Chapter Text
Nihil was not happy. He wasn’t happy about the newest associate that they had to take in their clergy. He wasn’t happy about the ruined ritual yesterday. And he certainly wasn’t happy about having to organize the same ceremony again. He could only hope that things will go as planned as he had no power to repeat the same thing a third time.
He watched the lights flicker once again – just another thing to annoy him, and possibly ruin the second ritual. A horrible windstorm was happening just outside the church’s walls, and the electricity was once again at stake. Because the last ruined ritual had relied only on candlelight, the undead Papa had decided that was a dumb move and had electric lights turned on in the church tonight. He had hoped they’d last at least.
But as they flicked once more, he decided that the universe was just sending him signs that this ceremony was a bad idea. And perhaps it was – having the whole ministry come to the church in such weather just for a ritual that has already practically passed…
The papa sighed. He wanted nothing more than for this to be over with so he could go back to his room, to his bed, and the unfinished book he had sitting on the nightstand. Hm, yes, his warm, safe and solitary room. Where he wouldn’t be disturbed or asked to organize the next big thing that needed to be taken care of; where he’d be able to do as he pleased, read his new book. It wasn’t that exciting, the book that is, just the biography of someone he couldn’t remember the name of; yet it was tempting to go back to it right now.
“So,” his third son’s words reached his ears once again, snapping him out of his thoughts, “Let’s welcome - again - our somewhat new addition to our clergy - Cardinale Copia.”
The papa gestured towards the man and stepped aside. Obviously relieved to be off the stage and sitting back down, Terzo didn’t even spare a glance at Copia.
“Hello again, everyone,” the Cardinale started, as unprofessional as ever. He shuffled around, looking out towards the mass of siblings of sin before clearing his throat. Nihil watched him closely, never taking his eyes off of the red cassock; as if his stare would be able to vaporize the man into thin air. This time he had no cards written.
“We’ve already met with most of you, right after that first ceremony in fact,” he started, his voice barely audible above the wailing of the wind outside, “But there are certain…guidelines,” here he made a pause, shot a look at Nihil. The lights flickered and he continued, “that we should follow.”
Here, the wind picked up, bashing against the windows. Suddenly, Nihil was thankful to Sister Imperator for putting her foot down and having their seats so close to the windows – he couldn’t make out most of what the Cardinale was saying.
He was almost sure that others couldn’t hear him as well; with how unsure he was with his words, as if he was a fifth grader made to talk in front of the whole class. And to some degree, he was – somewhat younger than his third son, in a new unfamiliar place and whatnot.
Yet, as unpleasant as a surprise that Copia was, Nihil couldn’t deny the intelligence and experience that the man brought with himself. He was sent by the main Church of Salutis back in Palermo, after all. And if that doesn’t speak for itself… They could use some more input on how things were going around here; given how much Copia had traveled, and how much he had seen, he could prove to be useful.
“And I am certainly looking forward to-”
The lights flickered once again and went out for good. Once again, the whole church was left in darkness. Funnily enough, today they had cleaned the altar, got rid of all the old and half-burnt candles, and now there were not even lit candles. It was just them, the satanic mass, in complete darkness, only the wails of the wind to accompany the sudden silence that spread.
“Well… not this,” Copia, as the comedian that he is, noted.
That’s it – there is no saving this damned ritual, Nihil thought. He was already at his limits, already irritated as it is, and that did it. Before the Cardinal had any chance to continue his comedic career, the Papa got up from his chair (which made a loud screech, as it was dragged along the polished floor).
“Alright, that’s enough – you’ve met. The Cardinale is accepted officially into our clergy. Let’s call it a day.”
Murmur spread through the sanctuary. To leave the church so unceremoniously, without a prayer, without a hail to the Lord? Some were happy to hear this; there was already some undistinguished movement amongst the Siblings; others were unsure whether or not to actually follow his words – was he actually serious or not?
“Papa-” Sister Imperator’s hand appeared on Nihil’s nonexistent bicep in an attempt to bring him back down on his seat and let the cursed ceremony continue. Yet, the old man was too damn stubborn and refused to budge. At least this time.
Some stray lights appeared from the darkness. A few Siblings have brought candles with them, others have brought matches. The room materialized and took some kind of form, as much as the candles provided it with light. Too bad Nihil could barely make out the outlines of the seats around him.
