fugue_claire_samantha
Fugue
9:01 AM.
“Last chance to take him up on his deal,” said Claire. It wasn’t. Last chance was yesterday. Claire suspected she could convince Agarma otherwise, though.
In fact, Agarma hadn’t instructed her to talk to Samantha at all.
Samantha spat at her through the bars. It came nowhere close to Claire.
“Madam Samsara. You don’t know what happens when you die. You may cease to exist. You may go to hell. You may be absorbed into a god. You may not have a soul at all, and disappear with your body.”
Samantha turned away.
“Eternity, Madam. Are you so confident in a positive destination that you’ll forfeit your life now? I could summon a priest to better explain.”
Samantha was confident, actually. She wasn’t particularly religious and she hated the gods and she thought they were busybodies. But, she had enough faith in the universe to believe there was some god god who would recognize her deeds and reward her. Or at least, not punish her.
Really, though. The best possible outcome would be a retry. To be reborn as someone else, somewhere else, in some other time.
“So what are you, are you his wife, or his maid, or what,” said Samantha. “Would begging for my life to you do any good?”
“It wouldn’t do any good, no. I am his retainer. He bought me from slavery, at great expense to himself. He is my angel, sent by the Grandfather, through Holstram. His sacrifice was very kind.”
“Okay.” said Samantha. “Okay.” she repeated. The closest thing to a god god they knew of was Grandfather. Claire probably shared Samantha’s view on judgement.
Claire continued. “If you truly hate the dungeon, madam, you could kill yourself there. Eternity, madam. Eternity. Imagine reliving your whole life, but on fire, again, and again, and again. It’s longer than that.”
“Why don’t you tell Agarma that if he wants my brain, he needs to show it the dignity and respect it deserves.”
“He’s getting your brain regardless, madam. Your head is coming off.”
“That’s not what I mean and you know it.”
“Hmm. Yes.”
Blink. “Why doesn’t he just mind control me into giving him good ideas? That’s a thing people can do, right?”
“Should I suggest that to him as a possibility, madam?”
“No. Well. Um. Maybe. No, don’t.”
“I don’t think it’s possible with our current technology, anyways.”
“Seriously. Tell him to let me out, give me back my clothes, give me some good food, and we can discuss things like writing spells and deploying golems.”
“I… I will, madam.”
Claire picked up a crumpled card, and left. A few minutes later, four guards walked in, tied Samantha up, gagged her, and left her in the cell.