The Enrolment Ceremony

Nothing much was to say about the ceremony. Just James kneeling down in front of the altar with Father Rick standing in front of the altar saying something from the Scripture about asking God to give him the strength to purge the spawn of Lucifer out from the sacred Earth.

After the speech or incantations, James was being submerged into a pool of water. According to Father Rick as well as the Holy Scriptures, water was said to be the very Soul of God Himself. He poured His Soul to nourish the land so that life can flourish, which explains why life depends so much on water.

The whole ritual was to symbolize James' body and spirit being blessed and protected by God's soul. Something like that.

The moment James had his entire body being sunk into that pool of water, as he heard the muffled voice of Father Rick underneath the water, he saw a vision. An odd vision.

He heard the familiar music he had heard but this time, he saw the person singing it. The world around them was a mix of white and black. And there, a girl was sitting in front of him.

That girl was her…

James reemerged from the water, drenched by the Holy water as well as drenched with cold sweat.

"James Charter, you are now a part of us," announced Father Rick.

The spectator rise. James was given a robe to wear. It was white. It was the same one that the other Exorcist wore.

After the ceremony, James with his new white robe, accompanied Master Lee to meet with the blacksmith responsible in providing his customize weapon.

They went to another room across the courtyard.

Inside the room, they entered sat a man drawing on his table.

"Mr. Tubal!"

Tubal looked up, seemingly annoyed by the disturbance.

"He is a newcomer and he needs a weapon."

Tubal stood up. He was wearing the same robe as well. He got close to James and scanned him from up and down.

"Hmm," he brushed his chin and was deep in his thought.

"Come back here after one week," said Tubal and they left.

....

James went back to his room then he thought otherwise. There's nobody in his room and he felt lonely. So he decided to visit the girl again. This time, he makes sure he asked for her name. The last time he went over there, he actually listened to her ranting for a full day before asking for her name. And she didn't ask for his as well.

Of course, while walking back, he was questioning the vision that he saw. A lot of questions were popping out of his mind.

Finally, he reached the door and gave it a knock.

"Come in."

James entered and was greeted with a smile.

"Welcome to the family," said the girl.

"Erm…What is your name."

The girl looked at him stunned because she was being thrown off by the sudden question.

"…. Emily….Light," said her, "My name is Emily Night," she repeated.

"Light or Night? I can't really hear it properly."

"Night, Emily Night. But just call me Emily. What's yours?"

"James Charter."

"James…" she repeats his name and let the word linger in the air.

James took a seat beside her bed.

"So how's the ceremony?" asked Emily.

James did not know where to begin because he wasn't paying full attention to it anyway. Besides the weird vision he saw, others didn't register quite much in his memory. He didn't even remember what Father Rick say throughout the ceremony.

"Okay, I guess. I am a member of the Exorcist now although I don't really believe it. Everything felt so strange."

"You will get used to it. I bet."

"I hope so."

"Have you gotten your weapon from Tubal?"

"He told me to get back to him after one week."

The girl leaned closer to him. James could smell a small hint of fragrance from her.

"Are you curious about what type of weapon you would get?"

"Not really. Everything will be decided by Lord Himself."

With that response, Emily seemed disappointed. She actually pouted.

"Everyone always gets excited when they talked about getting a new weapon. It's like a child getting a new toy. Children always like a new toy and they get excited about it."

James raised an eyebrow at her words.

"But weapons are not toys. They are tools capable of killing. Why would I get excited about receiving such a tool? The only reason I am looking forward on obtaining this weapon is to pass judgement to those demons on which I have promised to the Lord with my prayers and I wish he will grant the necessary strength to do so."

Emily was staring at James. James felt a slight discomfort at her unblinking gaze.

"Do you believe in God?" came the sudden question.

"Yes, I do."

"Do you think God himself is benevolent?"

"Yes, He is."

"What happens if it turns out untrue? Isn't he supposed to protect his subjects? But your people are taken away from you even though you are a devoted follower of His. Why are you alive when they are not?" came the sudden question and James was now thinking deeply. He wasn't least offended by Emily probing. But it did force him to think a lot.

With the vision he saw and her questions, he started to ponder a lot. Then, he sighed.

"Well…. who knows. Still, then I must be even more grateful to Him then. Cause, as much as I hate to say it, my life was spared on the incident despite everything else that I treasured were taken away me. I am still alive. He gave me a second chance to live. Perhaps there may be more things happening unfolding around us than it seems. God is a planner. And sometimes a plan has to be carried out with sacrifices. It's never easy to carry out a plan without someone getting hurt in the process."

Emily guffawed.

"Look at you speaking. Aren't you being a bit hypocritical and selfish?"

"Well, that's the only way to make sense to all the things that have been happening around me. I will walk the path that has been paved out to me by God and let's see where it will lead me to. If the end of the road means I will be dead, then I will gladly accept it. After all, I have not a single care about my status in this world anymore. I leave everything in His hand. I will be his pawn to execute his plan."

Emily looked bewildered for a second.

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"Good question. Well, for now, let's see what this current path will lead me to. And if there's a situation where a decision has to be made, then I will pray and I will ask for His guidance. Simple as that. For now, I will make sure nobody else end up being the victim of those wicked monster, given that I have the power now to stop them."

Emily rested her head on her hand and was quiet. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Why are you telling me all this?" asked Emily.

