Prologue

 

In the absence of Lite, the Dark reigns.  The war over the fate of the newly conceived primates’ rages to this day.  In an effort to protect humanity, God gave His children a gift of free will to save them from the Dark.  Free will allows humans to accept the Lite into their souls to save them from Dark rule.  To ensure the new inhabitants of earth receive the correct amount of Lite, the Conduit of Lite is sent as a distributor.  The balance between the Lite and the Dark is difficult to maintain, an overabundance of Lite takes away free will for His children’s entrance into Heaven, if the scale tips to evil, the Dark will reign over the primates in Hell, both on Earth and in the afterlife.  To gain control and power, the Dark created Infiltrators, a raw form of the Dark whose only job is to kill and possess the willing primates to become Demons.  Throughout time, to hold the Dark back, God has asked particularly special people to accept the role as Lite Sentries.  These selfless humans willingly accept the roles to hunt and destroy any Infiltrator or Demon sent by the Dark in an attempt to offset the balance.  Now, the balance again is starting to sway, so God again must ask someone to be Lit...

 

 

Part 1 – The Dark Ignites

 

Introduction

 

As the alarm went off, Mole’s first thought of the day was wondering if anyone ever truly enjoyed the sound.  It didn’t matter what joyous song or soothing tone a person put to wake up to, if a person was in a deep sleep any noise that woke them up would be nails on a chalkboard.  He rubbed his eyes cautiously trying not to get that hard-crusty substance that forms near the corner into his eyes.  Naturally, the first thing Mole did was open his weather app on his phone to see what kind of bike ride he was getting himself into.  He often wondered why he would put this on himself.  Even though it was his last year in high school, he thought he wanted to do something no one in his class ever did.  He had a feeling of guilt mixed with humor entering his tired mind as it said, “You’ve already done that.”  Then a small amount of shame came about because it was something he should not be making light of.  This goal he set for himself was something different though; this was something his mom and himself could be proud of.   

His senior year was just coming to an endpoint as spring was beginning; this was causing a bit of anxiety.  This goal he and Joseph decided to take on helped him work through his temptations.  He wanted to prove to himself that he could set a goal to stick to it.  So far, he was doing pretty well at it.  No one really knew what he was doing.  His classmates just thought he wasn’t allowed to drive a car since he ran into the tree.  Now he knew the Jack Daniels and Wild Turkey he was chugging down that night didn’t make matters any better, but that tree came out of nowhere.

He went into the closet to try to find out what he wanted to wear.  Too little clothing and it turned into a miserable cold ride where he knew he wouldn’t be able to warm up for the rest of the day.  Put too much on and he was unbearably hot.  He decided to put on a light jacket with biking shorts to venture out for his quick 30-mile bike ride.  His mom bought him this jacket when she saw how serious he was in his commitment.  She even had his name embroidered on it “Kale Moler.”  Even though everyone called him “Mole” as a nickname, he was glad she put his real name on the jacket.

He quietly walked into the kitchen to make himself an English muffin with peanut butter.  He didn’t want to wake his mom up because she got called into the restaurant late last night.  He grabbed his English Muffin as it popped up from inside the toaster.  He always hated how hot the muffin was coming out but he needed it at that temperature otherwise the peanut butter wouldn’t spread as easy.  After all the mornings of trying different breakfasts before his training started, he found it was the easiest food on his stomach.  Mole looked at his watch, “Crap,” he thought.  He had to get moving because Alex was supposed to be picking him up for school.  Speaking of Alex; Mole got a sinister smile on his face as he dialed Alex’s phone number.  Even though he was running a little behind, he had time to mess with Alex.  He dialed her phone.

A very tired, drawn out, “what,” answered on the other side.

“Don’t forget to pick me up at 7:30,” Mole decided to remind his best friend.

“Huh, what?  Mole!  Why the hell are you calling me at…four in the morning?” 

Mole snickered, almost choking on his breakfast.  “Oh, were you sleeping?  My bad,” He just heard what he could only relate to as a growl as she hung up.  Once again, he glanced down at his phone, he was even further behind on time, but it was so worth it.

