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The Big Oof! Volume 1 Chapter 30: Half Truths
🕑 Added 2023-03-02 11:52:42 +0000 UTC“Before the first records of history, the realm of mortals was ruled by a slew of unholy and demonic monstrosities only known as the old ones.” The Oracle said as the group approached the massive mural in the back of the temple.
Looking up both Bennett and Elijah couldn’t help but gawk like tourists and marvel at the masterful artwork displayed on the wall. Tylas was depicted with a commanding presence, holding a bleeding heart in one hand and pointing his two-pronged spear towards what appeared to be a baptismal pool. Surrounding him were what looked like common folk, kneeling and praying in reverence or offering their gifts of bread.
However, their gaze was interrupted when Azeline sent a sharp jab into Elijah’s ribs with her elbow and shot him a glare as a reminder of why they were there.“Hurry up and do whatever you’ve come here to do you fool!” She hissed in a hushed tone.
Just as Elijah dug into his pocket to grab his bio scanner, the hobbling Oracle spun around with open arms. “And these vile and wretched beings only sought the souls of mortals to fuel their never-ending machinations for power, damning whomever they consume to oblivion!” He said, looking up towards the interior of the dome.
Yanking his hands out of his pocket before the oracle saw him, Elijah nervously looked up to see what the old man was looking at. His face contorted in confusion when he only saw the untouched surface of the ceiling, and brought his hand back into his pocket.
“BUT! As the ages passed, those wretched thing’s ambitions only fattened along with their festering arrogance!” The Oracle bellowed, causing Elijah to stiffen once more. “Not even the souls of the damned could saite their infernal hunger!” The man slammed his hands down on a podium that was just in front of the pool of water. “They FLOGGED the world with their wars! Bringing nothing but butchery and destruction to the mortal realms!” he spoke with a gurgling venom as he described the unimaginable horrors their ancestors endured.
Feeling as if the oracle was yelling at them, Bennett and Elijah cringed while the elder man frother at the mouth. Used to this type of sermon, Azeline just inwardly sighed and waited for the most opportune time to interject and possibly divert the old man's attention away from them, but it seemed the old man was just too into his sermon.
“And in this time of darkness and despair… Rose a beacon of hope; Tylas! He and his peers were the first to strike down one of those false gods and claim its soul for themselves!”. The oracle continued his tale, his voice growing with excitement as turned around and gestured towards the Mural once more.
Seeing an opportunity had presented itself, Elijah bent over and brought his device just to the edge of the pool of water and allowed it to start scanning while the Oracle continued giving his oration. "With their found power, a new Pantheon was born and together, they banished the Old Ones from the mortal realms to never return! Long gone were the days of servitude! Long gone were the days where we forfeited our lives! Our souls!” Elijah’s eyes narrowed as his bio scanner displayed a green light, signaling that whatever was in the pool showed signs of a large population of whatever pathogen was plaguing the town.
Leaning his head back and letting out a cathartic sigh, a small tear fell from the old man’s eyes as he felt a surge of reverence. "And there… The heart of all Aethari. The symbol of his gift. A symbol of strength… A symbol of hope.” His hands came down slowly as she shuddered. “It serves as a reminder that Tylas had given back to us what was stolen… our souls." The oracle slowly spun around, his expression proud. "And that is why we, the oracles of Tylas, exist. For we shepherd generations yet towards the path of righteousness.”
Jabbing Bennett in the ribs with his elbow, Elijah subtly showed him his device displaying the amount of pathogens that was in the pool. “We found our contaminated source,” he said in hushed whispers.
Looking over at the device, Bennett's eyebrows raised in surprise that this town’s place of worship was actually the hotspot. "This is worrying," he said, a hint of alarm creeping into his voice. "I highly doubt the population has been shitting in here, so that means…" He trailed off a bit and went silent.
“It means someone intentionally contaminated the pool.” Elijah finished for him, narrowing his eyes. “I have no idea who’s insidious enough to poison somewhere where people pray, but we’re also not exactly in tune with the geopolitics of this world.” He whispered while scratching the side of his face.
Bennett simply gave a grim nod in agreement, "But how do we deal with this? Seeing how this dude reacted,” he pointed his entire hand at the oracle who was still orating, “we can’t exactly be like ‘oh ya, your shits fucked up sorry.” He replied.
