The Deadman

Terrace and colosseum–like backdrops with an old-world setting. There was outdoor seating. Inside is a fireplace and live music. The onsite bar and the family-friendly atmosphere is quite relaxing.

Coffee and a plate of fries and chips dipped into a condiment. It was lively. The music. The people were rather friendly. Except for the sign that said they did not allow individuals with 80 percent of their bodies augmented for some reason. It says on the sign just next to the door.

“Here’s your gnocchi with cheese and tartufo, Miss.”

“Thanks.”

Valerie pokes the food with her fork, taking it in her mouth. She looks up. Kato’s staring at him with a fry stuck in his mouth.

“What?”

“Guess you know already. Explains the cross.”

A cross is hanging around her neck. It is a cross with embroidered pattern and the chain is silvered. Kato can feel some sort of blessing, like a trinket and a charm in the form of a holy symbol.

“When you learn that there’s a guy that can use flames to banish demons and then the person you looked up to explaining that Y2K ended the dominance of magic — leading to this era where science is God, but actually God exists and that my actions might send me to hell where demons are found? Yeah, I think I might start believing in one — I did believe. Just didn’t think of it deeply until now.”

She speaks nervously with a strange assured tone of voice. She relaxes, body slightly tilted, and eats her food while eyes going to the backdrop.

“I guess even this city changes.”

“Not a lot of devotees. The Church has been losing its power since the 2020’s and turning into a machine has made everyone think they are superior. Why pray to God when you are God?”

“I don’t understand the trends.”

“It’s even worse now that life-extending implants are a thing. Expensive, but somewhat reliable in a sense that it allows you to live long.”

“Planning to get a juvenants?”

“Maybe one day. Cognitive decline doesn’t start until 60 so I’m good.”

“Now that I think about it. You fight well despite your lack of augmentation.”

“I do have bioware, but I prefer wearing my augments outside, not inside.”

Kato takes a sip of his coffee and inhales the aroma. It was actually coffee, not powdered, but grinded beans. It’s superior to the beans Julie makes coffee with. Expensive and tasty coffee beans have milk on them.

“This place’s peaceful. If you ignore the fact that there are many people here that can wield supernatural powers and a man with a flaming sword.”

“I think I might just pretend that what they do is sufficiently advanced technology.”

“Take your time. I doubt you can get away from this side of the world now, Val.”

She purses her lips. Her shoulder loosened before she took a mouthful of water.

“Someone has to do the job. It’s all the same to me. Whether it’s guns or spells, if I get hit badly I’d die.”

“One way to look at it.”

After eating the meal, Kato followed the guide that took them underground, down to old ruins that exist. Protected with certain illusions disrupts the sense of direction of the owner.

Domains are stronger than sanctuaries. In this domain, those who have faith are much stronger. He followed the guide until they entered a tall corridor with a high ceiling. The walls are new. No, it only looked new.

Kato looks back. He found the charm Valerie is wearing light up as if it is repelling the darkness around her. The guide stops moving, his eyes on the cross before nodding.

“You okay?” He produces a seal to protect Valerie.

She stares at the runes Kato drew and mutters in disbelief again.

“It’s strange no matter how I see it.”

“Well, you have sufficiently advanced tech do similar things if dedicated.  I think it’s best to explain magic as a reaction of a biological machine when it has the right fuel and components to produce a reaction.”

She meets her brows. “That does not explain anything. I can understand if it’s elements, but all of this does not make sense to me.”

Kato cups his chin while gesturing to the guide. “Think of it as many arts. Tell me, do you know how to make a plasma TV?”

“Obviously, no.”

“Now think about it, Val. We have many practices. Many crafts and methods on how to craft said crafts. I might know how to create a makeshift gun, jury-rig a power armor, and a lot of things, but there are limits to what we know. Can you confidently say you’d know how it’s done?”

“I’ll give you that.”

“They call it Magi-Science now. As you know, Tech triumphs over Magic, and because of how limited Magic has become. They have to get creative. Just like the artifact you’re wearing.”

“Hmm, you know a lot.”

“Not really. It’s more that they fed me a potion of enlightenment once and practically shoved hundreds of knowledge inside someone’s head. Doing so cuts off your path of magic.”

“So you were an Enforcer… a magical one. I’d call you a loon if it weren’t Mr. Strato telling me.”

Valerie is trusted by Strato. Among the people Strato has employed, she’s the one that he had decided to tell. It was quite a ride seeing her learn about all the matters. She has a repository of all she needed to know in her datajack and although still questioning. She is fast to adapt and has been doing well. In anycase, it was good to have someone who can assist him and he felt that Valerie’s more suited in regards to handling the matters concerning this side of the world. In a way, she did once think that this side’s all technology and it’s only after a full introduction that she accepted them truly.

And for a woman who just found out that demons  exist. She’s steady. Or that she’s coping by praying to God.

The guide took them to this chamber with a rather ethereal glow. A monk priest, complete with brown garb, and golden rope around their waist. He raises a palm to stop Valerie.

“The Lady must wait. You may come in, Magus.”

