Chapter 32 Night of Plagues

I was awoken by the howling of the wind. I sat up in my bed, and listened to the voice of air which disturbed the stillness of the night. It howled, and roared, as if a hurricane had hit. Kai was already up, and was standing at the window looking out.

"What's going on?" I asked him, and he just pointed out over the horizon.

I looked, and gasped at the sight which was layed out before me. A tornado raged across my land, tearing up the fields which I had worked so hard to keep.

"Abandon ship!" Captain Bates shouted out in his sleep. "Abandon ship! Women and children first!"

Kai carefully shook him awake.

"Uh... huh... what?" he said as he awoke.

I watched in horror as the vortex slowly turned, and attacked my chicken coop, viciously thrashing it from its foundation. Like a monster, it mercilessly chucked the remains of the building out across my land.

"No!" I shouted. That chicken coop would be expensive to replace, and my chickens inside surely couldn't have survived such a blow. The tornado then turned, and moved towards the village, slowly growing smaller as it traveled. Soon it had disappeared. "It's gone guys," I said. "Go back to bed." But our sleep once again did not last long. At about two in the morning we were awoken again, but this time by thunder. When I looked out the window, I saw bolts of lighting falling from the sky, like butcher knifes, flying in for the kill. They struck everywhere, igniting trees, and scorching the ground. Suddenly several struck the roof of my home.

"Fire!" I cried, waking everyone in my home.

Quickly, we ran outside with buckets full of water. I ran and got a ladder, and positioned it against my home. Captain Bates then climbed to the top, and emptied one of the buckets on top of the fire. We passed more up to him, and he continued. Finally, the fire was out, but my roof had sustained a good amount of damage. At that point, none of us felt like going back to sleep again. So we stayed awake. The second attack occurred at about three in the morning. When the stars began to disappear, we knew something was up. The sky was soon covered in dark, black clouds, which glared down at us. Below the evil clouds, we watched on in fear. Suddenly neon green light shone through some places in the cloud layer. The neon green light spread, creating a bright green and black splendor. Suddenly it formed together, to form a face which was all too familiar.

"Its the Harvest Goddess!" Kai shouted.

"INDEED IT IS!" the familiar feminine voice, now much louder than ever before, shouted down upon us. "I HAVE COME TO DELIVER THE FINAL WARNING! SUBMIT TO MY COMMAND! OR DIE!"

"We will never submit to you!" Gotz shouted. "I remember what your Spirits did to me. Soulthrasher was once a friend of mine! But he betrayed me!"

"YOU BETRAYED ME GOTZ!" the demonic face shouted, its eyes flaring.

"What are you doing here Goddess?" I shouted. "You know that none of us will submit to your control!"

The Goddess suddenly smiled.

"YOU WILL SUBMIT TO ME!" she replied. "THIS IS THE FIFTH PLAGUE! THE FIRST WAS THE SNOW STORM! THE SECOND WAS THE REFORMATION OF MY CHURCH!"

"Reformation?" I said in surprise.

"INDEED!" the Goddess replied. "THE OLD PASTOR WAS... TOO ACCEPTING OF YOUR VIEWS FOR MY TASTE! HE IS NO LONGER THE PASTOR OF THE CHURCH! THE CHURCH IS NOW IN THE HANDS OF WON!"

"What did you do to Carter?" I asked.

"I DID NOTHING TO HIM! WON TOOK CARE OF HIM FOR ME! AS I WAS SAYING, THE THIRD PLAGUE WAS THE TORNADO! THEN CAME THE LIGHTNING STORM! NOW, THE FIFTH PLAGUE WILL FOLLOW THIS MESSAGE!"

"What plague will this be?"

"THE PROOF THAT I TRULY AM STRONGER THAN YOUR GOD!"

The clouds suddenly split apart, and the neon green light shot down upon my land, scorching the landscape, and melting the snow. We knew there was a problem when dirt began rising up into the air and forming into shapes. "Caenumens!" I shouted, but was all too wrong. The dirt did not shape together into clay figures, instead it broke into tiny particles and floated around neon green orb in the center of each being. There were several of them.

They resembled floating clouds of sand which moved not with the wind, but by themselves. Each one had inside it a neon green orb just like the orb in the hearts of Caenumens. They were born of the same energies. As the sand rose up, the creatures hissed there displeasure with our existence, before turning, and floating towards us.

