Exorcism of the Hollow: Chapter 2 – Spiritual Training

Chapter 2 – Spiritual Training

When I bring Marina to my dad, he thinks that she’s a normal person at first and patches her up.

“Excuse me, sir. Can I stay here for a bit? I’m traveling and can’t go back home yet. I promise that I won’t be a nuisance,” Marina says.

“You can stay as long as you want. You can stay even longer if you’re a nuisance to Alessio. Heck, you can even use his clothes and sleep in his room since it’s the only one that has a second bed.”

“What?!” I say.

“What? I thought having a pretty lady sleep in the same room as you is the dream of every young man?”

“Thank you so much, sir!”

“You don’t have to be so formal. Just called me Cody.”

“Thank you, Cody.”

Marina and I go into my room after we change and she makes herself comfortable in my room while I get her bed ready.

“I’m surprised that you don’t need some kind of special spirit medicine since you’re invisible to people who can’t see spirits,” I say.

“I’m still human despite the spiritual nature of my body. Right now, I’m using my power to make myself more visible.”

“What about me? How am I visible despite having an exorcist’s powers?”

“Because you were born here unlike me. I was born in the realm of the exorcists that is located below the Vatican. There, people are born with a sort of spiritual curse or blessing more accurately speaking since we can see and interact with the spiritual as if they were physical.”

“I knew the Vatican was keeping secrets, but I wouldn’t imagine they had exorcists under them despite it kind of making sense.”

“So, you said that your dad could see the spiritual, but hardly. I was building up my physical presence so he could see me better, however, the fact that his spiritual sense is attuned enough to slightly peer into the spiritual reality then that means he had relations with an exorcist. You never mentioned your mom to me.”

“That’s because she’s dead.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Maybe she was an exorcist since she died protecting me from a demon. It’s how I got these scratch marks from my face.”

“She must’ve been an exorcist, but how would she…nevermind. That’s a thought for another day. Is my bed ready yet?”

“Yes, princess. Why do you need to stay here again?”

“Because I don’t have the currency of this world to rent a place to live here. Also, it’s because I’m royalty and I’m allowed to stay wherever I want. You should be honored to have me here and to have me to train you as an exorcist.”

“Oh, sure I am.”

“You ought to stop being so disrespectful to me or else!”

“Or else what? You’ll need someone else besides me to save you?”

“I’ll show you!”

Marina tries hitting me several times only for me to grab her by the wrists. She keeps trying to hit me until she makes us both trip and fall on the bed with her being on top of me.

“Guards!” Marina says while blushing.

My window seemingly opens by itself and two masked exorcists suddenly appear in my room with one knee down.

“Yes, ma’am,” they say in unison.

“Well? Protect me!”

“From what? He saved your life and you are in no real danger.”

“Besides the danger you put yourself in,” the other guard asks.

“Shh. If you need us now, why didn’t you call upon us when the demon had your back against the wall.”

“I-I had it under control. Why didn’t you come to me when this boy flicked me in the head?”

“Because we thought it was fun-”

“Shhh”!

“You thought it was funny?! It wasn’t-” I flick her head and the guards try to contain their laughter. “Get out of here and come back tomorrow morning for my message to bring back home!”

“Yes, ma’am, but I should also mention that you’re a bit too old to be getting that close to a boy that young.”

“How old is she?” I ask.

“You’re not supposed to ask a woman her age!” Marina says.

“Thirty-two.”

“Get out of here!”

“Yes, ma’am,” the guards say before they disappear and my window closes.

“You’re twice my age, you old hag.”

“Shut up!”

A creak in the floor gets our attention to see that my little sis and dad are watching us from the door.

“Oh, don’t mind us,” my dad says.

“Is this why you left school early? Am I going to be an aunt soon?” Alex asks while trying not to laugh.

“It’s okay, son. Your mother and I did the same thing the first day we met so-”

“Get out!” both Marina and I say.

Alex and my dad shut the door while leaving a crack open presumably to still watch. They have no shame.

“You’re going to be dealing with a lot if you’re really going to stay here for a while,” I say.

“I know. My family can be annoying too.”

“Okay, but can I ask why you haven’t gotten off me yet?”

“Wh-why haven’t you gotten off my bed yet?”

“Why haven’t you-oh forget it,” I say while throwing Marina off me, “It’s not worth arguing about. Goodnight.”

“You can’t just throw me I’m-”

“Royalty, I know. Go to sleep.”

Marina grunts before settling into her bed. It feels like I fall asleep for a second since I wake up without having dreamed. I’m half expecting my little sis or dad to wake me up, but I’m surprised to see Marina in front of me in a schoolgirl outfit.

“So, what do you think? How do I look?” she asks.

“I think you’re too old to wear that,” I honestly answer despite her kind of looking cute in it.

“I’m in the prime age of my life where my beauty has peaked! You just don’t have good taste in women.”

“Wait, why are you wearing that?”

“Because I’m enrolled in your school.”

“You what? Why?”

“I sent the exorcists my message and they told me that I should keep a close eye on you while they investigate your family tree and decide on what role you should play as an exorcist.”

“And they got you enrolled in my school overnight?”

“Yes! The Vatican’s resources and connections are uncountable.”

“Fine. Just behave yourself while you’re at school.”

“Of course I will.”

After eating breakfast, where my family won’t stop talking as if Marina and I did something lewd last night, Marina and I head out to school. Not many pay attention to her except a few guys that try hitting on her, which I push aside and tell to get lost.

“What? Is she your girlfriend, half breed?” the punk says.

“Half breed?” Marina asks which stops me from hitting the punk for some reason.

“It’s not important. Don’t be friends with these losers, Marina. Just ignore them.”

