Vae Victis - B2 Chapter 9 - Revalations (Patreon)

Revelations

I stood silently in the big open nave of the church, which was lit by the dancing flames of candles. The dark space was broad enough for ten people to stand side by side without touching their arms, creating a heavenly scene shrouded in shadows. After we'd arrived at the church and were allowed inside, the two men, who I recognized from Felix's descriptions, had quickly exchanged a few whispered words that hid nothing from me, and then one of them left out the back door hidden behind the transept. Leaving me and Felix with one of them, who now held the hunting rifle in his hand and was attempting to make it look like he wasn't paying attention to me, though he couldn't quite hide the glances he sent to my eyes and mouth. I stood as still as a statue, not wanting to appear in any way threatening.

I didn't make any attempt to hide what I was. I had planned on doing it at first, but ultimately this world had become an den filled with monsters, and we all had to rise up together if we were to have any hope of survival. It was the decision I had made. Vampires were no longer the worst thing out there.

We would all have to band together if we were to survive.

Felix stood next to the man, who was now looking him over and scolding him in a low tone of voice for running away. I didn't intrude, instead I looked around.

The church had seen better days, clearly. It was old, but the stone floor didn't look like it hadn't been cared for. Though, there were issues that appeared to be more recent. There were cracks in the walls, and the benches that had been pushed to the side against the walls had seen better days. Anything that had metal was corroded, rusted, and broken up. Several chains were hanging from the ceiling, all looking as if they were barely being kept together, whatever hung off them was no longer there. There was a pile of tall candlesticks that had likewise been affected by whatever it was that had been impacting the metals on Earth. There was a big table in the center, with backless benches flanking it and chairs at each end. It was large enough that it could comfortably seat at least a dozen people.

The wood of the church was musty, but I could also detect a few smells moving through it all, clinging to the walls. The candle did a lot to make the smell of the room more bearable, though to my nose the whiff of dust in the rafters was almost enough to make me sneeze. I couldn't imagine what a shifter would be going through right about now.

There was more, of course, all of it telling a story. The scents of incense mixed in with the faint smell of blood and iron were clinging to the wood. The blood had dried on the stone behind me, at the entrance, washed only with water. In the air, I could detect the smell of dirt and mold, and something a lot more familiar coming from beyond the door across from me, hidden deeper in the building. The acrid smell of sweat, urine, and waste. I tilted my head, and my nostrils widened for a moment. They had cattle in the building, cows, it seemed like.

Felix had mentioned something about that. It made sense that they would bring them in for the night. Who knew what danger lurked outside.

There was a draft in the building, making a strange eerie sound as it passed through. It came from the boarded up windows high in the walls. I could see where the wood from the benches went. They had nailed them over the windows, but the wind still moved through. Deeper in the building, I heard the hurried footsteps of the other man as he approached the sleeping heartbeats in the distance.

I turned my head as I noticed someone's attention on me. The man had seemingly finished scolding Felix and was now studying me intently.

His eyes moved on from mine, though by the rhythm of his heart I was certain that he knew what I was. My eyes would be glowing in the dark, they were in many ways like those of a cat. Vampire eyes had a special layer similar to tapetum lucidum of the cat species, which acted like a mirror, bouncing back incoming light through the retina and giving them better night vision. He was afraid, I could tell, and I knew based on what he said to the other person, Ramiro Alvarez according to Felix. There were hushed whispers in the distance that even I could barely hear, then the shuffling of clothes and feet.

I decided to at least try and be friendly.

"You are Mr. Martin, I presume," I said with a small smile. "Felix had told me a lot about you."

He called the man Boss, and he was one of the three hunters that had ended up with the group.

The man glanced at Felix, his eyes narrowing slightly. "He did?"

"Only good things, I promise. We weren't properly introduced before," I added as I took a step forward, taking care to do it at a slower, more human, speed. I offered my hand and waited.

The man looked down at my hand, then after almost an uncomfortably long pause he raised his own hand. I felt him shiver as he grasped my hand, my hand was cold, though I didn't think that was why he shivered.

"Martin," he said.

"You can call me Estrela," I added.

"Thank you for bringing Felix back. We were worried about him."

Felix looked away sheepishly, trying to hide the guilt.

"Of course, it was the least I could do for a fellow survivor," I added. "That and I couldn't just let him die."

Martin glanced at Felix, his eyes darkening. "How did you find him?"

"He was about to be eaten by a bear before I stumbled on him."

"Boy, you..." The man started, then stopped himself as more people came in from the back door. The first one through was a short and plump woman, dressed in a black habit, a nun's dress. Her steps were fast and determined as she rushed over to Felix, engulfing him in a tight embrace while he protested loudly. After a few seconds, she pulled back and stared at him, her brown eyes glinting with anger. Raising her hand, she smacked him on top of his head with resounding force.

