Augur of Shadows

by Jacob Rundle

  He remembered what had happened to Etlina when she lost control of her emotions when the creature devoured her abuelita. However, he didn’t care presently. His anger and desire for Aquarian’s death were his motivators for his demise. The room shook vigorously. The walls trembled with the force of a thousand earthquakes, and the ceiling crumbled piece by piece. The temperature of the chamber rose to non-measurable temperatures. His eyes glistened a silky onyx hue, and he had static electricity sparking from his fingertips, “Now, it’s my turn. Aquarian, have you ever had a stroke of luck?”

  Aquarian stepped forward as if he welcomed the Augur to make a sad attempt to beat him. He stood in front of Henri and Etlina, and he spread out his arms in a faux, welcoming stance. “If we are going to do this then we are going to do this right.”

  Large droplets of water rained from the ceiling, forming a massive puddle on the chamber’s bricked floor. The puddle started to take shape into a human-like figure, becoming none other than Piscien himself, “Shall we begin?” he hissed.

  Henri conjured up a barrier all throughout the room to prevent anyone from leaving the chamber. Aquarian looked around to see his pathetic barrier. “Boy, is that the best you can do? We were chosen by Kali herself to guard her treasure, and you think that one little barrier is going to stop us?” He smirked at Henri, and he dashed toward the enraged boy. Aquarian created sharpened daggers from his shadow, and he threw the daggers as if they were darts and the bullseye was Henri and Etlina. Henri easily deflected the daggers with the energy emanating from his aura.

  During the battle with Aquarian and Piscien, Henri had flashbacks of all the visions that he had experienced previously. He wanted to increase his power to ensure that he won the battle. He decided to channel the pain from all the victims of the hinax, “Henri! Do not do that! It will kill you.” Etlina realized what he was doing, and she protested hastily. She knew that if Henri channeled those emotions that it would short circuit his brain, and he would most likely die from having too much power surging through his body.

  “Etlina, they must be stopped. I was told that I would have to do things that I am not proud of, and this is one of them!” He wept for all the lost souls and for Siméon.

  “Henri, you are not alone. We will find a way to stop them,” she implored. She peered into his eyes to find his light again – his soul.

  Aquarian vanished to a darkened corner, and he cast another shadow over the entire chamber, “If we are not allowed to leave then you all will die with us. It isn’t fair that we are forced to be prisoners down in this dungeon for eternity.”

  Aquarian commanded his aura to merge with the shadows of the room so that he could fill the whole chamber with shadow. He wanted to crush everyone in the room. Piscien appeared behind Aquarian, and he too created a sword and a spear out of the water molecules present in the air. “I will kill you all. I don’t care how special you think you are, Earthlings!”

  “Earthlings? Where are you from?” Etlina had a feeling about these two, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.

  Piscien dashed toward Etlina with the taste of blood in his mouth. He leaped into the air, and he lunged his spear at her with immaculate precision, yet she was able to deflect it with her mind. Etlina used what strength she had left to separate from Henri so that the spear didn’t pierce her chest.

  “You’re a strong one, young one? Aren’t you?” Piscien peered at the skilled sorceress.

  “Skilled enough to battle you,” she mocked in response.

  “How do I know you?” Piscien took a closer look at her; somehow, he sensed that he knew her. She was intrigued, and she wanted to know why he thought so.

  “Etlina, what did you do?” Henri tried to get her attention, but she was more concerned with Piscien’s words.

  “Henri, calm yourself. You’re going to bring this place down with us in it. We have to get out of this alive.”

  The afflictions of Aquarian’s shadow grew. As did the battle. The coldness of the room spread, and the mental games reoccurred. His shadow tricks loved to attack their minds, and his shadow prevented the usage of Henri’s ability to scan the room.

  Henri inched towards Aquarian, caught a glimpse of his eyes being closed, and figured that it was the perfect time. Henri wanted to give Aquarian a taste of his own medicine.

