Of Saints and Sovereigns (Prologue + Chapter 1)

[The Wonderful Sin]

Note: The actual version I have on my computer is marginally correct. This did not transfer well to the internet.

Nothingness as far as the eye can see. Even further, actually. Nothing lies within the walls of this infinite universe. Nothing, that is, except Him. The Son of Sorrow. Whose name has been unspoken by any who know of his sin. He was Mayhem. Taboo. Hatred. Disgust. Calamity. Pandemonium. His name… not even he could remember his true name. Here he sits, in vast nothingness. His eyes blank. Nihilum fills his downward gaze. The pain of being locked in this vast prison for eternity because of a crime most unforgivable. A crime that brought so much pain to so many others, but joy to his twisted mind. His gaze wasn’t always so empty. For the first thousand years He was calm. Next, he grew tired. He knew there was no way out of this hell, but hope still grew; a hope that would fill him for the next thousand years. Then Insanity, as he franticly searched for a way out regardless of thought or feeling or sense or anything else a sane person would follow. Finally, intet. Not a glimmer of life filled him anymore. Lost in thought for more years than he could remember. His downward gaze aching. His robes torn. His features absolutely perfect. But still nichts. Absolute naught…
Then it happened. That spark in his eye as he realized the answer after so very long. He began to laugh a laugh filled with the most evil of evils. His brother was the answer. The brother who was locked in a similar prison of nothingness. His brother, whose power far surpassed his own. Jehovah. Surely Jehovah was as eager to escape as he was. If he could establish a link to his brother from here, perhaps he could get him to open the cell from the outside. Perhaps Jehovah could find the door that He had spent millions, perhaps billions, of years searching for. Jehovah was, after all, the smarter of the two. His smile widened as he closed his eyes.
Day after day, he spent sitting in silence, searching for his brother’s thought waves in the vastness of all life, finding him in a small universe far to the east of where he sat. But was this really the evil being he knew as his brother? The brother who thought up the evil deed that brought them to become prisoners. The brother who hated so much? Was he caring for lesser beings? Creating peace throughout a universe he created inside his cell? Surely this was some kind of joke. Time after time he tried sending messages to Jehovah, but each was overlooked, as though he had forgotten who he was. What he had done. There was but one option. Re-corruption. Perhaps if he could corrupt this seemingly perfect Jehovah, he could find the brother he once knew. But alas, Jehovah was too powerful for Him to send commands or thoughts to. But Jehovah’s creations were not. If he could send all of Jehovah’s creations into chaos and hatred, maybe, just maybe, Jehovah would remember the past he had forgotten, and return to his evil roots, and his brother’s aid.
Thought after thought sent to being after being. Only two places remained untouched by this evil. The first was Eden, the garden valley that those holy figures known as Saints have roamed since Jehovah had deemed a large number of life forms unworthy of stepping foot there. The second, Atlantis, a city created by the humans to honor Jehovah and apologize for the sins they committed in the past. Perhaps those were weak points. Perhaps that is why they were guarded so well. Lucky for Him, there were ways to get to those points without using his power directly. Patience was the key to this ever-expanding prison of nothingness. He would soon be free from his eternal prison. Free to return to the world he once knew. Free to bring about what he and Jehovah planned to before.

