I am so pissed at Cy. Leaving me all alone, that bastard.
A flying knife sunk straight into Kat’s shoulder blade from behind. She winced and hesitated to yank it, afraid to burn her hands.
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It'll poison me if it stays in, though. I hate to think what that’d look like.
Kat ripped out the blade and sprinted away. Her fingertips and palms seared with pain, like she had just taken out a pot from the oven barehanded. In the corner of her eye, Whiskers sat perched on the Shrine’s top arch. As she climbed the staircase, she didn’t see the heads of any Soldiers or Cultists or Pirates or anyone else.
Why is this place empty?
She ascended the final steps, three at a time, and reached the third tier of Marina Veridia. Bodies of defeated and mostly unconscious Iron Maiden reinforcements laid scattered all around.
[Shrine Hunting — Quest Objective COMPLETED: Ascend the third tier of Marina Veridia.]
Worry not, dear Katarina. It is safe here.
“Wow, Whiskers,” she shouted back at the cat. “I didn’t know you had it in you. How’d you manage?”
“Pay attention, fool!”
Felix lunged at Kat and grabbed her arm, bare skin to bare skin. Kat placed her free hand on the puppet’s shoulder, which helped her twist her other arm free of his grasp. She ignored the pain and kicked him to the ground. The outline of Felix’s rotted handprint burned an imprint on Kat’s forearm.
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Kat sprinted for the Shrine. Whiskers rose when she approached, ready to drop down on her and enter together, but Kat couldn't wait and dove through the gate by herself.
Down, down, down she fell into the void alone.
Buildings came into view beneath her, and she continued to accelerate. Kat spread out her arms and legs out to slow down—she even spread her jacket, but she failed to decelerate. Kat crashed through the roof of a building and landed in a pile of rubble on the concrete floor.
“AAGGHH!! No no, please, Salvos no…”
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Kat writhed and shouted and whimpered in pain for some time.
She shifted a compound fracture in her femur back in place and focused all of her Regeneration's focus on it, prioritizing it even over her ribs, which had cracked and made breathing a complication of its own.
The Holy damage she'd endured slowed her Regeneration in general, and on top of that, she could only heal the injuries she sustained from landing in the Shrine, and not from her fight with Felix.
When Kat’s femur had healed well enough that she could move it, she curled up into a fetal position, still cradled by surrounding rocks and building materials.
Her ribs healed next. Then her broken fingers, and next her cracked teeth. After some time, she was whole again, except for Felix's lingering burn marks.
How long have I been here? Under normal circumstances I could heal this in forty, fifty minutes, but I think it’s been several hours…
Kat uncurled herself shifted to her butt, then stumbled to her feet. Her leg was fully healed, though still tender, and she focused on her ribs next. Better to have mobility and stability. I can move through chest pains, but even if I can breathe, a broken leg is a broken leg.
“Hello? Whiskers, Djinn? Anybody?” Nobody responded, including Felix.
I’ll take that win, though it feels hollow.
The dilapidated warehouse she found herself in leaked from its rusted roof, which now boasted a massive Kat-shaped hole in it. Rotted wooden pillars and beams barely kept the shit-hole standing. Sand and dirt covered parts of the floor. Weeds grew from the cracks in the concrete, and ivy laced up the inside of the walls. Fungus grew everywhere too. Kat could smell it surrounding her as she breathed it in. Hope that's not poisonous.
Empty vials of drugs and needles littered the floor, but Kat realized this was not a home for the homeless. This is a… Oh Salvos. This place is like one giant bathroom. She turned away and vomited onto the only table in the entire space. Her arms braced against the rough wooden surface. Claw marks carved into the table blended into what looked like a massive bite mark that had removed one of the its corners. Kat’s barf pooled inside the claw marks.
“This has got to be the shittiest Shrine of all time.”
A lone note, now stained and wet, rested on the table. It was the only evidence of someone else having ever been here—besides the drug paraphernalia. Its handwriting was hideous and full of misspellings.
[Shrine Rule: CHOOOSE ONE. ONLY GET ONE TRY. ONLY CORECT CHOICE LETS YOU LEEVE.]
