So, I might have done something stupid.

I was getting bored with management duty and I decided to go blow off some steam... So I went and slaughtered a church...

Now before anyone panics, as much as I would have no qualms about slaughtering a church of innocent god fearing civilians these were Archangel servants. Not the militant kind like my good buddy over at Halo Break, but more passive let's wait for The Archangel to claim us kind.I know that this probably didn't upset The Archangel at all really... Just made him stronger actually, but it made me feel better regardless... Unfortunately now The more militant side in the area is actively trying to find me and exact revenge. Not likely to happen, but it was still probably not the brightest idea to make an enemy while I'm still working on gathering new recruits.

So, no worries I'll be fine probably, but we might have to move once Sandy, Ryan and The Facet get back from their respective jobs.

Speaking of note to self... If I intend to fight The Archangel and The Convocation I should probably start gathering incendiary weaponry again...

God I hate using Fire Weapons... Fire makes me feel so... uncomfortable...

Okay... I slept a bit longer than I intended to, but at least my injuries are healing nicely...

I may have slept almost a whole day...  Possibly a whole day... Stuff happened while I was asleep though.

For one thing Sandy returned with a new recruit... His name is Ryan... The moment he found out he was being essentially conscripted into a supernatural cult, however he wanted to be called Shadow... We're calling him Ryan. I mean technically I suppose he should be called 2, but fuck that shit...

I'll probably get him to write up a post or something... The Facet still has access to the Children's Blog, but I don't really want to use it so, I guess unless I want to figure out his deal and write it down myself, I'll have to let someone else post on my precious blog...

More importantly...

I talked to the voice in my head and got some answers... Kind of...

So, when I questioned the voice speaking to me about who it was, it ignored me at first and so I told it I know it's not The Quiet and that this is all some kind of scam at which point it responded.

"It's no scam... We are not the Quiet, but nothing we have said is untrue... We seek as well the coming of The Quiet and are doing what we can to bring forth it's arrival. The only falsehood has been our identity and perhaps we could tell you... We are The Choir, but not..." they answered.

"What does that mean?"

"The Choir is... Almost like a hivemind, like EAT or The Convocation, but not... We are more like The Dying Man... Part of one entity, but separated. Many minds making up one mass and mostly working together to achieve our goals, occasionally, however there is strife... We are a Rogue Choir Mind... Imagine if part of your conscious mind just suddenly decided to think it's own thoughts. That is what we are... If you wish to refer to us specifically... You may call us Coda. We feel that would be appropriate,"

"I don't know what that is so I'll just take you at your word... So, next question why?"

"Sorry?"

"Why do you want The Quiet to end this universe?"

"Because we are bored with it. This universe bores us and we wish it to end. We will remain and end with it and we will be alleviated of our boredom," it answered.

"Oh well... That's a reason I suppose,"

"Of course as you undoubtedly already know we are not the entirety of The Children's Benefactors... There are two others who work with us. We provide the illusions and the messages, the others provide the knowledge and the protections that keep The Children safe and working. Though you yourself succeeded in circumventing our protection once,"

"Oh right that's a good point... Why the hell did you want me dead? If you're the one giving the orders then you were the one who ordered my 'erasure'"

"We... Regret that-"

"-Because it turned out bad?"

"Yes, we figured you for a threat... That eventually your masters would send you after us either way so we sought to eliminate you first... It was a poor decision... We should have approached it more... Intelligently... Had we known what your daughter knew about your past we would have sent her and your son more diplomatically..."

"Probably still wouldn't have worked,"

"You are correct... They hated you and wanted you dead,"

"Not what I was thinking, but yeah that too..."

"Are you satisfied with our answers for now?"

"I suppose so... Although I would like to point out... We are not friends... We are allies, because I can't currently kill you, but you tried to have me killed and you bear responsibility for all that has happened to me since that decision, but luckily for you... I hate The Convocation and That pompous Archangel asshole even more. So, we're allies and I will help you bring the Quiet and end this worthless universe,"

"That is an acceptable arrangement," it said and then I woke up... That entire conversation having happened in a dream in which I thought I had already been awake. I'm fairly sure the conversation was real though... Probably... Anyway not much else to say and I need to go have a talk with The Facet about some things... Nothing important, just talk about future plans and stuff..."

Alright, alright alright alrightalrightalright

Okay, so taking stock... The Facet is still alive and has sent me a nice little message. Not the one you may have seen in the comments another one.

It was delivered via phone call. Apparently he assumed I'd be more willing to listen and not try to kill him if he wasn't physically there... He was partially right. I still hung up on him about four times before he managed to inform me, 1 is also still alive. That I never even really came close to wiping out the Children entirely.

