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Chapter Text

Pav had hated her since the very first moment he had laid eyes on her.
She was sitting on that seat, right in front of the exit of the wagon, so wrapped in herself that she disappeared among the purple pillows, with a shabby leather bag lying on her lap and her arms wrapped around it.
When he would see a nun, especially a young one with such a beautiful and delicate face, he would immediately think about how much she was wasting her life. And he had the same thought about the one who was riding on his own train to Prehevil.
With what nerve was she hiding her blue eyes under thick eyelashes to recite stupid prayers? Forcing such a creature to hide and get a hump from being bent over reading the bible had to be qualified as a crime. She, in particular, with the delicacy of her slender form, looked like a bird in a cage.
It was always the most beautiful ones who threw themselves away like that.

The lieutenant rose from his seat a few meters from hers and reached her with feline pace, a smile on the lips, a predatory gaze. He sat on the armrest to the nun's left and nonchalantly wrapped his right arm around her shoulders, bringing that little head covered by the ugly black veil closer to his chest.
She didn't move, petrified. Pav saw only two precious sapphires move in his direction and the white skin of her face flushed a bright pink. She was stiff, seeming to want to curl up further and attempt to disappear, her small hands wrinkling the fabric of her long -and ugly- robe. The only nice thing about her attire were the leather ankle boots... the rest was trash.
Oh, he could already imagine them on his body, those thin, delicate fingers. He wondered if a man had ever even looked at her that closely.

- What's your name, little birdie~? – No answer, the question only served to make her look away. – Oh, how cute, you're shy, huh? Let's see... what brings you on this train, then? Those like you usually travel in groups.-
- I'm... headed to Prehevil...-
An almost inaudible murmur. Her soft voice was exciting too.
- Oh~ what a coincidence, me too! Where are you from?
- Vatican City.-
- Interesting. What brings you so far away?-
- Uhm... aren't you asking too many questions?-
- How boring. – Pav huffed and let her go. He stood up and, after going around, sat down next to her again, this time on the actual seats, slouched against the backrest and crossing his legs. – I just wanted to keep you company, you seem so lonely...-
- I don't mind being alone.- She continued to avoid his gaze, or more than his eyes his chest in plain sight.
- Yet you look so scared.-
- It's... just my first time out of Vatican.-
- Interesting. I can keep you company, if you want~ be your bodyguard... you never know what might happen to such a beautiful and lonely girl.-
- I'm fine, thank you.-

Pav put his hands on her shoulders and moved closer to her, almost leaning his body against her back. His head was forward, they were almost brushing cheek against cheek.

- You never found anyone who cared about you, did you? No one who loved you?
They're all like that, the ones like you. Abandoned by life itself, you take refuge in a convent to pray day and night to one who died centuries ago, completely nullifying your womanhood and hiding inside black sacks, even depriving yourself of all pleasure in life. For what? For nothing, after death we all end up being eaten by worms.-
He saw her lower her head and take the golden crucifix around her neck in the hands.
- It's not like that... don't judge the others from a first glance...-
- Liar. – The lieutenant leaned in further, whispering in her ear. – And deluded. One day you will open your eyes and realize that you have wasted your life. And then you will remember me, feeling like a fool... I won't waste time trying to convince you otherwise, but I warned you~-.

…
…
…

Pav woke up abruptly. The train had stopped.
He remembered talking to the nun, and suddenly a girl dressed in pink had appeared before him, led him into a strange room with wooden walls, then into another filled with people sitting at numerous tables, and finally he found himself at the top of a tower.

Termina Festival . . .

He turned his head, finding the nun again. She was still asleep, curled in on herself and with her head resting on the armrest of the seat.
Unfortunately, he wouldn't have time to find out her name; the train had reached its destination. He did not need that information, because he would probably be dead shortly thereafter.
He stood up, gave her one last look, and left.
No last moment of glory before he attempted to achieve the goal for which he had lived an entire life on the wrong side.

Chapter Text

That gate was fucking high. Climbing over it would have been almost impossible, plus the bars were smooth and without any support. Pav was definitely not a monkey. Nor was he as much of an idiot as that pig-headed guy who had just choked himself with his own toxic gas.
He huffed, placing his hands on his hips. He would have to find another way into the city.
As he turned to walk away, he saw a black figure wandering, disoriented, through the fog. He was ready to shoot at it like he had done with all those crazy villagers, but as he looked more closely, he recognized a familiar face. White skin, delicate little face, big blue eyes and full lips... all wrapped up in the ugliest dress and veil he had ever seen. It was the nun he met on the train, the same one who had not even wanted to tell him her name. Precisely her.
As she observed her surroundings with obvious fear, at one point their gazes met. He smiled at her, she gasped, but quickened her pace until she reached him.

- Look who's back~! Did you sleep well, little birdie?-
- Uhm... hi... not really...- She whispered, her hands clasped on her stomach. She was so closed in on herself that she gave the impression of wanting to disappear, as usual.
- Did you have a nightmare?-
- ... Did you have it too?
- I dreamed of worse. A jester on top of a tower and a creepy moon are little and nothing.-
- This city is odd... it scares me, and then there was the collective dream, the train that won't move... if only I could reach the church...-

Pav looked up, catching sight of the silhouette of what looked like a church. It wasn't very far away actually, but the mere fact that the gate was locked with a bolt and two padlocks made things much more complicated.

- You know, I too should urgently enter the city, but as you can see the main street is blocked off. You can't enter from here, unless you have the keys.-
- And climb over the gate?-
- Are you crazy?-
- ... Maybe you're right, it's high...-
- Listen, how about we pair up for now? We have the same goal, in two we can find a solution more easily.-
- Uhm... I don't know...-
- Are you armed? Do you know how to defend yourself?-
- Well, no. How could I be armed?-
- Think about it: I'm a lieutenant in the army, and I'm armed, trained and perfectly capable of protecting you, whereas you're a nun... and that's it. Do you think you can defeat those freaks with knives and scythes with prayers?
The girl looked down.
- Okay, I'll come with you.-
- Perfect! So what's your name, then, little birdie?
- Maria Maddalena... just Maddalena is fine.-
- Lena is fine, in fact, I like to call you "little birdie". Lieutenant Pav, at your service~-

And so, the two set out in search of an alternative road. They went to the right, Pav sniping at other crazed villagers while she followed almost sticking to him. He had to admit it was a pleasant feeling, being tailed by a beautiful woman... he wished the circumstances had been better, however. In that situation she was more of a burden, someone else to protect besides himself, but he had to take what came his way. Somehow she could have been really useful to him, she didn't seem so stupid after all (leaving aside the fact that she was throwing her life away to be a nun), just quite cowardly.

- Uhm... sorry for asking... – She spoke. Meanwhile, they had arrived in front of what looked like a city hall. – But isn't that the Bremen Empire insignia on your uniform?-
- Yes. Is there a problem with it?-
- Uhm... no... I mean... actually yes... what Bremen did is terrible, I don't even want to think about it. But that's not why I asked you... since the army has occupied the city and you're a lieutenant, couldn't you just go through the blockades at your will?-
- You see, little birdie, you asked a very logical question, but the issue is much more complicated than you think. I'm not going to sit here and talk about it, we don't have time for such things.-

Although he read curiosity in her eyes, the nun didn't say a word and followed him inside the building. There was a dead silence, except for the sound of a pendulum... without the presence of the actual clock. At least, not on the ground floor.
To the right, the way was blocked by a lot of junk, so they climbed the stairs.
Pav always had his pistol in his hand, on alert, while Maddalena had gone ahead, tentatively. She turned the corner and, upon reaching a door, a male scream startled her to the point that she fell on the floor.

- You startled me! Why did you appear so suddenly? – A blonde guy, whom Pav recognized as one of the train passengers, came out of the dining room, stepped over the nun, and walked down the corridor sniffing the air. What was wrong with him? – I smell... some garlic... rosemary... there's food... I'm sure...-
Maddalena stood up, going after him.
- Hey, what's going on?-
- Can you hear the clock? It's driving me crazy!- He kept walking, as if in a trance.
- Pull yourself together, Henryk!-
- ... Huh? – He quickly shook his head, running a hand through his hair. – Mh... sorry... I'm just hungry, you don't know how much. This is the city hall, I'm sure all the city's supplies are hidden here. I can smell them! I have to find them... would you help me?-
- No way.- Said Pav.
- Sure.- Said Maddalena.
The lieutenant looked at her, took her by the arm and dragged her not far away.
- We don't have time to keep up with this nutcase.- He whispered to her.
- He isn't a nutcase— if we help him, maybe he can help us in turn...-
- No.-
- Come on.-
- ... Okay, but let's be quick.-
The two went back to the madman.
- We will help you!- Chirped Maddalena, with a smile on her little face.
- Great, thanks!- Replied the one with a dumb face. Pav grunted.

The nun approached the other side of the corridor, and the men followed her. He first, the other one closing the line. They entered a room that led to another.
... Before she took even a single step, Pav shot the priest who was kneeling on the ground in the head, blowing his brains out and scattering them on the floor. She screamed in fright and almost ran into his arms, clinging to his jacket like a monkey.
... He wished she would have put those pretty little hands somewhere else, but that was enough for now. There was time.

- Why did you kill him?! He was a priest!-
- ... Take a good look.-
Both she and the jerk-faced guy -Henryk his name was...?- approached the corpse cautiously and horrified.
- His skin is so wrinkled... it looks like... uhm... when you take a bath for too long... and hands and feet get all wrinkled. But to him it happened all over his body, heh. Gross.- Said the sniffer, taking a step back with a disgusted face.
- C—can we leave? I feel like throwing up...- Maddalena asked, turning away and holding back a gag reflex.
- Yes, let's go. But stop going first, I wouldn't want to accidentally shoot you if we meet someone else, you're no use as a cripple.-

She made no objection and they switched places, while Henryk remained last. Unlike Maddalena, he at least had a kitchen knife with him. It was completely useless, but still better than the nun, who was completely unarmed and lacked any talent in fighting.
... Why was he carrying her around? Ah, right, the happy ending.
The group went down into a trapdoor and Pav found a key on a table, which apparently opened all the doors of the manor. The place was weird as hell, the architect must have been drunk at the time he designed it, the rooms came together in a disconnected way, and they had to go from one to the other to continue. A nightmare.
Somehow they reached what looked like a storage cellar and, behind a door, they finally found the food supplies.
... So they were really hiding there! Was that Henryk a truffle dog or what? How on earth had he smelled them two stories away?

- See? I said all the food was here! – He exclaimed, with great enthusiasm. – See, pretty redhead? I made myself useful...- He muttered the last sentence to himself, but Pav heard it very well.
- Well, our work here is done. Let's go, little birdie.-
- Uh, wait! – Replied the madman, rummaging in his pants pockets. He pulled out a set of keys from it. – I found these in the mayor's room, maybe you could use them... a little thank you for helping me find the city's supplies and getting me out of that state of confusion I was in.-
- It was a pleasure.- Said Maddalena. Not for Pav.
- Come back to the train when you get hungry, I will prepare your portion as well!-

Pav and Maddalena separated from Henryk and walked out of the city hall. At that point he looked at the set of keys they had received, on which was a label: "sewers".
Instead of going back the way they had come, they continued to the lake, where they met quite a few people who apparently looked sane, but as they approached them, they were trying to tear their faces off using their fingernails. They were complaining about a green hue, about the moon scorching them... Pav didn't give a damn, while his companion was extremely troubled. He was starting to think that she was afraid of everything.
They continued south, along the lake, then when the road ended they headed towards a river. There, the lieutenant noticed that they had gone in circle, in the distance he could even see the train peeking through the fog.
At one point he heard the sound of a gunshot and a bullet grazed the nun's shoulder, passing so close to her that it made a tear in the sleeve of her dress. There was no time to lose.
Pav pushed her to the ground and, using the trees for shelter, ran quickly towards the shooter, who turned out to be yet another deformed faced villager, but this time he was wielding a rifle instead of the usual farmer's tools. Once he reached his back, the soldier put an arm around the man's neck and threw himself to the ground with him, pulling his head back and squeezing so hard that he suffocated. When there was no sign of life he let him go and grabbed his rifle, beginning to check it.
Shortly afterwards Maddalena had the courage to get up and join him, but keeping her distance from the corpse.

- Damn, this piece of old iron is falling apart, it's useless. – There was only one bullet left inside; despite not being suitable for his Luger he took it anyway, in case they found another rifle. – Are you all right, little birdie? He didn't hit you, did he?- He asked her, throwing the weapon over his body.
- I am... why didn't you shoot him? You risked to be hit...-
- My pistol has a limited number of bullets, I can't waste them all before we even enter the city. Don't worry, if he couldn't get you either, what hope did he have with me?- He gave her a smile, to which she replied with an adorable pout.
As they continued walking, what looked like a river turned out to be a drainage canal, closed by an iron grate and a door. He didn't really trust the weird guy with the powerful sense of smell, but he had to admit that he had been rather helpful. The keys worked.

- Uhm... Pav... do we really have to go into the sewers? I can already smell the stench from here...- Maddalena complained, pinching her nose shut with her fingers.
- Princess, you can stay here if you want. Alone. At the mercy of the crazy villagers.-
- I told you that we had to climb over the gate.-
- Don't make a fuss and enter.-

She entered. Unfortunately, not in his pants, but in the sewer system.
Everything in there made a deafening echo, and she was right: there was a terrible stench. But not just of sewage, also of death, that smell you could only find in battlefields, when the battle was over and all that was left of the enemy was mush and bits scattered around. He didn't want to know what had happened in there.
The noise of flowing water at least partially covered the sound of their footsteps, so it made easier to avoid being noticed in case of the presence of monsters.
It was hard to navigate when all the floor was the same, the wall as well, the path was labyrinthine and the canals forced precise paths. He couldn't make Maddalena stand behind, but neither could he make her stand in front, so he forced her to stand beside him and as close as possible so that she wouldn't be in any danger. It was frustrating to carry her along, he had to admit, but for some reason the idea of leaving her alone and maybe finding her dead later didn't appeal to him. Yet she was a stranger, practically useless, all too naive nun, who should have been anywhere but there with him, in a sewer system under a city full of murderous madmen.
His train of thought was suddenly interrupted when he saw a strange creature walking with floppy movements. It had a humanoid figure, but at the same time it was a complete monster. Its arms looked like full sacks, it had stubby legs, its skin was all wrinkled and its head resembled the snout of a tapir; for some reason it wore a white shirt turned backwards and made sounds with its "mouth" -which was more of a hole than a mouth-.
As soon as she, too, became aware of the thing, he put a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming -she was on the verge of doing it, she had opened her eyes wide and started backing away- and dragged her behind a wall, leaning out now and then to check the creature's movements. It didn't seem to have seen them for the moment.

- I'm going to take my hand out of your mouth now, but know that if you make a single sound we're dead. I'm not fighting that thing with my bare hands, understand?

He whispered to her, keeping his voice as low as possible. Maddalena nodded and he stopped covering her mouth, then took her hand and leaned out again to see the situation. Great, it seemed to be turned the other way. Their target was in front, he could see what looked like another area of the sewer system, it was likely that an exit was nearby.
With his trusty Luger in his left hand, Pav began to walk stealthily holding hands with the nun, who was so tense she had almost stopped breathing. If that abomination had noticed them they would have been doomed; even though he still had bullets, he doubted he could scratch that tough-looking skin using a pistol, let alone kill it with his bare hands as he had done with the villager armed with a rifle.
He kept walking with the heart in his throat; something told him that because it had no eyes, the creature was able to detect them by its sense of smell. And that was a problem, because they were both sweaty, so it would have been very easy to "see" them; he just hoped that the tremendous smell of water and sewage would help them.
Slowly, they managed to cross to the other side and slip around the opposite corner, just a moment before the monster turned around. Pav dragged a terrified Maddalena for a few meters and then let her go when he was sure they were alone. She sagged and fell to her knees on the ground, finally regaining her breath and inhaling large gulps of air.

- The worst experience of my life.-
- And we're just at the beginning, sweetheart.-

He laughed in her face, but after all, he couldn't blame her. He had seen so much horror in life that he had become completely numb, while the most disgusting thing she had witnessed was probably moldy food forgotten in the cupboard.
While waiting for her to calm down a bit, the lieutenant began to look around. It was a "room" different from the others, with many drains divided into two rows and some doors on the wall. There was also a console with levers and, reading the instructions, he understood that they were used to close and open the falls.
Maddalena joined him, observing the mechanism and then the doors on the wall, thoughtful about what to do. The hamster was spinning in the wheel of her little head.

- Do you think we can use these levers to get out?- She asked.
- It says that they are for changing the flow of water. Upstairs you can see a door hidden behind one of the drains, we should try to go there.-
- Mh... one of us could go and move the crates blocking the passage, while the other can open and close the water as needed.-
- Good idea. Are you good at puzzles?-
- Actually, I've never tried one...-
- There's always a first time, little birdie. You stay at the console, I'll go clear the passage.-

And so they agreed on what to do. Pav climbed the ladder and entered the first accessible door, discovering that it led only to a further ladder which, when climbed up, led to the door directly above the one he had entered, but it was impossible to open because it was blocked by a very heavy crate, so he was forced to go back downstairs.
At that point Maddalena stepped in, she pulled one of the levers and interrupted the flow of water that blocked his way to the door on his left. The pattern was the same and, when he found himself upstairs, he moved the crate blocking the first door, then she opened the drain directly above it to drop it into the water, pulled the same lever again and reached him.
The top right exit was the only one that didn't lead to the walkway below, but rather went very deep down, literally into the guts of the earth. They had ended up in a literal cave.
The only, surprisingly powerful, lighting came from peculiar mushrooms growing in the damp soil. Even down there, although it was a beautiful sight, it smelled like death... not a good sign. He gestured to the nun, who was amazed by the light, to stay close to him for safety. And indeed he wasn't wrong; a few meters away was a pile of rotting corpses. Maddalena, horrified, moved even closer to him.

- Why in this damn Prehevil there isn't one, not a single place where you can be calm, where there isn't de—

A squeak was heard and she froze. Pav didn't understand at first, but then he turned and behind him he saw, though briefly, a creature. It looked like a mouse, too bad it was as big as a seven or eight year old child; it was completely bald except for some gray fur on its head and back, it stood erect on two legs, it had gigantic red eyes and equally big teeth, on its belly it had a hole from which its own guts came out. As soon as it was noticed by both of them, it ran away, pawing nimbly.
The two looked at each other for a few seconds and then resumed walking on their way as if the encounter had never happened. Like hell he wanted anything to do with that thing.
They continued for a few meters and found the mouse standing still, but then it ran away again. The same thing happened a few more times.

- It seems like it wants to be followed.-
- Pav, before I follow a giant mouse I should be hanged on that crucifix full of corpses that we saw in town.-

He couldn't help but laugh; her frustration was adorable, her little face wasn't made for angry expressions.
Like it or not, for the moment there was only one road and more encounters with the little beast were inevitable, at least until a fork in the road. The rat went to their right, so they headed to the opposite direction, much to Maddalena's happiness.
Pav wondered how far underground they actually were; it was quite cold, the air was damp, and that cave, although beautiful -if one didn't look at the corpses stacked in piles-, could become their grave. Was there really an exit, or did it lead further and further down?
Noises could be heard, distant and incomprehensible echoes, sounding almost like howling. There were also crunched bones on the ground, which despite everything weren't the worst thing seen that day. To be on the safe side he kept his hand close to his pistol holster.
As they continued walking they found themselves in a wide open space of the cave, where to the right was a cement building with a door, while in front the glowing mushrooms were getting more and more sparse until they disappeared and made the bottom completely dark.
Not that it was a problem, because continuing wouldn't have been in the plans anyway, the goal was that door. Surely it led to something interesting, or there would be no point in building that deep.
They went to head for it, but a loud sound from the darkness interrupted them.
Out of the darkness appeared a giant wolf, so huge that it exceeded two meters, maybe reached three, with thick gray fur all over its body. On its big head were four bright scarlet eyes, but the lower left one was crossed with a gash that had permanently extinguished it. Out of its mouth came a seemingly endless number of teeth, all curved outward. With its front paws alone it could have crushed them like mosquitoes.
Immediately Pav drew his pistol and pointed it at it, aiming to shoot into its eyes and blind it.

- Don't shoot!- Maddalena screamed, barely avoiding a paw of the monster.
- Are you completely stupid?!- He replied to her, not lowering his weapon. He would have fired already, but it was fast and he risked wasting bullets.
- Pav, trust me!-
- Birdie, if you want to get us both killed you're on the right track, but know that I don't want to become dog shit.- This time it was he who dodged the animal's attack.
- Trust me I said!-

The nun began to run around the beast, too close, that fool would have died with the first successful bite. Then she clung tightly to the fur on its neck and began to climb as the wolf squirmed and tossed her around, but she didn't let go and managed to climb onto its back.
Only now the lieutenant noticed a detail: stuck close to its shoulders, one on the right and the other on the left, were two swords, a wide-bladed purplish one and a thin blue one.
Maddalena grasped the hilt of the purple one with both hands and began to pull hard, until it was extracted. The creature emitted a cry of pain and tried to shake her off again, even more violently. It risked sending her flying away, but she managed to save herself.

- Easy, girl, it hurts now, but then you'll be better...!-
- Maddalena, you dumbass, if you stay there I can't shoot, or I risk to kill you!-

That situation was frustrating to say the least. Pav was clutching the grip of the pistol with such force that he was on the verge of breaking it. A nothing and that madwoman would have been crushed and her brains scattered everywhere. Why the hell had she thought of climbing on that fucking monster wolf?!
She grabbed the hilt of the other sword and pulled that one out as well, which came out much more easily being it thin and probably much sharper than the other.
The beast flailed violently again, but after a few seconds it slowed down until it slumped to the ground; it seemed to have calmed down. Maddalena climbed down and then approached its muzzle.

- I told you not to shoot... she was in pain, poor little girl.-
- "Poor little girl"?-
- It's a female.-
- I didn't ask you her sex, mine was a rhetorical question. Do you realize what you have done? If you had fallen down, I'd be scooping up your brain right now!-
- If you hadn't been busy fiddling with that pistol of yours, you would have noticed the two swords stuck in—-

A sound. They both turned around. From no one knew where a man had appeared; he had seen him before on the train. He had reddish hair slicked back, deep gray eyes and an extremely well-groomed mustache. From the expression on his face he looked surprised.

- ... Oh. – He said. – And I was expecting who knows what kind of fight.-
- Mr. August!- Exclaimed Maddalena, equally surprised to see him.
Pav narrowed his gaze.
- Moonless is... an old family friend. I hope she didn't hurt you.-
- She tried to kill—-
- We didn't get hurt luckily, I was able to calm her down. – The nun interrupted him, smiling. – But unfortunately, she has wounds on her back from the swords that were stuck there...-
- Don't worry, I will take care of her.- A smile appeared under August's mustache.
- Thank you!-
- Well, goodbye then.-

The man said goodbye to them, and before they could say anything else, he and the wolf left, disappearing into the depths of the cave. Now all that was left to do was to enter the building they had found.

Chapter Text

Pav picked up from the ground one of the swords that were previously stuck in the wolf's back, more specifically the bluish one. It had a long, thin and slightly curved blade, but above all, it was quite sharp, on which was engraved an inscription whose meaning he didn't understand. It clearly came from the East, in Europa they weren't able to forge such weapons.
... Finally he had an alternative weapon to the pistol, so he could save bullets.
He then looked at Maddalena, who looked thoughtful.

- What is it, little birdie?-
- ... Uff. I would have liked to take her with me... but unfortunately she already has an owner.- She sighed, rocking on the spot childishly.
- You're weird. You were terrified by those guys tearing their faces off and crying, but you're not terrified by a giant wolf with four eyes and more teeth than an alligator?-
- I like dogs a lot, I've always wanted one, but I've never been allowed to...-
- What a sad story, but we don't have time to think about it. We have to go.-
- Yes, you're right. Let's get out of here.-

Rather than exit, they entered, precisely into the cement construction tucked into the cave wall. It was a small room and completely empty except for two elevators.
The lieutenant opened the grate of the one on the left, discovering, however, that it lacked the electricity needed to work; only the cable could be seen hanging down and the cabin stuck below. The only good thing about it was that it was not too far down, it could have been reached easily by descending with the cable.

- I hope there are working muscles in those little arms.-
- You don't want— – Maddalena, who was next to him, gasped. – go down clinging to the cables.-
- It's not deep, it's doable.-
- But I'm afraid, I don't even know if I have the strength to do it...!-
- It's not my problem, little birdie.-
- There must be another way, somewhere...! We could look for Mr. August and—-
- Sometimes you look more like a spoiled child than a nun, you know?
... We'll do this: hold on to my back, I'll carry you. Unless you want to wander into a dark cave full of corpses and populated by giant rats with their guts hanging out. Choose.-
- Uhm...-
- And if you try to reply with something like "nuns can't touch men", I'll abandon you here.-
- Okay... I'll come with you...-

Pav smiled. It was so satisfying to win arguments.
He turned around and leaned down, so she climbed onto his back and wrapped her legs around his waist -he noticed that her stockings were all broken-, her arms did the same thing with his neck.
He wished he could have had her in that same position at the front, but having her body pressed against his was still a good feeling, plus he could admire her beautiful legs wrapped around him.
He approached the elevator and hung onto the cable, beginning to lower himself. He could clearly feel Maddalena's tension and accelerated pulse, once again she was exaggeratedly terrified.
As expected, the descent had been super easy and, above all, short. As soon as his feet touched the roof of the cabin, the nun jumped off his back -unfortunately-.
The place where they had ended up looked like a bunker, built entirely in metal and full of unfamiliar machinery. So there really was something under the city... but he had a feeling that it was only a tiny part; it was too small and "bare" to be Prehevil's big secret.
Moving on, they found another person, facing the wall. Wearing a business suit and a hat, he reminded him of someone. Could it have been another one of the passengers?
But there was something weird.
He didn't have time to stop Maddalena that the guy's head turned and revealed that he had no nose or eyes, just a giant mouth instead of a face. The nun screamed.

- I'LL SWALLOW YOU WHOLE.

Exclaimed the thing, who was wielding a briefcase.
Pav didn't think twice about cutting off his right arm with the sword. The limb flew off, but instead of a reaction of pain his was to charge in the direction of Maddalena who, frightened, began to run to avoid his bites. The scene would have been almost comical if she hadn't been in mortal danger.

- Come to me!

The nun continued running until she swooped behind him.
Pav waited for the guy, who apparently was extremely stupid and didn't change his trajectory a bit, to arrive, and then chopped off his head neatly, hitting him in the throat with the blade of the sword as if it had been a baseball match. His lifeless body fell to the ground, the pool of blood slowly widening.
He turned, finding Maddalena curled up on the ground with her hands over her eyes. He knelt in front of her and put a hand on her shoulder.

- It's over, little birdie.-
- I don't want to see...-
- I'm in front of it. Let's go.-

She removed the hands from her face and slowly opened her eyelids with the fear of seeing the carnage that had just been done. She looked at his face for a few seconds, sighed and then stood up. When he stood up as well, she clung to him, grabbing him by one hem of his jacket sleeve. She was shaking. Pav let her and finally had time to look around.
The bunker was way too small and bare, with the only real point of interest against the wall. There was a machinery that ran across the wall, steel pipes and cables disappearing into large holes. In the center was a console similar to the one they had used in the sewers but, looking at it, it looked much more technological. Not that Pav knew anything about electronics, but just the fact that a screen had just turned on after clicking a button was enough to make him think so.
There were two options to choose from, the first was to be able to view the instructions and the second simply said "Connect Telelectroscope to the Logic?"; he decided to read the instructions first to figure out what the heck that device was.

"The Telelectroscope cannot be connected to the Logic unless all three of the cables are switched ON.
Connecting one before another does not cause any damage to the system, but it should not be done without clear orders from the designated official in charge of the operation.
Please refer to the operation manual for information on the personnel in charge."

- Huh... I didn't get it...- Said Maddalena, squinting.
- Neither did I, but it seems important. Let's connect it.-
- Are you sure?-
He smiled at her, showing confidence.
- Of course.-

Was that the reason Kaiser was so obsessed with Prehevil? The "telelectroscope"? Or "Logic"? Whatever they meant. But just the fact that the computer had been put so underground and inside a bunker that surely belonged to the Eastern Union made him think that it did. The instructions said that the cable was not to be connected unless you had received orders from the officer in charge, so he imagined that it was still too early to do so, or this "Logic" wasn't supposed to be connected at all. That's why he clicked the button to activate it, hoping to obstacle the bastard in some way.
The big tube began to shake and emit a metallic sound, which lasted for a few seconds before stopping completely. Now the screen simply read "Telelectroscope: ON".
After that, since there was nothing else to be done, they decided to leave. Maddalena held her hands over her eyes until they reached the elevator. Pav hauled her again on his back and climbed all the way to the exit.
All that remained was to "take" the other one, who also lacked electricity, so he had to climb up again with the nun on his back.

- Uff. You owe me, know that...-
- Sorry. – She blushed. – ... Where did we end up, by the way?-

The place they were in looked exactly the same as the place they had come from. Coming out of the small cement building, the environment was like the cave, with glowing mushrooms lighting the way. The only difference was that it was a rather narrow cavity, with parts of a much larger building that seemed to extend all the way to the outside. Both pillars had large cracks running through them, big enough to fit a whole person through them. Maddalena stuck her head into one, but immediately pulled it back and gave a startled shriek.

