Catpurr 25: Day of the Dead

Catpurr 25: Day of the Dead

Exiting from a portal made of bones, Eli shuffled, moving into his crypt wearing a sombrero while a black armored knight followed closely behind. Coating the Knight's arms were half a dozen bags, each filled with festive paraphernalia and trinkets shaped into skulls and marigold flowers.

"Eli? Oh goodness you've returned! Where have you been?!" Freya said, the Goddess of Life turning to face the hunched over shuffling skeleton.

Swapping his black coat for a pink bathrobe from a minion T-posing as a coat rack nearby. Eli seemed to freeze, pausing for a moment before addressing the Goddess.

"Visitando un lugar llamado Tierra para el día de muertos." Eli replied, with Freya cocking her head sideways.

"Is that Spanish?"

"Si, A festival on earth. Very kind those Mexicans."

"You went to Gaia?" Freya said with worry in her voice. "This is the first you've left your sanctum in two Eras."

"So?"

"This is big news Eli!" Freya cried, her voice jubilant, yet her happiness was short-lived as a commanding voice echoed out.

"Eli!? ELI!" A voice laced with divinity called out, reverberating the large underground sanctum that the primordial God called home. "ELI YOU OLD SKULL! ANSWER ME! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"What did you do?!" Freya hissed, the damp bricked chamber shaking all around them. He shouldn't have found out yet.

"Nothing?" Eli replied casually, taking his skull off his body and replacing it with the skeleton that had been serving as a coat rack.

Suddenly the ceiling collapsed, sunlight spilling into the crypt from the hole.

"Voltrain?!" Freya cried, swiping away the mist of dust that was in the air as a being clad in golden armor and wings of radiant light descended.

Freya frowned, wondering if the god was more connected than she had originally thought.

"WHERE IS HE?!" The divine being of Light and Creation demanded, his body radiating holy energy that casted away the darkness around them.

"Hello." The skeleton wearing Eli's bathrobe said. "What can I do for you today?"

"Don't play coy with me!" Voltrain barked, pointing a golden gauntlet at the skeleton. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Worried, Freya looked back at Eli, the true Eli, the one acting as a coat rack. Had Voltrain already caught on to his schemes?

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Eli's doppelganger said as a gaggle of skeletons appeared, grabbing the coat rack and retreating into a tunnel nearby.

Freya smiled, Eli making a clean getaway as Voltrain bore down on his sacrificial pawn.

"You buffoon! An eon of seclusion and you go out and do this?!" The blonde god yelled, his palm holding a small sphere that displayed a chaotic scene of skeletons and zombies rising from the earth and terrorizing various humans.

"What? The children asked to see their grandparents and loved ones so that's what was done." "Eli" replied, shrugging as the Angel of Death, the knight clad in black, took his sombrero off his bleachy skull and disappeared.

"So you travel to a world with no System and proceed to demonstrate magic?! Your little act of "KINDNESS" just exposed their world to mana! Now there are System users cropping up way ahead of schedule with no administrator in place for Earth!"

At the chief guardian of the gods' words, Freya went wide-eyed.

It seems he isn't aware of Eli's plan. Was this a distraction?

"Oops." "Eli" replied.

"OOPS?! YOU EXPOSE A WORLD TO MANA AND ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY IS OOPS?!" Voltrain bellowed, his body releasing sparks as a burning blade materialized in his hand. "It took us two millennia of scrubbing to isolate that planet for redistribution!"

"Volt-" Freya began, trying to tell the god that who he was speaking to was a doppelganger. But before she could, she was cut off by the irate Golden being pointing at her with a gloved hand.

"NO! No sticking up for him Freya! I've tolerated his antics because he's kept them contained within the Ithenasphere and doesn't make any claims for territory!" Voltrain turned back to "Eli", pointing his shining blade at the skeleton. "What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"Sorry?"

At the skeleton's apology Voltrain stiffened up, his eyes going wide before they narrowed with fury.

"Wait. You aren't Eli!"

"Uh… no I am not. I’m Bob the coat rack." The doppelganger said before it was suddenly incinerated by Voltrain’s holy light, leaving a smoldering black spot on the ground.

"ELI!!!" Voltrain screamed with Freya shielding her eyes as he exploded into a white flash.

The light faded, leaving a ringing in Freya's ears as she opened her eyes.

"Oh boy. Just wait until he finds out about Adam." Freya sighed, already imagining the headache that she could see blossoming on the horizon.

****

Adam woke, his golden eyes staring at the black tile floor.

I'm alive?

It didn't take long before Adam realized he was elevated, laying on his stomach on a slab, shirtless while a pair of barefoot feet passed by his vision.

"Ugggh." Adam let out, pushing himself up and flipping over.

"Boop Snoot." Coco said, suddenly appearing with cat ears on her head and poking his nose. "Oh good, you're awake."

