Chapter 6

“So what’s our destination Maggie?” Augustine took one last glimpse of New York before he stepped outside of the gates that separated the city from the outside world… and the monsters that accompanied it.

“New Detroit.” Maggie was relieved to be outside of New York.  She hadn’t traveled outside of the city since she was a little girl. She was excited and hoped to have many great adventures as she traveled with Augustine.

“New Detroit,” Augustine came to a halt upon hearing the destination, “I thought the old man said it wasn’t that far!”

Margarett had just about enough of Augustine’s childish behavior and turned around with a glare.  “Would you STOP acting like a five year old? I swear I didn’t come on this journey to baby-sit.”  With that, she continued her way to the highway that would take them straight into Michigan.  Augustine sulked behind Margarett as she led the way.

Upon reaching the highway, they were greeted by many other travelers.  Some on foot, some in automobiles, and some even in airships.  Augustine was excited.  He had never seen an airship before. “Look at that!”  He said in awe as one passenger airship flew by.  “Why couldn’t we have taken that to New Detroit?”

Margarett shrugged her shoulders as she replied, “We’re broke, remember? Father only gave us enough to buy food and to stay at an inn if necessary.”

“Oh, right.”  Augustine said in a dispirited tone.  “Well let’s get going then.”

As they walked along the side of the road, Augustine became restless and asked Margarett a question: “Hey Maggie, isn’t New Detroit some sort of automobile city? Don’t they make cars?”

Margarett raised an eyebrow and answered, “Yeah they did, about five hundred years ago. Nobody even remembers the name of the company, but they became bankrupt. My father said that back then, many people were out of a job and the economy of Old Detroit almost crashed. Fortunately, another company from the same area invented the modern Airship about a century later. Jobs began pouring in and so did the money. Soon the economy was restored and the name of the city changed to New Detroit to dedicate the city’s revival.”

Augustine was astounded at the knowledge that Margarett possessed, and she noticed by his expression. “I am a librarian you know.” she said.

He raised an eyebrow. “Well since when did librarians learn martial arts?”

She kept her sights forward as she replied, “Since my father began teaching me.”

The two continued their journey until dusk, when they decided to get to an exit and find a place to stay for the night.  They were close to the state boarder of Vania.  They arrived at a small village called Clarity shortly after using an exit.

As soon as they stepped foot into the town, Augustine stopped almost instantly and frowned. Margarett thought he was going to complain about why we had to stop here when she noticed his serious expression.  “Augustine, what is it?”

“Here they come.”  Augustine drew his light blade and took a fighting stance as three black shadowy figures appeared before them.  Their appearance was that of a normal sized human covered in darkness.  Two of them held swords and one appeared to carry no weapon at all.

“Something’s wrong. Why aren’t they attacking?”  Augustine was feeling out the surroundings.  It seems those three were the only of their kind in the immediate area. Margarett held her spear at the ready and was just about to attack when Augustine stopped her.  The monster that held no weapon stood forward and pointed towards Augustine, then got into a fighting stance. Apparently, it used its fists.

Augustine withdrew his sword and stepped forward.  Margarett shouted, “This is no time to show off!”

He looked back with a smile, “I trust you’ll watch my back. This one wants to fight hand to hand, and it’s been awhile since I’ve fought this way.  Trust me on this.”

The creature suddenly lunged forward with its left fist heading the attack. He dodged to the side as his opponent swiftly turned around to try again. “What a cheap shot! Did you see that Maggie!?”  She had no time to reply as she was quickly confronted by the two blade-wielding sins. She ran off in the opposite direction to find a more suitable environment to fight in.

“Damn.”  Augustine saw the creature coming, and instead of dodging to the side, he countered by grabbing its arm as it approached and flipped it over his shoulder, slamming it hard into the earth.  Augustine stood back to avoid any tricks that it might have up its sleeve.  The creature recovered itself and stood ready once again.  “You just don’t give up do you?”  This time, Augustine attacked first and tried a roundhouse kick to its face.  Unfortunately, this didn’t go as planned as the creature managed to catch his foot as it was about to strike the creatures head.

