Chapter 35: Skipping Stones
Inside the room expanded into a high cave that was much larger than the man made chambers above. Running some hundred feet to where it bottle necked out of view it contained a mess of digging equipment, a sprawling drug lab and had giant crates filling half the room like an orderly forest. Candles had been placed seemingly over every inch of the space and though it had scant electric lighting much of the room was illuminated by the soft orange glow of hundreds of tiny flames. They lined the uneven cave walls and were almost pathologically placed on every possible flat object. Of the trio only Victor partially understood their ritual significance; they were used to 'dispel evil' though it was never clear what exactly that meant. With the knight in the lead Chuck lurked in the rear and Julia followed close behind Victor. Despite having only her smooth gloves as weapons she wasn't afraid, in fact, she had never felt so confident going into a fight.
Waiting for them a couple dozen feet into the flickering, shadow laden chamber milled a pack of Order disciples. The only loyalists to survive the insanity upstairs they nervously watched the heathens approach. It wasn't until the heretics came into speaking distance did the Order Master reveal himself. Coming out from behind the robed cultists the elder Stone was fully armored in Victor's green suit of unholy material, much to the shock of the combatants across from him. Though it did not fit well on his shorter, bony frame and the shield was a tad too large Stone was smug at the reaction he received.
"I did not think you would survive the trip here." he called out to his former pupil. "How did you find us?"
"There is nowhere you can run we cannot find." Victor shot back. "I should have known you would be hiding underground. It suits you."
"So mighty in collusion with the Enemy." the old priest shook his head. "How far you have fallen. Do you so enjoy being the lapdog of an atrocity?"
"No more than you. Though it seems you are worse for the wear than I, old teacher. Your vaunted Order and hirelings, massacred by the score. Where did that fit in with your grand designs?" Victor taunted.
"I admit, you have proven more troublesome than I would have liked."
"You always said I was your best student."
"And you should have died at the hands of the blasphemous Fater, but you were full of poison and false platitudes." Stone said with disdain.
"A shame your Order has no talent for recruiting true believers." the knight seethed.
"Our greatest mistake." the Order Master sighed. His voice was tired and droning like a librarian but had an undercurrent of fervor that was unsettling as it was subtle. "The Gillispie girl was a close second. I knew she would be the ruin of us but no one could have predicted what your erstwhile master was planning. Thankfully all is not lost. We stand now on the precipice of glory. You and the puppet king pulling on your strings will not be remembered in the next stage of paradise."
"No one tells us what to do." Julia asserted. "We're here to stop you on our own free will."
"Are you?" Stone said with amusement. "You don't even know why you were called here. Why your false idol continues to string you along like children listening to a fable."
"We owe him." Chuck said.
"Which is exactly what he orchestrated." the priest jeered. "You fools give him exactly what he needs to survive."
Unsure of themselves none in the trio knew what he was talking about. Seeing their confusion he added in disgust, "You don't even know, do you? Incredible...it is your idiotic belief in his power that gives him strength. Your faith in his existence, your utter conviction that he is invincible, is what sustains him in this world."
"No, that can't be right..." Chuck refused to accept.
"Did you think he cares for your lives?" Stone relished in their doubt. "Once all of his followers are dead he will be pathetically easy to kill in this sphere. Perhaps in his own dream he is truly immortal but here, alone, he is little more than a fleet footed ghost."
The three of them struggled to process this new information but it made unusual sense to Julia. In Nowhere every man, woman and creature knew his many names, knew he was at the center of their world and almost universally strove to please him. She assumed it was the monstrous energy he absorbed in the Lightening that recharged his diminished power but what if it was also the collective belief of Nowhere that fueled his might?
"Then it is a self sustaining power." she realized. "If he shows us his strength, the more real it is for us, and the stronger he gets."
"And here you are. Used like dupes."
"No...that's not true." Victor spoke up. "Maybe he used us, but he always led us to the truth about ourselves. I understand now why he would help others. It's not himself he wanted us to believe in...it was Silent Hill. And he would die, again, for it and the memory of Jennifer Carroll. We should be ashamed that we cannot live up to his passion, Marcus."
"Such a waste." Stone lamented. "There is much about the nature of your home that comes easily to you where others would struggle. You could have surpassed Kewahqu at my side, Victor. Been the herald of a new world. Now you will die in darkness and shame as I hand you to the conjurer. Come then, old pupil, I have one last lesson for you: the power of true faith always defeats the impure."
"And I have a lesson for you, Marcus. It involves showing you pieces of yourself before you expire." the knight promised.
