Chunks of meat clung to Zane.
An eyeball rolled towards him and stopped.
The body didn't shatter loudly.
It ruptured.
Skin split from inside.
Bone fragments struck the pews.
Blood sprayed upward and stained the sunbeams red.
The explosion echoed inside the walls of the church and the gold stained walls turned blood-streaked.
But a portion of the wall was clean.
This was the wall behind Zane as the gore meant for the wall, landed all on the young man.
Zane dripped flesh of the exploded man and apart from their insides, nothing was left to even identify the deceased.
Seeing death this close shook Zane. But he shivered at the dreading thought that this was meant for him.
So the first thought that came to his mind was…
It isn't over yet.
The attack was meant for him. But it failed.
And since it failed to do what it intended…
It would happen again.
Zane, covered in blood, jerked his head at the hollow-eyed man and in the pin drop silence…
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
The laughter of the man echoed.
The man went into a frenzy.
As if his bleeding hand didn't hurt him.
And as much as the current situation terrified Zane, he found one silver lining that made his breath easier to flow.
The Intent had vanished.
Why?
Zane didn't know the man but he did know how the eyes carrying death looked like.
And the way the man looked at Zane, it felt that he had held death hostage and would unleash it on Zane.
Zane's ears rang, sounds registering slower than normal as everything moved in slow motion for him.
The man laughing, the Wardens moving towards the man and the Priest jumping from his podium towards him with wide eyes.
The other Believers screamed and ran amok, but they didn't have the authority or permission to open the doors so they held a corner and waited for their rescue or deaths.
Not having the intent on him anymore, Zane grabbed the nearest seat and used that to stand up on his feet.
Things ran inside his mind but one thought screamed louder than anything else.
If I wasn't hit by him, I'd have been the meat on the floor.
Zane had seen violence.
He had seen death.
But not from this close.
Not a death like this.
And especially a death that was meant for him.
Zane stared at the lumps of meat lying on the floor with no expressions.
If he hadn't slammed me, I was dead.
Zane did a tiny bow to the lumps and as his heart calmed down, another question emerged.
Why did he come to me? He seemed shocked.
No one would come flying to someone for no reason.
Either he wanted to save me or…
Zane frowned.
Someone threw him at me.
He raised his head and when he saw the person in front of him, standing behind the visceral waste of organs…
His brows shot up.
It's him.
The man looked at Zane as well and he didn't look like he was in the mood of talking.
He had a question mark on his face and Zane was no better.
It was the same man whom Zane had bit in the Citadel.
The fact that he was also inside the church meant he followed Zane from the Citadel. Or though unlikely, he was simply here to pray and meeting Zane was just a coincidence.
But right now, every other believer was scared and were in the corner, only this man, the Wardens, Zane, the Priest and the laughing man was in the center.
That created the possibility in Zane's mind that it was this Commoner who threw that man at Zane, to save him or to make him owe him.
Zane swallowed and opened his mouth.
But before words could come out…
"HAHAHAHAHA!" The hollow-eyed man rang in laughter again. But this time, he finally used some words.
"Where is your First Flame now? Why didn't your benevolent orb of light save one of his believers? All of your beliefs are false. The First Flame is false. The history is false. That light is no God. The one true God is the Veil. And the Veil…"
The man spread his arms, and with his elated voice, he announced:
"The Veil will swallow your sun."
The man burst into laughter and his words, his words finally matched his actions.
The reason the intent vanished after killing one believer.
The reason the intent thickened when Zane praised the First Flame.
And the reason why Zane was chosen.
To send a message.
"Silence at once, demon!"
The Priest stepped down from the stage. His hands betrayed small shivers. Something in his eyes tightened.
The Wardens reached the man and held his hands and legs.
The man though, he only laughed.
"That's all you can do. Silence. You want to silence everyone so that they don't ask questions. You created your own God just to suit your beliefs. Just to protect your interests. Just to keep your damn job. Your First Flame protects the rifts? Then why couldn't he protect one poor weak Gutterborn. They would have been the easiest to protect.
But right under his nose, I killed one. In his own house, I killed his child. And if, if, if your God is as benevolent as you say, then I dare him…"
The man looked up, straight to the sun.
"Try forgiving me."
SLAP!
"You demonic entity!"
The Priest slapped the man.
The man laughed all the way.
The Commoner walked and stood beside Zane.
No one said anything and Zane looked at his own hands.
He was looking to kill anyone. Not particularly me. As long as they were Gutterborn, he was content.
Zane's hand trembled as one realization hit him in the ribs.
Iwas about to die for being a Gutterborn.
Just to prove his point, the man chose Zane as if that was all he was worth.
His eyes felt hot but he showed nothing on his face and watched the scene in front of him.
"Demon," The Priest said, clenching the man with his hairs. "You think I will not let the First Flame decide your fate? I do not need to dare him to forgive you. Because he will, for sure, decide if you are worthy of his forgiveness or not. You have sinned in the presence of his grace. You have killed in a holy sanctuary. I'll pray he doesn't grant you mercy, for I know he will grant it anyway."
The Priest let go of the man and muttered under his breath.
The next second, a silver staff manifested on his hand.
He then walked back to the stage and the Wardens brought the blood-curser on the stage and placed him in the center. They placed him on the Altar.
The Priest then raised his staff, after a second, he tapped it on the floor.
Nothing happened.
Zane waited for magic but nothing magical took place.
The hollow-eyed man laughed out loud again.
But then, the ceiling of the church moved.
Earlier, the clear sky was visible from inside the church, as the ceiling had vanished.
But now the ceiling was arriving again.
It slowly covered the church, the light of the sun falling on the church turned to darkness and as the Ceiling reached near the altar, it stopped.
Now only one beam of the sun lived inside the church and that beam fell on none other than the hollow-eyed man.
The sun beam stayed on the man and no one spoke anything.
The Priest continuously muttered under his breath and as time went on, Zane and everyone else noticed something.
The sun beam turned brighter and brighter by each passing second.
And by brighter, it also meant hotter.
The man laughed all the way.
"The Veil will swallow your sun!"
"The Veil will swallow your sun!"
"The Veil is the truth!"
"The Veil is God!"
The man hollered the praises of Veil and as his chants grew louder and louder, the sunlight turned orange, then red and then crimson.
As if angry. As if rage.
Then, slowly, everyone heard sounds of something falling.
TUP!
TUP!
They looked for the source and when they saw it, they gasped all at once.
The pieces of skin fell on the feet of the hollow-eyed man.
The pieces of skin from his face.
His face decomposed slowly and slowly.
His hairs disappeared by the sheer heat as white skull came into view.
"I.. I am joining the Veil. I am finally joining the Veil!"
The man laughed louder and louder.
The sunlight for the first time did not warm.
It judged.
The man's teeth soon turned to ashes and as his brain began to melt…
His eyes drooped at Zane, piercing his very soul and then with a teeth-less smile…
"Join the Veil."
BOOM!
The man exploded to bits.