- Th—there are skeletons!-
- Mh? – Pav looked inside. It looked like a crypt, with a couple of skeletons covered by a robe and many skulls stacked on the wall. – How can you be afraid? Aren't you used to have this stuff in the church? It's the most normal thing we've seen today.-
- I don't like to see these things.- She replied, holding the crucifix around her neck.
- Well, get used to it.-

As they continued to explore, he noticed that the other pillar also had a crack identical to the previous one, almost as if they had been made on purpose. Very strange. Since the nun was afraid, he stuck his head into it. It was yet another crevice, this time empty, with the only difference being what looked like a small elevator. Why the heck was an elevator needed there? He honestly didn't care, as long as it got them out of that huge maze of rock and sewers, he needed fresh air.
So they went in and the structure went up, taking them to an equally... weird place. There was an indescribable stench of rot, not to mention the smell of blood. It didn't promise well. Like everything in that shitty city, but there his senses forged by years spent among corpses had set off several alarms.
With sword in his right hand and Luger in his left, the lieutenant stepped out of the elevator, Maddalena in tow clinging to him like a mussel to a rock. They moved slowly, trying not to make a sound, he also with his guard up, ready to defend himself and counterattack whatever was hidden down there -or above...? He wasn't understanding anymore-.
Moving on, they soon found red stains on the ground that left no room for imagination, and the more they explored that weird place with cells and pools filled with blood, the more the scraps of mangled flesh on the floor increased.
Unraveling between stone walls all alike, they came to the front of a giant golden statue; it depicted a sort of angel kneeling and wrapped in its own feathery wings. One arm was stretched upward and above it a crucifix-shaped object with a snake wrapped around the symbol. He turned to Maddalena to ask her if she knew anything about it, but she was no longer behind him. His entire body stiffened suddenly. It made no sense that she had walked away of her own free will for how terrified she was, and it was impossible that someone or something had grabbed her without her not even being able to scream.
He clasped his hands around the hilt of the sword and the grip on the pistol to the point that his knuckles whitened and began to search.

- Little birdie, I swear if this is a prank—-

... He saw her from behind. In front of her a figure at first glance humanoid, but as he looked closer every trait that could be traced back to humans disappeared. It was completely purple, with a tunic on from which tentacles emerged, instead of the head a large snail. In one hand it had a dagger, which it handed in the nun's hand. After that she turned and, with vacant eyes, charged in his direction and attempted to stab him. Pav avoided the slash by backing away and quickly holstered his pistol, while Maddalena continued to attempt to stab him with inhuman fury. In the meantime, the creature's head had hatched like an egg, filling with razor-sharp, thin teeth, and its hands had turned into more tentacles.
One glance had given him a vision; he saw torn flesh that took the form of the one-eyed deity, the one burning in a pit of sulfur. His head hurt like hell, it felt like it was going to explode, for some reason the smell of blood had acquired a sweet taste... he wanted to drink it...
He came to his senses when Maddalena scratched his cheek with the dagger. He suddenly became lucid again and, without even thinking about it, grabbed the girl's wrist and with a sweep sent her tumbling to the ground, causing her to crumple like a rag doll and the weapon to fly away. He took advantage of the standoff to grasp the sword again and attack the abomination. It tried to grab him with its "arms" and force him to look into its eyes, but Pav stabbed it with the blade straight through the chest, hoping it would work.
Luckily it worked; its body dissolved completely, leaving only the blue robe and the snail that served as its head. He stomped on it with all the strength in his body.

Turning around, he saw the nun's body still lifeless on the ground, so he approached her cautiously, ready to defend himself. He bent over her and turned her on her back. Her lips were parted and her blue eyes were wide open but opaque. He shook her a little, but nothing happened, then touched her cheek, nothing. Finally he opted for a slap.
She gasped suddenly, blinking rapidly and moving her gaze left and right, panicked. After a few seconds she became aware of his presence, so she stared back at him.

- Pav...? What's on your face?- She stretched her arm towards his face and touched the scratch, smearing blood on her fingers.
- It was you, little birdie.- He smiled at her.
- E—Eh? – She put her hand on her forehead. – The head...-
- Don't you remember anything at all?-
- Only... of seeing a snail-headed creature for an instant. Then nothing, darkness.-
- Well, know that that thing controlled you like a puppet and tried to get me killed.-
- What, oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to, I— forgive me...-
Pav sighed.
- Stop whining. – He offered her his hand. When she grasped it, he pulled her to her feet. – Are you okay? To stop you I had to throw you to the ground.-
Maddalena nodded.
- I've suffered far worse... I'm used to it.-

She said that sentence in a very low voice, as if she did not want to be heard. He decided not to ask her questions just to keep her from getting further agitated; if she were in an altered state of mind, she would become an even heavier burden.
The two went back to the golden statue holding the strange object.

- So do you know what it is?-
- It looks like an effigy representing the crucifixion of Alll-mer. I wonder what it's doing in such a place. It's... wrong, such a positive symbol in a place so full of death and violence. I feel like crying.-

Maddalena joined her hands around the crucifix and then to her chest, lowering her gaze. She looked completely distraught. In all honesty, Pav didn't think she was seriously devout, usually nuns became such only because they were forced by their families, so they often tended to even hate religion. This complicated things. His happy ending seemed a real mirage now.
He went behind her, grabbed her by the hips -under her dress, he could feel her ribs. Interesting- and lifted her off the ground.

- What are you doing?!- She flinched, surprised, turning her head towards him.
- Take it.-
- It would be like stealing—-
- Would you rather leave it there? If you care so much, find a better place for it. Just stop making that hangdog face.-
- Pav...-

The nun stretched out her small hands towards the effigy and took it with her. When she was placed back on the ground, she clutched it as if it had been the most precious treasure in the world.
They resumed their march in search of an exit, but it felt as if they were in a real maze, the worst of it was that there were more of those snail-headed monsters, and they were not a few. He had no intention of repeating the battle; although it had been an easy fight, he couldn't risk them taking his control. He doubted that Maddalena would ever be able to bring him to his senses before he killed her.

- ... Hey, I found something!- She exclaimed, causing him to turn around.
There was a strange symbol carved on the floor. It looked like a six-pointed star with one missing.
- What is it?-
- An Asymmetric Circle! You know Marina, the girl with the gray hair who was on the train?-
- The one who looks like a porcelain doll? I think I understand.-
- Well, she was carving a Perfection Circle right on the train, and she explained to me how they work. On these we can draw the symbol of one of the old gods to increase our affinity.-
- And what is the usefulness?-
- Each of them has an effect.
Gro-goroth craves blood, Sylvian needs love to restore the body, Rher has eyes everywhere, and Vinushka is the very essence of nature. We have to choose one of them.-
- Hmm... how about giving some love to Sylvian~?-
- Vinushka.-
- That's not what I said.-
- We have to draw Vinushka.-
- Are you listening to me?-
- Think with your head, not with what's between your legs. – He had to admit that the comment offended him a little. – We don't have serious injuries, calling for Sylvian is meaningless. Vinushka is the answer, the only way to get us out of this situation.-
- I don't follow you.-

Maddalena pulled a piece of chalk out of her boot and began to draw a symbol on the floor, then quickly stepped back. Pav couldn't get a good look at it that the ground shook violently and a whole tree sprang up from the floor, growing lush and strong until it pierced the ceiling. He squinted his eyes. Was he dreaming? Was this another vision sent by the snails?!
He tried to speak, but then he saw the nun climbing the newly born plant like a monkey, while holding the effigy under her arm.

- Where are you going?!-
- I'm getting out of here! I'm tired of the stench of death!-
- When, exactly, did you learn to climb like this, anyway?- In the process he was forced to follow her. Unfortunately, she was fast and he couldn't look under her skirt...
- Never done it before... I guess it's survival instinct? I adapt easily to unpleasant situations.-

Even that sentence struck him as odd, like when she had told him she was used to worse things. It aroused his curiosity, perhaps she was much more than a frail nun. If they had been in a normal situation, he would have wanted to extort some answers from her...
The top of the tree actually peeked outside and the two found themselves finally in the open air. Maddalena stretched and inhaled a great quantity of air, only to start coughing because the smell was equally awful.
With little astonishment they also discovered that it was now dusk and soon night would fall, while the fog remained just as thick.
Apparently the labyrinthine place from which they had just emerged was the basement of a much larger building that stood right next to the top of the tree, with a ladder leaning against the wall.

- Hey Pav, wouldn't it be better to go up to the roof? From down here we can't see anything because of the fog, but from up there we could at least figure out where we are... maybe.-
- Yes, good idea. Do you see that sometimes you can be useful?-
- "Sometimes?" If it wasn't for the Vinushka sigil I drew, we would still be in there!-
- Increasing the affinity with Sylvian didn't seem like a bad idea... we could do it anyway, we don't need to draw it on the floor...- He smiled at her. She turned a burgundy color.
- You're— ugh— you—-

She mumbled something in an incomprehensible language, fell silent, turned her back to him, and began to climb the ladder. Pav followed her closely and finally could see, if only for a second, under her skirt. He immediately registered all the informations in his head: the pantyhose covered her legs entirely and reached her pelvis; their semi-transparency and being all stretched out gave a glimpse of the underwear she was wearing. Milk-white, very simple, the kind that completely covered the parts involved, leaving entirely room for the imagination.
It would have been funny if a nun had worn sexy lace underwear under that dress, but it was totally out of character...

From the rooftop they couldn't actually see much of the city, only low buildings almost completely shrouded in fog; the only one capable of standing out was the tower, the same one that had been visible since the woods where the train had stopped; it seemed to act as a North Star.
As he was looking around he saw Maddalena, who was walking on the tiles, suddenly disappear with a scream. He immediately ran to see and found that there was a hole in the roof. He looked down expecting to see her smashed on the floor, but instead found her hugging her arms and legs to a rafter, while a sword in the shape of a crucifix was embedded in the wood inches from her nose.

- Look at your luck: – He said, lowering himself into the hole and landing behind her. – Looks like you found the church!-
- Uh...? – The nun opened her eyes, finding the courage to look down. – It... it's really the church! Hmm... Pav... would you help me up? I'm... I'm scared.-

Pav sighed, but then grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and put her back on her feet. She clung to his arm, her legs were shaking and she was quite unsteady.

- ... What about that thing you were carrying?
- I dropped it when I slipped into the hole... I hope it's still intact...-
- I doubt it, it did quite a bit of flying. Rather, you should take that sort of sword, so you too will have something to defend yourself with. If you say that it's stealing I'll push you off the rafters.-

From the face she showed him, she seemed to be holding back a "it would be like stealing" with all her might, but she was forced to surrender.
Without letting go of his arm with her left hand, she grabbed the hilt of the crucifix and pulled it from the rafter.
Honor et virtus, sacrus gladius, Excalibur.
...

- Praise the new queen!- He teased her, watching her turn the weapon over in her hand.
- Can we get down from here now? I'm dizzy...-

The lieutenant turned ready to lead her down from there, but he froze. They were not alone. There were two monsters walking on the rafters. Naked, hulking humanoids with their arms chained behind their backs and their heads peeled in half. Maddalena clung to his belt with all her strength.

- What do we do now...?- She whispered, her voice almost sounding like a squeak.
- Shh, don't make a sound. I can't tell if they are able to hear us.-
- I saw a ladder on the other side... we can go down from there.-
- Okay, but be quiet now. If we were to fall I don't think there will be any Sylvian sigil able to help us.-

Luckily, that nun was very obedient, in fact she sewed up her mouth and followed him at a plush pace. Pav began to walk on the rafters paying close attention to the two monsters and, thankfully, they managed to reach the other side of the under-roof and get to the ladder. As she was descending, one of the creatures noticed them and suddenly charged at him, causing him to lose his balance and fall on top of the nun. They both ended up on the floor, but she cushioned his fall. A second later the weapons caught up with them, falling to the floor and risking to stab them.
Fortunately, those things, having their hands tied, were unable to follow them down.
Pav realized only later that he was still sitting on top of Maddalena because of her whines, so he moved away.

- You weigh, you know?-
- And you're comfortable, I didn't think. After all, you are all bones.-

She made an adorable expression; she just couldn't make it believable. Her face had the innocence of a child, but in contrast her eyes seemed to have seen so much, too much, balancing to the point of visibly aging her. Going down another flight of stairs, they finally reached the main aisle of the church. It was very large, with immense stained glass windows depicting three men. The middle one looked like Alll-mer, the others he had no idea -not that he cared, really-.
Maddalena also managed to retrieve the effigy she had dropped, by some strange miracle all in one piece, and placed it right on the altar in front of the central stained-glass window.
Before they left, they decided to explore the church in more detail, perhaps looking for some clue as to why there was literally a dungeon full of mind-controlling snails under the building.
The tour was almost in vain, except for one miserable paper found on the floor. The first half was practically useless, while the second half had aroused curiosity.
It spoke of a secret passage under the church and three key effigies; the author of the note had written that he had left one to the priests -presumably the one they had found-, one had been taken by a certain Father Domek to the orphanage, and the last one he had kept in his apartment.

- It certainly seems that here in Prehevil the church is hiding something big. What are they doing with a secret passage? Or is it normal for you, um, devotees?-
- No that's not normal...!-
- Oh, well, not that I really care, I certainly didn't come all this way to investigate a bunch of priests and their strange rituals.
... Our cooperation ends here, little birdie. You've reached the church, I've reached the city. See ya~-

Pav left her the paper with the notes and started to leave. Damn, just getting there had made him lose a good half day. Half a day in which he could have riddled Kaiser's goddamn head with bullets and instead he had to go around the sewers, escape a giant wolf, and save a nun from a monster that had driven her insane. None of this had been in his plans... at least he had earned a cool sword and had seen, if only for half a second, the panties worn by said nun.
Reaching the church exit, however, a sound of quick footsteps reached his ears, followed by two unmistakable hands wrapped around his right wrist.

- Wait...! – He looked into her piercing blue eyes. – Don't... don't leave me here...-
- I'm not going on a hike, it's dangerous for you out there.-
- Yes, but, I'm... I'm afraid... you've seen what's hiding down there... I don't want to be alone... please let me stay with you, at least until we find someone else from the train, or a safer place.-
- ... All right, but on one condition.-
- Which one?-
- You will find out.-

Chapter Text

Light had disappeared completely by now, too bad the invisible sun had not brought the fog with it. Pav could feel his hair curling even more and getting heavier because of the heavy humidity. The temperature outside had also dropped, which was certainly not the ideal time to be outside, not to mention the fact that the damn city was populated by deformed and monstrous people.
So the best thing was, even though it would have wasted his time further, to find a safe place to stay at least until dawn. He had no problem staying awake, but his burden did.
Maddalena walked beside him and he could see her visibly staggering, her eyes closing even though she was standing. She clutched the hilt of the sword/crucifix tightly and was all closed in on herself like a hedgehog, trembling -more than usual-.
The lieutenant decided to do a charitable act and opened his jacket completely, then took it off and put it on the nun's shoulders. Her uncanny blue eyes immediately planted themselves on him.

- Don't look at me like that, I can see from miles away that you're freezing to death.-
- And you...? – He saw her gaze fall to his chest. She averted it at the speed of light. – You are more... uncovered than I...-
- Don't worry about me, the shirt is enough. I'm used to much lower temperatures, in fact, it's hot for me.-
- Is that why you walk around like this...?-
- Then your eye has fallen on the merchandise~ – With her face on fire and an adorable pout, Maddalena slipped on his jacket sleeves and quickened her pace. He accelerated as well. – Look, staying away from me is dangerous.-
- So is being close to you.-

This made him laugh. Despite that sort of insult, she actually slowed down and they started walking together again. She looked really cute in his jacket, it looked huge on her and covered a lot of that hideous black dress that wrapped her badly. Too bad it was part of a Bremen uniform.
He saw her reach into his pocket and then pull something out, looking at it with interest.

- Pavel Yudin? Is that your full name? It doesn't sound like Bremenite...-
... That's what it was, his Identification Tag.
- Put it away.-
- You were born on December 21?! Like Alll-mer!-
- I said "put it away".-
- Why did you tell me to call you only Pav?-
- I don't like long names. Just call me that.-
- I like "Pavel".-
- So what?-
- If you want to keep calling me "little birdie", expect me to call you "Pavel".-
- ... Do as you like.-

There was no electricity in that stupid city; actually, nothing worked at all. Pav had tried to start one of the army trucks that had been abandoned around, but no dice, it was the same story that happened to the train. Of course, that made the streetlights useless iron poles; the only luck was that the damn moon was emitting enough light to be able -approximately, because the fog was darn annoying- to see just beyond their feet.
He jumped out of the truck, huffed, and adjusted his hat on his head. He wished so badly to run over some monster, like those policemen with three arms all armed with batons, it would surely have saved him effort, time, and bullets, but instead he was forced to look for a place to have Maddalena rest, who by then was showing signs of breaking down.
He was too proud to admit he was going randomly, but what could he do about it? He didn't know the streets of that damn Prehevil. Fuck it.
The idle wandering brought them to a deserted street where the only notable thing was a fairly tall apartment building.

- ... Do you think this is the apartment mentioned in the letter we found in the church?- Maddalena asked, stopping in front of the building.
- Who knows. This place is big, there may be many more of the same.-
- What if we go and check it out?-
- It's better to go tomorrow, let's first find a place where you can rest, you can't even stand up. I have a bad feeling about that building.-
- You're right...-

Of course he was right, so the march continued. Links! Links! Links! Links! Links zwo, drei, vier! At the mere thought of the march, his walk had unconsciously become more rhythmic.
He stopped only when he was confronted by two... children? Dogs? The only thing certain was that they were emanating a terrible smell. Their skin was yellowish, he couldn't tell whether by nature or because it was pregnant with feces. They looked like canids, but their heads were more human-like, hairless and with ears at the side of the head. The mouth was twisted into a perpetual grin because it was unable to contain all those big, long teeth.
Luckily, someone had already killed them on their behalf.
No questions and moving on, apparently they had arrived at some sort of center, because there was a clothing store in front of them.

- Little birdie, why don't you go and see if there are any decent clothes you can wear?-
- No.-
- Boring.-
- I like my clothes.-
- I don't.-

Maddalena didn't reply and immediately turned to the left, as if she had been drawn to something. Pav initially saw nothing, but then he noticed what looked like a blue butterfly, no, a moth, hovering in the air and emitting a faint glow, almost like a firefly. Strange. What was such a creature doing in such a place? If it turned into a monster at any moment, it wouldn't be a surprise, so the lieutenant stood at attention, ready to draw his pistol if needed.
The bug led them, before disappearing into thin air, to an underground flight of stairs, on the door an unlit sign reading "Prhvl BOP". Could it have been a club? It certainly wouldn't have been a comfortable place to rest, but he honestly hoped he could have a drink, just to forget all the crap he had seen in the last twentyfour hours.
And in fact it really was a bar, one of the nice ones, with a checkered floor, a solid wood counter, plenty of fine liquors displayed on the shelves, and even music instruments. Then Pav noticed that in fact the moth had entered with them and was now fluttering in circles, as if trying to attract attention. He decided to play along, and when he reached it, it disappeared again, but he noticed something else, a specific tile made a different noise from the others when it was stepped on.
He bent down to check and realized that it was a hatch, so he opened it; as usual, guard up, hand on the holster, and he poked his head into the hole. No suspicious movement, so he went down the ladder.
That looked like someone's hiding place: there were two bunk beds, a table on which a Luger had been left and, best of all, at least a whole cartridge of bullets. There were also some documents present, but when he tried to read them it turned out to be impossible because they were written in code.
What intrigued him most was the map of Prehevil attached to a blackboard, on which four red X's had been drawn. One was located in the woods near where the train had stopped, another as well, but in its heart, one was right on the museum, and the last one... he checked the area carefully. It was just south of the church... would that be the location of the telelectrothing? The computer named three of them, while there were four crosses. Assuming the others were also bunkers like the one they had been in, so only suitable for containing machines... one of them was the White Bunker. It was only a guess, but perhaps that was where "Logic", whatever it was, was kept, perhaps the object of Kaiser's fixations. He was headed there, for sure! The bastard... maybe he was already underground, he had to go there and put a bullet in his head. No more waiting, why was he wasting time? What on earth was he doing there— a piano began to play.
It was a slow, sweet melody, but at the same time it sounded like something he could have been heard in a church.
Pav climbed up the ladder and then he saw her, sitting at the piano, playing with skilled hands and closed eyes, continuing to play as if there hadn't been hell breaking loose out there, even smiling, and damn how beautiful her smile was. Her lips were slightly parted and her white teeth could be seen, her dark, thick eyelashes looked like feather fans. She had taken off the jacket he gave her and left it hanging on a chair, the crucifix around her neck followed her fluid movements. He walked over and then sat down on the bench beside her. When she opened her eyes and looked at him, he put one hand on her hip and one on her thigh.

- What are you doing...?!- She became agitated and tried to shrug them away. He prevented her from doing so.
- The condition for which I agreed to bring you here. Make a lonely man happy... you're alive thanks to me, you know?-
- You shouldn't make such demands on a nun.-
- Without clothes we are all the same, little birdie.-
She said nothing, only put a hand to his face when he tried to approach.
- ... Please. Don't spoil the idea I have of you.-
Pav grabbed her wrist and pulled her arm away.
- The idea you have of me? You are running around with a lieutenant of the Bremen army, have you forgotten? Have you forgotten what we did?-
- You are not from Bremen. Your accent... yours is a name of the East.-
- You are making me angry.-
- Is it because I'm right?-
- If you don't want me to kill you, do what I say.-
- I found some cards on the counter...!-
- What the fuck do cards have to do with it now?!-
- ... Let's play. At the end of each game, the loser will have to remove some of the clothing. If you can get me to remove it all, I will give myself to you.-
Pav looked at her, thoughtful. He was already thinking about how he was going to bang her on one of those beds, who knows what she was hiding under that loose dress... he wanted to admire more than just her panties...
Unfortunately for her he was good at card games, in the army it was the main way to kill time, he had already won.
- It's a deal, but know that you've dug your own grave.-

Maddalena remained motionless, not at all shaken by his statement. She was so strange; at times she was frightened by anything she saw and at others she was extremely composed and lucid, especially in the moments when she had to "survive"; he had never been good at understanding others, but of her he understood that there was a lot more brains in that little head than she gave away.
They took their seats across from each other at the bar tables. She had the deck in her hand.

- I didn't think strip poker was a pastime of you nuns~-
- I don't know how to play poker. We will play briscola.-
She had started to take out cards from the deck and put them aside, more specifically the numbers eight, nine and ten of each suit.
- I have no idea what briscola is.-
- It is a game native to the Vatican. I'll teach you. – After shuffling the remaining cards, she gave three to herself and as many to him. Then she uncovered one, a five of clubs, and placed it askew, while on top of it she placed the upside-down deck. – We don't have the right cards, but we will adapt. Briscola has very simple rules: you have to score more points than me to win. The ace is equivalent to eleven points, the three ten, the jack two, the knight three and the king four, discards are worth nothing. Since we are using the wrong deck, the jack will be worth two points and the queen three.
At the beginning of the game we uncover a card that will determine the most important suit, in this case we have clubs.
Ace wins on everything, three wins on jack, queen and king and so on, whoever is worth more wins on the other. The most important suit, however, will always win on every card. Understand?-
- Mh, yes. Let's hurry up and play, I want to see you naked.-

... If he had never said that.
The first time he could have given her a run for her money, after all, he had never played that game, it should have been considered a warm-up, so he had had to say goodbye to the cap.
But game after game, she had continued to fool him undeterred, always getting the better of him with points. How could she be so strong at a game that went mainly by luck? Every single time she always took his best cards and the deck acquired more and more value. His at the end of the game might have been the highest, but Maddalena's was worth more.
And so Pav had also said goodbye to his shirt, socks and boots, first one and then the other to make the experience even more of a mockery. All he had left were breeches and pants, the latter of which he had lost in the game that had just ended, so he would have to take them off.
And there she was, slyly, pretending to be serious, but he could see by miles how pleased she was. She was happy to humiliate him, while she hadn't shown him a single strand of hair.
... He never thought a nun could be such a formidable opponent. So she really was as smart as he thought, maybe even smarter. Or was he the pathetic loser, the one who had dug his heels in by accepting the challenge for the sake of a fuck?

- Are you sure you want to continue, loser?- She raised her big blue eyes from the freshly shuffled deck, planting them on him. There it was, the shadow of a smile. It was there. He hadn't dreamed it.
- Are you showing me mercy now?- He rested his elbow on the small table, supporting his head with the hand.
- Well... you're kind of pitiful...-
- Come on, keep teasing me, remind me how little worth I have.-

He lowered his gaze, he didn't want to look at her anymore, he wanted to be away from those innocent, judgmental eyes. He was used to losing, never once had life not kicked him in the butt, never a victory, not even a small one, a reason to really smile. He really wished to see her naked.
Maybe if he had treated her better now her clothes would have been missing too and she would have given herself to him, but of course he had taken his usual inappropriate approach, which might have worked with someone else, but she had been the wrongest person in the world to approach like that.
He heard the sound of a chair creeping against the floor, a few seconds of silence, and then something warm enveloped him. He found himself with his head resting on a soft chest and fingers moving gently through his hair. She was hugging him. The nun was hugging him.

- I'm sorry... I didn't mean to treat you rudely, really.-
- I threatened to kill you and you apologize for two little words?-
- It's just that you seem so lonely... and sad... you're not the bad person you want to show.-
- What makes you think that?-
- I know when there is suffering in a person's eyes...-

Pav raised his arms like an automaton and wrapped them around Maddalena's torso. He held her close, sinking even deeper into her chest. In her clothes he could still smell, very faintly, the scent of clean laundry, despite all the sweat spilled and having been a whole day in the filth. He was holding her so tightly that most likely the crucifix would have left a cross-shaped hollow on his throat.

- You... cared for my survival during the whole day, always helped me, even carried me while you climbed, held me close to you in order to not leave me alone... and you didn't hurt me when I tried to kill you.
That's why I refuse to believe that you're evil, Pavel. You are not originally from Bremen, are you? Why are you a lieutenant in their army?-
- ... Voroniya. This is the name of what used to be my home. – He bit his lip, perhaps even trembled. She kept stroking his hair. – But now it no longer exists.-

The flames were vivid in his mind, the fire devouring everything, incinerating it, killing it. The screams, the blood, the gunshots, the laughter. No one was spared. Old people, men, women, children, animals.
Pavel had seen his entire family die like cattle, his mother and sisters raped and then left to die in excruciating pain, his father with his skull cracked open and brains scattered everywhere for trying to protect them, one brother with a hole in his head and the other, little more than a newborn, thrown alive into a pile of corpses that still burned. A friend of his had died clutching in his arms his dog they had just killed, his family all executed by shooting. And so many others.
Pavel was gone with them, the death of innocence. Nothing was left of that carefree, hyperactive child, and it, by miracle or curse, had grown into a man capable only of getting his hands bloody on behalf of those who had burnt his entire childhood to the ground. There was nothing left of him.

- Almost thirty years ago, Kaiser ordered the village where I was born to be destroyed. Only I survived. My whole family, lost.- He didn't stop holding her for a second and now he had pulled her down and made her sit on his lap. He could hear her heartbeat. She made no protest.
- Oh...- Maddalena was unable to say anything else. He couldn't see her face, but he heard her sobbing.
- Don't cry for me. To get this far I had to commit many atrocities.-
- I... hate to know that someone else has also suffered so much.- Her little hands had come down on his shoulders and she clung to them as if she was afraid of losing him, he could clearly hear her crying in the crook of his neck.
Now it was he who stroked her head, too bad it was covered by that damn veil.
- That's why I'm here, to finally put an end to Kaiser's hegemony.-
She pulled away and looked into his face. Her eyes and cheeks were shiny, her sclerae rosy and her lips swollen. She was still beautiful.
- A martyr... – She whispered. – I want to help you, Pavel.-
- No way.-
- Why?
- Because this is not a game.-

He took her by the shoulders and set her on her feet, then got up and went behind the bar counter and began looking at the selection of liquors. He chose a bottle of plain vodka and took a few sips by the neck. He usually didn't like to drink, it lowered his defenses and made him feel vulnerable, but after those memories had surfaced he had felt the need to try to drown them again. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand and, when he turned around, found his clothes carefully folded on the countertop, even his boots and hat. Maddalena was standing with her hands clasped.

- I thought I was not allowed to put on my clothes.-
- You can do it... sorry for putting you in this situation. I just wanted to... survive.-
He couldn't help smiling at her.
- You really humiliated me, congratulations. You did well. – He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and then unbuckled his belt so he could tuck it into his pants. As he had lowered them slightly, he noticed that she was still standing there as still as a statue. – ... What is it? I'll take everything off if you want.- He slipped his thumbs between the elastic of his briefs and the skin, pretending he wanted to slip them off, while flashing her the most crooked smile he could muster.
The nun finally seemed to light up, showed him a look of desperation, rotated on herself ninety degrees, and launched herself at a brisk pace into the hatch.
- Good night!-

Pav laughed to himself as he put on his clothes; shirt, socks, hat, boots... he slung his jacket over his shoulder and went down the stairs as well.
Maddalena was on one of the lower bunks; she had taken off her boots and was lying on her side, still awake. The lieutenant, without a word, put the jacket on her as a blanket and then climbed to the upper bunk. Those kinds of beds reminded him of the army... obviously in a bad way.
A few minutes passed, he didn't know exactly how many, but he heard a small voice coming from below.

- Pavel...-
- Don't you sleep, little birdie?-
- It's just that... I'm afraid...-
- We're safe here, get some rest.-
- Uhm... could you, er... climb down and come here?-
- All right.-

He went down the ladder leading to his bed, when he saw her she had moved closer to the wall and was tapping the mattress with an open hand in a sign of invitation. He accepted, lying on his back next to her body. The nun, curled in on herself, looked at him.

