An Illusion of Will

Chapter 6: Worldly Changes

After returning home, Al headed to his room and sat at his computer. He began exploring the mountains in California and made his way up to Washington, and within moments, he recognized one familiar peak—Mt. Rainier.

The mountain before him looked exactly like the one depicted in his mind. He received the map from a metal emblem the Immortal Godfrey had given him.

However, there was a stark difference—the map showed a route to the mountain's base. There seemed to be a town nestled within it.

None of these details were visible in the computer image. Only in his mind's eye could he see the small town. It dawned on him that this must be the place referred to as the 15th Blood Ring in the recording he had heard.

In the following days, he fell into a new boxing routine that he had recently developed. Al was 5'11" and weighed 180 lbs. his complexion had become olive-tanned from spending ample time under the sun.

His father, John Adamos, hailed from Greek descent, while his mother was of latin descent. Unfortunately, her parents had passed away when Al was very young.

He had grown out his hair, which extended halfway to his eyebrows. Previously, the stark contrast between his fair skin and black hair had been striking, but now it softened his darkened features.

Despite the passage of time, his struggle with sleep persisted. As the days went by, his mother was rarely at home. Whenever she was present, she made repeated attempts to persuade Al to accompany her and his grandparents (John's parents) to church—a place where they spent the majority of her time.

They held church services almost daily.

Al was starting to realize something was not quite right with his mother.

When his dad, John, was home, he constantly argued with Al's grandparents over the phone about how much time and money they and Linda had been spending on their church.

Donations to religious services had escalated since the vanishings, making millionaires out of holy men.

An organization created by the world's governments, known as the "Committee for the Departed," had announced a shocking discovery. Suicides were at an all-time low since the vanishings began. They also found a correlation between devout religious followers and a huge drop in vanishings.

These facts fed the flame of religious fanaticism. The drop became attributed to the power of their god, gods, or lifestyle. This was enough to send the entire world over the edge.

It had started as fear, which slowly evolved into appreciation and, finally, reverence. Like Al's mom, Linda, most people believed they were alive because their beliefs protected them.

To the masses, those masters of religious doctrine became their messiahs and prophets, growing in followers daily.

By now, the world had lost 1 billion people, and the impacts of such sudden losses were massive. Many of the vanished were political leaders, causing instability in the world's governing bodies.

The prophets and messiahs slowly acted for their group's special interest or, worse, their own. They used the monetary resources and the influence they had acquired to install their figureheads into positions of political power.

Slowly, belief systems started to have a voice and say in all politics.

These massive changes created a response in the form of a political movement that refused to regress humanity's scientific progress or even halt it.

This group did not cling to hope-based beliefs like the rest of the world. Most were atheists and non-believers, scientists and artists, and many were wealthy. They called themselves the "Living Party"; their platform promised to bring rational thought back into politics with a scientific, logical, and objective viewpoint.