  Henri snuck behind Aquarian, and the entire chamber was in front of his eyes. He watched the effort that Etlina was putting forward to battle Piscien. Piscien was a fierce warrior who could create anything from the water in the air. However, to Henri’s surprise, he was no match for Etlina.

  “Aquarian, remember when you thought it was funny that I was channeling my friend earlier? Well, now, it is your turn.” Henri raised his palms to Aquarian’s temples, and he channeled Aquarian’s shadow magic. The moment that Henri connected to Aquarian’s shadow, he felt nothing but coldness and death.

  Henri received visions of different civilizations from afar. He saw others that resembled Aquarian and Piscien. He counted a total of thirteen different places - all of which came from the stars. The civilizations thrived on their planets. Henri felt the love and joy that they once had until Kali chose them as her guardians.

  “You think these visions of your past are going to make me feel bad? Well, you are wrong!” Henri roared.

  Aquarian realized what Henri was attempting to channel his shadow power and tried to free himself. But he was unsuccessful.

  Henri took the battle to the next level by commanding the shadow to surround them both. As the shadow dissipated from the chamber, Henri was able to see more of Etlina and Siméon. He knew the consequences of his current actions because he couldn’t shake the darkness that he had invited into his soul by channeling Aquarian’s power. He was only concerned with the current battle.

  In his mind, Aquarian thrashed his body to free himself, but in reality, his body was frozen by his own shadow.

  Henri commanded the shadow to gather around Aquarian’s body, and he whispered into Aquarian’s ear, “Do you have any last requests?”

  “You may get the scimitar, but the hinax will come for you and your friends. You are no match for something older than time, and for something that existed before nothing.” Aquarian laughed diabolically.

  “Enough!” Henri ordered the shadow to crush Aquarian until there was no life left in his body. Henri didn’t believe what he had just done to another living being. Aquarian’s lifeless body fell to the floor, and Piscien looked over at his fellow guardian’s corpse.

  In a rage, Piscien avoided Etlina’s attack, and he rushed over to his friend. Piscien looked into the eyes of his comrade’s murderer. Henri stood over the body with a new shadowy glow in his aura.

  “You are a murderer, Augur. How does it feel?” Piscien asked.

  “It was either him or me, and the entire universe is at stake. I made a necessary choice,” Henri tried to reply half-heartedly. It was the first time that Henri realized that he had changed. He didn’t feel any remorse whatsoever for taking Aquarian’s life.

  “We will see about that one, Augur.” Piscien called for the water molecules in the air to come to his aid, and he manipulated all the molecules to raise their temperature, causing the entire chamber to heat up enormously.

  “And, now, I will pay back the favor,” Piscien threatened. Henri collapsed to the ground due to the water temperature in his body rising as well. Piscien stood over Henri, enjoying the sweet revenge for his lost brother. Henri squirmed in agony with his body burning up.

  Etlina fought through Piscien’s attack, and she made a split-second decision to psychically throw him into a wall. Piscien whipped around to thwart her attack by stopping her in her tracks.

  “Don’t forget, girl; you are also made of water.”

  Henri forced open his eyes to see that Piscien had halted Etlina’s magic. She was their last hope, at the moment. Henri tried to raise his hand to see if he could channel anything in the room to make a distraction for Etlin
a. However, he was not successful, and he blacked out due to the boiling pain that was wracking his body.

  Piscien looked over his shoulder, and he smiled at Henri’s unconscious body. Certain that he had defeated the Destined, and he spoke to Etlina.

  “Why do you not give up? You have failed to complete your mission?”

  “Because I never give up!” Etlina inhaled deeply and uttered one word: “Illuminatio!” Her eyes glowed with fierce intensity, and sparks of lightning shot from her glowing stare. Her aura mimicked a storm cloud during a thunderstorm.

  A look of fear fell upon Piscien as he watched Etlina raise her head to look at the chamber’s ceiling. A moment later, a lightning bolt struck through the temple’s infrastructure and into the chamber, striking Piscien directly. It statically charged every molecule of his being. The entire chamber was destroyed, leaving an enormous hole trailing down from the outside of the temple’s roof through to the chamber floor. The intensity of the bolt was amplified further due to the super-charged water molecules in the air from Piscien’s previous attack.

