Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

And it was with this in mind that they wanted to change such a fate. As for Zane himself, the moment the castle gates shut behind him, a Paladin stepped forward. Or so Zane presumed, as the man was clad head to toe in white armor, that was gilded around the edges.

He also wore a golden surcoat around his armor, which bared the emblem of Elysium upon it. This man, who Zane could not see the face of, because of his great helm, spoke to Zane, welcoming him in a rather friendly tone to the Castle of the Goddess.

"Greetings. The Goddess herself has sent me to escort you into her personal quarters. I hope your journey was both a short and pleasant one."

Zane looked at the man with suspicion. There was no need for him to be so friendly with Zane. Especially since it had been roughly a month since Zane had been responsible for the deaths of so many of this man\'s comrades at the Battle of Tahoe.

Yet Zane did not bring up this unpleasantness, rather he stayed on his guard around the man, as he accepted the gesture in good faith.

"Very well, take me to her…"

The Paladin nodded, and quickly escorted Zane through the palace courtyard, which had soldiers at every given defensible location. But aside from being strategically laid out to deal with intruders, there was actually a rather exceptional garden which led towards the living quarter\'s front doors.

During their brisk walk, the Paladin spoke of the goddess, of the cult, and of Elysium. How it was his foremost honor to serve them all, and give his life if need be in its defense? After all, from his perspective, this was truly the last bastion of human civilization in a world gone mad.

And he may very well be right about that. As although Gravestone was powerful, largely because of Zane. It was still more of a survival settlement than an actual civilization. But eventually, after listening to the man rant on about these things, Zane arrived at the double doors of Valeria\'s personal chambers.

The Paladin quickly knocked on the door, and announced both his and Zane\'s presence, waiting for a response from the woman inside and approval to enter.

"Your holiness, I have brought the man who you requested. Is it okay for him to enter?"

Valeria\'s response was short, not long enough to truly convey what her mood was. But it was enough to get the Paladin to leave.

"He may enter…"

With this, the Paladin opened the door, and stood outside its entryway, motioning for Zane to get a move on, which Zane quickly did. Once Zane was inside the Goddess\'s personal quarters, the Paladin shut the double doors behind him.

Whatever it was that Valeria had in store for Zane and his arrival, he would now face it alone….

---

It did not take long for Olivia and the others to realize that interrogating the people within the highest levels of the City\'s walls was only going to get them fanatical devotion. Everything they said was complete and total religious zeal.

There was not a bad thing they could say about the goddess, nor was there any indication of how things had turned out so great. When asked basic questions about how Elysium was formed, and about who the Goddess was before the apocalypse began. Nobody could give her a proper answer. It was all dogma. And not very convincing dogma at that.

Supposedly, Elysium had sprouted up out of nothingness at the mere will of the Goddess. Who herself was not even human, but rather a divine figure who came down from the heavens to save humanity during its plight. And all she requested was complete and utter loyalty from those who sought her protection.

It was madness, madness and stupidity. And after interrogating a few hundred people within the highest section of the city, Olivia and the others realized that there was no way they would get any reasonable explanations from them.

And thus, they were yet again forced to have another debate. Elena was insistent that they remain close to the castle. In case Zane needed their help, they would be nearby to save him from whatever predicament he found himself in.

But Angelica and Olivia were not of the same mind. And because of this, they were currently butting heads. With the former of the three women, stubbornly refusing to accept their proposals.

"I don\'t care if we\'re talking to a bunch of fanatics who can\'t give us a single rational explanation for how this place was built! We need to stay here, close by to the castle in case Zane needs us! Besides, you have no idea if we will even be permitted entry back into this layer after we descend to the second wall!

I mean, we only got this far because of Zane, but we have no documentation to convince the guards to let us back up here where only the fanatics may stay! And that\'s without there being some kind of conspiracy behind this. What if this is exactly what that bitch wants? For us to leave the upper level, so she can keep us far away from Zane!

