The Extremely Crappy Days at Ashfield High

Chappy Forty: Aftershock

Approximately one to two hours following Cheryl Mason's departure of the city of Ashfield via an automobile stolen by criminal, "Zeik", the surrounding areas of Silent Hill experienced electrical outages and minor earthquakes. Citizens complained of mild chest pains and burning sensations, and for a short while the towns and counties were in chaos. Ashfield, which had already had several similar disturbances earlier that day, was in even worse condition.

Henry Townshend, who had been on his way to the police station was now stuck in a horrid traffic jam, with the sounds of honking and total chaos surrounding him.

"Shit…" he said to himself, peering out of the window. 'What the hell is going on…? I can't reach Joshua or Eileen, and the radio is useless…' He rubbed his left temple thoroughly, groaning. He had no clue of the terrible events conspiring in Silent Hill at that very moment.

---

Christian stumbled out of the building, eyes irritable and itchy. He felt no air circulating around him as he stood in the middle of the street. There was nothing in any direction aside from fog. Faintly, he thought he heard a distant howling…

"Do you see it, Christian?" Valtiel inquired, dropping Abraham onto the asphalt. "Do you see what will become of your world? This, this is the absolute!"

"…No," choked Abraham. "…You can't… do this…" Lucas' corpse stared down at him.

"I am growing agitated by your constant defiance, Abraham. What is so difficult for you to accept?" It knelt down to his level, moving its face much too close for comfort. "Let me tear away all that resistance, eh?" Valtiel giggled, grasping a handful of Abraham's hair and yanking his head up forcefully.

"There is no "deus ex machina" coming to save you. There is nothing left that can possibly stop this. It was inevitable." It gestured to the surroundings, laughing coldly. "Soon, once your God has awakened… everything will matter not. Your ideas, your emotions, your beliefs… nothing will matter any longer."

Valtiel released his grip and glanced back at Christian. "What about you? Do you understand now?"

"…Understand what?" shot back the boy. He gritted his teeth. Already he could feel the tears gathering, ready to fall. "I won't accept this! I won't, I won't!" He was unable to keep his composure, and started to cry. Valtiel silently approached him.

"The Carrier of God… should not cry. You were not meant to feel at all, anyway." With a maniacal grin, it struck Christian across the face. The teenager cried out and immediately both of his hands went up in a vain attempt of defense.

"The God can only be brought to its full potential through pain and torture, correct?" it said, "So, being it my duty to awaken the God, I must inflict pain and torture!" It lashed out at Christian again, and then another time. The blond scrambled away and nearly tripped over himself. Valtiel laughed.

"You do understand that Ashfield would have suited the Awakening, I hope. But here… in Silent Hill… the energies are just so much stronger… yes… this is the perfect place for God to awaken!"

"…You're… sick…" spat with Christian, but this only resulted with another devilish laugh from Valtiel.

"No, you are mistaken," replied Valtiel. "I am not the one who is sick; it is you humans! Must I remind you that I am acting under you fools' will! It is you who are sick; it is you who brought this upon yourselves!"

It chortled horridly and regarded him with those crimson eyes. "No, I am getting ahead of myself. To help you understand, I'll try to explain in a simpler way. In truth, entities like myself are absent of any thought and emotion. We just exist, as if we are comatose. It is only when we are influenced do we act, and influence them in turn."

"So you don't have any control over yourself?" Christian furrowed his brow. "Don't expect any empathy, if that's what you want."

"I don't, and it isn't. But you are correct, in a way. In fact, perhaps I have no right calling you inferior… but that is also a by-product of our existence. Your human feelings and ideas are etched into us, and we act with them as a guide…" It laughed. "It's horrible. We are nothing, then, and I believe that this Paradise they so wish to create will no more help us than it will you. If everything I predicted is true then, what exactly is it that will exist afterward…? Without you we shan't exist, and then there will be absolutely nothing…"

The wind howled around them and silence overtook the town of Silent Hill once again. Abraham giggled in a hysterical way. "Listening to you babble all that convoluted nonsense…" he said peaceably, "I think I get it now, even if all you said is just a hypothesis."

"What do you mean?" Christian asked, confusion gripping him. Valtiel pressed a finger into Lucas' dead flesh over the 'Halo of the Sun' on his forearm.