“Great. Just my luck. Even the Djinn who wrote this is an illiterate—”
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
Kat spun about, but the sounds erupted all around. Each crash brought down another table that fell from the sky—and down through the roof—onto the concrete floor. Some landed upright, some sideways, others upside down. Most crumbled and splintered in two when they struck the ground.
Kat listlessly gazed at the scene. Her eyelids covered more than half of her eyes. Her shoulders dropped as she took in the marvelous spectacle.
“Splendid. This would happen to me. Now where the hell are the Vessels?”
Items rained down from the sky, and more holes punctured the roof. Most of the objects didn’t land anywhere near tables. They preferred landing amongst the mushrooms and needles and waste. Somehow, Kat’s frown deepened.
“OK. Now how do I know which—”
Another shower peppered down, this time of name placards with item descriptions on them. Kat’s spirit dropped with the placards. In some places, a Vessel would have two placards, in others, none. This is starting to feel personal.
“Not making it easy for me, you bastard. Anything else?”
CR-CRACK!
Thunder clapped above. Rain poured through the dozens of new holes in the roof. Streams of water mixed in with the mess. Kat noticed a few of the name placards landed on the edge of the roof and hadn’t fallen down.
Kat’s eyes twitched, and her frown reached a personal record.
“This is fine,” she said slowly. Kat took one step forward, toward the closest Vessel and placard. Cold water splashed between her toes. “Fucking Hell, really!? You took away my shoes, too?”
Kat tip-toed across the ground to avoid the cold, the grime, and the needles. This is clearly a test. Like the opposite of finding a needle in a haystack. Like finding a piece of hay in a needle-stack.
She surveyed the Vessels around her and took note of the more enticing options. Kat crossed those off her list immediately.
“I’m certain you'd want me to pick the worst item here,” she said to the sky. “Should be easy enough.”
I should organize the placards. It’d be best to avoid moving the objects. With my luck, the Djinn would mistake me moving a Vessel for choosing it. And if Kaizen was wrong about me, it may not be a Djinn in here…
This would be the first one I find. Kat crossed her arms and squatted down to study the silver compass.
“Judging from Jules' report, this has got to be what Maddie stole from us in Siren’s Cove.” Already taken, so probably not a good fit. Though it does seem a bit useless… She moved on to the next Vessel and placard set.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“A blind man’s cane. I hope I don’t lose my eyesight here. That’d be fitting, though.”
Next, Kat knelt down by a placard-less mirror. She hated the reflection she saw and quickly looked away. The distorted reflection was hideous, monstrous even, and gave her a strong sense of body dysmorphia. She was covered in green reptilian eyes, scales, and horns. I wish that had landed facedown. Hopefully I don’t have to look at that all the damn time.
“Armor cuirass—Boring. Hm, a blindfold…”
OK, I really hope I don’t go blind in here.
The next item intrigued her the most so far, an hourglass on its side.
“The Sands of Time,” she read from the placard.
Despite gravity, the sand still moved from one end of the bridge to the other.
The next item frightened her so much she didn’t dare read its name aloud.
The Grim Reaper… This looks like a weapon of death itself. She shied away to the next Vessel and tried to clear her mind and slow her heart rate.
Besides, Felix is fighting with a scythe. On a chain. How original.
“The Jagged Crown. Eh, royalty’s not for me. Next.”
The next few Vessels landed in a group, and though the placards were impossible to match, each was its own distinct mask.
“Metal mask: creepy. Demon mask: creepy. Oni mask: still creepy… But these fox and cat masks… Adorable.” She paused on the last two masks.
“I don’t know why, but for some reason, this one pisses me off.” She resisted the urge to kick the raven mask, but almost picked up the raccoon. “This feeling…”
Wait. Do I have a thing for raccoons? No way. Foxes, yeah, definitely. But raccoons? No way.
She forced herself to move on. “The Ax of Cold, now this, this is nice.”
She walked past a glass eye that sat in a puddle of filth. Ew, and creepy.
Kat found a stray placard and picked it up. “The Night Veil. Sounds plain enough, probably for me.” When she matched the placard to the Vessel, chills ran down her spine. Intense rage and anger filled her body with adrenaline as she got closer to the black scarf-looking thing. She hated it and wanted to destroy it, along with the other Vessels, so she moved away, but that undermining tinge of anger lingered with her.
