There’s a legend that tells of two boys. It goes that the two entered into an abandoned cathedral, particularly the old St. Raphael’s Cathedral, and only one made it out. The one who did, Gabriel, says he had an encounter with Mortem, the god of death. He also says his brother disappears that night, that Mortem had taken his soul and he turned his brother into a god himself. Gabriel says that he would repeatedly have visions and dreams of a figure meeting him in a dark void. According to Gabriel, the figure wore long, tattered robes with shackles tied around its wrists, ankles, elbows, knees, and waist. It was thin and frail, not quite bone, but looked like it was decaying from the inside out. Its eyes were apparently hollow and dark with nothing in the sockets. He recalled sometimes seeing tiny white dots in them, so small you could barely see them. The only reason you could was because of the pitch black voids where its eyes used to sit. Gabriel also said the figure carried with it a sword with a curved blade and a hilt that appeared as though it was made of bone. But the worst part was that it would whisper things to him. He could never understand what the apparition was saying, but it still shook his very soul. While he didn’t know what the figure was saying, he did know one thing about it. Its name. Or at least his new one. While alive its name was Michael, according to Gabriel, the gods had given him a new one. Desperus, the god of grief and despair.
All of this, however, is just hearsay and has never been proven. Micheal died some sixteen years ago in his home found lying lifeless in his bed. His skin was ice cold and pale white while his body was stiff as though he was petrified in stone. Most unusual though, his eyes were completely white. No iris, no pupil, nothing. To this day, nobody really knows what happened. Some say it was just natural causes, he was 81 after all, while others say something more sinister was at play. Regardless, while he was no longer amongst the living his tale still permeated in the minds of the townsfolk and superstitious.
“I told you it wasn’t locked,” David said to Isaiah after opening the gate to Eden Cemetery.
“I never said it was locked, I said it was a stupid idea to open it,” Isaiah asserted.
“Why? Are you scared the ghosts will come and get you?” David said, antagonizing Isaiah.
“Firstly, it’s disrespectful to waltz into a cemetery unwelcomed. Secondly, I don’t want someone coming by and getting us in trouble,” Isaiah reputed. Elijah would chime in as well.
“He has a good point,”
“Shut up, Eli,” David snapped. “You’re just agreeing to agree, and if you did want to get in trouble why did you come, Isaiah,” he said with a smug look.
While Isaiah wanted to argue with him, he knew David had a point. Isaiah stood there and gritted his teeth in silence. David gave him another conceited look.
“Nothing? Then shut up about it and let’s go.” He turned around and walked through the barred, metal gates. Isaiah turned to Elijah, sighed, and walked through the gates. Elijah followed shortly after.
The path to the graves was unnerving. A dirt road surrounded on all sides by barren and contorted trees. They resembled hands reaching out of the ground ready to pull any unsuspecting passersby into the earth. It didn’t help that the moon was shining through the crevices, casting the twisted shadows of the tree onto the path below. The nightly winds also made the branches move in a distorted and dissonant dance. Isaiah looked to the edges of the road. What he saw was a field of darkness that lined the sides of the path. Even though the moon above casted its light on the world it still wasn’t enough to keep the lightless sea at bay. It was as though the trees swallowed any light that could’ve made it to the bottom. In fact, the whole path was dark. The only light was that of the moon shining through the empty sections of the trees. Other than that it was completely dark. The night had done a good job of concealing everything in pitch black darkness tonight. As Isaiah looked closer into the umbral woods he could almost make out figures standing within the trees. Although, given how dark it was it was hard to tell. Regardless, it still unnerved Isaiah. His inability to see anything that may be hidden within the woods really perturbed him and kept him on edge. All these thoughts running through his head, however, would be interrupted by the sound of an irking voice.
“We’re here!” David called out with an exorbitant amount of glee. Arrogance was practically dripped out of mouth as he spoke with his unmistakable voice. It seemed as though Isaiah was so focused on the surroundings of the road he wasn’t paying attention to the road itself nor where it led. As the road came to an end, a large and expansive area marked with gravestones laid before him.
“Look at this place!” David was filled with an overt amount of giddy excitement over the fact they had found some tombstones. It was almost disrespectful how happy he was to find the dead’s resting places. As per most things David did, it annoyed Isaiah to no end. What did he expect to find? A grocery store? Elijah was just as silent as ever.
“It’s a graveyard,” Isaiah proclaimed.
“Well, that’s obvious,” David said with a large amount of snarkiness in his voice.
“Then why are you so glad to see it?”
“Because…” David thought for a moment, but couldn’t find a reason why he was getting this way over some engraved stones. “Just shut up, Isaiah. You always have something smart to say.” This irritated Isaiah, but he held his tongue in resentment.
All three of them stepped foot into the cemetery. Without the trees to block it, the moonlight was able to shine down and illuminate the world. Occasionally, the clouds overhead would partially block the moon leaving areas of dark where light once were. The graveyard was quite large; it seemed as though it went on forever in the distance. However, near the center of the scattered stone slabs Isaiah saw a mausoleum. It was very large making it evident that someone of importance rests inside. It wasn’t long until David noticed the building as well.
“What’s that?” He pointed his finger to add extra emphasis.
“It’s a mausoleum,” Isaiah commented.
“Why is it different from the rest?” David asked like a curious kid.
“Probably because someone of significance or money is there.”
“I bet there’s something nice inside.” Isaiah gave him a backwards look.
“You’re not seriously considering robbing a grave, are you? That’s messed up.”
“Yeah, that’s messed up,” Elijah chimed in.
“Shut up, Eli,” David snapped again, giving him a dirty look. “Besides, they’re not using it anyway. Why not take it?”
