The Goddess just stood there watching us. The pleasant smile sat comfortably on her face.
Eventually I said, “Hello, Debbie. I am Doug.”
“NIce to meet you, Doug,” Debbie replied.
After another slightly too long pause Celeste asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Do not worry Celeste of Truth. I am not here to collect you. You’re alive again. That whole reincarnation maneuver you pulled juked me fair and square. You’re alive… for now anyways.” Debbie did take a few steps closer to us, but she wasn’t really paying any attention to Celeste. Debbie’s eyes were on the knife.
I raised my hand holding the knife. Her gaze followed.
“You’re here for this?” I asked.
“Not quite. I am here because of that. You are welcome to keep the knife, but I have to show up when an artifact of death is made.” She met my eye, “You gotta keep tabs on them. Some people…” She shook her head and whistled.
“I am confused,” I stated.
“I can see that,” Debbie agreed as she ran a finger lightly along the length of the blade. “This is really good work. I mean this thing is death, Divine Scale. I mean the list of beings this thing can’t kill is really short.”
My experience with Divine Scale players has been an odd grab bag. Debbie, like every ‘god’ before her, had me off balance. “Debbie, is there something you want?”
“What…? Oh!” Debbie straightened and smiled, “Let’s take it one step at a time. I am here to evaluate this new Artifact. It is just oozing death. I check on all such artifacts. They tend to cause a lot of deaths. So knowing what’s out there helps me dedicate resources.” She said the next bit out the corner of her mouth like it was a conspiratorial secret, “Gotta cut corners where you can.”
“You’re just here to look at the knife?” I asked. There is no way I was that lucky.
“At first yeah,” Debbie nodded, “But, and it’s a big but, I found you, the newest Titan Spawn. That requires special attention.”
“Get to the point,” Celeste insisted.
“Sorry, I am always a bit of a scatter brain,” Debbie apologized merrily. “You see I am not just here. I am also in the depths of every dungeon. As we talk right now, I am also in the highrise of a San Paulo Hab-bloc. Even as I speak to you, I am gathering souls from the trenches of europe. Right THIS moment as you glare at me, I am also standing in the shadow of cloud city in the African veldt. I am simultaneously in the boiler room of an Elite Academy in Hong Kong talking to a would-be bully with a broken neck, and in the Australian outback waiting for the thralls to find a Daylight bunker. All of those situations take a personal touch, but this right here has my attention.”
“Why?” I asked. Debbie wore the mask of this bubbly person pretty well, but could tell it was an act. The strange bit was that she didn’t seem to have any malice in her. If anything she was trying to hide how tired she was. Had she taken the equivalent to Titanic Mind?
Debbie's smile grew more sincere, “I hold an affection for all children of the Titan of Darkness.”
“Why?” I asked again.
Debbie took a step back, “Tell you what. You tell me about David Clark, and I will explain myself. I will even grant a boon.”
That statement had a lot of baggage attached to it. Besides the obvious emotional issues, if Debbie knew about David Clark, she knew about my- the Titan’s- past. That meant something. I looked at her more carefully. “Do I know you?”
“Because of my aspect I interact with the Titan’s children more than most.” Debbie looked me up and down, “Every child of the Titan has told me about David Clark. Each retelling of the tale is a little different. I want to hear your version of the story.”
“That is a hell of a thing to ask,” I said. The shape shifting basically made it impossible to recognize whoever this was. I was trying to read her mannerisms, but that wasn’t giving me any hints either.
The smile faded, and Debbie’s posture changed as well. When she spoke her voice was gentle, empathetic, “I know, but it is important. Please tell me about that night.”
I just stood there for a long time.
Celeste took my hand, “You don’t have to do what she tells you.”
“Agreed,” Debbie chimed in. “This is a request.”
I studied Debbie’s face. What ever this was, it wasn’t some fucked up power play to hurt me.
“All right fine.” I said. Where to begin, “It was after…”
“The incident,” Debbie prompted. Signalling she knew about Marnie’s suicide attempt and that wasn’t the point of this exercise.
