Chương 95: Chapter 94 - Date

Atzi was still unnerved by the empty streets as she made her way back in the late evening.

"You didn't die!" Hemm greeted her. She already had bottles and glasses out on the table she was sitting at.

"Yep! No risks, just talking to the new head of the university."

"You have a hair on your face."

"Eh?" Atzi scrambled at her face urgently. She pulled away a hair. One of Kurgi's. Atzi stumbled her way through multiple excuses, all incoherent and incomplete, trying to explain what happened. However, the longer she spoke, the more Hemm's eye widened.

"Wait, you had sex with the new head of the university?" She seemed to piece it together only as Atzi gave excuses. Stupid! If only she'd just kept her trap shut. Atzi coughed out a few more awkward phrases before saying, "We met at a party once. Mages are kind of insane, I think." She looked away, embarrassed.

"I dunno why you're so cagey about it. It's not like I'm your girlfriend." Atzi could not tell what tone of voice Hemm was using. Was she stating a fact? Bitter? Something else?

"It's just that maybe you think I'm, you know, really easy." She was, of course.

"It's embarrassing." Hemm laughed.

"So this is going to be your life now? Using your incredible power as the prophet of the Saintess to sleep with women?" She pushed a bottle towards Atzi.

"That'd be the life-" Atzi stopped, and took a drink before she said something dumber.

"I went 'cause I wanna be a mage and I was seeing if I could get into their gem stocks. If you eat enough gems, you become a real mage." Hemm crossed her arms.

"Atzi, you don't plan on leaving things alone, do you?"

"For now, I do. Really. I doubt I'm gonna change anything. It's just, you know. My mom is a really powerful mage. Really good. My dad is pretty good too. They said I wasn't worth teaching." Atzi laughed.

"If she knew I was the prophet of the Saintess, she'd flip! And I've seen mages do wild things. Things way, way beyond what I can do. I wanna be able to do that."

"I get it. My mom didn't want me learning anything either. Other than how to look pretty and sell things." Atzi nodded.

"Lemme guess, she tried to marry you off?"

"Yeah. Did your mom do that to you?"

"Nah, but as soon as you said 'look pretty', that's what it's about, isn't it? Parents just see you as something they can use, or something they need to tidy away somewhere."

"Yeah. I came here to get away from that."

"Same. I got an apprenticeship at a locksmith, biggest mistake they ever made. I can open anything short of the university vaults."

"I hope Marco is okay," Hemm suddenly said.

"Where is he?" Atzi realized she hadn't seen him at all since getting back.

"I meant to ask, did he leave? The Ancestor sided with the Serpent, he should be okay."

"He wasn't with me when everything happened. Haven't been outside since then to check on him of course. And if he's somewhere he can't come here."

"Oh. Shit, he might be stuck indoors somewhere. Maybe I can bring him along here tomorrow sometime? I have a rough idea where he lives. He was in the same slums as me."

"Are you really going to barge into random places just to find him?"

"Fuck." Atzi thought for a moment.

"No, I have a better idea! Vance should know where he is."

"You know what happened to Vance?" Atzi nodded.

"Got arrested. His sister's the new prophet of the Ancestor, though, so she's probably bailed him out by now."

"Huh."

"Yeah. Small world, huh?"

"I'll say."

"He should know where to find him, I can check in on him and bring him along if he wants to come. Or at least let you know he's alright. Not much work to do with-" In the candlelight, Hemm's eye looked prettier than Atzi had ever seen it before.

"Thanks, Atzi." Atzi laughed nervously and took another drink. In another loop, she was interested in me. Is she still? How the fuck do I bring that up? I've never done this! I'm sleazy! I pay for brothels and chat girls up at parties, I don't do this stuff! Atzi summoned up all her knowledge and all her skills in the ultimate, perfect line.

"The drink's nice."

"Yeah, I figured I'd take out the good stuff since I don't know how all this will turn out." Atzi looked down at the bottle. Oh yeah, this was the good stuff.

"Maybe you can get free advertising.

'The new prophet of the Saintess stayed here', that'd look good huh?" Hemm smiled.

"Sure, if all this blows over I'll make sure to carve that into the door." Atzi stuttered out, "Maybe I'll stick around here, even." Hemm smiled.

"What, a prophet, permanent inn patron?"

"Why not? It'd be better than staying in a stuffy temple." Hemm shrugged.

"Well, sure, then. But no discounts."

