This world is an unseemly place, though glimpses of beauty persist. One need only look up to see the consummate perfection reflected in the sky. As it dampens our vision of starlight and sunbeams, so does it protect us. I aim to do the same.

-Foreword to ‘Apotheosis of the apostate’ by Johannes Ithunn.

The dread Evelyn expected to feel upon entering the helicopter two days ago finally arrived, this time on her way to hell. Or, the one place on earth most similar to it: France.

Though she had lived close to the country for most of her life, she had never stepped foot in it, on account of the massive seawall covering the coast. Oh, and the hundreds of millions of screaming people suffering eternal torture and the various demons roaming the countryside. But those had to be exaggerated. Right?

Will still hadn’t answered that question, even though he sat right in front of her. As Evelyn attempted to brush her hair with her fingers - she couldn’t look like a gremlin all the time - she looked at him, considering.

He seemed distant, lost in thought. Probably pondering something important, something deeply profound.

She gave him a little kick in the shin, startling him. “Oi, d’ya hear me?”

He looked moodily at her, and blushed a little. “Oh, no. I’m sorry.”

“I asked if there were any demons I should watch out for here in the exclusion zones. Any goblins, trolls, ghouls, the like? Nightmarish creatures of eldritch origins, perhaps? Vanham ignored those in his lecture, I think.”

Will smiled, but still looked distracted. “No goblins, ghouls or trolls, the last time I went. Though I’d say the gargoyles are pretty nightmarish. I am not sure if they count as eldritch, though.”

“If only Lovecraft wasn’t a few centuries dead, he woulda loved this.” Evelyn said. Turns out it wasn’t so hard to keep her mind off the future for a little while.

“Yes. Though if the name of his cat is a proper judge, he doesn’t seem very pleasant.”

She checked out her hair in the reflective surface of the cockpit door. Looked good enough. “Oh yeah, I forgot that. Nevermind what I said, he can go eat a bag of rocks.’’

“Did you know that they used to eat snails in this country?”

Evelyn was about to say something, but stopped. The mention of snails brought back a strange sense of longing. A hollow sense, but a feeling nonetheless. Why was it that only the past could make her feel?

Besides the dread, another feeling decided to show up to the party. Sadly, it was one Evelyn was all too familiar with. Her biggest enemy and greatest motivator: boredom. She had it to thank for getting her in this stupid situation. But after two excruciating days cooped up on a big bucket in the ocean, and even more shut inside a prison, she was ready to get into some action, something had to stave it off. Jumping out of helicopters and rolling on the ground, dodging nightmarish gargoyles as they fought for their lives, risking life, limb and eternity to complete a mission only they were willing to accomplish, might help. A voice in the back of her head told her to stop that hope. Annoyingly, it might have been right, if the cramped space of the helicopter was any indication. Windows here were a rare treat. The only one in their part of the craft was closer to Will than her. She managed to get a little peek out of it, however.

It turned out they were flying very fast, though the ride was extremely smooth. The lush landscape underneath them seemed to stretch infinitely into the crisp morning mist surrounding it on all sides. Though largely overtaken by grass, trees and wildflowers, the land was still partitioned into open fields by the remnants of roads that had not known a tire for lifetimes. Roving bands of cattle relaxed in the warmth, haze turning the sunlight into rays of gold around them. A flight of swallows followed their helicopter on the right, though quite a ways away. As they neared the ruins of a village, however, the lush flora and fauna seemed to shy away. The tall grass stopped almost arbitrarily at the edge of the village.

Suddenly, the helicopter stopped, still hundreds of meters away from their target.

“Why did we stop?” Evelyn asked.

“Just listen.” Will replied, tersely.

The pilot spoke through their headsets. “We drop you off here. Your gear is being deployed as I speak. I was told one of you has done this before, so kindly instruct your partner. T-minus 1 minute till’ drop.”

Will laced up his mint green boots.“They are dropping us off here, so get ready.”

“Wait, what?” Evelyn said, already feeling her nerves. She went down to tie her boots as well, but bonked her head against Will on his way up. She cringed back, rubbing her temple needlessly. “Sorry ‘bout that.” She looked down, and remembered that she’d already tied her laces.

Will just laughed it off. “No worries. They drop us and the gear separately, so the door will open soon.”

