2.2 Nfierre (2) - Alternate 1

I possessed a great dream of alteration.

I saw a carcass on the water.

I felt the weights of a great sin on the sands of land that marked my hometown.

I heard the cries of a soulless crowd, the mob of man and their ruling figures, dials and dials of stone set forth on monoliths of scales.

I flew on the backs of a great bird, a black beast with corvid feathers.

I saw beneath me, a grand space. A space of limitless growth.

It was in that space that Jesse fell and felt- 

A slamming, guttural scream. The individual stabs downwards a few more times, and then, there is silence. With a great push, their head is slammed into the counter, and then. . . silence. 

With a sigh, the standing boy raises his arms, cracking his bones and shaking out those sensations. An unruly, lanky youth with black hair and a thin build. He wears a dark jacket over a black shirt, hiding most of his shape, but it was clear to see that he had dark skin and near-jet black fingernails over his hands.

His green, glittering eyes were shrewd and cruel.

He was a nothing-ness figure. One who looked like nothing, sounded like nothing, and to any who saw him, would feel nothing.

The only thing of note was his left hand, made up of an abyssal substance, eating away at itself in a strange, psychedelic cycle. 

Further into the light, it was clear to see the body left on the ground. Green clubs adorned the entire cloak, surrounding the small, boy of a figure, a crumpled and messy military hat on the floor.

The standing figure stepped on the hat, and walked away.
There was nothing left to do here.

At his side, sitting on the counter, was a girl, no older than eighteen. A girl with silvery hair and pigtails tilted her head, kicking her feet.

The girl spoke to him.

"Surely, that's enough carnage for you yet."

And the boy responded.

Jesse:「So, it's you here, High Priestess.」

Jesse washed the hot blood from underneath his fingernails in the kitchen sink, the damp and derelict place of dust and cobwebs bothering him. However, no matter how much he tidied himself, his jet black nails remained black, and his pulsating left arm remained pulsating and inhuman. Nothing would change that.

'This place could use some cleaning,' he thought to himself.

And so, he did exactly that. He found the broom and cleaning supplies, making sure to pick up, marking the body on the floor as his first task.

Jesse:「What brings you here to bother me, your highness?」

High Priestess: 「. . . Just observing.」

Jesse: 「You aren't the Moon, nor the Wheel. What point would it be to analyze my actions? I didn't think a girl like yourself was capable of complex thought.」

High Priestess made a soft sound under her breath, something that sounded similar to 'asshole.'

Jesse ignored her sounds. He kept cleaning, wiping down the counters with ammonia. This was preparation for the task of "moving" the body. The High Priestess vanished, reappearing on the other counter across the aisle. 

High Priestess:「I'm bound to you for the moment. As your majority.」

Jesse:「Hierophant is sick of me then. . . ? Well, I suppose, you aren't the worst of them.」

High Priestess: 「You know she hates you. . . and no. Most certainly, I am not.」

Jesse didn't seem interested in continuing this conversation. He picked up the body on the floor, tossing it over his shoulder, and walked out the door. 

On the brick handle-rail, the High Priestess sat.

High Priestess: 「I don't know why you think such idiocy will work in your favor. There is no festival to be had here. These acts are akin to mindless slaughter.」

Jesse:「This coming from the great slaughterer herself?」

This statement made the Priestess frown.

Jesse: 「Heh-? What- Think I don't know what you are? The sorta things you've been up to? Shit you've done over these set of rings?」

Jesse tossed the body in the dumpster, and continued back inside. The Priestess sat on the couch, leaning her head on the top of the cushions like a dog.

High Priestess:「Personal attacks mean nothing to me. You're a failman, continuing down a failed path. Shattered time doesn't hold well for crazed people like you. Rainwater doesn't have a place for you either, failman.」

Jesse:「I'm fully aware.」

High Priestess:「Then why continue? Your idiot's plan. . .  reset it all? Crack her loop for him? You know that's impossible. . .  maybe for the Empress, or for. . . no, not even the Wheel could do that for you. You'd have gone to her, if she could. The Empress is the only one who'd be able to assist your sorry ass, and even then, you would need a miracle to get the Empress to that state.」

Jesse:「I am my own miracle.」

The Priestess laughed, kicking her legs in her silly little skirt.

High Priestess:「You? You are nothing! Just a deluded fool. . . thinking you can save the ones you love by giving them shattered eternity! You're no better than that bastard- that glittery golden man. Ah, you morons.」

Jesse:「. . . So, we'll see.」

The Priestess vanished again, appearing once more on the counter as Jesse began to mop up the mess of blood. 

High Priestess:「Is this all because the Devil showed you the works of L'Estat? Ah- ah- you haven't even met Amelie, have you? Course, course, you'd have to go through Star's channel for that. . .」

High Priestess: 「Oh, what a bother, what a shame! Are you just another deluded fool, Jesse? Do you think yourself to be a righteous man, stealing a name and calling it your true face?」

High Priestess: 「Don't tell me this delusion of yours is a result of that rook's thinking? You men- you men are deluded chumps! All the same as that doctor scumbag!」

Jesse: 「Not quite. I follow a path of my own making.」

High Priestess: 「Nothing is of your own making. Surely you know that now. Death will come if you make even so much as a slight infraction.」

Jesse: 「Would you tattle on me?」

The Priestess held her arms tight, unsure of her answer. There was a pause as Jesse wrung out the mop.

