Chapter 299: The Master’s Sanctum, Exorcism

Oh boy, here we go. Trial run for Ann to tap into My power and see what she can do with it. I'll say that other rituals are a lot more strict on what needs to be done, but I'm not that kind of Goddess. She could be doing slam poetry for all the words mean. It's the heart and feeling behind it.

Ann paced around the circle drawn in chalk as Bren started with further preparations. Candles were produced and placed in precise places. Bowls with incense were lit. Oil was produced and gently wiped along certain runes.

“Are we going to have enough of this stuff for the big ritual?” she asked.

“No. We will need to make substitutes, but with the material available in some of those cabinets, there should not be any problems. Thankfully the reagents are common enough.”

“Skipping part,” Lucia grumbled as she worked under Bren’s remote direction.

“How’s she doing all of that so well?” Ann asked, watching Lucia mirror Bren nearly perfectly.

“Using commands,” Lucia said. “Making simpler. Would take longer without.”

Ann narrowed her eyes, now more focused on Lucia. Sure enough, her movements were mechanical, as if she wasn’t the one piloting her own body. There was also a subtle flush to her cheeks that Ann figured was related. Well, they were both consenting to the manipulation here, so it wasn’t Ann’s place to judge.

“Does that still feel good? To take the commands?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Care to elaborate?” Ann prodded.

“No.”

“He’s not having to say anything for them?”

“No. Part of problem. Mental commands work. Imagine Life Debt to bad person. Can order from anywhere. Massive problem.”

Ann hadn’t considered that. She’d always thought that the commands had to be verbal. If it was mental, then…

“Before I get myself into a spiral here, does anything count, or do they have to have intent?”

“Yes.”

“Shit.” That meant if Bren’s thoughts wavered and he thought about a command for Lucia, rather than phrasing it as a request, it’d take hold. That, and that this applied to all Life Debts? A person could reasonably just control their bonded Thrundol via thought anywhere they were. With a good person at the reins, that could be as nice as just keeping their partner aware, or sending them places. Shopping or something like that popped into Ann’s mind, since the whole deal was centred around servitude. Someone with ill intent, though, could easily cause so much chaos. A Thrundol walking around could become an assassin, thief, agitator, or really anything at the whim of their master. No wonder this kind of thing was not accepted by general society. It was too much power over another, and unless the tattoos were universal, there were limited ways to detect the Thrundol under a Debt.

“Yes,” was all Lucia had to say in response.

“Alright, this is done,” Bren sighed. He pulled out another bowl, filled it with water, and gestured for Lucia to wash her hands. He did the same after she was done. It was kinda sweet, actually. “Have you thought of your poem, Annita?”

Ann had been distracted, but she’d been alright with speeches and words so far. Something like this should be alright. Instead of her love, she was going to focus on the two and the love, though twisted, they shared.

“Yeah. Should be fine. Might not exactly be normal, but would a prayer or something like that work?”

“As long as it is focused on your Goddess’s domain, and with the intent of helping the spirits of the dead move on, then yes.”

“Cool, then I’m fine,” Ann said. Suddenly aware of how still she’d been standing, she started to move around the carpeted areas, stretching her limbs, rolling her neck. A faint pull she hadn’t noticed before pricked her senses in the direction of the circle. Some faint magical signal told her this array of chalk and other things was connected to her. Just a little bit of pressure when she looked at it was all, but that was more than she’d sensed from most other magical items.

“Very well. Katlyn, would you take Lucia and Rosalyn to retrieve Nancy? Annita and I will move Anthony.”

“Aye. Careful, you two,” Kat warned before leaving with her group.

Ann watched her go. Gods, those broad shoulders still caught her breath now and then. Stupid sexy Kat.

“Well, his robes will make this easier,” Brenn grunted, standing to move over to Anthony’s bones.

“Need him in a specific spot?” Ann asked.

“Yes. Here, gather his lower bones up and put them in. They all just need to be present. I will handle arranging the pieces in their proper places. Feet, however, are not part of this one. See the two smaller heart symbols?” He pointed at the circle, and Ann indeed saw two smaller symbols of Orenous to the sides. “Those are where their torsos will be placed. Their heads will be on the book symbols, their hands on the corresponding ones, etcetera. The head, heart, and, with this being Orenous, pelvis are the three most crucial body parts.”

“Oh, is that why I saw a dick in the runes earlier?” Ann giggled, shuffling the small white nuggets of bone to where they could carry it all more easily.

Bren rolled his eyes with a weary sigh. “You really were chosen by a distressing Goddess. It frustrates me at times. Still, she is a mostly kind Goddess. I cannot begrudge you too much. Good. Now, lift,” Bren instructed.

