8 May 2021 - Day 1

  Our trek started out heading west a bit deeper into the neighborhood. I wanted to check out a few more houses and see if we could find people along the way. Maybe they could use some help or they could help us. My hopes weren’t exactly high but I still had them. My first goal was to check out a particular house three streets away from where we lived. The old city of Fredericksburg is really a strange place, not only is it midway between the two big cities in Virginia, D.C. and Richmond, but the way the construction changed over time is weird too. Multi-million dollar homes were literally a street away from apartments and normal suburban houses. By crossing one street, the average price value of the block jumped by over six hundred thousand dollars, and one of those houses caught my eye.

  Nobody answered the door when I knocked and we checked all of the houses, some of which I knew had people in them because I could see them as we approached. Probably because we looked insane being dressed the way we were. Ten minutes of walking put us in front of one of those multi-million dollar homes and the only reason I knew that is because I remember looking it up on the Zillow home buying website. The eight foot tall wrought-iron fence surrounded a half acre’s worth of property. The pride and joy of the property that bordered its own pond was a three story castle that looked like it was built solidly out of concrete blocks. Outside of a real castle that didn’t exist in the area, this building looked to be the most defensible from a medieval tactics standpoint. It was a veritable fortress compared to the other houses around here.

  “Why did you bring us here?” Sandra asked, looking around.

  “I’ve never walked around here,” Mike added. “Madison street. This is where the rich people live. I’ve seen plenty of yard crews coming around and making their lawns look perfect.”

  “Yup, we used to walk all around the neighborhood before we started taking our walks on the Canal path,” I explained. “And this property is probably the best place to set up shop and bunker down. As long as nobody is living in it.”

  “You want to break in and live here?” Isabella gasped, as if I had suggested some horrible scandal.

  I nodded. “Yup. I don’t see any cars and I’m assuming that they’re either out or dead. We can talk about it later but I just wanted to see if it was empty.” Getting right up to the fence, I took a huge breath. “HELLO! ANYONE HOME!?”

  My wife smacked me on the shoulder. “Shut up! We don’t need to draw attention to ourselves.” Mike gripped his hammer and shield harder as he frantically looked around while Isabella backed up to be next to him.

  “We aren’t sneaking around!” I snapped. “We’re clanking around in heavy ass armor, there’s nothing stealthy about us.” I rounded on my team. “Our strategy right now is that we are metaphorically a small herd of thick porcupines. We aren’t moving fast, we aren’t hunting anyone or anything, and we’re just trying to get to where we’re going without anyone fucking with us. Jesus, calm down.”

  “Hello?” A quiet voice startled all of us into silence. The feminine voice came from behind us.

  “Hello?” I called out, forgetting about the rich house as I spun around real fast. “Who’s there?”

  A couple girls that couldn’t have been older than eighteen walked out. The one on the left had black hair and was definitely on the pudgy side, her thick fingers clasped together as she stood behind the other two. The front one faced us aggressively with a revolver at her side, her eyes glaring with mistrust. She had a weird face, one where you really can’t tell if she’s attractive or not but her frame was very similar to Isabella’s. The last one was a tall black chick with dreads who was gripping a baseball that was on fire and a bat that had a few nails sticking out of it.

  “Whoa!” Sandra yelled, holding her hands up and taking a step forward. “We’re just walking, seeing if anyone survived.” The girls looked at her and then at the rest of us. “We’re going up to the church with our friends.” She pointed at Mike and Isabella.

  “Maybe they can help us?” The thick one said, gulping in fear as she eyed our weaponry.

  “Shut it!” The black chick snapped, giving her a soft kick. “We don’t need nobody.”

  The redhead in the middle pointed the gun at our feet, grimacing as she settled into a low ready stance. “We’ve had issues with men already. Just keep on walking.”

  “We’re going, we’re going!” I said, keeping my shield facing them. Even though I knew the gun was useless, I still wouldn’t discount abilities we didn’t know about that could make it work. “Come on guys, Sandra and Isabella, get behind me. Mike, come up next to me too.”

  The team shuffled around until Mike and I formed a wall between the three ladies and our women. We kept going down the street until they were out of sight. “Back in standard formation,” I ordered, as I swept the area. “Mike, remember, keep an eye out for whatever’s behind us.”

  “That was weird.” Sandra whispered, touching Isabella on the arm.

