TALIHINA SKY

BOOK I

CHAPTER 1
What you think is real becomes a dream, and what you believe to be false you cannot see.

I’m guessing that it’s been about three hours now. Hitchhiking. How pathetic, out of all the people, I am
hitchhiking; I am so hungry that-
All of a sudden Will lost his train of thought, startled by the faint sound of a motor.
“Oh, Thank God!” he yelled with relief.
It was a Ranger, a black Ranger, with its windshield reflecting the sun in Will’s eyes. He shielded
his eyes until it was gone. Will knew that he could not lose this one. No not this time. If he did he
would just die. He grabbed his backpack and ran in front of the road hoping that they won’t run
him over.
“Hey, please stop!” he yelled.
He closed his eyes and within a few seconds he opened his eyes, surprised that he is still breathing.
All of the car doors opened slowly and out walked four men.
“Oh, thank you so much you don’t kn-“
Suddenly his facial expression changed from happiness to fear and astonishment. He recognized
these men.
“Oh, not you gu-“
One of them suddenly pulled out a gun. These men were fully dressed in black, black sunglasses,
black gloves, and even black hair. Simply put they were almost like clones.
Will knew that these men were not interested in taking him home.
“Get in the car.” one of the men said while signaling Will with his gun to enter the vehicle.
Will didn’t really know what to do besides put his hands in the air and get in the vehicle. He was
outnumbered, by four men with guns.
So he did just that.
He entered the car gingerly.
“So where’s the fun today?” said Will sarcastically.
“Shut up, we don’t want you’re money nor you’re wife this time.” Said the driver. Then the driver
started up the car.

He was troubled.
Tired.
So all he did was shut his eyes to relieve the tension.

***
Will’s eyes opened slowly, when he got smacked across the head.
“Ow.” He groaned.
The driver stopped the car and opened his door and Will’s.
“Get up.”
Will got out of the car and looked around.
“Where am I?” he asked as if he had never ever seen this place before.
“Hell.” The driver said.
This place was filled with people in the same clothing and exactly the same emotion on there
faces…almost like…clones. The driver took off his sunglasses and looked at Will. Will knew now
that this man wasn’t who he though he was.
“Brad…My name is Brad Stamen and you are here to help us.” Brad said with the voice of the grim
reaper. So low
“Help you what? Kidnap people and bring them to…Hell?” Will said.
“For further instruction talk to the manager, Ryan, he will tell you exactly what do to and how to
“settle” in”
“How long has it been?”
No response.
“Hey, are you deaf.” He said angrily.
“If I were you I would just shut my mouth and just walk on and hope that they won’t shoot me.”
Brad sternly said.
Will did just that. After a few minutes, he heard the car motor roar and take off. He was stuck here
now.
In Hell.
*
Will felt like he’d been sleeping for a day in that car. How unusual. He was in the oddest of
predicaments and he was starving.
A man passed by Will.
“Hey, do you know where I could get some food?”
The man walked on as if he didn’t even hear him. Was he ignoring him? Or was he just simply
deaf.
“Maybe I am really in Hell.” He said to himself.
Will saw a sign that read:
Office Building

Will went in the direction the sign pointed towards. A huge building. The size of mansion.
Probably even bigger. He went to the door and opened it. It was a big white room that had two
hallways on the left and on the right. There was a secretary desk not so far in front of him. He
walked towards it.
“Hello, my name is Will Torrie, and I am a new…applicant. Could you help me? I am completely
lost and I am starving.”
The woman didn’t even look up. She just kept on working, but she pointed towards the left.
“Uhmm….okay thank you.”
Will went into the left hallway. There were several white doors on either side. Each was identical
except that each one had a sign that stated the name, and the profession of the occupant. One that
caught Will’s eye was:
Jennifer Katay
Food and Storage informant
165
Will knocked on the door.
A muffled woman’s voice came from the room.
“Come in”
Will went inside and saw a beautiful brunette woman, no older then 20, as it seemed. How could
an angel be in Hell?
“Uhh…Hi, my name is Will Torrie, and I am lost as too what to do and I am starving.”
“Hello, Will, I am Jennifer Katay…Before I answer you’re question could I ask you a question?”
Her voice like a choir of angels singing in heaven.
“Well, of course.”
“How is it that you got here, without knowing where things are?”
Will didn’t know what to say, but then suddenly something popped up in his mind.
“Uhmm…Well I haven’t told anyone this but…I am actually going around to test employees on
their politeness towards new applicants.”
“But last time I checked, our applicants were fully informed of everything they needed to know?”
“Well, yes, but that hasn’t quite worked, you see, because we tried that and it hasn’t gone through
peoples thick minds and so we are doing a testing of politeness…you know to fire those who fail.”
“Sounds logical…but on whose authority? May I ask?”
“Ryan’s, of course.”
What a miracle he happened to know the managers name.
“Hmm…Okay carry on then.”
“But we haven’t quite finished the testing.”
Jennifer looked quite busy and she obviously didn’t want to be bothered. But she also didn’t want
to lose her job.
“The café halls are outside, when you exit the building take a left and then take a right; there is
where the café halls are.”
“Thank you, ma’m.”
Will left the room and followed here instructions exactly as she stated them. Her face echoed in his
mind.
So beautiful.
So different.
So tempting.

***
Will examined the café hall, to be exact The Pizzeria Café. Looked very simple, yet it smelled like
stale cheese. Will picked up a tray and walked to the café line.
“What’cha need boy?”said the café lady.
“Uhhh….”
Then a lean, fit man walked towards Will.
“I was before you.” He said with a thick Mid-eastern accent. Wow, this guy sounds like he planned
911.
“If you really insist on this spot then go ahead, take it.” Will said.
“Thanks.” He said apathetically.
Will stepped out and moved to the back of the line. Pretty long line. That’s gonna be like a half an
hour wait. Will decided to just go to another café hall. As Will walked away he looked at the man
again and noticed something strange. A gun? How could it be that a man from the mid-east carried
a gun in a place like this? Was he an actual terrorist? Was he just a guard? No, unless guards are
jerks. Will took it off his mind and continued towards an Italian Café.
“Oh, I much prefer pizza…but isn’t pizza an Italian dish? Strange.” He said silently.
Will went to the line.
“Hello sir, what will it be?” said the café tender with a fake Italian accent
“Uhh…Do you have pizza?” He said, he also put a fake accent but it was for fun. Hopefully he won’t
get offended.
“Yes sir we do, but it is not as good as The Pizzeria Café.”
“That’s okay, I don’t mind.” He put the accent off this time.
The man served him a small box with ketchup, garlic sauce, and some type of salsa.
“Thanks.”
“Yep.”
He grabbed his food and looked around for a place to sit.
“Can I sit here?”
“Well, Well what a surprise.” It was Jennifer.
“Jennifer? Oh hi.” He stammered.
“Hey…Yes, of course you can sit here.”
Another choir of angels singing harmoniously. Will sat next to her. She had fettuccini alfredo. Her
meal looked delicious, but then again she was an employee…of course…benefits.
“So, you’re day? Was it hardworking? You know testing the employee’s politeness thing?” she
said.
“Huh? Oh, right that. Uhmm…Yah it was okay. Not so tiring…Nobody got fired…” he said.
At that remark she let out a giggle.
Beautiful smile.
“I was sure that John was going to get fired…He’s such a jerk.”
He laughed half-heartedly.
“John? Who’s John?”
“John Garner? You mean you don’t know who John Garner is?”
Will looked at his food and noticed he hasn’t even lifted up his box. What an idiot he was. He
was certain that the air was making him different, but he was too caught up in this woman to
think about it. Will didn’t say anything guessing that she was going to answer his question.
“Well, John Garner is the executive manager of the board. I was sure that you would’ve know who
he is?”
“Well, I am not so good with faces unless they’re faces that appeal to me” he said expecting her to
get it.
“Hmm…I see” she said.
I think she got it…she’s probably shy.
“Well, I really must go…You know, tight schedule.”
“Oh, okay yeah sure, see you later.”
“Yes, Goodbye Will Torrie.”
Hmmm...She still treats me like a client not a friend. Will was know finished. Fast eater. Yes, when it
came to pizza…there was no time. Will was still extremely curious of where he was and why he is
here. Will went back to the Office Building. Will was waling towards the building until he noticed
something very odd.
Department of Health

Weird. That was were the Office Building sign was. Will walked in slowly. It was a big white room
that had two hallways on the left and on the right. There was a secretary desk not so far in front of
him. Exactly the same as the Office Building. Except for the man secretary.
“Hello, sir where is the Office Building?”
“Sorry sir?”
“You know, the Office Building?”
“I am sorry sir I have no idea what you are talking about, there is no Office Building…We never
had one…”
Those last words echoed in Will’s mind. Does that mean, no Jennifer?
“What about Jennifer Katay?” he said.
“No…Sorry sir no Jennifer Katay here…You should try the name booth, its not too far from here.”
This was all too odd.
Too confusing.
Where was he?
Is this really Hell?
He has to find out where he is.

CHAPTER 2
The spiritual side of things confuses us, but the physical side we believe to be so understandable.

“Wake up….”
“Ahhh!” Will screamed loud enough for everyone to hear. But the walls were sound-proof.
What was that? Am I hearing things? That voice…sounded…like...no…it can’t be.
“This place is way too creepy…first The Office Building disappears…and now…now I am
hearing voices, I have to find out where I am.”
Will grabbed his switchblade that he kept handy. He put on his clothes…the same clothes he
wore since hitchhiking.
“I can’t wear this…this is disgusting.”
He went inside the closet of the room. Nothing but the clothes everyone else is wearing. Will
always liked being different from everyone. But now the different is the same. But this same
wasn’t different-
All this did for Will was confuse him more and waste his time, so he just put it aside and put the
clothes on. Will walked out of the room quietly and looked around.
Clear.
I have no idea where to start? Should I talk to Ryan? No, he will most likely lie to me. Should I find Jennifer?
Yes, that seems logical and a good place to start.
Will walked towards the exit of the Living Quarters. He made it this far. He looked around to see if
it was clear.
Clear.
Will thought that this place was badly protected. But then again there could be cameras just
watching him now. It didn’t matter to him much as long as he could find Jennifer.
He now stood in front of the entrance of the Office Building.
Locked.
Of course.
Maybe there was a back entrance.
Unfortunately, Will forgot to bring a flashlight…he cant see a thing. Hopefully there was light in
the building. He couldn’t tell, there were no windows.
Will couldn’t see a thing, it was so dark, almost pitch black.
This place makes night so much darker.
Will started feeling the wall for a doorknob.
“Aha.”
Will turned the doorknob.
It opened.
The lights were very dim; there were no guards, and no Jennifer. He’d never been in the back of the
building. He doubted that anyone has.
Will took out his switchblade and walked along.
There was a long spiral staircase.
Hopefully I won’t get lost.
Will walked up the staircase slowly and found himself in a warehouse. It was full of cobwebs and
tons of books.
Maybe I can find out where I am.
Will shifted quickly through all the books; most of them were just basic books like, dictionaries,
encyclopedias, and famous novels.
Will picked up the novel, The Happy World.
“I remember reading this…One of my favorite stories.”
Will put the novel down and kept on looking through the books. Then he saw a thick book, titled:
Talihina’s Fortune
Author: Ryan Garner
Ryan. That’s the manager’s name. This has to be it.
Will started to read the book:
Nov. 2014:
I always wanted to be a manager, a businessman, someone who worked hard and saw his accomplishments up
on the big wall…all I wanted to see is my name on bulletins and my name on the paper. I wanted my name to
be past down through generations. I wanted to be someone who changed the world because of there
perseverance. There is nothing more that I want. So, I started a company.
I started this company with my brother, John Garner. John wasn’t much of a dreamer like me, but he warmed
up to the idea.
During my times of study, I read several books on how to run a company and how to start a company.
John, on the other hand had a strict rule of: If you work too hard, you get nowhere.
So he didn’t study as much as I did. But besides that point I was on the road of success! My dad always liked
the idea but my mom wanted me too be a doctor. So, my parents divorced and my dad took me and of course,
my mom took John.
When I was 20, my dad gave me a check to fund for the necessary supplies and the necessary employment
money. So I went to-
Bang!
Will felt a sharp pain in his back. He saw his world spiraling and he slowly fell to the floor.
Unconscious.
Everything went black.

CHAPTER 3
Silence is found only in the deepest of people.

