Galley’s Promise

A void… yawning, sucking… never satiated. A wound in what was real that drained into the unknown.

The blade hid in John’s inventory… and there he would keep it, unsure of what else he could possibly do with the wretched thing. The memory of using it twisted in his gut. He still could not recall its form when Yarrick wielded it… but he remembered the blade as he held it; he would never again forget.

“John! Are you alright?”

Tricia’s voice felt distant; John’s eyes squinted to make out the slow, lurching bodies around him through the haze of colors John couldn’t rightly describe. His Dream Sense, ambiguous a power as it was, as erratically as it chose to work, was now overloading his senses; coming into contact with that gash in space, or else with the workings of the Umbral Voice, had somehow poisoned his senses when he was meant to be immune. He thought to turn off this fog of creative energies that swirled about the giant chamber, now so terribly small as to feel oppressive, but he felt he could almost tell what they were trying to-

“John?”

Tricia’s hand came to rest on John’s face… and like a slicing, hurricane wind, that simple contact blasted apart the veil of meaningless energies and revealed, with beautiful clarity, the worried furrow in Tricia’s brow.

John scooped the girl in his arms and kissed her, kissed her madly, desperately… and then, eventually, lovingly. It was only when she craned her head backwards that he realized this was not the moment… though her flushed appearance told him it wasn’t entirely unwelcome.

Or perhaps that was embarrassment.

John looked around the room as faces ranged from concerned to almost snickering, schoolyard stares. Tricia cast her eyes to his chest as she stammered, “I-I’m glad you’re well, but public displays of affection… th-that is, I’m not entirely opposed… though the moment hardly…”

Ah. Embarrassment then. “Sorry,” John whispered, “I… just really needed that.”

“Well?” John glanced at Rave who was still smirking at the entire scene. “Did they work?”

Hear me sing.

John resisted the shudder as best he could. “Sort of… sort of.”

“Sort of? Was the Praxis weapon insufficient or-”

John rubbed Tricia’s arms before moving past her to address the room at large. “The weapons both worked.” I can’t tell them. “The gun blew right through the barrier…” What could I even tell them? “… and the sword is… it works.” John swept his arms up to bolster himself as much as it was to win the confidence of those hearing him. “We’re finally ready…to knock the Peak down and get out of here!”

A pause… and a whooping cheer soon rang through those present, bubbling first in the Bitter Nines and then slowly joined by the Order soldiers. Home… was closer! A single step closer, but such a step! The chamber walls would soon be replaced with whatever was to come… but it would be nearer still to finally returning to Earth. However mixed their ideas of that—of returning to Order scrutiny, or rebelling, or actively evading Order retribution—it was their true, natural home, and the hope of finally returning had the humans whipped into a frenzied cheer that surprised even some of the Bitter Nines.

Galley did not join them… nor did she even smile. John’s growing illusion of confidence came crashing into the real as he met her eyes… and saw, in that withering gaze, that hideous thing: doubt. Did she know? What did she know?

Collide and Tricia moved in unison to begin gearing up as planned; Yui, who had enough reservations about fighting to last an hour of complaint, did finally agree to at least support Tricia (in exchange for the inside story of a Gorbachev exile, once the dust had settled). Despite all that had come to pass, Penelope Gorbachev chose to remain with the former Order members… or perhaps it was more accurate to say that Penelope was rendered almost impotent in power following the loss of her Gorbachev Eyes. As before, she continued to just try and avoid being in the way.

The Bitter Nines, nearly ever-ready for combat, did little beyond wait on John and his coterie: Hurk strapped large, black-colored zeebok domes, complete with flattened studs, to the backs of his massive hands and wore straps of purple cloth against his hairy torso. Cidi remained dressed in the tight cloths her and Miles sported for infiltration, but now abandoned the human-like wig to let her bald, inhuman head stand out. Miles suited up the same, her hair glowing blue and gold as she stretched. There was perhaps no armor or equipment Golgon could wear without restricting his flight; the old Ootuk did not change into anything, wearing just his loincloth and magical bracer as he always did.

Tita, Fairy, Alysha, Greenpaw, Durr, the Mimic, Rosa, Yulie, Zalla, and Botuk. Of the summons he possessed, after disregarding those who had never tasted combat, didn’t want to help, or were too low-level, these were the ten he chose to summon… and their ****, too, was palpable.

“You would have us attack the Peak?!” Botuk’s fury was muted with a wave of John’s hand.

“We have no information, no great weapons, and so few runes… see reason, please, Master,” Zalla urged. “Though I… must admit, I just hope that more time or less help from us will ensure your failure…”

My orders keep them honest at least… and it’ll keep them fighting and supporting with their all. That’s all I really need of them. “This will be how you make amends.”

“Amends-?!”

