Chapter 32: Gates of Paradise Lost
“Oww” Vijay exclaimed, knicking a finger with a small trowel. He dropped the hand tool in the dirt and jerked his hand back, sticking the edge of his left pointer finger between his lips trying to soothe the piercing pain that had startled him. This was the third time today he had poked himself on Lithia’s gardening equipment. He had no idea how she spent so much time here in the dirt and managed to keep such well manicured hands. By this point his hands were beginning to look ragged and were covered in small blisters and wounds, “Dammit.”
Vijay stood up, leaving the Snapdragon he had been digging a hole for firmly in its pot. Ever since Lithia had been gone, he had spent most of his time down to the garden finishing up the work she had had to leave behind.
He liked to think it was because the church depended on the money these plants brought in, but when it got quiet and the only person around was himself, he was forced to admit it was because being here felt a little bit like being with her. That was the real reason Vijay was in the gardens tonight, because he wanted to be alone with something that Lithia had left him.
Distantly VIjay could hear the sounds of priestess Tarja giving her last sermon of the day. A part of him wished he was there with everyone else listening to it as well. Tarja’s words always seemed to sooth the open wounds that Lithia had left, but tonight he wanted to hurt, and he wanted to hurt alone.
Vijay picked up his tools again, and checked a list of things that still needed doing. The next task on it was pruning the violets just around the bend in the labyrinth of flowers. Though when he got there, he suspected he had made a mistake someplace. Not only was the bed of flowers he found, already well tended, but somehow VIjay suspected violets should be some shade of violet, not the shade of bright green that these were.
Vijay considered the patch of green for a moment, he had obviously taken a wrong turn someplace. He would have to go back to the Church, and check the map the other gardeners kept of the gardens. Vijay was not looking forward to this, not only because it would increase his chance of bumping into another human who might have difficult questions like, how are you doing? What are you doing out so late? and Hi. None of which Vijay felt able to deal with at the moment, but also because checking the map was something Lithia never had to do. He had heard the other gardeners talk about it with something like awe. They would say things like, Lithia seemed to just feel where everything was and It’s like the plants are her children. Whenever Vijay had to check the map, he always felt vaguely like he was failing Lithia in some way.
As Vijay made his winding way back to the church, Tarja’s words started becoming a bit more distinct. She was saying something about cheesing your drum, or something like that. Honestly most of the Philosophy of the church was still beyond him, but if cheese and drums were really important, he would eventually learn why he was sure.
Vijay finally reached the back doors where the map was hung, but by this time the map and anything else that had been on his mind was long gone, musical cheese notwithstanding, Tarja’s words had grabbed his attention.
The sermon she was giving wasn’t like the comforting things she had said to him, and that he had already heard her say to any number of other people in the past weeks.
This was something different, she was telling them to not just accept the life they had been given, she was telling them to stand up and be counted. She wasn’t inciting them to riot like the Right To Lighters always did, but in many ways it still felt like one of their rallies.
“I know some of you are from the Upper Terraces, and this might be hard to hear, but the Upper City likes to pretend we’re not here, and every day you say nothing, every day you just stand by and say, “It’s someone else’s job to remind them.” you help them do it. Yes it is on us to stand and be seen, but we can’t do that alone. Alone we are just the voiceless nameless hordes of Helix-less transients who scurry beneath their feet like rats. You need to stand with us, give us a voice on the Helix, give your friends the security to stand knowing that someone less easily ignored is standing with them.
Vijay didn’t remember walking into the church, but at some point while Tarja was speaking he had. He was now standing in the pews with about a hundred other people. People who were standing and listening to every word Tarja was saying. Moreover, they didn’t look to be the normal Magdalene members, mostly undercity residents with a few from above mixed in and looking out of place. No, almost all these people were wearing robes like the ones Tarja and the others who lived at the church wore, and many wore featureless masks, to further conceal their identities. Anonymous or not though, each of them held Tarja transfixed. Vijay privately thought that she could probably tell them to do anything right now, and they would. Vijay wondered about that for a moment, wondered about the kind of person who would give so much of themselves over to the words of a small woman, in a run down church in the undercity, but then again wasn’t that what he was doing? Tarja had wanted him to stay, and he had. Vijay hadn’t wanted to stay at the church, he had wanted to leave as soon as he got here. Tarja and Lithia hadn’t threatened him, they hadn’t begged, they had barely even asked. They had just let him know they wanted him to stay, and though he argued, in the end he had. That was the power of this place, and that was the power of Tarja, and someday that would be the power of Lithia, Vijay was sure. Someday Lithia would be able to speak, and people would follow, after all, Vijay already was.
“I want you all to remember that when you go from this place, the world can only ignore what you let it, the world can only ignore what you ignore. Don’t ignore us. Don’t allow them to ignore us.” Tarja said to the assembled Magdalenes
All around Vijay, people seemed to wake up from a trance. They looked around, a low hum of conversation starting up as people started to gather their things.