Will awoke and found a bright, blinding light right in his face.
“Wha…Wh- Where am I?” groaned Will.
“You’re still asking that?” said a voice that sounded like Brad’s. So very low.
Will was know fully awake…there’s no pain in his back? Was it not a gun? Odd.
“What do you want?”
“I want too know why you were snooping around.”
“What do you mean?”
Will felt a hard hit right to his face. He was used to it. But it still hurt.
“I was going to increase my knowledge at the public library, what’s wrong with that?”
A harder hit right to the face. That one really hurt. He groaned.
“Okay, Okay…I just wanted to find out where I am?”
The light turned off now and he could see four shadows hovering over him. Great I thought it was
only one…I was looking forward to escaping.
“Didn’t you talk to Ryan?” His voice calmed a bit.
“No, I figured he would just simply lie to me.”
“So, who did you speak with?”
Will did not respond.
His voice was very annoyed now.
“Who did you speak to?!” He demanded.
“A woman.”
The four men walked away slowly and shut the door behind them.
Will just now realized he wasn’t tied. He got up and walked around the room. He tried to open the
door.
Locked.
Of course.
Will heard a shifting of gears and frantically looked around the room.
He saw green gas flow out from the corners of the room.
“No! No! Let me out! Please, let me out! I’ll tell you everything!” he yelled.
The flow of the gas stopped and Will covered his face from the remaining gas in the room.
The door opened slowly there was only one man who walked in.
“Eveything?” said the same voice that sounded like Brad’s.
Will just stared at him.
“Sit, we have much too talk about.”
Will gingerly sat down.
The man pulled out a chair from the side of him and sat.
“You are a curious man Will. I have brought you here and I will take care of you.”
“Nothing seems to fill this place.”
“Yes, but you’re getting closer.”
“Closer to what?”
“Closer to what life needs.”
“I’m not a religious fanatic.”
“Neither am I Will…Neither am I. I am just trying to enlighten you Will-”
“Enlighten me? If you really want to help me and enlighten me…tell me where I am!” he
interrupted.
Before the man spoke he took a long breath and paused.
“I cannot tell you.”
“What do you mean you cannot tell me!?” Will was now getting angry and annoyed.
“I do not have the authority to tell you.”
“You’re saying that you shot me and brought me into a room, threatening me and you can’t tell
me where I am!” he yelled.
“I am really sorry Will. Come you have to go now.”
Will didn’t say anything he just went to his Living Quarter.
***
Will awoke with the blaring sound of the alarm.
“Ugh, shut up!” Will groaned.
He shut off his alarm. Was he back? Well, if he was, he could see Jenifer. Quickly dressing, he
raced down the hall to see if Jennifer was back. He came to a familiar sign
Office Building

Will ran in and didn’t even look at the secretary.
“Excuse me sir!” She yelled as he ran towards the left hallway.
“Sir!” She yelled again.
He didn’t care; all he cared about now was solving out what was going on. He saw the door that
said:

Michael Steward
Food and Storage informant
165
What? No Jennifer?
Will knocked on the door.
“Come in” said a muffled voice.
Will opened the door.
“Hello, my name is Will Torrie and I am looking for Jennifer Katay.”
“No, sorry sir never heard of her.”
“Well thanks anyways.”
Will walked towards the exit. Will saw two security guards standing and talking to the secretary.
“There, that’s the man!” She said.
“Sir, could you tell us why you were racing through the Office Building?” one of the guards said.
“Uhmm… Yeah, sorry I was just looking for someone…it was urgent.”
“Well, could you not do that again?”
“Yeah, okay I won’t.”
“Alright, you’re dismissed.” As he said that he signaled for Will to leave.
Will left and ran into these men in white scientist clothes.
“Who are-“he said.
The men gagged him and injected him with a shot to the neck. Will’s vision was blurring and
colors shifted. Soon enough he was unconscious.

CHAPTER 4
Can a line of events be traced to its origins, only to connect with its end?

Sept 17, 14:15

Apex clouds converged around the azure mountain of ice. The polar ocean rumbled, somewhere
beneath, grappling into the iceberg, gnawing away at its foundations.
Grim, fluttering celestial arc released a blinding sphere of light has from the cloudy grasp.
Scorching beams of sunlight smashed into the iceberg with relentless fury and the iceberg
screeched in fear of their attack as glittering veins of cobalt and silver pulsated upon its surface.
The temperature was rising, as the iceberg drifted south, pushed forward by the slashing wind. The
iceberg fought against the warm currents till its last breath, but all was hopeless. An unyielding
crack started to crawl across its surface, explosions of cold mist whooshing as the iceberg crumbled,
expiring away; connecting with the clouds and the ocean.

Oct 4th, 9:12

A tiny, conical drop of water spiraled through the gray and blue mush of fog that made up a
massive, agitated storm cloud. The droplet twirled and rushed left and right, bouncing inside the
cloud, as if trying to stay up in the sky at all costs. Unexpectedly pulled leftward by the wind, the
droplet collided with a few others, gaining weight and starting to descend much faster, breaking
through the cloud like a large silver bullet- fired completely aimlessly.
Strangled by the cold draft the droplet emitted a dying scream and converted itself into an icy
diamond. The diamond gained velocity and punched through the foggy cloud, refracting and
glittering in the sunlight. Little rainbows danced on its surface, flashing and interlinking as the
diamond grew arms and legs, spreading out into a brilliant snowflake.
Refracting and twirling the snowflake joined ranks of its partners, as thousands of other snowflakes
drifted out from the cloud in a slow, magical waltz.
This singular snowflake, was a tiny piece of ice still pulsated with life from the inside, within it
hundreds of microorganisms, amoebas and bacteria temporarily frozen in their eternal struggle for
survival. However, even deeper within, between the follicles of ice and water, between the single-
celled prokaryotic microorganisms, shuffled to and fro, re-awakened by the melting of the polar
ice, embedded in an tiny piece of frozen dust, smaller then the smallest of all, resided a single, tiny
machine created by nature eons before humans walked this planet- a bacteriophage retrovirus. This
particular retrovirus resembled a sinister six-legged spider, with a long cylindrical body, exactly
fifteen nanometers in circumference. Its large icosahedra head swayed overhead, containing within
DNA fragments from a time when the world was young. Fragments that would copy the virus,
over and over and over, eternally reproducing it once they would come in contact with living cell
tissue.
The snowflake continued its gentle waltz, utterly unaware of what it carried within.
Gentle drafts of wind pulled the snowflake to and fro through the air, in an elliptic curve, as it
approached its final destination.
Beneath, the gray city stood still.

Oct 4th, 9:15

It was a day in consistency to any other in a singular beige monotony of my life. Why beige, you
might ask? Because, according to one of Alex’s enlightened teachers, that is “what modern science
speculates the color of the universe is, when all colors are combined into one”.
However this winter, He would rather say that it’s gray. Gray roads, covered with a mess of
crumpled, crushed, stepped on and driven over snow.
Gray concrete walls that tightened as he moved deeper into the core of the still city. Gray, decadent
sky covered with incandescent blobs of unsmiling clouds. Gray, no longer transparent due to dirt,
glass of the skyscrapers.
Only the tiny rainbow puddles, made up of melted snow and car gas broke away from the horrors
of the gray.
The capitalist paradise that is our merry mega-city stood above Alex’s head and rumbled beneath
his feet. Myriads of tiny lights, buzzing, manmade stars and their refractions blinded him as he
moved, increasing in numbers as evening approached.
For a split second, he looked up, before descending into the deep darkness of the subway tunnel.
A tiny snowflake settled right on his eye, burning it intensely, he blinked and slapped his face,
defending against the snowflake far too late, tumbling across the whooshing, rotating doors,
entering the subway station.
The subway was covered in dismal green plating that was nearly falling off the walls.
His feet slipped and clashed on the wet concrete, covered in a billion footprints that nobody cared
to wash away. He wondered how deep and dirty the tunnel path would become if a billion more
feet walked this way, slowly pounding the concrete, one shoe at a time.
Reaching the hollow innards of the station lit with flickering halogen lights, He’d walked across the
ticket checkpoint and jumped onboard the train, immediately falling asleep on the seat. Months of
student life, exams and commuting have taken their deadly toll.
As he slept, he dreamt of a water droplet and then a snowflake’s flight from Antarctica to Toronto.
What a vividly realistic and odd dream, filled with visions of motion in the clouds, winds, storms,
hurricanes.
Without doubt it was brought on by this merry winter weather. Maybe the snowflake is a metaphor
for his life, always flying somewhere, nowhere in particular, pulled left and right by fate and
pressed on by gravity.

Wait. There was something in the snowflake? If only he could remember what it was. He scribbled
one word on a piece of paper “V-retrovirus”. V… what is what? His dream was dissolving away.
Come back! He must remember. He mustn’t forget.

He opened his eyes. He was still inside the TTC subway car, slanted on a torn up orange seat,
amidst the eternally changing landscape of travelers, trapped in the cold, heartless machine of
public transit, designed as if it could throw people instantly to their destination, without any care
for the enjoyment of travel itself. Images of commercialization gnawed at his eyes, making him
wonder how public transit can sell itself out. Thin halogen light-tubes lit up various commercial
posters ranging from “save your self from hell, by investing in our products” to “please buy this
generic product, please we beg of you, where are you going, no, come back, keep reading this sign,
damn it!” The posters were literally everywhere, plastering every empty square meter of the train
car with the exception of the floor and ceiling. No wait, now that he looked closer, there were a few
pamphlets on the floor advertising a club. One was stuck in the ventilation tube, fluttering back
and forth and making a noise equivalent to that of a dragonfly’s wings flapping back and forth.
Fleeing from the overbearing wave of commercialism He pulled himself against gravity,
disconnected his back from the seat, got up and walked out through the whooshing, gliding
subway doors. At that very second, his cell phone started whistling the bumble bee tune in its
mechanized voice. He picked up.
“Yes?”
Static and breath.
“Alex”
“Myes?”
“I finally figured out why we can’t be together”
“Umm… okay”
“You’ve stolen my last cheque”
“What?”
“That’s right; I left my purse in your possession. You’ve stolen my cheque. It’s over. I’ve discovered
your true nature. You… lying, thieving bastard.”
“Huh?”
Dial tone filled his ears.
“Hello?”
He tried to call back several hundred times. She didn’t pick up. Inexplicable. What cheque? Why?
His left eye started to throb. It was obviously the first sign of stress. At least he wasn’t losing his
hair. He came home to find his apartment empty of her things. She was gone. How could
everything they had together, done together amount to absolutely nothing in the end. The
absurdity of the situation was snowballing itself into a big mess.
Embitterment, resentment and misunderstanding had filled his life, plunging it into a deep well of
confusion, while confining his mind in a massive concrete shell. It seemed that there was no worth
in living. Nothing was worth doing. There was no escape from the escalating nothing-ness, no way
to fill the emptiness left in his heart. Why did he have to dedicate so many things to her,
shamelessly basing his life around her?

Oct 5th, 9:19

He stared at his reflection in the mirror. It wasn’t pretty. His beard was expanding rapidly all night
and it had to be shaved off into a neater state, just like every morning. The razor slid across his
white, cream covered face, like an Olympic mountain skier nicely gliding down a snow covered
slope going for the gold and then suddenly stuttered on a little bump. The skier wasn’t getting that
gold.
“Ouch!” He yelled out, dropping the razor.
A drop of blood instantly formed on the cut, unfixing itself from his neck, and dropping down,
plummeting towards the sink.
His eyes followed the droplet’s flight, only to realize that the droplet wasn’t going anywhere.
“Huh?” He stared profoundly at the droplet. “Blood is heavier then air, right?” He asked it,
lowering himself down to witness the divine miracle firsthand.
The droplet was simply floating there, as if wanting to poke fun at of Newton’s laws.
“Praise the lord and all the seven apostles!” His brain grappled with this new concept of anti-
gravity blood.
The droplet suddenly came alive and collided with the sink.
He stared at his reflection. Ridiculous! He has to stop going to sleep at 7am. Two hours of sleep
obviously didn’t cut it.

Oct 6th, 12:32

The lecturer was droning something obscenely boring about essence of efficient architecture. He
wobbled the pen in his hands, wondering how much longer He has to endure this class. Time
didn’t matter. What mattered was purpose. Why was he here? Why was he in this classroom? To
learn? To be educated? Why? Too many questions and images pestered his overly vivid
imagination.
He scratched his face and started drawing a caricature of the teacher on the desk. It was turning out
to be quite pleasing.
“Alexander?” The lecturer’s voice smashed against his eardrums, suddenly calling out his name.
“Can you tell me why?”
He had no idea what he was talking about, since he didn’t care to pay attention in the first place.
He slammed his pen against the desk, fearing an inevitable reprimand, when suddenly the
lecturer’s glasses cracked, the lenses falling out, sparkling and glittering merrily on their way
down.
The class burst into a gasping laughter as the lecturer searched for pieces of his secondary eyes on
the floor. Lucky save, he guessed.
Oct 8th, 8:18
He checked today’s email. The news was grim. An airplane the exterior of which he was supposed
to spray paint with a lovely sky mural had exploded upon landing. Ridiculous.
How the hell is he going to pay for his ever-escalating car insurance if he just lost a big job like that?
Fate was obviously against the concept of him working on airplanes. He wondered whether it was
also against his flying on airplanes… or perhaps using escalators.

