Choice and Consequence of Faith

There’s a small town that is a good distance away from others, a town that’s recently suffered a massacre from unknown forces. Jaxon is the only man left in the town who still walks around its desolated streets without worry. It’s said that the town suffers from a mysterious condition that is unnamed as of this point in time. He’s a priest, a man of God who experiences things that could be the work of God, but it could also be the work of the devil.

The light around Jaxon is sucked away and takes him off guard. He takes out his two hidden daggers and readies himself for a fight. Several disfigured human who have their heads, arms, and legs in different places on their body come out of the darkness and attack Jaxon with their knifelike fingers. Thanks to his prior training as a knight, he dispatches them without too much trouble. He gets cut a few times, but by the time the darkness retreats, the cuts on his body and clothes disappear.

After this short encounter, he goes to his church and prays to God, which he does after every encounter.

“Please God, save our souls from this terrible nightmare. We’ve done nothing but do your bidding so we ask you this small favor so we can continue to grow our town and save more souls.”

He’s said the same prayer reworded several times to God and it doesn’t seem like He listens.

A man enters his church and says, “You should stop praying to God because He has abandoned us.”

“I’ve never lost faith in God during past hard times. He usually takes a long time to fulfill prayers or this could be a challenge to all of us.”

“Well He better free us from us from our suffering soon or the entire town will die.”

“In all due time my brother.”

The town is unable to sustain plant life, the water around them is dirty, and there are no animals to eat in the area. The only food and water they have left is running out and will probably be depleted by today. Jaxon is the one who decides to get the rest. He hands out the food and water to the people who hadn’t gotten any recently and are the most hungry. Because of this, several people turn against him  and the town then decide to leave the town on their own to try to live on. The darkness envelops them as soon as they leave the town.

The town takes out their swords, bows, and daggers and readies for another fight. More of those disfigured people come out of the darkness and attack the town. A couple people are stabbed through the head and dragged into the darkness during the fight. A few others are injured, but the battle is won.

Once the darkness leaves, the people who left are turned to skeletons and they things they had and wore are gone. This happens to most people who leave while the rest just disappear without a trace. The people of the town go to relax with few go with Jaxon to pray for help.

Once they get inside the church, Jaxon prays, “Please God forgive us for the sins we’ve committed and help us through these hard times. Be with us as we face the darkness that plagues this town and help us to kill our enemies for they torture us day and night for their evil purposes.”

As they end their prayers, the darkness comes back as it knows they’re tired and on the edge of defeat. New monsters come out of the darkness that appear to be demons. Each demon is specialized with each of the seven deadly sins. The lust demons are naked and entice people with their looks and gaze to draw them into the darkness. Sloth demons make people lazy and easy to take. Wrath demons make others kill their own and chase after the demons into the darkness. Pride demons cause people to save themselves and run away from everyone and into oblivion. The fight comes to an end when the demonic monsters back away from the remaining townspeople and the darkness is lifted once more. There are only five people left now and they all go to pray to God in one last effort to survive.

Jaxon prays with them, “Please God don’t abandon us to the flames of Hell. What have we done to deserve such agony? We praise your name day and night. We keep your commandments. We spread your name to everyone we meet and bring them to you to be saved. Do we not earn at least a little of your grace and mercy?”

The darkness overtakes the church and the demons break inside. Everyone except Jaxon is taken since he is still praying, but the demons still close in on him. He then realizes what he’s missing.

“Of course,” he says aloud, “Our salvation has already been earned because of Your sacrifice. There’s nothing we can do to earn your free gift of love and eternal life. The works we do are just to show gratitude and be Your living examples on earth. I now know this and put my life in Your hands.”

Alas, the demons cut into Jaxon’s shoulders and drag him out of the church and into the darkness, but then, a voice speaks and all of the demons turn to ash and the darkness goes away. A light envelops Jaxon and once he is able to see, he sees a kingdom not too far in the distance. A kingdom that’s miles away from the town he was in.

A man on a horse approaches Jaxon and asks him, “Why hello there son! What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know. I just got here.”

“Well that kingdom you see down there is going through some rough times. They’ve lost faith in God because of it. It probably wouldn’t be a good decision to go down there.”

Jaxon thinks to himself  about what to do. He just got out of a bad situation and now he’s here. A smile forms on his face and laughter and a feeling of peace fills his chest until he can no longer contain it once he knows what he should do.

“My brother, can you please lend me a ride to-”

The man on the horse is gone, but the horse remains with food, water, and new clothing. On his new priest garb is the letter P with the number twenty three. Jaxon wears it with honor and rides off into the city to do God’s work.