Chapter
3 – A Scum’s Cleansing
I’ve finally made it to the
outskirts of the Vatican after hundreds of miles of traveling. Along the way,
I’ve gathered the materials I need to create the explosives that will destroy
the undercities. I’ve also destroyed many other rest stops and killed when I
felt that I could save a poor soul here and there. Looking at myself now, I see
that I’m dirtied by more blood than dirt. The man I’m supposed to meet will
probably freak out if he saw me like this, but then again, ratmen who aren’t
allied with Vicar Sylvatic are rare and the Vicar has used the goodwill that
the runaways have cultivated to send in spies and assassins who pretend to be
the same runaways, so it probably doesn’t matter how I look. Still, I wash
myself as best I can in a nearby pond to appear as best I can before
continuing.
While on the road, I hear the
sounds of a galloping horse coming towards me. Getting out of the pond and
hiding in the bushes, I see a man dressed in royal garb and his horse. The man
brings his horse near the pond to give it a rest and allow it to drink while he
fills his water container and drinks from the pond himself. Noticing the
water’s fowl taste, he spits out the water, empties his water container, sits
down, and looks at the sky. From his appearance and the shiny sword and shield
he has, I can tell he’s a man of influence. His black hair looks well-kept and
his black and gold garb seems clean so he must’ve just left his home. His skin
is as black as ash and his eyes are golden, which means he’s a native to this
kingdom. Yes, this must be the man who will be my witness.
Since there’s no easy or simple way
of doing this, I walk out of the bushes with my hands raised. When the man sees
me, he quickly unsheathes his sword and backs away with his shield up and his
legs spread out in a fighting stance. It appears he looks like he knows
something about fighting or at least it looks that way.
“Do not worry. I mean you no harm,”
I say.
“Step no closer. What’s a ratman
like you doing here? I won’t let you take me if that’s what you plan on doing,”
the man says while looking around and trying to keep his eyes on me at the same
time.
“I truly mean you no harm. I only
ask that you come with me to witness me expose the threat of Vicar Sylvatic’s
army to the Church.”
“Really? Why should I trust you?”
The man’s horse curiously
approaches me, smells me, and then licks my face.
“Do I appear dangerous? Would I
approach you this way if I meant to kill or kidnap you? Your horse seems to
trust me.”
“Ratmen are always stronger and
craftier than they appear, but my horse is usually a good judge of character.
Okay, I’ll help you if you explain who you are and what you mean by being a
witness to expose the threat of the false Vicar’s forces.”
“My name is Ziotogora. I was a head
researcher for the Vicar, but I’ve now turned my back on him because of my
deceased father’s intercession who has been God’s tool to open my eyes to my
sins. I am to bring you down to the undercities that are under the Vatican and
make you witness their destruction so as to convince you of the true extent of
the dangers of the Vicar’s forces.”
“You want to bring me down there,
and did you say undercities as in multiple undercities underneath the Vatican
itself?”
“Yes, and there are three
undercities under the Vatican, one small one directly under it and two larger
ones a bit further from it.”
The man lowers his guard and looks
to be considering the implications of this truth.
“How can this be possible? I
haven’t even heard of any reports of ratmen in this area. And three
undercities?”
“The ratmen are craftier than you
think and can get past even your best defenses by tunneling underground where
you least expect them to be.”
“In terms of bringing me down, what
guarantee do I have of my safety and how will you destroy them by yourself?”
“I will keep you in this sack with
holes in it and carry you around so that the ratmen down there do not touch you
and act as if you’re a new experiment of mine.”
“Can you carry me around? I’m
bigger than you.”
“Trust me,” I say as I lift the
man’s horse above my head with my hands. “I can.”
I then put down the man’s horse who
doesn’t seem to mind that I picked it up.
“Okay, I see that now.”
“As for how I will destroy the
undercities by myself, I know of its weak points that will make it collapse in
on itself. I have the materials and know-how to make explosives with me and
where the supplies are in the undercity to make more just in case I run out.”
“So, I take it that you’ve been to
them yourself?”
“I’ve been there multiple times
over the course of many generations, yes.”
