Through a poorly lit, trashy hallway lined with cheap promotional posters, Abel led his friends, and Rose, to the dinghy ‘dressing room’ where his band had been set up, and as he walked, something flew past him with an ethereal set of wings, similar to the griffin they fought only a week ago; a bird-like spirit flew past unseen to everyone except him, but that was expected - no one else ever seemed to see or experience the paranormal on a constant level like him.

  “Damn, this really is a real venue, isn't it?” Dawn said enthusiastically, and, despite its dreary, dilapidated appearance; she wasn't wrong. This was their first real gig, and despite his calm appearance, Abel found himself getting nervous by the crowd size - even if it was considered small, all things considered.

  “I’m so excited to see you play, I’ve only seen videos of concerts but never anything in person,” Baron mentioned with a shy, adorable smile Abel often found contagious, even if he could only show it through a subdued smirk.

  “I can’t say I'm too surprised by that, Baron.” Laughing at Dawn’s comment, Rose walked with Baron in a pair behind Abel and Dawn, her giggle getting Dawn to look over her shoulder to the newly formed couple.

  “You really are such a weenie,” Rose playfully commented, with Baron’s hand in her own.

  Abel exhaled through his nose, amused by her comment toward Baron as Dawn laughed - at the same time, a headless, transparent figure in a bloodied leather jacket joined them as they walked.

  “Come on, I’ve just never had a good group to go with,” Baron lightheartedly defended himself with a satisfied, dumbstruck smile at Rose’s amusement.

  With the group following him, Abel took a turn toward a grey, metal door as he kept a calm composure, seemingly unbothered by the pressures of his upcoming performance. But in reality, Abel kept his anxiety beneath the surface hidden from the world, invisible like the unseen deceased that accompanied him. That smothering presence, which had plagued his mind since arriving, almost began to feel subdued by the distraction of happiness his two friends brought him.

  “Hopefully it'll be ight,” Abel commented as he stepped over a crumbled poster of a previous performance, with Dawn on his side.

  “Don't worry, it will be great. I know it” Dawn said as she playfully hit his arm, Abel noticing the gentler touch then she tended to use when messing with him.

  “And you guys play early, so will you be able to join us in the crowd after?” Rose added to the conversation with a soft-spoken, hard-to-hear tone.

  “Yeah,” Abel responded hesitantly, though he wanted to say no when he remembered who'd be accompanying them later, but he couldn't, seeing his silly, innocent friend Baron so lovestruck made Abel happy.

  At the same time Abel opened the door to their dressing room, the decapitated remains made a turn to phase through a wall.

  Stepping into the dressing room, which smelled of earthy, weed mixed with a grape-flavored tobacco wrap, Abel closed the door behind him before nodding to his bandmates. And now within the room, the group saw a torn up couch covered in dried stains; a long-haired stoner sat as he smoked a rolled up blunt, while a more outwardly anxious person with a darker complexion and collared shirt seemed more startled by their appearance.

  Greeting his bandmates, Abel nodded toward the two. “That's Marcus, our drummer” he said, referring to the one smoking. “And that's Simon, our bassist,” Abel nodded toward the nervous one.

  Distracting Abel from the introduction for a moment, someone imperceptible to the others appeared. A young, twenty-year-old sat beside Schism’s drummer with uneasily sharp eyes and a layer of foam coming from their mouth.

  Without reaction to the reanimated carcass, Abel spoke. “And this is Baron, Dawn, and his girlfriend Rose.” Both he and Dawn smiled, amused at the sight of the Baron’s red, embarrassed face.

  “Yeah, uh, nice meeting you guys,” Baron said, both him and Rose glancing at each other before smiling bashfully.

  “Dope to finally meet you two, Abel's brought you guys a lot,” Marcus said, offering the blunt to the group as Simon silently waved to greet them, clearly annoyed by the disturbance.

  “Hell yeah, and what’s bro gotta say about us?” As expected, only Dawn stepped forward to take him up on the offer for a few puffs before she passed the blunt back to Marcus, who took an alarmingly long pull before flicking the ash into a glass tray.

