Chapter 27: Condemning a Non-Believer’s Soul to Eternal Punishment… as a Rock?! (Patreon)

Chapter 27:

Condemning a Non-Believer’s Soul to Eternal Punishment… as a Rock?!

Bits of grease and chopped greens rolled down Urd's scaled face as she messily ate her bowl of soup. Alice could tell it was a particularly flavorful meal as she slipped into Urd's senses with [Divine Communion], but she could not help but compare it to the taste of blood and soul.

It's practically a dry rice cracker in comparison, Alice mused, though she forced herself not to think too much about those forbidden treats.

Kuonrat and Isaak had left the cavern the hour before. Kuonrat had his priestly duties to attend to, and, with innumerable apologies, he had explained it would be far too suspicious for him to remain absent any longer.

He would return when it was safe, however.

Alice was in no rush for anyone to return. She had met with two of her new cultists, and while she hadn't learned much, she felt confident now that she could interrogate them the next time they bowed before her. She had been dancing around on her tippy toes up until now, not wanting to make anyone suspicious, but she was a god. She was not the teenage girl who sat in the back of the classroom anymore.

But for now I'll just relax.

She was all smiles as she continued to watch Urd lick her bowl of soup clean. Roobit the Rabbit rested in The Girl's lap, bits of spilled soup dribbling down its left ear. Urd had bonded frighteningly quick with the stuffed animal.

"Your face is dirty," Alice said absentmindedly with a playful smile. Streaks of brown soup had painted Urd's nose and forehead, to speak nothing of the child's sticky fingers.

Urd blushed and looked sheepishly down at her feet.

"It was... was good. Very good," The Girl said softly. "Thank you, Master. Thank you for this bounty."

She placed the bowl and spoon down on the cavern floor, but then a crease fell over her bandaged face. Isaak had left behind his wooden box and all of the exotic monster parts within.

"I sh-should... It wouldn't be right to dirty your sanctuary with my bowl," Urd said softly. She rose, almost nervously, and Roobit fell off her lap and onto the ground. She quickly straightened him up into a sitting position. "I'll be... I'll be right back, God!"

Alice almost told her not to worry about it, but The Girl was already hurrying away, her dirty dish and tablewear clutched to her chest as though they were jewels. Alice watched her run down the tunnel and then out of sight.

Alice was left alone.

Alone with Mister Roobit.

She's been hugging that thing an awful lot, Alice thought to herself. I hope it doesn't burst. It doesn't look that sturdy.

Alice could still remember how Alice the Rock used to sit in Urd's lap. It used to be Alice's shiny black body that Urd hugged so tightly. Now it was this stuffed doll.

"I'm not getting jealous, am I?" Alice said aloud, filling the cavern with unheard laughter.

Her thoughts were warm and fuzzy, and with nothing else to do, she brought up her stats. It felt like ages since she had last looked at them, and her transformation to a grudgeheart would certainly have seen them increase.

Name: Alice Merryweather

Race: Divine Grudgeheart

Class: Object of Worship (Rank E)

Level: 10

FTH: 135

CE: 585/600

STR: 0

AGI: 0

VIT: 72

END: 138

PER: 84

INT: 227

WIL: 113

"Oh!"

Alice had known her stats would be higher after how much growth she had seen with her last level-up, but this far exceeded her expectations.

"No wonder [God Sense] expanded so much," Alice said to herself as she looked at each of her new stats. "But wait..."

CE: 587/600

She squinted at her cursed energy... and blinked.

CE: 589/600

"That must be [Malevolent Heartbeat]," Alice said as she watched her cursed energy continue to increase.

CE: 591/600

"Oh..."

Alice quickly realized that at this rate her cursed energy would spill over. She had let that happen back at the brothel in the hopes of causing Dale some misfortune, though no such tragedy had ever even tickled his nose. She could still remember the arrival of the demon dogs back on the mountain, however, and was not eager to risk anything like that happening here.

CE: 593/600

"Do I use a...? But I don't have anyone to use a whisper on!" Alice said to herself. She bit her nonexistent lip as the number continued to climb. "Why did I let Urd scamper off like that?!"

CE: 595/600

"Gah!" Her vision raked anxiously across the tunnel... and landed on Bram.

Her thoughts stilled as she studied the man's deflated flesh. A horrible idea tickled at the back of her rock head. Because would [Haunt Object] work on a corpse...? 

