Heaven and Hell

We fight in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
Who died for our sins so we may be free
So in return for his sacrifice we fight for him
To protect the innocence from evil
When everything seems lost
We keep our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ

There were screams. Horrible blood curdling screams. Gunfire. And worse yet the sickening crunch of bone and the sound of flesh being ripped off the bone. A triumphant roar of an unearthly nature. A creature. Large red furred creature. Or was the fur stained with blood? The creature turned while chewing on an arm of a man. Blood dripping down from it’s white blood stained fangs. Its breath stinking of death and decay. Its eyes deep black, cold and empty, like the void itself...

Serena sat up with a jolt screaming. She was drenched in sweat. She began to pant as she took in her surroundings. She was in a private room, the walls were white and plain. Around her bed was a table with various surgical instruments. Next to it was a bed side table with a single vase on it with carnations in it. Beautiful red carnations, her favourite flowers. But she had only ever told Gerald, her now ex fiancé. She stared at them puzzled. She felt a pain in her back. She winced and looked down to see that her body was wrapped in bandages. Her upper left arm she noticed also was covered with bandages. Her head began to feel heavy and she collapsed back down on the pillow. She closed her eyes trying to focus her thoughts. She tried to remember what happened but all she could see was that horrible creature from her dream. Or was it a dream? She thought to herself. She ran a hand through her hair. She then remembered the strange symbol she had seen. She looked on her palm and sure enough, the mark was there, almost as though it was drawn there, but with her life lines. She gazed at the symbol trying to ponder its meaning.

She heard a door open and she turned to see a young boy walk into her room. He couldn’t be any older than sixteen. His head was shaved bald and shining in the light. He wore plain pale yellow robes with a red sash around his waist. Around his neck were large beads. He placed his right fist into his open left hand and bowed to her.

“It is good to see that you are awake,” he said to her with a hint of an accent.

“Who are you? Where am I?” she asked perplexed.

“I am Li Yung. I was assigned as your guide. You are in the Great Monastery. You are safe here” he replied. Serena stared at Li Yung for a moment.

“Which Monastery is this?”

“Its full name is The Great Monastery of the Holy Light. But we call it the Great Monastery for short,” Li Yung beamed with pride.

“I have never heard of it”

“That is because it is only known to a handful of people outside the Order of the Holy Light.” Serena sat up and looked at the young boy with a raised eyebrow.

“You’re making this up,” she said finally after studying him. “Where am I really?” Li Yung opened his mouth to reply when a familiar voice came from behind him.

“Li Yung has been telling you the truth,” the voice said softly. Serena looked over Li Yung and saw the priest from earlier, Father Darren Stephens. He looked the exact same as he did when she last saw him, only his robe had a large gash on it as though a large creature tried to scratch him.

“I’m fine, just a flesh wound,” he said noticing her gaze.

“You again?!” she tried to stand up but nearly collapsed to the ground. Li Yung caught her and put her back on the bed.

“You’re not ready to be up and about quite yet, Miss Serena,” he said worriedly. “Relax and rest.”

“That man assaulted my partner and I and he is-”she stopped suddenly as she realized that George was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is my partner?” she demanded angrily. “What have you done with him? If you’ve harmed him I swear-” Father Stephens held up a gloved hand to silence her.

“We do not swear in the Great Monastery and I’ll thank you kindly for remembering that.” he said. “As for your partner, we have not harmed him. We are trying to save his life, he is in critical condition.” Serena tried to stand up again, and nearly fell. Li Yung rushed to her side once more. She pushed him out of the way as she landed on her feet. She staggered over towards Father Stephens.

“What. Did. You. Do?” she said emphasizing each word. She grabbed a hold of his robe. He avoided her gaze.

“I failed in protecting you both. You, Serena, were my primary objective and I couldn’t afford to sacrifice you for anyone. I had to make sure you were safe above all others. The demon mauled him nearly to death. By the time reinforcements arrived he was nearly dead,” he stated. Serena tightened her grip. She was momentarily taken aback when the priest mentioned demon. Could it be the creature from my dream...? she wondered. But she was more concerned about getting to George. She needed to know if he was going to be alright.

