Beyond the Veil - Ch.6 - Delivering Truth (Patreon)

"Are you sure you want to do this?" my Goddess asked as the two of us walked through the drizzle together. Although somehow Her navy blue hoodie and dark leggings remained completely dry, despite the light precipitation in the air.

I nodded and replied in a firm voice, "Yes, I'm positive."

The weather wasn't as kind to me, so I wore a black spring jacket ontop to keep the moisture off my hoodie. My leggings were ok so far and my sneakers were mostly dry, but that wouldn't last long once we moved off the pavement and onto the grass.

I was in my casual form, so with my hood up and my long floppy ears folded back the only thing that gave me away as anything other than a small teen girl was my long black bushy tail. Which was slowly getting heavier as more of the drizzle soaked into my floofy fur.

"I know I said it didn't matter and I wouldn't care about this," I added with a sigh, "But I was lying to myself. It does matter, and I do care."

Cassandra glanced at me then clarified, "I meant, are you sure you want to do this right now? We could always come back afterwards, when they're not here."

I sounded less sure of myself as I nodded, "Yes. I want to see this. I want to see them."

"Are you going to confront them? Do you want them to know who you are?" She asked.

Her tone didn't convey any judgement, and didn't give me any hints as to whether or not She thought that was a good idea. She didn't sound like She was favouring any particular course of action at all, for that matter. I trusted that She'd be down with whatever I decided though.

After thinking it over for a second or two I shook my head, "Not yet. Not right away at least. Maybe I'll change my mind when we get there."

Unfortunately 'there' wasn't all that far away. We were following a little winding road through one of the biggest cemeteries in the city. On our left were lots of trees that marked the southern boundary of the site, while to our right were rows of grave stones. And a few more trees, footpaths, and more small roads that criss-crossed the quiet landscaped area.

I could already see the small collection of cars parked just around a bend about a hundred yards ahead of us, and I knew the occupants wouldn't be far away. Somewhere up ahead, just out of sight thanks to the trees and bushes, a group of people were attending my funeral.

"I never thought I'd be back here in Sandusky again so soon," I commented quietly, in a half-hearted attempt to distract myself from what I'd find up ahead.

This was Friday, the twenty-fifth of April, and in another seven or eight hours it'd be exactly two weeks since I took my own life. I didn't have any regrets, but it was still awkward. Especially because I knew Cassandra didn't approve of my decision.

"I guess after today I won't have any reason to ever come back here at all," I continued softly. Then I grimaced and added, "Unless of course there's official Chaos business. I don't suppose you have any other worshipers living here?"

"There's a few," She replied with a little amused smile. "A couple older discordian popes here still keep the faith after all these years. And there's a pair of new young worshipers, including another plushie user."

I gave Her a confused look, "Discordian popes? That sounds like something I should know about, as your Chaos Alata."

Cassandra explained quietly, "Discordianism has been around since the nineteen sixties, but most of its followers have nothing to do with me. They worship Eris, the Greek goddess of discord. I've never met her myself, I don't know if she's even still around these days? Anyways not long after the movement began it was infiltrated by a fae dweeb named Brian. He tried to influence them away from Eris and towards the particular brand of Chaos I represent, but he was only partially successful."

"I didn't find out about Brian's involvement until after he was banished from Earth," she added. "We might invite him back over here someday. Sasha has history with him and I know she'd like the opportunity to apologize. And I should probably thank him for his past service. But he's enough of a dweeb that nobody's in any big hurry to see him again."

Before I could respond my Goddess gestured ahead, "There they are. They can't see or hear us right now, but I can change that whenever you want."

"Thank you," I replied quietly as we approached the small gathering of people.

Most of them had their backs to us, but one guy was facing the crowd, and us. I recognized him as the pastor from my parents' church. He wasn't actually looking at the other people though, his eyes were down on the little black book in his hand as he read out some bible verses in a monotone voice.

It was another slight, my parents knew I didn't follow their religion. I stopped going to their church when I was sixteen. And the note I left them was very clear about my faith, I worshiped Chaos. Not that I was surprised to find they'd ignored me yet again. They didn't care what I thought or said when I was alive, I certainly didn't expect them to start listening after I was dead.

