Harker rubbed his forehead with both hands and sucked in deeply as the group watched him like Hawks, waiting for his reaction. ‘OK, let’s just put aside for a moment what you’re telling me and instead answer me two simple questions. Firstly, if this is the blessed candle, then what is the other one I found? And, secondly, what has any of this got to do with Father Davies?’
Henri once more dived into further explanation with vigour. ‘Our meeting with Father Davies was no coincidence, Alex, as we sought him out because he was the only one who had access.’
‘To what?’
‘To Cardinal Vicci’s original Prophecy which is locked away in one of the securest places on earth… the secret Vatican archives. It is still there, after centuries, unacknowledged by the Church who deem it nonsense, but at the same time they keep it carefully under lock and key. Father Davies was not an exorcist, as you may have been led to believe, but an advisor to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.’
‘That’s the part of the Vatican responsible for promulgating and defending all Catholic doctrine,’ Harker volunteered, knowing it well because he still had friends there. ‘And safeguarding against heresy in the old days, like the time of the Spanish inquisition.’
‘Indeed, the oldest section of the Roman Curia. Due to his position he was able to gain access to Cardinal Vicci’s original Prophecy and what he read caused a complete loss of his faith, so in turn he joined us.’
This revelation came as real shock to Harker because he already knew that Father Davies had lost his faith, but to put it all down to simply the reading of a prophecy was truly bizarre. ‘So what did it say?’
For the first time Henri looked genuinely distressed. ‘That’s the whole point; he wouldn’t tell us. But whatever it said, led to him discovering the second blessed candle, which until then we had no idea even existed.’
‘If he didn’t actually tell you anything, then why do you think his “possession” and subsequent death were in any way related to the prophecy?’
‘Because of this,’ Monique replied and she stepped over to the edge of the table, where she clicked a switch on its underside.
Embedded in the surface, a small LED bulb lit up and focused directly at the glowing red stone, and in doing so projected an image onto the white wall opposite. At first it was blurry but she then manoeuvred the stone gently in its support groove until the image became clearer.
It consisted of symbols and, as Harker leaned closer to the wall and squinted, he began to recognise them as letters. ‘It’s Aramaic,’ he confirmed, ‘the language of the Israelites.’
‘Yes, we know that,’ Pierre sounded impatient, ‘but it’s what it reads that’s important.’
Harker ran through the translation in his head and then read it out aloud. ‘You are I and I am you. When he is myth and we are reality. This grand deception will be repaid in blood.’
The message struck a chord with Harker even before he had finished reading it. ‘I’ve seen this before although it was written in vulgar Latin last time. It’s also the same thing Father Davies wrote in blood after murdering that boy and his mother.’
‘Exactly,’ Marceau replied, ‘and apart from it being the same message as found on this blessed candle, we have absolutely no idea what it means!’
Monique switched the LED light off and Harker turned back to face them all, full of interest. ‘Did Father Davies ever see this image?’
‘No. never,’ Pierre replied. ‘We showed him the candle, indeed, but never revealed the sacred inscription it contained.’
This was puzzling to Harker, but another possibility came to mind. ‘Is it feasible that the other stone – candle – carried the same inscription?’
‘We don’t know because we never got to see it,’ Pierre responded, ‘but we have assumed it to be the warning.’
‘What kind of warning?’ Harker asked, now becoming increasing enthralled by what he was learning.
‘The prophecy stated that there would be a warning just before the three days of darkness commenced, and that it would thus give those that knew of it time to prepare.’
‘Are you telling me that after two centuries, the Order of Tharmis hasn’t been able to find out what the entire prophecy is!’
Harker’s comment sounded like a recrimination, which in truth it was, and had Henri already shaking his head. ‘Alex, this Order was created primarily to protect the blessed candle, and that is exactly what we have done. And the closest we have ever come to seeing the Cardinal’s written document was via Father Davies, who is not only dead but appears to have learned more about all of this in a short time than we, as you so kindly remind us, have discovered in two centuries. Furthermore we appear now to be on the precipice of the prophecy coming true, yet we’ve only recently found out that there are two candles… and we don’t even know how to use them! In others words, we’re at a total loss.’
