There were no windows or openings in this cave, but there seemed to be some kind of light shining down upon Father Preston's lifeless body as his face was positioned to look upward, as if staring into the heavens. I reached out my trembling finger tips to the still swaying placard that stared directly into my eyes with the harsh words "Thou Shall Have No Other Gods Before ME", it was warm with blood still sliding down the sides of it and onto the dirt below him, my heart sunk down to my stomach as I walked past him to delve deeper into the cave, the cave of darkness. I tripped over my own feet, too scared to take too big of steps, afraid of the unknown. I felt upon the walls of the cave to guide me, the jagged points of the rocks scratched my hands to where I could feel the blood streaming down my arm, I took deep breaths and whispered to my self that everthing was going to be okay, I would find Paige, I would bring her home. She would finally be safe. After walking for what seemed to be a thousand miles I saw a dim light ahead, maybe a torch of some kind. My steps quickened, and my heart raced faster than ever, I jogged up to the torch of fire and held it up high. The walls of the cave were painted with pictures of women being tortured, women nailed onto crosses, being murdered. There was inscriptions all over the entire cave in some foreign language that I'd never heard of, I studied the walls trying to embed them into my mind so I would be able to remember all of the pictures and writings. I carried the torch close by my side, afraid that I would see something I didn't want to. I held onto the walls of the cave hoping to trace my steps. The cave seemed endless, like an abyss of never ending caverns. After walking for so long, not finding anything, not finding Paige, I sat down on the ground, defeated, lost and alone. Beads of sweat fell into my palms as I cupped my hands onto my forehead. I rocked back and forth, almost as if I was crazy, but then again, maybe I was going crazy. My throat had gone dry, to the point where I couldn't even produce natural saliva, my eyes were heavy, and burned from being open for so long. I closed my eyes for a moment and rested my head along the wall, it was at that moment when I said a prayer, something I hadn't done in a long time. Dear God, wherever you are, please do not harm my baby, please do not let anything bad happen to her. I would give my life for her, she's done nothing wrong, nothing worth dying for, please, I beg of you, please watch after her, watch after my baby. I leaned up against the cave wall barely able to move, the light was dimming, I could already smell the smoke coming from the burned out torch. My eyes flitted open and then immediately closed. How could I have done this? How can I just give up? Just let my baby go? I can't give up, I can never give up. How soon do the police stop looking for a missing person and start looking for a missing body? With the small amount of strength that I had left I pulled myself up and continued on walking, but without the light I'd taken for granted. I became fatigued, tired to the point of being able to barely walk. I leaned up against a wall, my legs shaking uncontrollably, I couldn't walk anymore. I looked as far as I could see in the pitch blackness, which wasn't very far. My breathing became very heavy and I let out sobs of despair hoping for someone to hear my cries, someone to come and find me. I stood up against the wall for a while, listening to the silence, water drops falling from the peaks of the cave.Waiting...for something...anything.

 

