Harker found himself feeling like he was occupying someone's head again.
It was truly a strange feeling, knowing how the body moves and how it feels yet still under the impression that it's not yours. It was like the body was a car that moves on its own, and Harker was just the passenger. Yet at the same time, he can tell what happens in every part of the car, from the engine to the wheels and even the fuel that 'gives it life'.
Dissociation was the word. A confounding feeling that might only be understood by those who had experienced it.
He was dissociated from Mina's memories, yet he still felt very much 'present' in them. This one was her breathing raggedly behind a pillar. It looked like she received damage on her right shoulder.
Laying in front of her was a big man with the reddest skin Harker had ever seen. He was swimming in his own blood and had an ax in hand, possibly the source of Mina's injury.
Harker learned the context of this scene. Mina had followed the trail of the An Xin member that she saw in Oregon. She believed it was the man that killed her parents, but as soon as she came to their hiding spots, she realized that almost everyone had this tattoo.
So it was possible that the one she followed was not the one who killed the Jiaoren royal family and sold them to Mr. Xi.
Yet this trip was still important to her, since they were all basically the same in her eyes.
Murderers. Traitors. Monsters.
Despite being a monster herself, she had grown to dislike seeing even just a horn or a tail on the members of the An Xin sect. She had located them milling about in several parts of Oregon, but they have all congregated into the old ruins of this church called 'Parish of John the Beloved'.
It had a statue of a quite an androgynous looking young man. He had luscious curly hair, and was holding a book in one hand with the word 'Revelation'.
Harker tried to piece out which saint this was exactly, and found an undoubtable match from Father Gerard's memories that he had also gained from consuming Legion. This was John the Evangelist, proposed author of the last book in the New Testament of the Bible, the book of Revelations.
The Revelations was the book that detailed Judgement Day, the Apocalypse in the Christian faith. He was also known as the Beloved Disciple for three possible reasons. Either it was because he was the one gaining knowledge of the end of days itself, or because he outlived all the other disciples…..
Or because he was believed as closest to Jesus' heart as he was described as 'he who reclines on the Lord's bosom'. Whether literally or just a metaphor for their friendship was up to interpretation.
Nevertheless, this was the usual meeting spot for all the An Xin members Mina had spotted while spying on them in Oregon. They would go to many places for various reasons. Some were businessmen, some were teachers, and some were just random homeless people on the streets.
But she can see through the veil and know that they were all Yaos. Demons, monsters, ghosts.... It was as clear as day.
One night, she saw that a significantly larger horde went inside the Chapel of John the Beloved. There was a strange atmosphere surrounding these demons during this time. They were usually quiet and solemn in going inside the dingy church, but right now they whispered to each other in hushed excited tones.
It was as if a festive event was about to transpire.
Mina had killed the two bodyguards who held up axes in front of the Church as quietly as she could. But the An Xin members were too busy with their ceremony anyway to notice them.
"My dear brothers and sisters." A man dressed in a clerical robe spread out his arms. "We have gathered here today to celebrate the resurgence of our Venerable One. He who had been blessed with the child, the Son of Man, who will bring the Second Coming of our Lord Most High."
Harker found it strange how they manage to use Christian iconographies to describe their Chinese belief. Brothers and sisters may be seen as a Christian thing for greeting, but it may also be applied to 'cultivation brothers' and 'cultivation sisters'.
They were using words like the 'Second Coming', 'Son of Man', and 'Lord Most High' to almost be like a code to the actual things the cult of An Xin references. Not to mention this Venerable One…..
Was a statue of someone wearing a red veil on their face, resembling the image of the Virgin Mary. But Harker was sure this one was a man, and in his hands was not a baby.
It was a demonic creature with no head, and only four limbs jutting out from a formless blob of a body.
"For many years, the world had kowtowed at the feet of The Heavenly God. And yet while the emperors follow the Mandate of Heaven by Shangdi, they do not know of the other being that serves as an equal to this being of the Heavens. The being of the Earth, the true Earth down below, had been forgotten or thrown stones at as an exile. An outcast."
The 'priest' then raised a skull which had crimson liquid oozing from it endlessly.
"He had been present right before there was Mandates, right before there was Order. And though Huangdi defeats Chiyou, just like the forgotten god, his descendants follow after his example. Descendants not from birth, but from death. It is from the blood of Chaos that we are born, the First beings, and must continue to feed on!"
They did what people usually do in Holy Communion, where they line up to take the Eucharist. But instead of the body, they only gave the literal blood for the monsters to drink one by one.
Harker gathered from Mina's memory what these all meant.. They all relate to Chinese legends and mythology. Shangdi was the venerated god of emperors that was considered the Primordial and mightiest deity for them. The Mandate of Heaven was the rules enacted by the emperors 'in accordance to Shangdi's will'.
Huangdi was the Yellow Emperor that was believed to be the first and the mightiest, conceived through a miracle birth when his mother fell in love with a lightning that came from the Big Dipper. He defeated the tribal leader Chiyou and his followers had to move to the mountains.
It was said that it rained blood when Chiyou died. He was beheaded, and the image of his mutilated head was used as a warning for those who covet power and wealth. Those who wanted to start an uprising…..
Just like a certain fallen angel that turned into the Devil himself.
"After this, my dear brothers and sisters, we must move eastward! Our first feast must be at Londinium! Make haste, make haste! We must welcome the arrival of the Great Bright One!"
Mina then learned that Londinium was simply the ancient Roman name for London. And so she settled to run away from that church and head to England to catch up to this 'feast'.
But just as she did...
She heard the flapping of wings behind her, and soon the priest wearing the crimson chasuble appeared in front of her.
"Do not be afraid, sister. You are one of us, are you not? When you ran we worried it might be a mortal, but it just happened to be another sister." He spoke with a gentle voice, as he pointed to the scales slowly growing on Mina's skin.
She gritted her teeth at this.
"I am not your sister, and I will never be one of you."
The man just laughed. He had orange hair the color of clementines which flowed off his red robes.
"Now where have I heard of that before? Denial is a part of acceptance, sister. You can always deny what you are, but in the end..."
He conjured a peach in his hand, and ate it with gusto as the juices dribbled down his hands and his lips that grew thinner the wider he smiled.
"You are what you are. A peach is a peach, and a monster is a monster all the same."
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