The Chaos
Portal
By Graham
Winegarden
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Graham sat in his room at the Brownstone on Queen st. It was raining hard and he
could hear it pelting against the French doors that lead out to his balcony. He
let the book he was reading slide down into his lap and looked out the doors
just as a flash of lighting light up the sky. It was not a night that any one
should be out and about on. Picking up his book again he could not believe when
he heard the doorbell. Knowing someone was down stairs and that it was not
likely for him he went back to his reading.
He had just about figured out the intricate movements to an
invisibility spell when there came a knock on his
door. He did not rise, but just said,
“Come
in.” There standing in the door was a woman he knew well. Susan had been at the
restaurant where all this weirdness had started. She was of average height with
brown hair and big brown eyes. Speaking of big she is also very pregnant at the
moment. She says, in her very sexy french accent,
“You
have a visitor,” at first Graham had not seen the man in the hall. He was also
of average height with obsidian black hair and beard, but the most noticeable
feature was his piercing blue eyes. He walked past Susan and said,
“Thank
you, it was kind of you to show me the way.” Then he
did something strange, he touched her stomach where the baby is and said, “He
will be a very important man in the world.” He then closed the door and left
Susan standing there with a very confused expression on her face.
The man walked over to Graham and extended a well weathered hand
with a great deal of confidence. He said,
“My
name is Francis Evant and I am a member of the
Knights of Malta. I have come looking for your teacher, Jackabor
Jabberwalkie.” Graham took the mans hand, he had a
good strong grip and Graham decided he liked this man, so he said,
“Jackabor is not here and I do not know when he will be
back.” The man looked distressed at hearing that and pulled a chair up across
from Graham. Sitting down he looked at the book Graham had been reading and
said,
“Oh
my, we did not realize you were so far along in the arts. The invisibility
spell is of the third magnitude.” Graham nodded, and could see Francis was
thinking.
He came to some sort of conclusion and said,
“We
have found out that a scroll with a very powerful spell called the Chaos Portal
is somewhere in the Toronto area. If who ever has this spell activates it,
well, the world will not be a very nice place to be anymore. We wanted Jackabor to get the scroll and destroy it safely, but since
he can not be found maybe you could find it and keep it safe until his return.”
Graham thought about it for a second then quickly nodded his head. Francis told
him all they knew about the scroll. It had been found in a very unusual temple
in China and was eventually stolen and smuggled out of China. It went up for
auction on the black market and collected a record selling price, 50 million US
dollars. It was delivered by a courier who we lost track of until she was on
her way back home. That is why we think it is some where in the Toronto area, she flew out of here to go home. After telling all the
information he had to Graham, Francis left. Graham just sat there listening to
the rain and thinking about everything he had just heard.
* * *
The next morning Graham sat down in the kitchen with Jennifer,
Susan and a big cup of coffee. He explained what Francis had said. They worked
out what a person or Organization would need to have gotten their hands on the
scroll. Then they also figured who would want to use the spell. Then the two
women went to the communications room and sat at their computers. Graham
finishes his coffee and then pours another for his drive. He leaves the
Brownstone and goes to a warehouse in Markham. Walking in he
goes to a very intricate pattern drawn on the floor. The pattern covers a good
twenty foot radius, but the most interesting thing is a round hole about 8' in
diameter floating about 3" off the floor. Looking at it dead on it looks
like a pool of liquid mercury. Then looking at it from about 90 degrees all you
can see is a molecule thin line in the air.
Graham stands in front of the circle and says,
“Buttercup,
it is me Graham, can I come in.” A musical female voice comes out of the pool
and says,
“Graham, yes, of course.” Graham walked into the silver pool and
disappears. There was a moment of blinding white light and then he steps out
into the most beautiful garden in the whole Multi-universe. Graham was
assaulted by all the colors and the different fragrances to the point where he
was almost dizzy. Then he noticed the woman standing in the middle of the
garden. In her hand was a silver tool for pulling out weeds, which reflected
the light almost as much as the silver hair on the woman’s head, or the light
reflecting off of her crystal eyes. She moved to put her hair behind her ear
which were pointed, and she said,
“Graham
it is so good to see you again, will you stay for lunch with me?” Graham smiled
because the only thing Buttercup did better then cook was her garden, so he
said,
“Yes,
but I really need to get in touch with Jackabor. It
has to do with something called The Chaos Portal.” It was the first time Graham
had ever seen a look of fear or any other emotion besides happiness on her
face. He quickly said,
“You
know what it is, and I guess it is as dangerous as I have been lead to
believe.”
“Dangerous,
that is an understatement. I can not think of anything more dangerous. I think
lunch will have to wait, you must tell me all you know.” Graham did just that,
but it was not much. Then he asked,
“Can
you get in touch with Jackabor?” She shook her head
no, and said,
“You
have to give this all your attention. If that spell is cast it could mean the
end to this dimension.” Graham thought about Buttercups words and even more her
reaction, then he quickly said his good-byes.
He quickly made his way back to the Brownstone and to Jen and Sue.
He said,
“This
thing has just taken on a whole new importance. We should have a meeting to let
the others know.” Sue gave him a look that said oh no, then she said,
“The
only ones here are Dave and Denise,” so Graham went to get them. The five of
them sat down and Graham filled everyone in on what he knew and then Jen took
the floor. She said,
“We
have three perspective groups. The first is a Multinational investment group.
