016 – Teddy Bear No. 8

Time to Seal: 04:15

As I continued my search I had to face the fact that sanctified spaces were a lot less common than profane ones.

“This level of rarity is rather unusual,” Gabriel commented, her voice pensive. “Lucy, did Hell mess with this, too?”

“Not intentionally, no. But if I were to venture a guess, I’d say that the bandwidth issue, the Wyrm, and a society with screens and speakers everywhere, have combined into a mixture that desecrated a lot of them very fast. It never had access to such a receptive population before. Gotta have a field day right now.”

[“I fear I’ll regret asking this, but how does one desecrate a sanctified space?”]

Before Gabriel could respond Lucy went on. “Oh, there are tons of ways. The easiest is attacking each other, or even using it as cover while attacking someone, or something, outside. That’s why you could defend yourselves against the Wild Hunt, but couldn’t just use it to snipe the demon hounds. Defending is okay, cowardice is not. Beyond that, the same way you and Jamie purified that pawn shop. Embracing an emotion that is antithetical to the resonance of the place. The deli was kind of providing-for-the-community and determination flavored. So if I had gotten you to say ‘Fuck it’ and leave them all behind to only care about yourself you might have desecrated it on the spot.”

I had been right. I did regret asking. How many people were one perfectly targeted phone call away from snapping? One public service announcement, telling them that all their worst fears had come true.

[“I suppose I’m lucky I left LA and that job behind. My emotional landscape was a bit more fraught over there.”]

“All a matter of perspective. By this time you’d probably be drinking blood out of your manager’s skull and hunting tech bros in the streets. And you’d feel a lot better than you do right now.”

I could all too vividly imagine an entirely plausible series of events leading to that exact outcome. Before I could properly dissect the implications on the fragility of my morality, I spotted something that caught my full attention. Down an intersection I spotted a very large structure, covering more than one regular city block in size.

It was exactly what I hoped it was, though the closer I got the more suspicious I grew. It was a massive shopping center, but it was far too intact compared to every building around it. Even in the middle of the night its interior was brightly lit and its windows were all intact. But at the same time I couldn’t see the outline of an altered space.

Gabriel started explaining before I could even ask.

“The Blessing designated this as a high-value place. Too valuable to let Hell just ruin it, but also too valuable to just let people loot it. It’ll be swarming with Created inside. Though at this point in time, probably mostly low-level Created.”

[“It’s a dungeon?”]

“If we were to apply video game vernacular to your very serious situation, yes.”

“There might even be loot in there. Blessing-created loot. The good stuff,” Lucy added.

It was a fucking dungeon. Because of course there would be dungeons. And what annoyed me even more was how enticing it was. There would be everything we’d need in there and more. Hell, if there was a place selling beds and mattresses and such, we could take that and insulate that. We didn’t need a sanctified space. It would just be safer. I continued to circle the perimeter.

[“Realistically speaking, could we deal with whatever is inside if we all teamed up?”]

“Not unlikely. It would drain resources, but at the same time provide experience and possibly loot. Frank also got his class, by the way. Similar way Jamie did, merely by shooting enough lesser demons. They have also made it to the subway entrance.”

My local chat blinked. There was another Blessed nearby.

[“Hey, gazelle-person, can you please assist me?”] They wrote. Their name read ‘Teddy bear No. 8’.

I looked around, but failed to spot anyone. There was a larger apartment building behind me, offering lots of windows I could be spotted through.

[“I’m an impala. Where are you? And what do you need?”]

At the same time I switched to the Guide chat.

[“Trustworthy? Can this be a trap? A demon or Created?”]

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Gabriel explained that this could pretty much only be a Blessed, since neither of the other options would have used chat to contact me. Didn’t mean it wasn’t a trap, but that kinda thinking wouldn’t do humanity any good in the Apocalypse.

[“About 50 yards in front of you, near the bench at the bus stop. Look lower than you think. You can jump pretty high, right? I need a lift.”]

I followed the directions and spotted it. It was indeed a teddy bear. I trotted closer.

[“You’re really a teddy bear? Are you some kind of minion of a Blessed? You know what, nevermind. I’m in a hurry, but yes I can give you a lift. Where? Why?”]

[“That awning over the entrance at this side would do. I need to get into this place, but my incursions so far haven’t been successful. Demons tend to ignore plushies, but Created do not. So I want to have a hiding spot where they can’t get to me, but I can spot if another group clears the place.”]

I stood over the plushie. It waved up at me. Out of everything that had happened this night, this must have been the most surreal event yet.

[“Does it hurt if I pick you up with my teeth?”]

[“Only if you chomp down. So please don’t. At least not on the head.”]

I did so and jumped up on the gravel-covered awning. There was a lot of trash up here. I placed the plushy down.