taring at the page in the dining room, unable to sleep, more afraid to sleep. Adonis was hoping a long journaling session, would bring out the fatigue so much that he would just wake up the next day. Instead, he sat there for hours, thinking, scribbling and listening to the voices in his head come and go.

The skies rumbled, tracer rounds and cinders filled the sky. A world war. Polish soldiers defending against the mighty German invasion.

Adonis shielded his face from soil tossed in an explosion, the tanks rolling on ground tearing over mounds of bodies , its cannon bursting to life and roaring a shell into its enemies position.

" When I arrived… I was frightened..." 

The smoke of fire, and the fire of weapons created a great smog on the battlefield, hand to hand combat was unavoidable and far more deadly than the ones who used their rifles to plunder their enemies could fathom, they used their aggression and fear to gain over the enemy , use everything and every last ounce of strength they had to kill , to survive. Bullets still whizzed past , debris still flew into the air by grenades and the dissonance of the aftermath those weapons had brought were the sounds of men’s bodies being tested and broken their souls wishing to leave through their terror filled screams and cries to leave this inhumane land to know hell on earth no longer .

Through the smoke-filled terror rising, there was a cloud of rainbow shimmering particles twirling and twisting through the field, it rose into the smog-filtered sunlight and descended back down into a mist of blood that discolored its entire beauty filtering through that blood until it emerged as a swirling torrent of embers. 

Adonis watched the smog of the land spiral to a strange unnatural suction that took all the screams with it until he could see the death that surrounded him. Bodies, limbs, debris, his feet deep in a pool of blood that stretched outward in front of him. in its crimson reflection a cloud of embers and periodic bursts of thunder spun and swirled in a mass no bigger than his torso. 

“No longer frightened, I know what this world is … I know what I am, what I must be… to protect her!”

The cloud emitted deep rumbling noises from the raging storm within it while the cinders spiraled around it gracefully.

Adonis dropped his rifle and took a knee only meters from the angry thundering mass.

“We both feel the same way about this world like we have to defend ourselves and those that we love from it. We feel like the kindness we had to offer was destroyed, but we let that happen, we let the world dictate who we are.”

It Swirled in place listening to him, and without a response it let Adonis finish what he was trying to push.

“But our kindness isn’t destroyed, it’s sleeping “

Adonis’s eyes caught his reflection mimicking his hand gestures while he spoke, and he stared back at himself through a red puddle. surprised by the words he was saying to the livid creature.

“Sleeping…” 

the swirling cloud of cinders echoed back to Adonis, he let it

think for a moment swirling in front of the bright tangerine horizon. Briefly, a few rainbow colored particles from the cinders escaped but that was all. 

“I am the gnathic torrent to liquidate Elyndrii’s souls! , You are my hand, we will guard her cold hall for all time…”

It surged forward and spiraled around his body.

“Guardians of the cold hall …combined we keep Mother safe

…combined… we will always progress…”

A hand rubbed his back, He picked his head up off his book slowly, his eyes blinded by the overhead light.

"Hey, what's going on?"

Adonis looked over at his mom squatting next to him while rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Something happen between you and Em?" she said

 Adonis rotated his legs towards her. 

"Worried...frustrated"

"Why?"

Adonis stared off into a corner avoiding her gaze. "I just want to be perfect, for the review. That's all."

Rebecca sighed and held one of his hands.

"you're exactly where you need to be "

Adonis leaned down and hugged his mother.

"I'll take myself to bed in a bit," he said into her neck

Emma was awake for the morning, but Adonis was still battling himself to get up. His face was in the pillow listening to her movements.

"I can take the bus still," she said sitting at the edge of his bedside.

Adonis pushed his face from the cold pillow and shoved the bedsheets from his chest, his eyes still closed.

“No…I can take you love”

She moved so he could swing his legs out to the floor and stand up from the bed. With his head down he shuffled to the closet.

"What are you going to do today?" she asked watching him mount the bike first.

" doesn’t your friend own a metaphysical shop?" he said

"I do just haven’t talked to her in a while "

Handing her the bike helmet she then sat herself on the backseat of the bike.

"If you’re going to see her today, I’ll give her a heads up”

"Do that" Adonis turned the key in the ignition and waited for her to fit the helmet over her head.

Reaching the school she returned him the helmet. Her shoulders, shrugged close to her ears and her hands were tucked into Jean pockets, refusing the cold. Emma glanced over to the students shuffling inside the school before returning her focus back to him.  

