T'balt sat outside by the car, thinking to himself.
"What did Monan mean by game then? Where is he? If he's going to come for me, then I'd wish he'd show himself already."
It would be far better than the insufferable waiting for him to strike. The one thing he knew about Monan was that he wasn't a liar. T'balt had no reason not to take his threat seriously.
When he awoke to this iteration, he expected a full-on fight. But maybe he was too callous in his thinking. Though Monan was drunk, he wasn't stupid. He always had a plan.
T'balt thought that since he wasn't here yet, he must've been preparing for a fight. He must've been collecting his loot. That was it. It took time to collect the loot needed. It took them a whole day to find the loot that Monan and T'balt used.
So that meant that T'balt should do the same if he was going to stand any chance.
"I like games. Who's Monan?"
T'balt looked up to see the young kid from the bridge standing on the roof of the truck above him. T'balt looked at his face upside down as the kid was snapping sparks out of his fingers.
He'd almost forgotten about him. They'd stop to pick him up on the way to the church. T'balt remembered him from those few iterations ago. Another victim of Monan's, but even worse, a victim of this new world.
He was barely a teenager, but already a master of the lightning loot.
It didn't take a lot to pull off in front of the bridge before the kid even got there. T'balt offered a hand to help, and he had no reason to refuse, not caring that T'balt was a stranger.
"What are you doing, Acelin?" T'balt asked.
"Waiting for you." Acelin jumped down off the truck, landing lightly on his feet. "You're the one that picked me up off the street, mister. I figured you'd take me somewhere fun. Not a church."
"I told you I'd take you somewhere safe. Not fun. Well, no telling how long it'll stay safe." T'balt crossed his arms.
"Is it because of Monan?" The kid didn't seem to have a filter.
"Mhmm…" And T'balt didn't mind that it was just a kid the way he spoke to him. "We have to prepare in case he comes." But he was more thinking out loud. He started heading for the woods.
"Are you following me?" He noticed Acelin trailing him, hands in pockets, acting conspicuously.
"What else am I supposed to do?"
"What I'm about to do isn't safe. It's nothing for a kid like you. Go back to the church and hang out till I get back."
"You're just gonna leave me with a bunch of strangers, mister?"
"You didn't seem too worried about that before."
"Well, that's because you're the stranger I wanted to follow."
"And why's that?"
"Cuz you're weird…"
"Oh, is that all?" Maybe he was weird, but the kid didn't have to be so blunt about it.
"So what are we doing? Hunting for some loot?"
"Loot? How did you know it was called that?" T'balt was sure he'd only ever heard a select few name that power. Usually, everyone at the church referred to the power as gifts. He looked at Acelin with a skeptical eye.
"Like a pirate, you know… argh and all that. That's what it looks like. I thought about calling it, dabloons or booty, but I'd probably get in trouble for that last one."
T'balt actually laughed at that. "Yeah. Loot's probably a better name. But uhh.. you haven't encountered a strange man with long dark hair, have you? A large number tattooed on his neck."
"That Monan?"
"Yeah." He kind of hated how perceptive the kid was.
"Hmm." He pretended to think. "Nope. Hey, mister, you think when you get your loot, we could play a game?"
"It's T'balt. Maybe if I get the time, but for now I should… look out!"
A large creature shot out of the bushes right at Acelin. The kid turned, and with a flash of light, the beast was downed. It wasn't until after that T'balt saw that it was the wolf with the speed loot. The kid was far too good with that loot. It was almost scary.
"Uhh… good job." T'balt gathered the loot. "Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring you along."
"Awesome," the kid said, clapping his hands and smiling as the sparks flew.
They spent a few hours out in the nearby woods. Along the way, T'balt realized this hunting party accomplished two things. Not only did it give them a valuable source of ammo, but it also cleared out all the immediate natural threats to the church.
Out there, they found everything they needed. Speed loot, reflex loot, fire, earth, wind. T'balt had even snagged a duffel bag from a nearby home to collect them all.
Not only could he arm himself, but also the others in the church. But this time, he would make sure most of them had the loot they needed to defend themselves.
So he and Acelin took the extra time to scout other beasts, to hunt a flurry of healing doves, and to find as many as they could before they ran out of gas. Though it seemed to take Acelin far longer. Even after four hours out there, he was making jokes and climbing trees. T'balt was envious of his energy, but eventually they had to stop and take everything back to home base.
T'balt always knew the first person he would gift some loot. There were so many injured downstairs, and the person he trusted the most at the church would need it to help them.
He presented the little coin-shaped parasite to her, but she was very anxious at its presence. "I think I'm okay."
He had to keep remembering that Ellie had never seen this before. Him or any of it. To her, it was just a strange divine power that couldn't be understood. The same was true for everyone else but him and Acelin. But it was times like these that made his redeeming powers more annoying than anything.
"It's okay," he explained. "It'll help you heal these people. Look, I'll show you."
T'balt threw his hand out at a nearby candle. Without touching it, the candle started to float in the air like it was being lifted by a ghost. The entire basement started to gasp in either shock or horror. Maybe both. But T'balt ignored them, only focused on Ellie, who was shocked, but more overwhelmed by her curiosity.
"It's a gift," he said.
Ellie still looked skeptical, but the other believers started telling her to do it. Saying it's a miracle. A gift from the divine. T'balt didn't bother to refute them. "Will it hurt?" she asked.
