“Excuse me, sir,” I said in a low voice. “My friends and I made it into your home and I was hoping we could seek some shelter for the night.”
The old man didn’t react as he kept staring at the black object in his hands. I noticed that he was wearing a pair of thick glasses and had a white goatee that drooped all the way down to his chest. His pale silvery hair was unkempt and thick on the sides but it couldn’t hide his receding hairline. That was when I saw that he had a stone medallion that he wore on a chain around his neck.
Mark had stood beside me. “Is he deaf or something?”
Amy placed her hand on his elbow. “Just leave him be, he seems to be hard at work on something.”
Curiosity got the better of me so I started walking closer to the old man. There were other, smaller tables near the bookshelves and they seemed to contain a multitude of small glass bottles with some strange swirling gas inside of them.
“Steve,” Amy hissed softly. “Where are you going? Get back here.”
As I got nearer to him, I noticed that the object that the old man was holding seemed to be some sort of black mirror. He seemed to be concentrating on it as he just stared blankly at his own reflection. I just couldn’t help myself any longer so I moved over and stood beside him as I tried to look into the dark glass to see if I could notice anything as well.
The moment that my own reflection appeared beside the old man’s gaze he instantly put the mirror down on the table and then turned to look at me. I took a step back when I realized what I had done. Amy gasped and Mark tensed up as if he was ready to make a quick dash.
“That was very rude, young man,” the old man said without any emotion. “You shouldn’t be interrupting me while I am scrying through the looking glass. Doing so may sometimes bring unwanted attention to the both of us.”
“I-I am sorry, sir,” I said. “I was just curious as to what you were looking at since it might have shed some light on our current predicament and my curiosity got the better of me. Please forgive me.”
The old man’s eyebrows arched upwards in parallel. The blue irises of his eyes were magnified by the thick glasses he wore. “Hmm, I must admit that there is a lot more interest in these things nowadays. Now who are you and who are your friends and what are you doing in my manse?”
“M-my name is Steve Symonds, sir,” I said nervously before pointing over to my companions. “That’s my older sister Amy and her boyfriend, Mark Loman. W-we ran away when the Fomorians attacked our neighborhood and we made our way here. I noticed that one of your front windows was left open so I slipped inside and opened the door for them to come in. P-please, sir, we were just looking for a safe place to spend the night. We promise not to be a bother to you and I have some money to pay for lodging.”
The old man tilted his head back and let out a deep, throaty laugh. “Money? With all that’s happened you expect me to take your money? My dear boy, the world has changed and now currencies are a thing of the past.”
Amy and Mark said nothing; they just looked at each other.
“Y-you’re right, sir,” I said. “Well if you won’t take our money then perhaps I can assist you in anything that you need. I’m willing to do anything just for a place to stay until morning.”
The old man’s demeanor changed from mild amusement to interest. “My, that is an interesting offer you just made, Steve Symonds. After what I saw in the mirror I may be in need of a servant that could do a job for me.”
Amy smiled and she relaxed while Mark let out an obvious sigh of relief.
I smiled as well. “T-thank you, sir. Whatever you need from me, I am at your service. I heard you were a wizard of some sort.”
“Quite right,” the old man said. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Amicus Tarr and I bid you all welcome to Clarent House.”
“Pleased to meet you, sir,” Amy said as Mark smiled and nodded.
Amicus walked over to the middle of the room and I followed and stood beside him. He stared at Amy for a brief minute before clasping his hands. I noticed that his long, pale fingers had a multitude of jeweled and metal rings on them. “Young lady, you seem tired. I have an extra guestroom upstairs. It’s the first door to the left of the upper landing. It’s got a rather large bed and a couch for your…friend,” he said as he looked at Mark. “Steve can stay here for a bit so that I can acquaint him with what I need done.”
“Thank you, sir,” Amy said as she turned and started to walk out of the room. Mark nodded to me before he followed.
“Oh, and although the room may be stuffy, please do not open any windows,” Amicus said to them just as they were about to leave the room. “We mustn’t attract the Fomorians for they are all over the city by now and some of them track by scent.”
Amy and Mark smiled as they nodded in assent before walking out and closing the door behind them.
Amicus turned his attention to me. “Now then, lad, just how did you find out where I was living?”
“Well I saw your website when a mate of mine referred me to it,” I said. “This was before you shut it down and so I copied your home address from it and kept that on my mobile.”
“You are a very clever boy. What made you think that I was important at all?”
“Well, Ray, my mate, he said that you predicted all of this would happen and so if trouble came about then the best thing to do was to go and find you.”
“A logical plan of action,” Amicus said. “Although I must admit that I hadn’t expected things to unfold this rapidly. You see, I spent a lifetime gathering all these old tomes of magic and hoping and praying that I could somehow be the magician that I had dreamed of since I was but a small child. People ridiculed me and said I was insane. Now it turns out that I was right after all.”
I nodded. “Well, you definitely proved everyone wrong. If I could ask you, Mr. Tarr, do you know what brought all this about?”
