Despite the carnage below us, Rachel and I landed on the ground in front of the demon, and both emitted pure, blinding light from our faces and chests. All the cultists who tried to swarm us were temporarily blinded and were sent toppling into one another. Both Rachel and I knew that we had to end this fight as quickly as possible. We couldn’t waste our time on Chaos’s henchmen, or he would find another way to escape.
Rachel and I grasped hands and used a sweeping pulse of electrically to stun all the remaining cultists out of the way. Once they were unconscious, we both altered our attack, and blasted Chaos with a wall of pure telekinetic energy, hitting him with the full force of a speeding train. But even if the minions around us were no match for our combined energy, the demon hardly blinked. While we were still in the middle of our assault, Chaos let out a deep, deafening roar, with so much power behind it, that it sent us flying off our feet. We were forced to let go of one another, as we crashed painfully into the tables and benches behind us.
As I lay on the ground trying to catch my breath, I instinctively focused my energy to one of the benches next to me, and in moments, had telekinetically hurled it at Chaos’s head. I knew it was a pointless attempt, but I had hoped it would buy us a few moments to recover. Without hesitating, Chaos grabbed the bench with his bare hands, and effortlessly hurled it back at me with incredible force. I barely threw myself out of the way in time, before it smashed against the floor next to me.
When I glanced up, Rachel was hovering a few feet off the ground, facing Chaos. As I looked at the demon, however, I saw a blur of spider-like movement climbing down the statue behind him. Steve was moving toward Chaos with incredible speed. In a moment, he was right behind him, and as the immortal sensed his presence and turned around, Steve released a cloud of purple vapor from his mouth that surrounded Chaos’s head like a heavy mist. I had seen Steve use this attack before—that vapor was unbelievably deadly. My teammate was not pulling any punches. If any creature breathed in that mist, it would kill them instantly. Chaos, however, reached through the vapor, grabbed Steve by the throat, and hurled him at Rachel. And even though she caught him, the two of them were sent flying backwards. Chaos then effortlessly waved his hand, and the purple vapor around him vanished.
Suddenly, to my surprise, a clear bubble made of light surrounded the demon, trapping him inside it. The unusual sphere began to glow brighter and brighter, and as I looked up, I saw Linda hovering in the air, controlling the strange enchantment. Katherine then seemed to leap out of nowhere, and with superhuman speed, placed her hand on the glowing bubble, causing it to glow even brighter. In a flash, both Rachel and Linda also flew up to the sphere and placed their hands on it. All three women then began chanting loudly in unison, as the glowing globe began to crackle with an almost blinding energy. I had never seen this bubble before, but as I ran toward them, to add my energy to theirs, Katherine swiftly signaled for me to stop, and said that only three people could perform the enchantment.
As the three women chanted in unison, the bubble around Chaos became unbelievably bright, and for the first time during the battle, I saw the demon grab his head and scream in pain. He then reared back and began smashing his fists against the dazzling globe. Regardless of this, the sphere held, and I could feel all the unbelievable power that the three women were pouring into it. And for a moment, I thought they were about to defeat him, until without warning, thick, dark smoke began to ooze out of Chaos’s eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, and rapidly filled the bubble in pitch darkness. And as Rachel, Katherine, and Linda continued to chant, I saw the glowing sphere begin to crack, until it suddenly shattered with an explosive thundering that echoed loudly around the hall.
Despite the jolting sound, the three women held their ground, and surrounded Chaos. The demon was now clearly visible, as the dark smoke around him had immediately dissipated when the bubble had burst.
Hearing a loud commotion from behind me, I glanced back and saw that Steve was fighting off a group of cultists. He was wrapping his inhuman limbs around them, before twisting and pivoting, and hurling them into one another. I quickly channeled my abilities and focused on his adversaries. I sent my energy into their minds and focused on one word: Run.
And as I repeated the force of the command, the cultists around Steve quickly halted their assault, and ran out of the hall as fast as they could. Both my telepathic and telekinetic abilities were at full power—now that I was near the other mystics. Being able to use these abilities was such a relief, since I couldn’t access them when I was on my own.
Glancing around the hall, I noticed that very few cultists were still left standing. I was surprised by how fast Linda and Katherine had been able to diminish the mob, while the rest of us had moved toward Chaos.
As I looked back at the demon, I saw an incredible sight. Whatever the bubble was that Rachel, Katherine, and Linda had conjured, it had certainly worked. Chaos was severely weakened. Our previous attacks before the sphere had hardly fazed him, but now, he looked like he was having a hard time fending off my three teammates.
Linda was flying around the demon at incredible speeds, and was pummeling him with her superhumanly strong fists, sending his head jerking in all directions. Katherine’s skin was glowing unbelievably bright, as she tightly gripped one of his hands and overloaded him with mystical energy. Rachel was still hovering in front of Chaos and had a bright golden aura around her brow. She seemed to be mentally blasting the immortal, as plumes of his own dark energy sporadically burst out from his already flailing head. And all the while, Chaos’s screaming filled the hall, as the trio continued with their relentless assault.