"It might feel weird for a moment, but it doesn't actually hurt."
She accepted it in her hand, but the thing immediately crawled up her arm like a spider and ducked under her autumn brown hair. She felt the cringe, and T'balt took her hand, placing it over a man's wounded arm. A cut, deep in his bicep.
"Now just think about repairing the arm and let the loot do all the work."
They both stared in anticipation of this so-called miracle. But the wound quickly began to close underneath that glowing smoke, and soon the man moved his arm like he had just grown a new one. "It's a miracle," the man said, and the other believers started repeating the sentiment. "Sir… you have been gifted the power of god," one said to him.
"No, that's not it.' T'balt tried to say, but the people were swarming in on him. Trying to touch him like they could be blessed along with him. They started calling him things like "chosen one", "prophet", "savior…"
"No. No. No."
They all bowed their heads like they were praying to him. It sent a panic through him, causing him to hyperventilate. A lack of air. Too much. It was all too much. He had to get out.
He forced his way through them with a tremble in his hands. "I'm not a prophet. I'm not like him." And he forced himself to a spot where he could breathe. Which turned out to be far from the church on the hill nearby, with a lone tree changing to its fall colors.
He didn't want to be a prophet. It was wrong to toy with these people's beliefs. He hated the thought of it. It was a mockery of their religion. He couldn't protect them. He wasn't a savior. If Monan showed up, there wouldn't be anything he could do, really.
But Monan still hadn't shown up yet. He started to think, what if he was crazy and Monan never came. It was just another one of his tricks to get inside T'balt's head. And it was working. He had done what he said, showed T'balt how to survive, and then just left him alone.
He sighed. Not knowing what to do if that were the case. Would he just keep surviving here, with these people who no longer knew who he was? What about Ellie, Chosa, and Acelin? What would happen to them? Would he be able to protect them, or would everyone just become more casualties of this new world?
"Ah, there you are." A middle-aged man walked up to him. Arthur Kilgrove. "A girl inside told me that your name was T'balt. Now, why does that sound familiar?"
For a second, there was a tiny bit of hope in his heart that the abbot had remembered him, even if it was just a little bit. But the excitement faded when he realized what he meant.
"Shakespeare," T'balt answered.
"Ahh.. so that's what it was."
"What did you want?"
"I heard about what happened and what you're able to do. I had to confirm for myself whether it's real or some trick."
"Mm."
"Truthfully, I wondered if it was real that god had blessed man with his holy touch."
"It's not. I'm not some prophet. I'm just a product of whatever ruined this world. It's the same power that created these beasts and killed so many."
The abbot grimaced. "You speak of the coins then."
"You know about them?"
"I've seen it with my own eyes. They come from those things when they die. They require killing to acquire…. They are not of god," he said, sitting next to him under the tree.
"Right." T'balt looked at him. It made him wonder how Monan made him believe he was a prophet in the first place.
"But even still. Now you have shown the power. And the believers clammer for it. A false hope… But still hope."
"What are you saying?"
"The responsibility of a church… I have found... is to keep its people at peace and to give them reason to have strength in trying times. In some cases, regardless of what that may mean. To maintain their moral compass so that anarchy does not consume us."
"How could you lead your people into believing something that you don't?"
"I don't know what's happening, son. I look around, and I'm dumbfounded by this new reality. But you… clearly know something. If I had to pick between the man who knows nothing and the man who knows something, I know which I'd choose."
"I'm not a leader."
"I'll provide everything. I've spent years collecting provisions for a situation… well, I can't say similar to this, but a situation where we can't rely on anyone but ourselves. Whatever it is you desire, I will give you if its within my power. All I need is for you to remain with us and protect us if you can."
"Protect you…"
"Yes. Is that a problem?"
"Yes. I mean no.. erm.." T'balt shot to his feet, gathering his thoughts and remembering. "There's an attack that will happen in a few weeks."
"What? What attack?"
"Bandits. They'll come, and they kill half of the believers."
"How do you know?"
"I've… I just do."
"I won't pretend to understand, but that's knowledge no mere man can know. The others might believe if you told them who you were."
T'balt sighed. But the man was right. Without Monan here, he was the only one who could protect them from the future. From Nrv and then from Monan if he ever decided to show. When that happened, they would have to listen to him. And if he was their savior, they would listen to his every word without question. He couldn't believe he was considering it. But it might've been the only way to save them all.
The abbot showed him to the upstairs bedroom all the way on the fourth floor. The same Monan occupied when he was the prophet. He almost couldn't take it.
"You can stay up here. There's a special room we have for special guests. It's all yours while you stay here... Oh, and I went ahead and invited your companion up here as well."
When they opened the door, Chosa was bathing in the bright red blankets of the king-size bed. T'balt didn't have any words. The abbot nodded and left them, continuing to his own quarters.
"T'balt isn't this great. Our own bed. I was afraid they'd have us sleeping on the floors like some homeless camp."
But he still couldn't look at her. Especially not here. It was his body's first time here, but the memories rushed him like a speeding truck.
"T'balt the prophet." She smiled. "Why don't you come to bed? I can run a bath for you if you want."
"I think I'll sleep downstairs." He left her without saying another thing. He felt awful, knowing this Chosa was thus uncorrupted. But he still couldn't trust her. She still said those awful things and tossed him away like garbage. He preferred to sleep down with the homeless.