Children of the Clergy

Season 1 | Episode 2 | Papa I

Primo stared up at the tall figure in front of him. It stood stoically, towering over him. He was sat on the edge of his bed but the rest of the room seemed to have disappeared. He was completely surrounded by a void of darkness. The figure glared down at him, piercing through his soal with its unearthly stare. He shuddered. Its eyes glowed with blue fire, the only light in the pitch black room.

The figure had pale blue eyes, although they seemed navy due to the flames circling the edges. It wore a metallic black mask, which vaguely resembled a face, and a black leather mantle half cape with a hood up that covered its head. On the rest of its body, it wore a sleek black leather robe with black leather gloves and formal black shoes still slightly visible below them. The strangest aspect of its appearance was the large silver Emeritus Crest that hung from around its neck.

Primo felt strange. It was as if his very soal was trying to free itself from his body. The figure saw through him, reading him like a book. It knew. He wasn't sure how. It just knew what he thought of it, and it fed off of his fear.

Primo woke in a cold sweat. He shot up, glancing around his room. Sure enough, everything was as it should be, and everything he was used to was there: the shelves with rows of books stacked on top of them, the small work desk in the corner, and the framed photos hanging on the wall.

He looked closely at one of them. It was a family photo, taken the day Terzo was born. He and Secondo were sat on a small black coach, beeming up at the camera. Papa Nihil and Seestor Imperator stood behind them, both smiling warmly. Terzo lay asleep in Primo's arms. He looked so peaceful. Primo wished it could have stayed that simple, but Papa and Seestor had fallen apart soon after his birth. Terzo had grown up with both of his parents rarely prescent and Primo could tell that he assumed it was his fault their family was brocken. No matter what Primo and Secondo had done to comfort him, the thought was clearly still embedded deep within his mind and would never truely be gone.

He shook his head to snap himself out of his thoughts. He shuddered, the image of the figure glaring down at him still vividly implanted in his mind. In a single moment, an important fact seeped back into his head: his ghouls were being summoned today. He hadn't wanted to think about it too much. The thought of vicious hell-born creatures roaming around the ministry put him on edge. Sure, they would be somewhere neer to him at all times, but he wasn't sure if that made him feel better or worse about the situation. It was odd for any amount of any group of creatures to be given to only one member of the Clergy, let alone an entire pack of dangerous and magical beings being given to a child to care for. Primo knew practically nothing about ghouls, except for their elements and a few of the names of their species. Secondo was the one who knew the most about them simply because he read more than he did anything else, even eating. It sometimes concerned Primo but he didn't want to make Secondo feel like he was worrying about him for no reason. His younger brother liked to make it very clear that he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself and didn't need anyone worrying about him over something so simple. In his defence, it was just reading.

Primo slid his legs off the side of his bed to dangle off the edge and rested his head in his hands. The moment he closed his eyes, the glowing pale blue eyes of the figure flashed back into his vision. He started, not used to having dreams that stuck with him like this one had. They were usually unimportant and didn't make any sense at all. That was a common factor of most dreams. He'd had one about a wall of fire once; he'd been chained to a wall as it slowly crept towards him. He'd snuck into Secondo's room and snuggled up in bed with him. Despite his attempts, Secondo had noticed him and made sure to keep him company for the rest of the night. He didn't sleep for a week after that.

He took his head off his hands and sighed, trying to calm his racing heart. It pounded in his chest and he couldn't get it to stop.

Second peered through the door, "Brother, are you alright?" All three of the brothers had very heavy Italian accents but Secondo's had always been a little more prominent.