" Since our conversation last night, what are you thinking?”

"I have only one step left, and that's Hamilton" he said 

Marie kissed him 

Adonis thought for a moment and kissed her back. 

He came to a halt planting both feet on the ground and staring at the storefront. A looking couple walked out and the owner of the shop stuck herself out to wave them goodbye. Before she could shut the door, she noticed him standing there.

“Is there something I can help you with?”

Adonis looked down, deep in thought. a drawn-out silence came between both.

“How about a cup of coffee?"

Adonis kicked out his stand and slowly made his way to the steps to meet her, she smiled and extended a hand.

"Camilla"

"Adonis"

Adonis closed the front door and stood in front of it.

watching Camilla Walk over to the coffee machine in the far-left corner of the store. Candles and coffee beans dominated the dimly lit room. He thought that She looked like something out of the ’90s rave culture. puffy black dress and teased hair. there was a lot of taxidermy and oddities mounted or lying around. He took an interest in the caterpillars and jarred insects above the fireplace opposite the corner where she brewed. well, it wasn’t an actual fireplace.

someone had drawn orange and yellow flames spiralling over brown logs. 

"You were in the town paper once”

she opened the machine lid to pluck in a small packet of

liquid creamer.

“Your trial was made very public.” 

Looking back at him over her shoulder, he seemed more interested in her beetle taxidermy in a modern glass box. 

"I never imagined you'd find yourself in my store, even though I hoped you would because..."

Adonis finally looked over at her pouring the brew. 

"Because I know what it's like to be young in this town, the population of bullies is almost paranormal. I’ve travelled the states, and Jersey is up there with the other bully states"

He continued viewing the rest of the room, talking.

"Then why stay? you must know this place is killing me"

Camilla gathered both mugs and took her time walking over to him.

" June has an aesthetic autumn that keeps calling me back.

I'm older, no one really bothers me anymore"

Gently tracing the horns of the animal mounted on the wall with his finger, he took the mug from her with his free hand.

"But clearly that’s not the case for you, and that’s why your here"

"I'm tired of being diagnosed, and any other recreational center here seems to be so..."

"Closed-minded?" she interrupted

Adonis took a long sip of his coffee, confirming the statement with silence.

Camilla began walking to the back of the store to a hallway, which was a lot darker than the main room they were leaving.

"Some people don’t come to me for readings at all, and actually I much appreciate it more"

"So why don’t you change your sign?"

"Because I’m not licensed, and do I look like someone that gives the average person advice?"

He laughed briefly and ducked under her arm holding the door of beads open for him to the other room.

This room was narrow, but it compensated in its length. Unlike the first room this one was entirely candlelit. an altar of some kind. had been carefully decorated with bones. a central statue of a humanoid deer and dozens of small candles. Around the room there was some kind of tattered fabric draping the walls. very abstract in the way it had been torn. and hung on each side. covering the white walls that still showed through the tears in the black fabric. 

“This is my favorite room my clients and I talk freely here.

Adonis sat his mug in front of him, on the glass table that divided them a few inches apart. the woodwork of the foundation was a tree from the bottom up, its limbs spiraled into a pentagram where it held the glass in place. Taking a second to process his surroundings, he took another sip of his coffee.

“From what I know you’ve been hospitalized at the residential facility in New York, no one in the town has heard anything from you since"

"I plan to keep it that way"

"Good, so how are they treating you there?"

He shrugged, "fine I guess"

"How much longer do you have?"

"Next weekend is my final review"

Her eyes lit up, but she took a sip of her coffee before laying down more questions.

" I would imagine that feels amazing, but you wouldn’t be here if it was going so well" "It is and it isn’t"

she sat further into her chair with her mug and let Adonis

have the floor.

"I have to consistently show a level of calm and focus, if for any reason I look the slightest bit upset or confused about something, the board gets anxious"

"Is there something causing this kind of upset?"

"yes"

Adonis turned his mug by the handle bit by bit, thinking of a way to articulate the most recent events.

"It's not normal" he said staring into the brown liquid. its extraordinary, and it's terrifying. “

Camilla stared at the mug he played with and glanced up to see his eyes but only met the top of his head. 

"Camilla," he said still looking down.

"Yes, Adonis?"

