Graveyard Uprisings

by Jason Paul Rice

  Another loud bang went off and the blades of the weapons took on a glowing emerald color this time. Mabon asked, “Are you all right?”

  I responded, “I’ll be okay. The pain isn’t too excruciating I guess.” The secret smoke wasn’t the powerful anesthesia it had been advertised to be.

  The Gods enjoyed a laugh, and the fact that I wasn’t in on the joke told me that the joke was on me. Mabon said, “They still need filled in with ink. That’s the painful part. The ancient process is not a fun one.”

  23

  The Young Son explained (much to my dismay) that the branding was only to get an outline for a tattoo. Having rune symbols blessed by the Gods themselves on my mitts seemed pretty cool though. I just needed to take some more pain.

  Mabon left the table and went to a carved-out shelf in the wall. He came back with a hammer that looked like it had been made in the prehistoric era with the stone head tied to a wooden shaft with what appeared to be sinew. The object in his other hand looked like a thin wooden ruler with a needle attached to one end. The Young Son went back to the shelf and came back with a glass well of black ink.

  “Put your hand down,” Cernunnos instructed.

  “Which one?”

  “Whichever one you prefer to go first? The less jealous one,” Cernunnos said, and laughed.

  I wasn’t really in the joking mood as I put my right hand on the oak table. Cernunnos and the Dahgdha worked together to hold my fingers and wrist down, a not-so-subtle warning that the pain was going to be substantial. Mabon dipped the needle in the ink, pulled it out and touched it to the uruz symbol as he gave me a tightlipped nod.

  The hammer hit the ink needle and I thought I might pass out as sweat glossed over my entire body. Internally, my systems threatened to overheat and shut down as Mabon slowly moved the needle around the outline, tap, tap, tapping away to break the skin and set the ink.

  I closed my eyes, but it didn’t help. The dizzying agony continued for an outrageous amount of time considering the size of the symbol, which could fit inside a quarter.

  We finished both hands and the pain radiated from my new tatts, up my wrists and all the way to my shoulders. I was just glad this nonsense was over.

  “That was the easy part. Are you ready for some real pain?” Mabon smirked.

  I smiled, and it vanished as I realized he wasn’t messing around. “What are you talking about?”

  Alayna informed me, “You need more symbols to surround your heart. Make you even stronger. And they activate your suit.”

  Suit? Silently, I took my shirts off and the Gods helped me to lay my back on the oak table. I shifted the amulet to me necklace around and out of the way. Alayna scurried over to the fire and picked up a different branding iron. I looked through one eye as my mentor returned with a glowing iron. She wavered back and forth, trying to find the exact spot and the anticipation was killing me.

  Alayna nodded to Cernunnos and the Dahgdha, who held me in place. I closed my eyes, but it didn’t dull the pain as I convulsed. Cerridwen started humming beautiful melodies from the side of the room as Mabon spoke. “Fire. Knowledge. This warrior asks that fire and knowledge stay close to his heart. From the first human to harness fire to the center of the earth, let the noble flames guide our warrior.”

  The brand left a symbol that looked like this: <

  I could see the orange glow of the next symbol and it appeared to be a capital I without a top or bottom slash, just a single vertical swipe. It hurt just as much as the other symbols despite its smaller size.

  The Dahgdha said, “Ice. Cosmic coherence. Please allow the frost of the first families to flow through this young warrior. Equip him with all the knowledge of the cosmos to battle against a destructive foe hellbent on destroying innocent people. Bless Micheal with the chill of battle.”

  Another sudden sound like two boulders crashing into each other caused a puff of smoke to jump from the fire. The blades of the runed weapons took on a snowy white tone.

  Alayna approached with another branding iron, this one shaped like an arrow.

  Cernunnos’s voice echoed in the chamber, “A warrior. A warrior who carries this rune marking shall fight till his death to defend against evil and wrongdoing. Our warrior shall carry this close to his heart so he shan’t forget his oath. Please join us in blessing Micheal with the strong heart of a warrior. Let his animal friends give him assistance if necessary and allow him to bask in the wisdom of thousands of years of their experience. A warrior oft walks alone, but we ask you to give this man assistance.”

