Legacy of the Defender (The Defender Series Book 1)

by Jacob Spadt

  My instructions were vague. Father did not tell me I would be witnessing a portal opening, or dealing with those beings responsible. Now I knew what he meant for me to do. I pictured the Summoners and the acts to follow. I focused on my Father and called his name out in my mind. “Father, here it is, this is what we needed to know. Use this information well.” Energy left me as the message went out. I hoped he would get it. They now knew what to look for in the daemon ranks to staunch the tide of the portals opening to Earth.

  If I jumped through and used it as a choke point, then that would buy me the time to close it? I should be able to teleport back. The portal was only several strides away. Nearing the opening, I gasped in shock at what I saw. The body in the bed was mine! I dove without delay head first through the opening. If my body remained unprotected, they would win.

  This just got personal.

  Light began to fade. I envisioned the portal collapsing as tendrils of energy latched on behind me and began to fold it up like paper. The energy flowed from me out to the edges of the fabric. Like before, invisible hands began grabbing that portal’s edges to pull them closed again. I felt the bubble finally pop as it collapsed in on itself.

  My body began to dematerialize. Panic arose. Darkness swallowed me. I swirled into the void. My essence flowed in circles. Ahead, two lights speed towards me. The closer I got the face of a beautiful woman appeared in each portal. Her blond hair glowed as if sunlight made up each of the hairs. I felt myself slam into something soft. My mind went blank. Beeping in the distance sounded like an alarm on a machine.

  What just happened? Where was I?

  Part II

  XVII

  Rude Awakenings

  My eyelids crept open.

  Darkness, my ally for ages, fled at the first sign of light. Blackness remained behind and surrounded me like a tainted sweater. Dark and pungent odors filled my senses, as if evil itself was just there and I was its meal. I felt submerged in some sort of fluid that secreted out of my pores. It gave me the creeps. My body hurt head to toe and something was not right. Painfully, I raised my head. Bad idea! As my eyes came into focus, a splitting headache followed. After a few moments, the images came into focus.

  A hospital.

  What am I doing in a hospital?

  The clean smell of bleach and sanitation drifted about. I painfully panned the room with strained eyes. There were pictures next to the bed. My mother, Jason, and Jesus, all in different frames, thankfully, because that would have really freaked me out. Okay weird combination, I thought. Then it hit me…my mother and Jason were older. Hell, he had facial hair, my mother did too, but it was not that noticeable. I sucked in a gulp of air as I tried to sit up. It caused a spasm. That is when the priest sleeping in a corner chair caught my eye. My head began to throb even more and weightlessness made everything spin a bit. I was descending backwards into the pillows before long.

  Images swam in my head. Pain shot though every nerve in my body. I heard something that sounded like when someone flat lines on a heart monitor. BEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPP! Everything was so confusing. My response was to close my eyes and moan. “This must be hell!” The words sounded more like croaking. It did not even sound like English.

  I heard shouting coming from somewhere nearby. More noise followed a crashing sound. My thoughts continued to race. Suddenly there was someone next to me. A gentle presence masked in strength...female. Her scent was subtle. Kind of a sweet smell but there was something else unidentifiable. Firm hands held me down as another set of hands checked what I could only assume were vitals. A slight pinch in my arm, followed by a warm dizziness, rolled over me.

  My eyes opened to confront my assailant. She was beautiful, almost angelic. Long blonde hair pulled back tightly. The brownest eyes I had ever seen next to that pinup model Jason had…what was her name again? I thought about it for a moment. My then mind raced back to the woman before me. Was the concept of a hot nurse a fable? Maybe this was Heaven. To my right, my eyes lazily turned and made me jump; another woman looked me over. She had a huge nose, squinty eyes, and black hair, all mounted on a very large, round head. Her face started to twist and melt away. I began to shudder and tried to crawl away. Vice-like hands gripped me. I could go nowhere.

  “Hold still!” she said. “Dammit Eryn, hold him, he’s convulsing!”

  “I have him, and no, he’s not convulsing, but you startled him,” the goddess spoke in return. The mere sound of her voice made me calm a bit. That warmth running through me was increasing more and more. “This must be what drugs feel like,” my voice uttered.

  Silence gripped the room as eyes locked on mine and looks of surprise ensued.

  “Did he just speak?” said a male voice from across the room. “Sweet Jesus, I better call his mother.” Footsteps clapped out of the room and down the hall.

  I panned the room then back to the beautiful blonde. She held my gaze for just a moment and smiled in a caregiver kind of way. There was warmth about her. A depth in her eyes suggested to me that she had seen many horrible things.

  How would I know that? I am only sixteen.

  My mind overloaded with images and memories. I tensed up and closed my eyes. Memories of pain and suffering mixed with violence. Had someone been reading me stories of such horrors? A creeping darkness pinned me to the bed. There were images of creatures crawling out of a dark spot that was fading. They began to swoop on me, taunting me as they flew with great speed, and all I could do was throw up my hands and cower.

  “What the hell am I seeing? Make them go away!” My hands guarded my face and no matter what I did I could still see them swirling around me. Voices, so dark and guttural, spoke and the gestures were obvious. When they spoke, some viscous fluid dripped from their mouths that, disgusting in color, was almost black like a putrid vileness. Whimpering was all I could do...I waved my hands in front of my face to fend them off.