The man paces back and forth
considering what I’ve said while looking up at the eternal night sky of Noctua
as if asking Heaven for advice.
“Okay, okay. Against my better
judgment, I believe you. Let’s just make this as quick as possible because I’m
sure it’s going to be a harrowing experience.”
“I know that, so I’ll try to be as
quick as possible. What is your name by the way?”
“Niccolo.”
“Niccolo, thank you so much for
believing me. God bless you.”
“We’re going to need to be blessed
to get through this alive.”
“That you are correct on.”
Niccolo and I ride on his horse close
to the hidden entrance of the nearest undercity and then he tells it to go home,
which it does. What a surprisingly well-mannered animal. I then quickly put
Niccolo into my sack with his sword much to his surprise.
“Did you really have to do that so
suddenly?” he asks.
“Yes, I did. These entrances are
watched, so I don’t want anyone thinking that we’re working together even
though I don’t see anyone around here,” I say.
“I guess it makes sense.”
Now with my witness in hand, I make
it to the secret entrance that’s hidden in a meadow under some dirt that is
easy to miss and mistake for a lump in the ground. I dig layers of the dirt
out, open the hatch, and head into the maze of tunnels. Even though it’s been
some time since I last been here, I go in circles once and end up at a dead
end, I manage to find myself at the entrance of the undercity where I am
immediately ambushed by ratman guards wearing heavy armor who wield claws of
steel.
“Speak your name or die,” one of
the guards says.
I take off my hood making the
guards recoil in surprise.
“Zio-Ziotogora! I’m sorry we didn’t
recognize you when we saw you on the surface, sir. That cloak hid much of your
face. Why have you honored us with your presence today and who is this with
you?”
“Fools. I have no need to answer
any of your questions, as your superior, but for your sake, I will reveal that
this man with me is Niccolo, a royal,” I say before revealing Niccolo’s head
but keeping him in the sack.
“Ah, so that’s who we saw. We
couldn’t get a good look at his face since you put him in your sack before we
could but knew that he was doing one of his usual runaways from his family’s
estate. This is a valuable specimen if you didn’t know. We were going to
capture him today, especially since he’s in bad standing with his family and
his family’s business so he wouldn’t be missed, so we’re glad that you managed
to catch him.”
Another guard says, “Could you be
so charitable to us and let us know what experiments you’re going to run on
him?”
“Oh, and if you aren’t going to
experiment on him, could we have the first taste of his flesh? The royals
always taste the best,” yet another guard says with a drooling mouth.
“I will not have you harm him in
the least. I need him in perfect health for my purposes,” I say.
The guards look at each other and
laugh before one of them says to Niccolo, “Oh ho, ho! That means he’s going to
put you through such pains that you’ll wish you’d die.”
“Turn him into a female and give
him to us so we can have some fun!” another says.
“I can’t wait to hear him scream
his lungs out and writhe in agony!” yet another guard says.
“Get out of my way!” I say as I
push Niccolo’s head back into the sack, pass the cackling guards, and go
through the doors to enter the undercity.
This place is as impressive as
always with its tallest buildings reaching into the dark abyss above where the
ground is supposed to be. It looks like the buildings here have been reinforced
with metal plating, but the structures below them shouldn’t be any harder to
blow up even if they have been reinforced. There are many more guards here than
in a usual undercity, but this one has more guards roaming about with
no-nonsense looks on their faces. Still, I can hear the sounds of debauchery,
torturing, and women in labor pains echo through this overly large cave. Once I
make it down to where the structures keeping these buildings stable are, I use
my credentials to make it past the guards to enter the small space and then
make sure the coast is clear before allowing Niccolo out of the sack and
getting to work setting up the explosives.
“Take a breath and keep a lookout
for guards while I work. I shouldn’t be too long,” I say.
“Yeah,” Niccolo says in a shaky
voice. “Um. Those terrifying things those ratmen were saying about
experimenting on people. Have you really done that?”
“I have. Many of the monsters
around here including the abominations that are men masquerading as women are
my creation as well. They’re all horror that I’m ashamed to have made.”
