Chapter Sixty-Two – Desecration – Part One

The changing of seasons approaches.

-Classified correspondence between the WSA and the WHA-

Mira's eyes dance with intentions that can't be judged in a single breath, there are so many things playing across them. Red flickers twirling with purple ribbons and blue striations. None of it makes sense, yet, all of it seems to swirl together. It's confusing and entrancing in the same heartbeat.

"Where…" she takes a step, "Is," and another, "My," her finger presses into my chest, sliding up to grasp my chin, "Bow…"

"I told you, it's stashed."

The red flicker draws more dominance in her eyes as she breathes, "Where?"

"I have it. Trust me."

"Trust you?" she laughs, "I have been very," her irises grow a deeper shade of red, "Very, patient. That patience is near the limit. Give me my bow, or I will acquaint you with the inside of your body, every single facet of it, then I will feed you to my dragon, piece by fucking piece," her eyes are pure red dipped in malice, "Until you finally give me what I asked for…" her eyes sink back to a swirling mass of indistinguishable colors, "Or, darling, you could just tell me exactly what I want, and I can show you my better side, the side worth loving," she grabs me, pulling me close, her mouth next to my ear, "The side worth worshiping."

I gulp, not from the suggestion, but from the sheer changes in her personality, I think she might actually be insane. It practically drips from her. Her sharp teeth nibble on my ear lobe for a moment, and then she breathes heavily, not in a sexual way this time, but like she's already shifted to being angry again.

"Three… two…"

"Fuck's sake," I murmur, holding up a hand and she pulls away, "Here. Take it."

In my hand the etched bow I stole from her months ago shapes from the black of Abyss. Heaven's Bane, it's strange to hold it. I can feel the power brimming from it. Mira's eyes are wide as she reaches out for it.

"You weren't lying…" she breathes, grasping it slowly, delicately, like it was something that could break from a mere gust of wind.

"Our deal is complete, so can I go to the altar now?" I ask.

She doesn't look up at me, her eyes twist in color again, yellows mixing with blues and purple hues.

"You're forgetting something."

"I don't have the fox," I pause, weighing my words, but I can't help the next words that come out, "Even if I did, I wouldn't give her to you, not after you burned her world."

There's no red in her eyes, only the softness of a blue glacier.

"Sometimes we do things that we must," she looks up at me for a moment, it's the most sane I've seen her eyes look, solid blue, without a flicker, "Surely you can relate to that?"

I hadn't given it much thought honestly, maybe Mira is like Verantha, stuck to serve a Goddess she despises. Forced by the system to burn worlds to save her own. I've had no shortage of shitty gods fucking with my life, and I've definitely felt the system's bullshit firsthand.

"Fuck the gods, fuck the system," I reply.

She blinks, tilting her head at me slowly, as though surprised by my answer, her eyes flashing purple and holding it.

"You really feel that way, don't you?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Interesting," she says, a coy smile rolling on the edge of her lips, a flash of pink swims in her eyes.

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"So, can I go to that altar now?"

She pauses, her tongue pressing against her cheek, the swirl of her eye color seeming to shift.

"What phase is your world in?" she asks, soft as a whisper. The wind strangely moves as she asks, her eyes look up toward the clouds for a moment before resting back on me, her gaze is intense.

"I don't know what the phases are honestly."

"How many years have you won, versus lost?"

"Five losses, Nine wins, this year will be Ten."

Her eyes dilate, "Phase one then. Very, interesting."

A smile creeps across her face, and the wind picks up more.

"Where exactly is the altar?" I ask, looking over my shoulder toward the entrance, it leads to a hall of pillars.

I'm still trying to figure out logistically how I'm going to get to it, I don't think she'll let me hold the bow all the way there. Her grip is becoming more firm on it. Once I let go, I have maybe seven seconds before she shows me the red eyes again.

"Are we a team, darling?" she asks, ignoring my question.

"A team?"

"I know you're not here to bow before my…" red flickers in her eyes, "Goddess."

Seems like she doesn't like her. Is that dislike enough to get her to help me desecrate the temple though? Probably not, considering when Verantha disobeyed she was physically affected by it.

"What do you mean?"

Her eyes shimmer purple and red as she peers up at me.