  Etlina fell to the floor out of pure exhaustion, and she flipped to her side to see Henri. Henri, having been brought back around by the sheer volume of the lightning strike, rolled over to see her face. “Etlina, are you okay?”

  “I am alive. Thank God that it is over,” she said breathlessly.

  “Etlina, I don’t think that it’s over. We still have to find the scimitar,” Henri explained as he looked around the remaining parts of the chamber.

  They both paused when heard the moans of Siméon. “My entire body is in pain. What happened?”

  “I thought his bones were broken?” Henri asked.

  “I healed the broken bones after I fought Piscien. A little trick my abuelita taught me when I was younger.”

  “We will tell you later what happened,” Henri replied to Siméon. He crawled over to the boy to check the status of his injuries. He rolled Siméon over to better examine him.

  “Hi.” Henri smiled at him. He was beyond relieved that Siméon was all right. He had sustained injuries, but he was alive.

  “So, we won?” Siméon laughed followed by a cough.

  “We did. Etlina kicked butt,” Henri replied.

  “We still have work to do,” Etlina forced herself up, and she set her eyes upon another wall. A wall that possessed a magnetic pull.

  “What is this? Another wall of pure gold and it has carvings on it.”

  Henri helped Siméon up from the ground, and they both walked over to the wall. The drawings there grabbed their attention. The carving was of an individual with a figure holding the scimitar, and their connection brought forth something from the ground. The three of them looked at each other.

  “Do you think that it is you and Kali with the scimitar?” Siméon asked Henri inquisitively.

  “I think so. That must be Kali with us, and we are summoning something?”

  Henri approached the wall, and he ran his hand across the intricate markings.

  “So, this wall wasn’t here before we started to fight those two.” Etlina tried to get a reading off the wall.

  “No.” Siméon was enthralled.

  “Let’s see.” Henri laid his hands on the carving, asking the Ancestors for assistance once more.

  They hoped either for some kind of sign or one of them to come up with an idea. After several minutes of waiting, Siméon decided to put forward a suggestion. “Umm… why don’t we see if Kali will show up?”

  Etlina and Henri looked at each other, and they followed by placing their gazes on Siméon.

  “Actually, that isn’t a bad idea, Henri. We should try.” Etlina agreed with Siméon, and she started to toss the idea around in her head. She walked back and forth as she studied the area.

  “Okay, let’s do it. Let’s call her. What could go wrong… right?” Henri shuddered as he uttered the words. The idea stirred up his nerves. He remembered the final words The Divine Mother had spoken to him at their last meeting: Do not call on me until you find my treasure.

  Etlina and Siméon gathered around the mystery wall so that Henri had enough space for contacting Kali. Henri placed his hand back on the carving, and he centered himself. He opened himself to the spiritual vibrations needed to interact with Kali. He reached a rhythmic pattern, and he meditated on her name—Kali Maa.

  With ease, Henri’s astral body departed from his physical body, traveling to the plane in between the mundane world and the rest of reality. He was relieved when he set his eyes on the red door, but the door was already open.

  “What the?” Henri continued towards the door, holding the intent of the wastelands. Once he passed through the door, Henri landed face first on the ground of the isolated Plane of Death.

  He surveyed the still surroundings of the death desert. He had faint memories of his last visit, and he remembered how the wastelands weren’t his favorite place to be. He immediately noticed that things were different to the last time he visited. The soaring pillars were gone, along with the carvings they once displayed.

  He wandered off into a random direction to see what else he didn’t recognize. There was still the incalculable number of skulls and other skeletal remains scattered in all directions. The heat and the wild winds were still present in the ambiance of the area. “What has happened here?”

  He caught a glimpse of a figure in the distance. He attempted to clear his eyes to focus on their movement, but he was unable to figure out who or what was approaching him. He felt tightness in his chest because he realized he had nothing on his person to defend himself with.

