Diary of an Air War

For days I felt that something was watching me.  It rode in my gut before but after Camp Century I was distracted.  It grew stronger as I sat in my office several days ago.  It was fairly constant, never got much stronger, but it was certainly distracting.  One night, just as I was finishing work in the office, the sensation just stopped.  For some reason, this made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.  I reached into my desk where my service .45 lay and cocked it.  At that moment, a shadow suddenly got very much more present, and became a humanoid shape made of darkness.  It was a Mesmer sending- like but unlike the one that attacked in Rising Sun.  It sprang at me, and instinctively I shot at it while calling on my hypnotically-implanted Mesmer defenses for help.  The bullet hit and
had an effect- whether my training helped, or it was more vulnerable to bullets than the last one,.  I didn’t know- and didn’t care.  I emptied my clip into the thing, and was gratified to see it slump and begin to dissipate. 

There was still some left when the MPs came thundering up to my office so I didn’t have to explain much.  Not
that I was going to explain my actions to *anyone*.

As I coped with the aftermath of using my “trick”,  it left me with another strange feeling… like something is
unfinished…

Well, he can get in line after Apophis and the Sleeping Idiot God and armies of idealists and the naive.  However, maybe I will need to avoid any future support of Cody.

My attempt has failed and I have seen horror I was unprepared for.  However, it has likely underestimated me as well.  God be with me, I will need strength.

For the Empire and the People of New York.

God Damn those who would  suborn Man.

Sykes sat at his desk with copies of Witch Finder reports with many headings including Infernal London and Dementia Infernalis as well as a copy of Marcus Aurellius.  He put the last down and prayed: “God, grant me the wisdom to let Reason battle Madness without becoming Hubris.”  Then he closed his eyes and did not open them again for another hour.

Sykes finished his boxing practice to Metallica and toweled off for a minute, then moved to his study and poured some whiskey and water.  There was a small sort of shrine with Sun Tzu, Marcus Aurellius, the Bible and a small ENY flag.  He raised the glass to the altar.  “God, grant me the strength to bring her back.  I refuse to let demons and darkness defeat us if I can avoid it.  Spare me Agamemnon’s choice Oh Lord.”

God made Man in his image and gave mankind the gifts of reason and dominion over the land and beasts.    But, Man took the gifts of God and used them to break part of Creation.  Man’s part.  And so, all of the things God cast off as waste came into what was left.  Demons, devils, horrors and terrors that were the things of nursery rhymes and Man’s darker thoughts all came to enjoy this broken world.

Man’s pennance is repair what he can and drive back the darkness that his own errors brought to bear.  God Damn those who would subborn Man.  God give me the strength to do my part.

I would prefer to have been wrong and for that thing not to control my wife.  I see few good options but here is what Law wrote on the wall:

Brother, I do not know you, but I know that I will have trained to you be my successor. Beyond this spot you will find where I first met the Devil. You will follow in my path, and see It with your own eyes. It will offer you a horrible choice. I do not fault you if you refuse, know that if you do, you will die, with your soul clean.

If you accept, then you will share my pain, my sacrifice, and my place in Hell. With every blessing, with every sacrament, your corruption will spread Its own. These lives you will offer up to the Devil, for the rest of your days. They will spend their endless nights screaming with the Devil’s madness in their heads, or be offered the dark temptation of Its power. Those who resist, will, in the very end, be with God. But those who are tested, and fail, in these End Times, will be lost, becoming the agents of Its contagion.

In return for the corruption of your own eternal soul, in exchange for the lives and souls of so many innocents, the Devil will offer you only one thing, your life. To leave this place, with your body and mind intact, and with the true knowledge of Evil. Even without us to spread Its taint, still the Devil’s influence will spread. But It cannot take our free will. With every ounce of strength I possess I will fight the spread of Its corruption, even though I fight myself as Its greatest agent. I will raise a host of the faithful, to contain, heal, and when required, burn the corrupted from this world. I will fight fire with fire, and I will lead the faithful to retake what the Devil would make Its own. This is what I have seen in Its offer, and this is what you must do if you accept. Fight the spread of your own corruption, and if, using the knowledge of Evil, you turn the scales beyond where they would have been had you died, then is that not enough?

You will be tempted to share this knowledge with others, but you know you cannot. Those who have not seen what you are about to see will never understand, this is the sacrifice of faith for knowledge. None who see the Devil live, save by becoming Its agent. What It cannot corrupt, It must destroy. And neither can you take the fight to Its doors. It is eternal, it is legion, it does not reside beneath this city. It IS Boston, for what it corrupts, it becomes.

Finally, the Devil lies, but It also tells the truth when it serves Its purposes. You must make this choice for yourself, I have helped you all I can. I pray for you to continue my work, or allow that burden to pass to another.

If you are not my successor, then you are the other one, the one It foretold would come one day, the one who would herald doom to us all.

            Bernard Francis Law 1931-1996

            May God have mercy on my soul

I am starting with infantry but will then add artillery and the special units for communications and supernatural issues.  I am thinking some sort of breechloading, rifled artillery is best with bolt action rifles with bayonet lugs for the infantry. 

I only pray we deal with Apophis before the Big Dig explodes.