Chapter
2 – Undeterred Spite
While washing my grey bone armor,
helmet, skull pauldrons, and wings in a lake, I reflect on what’s happened so
far and plan ahead. So far, we’ve gone to our allied settlements only to find
them in the same situation we were in, but some of their members under
Priscilla’s influence had left with her. She clearly doesn’t have enough power
to bring the entire world under her control and is gathering an army to protect
her until she does. The most important question I have to answer is how to
dispel her delusions.
“That is done with my help,” the
God of the Catholics says. “Without me, you wouldn’t have broken free from that
dream and would’ve been killed by your men.”
“And here I was thinking that you’d
want me dead and burning in the pits of Hell,” I say.
“You still have a chance to save
your soul if you do as I say. My faithful servant who helped break Evander’s
spell over the world was much like you. He was a ratman ruled by feelings of
lust and violence, but thanks to him allowing my place in his heart, we were
able to free everyone from the spell. He even gave up eating human flesh so
that he wouldn’t sin against me, despite knowing he was cutting off years of
his life by doing so.”
“A ratman giving up on eating human
flesh? That’s a new one. Here I thought those were just rumors made up by your
Church. Still, I’m sure I’ll find a way to take down Priscilla on my own. You
can help where you will, but I’ve faced people with godlike abilities before
and conquered them all.”
“You’ve faced demons and only won
because I’ve allowed it. Even if you refuse my help, I’ll find my way into your
heart one way or another.”
“Keep telling yourself that as if
makes you feel better. I’ll sooner overcome you and take your power for my own
than allow you power over me.”
A scout comes to me, kneels, and
says, “Elder King Olaf requests your attention, King Leif. We’ve made new
discoveries about your wife.”
“So, my father did some independent
scouting by himself without me knowing about it?”
“Yes, sir. He wanted to get as much
information about her as quickly as possible before she
can do more damage.”
“Your father is a wise man. You
should question him on his motives,” the God of the Catholics says.
“You don’t need to tell me that,” I
say, turning to the monstrance. “I know my father is wise and I don’t need to
ask him about anything. I’m sure he’ll tell me whatever I need to know when I
need to know it.”
I get out of the lake, put on all
my armor, take the monstrance, and go to my father who is looking at a map
marked with the locations of our allied settlements.
“What have you discovered, father?”
I ask.
“More of our allied settlements are
under siege by Priscilla than we thought, some of which are completely under
her control and would’ve been traps to walk into. The situation is worse than
it seems,” he says.
“I’m glad that you had the
foresight to see if there were traps ahead. Without you, we would’ve walked
into them and lost more of our men.”
“It was obvious to do, so don’t
give me too much credit. What has the God of the Catholics told you? We can use
all the help we need.”
“We don’t need his help. He told me
to defer to you, anyway, and I want to prove to him that we don’t need his
help.”
“He told you to defer to me? That’s
an honor.”
“An honor? What happened to the
father I knew that was the scourge of other men’s gods?”
“I still am, but the God you carry
is one of the honorable ones if not the only honorable one. What happened to
the son that learned from my wisdom? Friendships are to be preferred over
domination. They are easy to manage and sometimes easier to obtain than the
subjugation of enemies.”
“I’m sorry, father. I’ll be sure to
keep your wisdom closer to my heart then. So, what’s our next course of
action?”
“We do the same as Priscilla and
gather allies before we attack her. She’s likely to have gathered more than we
expected since she doesn’t seem to have stopped moving and gathering power and
forcing people to join her.”
“I can’t imagine she would have
that many people with her since she’s left people in their home settlements.
Here I thought you would want to get revenge for our people, especially
mother.”
“Your mother died peacefully and I
know she’s in a better place, so despite her being killed, I, for some reason,
don’t have feelings of vengeance.”
“Old age must be getting to you,
father. Since you’ve lost your fire for vengeance.”
“Again, you forget my wisdom. Peace
is to be preferred over war. It’s why we wage war. We subjugate and make allies
so our people can live in peace.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry for my
constant forgetfulness.”
“It’s okay, son. Do not wallow in
defeat…”
“For defeat is only permanent if
victory does not follow.”
“See? You aren’t as forgetful as
you may think. Now, let us gather the allies where we can. Perhaps we can learn
more and make new allies along the way.”
“As you say, father.”
My forces, father, and I move out
and go from allied settlement to settlement searching for allies. Since my
father is the wisest, I allow him to do most of the negotiating as he always
does while chiming in here and there so that he doesn’t become too charitable
in his promises, especially to the settlements we aren’t exactly friendly with.
For example, I find it hard to promise old rivals protection and a time of
peace, trade, and negotiation when the blood of our friends and family is on
their hands. While negotiating, a fog of golden light overcomes us and makes it
appear as if everyone and everything around me has disappeared.
“I don’t know how you broke free
from my spell, but it doesn’t matter. I have an innumerable amount of obstacles
that will stop you,” Priscilla says.
“Show yourself and you’ll see that
I can overcome everything that you throw at me,” I say.
“Ha! As if I’ll allow that. Even
though I’m miles away from you, my power can still reach your mind and allow me
to use those around you to kill you and your allies.”
Around me are women of many sizes
and races who have weapons in their hands.
“Do you think your tricks can
control me? I’ll break free of this trick like I did the other!”
I don’t let my feelings of lust get
to me and start slashing at the women who all swarm in an attempt to kill me.
“Stop it, Leif!” the God of the
Catholics says.
“I don’t need your help! I can’t
get out of this by myself!” I say.
“You’re killing your men! Listen to
me!” a voice says, sounding like a combination of my father’s and the God’s.
“Father?”
The mixed voice continues to tell
me to stop until it overpowers me, making me stop, and see that I was killing
my own men. Many of the other people on the other side were killing each other
as well, so at least I wasn’t the only embarrassment. My father is holding the
monstrance I had that now seems to have a fading white glow to it. Because my
father is recognized as the one who broke Priscilla’s spell over us, our rivals
agree to help us, but from a distance, sending a messenger between us so that what
happened here doesn’t happen again. Also, they don’t trust me and tell me to
listen to my father more, as if I needed to be reminded of that.
It's the last thing on my mind as
my father’s voice mixing with the God’s is my primary concern. Once we’re alone
while camping on the road to the next settlement, I bring up what’s on my mind.
“I told you we could use a God’s
help and if this God’s power can help us overcome Priscilla, then I don’t see
the harm in accepting it,” my father says.
“Be careful with this God, father.
This one wants a place in your heart and mind to claim you for his own,” I say.
“Do not worry about me. I can
remain independent even when I help this God. Worry about your pride getting
the better of you. We can’t win this battle alone against Priscilla, so you
must learn to accept help from those who offer it and can give it.”
“Yes, father.”
During the night, I sleep alone as I
have been sleeping for the past few nights. I don’t care to lie with any number
of women despite my body desperately craving it and there being women in our
group who wouldn’t mind it. Doing this gives me the drive to want to get to
Priscilla faster to make her suffer for what she did to me and to violate her
for many days and nights without rest. I won’t allow the God of the Catholics
to be my crutch in my battle against her. Soon, I’ll find a way to overcome her
on my own and show my father that I’m a stronger and smarter son than I seem.
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