It was a boring few hours until a patrolling group came into view on the Independent Men’s side of Coeur d’Alene. Cain had passed the time through practicing with solid, and even managed to make a wooden chair to sit on when the cement started to become uncomfortable. The group was made only of men, and they were all carrying different rifles slung across their torsos. They looked fairly relaxed, most of them not even holding their weapons.

“Hey, you guys!” Cain yelled across the interstate, waving at the group. One of the men threw up a fist, a sort of universal hand sign signalling the rest of them to stop.

“What do you want?” The apparent leader shouted back.

“I just want to talk,” Cain said, and the man waved his hands, letting Cain know it was alright to come closer.

“Make it short,” the man said.

“No problem. First off, are you all alright? I know you haven’t talked much with the Red Cross or anyone else up here, but we’ve seen the ruined houses.”

“Yes, we are fine. Do not worry. Anything else?”

“Yeah, actually. I don’t know if you know him, but a kid, Alex, came up to us recently, but some of your people took him back here. Is he ok?” This was the real question Cain wanted to ask, risking a confrontation with the Independent Men to find out.

“Alex is fine, do not worry. We took so long to bring him back because we thought he was a relative. It won’t happen again. Was there anything else?”

“No, uh, that was it. Thank you for talking with me, the man with the bandana didn’t when we tried to talk with him. He really didn’t want us here, chasing us out without even talking.”

“That’s not how all of us think,” the leader said softly, but then signalled for his men to follow him, continuing the patrol. The conversation was brought to an end.

So they didn’t need help with the waves, and Alex was doing fine. These were the best possible answers to his questions, but Cain still felt uneasy. Perhaps it was a desire to check on Alex himself, or perhaps it was that the destruction of the town was a little too large from the waves. But it wouldn’t be proper to sneak into their land and try and find which specific house Alex was staying in. Or how well their defenses were holding up. The man also had an air of trustworthiness about him, so Cain chose to let the matter lie for the meantime.

He headed back to the Town Center, where he finally found it lacking the presence of Tom. Or anyone, really. The man was probably at the Costco, or visiting Hayden, taking care of the refugees there, but Cain secretly hoped the man was resting. Even if he had slightly elevated Vertex, it would have been nowhere near as high as Cain’s, since Tom wasn’t out fighting against the waves.

Perhaps there was another way to gain Origin? Cain didn’t think so, not when practicing with the Cardinals, or saving people’s lives didn’t seem to do anything. If those actions weren’t worthy, then killing must be the only option. The world was turning out to become more and more bloody the more Cain learned about how it worked with the Numeral thrown into the mix.

The roar of engines rang out through the town, increasing in volume, and Cain went outside to investigate. Over a dozen men riding motorcycles headed towards the Town Center, where they parked. It was Jack and his Redhounds.

“Cain! What a coincidence spotting you here boy, how ya doing?” Jack greeted enthusiastically.

“Oh, well I’m doing good Jack, but what about you? Not arrested or anything?” Cain asked. He was still leery of the fact Jack thought it was appropriate to murder someone in cold blood, but the police hadn’t thrown him in prison. If they didn’t want to charge him for the crime, then Cain wouldn’t interfere with their judgement. This time.

“Nah, the pigs wanted no part of me. Anyways, my boys would have broken me out, and the blues knew that. But enough about them, we’re all here for you Cain.”

“For me? Why?” He asked, and tensed, ready for an attack.

“To pay you back of course! You kept good on your word, letting my boys work their bikes again. I tell you, it feels good to feel the wind on our faces again,” Jack said, and the Redhounds began to whoop and holler, cheering aggressively. So they weren’t here on a hit, that was reassuring.

“Well, I can’t really think of anything you can do to pay me back unless you’re interested in charity work,” Cain said.

“Oh, we've already volunteered for that. ‘Bout to go ferry some people from some destroyed town down here, real saint stuff. Just wanted to let you know that if you got a problem, you can count on the Redhounds to solve it.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Alright boys, let’s head out,” Jack said, and he and his gang left as quickly as they had come.

