The Wanderer in Blue stood on the back step of the Our Mother of Hope orphanage listening to the wind. He knew that the assailants of the Convent could not have gotten that far away. As he had backtracked throughout the massacre inside he began to notice small details he had originally missed.
Taking longer to look at the way the carnage was executed The Wanderer could tell that there had been at least two different attackers. One was impulsive, while the other was more methodical in their approach. The corpses that had had their eyes removed some where done in a rushed job with more damage done to the surrounding area while some where removed with a skilled and steady hand.
He also discovered that on the second floor were several rooms that the Nuns had used as their bedrooms and that they had been slain, some huddled in corners with some others attempting to fight. None of them had matched the description he had been given of June Weymouth. His only conclusion that made sense was that this was not a random act of frontier violence but an orchestrated attack. The Wanderer needed guidance.
Walking off the back step he made his way back to his horse, Aquinas, still obediently standing beyond the white fence. After patting the horses neck he pulled a book from his saddle bag, it was a heavy, dark brown, leather bound book. The cover was embossed with a Cross, a Star of David, and a the Star and Crescent. Inside the book were tattered parchment pages covered in vertical text. Flipping to a random page The Wanderer closed his eyes and placed his open palm on the page. The letters under his hand began to move and swirl before forming a perfect three ringed circle under his palm.
His eyes snapped open and rolled to the back of his head as he began to chant. "Domine Terrar, Domie Inferni, exaudi preces meas, inveni mihi puellam!" The whites of his eyes started to change colors, his left eye became a burning ball of fire when his right eye became a swirling blue sky landscape. A shining white beam cascaded all around him and The Wanderer found himself standing in on a cloud high above the Kansas plains. If he were to squint he would have been able to see himself standing next to Aquinas. In front of him stood two persons, the one on the left side was a man with wings. His eyes a deep shade of burgundy and his wings black as night with crooked feathers. The person on the right had a changing face, in one moment a man and in another a women and the next a child.
God and The Light-bringer.
"You seek assistance Wanderer." The Light-bringer spoke in a monotone.
"What guidance can we provide to you?" God's voice was much like their face, every changing.
The Wanderer dropped to his knees in reverence to the Two Faces of the Heavens. They were the Two who made the world and fought the endless battle against the forces that sought its ruin. The Wanderer was one of the few blessed with that knowledge, all though some would see that knowledge as cursed.
"The Enemy attacked the Convent of Our Lady of Hope. The Sisters and the children were murdered and mutilated, Father D'Angelo among them. They took the girl." The Wanderer's accent laden heavy with the thick German Swiss accent of Bern.
Despite the changing appearance of God a singular look of sadness showed across all faces. "I felt the pain and torment of each of the Holy Wives, and the extinguishing of the flames of the Children. The Enemy grows bold. They did not kill the girl you say?"
"No my Lord, there was no corpse that matched the description of her."
The Light-bringer spread their crooked wings before speaking, "We must assemble the Host. If they are going to bring the fight to Holy ground then we must bring the fight to them. We find the girl, find the location of the Enemy and bring down the Heavens on them!" The Light-bringer becoming more intense with each world, by the end their wings were spread full width, over eight feet.
"No. The Host is not prepared for an attack, you know this Lucifer. Our focus must be the recovery of the girl. I can not sense their purpose with her. She is the priority Wanderer. I last sense the light of the girl traveling west before she became shrouded from me. Find her at all cost, eliminate anyone or anything that stands in your way. I give my blessing for this Crusade. What say you Light-bringer?" God's voice echoed through the clouds.
"Burn in the Enemy in a torrent of Hellfire. I give my blessing to this Crusade." Both God and Lucifer Morningstar made the Sign of the Cross above the Wanderer's head.
The Wanderer's eyes rolled back in his skull again, the blinding light around him once again. When his eyes returned to their normal position in his skull he was standing back next to Aquinas. He slide his rifle off of his back and placed it back in the saddle holster before hiding the Tome back in saddle bag. Mounting himself on the worn leather saddle he tapped Aquinas on the next and said in his native tongue, "Auf nach Westen, Aquin! Wieder auf Krezzug!" At the command of his rider the once docile horse's ears laid back and he began a full gallop, the rising sun behind them.