The Key of Knowledge

by Michael Lackey

  As the moon rose in the night sky, the stars seemed brighter than ever before. The crisp coolness in the air whipped around them, mocking them, as if it knew they were outsiders. How long had it been since man set foot on these ridges? How many families made the trek and stood proudly together in this place posing for pictures before the Countess seemed to make the world crumble?

  "It looks like I could pluck one of them from the sky and put it in my pocket," Lucy said reaching upward to the stars.

  Micah laughed, "We are high on this peak, but not high enough for that."

  Lucy punched him in the arm, "I'm not that dumb!" She furrowed her brow and hung her head. "I'm scared of what will happen. What if I'm not one of these chosen? What if I get the key, but something goes wrong? What if I can't get it? What if... "

  Micah placed his finger to her lips, "Too many questions for right now. Though, I do have one for you." Lucy felt a lump form in her throat. She tried her best to speak, but the lump was about to suffocate her, so she just gave a nod of her head. He looked deep into her eyes. He could see the moon reflecting in them. "Do you have my six?"

  She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him as if it were just them. No mountain, group or key. Just a boy and a girl. The kiss ended, and she opened her eyes to see him smiling. "So, does that mean yes?" Lucy gave him a shove.

  "It's time, everyone," Jaso called to the group. "Let's be ready for anything. This will be base camp. Leave no stone unturned."

  14 Pike's Peak

  Micah helped Lucy with her gear while everyone was setting up tents, tables, and gadgets to help prepare for what might be coming. With so little to go on, they didn't know what to expect. You could feel the nervous excitement throughout the group. This is the closest they had ever been to any of the keys.

  "You ready?" Micah asked her as he tightened the straps on her gun belt.

  "Surprisingly, yes," she answered. "I'm confident we can handle whatever comes. We got this!"

  He smiled, "You got my six?"

  "Always, because I know you have mine," she replied. "Why do you keep asking me that?"

  He flashed a smile. "Because I like hearing you say it."

  The hike to the top of Pike's Peak wasn't as hard on the group of Reapers as it was on Julia Holmes two hundred years ago. She had to climb uncharted trails and mountain ledges, clawing her way to the top. Now, there was a path cleared to the top that was used by tourists in the early 1900s. People could drive their motorcars all the way to the top if they wanted. The path was cluttered with trees and huge rocks that had fallen over the years, but it was still easy enough. They walked in silence, keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of the Countess or her soldiers.

  Lucy was blowing heat rings in the chilly night air with her breath. "Looks like someone isn't nervous at all. Eh, kiddo?" Stan asked.

  "No, I'm nervous, but confident at the same time," she answered. "That's what I was telling Micah. I have a good feeling about this." She flashed a smile and patted her backpack where the journal was. "I have to be confident and careful. If I fail to do what I need to do, then Gramps died in vain. I can't live with that."

  Stan put her arm around Lucy's shoulders, "You sure you're only nineteen? You sound like someone with everything in order."

  "I'll be twenty next month!"

  "Well now," Stan said. "That makes a world of difference!"

  They laughed and followed in behind the rest of the group. They all walked about thirty minutes more before James announced, "Welcome to Pikes Peak, everyone."

  Jaso looked up at the night sky. The clouds were rolling away as if they knew their part as well. "The moon should be reaching its highest point at any moment. Everyone ready?" he asked. "If things start to go sideways fall back to the camp. We don't want to face the Countess on this peak."

  Lucy took a deep breath, feeling the crisp air burn her lungs, and gave a nod to Jaso. She found a cleared area that seemed to overlook the world as it slept. "This is amazing. I never knew the world could be this silent, this beautiful," said Lucy. "Now I know why Julia Holmes called it a glorious sight."

  Jaso directed the others to form a circle around Lucy, "Hold your positions and watch for anything. We don't want to be caught by surprise."

  Moonlight bathed the ground in a pale, eerie glow all around her. The last of the clouds rolled away to reveal the moon; it was so bright it was almost as if it was daybreak. The silence was loud enough it caught Lucy off guard. The air seemed to shimmer like heat waves rising from hot pavement.

