by Justin Sloan
“Stay back, monster!” she shouted. “What have you done?!”
“That wasn’t me, just….” He glanced around at the flames that were turning purple, faces of the tormented appearing in them, hands reaching. “We can’t stay here.”
Suddenly the sorrow in her face was gone, replaced by rage. He flew backwards at her push, recovering just in time to see her storming up to him.
“You betrayed me,” she said, and then punched him hard in the gut. “It won’t happen again.”
She left him there, on the floor surrounded by flames, and stood tall as she gracefully walked out the front door.
“We’re coming for you,” one of the faces from the flames said. “For too long you’ve claimed domain over my subjects, but no longer.”
Rohan scooted back and away from one of the flames that was beginning to materialize before him. The purple and blue shaped itself into a tall, nude man, who strode forward as flame became flesh, all but his eyes—those still burned like the deepest pits of Hell.
“Wh—what are you?”
“Just one of many who would see you burn,” the man, if you could call him that, said. “Call Azrael, and my brothers and sisters….” More flames formed into men and women around him, some with horns, others with fiery swords in their hands, but all with those hellfire eyes—six in total. “You will learn their names only as each torments you for your transgressions.”
Not sure it would even work here, Rohan attempted to pull on the spirits around him. The flames only intensified, and the men and woman approaching him seemed to grow in size and strength.
“Your powers mean nothing here, Necromancer,” the man said, with a viscous grin that revealed two pointed teeth.
“You… you’re a vampire?” Rohan asked.
“Simple, simple mortal.” The man laughed, and the others joined in. It was a horrible sound, like scraping of teeth on cement. “These terms you have for our various forms mean so little compared to the evil that is our reality.”
He surged forward, in a flash, and was beside Rohan. The heat of his eyes pushed Rohan back, but even worse was the excruciating pain that came from the man’s otherwise gentle caress of his cheek.
“It is not his time,” a new voice said, one that echoed with authority and sounded familiar to Rohan. He turned to see the Lich King—his robed figure taking up most of the doorway, his hood pulled back to reveal a skull etched with ancient, glowing ruins.
“This is not your domain,” the man hissed, backing up.
“And yet, I’m here.”
“You’d forfeit the pact, a deal set down through—”
“Enough!” the Lich King said, and with a flash he was holding a scepter, one Rohan recognized all to well as the Scepter of O’lin, and spirits were surging on the demons.
“Flee!” the Lich King shouted, backing up toward the door. “That won’t hold them for long!”
Rohan didn’t have to be told twice, and he was scrambling up and throwing himself through the doorway with the Lich King close behind.
Outside wasn’t much better. It was dark, but the dark flowed as if it were alive. Dark everywhere, that is, except for the massive streams of spirits surging on the flaming house.
“You ask too great a price coming here!” the Lich King said, skull turned to the sight.
“It wasn’t my choice, the tablet of—”
“WHAT?!” the Lich King spun on him, eyes blazing with a green glow. “How… it can’t be. And the Eye of Gilgamesh, he has that too?”
“The…?” Rohan shook his head, confused. “There was a woman, did you see—”
“It makes sense now.” The Lich King rose into the sky, and with a wave of his staff Nora was there too, beside them, and they were all floating up. “The only way the six demons of the sixth level could be held back is if the link isn’t complete.”
Below, the an explosion of flames sent the house into pieces and stopped the onslaught of spirits. The six men and women, or demons as the Lich King had called them, darted into the sky and after them, but in a flash, the darkness was replaced by a landscape of hills, bodies of water below them and small islands scattered throughout.
Rohan collapsed, and caught himself on what he was surprised to see was an ancient, marble column.
“Greece?” he said in wonder, more to himself than anything else, but the Lich King shook his head.
“Another level of the afterlife. One that resembles certain aspects of your world, I suppose as a way of helping others cope with their new surroundings. The workings of the after life are much too complicated for a mortal mind to comprehend… but mortal, that’s something you’ve transcended, isn’t it? The both of you.”
The both… oh my God, he’d forgotten about Nora!
Rohan looked around and saw her lying limp on the ground nearby. He ran over to her and checked her breathing—she was still alive.
“She will be fine,” the Lich King said. “It’s just the shock of it all.”
“She’s not, by the way. A necromancer. More of… a kahin.”
“Not after tonight,” the Lich King said.
Rohan just stared, unsure how he should take that. “You mentioned… a link? Something to do with the tablet?”
“I think you’ll see soon enough, but suffice it to say, your world will not stay in this condition for long, not if the owner of the tablet lacks the Eye of Gilgamesh.”
“It’s… Altemus,” Rohan admitted, hanging his head.
“Yes, I figured as much.”
“We have to stop them.”
“That’s not my place,” he said, “but you will have help.”
As if on cue, Nora sat up with a jolt, suddenly awake. First she stared in total shock and awe at the Lich King, and then her eyes found Rohan and went wide.
“You!” she was up, shoving him backwards and then moving in for the attack. “You did this!”
“No, let me explain!” He turned to the Lich King, hoping for some help, but the Lich King’s attention was elsewhere.
