Indenuel’s gaze shot toward Martin, the color drained from his face. “The devil?”
The devil. Garen, who was headed straight for him, floating through the air. Indenuel gave into panic and broke out of Tolomon and Nathaniel’s grip, his knees still quivering as he backed away. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” Indenuel pointed at Garen, who no one else could see. “Stay away!” He hit the wall, sliding sideways as he gathered his strength to keep moving away. “I command you to stay away.”
Garen laughed, cold, hard, nothing at all like how he remembered from his dreams. He passed by Tolomon and Nathaniel who stared at Indenuel with alarm. “Now you think you can command me? I’ve been in your dreams. You can’t throw me out so easily.”
“How? I should have sensed you!” Indenuel said, tears streaming down his face.
“You have your little magic powers, I have mine,” Garen said before opening his hands. Suddenly Garen looked like a violet eyed Zimoran, then a brown eyed Dengrian, then a green eyed Santollian, then a gray eyed Kiamese man. Indenuel gasped, continuing to back away as Garen picked up speed, headed straight for him. “I’ve had centuries to practice the mannerisms of man. I was clever enough to kill God, I am clever enough to trick you.”
“No!” Indenuel said. Garen’s eyes changed once again to the burning black demonic color. Indenuel stumbled, falling back. To see someone who pretended to be his father, the man he wanted to have be his father so badly, to instead have the black eyes of the devil broke him. “Stop it! I gave you nothing of myself!” Indenuel screamed as Tolomon was there, trying to help him up. “You have no claim on my soul!”
“Guards!” Martin yelled. “Come to me now!”
“I have been in your deepest dreams, Indenuel. I have watched you every Day of the Devil. I have been there when you called for my power. You cannot command me away.”
Indenuel began to sob, again breaking out of Tolomon’s grip, wanting to run away. He hit the back of the pews.
“Get Dalius here now!” Martin said to the guards. “You speakers of the dead, help Indenuel.”
Garen cackled. “What kind of Warrior are you? You didn’t even sense who I really was. Are you truly that desperate for a father? To have another person who you’ll disappoint in the end.”
Nathaniel was trying to speak to him, but he couldn’t hear because the panic took hold. Garen rose, towering over Indenuel, the worship hall darkening as he spread his black tendrils outward, his fake solid body dissolving as it grew darker and colder.
“You are mine already, Indenuel. You just don’t know it.”
There was weak light coming from two guards, doing everything in their power to push Garen away, but he just laughed at them. All at once the blackness shot back into Garen before he flung toward Indenuel. He screamed, tripping over himself as he tried to dodge and landed on the cold marble floor. Tolomon and Nathaniel were on either side of him, trying to say something, but Indenuel couldn’t hear. Garen threw himself against his chest. The golden shield around him grew bright, lighting his face.
“S-see! I am not yours!” Indenuel said.
Garen cackled. “You wanted me when you killed Andres and Lola. You reached out to me then. That part of you still resides there. A part of you yearns for me!”
“Lies!” Indenuel screamed as the guards again tried to fill the Cathedral with light. Indenuel tried to grab Garen’s hands to keep him from pushing against his shield, but there was nothing to hold onto. “You speak nothing but lies!”
The black aura over Garen grew darker. It sucked in all the light from around him, and Indenuel watched in horror as the golden shield around him began to dim.
“Sir! The devil is trying to possess him!” one of the guards shouted.
“What is the update on Dalius?” Martin asked.
“No reply yet.”
Garen closed his eyes, and an ice-cold force filled Indenuel’s body. He couldn’t talk. Slowly, he was lifted into the air. Tolomon and Nathaniel grabbed him, to keep him on the ground, but Garen threw Indenuel across the room, tearing him again out of his friends’ grip. He hit one of the pews, the air knocked out of him. Indenuel tried to get up, but he was shivering too violently and remained on his side. Tolomon slid next to him, checking him as Nathaniel tried to heal him, pumping him with warmth. Martin grabbed his head, trying to help him sit up while helping Nathaniel fill him with healing power.
Garen appeared, floating right above Indenuel, a sick smile across his face.
“You cannot touch me!” Indenuel screamed. “Not in this Cathedral! Not with Martin here! You have rules you have to follow!”
Garen barreled down on Indenuel, the golden shield trembled far too much. “This Cathedral was built on lies! It’s more mine than the Savior’s.” Fifty tendrils came out of him, beating the golden shield over and over. “I will have you. I will possess you. You are mine!”
“No! You have no power here!” He didn’t sound nearly as convinced as he should.
Garen cackled. “You think you’re going to be protected by the lies you’ve been told?” The tendrils beat Indenuel’s shield, and it wasn’t nearly as golden as he hoped. He tried backing away into Nathaniel, Tolomon, and Martin, all of them holding him fast as the two guards appeared, trying to flimsily put up a shield to stop the devil. “You know how many lies the High Elders have told you? How many they’re still telling you?” The shield around Indenuel was dimming at an alarming rate. He reached out to grab Martin’s hand, hoping he had enough power to help his shield turn brighter.
“I command you to leave!” He was painfully aware how much his voice quivered.
