12
Janet paced inside her office looking at her watch. She saw people enter Draken headquarters. Criminals from the topside and eternals from the undercity. Officers walked from desk to desk speaking to each other, all wearing the Draken uniform of black and red helmets, all carrying vibrium swords. A sword that had magical properties to subdue the toughest beings from the undercity. It was made of silver metal, blessed, and was enchanted. She could smell the ash from her tray, she had been waiting for thirty minutes for Nick, waiting for him to move his ass...I keep telling that boy not to stick himself in our work, but he keeps doing it, that little shit. She didn’t think Nick was a bad person at all, he reminded her of his father Lucuris. Strong-willed, stubborn to the bone, and a goofball when needed to cut the tension. She just wished he would stay out of their work, especially after the awakening. It was a more dangerous world, with many unknowns, even after the years of everything being revealed. There was still so much the humans of their world didn’t know. She looked at a picture on her desk of Nick's father and mother, both posing with the rest of their class, simpler times. One day that kid is gonna get himself killed getting himself into bullshit he’s not supposed to be in. She thought.
There was a knock on the door. “Finally. Come in Martinez,” she said leaning against her desk, crossing her arms, staring at the door.
“You wanted to see me JJ?” Nick said closing the door behind him.
She ran her hand through her long dark brown hair.“First, stop calling me JJ, it’s Janet. Second, why didn’t you get back to me more quickly? You knew I needed to talk to you. How about next time just pick up your god damn phone,” she said to him grabbing her jacket from the chair and putting it on. It was leather and had a cross pinned to one sleeve. People who met her would tell her that she always wore a jacket and they didn’t understand why, even in the summer. She always told them it made her feel comfortable, made her feel more whole by having one on. Course she was hot during the summer wearing it, but she didn’t like people starring at her or asking her about the scars on her arms. She didn’t like to talk about them, not yet, and probably not ever.
“I meant to get back to you sooner. I got a friend that is waiting outside, but I’m sure Bran told you about the dead aerion?” Nick said scratching his forearm.
A dead aerion.Poor thing. Job use to be much easier than it is now before the eternals showed up. There is more tension with people, more violence, and just a whole lot more paperwork and politics from the big shits upstairs. She often wondered if what she did was making a difference in the world. With everything that had changed, she felt much smaller and more unsure on how to deal with crimes when it came to everything. Course she handled it better than the other officers of the Draken police. She at least cared about what happened to them, listening to them, and just seeing who they were. A lot of times people assume the eternals were guilty right away. She tried to see the best in people, but even she knew many humans were just the biggest pieces of shit. Just another cog in this new wheel, call my name and I’ll come running, scream my name and I’ll come swinging. She thought.
“Tell me what you know. I don’t need you to try and play sly dog today, ain’t got time for that bullshit,” she said walking over to the window and closing the blinds. She went to one of her drawers and took out her cell phone and pressed the record button and set it down. She wondered if Nick would be telling her everything that he knew when it came to the aerion. She hated to admit it, but she admired Nick a bit when it came to him being so stubborn, just a small bit. Not afraid to shake the basket, not afraid of people hating what he did, more fearless, like his dad was. He did have his weaknesses though. He couldn’t fight worth an ass, and he was anxious as all fuck, but she still loved him like a son, and always tried to be there for him. It made her smile a bit sometimes bringing up fond memories of his father and his head first think later mentality. He never thought about the outcome, good or bad, he just wanted to do what was right. She thought.
“So the aerion was killed, but didn’t die by any natural cause? What I got from others was it was because they were assassinated by a will wisp,” Nick said walking to her desk, sitting down, and then planting his feet on it leaning back. Janet's office was like any other office. cramped, small, and had the clean smell that just stuck with you even after you left. She liked to keep it well kept, and even had a sofa next to one of the windows where she would sleep when working late into the night.
“Will Wisp are spirits that have always been on this plane of living. I have only read about them, but they really shouldn’t be doing this sort of attack on people. Even after the awakening, they were supposed to move to the undercity. The rules were we had the top, and the eternals had the undercity. They are going against the spirit king. Are they trying to piss him off?” she said scratching the top of her head. The will wisp to her were some of the most dangerous spirits that she read about if you pissed them off good enough. Entering their homes without permission. Fucking up their family pictures and just being a pain in the ass with them. They had no memory of being a human and just went on the thought of who they use to be. Some were kind and gentle spirits who were more annoying and silly, but others thought of revenge and anger, which kept them in constant limbo. She would never want to let herself ever become one of those spirits. “These spirits if they stay and get out of hand they could be dangerous to people topside, lets hope that it was just the one.”
“The rules seem to not matter right now. Whoever was behind the death of the aerion wanted to get attention...It seems more and more that whoever was behind the murder wants to piss off the spirit king and everyone in topside. I would have liked them for that if they didn’t kill someone to get their point across, there’s better ways to let god upstairs know you don’t give a fuck about them,” Nick said rubbing his hands together.
