When Claire Withers issued an emergency summoning, the other leaders of the Church of Nihilo would answer without hesitation, knowing how rare it was for the head to issue an emergency meeting where she personally came to them with her spatial displacement spell. The gravity of the situation was made even clearer when she asked them to come with her through the pocket dimension of her spell, an act that strained her as living beings, aside from the spellcasters, were not supposed to cross the pocket dimension.
Then again, this strengthened the fact that she was serious. On Claire’s part, this was an unnecessary act, but she knew the fracture that started to form among them with failures upon failures, which could threaten the integrity of their organization. She decided that the only way for them to continue was to regard their situation as important.
And the human knew how important it was to know what they were up against.
Maril, a Fa’ar with no natural protection to spells, could only wait as Claire transported everyone to the same abandoned house her human friend took her after her close call with Jacques. Once everyone was accounted for, Maril stood from her bench.
“I have bad news I want to share,” said Maril upon the assembled leaders of Nihilo. “Jacques Barlow is back.”
The wave of unease was quickly broken by Katwe. The man, upon hearing that name, slammed the table in front of him and said, “So that asshole finally shows his face after all this time! I can’t wait to cave in that smug wolf face of his for all the shit he did!”
“Ten to one, he’ll put a bullet in your head before you even finish talking,” said one of them. “You should learn to stay cool in a fight, Katwe. You’re lucky you’re dealing with hotheads up to this point.”
“And besides. You never saw him in a fight,” said Claire. “Jacques is the reason why we survived, and he’s also the reason why we fail.”
Katwe, in disbelief, scoffed and said, “Really? You, the one who managed to dispatch an army without them ever knowing? Are you sure you’re not overrating him?”
“Let me be clear of what he can do, Katwe,” said Claire as she leaned into the other human’s face. “He’s not a better mage than I am. In fact, I can confidently say that he barely qualifies as a mage. But that’s what makes him terrifying because his spells are accessories. What makes him dangerous is in here.”
Claire pointed towards her temple.
“I killed people with magic and stealth, but with a great risk,” continued the woman. “When your magic’s silenced, however, then what would you do? You and I are pure mages, but he’s a warrior mage. In a direct fight, he’d win. He killed people with everything, Katwe. Everything.”
The emphasis on ‘everything’ and Claire’s serious expression made Katwe realize how serious she was. Then again, he was not the kind of person who would be unnerved by words alone. Unfortunately for him, he was still only partially convinced about Jacques. All he ever knew of him was his betrayal, and that anger overrode his fear of him.
This was made clear by Maril, who then said, “Personally, I understand where his hatred came from. The council’s last action was a poor judgement.”
“Poor judgement? Poor judgement?!” Katwe scoffed. “That was a majority vote! Everyone knew that child is trouble!”
“What trouble? He was the goddamn figurehead, for Maker’s sake!” said Maril, raising her voice. “And a child, of all things! Your decision put us all in this situation with a prowling wolf picking us off one by one!”
“This is why I hate this fucking world! One child? One? I saw a dozen more of them die in front of me and no one gave a shit, and one, pampered child, who never even knew what it felt to die of starvation, or being sold into slavery, or to know what it’s like to be manipulated by adults, got killed, and everyone turned against us?!”
“You of all people should know that fairness is a joke nowadays,” said another. “And after everything we have been through, I found that it really was a costly mistake. Sometimes, even idiots win, and that gives you the idea on why our world ends up like this.”
Katwe, a sensitive man, became enraged when that person subtly referred to him, who eagerly voted for a decision that would lead to the Church’s downfall. He attacked the person, who prepared to defend himself when Katwe abruptly disappeared. The person turned to see Claire, her fingers glowing after casting a spell, sighed.
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“I should’ve never invited him,” said Claire. “We don’t have time to argue about our past mistakes. Jacq would not be a problem if it wasn’t for him actively hunting down anyone with affiliation with the Church. I can understand if he wanted to lay low and escape our wrath, but this is Jacques we are talking about. We can all hate him, wish him the worst suffering a Loup could suffer, but in the end, his hatred wins. With our latest blunder, he has now set his sights on us once more. We must find a way to stop him before he gathers more like-minded people to hunt us down.”
“Funnily enough,” said Maril. “This all happened by coincidence. We can’t let this happen again. No more hiding in the shadows until we eliminate our problems. If he wants a fight, then we’ll give him a fight. Overwhelm and trap him.”
