Chương 13: MIRACLES AND CURSES

They returned to the church at mid-dusk, having stayed out in the woods for hours. The black sack was nearly overfilled with loot that T'balt carried like it was a bag of hard cash. He was still breathing heavy with blood that wasn't his staining his shirt. All the churchgoers gathered around their arrival, seeing the messy scene of their appearance, but the sheer confidence with which they walked.

"Rejoice!" Monan called.

"The Redeemer has returned! And he is bearing gifts!" The first thing T'balt had a mind to do was take a nice long shower and get ready for bed. But Monan had made a whole event out of gifting his followers the new loot. Those who had coddled up to him lined up like the DMV for superpowers and accepted their coins with humility and thankfulness. Monan had taken full control of the bag of tricks, and after a while, T'balt left the scene to head downstairs.

On the way, he saw all the newbie users trying out their loot. Many did their best not to break the entire building, but the halls were bustling with random bits of flame, wind, and people punching holes in walls. It didn't seem like the best idea to just give the loot out without any supervision. At the very least, they should've been trying out their powers outside.

But once he got to the basement, he made a point of finding Ellie, who was still at work, giving comfort to the wounded, which had grown significantly in number. But even though she was swamped with people, she noticed T'balt, if only because he looked like a murder scene.

"Oh. T'balt. You look like… ummm… for lack of a better word. Hell."

"Really. Sorry."

"No need to apologize. Are you okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine. Actually better than okay."

"Oh, did the Redeemer bless you with some of his power as well?"

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk with you about." She was puzzled.

"Turn around, please." She was even more puzzled.

"Trust me." She followed his instructions, and he looked to make sure no one saw him too closely. Then he patted the back of her neck.

"This will feel weird just for a moment." Her neck started cringing back and forth.

"What did you just do?"

"It's a gift." He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the closest patient. It was the man with the bandage over his head and eyes. His young daughter was still desperately holding onto his hand. T'balt, a bit too excitedly, put Ellie's hand on the man's head.

"What are you doing?" Ellie called, but moments later, she saw the man's breathing start to calm and smooth out. The bruises on his face began to clear, bringing life back to his face. His eye opened. Ellie's eyes were wide like blue-eyed moons, and her mouth was agape, unable to comprehend what she had just done. But she didn't ask. She was caught up in the reunion of father and daughter, tears in both their eyes as they embraced.

"I thought you were going to die. Please don't leave me like that again." The father, starstruck, embraced his daughter as if it were the most natural thing.

"I'm okay? I'm okay. By the grace of god, I'm okay." Ellie searched T'balt's face for an explanation. He put a finger to his lips.

"Just say it's a gift from the Redeemer." All things were then turned calm in the basement of the church. Many had taken to their mats to sleep for the night. T'balt was able to give himself a wipe-down in one of the bathrooms and was able to change into a spare set of clothes he kept in his car. He felt refreshed. He felt good. He went to call the night over. The end of his first day. He had finally made it past the first day. And tomorrow would no longer be Zero Day.

It had felt like months since he hadn't had to live on Zero Day. It felt surreal. But that meant everything that happened next would be all but a mystery. And he suddenly got a pit in his stomach about what that would mean for him. No matter how good this felt, to survive one day, there were thousands more ahead of him, and if he died, it was that much more progress that he had to settle with losing. From here on out, he promised himself that he wouldn't die again. He would avoid that pain and move forward.

"I wonder where Chosa is." He'd been lying next to her designated cot for over an hour and hadn't seen her since their argument. She was likely still mad at him. She was the type who would hold a grudge for days if she didn't get what she wanted. He'd played this song and dance before. He'd find her and apologize, promising to do better. And that would be the end of it. He walked upstairs, asking around if anyone had seen a young woman in a black skirt and two tiny pigtails in the back of her hair.

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"Yeah. I saw her," one man said.

"I believe she was looking to speak with the Redeemer upstairs."

"Now, I wonder what she would want with Monan," he thought. He followed the man's direction, walking up the spiraled staircase to the fourth floor of the church. He followed the halls until he came across a huge door that looked like it'd probably lead to a bedroom. He almost expected there to be a guard, given how much praise Monan had around here. But realistically, with the flame sword and the reflex loot, Monan was the most protected man in town. T'balt knocked as politely as he could.

Even though he was always wide awake at this time, it was eleven o'clock, which was late for most people. He heard what sounded like drunken stumbling towards the door. Someone fiddled with the handle before swinging it open. What surprised him was Monan's naked figure standing unashamed at the door.

"Oh my god," T'balt reacted.

"Mmm." Monan groaned, rubbing his eyes to greet the light.

"T'balt… It's a bit of a bad time, bud."

"Sorry… Sorry. Erm… have you been drinking?" He smelt a sharp sense of wine on his breath.

"Rule of survival…" he slurred.

