Albert remained on the floor, his last words still ringing through the air. ‘Please, I can help you!’ He had been in that same bowing position for an hour now but didn’t dare to move. He thought it was safe here at least, the entity left him for one reason or another so he will remain here until instructed to do so by a higher power. He didn’t even brush off any of the countless spiders that crawled on his skin for he thought it to be a test from the entity.

  Albert couldn’t help but to peek up every once in a while to see from the tears in the side of the tent massive bodies moving from left to right or right to left. Figures so large they caused the earth to shake as they passed.

  One thought in his mind was the only thing keeping Albert going. ‘Who is Jinar?’ This seemed like a simple question that would have a simple answer but with each deep dive into his mind he hit a wall almost instantly, only remembering a fractured image of a child’s face.

  “Jinar… Jinar…” Albert repeatedly whispered to himself while rocking himself back and forth, trying to sooth his mind. With each mutter of the name a pain in his chest grew until it grew to much.

  Albert ran his hand over the area of pain, just above his heart and felt a bump that wasn’t there before. He thought it could’ve been a spider bite but once the hand was pressed over the bump and he said Jinar’s name once more he felt it move.

  Albert sat on his knees and ripped open his shirt to see the bump on his skin was black with bulging veins coming from it stretching out in all directions.

  A pressure pushed down on Albert with the weight of a truck forcing Albert into a bow once more. “We have a use for you now.” Ivy’s and Thomas’s mixed voice crept back into Albert’s mind. He immediately shifted all of his attention to the space above him since that was where the voice was coming from.

  “Yes! I can…” Albert tried to list the many different ways he could be useful for an all powerful entity but was immediately interrupted.

  “Take my eye to the altar. After that you will have no further use.” The combination of voices forced a strain of Albert’s mind to understand it clearly. Just as quickly as the voice and pressure came it was gone.

  Albert sat back up. “Your eye? You’re talking about the red moss, yes?” He scrambled, crawling to the ice chest on the other side of the tent which had stopped pouring out smoke long ago.

  He was shocked to see that it was empty now. “Where is it?!” He screamed to himself. Now standing on his knees, he searched all over the tent but couldn’t find a trace of it.

  “Jinar…” The words slipped from his lips once more and the pain in his chest hit with such force he recoiled and fell on his back.

  He could feel the bump in his chest growing but was not prepared for what he saw once he looked at it once more. The bump in his chest was glowing slightly red and under the thin layer of skin he could see the black part of it turn until a red iris was visible. Once the two locked eyes the bump began to quickly roll around under his skin, at first it went in circles around the torso. It moved from the top layer of his skin and sank below, burrowing its way towards his ribs. Albert screamed in pain as his muscles, bones and tendons were pushed aside clearing a path for the eye until it finally made it to Albert’s head. With one final push it shot Albert’s left eye out of its socket and nestled into its new home. Albert watched his eye roll away until it looked at him one last time.

  “What…” The shaken words poured from the broken man landing in a puddle of his tears in blood before him. His hand quickly shot up to cover his left eye socket. He expected the cold rush of blood any moment now but once it never came he slowly pulled his shaking hand away.

  “Dad.” A voice came from behind stealing Albert’s attention away. Once Albert had turned fully around he could see someone running from the entrance of the tent towards the forest.

  “Jinar?” Albert foolishly spoke the cursed name once more which caused his right eye to shut and his left eye to open fully. At first Albert was shocked his body was moving of its own accord but took it as a gift from the entity for now, with his new eye he saw a different world. One that had been stained with blood. His right was forced shut and could not be opened anymore, no matter how much he tore at his own skin and the left eye would not shut.

  The tent that Albert was once hiding in was gone, torn away by the elements. He was now in a twisted place where even the trees couldn’t stand to be in as they twisted themselves until they died crashing to the floor matching the scale of the foot steps Albert heard just outside his tent.

  Albert saw what looked like it could’ve been his house but was now reduced to a pile of rubble. He stood up and started to walk towards the rubble. Streams of lightning fast masses of light flew through the sky above leaving a quaking thunderous roar in their path.

