Exorcism of the Hollow: Chapter 3 – Exorcising Weakness

Chapter 3 – Exorcising Weakness

Finally, I get to fight demons like a real exorcist. Marina leads me to an abandoned abortion clinic. The information we have on this place says that satanic rituals were done here as they sacrificed infants to demons to continue to be financially stable. This place suddenly caught fire one day after a group of Catholics prayed the rosary around it. The survivors of the fire tried to blame the Catholics for arson but there was no concrete evidence to link them to the fire. Here, Marina and I are in our exorcist outfits with our swords drawn ready to cut down any demon we come across.

“Be on your guard. Demons are known to be tricky,” Marina says.

“Got it.”

“Alessio!” I hear a familiar voice call out. It can’t be. “Alessio! Come out, dear!”

My mom walks through a wall and appears before us. She’s dressed in the same pink dress and white jacket that she wore on the day she died.

“Mom?”

“It’s good to see you again, Alessio. I’ve heard your prayers for me to be here for you during your most troubling times and I am here to help you again.”

Seeing my mom again brings a smile to my face and tears to my eyes. I don’t know what to say to her. That is until she appears to be in pain. Looking back at Marina for answers, I see her holding a cross while muttering something.

“What are you doing, Marina?” I ask.

“I had to make sure she is who she said she was, but it’s a liar. This is a demon. Exorcise her,” Marina says.

“What? She’s my mom!”

“The demon just looks like your mom!”

“Don’t believe her,” mom says, “Haven’t I been talking to you from Heaven this entire time? Remember the nights we used to talk to each other despite us being so far apart?”

“It’s true, Marina! She is my mom! We used to talk to each other even after she died and she’s always been with me through the hardest moments in my life even at her own funeral!”

“Then explain how this cross and prayer cause you pain? You can’t. If you were a holy soul in Purgatory, then you would embrace these to take time off your sentence in it and if you were from Heaven, you wouldn’t be affected at all.”

“Those objects and prayers are demonic, Alessio. Protect me or else you won’t be able to face the demon and I won’t be able to see you anymore,” mom says.

“Alessio, listen to me!”

“Think about your father or your sister. I won’t be able to help them either.”

All these conflicting thoughts and feelings in my head make me scream out and cut the head off my mother. So, I guess it was a demon, and here I was silently hoping that it wasn’t and praying that God would prove me right. Her body transforms as holes form in her body while the rest of her disappears.

“Thank you, Alessio,” Marina says while putting her hand on my shoulder.

I push her hand off me then say, “Leave me alone!”

“I’m sorry that what you’ve been hearing wasn’t your mom.”

That demon bastard pretended to be my mom for years and I couldn’t tell. Did I even try to know if it was her for sure? That demon, that pretended to be her, always did say that I was perfect as I was and that I didn’t need to go to confession or go to mass. What will dad and Alex do now when they notice that they aren’t getting a response from who they thought was mom? I can’t handle thinking about this any longer so I go back to the park we were training at and sit in silence for a bit. Marina sits with me too while not saying anything. She looks at me every now and then as if she wants to say something.

“Thanks for being here and not saying anything. I just had to process all that,” I admit.

“It’s okay. I’m here to listen to you and give you advice if you need it,” she says.

“Why did that demon pretend to be my mother?”

“It’s easier to make people hollow by playing with their emotions and thinking. You don’t see demons rampaging in the streets with exorcists fighting them like when you first met me. You’ll probably see demons pretending to be angels or spirits that appear to be helping people when really, they’re dragging them to Hell. They only attack when there’s no option for them left.”

“Let’s get back to work then. I’m sure there are more demons around here and it’s like what, six pm? The night is still young and-”

“No, let’s rest for tonight.”

“Why? Don’t tell me you’re tired already. You didn’t do anything.”

“No, it’s not that. I just wanted you to put your skills to the test but didn’t know that they would send a demon that pretended to be your mom. It takes a lot of strength to do what you did. I think you’re ready to be a real exorcist. I’ll have my report and recommendation sent to the other exorcists. Guards, what do you think?”

Marina’s guards appear before us.

One of them says, “You did excellent, Alessio.”

“You did better than most if they faced the same challenge,” another compliments.

“Thank you. What are your names?”

“My name is Gale.”

“I’m Jonah.”

“It’s nice to meet you two. Thank you for training me today.”

“You’re welcome,” they both say.

“Okay, I think it’s time to go back home. I’m beat-”

The sight of seeing a family causes me to choke up a bit and wipe my eyes.

Marina hugs me from behind then says, “Are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine. Now, get off, you cougar.”

When we get back home, I try to pretend to Alex and my dad that everything is normal. As I joke around, Marina laughs and looks at me as if she’s still worried. I don’t know why she’s so worried about me nor do I know what to say to her to ease her mind. While trying to sleep, I can feel her stare at me. What’s her deal? The feeling of someone staring at me doesn’t leave even as I feel myself falling asleep. Turning around to look at where the feeling is coming from, I turn to see my mom.

Demons claw at her and drag her down to the fires as she screams. My arms and legs are restrained and can feel myself being pulled down along with her. Alex and my dad are being pulled down as well and seem to be going down faster than I. This is until I watch Marina cut something above me and everything I see disappears.

“What happened?” I ask.

