Глава 14

Why do you trespass upon this place?

Clank.

The axe swings again. The shockwave almost makes W take another step back.

I'm here to pick a fight with the Confessarii. What's that altar used for? Tell me, or else!

The mission of this altar has ended. No one visits this place anymore, except fools who stumble upon it.

That strange fellow answered all my questions with flat interest. Clearly, he'd rather return to this work with the axe than engage with me.

I've lashed out at him, but my anger was met with no response. It's like throwing stones into a bottomless pit.

What did he mean? He's not with the Confessarii? Shouldn't he have come after me with his axe the moment the words left my mouth?

Hey, I'm talking to you—

The smoke clears, but the gaunt figure remains upright.

I didn't think I could take him out with a single bomb, but seriously, not even a scratch?

Futile. This vessel will never change again.

A failed vessel that has been denied both eternal life as the instrument of the Crown's coming, and the sweet release of death.

So you're one of the Confessarii's failed experiments too?

You feel bad for yourself? I could free you from your suffering.

It is but futile.

The man swings his stone axe and bats away W's bomb, as though swatting away a fly.

Good, I got a response from him.

That means there's a chance!

Three, two—

The bomb falls exactly where I expected it to. A section of the cavern collapses, trapping him beneath, but not enough to kill him.

I point my gun at his head.

You said the Confessarii made you indestructible? Let's see if I can't blow a hole in your brain at this range.

The Confessarii like their experiments, don't they? Did you guys make those bighead moths? Disgusting den of monsters.

Cut the poetry and answer my questions. Did you know Theresa?

The exiled one has had the honor of seeing that King of Sarkaz...

This, is where the tragic King was reborn.

This is the place... they... how did they do it?

The Confessarii brought the King's bloodied body back, and cut her soul from the myriad. But she was already entwined within the myriad, and could no longer exist as herself.

W turns around, toward the altar in the center of the cavern.

The menacing building looks unnerving and smells faintly of blood.

What had happened here?

I dare not think about it, but I can't stop myself.

Why...?

The present of Sarkaz needed her to die. The future of Sarkaz needed her to live.

As the King of Sarkaz, she gave her all, her spirit and her wisdom, her blood and her bone.

You followed the King's path as her former subject, but she is no longer the one you knew.

I saw her awakening, the sorrow on her face. I saw the weight on her soul, her eternal torment.

Enough... shut up.

She was a sacrifice to the myriad souls, to Kazdel, to all the past and future Sarkaz.

I said SHUT UP!

I've had enough...

Kal'tsit, Doctor, Theresis... all of you.

All of you have your big dreams and ambitions. You talk about doing great things.

But did it change anything in the end? People keep dying, the people who should die, the people who shouldn't, and the people who really shouldn't. And you won't even let her have her final rest!

To hell with the myriad souls and the suffering of the Sarkaz. Why should a person have to bear all this burden?

All of you can go to hell!

I'll blow this place... the place of her desecration to oblivion.

*pant*... *pant*...

Dust fills the entire cavern. The decrepit ornaments lie in ruins. Yet, the explosions are not enough to quench her anger.

In the deepest reaches of the cavern, a lone altar resembling a door remains.

What is this?

I...

Your Highness?

W pushes the door open.