  I heard that soothing voice again. “Shhh, you are hallucinating. There’s nothing there. It’s okay,” she said softly.

  Before I could think, I replied, “No shit!” even though the images did not appear any less then real. They were real enough and kept coming at me, but I noticed they never touched me and they began to fade with each pass as a white light bathed them from somewhere. The room returned to view. Waves of nausea hit me. They crashed against my head. My stomach knotted, each time causing my body to shudder with each pass. I must have been convulsing more than imagined for my body was practically lifting off the table every time one hit. This lasted for several moments. Strong, gentle hands on me managed to hold me in place.

  “This will pass, but it will take time. Try to relax.” An image of Jason with his goatee jumped in my head. He looked so much older. I felt an eyebrow painfully rise on my face.

  “How long has it been?” the question finally moved its way to the surface of my thought and found a way to my lips.

  “I think you should wait until the counselor comes in, I wou….”

  “How long, dammit?” I demanded as the anger in me started to rise. I tried to sit up, but her strong hands held me firmly in place.

  “Strangely...six years to the day,” the doctor chimed in after removing the stethoscope from my chest. “You have been in a coma for six years, Dieter.”

  Six years...what the hell? Where did he come from?

  “Call me Dietz,” I interjected before her words sunk in. “Only my mother calls me Dieter.”

  She smiled.

  “Did you hear me, Dietz? Six years!” she repeated this time with a softer voice. The words processed but did not fully take hold, for it made no sense what she was saying.

  “Wait,” I thought, “the accident. A car had hit us both, and then I hit a tree.”

  Images of Jason on the hood of a car with a mangled bike smashed on the bumper flashed through my mind. It was out of control and my view faded back as the car swerved off the road. The look of terror the driver’s face before it flipped over was the l
ast thing I remember before darkness rolled over my vision like a black cloud of smoke obscuring everything. Thoughts of the lake swirled before me bringing the feeling of the pretty girl’s lips upon mine. I must have made a funny face or something. The nurse tried to not laugh, but a kind of stifled snicker happened, and she cleared her throat.

  My mind raced again but this time it stopped on one stabbing question like someone turned the wheel of fortune with my thoughts being the topic: If it has been six years, then why did I hurt so damn bad and not just have a dull ache? I paused and swallowed what little saliva that had begun to gather to moisten my throat. Another breath followed. They got easier, the deeper the intake as if my oxygen was cut short, making me weak all these years.

  “So why does my body hurt so much if it’s had time to heal?”

  The murmuring around the room was inaudible...but I could tell there was another voice now that must have joined the noise. The bed began to raise me to an upright position; the nurse stepped back when it hit its zenith. The first thing I noticed was her figure. Damn it looked good. I started to undress her with my eyes when a man stepped forward blocking my view. He must have done it on purpose because he completely blocked her out. My eyes refocused. Figures. I was not staring that hard… I can barely focus… maybe that is what it looked like.

  “Dietz, this is going to be hard to understand, but I want you to hear me out before you respond, okay?”

  I nodded my head the best I could, my eyes transfixed on his horrible tie he wore that had caught my attention soon after they refocused. His voice was rather pleasant and made me relax a little bit more.

  “How are his vitals?” I felt hands checking my pulse. A bright light shone in my eyes that made me wince. A beeping came from next to the bed and some equipment that must have been monitoring me was visible but remained blurry. My pulse was steady. A calm image rolled across the screen. There was a pause in the room. I closed my eyes to rest.

  “They seem strong, Doctor. I’ll go get his doctor, and I want to make su…”

  “No need, I am here, stand aside,” another male voice commanded as it approached. I felt the other presence move aside. I heard this new voice enter the room and footsteps approach. A hand on my chin, rather firm, lifted my head slightly. I opened my eyes and saw an older man, mid-fifties by his look. Graying hair blotted his head and dark brown eyes. He was clean-shaven despite his horrible haircut, or lack thereof.

  “Dieter, I am Doctor Cooper your attending physician. How do you feel?” He turned to the monitor and looked at the nurse. “His vitals are good, this is remarkable. How long has he been awake?” A bright light shined in my eyes. I winced again and blinked a few times to try to shrug off the intruding light.

  “Minutes,” the nurse responded. “He just awoke. I can’t believe how strong his vitals are now because a minute ago he flat lined.” She tried to whisper the last word into his ear, but I caught it.

  “Did he now?” the new doctor said. “Well young man, you are truly a wonder.” He turned to the nurse. “Get him some food and monitor him. Something simple. We don’t want to shock his system. I would advise taking it easy for now. You’ll have some questions for us soon I imagine. We will have someone speak to you in a bit and tell you what has been going on once we are sure you are stable.”

  Words came to my lips. “Ok…can I get some water?”

  “Sure…Eryn will you?” He nodded as he moved over the grab the chart off the end of my bed and waved another man out of the room that had been at my side moments earlier. He attempted to whisper and I was surprised that I could hear his voice so clearly. “Try not to tell him too much up front unless he shows signs he can handle it. This is truly amazing.” The hushed tones continued as they exited the room and a glass of water with a straw arrived held by the beautiful nurse. I took a draw off the straw and swallowed. A small wince hit my face for it even hurt to swallow.

