Chapter
2 – Exorcising Others
The morning sun is now in the sky
rather unexpectedly. I guess the party and everything else that happened took
longer than I expected. People start to come out of their houses and go about
their daily business. Despite my appearance and many knowing who I am, none of
them acknowledge me and are even able to walk through me as if I’m some kind of
spirit. Looking into my reflection in a nearby shop window, I see myself and
the grinning gold and white mask that I’m wearing that appears to have a crown
of gold and a sharp red crown on it. The mask stays on my head no matter what I
try to do and returns to its original position. Behind me, I see the broken
statue of Christ float in the window’s reflection and no one takes any note of
it either.
“That mask is a penitential mask of
shame that exposes the sin that you struggle with the most,” the statue says.
“And that sin would be what? Being
royalty?” I ask.
“The sin of pride.”
I look back in the reflection and can
kind of see how the mask reflects the sin of pride. Now I can’t help but feel
that the mask is mocking me and accusing me of my deeds without saying a word.
“What of our invisibility? Why can’t
anyone see or touch us?”
“They see and touch what I allow.
Your descendants will be able to shift between being invisible and being
visible, but you will stay invisible to them for the rest of your life. You
have no use of it anyway.”
“Why’s that? I’m still the king of
the British Empire and I have a kingdom to rule.”
“You are a king no longer and are
only a new exorcist.”
What the statue says gives me pause
as it feels like my entire world has fallen out from under me.
“…what? No, that can’t be. I am a
king-”
The sound of yelling and screaming
coming from nearby startles me as it reminds me of the events of last night.
“Go save your servants, ‘king’.”
Running towards the sound, I don’t
find any demons, but I do find my own people killing each other. My feelings of
betrayal force me to strike down the traitors with my own hands, but the fists
merely go through them. The traitors get away and there’s nothing I can do
about it.
“That’s right,” the statue says as
it phases through the wall, “You can’t do anything.”
I fall to my knees and say, “Then
please do something! For their sake, not mine.”
“And not My own sake?”
“No, they’ll glorify You even more
if you save them.”
“They’ll end up killing each other
and following the example you set for them, which is an example that needs to
be erased. Watch and observe.” As I am teleported from scene to scene of
violence and betrayal, the statue continues saying, “You thought that you led
an invincible army and rooted out all traitors and had people in place to get
rid of them, but you are wrong. Men who are not entirely loyal to Me are never
completely loyal to the lords they serve. Thus, I allowed you and your allies
to be blind to the traitors in your mist. Look also at this. The Catholics that
you thought you purged from Vatican City are using this opportunity to take
back what is theirs.”
I had the entire country of Italy
under my control and was eating at Vatican City bit by bit, month after month.
This city was going to be my home away from home, the property of the
British Empire, and a staging place to reclaim the Holy Land. Now, all those years
of preparation are gone in an instant. I’ve stopped moving from place to place
in the city and am now on the roof of a church unsure what to do.
“You rise, Braxton,” the statue
says.
“What?”
“You rise from your sins. You will
no longer be the hollow man you once were and I will make you a new man, the
man you were always meant to be.”
The statue holds out its bleeding nail-pierced hand for me.
“How are You going to do that?”
“By giving you this opportunity to
make up for it. You will hunt down the demons who are corrupting humanity and have
been clouding your judgments as an exorcist. Take out your spear.”
“How do I do that? Why does it even
come out of my head and why a spear?”
“It comes out of your head because
that’s the center of your virtue and it’s a spear because it’s representative
of your personality. Remember who gives you the strength to do what needs to be
done. Put your faith in Me and you will accomplish wonders.”
With nothing left to lose, I do as
the statue says as I pull my spear out of my head and ready myself.
“What are your orders, Lord?” I say
with one knee down.
“I will teleport you to various
parts of Italy that require your particular kind of exorcism. Banish the demons
and you will help bring peace to this country and save innocents,” the statue
says.
“I accept. Send me in.”
I am sent to scenes of violence and
conflict in parts of Italy where I find the white hollow demons influencing
people’s actions. One after the other, I exorcise each location by banishing
the demons by trusting in God as my strength. It’s rather easy as long as I concentrate
on my silent prayers to God and not listen to the temptations to give in to the
despair of my lifelong plans being no longer relevant. The demons also talk to
me and say how I’ve been abandoned by God, that I’m a slave to a false Christ and that they’re actually angels, and that I deserve better. All these temptations
I drown out by continuously fighting and holding out the hope that I’m doing what’s
right.
There’s no reason that this isn’t,
as far as I know. The only doubt in my mind is the suddenness of it all and the
fact that God allowed me to do the things I did for as long as I did without
any kind of correction. It is possible that I ignored the warning signs or
thought they were temptations by the devil. In fact, I think that’s probably
the case at this point if demons are tempting me to go back to my original
thinking. There’s no way that these hollow spirits are actually angels since
they killed those close to me and are inspiring people to gratuitous acts of violence
and slaughter. After a while, I am teleported to the roof of the basilica where everything started, and am expecting more demons, but nothing appears except
for the broken statue of Christ.
“What? Are there no more demons for
me to exorcise?” I ask.
“You’ve done your part. Well done,”
the statue says.
Hearing sounds of violence and
seeing fires in the distance brings doubt into my mind again.
“Even though the city still burns?”
“Yes. There are demons that I am
not allowing you to see and fires that don’t need putting out because I am
allowing certain evils to happen for a greater good that I have planned. I know
you’re still concerned about your legacy, but do not be. Even though the legacy
you wanted to happen will be erased tonight, what you leave behind will be
greater than that.”
“I…I figured I couldn’t save my
legacy. It doesn’t help that you had to point it out and what You’re saying
doesn’t help much.”
“Then let us plant the final seeds
of your legacy so that it will begin to grow.”
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