Relics

by Relics (retail) (epub)

  He glanced back at the man still standing in the doorway, glaring angrily at the two intruders. ‘What did you liken the Professor to, Genges?’

  ‘Like a turd that just won’t flush, Your Holiness.’

  The pontiff gave a momentary smirk, tickled by the remark. ‘Like a turd that just won’t flush? Never has an analogy been more apt as I’m sure Lusic here can attest to.’

  The traitorous Templar merely emitted a deep grunt as Pope Adrian continued, ‘And so here you are. I can’t tell you how surprised I was to get your message, followed by your unexpected arrival this evening.’ He let out a deep dramatic sigh. ‘Finally, we can do away with the charade because I can’t tell you how much I detest having to lie.’

  Harker steadied himself against the hospital gurney positioned next to him as he struggled to take in what he was witnessing. Behind him, Reed stood motionless in silent astonishment.

  ‘So you’re the fourth Magi brother, then, Wilcox?’

  John Wilcox gave a gracious bow. ‘In the flesh, Professor. But John Wilcox is no more, only Pope Adrian VII remains. I have been reborn, and with it comes the total absolution of all my sins. I am truly a man renewed.’

  Harker glanced down at the young girl lying on the bed, with a look of revulsion. ‘And it hasn’t taken you long to commit all new sins. My God, Wilcox, what are you doing?’

  The mention of Pope Adrian’s former identity caused the man’s smile to disappear, and he frowned in displeasure. ‘Do not call me by my former name, Alex. Wilcox is no more. You will address me now’, he smiled slyly ‘as your Holiness.’

  ‘Holy Father, what are you doing?’ Reed interrupted as he struggled to understand what he was hearing. ‘This doesn’t make any sense.’

  Wilcox placed both hands behind his back in a statesmanlike manner and eyed the cardinal priest unflinchingly. ‘I’m sorry it had to be like this, Father, and that you have become embroiled in something that was not yours to know, but, once explained, I hope you will understand the truth in it and join us.’ He glanced up at the grey wall clock hanging above the young girl’s hospital bed. ‘In just under thirty minute’s time, I will give a speech to world leaders revealing to them what I’m about to tell you. Of course, I’ll be obliged to omit some unpalatable truths, though ones I’m happy to enlighten you on right now.’

  The door behind Harker swung open, making everyone jump – even Wilcox himself – as a scruffy-looking man in thick glasses with greying hair and a thick moustache, poked his head into the room, appearing even more startled than anyone else.

  ‘What’s going on in here?’ The accent sounded German, and Harker instantly recognised it as from Berlin.

  ‘Do not be concerned, Dr Sephris.’ John Wilcox waved a dismissive hand in the air. ‘Everything is under control, so please return to your work.’

  Dr Spheris’s thick-lensed spectacles made his eyes look bulbous, thus exaggerating his appearance of dismay as his stare darted back and forth between Harker and Reed. ‘Yes, sir, but we must begin the procedure as soon as possible. I’ve already administered the drugs necessary to reverse the anaesthetic, but she will still need another shot to fully regain consciousness. The schedule must be rigidly observed and adhered to, so I must ask everyone to leave immediately. Of course, with the exception of Your Holiness.’

  ‘I understand, perfectly, Doctor, I only need a few minutes, and then you may begin.’

  The white-coated doctor assessed Harker and Reed once more, his eyes full of contempt, before slipping back through the door and closing it gently behind him.

  ‘How big is this place anyway?’ Harker asked, having glimpsed the corridors beyond over the doctor’s shoulder.

  ‘Bigger than you would think, but we’ll get to that later.’ Wilcox resumed his lecturing pose with his hands linked behind his back. ‘Allow me to start at the beginning and allow me to introduce ourselves. We’, – he indicated to both himself and Genges – ‘are Magi. Who have existed alongside the Christian Church since its inception by Emperor Constantine during the fourth century.’

  ‘Christianity goes back further than that,’ Reed interrupted defiantly.

