Chapter 16

With the horses inside and the guards simply watching without putting up a fight, James, Bart and Shernine made it inside the city walls. Looking up Bart realized the clouds were beginning the swirl around the city. Their cloaks fluttered in the warm wind of the storm. Thunder rumbled and screeched above, but there wasn’t a drop of rain. The streets of the city where empty except for the garbage blowing around in the wind. It was dark between the occasional flashes of lightning. James and Shernine followed Bart in mounting their horses. Shernine pulled the seeing stone from his cape and let it rest in his palm. It was glowing brightly. The yellow light was intense enough to illuminate his face, but wasn't clear where it was coming from.

“Which way Shernine?” James yelled through the wind. Shernine shook his head and held out the stone. Bart furrowed his brow and tried to distinguish a source on the shining surface. Whatever the rock was responding to, Bart knew there was a large amount of it around them. Shernine placed it back in his pocket. With so much activity there was no possibility of getting a sense of direction.

“Useless, stupid rock.” He muttered under his breath, somewhat uncharacteristically frustrated. “He could be anywhere in this city. This would’ve been easier if we could have reached them in the forest.” James shook his head and looked down at the cobblestone beneath them. It would have been easier. Much easier. What was the point of taking Michael all the way here? James suddenly jolted up straight and turned to Bart.

“He must need something here!” Bart’s eyes slowly opened.

“The woman!” He sped off on his horse without any further explanation.

“What’s he talking about James?” Shernine shouted, but James had already begun following Bart. “Alright, fine. I don’t need to know.” He pushed on after them and was able to quickly catch up, weighing so little. They pushed through street after street behind Bart’s command. He seemed to remember the routes easily, never hesitating to make a turn. Thunder struck somewhere south scaring the horses to their hind legs. Bart smoothly leapt from his horse landing hard on his feet. He gestured down an alley and starting running ahead. Shernine and James followed as fast as they could. James finally recognized where they were. He pointed to a door in front of them.

“There!” James shouted. Shernine pointed to the handle while running.

“Unlock.” Bart couldn’t hear it over the sound of his heavy breathing or the storm but the locks on the door all came undone on Shernine’s command. In one swing he rolled the handle and pushed the door in with his shoulder. He suddenly leapt ahead lightly from his left foot soaring by James and appearing again by the door before running inside behind Bart. James eventually caught up and headed in after them. He was hunching over, trying to catch his breath when he looked up to see what was happening only to realize he was suddenly standing in a field. He turned behind himself and there was no door; he had appeared somewhere completely different.

It was warm out. There was a slight breeze that swept the smell of flowers to James’ face. Tall, green grass brushed up against his ankles. He could hear birds chirping in the distance and crickets near him in the brush. As he took a breath he realized it was the warmest air that had entered his lungs in weeks. He finally felt the heat of the sun against his skin. Another breath and his whole body felt as though it were being rejuvenated by the air, filling him with new strength. His shoulder no longer felt sore and his legs didn’t ache from the constant traveling. His hunger ebbed away as a serene calmness swept over him. Life was coming back to his abused body. It had been so long since he had felt this way it was almost foreign to him.

He began to walk through the hills of the field with no clear direction or objective; he couldn’t remember how he’d gotten there or what he was trying to do. He simply continued to walk with no motive, letting the crests of the hills guide his journey. Hours passed but the sun never moved out of place and the clouds maintained their shapes, frozen in the sky. For a moment a sinking feeling in his stomach distracted as the sudden realization that the landscape was stagnant yet the subtle beauty of it all held his attention. The ground underneath his shoes supported him gently as the path carried him aimlessly along. Eventually the trees became so familiar he stopped turning his head to admire them as he passed; he was sure he’d had memorized every leaf. The sinking feeling started to return to his stomach.

James’ mind was swirling; his thoughts seemed to be filled with thousands of muffled voice all trying to reach him at once. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head, feeling as though he was unable to control his body. The once clear painting like horizon seemed to blur the more he attempted to concentrate. The once fresh air seemed to provide no solace when his body began to ache again. He didn’t have any perception of how much time had passed since he entered the field. He wondered for a moment before pausing in place, trying to remember where he had come from.

