[The House Of Memories, Sector B, The Syndicate, 3:50 PM, May 7th, Tuesday, 2025]
Obadiah and Jack made their way past the double doors of the entrance, stepping into an entirely different hallway. This one was made out of pristine gray brick, with windows on the sides, mosaics covering them, and a strange light coming from within them that bathed the hallway in color.
Despite the beautiful change in scenery, Jack felt a bitter aftertaste in his mouth after what had happened, the memory playing through his mind but not fully sticking.
I was never there, was I? Eugh… What a troublesome ability, I have to stay away from her. He shook his head to dispel the thoughts, following behind Obadiah.
"Gramps, we're not gonna talk about what just happened?"
Obadiah stopped, turning to face Jack.
"It's best if we let it go, kid. The House Of Memories is a place that you shouldn't spend time in, only visit. Like a museum. That's what makes it so dangerous. Whatever you saw though, must have had some kind of tampering. Just let it go."
He turned back around, opening a new set of double doors that looked like they were made of iron and ebony, and stepping through.
Jack didn't argue further, shaking his head to dispel the thoughts and stepping inside.
The sight was jaw-dropping.
They were standing in a massive cathedral. Rainbow light shone through large windows covered in mosaics on all sides of the room, with murals of people on the walls that Jack recognized from history books. Multiple pews lined up to face the front of the cathedral, the large altar where the same man from the council room before in priestly robes was standing, lighting a few candles.
"What is this place…?"
Jack looked directly above, at the dome of the cathedral, seeing a large painting of what looked like a golden throne, adorned with all kinds of precious stones — one for every color — and twelve triangles embedded into the throne. On the throne, a figure bathed in white light, their face obscured by a large golden triangle with strange symbols, surrounded by two trees on either side. The left tree was purple and filled with many orbs of varying colors instead of fruit; the second tree was entirely green and filled with prisms of varying colors instead of fruit. The trees had names below them on scrolls, from left to right: Yggdrasil & Ymir.
From the side of the left tree, Yggdrasil, there appeared to be a Lamb standing, as if crowned, with seven horns and eyes, with what appeared to be seven orbs around it, and in front of it a small version of Tera, hovering.
On the other side, from the right tree, Ymir, there appeared to be a small white dove, with a red heart visible on its chest, with flaming fire coming from it, an infinity symbol around it, and with a cross above the heart. The Dove seemed to be surrounded by a rainbow aura covered in a thin white outline, a halo around its head with strange symbols and twelve prisms of various colors inside of the halo. The Dove was hovering above the ground, its wings outstretched, in the left claw holding a golden rod and in the right claw a large black book with a cross on it, outlined in gold. The cross had a secondary horizontal bar at the very top, above the middle one, and another diagonal bar at the bottom, pointing towards the golden throne at the center.
At the very top of the mural, there was a phrase inscribed on a scroll, reading: "Sing to The Lord, sing in praise of His name, extol Him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before Him — His name is The Lord. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is The Ancient, The Messenger and The Lamb in His holy dwelling."
Jack couldn't believe his eyes. What stuck out to him the most wasn't the beautiful imagery or the symbolism, but the phrase at the top.
"A father to the fatherless… Defender of widows…?"
Jack doubled over, feeling nauseous, a deep gut-clenching feeling overcame him, his knees weak.
Obadiah noticed, reaching out to him.
"Wha — hey! Kid! Get a grip!"
He saw the memory of what had happened replay in his mind — he saw the drunken man with white hair, having grown much older, he saw Erika's corpse in the stead of the younger version of her, he saw the beautiful woman dressed like Hana, and instead of the baby —
He saw himself, carried by the corpse of his sister.
This can't be! It can't…
He puked.
"Oh no you don't!" Obadiah snapped his fingers. A small unassuming door, roughly the size of two feet, matching the ones of the cathedral, appeared before Jack, catching the result of his nausea and then disappearing.
