The sounds of the engine rumbled in my ears as I stared at the open road. A twilight haze covered the sky. I had been driving for at least an hour before I realized that my gas tank was full. My car should have been running near empty, but I could only guess that Adathan had filled my tank back at the gas station. I never saw him do it, but he was an angel, so presumed that anything was possible.
The Book of Uriel was open on the seat beside me. I knew that my Plymouth had the ability to seek objects, but I had no idea how to activate the power. As I drove I continually glanced at the open book hoping that it would reveal some insight.
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[Item]
Name: Black Car
Abilities: Seeker, Sanctuary, Immunity
Seeker: Allows the driver to sense the direction of a desired object within Limbo.
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I tried a variety of measures to use my car's seeking ability.
I spoke a mix of words or commands like seek, token, find token, seek token, etc…, but nothing worked. Speaking to my car did nothing except make me feel stupid. Fiddling with my radio or pressing the cigarette lighter did nothing either. I even spent time trying to mentally connect with my vehicle as if I had some kind of telepathic link with it - I did not.
If I only had time to ask Adathan a few more questions I’m sure I’d be well on my way to finding my token. He had bravely defended me against two attacking creatures. I didn’t even have time to thank him before I left. I had definitely felt guilty driving away.
Limbo, the world outside was never changing. There was nothing except trees, empty fields, and the twilight sky. It had been this way since I first arrived in the realm. I felt like I was trapped in a bubble driving around in circles.
As I drove I started daydreaming about my life. I thought about the classes at University that I was missing. There was also my volunteering at the hospital. I’m sure professor Ishikaya was wondering where I was. He was my internal medicine professor and had become a mentor. Some of my friends would also be wondering where I went, especially my best friends Kate and Aisha.
It was then that I realized if I was dead then they’d know exactly what happened to me.
Did I have a funeral?
That felt weird to think about. All my friends, classmates, and my boyfriend gathered around my casket. My lifeless body inside. I wondered whether they buried or cremated me. I hadn’t left any will or last testament. Heck I didn't even talk to my boyfriend about what I wanted if I died. I mean, nobody my age ever expected to die. I was a young woman in my early twenties after all.
I began imagining what my funeral would have been like. I’m sure my boyfriend Craig would have held a ceremony. His family was rich and he would insist on paying for the funeral services. My best friends Kate and Aisha would definitely be there and would be crying.
Thunk!
Suddenly, I hit a pothole in the road.
The car swerved and I nearly lost control, but I managed to recover with tactical steering. I wasn’t expecting changes along the road and it caught me by surprise. This was the first time I’d encountered anything different while I was driving; even if it was just a pothole.
I looked back in the rearview mirror trying to see the pothole in the road, but I had already gone too far.
I rubbed my eyes, sat up straight, and attempted to stay more alert. Since I had left the Mega Mart the road hadn’t changed, but I was hopeful that things were going to be different.
Why had the road changed?
Had I done something different?
I started wondering if it had anything to do with my internal thoughts?
In the distance I could see something standing beside the road. I drove up to it and realized it was a stop sign.
So I stopped.
There was no intersection, so the stop sign didn’t make any sense. That wasn’t surprising to me as nothing made much sense in Limbo. I didn’t understand why there was a stop sign, but I was happy to see the red octagon.
Anything different was good.
I kept wondered if I had somehow unlocked my vehicles seeking ability.
Crash!
From out of nowhere a black crow slammed into my car's windshield.
I sank back into my seat in fright and instinctively hit the accelerator to speed up the car.
The impact of the bird was sudden and violent. The beak of the bird snapped like a twig as blood spattered all over the front window. The death throws of the bird rang in my ears as I drove faster and faster. One of the crow’s legs got caught in the arm of my windshield wiper and it started bouncing off the window. As it thrashed the crow scratched at the glass with its clawed feet.
I turned on the windshield wipers and the dying bird slipped over the roof of the car and fell to the ground. As I motored away the bent wings of the crow were lost behind me in the gloom.
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What the hell was that?
I sprayed fluid on the windshield attempting to wipe the blood clean. I could still see bird feathers stuck to the wiper blades. It was gross and unnerved me.
As I drove the view along the road continued to change. I started seeing hills in the distance, but they never seemed to get closer. The trees became more sparse and I started seeing large oaks hanging over the road. I came upon a small ravine that flowed beside the road for a while and eventually petered out. The twilight sky brightened to the point where it appeared like a dark overcast cloudy day.
Looking to the heavens I saw birds darting across the sky. The birds flew in murmuration as their flight patterns constantly changed. I watched them for a time until they eventually passed out of view.
I was freaked out about the crow for a time, but eventually went back to thinking about my own funeral. I had a hunch that my imagination had somehow triggered the change in scenery. So it only made sense for me to keep at it.
As I imagined my funeral the world around me continued to change.
I drove past a road sign that said 'Welcome to Mors Cemetery'. A large wrought iron fence bordered the area and I slowed down as the car approached the entrance. The gates were open. There were no other roads that I could see and I knew I didn’t want to go backwards, so I continued to drive ahead slowly.
