Chapter 11
True
"I can't…see anything…""What is this… on my back…? It's…"
"…so heavy…"
"My head…"
"…My stomach… it hurts…"
"My eyes…! They're… they're…"
"…burning!"
Anna watched the silver-haired man rustle before her with a start, her face void of any emotion and her hands clasped in her lap. She sat firmly in an oak chair, the twitching body before her upon a war-army cot with a thin, ragged blanket draped over him. His face was exposed to a dreary ceiling, the room in which the two resided being a small one, the walls dull and wallpaper aged and worn. The man sat up on the cot, groaning painfully, his hands going up to his neck to cradle his abused windpipe.
Anna studied him, the silver-haired man with eyes of a different color. He ran his hands over his shoulders and grunted with soreness. His eyes were tightly closed, signifying his discomfort.
"Are you alright?" she asked quietly. He raised his head, piercing her eyes with his own discolored. He stared at her speechless before slowly sliding a hand over his nose, mouth and chin. There was no mask, though he hadn't the energy to panic. After the rising of his stomach ceased, he saw no reason to panic. Not only was she not an enemy, but she had already seen his face while he was unconscious.
"I don't know…" Kakashi groaned as he looked down from Anna's face to the wooden floor, "Am I dead…?" Anna looked down as well, feeling almost guilty, "No… You're safe and well." He lifted his head up once more and looked about him, absorbing the trite scenery in which he resided.
"Where is this?" he asked.
"Nowhere in particular… You're in a place that was once considered sacred…" she smiled lightly at him, "I hold fond memories here…"
Kakashi slouched forward, resting his elbows against his knees, bent with his feet flat on the floor, "Sacred, huh?"
"Yes, indeed… It was… but now…" her voice drooped and her eyes became sad as she looked away from him, "Now… it is a no-man's land…" Kakashi looked her over, "What happened? How did it go from being sacred to damned?"
Kakashi in all honesty wasn't surprised. The only thing that he considered sacred was the ability to hold value in human life, and not a whole lot of people possessed this ability.
"Something… terrible happened…" she said quietly, "Something I never wanted to be apart of…" Her voice began to shake and quiver. Kakashi watched her somewhat without sympathy, "It was terrible to the extent that it made people desert the place?"
Anna shook her head slowly, "No… they did not leave… but were consumed by…" Kakashi blinked. He had heard everything from people being swallowed up by vicious sand-ninja sinkhole traps to being eaten alive by summoned beasts, but never engulfed by a mere town. "What exactly… do you mean?"
"This place… was sacred," she began, "Upheld dearly by ancestors as far back as time can remember. Native Americans roamed this land and cherished it. It was holy to them indeed, and was holy to us when we settled here. In fact… the land held… a strange power… it drew people near and even played tricks on the mind…"
Kakashi arched a brow, "What?"
"It's true…! I've had it happen to myself! Whenever people come here… they…"
"But it can't be just the town. A simple town built by settlers can't just—"
"It's true, I tell you! Do you think I am mad? Have you not had a strange experience with this town?"
"No I haven't… but… that's not the point… Just go on."
"A.. Alright… I apologize…"
"It's fine." Come to think of it… That dream I had with that monster in it… the streets I ran seem… similar to the streets here… Could this be the same place…? No, that's preposterous.
"This town was… mainly Christian… but at the center was a group, a group of people of different religious order. That's, actually, what they called themselves, The Order. I was somewhat apart of it… It's a religious group divided up into several sects, but I only know of a few of them… At first glance, you would think them to be a different branch of Christianity… It works the same way, if you think about it; monotheistic, some form of prophet, angels… and demons… a Heaven… and a Hell…
"These people hated Christians… Strange things began to happen… One by one, people began to disappear… mostly officials… the Mayor, authorities, all kinds of political figures. And after that… Members of The Order began to drive out Christians… and kill those that resisted."
"Wait… So you mean nobody tried to stop them?"
"People began to leave once the political officials began… disappearing."
"You mean dying. They were murdered."
"…"
"Did you take part in this?"
"…I…"
"Did you?"