“If you already know why do you need me to say it?” I asked.
“I want to hear you tell the story,” Debbie insisted, “I am going to zip my lips.” She mimed zipping her lips. After a moment she mimed unzipping them, “Please continue.” she then zipped them again.
Just thinking about Marnie.
Willpower Che-
Skill roll aborted.
This probably needed to be approached in a roundabout way. I just started talking “The thing people often get wrong about trauma is that we equate it to physical injury. I understand why. Everyone understands physical pain. All of us have fallen down, burnt ourselves, or gotten hit. It is a fact of life, a universal constant.”
I needed to provide more context. “Trauma is universal as well, but the nature of it is unique. Just like no two people are alike, the damage they carry is just as varied. This is what leads to people misunderstanding each other. Comparing the isolating stress of an abusive household, to the crushing weight of a dying loved one, to the relentless emptiness of knowing you are failing your child is pointless. I – the Titan- lived all of those things. I can not quantify those experiences. Saying a broken arm is worse than a paper cut, no problem. You will just have to trust me when I say the night I met David Clarke was the lowest point in my existence.”
That was enough stalling. Time to get into it. “Marnie was in ICU and we were making plans to transfer her to the Behavioral Health Unit. Kate and I had spent the last two days basically there constantly, and most the previous six days there as well. Marnie’s mother, Renae, had convinced me to go home for the night.
There had been a,” I paused. I had been squeezing Celeste’s hand. It had to be hurting her. Like I said before not to overstate things, but Celeste was there for me when I needed someone. She didn’t have to do that. That meant something.
She squeezed my hand back, “Why does this matter?” Her words were calm but the faintest hint of anger touched every syllable.
“Ritual is important. Every child of the Titan has told me this story. This has a purpose, and I promise I am trying to help,” Debbie was unperturbed and still vaguely friendly.
I believed Debbie. Yeah, she was weird, but so was the entire world. Unlike a lot of things though, I don’t think she was acting in malice.
I blinked a few times, “Kate heard Renae and Jo talking. Kate didn’t know Marnie had… had tried to kill herself. Kate just didn’t understand. She was six. The idea set Kate off. She felt abandoned. Watching Kate demand Marnie keep living. Screaming that she can’t leave. It… it forced me -the Titan- to reevaluate the situation. It is possible for two people to believe two contradictory things, and for neither to be wrong. One way or another my marriage was ending, and Kate was not ready for her to go. I didn’t know what to do.”reflexively my thumb moved to touch my pinky finger, but Celeste was still holding my hand.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
I am not the Titan, “First thing first was getting Kate a good night’s sleep, her screaming at Marnie wasn’t doing any good. We all needed to take a moment.”
I was rambling. This whole thing was just so bizarre. What was the point of this?
“Take your time,” Debbie soothed, “I am holding things still. Time is waiting on us.”
I swallowed, “Eventually I got Kate to go to bed. Once she was sleeping, I -the Titan- just sat on the couch, in the dark. It didn’t seem right sleeping in the bed. I -the Titan- had been sleeping on the couch because of the fighting. Without her there the bed and the room were too big and empty anyways. I realized Marnie was going to die. Liver cancer this time. With treatment she only had a 31% chance to live past five years. With the suicide attempt she was off the donor list. Kate and I probably only had a few months left with her. That hit me there in the dark on that couch.”
I sighed. “The fact was time was limited, and I -the Titan- wasn’t going to waste more of it fighting. At the very least Kate needed to be prepared. We needed to make the most of the time we had.”
“And I love that about you all,” Debbie chipped in.
I blinked. I couldn’t get a read on her. “It was right at that realization I heard the window break.” I realized just how hard was gripping Celeste’s hand. Squeezing as hard as I could. She met my eye and nodded. She was fine. She was stronger than me.