“Uh-oh”

The creature, grabbing his leg with both hands, swung Augustine around three times and then launched him into a building.  He flew through the brick wall and came to a halt inside the building.  Before Augustine could fully recover from the shock, the creature was upon him, and had drawn its rapier-fashioned blade.  Augustine barely had time to summon one of his swords to deflect the downwards slash that would’ve been his demise.  The creature stumbled back due to the force of Augustine’s deflection which gave him enough time to get back on his feet.  Starting to get annoyed, Augustine summoned his second sword and flung it at the creature.  It successfully deflected the first attack but could not do the same for the follow up attack by Augustine which left it headless.  Its head instantly dissipated and the body fell to its knees before dissipating itself.

The creature dispatched, Augustine ran towards the sounds of battle that came from a back alley.  When he arrived, there was only one Sin left as one of them accidentally dispatched its own ally.  Margarett was making short work of the Sin by this time. Augustine speculated as he watched Margarett’s swift and accurate movements.  The Sin was growing weary and swung his blade into the side of a building where it got stuck.  Margarett saw this as an opportunity and struck the Sin down.  It dissipated into the air and both heroes were at ease.  

“Thanks for the help, Augustine. Really,” She brushed her hair back behind her ears and shook her head at him.  He placed his hands behind his head and turned around.

“It’s not like you needed any.  Come on; let’s find a place to stay.”  He waited for her to catch up.  Together they set off towards the village inn.

Upon entering the door, Augustine was struck with a 2X4 piece of wood.  It broke on contact with his hard head.  “OW! What the hell is wrong with you!?”  His eyes met those of a middle-aged woman.  She immediately dropped the piece of wood and started to apologize.  “Forgive me! I thought you were one of those monsters!”  She bowed in apology.  Margarett was bent over laughing.

“You gotta admit, you do give off that creepy-weirdo vibe.”

“Bite me.”  Augustine rubbed his head in pain and didn’t see how almost having a concussion was funny.

“Again, I’m so sorry!”  The woman must’ve bowed fifteen times before Margarett told her it was no big deal.  “He’ll be fine, I’m sure it happens to him all the time.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?”  He was still rubbing the bruise on his head and was getting quite annoyed at Margarett’s smart remarks.

“Oh hush, Augustine you’ll live.  We’d like a single room with twin beds, please.”  She asked politely to the woman who turned out to be the owner.  “How much will that be?”

The woman shook her head.  “Oh please, I couldn’t possibly charge you after hitting that young man in the head.”  Margarett raised an eyebrow and looked at Augustine as he still continued to rub his head.  

“No, please, I insist, how much?”

“Margarett!” he said in frustration.

“Fine, fine.”  She thanked the woman. Margarett and Augustine were shown into their room and were bid goodnight.

“You are just so funny Margarett. An absolute riot,” Augustine began to undress in front of Margarett and she turned around in embarrassment.  “What’s the matter? Never seen a naked man before?”  Margarett kept asking herself who on earth this “man” that everyone was talking about could be.

“I’m just not interested in watching you undress, that’s all.”  She sat down on her bed and set her things under it.

Augustine rolled his eyes and got into his bed.  “Sorry I asked. Night, Maggie.”

Margarett waited until she was sure that he was sleeping, then undressed quickly. Who knows what would happen if Augustine saw her naked.  She blushed at the thought and got into bed. “He would probably just stare like an idiot the way most guys do whenever they see anything naked, especially if he has never seen a woman naked before.  No doubt he has.  Well, no sense in worrying about such a stupid thing. Goodnight, father,” She prayed.


Augustine awoke and found he stood in a brightly-lit room.  The room itself looked like a living room.  A large window was open, and a light breeze filled the room with a familiar fragrance of roses and sweet violet.  He took one step forward and froze as the song “Clair De Lune” filled his ears.  It seemed to flow from the piano in front of the open window.  Thoughts of his mother began to fill his mind as he walked around the piano slowly to see who was playing the piano.  He froze again as he saw her.  She hadn’t aged a day since she died and was even wearing the same clothes.

“Mother…”

She didn’t look up at him, or even seem to react to his presence.  She continued to play his favorite song without missing a single key.  Augustine stared, and was about to burst into tears when at last she spoke.

