They don’t miss anything, thought Jeremy, resigned. He walked down a neglected hallway lit only by the glow of the lantern.
At the end of the hall, some fifty feet from the door of the bomb shelter, stood Rasputna. She was pulling items out of a box resting upon the remains of a long dead school desk.
“Here,” she said, thrusting a flashlight at him.
He took it.
“You’ll need this,” she stared him in the eyes, “and not just down here. You will need this where you are going as well.” She stuck a bunch out at Marissa. “Pass them out to the others.”
The little girl followed directions. Within seconds eight strong beams of light were flashing about.
By then the third Loki had caught up with them.
Rasputna peered over them to look at him. “Good?”
“Perfect,” was the creature’s reply.
She nodded. “Come,” demanded the woman in all black.
They strode through the sub-basement of the massive structure above their heads. With little noise, they eased their way through the host of discarded desks and chairs. It was the detritus of every underground school depository Jeremy had ever seen. They are always so dusty and dirty.
Minutes later, having traversed a few more cluttered passageways and ascending two flights of stairs, they emerged through a small side door.
They entered an auditorium.
“Oh my god!’ exclaimed J.J.
Rasputna rounded on them with mock-glee. “Isn’t it just perfect and so… so ironic?”
“You’ve been holding us captive under our own school?!?” Vanessa reeked of incredulity.
“Textbook, don’t you think?”
The Loki chuckled, getting the play on words.
Jeremy sniggered.
“All this time,” muttered Chum-Lee with reluctant awe.
Miles was glancing about, and then stopped, his eyes bulging. “What the fuck is that?”
They all turned to follow the large boy’s finger.
“Why that’s your transportation.”
“To where?” asked Marissa just above a whisper as if she afraid to know the answer.
“To where you will live the rest of your days, Kring-Häl,” answered the stunning, black woman. “Which shouldn’t be all that many,” she added as an afterthought.
In the middle of the stage, at the front of a thousand seats was the strangest thing Jeremy had ever seen. It was rectangular. It shimmered in the play of their flashlights. It was about seven feet tall and just over half that wide, coming within an inch of the wooden surface of the platform.
What astounded him was it appeared to have only two dimensions. Sure, he could make out its’ height and its’ width, but it had no depth that he could discern. It was as though the air itself was sliced and shoved aside, revealing this lifeless gray shape.
“What is it?” asked Jeremy.
Rasputna motioned for them to follow.
When none of them made a move, the Loki began herding them toward the stairs and onto the stage proper.
“It is The Way,” explained the woman who made no noise. “Unfortunately, I am the only one who can open one to our world. Though at one time, there were many, many Ways to the World of Man, connecting to all the known universes out there. A long time ago, the Lord of the Light sundered, shut, closed and/or sealed them to keep my great Lord at bay. Now, there is only one Way, the one I create.” Her eyes twinkled with ghoulish delight. “But!” she said, raising her voice, her orbs for only her Loki. “We plan to remedy that soon enough.”
They were nodding, sage-like.
“So which one of you brave children will go first?”
They all exchanged glances, faces filled with dismay.
Jeremy heard Marissa clear her throat and knew in an instant what she about to say. “I will,” he volunteered in a rush before the small girl could open her mouth.
She peered up at him, an odd look on her face.
“Together, then?” he asked.
She was bobbing her head up and down. “We all go, together.”
He couldn’t have agreed with her more.
The two of them beckoned the others.
Soon they were in a tight knot, holding hands, shuffling toward the mysterious portal. They did not speak. They made no sound, other than the scraping of their shoes across the lacquered wood.
When the edge of The Way touched him, Jeremy felt freezing cold spread throughout his body. He gasped in shock, hearing the others do likewise.
The grayness took him, but not before he heard Rasputna say, “How adorable. They’re going to die together too.”
Then there was nothing but pain and nausea, and he could think no more.
How long his was within the clutch of The Way, he could not say. But when he and his companions came free of it, he found himself at the edge of a vast clearing. It drifted off into oblivion the farther he looked away from their position. Brilliant, sticky snow covered the entire expanse, shrieking winds blasted the land. Everywhere hung a mind-numbing chill that clawed its' way through every layer of clothing he wore.
Jeremy could not see fifty yards in front of him.
He was in a forest of pine and oak, though there were some trees that looked completely unfamiliar to him. They were outlandish in appearance, some of them quite menacing.
“Put this on and take this,” said a voice near him.
He turned to see four more Loki standing in a broad wedge about the portal, one of them was handing him a heavy coat and a large backpack.
“Be quick, you idiot. You’ll freeze solid in minutes without the gear,” it urged him roughly.
Jeremy snatched the coat from the Loki and put it on. The creature was right, though. It was cold in the extreme.
The others began to take their heavy outerwear and rucksacks from the other Loki about the trees. None more than Vanessa who wore only her nightgown and panties.
Rasputna and the three original Loki came through The Way, a magnificent smile upon her face, her hands held above her head.
“Welcome, one and all, to the Melded World!”
With that, the portal leading back home to their families and everything they loved, closed.
The Seeker’s laugh was fiendish upon the wind.
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About the Author
Richard Heredia was born in 1969 in the Canal Zone of Panama City, Panama. Having spent the first year of his life there, he has since moved to Los Angeles, California where he lives with his wife and children. Wanting to be a writer at a very young age, he began learning his craft through avid reading, after his mentor suggested he read as much as possible in order to learn from the best. Since that summer day in 1984, he has never stopped.
After a long hiatus, six years ago, he finally decided to sit down and commit himself to his lifelong dream of writing novels. He is the author of the first two volumes of the Saga of the Twelve’s – The Unwanted Winter and Winter’s Fury – and book one of the Shadow Seed Series – The Misbegotten.
The Birth of Bane is his first foray into the supernatural and is based primarily on a series of incidents, notions and feelings from his childhood (which ones exactly, he will never tell).
Aside from reading and writing, he enjoys listening to music, dancing with his babies, camping, fishing and playing the odd video game with his son.
Keep an eye out for The Aberrant, Book Two of the Shadow Seed Series due out in summer 2015.
Richard has slated Volume Three of the Saga of the Twelve’s – Storm’s Revenge - for publication sometime in 2016.
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Hopefully, you have enjoyed Winter’s Fury as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please visit the following links below and let me know what you think about the second installation of The Saga of the Twelves at:
@Smashwords.com
Thank you so much, precious reader,
Richard M. Heredia
&nb
sp; September 2014
in the night. They could be grateful, caring, even convey love when compelled, had enough strength. At first, I was amazed. It was wondrous.
Then, he brought the anger and malice in his heart. He brought destruction and death, intent on killing us all.
That was when She rose up. She began to change. Bane was born to defend the helpless from inexhaustible evil.
And, she was ruthless. in the night. They could be grateful, caring, even convey love when compelled, had enough strength. At first, I was amazed. It was wondrous.
Then, he brought the anger and malice in his heart. He brought destruction and death, intent on killing us all.
That was when She rose up. She began to change. Bane was born to defend the helpless from inexhaustible evil.
And, she was ruthless. in the night. They could be grateful, caring, even convey love when compelled, had enough strength. At first, I was amazed. It was wondrous.
Then, he brought the anger and malice in his heart. He brought destruction and death, intent on killing us all.
That was when She rose up. She began to change. Bane was born to defend the helpless from inexhaustible evil.
And, she was ruthless.
Table of Contents
BOOK TWO:
BOOK TWO:
Part Three:
Part Four:
Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves Page 59