Garen laughed again. “I get to claim who I wish on my day. You still have the mark, however faint, and that means I’m going to claim you.”
“It was me!” Indenuel screamed at Martin, backing so far into him that he had to grab Indenuel around the waist. He shook, as did his voice. “It was me! I killed them.”
“What are you talking about?” Martin asked, his voice revealing the fear he felt.
“I murdered them. Andres and Lola. With corrupted pain. Forgive me! I’m sorry!”
Martin’s eyes widened before his head jerked toward Nathaniel.
Garen laughed. “You honestly think that will solve this?” The tendrils shot back into him before he threw himself forward, using his fists to hit the shield. Indenuel coughed, feeling the cold just outside. “You think Martin will forgive you and I’ll be on my way? No, Indenuel. You just confessed because you’re afraid. That’s not true repentance.”
Martin lifted Indenuel’s shirt and hissed as he saw the pale pink mark there. Tolomon grabbed Indenuel’s hand and looked to Martin to receive his next orders.
“You ignored your friends. You pushed everyone away. You forced Matteo into the same mental hell you are. Do you know how much he resents you for that?”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Indenuel sobbed, holding onto Tolomon’s hand tighter. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he said, both to Martin and Matteo, who was miles away.
“You repented because you’re selfish. You were so certain you could do this on your own that you pushed everyone away.” The devil threw one of his black auras out, and Indenuel’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as his memories returned of Tolomon yelling at him for being so selfish. For ignoring what was right. For putting him in danger to do his own selfish bidding.
Martin grabbed Indenuel’s face, filling it with warmth, and Indenuel focused again on the High Elder, who looked terrified. “You used the corruptive powers?”
“I was angry.” Tears streamed down Indenuel’s face. “I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry.”
Garen threw himself against the shield again, and to Indenuel’s horror, it started to crack. “No! No! Get away from me!”
“You said so yourself for two weeks now. Confession will never work,” Garen said. “You seriously think that man has any authority over your soul? After he rapes Inessa every month? After he ignores the Oraminians? After he lied to you about God?”
Garen threw himself again, and another crack appeared. Indenuel let out a sob as Martin reached under his shirt, desperately trying to heal the mark.
“I’m going to kill them all. Once I possess you, I’m going to use your body and your powers to kill every last person in this city. I am going to cause such destruction and chaos that the rest of mankind will remember this as a second Great Flood,” Garen sneered.
Another crack appeared in the shield. “Tolomon!” Indenuel shouted, gipping his bodyguard’s hand. “I order you to kill me! Kill me before he possesses me! Please!”
“Don’t give in, Indenuel!” Tolomon said, somehow tightening his grip. “Martin will get the mark off.”
“Don’t let the Devil make you afraid,” Martin said.
Garen laughed at Martin, who couldn’t hear it. With a final punch, the shield flickered before it went out. Indenuel dropped his hands, staring wide eyed at Garen. An icy chill spread through him before twenty tendrils rammed into his chest. He was torn out of Martin and Tolomon’s grasp and lifted high into the air. More black tendrils pinned him, forcing him to face Garen as the temperature in the Cathedral dropped, his breath coming out in puffs.
“No,” Indenuel whispered, tears falling down his cheeks. He glanced below at the men, realizing how high up he was, terror filling his soul. “No, please. Please don’t kill them.”
Garen smirked before he dissolved into pure blackness and threw himself into every pore of Indenuel’s body. He shut his eyes, hoping it would somehow stop him.
Demons laughed and mocked as they grabbed his soul, pulling him away. He saw his own body fifteen feet in the air, twitching and shivering. Nathaniel and Tolomon were below, watching in horror, and Indenuel felt like he was going to vomit. The devil was going to kill them, and he would be the one responsible. He used every ounce of his strength to throw the demons off and force himself back into his body, trying to bring light back, to be in control. He flickered in and out, seeing from his eyes and also seeing his body from his soul five feet away.
“It is as you said. You never confessed, so you must subject yourself to what the devil wishes to do to you on his day as punishment,” Garen said at Indenuel’s ear. Indenuel gasped, and he was outside his body again, with a thousand demons pulling him away. He struggled in their grasp and Indenuel’s eyes opened, staring right at his soul. “You will never be rid of me, murderer,” Garen said with Indenuel’s voice.
A demon appeared with two knives of pure blackness and stabbed them deep into Indenuel’s temples. Indenuel gasped, the last thing he remembered was the demons filling his body.
***
Indenuel’s body, suspended fifteen feet into the air, stopped twitching and dropped. Tolomon leapt onto a pew and grabbed him, falling on one of his shoulders as he kept Indenuel protected. Martin ran to them, healing the broken shoulder as Tolomon kept a hold of Indenuel.
“Tolomon?” Martin asked, his breath coming in puffs of smoke.
The man stood, holding Indenuel. “He’s frozen. Ice cold.”
Indenuel’s breathing was harsh and sharp, almost guttural.
“Update on Dalius?” Martin asked, trying to keep calm as Tolomon set Indenuel on the ground.
“Incapable of coming. Too sick,” one of the tree talker guards said.
