Chapter 238 – Scars and Tribulations

Lilyth - Day 1 of the Serrezht Crisis

I had no idea how she did it, but Phosi managed to scrounge up a board game for the four of us to pass the time. It was a simple concept - you had to move your six pieces to a finish area called the Temple, but rather than roll a die, you would draw a card from a common deck. Apparently, the pieces originally represented each of the Old Gods, but when the Church of Light became the big game in town, this was switched to Saint Candidates. I honestly thought it made more sense that way because that way you didn’t have four Nyxes on the board. Not only did that make little sense, I doubted Dwynveia would survive it.

‘Hey!’ I heard her protest. ‘That’s not very daughterly of you, Princess!’

Am I wrong though?

‘Nope! Gotta defend my honour though. Anyway, how ya feeling kiddo?’

I would say I am all right, but I am missing the wrong leg for that.

Nyx let out a fake groan of pain.

‘Don’t make me zap you,’ she ended up laughing. ‘Anyway, your new limbs should be ready in three or four days. It would be faster, but we are making them extra special.’

How special?

‘You will have to discover that on your own, but they should be able to enhance your Air powers.’

Oooooh.

‘The hand will also have a vibrate function.’

This time I was the one to groan.

Horny goddesses aside, it was a fairly pleasant evening. The only thing that ruined it, aside from all the dead people and us looking like we were cemetery denizens on a field trip, was that Caei wasn't with us.

Anywho, we were busy arguing over rules - the antediluvian argument of “do you need the exact number on the dice/drawn card to be able to move your piece into the end zone, or can it be larger than that?” - when we heard commotion outside of our tent.

‘Can I come in?’ we heard Sav ask.

‘Go ahead!’ I replied. ‘Maybe you can make a ruling for us.’

Savri looked absolutely broken by the events of the day, making me suddenly feel really bad about the four of us being so carefree, but then again, given what we had gone through that day, we were allowed some rest.

Pinkhair’s gaze first focused on the board game; she furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance and was about to go into Sergeant mode, but then must have noticed the state we were in because she blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

‘What the fuck happened to the three of you?’ she could only ask.

‘I was running with some scissors when…’ I tried to make light of the situation, but a glare from her told me not to push my luck.

‘Better get the rest in here,’ I sighed.

‘Yeah…’ Sav stammered, suddenly looking very sheepish. ‘About that…’

‘We know about Kart,’ I said, thinking that was the cause.

‘Well… You are not going to like that.

‘You motherfucker!’ I screamed, seeing terrified Taros enter the tent and, instinctively, leapt at vaem.

About five milliseconds later, my brain remembered that I was not exactly in a condition to pounce on anyone.

Alas, it was five milliseconds too late, so I ended up doing a fairly embarrassing tumble onto the ground, the only thing stopping me from faceplanting being my horns. While that prevented me from breaking my nose, it did make me feel as if my temples were about to get ripped off my skull. Luckily, the bones my horns were growing out of were strong.

Fluffy, who was sitting in his usual spot on my head, ended up falling down next to me. The poor slime recovered quickly and began glaring angrily at Taros, identifying vaem as the source of his mom’s distress.

‘I am okay,’ I said, raising my hand to show I was alive.

Somehow managing to push myself to a sitting position, I glared at Taros and said:

‘Imagine I am strangling you right now.’

‘Tee is not a traitor,’ Deirdee came to vaes defence. ‘It was just a song about events Irmen told him about.

I wasn’t sure I was buying that, so I looked at Persephone.

‘Been a while since I have been in contact with my extended family, but I doubt any of them would be crazy enough to involve themselves with a godling,’ she answered with a shrug. ‘Sure, it would be a win, but the risk would be too great.’

That made more sense.

‘Very well,’ I finally sighed. ‘I’m willing to give you another chance.’

‘Just so you know, little princeling,’ Phosi rasped, giving vaem one of her blood-curdling smiles, ‘I will be watching you. You try anything, and you will make for a nice snack.’

‘Oh no,’ Taros squeaked.

‘I understand my fame precedes me then,’ Phosi’s smile got wider.

‘Don’t you mean “infamy,” Phosi?’ I laughed.

‘Even better.’

As a welcome and sudden gesture of goodwill, Taros righted up my wheelchair, since I overturned it during my tumble. Aki and Ren then helped me back into it.

‘Thank you,’ I smiled.

The next few days are going to be painful.

‘Anyway,’ Savri coughed, ‘how did you end up in that thing to begin with?’

‘Well…’ It was my turn to be sheepish. ‘You really aren't going to like that.’

Whereas previously Sav needed a drink and a hug, now, judging by her expression, she needed one of those 2500 litre steel tanks of pure ethanol and a week-long fuck session with Nyx.

‘The worst part is, I can't even blame you lot for being idiots, because, best I can tell, you fuckers didn't do anything wrong,’ she shook her head. ‘I think the one mistake was Caei going into that room, but it wouldn't surprise me if all the shit in the air caused impaired judgement.’

‘Caei was… lured by the pitcher plant,’ I pointed out. ‘So there could have been a stronger version of that pheromone or whatever in the room.’

‘Wouldn't surprise me if you are right about this,’ Sav nodded and let out a deep sigh. ‘So What's the plan?’

