by David Falchi
«Hurry up, Kiesel» he said, pointing at the deformed trunk at our shoulder. «If we stay here this will all be pointless».
For a moment I heard the darkness whispers so I decided to follow Lerner inside a haunted wood instead of staying where I was and pay attention to its words.
* * *
Running in that state was even weirder and that was just one of the strange experiences that I’d lived until that moment. Usually, every time that I was in a spiritual form I’d float and teleport myself wherever I want. But inside that world, it was as if I’d been walking among those trees. I couldn’t believe how slow I was walking. It was as if my feet were being slowed down by a muddy mass that stopped me from running at full speed. This sensation wasn’t that different from the one that we usually experience when we dream: when we try to escape from a threat but we cannot move. The only consolation was that in Lerner’s world the same thing applied to our chaser. And what was even weirder was looking at the outlines of the branches and only have a clear image of them afterwards, right after I had set my eyes on them. On the bright side, I wasn’t feeling tired. I’d been running for about thirty minutes now and I was still feeling as good as new. I could have gone on and on at that compelled pace.
Suddenly, Lerner stopped. «Ok, I think we’ve gone far enough now. We can start setting our trap».
«What do you have in mind? » I replied, turning backward. I couldn’t see anything but deformed branches. And yet, I was sure that our enemy was onto us. I think I was able to perceive the vibrations caused by its movements on the ground.
«The village shouldn’t be far from here», I said.
«I made a few changes at the geography of the place. In my world there’s no village». He laughed. «Now, are you ready to give this son of a bitch what it deserves? »
«Ready», I replied, even though I had no idea of what he meant by that.
A snigger resounded in my head and I instinctively turned toward my assistant. For a moment, I thought that my doppelganger, or Priscilla’s deformed face was right in front of my face. I was terrified by the idea that the creature could have tricked me again. But, lucky for me, the only person that was standing before me was Lerner. The only thing weird was that he was standing at the edge of a giant moat which by the way could have swallowed the entire wood. It must have been extremely deep. Probably one-hundred and sixty-five feet in the farthest point, because the light could hardly get there. It must have been, six hundred and sixty feet long. It looked like a lake that had just dried out.
«What’s the plan? » I asked.
My assistend shrugged. «Just stay here until the bastard arrives. The ground will look solid as always...until it’ll fall down. At that point we’ll hit it with all our armory. You still have a few spell that you haven’t used, right? »
I nodded.
«Alright then. I, myself, still have a trick or two. It’ll be like catching a huge elephant. I’ve taken part in a hunt once, back when I was alive, did I mention it? »
«No», I replied, «and I’m happy that you didn’t because you know what I think about hunting».
«I know, Kiesel. But this isn’t a real elephant. It’s just a demon. And it’ll soon be here».
I could hear it too. Now, the ground was truly shaking. And then, in the blink of an eye, the moat was covered by barren land. For a few seconds the outlines of the dried lake were still visible but then, like the rest of the objects inside Lerner’s world, the anomaly stopped.
«Be ready» said my assistant while he disappeared into thin air.
I had to stay still and face the enemy. I doubted that Lerner’s plan was just tricking the entity into falling into a hole. I was sure that there must have been a sort of spiritual trap for whomever had fallen into that abyss. And after that my assistant would have launched another attack. It was time that I did my part. I was exhausted and I could only rely on my mind. However, there were still a few things that could have served my purpose.
I extracted the knife, and I continued to ignore the earth that was trembling under my feet. It was as if an entire army was marching in my direction. I repeated myself that wasn’t a regular blade but an ethereal version of it. And if I had been able to change the consistency of my body then I should have been able to do the same with that weapon. I remembered of a manipulation spell. The memory made me smile. I’ve learnt that spell from a twenty-five years old girl that I had met on a case in Sweden. The job had been a piece of cake but the techniques that I had learnt from Patricia, a girl that had moved to Ireland to get married, had been very useful. She was working as a dream whisperer for people that suffered from sleep disorders. She is the one who taught me to modify the objects when I had a non-corporeal form. According to her, and until that moment nothing had demonstrated the opposite, the most important thing was to visualize my idea and then stick to what was necessary. Overdoing wasn’t an option. She was as pragmatic as me, even though she had a great sense of humor.
I pushed aside those pleasant memories and I focused. The technique that I was going to use was Patricia’s, but the formula of the spell was mine, and I’ve always kept it for me. I could have only use it as a bargaining chip for any other useful information. A new spell was the perfect coin in my field. Unfortunately, I’d never found anyone that I considered worthy of that bargain, and if today I were to die in that ghostly wood the formula would have been lost forever.
I focused on the blade and I closed my eyes, while I continued to visualize it in my mind. I let the metal melt and slip forward, then its consistency changed and turned into liquid; however, during this process, it remained connected to the handler. The melted iron turned into a nine feet long whip that produced golden and silvery flares. I moved the hand when I noticed that that weird weapon burned the ground every time that it touched it. I made sure that I had a clear image of the whip and then I turned it into the weapon that it always was, keeping in mind that the dagger had become an optical illusion.
