Rituals, Regrets, and Really Dumb People

Chapter 15: Chapter 15: I Gotta Have Faith-a-Faith-a-Faith-ah, Part 4

"So, let me get this straight," I said to He and She. "You want me to throw it all away on some—whimsical ideal?"

We'd met them in the storage on the top floor, where they had told me and Geraldine something crazy, something so bizarre and far-fetched that I thought maybe, just maybe, I'd died out there at sea. This was too out there to be anything else.

"Hold on," Geraldine said to me, raising her hand. "They do have a point, Mathias."

"So, you two want me to say I'm a villain again?"

"Yeah," He said. "You won't really be one, but you need to play the part. With you out of the picture, some other big bad is just going to take the spot. With you, at least you have your name as a blood wizard. Most people cannot tell the difference between the spells you use now and what you used back then."

"I told Neb though."

"Leave that to me," Geraldine said. "I can convince him you've turned back to evil through gossip and subterfuge."

"How am I going to be fake-evil without killing?"

He stood up and waved a hand for me to follow. I did so, and me and him and She stepped up to a window to look down from, at the land below. We stared at it, and He pointed down at the little village below my castle.

"I hate to say it, but people do need something to guide them in life. Faith in me is waning. It's all but gone in the Mainland, but here, it is a little better. When people are left to their own devices, they will act out of line, do stuff out of the false premise that there will be no reprisal. A villain can be a good thing sometimes, if just to keep people in order."

"Like She?"

"Exactly," She said.

"But isn't it lying?"

"It is," He answered honestly. "It is lying, but compared to what? Mayhem? Lawlessness?"

"I just don't see why this is necessary. Why not be good and lawful?"

"Because, as you've set precedent before, it just causes other villains to act out against you. You have enough on your platter, and you'll still have to deal with them, but at least they will hesitate before doing such. It'll also give you a mask, a cover for your actions. Lastly, it'll keep the people in line with rigidity. Sometimes, they need to think of punishment to be brought in line."

"And how will I do this without being shown to be a fraud? You know, the whole 'killing people' part."

"Fear," He said, looking at me. "Keep the gloominess up, let gossip spread that you're the same ol' terrible Sanguine. Let them think what they want to think, keep your men in line. Be grim, be dark—just don't be evil. People will fill the void in their heads with whatever they need to, and you won't even need to shed any blood. Well, besides your own."

I swallowed and I listened to his words. There was some truth in it, as silly as it sounded. People needed a symbol to loathe, to unify against, to keep others in line. I was a bogeyman once, and I guess I could be it again.

"Okay then, I'll do it."

He and She both smiled, laying one hand upon each of my shoulders.

"You're never alone with us, Mathias," He said.

"I'll watch you, always," She said.

Then they faded away.

I had to swallow it down and think about how to be what I was once more, without the whole actually being a villain part. I couldn't be the sniveling, weaselly little man I'd been acting like since I had my little meltdown. I had to act with chilling composure, lacking fear of any and all things. I had to be sturdy, like a tyrant ought to be.