Jack was going to help the refugees of Athol move to Hayden safely. And Cain thought the man was rough. But he evidently had a caring side that wasn’t easy to see, past the big stain of murdering someone. Him knowing about Athol at all though meant Ryan had established communication with Post Falls, or perhaps one of the mechanics just drove and let whoever was running the show know what was going on. Cain wanted to go and check on the town anyway, partially because he felt like being a good neighbor, but also because he wanted to see how Ray and Leon were doing. The two were not in a right state last he saw, but hopefully the man he talked to found medication for them.

Cain was going to run up to the Costco and ask someone there to let Tom know that he would be going to the town over, but the hum of a car engine stopped him. There was so much traffic today. On a typical afternoon, there’d be dozens of cars zipping down the road and parking near the mall, taking their family for a shopping trip. But now a few motorcycles and a car were the height of transportation. Speaking of, it was Bart that was ferrying Alice and Donovan to the town center. He hadn’t seen them in a while, and all three were genuinely happy to see each other. Cain gave a polite wave to Bart, and the man returned a thumbs up.

“Alice, Donovan, great to see you two again. What brings you over here?” Cain asked.

“We’re here to grab a few documents. Something about mythological creatures, apparently Officer Davidson forgot to bring his work over to the Interim Town Hall,” Alice explained, while Donovan went inside the Liquor Store.

“Interim Town Hall?”

“Oh, you haven’t heard? Well this morning Tom, Tim, and a couple other people decided to start their own temporary government, for organizational purposes. Nobody is caring about things like money right now, but last I saw there were probably over a hundred people looking to help out.”

“Do you know if Ryan, sorry, Officer Davidson has gotten into contact with other towns, such as Post Falls?”

“Post Falls? No, I don’t think so. Did it have something to do with that biker gang we passed?”

Yeah, those guys came from Post Falls. And they apparently knew that Athol was destroyed.”

“Strange. I’ll ask Tom what he knows. But first, do you want to guess which building the Interim Town Hall is?” Alice asked, barely restrained laughter lining her question.

“Is it the Costco?” Cain asked in response, a more defeated tone to his voice.

“Yup!” She exclaimed, and the two laughed. Donovan exited the Liquor Store, papers stashed in between his arms as he was furiously shuffling more in his hands. He raised his head and looked at Cain, intent on sharing the dramatic discovery he must have just made.

“I knew it, I was right! That damn officer trying to trick me. I knew it was Stymphalian Birds, not Somphalian!” Donovan yelled, triumphant.

“Are those one of the monsters from the book Ryan was transcribing?” Cain asked.

“Yes, but there were more than just monsters. And actually the whole thing got me thinking, and so I had to go to the high school to do a little experiment.” Alice sighed, but let Donovan continue. What he had to say must have been important. “The whole idea of Cardinals is strange, right? It violates the laws of thermodynamics and physics as we understand them. I mean, fire out of nothing, it just doesn’t make sense. But what if physics was different, because the universe itself was different? So I found the microscopes of the high school and it took some work, but I got my arm underneath the scope, and guess what I found?”

“Uh, what?”

“Nothing! I didn’t see anything! I saw my skin, yes. And my hair. But I couldn’t zoom in past that. My arm just became blurrier, and my hair just became bigger in the lens. Cain, you know what that means right?”

“Not really, Donovan, no.”

“Well, it means we aren’t made of cells anymore! I couldn’t find any, at all!” Well that was a bombshell. Cain had all of his memories, good and bad of his childhood. He remembered long nights with Seth, keeping each other company. He remembered bar conversations with Frank, times when he could relax and cheer for some random sports team and just not care about anything. He could remember driving down the road that fateful night, the night of the Ruin. But now he was told that his memories were from a different body? A different person? No, no there’s no way that was true.

“So that got me thinking, right, even more. No cells means no atoms, which means no quantum physics. All of the physics restrictions that exist because of wave functions and quanta don’t exist anymore, none of them! Which is how the Cardinals work. At least I think so. This is all just a theory right now, and I’ll have to do more testing to be sure.”

