Chapter
2 – Cleansing a Tainted Bloodline
It’s strange to me seeing the old
man in normal clothes. Down in the home of the exorcists, he’s typically in his
royal exorcist outfit since the entire place is spiritual and the clothes of an
exorcist are a reflection of their soul. Without his king-like mask, I can
better see the resemblance between him and Marina. He has a very feminine face
and he doesn’t look like he’s aged past his thirties. I guess appearing younger
than you are actually runs in the family. Right now, he’s wearing a simple blue
dress shirt with gold roses on it and a pair of black dress pants and shoes.
Can’t go anywhere without showing off can you, old man?
“You ever been out like this, old
man?” I ask him while on the plane to our destination.
“Yes, I have, but only for assignments.
Why do you want to know?” he says.
“Just trying to make small talk.”
“Keep it to a minimum and focus on
the mission. I don’t want to drag this out.”
“Okay then. Do it for Marina then.
She does want us to get along after all.”
“As if you do what she wants.”
“Most of the time I do. I could
also say the same for you.”
“You could. I’ll admit that because
I’m still her father and still hold some authority over her because of that. You,
on the other hand, do not.”
“I’m her husband, so of course I
do. Also, don’t forget that it’s because of me charging into the Vatican and
knocking some heads in that Marina got to where she was meant to be so that the
exorcists could be changed.”
“What are you guys talking about?”
some punk asks us.
“Mind your own business,” we say to
him.
The old man and I don’t speak again
until we leave the airport and head to where the exorcists think most of my
family is, which is my hometown known as New Horizon. As I look out over it, I
get some nostalgia from some of the good memories that I had here. The nostalgia
is then ruined by the fact that most of the good memories here were with my little
sister and dad and remembering that I’ll never see them again.
“It’s no wonder you came out the
way you were. This place looks worse than the worst parts of the peasant
districts,” the old man says.
Ignoring what he said for now since
he’s kind of right, we begin our investigation first by going to my old home. I’ve
been wanting to come back here ever since I left to go to the home of the exorcists,
but I never had time to come back. I immediately go upstairs to the room where
I found my sister’s and dad’s dead bodies without really wanting to. The room contains
a place where I’ve left their pictures and possessions as a sort of place to
honor their memory. I’ve also included my mom’s picture and possessions here so
that our family would seem to be complete again. Just looking at it all now makes
me wish they were alive so that I would have a second chance to save them.
“I’m surprised that you kept this
place despite not coming here anymore. You should just let it go,” the old man says.
“This place is still important to
me. I won’t let go of it yet,” I say.
“Why not? I can see that you’re sad
when you look at the pictures of your family. You’ll never see them again so it’s
best to do what God did and forget about them.”
“I wish I forgot about what
happened and I pray every day for it not to bother me, but my failure to save them
still haunts me.”
“Let it go then.”
“How am I supposed to be doing that
especially now when we’re hunting down the remnants of my family?”
“Concern yourself with only what
you have to do. Focus on Marina and my grandchildren. Do you think that we’ll
find them here?”
“I thought they might be here because
of its importance to my family and…”
“And?”
“And it looks like someone was
here. I don’t remember these flowers being here. They’re real and fresh, unlike
the plastic flowers I left here. They must’ve been here recently.”
The sound of someone walking up
the stairs gets our attention and the old man and I ready our exorcist
blessing. Three people open the door and walk in with flowers.
The woman in the group says, “Excuse
us. We were going to bring more flowers for our deceased. We prayed for their
intercession for victory and for you to come to us. It seems that our prayers
have been answered to their fullest.”
“Where are my kids?!” I say with my
sword drawn and pointed at her throat.
“If you want to find them, then
strike me down,” she says while walking around me to put the new flowers in
with the old ones, “Show your devotion to our family.”
You asked for it. I try to cut her
down, but she leaps behind my mom’s possession before my sword touches her. Thankfully,
I’m able to stop myself before I strike the picture of my mom. One of the other
two then pretend to attack the old man before going behind him and doing the
same thing-!
“Careful!” I say as the old man
destroys my sister’s stuff.
“You see? This old man doesn’t care
about our family. He only cares about his own and he does that just because it’s
his duty. You saw that he would kill his own daughter when she broke the
exorcist’s laws for you.”
“Shut up! You don’t care about ‘our’
family either since you stole my kids.”
“We’re trying to help them be like
your mom. If we wanted you dead, we would’ve had you killed when you got off
the plane or even before you became an exorcist. We’ve been protecting you for
your entire life. Why do you think the demon that killed your mother didn’t go
after you again after she banished it until after you became an exorcist?”
“You knew about that demon? If you
care about our family, then why did you let it kill my sister and dad?!”
“Because the demon told us there was
a chance they would turn against us and join the exorcists. It was already hard
enough trying to get you to join us when you kept banishing every demon in this
town. We didn’t want the same thing happening to them.”