I opened my eyes, right in time to see a humanlike shape that was walking in my direction. Even from that distance I could recognize my sister’s features. That trick was becoming redundant, and it was starting to annoy me. The fact that the entity had decided to take that shape one more time suggested that it was running out of ideas. After all, like me, the enemy must have felt threatened by that new dimension. The only reason why it had pushed itself so far away from the haunted place was its blind hatred for me.
«Help», said with Priscilla’s voice.
I lifted the dagger. That would have been the only greeting gesture that the creature was going to get from me.
Suddenly, the ground under its feet disappeared, but it wasn’t the girl who fell in the moat. In fact, I watched the mass of darkness that had already destroyed the house slipping downwards, while it tried to grasp on to the craggy walls with its smoky tentacles, without succeeding. A supernatural scream filled the area, and it was immediately followed by an amused snigger that came from Lerner, who must have been hiding near the place.
Everything that followed happened so fast that I can hardly put the pieces together. I remember thinking that I was too far to hit the enemy. A moment later I found myself on the edge of the moat, right where the entity had fallen. I barely had the time to take a peek that a violent hailstorm hit the chasm before me, covering the darkness with a thick white fog. The ice fragments lashed me too, but lucky for me they crossed my body without hurting me. I didn’t waste time to be surprised by that scene, and I lifted the dagger, which this time had the shape of a whip. I shook it downwards and I watched the smoke being torn to pieces by the metallic lash. The screams of pain became louder. Only for a moment. Then they sounded muffled, as if I was in a dream. The creature lifted a tentacle, and then it tried to grab me, but I quickly reacted. With a lash I cut it in two, and the detached part floated in mid-air until the hail swallowed it.
«We are going to have a blast now! », screamed Lerner, while the ea
rth started to tremble.
I struck again and again. The third lash didn’t meet the entity, because a root had put itself between me and my target. I barely had the time to look up and see the other roots cropping up from the edges of the moat, until they covered the enemy. They looked like creepy wooden snakes. A few moments later the ice grains thinned out: they entity had been imprisoned in a branch tangle. Of course the roots couldn’t possibly be that long, but we were in my assistant’s world, and that shouldn’t have surprised me. The ground started to move forward and I had to take a few steps back to avoid to be hit and fall into the enemy’s coils.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and when I turned Lerner was standing by my side. He was still smiling but now his faced had a wild expression. When his eyes met the creature - that was howling its pain to that grey empty sky - they shined.
«Master, I’m starving», he said, «and I’m sure that you don’t want to see what’s about to happen. Go home. I’ll join you very soon. We’ll get out of the mirror together, I swear».
«But you’ve never fed from a demon». I would have done anything in that moment get away from my assistant. It was like standing before a beast of prey that had starved for too long. My instinct was telling me to run away or I would have become myself a source of food.
«Well, every once in a while, a change in the menu shouldn’t hurt me»
«How do I go back? »
He shook the hand in the air, looking impatient. Then, among the dried trees, appeared a trail that wedged into the wood.
«Go away, Kiesel. I’m hungry».
For once in my life my curiosity didn’t get the better of me. I turned and I started to run along the trail that Lerner had showed me, cursing the ridiculous pace that I had in the dimension beyond the mirror.
11
I kept going forward, and I wondered how I was going to find the access to the real world, provided that the house projection had truly been torn down by the entity. Once again I was in Lerner’s hands. I continued to hold the lash, because I didn’t know what kind of threats I could have met along the way. I wasn’t worried about the spirits that dwelled inside the mirror, I was more worried about the other spirits that might have taken advantage of the passage that had just been opened. Planes of existence are always very close, and even if we don’t pay attention to them, even the smallest ripple - like the one created by Lerner – could cause confusion. I might as well have saved myself from this demoniac presence only to fall prey to a new creature that had nothing to do with this case.
The road became steep and in that moment I was grateful that in that weird dimension I wasn’t able to feel any strain. I would have probably felt tired once I had gotten back into my body, just like when we dream that we’re doing physical exercises and when we wake up we feel like we haven’t slept. In that case, I would have been lucky if I had managed to find my way home. The feeling of fatigue would have been a welcomed guest.
The path turned into a climbing experience and I had to use trunks and branches to help myself to keep that pace that was already way too slow. Once again, I was happy that I was wearing the gloves. I was pretty upset and touching Lerner’s world with bare hands might have influenced my skills.
I reached the peak of the cliff and then I looked down. The valley made of bare trees was covered by the mist. Further away I recognized the fence that should have enclosed the Guidis’ mansion. Now there was no sign of the family house. In its place there was a cottage that I immediately recognized. That was the first time that Lerner and I had teamed up on a case. Our presence had been requested in Trentino Alto Adige because the shelter had been haunted by the ghost of a little girl. Apparently, that girl had gotten lost in the wood a few summers before, and she had found her way back to the cottage only after she had died. That’s why she’d decided to stay there forever. During that case I discovered that a spirit could still feel compassion. Lerner could have easily eat her, but he didn’t. «She’s just a little girl, Master», he told me when we drove the girl into a corner. I still have a clear image of those scared and fierce eyes, and the confusion that I read on those delicate features. «And if one day I’ll feed on such an innocent soul, well, that would be the day in which I would have earned the punishment of burning in this damned mirror. There’s a special place for spirits like her; we should let her go».