It is called the Chaos Group. The President is a recluse named Vlad Rankovist, and not much is
known about him. He is very rich and very powerful, it
seems his enemies just seem to disappear. They have their international
headquarters down on Bay st. The next is a really
weird group, The Church of Independent Thought. They have suspected ties with
the One Church. The group is controlled by a large black man who does not seem
to have a past, and is only called The Minister. He has been said to have
displayed some pretty unusual powers. It has been suggested he might be a
Voodoo Priest. Then there is a third group, but it is very low on our likely
hood list. It is a Wizzer street gang called The
Lords of Chaos. Their leader might just think he is meant to release chaos onto
this world.
Then David said,
“It
looks like we do not have much time, so I think we should split up.” Denise
nodded and said,
“I
am familiar with a lot of religious groups, so why don’t I take The Church.”
Dave gave her a nod and a smile and then said,
“I
will check my street connections, on The Lords Of
Chaos.” Then he and Denise looked at Graham, who said,
“Ok
ok, I will check out the suites at the investment
group.” Susan smiled knowing Graham was not going to enjoy that, and said,
“Jen
and I will hold down the fort and see if we can find out anything else, about
these or any other groups.” Then they all went there separate ways.
Dave at once hit the streets and started talking to all the people
he knew who were in the know when it came to the subculture of magic. Most of
the people who really knew, where afraid when David told them what he was
looking for, but no one knew anything. Dave figured he had better go and see
Lazy Snake, his was his last resort, because he was
almost sure Lazy Snake was crazy. Dave found him down by the board walk near
Woodbine pool. He was sitting in the crook of an old tree. You see Lazy Snake
thinks of himself as a modern day Druid. Dave saw the man in the tree, with his
dirty face and wild hair. He was wearing an old dirty rob of some kind, and a
pair of Nike
sandals. Dave smiled and said,
“Hi
Lazy Snake, how is everything going?” Lazy Snake looked down at him with a
blank stare and said in a voice that was not his and might not have even been
human.
“The
Balance is in the process of moving and I see you are involved. Are you an
agent of Law or Chaos?” Dave looked at Lazy Snake and for once thought maybe he
was real, but then again Dave had already been asking around, so maybe he knew
why he was there. Dave said,
“My
friends and I are trying to keep the Balance. I like thinks the way they are
right now, Just weird enough to keep me busy, but not to weird to drive me
crazy.” Lazy Snake smiled and he seemed to come back to reality. He said,
“David
you always make me laugh.” Then he took on a more
serious note and said,
“So
what can I do for you?”
“I
need to know who has the Chaos Scroll.”
Snake froze for a moment then said,
“So
that is it. What is the Chaos Scroll doing here?” Dave said,
“Someone
bought it and we think they might use it.”
“No
you don’t understand. They have been banned from this plane, because man was
thought to be to corrupt and that he would be tempted.”
“Well
it looks like they were right, but who is this they you speak of?” Snake smiled
and said,
“You
have met them. In the Multi-universe they are called The Trio of the Balance.
Some say they are a force for good, while others call them the scourge of their
dimensions. The first is an archer and woodsman, Falconrune,
a Tamborlanian Archer, probably one of the best in
the Multi-universe. He is the Law scale. Then there is the thief, amongst other
things, Flash, a wood elf. He is the scale of Chaos. While
the third is a magic user of incredible power, Jackabor
Jabberwalkie. He is the Balance between the
two.” Dave was stunned, because the people Snake was talking about were all
regulars at the pub they owned. He had just had a drink with the three of them
just a couple of days ago. He turned his face up to Snake again and said,
“Are
you sure?”
His expression changed to show his annoyance at being questioned,
and he said,
“YES.”
“Ok
ok, don’t go getting grumpy. It always rains.” They
both smiled again and Dave said,
“So Snake, who has the Scroll?”
“Who
did you say the potentials are again?”
“There
is a Bat St. investment group, called The Chaos Group. Then there is The Church
of Independent Thought, and that is one strange group. The last and the most
unlikely is The Lords of Chaos, a street gang.” Snake smiled and almost
laughed, he said,
“It
is not The Lords of Chaos. They do not have the resources and there leader does
not have the power to activate the scroll. I know this for a fact because he
came to me to teach him. I said no because are philosophies did not mesh.”
Snake organized his thoughts for a moment then continued,
“The
Chaos Group has a lot of Mystical power around it, but that does not mean they
are magically adept. They could just have a lot of extra-dimensional creatures
working there. They might think about using it but I don’t think so. There are
much easier ways for them to increase their power. Your other prospect would be my first chose.
The Church of Independent Thought is associated with the One Church, and we all
know what those Devil worshipers want. The Minster who leads the Church of
Independent Thought is also into Diabolisism. He has
more blood on his hands then all the recorded serial killers put together.”
Dave took in all that Snake had said in silence and after a moment to digest it
all he said,
“Thanks
Snake, and by the way nice shoes.” Then he walked back
to his truck.” David now knew what he had already suspected. The Lords of Chaos
where a waist of time, but which of the other two had the scroll. He mull that over on his way back to the Brownstone.
* * *
Graham had gone to their pub up in Markham to think things over.
How was he going to infiltrate an international investment firm.
