Chapter Seventy-Eight: Jamie Run 2 part 3
Malice was still a belligerent, howling mess as I rushed down the hallway. I did my best to ignore him, but you would think I had murdered a kitten with how upset he was.
[But you promised me all of the loot. Jamie…. Nooooo, please go back. I’ll do anything!]
“Rellum, save me,” I sighed, staring up at him. “Are you really not going to let this go?”
[You promised me all of the loot. Are you really going back to your word? What a good queen you are. Reliable. Trustworthy.] He said this with a mocking tone, which just made me want to continue ignoring him.
“I’m uncomfortable watching someone I love turn to dust.”
[Then close your eyes. I’m a completionist, and it's hard enough that you’re skipping rooms on me, but skipping actual loot, too? What did I do to get cursed with such a waste of a partner? Oh, woe is me!]
“Laying it on a little thick there, aren’t you?”
[Shame. Shame. Shaaaaame.]
This is getting me nowhere, and if it doesn’t stop soon, I'll kill myself just to end the stupidity.
I turned around.
“Fine.” Every fiber of my being was yelling at me not to do this. It felt like an even worse betrayal than killing her had been, but I just couldn’t deal with this guy.
What an absolute menace. That should have been his name, not Malice.
I opened the door to the previous room. The heavy wooden door creaked on its hinges, revealing a space filled with dust and cobwebs. The air was thick and musty, carrying the scent of forgotten memories and decay. A single, flickering candle cast eerie shadows across the worn stone walls. I stared long and hard at the Matron, my mind flashing back to the last hug she had given me, the morning, everything went wrong.
~Flashback~
The Matron was wearing the house uniform. A frilly black and gold maid's outfit covered every inch of her skin, exposing nothing and causing quite a bit of overheated maids. But it was what the King wanted and what the King got.
“Matron, I need to tell you something. But you can’t get mad.”
She eyed me warily, uncertain. The sunlight streaming through the tall windows highlighted the fine lines of worry etched on her face. But I stood my ground.
“I think I’ve fallen in love.”
“Oh, oh no. Is this with that pauper boy you have been meeting with?”
My eyes widened.
How does she know about that?
“The palace employs mind mages. You think there are any secrets here?”
“That doesn’t matter; I am the Queen. My word is law.”
“Tell that to your father then, young lady, and act your age. It is unbecoming of an adult to act the way that you do. Sneaking around with a pauper of all things. It’ll be the death of our country. What’s next? A commoner owning land? A nobleman working the fields?”
The room around us felt like it was closing in; the heavy drapes and ornate furniture suddenly felt like weights tying me down. Better a penniless pauper than the incestuous creeps Father insists I meet with.
“I am the queen. You will mind your tongue.”
She silenced herself, but I could see an unreleased rage simmering behind her eyes.
~Flashback~
I snapped back to the present, the cold reality of the room pressing down on me. The flickering candle seemed dimmer, casting longer shadows. The Matron’s figure was still, almost lifeless, like a statue trapped in time. The weight of my decision bore down on my shoulders, a tangible pressure that made it hard to breathe.
Alright, maybe I remembered her wrong. Had she really been that hateful, and had I really said that?
As I got closer to the Matron, I questioned my life choices—the decisions that had led me to this moment, about to kick the corpse of my Matron. For loot. Because a talking, floating crystal wouldn’t shut up. The once warm and comforting scent of lavender now mixed with the stench of decay, a cruel reminder of how far I had fallen.
If I was in Torment, I couldn’t imagine the punishment being any worse.
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I kicked her corpse. She vanished in a poof of ash and decay, the air around me thickening with the residue of her disintegration.
[Congratulations. You have received the Matron’s key. You now have access to all locked doors in the palace.]
I blinked away the tears that had formed and laughed bitterly. Oh yeah, sure. She had a key to every room. Now, no excuse could get me out of helping Malice achieve his goal of looting everything. The amount of power he held over me was terrifying.
There were five doors down that hallway; I ended up looting 200 gold and a copper sword and shield. The shield was adorned with intricate engravings of ancient battles and added a single point of defense. I equipped it and got on with the show. Now that we had the key, I took us back to the original hallway, netting us a couple more weapons. Malice was quiet, which was odd, barely talking other than to tell me about damage and loot.
But I ignored his antics, much more concerned with how the rest of the floor would go. The armor made me practically invincible, and at first, I had been concerned about durability, like the upholstery, but Malice said higher-quality items didn’t degrade when you were part of Malikap's unbreakable legion. Justice is iron-clad and unbreakable, after all.
Zombies really hadn’t been an issue. I cleared another five, wandering aimlessly around the halls, clearing room after room and making Malice happy, when I finally stumbled upon a unique room that I knew for a fact hadn’t been there previously. The door stood starkly against the palace’s magical mural, its black hues contrasting sharply with the vibrant artwork.