“I did it! I banished my first demon-ah, a demon was affecting you. I’m sorry I only noticed it when I was woken up by a feeling,” Marina says.

“Thanks. Congratulations on your first banishment or whatever."

Okay, okay. It was just a dream. Mom is probably in Heaven and that dream was just a product of my worry. Nothing more. The next few days fly by like nothing since the revelation about my mom was revealed. Marina and I exorcise demon after demon and even come across a few holy souls in Purgatory. One, in particular, I try to cut down because she scared me, but when my blade cut her, it just passed right through her.

“Alessio!” Marina says.

“What did you expect my reaction to be when I see a spirit appear to me out of nowhere that’s on fire?”

“Please get my family and the Church to pray for me. My sentence in Purgatory is until the end of time. Thank the merciful God that I was allowed this generous cleansing before entering into Heaven,” the woman says.

“We will,” Marina says to her.

“Thank you, and please tell my children to remember me and pray for me. Oh, and that I will always love them.”

My mom never said to pray for her and remember her when she spoke to me. I guess whenever it happened, it was always the demon speaking to me. Still, that could mean she went straight to Heaven. She loved me so much that she sacrificed herself to save me. Yes, that has to be it. After so much training, fighting demons, and helping the souls in Purgatory, I begin to put the thought of the fate of the soul of my mother to the back of my mind. My hopes are that she is in Heaven looking down at me and proud that I’m an exorcist like her.

A worry still keeps me up every other night though. Why didn’t God let me know that a demon was pretending to be my mom? Why let me know now? What’s the purpose of letting me be an exorcist? Why also let me continue to have these thoughts when I prayed to make them stop? Why also let Marina continue to stare at me every single night?

“Do you have a crush on me or something?” I ask her.

“No! Royalty isn’t allowed to be in relationships with peasants.”

“You didn’t exactly say no. Why do you keep looking at me?”

“I’m not! I’m just…I’m just concerned about you. You’ve been different ever since you met that demon that pretended to be your mom.”

Marina sits at my bedside while I sit up.

“I’m fine. Really, I am.”

“You promise to tell me when you aren’t?”

“I promise. What made you start to care about me so much?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I give her a look and she knows that I’m not buying her lie. “Okay. I don’t want the boy who saved me and who tries to be the best person he can for both himself and his loved ones to go away or be tainted in any way.”

“Don’t you worry. I won’t change the way I am.”

“But you’ll become even better over time, right?”

“I think I’m fine the way I am.”

“You’ll have to grow up eventually and I’m not talking about age.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll try to. Now stop worrying so much and go to bed.”

“Alright.”

She still seems to have lingering concerns so I give her a hug before she sits up from my bed and she hugs me back. Out of the corner of my eye, I see my dad and sis looking at us again from a crack in my door.

“What you’re expecting isn’t going to happen so you better leave us alone!” I say to them.

“Ah, come on! I know she’s been making lover eyes at you for the past few days. Just give her what she wants,” my dad says.

“I want to see what love making is like in person. It’s not the same looking at it online,” I can’t believe my sister says.

“Would you both get out of here!”

They don’t move until I get up and throw my pillow at the door. I can hear them laughing behind it. Creeps. Marina goes back to her bed and falls asleep not long after. Hopefully, she can rest easy now.

Exorcism of the Hollow: Chapter 2 – Spiritual Training

Chapter 2 – Spiritual Training

When I bring Marina to my dad, he thinks that she’s a normal person at first and patches her up.

“Excuse me, sir. Can I stay here for a bit? I’m traveling and can’t go back home yet. I promise that I won’t be a nuisance,” Marina says.

“You can stay as long as you want. You can stay even longer if you’re a nuisance to Alessio. Heck, you can even use his clothes and sleep in his room since it’s the only one that has a second bed.”

“What?!” I say.

“What? I thought having a pretty lady sleep in the same room as you is the dream of every young man?”

“Thank you so much, sir!”

“You don’t have to be so formal. Just called me Cody.”

“Thank you, Cody.”

Marina and I go into my room after we change and she makes herself comfortable in my room while I get her bed ready.

“I’m surprised that you don’t need some kind of special spirit medicine since you’re invisible to people who can’t see spirits,” I say.

“I’m still human despite the spiritual nature of my body. Right now, I’m using my power to make myself more visible.”

“What about me? How am I visible despite having an exorcist’s powers?”

“Because you were born here unlike me. I was born in the realm of the exorcists that is located below the Vatican. There, people are born with a sort of spiritual curse or blessing more accurately speaking since we can see and interact with the spiritual as if they were physical.”

“I knew the Vatican was keeping secrets, but I wouldn’t imagine they had exorcists under them despite it kind of making sense.”

“So, you said that your dad could see the spiritual, but hardly. I was building up my physical presence so he could see me better, however, the fact that his spiritual sense is attuned enough to slightly peer into the spiritual reality then that means he had relations with an exorcist. You never mentioned your mom to me.”

“That’s because she’s dead.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Maybe she was an exorcist since she died protecting me from a demon. It’s how I got these scratch marks from my face.”

“She must’ve been an exorcist, but how would she…nevermind. That’s a thought for another day. Is my bed ready yet?”

“Yes, princess. Why do you need to stay here again?”

