Chapter 9: Halo

Dagna turned to face the crowd and started barking out orders like she had been waiting years for the chance.

"Bring every drop of lamp oil in this town to the chapel," Dagna said. "Get your long hooks and your gaff poles. Drag the boats up onto land. And nobody touches the water. Got it?"

Everyone scattered to do what she said, and for the first time since they had arrived, the town actually felt alive.

Dagna looked Kai over from his messy hair down to his bare feet.

"You need clothes," Dagna said.

"I feel like I’m always going to need clothes," Kai said.

"Follow me," Dagna said.

She led him to a little gray house at the edge of the docks with a black cloth on the door that looked newer than all the others, and she stared at it for a long moment before opening the door.

Inside, Dagna went straight to a chest at the foot of the bed and pulled out a pair of pants, a white shirt, a wool vest, and an old pair of boots.

"These belonged to my brother, Tam," Dagna said. "He went out to check his eel traps three weeks ago. We found his boat, but we never found him."

"I can’t wear these," Kai said.

"Yes, you can, and you will," Dagna said. "You’re going to kill whatever killed him, and he would want you to."

She held the pants up against Kai’s waist and frowned.

"These will be too long," Dagna said. "Hold still."

Dagna knelt down and rolled up the cuffs, and then she pulled a piece of string out of her pocket and started measuring his legs. She slid her hand right up Kai’s inner thigh without missing a beat, and Kai didn’t dare move an inch.

[Your heart rate is increasing]

"She’s measuring my legs," Kai whispered.

[Her heart rate is also increasing. She is doing more than measuring]

Dagna stood and tied off the string, looking him dead in the eyes, and while her expression didn’t change, the corner of her mouth twitched.

"My brother was bigger than you," Dagna said. "I’ll take these in at the waist. Take your clothes off."

"All of my clothes?" Kai asked.

"Just the apron. You can keep the rest," Dagna said. "I’ve already seen your tacos. Everyone in this town has seen your tacos."

"That’s fair," Kai said.

When Dagna was finished, Kai was wearing normal clothes for the first time since arriving in Veyrath. Everything fit, the vest smelled like campfire smoke and the sea, and Kai honestly felt like a new man.

"You look like a fisherman," Dagna said.

"Is that a good thing?" Kai asked.

"It’s better than being a heretic in an apron," Dagna said.

Kai found Mira waiting outside the chapel in a blue fisherwoman’s dress with the sleeves rolled to her elbows, her silver hair braided over one shoulder, and boots that actually fit. She looked like she had belonged in this town her whole life.

Kai came to a stop in front of her, and Mira looked down at his pants.

"You have pants," Mira said.

"Yes, I do," Kai said.

"That’s nice," Mira said, though she didn’t sound like she thought it was nice at all.

[Faith lost. Mira Vallen: -1%.]

[Your tacos had a lot to do with that]

"Are you kidding me right now?" Kai whispered.

[I do not make jokes]

"You look nice," Kai told Mira.

Mira’s cheeks turned a faint shade of pink.

"Widow Hesk gave me this dress," Mira said. "It belonged to her daughter, who wore it until she left to marry a man down the river."

"It looks nice on you," Kai said.

"That’s what you said about Garrick’s shirt," Mira said.

"It looked nice on you too," Kai said.

[Faith gained. Mira Vallen: +1%.]

[Compliments are a lot like glamour, except they are true]

At sunset, the town gathered in the chapel, a simple wooden church with a few benches, a golden sun painted on the front wall, and a bowl of holy water with a fish swimming in it.

Kai took a seat in the front row, right under the Radiant Mother’s sun, which he thought was pretty ironic.

A dozen villagers sat around them, including Harl and Bram with their matching beards, old Tobin, who had fished for sixty years, and a young woman named Wren who couldn’t stop staring at Garrick’s hammer.

"Syraphim, how many points do I have?" Kai whispered.

[They have faith in you, but not very much. There are a lot of them, though. You have 6 divinity points, and new skills can be unlocked]

"Show me," Kai whispered.

Golden text appeared in front of Kai that only he could see.

[Minor Ward (2 points): Creates a ward around one person that can block one hit.]

[Minor Smite (3 points): Unleashes a small burst of force from your hand. Effective against creatures of the dark.]