A few fuzzy memories returned to him as he rubbed his temples. James remembered there were other people around, before he arrived, but couldn’t come up with an identity for any of them. The figures in his mind where plagued by blank, featureless faces. He wasn’t able to make out a location either, seeing only shadows in his mind of the dark alley. He dropped his arms to his sides in frustration when his hand brushed up against the hilt of the sword hanging by his waist. He froze. The once painting like atmosphere was suddenly grey. The clouds could no longer be distinguished against the muddled sky and the leaves had lost all color and began to blur together. James tried to concentrate on the woods that he found himself in front of. They seemed familiar. He could feel a very fine sand mold to the shape of his feet. The trees were barren far into the sky where the pines blocked out the sky. The trunks had a dark color that filled the forest making it difficult to see inside. James tried to focus. Somewhere a very small black pinhole caught his attention. The was nothing to be made out in the blackness as it slowly grew in front of him until it was the size of a droplet of water. James couldn’t make out how far away it was from him, seemingly hanging nowhere in the scene at all.

He took a step forward. The droplet fell softly into the sand, spreading over the surface, covering the grains in the same black color. Looking down James could see the floor beneath him was beginning to be enveloped by the darkness as it spread over the world in front of him. From the sky raindrops continued to fall, though there were no clouds. More droplets began to form, some falling from the air and other floating up from the ground, covering the sky. Quickly all of the colors began to disappear. The air became thick, yet cold. It burned James’ lungs as he began to heave in an attempt to keep himself standing when he suddenly became dizzy.

As he struggled to keep his composure, far in front of him the shape of a beastly figure began to emerge. A dark, gangly body hung below the skull of a wildebeest. It was unusually tall and unnaturally skinny. James’ eyes widened as he saw it begin to crawl towards him. Fire dripped from its mouth as it opened it to speak. He thought his heart was going to explode as an irrational fear of what it might say swept over him. As it’s grin widened James tried to shake himself awake. He thought his head might explode before everything vanished within an instant. James struggled to keep his eyes open as they fluttered in the newfound light. He found himself in the house of the woman who had taken care of Michael before, in Borhevan. The old man wasn’t there, but the lady was sitting in a chair at the table. Michael was laid out on the floor in front of him, but appeared to be breathing. Bart and Shernine were also in the room.

“What happened?” James mumbled in astonishment. Bart and Shernine looked at each other hesitantly before turning to Michael. “Is Michael okay?”

“of course, he’s fine. Are… you okay?” Shernine said with a cautious look.

“How long was I out for?” Bart cocked his head to the side and looked at James, concerned.

“Out?”

“Like… unconscious?” Bart and Shernine turned to each other again.

“James, we were talking to you ten seconds ago. What do you remember?”

“I thought I just got inside.” The old lady began laughing. Blood dripped down her teeth onto her chin.

“What do you remember?” She grinned with a sickly smile. James wasn’t sure what she was talking about but he was frightened by her tone. “Did you see anything interesting while you were sleeping?”

The shape of the monster still hung in James’ mind. It felt more real than it did a dream. “Was it really here?”

“Not here…” she coughed and pointed to his chest, “there.” Her laugh was disturbing to hear, like a whaling lunatic, cackling at herself.

“Certainly not,” Shernine reassured him, “but the demon was here. Do not be fooled if he clouds your vision, it is simply a trick.” The old woman spat a glob of blood onto the table. Her eyes bugged out of her head as she made eye contact with each of them with a patronizing grin. James assumed she must be insane. Suddenly Michael stirred and lifted his head from the floor. Bart pushed past Shernine and grabbed Michael under his shoulders to lift him to his feet. “Careful!” Shernine warned him. Bart and Michael looked at Shernine in confusion.

“I’d advise you to keep a distance from him.” James and Bart were offended at first, but Shernine seemed to be serious. “I’m not sure how much of him is Michael and how much is something else.” Michael was rocking around, barely conscious while muttering something inaudible. His head shook back and forth and he drooled from his mouth, his eyes were dark.

“It’s too late now; the child’s mind will know nothing but its own eagerness to die.” Shernine looked at the woman with disgust. “He’ll be subjected to every…” He knocked the woman on the head with his staff with such force to leave her lying barely alive on the floor. Michael stared at the ground, huffing while holding onto Bart for support, who had grabbed him despite Shernine’s dismissal of them. He was clearly very weak still. James wandered over and grabbed Michael under his other shoulder. He turned to Shernine.

“What’s the plan now? I’m not sure we can make it to Alchem in time.” Shernine frowned. “He doesn’t look like he’ll make it more than a day.” James hollered. He placed his staff back behind him in his cloak. With a small sigh he looked back at them very unconfidently.