Evelyn looked out the window again. They were still a good fifty meters above ground. “Wait, so how will you get down?”

He raised an eyebrow. “We will have to climb down on ladders. Did you not listen to Vanham’s lecture?”

Evelyn shrugged. “I tried, but it was kinda hard. It’s not my fault that he’s never taken a class on teaching. Plus, I’m havin’ a hard time taking him seriously on account of his bloody dialect.”

Will’s reply was cut off by the abrupt opening of the craft’s door. A rope ladder unfurled, hurtling towards the earth. She looked down at the ground, noticing her heart beating a little faster. Still not fast enough, though.

Will looked at her. “Should I go first, or would you like to?”

“I’ll go first, Wilhelm.” She started down the ladder.

“Still not my name.”

The ladder swung freely in the air, and the ground seemed far off. This is more like it. She told herself. A fall from this probably wouldn’t kill her, however. Holding onto the ladder was a bit difficult given the downdraft from the helicopter, but she held on. The swaying made the whole ordeal a lot more exciting. Still not enough, though. Climbing down, it was going a lot slower than Evelyn liked. It even seemed like the helicopter was flying up a bit. Annoyed at the pace, she looked down, judging the distance.

And let go of the ladder.

She fell down, hair blustering around her. After what felt like a long while, she grabbed the ladder again with both hands, the momentum bringing her swinging forward. She climbed down the last few steps, and looked up the helicopter to see a mortified Will and a very frayed rope. Her heart thumped in her chest, but the exhilarating feeling quickly faded when her feet splashed into a marshy field. For once, she was glad to be wearing these garish boots.

Will, who had just shaken off his exasperation, attached a hook to the main line of the ladder.

Oh. Evelyn thought. Glad I didn’t do that.

It was a slow process, so Evelyn looked around. A large wooden crate was dropped close to them, splattered with mud. They were in the middle of a large field of knee high grass. The ground was wet and marshy in some places, dry in others. Bumblebees bustled in wildflowers surrounding Evelyn, going about their business as if nothing had changed. In fact, they seemed more plentiful now than when she was young.

A herd of cows peered vacantly at them from the next meadow over, their occasional mooing almost bringing a smile to her face. She wanted to pet them, but an overgrown asphalt road separated them.

Will stepped off the ladder next to her, and detached the hook from it. The helicopter was surprisingly silent. Disturbingly so, in fact. She hardly noticed when it took off.

Will immediately began fussing over her. “What was that? Did you slip? You should have used the hook! Did you forget the hook? Oh bother, I nearly had a heart attack!”

Evelyn backed off, gesturing for him to calm himself. “Relax, relax, I’m fine. Going down was just a bit boring, that’s all. Oh, and was there a hook? I didn’t notice.”

Will was still exasperated, but had mellowed out a bit. “Why did I get partnered up with a madman-”

“Madwoman, thank you very much.” she interrupted.

He sighed. “Sorry, it is just… could you be more careful? Please?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” She walked over to the wooden crate and gave it a kick.”So how do we open this?”

“Did you seriously not listen to anything Vanham said?”

“I caught some of it. The important bits.”

Will put his hands in the jumpsuit pockets and leaned back. “Like what?”

“Y’know, don’t get bit. Don’t break the tank. Don’t off yourself, though he didn’t really need to tell me that.” She fiddled with a latch on the crate, and swung the top open. In it was the goofy staff, the tank, a blue backpack, a pump, and two bottles of water. She grabbed the staff and shouldered the tank, then looked at Will. He looked lost in thought again, distraught.

“You gonna grab your stuff, mate?”

He blinked, picking up the backpack and water, before they began walking towards the town. She let Will lead, he seemed to know what to do.

They walked off the field, through a tiny brook and onto the road. A few rebellious dandelions had broken through the asphalt, but it remained largely intact.

Will seemed to be studying the ground just as intently as Evelyn. “Evelyn, can you just be a little more careful, please?”

“Whaddaya mean? I think I’m pretty careful already.”

He kicked a rock, sending it hurtling into a tree. “You almost slipped off that ladder and died.”

“I didn’t slip, I meant to do that, mate.”

He nodded, and gave her quite the side eye. “Sure, I believe that. Am I also to believe that you are impervious to gravity itself?”

