deformed bone

"Reed, you..."

The moment Calvin asked, he already knew the answer.

Because just as the voice fell, the man in front of Calvin had already changed.

In those emerald green eyes that once fascinated Calvin, a disturbing evil and darkness emerged nakedly.Distortion, emptiness, madness, filth, no human language can fully describe the breath lingering on Reed at this moment.

Do not……

That's not Reed.

That's "door".

With Calvin's permission, the "gate" was finally set free, and it was freed by Calvin from the shackles set by the Higher Power.

Calvin recognized this immediately.

"my love--"

"Reed" stretched out his hands abruptly, his hands were as cold and terrifying as a corpse, and then he held Calvin's head heavily.

He exudes an old and cold aura, which is a smell concocted by dead people, ashes, and despair.At the moment of skin-to-skin contact with him, countless images that made him sick vividly appeared in Calvin's mind.From the original "body cake" to the female corpse given to him as a "gift" at the beach house...

The aura was like the sharp teeth of a wild beast, and it was deeply inserted into Calvin's body through skin contact.

"Oh, God."

Calvin only had time to let out a weak murmur, and then his vision went dark, and he fell heavily into the arms of "Reed".

"..."

There was a sudden silence in the bushes.

At this moment, the darkness became darker and darker, and the moonlight, which was originally extremely bright, appeared abnormally dim.

The air stagnates and time slows down.

"Crack-"

It is because of this moment of silence that the small sound of the bark cracking around becomes extra crisp and loud.

"Reed" looked around with his dark pupils, and saw deep cross marks appearing out of thin air on the mottled bark of several big trees surrounding him.

Those big trees were like animals. After the scratches appeared, bright red blood drops leaked from the gaps in the light yellow wooden fibers.

Those blood drops quickly pooled into a sticky and smelly blood flow, flowing in the grooves of the trees.

[You can't stop it, old man. 】

"Reed" opened his mouth, he didn't even need to move his tongue and lips, an ancient hum that ordinary humans couldn't understand came out from the depths of his throat.

"呲-"

At the same time, an ear-piercing voice sounded.

A deeper claw mark appeared out of thin air on the vertical line of the original cross mark on the tree.

In an instant, the trace of the cross turned into a reverse cross visible to the naked eye.

"he he he he he…"

"Reed" held Calvin in his arms, even though there was no one around him, he still stretched out his tongue and licked Calvin's pale neck and cheeks as if to demonstrate to someone.

His tongue was unusually elongated, more like that of some ancient reptile than of a human.

Amidst his harsh and weird laughter, the lush bushes withered and turned black bit by bit.As for those big trees, they made a fragile clicking sound in the cold sight of "Reed", and then slowly fell down.

"That's right, old man... that's right..."

"Reed" whispered nervously, his shadow fell at his feet, writhing slightly like a living thing.

"Pfft-"

"Reed" looked down at his own shadow and sneered contemptuously.

"Oh, so you're coming too...why do you have to go through this pointless struggle, you poor bastards...it's been clear from the beginning that Calvin is mine and always will be mine .”

His shadow trembled at a rate visible to the naked eye. In the extremely dark environment, the shadow that was supposed to be flat boiled like melted asphalt.

And under the shadow, several hands slowly protrude outward with layers of palm marks as if hidden under a black film.

But "Reed" just stepped on the shadow as if nothing had happened.

There was a wet sound between his feet and the ground, and black and red blood slowly seeped out from under his feet.

When he walked away from the bushes, there was only a lifeless withered yellow plant left in that place, as well as the indescribable sulfur-like smell.

……

Calvin was well aware that he was being pulled into a dream again.

Of course, sometimes he can't say that the place he is in is really a "dream", or another wonderful space that human science cannot explain.

Before his eyes was a dank and dilapidated building.The weather-beaten red brick wall is almost densely packed, and the original color is completely covered by layers of graffiti.

There are narrow and dark alleys between the tall and old buildings, and among the piles of garbage and the homeless people (or corpses) lying on the ground, some inconspicuous stairs lead to the door of the basement.