"I see… by reaching into Lucas' knowledge, I see… if God is really a higher, supreme being, then it-she-would be capable of creating a world… out of the nothingness! The world would become a void that is nothing at all, absolute nothing, and God would create a Paradise out of it…"

"Exactly," stated Abraham with cold finality. "A utopia, a paradise… where everyone would be happy…"

"That wouldn't work!" cried the blond teenager as he got to his feet. "No one would exist! There'd be no life!"

"Unless God creates the life," said Vatliel softly, to itself more than anyone else. It reached into the well of Lucas' knowledge and tittered. "Oh, how amusing! It would be just like how the world began, right?"

"That's…" Abraham sighed thoughtfully. "…What… what is your God?"

Valtiel half-shrugged and smiled. "That is a good question, but I would venture to say that you have a better idea than I. Because isn't it your god as well?"

"No," Abraham began, "I abandoned that dogma quite awhile-,"

An ear-splitting siren cut him short. Christian cried out and slammed his palms over his ears. Abraham did the same. "What is that?" the teenager shouted, and Valtiel clicked his tongue sourly.

"It is the final calling. It seems it is time. Come along." It advanced forward, but Christian remained back.

"…I won't!" he yelled, but Valtiel just looked back at him lazily.

"Enough of this, Christian. You're making this more difficult than it has to be." The demon strode back and took hold of the blond's shirt collar, glaring down at with an expression of disgust. "Pitiful… you are perhaps less than what we are, and yet you wish to cling to this… Heh, I wouldn't even dare call it an existence."

"Just shut up!" Christian exclaimed at him, gritting his teeth hatefully. "You don't know anything about me! I'm not just some toy for you… bastards to play around with!"

Oddly, Valtiel released him. It scrunched up Lucas' face in confusion and returned its gaze to him. "And to think… that is God speaking… She just doesn't know it…" It laughed and grasped his wrist forcefully, yanking him forward without much care.

Abraham watched, stricken with helplessness. He dashed at Valtiel in a last attempt to stop it. "Let him go!" he spoke with every bit of strength he still had. But like before Valtiel flung him away. However, Christian took advantage of the distraction and broke away. He ran off into the fog. Valtiel made no sign to chase after him, instead lolling his head over in Abraham's direction.

"I have no idea what hole you suddenly crawled out from, Abraham," it said, "but you've hindered things quite a bit. In fact, if this were a story, I wouldn't doubt many of the readers would feel you are nothing but an irritating minor character. You haven't contributed at all to the story, and yet you stand at its last climax, a fly that really needs to be swatted."

Abraham chuckled weakly and rubbed his Adam's apple. "Then I would venture to say that the readers would consider you a pretty weak villain. You don't have any identity, so you steal that of others. And you're just a servant of something even more disgusting, aren't you?"

Valtiel sighed. "I wouldn't know." And with a strike of the hand Abraham was downed.

---

Cheryl Mason slammed on the brakes, nearly forcing everyone to topple over; in fact, Zeik did. "Fuggin' hell!" he screamed, bashing his nose on the seat in front of him. He whined and rubbed it gingerly with his good arm. "Need I remind you Caucasian worms that I am crippled?"

"Oh, quit complaining," Joshua said annoyed. "It's your fault for not putting your seat-belt on."

"It's kind of hard," Zeik replied soflty, "when you have one arm pretty much broken!"

Meanwhile, Cheryl and Linda had already left the vehicle and were starting into the town. Joshua stepped out carefully with Zeik following him. The brunet teenager began after the two women, but stopped when he heard a quick scurrying behind him. He spun around and witnessed Zeik making a mad dash for the car. Joshua sprang on him and tackled him to the misty ground.

"What the hell is your problem?" he demanded. "Trying to abandon us here?"

"It's not like I wanted to come to this hellhole!" Zeik retorted. "I almost died here once; I'm not in the mood of making a repeat."

"Yeah, whatever, just don't try anything funny. I don't like being here myself, but I think we both pretty much got dragged out here." Joshua placed his hands on his hips and surveyed the scene. "Hey, Ms. Mason!" he called loudly, "Wait up!" He jogged away and Zeik grimaced.