~Bong – Bong~
The sound of wedding bells filled the entire island of Atlantis as the church doors flung open and the newlywed couple emerged. Happiness filled the souls of these young lovers. A happiness that had never been seen in the vastness of time and space. Even God himself shed warm tears of joy on this bright summer’s day.
Dandelion petals were thrown by those who were waiting outside the church. The remainder of the guests poured out of the church as the warm water poured from the sky. The smiling couple, dressed in their best and brightest clothes, ran toward the forest in front of the church; not only to escape the rain, but also the company of the entire village, who had attended the wedding. Today was a glorious day.
As they reached a large tree in the middle of the woods the newlyweds stopped to catch their breath. The young man smiled as he wrapped his arms around his new wife. She simply smiled back. That’s all she had to do. He knew what she wanted to say. And he knew that she couldn’t say it. These two had been together for most of their years. And now they were one.

~~~

It was June of the year 982 when the couple first met. He was a mere 6 years old, while she was two years younger. Even at a young age, their hearts felt explosive any time they were near one another or the other’s name was mentioned. Their parents were people of the church, brought together by the head priest of the island to spread God’s word to the newly empowered Pope.
You see, Atlantis was the one place on the Human Earth where God could speak. He blessed only the Atlantians with the gift of his voice. But, every century, a new Pope was raised to power, and God had a message for those elected to represent him to the outside world. It was the Atlantians’ job to deliver said message.
The priest was given the names of 3 families. Those were the families chosen to deliver his message. They were to be gone for one year. Everyone from all 3 families was chosen to go. Everyone, that is, except the two we now see sitting quietly under the tall tree. They were much too young.

~~~

Seven years passed, still no one had returned from the trip. Every day the young boy would tell the young girl that they would be back the next. And every day, they didn’t come. But still, the young girl believed the young boy. He had never been wrong before. This matter was the first time.
About a month before the 8th year, a ship broke the horizon. It was the ship their families had left on almost 8 years ago. Everyone gathered around the port, waiting to hear good news. However, there was little good news to be heard. Only one person was on the ship, while eight had departed.
The young boy who was alone on the ship was covered in dry tears and dirt. Blood stained his arms and legs, yet there were no injuries other than scratches over his body. His right eye had gone completely blind. No food or water was left on the ship. His ribs were easily visible from a distance. This boy, this lone survivor, was the young girl’s older brother. Now, her only living relative.

~~~

“Well, well, well,” a slightly eerie voice broke the sound of the silent rain falling on the trees all around. A slender man emerged from behind a tree. “If it isn’t our best friend Nicholas and the woman who stole him from us,” The man then changed his dark, serious tone to that of joy as he said, “Compliments to the both of you!” Then a towering giant of a man walked up behind him.
“Yeah, compliments” he repeated in a very deep, monotone voice.
“Thank you Timothy. You too Spencer,” Nicholas laughed. His new wife peered up at him with a bright smile on her face. “Maria says thanks as well,” he said, knowing exactly what it was she wanted to say.
“Hahaha” the slender man laughed. “I still do not understand you, Nicholas, even if you are my oldest friend”. The slender man’s name was Timothy, and the giant was Spencer. They had been friends with Nicholas since birth. “Well, Maria, looks like you finally got him,” he smiled. “You are a truly lucky girl,” his smile was weak but caring.

~~~

A year after his ship returned, Maria’s brother, Bruno, was back to the way all had remembered him. But, he wasn’t the same young man who had left. He seemed the same. He had the same speech patterns, looks --- other than the blind eye and age difference ---, everything was the same. But there was something off. Everyone trusted him, nobody saw this difference. Nobody, that is, except Nicholas and Maria. Maria hadn’t spoken since her brother’s return and the news about her parents. But Nicholas had continued to take care of her, as he had done while they held hope that their parents were still out there. Even though she didn’t speak, Nicholas still knew exactly what Maria wanted to say. That is what separated this pair from others. Their bond was a tight one. Tighter than most people had with themselves. They really were as one. Both of their thoughts were flowing through each other’s minds.

~~~

The four friends had begun to walk back toward town when the rain stopped. The whole while, reminiscing about the good times they had shared, Nicholas was relaying all of Maria’s thoughts she wanted to share to the others. It had been just under 10 years since she took a vow of silence for her lost parents. Nicholas had always been with her, he knew exactly what she wanted to say at any given moment. She had seen no reason to start talking again since he was the only one she really wanted to talk to. He had always been more than happy to help when it came to her. This was what true love looked like. The beauty of their love far surpassed that of Cleopatra and Aphrodite combined.