“You bastards!”
My exorcist clothes completely
transform me as I raise my hand and sword. Along with this, my Ombra blessing
activates as I use parts of the wall, ceiling, and floor to stab the three before
cutting them down until one remains.
The last one says, “Does your God
like allowing our family to die in this room?”
“Shut up!”
“Why fight against us? I already
see your potential in your mask that the exorcists think is a penitential practice
when it is really a show of your best trait. The pride and anger shown in its
grinning black, gold, and red face tells me about your hatred for injustice.”
“Cut her down and stop letting her
talk!” the old man says as I realize that she is slowly transforming into her
hollow demon-like appearance.
I do as he says just as she
transforms, but even as she is cut in two, she says, “The rest of us will come after
you and you’ll have no choice but to fight us. You declared war against your
own family.”
She then disappears into ash along
with the other two. I fall to my knees and transform out of my exorcist appearance
and look at the picture of my mom as if nothing happened and silently asking her
to comfort me like she used to.
“What’s wrong with you? Get up! We
have to get out of here before more of them come,” the old man says.
“I know you have no problem striking
down your family when you think it’s the right thing to do, but I don’t,” I say.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ll bring it up again and since
Marina isn’t around here, I can be more honest in my wording. Do you actually
care about Marina more than your duty?”
“You don’t let go of that, do you?
You’re listening to the hollows too much.”
“Give me an honest answer and I’ll
stop asking.”
“Of course, I care about my
daughter. Even when she broke our laws, I loved her and thought I was doing the
right thing by trying to end her life because at least then she wouldn’t suffer
that much in either Purgatory or Hell. I thought that if she continued as she
was it would’ve been worse for her.”
“What do you think now?”
“You know what I think. If I think something
is wrong, I’ll go to any lengths I have to go to correct it. My thinking has
changed since I was humbled and I’m better now than I was before.”
“I hope you’re speaking the truth.”
“I stick to my convictions and only
change when needed. I hope you can do the same.”
“I try to. Explain to me how you
became how you are so I can believe you.”
“Is that really necessary at a time
like this?”
“It is since we’re on this assignment
together.”
We begin to walk outside as the old
man gives me his life story.
“I was born into royalty and worked
day and night to perfect my character through study and prayer,” the old man
says before we see that we’re surrounded outside by hollowed people.
“Wait! Let him explain his life. If
he’s as selfish as he seems, I may join your side. His life already seems like
a cliché.”
Everyone around us looks to one another
before one nods. I look at the old man and move my hand in circles to tell him
to go on.
“I was at the top of my class and
did what I had to make my family and superiors proud. I even cheated in tests
and duels to get where I was. My responsibilities meant everything to me since they
are the duties I am bound by God to carry out.”
“Was there ever have a time when
you went against those responsibilities?”
“I did. When I cheated, the parents
of my rivals disowned them and had them walk a path of penance for a year before
they could become a royal exorcist. Being a royal means being the best of the
best and being an example to those under you. It’s not all riches and luxury.
It’s obligation and hard work and when you mess up, you get punished twice,
three, or how ever many times as hard depending on how much weight is put on
your shoulders. I felt that weight at its heaviest when I lost my friends on my
missions as a rookie exorcist and I vowed to them and everyone on earth and in
Heaven that’s counting on me to do my job that I would never let them down.”
“So, your life is pretty stereotypical.
It’s an age old tale about a prideful man who never learns from his mistakes
because he confuses what he thinks his duty is and what his actual duty is.
The exorcists need more help than I thought.”
I raise my sword to the sky and the
wind begins to pick up. It feels like a tornado is going through the area with
how intense it is. The wind then picks up everyone around us and throws them
into the sky before dying down.
“You lied to get them off guard?”
the old man asks.
“I wouldn’t say so. I said that I
might join their side. Don’t you worry, I wasn’t actually going to betray you,
and I thank God that my Ombra blessing activated so I could easily get rid of
them.”
“Was the point of me telling you
more about you then?”
“Because I wanted to actually hear
it. I think I understand you a bit better because of it and you know what? I actually
believe that you’re trying to be a better person now. Just try to do as you actually
say and be the father you’re meant to be. I’ll be counting on it, Triton.”
What’s wrong with me? Why do I want
to like Triton more? Maybe it’s because I’m losing more of my family and want
to hold onto whatever I have left despite how I feel about him. I didn’t even
think about getting rid of those people who surrounded us. I just don’t want to
be around wherever they land if I didn’t manage to send them up into space.
Triton is looking at me as if he’s surprised. As if some of the tension in his
face disappeared.
“What is it?” I ask.
“Nothing. I just didn’t recognize
you there for a second. The hotheaded and arrogant boy that I knew was gone. I’d
like you to keep it that way if you know what I mean.”
“Oh, I get it. I’ll try not to
disappoint you.”
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