Fractured God

After several minutes of casual conversation, mostly focused on Elizabeth's wounds, she looked back towards the entrance of the room.

“Even after seeing that letter, I'm not sure I'm fully convinced that the bastard isn't here. Did they mention a specific location they were exploring?” She asked.

“Nope, after seeing that letter combined with the fact there wasn't anyone on any floor other than the second, made it seem pretty safe to explore. Ignoring traps and stuff.” Lily answered.

“Plus, Tibaut lent them one of those pale women,” Lily answered.

“I feel like I've ignored this for long enough,” Elizabeth said.

Tibaut sat on an adjacent pillar, seemingly overwhelmed. One of the pale women lay against his shoulder while the other rested in his lap.

“What is your relation with those women Tibaut?” Elizabeth asked.

“Ugh, he didn't tell you? I swear this, if I was half as careless as him, I'd have died years ago.” Tina bitterly commented.

“Hmm?” Elizabeth responded.

Tibaut sat there, looking unsure of what they were talking about until seemingly being hit by an epiphany.

“(Ugh, I didn't say anything to Elizabeth about them, did I? Shit, I suppose there isn't anything wrong with telling her the truth but I already made up something so the rest of them wouldn't find me suspicious. I mean, to be fair though it's not like I know why they're so cool with me.)”

His silence definitely left the group to linger in their thoughts for far too long but he soon spoke up.

“I suppose there isn't anything wrong with telling the truth here.” He quietly muttered.

“What do you mean by that?” Tina asked.

“Wait, so you didn't actually eat any of the powder?”

“He what?” Elizabeth exclaimed. She got to her feet and walked over to him. “Is that true?”

Tibaut raised his hand and stopped her. “C-chill out that was something I said so Ruby wouldn't find me too suspicious. (I mean, ugh, Lily's here as well but, Vanessa trusts her and they seem pretty close as well, so it should be fine if she hears it too.) The real reason is-”

The girls listened with keen ears and waited for his next words.

“I don't know.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

They all (excluding Lily, she looked more stunned than anything) gave him harsh glances, and he couldn't blame them.

“Oh, come on, I'm as clueless as you guys, no matter how hard you stare at me, the answer remains the same.”

Elizabeth limped back to pillar and Tina whispered in his ears.

“You know I heard Kevin say he found him-”

“That has nothing to do with that!! I swear I don't know why they're docile around me!!”

The others came back to find Tibaut sobbing in the lap of one of the pale women.

“What a catch, Lizzy,” Ruby commented on seeing him. She didn't even seem surprised to see Elizabeth awake. “I wish I had such a cute guy that'd cry for me whenever I get injured.” She said as she eyed Tibaut.

“What? Babe, I swear on my life that I was in tears after that bit-” He noticed the pale woman in the room and changed his tone. “After we had that misunderstanding with the-”

“Nigel, I'm talking to Lizzy here. I don't butt into your conversations, so don't butt into mine.” She firmly responded. She spoke in the same way she did to Tibaut after he defeated the priest. Whether this was how she spoke or an intimidation tactic was a secret.

“My bad.” He said before looking away.

She sighed and noticed Tina get up.

“I'm gonna go to the first floor to get some air.”

Kevin was making his way to Tibaut but Tina grabbed his hand away.

“Um, Tina?”

“You have a good memory, right? Then lead me out of this place.”

He looked around the room and no one seemed to have any complaints.

Ruby grabbed her shoulder as she passed. Tina rolled her eyes before turning to her.

Ruby pulled something from her chest. It was a folded piece of paper. “We need him. Take this map instead.”

Tina let go of his hand and scoffed as she grabbed the map out of her hand.

She pulled a torch off a nearby wall and started walking down the hallway that led outside the room.

Kevin breathed a sigh of relief and made his way back over to Tibaut.

“Ugh, now my train of thought is all off. Anyway, it's good to see you healthy, Elizabeth.” Ruby said.

She walked over and bent to her ear. “If you want some alone time between you and your little knight then I'm-”

“There is nothing between us, get that through your skull woman.”

“Right, whatever you say!” She said with a grin. “In more pressing matters, we've been going through this place with Kevin and honestly, there isn't anything special about this place other than the drawings. I mean it has some ancient language in some places but other than that nothing. This place by itself is a bust. But I'm curious to hear what you're thinking.”

“Mr. Bentley said this place was found in an encyclopaedia concerning the original church correct? Then whatever valuables it held has long been plundered or destroyed. I can't imagine it would have gone abandoned if it had something of value to the church, so I don't imagine we'd be spending our time well staying here.”

“Honestly, I was thinking the same. We're better off going home and telling some exploration team about this place. Or maybe those archaeologists would find something useful.” Ruby said as she took the now abandoned spot of Tina.

“I don't think there's any harm in another day or so of exploration, but after that, we leave,” Elizabeth added. She didn't believe anything was here but she'd feel foolish leaving somewhere they inhabited so quickly.

“Honestly, I was ready to walk back to the caravan site,” Ruby responded, giving a light yawn at the end of the statement.