PhantomKnight
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Chapter Two
James weeps over his beloved, clutching her cold body close to his, hoping that his warmth would somehow bring her back to life. He hugs her with tears pouring down his cheeks onto her body.
“Catherine…” he cries, his voice choked with tears.
His weeping is cut short as footsteps approach and someone looms over him. James looks up to see who they are. Standing before him is the man dressed in white. His cold, pale eyes gaze down at James with distain. Held in the man’s arms is Catherine; she lays motionless in his arms. Her body is somewhat translucent and ghost-like. She remains silent, appearing to be in a slumber as the man in white departs from James.
“Hey,” James says, rising to his feet, “What are you doing? Where are you taking her?”
James takes chase after the man, shoving through the crowd of people who are gathering towards the accident. Somehow, the man seems to flee without facing any obstacles. James jumps from the crowd and onto the street; he is almost hit by a car as he leaps out from the people. Through speeding cars and flaring horns, James tries to catch up. Yet, the closer he seems to get, the farther away he actually is. Deciding that chasing is useless, James takes a different route. He ducks into an alley and rushes through. His gamble pays off as he sees the man in white on the other side of the alley. James throws his weight into his lunge and knocks the man in white off his feet. Catherine’s body slides into the snow. James, with the man pinned underneath him, throws a punch at the man’s face. However, it does not hit him, it goes through him. James is in shock, giving the man the opportunity to knock him off.
Though muffled slightly from the scarf covering his face, the man says to Joshua, “I am amazed that you can see me.”
“What?” questions James, being slightly little delusional. “I don’t care what you are talking about, just return Catherine’s body to me.”
“You fool,” the man says in a booming voice, “What lies before you isn’t her body, it is her soul. I am here to take her to paradise. Who are you to deny her of Heaven?”
“Someone who loves her and wants her to stay with him,” James shouts. “Take her to Heaven, but let her live out her life here with me.”
James walks slowly, shifting the heavy snow with his feet, towards his beloved Catherine. As he goes to reach out for her, he feels something hit him in the stomach. He is hurled off his feet. The man in white now stands as an obstacle between James and Catherine. The man is basked in a glorious light as two angelic wings with feathers as pure white as the snow around them sprout from his back.
“I, Archangel Gabriel, shall not allow your sinful hands to lie upon such a pure soul,” he shouts.
James lays defeated in the snow, while Gabriel lifts Catherine’s slumbering soul into his arms. Above them, the clouds seem to part as light from the moon shines down upon Gabriel and Catherine; creating a road of light leading to the gates of heaven. With a powerful flap of his wings, Gabriel ascends towards the sky.
In a hopeless effort to save her, James rushes up and leaps for Catherine. Mustering the strength of his heart, it gives him super-strength; allowing him to leap within reach. He soars higher and higher, his fingers stretched out to reach Catherine’s; but tragedy takes fold. Gravity pulls him back down to the earth. He can only watch through tear soaked eyes as his Catherine is taken away from him. James falls faster and faster. He hits the ground.
James falls out of bed with a thud; he gets up from his covers and stares up. There is nothing, but the plaster, white ceiling hanging overhead. There is no Catherine, no Gabriel; just James all alone.
“That dream again,” James thinks to himself.
It was the fourth night, since Catherine’s death, that James had this reoccurring dream; and each time it ended with him falling back. But the dream seemed so vivid and real, that he could not consider it to be a mere dream.
James climbs upright and goes to get dressed. Today, he had to go to the funeral home of his dearly departed. As he puts on his black suit, there are neither tears nor sobs, but only an empty stare. James seems to be an empty shell of the happy, energetic man that had existed mere days ago. Right before he goes out the door, his cell phone rings.
“Hello?” James asks in a monotone voice.
“James, where are you?” shouts a voice on the other end.
On the other line is James’s boss. After Christmas, James was supposed to be back to work in order to work on a big project. Clearly, James had disregarded his job; loosing Catherine played a heavy toll on his mind.
“I am sorry,” he answers sluggishly, “I cannot come in today, I have to go to my fiancé’s funeral.”
“I don’t care if it is your mother’s funeral,” the boss shouts, “We need you on this project now!”
James, irritated, but still calm, answers, “Right now, I am not in the right mind set. I won’t be of any use to you.”
