Numeric, it's intrinsic
Everything goes like statistics
No sci-fi, no nine lives
You gotta pay it like high price
Not going, it's slowing
You in the boat ain't rowing
You're boring, it's flowing
This dam is exploding.
Catastrophe, it's blasphemy
Never back down with a melody,
Bribery and rivalry
Something ain't right with your harmony
Artistic and cryptic
New life growing on a dry stick
Advancing and dancing
This ain't time for the mourning
Thy will be done
Going on my way to Blue primus
Three nails, one cross
Going on my way back home
Collaborate, elaborate
It's time for your faith to activate
Just make or break, expose the fake.
Satan, you're burning up in the lake
Rejections, restrictions
Lead to the many addictions
Get blown away, Christ is the way
It's time to get busy
Let the music play
I'm going down, down all throughout the narrow way
Transitpoint, "Done"
Cupid was summoned by Lucifer.
Lucifer said, "Well, Cupid, have you noticed that the power on Jay has been wearing off. Now listen to me. I want him to get distracted. I want him to move away from his calling, so go work on his mind. Get him into lose what he holds precious. Your time has come my little devil"
Demons were dispatched. In the form of bat-like, winged creatures, they circled the clouds above Jay, looking down at him in the center. It was Cupid whose eyes which were on him the most intensely.
* * *
Jay would make it to church once a week, but otherwise, he never made any time to pray anymore. Jay was twenty-six and still full of energy, but he wasn't aware that he had allowed lethargy to creep into his spiritual life. Little did he know he was now wide open for attack.He had an argument with a man and ended up punching a steel cabinet .His hand was swollen but there was a dent on the iron cabinet he was unable to control his emotions and didn't think much of it at first.
Fireball was still with him all the time. He would prod him often to read the Primus Script, which Jay would do, but only a few verses at a time. Jay began to read just one verse in the morning before heading to the office.
The angels were disappointed, and the Emperor was grieved at the way Jay was handling life.
Cupid wanted revenge, so he was determined to rob Jay of what he held most precious his chastity. With the coming of Facebook, Jay was reconnected to most of his old friends. He would update his status time and time again while Cupid sat unnoticed on his computer screen.
One day, Jay got a friend request from a girl named Lynn Cheung. He did not know who she was. Jay tried to ignore her at first, but she kept on sending him messages and asking him to accept her as a friend, so finally he did.
Route No. 7, still managed by Scott Nelson, was getting calls to play all over the city and was killing it in every venue. There was a new club that needed a band for their grand opening, so Route No. 7 was asked to play for their inauguration. It was a reunion, as many of his college friends, friends from other bands in the city, and their friends had come to watch them play. About five hundred people packed into the place till there was no space. The band exploded onstage, and Jay got the crowd bouncing. He was not aware of a certain set of eyes in the crowd watching him very intently.
After the concert was over, a girl came up to him and introduced herself as Lynn. She was of asian origin with long hair and nerd glasses. Dressed in a checkered shirt rolled up cuffs, blue jeans with a belt, and white sneakers. Cupid stood right behind her, along with Spirit Lust and Spirit Flirtation.
Fireball was trying to block the conversation by leading Jay's other friends to meet with him, but Cupid had other demons that made Jay's friends meet others. He was free to have a one-on-one with Lynn. Lynn asked Jay for his number and Jay gave it, not thinking much of it.
The next morning as he woke up and checked his phone, his eyes widened as he saw the number of text messages, , from Lynn: "Good morning! Are you free today?" "Can we hang out?" "Can we meet for tea?" "Can we go for a drive?" "Will you let me know?"
Jay rolled his eyes because of her constant nagging, but he didn't want to be rude. He was also bored of his mundane, nine-to-five work life. On second thought, he decided it might be interesting to meet a new girl. "Why not? " he asked himself. Then he texted back, "Yeah, sure."
When he had finished his shift at work and was about to go home, he suddenly remembered the texts as Cupid made them ring out in his head.
Fireball went to strike Cupid, but the demon looked at him and said, "Hey, you can't touch me. It's his free will; he wants to get into it."
"You enticed him, Cupid," Fireball said angrily.
"Well, he could have resisted, but how can he? The dude doesn't even pray these days, and when he doesn't pray, he belongs to our department, and you cannot interfere. So stay the hell out of this, Raid!"
Fireball stared at the arrogant Cupid.
They had a hatred for each other from Jay's school days. Ever since Fireball had interfered in Jay and Sheyon's relationship and helped Jay save Lloyd the artist, Cupid lost a lot of credit in hell, and he was still angry about that. The prideful demon was working on both Lynn and Jay, spying on and teleporting between the two.
