The Collector Book One: Mana Leak

by Daniel I. Russell

  Swallowing the lump in his throat, Joe closed the front door. The Collector stood in the hall, watching him.

  “I see the resemblance,” he said and chuckled. “Not anymore though.”

  What is he talking about?

  “It’s…it’s just through there,” said Joe, gesturing towards the living room doorway.

  The Collector nodded. “After you, sir.”

  Joe fought his shudders as he walked past the man in black. He felt his stare pressing into his back. He entered the living room.

  Everyone inside sat bolt upright.

  “This is…” said Joe awkwardly.

  “I am a Collector, which is as good a name as any,” said their guest, smiling.

  “I thought your name was Elliot Hearnsworth,” said Eleanor.

  “Come now, dear lady. You thought a lot of things that turned out to be false. May I?”

  Joe nodded and The Collector delicately sat down in the free armchair. Everyone else bunched together at the opposite end of the room, facing him. Frank squeezed his fists and clenched his teeth at the back.

  “This is charming,” said The Collector. “I love what you’ve done with the room.” He pointed to the boarded-up window. “It is so nice to be on the other side.”

  “We wouldn’t have needed to do all of this if it wasn’t for you,” growled Frank.

  “Don’t,” said Anne, pleading in her eyes. “Please, Frank. Not now.”

  Joe noticed The Collector eyeing up the tray of cups on the coffee table. He cleared his throat.

  “W-Would you like a drink?”

  The Collector rubbed his hands together.

  “Oh, I most certainly would!”

  Joe concentrated on not spilling the tea as he poured from the pot into a cup. He started to add the milk.

  “Just a drop, dear boy. We don’t want to drown it. And no sugar, if you please. I’m sweet enough.”

  Joe gave the tea a quick stir and gingerly handed it over on a saucer. He feared he’d throw the cup up in the air and scream if their fingers touched.

  “Thank you,” said The Collector, instantly raising the cup to his lips and drinking.

  Everyone watched in fascination. Joe quickly returned to the other side of the room.

  The Collector tipped back the last few drops and then balanced the empty cup on the arm of the chair.

  “Well,” he said. “What is it that you’re all so keen to discuss?”

  After a few seconds of silence, Eleanor spoke up.

  “We have some…questions about the situation we find ourselves in.” She paused, choosing her words carefully. “Surely we can be granted that.”

  The Collector nodded his head slowly. “It is always a tragedy when people become involved,” he said. “Although I have never found myself in a predicament such as this before. Usually, it is a more straightforward affair.”

  Eleanor licked her dry lips.

  “Usually?”

  “This is my job, old girl, my calling in life. I am sent to collect that which has escaped. In this case, well, you understand what it is I require. So what is it you’d like to know before I collect and be on my way?”

  She cleared her throat.

  “The mana,” she said. “What is it?”

  “Aha!” said The Collector. “That’s the key question, isn’t it? The mana is the cause of everything you have ever experienced in your life! It is the most important thing in the universe, dear girl.”

  Eleanor frowned. “You’re being vague. Please don’t avoid the question.”

  The Collector picked up and held out his empty cup.

  “Why don’t I tell you a little more while your grandson tops me up? I wouldn’t mind one of those delicious looking biscuits, either.”

  Joe quickly took the cup from him and refilled it from the pot. He placed a custard cream on the saucer.

  “Maybe it would all be easier to understand if I told you a little about where I come from. Thank you, Joseph McGuire,” said The Collector, receiving the cup and saucer.

  “The city…” said Anne, still staring at the floor.

  The Collector’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, my dear. How did you know?”

  “It was something Bronwyn said yesterday.”

  “Interesting,” he said, and sipped his tea. “Very interesting indeed. It is true, I do come from a city. The City. It is known only as that, as there is no real need to name it.”

  “How can it not have a name?” asked Frank. “Every city has a name – London, Manchester, Liverpool…”

  The Collector chortled.

  “I didn’t say it was an English city. Nor is it European, American or anywhere else. It’s in a different place all together.”

  “This is nonsense,” snorted Frank. “I can’t believe we’re sat talking to this nutcase…”

  “Frank,” pleaded Anne. “Stay calm, please!”

  The Collector smiled.

  “Yes, Mr Harper…relax…”

  Frank’s eyes burned with malice at the mention of that word, and he stepped forwards. Joe pushed a hand firmly into his chest.

  “Don’t,” he whispered, his back to The Collector. “Don’t let him get to you.”

  “Too fucking late,” snarled Frank, struggling to pass. “He’s making all this up. Trying to confuse us even further.”

  Anne gasped, and they all stared back at The Collector.

  His cup rested on the arm of the chair again, and he sat with an upturned palm. A small Prowler, its body no bigger than a tennis ball, stood on his hand.

  “I…I thought we had an agreement,” said Eleanor, watching the still creature on his skin.

  “It’s only a baby,” he said. “Little thing could do no more than nip you.” He ran a finger across its back, gently stroking it. “Regarding our agreement, I believe my personal safety was guaranteed. At the moment, I’m feeling quite threatened.”

  He cast Frank a sly glance.

  “Sit down, Frank,” said Anne. “Please.”