“My little Augustine, how you’ve grown.”

Augustine nodded and was trying his best to keep from shedding his dirty tears in front of his mother.  “What is the meaning of this? Why are you appearing in my dreams all of a sudden? Why wouldn’t you do this during the times I needed you most?” Augustine began to raise his voice but quickly calmed down as he continued to listen to the song. “Tell me…why you had to die…”

His mother continued playing as she spoke.  “I knew that one day I would have to leave you Augustine.  I was prepared to protect you with my life, even though I wouldn’t survive.  You have to understand, Augustine.  You are a very special child.”

“Special? Is that what you call it?”  Augustine began to raise his voice once more. “I’m a freak mother! Ever since I was little I’ve always seen horrible things and nobody would believe me. Kids would call me a freak because I would always try to tell them that there were creatures following them wherever they went! You were never there to tell me it was all right, that I was just different, special in some way…”

“I’m sorry, Augustine.”  Her fingers moved effortlessly across the keys of the piano, playing each key exactly when it was supposed to be played.  This was a lullaby that she would play for Augustine on the nights when he was too scared to go to bed because of the creatures, or more correctly, the sins.  “Listen to me, Augustine.  You have to get those stones.  It’s the only way you’ll be able to stop what Lucifer plans on doing.”

“So the Devil does exist does he?  He killed you because of me, right?  I’m the reason you had to die, right?  How can God expect me to listen to him if he wouldn’t even help me when I was growing up?  I prayed every single day that he would help me with this curse of mine.  He never did anything.  He doesn’t care about me; he just needs me to save everyone else.  I’m just a tool to him.”

“That’s not true, Augustine.  You are one of his most beloved children.  He made you special so that you would help him.  He gave you the choice, and that’s as good a gift as any of God’s children.  Don’t you understand that?”

“Choice!  Free will!  That’s where He messed up, mother.  Why would he go and give us such a stupid thing if he knew what was going to happen?  He expects us to worship and praise him but instead of all of us doing that in peace, he gave us the ability to rebel and to live against such a thing.  God is a fool.”

“A fool?” As the music progressed, its pace picked up, along with his mother’s temper.  “Is he a fool for believing that all of his children would be loyal to him?  Is he a fool because one of his best creations turned against him, and is now forever tainting the world with evil?  Is he a fool for creating you in hopes of being able to stop the evil from overtaking all of humanity?  You don’t know him, Augustine.  At this rate, you never will.  He gave us free will so that we may choose him over sin willingly, not because he is a fool.  The real fool is you, for thinking he would want his children to have to believe in him, not want to.”

Augustine stood in shame.  Lowering his head, he spoke.  “I just don’t understand why he had to take you away from me…why he let that happen.”  Augustine clenched his fist in pure rage.  “Even if it kills me mother, I will avenge your death. I will kill whoever was involved in your murder.  I will also stop whatever this Devil is planning to do, because he was connected to your murder as well.”

His mother said nothing, a lone tear falling down her cheek.  “I’m so sorry, my little angel…”

Augustine saw the tear glistening in the light.  He thought he was seriously going to break down and cry, just like he did the day his mother died.  Everything began to slowly fade away, along with the music that his mother was playing.  He watched as his mother faded away, never looking away from her face until she had completely disappeared.

“Mother…”

Everything around him began to fade into white; the piano, then the room, and the finally himself. However, his dream did not end there, as his ears were quickly filled with an all too familiar sound: the melancholy sound of rain.  He found himself in a city.  It was dark and the only light came from the streetlights.

“Where…” Before he could ask anything, he noticed he was holding somebody in his arms.  She had blonde hair and her clothes were tattered and torn.  She had wounds all over her body, and was barely breathing.  Augustine couldn’t see her eyes as her hair had covered them.  He didn’t know what to do except cry for help.

“Somebody help! Anybody!” he cried, “Please don’t let her die….”

He found himself shaking uncontrollably.  His mouth was dry, it was hard to breathe, and he couldn’t feel his legs.  Augustine was crying.  The bloody tears flowed freely from his eyes.  He had no idea why he was crying but he couldn’t help it.