  Albert saw a child just at the tree line, his face covered in a thick layer of shadows. They looked at each other before the kid sprinted further into the forest. “Jinar?” Albert said instinctually forcing his eyes to switch between being open and shut, now it was his left eye that wouldn’t open.

  Albert now only saw his hell, the place he once called home draped in flood lights and standing tall. The massive bodies he saw from the tent before were now seen on the horizon, towering above the trees. They caused the minor earthquakes with each step and they were carefully walking around the forest as if they were searching for something.

  One eye showed his reality while the other showed him the reality of where the red moss was born.

  “So you have their eye.” A calm but confident voice washed over Albert sending him into a panic. Albert jumped forward from the shock but when he looked to see the source of the voice he only saw a cloud of purple smoke that kept its shape but dripped upward.

  “Please! I promise I’ll deliver the eye right away just like you asked! Just stop!” Albert screamed as he backed away from the purple smoke and house. Albert lost his poise as he got in a slouched stance and started to run away.

  The smoke effortlessly caught up to Albert and stopped before him, blocking the way. “You misunderstand the reason I appear before you. My intent is not that of making sure you deliver the eye but instead it’s the salvation of your soul.” The voice from the purple smoke itself wrapped around Albert and brought him instant comfort in the way only unnatural healing could. The smoke extended outward next and extended into one long form, the top of which rested on Albert’s chest, right above his heart. Before the smoke even reached him, Albert felt a cold pressure pushing on his chest.

  Albert was in a state of peace now. For a moment he could think clearly and recall all of his memories. Late nights at the lab, countless days studying and perfecting his experiments, and even when he met Danica. But he still couldn’t find anything about Jinar. “Stop! I must deliver the eye!” Albert snapped, swatting at the smoke. As his body made contact with the smoke Albert immediately realized the air around the smoke was freezing cold. His arm froze in the middle of the smoke like it was stuck in quicksand.

  “I do beg you to stop being so small minded. I am Zadkiel, an angel sent down from our father to save what souls I can before the world is lost. My first assignment was your hideous soul.” The smoke rose in the air, dragging Albert by the hand that was still stuck. Albert had lost feeling in his hand from how cold it was getting.

  Two massive blue pearls formed in the middle of the smoke, just inches from Albert’s face. They were fixated on Albert, observing every move he made and seemed to read every thought he was having at this moment.

  “I see where the imperfection of your soul is. You forgot something that is devastatingly important. Let us start small. The name Jinar is scratched into the very fibers of your brain and memories, I can see your soul wince once I saw the name, Jinar.” Zadkiel’s voice grew to a low growl, judging Albert as if Zadkiel was a teacher who was asking a student for an answer they should already know.

  Albert began to frantically claw at the air and smoke that was keeping him feet above the ground, trying desperately to just get the task that he was assigned to by the entity done. “Please! I don’t know who Jinar is…” Albert was screaming like a rat caught in a trap but once his vision switched mid sentence his voice grew quiet and small quickly. For he saw the exterminator who was holding him.

  The world seen by his left eye was that of nightmares but none of those horrible visions he saw before could prepare him for what he saw now. Zadkiel’s true form was visible here, a towering man shaped thing that stood around ten feet tall. In this new light it was hard to tell what color his skin was, it was such a combination that made it seem red and purple at the same time.

  Albert first noticed wings of a massive bird draped on the ground behind the figure that were bent and broken in several spots. They had faint yellow light coming from them that was flickering in and out like a broken light. Albert rose through the air as the angel dragged him further up towards his head. The skin was glowing faintly and was littered with scars and holes that were clean through like he was swiss cheese. As Albert got closer to the mouthless face he saw that the blue pearls were replaced with carved rubies that stared straight through him.

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  Albert raised his hand that wasn’t being held by the massive angel and swung it at the fingers hoping he could worm his way free but as soon as his hand touched the angels skin the sound of his bones breaking like twigs filled his ears. “I will advise you to never strike an angel of god or it will be much worse for you next time.” Zadkiel said, his voice came in from all directions using Albert’s head as a merging point for all the sound to collide like an echo chamber. Albert screamed in pain, his hand was twisting in more directions than he could count on this state of mind.

