Behind the Lock

by Wesley A. Bianchi

  “What do you mean?” Dom asked.

  “Well…It requires blood from its owner,”

  “You don’t mean…that bird lady right?”

  “How in the hell! Do we get her to spill blood, if she has those witches guarding her all the time?”

  Also, Pedro added, “Confrontation is too severe, I have another solution,”

  “Fill me in on this.”

  “The masked man has her blood; he also pursues the statue as well so she would have to retrieve the statue sooner or later since he’s also interested in terminating her. So she will come to us first before that happens...”

  “Wait! If she’s already on her way, then at any second we would all be…”

  The door flew across hitting the back wall when a gigantic owl swooped into the cabin and transformed. It was the woman from the mansion except the gown torn apart, but she seemed more vicious, more aggressive than before. Her eyeballs were completely red, as several sharp fangs covered her lips; especially claws grew out of her fingernails almost touching the floor.

  The old man ran into the alchemy room; the owl-lady chased after him as he slammed the door breaking one of her teeth. He quickly barricades the door, using one of his arms feeling weak by the damaged one.

  In the meantime, Dom grabs his machete out of his bag to lodge his blade upon the owl, stopping her from further action. She pulls the knife out of her back and threw it towards the wall, then swung fiercely at him with her claws. The attack was incredibly fast; Dom took a few hits as his body tried to follow the attack movements.

  Suddenly, she hit him severely, causing Dom to stagger. The owl held him by the floor, piercing his arms using the point of her claws to cling to the wood.

  “No use in struggling! You shouldn’t mess with my shit now would ya?” She spouted. Dom closed his eyes as he saw the claw rose above the air, his heart-pounded quietly as the moment close to his death.

  A green dust came from nowhere, and the owl began screaming in agony, as her back started to melt like creamy liquid. Pedro stood at the entrance with a bag of mysterious green powder; he threw more at the bird causing her more pain in her body.

  “Dom! Grab the machete and cut the statue HURRY!” Pedro shouted.

  Without hesitation, Dom did as told, by lifting himself from the floor, ignoring the current pain, and racing to the wall to retrieve his blade. “Err!” He grunted as his arms felt the pressure of strength going through the numerous holes of his flesh.

  In a sudden moment, the owl charge towards Pedro, cutting off the arm that held the dust bag. Dom noticed it but continued thriving the machete off the wall. Soon, Dom was able to pull the blade off the wall, so he dashes across the floor swinging his sharp edge through the statue cutting it into pieces.

  The owl instantly froze, “What have…you done!” her claws began disintegrating into ashes as her torso melted from the inside out. Dom took few steps back as the owl started twirling around. Then she began screeching, as the ash consume most of her body and face. The statue ceased to exist, as it disbanded into a mutilated pile of flesh.

  The cabin unexpectedly shook by a violent quake, and everything inside tumbled sideways. Dom tried to balance himself to avoid stumbling off, as he tried crossing slowly across the floor, checking if Pedro was still alive. Dom aided the old man by ripping some cloth from his rag shirt, wrapping it around the severed arm. Pedro again caught air, but his skin was pale by the blood loss. The ceiling came crumbling down leaving an opening to the roof, even the wood planks below the floor crack open from above the basement.

  After a moment, the uproar from the quake ended. Dom opens his eyes wondering the conclusion of this unexpected phenomenon. Before long, sunlight came through the window and the cabin itself rid of its shadows. He looks through the window finding an unfamiliar realm surrounding the atmosphere. It was more desolate as the terrain contain a vast array of sand covered by odd stray colorful flowers planted above it; this was the beginning of a new reality.

  Chapter 6

  Mirage

  Outside the window of Pedro’s cabin, Dom contemplates how dunes cover most of its horizon, as the wind sweeps in stacking the sand. He could even feel the temperature rising as the window glass begins to burn his fingers. Dom continues to watch over the old man waiting for him to wake up. Worried by his condition, he searches the tumbled down cabin for a way to help his friend. Digging away at the collapsing wood from the ceiling, hoping to find a medicine worthy of preventing injury, but instead found a severed arm, which belonged to Pedro, hidden underneath the cracked floor of the cabin.

