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Giselle lives with the love of her life, Tyler, in a city of gods like them. Tyler is the god of light while she is a god of music and art. The two live happily together in their paradise and practice their craft, but their paradise is not free from violence as the dark gods attack them and expose the cracks in this so-called paradise.
Chapter
3 - Reality
Flying into the city of dark gods,
I see that it’s an invert of the city that I came from. Instead of small
buildings, this one has towering skyscrapers that almost completely hide the
sky. There’s another detail about it beyond the obvious that makes it different
than the other one. Why can’t I think about it despite having just left? It
must be because I was always focusing on Tyler who was always by my side. He
was my world. He is my world and I won’t allow the dark gods here to separate
us any longer.
I use the creativity of my stories
to make these dark gods start fights with one another and take their own lives
as I scour the city looking for the love of my life. Every single person I meet
comes to a gruesome or quick death as I yell out my demand to have Tyler or
else everyone in the city will perish at my hands. Eventually, Xara steps out
of the shadows and charges at me with knives in her hands. I dodge her attacks
while trying to use my magic to make her stab herself, but she keeps punching
me in the face, stopping me from finishing the story.
“Since when could you fly and use
your magic to influence people?” Xara asks. “You’re more of a dark god than I
am.”
“This is my world! My paradise and I
won’t let you ruin it!” I say.
Using the extent of my magic, I tell
a story that involves a noose just as one comes down from the sky and hangs Xara.
She struggles to get out of it while suffocating, kicking her feet, and crying.
“Yes! Hang you, whore! Suffocate
and die!” I say as the last breaths come out of Xara’s mouth.
As she hangs dead and I laugh at it,
her body becomes the only thing visible to me. It then disappears and I find
myself in a shed.
“No, no, no!” I say and then look
into a broken antique mirror.
I see that my godlike appearance
has changed back to my normal, ugly self with dark blue eyes and dirty blonde
hair that’s browner than anything.
“What is going on?!” I say out
loud.
A light in the dark corner of the shed
shines in my face as I hear the voice that’s been telling me to wake up.
It says, “These fantasies of yours
have gone on long enough. It’s time for you to live in reality again.”
“Who are you?!” I ask.
“I am the God above gods, the only
and true God.”
“That can’t be true. An angel of
light came to me and told me to be here and put me into the dream.”
The angel that I mention appears as
a bright light in this shed, its face and body are indiscernible, but it must
be an angel. It gave me the happiness I wanted.
“Yes, Giselle,” the angel says. “Go
back to sleep and when the family who truly loves you discovers you here in the
state you are in, they will take you in as one of their own.”
“Do not believe this devil, Giselle,”
the voice from the other light says. “They are not your true family.”
“But they treat me so well! They
even let me work in their restaurant, play music, and sing songs!”
“But this isn’t where you belong.
They already told you that you should go back home to your real family, so you
shouldn’t cause them any grief by forcing them to take you in,” ‘God’ says.
“What ‘real’ family? They’re the
reason why I ran away from them in the first place! They always talk about how
other kids are better at everything than me and belittle my dreams!”
“But they are proud of what you do
and love you.”
“I don’t believe it when they say
it. Why are you even telling me to go back to them? They don’t even take me to
church anymore or practice the faith they claim to believe in.”
“Yes, that’s right, Giselle,” the
angel says. “This false light is the true devil. Would God tell you to go back
to a family that’s trying to drag you down to Hell with them? Would God want
you to go back to a miserable reality than a happy existence in a dream?”
“I can’t promise that you’ll be
happy for the rest of your life, but what I can promise is that I’ll be with
you through it all and you will experience moments of joy and glimpses of the
true happiness that will come afterward.”
“He is giving you a bad deal. Take
mine and you will be happy forever. It’s what you want, isn’t it?”
“What I want…”
“What would Tyler want? What were
you taught?” ‘God’ asks.
“Tyler…he always said to do the
right thing even if it wasn’t what I wanted.” After thinking about it for a few
seconds, I say, “Okay, fine! Just leave me alone!”
I get off the floor and walk as fast
as I can out of the shed and into the rainy night while trying not to look
back, however, I can’t help but look into my friend’s house through the window as
they are eating dinner. They all look so happy together, laughing, smiling, and
talking to one another about their day. My family isn’t like them and looking
at them makes me feel all the lonelier so I pull myself away from the window
and continue walking away. While continuing on my way home, a familiar car stops
next to me, one that I try to walk away from.
“Giselle!” they say from behind me.
Turning my head around, I see Tyler
and Xara behind me who look relieved to see me. As for me, I’m sick of seeing
them.
“Leave me alone!” I say.
“We’ve been looking all over for
you,” Xara says.
“Your parents have been worried
sick about you. Where have you been these last couple of days?” Tyler asks me.