Together they carefully lifted Anthony’s bones in his robes. They clattered softly, a macabre rattle for the long departed. Being careful not to disturb the circle, the pair set the bones down beside it, and Ann followed Bren’s directions on where to place each part.

Every time they placed a bone, Ann expected something to happen. Maybe one of the bones would twitch, or a ghost to pop up from the floor. Something! Yet everything was as still as the grave.

“You think they’re still here,” Ann asked. “Like, Anthony and Nancy. Couldn’t they have passed on?”

“They could,” Bren admitted. “This could be entirely unnecessary, but we are also securing an investment. I would much rather be safe than sorry. It will be good practice for the lower floor, as well. Killing those giants will be a task, and the restless dead below will not be deterred from the Green Place once we begin to move things.”

“That’s bothering me too,” Ann admitted, taking a piece of broken rib and setting it with the rest. “Why would they want to stop us? We’re helping them, right?”

Bren shrugged. “I would not speak for the dead. Were it me, I would think to prevent the exorcism out of fear. Fear of the unknown, of the beyond, of an end. Discounting fear, perhaps my mind is no longer here. That would mean that this exorcism would be a threat to my animal sense of survival if it was intact. You have killed for survival. I propose that this is no different.”

Ann nodded, and any other thought was chased away as Kat pushed the curtain aside. “Sorry, took a feckin’ minute. She kinda fell apart the second we touched her.”

“Fat hands.”

“Oi,” Kat growled at Lucia as the Thrundol gave her a shit-eating grin.

“Ladies, please!” Rosalyn laughed. “It was impossible to move her intact! She had no robes on, and she was sitting! It’s a miracle that her bones kept together like that in the first place!”

“Fat hands,” Kat grumbled to herself. “Show ye some hands, tusked bitch.”

“Easy, Kat,” Ann said, putting a hand on her lover’s forearm. “She’s trying to distract you. She’s just really good at distracting by getting people angry.”

“Right.” Lucia nodded. “Better angry.”

Kat grumbled, but didn’t do anything else. Ann patted her arm gently. The big woman needed to get some of that tension out of her. If this was anywhere else, they’d be stealing the bed right now.

After a while of arranging Nancy’s bones to the opposite of Anthony’s, they were prepared.

“So, where do I sit?” Ann asked. “Or stand, or prance around on my paws? Not sure.”

“You are at the centre. You may sit or stand as you wish,” Bren said. “I would recommend kneeling due to it being an act of reverence. Whatever else you choose to do in the minutes that pass will be up to you, but this version of the ritual must last for ten total minutes no matter the interference.”

“Ten-minute speech, poem, or whatever else. Gotcha,” Ann nodded. This was fine. She totally wasn’t panicking. Totally wasn’t way longer than she thought, and not something she could offload onto physical interpretation if… nah, interpretive dance would be out. Not enough space. Shitbaskets. She gave Bren what was hopefully a confident thumbs-up. He didn’t look like he bought it.

“Should all else fail, does your literature from the Temple have any passages for this sort of thing?”

“Yeah, has a few. Not sure if I’ve memorised them, though,” Ann admitted, scratching behind an ear nervously. Everyone caught that tic. It was by far her most consistent nervous habit.

“Ann, do… are you going to be ok? This is the first time you’re doing this,” Rosalyn asked. The sweet Druid was watching her closely. This woman, so twisted up inside and out, was nervous for her. Damnit. “I wanna help you, but this is kinda a big you thing, and if you’re gonna be the centre of it all, kinda not my spot to join you, but I also want to help. Is there anything I can do to help?” She was rambling. Just as nervous as Ann was, then. “Like, if I took some of the bones or something, I could probably blow them up with lightning and make that a big deal cause bones are keeping them here, and if we just get rid of them we could get rid of the ghosts, but maybe that just makes dust and now there’s millions of itty bitty bones for the ghosts. Oh, what if…!” Kat’s hand clamped over her mouth.

“Really do not need tae be thinkin’ about millions o’ ghosty bones right now,” Kat laughed. She kept it soft, but everyone there knew her well enough to hear the edge of fear in her words. “We just keep ‘er safe. She can do this. What was this whole thing about the Temples? ‘Ave faith? Gotta ‘ave faith in Ann.”

[Bestest Goddess]: Oh! It’s time for this shindig to get started? A little earlier than I was expecting! Good on you taking the initiative!

[Bestest Goddess]: Oooh, practice round. Gotcha. Well, I’ve actually got time right now. Shocking, I know. Can’t show up right now because I’m projecting in a few dozen places, but they’re all fucking or standing around uselessly, so that’s autopilot.

[Chosen Annita]: I have so many questions.

[Bestest Goddess]: No time! Let’s get this thing started! Bren was right, go ahead and kneel, then start saying what you want about these two. Keep it positive, even though they’re not destined for a great time.