"What the shit am I doing…?" he asked himself apprehensively, slowly going after the others. They went for a bit, entering the town proper. And that's when a siren sounded throughout the town, deafening them.

Out of the fog strode Valtiel, smiling wryly at them. Joshua and Linda eyed him blackly. "Lucas!" Linda said, moving to the front of the others. The corpse shook its head.

"Don't get confused now. Lucas Schreiber is dead, and has been for the last half hour or so, or maybe longer. I'm not all that proficient with gauging time."

"That's crazy," she shot back, staring into his blood-red eyes. She trembled and gasped. "…You couldn't…"

Valtiel pointed at the bullet hole in the center of the forehead and then gestured with an outstretched arm at the many holes littering Lucas' chest and gut. "You can blame your friend Abraham for that one," it said, returning to the bull's-eye in the forehead. "That was the one that killed him."

"Then what are you?" Cheryl demanded blackly, her face and body language unreadable. Valtiel extended both arms out towards the sky, taking in a deep breath.

"I am what I am, and you are what you are, Alessa."

"That's not my name," she spat, immediately becoming defensive.

"Yes it is. It is your true name, such as mine is Xuchilbara."

Linda caught her breath and Cheryl shuddered the tiniest bit. Joshua and Zeik exchanged glances. "Who's Xuchi-what's it?" Zeik asked.

"It's one of the angels of God herself, her right hand, the Red God. It is God's personal attendant basically," Linda answered unconsciously.

"Valtiel," Cheryl greeted with the slightest hint of venom on her tongue. "You were the one speaking through Christian the last time I was here, weren't you? You were the one who prompted Noah to take his own life. You did it. You did all of it!"

"Oh no, Alessa," it said, "Firstly, that was only a fraction of my entity speaking at the time, although I was consciously aware of it, and I had hardly anything to do with the whole fiasco between Noah Franklin and his unstable friends.

"It was Lucas who slaughtered the rest of that little group by harnessing my latent powers. He was a fool, having grown much too haughty with what was not his. No, I only took advantage of situation, and now here we are."

Cheryl scowled at Lucas' deathly body. "That doesn't change anything! Where's Christian? I know what you're trying to do, and it's no different than any one of The Order's followers."

Valtiel nodded. "That's true. My duty is to summon God into this realm and ensure its safety. Considering that God is Christian, I believe I have done a better job than those cultists who madly worship it, which is ironic. Of course, Christian is unsuitable for the job of creating this so-called Paradise and granting sinners their retribution and whatnot. As for where he is-,"

Valtiel shrugged passively, "I've lost him. He got away."

"Fine job you're doing," she said spitefully. Joshua scratched his head and approached them both.

"Hold on, whatever's going on, you mean Christian's somewhere is this rat pit? Who knows what God-forsaken shit is wandering around?" He squinted at Valtiel, and then his eyes widened in sudden realization.

"You're that… thing that tried to kill me on the bus! You took over Christian… or something!"

Valtiel laughed darkly. "Ah yes, I apologize for that. My essence had suffered quite a stretch. My bloodlust was uncontrollable."

Cheryl didn't bother to try and understand this; it wouldn't matter anymore. "Look, what do you want?"

"You already know, Alessa. Christian is the ultimate key; he is God, only unaware of his true identity. All I need to do is flip that trigger in the far reaches of his mind, and—poof—he'll be ready. But you see what it essentially comes down to is that Christian isn't right for it, even though he was born to be it. So, the Crimson Paragraph details how to transfer his soul—and everything relating to it—into a maiden, who would then become God herself and that would be it."

Valtiel grinned. "Now that you have a clear, crisp view of what I am planning, do you understand why you are the perfect host?"

Cheryl grimaced. "…It's because I was the one originally meant for it, and I still am."

"That's precisely right. Christian is something of a by-product. In fact… he was an anomaly. How do you feel about that, Christian, the idea that you exist solely because of an accident on Alessa's part?"

Out of the fog behind Valtiel, someone approached them. "Christian!" Joshua and Cheryl exclaimed in unison, and the blond boy glanced at them as he supported Abraham, who was using the teenager's body as a crutch.

"Speak of the devil!" the Red God said while motioning at the boy and man. "Seems Christian and his good friend Abraham have come to join us at last!"

"Abraham! It-," Linda tried to say, but he waved it off.