“Because I don’t have the currency of this world to rent a place to live here. Also, it’s because I’m royalty and I’m allowed to stay wherever I want. You should be honored to have me here and to have me to train you as an exorcist.”

“Oh, sure I am.”

“You ought to stop being so disrespectful to me or else!”

“Or else what? You’ll need someone else besides me to save you?”

“I’ll show you!”

Marina tries hitting me several times only for me to grab her by the wrists. She keeps trying to hit me until she makes us both trip and fall on the bed with her being on top of me.

“Guards!” Marina says while blushing.

My window seemingly opens by itself and two masked exorcists suddenly appear in my room with one knee down.

“Yes, ma’am,” they say in unison.

“Well? Protect me!”

“From what? He saved your life and you are in no real danger.”

“Besides the danger you put yourself in,” the other guard asks.

“Shh. If you need us now, why didn’t you call upon us when the demon had your back against the wall.”

“I-I had it under control. Why didn’t you come to me when this boy flicked me in the head?”

“Because we thought it was fun-”

“Shhh”!

“You thought it was funny?! It wasn’t-” I flick her head and the guards try to contain their laughter. “Get out of here and come back tomorrow morning for my message to bring back home!”

“Yes, ma’am, but I should also mention that you’re a bit too old to be getting that close to a boy that young.”

“How old is she?” I ask.

“You’re not supposed to ask a woman her age!” Marina says.

“Thirty-two.”

“Get out of here!”

“Yes, ma’am,” the guards say before they disappear and my window closes.

“You’re twice my age, you old hag.”

“Shut up!”

A creak in the floor gets our attention to see that my little sis and dad are watching us from the door.

“Oh, don’t mind us,” my dad says.

“Is this why you left school early? Am I going to be an aunt soon?” Alex asks while trying not to laugh.

“It’s okay, son. Your mother and I did the same thing the first day we met so-”

“Get out!” both Marina and I say.

Alex and my dad shut the door while leaving a crack open presumably to still watch. They have no shame.

“You’re going to be dealing with a lot if you’re really going to stay here for a while,” I say.

“I know. My family can be annoying too.”

“Okay, but can I ask why you haven’t gotten off me yet?”

“Wh-why haven’t you gotten off my bed yet?”

“Why haven’t you-oh forget it,” I say while throwing Marina off me, “It’s not worth arguing about. Goodnight.”

“You can’t just throw me I’m-”

“Royalty, I know. Go to sleep.”

Marina grunts before settling into her bed. It feels like I fall asleep for a second since I wake up without having dreamed. I’m half expecting my little sis or dad to wake me up, but I’m surprised to see Marina in front of me in a schoolgirl outfit.

“So, what do you think? How do I look?” she asks.

“I think you’re too old to wear that,” I honestly answer despite her kind of looking cute in it.

“I’m in the prime age of my life where my beauty has peaked! You just don’t have good taste in women.”

“Wait, why are you wearing that?”

“Because I’m enrolled in your school.”

“You what? Why?”

“I sent the exorcists my message and they told me that I should keep a close eye on you while they investigate your family tree and decide on what role you should play as an exorcist.”

“And they got you enrolled in my school overnight?”

“Yes! The Vatican’s resources and connections are uncountable.”

“Fine. Just behave yourself while you’re at school.”

“Of course I will.”

After eating breakfast, where my family won’t stop talking as if Marina and I did something lewd last night, Marina and I head out to school. Not many pay attention to her except a few guys that try hitting on her, which I push aside and tell to get lost.

“What? Is she your girlfriend, half breed?” the punk says.

“Half breed?” Marina asks which stops me from hitting the punk for some reason.

“It’s not important. Don’t be friends with these losers, Marina. Just ignore them.”

“Don’t be mean to my friend, Alessio. He’s a nicer person than you think,” she says.

“Save yourself the trouble of being his friend. He’s just a bully who only thinks about himself and his own. His sister does the same. She even beat my sister because they got into a disagreement. We’ll be here for you once you see that,” the punk says before walking away.

“What did he mean?”

“They know that my mom is Asian and my dad is Italian and they mock me for being an interracial kid. It’s one of the reasons why I fight against them. The other reason being is because they’re punks. Every single one of them is. Everyone who makes fun of me and my family is a punk and worth nothing.”

“You can’t think that about everyone who is against you.”

“Why not? My family and I are good people. You’d think they be nicer if they understood that.”

“I’m not saying you’re not a good person, but it looks like you don’t give them a reason to like you.”

“They don’t deserve one after what they’ve done and continue to do.”

Marina sighs and looks like she’s thinking. The irritatingly quiet kid then gets her attention for some reason. She looks like she’s shocked to see him.

“What’s wrong? Did he look at you funny?” I ask.

“No. I’ll have to ask my guards about him before I ask him anything. He might be a rogue exorcist. What’s his name?”

That bit makes me want to argue against that, but part of me feels that’s true.

“Magnus, I think. He did always say that I shouldn’t save people from demons. I thought he was just mocking me when he said that.”

“Hmm. We’ll have to see what the other exorcists say.”

“Why don’t we just ask him ourselves?”

“If he’s a rogue exorcist, then he’d be too dangerous to fight even if we teamed up to fight him together.”

“I can take him. I’ve been wanting to beat his face into the ground ever since we met.”