“What about, uh...what about me? Am I still, well, me?” Cain asked, fumbling for the right words.

“As far as I can figure, yes. You might not be made of cells anymore, but you’re still you. The same Cain that grew up on Earth, and the same Cain that saved Alice’s life.” Donovan paused, smiling at Alice. “Well, anyways, sorry to bother you like this, but I thought you should know what I’ve found. It might help you out. Maybe.”

“Ah wait, one thing,” Cain said, stopping Alice and Donovan from leaving as they got in the car. “Could you let Tom know I’ll be going to Post Falls? Just to check on how the town is doing.” Donovan and Alice shared a knowing look, and then broke out into laughter. Cain raised an eyebrow, but the two of them waved their hands at him to drop it. Couples and their inside jokes. The two agreed to let Tom know, and the trio said their goodbyes. Bart saluted Cain as he took off. That man was a little eccentric, content with just a gesture to say hello. Or perhaps that was normal, Cain didn’t know anymore.

With nothing left to do, Cain set off at a light run for Post Falls. It wasn’t worth running to the Costco and recruiting a mechanic to drive him to the town. It was good practice with force to run there, and Cain liked the feeling of the wind on his face. It was just a precaution, but before he reached the town, he put some Origin into soul. He hoped Ray would be semi-lucid, but it never hurt to be safe.

Post Falls had seen better days, but as Cain ran through the town, he noticed that there was no more active looting or rioting going on. When he questioned a random passerby, they let him know a biker gang had been going around beating sense into the more violent people trying to take advantage of the lack of police or power. Perhaps Jack and his crew really weren’t so bad after all. It wouldn’t make the murder any better, but it was a step in the right direction.

Apparently though, not even Jack and his gang went to the West side of Post Falls, where the kindergarten and middle school were. The Red Cross volunteers had set up enough order to not need gang intervention. It was strange to see probable criminals acting as the policing force of a town, but these were strange times.

Cain let himself into the kindergarten, hoping to find someone to point him to where Ray might have been. It was a pretty small town, and he was hoping that people knew each other as well as they did in Mullan. When he spotted the borderline crazy teacher that told him where to find the Red Cross volunteers last time, he almost turned tail and ran. But the man was kind enough to help him out once, he might do it again. It was odd though, walking through the school while it was empty. Last time he was here there were concerned parents everywhere.

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“Hey, uh, sir. Do you remember me?” Cain greeted. The man turned his neck to look at him, a thousand yard stare on his face.

“Uh, hello, sir? You helped me find the Red Cross volunteers when I was last here. It was just two days ago,” Cain said, but the man still didn’t register his words.

“I saved them from a man named Ray. Do you know where to find him?” That finally got through to the teacher. He pointed a finger, straight at Cain’s chest, screamed one word, and Cain’s heart fell.

“HERETIC!”

Doors slammed open all around Cain, and the missing people streamed out of them, rushing for Cain. Moving in that same puppet-like manner. Ray was back to controlling people, and far more than last time too. He used force to barrel his way through the crowd, breaking through the front entrance of the school, and running towards the middle school. There wasn’t anything indicating that he would find Ray there again, but crazy tended to follow patterns. Cain would know.

He found the middle school exactly as he left it. The stone barricade was still blocking the road, the front entrance was still broken, but this time there was a line of people extending from the school out towards the nearby neighboring houses. Cain took a walk through the air to the roof of the building, and what he saw would haunt him the same way Brian still haunted him.

Leon was cackling and dancing from foot to foot as he conjured metal knives which he grabbed and stabbed into people’s heads. As a person died, their body would sink into the earth, and the next person in line would shuffle forward. The worst part was that Cain saw the briefest moment of realization dawn on the sacrifice’s face, as they saw the weapon heading towards their brain. They had the smallest twitch of reaction in response, but Leon was fast. Very fast. Ray was in his wheelchair, calmly smiling as he hit a stick towards a pile of mush on the grass in front of him. No. Nononono. Fuck.