“The demon killed all the other officers on the scene,” Stephens continued. “We saw that your partner was barely alive and we couldn’t just leave him lying there to die.”

“Take me to him, now!” she demanded through clenched teeth.

“As you wish Serena Johnson,” the priest inclined his head. She released her grasp as he led her out of the room. Outside the room was a stain glass window depicting the last supper of Jesus. The stone walls were lit by torch shaped lamps. Serena looked to her right and saw a short hallway leading to a dead end a few feet away. She turned to the left to see Father Stephens walking down the longer hallway. She followed him. Along the walls there were the occasional religious paintings, stain glass windows, various wooden doors or just a bare stone wall. The hallway was cooler than the previous room she was in, but not by much. Still she shivered slightly. The sounds of their footsteps echoed with each step. The priest stopped just before a right hand turn hallway and opened the door across from it.

“He is inside,” he gestured for her to go first. His face was solemn. She peered inside and saw that George was hooked up to a life support machine which beeped steadily. He had breathing tubes in his nose, pumping fresh oxygen into his lungs. His left eye was covered by a bandage. Both his left leg and arm were in casts. His right arm heavily bandaged and in a sling resting on his chest.

“He has been in and out of consciousness for the passed hour,” Stephens said quietly. “He took a great deal of damage. The demon broke a few of his ribs as well as his arm and leg. Also scarred his eye. He’ll never be able to use it again.” Serena could only stare in mute horror at George. She walked over to him, fighting back tears. This can’t be real, this must be a dream, she thought frantically.

“George? George can you hear me?” she strained to say, choking back tears. His right eye flickered open, barely. His lips twisted into his half smile. He opened his mouth, struggling to speak. He had a coughing fit. When he was done he managed to say one raspy word.

“Serena.” And with that he closed his eye with a sigh. There was silence in the room, except for the machine still beeping, indicating he was only unconscious. Serena fell to her knees and began to weep at her severely injured friend. Father Stephens gazed at the two quietly, lost in thought. After a moment he stepped over to her and touched her shoulder gently. She looked up at him, tears pouring down her face, her eyes red from crying.

“What happened to us?” she demanded. “What could have caused this?” Father Stephens sighed.

“That is a long story,” he replied.

“Well then tell it,” she retorted.

“We were attacked by a feral demon,” he began. “A vicious, mindless creature from the depths of hell.”

“Demons don’t exist!” Serena snapped. “It was probably just a wolf or a bear or something.”

“Believe what you want, but I assure you, I’m not lying to you. There is one major problem with this whole situation however,” he said.

“And what’s that?” she asked.

“The fact that feral demons rip apart their prey and feast on them. But the child only had his neck snapped, which leads me to believe something bigger is involved in this...” his voice trailed off lost in thought.

“Well I don’t know about any demons or anything like that,” Serena began. “but every murder that has been happening for the past few days had a symbol. A large triangle encompassing a smaller red triangle.” Father Stephens paused, in thought. His eyes then widened as something seemed to dawn on him, but he did not say anything. Serena didn’t notice, she had turned back to her still unconscious friend.

“Come my child, he must rest, and so should you,” he held his hand out to her but she shook her head frantically.

“I want to stay here, with him,” she replied defiant. Stephens knew that she was going to be stubborn about it so he placed his hand back at his side.

“May the Lord watch over you both.” he said as he left the two of them alone.

****
Over the next few days Serena continued to stay by her partner’s side, leaving only to refresh herself. She barely slept or ate. In that time George had not come back to consciousness, but she stayed by his side nevertheless.

Occasionally Li Yung would come to visit them and keep her company. He became a regular and welcome sight to Serena as he would provide her comfort and answers to some of her questions. Through him she discovered that the Order of the Holy Light was an organization of Christians founded centuries ago by Jesus himself in order to defend his people from demons. He didn’t give too much details on this as he knew only what was considered common knowledge to him. However she soon discovered that the Order of the Holy Light wasn’t the only “demon” exterminators in the world. Li Yung was part of a separate organization of Buddhists known as the “Fist of Buddha” or “Buddha’s Fist”. The two groups decided to form an alliance together to aide each other in destroying demons as their numbers seemed to be growing and attacks becoming more frequent worldwide lately.

