"We've found the perfect place to set off the Convergence! We the order has decided that Seattle shall be used as the birthplace of the End!" A deep voice growled to a cascading horde of hooded figures.
"Our job is to discreetly set up the rituals around the city, you know what to do if caught. Our future depends on this mission and we cannot afford to lose!" The deep voice spoke again to the crowd who were now whispering to one another. The voice belonged to a giant cloaked man who stood at an altar looking out at the crowd of people.
"For those who prove themselves while the city undergoes the Great Ritual, They shall be blessed by our Lord with extraordinary power and a place at his side" At the man's words the crowd erupted in more whispers, the people in the crowd looked at each other with hungry eyes wanting to prove themselves better than their comrades.
The man raised his hand "Begin the Rituals! Bring upon the End!" The man declared before turning his back and walking away from the podium. The people that made up the crowd nearly trampled each other trying to rush out of the meeting place, each of them had the same thought of wanting power and prestige.
"Eden!" The large man regarded as Eden looked towards a smaller more vermin-like man who had the same kind of cloak he did. The smaller man's eyes shone with admiration at the larger man.
"What do you want, Sylius?" Eden grumbled putting his hands on his forehead in annoyance. The smaller man seemed not to notice nor care about the man's annoyance.
"I always enjoy hearing you talk..." Sylius said, his voice trailing off as his mind went somewhere else.
"Oh! I wanted to ask when we're going to Seattle? Are we taking place in the Ritual set up or are we going to arrive after everything is prepared?"
"I and a couple of the other Order shall stay here and wait until the rituals have been set up. You, Sylius shall go to Seattle and root out anybody that might be capable of interrupting the Great Ritual" Eden said, pulling a sheet of paper out from underneath his robes.
Sylius took the paper and looked over the contents. The page was full of names from the top of the sheet to the bottom, each name had a spot on the side marking their profession and address.
"Sway them to our cause or kill them. It doesn't truly matter to me or the rest of the Order" Eden walked away from Sylius leaving him to look over the names.
[One Week Later]
"Did you hear that another kid went missing not too far from here?" Elliott was lying face down on the couch while his roommate Ian was talking to him from the kitchen.
"No. But I'm not surprised, that's the 12th disappearance this week. The police need to do their actual job" Elliott rolled over on the couch so that he was staring at the ceiling.
"Are you still going on that date tonight?" Ian asked, walking over to the couch and moving Elliott's legs out of his way. Elliott moved up on the couch and sat up straight.
"I don't know, maybe" Elliott said, shrugging. Ian picked up the remote and flipped through the channel until he landed on the news. The news was covering the disappearance of children around the city.
"I think you should go, maybe you could actually hold this one down"
"I've held onto relationships longer than all of you combined" Elliott remarked, pulling out his phone. He went to the dating app he was using and stared at the lunch invite the girl he was talking to sent to him. Elliott looked it over and eventually confirmed that he would be going.
"You know what? I'm going" Elliott said, getting off of the couch and heading for his room. The lunch was going to be in a half hour and I wasn't that far away from the apartment so he had plenty of time to get ready.
'I wonder what I should wear' Elliott thought looking over his closet. He didn't have many fancy outfits and the ones he did have were for job interviews and funerals. After mulling it over Elliott decided to wear some casual clothing. A blue button up shirt over a gray T-shirt paired with baggy dark blue jeans and a regular black belt, along with a pair of white sneakers.
Elliott and Ian shared a small conversation before he left the apartment to kill some time around the area of the Cafe they were going to for lunch.
He left his building and pulled out his phone and began walking in the direction of the Cafe while talking to the girl over text. The girl's name was Cassidy and they had been talking to each other for a couple of days. Elliott was pretty confident that she wouldn't stand him up but the thought still lingered in the back of his mind.
"Watch Out!" A woman's voice yelled after Elliott. While distracted by his phone he attempted to cross the street before the light turned red. Thankfully the woman snapped him out of it and he quickly got out of the way.
