My induction into The Order started with a forum post:
Xanie posted Mon. April 3rd 20XX at 2:32 am. Post subject: Weird sightings in Limbo City?
"weird question but, uh, has anyone else been seeing some crazy shit lately? I s2g i saw some mannequin lookin thing the market today… it had a horn and a giant ass razorblade and it ain't the first time i've seen it either…."
What followed my question was the usual jackassery found on an internet forum. People calling me crazy, saying I was on drugs, demanding pics or it didn't happen….and after a page or so of comments I found myself thinking it must've just been some sort of trick of the light. Or, maybe I was hallucinating. That wouldn't be out of the question entirely either.
While I eventually joined The Order because of this post, it is not where my story begins. My story begins sixteen years ago, sitting in my Mother's tiny rented house on the outskirts of the city, watching as she slowly descended into insanity.
By all accounts, my life was fairly normal before she turned for the worse - I attended a small elementary school, my Mother worked most days as a maid, supporting the two of us as best she could. She'd leave early in the morning, before I even woke up and returned long after the sun had set, tired and sore, and despite that, she always sat and helped me finish my homework, read to me before I went to bed. She did her best with what she was given, and I couldn't fault her for that. My Father, however, wasn't in the picture. I had never known him, and my Mother once told me that he had left even before I was born. She rarely spoke of him, and perhaps that was for the best.
Then everything changed when I was seven. My Mother had left for work, brown hair in a tight bun, and wearing a crisp black blouse and not even an hour later she had returned, barging into my room screaming and howling about monsters and demons and how "they were dead - all dead!". I remembered how she clutched me tightly to her chest, crying and yelling and how she didn't stop - couldn't stop - until the police arrived. Her employers and their children dead, and she had been the first to discover the scene. She recalled to the police how the iron gates had been crushed in, and the door torn open - the blood that covered the hallways and the disgusting, monstrous creatures she had glimpsed hidden in the shadows. All the while she held onto me, as if I were her safety line. The police took her statement, left, and I now know they disregarded her story. Demons? Monsters? No - when the case was closed, it was ruled a break in gone bad. A city gang was given the blame, and my poor Mother left with her memories of the crime.
The community recovered from the tragic loss, but my Mother never did. Whatever she saw that day broke her mind, and after a year or so, she was taken away from me - labeled unfit and delusional, she was placed into psychiatric care permanently. I was sent into the city to live with my aunt. Our belongings were cleared out of the tiny house, and sent into storage for when I became an adult and took possession of them, and eventually it was rented out again.
The city was...different. It was loud, cramped and there seemed to be an ungodly smell that lingered no matter where you went. My Aunt and Uncle urged me to never venture too far away from the apartment after dark, and they were right to - I could see just fine from my bedroom window the type of people that wandered about. Prostitutes, pimps, gangsters...and even if I didn't see them, I could hear the gunshots and yells most nights.
I went to school each day, studied diligently, eventually I got a part-time job at a nearby convenience store, and for the first few years I visited my Mother weekly in the psychiatric ward at Saint Mara's Hospital. Each time I visited was worse than the last, at first she'd just scream at me about how the demons surrounded her, and how they would next come for me. Soon the screaming was unintelligible, and she started to be violent with me - grabbing roughly at my shoulders, scratching at my arms and face. She howled at how I was attracting them, how they wouldn't be able to resist feasting on me.
Eventually the visits dwindled to once a month, two or three times a year...to once a year. I couldn't be around her, my Aunt disapproved at first, but when I came home with newly formed bruises and a deep oozing scratch down the side of my face, when I started to stress vomit at the thought of seeing my Mother, she agreed to limit the amount of visits.
The school I attended was pleasant enough, even with an incident that occurred when I was sixteen. A fellow student had gone and assaulted several staff members, and was dragged away by a truly impressive amount of police officers armed to the teeth. The school was shut down for a few weeks, and re-opened, the delinquent student expelled and last I heard was placed into a juvenile detention centre. I graduated on-time, on top of my class and ended up attending a local university. I finished at 21 with a worthless piece of paper that meant jack shit in our economy, and at 23 was still working - full-time at least - at that same convenience store I worked at when I was fifteen.
I managed to land an apartment with a roommate in an okay part of the city, but despite all the changes that came with age and maturity, there was one thing that stayed the same.
The monsters in the corner of my eye. I never caught a clear look at them, any time I tried they vanished. They followed me everywhere, and I learned to blow them off, never mentioning them, ignoring their very existence, lest I end up like My Mother, rabid and scared, locked away forever, drugged out of my mind.
Until that day at the market.
Until that monster was right in front of me - not just barely in sight.
Until it turned, and looked at me.