[Minor Voice (1 point): Allows you to speak to everyone who has faith in you.]

"Smite," Kai whispered. "I want to learn Smite."

[Are you sure you want to learn Smite? You have not aimed a single one of your skills correctly yet]

"It’s Smite. It’s the coolest one. Learn it," Kai whispered.

[Skill learned: Minor Smite. Divinity points remaining: 3.]

[I would recommend learning Minor Ward as well, to help protect the people you care about]

Kai glanced over at Mira, who was leaning forward in her seat with her braid hanging over her shoulder.

"Learn it," Kai whispered.

[Skill learned: Minor Ward. Divinity points remaining: 1.]

[I did not expect you to do that. That was not a scumbag move]

"Shut up," Kai whispered.

Dagna stood up at the front of the chapel, and the room went quiet.

"Here’s what we know," Dagna said. "The eggs are under our main dock, near the drain pipe, and once they hatch, we won’t have a town anymore. The adults come out at night and kill anything that gives off light."

"Then we don’t use any light," Harl said.

"We use one light," Mira said, and everyone turned to look at her. "They follow light, so we lead them to it. We pour all of our lamp oil on the main dock and put the light at the very end. Once the gutter maws climb up onto the dock, we light the oil and burn the dock, the eggs, and the creatures all at once."

Nobody said anything for a long moment.

"That’s our main dock," Bram said.

"We can build another dock," Dagna said. "We can’t build another brother."

Nobody argued with her after that.

"Who’s going to hold the light?" Tobin asked.

Every eye in the chapel turned to Kai.

"Uh, I guess that would be the guy with the glowing dick," Kai said.

"You don’t have to do this," Mira said.

"Yes, I do," Kai said. "I’m the only one who can make light without a lantern. And those things want me anyway, so I might as well give them what they want."

Tobin pushed himself up with his cane and looked Kai up and down.

"Before we all die for you," Tobin said, "what kind of god are you? We had the Radiant Mother, and she took our silver. So who are we going to be praying to?"

Kai opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"Syraphim, what’s my name?" Kai whispered.

[Your name will be whatever your followers decide to call you. You cannot choose it]

Mira stood up from her seat.

"He is the God of Failure," Mira said.

"Hey," Kai said.

"He failed at buying a slave with rocks, and he freed her anyway," Mira said. "He failed to get out of the drains, and the rest of us escaped because of it. He failed at making a halo, fell through your dock, and found what your priest never could. He will fail at everything he does, but someone will live because of his failures."

The whole chapel went silent while everyone thought about what she had said.

"The God of Failure," Tobin said with a chuckle. "I can pray to that. I’ve failed at everything in my life."

Kai heard a chime go off in his head, and then a few more right after it.

[Faith gained. Name: God of Failure. Followers: 16.]

"That’s lame," Kai mumbled.

[It is a very fitting name]

By nightfall, the main dock was soaked in oil, and the town was hiding along the shore behind boats and crates with hooks and unlit torches. Dagna crouched at the base of the dock with a flint in her hand, Garrick stood beside her with his hammer, and Mira waited behind them gripping a gaff pole.

Kai stood alone at the very end of the dock, with his borrowed boots soaked in oil and both moons hidden behind thick clouds.

"Syraphim, I need to put the light where they can see it," Kai whispered. "Every time I aim it, it ends up on my crotch. So this time, I’m aiming it at my crotch."

[You are trying to use reverse psychology on a spell]

"What else am I supposed to do?" Kai whispered.

[Nothing]

Kai took a deep breath and pointed straight at his own crotch.

"Minor Light," Kai said.

A ball of light flew out of Kai’s hand and stopped right at his belt buckle, and then it slowly began to rise. It drifted up past his chest and his face until it was hovering directly above his head, and Kai realized that he had finally made a halo.

Somebody along the shoreline gasped, and then someone else did too, and people began falling to their knees behind the boats and crates.

[Faith is rising quickly]

"I pointed at my crotch," Kai whispered.

[Yes. I am aware. You are the only living thing that could do that]

Bubbles began to rise at the end of the dock, and one pale body broke the surface of the water, then another, and then three more. Five gutter maws began dragging themselves up onto the dock, crawling straight towards the light above Kai’s head.