A tapping ripped Adonis from his sleep. looking over at the door ,Doctor Sutherland poked his head.

“Good morning, breakfast is about to begin “

Adonis swung his legs to the edge of the bed, and yawned.

trying desperately to find the strength to get up.

“You must have had a long night”

“I did “

“No escort today, less restrictions. if you mess up it can be detrimental to your board today. this is the final day of testing to show us you're ready and what you would do with all the down time we are about to give you. you're on your own schedule, sleep. eat as you please, I hope you have a good day Adonis. I will be around.”

Adonis smiled to himself seeing that Sutherland left the door open for him, he really meant it. Adonis knew he would take care of himself first and then probably go eat. like the doctor said he was kind of free today so whatever he wanted to do he could do it. as tempting as it was, he knew going back to sleep was the wrong answer to it. they would be watching him, observing closely so he had to be productive.

The elevator was usually off limits but the child in him felt like taking it downstairs to breakfast. 

Sutherland approached Adonis on his way back onto the main floor after breakfast. with a roaming guard. 

“Adonis, good news very good news grab your food and come with me”

After Adonis got his food Sutherland took him outside the facility where he was driven to the police station to make a sworn statement against Adam wynston. Adonis pushed his report to the end of the table.

“Does this close the case out?”

The officer swept up the page and glanced it over before sitting down to sign and date his portion.

“I need you to initial by these areas you scratched out “ 

Adonis went over the few areas he had to scribble over and initialed by them. and while he did that the officer answered his question.

“It’s, Sunday so the case file won’t be ready for pickup until

Wednesday “

“Well, if I’m not being accused of anything, that file I’m waiting for just means that I filed this report… and I should be fine?”

“Yes, Adam wynston is still being processed as we speak, with this report we have no other need to question you. however you may be required to appear as a witness on his trial day. Which we won’t have for months.”

Adonis looked to sutherland, and Sutherland addressed his fears.

“As long as we have a date I can send someone to pick it up on the day of “

Adonis sat back in his seat letting his head hit the wall in relief. The officer left the room and Sutherland stood from his chair. prompting they were about to leave.

Back onto the facility, Dr Sutherland informed him that he would be getting a new representative for the review 

“Why can't you just be my sponsor?’ he asked 

“I'm sorry but that's not in my title, and its not in the regulation. take the day to get familiar with one another. Mr

Hamadani, he seems like your kind of gig “

Hamadani approached Adonis and ushered him towards a table, so their introductions didn’t feel rushed.

“Omar Tareq Al- Hamadani, “he said with a heavy Arabic accent.

Adonis just introduced himself by his first name.

“I am in no way to replace your friend. I just want to help in any way I can. do you think you can help me?” Hamadani asked. 

“I can try “Adonis said. 

“maybe we should talk about something else?”

Adonis agreed and Hamadani began to talk about his upbringing in America. and how he had never seen his mother’s birthplace which is where he originated, southwestern Iran. After his meal they took their conversation outside towards the backside of the building. giving him a recollection of his first days here with Marthus they had walked the same path.

“I think my passion to help people came from the influence of western religion. and would I have your permission to speak freely?”

Adonis gave it to him and began to focus on what Hamadani was saying.

“I saw how the west had created religion, and it made people ineffective. in the ways they could think for themselves. they didn't know what it was to be self-sufficient. I learned a lot through a teacher of mine who was deeply passionate about the power of the mind. “He paused to continue. 

“So, I felt like I could carry his message forward. and here I am doing his work”

Adonis stopped and took a second to appreciate the highway just outside the facility , the September cool and the sound of a busy city. filled him with memories when he was living with Mom and dad during their last winter together.

Hamadani noticed Adonis had zoned out of the conversation and faded into the world around him.

“I’m not really any good to make another friend right now, so our relationship won't be what I know it could be”

Hamadani could see the emotions on his face, and insisted they kept walking and talking it out.

“You lost someone close to you, you don’t have to explain yourself “

“I feel…”

Adonis felt the tears welling inside him. Forcing them back, he took a knee.

Adonis took a deep shakey breath. 

“This shit sucks …but I need. “

Adonis closed his eyes briefly shaking away the tears. 