True in word, but the boss still doesn’t listen; he shouts, “James, get in the right mind set now, or don’t come in to work tomorrow.”
“Then I quit,” James says, agitated. “I lost the only thing that matters to me. There is no point in working anymore.”
James hurls the cell phone across the room and departs for the funeral home. He arrives to the funeral home hours late from when the viewing started. As he gets out of the car, he notices that it is pouring outside; as if the heavens weep for this somber occasion.
Barging in soaking wet, James makes his way through the home and finds a wall to lean against. Around him are some of Catherine’s loved ones who have came to show their respects. He watches as many walk to and from the room where Catherine’s casket is laid out for the viewing. James, however, does not make any attempt to walk into the room. Instead, he only stares with a blank gaze at those walking back and forth. Though he appears to be zoned out, his hearing is perfect at the conversations around him. Walking by him is two of Catherine’s closest friends; Katelyn and Julia.
“Look over there, it is James,” Katelyn whispers to Julia.
Julia responds, “Yeah, he looks like a mess.”
“I heard that he just let her get crushed by the carriage,” Katelyn remarks. “He didn’t even try to call an ambulance. Her family is looking into it as possible murder.”
Before the conversation can continue, Catherine’s older sister, Lyn, scares the two girls off. She is not like her sister. She has long blonde hair and green eyes. She has a tough demeanor about her. Approaching James, her eyes are puffy from the tears.
“James, my mom and dad want to speak with you,” she says, holding back a sob.
Despite her request, James remains motionless and unresponsive. Lyn requests that James sees her parents a second time, but once again, James doesn’t even move. After a third time, Lyn becomes angry with James. With all of her strength, her palm comes smacking hard against James’s face. James is like a rag doll; his head flops to the side with the smack and does not get straighten back up.
“James, you are not the only one suffering,” she shouts at him. “Quit acting like you’re the only one who lost. I lost my little sister, you jerk.”
After a moment, James, without a sound, walks out of the funeral home and steps into the rain. He watches the rain drops fall down on his face. Among the cold drops of cold water dripping down his face, warm tears gently roll down his cheek.
“Catherine,” James says up to the sky. “I couldn’t save you. My heart wasn’t strong enough; I am a failure.”
Days later, a funeral procession is held in honor of Catherine’s memory. Though it is to be held late in the afternoon, James arrives in the early hours of the morning, before anyone else does. James is an absolute wreck. His hair is messy, greasy, and unkempt; face pale with deep, dark circles from lack of sleep. His suit is barely fashioned in a proper manner; the shirt is partially tucked in and the collar open; the jacket hangs loosely on his shoulders. He sits miserable upon the church altar with his back to Catherine‘s casket; unable to even look at the wooden case that held his beloved. The only thing to comfort him is the church wine he had swiped off the communion tray when he walked down the aisle. The priest enters the church to check in on things. He sees James state of loneliness and despair. He chooses to join James upon the church altar and attempt to bring James back to the light of the world just like God intended.
“What is ails you my son?” the priest asks, taking the bottle away from James.
James, through choked tears, says, “I have nothing left in this world. I put all my love into Catherine. She is my world; and now my world’s gone.”
“Now son, that is not what the lord wants,” the priest says reassuringly. “You must move onwards in your life and love again. That is what the lord, God, wants.”
“God obviously has never been in love,” James mocks, trying to grab the wine again. “Just answer me this, father. Why did Catherine have to die?”
“It is God’s will,” the priest says happily.
Not satisfied with that answer, James presses the question more, “But why, father? Catherine was a good person. She was a very strong practicing Catholic whose life was filled with love toward her fellow man; she was the teachings of God incarnate. She held his words in mind, body, and soul. Why would he take her from me; from this world drenched in sin that needs a light like her?”
The priest, a little shaky on how to respond, tries to calm James down, “God works in mysterious ways, my son. But put yourself to ease that she is at his side in paradise.”
Then, James remembers he dream of the angel, Gabriel, taking Catherine before his eyes. The angel seemed to mock James’s attempt to take her back. Finally, James snaps. Wrapped with misery, despair, confusion, anger, and fear of the unknown, James mind is distorted. Leaping to his feet, James takes the large bottle of church wine from the priest, and hurls it across the church. It sails among the pews, shattering into thousands of pieces on the carpeted floor. The priest gets to his feet to try and get James under control, but James shoves him away. James walks over to the offerings table where the Eucharist lays.
