Chapter 5
Revelations 20: 7-8
7.And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8. And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Tobias's Journal:
The man who had taken me in and became like a father to me was clearly choking back tears. I had never seen him show this much emotion before. Even when he rescued me and had to explain that my entire family was dead, I could tell that he was stalwart but distant. Although distant isn't really the right word, knowing him and the job as I do now, but at the time, I couldn't place his deeply buried heartache. Simon had a broad and genuine smile on his face as he lovingly handed Thomas the sword after he sheathed it again. He embraced me, for the first time, hugging me closely and firmly. “Thank you my son, this is truly one of the kindest things anyone has done for me in many, many years". He said, choking back his emotions. “Go get cleaned up, we will not train today. As much as I would love to work with the new sword. I think it is time we have a longer discussion about The Order and fully read you in on everything we do here". He patted me on the back firmly a few times before letting go and waiving me off to go get cleaned up. I could see him talking with Philip and Thomas about the sword and attaching the sheath to his belt and setting his old sword against the short wall outlining the practice grounds.
After getting cleaned up and changing, Simon guided me to an area of the compound I had seen the other members meet in occasionally over the years but had never been permitted into. The door opened onto a large, oddly windowless room. Inside was a large table with 30 chairs, 15 along each side. He pulled out one chair and gestured that I take a seat. Sitting in the assigned chair I noticed a small silver cross, sitting in an opened ornate box on the table as I pulled in my chair. Simon took an awkward seat on the table after pulling the chair next to me out. I must have given both him and the box a perplexed look, prompting a nod from him. After clearing his throat and crossing his arms he began. “Tobias, I'm sure you have pieced a few things together about The Order. Our full name, one you likely haven't heard is The Order Of Judas. Judas wanted to atone in some small way and do what he could to hold back evil. This was as our savior was still hanging on the cross, Judas took the 30 pieces of silver and begged God to bless them. The savior had not risen yet, and Judas was terrified that evil had won. We now know that was not the case and his death was foretold, but in his desperation, he begged that the silver be blessed and that in penance, he would collect others to battle the hordes of Hell. God spoke to Judas that night, and instructed him to melt down each piece and cast it into a cross. Then with prayer, to cut into his chest, above the heart and place the cross inside. The next morning, he did just that and became the first member of our order. That cross in the box comes from the same infamous 30 pieces of silver". Simon paused as he pointed at the box.
Tobias: unknown location.
With a great deal of confusion and betrayal I looked into the eyes of my mentor.
“Simon, Whaa, How, I don't”... I trailed off not really knowing what to say. My world hadn’t been so completely up ended since the night we met. “It is okay my son, you are safe here”. Simon said with a big smile. From out of the darkness a deep and raspy voice that sounded like it was both in my ear and across the street said “Hello Tobias, this meeting has been a long time coming. It seems like you have come across a few of my disciples recently”. A Tall and slim man seemed to materialize out of the shadows and glided over to stand next to Simon. He wore what would have been regal red robes and a pointed white crown of the 13th century pope, but it was all wrong, half rotted from age and decades of decay. He had a black beard reaching down to his collar, a pointed hook nose and severe angular features.