He opened up his laptop and started to research The Chaos Group. He had just
pulled up a bio. on Vlad Rankovist when a shadow fell across his screen, and a
female voice said,
“What
would you like?” Graham answered without even looking up, he said,
“The usual,” and kept on reading. He sensed the person was
still standing there, so he looked up, and right into a pair of eyes that were
as much gold as they were brown. They were mesmerizing and for a minute Graham
was completely lost in them. There was an unusual knowledge hidden in those
eyes and also a good deal of mischief. Graham at once found himself liking her.
He said,
“Hello,
and who are you?” She smiled and the mischief came out even more, then she said
in a diffused Greek accent,
“My
name is Katrina and I am your waitress, not your personal psychic.” Graham
smiled and said,
“Sorry
about that I thought I knew everyone who worked here,
or at least that they knew me.”
“Well
not everyone, at least not yet,” and her mischievousness surrounded her like a
divine aura. Graham smiled and said,
“I
am Graham and I come here a lot. It is nice to meet you Katrina,” and he put
out his hand to shake. She grabbed it firmly and professionally. Graham noticed
an unusual tatoo on her thumb, he said
“Interesting tatoo, the symbol of chaos
if I am not mistaken?” She was taken aback but hid it well, then said,
“If
you say so, an old boyfriend gave it to me.” She paused, for a moment then
continued, “So what can I get for you?”
“A pint of Carlsberg Light.” She walked away and Graham could not help but
watch. She had shoulder length black hair with white streaks in it. She was
wearing a black silk dress that some how was not quite see through, with a
unique zig zag cut on the
bottom. Coming out of the bottom of the dress were two long shapely legs in
black fish net stockings. These flowed down into two patten
leather pumps with stiletto heels tipped in silver. Graham took a deep breath
and thought wow.
When he had finished two pints and read everything he could find
on Vlad Rankovist, Katrina
came over and said,
“You
have been at this for hours, what are you doing?” Graham looked up at her and
said,
“I
am checking out a company I am thinking of investing in.”
“Is
that how you make your living?” Graham just nodded, so she continued, “Do you
make a good living at it?” Graham smiled this time and nodded yes. So she
asked,
“What
company are you looking into?”
“A
company called, The Chaos Group. They are an investment company.”
“So
what do you think should I invest in it?”
“Well
it defiantly makes money, but it invests in some pretty morally shaky things.”
“Not
for me,” and she turned and walked away.
Graham watched again as she walked away from him, she had a body
that could cause men to drive up a telephone pole. Getting back to his computer
he pulled up the blueprints for the Chaos Groups head office on Bay Street. It
took him two more pints but he figured out a way in. He left and headed back to
the Brownstone. There he collected some gear and told Jennifer and Susan what he
was going to do. Then leaving the office he headed downtown. Parking he walked
around the building and everything looked as it did in the blueprints, so he
made his way to an air intake grid.
Once in the intake duct he cast a levitation spell and moved up to
floor twenty. The duct moved into the building at this point. He put on some
infer red glasses and saw the lasers that cris
crossed the duct. The pulled out an apparatus with two mirrors on either end
and set it up to reflect the lasers back at their sensors. It took him awhile
but he eventually got through the lasers. This lead
him up to an office which had some heat sensors in it. He case
another spell this time it was a telekinetic spell. He used it to turn up the
thermostat in the room, now all he had to do was wait until it reached body
temperature. When it was hot enough he moved into the room, it was as hot as a
sauna, but as long as he took it easy he would be alright. The first thing he
did was to look for secret rooms. He found one and opened it up, but found it
was only a bar. Looking through it he found some bottled water and drank one
down. There was an unusual looking decanter on the bar with a red liquid in it.
He poured a little of the liquid out into a glass. Graham swirled it around and
could not believe what he saw, it was blood. Thinking for a second he could not
believe what he had done. He had walked right into a Vampires lair.
He moved quickly back towards the vent he had entered the room
through, when all of a sudden the door burst open. He turned to see Vlad Rankovist standing there
with s smile on his face and large red glowing eyes. Vlad
saw the glass on the bar and walked over to it. Picking it up he empted it in
one gulp, then he filled it again. He turned to Graham and said,
“Oh
good so you understand, that makes things so much easier.” He then moved to his
desk and sat down. He motioned Graham to a seat in front of the desk. Graham
said,
“Do
you mind if I get another water and turn down the heat
first?” Vlad smiled and said,
“You
know where everything is.” Graham got another water
and turned down the heat, then made his way to the indicated seat.
Vlad looked Graham up and down
and said,
“Can
you think of any reason I should not just kill you and have you for an early
dinner?” Then a voice that Graham knew all to well
from it telling him he had done something wrong again said,
“Probably
not but I can.” Then he materialized right beside Graham. Graham looked up and
said,
“Hi
Jackabor,” then he noticed tow others with him. The
first was an elf that he had met a couple of time before. His name was Flash
and he was a very skilled magic user himself as well as a skilled warrior and
an accomplished thief. The other was a human with long blond hair and a very
fit body, he was wearing fatigues and had a very
powerful looking bow, with a notch arrow, in his hand. Vlad
all of a sudden did not look so happy with himself. He especially did not like
the look of an arrow pointed right at his heart. He said,
“Well
I see you have me at a disadvantage, but since things have been civil so far I
hope they can stay that way.” Graham looked up at Jackabor
and he gave him a nodded to continue. Graham said,
“I
think that will completely depend on your answers to my questions. Do you have The
Chaos Portal scroll?” Vlad looked shocked and said,
“I
am dead, not stupid. That could destroy the whole dimension. Personally I like
things the way there are.” Jackabor looked at him and
said,
“And
how is that, you as the wolf and all of them as the sheep?”