Fireball was on the bike with Jay as he drove home.
Jay and Lynn met at a café for tea. Lynn was not wearing her glasses but was wearing eye makeup instead. Lynn was excited to meet up, while Jay just patiently sat and talked. She invited him to her home to meet her family, as she had a large family and lived with her brothers and sisters. Jay agreed.
On the day Jay came over, Lynn noticed that his right hand was slightly swollen. "What happened?" she asked.
"I just had a small accident," he answered. "I got angry with someone and punched an iron cabinet. It must be a hairline fracture."
"Did you see a doctor?" she asked, her voice full of concern.
"No, I don't go to a doctor for silly things like this."
"Oh, I have some essential oils that are good for pain. Your muscles must be tense. Let me massage it for you. Trust me, I'm good at this."
Jay thought she sounded like she knew what she was talking about, so he said, "Okay, thanks."
"I can also make you a really nice cinnamon tea and have some homemade chocolate chip cookies!"
Jay smiled. "Oh man, I love chocolate chip cookies!"
In fifteen minutes, Lynn came back with everything. She massaged Jay's right hand while he had the tea and cookies with his left hand.
Jay thought that it was a nice thing to be taken care of after a long, full day of work. He began to go to Lynn's house often, and they would sit and talk about their work, about Jay's concerts, stories from childhood, and mundane matters.
As time passed, Jay was surprised to find that he was developing feelings for Lynn. She had already told him the same. However, he was totally unable to see a future with her. Their separate plans for their own futures had no connection between them. She just wanted to be comfortable at home and didn't want to take any risks in life. Jay wanted someone who would be right next to him in the frontlines of his life's mission. He thought, "She started liking me just because she saw me as a rock singer. Is this even the kind of woman I want to marry?"
It became an on-and-off relationship. They would break it off, continue texting, miss each other after a while, and then get back together.
Lynn was taking up all of Jay's free time. His bandmates began to notice him disappearing after the rehearsals. "Where you running off to, bro?" they asked.
He winked. "I have a date."
No one questioned him as they too were busy.
One night, he was having a romantic moment with Lynn on the terrace as they watched the stars. She embraced him. As he wrapped his arms around her, he heard a voice inside him ask, "Would you embrace another man's wife?"
This made Jay pull his arms back, but Lynn's arms were still around him.
"What's the matter?" Lynn asked. "We are just hugging."
Though they would hold hands as they walked or talked, Jay had been careful to never cross physical boundaries.
Jay was beginning to feel uncomfortable. "Oh, I forgot I have to get to work early tomorrow. It's getting late. I gotta go," he said.
That night, when Jay went home, he knew it was time to end this. Even though there was nothing physical going on between them, he could not even imagine himself with another man's wife.
The next day, Jay prayed as he formed the words in his mind of what he would say to her. As Jay rode to Lynn's house, he felt as if the sun had set earlier than usual.
When they went out to the terrace, he turned around and told her, "Lynn, you are an amazing person, but our ambitions and goals in life are totally opposite. There is almost nothing we have in common, and there is nothing we can see together in the future. Before it gets more complicated, let's end this relationship. We will stay friends, but we need to move on from each other."
To Jay's surprise, Lynn just said, "I saw this coming."
They hugged as Lynn kissed his neck. Tears welled in her eyes, and her voice was choked. "You have a golden heart, Jay, and I'm going to miss you."
Jay held back his tears as he hugged her tight. "Thank you for everything. I hope and pray everything goes well for you."
Jay walked down the steps. As he turned on his bike's ignition, he saw Lynn looking at him from the terrace through his rear view mirror . As he rode away, Jay felt so sad and broken in his heart all of a sudden.
Cupid stood on the top of the building, bristling in anger. Fireball waved goodbye and gave him a thumbs down as he rode with Jay back home.
Jay felt bad for a few days, but since it had not been a serious relationship, he was over it in a few weeks. Lynn was not, and continued to send him texts. Jay knew that if he wasn't careful, he would go back into the same pattern again. He relied to a very few texts in the beginning and weeks later he decided not to reply to any of her texts, no matter how emotional they were getting.
Jay was now back to his life. During the months he was with Lynn, Jay had not been able to concentrate on his band. Although they had continued performing, they had not really set any professional goals and lost focus . Jay had started wavering on whether the sign of true success was a jam-packed audience or if it was to bring souls to the Emperor. Jay realized the relationship had been a distraction from his purpose.
Despite the current state of Jay's relationship with the Trinity, the Trinity's plan for success over Jay's life kept flowing. Route No. 7 had been around a few years now, and they were making plans on working on their full-length album. They had already released a few singles and an EP, which had drawn quite a fat crowd. They packed every club, but inside, Jay was feeling cold and weary.
