I cannot wrap my head around the fact that all my pain is now gone. I couldn't hear those words, but they did something to me. This place, this hunt, it's nothing like I had imagined. Rumors ran through my small town about how this city was haunted by evil, but nothing could have prepared me for the truth. I faced some sort of monster in that university, was seduced by a strange woman, and now I am following a Pope who not only spoke the words of our almighty, but also possesses some of his gifts.
Blessings and miracles, he had said.
Was he referencing me?
We walk the halls of the church, and my bare feet stick to the marble floor. Sweat rolls down my temples. In front of me, Pope Linus walks with his head down; he's silent and calculated. Each step that we take reverberates off the walls and echoes down the long hallway. Candles and electric lamp lights illuminate our way forward. The walls that enclose me in this space are bare and white. Gold molding welds the wall to the ceiling. Mosaic and tile hang from the ceiling.
I stare upward like I'm looking for a sign from the almighty that I'm on the right path. The tiles hold no sign, no hidden message, so blindly I follow this man into the void.
We walk down several sets of stairs until we are no longer surrounded by gold and marble. I watch intricate materials transform into bland stone and hollow rock as we dive below the church, below the earth. Pope Linus now holds a candle in one hand, using it as the only source of light. The temperature falls the deeper we dive.
He's still silent.
"Where are you taking me?" I ask.
He doesn't even acknowledge my questions, just continues to descend the stairs.
Reaching the bottom, we are greeted by an open room. The only light is that of the candle which Pop Linus holds. He turns to me and gestures for me to stop, hold in place. I don't protest; something in his eyes tells me my questions will soon be answered. In the middle of the room, he stops and throws the candle onto the ground.
Flames erupt from the stone. Spewing smoke into the air, creating light, and casting shadows. The fire weaves through the stone, creating circles that swirl around us.
"You've asked for this," Pope Linus bellows, before he begins to chant something in an unfamiliar tongue.
His words jumble in my head, bouncing like light reflected off mirrors.
The flames rise.
The heat grows in intensity.
Chains emerge from the stones and wrap around my wrists and ankles. They sear my skin like hot cast iron and fresh steak. I wince from the pain, then begin to scream before being dragged to my knees.
I hit the ground with a loud thud.
Shadows ascend from behind Pope Linus; his chanting does not stop, but rises with each word. Like spiders, the shadows creep along the walls, floor, and ceiling. Crawling toward me as I scream from the pain. The skin along my wrist is exposed to raw flash and bone, and blood drips onto the ground and runs towards the flames.
I blink.
The shadows begin to mingle with the flames. Together they swirl around me like I'm caught inside a tornado. Screams of terror rain down upon me. They lash out at me, striking me, and small paper-like cuts form on my body.
"This hunt," Pope Linus below. "We are not hunting monsters, my child. No, no. Something far more evil than that."
I think I see him rising into the air, flames spreading from his fingers. The shadow, smoke, and fire are so thick I can barely hear his voice above the raging inferno and wailing.
"We are hunting demons, my child! This world is infected with evil, and we must destroy it. Every year, desperate souls travel to this city out of greed. They feed the demons. I've called for hunters, but every year they fall one by one," his voice trails off.
"But," he continues, "this year is different. You've come, and the almighty has given me a message. You're to become a vessel. He saved you for this. You will fight them. You will drive them from this city! The almighty has given you this task, and you cannot turn back, for we have something that you need."
I lurch from the ground, stopped by the chains that bind me. As the shadow disappears and the flames calm, I see my heart beating in front of me. The air from my lungs is ejected with my howls.
Unconscious and held by the shadow is my daughter, Evelyn.
The Pope approaches me, and I lurch towards him, but am stopped again by chains. My howls overpower the wails from the shadows and the raging flames that surround us. The Almighty would never allow something like this. Capturing a child to use someone. This Pope is the evil one.
"I'll kill you," I spit at him.
"My child, my child. I don't think you understand the position that you are in."
His fingers snap, and the sound echoes through the room. The swirling shadows grasp Evelyn, opening her mouth and filling her like stuffing an animal.
"Stop!" I cry.
He snaps again, and the shadows retreat. She's still suspended in the air by the shadows.
"Now you see," he grins, "you have no choice. You will complete your task, or she will die. You already said it yourself, my child."
His thumb presses against my forehead, and he crouches next to me.
"You're weak," he whispers into my ear.
He starts to chant those incoherent words, and they ring and bounce through my mind. The shadows begin to swirl again, with an unrivaled intensity.
His thumb presses harder into my forehead as he pushes my head backwards. I watch the shadows funnel like a tornado. They descend upon me. With his other hand, Pope Linus opens my mouth, and the shadows fill me.
I choke.
I gag.
They do not stop for me; they continue as tears roll from my eyes.
Laughter comes from the Pope.
No, no. Laughter comes from inside my mind.
I gag again as everything fades to black.
Blackness.
"He is so weak. This will never work."
A pause.
"No. No. I am wrong about this one. There is something here. Something that we can work with."
Laughter, menacing laughter.