Chapter 76: The Gods Don’t Like Being Questioned (Patreon)

"Close the eye?" She looked down at the head resting on her thigh. "The simple answer's always the right one. I hope that's how it works, because I don't want to be locked in this place for the rest of my life."

Remember the clothes he gave you to wear in the bathroom?

"Yeah. If I'd put them on, I'd probably walk out of the shadow dimension, naked."

She he walked to the edge of the shadow and looked at what lay beyond it. The creatures were still there, caught mid-jump with their mouths open, and on the floor, Napoleon sat, stuck in the slime, his legs frozen where he'd been trying to pull himself out.

Her eyes left him, went down the hall, over the bodies, to the stairs climbing to the second floor at the far end. Then back to the creatures. Then to Napoleon again.

"The priority is to grab Napoleon." She moved along the edge until she was as close to him as the barrier allowed, then stayed there, counting the distance to the stairs.

And the grenades?

"By the door on the second floor. I'll search the soldiers." Her head turned toward it, then back toward the stairs, and she paused, weighing it. This better work.

She glanced at the head hanging from her waist. "Tera, I have a severed head on my waist. I don't recall much about movies, but I'm quite sure I resemble the killer in one." She gazed at the vast library that was now hers, even if she couldn't understand the language of the books, and also at the room with a bed, a bath, and food, all of it hers now. "It was worth it."

Don't forget the worm.

"Relax, I haven't forgotten. I'm already starting to feel like myself again." She tore a piece from Mordran's robe, wrapped the jar in it, and tied it to her belt.

She checked her revolver and her torch on her belt, made sure the head was secure. "We need a distraction." She stepped over to Mordran's headless body and took hold of it with her left hand, building momentum to throw it at the creatures. With her right hand, she prepared to close Mordran's eye.

"Ready, Tera?"

Let's go get Napoleon, Operator.

She closed the eye, and in one second the shadows and the library disappeared. The world came back to life, and so did the creatures leaping toward her. She threw Mordran's body hard, and most of them caught it and began tearing it apart, biting into it.

"Napoleon." She crouched, then picked him up off the floor. "I'll get all this off you later. For now, let's get out of here."

"Yes, Operator."

God, I needed to hear that.

Several creatures remained behind, devouring Mordran's body, while others lunged at the Operator as she sprinted toward the stairs. Two of them caught her arm and clamped their jaws down. She sensed the teeth trying to bite through, but none succeeded. However, the fabric covering her arm tore and hung in strips.

"Sons of bitches. My clothes again." She grabbed it by the throat and threw it down the hall, where it hit the wall and came apart against it. No punch or swing, understanding what would happen if she struck something solid; she wasn't going to break her hands again today.

Another one grabbed her by the shoulder, and its teeth worked at her the same way. She reached over, pulled it off, and threw it into the ones coming up behind it, and all of them went down in a pile.

She held Napoleon tightly to her chest and hurried toward the catwalk stairs, causing the metal to tremble beneath her boots. Behind her, the creatures surged onto the stairs, pushing past one another to ascend, shoving those in front and toppling them against the rails, all fighting for the same steps. One creature near the front opened its mouth and spat a stream of acid toward her; she swiftly dodged, and the acid spray whistled past her shoulder, spraying onto those below.

Don't know if this new skin holds against that. Don't want to find out.

The acid ate into the ones it hit, the skin coming off them where it touched, and they screamed and kept climbing anyway.

She came off the top step with Napoleon still in one arm, needing both hands free for what was coming. He was still covered in the slime from the floor, so she pressed him against the wall, and the slime stuck to him, holding him there.

"Operator??"

"Not now, Napoleon. I need my hands."

The first attacker reached the top step and advanced toward her. She grabbed a dead soldier from the floor by the arm, swung his body into him, and knocked the front ones back down the stairs. Their bodies tumbled and tangled with the others still climbing, buying her crucial seconds.

The three grenades were resting on a belt, exposed in the open. She grasped them, pulled the pins, and discarded them. The first grenade was thrown down the catwalk into the midst of those climbing towards her. The other two were tossed over the railing to land on the floor below, one on each side.

They went off softly, no blast, just a low hiss, and the smoke came out purple, rolling up through the grating and spreading across the floor and up the stairs. It moved slowly, filling everything, until she couldn't see the ones on the lower steps anymore. Then they began to go down. The ones at the front dropped first, their legs giving way and sending those behind them tumbling as well. The cascade continued as the entire group sank into the smoke, one after another. The roar gradually faded until everything was silent.

She stood at the top, watching it happen, all of them going still beneath the purple haze. "It worked. They're actually sleeping, or whatever."

That won't keep them down forever, and we don't know how much time we've got. Move while they're out.

She returned to the soldiers to check the remaining belts and discovered four additional grenades on one of them. She detached the belt and slung it over her shoulder.

"Sorry. I'll be taking these to use later. Thanks."

Dan paced back and forth across the room, remembering Lord Eron's voice, the way he'd threatened the Operator, and the way he'd spoken to her.

"You think she's okay?" Lessa asked.

"I don't know. You heard the explosions and those creatures roaring," he said, as the roars grew louder. "Who can survive that? I can't see how anyone could, even after witnessing everything she can do."

Lessa was on the ground, embracing the girl who sat with her back against Lessa's chest, trembling with each blast. Lessa held her tightly with both arms. The intercom clicked on. There was interference, not the usual connection, as if something were straining to reach the intercom where they were.

"Dan. Lessa." The voice came through warm, as if a man were greeting people he'd known for years.

Dan moved quickly and got behind Lessa. The two looked at each other, and Dan recognized the voice speaking to him. It was Lord Eron.