“I can see what this world has done to you. This time, things will work out just fine” He said with a knowing smile. Quoting the song that had set me off earlier in the day. “I am the Dark Pope, I have brought you and Simon to my side for great things”. Said the Tall shadowy form. “Simon!” I blurted out almost without thought, “What was my mothers name???” desperately, I conjured and held onto a mental picture of a morbidly obese purple hippo named Shella. Simon just stared at me with a confused look like I had just sucker punched a kitten. I couldn't help myself, I Just laughed harder and harder, letting all of the panic drain out of me in desperate and heaving shutters. “Ok so now that I know you're NOT Simon, are you truly the one they call the Dark Pope?” Nodding at both the creatures standing before me as I said the names they had given me. The Dark Pope genuinely laughed then said, “Well done, I am impressed. Most men don't even know Doppelgangers exist, yet alone how to challenge one. Yes I am the true Dark Pope, I had hoped that his appearing as your mentor would sway you to my side easier. Know this, however. I know all about the struggles you face. This world of men will end with or without your help. Look around you, In just the last 100 years man has fallen so far. God is no longer a priority, People only care about greed, wealth and the believed power it grants them. We live in the most connected and wealthy times ever, man can travel, flying around the globe the entire globe in less than a day, yet thousands die each day, either from starvation or of diseases that have been cured for decades. The cost of a rich man's watch could feed a village for life when a cheap watch could still count every second that same village won't live to see. Greed, sloth, and self importance are the way of the world now. The world is gleefully charging full speed into oblivion with a smile on its face. Man now lives purely for this life with no concern or consideration for the next. Jesus himself warned gravely against these lifestyles. It will happen, I simply wish to be the spark that ignites the powder keg the world stands upon, and then watch the masses panic as they get what they have worked so hard to earn”. His eyes bore into me, they were empty black pits of chaos. Just swirling madness and an unsettling glint of self righteous fervor.
Of course he was right… The world, in mass, had given up. If you look at it on a macro level you can't help but to see it, but he was missing the point. “I won't help you” I said looking into the black pits that served as his eyes, “humanity has lost its way, that is true and it breaks my heart to see it, but you have to look at things closer. Not take a macro view, There are still people who worship and heed the commandments. There is still good in the hearts of man, sadly yes, they are now the minority now. But I will fight until my last breath as long as there is still one good person on earth”. The Dark Pope just stared at me distastefully for a moment. The coiled vines of the Shoggoth started to loosen and everything went to a brilliant blazing white.
“Tobias! Praise God, are you alright? What happened?” Asked Simon as he knelt at my side grabbing onto my arm and helping me to my feet. Groggily and starting to stand up I asked “Simon, What was my mothers name?” With a slightly confused look, then sudden understanding hit him as he answered “Her name was Esther, I assume you ran into a Doppelganger somewhere?”
With a great deal of relief I said “Yeah, a Doppelganger, a Shoggoth, Ooooh yeah and I met the DARK POPE!! I was in transit here to brief everyone and I was HIJACKED and was face to face with him, HOW, HOW is this even possible?” I demanded. “I was trained to travel like this for YEARS just to go a few feet, It took me almost 20 years before I was comfortable enough to do that solo. I was told only The Order was blessed with this gift”. I was pacing and ranting. My hands were trembling and I was trying not to hyperventilate.
Still shaken from my experience and seriously thinking about flying home to America, we finally settled into a smaller conference room in an undisclosed location in Vatican city. There was me, Simon, Thomas, Philip and Reginald. I had worked with them all several times in the past and much like Simon they didn't really do field work any more. They made up the elders stationed at the main headquarters in Rome. I sat down and began to recant my story about the necromancer Hollis Parker and what the fallen had said about the dark pope during his “recruitment pitch” to Hollis. The mission was all basic standard operating, although Simon really liked how I improvised by blessing the sprinkler system to rain down Holy water on a summoned. It's always nice to see pride in his face. I was so young when The Order took me in, Simon is like a father to me. Although The Order sees me as a loose cannon at times it seemed even Thomas, Reginald, and Phillip had to hide a grudging respect in their eyes when I told them how I ended the fight. Getting to the important part about the Dark Pope, they all seemed a bit weary and when I finally got around to the delay in my trip and regailing them with the details of my meeting with the Dark Pope himself they all started to have a rather pained expression. “So now that you all know what I know, how on earth did I get hijacked? How is that even possible, please don't tell me