It’s only been a couple of days? It
feels like I’ve lived a lifetime in the dream I was in, and yet, it also feels
like I’ve only lived in the dream for mere minutes.
“Come on, we’ll drive you home,”
Xara says.
“I don’t want to go back home!” I yell.
“Listen, if there’s a problem with
your parents, I’m sure you can work it out with them.”
“Shut the hell up! You don’t know
what I go through with them.”
“Talk to me about it then. We’re
friends.”
“No, we’re not! I hate you!”
Tyler and Xara are silent for a
moment.
“What? What do you mean?”
“I hate you for pretending to be my
friend, stealing the heart of the man I love, and being better than me at everything!
All everyone talks about is how good of a person, hard of a worker, and smart
student you are while looking down at me as I do nothing but mess up all the
time.”
Xara struggles to speak, so Tyler
steps closer to me and says, “Giselle-”
“I don’t want to hear you say
anything either! You betrayed me for her! It’s like I don’t even exist ever
since you two got together. What happened to helping me through my struggles
and grow in this faith that you introduced me to?”
“I’m sorry that I haven’t been
there for you as much as I could. Look, I promise to help you more tomorrow. For
now, let’s get you home.”
Looking at Xara, I imagine her hanging
with tears on her face again, but Tyler’s kind face reminds me that I shouldn’t
feel good about imagining it and tepidly agree to go home. Neither Tyler nor Xara
talk to me on the drive back, so I just sit in silence like I want to, but when
they drop me off, they tell me that they’ll talk to me tomorrow.
“We’re here for you, Giselle,”
Tyler says.
“We really are your friends and
care about you,” Xara says.
I storm off to the front door of my
house while trying not to cry because I don’t want to believe what they said. Before
I make it to the door, my parents open it, run out, and give me a hug.
“We’ve missed you so much!” my mom
says.
“Where were you all this time?” my dad
says.
Pushing past my parents, I say, “Shut
up.”
My parents stop me from heading
straight to my room.
“You aren’t going anywhere without
telling us why you ran away,” my dad says.
“There’s no point in telling you
anything. It wouldn’t matter anyway,” I say.
“Why’s that?”
“You can tell us anything, Giselle.
We’re your parents-”
“Shut up! You never listen to me
even when I try to ask you for help.”
“What are you talking about? You never
ask us for help.”
“Shut up…” I say under my breath.
“You have to stop being so
reclusive and open up to us.”
“Shut up…” I say with clenched
fists.
“Please, for once, just be honest
with us. Your friends-”
“Fucking shut the hell up!” I say
before grabbing a family picture and throwing it against another, breaking
both in the process as they collide and fall on the floor.
Now that they’re quiet, I continue
by saying, “You always talk about how other kids are better at me at everything!
You always say how they have their life in order while I don’t no matter how hard
I try to prove otherwise! My dreams of being an artist, writer, and singer mean
less than nothing to you! My beliefs don’t mean anything to you! I hate you and
I don’t believe you if you say you love me or that you’re proud of me because
everything else you say and do says otherwise!”
I’m really starting to cry my eyes
out now even as I hold my face as if trying to keep the tears in and put the
ones I’ve shed back in.
“Giselle-”
“Don’t touch me!”
“We can work this out. I’m sorry we
haven’t been as open-minded to you as we should have been,” my dad says. “Tell
us everything that bothers you and we’ll listen this time without interrupting
or contradicting you. Help us understand why you’re so upset.”
“I don’t want to…”
“Maybe we should talk tomorrow,” my
mom suggests. “I’ve made your favorite dinner, chicken parmigiana. You should
eat since I’m sure you haven’t eaten in a while.”
“Okay…”
I eat my “favorite” dinner, head to
my room, close the door, and immediately fall on the bed. It’s funny. I feel
more alone here than I do in the shed. Being around my parents and so-called
family and friends has always made me feel alone because I know that if I want
to talk to them about something, they’ll either not care or not understand why I
care so much about the things that interest me. This is why I didn’t want to
come back home. There’s a chance that nothing will change even after the fit
that I threw.
I’d like nothing more to be back in
the dream, to be a god, and to live happily every second of my life, but I also
see why it was wrong. What could be more godlike than defining what is true and
what isn’t? I can’t be doing that when I’m the furthest thing from a god or
even a good daughter, so I can do nothing more now than to hope and pray that
God holds up His end of this bad deal and makes my miserable life worth living
in the end.
The
End
Chapter
2 – Fractures in Heaven
Before Tyler wakes up and lights up
the day, I’ve already made breakfast downstairs for us, eggs overlight, bacon,
and bagels with cream cheese and orange juice, a usual special that my family
makes on Saturday or Sunday to get us full and ready for the day ahead.
