The cursed priest twilig.., p.1
The Cursed Priest: Twilight of the Gods 1, page 1
THE CURSED PRIEST
TWILIGHT OF THE GODS 1
STEFAN CORDES
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Also by Stefan Cordes
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My sincere gratitude for everyone who supported me throughout my creative journey, especially: my family, Astrid, Ben, and Raffael, who gave me significant support.
PROLOGUE
A server cabinet labeled 5326 stood in the center of the white room. Out of nowhere, the room filled up; a podium and benches appeared. Men and women in white suits emerged and sat down, their expressionless faces looking artificial and distinguishable from one another.
The Lead Judge took the floor. “Are the representatives of the planet 5326, called Earth, present?”
Three men stood up.
“Very good, then we can announce the decision.”
The man in the middle interrupted him abruptly and made a nasty look.
“We want to appeal. We didn’t have a chance to prepare. The decision must be postponed. We demand a hearing.”
There was silence for a moment, then several voices in the hall talked wildly. Not a word could be understood. Suddenly, the voices fell silent.
“Silence! I will not tolerate this kind of interruptions.”
The Lead Judge sternly looked at the three men.
“Now to you. The hearing was four weeks ago. You let the deadline passed, now everything is proceeding on its way.”
“Hearing? We never knew about the hearing. We demand a fair chance, we have a right...” the next one interfered.
The voice fell silent in mid-sentence.
“You must remain silent for the rest of the session. The matter is decided. You know the rules and must follow them.”
He paused for a moment.
“The Council has investigated the allegations against Planet 5326. The responsible gods Udos, Elian and Yenar have not fulfilled their duties. The planet is in a deplorable condition, according to the guidelines of the united deities § 1 para. 1, it is to be released for colonization. Interested parties have four weeks to submit their application.”
There was a dead silence. The three men looked at each other in horror. Colonization meant the final extinction of their existences. They disappeared, as if they had never existed. Nothing feared the gods more.
“Objection. Stop. Stop.” Elian searched frantically in a briefcase that had appeared out of nowhere, papers flying everywhere. The interruption annoyed the Leading Judge.
“What more do you want? The decision has been made.”
“We object and invoke § 3.5.1 (10). Here is the motion.”
Elian held up a stack of papers and hurried to the podium. The Leading Judge took the papers from him; a pair of shiny glasses appeared on his nose.
The audience became restless and the other judges on the podium gave each other questioning looks. The Leading Judge gave the three men an evil look.
“We will review the motion for accuracy. We’ll take a short recess and the hearing will resume in ten minutes.”
The judges disappeared, and the room became restless, with everyone talking loudly. Most of the spectators did not know the paragraph. They were eager to find out what it was all about.
Elian looked at the two co-defendants seriously.
“This is our only chance; if we screw this up, we’re done for good.”
They looked at him in confusion, and he rolled his eyes.
“Jeez! Get out of here already. I know you don’t know the paragraph. We can’t afford to make mistakes.”
The two nodded and disappeared, returning five minutes later. They started to talk. Elian waved them off. “Not now.”
The podium filled again after ten minutes, the audience took their seats and listened curiously as the Leading Judge’s voice rang out, “We have considered the motion, the objection is granted. According to our bylaws, Planet Earth must meet the challenge of the Twilight of the Gods.” Commotion arose when the audience talked loudly again. Udos looked at his companions with relief.
The Leading Judge shouted: “Silence. There has been no Twilight of The Gods for hundreds of years. There is a reason for that.” He looked at the three gods, shaking his head. “If the inhabitants of Earth succeed in overcoming the challenges that stand in their way, Earth will remain under the control of the gods Udos, Elian and Yenar. In the event of defeat, we will transfer Planet 5326 to the successful challenger.”
Everyone started talking at the same time. Not a single word could be understood and chaos started. The Lead Judge sighed and made a hand gesture. Then silence.
“The challenge, of course, does not take place on planet 5326. The artificial intelligence, Gaia, will explain everything to you.”
A soft, disembodied, female voice rang out, “Thank you, sir. The challenge will take place in a specially generated world, controlled by Gaia, the artificial intelligence I created. She will make sure that everything goes according to the rules. After the Twilight of The Gods begins, we will give all applicants the opportunity to take part in the challenge. Please submit your proposals immediately. I am launching the Twilight of The Gods.”
A projection appeared in the middle of the room. The space was in the center of the image, then a growing vortex appeared larger and larger, forming a planet.
A superimposed text was on the edge of the projection.
Planet is generated ...
The angle of view changed, countries and seas appeared at a swift speed. Images changed in rapid succession, and one dot after another appeared on the projection.