  As Zadkiel moved his other hand, the sound of thunder rolled in until it came to a screeching stop once Zadkiel had his hand motionless once more but above Albert’s broken hand. “Stop your screaming, we do not have time for this.” Zadkiel said and, with the signal of thunder once more, he moved his hand away revealing Albert’s hand was back to normal but the name ‘Jinar’ was carved into Albert’s palm.

  Zadkiel let go of Albert. The wind rushed past Albert as he fell and collided with ground causing a loud thud. Albert propped him self up on his hands and knees as he tried to catch his breath, that’s when he noticed several twisted figures standing around him and Zadkiel. They were all shapes and sizes, about 20 feet out forming a circle around them.

  “Do not worry. These demons know fighting me will result in their final death. They are here for you.” Zadkiel, his face was emotionless and unmoving, only his ruby eyes rolled in place.

  “For me? I need to get to the altar!” Albert screamed as he struggled to get to his feet and ran the direction his new eye was pulling him in.

  Zadkiel’s body collapsed in on itself causing dirt and branches to be pulled into the focal point of the collapse. A small crack in the air between Albert and the demon circle opened up revealing an abyss inside. Zadkiel’s massive hand emerged from it, ripping the space wide open, the sound of glass shattering made Albert stop. Then as suddenly as he vanished he reappeared in front of Albert, his body bursting through a pane of glass that was beyond comprehension.

  “I was sent to test you and test you I shall! You must face your sin and remember you past for you to move on properly to heaven!” Zadkiel’s voice ripped through the air, snapping tree branches in all directions as each stream of the voice was on a collision course with Albert. Each word hit him with the force of a fast ball no human could pitch.

  The demons laughed in unison until Albert let out a long yell. After a while of sitting on the ground, staring at the carving on his palm the words formed in his mouth, slowly building strength until they crawled out. “Jinar…” Albert said. Tears, that he wasn’t sure of where they came from, poured from his right eye.

  The world had shifted once more around Albert but he paid no attention to it. The word that had a permanent place on the tip of his tongue and now hand had all of his attention.

  The purple cloud floated in front of Albert. “Stand.” It commanded and Albert did so without fighting it this time.

  The demons who formed a circle around Albert were replaced with seven pillars of immense light that stretched to the heavens. Whispers of an unknown language could be heard coming from the light but Albert could not put a face to them.

  The purple smoke stretched forward and grabbed Albert by his non-branded hand. “Are you ready?” Zadkiel asked. His voice was much quieter now but still packed as much authority as before.

  Albert looked away from his hand finally and stared at the blue pearls. Albert’s body wasn’t shaking anymore for a broken machine will not move. “Ready?” Albert said, his voice trailed away quickly before he stared blankly at the word on his skin again.

  “We will enter your memories and force you to remember what you have done.” Zadkiel said pulling Albert towards the forest.

  “Remember? Remember Jinar you mean?” Albert couldn’t keep his feet straight, he kept tripping over them. His body seemed like it weighed a ton.

  Albert’s vision flickered once more. He saw Zadkiel walking confidently towards the circle of demons around them without a care. The demons opened a way for them and as they passed the demons formed a small huddle and followed them.

  “Jinar…” Albert kept repeating the name, over and over until it didn’t sound like one anymore. With each time he said it the world flickered.

  “Jinar…” Albert first saw the purple smoke rise and then saw Zadkiel’s hand pass through the open space in front of them as if it were passing through the surface of water. “Jinar…” The purple smoke slowly descended from the air towards the ground, splitting it open. Like ice, cracks with no home, appeared quickly and spread in all directions. “Jinar…” Albert’s whole perspective shifted as Zadkiel lifted him in the air and threw Albert into the rift.