“I need…” 

His breathing increased and he broke. Crying not saddened but rage filled. His inability to express it had been worse than he expected. The decompression began then and there in front of the facility. Doctor sutherland had come. Out to check on them, Hamadani raised a hand to let Sutherland know he was handling it. Sutherland made his way back onto the unit reflecting on the fact he had never seen Adonis on his knee like that undoubtedly emotional. However, a better alternative than exacting violence to soothe the pain.

Adonis was able to speak when the tears left him. On his knee he glanced over at Hamadani, his back to the facility wall.

“I know it’s a big job to understand someone in one afternoon. So, I’ll make it simple for you …”

Adonis passed the last few hours listening to music in the computer lab trying to think about the best and smoothest possibilities. he thought about packing and how it would feel to see the facility behind him in his motorcycle mirrors, Damn I miss my bike. 

Raindrops started to hit the tan sidewalk around the building and developing on the windows around him. Taking his headphones off and shutting down the monitor he took a moment of silence noticing the time. they were about to call on him for the review.

The rain falling, pelting the roof top of the facility and the glass around him, it was a serenade that calmed the anxiety and shakiness throughout his body.

Passing around the female side they led him through the east wing. rooms he passed on his right and left were the rooms for music, art. A small library and the computer labs. At the end up ahead was the meeting room they used specifically for reviews. no one was allowed to conduct any activities in the east wing the day of any review. It was a lounge, everyone that participated would sit around a couch. there was a vending machine here and a kitchen sink. The windows were blinded shut ,not that there was much daylight out anyway. Leaving a calm and relaxing environment. The room had lighting to ensure the room was comfortable at all times. “How is the light Adonis are you comfortable?”

Hamadani asked. 

“It’s fine “

Hamadani came and sat with him while they waited for the chief and his other representatives to join them.

Grabbing a soda from the vending machine, Hamadani took a long sip. and they continued to wait. Rain was all that he kept his focus on, he didn’t want to let in the disbeliefs, or the worries that were asking for permission to take their throne inside his mind.

The door opened and the chief of Hamilton facilities entered. with a smile on his face.

Adonis stood from where he sat to greet him, this wasn’t the first time he met the chief.

 “Ready? “

The chief smiled shaking his hand. and took a seat on the other couch across from him with a vanilla folder, his file. The rest of the key leaders of the facility like Sutherland, Natalie and others took their seats around the room as well as some security staff.

“Normally There’s no need for introductions here but we have a new face “ 

The chief gestured to Hamadani, and he introduced himself briefly.

“Also, this is about your third review, I’ve heard you made progress but I'm also aware you’ve been through a lot recently”

‘So, before you think I'm out to get you. tell me why I shouldn’t suggest you stay longer?”

The chief gestured toward Adonis.

Adonis looked into his face and answered confidently. 

“I recently proposed to my girlfriend of two years. we plan to graduate High school and leave town to start our own lives. I’ve applied what this facility has taught me, digging deep and finding my ambitions in music to ventilate my frustrations. Once I leave here, I will never come back “

The chief seemed impressed with his answer and then Hamadani spoke.

“His ambitions are to create a family. he wants to find a job and move out of his mother's care so he can make that happen. Adonis has been receiving extra tutoring from school and he goes to school regularly…”

The chief cut Hamadani off

 “but he’s not enrolled in school”

“Exactly sir. Adonis is showing an elevated level of interest in his high school degree even though he’s not enrolled yet.”

Hamadani emphasized on the yet part and continued

“Adonis loves to weight train. ride his motorcycle in times of stress. he does many things to manage his stress levels.”

The chief nodded smiling at how good it sounded.

“Adonis to me is an emotionally intelligent young man who is ready for the next phase of his life. others are waiting for him. and have been waiting a long two years for him to earn his release from the care and watch of Hamilton facilities.” 

Hamadani was finished and the chief asked for the input of others around the room. and to Adonis’s surprise, everyone agreed! The chief was now left weighing the verdict in the silence of his mind.

“Mr Grenali sent up a golden ticket before his departure, however there seemed to be a recent police report open against Adonis, how are we with that? “

Sutherland cleared his throat.

“He’s been relieved of any charges

and filed his police report”

“Oh, so he’s cleared. let me see the file”

“Sir the file won’t be ready until Wednesday, Hamadani is going to grab it from the station and make copies for all of us”

The Chief sighed and cleaned the top of his nose where his glasses sat, Sutherland glanced over at Natalie. Adonis watched this exchange in glances, it was a glance lacking in confidence. “Sutherland you’ve been a director for how long?”