- What's the matter, did you change your mind and want to finally give yourself to me~?-
He heard her sigh in exasperation.
- Can you be serious for once?-
- No, I'm sorry. If I remain serious all the time, I would feel like killing myself.-
- Don't say that...- She was mortified, convinced that she was wrong again. Her gaze lowered.
- Stop acting as if all the misfortunes that have happened to me are your fault, little birdie. Worry less about someone with such bloody hands.-
- I don't like others to suffer, I told you, Pavel.-
- What about you? Did you suffer?-
- ... – Maddalena was silent for a few seconds. She clenched her hands into fists, her gaze was vague. She was frightened, as if she had just seen a monster at the foot of the bed. – You don't know how much.-
- Do you want to tell me?-
- I don't... I...-
- If you feel like it.-
- Sorry... I don't... I can't...-
- Calm down, I'm not going to force you.-
- ... Thank you.-

They didn't say anything else to each other, and she fell asleep shortly afterwards. Her face hadn't stopped being tense in fact, if possible, it had contracted even more, followed by her entire body. She had curled in on herself to the point that she looked as if she were about to break at any moment, her fists closed and clenched tightly, her nails driven into her flesh, her breathing heavy. She seemed to be struggling against a nightmare; her cheeks had become slick with sweat. Pav decided not to wake her; restless sleep was better than insomnia anyway.
Insomnia he had been having ever since that day, the day he had lost everything and his life had turned upside down. The paranoia of being killed or overwhelmed before he could complete his goal kept him awake. He had to be constantly vigilant; after all, he was that foreigner in the army of the great Bremen Empire, the one who had been slipped into it from an all too young age. Meat for the slaughter, in short. His only merit was that with that angelic blonde hair, beautiful smile and silver eyes he was the ideal subject to depict on a Bremenite propaganda poster. Ironic. The one whose homeland had ceased to exist was the perfect image to represent the country that had ordered its erasure.
They had always looked at him as the cheapest whore of the brothel, the one you settle for when you have little or nothing. But they had never been able to touch that whore. The whore was biting, rebellious, towering over them in spite of her young age, she had remained immaculate and her value had increased until she had risen in rank. Now he was the one who could have looked at the rookies that way if only he had wanted to.
... No fucking way he was going to let a Bremenite suck him off, he'd rather be dry for the rest of his life. Besides, he preferred women, delicate creatures who were not allowed in those meaningless wars and, moreover, were victims themselves, helpless in front of their husbands and brothers sent to die. Perhaps he was a fool, perhaps he was a madman, but he would have prevented others from ever having to suffer the same experience and pain as he did.
His non-sleep was interrupted by Maddalena a few hours later, perhaps it was dawn, but he couldn't know. They were underground, and what's more, all the clocks in the city were stopped at 14:35, as if they had all been synchronized.
She had woken up suddenly, her eyes even wider than usual, breathing heavily with her mouth open and shaking like a leaf, it seemed she was having a panic attack.

- Hey, little birdie, what's wrong?

She didn't answer, so Pav took action without thinking. He grabbed the buttons that closed her veil and began to undo them, but she protested and tried to break away from his grip.

- Keep still, damn it, how the fuck can you breathe with such a tight thing around your neck?!

Eventually he won and that horrible black and white rag slid down onto the mattress, in the action he brought with it luscious blonde hair that rested on the nun's chest in wide waves. She had no real haircut, it was just long, unkempt and tousled.
He held her by the shoulders until her breathing became regular, her heart had slowed significantly, and her eyes were shiny but alive.

- Men cannot... see a nun's... hair...-
- Blondes Haar und Rosenkranz, this is not the time to complain about such things, you're acting like I had taken your virginity. – Her face flushed. – What on earth happened to you while you were asleep?- Meanwhile, he let her go until she was lying back on the mattress.
Maddalena took the crucifix around her neck and clutched it tightly. She closed her eyes, sighed and then opened them again.
- I dreamed... the creature on the tower... he told me that his lord will be bored at this rate. He also suggested me to kill you...-
- I have to kill Kaiser first, I don't have time for such things. You will do it later.-
- But I don't want to kill you! – She snapped like a spring and sat down. – I'm... just... afraid that someone will take this festival stuff seriously... – Her eyes were running left and right like crazy. – I don't want to die... I don't want to hurt anyone... I just want to go back to the Vatican.- She curled up again, hugging her legs and burying her head in them.
- If you're suggesting to tell you that everything will be all right, you've got the wrong person.-
- That wasn't my intention... – She raised her head and sighed. – Do you want to know why I became a nun?-
- Because you're dumb?-
- Because they used to beat me, from morning to night. I was born into a branch of the Family, a mafia organization operating in Vatican. My parents wanted a male heir, but when I came into the world I risked killing my mother and made her infertile.
When I was fifteen years old, they arranged a marriage with a man who was ten years older than me because they wanted me to make the heir they wanted; when I found out, I tried to run away, but I was caught doing it and they almost killed me. – She grabbed the hem of her skirt and lifted it up until her legs were uncovered. Underneath the semi-transparent pantyhose he could see a sea of scars on her knees. They were hideous. – I always prayed to Alll-mer... every night until I fell asleep... I prayed while being repeatedly beaten... I prayed every single day of my life...
The day before my wedding I managed to escape and reach a monastery, where after recovering from my injuries I took my vows. Alll-mer saved my life countless times and I want to dedicate it to him.-
- Is that what you were unable to tell me before?- Pav decided not to tell her how stupid he found the idea of throwing away the life she had so desperately asked to save.
Maddalena nodded, hiding her hair in her veil again.
- I decided to tell you about it because it didn't seem right to know your story without you knowing mine... you're the first one I've told about it.-

The lieutenant said nothing. Now everything made sense. When she had told him that she was used to worse things after he had thrown her to the ground, or her "survival instinct"... the suffering experienced by that nun must have been unspeakable. Not a single day in her own life when she had been happy -he didn't believe at all that taking vows had really made her so-. He had had a family who had loved him and so, after almost thirty years, he still fought for them, while she didn't have even that. Born to suffer, now a mere deluded woman who believes she was saved by a couple of foolish prayers.
Pav got out of bed, adjusted his hat on his head and headed for the ladder.

- Where are you going?-
- I have a mission. Remember?-
- I want to come too.-
- No. You're safe here.-

She remained silent and he went back up into the bar. It was when he approached the exit that he felt a weight crash against his back. Two hands clutched at him, entered his jacket and were so tight that they almost scratched him with the nails. Pav stopped, was silent for a few seconds, and then decided to speak.

- "Nuns can't touch men, blah, blah, blah...". What happened to the rules you're so fixated on?-
- Please, take me with you. I know I told you I would stop following you if I found a safe place, but... I can't let you go. I really want to help you. To pay you back for protecting me.-
- If you want to owe me so much you can get those hands down to my underwear, little birdie...-
- Stop saying these things. I'm serious, Pavel! I know it's your battle, but I want to fight by your side... if I can stop someone from suffering in the future, I'm willing even to risk my own life. Besides... we had to go and see if in that apartment there is one of the effigies that opens the secret passage to the church.-
- ... All these big words give me a headache. – He didn't think he could have ever said it, he was already regretting it. – All right, come with me, let's look for this effigy. But you'll have to promise that you will not get in my way afterwards. If I want to kill, I'll kill. Even if it has to do with the passengers of the train.-

She didn't reply, only left him. Without looking back, the lieutenant climbed the stairs of the bar and went out; hearing her paw behind him let him know that she had accepted the compromise.
They headed south, from where they had come the night before, to the apartment building in which one of the two missing effigies was supposed to be found. Who knows if it really made sense to open that passageway located in the church... he just hoped it wouldn't waste too much of his time, his primary focus being the telelectroscopes and the White Bunker. And Kaiser.
The two walked side by side in silence, through the thick fog as usual; everything was quiet, far too much so, which made it all the more eerie, anything was to be expected in such a place.
... And indeed, not even time to think about it that a glass bottle was thrown towards him, shattering inches from his feet.
Instantly the quiet was ripped apart by a literal pandemonium. Three moonscorched men emerged from the alley; one was swinging a meat mallet from one hand to the other, another was waving a homemade chainsaw over his head like a madman, and the third had a rifle.
The latter fired a shot and in the blink of an eye a scream overpowered even the sound of the rotating blade; sharp, lacerating. A second followed, Pav screamed Maddalena's name at the top of his lungs, almost vomiting them out. He completely ran out of air inside them.

Chapter Text

He had grabbed her as if she had been already dead, pulled her up by grabbing her dress from her chest and thrown her over his shoulder.
Pav swung the sword like a madman in an attempt to keep those three monsters away from him, while shouting profanities with such eagerness that, in moments, he actually believed he could summon the wrath of every deity whose name he had called in vain. He knew he should have insisted that she should have stayed in that fucking bar! And now she was dying because of him, good for nothing, capable only of making anyone who didn't hate him die and doomed to be unable to save anyone. Never.
Every. Single. Time.
Trained lieutenant, over twentyfive years in an army, but one against three -one with a handheld circular saw- and a bleeding nun in his arms put him at a tremendous disadvantage. In a nutshell, he could have gotten killed too. Had he been on his own he might have been able to make it, but like this...
Maddalena was a burden, she had been one from the first moment he had seen her. Useless, unable to fight, fragile. Yet, for some reason, she was worth more to him than anything else in the world in that moment. And maybe not only in that moment. She didn't deserve to die in that shitty place. She was too good, a rare pearl in a sea of muck. If only everyone had been like her... deluded but pure. That's why he would have saved her even if it meant losing himself. He wanted to, sooner or later, do one good thing.
He suddenly took off running, taking the attackers by surprise, gave the one with the meat mallet a violent shove, and in this way was able to clear a passage and escape those three as they chased him in a single line. He ran with all the strength he had in his body, distancing himself as far as he could from them. He knew he couldn't go on forever despite the adrenaline, so he turned sharply and ran into the street they had to get to from the start and then dashed inside the apartment building.
Once inside, panting, he took Maddalena from his shoulder and turned her on her back. There was a hole near her heart visible on her dress, and although it was black, the stain spreading across the fabric was clearly visible. By a lucky miracle she was still alive; she was barely breathing and moaning feebly with her eyes half-closed, but at that rate she wouldn't have been for long.

- DAMN! – He suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs. – HOW THE FUCK AM I GOING TO SAVE YOU NOW, LITTLE BIRDIE? DO I LOOK LIKE A DOCTOR TO YOU?! ANSWER. – She didn't answer. – MADDALENA! MADDALENA! Madda... lena... don't die... please.-

Pav realized that his hands were shaking. They were sweating, like his entire body. He felt the drops running down the back of his neck, others stopping in the crook of his neck. Maddalena was going to die and it was all his fault, he had failed to protect her, had been unable to hold on to the one person who had not dared to judge him even after he tried to hurt her.

- Yelling in her face won't make her heal, you know?

He raised his head suddenly to meet a man's gaze. He was thin, not too tall, wearing ridiculous checkered pants, a patch over his left eye and the other surrounded by a very deep dark circle. He had seen him before on the train... he remembered him.
Between the fingers of his right hand was a lit cigarette. He descended the stairs from which he had come and reached them, bending down and observing the girl. He inhaled some smoke.

- Or did it? Just kidding, but thanks to your cries I could hear you. You have been lucky. Let me see.-
- Don't touch her!-
- Calm down, I'm a doctor. Do you want me to save her or no?-

Pav looked him straight in the eye, scrutinizing his features. He had a delicate face, a small nose... he looked really young, perhaps more than his actual age, but there was something murky in his gaze. Should he have trusted him? Entrust him with the nun's life? Perhaps taking the risk was the right choice, after all, she was going to die anyway.
He let him look at her.

- What happened to her?-
- A bullet.-
- ... Oh. It has to be extracted as soon as possible, if it tears an artery you should start digging a hole for her.-
- Can you do that?-
- Yes, but not here. This building is full of mold on the levels of a horror movie, I need a cleaner place, if I close the wound here the risk of infection would be high.-
- ... There is a bar nearby, there are also beds. Will that do?-
- I'll make it work for me. But we have a problem.-
- Mh?-
- Once you get in here, it's impossible to get out. The door locks.-
- Don't talk bullshit, it was open a few seconds ago!-

The lieutenant didn't believe half a word, so to make his point he left Maddalena in the guy's arms and went to open the door.
But the door wouldn't open. So he tried pulling harder. And it still didn't open. No matter how much strength he applied, it wouldn't budge.

- What did I tell you?-
- Then how do we get out?!-
- There must surely be a mechanism somewhere in the building. – He rummaged in his pants pocket and pulled out a key. – This should open everything in here.-
Pav snatched it from his hands.
- I'll go find a way out, you take care of her. – He bent towards him, pulling a knife out of his jacket pocket and pointing it at him. – If I come back here and she's dead, I'll cut your throat, doc.-

His icy gaze was completely dead, as if he didn't give a damn about the threat, even hoped he would. Maniac.
Hoping that he really was a doctor and would be able to save Maddalena, the lieutenant began to wander around the building. It was the weirdest and filthiest he had ever seen, completely -literally- covered with a thick layer of mold that had engulfed everything from the walls to the furniture and even the plants, painting everything an unhealthy, snow-white color.
With the key given to him by the guy he went down to the basement, hoping to find an electric meter; could it be that the door was not opening due to lack of electricity? It didn't actually look electric to him... but it doesn't cost anything to try. He found it and in fact the main lever was down, so he lifted it up, but it dropped instantly, as if the power had gone out. He tried to pull it up several times, but nothing to do. Until, after a while, he became aware of a noise behind him, continuous and metallic.
So he went further into the moldy basement, always with his guard up.
Eventually he discovered that it was coming from... from a running washing machine, the only one of four. It rattled noisily and blood dripped from the closed door; he also noticed a panel where a six-digit numerical sequence could be entered.

- A washing machine with a password? What the fuck...

He decided there was no point in wasting time looking for the solution, so he looked behind the domestic appliance to unplug it... but it wasn't even plugged in. He also tried to force open the door. Nothing at all.
Apparently the solution to the riddle was a must to be found, something told him that the washing machine was precisely why the door had stuck, after all it seemed to be the only working thing in the whole building. Which was ridiculous, but in that shitty city one had to expect anything and everything.
He went back up and began to explore the second floor, until he found himself in front of a weirdly working television, which was airing a news report led by that blonde woman who on the train looked at him as if she had wanted to kill him -he couldn't blame her-. It spoke of a massacre that had taken place there, where four people had lost their lives.
Pav decided to keep that information in mind and went upstairs. Most of the doors were stuck because of mold, only one of them was open.
It was a very normal apartment -"normal" meant equally moldy- except for a drawing on the floor; it depicted two intersecting triangles with an inverted cross at the base. Just looking at it gave him a strange headache.
There was also a diary on the floor, so he picked it up and began to flip through it. For the most part it was unreadable, but toward the last few pages it began to make sense.

"Dream of the moon. The sign. The city is in upheaval.
Fools. They don't know what awaits them.
The moon is of no value to me. It is but a mark of a trigger. The time has come. And so has he.
As you are my witness, I am ready my lord. I have gone through this a thousand times in my head.
The first blood - The one who talks only to her plants.
The second blood - His puppets will bear witness to his sacrifice.
The third blood - The foolish braggart who just moved in.
The fourth blood and the final sacrifice - The girl who keeps me up at night. The songbird that utters her last whimpers.
To finish the ritual, I need time. The laundry room works as a perfect hiding place for the sacrificed.
I will swear on your name my lord, our one true leader, the Sulf—"

The remaining was unreadable, but Pav realized he had hit the jackpot. He had to find the houses that matched those named in the diary, surely if entered in the right way in the washing machine panel it would have opened.
So he got to work and, after going around and checking all the apartments, he came up with a possible combination to enter: 2 - 11 - 13 - 6.
Six digits, just like the spaces on the panel.
He quickly went back to the basement and hurried to type in the supposed password.
... And indeed it worked, the washing machine turned off and the door opened by itself.
The lieutenant bent down and looked inside, and what he saw was absurd: instead of the basket there seemed to be another place, as if that had been a mere door. He saw only wooden planks and wondered how on earth such a thing was possible. By now he was already aware that he should expect anything and everything from Prehevil, but this much? It was insane!
Since after everything that had happened he had learned that only the most absurd and senseless choices led to real results... he slipped into the washing machine.
He passed through smoothly and stood up, finding himself in a place completely lined with wooden planks, it felt like being in another dimension.
With his guard up and his hand on the holster, he began to wander around the absurd place. He climbed a ladder that led to an upper floor... and everything became even more strange and distorted.
The floor plan was very similar, if not identical, to that of the apartment building, the only difference being that the whole thing was shaped like a prison. Instead of the apartment doors, there were actual bars that turned them into cells. But even worse, patrolling the area was full of tapir-like monsters equal to the one he had encountered in the sewers with Maddalena. What a clusterfuck, he found himself thinking.
From his previous experience he remembered that those things couldn't see, but used their tongue to feel the air and sense the smells. Pav reflexively sniffed his clothes. Double fucked, being tremendously sweaty certainly wouldn't have helped him.
But he still decided to come out of the closet, he couldn't sit on his hands while Maddalena was dying in the arms of that guy he had just met. After all, those abominations were pretty slow, how hard would it have been to avoid them?
The murderer's diary spoke of a ritual, and if that place was really a distorted copy of the apartment building, perhaps the key to open the door was in the exact apartment where he had found the diary... there was that symbol on the floor after all, no?
Damn, he didn't like to rack his brains so much. Shooting everyone in the head and getting his way with his head up was far easier... but unfortunately now he had to use his brain, dig up that intelligence that his family loved so much. After all, it was for a good cause.
He came out into the open, senses activated and sword in hand -the pistol would only have been useful to commit suicide-, and began to head for the -in theory- incriminated apartment.
The monsters were slogging along in their steps, but they soon noticed him and began to move in his direction. They were really slow, but he couldn't let them catch him.
He used the key the doctor had given him to open one of the cells and slipped inside to outrun the creatures, then ran until he opened another cell and returned to the main hallway and dashed up the stairs.
Upstairs it was the same story, and as he predicted, behind the bars that corresponded to the killer's apartment was a statue identical to the one found in the church basement, complete with an effigy above. The only problem was that the key didn't open that exact door, of course. When did things ever get easy? He wished so much that it was someone he could shoot.
Looking closer, he noticed that there was a hole in the ceiling -which, by the way, was also present in its counterpart-. Third floor, then.
Third floor, same process, by now he was starting to get bored.
He opened the cells until he found one with a hole in the floor, which led him right to where he wanted to go. The proximity to the symbol carved into the wooden planks kept giving him a headache, so he took the effigy with him and walked all the way back out of the washing machine and into the actual apartment.
He had always been a calm, cold person, impossible to scratch and lucid, but at that moment his hands were shaking, sweating inside his leather gloves. What if he had taken too long and she had died? Or she would never be able to recover?
Was that fear? Fear that that insignificant nun would no longer be his burden?
As he walked he felt his heart pounding in his ears, trepidatious and eager to know the truth. Alive? Dead? Alive? Dead?
And finally he arrived. He saw the doctor's figure sitting on the ground and then he saw Maddalena.
He had her sitting in his arms, her head resting against his chest. When he saw her stripped of her veil and with her dress lowered to uncover her chest, he risked bursting a vein in his head. He quickened his pace suddenly, ready to slit the maniacal bastard's throat, but then he realized the situation: he was dabbing her wound with a piece of cloth.
He raised his head and turned it in Pav's direction.

- ... Oh, well, looks like you made it. The door opened.- He said, in his usual flat tone.
- I don't care about the door— she. How is she?-
- I think praying did her good, she was shot in an extremely critical spot, yet the bullet didn't touch any major blood vessels. She is still in time to be saved at least from bleeding, from infection will see later.-
Pav felt his shoulders relax.
- Well, you hold her, and take this. – He handed him the effigy. – I'll go kill those bastards who wounded her and then we'll leave.- With the sword clutched in his hand, he opened the door.
- Daan, by the way.-
- Mh?-
- My name is Daan. Or Daniël, whichever you like.-
- Lieutenant Pav. Thank you for taking care of the little birdie.-

He didn't wait for an answer. He walked out of the building and in the blink of an eye a bullet had already hit the forehead, a perfect circle, of the one with the rifle.
Pav kicked the Luger back into its holster and launched himself into battle. He was approached by the meat grinder-armed bastard; he waved it like a flag and tried to hit him relentlessly, full of rage and hatred.
His specialty had always been to dodge and always have the first shot delivered; his agility had ensured that he stayed alive all those years, that he stood out for the skill with which he overpowered his enemies more by intelligence than brute force.
That was his personal dance. He gripped the sword with two hands and as if it had been a baseball bat directed the blade just below his opponent's knees, cutting his legs in half. The monster's body fell on his stomach onto his own weapon, his neck landing on the circular saw. He decapitated himself, blood staining the lieutenant's boots. He cursed.
He had no time to swear further, because there was still one more to go, the last one, the one who wanted to crush his skull with the meat mallet. He, too, was rabid for some reason, he still didn't understand the reason for all that hatred and killer instinct. Was it... because of the Bremen Eagle that towered proudly over his cap...? Was it because of that damned uniform he wore? Or was it just the effects of the moon and all those deformities?
In any case, he had to kill him.
First, he kicked him away from himself with a kick to the chest and, when he leaned toward him again in an attempt to land another blow, he cleanly sliced off the arm holding the weapon. On reflex the monster struck him with the deformed mass that was the other limb, taking him by surprise and knocking him to the ground. He tried to charge at him, but Pav pulled the pistol from his belt again and with a blow to the head it was all over, in the blink of an eye.
He stood up, picked up the sword, wiped the blood from his face, and then picked up from the ground the crucifix-shaped sword that Maddalena had lost when she was shot. It was still stained with her blood...
He heard footsteps behind him and when he turned around he saw Daan walking towards him. He waved for him to follow, and the three of them were soon at the PRHVL BOP from which he and Maddalena had set off earlier. He led him to the hiding place under the bar and he laid the nun on the bed in which she had slept that night. She was extremely pale, her blonde hair spread over the mattress and her forehead beaded with sweat, her chest rising and falling slowly.

- Bring me some alcohol, – said the doctor. – Of the highest gradation you can find. It will be needed to sterilize the wound.-

It was the first time in a long time that someone dared to give him orders, but Pav didn't object; on the contrary, like a good and docile little soldier he executed. There was a decent range of alcohol at the counter, but he opted for straight vodka; it had a high alcohol percentage and was the closest thing to a disinfectant they could use.
When he came down with the bottle, he found Daan already intent on fiddling with a scalpel in one hand and a lighter in the other with which he was making the blade incandescent. With an icy expression on his face, he plunged the blade into Maddalena's flesh, thrusting it into the wound and attempting to extract the bullet. Pav found himself clutching the neck of the vodka bottle with such force that he thought he might break it at any moment. He didn't understand anything about medicine, but the way the man was acting disturbed him; he seemed to be trying to kill her rather than save her life.
He had to remain calm. That was the procedure. Maddalena would have been better. He was sure of that. Sure. Sure.

- Hand me the vodka.

He felt as if he had awakened from a trance-like state. He visualized the figure of Daan looking at him. His left hand full of blood, the bullet clenched between his fingers.
He handed him the vodka. Silence. He went back to work. He poured the liquid on the wound, cleaned and dried it. Then he did a strange thing: he bent over the lifeless body of the nun and whispered something in her ear... after a while, her skin was pristine again.

- What... what did you do to her?-
Daan stood up.
- Sylvian magic, that's all. I don't like to use it, but in this situation I don't think I have a choice... time is running out, there's no point in letting her recover naturally. – He stretched, then walked towards the staircase. – I'll be at the bar counter, if you want to have a drink I can make you whatever you want.-

Pav sat on the edge of the bed, watching Maddalena, her chest slowly rising and falling. After a handful of minutes that seemed interminable, he saw her eyelids open and her blue eyes look around. She noticed him and then parted her lips, pulling herself up and crawling toward him.

- You sleep a lot, eh?-
- What are we doing... here...?-
- A certain fool almost got herself killed, but always that certain fool is lucky to the core. – She squinted her eyes and looked around in confusion. – You were right, though, there really was an effigy in that apartment building. You should have seen the crap... actually, better not.-
- More of those priest-slugs...?-
- No. Mold. Lots and lots of mold. I don't want to talk about it... how are you feeling?-
- Good.-
- Good.-
- Sorry... if I'm slowing you down. You have your mission and I'm here to get in your way.-

He was fed up with those discourses. He hated when Maddalena would start apologizing for everything.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him. Her head rested against his chest and her loose hair tickled his skin. The skin of her bare shoulder was soft and smooth, perhaps even whiter than her already pale face. And the thought of wanting to bang her always came back to his mind, although he constantly tried to shoo it away. At that very moment he had no time.

- I need to ask you something important, Maddalena.-
- Mh...?- Her big blue eyes lit up with curiosity.
- Nice tits, can I touch them?-

She had really nice tits, perky and medium-sized, just the way he liked them. She had seen them while Daan was operating on her and could still catch a glimpse of them from her still-open dress. She didn't notice, apparently.
The nun whitened to the point that she became transparent, and her first reaction was to gasp and involuntarily -maybe- headbutt him under the chin. He left her and almost collapsed on the bed, holding his face tightly.
When he looked at her again, her hands were on her chest and her skin had regained its color, turning all red. He burst out laughing.
He reached out a hand towards her despite she tried to shrug it off, and grabbed the flaps of her dress.

- Nice to know that under this horrendous black sack there is a real woman. – He could tell from her expression that she thought he wanted to denude her further, but instead he began to button her dress. – There is still hope for you.-
From stiff as a board, her shoulders relaxed and she put her hands on her knees.
- What do you mean?-
- That you can still run away, religion is of no use to you. Have a family, pursue your dreams, travel the world. Little birdie, you are too smart to put yourself in a cage.-
- Don't devalue my faith—-
- Calm down. I'm not telling you to stop praying if you care so much, only to escape from the monastery you've locked yourself in. You still have time.
Didn't you beg Alll-mer to give you freedom when you were a child? Does this look like freedom to you?-
- I... I have to repay my debt, Alll-mer allowed me to escape from my family...!-
- Bullshit. The one who used her legs to escape is you, not Alll-mer.
Maddalena, I'm serious, you're throwing your life away. Within the system you cannot be yourself, and if you come out too late there will be nothing left of you, your life will lose meaning. Don't do as I did.-

Since she had told him her story, Pav had begun to see a young himself in Maddalena, a young himself who would soon sacrifice his entire existence to follow a specific goal, that of avenging his family. But she... she had no reason to follow the same path; she could have been free.
He didn't wait for her to reply. Pav got out of bed and left her there, then went up the stairs and to the bar. Daan had stationed himself behind the counter like a bartender.

- For today I will be your bartender. What are you drinking?-
- I thought you were a doctor.-
- I never got my license.-
- You— – He was about to insult him, but then sighed loudly. He sat down on one of the stools. – ... I don't feel like drinking alcohol. It gives me headaches.-
- Mh... with a face like yours, I would have expected an experienced drinker. Like... cheap vodka drunk by the neck, straight from the bottle.-
- I have too important things to do to get drunk. Maybe when I finish them.-
- ... That makes sense. And why on earth were you with a dying nun instead of being with your Bremen Army comrades?-
- Always about the important things from before. Long story short, I don't work with them anymore.-

Daan said nothing, only placed a full glass in front of his face. It was milk. The lieutenant gave him a glare, and the other one just looked at him with his deadpan look, without saying a word.
He drank it without making too much fuss, in the end it was good; not too sweet, fresh and, the best part, it wasn't rotten. He licked his lips, satisfied.
The two men continued to be quiet and, after a while, were joined by Maddalena. Pav turned and saw her with the second effigy under her arm, unfortunately she had put her veil back on. She looked confused at the sight of Daan.

- Uh—Uh...? Who are you...?-
- The one who pulled the bullet out of you.-
- Bullet?!-
The cyclop turned towards him.
- You didn't tell her—? What were you doing down there all the time then?-
- I asked her if I could touch her tits.- Pav smiled.
The other raised an eyebrow, then put his hand to his forehead. The nun had turned burgundy.
- My name is Daan, by the way... I'm a doctor.-
- You don't have a license. You're not a real doctor.- Replied the lieutenant.
- ... You had been shot with a rifle, I extracted the bullet.
Do you feel pain anywhere?-
Maddalena shook her head, confused. After a few seconds she decided to speak.
- My name is... Maddalena...-
- He saw your tits, too!-
- Pavel! – Pav had never heard her raise her voice so high, it sounded like the squeak of a mouse. – Thank you... uhm... for saving me, Daan...-
A smile appeared on Daan's face, but maybe it was a hallucination, it was so tiny.
- Sit down, I'll make you a drink.-
- I don't drink.- She said.
- She doesn't drink. – Said Pav, in unison. – She's a real nun unfortunately.- He then added.
- "Unfortunately"?-
- You're boring...-
- You unbearable.-
- Yet you like so much when I give you attentions...~-
- I don't listen to you anymore.-
- Boring!-

She looked like she was about to explode.
And no, she didn't just "seem" to, because she exploded for real. At that moment a profanity on her part would have been perfect -and hilarious- to set the tone for her frustration, but she decided to keep quiet and run off abruptly, with the effigy clutched to her chest. The sound of her boots followed her up the stairs and then went completely quiet after the violent slamming of the door. The two men were left to a stony silence. They looked at each other.