Speaking of my parents, they were standing at the front of the small group, but off to the side. They looked suitably saddened, but I didn't detect any trace of guilt on their expressions. With them were a dozen or so of their friends, people from their church. There were also a couple folks my age, but they weren't my friends. They were sons and daughters of my parents' friends, out here on this grey overcast Friday afternoon to keep my parents company while they said goodbye to my mortal remains.

That part was weird. There was a coffin suspended over the rectangular hole. The weird feelings quickly gave way to anger though, when my eyes shifted to the grey stone grave marker at the end of the hole. It had my deadname carved into it underneath a large cross, and went on to misgender me in the epitaph, which itself was a blatant lie. It referred to me as their 'beloved son' and claimed I'd been 'taken' from them.

My jaw clenched and my brow furrowed as I glared, but I relaxed a moment later when I felt Cassandra's arm around my shoulders.

"If you want to unleash some heavenly or infernal wrath I won't stop you," She offered. "I'll even help out if you like. But I'll also remind you that you're above those people, in so many ways. You always were."

I leaned my head against Her shoulder and sighed, "Thank you my Goddess. I don't think I want to hurt anyone, not even my parents. I definitely want to fix the lies on my grave stone though. Maybe after the boring guy's finished? Then I can make an appearance and set the record straight."

She nodded once then suggested, "It looks like the preacher's got a ways to go yet, so how about we get comfortable?"

Just like that a couple deck chairs appeared, sort of midway between the pastor and the other attendees. They were positioned so we'd be have a good view of my parents, the priest, and the other guests.

Once Cassandra and I were seated She offered, "Did you want some snacks? Popcorn, or a drink?"

I glanced to my side and sure enough She was holding out a jumbo cup of cola for me, while a large bottle of juice sat in Her chair's cup holder. And there was a big cinema bucket of buttered popcorn on Her lap.

"Thanks," I replied as I stifled a laugh. Then I added, "I'm more of a liquorice gal myself. I always found the movie popcorn to be a little too 'artificial butter flavour' for me."

My Goddess asked, "Black liquorice? Or the red kind?"

I grimaced slightly as my cheeks coloured, "Considering my hair ears feathers and floof are all black, you'd think I'd prefer the genuine stuff... But nah, I'm a little too basic for that. I'll take the strawberry twists, but the cherry nubs are my favourite."

"Here you go," Cassandra grinned as she held out a jumbo package of cherry nubs.

I thanked her, then as I accepted the candy I did a double-take. Instead of the usual brand name on the side of the package it read, "Lucie's Liquorice."

That put a smile on my face as I sat back in my deck chair. Then while the preacher droned on I chewed on some cherry nubs and sipped my cola. And my Goddess munched on some of her popcorn and drank her tangerine banana nectar.

It didn't take long for either of us to get kind of bored, although it was amusing watching all the mortals stand there soaking up the drizzle while their feet hurt.

"So I was thinking," Cassandra commented idly, "How would you feel about making an appearance on next month's Praise The Chaos episode? I know the RSS girls would love to get you in their studio for an interview."

My eyes widened, "Oh wow! I've been watching PTC for the last six months, but I never once imagined I might actually meet them. Let alone get invited on the show for an interview!"

My Goddess smiled, "There'll be a few topics I'd insist you avoid, mostly relating to how you got your job. But if you're interested then I'll put you in touch with them, and we can worry about the details later."

"Yes ma'am," I nodded. "I'd be happy to appear on camera to help promote Chaos in all its forms."

"And all my forms too," I added with a smirk.

She grinned at my little joke, before munching on another handful of popcorn.

Then after a minute or so She changed the subject again, "I know you've just got yourself settled into a place in the heavens, but if you'd rather join us down here on the mortal realm there's a cottage next door to the Church of Chaos. It used to be home to the local pastor guy."

I glanced at Her then asked, "How'd you get your hands on that place anyways? You didn't steal it from some congregation, did you?"

My teenage Goddess shook Her head, "I'm sure some people might think that'd be funny, but that's not how I do things. The church was closed and the property went up for sale, so I bought it. There's a really nice real estate agent in the area who's helped me pick up a few places over the years. She'd been keeping an eye out for that kind of location for me, and she let me know about it the moment it was listed."