“Well
yes if you must put it that way.” At that Flash rushed forward and pulled his
sword. Jackabor put his hand out to stop him but
never took his eyes off of Vlad. Jackabor
said,
“My
friend here comes from a realm that was once full of life. Now it is a realm of
the undead, so you can imagine how he feels about undead. So I am only going to
ask you this once. What do you know about the Chaos Portal Scroll?” Vlad looked at Flash and noticed the closer his sword got
the brighter it grew. Jackabor said,
“Oh
did I forget to tell you he has a Soul Eater And it
just loves undead.” Vlad pushed back from the desk
and said,
“Keep
that thing away from me.”
“Maybe,
tell me what I want to know.”
“Ok,
I did hear about a scroll that went for about 50 million, but I did not know
what spell was on it.”
“So
who bought it?”
“It
was someone from the One Church. As soon as I heard that I backed off.” The
words had barley left his lips when in a blinding move Flash’s sword went right
through his chest and into the chair behind him.
Graham could not believe what he saw next. Waves of misty red
energy flowed up the sword as if it were a straw and
someone was drinking through it. Graham said,
“Did
you have to kill him?” Flash had a crazed look on his face and he yelled back at
Graham with such force it almost knocked him out of his chair.
“Where
do you think that blood came from?” Then he pulled his sword out of it’s chest and they watched it turn to dust.
* * *
Denise had not done anything, she was
looking over some disturbing articles on the Internet. It seems there had been
a rather conclusive study done by the Harvard Medical School that Psychic
powers do exist. This concerned her because she did not think people were open
minded enough to accept these findings yet. She put it up where everyone got
back to the Brownstone. They sat down in the conference room and Graham
introduced Jackabor, Flash and Falconrune
to the rest of the group. Graham explained that they were all immortals and
that they traveled the dimensions helping people. Graham’s friends had many
questions but Jackabor said,
“I
would love to sit with you all and answer all your questions, but we have to
find The Chaos Scroll. It is so dangerous that you can not even imagine.”
Graham then explained what they had found out at the Chaos Group and when he
was done Jackabor said,
“What
ever were you thinking confronting someone who might have had the Chaos
Scroll?”
“Well
you were not around and it sounded like the Scroll was dangerous.” Jackabor nodded that Graham was right and said,
“You
are right. If more people took responsibility like that there would be less of
a need for us to travel and help others. You did right and thank what ever gods
no one got hurt.” At that the whole group took a second to give thanks. Then
they looked to Dave to find out what he had found out, so he told his story of
the day.
When he was done Denise stood up and said,
“I
have not delved into my group as much as any of you, but I was not a total
slacker. The Minster as he is known is a very unusual individual. A friend of
mine at the Hoffman Institute told me that The Church of Independent Thought is
defiantly connected to the One Church. For those of you who do not know about the
One Church it is an international organization that worships evil gods or
demons and practices human sacrifice. That is where The Minister got his
training in Magic. They have been trying to shut The Minster down for years but
each time he escapes and usually gets all his
congregation killed in the process. My contact did not know if The Minister had
the Scroll, but he is the most skilled of all there spell casters.” Graham
said,
“How
did you get all that information out of the Hoffman?” She smiled and said,
“They
owed me a favor. I have helped them out in the past. They consider my talent
very valuable.” Dave explained to Jackabor and the
others that Denise is Psychic, she has Telepathy as
well as a few other talents.
Falconrune then said,
“That
is just what we need. You and I should go and see The Minster, then you can
read his mind and maybe we can find out where the Scroll is.” Denise looked at Falconrune with his sun bleached blond hair that framed his
chiseled face. This all sat on top of a lethal looking lanky body. She said,
“Ok,
we can go to church and see what The Minster is thinking.” They get Falconrune some more suitable clothes and then off they go.
Arriving at the church they are in luck, The Minister is going to give a sermon
in about 45 minutes. They used the time to wonder around the church and check
it out. The building was beautiful and from the decorations anyone could see
that a lot of money had gone into it. After they had walked around for about 40
minutes and young boy walked around and told everyone to take a seat.
The Minister comes to the podium, he is a large black man with a
commanding presents. He is bald and must weight in the neighborhood of 250
lbs., but it is not his physical aspect that dominates the room. He had an aura
about him and that seemed to be enough until he started his sermon. His voice
was hypnotic and the whole room seemed to be full of it’s
richness. Falconrune found he was becoming memorized
by it. He looked over at Denise and could not believe his eyes she was almost
laughing. He said,
“What
is so funny?”
“The
Minister, he is mentally undressing all the women and then imagining them in
different sex acts.” Falconrune laughed to himself,
then said,
“Maybe
we can use this to are advantage,” and the two of them
smiled. They made a plan to play the rich husband and the unsatisfied house
wife. After the sermon they both went up to talk to The Minister. Denise came
across as if she had a bad case of hero worship, she
also did a little flirtation. Falconrune after a
couple of minutes dragged her away from The Minister to add to the image they
wanted to present. Denise said,
“It
worked he was mentally undressing me and imagining some really kinky things. I
think I can get him alone and then find out where the Scroll is.”