"I know it must have been hard for you in your younger days to live here but imagine if you were forced to stay. " 

He finally looked up at her and they locked eyes, the common ground she had reached clarified the fear Adonis was feeling, and then he explained it.

“I’ve been convinced several times this week about its existence and more, but I came here because I was hoping you could help me go through some things, things I don’t feel comfortable bringing home.”

“I get it, whenever you're ready, I’m listening”

Adonis took his mug in hand and chugged the rest of his coffee so he could sit back in his chair, sorting through ways he should start the conversation, and he would start abruptly without any eye contact to tell her that he was ready.

“Many of the days that I fought, I fought because it was the right thing to do. Or else I would have just been another kid to be passed down every year to be beat on. eventually, I caused enough damage to be forced into residential “

Adonis leaned forward and met her eyes.

“When you have nothing else to do but think, you start to realize where you went wrong, what things you’ll have to bury if you want to get ahead and I did, but now I can’t help but feel there’s something I forgot. “

Camilla waited for him to keep talking but it looked like he was ready for her to speak.

“You feel like you might’ve missed something, like forgot to heal something? “

Adonis played with his ring and nodded.

“What could that be?”

“I knew I needed to work on being so reactive and I knew I needed to change my how I felt about other people, and I did a lot of that, and it changed me to where I believed I was good, I was good enough and now I’d be on my way “

“What else did you try”

“The facility teaches you how to focus on something else, I focused on my band and it’s like the need to establish who I was to everybody just washed away and I became carefree, daydreaming about how far I could take it or would take it. Would allow me to relax throughout the day and I pulled back from the crowd, released the tension in my hands and went about my own life. “

“Mmm, that is the thing that’s set Hamilton apart, hasn’t it?”

“A hundred percent, every other facility I’ve been to has thrown everyone on medication and left them to fend for themselves. “

“Not to pry but isn’t it mandatory to take whatever they give you as part of the program?”

“Yes, it is … “he took a deep breath.

“I would have refused but, I don’t question it much now that

I’m so close to leaving. “

“I agree but would it be fair to make an observation? I don’t want to upset you”

Adonis shook his head eager to hear what she had to say.

Camilla looks up to the ceiling, her hands placed on her thighs in thought. 

“To me medication could symbol a reliance, and maybe a problem not addressed as your worried about now. And I’ll have to turn back to a story that helps me clarify this for you is that fair?”

“Go ahead”

“Way back when I used to live here, I had experienced a harsh reality in the school system just as you and from what I remember it was due to my number of mistakes, my impulsivity. I’d make dumb decisions like writing with permanent marker on the desk or pushing a friend too hard thinking I was being playful but starting a fight on my own. “

Camilla swallowed, looking down at the glass table in front of her for a few seconds, her fingers intertwined and her mouth making shapes of its own without making a sound.

“The hatred I felt for other people made me do more of those things, unknowingly I did it to cover up terrible feelings I had toward myself. When I graduated, I began to take people more seriously at the places I worked and started to genuinely care for them or else I’d get fired. but I found a limit, a gut feeling that blocked me from being able to smile or feel happy outside of making others smile”

Sitting back in her seat she finished the rest of her coffee and looked into his eyes before he continued.

“When I admitted to myself how long I had wanted to kill my self I knew I had just covered up the real problem, not saying that it’s perfect today but at least I can know I’m making more progress than ever before.”

She let Adonis reflect himself in the silence and even left to grab the coffee pot to refill their mugs. When she came back to blow on hers Adonis seemed to have made up his mind about what he wanted to say.

“I’m still processing everything, what we talked about really has helped me clear this cloud in my head. I feel like I can think “

Camilla smiled and sipped her coffee.

“Was there anything else you’d like to talk about?”

“I’m all talked out, but I will say come over to the house sometime Emma misses you”

“Thank you, just let me know when a good time would be, and I’ll clear my schedule. It will have to be next week just so you know “

Adonis held his stomach and gestured towards the coffee.

“I didn’t touch the new glass you gave me so you're welcome to it” 

Camilla smiled and stood up to hug him and take the mugs back to the main room.

“Where did you meet Emma again?” Adonis asked

“Uh … it was sometime beginning this year I met her and your mother shopping around and we just hit it off naturally.”

“How come you guys stopped talking so much?”

Adonis was at the front door now watching Camilla pour the coffee into a separate pot before she turned towards him.

“Business boomed, and my spoons are normally quite low after a day’s work love”

Adonis chuckled

“Spoons?”