Planet generated - completed
Nature generated - completed
Animals generated - completed
Breeds created - completed
Classes created - completed
Inhabitants generated - completed
Gods generated - completed
Planet for the Twilight of the Gods successfully created!
Control and monitoring transferred to neutral entity Gaia.
Sequence for selection of participants started ...
Begin selection.
Twilight of the Gods starts in 23:59:59.
The Leading Judge took the floor again, glancing at the three gods. “The meeting is closed.”
The hall emptied, but the three gods remained.
“I’ll see you guys later. Before we transfer to the planet, you should familiarize yourselves with the rules.”
Udos disappeared.
1
“Get up, Dad. I made breakfast.”
“Let me sleep for five more minutes,” the voice from under the covers sounded muffled and sleepy.
“I don’t want to be late.” The girl whined and quickly pulled the blanket away. Steffen rubbed his eyes sleepily and got up.
“You win, I’ll be right down.”
“Right now, you promised.” Lisa stood in front of him, arms crossed, with a stern look on her face. Steffen yawned loudly and pushed his daughter out of the room. After the whirlwind left his room, he glanced at the clock and moaned. It was way too early.
Still sometime before school started, he glanced at his warm bed. That didn’t help. Awake now, he might as well get ready.
He shuffled into the bathroom slowly and looked in the mirror.
“I don’t know you, but I’ll shave you anyway,” he greeted his scrunched-up face. He paused briefly and mustered his reflection. He stayed in shape. His 35 years did not show on him, no gray in his dark brown hair. Steffen turned to his side, looked at his silhouette and sucked his belly in. “Not bad, but I could be a little slimmer,” he thought.
“Oh, come on, six-pack doesn’t look good on me. Women like a beer belly.”
He took a deep breath and sniffed curiously. The air smelled kind of funny, kind of burnt.
I made breakfast. He recalled Lisa’s call.
“Lisa!” he shouted, and rushed downstairs to the kitchen. Relieved, he stopped; the kitchen and the house were not on fire. His six-year-old daughter was standing on a chair by the stove with a spatula in her hand while puffs of smoke were rising from the pan.
With a guilty face, she turned to him and looked at him sadly.
“I was trying to make fried eggs, but they got burned.”
Steffen took the pan from the stove and turned it off. He took a sad look at the pan. The fried eggs were burnt and black. After the danger of fire was avoided, he looked around the kitchen. The table was set and there was dark toast on the plates beside two glasses of orange juice.
The rest of the kitchen was a battlefield. Lisa had done a gr eat job, but she left a trail of devastation. Steffen sighed heavily.
“First, we’ll have breakfast, then we’ll clean up. Because if Aunt Anna sees that, she’ll get mad and scold us both.”
Lisa grinned.
“This place looks like a war zone.” He imitated his sister Anna very well.
Steffen lovingly tousled his daughter’s hair while they ate breakfast. The toast was not too burnt; they gobbled them. He looked at his daughter proudly, hard to believe she has grown so big. Time flew by since Lisa’s mother left them unexpectedly. Just a few months after giving birth. His mood worsened every time he thought of that. He quickly thought of something nice.
“Why are you looking so funny?” Lisa looked at him with wide eyes.
“I was just thinking about how big you’ve gotten, just yesterday .…“
“…you were only that tall. That’s what Aunt Anna always says, every time.” Lisa rolled her eyes in annoyance as she held her hand just above the floor.
Steffen had to laugh. Lisa crossed her arms and looked at him, annoyed.
“It’s not funny. Everyone says that, all the time. Don’t you have anything else to say?”
“Are you looking forward to school?” Steffen quickly changed the subject.
She nodded and beamed at him. Her expression got more serious, and she asked. “Is Mom coming?”
Steffen choked on his orange juice, slowly shook his head.
“So …“
“It’s all right, Dad. You and Aunt Anna are there. You don’t have to lie.”
An uneasy silence spread. Steffen had not expected that. Speechless, he went to his daughter and took her lovingly in his arms. The doorbell rang, Lisa broke away from the embrace.
“I’m going already,” she shouted happily and ran off, the brief moment of sadness forgotten.
“Aunt Anna,” sounded from the door.
“…who else would it be?”
Steffen’s sister entered the kitchen. She looked around, sniffed, and looked at him strangely. Steffen was still sitting by the table in his pajamas.
“What are you waiting for? Get ready already. Your daughter is about to start school. Chop-chop,” she shooed him out of the kitchen.
He got ready in no time. Steffen put on a suit because he wanted to make a good impression. Yes, frankly, the suit was a little tight, but hardly noticeable. He went downstairs. Judging by the astonished faces, he had made the right choice. Anna and Lisa looked at him with wide eyes.
