Ready To Escape

Waking up and seeing an angry-looking bald, buff, and wrinkled old man stare me down, was not comfortable in the slightest.

Feeling provoked, I stared right back at him. A few moments of silence had passed when Richardson suddenly shook his head and started talking.

"You know, we severely underestimated you. I had thought something of that magnitude would get a reaction out of you, but never did I expect you to be that strong. You've been holding out on me."

Walking to the left side of the room right out of my line of sight, he came back with a chair and sat directly across from me.

"But, while I am upset I can tell from your eyes you are more or less still sane. So with a bet being what it is, I will answer three of your questions."

Staring at this man, and thinking about the thing he and all the priests transformed into last night, I started to smile. Some of the things I was clueless about before started to fall into place.

Ignoring Richardson's confused face I spoke, " Well I am honestly quite curious about why you and the priest here worship Asurath, what makes him so great? Is it the power he holds?"

Grinning widely, Richardson threw his hand in the air and started speaking with a tone filled with adoration.

"Power? Asurath is not just a god of power, he is a god of equality, equal in his care toward us all."

"He is a god of exchange, our scriptures state 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for life,' we serve him because, in an unfair world, Asurath promises what is equal and fair."

"..."

While this confirms some things for me, I needed more information, just a little more.

"That... that actually is amazing, Asurath seems to be a greater god than I thought."

"Yes he is, but I know that's not the knowledge you want to know, so ask your second question."

'It's not obvious, but he seems to be in a rush.'

"Alright, as for my second question, how long have I been confined?"

With his expression slowly darkening, I saw that he seemed reluctant to answer.

"Nine years and forty-three days."

'Not exactly what I had guessed, but it'll do.'

"What is your last question?"

"...How many like me have been captured by you?"

Leaning his head back I saw the annoyed expression from before slowly melt away and be replaced by a bliss-filled smile.

"There have been many people, both children, and adults, who have appeared claiming to have memories of another life. If I remember correctly, excluding you there were four hundred and eleven.

The first was around three hundred and twenty-four years ago, she was a wild little thing, killed five of my men before she was captured. Didn't stay captured for long though, killed herself within two days. After that, there was a steady increase in those who appeared after.

We tried recruiting them at first, but every one of them was too unpredictable. With most possessing strange knowledge or skills, they took to not following orders and attacking the church's members. So with no choice by order of Lord Asurath, I started to send my children and followers to hunt

them down, and for years we had been successful."

Shifting his gaze back to me, his smile morphed into an angry snarl.

"But recently, the last few of you to appear have attacked and gone too far! Almost every one of my children has died, leaving only little Astolf as my last son. If Lord Asurath wasn't so interested in breaking you, I would have had my fun and killed you long ago."

Standing up and gripping the back of the chair he continued talking before I could say a word.

"I have fulfilled the deal, so there will be no more questions, and unfortunately I have something to attend to so you just have a good rest for now."

Suddenly lifting the chair, Richardson slammed it down on top of my head knocking me out.

*****

Looking at the incapacitated boy, Richardson shook his head before leaving out the steel door.

Walking out Richardson saw his son waiting by the door.

"Has something happened for you to be here?"

Staring at his father, Astolf frowned and said, "Asurath has a message for you, it's in your chambers."

Concerned, Richardson glanced at Astolf before he sped down the halls to his chambers, all the while, thinking of his son.

Astolf had started off as the perfect successor. He was ruthless, calm, and cunning, perfect in every way Richardson could hope for, all except his lacking love for Asurath. Even his position in the church came from his blood ties with Richardson, and his achievements in hunting the reborn.

'I told him not to show his distaste on the outside, I'll need to disciple him when I get back.'

Reaching his chambers Richardson opened the door and saw the mirror he was given to communicate with Asurath was pitch black. Rushing to the mirror, Richardson heard his Lord speak.

"Have you broken him yet?"

"No, he's still holding out, but his mind is on the verge of collapse."

"Leave him to one of your subordinates for the next couple of days, Gefjun is trying to spread her believers again. Take a group to find and kill that bitches champion, I don't need her learning of what I'm doing."

"As you wish."

Seeing the mirror turn back to normal, Richardson left his chambers with a smile.

'Finally, something to give me a good stretch!'

*****

Back in the cell, the bleeding boy was already healed and was sitting in the chair with a smile.

'The hit with the chair was really not necessary.'

Glancing at the window at the top of my cell, I knew I had some time until I could execute my plan. Till then, I decided to review all I had learned.

As far as I could tell, based on the church and the surrounding town, it seemed I was in an area completely controlled by a minor god by the name of Asurath. From what I observed, his power relied on what he deemed fair exchange. Meaning all the supernatural things I have seen till now were traded for an equal exchange.

Thinking about the strange abilities of the priests, I guessed that was probably exchanged for absolute loyalty. My ability to heal when incapacitated was exchanged with the pain I suffered daily. And even the people of the town probably wanted something in exchange for reverence toward Asurath.

My guess was his power worked as long as the deal was announced. It seemed didn't matter if you agreed or not and that the conditions of the deal must be fulfilled by whoever lost. All the priests probably had a simpler version of this power restricting them and were quite reluctant to make deals knowing this.

Onto the reborn I was so curious about, they appeared to either be descendants who died and arrived before me or from what I could gather from the description of how they held enough power to kill the descendants of that monster, they weren't even human, to begin with.

'Well, I have all night to guess because starting tomorrow it will be an exciting day!'

Peering out the window at the curved moon, I started to laugh.

'Even the moon is happy for the next day.'

So, humming a random tune I made up, I rocked back and forth waiting with anticipation for the morning.