Going Alone to a Crimes Against Divinity Concert

[Presynaptic]

"So you're still spiking your hair?" Jael jabs.

 I reply as a hot comb hisses through my curls, “It looks like that, huh?" I draw a sharp breath every time it grazes my skin and I can feel Areja wince in my eye.

She shouts in my thoughts, Aye aye, be careful!

Curiosity darts between Jael’s eyes. "Ra, you seriously got tickets for one of the hottest bands, just like that?”

“It would appear so.”

“Mmhmmm. Well I'm happy for you, even with that layer of crusty gel, you're glowing. Also, I've been talking with Ma and Grandma. We're worried about you. You've been so in your head, lately.”

“Listen, I do my chores, I give money when I can and look for work. I didn't bother anyone.”

“I don't think you need me to tell you that there's more to living with people than that. Something about your aura has shifted and we just want to make sure you're okay. There's a royal blue suffocating your yellow.”

He's onto us, Beloved

.

“Jael, I'm fine I promise. When you graduate, you'll feel this. This…this weight, this vacuum sucking”

“And does it gets solved with concerts and hiding in your art or listening to me ramble about the things I see in space?”

“That's the hope.”

“Well, just remember that we love you and that you're not alone. Don't do anything to change who you are.”

“Thanks Jae, I really— tck ah!”

I said be careful with the comb!

[Postsynaptic]

Areja spoke true.

Of course I did. I hate lies.

The concert finished at the speed of thought and my right eye burned with Areja’s gift. 

It started with me seeing people's auras. Mom wished me well on my trek to Flatbush. I could see the passion, pain and profane thoughts around her like a chromatic cloud. 

From the train, 

I actually saw the djinn setting up their pranks and surfing away on the subway rails.

At the venue, guardian angels deflected hexes from their chosen vizards. They looked at me with confusion.

Finally, within the raging moshpit, I saw everyone's hearts

beating in the hands of the things that ruled them.

I saw two people like me: A pink-haired girl back-to-back with this taller bald guy. She swung her cane to the setlist’s rhythm while the taller dude who looked unphased. Qsclas sat on both of their shoulders. 

Ah, my kin. I remember those two back from the mother star. 

If you continue to trust me, then stay with them. 

They will treat you well. 

I haven't felt this sensation since I became a recluse.

This hope (?) that waxed and waned while the moon navigated in the sky. 

My lip is busted from the mosh pit and was definitely from someone's cane. 

And my heart is full.

Just as I promised, 

Everything is in its right place.

Maybe we can simulate codependency, yes? 

We can truly enjoy this union 

born between my gift to your eye and the offering of your body. 

If you pay attention, you will never be alone.

< Last Page｜Next Page (Coming Soon) >

A Deal is Inevitable, If Both Sides Are Desperate

Everyone I used to know hated their jobs. And the rest of us wish we had something stable. 

I'd say I freelance, but Mom's friends call it unemployment. Grandma sighs 

hoping that I'm just working things out. God will deal with me. 

Work is slow. 

Without much of a schedule, I'm an excellent candidate to make breakfast for Jael and Grandma while Mom goes in for an extra shift before sunrise. 

Work is just slow. 

Eggs cooked. Bacon fried. Grandma's pills were properly organized in her weekly container. 

As Grandma napped and Jael went to his lecture, my job hunt could continue.

There is always another job newsletter, another random charge to my bank account

A resume and pitch, I should’ve reread fifteen more times. 

A new war to ignore that’s been in hidden in plain site and 

another well-timed ad for something I was talking about just last night. 

Wait, last night was…unseen. untouched. 

That voice spoke like it tried to reach me before…

I started to think about the creature’s bargain. 

Throughout folklore, Sci-fi and Fantasy, 

taking a deal with a being through a dream is never a good idea.

Maybe forgetting our dreams is a natural defense from the things hiding in them, Either way, 

I really need those tickets. 

I try to distract myself, there’s always another job board, another headline to ignore,

until I saw a sign.

NEW EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Crimes Against Divinity Recomposes Reality

By Tullius Rufus

The following interview was condensed for clarity. 

It has also been printed out and stapled together like a sacred zine

and tucked under Rawl’s pillow before he sleeps.

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A Creature Calls to Your Dreams: A Qscla

"Que su eñescon  lo san ge lit os"

"Que sueñes con los angelitos"

“Qscla”

Hello Rawls,

my beautiful skeptic.

All the way from the severed head of a beloved god, 

from behind the shadow of their murderer, 

and my warm metabolic star 

I see you.

Wait wait, why can't I wake up?

Because we're having a thing here–

Are you one of those sleep paralysis demons? 

Okay rude, definitely not a demon. Far from it, actually. 

I don’t have a single demon cell in my body

Well, your skin is blue, 

probably denoting divination. 

It is ribbed and leads to a head swirling like an oncoming storm.

Rawls, I know. I'm absolutely gorgeous, 

but I need you to focus.

I see how many jobs your mother juggles. 

I see how brightly your grandmother’s faith burns.

I see how your brother’s braggadocio hides his fears.

I think it’s time for you to have the same talent, Beloved. 

If you accept me into your eye, I can offer you truesight into realms beyond comprehension. 

You could leer at the shoulders of those hiring managers and the devils that tell them to waste your time with another interview. 

You would even be able to discern when those Crimes Against Divinity tickets go on sale 

before the scalpers do.

Think about it. 

Think about me

No one could document this divine ecology better than a writer like you. 

“Qscla”

"Que sueñes con los angelitos"

"Que su eñescon  lo san ge lit os"

< Last Page｜Next Page >

P.LS: A Web Novel

Chapter 1

One Man's Eye is Another Creature’s Home

I heard that the gift of truesight is said to be hereditary, but not a birthright. 

To see the unseen, to peer into another world and see our reality for more than what it is

is a talent.

My Mom claims that she could stare down the boulevard

to see djinn carving playful pranks and schemata in graffiti tags. 

She used to want to be a director.

Her gaze is said to drift up above our home and count the eyes of our guardian angel. 

Grandma, supposedly, can see the silhouettes of our prayers before they take flight. 

She hums and nods as if to say, It is so. Often, 

she'll glance at the half-finished projects by my bed and ask why I didn't become 

a doctor,

or an engineer

or something that had a bit more promise than a freelance writer.

My brother, Jael, brags that he can see beyond

at the far edge of our cosmos. 

Lately, he’s been watching something vampiric staring back at him and routinely glancing at me. 

He says he’s calm since the creature is so far, but that thing is vigilant and grins 

over the severed head of a god-pretender while being illuminated by an organic star.

As eloquent as everyone is, this must be some elaborate family prank.

Maybe, I’ll start seeing things too when I can consistently pay rent or do chores on time.

But really, what is the value of this divinity to me, outside of a good story?

In fact, one of my favorite bands of all time, Crimes Against Divinity,

Can create entire albums referencing the things they see from truesight. 

I lay in bed, listening to their singles, wondering if I would feel whole if I saw them live.

Would I understand this gift then?

And would that understanding grant me something I secretly crave?

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