Hatred Spurned by Love: Chapter 3 – Worse than a Traitor (Text Only)

Chapter 3 – Worse than a Traitor

“Adler, wake up! Breakfast is ready and Liron has a plan for us today,” Iris says while gently shaking me.

I get up from the couch and join my friends for breakfast. On the TV, we hear on the news how the riots have calmed down and those murdering for and stealing drugs on the streets are down. That’s good because we’ve been waiting for that before going out on another mission.

“Maybe we bit off more than we could chew. Just look at what’s happened to the capital over the past two days. Everyone has been affected by our actions.”

“There’s no such thing. We’re at war here so people are bound to get hurt and killed. It’s what happens.”

“I-I know. It’s just that…is there a way to make sure that as few innocent people get hurt as possible?”

“Innocent. Tch. If you knew the sins of people like I do, like the Sufferer does, then you’d know there are only two kinds of people in the world; wretched sinner and repentant sinner, and most people out there are wretched. The best thing we can do now is take down Mikheil, the Light, and those that follow them so that people either repent and join our side or face justice and die.”

“I wouldn’t be as brutally blunt as Adler is, but he’s right, Nadine. The quicker we end this, the more souls can be saved.”

“Let’s get to it then. The shedding of blood, disregard for virtue, and sins of the people in the capital call out to me for the deaths of sinners or their repentance.”

“Then you’ll be happy to hear that we have a juicy target today, the Church or Catholic Church or Universal Church as it’s called today.”

“They were once the only worshippers of the Sufferer who were supposed to carry on His mission of salvation, but they betrayed Him in favor of obtaining worldly power and riches from the Light. They were also the first to fall to the Light’s service and then all other world religions followed suit. Because of that, they’re worse than traitors since they’re supposed to be the world's teachers, protectors, and evangelists.”

“Making an example of them will show the world that putting your faith in the Light is the picking the wrong side, especially since the Light gives them so much to keep them on his side.”

I don’t know why, but I’m more excited about this mission than any I’ve been on. I’m not sure if it’s because we haven’t done much in the past couple of days or because of who our target is. All I know is the people who should’ve been on our side are going to get what’s coming for them. Liron goes over the plan and how we’re going to attack the largest cathedral in the city where the heads of the church are. Most of them are details I don’t care about. Plans usually change on the spot and they must when you’re dealing with the Light. He definitely knows what we’re up to. He has to. This is his world, people, and possessions we’re messing with after all.

When we arrive at the cathedral and enter it, my blood boils more than it ever did. Everything here gives praise and worship to the Light. I can hardly see the original stained glass windows, paintings, and statues that were once here as if the ghosts of the past were trying to make themselves real in the present. Now, they all show the Light and his servants, and this isn’t the only sacrilege in this once holy place as many use it as a place to see their goods and services and offer to teach people about the “goodness” of the Light. A part of me wants to immediately start driving people out, overturning tables, and tearing the entire place to shreds, but I hold back since I won’t have to wait long to do that to people who deserve it.

Junkies wearing fine, priest-like clothes come in and cause a scene by demanding to see certain people to get their fix. This gives us an easy way into the depths of the cathedral while the guards deal with them. It’s a good thing that we’re finally out of the main hall since the place smelled eerily familiar to the clubs Iris and I were at not too long ago, which I bring up to the group once we’re alone.

“Yeah, the priests use the same drugs in their ceremonies and make the smell of it running through the ventilation system. It’s to hook people on them and keep the addicts coming to church, and if you think that’s bad, I hear that people put it or a variation of it in the food. I’m hoping to confirm that theory if we find the records down here.”

“It’s one of the many despicable actions that they’ll dearly pay for.”

“Keep the chatter low and transform. I think we may be getting close to something.” We do as Liron says and arrive at a floor that looks like the clubs with the smell of drugs in the air and degenerate acts being done in the nearby rooms.

A man who is more skin and bone than anything stumbles out of the room. “Hey, are you guys here for the never-ending party? You sure look like it.” He’s one of the Aged, those adults and elderly who lived for more than a hundred years and now facing the consequences of doing so since the Light’s influence on the world is fading.

The old man is so out of his mind that I almost feel pity for putting him and everyone like him on this floor out of their misery. Almost. Those that I do actually feel pity for are those born just to be used as objects of pleasure down here. They were never in their right mind and always had their minds clouded by drugs or feelings of pleasure. In their sober moments, they prayed for someone, anyone to help them. Now

that they’re free, they’re also dead because they relied on the drugs to keep them going. The salvation of their souls plus the few perverts and junkies who repented soften my anger for a few moments until it flares up again at the abuse that is happening within the halls of this once holy building. “They’ll all suffer for this.”

“I’m with you, brother. Let’s put the fear of the Sufferer in them.” Further into the cathedral, we find a place full of priests and guards. Crane uses his fear power to make them run and fight themselves while I allow the Sufferer to damn or save them.