“We
can talk about that back at the Brownstone,” and they left.
Back at the Brownstone they told everyone about what had happened.
Their plan was to let Denise go back and seduce The Minister. Then when they
were alone she could manipulate the conversation and find out where he has the
Scroll hidden. Once we know where it is we can go in and get it. The rest of
the group only had one problem with their plan and that was that Denise would
need some back up incase something went wrong. They decided that the best way
to keep her safe was to send someone in with her who was invisible. Flash
volunteered, Jackabor said it would be better if
Graham did it. Graham was shocked at the sudden acknowledgment of his
abilities, but he smiled and said,
“Thanks,
Denise and I can do this.” Then Graham and Denise set up a set of code word she
could use if she needed help, but they would probably not be needed because
Denise could have them carry on a conversation in there heads.
The next day they went to the church. Denise dressed as
provocative as she thought she could get away with. While Graham, invisible,
kept her is sight and himself out of the way. The
sermon was short and after most of the people were gone Denise made her move.
Graham moved to get closer but by the time he got up to them they were moving
into the back. Graham followed and almost got locked out. The Minister lead her to a large ornate office, that Graham just made it
into. Graham sat down on a chair in the corner and listened. Denise did not
waste time in manipulating the conversation. She wanted to get the information
as quickly as possible. She flattered him about his power and the power of
Chaos. After about a minute she sent Graham a message, ‘I got it, lets get out of here.’ She rose and said,
“Thank
you Minister, but I must go my husband will be home soon. I hope to see you
soon.” Then she walked to the door. It was so quick that Graham almost got left
behind. In her car Graham lets go of the invisibility
spell, and asks,
“So
where is it?”
“It
is up north at the churches retreat. It is in a safe room that he uses for his
magic.”
“Really, what kind of Magic?”
“I
don’t know but he does a lot of sacrifices and talks to demons.”
“Not
good, it sounds like he is into Diabolisism. That is
very powerful stuff.”
“This
might not be as easy as we thought,” said Denise, and she drove them to their
pub.
They walked in and at once Graham noticed that Katrina was not
there. He asked the bartender who said she was gone. He then handed Graham an
envelope and said,
“She
left this for you.” Graham opened it and read the note.
Graham;
Thanks, I don’t think I
could have killed him, but now I will never know. He was very evil so don’t
feel bad.
Katrina
President of The Chaos Group
Graham
smiled and thought so that was how he knew I was coming. Oh well can’t blame
her for wanting to get ahead, but I am going to watch that organization from
now on. Then he sat down with Denise and the rest of the group.
* * *
The afternoon at the pub had decided nothing except that they had
to go and look at the retreat. That afternoon Dave brought his big Suburban
around to the front of the Brownstone and they all piled in. They hit the road
and headed to the retreat. After about an hour on the road
Dave pulled into a Tim Horton’s Donuts, his favorite place in the whole world.
They all got out, grabbed a coffee, and found a place to sit. Dave pulled out a
map and started looking it over. After a minute he said,
“We
have about an hour and we should be at the closest town to the retreat. It’s a
little place called Havelock. We should be able to find a place to stay there.”
They all nodded their agreement and then got a round of coffee to go and were
back on the road. They made their way to Havelock and found a little motel to
stay in. The owner was very happy to let them have all the rooms they had left
and for five days to boot. It was to early to hit the
sack so they decided to go out and check the retreat. It was on about 100 acres
by a little lake called Round Lake. They drove around it as well as they could
and found it was mostly forested.
Finding a secluded spot to park, Dave opened the back of the
Suburban. Looking in even Denise and Graham were surprised to see how well
equipped Dave was. There were griandes of ever kind as
well as a good assortment of weapons. He opened another little compartment and
pulled out what looked like two digital video cameras. Dave handed one to Flash
and said,
“These
will detect almost any sort of security system going. Just look through the
view screen and anything out of the ordinary will show up.” Flash moved his
around and at once picked up the alarm on the truck. He said,
“This
is way Cool. Where did you get this?” Dave smiled and
said,
“I
made it with a little help from my friends.”
“You
know after this is over I think I could add a few other types of alarms to your
detector.”
“We
will talk,” said Dave.
Then everyone got a weapon and a few extra clips. Some also
grabbed other equipment, like night vision glasses and communication equipment.
Then they were ready to move out. Dave and Graham took the point, with Dave
looking for any alarms or traps. The rest of the group followed up about twenty
feet behind they. Flash had the second camera while
the rest of the group covered him. They had walked for about fifteen minutes
when Dave called a halt. He signaled Graham that there were two very large heat
sources in a clearing up ahead. The two of them moved on all fours to get a go
look at the clearing. It was that time of the day when the shadows were
starting to get long, but they could still see across the clearing. The only
problem was that there did not seem to be anything to see. Dave and Graham both
looked at the view finder again and sure enough, it indicated two large heat
sources about 30 feet in front of them. Dave was about to get up and
investigate, thinking it might be some sort of natural hot pocket, when Graham
pulled him back down. Graham then cast a spell on the camera and they looked
again. There they were, both over nine feet tall, covered with a heavy red
exoskeleton, and horns. The horns protruded from their forehead, arms and down
their spines. The horns were all black as were the two large tusks that came
out of the creatures lower jaw and curled up towards
it glowing green eyes. As Graham took all this in Dave was recoding it to show
the others.