I relaxed as I loosened my grip. “I thought a branch had broken off the tree in the yard. I got up and checked and found myself face to face with a skinny guy in black clothes, with a ski mask and gloves. He also had a gun. I -the Titan- didn’t quite freeze but we certainly stopped in our tracks. David Clark was a young man from well off parents. Trouble was he had several issues with addiction, pain pills and stimulants, and a lot of gambling debt. Now rather than ask his parents for a bailout, he figured he could rob our house. Morals aside, the idea wasn’t completely idiotic. The house had some pretty good stuff by that time. He also knew we were planning on taking a two week vacation. Tight Knit neighborhoods have their ups and downs. Seeing the house empty for six days straight made him think the coast was clear.”
I crafted a sheath for the knife. A quick mental effort and the piece of leather was equipped to my belt. I put the knife away, “For the sake of clarity I am just going to keep saying I, when I refer to what happens next. Technically it is the Titan, but they are my memories too.”
“I gotcha,” Debbie assured. She turned to Celeste, “Don’t worry you’re not burning through your time. We are in my domain, effectively anyways.”
Strangely that statement didn’t calm Celeste. Only Celeste was intimidated by that. …Yep, just her.
Better keep this going. “I knew this guy wasn’t a… skilled individual with regard to guns. Rather than keep his distance he immediately stepped into my reach and poked me in the chest with the barrel. Don’t get me wrong. This scared the shit out of me.” Even now thinking about it made my stomach clench. He had a .38 revolver. Not the biggest handgun in the world but more than enough to kill me dead. “I told him, ‘take what you need.’ That didn’t work. He shouted at me,’You're not supposed to be here!’ David wasn’t prepared for his criminal enterprise to go astray. I just stood there as he jabbed me with the gun. This wasn’t some big dick move mind you. I was certain moving would provoke him to shoot me. Eventually I offered, ‘Do you want money? I can get you money.’ but the guy was panicking.”
I shrugged, “I sometimes wonder how things could have gone. All he would have had to do was move to my left. That was toward Marnie’s and my bedroom and the patio door beyond it. Instead he moved to my right, toward Kate. What happened next was beyond adrenaline and beyond conscious thought. I grabbed the gun. That resulted in him shooting me twice in the leg. Once in the thigh and once in the knee. I managed to get the gun from him. Looking back on it now the second shot was probably due to me ripping the gun from him. I degloved his trigger finger, getting it from him.
I was on the floor bleeding. I should have been in agony but I was way too terrified to even realize what was going on.” I had to take a breath. I wasn’t breathing correctly. That was a lot easier to do since oxygen wasn’t needed to survive anymore. “I told him, ‘just get out’ as I pointed the gun at him. I had never been so cold as I was the moment I heard Kate say, “Dad what’s happening?” David heard that too. He was looking toward the source of the noise. What happened next may have just been bad luck. He took another step to the right, toward Kate. It could have been he was heading toward the hallway and meant to leave, but the moment he moved I shot him four times. Twice in the chest, once in the neck, and once in the head.”
I was shaking. “Parents want to protect their children. I ended up laying in a pool of my blood next to a corpse trying to calm a six-year-old enough so they could get the phone and call for help. I am alive today because my daughter knew how to call 911 and could tell the operator our address. The shot in the leg tore an artery. Once the adrenaline faded I passed out. …What I did wasn’t protection.”
Debbie nodded. She was sympathetic. Gently she pressed, “What happened next?”
“I woke up in the ER in the same hospital we had just left. A quick patch job and some blood and a lot of drugs made me stable again.” I smiled. “Mark helped me duck the nurses, get into a wheelchair, and back to Marnie. I told her, ‘Whatever happens next, we are doing it together, but we had to do what was best for Kate.’ She agreed.” I shook my head, “The fucked up bit was a few weeks later David’s parents apologized to me, about what happened.” I quit reminiscing. I focused on Debbie “Did I pass your test?”
“This wasn’t a test,” Debbie said. “Every child of the Titan has told me this story. You make the seventh. Your summary is very close to Nadia’s, but they never mentioned his parents.” She looked sad for a moment.
“You said you would give him a boon,” Celeste insisted.
I didn’t care about that. Children of the Titan, I was the seventh. She knew Kate.