Jesse sighed.

Jesse: 「I don't think you would bring that sort of fate on a future you haven't bothered to read. You're just as interested to see how it turns out. And with shattered time, you don't even have to worry about the death count. It means nothing to you.」

Jesse shook his head. 

Watchers who did not act upon the Earth. That was all they were. There was no point in discussing it. 

High Priestess: 「I. . . suppose so.」

She made a soft clicking sound with her tongue.

High Priestess: 「Though, I should warn you. You will lose the fight you're about to take.」

Jesse's head swung around to the door. A clattering sound met stone.

His heart sank, his pulse beating fast. His veins carried energy throughout their abysmal wires. 

Jesse:「. . . Kaene. . . You're kidding.」

High Priestess: 「Such a badmouth. You know they send the covenant guards when a beeper goes off. How many more bodies until you learn your lesson?」

Jesse: 「Shit. . . . shit, shit.」

Each clank of sabaton left imprints on the stairs. 

A slam of the door sent it flying towards the wall, shattering into planks.

A pale woman with short, banged black hair stood tall and firm, resting her armored fingers on the edges of the door. 

When she stepped inside, her black armor glittered in the roomlight. Those black bangs swooshed about. Her dark blue eyes scanned the room, finding nothing but scum inside.

Down her abyssal front, a golden cross stood on her sternum. Along her sides, golden lines cascaded down, and in her metal hands, a steel zweihander stood tall. 

Knight: 「May I ask what you're doing in Green Club Rathael's home?」

Jesse: 「You know the names of all your Church?」

Knight: 「He's not of my church, but I know every call and every shriek of man. I ask that you identify yourselves quickly.」

The tension in the room was suffocating. 

Nothing would help solve an issue like this.

Jesse:「We're friends. I was staying at his pla-」

Knight: 「Do you have a weapon?」

The abrupt cut-off left Jesse stunned. This would only end in a bitter confrontation.

Jesse: 「. . . I do.」

Knight: 「Then I pray you use it properly.」

The soldier turned to the girl on the counter, stepping further into the apartment. 

Knight: 「Are you with him?」

High Priestess: 「Not quite by choice.」

Knight: 「Then wait but a moment. I'll treat this creature with the carnage he has wrought.」

Jesse drew first, a small gun held upwards. The trigger pulled and-

The Knight deflected the bullet with her blade, sweeping out with an arc to cleave the weapon in half.

Purple light glittered, and Jesse was no longer there, on the right side of the Knight, and with a great cleave, he was gone again. 

The Knight spun around, kicking out with her sabaton as Jesse approached from behind, sending him crunching into the far wall, dust shuddering around his figure. 

Jesse: 「Sir Helena. . . you had to show up now, of all times?」

He grumbled, cracking his shoulder.

Jesse: 「. . .  I've yet to consume a single Allta Shard. I don't want to take this fight.」

Helena: 「Don't babble to yourself. It's unseemly. Get up and fight, weapon in hand.」

Jesse rose to his feet. His black arm shivered. Lines of violet energy sputtered in and out, but no grand form took shape. Dangling from his hand, was a dagger on a chain. 

Helena advanced with the simple discipline of a predator. Her zweihander floated along, barely scraping the ground.

Jesse ducked as the first swing came, barely a blur. A column of tile and plaster exploded behind him, and dust screamed out. He reached for her ribs with the black arm, too slow, the knife chain following. Her sabaton caught him in the side, and for a brief moment, he heard nothing. 

He tumbled backward into a broken table. The dagger he had thrown was held in Helena's hand, and she pulled him forward, slicing out with the Zweihander. His ears rung painfully, the ringing incessant.

Jesse melted his chain, holding it back in his own grasp, tumbling across the room, ducking beneath that steel blade.

Helena turned.

Helena: 「This isn’t your home. Do not mistake this graveyard for your comfortable battlefield.」

Jesse coughed, wiping blood from his nose with his sleeve.

Jesse: 「Malach. . . this is my battlefield. It may as well be my home.」

Helena closed the distance again.

Jesse twisted sideways just before her blade reached him, sliding on shattered tile. His black arm stretched. A shape flickered at his wrist. A shackle, a link, a purple loop. The air shimmered around her ankle.

With her second swing, Helena severed the unseen link between them, and the force behind it splintered the floor between them.

The knight charged, a bolt like electricity racing towards the boy.

And Jesse, in a moment of clarity, moved upwards. A chain burst from his black arm, not a weapon, not really. It wove through the room, grabbing a broken ceiling fan and swinging it into Helena’s path.

She cut it in two.

The chain curved back- tightened around Jesse’s own waist.

Jesse let the chain pull him toward her.

She did not expect his fist to strike her face directly.

