My dearest children,
Recently, some events have transpired, to give an explanation of which would require the divulgence of certain information about the past. Prior to my reawakening, Ridley had been posted in a small town in Maine where there exists a certain local hangout and restaurant whose true function is to act as a meeting place or hideout for the Disciples of the Angel.
Well, around two months ago, it seems that some local hooligan had started following the Internet goings-on and gotten in his head the idea that he would make a worthy addition to the Master's great armies. After investigating some of the local residents, he discovered Ridley's status as a Disciple and began first stalking him before openly revealing himself and his desire to become a Chosen. Ridley, not being in possession of the virtue of patience, found these antics none too amusing. Sadly, my dear friend is also lacking in self-restraint and can suffer only so much abuse before he reaches his breaking point. Ridley killed the lad, followed by removing his heart and placing it in a bag with a warning. Some government operatives covered up the situation to keep too many questions from being asked and that was the end of the whole affair.
Until Ridley returned here. I have been tasked with following him. We crossed into Maine this morning and made a stop at a checkpoint where a comrade of mine, a Disciple who goes by the rather nonsensical title of "Knuckles", was awaiting us. I bade him good day and asked news of my wayward compatriot. Knuckles laughed, "I thought the Big Guy had finally offed that lunatic after the time he opened the Path up in the middle of downtown Rio." I am afraid that is a story that will have to wait for another time.
We finished our respective reports to each other and since Knuckles was also intending to do some business at the Ark, we decided to leave together. However, before leaving town it seemed we would need to make one more stop, as Knuckles had some packages that needed delivered up there, stored in an abandoned shop on the outskirts of town that the local chapter had been making use of for some time. As we neared the area, I began to feel something was off. We pulled up to the building and exited the car, Knuckles immediately shouted to someone inside to let us in. We waited several minutes with no response forthcoming and Knuckles became irritated and stormed up, shouting louder and pounded his fist on the door.
The door toppled off its hinges and crashed to the floor. Knuckles' face grew more irate. "Those idiots, going and breaking the d----d building to pieces. When I get my hands on them..."
That was when Miss Ross saw them. She grabbed my arm and pointed them out, quite unnerved by their presence. Three young children, a boy and two girls, standing by some trees off near the corner of the building. Standing there and staring at us. That I should have not detected their presence worried me. Knuckles looked back at us then and looked to see what we were looking at.
"Huh, you think they're trying to scare us?" he says, and then begins guffawing as though he had made the most hilarious joke. The children showed no reaction to anything. Knuckles stopped laughing and his previous look of anger returned. He shouted at the children.
"Little a-----s, get the ---- lost! You're trespassing and I'll call the ----ing police on you if don't get your a---s out of here!"
A cold breeze passed over and suddenly the air did not feel quite right. The children were now looking directly at Knuckles and appeared to be paying no attention to Miss Ross and I. Suddenly, the boy spoke up.
"You're a bad man! Bad man! We don't like you. You need to go now."
Knuckles grew more irate and began advancing towards them. I glanced behind him at the empty doorway and wondered why none of his companions had come out yet. Possibly the guards had neglected their duty and run off someplace. Certainly it is not unusual that some of the lower-ranking Disciples decide to take an unauthorized vacation day. Nevertheless, I was uneasy, and whatever it was, I was sure I'd felt it somewhere before. Miss Ross felt it as well, she trembled as she clung to my arm. Turning back to Knuckles as he moved towards the children, I began telling him I thought he was behaving most unwisely but stopped short when my eye rested on the children again. Finally I caught sight of it and recognized why this presence felt so familiar.
A fragment from my previous life. It was late at night and I had just returned from work, when I heard a knock at the door. Opening it, I saw a little girl of about nine and behind her two boys perhaps a few years younger. These two remained silent throughout the encounter, but the little girl, she asked me if I had a telephone and if I allow them inside use it. I almost did so, but then suddenly stopped myself. The girl looked displeased. She insisted that I allow them in, that it was very important. Something troubled me. I had this feeling of compulsion, this feeling that I needed to let them inside, but this seemed to come from outside my own mind. She said they could not get in if I did not let them. I said I was sorry, but I could not... I was still only mortal then, and I could feel my will faltering... Then I noticed her eyes....
They were completely black. It broke whatever spell had been working on me and I drew back. The girl realized what had occurred and her expression changed to one of pure rage. She yelled at me to hurry up and let them in. Not knowing what else to do I quickly slammed the door shut and walked back into the house. For some time, I continued to hear them outside, screaming at me to let them in. I- strangely do not recall afterwards. Surely, they simply went away-
I digress. Many apologies. Continuing with our narrative of present events, I saw the children's eyes, pitch black, just the same as those I had once encountered before. The raw feeling in the air, I had felt it back then too, the moment I had noticed that girl's eyes. I should have realized this far sooner, I shouted to Knuckles, tried to warn him to stop. He did. But not because me. At that moment something else broke the unnatural silence. We heard a song. It seemed to be coming from all around us, a haunting melody the words to which elude my recollection. Then we saw them. More of the black-eyed children appeared from within the building, stepping out from the broken-down door, from around the corner, among the trees across the street. Whence they issued I was unable to tell, most seemed simply to pop into existence from thin air. There were suddenly a half dozen children around our vehicle. Altogether possibly thirty or forty of them surrounded us.
Knuckles turned back to the original trio, still training their sight directly at him. He chuckled, then became angry again, screaming more obscenities to them and resumed closing the distance between them. Something had come over him, he seemed suddenly to lose sense of all else surrounding him. He drew close to the three and raised arm, swung it at the boy's head. The boy stopped the blow with one hand and then, looking directly into Knuckle's eyes, spoke again.
"Bad man needs to go now!"
One of the girls then grabbed Knuckles' wrist and he screamed. Miss Ross whimpered. Some of the other children drew close and formed a circle around Knuckles, who had fallen to his knees, cradling his arm. It appeared to me as though his hand was missing. Some of them had moved in around Miss Ross and myself, cutting us off from the car. They did not seem to appreciate our presence here any more than my rude associate's.I did not wish to leave Knuckles but I am yet unaware of exactly what sorts of abilities the children possess. So the wisest course of course of action, I felt, was to make our retreat.
I tore open the Path and pulled Miss Ross in with me. As I had feared, the experience was a bit too much for the girl. Even that brief trip had knocked her unconscious and her body temperature had dropped so that she felt cold to touch. Having brought us close enough to our destination I carried her into town, to the Ark. She awoke about an hour ago, it seems her memory has been affected. She said she thinks she can remember something about what happened before she ended up outside that house I was staying at. But it is too faint, she cannot recall by herself, I intend to look into her mind, but she is as yet still too weak, such a thing would surely break her mind. She also keeps repeating something, too faintly to make out anything except for the words, "the Angel". It seems to not be a conscious thing, whenever I try asking her about it she cannot remember saying anything.
I fear I have blathered on far too long. Tonight I shall be meeting with some colleagues to discuss what are our actions to be regarding Ridley. There is also the matter of the packages Knuckles had intended to deliver here. Until I return.
~Regards
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