“Everybody – go back to your rooms. No more ceremonies, no more rituals,” he turned away from the table and the Sister, “for this week at least,” he noted to himself, completely forgetting the fact that it was actually Sunday.
Somehow the man was able to navigate around the seats and happened upon the main walkway. A candle was pushed into his hand by a random Sibling, a quick thank you exchanged and he could now see where he was going. Which wasn’t a very big upgrade, but it was still something better.
More and more siblings got up from their seats, following the papa towards the exit. The wind outside had become even more terrifying, wailing against the doors, but it couldn’t scare the papa; at least not now. Nihil looked to the closest Sibling and once their eyes met, he gestured towards the only exit.
The heavy doors were open. Coldness spread across the church’s floor, wind finding its way inside and ruffing the sibling’s habits. Unfortunately, the few lit candles were knocked out; now the only source of light was coming from outside, the moon slightly obscured behind the clouds.
Perhaps the papa had miscalculated – the storm seemed even scarier, almost knocking him off his feet. And perhaps, just maybe, it wasn’t a good idea to open the doors… Well, whatever, Nihil thought to himself; lately, he hasn’t had good luck with ideas.
Before he could register what was happening, the old Papa was being escorted towards the main building by two ghouls by his side. Because, clearly, he wouldn’t be able to do it on its own. Some uncertain siblings were following behind them, as quick and as closely as they could in order to protect themselves from the weather.
Surprisingly enough, the electricity in the main building seemed to be working just fine, or at least for now; the whole main hall was bright as day, all lights on. The papa didn’t give it a second thought, as that in his mind was completely normal. On the flip side, it was significantly colder in the auditorium, as opposed to the church.
The man failed to notice when exactly the ghouls had left them but they were nowhere to be found. But instead, as the papa looked around, he was met with an unhappy Sister Imperator coming his way. Before he could even curse in his mind, she had reached him and once again snatched him by the arm.
“What were you thinking, Papa,” she scolded, as one would do with a kid. “It wasn’t very wise to just venture out in such weather!”
More and more siblings piled in the room, pushing one another as to get more area for the incoming ones. The main hall was quickly overtaken by their black habits. Like a plague, the cold followed them inside, chilling the area even further. Siblings hobbled around, trying to look for their friends before scurrying off to their private rooms.
“The walk wasn’t that long,” he made a pause, looking out towards the mass. “Plus, I had Water and Fire accompany me.”
The man was doing his best to not look at her; he felt that if he did, things would only get worse for him. The sister just scoffed, rolled her eyes and let go of him.
“Just don’t do that again, Papa. You not only put yourself at risk, but others too.”
Something along the lines of a smile appeared on the Papa’s face, his gaze landing once again on the sister, completely forgetting the feeling of demise from a second ago. And he stared at her as if it was the first time he actually acknowledged that she was there. A couple of seconds passed before he looked away once again. Perhaps this was his way of saying “thank you for worrying for me, sister!”. Sister Imperator left.
Not long after it got way too stuffy in the auditorium. The papa decided that’s enough – someone else would be able to look after them and make sure that everyone is alright and no one had been swept by the gale. Turning away, the man headed for his room, where his book was waiting for him.
Spearing one last glance towards the mass, he made sure no one would notice him; that none of his sons was heading his way, or a ghoul staring at him. Once the coast was clear, he slipped away from the commotion and into a much quieter hallway. Siblings passed him. Most seemed to be in a hurry, or perhaps just agitated. And most possibly – they were just as depressed during the ritual as the papa was. Either way, he wouldn’t blame them.
The murky hallways became less and less populated as he neared his room. Now the only thing that could possibly keep him away from the safety of his privacy was an unwanted run-into with any of the higher-ups. He knew if that were to happen, they’d keep him at least an hour more, talking about whatever they had on their mind. Thankfully, that was just a part of his anxiety-fueled imagination; he had arrived without any interruption.
The door was pushed open and all of the trivial worries left Nihil’s head. He had to take a second to process what exactly he was seeing and to make sure that he wasn’t imagining things. Just what had happened here?
Books on the ground, table and chairs overturned, curtains ripped, various little trinkets knocked off of their place on the shelves. Later, when the papa would look over the destruction of his possessions, he’d find various important books missing; they wouldn’t be found anywhere, it will be just as if they’d vanished into thin air. Everything was out of place, the room borderline trashed. As if the gale outside had happened right in the middle of his room. For a second the papa thought he’d mistakenly forgotten a window open, or the door unlocked. Yet, as he inspected the room closer, he found the windows securely shut, just as he had left them. The room had been closed off from the storm outside, rendering it impossible for the chilling wind to ruin his place.
