Rapture Falls (31 page)

             
“
Gather in
, gather in ladies and gentlemen” Jessica ushered them together, she checked her watch to find that it was precisely 10am, “The present Cathedral that you stand in t
oday was begun
sometime between 1180 and 1182 and is the culmination of centuries
of rebuilding and expansion, c
onstructed in the Transitional Norman style using fine-grained, purple Cambrian sandstone, it has survived both the collapse of its tower and an earthquake in the 13th
but the
history of this site begins far further back than that” she checked around the room to make sure that they were all paying perfect attention. The group were the usual collection of older visitors, many part of the various coach tours that frequented the Cathedral at this time of year
, most on the “Turkey and Tinsel” tours where families packed off elderly relatives during the winter break.
She scanned the faces pleased at their attentive faces, only one man seemed distracted, he was much younger that the others and despite standing amongst the group he seemed strangely separate from the others, he did not look
particularly
out of the ordinary but his very
averageness
seemed a little too
perfect and his eyes seemed dark even in the gloomy surroundings.

             
Baine stamped his feet to stave off the creeping cold of his darkened gothic surroundings, the
Cathedral
was immense, the impossibly high ceiling stretched ever upward seemingly reaching the heavens in their praise. The huge stain glass windows towered over the vast worshipping
arena encasing the infinite empty space, Baine felt that the desired effect of the building was to create an atmosphere to humble you before a God of sheer omnipotence. The coach tour group was hanging from every word of the willowy guide; he slowly extricated from view and slipped un-noticed into the long shadows. The
sounds of the tour
floated throughout the echoed hall growing distant
as he backed
away;
at the head of the Cathedral lay a reconstructed altar and altar piece, a reredos behind depicted three figures that strangely to Baine he knew to be St James, St Peter, St
Andrew and St Paul
, there was Latin text inscribed in th
e hard stone surface that read
"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world
”. Baine felt centuries of his
family’s
blood and history coursing through his veins, whatever
lies
ahead for him on this path he felt the strength of his father at his side, so far he had relied solely on his instincts to map his way through this labyrinth and so he took another step forward. He removed the Book of Enoch from his back pack and placed it on the altar, he knelt before the ancient stone table and raised his head to the heavens, ready to be bestowed with the power of ages, ready to take his place in history, ready to fulfil his destiny and assume his rightful position, he thrust his hands to the watching skies and squeezed his eyes tightly shut in wild anticipation. Finally after about thirty seconds of silence, he began to feel like a right tit,
he hefted himself up off of the cold floor, the book faced him mockingly from the altar, he reached out with an embarrassed hand desperately praying that nobody had been watching his ridiculous antics. As he lifted the book the stone table shifted slightly backwards from its ancient moorings, Baine stopped and placed the book back down again, the table shifted back, he shook his head and took the book back restoring it in his back pack. The altar had left small grooves on the floor when it had moved, Baine knelt down on the floor and placed his hand under the table, he felt a
small
breath of stale air emanating from b
elow
, he stood crouched by the altar and placing his shoulder to it began to push it further backwards exposing dark steps leading down be
neath
the belly of the Cathedral.
Baine stared unhappily in the darkness, he looked around for something to light his way, he spotted an antique candelabra, it was gold and heavy
,
holding three large red candles, he lit the three and used the dancing flicker of flames as he descended.
The stone steps were very old but still
sturdy;
they were practically devoid of foot wells worn over time leading him to the conclusion that whatever lay down here had been sealed to prying eyes many years ago. The passage
way
was narrow and his shoulders brushed the walls until he reached the bottom, the floor was dirt beneath his feet and the small room stank of
sour
air
that clogged his throat making it difficult to swallow. He lifted the heavy candelabra to illuminate the room, it was only around 12 feet squared, at the far end lay three large stone tablets each fixed to the wall and each with different engravings etched into their centuries old surfaces.
The first said, “
The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion
” the second, “The wicked flee when
man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion
” and the third “
The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but t
he bold as a lion are righteous”
, Baine remembered the phrase scratched into his fathers book,
“Kneel only before the true word of God”.
The trouble was that there were only the slightest differences between the engraved tablets, he did not know the phrase and thus could not tell the correct one from the
impostors
, he knew that he must kneel before one of the stone markers to further his journey and judging by the way the game had played out so far he could make an educated guess that kneeling before the wrong one would be a mistake of the gravest kind. He closed his eyes and relaxed his mind attempting to seek inspiration, none was forthcoming, standing in the dark and dust he was alone, it dawned on him with much surprise that he suddenly felt alone, after eons of time being completely self contained the recent links of his father and brother, not to mention his dancer, had cracked his seal and opened him up.
As he stood amidst the dancing flames light he felt venerable for the first time in his existence, the choice before him suddenly weighed heavily upon his tiring shoulders, he now felt the burden of his families eyes watching him, he also now understood that with the support of others in his life came an unwanted responsibility. He tried to interpret the engravings but nothing leapt out, it could genuinely be any of the three, after everything that had happened it now would come down to blind luck, or, or maybe something else, maybe faith?, was that the purpose here, was that the design all along. Baine stood before the tablets and knelt before the first, he braced himself for the consequences but no Indiana Jones blades fell from the ceiling or spikes ripped through his kneeling body, after a few eternal seconds the first heavy stone tablet
receded
into the wall
revealing a small yellowing parchment. Baine stood and retrieved his reward, all in all it seemed some what of a let down, there were no explosions of holy light, no divine apparitions, just a small piece of paper, h
e gently unrolled the parchment for fear of the ancient paper
disintegrating beneath his rough hands, it was a small drawing
:

