As the bloody hand swept over the man’s eyes, the name was made clear, the red eye was visible, and the horns and hooves grew and glinted in the blood moon’s glow. Karnage the Destroyer would gain access to the mortal realm once more, and nobody would stop him.
The man sat up, what a peculiar nightmare, he thought, what kind of a name was Karnage? Although he was confused, he knew he had to get on with his day, his cleric duties would not stop due to a silly nightmare, even if it had been happening for weeks now.
“Father Joseph!” The nun cried out, “you’re late for morning service!”
“Coming, coming,” The man answered in a calm and collected voice as always.
Father Joseph had been the man of the church for over 12 years now, and his coming 13th year would be marked the day after tomorrow, the same night of the blood moon. As a 44 year old man with little exercise, Father Joseph was quite in shape, as his 6 pack demonstrated. He had always been one for his churchly duties and felt at one with his spiritual self. Only by letting go of his past self was he able to become enlightened. His family was one of the things he had to give up to become a part of the church. Although Father Joseph was quite entwined with the spiritual nature of the Church, he never really believed in the more unnatural or paranormal sections of his religion. He had performed multiple exorcisms, all successful, but he himself did not believe in what he was a part of.
He was offering a placebo, and his patients were eating it up, it was almost a proof to him that his work was false. Although, Father Joseph was painfully aware of the growing pit in his stomach as he pondered the impact of the recurring nightmare. Especially when he considered his own connection with the blood moon. His 13th year being interrupted by a Demon also did not seem to fare well in a superstitious sense.
“FATHER JOSEPH! ARE YOU COMING?” The impatient nun cried out again.
“Oh yes of course, don’t worry,” Father Joseph had been broken out of his thoughts, it was time for his duties.
The Demon Shredder grabbed his sack, his pouch filled with holy water. He knew that there was a storm brewing, he grabbed his favorite weapon and admired it, the cool metal of the whip cast in iron, tempered in holy water, the handle molded into a steel cross ending with a purple jewel in the middle. His whip was always with him, covered in dust from demonic entities slayed. His blood covered face smelled strongly of death, he was the bait and the killer, the demons didn’t stand a chance. His destiny was coming nigh and Karnage The Destroyer was ready to end this mortal plane. The Demon Shredder’s stomach grumbled, a rabbit came into view, for a split second. One second, it was a rabbit, the next, its guts were splayed out in front of it, blood like a waterfall gushing out of the massive wound on its stomach. Just like Death itself, sudden, the Demon’s grasp had already turned some people, they would be ready for battle. The whip was powerful, and the Shredder would be eating well tonight.
Father Joseph was quite preoccupied with the thoughts of the Demon in his sleep, Karnage had made 6 separate appearances within the past week alone, and it was the 11th, only a couple more days until his rise, although that was not possible, as the Demon wasn’t real.
“But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised…”
Father Joseph had trailed off in the middle of the sermon. The Parishioners and Clerks were giving him sideway glances, it was the third time this had happened in the past week alone, Father Joseph was ushered back to his room and another priest had taken over for him. It was all too odd.
Father Joseph was already aware of what type of Demon Karnage was, although he still refused to believe in it, it has to be a drude, which would explain its interference in Joseph’s nightmares, although drudes usually tried to tempt saints of faith, this one seemed to be different. Either way, the best way to counter a drude was to just not believe in their power, that was the only way to incapacitate them, if that didn’t work, an exorcism was in order, but that would be useless because demons did not exist. Joseph was about to discover how dead wrong he actually was.
The Shredder had found the scent of the vile demon, his cross whip was ready to cut and tear and Shredder was ready, as his name provides, to shred. He knew who would release the Demon and was now heading towards the Church of Father Joseph.
Once again the bloody hands swept over the man’s eyes, Karnage raised his head and cackled, the man thought that just by not believing in the Demon, he could stop it. Karnage was more powerful than that, belief is a powerful thing, and a lack of such is quite dangerous. He would have to prove himself to the man, for it is only through blood that Karnage could reign.
