“Thank you, Eva, you are an angel--,” I raised the lid from my breakfast tray and sighed. With a wink, I said, “I’ll even forgive you for this.”
“It’s oatmeal with raisins and brown toast--,” She scoffed and swatted at my shoulder, “I’ll have you know that my family thrived on it for many years! And they were all a healthy lot—if you don’t mind me saying so. Now you better eat it up—it’s good for you!”
“I was only teasing--,” I hugged her close and thanking her, said, “Please let Caitlin know that I’ll be joining you all for lunch.”
“Okay, sweet-heart.” Caitlin had waved as she swiftly went past my door.
“What’s the hurry—don’t I even get a good -morning-kiss?”
“She still sorting out Christmas things--,” Eva winked, “Now don’t you go spoiling her fun.”
“I’ll be there just as soon as I finish up here--,” I promised, “Be sure to let me know when it’s safe to come down.”
She winked, playfully swatting at the hair on the back of my head, before she turned and made her way out.
I had promptly called the CN Railways and inquired about their service, overjoyed to discover that they were still operating while all others services had been halted. They could guarantee an over-night delivery, but it would only travel as near to Hedley as Salmon Arm. This was still several hours from its destination and could now only be reached by impassable roads….
It was clear that the parcels containing their only chance would never reach our friends in time. When I placed down the telephone receiver all hope of having saved them just faded. My heart sank with any appetite that I might have had as I slipped back down into the chair.
“There are others--,” The raven whispered as it looked down at me, “Influenced by dreams and moved into merciful actions, though their purpose may never be clear.”
“Are you offering hope where there clearly isn’t any?”
“Do you so quickly abandon all hope--,” It sounded strangely dismayed, “And that which has carried you through a most dark and troubled life.”
“I would never let go of my faith, but this has all just been so much.”
“Then stand by what you have always trusted as true--,” It watched with those glistening and blood-red eyes, “For doubt is the weakness that shall cause you to falter, and most certainly fail….”
“But, I’m just one man--,” I spoke as though pleading to an even higher force, “I’m flawed in so many ways and feel vulnerable, utterly lost at times.”
“There has never existed only one, for this is the physical illusion of mortal realms. In the same manner to which the shadows grow, the power also gathers about us. It is the strength within faith, honor and courage of conviction that counters and balances all things….”
“Sometimes, I wonder what it might’ve been like if none of this had ever happened. I could have led a simple life, just like that wonderful elderly woman down the street, and just tended to my garden.”
“She endured at the cost of losing all that she had ever held dear--,” The raven spoke in that child-like voice, a sinister whisper, “She tends her garden with the knowledge of unspeakable torments and death most foul. Utterly alone, she exists only within memories and prays for the day when she too will cease to be in this world….”
“But she always smiles and waves when we pass--,” The thought seeming so foreign, it almost stole the words before I had even spoken them, “Dear old Mrs. Lieberman, she’s the only one we know who always wears sweaters, even during the summer.”
“To conceal the tattoo upon her right forearm--,” The raven whispered, “The numbers that identified her as a Jew….”
The statement cut far deeper than most would have ever imagined. It was the sin of generations that the German people would forever suffer in shame. “I can’t even begin to imagine what your suffering must be like--,” I looked sorrowfully to the demon bird, “To have knowledge of so much suffering and forever carry such a terrible burden.”
“We are not so unalike, you and I--,” Its voice seemed to echo down some long and distant corridor, “Like two droplets in the pools of time, reflecting from a single, dark mirror.”
The words had taken hold of me and jarred an old though familiar memory. I seemed to have recalled having previously known the boy that was the demon now, “Why do I feel as though I have known you—in a lifetime before?”
The ravens red eyes twinkled like stars that shimmered even by day. It seemed to have assumed or even known my thoughts as it leaned closer, and whispered, “Friends in childhood we once were, long, long ago. We remain as such even now, altered only through space and time….”
“But, I thought that you were a demon? A thing summoned by Marlowe from the darkness….”
“All things have beginnings, some spanning eons before the birth of planets and solar systems. Only a fool would assume all remain the same, unchanged by time….”
I knew the face and sensed the memory from somewhere deep within. But, though I struggled, could not retrieve a name, origin or even place! There was a sudden and distinct sense of sorrow, something that might be experience within tragic loss! I gazed sadly at the dark angel that sat upon my desk.
“Beware—do not dare wander too far--,” It hissed, a haunting reflection darkening its crimson gaze, “There are evils, sins best left forgotten, forever lost….”
Dreading the nightmare that already pursued us, I became absolutely still. Staring, dreaming into the demon’s glistening ruby eyes. There was an impression forming, images growing from out of a distant memory, emerging from out of a blinding mist! As I looked ever deeper, I felt as though I was drifting, and then falling into that blood-red stare. Everything fell into shadow, as slowly swirling, I became aware of scenery, shapes and sounds in the steadily growing light.
