Exorcism of the Hollow: Culling the Church: Chapter 1 – Separating the Wolves and Sheep

Chapter 1 – Separating the Wolves and Sheep

“Halt!” two guards say as they point their spears towards me as I approach them.

“Hold on,” I say before genuflecting before the altar and crossing myself.

“If you have respect for God, then you must leave.”

“Why is that? Isn’t an exorcist allowed to go to the home of the exorcists?”

“An exorcist like you isn’t unless you are expected and you are not.”

“I’ve never heard of that rule. It must be because I’m just a peasant exorcist with a tainted family past. Woe is me, an idiotic boy who doesn’t know his place.” The guards don’t seem to find my over-exaggeration act funny. “Anyways, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting with our bosses. Please move out of the way. I don’t want to fight in this holy place.”

“Leave now and there won’t be a fight.”

“Suit yourselves. Just know that I asked nicely first.”

I take the sword out of my chest as it manifests and strike the ground. The force from my strike explodes around it as the guards are knocked out by the flying debris. In addition, the hidden staircase underneath the altar that leads to the home of the exorcists is revealed. Sorry, God, for messing up Your house, but they left me with no other choice.

“Alessio!”

Turning around, I see Marina along with Magnus approaching me.

“Marina! I was wondering when you would catch up with me-”

Yep. I expected that punch in the gut.

“You idiot! What are you thinking breaking down the door to the exorcist’s home like this?”

“It’s the only way I can get in. Can we talk inside? I’m pretty sure I woke up all the guards I snuck around.”

“We took care of them. It would’ve been easier if we had done this together like we said,” Magnus says.

“I didn’t catch that part. Besides, you guys were trying to talk me out of this and dragging your feet all the way here. It’s why I went off on my own.”

“You should trust us more. We want to make changes to the exorcists just as much as you do,” Marina says before hugging me, “Don’t scare me like that again.”

“I won’t.”

I probably will knowing me, but I’ll try not to.

“Okay, okay, you two. Let’s get going,” Magnus says before we descend the long staircase that has small lights on the side to illuminate it, “I’m surprised you’re not married yet.”

“It’s because she still wants the approval of her parents even though they’ve probably disowned you for being in love with a peasant.”

“They haven’t disowned me! They just haven’t been responding to the letters that I’ve been sending them.”

“Yeah, disowned. The exorcists already said your status as royalty has been revoked. It’s a good thing that they didn’t do much else to us because we showed our loyalty to them by doing our job.”

“I’m still royalty by blood and your teacher!”

“Whatever you say, princess.”

We go down and down the long set of stairs until we find ourselves at the top of a mountain with a blue sky above us. It’s as if there’s a completely different world down here. As I look around, I see the home of the exorcists. It looks like a city or town from the Middle Ages that’s been upgraded to be more futuristic kind of like something from a gothic sci-fi series. Here, I along with Marina and Magnus stay our transformed exorcist uniforms. It’s probably because this is a purely spiritual realm or at least I’m assuming so since only my exorcist form can interact with the spiritual realm.

“I can’t believe that the Vatican can keep this a secret,” I say.

“The Vatican keeps many more secrets in the vaults down here that are even more valuable than the vaults they have on the surface. Secrets that even an Ombra like me can’t access,” Magnus says.

“I’m just glad to be home. It’s been about a year since I left on my first assignment. About a year since we first met,” Marina says as she holds my hand.

“Are we ready to go say hi to your family?” I ask.

“We-we don’t have to do that first. We could explore the forest that surrounds the city. It’s an endless paradise with many different kinds of animals. If you go to one end of the forest, you can end up on the other end. We can make our plans there and set up a base rather than finding some place in the city.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because we’re not allowed down there and we don’t know who will rat us out. We could be excommunicated from the exorcists or worse.”

“I really don’t think we’ll make an impact by living like hippies in the forest and doing…whatever it is you have planned.”

“It’s better than just walking up to them and beating them down until they change.”

“I think there’s no better plan than that.”