“With the dead, yes… with every innocent you’ve killed personally or by your orders. I know you were under the Lawman Commandment… but that doesn’t apply anymore, yet you’re both so…” John’s withering gaze made both female Dorani wince in response, but he softened his tone as he whispered, “… unwilling to see the wrongs you’ve done. But at least this way, you’re making Vantage better.”

“By killing the pillar of our world,” Botuk almost wept.

“By saving your world from that pillar,” John corrected, “and tearing it down.”

“If I may ask,” Durr the Wise suddenly whispered, his voice low and conspiratorial, “Master?”

John nodded to the beast who, with glowing eyes in his large, gray face, still managed to somehow toss an embarrassed glance over to the Bitter Nines. “What is it?”

“That rather large-handed fellow over there…” John followed his sheepish finger-pointing to Hurk as Durr continued, “… would you know if he would be… open to new relations with an outsider… such as myself?”

A few beats passed… and only Alysha managed to remain stone-faced as realization washed over the circle of summons and John.

“You… are you asking if he’s… I-I don’t really… know…”

“I realize I’m likely to be kept busy, but those arms… and that fur...” Durr licked his lips in the manner that ogres often do, but that was no comfort to the revulsion in John’s stomach. He could hear the tongue’s creaking muscles as well as he did the slither of viscous, ogre spit upon it. “Even if he wasn’t, I can be very convincing-”

“WE-“ John almost screamed, surprising those nearby before he lowered his voice. “We’ll… see about some R&R for… you to ask him yourself.” John managed. The mental image of the malformed, hairy Hurk tossing in the hay with the hairless, hideous half-ogre before him refused to vacate the Gamer’s mind. “Let’s not speak of this until then… and I mean ask… as in, ask for consent. Not anything less than- look, we’re done talking about this.”

“You are kind indeed,” Durr offered before bowing his head.

“We face an unknown enemy with such disorganized ranks,” Alysha suddenly spat, “all while you have me here, unutilized until now. You would do well to pay me more heed; I might have managed to make something more functional of this disorganized bunch.”

“The little bug wants more time with the Master,” Tita’s warbling voice taunted, “and hides her breeding urge behind that mockery of warrior’s cant-”

“I shall not address the horror next to me, Master, unless you command it.”

“Then I command it, and I command you all to work together, to support one another, and to support and protect the lives of every human we’re taking into this fight. Protect the Bitter Nines…” <… unless one of them reveals themselves to be our enemy.> Those present understood John’s meaning; the spy remained unrevealed and, with luck, only happened to be Kitok the Noisy, still missing and silent.

Fairy contemplated those Bitter Nines along with the others… though not for the same reasons, nor did she watch any but Miles the Human.

Galley tightened bindings on her chest and wore pants fashioned from the damaged robe she wore earlier… and put her affairs on so quickly as to outpace any others who might approach John as he lectured his army of summons. At some point, be it by Violet-infused chemicals or some other means, she even managed to restore a slightly purplish shade of her signature mohawk; absent until now, it made her seem oddly whole.

John nodded at the Hound of Titus with an approving glance up and down her form; in lighter times, she might’ve even taken issue with it. “Galley, are you sure you want to-?”

“What did it do?” John flinched at her accusing question, but she pressed on, her eyes ever suspicious. “You left smelling like you always do…” Oversexed, but she didn’t want to be distracted from the topic at hand. “... and you came back…” She hesitated to complete her sentence.

“Changed?”

“Scared.” John almost wished he had been right. “It comes out of you whenever you talk about the sword.” She sniffed the air slightly. “… Geez, when anyone talks about the sword.”

John grimaced at the Hound… but he wasn’t sure how to answer that. Galley extended her hand towards him… her palm upward, empty… waiting to receive it. She would remove from John the awful burden of- “You’re crazy.”

She remained determined. “Hope… for a bit there, you really wanted me to take it. Now… you’re worried? Cripes… look. It’s a magical weapon… so maybe it won’t work if I use it. But that also means it can’t hurt me, now can it?”

John gave furtive glances about before hissing, “This isn’t… this isn’t just magic, it’s… it’s something else-!”

Galley’s eyes widened. “It… it really did hurt you.”

“Tch.” It would kill her. She’d misjudge it, or it would eat right through her because of how she is… and if it didn’t, would it even be a sword without doing… what it…? The colors at the edge of his sight began to pulse back into being; just remembering the sword’s nature, remembering its pull, began to blur the edges of his vision… no, not the edges…

… just everything except Galley. Suddenly, looking at her form, he realized he had again entered that spasm of perceiving the Dream… and it rose like smoke, it emanated from the floors and hung in the air like particles numbering in the billions. It wrapped around the silhouette of her body to form all the emotions and thoughts occupying this place…and Galley was simply not there.

