Chapter 22: Receiving My First Human Sacrifice as a Rock?! (Patreon)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Receiving My First Human Sacrifice as a Rock?!

Alice thought she had known anxiety when Dale had towered over Urd with a knife, his scarred face a mask of sadistic delight. But as she looked from hooded face to hooded face, she felt as though she was back at school, thrown in front of a classroom to perform a presentation nobody other than the teacher wanted to hear.

B-But I have to tell these crazies something!

The hoods and secret knocks were evidence enough that they were not friendly folks.

I don't know who Favors One Task is, though! I don't know anything about any of this!

It seemed like Kuonrat and the others thought she had some kind of message from their... Dark Mother? The name almost made her sound like a god, but Alice had only ever heard about Zora.

"Tell us your wisdom, spirit!" the enormously squeaky man said. His outburst was quickly taken up by some of the others.

Alice had no idea what to say, but she latched onto his comment.

"Tell them... Urd, I need you to correct them," Alice said, and her pint-sized priestess jumped. "I am no spirit. I am... I am Master Alice of the Merry Weather! I am God of Waterhold!"

Urd squeaked and sputtered the Divine Decree all while a sense of doom washed over Alice's rock body. Because it was one thing to tell a bunch of empty-headed brats she was a god. Would the same lie work on adults? And on adults like these?

"God of... Waterhold...?"

Alice's fears became a reality almost immediately. The hooded cultists turned to one another with open suspicion on what was revealed of their faces.

"Did I hear the little one correctly?" an older cultist asked, revealing a wrinkled hand from within his black robes. "God? God of Waterhold?"

"There is no such god," the snakelike man sneered. "What is this game, Kuonrat?"

Alice's nonexistent mouth filled with dust. Nobody seemed to want to buy her lie. Her focus shifted anxiously over to Kuonrat... and her thoughts turned white with confusion.

The Priest was not crying anymore. Alice had no idea how to describe the expression he wore, mere inches away from Urd's bandaged face. The look did little to inspire her with confidence, however.

"M-Master Merry W-Weather...!"

Alice jumped as Urd sputtered out a squeaky curse. She stamped her feet in a trembling temper tantrum, and the cavern fell silent.

"Master Merry Weather has b-been asleep!" Urd shouted indignantly, and Alice groaned. The lie sounded so horribly pathetic now that it was being shared with a room full of adults. "Th-that's why you...! That's why p-people have forgotten about Her! Stupid people! B-But She was just s-sleeping!"

Should I just... [Smite] everyone? Alice wondered dimly, her nonexistent chest feeling so horribly hollow. How could she help Urd escape from these crazies?

But then Kuonrat shuddered.

Alice's attention shifted back to the [Priest]. His breathing became unusually harsh, so harsh that it soon filled the whole room like the mechanical guzzle of an old generator.

"S-Slum... ber... bered...?" The words left him in a weak rattle as though he had just run a marathon. "Where...? Where did... did the Master slumber...?"

Alice was more than a little startled by the man's strangeness, but her thoughts instantly returned to the pond she had spent so many happy years beside and within. She had never thought to give it a name, however, nor the forest that surrounded it.

"Oh."

It felt as though a lightning bolt had struck her nonexistent skull.

"Oh, oh, oh!"

It felt as though that same lightning bolt was bouncing around the inside of her nonexistent skull like a ping-pong ball.

"I know who these people are!" Alice said, numb with shock.

How had she not realized sooner?

"Urd! Urd, I need you to tell them that... that..." Alice bit her nonexistent lip. This was a terrible gamble, but she was confident her [Geological Memory] held the truth. "Tell them that I slept d-deep within the mountains... beneath a temple... that is no longer there."

Because Sorin had told Mittica about these people. The cultists that had lived on the mountain, that had tried to defy Fate and create their own [Magi]. Sorin and Mittica had even seen their temple, or at least what was left of it.

And if Alice's suspicions were true...

"M-Master lived... deep within the m-mountains," Urd said, and Kuonrat's ragged breathing seemed to slow. "She dw-dwelt? She dwelt beneath a temple... that isn't there."

An unbeliever has been converted.

Received experience!

Received faith!

"Yes!" Alice cheered, and Urd gave a little jump in surprise.

A familiar wave of euphoria washed over her as the faith filled her rock body. She wondered idly who her words had convinced, but she did not have to wonder for long.

"FINALLY!"

Kuonrat's explosion of zeal filled the cavern like thunder. He collapsed onto the earthen floor and pressed his bushy face into the ground.

"I DARED NOT BELIEVE! MY HEART WOULD HAVE BURST IF THE TRUTH WERE ANY LESS GLORIOUS!" Kuonrat bellowed, his words thick with emotion. The other cultists looked on with both fear and shock. "OUR GREATEST WISH! THE DARK MOTHER HAS SUCCEEDED! A GOD! A GOD OUTSIDE THE FATE'S CONTROL!"

An unbeliever has been converted.

Received experience!

Received faith!

An unbeliever has been converted.

Received experience!

Received faith!

