Satan's Last Stand (the Connor series) - Dirk B. (Page 48 of 55)

mm, but the thing about them is not "scary enough" but rate, how much damage can they inflict on your life. And this feels kinda Hitchcock now that I say it

This is odd. Does anyone see the same attribution I am

You didn't write that mm post?

If I didn't write it, I believe we've discovered a clue trail to the weird log-outs

Kdot, I extended the epilogue with the following (after the ellipsis).

I decided I want each appearance of the Holy Spirit to happen in a way that leaves the characters wondering if they'd been sleeping/unconscious. In Romano's case I may yet take out the demonic Swiss Guards that the HS takes out with fire from his eyes. I'd rather Romano not have such obvious proof that the visit actually happened. Still thinking about it. The changes for Campagna are included below.

George, spoilers ahead for the epilogue I recently added to the first draft of Connor (chapter 46). I suggest reading the epilogue instead of the rest of this post. What follows is included at the end of the epilogue.

The Stranger — no, the Holy Spirit — took a deep breath and let it out slowly, glancing up and down the path along which their bench rested. “Great deeds truly do await him.” He rose, then turned back to Campagna. “It’s nice to speak with you again, Maria. Welcome back.”
His expression radiated pure love. “Welcome home, … daughter.”
Campagna nodded. “Thank you.”
He smiled as he walked away. “See you in church.”
...
Campagna blinked, but as she reopened her eyes, she realized she had nodded off sitting on the bench. She looked around for the Holy Spirit but saw only a boy, smaller and younger than Connor, walking in her direction. Had all that been just a dream?
Father Romano said that when he awoke after being thrown out the window at the Vatican, he had no broken bones, whereas he would have sworn he remembered several break in the fall, which left him unable to move. He had no doubt the Holy Spirit had truly been there and healed him. Of course, the priest had lain in St. Peter’s Square and found the burnt remains of several demonic Swiss Guards near him. Not bad as far as proof went.
The boy approached her bench. “Excuse me, ma’am.”
“Yes?”
“Are you Detective Campagna?”
“Yes.”
He pointed over his shoulder. “I passed an older man on the other side of that hill. He asked me to give you a message.”
“Which is?”
“He said to tell you, ‘The Father chooses his champions wisely.’”
She shivered as a bolt of adrenaline reignited the religion in her soul. It spread like a roaring fire, driving the cold from every corner of her being. The Holy Spirit had just returned to her in full force.
The boy’s eyes widened. “Are you alright?”
She smiled. “Yes, thank you.”
“Do you understand the message?”
She nodded. “He was talking about my son.”
The boy shook his head. “No, ma’am. He said he was talking about you.”
So this was God’s answer to her plea for help. There would be no host of angels to come to her aid. No armor, no shields, no weapons. Because none were needed. For the ultimate reinforcements had just arrived: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

A further passage I can think of if the above isn't a chapter-closer:

A sound follow-up paragraph, however this concept will raise a lot of questions about if the boy is Connor leading her. You might best do such a scene with three girls (eg MacBeth) but even then the story would need to explain how witches figure into the scheme of things. You could maybe do a Hugin Munin pair then turn around and say each was a familiar spirit to the first humans .

Just brainstorming. Don't use any of this

Revised. Much better, IMO.

“He said to tell you, ‘The Father chooses his champions wisely.’”
She shivered as a surge of adrenaline reignited her faith. It spread like a roaring fire, driving the spiritual cold from every corner of her being. The Holy Spirit had returned to her in full force.
The boy’s eyes widened. “Are you alright?”
She smiled. “Yes, thank you.”
“Do you understand the message?”
She nodded. “He was talking about my son.”
The boy shook his head. “No, ma’am. He said he was talking about you.”
So this was God’s answer to her plea for help. No host of angels to aid her. No armor, no shields, no weapons. Because none were needed. For the ultimate reinforcement had just arrived: the Holy Spirit.
Welcome home, ... daughter.

I need a name/term by which the Holy Spirit can identify himself back in the 4th century to a hermit he visits at the latter's cave-home. It ought to hint at Holy Spirit without being a dead giveaway. I don't mind if the reader thinks it could be the HS as long as it's not blatantly obvious. For example, he could call himself the Spirit, Helper, Comforter, etc. but those are too obvious. Spirit might do in a pinch (but not "the Spirit"). In German, the term for ghost/spirit is Geist, which could work, although it would be rather odd for the HS to refer to himself by a German word while in the Holy Land. In Latin, it's Spiritus, which is a dead giveaway since Connor always says the Trinitarian formula in Latin (Patris, Filii, et Spiritus Sancti).

