Dire Symbols

by W A Rowland

  “Right you… wait, you’ll what!?” Liam started. “You meant to say you could have been helping this whole time and you just let me fall on my face?!” he ranted.

  “Yeah, pretty much. Though I did help when you were running away from Julian. You’re not nearly as focused as you think you are. Your mind was going everywhere during that fight,” she said cheerily as a field popped into existence a bit in front of Liam.

  “What the hell, Lily!” Liam fumed.

  “Hey, keep it down! I’m working here!” she said shushing him. “Besides, it was too funny watching you face-plant into the outfield. Priceless!”

  “I swear, if I ever get back to the astral plane, I’m going to strangle you, woman,” he grumped.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask, why haven’t you gone back yet to see Joshua? He’s been waiting for you,” she said as four more fields appeared in a half U shape that evened out like the slope of a roller-coaster.

  “I didn’t know I could go back. Maybe if my guide told me things, I would have!” he said tersely

  “Hey, be nice to me. I’m driving, remember?” she said in her infuriatingly cheery voice.

  “Be nice to me, I’m driving!” Liam mocked, then paused, “Wait… driving?”

  That was all he got out before he felt his body fly forward into the ramp of kinetic fields and shoot almost straight up.

  “Weeeeeee!” Lily squealed as they flew up into the night sky.

  Liam screamed as new fields appeared and began to bank him back and forth. Smaller fields appearing sparingly to adjust his body orientation so that he was always face forward.

  “OhGodpleasedon’tkillme!” Liam screamed internally as he rocketed through the course Lily was making, only seeing each group of kinetic fields a split seconds before he was hitting them.

  “Relax, you’re my horsey, remember? I won’t kill you,” Lily chirped, sending them into a spiral upward.

  “I hate you so much right now!” Liam bellowed.

  “Quit yelling! We’re almost there,” Lily said and started humming to herself.

  Suddenly, Liam saw an opening in the side of a hill in front of them, with a long dirt road leading up to a large door. Lily took them into a controlled dive that set him right in front of the entrance, which he recognized now as the garage entry to the bunker.

  Liam fell to his knees in the dirt and tried to control his breathing. “Please never do that again,” he said finally.

  “That was a blast!” she said giggling. “Just like a roller-coaster!”

  “I hate roller-coasters,” Liam said, suddenly feeling a very deep, personal hatred for the metal deathtraps.

  “Weren’t you the one who was super excited an hour ago about being able to fly?” she asked.

  “I was an idiot an hour ago,” Liam groaned out, his head still spinning.

  “You just have to get used to it. That’s all. Wanna go again real quick?” she asked.

  “Nope. All the nope. I’m going inside, into the underground bunker where there is no flying!” he replied quickly and picked himself up, entering the massive underground garage.

  “You spoil all my fun,” Lily grumped and did what Liam felt was the mental equivalent of crossing her arms and hunching while looking angrily at him.

  Liam needed a shower and some sleep, preferably neither of which would include flying.

  FUTURE PERFECT FUTURE

  Liam made his way into the bunker, intent on a meal and some sleep. He passed through the door into the common area and stopped in his tracks. Sitting on the kitchen table was a microwave dinner, still steaming from the microwave. Was someone else still here?

  “Hello?” Liam shouted, hearing only his voce echoing in response. He approached the kitchen area and started looking around for other signs of recent occupation.

  “Lily, do you sense anyone else?” he asked aloud.

  “I sense a lot of energy here, but I don’t know if it’s actually another demi, or just residual energy from people who used to live here. Some of the others had abilities that were constantly emitting astral energy and it just may not have worn off yet,” she replied.

  Liam decided that whoever had been there was gone for the moment. Maybe one of the groups had backtracked for something and he’d just missed them. In any case, the other demis weren’t threats to him, and nobody else knew about the bunker. Liam resolved that he was too tired and too hungry to worry about it at this point. He quickly put the meal in the trash and made himself a sandwich from the supplies left in the fridge. After eating, he took a shower and went to his small dorm.

