by Jeff Hale
“Oh fuck, the apartment…. How can either of us afford it alone? Well, Nina could, with her deejay gig, but I never could. I’m not gonna go back home, no way in hell.”
“You can come live with me.”
“In a studio apartment?” He laughed. “I don’t think so.”
“Well, what other options do we have?”
He was contemplative for a moment, then he smiled. “I have an idea. Follow me.” He stood and led me out to the parking lot to his car, an older Chevelle with fading blue paint.
“So what’s this grand idea?” I asked as he drove.
“Well, it’s my cousin Travis’s place. He got a job at some bleeding edge tech company called EvoTech and they sent him to some training facility on the east coast for at least a year. He took his wife and kid with him and he has a lease on the apartment for another three years, so now it’s just empty. He offered it to me, but Nina and I had the other place so I said no. He gave me the keys anyway, said if I changed my mind to help myself. At the very least, keep an eye on the place.”
EvoTech. The name sounded familiar, then it dawned on me. Kelly had mentioned something about getting an afterschool secretarial job there right before Serena’s murderer had put me out of commission. They must have a local office in Vegas.
The rest of the trip was quiet, until we pulled into the Catalina Shores, an apartment complex several blocks away from my old one. He parked the car under a covered space next to a newer white Dodge Ram, then turned in his seat so he was facing me.
“Look. I want to say thanks, for helping me deal with this shit, especially since I know you’re still getting over being hurt and have your own crap going on.”
“Not a problem.” I shrugged it off. Dave had done far more for me in the past.
The apartment was on the first floor, nice, two bedrooms, and fully paid for, utilities included, for three years. I was honestly surprised Dave hadn’t tried to talk Nina into it and I said as much, but he just said she wanted her own place, not someone else’s. Oh well, it was ours now. It didn’t come with any furniture though, and I wondered out loud how we were going to get what little I had into Dave’s car to transport it over here.
We were walking back down to the car and Dave pointed to the white truck he’d parked next to. “That’s Travis’s truck. They gave him some swank company car as a perk, but he left this here for when they got back. I have the keys to it as well. You can drive, right?”
“Um. No? Sorry, they didn’t exactly have Driver’s Ed where I went to school, you know?” I said, wondering when I should go about getting a Driver’s License.
Now that I was thinking about it I realized that we were in the opposite direction from work in comparison to my old apartment, which meant I would have to be catching the bus a bit earlier in order to get to HQ for timely reports when I needed to do such things. I was hoping that Dave could drive me on occasion, which would help immensely. At least until I managed to conquer my own driving fears.
Not that I needed to worry about reporting into MAGE for now. Merle had in fact told me to just keep to business as usual. Meant unless I had Serena’s killer dead or arrested that I didn’t need to report in. And I was not going to ignore someone like Merlin.
“Seriously? Dude, we need to fix that. That’s okay though. Guess we’ll just have to take less in one trip is all.” Dave found another key and opened the truck door. “We’ll make do.”
The rest of day and a good portion of the evening saw us retrieving stuff from my apartment and hauling it into the new one, as well as getting Dave’s belongings. When we finally had the rooms temporarily arranged the way we wanted them, we sat and watched some TV and just hung out for a bit before heading off to bed. It was nice being able to hang out with my friend again, and he seemed a lot more like the old Dave I remembered from when Serena was still alive, back when Nina was a lot less wild and demanding.
Kat’s initial warmth and happiness over my return to school gradually cooled over the next week as I constantly reminded her that we were just friends, until she left for home the next Friday. Before she left, she thawed a little, enough to give me her e-mail address and her Myspace page information. Nina had all but disappeared from both school and our shared social circles, and Dave’s initial angry reaction had fled, leaving him a sullen wreck who had decided to shock the hell out of everyone by cutting all his hair off.
