I appear to be in the desert again, but this time presumably before that night-time attacker. Armel - or I? Starts; "Wait, what are you? Why have you... drawn me here?" there's something of a daze around him and even I can't seem to make out the figure despite the brightness of the moon it is hidden in darkness. "I simply wanted to see who might respond, you haven't even awakened yet." it says.
"Awakened? W-what?" Armel struggles to speak.
"You will more likely die before you do, I will be off then." the creature turns it's back and in that moment Armel heats up and is able to strike the demon, slashing it's back open. Armel tries to press on with the attack but almost instantaneously as he raises his sword for another slash the demon's sword quickly lodges itself in his neck freezing all movement. Armel was not dead but felt practically so, as if his veins were ice cold.
At the same time, I come back to the real world or at least my world. To see the man I think was driving before I was knocked out and another man with aviators and overall an antiquated sense of style. The driver was doing some other work in a chair faced away from me and the aviator guy was staring at me so he started off "Keaton, looks like he's finally woken up."
"What are we to do with him?" this 'Keaton' asks. "Why, we'll keep him here. We can't just send him back out there with the wave of vamp activity."
"Are you sure that's fine? We are meant to be something of a clandestine operation."
"If he goes out there and talks about Vril he'll just be another McDojo lunatic and even if anyone believed him. Also I thought y'all were meant to heal? Hospital of Saint John and all that."
"Good point-" before Keaton could finish I cut them off "Hey, is this rehab? Or are you guys cops?"
"Cops?" the two of them say in unison and laugh. Keaton though continues "You could consider us rehab-"
"I don't need rehab, there's nothing wrong with me."
"Actually, there's a lot wrong with you. Besides an addiction, in your most recent overdose you've burst several vital points internally. They've for the most part been healed over the last few days but I am unsure if you can still even feel your body. Can you raise your right arm for me?" I do as he asks of me and while I see my arm in the air however I cannot feel. "I can't actually feel it."
"Better than I thought, your nerves might be just have been shot by the excess of Vril."
"Vril?"
"Can explain that some other time, for now I would like to begin trying to restore your nerves, this might take awhile for me so I will start with your legs so you can walk around. Then if you'd like either your hands or your... more private area."
"Er... how do you restore it?" he immediately pulls out a syringe "For now, this. Think of it as heroin, except painful yet less damaging."
"I- w-" I stammer but he doesn't give me a moment and immediately injects the serum in between my big toe and the one right next to it. For a second, I was about to brag that the only pain I felt was it going through the flesh but immediately after I thought that much pain shot up through my leg in more places than I could imagine. Tears immediately came to my eyes and I needed it to end. "C-can't I just go to sleep? Put me under man! Shit!"
"No can do, you need to be awake."
"Damn you!" I try to get up and strike him but the combination of the pain and the lack of feeling throws me off and all I manage to do is fall onto the floor. The two of me lift me back up onto the mattress and Keaton holds me down while the aviator guy leaves for a second and comes back with a few belts to tie me up. Naturally I try to pull them off but it does not work, I am not strong at all. Luckily the pain does not last for an extremely long time. I'm left to myself to think for the most part but I try to sleep. Over what felt like years but was likely a couple of days if not a week through half-sleeps, pain, lamentations over such discomfort after years of bliss and confusion of where I even am or who these people are come and pass until one day I am told to attempt to walk and miraculously or to be expected I feel like a normal human again to a degree though movement and my sense of touch are painful I do not mind so much as I am able to walk again, go to the bathroom normally and even eat. The aviator man invited me to his truck, a Ford but I am not aware enough of models to know beyond that.
He tells me that "Since you're feeling better, I will treat you to something. Like burgers? Got a place I like going to sometimes." and yeah I like burgers so I agree to go. On the car ride over I realize I must have been taken out east as there's hills, dry grass and hardly anything man-made outside the fences, an aqueduct, the road and the occasional building. "By the way, what's your name?" the aviator man asks me. "Uziel, yours?"
"Oh, I never said what it was huh. I'm Bruce - Paxton. 'Round the Ranch the brothers call me Brother Paxton or just Paxton."
"Brother? Is it some kind of cult?"
"Yeah, basically." I was surprised by his honesty. "Y-you don't say..." I respond nervous.
"Don't worry though, they're often fanatical but they're fine. I used to be part of them but I was technically exiled long ago and have only just come back."
"Why?"
