“Again, I’m sorry they turned you away. They never should’ve done that without consulting me.”

  Cannon looked at T’balt, impressed that he would put in so much effort to find him just to tell him that. Seeing the determination in his face, the young man was hard to refuse.

  “So will you come back with me?” he asked.

  “It isn’t too tough an ask. We’re all still spread thin out here. Been looking for a home a while now… I’ll tell you what. Give me a chance to gather everyone back up, and I’ll meet you back at the church.”

  “Deal.” The two shook hands, and Cannon went on his way to do as he promised. T’balt wiped a bead of exhausted sweat off his brow.

  He’d been out in the city looking for three hours. Genya was a great tracker, but riding in a car, she got distracted by everything she could see out the window. It made the search far longer than it had to be. But thankfully, Cannon was always one to listen to reason.

  “Alright. Job well done, Genya.” He sat back in the car. The girl was standing up in the passenger seat, still bubbly and full of energy.

  “Yay. We did it, Papa. Do I get a treat now?”

  “Only if we cool it with the papa stuff.”

  She did not cool it. The entire way home, she yipped with wild energy about anything she saw, even though a lot of what they were seeing were ruins and empty buildings. Childhood innocence was something special.

  He didn’t like the idea of taking her out on a mission like this. Acelin was one thing, but this girl wasn’t even in the double digits yet. Putting her in any sort of danger wasn’t a risk he could take lightly. But he couldn’t deny that tracker loot was useful.

  He just had her look for a cluster of strength loot, and they practically were able to drive right up to the wrestlers… eventually. With that kind of power, he wouldn’t have to worry about the random chance aspect of finding loot. He’d be able to locate everything he wanted almost right away, as long as he knew the vicinity of where it’d be. Then he could perfect his loot stacks even more.

  It was just a shame the loot was attached to Genya, a seven-year-old. He would just have to be extra careful with her.

  Things were different when he got back to the church. A bleeding black cloud hung overhead like there was a foul stink in the air. As he walked inside, he got the sharp feeling that someone wanted to cut his throat. He instinctively grabbed Genya’s hand and made his way to Ellie downstairs. Then she told him what happened.

  T’balt entered the abbot’s office without knocking. He had guards, but by one look from the Fury, they all backed down. Arthur’s arm was wrapped in bandages as he stood stone in his seat, almost as if he were expecting this confrontation. The picture of his wife was noticeably absent from his desk.

  T’balt didn’t find himself angry when he walked in, but rather introspective. He had responded to so many situations with anger at this point that it seemed counterproductive. Arthur’s irrationality was cold and calculated, so he had to answer with some coldness of his own.

  “How many conversations have we had in this room at this point?” T’balt said. “It must’ve been half a dozen by now. I was starting to think that I knew you. Enough to know that this Arthur you’re being right now isn’t the real Arthur.”

  “You speak of times that don’t exist to me.”

  “You killed her then, too.” That struck a chord, leaving an empty pause between them. Arthur stood from his chair, sizing T’balt up. Neither backed down.

  “You’re a Redeemer. A product of another being. How arrogant that makes you.”

  “The Looter God, you mean?”

  “I’ve heard rumors. You’ve mentioned his name before. A foreign god that had blessed with the power of infinite life. It does sound like a tale from a storybook. But you’re still just a boy with so much to learn about the world. For all my life, I have only known one god. And he has granted us infinite life already. And mankind wasted it by biting into the tempestuous apple, only for you to repeat their mistakes.”

  “The rules of the book… do not apply here, Arthur. What part of this is listed there?”

  “The part where it says that men will become lovers of themselves and forsake his name for their own means. Sins for the sake of sins. And then man will claim love for a new god…. You’re being manipulated, son. This Looter God is just another demon. The king of them at best.”

  “Arthur, I don’t care about the Looter God. You act like I’m worshipping him. As far as I’m concerned, he’s mankind’s greatest enemy. He made all of this happen.”

  “And you are his acting vessel. So what does that make you?”

  “It… I’m not a vessel. I’m fighting against him.”

  “No, you’re fighting against me. And this Monan. Everything you’ve done with this power has been self-serving. Tell me if your life wasn’t on the line, where would you be now?”

  T’balt took a step back. It was a question he truly didn’t know the answer to. If he weren’t locked defending himself against Monan, then where would he be? He wouldn’t have had any reason to fight. He wouldn’t have had any reason to become the man he was now. He didn’t have a thought of a greater purpose like the one that Ann had mentioned.

  It was survival. But what if there was something more to this power than just surviving? What if there was something else he was supposed to do with it? His hand inched toward the choker on his neck as if it could come up with an answer.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Arthur shook his head. “I want the looters out of my church.”

  “What? You’d just kick us all out to the curb?”

  “What's the problem? Since it's such a miracle that we would not survive without it, you all should be fully prepared.”

  “That’s psychotic. These are your people. That didn’t change because of the loot in their bodies.”

  “Yes… It did. You are not people anymore. You’re not human. This is my church, and I will not house non-humans.”

  That was when the Fury appeared, with a vicious scream that reverberated all the way through to the bottom floor. Arthur didn’t falter, staring it right in its ugly, twisted face. Its blank black eyes stared back. “We’re not leaving,” T’balt said.

  “Then the humanists will be gone by tomorrow.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  Arthur didn’t say another word. He brushed past T’balt and the Fury, opening the door to his room. “Get out.” T’balt hesitated and realized staying would be a futile effort.