After getting the images of the beasts they moved back to the
others. Dave played the images back on the camera for the others to see. Falconrune was the first to speak,
“Oh
no, those look like some pretty serious Guardian Demons.” Flash looked at him
and said,
“How
do you know about Guardian Demons?” Falconrune looked
a little hurt and said,
“I
have been around!” Denise gave him a coy little smile and said,
“Oh really.” Falconrune blushed and said,
“You
know what I mean!” They all laughed until Dave said,
“Quite,
you don’t want to have those Demon over here.”
They all quitted down and quickly moved back to the truck. Putting
away their gear Graham said,
“I
need a drink.” Jackabor smiled and said,
“That
is why he is my apprentice, lead on Mc Duff.” They went into town and ended up
at the Havelock hotel. It was not like there pub, but it still had a good party
feel to it. The hotel was a country and western bar. They drank and shot pool
with the locals. Eventually they got then talking about the churches retreat.
The locals did not seem to thrilled about the retreat
being in there area. It seems since the retreat opened there have
been a rash of weird incidents. One guy told them about two of his cows disappearing, there was just no trace of them.
Denise and Jackabor were sitting at a
table when Denise said,
“There
is a demon here somewhere. I can sense it, but I just can’t pinpoint it.”Jackabor looked around but could not see anything to
give away the demon. Then he did a few hand jesters and mumbled something under
his breath. He then looked around the bar again. He smiled as he turned to
Denise and said,
“You
see the good looking red head on the dance floor. Well she is radiating a whole
lot of magic.” Denise looked at her and focused her mind on the demon. Denise
smiled and said,
“Oh
yah, I got it.” Then she started to laugh. Jackabor with confusion all over
his face. She saw his face and said,
“The
Demon is not here for us. It seems it is gay and it is just looking for a
little love.” Now it was Jackabor’s turn to laugh and
he did so even louder and fulled bodied. Denise
looked at him a little confused and she asked,
“What
are you laughing about?”
“That
is the one that Flash said he was going to take back to the hotel and party the
night away with.” At that Denise started to laugh again. The two of them
ordered another drink and toasted to his success. The rest of the night was a
big party.
* * *
The next morning they all woke up a little later then they had
planned on. This was especially true for Flash, because Jackabor
had not told him about the gay demon until after they had been kissing on the
dance floor. After that Flash had spent the rest of the night washing his mouth
out with Tequila. Meeting in a small dinner that was part of the motel, they
all had breakfast. Most of them ate light, some because of the night before and
others because of the operation they were about to go on. While they ate they
planned their course of action at the retreat. They were to split up into two
groups, the first group, Denise, Falconrune and Flash
would cause a distraction when it was needed, and the others would go in and
get the scroll. When they had worked all they could they went back to where
they had parked the night before. Graham turned to Flash and said,
“Why
are we doing this during the day?”
“Most
demons are at their weakest during sun light hours. It is always best to take
advantage of such things.” They geared up with weapons and any other equipment
they thought they might need. Dave even pulled out some communication gear that
he said could not be listened in on. Then the two groups moved off to their
perspective areas. Graham, Jackabor and Dave moved
towards the compound. They quickly got to the spot where they had seen the two
demons the night before. They were not there and so the group started to move
across the opening. About half way across Graham signaled a stop and pointed to
a line of unusual green powder on the ground. Graham was about to step over it
when Jackabor stopped him. He said,
“That
line is some sort of magical ward. It could do anything but I would bet it is
to keep the demons from getting away.” He then stood up and stepped over it,
nothing happened. He was thinking when something came to him and he said,
“Oh no!” Graham looked at him and said,
“What
is it?”
“Well
I forgot one little thing. As far as this dimension is concerned I am a demon
as well.” He held out his hand and found there was an invisible wall there. The
more he pushed on it, the more it pushed back, until a certain point when an
electrical charge went through his arm. Dave said,
“What
was that?”
“That
is a ward, and it is a very strong one. It does not mean anything to you and
me, but Jackabor and the others can not come back
across it until who ever made it is dead, or gives there permission,” said
Graham.
“So what about us?”
“We
are probably safe because he would not want other people stumbling on to it.”
So they all crossed over and headed for the compound. After a second Jackabor said,
“We
have set off an alarm and there are demons on there way here. Run to wards the
compound and find a place to hide.” He then called Falconrune
and said,
“We
need you to come to the field where we saw the demons last night and be ready
for a fight.”
“Ok,”
said Falconrune. Then Jackabor
followed the other two.
Denise, Flash and Falconrune got to the
clearing and where making there way across when all of a sudden then two men
went flying through the air. When Denise looked back see saw the two demons
from the other night. She could not be sure but she thought they looked a lot
bigger and meaner. Denise had seen demons before and so was not frozen with fear, she picked one up with her telekinetic power and
through it into the other one. She heard their two heads come together and one
or both of them made a loud sound like a coconut being cracked open. Though that did not stop them from getting up and marching towards
her. She thought of using her powers to fly away, but that would leave
the other two vulnerable. She could not see them but she was sure they were
still down, after all these demons have a formidable set of claws on each hand.