Tall One and Short One both threw themselves down onto the ground beside Kuonrat. Their cloaked bodies trembled wordlessly, but Alice hardly even noticed. The rush of faith made her thoughts feel fuzzy and dumb. This was not the paltry tickle that had accompanied the conversion of an orphan.

"This feels goooooood," Alice cooed, and one of the other cultists stepped forward.

"Pardons, Master Merry Weather." It was the old man from before, though his wrinkled hands lay hidden within his robes. "But when you speak of... your lost temple...?"

"FOOL!" Kuonrat barked, and he was on his feet faster than Alice thought possible. Coarse black hair covered much of his face, but what was revealed of his eyes looked murderous. "Clearly the Master speaks of our Unbound Mother's [Awakening]."

And within a breath, all of his rage left him. Kuonrat's expression became that of an overexcited child as he knelt beside Urd.

"You were there?!" the Priest asked, nodding eagerly. "You w-w-witnessed our Dark Mother break free from Fate's chain?!"

Alice could not help but wince despite the numbing faith that still filled her. All this Dark Mother talk made Alice sound like some kind of evil gold. And breaking Fate's chain? Hadn't Sorin said there was no crime greater than defying Fate?

Urd did not seem frightened by this heresy, however. Quite the opposite. The fear she had shown when she first stepped into the room had almost entirely disappeared. She stared at Kuonrat with sparkles of astonishment in her eyes.

But it worked, Alice thought to herself, trying not to worry overmuch about Urd.

It was hard to believe, but it seemed like these people were the remnants of the cult Eva and Erik had belonged to. Alice's rock head felt as though it was going to crack open, but all their talk about an Unbound Mother... about her [Awakening]...

"Tell them that I watched over Erik and Eva," Alice said, deliberately placing Erik's name first, not wanting to frighten Urd. "I saw their first kiss and... and their last."

Urd repeated Alice's Divine Proclamation without understanding. Her bandaged face was a mask of confusion as excited chatter filled the cavern at the mention of Eva's name.

I can't believe it, Alice thought to herself. It made her feel dizzy enough to fall over, but it seemed as though The Girl she had watched over beside the lake had become this cult's Dark Mother.

"Erik...?"

A man stumbled forward from the ring of cultists. He pulled back his hood, and Alice had to stop herself from shouting.

"My Erik...?"

Because Alice was staring at Erik! But how was that possible?! How was he still alive?!

Her confused exhilaration sank like a stone, however, as she studied the man more closely. Because this was not the Erik she had watched over beside the lake. She had watched that boy die, had watched Eva reduce his face to a red paste. The man before her now was an older version of that erstwhile friend.

This must be Erik's father.

An unbeliever has been converted.

Received experience!

Received faith!

"Hah!" As still more faith flushed Alice's senses, she could not help but bark in victory. "I can... I can do this!"

She had been terrified for Urd at the start, but if these men and women belonged to Eva's cult, and if Eva had become their... their prophet?

I can easily trick them! Alice thought savagely. She probably knew Eva better than anyone in this room. And if Erik's father was among them... I can protect Urd!

"Whatever this is has gone on long enough."

A heavy silence fell over the cavern.

"Be careful, Bram," Kuonrat growled, breaking free from his rapture. He glowered at the same snakelike man that had insulted Urd earlier.

"Careful? No, we should be cautious," Bram said with a concealed sneer. "You act as if bewitched, Elder. You and your... helpers. That is a grudge stone, no?"

"That is no ordinary- " Kuonrat began, his voice dangerous, but Bram cut him off.

"A grudge stone then, which means this... insanity is merely its curse," Bram said, looking to the other cultists for support. "Perhaps a spirit does dwell within the stone, but it is more likely some daemon than one of Mother's servants."

Kuonrat rose to his full height. His clenched fists suggested it took every ounce of restraint not to strangle the oily man. Tall One and Short One stood beside him, their robed bodies trembling with unspoken fury.

"You of little faith!" Kuonrat choked out. "Do not...! Do not dare to...!"

Alice looked anxiously from one cultist to the other. Should she use [Serpent's Whisper] on Bram? She could not help but remember how disastrously that went with Kuonrat. Had that been because he was a [Priest]? Would this snide dissenter have a similar power of detection?

"Look at how few our numbers have become under your stewardship," Bram said before Alice could make up her mind. "Mistake after mistake, and now you would have us bow before some... pox-faced whorechild?"

"Hey!" one of the cultists shouted, the same woman from before. Nobody else offered up protest, however.

"I hate this man!" Alice snarled. Why was he so nasty to Urd? She wondered idly if a [Smite] would not help improve his attitude.

"M-Master Merry Weather hates this man!" Urd shouted, and Alice's thoughts went blank.

Eh? Did she just...?

With a wave of unspoken horror, Alice realized Urd must have heard her internal curse and mistaken it for another Divine Decree.

"You little whore!" Bram roared, and he stomped towards her. The man raised a thin hand high into the air, ready to smack Urd across the face, but both Tall One and Short One rushed forward to restrain him.

I hadn't meant for Urd to tell them that, but I guess the damage is done.

"Let go of me!" Bram shouted as he struggled against Tall One and Short One.