"Hmm…because I feel like it. It seems to me that the both of us here do not really care what is going to happen from here onwards. Maybe both of us are just pawns in a grand scheme of things. Or maybe we are all here just waiting for Azrael to come here and reap our soul. I feel like telling you all this because…."

"Because?"

"Because…. well… why not?"

Emily furrowed her eyes in confusion.

"You are a weird person."

"I know. I think so too."

She cracked a gentle smile.

"Do you have anything you like to do? Like hobbies?" she asked trying to switch the topic.

"Hmm…. I love to read the Scriptures. But besides that, I think I like to exercise. How about you?"

"Me? I really like to sing and play music."

"Why is that so?" asked James.

"Hey! I never asked for the reason behind your hobbies!"

"Oh, I love reading the Scriptures because I love reading those stories. It inspires me. And I love to exercise because it made me feel good and strengthen my mind. So now I have said mine, what's yours?"

Emily sighed and rubbed her temples. She didn't really want to share this to him.

"I…love to sing and play music….is because…" she looked at James, trying to find the words so that he could understand her reason for liking to sing.

"Hey, …you say you love reading the Scriptures right?"

"Yes"

"So you know what the Scripture says about music?"

"They say that it is the most universal language in the world. And it is the language that speaks to all the Soul. It is the most primitive form of language. Something like that."

"And what does the Scripture say about our voice?"

"Are you testing my knowledge about the Scriptures?"

"Just answer it," she said in annoyance.

"Fine, God was the first who was able to speak. He spoke in such a beautiful voice that it was actually music. Hence, everything that he says is considered as music. And his voice carries such power that when he is sad, the world turned dark and cold; When he is angry, the sky will rage, the earth will shake and the living will feel their heart quiver. Because God can do such a remarkable thing, his Creations started to mimic his actions. Hence, they created their own language. Thus, they created their own voice. Something like that. It's too long to be summarized into a few words. And I am not an expert in summarizing stuff."

As James was explaining, he started to realize that the concept of Soul was actually written in the Script. Then he remembered that God sent down 8 angels down to Earth to guide the living. Then it started to make sense. People cannot use Soul because their voice is not God's voice. Only if you know the way how God speaks, then you can use Soul.

James was lost in his own thought.

"What are you thinking?" asked Emily.

"Oh, I was just remembering some details from the Scriptures."

"And what is that?"

James looked at Emily, curious about her curiosity about his thoughts.

"So, why do you like to sing and play music?" James brushed her question off.

"Jeez…fine. Since you have explained the meaning behind music and voice although you are not good at explaining it—but I think you understand the gist of it. Music or rather our voice or rather the system of how we speak and play music, in other words, the language is ---fundamentally the tool for us to connect one Soul to another."

James never thought that deeply but it was an interesting concept, and it makes sense.

James nodded his head.

"So, the reason I love to sing and play music is because…you know…. it's a bit of embarrassing to admit."

"Confess your sins!" said James.

"Hey!" Emily shouted.

"I'm just joking, just joking."

Emily rubbed her head again.

"Well, I love to sing and play music is because there is a person out there where I want to meet again. And I hope my music and voice can reach him."

"Hooo…." James raised his eyebrows. "…. Is he your lover?" James started to smile and Emily saw it as James teasing her.

"It's…. It's complicated!" Emily covered her head with her pillows.

James chuckled.

"And you can't see him because?" James unintentionally looked at her bed. It was then that James thought he might have asked a stupid or rather sensitive question.

"Even if I am well and healthy, this person has always lived somewhere far, far away. You can't really meet him when he is that far away."

"Hmm," James was thinking and the vision pops into in his mind again.

Now it makes sense, thought James. Whatever the reason behind him obtaining this rare vision, James is finally concluded that God is planning something.

But then a question arises and James wanted to ask Emily directly.

"Emily."

"Yes?"

"How do you play music when I don't see any instruments around here. Did someone pass it to you?" asked James.

Emily smiled and her face was brimmed with a sense of cockiness as she was about to demonstrate something that will blow James mind.

"I thought you are an avid reader of the Scriptures. Don't you know, that musical instruments were just a replica or emulations to allow human to play music as played by the Gods."

James raised his eyebrows.

Emily cleared her throat.

"Close your eyes James and breath and focus. Clear your mind so that it becomes empty, then you will hear it, the music that I play. The purest form of music is the music coming from the Soul. And that's is my musical instrument if you want to put it that way."

James closed his eyes and clear his mind.

After a few moments of silence, he heard it, a soft tune being played and a gentle lullaby being sung. He felt his soul vibrating according to the rhythm. Everything else was forgotten. Then, he could hear and felt it-- the unspoken words and emotions that Emily try to convey to this faraway person she spoke of.

The vision came into James mind again.

In that vision, he could feel it, the emotions convey was that of joy and happiness.

But this one that he heard, was a piece of music filled with sadness and anger.

Despite the overwhelming sadness that was conveyed in this piece of music, despite James feeling sad from the way how this music is being played, tears did not flow out from his eyes.

A passage from the Scripture float out in his mind:

"God poured out his Soul to nourish life and the dry lands."

Could it be that God actually cry to water the lands?

Or is it what left inside of James body were not his Soul but an empty void?

Is this why he could hear this music so clearly when everyone was so ignorant about it?

Is this why he could hear the desperate prayer of Sister Maria and the children when they were being hunted down by the demon.

James did not know. But…he is sure that God is planning something. And he is definitely one of his pawns.