The heat of the midday sun blazed on the indies and roofing sheets of the Cain manor. A white light shone on the path leading to the manor and the shape of a beautiful woman took form. Her hair was as white as snow, she skin shine a rich brown melanin; The lady light. She placed her palms together as she strode towards the manor from the pathway. As she walked up the stairs leading to the front door the lion statues at her left and right bowed their heads at her same time. She slid her hand across their cold stony manes and walked slowly up the stairs and when she got the top of the stairwell, she turned the door knob, pushing the main door open. She wandered around the house for some time before she stumbled on the "HOUSE OF GOLD" Cain had cast earlier. It was floating and spinning a few feet above the ground. She studied the structure and walked closer to it to get a better look.
Being an external observer, she could see clearly the form and structure of the creature before her. It wore a shabby, torn hooded cloak which did well to conceal its facial features. Its hand was calloused, like that of a seasoned farmer. It also lacked toe nails and the entirety of its foot and fingers were blackened with decay. She placed her left palm on the left eye, covering a part of her face and said the prompt of a secret spell:
"Eyes of light, blind all evil, see all truth."
Her right eye shine a bright white and she saw flashes of memory of the creature before her. She screamed and staggered backwards, throwing her palm off her face. Her face went pale. "Francis of Assisi?" She said, as if she had seen a ghost.
Thoughts raced through her mind as she manifested a shirt white chalk in her hand. She scribbled quickly in the floor, "Porta Caeli ". The spell to grant her access to the gates of heaven. The ground beneath her cracked and slowly split and have way, a bright light shining out of the gaping hole on the floor. Hurriedly, she jumped in before the crack sealed up after her.
Flashback: A week before Cain received Light's letter.
The stars were spread out like a blanket in the serene night sky. A man with deep black spiky hair and a classic black leather biker jacket moves swiftly as he walks along the depths of a forgotten valley, somewhere in the desert. He slips in and out of the shadows as he moves swiftly, the moonlight revealing a most wicked grin on his lips. For a brief moment he stepped into an area dimly illuminated by the moonlight and the inscriptions printer across the back of his jacket became visible, it read;
"SHADOW" He runs his hand along the valley walls and suddenly paused at a point. He manifested a black chalk piece and drew a symbol on the wall. The lines of the marking shone a bright red as the wall became wavy, as though it were the surface of a pool of water. The man laughed, characteristically and walked through the wall, maintaining that wicked grin.
Out of his pocket, he pulled out a black skull-shaped amulet and twirled it around by the chain holding it up. Suddenly, he stopped walking and his expression hardened. The man was able to see clearly even in the stark darkness of the cave. From his point of view. A cylindrical structure with numerous six foot-long openings in its walls stretching upwards and downwards could be seen. This pattern ceased just before the pathway leading to the place. This place was once known as the "The Great Resting Place". It houses the preserved corpses of many significant personalities in history, the likes of the first descendants of Adam and Eve, they themselves and other historic personalities which I cannot now begin to list, for the list has almost no end. The bodies of these many persons were dug up and stashed away here in this sacred place, away from the normal dimension which you and I tread, safeguarding them from the Great flood of Noah's time. In addition lay the corpses of some great and holy men, saints and Honored soldiers and men of war. One of such persons, is the Saint, Francis of Assisi...was, anyway.
Weaving through the shadows, he found his way into one of the tombs, closer to the bottom of the structure. A hard bronze coffin lay in the center of a room which wasn't particularly large. He slid the lid off and set it aside, allowing the amulet to dangle above the corpse, a dried-up skeleton, with his left hand. With a malicious smile plastered across his face, he murmured: "From dust to dust, from flesh to bones. From life to death, from joy to moan. By my power, Shadow's gain, Svengali called, come home again."
An emerald light shone out of the valley and into the night sky as screams of a great evil echoed along the valley walls.
***
The beeps of a hospital monitor could be heard distinctly in the static evening air. A familiar classic hospital environment with a modern metal-framed bed frame could be seen, illuminated by the sunlight splashing in from the window behind the drawn curtains. A male patient lay on the bed, several monitors and small gadgets attached to him, keeping track of the condition of his vitals.
A young pretty choc-skinned girl in scrubs walked into the room; she was clearly a nurse. She had curly black hair which glistened as it caught some light off the open window. She walked up to the bed and stood next to it with a small notepad in her hand. She seemed to be in her early twenties. She scribbled something intermittently on her notepad, only looking up every few moments. Clearly though, she wasn't taking down any notes like she was supposed to.
She stopped scribbling abruptly, as she noticed a slight movement of the patient's hand. She ignored it at first, assuming that it was just the fatigue of a long day getting to her. Suddenly, his hands balled up into fists and his body began to shake violently. Simultaneously, the monitor started beeping faster, showing indicators that his condition was destabilizing. Alert to this, the nurse quickly dropped her notepad and ran out of the ward in search of the doctor, her eyes wide with shock. Briefly, she returned with the doctor, a matured and experienced Hispanic man with tired eyes, who walked briskly into the room. Without wasting any time, he reached for the room closet and pulled out a syringe and a light brown bottle containing some liquid. Then, he injected it into the patient, his eyes steady and his face calm as he did. Almost immediately, the shaking subsided and the monitors reverted to their former tune. The doctor whispered a few words of advice and things to note to the young nurse before he strolled out of the room. As he approached the ward door, he shook his head and murmured under his breath, but loud enough for her to hear: "these student nurses...".
She darted a negative look at him for a short while, then picked up her notepad and smiled at the rough sketch she had made of the patient's face, a face now covered with an overgrown beard and a haggard-looking head of hair. She smiled at him and said, "come on prince charming, its been three months..."