Hatred Spurned by Love: Chapter 1 – Salvation and Damnation’s Damage (Text Only)

Chapter 1 – Salvation and Damnation’s Damage

The sight of shelter in the rain is a small comfort for me, but one that I gladly take. As I lean the statue of the Sufferer beside me and sit down under the roof of an abandoned dinner, I sleep with my ears open so I can react to any possible threats.

“Your brother is close, Adler,” the Sufferer says, immediately causing me to wake and stand up. “You must rest for now to be prepared for him.”

“Why? I’m ready! I’ve been traveling for what feels like forever in pursuit of him because you told me to do so.”

“You are ready, in terms of power, but not in mind. Rest for a moment. He isn’t going anywhere and will be coming to you.”

“Fine. I can’t wait to get this over with.” Mikheil will probably be damned just like our parents and my childhood friends were. Most people I come across are damned rather than saved since they refuse to accept the truth and love who is the Sufferer. I feel the sins of all including my own weigh on my body like a ton of heavy cinderblocks, all their faults, sinful thoughts, and blasphemous words cut me open from the inside like glass flowing through my veils. I can’t help but feel the sting of sins being committed across all time even as I try to relax. I know this is only a fraction of what the Sufferer bears and that it’s supposed to be the greatest blessing above all, but right now, it feels more like a curse than anything.

Practicing the methods taught to me by the Suffering, I breathe as calmly as possible and pray for help. Mother Mary, Father Joseph, be a mother and father to me now. Guardian angel, be at my side to protect and strengthen me. I don’t know who these people are or what their relation to the Sufferer is but asking them for help does help lighten the load a bit. As I begin to feel a break in my suffering, the feeling comes back twice as bad as I sense my brother and the Light’s arrival.

He arrives not only with the Light close behind him but also with fifty or so soldiers. “Adler! It’s been about a month since I last saw you and you look about my age or even older despite being eleven years younger than me. I’m not saying that I hate it or even dislike it, brother. I think you look better with your dark, brooding, and older appearance.”

“Shut up and don’t call me your brother!”

“Why shouldn’t I? Is it because we’re enemies now? You know you’re the reason why you look so much older. As the Light loses influence over the world, so do his blessings such as everlasting life, which is why someone who is a young one-hundred and sixteen-year-old looks like he’s a young adult in his one-hundred and twenties. Many other people in their one-hundreds have been accelerating in age as you have with the oldest having already turned to dust. Soon, the only people left on the Earth will be those children who are less than a hundred years old, another consequence of you siding with the Sufferer.”

“I don’t need you lecturing me about the consequences of my actions when I’ve seen them for myself! Besides, there’s no point in talking. We both know that there’s no convincing either of us in changing our minds in what we believe and fight for.”

I pray and transform into my Necessary form. “I see the utter blackness of your souls. Repent with what little virtue is left in you or prepare to face damnation!”

“I like the new transformed appearance, but if it’s a fight you want, then you’ll get it. Give me your best shot! Men, fire at will.”

“You heard the king. Take him down!” Mikheil’s soldiers start firing their guns at me which have little to no effect on me. In response, I allow the black mist to flow me that quickly overtakes the soldiers. Each person is being talked to by the Sufferer and attempting to be brought to the truth in their unique way. Most refuse the truth and are damned like usual while few surprisingly repent.

Those who are damned are torn apart by the black mist and turn into ash while those who are left have black scars on their face, limbs, or body.

For some reason, my brother and the Light are untouched by my powers, just like last time. “That was impressive, Adler. It’s a shame that those powers of yours don’t work on me.”

“You will face justice and the Light’s influence will be removed from the world one day!”

“Ha! Justice. We used to live in an unending peace before you and your friends brought death, suffering, and conflict back to the world. I think it’s you who deserves to be punished the most and you will face it. I have control over the entire world while you have twelve groups or so of people who believe in the same thing as you do. You might as well have twelve people for the good those numbers do against me. Speaking of which.”

More soldiers come driving in. They shoot the people who repented and point their guns at me.

“You can damn as many people as you want. They’ll end up in a better place anyway. Plus, I know that eventually you’ll die, so it’s a win-win for everyone except you, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Tch!” I slowly back away and pray more for a solution to get out of here and one soon comes. An orange and grey mist envelops us and takes hold of the soldiers who start screaming and shooting each other.

Two people appear out of the darkness in forms that look like mine. One of them says, “This way, Adler!”

With no better option, I grab the statue of the Sufferer and follow the two people who have saved me while the chaos covers our escape. I follow them through underground tunnels and don’t stop running until I find myself in a dark room. The lights suddenly come on and I find myself in a room with four people. “Who are you all?”

“Relax, Adler. We’re fellow worshippers of the Sufferer like you are. We knew you were coming here because the king amassed all those soldiers to face you. My name is Liron, the leader of this group. Well, former leader since you’re here and the one blessed with suffering.”

“My name is Crane. I was there with Liron to help save you by putting the fear of the Sufferer in those godless soldiers.”

“My-I’m Iris. It’s a pleasure to meet someone as famous as you.”

“And I’m Nadine.”

I set the statue of the Sufferer standing upward and look at each member of the group. “Show me your Necessary forms, tell me what they represent, and what they do.”

“Uh, sure.” Each member of the group transforms into their Necessary form.

Liron transforms into a figure with a veiled head, that doesn’t have a jaw, there’s a hole in her heart, and other damage in her lower half. “I am blessed with Necessary Loss. I can turn the tide of a conflict whether it’d be a physical battle or one fought with words.”

