Terrible Friend

26

Jax inhales a deep breath and exhales it slowly. He opens the car door. He has never been nervous before. He's never been under this kind of pressure before either though. He knows the strength and destruction that Dongorul is able to deliver. The last thing he wants is to be responsible for the end of the world. He stands up, adjusts his clothes, and strides toward the mine. He has no idea what he is going to do, but whatever it takes, he has to get inside.

He is met by a hand full of men in cloaks. Their heads are bald and they form a line at the gate. The one in the middle steps forward. He extends his hand and says something welcoming in a occult-y way. Jax tries to contain his laughter. The idea of a deep loyalty such as this never fails to astonish him. He needs to get inside though, so he has to play along. He smiles and nods. He hopes to god that the head shaving is a privilege he has to work up to.

He explains who he is, a made up story of course, and why he is there.

"I'm Nicholas.  I'm on the run and need some help.  I've gotten caught up in the middle of some terrible stuff that had nothing to do with me and need somewhere to gather my thoughts and figure out what to do. The folks around town told me this might be a place I could do that. God's not much been on my side of late, so maybe you guys know an alternative that would be?"

 A simultaneous "aww" comes from the line of monks along the fence.  "Blessings be upon you by the Lady Sophia. The monk standing in front of Jax nods and holds out his hand.

Jax turns and nods at the vehicle he stepped out of and it pulls away. Jax is now at the mercy of this group of hooded fools.

He knows he is short on time. The last thing he wants to do is take months trying to work his way up through the ranks. He needs to meet the highest member of the gathering, and quick. It's already mid-morning on Thursday. He takes the hand offered to him and gives it a hearty shake. When he lets go, the monk in front of him turns to the others and the line that blocked him before is now parted.

Jax takes a deep breath and steps forward. The monk beside him walks beside him. The monk begins to ask him questions. Jax, with his obnoxious manner makes a joke about monks and vows of silence. The monk gives him a scolding look. Jax expresses repentance for his behavior. It's a habit and it's his first day. The monk nods and they continue walking.

Jax is taken to a room. In it, there is a pair of clippers on a mirrored table, a cloak hanging on a hook next to the table, and a twin size bed. The room itself a a good size, but cold and damp. He figured they were about 30 feet underground and this must have been either a storage area or a bad vein at one point in time. He turned and looked at the monk. The monk smiled, nodded, and turned to go. Jax made a comment about no reading material being present. The monk laughed. He pointed at the drawer on the front of the table and laughed. Jax looked where he pointed, smacked himself in the head, and laughed with him. The monk closed the door as he left.

Jax turned in a full circle and looked around the room. He hadn't heard the lock click on the door. He assumed that it had though. He didn't want to try it right away. He needed to know how these people worked. The only way to do that was to find the reading material and browse it. He strode to the mirrored table and opened the drawer. There was reading material alright. A small black bound book with a ribbon coming out of it. Brightly colored tri-fold brochures were stacked next to it, beside that was a pen case with the symbol that the monks had on their hoods emblazoned on the front of it. Beside that was a stapled together paper packet.

Jax pulled the paper out and flipped through it. It was all blank. He put it back and pulled out a brochure. He read the front, and then flipped it open. There he found some of the information he was looking for. Their leader, who chose to be called Josiah, welcomes you. Jax laughed out loud. The guy looked like a tv evangelist. He wasn't wearing a cloaked hood, or anything fancy. A light blue button down shirt, with a white t-shirt underneath.

He asked questions through the brochure like have you had a rough life, are you looking for somewhere to turn that will forgive your past and only look toward your future. Jax hadn't had a rough life, not from his sense of it. He didn't give a rats ass what his future looked like or how anyone else felt about it. He was a demon. These types of things were human things. He had no use for them. He felt sad when the thought about the humans that did though. Humans like Albert. Albert could easily be swayed by a brochure and questions like this.

He put the brochure back and picked up the small book. It looked like a bible. The little gold ribbon hanging out the bottom appeared to be flipped over the page right in the middle. He shrugged and decided to start there. He opened the book right in the middle and started reading. He stifled a laugh. The first passage read of how forgiveness was a gift for a chosen few. When one knew they were chosen, they would find themselves here, reading this passage. This was the start of their journey to a greater future. He read down a little and turned the page. There were no scriptures, like a bible, just page after page of psycho babble. He turned to the last page.

There it was. The passage that told him to shave his head, don the cloak, and start his journey today. It also said that if now was not the right time, that was ok. He could leave whenever he chose. His gut told him this would be the moment to do just that. Nothing seemed right about this. Maybe it was because he knew what was in store for the people that bought in to this, but any smart thinking man should be able to see through it. Now he was curious. He wasn't about to shave his head and wear a cloak, but he was curious. What could this guy possibly say that would convince a man to shave his head? He took the book and walked over to the bed.

He plopped back on the hard pillow and kicked up his feet. He turned to the first page in the book and began reading. Time didn't seem to matter now. He read the first page and turned to the second one. "This guy is good." He exclaimed to himself. If he makes it out of this, I might just make him follow me and recruit people to worsh..." There was a knock at the door.

Jax sat upright as the door opened and a new monk, a young kid probably no older than twenty, stepped through the door. He stepped into the room never looking up from the floor. "Josiah wishes to see you." Jax dropped the book on the bed and took three strides toward the young man. Jax looked him over. It broke his heart. This kid, barely old enough to know the joys of yanking his own chain, was here, in a hood with a bald head, giving up everything, to be swallowed by a world devouring demon. He kept his thoughts to himself, but felt very bad for this young one in the prime of his life. "Well let's go then." Jax waited for the monk to turn toward the door so he could follow him.

The monk stood there and finally lifted his head. He looked at Jax and then at the cloak hanging on the wall. Jax followed his gaze. "Oh, right." Jax grabbed the cloak and slipped it on as he strode out the door. He wasn't about to shave his head if he didn't have to. The young monk shrugged and caught up with Jax.