"Run away, Linda!" Abraham cried. "Take the others with you and get out of here!"

"It's a bit too late for that, Abe," Valtiel said with a chuckle. "This has been drawn out long enough, and now is the time to finish it. Christian!" It held a hand out at the boy. "We are the only ones who can put an end to all this. Come! You have no choice!"

"I'll come," the teenager replied quietly, and everyone gasped. He gently laid Abraham down and absentmindedly clenched and unclenched his fists. He started towards them, past Linda as she went to Abraham's aid and then stopping before Lucas' animated corpse.

"I have to face my destiny sometime," he said, "whether or not I know anything about it."

"Good boy." Valtiel lowered his sleeve and held up the 'Halo of the Sun'. "Reveal yours."

Christian did as he was told, and Valtiel grasped his arm. "Would you mind coming over here, Cheryl? Do it or I sever Christian's arm." Expecting some sort of bodily response from the boy but receiving none, Valtiel frowned. Christian only continued to stare at the imprint on his forearm. It burned and lighted a fiery hue when Cheryl drew near.

"Now…" Valtiel reached into Lucas' jacket and brought out a small glass container filled with a red liquid. It grinned and then plunged a forefinger into Christian's imprint, cutting into the skin. He cringed as Valtiel then uncorked the container and began to pour its contents into the cut.

Christian screamed in agony and gritted his teeth. Steam rose from the cut, and he collapsed to his knees. Valtiel held up his arm, continuing to press into the symbol.

"Miss Mason, do something!" Joshua yelled, but his teacher only glanced in his direction. She slowly began to fish around in her own jacket for something…

"If it's a gun you're trying to get, Alessa," Valtiel said, "you can dismiss the notion. You can destroy Lucas' body but you're unable to kill me."

"Don't do anything!" Christian ordered, blood starting to seep through his teeth and down his chin. "I'll hold out for as long as I can, but you have to wait!"

"What are you-," Cheryl began, but a siren pierced the air. Everyone smothered their ears besides Christian and Valtiel, and the demon glared at the boy.

"Impossible! How are you doing this? You're incapable!" Christian only met his gaze and then dipped his own forefinger into the plasma that was running down his arm. He pressed that finger into the mark on Lucas' arm, and Valtiel emitted an odd, gurgled noise from deep within Lucas' throat. "You can't… this is supposed to subdue you once it enters your bloodstream…!"

Christian pressed down harder. "I'm not doing this!" he shouted back and the veins in Lucas' arm began to rupture. As they imploded streams of dark blood flew out. The sirens grew louder and the sky darkened. The street gave way suddenly, and the asphalt disintegrated at an alarming rate.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!" Zeik whined as he sobbed. "Not again with this!"

Joshua groaned. "Oh, stop being such a pu-," He was cut short when the street broke in two, stranding the others on the opposite side. Linda helped Abraham to his feet and made for that side as the center of the road cracked and dove forward. Christian, Cheryl, and Valtiel were stranded there.

"Miss Mason, grab Christian and come on!" screamed Joshua, but she only looked at him and threw her spare handgun at him. He fumbled with it and nearly dropped it, but held on in the end.

"Take it, Joshua, you'll need it more than I will! Try to get out of here!"

"But what about you?" he questioned, and she turned back to Valtiel and Christian.

"I'll be fine! Get going!"

Then that portion of the street crumpled inward and they were gone.

---

Grime and rust and blood. That was all they saw as they trudged along that lonely main road towards nowhere and somewhere. Silent Hill had entered what a man named Harry Mason would've called the Otherworld, a "place of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life". Except these weren't someone's nightmarish delusions come to life. This was a product of the Awakening.

---

Joshua could only stare at the firearm as they traveled, could only marvel at how it felt in his hands. He carefully tucked it away in his denim jacket.

"This reminds me of that movie, The Fog, or something like that," Zeik remarked quietly. "But the fog's gone and it's too dark to see anything so I'll just say it reminds me of a movie called, The Town where it's too dark to see anything. There, that should work!"