“So how was Buddha’s Fist formed?” Serena asked one day while the two were together, monitoring George. “I thought Buddhists, especially you monks were against violence.”

“It is true Miss Serena, we are against violence.” Li Yung began. “Generations ago, our ancestor’s village was plagued by demons. They destroyed our crops and homes. Our women were raped, men beaten and children taken hostage to ensure we did not resist.

“This went on for three years until a travelling monk named Satori came to our village. He defeated one of the demons who terrorized my ancestors single handed, using no weapons. It was said that he was a protector of the innocent. He told the demon that he would not let harm befall our village any longer. The demon retreated like a coward. But that was not the last we saw of him.

“Satori rallied the villagers and taught them to defend themselves. At first they were reluctant because it went against the teachings of Buddha to use violence. He told us that violence is a last resort. Eventually he trained the villagers in martial arts in order to defend themselves. After weeks of vigorous training, the demons then returned in full force, but my ancestors were ready for them. Satori taught them well in that brief time and together they drove the demons from our village forever, but at a cost...” Li Yung paused for dramatic effect.

“What was the cost?” Serena asked.

“Monk Satori sacrificed himself in the end. He died protecting a child named Li Yung, my ancestor.” he smiled. “If it weren’t for Monk Satori he would have died and I would not have been born. My ancestors gave him a proper burial and we continued his teachings. We eventually became Buddha’s Fist in order to protect others from demons, so they did not share the same fate as our village had.” Serena smiled at Li Yung. She figured it was more myth than fact. The demons he referred to could easily have been bandits, but she didn’t let him know her thoughts. She turned her attention to George who still hadn’t woken. She sighed and wondered if he’d ever wake again.

“So why was Monk Satori a protector of the innocent? Did he ever explain?” she asked.

“He protected the innocent because he felt he had too. He was trained in the martial arts to defend. So he took it upon himself to defend those who could not defend themselves. But he’d try and use his words before his fists, but demons aren’t usually ones for words or peace so he often resorted to more aggressive means.” Li Yung explained.

There was a knock at the door, Li Yung got up to answer it. Outside stood Father Stephens and the doctor who had been taking care of George, Doctor Andrews. Unlike Father Stephens, Doctor Andrews was wearing a doctor’s lab coat that was buttoned fully. He wore surgeon’s gloves on his hands instead of white cross gloves. On his face he wore glasses that greatly magnified his eyes giving him the look of a bug. Around his neck was a surgeon’s mask, which he began to fasten around his mouth and nose. Li Yung moved to the side and bowed in his customary way as the two walked in, their footsteps clacking loudly against the stone floor.

“Li Yung will you give us a moment please?” Father Stephens asked.

“If you insist sir,” he bowed once more and closed the door behind him. Serena was sorry to see him leave, she enjoyed his presence. She turned her attention to Doctor Andrews who checked on George, monitoring his vitals and giving him his food using a long tube down his throat. Serena couldn’t bare to watch it however, it made her greatly uncomfortable. She turned her attention to Father Stephens who took Li Yung’s seat next to her.

“So how are you today my child?” he asked smiling kindly.

“Same as before,” she mumbled in reply.

“Would you like something to eat?” he asked. “I hear they are making an excellent lunch down in the cafeteria today. Cream of mushroom soup with various sandwiches on the side.”

“I’m not hungry.” Serena replied.

“You must be, you’ve hardly eaten since you’ve got here,” he reminded her. “Come join me for lunch, there is much we must discuss.” he stood up and walked to the door. He turned and beckoned her to come. Serena hated to leave George’s side but she was curious as to what the priest wanted and who he was. In the end her curiosity got the better of her and she followed him to the cafeteria.

“What is it you want to talk about?” she asked as they walked down the corridors of the Great Monastery.

“Well I’m sure by now you know some of what we do here.” it wasn’t a question but a statement. Serena nodded her head.

“You slay demons in the name of Jesus...or so you all say.”

“We do indeed.”

“Then prove it” she challenged. Father Stephens stopped and turned to her.

“Come again?” he asked.

“Prove to me that what you say is true,” she said. “Prove to me that demons exist.”

“Alright then, follow me.”