45 - That Nobody [Cherno]

The dossier had been hastily-written mere hours ago when the aftermath of that gruesome incident had been discovered. “Black hair with a white patch, anathema-burned left arm, fully functional despite the burns, tied off with two sets of seals. Other descriptors, in no particular order: Green pants barely able to contain her thighs and ass; Shiva’s boots, bloodstained; black body armor resembling amorphous-type Mamon Knight undersuit material; “green eyes with murder in them”, as described by Bahman, and ah… A Pattner-type pistol.”

Damrus could see the cogs turning behind his son’s eyes. “So it’s some nobody anathemist, so what? She’ll be dead before the week’s out from her own magic, she must’ve burned most of her candle just wiping out the Butchershop.”

Furious that Semzar was still trying to shirk responsibility and just pretend as if this problem of his own making wasn’t there, Damrus glared down at his offspring. Semzar sank into his seat.

“That fucking nobody killed Shiva using a Purgation Chimney. Half an hour later, she had snatched Aristedes from under our noses and butchered all but one of the people stationed at the Old Street Butchershop. Who the fuck have you set against us, Semzar?!”

“I swear, it truly wasn’t me,” the young mafioso pleaded, knowing full well just how hard it would be to convince his father that he hadn’t done anything to invite such retaliation. “I swear, I haven’t seen nor heard a whit of that woman before today! It must’ve been a coincidence that I saw her at the Smokery!”

Damrus narrowed his gaze.

“...Nothing? Are you sure? Not even something small, like an offhand remark? At the Smokery, perhaps?” he fumed.

“No, seriously, I- No. Oh, no no no…” Semzar started, only to freeze as a grave realization overcame him; the realization that it was his own panic at the Red Hood’s presence that had made him send Shiva to her death. “I can fix this.”

“Can you?” Damrus raised an eyebrow. He himself wasn’t sure. Shiva wasn’t by any means among the Hashem Family’s elite, she was just one of the lower officers, but… He was more than well aware of a Purgation Chimney’s specs. After all, the Hands of Purgation were among the gangs whose downfall had served as fertilizer for the Hashem Family’s rise to power. He was also well aware of Shiva’s capabilities. That woman had possessed some seriously heavy firepower for her rank, and she was very much a capable Thaumaturge to boot, with a decent custom-made voidkey. Anathemist or not, it spoke to this Blackhand’s skill that she could offset such a major disadvantage.

The mafioso felt his true body squirming in his skull. He didn’t like this one bit.

_____________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, an otherworlder and a Pilgrim Banisher made their way through the back streets, the former still sickened by her overuse of anathema.

Krahe felt uneasy for reasons other than the flu-like body ache, however. After all, the man she’d rescued had so openly asked her if she was a traveler from another world, only to then try breaking the tension by asking her not to try introducing otherworld cuisine as a business scheme: “...Like a friend of mine in the Samstani capital a couple years back. Went under within a year because he didn’t know anything about running a business.”

“Reincarnation was entirely the realm of fiction in my world. Can’t help but wonder what sort of effect a continuous flow of knowledge from other worlds has had on your history.”

“It is true, many otherworlders became powerful or otherwise influential; Zavesh himself was a Greater Pilgrim, and fleshgrafting was his way to fulfilling holy work which his world’s laws made implausible. One could, indeed, say that civilization as we know it is at least half built upon knowledge from other worlds. It is fortunate that the Wheel ensures our world is not shut off from pilgrim souls, despite the Banishment Veil.”

Krahe raised an eyebrow in question.

Casus answered: “The reason for my existence - rather, the existence of Pilgrim Banishers in general - is twofold, though only one of those reasons is relevant here. That reason being a means of compensating for the reduction in natural reincarnations. The Banishment Veil shuts out undue influence from Outer Gods like Chernobog or Vedesis, but souls from other worlds that would’ve otherwise been reincarnated tend to get tangled in the net, so to speak. The Wheel acts to mitigate that, placing these caught souls into Banisher bodies and sending them off to spread all across the world.”

“So what, souls carrying more memories are bigger and get tangled more often?” she remarked half-jokingly.

“That certainly is possible, we don’t know. As for you… I have my own theory for how you might have arrived here, but I shall keep it to myself until such time that I can soundly confirm or refute it. I am all but certain that you slipped through a tear in the veil, somehow, be it natural or manmade through artifice and ritual. Regardless, know that as a Greater Pilgrim, the Twin Churches will undoubtedly offer their aid to you in acclimating to Zastreon; you need only ask.”

“I’ll pass. Not one to rely on sprawling, likely corrupt institutions.”

“You are neither the first nor the last to cast doubt upon the churches. It seems… An unduly frequent occurrence among Greater Pilgrims. The history books tell it clear, many simply assume that the church must be evil, it sets a truly worrying precedent for the worlds from which these pilgrims come; doubly so when no two Greater Pilgrims have ever been known to come from the same otherworld. I swear that I shall convince you of the church’s righteousness, if such a thing is at all possible.”

“The faith and its practitioners are one thing…” Krahe admitted, glancing to the seals bound around her arm. “...But I find that no matter how righteous the doctrine, any sufficiently large organization festers and rots in time. How old are your churches, again?”

“What year is it?” the Banisher smiled.

“Ah… Five-two-three-nine AB?” she guessed, vaguely recalling seeing the present date at the library.