Per Daryn’s orders, they landed a ways outside Blasdow, behind a large hill. They then made their way into the village and stopped in the center of town.
“This is bad,” Ev said. “There’s no sign of anyone here. The place looks empty.”
“No sign of any refghasts, either,” Jaysin said.
CiCi looked around nervously. “Do you think we’re too late?”
“Not necessarily,” Daryn said. “I don’t see any bodies. If the refghasts had slaughtered everyone, there would be corpses everywhere and gallons of blood staining the streets.”
“Good point,” Maya said.
“I don’t need your praise,” Daryn shot back.
Ev got up in his face. “Listen, you—”
His words were cut off by a series of dark shapes rising up from the ground. Refghasts. The things were every bit as ugly as Ev remembered. They just looked so…wrong. For one thing, they had no faces, but they still could talk. Their heads resembled oily, pitch-black beach balls.
“Divine Protector,” they rasped.
Daryn responded, “Glad you know who’s here to kill you.” An oversized hammer materialized in his hand. Everyone else brought out their weapons. Maya, a bow; Jaysin, a staff; CiCi, two chakrams. “Don’t shoot us this time.” Daryn was obviously speaking to Maya.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I won’t.” Ev had no doubt about that. She had their backs. Things would be different this time.
He looked down at his hands. Sucking at conjuring as he did, he would have to once again rely on his fists. No matter, he decided, and quickly slugged the nearest refghast. Its head exploded into what looked like motor oil. That had not happened the last time he punched one; he was noticeably stronger now.
Maya unloaded arrows into refghast after refghast, downing each one with ruthless efficiency. Jaysin bashed them with his staff, and CiCi sliced them into oily chunks with her ringed blades.
However, the most fearsome warrior was Daryn. He pulverized any refghast that got in his way. His hammer pounded each and every monster into dark cobbler. His ferocity had only grown since he and Ev first met.
Ev entered into a physical dance with the demonic beings now infesting Blasdow. He seamlessly dodged and blocked their attacks before responding with fierce blows. He utilized his fists, his feet—all the weapons he needed were attached to him. He smashed refghast after refghast.
But despite not being very strong (compared to gods, at least), the monsters at least had sheer numbers on their side. They kept coming, and there was seemingly to end to them.
Well, Ev thought, at least I don’t have any plans for the rest of the day.
* * *
After a while, the refghasts in Ev’s vicinity died out. He looked around and realized he had strayed quite a ways from the rest of the team during the battle. He was now amidst a cluster of houses, and he didn’t see anyone else around.
A voice behind him suddenly said, “Is it safe to come out?”
He whirled around to see a young man standing in the doorway of a house. The stranger appeared to be at least ten years older than Ev. He didn’t look like any Tru citizen Ev had ever seen. While the people of this continent tended to be fair-haired and spoke with an accent, this guy had jet-black dark hair and didn’t speak like a Tru.
“You live here?” Ev said.
The man shrugged. “Not really. I’m just visiting.”
“You picked a hell of a time to visit. Those monsters could have killed you.”
Strangely grinning, the stranger said, “I can handle myself. Still, I’m glad you came, Ev.”
Ev froze. “How do you know my name?”
He kept grinning. “Why don’t you come inside and let’s talk about it.”
The mystery man strolled into the house like he owned it. Intrigued—and suspicious—Ev followed him into the living room. “Where are the people that live here?” Ev asked.
The man replied nonchalantly, “Down in the cellar. They barricaded themselves down there when the refghasts showed up.”
That only raised Ev’s suspicion. “So you know what they are. Are…are you the one who brought them here?”
He took a seat on the couch. “Relax. No one has been injured. I just wanted to scare them so they’d pray for deliverance from this crisis. Once the Academy received the call, figuratively speaking, I knew they’d send a team of second-year students—they don’t send you on missions until your second year—with experience fighting otherworldly entities. Since you survived your encounters with the Nephilim, sending you here was a no-brainer.”
“You seem to know a lot about me,” Ev said. “Have we met before?”
“Yes and no.”
“Ev!” Maya entered the house. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried about you. I…” She suddenly noticed the stranger. “Bethos be damned. Arcturus Reich.”
Arcturus smiled at her. “Nice to see you again, Maya.”
Ev was baffled. “You two know each other?”
There was alarm in her voice. “He’s a member of Zero Grade. Every now and then he would come to the castle on errands.”
“Not quite,” Arcturus said. “I’m a freelancer now. I’ve tendered my resignation with the organization. And those weren’t simple errands. I just used that as an excuse to meet with Belial. He didn’t fully trust you, Maya, and he wanted to make sure he had a backup protégé in case you ever betrayed him. It looks like his fears were justified.”