Amicus shook his head. “I’m afraid not. I’m still trying to catch up with all that is happening myself. It seems that the ancient gods of myth weren’t imaginary at all. It seems that they were, in fact, real and now they have returned with a vengeance.”
“All the ancient gods returned? Is all this happening in the other parts of the world as well then?”
“Oh yes,” Amicus said as he walked back to the massive table in the center of the room. “The Aztec gods have returned to Central America and they are causing all sorts of havoc over there. They may even be powerful enough to conquer the United States and Canada. The old Slavic gods are now in Eastern Europe and I heard that there is a new coven of witches that rules over the Iberian Peninsula and they are currently embroiled in a war against the Inquisition. Scandinavia has been completely snowed under and there is now a land bridge of ice that connects the entire northern hemisphere. I wouldn’t want to set foot anywhere in the north though; that entire region is now the land of the giants.”
“Giants? You mean like those monsters I saw in the movies?”
“Exactly. Demons and spirits now roam with impunity all over the world, particularly in Africa and Asia. The ancient Sumerian gods now rule over what was once the Middle East and they are easily sweeping aside the three major Abrahamic religions. India is in a rather…unique situation.”
“Speaking of which,” I said, “where is our god? You know, the Christian one? Why hasn’t he reappeared just like all the others?”
“Who knows,” Amicus said. “Perhaps he is just biding his time or perhaps he doesn’t care. Or maybe it’s because he never existed at all.”
“So you’re saying that we were wrong about who it was that we believed in all this time?”
Amicus winked at me as he held up the black mirror once more. “That is a distinct possibility, lad. If one is to survive these days then one must be knowledgeable about the old gods and how to placate them. The alternative is death, or perhaps something far, far worse.”
“Alright then,” I said. “How were you able to protect yoursel
f against these Fomorians? How is it that you are the only other person left alive that I’ve seen aside from the three of us?”
“Two things,” Amicus said. “Knowledge and power. I must admit on the latter part, however, that my magic somehow came alive only in the past few days; prior to that it never worked. There is still so much to learn and I am already an old man so time is of the essence. I must continue to find the answers before…”
“Before what?”
Amicus looked away. “Before my old master returns and attempts to destroy me one final time.”
I thought about what he had said for a minute. “Your old master? Wait, it said on your website that you are some sort of exiled magician. Are there others like you?”
“Yes. I was once a member of the Temple of the Black Sun.”
“Temple? Is that some sort of church group?”
Amicus sighed at the silliness of my question. “It’s an order of magicians. We believed that magic was real and we were all devoted to a lifelong quest to find ancient artifacts so that we could gain power through them. Our Grand Magus was a man named Orlok, a thoroughly despicable individual. I studied with them for decades before they cast me out about twenty years ago.”
“What happened? Why did they cast you out?”
“Betrayal,” Amicus said. “For years I was considered to be next in line to become Grand Magus until another apprentice, an American named Solomon, outmaneuvered me. I was accused of making statements contrary to the Temple’s bylaws and then they cast me out of the order. They claimed that I was keeping secrets from them about a certain magical object. They said that I knew the whereabouts of this said item and I should have told them about it. I refused and so I returned to England alone. I later learned that my rival Solomon betrayed the Temple a few years later as well. What scoundrels they all are.”
“But since you refused to answer them then it sort of implies that you did know where this object was, right?”
Amicus smiled at me. His rotting teeth were stained brown. “You are indeed clever. Yes, I did in fact find the ancient relic and I didn’t tell them about it. I was hoping that they would see the error of their ways and would apologize and permit me to return and become the Grand Magus, but that Orlok fellow had plans of his own and so we engaged in a magical war for years and years until all this happened.”
I smirked. “Right then, so where is this magical artifact that you seem so happy about anyway?”
Amicus held up the blackened glass in front of me. “You’re looking at it.”
“That thing? It’s just a mirror, right? What is it supposed to do?”
“It is a scrying device made of black obsidian. This particular mirror is in fact Mayan in origin. I found clues as to its location when I made a trip to Mexico and found an old parchment that was hidden in a church there. Apparently the priests who ran that church had handed down the secret map to their successors in order to safeguard its location for centuries until I was able to acquire it. It is rumored to be the very mirror that can be used to talk to Tezcatlipoca.”
“Tez what? Who?”
“Tezcatlipoca,” he said. “He is one of the major deities of the Aztecs. One of the four gods who created the world according to that ancient civilization in fact, so it makes him one of the most powerful ever. His other name is the god of the smoking mirror. It is also rumored that the one who possesses the mirror can see into the future as well as being able to observe events that happen anywhere not only on the earth but also in other worlds.”
I had to admit that I was still skeptical. “Right, so it’s through that thing that you could predict all this was going to happen?”
“I had been staring into this mirror for decades until a peculiar thing happened just a few years ago,” Amicus said wistfully. “A strange man wearing an ornate mask appeared in my reflection behind me even though I was alone in my room. He told me that the gods would return soon. That was the one vision that I had and it haunted me for years. There was a time I had even thought that I was going mad. But now I have realized that the vision was indeed true.”
