3 Halcyon

(A/N: I don't like including A/Ns anywhere but at the end of a chapter, but I feel the need to do so here. A certain author friend of mine decided to advertise my story on his latest chapter, so now I have to do the same. His story is 'The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes', which is not a coincidence since I named my first chapter in reference to his, on RoyalRoad, although I've heard that he's planning to release on Webnovel at some point. It takes place in a world where players are trapped in a VRMMO and keep morally degrading in isolation, kinda like Lord of the Flies, including the main character, who starts off pretty neutral (with a voice in his head that allegedly represents his sinfulness, I'm not sure to be honest) and ends up evil after a little while. The writing is good, I'd say better than mine, and there's plenty of creativity, which is rare in those 'trapped in a VRMMO' novels. Anyway, there's my reciprocation… onto the story.)

"Close the door behind you."

My church's main area is about the size of an average living room. There are a few pews, a decrepit carpet down the middle, a podium at the end of that carpet, and a wooden cross about the size of a door hung up on the wall behind that podium. Beyond that, there's a door to the right of the podium, one leading to a little storage room that I use as my kitchen. I sleep on the 'counter' in the kitchen.

That's all there is here. It's not like there's any expectations for something grand; I should be thankful that the bolts holding the cross up on the wall haven't come loose and crushed me or something.

It's all fairly Spartan since no owner of this church ever had the money to design it as or update it to some cathedral-esque building; it's a small, simple place of worship, and that's what it always has been.

Actually, it hasn't been used as a place of worship for around twenty years, so that's a lie. Never mind.

"Hm," murmured 'Alessandro', if that really is his name. "Nice place. Way cozier than the basilicas and cathedrals that we're used to, eh?" he asked the older one.

Wow. Fancy man. The problem is, he can't be used to those in Russia.

Basilicas. Cathedrals. I thought that he was foreign from the accent, but I haven't heard the Russian accent of many Caucasus people and other integrated states; according to my limited knowledge, he could've been from one of those. Well, not anymore though - saying that he's used to basilicas and cathedrals may as well be outright stating that he's from another country, maybe even Italy.

There are plenty of cathedrals throughout the world, and the same could be said for basilicas - but I got the feeling that he was talking about the four major basilicas, not the hundreds of scattered minor ones throughout the world.

Of course, that's an assumption, so saying that they're exactly from Italy might be incorrect, just like my new suspicion that they're related to the Vatican City, if their clothes are anything to go by.

These two just make no sense. There should be no circumstances that allow their being he-

"Can you stop it?" Interrupting my train of thought, the old ingrate in the room got tired of me staring at them in silence for the past fifteen or twenty seconds. "You did this before as well… just stop. We're going to explain everything to you anyways."

True. I already knew everything I was going to continue drilling into after the initial statement from Alessandro, so I already have my conclusion: I have no idea of what's going on. It's not like it all coalesces into a nice, neat little explanation.

As I've mentioned multiple times, the government eased their persecution of Christians, but allowing priests or other such religious figures into their capital stretches the truth a little too mu-

"Hurry up."

I snapped towards him. "Can't you shut up? It's only been around five seconds. Stop interrupting my train of thought."

Anyways, it's the same as when we were outside. The information presented can't be used to figure anything out using my conventional logic, so I need to listen to them.

I wheeled around and motioned for them to follow me, both having no objections. They glanced at each other, Alessandro shrugging and the older one not having much of a reaction.

Well, no reaction until after Alessandro muttered, "Weird guy," and continued on.

"He'll fit in nicely," murmured the older one.

I don't think I'm going to be kidnapped… but it never hurts to be prepared. I'll sit on the side of the table with the knives.

I led them into the storage area - AKA my kitchen and bedroom - and sat down at the wooden table, telling them to do the same.

Until I remembered that I only have two chairs.

The older one - I should probably learn his name - took the only other chair, leaving Alessandro stranded. He acted as if he was offended by the older one's selfishness and turned to me, asking, "Where do I sit?" while looking around. "And how can you see anything? That window is dirty enough to blend into the wall, plus it's cloudy outside anyways."

Looking around as well, I didn't really get what he meant. The amount of light in the room was perfectly fine, plus, "You can see as well, so why are you asking me? It's normal here."

His green eyes flashed towards the older one with a hint of excitement before muttering, "Might be the Gear."

"Wha-"

"You'll find out. Anyways, again, where do I sit?"

I would start theorizing on what exactly that statement meant, but even I won't waste time trying to figure out the significance of the word 'Gear'; there's just not enough information or context to even begin thinking about it. They'll - according to them, at least - tell me soon enough.

"...Pull up that extra crate by the door or something. It's either that or you stand."

I barely put anything on my counter - by 'counter', I mean a couple wooden crates I stole and put next to my oven and sink - because I sleep on it at the end of every day, so I have the little wooden block of knives and a couple plates on the kitchen table.

I would've moved the plates aside for guests, but instead, I just scooched them over to my side in case I needed to throw them.

"Okay. Tell me your supposed confidential secrets. But before that, what's your name?" I asked the gray-haired, gray-eyed older one.

"My name is Cael." Named after the Angel, Camael, I'm assuming. Or maybe he's just Irish. If it's the latter, I'm afraid my respect for him has already fallen so far that it broke its legs. "Alessandro, want to start with why we're here, or do you want to start with the foundations?"

His green eyes flicked around, either in nervous energy or thought. "Foundations. He won't understand anything in terms of why we're here if he doesn't know anything else. It'd be like trying to explain quantum physics to someone that doesn't even understand molecular theory."

Is this kid a scientist? Do they teach that stuff in school nowadays, or is that a special philosopher class?

