Fractured God

“You can leave if you want,” Elizabeth said.

“Ugh, I'm not gonna let that thing ruin my comfort duties.” She said as she got up and went further back. There was a bookshelf back there so she wasn't hurting for options to spend her time.

The two walked up to the other two examining the body.

“He looks even paler,” Tina commented.

Before them was the body of Daniel. After being killed, his body remained the same. His hair was… not black actually.

“Did you do something to his body?” Elizabeth asked.

The two looked confused. “What might be the problem, Elizabeth?” Mr. Bentley asked.

“His hair was pitch black when we fought him.” She got closer and ran her hand through his hair. The majority of his hair was now blonde with, say, one in seven strands being black (Her estimation).

“Wait a minute you're right! What the hell did you guys do to him?”

“Shut up ya big bitch, we didn't so shit.” Furor responded.

Mr. Bentley placed a hand on Furor’s chest as he stepped forward. “As the boy said, we're not sure what the matter is. You said his hair was blonde right, Mr. Graham.”

“Call me Furor, you old bag of bones. But yeah, his hair was blonde.”

“It was however…” Elizabeth then explained in detail what happened to his body after they noticed the powder take effect on his body.

The only reason the topic of his hair colour hadn't come was because they wrapped his body before Furor had fully regained consciousness.

“Well, that's strange.” Mr. Bentley wondered aloud.

Elizabeth quickly gave him a look that said, “I know why but I'm not sure I should say it around them.” And the old man acted oblivious.

“Does his hair changing even matter?”

He lifted him by his hair and held him up in the air. The priest was stripped of his clothing, though the soot covering parts of his skin suggested they didn't clean him.

“Unless you're saying that bastard got swapped out with a body double that looked the same, and got his neck blown up in the same area, then that shit’s small fry. That fuck from the capital that likes playing with dead bodies can worry about that.”

“Nah, it's him, I can still see the remains of some of my spear strikes and even some burns,” Tina added, her gaze avoiding the lower area of his body.

“Indeed. And like Saito, his body is in great condition. I know the time is getting colder but it's nowhere near enough to keep a body in this condition for more than a week.” Elizabeth said.

“It's the powder that did this, correct?” Mr. Bentley asked as he felt the arm of the priest. It was supple and other than the lack of warmth, I felt like a regular person. But what stood out most to him was the lack of smell.

The only scents the body stank of were burnt flesh, sweat and blood.

“It's almost remarkable what this powder can do. Do you yet have a source for it?”

“No,” Elizabeth responded.

“I wonder if those crystals are related,” Furor said.

Mr. Bentley acted shocked. “Crystals you say? What is this about?”

Furor then explained to the best of his ability the crystals, though he expressed doubt throughout the explanation, wondering if it was sleight of hand or some other trick to try and bring him to their cause.

“Hah, what a strange fellow. If he wasn't a monster he'd be quite interesting to have a drink with.”

“You going senile, you old fuck?” Furor asked. “What good would listening to some loser's rambling, do you?”

“That's quite rude Mr. Graham. I'll have you know, I'd have likely had a best-selling novel with his ramblings. I can't think of a better fiction that'd attract as much attention. It has a new god on par with the four we know and it's a revenge story. I can imagine the scenes when they raid heaven with demons. The church would hate it but I can't imagine it wouldn't be a guilty pleasure of the general public.”

Turning his ideology into some trashy novel got a chuckle out of Tina.

“But I suppose that's all we can get out of this body for now. We'll have to wait until Cornelius is available to get further details.”

“By the way,” Elizabeth said. “Have you got any word back regarding Saito's body?”

“Other than his initial visit, I'm sorry to say, the man hasn't sent so much as a letter nor a cheque regarding him. I can only hope he hasn't gotten so engrossed he's forgotten about us. Now, Elizabeth there was something important I tasked you with during the mission, I'd like to discuss that with you upstairs.”

“Ah, right.”

The other two wondered what it was, but when she pulled out that letter that spat on all their efforts so far, they kept quiet and allowed her to follow him upstairs.

“I'm surprised you had the tact to stay silent about that.” Tina taunted.

“I'm surprised you left the job of telling him to Elizabeth.” He answered before heading for the door.

The moment he was handed the paper, he placed it down.

“Is that important?” He asked. He knew she wanted to discuss some matter in private but he didn't imagine it'd all be in a letter.

“It's about the man in black.”

“Hmm?” He looked unsure but the realisation soon hit him like a bag of bricks. “Right! What have you done with his body dear?”

She sighed deeply and pointed to the letter. Was it shame that made her hesitant to say what was on it?

He picked up the letter and read through the first few lines. The letter obscured his face but maybe that was for the best.

He soon placed it back down and rubbed his head.

“Thank you, Elizabeth. It seems we will have to have his funeral under more bitter circumstances.”

“I'm sorry for not getting the job done.”

He raised his hand.

“It's fine, honestly. That man will die eventually. And more importantly, there's no point delaying his funeral because of a man like that. Honestly, I'm thankful. If you killed him, each time we talked about Ezekiel’s funeral, we would have to deal with that man coming up in conversation as well.”

“I suppose that's one way to look at it,” Elizabeth answered. She couldn't hide her disappointment in herself. If only she wasn't caught off guard by his tactics, she wouldn't have to listen to this poor old man try to convince her this wasn't her fault.

“Now then, what did you actually want to talk about?” He asked with a renewed voice. He seemed refreshed in a sense. Maybe he was glad he could now bury his son.