by N. J. Mercer
“Johnny, are you sure about this?” whispered the hovering cherub, still suspicious of a trap.
Johnny nodded, and without a word he walked towards the blanketed figure; Baccharus followed. Johnny felt the heat of the flames against his face, and warmth enveloped his entire body. He found himself questioning whether it was the fire alone that produced this feeling or if it was the soothing aura projected by the stranger who sat beside it.
Despite Johnny and his familiar’s close proximity, the wrapped figure continued to sit, facing the fire, with her head lowered towards the ground, apparently oblivious to their presence. The pair circled; their eyes fixed on the still shape, and it was only when they walked between the bowed head and the fire that the stranger looked up suddenly, as if awakening. Johnny stood there, face to face with the unmistakable rosy cheeks and milky eyes of the old woman from his dreams – just as he had expected. She gestured for Johnny to sit beside her and he did so, cross-legged, to her right, facing the flames. He caught a glimpse of the loose, colourful clothing she wore beneath the blanket as he settled down. Baccharus flitted anxiously from one shoulder to the other behind him, ready to react to any aggressive move.
“Thank you for coming,” said the old woman in a rich, melodious voice that defied her age. “Both of you,” she added, looking at Baccharus.
Johnny gave her a slow nod of the head before speaking. “I could hardly have ignored your beckoning.”
“I had to make sure you would come,” she replied. “If you had not … well, that doesn’t bear thinking. We have waited a long time for you. I did what I was told. If I did what I was instructed then you would come; this message was passed down the line for a thousand years.”
“Why am I here?” Johnny asked.
“You are here to prepare, Johnny M., for what lies ahead. To receive knowledge and to grow. Even amongst psychics, you are gifted. You have hardly realised a fraction of your ability. The potential I see in you I have never seen in anybody else, not even Edward Devilliers.”
Johnny was confused. “Who are you? What are you talking about?” he asked, trying to keep his composure in the face of these riddles.
“To know the answers to the very questions you have just asked is the reason that you are here. That was why I sent you the dreams, projecting them from my own mind and the minds of my children.”
“Every time I had one of your dreams the Disciples attacked me and my friends.”
“They followed the dream message to you; I thought they might do that. I had to take the chance, Johnny. If you didn’t come here first then there was no point in going on to the house and facing Edward Devilliers. You had to come; it was fated centuries ago to be like that. Don’t worry about them finding this place; when I projected the last dream to you it was from somewhere else far away. They may be able to follow the dream; they certainly can’t read it. Now listen carefully to me; I will explain why you are here.”
“Please do!” invited Johnny.
“Yeah! And don’t forget to tell us who the heck you are!” Baccharus added.
“I’m Theodora,” smiled the old woman.
Johnny adjusted his crossed legs to make himself more comfortable; he anticipated the old lady would have plenty to tell them. The crackling fire continued to bathe him in its heat, and for the first time since leaving his flat, he felt quite calm. Baccharus was hovering diligently beside him when Theodora started to speak.
“This valley we are in, it’s beautiful, isn’t it? It is a place that has been associated with magic and witchcraft for as long as magic and witchcraft have existed on Earth and, believe me, that is a very long time. Not far from here is another, similar place, a neighbouring valley, and that is where you must go with your friends. It is where you will find Edward Devilliers’ residence, your final destination.
“Why here? you may ask. Why is this region associated with magic and matters psychic? There is a good reason for that, it is because the environment here is so rich in Presarium, and believe it or not, there are actually a few more places like it in the world. The next question you may ask: why is there so much Presarium here? Well, there is a reason for this also. Please continue to listen carefully.
“Firstly, you must understand that all life and all substance in the universe is sustained by Presarium – the source of psychic energy. It is like a ghost that dwells both within and apart from every particle of matter. Without it nothing could exist: its presence is one of the properties of this universe.
“Next, I want you to understand this: that there are massive inter-dimensional tunnels linking together distant sections of the universe. Their purpose is to carefully balance the distribution of psychic energy, and they do this by allowing Presarium to flow back and forth through them like a tide. The importance of this function cannot be underestimated! If psychic energy is diminished in any section of the universe then eventually matter in that region would come apart and fade to nothing. It works the other way too. If there is an excess of psychic energy then the result is instability – psychic storms will occur, deforming matter and causing unexplainable phenomena. The inter-dimensional channels prevent either of these potentially catastrophic situations from occurring in any given portion of the universe, and the opening of these channels is called a portal. You can find portals anywhere; on planets, inside stars, or just floating about in space. Mystics and psychics have been flocking to this region throughout history because there is a portal here, in the very same valley where you will find Edward Devilliers. When there is a tide of Presarium flowing through it, whether it be ‘into’ or ‘out of’ planet Earth, it greatly increases psychic ability and imparts a sense of wellbeing. A psychic is able to feed off the energy that passes through the portal. That’s why the valleys here have always been associated with magical occurrences and mystical experiences. There are three such portals around Earth in concealed locations. There was a time when all three of these earthly portals were controlled by the Disciples of Disorder. The Disciples had placed three kings in three corners of the globe to rule each portal. The portals were supposed to be benign channels for the passage of psychic energy; the Disciples of Disorder, through their warped sciences, hid wormholes connected to their own worlds into these dimensional corridors. It allowed them to easily traverse vast tracts of space, to influence and occupy worlds that they previously had no access to and thereby spread their vile religion.
