The dome building dedicated to the tracking of spiritual imbalances within all realms was flooded with agents and Omega transcendents. They all worked ahead of the doom clock, moving from one holographic screen to another, trying to find news about a demonic breakout within hell's marked doorways all over the world. The search was spearheaded by the director himself, calling on all agents minutes after he heard the news from Jane Austin and Damien Spencer.
The monitors reported nothing and the radars showed zero readings for the region and regions 50,000 miles away. This was frustrating for the agents, they wondered if there was a hell break protocol or this was one of Adrian's 'I was testing you' moments. Most of them even stayed stagnant, awaiting for Adrian to utter his effort killing phrase.
The Omega transcendents were situated in a section of the building filled with wired goggles that were attached to a large computerized cylinder. They all wore the tungsten-framed glasses that glowed brightly as they hung on their faces, making their heads gleam like lightbulbs. They carried out a feature in Astral jumping called TELEPATHIC LOCOMOTION. This feature was strictly for omegas at any rank. The telepathic locomotion involved the transfer of the human consciousness into any kind of electromagnetic medium. This enabled the transcendents to reach out to information in the outside world without barriers or restrictions. Half their consciousness is being transferred to the gigantic cylinder via the googles and then a frequency is set for transmission; the transmission could turn the consciousness of a transcendent to any electromagnetic waveform depending on the frequency activated. A higher frequency for a radio wave would permanently destroy their consciousness, while a deficient frequency for an X-ray would reciprocate a messed up consciousness back to the Omega.
So far the omega transcendents could find nothing in the outside world despite the shifting from one frequency to another. No suspicious email to their concern, no demonic activity in the dark web with relevance to their concern, and no meeting held by occult forces that aligned with their purpose of search.
"Sir, we've got nothing out there!" an omega said, his helmet still on as he searches further.
"That's because this is probably one of those drill exercises, c'mon it's Ketch we're dealing with here!" An omega who disengaged his device in frustration whispers to his colleague "I mean, it's pretty fucking obvious that we're getting played. There is nothing out here but the usual nasty shit humanity always gets on with"
At this point, Adrian Ketch wasn't even sure of his guts. There were no proofs to Damien's claim of a demonic breakout. All the known terminals connected to the seven hells were reported offline.
Adrian pulls out the Abaddon asuhura from his pocket and stares at it once more, flipping it from side to side as he caresses its surface. He then looks up to the workstation of an agent positioned beside him.
"Mark, I'll need you to run an activation dating on this thing," Adrian said as he tosses the medallion over to the worker.
The agent stares at it for a while with amazement and stares right back at Adrian with widened eyes as inaudible words of confusion flowed through his lips; He couldn't believe he was holding the Abaddon asuhura. The presence of the medallion on Earth was enough proof to show that something chaotic was cooking on the devil's stove.
"Will do, sir!" the agent said as he exits his station, heading towards a section filled with tubes, metallic cylinders, computers, and different varieties of scanning instruments.
Adrian waited.
The agents and Omega transcendents were still not bothered by their inability to read the presence of a fresh demonic force. They were safe with the seemingly honest assumption that this was all a test.
"Sir, I think I've got something. It's a partial heat signature but I managed to scratch off enough vital information," the agent Adrian assigned the medallion to reports back.
Everyone in the room reduced their conversations to a whisper. They all listened to the feedback.
"Well, what are we dealing with here? What's the status?" Adrian said.
"It says the 'time of last engagement- 4 hours ago'!" the agent replies.
There was a chilling silence that swept across the section where Adrian was present. They were all at the edges of their seats, wearing looks of visible confusion as they waited to hear more. Most of them stared back at their holographic monitors with all seriousness, trying to find more detail to any form of breakout they could find. Most of the agents stormed the scanner where the Abaddon asuhura was placed, taking a glimpse at the dreaded artifact of supernatural carnage.
"You here that folks- four hours ago! I need you all fully engaged in finding a trace of a demonic terminal, run a new search if you must, maybe look up if new terminals have been built by Satanists. All I just want to know right now is what we're dealing with at the moment; the exact tier of hell that just let loose!" Adrian commands as he strolls around his podium of authority.
"Sir, I think we've managed to dig up something" an agent reports
"Well, tell me what it is," said Adrian
"Judging by the seal used to activate the medallion, you can say the doorway belongs to the second division of hell- Lucifer's terrain," the agent said.