  Isabella nodded. “Maybe we should come back without the boys, see if they need any help.”

  I kept us moving. I knew it was a bad idea. The three women watched us with hard eyes until we made it down the block and out of their line of sight. Down the street and then to the left took us past the deserted tennis courts and empty playground. Little piles of dust were scattered around and none of us spoke. Various clothes ranging from small children to parents were on the benches and on some of the jungle gyms. What looked to be two moms were sitting on the far side of the area, clutching each other and weeping.

  “We should help them.” Isabella said, tapping the butt of her spear on the ground to get my attention.

  “After we get to the church,” I said, not willing to deviate from the goal. “It’s literally right up this road. After that we’ll come back and see if they’re still here.”

  Sandra butted in. “She’s right, we can take them to the church. I bet it’s safer there than here.”

  Surprisingly, Mike didn’t agree. “We don’t even know if anyone is going to be there. Service ended hours ago.”

  Sharing a look between them, our wives started walking towards the other women. Beady eyes in the trees to their left glinted with reflected sunlight.

  “Wait! No! Look out!” Mike yelled, his voice spiking in terror. Before we could react, a tan blur tackled the leftmost crying woman with a snarl as something feathery with too many limbs fell off a branch onto the other one. Both started instantly screaming in agony as my team sprinted forward only to be intercepted by a pack of stray dogs.

  Slobbering howls pulled us up short as overly large fangs accompanied them. All the little yappy Fidos of yesterday were now hungry Magnus’ with a rage problem. First, Isabella yelped and backed up into Sandra, knocking her over in surprise but luckily Mike tackled the fastest dog in mid leap. Me being a step behind let me see it all happen but I couldn’t do anything to prevent it. I was just too slow and too far away to help in time.

  The shield in Mike’s left hand pinned the first bulldog to the ground as he choked up on his hammer with the other, getting short swings in that didn’t do much damage. Two red-eyed dogs had latched onto his armored pant legs and our wives were under a separate pile of howling dogs. I barely saw the blue of Sandra’s telekinetic shield under all that fur and I knew that they were safe for at least a moment. Their screams cut me to the bone but I could see that neither of them had even been touched yet.

  Figuring they had a bit of time due to my wife’s powerful abilities, I kept my momentum going but in a different direction. Plowing forward like a runaway train, I threw my tomahawk at the dog chewing on Mike’s left leg while giving a fantastic punt to the one on his right. Years of high school soccer came in handy.

  Blood sprayed as the axe luckily landed blade first this time, severing the first dog’s spine while the second dog’s head separated from its shoulders in a spray of blood. Mike’s screaming hit a higher pitch and I realized that the dog on the right, his jaws didn’t let go when I kicked. It didn’t tear through the armored fabric but there would definitely be a massive bruise there later.

  “Fuck!” I cursed, feeling the pain in my own leg kick in again as I strained it. I could feel blood leaking through the bandages. Channeling my earth magic, I grew hands of stone that held down the one Mike had pinned. “Kill it!” I yelled, forcing the claws of rock to dig in. It took longer than I expected for the slow rock hands to grow up and restrain the animal.

  Mike saw the stone hands finally get a good grip and rolled off. Standing on one leg, he swung down, flattening the bulldog’s fat skull. “Isabella!” He screamed as he turned around, hobbling forward and hurling the Killer Nails with his Mental Hands ability. Blood, fur, and gristle flew from each Killer Nail impacting the rabid canines. The dogs were blasted off the glowing blue shield in chunks as the iron and stone nails acted like .50 caliber machine gun rounds, tearing the unarmored animals apart. I didn’t even have to do anything as ten rods killed the four dogs intent on eating our wives.

  “Good job Mike!” I said, clapping him on the shoulder as I pointed. “Look! They’re okay! Sandra kept them safe.” Torn flesh weeping crimson fluid ran down the shield in waves.

  “Oh my God, oh my God!” He bawled, sinking to his knees. Sandra flung the shield to the side, dispersing the gore away from herself and Isabella. The telekinetic shield evaporated as Sandra pulled her control back.

  “What about them?!” Isabella shrieked, pointing to the large bloodstains where the other women used to be.

