Log Entry

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I've always been able to keep my worlds separate. Like night versus day. Master of the light and dark arts vs a humble priest in training. The watcher and protector of the city vs the mild mannered, book store employee. Templar vs Alister Dante. Even with the addition of my wrestling career, compartmentalization wasn't an issue. Maintaining the barriers, proved to be rather easy. After all, I had rules that I abided by and a strict code in place, to prevent the destruction of these boundaries. I adhered to such principals, not only to restrict certain aspects of my life from merging and bleeding into the other portions, but to also safeguard myself and those that I care for from harm.

Although, this more or less, pertained to the very human threat that I've encountered many times during my adventures over rooftops, patrolling the city and protecting the innocents. Since a hood, bandanna and mysterious, stand-offish, brooding disposition, doesn't really throw sinister abominations, otherworldly entities and dark, dastardly demons, off ones trail like it does with your everyday, run-of-the-mill street thug or criminal. Being that I am human, myself and I live and function as a regular member of society, the common offender or lawbreaker, seeking revenge is still dangerous though, so these precautions that I take serve as a vital role in keeping myself and everyone around me, safe. For undertaking a quest such as mine, you are taught evil wears many guises and not all of them are supernatural, some are extremely mortal and knowing this, you must always be prepared for danger, from every turn.

That being said, I never found an issue with keeping my worlds apart. I had walls in place, that were heavily fortified, nothing would make me drop my guard enough for that to ever change.

Then I met Trinity and the walls would slowly start to crumble. Gradual at first, I wouldn't come to realize how badly they had deteriorated, until today.

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Alister Dante stood frozen in the kitchen, caught completely off guard after he descended the stairs that led from his bedroom in the attic, his eyes now fixated on Father Franklin and Trinity, sitting at the table, drinking coffee and chatting. The scene was rather friendly and calm. Yet it still managed to fill Alister with apprehension. For this was the picture perfect image of what he always tried to avoid. Two people, each from very different parts of his life, in the same room, talking. In a way this was sort of a nightmare for him.

Alister became acquainted with Trinity, during a night of patrolling. Alister had rescued her from what appeared to be cowboys, only to find himself thrust into an unbelievable situation, involving a ten foot tall, glowing green horse, that emerged from a suitcase. Later Trinity would admit that she had been following these cowboys, observing their activities and when they got wise to her snooping, they appeared in her home and abducted her. Their intentions weren't professed but obviously it was something nefarious, if they went out of their way to kidnap the girl from her home.

These weren't your typical cowboys either, if that wasn't clear. Dubbed "The Equestrians" their origin remained unknown; however, what was established was that they were keepers of Hellion Stallions, the giant green, glowing steeds that were released from briefcases. Not only that but they were also shape-shifters of some sort. Their true form being something that appeared to be a shapeless mass of clay or putty. Though Alister didn't witness these beings long enough to uncover this information, Trinity willingly shared her intel with him. Following this, he made the decision that would change everything, he would reveal his identity and crash at Trinity's apartment. With the purest of intentions, he merely stayed for her protection in exchange for a couple hours of sleep.

Still, nothing out of what occurred, could actually be used to explain how they knew each other. Not to Father Franklin or anyone else associated with the church.

So then how exactly did she introduce herself and explain how she knew Alister? What were her and Father Franklin discussing? Most of all, how did she find him? Yes, since he met her, they reconvened in order for her to show him where she last witnessed "The Equestrians" only for the mission to be a bust. As it seemed "The Equestrians" abandoned the location. With their whereabouts unknown and these creatures still at large, Alister took to dropping by Trinity's apartment to check on her, during his nightly patrols.

After a few nights of this, it was safe to say they were at the very least, friendly acquaintances. Their encounters were always relaxed and most of the time, he didn't even keep his disguise in place. Little did he know, this would ultimately lead to Trinity's unexpected visit. Highly unexpected, since he never once told her where he precisely lived, never gave her an exact location or an address, he merely mentioned that he stayed within the attic of a church. Finding a nameless church in New York, wasn't particularly an easy thing to do. So how did she find him?