Before I could decide how to help—or if they even needed my help—a dark flash suddenly exploded from the demon, as he let loose an ear-splitting roar. Rachel, Linda, and Katherine flew backwards across the hall, and when the dark flash subsided, Chaos was still standing. But as he took one step forward, we all saw as he slightly stumbled—the monster stumbled. Despite his unmarred appearance, we knew that he was injured. It was at that moment that I heard Rachel’s voice in all four of our minds, as she mentally shouted a single command: Now.
All five of us attacked Chaos in unison. I released all the energy I possibly could into a blast of pure white fire that erupted from my chest and hit the demon right in the torso. Rachel, still hovering a few feet off the floor, assaulted him with a golden beam of lethal mental energy. Katherine slammed Chaos with devastating blasts from her eyes and poured all her considerable power into her impressive attack. Steve drenched the demon with a continuous torrent of purple liquid that shot out from his mouth, which sizzled and burned as it enveloped Chaos’s already blistering skin. And Linda, flying high above us, was relentlessly hurling large spheres of blue energy at the immortal, which repeatedly smashed against him with explosive physical force. As we simultaneously bombarded Chaos, we all fed off one another’s energy, causing our various attacks to magnify exponentially. We were all focusing so much blinding energy at Chaos, that the only thing I could see was the vague silhouette of his form.
When the combined energy of our assault had finally ceased, I could not believe that the demon was still standing. He was barely upright, but he was still standing. It was, to say the least, unbelievable—but we all immediately knew what we had to do. In moments, we had all rushed up to Chaos, and were chanting in unison, slamming our brightly beaming hands onto his chest and shoulders, filling him with pure, mystical light. And as he screamed in agony, he still defied all our astonished expectations, and managed to carry out one final attack. In one swift, startling motion, he grabbed Steve’s face in his hand, held on for a hideous instant, and managed to scream a single, incomprehensible dark command. We all felt as the bones of Steve’s face and neck snapped and shattered, and as Rachel, Katherine, Linda, and I screamed, we each sensed Steve’s life force instantly leave us. But despite this, we still did not stop chanting, and continued to flood the screeching demon with an astonishing amount of
light. And as Chaos wailed in agony, we persisted with our attack, until the very fibers of his flesh were evaporating into the air around us. We continued to blast his rapidly shrinking, decomposing form with light, until the particles of his immortal body completely dissolved, and there was nothing left of him but the fading echo of his screams.
It was done. Chaos, at least for the time being, had been defeated. His essence would now need time to heal and recover before he could reform himself again. And as the four of us stood there, trying to catch our breath, we all stared at Steve’s shattered body, and a stunned silence took hold of us.
This all happened only a few hours ago. We’re all still here in the Hall of Statues, and despite the enormous amount of work that needs to be done, I insisted on writing this entry. I wanted to make sure I remembered these events accurately, while they were still fresh in my mind. This journal is very important—it’s one of the main tools we’ll use to destroy Chaos’s cults. And while I’m deeply saddened by the loss of my friend, at least I know that his last acts of courage were recorded and that his sacrifice will not be forgotten.
MYSTIC HEADQUARTERS: NEXT MORNING
I’m writing this at our “Mystic Headquarters”—for lack of a more appropriate term. While we’re pleased with the result of our work against Chaos and his cult, we’re all still deeply saddened at the loss of Steve, and preparations are already underway to honor his life, and prepare for his burial. Although we all knew the risks of facing the demon head-on, it’s still a shock, and Rachel, Katherine, Linda, and I are deeply saddened by his passing.
But with that said, the main purpose of the mission was achieved. We all knew that destroying Chaos was not even in the realm of possibility for us, regardless of our combined powers. He is an immortal being, and a part of this world, and we knew that the most we could do was weaken him and try to dismantle his cult as much as possible. For the purposes of clarity, I want to make clear that when Chaos’s body dissolved into particles, we did not destroy him. That was his equivalent of being knocked unconscious—hopefully for a very long time. We were lucky that the temporary enchantment preventing him from fleeing the location held for as long as it did, and that we were able to successfully defeat him in the time that we had. His newly weakened state will dramatically lessen the great turmoil and anguish that his actions and energy perpetuated, at least for the time being, and we’ll do all we can to undo as much of the damage that he’s caused.
After our battle with Chaos, the three other mystics and I gathered up all the cultists, both conscious and unconscious, and using our combined energies, placed a number of enchantments on them—to heal their many injuries, calm their minds, and ensure that they were peaceful. Some of the demon’s followers, however, were so violently loyal to him, that we all had to induce a deep, enchanted sleep. Although effective, these solutions were temporary.
After seeing to the cultists, we began a systematic search of the location, which took much longer than we had anticipated. We did eventually find the blossom-woman described in Billy’s journal, but instead of one woman, we found over a dozen. They were all still trapped in their individual pools, as the cursed squirrels continued to harvest them. Even after Chaos’s defeat, his previous enchantments still held strong, and it took the combined efforts of all the other mystics and I to free the captured women and squirrels. The blossom-women must have been very powerful, individually and as a group, for Chaos to need to put such strong and lasting dark curses on them. When the blossom-women were freed, they all immediately fell limply into their pools. The literal army of squirrels scattered around in a panic, and since they were no longer cursed, behaved as any wild animals would. They all seemed eager and excited when we released them back into the wild.
