Ivy and Thomas sat across Albert, heavy hands of Albert’s men still held them down tight but they stopped resisting minutes ago. They were just waiting for the moment the demons possessed their bodies. No one dared to speak for they didn’t want to break the concentration of Albert who was studying them carefully.

  Fifteen more minutes pass by and still nothing. Albert knew at any moment that these innocent looking kids will shift and begin to try and kill them. “Should we just take them to Stein now? I mean they’re docile until the demons take full control right?” One guard said, Albert shot him a glance that would only result in one thing if he kept talking.

  “If we move them now we will risk killing them. Then I will have to find two new subjects to take their place.” Alberts words were colder than the children’s body as he pointed at the two guards.

  “It’s just their body is radiating with cold air like they’re made of ice. My hands are about to fall off from how cold they are.” The guard complained which caused Albert to raise an eyebrow and lean forward.

  Albert reached under the table and grabbed a flashlight the size of a small dog. It began to hum with life as he flipped a few switches on the side. A light so bright that the spot it hit on the tent began to smoke. The machine hum grew louder, pouring out light and heat as he pointed it directly at Ivy and then Thomas. Their now steaming bodies remained motionless. Albert let out a sigh and threw a pair of gloves at each of the guards.

  “She moved!” The guard holding Ivy screamed. He took a few steps back and let his grip slip. Albert shot up and grabbed the guard by the wrist and slapped the hand back onto Ivy’s shoulders.

  “She can only move if there’s a demon in her and we all know demons hate light, right? She didn’t react to the light at all so that means no demon yet. Don’t you dare let go again if you think there’s a demon in them!” Albert huffed pointing the flashlight at the side of the guards head. Without another word the guard nodded his head mindlessly. Both of the guards put on the gloves and resumed their position.

  An hour passed now but there stayed the children in the exact spot like they were statues collecting moss. Their unblinking eyes remained wide open. With a sharp and deep inhale Albert decided to break the silence himself. “This process could take a few hours it just depends on how stubborn the demons and hosts are. If we attempt to move them before the demons take control it could sever their soul and that means no demons to experiment on.” Albert finally stood up and went to the corner of the tent where a mug full of stale coffee laid.

  “I remember the third experiment me and Stein did, that one took three hours for the demon to come. It was either the raccoon who had incredible will power to keep the demon out or it was the demon just being lazy.” Albert said in between his heavy sips making the mug empty within minutes. Albert knew the real reason the raccoon took hours was no demon would want to posses a weak body like that but these were healthy, young children. They were the exact targets any demon would want.

  “So why is this taking so long? Is it something bigger?” Albert’s words were hushed and close to his chest, his finger tapping in time with the nervous twitch of his leg.

  Albert was pacing back and forth from the safety of his side of the table. Another hour passed and he couldn’t take it anymore.

  “They’re a lost cause at this point. Drag them to Stein and I’ll prepare the report.” Albert said with a final slam of his hand on the table signaling he has had enough. The guards looked at each other and nodded knowing that any words they could put out right now would only fuel Albert’s frustration.

  Right before the guards lifted their heavy hands two words kept them firmly in place. “Two hours?” The words were clear, they belonged to a man that wasn’t there.

  “So you’re saying it only took two and a half hours to break you? To make you break protocol?” The voice was coming from Ivy, her words drew Albert’s undivided attention.

  “That’s impossible. Every possession I have seen before has been immediately violent…” Albert was baffled. Ivy sat still on the other end of the table. Besides her eyes that were oozing red moss she looked completely innocent. She wasn’t writhing in pain like everyone else.

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  “I haven’t met any demons that could talk so well. How long have you been in there?” Albert let a smile slip that was quickly whipped away to his normal straight face.

  “The very second Ivy was taken was when I got control.” Ivy said letting her smile stand tall as she bared her teeth like a wolf staring down its helpless prey.

  “But the light… it didn’t hurt you?” Albert said pulling on his flashlight frantically causing it to hum once more. Ivy looked up at the man holding her down. The two locked eyes and the man started screaming frantically trying to pull his hands off her but it was like they were glued.

  “Big strong men. You use your powers for the wrong reason don’t you. You almost ruined my plan and for that you have to go.” Ivy stood up, the chair she once sat on disappeared without a trace. She then reached up and rested her hand on the mans cheek.

  “Wait! Stop, please!!” The man screamed but it was as if Ivy’s hand was an eraser and the man was an incorrect answer that needed to be corrected. The mans head vanished as Ivy’s hand passed over him effortlessly. His lifeless body dropped to the ground causing blood to create a shallow puddle at Ivy’s feet.