  Suddenly fluttering past Abel’s face and around the room, not dissimilar to a fly - an intangible squid-like creature with an uncountable amount of tentacles - and without wings, it buzzed around the room, but he didn’t allow it to steal him from the moment with his friends.

  And with an unreadable face, Abel turned toward the smoking pair, almost nervous over what Marcus would say - not that he’d say anything bad about them; actually, it was quite the contrary.

  And with a half shrug, Marcus, without coughing, inhaled another stream of smoke. “Nothing important,” he said, Dawn looking between him and Abel with an unseriously raised eyebrow.

  “Well alright, we’ll just forget about that for now,” Dawn responded before accepting another hit.

  “Aren't you playing, won’t smoking mess you up?” Baron asked, neither he or Rose holding each other's hands, though the both still stood close together.

  “I used to have the same worry, but he doesn’t actually play well sober, however that works,” Simon commented after looking up from his notes.

  “I just gotta be locked in with the vibes, not that you’d get it,” Marcus said to Simon with a lazy, almost smug smirk.

  Interrupting his train of thought, Abel noticed, from the corner of his eyes, a giant centipede emerging from the floor, only for him to see as it skittered across the floor to Dawn, who silently coughed into her sleeve. Luckily, it wasn’t a major entity by any means, but still, it invisibly climbed up her leg to latch its draining pincers on her neck.

  And while losing his place in their conversation, Abel quickly projected his will through a small pull of mana - an invisible and passive communion spell - interlocking with the spirit's mind before it returned to Abel’s thoughts with a sense of emotion it embodied; this one a spirit of loathing and hatred, one probably still young judging by its size and unremarkable presence.

  With a step toward Dawn, Abel patted her on the back, acting as if he was just trying to help her recover from the smoking, but really he drew back his hand and took hold of the spirit of loathing in a tight, inescapable grip.

  As expected, the interaction of worlds startled the minor entity, which caused it to squirm and writhe weightlessly as he subtly pried it from her shoulder.

  Unnoticed to the rest of the people in the room as they talked, Abel stepped back with the embodiment of loathing and with a hold of it, he focused the energy from his mana into a rudimentary Communion spell, which caused it a sharp jolt of sparking pain as he released it to the floor - hopefully enough of a warning for it to not mess with Dawn.

  “So, how long have you guys been playing together?” Rose asked, Abel’s attention to the conversation returning as the spectral centipede slid into the floor to escape the jolt of pain caused by Abel’s Communion magic - the subgroup of magic that has allowed Cognizants to tame and channel the powers of the invisible residents of the afterlife or higher beings, people have portrayed as gods and horrific abominations.

  “Maybe like…” Marcus said as he sluggishly drew out his words. “5 or 6 months? I can't really remember.”

  Fading again from the conversation, Abel noticed a cloud of static, black dots emerge through the closed door as they hovered together, and shifted its shape in synch while floating toward Abel - it was the spirit of Swarm he bonded with a long time and, since then, has not only followed him around, but also allowed Abel to summon them into the living world through the different expressions of art Abel has prepared.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  It floated through the noisy room, the swarm twisting and knotting into itself, and as it passed Abel, the swarm rubbed its mass of a body on his leg, almost cat-like with its affection.

  Without thought to the people around him, Abel lowered his hand for the spirit of swarm, its buzzing shape consuming his lower arm in a warm embrace as the hivemind gently vibrated.

  Abel, still distracted from the ongoing conversation by his spiritual ally, though he considered it more like a pet after their time together, began flying off through the ceiling in a concise cloud.

  “Hey, you all there Abel?” Dawn asked, her words bringing his attention back to the living world as her eyes glazed over with a glossy, red tint.

  “Sorry?” Abel responded, unsure what he missed while petting his companion.

  “We were asking about the pay,” Dawn teased, her fist pressing into his arm, which worked to unintentionally ground him.

  “Paid?” Abel responded, confused by her statement. “You think we’re getting paid for this?” he asked sarcastically.

  “We’re nobodies, ain't no one paying us shit yet,” Marcus laughed with the group as Simon rubbed his temples, clearly annoyed as he rigidly shook his head.