- Damn it! – Pav pounded a fist on the counter with such force that it shook it, then hurriedly got up from the stool and tipped it over. – After all I did to keep her from dying— she's going to get herself killed!-
- Calm down.-
- "Calm" my ass, she didn't even bring her sword, that one will die in a place like this! Time ten seconds!-
- If we were to run after her she would try even harder to escape, ending up more easily hurting herself, don't you think? Give her a moment to blow off steam and she'll realize she was wrong to run away unarmed.
... Unless she is an extremely proud and full of herself person.-
- Quite the opposite, she is the human definition of a "foot rag". As soon as she realizes her mistake, she will apologize to us by crying at least a billion times. She has decent survival instincts, but she won't last long out there on her own. – Pav began to walk up the stairs to the bar. – I'll go after her, you do whatever you want.-
Daan followed him.
- You seem to care about her.-
- Fucking a nun is something I've never done, I wanted to try. And also she took away the effigy. That's it.-

Chapter Text

Daan and Pav had left the bar, and there was no sign of Maddalena; she seemed to have vanished. The hell, how fast was that nun? He now understood how she had been able to escape her family and not get caught years earlier. There were two possible ways to go: south, where they had come from and she had gotten herself shot, or north, where they had not yet passed.
Pav began to think, trying to get into the mind of a frightened and unarmed young woman – all the opposite of what he was, but he had to try.

- So? Where do we look for her?- Daan interrupted him before he could even begin to think.
- Mh... it's hard. So, she's afraid of everything, and when I say "everything", I mean everything. If I had all her fears myself, I would prefer to take a road I may already know, so I would turn back and go towards the church, or I would try to go back to the train and join the others. But! She took the effigy with her, and since we found the first one, she was very interested in the supposed secret passage that's in the church.-
- So... do you think she went to the church?-
- No, because we only have two effigies. One is already on the altar, she has the other one, and the last one... mh... where was it...? – Pav thought about it, trying to remember what was written in the notes they had found. – Of course, the orphanage! There is a possibility that she's going there.-
- Yes, all very nice, but where is the orphanage...?-
- ... I don't have the slightest idea.-
- Mh... then let's do this. – The doctor rummaged in his pants pocket, pulling out a shilling. – Let's toss a coin. Heads, we go north. Tails, we go back. Choose a god to pray that will lead us to the right path.-
- Pray? Bullshit. Just toss it.-

Finally Daan smiled for real, it was a satisfied smile. He seemed to especially like the answer.
He tossed the coin making it do a few flips in the air, then it landed on his closed fist. When he opened his hand, facing the sky was the head. North, then. Would they ever find her? Who knows if Maddalena had prayed again and if her much loved Alll-mer had bent fate and was leading them to her.
They walked on, reached a cafe and then turned left, when umbrellas began to rain down from the sky, which they immediately realized were composed of human parts stitched together roughly. They were slow, so they managed to avoid them and enter the next building. It looked like some kind of shopping mall on three floors, but with very few things for sale. From above came strange male screams. If Maddalena had really passed through there, she would have never looked for the source, rather she would have fled, Pav was absolutely sure of that.

- What on earth are they doing up there? They sound like... screams of pain, but also of pleasure...- Daan commented.
- Uh? We have masochists, it seems. I'd like to go see, but we don't have time.- Pav wondered where the other guy heard the "pleasure" in those screams.

They went up to the second floor and got out, the first thing they saw was a store called "Dr. Kefer's Tricks & Magic", while further on they could distinguish a large building... could it be the orphanage?
Walking with his head held high, Pav bumped something on the ground with his feet, and when he looked down, he shivered. On the ground... there was the effigy that Maddalena had taken.
He stood motionless for a few seconds, as if frozen in time, then mechanically bent down and took the object in his hands.

- Pav.

Why was it there?

- Pav.

What had happened?

- Pav.

Now where was she gone?

- Pav.

Were they going to find her dead?

- Pav, are you fucking listening to me?!

He recovered from his train of thoughts and turned sharply to face Daan, who had one arm stretched southward, where a wasteland of devastated buildings was outstretched. But what the doctor was pointing at was a trail of blood, first a pool and then drops forming a path, it seemed to end behind the wall of a completely destroyed house.
Pav said nothing, forced Daan to take the effigy and hurried down the steps and then to follow the scarlet trail. As he approached, he began to hear a person gasp and, with it, the unmistakable sound of a blade thrusting into flesh and then out and in again and out and in again in a rhythmic motion so precise he could count the tempo on it. He realized his heart was in his throat only when he began to run out of breath. It was only a few meters away.
He turned the corner.
And he saw her there.
He had already imagined her dead, of having to find a place to bury her, because such a beautiful little birdie didn't deserve to rot in the sunlight, no one would have to see her face get eaten by worms. The Luger was already extracted to kill whoever had killed her.
... But then he realized that she wasn't the one lying on the ground, but rather the one who had killed.
There was a man lying on his back on the floor, wearing quite expensive clothes, immaculate white. He was big, with black and grayish hair licked back, his skin white, his nose aquiline. He was stone dead.
Yet Maddalena was straddling his full belly, continuing relentlessly to let the blade of an eerie, completely red sword in and out and in and out and in again from his chest, by now it had dug a gaping hole in it.
Her face was all swollen on the left side to the point of keeping her eye closed. She was crying her eyes out. And she kept driving that fucking sword in and out and in. In, out, in, out, in—
Pav grabbed her by the armpits and then dragged her back. She made no resistance; she sagged suddenly and allowed him to move her. He sat down on the ground and put her between his legs. The sword she held in her hands literally turned into a pool of blood and melted all over the ground.
Maddalena remained with her hands open and palms facing upward. On both were deep cuts that drew crosses.

- What the fuck happened to you?!

He asked the question by holding her wrists tight and almost screaming in her ears, but she gave no answer. Her blue eyes were wide open -the only one she could keep open- her lips parted and her breathing heavy. She was clearly in shock.
A little later they were joined by Daan, who flinched when he saw the scene, showing surprise. He approached the dead man and examined him, then came to a conclusion.

- He's dead.-
- Thank you very much, doc! Without you I would have never figured it out!
Do your non-work decently and check Maddalena's face. It's swollen.-
- ... Huh, indeed.-

The doctor knelt down in front of them. He grasped Maddalena's chin with two fingers and moved her face so that he could examine it better. Next, he focused on her hands. He took some bandages he had with him and bandaged them both.

- The eye is safe fortunately, it only has broken capillaries, in a handful of days it will be as good as new. As for the face, when it settles down she will get a big hematoma.-
- Can't you heal her like you did when you took the bullet out of her?
- If I close the wounds on her hands now and she is infected, it will only make it worse. We have to find something to disinfect them first.-
- Fuck... do we have to go back again and use alcohol?-
- What about going to that store? "Dr. Kefer something"? If it's really owned by a doctor it might help us.-
- Okay. All right. Little birdie, do you understand? Let's go. – No answer. – ... Today you want to be a little princess, huh?-

Pav put one arm under her knees, the other behind her back, and then lifted her up, walking behind Daan. It wasn't the first time he had picked her up, but each time he was amazed at how light she was. She really was a bird with hollow bones. When he looked at her better, he noticed that her thin stockings were even more broken and the left one in particular completely destroyed. In holding her like that, her skirt had risen to the point of uncovering her knees and he could finally see the scars in all their ugliness. Thick, deep, overlapping... completely colliding with her smooth, delicate white skin.
As he carried her she stood in complete silence, her hands slumped on her belly and her gaze fixed on nothing. Her attitude didn't change even when they had entered the store.
It was small, full of weird items on the shelves. Behind the counter was a guy with a mustache wearing a pair of glasses and a brown robe.

- What are your names, fellas?-.
... "Fellas"?
- ... Daan.-
- Lieutenant Pav. This is Maddalena.-
- Fuck Daan, fuck Pav, and fuck Maddalena!
...
Well, now that we've been introduced, what do you want, strangers?-
Pav and Daan cast a confused look at each other, then the latter spoke up.
- Maddalena is injured. Do you have anything for infection and maybe to relieve the swelling in her eye? I could also use some bandages.-
- Mh? Yes, I think I have just the thing for you.-

The man ducked down and began rummaging through the drawers on the counter, then re-emerged after a while with bags containing green and red herbs and some bandages.
He also took out a mortar, poured the herbs into it and then began to pound them with some of the strange blue liquid until they were a thick mush.

- This is a pretty potent mix. Apply it to the affected area, bandage it up and you'll see that she'll feel better right away. All natural, none of that junk they use these days, with more downsides than benefits!

While Pav held her, Daan smeared the herbal mixture on Maddalena's swollen face, then removed the bandages on her hands and did the same thing. Finally he bandaged both her left eye and her hands.

- ... What's wrong with the young lady, anyway? She looks like a vegetable.- Kefer asked.
- We don't know what happened to her, we found her like that already. – Pav replied, deliberately leaving out the scene of her stabbing a man even though he had been dead for who knows how long. – She doesn't answer anymore.-
- Maybe I have something that might help her. – He searched the drawers again until he found a vial filled with orange liquid. – Wild dagga extract, it's a calming agent.-
- She's already calm—-
- Kid, who is the expert between the two? – "Kid"? – Trust that the wheels in her head will go back on. Stick it in her mouth.-

Pav would have liked to answer him how much he would have liked to... not the extract, but perhaps he was right. Maddalena herself was a burden, carrying her around in that condition would have been a real nightmare, so they may as well try.
The one to execute the order was Daan, who opened her mouth with zero difficulty and made her drink the mixture.
They waited a while and, indeed, Maddalena began to look around bewildered. She visualized the store, the two men, and then realized that she was in his arms. He expected her to start flailing and wanting to get off, yelling crap like "men can't touch nuns", but instead she hugged him. Strongly, the grip of a cobra.

- Pavel...

She whispered against the skin of his neck and then began to cry again as she had when he had just found her.
Pav decided to drop Daan to pay and walked out as she continued to hold him almost taking his breath away and wetting his throat with tears. She was sobbing so hard that she was spasming.

- Calm down.-
- I am— I have sinned... I'm a sinner...!-
- Don't start with nonsense now.-
- Alll-mer will punish me, must punish me! I can already feel the barbed wire coming out of my eyes... I don't deserve the honor of being crucified...-

Pav grabbed the scruff of her dress and forced her to pull away from him and look into his eyes. Her face was all wet, the blue of her healthy eye shiny. She remained silent like a frightened puppy, her fists clenched on her chest.

- No one will be crucified, there is no barbed wire. Don't look away. Look at me. Your god doesn't give a shit about you, you're just one among many, do you really think you're that important? He doesn't care about what you've done, you're already in hell, there would be no point in wasting time attaching yourself to two wooden sticks.
Actions have consequences. You ran away because you decided to stop being an adult and ended up stabbing a guy to death, stop. You have already received your punishment. Move on. Don't think about it.-
- But I—-
- Nothing has happened. Bury the trauma and move on.-
- Pavel...-
He brought his face closer to hers, whispering in her ear.
- I won't let this lead to any further consequences for you. Okay?-

He set her down on the ground, making sure she could stand on her own. She had placed her hands on his forearms and, as usual, started looking at him with that sad look. He took her chin between two fingers and lifted her head.

- Soldier. Head up, gaze straight ahead, aiming right at the target. March, don't stop! – He put his hands on her shoulders and spun her around, then forced her to walk in front of him. –
Drum links, zwo, drei!
Drum links, zwo, drei!
Wo dein Platz, Genosse, ist!
Reih dich ein in die Arbeitereinheitsfront,
weil du auch ein Arbeiter bis—-

As he was leading her towards that large building they had not yet visited, Daan came out of the shop -he had completely forgot about him- and caught up with them at a brisk pace. He looked irritated, in fact he was.

- One of you owes me forty shillings.-
- Why excuse me?- Pav asked.
- "Why"? That old man charged me seventy!-
- Forty is certainly not half of seventy, didn't they teach you math in medi— ah, no, you haven't done it.-
- Forty is the price of the dagga extract. I needed the herbs and bandages, but she drank the bottle.- Said Daan, pointing at the nun with his finger.

The lieutenant rummaged through his jacket pockets. Switchblade knife, the bullet from the rifle, extra bullets for the Luger, dog tags, and nothing else... not even the shadow of a coin. After all, he certainly hadn't planned to take a vacation, so what would he need the money for?

- I'm sorry... – Maddalena interjected. – I have some shillings, but they are on the train, inside my bag. When we get back there I will pay off my debt, I promise.- After that she made a deep bow. Pav looked at her ass.
- If we get there...- He commented, continuing to observe her backside until she stood up and turned to him.
- Don't say that!-

Daan agreed to the proposal and the three of them walked to the building. Once inside they realized that they were in what looked like a school... or, rather, an orphanage. The last effigy was supposed to be there. The atmosphere was gloomy and everything was falling apart, at every step the wooden floor made noises that were not at all reassuring, and here and there the floor had holes in it. What made it all the more eerie, however, was the stony silence. Moving forward, suddenly a strange noise was heard. It sounded like... crying? And then, soon after, a shot with incredible power was heard. A chasm had formed on the wall behind them. There had to be someone with a large-caliber rifle somewhere, but where?! A pile of desks and chairs stacked together blocked his view.

- Find cover now! Lower yourselves, one shot hits and you die here, understood?!

Of course, he immediately put his leadership skills into action. It was time to be a lieutenant, whether he liked it or not. He just hoped those two would be able to follow his orders and not disobey him. For Maddalena there was no danger, she would certainly listen to him, while Daan... who knows. It depended on how much he valued his own life.
There was another shot that grazed them at point blank range, and as soon as it was executed, Pav sprinted to find a place to take cover and return fire.
... Too bad he put his foot on a completely rotten floorboard and it crumbled beneath him, causing him to fall and land right on his ass.
When he looked up to the ceiling he saw the heads of Daan and Maddalena peeping out of the hole.

- Pavel...! Are you alright?- She asked. When another bullet passed over her head grazing her, she ducked even lower and screamed in terror.
He rose to his feet. An idea had come to him.
- Hey, you two! Get down here, it's the best way to avoid gunfire!-
- It's not a problem for me, but if Maddalena were to hang herself it could make her hand wounds worse.- Replied Daan.
- Mh. Okay. Birdie, you jump.-
- Huh?!-
- I'll catch you! Now move!-

She sighed, but finally followed the order. She sat on the edge of the hole and pushed herself down, then Pav picked her up. How many times over the course of the day had he picked her up now?
They waited for Daan to go down as well, and finally they could explore without worrying about getting blown apart by a bullet.
They had clearly ended up in a basement; the smell of blood was sharp, fresh, similar to what Pav had smelled in the church basement.
Immediately he became alarmed. What if there were more of those snail-headed priests? He had to immediately warn Daan to avoid looking them in the eyes.
When he made to speak, a shout from Maddalena made the men turn around. And then they saw it: there was a skeleton chained to the wall. It wore only worn-out pants... and it was the size of a child. It was tiny, maybe not even ten years old.
Why was everyone in that fucking town a murderer?! Apparently there was something shady going on there, too. In every inch of Prehevil there was something shady.
So as not to traumatize the nun any further, since she was already in a precarious state of mind, they turned away and began to explore. It would have been a very normal basement if there were not puddles of blood scattered around and tools still stained red. They also found more than one corpse, this time with flesh still attached to the bones. They were creatures similar to very small children.
Daan bent down to observe one of them.

- The bodies of these... children underwent severe malformations. At least, I think they were human babies before. Such long necks and claws are the most curious elements, the skin, on the other hand, looks like it had been burned or boiled previously. It's dry, brittle... weak. Whoever killed them must have had no problems.-
- What despicable being could possibly have done this to poor children...?- Maddalena, looking at them, was on the verge of tears again. She turned away.
- Whoever it is, let's hope we never find them. Now let's go.-

Pav again took command of their miserable platoon until they found a flight of stairs that led them back upstairs to another wing of the building. There were more bodies the same as those in the basement, torn to pieces probably by large-caliber bullets.
They continued in the same silence as when they had arrived, the only noise the creaking of the parquet floor -now all three had begun to pay extremely close attention to the floor for possible subsidence-. The lieutenant wondered where whoever was firing those devastating bullets at them had gone. Had it stayed where they had found it? Had it left? Or was it looking for them? What could they do, they, with the meager equipment at their disposal?
They had to find the last effigy and get out of there as quickly as possible.

- Oh...! H—Have you... heard...? – Maddalena asked, stopping suddenly and looking around. – It sounds like... someone crying...!- Without the others being able to reply, she surpassed them and began to move at a brisk pace.
- Wait, there was crying even before they started shooting at us!- But she didn't listen. She went forward and faced a classroom door, then froze for a moment on the doorframe.
- Hey... why are you crying?-

Pav and Daan looked at each other and she went inside. When they too approached, they saw her kneeling next to a creature sitting on the floor. It had the body of a human, slender, looking like a completely naked little boy. Its head was elongated, however, and was cone-shaped, much like the barrel of a rifle, so heavy that it bent his neck forward. The strange thing was that at the top of his head he still had a bunch of coal-dark hair, almost as if the rifle had grown out of him later. He was making strange sounds very much like crying.
The nun was stroking his head gently as he trembled.
Pav realized: was it... that thing that was shooting at them earlier?

- Maddalena, get away from there immediately.-
- No...! Can't you see that he's suffering? – The creature emitted a sob. – No, no, nothing happened, don't worry...-
- But he's the one who was shooting at us, if he starts doing it again do you really think you'll survive?-
- Sometimes you're just heartless... he's just a child! Besides, even if we wanted to, we couldn't leave.- She shifted, making him notice a detail: the monster was clutching an effigy, the last one.
Shit.
- And how do you plan to take it from him?-
- By convincing him.-
- He doesn't even have the ears to listen to you.-
- Trust me. I already saved you from the wolf, remember?-

Pav crossed his arms and said nothing. Maddalena sat down next to whatever that mixture of man -boy- and weapon was. She clasped her hands together... and began to sing in her sweet voice. She didn't need music; her own vocal cords were largely enough. It was a language incomprehensible to him, perhaps a more archaic version of that spoken in the Vatican. Among the meaningless words he could only discern "Alll-mer", so it must have been a religious song. Not that he expected anything else, but the mere fact that she was the one singing made it almost a good song.
By the time she finished singing, the creature's posture was no longer rigid, his arms had fallen along his sides, and the effigy he held in his lap had rolled on the floor. Subsequently he raised his arms again and used them to embrace her. She was initially surprised, but then returned it.

- Better now...? – She whispered to him. A muffled sound came from the barrel, vaguely sounding like "yes". – That's good. Can we take the effigy? – The same sound. – Thank you very much, we owe you.-

Maddalena tried to loosen the embrace, but he held her close for a while longer, until he decided to let her go. Pav could see from her face how sorry she was, but she pulled away anyway and picked up the effigy from the floor, then they all walked together to the exit of the orphanage.
They walked out of the room where they had found the creature, but were met by someone. A tall, muscular man with dry, grayish skin. Completely naked except for socks and a priest's collar. He was smiling.

- RUN! – Shouted Maddalena suddenly, grabbing Daan by a sleeve of his shirt. – HE HAS VINUSHKA ENGRAVED ON HIS HANDS.-
- What does that mean?!- Pav asked. Wasn't Vinushka the symbol she had carved in the church to make the tree grow?
- IT MEANS FIRE.-

She didn't have time to finish the sentence that they were literally in hell. First the priest had raised his head, then all around them a literal fire had broken out of nowhere. The flames were soaring and the heat unbearable. What's more, the bastard had also started throwing fire at them as if it had been a snowball fight, too bad the balls were incandescent.
Daan had grabbed Maddalena by the arm and they had moved away, but a wall of flames blocked their escape. Pav instead had drawn his pistol and shot him in the shoulder; the shot had no effect, it had been like missing the target completely. In fact, he spread his arms wide and his smile widened, as if teasing him. The heat had made the Luger's metal glow and he struggled to hold it with his hands despite wearing thick leather gloves. What to do? After all that effort to retrieve the effigies, would they have burned to death?!
Damn, they were at a dead end!
The lieutenant took a step back. He tried hard to think of a plan, a way to save himself as he had always done, but he couldn't. The heat was too much; he was unable to focus on anything else. The wooden floor kept burning and the wall of fire, as if alive, was forcing them to shorten the distance to the priest.
Then, an explosion, and the mountain of muscle was hurled against the wall to their left. The man had a deep wound in his right side, but he still tried to rise to his feet. Out of the doorframe had come the half-human half-gun creature, smoke still billowing from its barrel.
The priest threw a fireball at him, which he avoided by the skin of his teeth, then positioned himself in front of the three of them and fired another shot towards the pyromaniac, throwing him far away.
Pav turned back to Daan and Maddalena.

- LET'S RUN, NOW! – He shouted. – This is our chance!-
- What about him? Do you want to leave him here?!- Replicated Maddalena.
- Shut up!-
- Pavel!-
- Daan, I hope you don't have any bullshit to say.-
- I don't.-
- Good. Take her.-

Daan nodded and, without her being able to object, grabbed Maddalena by weight and began running through the flames, as fast as he could so as not to burn himself, while she punched him in the back and the lieutenant led the way.
The whole building was on fire. Whoever that guy had been, his magic was extremely powerful -and to think that until two days earlier Pav didn't even believe in its existence-, it was amazing that in a matter of minutes he had been able to set a place as big as that on fire.
With extreme luck they were able to make it back around, find the exit without too much trouble and escape from that hell on earth. Apart from some inhaled smoke and clothes drenched in sweat and soot-stained, they were fine.
Daan put Maddalena down, who immediately lunged at Pav and grabbed the flaps of his open shirt. She was livid.

- Why did you leave him there?!-
- It was him or us.-
- Bremen pig! You disgust me! You're a horrible person!-
- And you a fucking child!-
- How can you turn away like this? You only think of yourself, you would have let me and Daan die too if it suited you!- He saw her biting her lip, her uncovered eye shining.
- Stop crying, I'm tired of watching you whine. If you would work your brain for once you would understand my intentions. But instead you cry. And you complain. And Pavel is bad and Pavel is a bastard and Pavel is a creep.
But what am I talking to someone like you for? You still drink milk, little girl! Look at yourself too instead of just complaining about me.-

Ungrateful fool. He had saved her life a thousand times, taken her under his wing like he had never done with anyone else, and she had the nerve to talk to him like that.
He knew he was a Bremen pig, he knew he was bad, he knew he was a bastard, he knew he was a creep, and he knew full well that he had started that journey with her just to get in her panties, but hearing it clearly pronounced in her little voice sent him into a rage. He wanted to punch her in the face.
But she didn't deserve it.
Daan suddenly stood between them, forcibly parting them.

- Will you two stop it? You are worse than an old married couple. We're in a fucking situation where we could die with every step we take, and instead of working together to try to survive, you start fighting like kindergarten children. You two are ridiculous. – They both took a step back. The nun remained silent with her head bowed, mortified, unable to apologize as she used to do. – Maddalena, stop crying. Be less guided by your emotions. Pav.,, be less yourself, I don't know. But don't yell in her face.-
- ... Huh. Someone here wants to try to take command of the platoon~-
- I've had enough of war. And we are not a platoon, just three runaways.
... Now that we have all the effigies what do we do?-
- We have to go into the woods.- Pav pointed towards the trees that could be seen in the distance, after the destroyed buildings.
- I thought they were needed in the church.-
- That can wait. There is something much more important underground.-

Chapter Text

The platoon -Pav would have continued to call it like that until death- began to march through the rubble, heading south.
It felt like being in the desert, where instead of sand, there was a sea of stone, the dust still in the air was a sign that the ruin had recently happened.
Pav noticed Maddalena out of the corner of his eye. She was all curled up in herself as she walked, looking even smaller than she already was, her blue eye traveling from side to side as if crazed and shaking like a leaf. Daan, behind her, was impassive as usual... he had even lit a cigarette.
He decided to go the long way around and avoid running again into the corpse of the guy she had killed, simply because he had seen unexploded mines on the ground and if she ran over them they would have blown her to a thousand pieces. Actually, he was wondering how she had avoided them when she was alone. He was beginning to doubt that those useless prayers really worked... but it was more likely that it was just pure luck.
Moving on, just as in the desert, everything was the same and monotonous and time seemed to pass more slowly. Breaking the spell were a few deformed corpses scattered around, each of them with arrows planted on them. Who the hell was using arrows in those days? Whoever it was, it had to be someone with great skill and consequently dangerous. Not that he was afraid of a couple of sharp sticks, but if they were poisoned then it became a problem. Dusk was coming, so he had to keep his guard up.
The walk continued for a few more minutes, until Pav felt a bullet pass just inches from his nose. He immediately pushed Maddalena against Daan, and all three took cover behind what was left of a wall.
Pav drew his pistol from the holster and leaned in to fire, but stopped when he saw who the attacker was. He wore the uniform of Bremen... a simple soldier. His skin was all dried up, he looked like a zombie. Zombie or not, he was his subordinate... might as well try.
Without letting go of the Luger, he stepped out into the open, cap firmly on his head, eagle in view and uniform dusted off -he would never close it properly, the more he mocked it the better-.

- Soldier! What the hell are you doing? Is this how you treat one of your superiors?-
The other seemed to freeze, and lowered the arm with which he held the pistol.
- Lieutenant...? I... I'm sorry...-
- You'd better, or I'll have to punish you for insubordination. – With a wave of his hand he gestured to Daan and Maddalena clear field. – You almost hurt my hostages.-
- That was not my intention, lieutenant. Orders are to shoot on sight anyone who passes by.-
- Oh...? – That was interesting information. – What are the details?-
- No civilians are to approach tunnel number one, sir.-
- Understood. Thanks for the information. Good boy. – The soldier gave the military salute. – Next time you see them, don't shoot these two. They are my precious hostages... learn their faces well.-
- Yes sir...-

They started to walk away... and, when they were a short distance away, Pav drew his pistol again and cold-cocked the soldier. No regrets. Every Bremenite bastard deserved the same ending, and besides, judging by his ragged appearance, he had only done him a favor in killing him.
Maddalena said nothing, an expression of shock on her face, forcing herself not to turn around.
Daan, on the other hand, spoke.

- You really impersonate the Bremen lieutenant well, you even changed your accent to speak to him.-
- I'm a real lieutenant.-
- ... Eh?-
- Where do you think I got a uniform in my size?-
- I actually thought it would fit you small, judging by the way you're holding it open. Besides, you're not... like those in town, you look human.-
- I don't know what happened to the soldiers sent here, when I was in the army they were all normal people— actually, normal humans, not normal people.-
- Everything is extremely odd. It seems that whoever set foot here before us has undergone some kind of mutation. I can't think of any condition or substance that has these effects on people.-
- Honestly? I don't give a fuck. They're dead now, they're definitely never going to come back the way they were. All I need to do is finish what I'm here for and then get the fuck out of this shitty place. Little birdie, do you want to come with me or go back to the convent?-
- Convent...- She replied, without even thinking about it.

Honestly he was hurt. But from her he had expected it, especially after their quarrel just before.
By the time there was very little light, they had gone deeper into the forest. Perhaps it hadn't been a good idea to go there while it was getting dark, but on the other hand the second day was almost over, there was no more time to waste. If the jester on the tower was telling the truth, there was only one day left before something happened. Would they too turn into monsters, just like the residents of the city? Or would the moon itself kill them?
They were walking on a blanket of dry leaves when suddenly he saw Maddalena, who was beside him, disappear and fall down. He was lightning quick and caught her in time, grabbing her by the arm. With Daan's help they pulled her up. She was whiter than usual in the face.
What she had landed on was a trap, a shallow hole but at the bottom of which towered sharp spikes. If Pav hadn't had the right reflexes she would have ended up impaled.

- Change of plans. Avoid dry leaves like death. We don't know if there are more of these.-
- Brilliant insight, Sherlock.-
- Shut up Daan. – After shushing the ball-breaker, he turned to Maddalena. – How are you?-
- I want... I want... – Her voice trembled. Her whole body was shaking actually. – I want... – The more she spoke, the sharper it became. – To go home... I can't take it anymore...- She began to sob.
- Oh, shit, don't you dare start crying now—-

Too late. She put her hand over her unblindfolded eye and wept. Damn. He was tremendously fed up with that situation.
He huffed and turned and started walking again, not even caring if those two followed him.

- Pav, you don't need to treat her like that.- A voice came from behind him.
- Shut up Daan.-
- Listen to me, you idiot.
Not all of us are desensitized to violence like you and me. Maddalena's reactions are more normal than ours.-
- If we were in the army they would have already kicked out such a weakling.-
- We're not in the army, if you haven't figured it out yet—-

By now it had become white noise, he had completely stopped listening to his bullshit.
The further the path continued, the more the lieutenant began to think that it hadn't been a good idea to go into the woods at sundown – in his defense, he didn't think it was that extended, from his conversation with the soldier he had imagined that he would immediately find that tunnel number 1 he was talking about.
So he had kept fumbling ahead, scanning every inch of grass for possible traps.
When the moon was now high in the sky, he began to hear Maddalena singing behind him, in a high-pitched voice and incomprehensible words. She was getting on his nerves. Had she gone mad? She really wanted some abomination out of the worst horror stories to find them and dismember them.
After a few minutes spent listening to that annoying lullaby, he suddenly turned away.

