The Ceiling Man I
The Ceiling Man I
Secret Stories of the Vatican
1508
Rome, Italy
The marketplace was full of people drenched in sweat and engulfed with sunlight. Much like every other day I guess but today was especially bright and made the shadows almost pitch black. Makes you wonder how light, a phenomenon that allows us to see the world, can also conceal it at the same time. It’s hard to tell if some shady crimes are going on, like buying clay figures for their original price and reselling them for twice their price. I hope that doesn’t become a normalized practice in the future. I promise on Julius’s giant red hat I will kill them all! Anyways, my sister informed me to make sure I keep a look out whenever I’m outside because she thinks there’s a pattern to these criminalistic activities.
“Hey, Beret”.
“What?”
“Make sure you keep an eye out when you’re outside for people that like tight holes and places where the sun doesn’t shine”.
“You mean cave divers?”
“NO! I mean CRIMINALS! The rampant murdering of government officials, the ritual pentagrams, and worst of all, the reselling! Don’t you get it? All these things vaguely point to an individual pulling the strings… somehow”.
“It sounds like you’re trying to create a plot point”.
“SHUT UP AND DO YOUR JOB!”
If she’s right it’s my job to go find them… and kill them all. God I hate resellers. That reminds me. I must speak with her next time we meet. I’ve gotten word from the Expeditioner’s Guild that one of our brothers finally landed in a place called “Nihon”. I don’t know where that is but it sounds Japanese.
Aside from all that, I also have another job. My actual job. Julius tasked me to protect this new painter he hired. This is a punishment for disobeying him last time. Apparently excommunication doesn't involve slicing somebody up to a million tiny pieces. Then why does it sound like execution? Can someone tell me that? In my defense, he was trying to murder me. Ok maybe not. But he was definitely trying to murder everybody else. I did what I had to do... you know what they say, those who live by the sword shall die by being sliced into a million tiny pieces. All things considered at least I haven't gotten excommunicated like him. I guess he didn't care about his full-time benefits like I do.
When the ceiling man, whom I now refer to as seeing I don't know his name, finally took a break for once I decided to take a break too… at the marketplace. I should speak to him when I return and ask questions like, "what compelled you to paint this giant ass ceiling? How many ceilings have you painted before this one? Do you suffer from chronic neck pain?", but for now, I’m at the market searching for some miniature clay sculptures I'd like to decorate my study with. I love the way they capture the pose of these adorable deformed versions of humans doing trivial things. Surely this will become a more prevalent market in the future and create jobs for sculptors and artists alike, and not be replaced by the interwovenness of numerous financial difficulties and complex technological advancements. Right?
Anyways, my bats are watching over him for me. I don't get why he would make me do this as this hardly counts as a punishment. If he really wanted to punish me, he should've sent me to London and have me babysit that sorry excuse for a king. But instead I'm here, doing my job at the dangerously bare minimum, while still finding time to do whatever I want. I think I've finally found a loophole in Julius' clutches. I love being punished! Good thing I yelled that in my head. That reminds me, let me see how my loophole is doing. What's this? My bat vision isn't working. Strange. Usually this means one of three things. First, my bats are asleep. Yes, a major flaw in my bat vision ability is if my bats have their eyes closed, I am unable to tap into such cosmic powers. You may be wondering why then, I've left that man to look for clay trinkets. Well that's because my bats were trained by yours truly to keep their eyes open for very long periods of time. I have contributed to bat evolution. I wonder if there will ever be some sort of legendary bat hero in the future? Like a bat... guy. I shall revisit this thought another time. Second, I myself am too far from them but seeing how I was using it earlier leads me to believe I am still in range. Plus I think I've just been standing in front of this dude the whole time who’s unaware of my inner monologue. He might judge me of an unintelligent nature, but in fact, it is he who is unintelligent! I bet he never trained bats to keep their eyes open for long periods of time. Last and very much least, they are dead. Someone or something has slaughtered my bats. A fruitless endeavor I'm afraid, because nobody in their right mind, human or non-human, would ever dare defy a vampire lord. To attack the Catholic Church is one thing, we get attacked by everyone these days so we're used to it. But to attack the very family that ensures no esoteric monstrosities harm these lands anymore, you'd have to be a madman! Hm. What should I do? Do the one and only task I'm getting paid for or keep looking around the market? Considering how my benefits are on the line and that I need a paycheck to purchase these wonderful figurines, I guess I'll go do my job.
As the vampire dashed through the busy crowd, a cloaked figure on the opposite stand waited a moment before following his direction.