  Dom thought the old man had some power that will prevent him from receiving harm, but never believe all of a sudden, he could get weak since his ability helped Dom heal one of his most devastating inflictions.

  “Old man…what have you gotten yourself into?” Dom wondered. Pedro awoke from a conscious state grunting as he felt the wound on his arm. Dom rushed over, carefully lifting him off the floor and placing him against the wall.

  “Don’t push yourself old man! You’re not fine yet,”

  “Get off me! If I am alive, that is all I need to know…I am fine,

  Ah! My arm…I can’t feel it at all!”

  “Do you remember anything from last night?” Dom asked.

  “Wait…Now I remember, my arm getting chopped off by that whore Amora,”

  “Sorry about your arm,”

  “Don’t be, that piece of shit was rotting on me anyway.”

  Pedro look around his cabin to acknowledge the situation of the firm shake, that previously happened and what lies ahead for both of them.

  “Do you know what the hell is going on?” Pedro asked.

  “Well we’re not in the woods anymore; so far heaps of sand are covering most of the terrain,”

  “It can’t be…the moment has come! Is the Amora woman dead?”

  “No more left of her, she dissolved into ashes,”

  “Good! I never thought this day would come,”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ll explain later, lift me up.”

  Dom helped him to get up, and then Pedro scurried into the knowledge room searching through his stack of papers. He threw them carelessly as most of them flew past the doorway, “Here it is,” Pedro grabs a metal rusted compass that was deep within the stack. He blows the excess of dust from the glass frame finding a slight crack on it, but still functional.

  “Any use of a compass?” Dom asked.

  “Indeed, we must depart from here immediately,”

  “Why the rush?”

  “I studied a legend about this place; it’s a hazardous environment…now that she is gone…it is up to her son to manipulate the world…”

  “You’re not implying the kid from the journal,”

  “Gario Amora, some say his humanity was lost and covered by a shadow, as his hobby involves the suffering of others…soon he will want us dead to avenge his mother. That is why we must leave this place, before the owl’s ashes will send a beacon of our presence.”

  Pedro moved towards the next room to gather his belongings. Dom in the meantime, prepared his bag wiping the blood off his machete. He contemplates in the silence looking the holes in his arms, why they suddenly sealed the flesh wounds into scars.

  Several minutes late, the old man came out carrying essential items for the unknown journey. “Are we ready to depart?” Pedro asked.

  “Is most of those things you’re carrying necessary? Your sack seems to be overwhelmed,” Dom could see herbs and animal legs in Pedro’s bag.

  “Nonsense! Everything is important, besides we’ll never return here again; are you prepared?”

  “I guess…”

  “Then let’s go!”

  As Dom pushes the front door, the heat surprisingly begins to burn their faces, while the sand stung their feet.

  “Aww damn it! How could we make it alive through this stupid heat?” Dom shouted.

  Both men
returned inside, Pedro took a gourd canteen out of his sack along with a couple of scarfs.

  “Drink this; It’ll help you cool off from the heat for 24hrs,”

  “I guess; we’ll need to wear the scarf also?”

  “Yes”

  Dom drank from the bottle feeling a bitter taste, his mouth pressed a breeze going through his throat, and soon he felt his skin getting chilly.

  “I feel cold,”

  “Good! You’ll need to feel that way through the journey,” Pedro drank from the canteen putting it away into his sack, then wrapping the scarf around their heads. They both test the potion’s results outside finding the resistance in their bodies to the heat; Dom saw his arm releasing a volatile vapor after the sunlight hit his skin.

  “Old man what’s with the steam?”

  “The effects of the potion starts to dissolve; as the heat gets stronger, the liquid will prevail making us resistant to scorching temperatures, but only for an ellipse time.”

  “This is great, but the smell is the only cons around here,”

  “Shall we go?”

  “After you old man.”