Ann nodded to herself. Orenous being here for this definitely bolstered her. She stepped into the circle. Keeping her paws away from the chalk and other reagents was much easier than tiptoeing with normal feet, she had to admit. Still, the fur between her pads and the claws meant any missteps would possibly be worse.

She knelt, gently spreading her kilt out so it was draped around her. “Let’s get this shit started.”

Everyone else in the room tensed, not helping the situation.

Ann closed her eyes, focusing on the feeling of her soul, of her magic, of everything that made her more than her.

A little window appeared in her awareness.

[Bestest Goddess]: Usually start with a greeting to those around you. Can totally treat the start like a funeral.

Ann took a deep breath.

“Everyone gathered here, we begin today’s ritual in light of the… long deceased in this circle. We are present today to see that their spirits be guided towards whatever afterlife exists. In Orenous’s name, I call upon both Anthony and Nancy. Manifest, or come out from wherever you’re hiding.”

[Bestest Goddess]: I’m not a stickler for formality. You can mix it up a bit if you want.

[Chosen Annita]: Yeah, but this feels right. Listen, I’m going off of old movies.

Orenous didn’t reply to that, giving Ann the green light.

“Show yourselves, spectres of a long-forgotten age. One of your brethren calls you hence!”

Ann cracked her eyes open to see if anything was happening. Nothing so far. She held on to that connection with her magic and continued.

“Alright, Anthony, you douche-canoe. You wanted to play God with all of these people? It’s time to pay the piper. You too, Nancy. Couldn’t get a normal man for your burnt self?” Ann was cringing inside. Using Newfoundland slang felt weird, but she knew a lot of it. Mostly because it was so bizarre she’d made a point of learning it. Burnt being a term for someone being crazy. Oor this one. “Or were you too nish to get your hands bloody with his work?”

“The fuck did you call me, you hoser?” A shriek pierced the quiet, high and shrill. A ghost flew out of the floor. Her hair was long and fluffed out in a way only hairspray or the afterlife could achieve. Her blue eyes, a single baleful colour, fixed on Ann with a hateful fury as her clawed hands reached. “Got a bit of life still on ya there, bud. Let’s change that!”

“Gonna let your keener do all your work for you, Anthony?” Ann taunted as Kat’s shield slammed into place between her and Nancy.

“You done it now! That’s my fucking wife!” A man’s voice shouted. “No one’s keener!”

“Dunno, she’s fighting your fight right now!”

Anthony rose from the floor. His hair was long, slicked back, and pure white. Taut skin clung to the skull of a man not in death, but in the way of someone who ate seldom. His cheekbones poked out with little to no fat on top of them. His lips were thin and slightly chapped. Black robes, flowing and majestic, adorned with glittering golden trim in what Ann could tell he thought were fancy patterns. It was just a bunch of triangles.

“There’s the man of the hour!” Ann laughed. “Alright!”

[Bestest Goddess]: Not sure pissing them off was a great idea. Still, you can begin now.

Ann knew she’d fucked up a little when Nancy flashed through Kat and made a beeline for her. Quickly, she clapped her hands and poured her focus into the circle around her.

“Dearly departed, we’re here to send you off in style! Anthony and Nancy, you’re aware of the actions of your lives, correct?”

“I’ll fucking gut you, cunt!” Nancy howled. She slammed into an invisible wall inches from Ann’s face.

Ann flinched hard, but regained her composure. No stopping now! “I’ll take that as a yes! So, today we’re going to help you two terrible people pass on into the afterlife. If there is one. I’m not entirely too sure on that whole thing. I’m winging this, but I feel like I’m getting better at that. You two are here and under the gaze of our Bestest Goddess, Orenous. She’s decided to take up this exorcism and pass judgment personally!”

Kat’s gloved hand closed in Nancy’s ghostly hair and yanked. It was like watching someone pull on uncooked dough. The stuff stretched, and she did manage to pull the spectre backwards, but it didn’t throw her like Kat’s effort should have.

“Hands off her!” Anthony shouted. With a flick of his hands, the floor moved. Stone shifted to swallow Kat’s feet while spikes shot up at her arms.

Kat broke the tip off of one with a well-timed smack of her shield, while Fillianore’s butt took off the other. Rosalyn was already channelling thorns, but nothing was actually hitting Anthony.

Ann never stopped talking. It was a lot of filler. She didn’t have enough to say to fill in five minutes, so she started going over what she knew of the pair. “You two, as twisted as it was, loved each other. No clue how the hell you sickos found each other after an apocalypse, but you did. From that, an attraction blossomed into something deeper. Anthony, I really didn’t need the details of your wedding night in that journal. Really? Using your magic to make your boner bigger so she wouldn’t laugh?”