“Don’t think I’m one, but I guess there’s no choice,” Kato turns around. “You should stay. The person of interest… he’s quite pressuring. And no amount of mental will can overcome the power of his soul.”

“I get your point.”

She stands and crosses her arms. The monk bows his head and lets Kato in this sanctuary. Not far from the door, on short steps, lies a man sitting on a wooden throne, wrapped in this splendid aura that gives off warmth.

“I remember you.”

The voice said with incredible difficulty. Kato takes a step forward and finds the one glorious wrinkled and aged.

“Sir Hawke,” Kato bows his head and puts a palm on his heart. “It’s an honor to see you again, I’m Robert Oswald, though as of late I am considering using the name Kato Lores.”

“A man with two names. I remember you, the man who heard Marba’s words and lived. You have not aged. No, if my eyes are still working fine, you have the appearance of a man of his prime, but the newness of an infant.”

The sword that is stabbed in the sheath sparks with flame.

“I do not smell the taint of a demon.  Nor the manipulation of an Arch. However, I can tell that it is an outsider that has helped you.”

“Outsider?”

“Beings, travelers that have come and gone. They are sad creatures, traveling worlds, but unable to leave.  I have thought that you were one… but you are anchored into this plane of existence.”

Kato swallows. “This is something.”

“We borrow wisdom and power from beyond. I call forth the flaming sword of God and I draw power from heaven. We need to be charged, like those electrical boxes. It is the same concept.”

Kato felt like there’s a greater explanation. And the Sir was sparing him from the efforts. Or was it simply the call of time clawing him?

“Forgive me, how old are you?”

He smiles. “I was eighteen when I fought in the last battle of the Maid of the Orleans. I was twenty-one when I saw La pucelle burn on the stake. I was there when I saw the woman who I’ve dreamed of protecting die. It is a funny story really. It was Sir Étienne who had stopped me from rescuing her. Told me that it was her wish. To die and go to God.”

Kato raised his brow. Sir Hawke observes him and laughs slightly.

“Ah, perhaps you are unfamiliar with La Pucelle. It has been so long… I was there when the first steam train traveled. I rode it in fact. I was there when the metal birds started flying. I witnessed the first step of a man on the moon. I saw many things. I saw great things. And now the people of the world now dares to take to the stars.”

A fleeting memory. A man so old that it made him wonder how he could remain alive despite the flow of time.

“Are you the oldest, Sir?”

“No. I believe that we have one of the followers who saw St. Peter makes Simon the Magus fall, still alive and breathing. Though the flow of time has made him… unstable. He only wakes up when the Church needs him. There was also one of the priests who participated in the Council of Nicea, but he has been locked in his vault to copy the old manuscripts that we have saved from the Library of Alexandria.”

“I see.”

“I think that you know so little of history, Robert Oswald.”

“That I do.”

Sir Hawke adjusts himself on his wooden throne.

“Forgive me, the fight of demons has drained me of my power. As you know, it is not easy to stitch the weaves that the Lady of Wisteria have caused and slay demons.”

Kato squeezed his eyes and found a great wound across the chest of the Sir.

“Demons are cunning creatures and I have overestimated my age. I really am old.”

Kato spreads his all-sense to look deeply. The wound was simply horrendous. How the Sir’s alive. How he’s breathing despite the chronic wound surprised Kato.

“I called you here because our friends told me that you have made progress.”

“I didn’t think that Uncle Sam’s friends with the church?”

“They are useful. And they are our greatest customers. A shame that they have little interest in the worship of our Merciful Lord and Saviour. However, I am not here to speak of gathering followers. I called you here because I would need your testimony. I will say this first. Sir Strato did not speak even when our Inquisitors dared to stab his soul. And your appearance here confirms my theory that you were revived and thus survived the encounter. How your flesh is formed is of no interest to me. I want your opinion.”

“Do you think that the Lady tried to inflict harm on the world?”

Kato went silent. He looks down. He squares his shoulder and loosens his fingers.

“I cannot answer that. It is impossible for me to judge her motives… but I don’t think she intends to harm the world.”

“She is not reckless. Lady Silva is a woman of reason. A great innovator, and yet she has also made a lot of enemies.”

“I don’t understand.”

“She is a harbinger of change. She has enough knowledge in her head that killing her will cost the world more. It also doesn’t help that throughout the years she has made a family of fanatics. Loyal children who would burn this world if their Dear Mother who has rescued them dies. Lawyers to politicians to even tech-companies and mercenary outfits. She has her failings, but her patience, determination and wit has made her… dangerous.”

“It’s insane to think someone like that exists.”

“Some believe she is a reincarnation of a great figure. Of course, I have seen greater men and women that have burned before they could have influenced the world. She is simply one of the few that survived and was able to spread her wings.”

The Sir pauses.

“Status. Power. Achievements. She has it all. However, when you summon the demons into the world. That trust and respect is easy to lose.”

Power burns.

“You will recall everything that you’ve seen. And you shall spectate as we judge her.”

Kato knew that he had no choice but to recall thoroughly.

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