  The air passed downward on Albert’s skin as his body ascended towards the stars. The skies ceiling came into view revealing an upside down version of Albert’s home. And just like that reality cracked and the house turned red with blood running up the side of it and the sound of a gunshot rang. Albert knew now he wasn’t flying, he wasn’t headed towards any stars. He was falling, descending into a hell. Just like water, Albert passed through the dirt in front of his house and landed on solid ground, now in front of his right side up, clean house.

  Suddenly a warmth flowed through Albert as this child wrapped his arms around him and screamed. “Dad!” The boy’s face was cloaked in shadow but Albert could feel his heart skip a beat when he looked at this boy.

  Albert’s body moved on its own, wrapping his arms around the boy and letting a smirk grow into a smile.

  The boy looked up and laughed. “You’re on your way to work right? You said I could come this time, remember?” The boys voice was so familiar to Albert but he called him dad, he wasn’t sure if he was Ivan.

  A woman, with shadows covering her face, walked out of the house holding Ivan’s hand. “You did promise him dear. We don’t want our children to think you lie to them, do you?” The woman said. The sound of her voice made Albert’s heart flutter and just like that her face became clear. How could Albert ever forget his wife, Danica or his son, Ivan. Albert stoped mid thought fixating on one word she said, children, Albert remembered only having one child. “Of course not dear.” Albert smiled patting the strange child on the back.

  Albert couldn’t remember exactly what he was doing, the last thing he recalled was falling asleep the night before and waking up here. The buzzing phone in his pocket, whose screen read ‘Stein calling’, had reminded him he was on his way to work.

  With confident hands, Albert pushed on the screen and pressed the phone against his ear. “I know I’m late, I’m sorry. I’ll be right there with a little surprise.” And without another word, not even waiting to hear the response of refusal, Albert hung up and looked down at the little boy a smiled again. The words had formed on their own and moved through Albert’s body like he was a puppet. That was something Albert was comfortable with right now.

  Albert had begun walking from his house towards the barn, where Stein was waiting. All along the way the boy kept looking up at him and laughing in a playful way. Words were exchanged but none of them were in a form Albert could comprehend, only feel, and they made him feel good so he laughed with the boy.

  Albert had start to notice cracks grow in the ground as the two passed into the forest, but with a gust of wind plowing dirt over them and a short playful banter later, the cracks were too small to see anymore.

  “Hey dad.” The boy said and as soon as he touched Albert’s hand a dull pain overtook Albert’s arm. Trying to control himself, Albert just grunted and laughed the pain away while doing a silly dance which cause the boy to laugh.

  Albert looked at his hand to see if there was an obvious cause to the pain and he just about chocked on the air in his lungs when he saw ‘Jinar’ still carved into his palm.

  The child gently pulled on Albert’s jacket until his focus shifter to him. “Jinar?” Albert read the name aloud and his reality came to a screeching halt as the tape of the camera was switched over bring with it the familiar, dread filled, red filter with it.

  The boy was gone. It was just Albert standing in a field full of grass. A lone breeze passing by could be seen from the reflections of the red moon off the blades of grass.

  Albert could hear a man crying in the distance. He followed it blindly, letting his curiosity get the best of him.

  Only ten feet away Albert could see the crying man standing over a shallow hole dropping cyclamen into it. “Please… please come and celebrate the life that has been lost.” The crying man said and out of the grass rose countless figures in all shapes and sizes. The figures looked like they once glowed like fireflies but just like the bugs they were the light had been smashed and ripped out. A figure grabbed Albert and carried him to the focal point of all of their congregation. Albert didn’t try to fight against the control, the air was too full of mourning for him to do so. The man who had been dropping the flowers into the hole was dressed all in white and had a single camera hanging from his neck.

  The man took the last flower he held and walked around the shallow grave and towards Albert. “If one could take back a life time to save his love, do you think they would take that chance? Or should that individual instead rewrite the rules and take everything back?” The man said as the flower in his hands caught on fire and red spores instead of embers blew away with the wind.

  “Dad!” The boys voice finally echoed through Albert’s head causing the pain in his palm to reappear reminding him of the name. Albert whispered the name once more and had the faceless child in the forest staring up at him still.

