A few hours and miles had passed since Graham disappeared yet again. 

The movement technique came in handy for faster travel sure, but I couldn't utilize it to its full potential because of how thick the tree placement in the forest was.

Luckily for me - It would take me an hour or so to finally exit the woods, when I was met with a seemingly never-ending field full of tall grass.

On one hand - I was getting really sick of the mosquitoes and I appreciated the change in scenery, 

on the other hand - the sun was already high up and the heat wouldn’t do me any good.

I took off what was remaining of my shirt and wrapped it around my head to shield it from the heat, and so - with seemingly no other choice, I started wandering into the field.

Yeah, there was an awful lot of walking back then, good thing that It didn’t take long for me to reach civilization again.

Well, I kinda misspoke - what I found was a billboard poking out from this sea of weeds and grass.

Deciding that walking on a road will be more comfortable than trudging on dirt - I started making my way there, but as I got closer I started hearing people arguing quite loudly.

I slowly poked out of the grass, and good thing that I did that - in the middle of the road was a block post made up of black SUV’s, with familiar-looking agents redirecting all the cars to go back the way they came.

So, just as slowly as before I hid back in the grass, but then - a bunch of voices suddenly started speaking unanimously right behind me, almost sounding like a choir.

“Lowly child of the dying world, by the order of the Unseen One you are to surrender yourself to his power and might so you can be granted a higher purpose than you ever could achieve!” 

I was obviously spooked, so I jumped away from the direction of the voices.

And now I could finally see them - standing there was a collection of withered people in torn hooded robes which partly revealed their gaunt torsos, with their eyes covered with bandages, and all of them were holding spears and shields.

Not surprisingly - some of the agents that were standing on the road left the post to see what the commotion was about, their reaction to those hooded freaks was the same as mine, but when they finally noticed me standing in the middle they pointed their guns at me AND at the robed people.

“By the order of the United States government, you are to drop your weapons and surrender yourself”

In reaction to which, just as before, the robes spoke as one.

“We take orders from no one but our lord, If you wish to take the child we will take it as you disrespecting our lord, the punishment for which is death!”

At the end of those words they quickly moved their shields in front of them and took charge.

Not wanting to get impaled by their spears or get shot by the agents I quickly jumped out of the way, shortly after which the gunshots started.

When I looked back - I was shocked by the scene that was transpiring before me, the agents did not stand a chance - the bullets were bouncing off the wooden shields of the robed, and when they finally closed the distance with the agents - they quickly disarmed them… Literally.

With a cacophony of screams filling the air, more agents appeared with their guns drawn. 

Fear, dread, anger, those are the emotions I could see on all of their faces, but only for a moment, because just as the men before them - they opened fire.

Taking this chance to get away, I, well - started to get away.

And as I was running towards the road there was a faint rustling sound following right behind me, with a quick glance I saw that it was one of the robed people.

And at the moment that it took me to have a look at him - he closed the distance and tackled me.

But as he did that - we didn’t fall down on the ground, we fell right through it.

I recognized where we were instant, we were falling through the void, and looking at where we were heading - I could see a gate opening.

With all the force I could muster, I kicked him right in the groin, his grip on me slipped, and using that moment - I kicked off of him.

The next thing I know - Im lying down on the ground, with moonlight parsing through the tree branches high above me.