Chapter Forty-Seven – Fortitude – Part One

The Cleric is a very versatile class, depending on the skills which they receive. Unfortunately, due to the classified nature of the class, it is difficult to judge.

- WSA Researcher Gandler -

"So, does anyone know what's going on?" Gilroy grumbles, trying to shift again, "Tran when was the last time you brushed your teeth?"

"I was in the middle of eating lunch when they grabbed me," he replies, and then I hear him breathe out with exaggerated effort toward Gilroy.

"Dick," Gilroy growls.

My muscles feel like strings on a musical instrument, taut and ready to snap again. Thankfully, Verantha doesn't smell bad, she actually smells kind of nice, like floral aftertones.

"What's wrong with you?" Verantha asks.

There's a long list these days. Where to begin? I've witnessed everyone I care about being brutally murdered along with multiple platoons. I reclassed and gained skills that give me traumatic memories of the fallen. I may or may not be responsible for the increased difficulty of Earth's gates. I'm stuck between a chess match of two extremely powerful beings whose existence is causing an existential crisis in me, one that barely resonates past the fucking trauma of all the memories… I'm barely carrying this fucking torch. Barely… suck it up.

"Rebounding… sickness… bad," I say after a deep breath, she squints at me, blowing her hair out of her eyes, "Really… bad."

"What stat?" she asks, shifting uncomfortably against me.

"Strength."

"Needs more constitution," Gilroy adds.

"Obviously, I'm not…" she begins, midway through an eye roll her face cringes, and she whispers, "Sorry, Goddess."

Damn, she's got it worse than me it looks like. I wonder how her connection works.

"I can boost your Constitution and Dexterity, it only lasts for a few hours though," she says.

I nod, "Please."

She gives me a look, one that to be honest I'm not sure what it means. It doesn't feel friendly though.

"Behold the prayer of steadfastness, may your body stand tall, and limber, and may you be of great service to Goddess Amaetha and all of her holy workings."

Her green eyes flash golden for a moment as light shines from her. I feel a strange sensation, like my body is becoming looser and somehow more firm. A gold text box pops up in my vision.

[ Blessing of Fortitude Received ]

I hear what sounds like thunder outside the van, like heavy pissed-off thunder. I get another golden text box that pops up.

[ Blessing of Luck Lost ]

Blessing of luck? That's the first that I've seen it. It must have been from Ulana, which explains the angry thunder. Did I lose the blessing because another Goddess blessed me, or because you can only have one blessing at a time? How does it work?

"Stop staring at my chest, pervert…" Verantha begins, her face grimacing, "Sorry, Goddess."

I blink, "I was staring at the blessing notification." It feels weird to talk normal again.

"You can see divine notifications?" she asks, her eyes squinting at me.

Shit. Is that not normal?

"Only Clerics and classes like it have access to the divine interface," she scrunches her nose at me.

It won't do for Cactus Cleric thinking I'm ogling her. Besides, maybe she can tell me more about this divine interface stuff. There must be something that I'm missing, some way to communicate with Ulana like she is clearly doing with her Goddess.

"Blessing of Fortitude Received," I say.

She blinks, each successive one like windshield wipers wiping away her preconceived notion that I was a pervert. Until I accidentally glance down at the necklace tucked in between her chest. I feel Abyss whispering for it again like the last time we saw it. We? I shiver, guess it is we now. Thing has some kind of mind.

"You just did it again," she seethes, her face flinching, "Sorry, Goddess."

I kind of feel bad for her, it seems like she gets punished for speaking her mind. Wonder what the real Verantha is like. Judging by the death glare she's giving me, probably don't want to find out.

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"I was admiring your necklace, not the view."

She clenches her jaw, the expression on her face clear to read. She thinks I'm full of shit. Which to be honest, most days, I wouldn't argue that point. Today though, my mind is a little too occupied to care about her body.

"How are you able to see it?" she asks finally.

"I don't know," I lie, then hoping to glean more, "So, what is the divine interface exactly?"

"Classified."

"Right," I say, remembering all the grimaces I finish with, "Either way, thank you, and I'm sorry that you have to deal with… well, whatever you're dealing with. Can't be easy having a crazy goddess deciding what you can and can't do and punishing you for it."

She blinks, but she doesn't say anything, maybe because she can't, but the silence is a little telling.

"Tran, Sergeant," I say behind me.

"What," Gilroy says, he sounds pissed about Tran squishing him still.

"Either of you see Cortez, Barlow, or leadership?"

"Negative," Tran says.

"I saw Barlow, Mwangi, Tenny, and Dorliac shoved into the van that left before us." Gilroy says, with a sigh, "They tried shoving me in there too, but Mwangi is massive, and Barlow isn't a small guy."

No sighting of Cortez. Still, I got a message from her before. Now that my hands actually work, I can open the interface.

