Chapter 9: I'd trade a god for a dollar
He'd gotten stronger, and weaker as they had travelled through the castle. His legs felt strong, but also as if a strong wind could collapse him. With Lady Ava having vacated the front, the exact opposite of what he'd wanted, he had to change his plans.
He didn't need the gods to hear him louder. He was going to be loud enough. He had wanted to be sneaky, quiet, and discrete. Lady Ava had changed his plans. It was also harder for him to walk to the front of the temple compared to the back. For some reason the doorway wasn't at the halfway mark in the temple and leaned more towards the front of the temple. Where the other set of doors were, meaning the front and back of the temple were reversed.
What she considered the front was the back of the temple. But, that was where the glass was, and as well as several statues of what Cass assumed were the gods.
Cursing as quietly as he could under his breath, he waved off Sam, gesturing that he, Byron, and their guard friend remain in this area. Thankfully for Cass, Sam caught on to most things quite quickly, and he had the trio go and sit down while Cass braced himself. Slowly, painfully slowly, he made his way down the small aisle that was available to him before turning and heading towards the front of the temple. He heard Lady Ava gasp, but she didn't rush towards him.
At least she had some sense. There was a reason he wanted to be at the back. He was walking like there was something wrong with him, and it wasn't as if he could say there wasn't. Besides how ghostly pale and villain-coded he had been when he'd looked at Lord Blackburn in the mirror, he'd also had a huge mesh of fabric and cloth pressed against his head. He was injured, and for some reason, he had told Lady Fiona, his wife, that Lady Ava couldn't heal him.
Hopefully threat-uh, 'talking' to the gods would fix that bit of confusion.
Groaning as he sat down on the pew, Cass stared up at the giant, shadowed statues at the back of the temple. For some reason they looked like they were laughing at him. That annoyed him greatly but he reigned it in. Lady Ava was here, and likely, he would be blamed if anything happened to the statues in the temple.
Hell, he'd probably be blamed for anything that happened in this place.
Clenching his hand on his knee, Cass glanced down. How did one go about praying? Was there a way to do it? Should he...clasp his hands together or something? Fuck. He'd never been to a church in his life. His sister had tried, but it was the one thing he'd never let her influence him on.
Sighing, rolling his shoulders, he clasped his hands together and bowed his head. He closed his eyes, and tentatively tried to speak to the gods like this did in movies.
Uh, hello? I came to talk to you since I have some questions.
Cass felt like an idiot as he sat with his head bowed and heard nothing in response. Honestly, he would have even taken their damn laughter. Instead, he heard nothing.
Sighing, his fingers twitching as he held them clasped, he frowned deeply.
Hey. I'm serious. You promised to help me, and I haven't received that help.
He waited another long, few minutes before he felt anger well inside of him. He felt cheated. He felt angry. Why was it his job to even do this? They hadn't even signed a contract or anything like that. What was binding him to help these ungrateful degenerates? Who asked for 'specks of dust' to do their damn dirty work? Fuckers.
Throwing his hands down, he went to open his eyes and stand up when he came to a halt.
He was in the endless black expanse again.
"Such a rude way of speaking." The voice was genderless again and that only had Cass on high alert. This time Cass wasn't tied up so he could freely move. That meant he could walk, he could move, and he could look around. Too bad there wasn't anything to look at.
"Which one of you is it? The first one, or the last one?" He asked and the voice laughed.
"Cheeky cheeky. You're lucky I like you." The voice told him, and Cass had a feeling it was the last god. The first one didn't really like him. That was useless. He needed the first one, since it was that "god" who had promised him the help of his friend. The one who, he assumed, had killed him.
"Well, I don't like you. I don't even want to speak to you. I want to speak to the first one since they told me that the "god" responsible was going to give me a power to remember the story once I realised where I was."
"You already realise where you are?" The "god" sounded shocked. Stunned, even. Cass snorted.
"If it was any other sub genre, I'd probably have a hard time, but I'm not into reverse harems, not like my sister. I don't even like regular harems. I'm a one main couple for life kinda guy." Cass told the creature, snorting.
"So what is it then? Do you remember it completely?" The "god" sounded excited and Cass sniffed.
"Uh, I'm terrible with titles. I can tell you most of the major plot beats, all the characters, that kind of stuff, but the title? Not at all." Cass tried not to sound super dismissive, but he was having a hard time dealing with the anger he had worked himself into while waiting for them to respond.
