Immortal Killer

The son of a hero part 1 - Chapter 6

5 years earlier.

A wide-eyed young boy called Edward was leaning forward towards the grand Petulistian Church's stage, he stared at it whilst on the stage a priest hosted, what they called, an anointing ceremony. Edward stared at the stage with bulging sparkling blue eyes that looked like they wanted to escape out of his sockets and onto the stage, where they could then bask in the Holy Spirit that Edward believed to be present. Not only him, however, but all of the silky smooth dark mahogany pews in the church were filled with people of all backgrounds; sporting wide smiles and gleaming gazes.

Most were hunch-backed and exhausted peasants; so droopy that they looked like their skin was melting. However, on their way to the Tollon town church, they all marched with a spring in their step. Those that were sitting at the front of the church were either the lord of a nearby village or the lord of Tollon Town. They were all looking equally well-rested and plump due to their sufficient, but for some, excessive feeding. Their usual pompous attitudes, arrogant postures and snobby facial expressions were replaced during this service by a childish excitement.

Despite living contrasting lifestyles, looking different and having widely dissimilar personalities, everyone in that Church was one way or another, similarly and utterly transfixed on what was happening on the stage. This was not the only church where this level of engagement took place, but all across the Kingdom of Nothrotita, on that Sunday morning, there were crowds of people watching each of their respective church services, in awe. And on that Sunday morning in the Tollon Town's church, forty thirteen-year-old children were waiting in line at the edge of the stage, to do what the two children at the centre of the stage were doing; pouring barrels of honey on to each other.

That's the holy event that tens of thousands of people across the Kingdom were so entranced by. They called it an anointing ceremony. The children anointed each other in order to rid each other of their original sin. This was done by drenching them in a golden and, what they believed to be, holy liquid; honey. Whilst they were pouring honey on each other a priest would stand beside them and read out a prayer from the Petulistian holy scriptures that were all together called the Agribidian. He would restate the prayer after every pair of children poured the barrels of honey that they were given.

To the right of Edward was his mother, Kaylee. Edward would look over to Kaylee occasionally during the service. When he did, his excited high rising eyebrows would furrow, and his enthusiastic wide eyes would squint into a judgemental glare because he believed his mother was a trouble maker. 

Despite the enthusiasm of the rest of the churchgoers, his mother was laid back, yawning, and twiddling her thumbs throughout the entire service. Her head would occasionally nod towards the ground as she would briefly fall to sleep; the briefness of that sleep being a result of the sound of Edward's clicking tongue but mostly from the slight pain coming from her ribs being jabbed by Edward's elbow. She would then sigh deeply, roll her eyes and go back to twiddling her thumbs, tapping her feet or quietly humming.

To the left of Edward was his best friend, Jake. He was much more focused on the stage than Kaylee, but his focus wasn't founded upon a cheerful foundation like it was with Edward or the rest of the churchgoers. Jake's face wore a forced, weak and wry smile. His body was dripping with sweat and his skinny arms were shivering. Edward looked over to him with the inner corners of his eyebrows rising. He opened his mouth with the intent to say something to comfort him, but he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Hey, wait, aren't you two gonna be doing this honey thing next Sunday?" Kaylee loudly whispered as she leaned over to Edward and Jake, smiling. Jake's face crumpled as he cringed at what Edward guessed was probably the terrifying mental image of having barrels of honey poured onto him.