Next to Vijay one man in a mask, was asking another if they’d be at the opera later, while someone behind him was saying that they hopped they could get back up top without running into anyone they knew, and really they were only here because a friend dragged them, honestly. The conversation was cut off abruptly though, as a loud thud echoed inside the church, It was as if something massive had crashed into the large wooden doors at the front of the building. For a moment, Vijay thought someone must have crashed a vehicle of some kind into the church, when the thud came again, this time with a splintering crash. Vijay turned just in time to see the doors vanish.
The Gates of Paradise, at the front of the church, came crashing open, the wood and brass bending and shattering. Shards flew everywhere. The sound, like a cannon had exploded, echoed through the cathedral. People panicked, screaming and scrambling for cover. What was going on Through the wreckage of the doors came a man, but man didn’t quite fit. Vijay thought to himself, looking at the figure that now stood surveying the church and it’s occupants. the figure was massive, easily over eight feet. Vijay had heard of people on very low gravity worlds growing to those heights, but they were supposed to be slender, almost frail, and this person was anything but. Thick corded muscles stood out on his arms, giving him the look almost of a cartoon strong man, and everywhere on his body seemed to be the intrusions of technology. At odd angles, thick cabling would sprout from his flesh, only to travel and bury itself somewhere else on his body. Vijay couldn’t make out it’s face, due to a thick hood, a fact Vijay suspected he should be grateful for. Inside the darkness of his hood Vijay could make out his eyes, and they were more unsettling than any other aspect of this, thing. the figures eyes glowed red, red like Rubies heated by some hellish flame.
There was no question about it—this man, this thing, was a demon. His eyes moved and scanned all present with mechanical accuracy. Vijay watched in horror as they centered on Tarja, where she still stood at the pulpit.
All around Vijay, he became aware that the the old fashioned touchscreens embedded in the back of the Pues started to flicker to life.
A low rumble began to rock the church, and for a moment Vijay feared that there might be more than one of these things.Then a voice that could crack the sky open bellowed, “Where is Cade?”
The voice came not from the figure, or from a second one, that Vijay still feared might be lurking just out of sight, but instead from every touch screen and terminal that had just flickered back to life. People screamed with terror. They ran for every exit they could find, hid behind anything they could, and for some reason Vijay just stood there. Somehow he knew running wasn’t going to help, and that hiding would only delay what was going to happen.
The massive figure started moving forward slowly, as if it had all the time in the world, a luxury that none of those trying to get out of his way shared.
Vijay watched unmoving as one by one, the figure, the thing that was invading the one place Vijay had ever felt safe, reached out and with seeming ease, broke anyone who came into it’s reach.
Vijay didn’t know what it waned, he didn’t know what a cade was, and right now he didn’t care. all around him people were panicking, running,and dying. It was like the day of the riot all over again, but this time there was no place to run to, no place that would mean escape and safety.
Vijay looked around him, he wasn’t sure exactly what he was looking for, something to fight back with, anything that would give him a chance. What he eventually found was a cluster of statues, Metal statues of people holding rusty swords and other ancient weapons Vijay did not know the names of. Vijay didn’t know where the Magdalenes found them, but as he pried a rusty blade out of the hand of one of them, he was glad they had.
“Stop running!” Vijay yelled at someone in a robe as they ran past trying to find someplace where the thing behind them wouldn’t reach.
“Stop running! all you’re doing is letting it pick us off! Look, we can fight back!” Vijay said, trying to get the panicking people to see their only chance. most people continued to ignore him in their panic, but a few stopped, seeming to see the truth in his words, or maybe they were just desperate and grateful to find someone who could give them direction, Vijay didn’t know which, and at that moment, he didn’t care.
One by one, people started taking up the weapons. All around him, blades shone in the torchlight. most had taken weapons from the odd metal statues, but one person had instead taken up a thick heavy looking candelabra and swung it with ease. At any other time Vijay would have been amazed, the thing had to weigh fifty pounds, and in the hands of this man it seemed no more burden than Vijay’s sword was to him. antique
Vijay and The other armed churchmen rushed toward the monster, The man with the candelabra thrust first. To Vijay’s dismay, it showed no fear of the fire, not even as the flames started blistering and cracking its skin. There was a sharp crack as the thing gripped the head of the candelabra, heedless of the fire, and thrust it back at its wielder, shattering the man’s arm in the process. He didn’t scream though, not even when the thing’s other hand stretched out, wrapping around his neck, and tightened.
Vijay didn’t know who the man with the candelabra had been, he didn’t even know his face, but despite that, Vijay felt his loss keenly as the life left his eyes.
Vijay didn’t waist any time with regret though, while the beast was occupied with its latest kill, Vijay charged it from behind Vijay didn’t know if the dying man could still see him, could see the sword sink into the monster’s flesh, but he hoped so.
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