“Why would they want to anger the spirit king? God would find out about it, and do everything to make their death an endless void of pain and suffering until they were nothing but a shell,” she said, her eyes starring at her pistol that was embedded with the holy power from God themselves. She remembered when her weapon was implanted with the holy power. It was a few days after the awakening and the world changed for her and everyone forever. Her mother would tell her stories about god. The stories her mother would paint were about this being who cared for anyone and everyone, who loved people as their children. She knew all the stories were not so good and happy, but she saw God as a being that loved everyone no matter who they were. She was chosen, she and a few others were to be a sort of guardian force that was on the topside. The guardians went to their cities to protect their people. The responsibility of being a guardian was more of a Draken, they had to be better. She knew with power that she held close to her had to be used wisely and not just for selfish reasons. To not just have that kind of power and freely do what she wanted with it. She rarely used it because to kill meant to smite someone no matter who, and the last thing she wanted to do was to have people fear her more than they already do. The spirit king isn’t as nice and thoughtful as God. The spirit king is more ruthless, strict, and very cold. She thought.
“I’m not sure, maybe whoever it was that sent the will wisp had a long-lasting grudge. They could have known the aerion personally and took them out, maybe an ex-lover, or a deal that went bad,” He took out a magic vial from his coat pocket to show to Janet. “That’s not all. The aerion had this magical dust on them. I found out from Jenni that aerions and others would go to the undercity for some fun. Guess they aren’t so holy after all.”
Janet took the vial from his hands and tried to examine it. “This doesn’t look like any magic or drugs that I have dealt with. I mean it could be, but it looks strange,” she said placing the vial on her desk. She tapped her fingers trying to understand what was going on, but she couldn’t take her mind off of the dead aerion in her city. When she found out about the death she treated it liked all the rest,
but in the pit of her stomach, it made her feel sick. Thinking as a girl heading to church with her mom, starring at the images of angels and the holy light. It was like someone was spitting on her belief, her faith.
“I know Mary thinks it comes from the land of the light, but I have to think Cameron was right too, that Lucidian had to have something like it. I just don’t know why it would leave his realm, but she thinks it comes from the first sacrifice, it couldn’t come from two places though,” Nick said pressing his hands into his face shaking his head.
Lucidian, that devil. What the hell would he be trying to do? I knew he had anger towards his family and was upset over his banishment, but it’s been thousands of years. Why would he do something like this now? She never met the devil, but she knew from other people, and her upbringing when it came to the temptations of his realm. It must be one of the games that he is playing. She thought. “You think he’s planning something?”
“Planning something? I’m not sure, to be honest. My only other thought is someone probably escaped from Lucidians realm, and he doesn’t know his magic left with them. Maybe someone came from the land of the light and wanted to blow off some steam, maybe another aerion killed them,” He said picking at his scalp.
“Either way it looks bad, and either way it’s going to piss off the spirit king,” Janet said grabbing her wallet and badge from inside her desk and zipping up her jacket.
Nick started cracking a smile. “I don’t know I can only think for myself. If I was this overlord who had this reputation of people never leaving hell once they left it wouldn’t bother me if a few bugs got under the cracks. Maybe it’s always been that way. People coming back from the spirit realm, being reborn and still doing harm to others, and falling into temptation. It’s an endless, violent cycle. We always see hell in what we think it is, but honestly, I’m not sure. You see all the fucked up stuff that happens in our world, maybe we are the endless hell.”
“Let's go. I got someone that I want you to meet,” Janet said grabbing her car keys.
“Wait, where do you want us to go?”He said getting up abruptly.
“We need to see ember, she lives in a haunted house, but she talks to people who are dead and living. We need to get her to help us contact Lucidian and find out what the hell is going on,” she said grabbing the vial of magic. She knew what the unknown did to her, it made her fearful, uneasy, but it also made her curious. She didn’t care who died, she was going to find out who did the crime to serve justice and to be the voice for the voiceless.
13
Nick and Janet walked into the house Ember’s. He saw a sign hanging on one of the walls. Spider webs and dust were almost everywhere that could be seen. There were vases with heads of different creatures like strogoli, vorpal, undead, gargoyle, fishers, and a few others. “It seems that no one is home in The House of Mystery and Folly,” he said staring at the sign. “Maybe we came at a bad time. I have never been in a shop that had strogoli hanging around, literally. I heard stories about how they hunted farmers in rural areas.”
“She is here somewhere. We just gotta find where she is at. People like her are rare in our world, able to be in the same plane and also a different one from a different earth,” Janet said walking towards the kitchen slowly as the lights flickered.