“God stole my love away,” James mimics the priest, “And you call that just?”
Gripping the sides of the table, James hurls it through the air at the giant wooden crucifix hanging on the wall of the church altar. They both collide, the golden table that holds the body of Christ breaks apart. The Eucharist showers down onto the floor. The heavy wooden crucifix sways back and forth from the impact. Finally, it breaks free of the chains hanging from the ceiling,, tumbling to the ground, just missing Catherine’s coffin.
“My son,” the priest shouts in a state of panic, “You must realize what you are doing. You should not do this in God’s house. You must stop this to not sin any further. Such actions will not go unpunished; please, my son, do not incur God’s wrath.”
“God be cursed,” James says through gritted teeth.
The priest scurries back, his hands cupped over his ears; almost as if those words were painful for him to hear. James glances angrily up at the mural on the ceiling. Painted is a portrayal of Heaven to the human mind. Calm clouds and blue skies with men and woman soaring peacefully through the clouds.
“Curse you!” James shouts up at the mural. “You wretched cur, how dare you take my love away from me. She meant everything to me. Why did you take her and not take me? Are our lives merely games for you? You can’t play with our lives like this. You take away a person, loved by many, and leave the scum for us to deal with. You sick twisted son of a gun. How can I sing praise to someone like you? Curse you, curse your ways, and curse you for taking Catherine away from me!”
“Maybe you can take her back,” A voice says, chuckling loudly behind him.
There is a soft rumbling, barely felt by the church’s structure, but enough to cause the lamps hanging by the ceiling to sway to and fro. The colorfully painted stain glass windows seem to be drained of their color as they become a dark gray decor; blocking most of the sunlight pouring into the room. The swinging lights flicker before dying completely; blanketing the church in a light that gives almost no visibility.
James turns to look down the aisle of the church. Approaching the altar is a dark cloaked, hooded figure. Though darkened, the light clearly defines the shape and detail of the approaching enigma. This figure is clearly not human. Its face is a skull that has been worn down from exposure to the elements and time. The once white colored bones were now a sickening yellow. Notches, cracks, and scrapes covered the creatures face. A black serpent wrapped itself around the creatures neck bone; laying itself in the figure’s jaw as if to portray itself as the tongue. Inside the being’s empty eye sockets rest two red, spherical orbs that glow as if there is a flame burning at their core. Gripped in its yellow, skeletal hand is a long scythe. The handle stands well above the figure’s hooded head, but the blade curves down nearly to its hip. The blade is made from old, dark gray steel, with chips and notches along its blade.
This figure was Death; the fabled deity of those who passing on, and the escort of the wondering souls to the afterlife. Almost slithering, Death approaches James; his cloak squirms and writhes as if it were alive. The flames in the orbs dance up and down, scanning James.
“Perhaps you can take back your beloved from that detestable God of yours,” Death hisses with his black serpent tongue.
The priest watches horrified, as Death stands face to face with James; rubbing his eyes several times in disbelief. Coming to terms that this is indeed the deity of death, the priest feels obligated to repel the demon. Reaching into his shirt, he pulls a large cross out. The priest points the cross, with his shaking hands, at Death. Pushing through his own terror, the priest begins to utter a hymn in hopes of sending the monster back to where it crawled from. Death watches for a few minutes, before cackling in a mocking manner.
“I am neither good nor evil,” he hisses, “I am only Death.”
Death turns himself to James, who is still thinking that this is a hallucination.
“So you are Death,” James says, finally coming to the truth that this is not a hallucination. “Have you come to take me to the afterlife as well?”
Although he says with panic in his voice, this is only a farce. James would be more than happy to depart this world if that meant being together with Catherine once again.
“On the contrary,” Death answers, “I am here to make you a deal.”
James questions, “A deal?”
“Indeed,” Death says, his jaw bone moving strangely to form what appears to be a grin, “I’ve been watching you for a while now, James. And I noticed the strong bond you and your beloved Catherine shared. That bond could bring her back from the God you despise so much.”
“Do not be tempted by his lies,” the priest shouts.
Death disappears in a puff of black smoke before James. Nearly in an instant, Death reappears before the priest in another puff of black smoke. Death’s skull moves in an angry look; indicating that the priest had gained his fury.