“Um… two years…”

“Right, and you do know where I have to be tomorrow?”

“At another review “

The chief's voice and attitude increased.

“Yes, at another review in another state! I’mTraveling for reviews for the rest of the month but that doesn’t mean I can just come back here. I still have to get on H.M.S and input every single review and its information in by a certain day and time”

The room got quiet, dense with a palm sweating energy. The chief was taking notes on his leather pad folio. once he finished, he turned to Adonis.

“You understand what’s going to happen now?”

Adonis’s body was trembling with stress. it wasn’t very noticeable, but it prevented him from speaking clearly and that itself was.

“Will I have to… have to stay now?”

The chief gave him an apologetic look before giving him an answer.

“I’m afraid so.”

He looked toward Sutherland

“It will be months until I get back and I hope for his sake “the chief pointed to Adonis.

“That file will be in my hands during the next re…”

“NO!” 

Fire was born of the sound wave, spreading visibly like a gaseous sonic vapor across the room floor. and Adonis rose from his seat, his chest heaving. baring his yellow eyes at the horrified chief.

Hamilton staff fled the room, except for the security force who tried to rush Adonis. but from the frequency of the vibrations coming off of adonis, there bodies evaporated in a blast of dust and blood.

“Too long I have waited, too long has this world been spared from my face! “

Adonis snatched the chief up by his throat. shorting the restraint system that couldn’t handle his strength. single handedly he raised the chief up to the burning ceiling. The chief clawed and fought against his powerful arm. his eyes strained and bulged, choking. Until his movements became less and less, and his eyes fell to a blank stare. Adonis closed his fist completely. crushing his snapping windpipe. He hit the floor in a gelatin and lifeless way. fire immediately cradled his head, searing his hair and skin. spreading underneath his body. Under possession, Adonis left the blazing room. the fire followed him, rising up the walls in his stride. Doctor Sutherland and other staff. hurried and directed everyone as far away from the building towards the road. patients rushed down the stairs leaving there games behind on the table. Hamadani watched Adonis, marching down that hallway with the flames surrounding him, flames that were running down to the foyer. Hamadani switched his attention. shouting and ushering patients out the front door. Security and staff above cleared floors of rooms quickly. rushing under the deafening fire alarm. the sounds of fire and police sirens were already on their way. they wasted no time separating girls and boys. using most of the back of the parking lot. they continued to rush patients out of the hospital. Sutherland delegated members to keep count of the patients and staff as they came. and he rushed back in to guide everyone else out. the smoke only intensified, and the crowd of patients were forced to back away from the building more and more. 

Sutherland was overwhelmed. his hand shaking as he dialed the number to contact a rapid deployment team to come out with buses to escort the patients.

The facility was burning rapidly, the fire had already spread

to the outside. a chopper flew over head of them, preparing to drop water on the burning building.

The fire had no harm or effect on him. He could manipulate it to move with simple movements of his body. turning his palms into him he reached high. and the fire tore open the roof in a clockwise bottle-opening gesture. swirling the wood metal and debris in a vortex of chaos above him. The helicopter that had just arrived to start releasing water onto the facility, was swallowed up and mixed into the cluster. before it could pull up and away the expanding and reaching fire spiraled around it. and crushed it like a can. all the severing parts of the helicopter became part of the firestorm that collapsed in on itself like a dying star. vacuuming everything that it victimized to oblivion.

Officers pointed their weapons up at the black cloud smoldering from the hole in the roof. a man was floating above the burning building with madness in his bright eyes. he craned his neck back and roared a sound that aroused and heightened the buildings fire. shattering vehicle windows and busting their sirens. He exited the fumes and descended slowly a few feet away from their weapons.

The order arrived in three tank vehicles. in a spearhead formation right behind the officers. The ramp opened and their soldiers came around the back of the vehicles. gunners were ready to fire, all three pointed in his direction. A single row of soldiers lined up in front of the up armored vehicles. and the others took cover in-between them and around the sides. The officers moved out of the way and so did the firemen. the first squadron opened fire. he calmly took the bullets that failed to put him down. it rocked and bled his body, but he didn't go down. Every magazine had been extinguished. but deeming the rifles useless they tossed them aside and unsheathed their swords. Adonis held out his arms and opened his hands, from his palms the used shell cases fell to the floor. 