  I peeked at the wall of weapons and the blades had turned bright ruby red.

  Either the smoke had finally taken effect, or I’d gotten used to the pain, or I’d reached some state of deliriousness. At any rate, Alayna sauntered over with a glowing sharp-lined capital R at the end of the branding iron.

  She lined it up to complete a diamond shaped pattern surrounding my heart. So much for that feel-good talk. This one hurt the most as wisps of dark smoke plumed from the sides of the iron. Made sense since it had the most surface area, but Alayna seemed to hold this one down longer than the others.

  Cerridwen continued her beautiful humming, and Mabon said, “Raido wheel. A chariot of journey. Spirits ancient and spirits new, bless this warrior through and through. His grand journey has just begun, I join your blessing in the name of the Young Son. Help our friend in another world, to let the citizens rest with hope assured. Bless his journey with the Gods adjoined, and stay close to this heart for the rest of days.”

  The weapons on the wall had a fluorescent rainbow wave running up and down the blades. I may or may not have passed out while Mabon filled the symbols in with black ink and primitive tattoo tools.

  I stood up with the help of Cernunnos, who said, “Let me see your hands.”

  I held out my mitts and he brushed his thumbs over my new markings. Owie. He did the same thing to the symbols on my chest, and said, “In the name of Cernunnos, Lord of the Wild Things, I deem Micheal Merlino worthy of carrying our ancient symbols.”

  Mabon and the Dahgdha repeated the same process, leaving a ring of fire around my heart. Cerridwen approached me, sweeping her long curly hair away from her gorgeous face as she stopped humming. She rubbed her silky thumbs over all my markings and said, “In the name of Cerridwen, Goddess of Poetic Inspiration, I deem Micheal Merlino worthy of carrying these ancient symbols.”

  It was the first time I’d ever heard her talk. The humming was a strong precursor, but her voice was…it was—amazing. Her voice rang out firm and true, yet had the daintiness of a Disney Princess.

  And with her words, the sharp pain from the tattoos relented and the soreness of earlier returned. A great trade-off. I assumed the entire shin-dig was over until Alayna said, “Now is the fun time. You get to pick your weapons.”

  The wall of weaponry’s blades had returned to the original silver shade. The wall had everything from long swords, longer than me, to knives with blades shorter than my pinky finger and everything in between. I decided that I would need a sword suited for infantry battle and several knives as I walked back and forth trying to make the difficult choice.

  All the blades had rune symbols etched into them and I focused on a shorter blade, pattern forged with rune markings. It was basically a hand-and-a-half sword with a black hilt and a glass eye as a pommel. Intrigued, I grabbed the grip and the blade glowed in molten orange. I turned to Mabon, “Is that good?”

  The Young Son said, “That’s really good. Keep in mind one thing, if you lose any of the weapons, a price will have to be paid.”

  “A price?” I cocked my head to the side, hoping he didn’t mean what I thought.

  The Dahgdha informed me, “These weapons are so dangerous that losing them could set off a sequence of catastrophic events that could change the world. If any of the weapons are lost, you will have one month to return them, or death shall be inflicted.”

  I grabbed three knives and the blades
did the same as the sword when I picked them up. I selected a long dagger, an iron quillon dagger, and a knuckle knife.

  The Dahgdha said, “That sword hasn’t been used in some time. Hundreds of years, at least.” He nodded to Cerridwen, who rushed over from the cauldrons. He said, “You know what needs to be done.”

  Cerridwen took the weapon from the other God and motioned for me to follow her to the cauldrons. The foul stench made me hesitate, but I inched over to that side of the room. She said, “In the battle of good versus evil, death is the only victor. When fighting evil, one cannot be afraid of death, delivering it or receiving it. The same can be said of a weapon. A blade scared of death is a blade useless. I shall plunge this into the valley of death, so it shall never be afraid in battle.”

