just listen to me!” Says Solomon, grabbing the bat by the shoulder as she tries to make a run for it. “Don’t you see? All it would take to kill you is to power up my acid.” Says the cat, trying her hardest to keep her at bay. “I’m not here to hurt you! I’m not here for any of you!”
Rufina seems to stop struggling and clams down slightly, although she does shove Solomon away.
“Fine, I’ll listen… But you better have a good explanation.”
Solomon recounts everything that has happened during her time at The System, including her plan to fake her death to escape, which didn’t go well at all. Rufina listens to her, but judging by her look, she isn’t convinced.
“So you were sent here… But now you want to leave so bad?” The bat says, incredulously. “And I’m supposed to believe that?”
Solomon sighs as an idea crosses her mind. “Look… I could give you protection from acid and fire.” She states, pulling on her robe. Genesis seems to understand the notion.
“Oh please.” Rufina rolls her eyes. “Such a thing doesn’t exist.” She then looks at Solomon, awestruck at the fact that the acid she produces from her hands is not burning through her robe. It falls to the floor and turns to a harmless, black liquid.
“That’s your robe. Of course it’s unaffected.” Says the bat, as if she’s starting to question if she’s right about the cat.
Annoyed, Solomon goes over to a desk and takes out the first thing she finds: a pencil. She infuses it in front of Rufina and then attempts to melt it, which doesn’t happen, of course. The bat looks like she’s having second thoughts on that offer.
“I understand how you feel, but trust me. I’m not here to hurt you. I just want Ludwig to believe I’m dead so I can leave. Otherwise, he’ll just try and find me again.” She takes a tentative step towards the bat, reaching for her shoulders. Rufina still looks unsure of whether or not she should trust her.
“You know what?” She says eventually. “Let’s see. But if you kill me… Haemon will inflict the pain you do to me tenfold.” She then allows her to touch her shoulder.
Genesis takes over, wasting no time with it. Her markings light up, which makes Rufina look quite nervous, but no acid comes out. It takes a few minutes, but once Rufina starts glowing green slightly, Genesis removes Solomon’s hands from the bat.
“We should be done…” She says, looking at her hands. Genesis gives her a thumbs up. “Yes. we are done.” Solomon adds. The bat doesn’t question that she apparently just talked to her hands.
“So? That’s it?” Rufina questions.
“Yes. Let me show you.” She then puts one hand on her shoulder and powers up her magic. The acid safely rolls down the bat’s arm, just like how it would off of her own. “Amazing… Genesis, you are truly something else.” She may not have liked his attitude at first, but she trusts the ancient scholar more and more.
One drop of acid lands on her shirt and leaves a burn mark, which startles them both.
“Sorry!” Solomon apologises. “I should have done it to your clothes as well…”
Rufina hardly seems to mind as she looks at herself. Nothing changed about her appearance, the green glow is gone as well.
“So you are telling the truth…” She steps towards one of the desks, pulls out a chair and sits down. “But tell me, why don’t you stay? It’s a simple, good life here, as long as you worship.”
Solomon sits down on a desk close to Rufina. Now she pities the bat, Luxor’s ways to keep his worshippers are clearly working on her.
“I want a normal life. This is a cult. You are worshipping a madman. Do you really, truly believe that he’s a God?” She questions in a quiet voice to make sure only the bat hears it.
“You are marked by magic, I doubt you can live a normal life anyway.” Rufina remarks, which doesn’t make Solomon feel any better. Her expression turns rather sombre. “As for him being a God… Of course I don’t believe that.” She pauses, Solomon feels more than a little taken aback by what she said.
“But he might as well be a God for us.” She continues. “When Haemon and I were members of Ludwig’s overgrown mafia, I had…” She sighs and shakes her head. “Because of my power of rust, I kept the old man in check, making sure that he doesn’t do anything drastic. However… Let’s just say that I had a terrible illness. Ludwig couldn’t care less about it, always finding an excuse to not have me treated. I refused to give up my power. I knew, I just knew that it would go straight to one of his puppets who wouldn’t do anything about it. Haemon had enough one day, so he took me and we left. We went to hospitals, but when they saw my markings, I was refused treatment. I only hope that he no longer has that deal with the medical field…”
Solomon looks at her with pity as she recounts her experience. “That’s terrible…”
“After that, Haemon met Fulmine. Even then, he was a sleazy womaniser and every time he spoke I wished I was deaf, but he and my brother hit it off. After Fulmine was told about my condition, he took us here. Luxor gave us a simple offer: stay here and worship him as a God, and I would not only be cured, but we would also be allowed all of his society’s benefits. It was an easy choice after what we went through.”
Solomon can hardly believe what Rufina just said. Judging by his anger, Genesis wouldn’t put it past Ludwig to do that.
“I’m sorry you had to go through all of that.” She says with drooping ears.
“We’ve managed.” Says the bat. “Most of the society is here for similar reasons, Luxor promised to cure their illnesses in exchange for worship. Be it sight, hearing, broken or missing limbs, illnesses, he can heal just about anything. And this is as good as life has ever been for us. Sure, there’s the odd murder, but I would do much more for this life. And if you want out… I guess I’ll try to think of a way.”
Solomon’s ears perk up.
“Can’t say the same for the others though. My brother hates you like nothing else ever since you splashed him with your acid or whatever it was that you did to him.”
“I was defending myself!” Solomon speaks up, slightly annoyed.
“That doesn’t matter to him. You can be glad you didn’t do that to me, or you’d be dead already. Nothing you can do will change his mind.”
She opens the desk drawer and takes out a pencil to fiddle with.
“As for Fulmine… Well he has his eyes on you.”
Solomon rolls her eyes.
“I can tell…” She remarks with a frown.
“He’d rather not have his new desired consort just leave. I recommend you frighten him a little with that power of yours, that’ll get through his thick skull.”
Solomon is quite repulsed at the thought. Consort… She’d never stoop so low in her life. She also senses an indescribable awkwardness from Genesis.
“And what about…” She begins to say, wanting to ask about Wraps, but she suddenly hears rushing footsteps. They both look at the door as it swings open, revealing a bird with a hooked beak alongside two others who Solomon is pretty sure are canines.
“We heard the sounds of a fight.” The bird says in a concerned tone.
“Yes, we had a brief disagreement.” Rufina replies. “But it’s all good now.” She stands up. “In fact, we were about to leave.” She glances at Solomon with a trusting expression.
“That’s right.” Says the cat, playing along and standing up. One of the canines instinctively cleans up the black liquid on the floor.
Four of them leave the tower, one of the canines stays. “That’s one more possible ally then. Thank you, Rufina.”