The two men shared a difficult look when Azeline jabbed Bennett in the ribs, causing the engineer to wince and pain and look up to see the oracle staring at them. "Is everything alright, young men?" He asked with a stern look on his face.
With swimming eyes, Bennett flushed and tried to come up with an excuse on the spot. "Ahh.. yes. We were just wondering how this pool of water holds significance to uhh, Tylas’ glory." He replied, straightening up. Closing his eyes briefly to fight off the desire to pinch the bridge of his nose, Elijah simply nodded along in agreement, "Yes… We noticed how his wondrous spear was pointing towards the pool, and we couldn’t help but ask why."
Having dealt with the youth all his life, the Oracle gave a magnanimous smile. He was used to the fact young men’s attention spans were prone to wandering, but he was more than happy to answer any questions they had.
However, just as the Oracle opened his mouth to answer, a strange feminine voice emanated from one of the strange men’s chest.”Whose GLORY?” Elijah was full of panic when he tried to grab at the psychotic little fairy as she managed to unzip his pocket and darted out towards Bennett.
“Are you talking about those idiot useless LOSER brothers Tylas and Darden!?” Yana yelled, hovering in front of Bennett’s face. “You know those… those FUCKING idiots decided to lie and claim MY achievements for their own!?” She continued with her hands on her hips.
Everyone had their eyes open in complete shock as Yana stuck her finger out and jammed it into Bennett’s cheek. “I was the one who trapped that Old One, I was the one to take its soul and it was ME who shared the knowledge with others!” Yana punctuated each point by jabbing her finger into Bennett's cheek. “And what did those stupid Aethari whelplings do!? Get slapped around like IDIOTS while swinging their stupid spears around like stupid FUCKS!!“ She spat out hatefully.
Her little chest rose and fell rapidly as she shot a heated glare at the Engineer, absolutely furious the words ‘Glory’ and ‘Tylas’ were uttered in the same sentence together. Meanwhile, everyone in the temple was deathly quiet as they all struggled to regain their composure, taken aback by her sudden outburst.
Elijah stood there with hung shoulders with his hand smothering his face while a crazy cocktail of emotions flowed through him, each of them negative. Azeline, on the other hand, was standing ramrod straight as her eyes were so wide open they looked as if they were bulging out. She was in a state of utter disbelief and fear at the turn of events, never in her life would she have thought she would be in this psychotic situation.
Her eyes slowly and hesitantly jerked over towards the Oracle and saw the man pointing at the Vanir with a flapping mouth and shaking limbs. “Y-Y-Yo-You!! YOU VILE THING! YOU BLASPHEMER! YOU HERETIC!” The old man screamed in a high pitched voice. “A mere PIXIE dare utter such! SUCH SACRILEGE!!” He frothed at the mouth.
“PIXIE!?” Yana shreeked as her face contorted in uncontrolled rage. “I am the great Yanaiyániuoa! You dare mistake the Goddess of magic and ALL Fae during the Autumn Solstice with a mere PIXIE!?!?” Turning her head to Elijah, she pointed at him “ELI! KILL HIM!!” She demanded.
The Oracle scoffed and opened his mouth to let out another round of insults when his face froze. He finally noticed the elemental breeze flowing from its head, the pulsating violet blur as its wings and the glow of its eyes… That was no pixie.
“By Tylas… you’re a… a…” The oracle stuttered in fear. “VANIR!!!” He screamed as loud as he could as he stumbled towards the group. “KNIGHTS! KNIGHTS HELP! GET THE DEACON! HELP ME!!!” He shouted as he ran towards the group and the grand doors.
Elijah’s eyes went wide as the yell echoed throughout the temple, he immediately looked behind him to see why such a frail man would advance towards them and saw the doors were still slightly open from when they first arrived. “FUCK!” He cursed as he and Bennett bolted forward to silence the elder man. Bennett grabbed his left arm and tried to shove it behind his back while Elijah started twisting the Oracles wrist and used his body weight to try to control him.
