Virgil Mata wakes up with an extreme headache.
They are on their way down South aboard a utility van. Xun is driving. Since there is no getting rid of them for Father Thomas, he may as well make them useful. Besides Xun, in the passenger seat, Father Thomas points out the direction. Virgil is stuck in the back of the van with Helmar and Keres.
Only there is one other person with them in the van. One that wasn't included in the beginning of their journey. He remembers the old woman from earlier, the one Father Thomas introduced to them as their church's Mother Superior, Mother Socorro.
She has been looking at Virgil the whole time, from when he was still asleep up to the moment he woke up. She is studying him.
Many questions arise in Virgil's mind. His senses are able to absorb everything in his surroundings. The sound of the vehicle. The glaring light of their van. The emptiness of the road. The darkness outside. But he can't feel his own skin. He can't close his eyes. Or move his big toe. Despite feeling paralyzed, his headache still persists.
Virgil thinks to himself: I'm sure that priest's mouth is bleeding again. I can't check. I don't know why he has to put me on lock as if I have a choice in the matter.
But surprisingly, as if she could read his mind, Mother Socorro responds to his thoughts. "You're not in the van. You're on your bike. You're still at the game."
The van's floor splits underneath Virgil's feet, sucking him into an endless void. But he remains in his seat. And in a split second he is aboard his black bike again, skidding across Balete St., leaving his opponents in dust.
As he approaches a curve, his bike swerving leftward, a shadowy figure emerges in front of him, causing him to slew to a stop.
The shadowy figure, as it turns out, is Virgil himself.
"ᜄᜒᜐᜒᜅ᜔/"
Virgil's shadow self charges forward, slamming itself towards him. His split selves amalgamate into one being once more. A moment of clarity. The curse has trapped him in his mind. At no point did anyone recognize that Virgil wasn't acting like normal because none of the people he was with knew him outside of Clash Match.
This detail is a part of the Ventriloquist Curse. The cursed soul will be put into dormancy and is forced within a deep pit inside his consciousness. A sliver of the imprecator's soul will then occupy the body to follow the Ventriloquist's commands.
Virgil stretches his shoulders to loosen the muscle knots that had been bothering him. "I knew I didn't like how nice I was being."
On that fateful game night, from the moment Virgil heard Father Thomas' voice through his helmet, chanting the curse that engulfed him in invisible flames, and up until the point where he was left laying helplessly on the ground as he thrashed around in pain, his soul had began to sink deeper and deeper into an abyss within himself, his unconscious, until he could no longer feel his own skin, command his own limbs, and speak his own voice. He watched as his physical body moved without his bidding. But he never quite made the connection, because even his thoughts were no longer his.
Virgil begins to murmur as his psyche settled back into his soma.
"ᜐᜎᜋᜒᜈ᜔ ᜐ ᜉᜎ᜔ᜇ᜔ ᜆᜒᜆᜒᜄ᜔ ᜐ ᜊᜎᜆ᜔ ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜎᜎᜒᜋ᜔/"
The words come naturally, as if he had knowm this day would come. Like a prmise he made when he was young, the spoken symbol rouses a hallowed primeval animosity entrenched within his DNA, towards the very beings that brought him to life, his first subjugators, the ones that gave Virgil his first scar. Makanduk the War God, his own father, and a mother that had cursed him from the very start.
Mother Socorro's words cling to Father Thomas like the scent of smoke in his clothes. Before they left the Church, she pulled him aside and whispered a warning.
"That man can heal himself. He won't be under your spell for as long as you thought he'd be. He is very different from the people in those cases. And you know that."
Father Thomas' mind called him back to the times when he was still only Mother Socorro's apprentice, when he was merely a spectator to her one-woman show. She exorcized the cursed barely breaking into a sweat. She was powerful. Father Thomas could only wish to be half the priestess Mother Socorro was.
"Not only will he wake up from your spell, but he will also wake up to the truth."
Before Father Thomas could pry the answers from Mother Socorro, he was already being whisked away by Brother Mateo and his reminders about how to operate the mini van he used for church errands.
"Be sure to shut the door hard, otherwise it won't lock properly. And make sure you always put on the handbrake once you're parked, just for extra safety. Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"
When Father Thomas turned back to Mother Socorro, she was already retreating back into the church. He faces Brother Mateo once again. "Thank you, Mateo. But I must do this on my own."
Brother Mateo nods respectfully. "Have a safe trip, Father Thomas. I hope you accomplish your mission."
Father Thomas smiles. And with that, the priest and the four princes board the van and went on their way.
Father Thomas couldn't help but ruminate in his thoughts as he peers back at Virgil, who simply sits passively in the backseat along with Xun, Keres, and Helmar. The three princes are fast asleep. The ride is quiet, almost peaceful. Father Thomas watches Virgil as he looks out the window. The city night light shines like miniature supernovas, dancing a dance nobody else could notice. Virgil keeps his untroubled gaze fixed outside. Now that Father Thomas is thinking about it, he can't remember what expectations he had of Virgil, or if he had any in the first place. Before carrying out his plans, he had no idea what kind of demigod Virgil Mata would be. He just knows he needed a powerful deity's tattoos to make a protective talisman out of for the warding spell he'll safeguard the Church with. He knew mythfolk and authorities alike will come after him for poking around places he shouldn't have, butting heads with Enkantos that had both power and connection. Putting an end to Crisanto's games is a mountain of tribulation Father Thomas is willing to scale. He just has to make sure nobody else goes down with him. After carrying out the first half of his mission, Father Thomas will turn Virgil into CODO's sentry. His grotesque will stand watch over the church for as long as it needs, or for as long as Father Thomas can hold it under his spell. After all, curses can be broken.
As it turns out, Father Thomas may not be able to fulfill the final part of his plan.