The Deceiver's Path - Chapter 124 - Revelations (Patreon)

“Selene,” Piper gasped, her eyes wide with horror. “Are you… a zombie?”

“No!” Selene exclaimed, her voice sounding very much like the woman Piper had once known. “I’m not a zombie.”

“Shoot her with your bow!” Ophelia cried out. “Oh, wait, you don’t have your bow. Splash her with water!”

As Piper continued to stare at the thing that looked remarkably like her dead friend, the other two women dragged themselves out of the pool and ran screaming from the room. The sound of their bare feet slapping on the floor had barely faded before the attendant burst through the door.

At the sight of them, the young woman’s features clouded with rage. “Are you trying to cause a panic? Claiming there are zombies in this establishment? I have half a mind to ban you from this place.”

Piper barely heard the attendant speak; her anger sharpened until she heard the demon’s faint whispering in the back of her mind. Someone, or something, was wearing the skin of her dead friend. And she planned to make them pay.

But as she prepared to cast a spell, she paused with her hand half-raised. What if she were wrong, and this was in fact Selene? What if, through some miracle, a high-level healer had brought her friend back to life? She needed to learn more about what was going on before she overreacted.

Ophelia, on the other hand, had no such compunctions, and a shining hole tore open in front of her. The young woman reached into the void and began to withdraw a shining sword.

“Stop,” Piper snapped at her friend. “Put that thing away until we know what’s going on.”

“But she’s a zombie! I need a weapon to fight her.” Ophelia then glanced down, frowning slightly. “And some clothes.”

The attendant shied back at the appearance of the golden blade. “Should I send for the guard, Lady Selene?”

“There’s no need,” Selene said, waving her hand dismissively. “This was all just a misunderstanding. One I plan to clear up shortly. Would you mind giving us privacy for the rest of the hour? I’m happy to cover any costs you might incur.”

With one last lingering glance at the sword half drawn from the void, the woman nodded. Then she retreated from the room, closing the door behind her.

“Talk fast,” Piper said in a dangerous tone. “Are you even my friend?

Selene knelt and produced a blue flower out of nowhere. She then presented it to Piper. “Does this answer your question?”

A memory triggered in her mind of Selene doing the same trick back in Kalmyros. She felt some of her tension seeping away, but she remained on high alert. Something may have taken control of Selene’s body, and that might mean it possessed her friends’ memories.

“How are you still alive?”

Selene pulled up the hem of her dress and sat down on the edge of the pool while keeping a wary eye on Ophelia. The young woman still hadn’t returned her shining angel sword to the void. “It’s a long story,” she said slowly. “One that you might not believe.”

“Is Althea alive, too?” Piper asked, desperately hoping against hope that she was.

Selene nodded, her plush lips twitching up into a smile. “We both recently reached the rank of Wayfarer.”

“You did?” she blurted out, momentarily forgetting her doubt. “Really?”

The young woman proudly produced a gold badge from her pouch. A sapling, indicating the rank of wayfarer, had been carved into the center. “Do you think gold suits me?

“That’s… amazing,” Piper sputtered. “But how?”

“I simply completed some quests with our group,” Selene said. “We’ve really missed your presence, and I hope that you’ll consider coming back to Kalmyros with me.”

“Wait…” Piper held up her hand. “By our group, do you mean Basil?”

“Things are so much better now,” Selene said, her eyes shining brightly. “He’s really grown as a leader, and we’ve been completing quests we never could have dreamed of in the past. I promise that if you return with me, you’ll be a wayfarer in no time.”

Shaking her head, Piper paddled her hands through the water. “I’m never grouping up with Basil again. He’s way too reckless to be a group leader. To be honest, I can’t believe he survived to make the rank of Wayfarer.”

Selene shrugged. “If that’s the case, we’ll just replace him. All that matters is that you come back to Kalmyros with me. We can be a group again. Isn’t that what you want?”

Piper’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. Why was Selene pushing so hard for her to come back? And to simply toss aside Basil after growing to the rank of wayfarer together was something the real Selene would never do. Something was wrong here.

“What’s really going on?” Piper asked. “I haven’t seen you in almost two years, and suddenly you show up insisting that I come back with you? Why?”

The dark-haired woman plastered a fake smile on her face. “I just know that with someone like you in my group, I’ll reach the rank of adventurer in no time.”

“You’re lying.” Piper said flatly. “Tell me the truth, or we’re leaving.”

Ophelia's mouth dropped open. “We’re just going to leave a zombie alive to go chomp on someone’s brains? Seriously?”