"Some churches keep a lot of wine. If you're ever out, find god." T'balt shouldn't have been surprised by the lack of boundaries in this man. Maybe this was the real reason he chose to stay at a church, so he could take all the wine for himself.

"I see. Sorry for bothering you then," T'balt said, still trying to look away from his manhood.

"No problem. We'll reconvene tomorrow." He pressed his body weight against the door frame, looking far past the legal limit. T'balt wondered if he would even be functional the next day.

"Maybe you should cool it on the drinking."

"Don't tell me what to do, kid. I can drink myself to death and wake up fine the next day." He laughed.

"Now shoo."

"Uh. Before I go. Have you seen Chosa around? I think she came up here earlier." Monan paused with the most unexplainable look on his face.

"Listen.. I don't think you're going to like my answer."

"What are you talking about now?" Monan stepped back, opening the door a little wider. The room was a mess. Sheets and clothes everywhere. There were at least 4 empty wine bottles strewn about. The room was a red velvet theme, as if it were made to seduce him into its web. T'balt took a step forward. Chosa was curled up in the bed, fully naked, clutching the softness of the sheets, face flushed red but peaceful in sleep. The shock didn't hit all at once but rather in bits and pieces. There was Monan.

There was the bed. The alcohol. The clothes on the floor. And then there was Chosa. T'balt's lips quivered as he tried to find the courage to say something. The words didn't come, not that she would've heard. Her eyes were closed, clueless that T'balt was even in the room. Monan observed the situation as if it had nothing to do with him. But to T'balt, the sight of the vacancy in his eyes fueled some fire in him.

"What did you do to her!?" He flung himself at Monan, unconsciously activating his speed, but even drunk, the reflex loot was enough to send T'balt to the floor. He crumbled there.

"Don't get all worked up now…" Monan said.

"This was just your heads up for next time. Now there's your girlfriend's true colors. Most of it's black. Haha." The commotion in the room drew a stir in the woman. Monan stumbled over to the bed. He slapped her on the ass, violently waking her. Then, when she was nice and awake, he crumbled on the bedside.

"You got business to handle," was all he said before dozing immediately into a drunken slumber. She turned from him to a sight she didn't expect to see but was all too familiar.

"T'balt…" she mumbled.

"Chosa..." He crawled to her, reaching his hand out, desperate to save her. But without a second thought, she slapped him away.

"What are you doing?" The words were scathing, nails-on-a-chalkboard kind of scathing. Like every bit of the lie he started to tell himself was burned away quicker than a corpse on the sun. He had no words except.

"What's going on?" She rolled her eyes, annoyed that she would have to point out the obvious, but T'balt was always a child in all the important ways.

"I'm sleeping here tonight."

"What?"

"Look. T'balt. I cheated on you. Just take it as a sign that things are over between us." She covered herself with what she could grab of the white silk sheets of the bed. There wasn't even a modicum of regret on her face. In fact, to her, this was the obvious course of action, and this confrontation, if it could be called that, was more of an inconvenient consequence.

"But why? I'm sorry I upset you. If we could just talk this through…"

"Pfft…" She started to laugh at him.

"You're such a pushover. I'm ashamed I ever touched you in the first place." A sword in his heart. His chest shattered into a thousand glass-like pieces. And Chosa pounced on that weakness, only because she could.

"But to be honest, I was only with you because you're such a pushover. But that won't do me any good here."

"That's… not true…"

"You're a pathetic excuse of a man. Spending all your time playing video games. It's a chore to get you to leave the house. You were never gonna be anything. A no-life loser."

"Then why? Why did you ever bother with me?"

"I needed a place to stay, and your grandparents' house was comfortable while it lasted. It's destroyed now." T'balt lowered his head, crushed by the nail in the coffin. He still couldn't believe it fully. Not even now. Even though her face mocked it like it wanted to laugh at his misery. Rubbing hard black sludge in his wounds.

"I'm sorry. Please… Chosa."

"You're a coward… We're through." Suddenly, black smoke started to swirl within the room centered around Chosa's finger. Without rising from the bed, she lifted him from the ground, nothing touching him but the arrows of her insults, and with the ease of psychic loot, she pushed him out the door, slammed it in his face, and went back to sleep. Blinded by his thoughts, T'balt stumbled outside into the darkness of the cold, blissless night. The air was heavy. He didn't care. He just needed to be alone.

He couldn't understand why. After everything, to so easily toss him aside like used tissue. Was she always so cold? No. Everything changed when Monan entered the picture. It was he who had her manipulated, thinking he was some sort of god. He manipulated her into treating T'balt like this. But what could he do about it? He wasn't as strong as Monan, not nearly as good-looking, and he still relied on him to survive this far. He couldn't confront him. Even though in some life he knew it was something he had to do.

But Chosa was right. He was a coward. A coward who would cry himself to sleep, alone in the dark.