Dreamt I was sitting in an abandoned rural one-room church/school having a pleasant chat with an angel about something or another when a priest kicked in what was left of the front door to challenge me.
“You can’t be here!”
“Why?”
“You’re not Christian!”
“… And?”
“THIS IS A CHRISTIAN PLACE OF WORSHIP! You can’t be here!”
“The building is abandoned and ownership of the land has reverted to the government for rewilding. The only reason the building is still here is because it would cost more money to tear it down than to let it rot in place and no church wants to pay the cost of restoration and no museum has marked this place as historical. You have no authority to dictate who can be here and who can’t.”
“THIS HAS BEEN MADE SACRED THROUGH CHRISTIAN RITES AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DEFILE IT!”
“Dude, before a cross was put on the roof peak, this was a [cunning woman’s] hovel. And before she set foot here, it was the core of a sacred grove. And before those trees were ever planted, it was a sacred space for migrant tribes. And before the first person was drawn here, it existed from before time. This place decides who belongs here or not and it has decided that right now, right here, I belong here and here I am.”
The priest huffed and puffed and turned red in fury before realizing that I was not alone. The angel remained in place during this entire exchange, watching us quietly. “YOU!” The priest pointed at the angel. “FULFILL THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD AND EVICT THIS WITCH FROM THIS HOLY PLACE!”
The angel looked at me. I looked at the angel and shrugged. The angel looked back at the priest who was doing his best to recite something in Latin. I looked at the priest and shrugged again. The angel looked at me and smiled, covering me with warmth and peace to the point that I forgot to be annoyed at the priest.
“You’re right. I don’t have to engage with that mess. So, back to our discussion.”
When I turned my back to the priest, he became even more furious. I heard him condemn the angel as a false spirit and declare that he was going to evict us both by force if necessary. I heard him suddenly rushing towards us, but before I could react, the angel had placed a wing between me and him.
He bounced off the solidified light and fell flat on his ass behind me.
I turned around to see him covered with the dust and dirt from the litter-covered floor. I finally paid attention to his robes to guess at what denomination he represented, but his frock was so plain and generic, it might as well have been from a costume rental.
“Dude. No one has set foot inside of this building for at least four years. The last map that had this building marked as present is eight years old. The congregation that used to meet here literally died out twenty years ago, and there have been no formal ownership of this land for fifty years. There’s nothing here. Nothing valuable. Nothing historical. Nothing that would be of value to modern society. There is no corporate profit to this place other than permitting it to go wild so there is a pollution break between valleys. Just getting here is a high expenditure of resources. Sitting under these rotting beams is a health risk as is breathing in possibly mold-contaminated air. What is here that you feel you have to protect so vigilantly?”
He tried to get up off the floor but the same wing that bounced him onto his ass was now pinning him to the ground by the tip of a feather of light. He struggled to move the glow from his chest but burnt his fingers each time. I questioned if he was really clergy in the first place, but somehow the angel silently confirmed that he was ordained in his order.
He stopped fighting the angel’s restraint and told me his reasons. Christian Dominionism 101. Empire. If it could be claimed, then that claim must be enforced regardless of validity or truth. Somehow, he had heard that I was around and sought to challenge me directly.
But his primary intent wasn’t to enforce dominion over the collapsing church and the land around it. His primary intent was to bring me “back into grace”, at any cost. If he could get me forcibly removed from the building, then it would show that I have no power and no choice but to submit to those forces that were once over me. His biggest weapon: The Confidence of Unchallenged Mediocrity.
But he reminded me of someone, of some thing, and I needed to make sure that I was wrong. “By chance, did we sit in a Georgia bar once upon a summer?”
He entered into a malicious silence after spitting the word, “No.”
Of course it’s not him. He would never be so incomplete in his preparation nor so cocksure of a desired outcome. But, there is still the matter that this guy came here in the first place. “You came here for me first, and claiming the land was the cherry on the cake. You came for me first, which meant you were sent or there’s a bounty on me. Again.”
I looked to the angel. “My apologies, but our conversation will have to resume another time. Here I thought I was going to be pulled into a [Wild] Hunt later this year, but I see that I am going to be Hunted instead.”
The angel, without moving, looked at me and nodded but kept their wing’s feather on the priest’s chest. I was granted leave to say some final words and depart from the dream first. I accepted their grace with another bow.
“Not much to be said, really. I knew that when I made the decision to pick up all my pieces off the table that I was going to trip some flags somewhere. I know that what I learned to do and what I can do natively and what I have the potential for is going to piss off a lot of folks because my very existence is a challenge to their power structures. I knew they would come for me. I know I’m not afraid to face them anymore.”
I finally stood from the pew, gently patting the wood dust off me as I carefully moved so not to upset the air further. I bowed respectfully to the angel. “Thank you for your companionship and the dialogue. Thank you for keeping the peace in here. May the glory bestowed upon you be a blessing.”
At first I was going to slash the fabric of the dream and exit that way, but I had the feeling that the angel was not done with this priest and I needed to leave with as little disturbance as possible. So I walked to the side door at the back of the room. The door itself had rotted away years ago, leaving only the lintel to mark that there was ever an intentional opening here.
Outside the church, a figure was standing in the knee-high grasses and wildflowers. “So. I hear you’re going to be having an Experience™ soon. Mind if I walk with you? There’s more than one way to come through this, you know.”
I stood on the threshold. I looked back at the patient angel still pinning the impatient priest. He had begun squirming under the restraint again and attempting to command myself and the angel into submission by force of his indignation alone.
I looked out at the wilderness beyond the door. In the distance, a storm was approaching. The wind was starting to pick up outside and I could taste ozone in that breeze.
“No, Sir. I don’t mind.”
I put one foot on the ground outside the doorway. The ground shifted somewhat underfoot. I waited until it was stable before placing the other foot beside it. I held the doorway as the ground wobbled from some great pressure. I released the doorway and began to walk towards the figure.
The ground shuddered and a loud sound made me flinch and cover my head. When I looked up, it was now the middle of the night. The church building behind me had collapsed and rotted and only the stone corners of its foundation remained. Grasses, wildflowers, and low flowering shrubs were everywhere. White blooms glowed with unsourced moonlight.
“So. Just so you know, for me to walk with you is for you to walk with me. Still up for a stroll?”
I looked forward towards the figure. Yup. Just who I thought it was. All I could do was laugh and smile. “I’m game if you are.” I made my way through the uneven terrain to stand before him and respectfully bow.
“What was it you were told earlier? The Moon’s light will reveal what the Day’s light hides? You might learn something about yourself that is distressing.”
“But, will I survive the experience?”
“That’s up to you.”
“Then, I guess I better. Let’s go.”
And we went.