In seconds he ducked the soldier that tried to cut him. Adonis rose and swiped off his bottom jaw through his mask. kicking another back through the windshield of a patrol car. and sending another over his hip into the earth. he dug his black nails into his uniform and tore off the top layer of his chest. tossing it aside into the door of a car.

Breaking through a patrol car's window he pulled the pump shotgun from its rack, chambered a round, and fired at an oncoming attacker before the sword could reach his head. the next soldier ducked a round, and it hit one that was taking cover beside the vehicle. Zachariah popped out of the hatch and watched his men get slaughtered. Adonis had already shot down the first squadron depleting his Ammo reserve. and now all of the soldiers were converging on him. some in hand-to-hand combat and some with their claymore swords. Adonis weaponized the shotgun itself until the gun was bent out of shape. he joined the partial fist fight, although there was no technique. his desperation to kill overpowered each of them. he soaked up there blows and evaded their blades. pushing through the flurry of kicks and punches he always found a weak spot and beat into them harder. he was faster and way more aggressive. a single-handed army.

“Reform!”

In that instance the Dragonai soldiers backed away to line back up with the trucks. except for the one Adonis had in the air. he forced his hands inside the soldier and ripped his body in half , the pounding of two pieces of wet meat, hitting the glass and bullet littered floor. Zachariah snatched the mounted 50 Cal from his soldier. Adonis catching Zachariah’s eye, shifted his body towards him preparing to run at him. “Retract!”

The trucks backed away from the burning hospital. And the

mounted machine gunners fired at Adonis. All three machine guns concentrated on him. the soldiers ran back with the vehicles.

When the trucks halted, the soldiers quickly pivoted around with their swords drawn. The smoke clouding their target area, was dense. For a moment there was slight hope that the technique worked. The last of the children has just been escorted by bus out of the parking lot. Military reserve units had evacuated most of the area outside of the facility while some soldiers created a tight, armed perimeter around the suburban battlefield. Waiting for who would emerge victorious. Adonis. Finally emerged. the last of his wounds healing.

“Re-engage!”

Within an instant Adonis was surrounded in a circle of blades. one by one, would enter the center and attack Adonis. Adonis caught him by his throat and threw him back where he came. another would come with a fury of attacks, but Adonis took control of his arm and twisted it behind his back. Prying his sword from him with his free hand, Adonis pressed the sword against his throat and cut him. 

A blade nearly found its way across his head, but he went under it and cut across his back. Adonis was swift to turn and block an attack. His sword colliding with another. 

Taking one hand off his hilt, Adonis punched his free fist into the soldier, forcing him back into the circle. The others sheathed their weapons. and then the circle began to condense in on him. 

Adonis shoveled down his sword into the earth with both hands. and rushed in a single direction. driving his fist through a chest plate. punching out his heart through the back. retrieving his fist. he turned and choked slammed another. with a boot to his shoulder, Adonis ripped off his arm. and the amputated limb clashed against the side of another's skull. they didn't stop coming no matter how fearsome his kills became.

Adonis stopped a blade coming straight at his face. it slid cutting into his palm until it stopped right before the tip of his nose. and he threw the weapon away but before it hit the ground. he reached back out for it, and it threw itself hilt first back into his hand. Thwack… a clean cut across the soldier's waist. Adonis back handed the man apart and aside. A sword found its way through his gut, but it only enraged him. violently grabbing the soldier by the top of his mask forcing the sword through his throat and back out. Adonis ripped out the sword in his gut and wielded them both. he continued to cut them down. left and right swinging hard with unlimited ferocity across their bodies. until there was no clear path to charge anymore. they would carefully tread over the bodies of their own men. trying to get closer to him re- strategizing they walked around the circle of carnage. The top of his jumpsuit was falling apart stained in his own blood and theirs. he felt no fatigue only bloodlust. the remaining five walked outside of the circle waiting for Adonis to try and come out. 

