by T. J. Hunter
Chapter 26
“Yea, a big loose thread,” I said. “Ah Chuy Kak could start up another lycanthrope pack anytime. Heck, he probably already has other packs in Manhattan that we don’t know about. How are we going to find this badass?”
Alura shrugged. “It won’t be easy. He has remained undetected among mankind for many thousands of years. He hungers for power and seeks it constantly. A number of politicians and world leaders are likely under his control, whether they know it or not, and Ah Chuy Kak will use them to protect himself.”
“Yea, and let’s not forget that the grand fur ball is a Darkzon overlord. Even if we find him, we don’t know what to expect, and that puts us at a disadvantage.”
“Not easy, many bad guys, much danger,” Thyzil said, rubbing his chin in thought, then added, “count me in.”
“Okay, looks like we’re going hunting,” I said. “Where do we start?”
“You dear brother can start by spending time in your library and learning everything possible about Ah Chuy Kak. Thyzil and I will consult with Sarila about lycanthrope packs that we know about. Maybe we can find a connection.”
With that said, Alura and Thyzil left for the Batcave while I finished my beer and organized my thoughts for a productive reunion with books. Up to now, I have not had time to revisit my library, and quite frankly, I wasn’t particularly interested in a return visit anytime soon. There was something unsettling about talking to a great grandfather version of myself. Then again, after being nearly eaten alive by lycanthropes, speaking to my older should be like having a vacation from monster land.
I wonder if there is anything in the library that can tell me how to get rid of watchers and Hunter Demons. My life back on Earth was beginning to resemble a carnival in a post apocalypse sort of way. Any help to restore even a small sense of normalcy would be welcomed.
I reluctantly forced myself up from my comfortable chair and walked to the concealed library entrance, then said, “Entrunezum.” The wall blurred and disappeared revealing the massive library and podium at the center of the ground floor. I stood in front of the book that rested on the podium and spoke the words as instructed during my last visit: “Tranpla domas.” The book glowed and my older self, Yochi, spoke.
“Welcome wizard. You have successfully completed a major stage of recognition and defeated our enemy. Let us begin by recording the events of your journey to date. Place your hands on the book cover and close your eyes.”
I did as instructed and gradually began drifting in my mind. Bright lights raced by with images of every event since my wizardry adventure began. I saw Manco when we were at the Gate of the gods, Kyiel on stage in Las Vegas with a unicorn, Alura opening a cab door for me, meeting the Elders of Zeshtune, Lupzarro, Moon, and more. The images ended in a sudden flash, and when I opened my eyes, my knees had buckled and my hands were still on the library book.
I thought motion sickness was going to get the better of me, but it quickly passed. I stood up and tried to remove my hands from the book, but they were stuck as if glued in place.
“I could use a little help here,” I said.
A few moments later, a blue-white light shined from above on the book and my hands were released. Some sort of magical seat belt. I didn’t protest though because having my hands stuck on the book while going on a magical spooky tour kept my head from cracking open on the floor.
I felt odd referring to the voice in my library as my older voice, and using Azul would be awkward, like speaking as a schizophrenic.
“What should I call you?” I asked.
“I am you. If you wish to use another name instead of Azul, perhaps the name Yochi will do. It is means hope and was your name among the Mayan people when constructing the Gate of the gods.”
Yochi … sounds like a sidekick in a fantasy video game, but I can get use to it.
“Yochi will work fine,” I said, grinning a little about the video game thought. “So Yochi, one of the Manhattan lycanthrope pack leaders told me I fought Ah Chuy Kak during my last recognition. I have no memory of this fight, but I did have a vision of being at Tenochtitlan with Alura. Can you help me remember anything about Ah Chuy Kak?”
Yochi told me to place my hand with the ring amulet on the book and speak the words: recalisa Ah Chuy Kak. I paused for a moment wondering if a magical handcuff or something worse might hold me prisoner, but before I had a chance to say anything, Yochi spoke.
“Wizard, do not concern yourself about your interaction in this library. Besides, a one handed vision is only half as bad as a two handed vision”
Yochi, make a joke. Leave it to my older self to become a spooky librarian with a sense of humor.
“Funny, you know, the one hand two hand thing,” I said and let out a little laugh. “Okay, let’s give it a whirl.”
I placed my hand on the book and my ring amulet glowed. I then closed my eyes and said, “Recalisa Ah Chuy Kak,” and instantly began traveling on another magical mind trip. At first, only a small speck of light appeared, but it soon turned into a cyclone of bright yellow lights swirling in all directions. Images of forest canopies, winding rivers, and Mayan cities flooded my mind.
