Chapter Twelve: The Next Ten hours

???,

"Oh, look, we are in the most hated place in the world for you," I said as Edward sat quietly across from me, on a lonesome highway. The light of dawn rose to cause our shadows to stretch out. I had my legs crossed while Edward sat stiff with his hands in his lap and a motionless face.

"Faith or the entity of Faith had his way of running things. Faith ensured that no Entities fucked with the Faith of the Creation or anything and everything inside of it. Whether it falls or crumbles or stands tall to see another day. As long as it is caused by the end of time, but then came about the invasion of the Children of Distortion onto the earth. Which could have resulted in the awakening of the Entity of Distortion'', I said, and he listened like a good child.

"Naturally, the Creation should have collapsed, but Genesis was able to stop the "proper" awakening of Distortion. Along with four other Entities; Reality, Destruction, life, and preservation, but even then, there was one obstacle, the Entities couldn't escape their respected spaces. Hence, came forth the man they manipulated", I said as Edward's face took on an unamused expression, which brought joy to mine.

"But yes, more on that another time. Because in this current time, you were busy defending your characters from the Faith itself, to accumulate and invite Chaos onto the earth. Oh, how wonderful it was, you, outsmarting the Entities themself", I ended with that, allowing them time to follow.

Catherin,

We came to a stop in front of the estate owned by the church on Sunset boulevard over in west Los Angeles. Which currently was overtaken by Dom for his purpose, as his resting place.

"Ah finally," Mortise said, stretching his back and throwing out the empty box of pizza. I just shook my head as they opened the gate to the estate. We drove on the brick pathway cutting through the lawn and the fountain in front—to the back of the house in front of steps leading up to the porch.

As we stepped out of the car, a staff member came to us asking for the keys to the vehicle. Giving him the keys, another older-looking butler came to us, guiding us inside the house. Walking up the marble steps, we came to an entrance made up of glass plains. Two glass doors open outwards, leading into a louche connected to an open kitchen and counter.

Finally, getting out of the beating sun. We came face to face with the intense smell of fruit and a man shrouded in smoke from the Hookah. He took a deep breath and lifted his head, and exhaled his last smoke before he spoke.

"Ah... finally, what took you guys so long," Dominic said as he placed a smoking pipe on the coffee table in front of him. Mortise quickly tapped me on the shoulder, stopping me and walking ahead towards Dominic.

As soon as Dominic turned around, Mortise jolted his heavy-duty revolver into the face of a dainty-looking man. Dominic had a somewhat muscular body with a sharp jawline and a deep voice. With dark brown hair pulled back, a mustache curled upwards from the side and a goatee. He had his Wine color trench coat on with sleeves pushed up his elbows with a black t-shirt and blue denim jeans underneath it.

He stared at the gun in front of him, then back at Mortise, looking unamused. "I finally I found you, you fucking bastard", Mortise asked. "Whatever I did to you, will killing me satisfy you?" Dominic said wholeheartedly.

"The satisfaction wouldn't be prominent, but it will suffice," Mortise replied. "Aah, that's boring. How about you put a bullet inside your head? Then the satisfaction would be prominent" Dominic said.

Mortise looked at him, confused. "Yeah wish I could, but wouldn't kill me now would it," he said, losing his interest. He placed his revolver back into its holster and walked towards the kitchen, looking for something to drink.

Then he looked at me, "Finally, two souls who don't want to kill me. How are you holding up, Catherin" Dominic said in a soft voice. I sighed, looking at Mortise pulling out a pack of beer cans, "I am fine, just need a drink and sleep," I replied, making my way towards the Kitchen. At the same time, Dominic looked at Jacki and smiled.

Mortise turned around and threw the pack on the counter, tearing it into it. Mortise took four for himself, stuffing the beer cans into the pockets of his coat while opening one. "Help yourself," he said, gulping its contents and walking towards the sitting area. I took a beer can for myself, opened it, and followed him back as well.

Meanwhile, Dominic made Jacki sit down on a single sofa and told a maid to serve her a variety of sweets. A couple of forested cakes, white and milk chocolate coated cupcakes, berry cheesecake, and a side of tea.

Jacki stared at the desserts in awe and back at Dominic nodded with a smile. Then without much to it, she started enjoying her treats. Mortise quickly finished his first can, throwing it behind him and opening another one.

While I took mine a few sips at a time, a maid came to us, holding separate keys for each of us. "They have prepared rooms for each of you. Get yourself clean and rest up. You have a hunt to attend to", Dominic replied.

"Sure, whatever," Mortise replied, taking his key while he finished his second can and threw it over his shoulder as well. I took mine and made my way up the stairs, followed by Mortise. Coming to two rooms next to each other, I inserted my key into the keyhole.

"Hey, by chance, would you be looking for accompaniment in the shower?", Mortise asked me suddenly with a smile, and I stared back at his blood-stained face. I was exhausted, and my mind felt a bit numb at the time.

I brought my beer can up and gulped all of it down. Then I looked at him, tossing the can behind me. "Sure," I said, twisting my key, and we both entered my room, taking off our trench coats and throwing them on the bed.