“I doubt these are for me, as I don’t use much Magic.” A dozen or so crude wooden crests or badges, each carved with mystic Runes, laid scattered about. They looked like they were carved with claws. Or fangs. “I’m not sure what any of these mean, but I should be able to pick them up quickly with my Skills. But for some reason, I bet Cy would like that one.”
But still, this is my Shrine.
“The Sound of Fury—Ha!” Bitter humor transitioned to plain bitterness. Why would this place keep offering me Vessels that are already claimed?
Her brow furrowed. “Tensa.” Agh, this is Cy’s katana. Moving on.
Wait, these are like Jules’...
Kat searched all around for its placard. Must be on the roof. Who did Jules say he got these from? I’m not sure he ever said. I’ll have to ask him about it. She left the chakra beads untouched.
“All of the good ones are taken,” she muttered.
A sheath, seems pretty useless, probably a good choice for me. A palette—Ugh, obviously not mine.
The hell is this thing? It was made of iron or steel in the shape of a cherry blossom. It had a large rectangular hole in the center of it, like some sort of massive coin. Seems truly useless, likely the best option.
OK, now that coat is definitely Thorn's. Maybe I should take it, get some revenge… I wonder if it would steal his, or if there'd be two?
And here's a random placard, with nothing around. "Restock, huh?"
Kat leaned against the table and considered her choices. Of the ones I know aren’t taken, only the ax seems kinda cool. I wonder what it would be like to wield a powerful ax? The Painter only gave us Apprentice Rank weapons.
She limited her choices further. The cane, the blindfold, the eye, and the thing that looked like a coin. The first three have obvious setbacks, and I’m not sure what the coin does, so I guess that should be scratched off. I’d imagine I need some sort of immediate negative effect for it to be mine.
These remaining three have an obvious theme.
“What do you expect me to do,” she shouted, “sacrifice a part of myself?” She leaned against the original, central table. The downpour had cleansed it of her vomit by now. “Why can’t I have an easy choice like the others?”
And of course I’m the only one who can fuck things up. And no help—Even Jules had help from Wrath. She kicked the table away and split it in half.
“AHHHH!!” The shout came from above and grew louder.
A black blur crashed onto the floor where the table previously stood. Whiskers gasped heavily through broken ribs.
“Uaaghghaghgh.” He writhed inside a tiny impact crater.
“Whiskers!” Kat scooped him up and hugged him, much to the cat’s dismay. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry—”
Whiskers yelled incoherently. Kat pressed her palm to him to heal him faster with her own Ryoku. She'd recovered a massive amount while here, but used about a quarter of what she had.
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“Kat, he’s coming!” Whiskers shouted.
“Who?”
“Felix was right behind me—”
Kat leapt back, drew a dagger in one hand, and cradled Whiskers tightly, protectively in the other. Nothing happened.
“Uh, you sure?”
SMACK!
Felix splattered on the ground beside them. His body split apart at the golden seams. He didn’t groan or writhe like they did, and didn't make a crater. “Well. I don’t think he’ll be a problem now—Ah, shit."
Without a sound, Felix rose up and reassembled himself.
"Go heal.” Kat chucked her pussy aside.
“MRRROWW!”
Felix chased around a weak Kat. She was careful not to touch him or any of the Vessels surrounding her.
“Ooooh… What’s this we have here?” Whiskers inspected the cat mask.
“No!” Kat shouted. “Don’t touch anything. The Shrine might take that as my choice.”
“Your choice?”
Kat gasped—another knife stabbed her. She winced as she jumped around the warehouse.
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“Only get one choice to pick the right Vessel.”
“Did you try the worst one?”
“YES I THOUGHT ABOUT IT BUT THERE ARE THREE EQUALLY SHITTY OPTIONS YOU ANNOYING LITTLE—”
Felix brandished his scythe-and-chain again. Kat drew another dagger, but both of her weapons turned to sand and slipped through her fingertips—five of which were sliced off by Felix’s weapon. She howled. Pain burned deep down to her wrists, like a fast-acting venom, but it halted there.
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Fuck, that knife’s going to be hard to remove now, should have done it—
“Katarina, what are you wearing?” Kat looked down and saw a rucksack tunic in place of her Tailor-Forged armor. The scythe tip whistled toward her.