"Oh shoot. You need to remember the title for it to work." Cass felt. He felt angry, he felt rage, he felt disappointment, and he also felt targeted. Cass began to move, pacing back and forth in a tight, aggressive oblong shape. It was nice to be able to move as quickly as he wanted, but that was the only pleasant feeling he had inside of him at the moment.
"Are you fucking kidding me? What do you mean I need the title? Do you even know how many books someone like me has read? That's unjust! I want my life back if this is how you are going to treat me. You "gods" are the ones who fucking took me too early so why do I have to deal with the consequences of your fucking actions? Do you have a public resources division? Or something like HR? I want to speak to a fucking manager."
"Hey, calm down! There is a way I can fix it. I made it, after all. Just...we don't need to get any higher ups involved in this." The voice sounded...scared. Alarmed. Cass was stunned that his threat had hit home. There was someone higher up than these "gods" he was talking to?
Why the fuck was he talking to them then? He should go straight for the source.
"Oh? Can you? Wait. Are you telling me your the fucker who killed me 30 years ahead of my time? And yet all you offered me was a fucked up system that I can't even use because of a stupid rule you made? When I can remember pretty much every unique thing about the story but the name? You fucking owe me." Cass spat. He glared at the space around him, halting in his pacing to cross his arms. "I think the reason you don't want me to go to the higher ups is because you're going to get in even bigger trouble, am I right?" Cass probed. He'd hit the nail on the head again.
A cold, chilly breeze blew through the darkened area.
"Do not get full of yourself. You are still just a speck of dust. A blink in my timeline." Cass snorted at the way the voice was so high handed.
"Yeah, a blink that is causing you problems. So fix it. You want me to do what you want me to, make sure to fulfill your half of the bargain. We didn't even sign a contract, yet you idiots think I'm going to do whatever you want? Because you're gods?" Cass tossed his head back and laughed. "Hilarious." A sigh could be heard echoing around Cass' head.
Another wave of air slammed into him, causing him to stumble.
"Fine. I'll fix it. Do you remember the ending?" The voice demanded grumpily and Cass snorted.
"Yeah. Because it fucking sucked. Lord Blackburn gets killed by the heroine with her holy sword. As he's dying he tells her that what he did wasn't even worth it. It didn't even work, and she sobs. The story basically finishes there, with a few wrap up moments about how the world ends shortly after that." Silence filled the darkness around him for a moment before the voice came back.
"You're right. Damn. I was hoping you didn't get it correct." Cass felt his face twist with anger at the "god" but they spoke again before he could fly into a rage. "I have changed the qualifying factor. You should remember everything now. Do not forget the warning my friend told you. Things will change, and I feel that they might have already." They sounded very serious, and that only made Cass laugh.
"Isn't that what you wanted me for? To change things?" He mocked, and the voice remained quiet for a long, long moment.
"We do want you to change things, but we aren't sure if even you will be enough. It's...crafty, what they've done this time. Do not think you are the first we've sent to try and fix this. Several different versions of this world exist. In all others, they have failed. You're just the next one to try." A shiver of fear and terror slid down Cass' back at those terrifying words. "We will uphold our end of this deal. Make no mistake, we have signed a deal. The mark should appear on your body within the next few weeks. No, I do not know where, but it usually is somewhere inconspicuous. You can ask Lady Ava about it." Cass furrowed his brows.
"Wait, is Lady Ava-"
"That's all the time we have before someone gets suspicious. Good luck, Caspian Spencer. You will need it." A cold, harsh wind blew and Cass closed his eyes. When he opened them again he was staring at the damn smiling statue of one of the gods.
Cass was really reconsidering if he cared about getting in trouble with the people here.
"Um, Lord Blackburn?" Cass jerked, not expecting a voice, let alone one that was so...feminine. It was hard to come back from that weird space. In fact, his head felt a little strange.
"Ah. Lady Ava. Is something the matter?" Cass turned to look at the woman. She seemed nervous, her big, brown eyes wide. They looked watery. Wet. Was she about to cry? Fuck. Did he have anything to do with that?
"Why didn't you ever tell me you could commune with the gods?" She asked, her voice quivering and Cass felt his eyes go wide. His hands went slack in his lap, and he sat up fully.
Wait, what did she mean by that?