  Sandra stood up and dusted herself off, wiping tears from her eyes. “There was nothing we could do. They were too far away.” Picking Isabella up, she looked at Mike and I. “Are y’all ok? Let me see.” Sandra checked me over and Isabella did the same to Mike.

  I gave my wife a big hug and breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m fine babe, just glad to see you’re ok.” We all huddled there for a moment as we collected ourselves. The day was still a bit cloudy and it hadn’t gotten hot which was a small silver lining to the shitty series of events. Retrieving my axe and cleaning it off, I walked over to the torn-to-shred bodies. “Mike, might wanna use your Mental Hands to get your ammo back, and clean it off too.”

  He vomited twice into the grass and wiped his mouth. Glaring at me, he grumbled a bit as he fumbled around. “The fine motor control is harder than firing these big nails as hard as I can. Gonna need a minute.” We kept watch as he did his business and I buried the bodies deep with earth magic, mainly to keep the scavengers at bay. I didn’t want to see how big vultures got to now. When Mike was ready, he gave a nod and we set off.

  Our somber mood didn’t brighten as we kept moving. The conflict happened within two hundred yards of the church, the classic white and brick building with the standard steeple stood in its own generous property surrounded by a lush lawn and a small parking lot. The pavement in the area looked like all the other streets, as if it had aged a hundred years and then forcibly broken down into segmented gravel. First Christian Church stood there proudly as we crossed the street. The dog park was behind us to our left with the canal path curving around it. We kept closer to the other side of the street due to a strange hissing sound coming from the water.

  As we got closer to the church, I turned just in time to see Mike and Isabella run to the front door as they spotted lit candles in the window. “Pastor Mansfield! Pastor Mansfield!” They burst inside, through the lobby and into the main area of the church. Rows and rows of pews inside were swarmed with people talking and arguing and crying.

  “What the-?” Sandra said, not believing her eyes. We both stood there in disbelief, our weapons lowered as a small horde of people welcomed Mike and Isabella. A flurry of questions were fired back and forth but I couldn’t make out any discernible answers.

  “So many people!” I wondered aloud, scratching the side of my head. I didn’t remove my helmet as my paranoia ratcheted up a notch or two.

  “Do we go in?” My wife looked at me, and then down at herself.

  “I don’t think they care about dress code right now,” I joked, rubbing the handle of my axe. I got most of the blood off of it but it still looked threatening.

  A sudden silence came over the congregation as a feeble old man walked down the aisle. He wore a slender three piece suit and held a Bible in left hand while a cane that glowed a bright silver steadily thumped the carpet. Years of laugh lines and good living marked his face and his eyes held a spark of life that his hair did not.

  “Welcome, welcome, come on in!” He announced grandly as he approached. “All are welcome in the house of God.” He looked at how well armed Sandra and I were. “I would say leave those at the door but the Most High instructed Gideon to pick those wise enough to keep their arms when they knelt down at the river to drink.” He said kindly.

  Sandra started to remove her weapons but I stopped her. “Thank you for understanding sir.” I said grimly but politely. “We’ve seen a bit too much today to be unarmed.”

  “No one will harm you here.” He said in soothing tones. “My name is Pastor Mansfield and this is my flock.” He gave a soft chuckle as he turned and waved at the distraught people. “We do understand that we are in strange times and if it makes you feel better then come on in with them.”

  I looked at Sandra and nodded. “Thank you sir.” My wife and I walked in but stopped at the doorway of the main auditorium. The empty hallways behind us loomed menacingly due to the lack of electric light.

  “How did all of you survive?” I asked, blurting out my thoughts. “I checked a bunch of houses and we even passed a mostly empty park full of dust from the dead. You think the streets would have plenty of people out looking around. We’ve seen people torn apart.”

  “Faith.”

  The simple word made me remember part of the initial wave of messages. Yup, faith was part of that.

  “Jesus.” I breathed.

  “Exactly.”

  “No, sorry . . uh . . ” I stuttered, stumbling over my unthinking curse. “It makes sense. Were all of you here when it happened, the shift? The initial warning or whatever you want to call it?”

  Pastor Mansfield turned to his congregation, gazing at them lovingly. “Yes, my son. We were here for the noon potluck after our weekly service. It is the Sabbath. We haven’t left. Our time here has been devoted to prayer and reflection.”

  “Are they heretics, father?” A deep voice called out. Another joined it. “We all heard the voice of Gabriel!”