"Are you crazy or just plain stupid?!" The woman was old, older than his mother. She grabbed him by the collar and started yelling at Elliott. Elliott put his hands up to his head in an attempt to defuse the old womans anger.
"I'm sorry Mam, I just got distracted by my phone and didn't hear the car" Elliott said as the light finally turned red. The Old woman gave a dismissive huff and walked across the street without another word. Elliott waited until the next red light came around to avoid seeing that old lady again.
Elliott crossed the street and walked a couple of blocks and arrived at the Cafe where the date would take place. With some time to kill Elliott walked around and browsed a couple of ships until it was a couple of minutes away from the date starting.
A bell chimed as Elliott walked into the Cafe, the smell of freshly baked bread filled the air and he sat down in the far end of the Cafe in a corner booth. A couple minutes later Cassidy walked through the door. She was stunning, her long brown hair was braided down to the back of her neck. Her eyes a shimmering blue that Elliott could get lost in.
They hadn't shared pictures with one another and her profile picture massively undersold her beauty. Before she could lay her eyes on Elliott he quickly picked his jaw off the floor and began trying to act like he hadn't fallen in love the second he saw her.
She searched the Cafe and finally saw him in the corner. She gave him a little wave and walked over to the booth.
"Hello!" Cassidy said cheerfully. She sat down at the booth and put her hand out for a handshake. Elliott shook her hand and their date started.
The date lasted around an hour with the two exchanging the normal date topics. Favorite color, food, music, etc. Elliott ordered a cream cheese bagel and Cassidy ordered a croissant with a coffee. The two of them finished their meals and continued talking for a while.
After their lunch and conversation Cassidy asked Elliott to walk her home and Elliott quickly agreed.
"Thank you for the lunch" Cassidy said, her arms interlocked with Elliotts. Elliott found it a bit suspicious that she was acting like this after a simple date but he was too caught up in her beauty to care all that much.
They walked for a couple of minutes and arrived at a small building. The building was painted a dark red color with a small flower shop below Cassidy's apartment.
"D-do you want to come in?" Cassidy asked, her voice carrying her shyness. Elliott's mind blanked thinking about what to say. It was the first date so he doubted anything would result in sex but he really didn't want to leave the possibility out. But what if she didn't feel that way and he just came across like a creep?
Elliott Internally slapped himself and stopped overthinking the current situation. He looked deep into Cassidy's eyes and came up with the answer.
"Yes" He answered, incredibly nervous about what would transpire inside. Cassidy blushed and led Elliot upstairs by his arm. Elliott couldn't stop overthinking the situation no matter how hard he tried. They reached the top of the stairs to her apartment and Cassidy led Elliot inside.
When they made it inside Cassidy walked away from him to across the room into the kitchen.
"You really seemed nice" Cassidy said, pouring something into a glass and drinking it back like a shot. Before Elliott could question what she said he felt something hit him in the back of the head and he fell to the floor unconscious.
"I don't know why you made me bait. Couldn't we just do what the others are doing and just grab some kids off the street?" Cassidy's voice changed to a deeper tone as she addressed the man who knocked Elliott out.
Sylius stood above Elliott's unconscious body as he glared at Cassidy. Sylius stepped over Elliott's body and let the hammer used on him drop to the ground.
"We are not like the others!" Sylius hissed.
"We are not here to set up a ritual, that is what children are good for. What we want requires a grown adult like him" Sylius sneered back at Elliott.
"What is it we want again?" Cassidy asked, taking another shot of whatever she was drinking in the kitchen.
"When the end happens we shall be blessed with powers from beyond the veil. A bunch of people across the planet will receive powers not just the people of The Order. When that happens Eden has theorized that killing people also blessed with powers shall strengthen our own" Sylius said plopping down on one of the couches in the apartment's living room.
"Can't we just achieve that by killing the monsters that also emerge from beyond the veil? Because I believe Eden said horrors from beyond would also pour out from every crack and crevice we open" Cassidy said walking into the living room.
"Killing off monsters is not ideal while The Great Ritual occurs. The monsters will thin the numbers of people who receive blessings and this lowers the amount of obstacles for us" Sylius carefully explained to Cassidy.