“Don’t be mean to my friend, Alessio. He’s a nicer person than you think,” she says.

“Save yourself the trouble of being his friend. He’s just a bully who only thinks about himself and his own. His sister does the same. She even beat my sister because they got into a disagreement. We’ll be here for you once you see that,” the punk says before walking away.

“What did he mean?”

“They know that my mom is Asian and my dad is Italian and they mock me for being an interracial kid. It’s one of the reasons why I fight against them. The other reason being is because they’re punks. Every single one of them is. Everyone who makes fun of me and my family is a punk and worth nothing.”

“You can’t think that about everyone who is against you.”

“Why not? My family and I are good people. You’d think they be nicer if they understood that.”

“I’m not saying you’re not a good person, but it looks like you don’t give them a reason to like you.”

“They don’t deserve one after what they’ve done and continue to do.”

Marina sighs and looks like she’s thinking. The irritatingly quiet kid then gets her attention for some reason. She looks like she’s shocked to see him.

“What’s wrong? Did he look at you funny?” I ask.

“No. I’ll have to ask my guards about him before I ask him anything. He might be a rogue exorcist. What’s his name?”

That bit makes me want to argue against that, but part of me feels that’s true.

“Magnus, I think. He did always say that I shouldn’t save people from demons. I thought he was just mocking me when he said that.”

“Hmm. We’ll have to see what the other exorcists say.”

“Why don’t we just ask him ourselves?”

“If he’s a rogue exorcist, then he’d be too dangerous to fight even if we teamed up to fight him together.”

“I can take him. I’ve been wanting to beat his face into the ground ever since we met.”

“You only managed to exorcise the demon with my help. Temper yourself.”

“Okay. Fine. I’ll wait, but not for long.”

The rest of the school day flies by. Marina and I go to a nearby park for practice. Her outfit transforms into the blue exorcist one that she had and her mask forms on her face.

“How do I do that?” I ask her.

“It’s just like how you deal damage to demons. Believe that it is God who is the reason that you have this power and be able to use it.”

“Okay then.” I try it and I manage to do it in a couple of minutes. “Yes! I did it!”

“It’s an easy thing to do.”

“Can you tell me why we have to wear these masks?”

“These penitential masks form when someone becomes an exorcist. This has to do with the deal with God so that the exorcists can be humbled and do penance for the sins of the world. The mask shows the sin that the exorcist is typically weak to.”

“What sin are you weakest to?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“The face on your mask looks droopy with those light blue and black tears running down its eyes, so maybe it’s laziness.”

“If I had to guess, you are most guilty of pride because of its cocky smile and because of who you are.”

“Guilty as charged if that’s the case.”

“You can’t view sin like as a quirk.”

“I’m not a sinful man. I don’t even remember the last time I sinned.”

“Then we’ll have to see a priest later for your examination of conscience, but first, let’s practice. Draw your sword. Do it the same way you did before.”

Do it the same way I did before…aha! I pull my sword out of my chest with no problem.

“Wow! I’m surprised I don’t cut myself when I draw the sword.”

“That’s because you draw the sword out of your soul.”

“I’m not going to question the spiritual physics of that, but why do I draw my sword out of your chest while you pull yours out of your head?”

“Your weapon is drawn from the place where your virtue is strongest and the type of weapon is based on your personality. If your virtue is strongest in your mind, like me, then you won’t be easily fooled by feelings or falsehoods, but you may have a cold personality and reason yourself into madness. If your virtue is strongest in your senses, then you are aware of the spiritual and the feelings of others, but you can be easily fooled by your own feelings and be manipulated by them. People like these draw their weapons from the palm of their hands. Since you can pull your sword out of your chest, then that means your virtue is strongest in your heart, which is actually the best of the three.”

“Yes!”

“It does have its weaknesses though since it’s somewhere in between the two. Despite the heart being able to resist the weaknesses of the senses and madness of the mind, it can become full of itself and use any manner of reasoning to excuse its sins that can appeal to both reason and the sense leading to a completely senseless and hollowed person.”

“Hollowed?”

“Yes, you become hollowed when you commit sins, especially mortal sins. That’s why the demons that you see have lots of holes in them. The holes are formed by the soul eating itself from within because of its sin. In other words, the soul becomes so full of itself that it makes itself implode on certain parts of the soul. When a soul is in mortal sin, the heart and the head get the biggest holes as the love of truth and God has left the heart and mind of the soul.”

“Interesting. So, are we going to practice yet?”

“Yes, guards!”

Marina’s guards appear at her command.

“Yes, ma’am!” they say.

“Show this boy how we exorcists fight. Fight him one at a time then both at the same time and don’t go easy on him. I want to see him pay for his disrespect of me.”

“You’re not going to teach me yourself or is that too low a job for royalty like you?”

“Get him!”

The princess’s guards fight me one by one. My experience fighting demons and against punks with lead pipes and baseball bats come in handy as I’m able to hold my own against one.

“When did you start fighting demons?” Marina asks while I practice.

“When I saw that my mom needed help. She trained me to fight them at a young age,” I explain.

“Did she train your sister as well?”

“No, I trained my sister since my mother died before she was old enough to be trained. Alex also doesn’t care to fight demons or interact with spirits since they don’t bother her.”

“Hmm.”

After fighting Marina’s guards for a few hours and taking the advice they give me, Marina gives them their orders and they leave us.

“Whew! That was a good workout. It’s almost nighttime. Looks like it’s time to go home,” I say.

“No, not yet. You have to fight a demon by yourself now,” Marina says.

“I basically already did.”

“Do it again. This cell phone I have gives me the locations that have varying levels of demonic activity or are suspected of harboring demons. Let’s go hunting.”