"I saw it… I was there… I was the baby…" He fell back on his heels, looking up at Obadiah, tears pricking his eyes. He felt irritatingly empty.
"Ah geez, kid, I told you to let it go… You were right, that woman is dangerous." Obadiah reached into his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief and moving to wipe Jack's mouth.
Jack snarled and snatched the handkerchief away from him, pushing himself upward and backing up.
"You! — Why?! Why did this have to happen… Why us? Why me?! Why are you all chasing us? What, just because we're special? What do you even need all Divinities and Holies for?! You're ruining people's lives! You aren't heroes, you never will be! You're just a bunch of masked cowards, you're all monsters. No good can come from this…"
With each word, he lowered his tone, the slight burst of anger fading back into an empty depression.
What's even the point? I've gotten here because it was planned. I didn't have a choice. So I can't stop now.
Jack sniffled, using the handkerchief to wipe his mouth before throwing it onto the ground.
"I'm sorry… That was uh…"
He felt truly lost for words. The dizzying size of the cathedral didn't help.
"That was overwhelming? Is that it?"
The strange man in priestly robes suddenly walked up behind him, bending down to pick up the handkerchief and handing it to Obadiah.
"Uh, thanks," Obadiah said.
"No problem, Mr. Ariston. Let's all just take a moment…" He took a deep breath before posturing himself in a deep, respectful bow towards Jack. "I am Arata Touma, The Priest, The Saint Of Life, The twentieth member of The Syndicate. I am in charge of the entirety of Sector C, Special Subjects. This is the top floor of seven, promptly named The Cathedral."
He stood up from the bow, crossing his arms and smiling gently.
"We met before, but I thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce myself fully again. This place is dedicated to The Lord, the main divine figurehead of Trinianity. I spend most of my time here, me and The Head Nun, even though she's dedicated to Mountain Ometz, she spends most of her time here, in prayer."
"What… What is Trinianity?"
Arata's smile turned into a bemused smirk as he glanced between Jack and Obadiah.
"It's better if I show you… Mr. Ariston, would you mind waiting here?"
"Not at all. It's been a while since I've gone to a confession… Hey, kid! Just make sure to meet me back here, all right?"
"Whatever, gramps!" Jack grunted and followed after Arata as he led him towards the front altar of the cathedral.
"How familiar are you with world history?"
"I dunno, how familiar are you with it?"
"I'd say I'm quite knowledgeable, but there's always more to learn."
He led Jack up some wooden steps leading to the main stage where the altar was elevated. Jack saw Obadiah going to a large doorway to the right of the room, with a sign above it reading Confessionals.
"Who built all of this? Where's the light coming from? And why are there so many historic figures up here?"
Arata stopped in front of the altar, not answering his question immediately. Instead, he reached over and lit a final candle in front of a large open book. Jack looked at it, noting its similarity to the book in the giant painted mural on the dome of the cathedral. The only difference was this book was white.
"I'm not sure I can answer that. Mr. Ariston is the person who knows the most about the construction of The Syndicate. If he won't talk, nobody will… Except maybe The Boss. As for the historic figures…" He looked up at the walls, smiling. "They all suffered for The Faith, contributing in their own ways to the knowledge of The Lord, creation, the world, our existence… Everything, really."
He then looked back down at the book, flipping through the pages, reaching the very first one. Arata then looked back up at him, leaning with one hand on the table, the other on his hip.
"How long do you want to be here for?"
"If you mean The Syndicate, then… I want to go back home. I want things to go back to normal. I'm only here because I know they never will."
Arata's smile seemed to grow at his response, turning into a grin.
"Alright, I'll take that as a few hours… Then let me tell you everything. This will make sense once we're done."
Jack rolled his eyes, stepping closer and hopping up onto the altar. Arata glanced up at him but didn't seem to mind, despite Jack wanting to provoke a reaction from him.
He wanted the aching in his chest to stop.