"What's the last thing you remember?" Cana asked.

  It felt like a fishbone stuck in my throat had come loose. I am so glad that I decided to see Cana first. If Cana is going to take the blame, then this makes it doable. What a pathetic thought.

  "Umm," Indigo started. "We were being chased in a car. Then...umm, well, there were bullets flying. Then suddenly I was flying!"

  I tried to look at Indigo. The way she looked while talking to Cana, it was easy to tell that she trusted us 100 percent.

  "They've killed our driver, so we crashed," Cana said. "You hit your head on the dashboard."

  "That explains this," Indigo said, placing her hand on her bandaged forehead.

  "The guys who were shooting us?" Cana said. "Turns out one of them is with these guys."

  "Yes, I kind of figured that the guys shooting at us were the cultists," Indigo said. "They just admitted it."

  "Right," Cana said. "But their guy shot those other guys."

  "What?" Indigo said. "Why would they shoot each other?"

  "That's what we want to find out, too," Cana said. Then she looked at me. "Right, Vergil?"

  We heard Indigo's stomach rumble, saving me from having to answer.

  "Well, let's go find out what they have to say," she said. "And what's for dinner."

  "Can you stand?" Cana said "How do you feel?"

  "I'm good, I feel great!" she said. She swung her legs down the bed. Cana offered to help. But it looks like it wasn't needed because Indigo stood up on her both on her own and walked out of the room. "Come on, I'm starving."

  I should have felt relieved, hearing that she's not mad at us. But I don't. Must have been the fact that Indigo ran out of the room without looking at us that did it. That ignorance of how much we've wronged her.

  "Let's see that cut," Cana said.

  I looked up so she can inspect my neck. "It stopped bleeding." she said. Then she turned over my hand. There was a small cut where the blade dug in. But the bleeding stopped as well. There was just a small blood smear that had already dried up left. "You're okay," she said. "Just wash your hands. With soap."

  So I went to the sink and rubbed the dried out blood. The soap stung a bit but it soon it was unnoticeable. Cana placed her medical haul on the countertop next to the sink. "Let me see," she instructed.

  I looked up once again. She wetted a piece of cotton ball with running water and started scrubbing my neck.

  "Is this okay?" I asked in a low voice. "We've already done such a horrible thing to her. Now we're adding lying to the list."

  "Well, CAN you tell her the truth?" Cana challenged. Before I could answer, she grabbed the green isopropyl bottle and sprayed it on my neck, making me wince.

  Not like I've got anything to say to that. So I stayed silent while continued drying out my neck with a new, dry cotton ball.

  "Vergil, Cana?" Indigo said, peeking behind the door.

  "We're coming," Cana said. "Just needed this..." She fixed a band-aid on my neck. "Now just your hand."

  "Oh! You're actually hurt!" Indigo said. "I thought that was the bad guys' blood!"

  Cana and I exchanged looks. "It's nothing serious..." was all I said. And Cana didn't say anything. So I think the both of us agreed that Indigo didn't need to know that I threatened to kill myself just earlier.

  After cleaning up, we went out, all the while pretending that everything was ok. At the dinner table, cultist girl was already seated opposite of us. I see a platter of Lechon Kawali with a large bottle of Mang Tomas, a large bowl of rice, a pitcher of cold water and a pot of what I've been smelling earlier, Tinolang Manok.

  "That was quick," Dr. Yap said. She set down a steaming pot on a circular, cork coaster.

  "We thought we could talk over dinner," Indigo said.

  "Well, I hope you're hungry," she said. I noticed her eyes darting to and fro Cana and I, and Indigo as she took off her over mitts. If she was wondering if we told Indigo anything at all, she didn't ask. "Please, have a seat," the doctor said.

  Indigo wasted no time. She pulled up a chair next to Cana and I and started loading her plate with rice and Lechon Kawali.

  I felt relieved that Indigo dropped the subject. At least for now. And I'm determined to putoff telling the truth, at least until I'm ready, so I changed the subject. "Aren't you trying too hard to please us?" I said, gesturing to the feast on the table.

  "I was expecting you would serve Dinuguan," Cana said. "Considering how much you like drinking our blood."

