008 - The Shape of this World

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“What?" I asked, rather dryly, as I wiped the blood and other various fluids from my face, glancing toward the twins.

They both looked at me in silence, looking somewhat disturbed, Stella more than her brother. She couldn't seem to get past how gruesome the scene had become. Two of the corpses were relatively intact compared to the third, which was nothing more than a mass of flesh by this point, especially its head. It was deformed and smashed, utterly unrecognizable.

For his part, Sirius seemed more concerned about the three bodies lying on the ground than what I had done to them. He seemed rather impulsive at first, but now, unlike his age, he showed maturity. He didn't recoil from the sight but took it in strides, sighing as he closed his eyes, keeping the black bow firmly in his hand.

“This is quite the mess,” he finally said. “How should we deal with this?”

He seemed to be asking for my opinion, which was good. He didn't panic and remained rational, compartmentalizing his feelings and focusing on what mattered. He was much more commendable than I first gave him credit for.

On the other hand, his sister was barely restraining herself from flying into a rage.

“A mess? Deal with it?” she spoke, barely controlling her anger. “Don’t be so callous! Those are people’s lives you are talking about!”

“People who wanted to sell you to another country as a slave, remember?” Sirius spat back rather spitefully.

Her eyes widened at his words but then darkened substantially.

“How long were you listening?” she asked, looking rather sombre.

“Long enough to know what they intended to do. Do you think I’d truly leave you alone with some stranger we just met?” he replied, glancing my way. “Besides, if he hadn’t made the first move, I would have. They deserved their fate.”

“Sirius!” she snapped. “How dare you? I don’t remember our parents raising you that way! How could you be so heartless.”

“Being heartless would have been letting them do as they pleased. Besides, don't you dare talk about our parents as if they were the ones to raise us. If anyone is to be called heartless, it should be them. Not only were they selfish enough to leave, but they also had to foist this debt onto us. Little as we have, everything we have achieved was by our own hands. We owe them nothing!"

“Sirius, don't be that way. We've talked about it. I thought we moved past that," she said, but she seemed to be on the verge of tears this time.

“Maybe you have, but I won't. I don't need to. What they've done to us is inexcusable. Nothing you say will change that." She tried to cling to his hand, yet he quickly brushed her aside. "If you're not in the mood to help us deal with this, you're better off going back home. There's blood all over you."

Only now did Stella look down on her dress, realizing her brother was right. As I pommelled the Rhino's head into the ground, beating it into a pulp, most of its blood and fluid was reflected back onto me, but a non-negligible amount also covered Stella's clothes.

“I would advise against that,” I finally said, interrupting the two’s bickering. “Is there something like a pond or a creek nearby where we could wash ourselves?"

“There's a stream not far from here. Why do you ask?" Sirius said with a frown. "If it's for cleaning the blood, we can do so at home. We're not so destitute as to not have the means to wash ourselves, even if it's outdoors."

“They're Therians, remember? Surely, most of them possess an olfactory system many times stronger than ours. If you were to go back home now, the lingering trail of blood would lead them right back to you."

"But, don't they already know?" Stella asked, finally ready to contribute something to the conversation. She seemed to have realized neither of us would see things her way. Not when this massive problem was staring us in the face.

“We’re going for plausible deniability,” I said.

“Like that's going to work," Sirius interjected. "They may not be the brightest, but they're not that stupid. Surely, they'll realize what happened to them once they don't show up and enough time passes. Even if they don't, they'll just assume we did it. They don't need no evidence for it."

“Are you sure they don't?" I asked confidently, making Sirius question his own reasoning. "From what I saw, these chumps were only grunts. With their strengths, I doubt they amounted to much within their organization. They may suspect something after a while, but I'm sure we'll figure something out by then."

“Figure something out?" Stella said, bewildered. "You're way too callous about this. They aren't just random thugs. Although they don't like it for it to be known, their group is connected to the Therian ruling party around here. If they come knocking, there's nothing we can do about them!"

“Speaking of which, what kind of place is this?” I asked, trying to get my bearings. If I wanted to do something about this, I needed more accurate information about the various factions surrounding this place. With any luck, we might find a faction whose goals align with ours.

“There's no way you can't know this. No one around this place hasn't heard of the Land of Ascension," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

“Don’t be so quick to judge,” Stella put a hand on his shoulder. “He didn’t know about the Blessing of Recompense. How could you expect him to know about this land's history?"

Stella began telling me a story from a century ago. While I would have liked to hear all the details, I pressed her for the abridged version, which contained only the relevant details related to the current situation.

As she told me, the Land of Ascension, as she called it, extended about two hundred miles away in all directions. It was located in the middle of the continent, with four Great Empires surrounding it.

The Divine Empire to the West. A land lush with many flowing rivers leading to the great ocean further west. The Land of One Thousand Lakes, thriving with all sorts of life. Home to the various members of the Divine Tribe.

To the north, one could find endless mountain ranges, with countless peaks reaching to the sky, filled with everlasting snow. Between each mountain were deep valleys, some with temperate climates but most mainly containing bottomless swamps where the moisture of melting glaciers came to rest, within which primordial beings thrived since ancient times. The Primordial Tribe was what others called them, but they were mostly Insectoids—various insect species possessing advanced cognition.