It wasn’t mush. It was flesh. Cain could hear the squelch of the stick hitting meat all the way from the roof of the school. On and on the line shuffled forward. On and on Ray beat his stick into what once was a human. There was a familiar pair of glasses on the grass. A clump of hair looked suspiciously like bangs. The man was beating his family into paste, probably having killed them hours ago. Maybe even more than a day ago. Just how many people had Leon killed up to this point? Neither of them were even the slightest bit cautious for how large of a reaction the people at the kindergarten had towards him. Too focused on their own macabre world to care.

At this moment, Cain understood. The rage he was feeling, the desire to scream and shout and break something. This must have been how Jack felt killing Talon in front of the Walmart. And Cain understood. He understood why the man wanted to end the other’s life. There didn’t need to be some grand reason like stopping a conga line of people marching towards their death. There didn’t need to be some mundane reason like ending the life of someone preventing entry into a store. Cain hated Ray. He despised the man with every fiber of his being. It was a purely emotional use of solid, and that was perhaps why it was his strongest use yet.

Dozens, hundreds, thousands of iron needles were conjured all around Ray, and even Leon paused in his twisted sacrifice dance to gaze. All of them fought for space as they entered Ray’s body the next second. Metal ripped apart flesh and bone alike, and Ray looked more porcupine than man within the span of a couple breaths. Like a string being cut, consciousness and control returned to the people that were just under Ray’s command. Someone saw the body Leon had forgotten to dispose of and screamed, causing the crowd to disperse as fast as their legs could carry them.

“Ray?” Leon asked questioningly.

“Ray?” Leon asked demandingly.

“Ray?” Leon asked angrily.

“Rayrayrayrayrayrayrayray, who did this to you?” Leon asked, looking around the grass field. He sent a tendril of stone towards a nearby person who wasn’t running and crushed his head like a grape.

“Was it you? Did you do this? Did you do this to Ray? Did you kill Ray? Was it you? You? You?” Leon screamed each word, killing another person with each question. Cain couldn’t stop it. He recognized the kid had vastly more solid and Vertex than him. Possibly other Elements like Purpose, he just didn’t know. He had to focus on carving the strongest Prodigal Spike he had ever made, with the barest hope that Leon wouldn’t notice. But with each question he asked, another person died, and Cain had to allow the Prodigal to run its course before Leon killed the whole town.

A metal spike, not a dirt or asphalt one, shot out from the ground next to Leon and burrowed its way into the boy’s torso, branching out into multiple spikes that then further dug their way into his legs, his arms, and finally his head. Leon didn’t even have time to struggle, didn’t have time to realize he was dying. But he did have time to reach a hand out towards Ray, trying to grab him. To hold him, to hug him, but there were only mere scraps of flesh left of his grandpa, stubbornly clinging to the needles that devoured his body. It was a gruesome scene out of a nightmare, but unfortunately for Cain, he was wide awake.

Cain had been taught from as soon as he could understand words that sinning was a bad thing. He was taught not to lie, not to steal, not to cheat, not to disrespect his parents, not to disrespect his brother, and a whole host of other things. But one of the most important lessons he was taught was to never kill. It was the epitome of blasphemy to take the life of someone who had been divinely created and sent to inhabit the Earth. His parents had plenty of reasons such as that for why he shouldn’t kill, but Cain had his own reason too.

It was wrong to kill. It was a moral principle. It was that simple to him. Taking Brian’s life didn’t feel like killing. The man had become some wrong imitation of a human being, and was moving according to something else’s will, not Brians. But Ray, and Leon? They were still human. Even as deranged and psychotic as they were, they were undoubtedly human. So when the dust settled, and Cain stared at Leon’s mutilated corpse, and the remains of Ray’s, he turned to the side, hunched over on his knees, and vomited. It was a dry vomit, as he hadn’t eaten anything for a while, but he still heaved for all he was worth.

Once his guts felt as empty as his insides, he managed to look at the grass field, at what was left of it. Nobody had noticed him up on the roof yet, and a few curious souls were already inching closer to the bodies, trying to see if they were alive or dead. Most certainly dead, Cain made sure of that. And he would continue to make sure of it.