When Tyler heads downstairs, he
says, “Ah! What’s the occasion for this special breakfast? It isn’t the weekend
yet.”
“I thought I’d just make something
today. Am I supposed to make breakfast only on special days and the weekend?” I
ask.
“No, no, no. I’m just surprised is
all.”
“Wake up, Giselle.”
“I’m awake. I got enough sleep last
night.”
“I didn’t ask if you did. Are you
alright, Giselle?”
“Yeah…yeah, I’m fine.”
Someone must’ve said that. I want
to say it’s an echo from my dream, but it sounded like someone just said it in
my ears. After shaking off my worries, Tyler go about our happy, daily life
together. While working at my family’s restaurant, I hear whispers behind me.
“Being an artist isn’t enough.”
“It doesn’t pay the bills.”
“You can’t just sing, play music,
and draw all day.”
These whispers cause me to mess up
a bit while playing and singing. Looking around me, people seem to have
noticed, but I try not to be too embarrassed and keep enjoying my craft.
“They aren’t your real parents.”
“Tyler isn’t yours.”
“Wake up, Giselle.”
“Shut up!” I say.
Everyone is silent now. I apologize
for my outburst and walk away to get some fresh outside. While outside, a
backup musician takes my place.
“I don’t think you’re okay today,
Giselle,” Tyler says as he joins me outside. “You’re acting really off.”
“Maybe something is wrong. Maybe
one of the dark gods or Xara has something to do with it. Xara always finds a
way to continue to be a pain in my side,” I say.
“She’s nothing compared to you. You
should relax today or at least take it easy.”
“You’re right. I’ll take it easy
and let whatever is happening to me pass. Thank you.”
I kiss Tyler and head back in,
ready to play and sing again.
“Why are you being so lazy?”
“You should be working harder.”
“That lady can play and sing so
much better than you.”
“It’s why she has a career while
you don’t.”
Ignore the whispers, Giselle.
Ignore them. I play and sing as I usually do while doing my best not to let the
whispers get to me, and thankfully, I manage to make it through the day without
making another mistake. By supper time, I notice that it’s quiet. Hopefully,
that’s the end of that. The rest of the day goes off without a hitch and Tyler
even treats me to deserts after learning how to make it thanks to my family.
He’s made cupcakes with all different kinds of sprinkles and colorful icing. I
have my fill of them and leave the rest for my family to enjoy as I leave them
and head back home with Tyler.
Again, I see the familiar face
reach out to me, this time with an open hand as he says, “Wake up, Giselle.”
As I wake up, I see that I’m in a
shed for an instant before everything reverts to normal except for Tyler being
mysteriously gone. I call out to him and hear nothing in response. As I begin
to get worried, the whispers respond, but they’re different.
“He isn’t yours. He’s mine!” I hear
before behind taken down by a punch to my face.
I look up and am somewhat surprised
to see Xana.
“I figured you’d show up sooner or
later. You’re always the reason why something is wrong with my life,” I say.
Tyler is beside Xana who has a red
energy emanating from his head that is swaying around.
“I am only trying to make you see
the truth. Tyler is mine and you’ll never have him!”
Xana disappears in a flash thanks
to Tyler’s teleportation magic. I run out of the house and go to the city of
the dark gods, but I find that this city is under attack again by the same
gods as yesterday. While trying to help as best I can with my singing and
supporting music that I play on a conjured violin, two dark gods try to stop me,
both of whom I barely recognize. They have aspects of my face, and yet, they’re
disgusting and terrifying to look at as if my face has been filtered through a
nightmare.
“We’re your real parents, Giselle,”
they say.
“Come back home to us.”
“We miss you.”
“You need to be back where you
belong.”
“Shut up and get away from me!” I
say as I play my music more intensely.
“This music will do nothing for
you.”
“It’s a mere hobby.”
“Do something more proactive and
profitable.”
“You’ll need to if you want to
survive in the world.”
My conjured violin starts to sound
terrible as it breaks apart and my singing voice becomes raspy. With nothing to
fight back against the dark gods, I resort to my last option. Using my creative
imagination, I tell a short story about two parents who corrupted their child
to the point where the child committed suicide. Because of their guilt, the
parents killed themselves as well. This story makes the two people in front of
me take their own lives by tearing their heads off. They then explode into
particles of light and finally cease their endless talking.
I continue to use my creative
powers by making the other dark gods kill themselves, turn on each other, and
empower the other gods to show them no mercy even as the enemy retreats. Some
of the gods look at me with worry in their eyes at what I’m doing.
“What? These bastards don’t deserve
to die honorably or live another second. Now, if you’re not going to help me, I
have to find my husband,” I say and then fly off to the city of the dark gods.
