There was no way to tell when night came, but eventually we had to go to sleep. A part of me was wishing that when I woke up, everything would be fixed.  It wasn’t, but it wasn’t a very realistic hope anyway.

The temperature had plummeted while I was asleep. We didn’t have anything to accurately measure it, but I would guess it was in the 50s. Much cooler than a summer in Arizona should be. Although I would have worried more about that if I wasn’t so hungry; now that the adrenaline from the change was wearing off, I was realizing it had been hours since I’d had anything to eat.

I wasn’t the only one feeling that way. Upon waking up, there were a lot of proxies looking to see if anyone had brought any food with them. Even if any of them had, it wouldn’t have been enough to feed us all. After seeing the food situation, Ahriman started trying to organize a solution. Manton said that the building had a cafeteria on the floor below us, which was well stocked enough to last a group our size a few days. While some of us were concerned about the dangers we might encounter along the way, Ahriman decided that we’d move to the cafeteria and use it as a base until we figured out how to resolve the situation.

It didn’t take long for everyone to gather what little we had and start moving. Manton led, since he knew the layout of the building. Ahriman was off to the side of the group, talking with Lepidus so they could “discuss how to ration the medical supplies we have.” It was a little surprising to realize that, with all the casualties we’ve suffered, Lepidus was the only trained doctor we had with us. I tried moving closer so I could overhear some of their conversation, but Sky grabbed my arm and pulled me away.

D: “What’s the matter, Sky?”

She only shook her head. I asked her again, but she still didn’t say anything. I would have pressed the question, but then I realized everyone had gotten very quiet. When I looked back at Ahriman and Lepidus, the Boss was standing by them.

Shadows bent around him so that none of the red sun’s light touched him, but we could still clearly see him in the darkness. His body was completely still as he looked straight at Sky. She hid behind me, and he turned slightly to face us. His head was pointed at me, but it didn’t feel like he was looking at me. He was looking through me, as if I didn’t even exist.

Ahriman had dropped to his knees almost the moment the Boss appeared. Lepidus still seemed to shocked to move, until Ahriman pulled on his arm.

A: “Bow, you idiot.”

Lepidus got down on a knee as well.

A: “Father, we have been awaiting your guidance. Tell us your will, and we shall fulfill it.”

The Boss snapped its head down to look at Ahriman. It held those pose for several moments, and then it tilted its head slightly. Black branches came out of the shadows and moved around Ahriman and Lepidus. The branches coiled around the two, not quite touching them, but with barely a fingers breadth away from them. I think all of us were holding our breath as we waited for whatever happened next.

Sky had been hiding behind me the whole time, peeking through under my arm to watch. As the branches started to move around Lepidus’s face, she ran out from behind me and shouted, “No! Don’t!”

And suddenly… I’m not even sure what happened next, the branches moved too fast. I remember a shower of blood hitting me, and when I opened my eyes, Lepidus and Ahriman were being torn to pieces. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how I was supposed to react. Lepidus was
he just
it
God, why? Why the hell did he what did Lepidus do?  This wasn’t supposed to happen he was I mean he

I’m sorry, I just can’t
I can’t think right now. I’m trying to stay calm and write this down, but whenever I think back to what just happened, I

Everyone started running for the stairs when they saw what was happening to Lepidus and Ahriman. Someone grabbed me and pulled me with them. I don’t think I’d have been able to run on my own, really. I’m not really sure where we are now. It’s a different floor. I think we’re closer to the cafeteria, but we’re taking a break for now. Give us a little time to comprehend what… what just happened.