by Meco Brown
I silently dropped to the ground and was slightly curious why the scent ended here. Although part of me was afraid to take in another whiff, I did, sensing something. I opened the door next to his closet and entered the lavatory. Through the open bathroom window, I saw that it had become a magnificent night, with only a bare scattering of clouds to mystify the crescent moon with moments of wonder. The night air flowed into my nose, and brought about a rich and diversified fragrance from the outdoor garden maze; And that's where my eyes rested for a long while.
A shadow suddenly strode across the grass, disappearing into the garden itself. “Found you!”
I leaped through the small window, landed on the ground and rushed into the hedge maze. I met several dead ends, as it quickly became irritating to know that I was lost in my own backyard. The sound of leaves rustling alerted my senses. I turned and responded, growing more suspicious with each approaching step; Out of caution, I summoned energy around my hands, gearing for a fight.
But nothing... no one was on the other side.
A chilling breeze blew across the seemingly deserted garden; When suddenly, I hear the sound of footsteps departing, with my speed as my ally, I rush deeper into the maze, hoping to not lose my target.
At last, my sight reaches what I've been chasing. There in front of me, maybe fifteen feet away, stood a shadowy figure standing steadily in front of a galactic cenotaph, silhouetted against the moon like a large black bird. I watched silently, for nearly fifteen minutes, and this person-whoever they are, had not moved one bit. As the wind picks up, the indistinct figure gazes out at the night, watching the clouds drift across the moon. I watch as the figure removes the torn Gothic styled cape; A reflection of a dagger clipped to their holster glistens across my eyes. Suddenly, I sense something... familiar.
My body automatically emerges from the shadows, slightly bent from the massive amount of curiosity spinning throughout my mind. I ease across the pathway quietly, in an unnatural yet defensive movement, as if hindered by the physics of gravity. I smiled with a deep level of satisfaction, as my senses tried to convince me what they picked up where true; Still, a flicker of doubt poked my mind.
I held my arm out, and my fingers felt as if they were burning the closer my hand reached for this person. My hand dropped on a stiff shoulder, and I squeezed; A light smile plastered on my face. I turned my head, confused. “Taideo?”
He turned towards me, and the look on his face are a combination of expressions, fear, guilt; Almost as if he was caught in the act. I didn't care though; It was him, Taideo was alive!
“Oh God, Taideo!” I yelped loudly, and tossed my cement like chest toward him; Only to be met by a similar hard as stone surface.
Something was wrong!
This isn't Taideo, I thought to myself. I dropped my hands from his waist and slowly moved back; The look on my face must have been monstrous, because whoever the hell this is started shaking fearfully.
“I can explain,” said Taideo's stolen voice. “Airius, just calm down.”
I snickered mirthlessly, and said simply, “You're dead.” I blindsided him with a massive right-hook! He took a swing, I quickly blocked his pathetic attempt to strike me, and forced a quick three session punch to the center of his throat, and welcomed his panicked outcry. He luckily ducked under a second swing, and strangely ran past me in a rapid blur.
“Another witch.” I told myself and immediately followed behind. I came in fast, using my speed to leap high; By the time his gaze rolled up to spot me, I was on my way down. I dropped next to him, countering his wild punches with my own killer blows. I clipped his legs out from under him, caught him with my power and allowed his body to hover helpless in midair. My palm rushed into his chest with such force, my telekinesis tosses him against the stone wall of the house; It crumbled a bit beneath his weight. The force of the impact knocked the wind out of him.
“Airius, please!” He shouted. Ignoring his plea, I crashed him into the wall again, as the anger within me flared ferociously. Four more times I repeated the barbarous cycle. “PLEASE!” he begged, staggering to his feet, looking at me with a woozy-like glaze in his eyes.
“I'm no fool! You stole the wrong face!” I didn't know who he was, but knowing I lost my one shot at true happiness, and seeing the face of my love used by some manipulative, vile, mongrel just intensified the flames of agony. I sliced the air with my arm, pummeling the man with a powerful telekinetic blow. He slammed into the wall hard enough he crumpled through it, landing in the center of the living room floor.