If that\'s the case, and he ends up in trouble, we will have to fight through an entire city level of cultists just to get back to the upper level! By then, Zane could be in that cunt\'s clutches, or worse!"

Unfortunately, the rest of the party did not feel the same way, they were convinced with Gwen by his side, Zane was unstoppable. And that was excluding the rest of his Horde, which, like Gwen, he could summon at a moment\'s notice.

Thus, Olivia got quite angry with Elena\'s obstinance, as she grabbed hold of the woman\'s wrist and dragged her off with the group to the second layer of the city.

"Your just being difficult! Zane can handle himself. You know he can! And if he does get himself into trouble, there\'s nothing we can do anyway, because we will have no way of knowing what he has gotten himself into!

There is no point staying here worrying about the man, rather we should be productive and find out all that we can about this place, and the people in it! Now come on! I\'m not tolerating you acting like a child any longer!"

Protest as she might, Elena begrudgingly followed the rest of the women in their party, looking back one last time at the castle above with worry in her blue eyes as she did so.

---

The moment Zane stepped into the Goddess\'s personal quarters, he found himself in what could only be described as a dining area. Contrary to what he thought, she was not immediately within the doorway to greet him.

This set off all kinds of red flags, and because of this, Zane quickly called out to her, having heard her voice only moments before.

"Valeria…. Where are you? Why have you not come to greet me properly as an equal?"

Valeria\'s voice was the same as it had been before, devoid of any hint of emotion, and the words she spoke were short. But conveyed just enough information to get Zane to follow her.

"I\'m in the bedroom. Must I really hold your hand all the way? Are you coming or not?"

Zane took one step forward while frowning. He was about to curse out the woman when a voice spoke to him in his head. It was not his mother\'s voice, but still one he was intimately familiar with. Gwen spoke to him, and there was a very panicked tone when she did so.

"Wait! Something isn\'t right here…. I can sense her…. This Valeria bitch isn\'t alone… She\'s here… Waiting for you… Big brother, run!"

If Gwen was so panicked, then it was a good enough sign for Zane to run in the opposite direction. And because of that, he bolted for the doors. He did not hesitate to open them, and burst through the entryway like a bat out of hell.

However, the moment he did so, Zane was forced to stop in his tracks. Because standing in the doorway was perhaps the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. Staring at him with her golden eyes, the smile she wore on her face was not a friendly one. Rather, it was innately terrifying, like a predator smiling at its prey.

This woman wore a black dress, in an almost renaissance style of fashion. Comically so. But Zane was not laughing. Nor did he make the mistake of thinking she would be encumbered by her choice of clothes. Instead, he stepped back, instinctively, as if moving forward was a death sentence.

Before he could even get a word out, an alluring voice came from the woman\'s mouth, so much so that any resistance within Zane\'s body had immediately vanished, almost as if he had been placed under some kind of spell.

Lilith reached out and grabbed hold of Zane\'s neck, effortlessly lifting him into the air with one hand as she choked him with her python like grip.

"So you\'re the mysterious brother who has been so meddlesome these past few months… Yes… I can smell her all over you. You really are mother\'s favorite, aren\'t you? You have no idea how much that pisses me off!"

Zane wanted to say something, but he couldn\'t. Not only because he was currently being suffocated by the woman\'s grip, but also because his body would not function as it should. He did not even try to resist the strangulation that he was currently undergoing, despite his mind screaming at his body to do so.

The angered expression on Lilith\'s face clearly showed how angry she was with Zane. And just when Zane\'s vision had begun to fade, he felt his breath suddenly come crashing back into his lungs. The crushing grip around his throat was gone, instead he felt a pain in his lower body as it hit the cold stone floor.

It took several seconds for Zane to recover his senses, and when he did so, he saw that Lilith had placed her boot upon his chest, gazing down at him with a sense of superiority, as she spoke to him with a far more amicable tone.

"You and I… We\'re going to have a private conversation, brother…."