All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 192: A Lot of Trouble

Bee had only made it a few feet away from Mary's office when she made her choice. New awareness flooded into her mind, and she staggered into a wall, clutching her head. She sank to the ground, head between her knees as she tried to make sense of the sudden influx of sensation.

She could feel a new presence in her mind. Or rather, many of them. Almost like threads, each connected to one of the hundreds of people within the castle. Some connections were strong, and some were barely there, but each gave her a certain level of information.

She steadied her breathing. After a moment to recover, she began to sort through them. It was simple to find the Tony one, as it was one of the brightest threads in the castle. The connection imparted another torrent of knowledge that sent her teeth clenching. There was a lot there, almost as if she was running a Scan from a few feet away. But there was more to it than that.

Pulling back, she focused on the web as a whole once more. Rather than seeing, it was more that she felt the dense collection of varied links as a new limb. She thought she could maybe pick a few of the new arrivals out of a crowd based on the dimness of their links to her. A rough estimate of the number seemed smaller than the total of castle dwellers, though. What was going on?

Bee tried to put the sensation aside for a moment and think. This seemed a bit excessive for a class ability, even for High Priestess. It was certainly more than Priestess had gotten her by a long shot. But this one had a lot of potential unknown to her. It seemed likely that she was gaining an instinctual awareness of people who had faith in Void. And it also seemed that her Scan skill was slightly integrated with it. At least there was some sort of synergy there that was giving her more information than she could really handle.

It took her nearly 15 minutes and several attempts before she was able to stand without passing out. Even now, a bout of dizziness threatened to overtake her, and she started to feel faint. She leaned against the cold stone walls for support.

Stumbling down the hallway, she groped along the wall, searching for the nearest stairwell. As she staggered down the small, tight spiral, she was reminded of the first days of Void, and she could only be thankful that she had both functioning ankles right now. Making her way to her bedroom, she hoped that a nap might ease her pain.

—

Zeal stalked back to the city walls while rubbing his upper arms, worried that the bruises would show distinct lines of the fingers that had held him in place. It shouldn't be too big of a deal. They should heal quickly. But at the same time, those sorts of marks could draw suspicion.

As much as he would have liked to trust the authority of the King's Guard like he had done most of his life in Caleb, he knew he couldn't any longer. Things had changed in Zeal's life. The siege had been hard for everyone, but for him, it was harder than most. He lost everyone. His wife, his son, his mother, his father, and every single other family member he knew of. All gone.

Not that they were fighting in some grand war or died heroes in a battle or charged out with the military. No, no. They were all ordinary, gods-fearing people. They had done their parts in their small ways to help. As the crafters and laborers, they were.

Sue had spent her time cooking for the soldiers when she had a chance, and his son had run messages. But no, when push came to shove, they were huddled in their basement when the fighting was particularly intense. Then, it stopped. It had fallen so quiet. The fighting was done. He had been certain it would be fine to step outside and get some fresh air, despite Sue begging him to stay where it was safe.

What a cruel joke, he thought, pulling himself from the memories. His few friends had tried to console him and keep him sane, and they had managed for a few days. But when the god had come to the city, everyone was afraid he would do something foolish and get himself killed.

One could only throw so many curses at the gods before they could expect to be struck down. That's what everyone told him. But Zeal hadn't cursed this god. No, not this one. This one had heard him. He understood this was a new god, a god that would set everything right.

This one would fix the old callous ways of the indifferent pantheon that had cursed him to stand outside in the street, tapping the ashes out of his pipe while some sort of impact destroyed the building behind him. It left a crater almost as deep as the house itself, so what use was a basement? But never mind. It was all going to be fixed.

Now, this new power had come to set it right. Sure, he wished that the void god would have come a few days earlier to relieve them from the siege, and he supposed some in his position would have been angry about that delay. But that wasn't how he thought. As hard as it was, his family's sacrifice was necessary.

Their loss had changed him like everyone had feared, yet not at all. It caused him to open his eyes, to better understand how the world must change and how the new god was going to change it.

One of the guards gave him a funny look as he walked through the city gate, but no one stopped him. He was well enough known around here now, especially in the last few weeks. Pretty much everyone in the city had heard him proselytize, though most just thought of him as some harmless rambler on the street. Not all. But most.

When he wanted to go somewhere, the words of his god aided him. People who should have stopped him, who were paid to guard, often would just let him go through to avoid getting pulled up in a conversation. Some might consider it a negative thing, having others stopper their ears against his words. But not Zeal. It simply meant that they couldn't handle the truth he had come to spread. If it meant he could go forth and further speak to others, then it was truly a blessing from his new god in some form.

That wasn't to say that everyone ignored him, of course. But not enough listened. Not yet. But Zeal was sure that they would. They would. Very soon.

Navigating his way through the newly pristine streets of Caleb. He nodded to many of the street cleaning crews. They knew him. They understood. They agreed. They, too, had seen something about this new god, who had pushed them to take up their lives in different directions and nudged them toward a higher purpose.

He saw Hummar, the blacksmith that had lived a couple streets down, pushing a broom instead of working in the forge. It was a strange sight, seeing such a burly man with nothing but a broomstick thinner than his arm. But seeing the small smile of contentment on the man's face, Zeal couldn't help but return his smile.

A few streets down, Zeal turned into an alley. He knocked on a green door set half underground. The small steps leading into the basement filled with light as it opened, and with a few words, he waded into the adoring audience waiting for his return.

—

After my conversation with Beatrice this morning, I decided it was time to explore a bit beyond the castle. During the day, it'd be a little bit easier, and perhaps I could search for any threats hidden in the forest. After all, I just finished cleaning the castle yesterday, and I could spend time cleaning it again later tonight if needed.

I suspected that it wasn't even necessary, though. Mary and her army of janitors in training would have no problem caring for it. It wasn't like I needed the experience, anyway, so it would have just been for my personal pride to clean it. Well, and to fix up the really minor things that humans couldn't seem to pick up on. Still, I was very proud of their efforts. I wasn't going to deny others the pleasure of cleaning. Besides, their earning experience and funneling it to me was almost sufficient as me just doing it myself. I was getting pretty close to level 70 anyways.

So it wouldn't hurt to let them take care of it for a while. I thought I'd just check in with everyone first, though. And as I wandered through the castle, ensuring everyone was present, and no one was harmed, I ran into Tony. His face lit up.

"Ah, Lord Void! Just the god I wanted to see. Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Sure, why not? I had some time. Hearing my response, Tony glanced about and ushered me quickly into a room.

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