The cemetery from my imagination was different from this place. There were old willow trees dangling across the entrance to the grounds. I could see two angelic statues on either side of the front gate. A large hill sloped upward before me leading to an exposed hilltop with dozens of ornate tombstones dotting the hillside. The cemetery plots varied in size, but most were large and made from light grey stone.
My curiosity got the best of me and I gawked at the various tombstones.
I could see names on the graves, but couldn’t make out the writing. The engravings were either faded or seemed to be written in a different language. Many of the larger stones had no names at all, but had elaborate symbols. The engravings were also strange and foreign to me. Some of them looked like flowers or numbers, but none of them made any sense. I was like an Egyptologist examining strange hieroglyphs for the first time.
The car continued to roll forward.
I drove past row after row of graves as the Plymouth climbed to the crest of the large hill. When I reached the summit I was awed by the site that lay before me. I put my car in park and stepped out to get a better look.
I scanned the vista as I held my hand above my eyes to shade out gloomy sky.
The cemetery stretched away in the distance for as far as my eyes could see. Sprawling fields of graves lay before me. The rolling hills were choked with tombstones intermingled with trees. I could see many types of graves from giant mausoleums to rows of smaller military style gravestones. When I turned to look behind me I saw the same thing. There were graves in all directions. I couldn’t even see the cemetery gates that I had driven through. I knew there was no chance that a cemetery of this size could exist in reality. The strangest part was that I could only see a single road winding its way through the graveyard.
I got back into my car and continued driving forward. After aimlessly driving for so long I hadn’t expected to be going through a cemetery.
Limbo was definitely a new experience.
Had I conjured up this place from my imagination?
I felt sure that my car was seeking what I was imagining, but had no idea how to control it.
Suddenly, I heard a horn echoing in the distance behind me. It sounded like a hunting horn, but I wasn’t sure as I’d never heard one in person before. As I turned to look out my open car window I saw a reddish light illuminating the roadway far behind me. I couldn’t make out exactly what it was as the distant trees were blocking my view. The light was moving very quickly in my direction. I looked down at the book and flipped over the page to see whether it had any information.
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[Infernal]
Name: Letum (Red Rider of War)
Points: 666
Power: 18
Type: Apocalyptic
Location: Limbo
Immunities: Angels, Demons, Physical Damage.
Abilities: Warmonger, Mass Slaughter, Raise Army, Gaze Attack.
Realm Effect : Charm Fiends, Cause Chaos, Spawn Apocalypse
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What was after me this time?
Fearing for my life I started driving my car down the winding cemetery road as fast as possible. Looking at the statistics of the infernal gave me a huge scare.
What the heck was an infernal!
The kerberus was deadly to me and according to my book was much weaker. If this thing had triple the points of the kerberus then my only option was to try and outrun it.
The hunting horn blared again. This time it sounded much closer.
I drove faster through the cemetery urging my car along.
The red glowing light appeared closer as I gazed into the rearview mirror. I saw what appeared to be three large hounds running towards me. They looked like enormous bullmastiffs, except they were colored dark red and had two sets of eyes. The dog’s tongues wagged crazily as they gained on me.
Something else was coming up behind the hounds, but I couldn’t make it out through the glaring red light.
My Plymouth skidded around a turn and then another. I nicked a tree as I oversteered through a series of ripples on the road. The car continued onward until I crested the top of a hill. From that vantage point I saw a bridge in the distance.
The bridge was broken!
A large section in the middle of the wooden bridge was missing. There were no other roads and it was impossible to drive on the cemetery grounds with all the tombstones. I noticed that the nearest side of the bridge was higher up than the far side.
A lunatic notion came to me. I wondered if I could jump the gap with my car!
I pressed down hard on the gas pedal and rocketed down the hillside. My mind swam with the possibilities of what I was about to do.
Was I crazy?
I had never done anything like this before and was definitely no stunt woman.
I didn’t know what was after me, but after two run-ins with monsters I didn’t want to find out.
This felt like my only option.
My Plymouth Satellite raced down the hill towards the severed bridge. As I mentally prepared to make my jump one of the hounds raced right up alongside my car. It was a massive beast and it ran stride for stride with my vehicle. Incredibly the hound was nearly the size of my car. Its tongue jangled loosely as it looked over at me. The double sets of eyes looked unearthly, but its appearance wasn’t as scary as the kerberus. It had a thin dark red coat of fur and powerful legs to propel it forward.
From behind I heard a loud whistle and the hound whined in response.
I was only about one hundred feet from my jump when the hound slammed into the car. It sunk its teeth into the left front tire and together we skidded to a dead stop only a few feet from the bridge.
Shaken inside the car by the sudden stop I briefly lost my senses. When I regained my focus I had to shield my eyes against the blinding red light. I looked outside my driver side window and saw a soldier sitting atop a red horse holding a flaming red lantern. He was dressed in plate mail armor and held a sword in his right hand.
He had a stern face, but was very handsome.
He whistled and the four hounds lined up beside him. Two on each side. He looked straight at me and seemed to recognize me.
“My apologies potentate, I did not recognize you in this vehicle,” he said.
I looked at him agape with astonishment. Too stunned to speak.
He sensed my dismay and said, ”It is I, Letum!”
Again, I said nothing as I was too frightened to say a word.
“Letum, red rider of war. The fourth horseman of the apocalypse!”