"This can't be good," Kai said.

Suddenly one launched itself at me. As the sand crashed into me, and cut at my skin, it felt like each gravel piece cut me deep, as if into my very soul. Like rusty nails, they cut through me, and it felt like millions of bees had all stung me at once. Each grain of sand seemed to pass through my body, scarring my insides, and burning my will. I screamed, and fell to the ground as the last of the creature passed through me. Kai ran to my side.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

I coughed, and gasped.

"Where are you," I said, not to Kai. "I know you're out there."

Before I could say anything more, Captain Bates pulled out a rifle, and began firing at the sand beings.

"Aim for the green orb in the center of each one!" I shouted to him.

Captain Bates then tossed a small pistol to Kai, and continued firing.

"Captain," Kai said. "I don't know how to fire this."

"Then figure it out!" the Captain shouted. "Ah don't have time to teach yew!"

I got to my feet, and drew my sword. I would not go down without a fight. The sand creatures seemed to move together, shooting around the four of us in strange and bizarre formations, surrounding us, and cutting off all escape. No and then, one of them would shoot out of the formation, and try to shoot through us. Sometimes we were able to dodge them, sometimes we weren't. But each time those sand grains seared through my skin, it felt as if a knife was being driven through my skin. One shot out from the formation, but I was ready this time.

As it approached, I raised my sword above my head, and sung at the green orb in the center. I missed by a couple of inches, and it shot through me again. I moaned in my pain, but turned to face it again. But then I was struck from behind by another one. I staggered backwards, and pushed my sword blade into the ground to steady myself. The sand creatures roared, hissed, and taunted me in the strange demonic language which was identical to the sounds I had heard from the mouths of the Caenumens. I now knew what I had to do. I couldn't defeat them by waiting for them to attack me, I would have to attack them. But doing so would mean I would have to walk through the sand particles inside them, to the neon green area. It was my only choice.

When they charged at us, they moved to fast for me to hit the green orb, but they didn't move that quickly when they weren't charging us. In fact, it seemed as if they were unable to move at such speeds unless they were attacking, and they only attacked every couple of minutes. Maybe if I could strike then, I could destroy some of them. Another one shot at me, but this was what I was waiting for. I leapt to the side, and it shot passed me, just barely scratching my left side. It shot back into formation, and slowed down. Quickly, I pulled my sword back out of the earth, and ran towards the sand being. I ran straight into it, into the sands, which cut through me again, but I fought through the pain. Suddenly the neon green orb was floating right in front of me, waiting for me to cut it down. And so I did. My sword sung as it flew through the air, and cut through the green orb, which shattered upon impact. The neon green light shot out, and dissipated into the sky. Then all the sand which belonged to that green orb came crashing down, scarring me as it fell.

"Strike them when they are moving slowly!" I shouted to my friends. "They are unable to move quickly during that time period!"

My friends immediately began attacking the slow moving onces, completely giving up on the ones which shot at them.

"You're out here somewhere," I said again. "Reveal yourself. I will fight you."

I then charged through another of the sand beings, and slashed open its green orb. We continued like this, cutting down the creatures immediately after they charged, but we were beginning to run out of energy. Each time the sand scarred us, out stamina was decreased, as if the sand grains were sucking it away. Suddenly all the green orbs suddenly winked out, and all the sand fell to the ground.

"Good," I said. "Now show yourself!"

'I am here.'

"What are your intentions demon?" I asked. "You fight me with all the wrong tools. You threaten me with death, which will only fulfill my life. You threaten me with pain, but I have become numb to it. When will you realize that I will never defect to your side?"

'My intentions are great, as is my might. I wish to hold a permanent home. I wish to stay there forever, and do as I please, and never enter the Abyss.'

"Such a thing is impossible, unless you return to the one you have betrayed."

'And admit defeat? Ha! Never!'

"That leaves only the Abyss. You have been stalking me for some time now demon. Was it not you who brought up Caenumens all those times?"

'It was I.'

"And today you brought forth those... those..."

'Sabulumens.'

"What is your name Spirit? I command you to tell me in the name of Jesus!"

'It's Darkfor you pathetic mortal!'