  He’d been asleep for maybe fifteen minutes when he woke up in a familiar looking cabin, to see some familiar faces. He had almost forgotten what Joshua and Lily actually looked like after the commotion of the last couple days. Joshua was sitting in a large easy chair that dwarfed the man’s small frame, in his grey robe and pointy hat, his staff leaning against the side of the chair. Sitting opposite him in an equally large chair was Lily’s small form, in a bright yellow sun dress, happily snuggled back into the cushioning. If Joshua was dwarfed by his chair, Lily practically disappeared into hers.

  “Ohh good, Crazy decided to show up,” Joshua said chuckling.

  “Haha, very funny,” Liam said, sitting up and settling into a spot on the couch.

  “I hear that you’ve been mean to little Potential here. I thought I told you to mind your manners last time you were here,” the old man said scowling at Liam.

  “I haven’t… I mean I have. What’s she told you?” Liam stumbled through the thoughts in his head, not able to quite make sense of what he was thinking. It seemed like whenever he visited this plane, his mind got scrambled.

  “Only the cliff notes. Good job escaping ole Julian by the way. He’s a tough one to lose, though I doubt it will be for long. He’s tenacious. He never did know when to give up on the hunt.”

  “So I’ve heard,” Liam said, eying Lily suspiciously.

  “What? I only told him the basics and I may have mentioned your little flying adventure,” she said innocently, giving him a wide grin.

  Liam had forgotten just how small and vulnerable his guide looked here. He was getting used to her being the one in his head telling him what to do and making bad jokes. But in this place, she looked like a teenage girl talking with her grandpa about her day. It made Liam feel oddly nostalgic, not that he had ever been a teenage girl… or known his granddad.

  “I’m glad that you’re still alive, Liam, and that you’ve taken so well to having Potential as your guide. I was very interested to hear about the strange aura you encountered. So far, none of the other guides have ever reported something similar. I’m thinking it must be an aura unique to Potential. Something only she can detect. That kind of thing isn’t unheard of. Certain guides perceiving things other guides can’t. Very exciting nonetheless,” Joshua continued.

  “And on top of that, you can also affect others’ powers! I know you’ve also been told just how astonishing that is as well. I don’t know what the guardian is up to, but they gave you some very strange abilities. Very strange indeed,” Joshua said with a puzzled expression.

  “Usually, when the guardian changes the status quo like this, it means something big is about to happen. I’d suggest preparing yourself for some dark times ahead, for both of you,” he finished, getting suddenly serious and looking back and forth between Liam and Lily.

  “Enough of that serious stuff, you didn’t come here to listen to me blather on; you’re wanting an assessment!” Joshua continued, once again the cheery old grandpa figure.

  “Sorry, a what?” Liam asked, suddenly suspicious of why Lily had so conveniently dropped the hint that Liam could visit this plane again. In fact, Liam still didn’t even know how he’d gotten here!

  “An assessment, my boy. It’s my job to quantify how well you and your guide are bonding, and what effect that’s having on your ability to draw power from the astral plane.” Joshua explained.r />
  “So, like a test,” Liam said, still not sure he wanted to know.

  “Of a sort, I don’t suppose you’ve ever used a voltmeter in the physical world, have you?” Joshua said, standing up and making his way over to Liam.

  “Can’t say I have, what does tha…” Liam’s question was cut off by Joshua grabbing both sides of his head and his whole world dissolving into a chaotic jumble of scenes and mismatched conversations.

  Liam saw the moment he picked up the core stone in Jacob Nelson’s office. He heard Jessica taunting him. Then he was running up steps made from floating cinder blocks, then fighting a were-jaguar. The events of the past several days sped by faster than he could process. Kat and Rich being kidnapped, fighting the Blacks, and fleeing Julian again. It all jumbled together for what seemed like an infinity and then, just as quickly, it all froze. Each event connected to the previous and the next and then beyond. A chain of events stretching out further than he could see. Events that hadn’t happened stretched in ever more complex branches, every decision laid out before him. Liam’s head hurt. He wanted it to stop hurting.

