Deicide: Chapter 9

There were certain parts of the city that were barren, the only life inhabiting them were the weeds and rats. Ancient monuments, grand buildings, court houses and banks, everything was just abandoned. It was a reminder of greater times, of better times.

Alexios passed his hand over the old stone, tracing the etches of where he had measured his height, along with higher ones that exceeded his own current height. Entering rooms only brought sadness and melancholy, he could almost see himself and his big brother fighting over sweets. It was never a contest, he was always stronger, smarter, better.

He collapsed on top of the rocking chair his old man used to sit in, the ironwood material making it as heavy as steel. Alex hummed an old song that dated back to before the Swarm.

Sighing, he lifted himself up and left his childhood home, a beautiful wood and stone amalgamation of ingenuity and elegance, a unique structure among thousands of unique homes. His grandpa had said that they were made at the founding of The City by the greatest mage alive, Adam, the current and last ruler of humanity.

He could almost feel the traces of those good times in the mana, a distant echo at the edge of his hearing. Every building and every sector was planned by the best humanity had after the Exodus, it was unparalleled.

There was nothing but the sound of the wind and that of scurrying rats. All the more erry were the numerous ash piles littering the plazas, pieces of blackened bone and skulls sticking out of it.

He stopped at 'Emogen's Square' and kneeled at the entrance. A sign that said 'Here the plague rests' beheld the fate of his family, their ashes intermingled with those of a thousand other dead.

A statue of death, an old hunchback man hoisting a large filled up bag over his shoulder. At the centre of the plaza was a monolith, a thousand little drawings etched on it. Names of a thousand people taken away before their time.

"Father, big brother, little sister, grandpa and grandma, Aunties and uncles, I…" He choked, tears trailing down his face. "I love you, and I miss you."

"I don't know what's happening to me, why that fucking Essence gave me this ability." Alex laughed bitterly. "Sometimes when I lay in bed, I think about its task 'Exterminate, Kill, Resist' I almost collapse on myself right there. There is no killing the Swarm, a billion people have tried, what am I in front of that?"

The wind was still and the giant pile of ash and bone stayed unmoving.

Alexios wiped his tears and marched away, there were only ashes and nightmares here. Through the winding streets, sculptures and fountains, he eventually found himself in the company of the living.

Among the dead there were bazars, oases of life, whoever lived in the outskirts of The City were not considered the most reputable though. Gipsies, murderers, thieves and broken men were the denizens, a wandering group of vagrants touring the desolate streets of a dead city.

Walking with a long stride and head firmly pointed straight made the searching glances of the shadows recede and focus on others. He brought his cowl down, obscuring his features. 

A carriage parked in an alleyway was the busiest attraction, people clamoured around it with their hands raised high. He moved aside as a brawl began, drunkards and addicts fighting over perceived theft.

Enforcers split up the fight, but not before blood was let. Alexios dispassionately stepped aside as the broken men shimmied out of the alleyway.

The morning rush was over a short while later; a few were already experiencing the dream on the spot, their forms crumpling against the wall and their faces relaxing from their scowls.

"Do you think it's a mercy you are offering these people?" Alexios whispered to a man who had come out of the carriage, he was garbed in a mossy green leather apron, splotches of colour carpeted it. "Is that your justification?"

"You are not the only one to ask that question, you know what I always answer with?" The man's voice was filled with mirth, apparently Alex caught him in a good mood. "Money, that is it. I offer a product, they buy it, whatever they do with it is none of my business. Now are you satisfied?"

"Not yet, I want to ask some questions about the effects and special cases." Alexios brought his cowl low and revealed himself. 

The man laughed and when that died down, he extended his arm with his palm open.

Grumbling, Alexios dropped fifty coppers in his hand. The alchemist shook his head and Alexios raised it to a silver. That went on until they reached two silvers.

"What do you want to know?" The alchemist pocketed his money. "I am not gonna sell you any recipes if that's what you want."

"Where do you find the dreams?" Alex directly asked, trying very hard to not deck the guy right there and go back home.

"Excellent question!" The alchemist rubbed his clean shaven chin. "Well first, a question, do you know about the Men of The Silent Cave?"

"I don't think so." Alex tried to recall if there were any people with that name but he came out blank.

"Well, they were almost killed to the last child when the Exodus happened. What is interesting about them was their unique ability to communicate with the mind directly." The alchemist answered.

"Telepathy." Alex furrowed his brows. "That doesn't help much though."

"Just think about it, with telepathy you could transfer memories to alchemists, who lets be honest don't have the most riveting of experiences, and those alchemists would condense those memories into solid form." Alchemist spread his hands wide. "The telepathy dudes had a couple famous adventurers among their ranks. And back then, adventurers had the ladies and gentlemen flock into their beds."

"Awfully simple." Alex remarked, glaring at the man.

"You didn't pay enough for a long story." The alchemist smiled.

"Can you tell me what this is then?" From out of his sleeve pocket he retrieved the flash that had the experimental tag on it. The alchemist took it into his hand and scrunched his brows.