  “One day though,” Baron said, Abel feeling his friend’s belief in him through his words - a harmless intangible phantom of a young, intact-looking boy, who’s demise was unclear, strolled through Baron as he spoke.

  Unfortunately before Abel could respond to his faith, the door cracked open, Jen’s head poked in to check inside, with her long, flowy hair and long nose - not dissimilar to Dawn’s - added to her undeniably attractive face. And though Abel acknowledged her beauty, he couldn’t find her pretty on a deeper level.

  “Heyyy!” She called with her fake, preppy voice as she walked into the room to give Rose a hug before passing over the rest of the room with an interested look, until her gaze made it to Abel, where it lingered longer than he’d like.

  “Hey! I’m so happy you made it, I wasn’t actually sure you’d actually make it with your busy schedule,” Rose greeted her with a hug as she spoke.

  “Of course I was coming! My driver was just moving slow today, but you know I’d never miss one of Severance’s performance,” Jen said as she took a step closer to Abel’s side, who, himself, kept looking toward the ground, hopeful that she’d not get too eager; after all, they only invited her because Rose asked Baron, and Abel wouldn’t leave him hanging.

  “It's Schism,” Dawn corrected with a noticeably judgmental attitude from Abel’s other side, Marcus snickering under his breath, which seemingly angered Jen - a momentarily intense look in her eyes flashing before returning to her fake, bubbly front.

  Naturally slipping back into her preppy tone, Jen laughed, which, while fake, was convincingly good. “Come on Dawn, you know what I meant,” Jen responded, and though she managed to keep her tone cordial, the room fell awkwardly silent as Abel silently stood, stuck in the middle of the two girls.

  “Did I? Wasn’t sure you even knew about Schism until a few days ago,” Dawn snapped back with a much more noticeably annoyed, direct tone, everyone else entirely silent as the two passively clashed.

  Letting out only an annoyed, sharp, attitude-filled breath, Jen rolled her eyes as the room remained unable to break through awkwardness, Abel unsure how to react in this situation, since he wanted to side with Dawn, but knew if he was mean to Jen, Rose may get upset with them and Baron, which would make him feel equally just as bad.

  “Well either way, we all know you guys will do great,” Rose said to cut through the tension.

  Both Jen and Dawn remained unresponsive now because of the other's presence, and Abel, still unsure what to say or do, remained silent.

  “Yeah, Rose’s right, it’ll be a great show,” Baron said, his timid voice filling the silence after Rose finished. Abel, like the rest of the room, was quiet under the weight of tension in the room.

  “Thanks…” Abel went to say before being interrupted by his antsy bassist, who abruptly rose from his seat.

  “Okay. Thanks for visiting. It was nice meeting you guys and we appreciate the support, but we’ve got a lot to prepare, and I think we’d really appreciate it if you guys gave us some time to alone,” Simon ranted his eyes wide as he rubbed his temples, evidently stressed from the pressure - though Abel expected this sort of anxious reaction from him.

  “Oh… I’m sorry, we’ll just catch up with you guys after,” Baron said with an apologetic tone before leading them toward the door, Simon ignoring them to study as Marcus and Abel waved them off.

  “Just make sure to come find us after you’re done,” Dawn commented, an annoyed aura slipping through her voice.

  “Cya,” Abel said with a meeker tone than normal as the worries and anxieties he’d forgotten about with the company of his friends, returned like a blanket that smothered his mind.

  But before they all fully exited, Baron turned back for a moment to make eye contact with Abel - a genuine, kind smile only Baron was capable of, somehow gave him the space to room to breathe and think through the encompassing sense of worry that consumed him at times, and gave him a much-needed sense of relief, even if it only lasted for a second.

  Nodding to Abel a final time, Baron closed the door behind him as Abel and each band member began to quietly participate in their own warm-ups; Marcus smoking and Simon studying, all while Abel silently sat in his chair as he stared toward the wooden flooring.

  Alone with his two, silent band mates, Abel was left with himself, the strangling grip of anxiety quickly returning, now that Baron and Dawn left him in this tense room - even if he was grateful Jen left.

  While Abel thought of the potential outcomes of their performance, his worries overcame him as he repeatedly played out the many scenarios of failure and what could cause them in his head; a stress-filled attempt at planning out their success.

