The Escape

  I woke up coughing and wheezing. Although the pain was gone, every muscle in my body felt sore. I found myself curled up naked on the floor.

  "What the fuck happened?" I said through a whispered breath. "And… where the Hell are my clothes?"

  "Oh, look who decided to join us. Now keep your voice down."

  "What the fuck is going on?"

  "Seriously, Mud, you need to shut up," Azazel whispered aggressively. "For the sake of keeping your trap shut, listen carefully. Your soul went through some transmutation bullshit. You were never wearing clothes. It was a fucking illusion. The illusion broke as soon as you clocked out. Remy's trying to scout what's going on outside, but there's something here."

  "Are you telling me I've been naked this entire time?"

  "You died Mud in case you forgot. You're an incorporeal soul. The fact that you perceived yourself as wearing clothes at all was just your pathetic mind trying to rationalize all of this."

  Again, I had to refrain from wanting to strangle the little shit. Forcing myself to focus on the crisis at hand, "So Remy's out there scouting right now? How far can you guys move away from me?"

  "Yeah, that's not easy to explain. Listen… It's like there's a tether. Like a rubber band. And the further we move away, the harder it pulls us back. I don't know exactly how far we can get, but I'll tell you right now, it's not very fucking far. Just shut the fuck up."

  A moment later, Remiel appeared in front of me. I was still on my knees where I'd collapsed, trying to catch my breath.

  "Good. You're awake, Nephilim. We have a problem. Outside the cathedral. We're being circled by Hellhounds."

  "Well, that's just fucking great. What tier are they, Remiel?" Azazel asked. I could see the panic in his eyes.

  "Low tiers. Normally they wouldn't be a threat, but the Nephilim is only Level One and untested in battle."

  "Battle? Are you guys crazy?" I looked down at myself. "I'm sitting here naked with nothing but a fucking ornate butter knife."

  That was when I realized, for the first time, that I could see everything in the cathedral clearly. It wasn't that night-vision shit you see on TV where everything's black and white. This was different. It was like the sun was setting just outside and the warm light was bleeding in through the windows.

  The fires that had been burning when we first entered, were dimmer now. Fading at the edges. Like someone was slowly turning down their intensity.

  "Nephilim, the fact that you see yourself as naked is proof that you walk the Path of the Seraph. The illusion of the clothes you projected onto yourself is gone. You are seeing things as they actually are."

  As I looked around, I saw, across the far wall, faint silhouettes of dog-like creatures about the size of Great Danes, lurking and circling the building. Two of them, moving in opposite directions around the perimeter.

  "Holy shit… are they inside? I thought demons and shit can't go into churches?"

  "No," Remiel said. "This cathedral is warded. Those Hellhounds cannot cross the threshold."

  "Yeah, don't let the whole 'church' thing fool you, Mud," Azazel added with a grin. "Demons go inside churches all the time. It's one of our favorite ways to piss off the angels. But wards? Those are different. The old man put those rules in place before the Sundering. And even though he hasn't been around in forever, those rules still hold."

  "The problem is," Azazel continued, "wards don't keep everything out. We don't want those hounds bringing back something that can cross the threshold."

  "All right, look, Mud. If you're seeing everything through the gift Remiel gave you, that means my gift's there too. But the first thing we're gonna have to do is put that pig-sticker away. That blade's not gonna hurt those hounds anyway. Not at your level. And we can't afford to let anybody around here see that you have it."

  "Hey, that's a great idea, Az. Where the Hell would you like me to stick it? Up my ass?"

  "Oh. Yeah. I forgot to tell you about the whole inventory thing, didn't I?" Azazel said. "I want you to focus really hard on putting the knife away."

  I did as he said, and moments later another Arcane window appeared, this one labeled Inventory. It showed a faint grid with empty slots. There were about ten spots where I guessed I could put items. A moment later, the blade disappeared from my hand and appeared in one of the slots.

  "Now focus on closing the window."

  A moment later, the window vanished.

