Chapter Seventy: The Revanchist''s Disciple, Part 2


    Swimming in blackness, Reza knew she was dead. This was the afterlife, and overall, she thought it was pretty boring.


    I guess there is no God, she thought proudly. Not in this nothing. I was right.


    Where she was looked like the night sky without stars, or any light, for that matter. It was like floating in the ocean, only without water, and without any mobility.


    This was nothing.


    The pride she’d felt knowing there was no God evaporated quickly when she entered a panic.


    I can’t stay here forever! This is boring!


    Not like she had a choice. She couldn’t move her limbs, so she made sure she had them. That was when she realized she was naked, not that she mattered. Many a mission had been completed with her naked, most of them without her wanting it that way. She’d gotten used to being nude.


    Still, it was weird to be in an infinite blackness without any clothes.


    After what felt like an eternity—and possibly was, this being the afterlife and all—Reza found the landscape changing. She silently thanked, well, she didn’t know what she thanked because God didn’t exist, but she thanked someone.


    When the landscape around her solidified, she gasped.


    It was her childhood home. The village was gone now, burned by the Revanchist, but it looked now like it had looked when she lived there. That was strange.


    What was even stranger was when six-year old Reza Ateu left the building, followed by her mom.


    “How…” Reza wondered. “What the hell is happening?”


    The building they had left was a small wood hut, not large but enough to hold her and her mom. Reza remembered it as being much bigger, but she guessed it was just her childish point of view influencing her.


    “Marky told me God sends us all to heaven when we die,” Little Reza told her mom. “Is this true? Did daddy go to heaven?”


    “No,” Her mom responded, her expression hardening. “No one goes to heaven. Your daddy was a bad person. If God existed, he wouldn’t have let it happen. No, God isn’t real. Keep that in your head, little one.”


    “God isn’t real,” full-grown Reza repeated, staring at her mom.


    With that pronouncement, the landscape changed again. This time, she was in Oriente, and there he was, her first boyfriend. Marcos—not Marky from her childhood, although the two names were the same—stared at her lovingly.


    “You’re a godsend, amor. An angel.”


    “That would be nice,” Reza said. “But they don’t exist. Neither God or the angels.”


    “Well, then, you’re the closest we get,” The man said, kissing her. “But I believe God exists. How else would we be here?”


    “If God exists, he is one sick bastard. And if he is, he wouldn’t have created us.”


    Marcos shrugged. “Well, you found me. Is that not enough?”


    “Sure,” Reza smiled. “It’s enough for me.”


    A few streets later, Marcos would be killed by a robber, only proving what Reza had said.


    “God isn’t real,” dead Reza said.


    For the third time, the landscape changed.


    This time, she was in the inn she always stayed at, and she remembered this memory vividly. It had only happened a year ago, after all. She was with one of her clients, and she was giving her a purse.


    “Thank you for killing that beast. And thank God for bringing you to me.”


    “Sure,” Reza smiled. “Thank God.”


    “Are you not religious?”


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    “Proudly atheist,” Reza responded. “God doesn’t exist.”


    “God doesn’t exist,” dead Reza said, and the words echoed, over and over again.


    God doesn’t exist.


    God doesn’t exist.


    God doesn’t exist.


    The landscape changed again, but now it was a blur of images, all of Reza saying that God didn’t exist. She watched as hundreds and hundreds of circumstances passed, all with her affirming her atheism.


    Then everything shifted to just a few days prior, when she had been hired on the mission to kill Irm?o Sérgio.


    “What do you want, darling?” Reza asked, eyes narrowed.


    “Why, I want to introduce you to a god!” The woman smiled.


    Reza’s head turned up sharply. “What the hell do you mean?”


    “Now I have your attention, huh. Your job is killing a god’s minion,” the woman said, chuckling.


    “I don’t believe in God.”


    The scene rewinded in front of her, and the real Reza’s face scrunched in confusion. What the hell was happening.