I saw myself as an older wizard standing over city maps and talking to several Mayan men. Alura and Thyzil were dressed in their usual battle garb, except the Desert Eagles normally strapped to my sister’s legs were missing. Instead, one leg had five silver throwing knives tucked under strapped leather laces. The other leg had what looked like a miniature crossbow. The grenades were also missing, but six leather pouches in the shape and size of a baseball were tied to a double strap running across her chest. A familiar sight was Alura’s double silver swords also strapped on her back with the hilts pointed up ready for action. Thyzil, as always, sported his claymore strapped over his back.
The three of us were in our upper years with long grey hair and battle scars on our faces and limbs. Age didn’t appear to be slowing us down though, and Thyzil even had his pre-battle ear-to-ear grin. All eyes were focused on the battle map as I issued orders and pointed to the top of a Mayan temple.
“Thyzil, you and Alura must be ready to strike before the Mayan children reach the top temple stair. We can not risk their safety. I have men who will attack from inside the temple room, and when it begins, that will be our signal to take out Ah Chuy Kak’s guards. Let us not forget what the lycanthropes have done to the Tenochtitlan people. We will end Ah Chuy Kak’s terror, disease, and slavery this very day. We win or die my friends.”
A new vision began and this time I was seeing things through my own eyes. I was dressed in a ceremonial garment that covered my body in red linen, beads of varying sizes, colorful feathers on a head dress, and a gold mask showing only my mouth and white beard. I was walking inside the main city temple somewhere underground. Torches hung from stone statues providing ample light and the air smelled of burning oil. Rats scurried along the edges of the wall unconcerned about my presence, however, I was quite concerned about them – I hate rats.
I came to a large room where six wooden cages were raised several feet off the dirt floor. The cages were small, about four feet wide and tall, and tied to ropes strung from the ceiling. The scent of death and blood polluted the air making me nauseas enough to try holding my breath, which worked until exhaling and taking a deep breath – that nearly caused me to pass out.
Pools of blood drenched the dirt beneath each cage and fresh body parts were strewn about the room. The dismembered arms and legs were decorated in traditional Mayan paint with custom jewelry wrapped around their wrists and ankles. These Mayans were killed recently and viciously torn apart in what looked like a lycanthrope feeding frenzy.
I looked into a leather pouch underneath my ceremonial robe and saw wolfsbane, silver nuggets, and various familiar items – it was my wizard bag. Well, my wizard bag many thousands of years ago made out of old leather, and there was something was missing … there were no magic coins. What happened next explained the
absence of the coins.
I took a few nuggets of silver out of my wizard bag and held it in the palm of my hand, then said, “Clotasia soot.” White light swirled around the nugget turning it into silver dust that rose into the air. I stretched my hand out and it began swirling in circles.
“Ecasenah,” I said and the swirling dust became larger, and then everything in sight, except me, was coated with a sparkling coat of fine silver dust. I had cast a spell using only words, without magic coins. How did I do that?
A third vision began and I found myself standing on the temple top high above roads and structures. Stairs led down from all four sides of the temple to thousands of Mayans gathered at the bottom. Four temple guards stood at each corner holding spears with tips pointed up. The guards wore large gold medallions engraved with the image of Ah Chuy Kak sitting on a throne, which looked very much like the five feet tall throne in front of me. Mayans observing from below would see Ah Chuy Kak as their god sitting above all on plush red and gold linen.
A horn sounded from somewhere and the throne began to move slowly backward revealing an opening with stairs coming up from the level below. Two additional temple guards began walking up the stairs as and a large figure appeared in red and gold ceremonial garments wearing a head dress decorated with colored feathers – it was Ah Chuy Kak.
I struggled to not turn and blast Ah Chuy Kak with wizard fire. I very much wanted too annihilate the grand fur ball and could feel anger even though it was only a vision. There was a plan was in motion and many lives were at stake. Understanding this kept me focused and controlled my anger.
Ah Chuy Kak ascended from the stairs as two more temple guards followed him. He turned to face the children walking up the stairs from where Mayans stood below and then sat on his throne.
I could see Alura with several other Mayan friends following the children as if in a parade. Her weapons were fully hidden by the robes she wore. Thyzil was not in sight because his large muscular frame following small children would stand out and undoubtedly raise suspicion among the temple guards. He was somewhere near though and probably had already destroyed a dozen lycanthropes traveling up through the temple layers.