Harker surveyed the worried faces around him and whatever the reality of this situation and no matter if he felt bad for them, he couldn’t help but detect a strong whiff of sheer incompetence. ‘I don’t believe in kicking someone when they’re down but… well, you’re not a very effective Order, are you?’
Given the reaction Harker received, one would have thought he had just insulted their beloved mothers. Some were clearly fuming and Marceau slammed his fist down on the table.
‘I knew this was a bad idea,’ the doctor raged. ‘Not only doesn’t he believe us but he’s just taking the proverbial.’
Pierre and Monique nodded their heads in complete agreement yet there was one person who remained calm and collected.
‘I don’t blame you Alex,’ Henri said calmly. ‘It is indeed a rather fantastical tale and maybe every one of us is inclined to be a doubting Thomas, when all is said and done. But, given what you have seen, can you honestly deny me that something very strange is going on here?’
‘On that we can certainly agree, but to take the next step of accepting this prophecy of yours is another matter entirely,’ Harker replied as politely as he could.
Instead of Henri looking frustrated by this response, he looked determined as he got to his feet and picked up ‘the blessed candle’, which was still glowing red. ‘Then perhaps it is high time you saw the truth with your own eyes.’
Henri gestured Harker to his feet and, with his finger, pointed him to move a few metres away from the table, then extended the red candle towards him as the others – including a now more composed Marceau – flanked him on either side. ‘Not every person sees the same thing but what you do see will constitute the truth and only the truth.’
Monique gently grasped Harker by the wrist and pulled it upwards towards the glowing candle. Even though he resisted initially, a reassuring look from her persuaded him to relax and he edged his hand closer and closer until his fingertips grazed the surface. An odd tingling sensation began to resonate through his muscles before slowly spreading up his hand and then through into his wrist while in his line of vision the small specks of dust in the air began to multiply. They grew in number until it seemed like spitting raindrops were very slowly falling from above and on down past him to the floor, but so slowly that they appeared to have little or no mass. Before his eyes the room, and Marceau’s face, began to warp and melt like candle wax… and all the colours began to mingle into a bubbling mass… and then everything went black.
At first Harker felt a terrifying loss of control but the darkness that enveloped him then began to subside, and now he could hear the rhythmic beating of his heart lightly thumping and, despite what was happening, he felt completely at ease. His mind and his thoughts were still acute and clear but he had neither the wish nor desire to think about anything. Instead he gazed into the darkness as somewhere off in the distance a pinprick of light began to appear. It was small at first but began to grow in size, pulsating with each expansion, and as it did so Harker felt a cosy warmth embrace him like an invisible blanket. And the only thought that cam
e to mind was how content he felt at this very moment.
The light was soon a spherical ball getting ever larger, then suddenly he felt himself propelled towards it at an unimaginable speed and, with a sudden flash, he was surrounded by brilliant white light. It was not painful to his eyes and, as he gazed into it, small pixel-like dots began to form randomly and began creating little clumps that now grew as others joined them. Within what seemed like only seconds a picture formed before him like a television screen, but one as clear as if peering through a glass window and out onto the world beyond. Then he began to move towards it slowly, until he had passed beyond the threshold of the screen itself.
It took a few moments for him to register, then a sense of panic shot through his body as he realised what he was looking at – and where he was looking at it from. The continent of Europe lay squarely below him as he hung above the earth in a starlit sky, and he watched as white storm clouds slowly swirled in spirals across the top layers of the earth’s atmosphere.
