Chapter 3 – Vindicated Extremists
The universe is a sinful place that
must be purified by flame so that nothing will defy the Holy Will of God. We are
His flames. We are His Cleansers that burn away every trace of sin outside of
the Church, within the Church, and within ourselves. The known universe may be
at peace, for now, but evil lurks in the unknown regions of space. New intel
suggests that an empire is forming to destroy the Church that is made of her
past enemies. Even though this rumor has been going on for a while, it was thought
that this unified empire of false faiths would never come together because it
is rumored and somewhat confirmed that they fight amongst themselves from time
to time. Now it seems like they’ve actually put aside their differences especially
since we’ve pushed all other empires out of the known universe.
Hearing about a tank-like cathedral
fortress sparked the interests of all of us who haven’t been burning many
things since the last pope’s Infinitus Anathema decree, so we’ve been itching
to get back to cleansing. This news is a call from God back to action as upon
hearing it, we gather our forces, weapons, and say goodbye to our loved ones
before heading out to investigate possible planets in the unknown regions that
this new empire could be hiding on. This first planet that we’re investigating
is a strange one since it appeared and was going to crash into another planet
only for that other planet to disappear. The unknown regions are a strange
place so it’s possible that our readings were affected by it since it sometimes
reads duplicates of the same planet. Still, the original and new are different
in appearance and general reading that was made of them.
We think that pagans may be hiding
on this planet that may be connected to the empire. If not, then we will be
attempting to convert them or burn them for their rejection. As we land on the
planet near a settlement, we send out scouting squads and drones to inspect the
strange planet while others go to convert its inhabitants. While that is
happening, I feel the ground since it looks strangely brownish-pink. It kind of
feels like…
“What are you doing, Mark?” my
friend, Amandi, asks.
“Hm? Nothing. I’m curious about
this place is all. Have the conversion squads convinced the pagans to consider converting
yet?”
“No, not yet. These people are convinced
that this planet is a god for whatever reason. They said it provides for their
daily needs as long as they give it a proper sacrifice.”
“Human sacrifice?”
“It seems like it. There is no vegetation
or animals on this planet that they could be feeding on so we’re probably
dealing with cannibals or people fine with eating dirt or whatever grows on
these strange trees.”
The trees around us have these
weird red fruits that are growing on them that pulsate as if they were hearts. When
our researchers picked from these trees, the trees themselves shuttered and
made strange noises as if it was in pain.
“What’s with these unknown regions
and cannibal cults? It’s like those horror movies where cannibals live in the
middle of nowhere.”
“It’s because a majority of the vegetation
and animals in the unknown regions are deadly for people to eat no matter how
you cook it.”
“I’ve read that article before. I
wonder if God even wants us to be so far outside the known universe because of
how dangerous it is out here.”
“My guess is that He probably doesn’t.
How many people live in the known universe already? Hundreds of trillions?”
“It’s a number that’s too large for
me to count or care about.”
We then hear over the comms that
the natives are going to be showing us the power of their god. Going to see
their display with prayers and rosaries already being said to nullify the
possible “god’s” power, two squads that include Amandi and I join the
conversion squad in seeing this display. We watch as a pregnant woman throws
herself into a pit and look at each other in concern. Some even ready their
weapons to burn these people before a gush of red fruit comes out from the pit
that the pagans feed on. Unimpressed and offended by their display the
conversion squads try to convince these people of their immoral practices while
we investigate the hole the woman threw herself into.
Looking into it and scanning it
reveals a cavern of crystals that look like teeth with bodies put together in morbid
positions on the walls, floors, and ceilings as they appear to be used as the
source of the red fruit as flesh and blood is taken from them by the area
around them. What kind of planet is this?
“Don’t enter the holes and caves!”
we hear over the comms.
“It’s alive! The planet!” another
one says before being cut off.
Reports of the planet coming to
life, attacking, and taking people are coming in as what sounds like to be the screams
of the damned come from the hole and all around us. The trees come to life along
with tendrils and the mouth beneath us extends out like a hand that sways
around looking for someone to crush and eat. With our flames, we fight against
the abominations that come out of the ground. Amandi uses the flames from his
hands powered by the gas and sparks from his suit to burn everything that he touches
and everything that touches him while I use my flamethrower that also launches
grenade-like flames that burst on impact.
“Attention all cleansers! This
planet is truly alive! We cannot hope to face it on the ground so we must
retreat to space. Make haste and retreat back to your ships!” the commander says
over the comms.
As we retreat to our ships, more tendrils
and mouths come out from the surface and we suffer some losses. I have to
switch my flamethrower out for my flame sword to cut through the tendrils
around me since there are so many. We make it back to our ship and quickly take
off. Unfortunately, a few ships are caught by the mouths and tendrils of the
planet and sucked into it. Back on our ship, people are praying, talking, and
causing a ruckus as we decide on what we should be doing.
“Attention! Attention! ATTENTION!”
the commander screams before we finally get quiet, “Thank you. Now tell me,
what is wrong with you?! We are God’s Cleansers that fight against false gods
and traitors. This is our purpose. This is the reason we exist, and yet, we are
cowering and panicked about this false god given form. Hold your heads up and look
forward for our enemy is in front of us! We will not be running from this so-called
god. We will be doing what we do best. It will be burned to ashes this day and
this instant!”
My comrades around me cheer as
their spirits are reinvigorated.
“All ships prepare to fire your
weapons at full power. Hell itself will shake at our righteous fury! Begin to
fire at the start of our prayer.”
We all bow and kneel in prayer as
everyone else prepares our weapons. The commander starts the prayer, and the weapons
begin to fire.
“The time of our holy work has
come, my brothers and sisters!”
“Praise be to God!”
“We shall cleanse the universe of
the stain of sin!”
“We shall burn it all to ash!”
“We shall burn the heretic, the
heathen, and the traitors alike!”
“For their reward is eternal
damnation.”
“Hope to God that they see the
error of their ways.”
“Let our flames cleanse them of
their sins.”
“Beyond the flames of Purgatory
lies Heaven.”
“Purify us of our sins and make us
worthy of your love, Oh Lord.”
“The Lord cleansed the Earth with
water and will cleanse it with Holy Fire.”
“Let us be your instruments of
justice.”
“We are sinners yet not slaves. We
are clean yet not yet saved. We are unworthy yet made acceptable by the Blood
of the Lamb.”
“Have mercy on us, Oh Lord.”
“Have mercy on us and our enemies,
Oh Lord, as we battle and give our lives to you. Our work is put before us and
we burn it all to ash!”
“Amen!”
“Amen.”
We watch as the planet burns and is
destroyed by our weapons. In one last effort to kill us, it opens its giant
mouth that’s almost as big as the entire planet. Within its mouth is a glowing red
core that shines like the sun along with more tendrils that reach out to us while
some tendrils try to protect its core.
“It’s presenting itself for the
final blow! Blow its heart to pieces!” the commander says as our guns focus on
the core.
The tendrils only slow its death as
we tear them apart and destroy the core. With its destruction, it writhes in
pain before lifelessly floating in space. We all cheer and praise God because
of our victory. Even though we didn’t find what we were looking for, we destroyed
what we were supposed to. Thank you, God, for bringing our attention to
something more urgent. We will go back on the hunt for this elusive empire, but
first, we must recover because of all the losses we have suffered. The fires of
our ambition and spirit burn brighter today than they ever have and will
continue to burn for all eternity while our enemies turn to ash in the presence
of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment