Journey Home

A weird pillar was our way out, we were loaded like bandits, and Ravela was overflowing with happiness.

Within the pillar was a rope ladder. It was just there, bending with the uneven stone of the pillar interior. We were going to climb.

It wasn’t as miserable as it could have been. Ravela being so happy and chatty just had me enthralled and grateful. The whole escape was filled with carefree conversation. I tried to ask all about the pillar and the rope within, but Ravela played coy and teased me. She talked about how smugglers didn't want the government to find out about their tricks.

Two hours later, we emerged in a tunnel system that Ravela revealed ran beneath the Saint Giselle layer, right beneath the basements of some of the buildings of this layer.

It was a real maze down here, and Ravela was navigating it without a map. The climb up the secret pillar passage made me feel like an adventurer. Squeezing my body through narrow passages made me feel like a smuggler. Ravela was really living up to her character description now.

There were apparently multiple exits to these tunnels. I could see why it would be hard to clamp down on smugglers. I couldn’t help but wonder if there were tunnels under every layer… but thinking about it, maybe that was how it worked. Elsbeth entered a house to return to her layer… Did these tunnels have something to do with how the Gloomspawn invaded the city?

Ravela eventually took me to a passage where she pushed the ceiling and revealed an opening. I followed her out without a question and was pleasantly surprised to find that we emerged in a cluttered alleyway.

“So… What happens now?”

Ravela walked past me with a grin. “I wasn’t working for any clients today. This stuff is ours.”

“Awesome!”

“I’m staying at your house tonight.”

“Even more awesome.”

It was another forty minutes before we neared my home. The walk itself was fine and filled with happy chatting. There was someone unexpected waiting in front of my store for us—or rather, waiting for me.

“Sister Anvey?” Ravela asked, recognizing the sister before I could.

“Anvey?” I followed before instantly becoming a nervous mute.

“Ravela, heed my words! That man is a creature of lust! And vile forces have rewarded his lust with profane powers!”

Ravela recoiled. “Lust? I mean, he’s ambitious and maybe there’s a little bit of lust in that, but I’ve found him to be like an embodiment of restraint.”

My heart—it throbbed.

“Yeah! That’s what I said!” I yelled from behind Ravela’s shoulder.

She turned to me. “That’s what you said? When did you say that?”

“Oh. Yesterday, when Elsbeth took me to the temple. Anvey told me I was a lustful guy or whatever, and then I told her I was like an embodiment of restraint… If I can be honest, I think it’s amazing that we use the same terminology.”

Ravela groaned and faced Anvey again. “Sister, don’t you think that was a little uncalled for—”

“Uncalled for?! Absolutely not! That man let his perversion guide him into the temple! He was going to violate the Sisters!”

“I was not!” I yelled back. “I don’t even remember their names!”

Ravela raised a hand, signaling me to shush. “Elsbeth said she took Timaeus to your temple so that he could learn some. She said it went well. You’re saying he wanted to violate women throughout that?”

“No, Ravela, listen to me. His intentions only made themselves truly known later, when he broke into the temple!”

“He broke into the temple?”

I stayed silent.

“When did he break into the temple?” Ravela asked.

“In the dead of night, Ravela! Past midnight! He broke in! He was going to find the poor Sisters and violate them!”

I raised a hand. “I just want to say that I have never once desired to violate a woman of the cloth. Or whatever term you have for it.”

“So it was midnight… So… How exactly do you know that he broke in—”

“Because I was in deep prayer, praying for protection from this exact thing! The Saints shone their light, and I found the strength to maintain my vigil! I was there when he came down the stairs like the perverted shadow that he was!”

“And you’re sure that the invader was Timaeus?”

“Yes!” Anvey shouted, looking like she was a moment from shaking Ravela by her shoulders.

Ravela caught that too, and with a single raise of her finger, Anvey jerked and pulled back slightly.

Ravela’s stare lingered on Anvey for a few seconds before she lowered her finger and kept speaking. “Okay… So, you saw Timaeus?”

“Yes! Erm…”

“Hey,” Ravela snapped. “Did you see him or not?”

“I—I saw his aura. I recognized it. It was him.”

“Aura? You saw an aura? You didn’t see him?”

“No, Ravela. Something has bestowed upon him the power to be unseen. You must believe me!”

Ravela recoiled. “What?”

And then, a miracle occurred.

“Sister Anvey, Sister Anvey!” a Sister, running toward us yelled. “Sister Anvey, get back here!”

Anvey turned and went pale immediately. “Oh no. The fool!”

“Ravela!” the Sister called. “Ravela, please, don’t let Anvey get away! She’s unwell!”

Ravela was swift, capturing Anvey wrists and holding them behind her back.

Anvey winced and let out a pained shout. “Ravela, no! Do not listen to her! She doesn’t understand! No one understands! He’s going to take them all!” she screamed.

“Anvey, calm down!” Ravela shouted, holding the Anvey in place.

The other sister ran into Anvey and captured her in a hug. From the haze, another sister emerged, running toward us.

“No!” Anvey screamed. “He’s a monster of lust, I tell you! He is a monster!”

I wasn’t really sure how I was supposed to feel in a scene like this. The Sisters grabbed Anvey and bound her wrists. They told Ravela of what happened the night before, and explained that Anvey had gone mad. They even apologized to me for the trouble too.

All the while, Anvey kept shouting that I was a monster. She was so loud that some familiar guards appeared and ended up helping the Sisters with escorting Anvey back to the temple.

Anvey calling me a monster actually hit me on a deeper level. I wasn’t that bad, I thought…

“Hey, Tim; you okay?” Ravela asked, rubbing my arm. “You look like you’re thinking about something.”

“Oh.” I shook my head and put on a smile. “That’s okay. I know what I’m about.”

“Yeah? Okay,” she said, patting my shoulder. “Don’t worry about that, okay? It’s all good. They’ll take care of her.”

“Yeah,” I replied.

We went into the store, locked-up, and we went into the backroom, where I put down a sheet.

“Rav, do you mind if I catalogue the stuff in your bag?”

Ravela whistled, drawing my gaze to the stare.

“Actually, I do mind.” She gestured up to my bedroom. “Let’s go shower.”

I was never one to say no. I got up like a good alchemist and followed her up the stairs.