Heretical Fishing

Book 2: Chapter 27: Names

Barry paused before the wooden facade covering the church's entrance. He turned and gazed toward the western mountains.

The sun rose at his back, peeking its head over his house and warming his body. A gust of wind kicked up, ruffling his hair and lending him a sense of tranquility. The breeze sputtered out, and as he breathed in through his nose, the scents of coffee and fresh-baked pastries made his mouth water.

The door to the church opened, so he looked over his shoulder.

“Morning, Ruby.”

“Good morning, Barry. Did you slee—ooh! Are one of those for me?”

Barry held out the coffee and croissant laden tray.

“Of course—help yourself.”

She slid forward and grabbed one of each.

“Thank you.”

“What did we ever do without this stuff?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. Is Steven still inside?”

She rolled her eyes with a playful smile.

“He is. I swear, that man could sleep the day away.”

“I'll drop him off some breakfast. Did you meet the new arrivals yet?”

She lowered the cup from her lips, letting out another content sigh.

“I didn't meet them yet, but they're up and sounding quite lively this morning.”

“Really? I thought they'd sleep in given they spent weeks traveling...”

Ruby shrugged.

“The door to their room was closed, so I didn't burst in to introduce myself, but they certainly sounded awake.”

She took a bite of croissant, and her shoulders slumped as she let out a quiet mmm. Barry watched her with a growing smile, excited for his own pastry after delivering breakfast to the rest of the congregation. She washed the mouthful down with a sip of coffee.

“Well, I'd better open the shop up. Who knows when that useless husband of mine will be up.”

She grinned, taking the bite out of her words as she held the door open for Barry.

“See you later!”

“Until then,” he said, stepping from the morning sun and into the shadowed interior.

As she closed the door behind him, Barry gazed at the surrounding room. As with the gust outside, the flickering light of the walls' naked flames brought him a sense of calm. He oozed gratitude as he made his way down the stairs and into the earth's depths.

When his feet fell on flat ground, he halted midstep. The fishing club members weren't sleeping in after weeks of travel... was it possible that they'd ascended already? His steps resumed, and he further considered the possibility. It only took a few seconds for Barry to laugh at himself.

It took multiple meals from Fischer for my awakening, he thought. It also takes multiple glasses of sugarcane juice for someone to take steps on the path of ascension—there's no way they've already become cultivators.

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Smiling at his foolishness and distracted by the scents wafting up from his tray, Barry reached their room before he knew it. Muffled conversation and grunts could be heard through the thick door, and Barry opened it with a raised eyebrow.

All the beds had been moved to the back of the room, leaving an empty space of smooth stone. Theo and Peter lay on their stomachs close to the door, their right hands clasped and ready to arm wrestle. Danny and Keith stood just past them, the former's feet firmly planted and the latter bouncing on his heels. Ellis was furthest from Barry; he sat on a bed with his legs crossed, his right hand gripping a pencil and ready to take notes.

Barry grinned at the unfolding scene. He opened his mouth to wish them a good morning.

“Go!” Ellis yelled.

Keith launched across the room and drove a fist into Danny's stomach. The former quartermaster hunched, braced for the impact, then let out a grunt as he flew across the room and slammed into a wall. Theo and Peter's arms bulged, and they clenched their teeth as they fought to force the other's hand down to the stones. All the while, Ellis's eyes darted around the room, his hand a blur as it wrote in his notepad.

Barry almost dropped the tray; he quickly readjusted, catching the assortment of breakfasts before a drop of coffee could spill.

“Oh! Hello, Barry,” Ellis said, still writing.

“Er—good morning... I brought food and coffee...”

Ellis closed his notepad and set it down.

“Let's pause for breakfast, gentlemen.”

Danny got to his feet at the base of the wall and brushed himself off with a smile.

“Nice hit!”

Keith gave him a grin, rubbing his knuckles.

“Not as good as your defense—it feels like punching a boulder.”

“Another tie,” Peter said. He stood, easily helping Theo up.

Barry entered the room, looking over the men before him. He hadn't noticed immediately, but now that he knew what to look for, the signs were obvious. Their bodies were already changing after becoming cultivators. Most distinctive was Ellis, whose thin frame had filled out. His shoulders had lost their hunch, and he came to meet Barry with sure steps.

“Are these the famous Sue's baked goods and coffee? Theo has talked them up quite fervently.”

Barry just nodded.

“Are you alright, mate?” Theo asked with a grin, taking a coffee. “You look like you've just seen a whole gang of cultivators...”

The rest of the fishing club burst into laughter as they grabbed a coffee and pastry, and Barry couldn't help but smile at them.

“When did it happen? I didn't think it'd happen so soon...”

“In the middle of the night,” Ellis answered with crema-colored foam covering the lower half of his mustache. Theo pointed at his lip, and the archivist wiped it away. “We've been testing and documenting ever since.”

“Unreal...” Barry set down the tray and grabbed his own croissant and coffee. We strode to the piled-up beds and sat down. “I planned to help you ascend today... I can't believe a single meal of Fischer's oysters worked.”

With the rest of the men biting down into their pastries, Theo answered.

“Well, we did eat a lot of oysters.”

“Still...” Barry took a sip, his eyes growing unfocused. “I think it means his cooking is getting more efficacious. We'll have to be careful with that.”

Ellis resumed scribbling in his book, never one to miss an opportunity to take notes.

“These are damned delicious together,” Keith said around a mouthful. “Forget our ascensions—I can't believe the peasants here can afford to eat and drink these every day.”