Shit, I probably shouldn’t have been that brazen about it. “Uh, yeah, when I want to.”

He shook his head and handed her a bottle of water. She was quite thirsty. “It is just that… I have to… I do not want to…”

“Lose another partner?”

He simply nodded.

“What was their name?” She asked timidly.

“Not now.”

Weird name to have. She caught the words in her throat before they could escape. This isn’t the time, you dumbass.

Instead, she scratched the back of her head, accidentally bumping the scab. This whole conversation made her uncomfortable. A small part of her wanted to console Will, but he could probably handle it alone. Besides, she wasn’t his emotional support animal. They hadn’t even known each other for three days now, Evelyn had been on the toilet for longer than that before. Besides, it wouldn’t even accomplish anything. Sure, he might cheer up a bit, but that wouldn’t even matter in three weeks. Wait, have I even asked him how much time he has left?

They trudged further down the road, and an unsettling sound filled the air. It was faint, but it reminded Evelyn of the more brutal riots on Vercingetorix, like canned suffering. As they neared the village limits, the wildness of the landscape seemed to cringe before it. No birds flew overhead. A few daring bees flew around in search of wildflowers, but didn’t seem able to find any.

Will stopped, and looked at her. “Now, before we go in, Evelyn, I need to prepare you.”

She cocked her head to the side, but gave him a nod.

“You may already hear it, but do you know what awaits us in that town?”

“Buncha people with gargoyles stacked on top of ‘em?”

“Agony, Evelyn. Their screams of agony, yes, but a different type of agony for us. No matter what, we can not help these people, alright? My first instinct was to try and talk to them. Give them some comfort. Do not do that. They know what will happen, they will begin pulling away from you immediately. And the sounds they make…” He shook his head. “They will pierce you to your core. Close your heart to it. Compassion will do you no good out here.”

Way ahead of you. She thought.

“But remember to always think of them as people. Never dehumanize them, Evelyn. Still, do not let it get to you. Do you understand?”

“Yeah.” For once, she was glad to not feel much at all.

“I am going to take the lead today. That’s usually your role, but I will show you a strategy my previous partner showed me.”

“Alright.” She said, and they walked into the torture chamber.

The first sense to hit her was not the oddly beautiful sights, the horrifying sounds, or the muggy taste of the air. It was the stench of alcohol mixing with the scent of soil fresh from a rainstorm. People, old and young, were strewn around the streets. Hanging from windows, slumped on a bench or against a tree on the sidewalk. Some were huddled together, others just flung haphazardly on the street.

Will said something, but she couldn’t hear it. Her ears were too focused on the sound of the pain. It was like a stadium full of torture. Voices high and low, loud and subdued, screamed, groaned, moaned, and whimpered ceaselessly. The nearest… victim? Was that what they had to call them? Was lying face down on the asphalt a few meters away. It felt like it was screaming right into her ear. No words, just unintelligible suffering.

Evelyn was disturbed to find no reaction within herself.

“Evelyn, hello?”

Will was staring at her. “Oh, yeah?”

He pointed to the nearest victim.

“We begin with that one. It is the lowest risk, since it is the furthest away from others.”

“And ‘cause the gargoyles haven’t been disturbed yet, right?”

“So you did listen to Vanham. Anyway, begin by lifting the gargoyle. Where would you lift it to?”

She studied the victim. An indistinct blob covered its lower back and legs. It pulsated slowly, the sheen on its surface rippling like an oil spill in the sunlight. “Uhm, onto the asphalt?”

“No, never do that. Never detach them from the victim completely.”

“Why?”

“Do you care to find out?”

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

No, she decided. She carefully walked over to it, candy cane held like a spear. Will readied the pump behind her.

“Now, before you move it, I will attach the pump.”

She stood still as he fiddled with the bottom of the tank.

“There, now lift it onto the victim’s torso.”

She approached from where the victim’s feet would be. Sneaking the ridiculous candy-cane staff in between its legs, she slowly lifted it up against the gargoyle. It emerged from the top of it, like a fork in a bowl of soup.

“What was that?”

Will sighed. “They are non-newtonian. The more force you apply, the denser they become. You have to lift them up quickly.”

She tried the same manoeuvre, but quickened her pace. She managed to lift it up, folding it like an omelet over the victim’s back. Her stomach rumbled at the thought, even though she had eaten four plates this morning.