  They begin walking across the dune as the sizzling noise of vapor blew into the air. Pedro looks at his compass pointing northeast, and so he knows the sandstorm is coming somewhere from the west. Ahead, Pedro saw a change on the trail, in the western horizon a heat wave can be visualized, he unpacked his rifle from his sack holding it with one hand, as he knew danger lurked miles ahead.

  “Don’t fall behind boy… who knows what is out there.”

  Several hours later, the journey led both men walking into circles. The steam began to rise, and so did the temperature. Dom could feel his thirst growing as he hadn’t had a taste of water for quite a while, walking through the heat made him wonder if an oasis could be near unless a miracle savors his soul.

  “Hey, old man! Do you have anything in that bag I could drink?”

  *No response*

  “Old man I’m talking to you!”

  “Shh! something is coming,” Pedro whispered.

  Dom rapidly grabbed his machete as he laid wait for what is coming. Behind them, a large shadow rose up; a horse ran past Dom knocking him down into the sand. The old man rolled over avoiding the encounter, a rider wearing scarves and Arab clothing rode past him violently.

  “It’s been a while ha kid! Do you miss me?”

  Dom was shocked as the stranger lowered his scarf; to reveal the masked man Ramon Desylvia.

  “No…It can’t be! How can you be here?”

  “You see, when you killed the bitch of the mansion things shifted apart… including everything in it. I also wanted to kill her myself, but I see you’ve made it easy for me and I congratulate you for doing so.”

  Pedro aims his rifle, “Ohhh….I remember you old rack, we had such great memories you and I,” said Ramon.

  A bullet fire past through Ramon’s shoulder leaving a slight cut.

  “You’re getting too old ya cunt; you can’t kill me before not even now, don’t hope to be lucky now. Even I could shoot some jackass from where you’re standing,”

  Pedro began to reload his rifle, as Ramon pulled out a long-barrel revolver from one of the saddlebags.

  “Well, gentlemen! I must cut this short because I’m dying to kill ya,”

  The horse began charging again, as Ramon fired his revolver towards the men while wielding a saber sword in his other hand. Dom rushed over to protect the old man from the bullets, Pedro managed to reload and shoot another round hitting his revolver into the air.

  “Looks like you’re good after ALL!” Ramon held his sword high enough, as he gained upon the men. Dom patiently waited for the horse to approach closer as his sweaty palms tightly grip the handle; Ramon loosened his sword to swing his blade, suddenly Dom evade the attack after slashing his machete through the horse rider’s shoulder severing his entire arm.

  “Ahh! You bastard! You will pay dearly for my arm, but at the same time, a pussy like you had to evolve…See you later boys!” Ramon retreated into the wasteland leaving the sight of both men behind.

  “Let’s follow him!” Dom said.

  “Wait…boy, look!”

  The horse trail was vanishing under the sand as the wind blew violently.

  “Damn it! We almost had him,”

  “Not nearly, he just wanted to test our abilities, especially to find out if you were able to strike him in any way,” Pedro said.

  “???”

  “Besides if we follow this trail, it’ll disappear leading us off the road, that makes us fools falling for the jester’s tricks.”

  “You are right.”

  The sword caught Dom’s attention immediately by the strange initials written on the hilt, as well as for the revolver, the bullet snapped off the barrel leaving a slight crack throughout the slot, in this current state, the pistol is useless.

  “Is the gun working?” Pedro asked.

  “You blew most of it old man! But this sword seems to be in fine shape,”

  “So the fiend still plans on using the boy, soon enough we’ll be Ramon’s last obstacle,” Pedro said to himself.

  Dom manages to pierce a hole in his bag to holster the saber, while the old man contemplates more about this scheme, trying to puzzle the enemies plot while gazing at the eerie sword.

  “Hmm…where is Ramon’s arm?” Pedro asked.

  “Umm… I don’t know; I spotted it somewhere close by the sword,”

  At that moment, Pedro began feeling something climbs from his back; he turns rapidly finding a hand reaching to his neck. He throws the hand into the sand before it had the advantage, the severed hand squirmed around, as it stood persistently to attack the old man. Pedro managed to block it away with his rifle as it bounced back and forth.