Nancy’s head whipped around at Anthony. “You WHAT?”

Anthony grinned and shrugged. “Babe, that’s the tamest thing we’ve gotten up to, and you know it.”

“Yeah… still, it was our first time together!”

“Did I disappoint?”

“Fuck no! Let’s kill these bitches,” Nancy cackled. She turned and blinked out of existence.

Bren cursed as claw marks slashed into his cheek. Red blood flew as he whirled away from the invisible assailant. He struck out blindly, but caught empty air.

Ann watched, continuing her description of the two’s life. It was a summary, really, but it could fill ten minutes. She described the teamwork, the attraction that mutual interests could build as her friends fought for their lives. Powerless to do anything else because if she did, it would ruin the whole thing.

“Ah!” Rosalyn cried out as stone blocks shifted under her feet, knocking her off balance. Once she was teetering, a dozen metal spikes flew up at her back. Each branched into a thorny bed of pain as more stone raced down to trap her. Wind blasted as her body was carried sideways, narrowly avoiding the hideous trap.

Lucia fired three times. Tunnels of wispy substance blasted through Anthony, his body nothing more than magic and smoke.

Kat had taken a hit from Nancy, but she was ready for it. As soon as those claws pierced her neck, Kat snapped a hand up and caught the invisible arm. Ann swooned as she watched her girlfriend shoulder-throw the ghost. Nancy winked back into visibility on the floor, looking shocked.

[Bestest Goddess]: Alright, bring it home, Ann. Draw them in, push them towards me.

Ann threw her hands wide. “That all being said, it’s time for you two to be gone from this world. Come!”

It was like a vacuum had turned on. Sadly, Ann didn’t have a jumpsuit for this part. Anthony and Nancy were stretched. Their faces wavered as Ann’s power, and that of the circle, pulled them towards her. She felt Orenous in that moment. Hands on her shoulders, running down her stomach, between her legs. Of course her Goddess couldn’t keep this too serious.

“NO!” Anthony screamed in a ghastly wail. “MY WORK IS NOT COMPLETE! I WILL FINISH WHAT IS BEGUN!” His hands stretched, fingertips trailing towards Ann as he pointed at Kat. Her swing towards Nancy stopped halfway. Her body lurched unnaturally as her head twisted towards Lucia.

Lucia pivoted, aiming at Kat now. Danger was in her eyes.

Kat charged. An ungainly, halting charge, lurching forward like a puppet on strings.

A shot hit Kat square in the chest, denting her armour. Vines erupted from the point of contact, snapping around the woman in a brutal embrace.

“Can’t help!” Kat barked.

“Know!” Lucia shouted before she too twitched. Fillianore, deadly Fillianore, swung towards Rosalyn. Lucia’s muscles strained as she resisted the influence, but her finger found the trigger.

A bullet ricocheted off a spectral shield!

Bren was there, between the two, glaring at Lucia. “Drop and do not move!”

Ann saw the command take hold the moment he finished. Lucia blushed, then flung herself to the ground and stayed motionless.

“Good, that seems to have handled the…” Bren’s words were cut off as lightning blasted through the small hand touching his back.

“Bren!” Ann screamed.

“Ah, that’s better,” Anthony cackled. “If I’m gonna fucking go down, I’m taking your doughhead friends with me!”

Ann watched in horror as Rosalyn’s hand turned towards herself. The two ghosts were nothing more than stretched-out blurs of colour. Suddenly, the circle burst into purple radiance. The bones rattled against the stone. Anthony and Nancy snapped into place over their remains, screaming unholy terror as they were locked by purple chains much like what Waheela wore.

“For your life, for your love, Orenous will judge you. I hope she’s a real bitch,” Ann snarled. She slammed her hands together and pushed with her entire being towards Orenous’s presence. Instead of exploding outwards, they were yanked up into the air. Purple chains kept them anchored as their faces rose to the heavens. Light poured from the ceiling as a projection of Orenous’s symbol appeared above them all.

Ann’s jaw hung open in awe as she watched the runes slowly rotating. It was beautiful. A kaleidoscope of intersecting circles and patterns that put motion to what Bren and Lucia had drawn beneath her knees. It sped up, spinning faster and faster until it was just a blur. A blur of purple so bright it was white!

She felt her ears pop. The pressure in the room dropped. Everything stilled for a split second before Nancy and Anthony were pulled screaming into the floor.

Suddenly, it was quiet. Ann felt her body, tenser than she’d expected, relax. All of the tension still in her fled with the disappearance of the circle above her.

[Bestest Goddess]: Well done, my Chosen. Take a bit to rest. You’ll need everything you’ve got for the one downstairs.