I positioned myself in front of the massive hole, and stepped through it, eyeing the center of the living room, where the air was beginning to shake and shimmer. In an instant, Taideo's body had transformed into my fellow coven brother- my cousin- Brock.
“Oh no, Brock!” I scream, looming over him, gripping his shoulders with my hands, shaking him wildly. “Wake up, Brock!” Confusion shot my brain as I tried to understand why he chose to take on Taideo's form. With his ability to take on other people's appearance, did it not strike him that taking on this particular body was a horrible idea? “No!” I screeched loudly. My cousin, who only seconds earlier had taken the form of my love, just received one of the worst beatings I've probably ever given someone; At least in the last few days. “Brock?” I said, tightening my hands on his shoulders. “Oh,” I let out, and shuddered at the realization of what I would have done, had I not figured out what was up.
I saw something tangled underneath his shirt and reached over to smooth it out, when he grabbed me by the hand.
Brock looked up at me with a long guilty yet angered expression. “You bastard.” he said simply.
“Are you all healed up?” I asked, still a bit puzzled why he chose Taideo's form.
“Yeah,” he whispered incredulously.
“Good,” flew from my lips as I forced us both to our feet, and planted my hand swiftly around his throat. “Now tell me what the hell were you doing!”
The front door flung open with a hastened slam, as Lillian rushed in and stopped a few feet away from me. I could feel her eyes slightly alternate between me, Brock and the hole in the wall. “Airius, you need to stop this.” She pleaded softly.
Behind her, Chloe, Aviva and Esmond walked into the room. “Airius what the hell?” Chloe huffed. I didn't move or answer. Something told me they all knew Brock was using Taideo's appearance for some reason. I just didn't know why, yet.
“Hey, neat hole,” Payton added with her raspy voice, while peeking through the space in the wall. I grinned, but it was immediately swept away from my face; This was a serious situation we were in. “Looks like I missed a massive brawl.” She added while climbing inside.
“Tell me what happened Airius, please.” Lillian asked. I twisted my face and looked at her; Knowing she'd see the actions of my past. Her mind flashes through time, as I imagine a series of visions sending her on a mental journey of my past. Lillian's eyes closed and her eyebrows drew together in surprise; I guess she saw what the last four months have put me through.
She suddenly let out a sharp gasp. At the sound, Esmond turned his head and suddenly looked worried. My guess- Lillian must have saw the destruction of Terra. I wasn't quite sure what she was seeing next, but her face immediately hardened. I tore my gaze away from Lillian and back to Brock; Then let out a deep sigh and freed him from my grasp.
“What do you see Lillian?” Aviva let out. I watched her frown, then bite into her lip. Wherever the vision pulled her caused her eyelids to flutter.
“Lillian?” I said, walking over to her. “Lillian,” I said again; And laid my hand on her arm.
Suddenly her entire body jerked sideways as the vision ended with a slam. Her eyes snapped open. Lillian looked close to tears. “Oh,” she gasped hard, “Oh Airius...” I dropped my head upon hearing her broken voice. I could feel her heart ache with sympathy. “Airius,” she said, “cousin,” she let out softly, “brother...” ended her words as she rested he
r small hands on my shoulders and gazed into my eyes.
“Lillian, what did you see?” Esmond asked again. Ripples glistened brightly in Lillian's eyes. “Everything,” she sighed, “from the moment you two first met.” She glanced around the room, and met the eyes of our family. “Till now, this moment, staring in the eyes of a dead man in love.” Her words shot my numb and cold heart like a bullet. I felt the presence of my family step forward, laying each of their hands gently on the hardness of my skin. Each in their own way, sympathizing with me and the loss of my one true love.
CHOICES
There are moments in life that are built on quiet instead of minutes, where nothing- man or witch, moves; Where even the air itself seems to hold its breath. Those moments I speak of were happening right now. I stood on the sprawling lawn of the dank garden maze, in front of the galactic cenotaph that bared Taideo's name, and I took a moment to compose myself; Forcing the tears to halt against the edge of my narrow eyes. I did however, find peace among the stunning colors of flowers scattered throughout the garden. Being here gave me time to think and meditate on the various problems my family have troubled me with.
