Drip-Fed Pt. 08

"You were always powerful, my Master," she sighed and bowed. Every movement she made was so smooth, one could get the impression her body was made for that singular movement. Yet, she continued to defy expectations. Her bow became a kneel, her hands raised, and on her palms materialized a staff of dark grey metal. One end was sharpened, the other a sculpture of runes caging a hovering crystal of crimson red. "Your staff."

"I am pleased that you kept watch over it for all this time," Apotho said as he gripped it. The physical form he had rejuvenated seemed to ripple as the magic inside him reawakened as well. The dust that covered the pavement was blown as he took a sharp, triumphant breath. "I live again!"

"Empressss," the Deathhounds carefully crawled towards Jolene, making big eyes. Suddenly they seemed just like a bunch of dogs, unsure how to behave now that the hand that fed them had returned.

"Kurlesh!" she let out a joyful squeal, stroking the head of the creature. "Terlash, Purlesk! Turlesh! You should talk more, my little one," she was not much taller than the average woman, yet the Empress seemed to be the superior of these monstrosities. She laughed, without any menace in her voice. One by one, she scratched and patted each of the lesser demons, reducing them to the behaviour of puppies. "You're still all so adorable," she whispered, just loud enough for everyone to hear. Somehow, she didn't get any of the blood and guts on herself, no matter how much affection she gave the Tharnatos class demons.

She laughed as they vied for her attention. It was a clear sound, the look on her face was innocent, motherly. Only the red surrounding her irises and the sharp shape of her teeth betrayed her demonic nature.

"Oh, but what do we have here?" Jolene walked over to the trio of Apexus, Aclysia and Reysha. Aside from them, it was only the group of children that still filled the plaza. Crying silently, they stared at the clothes that were scattered over the ground in the sacrificial pattern. Every step was a farmgirls hop, was a lady's stride, was a courtesan's call. She kneeled down in front of Apexus and smiled. It was like the breath of late summer, after the first early autumn rains had fallen.

Apexus was struck by it. It seemed warm, seemed to promise times of growth, but underneath he could faintly sense the rot of wet wood, eroded by heavy rain and intense heat. Seeing her up close like this, her beauty peeled away. Her face was gorgeous. The hand she stretched out towards Apexus was a grotesquely warped thing with pulsating veins under black skin and nails thin and long like needles.

The same perfection of her movements now closed in on Apexus' chest. She could reach through his membrane, his bones, his mass and to his nucleus effortlessly. One simple grasp and that would be it. Somehow, he didn't feel like struggling. Indeed, the slime found himself thinking that it would feel good if it was her.

"Stop," Apotho commanded and Jolene stayed her hand. Suddenly, it was just long, elegant fingers that reached out to the slime. Turning around, the Empress looked at her Master with a raised eyebrow. There was a silent communication, then, cheerfully, Jolene jumped to her feet.

"Of course, my beloved, I will obey," she said and turned to the children instead. "Look at you, my astray sheep," Jolene chirped, walking over. "I will show you a new world of opportunities, my darlings."

Apotho stepped in front of the trio on his own. He had put on a new robe at some point. It was black, decorated all over with little things and embroidery. Not a bit of it was simple and it was more valuable than the entirety of the Leaf could afford. One last time, he attempted to at least hurt the slime, but all efforts were met with a blocked flow of power. Gizmo was silent. Apotho wasn't even sure if he was still there.

"This is where we part then, Apexus," the Warlock announced, his voice deep and pleasant. "Your punishment is delayed, thanks to the splinter yet stuck in my mind." He looked over all three of them and grinned, his teeth were perfectly aligned and white. "I will leave you with your women. Savour the time you have left, with them. One day, when I feel like remembering something as worthless as my time on this Leaf again, and I realize that I have not ended your insignificant existence, I will rip everything from you. I have the power."

As if that needed to be proven, he gestured with his staff at the surroundings. At the children that Jolene had lulled into a happy herd that followed her, at the dust and the ghost town surrounding them. At the hounds. At the Empress herself.

"Wherever you hide, I can find you. Be aware of that. One day, I will come and end you."

He turned and walked away from this Leaf without any more care.

The trio sat there for a while. On the empty plaza, where nothing but dust, clothes and blood remained, they were unmoving. The Stem, the way out of this Leaf, that they had sought after for so long, was easily within reach now. No one was left to oppose them. Although that wasn't going to be a permanent state. The people that remained on the Leaf would come back to find this scene eventually.

It wasn't a stretch to imagine that, in the absence of Apotho, the blame would be put on them. Apexus had killed a guard and was an unknown creature people wouldn't trust anyway. Aclysia had fled from the Church despite being an angel. Reysha was actually guilty of everything one could accuse her off. She had broken the seal, she had killed a number of people to get there.

Apexus wasn't sure yet how to handle that, given how everything had ended. If they had managed to stop Apotho, it would have been one thing that she had been played, but by the consequences of her actions, thousands had died. Thousands more might, depending on what Apotho planned to do with his newfound freedom.

