Adventure of Rekka Ch. 10

Bill had told him in no uncertain terms not to call him lord. His profanities had made his feelings on the matter very clear.

Larry nodded carefully, aiming the Mark One down and holding it close to his chest. Immediately an identical shield enveloped him. Pius breathed out a happy laugh, amazed at His Lord’s new miracle.

“Wonderful! It is no more strenuous than holding the one, as though it were meant to be used this way. Larry, please try moving about. It should follow you,” Pius told him cheerfully.

“Yeah, ok. Hope this shit doesn’t burn me,” Larry said, watching the shield’s border and taking a slow step forward.

It did indeed follow him, as if it were anchored somewhere within his chest. He walked around, his pace picking up as he grew more confident. Stopping, he lifted a hand towards the shield, hesitating to see what Pius thought about it. The priest nodded happily. Nodding in return, Larry brought his hand forward. It passed through just as Bill’s had.

“Yes, the bulwark recognizes you as its owner. I do not know if your.. weapon? I don’t know if it will pass as well. I am uncertain if it has ever been attempted, my brethren are not known to carry weapons beyond the Guarding Wings,” Pius told him, gesturing with his symbol and shrugging.

“Well, shit. Let me give it a try,” Larry said. Before he moved he considered the volatile powder in the magazine. He took a moment to detach it and unload from the chamber the new single cartridge he’d finally been able to manufacture. He placed it in a pocket of his coat and tucked the magazine under his arm. Carefully he nudged the barrel towards the shield. It passed through easily, bringing a nasty grin to his face.

“Hell yeah. This ought to come in real handy,” Larry said, nodding at Bill.

“Fuck yeah. Shit, Pius. Good job. Ok, drop both shields, please,” Bill requested.

Pius nodded, happy to have demonstrated this new miracle, and hopefully his trustworthiness. The bulwarks popped out at the same time. Bill waved Larry behind him and back towards the fire.

He then put his arm around Pius’s shoulders and held onto the man’s wrist with his other hand. Pius looked at him, unsure what he was about.

“Ok, Pius. I’m sure you saw a new deathray on my back, too. Give that a go on that tree over there. Let’s see what it can do. You’ll understand if I’m a little cautious here, I’m sure,” Bill said, nodding towards the tree.

“Yes, of course. You’re correct. The pattern of cleansing fire is also slightly different, but I did not want to request its use until you had more trust in me. I.. I am not pleased it is so effortless for me to envision this pattern, you know. Still, I am happy to demonstrate it for you now,” Pius reported, waiting until Bill nodded affirmatively.

He lifted his arm, Bill allowing it, and pointed the symbol towards the tree.

The night lit up brighter than day, blinding all those watching, including Pius.

When their vision cleared there was a very large circle burned along the path Pius had pointed towards. The large tree had been severed from its base completely, crashing to the ground, several more falling as well with small fires lit along the path. It terminated in an easily visible hole dug into the earth, the rocks it encountered glowing brightly. It looked very deep, and disturbingly large in circumference.

“Pius, please hand me that back,” Bill ordered calmly. Pius did so with shaking hands.

“I wanted to be a healer, you know,” Pius spoke quietly, staring at what he had wrought.

-

Bill’s heart seized in panic. The ultra-modern office he found himself in could only be from his own world, filling him with a loss so great it nearly broke him. Fluorescent lights buzzed quietly above him, shedding their clear unnatural light he had not experienced in months. He stood frozen, staring in shock at the solid black door with it’s smart little brass plate.

He stared at nothing for a moment, his mind still reeling with his loss. Finally the bullshit detector in his brain caught his attention, snapping him out of his sorrow if only long enough to realize someone was clearly responsible for this, someone he could vainly attempt to dull his own pain by causing a traumatic amount for the guilty party. Traumatic for him, he’d surely need a well meaning and sensible offer of counseling he could refuse afterwards. Bill couldn’t pretend to know what the other guy was going to experience. He’d feel sorry for them.

The idea cheered him, it would be pretty damn bad if it could pull off that trick. He wasn’t used to feeling sorry, he was always more concerned with getting away with it.

The thought stupid enough to think it was welcome was shot down before it could begin to remind him there was someone that this policy did not apply. He had a plan and goal to distract himself with.