When Taideo died, I left Olah immediately to track down Terra; Leaving my coven with the responsibility of telling his family and friends. I assumed by now, the news of his passing would just be settling throughout town; Well, that isn't the case. Brock has been using magic to magnify his glamouring ability, in order to constantly maintain Taideo's appearance, to live his life until my family could find an actual revival spell, that'll bring him back to us, to me.
But what they fail to realize, is the longer a person's gone, the more immune their essence becomes to the pull of resurrection. Bargaining with the keeper of death is usually one-sided, and the end result would be failure; Which is why after the use of thirty-five specific resurrection spells, Taideo has yet to rise from death.
I've never heard of someone brought back being gone for so long. Even if they could raise the dead, after all this time- four months, doing so now would go against all the laws of nature. He would most likely come back wrong; Different from the man I grew to love.
“There you are,” Lillian said from close behind, as she approached me riding a miniature twister- thanks to a flight spell she perfected last summer. I faced her completely as the cyclone brought her to the ground as impressive as an American bald Eagle.
“What do you want Lillian?” I said annoyingly. I knew the twinge of guilt would pull at her if I sounded irritated.
“We're all worried about you, after last night, we...” she inhaled deeply, “we want to know what you plan on doing?” She stood about four feet away, her hands folded patiently in front of her red flowery dress as she waited on an answer.
“I get why you all did this Lillian, I really do; One half of me hates that you've constantly been trying to resurrect Taideo; And the other part of me appreciates the fact that you want to see me happy again. But you must stop trying; If one of your spells happen to work, things could turn sour really quick. You all aren't paying close enough attention to what could happen if you fail.”
In a split second my mind was racing with possibilities, both with good and bad intentions. The beast in me was mesmerized by the thought of bringing Taideo back, to ignore the laws of nature and discover how far into eternity our hearts would spin. The man in me knew I'd have to cage the beast's desire's and let my lover rest in peace.
“Airius, things won't fail this time; I've gone over every permutation; So as long as we follow the spell exactly, we'll come through fine.”
Lillian's voice began to annoy me; I ran my hand along the side of my face. “Did you really think this through? Any of you?” I tensed as she took a step closer.
“Airius...” her words drifted as I cut her off.
“No, Lillian,” I shouted. “have you even considered the fact that Taideo temporarily died before? Remember, we placed his soul in limbo, and used a healing spell to reverse what was done? Doing that changed things. Did you or anyone else in this damn family, realize that each failed attempt in bringing him back is still a prick at his soul! Even in death, you're hurting him!” I couldn't stand Lillian's sadden expression for another second. I turned my back on her and gazed at Taideo's name again. “Lillian, all of that spiritual manipulation aimed at Taideo, is one of the reason's you can't raise him.” I could feel the electric shock nudge against her mouth as it opened in surprise; She hated herself for not thinking things through as great as she believed she had. “Where is his body, Lillian?” I didn't even bother turning to her when I asked the question.
“You're looking at him,” she said, “we couldn't risk having anyone finding his body, while Brock was walking around in his skin.” She said.
“So, you took the love of my life, altered his dead body, transforming him into this big ass memorial....” It sounded ridiculous hearing it out loud. “Well, turn him back, I'm bringing him to his grandmother.” I said as I turned to leave.
Lillian grabbed my arm spinning me toward her. “Wait, what?”
I nodded at her. “You heard me Lillian. This isn't right, she needs to know, his friends and family need to know what happened so they can mourn. So, I can mourn with them.”
She watched me, her eyes filled with confusion. “What will you say when she questions you on what happened? You can't tell her the truth.” My gaze trailed from her eyes to the wet ground; And then it struck me; I sure as hell could tell Ms. Chestnut the truth. That her grandson was murdered in cold blood; That I vanquished the woman responsible and that we're all witches.