“Social battery sorry” 

Adonis opened the door.

“You won’t need any at our place pick a hobby, sit down. Your presence itself is appreciated “

Camilla laughed walking over to the front door, immediately feeling the clean cold air and taking in through her nose while Adonis mounted his bike. She waved him goodbye and closed the door. Adonis took a moment to admire how beautiful the day had become. The warmth of the autumnal sun compromised with the chilled air. Letting his thoughts run free, Adonis dismounted Locked his helmet to the bike and walked through the small town of Summerton ridge. 

The town dates over a hundred years back and not much has changed, they might've painted over some stuff or added lights and paved the roads but even all that is fading now. Without emphasis on expansion or too much modernization, it kept a lot of people from here and attracted those who preferred the simpler ways of things. The red processing mill stood there across the river, now a museum. A relic that contributed to the formation of the town. It now contributes to the sum of tourists that do make it here for that and the many lengthy trails that were once used to transport the town's resources back and forth by wagon. 

A car here a family there, this was the quietest it would get for a weekday. The townspeople took more notice of Adonis than Adonis did them. He liked to mind his business and felt exhausted by the thought of acknowledging anyone he walked past. A smile wouldn't alleviate the fact that they stared or physically avoided him. This was all background information to him; he loved the way the world looked now. The sunlight parting in between the trees above him, how he found not a single cloud in the sky. The slight grunge and simplicity of the architecture around him. Reaching an intersection, he smelled food across the walkway, and it reminded him of home. Adonis waited for cars to clear the road, but he waited long enough until he made up his mind to turn back instead.

On his way back a car veered off from the right lane and hopped up onto the sidewalk blocking his path. Two exited from the vehicle and closed in on Adonis. Adonis turned to run the other way but a third had grabbed the front of his jacket and shoved him into the arms of the guys behind him. An arm wrapped around his throat and dragged him to the car. Adonis refused to let them by pushing and pulling, they had to beat him just to get him inside the vehicle just enough so they could close the doors and drive off. 

the back of his head rested on the middle seat headrest,

bloodied, and breathing heavily he sat there in between both of his abductors which he knew. 

The driver looked at him through the top mirror. " Waste of a decision to take a walk on this day Adonis "

They tried to place a dark bag over Adonis's head, but he lunged and wrapped his arm around the driver’s throat. The bag was already over his head, and as they pulled, he pulled. He could hear the straining wet noises in front of him, their panicked voices trying to pry Adonis off before the vehicle hit something. With several punches to his rib cage, his arms involuntarily let go. Pushed back in his seat one of them mounted him and controlled his arms. The car halted somewhere but it wasn't where they needed to be.

"You can't just sit here, move, let me drive " 

The doors to the old vehicle squeaked open as they swapped places. The hard sigh beside his ear scared him.

"Strong piece of shit you are, " the driver he had strangled leaned over to his bagged face.

"You won't die but you won't have a single bone that's not broken"

Dragging him out of the car, Adonis refused to walk and tried shouting for help, but they stuffed the slack of the bag into his mouth and threw him on a concrete floor. Loose Paint chips cracked under his body; he quickly pulled the sack from his face standing on his knees. A slick of red drool hanging from his lip dangling as he made a brief effort to look around. Sunlight bore through the large empty warehouse, it was a skeleton of fading paint and rust, with no windows, just the open door far behind the three men who stood around him while the other knelt to his level.

"You don't understand what it's like to have a brother, so why would you understand what it's like to have one in the hospital?

Fed... THROUGH A TUBE!"

The toe of his boot landed square in his ribs followed by a punch to his face.

Adonis laid there on the ground, disoriented. 

"If he didn't survive you would have been roped and wrapped in a sheet floating down a river somewhere, this is mercy"

Adonis opened his eyes, now one had a shovel in his hands another PVC pipe, and the others standing above him. They kicked and hammered his body on the floor until his screaming had to be silenced. one of them was repurposed to gag Adonis while they punished him and cut him while he was held. until it was obvious that his leg was broken, and his arm and three fingers were dislocated.

"Find a way back home, this is even " 

They left him there slamming the door shut, his wheezing breath, their tires spinning the earth away. It hurt too much to cough, so he kept his breath shallow, but his vision was steadily fading.

" Now is the time to prove your ambition for change, what will you do? “

Adonis grunted “Anything…” his breath trembling. using the little bit of strength he had to crawl.