Ready to go find someone and embrace the monster he feared he might be allowed him to finally focus on that smart little brass plate staring him in the face. Bill immediately snarled, rolling his eyes, the spell broken.

His anger flipped from his own huge bottle of whatever’s cheapest to Rekka’s premium brand of get shit done. He’d have real trouble going back to the cheap stuff, that swill only seemed to ever slow him down.

Rekka knew her shit, something he already knew but it was enjoyable revisiting the thought.

He felt much better, pleased he could think of Rekka without falling apart now. He read the stupid brass plate one more time, almost impressed someone was dumb enough to try this. Dumber still if they thought this would be fun for either of them.

The inscription simply read, “The Boss.”

His heart was able to start beating again, kickstarted by the bad joke he was sure this all was. He took in his surroundings. The secretary’s desk was not manned, and other than the buzzing lights and whirring of the A/C vents all was silent. The potted plants looked real, probably some hideously expensive exotics from a far away rainforest. He almost wanted to step over to the secretary's desk to see if that slick looking computer had internet access. Maybe he could fire off an email to his family, but he shook his head at the idea.

He thought back to what he last remembered.

After they calmed down from Pius’s orbital strike they returned to the fire in stunned silence. Bill started laughing, infecting the others as the adrenaline left them, finally relaxing. The unanimous decision was made that Pius would never do that again unless they were in completely dire straits. Pius had been very relieved to hear they also thought this way, explaining he did not enjoy being a weapon. He was the first one to cast his vote, it was going to be a pain in the ass to get him to use that power of his irresponsibly, but Bill felt up to the challenge. He might even be able to tell the truth to the next asshole he needed to fill with regret, that lightshow was pretty eloquent. Bill kept the priest’s symbol anyway, and Pius did not complain. The miracle had left the priest feeling horrified, he could not envision using it on a living creature.

At last they had settled down, not bothering to set a watch as usual. Rekka and Tabitha had assured Bill long since that none would be able to sneak up on them without waking, and Bill trusted them completely. He drifted off to sleep with Rekka curled alongside him, his arm held protectively over her as he breathed in the scent of her.

Then he had found himself here, in some kind of corporate nightmare. He’d always been able to tell when he was dreaming, even able to wake himself from nightmares or.. worse. His “crazy” younger sister had explained he was a lucid dreamer. She was always chasing some kind of new spiritual high. He’d looked it up, it sounded about right, but rarely was he able to control his dreams in any way, he mostly just knew when he was dreaming.

This was different. He felt fully awake, and his thoughts did not drift, unfocused as they did when he dreamt. He grew angry, his previous rage was a joke in comparison. The ugly lump of snark and cynicism nestled uncomfortably at the center of Bill’s being had an inkling of what this might be. He trusted that sack of bile and poison more than his mind, he was sure it was right as usual. It was cruel to show him his own world. Whoever had called him here was going to catch hell for this indignity.

He reached out and pulled the elegant silver handle down, pushing open the heavy door and stepping inside.

The door closed behind him with a thump, probably intended to make him jump. He ignored it, staring down a long black marble table to the back of a tall luxurious leather executive chair. Also black. The room was completely empty otherwise, the walls a stark white to contrast heavily with the glossy black table. The room was narrow, the ceilings high, not leaving much room for anything but the table and chairs. Bill couldn’t help noticing that the clear white light illuminating the room appeared to come from nowhere. An identical chair was placed at the closer end of the table, turned slightly, suggesting he should take a seat.

Bill had other plans.

He approached the chair, watching the back of the other carefully. He just knew when he took a seat it would swivel slowly around and some well dressed jackass was going to welcome him with some cryptic nonsense. Time to upset the flow.

He reached out to the heavy expensive chair, pushing it over. It made an awful racket as it crashed onto the white marble tile. The cryptic prick’s chair shook slightly before swiveling quickly to face him.

“Really now, can you do nothing properly?”

The speaker glaring at him had moviestar good looks, blond with stylish 5 o’clock shadow. He was dressed a bit like Gordon Gekko, only more modern and dialed up to eleven. The dark suit probably cost as much as a high end luxury sedan, with all the bells and whistles. Looked a bit like a young Jude Law.