  “Now now!” Pastor Mansfield said, his quavery voice rising with strength and authority as he rebuked them. “This is not how we welcome new members of the flock.”

  Mike and Isabella were making the rounds, hugging and talking with various people they knew. Sandra and I looked at each other as we noticed many of the people here had glowing tattoos. I took that to mean that at least the children were safe. Ignoring that bit about being ‘new members’, Sandra asked in her sweetest voice, “Uhm, sir, what exactly did Gabriel say?”

  A teenager stepped forward. His bowl cut made him look as awkward as his cracking voice but his eyes were fierce. It was almost funny as the young teen puffed up in his suit that was half a size too big. “This is a test! A trial from the Most High! We need to be watchful and wary for a new enemy comes in the dark as true evil has once again entered this world!”

  A solemn slip of a girl stood next to him, her palms together as if in prayer. “We have all been called and given a purpose. I am a part of His Service, one who heals and watches for the spiritual well being of our beloved congregation. I bear the Mark of St. Paul, the greatest martyr.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The parishioners called out staggered, ‘Amens’!

  I did my best not to roll my eyes.

  The young-ish boy spoke up again. “And I am part of His army! A strong arm in the times of darkness! I bear the Mark of Michael, the Protector of His Name!” Others called out their agreement, many of them saying they had the same purpose or some variation of the same. In over half of them, I could see their eyes lighting up with an inner white fire. Several of the older men held their silence a bit further back but nodded along as the energy of the youth spoke up.

  “The faith of my flock has never been stronger,” Pastor Mansfield said triumphantly. He turned to address the gathered people. “We will stand together as Christians have done since the mandate of our Lord.”

  “You are hurt!” One of the many women in the crowd cried out. A plump matron of a woman in a black and gray dress bustled over and put her hand on my leg. Small beads of crimson dripped down my leg. Soft white light emanated out as she prayed. My skin started to itch but Pastor Mansfield put his hand on her shoulder.

  “Amanda, please wait a moment. One of our flock can do this but hasn’t unlocked her potential yet.” He turned and spoke to Isabella. “Come here daughter. I noticed when you walked in that your Blessing is just out of reach. Let me help you.”

  I watched with wide eyes as the pastor prayed over Isabella, placing his hands on her head as a whisper of ringing bells and falling feathers accompanied a soft, soothing glow. Isabella’s eyes gained the same inner fire that the others of the congregation had. “I can feel it!” She exclaimed, gasping in either pain or pleasure. “My abilities, a revelation! I know what they do!”

  The pastor smiled that old-man-wisdom smile. “Good. My daughter, now heal your companion. Show him the Light that our Lord has blessed you with.” She shook as the light receded and a peaceful look took its place.

  “Yes sir.” Reverently placing her hand on my calf, she started to pray like the other woman did and that itch returned. Part of me wanted to run from the craziness but on the other hand, free healing is something you don’t pass up. The itch in the region where the dog bit me earlier that morning had reached poison ivy status and then went away. Not quite believing it, I pulled up my torn pant leg out of my boot and examined my calf. Perfectly healed.

  A scream of pain rang out as Isabella fell to the ground, clutching at her own calf. Pulling up her own pant leg revealed an identical wound to the one I had that morning.

  “Martyr’s Sacrifice,” Pastor Mansfield intoned serenely to the gasp of his gathered faithful. “Be joyful that your gift resembles our Lord’s tribulation so much. He bled for us and now you can bleed for others in their place.” A minute later, Isabella’s leg healed up on its own. “A second gift on top of the first,’ he clarified. “You take on the pain as well but then healed by your gift from the Lord.”

  “What do her other powers do?” I couldn’t help but ask. That method of healing is pretty gnarly, healing other people by taking their injuries from them and then healing up herself afterwards, but Isabella’s other abilities had to be awesome. I couldn’t remember the rest of her abilities as she hadn’t even used them yet.

  “Allow me father,” Isabella said, straightening up as if she hadn’t just taken on a very painful dog bite. “Show full status.” With her hand on Pastor Mansfield’s Bible, he raised his hand and her status screen displayed for everyone.