  “What is it?” Albert said as he was actively trying to repress what he just saw and chop it up to being a bad daydream.

  “I love you dad.” The kid said and his smile broke through the shadows, melting Albert’s heart beyond words.

  As he opened his lips the world shifted, Albert couldn’t remember saying it back to the boy but just like that they were before the barn now. The doors were shut tightly and the lanterns hanging above the door swayed gently in the breeze.

  “Well what do you say? Let’s go surprise your uncle.” Albert said patting the kid on the head as they started to walk towards the barn doors. The sound of screaming animal could be heard but Albert knew this was normal and pressed on, trading a few hollow words with the child to put them at ease.

  Albert ripped open the doors and the kid yelled. “Surprise!” Stein jumped out of shock. The twitching body of a deer on an operating table sent the kid straight into Albert’s side crying. There was someone new in the barn, someone Albert didn’t recognize but saw before. A man in all white. Albert and Stein traded a few heated words that were beyond recollection until one word made every other word behind it clear.

  “I told you to leave … behind!” Stein yelled, the space left open only being filled with the sound of static. Albert eyes grew wide as he tried to comprehend what he just heard.

  Stein walked over to the boy and laughed while patting him on the back. While guiding him towards the man in white. “Hey kid, this here is Luci. He’s a miracle worker and the one who helped me and your dad out of a real pickle!” Stein said and Luci handed a flower to the boy making him laugh once more.

  “Stein…?” Albert said. Stein and Albert always worked alone, that was their job, they couldn’t trust any external help because no one could be trusted with this experiment.

  Before Albert could say anything Luci stepped forward. “I know what you want to say, believe me I had to do a lot of convincing for this one.” Luci said pointing at Stein whose eyes had turned pitch black.

  “I have done what you two have been trying to do. And this golden potion is all yours, no strings attached.” Luci said as he pulled what looked like a camera one moment and then a bottle of glowing red liquid the next. Albert could tell the man was up to something, there were reasons the job only stayed between him and Stein, but Luci’s words couldn’t be seen as wrong.

  “Just watch.” Luci said throwing the bottle at the deer and it shattered against the animal. The boy hid behind Luci as the deer began to move and talk like a man. Nothing about this seemed right to Albert but he could not argue with Luci so instead he laughed.

  The deer lurched forward towards Luci who had now vanished from sight forcing the deer on the unavoidable path towards the boy. With a single scream followed by the sound of flesh being ripped apart the boy laid in a pile of blood.

  Stein had grabbed a shotgun he kept in the barn and shoot the deer over and over until no part of it was recognizable.

  Luci appeared once more standing above the pile of the boy holding another golden red potion. “Tragic sacrifices must not ruin a life. Use this and it’ll be like it never happened.” Luci said and the bottle was now in Albert’s hand, without a word of agreement. Albert was now standing above the pile of someone he could not remember and didn’t want to at this point for the hurt would break him.

  “Please come back…” The words slithered out from Albert as the contents of the red liquid were poured over the boys body. But it was not the boy who rose from it but another body emerged from the pile. One who was covered in red moss which quickly took shape and corrected its own hue to match the once alive child.

  “Jinar.” Albert said lovingly with tears trailing down his face for the shadows covering the boys face were no more and now he recognized his son. His heart broke for he now remembered his son had died years ago and the thing he had lovingly called son for many years was a demon.

  The world had flipped for the last time. The world was broken, red was dripping upwards off of each surface. It was just Albert and Jinar standing in the barn now, Jinar’s back was to the wide open barn doors the revealed several red vines crawling towards him. “Come father. Let us go back home.” Jinar said grabbing Albert by the hand and lead him out of the barn. Albert was just a husk of a man, only being lead by the strongest wind.

  Albert looked back at the barn where his true son lay and saw no barn anymore, just Luci standing before an altar placing a flower atop it. Albert took one last look at the sky to see a red moon rising with countless red masses following. But behind all of that was Zadkiel who was now bigger than everything. His massive hand broke through the moon and red masses until it clasped around Albert. “Your judgment has been decided.” Were the last words Albert heard.