The silhouette of a woman, defined not by her place in the Dream but because she displaced the Dream like a bulb of glass in smoke, reached a hand towards him… a sliver of nothingness, a void too deep, too familiar… A void… yawning, sucking… never satiated. A wound in what was real that drained into the unknown-

But so violently empty was this horror that any color at all, interceding, intervening, could shock John from his frozen terror. It was a hand… a hand of purple, no, of the violet light of John, suddenly reaching-

“My Master doesn’t want you to touch him.” John slowly turned as the Dream Sense faded… and revealed Alysha. It was her. It was her ebon hand gripping Galley’s wrist as she spoke.

Galley was not nearly as grateful for the intervention. “Are you threatening me?”

“I am bound to protect you… but I am bound first to protect my Master.” There was such strength in the dark elf’s voice as to convey… pride? John didn’t dare fantasize it… nor permit this to continue.

“Let her go, Alysha,” he commanded and, in an instant, was obeyed. The dark elf remained by his side, however, ahead of the other summons… ahead of any other who might have intervened. Why had only she stepped forward? I wasn’t actually in danger. I just… Hated the thought of Galley touching him. It was an ugly realization… something that stacked perfectly with what her description as a Soulless stated… with how the Order expats all kept their distance… with how everyone--save, for some reason, Woofroot--seemed intent on avoiding her.

Maybe I just saw… what everyone feels when she stays close for long enough.

“You’re not going to use the sword.” Galley didn’t ask; she simply knew.

John met her gaze angrily; the very thought of the alternative filled him with revulsion. “I’ll punch my way through pelos a hundred times before I do… I’ll drain every ounce of mana I can manage into that damned gun before I even think about it. I’d-” John stopped himself. He had revealed too much… and now, with all that had transpired, the two were finally drawing the attention of others.

“Then give it to me.”

“You’re hoping it won’t hurt you.”

“I could use a weapon…” She finally offered a smirk. “Besides, if it’s a weapon I can trick an enemy into killing himself with, then I can use it without using it, right?”

“Trick an…? These aren’t… you don’t even know what the Peak is going to be like!”

“Geez… just trust me on this, hmm?” On seeing John not budge, she shrugged and added, “If I promise not to use it unless I’m going to die anyways, will you give it up? It’s stupid to just not use something as strong as this.”

“Hey, what’s that about not using something?” Whatever the awkwardness of the others, Rave cut through it as she stepped near. Her “armor” remained unremarkable: bindings in white that fitted her body more relaxed than Galley’s and two zeetok bracers polished to mirror sheen on her forearms. If she had devised a means to use her powers of light with them, she had done so when John wasn’t around. “You’re not getting cold feet, are ya, Gamer?”

John glanced between the women, but he would not be distracted… not as the answer finally reached him in Galley’s stance. She was confident… too confident. She was forcing this strong stance as best she could… not to intimidate John, but to trick him. He narrowed his eyes at the taller woman. “You don’t know what it’ll do to you either… and you’re not sure you’d even risk it.” Galley’s eyes widened for the briefest flash… but not brief enough to escape John. “No, you would risk it… even knowing it could kill-”

“I’d risk it to save the people here.” Her arms crossed over her chest as she looked down her nose at him. “And I know I’d do it… just as well as I know you won’t.”

John’s teeth clenched… but not before Alysha again intervened. “My Master is no coward-”

She’s right.

Alysha’s words froze on her tongue, and her thoughts came too forcefully. <I have seen what you have faced… this is nothing compared->

You weren’t there… you didn’t see what I saw…!

<I did…> John’s eyes widened as he heard Lily’s voice… somber, soft, and silent until now, it suddenly filled him with panic. <I-I’m fine, my love, truly! I… I just… I know…>

<Then you are a coward?!>

I’m not a fool… or at least, I’m trying really hard not to be one. And this thing…

John’s hand didn’t raise with the Umbral Voice until it had materialized in his grasp. Even so, he did so slowly, finally asking, “Will you promise not to use it on the bridge barriers… and to only use it when it will save your life?”

Galley looked down at the sword, her eyes quivering. Was she wavering? If she was, she had quelled it as quickly as John had any notion of his ever drawing this terrible blade again. “If it’ll save my life? No.” John began to protest. “If it’ll save your life, or any life here… and maybe to save mine, too.”

“Isn’t… that the sword we need to cut open the doors leading up?”

“We won’t need it… not if I use everything I’ve got through that gun of mine.”

“And if that gets damaged, malfunctions, explodes, gets attacked… you know, any of the things likely to happen in the middle of a fight?”

“Then I’ll figure out another way up… but no matter what, we’re not using this.”

“You’re right about that,” Galley muttered as her grip overlapped John’s. He turned back up to her, almost startled at how sure her hold was… and how empty her flesh felt against his. “Even if it comes to that, we’re not using this.”