Downtown Druid

Book 3 Chapter 52: Taste Despair

Argenta dodged the goldmask’s swing as she summoned a blade of black smoke into her hand. She swung the blade and the goldmask attempted to block it with his shield, but part of the sword she held turned to smoke, and it flew right through his shield, cutting a deep gorge across his chest. She dismissed that sword, and summoned a gauntlet into her hand that she slammed into the door in front of her, smashing it inward.

She hadn’t expected the Goldmasks, and that was foolish of her. She’d thought that the interior of the Rendhold would be safe once they eliminated Drake.

A bullet flew toward her, but hit only smoke as she moved toward the one who’d shot it, driving a misty blade through his throat once he reached him. She climbed the steps to her library. She should’ve stayed with the council to keep them safe, but she had other priorities she needed to attend to. She pushed open the door, and the smell of smoke and blood hit her like a carriage.

There were more than twenty corpses all around the library. That was an estimation of course, as most of them were in pieces. In the corner was a small billowing pile of black smoke, with only white scars across it that served as its eyes. She leaned down, and held out her hand, letting the smoke crawl into her palm.

“If you’re still here, I suppose they didn’t find the grimoire.”

“Unfortunately for me, they did not.”

“How did they beat you?”

“Godfrey himself came. The divinity that infuses him... I’m vulnerable to it, as you know.”

“Did they take her?”

Gren flickered a bit. “Yes. She was his target.”

Argenta began shimmering with tendrils of black smoke pouring from her. “Is she..?”

“No. He wanted her alive. He spared me to tell you to meet him at the front.”

The smokey aura that surrounded her ceased as she came into perfect clarity. “Let’s show him how foolish he was to leave you alive. “

Gren slid across her, his smoke slowly covering her body until her eyes were looking through the white scars of his face.

...

“Good. Your dogs weren’t able to keep their cool when I came for your bastard, and it didn’t go well for them.” He reached behind himself and tossed Zak and Dantes’s black hound’s head into the space between them.

Everything went red for Dantes for a moment, but he stayed completely still.

“Vera? Alessa?”

“Don’t worry, I let the whores live knowing they could do nothing to stop me.”

Jacopo kept his cool, and continued mending their Locus.

“What is the point of all of this?” asked Argenta. “How does this serve Greed? How does this help you? Rendhold is going to win the fight at this rate. Why are you even still here? To hurt us one last time? Are you so impractical?”

“It serves Greed many ways. I have deals with dozens on both sides. As they burn each other out, their souls get sent to greed much faster than they would’ve otherwise, and the aftermath of a conflict is also oh so full of opportunity. That’s not the only reason I do it, of course.”

“Your other patron,” said Dantes.

Godfrey smiled patronizingly. “Very good little rat! I see you remember our last conversation. Greed was the first to grant me his blessing, but I have another to whom I am beloved. Despair.” He took a deep breath, a black and gold aura seeming to emanate from him as he did so. “She gains no matter who wins and loses. The conqueror’s whose hopes are dashed would feed her, as would the defenders as their resistance is crushed. You fed me very well when you slew the Frasheid soldiers. So many had hoped to change their lives in this campaign.”

“Which one gets your soul in the end?” asked Dantes, his face stone and his golden stare unblinking. “I don’t know much about Despair, but I’d bet she’d save you from being forged into a coin by Greed only to let you fall to him at the last moment anyway and savor the look on your face as you fell.”

Godfrey’s smirk held, but his black eyes flickered gold for a moment. “The quality of my service means I won’t see death for a very long time. Especially after today.”

“You think they’ll give a damn about killing two children in front of their parents? They feed off that kind of loss every day,” said Argenta.

Godfrey laughed. “This is just for me. A nice little personal touch for my own amusement. The true despair will come after Rendhold thinks that it’s driven off the invasion, thinks it’s safe, only for me to end it. I’ll feed on the loss of Viscent, Frasheid, and Rendhold all at once. I’ll become more than I am now, the blessing I receive for this will be greater than anything anyone else has ever come close to.”

He smiled wide and golden.

“Now. Taste despair.” He threw Jacque from the side of the building.