In addition, it was only their mystery: his marble angel. And in general, the statue was silent. It did not say anything. He heard the voice only in his head.
«You will be better,» Tonio whispered in his ear long ago, but the meaning of words began to reach him only now. «It will soon pass. Father Donatello says its just one night.»
One night may seem like an eternity in such agony. It was easier to die immediately. Ferdinand suddenly remembered the ritual dagger, which he now had to be with him. Do not reach the handle. In addition, there were observers nearby. It will not be allowed to him to cut himself and to release something burning out of his blood.
«He has it stronger than others,» someone said. Ferdinand did not recognize the voices.
«So he will have more strength than they had.»
The pain inside remained fiery, and the outlines of the world have lost all clarity. It is said that in this state it is easy to hear the voices of supernatural creatures, but he heard only the dialogue of people.
«How do you know how it passed by others?»
«But there are records»
«What if they understood the degree of suffering, so as not to scare the upcoming generations?»
«Then they would have broken a vow. After all, we swear to transfer only the truth in the scripting on paper. Future generations should be aware of what they expect. Otherwise they could not fight against her?»
Against her! Again, someone said that, and Ferdinand did not like how they uttered it. Why not call the devil with his own name, whatever his new shell was. After all, the devil always remains the devil. In any kind. It would be more difficult for many brothers if the devil turned out to be a beautiful young man, which he was by the time of his fame. Many here believed that the young men are much more seductive. Here is Tonio, for example. How gentle is his touch. In the presence of a girl, he would become stone, but he felt some kind of attraction to a friend. Maybe it only seems to him Never in his life he did not experience passion to anyone. Therefore, he was chosen to fight the devil. He will have the final victory over him. Others are easy to tempt, he is not. He just wont feel anything. He makes a blow and thats it. And the walls of the monastery will again hide him from the eyes of people, from all the passion that people can experience to him. And maybe someday he will be proclaimed a saint. For many, he was already so. First, because he did not want to know the sin, secondly, due to the fact that he was chosen to win over the devil.
The head of the Order believed that he had already won. Donatello was sure that he made the right choice, as many and many heads of the Order were confident, when every few hundred years of their pointing finger snatched from the crowd the next favorite. Many of these people were canonized after death, but they themselves simply went into the shadow. The terrible stories came to Ferdinand that these people just went crazy after the devil have looked into theirs eyes. They killed him, but they became his slaves. He died, but he mastered their consciousness, and they were forced to stay alone until the end of their days, struggling with terrible urges inside themselves.
Donatello promised that this would not happen to Ferdinand.
«Youre too clean,» he explained. «Not a drop of wine, not a single night with a courtesan and not at all because in your pockets you didnt have money. You lived among the temptation and did not succumb to them, because you just didnt want. Such and there are real chosen, they simply do not feel the desire to sin. God created you morally very strong. You will do your job, but your reason will remain untouched. If such as you were more in our ranks But someone is special, like the devil, is born only once a few centuries. Such is the idea of the Most High.
In the prophetic gift of Donatello did not doubt no one. Ferdinand had to believe him for word. And he believed until the fire began to burn his blood from the inside.
Their order was also similar to the dragon, just at the same time, almost sleeping. Each cycle they expected the appearance of the catch.
And here it appeared. After the rite, Donatello took him to the hall at the very top. A strange hall with columns, but without glasses and balustrade, blown by all winds. From there, the sea and the sky were visible, and there was an amazing clock under the ceiling.
«This is a clock of the Universe,» Donatello explained. «Devils clock! When the hands meet at the very top, and this happens only once in a few centuries, at the time of the sunrise, which is clearly visible from here, in this moment you will have only one second to strike. Only in this moment the devil is vulnerable. Just one the only second, and it should be enough for you. Do you cope?»
It was not a question, rather a statement. Nevertheless, Ferdinand nodded. The clock consists entirely of gold plates and monograms, firmly crashed into memory. It seemed that they had a living face as an ornate sun disc. So far, it dreamed, obviously, it will wake up only when the decisive moment comes. In this moment, the devil either dies from his hand, or remains in the world already forever, only no longer as a ghost creature, but in the form of a real and only ruler. It all depends on the determination of Ferdinand.
It is stupid to hang such responsibility for a single person, but he will have helpers, a whole order.
This thought was not easier. The image of the clock pursued him, recalling the sleeping supernatural creature with two hands, gears, musical ticks and an ominous golden glitter. How can the creation of the devil be the most beautiful thing that you saw in your life?
«Remember that the mechanism of the Evil One only one second for the centuries works against him himself,» Donatello inspired him.
Now Ferdinand dreamed of this clock, but in dreams they were huge from the floor to the ceiling and further. In dreams they lived. The golden face was smiling. Ferdinand concerned the hands and felt the blood of the cuts immediately flows on the dial. The clock seemed to drink this blood.
Donatello explained to him about this clock not all, but in some of the books stored in the monastery, it was recorded that they mean all divisions, symbols and letters on the hellish mechanism. So far, he knew that one of the hands measures time in the supernatural world, the other in human, and both of the same length. Only one of them moves into the past, as if giving tribute to each cycle of the devil recovery, the second hand moves into the opposite direction. When both hands will meet, the decisive moment comes. Ferdinand instinctively squeezed his hand. When it is time, he will not shake.
Silence. Obviously, the brothers decided that he fell asleep, and left him alone. Only he did not sleep. So the heat drops after the fever: the body is still trembling, but there is no more fire in it. Ferdinand hardly rose. In this state it was madness, he felt very weak, but he wanted to read about the clock now. It did not remain so much time to the decisive blow. Now there was a deep night. Well, night is the best time for prayer. At night, nothing will distract you Is it only except for lechery thoughts, but Ferdinand did not have them. He could not call any object: neither female, nor male, which would attract him.
Although the exception was. Just one thing. The statue in niche. But his love for it was far from physical. It was some kind of piercing spiritual aspiration that could not describe any words. It was his God. It made him morally strong. It deprives all the desires towards people.