  Everyone oohed and ahhed, marveled by all the religious references in her status. “Saint Monica, the patron saint of mothers, spoke to me just now as our shepherd prayed for me!” Isabella announced, her eyes shining unnaturally with a celestial light. “I have been blessed with ‘Martyr’s Sacrifice’, which is a gift, allowing me to take on one’s pain and injuries as my own and then heal at a greatly accelerated rate. ‘Virtue’s Light’ is a gift in defense of the flock, my prayers can bestow an armor as strong as my faith!”

  The congregation cheered and then quieted as she raised her hand. “But there is more that I have been blessed with and Heaven is truly generous. Once a day in times of great trial, I can call down a visage of an angel to empower myself to smite evil. Saint Monica called it, ‘Blessed by an Angel’.”

  “And you have been truly blessed!” The congregation said as one.

  [And I’m a little creeped out!] I whirled to see who said that. [Oh crap, I was thinking it and then you heard me?! Grant, it’s me, your wife! Sandra!]

  Taking a deep breath, I deduced the obvious. Sandra had just accidentally triggered another aspect of her mind powers, she was communicating directly with my mind. My wife had telepathy!

  I thought real hard. [BABE! HONEY! SANDRA! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!]

  [TOO LOUD!] She mentally shouted back. [Jesus freaking Christ, you lunatic! I accidentally set up a little mental link. Just think in that direction and I’ll hear it like a phone call.]

  [Wow, uhm, exactly how expansive is this link?]

  [This isn’t for sexy time, well, it could be but not right now!] She nudged my arm with an elbow. [I think we get while the gettin’s good.]

  [Hold on real quick, gonna do a sanity check.] I sent back to her. I quickly tuned out her stream of consciousness. She was absolutely sure that I was about to poke the prelude of the New Inquisition.

  Squaring my shoulders back, I took a step forward. “Ahem, ladies and gentlemen, congregation of this lovely church.”

  Everybody turned to look at me. Some with confusion, some with suspicion, but more with a half-glazed look as if they were still processing the new reality, the one bringing the soft measure of modern humanity to its knees.

  I cleared my throat. “I’m just asking because I’ve been doing it across the neighborhood already, are y’all ok? Do you need anything?” I said, projecting to make sure my voice was heard by all. “The reason I ask is because we four have already run into what could only be described as monsters now. Dogs that were once pets are now tearing people apart while cats have grown and now hunt women for sport. My wife herself smashed spiders the size of volleyballs to bits in our basement. I’m just urging extreme caution.”

  “The Lord will protect us!” A different young boy than the one who spoke earlier called out. He looked dapper in his clean blue suit. I bet his parents were rich. “We are His hand! He has bestowed upon us His light and armed us with our own faith!” The men who nodded pulled the sleeves of their nice, button-down shirts up exposing blue and white outlines of blades etched into their arms. One burly man snapped his arm out and a flaming sword appeared in his hand.

  “So you’re good in that department,” I confirmed. “What about the children, are they ok? We’ve seen too many piles of dust on our way here with kid’s clothing but Mike and Isabella’s kids are somewhat magically tattooed to their skin for at least a year.”

  Several of the congregation exposed a bit of flesh with glowing tattoos on them while others looked to the side, their faces dark as they wept. Pastor Mansfield’s mouth formed a thin line. “Some of the flock was called home while others did not have the faith.” The stern look faded to one of longing. “We will do our Duty as we should, bringing in the sheaves as we have been commanded.”

  “Does that duty include feeding the flock?” I asked bluntly. I turned my gaze upon each and every one of them. I had to make them see it. Life would be irrevocably different from this point forward. They’re just lucky that it just hadn’t given them a swift kick in the balls yet.

  “I hate to tell you this but I’m going to be real open about reality as we know it. Your beliefs are your beliefs but hunger and thirst doesn’t really take stock in that. Guns don’t work, the military and the government and even the local police force are basically powerless or soon going to be. I would recommend gathering supplies, starting a garden, you know, get with the survival times. Think Amish . . . Mennonite . . . Survivalist pioneer mindset. Water is going to be a real concern as well.”

  “Faith will see us through.” The severe young woman glared at me, the one who spoke earlier. Her sharp eyes were unfortunately not keen enough to see the reality that was setting in.

  “And I’m not arguing with you, but I went to church when I was younger too,” I replied sternly. I had to speak in their terms, use their logic to get through to them. “And one thing I took away from an old sermon was that God helps those who help themselves. The Big Man upstairs also gave the first commandment to Adam and that was to work. So don’t think that you can sit here and let everything take care of itself.”