As Tyler rises from his sleep and
our bed, the sun rises on the earth. He is the god of light and the light of my
life, after all. His white face and eyes outlined by black lines and constant
smile shine brighter than the sun on me and give me more energy to rise than
the feeling of another great day.
“Good morning, my love,” he says
before kissing me on the head.
Tyler changes from his nightwear
into his usual white dress shirt with golden lines on it, black body suit,
white shoes, and black pants in a flash of light.
“Good morning,” I say back and then
change into my usual clothes as well, a long, dark golden strapless dress, and
light golden shoes.
My hair has changed from its
disheveled look and curls into something presentable like that of a crown with
two horn-like ends to it. I look into the mirror, look at my bright blue eyes,
and then apply light gold makeup to my cheeks, eyes, and lips, and then make
sure my gold and black choker with a dark golden sun on it appears around my
neck.
“All ready, Giselle?” Tyler asks.
“With you, I’m ready for anything,”
I say and then kiss him on the lips.
Tyler teleports us to the streets
of our wonderous city streets that are already busy with other gods like us who
are going about their daily business. They tell us good morning and say hi to
us and we do the same while holding each other’s hands. We go to my family’s
restaurant and are seated almost immediately. My parents, brothers, and sisters
join us for breakfast and enjoy each other’s company while making small talk
about business and how things are going. After we’re done eating, Tyler and I go our separate
ways for now to do our duties for the restaurant.
I play the piano and sing to add to
the restaurant’s atmosphere while Tyler uses his light to brighten up the place
to make it shine more than it usually does while also providing nutrients to
the plants outside and my parent’s gardens. It’s a humble and repetitive
lifestyle, but it’s one that I appreciate and enjoy living every day of my
life. While playing, Tyler stops by to give me kisses, check up on me, and
later have lunch together. For my final performance of the day, he acts as my
dancing and singing partner as we sing one of our many favorite songs to end
the day. The crowd cheers and claps for us as Tyler and I kiss.
After the crowds leave, my family,
Tyler, and I eat supper together. My parents remind me how proud of me they are
and my siblings tell me how cool I was. Tyler and I say goodbye after eating
and teleport back to our room in an instant and switch into our nightwear just
as quickly before falling into bed because of all the work done today. We rest
in each other’s arms, kiss each other, and say goodnight as Tyler turns out the
last lights of the world, and the god of night takes over for now. The god of
dreams weaves for me a reality in my head that I wish were real as I dream
about dancing with Tyler forever while singing song after song all the while
being praised and adored by all who watch us. A familiar and disgusting face in
the crowd catches my attention, and as soon as it does, I wake up in a cold
sweat.
Looking around, I make sure Tyler
is with me and I’m still in Paradise. Thankful that I am, I lay back down,
cuddle up closer to Tyler, and fall back to sleep. I see a different face that
I recognize who reaches out to me before I wake up again to see that Tyler has
made the sun shine on a new day. We go about our daily routine like yesterday
except we don’t stay to work at my family’s restaurant. Instead, today is our
day off so we roam the city of gods, taking in its sights, sounds, and
pleasantries. The first place we go to is the art gallery, or as some call
it, the Artist’s Heaven.
It's called the Artist’s Heaven
because all gods of art, like myself, gather here to share their craft, are
rewarded for their work, and give feedback on them. The gallery is separated
into three sections: writers, painters, and musicians with subsections in each
gallery for every particular kind. For example, there’s a horror section in the
writer's area, sculpting in the painter’s section, and separate piano and
guitar sections in the musician’s area. Since I’m interested in everything, I
look at pretty much everything, get Tyler involved with the art activities with
me such as drawing and singing, and talking to other gods of particular forms
of art. By the end of it, I see that it’s almost afternoon.
“I’m so sorry for taking up so much
of the day with activities that you weren’t as interested in,” I say.
“No, it’s fine. It’s worth it just
to see you happy,” Tyler says. He raises his hands and pushes the position of
the sun back a bit. “Besides, I am the god of light after all. I can put a bit
more time into the day.”
For the rest of the day, we do activities
that Tyler is interested in such as getting involved with sports and watching
the horse races. At the end of it, we eat dinner at a restaurant inside one of
the stadiums, but we both notice something is wrong when the night seems to be
darker than usual.
“Do you think something is wrong
with the god of the night?” I ask.
“No, no, this is something else,” Tyler
says.
Fireballs start raining down on the
city as the dark gods attack us. Tyler and I race out into the streets to lend
our support to the city’s defenders. I play and sing songs that give strength
to the guards while Tyler uses his light to blind our enemies and fire to burn
them. One of the dark gods, who I saw in my dreams, comes after me and tries
cutting my head off with her knives. Her name is Xara, a dark god of thieves
and a lifelong enemy of mine. She has a black halo around her head, strains of
red hair coming from her bald head, red and black eyes with tears of blood
coming from them, a black dress, and a black necklace with a red teardrop-shaped
stone. I use my music to confuse and cause her pain in her head as she wildly
swings her weapons at me.