Still looking at Verantha, "I'm going to move through my interface, I'll try not to touch you."

Verantha nods, though her expression is wary.

I pull it up mentally and tether the cursor to my hand. A thousand times easier, even shoved in a tiny cage with three other people. I pull up Cortez's messages first.

[ SPC Cortez: Pine

Fisban works for my mother.

Cooperate.

She can help.

Testing you. ]

So, Fisban works for her mom. That explains the tertiary way that I know her boss. Still, doesn't explain who Cortez's mom is, or what's going on. I trust Cleo though. I'll work with Fisban.

Testing me though? How so? To what end? Just about if I could complete the phrase? Respec on Death… how did Fisban and presumably Cortez's mom know about it, let alone that I had it? So many questions. Fisban said they'd be in touch once the situation is contained. From what I saw though, that was the opposite of contained.

***

It's been a couple of hours, we've been trying to listen in on the chatter of the suits, but they're talking really quietly. Tran and Gilroy shift behind me.

"Barlow just sent me a message," Tran whispers, leaning closer, damn, his breath is a little strong right now, "Says he is okay, but they separated him from Mwangi and Dorliac when they stopped."

Weird. Why would they just separate him? I'm about to speak, but I get a message from Dorliac.

[ 1LT Dorliac: They've cleared Tenny, Mwangi, and I. Keep your mouth shut and you'll get cleared soon too. ]

They got cleared? So quickly though? I send a message back.

[ SPC Novak: Why'd they separate Barlow then? Where is Cortez? ]

She replies after a few minutes.

[ 1LT Dorliac: Cortez is probably fine. Barlow just needs to answer follow-up questions about Bregan getting shot. They said he'd be released soon. Not sure how, but Bregan being alive is a pretty compelling excuse, don't make them doubt it. We can formulate a plan once we all meet up. My place is the meet-up spot. ]

Dorliac thinks that Bregan is alive. So she's not aware of the bullshit then.

[ SPC Novak: That wasn't Bregan, nor his armor. ]

I get a mental ping, a new message.

[ 1LT Dorliac: You sure? Mwangi said he saw him wielding the Mace of the Ardent Flame. ]

I sigh.

[ SPC Novak: Abyss ate his armor, and I still have the mace. I used Triage, it wasn't Bregan in the armor, it was a regular-sized person. Bregan was a gnome. ]

There's a delay before I get the next message.

[ 1LT Dorliac: Understood, I'll try to figure out what's going on. Cortez was the first to go missing right? Seems a little strange. ]

I blink at the message. Is she accusing her of something?

[ SPC Novak: Yes… why? ]

No reply. Just yet another question. Why would she ask that? Is she implying that Cortez had something to do with the abductions? Why would she… I think back to Cortez's messages. How would she know that Fisban was going to be in the room to meet me? Why did her messages seem more clear later on? She even added punctuation which given how difficult it should have been… no, don't doubt her. It's Cortez. She's earned my trust more than anyone. She literally threw her life away to try and help me, before we were official.

My thoughts are pulled away by the sound of the princess guy talking loudly.

"Just got orders to bring them to backup site H-Twelve," he says.

"I didn't receive those orders," the driver says, shaking his head, "I was given explicit instructions to…"

"You just received the order," Princess interrupts, stretching his arm, "Comes from higher up."

The driver glances back in the rearview mirror for a moment before nodding.

Higher up? Wonder if it has something to do with Fisban. More so, I wonder if it has anything to do with Cortez. I pull up the messaging interface and send another reply to her messages. Maybe she'll answer this time.

[ SPC Novak: Are you okay? What's going on? Who is your mother? ]

I almost have the interface closed when she replies. Dread and relief rise up in my belly. Relief that she's okay… and dread that she might be involved in this somehow.

[ SPC Cortez: I'm fine.

Everything will become clearer soon.

Just follow Fisban's lead, she's on our side. ]

I reread it a few times, the nonchalance of her response, makes my stomach turn. It's a far cry from what I expected. Not that I wanted her to be in a sensory torture chamber, but why isn't she with the rest? Why did she get picked up first? It should have been Gilroy or me if anyone, she was picked up well before everyone else. Gilroy fucking shot the WHA member. Cortez wasn't even in the tent for the debrief because she wasn't there for any of the shit that happened. So why… damn it. Dorliac got in my head. Fuck. I need to know though.

[ SPC Novak: Why did they pick you up first? ]

No reply.

"Are you okay?" Verantha asks, a look of genuine concern on her face which surprises me.

"Yeah, sorry."

The questions are piling up. Making me frustrated. Ever since I got Respec on Death, I've felt like a passenger on a never-ending bullshit roller coaster. I'm ready to get off now. I'm tired of all the questions, I need fucking answers.

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