I saw two boys wandering beneath an amethyst and golden sunset and across a mountainous terrain. Three enormous emerald moons hung in the fading heavens, while they hurried across forested hills and down into a little valley. In the distance and from over the tops of twisted and immense trees, I could see the lights of a village. And though they spoke in whispers as they rushed along together, I had not recognized a single word they said. Yet, I knew without a doubt that they were frightened with the coming darkness, terrified of something that was near…
The mist crept from about the images in my mind. Climbing over an ancient and fallen tree trunk, they crossed a little brook. The older boy had pointed to the lights that shone even closer now, and urgently pushed the smaller one onward. As they moved faster and faster with each step, I sensed that they feared something in the surrounding woods.
And so it came, creeping, crawling from beneath rotting and moldering filth as it followed. Dragging and stumbling, it now desperately scrambled through the dense thickets and gnarled forest! The boys had been entirely unaware as it now followed, growing closer and closer with each passing moment! Once more I saw its shadow among the woods. A shape that I assumed might once have possibly been human? It was tall and hunched over, with long arms and twitching, clawed fingers. Hideously thin and with long hair filled with roots and tangled vines, it wore a dark and trailing, tattered cloak. As it passed beneath an enormous fallen tree, I saw it briefly in the fading light, staring in utter horror at the ghastly thing!
Its flesh was withered, fouled and festering with unsightly wounds. As the thing that had once been a woman peered out from behind small and white, dim glowing eyes… Her features were twisted with hatred, her teeth long and blackened with rot! My heart skipped a beat as I suddenly sensed its unrelenting and voracious appetite for living, human flesh! Noticing the numerous and spider-like legs which moved from beneath the cloak, I suddenly realized and recognized that it was the demon in the flesh!
Its filth-covered garments were covered and decorated in human remains, a partial skull crowning her foul head! As it raced into the growing darkness I witnessed the trailing and twis
ting tendrils that were hidden beneath the cloak! A horror beyond all terrors, it now scrambled upon its spider legs after the unsuspecting boys!
They were running through a small path in the forest just as fast as their legs would carry them, as not more than mere yards ahead the trail widened, opening into a field that would take them safely home. My heart was pounding as in spirit I ran with them, following closely from behind. The shining portal growing brighter as they neared the forests edge, they would soon escape the blackened woods.
It had appeared from before them in that final moment! Erupting from out of the dense vines and from behind a massive tree to the right, it took hold of the younger boy by the arm! As uttering a horrifying and victorious shriek, she had plucked him from the path as he had attempted to run past!
The older boy had stooped down and grabbed at a large branch, as rushing to his friend’s side, stabbed with all of his strength! The broken and sharp branch piercing the monster’s right eye and tearing the flesh of its cheek away, it had howled with a sound that had shaken the very earth beneath its feet! Dropping the younger boy, it now turned its full fury upon the elder.
Recovering his balance, the young boy had leapt back to his feet, screaming as the horror took hold of the other lad, and swiftly vanished into the shadows of the forest!
Everything ran crimson as smoke billowed and burned at my eyes. The scene becoming a nightmare vision of the elder boy being tormented, and hideously tortured! As the fiend had crucified him to the stump of a rotting old tree, it knelt down while biting and ripping the flesh from his legs! His cries were deafening, his suffering unspeakable as she ripped at him, shredding and stripping his legs to the bone!
I had expected that he might have passed out from shock, or died from loss of blood, but somehow, possibly by dark magic of some kind, she kept the poor child alive. As wide-awake and aware, he suffered each flesh-rendering bite, as she slowly devoured him alive! Her face and claws smeared in his blood as his flesh hung from her razor sharp teeth! He had prayed to all that he had ever believed or known, pleaded, cried out in utter madness while suffering an atrocity and sin that no living thing should ever endure! But none would hear him, except one….
From the darkness surrounding the hideous human feast, a shadow passed from out of the night and approached the faltering child. The fiend sensing this blackness had fearfully withdrawn. The boy, barely conscious, only nodded as the darkness had whispered to him… And then, as the pact was sealed, the light had faded from the boy’s eyes as the life had left him and his soul was forever condemned…. A terrifying ending leading to the beginning of the vengeful demon, which silently sat perched before me now….
Utterly speechless as I became aware of the office, I gasped while recovering from the dream. My throat parched and lips dry, I reached for my tea and drained the cup, sighing deeply while slipping back into my seat. “I think that I understand--,” The words had barely registered as I looked to the bird. The entire experience, having lasted for only a moment, had happened in a blink of the mind’s eyes. I swallowed hard, and said, “All things have beginnings—reasons spanning eons and worlds apart.”
It had just peered at me with eyes that flashed with suspicion, as though having realized what had just occurred, it said, “And their purpose—existing within a common enemy…”
“It took you long ago and far away--,” I had whispered while gazing intently upon the demon, “And now you have returned—to avenge your own death and damnation….”
The raven lifted off from its perch and flew into the chair beside the desk. Dropping into the seat, it suddenly became the pale child who had died so horribly in the vision. It squatted upon the old chair and slowly turned to look back at me. Staring with bright and burning blue eyes, it whispered, “So have we all….”
“And what about Marlowe--,” At first I had assumed the chair to have been moving, but it had only been me, shuddering and asking, “Is he also connected to all of this in some way?”