"You tried to kill me. You tried to take me. You tried to kill Ann. Show yourself to me Darkfor. Let me see you now!"

'You're still worried about that wench? Don't you know you can never be with her? For doesn't the word of your precious father say not to be yoked together with nonbelievers? And that is what Ann is! She is still lost!'

I didn't say anything after the spirit said this, for I knew he was right. Sooner or later I would have to come to terms with this, Ann was an unbeliever, and it would be impossible for me to marry her.

"All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," I countered, "even me!"

'Ah, right. You, the model Christian. Oh yeah!'

"Demon, I command you in the name of Jesus to leave this farm, and never return."

'Don't say that word! I will go where I please, and will come here quite often.'

"If you would prefer, I'll command you to the pit, but you are not a threat to me right now, so I will be merciful. Leave this farm."

'I will leave it, my work here is finished for now. But I will return.'

Then, I felt the presence of the demon suddenly disappear from the area. It had gone.


That same night, Won came to the lake to meet with the King of the Mountains, as requested. But this time, the lake did not catch on fire. Instead, the clouds began fusing together to form a face. A dark face, an evil face.

"Oh Great Demigod," Won said to the face in the clouds, "is that you?" "YES!" the face responded.

"YOU HAVE COME AS I REQUESTED!"

"Of course," Won said. "Now, why did you call me here? The first five plagues have passed through just fine, so why do you bring me here?"

"TO PERFORM A CEREMONY WHICH WILL HELP ME AWAKEN COMPLETELY!"

Won nodded, and scratched his head.

"What sort of ceremony are you talking about?"

"SINCE THE HARVEST SPRITES AWOKE ME IMPROPERLY, ONLY THE DEATH OF A MAN COULD APPEASE MY ANGER AGAINST THEM, AND HELP ME AWAKEN COMPLETELY! BUT SINCE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET ME ONE, THEN SOMETHING ELSE MUST HAPPEN!"

"What is that?" Won asked. The face in the clouds, smiled maliciously before speaking.

"I MUST... I MUST EXPERIENCE HUMAN LIFE FOR ONE NIGHT! THE ONLY WAY FOR THAT TO HAPPEN IS IF I COULD COME DOWN UPON A MAN, AND TAKE CONTROL OF HIS BODY! WILL YOU LET ME USE YOUR BODY?"

"Um..." Won said, unsure of what to say.

"DON'T WORRY," the Right Hand said. "IT WILL BE PAINLESS. AND WHEN I LEAVE, I WILL LEAVE BEHIND A GIFT!"

"Gift? What gift?"

"HAVEN'T YOU EVER HEARD OF THE BOXER REBELLION? THE ANCIENT CHINESE MEN IN THAT REBELLION WOULD CALL UPON THERE GODS TO COME UPON THEM, AND TAKE CONTROL OF THEM FOR SHORT PERIODS OF TIME! THEN, WHEN THE GODS LEFT THEM, THEY LEFT BEHIND SOME OF THEIR TRAITS, LIKE INVULNERABILITY TO GUNFIRE, AND AMAZING FIGHTING SKILLS! THOSE GREAT GOD'S ARE THE BROTHERS OF OUR HARVEST GODDESS! THE SAME WILL HAPPEN TO YOU AFTER I LEAVE YOUR BODY!"

"Alright then Great Creature of the Lake!" Won shouted. "I will let you use my body!"

"GOOD, NOW STEP INTO THE LAKE!" Won walked forward, towards the still waters of the lake.

Then, slowly, he began to wade into it. Then the water deepened out, and he began to swim. As he swam, he became aware of a pair of eyes peering up at him from underneath the water.

"The Right Hand!" Won said happily, as he saw the pair of eyes. "Maybe I will see his true form!"

But no. The last thing Won remembered was the two eyes moving towards him, and then blackness. But the next day, many people reported seeing Won walking through the village during the night, growling and snarling, and speaking in a voice which was not his own. Not many of the villagers could recall what he said, but a few of them remembered some of his words.

"At last at last. Now I can truly experience this!"

"Prey prey, I have prey of my own!"

"Lucifer, if only you could see me now!"

"Dark one, success is close at hand!"

"Bone twisting, bone snapping, flesh burning. Ha-ha-ha-ha!"