As the sun shone down on Cain overhead, as the stars hiding behind the bright blue sky twinkled in hidden delight, Cain made a vow. It wasn’t directed towards anyone in specific, and wasn’t worded in any specific manner. It was more feeling than contract. More emotional than logical. If Cain ever even suspected someone of using soul, he would kill them where they stood. If there was the slightest indication, the tiniest of hints that they were controlling other people, forcing their will on them, he would do all in his power to end their lives. Killing them would save countless others, that he was sure of. Cain would sin, in order to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves.

His Numeral opened up, floating in his face. His eyes were drawn to the Tertiary Ordinal, Eighth Cardinal. Sin. An invisible blanket of something was coated around his body, and the Numeral disappeared. But Cain knew. He knew his vow was how the Cardinal worked, the same way he knew how all the other Cardinals worked. It was his sin to murder, and his Cardinal would assist him in doing it. Only so long as it was in line with his vow. His promise.

He wiped his mouth clean and left the middle school. He left the bodies of Leon and Ray there, a monument, a warning to all those who saw them. He found the same teacher as before, the man having returned to the same state of using formal old English to speak. He informed him that he was responsible for the deaths of Ray and Leon, much to the man’s horror.

“I don’t...I can’t...I can’t explain why, but I killed those two because they were irredeemable. They made the choice to keep on killing, keep on using others as if they were playthings. I wasn’t going to risk more lives by trying to keep them alive. They had to pay for their crimes, for their sins, and they had to pay today. Someone will hopefully come by soon and set up communication with you. Coeur d’Alene already has a government operation going,” Cain said, refusing to stay in a prolonged conversation with the teacher. He never got the man’s name, but he could always find out later.

Cain set out back towards Coeur d’Alene, wanting to let Tom know what happened, but more importantly let him know to inform everyone he could that they were to never touch that Cardinal. That foul power that only took, and didn’t give. The blanket of sin covering Cain tightened in response, as if delighting in the fact he was taking action, however indirect, towards his promise of eradicating the use of soul.

The Costco was as bustling a place as ever, with the exception of the food line not being as long. It was now common knowledge that Vertex helped with hunger and tiredness, and there was plenty of Origin to go around with so many civilians turning up for defense. He asked for directions to where Tom was, and he found the Interim Town Hall set up in the center of the store. The large racks used to store food had all been moved elsewhere, with much of the floor open space. That wouldn’t last for long, not with how much work Tom was probably going to make the townspeople do.

“Cain, my boy, how was- ah. I know that look. Who'd ya kill?” Jack asked, being present at the large table where maps and various documents were strewn. Tom, Donovan, Ryan, and a few other people Cain didn’t recognize all sharply turned towards Cain, a couple of the strangers even taking a step back.

“That obvious, huh?” Cain asked, cracking a smile. It felt wrong to smile after watching so many people die, but if he forced himself to be an emotionless pit then he wouldn’t be able to function before long.

“I’ve seen some shit in my day boy, don’t you worry. Now you know though. You know the feeling. I’ll tell you one thing, it doesn’t ever get better. It never goes away. You just learn to accept it as a part of life,” Jack offered advice, clapping a hand on Cain’s shoulder.

“Console him later, Jack. Cain, what’s going on? What happened at Post Falls?” Tom demanded.

Cain told them everything. From going to visit Post Falls for the first time, to meeting Ray and Leon, to coming back and killing them. He left out the exact details of what the two were doing to the townspeople, but Tom would figure it out. There were plenty of witnesses. Donovan looked understandingly at Cain, full of sympathy. Cain didn’t think the man was capable of hating him, not while living with the knowledge that Cain saved his wife’s life. Ryan looked somewhat prideful on his part. Perhaps he respected that Cain took justice into his own hands, something Ryan never could as a police officer.