- STOP SINGING, DAMMIT—-
But she was silent, clinging to Daan's arm, and the singing was continuing. – ... Who the fuck is singing if it's not her?-
- You know, somewhere they say "he who minds his own fucking business lives a hundred years..." – Replied the other. – And, in a place like this, I think it's a very good idea.-
- It's a saying in the Vatican...- Whispered the nun, with a distant look.
- Here, in the Vatican they say—-
- I get it, you don't need to repeat it. Let's go ahead.-

And indeed they went on, until they found a bonfire burning, but whose flames were weak. There were two cases: either it had been lit recently, or it was now at the end of its life.
Pav stepped forward to take a closer look, but was met with an arrow stuck almost in his right foot. Instantly he pulled out his Luger and fired in the direction from where the dart seemed to have landed.

- You two, on the ground now!

He followed the sound of leaves and bushes moving and ran in the direction of it, pistol in hand ready to fire again.
He fired two more shots, but whoever was on the other side was damn good. But an eagle's prey would never be able to escape forever. In fact, after pretending to have lost it, as soon as he found it behind him he turned sharply and planted a kick right in its belly, causing it to fall on its back. The bow flew from the man's hands. Only after he had knocked him to the ground the fire lit up the contours of his face. Those were eyes he had seen before.

- ... You?- They both said, almost in unison.
- You are the soldier from Bremen... You wanted to shoot Moonless, in the cave.-
- Are you talking about that giant dog? And thank fuck, she wanted to eat us!-
- ... Where is the nun?-
- Why do you care?- The lieutenant loaded the Luger with eight new bullets.
- You hurt her, didn't you?-
- Hah! – He burst out laughing. The guy was hilarious, him and his mustache. – It's because I wear an eagle on my hat, isn't it? "That's a bastard from Bremen, surely he's a violent rapist murderer", is what you were thinking, right?
If I wanted to hurt her, you wouldn't have even had a chance to meet her, down there, old man.-
- Then where is she? Prove to me that you didn't do anything to her and I'll let you go.-
- Very bold request, considering your position. But you'll have to come up with something else to convince me to show her to you and avoid a bullet in the head, after all, you were the first to attack...~-

Oh, how powerful he felt at that moment. The role of Bremen pig was working for him all too well. As much as he tried to break away from that shit now that he was finally free from the shackles of the army, commanding and towering over others was what he was best suited for, whether he liked it or not. And he liked it.
The man on the ground looked at him with sharp, deep gray eyes, it was clear he was calculating his options, looking for a cavil that could free him from that rather uncomfortable and, soon, deadly situation.
Tick tock, tick tock. The time was running out and Pav felt his own face contract into a smile, his left index finger on the trigger quivering with excitement. He was eager to blow his brains out.
After all, he was only protecting the platoon, he certainly hadn't started that altercation.

- ... Time's up!

He pulled the trigger, but at the same instant he found his arm jolted upward, the bullet fired blindly into the forest rather than into the forehead of the old -once- bow-armed man. Two hands were wrapped around his and the grip of the pistol, clasped in a vise. They were small, covered with bandages that had begun to turn red from the grip.
The lieutenant followed the path of the arms with his eyes and then met that single, unmistakable, blue iris.

- Are you crazy?!-
- Have you already forgotten that you promised me that if I wanted to, I could kill even the passengers on the train without you getting in my way?-
- I never consented!-
- He who is silent consents, at my house! I remind you that he was the one who attacked us first. What if he had hit one of us, with those arrows? Mh?-

Maddalena said nothing, but in response she gave him a shove that took him completely by surprise. Given his position with one foot on the man's chest, he lost his balance more easily and ended up slamming his ass on the ground.
She leaned over the man and offered him her help.

- Are you all right, Mr. August? I'm sorry about the way Pavel behaved...-
He, instead of grabbing her hand, after seeing her bandaged up sat down on his own.
- It's nothing, don't worry, but thanks for the help. Rather, who reduced you to that state?-
- Let's say that... I had an unpleasant encounter. I separated from the group in a burst of anger and ended up like this...-
- Never give in to anger. I hope it served as a lesson for you...-
She nodded. It bothered Pav immensely that she was giving him all that confidence.
He stood up.
- Maddalena, get up. We're leaving.-
- You can stay here at the camp if you want. I also have food.- August said.
- First you try to kill us and then you even offer us dinner? You're crazy, old man.-
- Hey, no hard feelings, really. It was a misunderstanding. There are strange people roaming around in this forest... I just mistook you for one of those cultists hiding in the leaves.-
- No way. We have things to do.-
- I think we should accept. – Daan emerged from a bush. – Where would you like to go? It's pitch dark now and all three of us need rest. Especially her.- He pointed to the nun. Admittedly, her eye was encircled by a deep dark circle that she didn't have at the beginning of their alliance. She surely must not have been used to all that fatigue.
- ... – Pav looked at Daan, then at Maddalena and huffed. – All right, but as soon as it's dawn we'll leave.-

Maddalena walked away with August -despite how much the lieutenant had protested- to look for wood and herbs for her wounds, while the two men found themselves sitting on a large log side by side in an awkward silence.
Pav didn't like to engage in conversations with men, while the other one seemed to be just a silent type to him. Come to think of it, ever since the three of them had found each other, he and Maddalena had started arguing over every stupid thing, whereas before they had been much more complicit. He kind of missed being alone with her, he had to admit. After all, he still hadn't seen her naked. And by "naked" he didn't mean first one part and then another, to have to put the pieces together like a puzzle. Naked in the entirety, all at once. To see the woman who was hiding under that stupid black dress.
Daan pulled out a pack of cigarettes, put one between his teeth, and offered him another. Despite not being a heavy smoker, he decided to take it... sometimes it was needed. The doctor lit them both and then took a puff.

- You should relax a little bit. – He exhaled the smoke. – You're not good at hiding how much you care for her. But you seem to have mistaken her for a useless child...-
- You should mind your own fucking business, you know? I thought you were a— – He paused. – No, you're not a doctor. But neither a therapist.-
- I may not be a therapist, but I do know when one person has affection for another. If you keep oppressing that poor nun she will end up hating you... put yourself in her shoes a little.-
- She's a grown up and intelligent woman, it's time for her to mature a little and stop crying about everything.-
- Eh, indeed. And you keep treating her like a child.
I said, put yourself in her shoes. A young girl like her must have never seen anything other than the walls of the convent she came from. It's normal for her to be so frightened by everything we're up against.-
Pav would have liked to retort and tell him that she, of horror, had seen plenty, especially on her own skin. But if Daan really should have learned about it, it would have been through her mouth, not his. After all, she had told him that she had never spoken of it to anyone before...
- But what do you know, you, about women...-
He inhaled some smoke and threw it out almost angrily.
Daan showed him the back of his left hand. On the ring finger was a wedding ring. It caught him by surprise.
- I know something about it.-
- Ahah... you... married?-
- I was.-
- Then do you see that you don't know much about women if she dumped you?-
- She died.-
Pav lost all desire to taunt him.
- ... Sorry.-
- ... Are you apologizing?-
- It's the first and last time, know that. I know what it's like to lose a loved one. Nice shit.-
- Sometimes... I wonder if it was my fault, because I was at war and couldn't be there for her... and protect her. Save her. But now I dream about her dead body every time I fall asleep.-
- What was her name?-
- ... Elise.-
- Was she beautiful?-
- Beautiful.-
- Then remember her like this. Forget about the dead body. As long as you love her, she will never really be dead.-
- I didn't believe you... so... uh...-
- Sometimes you have to convince yourself with big words. Saying "everything will be all right" is bullshit.
Bury your traumas and move forward with your head held high.-

Their conversation stopped there. They both didn't feel like talking, so they finished their cigarette in complete silence.
A little later August and Maddalena returned with firewood, and they were finally able to eat. The food wasn't much, just meat of dubious origin roasted over the fire, tins of military rations -now that felt like home! ... shit.-, and a few hard-boiled eggs that didn't taste very fresh. Better than nothing...
The nun, on the other hand, had been struggling to eat, complaining about how good the food from her homeland was and how much she missed it. And Daan said not to view her as a child... sometimes it seemed impossible due to the way she acted.
The latter, after the "dinner" was over, checked the wounds on her hands, which thankfully weren't infected. They would have healed completely if she had properly treated them.

- Mr. August, would you like to come with us tomorrow? – Maddalena asked as she looked at her new bandages. – We have to go... uh... where exactly are we going?-
- Tunnel number one.- Pav replied.
- Ah, yes, tunnel number one!-
- I'm sorry, but I had made the bonfire just for cooking... I still have urgent things to do and I can't waste time, even at night.- Said August, as he got up from the seat next to her and began to gather his things.
- I see... too bad...-
- Maybe we'll meet again, who knows. In the meantime, take care of yourself, Maddalena. See you soon.-
- See you soon... say hi to Moonless!-

And the old man disappeared into the woods and there were three left. And then two, for Daan was exhausted and had gone to sleep in a military tent they had found by accident.
An awkward silence hovered between Pav and Maddalena that went on for who knows how long, the only noise the crackling fire, sitting on logs facing each other.
After an unknown amount of time, the nun jumped to her feet and then immediately slowed her movements, walking towards him almost as if she was ashamed to be heard. She sat next to him, or rather clinging to him, with her cheek attached to his shoulder, but said nothing.
He looked down at her, and she clung to his left arm as if trying to stay even more close to him.

- What are you doing...?- Not that it bothered him...
- Pavel...-
- Yes, that's my name. Go ahead.-
- So... sorry...-
Pav heard a note of a broken voice. Again.
- I swear if you cry again—-
- I'm sorry, okay...? Sorry for getting you upset, sorry for the way I've been acting all day. I'm a terrible teammate, I'm not serving any purpose, I'm just slowing down the group, and I insist on sticking to you like a clam because this damn constant terror is driving me out of my mind...!-
She let go of his arm to wipe her eye with the back of her hand.
- Little birdie...-
- I should never have agreed to follow you yesterday. You have a much more important mission than babysitting a stupid, weak nun like me.-
- You're not weak.-
- Yes I am.-
- No. You put up with some real shit for years and still had the strength to escape despite the fact that failure was equal to death, then you came here and single-handedly overpowered a guy three times your size, jumped on the head of a giant wolf without batting an eyelash, calmed a monster who then saved us from a fire, and survived a rifle shot in the chest in addition to being beaten. And you call that weakness?-

Maddalena remained silent with her gaze turned to the grass. He hated to see her little hands bandaged and her head wrapped in bandages, with the swelling on the left side of her face peeping out from underneath.
Yet she remained beautiful.
Pav stood up.

- Get up.

She only raised her head, watching him with a confused look.

- Up, get up.

When she complied, he took her by the shoulders and led her to the end of the trunk, then sat her astride it. He sat back, leaning his chest against her back.

- What are you doing...?!- He felt her becoming alarmed, stiffening.
- I hate to see you hurt like this, so I want to take precautions. – He opened his holster and pulled the pistol out of it. – If anything happens to me, I want you to take this. And to know how to use it.-
He took her hands and put the Luger between them. As soon as her skin touched the wood of the grip, she gasped and began to tremble like a frightened puppy.
- I can't... it's an instrument of death...!-
- Shh... quiet... breathe. – He spoke softly, in a calm voice. He leaned his head on her shoulder, almost ending cheek to cheek. – Just as you can use it to hurt, you can use it to protect. Remember all the times I used it to protect you? – She nodded slowly and with uncertainty. – Good.
To load it, pull back the slide and insert eight 9mm bullets. The safety lock is on the side... to aim, align the two scopes, then pull the trigger. If you run out of bullets, the slide goes back up.
Always hold it with both hands to be more precise when aiming, or you'll risk hurting yourself and waste bullets.-

As he explained in words, he guided her trembling hands in the actions that he was able to repeat like an automaton. He pulled back the slide, showed her how to charge it, and then made her stretch her arms out, still keeping his hands on hers. They were hot, sweaty. Usually she had them cold.
Even her body quivered with terror, he could clearly feel the air enter her lungs and her heart explode in her chest. For a single instant, Pav saw a very young self, little more than a child, taking up a rifle for the first time. The reaction hadn't been all that different.

- Now I'm going to leave it in your hand, I want you to keep your arms straight and calm down. If we were on a real battlefield, you would be doomed. The opponents would immediately take advantage of your hesitation.-
- But I... am afraid...-
- You have nothing to worry about. A firearm is an extension of your body and as long as you have it in your hand it obeys only you. It is up to you to decide how and whether to use it.-

He left her slowly, running his hands down her slender arms until they rested on her shoulders.

- Good, like this. – He kept whispering to her. – Raise it a little, here, make sure the two sights are always aligned, and you'll see that you won't miss a shot. And never hesitate... understand?-
- I don't know if I would ever be able to use it, honestly...- She lowered her arms, resting the weapon on her legs. She looked at it with a worried look.
- Twentyfive years ago I was just like you. – Pav took the pistol back and put it in its place in the holster. – I was twelve years old, my family had just been decimated, and I had jumped into the army responsible for it.
They put a rifle in my hand that was bigger than me, skinny as I was it was hard to even hold it.
... But then I thought, if I learned to shoot, someday I could have used it against Kaiser, to protect other people from what I had endured and avenge my loved ones.- His hands slid down and he wrapped them around her torso, holding her tightly to him. She was no longer trembling; her breathing had become regulated.
- Pavel...- He found her delicate fingers wrapped around his hands.
- I know that I acted in the wrong way, that killing people who were on the side I secretly believed in was a big mistake. I was stupid, my idea as a kid was to end it right away, at most in a few months. And instead it's been almost thirty years. I ended up clipping my own wings and becoming completely accustomed to death. – He paused. – ... But I don't regret it, because I never took a step back, and I'm finally closer than ever to that damn goal.
And I'm going to accomplish it. To protect people like you.-
- And then what are you going to do...? It's a huge risk to turn against the commander of your army.-
- Don't worry about that.-
Now Maddalena squeezed the back of his hand tighter, almost planting her nails in it.
- Don't do that.-
- Mh...?-
- You're going to kill yourself, aren't you?-
- You're too smart, little birdie... that's why I can't explain how you ended up being a nun.-
She turned suddenly, putting her legs to the side of the log and turning her torso until she was facing him. She grabbed the flaps of his jacket with her hands. He continued to hold her tight, feeling her spine under her dress.
- Don't change the subject...! How can you be so... so... calm about it?-
- Because I've wanted to do this for so long... whether I win or lose this battle, the ending will always be the same.-
- I don't want... you to die...-
- Why do you care so much...? I'm just a guy you met yesterday who asked you to follow him just because his ultimate goal is to get in your panties.-
- You are much more than someone who wants to get in my panties...!- She said it with so much seriousness and innocence, so much emphasis, that it made him burst out laughing.
- Sometimes you are just hilarious... how can you say such things without laughing?-
- Because there's nothing to laugh about... I'm not joking...-
- You are too innocent, always seeing the good inside the rottenest fruit of all. I'm afraid that this endless goodness of yours will lead you into bad situations sooner or later.
After all, it brought you to me.-
- I'm glad I met you, actually... you're the only man who doesn't terrify me and with whom I'm not afraid to be alone.
I... I care about you, Pavel. That's why I don't want you to die. Please...-
- Little birdie... you shouldn't care whether I'm dead or alive, after all you explicitly said you're going back to the convent after this.-
- I lied... because there was Daan...-
- ... Oh.-

Chapter Text

At the first sunlight, Pav went to wake Daan and Maddalena. They had spent the night sleeping in the tent; while he had remained, unable to even perceive sleep, on that same log since the evening before, guarding and keeping the fire alive to entertain himself, as if it had been a program transmitted on television.

- Did you stay up all this night too...? Pavel, it's not good for you...- She said, while rubbing her eye covered by the bandages.
The doctor grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away.
- Don't touch yourself.-
- But it itches so much...!-
- I know, but you'll end up making it worse at this rate.-
- Sorry, Daan...-
- Don't apologize to me—-
- Don't worry, little birdie. – Said Pav. – Think about yourself instead.
...
Anyway, I hope you're ready. We can't know what awaits us in the bunker, we have to expect everything.-

Pav was quite pissed at himself, because he had forgotten at the bar that sword with the pretty sharp blade to chase after Maddalena. Anger had completely put it out of his mind, and the result was that now to defend themselves they had only his Luger, which against ninety percent of the creatures they had encountered was completely useless, Daan's scalpel, and... nothing else. Maybe the effigies to throw at someone's head. Unless the nun was able to make that creepy blood sword appear again, but it seemed that the cost was to cut herself so he preferred to avoid it before the damage could become irreversible. They could pull it off anyway, all it took was a little cleverness. Or madness.
They walked into the dense foliage of the forest trees, so close together that they almost completely blocked the already little sunlight coming from above. The silence was stony; the singing lady was gone, and the only sound was the faint croaking of frogs.
But Pav stood on alert. Years in the army had taught him to never trust an apparent calm, because the storm was always lurking afterward.
And indeed, he was right. After passing a particularly dense spot of plants, he saw it. There was a cement structure in the middle of the clearing, and next to it... an abomination.

- What the fuck is that thing?

He found himself saying under his breath, but the exclamation came out choked because he actually wanted to scream it at the top of his lungs.
It looked like a... horse? The silhouette suggested so if one excluded what was behind it. The hideous creature reminded him of an inverted centaur or, rather, as if some wicked person had well decided to assfuck a horse and merged with it. Not to mention the malformations of their bodies that made it all the more grotesque and revolting.
Pav turned back to the members of his platoon. Maddalena looked as terrified as usual, while Daan had finally broken down. On his face was a surprised expression. He was biting his lip.

- Hey, doc, do you know anything about that?- He asked him.
- Uhm...? No—-
- It seems to me that you do.-
- I told you no.-
- Don't start a fight now. – Whispered the nun. – We need to find a way around that creature and get into the bunker...-
- Okay. – The lieutenant grabbed Maddalena by the wrist. – You with me, little birdie.-
- Wait— and the plan?- Daan asked.
- Running.-
- Is this the smartest thing you've come up with?
- Do you have better ideas? – Silence. – Good. Try to keep up, nice pants. I hope for your sake those little legs work, because I'm certainly not going to stop and wait for you.-
- What happened to the importance of the platoon, lieutenant?-
- Aaah, who cares, those at the front are always easily replaceable. Who cares if you croak.-

For a second he could see the flash of a glare from Maddalena, but she was forced to turn it away immediately because he took off running and she had to instantly adjust to the pace so as not to tumble to the ground and risk being trampled by that hideous horse-man (woman?) hybrid. Of course, as soon as it emerged from the trees, the abomination noticed the platoon and immediately charged at a gallop towards it. And unfortunately it was really fast, Pav managed to dodge it at the last moment by ducking to the side and literally throwing himself into the cement structure in the middle of the clearing, taking both Maddalena and, a moment later, Daan with him.
He helped her up and then adjusted the hat on his head.

- All in one piece? – Both of them nodded. – Good. Let's look for the telelectrocock-thing-scope and then get out of here. Forests are a pain in the ass, you never know what's hiding in them.-

Where he came from, some forests were so unexplored that they created legends that mythological creatures were hiding there. The more time he spent in Prehevil, the more absurdly plausible they became. Yet he was someone who had never believed them, even as a stupid and naive child.
All he had ever believed about clusters of trees was that they were a good thing to exploit in military purposes. His thoughts had all revolved around the same topic for years now.
Leading the group, Pav descended the stairs that led inside the infamous tunnel number one. The structure was identical to the one he and Maddalena had found under the cavern, however extremely more extensive and labyrinthine, with the usual deafening silence quieted only by the echo of their footsteps.
As they continued, he felt a tap on his shoulder. When he dropped his gaze to Maddalena, she pointed to the floor.

- I have... seen these creatures before... they seem to come from here...

On the ground was one of those flesh "umbrellas" composed of arms, but still missing the human heads that were usually sewn to their "tails".

- This one is even worse.

Daan's voice came from ahead. And indeed he was right, because there were whole people sewn together, literally a human centipede. They were all on all fours in a single line, each with their mouths sewn to the anus of the one in front.

- Where the fuck did we end up?-
- I feel like throwing up...- Said Maddalena.
- Turn away, if you vomit and get dehydrated we have nothing to drink.-

They continued randomly for a while until they found an elevator. But it was closed and not working; there was no electricity. Which made no fucking sense, because the bunker was perfectly lit.

- If I catch whoever designed this damn place I swear—

The series of colorful insults that followed made Maddalena cover her ears, while Daan put his hand on his forehead in exasperation. Then they set off again in search of anything that might be able to help them.
So they arrived at a generator. Pav cursed every saint and deity he knew when they discovered that there was no fuel left.
And the trip of hope resumed. They found a canister full of gasoline, but it wasn't enough. Pav cursed for the fiftieth time.
Repeat again.
This time the generator turned on, and from a distance they saw a green light coming in the direction of the elevator.
They made their way back again and finally were able to descend to the lower floor of the bunker. Pav was ready with the Luger already unsecured, but all they found was a man... dead.
He was dark-skinned and dressed in a very deep yellow, the clothing in itself definitely eccentric. He was sitting against a wall, with his head bowed and an arrow stuck in his shoulder.
Unless there were other archers -he doubted it- in the area, it seemed that Mr. August had an easy arrow. Who knows why he had hit that particular guy... unfortunately, they couldn't ask him.

- He was on the train. – Said Daan as he listened to his pulse, noting his death. – I think his name was O'saa.-
- God rest his soul.- Murmured Maddalena.
- Come on, let's go. He's dead now, there's nothing we can do.-

The telelectroscope was exactly the same as the one they found under the cave. Same monitor and same cables that continued inside the wall. Considering how far they had come since the other had been activated, who knows how much they extended in total... and the third was missing, which was even further south than the current one. If they all connected to the museum, what was buried down there must have been immense.
Pav performed the same procedure, the machinery trembled, emitting a metallic noise, and then stopped. Now the screen read "Telelectroscope: ON".

- What exactly have we activated? Is it... safe?- Daan asked.
- I don't know. But trust me.-
- How can I trust you if you yourself don't know what you are doing?-
- How tiresome. Do you have any better ideas?-
- ... Keep it off?-
- No.-
- ... Whatever.-

Since there was nothing more to be done, they took the elevator again and went up to the second floor of the bunker to exit and return to the surface. But the moment they were about to approach the exit, they heard a female giggle.
The first to turn around was Daan, with such urgency that he seemed to have broken his neck. A woman had emerged from the labyrinth. She was thin, dressed only in a pair of loose white pants supported by suspenders, her breasts sagging and her arms gloved. From her lower jaw down to her collarbones her pale skin had been dyed purple and her lips black. All over her face were seams holding together strips of flesh; one crossed her forehead, one sealed her right eye, and the last partially sealed her mouth. Her one eye had a tiny black pupil, she completely lacked eyebrows, had protruding front teeth, and her hair was few, long, raven, and very straight, so shiny it looked greasy -or maybe it was-.
Now who the heck was that?

- Elise...- Daan murmured, moving a step in her direction and raising his hand as if he wanted to reach her.
... Elise? That Elise? The Elise who was supposed to be dead?
- Daan, don't come any closer! It's not her! Elise is dead!-

But Daan had closed his ears, blinded by the distorted vision of the woman he had loved so dearly. He was already in her arms and they had begun to kiss, holding each other close. Until "Elise" revealed that she had needle and thread in her hand and began to sew herself to Daan, to seal that kiss forever. Until death do you apart.
And Daan didn't care. His chin was smeared with blood, dripping on him and staining his shirt red, but he hadn't even tried to struggle back, hadn't uttered cries of pain, nothing.
Daan was already dead.
Even before he got on the train to Prehevil.
Pav and Maddalena had watched that heinous scene frozen in place, unable even to think of what to do. It was something so far out of the ordinary that it managed to send even his brain into a tilt.

- Shoot her, Pavel, shoot her now!

He never thought he would hear such a sentence shouted by her, yet his ears were not lying. And she was right.
When he was already ready with pistol in hand, a creature emerged from behind them. It was an agglomeration of body parts and crawling flesh that approached dragging itself with difficulty.
The lieutenant fired one, two, three, four, five shots at it, but the creature absorbed the bullets as if nothing had happened.
They would never have been able to free Daan with that thing around. They would have died, too.
He grabbed Maddalena by the arm and, although she protested and screamed, dragged her by weight to the ground floor of the bunker, then threw her to the ground. She immediately got back up and began to rail at him, grabbing him by the jacket and shaking him.

- Why did you leave him there?! – Her voice broke. – He was our ally! You bastard!-
- We wouldn't have survived either.-

Maddalena let go of him and sprinted for the stairs, but before she could do so he grabbed her by the hips, his fingers gripped the protruding bones of her pelvis, and threw her back onto the floor. She curled up and began to cry like a river.

- I don't give a shit if I lose pieces on the way, I have a goal to accomplish and that's all I care about! Get up, there is a missing telelectroscope to be activated.-
- If you care so little about losing allies, then leave me here!-
- Stop talking bullshit, you idiot! And stop crying too, you're getting on my nerves.-
- Why can't I cry, but you can?!-
- I'm not—-
- Yes you are!-

He realized only then how much his eyes were burning, his vision blurred and his face moistened. Maddalena stood up and approached him almost fearfully, wrapping her hands around his face and wetting her bandages with tears.
Pav felt himself trembling, an incessant urge to bite his lower lip until it bled. He grabbed her wrists and bowed his head, gritting his teeth.

- I have never... been able... to save anyone...

His entire body shook as he sobbed. He let go of Maddalena's arms and she moved even closer to him, encircling his hips in an embrace, her little head against the left side of his chest.

- He... saved your life... and I... abandoned him... – He paused, returning the nun's grip. – Maddalena... promise me that you won't die too... swear it.-
- I—-
- Please. I want to be able to do something good for once in my worthless life. I want to save at least one person. I want you to get out of Prehevil and go on living.
... I'm sorry I threw you to the ground.-
- I have suffered much worse. You know that.-

They stayed close for a while, clinging to each other to work off their anger and frustration.
Pav felt her breath against his chest, her body slowly relaxing. When he felt her calm down, he was finally able to leave her.
He looked at her face; it was still flushed and so was her blue eye, shining like a crystal.

- We have to go... are you able to run?

She nodded slowly at him, so he grabbed her by the wrist -he didn't want to squeeze her hand and risk hurting her-.
He carefully leaned out of the bunker exit, searching with his eyes for that half-human-half-horse creature. He saw it in the distance.
He cast a glance at Maddalena and she returned it. Perfect understanding.
He waited for the right moment, the instant when the monster was turning its back on them, and took off running, with all the strength in his body.
The centaur, as soon as it had heard the sound of their stride, had also sprung into a gallop, aiming to catch up with them.
Pav threaded his way through a dense series of trees, penetrating into the forest and choosing the most intricate route that could simultaneously slow the monster down but also completely block its course. A plan that fortunately worked; the closely packed trunks had sent it into confusion, and the two of them had managed to outrun it in time.
They ran wildly until they reached an overhang; it gave onto the path Pav had passed by on the morning of their arrival, they had circled around and were almost back to the old town.

- Pavel... a Vinushka tree. We can go down!

He turned, seeing Maddalena pointing to a white tree like the one they had grown in the church basement. Its branches reached right up to the step of the ground and led down to the street below.
So they went down. He went first and then helped her... without Daan he was forced to be far too careful, if those wounds on her hands got infected, she might even end up having to amputate them. He had seen so many soldiers end up like that... although they had been Bremen bastards, their distressed looks were unbearable. He didn't want to see such a look on her face.

- We miss the last bunker...- Pav put his hands on his hips, scanning the horizon.
- Do you know where it is?-
- The map said in the forest too... but the location is more inward. It might not be very far.-
- ...! Maybe I know where it is!-
- Really...?-
- Yes! Do you remember when we met, in front of the city gates?
Well... I got there because I was running away from a naked man who tried to chase me with an axe, I ran left into the woods and saw a military truck. I didn't continue because there were monstrous headless dogs, so I changed direction and met you. That truck wasn't there by accident, I'm sure by now...-
- Interesting. Do you remember the way from here?-
- Yes...-
- Well, let's go.-
- What if the naked guy is still there?-
- Then what? I would shoot him, you know.-
- It's not that! I can't look at naked men!-
- Little birdie, I think you have bigger problems to think about by now...-

In the end, reassuring her that she wouldn't see that nudist again, he managed to convince Maddalena to lead the way to the supposed location of the bunker containing the last telelectrothing-cock-scope. The direction was the one he had walked the first day, beyond the trees a house was visible, and when she saw it, she neared him and kept walking by clinging to his jacket.
They continued on and, finally, they reached that house. Beside the doorway lay the headless corpse of a man dressed only in a long black trench coat.

- Well, I guess you won't have to worry about this guy anymore... he looks dead.- He said, sarcastically.
- Huh...? Wait... he misses the... the... uh...-
- The what, pray tell?-
- The one, come on... the... il pipo! La ciola!- The nun had a burgundy face.
- What on earth are the "il pipo" and "la ciola"?-
- The one... the one you pee from! Not me, you.-
- ... Ah.- Pav took a better look at the corpse. In fact at the level of the groin he had only a hole.
- He had it two days ago! It was weird though, it almost looked like a parasite hanging off his legs... not—not that I cared to look at it! But it was there, swinging left and right as he chased me! How disgusting...-
- Little birdie, you're describing a very normal penis. It's obvious that it wobbles if you're running around without underwear...-
- Do you have it purple too?!-
- ... Purple? Of course not, dumbass!-
- You see that it was weird, then?-
- ... Look, forget it. Who cares about this guy's purple dick. We have other things to do. The bunker.-
- You're right... sorry...-

They left the body alone, ignored the goat, which was quietly munching on the grass as if just a little further on there had not been its -presumed- owner dead as a doornail, and went into the woods again.
There was indeed a Bremen Army truck and, a little further on, an open hatch.
Pav knelt down and stuck his head in the hole.