When the children were a few steps away from the temple top, Alura made eye contact with me and slowly nodded. I returned the nod, threw my ceremonial robe off, and raised my staff.
“Ah Chuy Kak,” I shouted.
The temple guards immediately turned to me pointing their spears.
I tapped the bottom of my staff on the temple floor and focused on my magic causing its amulet to glow brightly, then shouted, “Cellvarim.”
Blue-white lights flowed down from my staff amulet to the temple floor, spreading out to the edges along the stairs, and then rose up to the sky creating a semi-transparent 50 foot curtain. A magical barricade now had the temple guards and Ah Chuy Kak trapped.
At the same time, Alura had thrown one of the baseball sized leather pouches into the air and pierced it with a dagger once it cleared the top of the barrier. After a loud pop, silver dust fell inside the barrier on top of the temple guards. Ah Chuy Kak quickly covered himself with his robe to avoid the dust.
The temple guards screamed as the dust burned their skin and eyes. All eight guards had breathed in the dust and fell to the temple floor thrashing in agony. Four guards lay still while smoke rose from their dead bodies. The two guards closest to Ah Chuy Kak shape shifted into seven foot razor teeth monsters, and while still smoking and sizzling from the silver dust, they looked at me and snarled.
Ah Chuy Kak took his robe and gold mask off and stood up screaming in anger. He was uglier than the drawing I saw at the New York Public Library. Dark eyes, the size of tennis balls, set deep into his leathery skin. His blue lips stretched tightly from ear to ear revealing razor teeth and large nostrils. A few long greasy strands of matted hair draped down to his shoulder from what was an oversized bald head. His feet and hands were also oversized for a seven foot height body and both had long black nails.
I pointed my staff at the guards who were moving toward me and said, “Raza zitum.” Blue-white disks shot out from my staff and proceeded to make mince meat out of the four fur balls.
Ah Chuy Kak faced the stairs leading down to the lower level as I reached into my wizard bag for a five pointed wizard star, like those ninjas use in movies. When Ah Chuy Kak stepped onto the first stair, I threw the star at him and shouted, “Markas aktum.” Ah Chuy Kak turned to see what was coming as the star turned white hot and landed on his forehead. He screamed in a monstrous roar and held his hands to his face while the wizard star burned through his leathery face, melting into his skull. Ah Chuy Kak continued to roar in pain as he fell down the stairs out of sight.
The temple guards were all smoldering ashes as I ran pass them to the stairs. I expected to see Ah Chuy Kak thrashing on the floor below, but when I looked down the stairs, he wasn’t anywhere in sight. The grand fur ball had disappeared somewhere down the temple tunnels.
I could not see Alura or Thyzil from where I was standing, but did see more baseball pouches thrown into the air sending silver dust onto other lycanthropes. I could also hear Thyzil counting his kills.
“Ten, no twelve. Keep up my princess,” he said, all the while laughing, full of pride while counting more kills.
Alura and Thyzil had things under control, so I tapped my staff on the temple top and said, “Celldos,” and the magic barrier melted away into the temple stone.
I turned my attention to pursuing Ah Chuy Kak and quickly moved down the stairs into a dark chamber. My staff amulet glowed and lit up a chamber about twenty feet long and wide. What I saw took my breath away. There were shriveled bodies piled up along all four walls. No blood or body parts, only dried out bodies with looks of horror on their faces. They looked the same as the bodies found at Sunset Park.
Ah Chuy Kak was the monster responsible for killing these Mayans and the people Alura and I found at the warehouse.
I followed the corridor in pursuit of Ah Chuy Kak and found my way into a labyrinth with various chambers and corridors. Each time I thought progress was made, I found myself turned around and back in the same chamber under the temple throne. There was no way I would find Ah Chuy Kak by running around in circles. I had to use a different approach.
I closed my eyes and focused on the design of the temple. The corridors and chambers became clear in my mind showing an underground tunnel. I tried to see if Ah Chuy Kak was anywhere inside the temple, but did not sense his presence. The corridors and tunnel in my mind lit up bright yellow showing a path that led into the forest. Ah Chuy Kak undoubtedly took this path and was long gone.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Alura and Thyzil looking down at me from above.
“Well, is it over?” Alura asked.
I frowned. “No, it’s not over yet. He got away.”
“Do not worry wizard, we will find and destroy ugly beast,” Thyzil said, raising his claymore above his head triumphantly as if he already had.
“Yes, we will,” I said and grinned. “Ah Chuy Kak now has a wizard star burned into his skull.”
Alura and Thyzil looked at each other and also grinned knowing the fur ball was marked.
