Chapter
4 – From Death to Life
The water from the mouth of the
whale is filtered out in the many small holes within it while I manage to stay
in it. After throwing up the salty water, I look around the whale’s mouth and
look up at the eye within it that is staring me down.
“What do you want? Huh?!” I ask.
“You’ve been a thorn in my side for days, so what are you going to do now? Eat
me alive? Tear me apart with those tendrils on your eye? Has my use for your
God been used up?”
No answer comes from the whale as
it continues to look at me with a judging stare.
“Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t say
anything. I don’t know why you would. You’re just a tool for God like I was. I
feel like I have no idea where he wants me to go or what to do anymore because
what am I even supposed to do now? Let’s say I escape this mouth. What then? Do
I join a losing battle in the hopes of help coming in just in time or are the
fishmen meant to bring me to the Pope who I give my message of Priscilla’s
threat in my final breaths? I don’t know.”
I start pacing back and forth
trying to sort out my many thoughts and plans that have now changed.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt more
stuck and helpless except for that time that Priscilla had me stuck in a dream
where I was raped by every kind of man, woman, and beast all at once for
revenge for what I did to her. She’s a threat to the world and my friends and
must be stopped. I thought I was supposed to play an important part in it and
I’m stuck here because of you. I no longer want revenge against her nor the
glory of beating her and only want to stop her, so why won’t you let me?”
“You must learn to allow me to have
complete control of your heart and not just a partial part of it,” God says.
“What’s the point? I do what you want me to, ask for your help,
and I end up like this. Do you abandon all your faithful or just men like me
who don’t have your favor? It’s no wonder why so many of your faithful fall to
sin regularly and don’t do what they’re told since you’re such a pain in the
ass and don’t give your aid when it's most needed!”
“Father,” a boy’s voice says as a
light shines out of nowhere.
From the light, an infant child
clothed in grey with his head in his left-hand floats to me. A golden light
shines from his chest and the neck where his head presumably was and his eyes
and mouth seem to glow with light as well.
“Father? Who are you to call me
father?” I ask.
“I am the son you had with
Priscilla, the same one she brutally sacrificed to gain incredible dark power.
I have been in Limbo for some time until I entered Heaven where I saw grandpop
and grandma and was taught the Divine Truths of God in no time at all. Now, I’m
here to convince you to serve God and help you along the way.
“You’re using my dead son to
convince me? I can’t believe this,” I say to the monstrance. “What of your
brothers and sisters? Did you see what happened to their souls?”
“They’re all in Hell along with
your wives and many of your friends and family where they’ll forever suffer for
the evil they’ve done.”
“What? Many of your siblings were
young. How are they in Hell?”
“They were past the age of reason
and they did the evil you commanded them to do. Even now, they curse your name
and cry for undeserved mercy.”
Falling to my knees and trying to
hold back tears, I remember the smiles of my children and loved ones and the
good times we had together.
“You say you’re here to convince me
to serve God, but you’re doing a bad job of it. Why should I help when he’s
damned many of those that I loved?”
“The damned have decided their own
fate, and though you must pay for your part in it, the fate of your soul is yet
to be set in stone in the present. You can still save yourself and mother, and
join me, grandpop, grandma, and God in Heaven.”
“You still call her your mother
even though she killed you as you were born?”
“Nothing will stop her from being
my mother nor do I have any feelings of hatred toward her for what she did. I
love her and as long as she lives, she can be saved despite the atrocities she
is committing.”
“I see…”
I consider what I should do, but
there’s only really one sensible choice.
“Father?”
“What now?”
“Can you name me?”
“Huh? God didn’t give you a name
yet?”
“No. He wanted to give that honor
to you.”
“Hmm. I did plan on calling you
Harald. How do you like that name?”
“I love it!”
Harald floats up to me with a smile
on his face and embraces me, my only child, that hasn’t been damned because of
me. What kind of father am I that leads his children and loved ones to
damnation and can still be saved? Do I truly deserve that mercy? I guess it’s
just as Harald says. As long as I live, there’s a chance for me despite what
I’ve done. Okay then, I’ll do it.
“God, you can have my heart. All of
it,” I say.
The whale suddenly ascends upward,
forcing me to hold onto its tongue so I don’t fall into its eye and tendrils.