I watched the news constantly to see what new havoc was being wrought upon the world by a failing Barrier. In Washington State, several sightings of a Sasquatch were filmed. Of course it was speculated that they were hoax films, much like previous ones, but I knew otherwise and I hoped Kat was all right.
There were outbreaks of hauntings all over the United States, and there was film evidence to back it up. One time a news crew just happened to be filming at the harbor in New York when what appeared to be a phantom Titanic was sighted on camera. It would be the most played footage over the next couple months.
Other things happened inexplicably as well. People literally vanishing in thin air, the wilderness reclaiming a city block overnight, spontaneous human combustion, reports of people developing random and sudden psychic abilities, sightings of angels, and demons, religious icons crying blood… all of which caused the populace of the entire world to become frightened of unexplained phenomenon. Some were prophesying the end of the world. How little did they know that the world they knew was actually about to come to a screeching halt.
Eventually I grew concerned enough to hit up Lucien for information since he seemed to know more than he should. I arrived at the club and asked one of the bouncers to tell Lucien that I wanted to see him, and that I had been sent by Merle.
“What can I get for ya?” I heard a female voice say from behind me as I waited.
I turned and saw a blonde woman, maybe a year or two older than I was, at the bar. The tight midriff revealing tank top she wore displayed a slender figure and smallish breasts. Small chested women normally didn’t catch my eye, but her tight cotton shorts bared great legs and molded a killer ass from what I could see.
“Nothing. Just waiting for the owner,” I said, trying not stare.
“Okay, well if you change your mind, just holler. Name’s Lily by the way.” She smiled and went to the back area behind the bar.
The bouncer finally came for me, telling me that Lucien would see me now. The Cyclops next to me led me to into the back part of the club and to a barely noticeable door on the far back wall. A plaque on the door read: Lucien – Owner. The Cyclops opened the door and ushered me inside, closing it behind me.
Hot, it was freaking hot in the room, almost as though we were literally in the middle of the tropics. There were exotic birds everyone, chirping and chattering noisily. The walls made me think of Ritter’s office, formed from tree trunks that overlapped each other. Overhead, branches and tree fronds wove together for a ceiling. I was actually pretty impressed.
Birds flitted from one tree to another, so that the room constantly seemed to be in motion. Lucien was sitting behind a desk made of what looked to be pure gold. There were Mayan runes engraved into the desk, depicting life, followed by death, followed by the symbol of rebirth. It was a pattern that was repeated several times.
“Welcome, to my home away from home as it were. I assume that you are familiar with fae dimensional magics?” Lucien gestured around him as I sat across from him at the desk.
“Yeah, Raven has a room in her home that utilizes it,” I said, nodding, then ducking as a yellow parakeet zipped by my head.
“And how is she?” he asked, an intensity in his eyes that I had never seen before.
“Fine, last I saw. Not that anything would really harm her. Look, if you don’t mind I came here to get some answers. If me being up front about that is going to cause you to get pissed and kill me, then just do it, but before you do, at least answer the questions I do have.”
That garnered a laugh from him. “I have no inten
tion of killing you, Aerick. Merlin would be highly upset with me if I did. That, and I genuinely like you. Just so you know where you stand with me. Now you mentioned questions. What are they?” Lucien sat back in his chair, obviously ready for a long conversation.
“At one point you inferred that I was not a sorcerer, and Merlin insinuated as much as well. Explain.” I saw no reason to beat around the bush.
“That is because you are not a sorcerer. I thought that was plain, even to you.” He seemed amused.
“Not really, no. Yeah, I had some abnormal spikes at some points, but I have all the same abilities as a sorcerer.”
“And then some, is that correct?”
“Like?”
“Like your ability to siphon Aetheric energy to make yourself physically superior to humans. Like your ability to sway the affections of any female around you. Like your ability to call upon powers greater than any the most powerful sorcerers are able to call upon. Think about it for a moment. You must surely realize that you are more than just the prodigy that MAGE makes you out to be. That they would shackle your true abilities with such rhetoric is just like them.” He waved a hand dismissively.
