Chapter 25- Mathew Gannon

Chapter 25

 

Mathew Gannon

 

           

            The streets were vacant but for the few usual night dwellers. Mathew only had eyes for one though, Damaska. If all the whispers spoke true, Damaska would be meeting an Archangel this very night, in Lucifer’s Tomb.

For days he had been tracing Damaska, as Dark Charles commanded, hearing and watching everything he did. The criminal had not turned out a dealer as originally predicted when first seen leaving the Azure Palace. He was a creature of the streets. Wandering from one place to the next, never lingering longer than he had to, always speaking in whispers. This man was a messenger of many trades.

Usually he delivered messages and payments. Once he delivered a message to a family that caused them to move from their home that very same day. In a peculiar occasion he delivered a child he stole from someone else. Sometimes his messages came in red steel, where the receiver found an unexpected end to their life. Damaska had many clients, but none ever seemed to be consistent. None except Gravure Ilianos.

Aside from the first time Mathew laid eyes on the pair, he had seen them in two other separate occasions. Each in a different location but dealing with the same subject. Angels. The meetings were discussed in private areas in public places. Their words of note shielded in coded messages, easily decipherable by any Mentor in the Shadow. The most consistent fact being that Damaska would be meeting an Angel in Lucifer’s Tomb.

Lucifer’s Tomb was one of the many monuments within Eden. Every Archangel had one built in honor of their name. Lucifer’s Tomb was one of the less visited ones, said to be cursed. The people of Eden believed that those that entered the tomb uninvited where hunted down by the Archangel of Wrath. Their soul forever lost to never reach the heavens. Of course, superstitions like that did little in repelling a nonbeliever like Mathew. The only soul that would be forever lost tonight would be Damaska’s.

            Mathew traced him across the streets of the Holy City through its rooftops. Masked in the darkness, watchful and quiet as a wolf stalking its prey. Damaska was oblivious, hidden beneath the hood of his coat, crossing inconspicuously before the eyes of all but Mathew. The road to Lucifer’s Tomb was not much further. As they drew closer, Damaska became instantaneously more cautious, glancing in all directions as he traversed the dark alleys. Mathew remained pressed against the stonewalls, leaping quietly from rooftop to rooftop, balcony to balcony, hidden from all but the doves sitting ever watchful in the branches of Yggdrasil.

            When they finally reached the tomb, the monument lived up to its unwelcome appearance. Lucifer’s Tomb was located in a tight courtyard, below the statue of an angel with large menacing wings wrapped around stone stairs leading to a dark place below, a scythe in its hands. Mathew allowed Damaska to enter the tomb for a while before trailing behind him to avoid being seen and prematurely interrupting the scheduled meeting. A secret conversation between True Believers was more likely to provide answers than torturing the radicals.

            When Mathew finally decided it was time to pursue his target, he quietly climbed down. Silently he paced his way through the dark stairs below. The stairs descended longer than he expected but as he drew nearer to the floor below he could see flickering lights. At the bottom he reached a long linear hallway lit by torches on both sides. Only one way to go from here.

            Mathew armed himself with a revolver in his right hand and knife in his other. Cautiously and quietly he started walking through the long linear hall, clueless as to what awaited him on the other side. He was put on edge by the lack of noise below. Even a whisper would echo in this tomb and yet he heard nothing. His fears were soon laid to rest at the sound of conversing voices.

            The hallway opened up to a wide dusty room. The bricks here were golden, illuminated brilliantly by the torches on the edges of the wall, each depicting holy images. At the other end of the room was a stone door with the imprint of a cross, surrounded by a ring consisting of four spikes heading in all four corners. Lucifer’s cross.

            The door was slightly opened, enough for a slim person to squeeze in through without having to force the heavy door open. Carelessness or an invitation to death? Mathew decided it didn’t matter which. He’d come too far to return empty handed. Before entering he would eavesdrop on whatever he could though. He pressed his ear to the side of the door to listen in on their conversation.

