For once I had nothing to do.
Or well, nothing pressing that needed to be addressed at the location I was presently at. I myself, personally, had lots to do. More than I wanted to admit. But Vim the protector? Well…
Walking up the stairs, heading for the roof, I wondered where I should begin first.
Should I have us just leave…? Head back west? Should I head south, completing my circuit that I originally set upon when last leaving Telmik? Should I sit here and wait for Light, as she so readily implied I'd do with utter confidence?
Personally I wanted to burn it all down, but if I did that I'd never hear the end of it from Renn, so…
Opening the door to the roof, I breathed in the rather chilly air as I stepped out onto it. I shut the door behind , and glanced around as I typically did when entering a new location. To scan for people, or issues, or enemies… or gods and monarchs… and instead, oddly enough, found rit.
Frowning at the small creature, I glanced around the roof again.
Renn wasn't here. And I hadn't actually needed to look around to confirm that. I felt Renn. She was a few floors below. I think she was with Reatti, or at least that was who I had last seen her with.
But rit being on the roof of the Animalia Company building was not odd. She liked to grow flowers and plants, and up here was the largest gardens. But… she wasn't at the gardens. They were on the other side of the roof. Instead she was sitting at one of the smaller tables. Under one of the canopies, near an area where one could cook with a sunken barbecue in the floor. She wasn't cooking though, and good thing since it was lightly drizzling.
Walking over to her, I wondered if she was up here pouting or sothing. As far as I was aware, she's not really left Renn's side since we'd arrived. Yet here she was… sitting at a table in silence up here all alone, without any seeming reason or purpose.
Though she might just be sitting alone and resting. For all I knew she'd just spent the last few hours working on the nearby garden or sothing and had just co over here to sit for a mont.
"What do you want?" rit asked without looking at as I stepped under the gazebo-like canopy.
"I should be the one asking that. Why are you here in my hidey-place?" I asked.
"Hidey place…?" rit finally glanced up at . Her hair was soaked, which I just now noticed, as I went to sit at the table across from her. As I sat, I sighed a bit and glanced up at the gazebo. It wasn't leaking, anywhere, which ant that rit had likely been under the rain doing sothing else. Maybe my earlier assumption that she'd been working in the garden all this ti had been correct.
"So? Why aren't you clinging to Renn? You know that we're going to leave soon, don't you?" I asked.
rit huffed. "No you're not. Light said so."
"Light also says Renn's pregnant. She's as often wrong as gods are," I said, thinking of Stance.
The young looking rit gave a weird look. "You sure do say weird things at weird tis. Do you do that unintentionally, or are you trying to get to ask about it?" she asked.
"Actually it's because I had been thinking of the god I'd just vented so of my frustration upon. Pay it no heed," I said.
She huffed at . "And you wonder why Renn slept with last night and not you!"
My eye twitched. I had in fact wondered why that had happened. We had returned yesterday from the Bell Church, and so I had fully expected her and I to… well… enjoy our night together. I'd been gone all this ti, and although we had spent a day at the Bell Church we had been separated. She had spent the night with Light, Lilly and rit instead of .
Didn't she miss ? "Maybe I hadn't been gone long enough for her to miss ," I mumbled.
"Oh shut it. She missed you so much it made her sick. Gods! You're insufferable!" rit sounded like she wanted to spit at as she leaned against the table and rested her head on her hands, looking like an exasperated child.
"Has she been sleeping, rit?" I asked, ignoring her snide comnt.
"Hm…? Not enough. She slept last night, actually slept, for I think the first ti since you left. She even snored for once," she said.
Oh? That was good to hear. "Her snores are cute, huh?"
"They are. By the way she likes to snuggle. Does she hold you in her sleep too?"
"Of course she does?" Was she actually asking that?
rit's nose twitched as she "Tsk'd."
Smiling at how offended she looked over the fact I was shown such affection too, I wondered what she'd think if I told her that Renn likely held anyone she slept with. Though… well…
I frowned at that thought. In my opinion, Renn did hold anyone she slept with. I'd seen her sleep with many people during our travels, but there was a flaw in that anecdotal perspective. Renn, when she did sleep with those other than , did so with those she considered her friends. rit. Fly. Lomi, or Angie. In fact…
"What are you thinking…? It better not be anything crude or I'm going to…!" rit threatened as I slowly shook my head at her.