Father Joseph shot upright, his head in utter agony, he could feel the memories of the drude, but this was no ordinary drude, he had to be exorcised, for his belief had now made the disgusting creature more powerful. Even before the nun came crying in with news, Joseph was ready, for he had seen the decapitated head of his brother, and knew what the nun had to say. Fear was power, Joseph must not show fear, although the smell of burnt flesh and visions of seas of blood were dancing upon his senses. He had to seek help, an exorcism on himself would not work. “AHH!” He groaned as a searing pain hit his chest, the necklace of the cross around his neck had branded him, although the metal itself had started to melt into his skin, it was hot to the touch. As the cross burned its way through his skin, the pain did not subside. The previous smell of burning flesh had not been a conjured image, it had been his skin melting away at the now red hot metal of the cross. He yelled out “THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!” The pain immediately intensified and then blinked out, it was as if nothing had ever happened. Although his necklace was now nothing more than a pile of melted metal, and the same went for his neck, just a pile of melted flesh. The heat had cauterized the wound and Joseph was not bleeding.
There was a knock on the door and it soon burst open. Father Joseph was quite surprised at the disheveled man who entered the room. A nun came screaming after yelling
“Confession time is over, you may not meet Father Joseph at this time, WHAT IS THAT?! YOU MUST NOT HAVE A WEAPON IN THE HOUSE OF GOD!”
The man laughed, unfazed, “But this is god’s weapon, look at the cross, and the dust, this is for slaughtering.. No, shredding Demons”
Father Joseph looked on in complete confusion, “Who are you sir? And what are you doing here?”
“My name is Shredder, and my job description applies to Demons, specifically the act of removing them from our plane” The man said, twirling his whip. Shredder looked at Joseph, this was the man who was marked by Karnage. He looked at the Father’s chest, metal in flesh, the awful stench of burning human meat was growing more and more unbearable.
“Nun! Go fetch some cold water!” Yelled Shredder
“Holy water?” The nun asked inquisitively.
“ABSOLUTELY NOT! HE’S POSSESSED, DO YOU WANT TO KILL HIM?”
“No, no that would not be very good I suppose” the nurse answered uncertainly.
“Now, to more pertinent matters,” Shredder shifted his focus to Father Joseph,
“Now I’m assuming you’ve seen Karnage?”
“Why yes I have” answered Joseph, in my sleep, he’s a drude, isn’t he?”
“Well a little, but not exactly, for he is also a member of the Legion, rather he leads it” Shredder was quite vehement now, the exorcism had to begin shortly, before nightfall arrived.
“But…”
“No, no more, now the exorcism must start, we will explain everything later”
Shredder readied the vial of holy water and started an incantation. The Father’s eyes rolled back in his head and turned blood red. His hands started shifting, becoming bloody. Nails broke out of his skin, bleeding everywhere. Loose patches of skin and clumped blood ran off the Father’s feet as he started to grow hooves. Suddenly, as if a switch had gone off, everything started directing itself at Shredder. The lights flickered, what was once Father Joseph’s mouth opened and a black goo rolled out, with the consistency of tar and a smell of death, from it crawled out spiders and centipedes, all crawling towards Shredder, whose eyes now glowed as he started yelling incantations. Shredder stopped to take out his whip, flicking it about, killing everything around him. The vial of holy water was splashed on top of the spiders and various creatures that made their way outside of Father Joseph’s mouth. All the creatures screamed simultaneously, breaking Shredder’s concentration. The wave started again, this time instead of creatures, a hand made its way outside of the Father’s mouth, then a leg, the Father continued spitting out organs and body parts, Shredder started again, eyes glowing, whip crashing, the body parts started to come together and formed a demented looking man with no eyes or mouth, smelling violently, hungry for food but unable to consume, Shredder whipped at the vile creature, splitting it in half, it turned into black sludge and stayed in a corner. The incantation was starting to come to a close, and now Father Joseph’s mouth had closed. The sludge around the room started coagulating, coming together, it formed the head of Karnage, and then the body, all up to the hooves. It cackled…
Only for a second, before Shredder whipped it in half and ended it. Hours later, as the Father started his recovery, he asked Shredder how much his services cost, Shredder looked at him and smiled “No payment necessary, but you do owe me one”
“Why of course, even though my mouth smells a little like death”
“That will take some time to take out, if you start coughing up bones, don’t worry, it’s normal.”
“Ahh of course, only logical”
The nun finally appeared with a bucket of cold water, “What took you so long?” Asked the Father, “Oh, well I managed to trip on something, I apologize sincerely.” The nun opened her eyes, and as her pupils dilated in the light, they turned a crimson red.
“Oh I’m going to enjoy my new body,” said Karnage softly to himself.