Stone shoved a large pistol towards them but Chuck was ready and had his rifle to his shoulder. Firing a short burst at the older man the Order Master lifted Victor's shield and the bullets bounced harmlessly off it. Ricocheting back at them in random directions Chuck's allies took cover from the unpredictable slugs.
"Hey!" Julia said angrily as Stone cackled with laughter.
"Whoops." Chuck said. "Was worth a try."
The cultists scattered and the trio of invaders took up the best positions they could as Stone returned fire with his hand cannon. "Spread out!" Victor yelled. Chuck went left towards the large crates while the silvery fisted pilgrim went forward into the drug processing equipment and random junk. Holding his position Victor slid down behind pile of concrete blocks as Stone continued to throw large caliber rounds in his direction. With the suit he was practically impervious to long range attacks and eventually someone was going to have to get in close to stop him. Getting past the barrage of bullets without taking a couple to the chest would be a lot easier said than done even against an aged opponent.
Sliding a couple of the bone spikes from his harness Victor did his best to listen for the click of an empty magazine. When his gun ran out of shots Stone reloaded quite unhurriedly and Victor popped up to throw the spikes at the still relatively distant mark. Simply raising the shield the priest easily blocked the only spike that was on target and he resumed reloading. Victor cursed under his breath and pulled a couple more of the weapons from his back.
Off to Stone's right the remaining adepts looked for a way to hit the three heretics from behind as they crawled forward cautiously. Some thirty feet to the knight's left Chuck peeked around the corner of a giant crate to try to locate something to shoot. When he saw the grayish robes of the Order's faithful come into view among the drug lab he took a short breath and leaned out to pop a quick barrage off at the man. The chamber echoed from the semi-automatic chatter and the bullets slammed into a bluish oval of light in front of the cultist instead of a tearing into his body.
"Shit!" the killer cursed and ducked back behind the gigantic crate. Moments later a line of pure flame smashed the front his cover and shook him from his position.
"Fuck! Little help!" Chuck called out to Victor who was preoccupied himself. Stone was steadily approaching and if he didn't move shortly there was a good chance the Order Master would be able to flank him. A large gap in between where Victor was hiding and the cluster of crates Chuck was moving around in kept him from a slightly safer hiding spot. The knight was unsure of just how good Stone was with his pistol and the gap was considerable. Risking a peek out from behind cover the armored priest was waiting and Victor jerked back before a bullet skipped off the floor near his head.
"Pinned down!" he called back.
"This is going well..." Chuck muttered and another spell hit the crate he was cowering behind. It struck the top of the box with the force of a car crash and simply exploded it into a shower of glass, wood splinters and the remnants of candles. Bits and pieces of vials rained down on the killer and cut dozens of tiny gashes on his scalp.
"Chuck!" Victor shouted but he could barely move without Stone shooting at him. It was going to come down to who was faster than who when the Order Master moved into striking range but the knight was unsure he could overcome even an older man before he was shot point blank. He would have to hope the others would pressure Stone from another direction before that happened. "Their shields don't go all the way around! Hit them from the side!" he advised his allies the best he could.
The words were not lost on Julia who had stuffed herself under a table half her height in between the killer and the advancing adepts. They were focused on the gun toting heretic and kept their eyes open but she was at knee level, partially hidden by the somewhat darkened room and barely breathing to keep as quiet as possible. The one in the lead was holding his hand out in front of him and likely the source of the blue shield while the others were preparing pieces of paper to throw at Chuck just behind. At some point they were going to push far enough forward to hit both of the men with their magical attacks and she had to act before it happened but not soon enough that they would all turn on her to make it four on one.
Huddled under the table she decided that she was going to have to hit the shield man first and get out of the way before they could counter. Doing everything short of closing her eyes as they passed near the pilgrim dared not even breath as the cultists moved slowly through the equipment. Her heart thudded in her chest so loudly that she was afraid someone might hear it and she hoped the killer would be ready when she created a momentary disruption.
A robed man crept past her tightly bunched body so close she could have reached out to trip him and she silently pleaded to remain hidden just another couple seconds. The pilgrim almost mewed in relief as he passed her by and she waited until they were a few feet away before carefully uncoiling herself. Edging out from under the table her bare feet made little sound on the cold cave floor as the pack of them were spread out before her. Knuckles white in her gloves she took a couple of light steps before surging forward.
"Shoot!" she screamed as she bowled past two of the paper holding cultists. Her right fist was cocked back when the startled adepts were knocked aside and the one in front was still turning his head towards her when she laid a ferocious blow on his temple. She felt bone split as he toppled down and Julia's momentum carried her in a tumble with him onto the floor.