"What happened?!" Adam asked, ignoring the headband with ears made to imitate his. He pulled up his interface, checking on his status to see nothing was wrong.

"A little complication." Coco said as Adam sat up, rubbing his back that suddenly itched as the rest of his body ached.

"Complication? How long have I been out?"

"Uhm." Coco looked away sheepishly, her two pointer fingers connected. "Two days?"

T-TWO?! That was two days he could have been making progress!

"MY TICKET?!" Adam yelled, immediately pushing himself off the slab to stand on his feet. He touched the floor, yet his legs refused to support his weight, buckling and sending him face planting into the ground.

"The good news is that we have your ticket issue sorted out." Coco said, poking Adam.

"Really? That's swell." Adam groaned, still laying on the cool tile. Wait, why does this sound like there's a but to it.

"But-"

Oh, there it is.

"-There are implications and concerns that I have regarding your mark."

Of course.

"Who is Eli?" The priest asked, crouching beside him.

"I have no idea." Adam replied, flipping his head to loop up at the priest's icy blue eyes. "All I know is that I was chosen."

The two sat there in silence for a moment, neither saying a word.

"You know what's fascinating? I've spent the last two days in our archives pouring over old tomes and grimoires, yet I've never heard of a god named Eli." Coco said. "Matter of fact, no one has. There is no mention of anyone by the name of Eli except for a baker who lives three blocks away from here."

Oh… crapbaskets. Adam thought. If Eli was a divine entity, and the church of the SIX gods hadn't heard of him, either Eli wasn't a god, OR, Adam was committing heresy against their religion, introducing a seventh being to their six.

"Yet you bear a God brand that resonates with the temple. One that can't be imitated due to the divine mana signature." Coco said, tapping her chin. "Quite fascinating."

She seems oddly calm considering this bombshell.

"So what happens now?" Adam asked.

"Nothing much." Coco smiled. "I give you your ticket and you go about your way. However, if you survive the first floor and make it out, I want you to report your findings to me."

"Findings?"

"Yes, for most, the first floor trial is the same for them. However, a select few have trials that range from being dropped into an ocean, to landing in a snowfield. One adventurer was disintegrated in lava. So all data is good data."

"L-lava?!" Adam exclaimed, remembering the torture of being burned alive by the Duckysaur's stomache acid.

"Oh yes, the only reason we know about that one is because his teammate possessed a ring of flight and managed to complete the trial and report on it." Cocoa explained casually.

"Teammate? So that means you can enter with others?" Adam asked, his mind more focused on information to help him survive and less on the horrific death of another.

"Yes, but only if they're part of your divine house or have a pass issued by the gods. Many don’t because it ups the difficulty with every participant, but the rewards are also scaled based on the party.” Coco said, making Adam go “Ah.”

“Let me guess, Eli doesn’t have a noble house?”

“That would be correct. You’re the first to ever have her brand.”

“Her? How do you know Eli is a her?”

“I don’t!” Coco exclaimed, the cat ear prop on her head falling off as she shook with excitement. "I'm the only one that's heard of this god!"

So I’d be going it alone. Adam grimaced, ignoring the woman’s antics to fix her headband that had fallen apart. For a moment there, he had hope that he’d be able to receive help, but it appeared that he’d be alone. He didn’t mind it too terribly, but considering he had no minions at his disposal, besides his skelly cat, or offensive skills, Adam knew he was in for a tough time.

"I am the only one that knows about this right?" Coco asked.

"I think so?" Adam replied, going back to his thoughts.

At least I still have a spare life. Adam sighed, looking at his catsification curse. “So that’s it? No burning me at the stake? Drowning me to cleanse my sins or having me hung for heresy?”

Coco giggled. “Of course not silly! We’re an organization that promotes peace and prosperity.”

Right. The kind that requires armed Paladins at your temple. Adam said silently.

“Although it would be best if you didn’t advertise your god’s name. Or tell anyone but me about it ok?”

Right.

“You seem oddly calm for a priestess that just found out there might be a seventh god.” Adam said, making Coco smile.

“Oh but if only you could only see what I see.” Coco replied vaguely, her left eye twitching.

Unbeknownst to Adam, what Coco saw in her eyes was not only Adam, but several deviations, his body moving in various directions representing the different paths he could take. If she squinted, she could even see a bigger shadow of himself, an adult version that wore shackles made of bone that stood over him, weeping silently.

A trauma of some kind, one that hung over him like a cloud and manifested his true appearance. But there was more, now that the seal had been triggered, Coco could clearly see the symbol of a god, an emblem of a serpent devouring itself.

Coco smiled, looking at the “Boy” who sat upright with a furrowed brow, thinking to himself.

This must be a test from the gods. The priestess reasoned, putting a hand out to help guide Adam toward where he would receive his ticket.

“Come on, let’s get you dressed to receive your ticket. Titania and one of the maids from the guild are waiting for you.” Coco said, with Adam, hesitating before he took her hand.