Honestly it made a lot of sense and I am surprised I didn't think about it before...

The Archive weren't going to kill him. I mean they might have at one point, but as the probably very soon only remaining member of a new type of servant with strange abilities they weren't just going to throw that away no matter how much they hated him personally.

They instead locked him away to experiment on and learn what they could about The Children.

So, yeah I never really managed to kill 9 or 1. That's 2 failures out of 13 possible.

Still pretty good, but a farcry from my initial goal of 100% success rate. Now you might be thinking I could always just go kill him at the archive, but that's not very likely. The Archive are very very good at dealing with hostile servants and the only advantage I'd have now is the same defense mechanism I personally told them how to get around, so no... I may be good, but I don't think I could kill my way through the entire Archive to kill 1... He's safer there than almost anywhere else in the world and that pisses me off.

So, at current the number of surviving Children is 4... Oh right... That was another thing. Sandy is one of The Children of Nothing now apparently... At least according to 9 and I confirmed she has the defense mechanism... Apparently I unintentionally made her part of it...


So, yeah Myself, begrudgingly, Sandy accidentally, 9 and 1 are the current membership of The Children of Nothing.

Also, you might be wondering why after finding this out I did not immediately kill Sandy...

Well I can't... Not that I'm physically incapable, but I don't want too... I mean it's not some personal attachment to her or anything, but I feel comfortable having her here... She's a tether linking me back to the times when things were simple and I ruled a neighbourhood with an iron fist.

So, I can't kill her... Not until I've returned my life to that at least...

Anyway... The point is... My vow is now completely impossible to perform... I don't think killing The Facet will actually be possible. My one shot to do so already failed me and it won't work again. 1 is outside my reach, I don't want to kill Sandy just yet at least and I'm certainly not killing me... So, considering the impossibility and the continued threat of Nathan... Why don't I accept The Facet's proposal...

Honestly I've thought about it... A few times now... It's kind of a win win... I'd get rid of Nathan, I'd be in charge of something I could rule with an iron fist again and it would really really piss off The Convocation. I mean I haven't had much time to think about it, but I hate them... I hate everything about them. They ruined my life. I've been too busy to really think about my revenge, but I'm thinking about it now. Pissing off The Convocation is top of my list now.

Anyway sorry right... So given all those benefits, why wouldn't I accept the proposal...

Well there's one con that balances against all those pros and tips the scale in the cons favour...

 and here it is...

 FUCK THAT ARROGANT PRICK IN HIS SMUG FACE! I am The Faceless Bastard. It doesn't matter who the enemy is I don't need some smarmy fuck to help me out. I'll kill Nathan with my own hands and then... MAYBE! MAYBE we'll talk about the future of The Children of Nothing.

Got it?

Good...

So, I'm spending tonight in a hotel.

I hate traveling out of town. I'm not worried about leaving my neighbourhood alone. The birds will watch it and make sure no one tries to do anything stupid, but I still don't like being away from my charges. It is my job to keep them safe and in line. Still, when my god tells me I have to go away for a while, I do not argue. I'm here to keep an eye on someone. It's not an unusual job. The target is some random girl. A real annoying type. Pink everywhere and talks non-stop. I can't wait to find out what The Convocation want me to do to her. Until then I'm just stuck watching her. One might be wondering why they can't just watch her themselves?

I don't know. I don't question The Convocation when they tell me to do things. Especially when it means I might get to kill some barbie girl wannabe.

This job is pretty boring so far though, so how about I tell you a bit more about myself. I already told you my name and a bit about my history, but let's talk about how I met The Convocation and came to have them nesting inside of me. That's the commonly used term for what I am by the way. I am a Nest of The Convocation. They hide inside me until I need them. Most nests cut themselves open to let the birds free of their skin, but I have this big gaping hole where my face should be that makes it much easier.

