Everything was silent. James stood still, too shocked at what had just happened to move.Then, they saw it; an orb of light that generated in her hands as she whispered inaudibly into them while cupped. It rose to the sky, the only source of light for miles around. Jessie fell to the ground, her figure limp, her hair spread out into the snow. They could feel an impending darkness, a feeling of doom. Then the orb, the blinding light, began to speak:
It was Jessie's voice. But at the same time, it wasn't. It wasn't infused with her, her personality. It was only her voice. It wasn't reallyher. But it was both haunting and honey sweet all the same.
"Come, James, we must go!"
"But Father Cassius..."
"James, we have no time left! We must retreat to the church!"
"You go. I...I'm staying."
"Fool! Have you heard nothing I told you! You will be relentlessy slaughtered!"
"She won't kill me. I know she won't Jessie would never hurt me; well, at least not seriously."
"Did you not see the way she looked at you just moments ago? She didn't even see you! But she will, if you don't come with me now, she will."
"I'm telling you, I'm staying."
"Listen, my son, if you don't come now, you will be lost. You will. Mark my words."
"She's always been there for me, been strong for me when I was weak, protected me...Now it's my turn. I'm going to be right here for her. I can't leave her now, not now."
"That woman isn't even awake, James. This is all like a dream to her. She has no control over what she dreams, just like anyone else. The darkest parts of her mind will be tapped and fused with the monsters." He looked at the red haired maiden who had collapsed on the ground."Not only will she go deep into their minds bringing their eventual destruction, they in turn will be brought deep into hers. The Aphotic Angel is chosen for her strength. I told you that. But it is the kind of strength earned by many hard times, possibly abuse. If she is not strong enough to wake up once they have died, this will forever be a land of nightmares. Do you understand that? Now let us make haste. We will barely make it in time if we leave now."
"Asleep? Nightmares?" he looked at her still figure on the ground and then up at the orb of light above her."How will she ever wake up?"
" You should be more concerned of yourself, young man. Now, let's go!"
"No, I, I wanna be here when she wakes up." He paused."And I want to be here in case she doesn't."
Father Cassius studied him. He was starting to make sense. Even if she did destroy the Primaves and free the town but never woke up, this land would be cursed with her nightmares, like a haunted house, but far worse. But if the boy could servive being put through five likely twisted minds as well as facing his own past, he could eliminate any chance of that. But James had no idea what he was up against.And he couldn't do it alone.Father Cassius fingered the symbol around his neck. It would prevent her from probing into his mind, but he would still join the others if he stayed.
"Ok, you stubborn little bugger, you win. And I will stay with you. Now, let us hide." They rushed to hide behind some discarded crates near a vacant building, not ten feet away from Jessie, but still very much so out of sight.
For a while, the chant was repeated and everything was chaotic as the towns' people rushed out of town.
"Father Cassius? How is it you learned so much of her coming by reading a few lines of scripture?" Asked James without taking his eyes from Jessie.
"Well, boy, to tell you the truth, I only told you the first part of it. I didn't tell you all of the other things until a little while ago because I didn't want you to come back for her."
There was a long silence."I'm glad I'm here now, though. I just hope she knows it. Then even though she does have to face all of this, she'll know that she won't have to alone. Not alone. Not ever alone will she have to face hard times while I'm here."
Father Cassius studied him.Let's see if thats still your position when everything's in motion, thought Father Cassius.
The sun was rising now. The town seemed vacant for a moment, and only for a moment. Then, without warning, Brock and Ash went rushing out of the vacant building towards the church, running as if they were on fire. Seconds later, four black cloaked beings walked casually out of the building, watching them run off towards the haven.
"Dandre, why is it you let fresh meat run for the church? You even gave them directions." The first said, a gruff, male voice with a vague french accent.
"You heard the voice of warning. She has come. She..." They turned as the chanting stopped to look upon the glowing orb and the still figure in the snow."...is here.." It was a female speaker this time, seemingly young.
"Yes, Desiree, I heard it, but we could have had one last feast before our judgement." The same gruff, male voice.
"Do you not understand, LaDominique? We have sinned greatly in some way, thus, our judgement comes now. We had not time to partake in earthly desires any longer."
"Desiree speaks the truth." a second male voice, smooth and suave sounding, no older than the other two."Our time must be now. We mustn't think of material urges at such a time."
"Well spoken, Dandre." Now a second female voice." We can only wait now. Look." She pointed a long, pale finger towards Jessie."Those are the ashes of our brother. She is merging her mind with his as her voice lends warning to our servants, just as the legend fortells."
"Desiree, you are the keeper of the scriptures, tell me how it is the she merges her mind with his if her is but a pile of ashes?" asked LaDominique.