  The next day, Arthur was doing exactly as he had told. The humanists were gathering their things and gathering in the main hall. Of course, Ellie was incensed that this was happening, but whenever she asked what happened, T’balt stayed silent in his bubble, admitting that he had lost this iteration. Not to Monan but to his own camp, to Arthur’s conviction. There was nothing more he could do besides hold the humanists hostage, and he wasn’t going to stoop to that level.

  As the others gathered around the entrance, Acelin chased Genya around the basement playing a game of forced hide and seek that he was really tired of. She was so small she could squeeze into spaces too tight for him to reach. She seemed especially obsessed with vents. And every time he got close to her, he could hear her feet scurrying away before he even saw her.

  The kid really started to get on his nerves in all ways. She was always so happy and energetic. Acelin being tasked to watch her all day was a chore he never asked for.

  But Acelin finally caught up to her when she ran into the leg of a man upstairs—A man surrounded by a group of people out in front of the church doors. The man stared down at her with those pitying eyes, but the pity was coupled with scorn. She tried to apologize, but Acelin thought to run her out of the way before anything weird happened.

  “You have to be careful,” He told her. “Not everybody around here is trying to be your friend.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really. Geez. I don’t understand why T’balt makes me watch over you all the time. It's such a chore.”

  “Cuz you’re big brother.”

  “I’m not… its cuz he likes you more than me.”

  “He does.”

  “Why else would he take you out to the city instead of me? And he lets you have stupid powers and not me.”

  “It's not stupid.” She puffed her cheeks. “It's really cool. I can track any loot I want just by thinking about it.”

  “No, you can’t.”

  “Yeah, huh.”

  “Then prove it.”

  “Okay. Tell me what to find.”

  Acelin thought about it for a moment. Then he whipped out a notebook. Genya gasped.

  “That’s papas.”

  “Shhh.. I swiped it when he wasn’t looking. If you’re quiet, I’ll let you see what's inside.”

  He successfully bribed the girl, and they found a quiet corner away from the adults to flip through the weird drawings and funny sentences in T’balt’s notebook. He read through the constant pages describing all the different loot out there, fascinated by it all. “Neon, shadows, beast summons, weapon summons… living armor…It's all so cool.”

  “So cool,” Genya repeated.

  “Ah…” Acelin’s eyes lit up. “I want this one. Genya, can you find it?” He pointed to the book to the coin with the ouroboros printed on its side.

  “Lickity split,” she said. Her eyes did that glowing thing as she peered around the room as if she could see through walls. “I found it,” she said. “It's upstairs.”

  Acelin scoffed. “You liar. That’s just T’balt’s. I can’t take his. I knew this was a waste of time.”

  “There’s another one,” Genya said, eyes aimed elsewhere. Acelin unconsciously started following her when she ran outside, eyes red. And then she pointed at a neighborhood in the distance.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yep.”

  Acelin started to get excited. “I could be a Redeemer too. Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go.”

  “Wait up, big brother.”

  They both ran in the direction Genya pointed, having to dig a hole through the earth wall to get through. With all the people gathered at the front, there was no one watching, so they slipped through unnoticed.

  Acelin let Genya lead the way through the woods near the church. It was strangely empty of all wildlife, but Acelin remembered the hunting parties that would slay all the monsters roaming the area. This would be a breeze. He would just have to take the Redeemer loot from whatever monster was holding it. Then he’d be just as strong as T’balt if not even stronger.

  His excitement grew by the step. “Oh. It’s the same neighborhood as before.” Aceiln remembered. Where the earthquake happened, and where he saw those beasts attack those people.

  “It's over in here,” Genya said, leading him through a small hole in a house.

  “Wait up. Don’t go charging ahead.” He chased after her, getting on all fours to crawl into the space. Before she could go any further, he grabbed hold of her nightgown. “Slow down,” he whispered. “Something could be in there. We don’t want to scare it off.”

  “Oh, okay. Got it. Super quiet. Shhhh,” she said. Acelin took the lead, stepping quietly into the house, rounding corners, and watching every direction like they were waiting on a jumpscare.

  He heard someone. It sounded like they were crying, softly sobbing like they didn’t want anyone to see or hear. It was coming from the living room. Acelin inched over to see the man slumped over, holding a photo frame with water dripping onto it.

  He wanted to get a closer look, wondering if that was the one holding the Redeemer loot. Then his plans would be ruined. The only way to take a person’s loot, according to the book, was to kill them.

  But he should’ve known better than to try sneaking around with a seven-year-old. For seemingly no reason, she crashed into his leg, knocking them both over and marking a loud thud in the room.

  The man sprang from the couch, immediately seeing them. He charged over, eyeing them both with a seering intensity until he realized they were both children. “What are you two doing in my home?”

  “I’m sorry, Abbot Kilgrove.” Acelin bowed his head, knowing he was going to be in serious trouble. Apologizing was all he could do for both him and Genya. She bowed, too, and decided it’d be fun to imitate the motion.

  “You shouldn’t be here,” Kilgrove said. “Go back to the church now.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Acelin quickly gathered Genya to sneak back where they came, but when he did, there was another figure that loomed over them.

  “Who are you?” Arthur said.

  Monan looked over them. “Arthur. I told you I’d be back, didn’t I? It hurts my feelings when you don’t remember me.”