The 13th Mage

by Inelia Benz

  “Why is that?”

  “There is no hell.”

  “That depends on what religion you believe in, doesn’t it?”

  “Not, really, hell no longer exists.”

  “No longer exists?” she asked.

  “That’s right.”

  “Would you care to explain?”

  “Well, you see, most worlds are made up of different dimensions, different worlds as you might say. The Old Ones live in such a world. Where earth is now there were ten worlds, beings lived in these worlds and were reborn in one or another depending on their evolution and their actions, only mages could move through them. Then a bunch of mages of old got together and decided to dimensionally squeeze all these worlds into one. Earth was born, and the creatures within are all made up of these ten worlds. It makes it unique among planets. Hell was known as one of the Ten Worlds, but it no longer exists, not as another dimension anyway. It’s part of earth, part of each one of us, we move in and out of it depending on what happens in our lives.”

  “That explains why I thought I’d been here before. I felt this way when I discovered Sean had abandoned me. Unable to move, this heavy feeling, this unhappiness.”

  “Yes.”

  “But if hell no longer exists, and it’s like this, then where are we?”

  “I don’t know. A memory perhaps.”

  Jennifer thought about it, if memories could be inhabited, then it was a possibility, but why hell?

  The sun began to burn.

  “So is this like Astral Traveling?”

  “No, the Ten Worlds have nothing to do with the Astral, Ethereal or Light Dimensions. Those have to do with vibration frequency. The lower the vibration the more solid the matter. Mortals normally only see a very narrow range of vibrations, there are higher and lower ones that only mage can see, and some mortals, but they are independent to the Worlds. Each world had its own range of vibrations,” he closed his eyes, “this one doesn’t which proves it’s not real.”

  He stopped in his tracks.

  “Those hills are too far away, we’ll never make it.”

  “You are right, we won’t.”

  They lay down on the hot sand, panting from the effort.

  The sun rose slowly into the sky, baking everything, Jennifer could feel her skin burning, but she didn’t have the energy to move. There was no point moving, they wouldn’t get anywhere even if they moved.

  Owen knew if they stayed where they were they wouldn’t survive the day, he had to make some type of shelter, he could rearrange the rocks and make a sort of hut, or make a hole in the ground large enough to keep them off the sun. He gathered his strength and gave the order, nothing happened.

  “I have no powers here,” he said defeated, “I’m an ordinary mortal.”

  A thought nudged his brain. Becoming an ordinary mortal was his greatest fear. He was living his greatest fear.

  “What is your greatest fear Jennifer?”

  “Not being able to protect my baby. She’s out there on her own now, it’s only a matter of time before they get to her and I won’t be able to do anything about it.”

  “The last time you were here, when Sean abandoned you, how did you get out?”

  “I found out I was pregnant. It gave me a reason to live. I couldn’t allow myself to be depressed because the baby would feel it too.”

  That was it, thought Owen, they needed a reason to continue. They needed to make an effort, any effort. By standing still they would die.

  “Okay, help me out here. We have to make a hole, a sort of tunnel kind of thing, big enough for us to shelter in.”

  “I can’t move.”

  “I guess you were right then, you are no fit mother, giving up when the Shadow could be getting their sticky hands on Heather. I care more about her than you do, I’ll make sure she’s safe.”

  “I know what you are trying to do,” said Jennifer as she watched Owen dig with his bare fingers, “I guess it’s working,” she added handing him a sharp stone and digging with him.

  A breeze of fresh air engulfed them, oxygen.

  They breathed deeply and carried on with their work. A cloud covered the sun.

  The ground was hard, but became softer the deeper they dug.

  Soon there was a hole large enough to hold them, they got in and covered the entrance with Owen’s jacket.

  Owen thought about the days when people were born into a world like this one, not being able to escape. If the Shadow got hold of the Staff and they used it to separate the worlds people would be born here again. He wouldn’t let that happen.

  When he woke up Jennifer was no longer there. In fact “there” had changed completely, he was lying on a beach, the sun glistened off the water, and a cool breeze filled his lungs. He breathed out and closed his eyes. They were out of hell. Well, he was out, Jennifer would be coming out any moment, he was sure of it.

  He looked around, just beyond the shore there were trees filled with fruit and a small waterfall.

  Must be heaven, he thought.

  But why would they send him to heaven? It didn’t make any sense, but it didn’t matter, he would eat some fruit, have a rest and wait for Jennifer.

  The day turned to night and soon he began to forget why he lay there waiting and simply lay there.

  He thought he had never known such peace in his life, such relaxation, such happiness. It was complete tranquility of heart and mind.

  Something nudged his mind, but he took no notice. He was soon fast asleep.

  He dreamed of a being led like a zombie into a car, Jennifer walked beside him, her mind empty.

  He woke up to a beautiful sunrise, he watched in awe as the sun rose, filling the sky with red, purple and orange.

  Breakfast was more fruit, spring water and sunbathing. He remembered the last months he spent in Santorcaz before meeting Jennifer. Life was much better then, much simpler. Jennifer was too much trouble. The Shadow could take her if they wanted. They obviously didn’t know what they were letting themselves into.