However, even though they both were much stronger than the old man, anyone with a lot of adrenaline coursing through them was a bitch to handle. “THERE’S A- OOF!” The old man was only able to struggle for a second before Elijah sent a vicious blow to his face stunning him. All three of them went stumbling to the ground as the Oracle’s legs gave out from underneath him causing everyone to scramble back on top of him. “A VA-ACK!” The oracle tried to finish what he was screaming about, but Elijah went around his neck locking him into a rear naked choke.
“BY THE GODS! OH HEAVENS!” Azeline yelled in complete distraught while clutching her head. Never in her life had she been so conflicted as to what to do as she watched all three of them roll around the ground while the oracle yelled in terror and flailed his arms. Should she help her companions? Should she help the oracle and pray the more than likely knights would be lenient with her? Or should she just simply flee? Suddenly the same Vanir that had caused the situation had zoomed past and placed her tiny hands on the Oracle head as he began to lose consciousness.
“H-Hold his head still!” She ordered, understanding the gravity of the situation. But just as she said that, the oracle’s arm flopped limply to the side as his eyes stared vacantly in the air. Yana then massed a large portion of her remaining power and concentrated inorder to cast a powerful mind spell she had stolen from the Old Ones.
Elijah loosened his strangle hold in an effort to not kill the old man when a flash of violet nearly blinded him. “Argh!” He moaned as he and Bennetted pushed themselves to their knees standing above the unconscious Oracle.
Suddenly the faint noise of an aggravated sigh came from the large Temple doors as they swung open. “Yes, Oracle? What do you want-” The knight's voice stopped as he saw the Deacon’s guests were hovering over the collapsed and limp body of the Oracle “Now…” Silence reigned as both parties stared at each other for a moment before the Oracle suddenly started violently spasming as if he was having a seizure.
“H-Hurry and get the deacon!” Elijah suddenly yelled, pointing at the door. “Quickly now! He collapsed!”
The Knight’s eyes went wide as he nervously took a step back “Y-yes! Yes sir! Right away!” He responded and started to run. Luckily, the knight didn’t even notice Yana’s tiny head sticking over Elijah’s shoulder as they stumbled out of the door in a dead sprint.
Not having the time to be satisfied with his quick thinking, Elijah quickly turned his attention back to the Oracle and watched as he convulsed and writhed violently. The rest of the group stood in confusion, unsure of what to do or how to help while they looked at each other nervously.
“Ah… ahahaha. Oops…” Yana laughed nervously. “I think I used too much mana.” She admitted, causing everyone’s heads to immediately turn towards her.
Each and every single one of them looked at her with disbelief as they struggled to grasp the insanity that had just unfolded. But before anyone could say anything, the Oracle suddenly tensed up with his back arched in an exaggerated way before falling limp back onto the ground. Again the group exchanged nervous and confused glances before Elijah cautiously reached out and checked the old man's pulse with his fingers.
…
“He’s uh… he’s dead.” The medic said flatly.
Bennett nervously ran his hand over the side of his head and pulled at his shaggy hair as he glanced nervously towards the door. "Umm… so...what do we do now?" Azeline asked, speaking up for the group as they all looked towards Elijah.
Elijah covered his mouth with his hands and kept for a while staring at the Oracle's body. The man finally let out a deep sigh as his hand dragged down his growing unkept beard before looking up at the ceiling, muttering a single word, "Why."
Taking a deep breath and standing up, shaking his head. "I guess we should just go with; he collapsed after we came to inspect the temple for contamination." Elijah shrugged, offering little reassurance to the others. “I dunno man, I got nothin’ else.”
Seeing their only source of bullshit completely stumped, silence once again filled the entire temple until it was broken by the sounds of distant yelling and clanks of metal feet just outside the temple. Realizing they had no more time to prepare, the group did what they could to muster their courage in order to keep a straight face.
Elijah knew he was going to have to be the one to do all the talking and bullshiting, so he took a deep breath and looked over to yana who was sitting on his shoulder. “Get in and keep quiet, I might be able to get us out of this.” He ordered and opened his pocket wide. “Can you do that thing again where you fry someone's brain?” He asked as the fairy floated down and pulled herself in.
Yana paused and put a finger to her head. “I can probably do it one more time, but then I’ve exhausted everything I have…” She admitted. “After the binding ritual, you two kind of took everything I have left.”