  I looked at Cana, wondering if she was trying to light the mood. Or was being hostile? Honestly, I couldn't tell. But she filled her plate rice and Lechon Kawali and pour a dollop of Mang Thomas next to it.

  But cultist girl didn't seem offended and instead breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm just glad you're willing to talk to us."

  "We were," Cana said. "Right from the very beginning. Before you decided to have us drugged and kidnapped."

  "You shot Rustia," Reina said. "Our guys couldn't be sure if you were armed or not. They didn't want to take a chance."

  "We wouldn't have shot him if he didn't come if he didn't point a gun at us," Cana retorted, pointing an accusatory fork at the cultists' direction.

  "The police were coming," Dr. Yap argued. "He did what he thought would speed things up and—"

  "Okay, okay," I stood up, making a "stop" gesture with both my hands. "We got off a bad start. There's been a lot of misunderstanding. How about we just start over?"

  Fortunately, they all stopped.

  "So..." I continued, lowering myself to my seat. "You're the cult. But not really." I take a small bowl and started ladling it with soup from the pot of Tinolang Manok, along with a piece of chicken drumstick and slices of green papaya.

  "I am Reina Mao, the high priestess of the Church of the Primordial Void," she said. Then she gestured at the doctor sitting beside her. "And she is Dr. Almira Yap, our family doctor."

  "Oh, wow, " Indigo said. She dabbed her lips with a napkin. "You're a very important person then."

  "She only holds the highest rank in our organization," Dr. Yap said. "Next only to her grandfather, Sempiternael, the man who changed the ways of our organization. Water?" she offered to Indigo, which Indigo happily pushed her glass to.

  But she looks the same age as me. How can someone so young be some sort of leader? I thought while drizzling my rice with soup. My stomach has been rumbling nonstop so I took a small break from the conversation and just enjoy my rice and chicken soup. The light savory meat just slides off the bone and the gingery soup was comforting, just like eating back at home. A hearty meal like this is just what I needed considering we haven't eaten anything since this morning.

  "But these days, we call ourselves differently," Reina said.

  "Different how?" Cana said.

  "Now we are more of an underground, secret society," The doctor said.

  "Oh please," Cana scoffed. She started stabbing her Lechon with her fork. "So what does an exclusive club want with us? Besides harvesting our blood for your sick rituals?"

  Reina met Cana's stare head-on. "We need your help to stop our church from harvesting your blood for our sick rituals."

  That got Cana to look up at her. Indigo and I stopped eating.

  "You're gonna have to explain that one," I said.

  "There's been a change of leadership," Reina said. I don't know why but suddenly she looked sad.

  "So your grandpa is no longer in command," Cana said. "Then you're no longer a priestess of anything now, are you?"

  "If your grandpa's the previous leader," I said. "Then wouldn't it make your story more believable if he talk to us himself?"

  "He will not be joining us," Reina said. She was looking down at her plate, playing with her food. Her meal of rice and Lechon Kawali remained uneaten. It didn't cross my mind but is it possible that this meeting is stressful for both parties involved? To make this work? After all, they have been quite the host. So far.

  "It would be easier if we started from the beginning," Dr. Yap said. "What do you know about our church?"

  "Well," Cana started. "We know you killed students to drink their blood and somehow summoned that Shade."

  "We did," Reina whispered. Then she looked up from her plate. "At least the first members, the original church did."

  "You see," the doctor continued. "The Church was founded on the belief that this world is not as it seems. Only by seeing the truth will you finally be free. Once you get a glimpse of the truth, your will no longer see the world as you once did. All the world's desires will no longer interest you. In an instant, all your sufferings and worries will cease to exists, because seeing the truth will make you realize how everything in this world, humanity's existence itself, is pointless and meaningless in comparison. Only the Truth will matter in the end."

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "Well, that's depressing," Cana said while chewing. "Why would people join this?"

  "Because there are people who were successful in their lives but still feel whole and empty inside," Reina said. "Then there are those who were shunned by society. There's also those who've just lost their job, their fortunes, maybe even their loved ones and started looking for something or someone to make sense of their sufferings."

