by Matthew Fish
“Well then all the more reason for us all to get the fuck out of here?” Emily spoke as she threw her hands up in front of her. “No offense, Lily—but we aren’t really prepared to fight off an army that can take over Chicago. I mean if we’re not safe at Red Manor, and William and the others aren’t safe at the department—then I say we head west and let whatever happens…happen. I mean, we all saw the shit world that was left when our time here is over. Cernunnos is trying to stop that ending, then…maybe we should let him or at least let someone else stop him?”
“He will achieve his goal, and he will slaughter anyone that lies in his path. No matter where you go, he will eventually come. If you go into hiding, you condemn hundreds of millions of people to death—all for Cernunnos’s falsely justified war,” Lily explained as her heart grew weary and tired. “To think that I have travelled so far to warn you and ask for your help, only to be received in this manner…”
“We really do not mean to upset you,” Maddie added as she placed her elbows upon the table and rested her head upon her hands. “We’ve just…been through hell. We do not want to lose anyone else. These repeated battles always end up with someone dying, and honestly—I don’t think I can stand to lose anyone else.”
“I will help,” Mark said as he looked to Lily and closed his eyes. He knew well the promises that he had made to both Emily and Maddie—however, Caesar was right—he could not turn her away after all she had gone through to warn them. “If you did not set out to be here, then we would die in the future. I can’t let…that kind of warning, or your long journeys to reach us mean nothing.”
“I will help any way that I can,” William said as he nodded. “Amelia and Felecia will have to speak for themselves.”
“I’m in, fuck,” Amelia muttered. “…I mean I died in another time, so I might as well fight in this time. There has to be a reason I’m still around. If it’s to safe my sister and her friends, then so be it.”
“I’m onboard,” Felecia spoke shortly as she looked to Emily expectantly. “Emily…?”
“Fuck all, seriously,” Emily muttered. “We were just supposed to destroy the axe and go on a damned vacation. I suppose that’s out of the question, millions of lives at risk and…our own…”
“There is one more thing,” Lily spoke as she looked to Emily. “There was a child in the house. Cernunnos did not spare it. He brought his scythe down upon it.”
“Ours…?” Emily stammered for a moment as she looked to Mark.
“I do not know,” Lily spoke as she shook her head.
“Well shit,” Emily said quietly. “I suppose the asshole deserves to die just for that. You don’t fuck with this family.”
“Maddie…” Lily spoke as she turned her attention to the girl who buried her face in her hands and continued to let out a long sigh. “I know that you have lost and that you worry. I am sorry for what you have gone through. I must ask of you to be strong.”
“How are we even going to pull this off?” Maddie spoke as her blue eyes emerged from her hands. They were wet with tears. “Do you even have a plan—we never have a plan. Our plan is always let’s rush in and fight these bad people and well…let’s hope it all turns out alright. It never has though. We rushed in to fight Cain and we lost Kate and…that other guy and Caesar decided it was a good time to go through The Passing. We rushed in to confront the Ankou for the first time and Bradley got cut open…We lost Justin in the second battle. Two days ago, we went in for what should have been a friendly talk and we lost Christopher and Jenna, and then Cain to the madness caused by that stupid axe, what is going to be an acceptable loss this time? Emily’s sisters? William perhaps, or maybe Mark, Emily and I?”
“No loss will be acceptable,” Lily said as she placed her worn hands upon the wooden table. “Maybe it will be me…or my mother and father, they are outside of Red Manor now, waiting to go into battle. Or maybe my love, Sun—or my good friend, leaf. Or the other thirty or so White Stags that have come to help…or the thirty of my folk that have died already because they would not bow to Cernunnos and fight alongside him. Even if we succeed, their deaths cannot change—when a White Stag dies in any time, they stay dead.”
“I’m sorry,” Maddie said as she placed her outstretched hand against the table and looked up to the ceiling. She could not overcome the feeling of conflict within her. She wanted to help Lily—after all, Lily had been through a lot and she was feeling rather sympathetic last night. It was just the more that she worried about losing another friend—the more it ate at her. It became a constant source of anxiety and worry. She knew that Mark and Emily did not reach their decision to agree to help Lily lightly, that they must have faced the same internal struggle that she did. She just could not seem to overcome it.
A strange black fog filled the air through a narrow slat beneath the door.
“What the hell is this?” Mark asked as he got to his feet.
A tall, thin man appeared. He was carrying a dark wooden staff in one hand and what appeared to be Abelio’s axe in the other. He had pointed ears and glowing red eyes that contrasted sharply against his fair, pale features and white, straight hair. The man was dressed in strange black wrappings as a long cloak of tattered black material trailed behind him. He struck the axe into the table, startling everyone to their feet. “Defiant Child of Cernunnos, you may count me as your supporter.”
“Who the fuck are you, freak show…?” Emily said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a few lighters.
“Please,” the man said as he held out a hand. “I did not mean to startle you. I have been listening to your conversation, and I was waiting for the right time to announce myself.”
“How is it that you can wield the axe?” Mark asked as he stared at the large, ordinary looking object that was embedded in the far end of the table.