“Then what am I?”
“Ah, Merlin told me you’d ask that.” Lucien wiggled a finger at me. “He told me to tell you that you already know. You just have to be ready to accept it.”
“How am I to know what I am just by being ready to accept it?” I’d hoped for straight answers and all I was getting was cryptic remarks again.
“He said to search your dreams.”
I thought about that for a second, and I knew it wasn’t a reference to my dreams about Serena, and the time I spent with her in the past. I figured that was just my subconscious trying to still deal with her death. That only left….
“Are you saying that I am some sort of knight?” It was all I could think of.
“Of a sorts. Your kind were known as Sentinels then. Knights were lords of the land, warriors sworn to protect those lands that were given to them by the king. The Sentinels were that, and much more. Merlin trained all the known Sentinels, all of which were recognized by a different name; the Knights of the Round Table.”
“Yeah, I remember being knighted in my dream. And Merlin was there. So what is Merlin doing, and why am I so important?”
“You are the only Sentinel to have survived through the life-times, that had stood against Arthur and his alliance with the Church and the creation of the Barrier.”
I blinked hard and frowned. “Wait. Run that by me again. Life-times? I stood against King Arthur of Camelot? Why?”
“Yes, life-times. You have lived through many lives. You do know that reincarnation is a reality, right? That your essence is recycled into the Aether and reformed to become a new life when the time is right?” Lucien leaned back in his chair, tapping the tips of his fingers against one another.
“Well, yeah, but I figured that was the only past life I ever had. I haven’t dreamed about any of the others.”
“And you may never find out about them at all.” He shrugged. “In any case, to your other inquiries, you stood against Arthur because he was to form an alliance with the Church. At that time, the Church was a new institution, and the people feared the darkness that was creeping onto their doorsteps.
“As I am sure you are aware, humans are fragile creatures and by this point in our history humans were frightened of what they did not know, and as creatures lurked in the shadows at the edges of their society they called out for a reprieve. Soon they were demanding the king do something about these ‘evil’ and ‘unholy’ creatures. He had no answers, until the Church came calling, and offered him a solution; create a wall between the world of the monsters and ours.
“Now Merlin knew this to be wrong, he knew that the Aether was just creating a balance out of need. But he also knew that a small part of this darkness was from somewhere else. It was what you call Dark Aether. Not only was Dark Aether being released, it was also being guided from the outside, and when Merlin followed the strands of energy controlling the darkness, he found his nemesis, Baba Yaga. Even now she stands in opposition to Merlin. He only wishes to restore a balance lost long ago.”
“Whoa, wait a minute. The Iron Hag? The Baba Yaga?” Baba Yaga was a Russian folklore monster, also known as the Iron Hag. She supposedly ate people that she stewed in her magic cauldron to keep herself alive, and lived in an extra-dimensional hut that had chicken legs. She was also known to have magic powers rivaling that of fae royalty. “That’s one hell of a nemesis. But, why would Merlin tear the Barrier down now? Surely he knows what would happen? Wouldn’t that just help her?” I asked, a bit confused.
“And what would happen, young Aerick? Hmm?” Lucien retorted smugly.
“The world would be ripped asunder by the sheer amounts of energy released from the Aether into our world all at once,” I said, citing word for word what I was taught by MAGE.
“How wrong you are. First let me ask a question of you and then I will tell you why Baba Yaga wants the Barrier intact. What is the rate of increase of dark or renegade sorcerer activity say within the past… year?” he asked, now leaning forward and putting his elbows on the desk.
“Last I heard it was a pretty frightening number, somewhere around a hundred and fifty percent. And actually that’s within the past six months,” I answered truthfully.