"Well it can't be Lucifer, he's in shackles somewhere in the foreign dimensions," Adrian said.
"It could be a principality. Maybe his right-hand man? Right-hand demon?" an agent assumes.
Adrian thinks for a while as he taps his feet on the steel floor "Alright, if this isn't Lucifer, then we're probably up for someone we haven't made hostile contact with. This 'principality' might not attack here first but I'm pretty damn sure he'll hit the main population," he goes down his podium and walks over to the monitor screen positioned at the center of the dome. An agent rolls out a seat for him. "A demon is a demon after all,"
Adrian raises his sleeves and places his two arms in a tube-like slot. A form of radiation beams out from the tubes, engulfing his arms in a multi-colored solar flare.
"I need everyone to search for new demonic doorway terminals. The target seal would be CREED OF SATAN. If you see a location where the seal was activated within the last four hours give a signal and details of the parameter," Adrian closes his eyes and his entire body illuminates like a bright torch was dropped inside him.
Adrian wanted to get to the very bottom of this and the way he found most suitable was an astral jump through the dark realms, searching demonic provinces for any detail concerning who this new SATAN was. He was present in the realm of wayward paths, the place where damned souls were forced to engage in a selfless game of survival, escaping the lethal claws of demons while wandering around blindly in a thick fog. Adrian crossed the fog easily, being a soul from the land of the living. He made his way to a stone hall of gigantic monoliths, each one bearing names of various demonic principalities.
Adrian reached approached the first monolith, checking carefully if any principality within hell's first province was missing (The color of the ink used in writing the names was blue, but a missing principality would have its name in red). He steps back from the monolith, his heart thumping hard as he stares at it from top to bottom.
All the names were colored red.
Adrian knew most of the demons written down on the monolith, so evaluating their power wasn't difficult. But a particular name sent a shiver down his spine.
"Engage the spirit shields!" Adrian said as he returns to consciousness, pulling himself away from the machine. He then rushes to open the weapons compartment.
Everyone watched in confusion.
Adrian paused his current action and looks back at them, utterly disgusted by their silence "What are you all deaf? I said engage the shields, goddammit!"
The agents sharply head over to their stations to do as told.
"Adrian, what's going on? Give me names, give me situations- anything!" an Omega transcendent said as she steps out from the omega hall, overhearing the panic amongst the agents.
"You want names?" Adrian said as he opens the large compartment, revealing a hatch full of advanced artillery "It's Pazuzu!"
A red notification pops up on the screen of a defense agent. The same notification shows up on every screen as well, coloring the entire hall in scarlet terror.
"Sir, we have a situation!" one of the defense agents notifies, her fingers typing recklessly on the keyboard as she tries her best to contain the mess at hand.
"What is it now?" Adrian said as he pulls out a pyro-charged rifle from the weapons compartment
"The spirit shields are down! All of them!"
Adrian turned around so quick he felt his neck snap. He tends to ask 'how' but his eyes were filled with the bright red signals of an alert coming from the defense monitors. His voice sank back in frustration and nothing was shown in his reaction but grief as he stares at each monitor displaying the message DISENGAGED.
*****
Some problems weren't worth the worry, and Damien strongly believed that. He stretches his body in an exercise motion as he waits for the new practical elementric to be announced. He kept close eyes on Christie, hoping she wouldn't get ultimately disturbed by Jason's absence and come asking again. Lucius stood still on the podium, wearing a full look on his face as he waits patiently for everyone to fall in line.
The sudden sound of the faction gate opening and closing in its casual chime caught little attention to no one at this point. Kevin Lock kept his eyes steady on Jane and Lucius, trying to figure out what bothered both of them deeply. It was a difficult crack work, but he was certain that finding the true cause would reveal a lot behind those frowned faces.
Lucius raises his head a bit towards the faction's gate and yells out to the certain individual who arrived late " I never expected a late appearance, Cohan!"
Everyone turns around in excitement and shock as they set their eyes on Jason Cohan, who just stood by the gate like a pillar of ice. Damien couldn't believe what he just heard, he tries turning around but his eyes weren't willing to see any surprises at the moment. He could tell by the look on Jane's face that Matthew Wilder was the one who entered, the impostor in Jason's body.
