Penance, Penance, Penance!: Chapter 1 – Penance of Penances

 

“But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die.” – Ezekiel 18: 21

Chapter 1 – Penance of Penances

A village of deformed people that bear the weight of their sins is going about their daily tasks as best they can. Because of their sins, some villagers are blinded, some have their skin bleeding or constantly burnt, while others suffer similar kinds of pain in their body along with other unpleasant feelings. For example, there is a villager who has bugs crawling through his skin because he intentionally tried to kill a fellow competing cook. Another villager suffers from wearing underwear made of thorns because they fornicated with another’s spouse. Everyone has sinned and there is no one who is just among them. Not one. There are only those who embrace their penance and those who don’t, and even the repentant can be like the dog that returns to their vomit when they let their weak human nature get to them.

Despite the never-ending pain and bleeding, no one is able to die. It doesn’t matter how many pieces a person is cut into nor does it matter how much of their body becomes ash. Their body heals and the penance continues or worsens in some regards. Very few die and even fewer pay their debts in full. God has made it so that no one can die unless they do a particular penance. A penance of suffering and death that scares most away from it. A road of blood and torment that is walked on by a lone man entering the village.

His ghastly appearance scares some of the villagers away from him. A thorny vine chokes his neck, enters his mouth, and exits out his left eye. His armor and mask are black as ash. In addition, his arms are wrapped in thorny vines, especially his right arm. The sword he grips is also thorny and is attached to his hand with thorny vines that make his hand bleed.

“What did this man do to deserve such a fate?” a villager wonders aloud.

The lone man turns his head and startles the villager; however, the village dog is not startled by the man’s appearance and goes up to him. The brave dog barks at the man and stops him in his tracks before sniffing his legs. Curious about the dog, the man kneels down. Unafraid of the man’s face, the dog sniffs it then licks it. The man then pets the dog as the villagers are eased to see that the man is compassionate towards the dog. This calm doesn’t last long as two people with torn and battle-worn bodies make their way into the village.

“Stop him!” one of them says, “He’s trying to complete the Three Indulgences and Three Deaths!”

The larger attacker uses the steel ball at the end of their arm to try to crush the lone man who uses his free arm that forms a shield made of thorns to protect him. While he is preoccupied, another man slices the lone man’s shield arm off where his skin is exposed with his bone sword. With his arm off, the lone man backs off the avoid the larger attacker’s crushing blow as the man’s arm is brought back to him and reattached by his vines. This slight opportunity to attack is taken by the faster attacker who leaps at the man but is quickly cut into two pieces. Since his arm hasn’t reattached itself yet, the man uses it like a ball and chain to hit the larger attacker in the face. This allows the man to finish off the last attacker with a slice to the throat.

Now that the fight has stopped, the villagers come out and are surprised by who is the victor. The village priest, with his throat, wrists, and ankles wrapped in thorny vines approaches him and closely examines his appearance.

“Is it true what they said? Are you trying to complete the Three Indulgences and Three Deaths?” the priest asks.

The man nods in response.

“May God bless you and give you strength. It must be difficult walking the Path of Saints with only one eye. I’ve heard that the path is only clear to those who have their hearts and minds set on completing it. Is that true?”

The man nods again and shows the priest his boots that have golden blood on them.

“Ah, yes! The golden blood of saints that is said to be one of the most valuable things to God because it is a testament to the saints’ love of God. It’s also rumored that their tears are mixed in as well.”

An arrow is suddenly shot into the lone man’s eye by one of the villagers.

“Stop him!” the villager says as his hands begin to be wrapped by chains that come out from his skin.

“What are you doing?” another asks.

“If he completes the trial, then God will keep us in this cycle of Penance and Pain!”

Some villagers join the attack while the others turn against them and side with the lone man.

“Get away while we hold them off! Do the penance for your sins and the sins of the world!” a villager says to the lone man who crosses himself to let them know his gratitude before leaving.

The defending villagers do their best to push back the attackers, but the previous two who the lone man defeated are back on their feet and go after him only to lose him as he disappears in front of their eyes.

“Where did he go?” one of them asks in a panic.

“The Path of Saints can only be walked on by those who set their hearts and minds on it. Who knows where God has taken him now,” the village priest says.

Undeterred by what the priest said, the two attackers wander the forest in the vain attempt of finding the lone man. Meanwhile, the man is miles away from the village at a crumbled church that sits in the center of a destroyed village. The sound of shifting grass makes the man take a defensive stance. A woman sticks her head out from the knee-high tall grass.

“Do you walk the Path of Saints?” she asks.

The man nods.

“May God bless your soul. I’ve watched many people walk this path. Many dangerous and wicked people who were looking for a quick way to pay their just dues. Since death is nonexistent and pain is only a temporary feeling, most were eager to throw themselves at the challenge unaware of how taxing it actually is. What you will find in the church is a pain unlike any other that has scared away most people from completing it. Those fools did not understand true penance. I, on the other hand, am doing a penance unlike any other that can even be called a greater penance than the one you are doing.”

Bugs crawl all over the woman, through her eyes, mouth, and holes in her skin as she coughs out dirt. On closer inspection, the woman’s body is green and seems to have melded with the ground with her neck being snake-like.

“That is nothing compared to what I am doing!” another woman says from the house across, “I have to deal with you talking about yourself and your sob stories all day long!”

Another woman pops up and says, “Can you two be quiet? I’m trying to suffer for the three of us?”

“Four of us, or did you mean to forget me?”

More women with snake-like necks pop up and argue with each other. Listening and looking at them closer reveals that they are all similar if not the same person altered in different ways. Not wanting to get caught up in the argument, the man walks into the church to find a singular woman kneeling at the altar. She has dozens of vines growing out from the back of her head that go into the ground. The man kneels before the alter then goes up to this woman to see that she’s praying. Her eyes open and turn to look at him.

She says, “Pity me not. I am but a penitent sinner paying her debts for all the jealousy and envy that I had. Approach the altar and go down the stairs for the penance you seek.”

The lone man nods and crosses himself as her pain is eased.

“Bless your heart.”

Going down the long set of stairs reveals a dark room that is lit up by a fire that consumes almost the whole room. Screams come from the room as the smell of burning flesh is mixed in with the smoke.

“The Flames of Purgatory are presented before you to purify you. It will give you pain for your penance and strength for your journey. Walk through the flames or turn back now because once you start to walk this path there will be no going back,” a voice in the flames says.

It takes the lone man a second to steel himself before he decides to walk into the flames. He crosses himself then heads in. The intense pain hits him immediately and almost causes him to walk back, but he presses on. As the flames burn him, he feels a burning sensation that burns him to the soul. He walks directionless through the fire and keeps walking as fast as he can. His spirit begins to fade as his hope for a quick end to this challenge slips further and further away.

Visions of his sins then enter the lone man’s head. Visions of a family, a wife, children, and dog. Visions of blood, death, and suicide, and lastly, a vision of refusal then pain as he sees himself. The lone man then resolves to not give up and embraces the flames. What was once excruciatingly painful is now a source of strength. Before he knows it, the man finds himself at the end of the room. Looking back, he sees that the room wasn’t as big as he thought. He then goes into a room to find a water font before the Nail Cross of Penance. At the water font, he dunks his head in.

“Receive ye the first indulgence for giving the first death, Corleone,” a voice says.

Corleone raises his head from the water. He feels a fire burning within him that he lets flow through him until it ignites his sword with flames. He then nods his head and exits the basement of the church to find himself back on the Path of Saints in the middle of a ruined city. In this new place, he continues walking the path in pain, but also reinvigorated and ready for wherever the path leads him next.