Oct 14th, 9:33

“I’m sorry Alex. There’s nothing I could do. MCF has bankrupted our company. We’re canceling all
contracts. Your share of the company’s stock is worth nothing.”
“Why didn’t Bill the CEO do anything?!”
“He was a tool. How could he do anything about it? I didn’t even expect it. They put in 40 million
in anonymous contributions and then pulled the project funding. The firm is bankrupt. I’m
canceling all accounts.”
“Gaaaaah.” He flailed his arms in discontent at the ruins of his glorious career as architect that has
collapsed before his very eyes like a deck of rather poorly stacked cards.
His job was over before he even seriously started. He felt like something was pulling him out. Out
of phrase with the rest of the world. One by one his contacts fell to silence.

Oct 17th, 11:45

“Lucky duck”
He looked at the squiggly hieroglyphs of the Chinese store sign.
“Lucky goose” He read below in English. Wait just a minute! He looked at the hieroglyphs again in
confusion. How is it that I know what they mean? Perhaps as a child I studied Chinese. No, that can’t be it.
Don’t remember anything like that. Perhaps the mass bombardment of television has finally paid itself off and
now I can read all languages? How ridiculous of a concept is that. Just to check he walked inside the
restaurant and demanded the menu. Strangely enough, he could almost guess what each little
character stood for. Amusing.
As he devoured his fried dumplings, he listened closely to conversations of the customers behind
him, trying to understand what they were saying, but at no avail.

Oct 19th, 4:04

Four in the morning. Can’t sleep. Must finish Essay on “Romantic poetry in Britain and France”.
Type. Set. Print.

Oct 20th, 8:24

This morning he discovered that he wrote half the essay in French and another in English. This is
getting ridiculous. How come he didn’t even notice this? Going to have to re-type it tonight and
hand it in tomorrow. Sadly enough, He doesn’t live in French Canada. Also, last time he studied
French was in grade 9. He doesn’t recall it ever being good enough to write essays. He made the
logical assumption that his memory had begun to fall apart, piece by piece, strand by strand, due to
exceeding stress of inability to find another job, and constant university exams. Life had become a
construct of senseless and lost dreams, one following another in a never-ending string of somewhat
memorable occurrences. He still hoped to wake up on October 4th, pretending like nothing ever
happened, pretending that everything was still all right.
Oct 19, 18:12
Cha cha cha. The world rebounded, shaking. No, it wasn’t an earthquake. He was sailing away…
no wait, He was still on the subway.
“Ungrion stration” the announcer rumbled, rudely fully awakening him.
Well, this was lucky. He could have slept right through it.
He opened his eyes. The view was fuzzy, a broken television screen. People moved back and forth,
towards the doors, leaving blackened trails behind them. The lights flickered, their coronas shifting
and changing shape. There was fuzz and pulsating grain wherever he looked.
For a few seconds, he was rather discouraged by this failure of eyesight, but then the picture had
begun to slowly come into focus.
“Khhhkh…Sht Andrew Stration” The announcer coughed.
“Hey, wait a minute! St Andrew station?” He jumped on his seat. “Wasn’t I just at Union?”
“Damn this. I must be too tired.” he yawned, quickly got up and followed the crowds. His vision
cleared; colors and shapes fully came back. He ascended via the whirling escalator out of the hellish
depths of the subway. He was far too disoriented to take the train back and decided that a walk on
the outside would do him some good.
The city welcomed him with gashes of wind that slapped him across the face, twirling and tagging
the ends of his leather jacket.
Snow started to fall harder. He walked through the streets, dipping his shoes in and out of the
newly formed cover of snow. A crouched figure of a homeless man, lying on the sidewalk caught
his eye. Clouds of warm air pushed from the vent beneath him, curving around his figure,
wrapped in several torn up mattresses. A layer of snow settled over the bum, probably melting and
seeping through his many covers. Alex could not see his face, but great pity ran through his mind
towards him, as he was probably freezing to death.
Somewhere between the next blink of his eyes, as his eyelids flashed to and fro, he witnessed
something inexplicable. For a split second, the hot vent mist stopped moving up; its curves just
simply froze in the air. A gray fluttering snake shape appeared over the sleeping bum. As the shape
oscillated over the vent, starting to come into focus; electrical beams arched and flashed back and
forth from the bum’s body on the sidewalk to the fuzzy air, highlighting what looked like a giant,
metal caterpillar that floated in mid air.
In another second, the caterpillar vanished, but the homeless man remained.
Alex’s vision darkened, as if a thick, veiled mosquito mesh was pulled over his head. A flash of
headache struck him from all sides, shoving his brain into a giant blender, filled with nails.
The intersection streetlights flashed red, green and yellow at the same time. The crowd around him
blurred up, and faded away for an instant. The sun jumped down and the clouds evaporated.
He closed and opened his eyes. The veil was gone. His head pounded slightly.
“What just happened?” He asked himself.
“No, no. Demons don’t exist. Stop imagining things!” his thoughts slammed against each other. He
looked at the sleeping bum. He wasn’t moving. Clouds of warm air whooshed around him. Alex
slowly made his way across the intersection, staring around and back in suspicion and soon
enough a wall of gray bricks, plastered with commercial posters blocked the view of the homeless
man on the sidewalk.
“Another one free from the burdens of life? Was it a demon I saw that pestered his body for the last
seconds of his life?” Alex speculated, passing massive stone columns and pulling at the doors of
Union station.

Union, Toronto’s Central Train station would have bedazzled any new visitor with its grandeur of
columns, fluffy international flags, dull black boards with flipping letters that make the ‘tcha tcha
tcha’ noises as they flip, semi-reflective marble floors and an array of travelers of all shapes and
sizes. However this grand sight did nothing to amuse him for he would have to become utterly and
hopelessly pacified with it, having traveled here through this very hallway hundreds, maybe now,
thousands of times.
The soft crackling voice of the announcer rambled something about the new arrival on platform 3B.
The crowd rushed straight at him. He was pushed from side to side, as if stuffed inside a barrel,
rolled off a cliff and set towards unknown destination at stormy sea.
The storm had begun, not with a bang, but with a whispering melody.
Spiked murkiness clouded somewhere above him, spiraling, shifting left and right, like the heavy
sword of Damocles, about to drop.
“What is this sword anyway?” He asked himself. Has he ever stopped to consider the meaning of
this simple phrase? He searched his memories for an answer.
In the fourth century BC the court sycophant Damocles questioned the king’s life, wanting to live
like the king himself. He, like Alex, wanted to know the answer of what it is to live differently, be
above and better than all others. What Damocles found out was that even though his king
Dionysus had the tastiest of foods and finest of things at his disposal, the king was as well in
constant danger from those that envied him.
…. A metaphorical sword, suspended by horsehair was constantly hanging above his head.
What the? Who said that? Where did that just come from? Since when did my mind become an encyclopedia
of answers? He twirled his head, trying to shake off the feeling of being watched.
This time, He could actually see the spiraling fuzz overhead, as he stared at it, from the back of his
eyeballs. He kept on focusing, intent on seeing it this time. What the hell is that?
It was right behind the layers of pulsating gray cells, behind the firing neurons and synapses,
barely visible through the thousands of thin, webbed lines of electromagnetic pulses that makeup
thoughts. It was behind the thick layers of bone, behind the rows of oscillating veins filled with
tumbling, doughnut shaped red blood cells. Right behind the thick cracked layers of skin, getting
dry and dead higher up, crystallizing into dust between the rows of hair follicles.
It was there, getting louder and louder. No, it was not a noise, but a feeling of something that’s
turning terribly wrong, a split second when your foot falls down and you just don’t know if that’s
where the last stair ends.
In an instant, the tapestry of the world unraveled itself, coming undone, tearing from the unknown
pressure, seams silently coming apart and throwing him somewhere off course.
As his heel failed to connect with the floor, He slipped and fell in mid air, on perfectly solid
ground, sliding backwards. Everything was black and white, as if somebody just shut down every
single cone inside his eyes. The rods were still there though; focus becoming way too perfectly clear
as everything had stopped moving. In another second, He realized that he was now deaf as well.
All sound faded, as if somebody had just pressed a “mute” button inside his brain.
“What the…?!” He bluntly stated, blinking.
The colors slowly shifted their spectrum. Suddenly, he remembered a stupid question that he could
never answer: “How do you explain the color of red to a blind man?”
“Hell!” he finished.
Why did the yellow walls just turn orange? Why did the blue sky just turn purple?
“Mommy, why is the sky blue?” another random thought jumped out.
“Light wavelength” His all-knowing brain screamed back. “The sky is blue because…”
When did his skin become so tanned? He pondered, staring at his hands.
He looked around, with a tint of madness in his eyes. Everything stood still. Time stopped.
He poked the round, balding man in a pink suit, standing next to him. His foot was frozen in mid
air. Pink suit?!
“Okay then. This is a prank, right?” He asked the silent air.
“Welcome, to stupid TV pranks, stupid!” His brain stated.
The prank was looking exceedingly elaborate and realistic. The bloated, black arrow of the main
clock stopped between 26 and 27 minutes. Wherever he looked, the more he came to a realization
that the world stood absolutely still. The people around him were quite immobile, some with their
mouths stuck in a halfway smile, as if taunting me.
The green letters of the schedule board, showing the latest train arrival were stuck one third of the
way, not completely rotated straight.
He looked for anything that could give away the prank. Anything that moved!
Nothing was moving. A few pigeons perched on the cracked stone parapet were obviously stuffed
dummies. Another pigeon must have been attached by a wire to the sky, its wings spread out, as it
was flying apparently nowhere.
Even the falling snow behind the window was stuck in mid air, deciding to blatantly disobey
gravity. “Witchcraft” His brain giggled.
Almost instantaneously he looked at his watch to put a final blow into his skepticism. The little
green numbers weren’t changing.
“20:26:11”
“Ooookay” He rubbed his face, realizing that this is serious, pondering whether 20:26:11 meant
anything in the grand scheme of the universe or had anything to do with the fact that this was the
exact second that the universe ran out of time.
“This would be a good time to rob a bank….” A thought snapped.
He raised his left foot, preparing to walk forward, wanting to see and feel more of this magically
time-less world, when the colors of the entire spectrum suddenly shifted again.
The world wasn’t perfectly still anymore. The station looked as if it was melting away in fevering
heat. Lights and shadows warped, slanted and intertwined.
A shadowy figure was racing towards him, slowly gliding through the air, sending black streaks of
swirls behind it. His last thoughts were how the swirls reminded him of tea that slowly dissolved
inside water, when the shadow collided with him, sending them both tumbling backwards in slow
motion. During this spectacular flight he managed to blink a few times, and at the exact moment
when Alex’s back collided with the cold marble floor, the shadow materialized into a female shape.
The swirls dissolved completely, releasing a girl dressed in an outfit of a fashion that he could
probably never imagine even if he worked as a fashion designer for 200 years. Her outfit was a
silver mess of flowing curves and shifting lines, above which he could see the Romanesque cubical
ceiling of the train station. The ceiling lost most of its color and was smudging up, becoming hazier,
as if he was looking at it through a strong current of water.
Fiery, amber eyes stared at him coldly, first in surprise, then in anger, then in confusion. Musical
tones and strange sounds started pulsating on his nerve cells. The sound was coming right from
inside his mind and not from her lips; forming into flowing; perfectly clear words of her voice.
“Time Immemorial! What? Hey, what do you think you’re doing? This isn’t a jump terminal!”
“Ah… ah I tza” Alex uttered, unable to say anything intellectual at the moment, captivated by
those fiery amber eyes, orange tinted skin, sparkling crimson hair and the constantly flowing suit
that followed every single tiniest contour and bump of her body.
Who is this divine creature, I wonder? he thought, staring back.
The girl pulled away from him, standing up onto her knees. Her silver suit played in the light, its
dark and light lines flowing to and fro, mixing up, flashing and dissolving into themselves.
She sighed, looking at her wrist, where a strange curvy watch glowed with dials and numbers too
numerous for him to count.
“Great, now I’m going to miss my train by at least 5 days… 6 days… 7 days. Just great! Oh, I’m so
very late! 3rd level? How did this happen?” she continued to speculate.
Next, she looked at Alex.
“Umm… sorry about that. My time-dial must have malfunctioned. Have a pleasant century.” She
concluded, winking at him and clicked a switch on her wristwatch.
Her figure began to blur and slowly washed away.
“Wait! I have to… Where…?” he uttered, his fingers trying to grab her fuzzy wrist, but only
catching empty air. She was gone.
“Great! Just great! Once in a lifetime I get to see an angel and I didn’t even get to ask her what the
meaning of life is!” he thought, sliding forward and standing up.
Blinding pain struck the left side of his head. The colors in his eyes shifted back and forth, as if he
was seeing the world through a television screen where somebody was having fun adjusting
contrast and hue ratios, and rubbing a few magnets against its surface at the same time.
The air became thick with barely visible movement. The still figures of Torontonians and tourists
started to fade away, and swirls of black fog filled the hallways, as multitudes of new, strange
sounds started to harass his left ear, beeps, clicks, whooshes and booms. The station’s walls faded
in and out. Sounds of steps and chatter of voices came through; figures of constantly moving
people emerged from the black fog of unending motion, faces and silver suits flashing here and
there.
As he looked up, he noticed that the ceiling of Union faded away and above it up high in the sky
loomed, floating massive starship-trains, huge engine coils flashing beneath them. Bloated,
spherical elevators, filled with people moved up and down with clicks and whooshes across glass
pipes.
“The future is now?” He giggled, reaching up to touch the sky.
A strange feeling of euphoria struck his nerves. He never felt so happy. Weightless-ness. He
couldn’t feel gravity’s crashing pull on him anymore. He wanted to laugh, to dance, and to
celebrate this momentous occasion.
Then, for a brief instant, his heart stopped and something inside him snapped. He choked, gasping
for air.
The colors started to flicker, shifting again. His breath became heavy. His lungs caught on fire.
There was no oxygen. He could not breathe. He could not stand up. As he fell down onto his knees,
his synapses started to fail one by one.
A floating, black, metallic caterpillar materialized right in front of him. Myriads of tiny arms
moved across its surface, arching lights flashing back and forth. Bolts of electrical beams struck
between his body and the caterpillar’s metallic hands. His vision was fading. He could not feel the
warmth of his body. The caterpillar wheezed in deathly metallic voice.
“Multicellular singularity. Soul-scan concluded Negative. Evaluating for termination…”
Its cold hands of metal spread out, opening up, reaching for Alex’s body. He saw his pale face as it
reflected back at him in the single, large convex mirror eye of the caterpillar.
He screamed in horror.
Something inside him snapped.
The caterpillar froze up, screeching in high pitch; its myriads of arms flapping back and forth, its
one eye flashing and darkening.
Color blind-ness. Click! The color spectrum shifted yet again. The caterpillar’s coils unfolded into a
mesh of wings made of bright, blinding light. Alex squinted his eyes. Linear cracks ran over his
vision, like semi-transparent barcodes were simply slapped right over his eyes. The caterpillar’s
screech had started to fade away. The surreal twenty third century world started to fall apart right
before his eyes. The caterpillar literally crumbled away, its hands breaking off; its coils unbending
and collapsing, its insides and outsides were shattering into thousands of tiny glittering freckles, as
if it was made from ice or glass. The glittering particles showered his head, gliding right through
his body. The world around him was no longer solid. His vision disintegrated into pixilated dust,
linear cracks and lines of light fluttering in his eyes back and forth, until an orange curve of light
struck from the inside of his mind, instantly knocking him out.