  ‘That’s true, Father, but it had not yet evolved into the universal church we know today. It was still being defined simply by its followers until Constantine established it as the official creed of his entire empire. Once he had given his blessing, religious leaders set about deciding how this new church would be governed.’

  ‘You’re talking about the first Council of Nicaea?’

  ‘That’s correct, Professor. It was then decided by what system of beliefs it would be guided and the very methods by which Christianity would operate were resolved. Every aspect of faith scrutinised and voted upon, including the most important – the insistence that Jesus Christ was the son of God made flesh by the Father and not just a simple human being. This religion was to provide the unifying ingredient in a mighty empire that had begun tearing itself apart.’

  John Wilcox smiled proudly as he continued to pace the black lino-covered floor. ‘My forebearers …’ He stopped and glanced in Genges’s direction. ‘Our forebearers were present at the first council but also present was a dissenting family, one of whose current spawn I believe you have already met?’

  ‘Brulet.’ Harker guessed.

  ‘Yes, that freakish bastard who murdered our father.’ A large grin spread across his face. ‘A murder that was avenged earlier tonight, but I digress. My Magi ancestors believed that the new Church should have the prime authority to create and control the culture of the world and to shepherd its people like a flock. Brulet’s predecessors, on the other hand, believed that the Church should observe more closely the path which they claimed Jesus Christ envisaged, where people were not a flock to be guided but merely individual followers of the new religion – followers that practised the tenets of the Church as they interpreted them and did not rely on guidance from the necessary higher authorities to steer them through their daily lives. That might sound great in theory, but it meant there was no control. And, my friends, human beings need to be controlled, for that is part of their genetic make-up. In the modern age, there are many who argue differently, but I can assure you they are wrong. After the instinct for survival, the need to belong, to follow a leader, is without question the strongest of all human characteristics. Indeed, it is built into the core of every living person on this planet, whether in terms of fashion, social customs, or religion. We all need to belong to something and freedom of thought’, Wilcox shook his head knowingly, ‘is just a myth.’

  Genges and Lusic nodded in agreement, their eyes never leaving Harker’s as if their stares alone had the power to convince him.

  ‘After much debate during the Nicaean Council, it was thankfully the Magi’s sense of logic that prevailed, and so the Catholic Church as we know it was born. Brulet’s ancestors, on the other hand, continued to disagree, and, worried through concern that they could do real damage to the fragile structure of the new Church, that motley crew of beggars were stripped of all positions and authority before rightly being banished from the Catholic world. But, as with all vermin, they did not disappear entirely, and as the Church grew in strength, bringing enlightenment to the peoples of the Roman Empire and beyond, so did Brulet’s predecessors lurk nearby in the shadows, always a step behind yet gaining strength, wealth, and followers. Their only aim, thereafter, was to sway the path of the Catholic Church towards their own misguided set of beliefs. The clan spent hundreds of years on the periphery of Christendom, building up this political power and wealth until the formation of the Templars gave them an opportunity to infiltrate the Church once again. In that guise, for almost two centuries, they concentrated on amassing a fortune in treasure and land, mainly donated by the gullible, and, only after years of operation, were they finally discovered for the dogs they were. It was then that the Templars were formally disbanded by Pope Clement V but not before they had arranged to have him murdered under the fa
çade of natural causes.’

  ‘That’s not the way they tell it,’ remarked Harker sarcastically.

  ‘I’m sure they don’t, Professor. Still, if you knew them as well as I do, then you’d know never to trust a Templar. Anyway, the remaining few fled to Europe with a vast fortune capable of buying nations, and they did just that. It was they, in the guise of advisors, who were responsible for convincing the British King Henry VIII to divorce his first wife and thus break with the Church. In doing so, he unwittingly laid the foundations of protestant heresy throughout England. And as England grew in power, so did the Protestant faith eventually spread around the globe, taking authority away from the true church and placing it squarely in the hands of secular interests.’

