Chapter 3: Who Are You?

The man knelt down in the streets; his clothes were soaked in blood. He heard the distant ringing of a bell, signalling the end of another extermination, he looked up at the exorcist ahead of him, her spear was placed against his neck, had the bell not struck it would've sliced across his neck by now. He tried to focus on her face, only seeing it for a brief second before she flew into the sky and out of sight. He sat there silently, surrounded by the corpses of his friends.

Hereticus woke in a cold sweat. His mind was focused on the painful memory that his mind had brought forth while he slept, rather than trying to fall asleep again he got to his feet and moved to the foot of his bed where he pulled out a long wooden case from under the bed, he opened it up to find a sword in a scabbard. He took the curved sword out of its scabbard, it was a Hellblade, one of the oldest weapon designs in the world, this one was a replica of the one Lilith used to wield, the flaming sword of Eden, which manifested itself from Lilith's own soul. He examined the blade; it was engraved with images of dancing fire. The sword was much too large for him to field, it nearly matched Hereticus in height and was only given to him in a ceremonious way to symbolise Lilith passing her will onto him. This sword represented everything Hereticus was fighting for, everything he lived for, one day Heaven would pay for what they had done and a sword much like the one he held at that moment would be planted firmly in the chests of the Archangels.

He put the sword back in its scabbard and back into the case, he slid the case under his bed and got to his feet. He took a look around his room, it had been a few weeks since he had formed an alliance with Rosie and Missi, he had since moved into the hotel properly, he had taken a few items with him so that he could decorate his room, he had brought a wardrobe and filled it with clothes, the sword under his bed, a small potted grab-snatcher and a pair of chairs, both of which he had placed on the balcony outside.

He got ready for the day, going through his usual routine. He began walking towards the door but suddenly heard a knock from it, he paused for a moment before opening it, Charlie was on the other side, she greeted him with a friendly smile.

"Hey, Hereticus!" She said, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure." He said, as he gestured for her to come inside.

They walked over to the balcony where they both took a seat; Charlie fidgeted a bit as she struggled for a moment to get her words out.

"I know what you said about not wanting to go to Heaven…" She began before pausing, Hereticus raised an eyebrow at Charlie's peculiar hesitation, "but I really think you should try redemption, I know how busy you are but I can see there's good in you, I really do, I think you just need to take a little bit of time to improve yourself, even if you end up staying in Hell you might end up feeling happier because of it, it might even be fun!"

Hereticus understood what she was saying, besides, he felt like he was freeloading by not really engaging in any of Charlie's activities, even if it didn't help him, he could at least make things better for the others guests.

"Alright," He said, "I'll take the day off."

Charlie smiled brightly.

"Yay!" She exclaimed, "okay! Okay! Let's start now by telling each other what makes us worried, it's a good way of learning empathy and kindness, I'll go first!"

Hereticus was surprised they'd be starting now but had no objections.

"Okay, so, what makes me worried…" Charlie said, thinking for a moment, "well I sometimes get worried that the hotel won't work, but Vaggie's always there to remind me of how I'm going to make it work, she's a great girlfriend." Charlie said quickly, jumping from one thing to another, Hereticus was surprised at how open Charlie was being, it seemed like she had been meaning to get this out to anyone and hadn't realised that she maybe shouldn't be sharing any of this, "sometimes I get worried that I'll never be able to carry out my mom's wishes…" her manner of speech began to slow down and she looked at her knees, it seemed like she forgot Hereticus was even there, "ever since she… passed on I've just been so worried, me and my Dad have never been that close and it feels like I've been alone without her help…"

Charlie was silent for a moment before looking back up at Hereticus, only now realising what she just said, her eyes darted up to him and she had an awkward smile on her face, "So! What makes you worried?" She asked.

Hereticus was silent for a moment, taking in what Charlie had said. He sighed, reminiscing about the time he knew Lilith, she had been a good teacher and friend to him.

"I knew your mother." He said suddenly, Charlie looked at him with a surprised expression, not expecting to hear this.

"She trained me and gave me the task of uniting the pentagram, sometimes I get worried that I'm not strong enough, that it'll all be for nothing and that one day the exorcists will slaughter us all, that Eden will forever remain in the grasp of Adam and one day Hell will die." Said Hereticus with a worried tone.

Charlie was silent, of all things she was not expecting to hear that Hereticus knew Lilith, she wasn't really sure how to react.

"Sorry," Hereticus said, "I know that's probably a lot to take in."

"No, it's fine, I'm just surprised is all," Charlie said.

There was a moment of silence as the two smiled at each other, if anything they shared their feelings of loss with one another and maybe that was comfort enough.

"Well, I should be going downstairs, I need to get ready for the day!" Charlie said as she shot to her feet and walked towards the door.

"Hey Charlie," said Hereticus, Charlie turned to face him.

"Thank you." He said, it'd been a while since someone had asked him how he'd felt, it felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he only now realised how much he needed it.

"No problem." Charlie said as she left the room, smiling as she did so.

Hereticus sat alone, listening to the distant sounds of the city. Suddenly, all went silent and a dark void surrounded him, he felt dread run through him as he heard fire behind him, he quickly rose from his chair and faced it, before him was a plume of green fire, from which a tall antlered figure holding a cane came.

"Well, a disciple of Lilith, I wasn't expecting this!" said Alastor, sounding amused, "you just keep getting more and more interesting." Hereticus stood watching Alastor silently, waiting for him to make a move. "Don't you worry, my friend, your secrets are safe with me, even those you haven't told Charlie." He said, chuckling at the end of his sentence, Hereticus' brow furrowed hearing this, "oh don't look at me like that, you're not here just to unite the Pentagram, no, you have… bigger ambitions, don't you?" Hereticus felt like he was being read like an open book, "I wonder, how far are you willing to go to complete your goal? Would you take a life? Would you take billions of lives?" Alastor asked, chuckling at the end, "oh yes, I will be watching you with bated breath, after all, your fate is tied to the world's own fate, and there hasn't been something quite as entertaining as you for quite some time, but for now, this is farewell, young flame."

Alastor walked back into the plume of green fire, his silhouette fading into it, the fire faded away and light returned to the room, not a mark was left by the encounter, Hereticus felt the feeling of dread pass as he stood there in his room.