"Good morning Alister, how are you faring on this fine day?"

Father Franklin's words snapped Alister back to reality, though he played this off like he was merely having trouble waking up.

"I'm good, Father. In need of coffee but good." He walked over to a cabinet that housed various dishes and retrieved a cup before pouring himself some coffee. "How are you?"

"Oh splendid. Especially since I had your friend, Trinity to keep me company. It's curious why you haven't mentioned her before."

"Well we're really more like acquaintances at best." Trinity supplied with a smile. "I met Alister while he was at work at the..." She hadn't thought this through that far ahead and beyond Alister being a priest in training, she had no idea what he did in his daily, normal life. The instant realization caused her to panic as she paused, her mind floundering about while it tried to construe a believable lie. "..the bible-ary." In the end she came up with that. Bravo. Trinity. Bravo. The sound of a single, solitary, set of hands clapping, echo in the distance. Alister raises an eyebrow and looks around for a second, he seems to be the only one who can hear it and finds it peculiar because no one in the immediate vicinity is causing the sound.

"She met me at the bookstore." Alister quickly chimed in. "She needed help finding a Bible."

"That's right. I finally decided it was high time for me to give the 'good book' a read. Alister was there, to thankfully, help me find it. Which was a total life saver for me because I'm terrible at locating what I'm looking for when I'm in a bookstore. Without his help, I probably would have wound up leaving the place, with a big ol' book about satan."

"You mean the Satanic Bible? Are you saying that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the Holy Bible and the Satanic Bible?"

"No... I just meant, I'd be lost and frustrated and grab the first thing that I seen, with my luck it would be the exact opposite of what I was there for."

"Being unable to find the Bible would cause you to supplement the Lord's teachings with an unholy text intended for the followers of Lucifer?"

"It was meant to be an extreme contrast." A nervous laugh. "You know, to showcase my inability to locate what I'm searching for when I'm shopping in a bookstore."

"She's kidding, Father. It was a joke."

"Yes, that is true. I was attempting humor at my own expense. That's all. Just trying to be funny. I would never mistake a book about Satanism with the Bible."

"I see, that's good to hear. Tell me, which version of the Bible did you purchase?"

"There's more than one?!?! I mean... yeah, of course, there's more than one. I knew that. I know this... I know this... cause I bought my very own copy of the Bible. Naturally, I would know what I bought, right? It would be crazy if I left a store and didn't know what I purchased. Who does that? Nobody does that. Anyways, I bought... the... first one? The first edition of the first one in the series? A Game of Thrones?"

"A Game of Thrones?"

"Oh that's not right, is it? Oh boy, it sure isn't. That's the first book in a series that was turned into a television show for HBO. No, what I meant was... The Fellowship of the Ring?"

"Excuse me?"

"The Shannara Chronicles?"

"Are you trying to be funny again?"

"Yes, that is what I'm doing. Heh. Silly Trinity, always the jester."

"So what version did you buy?"

"King... Midas."

Clearing his throat, Alister coughed as he spoke. "James."

"Yes. King James. I picked up the King James version. Haven't quite gotten the chance to crack that sucker open and dive in yet, but it is definitely a priority on the list. I really want to set a side a day when I can devote it to just reading that baby, cover to cover. Yeah. Totally binge out on the Bible, maybe order a pizza, it'll be great."

"You intend on reading the King James Bible, from start to finish? Straight through? No interruptions? No breaks?"

"Only to pay the pizza guy."

"Interesting. That sounds rather ambitious of you and I wish you luck in your endeavors."

"Hell yeah. I'm going to make that book my bi..." Alister's eyes widened as he shook his head - no, in an extremely clear and predominant fashion. Father Franklin didn't notice him doing this but Trinity did and it instantly, halted her words. Tilting her head, she tried to stop the train wreck before it had a chance of taking place and repaired her statement mid-way. "...biggest accomplishment."