  "These people wanted meaning for their lives, for acceptance, for someone who understands their pains," Dr. Yap said. "And then comes this guy who promises to give you what you seek. Of course, it also helps that he performs these "miracles" using the Void Powers."

  "What kind of miracles?" I asked.

  "For example," Reina said. "Wrapping his body in shadows and telling potential recruits to hack his torso with a machete, douse him in oil and light him up. And if you are a gun owner, you can shoot him in the head."

  "And of course, he remains unharmed," Cana said.

  "Of course," Reina said. "Otherwise, people wouldn't even give him a second of their lives."

  "Take his 12 Aekolyktein for example," Dr. Yap said. "They were, in all sense of the word, nobodies. 5 of them didn't even finish high school. These are people no one would want. People with no family, nobody who will look for them if they've gone missing. Failures. Societal Rejects. The bottom feeders."

  "He gave them something they coveted most in their life—validation, appreciation, and the chance to prove that their existence means something. He is a savior to them. So in turn, these people pledged their lives to him, or more accurately, they've become so dependent on him because, without him, their lives would once again be meaningless. They would once again have to face their cruel reality of being undesirables. Detached."

  "And knowing that he's got them hooked," Reina said. "He made these people his chosen ones, his Aekolyktein, because he knows he successfully implanted the one thing he needed in them: blind loyalty."

  "Okay, I buy that," I said. "But was that enough that they become so loyal that they would be willing to kill for the cult?"

  "Well, he promised to show them the truth," the doctor said. "And so he did."

  "And that's the thing," Reina quickly added. "Those who saw did experience bliss."

  "Why?" Indigo asked. "What did they see?"

  "No one knows," Reina said. "Not even Daniel can describe it."

  I blinked, not sure if I've heard that right. "How can no one know? What do you mean?"

  "We call it the Ascension Ceremony," Reina said. "The purpose of this ritual is to put a member into what we call an "Ascended State"—kind of being like in a trance while communicating with the Old One Azgarmoth."

  She then described the ceremony: They would start convulsing. Screaming. Shouting and then suddenly they would calm down and start crying uncontrollably. But they were smiling like they were finally relieved of something. Then they would start singing Azgarmoth's praises. Thanking the First Born for showing them the Truth.

  "And after that, when they were asked to describe what they saw, no one remembers," Reina continued. "Not even Daniel."

  "But what's more interesting is what happens to those who've achieved the "Ascended State" days later," Dr. Yap said. "Their mood changes. They've become restless. Hobbies that once gave them joy just days ago no longer give them pleasure. Food lost its taste, according to one of them. They reported having difficulties sleeping."

  "As a doctor, "she continued. "This all sounds to me like withdrawal symptoms."

  "Withdrawal?" Indigo asked.

  "Whatever they saw, they want more of it," Dr. Yap said. "They become so consumed by the thought of seeing it again. Like addicts—the Truth became their drug. And Daniel was their only supplier."

  "But you've said you're not like that anymore," Cana said. "How exactly?"

  "Well," Reina said. "You know of the massacre?"

  "Everyone knows that," I said. "Not all the members were present, right?" I said. "At least that's what Major Coleman told us."

  "Major Coleman is correct," Reina confirmed.

  "Of course you know Major Coleman," Cana said.

  "Only after they've raided that military base," Dr. Yap said. "We couldn't get any information about you, Major Coleman or even the location of Biringan before."

  "Anyway," Reina continued. "All that was present were the Apolaki, their successors, and a few Untherinfil and Virukidae. So when the Massacre happened, we were left without a leader."

  "What's left are those who are not needed in the ritual," Dr. Yap continued. "The remaining Untherinfil assets installed in different places, barangays, police, school staff, you know this. The bulk of our Virukidae was left to protect our base. The Demisaeker— tasked with research for the church. The Humaeneries – in charge of recruiting, role assignments, training, and fostering relationships within the church. And then there is the current church leader, the Daecriton."

  "His role is to relay messages from the different branches of the church, the Demisaeker, the Virukidae, the Untherinfil, Humaeneries, to the top brass—the Apolaki - Daniel, and his twelve Aekolyktein."

