Black Sunshine

Chapter 15 - Contradiction is a Balm to the Illogical Mind, and Poison to those Ruled by Logic

Solana stared in horror at the woman laying at her feet, who was simultaneously alien and intimately familiar. The magic in her hand flickered and vanished as Solana wavered between the need to kill this woman and the need to heal her.

“I’m sorry, Solana. I love you,” Nera had said before she collapsed into unconsciousness.

That’s right, Solana knew her. No. She was a demon, a thing, the enemy. The Bishop of Ruin had told her so. Had warned her about her mind being poisoned. She knew it was definitely being poisoned but…

…perhaps the Bishop was the one poisoning her mind?

She shook her head at the thought. It couldn’t be. She was a loyal follower of the Bishop of Ruin and had been for as long as she could remember. But she could also remember some other woman’s life.

Her first kiss at a carnival held by the university. Wait. She was kissing this demon woman. She was kissing Nera. It was wonderful. Was it real? She remembered her parents eating her cooking in her girlfriend’s apartment only a few days ago. She remembered helping Nera recover from dozens of fights. She remembered her friends at the university where they studied medicine.

But she also remembered being orphaned at a young age, and the Bishop of Ruin taking her under his wing. Nights spent by a roaring fire in the rectory, the Bishop telling her stories from his home. She remembered her desire in that moment to see the stars from up close and help him return to his home. She remembered helping the nuns fix the chariot to the stars.

“Finish off the evil demon, my child, and we can continue our noble work,” the voice of the Bishop of Ruin filled her head, “The chariot to the stars awaits completion.”

Something was wrong. Nera wasn’t just some demon. She wasn’t evil. Deep down, under the fog her brain was filled with, Solana knew this. Nera was kind, and giving. She had a temper too, but under it all was love. Love for Solana.

But just as importantly was the realization that she loved Nera too. Deeply. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with her. Somehow that was more real. Or was that the poison?

“Why do you hesitate to do the right thing and obey?”

The pressure from the Bishop of Ruin on her mind caused Solana to clutch her head. She winced. Why was he hurting her? He had never done that as far as she could remember. He had always been patient and kind.

“I warned you about allowing your mind to be poisoned,” the bishop continued, the pressure in her head building so much it was agonizing, “You must fight it.”

Solana instinctively reached for the magic she had been taught. She knew that she had to fight whatever was affecting her mind. Like a gentle wave lapping at the sand on a beach, the magic began clearing her mind of the adverse effects and clarity slowly returned.

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“Fool!” the bishop’s voice echoed horribly across the cathedral, “Do you think that you can betray me with the very power I gave you!”

A violent beam of energy flashed towards Solana. She raised a hand and a thick barrier of the same energy grew in front of her. Why was the bishop attacking her? Hadn’t she always done as he asked?

No. She hadn’t even known that he existed until a couple of days ago. She had been kidnapped! And not by Nera. Nera was here to save her, and the Bishop of Ruin was trying to- something. She didn’t actually know what he was up to, but she knew he was trying to hurt her.

“Nuns!” the Bishop of Ruin called out, pointing at her accusingly, “she is an apostate. Destroy her!”

Half a dozen Nuns of Contempt swarmed into the room. Solana watched as her barrier was bombarded from all sides by a rainbow of magic. She whispered thanks to whatever gods were listening that the barrier held against the multicolored onslaught.

The Bishop of Ruin hovered in the air in the center of the cathedral. Random bursts of magic split the air with deafening cracks. The nuns were frozen in place by the terrible pressure of the maelstrom of forces swirling around Solana and the Bishop.

Solana finally understood the truth. The Bishop of Ruin needed to be stopped. The Nuns of Contempt were victims of his scheme and needed to be saved, and the woman laying at her feet, Nera, was the most important thing in the world to her.

With a surge of intention, she pulled the bursting energy emanating from the Bishop into herself like a lightning rod. She stored it up, feeling it trying to burn through her veins, but she persevered.

Finally, when she knew if she took in any more energy she would become a fine mist all over the cathedral, she held her hand out in front of her, and began to coalesce a ball of destructive energy.

“No,” the Bishop begged, “Stop this. I command you.”

“I’m not following your orders anymore.”

“But,” the Bishop whimpered, “but I need to leave this planet.”

“And you will,” Solana assured him, “And you will pay the price for making me hurt Nera, you slimy scumsucking shithead.”

She released the swirling ball of energy just as she had learned to do, and the cathedral momentarily turned white. The roar of the magic was deafening, not even the pained screaming of the Bishop of Ruin was able to overcome it.

With the bishop no more than a shadowy silhouette of soot against the stone wall of the cathedral, the masks on the nun’s faces disintegrated. The women’s faces betrayed no emotion or thought. They simply stood where they had been and stared at nothing.

Solana’s ears rang as she turned to Nera, still unconscious and burnt. Tears filled her eyes. What had she done? Her tears fell uselessly and her brain, still reeling from the mind control magic, struggled to figure out what needed to be done. She had trained for years for situations like this, and yet she couldn’t think.

One of the women finally snapped out of the trance and looked at her in confusion, “What happened? Where are we?”

Solana sniffed, and wiped her eyes before responding, “I’m afraid that’s a long story. Are you injured?”

The woman took a second before shaking her head.

“At least there’s that. I think there was a phone in the back rooms. You need to call the police, explain that you’ve been kidnapped but you escaped. They should be able to help you.”

Solana turned and picked Nera’s body off the cathedral floor.

“Where are you going?” the woman asked, nervously.

“I need to get her to the hospital.”

Solana sighed in relief as she walked out the blasted hole where the cathedral doors had been. For the second time since they had met, she found herself driving Nera, at death’s door, to the hospital.