Darkness. Silence. Sound started to fade in. He was hearing buzzing of the lights, chatter of voices
and the hauntingly clear white noise of the Union station. His eyes opened. He was slanted
sideways on the cold, metal, white and green bench. In front of him, people walked to and fro.
“Attention, the lakeshore eastbound train is delayed. Passenger, the eastbound train is delayed.”
The dull voice of the announcer sharply bounced in the air above him.
“Has anything really happened? How did I end up here?” He asked himself, rubbing his stiff face.
Terrible headache struck him instantly, with pounding hammers from the inside of his brain,
bringing him back into reality.
His thoughts cluttered up into an angular tetrahedron that jabbed his skull from the inside,
providing no answers to his questions. He couldn’t think straight. “What the? Who? Why? It
couldn’t have been. No, it clearly never was. A dream. A hellishly realistic dream.”
He stared at the wall light. “Forget it, go home. It never was.” the light bulb told him, sparkling
slightly. The world was once again a tapestry of gray, upon which I’ve walked amongst everyday.
“Okay” He nodded, got up and walked off in slight sorrow. Looking up at the board schedule he
noticed that he missed his train by 6 hours. How this had happened, He could not even speculate.
Did I get out too late from my house? Did I have a fainting spell of some kind?
Memories had intermingled with thoughts.
He could no longer remember or tell what was real and what was a dream, as he headed back to
his apartment.
Headaches persisted with severe drowsiness. He spent the night staring at his monitor and writing
an essay on “Ergonomical evaluation of room 354”, that was worth 25% of his mark and was
apparently due a week ago.
“Take me now, angel from the future. Save me from this time and place. Take me now into starry
space. Save me from this essay.” He started to type.
“Do it now, before it’s too late.” He added.
He waited, counting the pixels of his monitor for amusement. Nothing had happened. Nobody
typed back. Nobody had magically appeared in my room. Eventually his thoughts slowed down to
nothing and he came to the realization that if insomnia had a color, it would have been white, as
the images that floated before his eyes spun out of rational existence.
Unanswered questions haunted him.

What happens when a fatal sickness places not you in quarantine, but the entire world?

Oct 20th, 10:47, his watch flickered with green numbers, as somewhere inside it, the microchip
decided that it could rule his life with its control of time. His memory was going awry. He hasn’t
slept since yesterday morning. He couldn’t even remember how he got to University. He started up
a slideshow of images in his mind, memories of places he’d been to, flipping like grainy, dusty
slides. Nothing amusing came to mind, except for those amber eyes at Union.
“Stop daydreaming!” He slapped his head, getting back to note taking. The lecturer droned on, and
clearly didn’t want to pause for anyone or repeat anything.
Today’s lecture’s class was half-empty. Most people chose to skip its boredom and partake in more
fun activities. Alex however was trapped, without purpose, without cause. The headache persisted.
Lights flashed. Static, black and white fuzz appeared and disappeared in his eyes. During the last
break, he got up, collected his numerous binders, and said “The hell with it, I’m going home.” and
slipped out of the lecture hall. Outside the campus there were a few tables saying “Political
campaign for Student Union election representatives”. One of the candidates, Sarah Slean, was
giving out yellow lighters with her name imprinted on them, so that people could smoke outside
and vote for her after. Alex didn’t vote. He didn’t smoke. He just took one of her lighters for
amusement and slipped it into his pocket, considering whether he should set their stupid slogan or
at least one of the SU representatives on fire. Never know when a free lighter might come handy,
especially if you decide to join the ranks of pyromaniacs.

Deciding to ignore the existence of trains, he jumped into a bus and fell asleep, lulled by the hum of
the engine and whispering of wheels that racketed on the road.
Between the moments of wakeful-ness and slumber, between the seconds that the mind is reborn
from another world he saw those amber eyes again, piercing through his very soul.
He woke up from the freezing chill that was spreading out from his heart, pushing from the inside
out. Looking out the window and shivering, he thought on how far his civilization has advanced,
how much was accomplished, as we all existed on this spinning ball of inanimate and animate
matter. Boeing 747 was piercing the sky, between the fluffy clouds, leaving a massive trail of
exploding gases behind it. Where were those passengers going, why, what were they, what are we all
searching for? Eternal happiness, perhaps?
How we are all interconnected, yet we choose to separate ourselves through misunderstanding and bridged
walls. Never-ending walls of glass inside and outside of our minds.
Just as he was speculating on how to break down at least a few walls between people, the interior
bus lights began to flicker.
“Alas, they too expire from the cold” he concluded harshly. However, as he looked outside, it
wasn’t just the bus lights. The sun had begun to flicker too. The problem couldn’t lie in the sun; the
problem was inside him. He felt his warmth being drained away from every cell of his body. He
followed the synapses, counted the mitochondria, trying to trace down after the escaping heat,
through his bloodstreams, up higher and higher, through the ivory, porous layers of spinal bones,
towards the veins on the back of his neck. He felt an incredibly thin, invisible string wrap around
his neck, choking him slowly. Scraping his teeth, he pulled forward with all his strength, clawing
into the cold, metallic handlebars. The string stayed in place.
“You can’t escape. Stop trying. Surrender.” It whispered through his bloodstreams in a dark, cold
melody. After a few more seconds of struggle he came to realize that the key wasn’t to pull
forward. The key was to pull inward. As he struggled with his last breath, the lights flickered faster
and faster, colors shifting from black and white to a slightly tinted red world. The string had
instantly snapped, freeing him. The sound of traffic outside and voices inside the bus faded and
vanished as if they never were. The bus began to slow down and stopped to a standstill. The plane
in the sky, was sticking its tail out of the white, solid cloud, not moving forward at all, as if it was
stuck in thick porridge. The sun glared back at him with a differently shaped corona and shade as if
it was a sun of an alien world, a billion light years away from earth. His eyes ran around madly.
Everything stood still.
“Well, this re-occurring pattern of dreams is rather interesting” he concluded.
As his eyes re-adjusted to the dimly lit interior of the still bus, he noticed something rather strange
about. Something was moving and alive in the stillness. A mesh of thin, silver strings expanding
and converging, a vast spider web that was alive, spread all around the bus’ interior. As he focused
harder, he noticed that each string connected to somebody’s neck on the bus. The strings were
slightly pulsating, as if draining blood one micro droplet at a time from each bus riding
individual.
“Dracula?” he speculated, looking up to the ceiling, where webbed mesh of strings ended.
A gray, incoherent, mushy thing hung in the top left corner of the bus, pulsating slightly.
He focused his eyes harder, trying to make out what shape it was. The shapeless spider-thing
resisted his eyes, by shifting to and fro and yet remaining still at the same time. Little silver
glowing dots sprung on its surface, moving back and forth, across the strings.
The thing looked at him. It had no eyes that he could distinguish, yet deep inside he knew, felt it,
that it saw his presence and found in him a threat. The air became thick with motion, as strings
disconnected from the people and shifted about, as if trying to feel his presence.
“Wake up! Wake the hell up!” He screamed, as thousands of silver threads begun to vibrate and
crawl towards him, jumping left and right.
Feeling him, they pulled at his arms and legs, piercing his skin, and ripped as he pulled back,
jumping off the seat. His struggle didn’t last long. The thing, whatever it was, had won, entombing
him in a cocoon of silver strings in mere seconds. White, blinding light from the constantly shifting
strings was the last thing he saw before he fell.

CHAPTER 5
What scares us appears to be something more but it is only what you make of it.

Will could feel something being detached from his mouth. His eyes began to open slowly. As he
was opening his eyes, a white light was shining brightly right in his face. He tried to ask where
he was but he couldn’t speak. Was he mute? Why can’t he speak? What’s going on? These
thoughts were circling his mind furiously. His vision was blurry and smudged when he fully
opened his eyes.
When his vision was clear he looked around and saw that he was on an operation table. There
were 4 operators in the room. He looked at his body and noticed everything was fine.
“He’s awake.” One of the operators said. There voices were disguised with some type of voice
box.
One of the operators flipped a switch. All of a sudden above him, there was a big spherical
machine that had various odd tools on it. It was making a noise, tcha tcha tcha; it was finding the
right tool to use. They were tools that looked like they were planning to tear his skin apart. Will
tried to scream in terror. But he couldn’t. It pulled out a tool that looked like a sharp and deadly
pair of tongs. He was now breathing very heavily and his heart was pounding extremely fast. It
approached Will slowly and started to twirl and flicker its two fingers.
Will started to panic and he started to try break the metal cuffs strapped to his wrists. It was no use.
“You can’t escape. Stop trying. Surrender.” It whispered.
Will looked around in panic and saw the operators standing there just staring at him. The deadly
pair of tongs forced his eyelids open. He tried to scream in terror, but nothing came out.
One of the operators grabbed a syringe from the multiple shelves of syringes. There were millions
of syringes. Every color imaginable. The one he grabbed was a metallic color.
The operator walked towards him and started pushing his thumb on the end of the syringe. The
syringe was secreting the metallic liquid slowly and started dropping its liquid in his eye and
quickly spread throughout his brain.
It was so much pain that Will screamed in pain and it came out this time. The operators quickly
grabbed a chloroform mask, but before they got to cover his mouth he broke through the metal
cuffs. Will felt a surge of strength pulse through his veins. His muscles started to grow quickly.
This was surprising to Will. He thought he was turning into the Hulk. Will ripped the sharp tongs
off of his eyelids and smashed his fist through the odd mechanism.
Will quickly jumped to his feet and started sprinting towards the exit.
“Get him, he’s running away!” one of the operators yelled.
Will was sprinting through what seemed to be a scientist facility. He had so much stamina all of a
sudden.
So much strength.
So much courage.
The alarm started to sound. Will looked back and saw several security guards chasing him, they
had odd guns, and they looked like stunners of some sort. Like tazer’s that were in a form of a gun.
He quickly dodged to the left corridor expecting a bullet whiz by.
Bang!
Will looked behind a saw a blast of electricity impact itself with the wall. Will just kept on
sprinting. He was led to an emergency exit. As he ran towards it the door slid open. He was
running through a long dark tunnel. He had to get out of this place. He had to find Jennifer, and he
had to find out the truth.
He looked back, it was too dark to see anything, but he didn’t hear any following footsteps.
“Where are you going?” an evil voice hissed.
Will quickly turned around and saw a tall dark hooded figure. He could see its red beaming eyes.
“You see all this, don’t you? This is all realistic hmm? That’s what he makes you think.”
“Who are you?” Will stammered.
“I am the one that is too tell you that you live in a world…a world that appears so dark, so
different, and so…evil.” As he said that last word his voice hissed with such eeriness that it made
Will’s spine shiver. “Do you see this?” He pulled out an orb that shone very dimly with a purplish/
black color. “This is the answer to all you’re questions, the answer to anything you would want to
know.”
Will stared at the orb; it was decorated with dark colored swirls that pierced his very soul.
“Come, take it, take this wonderful gift, no thanks necessary, no requirements needed…its all
yours.” He said the last three words very slowly and very eerily.
Will did not know what too say. But this orb, he was completely astonished by this object. My
answers to everything? Everything I want to know? But what if this was a trick? What if it wasn’t true?
Will didn’t care…he wanted that orb. Will started to walk slowly towards the orb, just staring at it,
with wide eyes. The hooded figure was just staring at Will with sharp evil eyes…grinning behind
that hood.
Will stopped when he was within arms reach of the orb.
“Go ahead, touch it.” Hissed the figure.
Will slowly reached out to touch the orb. Will was hesitating. Should I do this? What if-
Before Will could think anymore, It thrust the orb to Will’s hand. Will screamed in pain as he was
touching the orb, it had felt as if a truck ran over his brain. Will could see several pictures of his
past, flowing through his mind it was a, dark, dark, past and he was seeing it all happen in a flash.
It was so quick, but so informative. As all these pictures were flashing through his head, Will tried
to pull his hand off of the orb. Slowly but surely he was detaching his hand from this painful object.
It took Will about 2 minutes to heave his hand away from the orb. He flew back, face shocked and
stunned at what he had seen. He fell on his butt, staring at the orb in utter fear.
The figure cackled and slowly started to disappear. Will just sat there speechless and frightened,
like he just saw Hell itself.
Will fainted in shock.
Fear.
Sorrow.
Darkness.

