He felt no pain, no gravity, no heat. Nothing. Was he in hell? Heaven? Would he see his mother and father again? Was he finally free? Those thoughts echoed in his head. He felt at peace. Slowly and gradually, he opened his eyes to be greeted by nothing but white. It stretched as far as he could see in every direction. He looked at his body and he was as naked as the day he had been born but he was perfect. No burn marks, he smelt clean.

His medallion floated right by his head. He looked down and noticed he was also suspended as well. He felt no force act on his body. He seemed lighter than air. He grabbed his medallion and a high-pitched ping, echoed throughout the vacuum. He looked around trying to figure out where it came from. It seemed like it came from every direction. Then a figure, no smaller than a black dot appeared in the distance. Before Mwene could think about what it could be the dot grew larger and its features became more clearer as it approached him. It was a man, bald but with hazel skin with wide nostrils and thick but shapely eyebrows.

He made no sound as he approached. The man stopped a metre in front of Mwene with a warm smile. He wore a skintight bodysuit that showed off his burly body. He seemed familiar, as if Mwene had known him for his whole life. Mwene opened his mouth, uncertain, and said,'' Baba." A friendly smile grew on the man's face.

"I've missed you Mwene." his voice was as deep as Mwene's. Mwene flew to Ranulph and hugged him tightly. He hugged him as if he would disappear at any moment. Ranulph was initially taken aback by the hug but wrapped his arms around Mwene and the two of them hugged in silence for a moment. Mwene broke from the hug and with watery eyes focused on Ranulph. The pain of loss was engraved in every wrinkle and in every tear that poured from his eyes.

"Mama...she...I.....I don't know what happened." He said tearfully. Each word more painful than the last.

Ranulph's face shifted from confusion to realization once it dawned to him what Mwene meant. His eyes smiled back at Ranulph and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay. It'll be alright. Cry for as long as you want." Ranulph reassured Mwene, never breaking eye contact.

"Is....she here?"

Ranulph tilted his head in confusion,

"Mwene, you're not dead." he replied candidly. Mwene floated back a bit. He tried to process everything, but nothing made sense. One minute God's body had killed his mother, the next he met his father in what seemed like the afterlife. "Your body is fine. Your mind is just in another plane of existence, one that is in between reality and the imagination. The space between a dream and a coma. One that can only be accessed once you break through your perception of reality."

Mwene is more confused. It was too overwhelming for him. This was nothing he could fathom, nor something he had read. "But....reality is nothing but atoms." blurted out Mwene with tears still in his eyes. "God is dead, and your tears won't be enough to wash away your mother's blood or the millions of others that died in his wake." Ranulph said flatly.

A high-pitched ping echoed again through the nothingness of the vacuum they were in. Mwene's eyes darted around the space looking for the sound's origin. He swiveled back to Ranulph who held out his medallion. He placed it in Mwene's hand and closed his hand into a fist. "Keep this key safe with you. It'll be the light in the darkness. Use it to find me again and then your training begins' ' Ranulph exclaimed as he began to fade into white. Mwene's entire vision turned to white. He couldn't see his own body, then darkness. Nothing but the eternal blackness of unconsciousness.

Mwene heard a muffled voice. The familiar, smooth feel of thick linen on his back. The smell of vanilla graced his nostrils. Gradually he returned to the land of the living. His eyes opened and slowly began to adjust. He was greeted with the relieved face of Nike whose pink eyes radiated with hope. He was sitting on his bed looking over him. He stared at him for a moment too long. Before Mwene could say anything, Nike looked away and hurriedly tucked his hair behind his ear.

"How long...." croaked Mwene.

"Six hours. It's early morning now." Nike quickly answered.

Mwene sat up and rested on his elbows. He looked around the room and recognized he was in Nike's bedroom which is directly behind the clinic where he worked at. The room was neat with its gingerbread wooden walls, floor, and ceiling. It had a single window on the wall behind him. Its planks were well polished and had a hint of an orange aroma to it. Nike stood up and walked to the other end of the room which had a table and books neatly stacked at one end of it whilst having an empty glass and a lamp on the other. Underneath the table was a small fridge whose clicking filled the silence. To the right was the only door that led in and out of the room. Beside the door was a bookshelf filled with books that stretched to the wall. Mwene always found it peculiar that Nike never had a television or a phone considering he was on a generous nurse's salary as compared to most people on Terra.

Nike opened the fridge and took out a tablet and a water bottle and placed it in the glass. He carefully poured the water into the glass and a tablet dissolved loudly. The fizzing of the glass and the clicking of the fridge made the tension even more palpable.

"I'm sorry" Nike broke the silence.

"Me too." Mwene sorrowfully replied as he looked away, absorbed in the memories of his mother's skin. How soft it was when he held it when she took him on her daily walks, how it felt when she wiped away his tears when he cried as a lonely child, how it was still warm when he held her arm last night.

"I tried to get her body, but the state police chased me away and quarantined the area. I only managed to get you and your bike but there is something I don't understand." Nike added. He turned around and he leaned the table with both hands with his arms on either side of him. He looked down as he gathered his thoughts. After a moment, his head looked up and directly at Mwene, who was half listening and still looking away. "You were hot. The whole area was hot in fact, like an oven turned on to its maximum temperature and my face was directly into it. Houses, cars, animals, trees, people were flattened. The impression on the ground looked like a humanoid body, at least that's what it looked."

