Chapter 126: A Hole In The Heart (2)

Chapter 126: A Hole In The Heart (2)

They had assembled once again in the basement of Nag Hamadi. The rough sandstone walls remained as sturdy as ever, the floors smoothed by centuries upon centuries of feet glistened in the talisman light. Even down here, the piney, warm smell of temple incense lingered. A place of reverence, even away from the altar and the clergy.

There’s always someone who can’t read the room. Today, there were four of them.

“Alright, I’ll set out the blanket and the snacks. Jember, Etenesh, same layout as before. I’ve added a few refinements to really up the suffering. Tommy, get loose. Shake it all out, limber up those limbs, and start working through Incisive. You are definitely not who you were when you first squared up against Child Eater, and you are going to really enjoy the changes.” Merkovah opened the thick blanket with a snap of his wrists.

Truth took his advice, stretching out and getting limber. He didn’t really need it, but it was nice to just feel his body. And to pretend he didn’t notice Etenesh looking at him with hungry eyes. He was very happy to admit she was good for his ego. Jember was looking too, but Truth was firmly ignoring that fact. Merkovah was all eyes on the picnic. He had brought a thermos of spiced coffee and some kind of flaky, baked treat. Truth could smell the walnuts and honey from five meters away.

The cousins didn’t take too long to set up the ritual, and the portal was up and running in just a few minutes. The colors of hell remained heartbreaking, which Truth supposed was the point. How did he know that green was the exact shade of gangrene as it set into bone? Or that one was radium burning the jaws of factory girls, next to the green phosphorous flames burning the bones of yet more factory girls, next to the emerald shine in a child’s eye as he died in an illegal mine? He just did. It was the nature of the place.The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0v3l-B1n.

Someday, he would find out what “radium” was, though he was pretty sure he’d heard of phosphorus. Alchemist stuff.

No, there was no ironic detachment in front of Hell. It was grief. It was despair. It was regret. It was the horrible knowledge that it was all your fault and nothing would ever be ok. And from that mess of despair, wriggling like a nightmare on a hook, was the Child Eater.

The demon hadn’t changed. Three meters tall, roughly shaped like a man with the sickle blades of a mantis where their arms should be and no head on his shoulders. A bloody tear opened across its gut, showing a mouth with rows of circular teeth. And once again, Merkovah had shown his contempt for any words the horror might have. No matter. It managed to scream with outrage in body language.

“Teacher, before you cut it loose, I have a kind of random question for, well, everybody. When you think of a spell blade, what does that bring to mind for you?”

Merkovah smiled. He knew how Incisive worked. “Well, Tommy, to me, they always seemed very disciplined. Self-control and restraint were a core part of their identity, and it showed. Even in the middle of a furious battle, their mind was strictly on the job. They were there to kill demons, fight Hell, and fight humans who would make this world a second Hell. Everything else was someone else’s problem. Disciplined and pragmatic.”

Truth nodded and looked over at Jember. “I only know them from books and scry, mind you. Ah, I’d say... Romantic.”

He rushed in, faster now than he had been even a few weeks ago. He could anticipate where Child Eater would shift to. He was fast enough to get there before the demon. When the demon arrived, it found a holy blade hacking down on it. A cruel sickle was raised to block, crawling with infernal scripts. This time, things went a little differently. Tommy knew just where to cut. The blade flickered for just a fraction of a second as the spell coated the blade. The scythe arm was hacked away at the elbow.

Child Eater recoiled. The acid fetters swarmed at him, the spell tracery forming a net of pain and poison between him and the demon. But Tommy had been walking with God since he was a boy. Before he ever came down from the Aussa Highlands, he had hardened his body against pain. Hard as the mountains of home. Hard as God’s demands of the Faithful. He held the Tongue firmly in both hands and ran at the... thing before him.

When he met the poison net, he cut. Cutting through the acid strings. Cutting through the spellwork itself. Cutting through any obstacle between him and his duty. Whiplike strands of acid snapped and crackled against him, trying to weaken him, but they weren’t even distractions. He pressed forward.

Breaking through the fetters, Tommy lined up for a lunge. The Demon got there first, a sickle arm coming straight at Tommy’s face. Tommy shifted, dropping down and right to hack at the creature’s knee. The holy blade sank in behind what would be the kneecap in anything truly humanoid. Crippling. For the demon, it was more of an inconvenience. And pain. Holy fire burst from the cut joint. Mockery of the human form though it may be, that leg wasn’t going to be holding weight.

The demon’s remaining scythe blade arm carved down at Tommy’s back. Child Eater was willing to trade an injury for a life. It still hadn’t understood. Tommy twisted like a snake, dodging the incoming hook. He recovered from the hack at the knee, standing upright, coming even closer to the roaring maw in Child Eater’s stomach.

The monster kicked out, deliberately collapsing back to let its taloned claw rake at Tommy’s balls. It should have worked. The collapse was total, sudden. An impulsive hero would have charged in for the kill and been killed instead. But Tommy was a spell blade through and through.

Such petty tricks. How many times had he seen them? He raised his own leg and stomped on the monster’s thigh as it pulled back, pinning the leg, and the claw, harmlessly away from him. Then, seeing no reason not to, he stabbed straight down into the demon’s groin. Pulled it out. Spun it in both hands and hacked off the legs.

The remaining scythe arm came whipping in. Tommy swayed back, then caught it under one arm. He stabbed the Tongue into the vile beast’s chest, pinning it. Putting his whole weight on the horror’s remaining arm, he drove the scythe into the beast’s mouth and into the floor. He drew the Tongue out of Child Eater with a final twist and watched as the body lost cohesion, trying to run away to hell. The enchantments, designed by Merkovah and arranged by the cousins, made even Hell an impossible hope.

He could feel the exhaustion hammering at him now, coming down like it always did after a hunt. His channels ached, muscles ached, and the ignorable stings and cuts were now demanding his attention. He slowly let Incisive go, and with it, he felt the identity of Tommy Wells fade away. It was uncomfortable. Disorienting, almost to the point of nausea. Truth decided that he would offer one last thanks to the persona, a final grace note to his victory.

Truth flicked away what little gore remained on the blade, then sheathed it. He walked slowly back to the picnic blanket, where Etenesh and Jember sat cheering. Merkovah smiled at him but was focused on torturing Child Eater. No matter. Truth drew the scabbard from the frog hanging from his belt, holding the sacred blade in his hands. He stood in front of Etenesh and kneeled down. Set his blade to the side and reached for her hands. She smiled and offered them. He raised them up and cupped them around his face.

“I’m home.”