Adonis closed his eyes and, a discharge of red lightning cocooned around his body. his nervous and skeletal system was exposed for a mere second before he vanished. Zachariah watched his soldiers run towards each other. in a desperate effort to stick together. they would now bay out their weapons and back up against each other covering every angle. a rotating smaller circle not far from the larger ring of corpses but far enough where they had solid ground. firmly rooted where they were confident of every weak point covered. but they did not anticipate what came next. their bodies were jolted by lightning. hovering the ground. their bodies shaking violently as the lightning coursed. pushing their boiling blood from the inside to the outside of their splitting skin and armor. slowly their bodies leaned in one direction and were torn apart in seconds to an invisible tempest like suction. until their flesh, bones and matter made up the tornado. A tornado that Adonis stood up in the middle of with bright yellow eyes. glaring at the human forces on the opposite side of the street. once the storm slowed, the eyes faded. and the raw pieces fell without power behind it and Adonis was gone.

 Through the worst that was happening. Rebecca sought to restore and strengthen her tired body and mind. and that's why she ventured the outskirt open lands of Gray-hill County. Where her friend lived some miles from June. she was busy tending her sick brother who flew in from the south. his fever was high, and he was disoriented unable to do basic things. 

“Could be the weather change”, Julia said pouring Rebecca some coffee 

“My grandmother used to always get sick when she would travel to see me. her diabetes took a toll on her immunity “Julia set the hot mug on the table and sat across from her. Rebecca took note of all the boxes of random things Julia had around the trailer as if she had just moved in.

“Sorry about the disorganization. it’s just that this trailer doesn't have any Godamn closet space, and you know I love my shit”

“it’s a perfect home, I'd live here.”

“You say that now. just wait till you have to cram your sewing machine and inventory in boxes everywhere.

” Rebecca smiled knowing that's exactly what would happen 

“How is Adonis, is he still trying to go to school still?”

“He’s going to enroll next year, I’m waiting on his phone call to tell me to pick him up from the hospital, it’s his last day.”

“Woah really, he’s been with them for over a year now “

“Yeah, it’s gonna be a great day I’m planning to surprise him with a new bike”

Julia smiled and took a long sip of her tea watching her dog peek its head in the trailer before running back out again.

“The study begins at 4pm tonight. and finishes in about an hour, we would love to have you back there in summerton praying with us”

“Oh really?“

she glanced at her watch. “that’s real soon “ 

“Yep, we’re going overthere now over there now,

when your boy calls you can leave. no pressure “

  Gathered at the back of the shop was four others all ranging in diverse ethnic and age groups.

“We had to combine tables; the owner was very nice about it even though it’s a tight fit in here”

One of the men said when Rebecca noticed how different there seating arrangements were compared to the rest of the shop's uniformity. 

Shaking hands with these people they sat down for a good while, ate, drank, and got familiar with one another before their actual service began.

Dani was a grandfather of three who retired early from his welding job.

Jeremiah was the youngest, he was still going to middle school, and Loanna was an army wife, three weeks pregnant.

       Adonis stood deep in the wood-line with both of his palms on the the trunk of two trees, concentrating, Astro projecting his eyes through them across the town. He searched riverdale heights and his house, he searched around the school and then back to the main road. There was a convoy driving towards summerton ridge

    Dragonai Kenta knew the plan had failed and that meant driving the artifact out of state and meeting Zachariah when he came back from New York, the interstate was just beyond summerton ridge. The convoy had to Drive through the city to get to the edge of town, behind him, an explosion rattled his up armored tank. There was no way to see what was behind him but to keep pressing forward.

Adonis has disabled the tail vehicle, but before he could pursue the lead out of the six in convoy. three departed and vertically blocked the road. while the last two vehicles on route to transport the artifact were already long gone.

“There is another way we will find it, just finish them! “

Adonis paced back and forth, keeping his honey amber eyes on the militarized order. shuffling quickly from the back of their tanks and forming a line in front of their vehicles. weapons drawn aimed in his direction. Adonis stopped center to their formation and held his gaze at the wall of his enemy keeping him from his goal, the call… 

Sweat dripped from his temple and a red vein began to rise

from under the skin, Adonis’s jaw slowly parted to project a terrifying roar for their death. Bowing his head he sprinted towards the firing squad. 