  But the three were not alone, as Abel silently planned - a deformed, many-headed crow phased through the ceiling as it landed on the still ceiling fan, each of its deformities hanging loose like a limp corpse.

  Breaking his concentration, Abel made eye contact with the spirit, the rest of the room ignorant to their odd visitor, which, for reasons unknown to him, made him uncomfortable and antsy.

  Maybe it was its’ many human eyes, or the clear intelligence behind them, but for whatever reason, it unsettled him and made him more nervous then he already was.

  Shaking his head, Abel looked at the two people with him, neither of them able to experience the Cognizant world, let alone see the paranormal like him - but still, it never failed to disappoint him when he remembered his lonely position.

  “I’m gonna get some air,” Abel quietly mentioned as he chose to ignore the crow, neither Marcus nor Simon offering more than a wave before he made his way toward the door.

  By himself, Abel stepped out of their dressing room with his car keys in hand and head lowered, unreactive to the unfamiliar groups of people and deviating paranormal bodies roaming past him.

  Isolated from others’ experiences and emotions, Abel had little interest in intervening when he passed a tall guy with the same spirit of loathing, wrapped and latched onto his neck - something that would only cause them a bad day - and despite hearing a small, familiar voice in the back of Abel’s mind urging him to intervene, he didn't care enough to actually help.

  Why should I? Abel asked himself as he reminded himself of the futility of helping everyone, especially people he didn’t have a meaningful connection to, which unfortunately was most people.

  Letting them pass him, Abel kept going as the spirit’s victim walked on, unknowing of the parasite they picked up for the night - or at least he assumed it only be a day-long thing, and as the final chance to help passed, Abel pushed through the exit to the soft moonlight and chilled city air.

  The outside parking lot, hidden from the traffic between buildings, was partially filled with the vehicles of employees and small-time performers like himself. Abel continued over the cracked asphalt until he made it to the back-half of the lot, which was nearly empty, except for groups of people, who passed around an unlabeled liquor bottle and glass pipe they smoked from.

  Abel, uninterested in other people’s petty issues, the selfish problem-causing interests they bring, or their shallow personalities, kept to himself as he often did.

  Nearing his car, Abel paused as the sight of a giant whale, beyond the reaches of his magic’s range and ability, swam peacefully many miles over the city. Though unable to commune with it, he often saw it wading through the skies of NYC, and while unseen by everyone but him, it seemingly existed peacefully in its spiritual form.

  Now at the red Camry, Abel unlocked it and partially sat in the back, where he grabbed a blood-box from his bag to drink, which he timed to consume before the concert, since he’d begun feeling sluggish, and unaware as the lunch - the last time he consumed a considerable amount of blood - with Baron and Dawn passed.

  Popping it open, he laid back on the seat as he slowly sipped on the iron rich blood, which, despite the metal taste, had an intoxicatingly sweet flavor, which gave him a rush of energy and made him feel more aware .

  Slowly sipping, Abel tried to tame his nerves as the worries of potentially flopping at their biggest show bothered him, and while still a small crowd all things considered, Abel couldn't seem to stop running the possibilities through his mind.

  Then it settled on him , Abel knew he wasn't worried about the opinions of their viewers, or not performing at his best - he’s never been on to freeze up under pressure; it was most likely Baron and Dawn's presences, the friends he wished for years ago, Abel realized were the source of his nervousness.

  Finishing his drink, he crumbled it up and slipped it back into his bag before laying back down, the understanding that despite finally having friends, who, for the first time in a while, he genuinely cared about, and was grateful for, he still felt an alienating sense of detachment from them sometimes, same as he did everyone else; a reminder that he'd always be trapped between the emotions of his friends’ daily lives and the world of the dead that waited for them with cold, open arms.

  It forced him to recall the dumbass kid in the desert, who Abel now realized was wrong about finding his place between existences, no one else could understand him, not even his closest friends - which Abel didn't fault them for - but he was began to realize he’d never escape this feeling of disconnection.

  Unfortunately, relieving these emotions of a now diminished hope, Abel remembered back to the night he ran away from it all in a desperate attempt to escape.