“You only managed to exorcise the demon with my help. Temper yourself.”

“Okay. Fine. I’ll wait, but not for long.”

The rest of the school day flies by. Marina and I go to a nearby park for practice. Her outfit transforms into the blue exorcist one that she had and her mask forms on her face.

“How do I do that?” I ask her.

“It’s just like how you deal damage to demons. Believe that it is God who is the reason that you have this power and be able to use it.”

“Okay then.” I try it and I manage to do it in a couple of minutes. “Yes! I did it!”

“It’s an easy thing to do.”

“Can you tell me why we have to wear these masks?”

“These penitential masks form when someone becomes an exorcist. This has to do with the deal with God so that the exorcists can be humbled and do penance for the sins of the world. The mask shows the sin that the exorcist is typically weak to.”

“What sin are you weakest to?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“The face on your mask looks droopy with those light blue and black tears running down its eyes, so maybe it’s laziness.”

“If I had to guess, you are most guilty of pride because of its cocky smile and because of who you are.”

“Guilty as charged if that’s the case.”

“You can’t view sin like as a quirk.”

“I’m not a sinful man. I don’t even remember the last time I sinned.”

“Then we’ll have to see a priest later for your examination of conscience, but first, let’s practice. Draw your sword. Do it the same way you did before.”

Do it the same way I did before…aha! I pull my sword out of my chest with no problem.

“Wow! I’m surprised I don’t cut myself when I draw the sword.”

“That’s because you draw the sword out of your soul.”

“I’m not going to question the spiritual physics of that, but why do I draw my sword out of your chest while you pull yours out of your head?”

“Your weapon is drawn from the place where your virtue is strongest and the type of weapon is based on your personality. If your virtue is strongest in your mind, like me, then you won’t be easily fooled by feelings or falsehoods, but you may have a cold personality and reason yourself into madness. If your virtue is strongest in your senses, then you are aware of the spiritual and the feelings of others, but you can be easily fooled by your own feelings and be manipulated by them. People like these draw their weapons from the palm of their hands. Since you can pull your sword out of your chest, then that means your virtue is strongest in your heart, which is actually the best of the three.”

“Yes!”

“It does have its weaknesses though since it’s somewhere in between the two. Despite the heart being able to resist the weaknesses of the senses and madness of the mind, it can become full of itself and use any manner of reasoning to excuse its sins that can appeal to both reason and the sense leading to a completely senseless and hollowed person.”

“Hollowed?”

“Yes, you become hollowed when you commit sins, especially mortal sins. That’s why the demons that you see have lots of holes in them. The holes are formed by the soul eating itself from within because of its sin. In other words, the soul becomes so full of itself that it makes itself implode on certain parts of the soul. When a soul is in mortal sin, the heart and the head get the biggest holes as the love of truth and God has left the heart and mind of the soul.”

“Interesting. So, are we going to practice yet?”

“Yes, guards!”

Marina’s guards appear at her command.

“Yes, ma’am!” they say.

“Show this boy how we exorcists fight. Fight him one at a time then both at the same time and don’t go easy on him. I want to see him pay for his disrespect of me.”

“You’re not going to teach me yourself or is that too low a job for royalty like you?”

“Get him!”

The princess’s guards fight me one by one. My experience fighting demons and against punks with lead pipes and baseball bats come in handy as I’m able to hold my own against one.

“When did you start fighting demons?” Marina asks while I practice.

“When I saw that my mom needed help. She trained me to fight them at a young age,” I explain.

“Did she train your sister as well?”

“No, I trained my sister since my mother died before she was old enough to be trained. Alex also doesn’t care to fight demons or interact with spirits since they don’t bother her.”

“Hmm.”

After fighting Marina’s guards for a few hours and taking the advice they give me, Marina gives them their orders and they leave us.

“Whew! That was a good workout. It’s almost nighttime. Looks like it’s time to go home,” I say.

“No, not yet. You have to fight a demon by yourself now,” Marina says.

“I basically already did.”

“Do it again. This cell phone I have gives me the locations that have varying levels of demonic activity or are suspected of harboring demons. Let’s go hunting.”

Exorcism of the Hollow: Chapter 1 – Beginnings of Conversion

Chapter 1 – Beginnings of Conversion

“It’s time to wake up, Alessio!” I kick my old man in the stomach as he jumps on me before I knock him to the ground. “What did you do that for?! Have you no respect for your elders?”

“Have you no respect for me while I’m sleeping?!”

“It’s the morning and you should always wake up with high energy. Next time, I’ll be sure to get you.”

“Next time, come up with something different. Perhaps try waking me up gently rather than being noisy and jumping on me.”

I start to get dressed in my school clothes while keeping an eye on my dad so he doesn’t pull anything more pranks.

“Aww, but when you grow up and get married, you’ll grow distant from your old man!”

“I already want to be distant from you. Is Alex awake?”

“Of course she is. Your little sis doesn’t need any help getting her up, unlike her big brother.”

“I don’t need help with anything. I can wake myself up just fine.”

“Then why does your principal bring up that you were late on the days that I let you wake yourself up to put your claims to the test.”

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Being a couple minutes late is nothing.”

“But being an hour late is something.”

