It was dark behind the door, and the figure of the old priest suddenly melted into the darkness behind the door.

Arthur hesitated, but stepped into the door, as if entering a deep sea, and there was no light. Arthur walked into the darkness without the slightest fear. After coming to this plane, he was not surprised by anything strange. He took a few steps forward, the sound of crisp footsteps echoing, and he was indeed in an empty space.

But where is the light? Why is there no light? Could it be that the large stained glass windows of the church are all covered? It's too dark in here, too.

Arthur thought to himself, and felt that there should be light here.

As soon as this thought moved, a candle flame suddenly appeared in front of him, cutting a hole in the darkness. The orange light drove the darkness outward, and the light came closer to Arthur, and it turned out to be the old priest who had lit a candle. He was blind, and the candle was lit for Arthur, of course. He felt his chair and walked all the way to this side, and Arthur looked at the illuminated place through the faint candle flame, and felt that something was wrong.

The old priest walked up to Arthur, and the old voice echoed in Arthur's ears again, "Follow me, follow me." ”

Arthur couldn't tell for a moment whether the voice was coming from the old priest's mouth or from somewhere else. The old priest had turned around with the candle in his hand and walked slowly forward. He wore shoes that were supposed to be soft-soled, and he walked on the floor tiles of the church without making a sound. Arthur followed the old priest and made a "da-da" sound under his feet.

Arthur's eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, and by the light of the beans in front of him, he could faintly see the dome of the church above and the surrounding chairs, and he always felt that it was not the same as when he came in the morning. At this point, the old priest stopped, he raised the candle in his hand upward, and Arthur looked up at the place illuminated by the candlelight, which was a stained glass window in the church.

The stained glass window depicts a white horse, and on the horse sits a man with a bow and arrow, wearing a golden crown on his head, and the bow and arrow in his hand pointing into the distance. At the feet of the white horses were naked men and women, who were prostrating themselves to the knight who was riding and shooting arrows. The painting is delicate, and the horses and figures are lifelike, as if they were real people.

Arthur couldn't help but be fascinated, but he thought to himself that the stained glass window he had seen in St. James's Cathedral in the morning did not seem to look like this.

After reading this, the old priest walked to the side, came to the second stained glass window, and also raised the candle upward. The picture on this window is also a horse, this is a red horse. Compared with the handsomeness of the white horse, the red horse is taller and more majestic, and on the horse's back sits a sturdy, shirtless man, holding a large sword in his hand, and his hair is like a horse's mane. At the feet of the red horses were corpses of various shapes, either with swords stuck in their bodies or missing arms and legs, apparently dead in battle.

The window grille exuded a violent and bloody aura that made people dare not look at it more, and Arthur withdrew his gaze after a few glances.

After reading the second side, the old priest continued to walk with Arthur to the side and came to the third stained glass window, which still had a horse painted on this side, a black horse. Compared to the two plump and handsome horses in front of him, this black horse was skinny and only had a pair of big, bright eyes. Sitting on horseback was a drooping old man, hunched over, as if he was about to fall off the horse's back at any moment. At the feet of the black horse were the same corpses, but they were all scrawny and apparently starved to death.

There was a tragic look in this window, and the more I looked at it, the more sad it became, and Arthur felt like he was about to cry.

At this time, the old priest withdrew the candle flame and led Arthur to the fourth stained glass window, and when the lamp illuminated the fourth window, a cold air came to his face. Arthur saw a skeletal horse painted on the fourth pane. The gray horse's bones were terrifying, and beneath its feet were white bones, shaped like hell. The skeleton sat right away, but it was a small man of short stature, wearing a red robe to cover his face. Judging from his appearance, he appeared to be a child, but he held a scythe larger than his body.

Bright red blood dripped from the blade of the scythe, and the red robe became the only bright color, which was particularly glaring on the gray picture.

Arthur stared at the little man in the red robe, feeling a little familiar, an indescribable feeling. Then the old priest turned and looked at Arthur with his gray eyes, which had no eyeballs but a gray eye, and he walked slowly to Arthur, took Arthur's hand, and shoved something into him. Arthur took it and saw that it was four cards!

"Who are you? Where did these playing cards come from? Arthur hurriedly asked.

But the old priest answered, and he retreated, to the stained glass window, and whispered in a deep voice, and his voice echoed in Arthur's ears:

“… Thou hast made a lament for the king of Tyre... I have placed thee on the holy mountain of God, and thou hast traveled among the jewels that shone like fire... The cherubim, who covered the ark of the covenant, I have removed you from the jewels that shine like fire... Therefore I send fire out of thee, and devour thee, and turn thee into ashes unto the earth in the sight of all who see. ”

The old priest read a long sentence, and Arthur only felt the voice echoing in his ears, and he didn't know where it came from. When the old priest finished reading the last sentence, the candle in his hand fell to the ground, and the flames sprang out to both sides, and the fire instantly burst into flames, illuminating the stained glass windows on all sides! The flames were so fierce that Arthur was forced back by the heat, and the sudden flames burned his hair and eyebrows off a little, and the old priest was already engulfed in flames.