"I had no choice… I didn't… I didn't want to die by their hands…"
"So instead you take the life of someone else to save your own."
"A minor evil—"
"For a greater good? No. That's not how it works. That minor evil destroyed countless other lives."
"I cannot undo what I have done… So… the best I can do… is to stop it from happening again…"
"… Continue."
"I will… The Order worships a being called God… But it's not the regular God anyone could recognize and familiarize with, no… The story goes like this:
In the beginning, people had nothing. Their bodies ached, and their hearts held nothing but hatred. They fought endlessly, but death never came. They despaired… stuck in the eternal quagmire.
A man offered a serpent to the sun, and prayed for salvation. A woman offered a reed to the sun, and asked for joy. Feeling pity for the sadness that had overrun the earth, God was born from those two people.
God made time and divided it into day and night. God outlined the road to salvation and gave people joy. And God took endless time away from the people.
God created beings to lead people in obedience to her: the Red God, Xuchibara; the Yellow God, Lobselvief; many gods and angels.
Finally, God set out to create a Paradise, where people would be happy just by being there. But there, God's strength ran out and she collapsed. All the world's people grieved this unfortunate event, yet God breathed her last. She returned to dust, promising to come again. So God hasn't been lost. We must offer our prayers and not forget our faith.
We wait in hope for the day when the path to Paradise will be opened.
This God… is evil…"
Kakashi tilted his head, "Evil? To bring Paradise?"
Anna shook her head, "No… Not paradise…"
"Then what if not as the story says?"
"The Order is lead by a woman named Dahlia… Dahlia Gillespie. I'm certain you have met her once before, have you not? Though she is dead, it would not surprise me if she had contacted you."
"I don't know this Dahlia."
"Dahlia Gillespie had a daughter... Her name was Alessa. Alessa Gillespie. Dahlia was… a very unkind woman… She was hateful and angry… an evil woman… She wanted to conduct an experiment to bring God about this world, using her daughter Alessa… But instead of bringing about God for Paradise… she wanted God for control… to make the people fear her… she wanted to control them with the use of God.
"The way she would go about it… was a ritual… She conducted the ritual on Alessa by setting her on fire… she was covered in severe burns… How she survived, I don't know…"
"Did the ritual work?"
"Yes… but… someone interfered… A man named Travis Grady… The experiment was completed but… It could not proceed. Half of Alessa's soul was gone."
Kakashi was perplexed, "What? How is that possible?"
"Alessa was born with… special powers. She… could do things with her mind. Her classmates called her 'witch' because of it. With the help of Travis Grady, Alessa was able to send out half of her soul…"
Kakashi leaned back on the cot, "Sounds… farfetched… but an interesting story…"
Anna, "It's all true…"
Kakashi almost glared at her with frustration, "That doesn't explain why this town is the way it is."
Anna's face creased with anger. "I'm not finished!" she snapped. Kakashi grew quiet and studied her, waiting for her to continue.
"Alessa's true body resided in the basement of Alchemilla hospital… The ritual would not proceed until the other half of her soul returns and joins to be whole once again. They… drew the other half back by abusing the body of Alessa… The other half returned seven years after…"
Kakashi adjusted on the cot, "How long ago was this?"
Anna had her eyes on the ground, "Around thirty-five years or so… The Order revived about four years ago when they found out Alessa's reincarnation's whereabouts. They tracked her, murdered her adoptive father and drew her in… She was pregnant with God then… and they were trying to lure her out to them to give birth to Her."
"Did they succeed?"
"Yes… but something happened… Something strange… and disturbing… It was not Alessa who gave birth to it… but one of the new High Priestesses. I'm sure she was to die anyway, either by God or by The Order for murdering Father Vincent."
"Father…Vincent?"
"Yes… A hypocrite among other things, but he was aware… He wasn't naïve. I respected him to a certain extent."
"Who was this priestess?"