Christie was already all over Jason II, jumping around him with hugs like a mutant stag. She holds his cheeks and stares into his eyes affectionately, but the look she got back baffled her. Jason II shot back a confused gaze at Christie from his shimmering green eyes.
"Yo, what's up with those weird colors in there. And what's up with that look on your face... you're looking like half your brain dropped out in the soul plane," Christie said
Matthew gulps slowly and tries putting on his best performance of a happy reaction. It was a terrible act. Christie was gripped with a cringe as she backed away from Jason II. Within herself, she found it best to give him space for a while.
Matthew is relieved as Christie takes her leave with an awkward look on her face. He straightens the red faction uniform he wore, having obtained the clothing from a waste cabinet in the medical dome, and walks towards the main line of formation.
Damien is stunned to an extent that his facial expressions seemed to twitch, not knowing within himself if screaming in rage was best or playing along with the element of surprise.
"Damien!" Matthew calls out when he sees Damien at the third row, standing still with a frown as he stares deeply with disappointment.
Damien stares down at Matthew as he takes a spot to him on the line.
"What did I tell you!" Damien barks.
Matthew fixes himself next to Damien appropriately before responding "You said I couldn't learn the elementric arts. But guess what? I did! I thought myself enough back there, I could probably even defend Jason's absence,"
Damien grunts quietly "I'm not even going to start asking you what kind of elementric you practiced, because that's just bullshit you're saying. I need you to get back in there. If they find out you're not Jason, which they will, it's going to have some serious consequential backfire on I and Jane,"
"Well, I'm already here. I can't just leave so suddenly!" Matthew looks around the faction with a smile until his eyes finally bump into Christie's who seemed to be staring back the whole time from her distance. Matthew disengages the awkward eye contact and slowly turns his head forward.
"The chic that was all over me earlier, who is she?" Matthew asked Damien
"Christie Bells. She was Jason's girlfriend. A really fucked up relationship but they managed to sew their love back together through all the fights and arguments. I'd be careful around her If I were in Jason, she's like a walking envelope of madness," Damien reports.
"Wait, what do you mean by fights," Matthew seemed drawn to the factor.
"Oh yeah, they fight a lot. With fists, elementric, and possibly anything that could break bones to shit," Damien made sure his tone emphasized the violent tools, assured that Matthew would be frightened "You sure you want to keep up with this skin-walking act of yours?"
"Well, I'll manage" Matthew replies with a shaky voice.
Damien didn't expect such a response. He curses within himself.
"Alright, that's enough chat for the day. We're absolutely behind schedule so we're going to brush through a bit of exercise before we go into sparring session," Jane steps forward and announces to the alphas.
Lucius drops a device on the floor and steps on it. A clicking noise is then heard before the surface opens and a beam of light shoots out from within.
"We are dealing with a healing factor today- the Danvers rod elementric," Lucius announces as a holographic image presents itself on the light show.
Everyone remained silent and listened carefully to what Lucius had to say next. Damien on the other hand placed more of his attention on the image. He had never seen this healing factor before, and its structure seemed to be engineered by the finest paramechanics in the world. It was a red glowing rod studded with green orbs of light, at its top sat the figure of an eagle's head entwined with curved wings that gave out an orange glow.
Lucius concludes his speech and proceeds to generate the elementric. He raises his left arm in the air and a green mist of sparks surrounds it, creating a solid green disk decorated with celestial writings. He pulls out his other arm and raises it in a vertical motion, forming a solid elementric rod that was lit in flames.
"This right here in my left is the fourth factor of the healing elementric, as you all know," Lucius said as he then raises his other arm to the audience "Now this right here is the Pythagoras rod, some of you might not be familiar with it so I recommend you meet Jason Cohan for directions to generate it,"
Jason II shrugs uneasily as everyone stares at him. He turns to his side slightly, giving Damien an anxious look. Damien only shook his head in disdain.
"Now we need to merge these elementrics together, but you can't do that on a regular condition, it could be fatal. When these two collide ordinarily, the energy is strong enough to roast your Kruger shaft," Lucius continues
An uproar of murmurs was heard around the place, every transcendent having an uncomfortable look on their faces.
"Oh for godsakes! It's a fourth-factor healing elementric jamming up with a soul-slashing rod, what did y'all expect!" Jane scolds the alphas to silence.