“Come on, what are you waiting for? Chop-chop!” He grinned at the two.
They set off together. Steffen had barely turned on the radio in the car and searched for his favorite station when the complaints about his taste in music started.
“The music hurts my ears. I want to hear Princess Lilabell, please, Dad,” Lisa whined. Steffen granted his daughter’s request, who happily sang loudly along to the theme song in the back seat. The drive to school went off without a hitch. They could see parents waiting in front of the school even from a distance. They were chatting while the children were walking around with big school backpacks. The three joined the happy waiting crowd. Lisa walked around, looking for her friends from the neighborhood. Steffen stood around awkwardly with his sister because he didn’t know most of the parents. Then he saw his friend Matthias and waved to him. The three of them were talking cheerfully when Lisa came back and interrupted him, tugging hard at his arm.
“Dad, Dad, do you remember my teacher, Mrs. Denter?”
Steffen greeted her briefly and turned back to his friend.
“Excuse me, my daughter …“
He did not get any further. Matthias, who he had been talking a short moment ago, was no longer standing next to him. Irritated, Steffen looked at his sister, who looked at him in surprise. Matthias had left him standing there.
“Well,” he shook his head and turned to Anna as his eyes fell on a pile of clothes on the ground. He lifted them up with care and looked at them more closely. Jacket, shirt, pants, underpants and a pair of shoes with socks were on the ground.
“But these are the clothes Matthias was wearing,” he wondered out loud.
“What do you have there, Dad?”
Lisa and Anna looked at him curiously.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged and looked around, perplexed. He was not the only one. Unrest arose in the crowd, horrified shouts were heard. People were running around in confusion. There were piles of clothes on the ground. Steffen was uneasy about the whole thing, thought that they better get out of there. He turned around and wanted to push Anna and Lisa out of the crowd. But his hands slid through their bodies without resistance. Horrified, he looked at his hands, which became transparent and faded more and more.
“What the …“
Two pale and horrified faces looked at him and tried to reach for him.
“Steffen, what’s happening to you?”
“Papppppaaaa!”
He couldn’t make a sound and looked around in panic, then he dissolved completely. The last thing he saw were the horrified faces of his family. Suddenly, everything went black around him.
2
When the darkness lifted, Steffen found himself in a large white room. He was surrounded by smooth walls. There was no light, yet the room was bright. He looked around frantically. He felt as if the walls were closing in towards him, being buried alive. Steffen felt dizzy for a moment, his heart raced and his chest tightened as his breathing quickened. Sweat poured to his forehead. All felt so unreal. He felt beside himself and suddenly he was scared to death.
“No, not now. Everything is fine. Nothing can happen to you,” he murmured.
The panic attack struck fast and strong. The urge to flee and run away became excessively heightened, however, there was no way out of this terrible situation. He sat down on the floor and closed his eyes, forcing himself to breathe calmly and slowly through his nose. He put his right hand on his stomach and concentrated on breathing. Slowly, he calmed down and after a few moments, the panic attack was over. Drenched with sweat, he opened his eyes and looked around. How many times had he had to do this? At some point, he had stopped counting. The panic attacks never disappeared completely, but he knew how to deal with it. Nonetheless, it still didn’t make it any more pleasant. He searched the room for a close inspection. What was the meaning of this? Just a moment ago, he was at his daughter’s first day of school and now he found himself here in the middle of nowhere. Steffen looked at himself. He was dressed in a plain white shirt and pants, nurse like.
“Am I dead?” Steffen pinched his arm. It hurt. Feeling disoriented, he stood up. He walked to one wall and touched it gently. His fingers didn’t even find the slightest bump, it felt warm. When he turned back to the center of the room, a projection had appeared in the middle of the room.
Character creation initiated …Time remaining 59:59:59.
Character creation and a countdown. What did that mean? He walked closer slowly and tried to touch the projection, but his hand slipped through.
“It’s a hologram.” A male voice sounded directly behind him; Steffen quickly turned around. Standing before him, erect and stock-still, was a strangely tall man in a white suit. Whether it was a human being, Steffen could not tell for sure. The face was expressionless, smooth white skin without wrinkles. He had no eyebrows or hair. Steffen felt immediately uneasy under his ice-blue eyes gaze. It was a figure he knew only from science fiction movies. Before he could say anything, the figure held up a hand. His movement was so fast, he startled Steffen.
“Please have a seat, Steffen. I’ll explain everything to you now. My name is Newt.” The figure pointed to a chair that had suddenly appeared.