Is this real? was his only thought as the sun began to peek above the earth’s curvature, appearing in a brilliant display of golden rays which cast themselves first across Greece and then up and over the terrains of Italy, France and finally Great Britain. Harker could feel himself breathing but, given that he was hanging in the vacuum of space, it made absolutely no sense. But the logic of it, or lack thereof, didn’t bother him. In fact he felt completely calm as off to his left, the illuminated surface of the moon shone brightly before beginning to disappear over the far side of the planet.
Suddenly something began to change and at first he couldn’t identify what it was, but then he began to see the stars gathered around him fizzle out in quick succession, until the heavens were now nothing more than a black void. And then, wham, he was diving face first towards the planet with great speed, and he could feel the wind rushing past him although his eyes remained clear and not watering, until he plunged through the layer of white clouds and was getting ever closer to the ground. He was over Italy, then closer, and next over the Swiss Alps and down into northern France, and he caught a sight of the English Channel rushing towards him, and at this point he closed his eyes with his heart pounding in his ears.
The sensation of falling stopped as abruptly as it had begun and he cautiously started to open his eyes, expecting something terrible, but instead found himself standing in the middle of Cambridge city. On the horizon he could make out the familiar towers of the university and all around him were people, none of whom he recognised, all frozen in different poses as if someone had pressed a pause button on reality itself. And he felt suddenly compelled to reach down and touch the concrete pavement beneath him. As he pulled his hand back away, he noticed small pieces of gravel and soil sticking to his palm and he rubbed at this with his fingers, feeling the sharp corners of each stone. It was all so real, but it couldn’t be.
Harker tried to remember where he had been before arriving in this place, but his memory just wasn’t there and, as he attempted to focus his mind, he looked up and saw, only a few metres away, a woman wearing a bright yellow dress, standing motionless. Her blonde hair was frozen in the process of being flicked back, and each strand hung in the air unnaturally, like in a still photograph. It was now then Harker became aware of the expression on her face, for it was a look of absolute terror. And, although at first he thought she was looking directly at him, it soon became evident that she was staring at something over his shoulder.
Harker did a 180-degree turn and what he saw had him recoiling in shock. As he leapt backwards he tripped and ended face up on the ground, both his hands raised up to his face protectively.
The being before him was colossal, about the size of an elephant, with two flaming arms as thick as tree trunks flung forwards in a grabbing motion, but frozen in time the same as was everyone else. Thick horns protruded from each side of its head and yellow cat’s eyes the size of saucers beamed menacingly at the woman standing behind him, while thick threads of saliva oozed from the corners of its huge mouth to dangle like white nylon shoestrings.
Behind this monstrosity hovered numerous dark spots whose shadowy cores were not penetrated by the sunlight, as if they absorbed any light immediately around them. They possessed something of a human form in terms of shape and size, but with no identifying marks that Harker could recognise as he got to his feet and scanned the surrounding area further. People were frozen in the midst of fleeing in a panic, and then the clouds overhead began to turn blood-red and up high the sun quickly turned black as if in eclipse, but completing the transformation within seconds. The air became filled with scarlet-red light as if one was looking through a coloured filter, and in places it morphed in intensity as the clouds continued to roll forward, changing the colour spectrum of the landscape as it did so.
The air in Harker’s lungs felt hot and he coughed in irritation as all around him the world began to shift, slowly at first like an organ-grinder building up momentum, with people beginning to move in slow motion at first and then faster and faster, until a critical mass clearly was reached and everything returned to normal speed, revealing the true chaos playing out around him. The woman in the yellow dress was now screaming at the top of her lungs as the titan of a monster lumbered past him and slammed hard into her, before ripping her in half at the waist with its massive hands. The sounds of further screams filled the air as the dark shadows now flew past him towards hordes of shrieking people all scrambling to escape.
The sickening noises of pain and despair were bloodcurdling, and as they continued Harker saw a bright white light on the horizon which shot a broad stream of light upwards into the sky and everyone – including the brutish monster – now fell still with all attention focused solely on that beam.