CE: 597/600

"No time to think!" She quickly formed an invisible ball of dark miasma. Just like back at the abbey, she envisioned invisible hands shaping a ball of clay until she could practically feel the cursed energy writhing between her nonexistent fingers.

She focused on Bram's corpse...

...but then her thoughts shifted towards Roobit the Rabbit, the doll sitting patiently before her rock sapling of a body.

CE: 599/600

Hardly even aware of what she was doing, Alice shoved the enormous ball of invisible black into the doll instead.

CE: 569/600

"Phew..." Alice wiped nonexistent sweat from her brow. "That was close."

She studied the inert doll, suddenly feeling a little guilty. She was not altogether sure what [Haunt Object] even did.

"It's p-probably fine!" Alice said to herself, trying to brush aside her guilt. "I bet Mister Roobit doesn't mind. Right, Mister Roobit?"

Alice imagined the stuffed rabbit nodding its patchwork head in agreement...

...and the doll obeyed.

"Wooow!" Alice said, blinking stupidly. All she had done was imagine Roobit move its head, and the doll had very excitedly nodded as if on command.

There hadn't been any time to experiment with [Haunt Object] before now, but with everyone away...

Licking his nonexistent lips, Alice willed for Roobit to stand up.

And the doll was more than happy to obey, though he lost his balance and stumbled forward immediately.

"This... This is fun!"

She willed Roobit to push himself up off the cavern floor with his puffy arms. It was almost like controlling a miniature remote car but with her brain. She was able to get Roobit onto his nubby feet and then, Alice's nonexistent face scrunched up in concentration, she was able to keep him balanced so that he did not immediately fall back over.

Her victory was short-lived, however, as Roobit fell flat on his face as though the strings holding him upright had been cut. No amount of scrunching up her face would make the stuffed animal stand after that.

"[Haunt Object] must have run out of cursed energy," Alice said, and she quickly shaped another ball of black and pushed it into her newest vessel.

Dimly, Alice realized that this was the first time she had been able to move in over a decade. Of course, it wasn't her body that was pushing itself up and onto its nubby feet. It wasn't a body at all, but she could almost... almost feel Roobit's round feet on the cavern floor. She could almost feel the air whish against his arms as he waved at Alice the Rock's stalagmites.

"Woooow!"

Alice blinked, and the connection between her and Roobit severed. She had been so focused on manipulating the doll's limbs that she had not noticed Urd's return.

"Roobit!" Urd squealed excitedly. She rushed forward and knelt in front of her inert doll. "He... He was alive! I saw him move! Was that...?! God, did you d-do that?!"

Alice felt more than a little embarrassed at having been caught playing with Urd's doll, but the child seemed overjoyed to have seen the play.

Maybe it isn't such a big deal.

And so Alice formed another ball of black and pushed it into Roobit's stuffed body.

Urd clapped excitedly as Alice made Roobit stand up off the cavern floor. She had him wave to Urd, who immediately burst into laughter and waved back.

"He's alive, he's alive!" Urd cheered. "Master Merry Weather, this is amazing!"

Buoyed by Urd's praise, Alice tried to make Roobit perform more and more complex manoeuvres. She was only able to do one successful somersault out of ten attempts, but each failure brought a rich laugh from Urd that Alice had never before seen or heard.

After a particularly embarrassing flop, Urd bent forward and picked Roobit up, holding the bunny tight in her arms. Alice quickly stretched out Roobit's own arms and hugged Urd, who returned the affection almost immediately.

"Oh."

A strange numbness reached the very core of Alice's rock body. She could not feel Urd hugging Alice back, but as she willed Roobit's arms to squeeze Urd, a very silly thought entered her head.

Because when was the last time Alice had hugged someone like this?

Urd had hugged Alice the Rock half a hundred times, but Alice...

She had been in this world for over thirteen years and had lived just as many before her fateful rebirth as a rock. It was such a stupid thought, but in all those years, had she ever wrapped her arms around someone like this, knowing they would not push her away?

Alice poured more and more cursed energy into Roobit.

It was pathetic.

It was so pitiful.

But she did not want this moment to end. Hugging Urd with Mister Roobit's stuffed arms... felt so nice.

Eventually, however, a figure appeared at the end of the tunnel.

The doorkeeper appeared at the cavern door as [Haunt Object] ran out of juice, and Roobit the Rabbit's arms went limp.