CHAPTER 7
Whispering,
Wondering "where shall I go?”
Waiting and hoping for something untold,
These things all new yet some so old...
Though many a time a tear is shed;
For the answer to thy question is hidden in your head.

Then again one would need a soul for such poetry and tears would need the ability to be born of
such a stone hard gaze. Long awaited answers and many hidden questions lay beneath the
impenetrable ice of that hard emerald stare as it encumbered the empty castle before her in its
luminescent glare while she made her way inside. Shocking locks of knee length fire danced with
each calculated step that carried her past the ever present memories as she made her way inside the
desolate place moving to what used to be her own room that now housed little more than dust
covered pieces of furniture. Settling in comfortably against a tall backed chair her elbow lifted to
the table’s surface, lazily carrying the weight of her upper body as the elegantly carved angle of her
jaw line found rest in her daintily opened palm that closed perfectly along the curve of her chin.
Thus was the presence of one once known to many, nameless to those who saw her now. One word
would describe the unspoken identity of this apparition...”Evil." But who was there to see her?
What did it matter, who sees or knows now?

“Reflect, think back. You remember now Adriana. “

Luxurious lashes sweep in an elegant cascade as lids of flesh close upon there bejeweled stare of
her gaze, pulling her into a world of heartbreaking sanity and blackness; revealing to her wide shut
eyes the memories which Oblivion had "kindly" taken away.

“Remember, recall. You knew them all Adriana.”

“To gaze with your heart is to see with love. A separate entity wrapped in your own essence a
heart can be...But do broken pieces of such an entity mirror these images with this love? How can
it? Once broken there is no mending. No, these remembered things were fractured faces of what
used to be family. Cracked features and broken bits of what one might remember as friends, lost in
a sea of voices that should offer a soothing familiarity to the rise of emotion that chokes her slender
throat. But where is this familiarity? Who are these voices now, damnable and hollow things that
they are! The words you have heard, what gives them such an empty tone? Meaning, search for the
meaning behind the conversations. It is not there, you cannot hear it and that is what provides the
unrecognizable voices that speak words once heeded by the ears of your heart. This is why we
remember, it is why we reflect, to hear what was said and to know there was nothing more than
words in those conversations. You are choking, remember to breathe.”

The walls would watch as Evil cries, ushering forth the disgruntled sound of released emotion that
was restricting her airflow; echoing eerily like a haunted whisper through the deserted corridors. A
living portrait of perfection that weeps a steady stream of tears from the lines of her closed eyes,
Ahhh so stone can bare water after all. Ability is not within the tears, but within the statue herself!

“If it is no longer the heart you gaze with, what then shall it be? Your eyes, logical things that they
are. Open them, open them and see for yourself.”

Lifting the blackness and shattered memories away, flesh colored curtains are once more swept
upward by the movements of onyx lashes now glistening with the remains of liquid emotion.
Through the haze of her tears the dull oceans of her now blue eyes eagerly washed across the
empty room in which she still sat. Nothing, all was as it had been since her return to this forsaken
place, evacuated and bare.

“There are no faces here Adriana, there is no familiarity. Your eyes do not betray you.”

"B...but I gave so much time. So much time I gave, a decade and more..."

Hark! The only words spoken aloud since her arrival. A lonely echo, mimicking those exact words
was the only response she would receive. Pushed down by the weight of her own despairing
feelings, her stomach sank deeper inside her as the frantic waves of her eyes crashed back and forth
over the quiet room.
“Expect no response, you are not done reflecting. You are not without your wrong doings. A
constant need for reassurance, for the attention. The need to feel loved and to always be assured of
your place with them. Of course it would take its toll! What else would it do? You need to grow up
Adriana.”

"I know...I KNOW."

Increasingly louder, her voice was afflicted with the uncontrolled mix of her feelings that were
beginning to boil over. Instead of a mocking echo, the words were trapped in this one room
clashing off the walls as sharply as steel. Tears long since dried from her eyes were spawned again
through her quaking voice that wailed from her lips past sanity's point.

"I tried. The triangle, The Empire. All of it, I had no place in it in ANY of it. So what if I needed to
be shown? So what if I needed to be loved? I needed FAMILY. You can NOT fault me for that!"

“Recollection, precious thing that it is. Do you see what your "needs" have cost you? Your eyes do
not betray. Look upon the emptiness. Three you cared about, and one couldn't even stand you and
to this day is filled with hate...or worse apathy. Though really, were the other two any better? Or
did they simply mask their disdain. It's always bothered you, the lack of reason the lack of
explanation how it cuts into flesh how it sears the soul. Indeed, look. You're bleeding.” He now
appeared same as before, tall, black cloak, hooded face, and red eyes.
Down Her gaze goes, the waterfall of blue splashing upon the gaping slash the unspoken words
have created upon her bare midrift spilling forth a fountain of red that pools about her feet on the
ground. The chair upon which she sits flies backward with the sudden force of her body jolting
forward and up as she rises to her feet. Clumsy steps force her backwards as she places a trembling
hand against the torn pieces of flesh incredulously.

“Remember Adriana. Recall. Your eyes do not betray you.” He repeated

Emotion had bled itself out from Evil. A blood covered hand was all that remained of the gash that
manifested itself by such feelings and it remained the target of her returned emerald stare.
Dropping away from the line of vision her hand fell to her side as the rivulets of blood began to
drip steadily from her fingertips to the floor. Drip. Drip. Drip. How much like the ticking seconds of
a clock this sounded. Pay no mind, that will come soon.

A sudden posture took to Her back, arching it straight as Her slender shoulders squared off neatly
while Her delicate hands clasped behind Her back...the bloody clasping the clean. The line of her
jaw set itself evenly and stiff causing her head to be held slightly higher. A sigh came from her
mouth, parting the lips gently and taking with it's breath a certain finality that calmed the
restlessness of the occupied room. Each step taken marked with a painful sanity that played with
her limbs, pulling them into an irrevocable dance of chilling grace that spun her from the room and
into the darkened hall. The sound of the door closing behind her finalized what would now come
to pass.

“Your final tears have been shed for them. Your blood has been spilled for them. What more is
there to do Adriana? You were honest with yourself, you spoke to the walls. They listened Adriana.
Keep walking, keep walking.”

Step step step, the bloodied hand releases the pristine opposite, placing it palm flat against the web
covered wall affectionately as she moved through the house, pulling memory after memory with
her. An abrupt halt forced her hand harder against the wall and a sharp intake of needless breath
through her lungs.
“We've arrived.”
Through the grand doorway she stepped, entering the cold of a room that once held familiar voices
of The Two now playing host to a chorus of thick silence that hovers in the air like a dead weight
that forced her shoulders to slope slightly.
“They will see it as they always have; there is no changing how you are thought of Adriana. This is
what you have made yourself as; this is what your "needs" have created.”

"I...am not sorry."

Again, words spoken. Though now they hover barely above a whisper, choking to be heard amidst
the suffocating silence that permeates the air. Rising in its crescendo the force of her voice shatters
the noiselessness of the area as each word dropped from her lips scatters the shards of quietness
with the ferocity of a deadly explosive.

"My eyes do not betray me. My feelings of betrayal, of hope, of hurt...of abandonment...everything.
They are all left in that one..Little room. The remains..."
There was a sudden sadness that reached hold of the rapidly fired words, dragging them back to a
lulled tone that trickled through the air as the ever intense stare of her emerald gaze watched a
portrait of the Lady. Alabaster skin, unmarred by time that was framed by the trademark locks of
glossy midnight hair that hung far past the slender build of Her shoulders.
“To gaze with your heart is to see with love...open Your EYES Adriana. Your EYES do not betray
you.”

"...are hate.."

Those two little words, spoken with such a deplorable sadness were the last things heard before a
sudden tear ripped through the hanging portrait of the Lady, shredding that perfectly beautiful
face that She once recognized as Her Mother's into mere pieces of canvas that fluttered to the
ground. All that remained was a frame that now held a faceless being with Raven locks. She had
not moved, yet the ever narrowing gaze of ignited emerald fire caused trepidation to shake the
faceless picture upon the wall.

"...anger..."

The shaking of the painting on the wall matched the quaking of her own body as each limb was
launched into a slow motion action that flung two pieces of weaponry directly at the dust covered
chair that once sat one of the most feared Men of Her time on this Earth. They flew through the air
like a lightning streak of Silver faster than a mortal eye could comprehend, shattering through the
figure she "saw" sitting there. Her mind playing tricks on her? Indeed, for what those two blades
crashed through was the image of One She called Father sitting straight in this chair, His cold stare
of emerald peering through Her as though She never existed at all. Memory how horrid you are,
drudging up these flickering manifestations! CRASH He goes flittering to the floor in
unrecognizable pieces as the blades shot through His throat and forehead. What was recognizable,
was the bottom blade that went through the specter’s "throat", now neatly lodged into the wall.
Here sat a satanic blade, given to her once with promised words that she could no longer hear;
embedded nearly to its hilt though just enough was left out to see those perfectly clean jagged
edges.
“He was not sitting there Adriana, use Your EYES not your mind. You are losing concentration. “

Her steps backwards were fumbling, awkward things as her gaze beheld the satanic dagger in the
wall. The rapid rise and fall of her chest was in tune to the heavy breathing that caused a new
tremor to jostle through her.
“Hate...anger, what else Adriana? You can feel it flowing through. That blade, remember what it
meant at one time, that might as well be the blade they pushed into your back no? Or perhaps the
one to cut out your heart?”

"Shut up shut up. My contempt will not die..."

“Oh but you are mending your heart as we speak Adriana. Remember, YOU did this to
YOURSELF. You are the reason why they left with no word, with nothing. “

"No word...there was no goodbye..There..Was...NOTHING!"

That very last word erupted past moving lips as an impending detonation that shook not only the
foundation of the Castle of Reaver but the earth around it causing the very stone to begin to crack
within the room as bits of debris began to scatter across the floor. Heavier did her breath become,
laden with the unmatched animosity that was burning through her being. Literally.
“Adriana look, your skin...it's...smoking.” he grinned evilly.
Her concentration did not waver, the wildfires of blazing emerald consuming that of the embedded
dagger laid to rest within the ruptured wall when suddenly, pure rage escaped the confines of her
mouth in the form of a hideous shriek that reverberated through the broken pieces of wall and the
entire castle. It was enough to shake the seeming vacant guards from their shells and send them
running.

“They have gone Adriana, don't stop...show them your pain, it's not your fault that you feel, you
cannot help what your feelings are. Show them, show them ALL.” He cackled as he finished his
sentence.