"Lies cannot escape my gaze, darling."

Is that true… or is she bullshiting me? Either way, it's best not to test it. Time is running out and…

"Would you like to be my enemy, or my ally?" she asks, eyes steady for once.

"I'd rather not fight you."

"Then ask me to join your team, and perhaps I will help you with whatever objective you have."

I somehow doubt that. Still, whatever, if it stops her from cutting my balls off and wearing them as a purse, I'll happily have her on my team. She looks down at the bow again, petting it slowly, I'm surprised she hasn't ripped it out of my hands yet.

"A team… yeah, sure, sounds good."

Her eyes flash red, "Ask me like you mean it."

"Mira Stormborn, will you please join my team?"

She flits her eyes up to me for a moment, and a strange grin slides across her mouth, another flicker of pink before she pulls the bow from me.

"Yes."

As soon as the bow leaves my grasp completely, my feet turn, running as fast as I can toward where the priestesses went. Fuck… fuck… fuck… seven seconds.

My heart is pounding out of my chest when I reach a large set of double doors that are closed. Shit. I slam my body weight into it, barely a budge. There's a slow and measured sound of metal against stone approaching down the hallway. Mira's bootsteps. I slam myself against the door again. I feel Verantha's blessing starting to wane. It won't be long until I'm fucked, either by Mira or by my own body, courtesy of fucking Red.

I slam again and again, trying to budge the door, but I'm not strong enough, I think they braced it on the other side, I can hear movement, like people huffing about. Fuck… Mira is less than ten paces in front of me.

"Darling, don't you know how to knock?" she asks when she reaches me. The bow is gone, but I already knew that, I felt it come back to Abyss already.

Her eyes are still predominantly pink, and she looks… calm. Why isn't she mad? Why isn't she ripping my bowels out and feeding me to her…

The stone shakes as she kicks the door open, shattering the massive panels of wood, and spraying the air with projectiles. Dust plumes in a massive cloud. I hear moaning and gurgling from beyond the archway of the broken door. Screams to their Goddess for help.

As the dust settles, I see the carnage. Blood in every shade sprayed like a tapestry of massacre, faces split in half.

"Why…" one of the priestesses asks, gurgling blood.

"Because… reasons…" Mira replies with a jaded smirk.

A few of the priestesses are blessing the others, trying to heal them, some of them are very clearly not going to be healable though. Strangely, Mira doesn't try to stop them, nor do they try and attack her, not that it would do any good, she's clearly ridiculously strong.

Light blooms on Mira's skin, runes etching across her exposed hands. She barely bats an eye as her flesh steams. I recognize the runic lines, they're similar to when Verantha was punished by her Goddess. It doesn't burn Mira though somehow, unlike Verantha's did. She must have a really high constitution. I wonder what level she is.

"Shall we?" Mira asks, turning to me.

I don't move, I'm admittedly somewhat terrified at how unnaturally strong she is. I don't think that was even her full power. Fucking hell… she's a monster. Why is she helping me? What's really going on? Why do I get the feeling she's after something? The way she asked if she could be on my team… does she know about Respec? Is she trying to become a member of my party? Can she do that, no right? Fisban said parties are set before a quest, or filled by those in your immediate proximity as it begins, if all slots are not full… Fisban also said she didn't know everything. Fuck me… is Mira trying to hitch a ride to Earth? So she can get the fox… so she can get Niva?

My stomach turns thinking about her on Earth… it would be carnage. Okay, if I added her to the party, surely I can remove her right before I go back to Earth. That's the plan. That's the play. That's what I'm doing. Let's fucking go… move your fucking feet, carry the fucking torch.

"Darling?" Mira asks.

"I need to desecrate the temple."

Her eyes swell with a sea of pink, "Oh… lovely."

It's my turn to blink at her, "You're going to help me?"

"We're teammates, aren't we?" she smiles deviously, so deviously that I think I might be right about her motivations.

Fucking hell. She's too close for me to call upon Sage and ask, he doesn't talk around people with Deity Connections, plus he's been MIA again since I asked him to break the rules.

"Right," I breathe, "Teammates."

She grins, flipping her long braided hair to the side as she departs down the hall, a single finger over her shoulder beckons me to follow.

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