"Begging your pardons," the wrinkled man said solemnly, his eyes turned to the floor. Alice wondered what he had thought when he first came inside and saw Urd hugging the stuffed animal.

Urd herself turned as bright as a tomato as she whirled about to face the man.

"Elder Kuonrat bid me to look after you, little miss," the doorkeeper said, bowing once to Urd and then again to Alice the Rock. "And to offer whatever I could to you, Master Merry Weather. Is there...?"

"Urd, tell him we're fine," Alice said quickly. The man could not have known it was Alice hugging Urd, but her nonexistent cheeks tickled with embarrassment all the same.

The bent-over doorkeeper nodded solemnly as Urd conveyed Alice's Divine Decree. He brightened as he looked at Urd and the doll still held in her hands.

"I'm glad you're enjoying that rabbit, little miss," the doorkeeper said. "Belonged to my niece."

Urd forgot some of her embarrassment then as she held up Roobit the Rabbit for the doorkeeper's inspection.

"Mister Roobit is great! Th-thank you!" Urd said with rainbow sparkles in her eyes. "Oh! And look what god can make him do!"

Eh?

Alice's nonexistent face blushed even brighter as it became clear Urd wanted a demonstration.

I guess I can put on a little show, Alice thought to herself as she rolled together a ball of cursed energy. She would give the doorkeeper a nice somersault. I spoil my priestess rotten!

But as she pushed a ball of black miasma into the doll, an unwelcome notification appeared.

Unable to use [Haunt Object].

Insufficient cursed energy.

"Oh."

Alice stared blankly at the notification.

I guess hugging uses a lot of cursed energy.

"God...?"

Alice's heart dropped like a stone at the rich confusion found in Urd's voice. Alice could see the beginnings of fear in her face, as if... Alice could not even begin to understand why The Girl would look so frightened.

I couldn't have run out of cursed energy at a worse time! Alice thought anxiously to herself. Did she just ask them to wait until [Malevolent Heartbeat] cranked out enough for another [Haunt Object]?

It did not seem as though there was anything else she could do.

Acquired Soul

Owner: Bram Staaf

Owner's Level: 17

Owner's Class: Banker

New soul essence available for use.

Alice could not be sure why [Geological Memory] summoned that particular notification, but the black text tickled free a morbid thought. Because [Haunt Object]'s description said that Alice could infuse her essence into an inanimate object. It did not specify what kind of essence, however.

Alice looked once more at the notification and wondered...

Could I put Bram's soul into Roobit the Rabbit?

She bit her nonexistent lip as the idle thought churned within her nonexistent stomach like an undigested stone. To stuff someone's soul into a stuffed animal...

That sounds kind of messed up.

She was not even sure if she could use soul essence for [Haunt Object]. And even if it worked, she had no idea what would happen.

"I'm sorry..." Urd said suddenly, and the child looked all the world like a kicked puppy. "I was... I was presump... tious..."

Urd forced out the difficult word, and [Geological Memory] left little mystery as to why. She was clearly attempting to mimic Kuonrat's own apology, and that was simply too much for Alice to bear!

"No, no, no!" Alice said, and Urd flinched. "Don't apologize!"

Any worries Alice had were banished by Urd's frown. She wanted only smiles from The Girl. After everything she had been through, that was the least she deserved.

And that Bram guy was a real jerk, Alice reminded herself. She was not sure what would happen if she used his soul essence on the doll, but it would certainly be less than he deserved.

Just like with cursed energy, Alice probed her body with invisible hands. It was not as if the soul essence was neatly filed away like a book at the library, but she envisioned as best she could a container of Bram Staaf's soul.

It did not take long for her invisible hands to wrap around the invisible essence, though it was not at all like the clay ball of her imaginary cursed energy. It was all her imagination, of course, but the soul essence was as slippery as an eel. It did not want to be touched by Alice, but she was not about to give up!

Sweat pouring down her nonexistent face, Alice managed to grab hold of the eel-like soul, pinching its head and shoving it unceremoniously into Roobit the Rabbit. She could see nothing, but somehow she knew she had succeeded. No notification appeared to tell her the soul had been used, that it was no longer available, but she focused on the stuffed rabbit and willed that it would stand.

[Haunt Object] has reached Rank II.

Despite the notification, however, Roobit did not stand.

Alice willed for the stuffed animal to shake its fluffy rear end.

But Roobit most certainly did not degrade himself for Alice's amusement.