Bill hated him immediately.

Bill looked down at himself. He was still wearing his stolen shirt and blue jeans. Prick couldn’t even bother to give him a decent suit. He turned his attention to the other asshole in the room.

“You’re lucky I didn’t throw it at you. Showing me this? Big fucking mistake if you wanted a friendly chat,” Bill growled out. Rekka’s beautiful anger wouldn’t allow him to even consider being intimidated by what this thing probably was.

Bill would have to remember to thank her again. The fake confidence he conjured up didn’t hold a candle to this pleasant rush.

The man huffed out a breath, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a black case, opening it and plucking out one of the cigarettes. He brought it to his mouth, not even lighting it, the tip glowed red as he breathed in. He closed his eyes for a moment, tucking the case back. Opening his eyes he gestured towards the fallen chair. It popped back into place as though it had never fallen.

The man breathed out the smoke, motioning for Bill to take a seat. Bill did so, slouching back and staring angrily across the table at the man. He kicked his boots up onto the table, pleased as could be the encrusted dirt he’d accumulated cheerfully digging graves had followed him here. He enjoyed the annoyed look that flashed across the prick’s face before he composed himself.

“I suppose you’re wondering who I am.” He smirked mockingly, about to continue until Bill cut in.

“Well, you look like the fucking Devil, though I doubt that’s the case. He’s surely in no rush to talk to me, all he has to do is wait for me to show up. He’d have a lot more class, anyway.”

Bill dropped his boots to the ground and leaned forward, a twin of the man’s smirk on his own face.

“Are you there God, it’s me, Margaret.”

“You smug little shit, I regret ever running across you.”

“Yeah, I’m real used to that. What’s this about? Here to threaten me for leading your sheep astray? Punish me for taking out the garbage you call the Order? Too fucking bad, go ahead and strike me down or send me back to my wife. If you really are all knowing you damn well know I don’t do what I’m told. Thanks for the magical bullshit, but fuck off all the same.”

The man took another draw of the cigarette, turning his head up to the ceiling. He breathed out the smoke.

“Me, give me strength to endure this fool,” he beseeched. He begrudgingly met Bill’s eyes again to spout the cryptic nonsense he knew was coming.

“Yes, I am God, and no I am not. You little shit. I am but a fragment of my being, you could not endure the entirety of what I am. I am my own self, created to speak with you and no other purpose. No, I’m not here to threaten you, and I could not strike you down no matter how I wish it weren’t so. No one will mourn those zealots. I am merely existing, much to my annoyance, to explain your situation more fully. Then I will, blessedly, return to myself and never again have to endure you.”

“Yeah? You can start by explaining why you fucked this world so completely. You enjoy creating misery? Real nice trick, sending the mamono to tear humanity down, sending heroes to “save” them, then repeating the whole thing just as soon as they start getting their shit back together. That wing symbol is a real laugh riot, these people think you’ve been protecting them. The mamono sure as fuck don’t deserve this shit either. I thought my creator was a dickhead, but at least he had the good grace to fuck off and let us ruin our own lives.”

He’d have gone on, but the fact the Order boys were apparently not the beloved children they thought they were made him interested in hearing what he actually had to say.

The not-quite-God sighed then, looking down at his hands for a moment before returning his gaze to Bill.

“Yes. I didn’t give myself even a fraction of my knowledge, this vessel would not be capable of comprehending My reasoning. I don’t have the answers for why I did this. I must believe I did not intend such cruelty. I didn’t seem to want this vessel to know much at all of My intentions. Likely I was too ashamed, we can agree that I would have enough of that, I’m sure. I can only guess that I wanted to step back, let the world prosper or fail on its own merits. It was your reality that very likely gave Me the idea that it would even be a choice. I only know that I can no longer touch upon My works, sealed by My own power.”

He paused, gesturing angrily with his cigarette.

“Then, the current business with the Demon Lord came about.”

Bill snorted, rolling his eyes. He figured he didn’t need his anger to deal with this guy, pleased as could be it agreed with him. Rekka’s gift was as sensible as she was. Bill would just use his far less lethal weapons to torment this God-that-isn’t. Like other contemptibly cruel devices they would be banned by any sensibly belligerent governing authority.