  "This can't be good," Lucy said to herself. "Brace yourself, Lucy."

  As her eyes began to refocus, she could see a man standing in front of her. He was dressed in translucent robes that flowed around him, even without the wind blowing. She looked to his face, gentle eyes of blue stared directly at her from behind loose strands of hair tied up inside a turban.

  "Oh, my God!" she gasped. The man's mouth had been sewn shut. "Guys, are you seeing this?" No answers came. "Stan? Micah?" she said, slowly turning to look behind her. All of them were frozen in time. Standing like statues in a museum ready for display.

  "Your friends will be of no service to you this night." The voice came from James but it wasn't his own. "Their fates hinge on you, chosen one." This time the same voice came from Stan's body.

  Lucy pulled both pistols from their holsters and pointed them directly at the man. "Who are you?" she demanded. "Are you one of the Countess's new toys? What have you done to them?"

  "They are perfectly all right, for the time being," the voice boomed from Micah. "Your weapons are not needed. You are your own weapon now."

  "For the time being? What does that mean?" Lucy asked.

  Jaso's body spoke up, "You are of the chosen, and they are not. Their future now depends on you."

  "No! This is between us and only involves us!" she shouted. "If I lose, you let them live." She could feel herself start to tremble. The guns in her hands shook so hard she had to tighten her grip to keep from dropping them.

  The spirit came closer, and the guns seemed to pass through him. "I will not harm them, that is not in my power. If you fail your trial, you will forfeit your existence and your claim to the keys. All memory of this encounter, your trial, your friends, will all fade and be erased from their minds and yours," the voice came this time from the spirit itself. "If you succeed, I grant you the first key, and you grant me my needed release."

  "Why not just give me the key," Lucy suggested. "That way we are both happy."

  "Because he will know. He is everywhere, and nowhere. It is by his will we suffer our torment. All key holders must obey his commands," the voice said. "We must suffer for our actions against The Angel of Death. We must be death, and death is fair to everyone. No one, no matter place or creed can escape the sting of Azrael."

  "No one except the Countess, that is," she said with her voice trembling. "I have to stop her."

  "The one you speak of will also taste the sting. Whether by you or another, it is foretold. We are the ones that helped create the monster you call the Countess, and if you can pass the trials you will return her to mortality," the spirit told her.

  Feeling her nerves start to settle Lucy lowered her pistols and returned them to her holsters. "Let's do this thing then. What do I have to do?"

  15 Trial of the Key

  The spirit lifted his arms and time slowed to a stop. Lucy found herself surrounded by blank, nothingness.

  "My name is Ananus, first priest of my order. I am the holder of the Key of Knowledge. Your task is simple, yet great. Tedious to the mind, and joyous to the soul. Do you accept your challenge and all of its warnings?" he asked.

  Lucy stiffened her body in a battle stance. "I accept your challenge," she said with a nod.

  Thunder boomed in the distance as the spirit drifted closer to her. "Then it begins."

  The priest placed his left hand behind her head looking straight into her eyes. The cool blue color she saw before
had faded to a black that resembled a pool of tar. She was scared but stayed steady. The spirit touched her forehead with his finger. Instantly, Lucy saw flashes of light that formed into pictures. Pictures that were memories from her past. People she knew, places she had been, things she had done.

  "What is this?" she asked. "What does this have to do with the key?"

  "Your life is your trial," the voice said. "Truth is the key. You must use truth to unlock falsehoods and doubt."

  The images slowed down and focused on an instance showing a small girl. This girl, who looked to be around three or four years of age, was sitting alone and crying.

  "Why does the girl cry?" he asked.

  "I don't know," she answered.

  A sharp pain pierced through her mind. Lucy shrieked out in pain grabbing her head, but remained upright.

  "Lies will not serve you here. They will not benefit you or me. Look closer and tell me why the girl cries."