  "Now, every time you want to put that blade away, it's gonna go back to that same spot. And every time you want the blade, all you have to do is will it into your damn hand, and it'll appear."

  I held out my hand and willed the blade back into existence, watching it pop into my fingers. Again, I focused on it, and it disappeared back into my inventory.

  "Okay, well that’s creepy as fuck, but… at least I have a place to put things. What I really need are some pants. I bet I can find some clothes around here somewhere."

  I got up and wandered around the building to see what I could find. As I moved through the cathedral, I noticed the flames were continuing to fade. Sections of wall that had been engulfed in fire were now just scorched stone. The air felt less oppressive. Cooler.

  I made my way towards what used to be the front doors of the cathedral. In a closet, I found a box marked Lost and Found, and another large box labeled Donations. I dumped them both out and I was surprised to find some high-quality shirts and pants. Everything looked handmade.

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  It occurred to me then that I was standing in a cathedral ripped straight out of the 1920s. Black-and-white pictures on the wall. A long coat hanging from a hook. Even at church, people didn't dress this nice anymore.

  I pulled out a pair of white long johns from the donation box. They were a little snug, but they'd fit.

  Everything else wasn't going to work for my larger frame. It was all women's or children's clothing.

  "I believe you will find what you are looking for in the north sacristy," Remiel said. "That's the small room to the left of the altar."

  I made my way to the front of the cathedral down the side aisle and found a small door. I opened it carefully while the silhouettes of the two Hellhounds paced along the adjacent side of the building, still circling.

  Inside, I stepped into a small room tucked behind the sanctuary. The space was barely larger than a storage closet—just enough to hold a narrow cot pressed against the wall and a straight-back wooden chair beside it. A single oil lamp hung from a bracket, throwing a warm, muted glow over the room.

  Opposite the cot stood a tall, heavy wardrobe of dark-stained wood. When I pulled its doors open, the faint scent of incense and wool drifted out. Inside hung the priest's vestments and cassocks, along with a few everyday clothes—simple shirts, trousers, and a dark wool suit with a matching vest, the kind of older style you'd see in photos from the early 1900s.

  A short wooden table sat beneath the room's small window, cluttered with candles, matches, and a folded linen cloth. I snatched up the matches and pulled them into my inventory.

  "Remy… how did you know this was here?" I asked.

  "Because I was here in St. Cloud, Minnesota, before St. Marys was burned to the ground," Remiel said, slowly shaking his head.

  I started grabbing the clothes from the wardrobe and sliding them on, surprised to find that they fit me. Whoever this priest or pastor was, he must have been a pretty big guy.

  "Remy, why were you here? Why was an angel in Minnesota?"

  "I was sent here because it was believed the clergy of St. Marys was hiding a Nephilim in the basement," he said, looking down.

  "Wait, what? Are you telling me that you came here to hunt down and kill somebody in a church?"

  "Yes," the angel said quietly. "Jarek, I did not know what I know now. None of us did. I arrived in St. Cloud to find the city infested."

  "My kind came down on this place like a plague." Az cut in.

  "So what happened? Did you kill the Nephilim?" I asked, trying to hide my rage.

  "No. I don't know what happened. My first priority was to keep Hell from getting its hands on the Nephilim, and I engaged the demons as soon as I arrived."

  "Seems like that would've been in the papers if an angel suddenly appeared and started fighting demons in the street, Remy."

  "We cannot have a physical presence in your realm," he said. "As Azazel so colorfully pointed out, we work through your kind. We do not possess humans as demons do, but we work through the churches, through faith, and through the faithful."

  "In other words, they ask pretty please before they possess you, meatbags..." Azazel interjected.

  "So then who burned the church down? And what happened to the Nephilim inside?"

  "Nobody knows. This has been an enduring mystery. That is likely why St. Marys is now here in Purgatory—a reminder of my failure."

  "Okay, well… I don't know if you two have noticed, but if you're seeing what I'm seeing through my own eyes, take a good look around. Neither of you knuckleheads have said a damn thing," I gestured around us. "This… cathedral… it isn't on fire anymore. So did something change when we came in here, or what?"