The wind was brisk which was surprising for this time of year, but it didn’t bother him.  He actually liked it being a bit cooler out for his training regime.  It felt to him that he got a better workout in these temperatures.  His body wasn’t getting overheated and it was just the right temperature for him not to sweat too much.  The only thing he didn’t like was that the heat from his body and cool air temperature made his riding goggles fog during the ride.  A couple of times at the stop signs he had to wipe them off. 

He liked the town at this time of day.  It was quiet, peaceful, and he knew he was a little bit safer from getting hit by a car than during the day or evening time frame. The ride was dark, with dawn just a hint away.  It was a clear sky but for some reason the trees on the side of the road were particularly darker than usual.  His mom kept on telling him not to wear headphones on his bike rides; but he had a hard time riding without them.  Joseph kept on telling him not to wear them either because the race didn’t allow them anyways.  “Train the way you race” he kept on reminding him.  He knew this, but the music gave him a doorway to think about everything going in his life; he thought about movies, school, his family, and of course, girls.  Who is the lucky one going to be?  Who was going to end up with whom?  Is Alex ever going to find a guy that lasts more than a couple of weekend nights?  He had all these questions, with no answers in sight.  Even though there were no answers over that next hill, he just felt good thinking about it while he was on his bike. 

A vibration from his GPS watch let him know he just passed another five miles.  Those little notifications were minor motivators for him to keep on going.  He thought he was making good time.  He liked what he called, “Morning Mental Math,” as he computed how long it would take for him to complete his ride at the current speed.  It was always a good feeling when he would get faster than he originally thought.  He liked how much he could do compared to where he was at the end of last summer. He calculated how much farther he would have to go before he started heading back to the house to get ready for school.  He figured he had another 30 minutes of riding before he had to start heading back to the house.  Mole looked up from his phone which was attached to his bicycle to realize he was about to go down Reaper Hill.  This hill was just under a mile down to return with an immediate incline up for the same distance.  This hill was always Mole’s challenge, no matter what, once he was at the top he needed to take a small break.  The interesting thing about this hill was in the spring, the bottom of the hill accumulated water.  When he was younger he used to go playing in the pool of water regardless of how cold it was.  It was amazing how immune children are to the elements.

Mole decided to get a quick glance down at his GPS to see what speed he was at; he usually topped out at 45 mph before he started chickening out.  This morning was something different though.  It was pretty cold and the air was stinging his face as the tears from his eyes were drying on his cheek.  He decided to start slowing down on the ride because his vision was starting to blur from his eyes watering.

Mole tightly gripped the handlebars on his bike when he noticed something on the bottom of the hill.  Was that a black figure running across the road?  He started to slow down, if it was a bear, it was big, and very rare to see.  The black figure took off into the woods.  Mole slowed down near the bottom of the hill.  He wanted to see if it was a bear.  Why? He thought to himself, there was no way he could get enough speed on his bike to outrun it.  He was slowly moving hoping he had enough momentum to get up the hill if the bear decided to come after him.  The sound of breaking branches caught Mole’s attention to the other side of the road.  Something big was coming.  He turned to see two glowing blue eyes rushing in his direction.  His bike started to veer onto the gravel on the side of the road.  Mole lost control of his bike causing him to fall into the ditch.  Mole groaned as he looked to see his legs tangled within his bike as it laid on top of him. 

“Ah, man,” he just laid there looking at the stars.  “That sucked,” he looked around to see if he broke anything or was gushing blood.  He untangled himself and stood up wiping himself off of the evidence of his recent venture.  A large deep growl froze him.  He was hoping what he saw wasn’t real, but he looked up to a dark large mass with blue eyes jumping in his direction, “Oh, sh….” It jumped in his direction knocking him back down onto the ground.  It was like a wall pushing him over.  Whatever it was it didn’t stop and just sprinted into the woods.  “Ow,” he said softly. 

A shadow of a man came up to him extending his hand.  “I saw that crash.  Are you okay?”

“Yah, thanks.”  Mole said as he looked at his bike.  Mole extended his hand allowing the man to help him up. “Did you see that…thing that ran into me?”