“You don’t have time,” the Lich King said, then waved his scepter. “There!”
Rohan saw it—the rays of the sun seemed to be materializing around them, forming a tunnel of sorts that led upwards, while a rift in the ground was opening.
“The six demons will now be able to cross into this plane because of my actions in saving you,” the Lich King said. “Return to your world while I hold them off. Once the tablet resets, you’ll have nothing to worry about.”
Nora had stopped her attack to stare at the them in pissed-off confusion, but Rohan didn’t have time to explain, not right there. He stepped toward the tunnel of sunlight and held out a hand for her.
“You’re going to have to trust me,” he said.
“Isn’t… that what got us here?” she asked, hesitantly. It was clear that she at least wanted to believe.
“It’s me or those demons,” he said. “Please, I’ll explain on the way.”
She breathed deep, eyes glancing back one more time at the Lich King and then to the rift in the ground that now appeared to be a swirling portal of green and purple lights. One massive, clawed hand emerged, pulling whatever demon it belonged to up and out moments later, but they didn’t stay to see—Nora grabbed Rohan’s hand and they were running up the sunlight tunnel.
A quick glance showed the Lich King raising his scepter and then bringing it down into the ground with a flash of light at the exact moment as the six demons swarmed him.
Rohan hoped the strange being would hold them off—he doubted killing them was even possible.
“Now’d be a damn good time to stat explaining,” Nora said, pulling back on her hand.
“If you let go, you might fall,” Rohan said, making sure not to let her go.
She stopped resisting at that, but her strides were shorter than his, less sure.
“Fine, look….” His mind spun with how best to present this to her, so he figured he best start at the beg
inning. As they ran along this sunlight tunnel, past weird worlds of swirling colors at one minute, others that looked completely normal the next, he told her all about his journey to bring his fiancé back from the dead, his Senna, and how Altemus had betrayed him. When he told her about the journey into the afterlife, her eyes took on a look of doubt.
“Where do you think we’re escaping from right now?” he asked.
Her eyes went wide with realization, and she said, “I half-hoped this was all some dream, really. Or maybe that you were simply in my head with some sort of mind-control.”
“Unfortunately, no. Altemus took over my body, somehow, and now we have to kick him out. Can I count on you?”
“How do I know this is even the real you?”
He squeezed her hand, and said, “This isn’t us touching, it’s our souls. Unlike my body, apparently, my soul is mine alone.”
There was something about what he said that made her run in silence for a while, and then she finally said, “Yes.”
“What?” he asked, and then realized that the tunnel had stopped. They were in a giant ball of light, as if they were in the sun itself. Only, perhaps because of their necromancer abilities or some other magic, it wasn’t blinding.
“If this is the real you,” she said, cautiously, “I’ll do whatever I can to help you, and cast that son of a bitch out of your body. But will we return in time?”
“Time works differently here,” he explained. “I don’t think that’s something we have to worry about.”
“And what, exactly, does this Altemus man want?”
“To raise an army of the dead and turn the world of the living into his kingdom.” Rohan smirked and shrugged. “For starters, though it seems his plan has evolved since we last met.”
“Jesus.” With a deep sigh, she said, “Let’s do this then.”
“Thank you,” he said, and then closed his eyes, focusing. The air around him vibrated, but not enough. He focused on all his energy, but still it was only a vibration.
Then it hit him—the Lich King had said she’d have powers too, like him she was now a necromancer.
He took her other hand, ignoring the confused and slightly annoyed look in her eyes, and said, “I need you to focus. Everything you have should go into imagining us back home, our world righted. Imagine our energies flowing with each other, stronger than any force that could potentially push back. Can you do this?”
She nodded, and this time they both closed their eyes.
A sound like the earth shattering filled their ears and then the crackling of lightning and, with what felt like an earthquake, the world righted itself and they were pulled back up with the ball of light.
When the light faded, they were back in Nora’ house—and chaos broke out.
Chapter ?
The spirits of the house had just surrounded Nora—it was like they’d arrived back a few seconds before everything fell apart. Rohan was staring at his body as it held the tablet between what was actually Altemus and Anne, but appeared to be Rohan and Tess.
“Something’s wrong,” Anne said, sensing it.
Altemus didn’t have the chance to turn and see what, because Rohan was already charging, and with a giant leap, he was back in his own body and had cast Altemus’s spirit out.
Energy flew through Rohan’s limbs, and he felt his limbs returning to his control. With another surge of energy, he was back completely, but he collapsed onto the floor, gasping and reaching for the dropped tablet.
Form the corner of his eye he saw that Nora wasn’t cowering like she had before, but was casting spirits aside like the best of them, testing out whatever powers she’d gained by visiting the afterlife, and using them masterfully.
Altemus’s spirit turned in confusion, tried to reenter Rohan, and was thrown back by a barrier of energy. So he turned and flew at Tess’s body, entering it with flash of black smoke. He screamed, Anne screamed, and Tess screamed as her body bristled with both spirits. Then Tess was throwing herself around the room, her eyes glowing as she overturned bookcases and cabinets, yelling maniacally.
Rohan leaped out of the way.