She was still thinking about those claws when all of a sudden there were four
arrows sticking out of it’s neck. She turned to the
other and found it was engulfed in a set of bars that seemed to have come out
of the ground. Looking over the fallen demon she sees Flash and Falconrune and hears then arguing. Falconrune
says,
“What
are you doing, we can not compete when you don’t kill them.”
“Well
I am sorry I thought it might be interesting if we find out what is in the
house. Don’t give me that you are just showing off.”
“Don’t
be childish.”
“Oh
that is a good one you calling anyone childish. I am one a head.” Denise walked
over at this point and said,
“Boys
if you are finished.” They both looked a little embarrassed.
Denise turned to the demon and was about to ask him a question
then she turned back to the two men and said,
“Does
it understand us?”
“Yes
it would have to know at least one earth language or it would not be here.” She
turned back to the demon and in very refined English it said,
“As
a matter of fact I can speak 20 earth languages.”
“Well
isn’t that nice a cultured demon.” Falconrune pulled
her aside and said,
“Most
demon cultures are more advanced than earth. The concept of democracy came from
a demon dimension.” Denise was shocked and said,
“Are
you sure?” Both Flash and Falconrune
nodded yes, then Flash said,
“Most
demons are peace loving beings. The problem is they get pulled here against
there will, that is not to say there are not evil one, but most are just like
you or me. Remember by earth standards we are both demons.”
“Ok
so how do we play this then?” said Denise. Flash then stepped up to the demon
and said,
“I
will send you home if you tell us what we wont to
know, is it a deal.” The demon was quite for a moment then nodded yes. Flash
asked,
“How
many other demons does The Minister have here?”
“There
are two with The Minister at all times, and two more in his laboratory.” Flash
said,
“Jackabor should be able to handle that,” at hearing the
name his eyes widened and he said,
“Then
you must be.” Flash smiled and said,
“Yes
I see you have heard of us.”
“Yah,
you caused some major havoc in my dimension about fifty years ago. If I were
you I would not go back there, ever.” Falconrune
smile and said,
“Another satisfied customer.” Denise then clears her throat very loudly to
get every one back on track. Falconrune says
“Oh
yes, and how many human guards?”
“About
15 with weapons and about 5 spell casters.” Denise then forward all they had
found out to Dave. While Flash sent the demon back to his own
dimension.
* * *
Mean while Dave, Graham and Jackabor
were moving towards the main house. It was a huge modern looking mansion. Dave
thought, ‘The bad guys always have such great places.’ Making there way up to some lovely french
doors that opened up on to a veranda. Dave at once started checking for
alarms and found there were two separate ones. While he did that jackabor case a spell to see if there was any magic
present. He found that the doors glowed brighter then Chernobyl. Just as Dave
had finished with the first alarm Graham who had been keeping watch pulled him
off to the side. They watched as a figured walked through what looked like a
dinning room. When the guard was gone Dave went back to work and Jackabor went to work on the magic around the door. The two
of them seemed to finish at almost the same time.
Walking into the dinning room then quickly checked all the doors,
and found one that led out into a hall. They slowly checked out the rooms while
they avoided the guards. When they found The Ministers room he was in bed with
two very young girls. They had all heard what Denise had read in his mind and
so thought nothing of finding him this way. Graham pulled the two girls out of
the bed and tied them up While Dave held his gun on The Minister to keep him
quite. When the room was secure Dave said,
“Where
is the Scroll?” The Minister smiled and said,
“So
that is what you are after. Why should I give it to you?” Dave was a little
shocked at his composure, but said,
“So
we can destroy it, before it destroys this dimension.”
“Oh
yes I forgot no one can control the Chaos Portal. What do you take us for? The
portal will be controlled by a group of the most powerful spell casters on
earth.”
“Yes
I can see how that will work, a group of evil spell casters controlling
something that can destroy the whole dimension. Why do I not feel any better?”
said Dave.
“Do
you really think they are evil, well thank you I have tried to train them in my
likeness.” Graham then said,
“Why
don’t we just kill him and get it over with?” The Minister just laughed as he
looked into Graham’s eyes, and said,
“You
could not just kill me,” Then he looked at Dave and said,
“Neither
could you,” but then he looked at Jackabor and his
smile drained away. Jackabor said,
“Yes,
I think you realize what I can do to you, and it would be far worse then death.
Now if you would be so kind and show us where the Scroll is?” The Minister
said,
“Yes,
I will show you, but know this the One Church will hunt you to the ends of the
earth to get it back.” Jackabor laughed and said,
“They
can look and hunt all they want, for I know how to destroy it.” The Minister
exploded saying,
“Impossible,
it would take a deity of Law to destroy it.” Jackabor
smiled an almost evil little smile and said,
“Yes,
I know.”
At that moment the balcony doors burst open and six arrows blurred
as they flew past Jackabor’s head. He causally turned
to where the arrows went and saw, two demons who
looked like they had been turned into pin cushions. He turned back to The
Minister and said,
“You
are a really sick puppy.” The Minister shrugged and said,
“Different
strokes for different folks.” Graham and Dave caught on to what they were
talking about and in unison said,
“Oh,
that is gross.” Then Dave continued,
“It
was bad enough when I thought you were fooling around with little girls, but
demons morphed to look like little girls, that is really
sick.” Then he grabbed The Minister off of the bed and yelled,
“Ok,
show us where the scroll is.” The Minister stumbled as Dave threw him, he
grabbed at a statue and pulled down on the arm and a secret passage opened
behind it.
