Chapter
1 – A Life of Ever-Revolving Problems
Life is an ongoing penance. Since
the moment we’re born, there’s sin on our souls that needs to be washed away,
and I’m thankful that I was born in a family that knew how to correctly raise
their children by having us baptized soon after we were born and raising us in
the Catholic faith. It’s been hundreds of years since then, and somehow, I’m
the only one who’s outlived my parents, siblings, the children of my siblings,
their children, and so on. I was the first child my parents had and the one who
was cursed at birth with horns.
My mother was raped by a
demonically possessed man of a long-forgotten cursed family, and even though
she was pregnant and knew I would be cursed, she still had me, and my father
still married and had other children with her. My horns have had to be cut
since I was a child, so that I wouldn’t be more inclined to sin, and I have to
take special care to pray and be more aware than most people of my thoughts and
actions. The spiritual advisors I’ve talked to say that the demons taunt me
more than others because of the resistance I put up to them, and I’m much
closer to God than I think. I hope that’s true.
“Uriel. Are you praying or losing
your concentration?” my mentor, Caiaphas, asks.
“I was losing my concentration
again,” I plainly admit. “My past was coming back to me. Even though it was
hundreds of years ago, when it gets brought back up, it feels like it was
yesterday.”
“I completely understand that.
Nevertheless, you must focus on the task at hand, friend. Humanity’s future
depends on it.”
Caiaphas is an ancient man with
gray hair and a void for a face that he covers with a mask with a single mouth
and four eyes on it. He wears a gray suit, red tie, white dress shirt, gray
pants, red dress shoes, and white gloves. In my teenage years, he appeared to
me and began mentoring me, since we both focus on evangelization and saving
souls. My father and mother’s mentor, St. Timeo Severe, knew of him and received advice from him as well. Caiaphas was one of the priests who got our Lord,
Jesus Christ, crucified and has been trying to save souls ever since. He goes
where God leads him, mostly trying to get sinners to repent of their sins, and
other times trying to give repentant sinners his wisdom so they can better do
God’s will.
Currently, we are both praying in a
dark room for the sake of the world. Earth has been invaded multiple times, one
time justly so, but this time is completely different. No weapon can defeat
this newest foe because they attack people’s minds and souls over their bodies.
A planet of light appeared out of a portal and started shining its light down
on Earth, trapping it in an Eternal Morning. The people from the planet say they
are the Lux Mane, and seemed to be good and virtuous at first, worshipping the
same God and sharing their seemingly boundless resources with us.
After a while, they started showing
their true colors by teaching opposing truths to the Catholic faith, such as:
the honor of false gods, that there is no Hell, all demons are now in Heaven, no
sin will be punished, there are no sexual sins, and so on. Despite there being
some resistance to the Lux Mane, the light emanating from their planet makes
men’s minds and hearts faint and simple to manipulate. Not even the
self-sacrificing people of Aushalten can hold up long to the light of the Lux
Mane and have gone off with their people to infect the planet of Aushalten with
their falsehoods. The only people able to resist these temptations are men like
me, Caiaphas, and other penitents who are hiding in dark places untouched by
the blinding light. Others have tried fighting with force or convincing our foe
with words, but they’ve all either fallen under the spell of our foes, been destroyed
with overwhelming force, or taken to the planet of light and never heard from
again.
“If only this were as easy as
destroying that planet controlled by an AI,” I unintentionally say aloud.
“It could be worse. That grotesque planet
that my friend, Lavinia, had a hand in creating was far more deadly since they relentlessly
attacked both body and mind,” Caiaphas says.
“Have you heard from her, or do you
think she died when that planet was destroyed? She was supposed to be undying
and indestructible like you, right?”
“Right, but that doesn’t mean that
God won’t let her die. I hadn’t heard from her in a while before the planet’s arrival,
so it’s possible she was assimilated into the planet like its other inhabitants
and destroyed with them.”
“Makes sense. I’m still proud of my
niece, Griselda, and miss her, even though I know she’s in Heaven.”
“She gave her all to protect this
world, along with the other soldiers. The only possible way I see humanity
getting out of this situation with force is if Aushalten sends its forces to
invade Lux Mane like how they did with Earth. They keep sending people there,
which must mean they’re putting up resistance against them.”
“Well, they must have an easier
time doing so. They don’t have a planet shining down on them like the sun on
them day in and out. That and they’re so headstrong about self-sacrifice and
sticking to the truth that it’d be easier for our enemies to move a mountain with
their hands than to get them to budge.”
“Still, many of their people on
Earth have fallen to them.”
Continuing to pray, I switch to
reading and then cleaning the bare, dark underground house we are in. There are
no tables, decorations, sinks, or bathrooms in this place. There’s only a bed
of straw and a shelf with Bibles, stories of the saints, history of the Church,
and spiritually enriching fiction. There are no electronics here since the Lux
Mane can teleport through electronics and places where there’s light. We do
have an ice box, specifically for me, as Caiaphas doesn’t really need to eat or
drink. I may be superhuman, and fasting is important for our task, but I can still
die if I don’t get any.
Speaking about nourishment, I ask
Caiaphas if I can get some fruit and drink from the nearby river, and he allows
it and reminds me to be careful. Going outside through the trap door, I move
aside the branches and leaves over our hideout and quickly make my way to the nearby
abandoned farm, grab some apples, grapes, and peaches. I unintentionally eat
the grapes that I have with me when I mean to eat them when I get back. The
light that I’m in feels relaxing and makes my head feel light. It makes me want
to stay out here, never go back to Caiaphas, and forget all that he has taught
me, but I resist by offering up my holding off on eating the fruit in my hand. My
left arm is tied to my back with a long rosary rope so it can constantly pray,
and part of me is restrained from acting on emotion.
Quickly heading over to the river,
I put my fruit into its bag, use the river water to refill my bottle, and run
back to the hideout. I’m about to start eating and drinking, but stop before my
lips touch the fruit. Putting it down, I say my prayers of thanks, take a
breath, and then start eating and drinking.
“Good work, Uriel,” Caiaphas says.
As I finish eating, I say, “What’s
so good about it? It’s just surviving.”
“You survived the temptations of
the enemy. Not many can say that, and it’s the task that God has for us.”
“I still struggle with accepting
that’s true. I feel like there’s something more I can do, and yet, I also feel
that this is the end for humanity and God’s second coming is imminent.”
“Whatever happens, happens
according to the will of God. We can only do what we know to be right, and go
from there. Be calm, and continue praying, Uriel.”
I sit down and do as Caiaphas asks.
As I pray, I feel the residual touches of light from Lux Mane be peeled away
and calm return to my heart, body, and mind. Every day is the same day in and
out, and yet, I must endure. If this is what God wants from us, then I have no
choice but to accept it. Lord God, give me the strength and wisdom to accept Your
will with all my heart, and come soon to save humanity. I’m not sure how much
longer we can go on without a miracle to save us.
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