Spear of Destiny by James Baldwin (little bear else holmelund minarik .TXT) 📕

carries the stench of old blood and demon seeds, walkers and battlefield graves.”

Vash looked over as well. “Is it true? Do the things that Tsunda hear and see truly exist in another world?”

I pressed my lips together for a moment. “Tsunda’s metal demons look like weapons used in the Total Wars. And she’s right... there was a lot of death. A lot of destruction. Millions of civilian casualties in Asia, New Zealand, Hawai’i and South America. And then HEX hit and... yeah.”

Tsunda’s mouth quivered. “It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault everyone got sick.”

“It is no one’s fault, sister. Least of all yours. All that you did do and have done is the pain of a child, struggling to make sense of terrifying visions.” Vash offered his free hand. “I am sorry, Tsunda. I’m sorry none of us believed you. We did not understand your insight, your power, your curse. Forgive me.”

The ghost began to weep again, hiccupping as she stared up at Vash. Then, she tentatively reached up to him. Karalti growled, watching intently as Vash let her place her luminous hand into his, and helped her to stand.

“Vash.” Tsunda reached out to grip his upper arm with long, delicate fingers. “I was so frightened. It was Saaba. It was Saaba this whole time. When I looked into her eyes, I saw them. I saw it.”

Vash managed not to react to his younger sister’s name. “What did you see?”

The girl looked up at him with fathomless black eyes. “Squalor.”

I exhaled sharply through my nose. Karalti gasped.

“It knows. It’s telling me to kill you all. I don’t want to, but the voice, it won’t stop. It just never stops. Annihilation. Suffering. Worthlessness. War. On and on and on, always shouting at me!” Tsunda continued to whimper as Vash pulled her into a tight hug. “Why does it say these things, Vash? Why do I hear it?”

“I don’t know why this demon chose you, of all people.” The baru embraced his sister without fear. “But for now, I want you to listen to my voice for a time. Can you do that?”

She huddled closer to him, nodding.

“Beloved soul, listen to me; walk with me on the Path of abundant compassion. When we are wandering in the darkness, may the bands of heroes, the knowledge-keepers, lead us forward.” He cradled her with his artificed arm as he discreetly drew his kamonocha with the other hand

Tsunda balled her fists and put her face against them as she began to sob.

“May the bands of mothers be our rear-guard. May they spare you from the fearful illusions of purgatory, and lead you to the pure paradise realms,” he murmured against her hair. “Dorha Tsunda, in darkness you were conceived, and in darkness were you born. In the darkness shall you find your peace, and through the gauntlet of darkness shall you be reborn. Go in peace, sister. For the first time since you were incarnated into this world of suffering, go in peace.”

As Vash spoke the last words, Karalti bowed her head.

Tsunda did not flinch as Vash quickly, expertly drove the magically-sharpened spike of bone up through the base of her skull. It was a second death as quick and painless as turning off a light. The girl didn’t even gasp—she crumpled into a cloud of white nothingness, immaterial once more. A shockwave rolled outwards from the place where she collapsed, ripping back the curtain of the illusion she had woven around herself... and revealing the reality of the plateau.

Karalti covered her mouth with a hand. “Oh my gods.”

We stood within a circle of ancient, dilapidated yurts, buckled and torn by decades of abandonment. And around us, in every direction for hundreds of meters, mummified corpses frozen in stiff postures of agony. The ones clustered around the remains of the Mother’s Tent were barely more than brittle contortions of bone. Ragged hair and torn prayer flags flapped in the bitter, dry wind.

[You have completed Quest: Daughter of Madness. You gain 3000 EXP. Karalti gains 3000 EXP!]

[You have a new facility available: Temple of Burna. More information is available in your Kingdom Management System.]

[Special Ability Unlocked: ??? (Available at Level 35).]

[Karalti has learned Banishment!]

I surveyed the field of the dead in complete and utter disbelief. “This... how...?”

“I struggle not to blame her. But this was not Tsunda’s doing.” Vash’s expression and voice were unreadable as he slowly turned, taking in the full extent of the horror that surrounded us. He sheathed his kamonocha. “Squalor. You said Ororgael used that word. What did he say about it?”

Swallowing, I retrieved the Heart of Memory from my Inventory. It was more than a little awkward booting it up to watch the replay of my fight with Ororgael, knowing I was surrounded by several hundred dead people and animals.

“You are a virus. A mistake, Park. I know this game better than anyone, and your Character Seed should not exist in this system. That means you were created. But by whom? Well, I know that too. You’re another face of the sickness plaguing OUROS like a cancer. In fact, you ARE that sickness. A personification of Squalor.”

I repeated Ororgael’s speech word for word aloud. Vash listened, his face drawn into unreadable, exhausted lines.

“After talking to the Avatar of Meewhome, my guess was that Squalor is the name of a Drachan,” I said, putting the device back. “But if the Drachan are still sealed under the Caul, how could it be running around loose? How could it… do something like this?”

“If it somehow incarnated within a person, it is technically still sealed.” Vash regarded me with calm, level eyes.

My mouth opened, closed, opened again. Karalti looked between us both in confusion.

“Wait a second. You don’t believe him, do you?” I drew my head back in disbelief.

There was a