There were no words only the strange drawing that annoyingly meant nothing to Baine, it could be a symbol, a graphic, a sign, was it writing of some kind, perhaps an Asian word of some sort, Baine sighed to himself and tucked the parchment away safely into his jacket pocket and climbed the stone steps back out into the fresh aired Cathedral once again. He hedged his way carefully and quietly back into the main area, the voice of the guide drawing closer as he approached the tourist group meaning to re-assimilate himself into their throng before subtly heading for the nearest exit.

“
St Davids Cathedral has been a site of pilgrimage and worship for more than 800 years
” the guide continued, “
i
n around 589 to 601ad it is estimated that St
David himself died having founded a monastery on this very site” she continued “St Davids itself was known as
Menevia
and it was attacked and destroyed many times, in” she was fully into her flow when she stopped
suddenly, she flapped at her ear with gloved fingers, a strange buzzing intruded that she mistook for an out of season insect of some kind, her head snapped down violently against her thin chest and she ceased.

Baine had not been paying much attention to the prattling old woman as she spouted on about the history of the place although he had to admit that the Cathedral itself was mightily impressive
,
the
grandiose
sweeping buildings
were set within a large expanse of grounds, the
Norman
architecture and imposing tower added an air of majesty to the inspiring structure. He still had no idea just what exactly it was that he was looking for, he had hoped to slip away from the tour in order to conduct one of his own of a more private nature, he suddenly grew aware that the group he was in were rushing toward the guide who had stopped talking and now stood limp. Whilst the wrinkle brigade offered assistance Baine steeped backwards, he looked quickly around cursing himself silently for not already securing the interiors layout in his mind, as usual in his life at the minute something was off here by some distance. He began to back away toward the exit at his back,

             
“BAINE” a huge monstrous voice bellowed out of the small tour guides chest
, his elderly companions backed away scared and nervous, the guide head snapped up viciously
her eyes were
suddenly
black and deep, her head tilted to one side
, one intrepid group member ventured forward, a blue rinse woman held out an ill advised helping hand toward the guide. Jessica or whatever she was now reached out toward the helping hand, grabbed it firmly and ripped the arm from the poor woman’s shoulder, the blue rinse staggered back and sat down heavily on the hard stone floor, she looked down disbelievingly at the bloody stump now gushing violently, the silence was suddenly broken by a random scream from the group swiftly joined by several more. They ran, well as best as a collective of OAP’
s could manage, Bai
ne had no real interest in saving other people but now they were blocking his means of escape and forcing him back into the cathedral where the tour guide was now a picture of
ecstasy
as she wiped and tasted the blood across her face, the crimson smears offering a stark contrast to her pale skin.
She looked up and stared deeply into his eyes, the look was intimate and hungry, Baine opened his mouth with the idea of tossing out a humorous quip, the idea was short lived however as the guide flung herself hard into him, the impact forced them backwards crashing
through
a large wooden pew. Baine struggled with the woman as she flailed violently with teeth and nails, she was impressively strong of body and will as he struggled to free himself
from her clasping limbs, Baine managed to get his right hand under the woman’s chin forcing her head backwards and himself away from the snapping teeth. When she was sufficiently far enough away from him he managed to plant a foot firmly in her chest, he heaved with every ounce of strength he had, once free he rolled back to his feet assuming a warriors stance, a quick glance over his shoulder told him annoyingly that the rest of the tour group were huddled against the closed door unable to comprehend the functions of an exit. He turned his attention back to the guide just in time to see her steaming across the floor at a rapid pace, at his feet were shards of the shattered pew, he
slid his foot under a
particularly
jagged piece and smoothly flipped it up into the air, he snaked out his right hand and grabbed it in one smooth motion
, as the guide ran into him full pelt he shot out his right arm around her throat and span with her momentum allowing him to move from in front to behind her in an instant, he pulled hard tilting her backward and with his left hand drove the pew shard
hard
into the back of her head
exploding
out
through the front
, he dropped the ruined body to the floor. He slowly turned toward the
exit door where the
OAP crowd
had been cowering
but he only got half way there when someone crashed in
to his back sending him flying. H
e turned on his knees to see one of the old men
from the group
advancing menacingly with evil intentions in his black eyes,