  “Yes, Mr Harper,” said The Collector. “Probably best to listen to your wife.”

  With obvious reluctance, Frank slumped back against the wall.

  “The reason I’ve revealed my tiny friend here,” continued The Collector, “is to help open your minds a little.”

  He looked at Jake. “Would you like to hold it, boy?”

  Jake looked up.

  “Drop dead.”

  “Jake!” cried Eleanor.

  “It’s no bother.” The Collector grinned. “No bother at all.” He cleared his throat. “This creature in my hand. A few days ago, none of you would have believed it even existed. Now, we know different, don’t we?”

  He was met by silence.

  “Things are never as they seem. I need you to realise that. Especially you, Mr Harper. Your career, your faith, I’d even go as far to say your entire being, is based on the laws of the physical world, yes?”

  Frank glared back.

  “In the early period of the City’s growth, our scientists did something extraordinary. The Founders originally settled there because of an oasis. The City is surrounded by an endless desert and scorching, constant day. The Founders crossed the desert and arrived at the oasis tired, dehydrated and at death’s door. They decided to stay and recuperate before carrying on. A strange phenomena in the pool at the oasis caused them to stay.”

  “What has this got to do with us?” asked Joe, rubbing his head.

  “Your part in this story will come soon, Joseph McGuire. Have patience.”

  The Prowler climbed off his palm, down his arm and vanished into the confines of his jacket. The Collector lifted the cup to his mouth and took a sip.

  “Lovely,” he said, smacking his lips. He replaced the cup and continued. “There was a fire in the water, and the longer the Founders stayed, the easier it was to see. Seemed the longer one was exposed to it, the more the mind accepted its existence, you see. After a few days, the Founders could even see it beaming
down from the sky into the pool. They called it the fire of the heavens.”

  “Fire?” asked Eleanor. “You mean the mana?”

  “Indeed,” said The Collector. “A form of energy. It was extremely useful in the early days of the City’s creation. Imagine, if you will, a constant supply of power!”

  “This is crazy,” said Frank. “There is no such thing as a never ending power supply. The law of the conservation of energy clearly states this!”

  “You’re a very clever man, Mr Harper,” said The Collector. “You might understand the mana better than anyone here, yet I fear that you still won’t believe in it. True, the energy has to come from somewhere. Energy can’t be made or destroyed, only changed. Is that your law, Mr Harper?”

  “Yes,” said Frank, his voice shrill.

  “There were five Founders originally. One succumbed to the harsh conditions of the desert and passed away before the power of the mana could be harnessed. At the time of his passing, the remaining Founders witnessed mana leaving his body and joining the rest in the pool.”

  “Impossible,” said Frank. “That simply can’t happen! No one has ever reported anything like this in our entire history.”

  “As you recall, the Founders had been exposed to it for a good deal of time at this point. They could see it quite clearly. They began to realise where the mana came from. Death.”

  Frank laughed.

  The Collector carried on regardless.

  “Think of all the processes that occur inside your body during life. In death, all these processes shut down. The chemical, electrical and physical energy has to go somewhere. Your law states that, Mr Harper. The energy can only be changed, and it is changed into mana and joins the rest.”

  “Some Native American tribes believe they see the soul leave the body at the point of death,” said Eleanor. “Other religions claim the life force leaves the body to join the ether, then it is redistributed at birth. It forms the basis of reincarnation. Maybe all this isn’t that farfetched and undocumented.”

  “That’s the spirit!” said The Collector. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Only when the City really began to grow, we needed to interfere with the mana supply. We needed more power to meet the demand of a rising population and expanding industry. Our scientists understood a lot about the mana at this point in our history; millennia had passed since the Founders settled there. More mana was required, which needed more life…and death. The scientists created a breeding ground, a new plane of existence.”

  “Oh my God!” burst Frank. “A new plane of existence? I didn’t realise that the laws of physics were so easy to manipulate. Hell, I’ll make my own plane of existence. Somewhere to go at the weekends…”

  “I don’t appreciate sarcasm, Mr Harper. I won’t attempt to explain it to you. I don’t even fully understand it myself, for I am merely a Collector. I leave the scientists to worry over such matters. I only know of the doors that connect the two worlds.”

  “So your City is surrounded by endless desert,” said Joe. “So what is this new world? Why can’t the people of the City leave the desert and live in this new place?”

  The Collector laughed.

  “The mana, of course! It is drawn to the desert, so the desert is where we must stay. The City is not such a bad place to live, anyway.”

  “So what about this new plane?” asked Eleanor, enthralled. “What is it like?”

  “Why,” said The Collector, “we’re sat in it.”

  “Here?” said Eleanor.

  The Collector nodded.

  “It took a long time for this place to be inhabitable, but when the rock finally cooled, and the oceans covered the surface, a little mana was invested into creating life. Only small organisms at first, but they naturally reproduced and evolved. This created more complex creatures in larger numbers. The mana started pouring in when these animals died, expelling their energy. The problem was when humans eventually came into creation.”

  Frank crossed his arms.

  “If all this is true,” he said, smirking, “how can we mere humans possibly cause you any problems?”