  “Hey, no, stop that!” he heard distantly. But Liam didn’t pay any attention. He suddenly felt free and floated his consciousness over to an event in the future. Or at least a possible future. He didn’t know how he knew that, but that’s what it was. In this place, everything seemed to “feel” more than “be.” So when he touched the scene, he felt more than saw. He felt the sting of death. Bodies of thousands all around him, blood on his hands. At the center of it all was him, Liam Douglas, the bringer of death.

  Liam recoiled at the scene, fleeing back, away from the vision.

  “Liam! Whatever you’re doing, stop it!” he heard another voice say, but it seemed a long way away. He approached another vision cautiously. Inside this one was peaceful and serene. A small house in the mountains. Laughing children echoed in the halls, the smell of a hot meal and mountain air mingled amongst a thousand other smells that felt more like home to Liam than anything else he’d ever experienced. He never wanted to leave. Then the scene devolved into fire. The home burned to the ground, the children were dead and the mountain was a barren husk. Tears fell from Liam’s eyes. The immense sense of loss overwhelmed him and he wept at the sight. It was his home, he knew it. Those were his children, and they were dead. There was another body there too. Brown hair and olive skin. Familiar yet not.

  “Liam!” Lily’s voice screamed inside his head so loudly he cringed.

  He was suddenly back in Joshua’s cottage. His face stung and Lily’s hand was drawn across her small body. Had she slapped him?

  Joshua lay on the floor, disoriented.

  “What happened?” the old man said with a confused expression.

  “You started to test Liam’s connection and then you froze up. Just said ‘stop that,’ and then you fell over and Liam started screaming. I… I saw a little of it. So much death,” Lily said. Liam saw that she too had tears on her cheeks.

  “What just happened?” Liam said, weary now, wanting so much to just go to sleep for several days.

  “Well, if I had to guess…” Joshua started, picking himself up and dusting off his robe then looked blankly ahead, like he was reading a screen that wasn’t there.

  “Huh.” The old man breathed out.

  “Huh what?” Liam and Lily asked simultaneously before looking at each other, then back to Joshua.

  “The assessment came back null. I couldn’t measure the connection. How very odd,” Joshua responded.

  “That sounds bad. Isn’t that connecting me to my soul?” Liam asked, suddenly frightened.

  “Normally, I’d say yes. But seeing as you’re not a mindless, raving lunatic, I’m inclined to think that’s not the case,” Joshua replied.

  “What does it mean?” Lily prodded.

  “I don’t know. This hasn’t happened before. My entire purpose of existence is to monitor the connections of demis to this plane,” Joshua said. “It’s quite literally, what I was made for. That fact that I can’t measure your connection means that a cardinal rule has changed, I don’t know what you’re capable of.”

  “What about what I saw?” Liam asked.

  “What did you see?” Joshua replied.

  “It looked like my life. But, not memories, more like, specific events. There was a straight line behind me, and a tree in front of me. Things that I have no memory of. Futures, my futures, I think,” Liam explained slowly, taking time to puzzle out just what his brain was telling him.

  “Well, that’s not possible. The future is set. I know, I’ve seen it,” Joshua replied in a very matter-of-fact tone.

  “You’ve what?” Liam asked.

  “I’ve seen it. It’s not a hard statement to understand. I have foresight over human events. I can tell you what you’ll eat for breakfast two weeks from now. Which, is nothing, by the way. You should really start eating breakfast. Most important meal of the day!” Joshua chuckled.

  “No. Stop that. Stop changing the subject! What do you mean it’s set? I saw thousands and thousands of futures. More than I could count,” Liam was incredulous, and beyond his incredulity, he saw glimpses of his dead family. The future couldn’t be set.

  “Well that’s just not possible, unless…” Joshua’s eyes went blank again and he mumbled “Son of a…” Joshua ended abruptly then glared at Liam.

  “You know, it’s impolite to rustle around in people’s heads without their permission,” he said finally.

