BEYOND 3A: BloodRed and ScaleBlack

The Sixty-Second Feather: The Town With No Light

Elsewhere, Killakee and Murmur were still flying through the dry air of the desert where the town below them seemed to simply never end. Killakee shouted: "MEOW! (Land on the ground already! You've been flying for the past three hours and I still can't see an end to this damn cowboy movie set!)"

Murmur: "Do not question me regarding matters that you don't have a single damn clue about."

Killakee: "MEOOOW!(I bet you have no clue what you're doing either! It's always been about you and your stupid ego! You always have to act like you're superior to everyone and like you're entitled to everything! All I ever heard from you is me, me, me, and some more me!)"

Murmur: "Shut it, unless you wanna test if cats really can survive falling from any height. We're looking for a church. This maze has some very strange rules."

Killakee: "Meow! (Maze?! I don't get what you mean!)"

Murmur: "Ugh, must I explain everything to you?! Look, in short, Vitamorte and Dantalion created a black heart and trapped us all in a statewide liminal space, where doors will take people to random places regardless of time and space. Meaning a door can take us not just to a random place in Texas, but also either in the present, past, or future of that place."

Killakee: "Meow? (How do you even know about all of that?)"

Murmur: "Cat, I've been around since the dawn of time, you think I wouldn't encounter several black hearts in my time on this wet dung ball of a planet?"

Killakee: "...(Okay, and why do we need to find a church?)"

Murmur: "Because that's how their game is played. I said it's a maze, but it's a little more complicated. This whole thing is like a board game, we need to advance from one square to the next until we reach the end, and how do we do that? By finding churches. Not just any church, mind you, it's specifically the ones that look really out of place."

Killakee: "...(How many do we have to go through?)"

Murmur: "No clue, but regardless of where the squares are in space-time, everyone has to go through an equal number of churches from start to finish."

Killakee: "...(...Okay? That sounds simple enough.)"

Murmur: "And another thing, there's a limit to how many doors we can go through per square."

Killakee: "...(Is that so? How many?)"

Murmur: "It's random everytime. If anyone were to exceed their current square's limit, they'll be... disqualified."

Killakee: "Meow? (And by that you mean?)"

Murmur: "Let's just say... Their citizenship will be changed permanently."

Killakee: "Meow. (So I take it that's why we haven't gone through a single door yet.)"

Murmur: "Yes, but if my lucky streak continues, you'll spot Damien before we escape, otherwise..."

Killakee: "...?(...Otherwise?)"

Murmur: "Otherwise you'll have to acquaint yourself with this place's wonky geometry."

After that conversation, it took them a while, but they eventually did find the church they were looking for and unfortunately, it was locked. Killakee complained: "Meow! (Oh, great! Now what are we supposed to do?!)"

Murmur: "... The key must still be around here. I'll scatter around the area and search, so make sure no one tries to force their way in. And before you ask, if that door was to get destroyed or even slightly chipped, we'd be done for."

Killakee: "Meow! (Who the hell would even go inside a locked church if they didn't know what it's for?!)"

Murmur: "Oh, believe me, People's immediate response to a crisis is to fall into the lap of their precious, uncaring God."