“That is because the Dark Aether is growing and there is nothing to hold it back, while the wild Aether is still being retained by the Barrier. This gives the demons an easier way into our own realm, and will make them more powerful than any other Aetheric creature since they will have access to plenty of power.” Lucien stood, and spoke into an intercom. A second later two drinks appeared on his desk. He motioned to one, another screwdriver, and took the other.
“I thought the Aether was infinite, so wouldn’t it still be there?”
He swirled his drink in its glass. “It is, and it isn’t. It is infinite in potential, just as the universe itself is. But as I said, it is being retained. The demon realms are just as infinite as the Aether itself.”
“So what will happen when the Barrier drops?” I took a long gulp of my own drink. All this talk about the Barrier and darkness was beginning to worry me.
“First off, no, the resultant energy release will not destroy the planet or all humans. Foolish propaganda from MAGE and the Church to keep other Aetherics from trying to destroy the Barrier. I admit that the release of magical creatures into today’s world will probably cause a lot of panic and disorder for a while, but you have to break some eggs in order… you know, I really hate that analogy. Either way, you know what I am saying.” His dark gaze settled on me. “Lose thousands possibly in the resulting chaos and panic after the Barrier is dropped, or lose millions, and possibly the entire human race, when Baba Yaga allows demons to enter our world,” Lucien said with a tone of finality.
I felt a heavy chill zip down my spine and shook it off. “Okay, so then, why me? Why am I so important?”
“Ah, there’s the rub.” He sighed through a half smile and leaned back in his chair again. “As I told you before, you are the only Sentinel whose soul is still intact and in a living body, which means that Merlin can access the part of his ritual that he needs. You see, he placed within all the Sentinels who stood against Arthur and his mad plan to separate our world from the Aetheric, a specific piece of a ritual he planned to use to break the Barrier down when the time was right. He wrote it directly into your living essence. I believe they have a name for it these days: DNA.
“He tried to prevent the Barrier from even being created, but with most of the Sentinels supporting him dead, he didn’t have much of a defense. His ritual was stopped, and he surmised it would be a very long time before the planets and stars, and several other things were in the correct alignment to do the ritual again. He intends to use you for the ritual’s focal point, but also as a front line of defense against any who would disrupt it.
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br /> “Since there is no one else around that can match the power level of a Sentinel, once you train yourself to use the abilities that go beyond your training with MAGE, you would be an unstoppable warrior able to protect Merlin from any attacker. Here, this will help you learn about what you should be able to do.” Lucien sat forward and plucked a book off one side of his desk, then held it out to me. Runic symbols were scattered over the entire cover, and when I opened it, there were more strange glyphs within. Much to my amazement, I could read the glyphs.
I shut the book. “Actually, you’re wrong about there being no one else out there to match me. There is someone. The man who killed the love of my life. I think he might be a Sentinel. He was able to survive one of Raven’s most vicious blasts, and he trounced me without even trying.”
Lucien regarded me for a moment before shrugging. “Yes. Him. I know who you are referring to. His name is Azryel and he is no Sentinel. He is a demon. In his mortal form, he is vulnerable, and obviously he has been bound to someone, more than likely Baba Yaga. Is he more powerful than you, or even Raven? Yes. He probably could have killed you both.
“I suspect that Baba Yaga is using him as a foil for you specifically, which is probably why he killed your Serena. If you truly want to destroy him on this level of existence, you need only speak his true name, and you will be able to match him blow for blow once he is in his native form on this plane. Now, you have your answers, and I am a busy man. Go and read that book, and learn what you really are.” With that, Lucien waved me away and turned his chair to face the jungle growing out of the wall behind him.
It was a dismissal and I tucked the book under my arm as I left. I had my answers. Now I had to figure out what to do with them. I wondered when Merlin would contact me again, but common sense told me it would be when he was ready to involve me in this ritual of his. If what Lucien had said was true, then Merlin needed me for this, needed my help and for me to take out Azryel beforehand. And if Lucien was wrong? I’d still kill the demon that took Serena away from me.