  “Wasn’t that what you were jus-” Liam started.

  “Irrelevant,” Joshua barked, cutting Liam off. “My only concern at this moment is how you did it.”

  “Did what? I still have no idea what happened!” Liam said in frustration.

  Joshua sighed. “What you saw was never meant to be seen by a mortal mind. You saw every possibility. Every potential future resulting from your major decisions. Thank the guardian that you didn’t see the decision tree for the whole world or you’d be a vegetable right now, astral being or not!” Joshua explained.

  “Wait, if the future is set, then how are there possible futures? Isn’t that contradictory?” Liam asked.

  “Not that you’re going to understand it, but from the mortal perspective of physical, linear time there are a plethora of possible futures. Your mind can only view linear time right now, so there are branching possibilities. But here, there’s technically no linear time. The destination and the start occupy the same space, so to speak. Your mortal mind can’t comprehend it, because it wasn’t made to understand it. And you haven’t been a demi long enough in the physical world to start to really use your astral mind,” Joshua attempted to explain.

  “But that still doesn’t–” Liam started.

  “Make sense?” Joshua finished. “I know, I know. Just tell yourself that it’s another mystical thing that you can’t explain, and stop thinking about it. Humans are good at that,” Joshua said dismissively. “Look, regardless of whether it makes sense or not, you shouldn’t have been able to poke around in my mind. Somehow your astral connection caused a feedback loop into my own mind and you found your own personal decision tree using my own ability to view the continuum. Which should also be impossible because your personal decision tree is affected by every other decision tree out there in some way, so the fact that you found only your tree is baffling and just a bit disturbing. That means that at some level, you have complete control over your potential futures,” Joshua finished.

  “Could it have something to do with my bond to Lily? I mean, she is the embodiment of potential?” Liam asked.

  “Except I didn’t feel anything when it happened, Liam. I could sense your thoughts like normal, but I didn’t have any influence over what was happening,” Lily explained, looking sullen. She was obviously still shaken by what they had seen in Liam’s future.

  “So what do we do then? I have no idea what I did or how. I only know that what I saw was horrific, and if that’s my future, then I�
��m completely fucked,” he said exasperated.

  “Sadly, I don’t know either,” Joshua said. I’ll keep looking into what happened here. Come back in… three days mortal time. I’ll probably have it figured out by then.”

  “What if I need to come back before then? How do I get here? I don’t even know that much,” Liam asked.

  “You only come here when you have an invitation,” Joshua explained. “Lily can help you with the rest,” the old man said as he settled back into his chair. “Oh… and be nice to the girl. She’s about to have a rough time,” Joshua added last minute.

  “Who, Lily?” Liam asked, looking over at his guide.

  “No,” Joshua said. Then Liam was thrown from the cottage, back along his connection and into his body.

  He sat up abruptly and heard a yelp and a crash from the other side of his room. He flipped on the light on the side table and saw a very frightened and shocked Cindy huddled against the far wall.

  SEARCH AND RESCUE

  “Cindy? I thought you were with Bast?” Liam asked, slowly getting out of bed and approaching the woman.

  “Too loud outside. Too many voices. Hungry. Food is here. Home. Safe,” she said rapidly. This wasn’t the Cindy Liam had seen before. That Cindy, while paranoid and erratic, functioned at a minimal level at least. This one seemed to be struggling to just form coherent thoughts.

  “Liam, I’m having trouble sensing her guide. Her connection is there, but it’s really weak. I don’t know what could have done this,” Lily injected.

  Joshua’s last words echoed in Liam’s mind suddenly. He assumed now that the old man had meant Cindy.

  “Did something happen to Bast and the others?” Liam asked softly, trying not to startle the girl, who tucked her legs up against herself as tightly as she could and started rocking back and forth. “Are you ok?”

  “Blood and death and bodies. It’s still coming. I can’t see it, but it’s coming,” she said, her breathing becoming fast and irregular.

  “Ok, don’t need to think about that, Cindy. But I need you to tell me if Bast is ok,” Liam asked slowly and softly.