  Cerridwen held the weapon over one of the steaming cauldrons and thrust the blade down. The blade should have hit the bottom of the kettle but Cerridwen shoved the entire weapon and even her arm up to the elbow into the steaming cast iron vessel.

  Screams of agony erupted from the kettle and reverberated around the room, haunting my ears. It was the terrible, desperate, crying pleas for mercy from people about to die or dying. I wanted to use one of the knives to pierce my eardrums and make it stop.

  The Goddess of Poetic Inspiration pulled an unaffected arm out of the cauldron along with a glowing sword blade. She used both hands to present the weapon to me. I accepted the ancient sword, surprised that it wasn’t even warm, not even the glowing blade. It actually gave off a slight hint of a chill.

  I was positive that had to be all, when Alayna approached me with what appeared to be a folded wetsuit. I didn’t plan on doing any diving soon. She walked up and extended her arms. I grabbed the suit and held it up. Yep, looked like a diving suit.

  Alayna said, “This suit has been specially crafted to fit your body. It’s made from space age polymers and Kevlar that can stop the highest caliber bullets from close range. I wouldn’t recommend doing that though. There’s one other thing about the suit.” Alayna clapped her hands seven times.

  Red rune symbols appeared on the black suit for several moments before disappearing. Alayna said, “The runes will automatically activate from your body heat and tattoos when you are wearing the suit.”

  “Well this was an amazing visit to say the least. Does anyone know where the Sendals are hiding out and how I can defeat them? I’ve been told I’m going to need some help. Maybe if you could send some help back to the surface with me,” I hinted.

  The Dahgdha scoffed, “I believe giving you the weaponry and blessings is more than enough. You need to use your resources, not ours. Start building more friendships in your world that you can depend on. Now you are prepared to take on the Sendals but you will need help, your help. We’ve done this a time or thrice, and we believe in you.”

  The ceremony was over, and Alayna decided to stay in the Deep Burrow so I returned to the earth’s surface by myself. As I walked up the steep hill to get to my house with a bag full of weapons, I tried to piece everything together.

  I know had the right artillery to fight the Sendals. It buoyed my confidence considering my futile fight with the Spirit in my office. I was still going to need help in this battle. I was going to have to ask someone that I hated.

  Even with the runed weapons, suit and my body, I didn’t feel confident taking them on myself. I had to ask the mage for help.

  I stopped by my office before going home. Opening the door, I was smacked in the face with a stench of bodily decay. I’d forgotten about the nasty blood waterfall that had set into my carpet, leaving the black chunks on the surface.

  I opened the windows and propped open the door to relieve the funk. I went to check messages, but my phone was destroyed. Couldn’t check emails because I still needed a new computer monitor. I leaned back against a desk in the corner of the room and pulled out my cell phone.

  I swallowed some pride and dialed up Satoku. It rang and rang and I prepared to leave a message. She picked up, “Hello.”

  “Hey there beautiful, how are you?”

  The momentary silence made my heart beat even faster. She said, “How am I? Let’s see. Felix’s neighbors told me that a group of stone men picked up my car and heaved it into a telephone pole. So obviously my car’s totaled now.”

  “At least you weren’t in it.” I tried to look on the bright side.

  “Apparently, they were hoping I would be in it. What else? The front door of my apartment was ripped off its hinges last night so it appears I have a bullseye on my back. Is there anything else you want to talk about?”

  How can I make this better?

  She said, “Look, I’m sorry. I’m just freaking out right now and I shouldn’t be taking it out on you.”

  “I know things are shitty right now, but I’m working on a solution. I feel awful about all of this and I’m willing to do something strictly with your safety in mind.”

  “And what is that?”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I’m going to ask Felix for help solving this. You were right. We need to work together to defeat this enemy. I wanted to know if you could talk to him for me?”

  “Nope. You want help from him, ask him yourself. Here he is.”

  The mage’s voice came through, “Sup, bro?”