I hadn’t wanted to approach the mural. Father had told me never to approach them, but I found myself mesmerized by the calming blues of the ocean depicted in the painting. The guardian light of Rellum shined through the mural, and I tried to absorb the knowledge, the magic within, but all I got was Malice saying,
[Error! Cannot use Magical Mural. Alignment Error.]
This confused me, given that I was aligned with Malikap and no other god, and this was Malikap’s path, home of his domain and alignment.
I shook my head and walked through the new doorway, only to find a large, empty room with a blank canvas for the wall and very little sound. The silence was almost oppressive, the air thick with an unsettling stillness.
“Hey Malice, you okay up there?”
[I am quite satisfied with my haul of loot. I’m rich. Haha, it's the best deal I've ever made. Thank you, my dear.]
I stared up at the lunatic crystal. He was happy?
Whatever.
As soon as the door closed behind me, chaos erupted. Lights blared from every corner of the room, and Malice made excited chittering noises like a squirrel that had found a nut.It was the chapel. The door certainly hadn’t led there back in Equiem, but there it was. The rows of pews. The stained glass window depicting the gods. The place where I doomed my soul.
In the center of the room were two people I knew, but they looked off somehow, their eyes glazed and movements stiff.
“Hello, Trellis and Griesan,” I greeted them with a strained smile. “Funny finding you here.”
They opened their mouths to speak, but instead of words, an awful noise reminiscent of two cats being boiled alive came out. They spoke in unison, their voices merging into a distorted symphony of horror.
“Who dares approach the sacred sanctum?” The sound was inhuman, chilling me to the bone.
I shuddered before I said, “I get the whole creepy zombie motif, but I can't give you the raise you wanted if you're going around treating my father like he's the king when I'm the one in charge.”
I sounded bold and confident, which was a complete lie. My knobby knees were bumping into each other like clattering bones.
“Punishment. Imposter to the throne.”
I sighed. That gambit had been a long shot, and now it was time for battle.
I charged forward, halberd raised high over my head, and screamed. These men had been a pain for decades, and now, here, I was scheduled to end it.
I entered the cathedral cautiously, my halberd at the ready. The air was thick with the stench of decay, and every step echoed ominously off the stone walls. Suddenly, two zombies emerged from the shadows, their eyes glowing with a sickly, unnatural light. They hissed and snarled, their rotting flesh hanging in tatters from their skeletal frames.
Heart pounding, I charged at the first zombie, swinging my halberd in a wide arc. It moved with unnerving speed, ducking under my swing and clawing at my legs. I felt its nails scrape against my armor, a chilling reminder of how close it came to breaking through.
Before I could recover, the second zombie lunged at me from the side. I pivoted just in time, thrusting the spear tip into its chest. The force of the blow sent it staggering back, and I grunted with the effort, feeling the strain in my muscles.
The first zombie wasn't finished. It leaped onto my back, trying to bite through my armor. I stumbled, my breath hitching in panic, but then I slammed backward into a broken pillar. The impact crushed the zombie against the stone, and it slid to the ground with a grotesque gurgle.
I barely had time to catch my breath before the second zombie, now recovered, rushed at me with a rusty sword. I parried with the halberd's shaft, then spun the weapon to deliver a powerful slash to its midsection. The zombie's guts spilled out, yet it still tried to reach me, driven by some unholy force.
As I fought, the first zombie clambered back to its feet and grabbed my shoulder plate, yanking it off with a growl. I gasped, feeling the cold air on my exposed skin. Fear surged through me, and I desperately tried to avoid its snapping jaws. I brought the halberd up just in time to block its next attack, then jabbed the butt of the weapon into its face, breaking its jaw with a sickening crunch.
Backing up, I kept a wary eye on both opponents, moving towards a pile of debris that might give me an advantage. I kicked a broken pew toward the first zombie, tripping it momentarily. Seizing the opportunity, I swung the halberd in a downward arc, splitting the zombie's skull. Black ichor splattered across the floor.
[Nooo! The loot!] Malice howled.
The second zombie, despite its injuries, let out a guttural roar and charged at me. Planting the halberd in the ground, I braced for impact. As it reached me, I stepped aside and used the halberd's hooked end to catch its leg, pulling it off balance. It crashed to the ground, but not before grabbing my leg and pulling me down with it.
We struggled on the ground, its foul breath hot on my face. I kicked furiously, freeing myself just in time to roll away from its snapping jaws. Scrambling to my feet, I gripped the halberd tightly, both of us rising for a final confrontation. We circled each other warily, the tension almost unbearable.
I feinted with the halberd, then swiftly reversed my grip and thrust the spear tip into the zombie's throat, piercing through its spine. It shuddered violently before collapsing in a heap.
Breathing heavily, I scanned the room for more threats. My halberd dripped with black ichor, and the silence of the cathedral was deafening.