? Air ?
Kat crossed her hands to invoke the Rune and push Felix back, but nothing happened. The subtle nudge of a System Notification distracted her, and she took another blow. She crashed to the ground and nimbly avoided landing on the Sound of Fury. She opened the Notification.
[Your Skills are Locked.]
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OF COURSE THEY FUCKING ARE! Even the System here puts in the least amount of effort.
The temptation to grab the Sound and defend herself clouded Kat's mind. Instead, she leapt back to the hourglass. If I could turn back time, I could stop the damage—I could even change the fate of the battle, avoid landing on the beach…
She dodged the scythe blade again. She ran barefoot and stepped on used needles and soiled ground, just to stay alive and out of range. Her wounds and the needles stuck in her feet slowed her down, and the unsanitary water contaminated and seared her open sores.
Full of rage, her hair floated off of her shoulders, and her eyes turned a fierce emerald green. The Ax of Cold, I bet this’d slow that fucker down. She dove for it.
“No!” Whiskers shouted.
She landed beside it. Her hand hovered over it, but Whisker’s paw hovered above another Vessel.
“I’ll grab this mask before you touch that ax, Kat. I swear.”
More anger filled her, and another attack landed. Kat shrieked and rolled away from the ax. The scythe’s chains ensnared her and burned her through the flimsy tunic.
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“Katarina!”
“Damn you, Whiskers!” She looked up, devoid of hope, and gazed at the sky through the roof’s many holes. She saw the Black Veil at the edge of her periphery. That thing, it triggered my anger in the first place. What the hell is it? She had to know.
Kat reached out for it, anything to escape the pain, to end the madness here, even if it caused her death—
Whiskers dashed to her and sliced off all but one of her remaining fingers.
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Kat thrashed about. She tried to hold her wound, but just crammed her other stubby palm into it. Only one finger left. I wish it was a middle one you—
Whiskers spun around like a tornado and slashed his vicious claws through the chains that bound her. The Holy damage faded away, and her pain relieved slightly, though the lingering effects that prevented her Regeneration remained.
“You son of a—”
Kat paused when she saw Whiskers—her Familiar, her guide, her sworn guardian. His own front paws had melted half away. Clumps of missing fur exposed scabbed and boiling skin beneath. The charred smell of burnt hair filled the air.
That fearless son of a bitch limped over to Felix, to defend Kat to the very end.
“Whiskers—No!” Kat hobbled to her feet but slipped back down to the pain. One achilles heel was ripped, and her opposite thigh couldn’t support her weight. When she collapsed, her line of sight filled with her three final options: the cane, the eye, and the blindfold.
She felt Whiskers take blow after blow from Felix. No! I'm sure he can’t Regenerate now, either—
“Kat, I can’t keep this up for long. However, I will die trying!”
But you’d rather not, right—Make the choice. Kat dragged herself over to the Vessels with an elbow.
Cane, blindfold. Reminds me of someone I know…
The old man’s words filled her mind, a passing comment from their last night together, when they were beyond drunk, after they’d howled at the moon for the dozenth time: Don’t envy their lives. Or mine, for that matter.
If Jules’ and Cy’s, and Thorn’s and Maddie’s Vessels are here, then could these be…
No way. That can’t be.
A three-legged Whiskers darted through the air, but was struck by the scythe again. He landed on all threes, inches from the mirror.
If those are Vessels, then, does he choose to live in anonymity? Why wouldn’t he want the world to see his power?
Everyone’s looked down on him their whole lives. Including me at one point.
I thought the purpose of power was to be known, to flash it around. But if he’s right and I’m wrong, then the choice is easy.
I’ll hide it in plain sight.
Kat grabbed the glass eye. When the nubs of her fingers touched it, blinding light exploded from it and pushed everything around her backward, except Whiskers, who gravitated and accelerated back to her.
[You chose correctly. Hooray. You know what must now be done.]
Kat thought back to Cy’s Shrine, and what he'd endured to gain his power. I’m certain it was similar for Jules, considering how Coralhaven went. Did Maddie have to do something similar. And the blind beggar…?
She took a deep breath and accepted her fate. She held back a cry, and with her lone finger left intact, she dug out her left eye.
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