"Fool child! You took ten years of my life, and I barely have any left!" She chided him, then grabbed his ear and pulled up.

Felix winced and yelped. "Ow, ow, I'm sorry! Ow!"

"You do something that dumb and irresponsible again, and I'll hang you by your thumbs from a window, you foolish little scamp," the woman said.

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again. I promise Tita!" He said in between wincing.

Tita looked down at him sternly before finally releasing him. "You're a mess," she said softly. "Come, let's get you washed up."

Before Felix could do or say anything, the woman ushered him out and through the door to the back of the building. Leaving me alone with four men. The three newcomers stood next to Martin, they each had a weapon on them, though they weren't holding them in any threatening way. It was understandable given the situation they found themselves in. One of them I recognized from earlier as Alvarez, the man that had been on guard duty in the church tower. A middle-aged man with brown hair cut short. Next to him was a burly man with dark eyes and black hair pulled back in a ponytail. He was dressed in a similar way as Martin and Alvarez were. From Felix's descriptions I knew that he had to be Mr. Gomez, which meant that the last one was the priest, though I could have deduced that from his clothing.

Martin cleared his throat as the silence stretched, he gestured at the people next to him and introduced them in turn.

"That there is Alvarez, with Gomez next to him," he waved at the two other hunters. Then he turned to the priest. "And this is Padre Rodriguez."

The priest stepped forward and offered me his hand. His eyes were gentle, with a sincere warmth that seemed to spread from him in waves. He spoke with a gruff but kind voice, "Hello there, I'm Sergio."

Almost instinctually, I took the older man's hands into mine and smiled gently at him. "I'm Estrela, it is a pleasure to meet you, Padre."

He nodded his head. "I hear that we have you to thank for the return of our wayward lamb?"

I inclined my head. "I found him in the woods, I couldn't just leave him all alone."

He sighed and shook his head. "You would be surprised. God is testing us all, and we're living in a time where the man's darkest impulses are far easier to indulge. That one of your... Condition, had done what is right, speaks volumes of your character. Come," he gestured at the table in the center of the room. "Sit with us, I'm sure that we have lot to talk about."

It was a far better reception than I had hoped for, though I could tell that he too was nervous in my presence. The four men were obviously suspicious of me, as well they should be. Alvarez and Gomez eyed me suspiciously as we all moved to the table together, their hands almost twitching near their weapons, simple maces with stone heads wrapped around their tips.

I took a seat, while trying to appear as calm as possible. Once we were all seated, the priest walked over to a small cabinet in the corner and opened a drawer. He returned to the table with a candle and lit it from the one that Martin had placed on the table already. Then he walked out behind the wooden wall of the crossing and returned a few seconds after with a pitcher and glasses.

"I've been told that your kind can still drink and eat as we humans do, is it true?" The priest asked.

I nodded. "It is," I said, not mentioning that it didn't really do anything for us, but there was no need to frighten them.

He poured all of us a glass, his hands calloused from a lifetime of labor, but his grip was firm. Then he took a seat. Padre Sergio leaned back in his chair, studying me intently. He had a kind face, but he was old, his skin weathered and filled with lines. His hair was mostly gone, leaving only the slightest bit of white around his ears. He was short and thin with a narrow face, but his eyes were striking. Filled with clarity and depth that I had rarely seen. The scent of incense hung around him, undercut by the smell of aged leather that I so often noticed from old people. It was a scent that I associated with those close to death. He had to be in his eighties. Then, he spoke. "Felix was very fortunate that you happened to be near enough to help. May I ask where you came from? We haven't had much contact with other survivors."

I tilted my head; I had already decided on what I was going to say. These people were a good test case for my story. I wanted to see how people would react to the knowledge of Kirios and everything that was going to follow. But first, we had to get the pleasantries out of the way.

"I came from an estate up near Cedeño," I said slowly. It didn't take them long to realize. They had probably heard about the area on the news. Lágrima Sangrienta Cartel was, if not notorious, at least very well known about. And while Cedeño wasn't where the Cartel's headquarters resided, it was the area where its leader lived.

She saw them piece it together. Alone, it might mean nothing, but coupled with her being a vampire... It was a much easier leap to a conclusion. Vampires, in Colombia at least, were either very public figures mixed up in politics, or they worked for the big cartels. There were very few independent covens around.

"Ah," Padre Sergio said slowly. "I've visited the Parroquia San José de Cedeño before."

I was surprised, the San José parish was known to be closely related to the cartel. The master might be a vampire, but he still liked to think of himself as a man of faith. He supported the parish with significant donations. I knew that there was more to it, but I had never been involved in the operations that went on there.

"Well," the priest started again. "San Pedro is close enough to Medellín that we have quite the history with... your type of work."

That... Did make some sense. Drug trade had impacted this area, the whole of Antioquia really. He would've been a young man back when the drug trade first started.