“I did,” Debbie agreed. If she took offense at Celeste being standoffish it didn’t show.
Maybe it was because she just wasn’t concerned about either of us. It is hard to put into words, but I was beginning to pick up more and more on the general vibe of the relative power level of people I met. Debbie had the most oomph of anyone I met. The fact that Nadia and Zach, or at least their shadows were number two and three on that list, with Lola and Adora fighting for fourth and fifth made me slow to throw hands.
Debbie walked towards me. She smiled reassuringly and then touched my shoulder. Gone was the pleasant, goth… punk… whatever. Before me stood a being both ancient and all encompassing. In that moment seeing the constant tumult of her ever shifting form, I realized Debbie wasn’t many, she was legion. She followed the life and death of every player alive…waiting. In the fleeting glimpses of her multitudes I could see fragments of the world. Some of them were bloody. Some were peaceful. A few were even beautiful. Many were dramatic. All were inevitable ends. But in them I could not see Kate.
When Debbie spoke her voice emanated power. It was a pale shadow to the Voice of the Titan, but it was comparable.“I know the uncertainty of that moment haunts you, so I am going to give you certainty now. Janie, Brand, and Howard are at this moment stopping Madigan's followers from firing an artillery piece into the goblin camp. It would have killed forty people. For what it is worth, Howard spoke up partially because of what you told him.” She smiled briefly, “So here’s the deal. If you hand Travis Madigan back to the Mandir they are going to execute him within the hour. If you try to bring him with you to the tower, three goblins die. If you try and sit on him to prevent those three deaths, thousands die in the battle at the tower."
She removed her hand. In front of me stood the kind young goth/punk smiling her friendly smile. Debbie took a step back from us.
“That’s it?” I asked. I admit it, I was shell shocked.
Debbie nodded the smile back on her face, “Yep, I wish you the best. Use that knife how you will. It was really nice talking to you.”
“Wait!” I shouted. “Where’s Kate?”
Debbie paused. Eventually she spoke, “She is somewhere I can’t see. That means, she is either off of this planet, in the domain of the All-Death, or in the Final Dungeon in Antarctica.”
“Thank you,” I managed.
“Anytime,” Debbie said. She paused a beat, “Maybe next time we meet we won’t have to spend so much of it talking shop.”
“I would like that,” I said and on a lark I added, “Next time could you wear the mask of discworld’s death. Nothing against Gaimen, but Pratchet really nailed the character.”
Debbie’s smile looked a little sad, “I can try, but getting the eyes and the voice right is hard. I can’t hold the character long.”
“Then when you visit next, please be whatever is most comfortable for you,” no point making things harder. Things started rough with Debbie, but she narrowed my search down considerably. Also in her own round about way she helped me with Madigan.
Debbie froze for a moment, “Do you mean it?”
“Absolutely,” I nodded.
“I’ll do that then,” and she was gone.
Reality flickered. I was back where I was standing before I stopped time. Madigan fell to the ground, battered and bloody. The crowd was shouting. Nanny Shank was pounding her hammer. Sunit and Philip were back to cracking heads.
I loomed over Madigan, “Will you at least apologize? Ticky’s sentence doesn’t have a time limit. Say your sorry, and I hand you back to your people.”
Madigan stood and glared at me, “I am only sorry someone hasn’t blasted these fucking monsters off the face of the Earth yet. Fuck apologies and fuck you!”
I shrugged. Then, stabbed him in the heart with the knife and pumped ten mana into it. He looked surprised. In the end, I don’t think he believed I would kill him.
Attack Successful. Travis Madigan takes 74 points of damage
Eitrkaldr check… Successful.
Travis Madigan takes 274 points of cold damage
Travis Madigan is slain.
New Achievement! Rare Breed of Killer
You have managed to kill a player of Rare Scale. That is no easy feat well for most people anyways. For you it is a lot like punting a toddler. Regardless of the ease, it was certainly dramatic. Good boy. You get a treat.
Reward:
Level Up!
You are now Level 10!