Damien takes a second look at the Pythagoras rod. The last time he saw one of those, it looked nothing like that. And the merging of a healing factor and an assault elementric seemed like absolute madness to him.
"Yeah, I'd like to ask..." Damien speaks up "What exactly is the purpose of this Danvers-rod elementric?"
Lucius nods his head in an impressed manner and stares at Jane, giving her a signal to carry on.
"When a soul is fatally wounded in the soul plane or in any form of astral jump, the Danvers-rod will be utilized to restore the deteriorating soul piece within 2 hours- give or take a couple of minutes," Jane explains
The reaction on the faces of everyone and the tone of relief in their murmurs sold the point that they all saw the necessity in learning this.
Matthew on the other hand was busy examining the thick palms of his host, turning them from side to side, and then squeezing them. He wondered if he could generate a Pythagoras elementric talk more of teaching anyone about it.
"Alright, folks. To contain the energy you'll need to coat your hands with the sulfur gauntlet," little elementric stones crawl around Lucius' hands as he spoke, forming a medium-sized metal-coated gauntlet that gave out orange fumes "Then we can merge them together,"
Everyone watches in absolute interest as Lucius draws the two elementrics closer. Damien felt this procedure was ridiculously ambiguous for just a healing factor. He wasn't sure why Jane and Lucius would come up with a healing factor program at a time like this in the academic calendar.
Lucius finally merges the two. The collision issues bright sparks and a noise similar to a metal saw cutting through another metal. Sparks spray around the place for a few more seconds before the light died down and the noise ceases.
Everyone drops their arms down from their shielded eyes to take a look at the Danvers rod gripped in Lucius' left palm. The top of the staff seemed to be giving off odd multi-colored radiation.
"Well, that's some sophisticated shit right there" Matthew adores the elementric as he nudges Damien.
"Still seems a little complex for a healing elementric," Damien said.
"Alright," Lucius dismisses the elementric and steps away "Follow the exact steps I used and you'll be able to produce a similar if not exact elementric like the one I pulled off,"
Everyone goes ahead to generate the elementric. Sparks of light flashes everywhere as the alphas continuously try and fail in their attempt to produce the Pythagoras rod.
Matthew sweats profusely in anxiety as he hears whispers that call for Jason. He pretends not to hear them, focusing completely on the elementric he struggled to generate.
Damien had already formed the Pythagoras rod and was currently working on the fourth healing factor. Matthew paid close attention to Damien's steps through the corner of his eyes.
Lucius looks down at the pathetic attempts of the alphas as he paced around in disappointment. He sets his attention to Jason Cohan, trying to bless his eyes with a view of success, but Jason as well was completely pathetic- possibly the worst in the ground.
Damien was the only one who did it right, as expected from someone of his caliber. But Jason's hands remained empty, scattering nothing but sparks as he tries to form an elementric.
Matthew knew he was doing nothing but killing Jason's reputation further with this display of foolery. Damien was done with the second phase and was currently doing his best to merge the healing factor and the Pythagoras rod.
"I told you to stay back!" Damien scolds Matthew with a heavy tone as his arm muscles struggle to push the elementrics together
Matthew stares at his host's hands in frustration. He looks up the podium and makes unexpected eye contact with Lucius who seemed to be monitoring the whole time. Matthew knew Lucius was suspicious.
*C'mon man, you got to teach me* Matt whispers to Damien as he tucks his head down.
"I'm busy right here! I've got to achieve this collision perfectly or my arms might get blown to fucking shreds!" Damien spoke with a tight voice as beads of sweat rolled down his face.
*Damn it!* Matthew curses.
Damien noticed Lucius's suspicion as well. He expected Jane to divert Lucius' attention from the ground but she just laid back with ease, monitoring everyone as well. Giving Jane a signal wouldn't convey enough information about what she was supposed to do at the moment, and Damien couldn't seem to retract from conjoining the elementrics to signal Jane of a plan.
*Just play around with random elementrics you mastered-Lucius would think you're on to something* Damien delivers a suggestion to Matthew.
Matthew couldn't agree more with that.
Minutes passed and everyone in the faction finally passed the second phase, everyone except Jason II of course. Each alpha tried their best to combine both elementrics while wearing the sulfur gauntlet.
Damien already completed the task early after minutes of struggling. He just stood in an awkward stance at moment, holding up the Danvers-rod on his shoulder as he stares at the abomination Jason II performed.
