“Why is it upsetting?” He put his hand on my left shoulder,
“You’re not supposed to be here, my son, you’re supposed to be back on Karnos with Stake and Willow and helping them to take out Drogoth before he takes over all the other Dimensions.” My eyes grew wide,
“You know who Stake is!?” He smiled and nodded,
“Of course I do, he was my Guardian before I died, I am a Pariah as well my son.”
“How was he your Guardian, if I knew him while I was in College, when you were still alive?” He looked at me,
“Because I sent him to you, also how did you end up dying?” I nodded my head,
“That makes sense, it also wasn’t his fault, if you want to know, he was fighting Drogoth and Willow did have my back but Marcus kinda knocked her out and well Marcus shot me… wait, how did I remember that? I couldn’t remember that like five minutes ago.” He smiled,
“Well I’m pretty sure you were told by Darius that you’d remember things right?” I nodded,
“Yes he did and his name is Darius?” He nodded,
“Yes it is, didn’t you ask him?” I nodded,
“Yes I did, he told me only residents can know and I’m only a visitor.” He chuckled,
“Well he’s not lying, he’s only allowed to speak his name to residents… Like me.”
“So how can I not be a resident if I got shot in the head and I am now dead?” He smiled,
“Well yes, you got shot in the head but in the eyes of the Soul Dimension, your Principle Energy isn’t dead, you’re meant to still be in the Karnos Dimension and well people like me are supposed to be here because my Principle Energy has manifested into pure Nepharia.” I nodded,
“I see, that makes a lot of sense.” My father walked up to me and gave me a hug,
“Goodbye my son, it was good to see you again.” I then slowly opened my eyes and I see Stake looking at me,
“Hey Jack, can you hear me? I’ve been yelling your name for about ten minutes, but how do you feel?” I slowly get up,
“Yeah I can hear you and well I got shot in the head, so I feel a little dizzy and my head fucking hurts like hell!” Stake smiled and chuckled,
“Okay hold on, I’ll get you a painkiller.” I nodded,
“Okay thanks Stake.” He nodded and walked out of the room and up the stairs, after awhile he came back down the stairs and he had a bottle of painkillers and a glass of water. He handed me the painkiller bottle and I took two pills out and put the bottle on the table in front of the couch, Stake handed me a glass of water and I put the pills in my mouth and I take a sip of the water and I swallow the pills and water, I put the glass down on the table beside the bottle of painkillers, I lay back down on the couch, and Stake walks away into the living room,
“No problem, get some rest and goodnight buddy.” I closed my eyes and fell asleep. I then awoke to the smell of eggs, bacon and toast, I got up and looked over at the table and saw a plate of eggs and two pieces of bacon and two pieces of toast and a cup of coffee,
“Hurry up and eat your going to need the energy to save your Dimension today.” I looked up at Stake and then I looked down at the food and I grabbed the fork beside the plate and started eating the food, I stopped eating and took a sip of the coffee and then I went back to eating the rest of the food. I put the fork down onto the plate and I grabbed a cup of coffee and started drinking it,
“So where are we anyway Stake and where’s Willow?” I finished the cup of coffee and put it down on the table,
“Well we’re at my place and well after Willow got knocked out and you died, Marcus kinda took her and well I kinda got you and brought you here to my apartment and healed you back to health.” I got up off the couch,
“So Willow got kidnapped by Marcus and Drogoth!?” He nodded,
“Yes I’m sorry Jack.” I put on my jacket,
“That’s okay, we’ll just have to go get her and finish this fucking thing!” Stake nodded,
“Yeah, let’s go Jack!” We started walking out of his apartment and Stake locked his apartment and we started walking towards the elevator,
“So do you know where they are?” We reached the elevator and he pressed the down button, and he looked at me,
“I don’t know and I used a lot of energy teleporting us here, so I can’t use my locating power either.” I looked at him, the elevator doors opened and we got into the elevator and the doors closed and the elevator started going down,
“God damnit!” Stake looked at me,
“You should be able to do it.” The elevator reached the first floor and the doors opened and we got out and started walking down the hallway to the door out of the apartment,
“How exactly can I do that?” We reached the door and we got out and started walking towards Stake’s car, we got to the car and I got in the passenger’s seat and Stake got into the driver’s seat,
“You should be able to use your dormant Principle and Nepharia Energy and locate where Willow, Marcus and Drogoth are.” I scratched my head,
“I don’t think I can do that, you said that Drogoth is making it impossible for me.”
“I can teach you and we are in the Ether Dimension, not the Karnos Dimension.”
“Okay makes sense and I guess I can give it a go, so what do I do first?”
“First you must clear your mind and focus on your Principle and Nepharia.”