  “You truly do have souls, well, in a manner of speaking,” said The Collector. “An intelligence brings with it deep emotion. The mana becomes…attached to these emotions and forms an imprint of the person who generated it. High levels of mourning or grief can pull the mana back sometimes.”

  “Is…is that what happened here?” asked Anne.

  The Collector stroked his chin.

  “I think it is a strong possibility. Here’s a recent example. On my last jaunt to this part of the world, a coach of thirty children died in a road accident. We had a surge of mana, the fire burns the brightest in the young, but then the scientists noticed that mana was being drained back from their storage pools. This drain nearly brought the City to its knees.

  “The City is in a very delicate balance, and even the slightest change can have massive repercussions. I was sent to the scene of the crash to collect the mana that had been pulled to that spot. The locals had seen ghosts of the children, or at least heard or sensed something. The mana can be formed, moulded by the despair of the mourning to see whom they want to see. I imagine that is the case here, and would explain your reluctance to reveal the location of the mana. You must understand that this is pure energy, not the spirits of your lost loved ones. These ghosts can talk to you, even move things, but they’re not real.”

  Frank released a small whimper.

  Joe turned and found him shaking with his eyes closed.

  “Frank? Are you all right?”

  “I’m…fine…let him…continue…” replied Frank.

  The Collector smiled and took another sip of hot tea.

  “I hope that clears up everything about the mana,” he said. “Now, if there are no more questions, you can inform me of its whereabouts and I will be on my way, out of your lives forever. Something for which I’m sure you’ll be grateful.”

  “Why can’t you find it yourself?” asked Joe. “Why do we have to tell you?”

  “I can sense it,” replied The Collector. “In fact, I’m aware it showed itself during the night. I tried to get the Prowlers in to recover it, but I was too late. Seems I underestimated your resilience. The mana is very elusive on this plane, almost as if it has its own intelligence. It makes my job very difficult sometimes, but on the bright side, there are only a few of us experienced enough to take on such a task. I feel special and humbled.”

  He waited for further questions, but none emerged.

  “So?” he said. “Where is the mana?”

  He drained the last of his tea and started to nibble on the biscuit.

  4.

  Look at them, thought Frank, looking around in disgust. They’re buying it. They’re eating up every last word.

  As The Collector told them his explanation of the mana and supposed ghosts associated with it, Frank remained leaning against the boarded window with his arms crossed.

  This is complete nonsense! He must have put something in the water, LSD or some other hallucinogenic, to make us all see these things. It can’t be happening. It just can’t!

  Frank struggled with the urge to run across the room and break the smug bastard’s neck, not only because of what he’d done, but to have the audacity to have this as an explanation.

  He reached up and rubbed his forehead. A headache loomed.

  He thought back to a week ago, sat behind his desk in his science lab, drinking good coffee and explaining the principals behind static electricity or sound wave scattering.

  There must have been a single point, he reasoned, one small, almost insignificant event that caused this downward spiral that is my life.

  He glowered at Anne.

  Everything that goes wrong around here, it’s always down to you. The house not being cleaned, the kids being undisciplined…

  Mr Harper?

  The words brought back the sharp, burning pain of intrusion. Frank closed his eyes an
d squeezed his teeth together in a strained grin.

  We need to talk urgently, Mr Harper…

  Get out of my head! Frank thought. Get the hell out of my head!

  I’m not stupid, said The Collector inside Frank’s head. I know you’re all lying to me. The mana is gone from here. I needed to get inside to confirm it, but it’s gone, isn’t it?

  I don’t know what you mean, Frank screamed.

  Really? I could dig a little deeper and find out myself…

  Pinpricks erupted inside Frank’s skull. He released a stifled cry.

  “Frank?” asked Joe, turning from The Collector to look at him. “Are you alright?”

  “I’m…fine…let him…finish…” he said, forcing the words out through the dizzying pain.

  It’s gone, it’s gone! he thought. The pain instantly receded.

  That was easy, wasn’t it?

  The Collector continued talking to the group, but Frank still heard him in his thoughts.

  Now we have a real problem, Mr Harper. I can’t return back to the City empty handed. I need to replace that lost mana, if you catch my meaning…

  I don’t understand, thought Frank.

  You will, as you’re an intelligent man. Maybe this will make things clearer.

  Frank’s head filled with an image of his bathroom, as though The Collector was projecting it directly through his eyeballs. It showed Anne and Joe talking beside the bath and pointing into it. He even heard hammer blows from outside the room.

  They were looking for the Prowler, he thought, while I sealed up the attic hatch.

  Yes, said The Collector, this is one of their memories that I found.

  In the mental image, Joe looked around and out through the bathroom doorway.

  “He’s busy,” he whispered. “We won’t be disturbed.”

  “Good,” said Anne. “I’ve wanted this since you arrived.”

  She snaked her arms around his neck, pulling him downwards. He looked into her eyes as she raised her mouth to his.

  No, thought Frank. That didn’t happen.

  Didn’t it? Memories can’t lie, Mr Harper.

  Joe put his hands on her hips, pulling her in quick. Her groin bumped into his. Anne slowly rubbed her body against him.