  “Easy now,” she said with a smile. I managed to smile in return as my head slowly dropped back. Six years. It was not fathomable. My eyes locked on the nurse’s for a few seconds before they closed. “I’ll get you some food. The mac and cheese is really good and should be soft enough.”

  “Ok,” I responded, not knowing if eating was possible though it sounded good. Pondering how long it had been was hard. My entire body hurt. Any small movements racked me with pain because of my efforts. I decided against moving for now and closed my eyes again. What the hell was happening?

  The next few hours passed in a blur. When asleep, my dreams were the better part of horrific. Shadow-like creatures ran around me in a field somewhere. The smell was disgusting and indescribable. My body was in some strange position...one that could not have been comfortable. It was like what you would see when someone’s body lay broken on the ground. Things were not right with this pose. Several times I sat up ready to scream but was too weak to do so. I paid dearly for my sudden exit from the dreams. Pain racked me each time.

  Several nurses paid me many visits. On several occasions, they jumped more than I did when my exodus from a dream was sudden and startling. A few laughed...but the others felt very threatened or timid near me to start with. It added to my growing confusion.

  The pretty one came back only once. That was disappointing. Something about her drew me in. Something felt like a magnet. It was not just because of her beauty. Something about her made me curious why deep in her gaze there was so much sadness behind the smile. She did not speak on this occasion, only jotted quickly on my chart and left.

  I could get used to looking at her.

  Movement caught my eye. They were back...the little bastards. The shadows flitted across the walls and around the room. They moved so fast I could not track them. Like waving a flashlight on a wall, they flowed over top one another. My body tensed up and the heart monitor went nuts. God it hurt to move. What in the world was happening?

  Into the room burst several nurses, the pretty one, and the not so pretty one. I was already swatting my hand in front of my face. The biting was new. I was trying to knock these shadow figures off my arms and legs to no avail. I could not move fast enough. "Get them off me...please! Help!"

  Strong arms grabbed hold of me. Pressing me to the bed firmly, their nails felt like little teeth in the mouths of these creatures. I screamed and thrashed about trying to get away. In they came. The nurses helped me down. A large one slowly crawled up my chest. His eyes burned with hatred. Spittle ran down his chin onto the sheet, scorching holes as each drop landed. It opened its mouth wide and leaned in. I screamed.

  Light exploded into my eyes. The door to the room flew open. More nurses flooded in. My lungs wanted to explode from the panic attack I was suffering. What was real? Where did reality start? I cannot take this. My head felt like it was erupting out of my ears. A gentle hand touched my forehead. Warmth began to spread through the tumultuous waves of fear that held my mind captive only moments before. The light that had felt like it was searing my mind was an ambient glow from the closed blinds mixed with the dimly illuminated light next to the door.

  The only shadow I saw was backlit by a radiant light. It felt like I gazed upon an angel for just a moment when the light dimmed and my favorite nurse's face came into focus. It was her hand upon my brow gently stroking my hair back.

  "I am having such horrible dreams. They are so real it feels like I am losing my mind. Then just when I wake up, the shadows come at me. I can't take this anymore."

  "You are safe," she whispered. "I have you. The doctor is on his way. He will be here in just a moment."

  I wept quietly. Slow tears started a journey they did not finish. For each time one crossed my cheek and was about to roll off, her hand tenderly wiped it away. Several moments passed. Her soothing gestures were the only thing I felt or heard. Silence blocked out every sound in the room. I did not even notice the others had left. She sat there for some time while the bustle of nurses and doctors came and went. My eyes never left her. She gazed
at me while her hand caressed my face.

  I fell asleep.

  XVIII

  Darkness

  “Dieter, my name is Dr. Price. I am the onsite psychologist. The staff and I have been monitoring you for years now. You have a condition that none of us knows quite how to explain, but there are theories.” He paused for a moment to flip through some files in a large box. I could tell he lost his train of thought...or perhaps did not have a cohesive one.

  Okay, that was a scary start!

  “How are you feeling?” the pretty nurse asked, pressing the balloon as the blood pressure sleeve tightened on my arm. I looked at the cuff, at her, and back at the cuff.

  Feeling? I thought. How am I feeling? The walls of the sanitized room looked pale. There is an I.V. embedded into my upper arm. A monitor of some kind intermittently beeps while I try to sleep. A half-eaten sandwich and a plastic cup of green Jell-O, and a cup of ice chips that I attempted to eat just before the doctor arrived taunted me. There were other machines with numbers and displays. More tubes. My lower back throbbed, and the pillow under my head felt stiff. The nurse finished another round of vitals and left, not taking the time to repeat the question. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes.

  I was so grateful to her for the tenderness earlier. My lips could not even muster a smile, but my eyes did manage a squint at her that probably looked like a drunken attempt at a wink. The last few hours had been touch and go on my sanity. Without her there, my chance of survival would have been severely diminished I felt. The door closed behind her. My mind drifted.