deformed bone

"Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body, and his own The body of glory is like."

——Philippians 20-21

Calvin awoke from the dream.

This is a very funny statement, but it is describing the reality he is facing - he clearly feels that he is awake, but at the same time it is very clear that he is in a dream.

For when he opened his eyes from the pillow, a gray-haired old man was sitting at the head of his bed.The lights in the room were not turned on, but the figure of the old man was very clear, and a pearl-like gleam was emanating from his body.Calvin could see his tall but thin figure, and his bright eyes wrapped in fine wrinkles. He was wearing the burial coat, and he had a very faint earthy smell on his body.

Calvin's eyes fell on the old man's hands on his knees, brown dirt remained between his neat fingers.

"dad."

Calvin murmured.

He lay securely in bed, with his long-dead father so close to him, but Calvin felt reassuring.He felt neither panic nor surprise, as if deep down in his heart he already knew about Dr. Holden's arrival.

The hazy light emitted by Doctor Holden shrouded his body, and his heart was as clear and calm as the lake water under the windless moonlight on a midsummer night.

"Calvin, the door has been opened." Doctor Holden spoke slowly in the shadows. "They're coming, and you have to be ready."

"them?"

Calvin repeated.

"They are your knights, guardians, fanatics, lovers, dogs, but also sinners, demons and Judas. They will drive and swallow the darkness for you, but at the same time they will be swallowed by the darkness. You will also meet three One of the prophets, the one who anoints you, you have to be ready, because you are the chosen one of God, you have been entrusted with a painful responsibility on earth, and you will fulfill it."

"I don't know……"

Calvin's peace dissipated.

He shivered in the soft bedding. He felt so cold and weak that it was as if his feet had been dipped in icy water.

For an unexplainable reason, he instinctively resisted what Dr. Holden said to him, but in the deepest part of his heart, a voice calmly told him: He cannot avoid these—— In fact, he could even feel that this was not what Dr. Holden said to him.

Dr. Holden, his dearest, dead father, was merely relaying orders from someone else.

After seeing Calvin's pale lips and cheeks, a sad expression appeared on Dr. Holden's translucent face. He stretched out his hand and gently pressed Calvin's forehead—as if It was the same gesture Calvin had made to comfort the frail child many years ago when he was seriously ill and had a high fever.

Calvin's eyes widened suddenly, and he stared intently at his father's hands—on the skinny and wrinkled palms, two long nails appeared at some point.

The nail directly penetrated the doctor's palm, and dark red blood slowly flowed out from the terrifying hole.

"No... you're hurt..."

Calvin cried out in horror.

The sad look on Dr. Holden's face became more intense, and he stared deeply at Calvin, his eyes full of sadness.

"No, I'm not injured." He raised his palm in the dark night, "This is your scar, Calvin, it belongs only to you."

As his words fell, Calvin's hands suddenly felt severe pain - he felt as if he was screaming, but his ears couldn't hear anything.

The severe pain made Calvin's brain suddenly go blank.

He looked down at his hands, where the two spikes had gone through his palm, and blood was gushing out.

-

"boom--"

Fogg heard the sound from upstairs, it was the sound made when the human body collided with the ground.

At the same time, some gray thread that hadn't quite crawled into the shadows sparked at the moment of the sound-kind of like that little electric light that you get when you tear a sweater off your acrylic underwear in winter-the air It trembled for a moment, like the last scream of these poor little things before dying.Then those gray threads fell suddenly on the beautiful natural stone counter in the kitchen, they turned into a brown powder, giving off the peculiar smell of burnt protein.

Fogg jumped up at the first time, his skill far surpassed the lightness and agility that a doctor should have, he completely ignored those unlucky gray lines, but ran towards the second floor the moment he heard the voice go.

"Calvin!"

He whispered that name, still sounding calm—if you could ignore the slight quiver in his voice.

He didn't wait for Calvin's answer and was about to push open the bedroom door, but the moment he touched the metal doorknob, bright sparks flew along his fingers and directly up his arm.

Fogg flew out, and a burst of white light pierced his pupils sharply.

"Calvin—"

He screamed.

The severe pain made his lungs feel like they were about to explode, and every breath would burn his nasal cavity. Fogg curled up in the corridor outside Calvin's door, and his muscles spasmed uncontrollably.

This pain does not come from the body, he clearly knows this, the pain in the body is nothing to the aliens like them, the real pain comes from the soul, just like at this moment, Fogg deeply felt His soul seemed to have been torn into pieces alive.

However, while feeling the pain, intense joy and great fear overflowed from the depths of Fogg's soul. The two diametrically opposed emotions were tightly wrapped by the severe pain, raging in his body , hot tears flowed down his eyes, and in his blurred vision, he saw patterns on his body that seemed to be left after an electric shock.