My eyes quickly shot up.
Dammit I thought, she knew what I was thinking; Her power of premonition gave Lillian a glimpse of my possible future.
“Airius no; You can't! The Nioeaon will kill you.” She yelled.
“At least,” I whispered haltingly. “if they do, I'll be with him.”
Lillian stepped back, whimpering from the pain behind my words. No doubt she thought of the repercussions of my getting slain by the Nioeaon. I had to be honest with myself; I can't bear to see this life of mine pass by, without the one who stole my heart.
“I tried getting passed all this; But I just miss him so much, Lillian. I love him, not just because of his humanity or the power he possessed. I miss his kindness and his generosity, his captivating smile and the way he looked at me; I miss the strength of his spirit and the love in his heart. All... I wanted was to keep him, forever; That's why I claimed him.” A deep inward sigh suppressed the ache that was building in the pit of my stomach.
Lillian had begun to cry with me. “Two weeks, give us that. Let us do and try everything within our power. Two weeks Airius, and if, if we fail, I'll gladly sit with you and tell Ms. Chestnut everything you want her to know, within reason.” She reached up, pulling me into a tight embrace.
“I love you cousin.” Lillian said.
“You have two weeks Lillian; Because for me, contemplating the next three minutes without Taideo is painful misery; And right now, your two-weeks deferment is the only thing keeping me from seeing him any faster.” I said gloomily, as I backed up and turned to leave her alone.
A heavy weight settled in me as I thought about the next few weeks. Whatever happened, it was a situation destined for failure. Either Lillian failed to raise Taideo and I die a horrible death by the Nioeaon, if I revealed our secrets to Taideo's grandmother. Or she succeeds in her resurrection spell, but instead of Taideo, she raises a monster. Even if I decided to not reveal everything to Ms. Chestnut; In the end, I still lose Taideo, forever.
It was just past 11 P.M. when I found myself running through the dark forest of Olah. Despite the dismal weather, the air had warmed during the break of a passing storm. First thing I became aware of was the smell; It was a sour wet mixture of sweat and mud; My heightened senses puked at the growing rate of the odor; And to appease them I simply stopped breathing.
Running faster, the miles flew underneath my feet;
I gazed at the green, rolling fields, not necessarily sure where I was going; But I knew the reason behind why I ran. My legs sped up; I fled south along a shallow lake; Coming out of the forest into an expanse of wide endless plains. Crickets hummed loudly around me here; If not for them, sound would not exist. My legs slowed down until I was merely walking. I inhaled deeply, loving the fresh scent of wildflowers. “Interesting,” I said to myself, “I don't recall ever seeing this part of Olah.”
Mr. Clark immediately comes to mind, or should I say the demon Ashtouk; He used Taideo's essence to break down the barrier and nearly succeeded in fully opening the gate to the beyond; But my family and I stopped him. Still, some magical energy poured out from the ethereal gate and onto our side. This must be the result of some of that escaped magic.
I peered around, noticing the flush of white flowers surrounding me, a ravine further east and a massive shimmering river lined with blue and purple twinkles of Parkli- small balls of harmless light only seen by magical beings. Parkli glow similar to that of fireflies, and normally appear around large bodies of water, in which they float around aimlessly within a particular area. It is said that after death, once the soul departs from the realm of the living, a flicker of their spiritual energy remains and turn into Parkli; Where they remain to give guidance to those who desperately need it. Being that these sluggish iridescent light spheres have yet to help me or my coven, it's really unknown if they truly hold that sort of ability.
Ahead and to my left was a plantation of tall, imposing willow trees; And like the Parkli, gave off a rainbow-like twinkle. Although breathtakingly beautiful; I couldn't help but think how Taideo would have enjoyed the magical essence of this newfound wonder. My neck suddenly snapped over, as I heard the buzz of voices coming from somewhere within the willow trees.
Sounded as if it was a combination of both female and male voices chanting. I immediately dropped down, and crept cautiously, moving forward along the dark shadows beneath the mammoth trees.