No one could possibly place him at the scene. No concerned citizens that might raise a fuss. Bill didn’t see any cops. He’d get away with it. He figured he might as well humor this idiot.

He laughed again, unable to quite believe the power these beings wielded with so much arrogance it was damn near impossible for them to think their stupid fucking plans were worth a damn. Bill’s slapdash vague outlines he only called plans to try and give the pathetic creatures a little confidence were feeling a lot better about themselves now.

Bill made a rude gesture, shaking his fist to show what he thought about the Demon Lord, gladdened to see it triggered an angry twitch in his host’s cheek.

“She’s another fuck up with good intentions and no follow through, yeah. Could have worked, but of course it didn’t. I can’t be too upset, she gave me my reason for living. You better not be about to tell me I’m fucking up by trying to save them, too,” Bill threatened, ready to jump onto the table and see what a quasi-God thought about getting kicked in the teeth. His own surly seething anger struggled under the far better fury’s snarling jaws at the very thought. They might make a cute couple, one day.

“No. What you do is entirely out of my hands. Choosing you to be here was entirely out of my hands. I am not privy to My thoughts on you, but I am certain I would not have inflicted you on my world purposely. Based upon how I feel about all of this madness, I can only believe I wanted to give my children a chance. An apology for the suffering they had endured. I stepped.. between. Don’t ask me what that means, I did not give myself the ability to fathom it. Honestly, it’s probably not as impressive as it sounds. Like many things I have apparently accomplished. There I bent my own rule. I could not touch upon my own world, but perhaps I could touch another. Yours, of course. My own Church had done something similar, as you know.”

“Jesus. You opened a portal in fucking Missouri with the intention for some idiot to cross over and possibly fix your fuckups? I mean, thanks, but you have the worst fucking ideas. Are you sure you’re a big G deity? This is Zeus levels of stupid.”

“Not quite. I did not pick the location of either end of the portal. When it comes to other realities there is no trespassing. The possibility was merely.. suggested. I felt no contact of an equal, but I was also not rebuked. I’m afraid I cannot even confirm if your reality has its own creator, this knowledge was of course not given to me. I am beginning to believe I failed to properly prepare myself. I am unsurprised.”

He stared at his vague reflection on the polished tabletop for a moment, his expression unreadable. Looking back at Bill he shrugged, waving in his general direction and continued.

“The doorway appearing before you was either random chance, or directed by a hand not of my own. Personally I believe you are a curse and punishment for daring to impose on your reality.”

“Sounds accurate.”

“I also would have chosen to send you closer to My.. Church, but you ended up in the middle of nowhere. I was tied by My own hands, thus I could not anchor the doorway in this world. The location of your comrade’s imprisonment seems to suggest it was purposeful, though I know not if I, through some fiddling from..” he sighed then, clearly not enjoying speaking it any more than Bill liked hearing it, “..between.. or if some other was involved in your arrival. Honestly, you could have ended up in the middle of an ocean, leagues below the sea, or miles in the sky.”

Bill was now less sure about there being a trickster god involved. It was beginning to make too much sense, surely no one would be that obvious. No, he’d done similar things to people who thought they knew what was going on. He’d be ready, if only to feel smug before the end. Still, he couldn’t complain, his world wasn’t perfect but you couldn’t blame gods for it. He wasn’t forced to swim across an ocean to find Rekka, anyway. If some smug shit trickster god was involved, he more than appreciated their wit.

“Makes sense. You fucked this world over through incompetence, what was one more tourist to gamble away.”

Almost-God shrugged, unconcerned and not a little disappointed Bill had arrived safely. To his credit this seemed personal, and Bill felt sure the self loathing shit would have loved the opportunity to wallow in the shame at killing yet another decent human being. It must have been some relief to him that at least nothing of value would be lost when Bill’s luck caught up with him.

He wasn’t too worried, he had that sweet lady so turned around she was doing most of his work for him.

“I’m sure I would have preferred to pick this world's savior, but as I said it was out of my hands,” he said, taking a long hard drag on the third cigarette he’d manage to pull out of that slick little case. He wore frustration and shame like a cloak as forced himself to explain Himself.