“What are the odds against him?” asked a Lizan member of the meeting.
“All of us and the acolytes against him and his allies. I’d say the odds are even,” remarked Maril.
This caused further unease among the assembled group. Maril made it sound like Jacques was clearly a force to be reckoned with. A vengeful Loup-Garou assassin with mastery over guns who managed to systematically hunt down former members of the Church of Nihilo could not be underestimated.
“So, remember this,” said Maril short. “Do not engage Jacques Barlow alone. In fact, overwhelm him. He may have allies, but he’s the real problem. If you think you can’t fight him, retreat, and return with reinforcement. I am serious.”
Everyone nodded, but some were confused. They never met Jacques Barlow and only knew him as the traitor who ruined the Church of Nihilo for what he did. They, however, did not know the full story, or even Jacques’s determination. Whatever the previous council did to ensure the Church’s end made it seemed that they did this to themselves.
And Katwe’s attitude made it even worse. He was a man who preferred to punch first then talk. If Jacques found him, or if it was the other way around, he would fight the Loup with all the bottled-up anger against the one who destroyed his beloved family. His blind devotion made him dangerous. That devotion had no place in Claire’s leadership, who had already disregarded the old council for their repeated error in judgement and decision. If it wasn’t for their need to create a truly nihilistic world by causing suffering, they wouldn’t be in their current situation.
Jacques’s decision, and the reaction of the wasteland, made it clear that a truly nihilistic world was impossible to achieve. Claire, being realistic, knew that the only way to ensure that situation was to plunge the world into darkness once more. This, however, made her realize that the revived cult was only an accessory to something far bigger than revenge against Jacques, something that she decided not to share with the others, knowing how fragile their group was.
So, after giving everyone what they needed to know, Claire returned them to where they were before she went back to the hut, where Maril was waiting. Deciding that they, too, needed to act, Claire said, “Where should we start?”
“At this point, we can just wait until my messenger arrives,” said Maril. “Jacq is a good tracker, but we know him. Of course, that’s my idea. I don’t think it’s shared among the rest of us.”
“Among every one of us, we’re the ones who had a chance against Jacq. We should start preparing for the inevitable.”
“You do that.” Maril paused, then said, “Claire, when things don’t go our way…would you be able to forgive me?”
“For what?”
“For possibly…uh, for possibly signing our death warrant.”
“I know what you’re thinking, Mari…but you and I have lived through the harshness of this present world. I’m ready to die.”
“And so do I. But….”
Claire smiled. “We won’t fail. I know this doesn’t sound right coming from the grand leader of a nihilistic cult, but…keep your hopes up. In time, our problem with Jacques will be no more. That is, of course, whether this feud lasts that long or not.”
Maril could only nod in agreement as Claire offered her something to eat and prepared a portable stove pulled out of her own extradimensional space. The Fa’ar once again questioned whether her decision was right or not. Even before she decided to send away her subordinate in a risky journey through the Black Sea, she had second thoughts, which made her wonder. She had always hated how the Fa’ars were treated and how everywhere she went, nothing could improve. It was like hope and dreams were but an idea, and those with high hopes were either laughed at, or given a violent reaction. It did not make any sense, but to those who had lost so many, an well-intentioned, optimistic assurance came out as an insult for some. It was made even worse if they happened to be a Fa’ar.
The hatred for her kind pushed her to the darker side, especially after she learned about what her kind represented and what her ancestors did to the world. The hatred made even less sense, considering how it happened thousands of years ago. This made Maril wonder if the hatred was somehow passed down throughout the generations, with each parent telling their children the dangers of being associated with a Fa’ar, or anyone who was recorded as a Dark Race.
But while she had her reservations, her decision still leaned onto the renewed destruction of the world, as her efforts did not account for anything. Nothing changed during the years. She came to believe that, for the Fa’ars to live well, they must do what they did best: be the icon of fear, to show that a rat could be dangerous if provoked.
So, in her own quiet deliberations, she decided that she made the right choice, just as Claire finished cooking some quick meal and offered it to the rat person.
Now, with her decision met, it was time to prepare for the inevitable: the clash with her former friend, Jacques Barlow.
She could start with adjusting her tricks. Jacques would have the surprise of his life.