The victim’s bare legs were very pale, even though it had probably been baking in the sun for a couple lifetimes. They moved. Blessedly, the victim shut up for a bit.

She pressed the button, and readied the stab, choosing a random spot on the leg.

“What are you doing?” Will hissed. “You can not just stab them anywhere, their skin will not break! You have to find an open wound.”

Oh, so they’re like that too. She thought. A gaping wound had formed in the crook of the victim’s left knee. It was slowly closing up.

She stabbed the cane in. The victim’s scream startled her enough to almost drop the cane, but she held on. The body began trying to kick its leg, but was too sluggish to do it fully. Will pumping furiously behind her, she noticed a liquid appear in the tube. Red and blue, it traveled quickly up into the tank.

The blob of darkness began vibrating, and moving slowly towards them. A head appeared from the mass, mouth opening. Long time no see. She thought

It crept down the lower back. Even though she was standing well away from the gargoyle, seeing it steadily creeping along the uneven surface, almost hovering, creeped her out. It left no residue, and didn’t even ruffle the clothing. It just moved. Purposefully, intently.

As it neared them, Evelyn felt unnerved in a way she hadn’t in a long time. In fact, a tide of memory almost came rushing in at the sight of the moving gargoyle. She managed to dam it up, but felt trapped. What if the gargoyle suddenly lunged? She could envision it in her mind, lying in this place, writhing for the rest of eternity. Ceaseless suffering, days melding together, longing for any form of release as your memory falters, and the last person who knew you dies, no longer there to keep you alive through recollection. Suffering, lonely, mad, forgotten.

Without thinking, she ripped the siphon out and, narrowly avoiding the bloodstream, rushed a few meters away. The pump disconnected from the tank with a loud pop, and Will scrambled towards her.

The gargoyle retreated, and the screaming slowly resumed.

She looked at herself and found she was breathing incredibly fast. Will checked the end of the pump’s connecting tube. He looked up at her, and slowly approached. A look of recognition hit his face.

“Take deep breaths, Evelyn, come on.” He took her arm and led her out to the city limits.

He sat her down on the sidewalk.

“Hey, Evelyn, look at me.” He said. She complied.

His blue eyes were overflowing with a calm compassion. “Breathe, slowly now. They will not get us over here.”

She managed to calm down a bit. Will handed her a bottle, and she took it tacitly.

She felt so ashamed, infantilized at having to be sat down. “I’m sorry.” She said, looking away from him. God’s sake, Evi, you’ve been alive for too long to lose your cool like that. Pathetic. A little bird was pecking at a worm on the side of the road. It looked up at her, cocking its head and chirping. She stared back, feeling hollow.

“Do not be sorry, Evelyn. That happens to almost everyone.” He sat down next to her. “I did not even manage to stay connected half as long as you did on your first try, and I was not even holding the syphon.”

She took a deep breath, and tried giving him as sincere a look as possible. He deserved it. “Thanks.” She grabbed the candycane and stood up. “Did I break anything?”

Will rose up beside her. “No, the connector on the pressure tube is made to detach quickly.”

“Guess I just expedited the process, then.” She shook her head, trying to stifle a blush. “Let’s just get on with it.”

“Alright.” Will said.

They walked back into the town, past the previous victim.

Evelyn studied the myriad of bodies. Reading signs, she could see they were heading towards the town square. Even on this short street, there must have been over 50 victims. They had to step over some to even get through.“So, who do we go for next?”

“We want to pick someone who is around fifty meters away.”

“Nearby gargoyles get angrier?”

“Indeed.”

Evelyn needed to take her mind off the dreary surroundings. No flowers bloomed, but the place was still overgrown with greenery. It all seemed less vibrant than it had outside the city. In fact, even the pink of Will’s suit seemed more… washed out. Strange. “Why do they get angrier? Is it cuz the screamin’ stops?”

“Yes, in part. Mechanical noise from the pump also intensifies their behaviour.” He stopped, and looked her in the eye. “And never use any electronics unless you absolutely have to.”

Evelyn nodded, shocked at his intensity. There has got to be a story behind that.

They continued a bit further, reaching the end of the street. It opened into a small plaza.