“Whatever. Is breakfast ready-”

My sister throws a broken pillow in my face as I open the door to leave my room. Dang it, now I have all these feathers in my hair and outfit. Both my dad and sis laugh as I scramble to clean myself off. I should’ve known this would happen because the door was closed.

“I’ll get you later, you little brat and you old fart,” I say to both of them.

We eat breakfast together that my dad made. It’s French toast like every Tuesday. While eating, I look up at the picture of my mom who started this tradition of eating French toast every Tuesday for whatever reason. I feel the scars on the right side of my face, a memento from that day that I lost her.

Dad puts his hand on my shoulder while saying, “I miss her too, but at least she’ll always be with us.”

“Yeah,” I say while finishing my meal.

Alex and I say goodbye to dad while he tells us to stay safe and out of any unnecessary trouble. As if that could happen.

“Bro, hold on,” Alex says while pushing me into an alleyway.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Those kids ahead of us are trouble.”

“What did dad and I tell you about dealing with them?”

“I know, but I don’t feel like going to detention again and wasting dad’s time for something that he wants me to do. The school will kick us out like the other one if we keep this up.”

“Who said that the school has to know about this?” I say as I step out into the street, “Hey, losers!”

The kids turn to me and one says, “You’re the brother of that freak of a girl.”

“What did you call my sister?!”

“A freak. She thinks she can say what she wants and think that she’s better than everyone just because she has good grades and is the MVP on the soccer team.”

“If she can prove it, then she has every right to gloat.”

“But she doesn’t have the right to constantly lord it over us and get into fights when someone tries to challenge her. It’s only right for us to take her down a peg when she’s only strong enough to fight us one at a time.”

“Then how about you try fighting me since you’re all pathetic on your own? I’m sure you can lord that over her for the rest of her life.”

“You don’t need to tempt me with anything else. Get him!”

The punks try fighting me all at once, but they’re just that. Punks. I bang two of their heads together, knock one into a nearby trash container, then beat another with my bare fists.

I grab this last punk and tell him, “Let this be a lesson to anyone who wants to mess with me and my family. Say anything about this to the school staff and you’ll end up as a stain on the floor. Now, get out of here!”

The punks run away in fear while my sister cheers for my victory.

“Thank you, bro, but you didn’t have to do that. I could handle them by myself,” she says.

“What kind of big brother would I be if I let my little sis get hurt even once?”

Alex laughs then gives me a hug. I’m still keeping my promise that I’ll protect our family, mom. I hope you’re smiling at us from Heaven. We go to school and the usual boring and mundane things happen. That is until I hear the sound of fighting and a chilly scream that I’m all too familiar with. Looking outside the classroom window, I see a masked woman fighting what looks to be a demon. It looks like she needs my help. This is the first time I’ve seen anyone fighting the spirits I see. Well, I always pray for an excuse to leave school early and God does deliver.

“Sorry, but I got to go to the bathroom!” I say as I run out of the classroom.

“You can’t keep using that excuse, Alessio!” the teacher screams.

Of course I can. People being in need is always an excuse to drop what you’re doing.

“Get out of the way!” I say while passing by one of the irritatingly quiet members of the class who just stares at me while standing still.

“Off to face demons again? I told you you’re crazy to-” he says before I push him aside.

I can never understand what his deal is.

“Where are you going, half breed?” a punk says as he hangs out in the hallway with his friends.

I clothesline him as I keep running. To avoid his friends, I carefully jump out the first story window and land on the ground floor as I keep running. Once I get to where the demon is, I find that the masked woman has her back up against the wall. She then reaches into her head that's emanating some kind of blue light and pulls a greatsword out of her head that she tries defending herself with. I’m at loss for words as I watch the woman fight the demon until she starts to lose.

“Hey, holes for face!” I say while not really knowing what to call the demon. “How about you pick on someone who actually knows how to fight?”

The demon faces me as I break a rusty steel pipe off from a nearby building and do some practice swings.

“Hey! I know how to fight! How can you even see me and the demon?” the woman says.

“Don’t you worry, miss. Get out of here while I distract this thing.”

With my steel pipe, I hit the monster several times to no effect while dodging its attacks. The masked woman seems amazed at my ability to fight. She then throws her sword across the demon’s eyes to blind it before it disappears into sparkles of blue light that go back into her head.

“If you want to do actually hurt it, then quickly come over to me!” she says.

I avoid the demon’s wild flailing and reach the woman’s side.

“Are you going to give me your sword?” I ask.

“I can’t. It’s tied to my soul. I’ll have to lend you some of my power, but it may kill you.”

“Let’s give it a try.”

“Are you sure?”

“If it can save your life, of course.”

“Okay.” The woman takes her sword out of her head and points it at me. “Take the sword and thrust it into your chest while saying, ‘Ego me primum crucifigo’.”

“Now I know why you said it may kill me. What does that even mean.”

“It means, ‘I crucify myself first’, now hurry if you’re serious about doing this.”

“Ego me primum crucifigo!”

A light shines from my body as the blade painlessly enters my body. My clothes change and a half mask forms on my face. As I begin to feel something inside me, I reach inside and pull out a black sword that has edges on the hilt and blade like thorns on a rose.

“No way,” the woman says in surprise.

“You know what? You can keep your sword. I like this one better,” I say before charging at the demon and slicing it at its limbs while dodging its attacks, however, I’m still not damaging it. “Am I missing something or do I need to call out my attacks like in the comics?”