“Arrangements were made between Abelio and my lord and lady Elatha and Luna,” The strange man spoke as he pulled out a chair and sat next to the cursed axe. “Maddie, you have been strong all this time, you will find your strength again.”
“How do you know my name?” Maddie asked as she cautiously reached for her chair and climbed into it.
“I must have some explaining to do,” the man said as he nodded. “I am a Child of Elatha and Luna, or as you may know it—I am a Child of the Moon. I appeared in this time in the form of a ghost, searching out Abelio’s axe. I could feel its presence and I arrived the same night that the man named Cain killed the original owner of the blade. I have visited a few times and I knew what would happen if the axe fell into Cain’s hands—that when he was defeated, it was to disappear.”
“Was he worthy of carrying it?” William asked, remembering that it had been quite strong reason for their troubles regarding the axe.
“He was and he was not,” the man answered as he placed his hand upon the axe and pulled it from the table. He set it down beside him and continued. “There existed a duality in the man named Cain. When he was calm and in control of his emotions he was worthy and when he was angered and filled with greed—he was not. I could not let history repeat itself and have the axe lost, it has a role to play in the battle against Cernunnos. That night, invisible to all, I put it into Christopher’s mind that he should stay and witness what Cain had done to the man—to be the one to recall the conversation they had before Cain turned into his dark self. I then returned to my own time. I approached my lord and lady, and they struck a deal to punish Cernunnos by giving me the gift to wield Abelio’s axe. So it remained in this timeline, and came to Red Manor. When I tracked down this Red Manor in my own time, surprisingly I met Mark there. That is how I know you all. I read Mark’s memories. That is how I am familiar with your speech and customs. I, amongst my people, am a scholar. I study the memories of those left behind after the cataclysm that ended the Mortals, Perpetuals, and White Stags time on earth.”
“You are the other one that is changing time?” Lily asked as she grew confused with the stor
y that the man was weaving. “Why do the events of our lives concern you if you exist in a time far after?”
“It was the discovery of a new memory,” the man spoke as he looked to Lily. “Your brother…Justin’s memory appeared in my time for it happened after the cataclysm. It was very curious that a new memory should appear in our world. It is the very same one that rests at the end of my staff. Though all life is gone, the memories stay behind. They offer our people light, and stories of the past. Entire towns are lit by the memories of those that have died long ago. It is a beautiful sight, but one which I will never see again. I was granted passage back in time to save my people, but I will not be able to return. You see, Lily, the events that take place in the near future concern me for the Children of the Moon are born upon the earth after your time has ended. Nearly two centuries from now a cataclysm wipes away all life that you are familiar with—but it does not end. That is the time of my people, and new creatures…however, Cernunnos’s plan to stop this event from happening succeeds, and my kind’s future and existence is wiped away completely. As it stands now, I am the last Child of Elatha and Luna.”
“I did always wonder how far in the future the end was,” Lily spoke as she looked sadly to the man. “We were never able to tell.”
“That’s pretty fucking greedy of Cernunnos,” Emily chimed in. “I mean, I’m cool with two thousand years—that pretty much gives me enough time to cross everything off of my bucket list.”
“I fear he acts out of ignorance,” Lily said as she hung her head low. “It is good to know though that the other gods have not turned a blind eye to our cause.”
“This is why I would ask of your help in this matter, Maddie,” the man said as he turned to the girl who looked completely dumbfounded by everything that had just been explained. “It is not just the loss of millions of your people, but all of mine—I know you fear losing your friends, but if I can—I will die in their place. I have no family I can return to, I have nothing that holds me to this life other than the wish to save my kind.”
“Do you have a name?” Maddie asked.
“Hazamel, I am called,” Hazamel replied.
“I cannot…say no,” Maddie said quietly. “I’m sorry. I did not understand the…hugeness of everything. Lily, Hazamel, if I can be of any help to you, then I will. After all, you have both gone through so much to find us.”
“I am sorry about Christopher and Jenna,” Hazamel spoke as he looked to Maddie. He kept a strangely stern face, though his glowing red eyes conveyed a kindness and sense of empathy. “I did not know the outcome of my actions until I had seen it in Mark’s memories.”
“So…you’ve been in my head, I remember—you know like, everything?” Mark asked. He felt slightly uncomfortable with the idea that this newcomer had all of Mark’s memories. There were some things he was rather embarrassed about pre-high school era that he would rather not have brought up in passing conversation.
“I shall not disclose anything that is not relevant,” Hazamel spoke as his red eyes stared at Mark. “Believe me, I have seen far worse in the memories of others. You have been very honest and very open with your friends. You do spend an oddly long time thinking upon your desires to have a threesome with Maddie and Emily. Why do you not simply ask?”
“What?” Emily asked as she shot Mark a look.
“What…?” Maddie added as she turned her attention to Mark as well.
“I apologize,” Hazamel quickly spoke. “Humor is something that I still have not completely grasped yet. It is something that my kind finds strange—but still entertaining. I suppose just not in the same way.”
