Torturous Faith

Heathen Worship of the Self-Consuming Serpent
Boing. Boing. Boing.

The repetitive sound of a spring-like object repeatedly being triggered by a moderately heavy object resounded through the chamber. Only accompanied by the sound of flowing water and occasionally, the echo of droplets of water descending from the roof only to be obliterated upon impact with the ground, the noise dominated the hollow chamber with minimal resistance. The only items which inhibited the expansion of the sound waves, were the narrow, but tall onbashira, pillars of faith, which had been erected in honor of some deity... Some deity?

Boing. Boing. Boing.

What kind of deity would seek refuge in this kind of place? Well, to be specific, the deity which preferred this location was not much of a deity at all. Although, the deity herself claimed to be an arahitogami, a deity in the form of a human. But everyone knew that it was rubbish; there existed no such thing as deities. The world was godless and everyone knew that. Well, save for the woman who believed herself to be a deity. Maybe it was pantheistic. If divine energy resided everywhere... That was actually something one could believe in. Not too shabby.

Boing. Boing. Boing.

But a human? A god personified as a human being of flesh and blood? Preposterous. Anyone who choose to believe in those foolish allegations did not deserve the existence which their parents had granted them. That being said, those who actually were skeptical enough to question whether deities had existed or not deserved to commemoration. After all, skepticism was a dying concept.

Boing. Boing. Boing.

"Chinghis! Please. Cease jumping on the trampoline. I am attempting to concentrate here. It is not a facile task to delve inwards when there are outside distractions present." A contralto voice emanated from the top of of one of the several pillars erected in the room. Coincidentally, this pillar happened to be the only one covered in sunlight. As a result, it was virtually impossible to distinguish what the person sitting on top of the pillar looked like. Only the outline of the crouched figure was visible to the mortals, the ones below. But the only other individual in the room absolutely did not require sight to see what the figure looked like. For she had seen the woman meditating among divine artifacts far too often. Purple hair, eyes which changed color, pretentious clothing... And a strange wheel attached to her back.

Boing. Boing. Boing.

Yes, Chinghis Kamaro already knew what her supposed "master" looked like. She had analyzed her fearsome exterior at least a dozen times. Some of these times, the servant had just been lost in thought while being scolded by Wilma Vermillion, while other times, she had just stared at the woman while she was busy meditating. More often than not, Wilma had noticed and just sighed in exasperation and stated that she was a very weird child. To be fair, Chinghis actually concurred with this very statement; she was without a sliver of doubt an oddity of a youth. After all, how many people had been raised by a cult? And just how many people had been worshiped as a deity? Not many, the petite lady had concluded. She was one of the very few, actually. That was almost a certainty.

Boing. Boing. Boing.

"Sorry, Wilma-sama. I'm just so boooooored right now~" Speaking in a cheerful voice, the girl's insouciant attitude stood out as a stark contrast to her master's stern statement. The girl was well aware of this fact. In order to survive this hellish service, the petite, ranine girl had figured out that maintaining her morale was key. The key to what? Maintaining her sanity, of course! Some were more prone to losing it, Chinghis had noted, but eventually, all of the occupants of the flying castle would go absolutely insane. More or less, at least. For now, she still felt the clarity of her mind. But other times, she felt a fog... A fog of impure thoughts, of delusion and powerful impulses, taking over her body at inconvenient times. These translucent arms which grabbed hold of her body and whispered into her ears: "Kill her. Kill your master". Her fingers would itch for a dagger; her soul lust for blood. She could raise the knife over the big-tittied, self-righteous cow lying before her, prepared to strike, only to become aware of the madness which had temporarily grabbed a hold of her mind.

Boing. Boing.

That was still relatively sane in comparison to some of the other members. Not to mention the blue pixie's lackeys... They really freaked the ranine girl out. Sure, Flynn was eccentric in his grumbling, rambling manner, but he was nothing compared to that poor girl forced into the service of this heinous, ruthless, depraved, self-absorbed fuck-up of a woman; truly a fate worse than death. Alas, she was the only one of the undead slaves who actually had a personality to boast of. Whether Chinghis found her behavior to be less or more unsettling than the ones of Sūmi's other subjects remained unknown even to her. On one hand, she could actually have a conversation and act akin to a human. But on the other hand, she was an oddity; zombies weren't supposed to possess any sense of individuality. Chinghis was almost positive that quite a few other people had the same opinion on the undead woman.

