Ethan told Bill about how he and Leita had come to live on the commune. He told him about the Sasquatch, the music festival, the Dark Angel, Tasha and her warriors, and the fissure at the foot of the cave which opened to the Borderland. Bill listened to Ethan’s story without saying a word. He loved a good story. He believed you could find the truth in a complete story.

“Yeah. None of that happened,” Bill said, when Ethan finished his story.

“What? What do you mean?” Ethan asked, surprised.

“None of that happened. Sasquatch? Are you serious? I’ve never seen a Sasquatch, I can promise you that. And that stuff about us flying around, fighting demons. Isn’t that from the movies?”

“Well,” Ethan responded. “Those things could have been AI’s overactive imagination, but what about the other stuff”?

“We do have a commune next to us. Our band leases the land to them, and there was a Doctor Yamamoto. He was a good man, but I heard he died,” Bill replied.

“What about your brothers and Raven?”

Bill looked at Ethan, deciding how much he was going to trust this guy. In spite of the fantastical elements, Ethan’s story sounded like he had some kind of real experience with the commune and First Nations back home.

“My brothers were killed over a land dispute. It took place at the same location of the battle you describe,”Bill answered. “Raven’s girlfriend Tasha was killed in the same dispute and Raven’s never been the same since.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Ethan replied sincerely.

“Yeah,” Bill agreed.

“So, why are you here,” Ethan asked.

“Vengeance,” Bill replied. ‘The man responsible for my brother’s and Tasha’s deaths lives in New York. I came to avenge them. He’s living in luxury just a few miles from here. I’ve been trying to get at him for the past four years. It’s impossible to get anywhere near him, but I’m sticking around in case the opportunity ever comes up. In the meantime, I’ve been helping these kids”.

“What’s going on here?” Ethan asked himself. “There seems to be bits and pieces of both my quests rolled up into this one. Is this a parallel world that includes both of them?”.

“Let me ask you Bill? Is the man you’re after Eldon Whitehead”?

“It is.”

“Hmph,” Ethan grunted.

Mike was waiting. He had been waiting since Leita, with the assistance of psilocybin mushrooms, unblocked his reality and he became Michael. That was four years ago. He remembered the day. The dampness of the morning air. Being with Leita, the female expression of all that there was, all that there is and all that there will be. In her patience, she released him from his bonds. For what though? There must be a reason. What was it?

Of course he had no problem finding the Dragon. He rode with him on the same ferry when he left Vancouver Island. No one seemed to notice him leave except maybe Bill, one of the Chiefs from the First Nation settlement beside the commune. He was on the same ferry as Michael and the Dragon, but once they reached the mainland, they parted ways.

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Who knows why Bill was there? Michael had never been introduced to Bill, so he wasn’t inclined to ask. Michael was following the Dragon. He wasn’t concerned about anything else, and he followed him all the way to New York where he remained holed up in the Freedom Tower. Since then Michael waited. He wasn’t sure what to do. Why was he on earth without a commandment?

He wasn’t very impressed by how he got to earth either. His true identity was covered in layers of doubt, brought on by a society that produced children of molestation among other nasty things. That was how he lived most of his years on the earth. So damaged he was wrapped up in his own mind and could not see the light. He was so inside his own head, he couldn’t see the world around him. He certainly couldn’t see who he really was.

He often wondered why God let him come to earth this way? It certainly worked if the reason was to keep Satan off his scent. No one would possibly recognize Michael during the years he was suffering. But why make him suffer? That much? Wasn’t there a less harmful way? He decided God wanted him to experience how destructive evil can be so he knew exactly what he was fighting for when the time came to fight.

Was Michael surprised he had yet to hear from God? Not really. No one had heard from God for damn near four millennia. They, which Michael called God, for God encompassed everything, went through all that work, creating heaven and earth, populating earth with their seed, and then that was the last anyone heard from them. Sure, God showed up here and there with a few commandments and whatnot, but after that, nothing. God did send Ethan in their stead, but even he hadn’t been seen for over two thousand years. Michael was sure he was coming though. Why else was he here, and why did Leita choose now to free him?

No, Michael would wait for Ethan to show up. He’d bring Michael's purpose with him. In the meantime, he’d keep a close eye on the Dragon, Eldon Whitehead. He was able to do this because Michael worked inside Freedom Tower selling coffee. He made sure to become good friends with those who had contact with Whitehead. He’d play to their egos, which they all had an abundance of, and couldn’t help but drop references of their association with Whitehead. Nothing classified came out of their talk, but enough to give Michael an idea of Whitehead’s habits, and mood. That was all he needed.

That he was waiting, was not to say Michael had just been sitting around. The Consortium was full of Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and human women. He wasn’t about to watch these people roam around, thinking they were free of God’s vengeance. He spent his free time finding the worst of the worst and executing them for their crimes against humanity. It was intended to send a message to Whitehead. Just because Michael had not received a commandment to directly confront Whitehead, didn’t mean he shouldn’t let him know he was around.

“They’re hanging the corpses from street lamps?” Eldon asked.

“Yeah, well someone is,” Johann Schneider replied.

“How come you don’t know who’s doing this? Why aren’t the cameras picking this up”?

“Well, that’s the mystery, isn’t it? No one knows”.

“You!” Eldon shouted. “You should know. You’re head of security for the entire free world”.

“If there’s nothing on the cameras, there’s nothing on the cameras. I don’t know what I can do about that”.

“He’s here,” Eldon uttered to himself.

“Who?”

“Who? Who?” Eldon repeated. “Ethan! That’s who. Or his entourage. Something’s going on here”.

“Aw, now boss,” Johann replied, “No one believes in that stuff anymore. We have enough real world problems. We don’t have to worry about an Oracle the outcasts have conjured up”.

Eldon ignored the remark. “Has anything else unusual been happening”?

“No. Well, there was a strange incident yesterday, but it happened out in the wasteland.

“What happened”?

“Some guy disabled two of our Sheriff Bobs”.

“Disabled them? How?

“One of them he put into hibernation mode, the other he accessed its ports. Both methods are trade secrets, but you know how things are. There are no secrets in this world”.

“Is he a spy from Eastworld”?

“We don’t think so”.

“Do you have any information on this man”?

“We have facial recognition, but he’s not in the database”.

“Find him. I want to meet him”.

“Right boss”.