Shay came two, feeling his body stretch and skin starting to close around his wounds. All he could see was red dust floating before his eyes and his eardrums were still healing, everything sounded so far away. He reached out psychically to his God, desperate to feel the link again and to be able to know what happened to them, but it was just gone… How could this be!?! He sniffed the area and could smell his God nearby the the power that normally flowed off of him was simply gone as well. Had The Order had now killed BOTH of his Masters… He would get his revenge! In a blind panic he dropped to his knees and swung his hands from side to side crawling to where he could still smell Sĕigo. The dust was finally settling and most of the smoke had dissipated now. He came to a leg of his friend and grasped the bare foot, “Sĕigo, come we must retreat into the cave. We can heal while The Order battles with the master's army, if any survive they will be funneled in one at a time and we can attack from the shadows.” Sĕigo replied but it was from a few yards to his left. Shay looked down to see he was holding Sĕigo's severed leg, detached just above the knee. Sĕigo's torso, head and left arm were still together and he was crawling towards his right arm laying on the ground between them. “Find my other leg and get us inside. The chained souls will deal with The Order, If not let The Baba Yaga have her fun. They will not prevail this day, I swear this now on our dead God’s corpse.” Shay cursed as he realized that Sĕigo was right and his new God was dead. He tried to rationalize it somehow through his concussed brain, denying what he felt and saw, but there was no truth in that. He helped gather Sĕigo's limbs and carried him back into the cave mouth.
Once the shock wave passed, I heard Reginald over the coms and knew he had detonated his last two drones. Peering through the dust I could make out what remained of The Eater Of Souls. Its body was absolutely devastated, and the evil I could feel emanating from it was gone as well. Angiola and Reginald had taken out the abomination! With that, the final wave of resurrected dead all halted the attack. A man came forward and slowly approached me, he looked familiar but it took me a moment to place where I knew him from. “Stand down, Wait one” I blurted into the coms, not wanting anyone from our side to attack through the lull. When I was standing a few feet from the man, I walked over and grasped his forearm as he grasped mine with a warm smile. The same translation from my dream hit me again “Thank/praise/honor be to you and your warriors/guardians/chosen. You have killed/defeated/brutalized our tormentor/captor/master and we are free. The magic/evil/sorcery animating us will be gone soon. We want/need/must aid you in ending/finishing/bringing this full circle.” I could hear all this and much more as we made contact. I slowly reached up and wiped the blood away from my nose as I could feel it freely flowing after being hit with the conversation like a mallet. Thankfully I was unconscious, dead or… Whatever that was last time. I keyed my throat mic again “All teams, stand down. Opposing force is now freed from the control of The Eater Of Souls. They want to help us finish this.”
Simon came over with Thomas and Philip as well as the remaining Manus Patris men. Amazingly enough, even with the opposition, we didn't lose anyone from Manus Patris this time. The battle wasn’t over but now we were down to a weakened Lich and a supercharged Vamp. The Baba Yaga was still in play but we hadn't seen them at all during the battle. With the God that powered up the Vamp dead, Shay may just be a regular, although powerful Vamp again. They both ran into the cave so who knows, maybe the sun was starting to burn him again! “Let’s head into the cave, everyone fan out. Keep your eyes peeled.” Simon said to the group, it was time to end this. We got within 50 yards of the cave mouth when a familiar cabin walked in front of the cave mouth and settled down to block entry. We all paused and watched as the door creaked open. The cottage walking on chicken legs was more than enough to tell us who lived there, but we weren’t sure what form the Baba Yaga would take. The Crone hobbled out to greet us, smiling ear to ear with a smile that was almost too sharp to be natural. “Greetings Order Of Judas, It would seem that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” She said in a wavering matronly voice. Simon stepped forward and said “Move aside or parish Crone, we have never had an issue with The Baba Yaga. Why would you risk setting our adversaries on such a course?” When The Crone saw Simon she blanched and in a moment Her hair changed, posture corrected and skin tightened. In a minor blur lasting a few heartbeats The Maiden was standing before us. “Simon? How are you still alive?” Asked a puzzled maiden.