  "Inside the Apolaki there is the Sempiternael—Daniel Cruz," Reina took over. "He dictates the activities of the church, and his twelve Aekolyktein, whose role is to oversee the branches and minister the doctrines of Daniel to all the church's members.

  "The branches are split between the 12 of them so each branch has 4 Aekolykte inmanaging it. As the church grew, managing each branch became difficult so they needed another branch to help with the daily managing and intercommunications between branches. This Inter-branch communication goes through one person, the Daecriton, Luca Miraz."

  "So he's like the house speaker?" I asked. "So next to the Sempiternael and his twelve Aekolyktein, the next in line should be the Daecriton. Make sense. So you do have a leader."

  "Well, he should have been," Reina said. "But there are two reasons why he was not voted in as the new Sempiternael. First, his, shall we say, "political platform" was problematic. He wants to continue abducting haunteds but setting them up like a Blood bank inside the base. So that there is always a fresh batch ready whenever needed."

  "And I thought nothing else would surprise me at this point," Cana said.

  I was. "You mean you held elections?" I asked in disbelief.

  "Originally, leaders come from the upper echelon," Dr. Yap explained. "Members of the Apolaki. Or their sons or daughters who've they've trained since their childhood about church teachings, to become the vessel of the Great Old One, Azgarmoth.—learning and memorizing complicated rituals, language of the God, Azgarmoth, and other church teachings. And at 18 years old, they began the ritual to make the new leader a vessel for Azgarmoth."

  "But since they were all killed in the massacre, the majority wanted elections. And so we've had one." Reina said.

  "And as you can imagine, after the massacre, a non-violent and non-criminal direction greatly appeals to the remaining members," Dr. Yap added.

  "But what really won him the votes was the idea that maybe, not all 12 haunteds are needed. His reasoning, the Shade was created when the ritual wasn't even finished."

  "Right," I said. "Because of the massacre."

  "That's what we figured out too," Cana said.

  "So building on this idea, he proposed of a new way of getting the blood for the ritual. He proposed setting up a non-profit organization with the sole purpose of collecting people's blood—Sanduguan."

  Indigo gasped. "I gave blood to you people last year!"

  "If you're thinking that you donating blood contribute to our current situation, don't," the doctor said. "You weren't a haunted last year, which meant that your blood was useless to us back then."

  "Besides, blood we get from volunteers are given to those in need," Reina said.

  "To keep appearances, of course," Cana said. "That way, no one would be suspicious of you collecting blood. Smart."

  "In a word, yes," Dr. Yap said. "Now that we are a recognized non-government organization for blood donation, we can now legally acquire blood. And its not just a front. We actually do give the blood we collected from volunteers to those who needed it, provided it is not the blood of a haunted. Everything was done by the book. The goal was to at least acquire one haunted's blood bag. Then continue research from there."

  "And?" I asked. "How did it go?"

  "So far, poorly," Dr. Yap said. "As you all know, once a haunted is identified, they are immediately brought to the shelter. We were hoping that some of them had donated their blood before being identified. After all, not all haunteds are students who is mandated to get their pictures taken inside their schools."

  "Like me," Indigo said. "But mom didn't waste anytime to take my picture. I mean, she even took one at 5am, without even waking me up!"

  "Then there's the poor," I said. "Who may not have immediate access to a camera."

  Dr. Yap snapped her fingers. "And that's our clientele. And so, to attract said clientele, we had a program in place in each of our locations. As a thank you for donating blood, we thank you with free lunch!"

  "Lunch?" Indigo said. "Aren't you guys rich? Wouldn't it be easier if you just offered them money?"

  "Purchasing blood is illegal anywhere in the Philippines," Reina said. "We've looked it up."

  "Of course you did," Cana said.

  "But providing a free buffet for the donors isn't," Dr. Yap said. "So whenever someone went to one of our locations, we made them sign Donor's Form. Which includes their birthdays. And of course, the forms will need a photo of their donor, so we offer free photo-taking and printing inside."

  "Of course," Cana said. "So you get their birthday, their Zodiac Signs, and identify them as a haunteds or not with just a single visit."

  "All done by the book," Dr. Yap said. "And since Sandugo is an organization under our company, Amihan Co., we also build a good public image, which our investors loved."

  "Investors?" I asked.