It was a series of distorted cross patterns.

[Something has come. 】

【right here. 】

[On Calvin's body. 】

Gradually, he felt that he was becoming transparent and weak.

【Oh no! 】

Fogg groaned in pain.

A huge black dog emerged slowly from the detritus of the sea of ​​consciousness.

Its red eyes stared wearily at Fogg.

It is Moses.

As the bearer of pain, it followed Fogg's pain and gained the dominance of the body.Fogg felt unprecedented panic, not yet... Calvin was not ready to face a "dog" inhabiting a human body.

But Fogg couldn't resist.

Moses had passed him, to the surface of consciousness.And Fogg's own consciousness became cold and heavy amidst the great awe, joy and fear, and finally, he sank irresistibly, into the depths of his consciousness...

"Ow."

In reality, Fogg's body stopped twitching and spasming, and let out a muffled whimper.

"He" staggered up on all fours and returned to Calvin's door. "He" pressed his face against the cold door, and gently scratched and scratched the hard beech wood with his fingers.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."

It howled continuously.

A few minutes later, Calvin groaned from behind the door.

"God..."

Some heavy footsteps sounded, and then the door was opened.

"Sorry, I think I had a nightmare and rolled down..." Calvin rubbed his brow that was red from being hit by the floor, and explained hoarsely to the people outside the door with sleepy eyes.

His voice was interrupted for a few seconds.

"Uh, Fogg?" Calvin lowered his head, looking at the young man lying on the ground in shock, "... Virgil?"

He changed his name.

Moses raised his head and glanced at him. After confirming that Calvin was safe and sound, it seemed much more at ease, so it lay down at Calvin's feet as usual, resting its chin on its front paws (hands) .

"Ow."

A joyous dog bark came from "his" mouth.

-

Let's turn back the clock a little bit, a little bit.

At the same time that Calvin was talking to his dead father, a few blocks away from them, a mother and daughter were also talking.

"Isha... my dear Isha, you know how much I love you right?"

Madeleine sat on the edge of the bed, she was wearing that black robe, and in the dim light of the room, her pale face was like a ghost floating in mid-air.

Isa bent her body, she huddled tightly in the corner of the bed, her arms hugged her knees.

"Yes, it is."

she replied quietly.

Madeleine smiled. Because of the long-term "purification" of her body, her body has been slightly dehydrated, and the most intuitive display is the dense fine lines on her face. When she smiles, Those wrinkles pulled up, covering her face like a transparent net.

Her eyes were terribly bright.

"How nice, my boy, I love you, and you love me—so you'll help me, won't you?"

Isa swallowed a mouthful of saliva, for some reason, she felt so cold.

"Mother……"

Tears of despair welled up in Madeleine's swollen eyes.

"You have to help me, Isa, I have to become a full member...but I didn't attend the baptism... woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo... my best chance... oh my god, the glory of the angels is right in front of my eyes, But I just missed it... that devil wants to hinder me... he wants to stop me and keep me in hell..."

"Mr. Pastor should be back in a few days. It was just an accident tonight, wasn't it?"

Madeleine's incoherent appearance made Isa feel very panicked. She comforted her mother dryly, but just as she stretched out her hand, Madeleine's wrist was firmly stuck.

The muscles in Madeleine's cheeks twitched unconsciously.

"No, you don't understand...Shh...he won't come back." She whispered carefully into Isa's ear, "The devil has already eaten him! This is the devil's conspiracy..."

"Mom, you have been frightened too much today, you have to sleep well."

"Isha, my sweet Isha, you listen to me, you must listen to me - as the teachers say, the devil has come, they want to devour us, they are poisoning the world - "

"Mother……"

"I have to protect you, Isa, I have to get the glory of the angel... I escaped by the glory of the angel tonight... the devil is afraid of it... the pastor didn't wear the pendant so he was eaten... Madeleine repeated these few words frantically, she tore off the angel pendant around her neck and stuffed it into Isa's hand, "I have to become a formal believer. I...I have to do this...or the devil Still coming..."

Isa struggled, and she felt that her wrist was almost cut off by Madeleine.

Tears welled up involuntarily from her eyes.

"Mom, please, don't do this."

However, in the face of Isa's cry of pain, Madeleine seemed to have not heard it at all. She stared at her daughter tightly, and some blood stains emerged from the cracks on her lips.

"Promise me, Isha, you will promise me, right...you will help me..."

“Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo”

"promise me……"

"Okay, mom, I promise you, I will, I will do what you said!"

Isa's eyes widened, she cried out in fear and confusion, and finally gave Madeleine a confirmed answer.

Madeleine smiled, she reached out to Isa, and hugged the trembling little girl into her arms.

"Good boy, I knew you were my good boy."

she said sweetly over Isha's sobs.