Nadine transforms into a dark green hollow figure with lanky limbs and a hollow face. “I am blessed with Necessary Emptiness. I can not only make people feel hungry or thirsty to the point of passing out but can also deprive them of the strength to do anything.”

Iris’ entire face becomes a mouth along with her hands, shoulders, belly, and feet in her transformation. “My blessing is of Necessary Hunger. I push people to do things to satisfy a desire within themselves.”

Out of everyone, Crane’s transformation may be the most unsettling. He has eyes all over his body and fingers growing out of his shoulder, arms, and extra fingers on his hand. “As for me, my blessing is Necessary Fear. I make people afraid of the things they should be and paralyze or make them act out of terror.”

“Interesting. I think your abilities will come in handy in the battles ahead. Are you all ready to go now?”

They all transform back to their normal selves. Liron says, “Go now? We just ran from an intense battle.”

“So what? I’m the leader and the king is close by. We should strike now so the world can be freed from his and the Light’s influence sooner rather than later.”

“Liron is right.” As soon as the Sufferer speaks, everyone but me kneels on the ground. “You must rest now, get to know your new friends, how they operate here in the world’s capital, and then act.”

“Tch, fine. Only because you said so. Also, do you operate in the capital? I didn’t think it was possible to do so in a place where the Light’s influence is the greatest.”

“We do. Thanks to the blessings of the Sufferer, we’ve had great success here. We’ve been able to reestablish much of His influence here. It’s why it’s not constantly sunny here.”

“My dedication to Our Lady has also helped who is the greatest intercessor to the Sufferer. See this?” Liron shows me the bead bracelet on her left arm. “These are prayer beads that I use to help me pray a long-forgotten prayer that’s been a pain in the head of the Light.”

“Our Lady? Do you mean Mother Mary?”

“Yes, that’s another name for her. I’m glad you’ve heard about her.”

“I was told to ask for her intercession by the Sufferer. How do you know about her?”

“The group I used to be a part of guarded the supposed last statue of Mary until we were attacked. I lost every member of the group and the last statue of Mary was…tortured.”

“What do you mean by that? Explain.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just hard to talk about. You can see the damage done to her when you see my transformation because of my bond with her. They broke her as if they were torturing a real person. They tore out her eyes, broke her jaw, smashed her chest in, and broke pieces in her lower section so they use it as a sex toy. What they did was beyond depraved, to say the least.”

I can feel the rage of the Sufferer boil within me as if what Liron said was something that was done to my mother. “Then we should make them pay as soon as possible for this disgrace.”

“They already did. The statue suddenly exploded when I tried to retrieve it. It killed everyone who touched it with its shard and I’m pretty sure it was an act of the Sufferer since Mary told me to not worry and continue because she’ll always be with me.”

“Let’s not dwell on the past and think about the present instead,” Iris says with her hands out as she approaches me. “I want to know more about you and if you really feel the pain the Sufferer does. Part of my blessing includes feeling the sensations of others. Now, if you don’t mind me touching you for a second.”

“Don’t do it, Iris. You’re supposed to be breaking your addiction to roller coasters of emotion.”

“Chill out, Liron. All I want to know is one second of the pain the Sufferer feels. It’ll help me feel closer to Him and help me appreciate how He suffers for us anyway-” Iris touches me with a single hand and drops face first into the floor.

Liron and Nadine call out to her and Iris shakily lifts her head. “I…I’m fine, guys. Whew! That was more than I’d thought it’d be. You sure do deal with a lot daily, Adler.” Iris takes five minutes to get back on her feet with the help of Liron, and even with her help, Iris has to lie down on the nearby couch because of what she felt in me.

While Liron sits with Iris, Crane approaches me and smiles at me with a wide grin. “Don’t worry about the recovering junkie, Adler. We’re all a good team and I’m sure we’re going to accomplish a lot together.”

“You don’t look much better than she does. What’s your story, Crane?”

“I was captured and operated on because I refused to comply with the Light’s laws. Honestly, all the torture was worth it so I could encounter Nadine. On the first day we met, she was just being brought there for being so unsatisfied with life and a public downer, so they say. It was then that I was blessed with the abilities I have now so I could free us both from that horrible facility and ask her to be my girlfriend and future wife.”

“Crane, you were crazy to ask me out the first day we met.”

“I may be blind in one eye, but I’m not blind enough to not see the one who the Sufferer made my heart for. What about you, Adler? Did you fall in love at first sight?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Ah, see! I’m not that crazy. So, who and where is she?”

“She’s…she’s dead. She died along with my friends so we could accomplish our objective.”

“Crane, look what you did! This is why Iris and I are the ones who help with morale. The man already has enough pain to deal with and doesn’t need to speak about what pains his heart.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m over it. I’m more upset at how we planned our attack. We should’ve planned better or charged in altogether.”

“I saw the aftermath of what happened on the internet. I’m sorry for your loss and I’m sure you all did the best you could. If anything, at least you’re alive.”

“Maybe it would’ve been better if I died. At least then, they’d stop looking down at me in shame at the fool I am now and have always been.”

“Stop…saying that…It’s not helping you feel better and won’t help you be the person they knew you to be. The person the Sufferer knows you to be.”

“Iris is right. Relax and let’s plan our next strategy while praying for the Sufferer’s aid so we don’t lose anyone next time.”

“I’ll get on the radio, hear what’s happening locally, and help you guys in a second.”

“I’ll…uh. Let me know what you want me to do, Liron.”

While sitting down on a couch with Crane and listening to him about his group’s recent activities, I look around the room and take it in. It’s small, dimly lit, with a few couches, beds, TVs, and computers in it. It reminds me a lot of the last hideout I was in with my friends. Maybe this time, things won’t end as badly.