“You have to believe that God is the source of your strength and that He is the only reason you’re able to do damage.”

“Since He’s been good enough to get me out of school and these cool powers, why shouldn’t I?”

Believing that God is the reason why I’m able to do damage actually allows me to damage the demon. I cut at its limbs to stop it from flailing before cutting off its head, which makes it disappear.

“I can’t believe your abilities. I didn’t even give you any of my power,” the woman says as she stands up.

“I guess it just means that I’m that special.”

“No, it must mean that someone in your family is an exorcist like me.”

“An exorcist? My dad owns a clinic and is a doctor while my little sister is just a sophomore in high school, so I don’t think you’ll find any exorcists in our family. Besides, I’ve never seen an exorcist like you before.”

“No one is supposed to see us or the demons besides us and those who God deems it necessary, but there’s something different about you. Your soul resonated with the powers of the exorcist as if it was natural. That only happens with those who have blood ties to other exorcists since the blessings of an exorcist stay within the families of exorcists as a blessing from God and because the families who have exorcists usually will continue to have them.”

“That’s very convenient. At least I have a weapon now to get rid of the demons that I come across. Do you need help getting back home?”

“I was sent here on my first real assignment to kill a demon and I’m not supposed to go back until I’ve done that. What I can do to make up for that is train you to be an exorcist.”

“Sign me up then. I didn’t have any plans for a college career anyway. I’m Alessio. What’s your name?”

“Marina. Princess Marina. I’m royalty so you better treat me with respect or else.”

“Oh, an exorcist who is also royalty. That’s neat. I’ll treat you with whatever respect you show me so you better be respectful to me too.”

“No, you have to be respectful to me first.” I show her my respect by respectfully flicking her forehead. “Ow! You’ll pay for that! How dare you treat me, a princess, like that!”

“Whatever. Come on and let’s get you fixed up at my dad’s place.”

“Tch. Fine.”

Marissa and I begin our walk back home. Who would’ve thought that becoming an exorcist would be my reason for skipping school? I think this’ll be the start of something exciting.

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There are two groups, the Wolves and the Ravens, that have fought a secretive war for the soul of humanity. They were influential in the American Revolution, the Cold War, and even in the modern-day and untold pages of history. This book contains various stories from both sides to show the view of both sides as the Wolves fight for order while the Ravens fight for freedom.

Way of the Wolf and the Raven: Story 5 – Forbidden Unity

Story 5 – Forbidden Unity

Political rivals, revolutionaries, and those loyal to the royals wait for the opportunity and a good excuse to raid each other’s homes and businesses. The streets of France run red with blood and the bodies of its citizens. Behind the scenes, the Wolves and Ravens pull the strings and fight their own war as the country tears itself apart. My family takes up arms against another and joins the mob in an assault against a rich family in the city. The mansion’s once beautiful statues and exterior design are ruined by fire and graffiti. Guards that protect the family are overtaken by the mob. Some receive a quick death while others are publicly beaten and shamed.

The inside of the mansion becomes a worse wreck than the outside as people take the valuables inside of it and even fight over them. Butlers, maids, guards, and the other occupants of the mansion suffer the same fate as the outside guards as the mob gorges on their fill of violence and self-righteous justice.

“Liberty, equality, fraternity!” the mob chants.

While they indulge in their madness, they miss the most valuable people in the mansion. These people are neither politicians, businessmen, nor revolutionaries. They are Ravens, those who started this revolution. The Wolves are looking to root them out while also using the revolution to eliminate whatever Ravens we can. So far, the revolution hasn’t been going in our favor, however, it doesn’t matter if the Wolves can hold their grip on this country. Two other Wolves and I search for secret rooms in the mansion while the other Wolves search the rest of the house and keep the mob from interfering with our mission.

One of the rooms that we come across is one for one of the targets, Esme. We know that she was supposed to be here, and yet, there’s no sight of her anywhere, which worries me.

“I’ll check this room. Esme has to be around here,” I say.

“Do not show any mercy to her,” a Wolf says.

“You can trust me to do the right thing.”

The two Wolves walk away from the room as they search the rest of the mansion. First, I go into Esme’s drawer and grab a ring that I know is important to her. I then walk up to the bookshelf in the room and move it aside then use the handle on the other side to cover the entrance. Behind the bookshelf is a secret staircase that leads down to a secret basement where I find Esme who almost stabs me from the shadows.

“Matisse!” she says.

“Esme!” I respond before kissing her.

She embraces me before slightly pushing me away. “It’s not the time for that. We have to get out of here.”

“I have a few friends waiting outside covering our exit and buying our time. We can use the mob to mask our escape.”

Esme follows me as I lead her outside.

“Do you know where we’ll go?”

“Outside of Wolf and Raven controlled territory. Maybe someplace in America. I don’t know as long as we stay out of the big countries, we’ll be fine.”

“What about the house servants and my friends upstairs? Did…did they at least have a painless death?”

“It’s not something that you should think about. Just know that I didn’t strike any of them.”

“Going through these tunnels with you gives me nostalgia. It’s a shame that we’ll never have the chance to do it again.”

“Think of the bright side. At least we don’t need to hide our love for one another anymore.”