  She opened her eyes and studied the image. Lucy knew this girl... it was her. It was Lucy as a child.

  "She is crying because she is afraid," she said. "She’s away from her parents and is scared of what might happen."

  "Of what might happen to her?" the voice asked. "Remember, only truth will suffice."

  A stern look formed on her face, "No."

  "No? Afraid of what might happen to others?" he asked.

  A tear trickled down from Lucy's right eye, "She's afraid of what will happen to her parents without her."

  Ananus asked, "Where is the girl at?"

  Lucy scanned the area around her. She saw the image as if she was there again, watching as a visitor.

  "We were at the flower park in New Haven on a family holiday," she answered. "I went to look at this beautiful butterfly that I saw land on a sunflower. The butterfly flew away, and I turned back to my parents, but they were gone. I ran up and down the rows of flowers looking, searching for any sign of them."

  In Lucy's vision she ran along with her younger self.

  "Why did you fear for them and not yourself," he asked. "You were a child lost; your parents needed to save you, not for you to save them."

  The spirit of Ananus seemed to be changing. His form was not as before. The robes were the same, but his face was now hidden behind a veil of mist.

  "I needed to help them. I felt like I needed to, at least."

  Again, the spirit stated, "You were a child, why did you feel they needed protection and not yourself?"

  "I... don't... know," Lucy answered in an annoyed tone.

  Again, the pain shot through her skull, buckling her knees this time. She screamed as she dropped to the ground.

  "Unacceptable answer," he said. "The way to obtain the key is to fill the well of knowledge. Only truth can fill the well and set us free. True knowledge cannot be a lie. Your answers will save you or destroy you."

  Lucy wiped her face with the back of her hand. Slowly getting to her feet, "I don't understand what this has to do with the key." She waited, and he offered no response. He stood perfectly still, silent and staring at her with his cold eyes piercing through the mist. "Ask your questions then."

  "Why did you fear for your parents?" he asked again.

  Lucy searched her memories, every emotion, and looked deep inside of the darkness she didn't even know existed inside her. Finally, she looked to Ananus, "I was stronger than them. I could feel something inside of me telling me I had to protect them. They needed me."

  The form of Ananus shifted and phased, changing into an image that was too familiar to Lucy.

  "Gramps? Is that you?" she asked as every fiber of her body began to shake.

  A gentle smile graced the face of the old man. Lucy ran for him with her arms open, but he held up his hand to stop her.

  "This is not Conrad Otto, though, I do remember him well. Your bloodline flows from him. He tried to acquire the key and would have succeeded if he had been of the chosen. I could not erase his entirety, so I took his memory of the key. He was a just and honorable man, and from him, your power grows. Trust in yourself and answer this: Why does the girl cry?"

  She clenched her hands in frustration. Screaming in anger she charged the spirit who now wore the face of her grandfather. He held up his right hand and stopped her in her tracks.

  "ARRRGHH!" she screamed in pain.

  "Do not fight knowledge," he said. "You cannot hide the truth behind lies. Lies eventually fade and disappear, but truth is ever constant. Truth never changes."

  "I saw them die!" Lucy exclaimed "I saw them leave me and I was afraid. I cried because I thought my dreams were coming true!" Lucy shouted as she dropped to her knees again, sobbing uncontrollably. "I was only four years old, but I knew. I knew what was coming and couldn't do anything to stop it! I was only four!"

  Ananus knelt in front of her, "You have a gift so rare and special, you do not even realize it. Therefore, you were chosen." He took her hand, "Your parents did not die this day?"

  Lucy looked up to see her grandfather's face again, "No. They came back to find me. They were so relieved and happy. But still, they died four years later."

  "How did they perish?" he asked her.

  "I was told it was an automobile accident."

  "Was that how you saw their end?" he asked.

  Lucy choked back her answer. "No... I didn't see it happen that way." She closed her eyes as memories flooded her mind. "In my dreams, I saw them burning. Trapped inside a building as the flames grew all around them. They held each other until the end."