What he knew, however, was that he cared too much for her to leave her here -- to certain death by the outraged people. The slime looked at the two women. Aclysia was weeping, collapsed on the floor, powerless in the face of desolation.

As was Reysha.

"I didn't want this," she whispered, the tears washing blood, sweat and dust of her cheeks. "I didn't want this. I just wanted you back. I didn't want this. I didn't want this." The effects of the potion had not yet left her, or perhaps she was just too shocked. Either way, she didn't move, just mumbled those two phrases over and over again.

'This has to stop,' Apexus thought, the only clear-thinking person around. Although the loss of sapient life saddened him, there was a certain detachment he gained from being of a different line of creature altogether. Perhaps it was just the survival instincts that let him look at this pragmatically. 'They hunted us, they succeeded, Reysha wanted to hunt them, she dealt with things she didn't understand, now they will retaliate.'

Apexus slowly rose. Although he was missing more mass than he liked and was quite thirsty, it was too risky to waste time and give people the chance to return to there. Looking at him quizzically as he slung Reysha's arm over his shoulder, Aclysia asked. "What do we do now, Apexus?"

"We leave," the slime stated offering a hand to help his beloved up. "We go somewhere where nobody knows us. We will hide again. With a few more Growths, I could pass as a humanoid. We deal with what we did by moving forwards. I don't think any of us deserve for today and I don't care to wait for those who do. Agree, you don't?"

That stumble in his speaking pattern made Aclysia chuckle involuntarily. Everything was so desolate that this little thing signalled a piece of normalcy that she desperately needed. Taking his hand, she rose, then helped him support Reysha. It was a purely symbolic gesture, the Rogue walked on her own, as long as they moved. Together they walked to the Stem.

Because that was all they could do.

"I just..." Reysha mumbled. "...I just... I just love you... and they took you from me..." It was the worst time for a confession, but her strained mind blurted the words out regardless. "I didn't... is this real? Are you here, Apexus?"

"I am here."

"Then why did I... why did I want to kill them? Mehily and Bertholdth and all of the Guards and that Hunter?" her tears grew more numerous, her steps unsteady as convulsions tensed her body in irregular intervals. "I didn't know, Apeuxs... I was so angry, I was so alone... I didn't think that... even at the worst of times I didn't expect this... not this... I didn't know, I didn't..."

"I believe you, Reysha," the slime tried to calm her down. "We'll talk about this another day, when we had time to think."

"Let's just live, for now," Aclysia agreed, as they put their feet on the path of silver light. "Step for step. We all made a mistake today. The final pages of this tale aren't written yet. There is redemption for everyone."

"Even for me?" Reysha wondered, a question she would have never cared about under normal circumstances. What Apotho said was coming true. The suppressed feelings were rebounding, making her regretful beyond her usual capabilities. Emotions that stress had made her discard to survive back in the Clearwater Dungeon were violently brought back. Whether this helped or worsened her insanity was a question that only the long term could answer.

"Everyone," Aclysia insisted, clinging onto her hopeful worldview. "It's never too late to make an effort for the better. Perhaps you can never be forgiven for everything you did, but you can be remembered for more than your evil deeds. Just continue walking. I will do my best to support you." A support she now needed, as Reysha's feet dragged with every step.

"We're terribly weak, aren't we?" Reysha asked. It was unclear on what dimension she was talking about. About them as a group, humanoids in general, or even all beings with sapience. It all seemed accurate and important to ask.

Apexus chose to go with the lowest level. "We three are and Apotho is strong," he said, an immense oversimplification. "We have been given time," the sky around them faded as they escaped the borders of the Leaf. It was replaced with a dark blue. "If he is arrogant enough, we'll have the time to grow strong. We can fix this. At least, we have to try."

Reysha continued to weep and mumble things. Aclysia continued to cry and walk. Apexus looked at the world before them. It was beautiful. Branches and twigs of incomprehensible size were spreading through a pitch-black world. Many worlds were hanging off the branches, each shaped like a leaf. The veins that ran through those distant Leafs separated the vision of the worlds content into numerous fragments. Worlds of ice sparkled white and blue, endless autumn forests dominated by brown and gold, spring an array of vibrant colours, flower waving in winds worlds away and the green of summer that Apexus already knew. Between those four pillars, endless variations and mixtures existed. Too many to be contained in this singular view of an infinite universe. The Omniverse was sprawled out before them and it was beautiful.

Apexus couldn't help but look back. Although Ctania's nature was still beautiful, he could see the scar the initial breaking of the seal had created. More than that, he could see the two minor gods run around the Leaf, emulating sun and moon. They hadn't slowed, it was unlikely they had even noticed the death underneath them.

The gods didn't meddle. They were the final stage of life for people that ascended. They kept to themselves. They kept to their tasks. They kept watching and judging. The gods didn't meddle, they let things happen as they would. They gave aid when someone prayed to them with the right tools. They gave advice in their teachings. But they didn't meddle.

Apexus didn't know how to judge that either. 'Too many questions, too many tragedies for one day,' he decided, just walking the rest of the Stem up to the Branch it was attached to. They left Ctania behind.

They left the Safe Leaf behind.