"Claudia… Claudia Wolf. If I recall correctly, she was friends with Alessa… One of the few friends she ever had throughout the course of her tragic life… Claudia's childhood was no more pleasant than Alessa's… In fact… some woman claiming to be her cousin has recently appeared… I think her name was… Deborah…"
"Deborah Wolf…"
"Yes… Deborah…"
"…"
Anna looked Kakashi in the eyes, her eyes almost glowing in the ashen grey dimness, "For your sake… please stay away from them… They will do all they can to use you to accomplish their evil deeds…"
Kakashi's line of sight was planted on the floor. He kept still, taking in all that Anna had told him. He let his head hang almost, exhaustion and exasperation causing his lungs to ache.
"That still doesn't explain—"
"The town is controlled by her," Anna said quietly.
"By who?"
"…Alessa."
"How…?"
"She… It's… it's her powers… The monsters… were born from her own dreams… fears… nightmares… It's her darkness, her suffering and agony… that makes Silent Hill what it is… She… wants to die…"
Kakashi kept his eyes on the floor, "How is she still alive…?"
"The ritual…"
"Tell me something…"
"Yes…?"
"You said… Alessa was burned for a ritual, right…?"
"Yes."
"What happened when… her soul was split in half…?"
"It formed a newborn baby… found by her adoptive father… Seven years afterwards, they returned to this town… to Silent Hill…The souls were joined… and formed another newborn… this one pregnant with God, just as the original."
"Mother of God…"
"Yes."
"Why… am I here?" Kakashi asked.
Anna's thin brows curled up sadly, "The Order wants to use you… They want to use you in order to help the new carrier of God give birth."
Kakashi's heart skipped a beat, "Who is… this new carrier…?"
Anna's head lowered, her eyes gluing to Kakashi's blue ninja sandals, "It's strange… Normally it would be a woman… but somehow… It became a man… A man whose emotions were so powerful, he was drawn here by accident… He was at the wrong place at the right time…"
"…What happens if he ends up giving birth to this… God…?"
"If he gives birth to God… then…"
Anna's voice choked.
"Well…?"
"…He'll die."
No…
Tsunade stared at him with hard amber eyes, "I mean exactly what I say, Kakashi."
Kakashi was perplexed and he had no fear of showing it, "There's no possible way! How can he just suddenly have something living inside him!? Do you even know what it is!?"
"No…"
"Is it… even human…?" Kakashi's heart sank.
"I don't know…"
Kakashi felt as if he had given up, "Will he die from it…?"
"I don't know… We'll just have to wait and see… I've never seen anything quite like this before."
Gai… you weren't even chosen to become 'pregnant' with a deity… Is this your destiny? What will become of you? I'm still so confused… Is this all some kind of nightmare…? Is this even real…? What do I do? What can I do?
Nothing.
I'm… so helpless.
"…"
"Are you… alright?"
Anna leaned forward, placing a hand on Kakashi's shoulder. Kakashi's eyes shut tightly, "I have to stop this…"
"It would be wise if you did not get involved—"
"I already am involved…" Kakashi stood from the cot, his muscles tightening and causing his limbs to tremble. His body calmed and he clenched his hands into fists.
"Where will I find this 'Order'?" he asked, almost demanding.
Anna hesitated, but slowly answered, "…You'll find them at the Balkan Church… It's pretty far from here; you'll have to cross Toluca Lake. It's on the north side in old Silent Hill… Right now, we're in Wood Side Apartment… Take the road and head north and turn left onto Nathan Avenue… Take Nathan Avenue all the way up to Sandford Street. Take Sandford Street all the way until you reach an intersection with Bachman Road… On this road, you go straight north until you come up to another intersection with Bloch Street… At the right corner will be the church. It's a long walk from here… Here… take this map. If you get lost, it should be of some help to you…"
Anna got onto her knees and reached down under the cot, pulling out a ragged piece of paper. It was an old map of the Silent Hill region, burned and ripped in some areas but still somewhat legible to the untrained eye. Kakashi gingerly took the ancient map and folded it up, sticking it into one of his chunin vest pockets, "Thank you."
Kakashi turned towards the door in an effort to leave. He was stopped, one of Anna's small hands catching the inward crease of his elbow. He looked back at her over his shoulder, his eyes tired and face exhausted. Anna bit her lip, hesitating for a moment.
"Please… do be careful," she said quietly.
"I will."
End of Chapter 11
