Chapter 91: Field Testing

Chapter 91: Field Testing

Truth had a lot to think about while standing guard in front of the conference room. When he “subtly” pointed out that sticking one guard in front of a room as your security protocol is “less than fully optimal,” he got a scathing look from Merkovah. It seems that all the angels, demons, and spirits flitting through the city weren’t just for show. The security envelope was seven layers deep and extended even into other layers of reality. Tommy Wells, the handsome bodyguard, was there to make the attendees feel flattered and persuadable. He was part of Merkovah’s mental attack.

A blow to the heart.

His thoughts were still a jumble, trying to sort out questions that, logically, he knew took a lifetime to truly understand. Mastery... well, someone somewhere must have mastered their heart. Someone. Presumably, more than one person in the universe had loved themselves. It should be something he could do too.

Loving the violence within him... might be a little more tricky. He might be dumb, but-

But he wasn’t dumb! That was more System fuckery! He didn’t need to keep calling himself that! Actually, Hey-

Yes, the System Astrologica did subtly encourage your feelings of inadequacy and inferiority. In practice, it didn’t have to do much. You were already primed to think ignorance and stupidity were the same thing, so it just encouraged that thought a bit. Those feelings of inferiority also made you easier to control and encouraged your aggression toward others. I just call you stupid to hurt you. Kind of pathetic it took you this long to figure it out, really.

Merkovah mentioned releasing the System as a way of breaking Starbrite’s control. Truth’s mind was entirely on murder. It was worth honing the blade in his heart if it meant killing the System.

Once again, the doors burst open around lunchtime, and the swarm of gray-looking people boiled out in a smog of discouragement.

“It’s started already. It started months ago. Knock-on effects in the supply chain-”

“Still nothing from the Palace. I hear His Majesty is reallyproud of his latest poem.”

“I still don’t understand why nobody’s just called them. Surely someone has a way-”

“You won’t believe what I’m hearing from the Free State. Actually, yes, you will.”

“Already heard about it. We may need to consider similar. Our neighbors to the east..”

“Look at ‘em. Really look at ‘em. Light’s gone out of the whole country.”Ñøv€lRapture marked the initial hosting of this chapter on Ñôv€lß¡n.

“Every day, we fall farther from God. Every damn day. And look at us now!”

“I teach the boys every day- “Practice your Muq. One day it may be all you have.” I’m not proud to be right.”

“If we can’t get divine intervention, any chance of a Spell-Blade on errantry?”

“Not this century, brother. Not this century.”

One of the Desrin stopped chatting long enough to look over at Truth, assessing him with a smile. “What do you say, young man? Will you stand against all demons and unclean spirits, stand against the very Armies of Hell and Hellish Men? Will you swear to never go to your knees before any but your King, your Wife, and God?”

Truth looked at the man questioningly. “I doubt it. I do repair work on my iron horse. Takes a lot of kneeling down.”

The speaker’s friend snorted. The Desrin smiled a little and pressed on. “It’s a metaphor, the saying from the old stories about Spell-Blades. It’s meant to be a statement of resolve, a willingness to never give up, whatever the odds.”

“I haven’t heard that particular euphemism in a while. Didn’t miss it. And spiritual. Otherwise, I would have, as you so colorfully put it, already flattened the building. They are doing something in here, and I want to know what.”

Merkovah spoke in a surprisingly calm, measured voice. Truth did not share his casual attitude, his eyes flicking down the empty hallways. Guttering, half-broken light talismans managed to make the dark darker instead of shedding light.

“You looked puzzled when I was speaking to the guardian outside,” said Merkovah. “Why?”

“Surprised to see you speaking so casually to a demon. Comforting a demon, in fact.”

“Ah, the Praegerite church strikes again. Demons come in almost infinite varieties. Some are regimented and ranked in the infernal legions, true citizens and soldiers of Hell. Still more are simply wild spirits, capricious and often cruel, but more like wild animals than villains. Many of the guardians you see on buildings are of that latter sort. Bound, yes, but also bribed.”

Truth started feeling some strange vibration through the stairs, faintly shivering the metal banister. The chanting Name seemed to get louder, more agitated the further up they went.

“No demon is safe, of course. But many of them can become useful and well-loved servants of the Faithful. Our faith has been binding demons for millennia, and some of the demons in this city have served since humans first settled this planet. They are as much a part of the city as the buildings and streets. That Shedu must have been really upset- usually, it would be presenting a human face. Poor fellow.”

Truth tried to connect the image of the two-story-tall winged lion with the words “poor fellow” and failed. The vibration was getting stronger. He wasn’t hearing any noise outside the Name’s chanting and their own conversation. So what was making the vibrations?

“It all comes down to obedience to the Word and Name of God. God is great, and within him is a multitude. As such, he has a multitude of names and titles. Even in these dark days, all of creation must give way-”

The Name started screaming. It was still repeating the chant endlessly, but the register had changed. This wasn’t a proclamation or a condemnation. It was terrified revulsion. Merkovah and Truth were in motion at once, sprinting up the stairs. They bust into the hallway of the twenty-seventh floor, chasing the screams. A lot of the interior walls had been torn out, opening up the floor for the great creation.

The hundreds of people left in the building had been busy. They had taken each other’s everything as materials. In flesh, in blood, in bile and brain matter and entrails pinned down with carpet tacks to the floor, they created their great work. The diagram stretched up and around, with streamers of torn skin painted with talismanic words that conformed to no logic Truth knew of. Bones were tied with hair and sinew to form poles. Scraped clean of meat to provide a surface for neat inscriptions of maddened images and scrawling letters or some idea meant to be letters.

The Name screamed and screamed, its light stabbing out, the words smashing out, and simply splashing away against the flesh engine. It screamed and screamed and went silent, vanishing from the world like the echo of a prayer.

There was a dark speck in the middle of the room. Not simply black. It was the negation of light. It rejected everything totally. And it was rejected in turn. Something so divorced from the order of the world could only survive in such a terrible creation.

Truth had cast Incisive before they even reached the stairs. Now, he lunged in front of Merkovah. He conjured holy flame from the angelic sword and drove its cut with all the furious power incisive could give him. Bone sheared and burned away. Corrupted flesh liquified and vanished. And when the rippling sheet of flame reached the empty speck... the fire winked away. Like it had never existed in the first place.

The magic device made by the residents of the tower collapsed in on itself. Disintegrated, fell into nothing recognizable. Whatever it was, Truth had ruined it, and now it was collapsing. The speck, without drama or fuss, winked out of reality.

There was a dreadful stillness to the moment. The soft collapsing of the flesh and bone seemed to cradle the terrible empty feeling of the room. The space was not haunted now. Nor cursed. No malign spirit rose from the puddles of what were once people.

Truth carefully fished a coin out of his pocket. Lightly enchanted to prevent tampering and counterfeiting. One of the myriad names of God was inscribed upon it. He tossed it into the middle of the room. It never had the chance to hit the floor. It simply fell apart in the air. Merkovah sucked in a deep breath.

“Tell no one. NO ONE! What you have seen here. I will seal the building. I must consult with... several people.”

“Teacher?”

For the first time that Truth could recall, Merkovah looked scared. “This was a test. I don’t know what of. And I don’t know what they plan to try next.”

As they backed away from the scene of the atrocity, Truth spotted a talisman gem pressed into a pillar. It seemed to writhe in his sight. He had the sinking feeling that he had seen it before.