“I promise you all this. If I see another person using that Cardinal, using it to bend people like that, I will kill them. I will not bring them to the police like I did Jack, I will not forgive them like I did the first time,” Cain declared, giving voice to his personal vow. The sin blanket coiled tighter. It felt good, almost warm, like a loving mother’s embrace. Cain placed some Origin in it, and the blanket felt larger. More encompassing. More real.

“Cain, I can’t have you going around threatening to kill people, that’s not how society works, that’s not how people work,” Tom cautioned.

“If you condone the use of the Cardinal Tom, I’m going to do something myself. If you want to restore some semblance of order to the world, to this town, then there are certain rules you need to be flexible with. It is nearly impossible to imprison people as it stands, anyone can use a Cardinal and escape. And not all Cardinals are equal. Corrupting someone the way Ray did is the same as murdering them. One of your laws must be to prohibit that, I will not accept anything less,” Cain said, staring down Tom from across the table. The man sighed, but eventually nodded.

“Alright, alright. Idaho had the death penalty before, it’s not like this will be much worse. But again Cain, don’t go threatening people on the street if you can help it.”

“I wasn’t planning on anything like that,” Cain muttered. “Oh, right. Could you send Ryan or someone else to Post Falls and try and get them talking? The more people you have working, the better, right?”

“It would be great to get more hands, of course. Ryan, think you could take Bart and mosey on over to the town? You’d be doin’ me a favor.” Tom requested.

“Yes sir, Mr. Hardings. I’ll let Saul know once I get something figured out,” Ryan said.

“Saul?” Cain asked.

“Ah right, you haven’t been introduced yet. Cain this is Saul,” Tom said, pointing at a bespectacled man wearing a scarf around his neck. “He came from Hayden and was able to get the communications working with Ryan.”

“Nice to meet you,” Saul said, extending a hand, not nearly as afraid as he was at the beginning of the conversation. Jack instantly accusing Cain of murder was a surefire way to get off on the wrong foot with some people.

“This here is Peter Lane, mayor of Hayden,” Tom pointed to a fairly oversized man wearing a waistcoat.

“Pleasure,” Peter said. Another handshake.

“And finally, this is Anita Heath, mayor of Athol,” Tom pointed to an Indian woman dressed in very serious business-like attire. She didn’t bother to offer a handshake.

“Oh, Jack, shouldn’t you be in Athol?” Cain asked, hoping to make the situation a little less awkward.

“Yeah I should be, but your friend Tom here wanted me to stay. Something about planning a route for my Redhounds for evacuation efforts. It was a good idea so I stayed to listen,” Jack explained.

“I also wanted to ask, how’d you know Athol needed help?”

“Bart told me. Good man.” Cain agreed, even if he still found the man a touch weird.

“Well, Cain, anything else to add? It seems an almost daily occurrence you’re letting me know front-page news,” Tom said.

“No, not unless you haven’t heard of Donovan’s new theories.”

“Oh I just got done listening to those, please don’t remind me,” Tom joked, and everyone around the table laughed. Even the serious looking Anita gave a small smirk. Cain shortly excused himself after they got back to talking about evacuation plans for Athol, and left the Costco. He felt sorry for Jack for having to listen through all of that, but kept being surprised at the man’s integrity. His only sole reason for being wary of the man, his murder, was now also a null-and-void reason. Given that Cain was now also a murderer.

Today hadn’t been a particularly good day. He was told immediately after the wave finished that Alex was gone, and then he was confronted with the possibility that he didn’t have cells anymore, and then he killed two people. It was deserved, and it was justified, but that didn’t make it feel better.

The haziness present in his mind, letting him know that he needed sleep, was getting stronger by the minute. Cain knew he had to rest, but he was in no mood to get some shut eye. He raised his Vertex high enough until the fog went away, and he felt sharp again. Leon and Ray combined had given him hundreds of Origin, a credit to how strong they were. Or how much they had stolen from the innocents they were harvesting.

But Cain didn’t want to think about them or their deaths anymore. He set off on a run towards the forest, snacking on a protein bar. He’d have to thank Daniel for his thoughtfulness. He intended on finding answers about the waves, regardless of how long it took. The sun was still high in the sky, and it was time to go hunting.