  This was going to take a serious effort. “Hi Felix. I’ve been doing some work on the Sendals and stone men. Not only are they connected but the Sendals are gaining strength by the hour and are a major threat to the safety of the city.”

  “Cool, but I already knew that. What do you want from me?”

  I took a deep breath. “I’m calling to ask if you will help me defeat this problem.”

  “What’s the exact situation?”

  I said, “Not much more than what I’ve told you. I still need to find out where they are hiding out. Do you have the right weaponry to fight against Sendals?”

  “I do, but first we gotta get one thing straight.”

  I asked, “And what is that?”

  “First off, you insult me, I leave. Second, you are going to help me when I need it too.”

  I didn’t really want to help him out, but my choices were limited. “I can do that. No problem.”

  Felix responded, “I’ll bring my blessed samurai sword for the ancient spirits. I will put on my extra protection too. You can count on me, but you better shelf the insults or I’m out in a flash.”

  That was reasonable. “No problem. You’re really helping me out. I’ll call you when I get the details.”

  “All right. I’ll be around.”

  “And Felix.”

  “What’s that now?”

  “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

  I hung up the phone and my breathing slowed back down. That was harder than battling a demon or vampire even though he had made it rather painless. Although Felix did demand a favor in return, he could have been a real prick about helping me.

  A strange sensation of magic tickled my chest. I brought mine to the surface just in case. What did my wandering eyes see? Victor and Ernesto gliding down the steps to my office, apparently ready for round two.

  24

  Both men held their hands up as they entered the building. I manipulated a hellacious fireball and transferred it into my palm.

  Ernesto said, “We come in peace. No fighting today.”

  I wasn’t sure I trusted these men in black characters. I warned, “Lower your magic level or I will be forced to attack.”

  I could feel the substantial drop in the invisible vines around the room. They were safe for now. I dissolved my fireball. “I would offer you to sit down, but I’m in the middle of some renovations.”

  Victor fanned his nose. “You need to renovate that smell coming from this frosty office, buddy.”

  Buddy? So now we are friends? “What do you guys want this time?”

  Ernesto explained, “We’ve seen your power and resiliency, and we are impressed. When we told our masters
about the experience, they wanted us to talk to you about becoming the most powerful wizard this world has ever seen.”

  I chuckled. “I would never sell my soul to join a dark entity.”

  Victor pulled a handkerchief from his inside pocket and covered his nose and mouth. “Just allow us to finish our offer. A soul is very overrated by the way. Does everyone take you seriously on a professional level?”

  “Not as much as I’d like.”

  Victor said, “We can help with that. We can make it so that everyone in the world will be bowing down to you, falling at your feet. Wouldn’t you like to run this city?”

  “Run the city? I’m not sure what that means.” I kind of felt like I was running this city.

  Ernesto hovered by the door. “It means that you shall have anything you desire. Want the biggest house? It’s yours. Best, most expensive car? Say no more. You could own this city.”

  “I’m not really into material possessions, sorry to burst your collective bubble.”

  Victor took the handkerchief away, and explained, “Not just material goods. Girls too. But it’s the power that you need. Remember what happened when the Jersey Devil set you up to die. The Celtic Gods would have carried out that false sentence. Your life is in their hands and you haven’t been able to control that until now. You should be dead right now.”

  How did he know about all that? “If I were to join the Sendals, the Gods would send a hit squad after me.”

  Ernesto shrugged his shoulders. “And said hit squad would be utterly useless. You will have so much power that you can defeat them in your sleep. Join us, and you will defeat your father. You could kill him with your bare hands if you wish.”

  They were tapping in to and appealing to my anger. “Even with that, there is a price to be paid. As soon as my wage is paid by the Sendals, I will become a puppet for the spirits, just like you two. You probably don’t even know that the words coming out of your mouths are being directed by the Sendals.” I recalled the other night when they couldn’t answer a simple question. The mind control didn’t work very well when they were asked sudden, off topic questions. They almost needed to stick to a script to avoid confusion.