"You see, La, it takes more than a holy fire to destroy Primaves such as ourselves. His body may be in ruins, but as long as the ashes remain together, even a few together, his mind still exists. Little by little, she will blow his ashes to the wind, probably towards us, until we are in a mental world. We will see our fears, our dreams, our deaths, and the reality in our minds; even our own evil."
James heard the priest's silent sound of understanding that came in the form of,"Ohhh.."
"Can we do nothing?" "Why do ask me all these questions, La? You as well as everyone else were to read every word of the scriptures everyday; have you faltered in your duties?"
"Please, only answer me."
"No, we can do nothing but except our fate."
"Wait, Desiree, we can. If our minds are stronger than hers, more fearsome, we can beat her, we can live to see another day."
"That is true, Delilah, but unlikely."
They seemed to be studying Jessie.
"Is that.."
"It is."
"Damien's adoptive daughter."
Father Cassius shifted uncomfortably. James noticed this and sensed the reason. "Jessie is the one, isn't she? She is the one who was molested and ran away."
Father Cassius looked at him, a serious haunting look."More like rape. Repeated rape."
"And he's still alive. The criminal who did this is still alive." whispered James, a growing anger inside of him.
"This, THIS is how she repays his kindness; by putting him and us all to death."
"Do not speak so, La. She has no choice in the matter."
"Delilah, whose side are you on? She will kill us!"
"I am on my own side."
LaDominique studied her."Look at her lying there, so fragile, so weak...I could crush her, kill her, treat her like the wench she is..."
"Stop it La!" protested Dandre."You will only make your demise that much worse."
"How can his judgement prove any worse than it already is?" asked Desiree slyly."We have all seen how he treated his food, playing with it, making it wish it were dead. Even his servants..."
"How dare you pass judgement on me? As if you are any better...Maybe you don't remember the lake of blood, but I do..."
"Stop it! You are both equally..." Began Dandre
"And what about you, Dandre? You and your little science club" accused LaDominique, an evil chuckle escaping his lips."And we mustn't forget Delilah and her little escapades."
"We must stop this at once." Said Delilah at last. We cannont turn on each other, not now, NOT NOW!" Everyone was silent as Delilah fell to her knees and wept.
"Maybe...Maybe she does not understand us, and our mission." Said LaDominique hopefully."Perhaps she doesn't realize that we are savoirs, that those who feed us are the only ones who recieve true salvation"
"I'm sure she knows, La," spoke Desiree."We have sinned somehow. We must face our fate."
"No, Delilah, remeber what you said. We must be strong. We shall survive this. We must. We can't give up."
Father Cassius watched, mixed feelings fighting inside of him for dominance. The creatures struggling in front of him seemed human enough, though they seemed to think themselves the saviors of humankind. But they really did believe that they were a light in the dark, gods among men. But he knew they had to be stopped, before they "saved" any more people.
Just then, a young girl emerged from the building. She looked around ten, with short but beautiful blonde hair and looks similiar to Jessie's, but not quite as distincative, less developed, less vivacous. She had Jessie's nose and lips, that was plain enough. She was thin, but had fat, rosy cheeks, and dull, brown eyes. But the most apparent difference were her eyes; the same shape as Jessie's, but smaller and less alluring. They showed evidence of a more wordly understanding than Jessie could ever hope to posses.
"My aunts, my uncles," she said in a high, squeaky voice as she kneeled in the snow. She rose as they faced her."Have you seen my father?"
"Flavia, I told you to go to stay inside." Said Delilah harshly.
"But Aunt Delilah, I miss Father. I must find him."
LaDominique sighed,"Listen, Flavia, your Father has..."
"Told us that he will be back later." interrupted Desiree.
"I see." said Flavia, unconvinced."I suppose I shall go then." With that, she left.
It was then that the bright orb returned to Jessie body. She sat up and looked at them, fear and loathing spread plainly accross her face. She screamed, loudly, a blood-curdling scream. A wind came up and blew the hoods from the Primave Elders heads and James saw them for what they were. They looked no more than around twenty-five. They had pale skin and long brown hair, dark, almost black eyes. The women had long eyelashes. The men had thick eyebrows. The only things that distinguished them from one another was their height, the individual shape of their facial features, their voice, and their gender.
She stopped suddenly, her knees planted in the snow as she threw her arms down, in a push-ups position. Her face twisted in pain, when without warning, a blizzard picked up, hiding everything from view. James began to get up to run to her when he was restrained by Father Cassius.
"Not now, dear boy, not now."
James returned to his hiding spot, shivering.You're not alone, Jessie, he thought,You're not alone.