She was about to try and stuff Bram's soul into the stuffed animal again... when Roobit twitched.

"S-See!" Urd declared, her mask of misery forgotten as Roobit's arms and legs began to shiver.

Alice was not the one making them shiver, however.

Divine Trait unlocked: Tormentor of Souls

Oh no, Alice thought numbly as she read the notification. I think... I think I may have made a mistake.

She felt no joy at unlocking her first [Divine Trait]. For that matter, she found herself too scared to even open [Divine Development] to read more about it. Instead, she focused on the stuffed animal now writhing on the cavern floor.

Roobit the Rabbit slowly stood like a living thing, Alice's unspoken horror mounting with each moment. A flicker of icy cold raced down her nonexistent spine as the stuffed rabbit looked up at the doorkeeper, as if its sewn-on eyes could see.

"He can do somersaults!" Urd said eagerly, but somehow Alice knew Roobit would not be in the mood for tricks. The stuffed animal was looking down at its nubby arms as if in numb disbelief.

This... This isn't good, Alice thought to herself as she watched the stuffed animal begin to probe its body, as if this was their first time meeting it, as if Bram Staaf was slowly realizing that he was now trapped inside a stuffed rabbit. The newly unlocked [Tormentor of Souls] trait did little to calm the mad panic of Alice's thoughts either. 

Number of active curses: 5

(2) Powerful

(2) Weak

(1) Feeble

Received cursed energy!

"R-Really?!" Alice sputtered, which earned a confused jump from Urd. If she had just waited a little longer, she wouldn't have had to trap someone's soul in a stuffed animal!

"Is... Is Mister Roobit OK?" Urd asked, and Alice focused on Bram the Rabbit.

He was decidedly not OK.

Alice watched with numb horror as Bram the Rabbit began to push and pull at their threadbare head with the nubs of their stuffed arms. Bram the Rabbit fell to the ground and began to do mad cartwheels as he continued to push, push, puush his stuffed rabbit head.

Alice had no idea what Bram was trying to do... but then the cavern filled with the softest sound of ripping.

"Mister Roobit, nooo!" Urd cried out, horrified, as Bram managed to rip off his new doll head. The doorkeeper looked on with wide, dumbstruck eyes as the decapitated doll continued to roll around on the cavern floor.

Bram was not satisfied with merely ripping off his head, however. With his nubby arms, Bram the Rabbit began to carve out the stuffing found within his severed neck, all while Urd heaved and huffed nearby, clearly on the verge of a heart attack.

Roobit the Rabbit's severed head rolled around in small circles all the while, as though some soul still resided within.

"I'm shooorry!" Urd wept as she turned to Alice the Rock and pressed her face into the ground. "I wash... preshumptuoush...!"

"Nooo!" Alice cried herself, wanting very much to rip out her own stuffing. This Bastard Bram was causing her trouble even in the afterlife!

"P-Please, forgive meee!" Urd continued to wail, snot and tears rolling down her face. "Don't hurt Mister Rooobit!"

Pulling together whatever cursed energy she could, Alice used [Haunt Object] on the Bram-possessed doll. She could feel him inside as she fought to keep the stuffed doll's nubby arms still.

This bastard! Alice bit her nonexistent lip as she wrestled with Bram for control. Its headless body staggered left and right, left and right, until it fell across the very confused doorkeeper's foot.

Curse Spread: Eber Gaunt

Severity: Weak

Received experience!

Received cursed energy!

"What?!" Alice stopped wrestling with Bram as an unexpected notification flashed across her vision. "Why?! Why was he cursed?!"

"I'm shooooorry!" Urd exclaimed, and Alice kicked herself for speaking the thought aloud.

Her thoughts remained anchored on the unexpected notification, however. Strangest of all was the curse's severity.

Was it because the doll had Bram's soul in it? Alice wondered. Or was it because I was haunting the doll when it touched him?

Eber the Doorkeeper bent over and picked up the headless doll, which immediately began to thrash uselessly against his iron grip. The old man looked on, horrified, turning to stare at Alice the Rock.

"Did I do something to... offend, Master Merry Weather?"

Roobit's severed head continued to roll around the floor in wide, uneven circles. Bram clearly did not want to remain trapped in the stuffed rabbit, but even ripping off his head had not freed his soul from his new torment.

"I'm not angry!" Alice said, focusing on Urd's misery for now. "Stop crying. Please, stop crying. Everything will be... Just tell Eber to take Mister Roobit upstairs, OK? Have Eber take care of Roobit the Rabbit!"