My vision began to fade to blackness. I opened my eyes and removed my hand from the book on the library, and this time, there was only a slight sense of nausea. I’m getting use to this thing.
I had marked Ah Chuy Kak with a wizard star that is forever burned into his forehead. Unless he’s wearing a fedora, bandana, or some other top of the head fashion statement, the star will be visible to any wizard. Now I can pick the grand fur ball out from a crowd if he shapeshifts, but finding the crowd he hangs out with is an entirely different matter. Ah Chuy Kak had been feeding at Sunset Park and is most likely still in New York, unless he owned a jet and only stopped by for lunch.
“Azul, Darkzon overloads can’t be destroyed,” Yochi said. “Overlords can only be banished into the dark void, and doing this wi
ll not be a simple task. Ah Chuy Kak is the original lycanthrope and a cunning creature possessing great power. In fact, you have tried to banish him a number of times over the millenniums and have not yet succeeded. Even though Ah Chuy Kak has continued to survive, you have always managed to destroy his empire and make him hide deep into the shadows. You also have now marked him with a wizard star, making him vulnerable and at the same time more dangerous than ever before.”
“It sounds par for the course Yochi. What’s one more monster who wants a piece of me?”
“You must be careful wizard. He will seek your destruction before you have another chance to destroy him. To banish Ah Chuy Kak, you must touch the wizard star with your staff amulet, and that won’t be as easy as it was placing it there. There is a chance for success, albeit a small one, and when a chance exists, there is always hope.”
“I use to buy lottery tickets. Any chance is a good one to me in this monster game. Besides, if I don’t get him first …”
Yochi interrupted. “Exactly, so be sure you do wizard. Very well, return to Earth and protect the humans under your guard. Stay alert and be prepared.”
I left the library and found Alura and Thyzil fat and happy sitting on the couch with pizza crust, empty cans of beer, and empty bags of chips piled on the coffee table. Sally had her head in one bag and was wagging her tail as she licked out crumbs.
“Having fun?” I said sarcastically.
Thyzil grinned. “Wizard, I thought you got lost. Any longer, I might not move from couch,” he said, patting his stomach and letting out a deep exhale.
Alura was also grinning and put a large chip between her teeth making a taunting crunch, then said, “Yummy, too bad this was the last one brother.”
I went into the kitchen and pulled out a bag of chips from underneath the sink.
“Ha,” I said and shook the bag in the air, then stuffed a handful of chips into my mouth and made yummy noises while giving Alura a gloating smile.
Alura rolled her eyes. “Maybe you should check your beer.”
My smile quickly changed to panic. No, not my beer. I opened the refrigerator door and there was not even a single beer inside.
“Really … you two couldn’t leave me one lousy beer?”
When I looked up, I saw Alura tapping her fingers on a six pack on her lap. She arched an eyebrow and made a coy smile.
“Oh, you’re so funny, a real comedian that makes me laugh non-stop,” I said.
Alura and Thyzil began laughing and Thyzil tossed me one of the beers.
“Fill us in brother. What did you learn?”
“I learned that Ah Chuy Kak is most likely in New York with a wizard star stuck on his head, waiting for me to send him back to the dark void.”
“Do you know where in New York?”
“No, but Yochi told me that he’d find me, so I guess we won’t have to look for him.”
“Who is Yochi?”
“It’s what I call my library voice. It means hope in Mayan.”
“I see,” Alura said. “Well, keep in mind that having a Darkzon overlord choose a time and place to kill us is a big disadvantage.”
“Perhaps, but a well planned defense and offense can turn any disadvantage into an advantage,” I said.
Thyzil laughed. “You see Alura. This is why he is powerful wizard. You should think like him.”
Alura rolled her eyes. “Oh yea? Well, I’m powerful enough to turn you into a bug.”
Thyzil’s smile faded. “Really, you can do that? I don’t think I like being bug.”
“Don’t worry Thyzil. Alura is only kidding.”
Thyzil cleared his throat. “Oh … yes … I knew this, of course,” he said letting out a cautious laugh.
Alura grinned. “Maybe I am, and maybe I’m not.”
Thyzil laughed. “Another joke, yes?”
Alura sat back down on the couch and kissed Thyzil on his check. She then put her arms around him and smiled saying, “What do you think big guy?”
“A joke, yes?” Thyzil asked again and paused for a moment, then added, “if not, make me eagle, not bug.”
Alura shook her head and gave Thyzil another kiss causing him to beam with pleasure.
“You see wizard. I am lucky man,” he said, and I agreed.
