“Life was simple. Life was easy.” Willow whispers echoed and swirled around her until they were abruptly interrupted by Sax humming some melody that sounded oddly close to happy birthday.

  As they grew closer to their destination, the air became heavy. There was a certain electricity bouncing between each step that everyone took that propelled them even further towards the altar. Willow’s thoughts got the best of her a few times to the point where she had tried several times to stop walking along with the group. She just slowed her steps and let the rest walk out of sight and with a blink of her eyes the three holy men were with her once more. She wasn’t sure if they turned around and found her or if she sprinted to catch up to them.

  “We’re almost there, right?” Willow asked the air openly expecting no one to hear her. Johnson and Peterson both looked down at the child and smiled as they nodded their head.

  Being escorted by holy men reminded Willow of her past, the life that was not long before the forest. Waking up every morning from her parents fighting about money then shortly after they all had to pretend that everything was fine once they made it to church. A church that Willow didn’t know if she fully believed in but did the best she could to stop their screaming.

  The ground started to crack slightly as the altar grew closer. Red mist started to grow slowly out from the cracks, filling the air with the familiar cloak of death.

  That church was the loneliest point for Willow’s life. She was forced into the youth groups that tailored their teachings into more manageable bites for kids but they just made it more confusing for a child who had read his book from cover to cover tens of times.

  But this church is where Willow first met Jinar. He was the only one who taught Willow that it was ok to question the church. They both knew they couldn’t openly admit their disbelief because it wasn’t disbelief, it was confusion that anger couldn’t fix. It was a gentle poison that seeped into their minds that made more and more sense the more they grew away from the church’s teachings in secret.

  “Willow.” The soft but commanding hit Willow enough to send her a few steps back. It was a voice she thought she would never hear again, not in a hell like this.

  “Jinar?” Willow asked realizing she was now alone. The holy men had vanished, there was just a silhouette of a boy who was about ten feet away, who had his hand outreached towards Willow.

  Tears began to build behind Willow’s eyes, her lips began to tremble. But with a clenched fist she pushed the need to cry to the side. She thought this wasn’t the time, the teachings of her parents gently reminded her she had not yet deserved the right to cry.

  “Willow? What’s wrong?” Jinar said softly as he took a step closer to her, his body still hidden in an unknown shadow. Jinar took a step towards Willow but she instinctively took a step back, not out of fear of her best friend but a fear of being seen in this state.

  “I… I can’t…” Willow cried as she turned her back on Jinar and started to walk back where she had came from.

  This is exactly what Willow wanted. She finally found her friend and he was within arms reach but retreat is what her old conditioning pushed her to choose.

  “Willow...” Jinar’s voice trailed off as he faded behind the mist. Willow covered her eyes in hopes to keep the tears in place but before she knew it she ran into something.

  Willow opened her eyes and realized she had ran into Jinar who now had his arms wrapped around her. “It’s ok Willow, I got you. It’s ok to cry here.” Jinar whispered and finally, with the approval from the person she valued the most, her tears couldn’t be held back anymore as she began to scream out of confusion. She still didn’t know if it was ok to cry out loud or if had to be one of the moments before where it had to be kept secret.

  “Where have you…?” Willow tried to ask Jinar but him letting go was enough to stop her words. A bouquet of different colored cyclamen were shoved into Willow’s arms before another thought could be had.

  “These are for you my dear sister.” Jinar said before taking a step back and flashing a big smile for Willow.

  The mist stayed consistent but just behind Jinar Willow could make out a big square object, an object that did not belong there. In between her quiet sobs and Jinar’s reassuring laughter Willow could hear a humming come from the box.

  “Brother is always so thoughtful, isn’t he?” A girl whose voice was so unrecognizable, so foreign, so familiar crept its way through the night. Willow could not put a name to the voice until she looked over to see a little girl standing next to her. She wasn’t sure how long the girl had been there but she could just tell that she had been there for a while now. If it wasn’t for a cloud of red smoke circling the girls head, Willow was sure she could’ve recognized her.

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  “I… Ivy…?” The words found their way out of Willow but she wasn’t sure what they meant anymore. The girl looked at Willow and the smoke cleared enough to reveal a smile.

  And with a blink of the eye the girl was gone and Willow wasn’t sure if she was even real. That was until the girl reappeared inches away from Willow, the girls hand resting Willow’s shoulder. Willow wasn’t sure if the girl was moving quickly or if the rest of the world was moving around her.

  The contact brought so many images of the girl flashing through Willow’s mind that she realized she knew her for a long time. They were so important to each other that this touch did more talking than they could.

  “Hey. Sister. Come on.” Jinar whispered and the girl vanished, or maybe she had always been standing behind Jinar.

  “Where have you been?” Willow asked afraid of what answer she might get. Jinar laughed softly as the mist behind him and the girl began to thin revealing an altar made of smooth, polished black stone.

  “Willow…” The girl whispered before Jinar’s hands on her shoulder caused her voice to vanish.

  “We died Willow.” Jinar’s words were exactly what Willow had feared but she had known deep down for a while now.

  “We prayed and prayed for help but no god came… that was until he showed up.” Jinar said pointing at the altar. As everyone’s attention was drawn to it the stone making it up shifted like it was breathing.