"I won't need one, it's fine, I bet Malus was rolling in it." Hemm went silent, her face turning pale. Why had Atzi mentioned the prophet of Hemm's god, who she saw eaten alive? Fuck, I messed up. Fix this, Atzi.

"So, how was life in Cthargictha? There's bat people there, right?"

"Yeah." Hemm yawned.

"This was nice, Atzi." She got up.

"Oh." Atzi looked down, disappointed.

"Sure."

"Your room's the same if you want to stay here tonight."

"I'll stay here tonight." Atzi wanted to go up to her room and punch herself and bite the pillow and call herself the dumbest lizard alive. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. If I killed myself right now, I could do this again and fix it.

"Good night," Hemm grabbed her drink and headed towards the back. After she was gone, Atzi curled up and called herself names before slinking upstairs to crawl into bed like a dumbass. === After sleeping through the morning, Atzi woke up in the afternoon to some sort of ruckus outside. Atzi rubbed her eyes. She got dressed and headed downstairs, peering out the window. She saw various guards rushing through the streets, shouting, heading towards the gates. Hemm arrived from the back.

"Atzi, what's going on?" Crap. What do I say?

"Hi Hemm," Atzi said, nervously.

"I was going out to take a look and find out."

"Be safe." Hemm said. Atzi nodded and darted out quickly. She briefly hoped it was something dangerous, so she'd get another shot with Hemm. Her hope was fulfilled when she saw him, towering so high his head came over the wall. The imposing, eyeless goat figure of the Demon, his figure shifting so much he hurt to look at, even from a distance. His massive shadow stretched out before him, cast over cowering guards. Then Atzi heard running from behind her.

She turned around to see the Serpent's three bodies, each being carried by two priests or priestesses of the Saintess. They ran as fast as they could carry the goddess. The Serpent herself wore languid expressions, like she'd just woken up. They sprinted towards the Demon. Atzi followed after, wondering if there was going to be a fight. When they arrived before the gate, one of the Serpent's bodies looked up towards the Demon, and her other bodies gathered around her. Atzi wondered if she was about to transform.

Instead, the Serpent smiled and said, "Demon! Pal! Sorry for not letting you right in, things are delicate right now." In response, the Demon spoke a language Atzi could not understand. His voice rang, a painful cacophony, through her ears. She clutched them as her eyes watered. In her wavering vision, she saw several guards clutching their heads too, and bleeding from their noses. The Serpent shouted back, "Hey, hey, no need for that! I know you're upset but! It's not my fault!" The Demon spoke once more.

A few guards passed out. Atzi struggled to stay upright.

"Look, I'll let you in, but first you have to promise me no eating anyone or destroying things if you don't like how the conversation goes," said the god who'd recently done just that. The Serpent snapped her claws. Several guards hauled themselves up to open the gate. Besides the Demon, several people garbed in white and black robes stood in orderly rows. The Demon and his group stayed on the other side, and only his prophet came through. She had a stern expression and wore a simple black dress with white gloves.

Atzi noticed there was some sort of symbol on the back of her gloves, which she assumed was the mark of her god. The prophet of the Demon leveled a simple stare at the Serpent, as though she was looking down on the goddess. She spoke, "There shall be no diplomacy while you still declare yourself the illegitimate ruler."

"Illegitimate?! Finder's keepers!" The Serpent said. Another of her bodies spoke, "I found out the previous ruler's crimes, so I get to keep the empire." Atzi already felt like things were going poorly. She frantically wondered if she could do something about the situation. It would be bad if the Demon attacked the city. Without much time to think of a plan, she approached closer and loudly whispered "Serpent!" One of the Serpent's bodies turned to her.

"Oh! Tell them, Atzi!" The Serpent turned back towards the prophet.

"This is Atzi, the new prophet of the Saintess. She's on my side." Atzi felt like she had just attracted some dangerous attention. She laughed nervously. The prophet of the Demon shifted her merciless expression towards her.

"Then you back this pretender's claim?" Atzi held up her claws in front of her, defensively.

"A civil war sounds really, really bad!" The prophet sneered.

"Then do not treat the other gods as though the laws of the empire do not apply. This is easily resolved, should the Serpent give up her absurd claim."

"Isn't there normally a vote? Why not just do one of those?"

"We would. If the Serpent allowed us to perform it." The prophet glared at the goddess in question. The Serpent humphed.

"Well, only four of you defected! That's still five for my side! So the vote doesn't matter."