“Tell him exactly what you saw here. Indenuel is being possessed by the devil himself, and the only excuse I will accept from Dalius for not showing up is if he’s dead. Understand?” Martin said, some of the anger trickling into his voice.
The guard nodded and ran out of the worship hall. Indenuel’s breathing continued to sound animal, his eyes rolling around, his body starting to twitch again.
“What do you need?” Tolomon asked Martin.
“At the bottom of Dalius’ desk drawer are chains meant for possessed individuals. Get them, even if you have to break down the door of his study,” Martin said.
Tolomon nodded, then got up and ran. Martin reached again under Indenuel’s shirt, closing his eyes as he tried to heal the mark. Indenuel’s skin was ice cold, and the guttural breathing came in heavier.
“Father?” Nathaniel asked.
“The only hope we have is to keep him distracted long enough for Dalius to get here.” Martin opened his eyes, pointing to the second tree talker. “Get all the High Elders here now. Emergency line. You two,” Martin said, pointing to the two speakers of the dead as the second tree talker ran out the door. “Have you ever fought a possessed individual before?”
“Not one possessed by the devil himself,” the guard said.
Martin nodded, understanding what this meant. They were afraid. Martin could not have people fighting against the devil if they were afraid.
“Each and every one of you go outside and guard the Cathedral. The only people allowed in are the High Elders, and no one is allowed out until this has been taken care of. If Indenuel escapes without me by his side, you have orders to kill him. Understand?” Martin asked. The guards looked at Indenuel who started to twitch, his breathing sounding like a bear on a rampage. “Understand?” Martin asked again, putting more command in his voice.
“Yes, sir,” the guards said before they all left out the front door. Tolomon returned with a full body set of irons, clasping them on Indenuel, keeping his arms pinned behind him in the fashion of a corrupted individual.
“Have you ever fought a possessed person, Tolomon?” Martin asked.
“Yes, sir. They prepare us for everything at the Graduate program,” Tolomon said, wrapping chains around his legs before he could clamp them around his ankles.
Martin didn’t dare ask him to elaborate before he turned to Nathaniel. “Have you.”
Nathaniel shook his head. “I’m not leaving you two alone in here, though.”
Tolomon finished clamping Indenuel in irons before he took out his shield and filled it with all the daggers, knives, and swords on his person.
“That’s not what I’m concerned about. A devil possessed individual is impossibly strong, both physically and in the mind. The only people who should remain here are those who aren’t afraid,” Martin said, speaking quickly as Indenuel’s body began to shake.
Nathaniel nodded again as Tolomon finished emptying his person of weapons. “I’ll stay.”
“And anything at all that needs to come out, any hardship, any secret crime, anything. Let it out now. The devil will use it to break you mentally,” Martin said as he placed his hand on Nathaniel’s shoulder, trying to speak quickly. The devil was getting a stronger hold of Indenuel’s body, the shaking slowing down, the guttural noises sounding deeper. “I love you, son. There is nothing the devil can say that will sway me of that. And there are a lot of things I have done as a High Elder, too many that I can name now, that you might be horrified of.”
Nathaniel grabbed Martin’s arm. “I will reserve judgement until after Dalius gets here and cleanses Indenuel. The devil cannot break me that easily.” Tolomon gave Nathaniel the shield with all his weapons.
“Keep these away,” Tolomon said before grabbing Indenuel’s body, pinning it to the ground.
“We knew Indenuel murdered Andres and Lola,” Nathaniel said as Tolomon got a tighter hold. “Indenuel swore Tolomon to silence, and I could not force him to confess.”
Martin nodded, patting Nathaniel on the shoulder. “Thank you for telling me.”
“I still have feelings for Rosa,” Tolomon said.
Nathaniel paused, then looked at Tolomon. “What?”
“I know he’ll use that against us, so I wanted to clear the air now. I have never, nor will I ever act on them. I swear it, upon everything I hold sacred,” Tolomon said, looking at Nathaniel straight in the face.
Nathaniel stared back at Tolomon. The guttural breathing began to still. Martin’s heartrate quickened. "Is this going to be a problem, son?” Martin asked, knowing that this sort of thing could break the two men.
“No,” Nathaniel said, looking back at Martin. “No, it’s not. Rosa’s a wonderful woman, I understand why Tolomon would still have feelings for her.” Nathaniel looked back at his friend. “I trust you with my life.”
Tolomon finished pinning Indenuel flat. “And I trust you with mine.”
Nathaniel nodded as he tightened his grip over the shield of weapons and backed away. Martin followed.
“Dalius should be here quickly, as will the other High Elders. We only have to hold him for that long. Do not break, or he will have his demons possess you too. Despite all this, believe me when I say the devil isn’t as powerful as he thinks he is.”
The jerking and the shaking began to still. The guttural noises disappeared, and Indenuel’s body looked as though it had stopped breathing all together. Nathaniel pulled out his sword and shield, waiting. Martin saw, from the shaking and jerking, that Indenuel’s shirt had moved up enough for him to see what he never wanted to see on the Warrior. The black, light sucking lines of the devil’s mark.
Indenuel’s eyes snapped open, and Martin took the smallest step backward. The boy’s eyes burned black.