"What will you do to survive? "

Adonis gave into a rising cough, blood shot from his lips and painted the floor. he glanced at the sunlight above him and looked away, blinded.

“Anything…”

Adonis hopped up on his right arm and rolled onto his bottom so that his good leg was ready to push him toward the door"

" Then do you pledge your soul to her cold hall? "

Adonis pushed himself on his good leg letting his broken arm hang to the side, but it would be dragged into an awkward angle every now and again and he winced in pain, stopping his effort. In his mind he drifted through a dark and speckled void, hundreds of galaxies and worlds and comets drifting. 

“I do “

His leg from the knee down twitched right, resetting the bone. paired with a scream that filled the warehouse. "Do you pledge that your will be forever equal to hers?”

“Yes” he quivered.

His ribs shifted and returned to their place, gritting his teeth flat on his back while the bones in his hand assumed their normal position with audible pops.

" You are a soldier of the hall...my hand to do her will. to you I am the mandate of your progress. “

Adonis laid there on his back staring up at the sun and closed his eyes listening to the birds in the distance.

“What do I have to do?”

“Your promise is sealed in the bones I healed; each one shall break the same as its oath… “

The threat made Adonis reflect on what he had swore to which he didn’t fully understand yet . he had a feeling but not a concrete sense.

“Whenever I say move, be swift and question nothing, our future depends on it”

Adonis made it back to Summerton ridge, an hour later. Mounted his bike and throttled his way back home amid the hour of sundown. There was a lot of dust and blood on his clothes’, avoiding Mom was easy while she was upstairs, but Emma wouldn’t be. Locking the door behind him she called his name down the stairs, having heard him come in.

Adonis glanced over at Emma on the bed and then the dirty mirror on his closet door and saw how filthy he was and pulled off his shirt. Mom knocked on the door for him, he dusted his pants and cracked the door ajar to see her. 

"Your late " Mom said

"I'm sorry I uh... caught up with some friends "

"Are we still hanging out or..."

"Yeah, yeah I just need to change I can be ready in 15 minutes "

"I'll find something local instead while you get ready"

Adonis shut the door and sat down for a second. Thinking about what he had just gone through.

“You would have died today... be thankful” it hissed

Emma observed his clothes, pulling at his jacket to investigate his bloody torn shirt underneath.

Adonis took off the jacket, followed by the shirt and then he started unbuckling his jeans.

“Don’t worry about it, go get dressed so we can go eat”

Emma stared at the shirt on the floor while he changed his clothes then tossed the old pants and shirt into a trash bag.

“stop”

Adonis looked over at Emma who had not moved and was still thinking, still staring at the bag of clothes he had shoved into a bag.

“It’s nothing to worry about, I promise”

“Adonis, take a second ok. Think about how I would feel right now”

Adonis looked over at the bag and then at her.

“You’d be worried “

“So then why would I even have to ask Adonis, just talk “

“Do you remember Adam?”

She thought for a second and nodded

“It caught up to me and I expected It too. I didn’t even apologize to the family not once did I visit him in the hospital …”

“I agree you took it way too far, but he started it “

“it doesn’t make me feel any better now, in the beginning, I didn’t regret shit but thinking back on it. It was immature”

“You said it caught up to you “

“Adam has three brothers, but there was only one with the other two that took me “

Emma still seemed confused and asked.

“So, your just … fine?”

“I’m fine, like I said “ 

Emma finally started to prepare herself to go out, Adonis was ready, sitting in the corner exercising his fingers on the guitar. Once he had been exercising them for a few minutes he found his flow and practiced without much interference and then the background noise she was making that kept him focused, ceased. Looking up from his guitar she sat on the edge of the bed watching him.

“I'm ready “

Adonis racked his guitar and walked over to her, putting a hand on her face, before he could speak Emma gently pulled away from Adonis. Letting her leave the bed she walked over to his guitar corner where he had sat.

“What?” he asked

“It says that you need to ride out to Riverdale Heights, find the Yearning Hearts chapel”

“That’s an order “  

Adonis turned from Emma and grabbed the doorknob to leave but Marie grabbed hold of his shoulder.

“When I meant adapting to it, I didn’t mean obeying it, you're about to spend time with your mom, you promised!”

“Emma…”

His vision contorted and he no longer saw his innocent bride to be but a Soldier in the overcast mud slick trenches of war, posturing his body and bayonet to strike.