“I’ll defeat you this time, Giselle!”
Xara says.
“And I won’t let you escape alive!”
I say back.
“You’ll kill me? Ha! As if you
could do anything but uselessly play your music. You can’t defeat me,
especially when I can do this!”
A bright light comes from Xara’s
necklace that gets the attention of Tyler and seems to temporarily put him in a
trance. I use my music to counter Xara’s dark magic and give Tyler to break
free from her influence. Tyler then uses his fire magic to blast her away into
the sky. Seeing that the other dark gods are retreating, Xara curses at me and
then retreats with the rest of the scum.
“We can’t let her escape this time!
We have to finish her off!” I say.
“No, it’s fine. She can never do
any lasting damage to us and will never separate us,” Tyler says as he grabs my
hands.
The look in Tyler’s eyes convinces
me of his words and I reluctantly agree with him. He’s right. The gods of
repair and healing instantly repair the damage done to the city and bring back
to full health those who were hurt during the battle. Since so much happened
during the day, we go home to rest. I’m still uneasy about letting Xara go and
worried about what she might do when she comes back. Even so, I manage to fall
asleep because of my exhaustion. While sleeping, I see a familiar face in my
dreams, but this time, it isn’t Xara. It's the other person. Someone whose face
I should better recognize and who I feel I should love more than I do.
He points to me, and says, “Wake
up, Giselle.”
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After hundreds of years of suffering and trials, Priscilla's journey comes to a close. Her final task is to break the curse over the world that she placed over it at a time of grief and hatred of God. She carries her cross to her Calvary while being constantly tortured by demons who won't let her forget her past actions, and yet, God will be with her helping her carry her cross till the end.
Chapter
3 – The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery
At this moment, I’m not sure if I’m
still seeing things or if what’s in front of me is. It’s the city that I used
to call my home. Most of the buildings were made ages ago in humanity’s
futuristic past. My teachers told me that this place used to light up like the
night sky when electricity was able to flow through it. When I was here, the
only things that lit it up were torches and magically lit lamps. Even so, it
was only a fraction of what it once was, and now, it looks to be even less than
that because the entire place is in ruins.
Echoes of my memories here play in
my head and my legs automatically head in the direction of home. It’s then that
I realize that it’s where I want to go. I want to go home, see my parents and
friends, and act as if the hundreds of years I’ve been living were nothing more
than a long nightmare. Of course, when I get home, I find that no one is there
waiting for me and the interior of it is completely different. Oh, that’s
right. I allowed someone else to buy it because I lived on the other side of
the world and didn’t care for the house anymore. Now, I wish I had kept it even
if I was seldom ever going to enter it again.
Since there’s nothing left for me
here, I walk toward the next place and feel myself being guided to the nearby
cathedral. The echoes I’m hearing and seeing change from my own to that of a
man carrying a cross. Am I seeing what God saw when He was about to be
crucified? It seems that way as I hear people mocking me and asking me to save
myself. The people around me spit on me while the others behind me whip my
back. Amid the crowd, I see the kind face of Mother Mary, and even though it is
a comfort to see her, it pains me to see her in such sorrow.
By the time I make it to the
cathedral, I’m crawling on the ground and profusely bleeding. Still, I push
myself forward until I reach the altar and fall flat on my face. There’s
silence for a moment until I’m lifted into the air and my arms and legs are
stretched out just as Jesus is on the cross in front of me. This is it. This is
the moment that my spell over the world breaks. I don’t even care if I die
after this. I just want it all to end.
“Do you think it’ll be that easy?”
a voice says in my head.
“God suffered on the cross for six
hours before He died.”
“Do you think you’ll get off that
easily after all you’ve done?”
I start to cry and then scream out,
“Just end it already!”
“Ah, there’s the anger against God
that we know and love.”
“Let your rage seep out even more.
You don’t deserve this fate.”
“You deserve a throne, even if it
is one in Hell.”
After restraining myself, I say, “I
deserve nothing. Less than nothing. Even suffering like this for God and the
world is excessively merciful.”
“You are scum, unworthy of mercy.”
No one is worthy, but He still
suffered and died for us.
“You are a depraved traitor and
have been all your life.”
And yet, God has given me an
unending amount of second chances.
“After all this time and even at
this most important moment in your life, you are at our mercy.”
I should’ve expected to be tempted
till my last breath. If anything, it’s a good sign. The temptations I’ve been
facing all my life repeat over and over again along with the mockery of the
demons.
“You can save yourself with a
single word.”
