Holy Darkness - Chapter 1 – Lights Out

“The one true apostle of God was disgraced by the other eleven, but when the true apostle was blessed by God, he blessed humanity with his many gifts and brought them into a golden age never seen before. The eleven apostles and their followers became the disgraced and were not allowed to share in the gifts. Today, the one true apostle sits upon a golden throne barely alive animated by the power within the throne and must be powered by the sacrifice of a thousand newly born baptized souls so that the golden age will continue and allow humanity to prosper.” – according to the Sacred Scriptures of Truth and Light

 

Chapter 1 – Lights Out

It’s another day in the dark of Exclusion Zone and Matteo looks out at the City of Lights and all its wonder. The city gives off a cold warm feeling from its lights because of what goes on behind its walls. He wishes he could do something besides pray and hope that God does something about it.

As if to answer his prayers, a voice says in his head, “Today is the day justice comes to the City of Light. Rise, Matteo, it is I who will aid you in this quest.”

“Is…is that you, Lord?”

“It is I who was, am, and will be.”

Excited to get a direct answer from God, Matteo asks, “How may I serve you?”

“You will go into the city and destroy the statue of the traitorous apostle whom they sacrifice one thousand baptized infants a day to.”

“We’re going after the world’s primary source of power already?”

“The cries of the blood of generations of infants scream to me with every second that they are not avenged and I cannot stay silent any longer. It must be eradicated today.”

“O-okay. Who should I get to help me and what should we use to bring down the statue?”

“You do not need anyone because I will accompany you.”

“But what can I do? I’m a simple boy who hardly does anything useful around here.”

“You do not need to do anything other than follow my instructions. Do not fear because I will be with you as I always have.”

“Forgive me for feeling doubtful and fearful. This is all so much at once for someone like me, but I trust in You so…shall we go?”

“Yes, but first you will be blessed with an appearance fitting of your role.”

Matteo is wrapped in shadows and a half skull mask appears on his face with black thorns that keep it on his face. He wears a pointed hood and fair pitch black outfit that would fit in with the luxurious citizens of the City of Light if it weren’t so black. The cape that he wears has the same black thorns that keep the mask on his face though they don’t feel as painful to touch.

“M-may I ask the purpose of the thorns?” Matteo asks.

“These are to remind those of the City of Light and the Exclusion Zone that to suffer is to love. Trust Me when I say that if these people knew had the slightest understanding that to suffer for someone was true love then you wouldn’t have to wear these thorns but be steadfast because I bear those thorns of suffering with you.”

This explanation both convinces Matteo that this is truly God talking to him while also making him feel more doubtful. It’s been said in the Exclusion Zone that God will come with vengeance, however, he didn’t know that it would be like this despite it making sense to him.

He then asks, “What approach should we take to get into the city? They don’t let people from the Exclusion Zone in unless they show their repentance to them.”

Matteo shutters at remembering the people who went up to the gates naked and the ones who presented their baptized children as fuel for the throne of the apostle.

“We go up to the gates and enter the shadows of the people entering it.”

The ridiculousness of what has happened so far and what Matteo has already accepted makes this plan seem logical to him so he does as God asks. Matteo gets to the gates and enters the shadows of a group of people entering the city without even thinking of how to do it. These people are all dress in vibrant colors and ride on mythical unicorns created by the people in the City of Light.

Once inside the city, Matteo asks, “How are we going to get to the throne now?”

“There are many lights in this city and with light comes shadows. We have many to jump between. I will guide you through them.”

“Thank you because I have no idea how to get to the throne.”

As Matteo looks around, he gets a real view of the City of Light. The city itself stretches across the world and is the only city in the world not counting the same Exclusion Zone settlements that are in between it. Matteo sees how happy people are here compared to his family and friends in his home. He sees all of the wonderous tech, blooming flowers, and beautiful structures that make this place look like a paradise. It even smells great with what smells like a dozen distinct flowers for each part of the city that he’s in.

“Don’t be fooled by this place and the happiness that it presents,” the voice of God says in Matteo’s head, “It is built on blood, selfish sacrifices, and the worship of false idols.”

“False idols? I thought they worshipped You in the wrong way.”

“The best way the Deceiver tricks people into doing evil is by making it seem good and reasonable. For example, it is reasonable for them to sacrifice baptized children because the children will go to Heaven while their world spanning city continues to operate. They think no one gets hurt and it’s a positive outcome for both them and the infants, but they’re wrong since they’ve denied the infants their right to life and they’ve wronged the mothers their right to their children.”

Excuses for the actions of the citizens come to Matteo’s head, but none of them stick. A wave of anger for the city then starts to flare up inside of him. This anger was there already for how the city treated him and the rest of the people in the Exclusion Zone along with the infants. Now that he knows that their actions are completely inexcusable, he has to temper himself so that he doesn’t start to hate anyone. Before he knows it, he stands in front of the golden throne with the corpse of the traitorous apostle. The body is decorated with all kinds of gems and valuable jewelry just like the golden throne.

“Okay, how are we going to destroy this?”

“Touch it and it will fall to pieces.”

Matteo does as God says and the throne shatters to pieces along with the corpse and everything on it. Power goes out throughout the entire city and business is completely brought to a halt. Everyone quickly panics and heads to the golden throne to see what happened and sees Matteo exiting the massive cathedral. Both the crowd and Matteo are unsure what to do at the sight of each other, so God inspires Matteo to speak.

He says, “Reap the rewards of your sins, you wretched people. It is I, the Lord whose face you spit in with your every action. I have come in fury and vengeance to destroy every wicked thing that you have created. If you do not repent and destroy the rest of your vile creations, then I will destroy them Myself along with your city.”

The crowd takes a couple of seconds to respond and when they do, they’re furious and yell at Matteo though they do not charge at them because his destruction of the throne still scares them.

“So be it then.”

Matteo’s right arm jolts back and the cathedral behind him implodes on itself along with the ground that it was on until nothing is left but an abyss where it once was. Some of the crowd gathers around the abyss only to be grabbed by large hands that pull them down. In the chaos and confusion, Matteo uses the shadows to escape the city and go back to where he was resting.

“Alright. With that done, the entire City of Light will collapse. I guess I shouldn’t call it City of Light since the lights are off, right?” Matteo says.

“They’ll find other ways to continue their sinful lives and excuse their actions. Take a look.”

The lights in the city come back on though they are dimmer than they were before.

“Did some of them convert yet? What we did had to bring some people to their senses.”

“It shook some of them, but they haven’t completely awoken yet. There’s still much to be done.”

“Okay, okay. When are we going back in? Should we strike when the iron is hot and going in now?”

“You should rest now and let the events of today go through their minds. It may convert those who were already questioning their lives.”

“Where should I rest? Can I go back home like this?”

“The people in your home will not understand what you have done and think that you may be under the influences of the Deceiver. I will take you to a nearby cave where you can safely rest.”

“If that’s what I need to do, then okay…”

Matteo is taken to a dark cave where he sits down and tries to hold himself to warm himself up and hurts his hands when he touches the thorns on his cape. Feelings of loneliness and cold begin to enter his body until he feels a slight warmth.

“I am still here with you. Do not forget that.”

“No, I won’t forget.”

Matteo then goes to sleep with the hope that he did the right thing today despite his feelings telling him otherwise.