I opened my eyes, and begrudgingly stood up onto my feet and started to walk deeper into the darkness. My foot must have caught something because the next thing I knew I was plunging head first towards the hard ground, I could feel my lip splitting open and the blood beginning to gush out; I used the corner of my palm to add pressure to the cut, in the hopes of making it stop bleeding. I slowly put one leg in front of the other and leaned up against the walls to push myself up. I was limping by this point and had one hand cupped onto my mouth to contain the blood flow...I was a mess, how was I ever going to save someone in the state that I was in. It wasnt much longer until I heard a faint whisper "Avestan Zarathustra.....Avestan Zarathustra" it was almost as if it was someone chanting something, given my state of mind and the condition I was in I couldn't tell if I was just hearing things or if there really was someone there. I crept up closer and closer to try and put a face to the voice, the eery voice that sounded so much like the one I'd heard before. I must have looked in every crevice possible, but nothing, I found no one. I stumbled down what seemed to be an alleyway, turned out to be a dead end, but there at the very end of the alley I saw something, it was hard to tell what it was given the fact that it was so dark, I peered over a rock only to notice that it was a woman. Her naked body was completely exposed with cuts and bruises everywhere, her hands and feet were binded together, I could see the blood encrusted all over the ropes. Someone had stripped her of all of her clothes and shaped her body into some kind of contortion. Her body was motionless, I couldn't tell if she was alive or dead, from what I'd seen so far I could only guess that she was dead, but why not on a cross? If this really was the Com Killer's secret lair why was she dead on the floor, what was her sin? As I took a step forward my lower lip began to quiver with fear. I got down onto my knee's and crawled over to her scarred waist. I looked over her side to shockingly see her eyes fluttering open and closed. I reached my hand out to her, her eyes widened as she let out a scream that was muffled by the bandana that had been carelessly stuffed into her mouth. "Sshh" I whispered to her, "Everything will be okay, I promise I will help you get out of here." The fear in her eyes was still there as I attempted to undo her bloody hands and feet from the rope that had rubbed her skin so raw. As soon as her hands and feet were free from the ropes that had binded them she grabbed the cloth from her mouth and backed up against the cave wall. "Who are you? Why have you untied me? What do you want from me?" She said with terror still in her eyes. "I'm just looking for my daughter, It seems that I've been looking for her forever. I untied you because no matter what sin you have committed killing is also a sin, and I will not stand by and let someone continue this madness!" I cried out to her. She skeptically inched over to me and held me in her scratched up arms, "Dont worry, we will find her." The sound of her voice sounded so familar, so comforting and confident. She stood up as best she could and reached out her hand to me "Take my hand, let me help you as you have helped me."

 

"Do you hear that, I heard something, I think it was a man's voice." her soft spoken voice seemed to make even the worst of words pleasant. I shifted my body over to where she had pointed and starting creeping along the walls. As I grew closer and closer I could hear it too. It was the same chanting whisper that I'd heard before, only this time I knew that it wasn't just me, she'd heard it too. "Avestan Zarathustra.....Avestan Zarathustra" the chant was spoken repeatedly. The deep orange color of the embers burned my eyes as we turned the corner to see a fire. "Avestan Zarathustra.....Avestan Zarathustra" The sound became deafening, piercing my ears. I could see her body become chilled when she realized what the voice was saying, she fell onto the ground and began to weep as she sputtered out a prayer faster than I'd ever heard anyone speak. I slid down to her and watched as tears filled her crystal blue eyes making them appear as deep as the Arctic Ocean after a storm. "I fear for the worst, but I pray for the best." Her body tightened up and she grabbed her legs as if for dear life. "What does it mean? Ah-veh-stan Zara-Thoo-Strah?" I questioned her. "It means that we are in grave danger. Avestan Zarathustra was the creator of Mithraism, it is an acient pagan religion in which they sacrifice people, mostly women who commit any sins they feel need punishment. The religion was banned thousands and thousands of years ago, the Roman Catholic church demanded that it be forbidden. Outraged by this, Avestan Zarathustra then led a group of people into caves, which is where they would commence their so called rituals. The punishment was death, a death parallel to Christ's. A Stigmatic Killing. If people were worried about THE Com Killer, they should be worried of him even more. I was warned many years ago of a man named Damian. Damian was a follwer of Mithraism, he worsphiped Avestan Zarathustra, he was a pagan leader to his few followers, but to them...he was a God. It wasn't until a 14 year old girl was thought to have seen his killings in her dreams that he disappeared, never to be heard of again. They say he was known to trick people, pretending to be something he wasn't, even pretending to be dead. Maybe he's back, maybe he never left at all...If he really is back there is one thing you can be sure of...he will try to rise Avestan Zarathustra from the dead, or worse...become him." It was then that I knew who this stranger sitting next to me was, her name was Sister Maragaret, but as I liked to call her...Desiree.