Prophecy of the Nexus

Chapter 1

I had never seen a demon before and this was as close as I was going to get to one. A plastic modal inside a glass case stood in front of me. Basking in the shadow of the warped human form, I read the plaque pinned to the glass. Goliath demon. Height: two-three meters. Attributes: strength, rage, thick hide. Sin: Malice.

"I could take him," Alice said.

I couldn't help roll my eyes at Alice. She was barely five-foot-three and needed help reaching most shelves. However, as some stupid boys found out, she had a mean right hook. Still, teenage boys didn't come close to the hulking sculpture. Its nails had grown into claws that could gut a man in a single swipe. Very few stood a chance. "Don't even joke about that," I hissed to her.

Alice snorted. "You scared one will come in and challenge me?" she said, flexing her biceps. I wasn't afraid one would take Alice up on her offer. We were perfectly safe. No demon had dared enter the city for over a hundred years. The jibe would have been pathetic if we weren't so close to Halo boundary. But there was a much more real threat.

There was a cough from behind us. We turned around to see Mrs Reynolds standing there, glaring down at us. Mrs Reynolds always knew when there was trouble. "I hope we are taking this exhibition seriously," she said, gazing at the pair of us. I shuffled uncomfortably as Alice gave a simple nodded. "Good. Then I take it one of you can tell me what blessing a priest would do to take down a Goliath?"

This was a trick question. No amount of divine healing could stop a two-meter tall wall of muscle pummelling you into a pancake. And any protective chant would just delay the inevitable. This didn't stop Alice from trying though. "I would use a force field spell to trap the Goliath inside a shield and slowly compress him." Alice acted out the crushing motion with her hands. It was almost cringe-worthy how dumb that was. Though I had to admit that I like the idea. The problem was that a spell and a blessing were two very different things. They would throw any priest performing a spell out of the Order.

Mrs Reynold's shook her head. "Do you have a sensible answer, Sara?" She asked, turning to me.

I snatch a glance at Alice, who still seemed confused that her solution wasn't the answer. "Priests wouldn't tackle demons, their job is to look after the innocent. Arknights will take on the Goliath," I explained. Even a seven-year-old could have answered that question; however, Alice was never one to pay attention to any of the technical details.

Mrs Reynolds accepted my textbook answer with a nod. To my surprise, she then said, "And if you were to take on a Goliath with Alice's ambitious strategy, what blessing would you have to perform?"

I glared up at her. This was unfair. Not only was this a ludicrous scenario, but blessings were sacred knowledge, only shared with the Order of Angels. Though anyone could become a priest, not everyone learnt blessings. Knowing that Alice would be little help, I racked my brains searching for an answer. Thankfully, I had a trick up my sleeve. "You'd perform a guardian shield," I said. It was satisfying seeing Mrs Reynold's shock at my answer. What she had forgotten was my dad was a priest. He had once shown me the technique. I don't remember what he did as I was so enticed with the golden particles of light bursting into a gleaming crystal shield. It was my first encounter with the Divine's power. Mrs Reynold puffed out her chest and muttered something about a good guess and left us alone. Alice just gave me the thumbs up. "To the rescue, as always," she said.