  Several angry shouts came my way but I picked up my shield and slammed its thick base on the floor. The resounding boom shut them up. “I’m not here to cause a ruckus or a panic, I’m just making a round to the community and delivering your members back to you. Y’all do what you want but my wife and I are leaving. Thank you for your time.” With that, I started walking backwards as I shot my wife a mental message. [Back up slowly and show them we’re not a threat.] I made sure to keep the tomahawk low instead of up at the ready.

  I caught her mental nod and we started back as several members started towards us yelling things like ‘heretic’ and ‘unbeliever’. “Hey, hey!” Mike said, stopping the zealous crowd in their tracks by waving his warhammer around. “They’re good people! They kept us safe and sound and you will NOT threaten them. We need their help more than they need ours.”

  A thin but well muscled man with cold gray eyes stood up out of one of the less populated corners of the church. His face was hard and there was a readiness to his stance that spoke of experience in the darker side of life, plus I knew that high and tight haircut anywhere. I saw a holster for a split second as his suit coat flared when he stood up. Noting the lack of a tie and the whipcord build that promised danger, the muscles in my hand tightened around my shield.

  “I s’pect you’re right young man, more than you know.” The grizzled man said, walking towards me and Sandra. He cocked an eyebrow. “Marine?”

  “Son of one,” I answered, still keeping the shield between us. “Joined the Army Reserve though, liked the civilian pay too much so I didn’t stay in.”

  He grunted. “Smart man. Too many young men jumped right into the Middle East but never came back.” He stuck a hand out. “Name’s Earl.”

  I looked around and saw that literally everyone was looking my way. Swallowing my spit, I put my axe in my other hand and gave his a firm shake, taking great care not to crush it. “What were you?” I asked, looking him dead in the eye without letting go.

  “Old recon. Served for a few years in Baghdad and a few other crummy places back when it all kicked off.”

  I let go. “You don’t look like the rest of your crowd,” I commented, squeezing just a bit harder. “When did your God start letting wolves in the flock?”

  His dark chuckle chilled me to my core. “My wife brought me here every so often. She’s no longer with us but I was given a different calling.” His resolute coldness shocked me more than a little. Every bit of this man had an edge from the way he talked to how he looked at’cha and even how he dressed. Not one thing was out of place. Too clean really. Sterile is the word that sprang to mind.

  “Which is?” I asked, forcing my voice not to waiver. This man set my neck hairs off; his eyes had clearly seen things that mankind was not meant to and there was an insurmountable will straightening his spine that made steel look soft. My instincts screamed ‘danger-danger’ and my mouth was dry.

  He didn’t answer me at first. Instead he walked over to the tall stained glass windows that lent the church a magnificent air. “Do you know how flocks are taken care of?” He asked as he slowly looked the windows up and down. The visage of Christ bleeding on the cross gave him a crimson glow as the sunlight trickled through the glass. “The farmer keeps a sheepdog just as big and as mean as the wolves. They even give them blood from time to time to keep them on their toes. Just enough to keep the wildness close. That thirst makes a difference when the time comes.” He cracked his neck and went over to Pastor Mansfield where they conferred for a moment. “Let me walk you out,” he said as I took a step back.

  I made sure to keep ten feet between him and myself as he walked forward. I let my instincts communicate to Sandra my wariness through our new mental link; she held her powers at the ready. “Mike, Isabella, are y’all staying?” I called out. They both nodded. “All right. Let me know if you need anything, you know where we’ll be.” I know they thought I meant my own home but I fully intended on moving that big house ASAP.

  The three of us stood in front of the church and as Sandra and I turned to leave, Earl called out. “I know you think they’re naive but they’ll come around. I see you both for what you are.”

  We turned around as Sandra questioned, “What does that mean?”

  “Warriors.” He said. “Both of you. Maybe untrained, maybe untested, but not unblooded. And you’re good people.”

  Curiosity tugged at me yet again. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. “And what kind of blessing did you get?” I asked.

  His eyes twinkled with bits of impenetrable darkness as he pulled out his gun. It gleamed silver in the light. “The Archangel Uriel took notice of my life and assigned accordingly. The Agent of the Almighty was particularly generous, granting me a title that shows a bit of His humor, ‘Heaven’s Spook’ with the trait ‘Dagger of the Church’. But there is another reason I’m telling you this. He had a message for you and those like you.” His eyes narrowed as he cocked head slightly, as if listening to words only he could hear.