  He laughed and lay back to digest his breakfast.

  The day turned to evening. He remembered the Rain Forest, he remembered the old healer, “evil has many masks,” she had said to him, her memory pointed at the sun setting in the sea.

  What did that mortal know anyway, just a simple old woman, she was no more than an ignorant peasant. Trying to teach a Council Elder what evil was about, it was ridiculous.

  Not even her special tea had worked.

  He still loved that silly little mortal girl, wherever she was.

  He took another bite of his mango.

  Jennifer, he thought.

  Where was Jennifer?

  He stood up and looked around. Where was he?

  Heaven.

  He wanted to sit down again and watch the last of the sun’s rays be swallowed by the sea, but something stopped him. It was a memory, something he had to do.

  I have to get the Staff, he thought to himself. Yes that’s what it was, he had to become Staff Holder, but it could wait, he would finish watching the sunset first, then he would have a good night sleep and start fresh the next morning. He promised himself he would start the next morning and sat down.

  Something was wrong, he remembered thinking exactly the same thing the night before, but during the day he had done nothing but enjoy the day.

  His heart was aching, but not physically. It was more like a strange energy pinching him.

  He watched as the old healer materialized fully into focus, she walked toward him and struggled to sit beside him on the beach, “you should have seen me in my youth!” she said and laughed, “could dance for a whole week non stop.”

  Her presence bothered Owen no end, somehow she didn’t seem to fit into the environment.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I don’t know, you tell me, you called me here.”

  “I haven’t called anyone.”

  “You could have fooled me.”


  “Well, go away then.”

  “I wish I could, but I can’t. I don’t think I want to now I’m here, lovely place this.”

  “You can’t stay here.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I want to be alone.”

  “Oh?”

  “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

  “Really? No, I can’t say I can. It looks to me you are doing nothing at all.”

  “I am watching the sunset. And tomorrow I have to find Jennifer.”

  “I thought it was today you had to find Jennifer.”

  “No, definitely tomorrow.”

  “How about if we look for her now?”

  “We? I didn’t say anything about "we", just go away will you, look there is plenty of space here, why don’t you find your own patch of beach and let me be?”

  “I didn’t ask me here, you did.”

  Something pinched at Owen’s chest.

  “I didn’t ask for you, now please go.”

  Something stabbed at him hard, he looked down but there was nothing there.

  “I can see it, it looks like a black knife, and it has a label on it.”

  “Right,” he said and turned around, the whole thing was surreal, a knife indeed.

  “Don’t you want to know what the label says?”

  “No, but I guess you are going to tell me.”

  “Not if you don’t want me to.”

  They watched the last of the sunrays vanish, a purple and orange splendor bathed them and the world. Slowly stars began to appear, big bright stars.

  “Ok, what does it say?”

  “I knew you would ask.”

  “What does it say?”

  “Remorse.”

  Owen laughed. He laughed so hard tears burst out of his eyes. The knife dug deeper in his chest, he laughed until there was no more laughter left in him and the pain was too difficult to bear.

  Remorse indeed, there was nothing he was remorseful about.

  The knife dug slightly to the left.

  “It’s going for your heart, and it will be there any minute now.”

  Owen held his chest, it was hurting badly. But he didn’t have any regrets, nothing to regret.

  Where was Jennifer? He wondered.

  “She’s still in Hell, you left her there.”

  Owen was jolted upward. Jennifer in Hell? And he comfortable in Heaven. That must be it, he felt very sorry now.

  “Don’t worry, she doesn’t know you are here having a great time, she thinks you are dead, when you left that place your body stayed dead as a doornail. She even buried you so the vultures wouldn’t eat your corpse.

  “No.”

  The knife hurt so bad he began to black out.

  “How did I get here, how did you get here?”

  “You got here through compassion I believe, I am not really here, I am just a figment of your imagination. I would never speak like this to begin with if I were real.”

  The blackness around him started moving, he was blindfolded, his hands and feet tied behind his back, his mouth and eyes taped over.

  Chapter 14

  A bug crawled slowly toward the grave, any minute now, she thought, any minute it would be within her reach. She squashed it with one swift movement. The bastards had been trying to crawl under the rocks for days now, trying to get to Owen’s body. Bastards.

  Jennifer felt rage growing as each bug tried to sneak into the grave, it grew bigger and bigger until it exploded with a huge bang, leaving a large crater less than fifty meters away from her. She was shocked by the explosion. It left a ringing in her ears, her lungs unable to breathe and rubble covering her from head to toe. Before she could get her thoughts in order another explosion turned the day into night.

  She could hear screaming, a deep rumble, a tank was getting closer.

  She looked up, all around there were buildings in ruins, corpses lying here and there, and there was so much blood. She was no longer in the desert, Owen’s grave was gone. Underneath her was damp rabble and blood.

  She felt sick and frightened. There was a tank getting closer, firing at random, there was chaos all around. A man ran out of a building carrying a young boy, a soldier came to meet them, but instead of helping he shot them both point blank.

  Jennifer screamed in disbelief. The man and his boy lay on the ground, blood pouring out of them, the man moved toward the boy, pulled him to his chest, and covered him with his arms. The soldier shot them again.