"It's alright. I know the two of you are in there, and I know you're frightened, and I want you to know you're not alone in this. I'm here now."

Dan paused and stood frozen. Throughout his life, Eron and the winged beings had been like gods, guiding humanity toward innovations and a society without war or violence. They were his deities, and now one of them was speaking to him, an ordinary security guard. He had watched over this world long before their ancestors' ancestors were born.

"Forgive me for scaring you. I know it isn't common for people like you to have the chance to speak with me, but I need you to listen."

Dan felt Lessa's grip tighten around his hand, and they both instinctively sank to the floor, heads bowed. The mere mention of that name made it impossible to remain standing. "We're kneeling before you, Lord Eron," Dan said.

"There's no need for that," Eron said gently. "I didn't come to frighten you. You're mine. You always have been. I came because you're in danger."

He let the quiet linger before he spoke again.

"I know she's been with you. I know she kept you alive. And I'm truly grateful to her for that." His voice stayed soft. "But you feel it, don't you? You've watched her. Beneath all that gratitude, some part of you is afraid of her. Trust that part."

Neither of them said anything.

"I'm not asking you to hurt her. I'd never ask that. I don't want her harmed. She matters to me. That's all you need to know. I only need to find a way to stop her, to hold her still. To do that, I need you to be my eyes. Tell me where she is and what she does. Help me slow her down."

The intercom cut out for a few seconds, then Eron kept talking.

"I'll give you a way to reach me. I'll show you how, step by step. You won't have to figure out a single thing on your own. That's all I need from you. Your help, nothing more.

Dan could sense how firmly she was gripping his hand. Both of them were frightened, both conditioned to show reverence to the name Eron. When she finally spoke, Lessa's voice was soft and trembling.

"My lord." She had trouble getting the words out. "The people who came through the big door on the level. My lord, there were so many of them, millions. Children. Old people." She stopped, then forced herself to go on. "What is that? What did we see out there?"

The warmth in Eron's voice began to fade.

"That isn't something you need to understand. What matters is what I'm offering you. Help me, and I'll forgive you for aiding the fugitive. You'll keep your lives. Do this right, and you'll receive the blessing of a winged one, something millions would fight to have."

"How?" Dan said. "What do you need us to do?"

"With all the chaos at the bioresearch facility, I've lost access to the control systems. There are security codes that need to be overridden to restore access, and I'll walk you through every step. You won't have to know a thing going in. I'll guide you the whole way."

Dan didn't respond immediately. He and Lessa had only basic security training — enough to manage a guard post but not for the lower floors. Still, the fundamentals were the fundamentals, and something in Eron's words felt off.

"My lord." He kept his head down, his voice careful, like a man stepping onto ice. "Forgive me, I don't mean to question you. It's just, they taught us how the access system works. There are backups upon backups. It doesn't simply vanish. If the power on a level fails, the magnetic keys still grant access, and since we have power here, the access should be available. It's always accessible." He paused and then added, "The only area disconnected from the network is the labs, and that's on purpose, for obvious reasons."

He didn't want to say the rest, but he said it anyway, barely above a whisper.

"If you don't have your access, my lord, and the power is still on, someone took it. Someone higher than you."

Lessa's head turned toward him, her eyes wide.

Eron was silent for a moment. When the voice returned, the warmth had disappeared, replaced not by anger but by a flat, cold tone that somehow felt even worse. "Dan Voccren. Lessa Myrrath. No spouse. No children. No living parents." A slow sound, close to a sigh. "A shame. There's so little to hold onto with people like you."

Dan understood. If they'd had anyone, Eron would be threatening them.

"No matter." Eron's voice was calm again. "Let me tell you a secret. My race doesn't like being questioned. And as a reward for learning that secret, when I have the two of you in front of me, I swear to you I'm going to turn you into something worse than the creatures you've seen."

Lessa got to her feet. Dan saw the tears welling in her eyes, saw the pain move through her, and watched her reach into her pocket and draw out something, an old, ceremonial seal with an eye on its face. She brought it to her chest and held it there. "My lord." Her voice broke on the word. "You don't sound like the one we were raised to love."

"My child." There is no warmth in the words, no emotion at all. "The moment you paused to think about whether to help me, you sealed your fate. There is nowhere in this world where you can hide from me.

Gunfire erupted in the room. It was Dan, aiming his rifle at the speakers and firing repeatedly, until Eron's voice fractured mid-word, drowned in a barrage of noise, and was silenced.

Lessa fell to the floor and began to cry, letting the gold eye relic slip from her hand. The girl ran to Lessa and threw her arms around her. "Dan, what's happening? What is this? He didn't sound like the kind lord we love. He threatened us. And all those bodies. I don't know what to think. And he's right. We've got nowhere to hide. All of it belongs to them."

Dan crouched down, wrapping his arms around Lessa and the girl simultaneously. Lacking the words to comfort her, he instinctively understood her pain, feeling that their destiny was already sealed. The winged ones' power was absolute, and death was inevitable for them.

Then the metal door started to rattle, and the locks began to come loose.

Dan rose to his feet and moved the girl behind him. "Lessa, get up. Aim at the door. Shoot anyone who isn't the Operator."

Lessa stood up, wiped her tears with her sleeve, and headed toward the door. When it opened, a woman came into view: red hair, pale skin, a belt of grenades over her shoulder, and a head hanging from her waist.

"Sorry for the wait," the Operator said.

Dan looked at the head and recognized it right away. "Operator, that's Lord Mordran. And his head is on your waist." Dan stood in shock, seeing one of the most powerful winged gods, dead like an ornament on the Operator's waist.

The Operator looked at the head and replied. "We had some disagreements. You could say he's my ex-husband now."