Involuntary convulsions rip through the tattered looking being that once was an immaculate
carving of marble splendor. Twitching left, then right her head ripped viciously to the side, as it did
the uncontrolled heat of the emerald blaze that was her stare was ripped from the satanic blade,
causing the blade to be ripped not from...but THROUGH the wall slicing the stone as if it were little
more than a victim's torso. Yet where this blade went a trail of fire followed, because now the blade
was locked within the deadly path of Her fire borne gaze and each jolt of Her head flung it in rapid
directions catching the stone itself in an unfathomable heat that not only scorches, but burns it
completely to a pile of ash in a matter of mere seconds. This is the fire that took no more than a
minute to make ash of a wall where once a great portrait hung...now the only thing left to tell the
tale is the bits and pieces of canvas that once made up the face of One She once loved.
“Fire, it can't be controlled Adriana. Don't try, just let go...let go of it all and come to where you
belong. You have a place here, I will never leave you.”

The seizure like attack stopped frighteningly fast, her head hung off to the right, lolling at an
uncanny angle as though it were ready to break off as the blank-eyed fire stare seemed to be locked
within time's precious bubble. Her torso was horribly twisted to the left, her arms seeming
dislocated with one hanging limply by her side and the other lifted in a claw like manner. Her legs
were an atrocity of contorted limbs giving her the look of gruesome disfigurement. This is how she
hung for many moments, the smoke from her skin had nearly doubled in its amount and the flesh
had begun to peel and bubble though it seemed she could not feel such effects. Time's bubble failed
and burst, releasing the solar flare that was her gaze that fired straight through every wall that
stood in its path, searing each ancient rock to ashes when an abrupt halt came to the rampaging fire
as her lifeless head closed its eyes when the stare met the room...HER room. The room she shed
tears in, the room she shed blood and emotion in. Locked within that room was the only part left of
her that was human, locked within that room...were the broken pieces of her heart and the pool of
her blood and tears.
“You are human Adriana, You were never meant to have those feelings stop delaying and just DO
IT. “

Too much for her to bear, that voice, the anger and the overflow of hatred were now causing the
flesh to sizzle and blister, the smoke from her skin rising to create a thick and choking layer within
the air and as the lids of flesh melted away from the scalding heat of her unyielding glare there was
an audible BANG that roared throughout the entire Castle and beyond it's lands with such a finality
it caused a gut wrenching slash in the minds of those who once knew her. She had exploded. The
fires that dwelt within were unleashed in an unholy fury that stormed through the castle,
unquenchable by the essence of water and unstoppable by the greatest of magic’s. For this was not
an elemental fire, this was rage in it's quintessential form and like an epic plague it swallowed the
entire foundation of the once great Castle, reducing it to a lone pile of ash in the same manner it
had done to the inside walls within seconds of being released.
“Such was the power of hatred; this was the power of anger. Where once a grand structure stood,
symbolizing the greatness of a family that was revered and feared by all who knew them...now was
a scorched pile of land. There is no debris, there is no rubble, there is only that single pile of ash
with a satanic blade resting atop it, eerily immaculate. Not even a trace of the fire can be found. Its
going to simply disappear with time. The only indication of what had happened is going to be the
dense fog that hung in an overbearing curtain of smoldering abhorrence and hostility. No body
parts will be found, not even a single strand of fire lay upon the-“
He looked around shocked that Adriana had disappeared
“Adriana? Adriana!?”
Where had Adriana gone?

***

Fade way Fade way, all is black in the end. This was no different, the scene fades and all that
remains is the lingering scent of detestation and smoke that rolls through Oblivion of blackness
which Adriana seems to be standing whole in.

Lost. Completely lost. Her footsteps which were once the deliberate stride of a killer were now
aimlessly planted on the ground in a less than graceful gait, heavily dragging her feet across the
floor of the tavern as she trudges to an empty table. Eyes that once sparkled like lit emerald jewels
of fire were now dulled to a muted grey that hid all secrets behind its stone walled stare that
blankly took in the sights of the quiet place as she settles into the chair at her table. The unbearable
weight of her inundated mind forced her body to slump down low in the chair, slender shoulders
crumpled forward as her head hung low keeping her empty stare fixated on the wood of the table.
It was here she sat, statue still and silent as the grave. How long had she been here? She could not
remember. How did she even get here? It was an unanswered question, for it was a hazy memory
lost in a clouded mind of thick fog that covered every other image that might prove useful to her.
There was no knowing where she was...or even WHO She was. There was nothing left to
remember, an unsteady hand carved the letter "A" into the table before her...Remaining for many
moments as she fought with memory trying to carve the rest of this word she attempted to spell.
The mystical chords of memory had been cut; there was no bank to reach into to pull such a word
forth. Her hand fell lifelessly to her lap causing a silver dagger to clatter nosily to the ground of the
completely empty abandoned Tavern.

Drip Drip Drip there was that sound again, the huddled form was leaking from a familiar cut that
grazed across her midrift that had seemed to re-open and once more the bubbling red river flows
from her body. Though this time, as it did, a disheveled...grey tone began to creep into her
character. Time's effects were somehow taking its toll and she was now little more than a shriveled
old statue hunched in a listless pose for eternity, ever staring at the single letter "A" with the
incessant nagging of eternity's clock tick tick ticking to keep her company.

That is the scene that one would see should they look into the black of Oblivion's eyes. For that was
the black in which Adriana was trapped. That was the endless abyss that now housed a stooped
over version of something once glorious. THAT is where Adriana had gone after being consumed
by her own fires; she had literally imploded herself into Oblivion's depths, never to return. It was
in fact Oblivion who stood at the scene of the scathed lands, admiring the power of such venomous
loathing that she did not believe Adriana to be capable of. There was a twitch of a smirk that curled
the corners of cruel lips upwards as Oblivion placed her back to the ruins of Reaver, fading way
into nothingness just as Adriana had done, for her time here was done as well. There can be no end
to Oblivion, but there can be respite and so it was granted and as she disappeared from this world
a faint breeze dispersed the pile of ash, covering the satanic blade that once lay atop the remains in
nothing but malicious memory.~

***

The silence that surrounded the thick air of the chapel was broken only by the continuous
murmuring of redundant prayers offered to the ears of the Father. Since doubt had played enemy
to her heart so many days ago, this position of placation had been and would remain,
uninterrupted. The only voice to which she was answered with was the cold and hollow sound of
her echo resonating through the dank walls that had long since been unoccupied.

It was then she came, her presence announced not by blackness and death, but by an awe inspiring
sense of majesty as she moved into the abandoned chapel to find the angel who had been kneeling
in the position of prayer for days on end now. For many silent moments Adriana watched this
being with an apparent fascination, hands clasped neatly in front of her. Her posture was that of a
holy guard, non malicious yet still firm and erect. Her hair was bound in a single braid that hung
down Her backside, the only thing different now was the veil of glittering ice blue that covered Her
eyes. She indeed had no memory of this place. Her voice rose above the murmured prayers,
drawing the angel back to her surroundings as she spoke.

"Greetings Appassionata. I have been sent to take you home."

In the single movement that it took her eyes to snap open, tragically long lashes of onyx splendor
send a soft breeze fluttering through the empty cathedral that carries the sound of her soft gasp at
the familiar voice she hears. Slowly her own blue gaze turns to meet that of the entranced guardian.
She remained a prisoner of stillness for the time being, her lips the only thing to move as she spoke.

"Adriana...what...are you doing here, you are not allowed in this place. It's...it's not good for you to
linger."

A well carved brow arches upward as she listens to the angel speak. Finally the postured figure
was breathed with divine life that laced her movements with incomprehensible grace as she
seemed to float across the floor to the prone angel. A warm hand slipped outward and gently
clasped upon the slender shoulder, sending a sense of tranquility to calm the shaken being. It was a
voice that had long since been lost to time's ears, a voice of compassion that literally emanated from
her lips with each spoken word.

“He has heard your prayers and sensed your doubts Appassionata. The time has come for us to
leave this place. I was told not to linger by Him as well, for those who dwell here are evil things
that cannot be contained. We will go home and live out our existence at His side for He has left
hope of His creation to the things of this world. We will not return, I promise."

With Adriana's words the Angel's face comes to light with the revelation that Adriana truly has no
memory of the lands in which she stands upon. Finally movement is drawn to the Angel, lifting her
in an elegant dance as she rises to her feet and slowly stretches her weary frame. It was eerie to her
that she was under constant supervision of the spellbound gaze, always watched always measured.
Yet it was not a harsh gaze, it was the simple study conducted by a soldier of Heaven. She gave a
gentle pull of her shoulder, sliding it easily from the tender grasp of Adriana's strong hand. A test
came to play in her mind, no sooner had the thought entered her head did she realize that the
words themselves were spilling from her sweet lips like a bubbling fountain of curiosity that could
not be satiated.

"Adriana...look to that castle beyond the window of this place, do you know it?"

There was a hint of annoyance as Adriana's hand drew away from the slender shoulder as the
Angel rose, time was wasting and the Shadows of the place seemed to whisper, though she paid
them no mind. She cast an obligatory glance towards the window as Appassionato had asked. The
force field of blue that blanketed Her eyes shot with an electric spark that had grabbed the Angel's
attention but not Adriana's, for as far as Adriana was concerned it was just an old and dark castle
that had no more life to it; not the home that she had spent her forgotten years in. She returned her
stare to the sight of the curious being as both brows now lifted. The annoyance had woven its way
into her elegant speech in such a manner as one would scold their younger sibling as she softly
chided the holy one.

"Appassionata, why would I recognize such a place? I've not been to His creation; this is my first
time here. I was cast to sleep the night The One fell for some reason, I have very little memory as of
late, and the longer we linger the more I feel His uneasiness growing. We must return Angel."

Appassionata’s eyes widened at the shock of fire that sparked out from her eyes when she laid
them upon the Castle of Reaver, her former home. The indifference of her features caused
Appassionata's heart to leap, if Adriana could not even get a sense of familiarity from the Castle,
then perhaps it truly was over for Oblivion. There was a sudden ease that crept into her features,
erasing the worry that had been painted upon it from her days of prayer and fear. The relief played
happily upon each spoken word, pulling it into a dance of lyrical bliss as she sang out quietly.

"Yes...You are right Adriana; it is just an old dark castle. Nothing more. Let us be on our way then!"

Appassionata's excitement would wane as she caught wind of whispering tongues lashing the air
with their faintly heard anger. Her stomach would tighten even further into knots as Adriana's
delicate hand moved to her right hip where the handle of her blackened blade lay. Her head was
tilted toward the left and she had fallen still as a predator listening to the short beating heart of its
prey. Breaking the agonizing moments of silence came Adriana's gravely serious voice and while
she spoke to Appassionata it was clear she spoke to what dwelled within the blackness of the old
building.

"It is a strange thing indeed to hear tongues of wrath that seem to know my name. Yet I was
warned that things of the tainted dark would bare down upon us and so now they have. I hear one
voice only, but I am sure others will come to follow. Come Angel, the time is nigh."
Adriana's side turned to Appassionata, ensuring that she of the Divine was at her right and one
step behind should the blade need to sing one last song to this Earth. With this action alone,
Adriana's back was now placed to the darkened castle of Reaver. It was not intentional, how could
it have been when she had no recollection of things of this Earth? The spell set upon her was by the
Holy Lord Himself and even the deploring of Oblivion's Shadows made no indentation within that
inward force field that was known only by the color of her eyes.

The glimmering pools were drown out by the soft skin of her lids and even lashes as she closed her
eyes in concentration. Appassionata's inquisitive nature once more began to show through by way
of expression upon her neatly chiseled features. What need was there for concentration to pass
through? There was none, and it was in that moment she realized something else was going to
happen. Adriana's body shook hard with a single convulsion before her eyes reopened with an
incinerating white light that caused the entire surrounding area to light up as though the sun itself
had come to kiss the Earth goodbye. Her hand that touched the handle of the blackened blade gave
way as both arms shot outward, palms facing the heavens as the same light burst free of her skin.
Her mouth fell open into an "o" that cast the same raging light forward that was enough to make
the Holy One utter a startled shriek as she reeled back from the force that nearly drove her
sightless. That movement alone had granted her near sightlessness to catch glimpse of the rippling
muscles on the ignited being's back, twitching and rippling fervently until the sick sound of skin
ripping was heard and wings of soft oil slick white burst free of their fleshy prison each
symmetrical and detailed feather casting it's own glorious beacon as Appassionata's hand lifted to
shield what was left of her gaze from the divine blaze. The light emanating from the chapel
intensified further, blinding any who would not shield their gaze from such essence and with a
thunderous. The light that shone radiated a moment longer before finally night was returned to His
creation and all was silent.
It was in heaven that Adriana had woke, a horrified expression still plastered to her features as she
nervously flitted her eyes back and forth. Once she was certain she could see she began blinking for
a few moments, her gaze stopping automatically when she drank in the sight of God’s protector
sitting as though she had never left. There was a serene smile that graced the corners of her lips
while she watched over the frightened thing.