My hopes for the future are brought back to reality once we exit the secret entrance to see that the entire city is at war with itself. Very few citizens try to keep to themselves while others participate in the looting and purging of their enemies. Esme and I try to take the route with the least amount of people but it seems like everyone is out today.

“This must’ve been planned by either the Ravens or the Wolves so they could strike at their enemies,” I say.

“Look over there!” Esme says as she points to a group of people being kidnapped. “We have to do something.”

“I’d like to, but we can’t. We don’t have time.”

“Our father taught us that we should help whoever is nearest to us. Did you forget?”

“He was your father and no, I didn’t forget. He also taught us to not overextend ourselves because we would end up hurting ourselves as well as others.”

“Yeah but-”

“I’m sorry and this bothers me too, but we can’t help everyone here. We can only help ourselves.”

“…okay.”

We keep going through the crowd avoiding whatever attention we can.

“Here, find these two. They will net you a great reward and a luxurious place in the new France to come,” a random person says while holding our pictures.

Who’s sending these people after us? Do the Wolves and Ravens know about our relationship? I hope not. Now that we’re being hunted, the crowds of people become a blessing as we use the dense crowds to hide again. We cut off pieces of sacks and use them as makeshift hoods to hide our faces for added anonymity. The crowds stretch for a large enough distance that it allows us to get where we need to be while also breaking off at that point.

Our destination is a docking area where I have a ship waiting to take us wherever we want, however, when we get to my ship, I find its crew hung from the top of the ship with a single Wolf I know standing around it.

“Matisse!” the man says, “We know you’re out there! Your friends are dead and so will you, your lover, and more of this crew unless you come out and talk to us.”

“Matisse…” Esme says while pulling on my arm.

“Okay, I’ll try talking to him, but stay hidden. We’re here! Now let the crew go!”

“Not unless you show yourselves. Come out from the shadows already.”

“Why should I trust you when you’ve hung men like decorations?”

“Because we’ll hang more if you don’t. These were traitors and were going to suffer eventually for their crimes. You’ll suffer like they will unless you show yourselves in five seconds.”

“This is a trap, Esme.”

“But what about the crew?”

“I think he’s lying. I see that most of the crew is hung so it’s safe to assume that he’s already killed them all.”

“Okay, Matisse. I trust you.”

“We don’t believe you’re telling the truth,” I say to the Wolf, “You can have the ship and its treasures as compensation for our betrayal.”

“You’re going to need to pay us more to pay for your betrayal. A Wolf playing the part of an adopted son to infiltrate a high ranking Raven’s family knows too much from both sides. I hope for your sake that Esme doesn’t find this to be shocking news. We’ll find you wherever you are and wherever you will be. There’s no escaping us!”

By the time he stops talking, his voice is nothing more than an echo.

“What are we going to do now, Matisse?” Esme asks.

“Don’t worry. I have a backup plan. We can take a boat down a river that will lead us to another dock. The only problem is that the boat is in the poor district of the city where there are more revolutionaries and probably Ravens among them.”

“It’s better than nothing.”

Esme and I make our way through the city streets that begin to somewhat calm down now that many are dead and the law enforcement are out in force. Still, we try to keep to the shadows and move through the crowded streets with normal civilians so we don’t attract the attention of anyone especially with those assassins out to get us.

“I’m glad you’re the most honest man I’ve ever met, Matisse,” Esme says.

“You know that I would do anything for you, my love,” I say before giving her a kiss.

My parents trained me to be an infiltrator for the Wolves. We knew that Esme’s father was a charitable man whose heart broke when he saw a child suffering so we used that to our advantage and he adopted me for a time. While I pretended to be his son, I couldn’t help but warm up to his genuine kindness and generosity especially when he helped me up whenever I fell or felt the sad effects of being away from my family. Esme had a big part in turning me over to not divulge her family’s secrets especially since they didn’t have any dirty secrets that the Wolves could utilize against them. I felt guilty for having ulterior motives for being in the family and admitted them first to Esme then her father.

Her father didn’t seem mad or surprised at this. In fact, he seemed to have known about it since he knew that my family were Wolves and wouldn’t just lose their son. We arranged a meeting with them and pretended that I was leading him into a trap. Esme’s father and her mother talked to my parents about using me as a spy and his kindness touched their hearts once they realized how much they missed me and how much of a mistake it was to use me as a spy at such a young age. Unfortunately, the other Wolves and Ravens didn’t know about the events that happened during this meeting and fought each other thinking they were defending their own.

My parents and Esme’s family haven’t been found since, but we both hope that they’re still alive out there. We kept secretly meeting each other and are only now together for real after I joined the Wolves’ assault on her home for the excuse of “getting revenge” for my family and erasing her along with her allies’ influence from France as a whole. I tried to make plans that didn’t involve the destruction of her home along with everything in it, but the Wolves had other ideas. The revolution has taken the lives of many and the Wolves would like nothing more than to punish those they see as guilty or sympathizers for it despite their own plans to make a new France from the ashes of this one.

“The king will soon be in the custody of the people and the date of his execution will soon be decided,” a newsman says.

Many of the poor jump for joy and cheer their revolutionary chants at the sound of this. What madness it is that people would cheer at the death even at the death of their enemies. God have mercy on us.