"I was dissatisfied so I struck out on my own. I kept posted but given doing that, they notified me of my being exiled and I went to other countries - mainly in Indochina - to learn more things about Vril."
"Vril? Is that some kind of magic stuff."
"Basically." a pretty vague answer. "To expand on it a little, it's magical martial arts shenanigans. We picked you up because when you overdosed your body displayed evidence of an amount of use of Vril that is certainly irregular and current troubles in the areas made it a necessity for us to keep you out of harms way."
"Not getting much more than that?"
"No, it's not very necessary unless you want to take part in the hospitaller's struggle against the night."
"The night... like Vampires" I ask, but it's quite unbelievable. Even though this guy seemed pretty reasonable maybe he is just insane but also completely open about it. "Yep." he says, no hint of cringe or anything in his voice. "So magic is real and so are Vampires." I ask again. "Yup, among other things..." he trails off "... oh, I accidentally passed the burger place." so he U-turns, luckily there's basically no one around. "What the- do you know how to drive!?" I yell at him but he just laughs "It's been 50 years!" and keeps laughing until he gets into this small dive's parking lot. We get burgers, specifically I get an 'Outlaw Burger' which is just very meaty, it is good but not like super beyond what you'd expect from fast food.
"So, Hospitallers?" I ask out of nowhere. "Oh yeah, so are you familiar with the Crusades?"
"Like with the Templars and stuff."
"Yup. There were several orders, one of them was the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem or in short the Knights Hospitaller. Now, before you say it yes we are no longer in the Crusades but this order had survived in various forms since then. The most well known is probably the Order of Malta - though they no longer own Malta they're still around and recognized. For ourselves, we are actually called the Californian Order of St. John but Hospitaller works."
"So you're Crusaders against Vampires then? That's kinda cool but..."
"You don't believe it? That's fine. I'm also 76 years old but I do look quite young, don't I?" now the lunatic is claiming he is significantly older than like 25? "Quit capping." I said. "I don't know what that means."
"Like... stop lying."
"I'm not, I am serious. I even served in Vietnam for a short stint. That's actually how I came to join the Order. It was during the Tet Offensive that my Vril had awoken, after facing serious injuries... well I suddenly found myself being able to heal in some wet jungle. Actually, it was there I had found Brother Jim and after that we were introduced to the order via the old Master Raymond who passed recently. He's actually why I came back."
"Yeah, right dude. Also why are you sharing all this now instead of earlier?"
"I get distracted too much when I drive while talking." he cleans his hands from the burger grease "Also, it's true. I'll prove it right now." and then he pulls out a knife. Without allowing me to even fathom what he'll do with it he cuts his middle finger off. This guy really is crazy but... is he honest? Trying to dispel the shock and perhaps fear of this moment, I attentively look at his hand. It must be some kind of magic trick but it looks all too real. Then he simply picks up the finger and reattaches it with just a bit of light forming between the two and wa-lah it's back to normal he can even move it. "The hell?!" I say, simply this shouldn't really be possible. "That's just a minor trick, take the knife." he hands me it and he takes his shirt off to reveal himself. He's pretty lean and has several tattoos. "Ok, now stab me." he says. I was about to ask why but the gaze of his eyes seem to compel me and I do, however to blade bounces off his stomach. "Start believing it kid."
"Well, you certainly have something. That's crazy, I have no idea how you'd be able to do that..." I was absolutely mesmerized by it. He puts his clothes back on while I am staring at his stomach, blushing a bit I reform myself. "So, you're saying I have this?"
"Yeah, but very raw."
"But why do I have it and other people don't?"
"Likely, drugs for you. For myself, it was my injuries. But that much hasn't always been the case. Late Master Raymond was born with it and in my time I have met people who just randomly developed it or even people who have developed it through prayer or meditation. It is not clear, though of course it's a holy device from God for most associated with the Church. Though, there's a strong reasoning behind it being somewhat genetic, although not many within the Order have successive known vril users it is not exactly uncommon for some regular people to just have a hint of it. But, who knows for sure?"
After that, we return to his Truck and go back.
"By the way, would you like to learn how to control your Vril? We'll probably let you go after all this business in the city but you might end up killing yourself again." he says after we start driving again.
"Will I be forced to be a Hospitaller?"
"Not exactly, but you'll be my responsibility until you decide it's enough."
"Hmm... might as well."
"Good. Good." he smiles and focuses on the drive again.