“Are you serious?”

“Besides what both of you have told me, the efforts to make worthwhile reforms to the exorcists have been slow, ineffective, or have been reversed over the past century. Trust me when I say that I have a good feeling in my soul that this is the right thing to do.”

They both look at me as if I’m crazy.

“Okay, I trust you,” Marina says to my surprise.

“I’m here to pull you out of your mess. I will not allow you to die before I can beat you in a fight,” Magnus says somewhat unsurprisingly.

“Thank you, both of you.”

Descending down into the city makes it look less and less appealing since it’s apparent that the peasants live in less than comfortable conditions. No one and nothing here seems clean.

“It’s no wonder why my mom left here,” I say.

“Down here, the only way the poor can earn a decent living and move their family up the economic ladder is by being an exorcist and risking your life on a daily basis away from home,” Marina explains, “It’s either that or being a farmer in the forests, doing construction, serving the royals, cleaning the city, or other basic sweatshop type jobs. Other jobs don’t pay as well since they want as many people working as exorcists. This is called the home of the exorcists for a reason.”

“You’d think with this many people here the Church would’ve taken over the world already.”

“They do have deep influences in the world and are able to pull at its strings. Exorcists don’t just banish demons and help the holy souls in Purgatory. They police this city, spy on the governments and false faiths of the world, and hunt down traitors and those who increase the influence of the demonic.”

“Of course, the exorcist’s secret forces are nothing compared to those of the Ombra,” Magnus adds.

“Why would they be?” I dismissively say, “Is God activating your magic yet?”

“It’s not magic, and no. I don’t have anything yet.”

“We’d better get something soon. The gate to the center of the city is up ahead.”

As we get closer and closer to the center, I see that we get the attention of the police and others who whisper while looking at us. The gate to the center of the city has guard towers around it that are manned by people who are talking on their radios probably about us. It doesn’t look like it can be climbed or broken through since the steel and stone that the walls and gate are made of seems to be very strong. I’m surprised the floor that hid the staircase down here isn’t made of the same material.

Exorcists in some kind of special armor surround us with crossbows, swords, maces, and other weapons with more on the roof. One exorcist who looks to be a commander of some kind appears on the gates above.

He says, “It’s a good thing that you showed up here rather than having us chase you down for your execution.”

“As a former princess, I ought to have-”

“As a former princess, you have no rights. In fact, you have less than no rights. Your parents knew you were coming here and wanted me to be here in their place to see to your execution.”

“They wouldn’t do that!”

“Why wouldn’t they? You’re an embarrassment to your family’s legacy because of your laziness and because of your relationship with that boy who’s too young for you.”

“This boy is here to get you to change your ways.”

“You’re surrounded. You have no chance of survival. Now, enough talk. Execute them for trespassing and their crimes against the exorcists!”

“I don’t think so.”

My outfit changes along with my mask and sword. An invisible force pushes away the exorcists around us as power builds up in my sword. I raise it up and the power releases itself into the sky and turns it dark. It then turns red and, in a flash, I slash the sword down and cut the gate in two to give us a way in.

“No way,” Marina and Magnus say with Magnus saying it with a bit of frustration in his voice.

“When did you become an Ombra?” Marina asks.

“Just now honestly. Ombras are chosen by God when He wills it after all.”

“You only now just knew that this would happen?”

“Not really. I had a feeling that it would and I saw a hint of it when I destroyed the floor that was hiding the stairs. It was like God was whispering in my ear in a voice that I couldn’t understand but knew what He was saying.”

“This is ridiculous! My Ombra blessing isn’t even activating and you of all people have your own now,” Magnus points out.

“Just let me do all the heavy lifting then. I’m sure there’s more trouble in the inner city.”

Entering into the inner city, more exorcists approach us with their weapons drawn. Raising my sword again to the sky, a light flashes from it before it starts to storm. Lightning strikes the buildings and the areas around people without directly hitting them as it clears our way to the center building. The center building is like a castle. It towers above every other building in the city and casts a shadow over everything near it. There are guard towers around it that have been lit on fire by lightning. They act as our light as we make our way forward since the rest of the lights in the city have gone out.