“Yeah,” Mark said as his cheeks grew beet red. He felt as though Hazamel was doing a little backpedaling on his part. The thought had crossed his mind more than a passing few times—he was young and often rather horny. Weren’t most teenagers? “That’s really funny…”
“Are there any dwarves in your time?” Amelia asked as she changed the subject, which Mark was rather thankful for. “I mean, you look a lot like an elf, except the red eyes and white hair but…you know, like Lord of the Rings and shit?”
“My people have not been around as long,” Hazamel spoke as he looked curiously at the young girl. “We are also not very well travelled yet, so I cannot say for certain.”
“Back to the issue at hand,” William said as he coughed. “Do we have a plan of action on this extremely complicated matter?”
“Well, Cernunnos has taken the form of a Perpetual while retaining some of the characteristics he is supposed to have. He does not look like he has aged fully…” Lily spoke as she was interrupted.
“Tany Zampa,” Mark said as he remembered his brief conversation with the idiot before the battle at Lake Falls. “He bragged about how he had his own Red Manor—that he had made a contract with the Ankou for a secure location where he would have a wife that would give him a son.”
“He would not have been smart about the details either, I remember that,” Emily said as she nodded.
“If he entered into such a contract, then that means the Ankou probably provided him with a White Stag woman as a bride and that the son would be the vessel for Cernunnos’s return. That would make sense—given his age…that means that somewhere out there, there is a woman carrying Cernunnos right now in her womb.”
“Could we find this Red Manor?” Felecia asked. “I mean, I do not wish to sound cruel—but if we killed the mother before the child was born, it would save us a lot of trouble later…”
“If he stated that he wished for a safe place in their contract,” Lily spoke as she shook her head. “Then it will be impossible for us to find it.”
“No chance we can lure him into our time like in the battle with the…Ankou,” Maddie spoke as she attempted to come up with something.
“No,” Lily said as she let out a frustrated sigh. “He will continue on in the future, growing his army larger and larger as time passes until he is unstoppable.”
“Could your army of White Stags carry us to our own Red Manor in the future, right before he attacks?” Mark asked as he remembered that snapshot of the army just outside of the walls of Red Manor when he had visited Cesar the first time since he returned.
“You mean right before he assaults Chicago and kills William and the others, and hundreds of thousands of innocents?” Lily asked as she dismissed the idea.
“Forgot about that part,” Mark muttered.
“I have an idea,” Amelia meekly spoke.
“Well, let’s hear it you little shit burger,” Emily said as she reached over and pushed Amelia in her chair, almost causing her to fall off.
“It’s a good idea, twat-waffle,” Amelia shot back.
“Twat-waffle is my saying,” Emily retorted. “You’re supposed to come up with your own original nicknames, cunt-biscuit.”
“Shall we move on,” Felecia said dismissively. “Anyone got anything of value to add, Hazamel?”
“If we could be at the right place, could your White Stags lead us to him before he reaches Chicago?” Hazamel asked.
“We would have a difficult time, if we were able to make our way through time and arrive at this Red Manor, we would still have to travel through time to reach him—quite a distance as well. It would be very risky….” Lily spoke as she considered the idea.
“I have a good idea,” Amelia added once more.
“What is your idea, Amelia?” Maddie asked, giving the young girl the chance to actually speak.
“How many White Stags do we have out there?” Amelia asked as she bit into the side of her cheek and narrowed her eyes.
“Thirty-three,” Lily answered. “Counting Leaf and Sun.”
“Any of them willing to go into one of these contracts with any of us…?” Amelia asked. “I mean, if you can travel here because the Red Manor is here—why don’t we make a Red Manor in the path of this Cernunnos douche-wad and make it part of the contract that we can travel there safely and face him at that
point in time? Make it part of the contract that it will be placed right where he will be headed…so he can’t go around it. Then he will have to face us.”
A dead silence filled the air for a long time as Lily stared blankly at Amelia. She then got to her feet and began to march out of the room.
“Was that a good idea?” Amelia asked.
“I can think of no better…” Lily whispered. “I will return shortly.”
“Box of guns still in the ballroom…?” William asked as he got to his feet.
“Yeah,” Mark answered with a nod. “Are we preparing already?”
“Yes,” William said as he popped his head into the room just as he left. “I will not have a single good night of sleep knowing what I know now. If we are doing this, then…hell, in the morning is as good a time as any.”
“What?” Emily asked as she shot Amelia a look. “I don’t see the need to rush.”
“Well,” Hazamel spoke. “Just as time is passing now—so approaches the point of no return. We must stop Cernunnos swiftly, before we reach that point.”
“But, we could just change that future from happening at any time?” Maddie spoke as she was confused by the sudden rush to action. “I mean just as long as we are there to stop him from reaching Chicago…”
“I was only given one day,” Hazamel admitted. “By this time tomorrow—any changes to time that have been made will be permanent. “Whether we win or we lose—that shall be the will of the gods, and what shall come to pass after shall be history sealed and unchangeable. It is why I had to be here at this exact moment. This is the point that things can change—all it needed was the right plan.”
“Good to know I’m useful for something,” Amelia boasted as she placed her hands behind her head.
“We are going to battle, you know, little-shit,” Emily spoke as she shook her head and pushed Amelia completely over. “It’s not all fun and games.”