- ... Bingo. It really is a bunker. I have to congratulate you for once.-
- Let's hope we don't find any more monsters in there...-
- I doubt it. We made it two out of two, surely it will become three out of three.-

He descended the ladder and soon after she joined him.
Like the others they had visited, the bunker was silent, with not a soul in sight. But they both knew very well that it could, and the probability was quite high, be the calm before the storm.
As they explored they also came across a canister full of gasoline, which Pav picked up; he didn't want to go in circles a thousand times again in case they had to start a generator.
... And indeed, they found an elevator, but the electricity was missing, so they set out to find a way to activate it. It had been better to climb with ropes.
Thankfully, that bunker was smaller and less intricate than the other, so it wasn't hard to first find a second canister of gasoline and, after some more wandering, even a generator into which to pour the contents. The usual green light came on and the whole thing seemed to start up.
The two of them made to turn back but, suddenly, there began to be roars from the wall behind them. The metal plating began to bend outward and, after a few blows, a hole actually opened up, out of which a creature came out.
Humanoid, not too tall but extremely muscular and powerful, with long arms and huge hands and feet, dressed only in torn yellow overalls. The head, however, looked almost like that of an elephant, with a trunk from which dripped saliva and mucus.
The moment it put its foot out of the chasm it had created in the wall, the monster emitted a sound similar to a trumpeting, so high-pitched and strident that it gave the impression that his ear drums might explode at any moment.
... They were dead.
Maddalena screamed at the top of her lungs, and Pav immediately grabbed her by the arm and started running through the bunker as the man-elephant's footsteps made the earth shake like earthquake tremors.
He felt that his head was heavy, after hearing that cry he had become so disoriented that his vision dropped; everything was blurry and it was hard to tell the right direction. But he kept running without ever stopping, for Maddalena. To save her at least.
Miraculously they made it to the elevator and he began to beat like a madman on the button to open it. And meanwhile the creature was reaching them.
The door opened after a few seconds and they threw themselves into it, an instant before being caught by those giant hands. It closed again the very moment there was another ragged trumpeting, thankfully muffled by the elevator wall.

- Pavel... I feel...—

He didn't have time to turn around that Maddalena slumped into a corner and began to vomit. Immediately he approached her and grabbed the veil on her head to prevent it from falling forward and getting dirty. He too had a feeling of nausea, but not enough to regurgitate the miserable dinner of the night before.
He put his hand on her back, massaging her in slow circular motions to try to ease her pain.

- Fuck, we don't have any water, you'll end up dehydrated like that.-
- Sorry...-
- I wasn't accusing you—
... Better now? – She nodded slowly. – Can you get up?
- Help me ...-

He put his hands under her armpits and pulled her to her feet, making her lean her back against the metal wall. Only later he noticed that her nose was bleeding, a trickle started from her left nostril and continued past her mouth, dyeing her chin as well. Her gaze was vague, her head was rocking left and right.
Pav looked at the slick of vomit on the ground and realized that there was more blood in the midst of the half-digested food. He turned to her again and put his hand on her cheek to support her head.

- Your whole face is bleeding, damn it.-
- You too... are bleeding... – Maddalena put her hand to her forehead. – My head... ugh... is exploding...-
Pav instinctively touched his lip and indeed found his fingers stained red. Blood was even coming out of his ears.
- It must have been that monster's trumpeting... when it emitted it I felt a huge pressure in my head. How are you? Can you go on?-
- My head is spinning...-
He rummaged through the pockets of his uniform until he found a piece of cloth that he used to wipe the blood from her face. She didn't protest, she let him do it as if she had been a doll, watching him with her big blue eye.
- Get on my back.-
- ... Huh?-
- It's an order, no fuss. You need rest.-
- Pavel, I don't want to slow you down.-
- That's exactly why I want to carry you. Hurry up.-
- O—Okay.-

After wiping their faces better -discovering that her ears were bleeding under the veil as well-, Pav bent down and lifted Maddalena onto his back and began carrying her.
She wrapped her legs around his hips, one hand clinging to his shoulder and the other holding the effigy. The last one had passed to him and, in a very inelegant way, he had to tuck it between his chest and jacket.
He exited the elevator and walked to the now unmistakable junk of wires and metal that was the telelectroscope... the last one. The third. Only the White Bunker was missing.
He was... excited, on a high. Soon he would have sliced up Kaiser. Finally.
He activated the machinery, following the same procedure used in the other two. The machine made those unmistakable squeaks and sounds and started up, subsequently falling into total silence.
... But there was a problem. A big one. One that could only make their heads explode with the help of the vocal cords.
How would they get out, knowing that the monster could still be placed in front of the elevator, waiting for the doors to open again?

- Fuck... all this work for nothing? To get killed by a fucking bulky elephant? What do we do now? We commit suicide and that's it?-
- There has to be a second exit...- She murmured from behind.
- Little birdie, we're several meters underground, where the hell are we going to find an escape route?-
- We might as well try to look... we have nothing to lose now.-
- Unfortunately, you're right.-

It took little, not even ten seconds, for something to catch his attention. On his way back to the elevator door, Pav noticed a small room that he hadn't noticed before. He figured there was no point in checking it out, but since, as Maddalena said, there was nothing else to do... he decided to waste two seconds of his life and went in.
As soon as he stepped inside, everything around them changed its appearance. She shuddered on his back, while he found himself huffing, resigned.
He had seen that place before, that cluttered sea composed of wooden planks... it was identical to the maze full of cells and monsters he had entered from the washing machine -still it seemed absurd to think about that- in that mold-filled apartment building.
He looked down and found his feet on top of a circle very similar to the one Maddalena had drawn on in church, but the symbol made with chalk was different this time. It was supposed to represent another god.

- This place... is identical to the place where I found the effigy in the apartments.-
- It's all so... surreal— it gives me the chills.-
- What is the symbol drawn on the ground?-
- Rher... but it's weird. It's not supposed to work like this. It seems to be influenced by something.-
- When I first entered it, there was a symbol on the floor, carved into the pavement next to the angel statue. It was two triangles intersecting each other, with an inverted cross at the base.-
The nun stiffened against his shoulders. She was tense.
- Pavel, let's find the exit. If it is what I think, the longer we stay here, the worse it will be for us.-
He decided to listen to her and not waste any more time, so he set off.
- What do you mean?-
- The seal you described... sounds like that of the Sulfur God.
Not much is known about him, but it is what Alll-mer stripped himself of before he ascended, to reach the highest purity. He resides in the sulfur pits... and he has one eye.-

Sulfur... one eye... all of that was familiar. He remembered seeing something similar when he had looked into the eyes of that snail-headed priest. He also remembered that incessant urge to kill and drink blood.
As he continued walking he turned a quick glance to Maddalena; she had her chin resting on his shoulder and her eyes half-closed, her long, dark lashes shielding them like fans, her breathing light and regular. It wasn't good. Certain thoughts weren't of him, and if he kept them buzzing in his head, she would have been in danger. At such a vulnerable moment, it would have been so easy to overpower her.
Apparently, as he wandered around, he realized that the floor plan was different from the alternate dimension he had already been in, so it had to be separate from the other one. This one had much narrower corridors and ladders, much like the one in the bunker. So he had to assume that drawing Rher's symbol on those circles would create a mirror dimension depending on where it was done.
He continued walking absorbed in his thoughts until he passed by a weird flower buried in the ground, which completely popped out the moment he stood in front of it. Out of a hole came a creature that looked like a female mannequin, with a head similar to a carnivorous plant, mouths on its belly and very long blades instead of arms.
He didn't think twice about it. He started to run.
He grabbed onto Maddalena's thighs with all the strength he had in his body and ran for their lives, slaloming between other monsters of that kind, wooden barrels and... workbenches? There wasn't time for questions. He didn't want to end up decapitated.
Eventually he arrived at a ladder which, judging by its location, must have corresponded to the entrance of the bunker, so he climbed up it.
Reaching the top, in fact, the world changed again and they found themselves in reality, in front of the hatch from which they had entered. He had never been so happy to feel the grass under his boots.
He made the nun get off his back and she rushed to hug him.

- It was terrifying. I never want to go into one of Rher's dimensions again.-
- Pray that we don't have to do that again... after all, it is your specialty. – He gave her a gentle pat on the back to reassure her. – Come on, now let's go to the church. We have two effigies in excess, don't you think?-
- ... All right.-

✟

The church looked exactly like the way they had left it. The colored light projected through the stained glass windows the only, feeble, illumination they had. The silence was tomb-like... more than normal in such places but, knowing what actually lurked in the basement, it was only more eerie.
Maddalena placed the effigy of Hunger on the altar while he simultaneously did the same with that of Fellatio.
As soon as they were both in place, a sound came from behind them and, turning around, they could see the floor shifting to reveal a staircase leading down. There was none of this in the underground they had already visited... it was another passageway, to a different part of the church. Pav had to admit: this had absolutely ignited his curiosity. His eyes were probably twinkling. If an easily accessible place had that -literally a bloodbath- what could the clergy possibly be hiding under a floor that could only be opened with the use of three keys scattered throughout the entire city?

- Oh... little birdie, don't tell me that in all your churches you hide these hatches. What do you put under them? The skeletons of heretics or something?-
- Don't joke... I've never seen anything like this before. There is... there is something wrong with this church. This is not the hand of Alll-mer.-
- Alll-mer or not, if you need to build a secret passage like this, it's not for something noble. Come on, let's get down! On march, soldier! Links! Links!-

Pav dashed down the steps like a child in a candy store, while Maddalena followed with her usual uncertainty and fear.
The steps were very narrow and claustrophobic, to the point that they had to stand in single file. The air was damp as in a prison and, again as in a prison, there were cells barring their way. Some were already open, however.
Behind the closed bars he caught a glimpse of one of those snail-headed monsters, so he forced her and himself to look away before they could do any damage. If he was the one being controlled this time, it would have been the end for Maddalena.
In the open cell was a priest with wrinkled skin identical to the one he had killed only two days earlier -it seemed like an eternity had passed...-. As soon as he noticed them, he threw a fireball at Maddalena, trying to hit her. And then another. He seemed to want to focus right on her.
Pav took the opportunity to leap first onto the table that was there and then kick him in the gums, causing him to collapse on the floor like a sack of potatoes. If he had known earlier that it was so easy to knock them down... he wouldn't have wasted that bullet to blow that other guy's brains out.
Satisfied, he jumped off the table, landing purposefully on his body.

- He didn't get you, did he?-
- No...-
- Great.-
- Pavel...-
- Mh?-
- I'm afraid.-
- ... – He sighed. – You can hold my hand if you want.-

He saw her paw like a mouse and reach for it. He offered her his right hand and she grasped it, entwining her fingers together. It was a pity that the bandages put a barrier between their skin...
They continued on.
Pav saw more snails locked in the cell, and before they could enter the open one, a huge monster ran towards them.
It was tall, extremely muscular, with its hands tied behind its back and its head peeled like a banana. In fact, although it was intimidating, it wasn't fast at all, because they were able to dodge and run past it without it being able to react in time. It began to chase them but, when it was exactly under the raised bars of the cell, Maddalena had the brilliant idea of pulling the lever, so the heavy pile of metal sheet collapsed right on its neck and knocked it to the ground, crushing its windpipe.
The creature moved its legs as if it were swimming and gasped for air, but to no avail. Soon after, its body stopped moving completely.

- Brutal... – Pav couldn't hold back a sneer. – Well done, little birdie. I'm proud of you.

There was no time to admire her work, so they moved on. At the moment the whole thing had been quite disappointing... Pav hoped there really was something interesting in that passage. There was a lot worse in the so easily accessible basement, after all...
After another flight of stairs, they found themselves outside, more specifically in a mausoleum full of tombs. So all that mess was just a side street to the graveyard...?
Now he was really disappointed. The only bright side was that he could see the city tower towering from behind the building in front of them. It was nearby, imposing. The one from the dream.
Pav didn't like graveyards; he hated them. To him, they looked like battlefields full of dead soldiers, not places where one could rest. He wanted to be thrown into a field and left to fertilize the earth.
In silence, never letting go of the nun's hand, they walked through it and then entered the passage in front.
The first thing they could see was a giant statue made of white stone, of a man dressed only in a robe.
In his left hand was a dagger, in his right hand were heads held by the hair. All around it was a platform, and on top... a creature.
It was covered with grayish fur, looked like a wolf with humanoid features, with very long and athletic limbs. In its right front paw it had stuck a huge spear, while in its left it held another identical one tightly. The snout was covered by a bone mask covered with eyes.
It jumped down and landed on the stone, raising dust, and only after Pav noticed the sacrificial altar with still the corpse of an eviscerated woman on it.
The beast roared and, to the surprise of both of them, then froze. It seemed surprised, staring at Maddalena motionless.

- ... A joke, this must be a joke!
Decades of service to Rher, centuries between timelines and converging spheres of worlds...
So long, have I gnashed out and made blood gush among a non-linear thread of time!
And for the first time ever, I am surprised!
Those damn idiot cultists have been fucking with everything and now linearity is being threatened!
And you idiot humans are just playing right into their game! – Another roar, even more powerful. – ... Now I have to be quick and kill this bitch in black!-

The first thing it did was to throw the left spear like a javelin, straight at Maddalena. She let go of Pav's hand and dropped to the ground a second before it could reach her. The weapon thrust into the stone floor as if it had been made of butter.
The creature jumped to where it left it, took it back, and tried to attack the nun again, using it as a sword, but she was lightning-quick to avoid it by running around the altar. It was really fixated on her, not paying Pav the slightest attention. This gave him a chance to think of a plan, but did they really have any, unarmed, to get rid of him? Would the bullets work?
It was all so frustrating. He had always only needed a single bullet in life, but since he had landed there he had wasted far too many.

- Please stop with violence! We just want to pass!-
- You have guts to say such things, bitch in black! If you only knew the horrible acts you committed in another world, in the name of your faith...-

More than fighting, they seemed to be doing a macabre dance, where Maddalena would in the long run collapse from fatigue, with no way to win, while the beast kept threatening her with those spears as big as herself.

- Other world...? Who are you? How does a creature like you know me?!-
The monster roared again, continuing to attack blindly, without logic. That was why it hadn't been able to catch her yet. The rush was restraining him.
- Everything is wrong since those cultists have been tampering with things! Your pathetic, timid life in this time is the opposite of your life in another, bitch in black!-
- Stop... stop calling me that awful word!-
- They call you much worse things where I am from! Now shut up— and choke on my spear, like the whore for blood you really are, deep down!-

A gunshot and the bullet plunged between the beast's shoulder blades, disappearing into the thick fur and being replaced by a trickle of blood that dyed it red. It arched its back and then turned its head almost a hundred and eighty degrees. At that moment all those eyes seemed to go straight to Pav, who still had his left arm outstretched and the barrel smoking. He was sick of it.
The creature's body followed the head and was now completely turned to face him. Calm, soldier, cool blood. Head up, don't stop. Or she dies.
Another shot, where left shoulder and collarbone intersected. Another, then another, another, without missing even a thousandth of a second. And then he fired again, to the point that the Luger ended up emptying and the slide lifted with a metallic sound that sounded like the loudest he'd ever heard, more lacerating than the trumpeting of that elephant that had nearly blown out his eardrums.
Was that it, the end, this time for real...? To end up impaled by some kind of humanoid wolf...? At least he could say that he had tried, that he had not run away, that he had been a good soldier.
In the end he had fought to defend what he believed in, for that last time, and he didn't die to serve the country that had killed his family. Dying to save someone like Maddalena was what he had always wanted.
Despite everything, he couldn't drop the empty Luger, let it go; it was as if glued, fused to his left hand. His only regret had been that he hadn't put one last bullet between Kaiser's eyes.
He saw the creature's legs bend, its muscles contract despite its fur. And then it jumped.
Pav expected to find it on top of him in seconds, yet... it didn't.
He opened his eyes and found it standing still in the same spot, Maddalena clinging to its wrist, squeezing it with all the strength in her body. All the while she was pulling like a possessed and all the while the beast was pulling in the opposite direction, in a deadly tug-of-war.

- Let him go! It's me you want, isn't it? Focus on me! Only on me, vile creature! Pavel has done nothing! Pavel cannot die now!-
- There it is! Here is the fire I know, within you it burns and crackles and craves blood, you bitch in black!
To protect this worthless worm? Hilarious! And to think that in the other world, you carry his head around like the most precious of trophies, hah!-
- Shut up! That's not me!-

It tried to hit her with the spear in its free hand, but in that instant she pulled with even more strength and the blow was avoided because she ripped off its arm, right at the spot where Pav had shot all those times.
Maddalena fell to the ground with the limb still clutched in her arms as the monster let out a deep roar and, without even bothering about the stump, spoke again.

- Weak, you humans are so WEAK. I thought I would find a worthy opponent in you, you bitch in black, but I didn't! In fact you're not even a shadow of what you could be, and I'm not going to wait for the real you! I have only wasted time! There is no time!

And with a leap it was gone. It was gone. Pav couldn't believe it.
On unsteady legs he ran to Maddalena and removed the severed arm complete with spear from her, then helped her up and knelt in front of her. She didn't think twice about throwing herself at his neck.

- It was right about one thing... that you've got fucking guts. How did you come up with that? It could have killed you instantly...-
- We were already dead... and I didn't want you to die... I told you I want to help you reach Kaiser...-
- I feel offended... I should be the one to protect you.- Despite the words, he returned that embrace, holding her in a vice grip.
- Now... are you out of bullets?-

He separated from her and then put a hand in the Luger's holster, then pulled out a bullet. The last one he had left, the one on which he had engraved the bastard's name during the train ride. The chosen bullet, the one that would go into his brain.
He took the pistol, put it in and closed the slide. He was ready.
He took a deep breath and stood up, extended his hand to Maddalena and pulled her to her feet as well. Then, together, they headed for the exit.
The little sunlight, although it was extremely dim, hit them powerfully. The tower, high and soaring in the sky, partly acted as its shield, casting a dark and imposing shadow over the whole square.
There was a heavy aura, imbued with something that, as a perfect ignorant, he was unable to explain. A weight on his chest, a feeling that he wasn't supposed to go there. After all, that was apparently the tower the dream jester was talking about, the one to reach once winning the Termina Festival.
He didn't give a shit about that stuff. Pavel Yudin was not there to play some deity's sick game.
He and the nun climbed the steps leading to the square. The azure cobblestones stained irremediably with the blood of dismembered and impaled corpses scattered in—

And then he saw him.
It was like being struck by lightning, his heart jumped into his throat and he risked regurgitating it. In an instant he had the Luger glued to his hand, the bullet in the barrel, the adrenaline galloping.
Strands of snow-white hair, a golden tunic, a yellow so intense that it clashed with all the world around him, as if he was slowly absorbing its colors and life to keep them to himself.
The Yellow King. Kaiser. The chancellor of piss.
The disgrace took a few steps to the left and then stopped, turning his head slightly in their direction, giving them his attention.
Pav marched in his direction, approaching a few meters with his arm outstretched and his aim already at his head. He was on his own. He could make it.

- Kaiser!
Do you even know why this bullet has your name written on it?-
Silence, a silence that seemed endless.
- ...
You're one of my officials...
Pavel Yudin...
You were recruited from Voroniya during The First Great War.
That must mean I'm responsible for demolishing the village you were born in... and your family and relatives.
I sincerely hope this is not an act of vengeance.
That would mean you've wasted all of your life in spite, waiting for this opportunity...-
- It's not wasted if I get my revenge here.
Hell, I'd do this even if it just meant that no one else has to go through the same.
And don't even try to give me any of that "it's for the greater good" bullshit.
You're stepping on people without regret, just to pursue your own endeavours!-
- I do not do anything for "'the greater good". The greater scheme of things is a trap humanity has fallen for too many times.
What I've done is a necessary step for the mankind.-
- I said I don't want that bullshit!-

And he pulled the trigger. And the pistol fired. And the bullet pierced his forehead. And the blood splattered.
He had done it. Finally, he had killed Kaiser, taken him out. He had not wasted his life... he had not spent almost thirty years in the army for nothing...
He was so happy, for the first time in a long time. He could finally get out of there, ditch the uniform. Maybe he wouldn't even kill himself...
Maybe he would find someone to have a family with...
It was time to go.

But then why did he have such a stinging pain in his chest...? Why could he no longer feel his left arm...?
And why was Maddalena screaming so loudly? Was she happy with his victory?

Chapter Text

Maddalena's hands exploded.
Not literally, but she had come dangerously close. The cuts she had on both palms suddenly reopened, blood sprayed out like a fountain and formed an agglomeration that later took the shape of a sword.

It had all happened in an instant.
First, the bullet fired by Pavel had lodged itself in Kaiser's head; then, the latter, not at all shaken by the blow, in a lightning gesture had torn him apart with the blade of his sword, opening a gash in his chest and cutting into the flesh of his outstretched arm until completely severed. He had fallen to the ground without a sound, and Kaiser had shaken off the blood from the blade, splashing it around.
It was at that moment that she, realizing the situation, had screamed and her wounds had opened and she had recreated the sword with which she had killed Caligura and—
She had thrown herself at the Yellow King, clutching the hilt with both hands and ending up feeding the power of the weapon. Kaiser needed only one to parry the blow. The metal of the blade vibrated, causing a screech.
From so close, under the hood she glimpsed the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, an inhuman ice blue, but cold... soulless. He certainly had an advantage over her, Maddalena knew it very well, and there was no doubt he knew it himself... yet he did not attack her. Their swords remained crossed.
He took a step forward, bringing his face closer to hers... and then whispered in her ear.

- If you care for him, there is still time to save him.
...
Under the museum. Thirteen thirty-five.
I'll wait for you at the White Bunker. I want you to see Logic.

He remained in that position for a few seconds, as if he wanted to say something else, but eventually he separated the two blades and began to leave, walking towards the museum without ever looking over his shoulder.

Maddalena turned suddenly like an automaton and finally saw what Kaiser had caused Pavel.
He was lying on the ground in a pool of blood that had soaked through his clothes. He was unconscious, his mouth was bleeding, and on his chest was a giant cut that started at his left collarbone and ended at his side, splitting him in two diagonally. His left arm... was no longer attached to his body, it was a few feet away and his hand was still locked on the grip of the pistol.
She immediately bent over him, put her fingers on his neck to feel his pulse and check if he was breathing. He was still alive, the chancellor had not lied, but how much longer would he be in that condition? Being so much in a panic was not helping her...
First she stripped him of both his jacket and shirt to gain more access to his wounds, then she went through his pockets and, with the switchblade, began tearing off her skirt to use the fabric as a makeshift bandage, but she was forced to stop when it had almost reached her groin. Had it been up to her, she would have ripped off her entire dress to save his life, but walking around the city in that condition could only have attracted more trouble.
She was able to bandage most of his chest, but because of the extent of the wound it still wasn't enough. The bandages around her head and covering her swollen eye were relatively clean; she preferred to employ them for him who clearly needed them most. After removing them, the sunlight had suddenly become much more annoying, but it mattered little.
As much as showing her hair made her uncomfortable, slowing the blood flow to his arm stump was priority, so she used the veil. She tightened it around the flesh with all the strength she had, miraculously managing to stop much of the bleeding.
By the time she was finished, she too was covered in blood; and knowing who it belonged to... made her nauseous, she felt her stomach twist furiously and threaten to throw out what little was still left in it. But she had to brace herself, she couldn't let him die, not after all the times he had been the one to save her life and take care of her. No one had ever done that before, and if he died, she would never forgive herself.
She put her hand on his face and tried to bring him to consciousness, but no dice. He had lost so much blood, she must have expected it... however, they could not stay there much longer.
So she decided to take courage. She put Pavel's shirt, jacket and hat on over her clothes, took back his pistol and holstered it -she knew he had no bullets left, but she also knew how much he cared for that weapon- and then, using all the adrenaline and strength coursing through her veins, she was able to pick up his body on her back and lift him.
The biggest difficulty was that of the difference in height and size. He was tall and muscular, while she reached a few inches above his shoulders and was little less than a pile of bones, holding his legs firmly against her hips was... complicated -she felt like a turtle with an oversized shell-. She prayed to Alll-mer not to find any further difficulties on the route she planned to follow.

Her idea was to get to the train, the only place she could call truly safe in the entire city. Plus, she would find survivors there... she hoped. What was she going to do if she and Pavel were the only ones still alive? How was she going to keep him from dying too? She was just a stupid nun with no medical knowledge, she knew very well that just stopping the bleeding for a while would only slightly delay the inevitable. If only... if only Daan had still been with them... damn it.
Don't cry about it, Maddalena. Move on. For Pavel. For his dream.
And on unsteady legs she went forward, carrying him with a strength she did not believe she had.
She descended the stairs to the square and began to make her way back, passing through the mausoleum and re-entering the church by taking advantage of the secret passage. The plan in her head was risky... but, thinking about it, did she really have a choice? Could she afford the luxury of wasting time looking for another solution? Of course not.
She had the breath of a dying man on her neck, whose heartbeat, though weak and fatigued, echoed in her eardrums like a slow and, thankfully, still regular drum. She could not hesitate, she could not stop. She would go on until she reached the train, even if she had to crawl there.
She continued on her way until she reached the church basement, the very place where she had tried to stab Pavel only two days earlier. It seemed like the dumbest decision she could make, but in fact it was not. There was something down there that would have made things exponentially easier for her. In fact, it would solve ninety percent of her problems. A Perfection Circle.
Two days earlier she had seen it in passing, carved on the floor and unused. She prayed it had remained so.
She went down the last staircase and, making sure to make as little noise as possible in case anyone was there, approached the Circle. It was intact. She suddenly felt light, as if the man twice her size on her back had instantly disappeared.
She bent down on one leg and, using her own blood still flowing from her hands, began to draw. A vertical line, then a horizontal one to intersect with the previous one... the cross, the symbol of Alll-mer.
As soon as the sigil was finished, a blood portal that almost blinded her with its scarlet light opened before her. And thus became three that she had drawn, the places she could reach instantly.
The first she had done together with Marina on the train, the second under the Prhvl BOP after being healed by Daan... and the last one she had just created.
With extreme fatigue and adrenaline that had now waned, she pulled herself to her feet again and walked through the portal.
The moment the walls of the church were replaced by those of the train, her legs gave way and the second before she collapsed to the ground she saw the carriage door open, a flash of Henryk's astonished gaze and, having ended up on the floor, his scream reached her ears.

She did not know whether she had lost consciousness or not, but she awoke -from a trance or literally- finding herself sitting on the floor, her head against the seat on which a still unconscious Pavel had been placed. Henryk was crouched next to her. He looked at her as if she had been a stranger.

- Who are you...?-
... Why was he asking who she was?
- Huh...? Henryk, it's me, Maddalena...-
- Eh—?! The nun? What on earth happened to you? What happened to both of you?-
- Long... story...
I was beaten yesterday, while he... Kaiser... Kaiser attacked him...- She felt a knot forming in her throat.
- ... Kaiser? That Kaiser? Why did he reduce one of his soldiers like this?-
- There is no time now— – She jumped to her feet, but she was exhausted and unbalanced. – If we don't save him, he will die! We have to get out of Prehevil... find someone who can cure him... I don't want to see him die...-
- Maddalena... – He also got up and held her. – I think you've already realized that we can't leave unless this "festival" ends.-
- So what...? Then what can I do for him...? There is no time... – Pavel, still asleep, uttered a gasp. – his body won't last long, I'm sure he has injuries to his internal organs as well...-
- Why are you so obsessed with saving him? I mean, he's a Bremen pig, I don't need to explain to you the reasons why he would be better dead.-
- I—I care about him! No one had ever really cared about me, yet he did, protected me to the end despite having no reason to do so... he could have dumped me somewhere on the first day because I can't fight and I'm useless; instead, he never moved on if I wasn't there first.
He hates Bremen... he only consumed himself to avenge his family and not allow others to go against his own fate. – Maddalena brought her hand closer to Pavel's lips and tried to wipe away the trickle of blood that stained his chin, but ended up smearing it further because she too was still bleeding. She had completely forgotten about it. – Please, Henryk, help me save him...-
- Hmm... – The blonde began to think about it, but after a while he resigned himself. – maybe I have someone who can help you.-

He motioned for her to follow him and, reluctantly, left Pavel alone and together they went to the next carriage.
Sitting on the floor, with her legs clutched to her chest, was a young girl. She was as pale as a corpse, with very smooth black hair, small eyes of the same color, an aquiline nose, and full lips dyed black. She wore a long black and white short-sleeved dress. She was very thin and on her exposed arms were many cuts both recent and dated.
She watched them, silently, from under her bangs.

- Uhm... Samarie... – Henryk began. She stared at him. – you can... use magic, right? Do you know about healing spells?-
- What's the use...? It's the third day... the fewer souls there are, the easier it will be to finish the festival. You both know there can only be one left.-
- I'm not going to participate in the festival, I don't want to kill anyone...! I don't want... I don't want Pavel to die...- Maddalena said.
Samarie peered at her.
- They teach us in the Vatican that once the gods have decided, there is nothing we humans can do to oppose them. You're from there, too, aren't you? You should know.-
- There must be another way...-
- Maybe.
But the moon god chose this place for a reason, the festival does not happen by chance. If you can find the reason, maybe... there will be a way to save yourself.-
- Please, Samarie, if you know how to save Pavel's life, tell me. I beg you... I will also find a way to bring the survivors home...-
The girl lowered her gaze and whispered something to herself. The nun thought she heard "Marina", but maybe it was just suggestion...
- Sylvian. Draw her sigil while he is placed on it, it will cure all his wounds.-
- Sylvian... of course...! – Maddalena lowered herself to Samarie's height and made to take her hands, but at the last moment she remembered how full of blood they were and stopped. – Thank you, Samarie, I am immensely grateful...-
- ... Sylvian's sigil is dangerous. Show love and she will bond you forever.-

As they returned to Pavel, Maddalena thought back to that last sentence. Although it was seemingly normal, knowing the context and situation they were in, it was definitely not anything good...
She had never focused on the study of the old gods, but she knew of an ancient practice done in the name of the goddess Sylvian called "marriage of flesh"... where two people, enacting a demonstration of love, joined their bodies together to the point of becoming one. Could that be what she was referring to? And what was meant by "demonstration of love"? Did it need a full act, or was it enough just to love each other...?
... Why was she thinking about it so much?

