"The church will always be here for you," he says.
I look back and see the church grounds. He's wearing the garb of a priest.
He tells me, "You have a purpose. You know that, right?"
I smile back at him and nod. That purpose feels so clear to me, but I am incapable of recalling what it is.
"Soon, you will see," he says.
More quick jumps through time, and we're in a cold basement, staring at a hollow mold of a gun.
I look down at my hand. It's freshly cut, and my blood runs down my wrists.
I pour the blood into the mold as the plastic oozes inside with it. Lucifer does the same and laughs powerfully.
He closes his eyes and inhales. He says, "There is a sickness pervading this world. Do you feel it?"
Strangely, I do. In this moment, I fully understand what he is talking about. "It is all around us, deep within the hearts and minds of all things living."
"Consciousness," Lucifer sneers.
I'm behaving like a robot. It's the exact same way Raven acted before she stepped into that portal. The only problem is I can't snap myself out of it. Lucifer has found a way to control me.
I must have found a way out.
"Existence runs in parallel to itself. Good & Evil. Light & dark. The illness cannot end without the destruction of false principles," I say.
Lucifer clenches his hand, and more blood falls from the wound on his palm. Each shallow drop
boils within the mold, mixing with my own.
As smoke rises, he lifts his hand into the air. "This illusory realm can be manipulated and distorted until it is made in our image. We cannot fight the heavens. Our subsequent battles with the gods were fruitless. They left us writhing in the mud, forcing us to wait centuries before we could gain back our strength. We have failed in our righteous quest to end the hierarchy of the council, but not for naught."
The mold solidifies into a pistol. I instantly recognize it as the same gun he gave to me near the overpass. He trusted me to help him.
He shouldn't have trusted me.
"What do you need?" I ask.
"You hold the power of revelation," he says. "And I need access. There's something I am looking for."
"Whatever you need, I shall give," I say.
"This weapon is the destroyer of light and dark. In the coming decade, we will build two armies. You will gather those who walk in the light. I will strike a deal with Beelzebub, holding darkness in my hand. There will be no allegiance to either side. Both will be betrayed. Time will be ours."
I stare in wonder at the devilish weapon. "What will the new world look like?"
He places his hand around my shoulder and squeezes. "It will be like nothing you have ever imagined."
The last vision comes into view. I'm running in darkness, through an alleyway. I jump over a fence and hear him beckon my name. There's no way that I'm slowing down. Somehow, I have woken up from his manipulations, but the residual effects of hallucinations have yet to wear off.
I jump into a train and head toward the city.
Out of breath and afraid, I get off at a random stop. I have no family or friends to go to for help. The safest place for me is an old and torn sleeping bag that has been ditched underneath a freeway overpass.
I curl my legs into my arms and repeat the words: "I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy."
I'm not crazy.