"Hey, what's-your-name, have you ever been laid?" Joshua asked him seriously. Zeik fixed him with a cold, hard stare.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Zeik shot back, but he stroked his chin thoughtfully and added, "...If you really want to know there was this blonde chick that gave me a ride the other day…"

"Really?" Joshua stopped and chuckled. "Sorry, I just don't see how a girl could withstand your constant babbling." He shrugged and kept on going ahead of them, and Zeik fumed.

"Oh yeah, well what about you, you little underage-minor gnat?"

Without looking back, Joshua replied, "Well, as a matter-of-fact, there are these two girls at my school. One of them is a redhead and is a bit mentally unstable, and the other's blonde and sort of straight-laced, but she's cool." He stopped and ran a hand through his hair. "You know, they wouldn't really appreciate me saying that about them, but they're not here anyway…"

"Do you mind if we rest for a minute?" Abraham asked, and Joshua looked at him and Linda.

"Sure, that's fine." He looked at Zeik. "Hey, go find us"—he quickly though of something—"some vodka or whatnot and hurry back here."

Zeik laughed curtly. "I don't think so, you stupid kid. If anyone's going to go fetch supplies, it's you. Let's not forget who dragged who into this mess."

"Yeah, you dragged yourself into it."

Silence.

"Well I'm still not going."

"I have a gun."

"You don't have the acorns to shoot it."

"You won't have acorns if you don't go get that vodka, fo sho."

Zeik made a funny hand gesture at him and then went back to sit beside Linda and Abraham. Joshua narrowed his eyes at him. "What are you doing? I told you to go get that vodka!"

"…Pee off…" Zeik mumbled as he hugged himself and lay down on his side. Joshua laughed.

"Sure! On you!" He then joined them and let out a deep sigh. "Sorry guys, but lead-head here won't go get us some vodka and fish-and-chips so we'll have to rough it until we find the way out of here."

Linda shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. "I don't understand any of this… It's all so wrong…"

Abraham hesitantly put an arm around her shoulders. "It's all right Linda. None of you are experiencing any pains, are you?"

They all shook their heads, and Linda moved closer to him very subtly.

"Alright," he said, and then cast his gaze at Joshua. "You're the one carrying the gun, Joshua, so what would you like to do?"

"Nothing," the brunet responded. "If anything, we have to go look for Miss Mason and Christian. But first, I want some information. You've got to know what the hell's happening around here."

Abraham nodded. "Of course, but I'm sorry to say I don't have a clue as to what's happening now. The Crimson Paragraph never said anything about this."

"Do you think…God was born?" Linda asked him, and Abraham shrugged.

"I guess it's possible. Who knows what would happen when it's born. Not even Valtiel knew, and he was the one with the information. The information that belonged to Lucas, but it doesn't make a difference now."

Joshua crossed his arms. "Is that Valet thing, is he dead, do you think?"

"Maybe," Abraham said. "The Aglaophotis is supposedly lethal to beings of his sort, and if it didn't kill him it probably ejected him out of Christian's body."

"And what about Christian?"

The man sighed. "I can't say. He seemed to be able to fight it, but since he wasn't possessed—but rather the entity himself—it's possible it killed him. I'm not saying it did, but I don't want to give you false hopes."

"No, I get you." Joshua lay down on his back and looked up at the sky. "There aren't any stars in the sky…"

"That's the Paradise they want," Abraham stated. "They want a place where you can't look up at the stars at night."

---

Cheryl woke up inside a place she instantly recognized. "Shit…" she mumbled. The church. She stood up and found herself in the aisle of pews, the altar right before her. Splayed out on top of it was Lucas Schreiber's body. And beyond that, on the wall, hung Valtiel, its faceless head staring at her and shaking violently.

"You…" she said, finally noticing the horrible condition of the church. "No… It turned…" She faced Valtiel again, but it was descending into some sort of hole in the floor. She raced over to the other side of the altar and peered down into the blackness, but saw nothing. Aside from a ladder.

"I'm coming Christian, just try to hold on. I won't let you die now, not after all of this." She crouched down and began to go down the ladder.

---

What was left behind by the street was a sticky, grime-covered grating that was horrible rusted. Already there'd been several trips and falls. It was made even more difficult by the fact they had hardly any light to go by.

"Watch your footing," Abraham muttered as they slowly stepped over an exceptionally large gap in the street. Ahead of them, something had come into view.

"Wait," he said, and they stopped. Zeik's whimpered.