“I’ve seen them through the holes
in the sack. I don’t think I’ll ever forget seeing them. In fact, I probably
won’t be able to sleep without seeing them in my nightmares, and the screams of
the women. Those screams are going to echo through my mind for a while as
well.”
“It’s a good thing you didn’t get a
better look. Let’s just say that a dirty bathroom is cleaner than their
so-called places of pleasure. As for the screams of the women, those were women
who were giving birth to ratmen and who are soon going to die not just from
giving birth but also from being eaten alive by her children.”
“That sounds more than nightmarish.
Did you…”
“Yes, I’m responsible for that as
well since ratmen can’t be women and can’t give birth to ratmen even when given
the reproductive organs of a woman.”
I’m fully expecting Niccolo to kill
me, but for some reason, I don’t want to turn to make sure he doesn’t. Perhaps,
I want him to kill me because of what I’ve done. Nevertheless, nothing happens.
I continue by saying, “Their
inability to produce children naturally is one of the primary weaknesses of the
ratmen. Once the Church knows of this and bolsters their defenses, there should
be significantly fewer ratmen for them to face. Niccolo.”
“Huh? What is it?” he says.
“Just making sure you’re listening
to me and still awake. The explosives are almost done. These undercities are
built with self-destruct mechanisms in them to bring them down upon their
enemies if the battle goes poorly, but the inhabitants of this city will not
have enough time to leave.”
“Even the captives?”
“Unfortunately, yes. We have no
choice but to leave them behind. It will simply take too long and be too risky
to rescue them even if we had a legion of troops behind us.”
“I…I understand.”
I finish setting up the explosives
and start the timer. After putting Niccolo back into the sack, I run away with
him and make my way into the maze-like tunnels that go into the next undercity.
By the time I make it to the next city, the ground starts to shake, which means
the explosives have gone off. Thankfully, I made it here in time, so they do
not suspect me of the other city’s destruction. The guards of this undercity
are checking out what is going on while relatively few stand guard here. This
allows me to easily slip through them and head under the city to where the
structures keeping it up are that are currently unguarded and get to work.
“Keep an eye out like last time,
Niccolo. There’s no one here no, but they may send people here to check on
their self-destruct mechanism,” I say.
“I will,” he says.
Several minutes of uncomfortable
silence pass until I break it by saying, “Those guards from before said you
usually run away from home?”
“Yes. I can’t stand my family’s
life of politics and having no say in the direction of my life. I’d rather be a
soldier in the army than the child of politicians who are specifically
influencing what the army is doing.”
“You’re blessed to at least have a
family. I wasn’t always a ratman. I was born as a normal human and the child of
an affair between a royal and a bishop. My mother was executed after trying to
kill me and my father died when I was a young adult. For generations, after I
turned into a ratman, I secluded myself in my experiments because I wanted to
make a name for myself thinking that I’d eventually feel fulfilled by it, but
that never happened. It just made me thirstier for rewards and the results that
I wanted. I am more than grateful that my father came to me in a dream as an
instrument of God to change my life so I wouldn’t be stuck in that life until
the end of my days, and you should be thankful for what your parents have given
you. It’s not like you’ve worked for corrupt royals and bishops like I have,
have you?”
“No, not really, even if I question
some of our actions. I’d just rather be fighting than sending others to fight
and die for me.”
“Someone has to do the job and it
takes just as much strength, or sometimes more, to command men than to fight.”
“I see. Wait, I hear someone coming
down here.”
“What we have will have to do
then.”
Putting Niccolo back into the sack,
we manage to escape just as I see some ratmen come down to examine the
structures. The timer is shorter so it should go off before they manage to find
and disarm it. I race towards the uppermost undercity from this one. Entering
into the tunnels connecting this city to the next, I shift from one path to the
next to avoid the guards patrolling it and going to and from the cities. Before
we’re able to get to the next city above us, the ground shakes and the tunnels
around us start to collapse.
Racing as fast as I can, I move
through the tunnels, and just as the ground above us is breaking, I see the
structures holding the above city stable. Thank you, God, for making this
easier for me. I quickly enter the new opening, drop Niccolo, and do my best to
ready the explosives at an even quicker rate than usual.
