A rare cactus that grows.
A rare and Truest Rose.
The Secrets and Sanctuary
Athwart and within a cedarn
Cover brings…
Of Life and Death and Liberty,
Salvation…God’s gifts shall bring…
But only the Bravest, and the Right Ones
Shall know what it means.

Chances are beyond chances now.

The guy was laying on a table…
A steel-looking room, with white cabinets
And chairs and blinding light.
But strangely it was also a bedroom
At the same time.

There were noises…clicks and buzzes,
And the humming sounds of machinery.
Beneath the ground?
Even the lights had a pulse of rhythm
And noise, yet everything was
Absolutely sterile and cold; it must
Be for working conditions.

But the guy can’t move. There are
White wires transparent here and there,
On the forehead only, it seems.
Can’t move, can only think, see and hear.

At the foot of the guy is a woman
In a white lab coat, numb expression…
Pale, dark hair…She is all detached
Business, but still very inquisitive, very
Interested…very analytical; and thereby just
An employee.

To the left of her, a small man, dark hair,
With dark rimmed glasses on…white shirt,
Dark pants, a mild tan; he gets out in
The daylight. He is all business, more
Than serious, almost aggressive.
Sharp, fast movements. Very confident.
The woman, the assistant, is much
More slow and mild-mannered. She
Is completely used to the man’s behavior,
And dismissive of it: hint.

This little man with the glasses is
VERY familiar…the guy has seen him
Before, many times…in some way, other
Than what is known as acceptably
Tangible. Always consistent, though lost
In riddles of a haze of memories.

They are both watching this guy on
The table intently, he’s panting and
Breathing hard. Questions abound, back
And forth. This guy is both confused
And intrigued…the woman looks totally
Confused yet fascinated, her mind is all over
The place…back and forth, back and forth.

But the little man with the glasses is
Calm about it all, just observing with
A raised brow. He looks very pleased.

‘Doctor, I don’t understand what is
Going on. This is getting out of hand.
What is going on with him?’ She
Asks, wide-eyed.

‘Shut up.’ The man says fast and
Cold. ‘You’re not paid to understand.
Just record everything and do your job.’

‘But the data we have…where is this
Coming from?’ The woman asks, almost
Insists. ‘How is he getting this?’

The man turns slowly towards his
Assistant, he is clearly angry, but she
Is ignoring it. His mind is powerfully
Much stronger than hers, a much stronger
Presence. She is either used to it as
Arrogance, or oblivious. His mind is definitely
Much stronger than any other mind; normal
Mind. ‘I told you to shut up.’

‘But compared to what we have on file…
It’s not perfect…but there is A LOT there,
A LOT…But the rest? How? Where
Is it coming from?’ The woman asks.

‘I told you to shut up.’ The man
Nearly growls through his teeth.

‘He can’t hear us, that’s impossible.’
She says.

‘Of course, he can hear us, you idiot.’
The man says harder, louder. ‘I told
You to shut up.’

‘But how? That doesn’t make any
Sense. She went on. ‘No one could – ‘

‘Do you have a problem understanding
My instructions?’ He is angry now.
‘You are here to record only, not
Speak.’

‘But the differences in the data-…’ She
Says. ‘I thought- ‘

‘You are NOT paid to think.’ He
Orders. ‘You are NOT here to
Speak or ask questions. ‘I want
To know EVERYTHING
About them. Now shut up. I’m not
Telling you again.’

‘We are working together on this for
Our departments. I have a right to
Ask questions.’ She says plainly, a
Pointless attempt to confront him; this
Woman is clueless. ‘Are you saying
They are – ‘

He furiously reached out and grabbed
Her by the throat fast and choked
Her silent. Her eyes bulged in shock,
Then fear at the strength of his
Grip as she tried to pull his hands off. For
His size, she should have been able to
Pull away, but he was amazingly strong…
TOO STRONG. She gasped for air and
Began slapping at him, and then kicked
With no effect. ‘You are wrong about
A lot of things.’ He whispered
Fiercely then squeezed tighter on her
Throat…then
He began to grow…taller, allowing
Her to see this. He began to transform,
His height reached from about 5’7”
To a towering 8 feet (or more), so
Tall that he dangled her in his grip.
His body became thicker and shed
The clothes he wore, his skin
Turned into a bronze-like leather,
An almost scaly pattern…and his
Head grew larger in proportion with
A more oval appearance to the rear
Of his skull…and his eyes
Seemed to glow and roll over into
A reddish-orange snake eye form.
He wasn’t human at all.

Her eyes grew even wider. She was
Terrified, she had NO IDEA…
None, of what he was; none of
Them did. He was one of THEM.

Then he, this THING, just threw back
His head and laughed out loud
And said. ‘This is exactly what we
Wanted to happen.’ Then he squeezed
Fast on her throat and finished her
And dropped her in seconds.

This THING, person, being…then turned
Sharply to the guy on the table…It’s
Head moving fast – hard, looking down
At him…then glaring, widening its eyes
Leaning over him. ‘You see me now, don’t
You? You can’t stop us. We will know
Everything about them…’

And then it turned into a silent communication,
Vicious. Words, pictures, thoughts…only
Hostile emotions…THEM…

There are many of THEM…they have
Been here for decades, centuries…
Some in direct contact, others hidden.
Working, searching, hunting…
Manipulating information…
Invading every faction, every land
To the highest levels…preparing?
Dividing…always dividing…

Factions split, they know this…
They know, all know on some level…
The information is so broken
It’s impossible to sort it all out.

It’s about territory, always about territory…
A hunting ground…but much more.
All things on Earth are a
Microscopic reflection of a bigger
Picture of the Universe…And it is
No paradise out there…But they
Would have some believe it is to
Mislead and confuse as much as
Possible…People could never handle
The truth…

But as powerful as they are, and for
All their dominion, something has them
Nervous…An ancient dispute.
A vendetta…Territories…bloodlines…
Wrath and Conquest…
A door to Heaven, even if it means
Pouring millions of souls out
Desperately in attempt to chance
Those doors to open…so they
Can Attempt to invade the higher
Realms…and further their agenda…
Poison beauty with their ugliness,
Their jealousy and aggression…
Almost…or perhaps exactly, a
Derangement syndrome.

Their thirst for conquest is limitless…
Higher and higher…
But the Heavens will not allow this.
These things are literally chasing
A Universal Armageddon to get
What they want.

And they are a strong race of much
Diversity…resistant to many forged
Weapons. And they incorporate as much
As possible to improve their strengths…
Particularly if a world shows signs of
Something new…And divine
manifestation in a form.

The THING resents this much disclosure
But is allowing this for some reason.

‘We will know Everything about Them.’
It says…with some nervousness;
Not a lot, but still it was there…
So, they aren’t so sure…

And at that, the guy flashes…
The THING growls. Connection broken.
Time to change the locks again.

That thing was really pissed. Oops.

Valiant.