A blast struck Tess, knocking her down, and Rohan turned with a smile to Nora.
“Thanks,” he said, but in that moment’s distraction Tess rolled over, grabbed the tablet, and was up and running. Both Rohan and Nora threw spirits after her, but a wave of energy threw them back. Glass shattered and Tess was out through the window and running off into the night.
Nora was resting against a bookcase. She was breathing heavily and had a far-gone gaze. Rohan took a step toward the shattered window with every intention of pursuing Tess, or what was now both Anne and Altemus in here body, but his legs shook and he nearly collapsed. He stumbled back and landed in a chair.
He’d fallen for Altemus’s tricks too many times already. When would it end?
A thump pulled his attention back to Nora—she’d collapsed, and lay there, breathing heavily, unconscious.
When he bent to check on her, he couldn’t help but notice the red of her cheeks and her quick breaths. The spirits must’ve gotten to her, bad. Without a moment’s hesitation, he had her in his arms and was carrying her to the bedroom, which he found at the top of a very narrow staircase.
Pushing aside the curtain of a canopied bed, he gently lowered her tot eh mattress, and then looked around frantically for anything that could help. He tore the drawers out of the bureaus and emptied them looking for medicine. Then it dawned on him to run to the bathroom.
A small line of lite lit the hallway, but it was enough for him to find the bathroom. Ignoring the gaudy pink tiles, but making a note to ask Nora about the poor decorating and design of this place if she ever felt better, he rummaged around the medicine cabinet. Nothing.
Not that it mattered anyway, he realized. If this was the work of the spirits, or the aftereffects of her first trip to the after life, she would need medicine of a different sort.
What she needed was something to clear the mind, to set her soul at ease.
He dashed down to the kitchen, rifled through the drawers, tried to remember all the remedies his mother had ever given him as a kid, the remedies he’d tried to give Senna when he first found out about her disease.
For such a recluse, Nora stocked her pantry like a chef. Mint and cloves—perfect! He snatched them down and threw started a pot of boiling water.
Between making tea, he ran a towel under warm water and ran back upstairs to check on Nora. She was sweating profusely and he dabbed her face with a wet towel, which left it on her head.
“Azrael,” she moaned, turning in her fever dream. “No, stay back….”
So she had heard the demon mention his name, Rohan realized.
Her hand was clammy as he took it in his own.
“My name’s Rohan,” he said. “And I promise, I’m going to make sure everything is back to normal. Okay?”
She mumbled something, quiet, unintelligible.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said.
When the tea was ready, he found a tea set and brought it up to her on a wooden tray along with some fruit and club soda to settle her stomach further if she needed it. The tea steamed and filled the room with a pleasant aroma that reminded him of a minty-Christmas as he poured it into a cup, blew on it to cool it down, and then helped her sip it in small, quiet sips.
Soon, the tea was done. There was nothing left but to sit at the edge of the bed on an ottoman, watching with baited breath as she faded in and out of consciousness.
Even though he had no idea where to start or what to say, he talked—he had to keep her conscious. Plus, if she remembered any of this, he figured it was best she know his full story. He told her about his trip to the afterlife, how everything seemed crazier than it was. Part of him knew he had to get out there and find the tablet, stop Altemus and Anne, and get Tess her body back. But he also knew that he was going to need Nora’s help.
“Hang in ther,” he said,
wiping her brow with a warm washcloth. He wondered how she’d gotten to this point. Hadn’t she mentioned something about archeologists? That seemed to convenient, like a story she’d contrived to cover for all of this. No, he was sure that, at least on some level, she was doing this because she was looking for answers. The archeologist bit was a cover, and a clichéd one at that. But he got it—his own path had led down an obsession he wasn’t proud of, one that had led to Altemus reuniting with Anne to begin with. In a way, all of this was Rohan’s fault.
“The worst will soon be over,” he said, more to convince himself than anything else.
But as far as her fever was concerned, it was. At the bottom of the night, Nora’s fever broke and she drifted into a quiet sleep.
Rohan sighed with relief and curled up at the foot of the bed. He tried to sleep but he couldn’t. Every time Nora tossed or turned or moaned he sat up to make sure she was okay. She was.
***
Nora woke with the rising sun. Sitting up in bed, she blinked and looked around. When she saw Rohan she startled and almost fell out of bed.
“It’s okay,” Rohan said.
“Was it all real?” Nora asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.
He wanted to tell her it was a dream, that she could curl back up in bed and it’d all be over. But she had the power too now, and he knew he was going to need her help.
“Tell me everything you know about that tablet,” he said. “And something called the Eye of Gilgamesh.”
If it were possible, her eyes went even wider at that. For a moment she simply stared at him, and her mouth twitched as if she wanted to say something. Then she pushed herself up, a hand on the wall for balance, and started walking.
“Should I… come with you then?” he asked.
She paused, nodded, and then continued on. At a stairway she paused, and nearly fell.
“You should take it easy,” Rohan said.
“I’ll rest when this over,” Nora said, motioning him to follow. “We’ve got work to do.”
Rohan followed Nora into the library, his mind still rolling from everything they’d been through. Walls and walls of dusty, old books.