"It was God. Just like the picture you showed us last night.'

"So....He's dead?' Nike asked tentatively, whilst clenching his jaws.

"Yes."

Nike stood in silence for a minute. "I met my dad or at least I think it was my dad." revealed lifelessly. Nike gasped but Mwene continued to look away from Nike's gaze as he reached in his shirt and took out the medallion that was now around his neck. It was strangely warm to the touch, but undamaged. "He told me that my medallion was the key to finding him. That there is more than what meets the eye. To our reality".

"What do you think?"

"I think he's right. I think it's time to find him."

Nike's eyes widened. He darted to the bottom shelf of the bookshelf and took out an old dusty book and frantically flipped through the yellow, wrinkly pages until he found something that painted a giant smile on his face. He turned around and held out the open book, on the inside on its cover was an address.

"Two years ago when I did a house call at a remote settlement some 30km from here, I came across the pastor handing out books."

Mwene shot up and grabbed the book and read and reread the address. He looked at Nike who smiled proudly at his find. Mwene smiled back as well.

"Let's go find some answers." Declared Mwene as he rushed to the table and downed the glass quickly and wore his shoes which were under his bed. He bolted for the door and hopped on his motorcycle that was just outside. It roared into life. Nike locked up his room behind him and with the book tucked under his armpit got on and the two of them rode out of the village. The streets were empty, the engine echoed throughout the rosy landscape of wooden cabins and lonely trees. It was an uneasy peace, the type that always served as a prelude to war and hardships. Mwene knew this deep down even though he could not articulate yet.

As they left the village, they saw a crowd on the horizon, as they got closer, they noticed just how large it was. Thousands upon thousands of men, women, and children all crying, shouting, praying, lost in the madness of each other. Their attention was focused on the hole in the ceiling. Numerous helicopters and drones circled it and the surrounding area. Dozens of military vehicles were on the ground. Nike and Mwene slowly drove through the crowd who parted to make space for them as they lost themselves in the hysteria. Not even one of them looked at them directly, they were in a trance where nothing else mattered. After a couple of minutes, they eventually cleared the ever-growing crowd and headed to a village based at the foot of Terran's largest mountain.

The once busy roads were dead. They were alone with nothing but their thoughts.

As they arrived at the remote settlement, they noticed a military helicopter landing in the middle of the clearing. They parked by the side of the road and hid the motorcycle under some dead bushes they found nearby. Experience had taught them that if the military was on Terra, blood would be spilt. Fortunately, the settlement was surrounded by dense forestry, so they were able to sneak close to the pastor's cabin. Once close enough, hidden behind a large, decayed log, teeming with termites, they scanned the settlement. In the middle of the settlement was a grey bricked well with a handful of cabins spaced out in a circular pattern around it. A handful of government soldiers were dotted around the settlement observing the space, all armed to the teeth with rifles and armor. All the cabins were closed shut except for one with its door open. Muffled screams came from the house.

Mwene took a deep breath and looked at Nike, sweat glistened on his forehead.

"Look I need you to create a distraction." he commanded.

"Huh?" Nike raised his eyebrow

"Create a distraction, lead the soldiers away from here, even if it's just one or two of them, we'll meet back at the bike."

Nike nodded and Mwene turned the other way and started a stealthy move when Nike called him out. Mwene looked back and with a confident smile Nike told him

"Good luck" To which Mwene replied

"Who needs luck when I have you?"

Nike smiled back and went his way, Mwene the other. He was careful not to step on any sticks. He stealthy navigated through the bushes and trees until he reached the back of the pastor's cabin whilst hidden behind a mossy boulder. There was a soldier standing guard in the space between the cabin and his hiding spot in the bushes. Beyond him, Mwene could make out a single figure moving back and forth past the window. He noticed several pebbles surrounding it. Carefully he grabbed one and found a small pond several metres behind him. Just as he prepared to throw the stone an explosion rocked the ground underneath him. The nearby soldier placed his hand to his ear and spoke for a few seconds into an earpiece before running to the source of the explosion.

After waiting a moment Mwene hurriedly made his way to the back of the cabin. Once he was under the clouded window he stood up and peered through it. The pastor, bloodied and bruised with a cloth over his mouth, sat on a stool facing the window. His head was slumped. A man, with short, coal hair, wearing a black coat with the sky blue and grey Ardain stripes on its sleeves.

"You're the last of your kind." said the voice calmly.

"There's nothing left to stand for. Your life's work is a joke, but you can still become something. Renounce and this isn't a request." the man commanded. The man's hand roughly ripped off the cloth. The pastor looked up and noticed Mwene looking. He then fixed his gaze on the man and began to smile revealing his blackened, bleeding gums and caramel teeth. "A good death is its own reward. Isn't that right Chase? "Uttered the pastor. Chase thrusted a knife under the chin of the pastor, his mouth opened in shock and pain. He then dragged the knife down the chin and through the middle of the neck until he stopped on his collar bone. Blood gushed out like a burst pipe.

"Shit!" the words blurted out Mwene's mouth before he could stop himself.

Chase's head snapped back and for a split second and stared Mwene right in his eye. Chase's navy-blue eyes locked with Mwene's hazelnut brown one. The hairs on Mwene's neck stood on end. He knew, in that moment Chase was more than a killer, he knew he was a hunter, and he was the prey.