“Pestilent men! There is no amount of your fury that I cannot match!

Before Adonis could act, a fire travelled down and around her elbows. In shock, Adonis wasted a few seconds processing what was happening before he grabbed his jacket to smother the flames around her arms.

When the fire department arrived, they confirmed she was still alive, but unconscious. Adonis tore off the bike's cover and pushed it with tears streaming down His face. behind the Ambulance He watched her get loaded in, both of her arms had been wrapped up tight. Like a fly he trailed fast and close behind the emergency vehicle. that wailed and swerved through traffic. Pushing fast through the black hills of Riverdale Heights.

The dense red and blue forest seemed to whisper to him zipping by. tears froze to his face, but nothing mattered more than to finally have reached the side road pocket. that held the towns main hospital. She was out of the van in seconds, leaving his bike in front of the building he stormed in behind them. while they pushed her unconscious body towards surgery… countless times. he was told to stop proceeding. until he got to the surgery room window.

where he could see enough through the blinds to watch them work.

"I appreciate you at least staying by the window."

Adonis turned to face the small doctor who kept talking.

"Her burns are manageable, but these wounds aren't easy to come by.”

“It doesn't matter how it happened you have everything you need.”

She paused as he turned to watch the procedure.

"… sir."

He looked back at her “Do you need to see anybody? "

Adonis faced her and realized he had left his phone at the house.

"Can you get me a phone?"

Adonis called Hamilton facility’s receptionist's desk and asked for his therapist.

"Marthus, can you hear me."

“Adonis? are you alright? you're on vacation; you shouldn't be calling me, "Marthus said jokingly.

"Marthus, I need to see you."

"You know, as long as you're a patient here, we can't meet outside. That's the …."

"Company policy … I know."

"Adonis… you will have to just come in; you won't have to wear your Walkies. Just come into my office."

"Emma is hurt bad. Can you at least come to see her?"

"…yes, I think I can do that; I have a few things to finish up. Are you in Riverdale?"

"I’ll pay for your gas."

"It's alright. I'll be there in 2 hours”.

He didn’t get tired of watching her, standing there was the most he could do right now, After-all he put her in danger. but how would I have known? Realizing he wasn’t in control as much as he thought resurrected an old strain of his anger. the toxic, making him feel worthless and helpless kind.

"Is your mother on her way?"

"Yes"

Adonis sipped the water she had brought him. thankful but still hoping she would leave.

"Oh, is that your bike outside?"

Adonis nodded “Would you mind parking it, please?"

Adonis finished his water and went to park it just in time to see mom pull in. 

They sat inside for a few hours until the procedure was finished, and they could finally go see Emma. She was heavily drugged for her pain and remained unconscious while they sat around her.

"She will need to stay here for four weeks minimum. Then we’ll show you how to take care of her outside, but for now, you can leave it to us."

"Will she heal fine?" Rebecca asked.

"Yes, her injuries are severe enough to where they had not wrecked any of her nerves. but skin grafting is required and a lot of at-home care."

Awake or not they stayed with her on either side of the room. having not talked to each other for a long time because Rebecca had fallen asleep. 

A gentle tapping on the glass woke him from his daydream and there Marthus motioned him to the other side. 

" What happened?"

Adonis stood quiet, looking out at her as well Until Marthus turned to look at him.

"if I told you what happened, no matter how much you trust me,” Adonis paused for a moment and looked back into his eyes. 

“There is no escaping the fact that I am a patient at a residential hospital”

“I don’t expect you to trust me with everything, my job is to ensure you have the cognitive tools to deal with basic emotions and”

He extended his arm out palm up, gesturing to her bedroom.

“Tragedy”

Adonis took a second to gather his words and then he said.

“This wasn’t a natural incident, and many of the things I’ve encountered this week haven’t been, but I can tell you something you will understand “

Adonis turned his body towards Marthus, leaning his head and shoulder up against the glass.

“I know for sure I’m not through healing, there’s a lot of shit about me that’s self-inflicted when I see her there. I can’t stop blaming myself I can’t shut off the feeling of guilt.”

Marthus crossed his arms and spoke keeping his eyes fixated on her bandaged arms.

“What do you think is the greatest healing factor of these experiences?”

Adonis shrugged “Time…”

“No “

Adonis stood up straight and glanced over at her through the glass.

