The Harrowing of Doom: A Marvel Untold Novel by David Annandale

Author:David Annandale [Annandale, David]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: science fiction, Marvel, superheroes, fantasy
Publisher: Aconyte
Published: 2020-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

After Doom left, Zargo watched the sunset from the porch, then began to close St Peter for the night. He locked the doors and began the rounds down the aisles and the choir, putting out the candles. He wasn’t frightened as he had been, or despairing. He was uneasy. He didn’t like how empty the church felt in Doom’s absence, as if his arrival and departure brought and took something to and from the space. Whatever it was, it wasn’t numinous. Zargo didn’t have to remove that kind of heresy from his imagination at least. But it was a quality more than human, in the way the darkness of space was more than night.

He had just extinguished the last candle in the choir when he realized what the quality was. He had already known it when he was waiting for Doom to arrive. He just hadn’t seen the truth fully. Inevitable. Doom was inevitable, yes, but he was more than that. He was the inevitable. His family name had been waiting for centuries for his arrival, so that the name and the word and the living being would exist as perfect, terrifying unity. The inevitable had entered this space, and then left it, and of course it felt empty now, just as the sky would if the moon abruptly vanished.

Zargo also felt uneasy because he felt pleased that he was still useful. The work on the ley lines had been invigorating, exciting. He had done what Doom had asked, and done it well, and he could not escape the pride and sense of accomplishment. He had turned his back on those studies. Doom had forced him to return to them, and then told him that they were more than his true calling. They were the expression of his identity. He should feel shame, burning shame, that he was a geomancer. Instead, the most he could summon was unease at the lack of shame.

You’re eager to get back to work. Admit it.

Yes. I am. He would not compound his sins with lies.

He wanted to believe he could be true to his vows and to his self. He wanted to believe there could be reconciliation between the priest and the geomancer. For now, he would try not to think too deeply about the contradictions of doctrine and witchcraft, and the dangers to his soul that might open up.

He was about to turn off the lights when he saw one of the curtains of the confessional booth was drawn. There was someone inside.

He wondered how long they had been there. He was sure the curtains had been pulled back, and the booth empty, when he had been waiting for Doom. He hesitated, debating. No guesses as to who might be there.

If he was going to attack me, he would have done so already.

Zargo’s hesitation vanished. The threat inside the booth wasn’t frightening as it might have been only a few hours ago. Zargo strode over to the booth and entered his side of the compartment.

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