    “What do you want, darling?” Reza asked, eyes narrowed.


    “Why, I want to introduce you to a god!” The woman smiled.


    Reza’s head turned up sharply. “What the hell do you mean?”


    “Now I have your attention, huh. Your job is killing a god’s minion,” the woman said, chuckling.


    “I don’t believe in God.”


    Once again, the scene rewinded in front of her, images blurring backwards.


    “What do you want, darling?” Reza asked, eyes narrowed.


    “Why, I want to introduce you to a god!” The woman smiled.


    Reza’s head turned up sharply. “What the hell do you mean?”


    “Now I have your attention, huh. Your job is killing a god’s minion,” the woman said, chuckling.


    “I don’t believe in God.”


    That last sentence echoed throughout Reza’s mind, and outside it too.


    I don’t believe in God.


    I don’t believe in God.


    I don’t believe in God.


    God doesn’t exist.


    God doesn’t exist.


    God doesn’t exist.


    I don’t believe in God. God doesn’t exist.


    I don’t believe in God. God doesn’t exist.


    I don’t believe in God. God doesn’t exist.


    Does God exist?


    The womanly voice ran through the winds, and Reza jumped in shock, twisting to see who had spoken, but there was no one there.


    “Who said that?” She asked. “Show yourself!”


    The voice chuckled. Oh, Reza. I am what you never knew existed.


    For the last time, the landscape shifted, showing nothing again, but this time, the nothing was white. And, standing in front of her, was a woman. As soon as she saw her, Reza knew the woman was a Goddess.


    “Who are you?” Reza asked, bowing before the woman. She was blonde, beautiful, and nude as well. There was an ethereal mood about her that made Reza look upwards in awe. The goddess smiled and helped her up.


    Stand, my child. I am Eva, or Leah as I am known by some. As you have guessed, I am a Goddess.


    “Did I die?”


    Well, you did a little.


    “What do you mean?”


    You technically did, but I saved you in the moment between life and death.


    “Why?”


    I need you, Reza. I want you to become my champion.


    “What for? Why me? And what is my payment, amor?” Reza was confused, but somehow knew everything the Goddess said would be true.


    Coin is always on your mind, Eva chuckled. You’ll find that your mission will be payment enough. You see, I want you, Reza Ateu, to oppose a villainous God whose only purpose is to rule the world you live in.


    “How do I know you’re not the villainous one?”


    The other God, Dautha, rules over the Revanchist. The Revanchist is his minion.


    It made sense. Dautha was a somewhat familiar name to her, and it felt like a piece in the puzzle of the Revanchist. Reza kept believing her. Maybe it was delusion, maybe it was because she still thought she was dead, but Eva just seemed…right.


    That is why he is trying to reform your country. He is trying to do more than just change things, Reza. Now I want you to kill him.


    “I don’t want to. He’s the only job I would never take. And I don''t want to take your offer. I won’t be your champion. Sorry, darling, but that life just isn’t for me.”


    Reza, can you really keep a quiet and relaxed life after what I told you? Can you really ignore it? You can’t be an atheist any longer.


    “You’re right,” Reza scowled. “But I don’t want this.”


    You can get revenge on everyone who did you wrong. I can give you power you didn’t even imagine you had and—


    “I’m in,” Reza smiled. “I’ll do it. I want this power.” She wouldn’t actually join her, but she would take the power.


    Eva groaned. I may have chosen the wrong champion. But I believe in you, Reza. I have chosen you.


    “What happens now?”


    Now I shall endeavor to explain to you what I can about Dautha and me, about the other continents, and the other champions.


    Welcome to the club, Reza.


    It only gets better from here.


    — — —


    Three hours later, a body rose, one perceived dead, now very much alive. Reza stretched and smiled, then brandished her knives and growled. She was a firm believer now.


    “Pray, atheist,” She spat. “God is coming for all of you.”