It required two [Serpent's Whispers] for Urd to compose herself enough to convey Alice's Divine Decree. Eber remained just as baffled as he picked up Bram's severed doll head and carried both halves out of the tunnel and upstairs. All that was left behind was the stuffing Bram had been able to tear out.

Why did I ever think that would work?!

Alice had never felt so awkward before in her entire life. She wanted to apologize, to explain what had happened, but... but did gods make mistakes?

"I'm sorry about Roobit!" Alice said, and Urd sniffled.

"N-No, Master Merry Weather," The Girl said solemnly. "I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have made light of Your power."

"No, no, no!" Alice said at once. It was obvious Urd thought Roobit's misfortune had been some kind of punishment. Alice suddenly did not care about maintaining her divinity. "I made a mistake! I've been asleep for so long that... that... Yeah, I used my powers incorrectly!"

Urd's expression softened into a mixture of confusion and disbelief.

"But don't worry!" Alice said, forcing her voice to be cheerful. "Eber will take care of Mister Roobit!"

A little warmth returned to Urd's face.

"Really...?" The Girl asked, as if she dared not believe.

"Yeah!" Alice said immediately, though she froze as soon as the word left her. Thinking about it, what would Eber do with a torn-up and deflated doll? He wouldn't just... throw it out?

"Why don't you go and tell Eber just how important it is that Roobit the Rabbit gets fixed!" Alice said quickly. She would feel more than awful if Bram the Bunny was set loose in the world, his soul trapped forevermore inside a broken doll.

"I couldn't!" Urd said, aghast. "I can't just leave You!"

"Really! Go and tell him!" Alice pushed, trying to keep the panic from her voice. "Make sure Eber fixes up Roobit. And maybe... maybe put him in a box. One with a lock. S-So nobody steals him!"

Urd flashed a hopeful smile and nodded eagerly. She bowed her head several times before rushing out of the room and into the tunnel.

The Girl was practically a whirlwind as she raced towards the ladder, but then doubt seemed to flicker across her thoughts. Alice watched with [God Sense] as the urgency of Urd's step disappeared, as though she struggled with whether it was really OK to leave Alice the Rock's side.

Urd's run became a strangled walk and then hardly even a tiptoe. The Girl seemed to be dragging her feet as if frightened to reach the ladder. But forget dragging her feet! Was she even moving?!

What is going on? Alice stared dumbly at Urd. Why isn't she moving?

Urd remained motionless a few feet from the ladder, but it was more than that. The Girl's eyes remained open and unblinking. Her left foot remained an inch off the ground as though time had frozen around her.

"She's a cute kid."

Alice could not be sure when T̴͎͛̽͝h̸̨̧̖̜̣̔̋̓̊̎e̸̤̕y had entered the room. Ṭ̵̲̟̂̒ḧ̸͈̻̏͐̇e̴̯̩̓͌́y lounged beside Alice the Rock, their back pressed against the stony knot of her new body's core.

"She's gonna die, though," T̶̝̿h̵͇̉e̵̊y said.

Alice could not breathe. The body resting against Alice the Rock was not looking up at her, but somehow Alice could feel T̴͖͝ḣ̸̖ĕ̴̹ȋ̷͚r eyes staring at her. Innumerable eyes. Inhuman eyes. Alien eyes that saw so much more than Alice could ever hope to understand.

"Eleven days. The Fates already have the date set, and Fate doesn't change its mind. No, no," F̶͍́a̶̖͗v̷̻̚o̶̢͛r̷̛͙ș̷́ ̴̭̿O̸̺͐n̸̲̓ë̶͉́ ̴̠͠T̸͕̽a̸̗͘s̴̡̉k said. "Stabbed through the heart. Yes, yes. Real sad. Real, real sad."

And the spell lifted.

Alice took in a shuddering breath, though she did not have either lungs or a mouth. She blinked several confused tears from her eyes, though she did not have eyes or even tear ducts to cry with.

The innumerable alien eyes had disappeared. Rather, they had never even been there. But Urd... Urd remained frozen at the end of the tunnel, as if time itself was still holding its breath.

At the base of Alice's new body, her face upturned...

"You can save her, though," Favors One Task said. Her cruel smile was as oily as a McDonald's grill. "You just have to defy Fate."

This is not a drill! Forget everything else! We are about to meet Favors One Task!

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