  The spirit was not moved, no emotion or cares. "Did you warn them of this?" he asked.

  Lucy's brow furrowed in frustration. "I was just a kid! A kid with bad dreams. Who would believe that?" she exclaimed.

  "Belief is not the responsibility of the one telling the story; it is that of the one’s hearing the warning. Your gift is of the Daxeal, the chosen," he told her.

  "My turn for a question," Lucy stated with her hands on her hips. "What exactly is this Daxeal?"

  "The Daxeal are angels of the Roman church, direct adversaries of Azrael and his minions of death," he said. "They choose mortals to assist them in containing his cruelty and stay the course of his orders. If a chosen can pass the five trials of the priests, they will hold the power to unlock the cursed essence left behind in Lazarus and release us from our bonds."

  Ananus presented a chain made of pure gold from around his neck. Attached to the chain was a single key of brass adorned with a golden dragonfly and the green gem of despair. It was the Key of Knowledge. This was the first step in stopping the Countess.

  "Your trial is almost complete, chosen. If you answer truthfully and embrace the knowledge, you will release me and obtain the first key of Lazarus," he said. The spirit came closer to her, face to face locking eyes with her. He took her hands in his own, "If you fail to answer truthfully, you not only forfeit the opportunity to the key, you forfeit your life as you know it."

  Lucy felt a lump form in her throat that seemed impossible to swallow. Her heart raced and pounded in her chest causing her breath to catch, but she summoned the courage to nod her head and squeak out the words through trembling lips, "I'm ready."

  Once again, all sounds were silenced. All movement stopped in time. The cool mountain air was thick and heavy on her exposed skin; Lucy felt sweat starting to bead on her forehead despite the frigid air. She felt as though he could see her soul directly as she prepared for his question:

  "Why did the girl cry?"

  Lucy became furious. "I've answered that question already!" she shouted. "Were you not paying attention?"

  She saw the eyes of Ananus turn black as a moonless night. His form shifted to that of a demon looking for vengeance. A ringing sound shot through her head; unbelievable pain forced tears down her face.

  "I thought you might be the one to release me!" he shouted. "You are just like the others!" The form of Ananus shifted to that of fire. Burning bright without heat. Blinding light and pain
coursing around Lucy. Fire was everywhere she looked.

  Lucy began to panic, screaming as the pressure started to grow inside her, her mind growing cloudy. She clenched her fingers into her hair. "What do you want from me? I cried because I was a scared little girl!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "I thought I was alone. My parents were gone, and I would never see them again. I cried... I cried because I didn't die with them!"

  Suddenly, the pain stopped, and Lucy looked to the spirit standing in front of her. He had returned to his original form. His head tilted upwards as his eyes fixed on the heavens.

  "Your mouth... the laces are untying," she said.

  The laces sewn into the mouth of Ananus were unraveled and freeing his voice. "Please, go on," he said in his own voice for the first time in hundreds of years. His eyes full of compassion and wonderment now.

  Lucy's shoulders slumped as she lowered her head. Tears flowed freely from her eyes down her cheeks; she felt more vulnerable than she ever had before.

  "My worst fear in life is to wind up alone. Like I am now. My dreams were so real I could feel their pain as they died and mine as they left me," she wiped her face with her hands and continued. "When I couldn't find them, my mind began to race; I couldn't breathe. I felt utterly alone."

  "Your parents did die, later, and you were not alone. The Daxeal showed you your future, the fate of your parents, to prepare you, to ready you for your fear. This is the power of knowledge," he told her. "And you found yourself not alone."

  "No, I wasn't alone. My grandfather came and took care of me. Now that I think about it, seeing them die over and over did seem to ease the shock when it happened. I know that sounds odd, but it's true," Lucy said with a smile. "I was told it was an automobile accident and that I was actually with them."

  Ananus said, "You knew that to be an untruth. Knowledge does not stand on untruths and falsehoods. You had seen them perish and you were there when it happened, but not in the automobile. The knowledge will fill you and you will have sight beyond seeing."