"Anyways like I said the cottage is available," She added. "It's yours if you want it. You can keep your place in the heavens too, no reason not to have both. And don't worry about being neighbours with your boss, Cass and I live with Kaylee and our friends right in town. The church is a few kilometres away."

I smiled, "Thank you my Goddess. If it's ok with you, I'd like a little time to think about it?"

"Sure thing," She nodded. Then She gestured ahead of us, "Looks like the old guy's getting ready to wrap things up. If you're going to make an appearance, you might want to go with your formal form. I think that'd be more impressive."

My smile got wider as I agreed, "My thoughts exactly."

After one last gulp of my soda I put the cup down, and stuffed the half-empty bag of nubs into my hoodie pocket. Then as I got to my feet I shifted to my formal form. My clothes changed as well, into the same outfit I wore a few days earlier when my Goddess introduced me to the rest of Her pantheon.

With a beat of my powerful wings I was airborne, but only for a second. Then I appeared in a flash of blinding rainbow-coloured light as I landed next to my grave. I tucked my wings away against my back, but my halo glowed extra bright as it danced around my impossibly-black antlers.

My heart was racing but it was hard not to smile as I glared at all the startled humans, then let my gaze settle on my parents. I decided in that moment not to let them know I used to be the child they were burying today. The mortal Lucie was gone, I just wanted people to know the truth about her.

"I am Chaos Alata!" I announced, "And I am here to expose your lies and deliver the truth!"

With a sweeping gesture I directed everyone's attention at the grave stone, so they could all watch as the monument was engulfed in more swirling rainbow light. When the magic faded the marker was different. Grey had changed to pink granite, and the lies that were once carved into its face had been replaced with truth. The name Lucie now stood proud beneath an eight-pointed chaos star, while the epithet used the correct pronouns and identified me as a follower of Chaos.

I fixed my glare on my parents once more as I declared loudly, "Your daughter's name was Lucie, and she was not 'taken' from you. You did this to her! You drove your only child to an early grave with your bigotry, your hatred, and your intolerance."

"I was there when your trans daughter's soul ascended to the heavens," I continued as I stretched my wings out wide, "And she now basks in the light of our divine Goddess of Chaos!"

I kind of ran out of things to say there, and it seemed like nobody else was willing to speak up either. That surprised me, I thought maybe my folks would protest or try and argue. Or if not them, maybe their old paster would want to say something about blasphemy, or that I'd desecrated sacred ground. After all, with the antlers and the black wings and bushy tail I definitely didn't look like any angels they'd be familiar with.

Instead everyone just stared at me in wide-eyed shock, so after another couple seconds I flapped my wings and launched up into the air again. I vanished in another flash of rainbow light, only to land back where I started, next to my Goddess.

That's when the pastor finally broke the silence. He didn't denounce me though. Instead he shocked me and everyone else there as the old guy mumbled, "Praise be to Chaos. May Lucie's soul find peace in Her divine light."

I looked at Cassandra and She just shrugged. Then as She got up out of Her chair my Goddess flashed me a knowing smile and said, "I told you there were a few discordian popes keeping the faith out here."

"C'mon Lucie," She added as She started heading back the way we came.

"Hey do you think Cedar Point's open today?" She asked a moment later. "Kaylee and Nina would love that. I'll bet Willow Cerys and Melanie would like it too. I don't know how Sasha feels about roller coasters, but I'd love to see her try them."

My form shrank back down to my casual shape as I hurried to catch up. My tail twitched as I broke the news to Her, "Sorry boss, I don't think they open until May."

"Ah. Too bad," She frowned. A moment later Her expression shifted to another smile as she asked, "What about you Lucie? Do you like roller coasters? Now I'm thinking we should organize a group visit to Canada's Wonderland this summer. The whole pantheon, gods and demons and everyone else."

I found myself smiling too, while my tail started wagging behind me. "That actually sounds like a lot of fun."

My Goddess grinned, "Perfect! I'm already looking forward to it."

~ The End ~