"Wh...What happened? How did we get back? Appassionata WHAT did you do?"

Adriana stumbled over her words, though the euphony of her voice remained unbroken. There
was a slow intake of air that she took to calm herself while she awaited the explanation. Still shaken
she wearily moved to her feet, exquisite hands falling to the glowing white of her cloak as she
smoothed it down. Finally when she had taken her place at His left side with the stringed harp that
she loved so well Appassionata began to speak.

"I have closed the gates of heaven Adriana. His creation has fallen to His disfavor and the vile
creatures of that realm shall no longer be allowed to enter this Kingdom of Joy"

Adriana’s face became struck with an incredulous look as she stared dumbfounded at
Appassionata. Once more her voice was lead by the thoughts in her head before she could contain
her tongue she shot back.

"But what of the good that is left there?! There are still millions...BILLIONS upon that place who
have yet to enter! What will become of them?!"

"You are hysterical my muse, calm yourself. Appassionata promised that you would live existence
out with Me in My palace and so you shall. She said there would be no returning to that place, it
was a mistake to create and as such I shall leave it to its own devices. It will destroy itself. There is
no Hope for them Adriana…Unless… "

It was His voice that interjected, bringing Appassionata’s high-pitched song to a screeching halt.
She lifted the look of her disbelief unto Him with an exasperated sigh. Shaking her head and
straightening from the perch of her harp she began again.

"You mean not to allow any more in? Impossible, you have truly damned the goodness of your
creation? How can this be, how have you given up hope! There is another reason, why would you
close the gates..."

Once more she was cut off, this time her lips were still moving. The melody that was her voice was
literally taken away. She was met with a saddened gaze and a heavy sigh as He waved her
away...with a defeated look wracked across her pain filled features she spun angrily upon her feet.
She need no voice to inspire, for her movements alone were a song penned by God's hand and as
she walked from the room He looked toward the silent being who had been calmly observing the
outburst.

"I have done what is necessary Adriana, You understand do you not? I have risked much to...wake
you. We will be forever safe."

There was no verbal response to be offered, only the genuine look of acceptance that she gave to
Him as He turned away and sat upon His throne, slumping heavily into the grand chair while
contemplating in silence.

Such was the fate of Appassionata, She who had locked heaven's entrance. Forever to sit within the
room of His throne, ever watching and ever protecting. She was now the Forever Guardian.

Elsewhere within the kingdom an Angel shook with new feelings that had engulfed her. Sorrow
she had felt before, it kissed her tears and sang the harmony of rain to the world below many a
time, but anger was a new thing within her. With a soundless scream of this acquired emotion this
Angel did weep, collapsing into a heap upon the floor of her room, as the tears that fell rained
down from the heavens. How was it possible? The entrance to Heaven was blocked, it was never
once mentioned of the exit...was it an oversight or was it a test. Time would only tell, but for now it
would relent to the lamenting tears of the Angel allowing her to cry.

As the rain of anguish washed down upon the silent lands of Reaver a waif like shadow loomed in
the corner of the empty chapel. It's only words spoken in a drawn out hiss before the image
flickered and faded away. It was the same recurring sentence that would not be ignored.

"There is no end to Oblivion."

 The end seems to be the beginning, as well as the beginning seems to be the end.

CHAPTER 7
The end seems to be the beginning, as well as the beginning seems to be the end.

Oct 21st, 12:13

Alex felt web-like strings entangling him, disallowing him to breathe. His eyes opened, but he
couldn’t see anything besides a white pulsating light from outside. He could hear dozens of
spidery legs crawling about. Alex struggled and fought with the string.
“Wake up!” he yelled in a muffled voice. It was no use, no one was out there. Where was he? He
could hear the faint sound of a shatter. He could hear a faint, far away voice.
“What?! Oh my God! What is that!” the voice yelled in fear.
He could hear mesh like noises moving about. His cocoon started to wiggle and jump up and
down. He started to panic and he could hear a terrible chewing and piercing type noise.
“No! No! Get off of-“The voice faded away with a gurgling noise.
Alex’s cocoon broke open. He was covered in web-like strings. He ripped the strings off of his
naked body. He stopped and looked around. He was in a web filled lair with millions of cocoons.
He looked around for any of the creatures. None. Not one. He figured they were just waiting for
him. But he had no time to wonder. He started to sprint towards a very faint light he saw off in the
distance. As he was running he passed by a corpse that was covered in blood. His face half
chewed-off. What a disgusting sight it was. Alex almost puked, but he swallowed his vomit before
it came out. He was led to a three way passage. Where do I go? Each one had a light echoing off in
the distance. Alex heard a loud shriek behind him. He turned around quickly; He saw a giant
spider-like creature. Eye-less. He saw its giant orifice, spewing out its saliva. It had giant fangs that
were pitch-black, with a slight glow of a metallic color. He stood there shocked for a couple of
seconds and quickly started off with a sprint.
Alex ran out to the exit of the burrow, and saw that outside there was a furious blizzard happening.
Wind blowing wrathfully. He couldn’t see any sign of society. Was he still in Toronto? He couldn’t
think straight, He looked back and saw the darkness of the lair, silent with sin, Alex was freezing,
he was naked, and he had no supply of clothes. It was around, say, sub-zero temperature. He
started running, but the frigid weather was slowing him down, and the heavy, deep snow was
hindering him profusely. As he was running images of the spider and the bus were echoing in his
mind. A quick flashback of Myes hit him. He was seeing images of long-ago reflect back and he
could see his past, a dark, dark, past. Everything was rapidly flowing through his head.

“Reflect, think back. You remember now Alex.”

“Remember, recall. You knew them all Alex.”
These voices whispered and echoed in his head.
“NO! I don’t want to remember! I don’t!” Alex yelled out in rage. He started to run his finger
through his hair and closed his eyes in pain.
“Leave…Me. ALO-“as he tried to utter the last word out. He suddenly came to a quick halt. He
couldn’t move.
He opened his eyes and promptly looked down towards his feet. He found himself in a swampy,
murky, and substantial slough. He believed it to be quicksand but it was nothing of the sort, he
studied Survival III and this was definitely not quicksand. But it did bring him to a quick halt and
he couldn’t move at all. The mire was incredibly thick and he couldn’t find the strength to lift his
feet up. He wasn’t sinking; he was just plainly standing there.
Alex started to hear loud screeches that sounded like something from Alien .vs. Predator. He
started to quickly look around, he couldn’t see anything… He could only see the coverage of the
snowy pine forest atop. He looked back and saw a dark tall silhouette approaching towards him.
“Great, more dream characters, which just made my life a lot easier.” Alex said sardonically.
The dark figure was clearer now, he had a shady hooded-cloak, and crimson eyes, whatever it was,
it was leaving a mist of dark haze following its trail. The screeches grew louder. They were coming
from behind this figure. Alex now observed the spider-like creatures surrounding the man in
complete panic and fear.
“Don’t worry, there is no need to fear them, they are what you would call, frightened, they dare not
to mingle with you, because I am protecting you, that is why you are still alive as we speak”, the
man said in a low supernatural voice. It reached out its hand, for Alex to grab it, the hands were
gaunt and emaciated, and they were between the colors of a scornful gray. Alex warily moved his
hands toward this strange thing.
He grasped his hand firmly and the figure pulled him slowly out of the slough, he wasn’t
physically pulling him because he took no effort in drawing him, evidently this wasn’t a normal life
form. Soon enough Alex was out of the bog and on to snowy land.
“Would you care for some clothes and food?” The man whispered.
“Fair enough.” Alex said apathetically.
The figure waved his hand up and down about Alex’s body; suddenly Alex was fully clothed in the
same clothing he was wearing before all of this had happened. The figure appeared a very pleasant
fruit in his hand. Rich and golden fruit. Alex was staring at this breathtaking fruit with wide eyes.
“It is very luscious and succulent, come take the fruit.” He hissed.
Alex took no thought into grabbing that fruit and taking a big bite out of it.
“Yes….yesss.” The figure hissed.
Alex’s head was spinning heatedly. Pain was searing through his body and his head.

***
Oct 22st, 9:49
Darkness. Nothing but absolute and pure, crushing darkness, so thick that Alex could not tell
whether his eyelids were open or closed.
His body, was wrapped in a some kind of cloth.
Flakes of what felt like pieces of metal and glass rustled off his body as he slid sideways and got
up.
The pain no longer seemed real; it shot back and forth appearing and re-appearing, an illusion of
what it was before.
He amplified his other senses as far as he could, staggering about like a moth in the sunlight,
completely blind and utterly defenseless. His feet rustled on something like metal and snow.
Was I destined for hell, because I simply chose to disbelieve in heaven?
Perhaps I was just still asleep, somewhere out there, many years ago?
The view was black and opaque. He concentrated to distinguish any light. There was none.
So this is what hell is like? Nothing at all to see, only metal shards everywhere to step on? Was he
even alive? That fruit… The ground rustled beneath his feet. His running shoes were still on him,
the little plastic parts catching onto the rustling ground. There was thick, metal dust in the stale,
cold air. The dust filled his mouth, covered his hands, harassing his senses. Sand and metal scraped
between his teeth. The pungent taste of ash stung his nostrils.
“ Appcha--aaayyy” He loudly sneezed, flailing his arms about in the pitch-black, stale air.
“Chuuuaaayyyyy... Ayyyy…. Ayyyy…” an echo of his sneeze danced around, running forward.
He tried to imagine how big this illusive hell was. A cavern? No… more like a mountain plateau.
Impossible…
“Light. I need light. I would kill for a light right about now. Kill whom… there’s no one here… or is
there? Curse this thick darkness!
My pockets… there must be something… There... wait…” He reached deep down into the left
pocket of his pants.
“A lighter? No, it can’t be. It sure feels like a lighter.”
He tried to remember where this came from. A slideshow of images started to unwind itself inside
his brain. Days…. or was it weeks? He could remember the black letters on the lighter. “Vote Sarah
Slean for student Union president.”
“ Thank you Sarah. You may just have saved my life… if I was still alive that is… time to find
out….”
He pulled the lighter out of his pocket and raised it up, his thumb slowly sliding down its rough
metal wheel with the usual “Krrhhhhhhh” sound.
It was the most magical sound he heard. He prayed that the lighter would work.
A tiny sparked formed itself in the bottom part of the wheel, connecting with the hissing gas that
escaped from the bottom chamber.
“Thmkkkk” the spark ignited, generating a tiny ball of fire that spread itself out from the metal
chamber.
“ Whooooshhhhhh” A miniature sun was born in his fist, temporarily blinding him, rays of light
beating in all directions, mercilessly chasing the darkness away.
“ And wherever light goes it will always find darkness there, waiting for it” an old quote leapt off
his tongue.
What miniscule flame the lighter produced, was apparently somehow enough to chase the
darkness away for thousands of meters around him. He was in the middle of a barren field,
covered in dust and metal, black, and orange rust covered everything from the ground to his
hands. A massive scrap yard of unknown civilization stretched all around him, as far as he could
see. Black plants poked through here and there, increasing in numbers and turning into curvy field
far off.
Farther ahead, loomed leviathan mountains of jagged metal, rising up left and right and vanishing
in the murky, syrup clouds. Twisted, bent, and torn up shards of steel, hexagonal beams and piles
of mangled, rust covered metal rose here and there out of the field, some covered in black plants,
slightly resembling dead prairie trees. The dancing sun on his hand generated countless shadows
from each shard and beam that crisscrossed and flailed left and right.
He wrapped himself tighter in the ambulance bed sheet looking like an orange caped crusader
completely out of place.
“ Yep, it’s hell all right” He concluded then and there, his heart sinking. Around him was a dead
world, burned out who knows how long ago, now made up entirely of dead monoliths, broken
carcasses and ashes…
Large, orange flakes of dust, illuminated by his lighter floated around, everywhere, like bloated up,
massive snowflakes, some resembling dried up spiders or twisted starfish. He nearly recoiled in
shock and let go of the lighter as He saw one of the spider-shaped dust flakes land on the ground
and silently scamper away through the metal mush, very quickly, disappearing somewhere
between the cracks. This world wasn’t dead. Instead, it was filled with inorganic dust monsters
again.
“ Ahhh.. Ahhh” He flailed his arms as some of the dust particles landed on them, started to crawl
on him, trying to get away from the burning light in his hand.
“Ahhh ahhhhhhhhh ahhh geeet awaaay!” He spun, shaking the countless, nearly weightless, cold,
spider-flakes off him. His skin chafed everywhere.
In another second he stopped caring, as a monstrous shape had started to emerge from the
charcoal, somber cloud ahead, capturing his attention.
“ Twhoooook… twhooook… twhooook…” an array of massive, angled legs dropped into the field,
gliding and clipping on the shards of metal.
“Ohh… my… ghttt.. tchhh” He uttered looking up. A dark body, made up of a few sharp
tetrahedrons, supported by a few, relatively thin, but incredibly long legs, loomed in the obsidian
sky somewhere up above Alex. A single, even longer, slightly thinner leg, covered in millions of
constantly moving, long, flickering hair cloaked the ground ahead. He realized it was the same as
the tiny spider flakes, only about a thousand times bigger, even more horrific was the realization
that the colossal thing was made up or at least covered in the same tiny metal spider-flakes, all of
them crawling up, down, sideways in a mess of motion. His hair stood up as goose bumps ran all
over his hands. The lighter was starting to burn the skin on his finger.
“Twhoooook… twhooook… twhooook…” The legs approached him, one of them hitting a large
metal carcass nearby that looked fairly solid but dissolved away into the air as if it was made up
entirely out of ashes, metal dust crumbling down and ascending into the air.
He realized that the monstrosity was blind, but it craved the warmness of his lighter, as its probing;
thin, metallic leg slashed through the ground here and there, its claws reaching for Alex.
He dashed back from the monstrous spider claw in pacifying fear, sliding on metal shards.
The gliding claw slashed against his hand, thousands of separate strands reaching for the lighter,
like metal flakes drawn to a magnet.
The lighter flame flickered and his finger slipped off the little yellow button as the claw engulfed
his hand.
“ Hwshooooooosh” his only source of light and warmth, in this cold and dead world, was gone.