"I just realized that Renn actually doesn't sleep with just anyone. She only sleeps with those she cherishes, like you," I said as I thought about it.
rit sat up a bit straighter, her eyes which had been narrowed and glaring at were now wide and open.
I nodded after a few more monts of thinking about it. Yes. Renn only slept with those she loved. Or saw as children, like Lomi or Angie. Other than the children, she's really not slept with anyone else has she? Narli? But was Narli a child in her eyes or not? She was in mine. Then there was Riz at Secca… She had also spent a night with Sharp once while we were at the Crypt, but I wasn't sure if they had even slept that night. I think they had just stood up all night talking as they made bandages…
A small sniff made leave my thoughts as I glanced across the table and found rit sighed as she wiped her face. I tried to pretend that she did so because of her wet hair, for her sake.
"While I was gone… she didn't sleep with Lamp or those pirates had she?" I asked carefully.
rit glared at . "Huh? No. In fact she didn't spend much ti with them at all. She was upset over it. Light and the others kept bothering her," rit said, sounding angry again. Odds are she knew I had noticed her earlier tears.
"That's sothing, at least… though not. What is worse, you think? Her having a tryst with a human or getting involved with Light?" I asked.
"Tryst…? Are you saying that just to be funny, or are you serious? She loves those humans, but not in that way Vim," rit said.
Says you. Renn's perception of love was a little odd. She had spent a lifeti with that one human, Nory, and although it had not been an outright physical relationship it had been nearly everything else. Plus Renn, if she even realized it or not I didn't know, actually seed to have zero interest in n. She always seed to gravitate towards won and children... It was why I usually worried a little whenever she t a woman she found interesting, or pretty. I couldn't see Renn ever cheating on with another man, but a good woman? Would happen in an instant if I wasn't careful. Maybe.
I kept such thoughts to myself though as rit leaned back in her chair a bit. "A sad thought. Renn falling for a human. Considering she had before," rit said.
Oh? So rit had known already. Figured. Did Renn not keep anything secret? "She hadn't realized how many of us existed. To her, before the Society, she had been alone nearly. Or may as well have been," I said.
She nodded. "And considering her family, one cannot bla her. Kind of funny, we grew up in the sa cesspool even though so different," rit mumbled.
I gently nodded at that. That was strangely on the nose, wasn't it? But it was also correct. Renn had avoided anything more than physical abuse from her family, unlike rit, but Renn's sisters hadn't. And thus she too had known and experienced it, even if from a distance.
"Many of our people had suffered like you two, rit. At least back then," I said gently.
"Mhm… and now instead of such cruelty, we instead suffer idiots," she said.
I noted how seriously she had said that. It made wonder if rit would have preferred a world where people were brutes and cruel, but not stupid, over the one we had now. Though it was likely more that she was simply including in that group of supposed idiots, instead.
For a few monts only the rain spoke, and then rit gestured lightly at . "Can I ask sothing, Vim?"
"Considering you usually never ask for permission… I'll say yes, with a lot of wary safeguards in place," I said with a nod.
She smirked at . "Did you know? Before eting her?" she asked.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
My eyes narrowed at her, and I felt as if I should have been more serious with my joke just now. Now I really was on guard.
"No, rit. I had not known about Renn at all."
She held my gaze for a mont, and then slowly nodded. "Okay," she softly said.
Taking a deep breath, I sighed and looked away from her. Her gaze hurt. I didn't like how relieved, and pained, she looked over my answer. "If I had known, I would have avoided her. Completely," I said.
"I figured. I still… wanted to ask. Because as much as I hate prophecies too, I think I'd have still clung to her all the sa," rit said.
Yeah, well I'm not you.
I didn't say such a thing though, and simply shrugged. "Honestly who is to say, rit? I say such a thing with such confidence… but who am I to know? Maybe I would have fallen for her even harder, faster, had I known? And then maybe Light's stupid prophecy of her being pregnant already would be reality and not a fantasy," I said.
"What are you going to do about that, by the way?"
"About what? Their prophecies concerning her and her children?" I asked, fearing having to answer.
"Well… yes, both. But I more so ant what are you going to do when Light realizes she isn't? She's tricked and believes it right now, sohow, but it won't take her long to see through the veil. What then?" rit asked.