Harsh lands lay to the East, filled with endless deserts and few scattered oases. It was a dry and hostile land, but somehow also filled with abundant life, whether on the searing sand or within the air. The land was filled with reptiles. Some as small as one's palm, while others as large as a hundred feet. These flying reptiles were the rulers of the sky, unequalled in their might. They called themselves drakes, descendants of the Mother Dragon, Goddess of Flight. That land belonged to the Draconian Tribe.

And finally, to the south, one could find a mixture of different habitats. In its entirety, that land resembled the Divine Empire, a land fit for life to thrive but a lot wilder. That land had no rules or order, only a constant fight for survival. There were only two groups over there—only two that mattered despite the countless species making this place their home. Predator and Prey—nothing else. You either lived on your own merit, or you died to sustain another life. It was the most primal of all lands—a land Therians had made their home since the beginning of their existence.

As for the land in the middle of the continent, the Tower of Ascension lay there. It was once a land filled with death, where bloodshed and destruction were commonplace. For over a thousand years before the Tower was erected by the Divinity of Adversity, Progression and Recompense, countless wars had been waged between the various tribes.

Curses from the lingering attachment of the slain took roots in the grounds itself, leading to the dead rising out of their graves in mass. Not even the fervent prayers of the Goddess of Mercy had ever been enough to curb this pestilence at the root, for the numbers of the dead were uncountable. While the bulk of the fatalities had occurred over a millennia ago, the killing had started long before even that.

There may have been more lives that have been lost on that land a thousand years ago than there have been in all the wars since—combined. As she told me, over half of the population of this continent had met their ends here.

Somehow, that story felt familiar, yet I couldn't recall. Judging by the time, a thousand years ago seemed to coincide with the day I faced my ascension as a Divinity. It had been so long that most of those details had faded from my mind.

Either way, they probably weren’t important—considering...

“What’s the deal with that tower?” I asked, intrigued.

Last I remembered, there wasn't any such thing as the Tower of Ascension. Granted, I never took much interest in the land below after becoming a Divinity, but shouldn't I have heard of such a massive tower that supposedly reached the sky?

“Nobody is really clear about its origins, but it seems to coincide with the advent of the Blessing of Recompense,” Stella said. "Most people believe that this tower is a bridge to the Divine Realm. Rumour states that any being who manages to overcome all one hundred floors and emerge alive after surmounting all its trials will be granted a place among the gods."

I doubted that to be true. Really—I did. In all my years as a Divinity, I had never heard of any of them achieving their thrones in such a manner. Thinking about it, it seemed most preposterous, as this simply wasn't how Divinity was achieved in the first place.

Still—there should be some truth somewhere. Otherwise, The Divine wouldn't allow something to infringe upon the Realm of the Gods without its approval. It would be nothing less than heresy. None of the Divinities would allow it.

It should be worth investigating, I thought.

“Any truth to any of that? Anyone managed to climb it,” I asked.

"I wouldn't know," Stella shrugged. "Only those that managed to clear the four surrounding dungeons are even qualified to attempt the climb. Security is extremely tight, managed by a consortium of all the Tribes. My brother and I aren't qualified to even consider attempting it."

"Four dungeons? What are those supposed to be?" I asked, yet Sirius promptly interrupted this thought, driving the conversation back to a more pressing matter.

“That can wait,” he said. “What are we supposed to do about those bodies? We can’t possibly let them rot here.”

He was right. Although we were slightly far from their abode, from what I saw, they were the only ones living even slightly close to this place. Leaving them here was like advertising that they were responsible for their deaths.

“Well—first thing first—strip,” I commanded as I addressed Stella.

She frowned, stunned by my words. As was Sirius, but instead of remaining where he was, he stepped in front of his sister, shielding her with his body.

I knew my words may have been misconstrued, but I didn’t care to explain myself. I spoke in the most direct way I knew how, unconcerned by how they saw me.

“Use dirt, or anything you can find, to mask your scent. You, too, boy, then go to the stream and wash yourselves,” I said. “And leave your clothes here. We can’t have the scent of blood follow you. After you’ve cleaned yourselves, take the long way around back home. Once there, wait for me. It may take a while, but I'll follow soon after once I've dealt with those."

I pointed at the three bodies lying flat on the ground.

The twins were stunned, unsure whether to heed my words, but they knew it was best to be prudent. My plan offered the best chance for them not to be linked to those murders. Still, Stella cautiously asked a single question that lingered in her mind.

“What do you intend to do with them?”

She intended to hear my answer, but after looking at my sombre expression, she probably didn't want to listen anymore. Nevertheless, I answered in the most direct way I could.

“Don’t ask,” I said. “Trust me, you don’t want to know—Now, go!”

While reluctant, they heeded my words, divesting themselves of all their garments—even Sirius, despite no blood ever touching his clothes. Still, Stella looked somewhat embarrassed and bashful while now fully nude. I could tell purely from the sound of how long it took her to do so, yet I also heard something resembling a muffled pout once she probably realized I had taken no note of her body.

I didn't even glance her way until they both entirely disappeared into the dense forest, leaving me alone to do the work only I was fully qualified to do. These bodies needed to disappear, leaving no traces behind—for good.

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