But we are citizens of heaven, waiting for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come down from heaven. He will transform our lowly bodies into the likeness of his own glorious body, according to the power that brings all things to himself.

—Philippians 20-21

Calvin woke up from a dream.

It's a funny statement, but it's a description of the reality he's facing—he clearly feels that he's awake, but at the same time he's in a dream.

Because when he opened his eyes from the pillow, an old man with gray hair was sitting at the head of his bed. There was no light in the room, but the old man's figure was unusually clear, and a pearl-like glimmer was emanating from inside his body. Calvin could see his tall, emaciated figure, and his bright eyes, which were wrapped in fine wrinkles, and he wore the burial coat, and had a very light, faint earthy smell on him.

Calvin's gaze fell on the old man's hands resting on his knees, the latter's neat fingers with brown dirt remaining between his neat fingers.

"Dad. ”

Calvin muttered.

He lay peacefully in bed, and his long-dead father was close to him, but Calvin felt very relieved. He was neither panicked nor surprised, as if deep down he had known of Dr. Holden's arrival.

The hazy glow emanating from Dr. Holden hung over him, and his heart was as clear and calm as a lake under the windless moonlight on a midsummer night.

"Calvin, the door is opened. Dr. Holden spoke slowly in the shadows. "They're coming, you have to be ready. ”

"Them?"

Calvin repeated.

"They are your knights, guardians, fanatics, lovers, dogs, sinners, demons and Judas. They will drive away and devour the darkness for you, but at the same time they will be consumed by the darkness. You will also meet one of the three prophets, who is the one who anointed you, and you have to be prepared for the fact that you are the chosen one of God, and you have been entrusted with the painful duty of being entrusted to the earth, and you will fulfill it. ”

"I don't understand ......"

The peace in Calvin's mind dissipated.

He shivered in the soft bedding, and he felt very cold and weak, as if he had soaked his feet in ice water.

For reasons that could not be explained in words, he instinctively resisted what Dr. Holden had said to him, but in the deepest part of his heart a voice calmly told him that he could not avoid it—in fact, he could even feel that it was not what Dr. Holden had said to him.

Dr. Holden, his dearest, deceased father, was just relaying the orders of another man.

At the sight of Calvin's pale lips and cheeks, a sad expression appeared on Dr. Holden's translucent face, and he reached out and pressed it lightly on Calvin's forehead—just as Calvin had done to comfort the fragile child many years ago when he was seriously ill and feverish.

Calvin's eyes widened as he stared at his father's hands—on the thin, wrinkled palms, two long nails that appeared at some point.

The nail pierced the doctor's palm, and dark red blood flowed from the horrible hole.

"No...... You're hurt......"

Calvin shouted in horror.

The sad look on Dr. Holden's face grew even stronger, and he stared deeply at Calvin with sorrow in his eyes.

"No, I'm not hurt. He raised his palm in the darkness, "This is your scar, Calvin, it's yours alone." ”

As his words fell, Calvin's hands suddenly felt a sharp pain—he felt as if he were screaming, but his ears couldn't hear anything.

The pain was so intense that Calvin's brain went blank.

He looked down at his hands, the two spikes passing through his palms, and blood pouring out.

******

"Bang-"

Fugg heard the sound coming from upstairs, the sound of a human body colliding with the ground.

At the same time, some gray threads that hadn't yet fully climbed into the shadows lit up the moment the sound sounded—a bit like the tiny electric glow you emit when you rip your sweater off your acrylic underwear in the winter—and the air shook for a moment, like the last screams of the poor little creatures before they died. Then the gray lines suddenly fell on the beautiful natural stone countertop in the kitchen, and they turned into brown powder, emitting a stench peculiar to burnt proteins.

Fugg jumped up at the first moment, his skills far exceeding the lightness and agility of a doctor, he completely ignored the hapless gray lines, and ran towards the second floor the moment he heard the voice.

"Calvin!"

He whispered the name, still sounding calm—if you could ignore the subtle tremor in his voice.

He didn't wait for Calvin's answer to push open the bedroom door, but the moment he touched the metal doorknob, bright sparks ran down his fingers and went straight to his arm.

Fugg flew out, a burst of white light piercing his pupils sharply.

"Calvin—"

He screamed.

The pain was so intense that his lungs felt like they were about to explode, and every breath burned his nose, and Fugg curled up in the hallway outside Calvin's door, his muscles spasming uncontrollably.