A group of cloaked figures makes their way through the crowd while saying, “Make way, make way! We’re looking for traitors of the revolution!” Block off every entrance and deny every guard entrance to this district. They must not escape.”

“Matisse, those are Ravens,” Esme says.

“So, they’re after us too. Why not?” I say.

I take a bag of money out of my pocket, cut it open, and throw it into the air. This attracts the attention of everyone in the area and gives us the cover we need to get closer to where we need to go until one poor woman covered in blood comes to us asking for help.

She explains that, “They beat me and took my brother away because he didn’t want to participate in the riots. They’re going to torture him and pin him to a wall as an example to scare everyone else who won’t do as they say.”

Esme looks at me. Why do you have to give me that look?

“We’ll help you. Lead us to where they took your brother,” I say.

The woman leads us away to a horrific scene where a man is nailed to a wall with most of his skin off his body.

“Oh no! We’re too late! I’m so sorry,” Esme says.

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t get my brother to stay on our side,” the woman says.

“What?”

“He betrayed the cause of the Ravens, the cause of freedom for all mankind just as you did, Esme. Get her!”

I draw my pistol and sword as we’re ambushed.

Esme fires the first shot at our attackers as she draws her pistol and dagger as she says, “There’s nothing I hate more than false innocence.”

She then stabs one attacker in the chest, cuts the woman’s throat, then uses her gun to shoot another attacker. I, on the other hand, kill one of the attackers by countering their attack stabbing them in the back, stabbing another in the chest then disarm another and put my knife to his throat and pistol to his head.

“Tell your friends that we cannot be so easily manipulated and that we just want to be left alone. We’re cutting ties to both the Ravens and the Wolves,” I say.

“Telling them that won’t save your life. You both know too much as skilled members of your respective orders. Who’s to say that you won’t start your own order that’s in opposition to both Ravens and Wolves or expose us to the public? The resources it would take to erase our public identity is too great.”

Now that I have a better look at the man’s face, I realize that it’s someone that I've seen when I was in Esme’s family. “Wait, I recognize you. “

“What does that matter?”

“You’re a Catholic like us, man. Show some mercy and trust in us or at least remember that we used to talk to each other like friends.”

“The Church has abandoned us in favor of the government. The Ravens and their ideology are the only true one and those who betray it betray everything that is good in the world.”

I knock the man out with the end of my pistol since he won’t serve any use to us. We then head out of the city and come to the river where I have a boat waiting for us, however, the Wolves are also waiting for us with their weapons drawn.

We draw our weapons as well as I say, “Will you people just let us go already? We swear that we only want to live in peace! We won’t interfere in the affairs of your secret war with the Ravens.”

“No, because you still hurt our cause and everyone it helps by your betrayal and inaction. Every single person who doesn’t help us is against us whether they intentionally know it or not,” a Wolf responds.

“That isn’t true. You can’t get everyone to act in a way that benefits you and we have to accept that. Trust me when I say that I wish every neighbor could be a friend and that everyone’s mind could easily change, but people don’t work that way.”

“At least you still have part of the Wolf mindset.”

“It’s the Catholic mindset. The truth I follow and the God I worship isn’t dictated by a group of people that change their fundamental beliefs every century.”

“The Wolves aren’t vulnerable to corruptible clergy and nonpracticing laity like how the church is. Our beliefs are beyond mere religion and politics. It is pure truth.”

“We could say the same about our beliefs,” a person says as they arrive with a group of people who are presumably Ravens. “The human spirit yearns to be free and to do what it knows to be right. Therefore, the Ravens attract people from all religions and ideologies and it will unite all of humanity for a brighter future.”

“You’re both putting the ideology of your beliefs where God should be! It is not human ideology that will save humanity, but-” I say as the two begin to argue.

It’s no use talking to them. In fact, it’s better that I don’t get involved since they begin to fight each other, which gives Esme and me the distraction we need to get on our boat and row down the river to safety.

“I fear for the safety of the world with the Ravens and the Wolves manipulating it behind the scenes,” Esme says.

“Don’t worry about that. You know as well as I that they won’t control everything. No singular group can except for those in Heaven,” I say.

“That’s true. I just pray that they change one day.”

“They will just like every ideology that isn’t rooted in eternal truth. What the Wolves and Ravens fail to realize is that the common people can make the world a better place simply by living good and loving lives as God intends. Let’s not fall into the same trap they did and let’s live this way together.”

“Is this your way of asking me to marry you?”

“Well, yes. We are going to be living together for the rest of our lives, aren’t we?”

“Where’s my ring then? You can’t marry a lady like me without a ring?” she says in a joking voice.

“Here,” I say while showing her the ring I got earlier.

“You got my father’s ring!”

“He did say that I could marry you with it.”

Esme and I kiss before heading off to a dock in a small town. We pay to get on the ship and sail off to wherever this ship will take us. The captain notices the ring on Esme’s finger and gives us a small celebration on the deck. It’s nice that we get this after going through so much. I only pray that our parents see this from wherever they are. Perhaps, we may even find them where we’re going. Whatever the case is. I’m satisfied with where my life is. I don’t need to be in control of everything and everyone around me like the Ravens, Wolves, and those who want everyone to think like they do. I only need my God and my loving wife. What else could I possibly need to make me happier than I already am?