"It's that damn red-pyramid-thing again!" and Joshua gulped rather hard.

"Didn't it die when you used that bomb?" the teenager asked Zeik, who only shrugged. The pyramid head had started to approach them, and in his hand was a long, lightweight, wooden spear.

"It's invulnerable to bullets," Joshua said.

"And poorly-fashioned stools," Zeik added.

"Yeah."

"What do we do, then?" Linda breathed. "It'll kill us if we try to run around it. And who knows how far it could throw that thing…"

"I think we're about to about to find out…" said Joshua as the pyramid head reared back and launched the spear at them. They split to the sides, two to each one. Joshua drew the handgun. "We have to distract it somehow!" he exclaimed, even though he stared at the weapon as if he had never laid eyes on one before.

"No, wait, Joshua!" Abraham called, but the teenager had already started firing at the demon. The bullets ripped through its bloody skin, but it had received virtually no damage whatsoever. It yanked the spear out of the grating and turned its attention to Joshua.

"Joshua, use your blood!" Abraham said. "Hurry, before it attacks again!"

'My blood?' Joshua thought incredulously, but he hurriedly rolled out of the way as the pyramid head stabbed at him. The tip of the spear caught the fabric of his jacket, holding him in place. He yelped in surprise and turned on his side to see the demon advancing upon him.

"Joshua!" Abraham screamed once more, and the boy's eyes wandered over to his bandaged left hand.

"…Damn it!" he yelled and dragged his hand across the rough, jagged grating. The bandage tore apart and his weak flesh went with it. He screamed as his skin opened and blood splattered out. "Shit!" He ran his palm over the barrel and over the space, pulled it back, and squeezed the trigger. The bullet sailed out, took the tiniest bit of Joshua's blood with it, and buried itself within the pyramid head's hide.

The creature froze, and then made an odd noise. It flailed wildly and then fell to the ground, trembling terribly. It went still after a minute or so, and then Abraham and Linda hurried over to Joshua's side.

"Are you all right?" she asked, and he nodded stiffly.

"…Yeah, but my hand-,"

She ripped off a piece of her blouse's sleeve and quickly wrapped it around the wound. She tied the knot as best she could and helped him up. "That's the only thing we can do for it now, but you should be fine."

"I hope so…" he murmured while gazing at the pyramid head's corpse. "Abraham, what was that?"

"I don't know," he answered. "It might be a memory of the town."

"Memory?"

"Yes, manifested by someone who came here and then left to rot. It was probably just acting out of some type of orders when it came across us."

"Orders…" Joshua shrugged and got to his feet. "Let's keep moving."

---

For Christian Silent Hill had not changed. Or perhaps it had, but there was no way of knowing. When he awoke, the fog was gone and the sky was clear. He sat up and unconsciously ran his hand over the grass that he was sitting on.

"It's so soft," he said to himself, and then suddenly recalled what had happened. He looked about himself but saw no one, only a field and a forest nearby. Down the hill where he was he could see what could only be the observation deck overlooking Toluca Lake.

Christian pulled up his sleeve and saw that the 'Halo of the Sun' was gone. He rubbed that spot of his forearm, as if expecting the mark to reappear at a moment's notice. But reappear it did not.

"His influence on you is gone," sounded a female voice from behind him. Christian turned around and saw a girl, not all that much younger than he was, wearing a blue dress. He gaped at her.

"M-Miss Mason?" he said, bewildered. The girl shook her head and sat down beside him.

"No. My name is Alessa."

"Alessa…" He stared at her. "You're the girl that's in my dreams! The one…" he trailed off and sighed. "Alessa, where am I? I mean, where are we?"

"I don't know where you are really, Christian, but right now you're sleeping. This is the only way we can really speak to each other."

"You mean I'm dreaming?" he asked, ignoring the fact she had known his name.

"Yes, or perhaps "dreaming" is too simple a word for it. "You're awake, but just not there. You're comatose, just like I had been so long ago…" She looked at the grass and hugged her legs. Christian gazed at her sadly.

"Alessa, why do I feel as if I know you? We've… never met before. And you look so much like Miss Mason… Are you the same person, just older?"

"You could say that, at least in terms of appearance. Cheryl isn't me, and I'm not Cheryl. She's her own person. I was her once, that's all."