“When the three kings of Disorder ruled Earth all those millennia ago, the portals and their illicit wormholes were used to summon dark energy and all manner of beast from other worlds to this planet. This age is vaguely remembered through stories handed down by generations of man – tales of strange creatures, witchcraft and wizardry; stories of heroes and their brave deeds. The dragons and demons of legend are thought to have been living beings; entities brought through the wormholes from other planets aligned to Disorder to aid the Disciples here on Earth … to bolster their rule by enslaving the native life-forms of this planet.”
The old woman paused and swallowed. Johnny considered her words. He thought about the demons he had seen over the years, and he felt he could better understand what they were now. The old woman continued.
“As you know, there are three alignments in the universe, three camps: those allied to the preservation of strict Order above all else, those allied to the ways of Disorder, and then there are those who adhere to the ways of the Equilibrium … some of whom are guided by the Council of Seven … those like you, Johnny. These three different alignments are known as the Trinity.
“On witnessing Disorder progressively taking control of the universe through their wormholes, the forces of Order and the Equilibrium, usually bitter enemies, made an unlikely alliance to combat the increasingly powerful Disciples of Disorder. Earth was one of their battlegrounds; a minor, almost insignificant battleground in a war that raged throughout the universe, but a battleground nonetheless. The wizards and witches of legend were the psychics of
their time, and each gravitated towards an alignment. Some say we have a choice in who we join; others say we are born that way.
“So together, Order and the Equilibrium fought the Disciples of Disorder. After millennia of conflict, Disorder was defeated, and on seeing an opportunity to take control of large portions of the universe, Order turned on its ally. The Equilibrium fought back with its own sorcerers, demons and hosts of unknowable entities, some of whom were under the eternal command of the Council of Seven. In many of these conflicts, Order was victorious. The Equilibrium also had its share of success. On Earth, it just so happened that it was Equilibrium that became the dominant force and the result was that Order and Disorder could co-exist and flourish here without their extremes. I hope you can now see how Earth’s alignment shifted from being a planet under Disorder’s sphere of influence to one under the influence of the Equilibrium and the Council of Seven. It was this change in alignment that allowed the planet to progress through its many ages to what we see around us. Being a planet of the Equilibrium allowed it to prosper. Had Disorder, or even Order, controlled this world then it would be a very different place. Earth is now part of the Equilibrium, along with many other segments of the universe.
“I want to bring you back to the present again, Johnny; once more, the Disciples of Disorder are restless, and they have secretly gathered in strength. Even as we speak, they vie to control all the earthly portals.”
Johnny had been listening carefully and many things were starting to fall into place. Baccharus hovered nearby; wide-eyed and excited by the old woman’s words.
“So who is Edward Devilliers?” asked the familiar.
“For the past one and a half thousand years, this region of Scotland that houses the portal has been controlled by a long line of aristocrats faithful to Disorder known as the lords of Hilvern. The first lord of Hilvern was a vicious warlord of the Dark Ages who hailed from the north of England. He was guided by an ancient wizard, a wretched, twisted being who had been his companion from childhood – a single look from that wizard was said to fill a person with irrational fear. He would walk with his eyes turned down towards the ground, and when he was displeased with anybody, he would fix them with his terrible stare until they grovelled, whimpering before him, their darkest, subconscious fears realised inside their mind. This wizard was reputed to be over three thousand years old, and in his distant youth he had been a sorcerer, a priest in the temples of Egypt when it was the greatest civilisation on Earth, a disciple of Anubis. He had searched high and low all over the world for the one who would be worthy enough to complete his work, and to this end he found the first lord of Hilvern while he was still an infant, with neither title nor social standing. What the infant lord did possess was incomparable psychic ability, and the wizard surrounded his childhood development with the dark energy of Disorder, corrupting his life essence and moulding it until he became the very personification of Disorder even before reaching adolescence. When the boy reached his depraved manhood, he gathered around him, under direction from the wizard, an army of bandits. They set about looting and terrorising the north, conquering its lands. This band of miscreants grew and gradually they worked their way up to Scotland to take control of the Hilvern Valley; for this was the place where the wizard aimed to enact the final part of his wicked plan. Through his knowledge of Disorder on Earth, the wizard was aware of where the portal was approximately located; and on his private wanderings, which could take weeks at a time, he eventually discovered it for himself. He summoned from it a demoness, daughter of the deity Orbok, and once on Earth she took the form of a beautiful, sultry maiden; skin as white as ivory and hair blacker than the moonless night on which she arrived on this world. Physically, her appeal was irresistible; psychically, she was a potent being and radiated copious energy, a natural magnet for all living things, no matter how dormant their psychic ability.
