Processions
21 April 2595, in Lucatore
People
Factions
Locations
Hours of destiny
Lucatore lies in the valley, bruised by dusk. Two processions, each with a few hundred people, follow the main road from opposite sides. They carry villagers’ tools, torches, and the brittle courage of the desperate.
Thread keeps clear of them, skirting the village wall. Emissary Neva walks with the young Chronicler and invites him to the Cloister.
“You are still young, who knows, there might be a good Anabaptist inside you. I’ve made worse bets in the past.”
Thread declines for now. He has one thing in mind: to find Decoy 5. At the rendezvous point, he finds the sign: the battery has been collected. Decoy 5 will be looking for Thread. Satisfied, Thread climbs the track to the Cloister. A butterfly lands on his hand. The Purgan chakra gleams across its blue and yellow wings.
Maren and Nero Vex proceed to the village. Maren knows she needs medicine before the spores take root. They avoid facing the processions and circle toward the Bleeding Ram. The Spitalian said he was staying close.
The last sign
“Are you out of your minds? These Flayers are under arrest!”
The Anabaptist procession shouts from the east. On a wooden throne, a boy in his lap, Scirocco preaches. Behind him, a group of Flayers drag a half-naked, bound woman: Dana.
“Look here, brothers and sisters! This wretched woman is possessed by the Demiurge. She has suckled her baby with blood instead of divine milk!”
They start beating her. The Anabaptist procession pleads for them to stop. She needs only to be baptised with water.
“Here, bring the barrel.”
The Flayers continue their work on Dana.
Maren finds a way up a house beside the Flayers’ procession while Nero lays a rope before the unaware mob and slips inside, finding himself a torch. The young Apocalyptic shouts and sets fire to a haystack and a crate of wood. The mob shifts uneasily, and then BANG. Scirocco’s head bursts under Maren’s sniper shot.
The procession becomes a disorganised evacuation. People stumble on the rope. Fire spreads. In the confusion, Dana flees towards the Anabaptists.
Madness
The Anabaptists receive Dana with open arms.
“Only the Baptism purifies the sinful body, washes out the worm, cleanses the blood. We, the Anabaptists, rule the water. Ours is the Baptism!”
Once they open the barrel of water, there is pure horror. The barrel is filled with tapeworms. Dana, scared, kicks it towards the crowd: it falls, breaks and splashes. The second procession breaks into a tumult.
Nero and Maren take Dana to safety, but another woman cries in the mob. The remaining Flayers have Verena. One holds a ceremonial stone dagger.
“Almighty God! Ruler over…”
BANG. Maren shoots and cuts off the Flayer’s hand.
“This is God flaying your body, brother! Carry on! He wants it!”
“In Thy name we will rise above the…”
BANG. A second shot punches through the man’s torso. Maren shouts for them to stop, or she will kill them all.
A deafening buzzing sound. It grows darker, and the moon is covered. A swarm descends on Lucatore.
“IN THY BLOOD we will wash the sins from our souls and consecrate the innocent!”
The insects begin to eat everyone alive. Maren knows she can save herself or Verena. She apologises to the girl and catches up with Nero and Dana as they run into Ambrio’s chapel, bitten and bloody.
A mirror of hell
From the top of the trail to the Cloister, Thread sees the swarm descend. The insects are sparse here, not yet a true danger. Far below, Lucatore burns. To the east, the same fire answers it like a mirror.
Continuing the climb, he sees half a body, with its “reflection” half a meter away. The cause of death is clear, but what could cut a man in half like this? Thread has bigger plans and carries on to the Cloister, where he is received. Before sleeping in the chapel, the Chronicler notices the entrance to the tower: a small door behind Neva’s desk, in her chamber.
Before entering Ambrio’s chapel, Maren still sees ants carrying Scirocco’s half-eaten corpse. The body is black, covered in maggots and insects. The ground opens. A dark hole swallows the Flayer.