"Then just hold a vote!" Atzi said, excitedly. She motioned to the Serpent.

"The Saintess votes for the Serpent. The gate to the underworld isn't even sealed properly, there isn't gonna be an empire unless all the gods work together to fix that! And Vinovia's going to be invaded tomorrow too, and Hasen might still attack, and-" The Demon spoke again. Atzi winced as she felt the words drill directly into her brain, accompanied with a white hot searing pain, and deposit their meaning.

"What is it of which you speak?" Atzi let go of her ringing head. She steadied herself before replying, "I had some visions of the future when I became a prophet. That's how I found out about what Malus did, and I told the first God I could find." The prophet raised an eyebrow to her. She opened her mouth, and then paused. Finally, after a few moments, she asked, "Then why do you back The Serpent? Why not another god? One, perhaps, more suited to rulership?"

One of the Saintess's priestesses fed the Serpent a grape. Atzi asked, "Like who?"

"The Star - though it is strange they have not rebelled - or the Shapeshifter." Atzi shook her head.

"The Shapeshifter's prophet would have killed me in my sleep if I'd tried working with them." The Demon's prophet took a step closer.

"Why?"

"I don't know! I just know they would!"

"More future visions?" The prophet furrowed her brow.

"If I work with them, they kill me off! And the Star, well I thought about it, but I really wanted to solve this quickly," Atzi tried to explain.

"So you told this fool" - The prophet shifted her arm to the side, gesturing to the Serpent - "and now throw your lot in with her?" Maybe she has a point. Maybe I could convince the Serpent, somehow?

"Hey! I'm no fool." The Serpent sneered.

"I got this position fair and square." Then she leaned over to Atzi and whispered, "These gods, I swear. So uppity." A plan formed in Atzi's mind.

"Can you give us a minute?" The prophet of the Demon made a slight smile, and nodded. Atzi pulled one of the Serpent's body's aside and whispered, "I have an idea. Maybe." The Serpent whistled appreciatively.

"A plot? Tell me."

"Listen, you're with the Star anyway right?" The Serpent eyed her.

"Sort of."

"Can't you work out some deal where you get what you want and they vote in the Star so that the civil war ends? You can let the Star do all the boring stuff while you enjoy yourself!" The Serpent hummed. Atzi tried to use the Serpent's own selfishness to convince her.

"And you'd be completely outsmarting the Shapeshifter! What's he gonna say when you act like you're stepping down? He'll be mad but he can't get anyone on his side, he'll have to put up with it. You'd be humiliating him and getting away with it!"

"I understand where you're coming from. You're new to all this. You're not even a god." The Serpent rested a hand on her shoulder. Atzi felt like that wasn't a good sign.

"But know that just because we're friends doesn't mean I won't eat you alive if you try to manipulate me!" She said with a smile.

"Now then, are you on my side?" Atzi shrunk.

"Yes."

"Good girl." She lifted her arm, and patted Atzi on the head. Atzi returned to the Demon's prophet. The prophet raised an eyebrow.

"Well?"

"The" - she hesitated - " Saintess does back the Serpent."

"I see." The prophet of the Demon narrowed her eyes. Atzi expected she was about to die anyway, but to the Demon this time. The guards looked between each other, as if to wonder who would be brave enough to fight first. The Serpent, meanwhile, gathered around herselves again.

"Per rules that we doubt the Serpent would care to follow if our positions were reversed, we shall not attack here and now," the Demon's prophet said. That didn't make Atzi feel any better. And then the Demon's prophet added, a finality in her voice, "But this is the end of the empire." Atzi wilted. She asked in a small voice, "So it's now two empires that are side by side with each other?"

"It will be a broken and foolish pretender against the will of the true gods." The Demon's prophet turned around briskly.

"Remember that when you see a vision of being slain."

"Seen enough of those," Atzi whined. The Demon made a laughing noise that seemed to come from all directions as he and his group departed. The Serpent slapped Atzi on the back.

"That went rather well."

"Can I never do politics ever again?" Atzi asked. The Serpent laughed, too, and was carried away. Atzi was left alone with the guards, who were milling about trying to pick up their companions. She sighed, wondering what she should do next. She'd failed with Hemm. She couldn't stop the civil war. It all seemed hopeless. She still needed gems somehow, but she was less certain than ever that the Serpent would give them to her.

As she thought about people who might be able to tell her where gems were, her mind landed on a particular individual. This timeline is doomed. Might as well make the most of it. Time to go see V.