Isaiah got even more aggravated with David’s incompetence. He gave out a frustrated sigh and shook his head in hand. “Because, David, it’s incredibly disrespectful to steal from the dead. Those items were placed there for a reason.”
“So? No one will most likely even notice they’re gone.” He made a stupid face as he spouted nonsense.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s still disrespectful and you shouldn’t do it.” At this point, Isaiah was struggling to not yell at David.
“I agree with Isaiah,” Elijah added. “I don’t think you should do that.” David gave him another nasty look, but before he could say anything Isaiah cut him off.
“He has a point. It’s two against one now.”
“And? Like I care what you two think,” he said in his arrogant and snarky voice. There was a bit of nasal in it too. “I’m going to take whatever is in there and you aren’t going to stop me.” David then proceeded to stop his way toward the mausoleum like a pouting child.
Isaiah looked at Elijah with a mixture of disappointment and disbelief. “I swear, his head is a solid block of concrete.” Elijah nodded in agreement. Isaiah let out a heavy sigh and followed David to the mausoleum in begrudgement with Elijah trailing behind him. As all three waltz into the building they didn’t take notice of the lettering above the door. It said, “Michael.”
It was decently spacious inside the mausoleum. There was a small walkway of sorts that led to a stone coffin at the end of the room. Various items such as flowers and personal effects were strewn throughout the room, although most were by the coffin itself. David couldn’t get enough of it. His mouth was agape enough to where he could fit an entire melon inside of it. His awe couldn’t be more evident if it was plastered on his face.
“Wow,” he said with a great big smile on his face. “I told you this would be cool.”
Isaiah did not express his same sentiment. “Have you never seen a mausoleum before, David?” He did not answer back. Either because he didn’t hear him or knew his answer would make him look dumb, or dumber than he already did.
“Are you ever positive?” David asked.
“I am when you’re not being a moron,” Isaiah said with a great deal of vitriol.
David let out an agitated sigh. “Whatever. Maybe you should try to smile every once and a while.”
“Maybe you should wipe yours off,” Isaiah muttered under his breath.
The three walked closer to the coffin with David leading ahead. He stood directly in front of the casket while the other two stood behind him. David gazed down at the stone box making sure to catalog every minor detail on it in his head. Whereas, Isaiah decided to look around the room, particularly at the other objects on the floor. There were the typical items such flowers, letters, and other miscellaneous things, likely personal effects of the deceased. But one thing stood out to Isaiah. A book. He picked it up to find out it was a Bible. It looked quite old as the leather covering was degrading while the papers were turning a sickly yellow-brown color and deteriorating. It looked as though it could come apart at a moment’s notice. He flipped through the pages and didn’t see anything of note at first. That was until he spotted one with an unusual marking on it. He turned back to the page and read the underlined sentence.
“Then shall one be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left” Matthew 24:40
Isaiah was confused on what the significance of the line could be. Not only was the underlined itself messy and scratchy, but it also had a faint sanguine red tint to it. Before he could decipher its meaning any further, however, David disrupted his train of thought with another one of his interruptions.
“Guys” When Isaiah turned toward him, he saw David standing by the now open coffin. He sounded terrified.
“David!” Isaiah yelled. “Why did you open the coffin? Are you an idiot?” David didn’t respond to Isaiah’s reprimand.
He spoke in a horrified voice. “Isn’t there supposed to be a body in this coffin?” Isaiah, confused, walked up next to David and Elijah and took a look inside the coffin. His eyes widened at this sight.
“What the…” There wasn’t a body inside the coffin. In fact, there was nothing at all. Not even a flower that might have been placed inside. All there was was dust and some cobwebs. David glanced up at Isaiah and Isaiah followed suit. Eventually, all three boys were staring at each other with perturbed expressions. David was the first to speak.
“Maybe we should leave.” Isaiah and Elijah nodded their heads in agreement.
“That’s a great idea,” Isaiah said.
“Yeah. I agree,” Elijah added.
The three of them promptly dashed out of the door of the mausoleum. Outside the clouds overhead had become so dark and thick that no light from either the moon or stars could shine through. The wind had picked up significantly and there was a semblance of thunder far off in the distance. The boys made it about half way through the field when they heard a peculiar sound. The rattling and clattering of chains. They stopped and looked behind them to find a ghastly sight. There was a figure standing in front of the entrance of the mausoleum.
The figure was tall and wore ragged robes that extended down to its ankles. It had chains tied around its wrists, ankles, elbows, knees, and waist. It had long and lanky fingers and toes with protruding, decrepit nails extending from each. The figure itself looked like it was rotting; it appeared as though a thin veil of shriveled skin was covering an entire skeleton. The face of the apparition resembled that of a mummy’s that had been dried out in the scorching desert. The eyes were dark and seemed as though there were empty cavities with nothing inside. The only thing that was there were two small, white dots that pierced holes through the boys.
None of them moved; they were all petrified by the phantom’s gaze. They stayed frozen in place, unable to do anything. The figure opened its mouth, revealing a set of crooked and decaying teeth, and spoke in a haunting and airy voice.
Relinque hoc loco ne fatum meum
What it said they had no idea, but they decided to leave swiftly after it was done. The three of them turned back around and quickly ran from the graveyard. They ran through the tree lined path with the trees looking like they would break at any moment because of the strong winds. They heard a bellowing cry come from behind them, but spared no time in seeing what it was. They passed through the barred metal gates and left Eden Cemetery.
After the events of that night, the three were convinced they had an encounter with Desperus. Of course, nobody else believed them, but they stood firm in their belief that the figure they met was the god of despair. From that day forward, they vowed never to step foot in that cemetery again. While their story is under great speculation by the rest of the townsfolk, their lives were a part of the many impacted by the god of despair.
