Blessed are the Punished: Chapter 3 – Supernatural Obstacles

Chapter 3 – Supernatural Obstacles

Leah’s trail leads me to a foggy part of Abaddon where I can hardly see anything in front of me. At least I’m able to see Leah’s tracks, however, this small comfort is taken away when I see more tracks that confuse the path I should follow. Following my instinct and praying to God to lead me in the right direction, I choose a path and go that way. The path leads me to a disturbing sight, a church with vandalized statues. If the statues aren’t headless with their arms broken off, their faces are hollow. I get off my horse, cross myself in reparation for the damage done, and enter the church.

The walls of the church are marked with blasphemous symbols I’ve seen in the lairs of necromancers and devil worshippers. Pieces of flesh and rotting heads that are suspended by meat hooks hang from the ceiling, which is also dripping with blood, meaning that the unfortunate victims died recently. Suddenly, I hear my horse cry out, so I run out and find that not only was its head chopped off, but its feet were cut off as well. In the distance, I can hear unnatural giggling that sounds like the laughter of demons that came from my boys. This can only mean that the necromancers here are demon-possessed and will be difficult to defeat, but since I know that Leah is here, I must persist in my pursuit of her, so I walk towards the source of the voice.

Exploring this foggy area further reveals to me that it’s a town of the futuristic past that is slowly sinking into the ground. The buildings are made of metals and stones that I’ve heard are from a planet in our galaxies. How the buildings are constructed is strange to me and does seem like something from a different time since I’m sure that we can’t make buildings that reach higher than the trees nor as strong. I’m assuming they’re sinking into the ground because of the event that changed the regions of the Holy Land into three different kinds of elves and the final destruction of all technology from the past. Remembering it reminds me of my time serving Pope St. Ahaziah who was part of the reason why the Holy Land and its inhabitants changed. I pray for his intercession to help me in my current situation.

“Ah, yes. Who better to help you than a traitor turned saint?” I hear a distorted voice say in the fog.

“You’re in over your head, old man.”

“It’s finally time for you to die.”

“You can’t save your wife. She’s ours now.”

“And so are the bodies of your children.”

“We’ll take good care of them.”

“You still have time to join us.”

“Perhaps you can tame us and use our powers for good. You are powerful, after all.”

“Criminal turned hero. You can become a dark paladin if you try.”

“Save your family by taking our power.”

“We can also help you get more wives so you can have more children than before, enough to make up for those you lost and then some.”

The words of the demons are like knives drilling into my head and get harder to ignore as I get closer to their source. In the distance, I see a human figure standing motionless. I notice that the voices have eerily stopped talking, and before I can take out my dagger, the figure’s head unnaturally bends backward and charges at me at lightning speed. It’s only thanks to my muscle memory that I’m able to stab the possessed dark elf in the neck before he’s able to grab my neck. On closer inspection, I see that every part of his body is unnaturally twisted like a doll that’s been abused by a spoiled child.

The face of the now-deceased man is stuck in an ear-to-ear smile and his eyes and mouth are hollow as if his face holds a cold void within it. I can’t help but look closer into the void and see two red mouths in his eyes and a single eye in his mouth. These two mouths start to talk and tempt me with thoughts that feel as if they’re squeezing my brain as the body twitches as if the devils are still trying to make the most of the possessed body. This possessed man isn’t like the possessed corpses of my boys who inhabit dolls. Instead, this man was probably one of the necromancers who tried to gain power over demons or sinned one too many times, either of which result in the complete possession, death, and damnation of the wretched sinner. God does not allow Himself to be offended by the same sinner forever.

More temptations begin to enter my head that I try not to pay attention to while continuing to wander the fog. I try to move on, pray, and offer up the suffering of this trial to counter the pain I’m going through and turn it into a source of strength. Around me, I see more possessed humans move around some of which my eyes imagine until I see that I’m actually surrounded by the possessed who are smiling ear-to-ear and laughing disturbingly. I can also hear the screams of the damned coming from the possessed who cry for mercy and complain about being deceived. The demons try to tempt me with previous offers and I respond by casting acid spells to try to melt them all, but they dodge my attacks that are hampered by their whispers. Again, they laugh at me as they start to close in on me while I’m barely able to kill the ones that charge at me. Of all the times that I uncontrollably laugh, it doesn't happen this time as my nerves prevent it.