  He wished the others were with him. Henri fretted about his predicament. He was still drained from his battle with Aquarian, so if the figure wanted a confrontation then Henri would surely lose. Even so, he decided to take on the figure directly.

  Right before their paths intersected, Henri saw who was approaching him; he was relieved.

  “My son, you have returned to me,” the Divine Mother declared in her grand entrance. She opened her arms and embraced Henri forcefully. He embraced her with much trepidation, yet he still embraced her because he knew the consequences of when she was upset. The results of her actions were around him for all to see.

  “Child, you are still terrified of me?” she asked with a heavenly smile.

  “No, of course not.” Henri tried to persuade Kali, but she knew when anyone was lying to her. She let him free of her embrace, and she paced around him.

  “Kali, we need your help. I know that you aren’t allowed to interfere, but we really need your assistance. I believe we have found your weapon.” The words blurted out from Henri’s mouth before he could check himself.

  “You think you found it? I told you not to call me until you had it in your grip!” Kali’s demeanor drastically changed with Henri’s inaccuracy.

  The pressure of Kali’s demands became too much for Henri, yet he answered anyway. “We battled Aquarian and Piscien, and we won the fight. I do believe that your scimitar is on the other side of this wall with a carving. The carving has a figure and a demon-monster thing holding what appears to be a weapon, summoning something from below the ground. And, now, we have no idea what to do.”

  “Oh, Aquaria and Piscien, what a duo they are, or what a duo they were, I suppose. Now, that is a group that you will have issues with later for completing this task.” Kali held back the rest of her answer. She was a deity that kept balance within the universe, so she could go against the decrees.

  “Wait, a group?” Henri didn’t care about the consequences; he demanded answers.

  “Child, I know what you saw when you channeled Aquarian. Don’t forget all that you saw. It’ll make sense in the future.” Kali pondered on Henri’s request.

  Henri patiently waited for Kali’s answer, but he still grew impatient. He replayed the images that he saw when he was linked to Aquarian. The image of Aquarian and Piscien with eleven other people, and the thought of other civilizations existin
g really required Henri to think that the Old Ones wouldn’t only affect the inhabitants of Earth. They truly affected everyone in the universe.

  “Honestly, child, what makes you think that I am able to even assist you?” Kali avoided Henri’s questions for the sake of maintaining a universal balance.

  “Because… you are the Goddess of Destruction. You are the Controller of Birth and Rebirth. How could you not?”

  “Because I told you that there is a hierarchy on the spiritual plane. Why don’t you ask my earthly avatar?” Kali sparked a sense of hope in Henri’s eyes.

  “What is an earthly avatar?” Henri asked in frustration.

  “The being that is the living embodiment of myself. They have a piece of my spark in their soul,” Kali answered. Henri was dumbfounded by her answer. He didn’t know that there could be a living embodiment of a deity.

  “Okay… who is the earthly avatar?” Henri asked with much dismay.

  “You have met him already. Go to him, and he will have the answer. When you have my scimitar in your hands, then I will come to you,” Kali kissed Henri on the forehead, and the same pulling, magnetic force was tugging on Henri’s astral body once again. The next thing he noticed was that he was back in the secret chamber, staring at Siméon and Etlina.

  CHAPTER 31

  “Henri, what happened?” Etlina impatiently waited for an update from Henri.

  “I spoke with Kali again.” Henri had projected many times before, but the strain on his body started taking a toll. He looked at his hands, and he saw the blood on them. Henri was punishing himself for killing Aquarian - a nightmare that would forever be. He glanced at Etlina, and he understood why she was so drained after using her powers.

  “Henri, what is wrong?” Siméon tried to bring Henri back to reality.

  “The wastelands are a dangerous and draining place. Yes, she did give me an answer. Well, she led me in a direction. We apparently have come into contact with her earthly avatar and must ask him.” Henri relayed what happened while pondering the identity of the avatar.