She shot him a venomous glare. “Don’t pretend you know anything about me. You were with the organization willingly. I was there because I had no other choice.”
“Do we ever really have a choice, Maya? Don’t our circumstances determine our actions? At any rate, I’m not here for you. I’m here for Ev.”
“Me? What do you want with me?”
“I wanted to meet you face to face for the first time. You and I have quite the history together, even though we’ve never formally met. How have you been doing since…you…you know…killed your father?”
Ev exploded. “How could you possibly know that?”
He shrugged. “Well, to explain that, a little background information on me is necessary. For instance, I bet even Maya doesn’t know I used to be one of you—a student at Divine Protector Academy.”
“You were?” she said.
Nodding, he said, “That’s right. It was before your time. I made good grades, I had friends, and I always tried to do the right thing.”
“So what changed?” Ev asked.
“I was kicked out due to a certain incident. Incident 27, to be specific. Did you know the Academy keeps track of all its mistakes? Likely Maya here is now Incident 28.
“Shut up,” she said.
“Wait,” Ev interjected. “Let him talk. I want to hear about this. What is Incident 27?” He remembered something Freya has said when he first started using the Prayer Chamber. In the past, we used to leave students unattended while they did it. But because of…certain issues…we had to develop a way to link telepathically with you during the process. We now require that a faculty member be present during every prayer answering session. Was this the “certain issues” she had mentioned?
“Well, back in those days, we used to be able to use the Prayer Chamber unsupervised. One day, I happen to hear the prayer of a child constantly living in fear of his father. I took an interest in this little boy.”
Ev stepped back, horrified. “No. It’s not true. Please don’t say it.”
“Think about it, Ev,” Arcturus said. “Why did you kill your father?”
“I had no choice. I had to do it or he would have killed my mother.”
“But wasn’t there a voice in your head telling you what to do?” Arcturus said.
“
My inner voice told me to. It was my survival instincts,” Ev insisted.
Arcturus leaned forward. “No, Ev; it wasn’t. It was me. I told you to kill him.”
“No! You’re lying.”
“Well, then. Tell me if this sounds familiar. ‘There’s a knife on the table. Grab it. Kill him! Kill that monster. The world will be a much better place without him’.”
Ev fell to his knees and clutched his head. “I didn’t want to do it! My dad, he gave me no choice.”
However, Arcturus would not be swayed. “But you did have a choice. You weren’t going to do it. I sensed that. So I astral-projected over to you, and I gave you guidance. Anni Bannen is still alive today because of me, and you’re a hell of a lot better off with your dad dead.”
Maya had had enough. She conjured her bow and pointed it squarely at Arcturus Reich. “That’s enough! Why do you want to torture him so badly?”
Arcturus regarded her coldly. “You think I enjoy torture? You think I’m the complete opposite of Ev? I got news for you. He and I are more alike than you can imagine. All it takes is one slight difference in circumstances to make someone turn out like me.”
“Ev is nothing like you,” she said. “You still haven’t told us what you’re doing here, aside from causing emotional suffering.”
“It’s not that complicated, really. I’m about to create a new world, and I want Ev to be a part of it.”
“Why Ev?”
“You might say we’re kindred spirits. I was there for him in his darkest hour. I understand him better than you ever will.”
“I understand him well enough. Enough to know he doesn’t want whatever you’re selling.”
He gave her a smirk. “Please, Maya. You’ve known him—what? A year? I’ve known him for ten years. I’ve been watching him, excited to discover what sort of man he’ll become.”
Staring icily at him, she said, “He won’t become like you. I promise you that.
“Now, then. Can I assume you’re the one who broke into the Tower of Babel and killed Heimdall?”
“I didn’t break in,” he said. “I used this.” He held his hand flat in the air, and a familiar crimson object appeared in it.”
Maya stared at it, aghast. “You have the Blood Key!”
“That’s right. Belial sent it to me upon his death because he didn’t trust you. The Tower practically belongs to me now.”
Still on his knees, Ev said, “You killed Professor Heimdall?”
Arcturus insisted, “I had no choice, Ev. He attacked me. He thought I was another monster like Belial. I tried to explain things to him, but he wouldn’t listen. He seriously wanted to kill me.”
“You’re lying,” Maya said.
He shook his head vigorously. “It’s the truth! I swear. You believe me, don’t you, Ev?”
Ev got back to his feet. “I don’t…I don’t know what to believe anymore. But you did steal something from the Tower. What did you steal?”
Arcturus smiled broadly, like a child who had just received the greatest toy ever made. “The Ark of the Covenant. The most powerful of the Artifacts.”