I'm gonna have to fly home”. I asked the 4 men in the room. They all sorta looked at each other, then the floor, then at me then the floor again. “What? What do you guys know? I thought we didn't have any information at all about the DP symbol, what it stood for or anything else”. I asked the group, starting to get a little impatient. Reginald cleared his throat and with a slight nod from Simon began. “Well, we didn't until just now. When you called in and set up a meeting with Simon and we realized the DP was being used as a symbol for something claiming to be the Dark Pope, he came and got us. From how you described him and what he was wearing it can only be one person but... That's simply not possible. He's dead. We know for a fact he is dead because The Order had to kill him. Only the 4 of us in this room, and now you, know the entire story. When he was alive, he was Pope Gregory the XI. He was the Pope from 1370 to 1378. In 1378 we had to stop him, we covered the entire thing up and let the man rest at peace. We all did everything we could to cover the entire thing up... Unfortunately this ultimately led to the Great Schism and we briefly had three popes on our hands. The church lost a lot of its support but it was better than if it had come out publicly that somehow The Pope was being controlled by a Djinn. The details are not too clear on exactly how the Djinn got control but when The Order got involved we had to stop him”. Reginald paused, his proper English accent having a soothing effect despite the topic. “Wait a minute” I said, holding up my hand to pause things “You're telling me that The Order caused The Great Schism??? No wonder I never heard about this mission”. Reginald looking abashed said “Well, technically no. There was a split and 3 factions all wanted to vote for the new pope... But yes, I guess the fact that he was killed, well his death was announced as ‘sudden and unexpected,’ but we were very busy trying to cover everything else up. That likely led to the miscommunication that caused it".
Deep in the archives. 1376
Pope Gregory the XI
Deep in the archives of the Avignon, Pope Gregory the XI was gathering holy vessels, artifacts and manuscripts. All part of the process of cataloging everything for the move to Rome and what would again become the seat of Holy power, The Vatican. Most of the items would be cataloged and moved in time, but for now a precursory inspection was almost a formality.
While moving a few manuscripts from a large shelf, a small opening was exposed and the lamp light showed a hollow behind the shelf itself. Perplexed and a bit curious he moved aside the shelving and found a small indentation in the earthen wall behind the bookshelf. Settling the lamp down by the small cave he reached in and retrieved a fist size ball of leather folded up in a bundle and tied shut with twine. Curiously, he untied the twine and opened the parcel to find a beautifully ornate red ruby, oval cut and mounted in a gold pendant. The necklace was breathtaking but he had never seen, or heard of anything remotely like it. The ruby danced in the fire light and splashed the walls with a hypnotizing pattern as the gem hung from the chain in his hand. Clutching the pendant in his other hand he was amazed to see the stone was almost the size of his palm. Slowly and lovingly he ran his thumb across the ruby, tracing its facets.
As the pope ran his thumb along the ruby, the vessel was activated and Rassamann the Djinn was called forth. The Djinn knew his last resting place was hidden away in a Holy city, Rassamann could feel the Holy presence and it stung him, while he was not a demon, the God of light was no friend to his kind. The Djinn stayed close to his vessel as the human, his new master, went upstairs. The new human was busy, but slipped the chain around his neck and tucked the stone under his robes. The chain against his bare skin and ruby hanging over his heart. The Djinn was surprised, but it seemed that no one of this time had known of him or his imprisonment here. His new master must have been important at this time as he was busy all day, giving Rassamann time to wait and think. Later that evening the man did something strange, before getting into bed he got down on his knees and began to pray. Praying to the God of light to help put an end to this pestilence and war that plagued his people. Knowing this was not a wish, the Djinn hatched a scheme. He would grant this master's wishes, make his prayers come to pass, and slowly over time gain his freedom. As the days turned to months, and the months passed on, the Djinn whispered seductively into the ear of his new master. “Look at what YOU have done, Look at how happy the people are, surely they don't need God, just some idea, these people should be worshiping you… The one who is here and has saved them. Slowly, and in time he began to corrupt the incorruptible, until one day the master gave in, and allowed the Djinn to corrupt him. Of course not long after, The Order came and killed his new master and chance at freedom. Or so they thought, but the Djinn made a desperate plea and joined mind, soul and body with the dying Pope gaining his freedom AND a new body. They lay dormant for years plotting and planning their revenge, until they were strong enough to rise again and bring an eternal darkness to the world. They would unite the unholy creatures of this world, and together they would rule.