18th August 2013
06:47 GMT -5
Just outside of Gotham City, there's a swamp.
Slaughter Swamp.
It used to be miles outside of the city. When Cyrus Gold resurrected as a superzombie, he had to walk for miles before getting to the train yard on the city's outskirts and running into Alan. But seventy years and a whole lot of urban expansion later and it's part of the Slaughter Swamp State Park, a place whose only non-Grundy related claim to fame is that it's the one area of greenery in Gotham that Pamela Isley turned her nose up at.
Precisely why, I'm not sure. It was used as an illegal dumping ground for just about everything at some point or another, probably only escaping getting contaminated worse due to the difficulty in transporting large amounts of waste far enough inside to disappear it. Naturally, it was one of the places I cleaned out, but…
I know from the comics that
Zor had a base here, a cabin which I found during my initial foray. Fortunately, no one was home. Alan was surprised when I asked about it; apparently Sargon the Sorcerer fought a magician called Zor once in 1936 and beat him pretty easily. Trapped him in his own paralysis spell, which… Doesn't sound like a good idea to
me, but if he didn't cause any trouble afterwards...
Or maybe Sargon didn't want to just tell Alan that he killed the bastard.
Anyway, the hut's still there-. Or 'here', and it seems as good a place as any to-
"How did you
find this place?"
-try this.
Angelica Blaze is staring at every part of it like it's about to grow teeth and bite her.
"I wanted to see if there was something here that was causing Cyrus Gold to reanimate. And… There was an event in the thirties. A boxer named
Mo Colley went crazy and murdered a couple of police officers before being shot dead. Evidence of Sheeda involvement. When I checked Slaughter Swamp there were sheeda remnants. No living sheeda, and I checked
very thoroughly.
"
Sargon never gave Alan a detailed description of where he left Zor… Assuming that he actually left him there and
didn't just do him in. But there's a circle in one of the back rooms where the dust isn't quite as deep as it is elsewhere.
"And I wanted to make sure that there weren't any residual environmental contaminants. This
is supposed to be a nature reserve. So!
" I clap my hands together.
"Ready to start?
"
She's still staring at our surroundings.
"No?
"
"Why am I here, Paul?"
"Because you can perform the spell and because you're best placed to handle things if it goes wrong. And because I wanted you to confirm my suspicion that there was something off about this place and cleanse it in golden fire if there
was.
"
"…" She nods cautiously. "
Yes, this place will be cleansed."
"Good show. So? Do you need me to set up the-?
"
"I know how to summon demons."
She takes a piece of chalk out of her handbag and crouches down to begin drawing on the hardwood floor.
"You're..? Going to do that manually?
"
"I can't enchant it with divine magic and then command it to draw a summoning circle, can I?"
"Apparently not? Honestly, I thought it would be okay given that we're not subverting the natural order of Creation.
"
"Why..? Do you think..?" She checks her work against a design on her phone screen, then nods to herself. "That demons exist?"
"Classically, demons exist to tempt mortals into sin, and torment the ones who are tempted. It works as a metaphor as well as a literal description of events.
"
"And how do you square that with demons walking around on the Earth and murdering people?"
"Never said that the test was easy. 'The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away'. A good monotheist is supposed to accept whatever strife comes their way, including demonic evisceration, in the sure knowledge that things will be made right in Heaven.
"
"And yet you worship the Olympians."
"Well, yes. Because it's bullshit, isn't it? Demons can get hold of the souls of the innocent -and keep them too- and the angels don't seem to have a clue what they're doing. I went to Heaven and got Boss Smiley, for goodness' sake. And meanwhile...
"
I take a small piece of kahuuite out of my harness and hold it out.
"This can exist. If we were in Dogma, this would be enough to unmake creation.
"
"What do you mean '
in Dogma'?"
"The film? With Jay and Silent Bob?
"
"I haven't seen it." She shakes her head. "I usually find religious-themed films irritating."
"Since you got..?
" I gesture to my back.
"No. Just always."
I frown, but she focuses on her drawing.
"Do you want to expand upon that answer at all, or are you trying to suggest to me that I should shut up? I'm not good at taking hints.
"
"
Everyone knows that.
Uhh. Alright, it's because it's usually flat out
wrong, sometimes because the story is being used as an allegory for modern politics, or they didn't understand the theology, or they skipped parts… And sometimes I can see the hypocrisy in the actors and crew and it takes me out of it."
"Was that a problem when you were a demon?
"
"People believing nonsense wasn't a
practical problem. It just lowered my opinion of humans generally, and humans were the species I was surrounded by."
"Ah.
" I nod.
"Understandable. So what is it about this building that makes you want to burn it?
"
"I'd be astonished if you really didn't know."
"I know
roughly. Or at least I suspect that I do. But I don't know what it feels like to
you.
"
"It feels like the place where there should be the presence of Creation has been twisted and frayed, rewritten by a profane hand."
"Sounds about right. His name either is or was Zor. He's on my unmake-on-sight list.
"
"I will make a note of it." She stands, giving the shape a final check. "There."
I nod, orange light flowing from my rings-.
A figure appears in the pentagram, a woman in a red cloak with a tall white half-mask covering the left side of her face. "I thought that you'd forgotten me."
"I'm
really sorry. Things got a bit crazy.
But, we're pretty sure that's not going to happen again.
"
"I would hope not. Still, where abandonment is concerned you're doing better than my 'father'."
"Right.
" I step forwards, wiping out part of the pentagram with my right foot.
"Welcome back to Earth, Mazikeen. How about I show you around?
"
I bet that'd frustrate some to learn that.
Then again, some folks these days...
