Pareidolia

The cathedral rose above the city like a sentinel chiseled from bone, its towering spires piercing the sky and casting long shadows across the square below. Centering the front wall was a large rose window gleaming and glowing like a fragmented jewel, like a bloodshot eye keeping watch over the city. Where there once would have been heavy twin doors was now a completely open doorway, its pale archway beckoning forth like a gaping jaw, a threshold between worlds.

The silhouette of a cathedral, the rays of the sun bouncing off the stained glass windows, all guided him in closer. The shadows of strewn out people covered the front entrance, their figures offered a hopeful possibility for some answers.

Lucius picked up his pace and ran forward, each step giving him a better look at what he was running towards, an increment of data granted with every jump closer. The shadowy figures became unclouded, their full beings downloading into crisper quality.

As the shadows that draped them were washed away, the bandages that wrapped every layer of their bodies became increasingly visible.

The bandaged line began from inside the structure and continued out the door, wrapping around the front plaza. Lucius darted towards the arranged individuals and grabbed the closest one to him by their swathed shoulders, as his repressed fears slowly crept up his spine.

“WhereamIisthisalljustadreamamIdead,” Lucius rambled on, the tremble on his tongue making it difficult to articulate. “Say something, please say something.”

The bandaged figure’s eyes were just barely visible through the wrapped cloth, the emerald green of their irises radiating with an apathetic glow. They offered back no converse, remaining as silent as the rolling dust clouds scattered across the barren earth. Instead, the figure raised their right appendage, the bandages hanging down fluttering in its motion, and indifferently pointed towards the entrance of the cathedral.

Lucius’s gaze followed the given direction, and passing the line, he climbed up the glossy stone steps towards the doorway, briefly hesitating before wandering inside.

The interior swallowed sound and light alike, wrapping everything in a hushed, reverent stillness. Columns like stone trees stretched upward into vaulted ceilings lost in shadow, their ribs fanning out like the bones of some ancient, sacred creature, with the carved pews abandoned like the remains of the creature's feast. Candles flickered along the nave casting golden halos and illuminating the dust that danced in the high shafts of the stained glass windows.

The line of bandaged figures continued up the centre aisle, the blood red carpet below their feet parting the path between the dark pews.

At the top of the aisle seated in the chancel were two figures draped in monochrome robes. The figure on the left wore a spotless white cassock, completely obscuring any details about the silhouette underneath, the folds flourishing elegantly down to rest on the tiled floor. His head was covered by a veil black as night, and he sat upon a throne chiseled from obsidian ore. The figure on the right appeared to be a complete opposite, his cassock coloured a deep black, while his veil was snow white, and his throne chiseled from quartz.

Those creepy looking guys up there, they gotta be able to tell me something.

Lucius pushed past the line and hustled up the aisle, eager to receive any response from the two figures. As he reached the steps of the chancel, two guards blocked the way, preventing him from proceeding.

The two sentries wore dark crimson hoods with flowing capes that draped down their backs, meeting at sharp points like talons. In the place of their faces were pearl coloured clock dials surrounded with roman numerals, and their entire bodies were covered with interlocked ashen armour. Decorating their throats was a necklace of vermillion stones, giving an esteemed elegance to their intimidating appearances.

Affixed to both sides of their belt were engraved red leather sheaths, now empty, as the blades were held steadily in their taloned gauntlets.

The two crusader daggers in each of their grips were decorated in a red and gold wrapped grip with a pommel shaped like the clocks they wore on their face, and an onyx blade that swallowed up all the light reflected off their armour.

“Hey you I nee-” Lucius’s panicked attempt was cut off before he could finish.

One of the guards, in a swiftly executed motion, extended his right arm and held the point of his Divinera Blade against Lucius’s throat. Afraid to even breath, Lucius closed his eyes, frozen with fear, and prepared for the possibility of this being his final moments.

No way this is it…

“Give the kid a break, he’s with me,” a voice from the back row called out. “Send him over.”

As quickly as the guard had extended his arm, in a precise movement he bent it right back and resumed his position.

Lucius, having heard the interruption, opened his eyes and looked back to the pews to see where the voice had come from.

Under the light of the stained glass windows sat a figure comfortably in the back left row, calmly reading a newspaper held in his bandaged hands, as if what had just transpired was a common occurrence.

Quickly ducking back behind the crowded single file line as the bandaged figures resumed their turns at approaching the chancel, Lucius meekly approached the man who called out for him, unsure if this would be any less trouble.

“Um, thanks for your help. I’m… just trying to figure out what’s happening here,” Lucius said to the man, caressing the back of his neck with concern.

The bandaged man folded over his newspaper and patted it down on the spot next to him.

“Have a seat, I can tell you’re not from around here. If it wasn’t for me, those guys would’ve skewed you without a second thought. Crazy Hourmen are always so trigger happy.”

“...Hourmen?”

“Did you really expect to just go up and talk to the Vatics with no problem? Lucidum and Obscura don’t just answer anybody, and those two with the ugly mugs and fancy lookin’ knives are there to make sure of it. You really don’t know how any of this works, do you?”

“Hold on a second, what’d you say your name was?”

“I didn’t say my name was anything, but you can call me Grimebank.”

Grimebank sat with his legs propped up on the pew in front of him, covered from head to toe in bandages like the rest of the figures in line. He wore a red fleece bathrobe with white trim tied loosely around his waist, and black wool slippers. His eyes were covered by mirrored shades, projecting Lucius’s reflection back at him and concealing any visibility about his facial features. In his right hand he held two lit cigarettes, the ashy smoke slowly climbing up to the convex roof, although the tightly wrapped bandages covering his mouth left a question as to how he could possibly inhale.

“Okay, Grimebank. And you said the Vatics? All these people are lined up just to talk to them?”

“Sure are. The Vatics are all knowing, all powerful seers. You can ask them any question that your heart desires, any answers that you seek they can provide to you. With a catch of course. Lucidum always tells the truth, while Obscura always tells a lie. Nobody knows who’s who. It’s a risky business, but then again, life’s all about risks.” Grimebank ashed both cigarettes simultaneously onto the tiled floor, even though Lucius hadn’t witnessed him take a puff yet.

“But what about the bandages, why’s everyone covered in them?”

“What, did you think those two wizards were giving answers out of the kindness of their hearts? They want something in return for their wisdom, they want a piece of the asker’s soul. Each question requires a sacrifice, an offering of one’s own flesh, blood, and spirit. The bandaged ones are those who have asked far more than they should have, and they will continue to offer up what little they have left until nothing remains but their hollow husks. Until even the bandages won’t be able to hold them together.”

“But…you’re all bandaged too, so…you must have also asked them for something?”

Even though Grimebank’s face was completely covered, Lucius could sense a smirk go across his face. “Oh, I’ve long paid my dues, there’s nothing more I require from them. I just like to come by to sit back and watch.”

He stood up and gestured towards the Vatics. “If you wanna ask them a question, you better get in line, it’s only gonna get longer. Come see me out back when you’re all finished here, I now feel it’s my duty to properly prepare you for this crazy place.”

Grimebank exited to the centre aisle, but turned his neck back towards Lucius before fully departing, the luster from the stained glass windows sparkling whimsically in his mirrored lenses.

“Oh, and Lucius”, he calmly remarked, “Welcome to Pareidolia.”