"So who gets to kill him?" Cassidy asks, looking at the unconscious body of Elliott. At this Sylius shoots her another glance, this time it is full of anger for her even daring to ask the question.
"I have the highest chance of getting a blessing and thus I shall be the one to kill him. Plus I out rank you ten fold" Sylius said still glaring at Cassidy. Cassidy took the explanation and walked back into the kitchen without saying another word.
"Tie him to the chair so he doesn't wake up and run" Sylius said putting his robes on and looking at the digital watch on his arm, the clock struck 2:37
12 minutes later, Elliott found himself waking up tied to a fluffy green chair in the living room of Cassidy's apartment. He found himself tightly bound to the chair with no way to wiggle out.
He looked around the room and saw Sylius standing cloaked looking out the window of the apartment. Cassidy was sitting against the door of the fridge pouring out the last of whatever she was drinking into her glass.
"W-where am I? You don't have to do this, Cassidy!" Elliott said, panicking. Sylius turned around his eyes sharp and cruel, he didn't have to even say anything and Elliott shut up.
Sylius pulled back his cloak and watched as the digital watch on his arm turned 3:00. As the time finally ticked over Sylius let out a heavy laugh.
"The End has arrived!" Sylius cackled as the sky darkened and a light ceased for a couple of seconds. After that the light returned an earthquake hit the building and the lights went out.
Sylius turned around the hammer he used to knock Elliott out gripped tightly in his right hand. He began walking towards Elliott.
"Please! You don't need to do this, whatever is going on I can just pretend like I didn't see anything and just be on my way!" Elliott began to plead incessantly.
Sylius stopped only a couple of feet in front of Elliott and he thought that he had actually gotten through to him. Sylius just stood there emotionless, suddenly a wave of green light began to pass through the apartment. The wave came from the direction of Cassidy who began to seize as it passed over her.
It passed over Sylius and Elliott both of which did not seize. Sylius let out a demented chuckle as a green glow emanated from his and Elliot's eyes. Sylius lifted the hammer above his head and began swinging down on Elliott. Before he could finish the swing Cassidy let out a demonic howl and burst across the room tackling Sylius through the wall of the apartment's bedroom.
"It seems you couldn't handle the blessings of our master" Sylius growled as he and Cassidy began a fight. Elliott couldn't see the fight but he could hear the sound of bones cracking and flesh tearing coming from the other room.
Elliott began to struggle as he desperately attempted to free himself from his restraints but he had no luck. Sylius and Cassidy had done an excellent job tying Elliott to the chair. The sounds of fighting ceased and Elliott heard the sound of heavy steps coming from behind him.
"Please just let me go! Ple-" Before Elliott could finish his pleading he felt the weight of the hammer collide with the back of his skull. The force behind the strike was strong enough to kill him almost instantly.
"Watch Out!" Elliott once again heard that old woman yelling at him once again. Reeling from a feeling disoriented he couldn't find the strength to successfully dodge out of the way of the car. Elliott felt the pain of the car colliding with his side at a break neck speed that shattered the bones in his side. He fell to the asphalt and lost all feeling as the car rolled over his body dragging him across the road beneath the tires.
"Watch Out!" Elliott nearly vomited as he once again found himself in the street with the car barreling at him. This time Elliott threw himself out of the way into the side walk. Within a couple of seconds Elliot found himself throwing up into the grass by the sidewalk.
'What happened? Why am I back here? It couldn't have been my imagination, that pain couldn't have been thought up' Elliott continued throwing up until all that was left was a dry heave.
The old woman stood to the side looking worried. Elliott waved her off and the old woman hesitantly walked across the street leaving Elliott to himself.
He began crying as the pain from both the car and the hammer ruminated in his mind. A couple of people passed him but they all just assumed he was a drunk.
Elliott stood up and quickly rushed back to his apartment. He was in no rush to go on that date, whether it was a thought up by his consciousness it was real he didn't really care as he raced back to his apartment.