A Taste of Mercy (A Recipe for Disaster Novel 2)

and abandoned sanity

There were hands on me. I couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe right, and someone was touching me, recent history had me lashing out with my fists instead of magic. I scrambled like a wild, trapped animal until several hands pressed me down, and the covering was pulled off of my face. Six people stared down at me, concern and astonishment on their faces. One man was holding a hand to his face, reddened where I had hit him.

“Hold still before you hurt yourself.” His voice was surprisingly deep. “You’re among friends, relax.”

“Seriously? If you woke up to a shroud over the face and people you didn’t know touching you, would you calmly lie down to wait?” I countered even as I stopped fussing.

Amusement lit the dark eyes. “Actually no, I’d fight and piss and raise a fuss. But as I’ve been on the receiving end of those gnarly fists of yours, I would greatly appreciate the chance to never get slugged by you again.” He admitted without shame. With a gesture from him, the others all backed away from me, giving me the chance to properly sit up. “Welcome back Callahan Orenda, to the House of the Goddess and the location of your birth. You’ve been granted Sanctuary for the night, so I suggest you rest and recover, as dawn brings about a new day. You’re free to explore but I recommend you don’t step back outside, as then you’ll be outside our sphere of protection. Now as High Priest, I must be off, but feel free to ask anyone anything you want. I hope you find some balance while you’re here.” He dismissed briskly.

I spotted a flash of surprise in the eyes of one of the Priests, but she covered it quickly. “I am Alycia, Priest to the Maiden. I’m going to presume you’ll want a bath, some food and then bed. If you’ll follow me, I’ll lead you to a bathhouse where dinner will be served to you.” She guided me as the others dispersed.

Her pace was easy to follow and even though I tried to focus, I ended up just following along in a bemused state one step shy of zombie shuffle. I’ve been having a run of bad luck with bathrooms lately, and the sight of the bathtub left me uncomfortable, but thankfully this one was mundanely simple. Tub, toilet, sink, and shower, all were a pristinely bland white and yet I couldn’t bring myself to leisurely soak in a tub. Instead I took full advantage of the innocuous shower, which felt rejuvenating. The clothes I had discarded were stiff with dried blood and looked torn apart so I donned one of the green robes left handing in the bathroom, less of a housecoat and more of an acolytes garb. No one seemed to expect me to be ready yet, so I left the bathroom and wandered, following a nonsensical path that had less to do with instinct and more to do with the whispering voice in my head.

You should not have been able to escape my grasp. The Archive grumbled inside my skull and I staggered over to a minor altar and collapsed. We know that you are not ours, but we would keep you. You were fairly warned that to open yourself to us was to touch the Chaos. We are the bridge that opened between Order and the Place Beyond; we hold all of Order and Chaos inside us as we never should have. I had a megalomaniac, semi sentient nonentity rhapsodizing in my head.

If you are the breach, how do I seal it off? How do I keep the Realms safe? It was worth a shot asking.

Little Power, alone you are a gnat to all that I am. I am the undefinable layer between realities, the start and the end of all existence. When your Realm first existed without the breach, you were One. But then the sundering occurred and your many kinds were torn apart, kept separate to keep you weak. The Source shattered to keep Order safe, but without the Source now, all life is at stake. I felt like I was missing the vast majority of the things being left unsaid. Much more of this and I wondered if my brain would start to drool out of my ears. The Chaos is sending it’s Banished King through the breach, following the signal someone from your side of Order is giving him. Find the traitor, find the breach, find a way to seal off the oncoming army. Or all Order dies.