There was hardly any power in it. Helena didn't even stagger. Jesse landed in a crouch beside her, whispering:

Jesse: 「I only need one moment.」

He struck again, this time with the black arm. It connected, and something inside the limb opened- a spiral of sickening colors leaking into the air with decay.

Helena had already corrected herself.

She turned, elbowed him in the throat, and rammed the pommel of her blade into his chin.

A crack. Blood.

Jesse hit the counter and bounced off, crumpling near the stove.

Helena stood before him.

Helena: 「Stranger. You’ve been a fighter before. You know how this goes.」

He looked up at her .

Jesse: 「Yes.」

Helena’s grip tightened. 

Helena: 「Then let me do you the honor of ending this engagement cleanly.」

She raised her zweihander overhead and swung down. 
A great purple chain imbedded in the ceiling held her swing from coming down fully.

Jesse swept out with his feet, attempting to knock the Knight down.

No such thing happened. Helena raised a leg and stomped on Jesse's shin, causing a loud crack, and a sputter from Jesse's mouth of pain. 

The High Priestess sighed.

High Priestess: 「This is foolish. What a coward you are, Jessaline Abetta.」

And with that, the Priestess vanished, as did that purple chain. 

And with one great stab, Jesse's life ended, his purple blood coating that floor he had just cleaned.

. . .

Helena: 「May I ask what you're doing in Rathael's home?」

Jesse: 「. . . No, no you may not.」

The High Priestess sighed. 

High Priestess: 「You know, Jesse, you can leave. Get a little stronger before taking this fight.」

Jesse: 「. . . This is the one. Promise.」

It would turn out to not be the one. It would turn out to be the worst iteration, that second attempt.

Helena would dive forward, Jesse would duck, and then he'd be grabbed, tossed up, and skewered, dripping that ichorous liquid from his open wound. His life would end quickly without another word. 

. . . 

The next attempt wouldn't go much better.

Jesse would go about two minutes of combat, deflecting and parrying, until Helena got sick of it, and kicked him backwards into the top of the oven, which held sharp metal prongs, impaling his neck. He would choke, sputter, and die.

. . . 

For his next attempt, Jesse wanted to get a surprise attack in.

He had intended to set a trap on the door, meaning to impale Helena the moment she entered.

But, time was foolish. He was relocated to the moment he heard the clatter. There was nothing to do.

Jesse shot through the door with his side-arm, emptying its magazine.

There was silence. and then-

The door was kicked in, Sir Helena standing tall with bullet holes in her armor.

She approached, and as Jesse raised his right arm-

Helena: 「. . . You're a disgrace to knighthood.」

Those were the last words Jesse would hear before she lunged, and the zweihander cleaved his head clean off.

. . .

These mistakes would haunt Jesse dozens of more times.

They would be stepping stones for his next failures.

They would be scars that led to more open wounds, marked on the places where the stitches of the past would open up, and all those missteps would be that much closer to unraveling his strength.

Knight:「You're weak and puny. . . but you're clever, and you're smart.」

Knight:「And yet. . . 」

Knight:「Were you failed as a child? Were you not given enough love? Did something happen in your life that set you apart from your peers. . . ?」

Sir Helena looked down at the boy, struggling to crawl away on the ground.

Knight:「. . . I wonder if. . . if I was there earlier. . .  I could have saved you. If I could have set your life on the right track.」

She stabbed downwards on his abdomen, causing blood to spurt out from the wound.

Knight:「Nah. I doubt it.」

Knight:「You're a monster.」

Knight:「You weren't born that way.」

Knight:「You weren't made that way.」

Knight:「You're nothing at all. . . and I have a family to go home to.」

Knight:「I imagine you don't.」

Knight:「That is the difference between us.」

Knight:「That shining beacon of the stovelight is what marks the land of your death. Repent for the carnage you've caused.」

. . .

Jesse sat against the wall, breathing heavy as the steps rang out on the stairs. He had roughly fifteen seconds before Sir Helena breached the doorway and they were forced to combat again.

High Priestess swung her legs above him.

Jesse:「Your highness. . . you've returned to me.」

She made a sound with an irritated huff of the cheeks, looking away from the boy.

But, she reached out her hand.

High Priestess: 「You have eight seconds. Don't bother talking. You can run away for now.」

Jesse; 「You would. . . assist me?」

High Priestess: 「I am doing nothing of the sort. I just. . . can't help but see a potential end for you, a better end for someone else, different than this loop.」

Jesse stared at that hand for a moment. When the door was kicked in, Jesse darted forth, grabbed a hold of her hand, and vanished away in a whirl of smoke.

That smoke that smelt of ashes and polluted air. . . the smell of the docks, the smell of the olden days.

That was the answer that awaited Sir Helena as the room imploded on itself, leaving the Knight standing on a doorstep, leading into nothingness. 

The fight had been rescheduled, the battlegrounds taken away.

And she would stare in confusion for a great deal of time, before finally deciding to sheathe her zweihander, call in a report, and walk away.

************************************************************************

An author's note.

There are three chapters left in Arc I. I mentioned that I would be taking a break to get a headstart on Arc II. Be prepared for that c: 

- L