“Okay.” I closed my eyes and I was clearing my mind and then I could feel something coursing through me and I could see the Aura of the Life Energies of all the living creatures with my eyes closed, “what am I seeing right now!?”
“You’re seeing all of the Principle and Nepharia Energies of all of the living creatures on this planet, you’re quite literally seeing life in front of you, it’s called the Vision of the Elders.”
“So all of your people have this vision?” He shook his head,
“No just the Elders, so the ones with the special connection to the Life Energies.”
“So what do I do now to find them Stake?”
“Focus on locating other Principle Energy sources, and the closest strongest source should be my brother besides me.” I nodded,
“Okay.” I used the power to locate other sources and then I could feel two sources from the northern direction, I opened my eyes, and I saw Stake standing in front of me,
“Well, where are they, Jack?” I looked at Stake,
“We need to go north.” He nodded his head,
“I know where they went.”
“And where exactly is that?”
“They’re at 215 W Lake St.”
“The LINEA apartments?”
“Maybe in your Dimension but not here, in this dimension, it's the DBI HQ.” Stake turned the car on and started driving to the DBI HQ,
“Wait isn't that the place you work for and he's the rogue agent?” He nodded,
“Yes it is but I must confess something to you first, Jack.”
“And what exactly is that Stake!?” He looked down then back at me,
“I'm not exactly on the DBI's good side myself either.”
“What are you saying Stake!? Are you saying you’re a bad guy?”
“What I’m saying is, is that I'm a rogue too, but only because I went after Drogoth on my own watch and leaving my duty I swore an oath for, so if they find me, I'm going to jail for the rest of my life, and that's the real reason I went to your Dimension, to follow my brother and get away from the DBI and then I got a huge headache because the Principle and Nepharia Energy source I located was huge.”
“Really and who was it?” Stake looked at me and smiled,
“You know fucking very well it was you, you fucking smug dick!” I smiled,
“Okay, okay calm down Stake, I just wanted to hear you say it, Jesus Christ.” We reached the DBI HQ building, and Stake turned the car off and he looked at me,
“You ready Jack?” I nodded and I took out my gun and cocked it,
“Yes I am, how about you?” He nodded,
“Yes, I am let’s get going!” We started walking towards the building, I started following him. We reached the front door, Stake opened it and we walked into the DBI HQ, there was a guard at the front desk, we walked up to him,
“Hello there, state your business here at the DBI HQ, oh hello agent Stake.” Stake pulled out his revolver and shot the guard in the face, I looked at him,
“What the hell Stake!” He looked at me,
“These aren’t really guards for the DBI, they’re guards for Drogoth.” I pulled my gun out and walked past the front desk and we reached the elevator, he pressed the call button, the elevator doors opened, we walked in, I looked at him,
“What floor Stake?” He looked at me,
“The tenth floor.” I hit the tenth floor button and the elevator started going up. The doors opened and we walked out, into a waiting room,
“Now where Stake?”
“We're going straight, they must be here somewhere.” Just then, the doors to the right of us opened and we started getting shot at,
“Oh fuck, we’re getting shot at!” I started shooting and so did Stake,
“Come on out, you fuckers!” Just then a guy peeked out and shot at Stake and he got hit in the shoulder and then he got hit in his left leg, he knelt down, behind a wall, he looked over at me,
“I've been hit!” I ran over to him and I knelt beside him,
“Stake, you okay!” He nodded his head,
“I should be, you have to heal me!” I looked at him,
“What are you talking about Stake!?”
“Use your Life Energies, to heal me!” I nodded and I closed my eyes and put my right hand on the shoulder that got shot and I focused my Nepharia Energy on his wound to heal it, I then open my eyes and Stake's wounds were healed,
“Oh now, that feels and looks much better, thanks, Jack.” I patted his shoulder,
“No problem Stake, I owe you right?” He nodded and smiled,
“Yeah you do.” I looked up, shot at a couple of people left and I hit them in the head, Stake stood up and picked his gun up off the ground,
“Where do you think Willow is?” He looked around,
“I don’t know, why don’t you use your locating power?” I nodded,
“Yeah that’s a smart idea.” I closed my eyes and tried to locate Willow, I then could feel her presence and it was just below me, I opened my eyes,
“Well where is she Jack?”
“She’s below us, we need to find some stairs!” We started looking for a staircase going down, after a while of looking around, we eventually found a staircase and started going down, I turned the light on, “Willow can you hear me!?”