I knock on the castle’s door and say, “God has revealed who He favors. Come out so we can talk this out.”

“Get away from us, demon spawn! You are no exorcist! This is not God’s will! This is devil magic!” a man says from within the castle.

“Then come out and face me! If God is truly on your side, then you should have no problem striking me down.”

“I refuse! The walls of our castle will keep us safe! They have been blessed by centuries of saints and the blessed servants that pray for us in Heaven!”

“Let’s see if they’re still praying for you.”

My left arm lights up with fire. Using it, I punch the door wide open and scare away everyone behind it. Out of the crowd, a lone exorcist, decorated in crosses, rosaries, and medals that cover the holy objects, steps out with his katana drawn.

“Is he our boss?” I ask Marina.

“Yes, he’s the leader of the exorcists. I think you’ll need your help in taking him down.”

“Magnus?”

“Flames that I can control are dancing around my arms. It looks like I attack him from a distance or at least distract him.”

“Then let’s teach this old man a lesson.”

More decorated exorcists come out from behind the leader. Seven of them to be concise.

“That’s the Council of Seven, the most powerful and wise of us that coordinate the actions of the exorcists across the world!” Marina points out.

“It changes nothing. Let’s go!”

“The trouble that you get us into…Fine!”

Magnus’ flames grow brighter as he says, “I’ve got your backs!”

With his flames, Magnus sends out a barrage of fireballs to spread out the council and their leader and keep them apart. I leap into action and knock three of the council into the walls like a baseball player hitting home runs. Two of the others go after Magus to stop his barrage while another one goes after Marina. The last of the seven tries to dual me with his daggers, but my speed and strength allow me to outdo him like the other three and knock him into the one facing Marina to take out both with one swing. We then help defend Magnus before facing our boss.

“What? Didn’t want to help your subordinates or were you just confident in their abilities?” I ask the boss.

“If they were competent, then they would’ve overwhelmed you with numbers along, but it looks like they are failures since they couldn’t kill a simple peasant, a lazy princess, and a rogue Ombra.”

“Buddy, these simple three just broke down your gates, defeated your council, and is facing you down. I think we deserve at least some respect.”

“Earn it, if you can.”

My sword flares up along with Magnus’ arms at the old man’s response and we unleash a volley of fireballs at him. He manages to cut through them with his katana, however, it leaves him open to being attacked by Marina who takes advantage of his defenselessness and brings him to his knees.

“How’s that for a lazy princess?” Marina says with her two-handed sword to his neck.

That’s my girl, but I don’t think you’re taking it far enough. I walk up to the big boss and try to cut his head off, however, my blade bounces off his neck and makes a clanging sound as if I hit metal. Well, that rules out him being possessed by a demon or being a demon since the weapons of the exorcists banish demons while not harming what is holy.

“Alessio!” Marina says to me.

“It looks like God doesn’t want me to take your life. Count yourself blessed despite letting the exorcists continue in their shameful state without doing anything to change them,” I say.

“I’ll admit that I’ve been humbled by my defeat, but I will not admit that I haven’t done anything to bring back the exorcists’ lost honor. It is also the fault of the class war between the peasants and the royals, the modernists and the traditionalists, the inaction of the Ombra, and those who let the influences of demons infiltrate the Church.”

“You have a point there. I didn’t think this would be as simple as kicking down your door and wiping the floor with all of you. It looks like we have a city to change. I say we because you’re still the boss and have to do your fair share.”

“Since God seems to have favored you today, I’ll try my best to get the royals and law enforcement off your back so you can do what you think God wants you to, but if you fail or show any sign of corruption, I will not hesitate to let them execute justice upon you.”

“You won’t have to worry about anything, boss. I’ll do my best.”

Marina, Magnus, and I walk away from the mess we created to go plan our next move. Surely, this is the start of something wonderful.