“You brought me here to help you clear your mind. like you do when you always call on me in the facility. not to be cruel… but as a learning tool. I want you to think about that and get back to me with an answer”

Adonis got quiet but the watch on Marthus’s wrist beeped three times before he turned it off.

“Oh, this is for her since technically this is her visit “

Marthus pulled out a rose white envelope and handed it to Adonis.

“I hope it brings a smile to her face, call me if anything else “

Adonis shook his hand in gratitude. Marthus smiled glancing at his sleeping family in the room, before turning around to leave. Adonis watched him walk away; he wasn’t sure what he would do without him. He knew that he had trust in Marthus but now he had faith. a belief that his friend would be there for him without judgment or the damnation his badge might ask him to bestow. 

“Let us talk…” it said

Adonis changed his mind from entering back into the room and began to walk out of the hospital. it smelled like the residential facility. Its minimalistic white walls and floor was easily compared to a fictional purgatory. Knowing damn well he would never forget the Queen facility when he got out. 

Out front of the hospital he looked around for someplace to be alone. and saw over the parking lot a lamplit bridge marking the end of the hospital’s boundary. Where it led was intriguing him enough to walk over to it and cross it to the other side. where nothing special presented itself there just a piece of land. surrounded by forest on one side and a river stream that flowed to another isolated piece of shore. It was way too dark to tell where or how deep the liquid abyss was. looking back towards the bridge, the many glass yellow eyes of the hospital staring back at him.

Doing his best to see the Audible rushing current. his mind for a moment snapped. his frustration came in an array of shouts towards the river. fueled by what he had gotten Emma Marie into. how he hurt her and was left with the same powerlessness he had always secretly felt. The trees behind him swaying to a cold breeze brought him back to reality. now he only wondered if someone had heard him.

“Nothing will get in my way…”

Adonis went back to the bridge. and hunched over its side.

while watching the glimmering stream pass underneath the bridge. 

“I'm listening.”

“When I came, a tablet fell alongside me. with the instructions to send me back "

“If it fell with you, how did you lose it?”

“The order took it from me without a host I could not resist them, now that we have merged, I can take it back “

“So, you’ll leave?”

“And there you are wrong, you forget you are bound to us now, there is no other way. We go together, we answer the call, or everyone dies”

Adonis closed his eyes and felt the cold breeze rushing through his hair, he felt sticky from the blood and slightly sore around his chest and lower body. Or everyone dies…he thought about those words, he felt the responsibility behind them. 

“Where do we even start, something that old?...”

“The order of the dragon, find them, make them tell us where it is”

Marie had woken, the strain on his face left and all he could do was collapse at her side and apologize. in tears, she pleaded for him not to feel the way he did. but nothing she said could convince him of the new danger within him. Their talk together wasn’t private, Rebecca listened carefully until they decided in front of her. that she should know the danger as well.

Rebecca wasn’t completely accepting of the truth, but she wasn’t about to argue or try to pick a fight with them. When she left Adonis was only concerned for the mission ahead and said his goodbyes.

“I’m going now, love “

Emma lifted her chin towards him, and he kissed her.

without a word she let him go. making it to his bike he started it, warming the engine.

“Let me guide you to them”

Adonis revved his bike, his breath visible this night but he was hot, bubbling with an anger towards this order, an anger he wasn’t sure was his own. Tightening his grip on the bike's throttle he rode off into the moonless night wherever his instinct guided him. 

“Blackness...reminds me of when I first saw her. I was a different being then and so was she”

The road was barely visible and the Wood line along both sides of the road was just as dark and spine-chilling.

It took him to Sagebrook, a peripheral area outside of June town. the deep countryside where several churches and church cemeteries were said to stand. He pulled into a driveway where an older blue truck sat, possibly 70s or 80s. Adonis hid his bike in a deep pocket of forest and made his way into the driver seat of the truck, glancing at the ignition system he knew what tools he needed to get the vehicle to start. Checking the passenger seat ruffling papers and trash around until he turned his head to the backseat to look but couldn’t find what he needed. He got out of the truck and looked around outside, a shed sat behind the house, the doors were old and dry-rotted without a lock on them. Inside he staggered through to take a shovel, a frayed rope, and some hand tools and headed back to the old Ford and manually started the truck. Backing off the driveway Immediately before the engine woke whoever the truck belonged to.  