“I’ll try my best to get rid of it, mind you I’m not as experienced as Alchem.”

“Can you do it?” James yelled back. He wasn’t sure he considered Shernine to be strong enough to handle such a beast on his own, from what he had gathered. The whole point of finding Alchem was to get someone better at dealing with demons. He had been given the impression from the beginning that Shernine wasn’t capable of doing it on his own. James didn’t trust his lackluster demeanor, especially compared to Alchem’s clear perception and experience, even if he lacked strength in his old age.

“We don’t have a choice. If Shernine says he can do it, then he can.” Bart reached over and put his hand on James’ shoulder. He nodded with a confident glare that made James find it difficult to disagree. James realized the beast passed through him, in some way, but he managed to sense its weakness. “We need to find a safe place to do this.”

Less than an hour later the group made their way into the same inn they had stayed at nights before. They alternated helping Michael walk with them as he was barely able to hold any of his own weight. His head often hung limply from his shoulders and he was unable to speak, simply groaning when he needed to rest. They entered the establishment unceremoniously carrying Michael by his legs and arms. No one was in the main bar except the innkeeper. He looked up from the counter where his head was resting to see them push through the door together.

“Oh no, no. We’re not doing this again!” He shook his head back and forth with a hand held up in front of himself. James dropped Michael’s feet leaving him in Bart’s hands, struggling to hold him underneath his shoulders. He pulled the gun out of Michael’s belt and wondered over the counter, pressing the bottom of the gun underneath the owner’s chin. Seemingly unfazed, he dropped his hand with a huff and pointed to all of the keys hanging up on the wall behind him while pushing the barrel away from his scruffy beard. James darted forward, grabbing the key before dashing upstairs. He unlocked the door just in time for Bart to burst through and drop Michael onto the bed. Bart fell into a chair in the corner heaving from exhaustion. Michael coughed and gargled as small bits of blood spilled from his mouth. Shernine was not far behind; he had been staring aimlessly around while James and Bart took care of Michael. For the first time James sensed a bit of fear in him.

He wandered in behind James and looked on with wide eyes as Michael convulsed and choked in front of him on the mattress. He pulled his walking stick out from behind his robe and grabbed it firmly with both hands.

“No matter what happens here you must remain strong against this demon. If it speaks to you, ignore it. It will say anything to stop me from removing it from Michael, even try to pit you against me.” He waited for James and Bart to nod before continuing. “Second, if it tries to latch on to one of you, kill yourself before you lose control.” “James turned to Bart, who nodded as if it were an ordinary request. He looked back to Shernine and agreed as well, despite how outlandish it seemed. “Finally, when it tries to kill you, aim for the skull, I seem to remember that working well.”

“Seem to?” Bart muttered, almost to himself.

“I’m not sure I remember how any of this works so take it all with a grain of salt.” His signature grin began showing again. “James, what was it called?” Shernine faced Michael again, with his staff still ready in hand.

“Theogushek.” The screeching that followed was so boisterous James fell to his knees, holding his ears. Michael’s eyes rolled back into his head as the darkness escaped from his gaping mouth. A black misty hand crawled out followed by the head revealing a goat like skull the dripped fire from its smoldering tongue. The body soon spilt forward and it stood on its doglike legs over Michael, hunched underneath the low ceiling. Its limbs cracked and groaned as if stood firmly above the bed. With its shoulders pushed back it stretched its neck out with a deep bellowing roar. James looked to Shernine and Bart but they weren’t moving, or even reacting to the event. Time had appeared to have frozen around them. There was a great deal of thickness in the air, James almost felt as if he was suffocating. The monster then turned to James. He drew his sword holding it firmly with both hands and his arms pointed down to the floor. His sword began to glow red and was quickly engulfed in a red flame. The demon grinned; it outstretched a hand with fingers that appeared to grow longer as it moved towards James. He began to raise his hands, readying himself to swing. Suddenly the beast’s hand lurched forward and clutched the tip of the blade.

James opened his eyes and looked across the field he found himself sitting in. He felt very calm. He was lying back with his palms pressed against the soft grass. His head tilted back towards the sky as he watched clouds gradually swing overhead. He gazed on for quite some time but the shapes began to run together, seemingly repeating themselves. He lurched forward and pulled a handful of grass from the grand in front of him. A calming sensation rushed over him as he pulled each strand apart into small pieces which fell to the ground under him. After a couple of hours, he managed to stand up and take a breath of the air around him, filling his lungs with warmth.