Boing.

The swansong of the spring emanated through the hollow chamber one last time as an act of defiance to the deity's will. For the deity had commanded her subject to cease the activity which had caused her distress, but the subject had promptly ignored her until she finally obeyed. Smirking at the tiny rebellion, Chinghis made one final jumping motion on top of the trampoline and landed near one of the pillars. "Man. Jumping sure makes me hungry". Stretching as she uttered this word, Chinghis cheekily smirked in the direction of the onbashira where the heathen snake was situated. "Master Wilma? Want me to fetch you a rat which you can swallow whole? You've been fasting for quite some time, ya know~" A cheerful and teasing croak emanated from within petite Chinghis. Attempting to provoke her so-called master, Chinghis made her dissatisfaction with Wilma crystal-clear. But Wilma already knew that, Chinghis thought. Her snide remarks and miniature rebellions must have made that apparent at this point. After all, they had been together for quite some time now.

As usual, her snark was met only by an aloof and fatigued sigh, followed by a simple remark. "Hold your tongue, Chinghis. Serpents devour not only rats, but frogs as well." Chinghis could swear that she saw a shade of red flash in the proximity of Wilma. Accompanied by the sight of a slithering, elongated figure coiling itself around the red goddess, the ranine was caught off guard. Caligula?, Chinghis thought. His eyes only shine red when blood has been spi- Suddenly realizing the context of this, Chinghis pointed her hands downwards and created a stream of water underneath her legs through Magic. Propelling herself upwards, she stopped releasing water as she jumped towards the flat top of the column, landing with grace. Staring solemnly at her master's silhouette, which was now closer to her, with intensity, the childish joy had disappeared from her face.

"When?" This simple word consisting of four letters was all the servant needed to utter for her master to understand what she was referring to. For the first time the deity even bothered to gaze upon her servant when speaking to her. "Around half an hour ago." Turning her head around to gaze forwards again, Wilma demonstrated her indifference to her subject. "Caligula caught the scent immediately. It appears as if the source is close, as his eyes are especially intense at the moment. Therefore, I would dare guess that it is either Sūmi or the boy..." Listening to her master come to a logical conclusion based on evidence, Chinghis frowned ever so slightly. It was odd how religion and logic could coexist like that. Not to mention awful as well. Religion was such a flawed concept, after all.

"Isn't that right... Blair?" Blair?, Chinghis thought. The Pixie's maid? Just as she had thought that, she turned around to face the tunnel-like entrance to the room. Although the altitude prevented her from seeing the face of the individual who was standing down there, the outfit was revealing enough. The short black dress, the orange feather boa... This was unmistakably the maid of that damned pixie. "So it was her..." the petite frog muttered under her breath as she observed the situation unfold before her very eyes. "I take it your master inquires us to accompany her to dinner, Blair?" Finally, the self-proclaimed deity had arisen and was now facing their guest. The rhetorical question did not deserve an answer, but due to the fact that she was speaking to an undead with a basic manner of acting, the answer was nonetheless straightforward. "I am summoning you to a dinner party in the main hall. You are all welcome to partake in this feast tonight, regardless of position. With loving regards, Sūmi Masēn."

The voice unleashed by the maid was not her own. No, it could not be. Chinghis always found it uncanny to listen to the Kyonshī with the pixie's voice. Even as she watched the maid turn around clumsily around and walk out of the door, the ranine pondered whether they had any remaining will at all. Crouching on top of the onbashira as she looked at her master, Chinghis smirked and then jumped down, only to land on top of the trampoline. At the same time, Wilma gracefully took a single step into the air and her body started to descend from pillar. Feet touching the ground as her dress danced around her lithe body, her servant remembered why she had found her divine in the first place; her grace was without parallel.

Boing. Boing. Boing.

As the ranine performed the repetitive jumping motion, she stared in the direction of her master spoke to her one last time before heading out.

"It looks like the snake gets to eat the rat, after all."

End of Chapter 2.