In response, I pray the same
prayers over and over again until I get beyond tired of repeating them. I then focus
on offering my pain as my prayer. Hanging here feels as if I am feeling the cost
of every sin and sorrow done against God across all time.
“Into your hands, I trust my spirit,”
I say.
Suddenly, it becomes quiet, thanks be
to God. This deafening silence becomes bothersome as I remember that
temptations are a sign that I am close to God, but I try not to let it bother
me. A darkness then envelops everything around me except the cross with Jesus
on it. As I look at it, the statue’s skin turns from the materials it was made
of to flesh as it comes to life.
“Is…is it done?” I ask.
“It is done,” God says.
A wave of relief washes over me,
and yet, the overwhelming pain hasn’t faded.
“What now? Am I dead or something else?”
“You are dead, but you are alive in
spirit and a special place in Purgatory because of your sins and the magic
required to break the curse you put on the world. You will hang on your cross
with Me until all your sins have been paid to the last penny. Only then will
you join Me in Heaven.”
“I see. I didn’t expect to get off
easy and I guess this is the best I could get after all I did.”
“You will join Me sooner than you
think. Look.”
My eyes are drawn to something
below me as I look at my dead body near the altar I was at. Jude is holding my
body while he and the Church’s faithful pray for me. Something above me gets my
attention as I watch everyone I’ve ever known praying for me in Heaven. As this
is happening, much of my overwhelming pain becomes easier to bear and I slowly
move closer to God. Even though this wasn’t the end I wanted for myself and I didn’t
live as happily as I wanted, this was all for the best. I see that now while
looking into the gentle face of God who seems to be pleased that I accomplished
what I had to do.
He reaches out to me and I reach
out to Him in return. I can feel the joys of Heaven as I grow closer to Him,
and in those joys, I feel a happiness greater than anything I can ever imagine.
I was never going to get the happiness I wanted in life because God always had greater
happiness in store for me in Heaven, to be with Him forever.
The End
Chapter 2 – Falling on the Ascent
The Americas are much worse than it
was when I left. There isn’t a single light that can be seen in the empty void
of the sky and most if not all the wildlife and plants are dead. In my hours of
walking, every settlement is in ruins and either abandoned or crawling with
possessed that I can only manage to defeat because my curse on the world
doesn’t allow me to die from any injury and because I refuse to stop moving
forward. The end is near. It has to be.
“You’re far from the end,
Priscilla,” a voice says in my head.
“You’ll suffer for longer than you
think even after you complete God’s role for you.”
“That’s what He wants from you.
That’s all He’s ever wanted from you.”
I pray as much as I can as the
temptations begin to take hold, and yet, they start to get worse and harder to
bear, not easier.
“Do you think you can resist us?”
“We damned souls stronger and more
faithful to God than you.”
“You’ve fallen many times already,
and yet, God refuses to make you immune to us. That proves that He only cares
to use you and then throw you away.”
That’s not true! I’ll overcome
this!”
“And who are you, Priscilla?”
My arms and legs split away from my
body, forming two versions of myself. One is wearing the brown leather armor
that I used to wear as a soldier while the other is naked, her hair is red and
black, and her body is covered with cursed grey markings.
“Even in your more faithful days,
there was a time you fell to a curse and almost killed your true love,
Dominic.”
“After that, you were jealous that
God gave Dominic to another woman who he lived happily and had children with.”
I was…I am happy he chose her over
me because of what I almost did.
“Once you met Evander, you
dedicated your life to him. His status as the oldest man alive, king of the
elves, and his charming childish personality made you trust him and his plan to
bring peace to the world by force, through a dream reality that would make
people live happily and faithfully whether they wanted to or not.”
“To achieve this dream reality, you
killed, kidnapped, and aided in his manipulations for hundreds of years. Sure,
some of the people you went after were corrupt, but others weren’t.”
“You didn’t care who got in the
way. You only wanted the happiness you thought you deserved and covered your
actions with the excuse that it was for the greater good.”
There’s no such thing as doing evil
for good. I know that now. I was an idiot and still am.
“Because you couldn’t get to
Dominic, you’ve had many husbands, all of which couldn’t give you the happiness
or children you wanted.”
“You even had an affair with
Evander, two broken souls enraptured by each other’s longing for happiness.”
It was a mistake. We already
confessed and did our penance for that sin.
“But the sin of lust never left
you. Once you achieved your dream reality, you made it so that you lived with
Dominic and two imaginary children. Even after all these years, you still
lusted over another woman’s husband.”
“What a stupid woman she was,
wasn’t she?”
“She was unworthy of being
Dominic’s husband.”
“While you were a distinguished
woman of society and the army, she was nothing more than a bumbling fool, a
housewife who couldn’t help but get other people hurt in her clumsiness.”