I glanced at Simon and the look of absolute shock on his face would have been almost comical if I hadn’t known him so well. I could feel the anguish pouring off of him, as well as a mountain of guilt, overwhelming the shock written so clearly on his face. I can normally get a sense of someone’s emotional state but in all of our years together, I had never gotten any emotional feedback from him. There was a LOT more going on here between the two of them. In a blind stumble he took off his bump helmet and battle rattle, dropping them to the ground as he slowly walked up to stand on the front porch of the cabin as if in a trance. I raised my rifle, as did everyone else, but Simon waived at us to lower our weapons. “I never knew you were still alive my love. That was millennia ago…” He trailed off, as he slowly paused then tentatively reached for The Maiden's hand. My love? Simon? Wait, what now? I was absolutely perplexed. This was the man who hounded me my entire life to take The Order’s vow of celibacy and hated that I refused, only narrowly avoiding outright banishment and execution. It’s not like they want anyone to know about The Order so if you didn't retire in the normal manner, they removed your cross and you were executed. Not that that really happened often. I think there was only one case of that happening to a failed apprentice. All the support staff take an oath, and if the true nature of the order is divulged, they die on the spot. Mid sentence from what I understand. It's harsh, but the general public cannot know about us.
Simon hadn’t been so completely flabbergasted in all of his long life. He thought he recognized the cottage, but he had lived for so very long and it was rather typical of the construction for its time. Slowly and tentatively he reached for the hand of his once betrothed. The moment their hands met he was back there in a flash… It was a beautiful and crisp morning, with birds singing in the trees. A light dusting of snow was still on the ground melting away with the sunrise. He was standing on the same porch and facing his beloved. “I need to go, you know my work. The Order has finally tracked down the evil that has been taking the children of the village. I will be back by sunset my love.” He said before leaning in and kissing her goodbye. The Order had been stationed nearby for years now, always one step behind whatever evil was committing these acts. He got onto his horse and rode off into town, meeting the other 2 men The Order had sent with him. They were all still relatively new to all of this, The Order only forming 50 years earlier. Having never worked in this part of the world before, they rode north for months before coming to this village. It was amazing how quickly word had spread about the services they offered and were requested to look into things all around the known world at the time. They would go, and spread the gospel as they traveled, much as they had done when Christ was still with them. Some of his followers only wished to teach the gospel and went their separate ways. Others still had the warrior's heart and headed the calling to battle, thus joining The Order. At last the 3 men had cornered the beast in a deep cavern. The battle began, a demon had possessed and completely twisted a massive bear of the region. The Order fought and battled like only men ordained by God could, and the abomination was finally defeated and the demon cast back into the void of hell… Unfortunately Simon was wounded, brutalized really. His decapitated and broken body was laid on a littler and dragged behind the horses wrapped in a blanket, as to not scare off anyone as they rode back through town. A week passed before Simon was healed enough to regain consciousness. This was still in the early days of The Order and no one thought to clean the wounds and place the limbs in a manner that would facilitate healing. When Simon finally woke up, he was absolutely inconsolable and demanded that they return at once to the village they had left. Ultimately it was too late, they had received orders from Judas himself and their presence was needed at once. Heartbroken and sullen Simon realized this had to be his calling and accepted this as a sign from God not to retire but to keep fighting evil. He had planned to have his cross removed after this battle and live the rest of his life with the woman he loved, his betrothed. They were to be married officially as soon as this mission was over. When they returned to The Order compound, he explained what happened to Judas and they added a new vow that day. All of the men took a vow of celibacy in honor of the sacrifice Simon made by returning to The Order, and to prevent any such heartache from ever distressing a member as badly as Simon was that day. It was years before Simon was in his right mind again. Finally, he vowed to stay with The Order no matter what. He no longer had a reason to retire, stating that he would never have another shot at the love he lost with her. So he watched as the men around him served a 50 to 100 year service, the length of service growing longer and longer with that vow of celibacy over the years. Forsaking everything around them for the mission. What he didn’t know was that his betrothed went to the village when he did not return at sunset. She asked frantically if anyone had seen her Simon, or the other 2 men he was with. Finally with tears in her eyes, a shopkeeper pulled her aside and explained that she had seen the 3 men leave the village in the morning, and later that evening, only two returned. A corpse was on a litter being dragged behind the third horse, wrapped up in bloody cloth but clearly brutalized, as they rode through. Heartbroken and desperate she dove deep into the dark arts to bring back her lost love. Over the centuries, she became more and more focused on the accumulation of power and lost track of bringing back her love. No matter what spell she did, it never brought Simon back to her, due to the impenetrable warding of The Order.