The man shook his head no.  The man, who was quite large, picked up Kale’s bike.  “Looks like it’s still functional.” He adjusted the chain to make sure it still functioned.  He carried the bike onto the road in the direction of Mole’s house.  “I think you should go home and make sure you’re okay.”

Mole didn’t find any fault in that logic. He needed to get home in time for school.  “No argument there.”  Mole hopped onto his bike.  “Thanks again.”  Mole clipped into his bike pedals and headed off into the direction of his house. 

“Enjoy the morning,” the man said, walking in the opposite direction.  He continued to head towards the hill whistling loudly as if he didn’t care in the world.  Mole shook it off and headed back to the house.  Mole couldn’t believe he saw a bear, let alone two of them, on the bottom of Reaper Hill.  “No one at school will believe me.”

 

Chapter 1

 

Alex liked to lie in bed with the cool air hitting her face from the window being open throughout the night.  The fresh air has a soothing effect on her to help her sleep at night.  For some reason she had some trouble sleeping at night lately.  Plus, having Mole wake her up at four in the morning didn’t help matters.  Her dad constantly nagged her about opening the window when they spend money on central air.  Now, don’t get her wrong, she loved central air on those hot nights, but nothing beat those crisp cool nights to clear her head in the morning.  She opened her eyes to watch a small bird looking in her direction.  The bird sang her a small little song before flying off for its adventures for the day.  She reluctantly glanced over at her clock to realize she didn’t have much time to shower, get dressed, and get out the door before she had to pick up Sara.  Then on top of it all, she had to go pick up Mole before heading out to school. 

She stumbled over to her mirror where she looked at her unwashed face from last night. She rubbed her face before looking in the mirror trying to wake her up. Her dad said she looked like Alice Cooper in the mornings with her eyeliner smeared.  It was just another thing he could get on her case about.  She looked again in the mirror.  “Who is Alice Cooper?”  She picked up her phone to look up who she was.  To her surprise it was a guy, a very old guy.  She compared her phone with the reflection in the mirror, without ever admitting it to her father he kind of had a point. 

Her dark eyeliner was smeared on her very pale skin.  Her brown eyes were accompanied by a surrounding redness.  Her woven braided black hair was put into a bun with multiple strands hanging out to the side.  There were times she was annoyed with her hair weave, but the 8 hours she spent putting it in with Sara far outweighed the minor aggravations managing it.  She took out the elastic band keeping it together and it dropped down to the small of her back.  She turned around looking at the length of her hair. 

“Alex,” her mom softly knocked to her bedroom door.  “You need to get moving.”

“I’m up mom,” she let her mom know as she took off her pajama bottoms as she hopped in a small path to her bathroom.  She had to maneuver around an obstacle of clothes scattered throughout her room.

“ALEX!” Her dad’s deep loud voice yelled from their bedroom.  “You need to get moving.  Your car is blocking mine and I’ve got court.”

Her dad’s voice startled her as she tripped on her boots lying on the ground.  “Oh shoot!” she said on the way down to ground tumbling onto her floor.  She took a quick second to regain her composure. “Damn that hurt.” Alex realized her pants were down at the bottom of her feet as her bare butt was pointed at the ceiling.  Luckily, she landed next to her mini-fridge.  She pushed over some of her clothes out of the way so she could open it up to get one of her Apollo energy drinks.  The can was a bit colder than she suspected.  She tried being fancy and opened it with one hand.  That didn’t work out so well, it slipped out of her hands.  She quickly picked it up and opened to a stream of foam over the edge of the can onto her clothes.  “Son of a ….”

“Language,” her mother said on the other side of her closed door.  Her mom slightly peeked in on her daughter lying half naked on the ground drinking an energy drink.  “Rough morning?”

Alex took a chug of her energy drink.  She got up and went into her bathroom.  “No more than usual. I’m just getting into the shower.”  Her mom decided to enter the bedroom of despair. Alex was in the middle of washing her hair when she heard her mom walking around her room picking up her clothes.  She popped her head out of the shower.  “Mom, what are you doing?”

“Trying to find your floor.” 