“Evelyn. Your group was from Vercingetorix, correct?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“Can you read French?”

She nodded.

Will pointed to a sign at the end of the street. “What does that say?”

It was a road sign, dirty, but untouched by rust. “‘De Galle park 300 meters away’.”

Will pondered for a while.“First mission only requires half a tank, so six bodies should give a three quarter tank… Evelyn, how full are you?”

“Uhm… You didn’t see me demolish those four plates of eggs? Anyway, could do with a bit of grub right now. You got something in that smurfy sack o’yours?”

“No, your tank.”

“Oh.” Can you stop making me feel dumb for one second? She tried to look at the tank on her back, but couldn’t see much.

“Check your wristband, Evelyn, but do it quickly.”

“Oh, right.”

She plucked off candystriped glove and flipped over her wrist. A big ‘7’ lit up her face as she lowered it down and put on the glove. A nearby gargoyle snarled, a low, blubbery sound.

“Seven percent, as well…” Will pondered. “All right. We only have to fill the tank up halfway. I suggest we do one victim here, another at the end of the plaza, three more on the way to the park, and a final one at the park entrance. The helicopter is automatically sent once we fill the tank up enough, but that agitates the gargoyles a bit. So we have to finish the sixth victim, and rush over to the extraction point. If we do it quickly enough, we should be done within the hour.”

He looked to Evelyn, expecting a reply.

She was a bit busy studying the plaza. It was covered by asphalt. No dandelions had broken through, but trees planted on the sidewalk had grown wide and wild. Most of the buildings had decayed, and a rusted statue of an important looking fellow stood in the middle of the plaza. Victims were strewn everywhere, some sitting hunched around various tables next to a building, plates of food in front of them. The food looked almost fresh out of the kitchen.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Sounds good.” She replied hastily. “Who should we start with?”

“I want you to choose.”

“Right, um…” She looked around them. Most of the victims were grouped up. A few were lying on their backs, eyes sheepishly opening and closing. One woman lay on her side, next to an eerily small skeleton. Her crying was the worst sound of them all. Evelyn turned away from them, and found a lone victim, meters away from others. It was a grown man in a suit, lying under a tree. The gargoyle covered his torso, and seemed to be concentrated on his stomach. The beams of sunlight, dappled by the leaves of the tree, seemed to be swallowed by the gargoyle, a concentrated void of light.

“That one.” She said, pointing at him.

Will nodded, and they walked over. She looked at his face. He had a short beard, and hollow, droopy eyes. As she wedged the cane between him and the gargoyle, his eyes snapped onto her. Her stomach lurched, and she quickly covered his head with the dark mass.

Evelyn was surprised to see a gaping wound in his chest, oozing red-blue blood. His right lung was missing, the other one inflating erratically. His heart was visible too, pumping incredibly fast.

“Perfect.” Will gagged, connecting the tube. “The heart yields the most, but be careful not to get sprayed when disengaging. Do it slowly.”

“Alright.” she said, psyching herself up. She flicked out the siphon, shook her head, and stabbed it into the heart. Will began working inhumanly fast, and the victim tried to lift his upper body using his legs. Evelyn pushed it down, however. It was surprisingly easy to keep it engaged, as long as she didn’t think too deeply about what she was doing. The liquid in the tube ran incredibly quickly. All in all, it was going surprisingly well.

Seeing the gargoyle inching towards them made Evelyn’s stomach drop, however, but she tried to keep her cool.

“When should I stop?” She shouted in a ragged voice.

“Half a meter away!” He shouted back, showing signs of fatigue.

You can do that.

It flowed towards them, enveloping the cane. As the head began to appear, the candy cane sticking out of the gargoyle almost looked like a straw in a plate of coffee.

Part of the mass spilled off the body, running over on the asphalt.

“Now!” She said, slowly pulling out the cane.

The head of the gargoyle launched a slow bite towards her leg, and she jumped back, nearly tripping over Will and his pump. The tank was much heavier than she had expected, and the momentum of it sent her tumbling. She tripped face first onto a nearby body, sinking her hand in a cold, viscous liquid.