* * *
After three years went by this way, priorities had changed for everyone in the band. Jay was not focusing on his music as much, and the others had gotten caught up with their daytime jobs. The band had written twelve songs for their full-length album but hadn't recorded them yet, and they were only playing gigs once a month.
Scott often met with Jay and the band and told them that maybe a break would be good after the release of their EP. Because he was a wise man, they knew they should listen.
Jay would still go to church on weekends, but he was still staggering spiritually.
Fireball was weak, with almost no prayer from Jay's side. Sometimes Fireball sat outside his room clutching his arm at the pain of the attacks on Jay's life .
Cupid launched another attack over Jay. This time, it was through a blonde girl with gray eyes whose name was Anya, a Ukrainian. Evonne a good friend of Jay had introduced her to him over a house party and a few church get togethers.
Shortly after, Evonne started a career mentorship NGO and asked Jay to be a volunteer in his free time. There were other volunteers from different countries, including Anya. As Jay and Anya worked together in close quarters, they developed an interest toward each other.
The Ukranian was interested in keeping the earth green and was all about replenishing the earth's resources. But she had not revealed whether she had a relationship with the Prince, and neither did Jay ask her, nor did Jay inquire with the Emperor about her. After a few hangouts, they decided that they liked each other.
He discovered that she was vegan. Jay was brought up like a carnivore. Their dates were weird, with her plate filled with vegetables, while his only had meat, other than some croutons, broccoli, and some baby tomatoes. The only food they agreed upon was desserts. Anya had heated debates with Jay about their eating habits. One such debate went like this:
"Why would you eat an animal?" Anya asked.
"Hey, the Almighty made animals for us to eat," Jay replied.
"Would you like someone to eat your pet?" Anya asked.
"No, but everything gets eaten anyway," Jay said.
"How do you support that?"
"In this world, there is a life cycle—plants, herbivores, carnivores—that's made by the Almighty for us. If I am not supposed to eat meat, then what about them lions and wolves and bears?"
"They are animals. They don't have a rational mind."
"But if they don't have a rational mind, how come they raise their babies and even raise other animals which are not of their kind?" asked Jay
"They kill and eat their own young because they don't have a rational mind."said Anya
"Yeah, but human beings do that, too—infanticide and murder. We have a rational mind, too, but it's still happening," Jay replied.
The arguments would go on and on as Fireball would stand bored, looking out the window. Cupid and his demons enjoyed every moment of their heated arguments.
After a few months passed, she claimed she was a follower of the Prince. Jay was happy about this, and he wondered if it was okay for them to consider becoming more serious in their relationship.
The Emperor was grieved because Jay didn't inquire of him once again. The Wise One placed a thought in his mind: "Are you sure you want to be with this girl?"
Jay could not give a definite answer as he did not know what to think. He also didn't trust anyone to give him solid advice. He had also become bolder with girls, and the only thing that could stop him was if he were ever to find out that she wasn't a follower of the Prince.
After a few weeks went by, Anya became sick with a fever. Jay got her some medicine and went to deliver it to her at home. He visited her every day that week. One of those days, he found a spiritual book lying on her bed, and he picked it up out of curiosity. As he leafed through the pages, he realized it was contradictory to his faith.
"What's this? Do you believe in what this book says?" he asked her.
"Yes, I do," Anya replied.
"How long have you been reading this?" Jay asked.
"I've had this since even before I met you."
Jay was shattered. He had thought—or rather, deceived himself to believe—that she was a strong believer of the Prince. He asked her to speak about her faith, but Anya had nothing to say.
After Anya recovered , Jay took her to his home, and they had a long talk.
Finally, Jay said, "We seem to be at loggerheads on this. I was okay about you being a vegan, but I'm not okay with you reading and believing in what that book says if we plan to take this forward."
Anya and Jay shed many tears as they hugged. They had been so close and in love. They decided to remain friends but part ways.
Anya was going back to Ukraine, where she was from. Jay dropped her off at the airport. Their relationship was over. Jay wished her well, though his heart was broken again.
Jay didn't cross the boundary even in this relationship though they were off here and there—that was something the Emperor helped to keep in the relationship. He was still careful in that matter because he wanted to give it as a gift only to the woman the Emperor would show the one he would marry, who had also made the same choice.
He counted Sheyon, Lynn, and Anya as three failed relationships. There were good times and bad times with each one. For the most part, being in relationships had brought out the good in him, and he learned a lot of things about what a woman is from all three. He felt he had a lot to be thankful for, but he also knew that each of them was not meant for him.
As time moved on, Jay felt he needed a new crowd and a new beginning. Everything had to be made new.