The Maiden and Simon both stood there frozen completely for an uncomfortably long time. When they moved again, they both had tears in their eyes. They both blinked several times and looked around a bit, like they had both been somewhere else for a few moments. They suddenly embraced, I could hear Simon choke back “I am so sorry my love, I had no Idea.” The Maiden shook her head “No, It’s okay. You had no way of knowing. Neither of us did. Until now.” I could hear all this happening but I was so completely lost. “Hey Simon, ahhhh… What the Hell is going on? Think we can at least kill the Vamp and Lich now? Perhaps we can circle back to whatever this is?” I yelled so he could hear me, having dropped his gear, including radio, before going onto the porch. I looked at Thomas and Philip but neither of them seemed to have a clue as to what was going on either. I thought about asking Reginald over the coms but if Philip, who is the archivist, didn't know what was happening, Reginald probably wouldn’t either. Simon shook his head at my question and sat down on the edge of the front porch. He reached over and grabbed his headset from his chest rig and keyed the mic “CHARLIE MIKE” before tossing it back in the pile and staring off into space. Philip took the lead and triggered his mic so overwatch could hear as well. “We are going into the cave to continue the mission. We will give Simon a bit to work… Whatever this is out with… Overwatch, please keep us posted and keep Simon covered.” Thomas, Philip and I led the way around the cabin and towards the cave mouth, Manus Patris was right behind us. I broke away from the group and walked over to Simon. I placed my hand on his shoulder and squeezed firmly once. “I don't know exactly what this is but I can make an educated guess. I probably have more experience in these matters than anyone else in The Order. I'm here for you if you need anything or just someone to talk to, no judgement.” Simon smiled up at me wryly and said “She's the reason for the Vow you refused to take… Enough said?” I nodded and squeezed his shoulder again. “I figured as much, I'm here for you brother.” I told him before walking away. It was time to end things with the Lich and the Vamp. Then we could figure out whatever comes next with The Baba Yaga. At least the hostilities had stopped from her side for the moment. Then again, they say Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, so you never know.
Simon sat there on the edge of the porch, combat boots on the step below him. It was a cozy wood framed cottage, 2 steps up onto a front porch. Hand made chairs were on both sides of the open front door. A chimney made from river stones along the right hand side of the home. If you ignored the fact they were in the middle of the badlands, and the fact the house walked to its current location it was really a pleasant and cozy home. It could have been his home too, and this could have been his life. The Maiden walked over and sat down beside him without saying a word. “I am so deeply sorry, I saw what you went through, somehow, when we first touched. I begged and pleaded with the men to take me back but” Simon was cut off as The Maiden placed her head on his shoulder and reached a hand around his arm to grasp his hand and bring it up to embrace her cheek. “I know,” she said. “I saw that as well. I'm not sure if that was my doing or yours but… I saw what you went through just as you saw me. It wasn't meant to be at the time, and look at all you have accomplished since then. I thought you were mortals, and I kept a close eye on The Order. I had no idea you would still be alive yet alone all these years later. I assume you run it now?” Simon turned to her, “I do, the man who broke Lillith’s heart is my former apprentice, Tobias. He is a good man with a good heart, he was just… Broken after our last mission.” The Maiden laughed a sweet chuckle, “I know, I met him and his guardian Mouse. I had to send him back to The Order to get answers. I also wanted my revenge, at the time.” Simon nodded. “And now? Where do you stand on getting revenge?” The Maiden paused and was silent for some time. About the same time the pause was becoming awkward, rifle fire began to rig out of the cave.