- Great, – Henryk said. – Samarie said to draw Sylvian's sigil. We already have a circle available, we can do it here. I didn't think it was so easy...-
- Unfortunately, it isn't. This is a Perfection Circle, the sigils of the old gods do not work there, we need an Asymmetric Circle. And in any case, by now this has been exhausted by Alll-mer's portal...-
- ... In fact, it was all too good to be true. What do we do, then? Where do we find an Asymmetric Circle?-

Maddalena began to think as she walked back and forth across the wagon. With the frustration and fear on her it had become extremely complicated to formulate any coherent thought, her mind always returning to the dying man lying on the seats.
To recap... she and Pavel had drawn a Vinushka sigil inside the church, while they had found a second one made by someone else -at that point she could attribute it to O'saa...- leading to the forest that contained tunnel number one.
But were there others, or were those two the only ones in all of Prehevil? Or, if there were, were they left unused...?

- Damn... we already used the one placed under the church... where are we going to find another one? Wandering around taking Pavel with us is the stupidest solution in the world...!-
- Mh... wait, do you remember where we met? In the manor?-
- Yes...?-
- He had shot a priest that time. He was kneeling on the ground over a strange symbol, now that I think back. What if it was the one we're looking for?-
- Do you remember what it looked like?-
- Not really. You know... I was busy holding back vomit because your friend had just blown his brains out. I just remember it was round. Maybe different from the one on this train.-
- Then I have to take him there. There's no time to waste.-
- It's dangerous...! They're all crazy out there, remember?-
- We would all die anyway...-
- ... - The blonde drew a long sigh. - I'm going with you.-
- Really...?-
- Yes... I don't want to feel guilty if you die. I'll carry him on my back, it will be easier.-
- Thank you, Henryk...-
- So, shall we go?-
- There's something I have to do first.-

Without giving him an explanation, she jumped into the blood portal, teleporting to the Prhvl BOP.
Going back there alone put a little... nostalgia? It seemed to her that it had been an eternity since she and Pavel had slept there next to each other, and instead it had only been one day.
She climbed the stairs and, inside the bar itself, found scattered on the floor both the sword once stuck in Moonless' back and the crucifix-shaped sword found by mere chance in the church attic. Thankfully, no one had taken them; this way they would have something to fight Kaiser with.
She wasted no further time and turned back. When she came out of the portal she found Henryk handing her a bowl.

- Mushroom stew. Leftover from last night; unfortunately it's cold...-
Maddalena took it with both hands and began to drink the broth like a thirsty person in the desert. She didn't care about the temperature; it was delicious.
- ... Thank you.-
- Are you ready now?-
- ... Yes.-

After making themselves makeshift sheaths for the swords with ropes they found in the train, they decided how they would carry Pavel. Henryk held him from behind, passing his arms under his armpits and lifting the heaviest part of his body, while Maddalena held his legs tightly and led the group.
Although he was still unconscious, he occasionally moaned and made choked cries of pain; every time he made them she felt like crying.
They took the eastern road, the same one Maddalena had taken on the first day to reach the sewers, but this time backwards. In addition to being shorter, it was also the least dangerous; in that part of the town there were only desperate, dying people compared to the crazy villagers armed with sickles, knives and rusty pipes.
Henryk was strange, however; one moment he would go at a brisk pace, the next he would slow down, sometimes even stop and not start again until the body he was carrying was in danger of falling over. And then Maddalena seemed to hear whispers and gurgles, as if he was having a conversation with himself. The nun tried to ignore him, but he was slowing down the whole group, and she could not bear it; if Pavel had died because of him, she would have never forgiven him.
Luckily they made it to the manor, but as soon as she put her foot on the first step leading to the entrance, a thud came from her shoulders and suddenly the whole weight of Pavel's body weighed down on her, almost causing her to fall backwards. She turned and saw him on the ground helpless, as Henryk had moved a few feet away. She wanted to yell at him, but he beat her to the punch, starting flailing like a madman with his hands in his hair.
He was tearing large tufts from his head with such violence that he scratched his scalp, blood dripped all over his face, while his arched back swelled more and more, as if a balloon had been inside it. His face distorted and even his head began to change shape, his feet had become so huge that they opened his shoes.
Maddalena did not think twice about grabbing Pavel from under his armpits and starting to drag him into the building. She felt sorry for Henryk; she would have liked to help him, she really would, but if the transformation he was going through was the same one everyone in the city had undergone, there was nothing more she could do for him now. Both she and the man she was dragging up the stairs at the moment still retained their humanity, so she was reluctantly forced to prioritize.
The poor man moaned whenever his pelvis bumped against the steps, but she couldn't help it, she was too exhausted to be able to lift him as she had done when she had carried him back to the train... and unfortunately she had been forced to discard the gentleness that usually characterized her in favor of speed. Who knew if Henryk, once the transformation was complete, would not freak out and try to kill them...? A few bruises on Pavel's backside would have done him no more harm than what he already had or was in danger of being done.
She allowed him a few seconds of rest when the first flight of stairs finished, which ended immediately the moment the second began.
It felt like she had climbed the highest mountain in the world, but she had finally reached the second floor and could drag Pavel up to the miraculously unused Asymmetric Circle. Her heart was beating wildly, sweat pouring down her forehead. She hoped it would work... it had to work!
With the blade of the sword she reopened the wound on her hand and slowly began to draw, but thuds from downstairs made her freeze.
...
There was no point in finishing the sigil at that moment.
She would have to fight first.

She walked over the lieutenant's unconscious body and, with the blade clutched in her hand, waited for the creature at the top of the flight of stairs. She was shaking, but she could not panic, or they would have both died.
A few seconds later, what was left of Henryk appeared on the staircase.
He had grown in height and also in width, becoming almost a stocky, hunched wall. Despite the change in size, the body had remained much like that of a human... the problem was the face. It had curved horns on its head and the face had features that were all distorted and misplaced, almost as if they had been burned with acid.
In his right hand he held the sword he had strapped to his belt when they had left the train.
As soon as their gazes met he started charging, running awkwardly up the staircase and trying to strike her with a slash from above. Maddalena parried him by raising her sword above her head and holding it horizontally. The impact was so violent that she heard a horrendous crack coming from all her joints, but she did not give up. Taking advantage of his unstable position, she planted her foot in his knee and sent him rolling down the flight of stairs to the ground floor.
She too ran down and found him on his back as he flailed around trying to get up.

- Henryk! – She screamed, panting. – What... what has gotten into you?!-
- Shut up, shrimp. – Then he could still speak...! – In my city those who support Bremen are not allowed!-
He finally managed to stand up.
- Again with this?!-
- Do you take me for a fool? I know that eagle on your hat well!-

Maddalena ducked suddenly, a moment before the sword thrown like a javelin by the monster flew a few inches from her head and went into the wall. Taking advantage of her temporary moment of weakness, he grabbed her by the neck and lifted her into the air.

- I told you...! Pavel is not really from Bremen, he joined their army to get to Kaiser!- She kept trying to convince him, but nothing to do.
The monster began to squeeze and release and squeeze and release her neck intermittently, making her even more tired than she would have been by just strangling her. She dropped her sword.
- Lies are forbidden in my manor. The likes of you I eat them for breakfast, shrimp! – With his other hand he circled her hips entirely, feeling her as one does with meat in the butcher shop. – No fat though... you're only good for cheap broth.-

As he held her, Maddalena was in danger of losing consciousness, but she could not afford it. She didn't mind dying, but Pavel... he was up there, one step away from saving his life, on a half-drawn Sylvian sigil.
She couldn't... she couldn't...

She found herself on the floor. Henryk staggering backwards and emitting cries of pain. The blood sword stuck in his right shoulder. It dissolved.
Maddalena coughed, but immediately got up and picked up the weapon she had dropped.

- I'm sorry...! Thank you again for helping me save Pavel...

She crossed her gaze with the creature. For a second, she almost felt as if she saw the real Henryk again in those eyes, that a shred of humanity was still in him, nestled in his heart.
But she could not back away.
She plunged the blade where she had already stabbed him and continued with the cut, opening his chest and then his belly. Guts spilled out, a lake of blood formed, he fell back with a dry thud and a wet splat. No moaning.
Maddalena held back the vomit; she did not want to waste that delicious mushroom stew.
The weapon slipped from her hand and, with heavy footsteps and breathing, she dragged herself back upstairs. Pavel had not moved an inch... he looked already dead. Up close, however, she saw his chest rise and fall faintly, which made her breathe a sigh of relief. She had made it in time...
She knelt on the Asymmetrical Circle and went back to drawing on the floor using blood. The first outline looked like that of an almond... but the more it took shape, the clearer it became that Sylvian's sigil represented a vagina. Despite making her uncomfortable, she continued until it was completed.
The drawing emitted a bright white light for a few seconds, and when it faded, she felt completely revitalized.
She looked at her hands first; the wounds had disappeared completely... her skin was white and smooth again, her left eye no longer stung, and she could finally open it fully again. Even the feeling of nausea disappeared, as did the pain in her throat and all the fatigue she had accumulated. It was as if time had rewound and she had returned to the moment when she had first stepped outside the train.
She turned to look at Pavel, leaning in his direction.
He was awake... his gray eyes roamed the room in a silent search for answers. He slowly lifted his left arm -did it grow back?!- and looked at his palm, then turned it over and observed the veins twisting under the skin of the back.
Finally he looked right at her, brought his new fingers close to her face and brushed her cheek. Slowly they climbed behind the nape of her neck and pulled her to him.
Maddalena could not stop him; she let him, still shaken by the miracle that had just occurred. Their lips brushed and a flash instantly passed before her eyes. She pulled away abruptly.

- No! – He blinked several times, looking at her as if he had seen a ghost. – Sylvian's sigil is dangerous, we risk fusing into one person!-
- Maria Maddalena discovers sex... compelling.-
- That's not what I meant—! – Pavel flashed her one of his crooked smiles. She had missed them, she had to admit. – ... How are you?-
He took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair, pulling back blonde curls that instantly returned to their proper place. He sat up.
- As if I had slept for a month. All too well. – He looked around, then stood up. – What the hell are we doing here again? – He lowered his gaze to her, kneeling on the floor. – And why do you have half my clothes on— ... Where did the left sleeve of my uniform go? Why are you covered in blood? Why is your veil tight around my arm?-

Too many questions all at once, she felt completely overwhelmed. But she certainly could not leave him in the dark... so she told him everything, from beginning to end. From the moment Kaiser had attacked him, to their brief clash of blades, the fact that he wanted her to see "Logic", how she had to cut off most of her skirt to stop his bleeding. And then the train, Samarie, Henryk... until that moment.

- So the bastard is still alive. – Maddalena nodded. – And he went to the White Bunker. – She nodded again. – There is no more time to waste.-

Chapter Text

Pav wasn't furious, more than that. He was boiling over with rage. He had wasted the last bullet, the one with his name engraved on it, the one in which he had placed all the hatred he had accumulated in over twentyfive years of suffering. The one that should have put an end to Kaiser, to everything.
And the piss chancellor had instead claimed his left arm, cut it off of him as easily as stabbing a stick of butter with a knife. Despite the fact that the damned magic had made it grow back as if nothing had happened, he felt that there was something different, that it didn't belong to him entirely. As he also felt the phantom pain of his ripped chest, now closed and perfect. He removed all the makeshift and now useless bandages around his body.
He looked at Maddalena, still kneeling on the ground, and offered her his hand. She took it and stood.
They stood still for a few seconds as he stroked her palm with his thumb, feeling the stitched-up skin. Finally, that was the same hand he had held in the sewers because she was too afraid, with no bandage to divide them. Soft, smooth, immaculate.
Her skirt was now very short; it entirely uncovered her skinny, bony legs, her knees notably outward and speckled with scars that told her story.
Her face had also healed, and after a long time he had been able to see both of her big blue eyes. With her head exposed she looked like a completely different person, with that tangled mass of curls and shapeless waves lacking any rule to tame them; he was looking at the real woman hidden under that ugly black sack, but at the same time he had crossed his gaze with the lost and lonely little girl hidden inside her, the caged little bird.
Without saying anything, without letting go of her hand, he began to walk towards the exit of the manor, with her following him grimly and in silence.
On the ground floor he saw the mess she had made; what was left of the weird guy with the overpowering sense of smell, transformed into a hideous monster whose guts were soaked in a lake of blood and scattered on the floor.
They quickly picked up their swords and went out. He didn't want Maddalena to have to endure the sight any longer, or her sanity would have collapsed. In such a place they could definitely not afford any more mental breakdowns. By now it was clear that they were affecting transformations and he was terrified that something similar might happen to her as well... he remembered when she said she "had barbed wire coming out of her eyes" and wondered if he had been able to stop it in time. What abomination would she have changed into, a person with so many facets and suffering like her...? Into nothing good. Into something impossible to take down.
What about himself...? He didn't even want to consider it; just thinking about it made him feel as if something was devouring him from the inside and was ready to burst out of his back, splitting his ribcage.

After getting out, they passed by the part of the village filled with those poor people tearing flesh off their faces with their bare hands and took the elevator that took them directly to the church basement or, alternatively, to the crypt below it. It was really odd to have an elevator there, considering what they were doing in that damn basement. It was not impossible that it might have been placed there to more easily kidnap people to use in their horrific rituals. Chilling. He had seen some shit in war and in the military, but at those levels... it was all so exaggerated that it sounded like a fictional tale. Yet it was all true and the two of them were trying to get out alive.
As he walked, he occasionally observed Maddalena following him in silence, her gaze low... she was obviously exhausted by the whole situation, but he had no idea how to comfort her other than to repeat himself further with "bury the trauma and move on"... she would probably spit in his face; by now it was clear that she was at her limit, she was physically at her best but mentally at her lowest.
There was a trail of blood drops on the floor, and Pav realized it was his own. He still wondered how she had carried him all the way there... and the fool thought she was weak. But when on earth!
They walked through the church and the passageway as if those stains had been direct directions for the road they had to take. They walked out of the mausoleum and returned to the tower square. Now there was time to notice all the impaled and dismembered corpses, their blood marring the splendid mosaic of blue, ochre and copper cobblestones. The tower was indeed imposing, and looking at it from below made it seem as if at any moment it might fall on them. But there was no time to admire it; by now night was coming and, if what that jester on top of it said was true, the festival would have soon come to its end. And he was afraid that, by "end", it meant their transformation into abominations if they didn't kill each other.
Before he could go any further, Pav saw his own left arm on the ground, bathed in a pool of fresh blood and still with the sleeve of the uniform on. Instinctively he looked down at his new hand. It was a surreal vision, a real nightmare.

The museum from the outside looked really small, but it wasn't the building itself that interested him, but what Kaiser had told Maddalena. "Under the museum"... the location of the X on the map matched perfectly. The White Bunker was right under their feet.
He took a deep breath and opened the door.
They were greeted by a man with a distorted face dressed as a butler, while around him were masked people in fancy clothes gathered in groups. What was going on?

- Greetings. Welcome to the grand masquarade. We are celebrating the end of times, the festival of Termina.
I'm sure you're aware of the festival by now too.
Ah, but alas, we are not forever young, are we my master?
I understand that your time is money. And money is nigh.
If I'm not mistaken, you're waiting for the bells to ring, am I right?
But before that happens, I would have liked to introduce you to some of my closest acquaintances.
Hmm... But I cannot seem to remember where they could have gone...
They must still be at the ball, somewhere.
Well in case you run into them, tell them I sent you. The ones I talk about are "'The Red Devil", "The Sun Priestess" and "The Happy Mask Salesman" of course.
I'm sure you will recognize them.-

Pav wondered for what the heck reason he had listened to the entirety of that useless parrot. What the fuck could he have cared about a guy with a happy mask?!
Knowing himself he could have swore at him or simply threatened him to death, but he had no further precious time to waste.
He turned and then saw Maddalena standing in front of a large statue. It was a hairless man, kneeling on the ground but stretching his arms upward. She had her eyes fixed on the face of the sculpture; her lips were parted, she seemed on the verge of tears.

- Punish me, Alll-mer... – She whispered, with an almost inaudible edge to her voice. – your greatness makes me small...-
- What on earth are you talking about, little birdie...?-
She turned in his direction, looking at him with those lost eyes.
- Can I confess something to you...? – Instead of answering her in words he took her hand and wrapped it with both of his. – Remember... when I told you that I ran away from my family so I wouldn't have to get married...? – He nodded. – The man I killed... was the father of my future husband... his name was Caligura...
And... and he recognized me when I ran out of the bar. He punched me in the face out of surprise and when I fell to the ground I cut my hands with glass shards... then he climbed on top of me and started ripping off my stockings while yelling obscene, rage-filled words.
The last thing I remember is the sight of my bloody hands, then everything black and recovering in your arms in that store.-
- Please tell me he didn't rape you.- He found himself squeezing her hand.
She rested the free one under her belly.
- I... still have everything on me... and I never felt pain... I don't think he was able to do that.-
Pav found himself exhaling a breath he didn't know he had held.
- ...
You know, my mother and sisters were raped and killed in front of my eyes when I was a child.
I am... – He bit his lip to suppress the wave of emotions that had suddenly swept over him. – I'm glad it didn't happen to you too... at least to you... as much as it's troubling you, you did well to dig a hole in that old man's belly.-
- Yet I feel so guilty, so—
... If I focus, I can still see the blood on my hands.-
- I know, little birdie... I know it well. The longer you go on, the less guilty you'll feel and it will become routine.
... Never go on. When the festival is over, promise me you'll forget everything and start living your life again as if nothing had happened.-
- Come with me.-
- I... you already know what I'm going to do.-
- I don't think I can really go on without you... I'm not ready to let you go or forget our time together.
These three days have been the best days of my life... finally someone has taken an interest in me. Has taken care of me.-

Pav at first failed to answer her, tormented by guilt. Hell, he just wanted to fuck her. He wanted to get one last fuck before he croaked, and she had seemed the perfect victim: who better than a nun oppressed by a thousand rules that suppressed her sexuality? The perfect recipe for a ticking time bomb, he believed she would have given herself to him at the snap of a finger...
Instead, he had found a young woman split in two, between a frightened little girl seeking pure and simple affection and an old woman with a steel shell who had lived and endured nothing but horror and loneliness in her life.
... She was just like him. As totally opposite as they were, they were identical. They fit together perfectly in a puzzle.
And he was a bastard because it was too late now and he wanted nothing more than to kill himself. He didn't want to leave her alone, but at the same time he knew he would only hurt and ruin her further. She deserved someone who really loved her, but not him. Not Pav. And not Pavel either. The dead can no longer love.
He sighed, throwing out all the air in his lungs and then regained the courage to look inside those beautiful blue eyes.

- If we get out of this alive... I will come with you. I promise.

When she smiled at him, he felt his heart break into a thousand pieces. Maddalena never smiled, but when she did, her face really seemed to radiate light. Perhaps it was the first time that her tiny smile even reached her eyes.
Instead, he was the usual bastard because he had no idea the amount of time he would be able to carry out the charade and keep his promise. He just had to hope that she would quickly get tired of him, that the edgy and detestable sides of his character would lead him to be hated.

Together, still hand in hand, they began to explore the museum. The lights were dimmed and all the guests of the masquerade party gathered in scattered groups, but they were quite strange, almost in a trance... the atmosphere in general was unusual and eerie. The only good part was that they were not hostile. Swords or not, trained military or not, if all those people had attacked them... they would have been fucked.
The building itself could only be called "weird". From the outside it was tiny, but the inside seemed endless, if they went too long in the same direction they would find themselves in an endless loop. It seemed absurd to even think about, but with everything they had seen... it was one of the most normal and, finally, least lethal things.
The more time they spent wandering uselessly, the more frustration mounted. At the start, they didn't know where to go; add to that the endless corridors, it would have been a week before they found that damned bunker under the building. And they didn't have a week.
After exploring rooms filled with relics and paintings from all over Europa... they found it. A double-leaf door under an equally double staircase. It must have been that one, there was no doubt about it. Behind it was the beginning of the White Bunker.
Pav approached it and tried to turn both knobs, but no dice, it was stuck. Knocking it down would literally have been impossible, given its impressiveness and the dense, high-quality wood.

- Fuck! Damn it! – He punched one of the doors, noticing its actual hardness. Yes, it was quite a boulder. – That bastard wants to be followed and then closes the door in our faces?!-
- Pavel, calm down... there must be a solution...- Maddalena cautiously approached, wincing when he hit the door again.
- We don't have time for these fucking riddles!-
- Remember what Kaiser told me this morning...? – He paused, then turned to her. – Thirteen thirty-five.-
- And what is that supposed to mean to me? Are these the winning lotto numbers?-
- Doesn't that sound like a time?-
- ... Holy Alll-mer on the cross, I swear if this shitty door only opens at one and half o'clock in the afternoon I will kill myself on the spot. Do you realize it's almost night? It's a little past thirteen.-
- What if we rewind time?-
- Don't fuck with me, little birdie. I've already had enough.-
- There's a clock at the top of the stairs.-

Pav froze. And then a few seconds later he suddenly recovered and ran to the top of the stairs so furiously that he stumbled a couple of times.
They both then found themselves facing the imposing pendulum. It appeared to be stationary, but indeed the time was different from the one indicated, so Pav moved the hands by hand so that the minute hand marked VII and the hour hand was halfway between I and II. A little over half past one and a half o'clock. Thirteen thirty-five.
But nothing happened. Maddalena also went down to double-check, yet nothing happened. He was already losing hope.

- There is a third hand.... – She said. – Surely it will help.-
- I don't even know what it means.-
- They are symbols of the gods, but Kaiser didn't tell me anything about it...-
- ... Okay. Then I'll just move it randomly until something happens.-

He recognized some of the symbols, including Vinushka's intricate one, Sylvain's vagina -which would always make him laugh...-, Rher and, finally, that of the Sulfur God. Not knowing which to choose, he made the hand make a first click, which stopped right on the last mentioned symbol. The pendulum began to swing and the sound of a mechanism was heard.
Maddalena descended a few steps and leaned over the handrail.

- It's open!

The two prepared to reach the door, but a sound of footsteps came behind them.

- You're late, you know?

Pav turned suddenly when he heard an eerily familiar voice. Familiar because it was the voice he had heard most in his life, a voice that belonged to someone he knew all too well, more than anyone else in the world.
That someone was him.
Standing before them was... himself. Lieutenant Pavel Yudin of the Army of the Bremen Empire. Military uniform, exposed chest with scars, perfectly groomed hair, angular face. It wasn't someone who looked like him. It was him. He seemed to have a mirror in front of him, or to be hallucinating. He looked at Maddalena out of the corner of his eye, and she alternated quick glances at himself and his copy. It wasn't a hallucination.

- All these years spent in silence, hiding like a coward among the very same people who took everything from you.
YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED HIM IMMEDIATELY, AS SOON AS YOU RECEIVED THE BOOTS! YOU WEAKLING! – Although he spoke exactly as he did, he had sudden voice changes and sometimes found himself shouting.
– You let him keep the war you oh so hated going. You let him get your own hands dirty with blood.
This is why you wear those black gloves of yours, you're hiding.
You don't want to see that blood.
You're useless. Your own family hates you. You should have died with them.
... And now you're here, after all this time. Do you remember why you keep on carrying on this shitshow?
Why didn't you immediately make your way among the weak?
WHY DID YOU KEEP WASTING TIME, EVEN HERE?! WHY ARE YOU NOT ALONE?!
WHY IS SHE WITH YOU?! WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL HER?! SHE'S SO WEAK. CRUSH HER. SHE'S JUST A NUN.
YOU ALREADY KNEW WHERE HE WAS. THE WHITE BUNKER. YOU'RE LATE!
TOO SLOW! TOO SLOW! – Pause. – Let's end this here and now. Let's see who's truly worthy of putting that bullet between the Kaiser's eyes.
I'LL SWALLOW YOU WHOLE.-

Pav dashed directly at Maddalena, throwing himself on top of her and throwing her on the floor. He had seen it, that imperceptible, lightning-fast movement with which he had pulled out his pistol and instantly fired a shot that would have struck her in the forehead. He tossed her around as if she had been a ragdoll to avoid more shots fired in bursts, at least five.
If he knew himself, he knew he had formidable aim and accuracy, but he could also recognize his own movements and predict where he would shoot by looking only at the position of his hand and the direction of the barrel.
That imitation had the ability to finish everything at that moment, just as he himself had the ability to finish Maddalena off from the very beginning. The difference between them was that one wanted to do it, the other didn't.

- Leave her alone! It's me you want to fight against, isn't it?-
- SHE'S IN YOUR WAY YOU SHE'S IN YOUR WAY YOU SHE'S IN YOUR WAY YOU ARE LOSING TIME SLOW SLOW SLOW SLOW SLOW SLOW—-

Damn. He was nothing less than an extremely irritating broken record, but that seemed to have distracted him. He pushed the nun into a corner between a pillar and the stairs, telling her to crouch down, and went on the attack, quickly catching up to him and delivering a straight right to his jaw. He might not have used his dominant hand, but the rage in his body and the fear of her getting hurt had given him an adrenaline rush that was more than enough. Seeing himself with his jaw completely dislocated crashing to the ground had been a surprisingly pleasant sight. It was giving him the fullest realization of the way he had been reduced to running after a guy dressed in a hideous canary yellow. But it was too late now to retire, find a wife, have children with her, and live a peaceful life in the countryside, wasn't it? Wondering how he had reached the point in his life where he was going to throw a very violent punch in the face at a copy of himself with obvious speech problems would have been stupid. He had already calculated every step the moment he was twelve years old when his village had been burned to the ground.
So he threw himself at the stupid imitation, pinning its arms with his knees and putting his hands to its neck, pressing at the side of its windpipe with his thumbs. He could feel the veins throbbing from under his fingers.

- What the fuck are you?!-
- Iu... iucenanh Hav, ach... yo shevvish. – Given the entirely off jaw, it was really difficult to understand his words. – Imembe yah yem weie.-

But one thing he knew. He was fucking with him.
"Lieutenant Pav, at your service. Remember that name well". Seriously. Seriously.
At that point he no longer cared in the slightest why the fuck such a creature existed. He clasped his hands around his neck with all the strength he had until he heard a crack and the body beneath him went limp.
Pav let go of his throat and looked at him with contempt.
He was so weak... was he that weak too?
Killing him had been extremely easy. And that made him wonder if Kaiser had purposely spared him only a few hours earlier... that he knew Maddalena would save him, so he had reduced him like that just to buy time and hide out in the White Bunker. He had played with his life as if Pav had been a mere tool to be used and exploited in times of need, just as he had done with his family and all the villages razed to the ground during both wars.
He stripped the stupid creature of his jacket and shirt and put them on. At last he was no longer forced to walk around shirtless and in that way he could leave his old and destroyed uniform to Maddalena. He also stole his hat and Luger.
He pulled back the slide and found two single bullets in it. He took them for himself and dumped the weapon on the ground with disdain, then walked over to where she was still crouched and frightened.

- Hey, little birdie, I'm sorry for tossing you around like a ragdoll... again. You'll probably get a few bruises. Are you okay?-
- It was horrible to see your face and voice act like that. It was like a nightmare.
...
But he... whatever it was... didn't look anything like you. A terrible phony.-
- I think you shouldn't come to the White Bunker.-
- Why...?-
- We've been through a lot these days and several times I've had to save you from people and monsters who wanted to hurt you.
But this was the last straw. To see myself trying to kill you... unbearable. If I had not recognized his body language, you would now have a hole in your forehead. – He said it by touching it with his index finger. – Right here.
I'm a thousand percent sure that the Bremen army will be down there along with the bastard. And you're a civilian. You have no idea how much danger you're in, Maddalena.-
- Are you going to leave me alone, Pavel...?-
- It's safer here.-
- But you just promised you'd come with me.-
- I'll defeat Kaiser and come right back to you.-
- I don't believe it.-
- Little birdie, think about it. The soldiers of the Empire aren't like me. They are in the army by choice. You can't talk to them to spare you, not when we're going into the wolf's den... or the eagle's.-
- If I didn't want to go with you I would have gone back to the train. You can't change my mind. I want to follow you to the end.
I know this is a stupid idea, I know I should listen to you, but I can't. If Kaiser were to hurt you again, I want to be there to protect you, Pavel. Even if only for a second.-

...
He knew it would have been impossible to make her give up now. He took her hands and pulled her to her feet. Together, they finally stepped through the open door to find themselves facing a hole dug into the floor, still with an excavator on the edge and debris all around. The ladder led to a black hole whose end they were unable to perceive.
Maddalena insisted on going down first -shrewd... he already wanted to offer to open the line under the guise of "I'll protect you", but instead... no bis of her panties, just when they were more free- and he followed her closely.
The hole was so deep that it took them a good five minutes to reach the bottom. Down there the air was cool, but moist, much like the cave they had reached from the sewers.