“Jack, I’m down here!” I walked towards her voice,
“Don’t worry Willow I’m coming!” I eventually saw a door where her voice was coming out of and I kicked it open and saw Willow tied to a pole, I untied her and she hugged me and I hugged her back, and we let go of each other and I looked in her eyes,
“Oh Jack, I was so scared!” I kissed her head,
“Don’t worry Willow, I’m here now and like I said I will always be there for you.” She let go of me and looked at me and we leaned in and kissed each other,
“Sorry to interrupt your guys’ little reunion but we may want to go and find Marcus and Drogoth, speaking of which Willow, do you know where they are?” She looked at Stake, and nodded her head,
“Yeah I do, follow me.” We started following Willow and she eventually led us to a door. It was semi-open and I could hear talking on the other side of the door,
“Yes, I think he's found me... what must I do?... okay, I will, my lord.” I kicked the door open and I ran in and saw Marcus and aimed my gun at him and he aimed his gun at me,
“Marcus! Why don't you just give it up, this is your last chance before I kill you!” He started laughing,
“You think I'm going to listen to you, Jack... I’ve already killed you once, don’t think I won’t do it again.” I smiled,
“Yes, you did kill me once but, once is all you’re getting!” I shot at Marcus and hit him in the chest and he shot at me and he hit me in my stomach and I fell down, I started coughing, Willow ran to me,
“Jack! You okay?” I looked up at her,
“Yeah I’m okay, you need to take him down for me Willow, can you do that for me?” she nodded,
“Yeah I can do that Jack.” Willow got up and looked at Marcus, I put my hands on my stomach and closed my eyes and focused on my wound. I can feel my stomach wound begin to heal. I see Willow start shooting at Marcus, and then I see Stake run towards him with his sword, I get up and I look down at my stomach and I see that the wound is healed. I then see Willow with her gun aimed at the side of Marcus’ head and Stake had his sword up at his throat, I grabbed my gun and walked over to Marcus,
“So now who’s the tough guy huh?” Marcus looked up at me,
“You think I’m scared? You kill me, you're only ending my suffering, I win and you lose!” He started laughing,
“Marcus, if it is suffering, then you don’t like it or didn’t like it, what one is it?” He looked at me,
“Don’t but I want to make it a didn’t soon.”
“Please don’t Marcus, you can be useful in taking down Drogoth!” He looked at me,
“I'll tell you where Drogoth went, just as long as you end my suffering after.” I nodded and looked over at Willow and Stake, Willow lowered her gun and Stake put his sword away,
“So where is he, Marcus?” He closed his eyes,
“He's at his and Stake’s childhood home.” I looked over at Stake,
“Where's that?” Stake looked at me,
“Milwaukee.” I looked at Marcus,
“Thanks.” I looked over at Willow and Stake, “I think you guys need to leave me while I do this.” They nodded and walked out of the room, I looked back over at Marcus, “you sure about this Marcus?” He looked up at me,
“Yes, I’m sure Jack, you don’t know how long I’ve been suffering for, as long as I’ve known Drogoth for, he’s been… he’s been torturing and corrupting me, to do his dirty work of covering up what he was doing and when my friends tried to help me, I… I… I killed them or got them killed like… like your father, I’m so sorry Jack… please, I want to die, I’ll be at peace.” I took out my gun and aimed it at his head,
“Before I do this Marcus, I just want you to know that I don’t blame you, after it’s not your fault you have the Darkness inside of you, it’s Drogoth’s fault.”
“Thank you Jack.” I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger, I opened my eyes and saw Marcus’ body on the ground, I put my gun back into my jacket.
“I hope you live better in the Soul Dimension, Marcus.” I walked out of the room, Stake and Willow looked at me,
“So did you do it, Jack?” I wiped a tear from my eye and looked up at them and smiled,
“Yeah, so who's driving?” Stake looked at me,
“Well I think it should be me since it’s my car.” I nodded,
“That is true Stake, but I think it should be me, because I really want to drive.” Stake laughed,
“That’s a good argument you make Jack but it’s my car, so I’m driving.” Willow got in between us,
“Okay, okay guys, relax, how about you both drive? Take turns?” We looked at her and then at each other,
“I’m okay what that, how about you Jack?” I looked at Stake,
“Yeah I guess, that sounds okay, but I’m driving first.” Willow and Stake chuckled. We walked out of the room and we walked into the elevator and hit the first-floor button, and the doors closed and the elevator started going down. The doors opened and we walked out and we walked past the front desk and out of the front door. I unlocked the door to the car and got into the driver's seat and Stake got into the passenger's seat and Willow got into the back seat. I turned on the car and we started driving down the street,
�
�We have to get onto interstate 94.” I looked at Willow through the rearview mirror and nodded,
“Yes I know, thanks Willow.” I started driving towards interstate 94, and after a while we reached it. I started driving towards Milwaukee,
“I hope he didn't do anything he'll regret later.” I looked at Stake,
“What do you mean Stake?” He looked at me,
“Like killing our parents.” Willow looked at Stake,
The Dark Streets Page 14