For a quick moment he had a sense of doubt as he scratched his forehead. He remembered he was supposed to be doing something. He had some sort of instruction. He shook his head and began walking. His shoes were more comfortable than he remembered. The grass brushed up against ankles. Calmness continued to sweep over him as he walked from hill to hill. He looked down at his feet feeling somewhat shocked that they weren’t aching from walking so far. He was still wearing his old tattered pair of shoes that had been soaked through and dried out multiple times. The thick stitching was coming undone revealing parts of his socks. Every time he looked down at them it reminded him of how sore his feat had been. He hesitated before taking another step. The calmness in the air faded as James tried to remember what had cause his shoes to deteriorate so badly. His feet weren’t looking much better, which made him wonder what could have been so urgent as to warrant traveling on damaged feet. He looked up in front of himself trying to find a familiar place in his memory when he noticed his cottage standing not far away.

He walked over the crest of the hill in front of him where the small home was built. He stopped for a moment and tried to remember why he needed to get home. His parents were waiting for him there, but for some reason he couldn’t imagine himself returning yet. He racked his brain trying to think of a reason he wouldn’t go home. Suddenly, out of his peripheral vision he could see the stable where the horses were raised. It was tall, as if it had been stretched towards the sky. He turned away from the house and slowly moved closer while the atmosphere dampened and the light of the sun faded away. His feet began to feel soar only now after hours of walking. James didn’t like raising the horses but felt compelled to check on them. He approached the door of the barn and placed his hand on the handle. It was cold. The sensation seemed almost new, like he hadn’t ever been cold before. He paused for another moment and considered what he was doing, and what might be waiting for him.

James sensed something behind the door that sent a shiver down his spine. A strange mix of fear and uncertainty flushed over him. When he turned back to the cottage he figured his parents would be inside waiting for him. He hadn’t seen them in weeks. They must be worried. He looked down at the handle. Why hadn’t they seen him in weeks, he wondered. Surely there had to be a reason. He turned to his right to see a forest where there used to be fields. It was dark and pouring rain inside. Cold air blew in from between the trees, dampening his face.  He released his grip on the handle and took a step towards the woods. He knew something was there, waiting for him. The cold rain began to soak his clothes. He pushed passed a few branches and walked over the mud and rocks until he found himself staring at a cave. The cave appeared familiar to him, yet somehow he was unable to remember where he was.

He noticed in the distance there was a man with a dark cloak walking through the woods towards the cave. Walking behind the man was a black giant with the skull of a wildebeest. James instinctively reached for his sword, slowly pulling it from the sheath, taking care to remain quiet. He looked back up on the cave as the rain slowed to a halt, freezing in the air. The beast came walking out of the cave holding Michael in the air by one of his legs with the old man was not too far behind. James’ memory began to clear while Michael was dragged limply up the hill. The sound of a snapping twig caught his attention and he turned to find himself standing before a different cave, with a much larger portal.

James couldn’t fathom why but he crept inside forgetting what he had seen before. The cave was vast, opening to a huge cavern where a faint dripping echoed throughout. James felt peaceful once again for a moment. It was mostly dark, but a faint blue light glowed in the distance. As his eyes slowly adjusted he tried to make out the shape of the source. It began to materialize in his view as James squinted. Suddenly, the source of the light dashed away with the sounds of a menacing charge close behind it. James heart sank as it became apparent it was getting close. He was shutting his eyes to let his eyes adjust. When he opened them he could see it was still moving, but hadn’t reached him. He closed his eyes again, sword pointed forward.

He opened his eyes to see the goat skull demon still holding the blade of his sword in his hands. His memories quickly returned leaving James reeling from the flash. He quickly took a step back and pulled the sword away, slicing its hand. The beast grunted and fell backward before regaining its equilibrium and lunging at James. He froze. In a flash James could see a blade come swinging from his left slicing straight through the stomach of his foe. James fell back into the corner of the room in shock and terror realizing he was almost just torn to bits by the demon. The body fell in two pieces in front of him shrieking and flailing about. The darkness that made up its torso began to float up and disappear drip by drip until nothing was left. The dense feeling around them lifted as James noticed he could once again hear the storm outside.