In case you're wondering this is for that fake manuscript Satan will write predicting the return of Christ as a boy. Rather than a fake manuscript based on a supposed vision, I'm going to make it a fake manuscript based on a supposed conversation a cave-dwelling Christian hermit has with the Holy Spirit (a visitor to his cave). The hermit documents the conversation and sends it to an old friend, Bishop Augustine (later St. Augustine). The hermit will also be a future saint, although I may have to make one up depending on what I find through research. Augustine sends the document to Rome, which is the last anyone hears of it until the distant future. The document is known to exist by some within the Church, including a few members of the Council of Cardinals, but it's not taken seriously until its predictions begin to come true.

EDIT: If I have Satan visit the hermit in disguise, then Satan wouldn't even have to write the fake manuscript, which requires forging signatures and handwriting, etc. He could leave it up to the hermit to write the document and actually send it to Bishop Augustine. Satan could then work to get Augustine to send the document to Rome so Satan's followers could ensure it is found in distant future.

Suggestions?
Thanks

Ethereal's not the issue. They have to be like the Archangel Phanuel anyway, whom I described as ethereal in v1. However, angels have the ability to make themselves appear solid. If I remember correctly, it was (solid) angels who were threatened sexually in Sodom (or Gomorrah?). Also, a small force of solid angels will participate in the final battle on Megiddo against a horde of Satan's corporeals in book 3.

Angels can appear as either ethereal or solid. Demons lost the latter ability when they were cast out of Heaven, which is why they have to take over dead bodies to be solid, whereas angels don't. One advantage of demons taking over dead bodies, though, is that the dead bodies protect the demons from the effects of holy ground, otherwise they'd never be able to enter a church as they do in my book.

The thing I was asking about is what the demons should look like. Slightly rotting human corpses is what they take over to become corporeals, so I'd like their spirit form to look different: some hideous transformation from beautiful, humanlike angels to some highly corrupted version. A shriveled form and stooped could be two attributes. Red eyes and (ethereal) black bodies might be two more. Something reminiscent of orcs or goblins or gargoyles?

I'd like something that is very easy to describe and easy for the reader to picture. Perhaps they have (spiritual) bodies like bats and faces like black dragonfish. The advantage of batlike bodies is that bats can fly as can demons (they still have wings left over from when they were angels, but they look gross (singed/blackened, holes in them, shriveled)).

I wonder if they should have some fluids oozing off their nude/hairy bodies that drips from the spirit world to the physical world. Imagine a scene where a character feels something drip on their neck and looks up to see a scary-ass demon flying down at them. (Angels make themselves appear clothed, whereas demons, with their hairy, batlike bodies, wouldn't need to.)

Safe for work:
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-worlds-sc … ls-4105205

Stuff like that.
Dirk

Tricky plot hole. For Satan's challenge to make sense for Satan, God shouldn't know the outcome. Otherwise, if God accepts the challenge, then Satan would know his proposed challenge will end badly for him.

The only way I can see dealing with this is for God to agree to "forget" what he knows (e.g., by walling off some of his knowledge from himself). I hate having to add that requirement to the challenge (because it seems overly weird), but I don't see a way around it.

You have perhaps three options.

Firstly, Satan requests that God does not read Satan's mind throughout this process. Therefore, Satan has to make the bet before Satan starts making plans. The problem is that you no longer have an all-knowing God.

Secondly, in Philippians, it mentions that Jesus laid aside His Godlike attributes or powers when He came to earth. Granted, the Trinity would have lay aside all Their all-knowing attributes or suspend them for your story's timeline.

And that brings up the third option, don't mention the dilemma about God already knowing the end. And don't mention that you no longer have an all-knowing God.

As much as I like the 3rd option, it's a natural question to arise from the second draft, where the 4th (8th?) century manuscript documents a hermit's (future saint's) private revelation (vision).

As I thought about this yesterday, I remembered that Jesus said only the Father knows when the end will come. Granted, Jesus had a dual (limited) nature by then, which could explain why he didn't know when the end would come, but the only way the Holy Spirit wouldn't know is if he chooses not to know or the Father prevents him from knowing. Of course this begs the question why the Holy Spirit shouldn't know the end date.

EDIT: To close the plot hole, I need only have one of the characters think that Satan's demand that the Father not know the outcome before agreeing to the terms of the challenge is similar to how only the Father knows the end date, implying that both Jesus and the Holy Spirit have the ability to not know that information.

EDIT: It also begs the question why Jesus shouldn't know the end date. I'm guessing he can keep a secret.