Chapter 14

"God wants all of us. God wants all of us. God wants all of us."

Over and over the haunting sentence played, voiced by some older white lady. A Betty White knockoff. A recorded loop. It's coming from speakers that's placed in all the rooms where the captives enjoyed drug-induced sleep. Watch the Zanax sheep jump over the fence. Another form of hypnosis. I'm in a twisted amusement park. This is my first night outside the tomb.

After the 'Divine Evaluation,' we were all invited to eat, including me. Bread and applesauce, at least that's what it looked like. Slops for the animals, the pigs he was making us into. Under the gun, I ate it and slyly forced myself to throw it back up by gagging purposely. Only Hoover noticed what I was doing, but he didn't say anything. In a way, we showed each other our sleeves, and a bunch of cards fell out.

When Zeus confronted me about vomiting, I explained that it was due to Apollo's thrashing with the gun into my stomach when I awoke with Aries. Since both Aries and Apollo confirmed the story, I was in the clear, and a few more seconds free of mind control. But Zeus knew, he knew at some point I was next to undergo 'extreme conditioning.' He figured right now was the perfect time.

He took me into a separate cabin, an empty cabin that had four big lights aimed towards me. The type of lights you see before you take a school picture with a huge flash. The bright light you see before death. Inside there were two chairs, both facing each other, he sat in the one with the lights bordering him and picked up a remote with a red button on it. My wrists were handcuffed behind the chair.

"Almost forgot."

I heard at least four mechanisms and a steel bolt near the end. He was controlling the locks on the door. When he walked back into view and sat in his chair, he clicked the remote, and the room became pitch black. I made out the sound of a gun's safety being turned off, and sure enough, the cold steel was pressed into my forehead.

"There is no worse feeling than a father beating his child. But if that child does not understand…what am I to do"

The barrel descended slowly to the bridge of my nose.

"I may not need this…You ever heard of MMP Multiple mortal probation The qualms you deliver to me, the lifeline sending you here. All of it reveals that you were Jonah in your past life. After that…maybe even Judas. But I am here to purge you."

I didn't like the sound of the word 'purge,' I expected to be tortured with fire. My body dosed in alcohol, set ablaze by a match. Be careful what you think, because immediately after that thought, Zeus stood up, grabbed a bucket near him, and slowly poured a clear liquid all over my head. I'm two for two.

"I'm aware of what the vomiting does. This solution, however, will go straight into your pores. Got to make up for lost time."

He lit a cigarette in the darkness and clicked the remote once. BRIGHT, overwhelming light flashed on from all four of the enormous light bulbs. I could barely make out the details of Zeus. He looked like an inverse silhouette, black on the outside, white on the inside.

"A glimpse into my power, my son."

Before I could fully get a grip on the blinding bright lights, he clicked it again, and it started a series of strobes. Very calculated and programmed, one per light, then all at once, then two at a time, I couldn't concentrate. My sensory overload was exploding into a headache.

"The word I will use for you Number 7, will be 'wayward.' Do you under..."

…STAND' echoed a trillion times, and dissolved into a cacophony in my ears. Like being trapped in an indoor pool, where all sound bounces off the walls. It's kicking in. This is hypnosis. This is dominance. I felt my eyes moving in frames as the strobes took on a film like texture, 8mm-esque. Zeus stared at me and continued smoking slowly, allowing the hallucinogenic agent its proper duration.

"You remind me of Cyrus at times, kind of look like him too…always thinking there's a way to win," Zeus said.

His hand began moving in trails, and I saw every motion in his movement. He could've written Homer's Odyssey with the flame from his cigarette in the empty space. Eventually, time distorted, and his body did the same as he neared me. Within each breath, his chest puffed out more massive than the boundaries of his frame. Once again, his sclera morphed into all black.

"Do you wish to see all that you are All that you could be"

He waved his hand across my body like a wizard casting a powerful spell. It created an endless stream of me's spreading from the right. When I glanced over, all I could see were various versions of myself stretching into the universe. Like a curved row of cards, spread out Vegas-style on the jungle green Poker table felt, all face down.

"This is the baggage of your shadow. Your MMP. The previous you's stretching to the beginning of time itself. All carrying pieces of their fragmented soul into the next, plaguing it with regret, grudges, bad blood, guilty consciousness. You are not Dimitri Davenport, you are a vessel. Everything you've ever done in your life, all of your thoughts…are not your own. It belongs to the vessel, the story of you that will continue on as long as the sun, the moon, and the stars exist."

The surface of Neptune replaced the floor, blue-green gas all around. Maybe this is The River of Styx The room abnormally stretched out into a rectangular area of space, with stars sprawled on the walls. The only thing keeping me sane was noticing the gun still left on the floor, and smoke from the cigarette swaying in the air like a hammock. I felt my eyes jittering and darting back and forth, taking it all in, speechless.

"You're next place in life will be as my son, my Number 7. Fear not what you see, for I am the all-powerful, God's messenger with divine strength. Let me demonstrate."

His arms lay at his sides, palms upward, the cigarette seeped into his hand. Then he floated from his chair. The gun magnetized to his hand, and he crumbled it into a piece of paper.

"Now, look to your left."

My neck felt stiff as oak wood, but I managed to comply with the command, and there I was, looking at myself. The me from my dream that was pointing to the body floating in the water. Wasn't that me as well Dead in the water

"You are Number 7. Your will shall succumb to me. For my bidding, for me to lead you to your destiny. You are now my son. Are you prepared to see more"

Rivers of tears flowed from my eyes, my heart felt as though his hand had a literal hold on it. Controlling my life, my breathing, even my sexuality. He clicked the remote once more, and the entire room went stark white.

"So tell me…who are you"

My brain took some time to send signals to my mouth. My brain isn't my brain anymore, it is… I desperately attempted independent thought, fighting my own conscious, a mental tug of war. My body went into convulsions, and foam began leaking from my lips.

"Who are you"

I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn't listen to me. Nothing listens to me. Who are you talking to My neck stretched out, veins bulging, pulsating grotesquely. I struggled further, and it only allowed the overpowering drug to set in further. My soul couldn't take any more of the internal torture. Don't leave me, don't leave you. Don't silence this voice, your voice. Stay… I felt myself slipping, fading into the chasm of my own shell, a prisoner within myself.

"WHO ARE YOU"

…I don't know…

"SAY THE NAME I HAVE GIVEN YOU MY SON!"

…I am…Num…

"RELINQUISH YOURSELF TO ME. RENOUNCE THE FIRE INSIDE."

…Number…

I am…Number 7…I am…Number 7…

"Good…. Now, finally, we can begin. It's ok. You can cry now."

"Neptune is the God of the Sea. In astrology, Neptune is associated with dreams and illusion."