Chapter
4 – Mercy for the Wicked
While overlooking the veteran’s
grave, we see that it was a wise decision to bring backup. For every
necromancer, there are five corpses under their control and there are roughly
thirty necromancers.
“Maybe I should go back and get more
help,” Gad says.
“It’s too late to. My wife is down
there and we don’t know what the necromancers plan to do with her, the
possessed, and the small army they have,” I say.
“Do you think your clown friends
can come back to help us? We’re going to need them.”
My fellow agents and I create plans
while taking turns watching the grave and keeping an eye out for any
approaching threats. One man on guard reports seeing an orange mist heading our
way. We head out to see what it is with our weapons drawn. Touching the mist is
like being near a raging fire, but it doesn’t hurt. In the distance of the
mist, a large group of knights with burning eyes walk out, all of which have
armor and weapons from different regions of the world and seem to be from
different races.
“You seem to be a favorite of the
legends,” Dan says.
“Who are they?” Gad asks.
“We are the Order of Virtuous Oathbreakers,
guards and soldiers who chose God’s laws over man’s laws,” one of them says.
“We appreciate your help, if you
are to give it,” I say.
“Our clown friends told us about
you and God has allowed us to be deployed here to help you, as we help those
soldiers and guards of civilization and God’s Church. The necromancers’ affront
to the honored deceased veterans will not stand without due punishment. We will
lead from the front.”
After agreeing, we soon make our charge
on the veteran’s grave. The Virtuous Oathbreakers’ weapons of flame cut down
the dead, possessed, and necromancers and burn their remains to ash. We support
them from attacks that come from underground as more corpses are raised and
ones that aren’t turned to ash are brought back to life. While fighting, I keep
an eye out for Leah who doesn’t seem to be around here, however, I eventually do
hear her screaming and run to the source.
“Peter!” Gad says.
“Let him be. He has to save the
only redeemable necromancer in this fight,” a Virtuous Oathbreaker knight says.
Making it to the church where Leah
is, I see that she is being crucified to the wall and a ritual is about to be
undertaken to skin her alive and put her in a doll’s body.
“Repent, if you can, scum,” I say
before laughing and covering the church in dark fog and entering it.
I cut my way through the necromancers
and their dead with my dagger, conjured weapons, and melt them with acid as I race
toward Leah, and by the time I reach her, twenty necromancers lay dead around
me along with ten of their corpse puppets. Now, the final obstacle that lies
before me is two of the possessed necromancers and the possessed bodies of my
boys that can hardly manage to stand. With my dagger recoated in holy water and
holy salts in my hand, I cut down the possessed and finally free the bodies of my
boys from demonic possession. It’s a good thing the demons didn’t have the face
of my boys, otherwise, this would’ve been harder to do, but then again, I’m no
stranger to cutting down the young. Moving toward Leah, I free her crucified
hands and start applying the holy water and salts to her arm to remove any
possible demonic influence from them.
Leah screams out in pain but doesn’t
resist what I’m doing to her and tries her best to bear it. The last of the
darkness in her seems to leave as I can see a light in her eyes and she appears
to be back to normal. She looks at me, starts to cry, and embraces me.
“I’m so sorry for what I’ve done to
us and our children. Can you ever forgive me?” she asks.
I can’t help but smile, hold her tightly,
and shed a tear while saying, “I’ve already forgiven you.”
“But…but what should I do now? I deserve
to be executed for what I’ve done.”
“My seniority and the respect I’ve
earned for my centuries of service allow me to convince the king to wave away
your execution. You’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure? I don’t deserve to
live and I deserve to be called a mother and your wife even less.”
“I am sure. None of us deserve to
live because of the sins we’ve committed, but God has mercy on us, so we share
that mercy with others, especially with those who are repentant. Now, come on.
Let’s give our boys a proper burial.”
“Ye…yeah. It’s the least I can do
for them now.”
When Leah and I walk outside of the
Church, we see that the battle is done and my fellow agents are congratulating
each other on a job well done. The Order of the Virtuous Oathbreakers retreat
into their burning orange mist, a few of which wave goodbye to me. Gad and Dan agree
to bring the message of my wife’s pardon to our king while we go to our family’s
graveyard to bury our boys. A priest blesses the burial and a few of our family
members and friends attend the burial as well, some of whom give my wife a
dirty look, and by the end of it, it’s just Leah and I standing in the
graveyard by ourselves.
“What do we do now after all this?
Do I live a secluded life of penance or join you in your journeys? I can’t imagine
going back to a normal life helping the community in their daily tasks,” Leah says.
“We’ll see, but for now, let’s rest
and mourn our children,” I say.
“Peter, why do you think that God
allowed me to do the things I did? Why does He keep allowing us to fall into
sin?”
“For His mysterious reasons that we
typically learn about in the future. For me, the life of a criminal was good
training for the agent I would become. Falling into sin and getting up is a way
that God humbles us, shows us His mercy, lets us see the evils of sin, and allows us to learn and get
stronger through our failures. In this way, you can say that abandonment to sin
and being humbled are blessings.”
“I see. Well, if anything, I’m
thankful for His mercies and vow never to sin in any way again. I also vow to
be your faithful wife, now and forever.”
“And I vow the same, to be your
faithful husband, now and forever.”
I place my wife’s wedding ring back on her finger and hold her hand as we walk to a new future together.
The
End
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