"I am not experimenting, where did you buy this from?" The alchemist opened the cork and smelled it. "Odd smell."

"My uncle bought it from you, you are the only reputable alchemist in this sector." Alex watched the man's expression like a hawk, and seeing his confusion, he let both relief and confusion flood into him.

"I opened up an old crate a while back, I checked the vials and they were fine, this must have slipped by." The alchemist shrugged.

If the alchemist had purposely tried to use an experimental vial on him, Alex would have done something regrettable to the man. But now that it wasn't malicious, it still left the mystery unsolved. What was the Essence of Humanity? In fact, what was Essence? Just as he was going to ask the question, a harsh jarring sound came out of the alchemist trailer.

"Oh my, that's the boiler." The alchemist hurried to his mobile workshop, only stopping at the door and looking at Alex weirdly. "I might be the most greedy fucker in this gods forgotten city, but I feel bad for you kid for the faulty product, come in here and let me show you my setup."

Alex regarded the man with scepticism for an instant before moving inside. Once inside, Alex's eyes wandered through and marvelled at all the glassware and alchemical ingredients. At the centre of the crammed carriage was a massive cauldron filled to the brim with a golden ichor that was changing to rainbow at the edges.

That wasn't what captured his attention the most, but what was over the cauldron. A black severed finger floated over the cauldron, a blue sphere surrounded it. The finger was bleeding a small trickle of gold blood that dropped into the cauldron.

"Welcome to my humble abode, Amine's Emporium." The alchemist hurried over to the cauldron and on the way stopped the incessant shriek of the clock. He put on a glove and dipped a finger into the cauldron, licking the residue and nodding. "Perfectly dreamy."

"Why is that finger still bleeding?" The whole time Alexios was watching the finger continuously drip its blood and not depleting at all.

"Oh yeah, that is divine flesh, it never stops bleeding. It would regenerate to become a body but that would be a waste." The alchemist hummed as he checked tools that Alex had no idea what they did. "Fucking thing was expensive as all hell to get, grouchy old cartels love to keep their shit private. Took me half my fortune."

"Why would it be a waste to let it regenerate?" Alex wondered.

"I guess I'll show you, this batch is done brewing anyways." The alchemist moved some items and waved them around, the cauldron instantly emptying itself into various glass vials. The blue transparent sphere around the finger flickered and the digit dropped into the alchemist's hand.

The moment it became free, it grew rapidly from the finger stump, into a hand, an arm, a shoulder and a torso. In a matter of seconds the finger transformed into a full humanoid creature, a fully night black person with only two eyes on his face, no hair, no mouth, no eyelids, just eyes.

Everything below the head was so black he couldn't distinguish anything but its general form.

The body stayed upright and then collapsed on the ground. Alex cautiously inched forward, standing over the divine body and staring right at its eyes. They were unfocused, cloudy and unmoving.

The same eyes that his family had after they had perished. The eyes of the dead.

"What…who?" Alex took a step back, his thoughts halting even with the acceleration. His willpower was brought to quell his emotion and enforce a calm.

"That is a god, formerly the God of Dreams, Sleep and Rest. He was called Hypno." The alchemist kicked the body, making Alex flinch. "As you can see, no god inhabits the body, nor can they, since they are all dead. Well apart from Death itself, that god is still kicking."

"Dead?!?" Alex exclaimed.

"Dead, extinguished, not in this world anymore." Amine sighed. "Kind of an open secret in higher circles."

"And what killed them all?" Alex's words caught up to him. He was breathless as he realised. "The Swarm killed them."

"Like it will kill us all." The alchemist dropped down and cut off the original finger and quickly put it back into the blue sphere. Then he dragged the rest of the body outside, threw it into a barrel and lit it up with a chemical concoction.

Alex stayed still as he watched the flesh of a god rapidly turn to ash and its bones cracked and splintered. He stayed silent as the alchemist dumped the ashes on the side of a building where faeces and other garbage was piled up.

"Are we truly doomed?" Alex felt a giant hole open up in his chest, his stomach gurgling uneasily.

"There is supposed to be a Chosen One." The alchemist hummed. "But the Chosen One will be human, and if I know anything about man, it's that they are bastards of the highest order. In short, if the Chosen One is a pussy, then we are fucked."

Alex's shoulder shook as he remembered what the Essence of Humanity had said. He was…

"And if the Chosen One is a hero?" Alex hung his head and looked at his hands, deep in thought.

"We might have a slight chance, but I am not betting on it. Just live your life to the fullest kid before the Swarm eats us all." The alchemist smiled and sang.

"Thank you for the help." Alex left quickly after, absentmindedly dodging the broken men and women who littered the streets.

Alex was the Chosen One, whatever that meant. He had a duty, to save everyone.

The entirety of humanity rested on his shoulders, yet he couldn't care less.

His mother's warm face, Steve's unwavering smile, the bright beacon of Song's soul.

He wanted to protect that, he wanted to experience it more, to feel their passion, to fuel their growth.

He would not do as a hero would. He would do whatever it took to defend what he deemed precious, at whatever cost.

To fight a monster, you needed to become a monster.