THE BATTLE AGAINST DEMON CTHULHU

 

This story is part of a project we did at school after studying the importance of monasteries in the middle ages, the rule of St Benedict and monastic life, including the history of the Benedectine monasteries we have in our hometown, Subiaco. Divided in groups, one of our tasks was to write a story in English about monastic life,  set in the past, present or future,  with fantasy elements of our choice. 

The following story was written by Luca Di Giannantonio e Carlo Muzi with the support of Federico Mosetti. We really hope you'll enjoy reading it!

Once upon a time at Saint Benedict’s monastery during a holy mass a dark monk servant of the demon Cthulhu went to the cave in the monastery.  As a result of a ritual, he opened a portal to another dimension and fled from the monastery.

In that dimension lived the powerful demon called Cthulhu with his army. He was an ancient creature created by people's sins. In fact, the sins confessed to the monks gave birth to this demon and every confession increased his power.

 Once out of the portal, Cthulhu began to murder the monks mysteriously and when the dead bodies were found, people noticed something strange:  every dead monk didn’t have their heart anymore.  Cthulhu had to use their hearts to create an ancient sword called the Blasphemous Blade.

 Abbot Giovanni proclaimed an emergency state at the monastery to try to find out who who was killing monks and people.

 In that situation, the monks decided to stay in their dormitories and,  for protection,  guardians watched the monastery during the night.

Suddenly the demon stopped killing,  but the monks were having a hard time anyway.  Many of them died and those still alive were frightened.

Abbot Giovanni wanted to bring back normality and decided to involve all the monks in a mass to drive the demon away.  However, some of them during the ceremony,  went to other places,  because they were tired of staying in their bedrooms.  Some of them went to the scriptorium to finish writing their manuscripts and,  when they got there, they found the evil demon Cthulhu waiting for them and were attacked.

The monks tried to defend themselves, but the demon was too strong for them. While they were fighting against the demon the abbot and others heard terrible noises coming from the scriptorium. There was nothing to do, they found the dead bodies of the monks in the scriptorium,  but this time they still had their hearts. Cthulhu hadn’t taken their hearts because he had already summoned his powerful sword and once he reached his maximum power, he began killing even more people than before.

The monks were terrified, and some even decided to leave the monastery and their monastic life. In that tragic moment, Abbot Giovanni,  who never gave up, wrote a letter to the Pope asking for his help,  then he reached the demon in order to fight him and  to try to gain time before the arrival of the support he had required.

Cthulhu was trying to open the portal which had allowed him to enter this dimension, he wanted to go back with his strong army, but he was interrupted by Abbot Giovanni, who attacked him from behind and with all his power trapped the demon by had to sacrifice himself.

 At the same time, Pope Leone XI had received the letter of the Abbot and,  since he suspected that the demon who had attacked the monastery was Cthulhu, he  gathered the division called Iscariota, because he knew just how powerful Cthulhu was. The Iscariota division was the strongest army that the Church of Rome had.  In the past Pope Leone XI had  used it to fight Lucifer's rising.

 

The division was composed of 12 elite soldiers led by a vicious general called Alexander Anderson,  a tall man with short gray hair and blue eyes. He wore a heavy gray tunic, black boots and a clerical collar, he always wore a silver cross and white gloves. He was a psychotic killer devoted to God and the Roman church. Alexander used to fight with blessed bayonets and furthermore, he was able to regenerate his wounds. 

 The Iscariota division reached the monastery and camped near the Aniene River,  because they would attack the demon the next morning.

 Cthulhu saw from the monastery the Iscariota division and opened the portal to finally let his army out. The next day the division attacked the monastery and fought the demon who had killed 5 soldiers with the Blasphemous Blade. He was so strong that none of them could hurt him, only Alexander could face him,  but the demon managed to seriously injure him by using all his power.

Alexander decided to cast his final blow, he pierced his heart with the nails used to crucify Jesus, in that way he became a divine monster as powerful as an angel. Alexander in this new form killed the demon and all his army.

Unfortunately, after Cthulhu's death, even Alexander died,  because the power he used was too strong for his body.  The soldiers rescued what remained of his body and took him back to the Saint Peter’s Cathedral,  where he was mourned with a majestic funeral.

After those terrible events, the Saint Benedict’s monastery returned to normality. The monks who had left went back and a new abbot was elected. After a few years, the statues of Alexander and Abbot Giovanni were erected to honor their sacrifice.

Luca Di Giannantonio, Carlo Muzi e Federico Mosetti, 2sc