“So it works then?”
“Of course it does! I have been scrying into it these past few days and it helped me prepare and survive against the Fomorians.”
I was in schoolboy mode now and on a learning curve. “Speaking of the Fomorians, is it true that they were considered to be the original inhabitants of Ireland?”
Amicus nodded. “Yes, according to legend. And since we now know that myths are real I guess that assumption has been confirmed by recent events.”
“If they are natives to Ireland then what are they doing over here? Don’t we have our own gods and goddesses and such?”
“I’m glad you asked,” Amicus said. “The Isle of Britain was settled by many distinct peoples over time but since they didn’t have a written language, most of what we knew came from Roman and Christian sources. You must realize that Britain and Ireland were once a single landmass up until about fourteen thousand years ago. We know for a fact that the Britons, who may very well have been a Celtic tribe, mind you, came soon after the largely unknown Neolithic tribes that first raised the standing stones in places like Stonehenge and such. The stories of the Fomorians are from Celtic myths and legends so in fact, the myths of these creatures do belong here as well.”
“What about our own legends, like King Arthur and such?”
“The myths and tales of King Arthur happened much later, soon after the Roman Empire fell and Britain was subjected to waves of invasions and assimilation by the Anglo-Saxons. But then again the information we have on all this is quite scant so there are no definitive conclusions, I’m afraid.”
I looked down at the wooden floor. “So you’re saying there’s not much hope for us, then?”
“Hope for what? That our government will somehow rally our military and we will all of a sudden retake England from the Fomorians? Oh no, lad, that will simply not happen. You cannot fight gods with guns and cannons.”
“Well, if not guns then I was at least hoping to get that magic sword Excalibur so I could defeat these horrible creatures,” I said in despair. “I mean, what are we supposed to do now? Just lie down and die?”
Amicus moved closer to me and placed an old, trembling hand on my shoulder. “There may still be some hope yet, young Steve. You asked me if you could do something for me and in fact there is a task you are capable of doing in order to ensure that the Fomorians won’t attack us.”
“Okay, what is this task that you want me to do then?”
The old wizard winked at me, then started to walk towards the doors. “Follow me, if you please.”
So I started to walk behind him as we both left the great hall and moved further down the corridor until we stood at the end of it. In front of us was a smaller door that Amicus opened, inviting me to go inside. As I stepped forward I almost fell backwards in complete surprise when I saw endless reflections of my own image walking straight at me.
Amicus chuckled as he stopped me from falling on my back. “It’s not what you think it is. Look again.”
As I peered inside one more time I soon realized that it was a room full of mirrors that stared straight back at my own form. There were looking glasses of all sizes that occupied every single niche on the walls along with free-standing mirrors to create an infinite array of our own reflections from all angles.
I scratched my head. “What’s all this then?”
Amicus held up the black mirror as he stood beside me. “You might think that this room is but a mass of mirrors but it serves as a gateway to the other worlds. I have need of someone like you in order to retrieve a powerful relic from the time of legends. Once we have this item in our possession we will be fully protected from those demons lurking outside and your obligations to me shall be fulfilled.”
I nodded even as a growing sense of fear and mistrust began to raise the tiny hairs on the back of my neck. “So you want me to travel to anot
her dimension and steal something for you?”
Amicus gently shook his head. “Steal? Of course not. You cannot steal something that has already been stolen.”
“I-I don’t understand.”
“This particular treasure is underneath the trunk of a tree. It was buried there by raiders. All you have to do is get it and bring it back to me. It’s not heavy, I’m sure you could carry it on your own.”
I raised one eyebrow. He was hiding something, I could tell. “And this treasure, is it being guarded by something?”
He shrugged. “Well…yes and no.”
I knew it. “Come on then. Out with it.”
Amicus frowned. It was as if he hated having to tell the truth. “Yes, there is supposedly a creature guarding it but someone clever like you should easily take it without it even noticing. It will be a piece of cake, as they say.”
“This guardian, is it quite big?”
“You could say that, yes.”
“Is it strong?”
“Yes, I would say so.”
“Does it have claws and such?”
“Yes, probably.”
“Does it have a mouth that can swallow me in one bite?”
“I don’t know…”
“Tell me!”
“Oh all right, yes it does!”
I took in a deep breath. “So after admitting all of that, you want me to go in by myself and take this monster on and bring the treasure back to you just like that?”
Amicus looked up since he couldn’t look me in the eye. “Well that was the long and short of it…”
I grimaced. “And just how do you expect me to bloody do that?”
Amicus pointed a crooked finger at me. “Language.”
“Language my arse! You want me to go there and die for you, is that it? You’re mad!”
“Of course not; if you were to die then how could you bring the relic back?”
“Then how do you expect me to accomplish this?”
He squinted at me. “I am to assume you’re still a virgin, right?”
My eyes became as big as saucers again for the third time today. “What?”
Pagan Apocalypse Page 6