"I don't know what those are, but sure. You can do most of it. Ask for help if you have trouble phrasing something. Oh, and I'll let you know if you start giving more information than is necessary for the foundations. They'll tell him the detailed stuff later on." Putting his hands behind his head, Cael leaned back to watch the show… or something. Maybe he was just tired, or maybe he just naturally prefers to lay back.

Never mind. Focus. He could be reaching for a hidden knife in his collar. Unlikely, but one should always be prepared, just like me. Who else puts rocks inside of their grocery bags?

"Okay. Umm…" Alessandro turned to me. "God, Heaven, the Underworld, Purgatory, Angels, Devils, Satans, Fallen Angels, Holiness… What else is there? Whatever, they all exist."

"Obviously." I rolled my eyes. "Haven't you ever read the Bible? If I were a lesser man, I would've strangled you for suggesting that they didn't exist. A faithless man like you doesn't deserve those clothes, heathen."

Cael snorted.

"...Huh?" Alessandro rubbed his eyes and turned to Cael. "Is this how it's usually supposed to go?"

"No. But it's funny, so continue."

"Glad to know you find this so entertaining," I said.

At that, he sat up straight, staring at me. Alessandro just looked confused, as usual.

"How did you understand that?" questioned Cael. "We were speaking in Latin; I doubt a gutter rat like you went to theological seminary and learned Ecclesiastical Latin."

Using the term 'gutter rat' is uncalled for, no matter how true it is. And I didn't go through any formal education - my father was a historian before becoming a priest, and he taught me Latin. Russian literature isn't really a thing, so, to learn anything in this world, you need to know either German or Latin, because those are the main languages that everything intellectually stimulating is written in. Plus English, kind of, but that's not widespread in the East over here.

Those crates in the corner of the room are rich in knowledge and are my source of it - in other words, they're filled books my father left behind.

"I don't know."

I don't like his attitude, however, so I'm not telling him anything.

Alessandro, it seemed, had another idea in mind, along with that excited glint in his eye. "The Gear! It has to be! Here, let me test it some more: Verstehst du das? Che dire di questo? Que diriez-vous de cette langue? Lo sabías-" [1]

"Stop, stop, I didn't understand any of that. What are you even speaking? And how did you learn all those languages?"

And he brought up a 'Gear' again. From both contexts, it sounds like something 'abnormal' or even 'supernatural', so maybe it's…?

"So, it only gives you an understanding of Latin…? I'm not surprised, considering its nature. In order, I spoke German, Italian, French, and Spanish. I would've spoken more if you hadn't so rudely interrupted me. And we learn them through the Church. You'll get the base languages along with one extra of your choice when you start out."

He got up and rubbed his butt, sitting back down afterwards. "These seats are uncomfortable… where were we?"

Before we could continue, I brought out the gloves. Their eyes widened upon seeing it, as anyone observing a blessing of the Lord would.

"What the hell… it feels like Incinerate Anthem," Alessandro murmured, his frazzled blond hair getting into his eyes while leaning down to admire my 'Gear'.

"Yup. I get what they mean now, and I get why the operation was delayed for this… oh."

Cael glanced at his - admittedly handsome - watch and brought his hand up to his face, pinching his nose.

"Alessandro… How long has it been since setting out?"

Alessandro brought his hand up to his chin in contemplation, scratching his nonexistent beard. "Well, we teleported over here around five hours ago, then we spent a while waiting… oh."

Cael grimaced. "Yup. The operation. We need to start getting ready; he took too long to get here in the first place, then we spent too much time dilly-dallying around. The operation will begin in around twenty minutes, and we need to be there within five."

What are they talking about? I'm completely lost. I don't think I'm going to be kidnapped or killed by now, but it feels like something way more complex and secret than a simple abduction scheme. 'Operation'? It was delayed for me? And they were telling me that Christianity is a true religion - which I obviously already knew, but how does it fit into all this?

Alessandro turned to Cael, eyes aflame with worry. "We had hours to get this over with, hours of time that had the entire plan adjusted to compensate for. This was literally our only task."

Cael glanced back. "Your brother… hm. Here. Exorcists have the opportunity to get gifted one of these during their promotion ceremonies, and I was fortunate enough to be chosen." He brought a little gold jewel out of… I honestly don't know where. "It's meant to be used in case of memory loss out in the field, and I never really intended to use it… but whatever. Catch."

He threw that little gold jewel at me, and, out of reflex, I caught it.

Immediately, I felt as if I could flatten a city block.

Looking at the gloves on my hands, the gilded designs started glowing a bright, glorious aurum.

…And I did, in fact, flatten a city block, right when I flexed my hands to get a better look at that luminescence.

The energy discharged, incinerating everything in a hundred-meter radius from the amount of compressed… whatever that stuff is, but my gut tells me it's related to God.

Best part?

I didn't even get scratched, even while lying on my ass in a thirty-meter deep crater.

Looks like Ephesians, chapter six, verse seventeen didn't lie.

The shield of faith protected me.

PRAISE THE LORD!

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[1] I used Google Translate for those languages, so don't blame me if it's as bad as the foreign languages in most Hollywood productions. If you're fluent in any of those used languages and see how those sentences can be improved or fixed, just tell me and I'll replace it with the native-speaker verified version.

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Fun fact: I had no idea of what was going to happen in this chapter while I was writing it.

I thought it was going to be just 'these two characters boringly tell MC about the supernatural in a 2,500+ word chapter filled with information that 99% of readers already know'... and then my mind came up with the ending and all of the details leading up to it. It was like a little branch turning into a tree.

Thank my muse for making the next few chapters actually entertaining. Actually, this little spark of inspiration will probably influence and 'energize' the next fifty or more chapters, so there's some more reason to be thankful. After the past few boring chapters (including this one, in my opinion), there'll be actual stuff happening, so look forward to that.

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