A Battle Unseen

[Dredd]

Ludvík sat in the quiet, empty church as snow whistled outside the dusty windows. A small memorial sat at the foot of the cross in the front of the room, a portrait of saint Sladek hanging over its golden tip. He had been coming to this place for decades, the same church he grew up in, regardless if abandoned, was his sanctuary and place of reflection. It too was the only place he could see the signs. It had come to him in dreams and visions, but it wasn't until he was 14 that he began understanding their significance. At first it frightened him, he had believed it to be demons or devils spiritually attacking him, but then he saw the light and heard the voices, and they spoke of a holy purpose. All the raptured crowds and speeches he delivered, all the realizations of his holy preordained destiny forged in the stars, all of it had been given through him to the people by god himself, and gods signs came to him time and time again, it was his purpose, a vessel for the divine, a reincarnation and destiny. Ludvík tensed his hands as he felt the lord preparing to speak to him, his eyes rolled back and he clenched his jaw, teeth gritting. In the darkness he saw the light emerge and the lines form, angelic voices spoke to him without a voice, images appeared without a frame. He saw a flaming sword in a distant galaxy, he felt scars run down his face to the bone, a radiating heat spreading throughout his body as he sweated profusely despite the cold. Finally he saw, he saw saint Sladek himself. He rested a palm on his shoulder as Ludvíks veins bulged in his neck and his legs curled, he saw a holy Kundrati in the distance flanked by monsters and horned beasts. Ludvík gasped a breath through his beleaguered throat and shook as a radiant golden city beckoning in a far distance, just out of grasp, stood on a hill. Shaking violently Ludvík prayed, and appeared before a mirror in the deep. The mirror floated mere inches from his face, Ludvíks fit only worsened until finally he finally, truly saw clearly, it was not his own face in the mirror. Saint Sladek looked back into his eyes, yet shared his own hazel features.

And finally he understood