How was this possible? Could it be possible for someone to break in, ruin everything for seemingly no reason? Certainly, it was a possibility. Yet, there was still the question as to why would someone do that? And more importantly, who would that someone be exactly?
And another good question – how would that someone be able to do that, when the papas had made sure that everyone was in the church during the ceremony?
The Papa was left puzzled in the middle of his trashed room.
At the same time, on the other side of the abbey, Papa Emeritus the Second was doing his best to navigate through the darkened halls. The candelabra hanging above him did little to actually light up the corridors and it left him dependent only on the slight moonlight. Whatever meager light came in through the stained windows was just enough to help him not stumble over something accidentally.
It was strange – how those things suddenly started happening around the clergy. Over the past few hours, ever since yesterday’s fiasco, in fact, power had been going on and off at the most random of places. There were whole sections of the abbey that suffered those strange power cuts and for now, there was absolutely no explanation for it.
People all around the grounds had been complaining all day long about it – it was a certainly gloomy day and all of that was halting a lot of work. At a certain point, it got so much that a person was sent to look at it. At the generator, the backup one, the electrical connections and all over the place.
But here’s the problem – there was nothing out of place. Everything had been working as it should, with no severed connections. Seemingly everything should be as it had been previously, with no massive power cuts.
And here’s the even stranger part of this whole ordeal. There had never been a power outage at the abbey before. Not through great storms, not through big snow or rain. Even if the main income had been cut, there was always a backup one to step in. Never, in however many years his father had been there, had there been such a strange occurrence with the power.
Really, it always cut out seemingly during something important. Like for instance, earlier on today, when the Second was about to-
His train of thoughts stopped so suddenly he got a whiplash. What was that? He could still see it, unmoving and staring right ahead into the hallway. He could just barely make it out – some kind of a figure. It remained in his peripheral vision; he was scared that if he moved, turned his head, it would vanish. He was certainly seeing it – whatever that thing was.
It was a figure, in some kind of white attire. They were down, in the garden that surrounded the abbey. Secondo couldn’t quite see what they were doing. And at first he’d think that this was the sort of thing you saw for a split second with your peripheral vision that at the end turns out to be not real. This, though, didn’t go away. The apparition hadn’t vanished even when the man turned his head and fully looked through the window.
They were certainly there, not just a part of his imagination.
He didn’t recognize them – they were not from the church and certainly not from the town. The person was looking around, somewhat confused, as if in a daze, turning round and round but never actually having the bravery to go somewhere. The papa stared down at them, still quite uncertain that he was really seeing them.
There was something quite inhuman about them. It wasn’t their features, no, certainly not that. In fact, Secondo found himself so struck by their otherworldly beauty that he began to wonder how they’d ended up here. No, they were inhuman in this eerily way that your gut twisted and you weren’t really sure you were looking at what your brain was telling you were seeing. Like the little voice at the back of your head telling you that something isn’t right here, yet you can’t really figure it out yet.
The papa gulped, leaning in closer to the window, his hands pressing against the windowsill. He wanted to see more, to meet them. It was intriguing. Someone like that to just drop out of nowhere, in the middle of such awful storm. Although, that very storm didn’t seem to affect them at all in fact. And then it clicked.
There was a certain kind of glow to their skin, something akin to an aura surrounding them. Their clothes seemed to not wet under the heavy rain; their hair not being pushed and pulled around by the harsh wind. In fact, they looked as if they were in a sunny summer day. Like they shouldn’t be here.
All of a sudden, they turned to the abbey. Their face tilted up, obviously looking up the walls of the building. This far up, the man couldn’t really see their face clearly. But he stiffened as he felt their eyes on him. A wave of something akin to nausea mixed with panic washed over him and Secondo couldn’t help but take a few steps back out of instinct. He closed his eyes, shook his head and rubbed his forehead. Why had he reacted like that? What was that…feeling? It wasn’t like him at all to react like that.
Taking a breath he returned to the window, only to find that the mysterious person had completely vanished from sight. They weren’t where he’d last seen them, not walking away, or hiding behind a stray bush. They’d probably ran away after realizing they were being watched, the man sourly thought.
With that thought in mind, he decided that it was already late enough. He desperately needed sleep and dwelling on the eerie person in the garden would do him no good.