"You mean she's like your reincarnation?" Christian, for some reason, felt good. Very good. He felt that by talking to this person, he was complete.

"I suppose she is." Alessa looked into his eyes and smiled. "She's your mother, your actual mother."

"My mother…" He raised his hands to his face and frowned. "It's because I'm their god, right? I don't have the god's soul in me like that Blackheart man said, I'm really the god. But that's impossible… I don't have powers or anything like that!"

"You don't need powers, Christian." She took his hand in her own. "You're a person, not a god, but they'll never realize that. That's not important, though. What is important is that you understand that you're Christian Richards, not any type of god or deity or demon. It's not up to them, it's up to you."

He looked away from her and down at the lake. "Then what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to stop this?"

Alessa shook her head. "I don't have the answer to that. When the time comes, Christian, you have to find that out yourself." She stood up and he stood with her. She nodded towards the woods. "Are you in the mood for a walk?"

"…S-Sure." She wasn't overly attractive, but he found her beautiful.

They walked in silence into the forest, hand-in-hand. They stopped in a wide area, where a gigantic boulder resided. Alessa patted its smooth but rough surface. "The natives who lived here before we came called it the 'Mother Stone'."

"The Mother Stone…" Christian muttered as he ran his hand over it, and then something crossed his mind. "Hey, Alessa?"

"Yes?"

"If Miss Mason is really my mother, then what does that make you? Would you also be my mother?"

She smiled at him again, and that smile was enough to make him forget what he'd just said. "Like I told you Christian, Cheryl and I are two different people. Once we were the same, but that was a long time ago."

"Oh…" Christian giggled. "I think a part of me wanted you to be my mother, Alessa."

She didn't respond to this, only continuing to smile. She took his hand again and led him on. Soon enough, they came across what seemed like the burned-down remains of a large building. Children's toys were dotted the ground.

"This is where all the children would stay," she told him solemnly. "I didn't live here, even though I had to visit every so often. I hated coming."

"I don't like it either," Christian said. "It feels so cold and lonely."

"That's the way I feel exactly. This wasn't a place for children." She stared at the charred wood and then moved away.

They deviated from the main path and wandered into the trees, admiring certain bushes or trees. At least Christian did. Alessa only smiled that smile and looked on. She'd seen these flowers and trees before at some point in her life.

"Christian, I'm going to have to go."

"What?" He got up from his squat beside a bush and faced her.

"I have to go. I can't stay here with you for much longer."

This took some time to register in his mind. Her presence had offered him a type of refuge from all that was happening. And now she was leaving. "No, you can't leave," he said. "If you do, I don't know what will happen…"

"You'll be alright, Christian, there's no need to worry. And it's not like I'm leaving you forever. I'm always there with you, even if you don't think I am."

"But, Alessa, I think… I think I'm falling in love with you…"

She stroked his cheek. "No you're not," she said softly, and he touched her hand. She pulled away and smiled at him a last time before turning away and walking away into the fog that seemed to have formed.

"Will I see you again?"

She looked back at him and said, "Of course you will, Christian." And then she was gone.

He sighed and idled there for a few moments, staring at his shoes. Then he heard a scuffling nearby, and an orange glow in the distance.

'It's a fire… Someone is camping here…' He began to make his way towards the light, brushing foliage away and stepping over protruding roots. He stopped in front of a clearing and saw two people gathering firewood. They seemed vaguely familiar. One was male and the other female and the male had long, carrot-colored hair on his head. They were both wearing denim jeans, although the girl's pair was black. They both also wore heavy jackets.

"How many… pieces have you gotten… Catherine?" the redhead inquired as he added another stick to his pile.

"Uh… I'm dropping one each time you pick one up, Lexy!" Catherine said as she looked up at a tree.

"…Really?" Alexis turned to her and she turned to him, and he let the whole pile of wood drop from his arms. Her eyebrows rose in surprise.

"What'd you do that for?" she asked lightly as he approached her. She gasped as he pressed her up against the tree and looked into his face with the stupidest of smiles on. "What are you doing, Alexis?"

He dipped his head in towards her and inhaled deeply beside her short, blonde hair. "…Sometimes I shiver when I look at you… and sometimes I feel an urge to take you into my arms… but you know what?"