Persephone was a better to Dominic
than I ever was. Her making to Heaven with him is proof of that.
“Many people are better than you at
everything.”
“Even the man who broke the dream
reality. He was a homosexual, a pedophile, a rapist, a thief, a human
trafficker, a torturer, a transexual, a manipulator, a murderer, everything
that is wrong with the world, and yet when God called him to do the right
thing, he did it while you failed.”
God bless him. I hope he has one of
the highest places in Heaven next to God.
“He has more than you’ll ever get
even though he only served God for a handful of years before he died.”
“What did you get in return?”
“Nothing.”
“Less than nothing.”
“You ran away from accepting
responsibility for aiding in what Evander did and then you were faced with
Leif, a bestial man through and through.”
“He violated and tortured you in
every way imaginable.”
“He let his servants and animals
have their way with you while all you could do was cry and take it.”
“But that wasn’t the worst.”
“No, the worst was that he was able
to make you pregnant while no other man could.”
“That’s what broke you.”
Stop it…
“You couldn’t deal with it and
spent months growing your power to go back into the dream reality, your false
happiness, and once your infant was about to be born, you cut yourself open,
cut out the boy’s heart, and his head, and offered him to us as a sacrifice to obtain
the dark magic you wanted.”
I’m sorry…
“If that wasn’t bad enough, Leif
was being talked to directly by God and was used as His instrument against you.
He even had the privilege of naming your son and the spirit of your son
appeared to him first.”
Leif deserved to name him. I don’t
even deserve to be called his mother. My body is convulsing at the feeling and
sight of remembering my entire life and every sin and regret from it. In the
distance, I see warped versions of myself appear along with demons of lust,
despair, and wrath who surround and mock me.
“Even after you were humbled, you
came back to us to curse the world to make it as it is now. You were on the
verge of victory, but Jude prevented you from it.”
“You can still achieve your vengeance
on God.”
“Join us.”
“The world can be yours.”
“You can have as many men and
children as you want.”
“You can finally have the happiness
you deserve.”
“The happiness that God has been
preventing you from having for hundreds of years.”
No…no…get away from me.
“You’re pathetic.”
“Weak.”
“Beyond useless.”
“Where are all the spirits of your
friends that appeared to you before?”
“They’re not here.”
“They gave you false hope.”
“God was being spiteful to you
again.”
“You’ve fallen to us again.”
“They laugh at you from Heaven.”
“Show them Hell.”
“Denounce them.”
“Denounce Him.”
The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh
away…the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away…the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh
away…blessed be the name of the Lord.
“He isn’t listening.”
Mother Mary and St. Joseph, be a
mother and father to me now.
“They never cared.”
I trust my soul to you, Lord.
“He gave it to us.”
Guardian angel…
“We are the only angels here for you.”
You’re only attacking me because I’m
close to God. If I wasn’t, you wouldn’t bother.
“We are bringing you to your senses.”
After repeating prayers and
humbling reminders for so long, I pass out as a result of the constant trauma.
When I wake up, I see that my body is intact and the demons are gone. I shiver
in the dirt unable to move or do anything. What can be done now? What do I do?
Wait. I don’t need a reminder. There are already two in my hands, two in my
feet, and another on my head. Thanks be to God for them. Thanks be to God for
His mercy. I pray to God for mercy for my sins, pick myself up, and continue
wandering forward to wherever He wants me to go. Blessed be the name of the
Lord forever.
Chapter
1 – The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery
After hundreds of years of living,
my final and most difficult challenge will be complete. I have cursed the world
because of my childish disappointment and hatred of God. It suffers in that a
person’s demons manifest through their bodies in painful and horrifying ways,
and yet, they cannot die no matter how much they suffer. That is about
to end as I have the wood of the true cross pierced through my hands and
feet and a crown of thorns rests upon my head. With my prayers and penance
united to the Church and soul rededicated to God, we go to the Americas, my
birthplace, to end my curse and free the world from demonic influence.
I am on a boat with the Church’s
penitents who have good control of their temper and pride. Pope Jude the Third,
a lifelong friend of mine, is also here. Most people here are praying for
themselves and each other on this boat and the others around us, so that their
souls may be strong enough to face what’s ahead of us. The Americas are said to
be the most dangerous place in the world because you don’t need to have sinned
to have the demons manifest through you. Whether this is because I started
casting the curse in the Americas or some cultists are strengthening the curse
is unknown and not worth figuring out since the solution is the same.
We must cleanse the land of sin, as
was told to us by our most devoted penitents who received this instruction from
God. This could take days, weeks, months, or years depending on the mercy of
God. In any case, I pray and hope that we make it through it and none of us
fall to sin, especially me since my fall caused all this in the first place, a
fact that I can’t help but remember over and over again. Looking at my
reflection in the ocean doesn’t help either. I see my teeth, half are normal,
and the other half are sharp and animal-like.