Almost immediately the same white light exploded with a deafening boom, then it expanded outwards in all directions, overshadowing everything in its path as its nearer edges raced towards Harker. When it hit him, the impact was like the shock wave of a bomb blast, then everything went black.
‘Alex?’ a voice called out from the darkness. ‘Can you hear me… Alex?’
Harker’s eyes flickered open and he instinctively wrestled against the hands holding him down.
‘Alex, you’re safe,’ the voice spoke again, and Harker looked up to see Henri staring down on him as he lay outstretched on the floor, with Pierre and Monique gripping his shoulders on either side.
‘What happened?’ Harker muttered, and the question was directed at himself rather than anyone else.
‘Take it easy,’ Henri continued, pulling him up into a sitting position with the help of the others. ‘You’re just disorientated. It’s quite normal.’
‘There’s nothing normal about it,’ Harker coughed, his mouth dry, and he stumbled to his feet and instinctively pushed away their helping hands. ‘What was that thing?’
‘Not so crazy now, hey?’ Marceau remarked sarcastically, sitting back against the granite table with his arms folded.
‘Not now.’ Henri waved a dismissive hand towards the doctor. ‘The blessed candle offers each person an insight, but only once, Alex… I hope yours was worthwhile.’
Harker’s brain felt fried and cumbersome but his balance was strong and he stood up stoutly, beginning to go over in his mind what he had just witnessed, as if to convince himself he had seen it at all.
‘What did you actually see?’ Henri probed quietly, trying not to sound pushy.
‘I’m not sure… but a vision of anarchy and destruction,’ Harker replied, still trying to regain some clear focus. ‘My home town of Cambridge totally laid waste by… something.’
‘It didn’t possess horns, did it?’ Marceau asked. When Harker shot him an unsettled look, the man gave a brief shrug of his shoulders. ‘Welcome to my world.’
Harker remained silent as images of his experience continued to run though his mind like a film reel, each fresh one causing him to shudder involuntarily.
‘It sounds as if
you just came face to face with a demon, Alex – one of the Devil’s generals,’ Henri explained and the others began to nod. ‘I’m afraid we’ve all seen them and it’s just the beginning of what those three days of darkness will have to offer. The word terrifying doesn’t do it justice.’
Harker’s normally rational mind was in turmoil by this point, because this was altogether just too ‘out there’ to fathom. But he couldn’t deny to himself what he had seen, and it was as real as anything he had ever experienced. ‘There was a white light emanating from an explosion,’ he stuttered, ‘but it wasn’t like a bomb, or anything like that. The only way I can describe it is as if it was banishing or cleansing the horrors I had been witnessing.’
He was, to himself, sounding crazier with every word he uttered, but Henri glanced over at Pierre with a look of encouragement, and he in turn moved to Harker’s side. ‘From what we’ve been able to discern over the years, the blessed candle offers us a glimpse of what could be – like a list of future possibilities – but in all our experience it has only showed us the worst-case scenarios of destruction that the prophecy will bring to bear. But none has ever seen a positive outcome like the one you describe – except one other.’
Pierre didn’t need to utter the name because Harker already knew. ‘Father Davies?’
‘Yes,’ Pierre continued. ‘In his vision he described a bright light that laid waste to all the evil surrounding him.’
‘And how would we do that?’ Harker asked and now fully giving in to the bizarre nature of what this all meant.
‘We don’t know how, but he did,’ Pierre explained and now looking nervous.
‘Because he was able to read the whole of the Cardinal’s document.’ Harker concluded and rubbing the top of his skull which was now aching painfully.
‘We believe that not only did the Prophecy document infer the events accompanying the darkness,’ Henri added, ‘but also how to prevent it.’
As Harker looked at the weary looking faces before him, a gaping hole in their story suddenly became obvious. ‘You said that the Cardinal initiated the Order of Tharmis, correct?’
The Dark Temple Page 15