Alex rolled her eyes as she went back to finish her shower.  The water was the perfect temperature, where she regretted shutting it off.  She stepped out of the shower looking for a towel.  She picked one up from the floor sitting in the corner.  She smelled it, and the odor wasn’t that bad.  Alex shrugged it off as she went to dry herself off.

“No,” her mom handed her a clean towel.  Her mom sat down on the toilet.  She surveyed the bathroom.  “You really need to clean this bathroom.”

Alex didn’t hesitate to use the clean towel.  It was soft and the fresh smell of clean laundry put a smile on her face.  She liked this one a lot better.  Alex considered her mom’s suggestion for cleaning her bathroom for a little bit before shrugging it off as a suggestion.  She grabbed her Apollo drink from the bathroom sink.  She fluffed her woven hair, applied some dark make up to eyes as her mom was making small talk.  She grabbed her phone along with her backpack before heading out the door.  She looked over to her mother who was staring at her.  Alex stopped to look around to see if anything was out of place.  She looked back at her mom.  “What?” She confusingly asked. 

“You are so beautiful,” she said with admiration.  “I can’t believe my baby girl is going to graduate this year.”  She came out of Alex’s bathroom holding Alex’s dirty clothes.  She glanced around the room.  Alex knew that her mom was thinking that she was going to miss her when she goes to college.

“Then she better actually starts applying to college.  I don’t foresee one just dropping on your lap,” Alex’s dad grumpily chimed in from across the hall.  “I bet you still haven’t sent out any college applications,” he sarcastically harassed.

Alex instantly gave a snarly look in the direction of her dad’s voice and stuck out her tongue. She suddenly realized what she was doing and hesitated to look at her mom who was raising her eyebrows at her.  Alex embarrassingly put her tongue back in her mouth and rolled it around as if she was trying to get something out of her teeth. Alex could only bring herself to say, “Ooops.”  She never understood why her dad had been on her case so much regarding college.  She knew she had to go, but she had no idea what field to go into.  She didn’t really have any interests that would make money and she didn’t have any talents that she knew of, so she just assumed college would be a waste of time.  Her parents kept on telling her that is what the first year was for, trying to find yourself.

“Try to get along with him, he’s really going to miss you when you leave for college.”  Her mom said to her as she hugged her only daughter.  “Now get your boney butt to school.”

Alex’s dad came into the room holding his suit jacket in a garment bag.  “Alex, I really need to get going.”  His eyes went from her boots to her to her woven hair. “What?  No dog collar today?”

Alex snapped her fingers.  “Thanks for the reminder dad,” Alex snarky replied.

“Really wish you would get out of this Goth stage you're into.  The last time you hugged me I got eyeliner all over my shirt prior to court.”  He turned around. 

“I’m Industrial,” Alex quickly corrected. She turned around grabbing her small, studded collar off of her dresser.  She put it on while looking in the mirror one last time before heading off to school.  “And I don’t look like some old guy who wears too much eyeliner,” She told him.

He just looked at her and then around her room.  “When you start getting interviews for college how do you think you’re going to come off?”  He looked at his watch.  “Damn, I have to go.”  He grabbed his briefcase from his bedroom.  “Have a good day, honey.” He kissed Alex’s mom. Then he turned his attention to Alex, “I need you to move your car and try to think about your future and that whatever actions you do from here, will affect your future.”  He did one last gaze at his watch.  “I really gotta go. Come on, move your car, I gotta go.  And have a good day at school.”  Alex annoyingly nodded at her dad as he walked out of her room “And clean your room by this weekend or you’re not getting the car.”  She stuck her tongue out at him again. 

Her mom just shook her head and closed her eyes.  “Why can’t you try to get along with your dad?”  Her mom asked.  Her mom looked around the room.   “He kind of has a point about your room.  It is a disaster.”

Alex eyed around the room.  She didn’t really understand what the problem was.  She knew where everything was placed.  She had a system for her laundry.  She knew exactly how long clothes could be on the ground before they started to have an odor. 

“Ah, sh….,” Alex stopped herself while her mother was staring at her. “Shoot, I have to go.” She gave her mom a kiss on the cheek.  She headed out the door to pick up Sara and Mole.