  Wilcox clenched his fists together and rubbed his fists as if preparing for a fight. ‘And where has that got us? We now live in a world where most people are solely out for themselves, caring little for anyone else. They still like to think of themselves as good Christians, but that’s all a façade. You only have to witness how such people ignore the plight of the homeless and less fortunate members of society to understand that. They are perfectly happy to complain about how unfair and difficult life is for such unfortunates so long as they don’t have to be in the same room with them. Hypocrisy has become the standard in our daily lives and the norm is something people rarely question.’

  Harker glanced towards Father Reed who stood motionless and silent, simply gaping in disbelief. As for himself, he felt more disturbed than shocked, since the real bolt from the blue regarding this situation had hit him earlier during his session with Brulet. But what really concerned him was that some of what Wilcox was preaching did resonate with him – not a lot but some of it.

  ‘That’s a pretty bleak outlook you have there, Wilcox. And besides, how do the Magi fit into all this? They are sure as hell not an accepted part of the Catholic Church.’

  Wilcox eyes glinted with an unsettling anger. ‘As I mentioned, the Magi were formed by my ancestors shortly after the first council of Nicaea. Many others deemed our beliefs too radical, and, even though they accepted our ideas on the nature of the Church, we were also seen as having become too powerful. The truth is that we were seen as a potential threat to the new Church’s leadership and so were relegated to the fringes. But we survived, building up wealth and guiding Catholicism’s path when we could – but more importantly, we kept the Templar threat at bay. Over the centuries, we have protected the Catholic Church from liberals hell-bent on idiotic changes and have even managed to install our own people into the upper echelons of Catholic hierarchy. But I am the first of the Magi ever to be ordained as Pope, and I intend to make it count. Do you know why, my good Professor?’

  ‘I think I might have an idea,’ Harker replied.

  Wilcox laughed sarcastically. ‘Of course you do, you know everything, don’t you?’

  Before Harker could say more, the Magi leader stepped forward and leant calmly over the hospital bed. ‘But you’re my guest here, so allow me. You know what changed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries more than in any other? Religion, and more importantly Protestantism. This new diluted form of Christianity has emboldened people to speak their own minds and forget God’s very laws that generations before them have adhered to. Eventually, television took over and, with it, a new form of social commentary. Suddenly, our culture and morals were decided upon by newspapers and popular entertainers, regarding what’s acceptable and what is not. And with that came the collapse of traditional Catholic values. Community spirit and clear morality have been replaced by hard liquor, hard drugs, and even harder pornography. Some now speak of a broken society and broken homes, but the truth is that it is people’s minds that have been broken. And that’s when the Magi decided to save the world from itself and to restore spiritual order from the ashes of psychological chaos. Throughout the sixties, the standards in Catholic morals began to lower and with it church attendance, a trend that has steadily worsened with every passing decade. So a plan was formulated that would bring people back into the fold. It has taken over forty years to prepare for this, a plan to resurrect the only entity that could stem the tide of evil that has plagued human consciousness for too long. The entity of Jesus Christ himself. So the Magi set about collecting those very relics you had in your possession earlier tonight until they were returned to us by our newest associate and ex-Templar …’

  Lusic gave a proud nod as Wilcox continued, taking great delight in the revelations.

  ‘And once these items had been discovered in the depths of the Vatican archives, two programmes were initiated. One was to place as many Magi into the Vatican hierarchy as possible, which as you can see has been a stunning success. The other was to begin the process of bringing Jesus Christ himself back to life.’

  Wilcox then gently placed his hand on the side bar of the metal bed in which the young pregnant woman lay sleeping. ‘And this too has been a success.’

  Harker’s mind began to soar as he digested this latest disclosure. ‘You’re telling me that this girl is pregnant with Jesus Christ?’

  Wilcox interrupted, his excitement barely contained. ‘Well, a clone of Christ. The DNA was extracted from the relics and worked upon with huge sums of funding from both Magi coffers and siphoned off by our operatives placed within the Vatican. It is only in the past ten years that science finally caught up with our aspirations, and even then, there was a degree of trial and error and a few casualties along the way in order to get the process absolutely right. We then had to wait until a Magi Pope could be elected before the final stage might be undertaken.’