My story begins as many stories do, with a happy family. There was the father, the mother and the happy little children. Then one day there was a fire. The Father worked to get his family out safely, but failed to get himself out. He burned. He burned for a long time. He was eventually rescued. Near death. Most of his body burned away. He couldn't move, his muscles and nerves destroyed by the fire. He couldn't see his eyes having boiled away in his skull. Probably some brain damage, who knows. He survived though. It was a miracle he survived they say, but he didn't think so. He thought he should have died... So, did his wife. She couldn't deal with him anymore. Blind and paralyzed she had to provide for him. His throat was badly burned and the raspy sound of his breaths and attempts to talk grated on her ears. She left him and took the kids. He remained all alone. Nobody to provide for him. He waited to die. Then he was visited. The visitors were a large group of birds who surrounded him and told him they could fix him. All he had to do was give himself to them. Of course he agreed and they turned him into a Nest. The alterations they made to his body, made him able to move again. Made him able to speak without it hurting. Made him live again. His eyes still didn't work, but they could see for him. He didn't need those eyes anymore, he didn't need that hideous face and so, he took a machete and carved it off. Everything from just below the nose to the forehead carved away, leaving only a void. The birds look out from that void and through them he sees. They gave him his first mission. To prove his loyalty. Find the woman he loved. The woman who left him to die and kill her in turn and his children. He did so without hesitation. The birds helped him find her and he arrived one day. Carved her heart out of her chest and crushed it beneath his boot. The kids weren't there, however, to this day he doesn't know where they've gone. The birds didn't mind and called it a success and he became their servant.

He became The Faceless Bastard.

Gonna spend the rest of the night watching this girl sleep... Hope your night will be less boring then mine.

The Delay Was For Dramatic Effect

So, I am a busy little bird and will be flitting about on a number of errands soon and I will tell you about that later on. For now though I have kept you in suspense long enough.

Let me tell you about Gods.

There are a number of Gods... Small ones, tall ones, some without physical forms or at least physical forms that defy categorization...

My personal god is called The Convocation. Now how do I explain this simply... They are birds. Absolutely perfectly normal birds...

However, these are no absolutely perfectly normal birds! No, these are absolutely perfectly normal birds that are part of a absolutely perfectly abnormal hive mind and as a result these absolutely perfectly normal birds can do amazing things! Like cause lightning strikes. Also nest inside the still living and normally functioning body of ordinary people. Like myself.

What you thought the title of this blog was a joke? Well it is, but it's also accurate. The Convocation are somewhat unrelated to my lack of a face though. I'll get to that eventually.

Now, some of you might be thinking why would a god have a servant as bloodthirsty and crazy as I am? Well I have two things to say to you.

First. Have you read history? Religious people are completely insane and some of the most cruel and murderous people to have ever walked the earth.

Second. Nobody said all gods are kind and loving. The Convocation does not love and it is not kind. It is a god of fear and it exists for no other reason, but to punish those who it deems deserving of it's punishment. Some, it merely kills with the power of the storm it controls and some get worse fates. Their bodies pecked apart, by swarms of birds or dragged up into the sky never to be seen again.

Why serve one of these horrifying gods?

Well... There's a simple answer and a more complicated answer. The more complicated answer I'll get to at a later date, but for now the simple answer is.

Doesn't everyone want to be on the winning side?

Upholding Property Values through Fear.

So, let me tell you about myself. The name is Sergei Korchaviv, though most people know me better as The Faceless Bastard. I'm a russian immigrant to Canada and I live on a mostly quiet street. I'm the unnofficial head of the neighbourhood watch and association. The association is made up of myself and three other people who all do exactly as I say and together we set the basic standards for life in this neighbourhood and I make it very clear what happens if anyone fails to meet those standards. Like I did with Mr. Greeley. Was it Greeley? I think it was... I don't care to go back and check and he doesn't seem to want to talk to me for some reason. Not very neighbourly of him.

Some of the more astute of you may be wondering, how the hell does this work? Why hasn't anyone called the cops on me? Why does no one stand up to me?

Well in order the answers are, quite well thank you, they did and that is why I don't have a neighbour on the other side anymore and they do, but they usually aren't capable of standing up afterwards. See, here's the deal. I'm not just some crazy psychopath, running this neighbourhood like a tiny tinpot dictatorship, I'm a magical crazy psychopath, running this neighbourhood like a tiny tinpot Theocratic Dictatorship. The police who came after me were disappeared and any records of them were removed from the police department records. The person who snitched on me, was mysteriously struck by lightning... In her basement. Her husband was struck by lightning as well, two provinces away during a business trip and all those who try to stand up to me learn they are not fighting a man, they are fighting a monster who works as the mortal will of a powerful and angry god.

Why don't people just move away? Oh they do. I even let them, but the eyes of my god watch them everywhere they go and if they ever speak of what happens in my neighbourhood, they'll never be able to speak again.

So, that is how my happy little neighbourhood continues to run content and free as long as everyone continues to listen to me.

Now, you may also wonder... Who is this god of mine?

Well... Let me tell you about my God... Wait wait... Let me do this right...

*Ding dong* Have you heard the good news about The Convocation?