‘Once I get replacement limbs and relearn to walk, we go back there and finish the job.’

‘Wait… you are seriously planning to go back there?’ Taros asked, vaer eyes bugging out.

‘We are not taking you along if that's your worry, kid,’ I shook my head. ‘This one is too dangerous, and I remember your stance on that.’

Sav gave me an almost imperceptible nod of approval.

‘If it makes it any better,’ I continued, ‘I will be mostly sitting this one out too, for the most part. I don't think air on the lowest two levels will be particularly breathable for me, so it is mission control time for me. Up for babysitting me, Pinkhair?’

‘Gladly,’ Sav smiled. ‘At least assuming Caei will be willing to go down there again.’

‘Good point. We’ll cross that bridge when it comes to that then.’

‘I’ll stay with Lilyth,’ a hoarse voice suddenly said from the tent entrance. ‘You keep them safe, Sav.’

It was Caei, dressed in a very concealing robe. Still, that was not enough to hide all of her burn scars, as I could see the ones she had on her wrist and her neck. Understandably, my love's cheeks were wet from tears, and she was still clutching that plushie of hers.

Caeileera- Day 1 of the Serrezht Crisis

I actually spent a moment listening on my friends before entering, because I wasn't sure whether I had the strength to do it. Part of me wanted to escape and hide away forever.

‘There is no point at which you can not say that you are done, my daughter,’ I heard Akh'ret say when I first thought of that. ‘None of your friends would blame you.’

I regretted not heeding his advice when I stood there in front of the entire group.

Stay strong, Caei.

Seeing the state the rest of the strike team was in nearly made me break down crying again.

Stay strong.

‘How are you?’ Lilyth asked, her empty shirt sleeve and leg ending a poignant reminder of the price of my mistake.

I didn't know how to respond to her, so I just shook my head, turned to Sav and asked:

‘Can we speak in private?’

‘Always,’ the medic said and led me back to my tent.

‘Not to sound trite, but how are you feeling?’

Feeling a bit bolder, now it was just my doctor and me. Instead of answering, I just took off my robe and let it fall to the floor.

Savri took in a sharp breath when she saw how I now looked. The red burn marks covered thirty per cent of my body, mostly forming stripe-like patterns running across my body in places the vines grabbed me. The only exception was the large vertical scar on my back running along my spine.

My body… my breasts… my ass… all ruined.

‘Can I?’ Sav asked gently, and I nodded, biting my lip.

She looked my scars up and down and touched them in less… important places. They were still slightly tender, but Sav took care to cause me as little discomfort as possible.

‘They did a good job,’ she finally said. ‘I usually try to soften the blow, but any words of reassurance here would sound hollow.’

‘I appreciate the candour,’ I replied, crestfallen.

‘I know this is small comfort, but skin discolouration, even if severe, classifies as “getting off lightly” in case of acid damage.’

The statement made me want to scream at her, but, luckily, I bit my tongue beforehand. The pink-haired bitch was right.

‘If you want to scream, scream,’ she suddenly said. ‘I see it on your face. Better at me than at the rest of the lovebirds.’

Instead, I began bawling my eyes again. Sav simply embraced me and waited patiently.

‘Is there anything you can do?’ I asked once I regained some composure.

‘No,’ she said regretfully. ‘I wish I could help you, but my speciality is just putting people together. Have you asked the Children? Maybe they know someone who can help.’

I vaguely remembered them mentioning someone, but I was too distraught and groggy from magical sleep to catch the details.

‘I’ll ask,’ I said.

‘I know this may take time, but I would honestly try to embrace them. Some view scars as brushstrokes on the canvases that are our bodies. If anything, they might be worth a few drinks at a bar. I mean… “I got them while trying to kill a Godtree” is a hella story.’

‘I mean how I got them is rather embarrassing,’ I said.

‘I wouldn’t be so hard on yourself,’ Sav said with a hint of reassurance in her voice. ‘Her Royal Furriness said something that made me think that this might have been an accidental “fuck you” from the Blood. I remember you mentioning that Deirdee fell under the musk effect from that Kitsune performer.’

I slowly nodded.

‘And now you became… enthralled by carnivorous plants. We need more evidence, of course, but it does seem likely that the Sanguine are more susceptible to certain mind-altering smells than other creatures.’

I desperately sought through my memories for other examples of what Sav was saying, but couldn’t think of anything obvious. Alas, with us being a bunch of hedonists, it was hard to find definite cases of this.

Still, the observation made me feel better. Being “drugged by a Godtree” was an amazing excuse. One thing kept nagging me though.

‘Don’t the others blame me though?’

Especially Lilyth, I added silently.

‘I don't think so,’ Sav shook her head. ‘If anything, they feel guilty for fucking up your rescue beyond any recognition. Ultimately, you all went in blind against an insanely dangerous foe. You sure fucked up, but you lived to tell the tale. And now… well… we will be better prepared for round two.’

‘Wiser words have never been spoken,’ I cracked a hint of a smile.

‘Amazing. Now, how about we find some booze and go get drunk with the rest? I think we could all use a drink after everything that happened today.’

‘I stand corrected!’ I laughed heartily.