And so my induction into The Order started with a forum post:
Xanie posted Mon. April 3rd 20XX at 2:32 am. Post subject: Weird sightings in Limbo City? "weird question but, uh, has anyone else been seeing some crazy shit lately? I s2g i saw some mannequin lookin thing the market today… it had a horn and a giant ass razorblade and it ain't the first time i've seen it either…."
It was almost a week after I made the post that I was approached. He told me afterwards that it had been difficult to actually find me, and that it was far too dangerous for him to respond online - after all it was a public forum, and even PMs could be tracked by the system admin. He found me at the market, sifting through apples to find the ripest ones.
"Excuse me, Miss?" He called, at first I ignored him. He wasn't likely to be speaking to me, I thought he was speaking to the stall owner. But he tried again, and this time I acknowledged him.
"Oh! Sorry, I thought…" I trailed off, my face turning red at the thought of having ignored him. "Is there something you need?" I looked up at him, as he towered over me, he certainly didn't look like the type I normally saw at the market. His appearance screamed wealth, with a long black coat and blue pants. A cane in hands that were covered up with gloves, and a black fedora hid his eyes and hair from sight.
"I was wondering if I might have a moment of your time, Xanie." The mention of my online handle made me jump, and I found myself nodding. With that, I placed the apple in my hand back down into its basket, and followed him away from the stall and crowds, until we were just a street away from where we started. Any conversation we had would still be covered up by the large amount of people close by, but we could speak freely without being overheard.
"The other day, you think you saw something, a monster at the market?" He asked, he smiled at me, encouraging me to talk.
"Oh, that, um...Yeah. It was probably nothing, just a trick of the light, y'know," I responded before letting out a chuckle. "It seems silly now, I don't know why I went and said anything."
"It's not silly, I'm glad you said something," He paused, "It wasn't a trick of the light either. You did actually see something, I believe you on that." My back straightened up, and I looked into his eyes.
"I-I did? You do?" I questioned, "Then, do you know what I saw? What was that thing? Are there more of them? I mean, I always thought there was something there, but I couldn't get a good look y'know? It was always just in the corner of my eye and-" I had to stop my rapid fire questioning to suck in a deep breath of air, but before I could continue he cut me off.
"I know what they are, and if you come with me, I can help you understand what they are too," he replied, and in a single movement he lifted his fedora off his head, placed it against his chest and bowed ever so slightly. "My name is Vergil, and you are?" His blue eyes bore into my green ones.
"Beatrice."
"A pleasure to meet you, if you would follow me please?" He turned from me, replacing his fedora. I took a moment, staring at the blue skull design on his back, before finding my legs and falling into step behind him.
Now, say what you will about going off with strangers. It is dangerous, and can end horrifically. I got lucky this time. I know I got lucky, because I didn't end up on a missing poster or milk carton, instead I got answers. Answers that started with questions.
"How long have you been seeing these monsters, Beatrice?" He asked, leading the way through the streets.
"About sixteen years, ever since I was seven," I returned, "I didn't see them clearly though until last week. They've been there, just, never directly in front of me."
"Seven, huh?" He let out a low chuckle, and smiled as if he knew something I didn't. And I felt the need to add more information;
"Yeah, my mom - she left for work one day and came back screaming about demons. Her employers were killed that day and...I guess since then I've been seeing them. I don't think I ever saw them before that," I said. I saw him twitch as I explained the first time I saw them - his grip on his cane adjusting and tightening.
"I'm sorry she had to go through that, and where is she now?" He queried. His smile slowly disappearing.
"Saint Mara's; I was about eight or nine. She went crazy, couldn't stop talking about demons…" I responded. My brows knit together in thought, if I could see them, and Vergil saw them too...Was my Mother actually crazy? Had she ever been crazy? Shared hallucinations weren't especially common, not like this anyway.
"I'm sorry," He stated. "She wasn't crazy, and neither are you. What she saw, what you see is the truth of the world. The things that exist alongside humans, are demons. They are everywhere, Beatrice, some even walk among us disguised as humans, and those are the most dangerous ones - they control almost everything, from banks to governments. I am part of an organization dedicated to wiping out those demons - an organization I'd like for you to join." He stopped and turned to face me, "You've likely already heard of us -" I cut him off,
"The Order. A group of terrorists led by that masked man on the net." I stopped as well, and returned his stare.
"Freedom fighters, really. But yes, The Order. I cannot say any more unless you accept my invitation, I can give you time to think it over if you'd like - we can meet again in a few days." He extended a hand towards me, and I thought for a moment.
He had answers, for what I saw, for what my Mother saw, he wasn't crazy, I wasn't crazy and goddamn, my Mom wasn't crazy either. I needed more information, more answers, about why we could see them, what they were doing, why they were here and not in Hell.
"No. I'll join you -" And I grasped his hand with mine, firmly shaking it. "I'll join."