  I looked at my wife as I took in the full meaning of his words. A freaking Archangel had a message for ME?

  Fucking twisted.

  I gulped. “Do I even want to hear this message?” I squinted as I raised my shield. Earl calmly examined his firearm before looking at me again.

  “A two-fold message from Uriel actually. And I have a message of my own, we know that you’re good people. Mike and Isabella would have told us otherwise but understand this, the safety of the church family is my first priority.” Earl finished examining his firearm and cocked it. I noticed that a soft golden light shone out of the barrel. He left the safety on and put it back in his holster.

  “Firstly, your Alchemy is the one of several possible keys that can make our formerly modern technology work again because of the part you’re trying to figure out. The aspect of symbology. The second part of the angel’s message is for the question you’ve been asking yourself this whole time. The symbology of Alchemy refers to imbuing what one item means or its potential into another.” I gaped at him, not expecting any of the words that came out of his mouth. I hadn’t even mentioned Alchemy yet to these people, barring Mike and Isabella of course but they hadn’t had time to tell anyone yet.

  Earl shook his head before I could even ask anything. “A simultaneous vision occurred with the words given to me, a sort of multi-layered experience if you will. Higher Beings seem to communicate on multiple levels at the same time, similar to the way a piano plays in multiple keys at the same time but it’s all the same song. In my vision meant for you, a child infused a piece of iron with the flexibility of a bamboo plant. The iron rod could then bend but the bamboo plant was rendered to dust.”

  The lightbulb didn’t just go off in my head, it was a series of incandescent explosions. I would have figured it out eventually but this is why Alchemy is considered ‘rare’ and ‘fundamental’. HOLY BANANAS! The moment the meanings connected in my brain all I wanted to do was get my butt home to work.

  Earl scratched at his wrist where a tan line from a watch used to be. “The Church used to be the center of learning across Europe for generations. I know more about the abilities of others right now than I do about my own.” He gave a slight cough. “I’ve reconsidered the first part of the message from Uriel, that was more of a general message to not just my flock. I see no harm in telling you.”

  I couldn’t stop my eyes from widening in anticipation.

  Earl adjusted his suit jacket with a sigh. “Now is the time to push whatever abilities or Graces you have been granted. This calm before the storm won’t last long.” I opened my mouth to say thank you but Earl kept going. “Remember the kindness rendered unto you in your time of need.” With those solemn words, Earl turned and went back inside.

  I stood there frozen, possibility after possibility flooding my mind, visions of an incredible future flickering faster than I could grasp onto them. The worst part was, I would have eventually figured it out but not doing it fast enough now put me in debt to the Church. I did pay attention to history in school and one of the major conflicts that stuck out to me was the split between the Catholic Church and the Baptist church that raged into all out warfare in Britain and France and Spain sometime in the 1500s or 1600s. And that paled in comparison to the Crusades before that.

  People don’t like to talk about it but religious people have some serious warlike tendencies. Now with the Church being able to heal and provide protection, I can easily envision something like that happening again but between the Church and ‘new’ members. Bring them in with love will turn into bringing them in with the sword.

  Sandra and I communicated at the speed of thought as she forcibly opened the mental link to break through my revelation. [What are we doing? What’s going on? What did that mean? Are our neighbors nuts? Is this a new cult? Did we just get proof that God is real? Or are gods real? Are they all real? Is everything real? What does that mean for us?]

  Her rapid fire list of telepathic questions pinged on and on as she ranted, her mind going in circles as I patiently absorbed the flood of uncertainty and fear. As her emotions washed over my own like water off a duck’s back, I took her mental silence as permission to respond.

  [We are good, we’re going home and fortifying that bitch up. If we get things working, I’m taking that castle of a house two streets away from our home and making that our main house and fortifying that bitch up as well. The dude meant that I can take the ‘idea’ or ‘purpose’ of something and stick it in something else like putting the hardness of a rock into a flower and making that flower as solid as a rock. They’re probably nuts but hopefully in the good kind of way, and I’m not sure and maybe? It doesn’t mean much except that we have a very tentative ally that may kill us or help us.]