The world disappeared, and was replaced by an all-enveloping darkness, flecked with twinkling lights. She was floating, suspended in… nothing. To her right was an uncountable myriad of galaxies, stars, and nebulae. To her left, a cavernous, all-consuming nothing. Between them, on a bench of white marble, sat a vaguely humanoid creature studying the stars. Hair streamed from its head, strands as long as a galaxy. It looked gaunt, hollow, older than time itself. It slowly turned its head towards Evelyn, features formlessly shifting. At once a smile, then a frown, now a grin, and now surprise. Tears ran down its face like a shower of comets, each stone blooming into a galaxy where it fell. A voice spoke to her, like a universe in a throat.

“Alone.”

…

After unplugging from Magnus’ tank for the fourth time, Deanna felt very tired. They had worked all through the morning, being careful not to… y’know, get trapped in eternal torture. Deanna had never really tried to imagine what that eternal torture was actually like, but this morning had gotten pretty close.

“How much more did that give us?” She asked Magnus, setting down her pump.

“Eight more percent. We’re getting better.”

“How much is that in total?”

His shoulders dropped. “23 percent.”

Deanna sat down against a nearby rock and groaned. Less than halfway to being halfway.

She didn’t really know where they were in the world, but Magnus had guessed that they were in France. Wherever they were, this place just felt weird, even without the screams of the damned. Deanna had never seen so much grass, so many trees, so much empty space. Where were the billboards? The tall buildings? The salty air? Even weirder, everything was completely stable. There was no swaying at all. Naturally, Deanna’s body compensated for this lack with a soft swaying of its own. Spending your whole life cooped up on a massive cityship like Alaric was obviously not a human’s natural habitat. But hey, at least they had really good pizza.

Magnus sat down next to her with a haunted look. “Can we just finish this and go back, please?”

She rummaged through her pack. It was filled with a lot of useful-seeming stuff. Not that Deanna found much use for it though. Nonetheless, she pulled out two dinky chocolate bars and some water. She handed one bar to Magnus, who took it appreciatively, and grabbed a bottle for herself. Taking a sip, she found it surprisingly cold and refreshing. She handed him the bottle, earning a disgusted look from her partner.

“Do you have another bottle in there?” He asked timidly.

“What, we can’t drink from the same bottle? Afraid of cooties?”

He rolled his eyes and took a reluctant sip.

“There you go.” She took the bottle back. “There’s no room for being a prude out here.”

“Sorry, old habits I guess.”

She unfolded the wrapping on the bar of chocolate, pleasantly surprised to find it very dark. It was a bit on the small side, but actually smelled good. She took a bite, and thought it mediocre. Oh well.

Will had taken a bite of his own bar. “Wow, I miss Freia.”

“Who? Didn’t know you had a girlfriend.”

He blushed. “No, it’s uh… a brand of chocolate on Fairhair. They’ve apparently been going since way before the Fall.”

“Wow. That’s practically ancient.” She replied. “Is it good?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.” He rested his head against the rock. “I could kill someone for a bite of it right now.”

I know the feeling. Deanna chuckled to herself. A little too well.

Deanna finished her bar ravenously, gaining a look of surprise from Magnus.

“So, what did you do?” He asked her timidly.

“You first.”

“Oh, well…” He thought for a moment, pulling his knees up to his chest. “I was taking driving lessons and-”

“Wait, driving lessons? I thought you were old enough for a licence.” He looked around twenty years old to her eyes, but she might just be dumb.

“I am, I just haven’t gotten it yet. Probably never will now…”

“Oh shut up, we’ll survive this place.” She bumped his elbow. “Anyway, you were saying?”

“Yeah, so I was learning to drive and we were at this crossing… An important looking guy in a suit just rushed over the road while I was driving, and well, it turned out that he had a prosthetic spine. Steel alloy.” His upper lip was starting to quiver.

“And you’ve got those floating cars on Fairhair, right? All magnetic?”

Magnus shuddered. “Yeah…”

“Gotcha. Though I gotta say, accidentally ripping a guy’s spine out isn’t all that bad, right? How did that land you here?”

“He was Ithunn’s great-great-great-grand nephew.”

“Oh, yeah that’ll get you sent here, alright. Bastard probably deserved it though.”

“I don’t think being related to Ithunn makes you deserving of death, Deanna.”

She furrowed her brow. “I think it does. He was bound to ascend soon, anyway. You did the world a service, from the way I see it.”

Magnus sniffled, and smiled. “Thanks. I think. What did you do?”