“I was as you are now--,” Marlowe’s reply followed the thought, “A wanderer of the wastelands—searching for answers to the mysteries of life and death.”
“Was it really something so simple—just a coincidence of academics?”
“I will not speak of it—,” He faltered and fell silent, his voice sounding strangely feeble as he whispered, “Gaze upon the truth—if you dare…”
The golden sphere suddenly burned like a brilliant and shining star as the radiance blinded, and took hold of me! Unable to look away, I watched a village being reduced to ashes, an inferno of incredible magnitude incinerating everything in its path! Through smoke and flames I could see the night sky, and the mountains overlooking what remained of the little town. There were men with pitch-forks and torches, dressed in black wide-brimmed hats and matching attire. Carrying large wooden crosses, they slowly marched away from the fire. It was Europe and between the years of 1351 to 1357 when countless souls died of the Bubonic Plague…. It would wipe out a third of the European population and, due to the high mortality rate, would cheapen life and cause endless violence and excessive crime.
Through the smoke and chaos I could make out the form of a distant watermill. It rested in the shadow of a great mountain, and where Marlowe stood with his wife and children. Through some miracle they had escaped the Black Plague, but now sought to elude the approaching men. Their home was nestled at the banks of a mighty river known as the Rhine, which flowing through Europe, would provide their escape from that living hell. But just as he had intended to hurry his wife and children down to the banks and the waiting boat, something caused him to pause…
The Black Forest had spanned his property for as far as the eye could see. It was an endless grove of ancient oaks and walnuts that had once been a pleasure, but now concealed a nightmare. Through the light of the raging flames which shone through the trees, he saw the monstrosity crawl from out of the dark trees!
It was an enormous and vile hulking mass. Not a single animal, but a combination of several twisted and malformed beasts! The corpses of several large stags, combined with a wolf and things so decayed that they were impossible to identify. The multiple legs were little more than broken bone-stumps. As it pulled itself toward the terrified family, the necks extended as the heads spewed blackened filth!
Marlowe cried out as he had attempted to lead his family to the boat which had been tied at the banks! Rushing them into the darkness of the little path that led downward, he suddenly halted. There was a stealthy movement among the tall hedges to the paths edge. A shudder of the bush, and then it stepped out on the trail before them. It was what remained of the neighbour and his two large dogs! After having died from the Plague, his blackened and bloated corpse had been hideously combined with the two animals. Walking upright and violently trembling, he uttered an unearthly howling shriek while extending dozens of flailing tentacles!
Marlowe had turned to go back, but cornered by the nightmarish thing from the forest, could only go back to the house. This he had done without a second thought. With his family screaming in terror, he forced them onward. They had raced madly into the millhouse and barred the door, the walls and entire structure shaking as the horrors beyond attempted to break their way inside! He had led them up the stairs and onto the second floor where they sealed themselves into his bedroom, barricading the door with furniture as the house trembled beneath the nightmarish assault!
That was when he had heard it and first smelled the flames. Rushing to the window, he had ever so cautiously peeked out from between the storm shutters, and realized what had happened. A huge gathering of men cast oil and bundled straw against the walls of his home, setting flame to everything, before they stepped back in prayer.
Betrayed! He had been deceived by illusions devised by this evil into trapping and condemning his own family to death! He had thrown the shutters open and called out desperately to the crowd! But none heard a single thing he had said, nor even cared. The town h
ad been condemned and everything burned to avoid the spreading of the Bubonic Plague. All or any existing there had already died and been burned with the town. And now, his family would be the final testament of what had happened there.
There was a chance! But he had to get onto the roof and discover a safe route! He had ordered them to wait as he made his way back out into the hallway and pulled down the ladder to the attic. Hurriedly climbing into the darkness, he cautiously found the hatch that opened to their only opportunity for escape! As blinded in the gathering smoke and choking on the fumes, he carefully clambered unsteadily out and onto the thatched roof. But no sooner had he stood and peered about, than did the horror reappear: The horrendous and howling nightmare that had once been his neighbor and friend!
It lashed out at him as he struggled to maintain his balance on the steeply angled roof, desperately grabbing at the shingles and gasping while blindly fighting for breath and life! The creature came at him, ripping and tearing at his flesh and clothes as he fell backward, flailing as he helplessly leaned outward and stumbled! He had slipped down, and grasping at the roof’s edge, tumbled as he fell. Bouncing from off a lower level and narrowly missing the waterwheel, he plunged headlong into the Rhine River! Struggling as he fought to reach the surface, the strong tides now bore him away! Looking back toward the blazing inferno that had once been his home, he cried out in utter anguish as he heard the final screams of his family being burned alive….
The sphere dimmed as the room fell into solemn silence. Staring blindly upon the demon which had become the raven once more, not a single word came to mind…
“I existed as a manifestation of hatred and retribution those long years after--,” Marlowe’s voice was barely audible as though consumed or muffled through a storm, “Blind vengeance had claimed my heart, and to darkness I was forever lost. I dwelled in shadow for ages unknown. Watching, waiting for your return ….”
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