Across from them the killer, shaken and with blood trickling down his face from the supernatural assault, had been waiting for some kind of opening when he head Julia's call. Sliding out he saw her crash into one of the cultists with three very confused ones still standing and momentarily out in the open. He took the chance to shoot at the closest one and this time he saw red holes open up the man's robes when his rifle barked. Swinging the barrel a little to the right he fired again but the last two ducked down out of sight before he scored more hits.
Coming out fully from behind the crates he saw Julia scrambling to put distance between herself and their enemies. One of them rose up just enough to throw a paper at the pilgrim a half second before Chuck could make his head detonate with a single bullet. Brain material flew out in an explosion of gore but the paper had already taken shape as a thick rope of flame that struck the pilgrim on her back. She cried out in pain as it fully engulfed her and the killer froze for in horror for the briefest of moments. It was enough time for the last cultist to let a paper fly and too late the he tried to dodge whatever was about to come his way. Chuck saw a flash of blue before a wrecking ball hit him and the lights went out.
Victor saw Chuck's form come flying back into his vision from whatever chaos was occurring out of sight. Smashing into a crate so hard his body became lodged in it and remained almost completely upright despite the fact the he was probably unconscious. An orange shower of candles toppled from above onto the floor in front of the killer and Victor saw no signs of life from his friend. He could not see Julia either and had heard her cry out but the knight could not move from where he was. Stone's laughter and pistol were driving him crazy and the knight put down the ineffective spikes to draw his wavy blade in anger.
"Your friends have fallen." Stone mocked. The old man was close but not close enough to rush. He would likely get only one strike, one moment to kill the Order Master and he had to make it count.
"Something have your tongue, boy?" the priest asked. "Surely you -grah!"
Victor heard scuffling and risked a peek to see Stone some ten feet away wrestling with Julia over control of his gun. She tried to wrench it from his hand but was struck heavily by the green shield and staggered back.
"Die!" the cultist cried and shot her three times in the chest until his gun clicked empty from his repeated trigger pulls. Victor watched in mortified shock as the women he loved took the projectiles directly to the heart but somehow was still on her feet as she stumbled back.
Dropping the gun Stone reached into the custom sheet holder on the armor's right leg and pulled a paper free. He threw it at the pilgrim and it turned to a three foot thick torrent of pure electricity that fried her where she stood. The knight almost collapsed at the sight as his world came crashing down but in that moment something happened that he knew was impossible but happened anyway. Julia charged through the eruption of smoke and ionized air to lunge with her fist, connecting with Stone's unprotected jaw. His head snapped back and it was his turn to wobble as she followed it up with a brutal left hook to the armored side of his face that still dropped the priest to the ground.
Victor's mouth was hanging open as Julia pounced on the Order Master and ripped the shield from his arm. Proceeding to beat him senseless with her blood covered gloves she did not have to strike many times to put him out. The knight's paralyzed body refused to respond and he felt like throwing up before he forced it to move where she panted above an unconscious Stone. She looked up at the knight with a savage fire in her eyes as her chest heaved in exertion. "Mother fucker! Shot me!" she huffed. "Go check on Chuck. I got this guy."
The knight could only stare dumbly as she reached into the priest's pocket to pull out his Oblivion sheets and scattered them into the air in a flurry of paper. In awe Victor willed his unresponsive legs to walk as he sheathed his sword and hesitantly left her there. Moving past the clutter of the cave he came to where the pack of adepts had been butchered. Looking down at their wounds he saw that two had been taken out by Chuck's rifle. Another had the side of his head caved in from what seemed like a sledgehammer blow. Stepping over the bodies the last one's face was an unrecognizable mush of bone and pulverized tissue.
Leaving the grotesque carnage he found the killer waking up but still embedded in the crate. Putting his shoulder under Chuck's arm he pulled him free of the wreckage and helped him to the ground. Kneeling alongside him as Chuck's eyes fluttered Victor did not like the way the killer was responding.
"You all right?" he asked.
"What...happened." Chuck croaked.
"Looks like you got hit with a brute force spell. Sent you about seven feet into a crate."
"Julia...?"
"Fine. More than fine." he nodded.
"Cool...back kinda hurts...front kinda hurts too...can I lay here for a second?"
The knight smiled tightly and patted him on the shoulder. Leaving him be Victor went back to Julia and the woman had the large pistol pointed at the now helmetless Order Master. Standing watch over Stone as he regained consciousness she looked relatively unconcerned about what just happened.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Am I okay!?" he exclaimed. "What the hell was that all about!?"