  Those images of the contorted faces of the Angels in the orphanage flashed through Harker’s mind. ‘Casualties? You’re saying that those poor children were …’ He could barely voice the words. ‘The result of your failed attempts at the cloning process … Christ’s clones gone wrong?’

  Wilcox nodded sadly. ‘Yes, I’m afraid so, and, unfortunately, it could not be helped. Like I said, trial and error, but once born, they were cared for in that orphanage you yourself visited.’

  ‘Cared for!’ Harker yelled, struggling to contain the sheer revulsion he was feeling. ‘Those poor children were burnt alive. Deliberately.’

  Again Wilcox nodded. ‘Yes, a sad but unavoidable occurrence – one that was brought about by your friend Archie Dwyer. When requested to safeguard the relics, it seems he nosed around far more than he should have. He uncovered Magi documents pertaining to the cloning process and the Angels, as he later called them. When I found out that he continued to visit them, I realised it was just a matter of time before he dragged everything out into the open, and so the evidence had to be destroyed.’

  ‘You mean you burnt those kids alive just to keep your twisted plans a secret?’ Harker shouted.

  Wilcox smiled wistfully. ‘Yes, I gave them life and then took it away again. As I said, unfortunate but necessary.’

  From behind Harker, Father Reed suddenly sprang forward, his arms outstretched, clearly outraged at what he was being told, but he made it only a few steps before Genges was upon him with lightning speed and precision, his arm-sword halting the larger man, the blade nuzzling into the crook of his neck.

  Wilcox hardly moved an inch, the confidence in his younger brother’s abilities absolute. ‘I will put that down to natural reaction, Father Reed. I, too, was appalled when I realised the corner Archie Dwyer’s actions had backed us into.’

  Reed struggled uselessly in Genges’s steel grip. ‘You’re a monster,’ he gasped.

  ‘I know,’ Wilcox agreed ‘But I have become a monster only so all Christians can regain what they have so sadly lost over the past hundred years – belief and confidence in their faith. This is a burden I must bear like Jesus, who never wanted to give himself up to the Romans but did so in order to save the souls of all people.’

  ‘Don’t even dare compare yourself to the son of God, you sick bastard.’

  ‘So how did yo
u get Archie to kill himself?’ Harker cut the ex-marine off mid-sentence. He could see this was about to turn into a slagging match and that wouldn’t get him any closer to finding Claire. ‘Did you have to use blackmail?’

  ‘No, nothing like that.’ Wilcox looked genuinely insulted. ‘Father Dwyer took the whole tragedy on to his own shoulders. He felt personally responsible for the deaths, and, in a way, he was right. If he had not got involved, those children would still be alive today. And with the realisation that he was the instigator of Christ’s death four times over … Well, his suicide then becomes understandable but not before he stole our relics and sent the letter which dragged you into all this.’

  Harker rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to assimilate the fantastic yet horrifying final few pieces of the puzzle. ‘But why did you need those relics? You already had your clone.’

  Wilcox’s face began to pale, and a grim smile appeared. ‘Why? Because shortly I will reveal to world leaders a story destined to become the new gospel – a story calculated to affect every Christian mind on the face of the planet. It tells how a virgin peasant girl came to the Church miraculously with child and how we came to realise this was Jesus Christ himself and the beginning of the second coming. I will explain how we tested the newborn baby’s blood with that found on sacred relics held in the Church’s possession for over two thousand years and how the DNA matched perfectly. Then independent scientists from every nation on our planet will be given access to these relics, whose carbon dating will corroborate our claim. Millions of people, Christian and otherwise will realise they are witnessing the second coming of Christ and will flock to the Catholic Church with a renewed fervour, revitalising the faith and imbuing it with a power that has been draining away for too long. The returned messiah is to be brought up by the Magi, who will supervise the young Christ child until he is old enough to become the Church’s voice. This glorious event will herald a new golden age for the Catholic Church, but this time its hegemony will last not just for two thousand years but for two hundred thousand. It is this renewed faith that human colonies will eventually transport to the stars.’