"Oh, no…"
Almost two decades ago, somewhere in New Jersey, more than a million people were gathered… in prayer.
"Let us journey through the path of the Endless. Let him guide us, stray us away from the path that would render us mortal. Oh, Holy Adam, our Eternal Shepherd, our salvation from the devils of hell."
None of them were out of sync—a million of them there, and not even a single word spilling from the sentence. The one who was leading them, Park Sang Moon, was like a conductor. But even without him there, these people still wouldn't miss a beat.
Park Sang Moon was only there to hold the effigy of their… god, Adam the Endless.
New Jersey had a population of four million, but not even a fourth of that was part of the congregation. With more than a million people adding to their numbers, most of their roads had been blocked—and those who were still trying to have the semblance of a normal life couldn't get to their jobs at all.
They were, in two words, extremely disruptive. Perhaps even that was an understatement—they literally shut down the entirety of New Jersey; the streets, the roads, the establishments. The only ones lucky were the shops right next to where the congregation was gathered.
There were hundreds of thousands of families, and one of them was the teenage John and his parents.
John had his hands clasped together, but unlike his parents, his eyes were open. Not just open, but looking at the girl in front of him, who'd been glancing back at him several times now and smiling.
John squinted, subtly shushing the girl and gesturing to her to focus on Park Sang Moon's words. Still, John also smiled at the girl, shaking his head when she stuck out her tongue. The girl then pulled out her phone, quietly urging him to do the same.
John glanced at his parents, and when he was sure they weren't opening their eyes soon, he checked his phone—and there… the girl sent him a photo that was highly inappropriate for their current setting. No—it was highly inappropriate anywhere.
John's eyes widened, and he quickly snapped the phone next to his chest, afraid someone else might see it. He looked forward, only to see his friend smirking at him.
He quickly erased the photo from their chat, then texted her.
John slipped his phone back into his pocket even though his girlfriend was still texting something to him. The girl urged him to check his phone again, but John didn't heed her anymore and motioned for her to just focus.
His girlfriend rolled her eyes, finally focusing on the sermon.
John could really only sigh at this, shaking his head. He glanced at both his parents, and when he saw them still with their eyes closed, he sighed again in relief.
He was about to close his eyes, but then noticed a trickle in the air. It was only a trickle, but John knew exactly what it was.
"A Leak!" he screamed, shaking his parents. It wasn't only him who noticed it, and soon, their collection of gasps drowned Park Sang Moon's voice—but that wasn't what stopped him from talking, no.
What stopped him from talking was the portal that suddenly cracked open right behind him, and the light that came out of it—a beam of light that went through the back of his head, and straight toward a building that was a hundred yards away, and the light still didn't stop at all.
It pierced through several buildings until finally going into the horizon until it reached the sky, ultimately traversing into outer space.
"H-huh…?"
Everyone blinked and gasped at the same time as they watched Park Sang Moon from the large screens, dropping and rolling like a wet blanket down the stage.
Then they slowly focused on the portal, where dozens of pink-faced humans were already marching out with their large rifles.
"Kh!" John felt a tinge of pain in his chest, and he quickly pulled out his phone just to drop it. He gazed down, and his phone burst into flames. It wasn't only him; his girlfriend threw away her phone, too—as did the rest of them.
That pain seemed to have woken up everyone there… as they all began to run. With millions of them there, a stampede was inevitable. But it didn't happen.
The Bellethers killed half of them before they could even bump into each other. Their rifles scorching and slicing through them as if they were nothing but jelly. Half a million of them, dead in a few seconds.
John's memory became hazy then. He remembered running with his parents, being separated from his girlfriend.
There was blood everywhere—and the only reason why half of them were still alive was that the bellethers intentionally avoided the area where the chosen Emperor was.
The director of the LCRU and the RLRD, Gordon.
John watched Gordon and several heroes fight—but it was unfair. The weapons of an alien civilization that was technologically more advanced than humanity by leaps and bounds were unfair.
Gordon did put up a fight, but he was old. John remembered it, the bellether's sword made of light, managing to pierce through Gordon's skin, which steel couldn't even scratch.
John remembered it, how the bellethers were taking those who survived through the portal as prisoners. If it wasn't for Gordon fighting his hardest, more of them would've been taken.
And then, he remembered Adam's arrival. John thought, truly, they were saved. He watched the bellethers try to laser him, and their weapon did go through… but that didn't stop Adam at all.
But John also watched as Adam went straight through the portal without even looking at them. John gasped at that, but still smiled.
After all, Adam was now trying to close the Leak. All they needed to do was to survive until then.
But seconds turned into minutes, and then minutes into hours. He watched as his father fought back, only for his head to explode. His mother was next.
He watched as his girlfriend was dragged into the portal.
And then… he watched as Adam came out of the portal carrying two children.
And then… and then… and then…
He screamed and roared for them to all run again. And they did. They ran away.
They ran away for hours. And the next thing that John watched was the explosion as half of New Jersey was erased from the map.
John's memory was hazy—but he remembered all of those did happen.
And now, back at the present, John could only stare at Adam with a look of disbelief on his face.
"Not… your responsibility?" he repeated Adam's words. "More than half a million people died because of you, Adam the Endless. How can you be so cold?"
"Half a million people who made their choice," Adam said, not stuttering even a single bit. "Everyone told them not to gather, General. They were told what would happen. I told them what would happen. I told you, saving those who don't want to be saved is… impossible."
"That was your mistake." John breathed in, straightening his back as he stared into Adam's eyes.
"You told, when you should have commanded."
"They wouldn't have listened."
"We will listen now!" John opened his palm to Adam. "Make us your responsibility. I will make an oath to you that I will make them listen, Adam the Endless—I will make the world listen."
"This is done." Adam shook his head, looking at the damage they had caused. The entire plaza was now in complete ruins, not even a hint of what it once was.
"I'm leaving. Hate me all you want, but I've been through this conversation more than I could count. Also, you are paying for all this damage, right? Government's always making the IBAA pay for everything even though—"
"You're not leaving here, Lord Adam." Once again, blue streaks of light surrounded John, the strands of his hair sticking up.
"You either die here today, or you lead us as our shepherd. I will make sure of that."
And with those words, John disappeared—shattering the ground beneath his path. He grabbed Adam by the face and was about to drag him again, but Adam didn't budge this time.
He grabbed John's wrist, and it was only then that the thunder created from John's lunge reached them both. He stared up at John, then pushed him on the chest—causing him to be thrown far away, once again rolling violently.
And once again, that didn't stop John at all. Even as his shirt was now completely tattered and sliding off his bruised skin, he stood up.
And there, Adam finally saw it.
The symbol of the Church of Adam, etched onto John's torso. Covering his entire chest and half of his stomach.
And with that, Adam could only mutter,
"...Oh."