  This is not happening to me, she thought. "This doesn’t happen in my country, this happens to other people," but the soldier turned and saw her, she stepped back, he pointed, she was paralyzed, she knew she must dive, but she was frozen with fear.

  The soldier shot, but no bullet came out, he shook the gun, hit it.

  Jennifer felt her legs return, her mind began to work, and she ran.

  “Ah,” said a kind voice, “I think Owen is back, before you do anything let me tell you I have your little girlfriend here, she’s still in Hell poor thing, your dead body her only company, or maybe she’s moved on to Anger, wouldn’t surprise me with that temper of hers. You should have told her how to get out. It was very bad of you not to stay with her.”

  Owen disintegrated his bondage, he was in the back of a car, beside him sat the blond Shadow, in front the other drove, the passenger seat was occupied by a very well tied up Jennifer.

  “I can kill her in a split second, so don’t try anything,” the blond continued.

  “Where are you taking us?”

  “Away from your other friends, I think.”

  Aeoife and Rossini, Owen thought.

  “Don’t try to call them, we can sense any type of communication, if I hear you call them something very nasty will happen to Jennifer in her Hell, it might even kill her for real.”

  Jennifer, he thought to himself. He loved her, if anything happened to her he wouldn’t go to hell, he would simply cease to exist.

  Her head shifted slightly.

  Love, he realized, he could still communicate it, and these beings couldn’t detect it. He started thinking of Jennifer, he thought of the first time he saw her, the times when they would have meals together, watching her belly get bigger and bigger as the months went by, if only he could go back to that time. He remembered her hair, her emerald green eyes. His heart swelled with love.

  Jennifer shifted in her seat, and moaned.

  “Well, I guess we’ve underestimated this one,” said the driver.

  The other stared at him suspiciously.

  He looked outside, countryside, they could be anywhere, looked at his watch, a few minutes past noon.

  They turned into a private road and a few minutes later arrived at a large country house.

  Three men came out to meet them, one of them took Jennifer in his arms and carried her inside, and the other two took Owen by the arms and led him in.

  A fourth man appeared, “have you got her?”

  “No.”

  “Did you try his houses?”

  “Yes, we’ve already checked all his houses, have gone over the ones in London several times, but there is no sign of her.”

  “And you are sure this is the right one?”

  “Yes, this is she, she is marked.”

  The man turned to Owen and offered his hand, “be welcome Eoghan Uí Néill to my humble abode, it’s an honor to have the latest Challenger as my guest.”

  “David Andrews,” said Owen, accepting the handshake.

  Not an evil presence inside an innocent human, but an innocent human inside an evil presence, Owen thought, remembering the man from the newspaper Jennifer had visited.

  “I suppose Jennifer must have spoken to you about me, or were you Borrowing at the time?”

  “Why the imposture? The newspaper?”

  “We couldn’t locate her, she should have been in Skerries, but when we went to collect her she wasn’t there. As you know it is impossible to locate a rebirth unless you know where it’s
going to happen. We knew Jennifer had been visiting your big brother in her dreams, but all he could get out of her was that she was in London and that she bought that obtuse paper. As you know there are over thirteen million people in London. We simply had to think of a way to coax her out, to open her curiosity enough to bring her out of hiding. I was very disappointed when she turned up at the paper without her baby that day, although her mage abilities were a nice surprise, we didn’t expect her mage genes to become active just yet.”

  There was a large explosion nearby, the house shook, plaster falling to the ground.

  “What was that!?” Shouted Andrews.

  “I think it’s Jennifer’s genes making an entrance again,” Owen replied smiling to himself.

  One of the women ran into the room, “she’s injured Ray, And she’s loose in the grounds. I couldn’t contain her.”

  “Let her go, she’ll be no good to us until she cools down a bit. She is becoming more like one of us every day,” Andrews added as he turned to Owen, “soon she’ll be a fully-fledged Shadow.”

  “I think she’s just angry,” answered Owen.

  “Anger, one of our best allies, the fourth World, the first being Hell, a place you have recently visited I believe.”

  “How did you do that?”

  “Ah, well, it’s a mental construction, one of our best work. We have all lower worlds in our minds, if you care to visit them. We use them as training grounds as well as temporary cells.”

  The Lower Worlds, thought Owen, if only he could remember his early training.

  As though reading his mind Andrews began naming them, “Hell, Hunger, Animality, Anger where your little friend is at the moment, Tranquility and Rapture.”

  “What of the Higher Worlds?”

  “We have no use for them.”

  “Learning, Realization, Compassion and Enlightenment,” Owen said.

  Andrews clapped in mock appraisement.

  “And you are planning on separating them again, destroying what we know as the Earth.”

  “See, this is what really makes me angry, people going round telling lies about us. There would be no profit in separating the worlds, on the contrary, with a world filled with fully fledged enlightened people we wouldn’t be able to get very far at all. They have a habit of poking their noses where it doesn’t belong. Always being reborn into the lower worlds messing with people’s minds, teaching them about equal rights and evolution and wreaking havoc in otherwise perfectly functioning societies.”