S-TWC-001
St. Valentine's Ledger
Patron: Nickels Costigan
Date: Aug 4th, 1923 – Dracul District
Location: En route to St. Valentine's via a Fox Hole
Proprietor: Father Voss
There are things I have seen which no seminary taught me how to bless.
My name is Father Eldin Voss, formerly of the Chicago Archdiocese. My collar is still crisp and my Bible still worn. But I do not preach from pulpits anymore. These days, I walk the corridors between worlds. The thresholds. The places where our mundanity frays like an old cassock at the hem.
You see, my faith was never shaken. Only widened. Only ██████.
The deeper I went, the more I understood: Scripture speaks in metaphor, but the Universe whispers in ██████. And as ██████ are oft to do, they repeat themselves. Over and over again. Different times, different places, but the same motions.
I have stood at the edge of the ██████████ and watched a █████ drown in █████████. I have fought with █████████’s Horrors. Studied in the █████████████ of ██████████. I have held a blade forged of ██████████ and bartered a confession in the language of the █████.
But all of that matters not, compared to what I have recently seen in the █████████████████████.
A city. A singer. A song.
Nico Costigan may be many things, but he is no longer just a man. Something old sings through him. Something dangerous. And it draws things up from the deep.
They call this place █████████████. "████████" being etymologically in question. Some scholars of archaic ██████████ say it means "westward" while others believe it has a more literal meaning of "scarred from the side." █████, however, is an ancient word. One of three. The first words constructed for our reality as we know it. And this █████ belongs to Lord █████, the ████████████ of █████. And this city? It is also his. The █████████. A city born of passion, ruled by right, and haunted by more than just ██████.
And it is a kingdom torn in two.
I have strong faith to believe there is a city beneath Lake Michigan. A sister to ████. A place once known to the angels and now forgotten by men.
Gallowsbridge.
And it wants to rise again.
Gallowsbridge is not its true name, of course, as names have power. Undoubtedly so. I dare not speak nor put to paper the true name of the city for to do so would only invite its original Architect's attention. Yes, █████ built the city by hand, brick-by-brick, but he did not lay the plans. Nor did his father the █████.
I am returning to St. Valentine’s now. There are rituals to prepare. Wards to strengthen. And perhaps, confessions yet to be heard.
May God watch over us, in this trying hour.
Unsmudge the Ledger
“A Warped Vineyard.”
Canonical Trivia | 4 Words