  Albert’s hands clumsily searched for the flashlight while his eyes remained locked with Ivy’s. “By the commandments of my god I will banish your darkness with this light!” Albert’s voice rang with a righteous bell, the subtle hum from the flashlight only supported his claim when he flipped the switches on the side of the flashlight and turned a dial all the way until it couldn’t turn any more. The dial made a sharp snap as Albert continued to turn it past its limit. The flashlight began to move back and forth from the motions of the machines inside.

  With a light greater than the sun everyone was made blind. Albert began laughing, drowning out the hums of his machine as his victory was all assured. “Your light works well on demons. But I am a god.” Ivy’s voice grew much deeper as her smoking hand clasped over the flashlight and shattered it. Once the flashlight broke all the other light bulbs in the tent burst send shards of glass in all directions. With the lights gone Albert couldn’t see a thing.

  Albert pulled a much smaller flashlight from his pocket and twisted it to turn it on. Once he shined it to the place Ivy was before it was just an empty void now. He then panned the light over to where Thomas was, his shaky hands were more obvious now.

  Albert drew a sigh of relief when he saw Thomas sitting there still. “This world has been baptized in light for far too long. It’s time a new religion was born. It’s time for my church to be built.” Ivy said, her body manifesting behind Thomas like smoke. Once she placed her steady hand on Thomas’s shoulder his body began vibrating. Red moss started to build in Thomas’s mouth so much so that it began to drip on to his lap and then the floor. It was as if the moss was alive as it crawled up the sides of the tent and table almost making an attempt to cover or ruin every photo that Albert had collected.

  Ivy’s influential hand passed through the stiff air with ease and once it reached its peak her fingers slid together releasing a snap that Albert felt in his bones. The snap was so powerful it shattered the new flashlight Albert had. The moss started to release a soft but dim red glow that now illuminated the tent.

  Where Ivy and Thomas once were was now replaced with two large, dark silhouettes. Their faces were made of what looked like bark from the trees that constantly shifted around, crawling as if they were a snakes nest. There were two obvious, motionless slits where the eyes would be but there were instead dark voids that seemed to draw Albert’s soul towards them, out of his own body. Albert hands rushed against his chest with hushed whispers, pleading to keep his soul safe.

  “I just want my boy back…” Albert began crying for he knew there was nothing he could do, his only chance at a fight didn’t phase this god and was now reduced to a pile of scrap before him. Everything that he worked for, the secret meetings he had with Stein behind Danica’s back, moving to the land that housed the source of this corruption. He did all of this because Stein had promised him unstoppable power.

  The moss started to spiral upwards up Ivy’s and Thomas’s bodies revealing their whole body had been replaced by that same bark texture their faces had been. “You can’t lie to a god. We know this was all for your selfish desire. All in a cowardice, desperate attempt to keep your government from executing you but this mad attempt to play god has driven you straight in to the arms of another executioner.” The one that replaced Ivy had laughed.

  “And what is this Jinar you speak of? I’ve searched your mind and can’t find a sign of what or who they are. I only come back with the name.” The one that replaced Thomas said with an outstretched hand towards Albert, red moss had flown from Albert and into the things open palm.

  “Jinar… he’s Jinar…” Albert drew a blank. For the first moment in his life he came against something that stumped him. The hellish demons before him were one thing that came with a blanket excuse of ‘they are supernatural and work in the 5th dimension so I can’t understand them.’ but he couldn’t remember who Jinar was. He knew he was of great importance and the words slipped out of his mouth effortlessly when begging for his life.

  “He is… me and him were walking. It was the day before his birthday I think. Then all of a sudden he screamed… when I turned to see him all I could see was a shattered sky…” Albert began talking it over with himself, bot to appease the things before him but to work this mystery out for himself. His grip tightened over his chest, squeezing with so much force his arms were shaking. He still couldn’t even picture Jinar’s face or voice.

  “It sounds like our ‘friend’ is in-fact spreading his presence out of our domain in hopes of drawing in some help.” Ivy said to Thomas, completely ignoring Albert now. When she said friend it was the same way a person would talk about an unwanted family member.

  “Yes. But it’s a good thing he told those two to protect the alter isn’t it? We have more people working for our shared goal.” Thomas reply was cold and calculated.

  The sound of velcro tore through Albert causing him to snap out of the self inflicted mental puzzle. Albert realized Thomas’s body had opened up like an iron maiden and Ivy was stepping inside it with confidence. Thomas’s body wrapped around Ivy’s, consuming her wholly leaving only one figure that grew twice the size.

  “We have no more use of you. You may die now.” The figure spoke with Thomas’s and Ivy’s voice simultaneously. Their outstretched hand pointed at Albert, the pull on Albert’s soul was much greater now and felt like it would be any moment before it slipped between his fingers. Albert immediately shot up from his seat and dropped to his knees bowing before them.

  “Please! I can help you!” Albert’s cries poured through a now empty tent. It was just him and a puddle of red moss that was pulsating with light and life as it grew steadily.