InsaneJournal

Who: Damien and Raven
When: Afternoon
Where: Library
What: Research
Rating: R
Warnings: Profanity
Note: Open to anyone, really. Though I wouldn't be opposed to an angel, demon, or even Adam. ;)

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Damien Thorn was in the library. Not the one that arrivals were in, not where the knights were. No.. this was another one. Where books actually had words in them. He had found it in the middle of the city near the business district. He felt that he had been putting this off long enough. Sergeant Neff's words had been coming to him lately. Read your Bible. The 13'th chapter of Revelation. For you, it is just that.. a book of revelation. For you, about you. Read, learn! Understand. And when he had asked what it was he was supposed to understand from a religious book on the bestseller's list? Who you are.

And so, it was time to get down to it. He felt a foreboding sense of dread, mixed with anticipation, curiosity. He could very well be reading about that other boy Adam. The boy had certainly referred to himself as the Antichrist a few times. But he just seemed so nice. With a sigh, he had managed to locate the Religion section of the shelves, and obtained a Bible from the shelf, heading back to a table. He flipped it open to the particular passage and began to mentally read the page.

[And all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the Beast. And they worshiped the Beast, saying, 'Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?']

Who indeed, he thought to himself. No man could hope to fight against any child of Lucifer and survive to tell the tale. It was probably like standing against the force of a hurricane. Not that Damien knew about that. Not yet, anyway.

[And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army...]

Armies. That sort of made sense. He went to a military academy in Chicago. Many cadets, if they chose, went on to become soldiers for the United States military. Some even continued their service working for the Pentagon. He believed that was Neff's goal. And the Beast, it would make sense for him to have allies among warriors. One of the Horsemen was War, after all.

[And through his policy shall also shall he cause craft to prosper in his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace he shall destroy many, he shall also stand up against the Prince of Princes.]

Prince of Princes? And who was that? Perhaps it was God. Or... Christ? The Nazarene, a thought came to him, son of an impotent God, savior of the weak, that pathetic carpenter, profaner of vices- He gasped then, looking up from the book. He didn't know why he was thinking that. There was no reason to. He didn't even know why there was a sense of anger in those thoughts. But it couldn't be anyone else.. he was the only one here! Or maybe it was one of thise times when he just knew the answers. Though he also felt a bit offended at something else for some reason, though not knowing why. There was nothing wrong with pride! Nothing. Perfectly fine. Neff had told him that one should be proud of their accomplishments, saying that pride is alright when there is reason to be proud. He paused, a bit anxious now, and continued reading.

[And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads; and that no man might buy or sell, save that he had the mark, or the name of the Beast, or the number of his name.]

Now that was odd. He didn't know how exactly that could happen. Society was so obsessed with cash, credit cards, accounts and such. And putting a mark in someone had to be.. well, it was weird. Then again, if he was in charge, he suppose it could happen in a very big economic crisis, whereby he can appear on the scene as a savior. And then maybe put a GPS chip inside people, government sanctioned, using a number code system-- ohhh. He gasped briefly, surprised at these thoughts. He didn't know where that surge of genius came from. Because when he considered it, it did seem quite capable of success. He continued to read, noticing something near the end.

[Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.]

Six hundred and sixty six. Six hundred, three score, and six. 666. No matter how you said it, it was knowledge. It was fact. And it was the number of the Antichrist. But this was the Bible, and he was tempted to not take it literal. But he found that he couldn't deny it. It was like he somehow knew that this could not be denied. And yet? His mind was rationalizing, resisting it. This just couldn't be. He was not the Beast. Though if he was, everything that happened in his life, every unusual thing about him that he was unsure about.. it'd make a lot of sense if he really was that dark figure that was prophesied ages ago.

But how, when there was already an Antichrist here? There was.. the one named Adam, the young blond boy who had showed up here recently. There surely couldn't be any more than one. Perhaps this text simply was made for him, about him.. to stand against the Beast. That had to be it. It had to! But to be honest, he didn't want to fight anyone in some big supernatural war in the future. He'd prefer to run the company with his cousin Mark instead, just like they were supposed to when their foster father passed on eventually. But as he thought on this matter, there was still the lingering thought of the facts here, of what he had to know in his heart to be true. Finally, he sighed, shaking his head. "Ohh, fuck me.."