Book 2: Chapter 87 (1/2)
“Your Majesty,” a man in a white robe said while lowering his head. He had a silver necklace in the shape of a scale, and there was an extra piece of cloth attached to his robe, trailing behind him like a tail. Ahead of the man, there was a series of steps with a veil at the top, a silhouette of a cross-legged figure sitting behind it. “What is the meaning of this? You’re dissolving the church?”
A voice boomed out from behind the veil, “Who are you to question my actions? Men, throw this man into the dungeons!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Out of nowhere, two men dressed in black appeared by the white-robed man’s side and grabbed his arms while kicking his knees from behind, forcing him to the ground.
“Your Majesty!?” the white-robed man shouted. “I’m the pope of the church! You can’t do this to me! Unhand me, you heathens!”
A cracking noise echoed through the throne room, followed by a miserable scream. The pope’s arms dangled from his shoulders while one of the black-garbed men hoisted him up and carried him out of the room. The throne room fell into silence as the massive wooden doors swung shut. Cackling filled the room, sounding like rocks being crushed.
As the two black-garbed men marched through the empty halls of the palace, they looked at each other while ignoring the screaming man. “Is it just me, or has His Majesty become a bit … different?” the one holding the pope asked.
“Don’t say things like that out loud,” the other man said while gesturing towards the pope, “or we’ll end up like him. We swore our lives to the emperor; it is our duty to obey, not question. Even if he orders us to slaughter children and babies, we will carry out his will with the utmost efficiency.”
“No, no,” the pope said through gritted teeth. “Think for yourselves sometimes! Slaughtering innocents because the emperor asked? Don’t you have any morals? Aren’t you afraid of the matriarch’s divine retribution?”
The two black-garbed men looked at each other. One of them grabbed the pope’s knee and squeezed. “You didn’t hear anything,” the man said over the ear-piercing scream that escaped from the pope’s lips. “Understood?”
“I understand!” the pope shouted. “I understand!”
The black-garbed man nodded and released the pope’s leg.
***
“What are you looking so happy about?” Alice asked Mr. Skelly. She frowned at the grinning skeleton who was whistling to himself while tap dancing atop the undead leviathan’s skull.
“Oh, nothing much,” Mr. Skelly said while laughing. “Some of my plans have finally come to fruition. The church of the holy dragons exists no longer.”
Alice stared at the skeleton with her mouth partially open. “Huh?” she asked and picked her ear with her pinky. “Did you just say the church of the holy dragons no longer exists?”