- Pavel, come and see! – He descended the last couple of steps and reached her. – ... That's why they blocked the train.-

... Underground rails, which then crashed into a huge gate surrounded by white cement. He now fully understood why the army had prevented the train from reaching the station.
In front of the structure was a computer identical to those found in the other bunkers, so Pav began to fiddle with it.
There were two options; check the connection or, alternatively, open the door directly. Of course, he chose the latter. There were three telelectroscopes on the map, and three had been activated.
In fact, it opened, the gears began to turn, and the huge piece of sheet metal disappeared into the floor.
They crossed the threshold of the bunker, and as soon as they were both on the other side, it went back up and closed with a loud echo. Pav and Maddalena looked into each other's eyes and then looked at what was once the exit.
... Romantic, they would have shared the grave apparently.
Maddalena observed her surroundings, later turning to him.

- I did well to come with you.-
- You know we can't go back to the surface anymore, right? Unless there is another exit, we will never leave here again.-
- I know that. And it scares me. But in the end... it's not like I was that important to the world. Whether I'm there or not, it doesn't change anything.
So... let's move on. You have a dream to realize, right?-

Her voice -and also her body- trembled, but she smiled at him anyway. She took a few steps forward to the bunker corridor and then turned to urge him to follow her.

- Don't go first.

Pav joined her and took her place at the head of the group, already with guard up and sword at the ready. Oh, he was really looking forward to, finally, slicing up some Bremen bastards. He had been longing to do so ever since his first kill, when he had shot that pedophile corporal so obsessed with the twelve-year-old him in the head. The memory of his pants at his ankles, his flaccid dick hanging out and that hole in his head always made him smile as at the very moment when he had committed that bloodbath.
... Another parallel with the little birdie. First kill, the one who wanted to abuse you. It was amazing how much they had in common even though they came from opposite worlds.
The infamous White Bunker was quite different from those they had already visited; while the interior of the others almost resembled containers, mostly made of metal, this one was all white cement, lit by blindingly cold lights. A faint smell of paint still hovered in the air, which denoted that the facility had been built not long before and, judging by the narrow corridors, probably in a hurry as well. It was amazing how little he actually knew about Bremen affairs, despite his decent rank and all his years of service. Probably the one who came from one of the villages burned to the ground by the army wasn't that reliable... and honestly he couldn't blame anyone. The higher ranks knew his story very well.
The two continued inside the labyrinthine corridors in absolute silence. The building seemed deserted, which was extremely odd and suspicious. With his arm he pushed Maddalena behind him... he felt deep down that something would soon happen.
And indeed, at the first fork, they were greeted by an élite soldier. Standing statuesque, bayonet in his left hand, ballistic shield in his right, armor and helmet on. All of Pav's senses were alarmed and he quickly began to think of a thousand solutions to get out of that situation, yet he couldn't decide on one, his mind too crowded with the fear that Maddalena might get hurt. He should have left her on the surface, he knew—
The soldier took a step forward, and that was enough to suddenly stop everything that was flashing in his mind.
What to do? What to do? What to do? What to do?
One more step and by now he was ready to attack blindly.

- ...
Kaiser... orders... that the blue-eyed woman... goes to him... and witnesses... the birth of Logic.-
The voice came muffled from under the metal of the helmet, broken as if struggling to speak.
- What does it all mean? – Pav asked, with a note of anger in his words. – Why is Kaiser interested in her, of all people?-

But his interlocutor played mute; by then he had finished what he had to say and had accomplished his task. The lieutenant was relieved to have avoided combat, but at the same time the whole situation stank... and a lot. Why the fuck was everyone after Maddalena? Was she hiding something from him, or was she herself oblivious? That sort of humanoid wolf had been talking about other worlds, but what did this have to do with Kaiser...?
Before setting off again, he gave her one last look, which she returned. He could read the confusion and frustration in her face.

- Little birdie, – He asked her after a while, to break the silence. – What do you want to do once we get out of here, assuming there is an exit?-
- I want to get a dog!-
- A dog?-
- Yes... remember? I told you my parents never wanted me to have one, but I love them, so I decided. I want one no matter what.
And then I want to travel, maybe with it specifically. This trip outside the Vatican has made me realize that I still have so much to see...-
- Admirable.
Well, maybe you'll be able to find your place in the world, finally...-
- Do you want to come with me?-
- ... I don't know.-
- You said you would.-
- I've never been interested in traveling the world. I'd rather stop somewhere... I've been running back and forth for too long.
A place in the countryside, watching the sunset sitting outside, sometimes accompanying it with a cigarette.-
- Mh... then I'll just take the dog.-
- Don't clip your wings, little birdie. Not for me. I will wait for you.-
- I'm afraid that if I leave you alone, once I come back you won't be there.-
- Don't talk nonsense.-

Sometimes he forgot how smart that nun was. Yes, he would have let her leave and then killed himself. But he would have done it for the good of both of them.
To free himself from the burden of all his mistakes and to free her from his toxic presence. Wanting to save her also consisted of that.
And, of course, she had it all figured out. Stupid brain that worked all too well (only when it wanted to).

That damn bunker was all the same, all boring, that pure white and the cold lights gave Pav a headache, he felt like he was locked up in an asylum room -or maybe he really was-, the aseptic aspect of it all made the atmosphere even heavier. That kind of environment had never appealed to him; weird but true, he preferred unspoiled nature, it reminded him of home, the village where he had grown up and the woods behind the house, all the times he had gotten lost there and his older sister finding him in tears at night on a branch he was unable to climb down from. And her warm hand holding him and bringing him back home, not before hugging and reassuring him. He missed his sister Vanya, she was the one he was closest to, his second mother. That dreadful night she had been the one to hide him inside one of the cupboard doors so that the soldiers wouldn't find him. He had watched with his own eyes, from a crack, as they raped her to death, exploiting every orifice of her body and, when that wasn't enough, creating new ones.
His train of thought came to a halt when, having passed through a doorway, they found themselves on a bridge. Actually, it wasn't a bridge at all, but rather a giant-sized tube that connected to another door in front of them. Large cables branched out from what looked like a bottomless pit, a nightmare for those suffering from vertigo.
He went first, took a step, and despite the tube's well wide surface area, the fact that it was so smooth didn't help to feel safe. He turned around, held out his hand to Maddalena, and together they managed to get over the obstacle with ease.

- They should fire the architect who designed this place.- She complained, making him laugh.
- Maybe that's why the door closes automatically when someone enters it. So as not to tell about the shit.-

The second part of the bunker wasn't much different from the other. They wandered around a bit, heard the strange cry of a crow, and changed direction. They met another soldier, who repeated the exact words of the one found earlier; the blue-eyed woman, Logic, blah, blah, blah...
He was beginning to believe that whoever had come to Prehevil along with Kaiser had been brainwashed of some kind, or even mutated. He couldn't see their faces, but the élite were all gigantic, imposing, real silent closets. When he was in the army, they had the shape of normal people. And they talked.
Following the direction pointed out by the soldier -how kind...- they crossed another "bridge" built with a huge pipe, which led them to what they hoped was the heart of the structure, or its end. It didn't really matter, as long as they found the piss chancellor there.
They walked until they came to a portcullis, which rose in autonomy. Behind it turned out there was a... and now what the fuck was that?
It looked like a huge ball of meat with a wide mouth and teeth the size of an adult, with four long arms and as many hands. Pav noticed that the "body" of the thing was made up of living people fused together, one could clearly distinguish dozens of agonized faces disappearing under the shell positioned on top of the creature. Instead of eyes, it had the cannon of a tank, embedded in flesh like the diamond on a ring.
Sitting on it, legs crossed, was what from the silhouette looked like a woman covered entirely in black latex; on her head were two horns resembling rabbit ears, and the only truly visible part of her body was her mouth. She was fiddling with a whip.
What, exactly, was Bremen doing?
He knew that Kaiser had an obsession with the occult, and he also knew about the stories circulating about him, but until a few days earlier to him they had seemed, indeed, just stories. Tales inflated for the pure purpose of putting fear into the masses.
Yet he had seen with his own eyes the bullet go through his skull and have no effect... and now... whatever abomination that mass of people was, almost an orgy gone wrong. It had reminded him a little of the half-human half-horse found in the forest, perhaps another product of the army. After all, it was protecting the bunker.
The woman jumped off the cannon and, moving her hips sensually, walked against them, toying with her whip.

- Uff! It's late, darlings. You could have taken less time... – She approached him, watching him (with what eyes...?) from the bottom up. Then she looked at Maddalena. – She can go ahead, the emperor is anxiously waiting for her. While you... – She turned to him again, brushing his chest with her finger. – You can join the platoon.-
Pav pushed her away roughly, almost knocking her over.
- Fuck you and the platoon. I don't have time for this shit.- He grabbed Maddalena by the wrist and started to walk away, when he heard the whip slam on the ground.
- Kaiser just wants her. And I want you.-

At that moment, the woman seemed really angry. The monster seemed to become agitated as well and began to move.
Maddalena stood between the two of them, her arms wide.

- I—I'm sorry, but without Pavel I don't go on. Fight me first.-
- Fool. You must get to the bottom of the tunnel intact.-
- Then let us go! If you don't... – She turned her sword over in her hand, pointing the blade at her stomach. – Kaiser will not find me intact.-

Taking advantage of the moment of stalemate, Pav grabbed her arm again and passed the cluster of bodies as well, running into the darkness.

- Are you crazy?!-
- It worked!-
- What if that one wasn't interested in following orders?-
- With ifs and buts you don't go anywhere, Pavel.-
- Damn it, Maddalena, have some spirit of self-preservation once in a while—-
- What is this place...?-
- Mh?-

He finally decided to look up. They were no longer shrouded in darkness, their surroundings had changed completely. The floor was gray and blue checkered, and all around them were placed gigantic tables at which equally large people were sitting. All of them were humanoid, but some of them had mutated. The one that caught his attention was a completely skinned man.
Maddalena looked around, wandering.

- We've been here before... was this part of the bunker?

"Before"...?
Heck, she was right! That place had been part of the dream he'd had on the train ride, he'd reached it after beating up that naked guy who wanted to force him to work. What was this supposed to mean? That they would now reach the tower again? But what would be the point? Kaiser was the one they were hunting. Had they taken a wrong turn? Or had that bastard dressed as a jester thwarted their plans?

- This place... I feel some presences...- She said, continuing to wander around the tables.
- What do you mean?-
- I can't explain it... it's kind of like feeling the presence of Alll-mer when I pray or summon the blood sword... but much more faint, like it's dormant or running out.
These seem... go—- She couldn't finish the sentence that she fell to her knees, screaming and holding her head.
- Hey—!-

But, soon after, the same thing hit him, sending electric shocks through his brain so strong that he collapsed. It was as if they were opening his head by constantly stabbing his skull with a poorly sharp knife.
That pain so intense ended suddenly, exactly as it had come, and he found himself at Maddalena's side, again in the midst of darkness. A tiny room, the black-and-white checkered floor, a small table, a lamp, an armchair... and Kaiser on top of it.
Wrapped in his usual yellow sheet, barefoot, hands on his stomach and a snake wrapped around his neck. His face hidden by the hood, white hair on his chest.
Pav felt his blood boil and rise to his brain. He was facing him again, but this time he wasn't going to be caught off guard. He was going to snap the bastard's neck at the cost of his whole life. He had to destroy him before he could do it with other innocent lives.
Time seemed to stand still. All three of them exchanged silent glances until, he, the piss chancellor himself, bowed his head and from under his hood came a laugh he failed to contain, almost sorrowful in tone.
His tantrum was weird, at times embarrassing to witness.

- A dear ally of mine once read a book outloud to me, beneath a tree, near a cliff... afterwards, I stood and looked down at the river below. And I hatched a plan that had led me here now.
Seeing you two... for a brief moment, I just imagined myself underneath that tree again with her.
As if I had been trapped in a loop, that all this time had only served to repeat itself all over again. – What the fuck was that sentimentality now? – What's your name, submissive soul?-
- Why are you so interested in her? – Pav stretched his arm out in front of Maddalena, as if to shield her. – Leave her alone. The talk is between you and me.-
Kaiser raised his head, but not enough to show his face. He seemed to observe his regrown limb.
- Pavel... using an innocent for your own purposes. And then you come and talk to me about selfishness. All for a miserable, meaningless revenge. A waste of time.-
- DON'T CALL ME BY PAVEL'S NAME! PAVEL IS DEAD!-
- Inside you have a fire. A fire that I myself had, long ago. But, even the greatest of fires, sooner or later ends up extinguished, after devouring, suffocating and incinerating everything around it.
Perhaps, we are more kindred than you could ever admit, Lieutenant Yudin. It is a pity that you are part of my army as an enemy and not as an ally.-

Pav clutched the hilt of the sword in his hand with such force that he felt the muscles in his arm contract. Allies... allies... never, not in a million years, would he have joined the Bremen army under different circumstances. Never. Never. Never.

- You used this woman for your own purposes, you brought her here knowing that nothing would happen to her because I wanted her here before me. You left her alive just so you could use her as a mere object, the key to a door, to an opportunity.
What are you going to do, after our duel, kill her? There is no way out from here, you got into a death trap of your own free will because you were too naive when I had given you the chance to challenge me.

He was sick and tired of all the stupid talk, bullshit designed only to waste his time, to try to confuse him and induce him to believe it and kneel down and maybe even suck his cock—
He had already started to raise the blade, but Maddalena wrapped her fingers around his wrist, restraining him. For some reason, he listened to her for once.

- Kaiser... my name is Maria Maddalena.-
- Ironic. An all too fitting name for someone with your faith.-
- It's not the name I was born with. I buried my real name and chose a new one.-
- ... We also seem to have something in common.-
- Why did you reveal to me how to enter the bunker?-
- ... Perhaps an act of stupidity.
For a moment I saw again a familiar soul through your gaze. But now... I realize that I was wrong. You are not her. Despite that sword in your hands, you are trembling. You are afraid. She would have had none. – Kaiser stood up. – I made a mistake, and for such I must pay. Logic's heartbeat is still frail; I cannot afford to be wrong again. – He raised his blade, pointing it at them. – I will kill you before I can even compare you again. En garde.-

It was a blink of an eye. Kaiser moved off on the attack with the intention of striking at Maddalena herself, but Pav got in the way and parried the slash by placing his blade horizontally in front of him. There was a screech and the piss chancellor backed away a few steps, only to return to the offensive again.
That man had superhuman strength, he had already demonstrated it when he had cut his arm neatly off, but Pav was undaunted. They dueled like knights in an arena, every single movement of hands and arms weighted to match him in power and reduce the waste of energy to the bone.
Pav wasn't fighting for his own life, but for the lives of all those who had lost it and were destined to lose it in the future to come, under his tyrannical rule of blood and fire. Perhaps he really was the martyr whose title Maddalena had so lightly attached to him.
Behind Kaiser's back formed a floating golden object, shaped like a treble clef. It was very fast and seemed sentient, flying around Maddalena and trying to hit her with small bursts of light, while she waved her sword-crucifix in the air as if to swat a fly that was bothering her. The situation would have been almost comical if one measly mistake on her -or his- part couldn't have led them to death.
The piss chancellor attempted the offensive again with a slash aimed right at his legs. Pav recoiled at the last second and the blade only nicked his pants and scratched his thighs, but the act caused him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. His opponent took the opportunity to attack again, but a black shadow parried between them, blocking the blow and saving him.
Scarlet drops dyed the checkered floor red. He opened his eyes wide.
Maddalena had stopped the blade with her left hand. She clutched it and blood trickled from her palm to her arm until it soaked the sleeve of her dress. She gritted her teeth and was clearly in pain, but she remained in that position, not at all willing to give him the upper hand.

- That golden bug was useless, Kaiser. Remember that there are two of us facing you in this battle. I am not... going... to stop...

He remained silent and Maddalena delivered a kick to his stomach, which was only able to move him just enough to put some distance between them and separate her hand from the blade.
The dripping blood then slowly clumped into the shape of that eerie blood sword. Seeing her with two swords in her hand was almost funny; she looked like a character from a science fiction comic book.
Kaiser didn't wait any longer and tried to go on the attack with a slash, parried by her by crossing the two blades in a cross. The blow was so strong, however, that it hurled her to the ground, causing her to roll. At that point, Pav, despite the burning from the cut on his thighs, sprang to his feet and blocked him from advancing against her and wounding her.
Their duel began again, the clang of clashing metal echoing in the dimly lit room. It was a difficult battle, the most arduous of Pav's life, Pavel's, he had imagined for so many years how that moment would have been, but in none of his fantasies had he thought that with him would be a nun capable of conjuring weapons from her own blood and that the whole thing would end in swordplay, as in the Middle Ages. He had always wanted to shoot him, and he had, but everything had risked ending in tragedy and, for some reason, he had been given a second chance. Perhaps, faith wasn't so useless after all, and he had been lucky to have Maddalena by his side and her desperation in keeping him alive. That woman was incredible.
With one well-aimed blow, Pav was able to evade Kaiser's defenses and make a deep diagonal wound in his chest, similar to the one he himself had inflicted that nearly killed him. He retreated, but Pav was able to deliver more, until he was blocked again with a blow so violent that he fell backwards.
He expected another attack, but when he lifted his head and looked at him, he saw the snake whispering in his ear and the wounds closing for the most part, leaving only the bloodstains on his robe.
He cast an incredulous look at Maddalena, and she mimicked the word "Sylvian" with her mouth. It made sense. They had to get rid of the snake.
Pav got back up and immediately began again with the offensive, crossing blades with the bastard again. One of his blows wounded him in the right shoulder, but he didn't care; he was left-handed and the important one was his other arm.
At the best opportunity, while the swords were busy with each other, he tried to reach out and snatch the animal off him, but it tried to bite him and he had to retreat. That way they would get nowhere; he needed Maddalena.
They exchanged brief complicit glances, telling each other everything only with their eyes. He had never had such a connection with anyone else, and she had proven, once again, that she possessed a superlative brain. If only her past had not held her back, she could have done great, huge things.
And they put the plan into action.
Pav separated from Kaiser and stepped back, letting Maddalena take over, who in the meantime had given up the sword-crucifix and switched to holding the red one with two hands. They played that way for a while, attacking him together, taking turns and giving an appearance of desperation as, slowly, Pav moved further and further behind Kaiser. He seemed to have the focus on Maddalena; by now he had come to realize that he really didn't give a damn about his revenge... he would have made him regret it. He shouldn't have pretended to be blind to all the evil he had done. "Necessary step for humankind"? Fuck it. He was going to show him the "necessary step for humankind".
He knew that the nun didn't have too much of a chance to withstand his blows, moreover -despite serving to strengthen her weapon- her left hand was badly injured, he could read the suffering in her face, in the drops of sweat on her forehead and her heavy breathing. So he had to hurry.
As she continued to duel, Pav went after him and, at the first opportunity, grabbed the snake, snatched it from his neck and threw it away before the animal could react and bite him. Kaiser stiffened, clearly confused. He tried to turn his head to see what had happened, but by that time he had the sword shoved in his back, the blade going completely through him and out of his abdomen. He spat blood on the floor, tried to get air but was unable to.
The weapon fell from him, the metal on the floor echoed. He raised his hands, trembling, and placed them on Maddalena's cheeks.

- D'arce...

Her response was to stab him as well, driving the blade out of his back.
His hands slid down and he collapsed, dissolving into a mush that subsequently disappeared without a trace. Everything about him disappeared, from the robe to the snake... even the weapon vanished, leaving the nun and the -former- soldier facing each other, looking into each other's eyes.
Pav exhaled a deep breath he didn't realize he had held, his heart pounding. He slowly stepped back until he reached the chair where Kaiser was sitting and sat down there himself, bowing his head and putting his hands in his hair.

- ...
Is it... is it really over? He's dead... Kaiser is dead... – He laughed, but a sob ruined his laughter. – Finally. I waited for so long... mom, dad, did you see? I didn't waste my life.
The bastard is dead! The chancellor of piss is dead! – He wiped his eyes and pulled up with his nose, then raised his head and smiled, sighing again. –
It's as if a weight has been lifted from my chest. Now I really can kill myself in peace.-
- Pavel... so you really want to do it...-
Pav looked at her. She was standing, trembling, her eyes on her shoes. Her blonde hair sticking to her face from sweat.
- What's the alternative, little birdie? There's no exit from this place.-
- I know... but... just the thought that you might commit suicide makes me sick.-
- Sorry. – ... – And you? Are you going to see this "Logic"?-
Maddalena shook her head.
- I don't care about Logic. I don't care about Kaiser. I don't care about anything anymore. Because I no longer have anything.- She took off his hat that she still had on and dropped it on the floor. She didn't look like a nun now, just a woman in a tattered short dress, a bloody military jacket missing a sleeve and torn stockings.
- ... So what are you going to do?-
- I know it may sound selfish... to run away from my responsibilities... but I would like you to kill me. I wouldn't have the courage to do it alone and... I don't want to see you dead.-
- Don't worry. I will.-

And he didn't want to see her dead. But he answered her casually, the last order he would carry out. He had undertaken that journey to protect the innocent from Kaiser and that was also part of his task. Or at least that was what he wanted to convince himself of.
His heart was tight in his chest.

- Come to me, little birdie.

And the little birdie obeyed, pawing at him. When she was close enough, he took her by the hips and put her on his lap, and she came down without resistance, her back against the armrest of the chair. He put his hand on her thigh, stroking her soft skin.
From so close she was beautiful, they hadn't been that close since she had comforted him in the bar the first night... but now he really had time to admire her. She looked like an angel, despite the fact that they had both been in filth for three days, despite the stench of blood and sweat, despite her cracked lips and greasy, tousled hair. How she could be so beautiful all the time was a mystery. Maybe a gift, maybe a plague.

- You know, little birdie, now that we're alone... how about a happy ending?-
- Depraved...!- She suddenly got up from his legs, but he grabbed her by the wrist.
- Wait! Just kidding— I know these things are traumatic for you. Stay here... please, Maddalena.-

She gave him a glare, but obeyed. Pav rummaged in a pocket of his old uniform she was wearing and pulled out a cigarette, the one Daan had given him the night before, and lit it. He inhaled some smoke and threw it out, then offered it to her.

- I can't...-
- Come on, no one is going to punish you for sharing a cigarette with a soldier.-

She looked at him hesitantly, her big blue eyes searching for approval, a veiled terror of making a mistake and coming to serious consequences. Almost trembling, she raised her hand and took the lit cigarette between her thumb and forefinger, later bringing it to her lips and inhaling.
... Only to start coughing violently from inhaling too much smoke. Pav couldn't help but laugh and rubbed her back in the process.

- Woah, easy, not like that! Slower, you don't have to inhale the whole cigarette at once. You have to enjoy it.

Maddalena even had glazed eyes, a hilarious sight. After recovering, she tried her luck again, this time taking a shorter puff. She held the smoke in her lungs for a while and then threw it out, finally giving it back to him.
Pav took a puff, passed it back to her, and so they continued until only the butt was left, which he threw to the ground and stomped with his boot.

- Oh, we had an indirect kiss! You left your saliva on the filter, I did too, and we put it in our mouths...-
- Are you reducing the act of kissing to a mere exchange of saliva...? Superficial.-
- How about, then, showing me what a kiss means to you?- He smiled at her, bringing his face closer to hers just to tease and embarrass her.
Maddalena, red in the face, put her hand on his cheek and turned his head.
- Good move, Pavel... you know I have a vow.
... I can't break it. I couldn't even be sitting here, on your legs, without the veil.-
- You can't this, you can't the other... can you explain to me where would be the freedom you would have achieved thanks to your dear Alll-mer? – She looked at him, in silence. She was biting her lip. He wanted to be the one to do it. – You, little birdie, Maria Maddalena, what do you want? Do you want to be on my lap? Do you want this kiss? For once, the last time, make a decision because you yourself want it, not because imposed by others.-
- I am scared.-
- Scared of what?-
- Of making a mistake. That making an error could lead to very serious consequences.-
- A kiss in the middle of a weird dead-end dimension, with a god beyond the door, never led to "very serious consequences", as you insist on calling them. You are creating and subsequently magnifying a nonexistent problem.-
- When I was a child, the slightest mistake would cause me to end up bedridden due to too many beatings. I think the only reason I am not completely disfigured now is because that way my parents couldn't have given me away to anyone. They, everyone around me, had recognized my beauty and had fought to preserve it and turn it into a bargaining chip. Did they ever beat you with a wet newspaper, with a pillow pressed against your face? Those don't leave permanent marks.-
- ... – Pav found himself clutching the fabric of her skirt in his fist, his eyes resting on the scars marring her knees. – The more you tell me about them, the more they disgust me. But that is why you must begin to disobey, to show that in spite of everything, you have survived. I ask you again: do you want this kiss?-
- I... – She took his face with her hands, resting her forehead against his. – I don't feel like it... sorry if I'm weak... – Then, she came down with her head, leaning against his cheek and whispering in his ear. – would you do it, when I'm dead?-
- ... Of course, little birdie. Anything you want.-
- Thank you, Pavel.-

She parted from him, flashing him one of her very rare smiles.
Pav cursed himself for the umpteenth time, because he had not forced her to stay out of the tunnel. He didn't want to kill her. For the first time in his life, he was afraid. Afraid of taking someone's life. Of taking it from her. A semi-stranger who in the span of three days had made him feel emotions he thought were dead along with his entire family tree almost three decades earlier. He used to feel no remorse in killing another human being, over the years he had learned to bury everything behind the mask of the bastard Bremen soldier so as not to go mad. But that mask had now fallen from him the very moment he had met those innocent blue eyes for the first time. On that train that now seemed thousands of miles away. And in a way it was.
Pavel Yudin was not a Bremen bastard, he was just a bastard, because he had dragged the person he had sworn to protect with his life into a situation where the only way out would have been death. And rightfully so, once again, the shoes of the grim reaper would have been worn by himself. He deserved it. But he would have never let her commit the sin of suicide; he would have preferred to commit yet another crime. After all, he had two bullets with him. Fate had willed it.

- Pavel... how do you feel?-
- Why do you ask?-
- Because Kaiser died. It was your dream.-
- ... At first, a rush of adrenaline. Maybe even happiness. Now, satisfaction. I'm just tired. I haven't rested for more than twentyfive years.-
- I don't think I ever asked you... how old are you?-
- It would have been thirtyeight in a few months.-
- You look younger...-
- Is this a compliment?-
- That's up to you.-
- How old are you...?-
- Twentyone.-
- You would have had your whole life ahead of you. And instead look at you, in the arms of someone seventeen years older whose only thought is to take off the few clothes you have left. A few steps from death.-
- It doesn't matter, I've already told you. Besides... I like sitting on your lap. You... you transmit calmness.-

He wanted to tell her that she would have liked even more to straddle him, but he preferred not to. He simply pulled her close to him in a long embrace. They were done talking, they had nothing more to say to each other, and he knew it, they both knew it. That's why he had clung to her with all his might, he was trying to waste time. He wanted to enjoy her warmth for a little longer, the smell of her skin, her breath, the beat of her heart. It had only been three days, yet she had stirred something in him. Perhaps he had even fallen in love. Unbelievable, Pavel Yudin caring about a woman to the point of falling in love with her... who knows if she felt the same things, or if she denied them because of that stupid vow.

Time passed immemorial, during which he refused to let her go; but, sooner or later, he had to. And the time had come, by then.
They looked into each other's eyes, and she stood up. Pav took his Luger, pulled back the slide and inserted the two bullets in it. Suddenly, that very mechanical action felt like an insurmountable obstacle to him, as if he had never held a firearm before. He was shaking violently and had risked dropping it several times.

- Sorry.-
- For what?-
- For causing you so much problems. This problem.-
- I caused the problem in the first place, little birdie. And now I have to face the consequences.-

The Luger was loaded. He stood up and reached her. He removed the safety and placed the barrel against her left temple. He took a deep breath, managing to stop the shaking of his hand; his heart was about to explode in his chest. Maddalena didn't flinch, she kept looking into his eyes, trying to reassure him with just her gaze and a serene smile on her face. Damn, she had no idea that it was having the opposite effect.
He was a bastard. He was a bastard. He hadn't been able to save her.

- Thank you for getting me out of the cage. I love you, Pavel.-
- Me too, you don't know how much, Maddalena.-

She closed her eyes and there they both knew that the moment had, unfortunately, finally come.
The trigger was pulled. It was the most deafening shot he'd ever heard.
The bullet went through her skull killing her on the spot, driving part of her brain out of her right temple along with her blood. Scarlet liquid leaked from her ears, nose, and mouth. Maddalena's body went limp, her knees gave way, and Pav wrapped his right arm around her torso, accompanying her until she lay gently on the floor, kneeling beside her. She had such a peaceful look, free of the tension that characterized her when she slept. He leaned over her, caressed her face and moved her bloody hair so he could see her better, and kissed her. He pressed his lips against hers in a chaste kiss, as she would have wanted. He licked away the blood.
He put her hands in her lap as if she were asleep, took off his jacket and covered her, then stepped back almost staggering, returning to sit in the armchair.
He turned the pistol over in his hands, gritting his teeth. He was unable to hold back his sobs, which soon turned into weeping. He cried, leaning forward like a child, as he had cried when he realized, after hours, that he would have never seen his family again. He had always thought that the one after Kaiser was killed would have been the most beautiful and satisfying moment he had ever experienced, but instead he was there, shirtless, shivering not from the cold but from the spasms in his own body. Maddalena was dead, Daan was dead, everyone was dead, even Kaiser. He was alone, he already knew he would have been, but he didn't know that he would have had the misfortune of finding company in his very last moments, and that such company would have made him feel so much.
...
With his vision blurred by tears, he leaned against the back of the chair, took a deep breath, opened his mouth... and fired his last shot.