Bringing his fist to his mouth, the man thought for a second. If worst comes to worst, they’d be able to fry the Knight Captain and snag the Deacon as a hostage in order to make their escape.
“The moment I let you out, you beeline for the one in armor.” he said, looking down at the small being as she nodded her head.
With a plan of action and a contingency plan, Elijah turned around towards the grand double doors with a renewed sense of confidence. However, his confidence was short lived as he saw the individuals that came running in. A certain 6 foot, heavily armed and armored ‘Demigod’ came sauntering in with his magnificent blonde hair swaying with each step.
“Shit shit shit shit shit shit.” Elijah cursed under his breath.
It seemed if this went sour, they were really going to see if the man was a Demigod or not.
"Master Eli-jah!" Theodius called out, his eyes alight with excitement as he rushed over to the group. "Master Eli-jah, what's happened here?" He knelt down mid stride and slid next to the body, his gaze fixated on the fallen Oracle. "Pray tell, what might we be able to learn from this!?" The deacon asked eagerly, eagerly awaiting Elijah's insights.
Elijah took a step back, looking uncomfortable and bewildered, as Theodius rushed over to the group with excitement written all over his face. Salvanius and Rhea were right behind him, but Salvanius let out a sigh of frustration after he watched Theodius' reaction. “Brother, now is not the time for your strange obsessions!” He snapped.
Seeing her lieges reaction Rhea quickly kneeled down and placed a hand on Theodius' shoulder and tried to calm him down. "Deacon, we need to focus on what's important here. Let's see if we can help the Oracle." she said in a soothing voice.
Turning his head back at Rhea with a Dejected look, Theodius let out a sigh and moved his hand to the Oracle's face. “Hmm…” He murmured while opening the old man’s mouth and yanking on his tongue.
Not understanding what the Deacon was doing, Elijah’s disturbed and confused look deepened as he watched the oracles head jerk forward with a particularly hard pull before his head slammed back down onto the floor. “What the… Th-Theo- I mean your Holiness, he’s already dead.” The medic stuttered.
Theodius' excitement spiked again as his head swiftly snapped towards Elijah with Eyes ablaze. “He’s dead? How do you know? What tests have you developed to check for true death?.” The man shotgunned questions causing the subject of his interest to slowly recoil away further. “How do you make a diagnosis! YOU MUST TELL ME!”
Salvanius clicked his tongue, “BROTHER, PLEASE! FOCUS!” He shouted in frustration.
Looking between her Liege and the Deacon anxiously, Rhea quickly knelt down and put her hands around his shoulders. “Y-your holiness, please. We can indulge your curiosity after we finish.” She said, helping the man stand to his feet. “I shall even see to it that your every question be answered.” She said, shooting Elijah a look.
Theodius nodded, looking momentarily remorseful. "Of course, I apologize. I simply got carried away," he said, composing himself. "It’s not often I’m in the presence of a man more learned than myself. Regardless, let's focus on finding out what caused the Oracle's collapse."
Nodding in satisfaction, Salvanius felt his frustration dissipate. "Good good. I apologize for raising my voice brother." he said before glancing at Elijah. “Now, you said the Oracle had already passed?”
Taken aback by the strange scene in front, Elijah simply nodded and explained his findings. "Yes, we can confirm death if the heart is no longer beating," he said. He was about to elaborate on the idea of brain death and the time frame that typically occurs after the heart stops beating, but he decided against it. The Oracle simply knew too much to be worth raising any suspicion that there was a chance of resuscitation.
Rhea furrowed her brows. "That makes sense… The heart IS the most important part of the body.” She spoke to herself with her arms folded. “But did he collapse?" The Knight Captain asked, looking up at Elijah. “He was rather old and somewhat sickly, but he seemed fine earlier in the day when I last saw him.” Salvanius chimed in, his tone laced with suspicion, "Yes, I agree, For him to just collapse and die like that seems rather peculiar…” He said, rubbing his smooth chin. “. What business did you have with Oracle in the first place?" Salvanius asked, looking at Elijah inquisitively.