It smelled like rotten meat and spoiled fruit as they entered the kitchen. He saw a woman at a large table with her head inside a bowl.“Hey lady, you doing okay?” he said walking towards her slowly. Man, I hope she is not dead. She looks kind of dead. Was not expecting carrying a dead body out of a creepy house to be the highlight of my day. He always hated going up to strangers randomly without them being aware. Maybe we should just come back later. He thought. He smelled spoiled milk that had been out for what seemed like days. There were spell books, spices, and potions spread on the table.
“Hey, who said you can wake me up? Why do people insist on waking me up? I was able to sleep without these spirits waking me up every damn minute. Who thought it was good to wake Ember Moon,” she said sitting up abruptly. Her wet hair and the eyeballs and lips from the bowl covered her face almost fully. “You know how hard it is to get these spirits to shut up for just a minute?”
“Girl, you need to be more aware of your surroundings. You damn near scared us half to death,” Janet said cleaning off Ember's face.
“How about you try dealing with these spirits all your life. Mom and dad would call me crazy, oh look at her off her rocks again. At least now I can tell them all the time how wrong they were, then again they never leave me alone so it’s a double-edged sword. I was just fine before this man came up and woke me. I was having a nice dream about that red-headed guy door to you,” Ember said smiling and closing her eyes.
“You mean Mark? Little Marky Marky who I babysat when he was younger? You do know he’s still in his thirties, and you are in your fifties?”
“Please, age is just a number, no need to get so defensive. Plus I ran into him before, a sweet guy has nice soft lips and just the most beautiful eyes. I’m gonna get him one day,” Ember said winking at Janet. “Oh don’t you worry I’m not going to break him, and I'm not going to send him on a weird trip like the last guy I dated.”
Ember stopped talking and stared at Nick. She had tawny skin, yellowish-brown, and eyes the color like calla lilies. Her black boots with straps came up to her knees, and her vest was black with copper color at the edges. There were black feathers that fluttered her wrist, and shoulders, and the face of annoyance.
“Hey, are you a witch?” he said grabbing the Magical vial from Janet's pocket and pointing it towards Ember.
For generations magic was something that was hidden in the human world. People would say that it was just a wives tale, superstition, or just something else to call someone not all there. But those people were idiots, magic just hid well. They were just people that were looked down on because of being different. They made it such a crime to be something that went against the norm, it was taboo. To many, it was, especially adults that were bust living their life chasing dead men on paper. Who could say no to variety? Unless you have a sad and pathetic life. The thing that got Nick a lot of times growing up was, the way people saw the dead. Some saw them as capsules of time, as wisdom to draw from, but many didn’t. People would mourn them when they passed on, but they wouldn’t listen to them, to their teachings. All humanity would do was repeat the same mistakes, and the generation after always paid the price and tried to clean it up, it was a cycle.
“What the hell did you just call me boy?” Ember said grabbing a butter knife from her drawer and pointing it at Nick, her eyes wide open ready to strike. “You think you can just come into my home, and accuse me of being someone I’m not, who do you think you are?”
“Hold it, girl, let's calm down a bit. He didn’t mean that,” Janet said putting her hand around Embers and grabbing the butter knife. “Now apologize to her. We don’t have time for this.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean anything by it, didn’t mean to judge. Can you please help us with this magic in this vial?” Nick asked rubbing the back of his neck. “It is magic that’s from Lucidians realm. Well, we think it’s from his realm, it could be from the land of the light.”
“Lucidians realm now that’s a place I don’t hear that often. Oh, that does spark my interest. I encounter many magic properties, but never any from his realm. Finding stuff from there is taboo, and most of the time people that have it end up disappearing,” Ember said snatching the vial from Nick. “Come on let's leave this dusty room and go somewhere more fitting. Can’t keep the devil waiting, got to awaken him and let him know what’s up.”
The devil went by many names. He didn’t understand why Lucidian, and not the plenty other names people knew him by. Ember snapped her fingers and a purple mist appeared in front of her. They all stepped through the purple mist leaving the wails of the dead behind begging for mercy and asking for help. The cries rang through the house for the firs
t time the magic keeping them silent was not in their realm.
14
The three of them reappeared in a giant room filled with glass windows, and black furniture throughout the room that was the size of a small house. It was a dining room located in a different dimension. Outside snow was falling and the ocean could be seen from a small distance as the house sat on top of a mountain. The windows were large, thick, and showed the outside view of trees planted inside the sky. They pointed towards the ocean as if the ground was up and the sky was down.
“Okay, that was a first, what just happened just now? We walked into the mist and where are we? Holy crap, trees coming from the clouds, water as black as tar. What is all this?” Nick said starring out the window. He walked around the room examining the paintings of the seven deadly sins. This is kind of creepy, just seeing these images makes me hope to never encounter them. He heard stories from his father about people who had these traits and how they would become one of these creatures. I would not want to encounter anyone that looked like any of them. Just thinking, the hold they can have on people, the damage that they do, is something that would keep me up at night. What are they waiting for? Why do they hide in the shadows? what is keeping them from destroying all of the human race? He thought.
The God Breaker's Ruin Page 8