"We kicked ass?"
"How are you still alive!?"
"Whoa, calm down there buddy. There's this -" she said and used one hand to reach under her kevlar. The bullet holes over her heart had clearly ripped into the material but from behind the protective vest she yanked out Nothing's journal.
"The fuck..." Victor gaped.
"It's indestructible right? Couldn't get the damn thing to stay on the outside but it strapped under the vest nicely. Still hurt like hell though."
"You gave me a goddamn heart attack!" Victor scowled. "What about the spell? Did the book absorb that too?"
"Eh...I'll explain in a minute. For right now, get your armor back from this dickhead."
Perturbed but unable to argue with her practicality he started prying his armor from the dizzy priest. Stone offered little resistance as Victor expertly unbuckled and yanked pieces off. The knight could not help but notice that the large bruises forming on Stone's face had blood smeared on them already and it didn't look like all of it was his. Getting a bracer off he snuck a glance to the side at Julia's gloves to see them covered in sticky redness and flecks of flesh. She had apparently been the one to kill the other two adepts with almost her bare hands. She was becoming a frightening combatant the longer they stayed here.
Stripping everything else except the breastplate he unbuckled the front of it and lifted the second to last piece off. Rolling the Order Master over he pulled off the back plate and added it to the pile at the side. Victor stopped to take a breather as the old man recovered and rolled painfully to his side. Sitting up after a couple minutes to focus on Julia the woman calmly returned his cold gaze.
"So...you had more of the ashes after all." he wheezed.
Victor looked over at her but the pilgrim didn't bat an eye. "What are we going to do with him?"
"He dies." Victor decreed. "Too much evil has gone on because of this man. The Order falls with him."
"You think we will cease to be if you kill me?" Stone asked incredulously. "We are legion. Blasphemers," he paused to spit out blood, "hhhgck...will never stop us."
"Stopped ya pretty hard today, pal."
"You sucker punched an old man, you craven cow." Stone sneered."Judgment will be passed on you in due time."
"Funny how you keep saying that but I'm the one holding the gun."
"You think I fear you? You think I fear death? I am but a man. The gods are watching and they will punish you when your time comes." Stone promised.
"Holy hell, no wonder people are lining up to shoot you. Bet you're a hoot at parties." Julia shook her head.
"Enough." Victor cut in. Drawing his sword he ordered, "On your feet, Marcus Stone. I will permit you one final prayer. To the door."
Weary the Order Master climbed upright and lurched forward towards the entrance. Julia watched Victor as they went back to the way they came and sighed. It was necessary but she wished they didn't have to be the ones to do it.
The two men walked to the opening and the massive circular door with the Order's symbol carved into the inner side as well. The cultist stopped in his tracks fifteen feet shy of the crack they had used to enter the room.
"Into the hall." Victor commanded.
"I will go no further." the old man said resolutely. "I know who lurks outside these candles."
"Very well." Victor shrugged. "Kneel, Disciple of the Sun God, and say your goodbyes."
Falling to his knees Stone clasped his hands in front of himself and closed his eyes. "Holy Mother, redeemer of all our sins..."
The wait was almost unbearable but Victor kept his blade at the ready until the priest was done. When the last syllable left his lips the knight skewered Stone through the back but took care to avoid his heart. Drawing the extremely sharp blade back out Stone wavered on his knees and Victor relished in delivering another strike to the other side. Toppling over as blood spurted from his wounds he writhed in muffled agony but it was not over. Pinning his shoulder down the cruel knight repeatedly stabbed the old man in the stomach a few more times as he coughed on his own blood.
Watching the pained, aghast expression on his face until he passed Victor shouldn't have enjoyed this so much but he did. Stone would have taken his very soul if given the chance and this was nothing short of justice. Flicking the blood from his sword Victor sheathed it and turned back to join his friends. There was only one more enemy left when he too was dead at their feet this war would be over. Victor took a quick moment to look up and pray only for success.
Julia was waiting with Chuck when Victor came back to them. His normally stoic features were creased with consternation and she thought that he was incredibly heroic to take on the extremely unpleasant task of executing a man he once knew. The killer, too, wasn't looking so great and appeared to be a little dazed still but was at least on his feet. He had take a thumping and she didn't have the heart to tell him he looked like hell.
Her man picked up the two spikes that were on the ground for some reason instead of in his harness and he threw them down to begin dressing himself in the green suit. Julia idly pondered the ethics of wearing the suit knowing where it came from and how it was given strength but at the moment they would need all the advantages they could get.