Ev had never heard of it. Obviously it had been kept secret for good reason. “What does it do?”
He replied cryptically, “It will change everything. This twisted world will be a distant memory once I activate it.”
“That doesn’t tell us much,” Maya said.
“I’ll give Ev the full details later. Belial’s suspicions regarding you were proven correct. I’m not trusting you with any more information.”
“That’s fine,” she said. I’ll just shoot you with a few arrows and bring you back to the Academy for questioning.”
He waggled a chastising finger in front of her. “Bad girls should be punished. But I’ll let you off with a warning this time. Farewell, Ev. We’ll meet again real soon. I’m sure of that.”
Maya shot an arrow at him which speared the couch. However, Arcturus was no longer sitting on it. Now he stood in the doorway, a testament to his incredible god-speed.
And in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
Maya put a hand on Ev’s shoulder. “Are you OK?”
“I don’t know,” he said. He belatedly realized that meant he wasn’t OK.
“We need to tell the Academy about this,” she said.
“No. I’ll tell them when I’m good and ready. Until then, I want to keep this quiet.”
“But Ev—”
“Please.”
“All right. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Thanks,” he said.
The rest of the team suddenly came into the house. “Where have you two been?” Daryn asked.
“Yeah. We lost the both of you a short time ago,” Jaysin said.
“We’re fine,” Ev said. “We finished off the refghasts in this area and we came in here to look for survivors.”
“We finished off the refghasts in our area as well,” CiCi said. She was very chipper about it.
Daryn looked around. “Well? Did you find any?”
Of course they hadn’t. They had, in fact, completely forgotten about the people of this village during their chat with Arcturus Reich. Ev said, “Uh…not yet. We think they might be holed up in the cellar, though. We should check.”
After a brief search, they found the stairs leading down to the cellar. At the bottom was a door that wouldn’t budge. Daryn knocked on it. “Hello? Is anyone down here? We took care of the monsters.”
From behind the door, a voice responded. “Faith’n’grovery! Are ye our saviors?”
They exchanged curious glances on the stairs. “‘Faith’n’grovery’?” Jaysin said.
“It’s a common expression in the Tru Republic,” Daryn explained. “It basically means ‘Bethos be praised’.” To the people in the cellar he said, “Yeah, I guess you could say we’re your saviors. You can come out now.”
There were loud sounds as something ripped away from the door on the other side. After a few minutes the door opened and three red-haired people emerged. From what Ev could tell, it was a husband and wife with their young son. “Oh, thank ye so much! It was ever so frightful when those monsters showed up,” the woman said.
“Thank nothing of it,” Ev said. “It’s our job to help people.”
“Just who exactly are you?” the man asked. His accent wasn’t as pronounced as the woman’s.
Ev scratched his head. “Well…I guess you could say we’re exterminators. We took care of the infestations in this village. Don’t worry; you don’t owe us anything.”
The man scrutinized them. “You’re not from around here, are you?”
“We’re…sorta from everywhere,” CiCi said.
“What were those ghastly beasts?” the woman said.
“Ref—” Ev said but was cut off by Daryn elbowing him in the ribs.
“I’m afraid we’re not at liberty to say. But rest assured, if any more show up, we’ll deal with them again.”
“Well…um…thank ye kindly. I’m Jenny, by the way. Jenny O’Hare. And this is my husband Michael.” In the Tru Republic, men took their wives’ last name when married.
“Nice t’meet you,” Jaysin said.
“Same here,” Maya added.
“And this is our son Christopher.”
“Well, hello there, champ,” Ev said to the boy. He wasn’t used to dealing with people that young, so he just said what he thought you were supposed to say to kids.
The boy nodded nervously, but didn’t say anything. “He’s still terrified, I’m afraid,” Michael said.
“It’s OK. We really should be going,” Daryn said.
Jenny looked disappointed. “Are ye sure? We’d love to show you our gratitude. Wouldn’t we, dear?”
“Yes, of course,” Michael said with a bit less enthusiasm.
But Daryn was adamant. “No, no; we have important business to attend to. Namely, making sure everyone else in the village is safe.”
* * *
The O’Hares helped them search every house in Blasdow. Once that was done, they thankfully confirmed there were no casualties. The people were eternally grateful to their mysterious rescuers and promised they would always be welcome
in the tiny hamlet.
The team regrouped in the center of Blasdow. “It’s strange,” Daryn said.
CiCi eyed him curiously. “What is?”
He explained, “The refghasts are highly evolved killing machines. They should have made short work of everyone in this village. I know they could have gotten past the shoddy barricades the people here set up. So why didn’t they?”
Incident 27 Page 5