I nodded slowly as I reached up to scratch at the side of my head. I had felt a drop of rain just now, which I wasn't sure how I'd gotten hit by it. There wasn't even much wind. Maybe the gazebo was leaking after all. "I'm hoping we're long gone before she has a chance to. And when it cos ti for them to et again in person…? Well… I'll deal with it then, I hope," I said. Honestly I wasn't really sure how to fix that dilemma at the mont.
I had no idea how Light would act once she realized… but sothing told it wasn't going to be good.
"Hmph. For a man who can kill a god without batting an eye, you sure are a coward," she said.
Oh. She was asking why I didn't just fix it in a more direct, proper, way.
"Either try to keep her out of my bed, or let drag her into it. Don't do both," I said.
rit's mouth trembled a bit. "I'm trying my best here, damn it!" she shouted at .
"So am I!"
She growled at a mont, and then relaxed and sighed. "Why are we such broken failures, Vim…?" she mumbled in defeat.
"Because that's all anyone is? I dare you to na one person who actually has their shit together," I said with a light gesture around us.
"Renn?"
I scoffed at that. "Renn's as much a ss as you, rit. She just doesn't let her fractures and cracks stop her from loving every mont of this haphazard life we live," I said.
She lowered her head a bit as she sniffed. "Just because it's true doesn't an you have to say it so directly like that," she said.
"Sorry," I apologized.
rit took a deep breath and sighed it out. As she did so white haze ca from her, telling she had gone a little cold inside. My words had actually hurt her, and now I felt bad. "I can't bla you, Vim… I'd have chosen her over too," she then said.
Oh boy…
"If you try to steal her from …" I said gently.
She laughed at . "Luckily for you, I don't want her in that way. I don't like won, Vim, they are too much like ," she said.
Smirking at her, I nodded. "I like won too. For the sa reason."
"Like you…?" she asked with an odd look, as she tried to understand .
"I'm saying because they're not like at all, rit. Not that I'm like them," I said, correcting her misunderstanding.
For a mont rit studied , and then she smiled and snickered. "Right? You're a bumbling ss, aren't you?"
I am.
For a long mont we sat in silence, as rit gently smiled at … and then she sighed and nodded. "You're not going to apologize at all, are you?"
"Why should I? It'd just be insulting. Even if I genuinely ant it, you know how worthless the words will an. I can't love you rit, I won't. I'll be honest I'm not even sure why I love Renn, I just do. And no, don't you dare say it's because of fate… because that reality is starting to really dig into my soul and it hurts and makes want to flood the world again," I said with a groan at the thought.
rit's smile shifted a bit as she tilted her head. "You flooded the world once?"
"On accident. And it wasn't really ; it was the god I was fighting at the ti." And it hadn't been the whole world… just most of it.
"Hm… are you a god, Vim?" rit then asked.
I shook my head. "No. You've not asked that in a long ti… why? Is Renn filling your head with odd ideas?" I asked, thinking of all the topics and conversations Renn's had lately with those like riah and Rapti.
Actually, where was riah…? She should be here by now.
"Hm? Renn doesn't even think you're a monarch or special in that way at all. She actually thinks you might be so weird human or sothing," rit said as she glanced down at herself, and then went to do sothing beneath the table. Maybe rummage in her pocket or sothing.
"A human…?" I asked, a little stunned to hear so. Really?
"That or sothing silly. Like a snail," rit added.
I blanched at that. Snail…? She was likely thinking of those damned stinky things at Secca, then. That was rude, but kind of hilarious all the sa.
"Here." She then placed sothing on the table. Sothing round and small.
Ah. Whatever she had been rummaging for. I wonder what it…
The world grew colder as I stared at sothing impossible. Sothing that shouldn't exist.
"What…?" I whispered as I stared at what could only be a heart. A monarch's heart.
A red one. But…
"Hm…? It's the heart of that lion. Light wanted it, but I claid it before she could. Said it goes to the one who slain it, as per your rules, and she wasn't able to say anything about it. I think it was because she was exhausted. She healed Martin and Lilly at the sa ti, so was barely even able to stay standing let alone argue with ," rit said with a proud smirk.
Reaching out, I grabbed the small heart… and realized I wasn't mistaking anything.
Bringing it closer to my face, I glared at the thing… and wondered why I didn't feel it at all.
"Vim…?" rit whispered my na as I tried to comprehend how the thing before existed.
"This ca from that monarch? You're sure?" I asked.
"Yeah…? It's the heart; even Renn ntioned she felt it was. She said it made her hand tingle when she held it," rit said.