"Did you keep some of the ashes for yourself without telling me?" Victor asked abruptly.
The pilgrim had been lit on fire by one of the adepts and had felt the heat of the attack. She initially thought she was too badly burned to even feel her wounds when she got up and rolled on the last cultist. It wasn't until she turned the man's face into red putty that she realized not only was she not hurt but was hitting entirely too hard. Only then did the true extent of her deal with the devil dawn on her. Kewahqu's blood was running through her veins in a very literal sense and had granted a portion of his power. Thanks to Carroll's ashes it nullified the magic attacks against her and she couldn't believe that she failed to notice her strength had greatly increased as well. The skulls of her adversaries, both human and otherwise, had not in fact become softer or more fragile at all. She had ignored the signs that something was much different about herself since making the pact with the Spirit of the Night Air, perhaps subconsciously.
"I...no. I made a deal with Nothing." she admitted. No use lying about it, he would find out eventually.
"What kind of deal?"
"I'll explain when this is all over, Vic. It's something I had to do for my parents." she sighed.
"But you won't tell me now?" he asked suspiciously.
"Please just trust me. It will make sense later."
Disgruntled he returned to his work. "I trust you, Jewel. We're almost done here. There's just one more left but he's going to be the hardest one yet."
She nodded and looked over to Chuck who seemed oblivious to the conversation. "You holding up over there, guy?"
"I'll make it." Chuck said grimly. "No way am I sitting this one out."
Victor finished buckling his suit on and pulled Nothing's harness on to add to his intimidating appearance. Picking up the helmet he fit it snugly on his head and slid his arm into the wide shield to complete the outfit. "Lookin' good." she commented.
"I admit, it's nice to have back, even if it sickens me to think of where it came from." he replied.
"Let's do this before I fall over." Chuck suggested.
"Hey, are you sure you're fine?" Julia touched his shoulder but he only raised his rifle in the air.
"We're in this together." the killer stated. "You're going to need me...and I have a promise to keep."
"I am honored to be your friend, Charles Taylor." Victor declared.
"Me too, Chuck. Your parents, either set of them, would be very proud of you."
He showed a rare smile and said, "Come on, let's kick this guy's ass."
Walking to the other end of the chamber they came to an ancient, molding door set awkwardly into the misshapen cave mouth. Victor went first and when he creaked the old wood open stale air came out like the inside of a sarcophagus. Lingering to look at them the knight did not have to remind everyone what was at stake. Everything they had fought and barely survived had led to this point. There was no turning back.
They entered the next chamber as the glow of the candles faded into a murky chamber much larger than the one they were just in. Upon a thick, square column some twenty feet high there was a man sitting cross legged. A circle of light, the only luminescence in the room, poured down on him from far above them. Head down, hair in his eyes and shoulders hunched over the man's face was shrouded in shadow. Just behind the pillar and barely visible with the scant light was a gigantic wall carving of some exotic goddess. It appeared that the wall had been built in the middle of the chamber with nothing connected to it; though it was some hundred feet across it was still dwarfed by the rest of the cave and stood by itself.
Gingerly approaching the man on the pillar he didn't seem to notice the three of them. Outfitted in a ripped, filthy green vest and soiled, frayed jeans he looked more like a hobo than a threat. They had edged to a comfortable thirty feet or so from the column when the door slammed shut behind them. Julia's head swiveled around and could barely see the exit's outline but clearly heard it lock itself. Slowly turning to the column the man on it finally lifted his head to regard them.
He was in his mid thirties, had medium length, dirty blonde hair and had a face with worry lines chiseled into it. The man looked sad beyond all measuring as if he'd been carrying the weight of the world on his back for decades. Julia pitied this person almost immediately despite the fact that they were here to kill him. The last time she saw that kind of depression was when Victor told her the story of his mother's death and only for brief flashes. This guy looked like he had been in that state around the clock while working in a hospital for terminally ill puppies.
"Hello." he said with a hollow, almost robotic tone.
"Hi." Victor answered.
"I knew you'd come." the man said without a glimmer of liveliness. "I've been waiting. Waiting for what seems like forev- huh?" he cut himself off as he turned his head to the side. Pausing for a few seconds he turned back to them and added, "Yes dear, sorry. We've both been waiting here for you."
"Oh good, he's batshit crazy." Chuck muttered.
"What a nice change of pace." Julia chimed in.
"Who are you?" Victor called.
"Who am I..." the man trailed off like he was just asked a difficult philosophical question. "I did have a name once...can't seem to remem- huh? Ah...yes dear, thank you. I was...James. James Sunderland. Nice to meet you."