My colleagues and I had to pour as much healing and restorative energy as we could into the depleted blossom-women, and even then, they did not speak. It was only some time later, when they seemed to be more alert, that Rachel informed us that the women were reaching out to her telepathically. Rachel said that they were thanking us profusely, and that while they did have the ability to return to their domain, they were much too weak to do so. The mystics and I agreed that they would stay with us at our headquarters for as long as they needed to. Rachel said that even though her communication with them was strained, the weary women did insist that, when they were able, they would work with us in creating a cure and detoxification process to counteract the effects that the honey bread had on the cultists. They even knew of the cursed music and said that they might be able to help with the negative effects of that as well. This was some of the best news of the evening, especially since we could see that even our enchantments were not capable of healing the addicted minds and bodies of some of the cultists. The potion we’d made so I wouldn’t be affected by the bread was a preventative, not an antidote. But with the blossom-women helping us find a cure, it’ll be a much easier task to dismantle all the other cult locations and deprogram the other addicted members—including those of The Honor of the Five. It’ll take time, but now with the blossom-women’s help, it’s fully possible.
And on another more long-term note, it’ll be fascinating to work with the blossom-women. Hopefully, we can form a permanent alliance with them to fight Chaos and all his forces. They have such a wealth of supernatural knowledge that I think a partnership with them, if they’re interested, would greatly help safeguard this world.
We then gathered as many artifacts, and as much evidence as we could, to help us dismantle the cult. Once that work was done, we called the appropriate authorities. I will withhold exactly whom we called—to protect the identity of their organization—but rest assured; we’ve worked closely with them to fight supernatural threats. They’re also dedicated to restoring peace, order, and organization in the aftermath of events such as this. They’ll keep the cultists safe until they’re cured, contact their families, and conduct mandatory intensive counselling, to help these individuals get to the root issue of their problems, so they don’t feel like they need to join cults like this in the first place. It’s a long journey for all of Chaos’s victims, but they’ll get the help they need, and I’m optimistic that they’ll recover. At least—that’s our hope. Ultimately, regardless of how many resources we make available to them; their lives are in their own hands. We’ve also set up a program, which I think will be very effective. Healed cultists, if they choose, can use their experiences, and their journals, to privately or publicly speak out against the cult, and dissuade others from joining it. They can also help other former members recover from their experiences.
Rachel, Katherine, Linda and I are very satisfied with the progress we’ve made to weaken Chaos’s cults. As of now, their main location has been dismantled, and even though many more still exist, this is a heavy blow to their organization, and any plans they might’ve had of further expansion. We’re sure that we’ve not heard the last of Chaos, but that comes as no surprise. And even though we had to resort to battle today, it was to lessen long-term turmoil, and free the minds of many individuals. This increased peace and freedom, and decreased pain and suffering, will benefit us all. And with Chaos himself in as weak a state as is possible, the world will have a little less mayhem in it for a while.
As for this journal, if you’re reading this, then our plan of making it available on the internet, wherever Billy Ranter’s journal was posted, was a success. The cults of Chaos, most notably The Chaos of the Five, and The Honor of the Five, are not darkly glamorous places where recruits will be given immortality and power. They’re surprisingly plain places, where the vast majority of the experiences are generic, and are filled with days of eating dry bread and listening to terrible music. They are facilities that turn people into addicted drones, to carry out mundane tasks focused on recruiting more members. If my colleagues and I hadn’t confronted Chaos when we did, he would’ve finished a quick speech to the new members and left the hall—like he was a speaker at a convention. For the p
rice of that predictable speech, new members would’ve given up their minds, bodies, and individuality. And when Chaos was under attack, the first thing he did was use all his followers as virtual human-shields and guard dogs. They were nothing more to him than expendable and replaceable non-entities, whom he had no loyalty to at all.
For anyone even thinking of joining Chaos’s organizations, I guarantee you, you will not find what you’re looking for. Regardless of how it sounds, these are not places where you will be loved, valued, or find meaning to your lives. They are institutions that will destroy you, and when they’re done, you’ll be discarded and replaced.
As the other mystics and I have proven, Chaos is not all-powerful. He can, and has, been defeated, and will be defeated again in the future. In him, you will not find a leader, only a coward who is preying on your insecurities and fears and wants nothing more than to transform you into robotic henchmen. Chaos does not value humanity, and he never will. And if our battle with him sounded extraordinary to you, it was exactly that, us fighting against Chaos, not joining him or his organizations.
So on behalf of Rachel, Katherine, Linda, and our departed Steve, I urge you to resist Chaos’s darkness in all its forms, whether they’re sinister or attractive. A glamorized lie is still a lie.
Be strong. Be brave. Never give up on yourselves.
And always remember—You. Are. Enough.
A year and a half after Michael’s journal was released to the public and became even more widely read than Billy Ranter’s original one, a third and final journal began to surface all over the internet. In time, all three journals were eventually grouped together into one volume and became even more widely read than when each one stood alone.
It Took Billy Page 14