Right…
That had all been before I killed him.
Before Stance supposedly killed all his monarch servants. Before I'd killed him.
"Vim?" rit asked again, as I then fully enclosed the heart in my hand… and wondered if I could do it now.
The thing wasn't glowing. It had the sa familiar swirl inside it, like a tiny storm, but it wasn't glowing. It wasn't warm to the touch. It wasn't thumping as with a heartbeat.
And most importantly, I didn't sense it at all.
I'd not sensed it on rit before sitting down. I didn't sense it, even with it in my hand… so…
Standing up, I angled the orb away from rit. I put my own body between her and it, in case sothing went terribly wrong… and then, right as rit went to ask what I was doing, I closed my hand around it and squeezed.
The thing shattered before I even put much strength in it. It cracked loudly, and I felt the thing pop into countless tiny pieces in my hand… as rit hurriedly stood up too.
"Vim!" rit shouted at in shock as I turned back towards her… lowered my hand and tilted it, opening it above the middle of the table.
rit and I both watched reddish pink dust and pieces of what looked like broken glass fall onto the table.
Taking a deep breath, I sighed as I nodded. "Well… that happened," I said.
"Um… uh… okay. You broke it? Why?" rit asked as she reached out to touch the remnants of the heart. I watched the way her small finger pushed aside so of the few remaining whole pieces, and the dust they rested upon.
"I've never been able to break a heart, ever," I told her.
rit stopped ssing with the dust and glanced up at .
I nodded at her. "Yet that heart… this one… had been lacking in sothing. It felt empty. Dead. So… well…" I shrugged as I gestured at it.
"So you broke it…? Why though? Wasn't it a heart? You and so many people always want them, aren't they special?"
"They are. My… well…" I shifted as I wondered I should actually tell her or not. But then decided it was fine. After all… I'd already realized what was going to happen. Even if rit hadn't yet herself.
She'd be soon joined to Renn, by the hip nearly. I fully expected her to join us west. Or well, north, once we set up that new location.
Nebl and his family were planning on coming. And now Berri and hers too. So… well… it was only to be expected, in a way.
"Well what? Vim, you just broke a heart!" rit shouted at , sounding annoyed.
"The god, his na had been Stance. Before I killed him he killed all the monarchs he'd given birth to. I think that's why this heart was broken. You said Light and Renn sensed it? That it made Renn's hand tingle? That's because she had been holding it before that mont. Before the god… killed his creations," I said.
rit frowned at . "I uh… didn't know gods could do that," she said.
"They could do many things. They're gods, rit," I said simply.
"You always say they hadn't been real gods though! Being able to just… kill all of the life they created sounds very god-like to !" rit shouted.
"I know! Wait… let think…" I raised a hand to quiet her, since I wasn't at all in the mood to have this conversation here and now. Instead… I figured out how to prove this.
Downstairs. The heart of that lizard. It was in the bags.
"Wait! Vim!" rit shouted angrily at as I stepped away, to head downstairs.
"I need to verify this," I said simply.
"But…! Gosh!" rit yelled as I heard the table make noise. I didn't need to glance back to know she was currently trying to gather up the remnants of the heart I'd just crushed.
I'll verify this.
If this was true… if a monarch's heart, its connection to the divine, could be de-activated… that ant there was possibly a way to replicate it.
I could do it too. Sohow. And if I could do that… I could do it for more than just a heart. I could disconnect a saint from their connection. A monarch from its abilities. Maybe even do it to another god outright, and save myself all the trouble.
And even if I couldn't… it'd also help confirm other things. Such as the fact that Stance hadn't been lying.
His powers had been weakened. Inept. Dull. Cursed, as he called it.
Even if I couldn't replicate the sa thing… if I could just figure out how he had been cursed… if I could figure out how to break other gods and monarchs in the sa way he had been… then…
"Vim…!" rit shouted at as I headed downstairs, with her quickly following after .
"Let's go run so tests, rit!" I said excitedly. My mind was racing wildly, unable to contain all the possible ideas and hypothetical scenarios I could soon test and try out! I couldn't even rember the last ti I'd been so lucky to find such a flaw! Such a weakness!
It was probably the best yet!
"Hurry up!" I shouted at her as I began to run, unable to keep myself from not doing so anymore.
"Freaking weirdo…!" rit complained, yet followed dutifully anyway.
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