We started stripping off each other's clothes while tugging ourselves into the bathroom. The last thing I remember was Mortise pushing me against the bathroom wall. His hand caressed my skin, tracing down and groping my asscheek.

Before going further down to the thigh and pulling me over onto himself, he stuck it inside and started moving while caressing my ass again and again. After a long while of melting together, we dragged ourselves out of the shower and into the bed.

We continued trying ourselves. With the bed squeaking, I was certain that Dominic would jerk around knowing this. Soon we passed out, finally getting a chance to fall asleep.

Raymon,

1998/ Pennsylvania, 05:00 AM,

A Nine-year-old child Woke up in the middle of the night to find his little sister walking out of their room. Calling out to her did nothing, so he chose to follow her. He then saw her walking downstairs toward the door.

He then called out to his parents, only to hear silence in response. Finding the door open wide, was unusual for his household. Hence he decided to peek inside.

Only to find their faces frozen and pale as they lay on the wall. Their stomachs were torn open, and their intestines stretched on the floor. The Child, in disarray, called out to them, but there was no response. Not sure what to make of this, he turned his head around, thinking of this as nothing but a dream.

He tried walking downstairs, after his little sister. Wanted to grab her and put her in her bed. But before he could reach her, she had already opened the door to their house.

Grabbing holding her, he forced her around only to stare into her black sunken eyes. Before he could react, his sister let out a deep roar before grabbing him by his shirt.

The world spun around him, and his feet left the ground. Following the moment, he was in the air and then landed hard on the road outside our house. The air shot out of him while my head crashed against the gravel. Then everything started spinning, and from what little he could see. His sister stepped outside of their house and walked down towards him. Then suddenly, his whole house erupted into the fire, not just theirs but all the homes surrounding him.

His whole world became bright overnight as the smell of smoke filled the air. While he slowly started to feel pain in my head and shoulder and soon passed out. The only thing 10-year-old Casper remembered before passing out because of a concussion.

The next time he woke up, he was in the middle of being dragged with his hand tight behind his back, by a policeman. He looked around with his shaken vision. Other children he recognized were walking along the side of him while on the floor. Then he fully woke up when he heard the screams.

He was being dragged into the main hall, which had a glass dome over the top, which allowed the moonlight to enter. The gallery was full of adults, all with their eyes inked black and Caldrons on each corner burning brightly.

One who was dragging him threw him on the floor when his eyes widened with the terror of witnessing what was happening in the center of the hall. A boy was spread out and held down on the floor with invisible force and without a single piece of clothing, crying and screaming.

But he soon forgot all about it, when he noticed the horror above his head. A blanket of Small, winged insects sitting on the ceiling. He couldn't identify them as they fell and stormed around the room before crashing onto the Child.

The people in the hall started chanting their prayers to their demonic prince, Abaddon. Insects entered through every orifice they could find and started eating him from inside, while others nibbled on the skin.

Casper couldn't take his eyes off the massacre taking place in front of him. Tears rolled down his cheeks, knowing that he would be next.

At first, the young boy trembled in pain but soon subsided in death. The insects burst out of the young boy's stomach and other openings, flying back onto the ceiling, resting on it. Then a janitor came and picked up the corpse by the foot, then dragged it towards a garbage shoot on the edge of the room, which he threw the corpse inside.

Then he turned around and looked at Casper, and then everyone else followed him, looking at him as well. All were grinning, simply terrifying the shit out of the Child.

It wouldn't be a genius to figure out what it meant. One behind him came, firmly grasped his wrist and untie his hand, then proceeded to rip his clothes. Of course, he would struggle, so another came and held him down until he also was naked.

He screamed and struggled as much as possible, but it was useless just before an unseeing force dragged him across the floor and into the center. He's back into the mess of blood, guts, and fecal matter. The same unseen force pulled his arms and legs straight. He stared at the ceiling as they came down.

In his last moments, all of his scattered memories played with his eyes. Remembering all the good times with my sister and his parents. Remembering the promises of a bright future for him. As the blanket of twitching insects dropped onto him.

The pain was immediate with the taste of iron and salt in his mouth and the pain of small but frequent bites on his skin, lips, and eyelids felt like thousands of small needles pushing against his skin. But then followed came the sound of shattered glass, and the insects parted in a heartbeat. His eyes went towards the approaching void.

It looked like pitch-black liquid, which absorbed all the light around it. It fell on him and engulfed him. All the chanters screamed in a deep voice at the void as it bonded with Casper. Taking him away from here, from the entrance it had made.

1998/ Manhattan, New York/ 07:00 AM,

Following the dawn of a new day around seven AM, sudden shock piked the news. One Million, Five Hundred Thirty-Seven Thousand And One Hundred Ninety-Five (1, 537,195) people of Manhattan fell unconscious mysteriously.

Nearing noon, an absolute crisis had fallen in New York, and Manhattan had to be on lockdown. All 24 four exits are to be sealed with a swat team standing by at all entrances. The reason simply was unrelenting aggression from the people which had fallen unconscious.

The physical feature showed unusual black sunken eyes and decaying flesh. These people have been stopping all from entering from the outside. While staying inside the boundaries of Manhattan.

So far no attempts have been successful in understanding what is going on.