“Ready yourself! We can’t afford to
be subtle,” I say.
“Right!” Niccolo says as he takes
his sword out and readies himself for a fight.
It isn’t long before the guards
discover us and try to stop me. Niccolo is thankfully a good fighter and
manages to hold them off, however, a few of them get through forcing me to stop
what I’m doing to defend myself. Seeing as how we have no time, I set the timer
on the explosives shorter than the last time, grab Niccolo, and race to the
surface. The explosives I’ve set immediately go off leading to the ground and
buildings above us to collapse. Running as fast as I can, I leap between debris
until making it to the tunnels that lead directly to the surface that are
collapsing as well. The way forward gets blocked while others open up forcing
me to guess and pray that I am going the right way.
By the time I’m halfway to the
surface, the rest of the tunnel collapses, however, the way up is completely
clear leading to a straight shot to the surface. Once we finally make it above
ground, we see that we’re in St. Peter’s Square and there’s a large crater
behind us. Before we can catch our breath, the Vatican’s guards surround us and
start to question me. I let Niccolo go and he starts to tell them what I told
him and what he’s experienced, and thanks be to God, they believe him, but
still put me in a secured and guarded room until things settle down. As I
sleep, I dream of myself being in my old human form and see that I am
surrounded by my parents who are hugging me. My father is clothed in a glorious
light as always while my mother is clothed in a gold and red flame.
“I knew you could do it,” my father
says.
“My boy, my son. I love you so
much. I’m sorry for what I tried to do to you,” my mother says.
I wake up soon after in tears and
have to catch my breath before going back to sleep. A day passes until I am
able to see Niccolo again and tell the Pope, archbishops, cardinals, military
generals, and royals of the many kingdoms the true threat the ratmen possess
and Vicar Sylvatic’s plans to attack soon with his heavily mutated and
regenerating soldiers and make the many undercities reveal themselves and
overwhelm the locations they are nearest to. Since Niccolo already gave his
account of what he saw and how I was the one who caused the destruction of the
undercities, the Church leaders believe me. For the next two years, I help
these leaders strategize against the Vicar, pointing out locations of
undercities, telling them the weaknesses of the mutated abominations, and how
to fight the ratmen in the undercities and where the self-destruct mechanism is
in every undercity so they’ll be able to take them and save the captives within
them. We make good progress to the point where I’m confident that the Vicar
will eventually face justice and his armies crumble.
In these two years, I’ve also
gotten progressively sicker to the point where I need a cane to help me walk
around. It is also in these two years that I developed a sort of companionship
with members of the Church, especially Niccolo, whom I spend my days of rest
with. I’ve even gone to his family’s estate for holidays and they surprisingly
accepted my presence among them. Perhaps it’s because I’m not as dirty as I once
was or because they don’t mind the fact that I’m a walking rodent with the
figure and face of a mutated man. Being with them is nice and makes me feel
like I am among family rather than friends, a fact that brings tears of joy
multiple times. On one seemingly random day, while walking around with Niccolo,
I feel my strength finally fail me. I fall down and cough more blood than usual,
but despite my pain, I feel peace and know my time has finally come. Niccolo
begs me to get up and tries to get me help to bring me to the nearest hospital.
I hold his hand, try my best to
give him a comforting smile, and say, “It’s okay, Niccolo. Be glad because a
great sinner faces his due judgment today.”
“Hold on, my friend! Don’t leave me
yet!” Niccolo says.
Friend, huh? That title feels like
a more respectable title than the ones I received while in the service of Vicar
Sylvatic. After breathing my last, my body transforms while a golden light
takes me upward as if it were the hand of God. Looking at my hands and body, I see
that I’m back to being a normal human, and in front of me are my mother and
father, both of whom are clothed in a glorious light. They run to embrace me,
tell me how much they love me, and how they’re overjoyed that we’ll make up the
lost time together in Heaven.
I smile, hug them, and say, “I love
you too, mother and father. Thank you for helping me to get here to be with God
and you, forever.”
The End