Knowing this to be
a temptation, I refocus myself on God and the penitential pains I carry. I
look at my constantly bleeding head, arms, hands, and feet and remind myself of
the suffering of God. The rest of my appearance is inconsequential. My black
and red hair is unique but not uncommon to have as a natural hair color and my
black battle dress, long boots, and blessed choker are merely fashion choices
since armor doesn’t matter in the battles being fought. What really matters is
strength of soul and humility. I pray that I don’t fall to sin again but humble
myself and hope that God gives me the strength to pick myself up if I do.
I’m not the only one who is being
tempted more as I see people on the boat starting to pray more fervently and
their bodies start to warp and change with faces appearing in their bodies,
legs and arms twist in unnatural directions, people’s eyes pop out of their
head, and alcohol leaks out of their bodies, just to name a few. In the panic
to reduce the influence of the demons and bear the pains of these trials, Jude
slams the bottom of his papal staff on the ground.
“Why do you pray in fear and
trembling? God is with us and these afflictions show that our enemy is the one
who is afraid. Pray with me in one voice,” Jude says with a booming voice.
We all pray Hail Marys with Jude,
an act of faith and surrender that frees us all from the influence of our
demons. Still, our trials have only started because we are attacked spiritually
and physically by the possessed as soon as we hit land. The men of the Church
fight with their blessed weapons, shields, and magic and offer their every
action and pain suffered as a prayer. Meanwhile, I fight with blessed blades of
my own that come from my arms after they have split in two as a result of the
blessing of the true cross. These weapons that are painful for me to take out
and wield are more potent at removing possession than the weapons of the
church. Because of this, I lead the charge forward along with Jude.
It feels like it’s been ages since
I was in a battle like this, back when I was a simple soldier for the Church.
Looking at Jude, I see the strong face of his ancestor, Dominic, even though
he’s part high elf with golden skin and pointy ears. Now, I’m really back in
the past next to the man who had my heart ever since we trained together to
become soldiers.
“You’re outnumbered,” a voice that
sounds like mine says in my head.
My mind refocuses on the battle and
sees that we are outnumbered.
“You can have this boy for your
own. Just say the word.”
“You couldn’t have your true love,
Dominic, but we can give you him.”
“Once we subjugate his soldiers,
you can have him all for yourself and rule this world with him at your side,
whether he wants to or not.”
Burdened by my old temptations, I
try my best to ignore them by just thinking of fighting and using the pain
to drown out the voices.
“Your life has been nothing but
battle and bloodshed.”
“A joke that all of Heaven laughs
at.”
“Your suffering and sacrifice is
wasted on those who won’t give you what you deserve.”
We’re slightly gaining the
advantage now as Jude sings the Ave Maria and we join him in unison. Now, we’ve
gained a significant advantage over the enemy who are falling back or too stunned
by the prayers to fight back effectively.
“If God really wanted you to win,
why didn’t He make the victory easy for you?”
“Why didn’t He break the spell
after you embraced the true wood of the cross?”
“Why are you still weak to temptation
at such a pivotal moment?”
Most of the possessed are free from
their demons now while the rest are far away now.
Jude raises his staff in the air
and says, “Praise God for the first of many victories!”
“Praise God!” everyone says in
response.
We don’t have much time to rest and
catch our breath as the sinking feeling of something wrong is felt by everyone.
“Why did God make us masters of
this world He created and gave us full access to your mind and knowledge of
what you are weakest to?” a voice says in my head.
“You haven’t won yet. Not even
close.”
“There is no rest on the ascent to
Calvary.”
“There is only pain and sorrow.”
“Abandonment and unrest.”
“Death and mockery.”
The ground seems to shift around
like the waves on the ocean as if it’s alive. Soon after, many bodies form from
the ground and start pushing, pulling, and carrying away people in different
directions. Jude calls and reaches out to me and I do the same as we are
separated by miles in mere seconds.
“Every man faces his temptations
alone.”
“Every test is faced in the seclusion
of one’s own mind and soul.”
“You’ll be more alone now than you
ever were before.”
“No one will save you from us.”
“We are your only allies if you’ll
allow us to be.”
“If you want to be so much like
your Lord, then you must suffer like Him.”
I accept. There’s a hissing sound
in my head before it becomes quiet. I have to get back to everyone as soon as I
can. The situation here is worse than we thought if the demons have control
over the land itself. Victory seemed so assured, and now, it looks to be further
than we thought. Nevertheless, I hold onto hope that God will deliver us to our
goal as I pray while heading in the direction that I saw Jude being dragged
towards.