The prayer was interrupted by noises outside the shop, Dani left the table to find out what they were. peering through the blinds, nothing happened for a while. the group watching Dani from behind, ducked with her to the uproar of gun fire. The owner creeped closer to the door behind the bar. Rebecca took notice and left the tables that shielded the prayer group and followed him

The owner and Rebecca lifted the blinds, keeping their bodies behind the wall and away from the glass. The torrent of bullets and screams of butchered men, echoed all the way to the back of the store. Under the blinds she watched the men get absorbed in a red flash of lightning that twisted their human figures into twisted contorted things. Someone’s torso came crashing through the shop window. smacking on top of a table near the door. Slick with gore it slid into the booth seat. 

The ranks were reduced to a small force, bodies decorated the streets. bodies lodged in vehicles. a face rammed into the bottom of a fire hydrant. legs, missing, heads, there was no discrimination where you would find blood or gore. the tanks' front wheels had bursted in battle. and stopped entirely in the middle of their belt feed and retreat. Adonis tore an entire grenade belt from a body and pulled the pin. tossing it towards the fleeing gunner on top before the gunner could escape. The explosion swallowed him and the remaining soldiers. the stores and the coffee house within the short distance. were targets for the shockwave and expanding plume of debris and fire. skinning the face of their storefronts. and shooting flames down the throats of each establishment. The towns cry. sirens. His amber eyes were fixed on the flames and burning parchment littering the air. a few feet ahead a prominent square picture landed in a pile of glass and uplifted asphalt. the wind blew it quickly towards him and he caught it. in-between his bloodied fingers. still holding the fire in his eyes while the sirens grew closer. He tore his yellow eyes off the destruction and slowly tilted his head down to face the picture. it was scorched in the middle and the sides, but it could make out their faces. Adonis and his mother. The picture triggered a memory, and the voices of his mother on that day. It summoned a painful throb in his brain. and he was forced to his knees holding his head. He could see the swaying calm of grass. He could see his mother plucking the picture from the car visor. his eyes shot open, and the brown color had returned dominating the amber to only golden streaks in his eyes. staring at the picture. 

Adonis sat in the middle of the street amid the sirens, gore and flames and closed his eyes.

“Everything around you have been torn from the same veil, including us both. “

He felt a fuzziness wrap around his heart and a density flowing through his brain, like he was floating now but the ground was still beneath him. 

“We are connected to it and so the secrets buried by man will appear, secrets of the worlds she’s made”

When he opened his eyes, the world around him was black and white, the fire department working on the flaming tank vehicles and buildings. Law enforcement blocking the entirety of summerton ridge off to the public. Walking through Adonis’s body their voices and movements were slowed down, inaudible.

But there was a voice, in both of his ears, low, distorted whispers. 

Standing, he approached the tank vehicles and walked through them to the other side. 

The Dragonai took this road out, he kept walking until he could see something ahead. 

A strange symbol, in the shape of three vertical nails in a row Waving like a flag in the wind, shimmering like rainbow scales exposed to the sunlight.

“With a physical form the ability to cross will tear you on a molecular level, formless beings made these gates … to answer the call you must answer pure suffering “

Adonis looked behind him, there would be no logical way to stop here after everything that’s happened, after all that he’s worked for… he was nervous to walk any further towards the shimmering symbol 

“What would you suffer for her?”

Holding the symbol in his eye he knew that whatever lay beyond it had to be met and so he walked forward.

Before he could touch it, all light around him faded, until he was in this black tunnel, the symbol faded, being the last thing, he could see. And it got so quiet, he could hear his own breathing.

A familiar sound came from some were ahead. A siren like whirring… rotating in a circle, increasing in sound as it grew closer and decreasing as it made its cycle further away.

And then it sounded like it was powering down, fading, fading …

An electrical pop followed by a red burst of light. It startled him at first, followed by two similar pops and flashes. Two small balls of energy surged, struggling to keep its energy. until finally an arch of red electricity shot across to one point to another. bending upward, growing in intensity. the electric band widened, then splintered in two pieces. creating a singular football shaped ray of energy. that eventually stretched out into a circle. stretching in that black void further up and further down then where he was standing. it stopped only to zip forward through him, stripping the flesh from his body until he was a red mass of muscle and connective tissue. standing there in a void of pure white light. The circle of energy zipped back towards him reverting the world to blackness, his skin found its way back to to him and Adonis fell to a single knee. 