“You, priest, who have been taught to sever all bonds in life to serve the lord,” Death hisses angrily, “You cannot comprehend what he has suffered!”
Death’s booming voice cuts straight through the priest; freezing him in fear. The terror seems to age him several years; his hair turning bright white and many wrinkles appearing on his face. Death, assuring that the message of staying silent had been understood, turns his attention back to James.
Gliding back towards James, Death says, “Right now, there is a chain that binds your souls to one another; though her demise has made it very weak. By strengthening the chain, you can pull her back to this world.”
“How can I do that?” James asks, his hopes riding completely on Death.
“By extracting souls from other people,” Death says with an icy cackle.
“E-extract souls?” James questions; a little frightened by the thought of this.
“Yes,” Death hisses gleefully, “I can give you the power to do so. In return you will become a being outside of the normal living realm and become one of my followers. But you will be able to be with your Catherine once she is revived. So, do we have a deal?”
Death extends his bony hand from within his black, tattered robes. The priest, whose had been silenced by fear, musters courage to rush to James, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.
“You can’t do this son,” the priest shouts in a pleading voice, “Taking the souls of other individuals is a terrible, terrible sin. You could never enter the Kingdom of Heaven if you do this. Please, James, think of how Catherine would feel if she was brought back to this earth in that fashion. Think about what you are doing.”
James looks past the priest towards Death’s extended hand. With his decision made, James shoves the priest aside; the priest falls off the steps of the altar and tumbles to the floor. James steps towards Death and firmly grips his bony hand.
“Alright,” James says, his eyes focused to stay the course of his decision, “I will accept your deal. I want to see my beloved Catherine again!”
Suddenly, the ground around them begins to shake. James is then engulfed in a terrible pain. He looks at his body to see it decomposing right before his eyes. Slowly and painfully, his body is reduced to bone; the purely white skeleton floats in mid-air as Death continues the transformation ritual. In Death’s hand, a white marble appears; it being James’s soul. Death then takes the white marble and places it into the left eye socket of James’s skeleton. The marble shines brightly as a black smoke engulfs the skeleton. From within there is the sounds of breathing as he is restored to life. Then, the smoke disperses. James’s appearance and attire have changed drastically.
James’s once lively blond hair is now a sparkling silver that hangs down the sides of his face. His right eye is now icy blue color; the pupil seems a little less human, changing to different shades of gray. The right eye remains the white marble with a large black-mark scar running across it down to the middle of his cheek. His skin is much more paler than before, almost white.
He is dressed in a black coat that hangs down to his ankles. It is opened to allow movement; his entirety of his wardrobe is jet black. The coat has a silver fur collar and has an unusual stitching design in the back.
There is a final tremor that shatters all the stain glass windows decorating the walls of the church. Shards of glass fall down like black ash from a volcano. James then looks up at the mural; he grins for the first time in a while. Death watches delightfully as James examines his newly formed body.
“Now, use the power you have been given,” Death hisses, cackling sinisterly to his self, “Take the soul of the priest.”
The priest gets to his feet and flees down the aisle. James chases after him. His speed is enhanced well beyond that of a normal person. In a mocking fashion, James speeds past the priest and appears in front of the exit with arms folded.
“I care not what happens to me,“ James says with a grin. “I will do whatever it takes.“
The priest turns and runs the other way, but James merely keeps up the pace and appears in front of him again.
“I will defy Heaven and Hell,” he continues, “Wreak havoc on this world and even ravage my own soul.”
James wraps his black gloved fingers around his the priest’s throat. He lifts the priest in the air so that his feet dangle.
Furthering, he says, “I care not what she thinks of me when I see her again.”
James reaches his open hand and lunges it into the priest’s chest. There is no blood, no sound of flesh being pierced and bone cracking; but the priest is wrapped with pain. He is overcome by a intense burning sensation as James pulls the priest’s soul out of his body. Once out, the priest’s body fall limp; it is now nothing more than an empty husk. James throws the body aside and stares at the soul. It looks like a beautiful diamond orb; it dazzles with many colors as the dim light reflects off of it. Inside the jewel is a white flame that dances at the core. Reflecting in the dazzling colors, James can see the smiling face of his beloved.
As if speaking to the jewel, James says, “I do this, all for her; all for Catherine!”
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