"You're a damn waste," Damien remarks as he shuts his eyes away from the horrific display.
Matthew did nothing but swing his flaming arms around, wearing a smile on his face as he did so. You could tell he was getting a kick out of it. Lucius was too busy cringing at Jason II's behavior that it took him minutes to realize the progress of the others.
Jane stares at Jason II as well. It was this moment she felt the urge to diverge Lucius' attention before he thought otherwise- which he already did.
"Seems they're all getting it right," Jane draws up to Lucius
Lucius slowly snaps out of his gaze on Jason II and focuses his attention on the other alphas, smiling slightly as he sees their progress.
"That's right, put your back to it!" Lucius encourages with a broad smile on his face. This could be the first time today they all saw him smile. "Electrify those jelly arms till they stiffen!"
Christie was the next alpha to successfully produce the Danvers-rod at last. The light from the center of her palms illuminates one-third of the hall, issuing a similar vibration that matched Damien's and Lucius'.
"Atta girl!" Lucius claps his hands and points out to Christie who smiled back.
Minutes later, the entire faction generated the elementric, causing a thundering quake that shook half the institute and a bright flash of light that partially blinded the sight of individuals from other factions. Even the red faction alphas shielded their eyes from the nuke-like radiation.
Matthew puts his arms down and opens his eyes, surprised with himself as he noticed his current position was a sit on the ground. He gets up and looks around the faction's ground, staring with awe at the Danvers-rod each alpha had in hand unconsciously.
"This is massive for a healing elementric. They use it to heal angels or something?" Matthew said to Kevin.
Kevin stares at his elementric rod with a broad smile on his face, enjoying the view as the beautiful light from the rod fell on his face. He marked this as a milestone at the back of his mind.
"You should know what it's for!" a feminine voice delivers a response to Matthew's question.
Matthew turns around to see the individual but quickly spins back around as soon as he does so, cursing deeply in his heart. Christie wasn't over her suspicion yet, parading around Jason like a drone, trying to figure out more details that seemed different about him.
"That's a nice looking rod you've got there," Matthew eyes Christie's elementric with a compliment, trying to divert the subject matter.
"Christie, quit it already... he's been loaded with heavy-duty for the past few weeks. Give him a break," Kevin speaks out from the side of his lips while he caressed his elementric like a child.
Christie stares deep into Jason II's green eyes before stepping back and taking her leave. Matthew's heart slowed down peacefully as he watches her push through people in her way just to make it back to her line.
"Thanks, man, I needed that," Matthew said, patting Kevin on his sweaty shoulder.
"No problem," Kevin puts down his elementric and stares at Matthew keenly "But seriously man, are you alright? Seems you took quite a hit last night... I know there's a code shared between you, Damien, and Jane, but you've got to understand that we are also part of the faction- I'm also part of the faction. We need to taste a little serious action to know what exactly it means to be an alpha, to be a transcendent,"
Matthew nods quietly and slowly as Kevin spoke, doing his best to follow up despite being lost from the start. He had no solution to this problem, even when reasoned as his true self.
"I'll think of something. Just... hang on there," Jason II's answer was assuring but deep down he was blank.
Kevin gives a faint smile and nods before taking his leave.
Damien walks back to his position while swinging his Danvers-rod in the air. He noticed Matthew's state and was tempted to ask what transpired. But he had a policy of not lending an emotional ear to anyone's problem, especially guys.
"Slow down with that thing!" Matthew moves away from Damien's swinging rod, putting an arm up to block the random light flashing. Damien spins it across Matthew's face as a mock threat.
"She's a handful, right?" Damien said as he looks over to Christie's position. She looked restless and disturbed as she stares blank at thin air, swinging her Danvers-rod in harmony with her other arm.
"I don't think I can keep with this," said Matthew.
"I warned you. It's a tough life we live here... and believe me, Christie is not going to rest till she satisfies what bothers her, and what bothers her is what the fucking problem is with Jason," Damien said.
Matthew sighs "Guess I'd have to tell her the truth after all. I've got to tell that one too, what his name... Kevin, right?"
"If you're going to tell them, you've got to make sure you're mentally fit to carry the doubts and near-death reactions that's gonna get thrown at you... especially from Christie," said Damien
Matthew stares at Damien "So this means I get to keep Jason's body?"
