Chapter 154: Blood Fruit
The doors creaked open with a sound like grinding bones, and Jack stepped inside.
Darkness swallowed him immediately.
The contrast was jarring. Outside, the Temple of Radiant Dawn had been all gleaming marble and brilliant light.
Inside was the opposite, oppressive shadows, dim corridors lit by flickering torches that cast more darkness than light.
The air was thick, heavy with incense that smelled of sulfur and something sweet that made Jack’s nose wrinkle.
His eyes adjusted slowly. The interior stretched before him like a cathedral built for darkness.
Vaulted ceilings disappeared into shadow. Pillars carved with writhing shapes supported the structure, their surfaces slick with something that might have been oil or blood.
"Welcome, Soul Warden."
Jack turned toward the voice.
A female demon emerged from the shadows, her form elegant but unsettling. She wore robes that were crimson and her eyes glowed with a dull red luminescence.
Unlike the radiant Aurion outside, she looked more like what Jack expected demons to be, beautiful in a dangerous way, like a blade wrapped in silk.
"Follow me," she said, her voice carrying an odd harmony, as if multiple voices spoke in unison. "The temple awaits those who would commune with the divine."
Jack followed, Kyren’s hollow footsteps echoing behind him. The corridor twisted and turned, descending deeper into the structure.
The temperature dropped with each step, and Jack’s breath began to mist in the cold air.
"I expected..." Jack started, then paused. "I expected it to be brighter. Light demons and all."
The female demon glanced back, a smile playing across her lips. "Human temples require cleansing. Purification of the body and soul before approaching the divine."
She gestured at the dark corridors around them. "Demon holy sites are different. We seek defilement, not purity. The gods we worship thrive in darkness, in blood, in the raw truth of what we are."
They emerged into a circular chamber. At its center stood a stone altar, and upon it rested a tree that had fruit hanging from it.
It was unlike anything Jack had seen. Roughly the size of an apple, but its skin was a deep crimson that shrugged when you turned it. Dark veins ran across its surface like blood vessels, and when Jack looked closely, he could swear he saw them throbbing with a heartbeat.
"Consume the offering," the female demon instructed. "It will prepare you for communion with the divine."
Jack approached the altar cautiously, his enhanced senses on alert for any trap or deception. But the fruit seemed harmless enough, just sitting there, pulsing gently.
’System, analyze this.’
[Analyzing...]
[Blood Fruit]
[Description: A rare fruit cultivated in demonic holy sites. When properly prepared, it can be transformed into God’s Blood, a substance that allows mortals to commune directly with divine entities]
[Note: Consumption will initiate divine communion]
Jack’s eyes widened. God’s Blood. The same substance he’d consumed during his Sacred Communion back in Sorne. The thick red liquid that had sent him to meet Draven for the first time.
This fruit could be made into that?
How did humans have a liquid that was made from a tree in Tartarus Spire?
He picked it up, feeling its weight in his palm. The skin was warm, almost feverish.
Without hesitation, because hesitation had never served him well in this tower, Jack bit into it.
The taste exploded across his tongue. Sweet, but with a metallic undertone that reminded him of blood.
Juice ran down his chin as he consumed the entire fruit in three bites, swallowing quickly.
The female demon watched with approval. "Now, Soul Warden, you may..."
Her voice cut off as Jack’s vision blurred.
The chamber spun. The darkness deepened. And then Jack was falling.
---
When his vision cleared, Jack found himself standing on familiar ground.
The massive rock. The endless sky. The sense of being nowhere and everywhere simultaneously.
This was where he’d taken his first step to meet Draven. The space between spaces where gods communed with mortals during the Sacred Communion.
’But why am I here?’ Jack thought, confusion warring with curiosity. ’I ate the demon fruit, not the human version. Shouldn’t I be meeting a demon god?’
"Oi, you lost or something?"
Jack spun toward the voice. A figure stood a dozen meters away, and Jack’s first impression was that he did not like who was speaking to him.
The demon was short, maybe five feet tall, with leathery gray skin and horns that curved back from his forehead like a ram’s.
He wore tattered robes that might have once been ceremonial but now looked like they’d been through a war.
His eyes were a sickly yellow, and when he smiled, Jack saw rows of yellow sharp teeth.
"Name’s Maurice," the demon said, his voice carrying a nasal quality that grated on Jack’s ears. "I’m your fuckin’ guide to the divine or whatever. Lucky you."
Jack’s jaw tightened. "You’re supposed to guide souls to meet gods?"
"That’s what I said, wasn’t it? You deaf or just stupid?" Maurice picked at his teeth with a claw. "Come on then, don’t have all day. Got three more idiots to process after you, and I’m already behind schedule."
Every instinct Jack had screamed that this demon was going to be a problem. The casual disrespect, the crude language, the complete lack of any ceremonial dignity, everything about Maurice suggested someone who’d given up on his duties long ago.
But Jack needed to meet whatever god the demons worshipped. Especially if there was a chance of class advancement or useful information.
"Lead the way," Jack said, keeping his voice neutral.
Maurice snorted. "Yeah, figured you’d say that. They all do. ’Lead the way, Maurice. I’m so eager to meet a god, Maurice.’" He spat on the ground. "Waste of my time, that’s what you are. But fine, follow me."
They walked across the strange landscape. The rock beneath Jack’s feet felt solid but wrong, as if it wasn’t quite real. The sky above remained that impossible purple-red color, like a sunset frozen in time.
Maurice kept up a constant stream of complaints as they walked. About his job. About the gods. About mortals who thought they deserved divine attention. About everything.
"...and another thing," Maurice was saying, "you humans are the absolute worst. Always crying about your problems, begging for power you haven’t earned. ’Oh please, great god, give me strength to defeat my enemies.’ How about you get off your ass and train, you lazy piece of..."
"How much further?" Jack interrupted, his patience wearing thin.
"Getting impatient? Typical human." Maurice scratched his behind with zero shame. "We’re almost there. Just across this bridge and you’ll be at the castle where the god waits."
Bridge?
Jack looked up and saw it, a massive stone bridge spanning what appeared to be an endless chasm. The castle Maurice mentioned rose in the distance, all dark towers and ominous spires that seemed to pierce the strange sky.
They reached the bridge’s entrance. Maurice stopped and gestured forward with a theatrical bow.
"There you go, meat bag. Straight across. Can’t miss it. The god’s waiting in the castle, probably doing something important and divine. Try not to piss him off too much."