Piper ignored Ophelia and continued to stare at the thing claiming to be Selene. If this turned out to be a cruel mockery of her friend, then she had no intention of letting it leave here alive. Still, she didn’t need to tell it that.

Selene glanced over at the door before returning her gaze to Piper. She almost seemed to deflate, staring glumly at the water. “I-I’m not the same Selene as before.”

“I knew it!” Ophelia cried out, surging forward in the water. The sword in her hand blazed with the light of a thousand suns. “Prepare to get clobbered!”

Reaching out, Piper grabbed her friend’s wrist. “Would you stop it already? Let her finish before we do anything.”

“She just said that she wasn’t the real Selene.”

The dark-haired woman shifted slightly, staring at the burning weapon. “I… am the real Selene. Just different.

“Would you just tell us what’s going on?” Piper’s exasperation was growing by the second.

Selene took a deep breath. “I want you both to promise that you won’t scream. This will be a bit shocking.”

A feeling of dread stole over Piper. She had a terrible premonition that she was about to face an incredibly powerful undead creature. Her friends had most likely been raised by the Pale Crusade to be used against her. That was why they were so keen on her returning to Kalmyros; they wanted revenge for thwarting their plans in the past.

She prepared to call on Gorebark the second Selene revealed herself. Then she remembered that she was up to her neck in water. A bow really wasn’t the best weapon for this situation.

I really need to get out of the water… and get some clothes on.

Piper suddenly wondered if Selene had chosen this location to reveal herself for that very reason. She was unarmed and completely naked. This was probably the most vulnerable she’d been since arriving at the mountain villa.

Selene hesitantly reached up to pull off her hat to reveal a pair of swept-back black horns. She shuffled her feet and stared off to the side. “Do you think I’m a monster?”

The sight of the horns made Piper blink, and then blink again. She’d prepared herself to face some undead monster, but the revelation of a demoness was completely unexpected. For a moment, she was struck speechless. How could this have happened?

Ophelia lowered her weapon slightly. “Oh, wow,” she said flatly. “I’m so shocked.”

“Y-you’re not shocked?” Selene asked, staring at her friend. “Why not? Don’t you understand what the horns mean?”

Ophelia shrugged and returned to bathing. She didn’t bother to look up as Piper struggled to find words to say.

“Who sent you here?” Piper finally asked, still hovering on the edge of summoning Gorebark. There were a lot of demons in the Infernal Realm who wanted her dead. However, she had a feeling she already knew who had brought Selene back.

“My patron’s name is Malkazar,” the dark-haired woman said, a look of confusion clouding her face. “You’re truly not shocked?”

Piper shrugged slightly. “I’ve seen demons before.”

“You have? Oh, right, you came through the Black Pyramid. You have to understand I’m not like those demons. I don’t want to hurt anyone, and I’ve been sent to protect you.”

“Malkazar wants you to protect me?”

Selene nodded, a look of hope dawning on her face. Clearly, she thought they would have reacted far worse to her revelation that she was a demoness. “All I know is that Malkazar wants me to protect you at all costs. He says that he has plans for you.”

“I’m sure he does,” Piper mumbled. “But I have my own plans.”

Selene’s mouth dropped open. “You don’t understand how powerful he is. Malkazar is a demonic prince. If he wants you to do something, you have no choice but to do it.”

“Did he resurrect you?”

The dark-haired woman nodded. “I awoke in the body of what he called a Kelzari demon deep within the Black Pyramid.” She leaned down to scoop up some water and poured it on her thigh. After rubbing vigorously, she revealed a patch of dark purple skin. “It’s amazing what alchemists can do when you give them enough coin. This waterproof makeup was made specifically for me.”

“Very impressive,” Piper said. “Did Malkazar say what he wanted with me?”

“No…” Selene shook her head. “But he had us protecting you before you left the city.”

Piper tried to hide her shock. “He did?”

“Yes,” Selene replied, twirling her hat around on her finger. “When you infiltrated the Ares manor, we held off the guards so you could escape. We also took out the nuns waiting to ambush you with Gloam Crows when you tried to save our friends from the Dawnward host. But you have to believe me that we had no idea you’d been replaced by an infernal caster. I would have been the one to free you from that cellar if I had known.”

Piper’s thought turned back to the slaughter in the Ares manor. “You killed so many innocent people…”

“They just got caught in the crossfire. We didn’t mean to hurt them, but the guards started to fling around powerful magic. Some of the servants even tried to attack us. We were just defending you.”

She was about to say more, but then she thought back to the innocent aspirants she’d accidentally killed, including Zenos’ sister. That was a burden she was going to carry for the rest of her life. She couldn’t judge someone else after what she’d done.

