Chapter 5 – Holy Judgment
The civil war is over, the false church has won, and his successor sits on Peter’s throne while our true pope has been defeated and is serving an unjust sentence in jail. This doesn’t matter. The Dogmatists will rise again. We still have faithful among the traitors who will wage war against the Ecclesia once we rest and recuperate enough strength to fight again. The faithful are mobilizing now to eliminate key members of the Ecclesia to give us an early leg up on them. I’m going to Earth to eliminate one of these key members, my very own brother who has written against the Dogmatists. With him out of the picture, people will have fewer reasons to turn against us.
My brother is currently resting at our family’s home that he inherited. He should be by himself at this moment with the rest of his family being somewhere else on Earth. They’ll be converted later, however, they will never know that I got rid of him. As I land on the landing platform on our house, I have a feeling to look up at the sky. The fact that the civil war didn’t end, and the true Church still stands strong fills me with strength, but I feel uneasy all of the sudden. Is it because of my task? Is God whispering something to me that I should know about my brother? Whatever the case is, I enter my old home to find my brother sitting on a chair by a window with a book in his lap looking out at the sky. Finally noticing that I’m here, my brother turns to me with a gentle smile.
He says, “Ah, I’m sorry that I didn’t get up in time to greet you at the door, brother. My security system told me you were landing, and I was going to meet you, but something caught my eyes in the sky and captivated me for whatever reason. Come! Let us celebrate the ending of the civil war. I’ll get the drinks and we can talk about-”
“No, I am not here for that.”
“What are you here for then?”
I take out my sword and ignite its laser’s edge.
“Revenge,” I say before slashing at my brother.
He dodges to the side as I cut the chair he was sitting in, in two.
“I thought you defended the Dogmatists for a reason, but I didn’t know you were a traitor,” he says as he takes a family sword from the wall and ignites it.
“You’re the traitor who has betrayed God and His Church!”
I continue slashing at my brother and destroy some of the furniture and decoration of the house as our fight is taken outside. Why doesn’t he fight back? We were both trained in swordsmanship, and yet, he defends himself rather than attacking.
“Abel! Brother! We don’t have to fight!”
“All enemies of God and His Church must die! The civil war has only just begun, Cain.”
“Please, don’t revive that time of useless bloodshed. We accomplished less than nothing during it. Look at what you’re doing, brother. Trying to kill your own brother at the home we both grew up in. Remember what we were taught by our parents and the Church. This is not the right thing to do.”
I uncontrollably look around as if enraptured by the memories and echoes of the past that remind me of the most memorable moments of my life here in seconds before I shake free from them.
“No, it is.”
As my blade strikes his, a loud announcement is broadcasted from an unknown fleet above Earth.
“We are the Alliance of Empires!” the announcement says, “We are the rightful rulers of the galaxy who you must submit to or be exterminated.”
“Who are these fools?” I say.
“I don’t know, but they seem flashy,” Cain says while looking up at the sky with me.
Is this was God was trying to warn me about? Even Cain looked up at the sky and wasn’t sure why.
“This alliance has already wiped out the other galaxies you have controlled in mere minutes. You don’t even need to look at your deep space scans to know this is true. Have you felt that feeling of an untold number of lives being snuffed out?”
They can’t be telling the truth. To make sure, I go into my ship and check my scans, and…
“Are they telling the truth, Abel?”
“God have mercy on those poor souls…These bastards will pay!”
“Lord have mercy on us.”
“We forced the suns of many galaxies to explode and destroy every planet in the galaxy, but we will not subject this last remaining galaxy to it. Instead, we will take our rightful planets, and you will submit to us as our slaves or be eradicated.”
The man then lists which planets are going to which.
“Can we put our fight on hold for now?” Cain says.
“Of course, but we’re going to settle this later with a proper duel.”
“Not to the death I hope.”
“I’m starting to reconsider that, but whatever kind of duel we have, I will win it.”
“No, I will.”
“I will and that’s final.”
“You always try to shut down conflicts and declare yourself the victor.”
“Activate the house’s air defenses and target that fleet already.”
“Done.”
The air defenses activate in our house and the neighboring city. They seem to have the same idea we do, which is to shoot out the wretched sinners from the sky. My scans show that the Church is mobilizing all her forces as the largest battle I’ve seen unfolds before me. This battle goes from space to sky as enemy forces land on Earth. My brother and I armor up and take the best weapons from our family’s house and help defend the town along with everyone else. The battle eventually reaches a point where the churches in town stand up and appear to have been mechs this entire time. They unleash a barrage of fire to the sky while blaring battle music praising God and asking Him to aid us in destroying our enemy. Everything reaches a conclusion as both the Church and her enemies unleash their entire arsenals on each other in an awe-inspiring display of battle that makes it look like the end of the world.
“Abel! We have to get to cover!” my brother says as he leads me into a mech church for cover.
Before I know it, the battle is over. The fleet is space is nothing but debris, however, everything down here is destroyed as well. Checking a console to see if there are any survivors, I’m shocked to find that life on all planets except for Earth has been destroyed until the console shuts off.
“This is it,” I say aloud.
“What is it, brother?”
“God has confined humanity back to Earth. All technology has been rendered to trash and Earth is the only place we reside now.”
“Considering everything that humanity has done in its history across the stars, that’s probably a good thing.”
“It was so quick though. Centuries of work brought down to dust in what? An hour or so?”
“God’s judgment is swift.”
People outside and in the church start chanting, “Veritas Aeterna! Catholicism est ut Aeternum! Truth is eternal! Catholicism is eternal! Praise and glory be to God for all eternity!”
Going outside, we see people celebrating our survival. Cain starts chanting the same as them as he smiles. I guess this is for the best and God’s Church has survived at the end of the future. What lies ahead is a mystery to me, but one thing is certain that is being chanted.
“Veritas Aeterna! Catholicism est ut Aeternum! Truth is eternal! Catholicism is eternal! Praise and glory be to God for all eternity!”
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