The flames dispelled all the darkness, and Arthur realized that this was not St. James's Cathedral, and the decoration inside was completely different. There was no more to blame, the fire was already burning, Arthur ran out the door, the flames had already set the stool, the wall, and the canopy on fire.

Arthur felt the heat wave behind him, picked up his speed, and rushed out of the gate at once! When he rushed out, he looked back and saw that the whole church was on fire, and this was not St. James's Cathedral, the bell tower of St. James's Cathedral was domed, and this one was a steeple church. The Gothic spire soared into the sky, smoke billowed and flames rose from below all the way up to the cross at the top, engulfing the entire church in flames.

Arthur looked at the church and the raging fire that he had never seen before, and he only felt that the world was spinning, his eyes were black, and his eyelids couldn't help but droop, and he felt that he was going to faint.

"Knock~Knock~Knock~"

At this moment, several loud bells rang, and Arthur suddenly came to his senses, and his eyes opened, only to find that he was still standing at the door of the church. Looking at my watch, at six o'clock, the sun had already set, and the bell tower of the church struck six times. Look up at St. James's Cathedral, it stands unharmed in front of you, red brick walls, green bell tower, ancient and beautiful in the sunset. Several ravens flew and stopped on the cross in the dome of the church, and quacked twice.

Is it a dream? Arthur couldn't tell if this was a dream or a reality... He returned to his motorcycle, reminiscing about what had just happened, thinking. He suddenly remembered something, looked at himself in the rearview mirror of the motorcycle, and knew that it was not a dream. In the mirror, he saw that his hair and eyebrows had been burned off by the flames, the ends of his hair curled up, and a small piece of his brow was missing.

He quickly took out the pocket of his jacket, and sure enough, he found four cards.

A 3 of diamonds, a 4 of clubs, a 6 of hearts, and a jack of spades.

……

In the evening, in New Jersey, the Abramo family returned home from Good Friday activities in a luxury villa in Ridgewood, Northwest New Jersey. Like Nassau County on Long Island, it is a wealthy area of the New York metropolitan area, one in the west and one in the east. Because the price is cheaper than that of Long Island, many of New York's non-wealthy gold-collar class live here, and it is called "New York's bedroom".

The Abramo family attended the Passion Cross in the morning, had communion at St. Peter's Basilica at noon, and ate Alba white truffles and caviar at Manhattan's expensive fine dining restaurant, "Nino's Belismory", for dinner, which cost tens of thousands of dollars. But Abramo wasn't distressed at all, he was happy and in a good mood today, humming a little tune on the way back, it was Andy Williams' Raindrops keep falling on my head.

Paula, the daughter sitting in the back seat, obviously had some opinions, and said, "Dad, can you change the tone?" You've been humming all the way, and not a single note is accurate. ”

Abramo laughed happily, and his wife, Connie, who was sitting in the co-pilot, turned her head and said to her daughter in a serious tone: "Paula, don't be rude to your father, don't you see that he is happy today?" He doesn't usually sing, although I don't know what he's humming......"

Hearing his wife say this, Abramo snorted even louder, and the car was filled with a cheerful atmosphere. But Connie noticed that her son, Angelo, who was sitting in the back seat, was not very happy with his straight face. After Abramo drove the car to his home and parked it, Connie glanced at Abramo and pointed to his son who had gotten out of the car.

Abramo understood what his wife meant, nodded, and after getting out of the car, he beckoned to his son Angelo, asked him to come over, put his arm around his shoulders and said, "Hey son, do you have anything on your mind?" You've been upset since you ate communion, and if you have something upset, you should say it, instead of making your mother worry with a straight face, you know? ”

Angelo glanced at her father, pursed her lips and didn't speak. He is not the same as his father, Luca Abramo is tall and burly, with silver-gray hair and a cold face, and at first glance he looks like the boss. Angelo inherited more from her mother, a little short, with a freckleled nose and curly chestnut hair, which were most similar to her father's eyes, wolf-like eyes.

"Angelo, what the hell is going on? Truffles and caviar at night don't match your appetite? Do you know how many children can't afford to eat for so much in a month? Abramo is a quick temper, good words can't last three sentences, once his son doesn't respond, he will be in a hurry and raise his voice, "I will provide you with the best university, give you food and clothing, all the best, what are you not satisfied with?" ”

Angelo pursed his lips, he had long been accustomed to his father's temper, like clouds in the sky, not knowing when it would rain or when it would clear. As a son, Angelo couldn't see through his father many times. Or all the sons in the world are like this, and they can't understand their fathers until they are a certain age.

"Dad..."Angelo finally spoke, the two of them stood by the pool in the courtyard, the moonlight reflected in the dark blue pool water, a gust of wind blew, the moon was blown up and folded, "I... I heard that you are a mafia, and when you are on the Way of the Cross today, are you in contact with the gang people? The dark-haired man. ”

Angelo's words made Abramo angry, his face immediately became embarrassed, licked his lips, hugged his son's shoulders and shook it, and said: "Angelo, I'll personally send you back to school tomorrow, I'll stay in New York for a day, and we'll go to Madison to watch the game in the evening, how about it?" ”

"Daddy~" Angelo dragged out his voice, he knew that Daddy was changing the subject again.

"Knicks, against the Miami Heat, I'm going to call right away and book tickets, OK?"