Damien gives it a thought for a while and shakes his head in uncertainty "As I said, there's an archdemon out there. We need Jason now than ever. With that being said your current stay in the land of living depends on how fast Jane's going to come up with a way to send you back,"
"What if she doesn't find a way?" Matthew questions.
Damien stares at Matthew quietly and turns his head forward again "Then we're gonna have no choice but to beat that weak ass of yours into shape. We need a quality number for this fight... maybe having you on our side won't be a liability after all,"
Matthew smiles broadly and stares at his hands. He squeezes them together as he promises within himself to build his elementric skills to the finest form.
Damien continues his watch on Jane and Lucius. He had been watching for minutes now. They both stood close together as they whispered words to each other. Damien had a spark of insecurity that was building in his instinct, but he assured himself otherwise when he remembered Jane saying she wasn't into older men.
Matthew looks around the faction, watching everyone explore their Danvers-rod further. A bright light like a beam crossed his eyes and his attention was mysteriously drawn to the sky. Matthew stares out the faction's transparent ceiling and was amazed to see an odd-looking creature floating around in the air. These floating beings had radiant eyes and their body mass was like a centipede crossed with a crocodile. Their motion in the sky followed a pattern that gave Matthew a hint that they were trying to break through a force beneath them.
"Hey, you seeing this?" Matthew taps Damien by the shoulder and points to the sky.
Damien looks up with his palm over his eyes "See what? Birds? Clouds?"
"Don't tell me you can't see those things up there!" Matthew stated further
"Bro, I'm pretty sure everyone sees what's up there. The only shit I can't see is the sun! Which you're trying to kill my eyes with right now!" Damien withdraws his stare and rubs his sore eye.
The creatures were still up there and Matthew could see them.
"Maybe I'm seeing beyond the paranormal veil of something," Matthew postulates.
"Bullshit," Damien plainly said as he exercises his eyes "Only transcendents have that ability. If there was a supernatural force up there everyone would have spotted it,"
Matthew looks up again and still sees the creatures. But this time they moved more fast and violent.
Matthew ignores the revelation and looks around the faction again. This time he discovers something odd
"Damien," Matthew called out silently as he noticed the current uproar amongst the other alphas.
"What?" Damien quits monitoring Jane and Lucius.
"Where's your elementric rod?" Matthew gives a head nudge towards Damien's empty hand.
Damien stares down at his hand and noticed it disappeared too. He examined the other alphas and noticed theirs was gone too.
"I... I didn't disengage it, what the hell is this?!" Damien rhetorically asked but Matthew took it in person
"I don't know. But all I know is that's one expensive magic stick," Matthew chuckles quietly
"This ain't magic!" Damien forced the words out like vomit even though he didn't want to respond to Matthew's ignorance.
Matthew looks up to the sky again but this time the creatures were gone. He tries to inform Damien but he knew he was going to get ignored.
Lucius steps forward on the podium with his arms on his waist "What are you all crying about! The Danvers-rod terminates itself when not in use, and you all did nothing with but swing it around like retarded refugee kids!"
Lucius relaxed himself and swallows his next round of insults. He bowed his head in regret of his words and raises his face back shortly to stare at the alphas once more.
"Never mind your display of amateur behavior, you all did a pretty job with this. I'll be honest, I had my doubts, but damn did every one of you prove me wrong" Lucius wears a faint smile on his face as he nods in approval to their efforts.
The alphas didn't know if it was safe to applaud themselves or cheer in honor.
Lucius stares back at Jane and they both share a smile. Damien rolls his eyes in sight of them. Matthew cringed at the awkward and sudden moment of love Lucius rained down in the past few minutes.
"With that bullet out of our chest, I'd like us to move on to the next phase of the drill session. What all of you have been waiting for," Lucius generates a crystal red machete in his hand and raises it in the air "ITS SPARRING TIME!!"
Everyone cheers this time. They all clapped and whistled as they raised machete elementrics of diverse colors. Matthew was lost so he raised his plain fist in the air and screamed along with everyone. His joy was cut short as his eyes collide with Christie's, reminding him of his choice to reveal his true identity and the fact that he's occupying her boyfriend's body.
He just hoped his explanation would be easy as he planned and the result he hoped for wouldn't be *near-death* as Damien said.