00:13. (1)

After witnessing the carnage that just took place, Theo – who was still seated in the chair and still restrained – looked at the Fallen. He was still awaiting an answer with regard to what had just happened, however before receiving it, the two serpent things suddenly came into view, looking Theo in his eyes, as if they were sizing him up. Theo looked right back at them, looking them over as well, and while this staring contest of sorts was brief, it was intense. Despite being shocked and confused, Theo's gaze was intense and full of rage and determination. The creatures quickly looked away and moments later, let out a shrill shriek before a jet of white flames shot out from both of their mouths and hit the rope that was binding Theo. After catching alight, the rope let out a shriek of its own before slithering off of Theo and thrashing about as it burned to a crisp. Theo shuddered slightly as he watched this thing burn, before shaking his head.

"What the fuck is going on here?!" He mumbled to himself before looking over at the corpses of his recently deceased loved ones.

He sighed and stood up slowly. He made his way over to the bodies, before falling to his knees in the still wet blood.

"Oh fuck… I'm so sorry…"

He virtually whispered this in a cracking voice, before starting to sort through the body parts. The Fallen and its two serpent creatures watched on in silence as Theo started putting each of his family members' severed body parts in the correct place – as if he was assembling a puzzle of sorts; toes to feet, feet to ankles, and so forth. He did this for everybody, virtually trying his best to re-assemble them. His suit was getting covered in blood, and he frequently had to stop in order to regain his composure as he sobbed audibly. It was especially tough for him when he was trying to put the twins together, because he was extremely doting towards them. Seeing them in this state was almost too much for him, but he pushed through.

"…fucking twins." He said as he took a deep breath. "I probably interchanged some stuff."

He then looked at Jess' corpse, and shook his head. She had withstood the most pain and torture before dying, so her body was an absolute mess. Theo choked back a few tears before getting to work once more. The Fallen, which had been quiet all this time, finally spoke.

"Othello… we must talk."

"Go ahead. You have yet to answer my question, Fallen…"

"I will be brief, pay attention. We do not have long to obtain vengeance, Othello."

"Why is that?" Theo asked while holding up a big toe.

"Because we only have until dawn before my ability to support you ends."

"What?! Why?" Theo asked as his head shot up to look at the Fallen.

"We are both weak… and our Bond is weak. Currently, I am not strong enough to remain in this world without a strong host. You are not strong enough to house me at full strength, therefore I can only give you a portion of my power, and only for a short time."

"How short?" Theo asked as he continued piecing his wife together.

"Until the sun comes up. We must kill that Phantom before dawn…"

"So I only have a window of about… five and a half to six and a half hours to not only find, but kill that bastard…"

Theo then stood up and slowly walked deeper into the house for a while, before emerging with a large white bed sheet. He carefully draped it over the bodies of his family, and then looked at the Fallen, which had lowered itself and was now hovering above Theo's shoulder. He looked at it as he wiped the tears from his eyes with a blood soaked sleeve and nodded with steely determination.

"Let's get to it, then. We need to get moving. Finding the location of that bastard has to be our main priority… I wish I knew where to start, though."

"I know of a method that could help." The Fallen declared.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"…we feed."

"We feed? On what exactly?"

"Look around you, Othello… the fragmented corpses of those who work under Phantom and his subordinates litter the floor of your house. All you have to do, is—"

"What?! Fuck that! There's absolutely no fucking way I'm doing that! You can forget about that!"

"There is no other CHOICE, Othello!" The Fallen barked as its eyes glowed. "You are WEAK! THAT is why you are alive, and your family lies DEAD before you!"

"You piece of shit! Fuck you!" Theo boomed as he scowled intently at the Fallen.

"Silence! You curse me because you know I speak the TRUTH! You do not have any other choice. You do not have the luxury of time to properly investigate and chase down any leads. Our Bond is weak and infantile. My time in this world is limited. You MUST feed!"

"I am NOT a fucking cannibal!" Theo protested as he looked at the body parts on the floor.

"You are not strong enough to decide what you are and are not! The path to vengeance for your family lies through consumption."

"…for my family. Fuck."

"Their brains hold the information we need, Othello! They MUST be consumed. Take control of my servants; use them to feed."

Theo continued to look at the floor— looking at the heads. Some were attached to necks; others were on their own having been lopped off earlier. The Fallen looked at Theo and grinned, sensing it was getting through to Theo, and that it needed to turn the screw just a little bit more.

"The weak do not have the luxury of choice, Othello." The Fallen then seemed to slither in closer, its foul mouth next to Theo's ear. "This is for your family… it must be done."

"…h-how do I control these things?" Theo asked through gritted teeth.

The Fallen gave a quick, twisted grin. It bore all of its teeth, if only for a second, before moving away from Theo's ear and above his head once more.

"Simply look within yourself… you will find that their consciousness is linked with yours. Find them, and command them to feed. They will obey you."

Theo reluctantly closed his eyes as he tried to prepare himself for what he was about to do.

'You aren't eating them, they are.' He said internally, as if trying to convince himself that made it better.

He searched for the consciousness of the creatures, and after looking for a little while, he seemed to find two balls of light. He reached out to them with his mind, and felt a sensation akin to grabbing two tangible round objects. Theo then relayed orders using his mind and just as he opened his eyes, he saw the serpent creatures move with blinding speed, shooting out from behind his head and sweeping across the floor in a blur. The Fallen grinned once again as it watched the creatures moving all over the living room floor. Its grin quickly disappeared however when it realised what Theo had ordered them to do.

"Othello! What are you doing?!"

The creatures came back to Theo, mouths packed with brains and before anything else was said, they started chewing and swallowing. Watching them chew was akin to watching crocodiles eat. Theo watched them eat with disgust, but that was suddenly made worse as his mouth was flooded with the taste of raw human brains. There wasn't even a follicle sized piece in his mouth, but for some reason, he could taste them all, and before long, he was projectile vomiting all over the place; retching violently as he did. He even found himself taking a knee as he vomited, and when he finally stopped, he started spitting like crazy, trying to get the taste of both vomit and raw brain out of his mouth.

"…you defied me, Othello!" The Fallen fumed as it scowled furiously above Theo's head.

By now, Theo was wiping his mouth with his forearm with the less blood soaked sleeve.

"Holy fuck; that was disgusting… besides, you said that their brains had the information we needed, nothing else. Between going zombie and going full blown cannibal, I chose the lesser of two evils."

"You do not understand! Human flesh is rife with what is known as Life Essence! No other creature in this world contains such large quantities of it, thus human flesh is sustenance for such as us."

"Yeah, well human flesh is a fucking taboo for such as me. Besides, I have what we need… These guys didn't know where Phantom is, but they did know where one those other three is, so let's go."

"You do not understand, Othello…"

Theo just stood up and looked down at his vomit while shaking his head a bit to clear it, before walking towards the front door.

"Your clothes are soaked in blood… will you not change them?" A slightly annoyed sounding Fallen asked.

"No, I think not. The blood of my family has seeped into this suit… when I kill Phantom while wearing it, it will be as if they had a part in it too. Well, at least it will to me."