Despite the shock and horror at what was happening to him, he could see dust particles floating across two faint rays of light up ahead .no more than a full sprint away, but by the time he could get up to run towards it the arch came back and stripped him away again. screaming towards his hands he knew he had to get out of here. in this white scene he could not see the way, but he knew it was there, so he started to run. but every step and movement he made was more painful than the last. The arch passed him from behind once more. pushing himself off the ground, Adonis rushed toward the light, but he wasn’t fast enough. the arch zipped past him again with loud crackling waves of energy taking his skin with it. faintly Adonis staggered in a single direction until he fell forward over an edge, that did not make itself known. he was now falling through a pure white chasm. beside him the arch of energy matched his free-falling speed. Headfirst he descended and below a black hole waited them both.

Adonis found himself beneath the waters of a lake, a lake reflecting the moonlight of a risen night. He could breathe no more and so he had to kick and push his way from the depths to Surface. The first icon of the land was a church, this portal had taken him to a remote place of worship. had to be Dragonai, had to be the artifact.

Adonis crawled ashore and watched from a distant the orange-stained glass in the night sky. 

“Where are we?”

“The gate has never failed me; we are where we need to be “

Adonis walked to the stone chapel, and ascended its sloping driveway surrounded by the forest. he could hear cars passing on the main road a long distance away. He just couldn’t see the path. 

He opened the main door, weapons on the bottom and top floor shifted in his direction. while both dragonai leaders stood inbetween a crated artifact. 

Zachariah looked over at the doorway, then looked towards his companion. taken by surprise. 

“Unexpected really, but astonishing. Well, done with my men “

Zachariah raised his hand and motioned for his soldiers to lower their muzzles.

“There is no conceivable way you should be here, but here you are. By some act of chance, you found us. Phenomenal .. But what are you hoping to do now?”

Kenta raised his hand, clenched around a carbon ball. It had a red button in the middle of it.

“That hospital is wired, so if you want control, then you’ll have to comply “

Adonis walked forward into the parting ranks of chrome masked and weaponized soldiers. he couldn’t see their eyes, but they were clearly on him.

Making it to the Altar standing before both Dragonai’s , Kenta held a hand out to stop him from getting any closer.

“Far enough.”

Zachariah pried open the crate and a soldier lifted the stone from the padded box, cradling it in a way both leaders could see.

“My deal still stands after all that you have done…you know what to do Adonis.”

Adonis gave a good look over the tomb headstone shaped artifact, that was hand carved with an entire passage of symbols. But Adonis himself didn’t know where to begin.

“You look confused…do you or do you not know how to read this?”

Adonis panicked, his only thought was the button in the dragonai’s hand, there has to be another way…

“There is no other way… I will protect you”

Adonis’s head snapped awkwardly to one direction. the blue and red veins in his neck pushed up from his skin and spidered along his throat and jawline.

His head facing center, his mouth parting wide. his eyes rolling behind his head as he inhaled the candle and torch flames around them. The flames were quickly funneled to the back of his throat.

The chapel fell to a brief darkness and silence. before a whip like crack of electricity flattened the pews and flayed the soldier's skin from their bodies. The red bodies collapsed to a strobing grey light. that reverberated loudly over their screams. Each of them on the floor, trembling in fetal or arching positions to the unbearable agony they found themselves in. 

Behind the Altar table, Kenta attempted to use the detonator, but the connection had been severed by the blast of pulse waves. the detonation would have been assured by the red dormant light, flickering to a green active one. Yet no matter how many times he touched it, the trigger remained dormant. Zachariah pulled Kenta to his feet and pushed him toward the exit door.

“I have to be the one to go!”

Kenta held onto the doorknob unable to say anything back to Zachariah. Before leaving Kenta glanced over to Adonis, The tablet hovering above his head, the ancient words inaudible to the screams of his men. A blast, and quaking earth. the dome of the church was severed and fell away. exposing a massive gape in the cathedrals crown. Pieces of stone and glass crashed around him. clouds around the moon began to swirl together into a complete spiral and from its center mass, a beam of white light shot down. Adonis held out his arms, open to it. his eyes entranced by its white light. Zachariah made a run for it. Keeping his eyes on it as it traveled down. at the moment it touched Adonis zachariah has made just enough contact with the light. That flung itself straight back up into the sky carrying them both out of this world.