Bennett and Azeline shifted nervously in the background as they eyed the two large doors, plotting their escape plan in case they had to flee. Elijah quickly inhaled a deep breath, knowing full well they were in a dangerous position and their lives hung in the balance of how well he could bullshit. "Well, we were only here to ask him a few questions, but he ended up having an impassioned sermon about the virtues of Tylas after he learned we were foreigners." Elijah explained while shrugging. “I’m not quite sure why he collapsed, but he seemed quite sluggish and unsteady when we first came in.” He tried to make it sound like he wasn’t quite sure why the Oracle collapsed.
Rhea removing her helmet, Rhea revealed her striking features and long black hair tied in a bun as she stared at Elijah with a stern expression. "You're telling me that's all that happened? You merely asked the Oracle a few questions?” She asked with a piercing gaze. “Your task was to uncover the source of the Miasma, not take a tour of the temple. What type of questions could you have possibly had for the Oracle?" Rhea continued with a skeptical tone, clearly not content with Elijah's answer. "It's concerning that a healthy man suddenly died right after you spoke with him. Why would a foreign visitor take an interest in our patron Lord?”
Seeing Salvanius’ eyes start to narrow as his hand rested on the pommel of his sword, Elijah felt the conversation had started to turn for the worst. It was obvious these people weren’t stupid since they were a part of literally this world's version of the inquisition and had potentially years of hunting down heretics or whatever. But it also wasn’t like he had much to work with in the first place.
“Look, we weren’t here for pleasure, but every source of water in the town is clean and this place was the logical conclusion for possible contamination.” Elijah defended himself and rested his hand on his chest, right next to the zipper. “This place has a water source, so we came to check it out.”
Salvanius' expression hardened as he listened to Elijah's explanation. "You… You dare!?” He barked out. “Barge into these sacred grounds and utter such… such HERETICAL accusations!?”
Just before Rhea opened her mouth to voice her agreement, she paused and furrowed her brow as her eyes glanced over at the body on the ground.
Ignoring Rhea’s reaction completely, Salvanius gripped his sword tightly and stepped forward with fury on his face. "The Oracle was nothing but a SAINT to me and my Knights! And you dare accuse him and these hallowed halls of containing corruption!?" The Demigod’s voice became dangerous, sending a chill down Elijah's spine.
Rhea’s eyes shot up to Elijah while he slowly retreated from the bellowing Demigod with a difficult look on her face. She didn’t want to believe it, but she couldn’t help but remember how adamant the Oracle was for her and the rest of her knights to pause and take part in a divine ritual where they consumed this temple's holy water. Rhea of course refused the lowly Oracle's attempts at Ingratiating himself tremendously above his station, but there were still a few of her men and women that took him up on his offer.
And every single one of them lay sick with the miasmatic plague in the makeshift hospital…
Glaring at Elijah intensely, Salvanius' face soured further when he finally noticed the odd mana that was lingering in the air. “I’d also like an explanation as to why I sense traces of magic only used by the most powerful Mages in the air.” The scowl on the Demigod’s face deepened as he slowly drew his sword.
Seeing the situation rapidly deteriorate, Theodius stood there flabbergasted, unsure what to do.
On one hand he wanted nothing more to cast Elijah a life line, so sure the man had no involvement with whatever befell this old man. However, never in his life could he go against his brother, especially when it came to his sacred duty of stamping out corruption and protecting Tylas’ faithful.
Elijah's right hand gradually moved towards the back of his waist, while his left hand firmly clasped the zipper that housed Yana. It appeared that they were going to test if a 'Demigod' could die just like everyone else. However, he still had the added benefit of plausible deniability and he could still make one last effort at deflecting blame. “Your uh, holiness. I can easily prove my innocence.” He said with confidence.
The look of interest flashed across Salvanius' face as he narrowed his eyes at Elijah. “Make your case mortal, or I shall have you burned at the stake.” He said with venom in his voice.
“It’s simple, all you have to do is ask those who are sick if they drank from this pool or not.” Elijah said absolute confidence. “And ask those who are still healthy, if they did not.” He finished, returning Salvanius glare with conviction.
Doubt momentarily clouded Salvanius' vision as he looked down in thought, but he looked up in rage. “LIAR-”
“My lord!” Rhea spoke up, cutting the Demigod off, causing him to snap his head towards her. With that statement from Elijah, Rhea had made her decision and looked Salvanius dead in the eyes.
“My lord, I believe there's… there’s a great deal of merit in his words.”