It's then the sound of a horse-drawn carriage approaching stops their never-ending whispers. A horse with a top hat, collar, and clown makeup walks into the center of the crowd of possessed and stands in front of me. One man in a knight’s armor colored in clown colors with a sword and shield steps out of the carriage, then another clown soldier with different equipment, and then another new clown soldier. Before I can fully process what I’m seeing, fifty or so clowns that couldn’t have possibly fit in the carriage have swarmed the area and pushed back the possessed and the fog itself. This is probably the first time in a century or so that I’ve been this surprised.

“Get up, you fool! Your wife is out there and she needs your help,” one of the clown soldiers says before joining his caravan.

If I’m correct, this group of clowns is the mysterious group of repentant sinners who view themselves as jokes and go from place to place helping certain people who need help. I thought that these clowns were just a child’s fairy tale, but I guess it was true. People thought elves, orcs, and magic were just legends, and it turns out, that it was all true, so I guess I should never doubt the truth in fiction again. Getting up and doing what the clown said, I follow one of them who leads me to where my wife is and guards the entrance. Leah is in a desecrated chapel with the two skinned corpses of our boys who are jittering to the point of coming apart and destroying themselves despite the hex magic she is using to try to repair them.

“It’s over, Leah. Let them go. Our boys are already dead,” I say.

“No, no! They can’t be! I worked so hard and made them suffer so much to make them live forever!” Leah says while crying.

“They’re alive in Heaven. I’m sure of it.”

“What makes you say that? I don’t think they were faithful while I was skinning them alive. Their cries were agonizing to hear.”

“Devils love to desecrate the bodies of the innocent. Did they tell you to stop while still calling you their mother?”

“They did.”

“Then I’m certain they’re in Heaven and you can see them again if you repent, let them go, and take my hand.”

I hold out my hand that Leah looks at. She looks up at my face while the darkness in her seems to dissipate from her eyes and appearance. Her hand slowly begins to reach up to me as if scared and unsure about taking it. The moment of victory is taken away from us as a mage from Polypus who looks more like an octopus than a man appears in a blink of light and takes away Leah and the bodies of the boys. Turning around, the clown soldier tells me that they weren’t able to kill all the possessed as they’ve been taken away by mages who teleported them to a different place.

“Go to the veteran's grave south of here with your friends to save your wife. Oh, and stop taking life and yourself so seriously, you fool,” the clown soldier says before they all get in their carriage and drive away.

Again, I feel frozen in place because of my confusion. Gad and Dan arrive on their horses and berate me again for going out on my own.

“Huh? Do you have anything to say for yourself? What’s wrong with you?” Gad asks.

“Did you pass by a carriage drive by here with a horse that looked like a clown?” I ask.

“What? No, we didn’t. Why?”

Looking at where the clown’s carriage was, I don’t see any wheel tracks or horse marks on the ground anywhere despite it being mud.

“The legendary clown caravan of sinners came here and saved me from the possessed necromancers.”

“You have to be joking.”

“You know that Peter doesn’t joke around,” Dan says.

“You’re right, but it doesn’t make sense why we didn’t see them. Did they say anything to you?”

“They told me to go to the veteran’s grave south of here. It’s where the necromancers took Leah.”

“It’s funny you mention that because we were going to go there next with a group of agents to back us up.”

“The clowns did tell me to go with you, so I won’t run away from you this time.”

“Good because this next fight will probably be a big one if the graveyard is where the necromancers are planning their last stand,” Dan says.

“That and we’re a pleasure to be with. Right, brother?” Gad asks.

Dan and I roll our eyes. I then ride with Dan on his horse while my coworkers and I head to the necromancers’ final location. Don’t lose hope, yet Leah. I’m coming to save you.