Meanwhile, Iris is using her power to make the priests hunger for knowledge and lead her to the halls where they keep their secret information.

Nadine knocks out those in the room with her power to make them feel empty or light-headed. “Am I being useful?”

“When do are you not? You’re doing great.”

“Keep it up!” Liron says while empowering us and our powers at the same time. Once the dust settles, and the few who are redeemed leave the area, we join Iris in a library.

“Ha! I was right! They are putting drugs in the food and drinks.”

“Haha…” one of the scholars affected by Iris’ power and untouched by my power laughs as he gathers all the books and flash drives. “It’s all here. All the information of the world anyone could ever need and it’s all mine!”

“Thank you for gathering it. Now, get out of here.” The scholar is scared away. While gathering up the info the scholar dropped, I look at the computer screens and books to see what the scholars and priests were researching last and it turns out they were researching and reading about the stories where the Light took over the world and put down the many rebellions that they Sufferer inspired, all of which failed and never had any lasting impact.

“Out of all the information here, we probably shouldn’t bother with this,” Liron says while seeing what I’m looking at.

“Y-you’re right. It’s too worrying,” Nadine says as everyone takes a look.

“Don’t worry, guys. Things will be different this time.”

“I don’t care how long or hard we have to fight. We will make a difference and restore real truth and love to the world!”

Everyone agrees and cheers in defiance of history before Liron leads us to move on to the place where the traitorous priests are. I feel like I’m the only one who is disheartened by the reminder of past failures to retake the world from the Light, but I have to hold out some hope that our actions aren’t in vain. I expect that part of the world will be under the control of the Sufferer while the other will be controlled by the Light and territory will exchange hands for years to come. Who knows if or rather when the Sufferer will completely retake the world? Only He knows, and right now, the Light has been able to control it for hundreds of years and counting.

“Behind this door are our targets. Remember, once we get them and cause a panic, we look for an exit and go back home, all right?” Liron says as we approach a protected door.

After using my powers to break down the door, we’re all surprised to see a single priest in a large meeting room. “The Light expected you would come after me. The other priests you are after left yesterday, so I’m the only one here, assuming you killed everyone in the library and halls.”

“We’re fine with just you since we came to punish all who betrayed the Sufferer.”

“Am I truly a traitor? Because of my fellow priests and I giving in to the demands of the Light, the world became a happy and peaceful place to live in where no one died, went hungry, or fought each other. You, on the other hand, cause conflicts, bring suffering and death back into the world, and will put it back into the state that caused so many to turn to the Light. He’s an angel sent from the Sufferer, not a devil.”

“Don’t hide behind your excuses because you think the world is better just because it was happier. It was a false happiness and we’re bringing it to an end.”

Not wanting to waste any time talking, I use my powers, and to no one’s surprise, the priest dies and is damned for his betrayal. It’s then that my power shifts their attention without my control to everyone in the cathedral. Of course. The common men are just as guilty as the clergy for the fall of the Church and deserve punishment just as much as the clergy do. “All who have sinned will face justice!”

“Adler, what are you doing?”

“The Sufferer’s Will.” As my power spreads throughout the cathedral, all adults face damnation while the young are spared as the Sufferer also tears through the cathedral breaking it apart and making the building implode on itself. Everyone and I quickly leave the cathedral in the chaos only to see black mist reaching those outside of the cathedral and spreading to other churches to break them apart, damn the guilty, and save the repentant. The immense amount of satisfaction I feel is indescribable and the power flowing through me makes me feel as if I could take on everyone in the capital at once. “Come at me, Mikheil! You’re finished!”

“Calm down, Adler. Everyone! Let’s get out of here. Our mission is complete.”

 “No, I can keep going! The guilty have gone unpunished for far too long!” My power then spreads throughout the many buildings, destroying images of the Light within homes and businesses, and judging everyone in it.

“Adler!” Liron says as she holds me. “Please. Stop.”

Iris puts her hand on me and takes some of my pain, anger, and zeal away. “I know what it’s like to want to feel the thrills of emotion, but there are times when you have to know when to stop.”

“That torrent of emotions won’t fill the emptiness inside you.”

“The guilty have been judged, but you can’t judge them all at once. Since you have the greatest connection with the Sufferer, you know their day is coming soon, so you can give it a rest.”

The words of my friends calm me down and allow me to regain control of myself. I pray to help this process and transform back to my normal self. “I’m…I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“It’s okay. Let’s hurry back home. The authorities will surely come out in full force soon to restore order and be on the lookout for us.”

Remnants of the rage I felt still linger within me like a tether around my heart. Was what I felt zealous righteousness of the Sufferer or blind anger brought on by the Light? Whatever the case is, we’ve dealt another serious blow to his shining capital, one that he’ll surely strike back against us soon. I can feel Mikheil’s anger and his arrival.