When it opens its mouth, it reveals that we’re flying in the sky. It then uses
its long tongue to put me on top of it. From the top of the whale, I see the
four wings on the side of the whale and the battle happening below us.
“Don’t fly us away from them! They
need our help!” I say to the whale who immediately flies down. “Woah! Not so
fast!”
I hold on for dear life while the
whale crashes into the enemy and uses its tendrils to crush and eat the enemy’s
troops. The enemy tries to fight back against it, but none of their attacks can
pierce the whale’s body and tendrils, and any slight cut made is regenerated
almost instantaneously. This goes on for a period until our reinforcements come
in and help us force the enemy to retreat. Everyone stares up at me in
amazement including Gerardus who is the most relieved to see me.
“This victory is God’s!” I say as I
stand up on the whale and raise my hands in the air.
We all cheer out for our victory
and head back to the floating city. Some of the guards stay behind to collect
the dead bodies of our allies that haven’t sunk to the bottom of the sea that
not even the fishmen can reach. The rest of the city cheers for us and
celebrates our victory with confetti and music. Lucy runs up to give me a hug
and Fr. Titus does much the same.
“I’m ready,” I say.
“Ready? Ready for what,” he asks
with a smile that suggests he knows what I mean but is asking just to be sure.
“Ready to be baptized.”
My friends, Gerardus, Lucy, and Fr.
Titus, are overjoyed to hear this and arrange to have me baptized the next day.
After resting, I immediately wake up full of energy and head to the church. The
ceremony and being baptized feel like I’m starting to breathe for the first
time as if I’m truly alive. Once the ceremony is done, my friends mention how I
look different now ever since I came back from the battle. I look at my
reflection in the water and see that they’re right. I used to not have a proper
nose, but now I do. My wings are no longer sharp and heavy. Instead, they are
light, soft, and have white feathers on them. Additionally, my eyes aren’t red
and dark gold anymore but are now white, red, and bright gold as if there were
a miniature sun in them. God has truly changed me and made me into a new man.
I stay for an additional day in the
floating city to mourn the dead who bravely died in the battle before God tells
me I must leave to go to the Vatican with my friends behind me as witnesses to
my deeds and faith. The people of the city say thankful goodbyes to me as I leave
and give me parting gifts of food and water so I can be prepared for the
journey ahead, however, I don’t think I’ll need as much as they give me as the
whale from before emerges from the ocean. God tells Fr. Titus and I that he
will be our transportation to get there, a fact that is both comforting and uneasy
since we must ride in its mouth. Sure enough, we get to the Vatican in what feels
like less than a day and the whale drops us off directly onto the streets of
the Vatican in the eternal night kingdom of Noctua.
We’ve gathered a large crowd
because of our sudden appearance and the flying whale that brought us here that
flies away after dropping us off. The Pope who is a high elf steps out of the
Vatican with his guards, cardinals, and archbishops to join the crowd and asks
why we are here. I tell him everything I know about Priscilla while holding the
monstrance in my hands and my friends back up my claims to attest to my repentance
and virtue.
“I’ve heard reports of Priscilla
doing something of the sort in the Americas, but didn’t believe them. She’s been
a friend of my family for generations and has always been a virtuous woman,
however, your testament has convinced me otherwise,” Pope Jude the Third says. “I
will gather the forces of the Church and deploy them to stop Priscilla from
putting the world under another dream reality.”
“I will gladly join the fight, if
you’ll allow me,” I say with one knee on the ground. “She’s my wife and I
played a major part in corrupting her.”
“I’ll allow this for all you have
done for the faithful fishmen of the Atlantic and convincing me of Priscilla’s
threat.”
Fr. Titus adds, “May I suggest that
he receive all the sacraments while you gather our forces? He was only baptized
and receiving the sacraments will strengthen him against Priscilla’s cursed
magic.”
“I don’t see why not, that is, if
that’s what he wants as well.”
Everyone looks at me as I think for
a second and then agree. Why shouldn’t I receive the sacraments and even grow
closer to God, after all? Once I do, I feel even more empowered and ready to
face Priscilla. After all that God has put me through, I feel like a new, improved
man who has become who I was meant to be. Within me, I still feel my old urges
claw at me, but now I’m strong enough to resist them. Thank you, God, for breaking
me down to this.
“I am overjoyed to finally have the
greatest treasure of all, your love,” God says. “Welcome home, my son.”
The End
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