The scene in front of him would make any good citizen feel terrified, but for Calvin, all this was covered with a layer of nostalgia.

This used to be the location of Dr. Holden's underground clinic. He, Dr. Holden and Isaac stayed here for a long time.

In the eyes of many people, this place is a place outside the law, a gathering place of darkness and filth, but for Calvin, it is a rare stable home in his life.

"My poor child..."

An old voice sounded behind Calvin.

Calvin suddenly turned his head and saw Dr. Holden not unexpectedly.

Just like the vision he had seen not so long ago, Dr. Holden was now skinny, frail and emaciated—he looked even worse than when he died of his disease.

"Father……"

Calvin was completely unable to control his emotions.

The moment he opened his mouth, his tears had slowly rolled down his cheeks.

"I have committed a sin, the worst, most unforgivable sin..."

"I'm sorry, father, I don't know what to do, I still can't follow your teachings in the end..."

Dr. Holden walked towards Calvin tremblingly.

He pointed an index finger at Calvin, signaling him to be quiet.

As he approached, Calvin could clearly see black marks like sludge on Dr. Holden's shoulders.

"Don't be afraid, my child."

He whispered softly in Calvin's ear, and then he held Calvin's hand like an ordinary father leading his young child, and took Calvin step by step back to where they used to be. s home.

The old man's hands were dry and cold, the hands of a dead man.

Calvin trembled involuntarily. He struggled almost instinctively, but he couldn't release the old man's hand.

Doctor Holden led him up the stairs step by step.

After seeing the picture at the end of the stairs clearly, Calvin's face suddenly turned pale.

At the end of the stairs, there are two identical old-fashioned doors.

"You have to choose one of the gates."

Dr Holden said.

No, I don't want to choose.

Calvin wanted to scream, his intuition told him that his choices would have dire consequences, but his body seemed to have a will of its own.

Calvin walked straight towards the door on his right, and then he pushed open the former door of the underground clinic.

In his memory, there should have been a simple consultation room behind that door.But at this moment, what he saw behind the door were countless gray-white wriggling corpses.

His vision was gray, as if the color had been artificially erased.

"You see, this is the wrong choice."

Doctor Holden's old voice sounded.

"This is the world behind the door..."

The old man turned his head and said to Calvin.

"This is hell."

Calvin murmured.

Dr. Holden shook his head.

"No, this is just... the world behind the door."

The old man looked at Calvin almost sadly.

"I'm sorry to have to make you face this. It's not your fault, my child, it's not your fault for opening the door. It's because the other party is too strong." He looked at the people in the hall who were struggling, even in death The "people" who were still immersed in extreme pain afterwards.

"Look at them, my boy, look at them well, and remember their pain, and stand firm in your convictions. This is going to be an extraordinarily difficult piece of advice for you, but everyone in this world Destiny is all about your choices. Once you choose wrongly, everyone will come to such a world."

"I don't know……"

Calvin felt a splitting headache, and the wrist held by Dr. Holden was as cold as if it was about to freeze.

"The world is a giant chessboard."

Doctor Holden murmured suddenly.

"And you and him are the pawns that darkness and light have placed on this chessboard."

"what?"

"You are the only light left in this world... and the only pawn that God can use."

Doctor Holden's cloudy eyes fixed directly on Calvin.

"The world you are familiar with is nothing but a chaotic battlefield, my child, for hundreds of millions of years, darkness and order have been constantly at war, constantly consuming the matter in this universe. In the end, they decided to use a simpler way to decide the outcome."

……

"You are light, and he is darkness."

"You are order and he is chaos."

"You are the representative of mankind, and he... is the combination of nothingness and chaos..."

"The two of you are destined to be each other's opponents, and you are also destined to attract each other. He will bewitch you, induce you, and make you completely degenerate...and at that time..."

"The world behind the door will flip to reality."

It was as if a voice had automatically replaced Calvin, echoing Dr. Holden's words.

Dr. Holden nodded.

"Yes, you must destroy that door."

"..."

"The human form of that door is that man."