Suddenly he felt a hand upon his cheek, and opened his eyes to see a pair of crimson red eyes looking at his bloody and sad face.  Her lips moved, but he couldn’t hear what she said.  She smiled and blinked out tears that had filled her own eyes.

Augustine saw her hand begin to droop, but he quickly grabbed her hand into his and held it to his face and he watched her eyes close, her smile fade, and her head slowly turn to rest on his chest.

“Why is this happening?  Why don’t you ever take me instead…why…?”

Augustine wept freely, just as he did when his mother died.  He cried for what seemed like an eternity…


“Augustine, wake up,” Margarett had gotten up and lightly tapped Augustine’s shoulder.  He opened his eyes to see he was back in the bed he had fallen asleep in. Rising slowly out of bed, Margarett gasped and covered her mouth in shock.  “Augustine, your eyes…”

“I know, Margarett.” Augustine said quietly. He got up and went to wash his face of the blood that had been shed from his own sadness.

“Augustine…” Margarett wanted to follow him to make sure he was alright, but something told her she shouldn’t bother him. She took the bloodstained sheets and told the Innkeeper that her partner had gotten a bloody nose during the night.

“You ready?” Augustine came out of the bathroom ready to go, as if nothing had ever happened.  This was something he had learned to do, having had to live his whole childhood pretending to be okay.  Margarett thought better than to ask so she nodded and the both of them bid farewell to the Innkeeper.

They remained silent until they reached the highway, then Margarett felt like she just had to ask or she would burst: “Bad dream?”  She tried to catch his eye but found that he was staring into basically nothing.

“No,” he blinked and looked at her with the saddest eyes she had ever seen, “More like a rude awakening.”

Lucifer stared down into the dark depths of Hell, smiling as he witnessed countless souls writhe in pain and agony.  He laughed in a glorious manner and looked down at the foot of his throne where the Ace of Clubs, Vergil kneeled.

“Look at them Vergil, the poor souls that my father has abandoned.  They are eager to unleash their malice upon the world that has tossed them into the depths of my kingdom.”  Lucifer stood up from his throne and quickly made his way to Vergil, pulling him up to have his eyes meet his.  “It’s so close Vergil; I can almost taste the bittersweet taste of revenge on my father.  Soon I shall rein all of existence and my father shall bow down,” he dropped Vergil as he had been holding him in the air by his collar, “to me.”

Vergil stood back up and nodded in approval. “Your plan is a most devious and remarkable one, your Sinfulness.”

“Yes…it is, Vergil.  The only thing in my way is that pitiful excuse for a saint.”  Lucifer turned walking back towards his throne, and sat down with a sigh.  “How goes Mary’s quest?”

Vergil nodded and spoke.  “She has already found the fire-stone and is staying in New Detroit of Michigan.  We have no doubt that the boy is on his way as we speak.”

Lucifer placed his elbow upon the arm of the throne and leaned his head onto his hand, crossing his legs in the process.  “It was sheer luck we got her before my father had a chance to send his lackeys to obtain her when her mother died.   I’ve been searching for a way to use my own fathers power against him but to no avail, until now,” Lucifer began to laugh once again, “And it’s all thanks to you father!  If it wasn’t for one of your many mistakes in the human race, I would’ve never been able to send anyone with enough brains to carry out a plan.”

Vergil began to shake uncontrollably.  He had never seen his master so eager or excited.  “Master, why did you send her to that laboratory instead of bringing her here directly?”

Lucifer looked down and replied with a smile.  “Don’t you see Vergil?  I wanted her to begin hating the humans and willingly come to my side.  I couldn’t take the chance of her not accepting my plan at first.  This way, she came to me without so much as a “what if”.  Go figure that I would try my father’s idea of acceptance rather than force.  In the end, it will be his downfall.  Now then, off with you.  Do not bother me until further reports of Mary are to be made, understood?”  Lucifer glared down at Vergil, “And they had better be good ones.”

Vergil turned in fear and ran towards the exit, leaving Lucifer to his own thoughts.

“Soon father, we shall see who the real God is.”