Demons Ascension - THE Bible

[Posted by Ted H]

exposition dump...part 2...

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[Demons Ascension - THE Bible]

            "So what is it that you even needed?" Matthew asked, ignoring the question. James went to talk, but stopped as he sprang up. "My bag!" he exclaimed "Where is it?" Matthew pointed to a corner of the room where he had tossed the bag. "That thing is radiating with something unholy," he said "I'm not touching it until you tell me what you had me drag in with you."
            James went over and retrieved his messenger bag. Out of it he pulled the book and presented it to Matthew. "For starters, I was hoping you could tell me what it is," he said as Matthew stared at it wide eyed for a moment. "That's" he said as he placed his hands around the book and took it "That's...no, it can't be."
            Matthew opened the book and gasped at what he saw as he flipped through the pages. "Can you read it?" James asked. "No," Matthew responded without looking up "There is nothing alive that can read this. This is a dead language, beyond ancient."
            "So, what, Latin?" James asked. Again, Matthew was not amused. "You obviously know a what it is," James said "So what is that thing?"
            "It's a bible," Matthew said as he continued flipping through the book.
            "Jewish? Or Christian?"
            "Neither. This is not God's bible."
            "Whose is it? The other guy?"
            "This is not a bible from Heaven nor is it from Hell."
            "That was a joke before. You mean to tell me that both sides have their own bible?"
            "And this one is neither."
            "So...So whose bible is that?"
            "You know about the Bible of Heaven, and I just informed you of the Bible of Hell. This bible, however, is known as the Bible of Earth. Bound in flesh and written in the blood of a god, it isn't just any bible, it is THE bible."
            "...You lost me."
            "This realm, earth, existed long before God dared to shape it as he saw fit. It existed before he even existed in theory. Before there were any other realms."
            "Realms?"
            "Earth is, for the sake of simplicity, a nexus or starting point for other realms. Heaven and Hell, for example, aren't separate planes so much as they are augmented realms that are connected to the earth. There are many more than those two though. In theory they all exist, but it's tough to actually prove them because they can come and go or never exist at all. Some are practically in synch with earth, constantly blurring the lines between our world and theirs."
            "...I'm gonna pretend what you said didn't just go right over my head..."
            "Here," Matthew said as he turned to one of the last pages of the book "I can't read the language, but someone once showed me a long time ago a translation they did." He trailed his hands along lines until he came across a section that looked familiar. He looked at James and smiled before he started to read.
            "And in the end there was only darkness, and the powers that be saw to it that it was good. And enter came a being not from this realm who raised his arms and shouted "Let there be light," and there was light, staggering and radiant, driving back any and all that saw it, and he proclaimed it as good. This being proclaimed itself as Elohim and he set forth to change the earth as he deemed fitting. The old gods did not have the strength nor the ability left to challenge Elohim so they retreated to the darkness that remained, for the darkness is infinite and even a being claiming to be not almighty but THE almighty cannot force the darkness to cease. And from that, the great divide occurred."
            Matthew closed the book and laid it on his lap. "Cute story," James said. "I wish I could understand and read the rest," Matthew said "The secrets of the universe are literally sitting on my lap and I can't access them. The stories and secrets of the original superpowers, older than God and the Devil...You need only one hand and not even all of your fingers to count how many of these exist, period, not even just in our realm."
            "But you can figure that one passage," James said "Can't you use it as a Rosetta Stone?" Matthew shook his head. "It is so much more complex than anything I could describe."
            "So what did a demon from Hell want from it?" James asked "And how is this thing connected to what's happening in Chicago."
            "Demons have no use for the old powers," Matthew said.
            "Well, what significance would it have to require human sacrifices?"
            "You're asking me to figure out the motives of a hell spawn using a bible that predates the existence of humanities supposed creator."
            "So...you're saying you wouldn't know."
            "Not without any sort of context. Look, Blake, I know I said I'd help you, but you're asking an awful lot from me."
            James sighed as he sat back down. "Well what about some of these symbols?" he asked as he searched his pocket for the papers he traced back at the apartments.
            "These are," Matthew said as he looked them over "Protection runes. You carve them into an entranceway to prevent, essentially, unauthorized entry. Crude, yet vastly effective, especially if you wish to avoid detection of any sort when you initiate it."
            "Any way to narrow down who would have that kind of knowledge?"
            Matthew looked at James like he was a small child who asked a stupid question. "It's one of the most basic things you can master," he said "Akin to asking a basketball player if they know how to dribble."
            "Yeah yeah, well, how about this?" James said as he passed the napkin over "That symbol look familiar?"
            "Not particularly," Matthew said as he glanced the symbol over "The old gods had no need or concept of symbols."
            "Well how about demons? I think this one was left as a calling card."
            "Hmmm," Matthew said as he kept turning the napkin to different perspectives before getting up and searching his bookshelf for a particular book. "I know that symbol," he continued as he scanned his library "I just haven't..." James waited patiently while he absent mindedly picked up his cup and sipped at it, regretting the decision immediately. Matthew continued searching for a few moments before his head shot up and he immediately reached to a specific place and pulled out a book. It had multiple pieces of written on paper sticking out of its yellowed pages.