Urd looked uncertain as she took a frightened step back.

"Urd, tell them that I don't like this man!" Alice said quickly, her thoughts buzzing with how best to salvage this situation. "Tell them that I want him gone, that they should throw him out of the room! I don't trust him with... No, tell them that he does not deserve my wisdom!"

"This is outrageous!" Bram shouted as he continued to wrestle with Tall One and Short One. His hood slid back, revealing a cruel, hawkish face. "Kuonrat, call off your goons!"

Urd nodded dutifully and screwed up her face.

"M-Master Merry Weather says that She doesn't like this man! That... That She doesn't trust him with... with Her wisdom, and that She wants him... gone?"

"You underfed harlot!" Bram shouted. "Are we really going to listen to the stink coming out of this child's mouth?"

Alice winced at Urd's butchered version of her Divine Proclamation. Alice had probably loaded a little too much onto her shoulders, but thankfully what she said had been accurate enough.

Tall One and Short One both turned to Kuonrat with a strange look, one that the Priest returned.

"Gone...?" Kuonrat repeated, staring at Alice the Rock in confusion.

A flicker of frustration flashed across Alice's thoughts. Urd may not have shared the Divine Decree word-for-word, but they couldn't have known that. If they considered themselves her followers, why were they twiddling their thumbs?

"They heard what I said!" Alice told Urd heatedly. "If they're my followers, they should obey!"

Urd's bandaged face scrunched up as if she, too, shared in Alice's frustration.

"G-God has already told you what to do!" she said, stamping her feet as she so often did when frustrated. "If you believe, obey!"

"This is madness!" Bram shouted, but none of the other cultists moved to free him.

Alice imagined it would be much easier to convert everyone else once Tall One and Short One threw Bram out of the room. She just hoped the man didn't throw a tantrum outside and make a ruckus by the door.

"I believe..." Kuonrat said in a hushed voice. The soft whisper of his words somehow felt heavier than all of his previous shouts. He turned from Tall One to Short One and then nodded.

"S-Stop this!" Bram shouted as the two men dragged him towards the door.

But they were not taking him to the door.

"E-Elder?!"

A gasp went up as Kuonrat revealed an evil-looking knife from within his robes. Tall One and Short One dragged Bram before Alice the Rock as Urd looked up at them both in numb confusion.

Eh? What are they...?

She did not understand. Why weren't they throwing the man out of the room?

"He is bewitched!" Bram shrieked, his voice suddenly shrill with panic. "S-Someone! Someone stop this insanity!"

"Master Merry Weather has judged you unworthy," Kuonrat said as he brought the knife to Bram's throat. "I always suspected you and the frailty of your faith."

"N-No!" Alice shouted. When she had said she wanted the man gone, she hadn't meant dead! "Urd! Urd, tell them to stop! Just throw him outside! This isn't...!"

But it was as if Urd couldn't hear her. The Girl's face was a mask frozen in place. She did not tremble, but all the color had left her as she continued to stare at the jagged knife pressed against Bram's bulging throat.

"I offer this blood to you, Master Merry Weather!" Kuonrat sang, and his knife bit deep.

Human sacrifice received from a believer.

Received experience!

Received faith!

Chaos filled the cavern as several notifications flashed across Alice's nonexistent eyes.

Skill Progress: Divine Harvest [1/10]

Screams bounced off the earthen walls as a fountain of red wet soaked Urd like rainfall. But The Girl did not blink. She did not even shield her eyes. She remained as still as stone as Bram's blood made a crimson mess of both her and Alice the Rock.

Skill Progress: Bloodthirsty [10/10]

New Skill Unlocked: [Bloodthirsty I]

Bloodthirsty (Rank I): Blood is life, and within its crimson waters lies unfiltered power. You can consume the blood of others to strengthen yourself based on their [Class], [Race], and [Level]. 

Alice did not notice she had slipped out of Urd's senses at first. An ecstasy unlike any other filled her rock body as she basked in the faith earned from Kuonrat's bloody violence. Her vision soon thinned to the ten feet of her [God Sense], however. For a moment she did not understand, but then Urd collapsed onto the cavern floor like a dropped accordion.

"Urd!" Alice shouted, fighting against her faith-addled thoughts.

Nobody else seemed to care or notice she had fainted. The screams of shock had devolved into shouts of violence. Alice could hardly even understand the full-throated noise.

The woman revealed sharp claws from within her robes and was hissing behind her black hood.

The air shimmered as if with an unseen force over the squeaky man's bloated shoulders.

Lightning seemed to race up and down a shortsword clutched in the old man's wrinkled hand.

The other cultists were about to murder Kuonrat and his accomplices, and somehow Alice knew Urd would not be spared from their violence. Blood still poured from Bram's throat, and still more would soon fill the cavern.

What do I do, what do I do?!

It was impossible to think with all the screaming and shouting!

But then another notification broke through the swelling chaos. Alice read the familiar words, and her thoughts turned white.

Requirements for evolution have been met.

Would you like to evolve? [Y/N]

Talk about awkward! Things are not looking good for Alice and her new friends!

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