Nicol
Gabriel could tell why they called it the ‘old’ church- the only way a new chuch would look like this would be some sort of freak accident. Going inside, Gabriel saw Lilith sitting on one of the few intact benches, with a red-haired woman sitting next to her.
“Good to see you two again.”
“Who’s she?” Gabriel said, turning to the red-haired woman.
“She’s Kass’s sister,” Lilith said. “Amelia, this is Gabriel- one of the knights who helped us back at the camp.
So the furry one’s name is Kass, and his sister is Amelia. And Lilith has a strange definition of ‘helped’. I threatened her with a sword! Still, best not to remind her of that.
“Oh!” Amelia turned to Lilith. “I just remembered- we forgot about Gorse! She’s still at home!”
“Fuck, you’re right. Could you go check on her? Make sure nothing bad happens.”
“Sure.” Standing up, Amelia ran past Kass and Gabriel, through the church doors.
“You brought the goblin back?”
“Yeah, of course,” Lilith said, almost confused why Gabriel was asking. “She wasn’t in control of her actions, and she helped us out eventually.”
That’s certainly… a way of thinking. “Anyway, why are you in this old church? You said back at the camp that you didn’t worship Claria.”
“Initially, I came here to see what it looked like. But then I decided that it’d be a good place to explain things. Plus I feel like refurbishing the place.”
“Explain things? As in…”
“To all the other villagers. I figured the best way to go about it would be to explain to everyone at once; and this church was built to hold the whole village for prayer stuff.”
“And what do you mean by ‘refurbishing?’”
“Well, it’s going to be easier to convert it into a church for Medenta instead of tearing it down and building a new one.”
- - -
After a quick run, Amelia made it back to the house, where Amanda was luckily still asleep. Wow, am I the weird one for not being a super-heavy sleeper? Rerailing her thoughts, she went into Kass’s room, where Gorse was half-awake. As the goblin’s eyes focused on Amelia and she began to speak, they both realized something important.
Neither of them could speak the other’s language.
Shit.
- - -
“So, you’re planning to convert this entire village to your religion?”
“Yeah. I mean, it’s not exactly much of a religion with only three people, but that’s the plan.”
Three people? So that Amelia girl is probably also one of the three.
“And what then?”
“Huh?”
“After you convert this village. What then?” If she doesn’t have a plan, that’s either really good or really bad. At the very least, it might mean I can affect what her plan ends up being.
“Not sure. I’m probably going to stay here for a while, but eventually I guess I’ll go out and see the rest of the world.”
Hm. Well, I was going to have to ask this question eventually… “Would you mind if I stayed here for the time being?”
“Sure,” Lilith said, to the surprise of both Kass and Gabriel.
“Wha- just like that?” Kass said, incredulously.
“I mean, yeah. If I’m trying to start a religion here, I might as well let people join if they want to.”
“You’re not concerned about- ulterior motives or anything?” Gabriel said, aware that he might be shooting himself in the foot by bringing up the possibility but still needing to ask.
“Nope. If I was, Kass wouldn’t have any magic.”
“Hey!”
“You agreed to it because you wanted magic. That’s, like, the definition of an ‘ulterior motive’.”
“Fair. But is he asking to join the religion, or just stay here?”
Okay, he’s definitely going to be more of a problem than she is here. “Well- just stay here, for now. I mean, the knights would get suspicious if I turned up one day and was a girl, you know?”
“With that armor you wear, the only way they’d know would be if you took your helmet off,” Kass said.
“Speaking of, would you mind taking your helmet off? I’ve been kinda wondering what you look like under there.”
- - -
As the knight took off his helmet, Mendenta felt as though she saw a ghost.
It was his face underneath the armor.
Nicol’s face.
This time, the memories overtook her, and she remembered the last days of her last worshipper.
Nicol had been a kind and beautiful man. A devoted man, enough so that Medenta had taken notice.
She had loved him, in that way that a goddess might love their worshipper. And, in the way a worshipper loved their goddess, he had loved her too.
And yet that love was not enough.
When the hordes came, that love was not enough. When they slew his countrymen and razed their villages, that love was not enough.
And when Nicol was the last one alive, when the souls of her afterlife had been scattered to the void, and he stood bloody atop the steps of her only remaining temple, that love was not enough.
She had given him power; as much power as she could.
He had killed armies, had slain more men than he had ever met before.
If he had anyone left to tell his tale, it would have been heroic. One man standing against thousands.
But there was nobody left. There was only Nicol. And Medenta. And their love.
And that love was not enough.
When she woke up from her memories, and realized that what had felt like a day had been but a few seconds, she looked again upon the face that was Nicol’s.
It’s not him. It can’t be him. His soul was lost.
And yet, though it may not have been his soul, it was his face.
And Medenta resolved that she would protect the man who was not Nicol.
This time, maybe the love would be enough.