She winced, then set her jaw. “I… I did the world a service.”

“What does that mean?”

She smirked. “You’ll figure it out, Hot Wheels. But let’s just say I actually deserve this place, unlike you.”

He turned to her, seeming to accept the nickname. “I don’t believe that.”

“What, you think you deserve to be here?”

“I don’t know, but you seem too nice to belong here, Dee.“

Hearing that name again after so long gave her conflicting feelings. That, and the encouragement. She sighed. “Just don’t get your hopes up.”

She then made the mistake of looking around them.

Pain.

Deanna had almost forgotten about the incessant howling surrounding them. Even though this town was small, it sounded like an entire boatload of people were suffering around them.

Magnus seemed to be hearing them again, too. He cupped his hands over his ears.

She got up and hefted her backpack, cocking her head to the side. “C’mon, get up.”

Magnus remained seated, hands tucked ever harder around his ears. “I can’t!”

“Why?”

“They just don’t go away, Deanna.”

She crouched in front of him. “I know. I hear them too. There’s nothing we can do about it though. So let’s just finish up and go back, alright?”

He just took a bite of his chocolate.

Another tactic, then.

She put a single finger under his chin, lifting it up to meet her eyes, pitching her voice a bit deeper. “Magnus. We need to get back as soon as we can. You can do this, I know you can. Just one step at a time.” She got up and turned to walk as Magnus’s face turned as red as her hair.

It seemed to work.

He got up, pushing off with his candycane. “We’ll take that one.” He pointed miserably to another tortured soul.

…

Evelyn, dazed, awoke to the smell of alcohol and a galaxy in the skies overhead. Wet grass pricked at her neck, yet she was oddly warm. She lethargically opened her eyes, and looked down at her body. She was draped in a cute floral blanket.

“What… where…”

Will perked up next to her, and rushed over with a bottle of water. “Are you alright? Do you know what happened?”

The daze had largely worn off, and she propped herself up on her elbows. “I’m fine, just really hungry.”

He dug in a pocket. “I plucked some apples.” He pulled one out, big, red and glistening. Evelyn wasn’t a big fan of fruit, but she quickly demolished the apple. Will handed her a small bar of chocolate, which also helped.

“So, do you know what happened?” He asked, after giving her some water. She now felt good enough to sit up. They were gathered around an oil lamp, under the canopy of a large tree. She leaned against it, briefly listened to the rustling of its branches.

“Was gonna ask you the same thing, mate.” The sun had gone down, but the air was still surprisingly warm.

“Well, you fell into a victim after you pulled away the syphon. Your hand got caught in a gargoyle, and I had to drag you out. You were quite lucky it was not agitated, otherwise you would have joined the choir.”

“The choir?”

He grimaced. “Never mind. Anyway, you were knocked clean out, so I carried you out here. I found that blanket when I collected the tank.”

She took another sip of water and looked him in the eye. “Wow. Thank you.”

He nodded, with a humble smile.

She looked up at the moon. It was full in the sky, a silver candle so far away. Yet even bigger, even farther away was the milky way. Like a mighty scar in the sky, coloured with unfathomable clouds of blue, brown, and purple. dotted with small, twinkling lights. For a moment she felt the starlight enveloping her, feeling lost in its vastness. Then came the realization that she’d never seen it before. Because of the light pollution on Vercingetorix? Evelyn felt betrayed. How much time had she spent staring up into the stars, Baldrian at her side? For all that time, they hadn’t ever seen the night sky in all its glory. And Baldrian never will…

Either way, it all felt tiny compared to… whatever it was that she saw. Had she finally gone mad?

“Hey Will, have you ever heard of gargoyles being hallucinogenic?”

He looked confused. “No, why?”

“No reason.” Guess I’m just off my rocker, then. Took me long enough. She removed the nice blanket and folded it up. “Anyway, how long was I out?”

“Sixteen hours, give or take. “

“Holy shit. Did they just leave us to die?”

He shook his head. “They only arrive once we fulfill the quota.”

Bastards. She grabbed the tank, which was thankfully still intact. She checked her wrist. “25 percent?! That’s insane!”

Will smirked. “I told you, the heart yields the most.”

Mine doesn’t. She thought as they trudged back into the town to finish the torture.