CHAPTER 8
We sought to reach out and touch the stars,
Foolish enough to try and reach the heavens themselves,
To become masters of all in creation.
Who was to tell us that our ideals were flawed,
And that in our plight we would forget the beauty of our own world.

Will awoke to find himself back at the abnormal place he first came to, he was laying down on a
grassy field. He staggered to stand up.
Wills thoughts collided with each other, making up obscene theories about the mess he’d gotten
himself into, as he begun to cross a large, grass covered field that stood between him and the
Living Quarters. Sinking his shoes through the grass, he pushed on, wanting to get there faster,
and hopefully sort this mess out… Somehow, still hoping to wake up, still hoping that it was all
just a dream. Dark, thick clouds loomed overhead. It began to snow once again, snowflakes gently
waltzing in the air, all around Will.
“ Cracka-WWWWW!!” the sky exploded with thunder, making him jerk down in surprise.
“ Thundersnow?” He asked the sky, looking straight up and witnessing a brief flash of lightning
pass between the clouds, as the heavy, thick snow kept falling and blotting out his vision.
“ Cracka-cracka-cawWWWWW!!” The clouds boomed, lightning jumping between them.
“ Great. It’s lightning quite nicely and I am walking across a field… real smart. Good thing there’s
plenty of tall trees around. Like this one here…” He concluded, staring at a large, maple tree in
front of him. The storm continued to spin overhead. As he walked forward, tumbling through the
thick grass, the wind suddenly ceased and looking up again, he realized that he was now directly
in the eye of the storm. A wall of clouds and falling snow curled around him, around the field,
reaching up into the heavens.
Lightning bounced right in the eye of the storm, rebounding between the opening in the clouds,
flashing lower, and lower. “Cracka-CRAWWWWWWW!” the sky exploded, suddenly descending,
and tearing out his eardrums.
Blinding lightning flashed down and ignited the tree. He threw his hands against his face far too
late. Falling to his knees, he rubbed his eyes that were filled with white, dancing fire. He could hear
the cracking of the burning tree in front of him. The white sparkles went away pretty swiftly, just in
time for him to see the colors of the world change.
Click, click, click, the colors of the world shifted, throwing him somewhere in time.
“ Hooooboy!” He whooshed out, sinking in the grass. He checked his watch, to see which way he
was going, but it was hopelessly broken, its monitor cracked in several places, crunched up
somehow during his flight from the spontaneous walk-in-operation building.
He stood on his knees. The tree in front of him was burning. The wall of clouds was coming down,
swirling, glaring, and flashing, as it too caught fire.
Static echoes of voices were coming through, seeping into his brain from somewhere above.
“ You idiot, how could you miss him?”
“ I didn’t miss him. I could have sworn he was right there. A slight miscalculation.”
“ Upon your part!”
“ Its not my fault! He keeps moving! Yes, firing again”
“Get him this time, for…”
The voices fuzzed up again. It was just enough for him. He jumped off from his sitting on his knees
position to rolling through the grass position just as the lightning beam struck again, the grass
curling up into a nice, big, and round crop circle that formed right where he sat a second ago. The
crop circle spread its arms, birthing more folds and lines as fire and light ignited the field again and
again, striking, jumping between the grass and trees, electrical currents slicing grasses and leaves.
“ Run. Run. Run. Will run.” Thoughts shot through his head.
He quickly started to sprint, he saw a Jeep, its drivers door was wide open, and he dived in as
quickly as possible, and started up the Jeep and started driving through the car filled highway.
***
AM 9:43. The black dial showed, inside the truck driver’s cabin.
“This is radio D-J-AAAY, 106.5, here to bring you the next bin bang!” the radio resounded through
the cabin.
“ And here it comes! Just shut of all other sounds and listen to it appear in your raaaaadaaaaaar!”
The DJ sung out, as a tiny speck of spherical, black dust suddenly appeared in the middle of the
highway, apparently out of nowhere, hanging still in mid-air.
He changed lanes, heading straight towards it. With a little clipping sound the two collided and by
Newton’s Laws of physics, the smaller piece of matter should have bounced right off, but it just
didn’t happen here. Instead, the truck, stopped in an instant, going from 120 to 0 kilometers per
hour, as if it hit an invisible brick wall. Clip, clip, clip, the little ball of black dust, pierced right
through the engine, compartments and walls, pulverizing and fracturing them, stopping
somewhere inside the cylindrical trailer, filled with gas and air. A single spark followed.
***

“9:44” The green shiny numbers of the stereo clocked shot back at Will. As he looked back onto the
road he saw the end coming. A truck carrying two gas trailers had spun out of control, blocking all
highway lanes. Another one, carrying metal railings, intended for laying out new subway lines was
cruising directly behind it. As the first truck turned over, the second one mashed right into it, in a
cacophony of metal mating with metal.
Will jammed on the brakes, just like the short row of cars in front of him, but it was far too late to
slow down safely. The first truck had stopped impossibly abruptly, comically spinning in the air,
flapping and twisting up as if it was a fly crushed by a pair of giant tweezers.
“ Ka-blamooooghhh!” The whole thing exploded in a lovely inferno, rings of fire rippling through
the road like ocean waves. Ping! Ping! Ping! Flaming metal railings flew out, gobbling up cars and
bouncing against the concrete.
Crack! A railway bar went straight through his windshield piercing the passenger seat and turning
it into a leathery mess, showering him with pieces of the windshield. His jeep twisted forward,
raising its back into the air and disconnected from the road surface, flying upwards. Will screamed
something obscene.
Crack-caaawwrcchhh! Another bar tore through the roof of his jeep, heading straight for his head.
***

Will could see several sparks of light flash as he slowly and painfully opened his head.
In temporal displacement Will stared through the ring of fire at himself.
And for a brief second he was everywhere.
Chained by his storm, he could only control his fate but not the fate of others.
What good was it to do anything, if nothing could ever be changed?
With the reach of his hand, he re-awakened the ancient machine, seeking answers.

For ages this world was dead, abandoned long ago by its creators and Will dared to give it life. But
the question was… perhaps this world wish to stay dead? Did it want change?
Perhaps there was a reason for it to fall into the darkness?
Who was I… to bring it light?
As it drew power from his chronostorm, he realized that this was not what he had wished for.
What did he wish for?
What exactly did he want? He was a mere human, bound by his dreams and thoughts, tortured by
momentary impulses, bound by fate itself towards… He wasn’t even quite sure towards what.

Lo and he has become… the creator of life.

It awakened, reaching towards him, consuming everything around it, to give itself shape.
It spoke to him, not in a voice but in images and song. A long forgotten song, that had not filled
these halls of scorched metal for hundreds of years.
A living kaleidoscope of colors lights and colors, glittering, sparkling, and lighting up before his
very eyes. Scraps of metal and glass tearing themselves from the ground and levitating, rising,
merging into chaotic shapes and patterns.
Hundreds of unblinking, cold metal eyes examined him, scanning, interpreting, and forming an
interface in his own image.
Flesh forming out of metal.
Metal forming out of flesh.
***
Will awoke in a heartbeat, breathing heavily, with a cold sweat. He could feel his hand trembling
and his whole world revolving back and forth through his weary mind. He had awoken from a
elusive dream that was so perplexing, but when he was in it he had felt as if he knew exactly what
was happening, every thing in that dream was so realistic, yet he could not remember what he was
thinking in it, everything was so vague, nothing was making sense to him.
These thoughts kept on circling through Will’s mind violently, but he quickly forgot about it when
he saw the catastrophe on the highway, it was literally split into two, and not a single iota
recovered, everything was demolished. Not only the highway but the entire world…he couldn’t
see a solitary thing that wasn’t left to cinders. Cities were burning, he could hear cries of fright.
Nothing. Nothing at all, everything was in disarray.
“Do you see now?” That voice…
Will quickly turned around and saw the same hooded figure he spoke to before.
“You, You caused this didn’t you?!” Will’s tears ran down his cheeks.
“Me? No Human, I did not cause this…you did.” He hissed in a stuck-up tone. “You are the ones
who caused this upon the world, you all left it do desolation, misery, and chaos…and now there is
nothing you can do about it, cant you see William?” He paused. “You’re brain plays with you and
there is no hope for you, there is no turning back, there is no way!”
Will yelled at the top of his lungs, “NO!” “I will not believe this!” He charged towards the figure in
complete resentment.

CHAPTER 9
Breaking lights of darkness in the distance,
Flickering apologetic words,
Subconsciously passive, last resistance
I just want to atomize, shatter out of consistence
Flying into heavens like a flock of birds.

Counting down nanoseconds of my toll.

Tracing down the lines of existence
And these words of wisdom overdue for all
It is far too late for heavenly assistance,
When my sins accounted for the ending goal

Body’s rusting in the rain,

I am trying to forget and be forgotten.
Something clawing from the inside at my brain,
Something ghastly, dark and rotten.

Hear me and thus accept my flesh

Take my eyes so I can see again
Maybe then I can no longer be forsaken
Maybe then I can awaken,
Start my life anew, afresh.

"Now, Adriana…” The voice that spoke was soft. Every word that the young feminine voice spoke
seemed to be wrapped in love and tied with a smile. For some, such a caring tone would be
reserved for only those dearest to them, but for Jessica it just came naturally. For her, every being
— human or animal, living or dead — was precious.
Adriana woke up to see Jessica leaning over. Making her wake up amiably. Adriana sat up looking
at Jessica’s. She was beautiful, radiantly glowing, in heavenly light.
Adriana looked at Jessica plainly.
“Why did he allow this?” she asked in despair.
Jessica sat down and put her hand on Adriana’s shoulder.
“God works in mysterious ways Adriana, sometimes we don’t understand why he allows certain
things but as we learnt many times, he knows best, he knows what he’s doing, and he knows very
well what’s best for people.” She said in a very comforting voice. That’s probably why she is called
the comforter.
“So he allows pain and suffering because he knows that that’s what’s best for them?!” Adriana’s
tone was getting sharper now. “I cant seem to understand Jessica…why cant any one be saved
anymore?” Her voice was sad, yet calmer.
“Because, Adriana Earth is getting much worse, there is no hope.”
“Don’t say that! Don’t say there is no hope! Out of all the people, you shouldn’t be saying there is
no hope! There is ALWAYS hope!” she started crying. “If God is love…then he should know that
the loving thing to do is to…give people a chance.” Adriana said the last words slowly but sternly.
She started to run towards the gates.
“Adriana! Adriana! No!”
Adriana saw the golden gates up ahead. She charged and pulled the gate handles. The Gates flew
open. Adriana couldn’t find it in herself to stop running, she saw a bright white flash and suddenly
the flash shifted from light, to darkness. All she could hear was Jessica’s voice echo.
“Adriana! No!”
She was falling, falling into the darkness of the once known, Earth.
***
Appassionata quickly extended out her wings and started to take wing back to Earth, following
Adriana’s falling body. Appassionata extended her arms out to grab a hold of Adriana, it was
difficult, and it felt as though she was pulling a beings soul while a demon was pulling as well.
But she got a hold of Adriana, she almost lost her, but she quickly pulled her towards her chest
and folded her wings over her body so she wouldn’t get hurt by the fragments of this scorched,
lifeless, Earth.
She couldn’t control her direction but she needed to keep this human alive. Soon enough
Appassionata collided into the earth, leaving a cavernous type hole In the ground. Appassionata
could feel the shards of the highway impact itself into her skin, but she mended it. Appassionata
pulled herself out of the fissure in the ground and put Adriana gently on the surface. She looked up
and saw him, the one, the one they call…Oblivion.