  Able to catch it, Dom struggled to grip as it tried breaking free from grasp, which is when Pedro shot it into bits as many pieces flew onto the sand even on Dom.

  “Good riddance!” Pedro said.

  “Uhh! Blood is on my face; you could’ve warned me before shooting it!”

  The old man laughed as Dom rubs the blood off using the scarf.

  “We must continue, these lands are too unpredictable to provide sanctuary. Are you ready?”

  “Of course, the sooner we’re gone…the better.”

  The night began, the clouds shrouded under the dark sky, and the heat undone by the cold winds. Their bodies feel a slight breeze each time the wind blows since the potion effect was still intact.

  “Burr! It’s cold, how long have we been walking? It feels like a year,” Dom said.

  “We’re quite distant from the sandstorm, so just a few more days.”

  “Here…” Pedro pulls something from his bag, wrapped in a vegetation shell covering the view of what it contains.

  “Eat this…I know you must be starving, after each obstacle.”

  “What is it?” Dom takes it.

  “My people make it out of corn; this leaf protects the loaf from hardening.”

  The men crossed over a dune, discovering a tall windmill spinning sluggishly in the night; below in the distance, a town stood under the shadows hiding from the starlight.

  “A town in a hell like this,”

  “Be on your guard, let’s have a look around,” Pedro said.

  Arriving in the town, the men walk cautiously across the sand, finding each foundation not empty but dead silent; a person seems to peer from the window with wide-eyes, the men notice.

  “For a second I assumed this was a ghost town, but so far these people just enjoy being creepy,” Dom said.

  “Our presence is unwelcome…we better pass through quickly, and keep ourselves undetected.”

  Dom eyed a bar just a few blocks ahead, he said

  “Hey old man, I’m thirsty…let’s have a drink!” but Pedro declined as soon as he mentioned it; Dom began to insist and so the old man agreed.

  Entering the bar, they were shocked by the dark fac
es of the people; only a single candle lit at each table, as the rest of the bar blended in darkness. Dom and Pedro took a seat next to the counter, where they found a shady bartender with eyes that glow bright yellow, and his legs were massive since the floor shook with every footstep.

  “May I help you Gentlemen…?” The bartender said in a deep voice.

  “Sorry to bother you, but we don’t have funds,” Pedro said.

  “Not to worry! It’ll be in the house, just sit your asses down and pick what you like,”

  “Give us whatever you got,” Dom said.

  “Be right back!” The bartender said.

  The liquor bottles were barely visible from the cabinets, the bartender reaches out, setting it on the counter. The bottle had a strange brown liquid swirling inside. He served the drink on the cups.

  “Enjoy!” The bartender said. Dom took a whiff finding the smell oddly similar to chocolate.

  “Could it be chocolate?” Dom wondered as he daringly took a sip. He coughs loudly, almost choking to a strong taste as he drank his cup.

  “Tastes like a mix of chocolate and beer!” Dom said. The old man tossed the drink out along with his glass.

  “You fool, the liquid in your cup is none other than mud,” The old man said.

  “Haaah!” Dom looks at his glass, finding a terrible taste of earth. “Bartender! How dare you serve me this crap!”

  “Problem Sir?”

  “Boy! Take a closer look at his appearance,” The old man said.

  Dom leaned, finding yellow eyes behind the bartender’s shadow, paled skin along with a glowing body, and its hands covered in green mold.

  “Uhh!” Dom cried.

  “As expected, the bartender is nothing more than a spirit bound in an elusive town; he also used his spirit essence to hide the foul taste of ground,” Pedro said.

  The bartender chuckled as he repeated the same lines “May I help you gentlemen…?”

  “Boy…it is time we part, I’m sure these spirits mean no harm to us.” Dom looks at the bartender with a remorseful glance. The men walked out of the bar while the spirits inside continue to stare until they left. Meanwhile, outside a storm approach pouring a shower of rain and hail.