Heretical Fishing

Chapter 91: Revelation

As I walked through the streets of Tropica, a soft breeze blew between the buildings.

My shirt ruffled against my skin, and doubt returned for what must have been the tenth time since leaving home. As with every other time, I shoved them aside; it was time to be honest with myself and have a little faith in those around me.

As soon as Maria left to help her mother cook, I’d set off, spurred on by impulse. My stomach fluttered at the thought of the meeting to come, but I embraced the anxiety—accepted it.

The sun was just starting to climb over the rooftops, and its warmth was a blessed distraction; I leaned into the rays beaming down on me.

When I arrived at the building, I held one hand up to knock on the door and paused, a hint of nervousness making my hand shake.

I closed my eyes and firmed my resolve; my knuckles rapped three times, announcing my presence.

The door swung open, and Joel, the leader of the Cult of Carcinization, appeared before me.

“Good—oh! Good morning, Fischer!”

“G’day, Joel. How’s it going?”

“I’m doing great! How are you?”

“Always a good day here in Tropica, mate.”

He threw the door wider, smiling at me.

“I couldn’t agree more. Did you want to come in? Jess has just gone to get some coffee and breakfast for us, but we’ll be doing a meditation when she gets back.”

“I’d love to, but today is gonna be a bit busy for me. I actually came to show you something.”

“Oh?” His eyebrows rose. “What did you want to show me?”

“Can you come down to the beach for a bit? It’s probably easier to show you than explain.”

“Will it take long? I don’t want to worry Jess if she finds me gone...”

I shook my head.

“Won’t take long at all. I just wanted to introduce you to someone.”

His eyebrows rose, then furrowed.

“Someone?”

“Yeah, mate—you’ll just have to trust me on this one. You won’t regret it.”

***

Soft waves were crashing on the shore when we arrived. Foam and bubbles pushing up onto the shore before slowly receding back, and as I watched the ocean’s movement, I felt another weight lift from my shoulders.

“Uh, Fischer…?”

“Yes, Joel?”

“There’s no one here.”

“Sure there is! Right about....” I pointed out at the waves, feeling my target. “There.”

Joel squinted, holding his hand up to block the sun’s light.

“I don’t see...”

Joel trailed off as Sergeant Snips, in all her spiked, eyepatch-wearing glory, walked from the surf.

She ambled up the sand, taking slow and deliberate steps—just as I’d instructed her.

Joel’s look of boredom and annoyance was swiftly replaced by shock, confusion, perhaps a touch of denial, and finally, awe.

“This,” I said, gesturing at the mighty Snips, “is who I wanted to introduce you to.”

Joel dropped to his knees on the sand as he stared at the approaching crab.

He let out a whimper and tears welled in his eyes.

“Carcinus’ blessed claw...”

He prostrated himself before the powerful crustacean, pressing his forehead into the sand.

“You can get up, mate. She won’t hurt you.”

Joel’s tear-streaked face turned toward me.

“I can get up? Fischer, this is an ascendant creature—no, an ascendant crab,

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the most noble and respectable of all beasts. It would be blasphemy to not show deference to such a deity. Bow with me. Show it deference—quickly.”

Joel’s words were breathy, and I started to worry that meeting Snips might be too much for him.

I bent to rub the Sergeant on her hard carapace to show him she was friendly.

Her eye half-closed in delight, and she leaned into my scritches.

“She’s certainly deserving of respect, but I wouldn’t call Sergeant Snips a deity.”

“She? S-Seargent Snips?” He shot to his feet, his eyes going wild. “You dare presume to name such a magnificent being something so childish? You dare presume its gender?”

“Whoa—easy, Joel. No need to get in a tizzy.“

“A tizzy?” He poked me in the chest with a finger. “I could see you punished for such blatant disrespect of my faith, you—”

His words cut off as a blur of orange shot past me.

***

Joel’s words died in his throat as something cold, hard, and wet clamped itself around his neck.

He gulped and slowly looked down; the ascendant crab’s claw was firmly pressed to either side of his neck.

Hadn’t it just been on the other side of Fisher? He thought. I didn’t even see it move, how—

“Sergeant Snips!” Fisher admonished. “That’s taking things too far. You put that claw away right now, missy!”