"…What?" she asked dumbly with huge eyes, and her firewood pieces started to slip out of her arms.

"Oh… it's just that all of the time I find you to be the most idiotic person on the planet."

There was a long, drawn out pause, and then Catherine grimaced. "…What a way to ruin the mood, Alexis."

He back away and bent down to collect the wood. "You mean… you wouldn't mind if I took you by force?"

"I wouldn't resist." A giggle followed it.

He closed his eyes and chuckled and they quickly re-gathered the firewood before starting toward the campsite. Christian followed after them.

At the campsite were two other people he recognized much better. They were Melissa and Noah, dressed in a similar fashion to Alexis and Catherine. 'They died, though,' Christian thought as he watched from afar. 'Maybe this is where they go when they die… maybe I'm dead…'

Alexis and Catherine joined them, sitting beside each other and across from the other pair, although closer together. "Oh, you brought quite a bit!" Melissa commented as they let the pile fall a few feet away.

"You couldn't have been bothered to do it a little faster, though, right?" Noah teased as Alexis chucked several pieces into the fire. Catherine stuck out her tongue and threw a twig at him. Noah caught it in one hand and examined it briefly.

"How long has it been since we were like this?" he asked them, and it took them all except for Melissa aback.

"Too long," she replied, and smiled kindly at him. He returned it, although it was hardly as noticeable as hers. Melissa saw it just fine, however. "Oh, I brought marshmallows! It's been even longer since we've had these, right?"

"Oh goody!" Catherine said, clapping her hands together. She distributed the sticks and Melissa passed out the marshmallows, and they all began to hold their marshmallows over the flames.

Christian advanced forward out of the woods and into the space, his eyes locked on the fire. "I haven't had roasted marshmallows since I was a little kid," he thought aloud, and they all looked up at him with a bit of shock. They stared at each other for some time, until Noah spoke up.

"…Would you like to join us?" he invited, and Melissa gazed at him affectionately. The blond teenager searched for words to say, but finally only nodded.

"I'd like that, sure." He sat down near the pile of wood and took a stick of his own, and Melissa handed him a marshmallow. He impaled with the stick and held it over the wood anxiously.

As he admired the stars up in the night sky, Melissa ventured a question. "What are you doing out here?"

He brought his gaze down to her and sighed. "I don't know, to tell you the truth. I'm a bit lost."

"Lost?" Catherine murmured to herself. "Yep, I guess this place is kind of lost-y…"

"It's already nighttime?" Christian questioned, and they nodded.

"It has been for awhile," Alexis answered, and they all pulled their marshmallows back. As they began to munch on them, Christian removed his from the stick and placed it in his hand.

"What are you guys doing out here, anyway?" They all contemplated this, but in the end it was Noah who shrugged.

"I'm not sure why," he replied, "but I doubt that it matters. Do you understand what I mean?"

Christian created a small circle in the dirt with his stick. "I'm not sure I do. I think I need some more time to think it over before I wake." He stood up and stretched. "If it's alright with you guys, I'm going to go keep on walking. I'll keep this as a snack."

"Be careful," Melissa advised, and he nodded. He waved at them and they waved at him as he walked off into the forest, towards nowhere and somewhere.

---

Cheryl touched down from the ladder and turned around to glimpse ahead of her at the long corridor. On the walls, torches were placed at regular intervals, and a great chamber rested at where the corridor ended. She made her way towards it.

On the floor of the chamber was painted an enormous 'Halo of the Sun', but the inner circle had been replaced by the 'Seal of Metatron'. In that circle lay Christian, and hanging off the wall beyond him was Valtiel. The room started to darken.

"What have you done to him?" she demanded, and the voice that responded wasn't a voice at all.

'The Aglaophotis has had its predicted effect on him... and now you have come, Alessa. Come closer…'

"I won't let you go through with this!" she exclaimed, but within her mind Valtiel chortled. "Christian, wake up! Wake up!"

'You cannot awaken him, Alessa,' Valtiel informed her. 'You are out of options.'

"No… No, that's not true! Christian, just wake up!" The boy did not stir at all. He breathed at a steady rate, but he was deeply asleep. She looked at Valtiel and heard his chortle once more, and then she couldn't handle it any longer. She ran into the pentacle.