Peter cringed.

“For the love of everything we're doing here, please don't refer to the common-folk as peasants.”

Keith swallowed and washed his pastry down with a swig of coffee.

“Wait, that's a bad term?”

“Quite derogatory,” Ellis confirmed.

“Oh... sorry, Barry.”

“It's fine. Just don't refer to the townsfolk as peasants—they won't take kindly to it.”

“I won't use it anymore.” He sighed. “It's hard to shake my upbringing at times.”

“Tell me about it,” Theo said. “You can be a real prick.”

Keith slapped Theo's shoulder with one hand playfully—it sent him flying into the wall. The room shook and the last dregs of his coffee speckled the stones, the cup having been knocked loose during his unplanned flight.

“Ate's blind folly—are you alright, Theo?” Keith rushed over. “I'm so sorr—”

The sentence was drowned out by Theo's booming laughter as he stared out at the room, upside down and slumped against the floor. Keith helped him up and offered up the rest of his coffee.

“It's fine—I only had a bit left. We'll have to watch our strength, huh?”

Barry nodded.

“It can be an adjustment period.”

As a realization bubbled up within Barry, the smile died on his lips. The men must have sensed his mental shift; their faces sobered.

“What is it?” Theo asked.

“I didn't think to warn you because I thought there was no chance you would awaken so swiftly...” He winced. “Trent gave us some important intel: there's a construct back in the capital that prints out the name you give to the System. I don't suppose you chose names other than your own...?”

The silence that followed could have been cut with a knife.

***

Charles, head servant to the king of Gormona, rubbed his temples as he traversed the upper levels of the castle.

The echo of metal footsteps came from down the hall, and he gazed up, eying the approaching guard as he rounded a corner.

“Guard!” Charles forced his features to impassiveness despite his worries. “Report. Have you found any sign of the missing?”

“N-no, sir!” the guard stuttered.

Charles made to dismiss him, but the guard's wild eyes made him pause.

“What is it? Do you have something else to report?”

“Y-yes, sir.”

Charles’s nostrils flared at the insufficient answer, but he quickly schooled his features once more.

“Well? Out with it.”

The guard, sensing his frustration, snapped a hurried salute.

“Yes, sir! I—I think it's best you see it yourself, sir.”

What has him so shaken? Charles wondered.

“Very well—lead on.”

Two long hallways later, the guard opened a door and gestured within. Light filtered into the room through a lone window, shining down on a smattering of what appeared to be furniture. Charles’s eyes narrowed. He strode in, and as he looked closer at the objects, he immediately recognized what this was: a storage room for inert constructs. As old as the kingdom was, plenty of such relics existed, but he’d never seen so many in one place.

“What did you bring me here for?” he demanded, turning on the guard. “Why have useless relics of the past shaken you so?”

“Uhhh,” another voice came from behind him.

Charles turned on the source; another guard stood up in the center of the mass, his face lit by an odd-colored light. The second guard grimaced.

“They, uh... aren't all useless.”

“Explain.”

The guard pointed down.

“I think you might need to see it for yourself...”

Though Charles suspected he'd find nothing of use, something about the guard's demeanor—and the green-tinted light illuminating him—made curiosity swell within him.

“Why did you two even look in here?” he asked, bending to crawl between gaps in the constructs.

“Well, sir,” the second guard answered, “It's been weeks since the men deserted—”

“Disappeared!” Charles corrected, his tone brooking no discourse. “We know not what happened to them.”

“Er—right. Sorry, sir. It's been weeks since they, uh, disappeared, and we've found no sign of them, so when we found this room of relics, we decided to check if they were hiding inside.”

Charles caught sight of the guard's armored legs and he crawled toward them. He shuffled up beside the man, fighting for space.

“Sorry, sir. Bit of a tight fit.”

Charles clenched his jaw.

“Whatever you wanted to show me had better be...” he trailed off as he stood to his full height. He stared at the source of the soft light, his jaw dropping.

“Is this...?”

“I believe it may be, sir,” the guard answered.

***

As the silence stretched, Barry's pulse quickened. He glanced between the freshly awakened men, but at what he saw on their faces, his brow furrowed. Were they... smiling?

Theo started laughing first, and the rest of them quickly followed. Ellis's chuckle was deep and rich, a stark contrast to his raspy laughter the day before.

“Worry not, Barry,” the archivist said. “We considered that possibility and named ourselves accordingly.”

“You considered that possibility, you mean,” Theo corrected, wiping a tear from his eye.

“We all contributed to the names.” Ellis shrugged, giving a wicked grin. “It was quite fun, really.”

“What did you name yourselves...?”

They all glanced at each other, amusement clear in their eyes. Ellis bowed at the waist, giving a flourish with his hand.

“Lizard Wizard greets you.”

“Glare Bear,” the burly Danny said, his eyes anything but glaring.

Theo held his hand out.

“Pleasure to officially meet you, Barry. I'm Bog Dog.”

Barry's face grew more and more confused as he shook the offered hand, but the onslaught continued.

“Hurtle the Turtle,” Keith said. He made his upper lip protrude in the approximation of a turtle's v-shaped mouth.

Peter barked a laugh. Inspired by his friend’s antics, he dropped to all fours, looking up at Barry with vacant eyes as he chewed pretend cud.

“Boat Goat.”

He tried to bleat, but it turned into a choked laugh.

Barry dropped his head into his hands as the rest of the fishermen joined in, giggling like children.

“Gods above—you're all definitely Fischer's friends.”