The deity released her hold on Joel and scuttled back to Fischer, blowing a stream of bubbles from her mouth.

“You need to apologize to Joel, Snips. Not me.”

The crab turned toward Joel, dipped her head, and blew more bubbles.

Fischer nodded.

“She said she’s sorry.”

Joel opened his mouth, but no words came out, and he stared slack-jawed at the two before him.

Fisher squatted down so he was eye to eye-stalk with the crab, then rubbed the top of her head.

“I know you meant well, Snips, but so did our friend here. He just thinks you’re magnificent, is all. He worships crabs, and was a little overwhelmed at meeting you.”

Sergeant Snips hissed and blew more bubbles; Joel didn’t understand what she said, but apparently Fischer did.

“There’s a good girl.” Fischer patted her head. “Now run along, but feel free to show yourself to Joel from now on, okay? I’m sure he and his friends would love to give you treats and attention.”

***

I smiled as I watched Sergeant Snips scuttle back to the depths.

The meeting had gone a little off the rails, but all things considered, it could have gone worse.

“That… I don’t… it’s a she?” Joel asked, his voice full of exasperation.

“Yeah, mate.

As Snips disappeared from sight, Joel slowly spun toward me.

“I’m sorry, Fischer. I didn’t mean to—”

I laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

“It’s fine, mate. I thought that would be a lot for you. Do you regret coming down to meet her?”

He shook his head vehemently.

“No. Thank you for this, Fischer. I just... wow.”

I nodded, giving him time to think.

“You can speak to her?” he asked. “You truly understand what she was saying?”

“Yeah, I wasn’t taking the piss.”

“Piss?” Joel asked. “What is the piss?”

“Sorry. It’s just a figure of speech. Where I come from, piss is another word for, er… urine.”

“Oh, oka—wait, what?” He frowned, blinking tears from his eyes. “Why would you take the urine? Whose urine?”

I laughed and waved my hand to dismiss the questions.

“Forget it. All I mean is that I’m not messing with you—Snips and I can understand each other.”

“This…” Joel trailed off, rubbing his chin. “This is a lot to consider…”

We stood there in silence for some time, Joel considering the vast implications of his newfound knowledge, while I considered how nice the wind and sun felt on my skin.

“I must get back to the cult with this knowledge. I assume you know I cannot keep this secret from them, considering our beliefs?”

I nodded.

“I do.”

***

“Thank you, Fischer,” Joel said, his head swimming. “This was a truly wonderful revelation.”

He turned to leave, but the moment his back was turned, a cold, hard, immovable claw clamped down on his shoulder.

He slowly turned, not wanting to offend the deity, but the crab, Sergeant Snips, was nowhere to be seen. It was Fisher’s hand that had grabbed his shoulder, and Joel saw an approximation of the deity’s fierce glare mirrored in Fisher’s severe eyes.

“I introduced you to Snips knowing that you’d tell the other members of your cult, but if anyone else were to find out, it would put her in danger. That would be a betrayal of every ideal and oath you hold dear, yeah?”

Joel’s mouth went dry.

“O-of course, Fischer. I would never...”

“Good. I’m not a violent bloke, but if anything untoward were to happen to Sergeant Snips… I’m not sure I could remain a pacifist. You get that, right?”

Joel nodded, his throat scratchy as he swallowed.

“I—I understand.”

“Good!”

Fisher laughed, and the fierce intensity melted away in the blink of an eye.

“Get going, then—I don’t want to keep you from Jess any longer. I’ll see ya later.”

Joel nodded and gave Fischer a forced smile, trying to keep his steps calm and measured as he strode away.

As soon as his feet left the sand, he started running.

His thoughts were a jumbled mess as he tore through the streets of Tropica, and he burst through the Cult of Carcinization’s door before slamming it behind him.

“There you are, Joel. Where did you get off to? I was worried your croissant would get cold.”

Jess sat at a table, and she looked up from her breakfast, her face growing concerned.

“Joel...? What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a cultivator.”

“I... I might have...”

“What?” Jess shot to her feet. “Where?”

Joel leaned against the door, sliding down it to sit on the floor.

“Fischer...”

“Fischer saw a cultivator?”