I had no idea why my assistant had chosen that cottage to represent the crossing point for the real world. Maybe that was just a coincidence of maybe that dimension was like a human subconscious. If that was true it would have been interesting to find out what that memory meant to Lerner.
I started to climb down the promontory, noticing how the surrounding area was quickly changing. Leaves were starting to sprout in the branches, and the mist was thinning out, while the sun shined high on a crystal clear sky.
I’d walked half the way when I realized that I had been travelling on a blooming and lively wood. I could even smell the perfume of wild flowers and the pungent smell of resin. If it hadn’t been for that constant silence I would have thought to be in a real place. But I knew that wasn’t the case, and the house that stood before me proved my thesis.
I was a few feet from the gate. In that precise moment I realized that the lawn in front of the entrance door was growing before my own eyes, and when I grabbed the bar, I saw a bright green carpet. The shelter’s door was exactly as I remembered it: barely able to hold the shutters.
My assistant had suggested that I’d be gone as quickly as possible, but my guts were telling me to stay. Something didn’t feel right, but I didn’t know what this was. Experience had taught me not to doubt my instinct, even in a case like that.
«Lerner, did you feed? » I asked, sure that he could hear me. «What’s going on? » I asked.
But the only answer that I got was the silence of that deserted place.
I went near the entrance, armed, and ready to use the weapon at the slightest sign of danger. I didn’t like that silence, just like I didn’t like the changes around me. If the world had changed because Lerner was now ready to cash his freedom, then why wasn’t he replying?
I recited a short spell that allowed me to sharpen my sight, and I repeated it three time. A silvery halo wrapped the lash, but everything else didn’t change. There weren’t spirits nearby or presences that could hurt me. Yet, that feeling didn’t seem to leave me. If I had been in my own body I would have had shivers down my spine.
«Lerner, you old fool, what are you doing? » I yelled.
I laid a hand on the door and I pulled it toward me. Inside, there was another house where I’d already been. There was a long dark aisle that only had an old dresser, with valuable sculptures and other gold and silver knick-knacks.
I’d been in that place too, and it looked exactly as I saw it for the first time. It wouldn’t have surprised me if, on the second door on my right, I would have found the haunted boy that I had freed ten years before.
Lerner’s memories were intertwined with mines, and they continued to follow me.
I walked along the entrance, and then I stopped. I had figured out what was wrong. The mirror had never showed the world as it was, in fact it only gave a distorted and eroded version of it. But now, I was in a place that I knew, and all the outlines were clear. Those places were so familiar to me that the sense of déjà vu that I was getting could no longer be ignored.
I looked at the dresser and I noticed that the tiny crystal statues were in good conditions, while the metal sculpture looked polished. I took the Greek warrior that had a shield and a spear in his hands. According to the landlord - a history and philosophy professor whose son had been possessed by the spirits of the dead – the statue had been crafted in the Eighteen century by a German artist that had a real love for antiques. I brushed the shield marquetry. In Lerner’s world nothing would have looked so accurate. Everything would have been wrecked and worn out. My assistant would have had a great time demolishing every object tha
t might have been connected to any concept of art and beauty.
The conclusion was simple, and the implications were kind of disturbing - I thought, while I put back the tiny statue in its place.
My assistant’s mind wasn’t the one that had been projecting the world where I was. It was all me.
* * *
I didn’t let that new awareness get the better of me, and I continued to walk through the aisle. I simply uncast the spell that had helped me turn the dagger into a slash, and I brought the weapon to its original shape: in such a small room, a lash would have just been a hindrance. I could have explored the entire house but I knew where I was going to find the crossing point...or whatever thing I was going to find in there. But then, the idea of being trapped there popped back into my head.
If the mirror was starting to react to my own memories that could only mean that I was a guest, inside that world. While I laid a hand on the door I pushed away that sense of panic that was growing inside of me. Fear would have only made me lose clarity of thought.
Feeling ready for some action I opened wide the door.
I was back in the attic, in the place in which I had first entered Lerner’s world. It looked devastated, as if there had been a fire inside the room because both the wooden beams and the window fixtures had turned black. It was dark outside and a freezing wind was passing through the windows, and it creeped me out. In the middle of the room, suspended in mid- air, there was the passage. It looked like a ripple, through which I could have a clear view of the room. My eyes couldn’t believe to what they were seeing. It seemed like the Guidis’ attic had been freed by the demoniac possession. There was no trace of the darkness that had dwelled inside that house. It only looked like an empty space, ruled by dust and carelessness. I could see my body lying on the ground. My face was looking upward while my eyes were white and rolled up. I was still breathing, but not as calmly as I expected. I seemed to be on a tormented sleep, as if I was having nightmares. I was one step away from saving myself, and deep down I was sure of that, but a part of me was afraid to go to the other side. That feeling of danger didn’t seem to go away. Of one thing I was sure though: until I had gotten back into my body, my skills would have been limited. And if, in that moment, there was a chance of coming back, I had to take it.