“The wizard presented her to the one he had nurtured from infancy, and many nights were spent in passion between the demoness in human form and the warlord. She soon disappeared, probably to return through the wormhole to the place from where she came, although it was not before she delivered the fruit of her wicked union, a son, the second lord of Hilvern, half-man, half-demon – born with chaos in his very veins, the stock from which future lords of Hilvern would arise. The wizard’s work was nearly done; the warlord died of old age, leaving behind his halfling son as the next lord of Hilvern, the new champion of Disorder on Earth. Like the first lord, he remained under the guidance of the wizard, who was now ready to reveal exactly why he had guided his father’s empire north into the Scottish Highlands.
“One day, he took the half-demon with him through the conquered lands to the midst of a valley lined by craggy highland peaks. The valley was full of tall evergreen trees in an unnaturally dense forest. They worked their way to the very centre of this thick wood and the entrance to an underground cave network hidden beneath a boulder. He led the halfling ever deeper underground for hours, using flame and psychic energy to light the way to the final chamber, an enormous subterranean cavern filled with stalactites and stalagmites at the centre of which was a perfectly circular shimmering pool. The young second lord of Hilvern inspected it closely and saw that it did not contain water as he had first thought; contained within was a purple, glowing ether, flat and still without a single ripple upon its mirror-like surface. He wondered at the way it sparkled as if it were filled with diamonds. And when he tried to see how deep it was, he realised that it had no bottom. It seemed instead to plunge into the centre of the planet and then to the infinite unknown beyond. Standing there, he could feel the air, charged and alive, causing every atom within his body to pulse with energy.
“By bringing him here, the wizard had divulged the final secret to his half-man, half-demon creation – the portal. The wizard explained to his awestruck companion what the portal was and described in great detail how it was corrupted by the dormant wormhole hidden within it, placed there by Disorder aeons ago. He taught him how the wormhole linked Earth to the worlds of Disorder, and the way it could be made active again so that he could turn it on or off at will. The portal and its energy tides were to be the source of all strength for the new Disciples of Disorder, and the wormhole within it was to be their connection to the greater realm of Disorder. The introduction to this region of power was the wizard’s final gift. After guiding father and son throughout their wicked lives, it was time for him to move on.
“The purpose of the lords from thence forth was to continue the lineage that would guard this portal, and when the time came, they were to follow the instructions that would birth the three kings. Until that time, they could do with the portal what they pleased. They were free to tap into its unlimited energy flow to grow ever stronger, and even use it to summon help from different worlds for the furtherance of Disorder.
“There is no definitive record of what happened to the wizard after these events; the commonly held belief is that he returned via the wormhole to the realm from where he had first come to Earth over three thousand years ago.
“Control over the portal, its wormhole and the Hilvern region was left in the hands of the half-demon son, who, through an iron rule, consolidated his warlike father’s land-conquests. He maintained the grip of Disorder over the portal so that when the time came it could be used to place the three kings upon their thrones to control Earth.
“The second Lord Hilvern was already acknowledged locally as landlord through fear, intimidation and the elimination of any rivals. He was also shrewd and took as a bride one of the daughters of the clan to whom his lands had originally belonged, and he killed the rest of them until they stopped laying claim to the valley altogether.
“The second lord was never idle. At great expense he cleared the evergreen forest and built a castle on it, a rugged fortress, definitely not a place of beauty. Its dungeons and foundations were intimately connected to the underground cave network that contained the portal. This wa
s how he intended to guard the wormhole and keep it forever under the control of his wicked family. Successive lords expanded further underground. Potholes and caves were dug out until they became corridors and rooms. Eventually, there came into existence a complex and ornate subterranean dungeon network littered with shrines to the demon gods of Disorder. The largest of the caves, the one that housed the portal, was shaped into a massive underground cathedral, hidden from the view of all except the initiated.
“By offering their particularly vicious and cruel personal militias to aid various kings through the ages, the lords of Hilvern always managed to hold on to power in the valley, which has essentially been under their control ever since; an unbroken blood line – the spawn of the demoness – heirs to Orbok … Chaos personified.”
Theodora fell silent briefly and stared into the flames; the fire’s crackling and burning was the only sound now. Johnny did likewise while Baccharus watched the old woman, unsure if she had finished. Johnny was enthralled and a little daunted by what he had heard. It might have been an unbelievable story; however, since he had discovered Baccharus and his own psychic powers, anything seemed possible. The first time Johnny’s perception of the world had altered was when he discovered his abilities; the second time was when his familiar materialised in his bedroom and introduced him to the Council of Seven and the Equilibrium. What he had just heard from Theodora felt like a third awakening, a third altering of his view of the universe, this account of portals and dimensional channels, the interlinking of psychic energy throughout the universe, and the battle of the Trinity on Earth. It was another piece of a complex jigsaw puzzle, a puzzle for which he did not yet have the complete picture.