“No...”

“You’re not making sense, Joel. Here.”

She passed him a coffee, and he sipped it, the golden liquid wetting his dry throat.

Then, without skipping a single detail, he recounted his tale.

Jess listened intently, her face going through the same range of emotions that Joel had.

As his story wound on, and he got to Fischer’s warning, Jess’s face went pale.

“Your shoulder—take off your robe.”

Joel slid it down, and right where Fischer had grasped him, a red mark remained, outlining the cultivator’s hand.

Jess let out a gasp and lowered herself to the floor beside him.

“So, Fisher is a cultivator…”

Her eyebrows knitted as she chewed her lip.

“... and he’s strong enough to control awakened beasts? I thought that was only spoken of in legends…”

“I guess so…”

“Where does that leave us? A creature has awakened in our lifetime, one with the superior form of a crab, but she’s subservient to a human…”

Jess continued chewing her lip, and Joel gazed at her with distant eyes, his thoughts similarly muddied.

“Hang on a second,” she said, her posture stiffening. “What if we’ve read the situation wrong?”

“Wrong? How?”

“What if she’s the mastermind behind the entire meeting…?”

“That… that has to be it!” Joel leaped at the possibility, unwilling to admit the deity they’d long waited for could be subservient to a mere human. “But… what’s the purpose behind her subterfuge?”

“What if she’s in danger…?”

They both stared at each other for a long moment, and Jess was the first to lose her composure. A smile crept onto her face, made all the more hilarious by her trying to hide it behind pressed-together lips and an unconvincing smile.

Joel descended into laughter, and Jess joined him. Their joy rang out until their breaths were labored, and Joel’s ribs hurt.

“Ah, I needed that, Jess. Thank you,” he said, wiping an eye. “As if a human could be more powerful than an ascendent crab. Seriously, though—why would she try to deceive us…?”

“You don’t think she could have been trying to contact us, do you?”

Joel’s eyebrows shot up.

“What if she heard our prayers? Could our meditations have been what leant her the strength to ascend?”

Their energy was feeding off each other’s, and Jess’s eyes went manic.

“What else could it be? We move here, and suddenly a crab awakens? We have to be the source. That doesn’t answer why she’s pretending to serve Fischer, though…”

“Okay, alright, don’t freak out, Joel,” he said to himself. “You need to work this out. Think, Joel—think! What is her purpose in pretending to be Fischer’s subordinate?”

He rubbed his temples, focusing his attention there to stimulate thought.

Then, it hit him.

“By Carcinus’ calamitous carapace! I’ve worked it out, Jess!”

“What, Joel?” She shot to her feet. “You worked what out?”

“It’s a test! Don’t you see?” He stood, gripping her shoulders. “She’s trialing us, seeing if we have the requisite intellect to properly serve!”

“Holy frack!” Jess shot to her feet. “We have to contact her as soon as possible to let her know!”

“Holy what?”

Jess made a dismissive gesture.

“It’s just something I heard in town—I don’t know what it means, but it’s sure catchy—wait, that’s not important right now!We need to go find the crab!”

“No—we have to play it cool, Jess. You’re thinking as a human—if we make a move too soon, we might appear to be hasty. We need to show her we take the proper time to think things through.”

“Ugh. Stupid, Jess. Stupid, stupid, stupid!” She punctuated each ‘stupid’ with a slap to her forehead.

Joel gave her a kind smile.

“It’s not your fault. We are of an incomplete form—it’s only natural that we’d be inferior to a mighty crab.”

She took a deep, centering breath, then sighed it out.

“You’re right—I’m sorry for the outburst. It’s just so frustrating inhabiting this fleshy body sometimes…”

“I know what you mean. Mere existence is a constant reminder of our inferiority, but now that we have a deity to serve, we can at least be of use to one of superior form.”

“Hang on a second…” Jess’s brows creased in concentration, then she looked up at him with growing wonder. “If we have a deity to serve, does that mean…?”

“... we’re a church?” Joel finished with a manic grin. “That’s right, Jess.”

He stuck out his chest, not hiding his pride.

“From today, we are henceforth known as the Church of Carcinization, and we’ll be the first congregation in millennia to raise a god into the pantheon.”