  "Yes," Reina said. "At first, the church was funded with generous donations from our wealthy members—lawyers, engineers, shareholders of large corporations."

  "You know, I would have thought these people would have been busy enough and rich enough with their life," Cana said.

  "It's not always about money," Reina said. "They wanted something more in life. Something new."

  "And ever since his grandfather became the new Sempiternael," Dr. Yap said. "The church took a new direction too."

  "My grandpa thought of using the Void energy for more practical use," Reina continued.

  "Like what?" Cana said.

  "Well, for example," Reina said. "One of the rituals my grandpa had been researching had given us the power to travel through shadows."

  "Teleportation!?" Indigo gasped.

  "We can go from Point A to Point B instantaneously by passing through a portal made of shadow," the priestess explained.

  My jaw dropped. It reminded me of the time when Daniel Cruz in his Shade form suddenly appeared with us inside a locked, windowless room. At first, we were all concerned about the immediate threat dying that none of us thought of or even cared about how he was able to appear out of thin air, with none of us noticing it. But now it makes sense. The Shade is of shadow so of course shadow travelling is possible. But Daniel's head wasn't. It was human, biological. But even then, he was still able to do it.

  "I don't get it," Indigo said. "Don't people invest in the hopes of making money? How do you get money by shadow travel?" Then her face lit up in shock. "You steal from banks?!"

  "No! No!" Reina said, waving her hands. "Under my grandpa's leadership, using the Void for criminal acts are forbidden. And frankly, after the massacre, nobody would dare."

  Dr. Yap turned to Indigo. "And if we did use shadow travel to commit crimes," she said. "I guarantee you, stealing banks would be on the bottom of the list."

  "There's a list?" Indigo asked.

  "I'll leave it up to your imagination," Doc simply said. "Anyway, there are a lot of people wanting in on this since the demonstration. I'm sure you can imagine why."

  "High gas prices. Traffic. Bad weather conditions spoil your perishables. These are just some of the problems with modern logistics."

  "But what if there's a better way? Imagine being able to transfer an item from one place to another instantaneously?"

  "What if we can cut travel time down to nothing all the while avoiding all damaged goods. Road accidents. Or even death!"

  "And we all know how impatient customers are, especially e-commerce. They want what they bought if possible instantly. With our instant deliveries, 1-day deliveries would be a thing of the past! Amazon who?"

  "Sounds like an infomercial," Indigo said.

  "Well, Primordial powers or not," Dr. Yap continued. "You'd still need to know marketing if you want to make it these days."

  "If you want sponsors," I said. "I'm sure some powerful people would be interested in your...services."

  "Ahh, but we choose who we do business with," Dr. Yap said. "They have to be properly vetted by us. And under the leadership of her grandfather, we are not to do business with people with unsavory motives."

  "People who want to turn the Shade into a weapon, perhaps?" Cana suggested.

  "Yes," Dr. Yap replied.

  "Wait a minute," Indigo said. "How did you do these demos without the people suspecting you?"

  "Yeah," Cana said. "If people knew who you were, they would kill you themselves."

  "That is true," Reina said. "That's why during the demo, we showed it to them working but explained that we didn't know ourselves how it works, making that the reason for asking for more funding to continue research."

  "Everything was going great," Dr. Yap added. "Since we are not hurting anyone or breaking any laws now, everyone felt safe, and content. Her grandfather took our leaderless, directionless church into the organization it is today."

  "So instead of a cult," Indigo said. "Now you're a tech start-up?"

  "Isn't that the same thing?" Cana suggested.

  "To what end?" I asked.

  "To make amends. And for society to accept us," Reina said. "He saw firsthand how destructive yearning for the "Truth" the previous church did. So he paved a different path. Now, we harness the Void's power for the good of mankind."

  "But there was one who didn't want that," Dr. Yap said.

  "The one who's in charge now?" I asked.

  "Yes," Reina said.

  "But I thought the people loved your grandpa and his ideas?" Cana said. "How did he lose?"

  I noticed Reina lowered her head and went silent.

  "There wasn't a peaceful transition of power," Dr. Yap said.

  I made an educated guess. "Luca killed him?"

  "No," the doctor said. "I did."