  “We found a new god who promised to make everything better before we could even ask him. A god so great that we can even hear his voice now, it’s not some voice we have to make up like before.” Jinar’s voice began to fade as the altar seemed to drag itself through the dirt towards Willow. Some humming that quickly broke out to a choir could be heard coming from all direction’s. Thomas and some man could be seen on just the other side of the altar pushing it towards Willow.

  Willow’s mouth instinctively swung open to greet Thomas but the words never came. The look that Thomas shoot Willow was one devoid of any emotion, and that scared her more than any rage filled scream could.

  “Lay down.” Thomas said quietly pointing at the top of the altar and the man who was helping Thomas did so without another word.

  The air grew still, Willow didn’t fully know what was going on but she could feel intent oozing out of the altar.

  Without warning, a knife just appeared in Thomas’s hands and plunged through the mans chest and gold blood began to spill over the altar edges. The soil drank the blood and began to glow softly. The body that was just there a moment ago had faded into a dying light before vanishing completly.

  A subtle humming filled the air as the altar began to shift around. Pieces of the altar broke off and floated through the air before it rebuilt itself at Willow’s feet. The red moon began to descend, pushing some trees deeper into the earth as it made its way closer before stopping at the top of the tree line.

  The weight of a hammer brought Willow’s attention to her own hand. She wasn’t sure when she had grabbed it but it felt like it was made just for her, just for this moment.

  Her hand began to move on its own, preparing to strike the altar and destroy it once and for all but a hand holding hers, desperately stopped her.

  “By order of our god, please stop.” A man made completely of light cried. She recognized him instantly as an angel and there was a man who was bleeding badly in his other arm. Willow could see past his thin, metaphysical mask, that this was a solider. Just another holy man in a way, who was following orders from a god who long abandoned them.

  “God orders me?” Willow’s voice cracked as she twisted her hand free from the angels. The light was still there, radiating from the angel but something was holding it back. If the angel had just believed a little more, just tried a little harder he could’ve had the strength to end Willow before anything else happened. But he couldn’t he could not kill a child even if it was a command from god, at least not a child that was so broken.

  Willow thought ‘How could a god who was so absent and separated have the authority to command her at will like this?’ But her lips had remained sealed. Though she had learned that in her own way to ask the questions that needed to be asked she could only do so in her own head.

  “Please… don’t do this we need to save god…” The man dying in the angels arm said which was enough to send Willow over the edge finally.

  She raised the hammer once more and began to cry thinking that if god was here instead of his soldiers then maybe things would’ve been different. “I just want to see a god.” Were the last words Willow could manage between her sobs.

  The hammer felt heavy but Willow knew what she needed to do. As the hammer struck the altar cracks spread out in all directions and spores of red moss were sent throughout the air.

  Everyone held their breath as the altar began to slowly crumble near the center of impact and small chunks of the altar fell inwards. Willow knew this is what she was meant for.

  Breathing could be heard coming from inside the altar as an arm covered in white that belonged to a white sleeve slowly emerged from the opening. The hand gently rested against Willow’s cheek. “I am here my child.” A voice whispered before the altar peeled away revealing a man in a full white suit, fully embracing Willow.

  “Luci?! My god please give me strength.” The angel said clutching his sword close to his chest putting what little light he had from reserves into it. He raised the sword above his head and brought it down towards Luci.

  Luci’s paralyzing gaze froze the angel who had now began shaking. It seemed Luci’s presence alone was sapping all the light and strength from everyone to the point that the angel was forced to drop to his knees before a single swing could happen. A quick but soothing hush fell over the angel that seemed to dim his light as the long exhale escaped from Luci’s lips. “I am your god now brother.” Luci’s words were like snakes, slithering through all the minds at once.

  Willow looked at Luci and instantly realized the man was missing an eye. The eye socket was oozing red moss that dripped onto his suit and the floor.

  “Michael. Michael! You know what needs to be done!” The man in the angels arms yelled as he punched the angels chest repeatedly until the mans knuckles began to bleed, hoping these actions will be enough to give Michael everything he needed to finish this fight.

  “Zadkiel… is that you? Don’t worry brother, I can restore you to an even better state.” Luci said reaching towards the dying man in Michael’s arms.

  Michael let out a scream that began to shatter the earth beneath their feet. The angel reached towards the sky as light began to build up around his wings. Willow knew this feeling to well, this is what it was like to pray when she was first brought into this religion except it was more pure.

  A light started to pierce through the fog and clouds as it shined over Michael and Zadkiel like a spotlight. “God! The way is open for you! Come strike down this darkness!” Michael screamed. His words were enough to fill Willow with some hope. Hope that she will get to see another god.

  Michael’s wings started to fade like dust in the wind, his light began to die out but this was all worth it. He finally made a connection with his god once more and this battle was surely won since he was arriving.

  The light that had shown over Michael and Zadkiel had grown faint as their bodies began to raise off the ground. “What? No! If we leave now…!” Michael began to scream as he twisted his body around before Zadkiel’s steady hand calmed the angel down.

  “This is the only way.” Zadkiel said before the two of them were quickly dragged away by the light.

  Thomas jumped forward with a dagger drawn and Willow could tell he was ready to hunt the angels down but Luci’s gentle breath brought all the attention back onto him.

  “Let them go, we have a lot of gods that need to be made.” Luci said as the angels and light vanished from sight.