The pain didn't come from *, he knew it well, the pain on * was nothing to an alien like them, the real pain came from the soul, just like at this moment, Fuge felt deeply that his soul seemed to have been torn to pieces alive.

However, while feeling the pain, intense joy and great fear overflowed from the depths of Fuge's soul, and two diametrically opposed emotions were tightly wrapped in that intense pain, raging in his body, and hot tears flowed down his eye sockets, and in the blurred vision, he saw the patterns on his body that looked like they had been left behind after an electric shock.

It was a series of twisted crosshairs.

Something has come. 】

[Yes, there is. 】

[It's on Calvin.] 】

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

[Oh no!]

Fugg □□ in pain.

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

Its red eyes stared wearily at Fugg.

It's Moser.

As the bearer of pain, it follows Fuge's pain and gains control of the body. Fugg felt panic like never before, and it wasn't time yet...... Calvin was not ready to face a "dog" that inhabited a human body.

But Fugg couldn't resist.

Moser had already crossed him and walked to the surface of consciousness. And Fugg's own consciousness became cold and heavy in great awe, joy and fear, and at last he sank irresistibly, sinking into the depths of his consciousness......

"Whew. ”

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

"He" staggered to his feet on all fours, and returned to Calvin's doorway. "He" pressed his face against the cold door, his fingers gently scratching at the hard beech plank.

"Woo...... Woo......"

It continued to howl under its breath.

A few minutes later, a muffled grunt from behind the door came from Calvin.

"God......

There was the sound of heavy footsteps, and the door opened.

"I'm sorry, I think I had a nightmare and rolled off......" Calvin explained hoarsely as he rubbed his forehead red from the floor, sleepy-eyed at the man outside the door.

His voice interrupted for a few seconds.

"Uh, Fugg?" Calvin lowered his head and looked at the young man lying on the ground with some shock, "...... Virgilly?"

He changed his name.

Moser looked up at him, and after making sure that Calvin was safe, it seemed much more relieved, so it lay down at Calvin's feet as usual, and rested its chin on its front paws.

"Whew. ”

A joyful dog bark came out of "his" mouth.

******

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

While Calvin was talking to his dead father, a mother and daughter were talking a few blocks away.

"Isa...... My dear Isa, you know how much I love you, don't you?"

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

Isha bent over, she huddled tightly in the corner of the bed, arms around her knees.

"Yes...... Yes. ”

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 are pulled, like a transparent net over her face.

Her eyes lit up terribly.

"How good, my child, I love you, and you love me—so you'll help me, right?"

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

"Mom's ......"

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

"You have to help me, Isha, I have to become a full member...... But I didn't attend baptism...... Woowoowoo...... My best chance...... God, the glory of the angels is right in front of my eyes, but I 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 panicked Issa, and she comforted her mother dryly, but as soon as she reached out her hand, Madeleine's wrist was stuck.

The muscles on Madeleine's cheeks twitched unconsciously.

"No, you don't understand...... Hush...... He's not coming back. She crept into Isha's ear and muttered, "The devil has eaten him......!"

"Mom, you've been scared too much today, you need to get some sleep. ”

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

"Mom's ......"

"I must protect you, Isha, I must be given the glory of an angel...... It was by the glory of the angels that I escaped tonight...... The devil is afraid of it...... The priest didn't bring the pendant so he was eaten......" Madeleine repeated the words frantically, she jerked off the angel pendant around her neck and thrust it into Isha's hand, "I have to become an official Christian." I...... I have to do this...... Otherwise, the devil will come......"

Isha struggled, feeling like her wrist was almost going to be choked off by Madeleine.

Tears poured out of her eyes involuntarily.

"Mom, please, don't do this. ”

However, in the face of Isa's cry of pain, Madeleine seemed to have no hearing at all, staring at her daughter deadly, and some blood appeared in the cracks on her lips.

"Promise me, Isha, you'll promise me, right...... You're going to help me ......."

"Woooooooooo......oo Mommy ......"

"Promise me ......"

"Okay, Mom, I promise you, I will, I will do what you say!"

Isa's eyes widened, and she cried out in fear and confusion, eventually giving Madeleine a positive answer.

Madeleine smiled, and she reached out to Isha and took the little girl into her arms.

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

She said sweetly in Isa's sobs. 166 Reading Network