A moment of clarity came upon him while he drove. I have never manually driven or started a car before… and why did I pick the items that I did?  he thought looking in his rear-view mirror at the rope and shovel in the bed of the truck. By feeling he was guided into a narrow trail off road, street lamps illuminated a cemetery’s main gate, through that gate he rammed through it. Parking on the side of the walking path he parked the truck. Through his cracked windshield and high beams, he scanned the patch of headstones scattered throughout the land.

Adonis grabbed the shovel from the backseat and started walking past the headstones noticing more and more that he was drawn to a certain kind of energy below the earth the closer he got to it the faster his heartbeat raced and then …

“Stop… dig here “

The headstone read. Father Atkin Wilscott. he lies here, eternally devoted to our Lord and our nation. Adonis dug for over an hour, until he collected the other two sets of bones and the robes of the church officials. loading them on a tarp in the back of the truck. He did this for the other two officials he dug up and drove them all to his first location. The Holy Advocate was its name. and it was a fair size for a cathedral. a brown building with a circular stained glass attic window above. A welcoming open door full of white light, the only illumination in this area. everything else fell to the night. Parking his truck, he walked inside through a white-lit common area until he got to the main doors that were closed. Pushing them open he now had eyes on the candle-lit worship area. A cross strung high, pews empty in symmetry lined toward the altar table.

“What are we doing? there’s no one here.” Adonis said

“Engineered temples, war machines that tear the mind and soul…BURN IT’S SPIRE TO THE GROUND!”

Adonis stood there and thought about what it was asking him to, no it was not legal, what if he got caught? What if this whole thing wasn’t real and he found out that it was all in his head, his life was over!

“Fuck this”

Turning around to leave, it laughed inside of his skull and calmly reminded him of his deal and how it would not hesitate to hurt him.

“EVERYONE DIES, EVERYONE SUFFERS! … obey…”

Adonis thought about Emma's wounds, how it had already struck a blow without much of a reason to in the first place, he could only imagine what it would do next and who it would be. Mom.

Adonis marched over to the altar. grabbed the cloth under the candles and ripped it out from under. the edge of the red fabric caught flame. he tossed it into the wooden pews that would feed the flames more.

“yesss”

Kicking in the devotional stand, not every candle was lit but it was enough to start a huge fire when it collapsed to the floor. It didn’t take much for the flames to spread. Outside he littered the stair way with bones from the first body while the chapel burned.

Adonis tore a hymnal book in half and wrote on top of the page

“find us at Jordan’s keep” 

Leaving the book on the stairwell. He got into the truck and rode off to his next location. the massive fire out of control in his left mirror illuminating the moonless night.

Church after church had been devoured by the idea that this would anger the order enough to rip them from hiding. They were peacekeepers it said. but they were a lethal force that made it obvious when they were mobilizing.

It was close to morning. he made it back while she still slept.

and so, he rested his head on her body. He wished she was awake, he wished she would say his name. convinced she would. Adonis closed his eyes and hoped sleep would speed the wait.

Dreaming, of a beautiful world. towering glamorous cities, wet rainforests, and the wild cries of nature. He found himself wandering within a cold misty forest. that whispered his name over the natural call of things. The sunshine felt supreme. melting the frost, with its gorgeous band of rays. splitting between the trees to cut through and compromise the ghostly mist.

"Adonis…"

Yet again, he heard her voice, but there was an impurity to it this time. as if something was manipulating it. either way, it wasn't coming from her throat. he just had that feeling in his body as if he were being steadily lured and misled. down the isle of that captivating wild utopia that whispered. Feeling uneasy and haunted he continued cautiously.

“Adonis …."

The mist thickened until the sun became a small ball of orange between the trees. until it was swallowed up and entirely non-existent. A silhouette body made its way towards him up ahead. with a ghostly exhale, she was slowly spat out of the fog. her skin a cadaver white. Raising her arms outward, a trail blaze of flames crawled down her arms. bursting into a torching fury that commanded all the forest to follow in her lead and temper. From root to stem, fire rose in scientific synchronicity on both sides as she walked toward him. 

The flame reflected off the portal of her blue eyes. where he could see … volcanic veins spidering along a black and white earth-like planet. until gravity, gradually tore it apart. 

Ripped apart, its continents and oceans drifted outward into the vacuum pull of space.

From the planet. a stone casket, marked with many symbols was ejected from the core of the planet. adrift away from the cataclysm that freed it. 

The tomb hurled from a home that was now unrecognizable, it was now a cluster of debris and rocks far-flung.