Penitent

Chapter 239 Book 4 Ch 20: Takers

For the first time in weeks, Michael fell into a dreamless and easy sleep. There were no images of Gabriel crying, visions of rifts releasing horrible abominations, or even whispers of the gods. Just pure and infinite blackness. He awoke in an unfamiliar cot with Ruin clasped in one hand and the shield right next to the bed with his armor. He was in what seemed to be a supply closet. There were no windows or doors; shelves held towel bins and buckets lined the walls. He didn't remember reaching this room specifically, nor did he really remember laying down to sleep at all. Next to the cot was a canteen and something wrapped in paper. He lifted the canteen, cooling the liquid inside with a quick spell, and drank deeply of it. After that he unwrapped the paper to find a sandwich which he ate slowly as he took stock.

His body was nearly fully restored after sleeping, only a small amount of lingering soreness in his legs from all of the running, and even that was fading. More important than that, his mind felt clearer. He might be able to handle being awake as long as he had physically, but the mental toll could be tremendous. It was as if someone had gone into his mind and cleared the cobwebs within it with a featherduster.

He finished eating his sandwich and washed it down with more water from the canteen. Once he was done he reached for his armor and it responded by wrapping back around him. He buckled Ruin back to his waist and carefully slung The Wall onto his back. After that he took a breath and stepped out of the room. He blinked as the light from a window hit him. Either he'd slept just a few hours or a full day. If it had been when he'd first arrived it would've been the former, but he was certain it was the latter. He missed sleeping for longer. When he was young the first time he'd thought of sleep as a waste of time, but he'd aged out of that by the time of his retirement. Taking a brief break from reality was a wonderful thing, something the mind and body needed.

He activated his Eyes of Love and followed the lines extending from him to Marcus and Pyotr. He passed by a few locals and a few takers as he did so. He ignored their looks of surprise, awe, and fear as he passed them, aside from offering a friendly smile in response. He reached a door where he could hear the loud sounds of conversation breaking through, and thought he could detect Marcus and Pyotr's voices among them.

He gently pushed open the door to find a large room filled with takers. He carefully made his way inside, trying not to draw too much attention to himself and crept along the edges of the room, just listening as he walked.

"-my daughter was an influencer, ugh. What kind of a job even is that?" remarked a toddler to an interested teenager.

"He reached a new form actually. Yeah, this time with blue hair, and after that he actually got one that's sometimes silver, and sometimes just his regular hair with kind of a silver outline," said a young man to an older woman leaning on a staff.

"-world war three? No. I mean, maybe since I've left, but I mean… I didn't really watch the news."

Michael couldn't help but smile a bit as he walked around them. It was the largest gathering of takers he'd seen since leaving the Academy so it made sense they'd all be talking about things on Earth, but it was still entertaining to hear it. There were some people doing it in the caravan on the way back to the capital, but he hadn't really been able to appreciate it due to his exhaustion. Aside from the people speaking in Hume, he also heard English, Spanish, Hindi, Mandarin, and some French as well as some languages he didn't recognize. There were more than a hundred people in the room from what he could tell, all from Earth.

He began to draw attention when he was about halfway to where I saw Pyotr dancing with another man while some people clapped around them, and Marcus who was teaching a few other men a card game he'd picked up when they were back in Swandia.

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When he actually reached them, the room had gone quiet. He could feel all of them staring at him. It made him feel a bit melancholy that his entrance had caused them to stop talking. He gave up on trying to reach Marcus and Pyotr first and created a barrier so that he could step up onto it and be seen by everyone.

"Good afternoon everyone," he said, his voice carrying easily over the now silent crowd. "I think you all know who I am now, but for those that don't I'm Michael, and I'm here to heal your brands." His eyes met a few of those he'd already healed. "I have already removed a number of them, but for those I haven't removed yet please get in a line so I can get started. I can heal injuries in a group, but for the Brands I need to do it one at a time. Got it?" There was no response. "I'll take that as a yes."

He stepped down and the first person approached him, a young woman with hollow eyes. He reached toward her and she flinched away for a moment.

"It's okay," he said softly. "I don't have to touch you to heal it."

She nodded and he began pushing out healing energy, carefully removing every trace of the brand until the back of her neck was cleared. While he was healing that, he also mended some damage to her joints as well as some internal damage and scarring. He could tell she had had a number of terrible experiences during her time in Stent.

Estaid when this is over keep her in my memory so I can see justice done in her name.

He felt the goddess' calm acknowledgement.

"The brand is gone," he said.

"Th-thank you," said the girl in English with a nod. With that she walked back to one of the beds where she laid down and curled up into a ball.

The rest of them went similarly. He healed not just the brand, but everything else he could detect the person was suffering from. He'd already known it was going to be rough, since he'd healed all of those he'd traveled to the capital with, but it was still painful. He could feel how much they'd suffered as he healed them. If the physical marks were this severe then those within were tremendous.

A young man, or at least someone in the body of one, turned around after he finished healing his brand.

"How is it that you can do that?" he asked.

"Its a blessing from the gods," he replied, gesturing for him to step to the side where he could still talk, but wouldn't be in the way of the next person in line.

The man frowned for some time. "There's only one God," he said. "And I wouldn't have made it through all I have without him."

Michael finished healing the brand of the person in front of him and looked at the man.

"God is just a word. If it makes it easier for you, you can just consider what I call the gods here to be highly advanced beings, or incredibly powerful magical creatures."

The man frowned at that.

"And I don't think they'll hate you for preserving your religion from Earth if it gives you strength. I'm sure you're not the first person who arrived here to do so."

Michael had this conversation with Pyotr a few times when he started his pilgrimage after they'd deserted. He personally thought the distinction between gods and creatures as powerful as gods was unnecessary, but that was his own belief. Not something he needed to bother others with.

"What if the gods here are like, aspects of God?"

Michael finished healing another brand.

"I'll be honest with you…"

"Ahmad."

"Ahmad. I'm usually too busy with healing, fighting, killing and surviving to consider things like that. All I will say is that the gods, as I refer to them, have given me the ability to help not only myself, but thousands of others. To me that makes them worth worshipping in and of itself. Worshipping them also strengthens them, and the barrier between this world and others. I'm tempted to lie to you and tell you that they're aspects of the God that you should worship just for that, but I'm not going to pretend like that's a truth I know. You're going to have to figure it out on your own."

Ahmad stood there for a few moments, then nodded and walked off with his face scrunched in contemplation.

Michael healed another of the brands, this time of a young man still wearing a Stent military uniform.

"You said the gods gave you powers?"

"Yes."

"What are their names?"

Michael paused. "Anyone else want to learn more about the gods?"

There were a number of nods and raised hands.

"Let me finish with everyone's brands, then I'll answer any questions you have." He hadn't thought other takers would be particularly receptive to conversion, but he supposed when the benefits were right in front of them curing their every ill, that changed things a bit.