            “…after which he went on to take his own life. Sinners, may they all burn in hell,” said Damaska’s familiar voice.”

            “And they shall. All who turn from God, turn from eternal paradise and into eternal damnation,” said a melodic unfamiliar voice.

            “What of the fallen one?” The fallen one?

            “Uriel still has faith he will return down the path of God.”

            “His Divinity is wisest, I would have faith as well.” There was a short pause. “From his Divinity, Raphael. I’ll take no more of your time, my Divinity. It is time I be on my way.”

            “You have my blessing. May God offer you protection.”

            Mathew pressed himself against the wall holding his breath. As soon as Damaska stepped back through the door, he was on him like a wolf with bared fangs. Mathew wrapped his arm around his neck and pressed the revolver to his temple. He then dragged his captive back inside the room beyond the stone door.

            Lucifer’s Tomb looked more like a ritual chamber than a tomb. Seven pillars uniformly circled the round room, a tomb located directly at the center. Each pillar bore Lucifer’s cross. Pressed against the walls were statues of angels, each holding a sword with a fiery torch for a hilt.

At the center, sitting atop the tomb, was a man wearing the crimson robes of a Cardinal with a hooded mantle, a white devilish grin beneath its shadow.  “It appears at last a man takes the angel’s invitation,” said the hooded man. “I was beginning to grow tired of setting up meetings absent attendees.”

            Mathew grinned back, arm still locked tightly around Damaska’s neck with gun barrel at his temple. “I’m afraid this man won’t let you play out things as you might’ve hoped. To whom do I owe the honor?”

            He removed his hood. “You stand in the Archangel’s very tomb.”

            So this is Lucifer. “I expected someone much more menacing to be the Archangel of Wrath. Aren’t you a little young to be a Cardinal?”

            The middle-aged man stopped smiling. “I don’t enjoy your audacity, mortal.”

            THOMP!

BANG!

            Damaska’s body hit the ground beside Mathew’s gun. Mathew’s right hand ran red with blood from where the bolt pierced his hand. He raised his arm to launch his knife at Lucifer but another bolt ripped through his wrist causing him to drop the knife. That did not stop the Mentor though, like a demon possessed, he charged directly at the Archangel. Thomp! Mathew fell to one knee, still attempting to reach his target. Thomp! Another bolt pierced his last uninjured limb.

            Lucifer stood up, revealing a crossbow beneath his crimson robes. “Your effort is admirable, but you’re mere man.” He moved to tower above Mathew. “Men gaze up at the heavens towards their rightful rulers.”

            Mathew spit on his robe. “A f*****g talking Grimoire. Kill me now and spare me the torture!”

            “Your time will come. For, all who are born in blood die in blood. But God is merciful. Even sinners can find redemption if set back on the path of God. I shall give you such mercy, so that you may yet find your place in paradise.”

            “F**k your paradise! If you expect me to sell out Judicium, best kill me now.”

            Lucifer stepped on the bolt inside his left wrist, inflicting immense pain. “See, the thing about nonbelievers…it’s hard for them to stand for something when they believe in nothing. You will break. You will talk. And I will kill each and every single one of the sinners the Fuhrer has sent upon us.”

            Mathew laughed. “Try your worst. You don’t know who you’re f*****g with, Archangel. You’d best start praying to your imaginary friend up above.”

            “Best you find something to believe in, mortal. You’ll need one by the time I’m through with you. There are no lies before the face of God.”

Author's Note

I don't expect you to care for Mathew Ganon lol but with Charles's Mentor captured what are your predictions? And for the brief moment there, what are your thoughts on the second Archangel we see?

Reviews

[Dark Rider]

Okay, I actually like Matthew. And I wonder how he will get out of his situation. I loved this chapter, like always. The only thing wrong I saw is that you called Matthew Caius when Damaska was coming out of the tomb. Other than that, it was great! I can't wait to read the next chapter.

[Cynical_Art]

Lmfao I didn't even notice XD time to fix that on an edit

[Dark Rider]

XD Yeah, but I have those mistakes too.