"Your biggest accomplishment? My dear, while reading the Bible is important, I would like to think that you would achieve something beyond that as your biggest accomplishment."

"No..." Pausing, she turned her focus towards Dante for aid and he merely shrugged as he took a sip of coffee. So she turned back to Father Franklin and stammered. "I meant that..." Trinity snapped her attention Alister's way, a look of desperation in her eyes. He was really being of no help to her, in her hour of need. She would have to come up with something on her own. "On a book level." Not her worst work.

"Right then. Well, in any case, I'm sure you'll achieve your goal. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to tend to my garden. The azaleas are in need of watering. Have a blessed day, child."

With that, Father Franklin rose and exited the kitchen. Casting a look of suspicion towards Alister before he left, that told Alister there was definitely an awkward conversation destined for the future. Taking a swallow of coffee, Alister broke away from Father Franklin's condemning stare. When the elderly priest finally departed the kitchen, Alister took his place at the table.

"It's like twenty degrees outside. How does he have a garden?"

"Greenhouse. It's behind the church."

"Ah."

Opening the window a crack, Alister fired up a cigarette.

"Pardon my brashness but what are you doing here?"

"Ouch. I thought we were friends. Since you seen where I live, I figured it was only fair, that I see where you stay. You know, cause we're friends."

"How were you able to determine where I lived?"

"I called the XWF records department and asked for your address. The person working just gave it to me. He didn't even ask who I was. I think he might have been on something. Before I hung up with him, he called me... Captain, for some unknown reason."

"Fantastic. And when I told you my name, you looked me up and discovered that I wrestle for the XWF."

"Damn skippy. That popped up for you real quick, when I googled your ass. You're a pretty badass wrestler, by the way. I guess that makes sense though, what with you being a masked vigilante and all. It would be kind of weird for you not to know your way around a fight."

"I'm really glad that you didn't bring that up in front of Father Franklin."

"Ha! I'm not an idiot."

Alister took a drag from his cigarette. "Says the girl who sited a book by George R. R. Martin as a version of the Bible." He couldn't help himself from smirking as he exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Okay. Clearly, I'm not a religious person."

"Clearly." Softly, he chuckled.

"That doesn't mean that I'd be stupid enough to blow your cover. It's kind of obvious that you wouldn't let Father Franklin in on your super secret, extra curricular activities. I doubt the church would promote or encourage such behavior."

"Oh most definitely not." He laughed and took a pull from his cigarette. "In fact, I'd probably not only find myself without a home but I'm fairly certain, that men in white coats would be waiting outside the church for me too. In order to usher me off to some sort of mental health facility." A slowly released, cloud of smoke. "Given my past, coupled with finding out that I was out scouring the city at night, in the name of protecting its citizens, it would only make sense for Father Franklin to do that. That's not even factoring in what would happen when he found all my hidden research and volumes of texts that would otherwise seem... unholy. Or evil. Not to mention the weapons. Yep. I would absolutely be taken away and committed to a psych ward of some sort."

"What happened in your past that would make Father Franklin think you needed to be locked up."

"Lets just say, I wasn't born in a church."

"Alright." Trinity lowered her eyes briefly as she bit her lip, sensing she was treading into waters where she wasn't welcome. "So what's the plan for today? What are you doing?"

"Packing and then taking a trip to the airport. I wrestle tomorrow night. Got a match against Dillinger D'Marco and Zane Norrison."

"Wow. An inter-dimensional, demi-god and a zombie."

"It's for the zombie's Hart title too."

"Sweet. Do you want a ride to the airport?"

Alister sighed.

"Sure. That would be great."

"Excellent." She hopped in her chair with excitement and squealed. "This is going to be so much fun!"

He didn't know why her comment or enthusiasm made him weary but it did. It was just a ride to the airport, after all. No need to get carried away. As he was quickly learning, getting overly excited and showing a great deal of zeal and pep was kind of Trinity's thing.