Chapter 3 – Inheritance of Sin and Redemption
Both Thaddeus and Tinuviel are
woken up by one of the servants in their castle before a barrage of arrows
enters their room. They rush out of the room, but Thaddeus rushes even faster
so that he can go into his little brother’s room to take him away from the
windows. Once he puts his little brother in a safe place, he investigates the source
of the attack to find a small army of Meridies soldiers outside entering the
city and slaughtering everyone they come across. Even though the Meridies meet
fierce resistance, they still manage to make progress thanks to the help of a
red spirit with red wings, gold veins, and a black crown, which looks like an angel.
These Meridies are dressed differently than normal Meridies soldiers as they wear
masks with red crosses and golden crowns on their heads. Their armor consists
of crimson red and gold gear along with white and gold shoulder capes all of
which are made for the most royal of royals. They wield various weapons with crimson
snakes on staffs being the most notable.
Wondering about these snakes, Tinuviel
asks, “Why do those soldiers use staffs with crimson snakes on them and what
are those spirits behind them? Are they their guardian angels”
“They’re using devilish magic and
those are no angels,” Thaddeus says before quickly heading down to meet them.
Running down to the streets,
Thaddeus manages to save a Corpus before they are struck down by one of the
elite soldiers by intercepting their attack with his rapier. He then backs off
as the Umbra and Meridies face each other down and their injured pick up
themselves up and retreat to their side.
“If there was ever one thing I have
to thank you for, Thaddeus, it’s bringing the heads of the family to us and
waking us up from our slothfulness,” an elite soldier with a familiar voice to
Thaddeus says.
“Sister? Is that you?” Thaddeus asks.
“Sister who?”
“I don’t remember your name, but I
remember your voice. You were always away from home on assignments to “bring
peace and God’s rule” over the land, but now I know that you didn’t serve God
at all with the surest proof being the demons behind your shoulders controlled
by those snakes on staffs.”
“These are our guardian angels and
we can command them with these snakes on staffs because we have been given
authority over them by God. We are Meridies after all and our guardian angels
are part of our arsenal. As far as I know, your guardian angel rarely if ever appears
for you. In my eyes, this is proof that you are no Meridies and hardly even a
servant of God.”
“That’s because my angel only comes
out when God wills it, not me because I am not its true master. Also, everyone
I have around me is my help from God, so I don’t always need help from my
angel.”
“Don’t you think that you need your
guardian angel in this situation or will it not heed your call?”
“I can call it out if I need to!”
“You didn’t answer my question. I’m
sure your so-called family around you thinks the aid of your angel will help.
How about we make a deal or rather a test of faith? If your angel will appear
to help you, we’ll leave you alone, but if it won’t, then you’ll all die.”
“Deal. Guardian angel, show us who
God favors this day. In all things, let God’s will be done even if I must
suffer for it or face defeat from my enemies.”
A golden light then appears from
nothing in front of Thaddeus where his multi-eyed guardian angel appears. In
the sight of the Umbra, they see nothing but light, however, the Meridies and
those who aren’t Corpus see the angel as clear as day. As soon as the angel
opens all its eyes, a third of the Meridies soldiers are turned into a red
mist. It disappears shortly after and leaves the pride of the other Meridies in
shambles and their faith questioned.
“Well? God has decided who has His
favor. If you are still foolish enough to face us, then step up for your execution,”
Thaddeus says.
The Umbra soldiers and surrounding
civilians yell in anticipation of a fight, but the Meridies retreat instead.
“We should chase after them and
send pieces of their remains to their family,” Tinuviel suggests.
“No, their fear will do us well enough
to establish peace. Let everyone across the lands hear about this momentous victory,”
Thaddeus says.
The Umbra do as Thaddeus says and
within a week and a half, the Church and Meridies retreat from the territories
of the Umbra and decide to leave them alone for the time being. This causes much
celebration for the Umbra and their allies that is planned to last the entire month;
however, Thaddeus celebrates so much on the first day that he sleeps for nearly
all the next day. He is then rudely awakened the next day by Tinuviel who jumps
on the bed while he’s sleeping.
“Huh? What’s going on?” Thaddeus
asks.
“You have a surprise waiting for
you downstairs. It’s a special present that my family has prepared to thank you
for all that you’ve done for us,” Tinuviel says.
“You didn’t need to. All we’ve
achieved and being with you all is reward enough.”
“Oh, stop being so humble. Can you
get up?”
To his surprise, Thaddeus still
feels tired and unable to get up on his own.
“Sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong
with me.”
“We probably pushed you to eat and
drink too much over the past couple of days. Sorry about that. It’s hard to remember
the limits of being human when you’re dead and you know how much we like to
party. Here, I’ll carry you down.”
Tinuviel picks up Thaddeus who
struggles to stand on his own. Going downstairs, he sees that the Umbra are all
gathered together with his little brother in the center of them all.
“What’s going on?” Thaddeus asks.
“Thaddeus, my son, you will
officially become part of the family through our ritual,” his father-in-law
says.
Tired confusion switches to
surprise as Tinuviel explains, “You’ll become one of us so we can live together
forever as rulers of this planet, my love. I should be sorry for deceiving for
you so long, but you know how it is to do evil for good.”
