Jeremiah sauntered through the hallway— it was immaculate, the flooring covered with snow; same with the grand imposing walls which had banners, the icons sprouted on said banners were a spiral. The crimson-gold spiral, jagged— rebellious which was centred on the dozens of flags which flared above. Artwork layered around— religious imagery concerning the Saints, Angels and Thidos; graffiti sprayed all over them. On the other sides of the building were layers of loudspeakers layered at each corner, they were switched off but coloured in red and gold. He followed behind Anubis, Lucius and Medusa who were leagues ahead of him, possibly even forgetting that he was tracing behind as they walked into a door on the right.

  There were two doors on both sides, one in the middle as well: the left read, ‘Training’, the right stated, ‘Meeting’ and the middle spoke ‘Faculty’; Jeremiah scoffed— the building must’ve parted ways based on these three doors, otherwise the outsides large exterior would make minimal sense.

  He patted his foot on the ground, caressing his chin— baby hairs, as he thought on wear to go. The ground, it was soft— smooth; he hadn’t felt such gentle texture since Thidos’ Cathedral, it was nature; nature is pure and unfiltered as if a God should be. “But are the Gods we really have as such?” Jeremiah muttered beneath his breath, it forming into a cloudy breath of air— the environment was cold, freezing but it didn’t phase the Demon Child. The sky was cold, breezy but warm at the same time— it felt like a new home, after the other countless attempts.

  The frost covered faculty door opened loudly, it creaked but it was quietly hushed by the snow in front; Tagma Elliao who was smoking a blunt— drugs, it stunk the air massively; a herbal aroma touching the sky, deteriorating the one pleasant smell. He rolled his eyes, looking at Jeremiah with a stern expression.

  ‘Who— oh, it’s him. That’s Jeremiah Demetri, that rebel saint— what a surprise heh.’

  “I hear your thoughts, you know.” Jeremiah shot a smile at the rebel who coughed, puffs of smoke emitting from his breath.

  “Why are you standing outside my door like a melon?” Tagma skeened, “You here to apply right?”

  “Precisely, I don’t have anything better to do as the other option will be simply die at the hands of a tyrannical lord who s-”

  “I couldn’t care less about any of your personal background,” Tagma shook his head, a mild sneer across his face; “So Demon-Child, I think we’ll let you get off a bit easier with this since you already have a reputation. So I’ll just check if you live up to it.”

  Jeremiah’s right eyebrow narrowed as his left raised, “Check me? Are you the examiner?”“For now. Our other ones, are busy fighting Samiel’s forces of course.”

  “The Big Three? They can go toe to toe with the Big Three?”

  “Not the Big Three but of course they could beat any of them— maybe, but practically the heads of this are limited to just Me, Kanae and Conquest.” Tagma rolled his arm, stretching.

  “Conquest? What a name.”‘You know someone called Famine you idiot what’s the big deal?’

  “Speaking of Famine, is ‘Conquest’ a member of the horsemen?” Jeremiah did air quotes, sniggering.

  Tagma stood still for a moment, flicking away his cigarette out his left hand and chuckling; “Really do read minds don’t you— but sure he is. I mean, most of them got killed by Adolla so only two left!”

  “Who’s Adolla?” Jeremiah narrowed his eyes again, “I’ve been active with Thidos as you know for a significant amount of time— so who the hell is Adolla?”

  “He was someone within Thidos’ court, covertly of course since he was a spy— or whatever. Well he’s dead now due to betraying Thidos and giving us quite a bit of info, he was an insane cunt though so I know why he got killed so quickly.”

  Jeremiah folded his head, facing the ceiling which had icicles mounted across, “Can we start the application already?”

  Tagma scoffed, signing for Jeremiah to follow him into the Faculty Door.

  He walked through the door. A round table sat at the centre, lined with five red-cushioned seats. ‘I can presume this is where Kanae, Tagma and ‘Conquest’ discuss meetings— the other two seats must be the other leaders’ Jeremiah thought, a feint smile on his face as he walked past a steel coffee machine.

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  The room itself was rectangular and long— but also not small in width, there was a door at the end holding a sign on the panel which stated, ‘Application’.

  BAM.

  Tagma smacked the door open, his face unphased as he walked through. The Faculty door didn’t lead deeper into the base — it opened outward, into a walled arena carved from the snow itself— near the top were balconies for others to see,— it had stadium chairs as well, but there weren’t any stairs when Jeremiah checked, oh— they were from the ‘Training’ door as he saw they lead up from the outside, it also led downwards into another separate transparent cage; what he also saw was a thick coating of blood on the snow. The cage was spherical, dauntingly large — yet somehow ordinary among the cold architecture. “For your application to join the Cassettes and record the true history, you must at least contend with me in a fight.” Tagma walked opposite of Jeremiah, he removed his red shirt; revealing a body full of scars and wounds before reaching into his left pocket and grabbing out a device.