Jackabor was about to push The
Minister through the opening, but stopped and mumbled a few words that no one
could hear. He looked at the door then back at a shocked The Minister and said,
“What
is the spell?” The Minister looked shocked and said,
“Who
are you? No one can cast that spell with such ease.” Jackabor
reached up into the air and his hand came back with an extraordinarily crafted
foil made of what looked like glass and silver, and before anyone could move he
swiped it twice and there was a ‘J’ on The Ministers cheek. The Minister looked
into a reflective tray and saw the ‘J’ and almost fainted. He said,
“That
is not possible. You died over 3000 years ago.”
“Yes
I do hide my age well. Now what is that spell?”
“Oh
it is to protect the retreat incase a spell goes wrong.”
“Good
then dispel it.” The Minister could not hide his anger at being manipulated
then said,
“Well
it also protects my sheep from my Guardians.”
“And
you were going to tell us about them when?”
“It
was a small mistake. You see it does not effect me so
I don’t usually think about it.”
“Send
the demons home or I will kill them and say it was on your orders.” The
Minister went as pale as a black man could, But Jackabor
just continued,
“Then
I will send you to their dimension.” Graham did not think it was possible but
The Minister seemed to go even more pale and he asked
Flash in a whisper,
“What
will that do?”
“Demons
will not die here. At the point of death they are sent back to their own
dimension. They will remember everything that happened. It is also really
painful.”
The Minister made a couple of symbolic movements and mumbled
something under his breath. He said,
“It
is done.”
“Oh
good so when I dispel your ward nothing should happen, but if you didn’t there
will be two very pissed off demons standing there.” Then he moved his hands and
talked in a language that had been dead for over 2000 years. The Minister tried
to stop him but it was to late and as soon as Jackabor was finished Flash pushed The Minister into the
secret room. They all heard an inhuman scream of delight and then a scream of terror, that did come from a human throat. The group then
looked in through the door just in time to see the two demons dragging The
Minister through a portal. Then it closed behind them. Flash leaded over to him
and said,
“That
was nice of you to send them back home.” Jackabor
just shrugged and said,
“We
had no beefs with them. Now lets find that scroll.”
The group spread out and started to look, Dave and Denise where
together and they could not believe what they saw. It seems this was not only
his lab but a torture chamber as well. Denise brushed up against one, and at
once screamed out from all the residual psychic energy and the pain it was in.
She was just about to faint when Dave put an arm around her. The contact
brought her back to reality and she took a couple of deep breathes to calm her
nerves. When she was better she said,
“I
just touched it, and the negative psychic energy overwhelmed me. This things have been used way to much, we must destroy them.”
They continued looking around but no one had any luck finding the Scroll. Dave
was looking at two coffin like things and said,
“Well
at least he did not play favorites,” as he pointed to the two. The first was
human size and up against the wall, while the second was on the floor and
looked to be made for a demon. Flash was looking strangely at Dave and the
coffins. He said,
“What
is wrong with this area?” Everyone looked and finally Denise said,
“That
is the only human size device in the room.” They all moved to the coffin and
opened it up, it was a door to another room. This room
was The Ministers Lab. Looking around they found his spell book and spell
component. Then Falconrune said,
“I
think I have it.” They all moved to him and found a large scroll under a glass
case. Everyone checked out for traps and alarms, but they didn’t find any.
Flash lifted the cover and all of a sudden a swirling whirlpool of
color was there. He dropped the cover and it smashed, he said,
“What
is going on?” but no one had an answer. Jackabor went
to cast a spell and a flash of lighting came flying
out of the whirlpool and hit him right in the chest. Graham was there in a
split second, Jackabor whispered,
“Take
the scroll in my pocket and recite as loud as you can.” Then his eyes closed.
Graham grabbed the scroll and started reading it out loud. It was very hard to
get all the words just right especially since the whirlpool of light was
getting stronger. Graham kept fighting against the power of Chaos radiating
from the whirlpool. Just as he thought he was going to be thrown against the
wall a pure white light appeared above the whirlpool. It took a moment but a
face started to take shape in the white light. The face of a young man radiated
peace and serenity and slowly the white light seemed to block out the whirlpool
of color. It was still buffeting them, but it was lessening with each passing
moment. When the white light had totally dominated the whirlpool it began to
fade and in it’s place was the young man. He was dressed
in a toga with a Loral-leaf of gold in his reddish blond hair. He had a smile
that just made you feel safe and secure. When he spoke it gave an impression of
Justice. He said,
“I
see my old friend did not take the proper precautions. He has served the cause
of Law on more then one occasion so I guess the least I can do is bring him
back.” He then waved his hand over Jackabor and his
body was surrounded by a brilliant golden light. It raised
about a foot off the ground and his body went into spasms and after a second he
started to cough, and fell back to the ground. Jackabor
looked up and said,
“What’s
with dropping me?” The rest of the group laughed, except for Graham, Dave and
Denise. They could not believe what they had just seen,
he had been brought back from the dead. The creature of Law then left and they
all headed to nearest bar.
The End