"San Pedro," I repeated. "I assume that is the town where this church used to be?" I waved my hand around.

The priest nodded gravely. "After the light came, the town was gone, leaving only what you've seen outside. The church, part of the square and a few other buildings. I was alone here once it happened, surrounded by a nightmare straight out of Hell."

He looked around, his expression pained. "I was praying at the altar, in the middle of the night when the light came. I thought that God had reached down to answer my prayers," he shook his head. "Then... This. We have sinned, and judgment has come."

I grimaced, then glanced at the other three men. I tried to determine if they believed the same thing that the priest did, but it was hard to say. "Were you from San Pedro too?" I asked them.

The men nodded, and Martin spoke. "We were out, preparing for a hunt when the light came. It took us two days to find our way back, we kept getting lost. We didn't realize what had happened back then, how the world had shifted around. Once we came back, only the church remained. There was no sign of the rest of the town, no sign of our families."

Alvarez leaned in, putting both hands on the table. "Did you encounter a town perhaps? Even if you just saw it from a distance?"

I could see the hope in his eyes, but I had to shake my head and dash it quickly.

Father Sergio put his hand on Alvarez's shoulder. "We can only pray that they have been moved somewhere safer." Then he turned to look at me. "Is your group nearby? We are in need of help, this area is too dangerous for the small numbers that we have. We could use help moving out of here."

"I'm sorry, there isn't any group. I've been on my own for a while. You are the first people I've encountered since the light came in fact. Well, aside from Felix," and Shadow and Saia, I added silently.

That made them blink, and exchange looks. The priest tilted his head and spoke. "The people from your... estate, they didn't make it?" He said in a questioning tone.

Now was the time for me to tell them more, explain things more in depth. "There is a lot that I have to tell you. There is more to this light than you and everyone else in the world realize. And I need to spread the word as fast and as far as possible. More danger is coming, and we need to be ready."

The men at the table looked at her intently, and I took a deep breath. "The light is a spell, magic, in a way. Something so grand and beyond our ability to understand, that it might as well be a god."

I saw the priest frown at that, but I didn't stop. His faith already had to have been shaken, and I was about to change his entire understanding of the world. If he believed me that is. "It has come from another world, another universe entirely as far as I know. It has reached and taken our world apart and put back together in a single landmass. That's why some pieces of our land have been moved around."

Their expressions were... Exactly what I expected. Disbelief, skepticism, even a touch of anger in some of them. I understood, and I knew that this was a hurdle I would always face.

"That is... Some tale," Martin was the first one to speak. "We've heard a lot of different ideas. The kids have been telling us about things that they find similar to their games. Other survivors had told us about things that they had encountered. I haven't heard any theory that sounds quite so unbelievable. How do you know this?"

"As I told you, I lived on an estate. There were around a hundred people there when the light came, but when the light went away, I wasn't there. I was chosen as one of thirty people from our world and sent to the origin of the Grand Spell, its home planet called Kirios. I spent the last thirty days there, on a continent filled with monsters that were much greater than anything on Earth. There I met a native of that world, a member of another race that had already gone through this process before. We weren't the first, the Grand Spell had done this multiple times in the past. It had taken other worlds and added them to Kirios, creating a giant planet with several different races living there. I know that it sounds insane, but it's the truth. I wasn't the only one from Earth that was sent there in advance, thirty others have as well. Kirios is dangerous, and we're not prepared. Some of those thirty might've died, but some, like me, will have returned with all that they have learned."

I grew silent, giving them time to take in all that I had said. It was a lot, I knew that. But I had to make them believe it.

“Aliens?” Alvarez whispered.

“In a way,” I said. “Well, yes actually, exactly that. Though not in the way you imagine.”

“The stars are different,” Gomez added, while the others remained silent.

Of course, they would’ve noticed that. Hopefully that made my story more likely.

Father Sergio was the first one to break the quiet that followed. "I don't see what reason you would have to lie to us, even though your tale sounds unbelievable. We have all been seeking answers as to what the light was."

"I have some proof," I added. "I have knowledge about Masks, how they work and what they can do. Did any of you manifest your Masks yet? Or entered your Soul Space?"

"Manifested our Masks?" Martin asked.

I nodded. "Your Masks are physical objects, and they reside within you. You can enter that place and see information about them. You can also pull your Masks out. Once you reach your first Investment, which happens after you gain your tenth Carving, you will gain a trait which will grant you great increase to your power while you are wearing your Mask."

I saw them get interested at that, and so I started to guide them through the process. It would take a while, but it was one of the ways I had to convince them that I was telling the truth. My senses told me that it was the middle of the night, we still had some time before morning came and I had to leave. I might be willing to spill secrets, but some I wanted to keep to myself. I only hoped that I could convince them, because if I couldn't convince these four men what chance did I have of convincing anybody else.

This had to work, for all our sakes.