  The black square itched against his bandages as he lifted it to his mouth, tapping it twice before switching it on;

  “BASTARDS IN THE REBELLION! IF YOU WANT TO SEE JEREMIAH DEMETRI’S APPLICATION! YOU BETTER GET HERE TO THE COLOSSEUM NOW! IF NOT? FUCK OFF!”

  His voice rang out across the building, loudspeakers blurted out the announcement of the shuffling of individuals running across became louder and louder. The behemoth of people blasting through the door above startled the Demon Child as the seats became packed— in less than a minute, at least thirty seats were filled.

  Tagma sighed, he looked disappointed as his eyebrows quivered, “It isn’t even all of them…” he muttered before jumping on the spot— warming up.

  “Well anyway, Jeremiah! Third Saint, I declare you to prepare yourself because within ten seconds— I will charge. Now the best thing is, I am a perfectly normal Medean with no supernatural powers. One of the only Medeans— and also due to both of us being Medean, I’ll be kinder.” Tagma jumped, his breath shortening with each star as he slid his head side to side.

  “I’ll start.”

  “TEN!”

  Jeremiah took a lollipop from his dusty denim trousers.

  “NINE!”

  Jeremiah shoved it into his mouth, chewing.

  “EIGHT!”

  Jeremiah cracked his fingers.“SEVEEEEN!”

  “Does he really go on like this?” Jeremiah looked up at the crowd who were all gasping in awe.

  “SIX!”

  “Wait was it within ten or counting to ten? What is this?”

  “FIVE!”

  Jeremiah tapped his chin, the lollipop swirling across his mouthing like a washing machine as his saliva was the soap— cleansing his power.

  “FOOOOOUR!”

  “Anyday now.”

  “ONE!”

  “H-”

  Tagma appeared in front of Jeremiah instantly, his right arm curled into a ball— a fist as his grin stretched across his face, blood leaking from his smile lines as his eyes spiralled.

  The blow landed as Jeremiah barely blocked.

  Crossing both arms— but it didn’t let up, instead he was being pushed into the ground, his eyes frantically panicking— looking as he felt immense weight, boundless weight crushing him into the snow.

  The snow which felt heavenly.

  “Don’t let up!” Tagma screeched playfully, he spun his left arm around and socked Jeremiah in the gut, sending him flying across the cage towards the left side.

  Jeremiah crashed against the cage—it wasn’t bars but instead glass, however it didn’t break— it didn’t even crack despite Tagma’s attack.

  Jeremiah barely held himself up, his left arm clutching his wounded stomach as the lollipop cracked in his mouth, the stick falling towards the soft ground as the candy’s acid flowed across his jaw— his nose partially bleeding.

  “You can use weapons or powers.” The Rebel spoke adamantly, he was facing where Jeremiah last was before turning his head around and smiling, “You were a Saint right so you must’ve trained with Rosamire— my idol, or was. So you should know how to fight brute strength.” He started to walk slowly toward Jeremiah, jittering.

  The Demon Child snatched a lollipop out his pockets, he tapped the layer of it with his index before tossing it onto the ground on the left side— doing the same for the right. “You are strong, really strong.” Jeremiah nodded, his right eye closed as he began to run from the spot he originally was in.

  Tagma’s mouth opened into a circle as he cooed, he began to follow as he walked into where Jeremiah once was standing.

  “BLOW UP AND DIE!” Jeremiah banshees flicking both of his arms outward as he jumps back— the explosion of the two lollipops erupting into flames.

  A horde of flames, bright thick and large— it was beautiful almost as it contrasted against the pure white snow which was covered in blood. The gold flames and red blood formed into a spiral— the spiral. The insignia the rebels use. The crowd roared— like animals as Jeremiah collapsed to the ground, panting. He’d only been hit once perfectly and he’d already been sent into such a state— did he accidentally kill a leader? Would that look bad? He questioned before looking upward again, seeing the smiling faces of crowd he shuddered. “Do they not care for their leader?” He mumbled, stabbed breaths.

  “They do.”

  A black silhouette leapt from the flames, laughing. His shadow clapped once, and the fire died.

  Revealing Tagma, who had taken no damage; his smile affectious as Jeremiah nervously chuckled.“I see why they say you are smart— who would’ve thought you’d try use the environment to beat me? But you shouldn’t tell me to die— it isn’t a fight to the death.”“It simply is just for your application… For Apocalypse of course….”

  “The crowd howled as if the world itself had agreed, chanting Tagma’s name— chanting.

  Like a cult.

  Thank you for reaching the end of this chapter!

  A lot went down, and from here the story begins to accelerate even faster. Every character is being tested, and every decision is reshaping the world around them.

  If you have thoughts, theories, or reactions, I’d love to hear them, comments genuinely help the story grow. If you’re enjoying things, don’t forget to follow the series so you don’t miss upcoming updates.

  More chaos awaits next chapter," Chapter 75: Lollipop".

  See you then!