The Savior Of Hades

"As we confess our sins to our maker with a contrite heart, we pray that we receive the aid to turn away from them and for us to walk in the path of ....."

The priest's words were cut short by a loud and blood curling scream that pierced the air, shattering the quietness and tranquility that was required of the confessional moment.

Every head turned to the second row at the left hand side of the hall, where a young lady was writhing and struggling on the floor against some unseen force.

Most of the males sighed, with the female's joining them soon as the display set. Making the frustrated sighs in sync.

Ed Warren was amongst them, and he made sure his sigh was loud enough to be heard. His stomach growled with hunger. The day was a Sunday and they had been on the mandatory fasting required by the order for the forgiveness of their sins, wasting any more time at the chapel instead of rushing to the dinning area was beyond him, talkless of a possessed student nun seemingly making it possible for dinner be denied them that day.

However, he was called back from his sea of thoughts when he heard a loud thud on the floor.

Turning to find Lady Catherine of Asinai's location, the nun who had let out the scream from her possession, he discovered the huge crucifix that had been at the middle on the wall behind the pulpit gone.

She had apparently dismounted it and shattered on the floor which made him believe with no iota of doubt that she was currently being possessed by a very powerful and malevolent demon.

"Lord come to my aid!!"

"Lord protect me from this negative energy!"

"I claim no negative energy from this!!"

" No demon or evil eyes shall take stronghold nor possession of my body"

" I cast and bind any entity that might fancy my body as a dwelling place"

He heard some of the nuns by the left column praying and his gaze instinctively darted up and about searching for someone until his eyelids dilated as he saw her.

She didn't seem fazed by any of the incident unfolding. Typical of her, Lorraine Blai, and one of the reasons she had remained his crush even after childhood.

A feeling of relief washed all over him as he confirmed she was okay and well.

Perhaps she was just as hungry as he was and didn't care a damn what was happening because of that.

He was hungry but not to the point of not being moved by the incident. Beads of sweat had begun to form at the nape of his neck. He was scared himself. Two more nuns had become possessed, afraid of joining the list.

"Send the children back to their homes!! The Monastery has become filled with foul and ungodly Spirits!" The Priest warned after he left the cubicle he had been inside.

The Sisters stood from their seats and rallied them out, the ladies in a single line by the left and the men, the boys by the right. Only Catherine of Asinai and the other possessed ladies remained at the hall.

Incense soon filled the air and Ed held his breath, to avoid the odor filling his nostrils lest it affects his appetite.

The bells at the monastery began ringing but not in the usual tone it did before. It was faster this time around, as if trying to convey the urgency of the situation.

While walking out, Ed could not stop thinking. What might have been the reason for the Priest Romilon to send them away and ask the heads to send them home.

Normally when something like this happened and the demon was seen to be very powerful for their exorcism to cure, the students are the ones sent home. But reverse was the case for students from wealthy families of course and Catherine was a perfect example.

This wasn't her first time being under the possession of a demon, nor was it the third.

Countless priests have in the past performed exorcisms on her over the years they studied at the monastery but with each passing year, the demons that possessed her all came and each one seeming more powerful than the former.

Ed missed the line and bumped into someone, raising his head to find Father Gaufridi, the highlight of each of Catherine's demon possessed confessions.

"Watch your steps, young boy!!" He said coldly and Ed immediately bowed his head in apology and took a few steps backwards to rejoin the line.

He couldn't snap out of the tone of his voice but at the same time could tell explanations for them.

The priest was probably pissed off for always being accused by the young lady each time she was possessed and being called upon by the monastery's head to defend himself.

He himself would feel so, be rude and keep the tone of his voice harsh and cold towards people who were lost in their thoughts and bumped into him if he were the one.

But regardless how he tried to dismiss the tone of his voice, Ed Warren couldn't shake off the thoughts that were clouding his defense.

Father Gaufridi smelled of sulphur and he had no true explanation to that.

When he had bumped into him, his face had dug into his neck due to their slight height difference and he had taken into account his smell. Perhaps that was why he had been angry he bumped into him and was harsh towards him.

Again, Ed Warren dismissed those thoughts, warding them far away from himself.

Father Gaufridi was just a victim. Everyone knows that he comes from a low income family, unlike lady Catherine whose father was the wealthy monarch of Asinai.

Hers was just a baseless accusation against him, to bring him down.

Ed had seen it himself once when she had been possessed. How she demonstrated se* acts and movements even while being possessed and terming them what Father Gaufridi began doing to her the first night she turned eighteen till now she was a woman.

It seemed impossible to believe. She came from a good family and didn't join the monastery until she turned twenty five. Where could father Gaufridi have seen her all those years for him to have done as she claimed?

In her father's castle where middle income people were not allowed in? Even if he had,priests were celibate and innocent.

It made no sense and all came down as a baseless accusation.

There was once a rumor about Catherine when one of her roommates had read her diary when she joined the Franciscan Monastery Order newly. She had written her unholy thoughts towards Father Gaufridi who was at that time, still a guardian at the monastery.

However, the issue was solved by sending Father Gaufridi away and The lady Catherine being left alone in the hostel room with no roommates even as groups of ten people shared a room to themselves.

She hated Father Gaufridi because he had rejected her unholy advances towards him then. That was the only explanation and Gaufridi was innocent.

An odour began to fill the air and Ed Warren knew he needed to make haste and leave the monastery if he valued his life.

The fusion of sulphur and incense filled the air making it impossible to breath properly.

His mates began coughing but he held himself and his nose as he briskly walked into the room he shared with others to pack his little luggage of the free use T-shirt he had received from the monastery and his house wear.

Sulphur. It was suffocating him. And just as he brooded over it, he recalled, Father Gaufridi had reeked of sulphur when he had bumped into him. And there were only one set of people that did.