Surprise switches panic as Thaddeus
now realizes that the Umbra were actual vampires and not Corpus. He tries and
is unable to break free from Tinuviel’s grasp as she holds him down while the ritual
to turn him into a vampire begins. At this point, he repents in his mind of his
sins both in regret and in the vain hope that his little brother will be saved,
but no help comes. Instead, his little brother’s neck is cut, and his still beating
heart is taken out and crushed right in front of him to his shock. This horror
causes him to black out before the ritual is done. When he wakes up, he finds
himself lying in his room. Part of him wants to think what he witnessed was a bad
dream until he looks into the mirror to see that his skin is rotting just like
the other vampires and the blood of his little brother is still on his face,
body, and arms.
He tries his best to wash the blood
off him but feels unable to as his brother’s innocent blood feels like it’s
deep within his bones. Collapsing to the floor in tears, Thaddeus tries to cut
his own neck with his rapier. The rapier’s blade breaks as soon as it hits his neck
revealing to him that he’s a Corpus since his blade is blessed. Not wanting to
accept this revelation, he tries shooting himself with his pistol that carries
blessed bullets. This doesn’t work as well, so he just cries to himself and
asks God why this fate has befallen him. A golden light appears in the room in which
his guardian angel appears out of.
“My guardian angel, why didn’t you
tell me that the Umbra were true vampires?” Thaddeus asks while prostrate on the
ground.
The angel’s eyes open to reveal
multiple mouths instead of eyes, which it speaks out of.
It says, “Their actions and words revealed
who they really were.”
“Why did let them take control of
the world and why didn’t the blessed weapons work against them? Why did you let
them do what they did to my brother?!”
“It was God’s will that the world
and you be punished this way to wake it up from its evils. He abandoned you to
your sins since you all exchanged good for evil.”
“We did what we had to for the greater
good!”
“There is no such thing as doing
evil for good. Both the Umbra, Church, and Meridies murdered and manipulated
for their own gain. Are they justified? You should know the answer.”
“I chose the lesser of two evils.”
“Evil is still evil as sin is still
sin. Christ died for man’s mortal sins and venial sins alike. All of it corrupts
mankind and puts his soul to death and guilty of the crucifixion.”
“Then kill me for my crimes.”
“Your ancestors have asked this
before when they were at their lowest, but they were not granted it. You are a true
Corpus and Meridies, Thaddeus. You still have good left within you that you
managed to save with your regret and repentance. Rise from your sorry state. It
is time to do what you were born to do and hunt the night.”
His guardian angel’s words fill
Thaddeus with a God-given strength that ignites his dead heart with a need for
justice. He goes downstairs to see that the Umbra are still celebrating. They
see him and applaud his appearance.
His father-in-law approaches him
and says, “Thaddeus, my son, how happy am I to see that you’re awake. How do
you feel?”
“Like I’m finally awake,” Thaddeus
answers before punching a hole into this father-in-law’s face with his fist.
This shocks everyone around him, especially
Tinuviel. Thaddeus then moves around at blazing speeds killing each and every
vampire and person in the room with his bare hands and they can hardly do anything
to stop him. Freighted by this sight, Tinuviel retreats deeper into the castle
while sending every guard, soldier, and servant she can at him. Aiding him in this
fight is his guardian angel who clears entire halls and hallways of enemies in a
literal blink of an eye. Hundreds of soldiers and servants enter the castle,
but none survive Thaddeus’ righteous anger. Eventually, he makes it to Tinuviel
after coating most of the castle’s interior in blood and guts. She tries in vain
to fight back, however, her punch has no effect on his body. Thaddeus picks
Tinuviel up by the throat and begins to break her neck.
“Thaddeus, please…I love you,”
Tinuviel desperately says.
“No, you never did. I was nothing
more than a puppet for you to manipulate,” Thaddeus responds before completely
crushing her neck, which makes her head fall from her body.
After the deed is done, Thaddeus
roars out into the night. With the entire Umbra family, their vampires, and
servants dead he walks outside to see a concerned crowd.
He tells them, “Repent of your
sins! The Umbra family has deceived you and has paid the price with their souls
and lives. Let all know what has happened here and warn them of the consequences
of doing evil for good!”
Afraid of Thaddeus, some in the
crowd do as he says while the rest flee in terror. In the distance, Thaddeus
sees the morning sun begin to rise. Out of this light, his guardian angel
appears.
“It is done, Thaddeus. The vampires
are dead and the Church and land will be humbled by your actions,” the angel
says.
“Did it have to happen this way?”
Thaddeus asks.
“God is the only one who knows
that. He’s the only one who has the authority and foresight to allow evil things so
that good may come out of it.”
“What if the vampires return?”
“Then God will choose His soldiers
to fight against them just as He does when all kinds of evil decide to rise up.
It doesn’t matter if they are Meridies, a holy soldier of the Church, or a
repentant sinner. There will always be a force for good to eliminate evil
until the end times when evil will be completely erased. You needn’t worry
about the details because you will be in Heaven soon. Your time here is done
and fulfilled.”
Thaddeus’ body begins to completely
decompose until he is nothing more than ash. With his soul free from his body
and his soul free from sin after his penance, his soul goes to Heaven where he
sees God, the Queen of Heaven, the angels, saints, his ancestors, and, of
course, his brother who he runs to and holds in his arms.
“I’m so sorry for what I put you
through, brother,” Thaddeus says.
“It’s okay. I understand,” his
little brother says, “You did keep your promise, in a way. We are now in a peaceful
place that we deserved to be in.”
The
End
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