  Azazel and Remiel stopped dead in their tracks as we stepped out of the sacristy. They looked around as if seeing the cathedral for the first time. The fires were completely gone now. The ceiling wasn't collapsed anymore. Sunlight poured in through the stained-glass windows as if nothing had ever happened. The whole place looked pristine, like it was ready for mass.

  "Remiel, I know exactly what you're thinking," Azazel said. "Those hounds out there will tear him apart."

  "Azazel, don't act like you can't see what I'm seeing. The only way all of this could be bleeding through is if there's an aperture nearby."

  "I don't see an aperture. What the hell are you guys talking about?"

  "Jarek, have you looked at your map since you woke up?" Remy asked.

  "No. Why?"

  I didn't wait for an answer. I opened the map and was surprised to see a detailed outline and floor plan. The top of the map now also had a title, St. Marys Cathedral. Out past the front door, there was a swirling red circle marking the aperture.

  Glancing down, I saw both Remy and Az staring up at me with looks of complete shock.

  "It's true," Remiel whispered. "He walks the path."

  "He? You mean we," Azazel snapped. "We walk the path. Remiel, we're all in this together. If he dies, we die. Remember?"

  "Again—what the Hell are you two talking about?"

  "Somehow, Mud, you're able to see apertures that we can't. Or at least, that we couldn't before."

  "Wait. Are you telling me if I go out that door, I can go right back to Earth?"

  "Yes," Remiel said, "but not where you were when you died. If you go through that aperture, you will find yourself here at this cathedral in 1920. Before the fire. What you are seeing around you now is reality seeping through the aperture. It is a way to interpret what's happening on the other side. But I have never seen it as clearly as you are now."

  "Whoa, slow down a second. So what you're saying is, if I walk through that door, I'm going to find myself in St. Cloud, Minnesota, in the 1920s?"

  "Yes," Remiel said. "Right in the middle of a battle being fought over what's hidden in this cathedral."

  "Remiel, if he walks through that door, he's going to be in front of a church in 1920 in a town full of possessed people," Azazel said. "Hell, Remiel—I'm there. You're there. If either of us were to catch wind that he was there too, we'd tear him apart ourselves."

  "But we didn't," Remiel said quietly. "And you know as well as I do that's not how the timeline works."

  "Shit!" Azazel stomped around in a small circle, pouting like an angry gremlin.

  "Azazel… what if he is the reason neither side was able to get to the Nephilim? We could have stopped ourselves."

  "Oh, for fuck's sakes," I snapped. "First off, both of you need to calm down, because I'm the one deciding what we do or don't do. But here's what I'm hearing: you're telling me there's a person in this church who's gonna get burned alive just because they're like me? Fuck the angels and fuck the demons. We're playing on our own side now—and you two better get on board."

  I grabbed the long coat from the coat rack by the door and put it on as I walked toward the aperture.

  "Alright, fine," Azazel said. "If we're gonna do this, Mud, we gotta lay down some ground rules if we're gonna survive. First off, you can't tell ANYBODY what you are. And you're not gonna be able to trust anybody there."

  "That is not entirely true," Remiel said. "None of the clergy here were willing to give me any information, even when I presented myself as a cardinal."

  "Okay, so you're saying the clergy of this church was definitely hiding something, and they didn't trust anybody—not even leaders from their own church?"

  "There's one other thing, Jarek," Azazel said.

  I was surprised he didn't call me Mud this time.

  "When you open that door and step through that aperture, that aperture is still going to be here—and those Hellhounds are going to follow. I'm willing to bet we'll have a little while though before they arrive. But they're going to be hunting you, so we're going to have to stay on our toes."

  I turned and watched the silhouettes of both hounds rounding the backside of the building, their synchronized patrol never stopping.

  "Well, there not going to be any farther from the aperture than they are right now." I took a breath. "Let's do this then."

  I reached up, grabbed a fedora off the wooden peg next to the door, slid it onto my head, and stepped through.

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