“It’s good to see you.” Piper splashed forward and dragged her clothed friend into the pool. Selene let out a yelp as Piper crushed her in a hug. “I’ve missed you so much.”

At first, Selene resisted, but then she returned the hug with gusto. “I missed you, too.”

Piper disentangled herself from the young woman. “Still, I can’t go with you. I have a life here now, and I want nothing to do with Malkazar.”

“But we can be rich!” Selene exclaimed. “You have no idea how strong Althea and I are now. None of us will ever have to struggle for money again. If you serve Malkazar, he’ll reward you beyond your wildest dreams, and you’ll become the most powerful adventurer in the Empire. Don’t you want things to go back to the way they used to be?”

Piper twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “I just don’t trust demons.”

Selene’s expression fell. “Then you do think I’m a monster…”

“No!” she said emphatically. “I just meant I don’t trust Malkazar. I think the horns look great on you…” She trailed off, realizing how silly that probably sounded. However, she would never dance to the Demon Prince's tune. She would make her own decisions in this world.

Ophelia stuffed her sword back into the void, the tear in reality sealing shut afterward. “Will I ever get to use my angel sword on a foul demon?”

“Angel sword?” Selene took a step back into the pool. “Is that what that was?”

Piper nodded, letting out a sigh. Sometimes, she really wished her friend was better at keeping secrets. “It was something we found in the Black Pyramid,” she said, quickly concocting a lie to conceal her friend’s class. “She learned to summon it recently.”

“A real angel sword?” Selene looked skeptical.

Piper nodded. “There was a lot of weird stuff in there.”

“Like your bow?”

“Something like that.”

Selene exhaled and placed the hat back on her head. “Please reconsider and come with me. I’ll personally introduce you to Lyssa.”

“Who’s that?

“She’s an incredibly powerful mage who leads the cult in Kalmyros. She arrived shortly after the other infernal caster who stole your face was slain.”

Piper’s eyes widened. “There’s a cult in Kalmyros?”

“Yes,” Selene replied. “See how much I trust you? All you have to do is come back with me, and you’ll be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams. Lyssa could even grant you an infernal class, if that’s what you want.”

“I’m not going back,” she said firmly. “And neither should you. I’ll protect you from the cult if it comes to that.”

Selene gave a throaty chuckle. “And how exactly is a glamorist going to do that? I know that you have remarkably strong illusions, but you have no idea of the power that Malkazar and Lyssa possess. They’re on a completely different scale than us.”

“I’ll figure something out,” she said, not willing to reveal everything to her friend yet. As she spoke, a sudden thought occurred to her. “Are Basil and Althea with you?”

“No. They’re back in the city working on another quest.”

Piper reached down to spin the ring around on her finger. “How did you find me, anyway?”

Ophelia giggled from behind her. “She probably smelled you.”

“I’m literally standing in a bath right now,” Piper shot back. “How could I possibly stink?”

Her friend just shrugged her shoulders and paddled away. She apparently didn’t perceive Selene as a threat any longer. And the more Piper talked to the young woman, the more she believed that this was the real Selene, except transformed into a demoness.

Selene pulled herself up onto the edge of the bath and languidly kicked her feet. “I found you by accident. Lyssa sent me here to deal with another problem, and I spotted you in the market. I know it’s probably a bit creepy, but I followed you until I saw a chance to talk to you alone.” She gazed over at Ophelia splashing around in the pool. “Well, mostly alone. I see you two are still attached at the hip.”

“What sort of problem?”

The dark-haired woman sucked in a deep breath. “There’s an infernal cult planning to take over the town. I’ve been tasked with bringing them under Lyssa’s control or… destroying them.”

Great, Piper thought to herself. So now I have to deal with the Pale Crusade and an infernal cult?

She’d hoped to spend the next few months doing easy quests with her new group, but the fates were once again conspiring against her. She might as well deal with one of the threats to the city before it grew too large.

“I’ll help you find the infernal cult,” she said. “I can meet you back here in seven days.”

“You really want to help me?”

“I do,” she said, smiling slightly. “Mainly just so we can spend some time catching up. But if there’s a cult here, then I want to deal with them before they start causing problems in the town. After all, I can’t become a wayfarer if demons overrun this place.”

Selene grinned. “There’s no reason we can’t enjoy a bath together first.”

Piper remembered the purple skin showing on Selene’s leg. “What about your makeup?”

“I have lots more in my pouch. And you can help apply it to my back.”

“I’ll have a bath with you on one condition.”

Selene raised a carefully manicured eyebrow.

“Please teach me how to swim.”

Her friend giggled. “Deal.”