Chapter Seven

She found herself walking in some strange land with nothing to see except the desert and her bare bleeding feet. She suddenly felt afraid without the company of Vince, who right now was probably having the time of his life with his newfound sister. Mykella was happy for him but right now she felt a strange sensation of isolation.

Why am I walking like I have no control over my own legs?

But she went with absolutely no idea where she was going. She entered a village and she peeked in the large tents as she passed them. It seemed as if the tenants either didn’t see her or else they were ignoring her. They were dark skinned, these men and women she saw, some wearing turbans of different colors.

And then she found herself leaving the village behind her as she entered the desert once again. She looked down at her bleeding and aching feet. How much blood can a spirit lose before it’s gone forever?

On and on she went. It could have been hours; she didn’t have any idea of time. She saw a tiny spec of something on the horizon – a city. As she drew closer she saw that it was a monster of a city with high buildings and statues of gods and emperors.

But when she came within a mile or so she felt a different calling sending her ethereal spirit off to the west.

“Something’s happening.” Vince was pacing back and forth nervously in the guest bedroom while Mykella watched.

“What? What do you think is happening?”

Still pacing, he shook his head. “I don’t know. It feels like something coming closer to us – something big.”

She didn’t tell him of her journey. This was a puzzle unto itself. “You look scared,” she said.

This caused Vince to stop in his tracks and he glared at her. “Let me tell you something: I’m in college – I’m no warrior. I say to you that I promised my mother that I would protect you, but I don’t personally want to die. Yes, I’m scared.” He plopped down on the bed and sighed.

Mykella paused for a moment and then sat down next to him and looked him straight in his eyes. “Then teach me to be a warrior. I’m the one who’s supposed to be protecting mankind, right?”

Vince just stared at her. He did not smile or shake his head. If he only knew when this battle he had witnessed would take place, he could put his mind at ease. But with the inevitable looming at the front door, he would not let his mind ease up any. Sister or no sister, he had to train Mykella. Now. But how?

For the past ten years he had grown a passion for his hatred toward Orion and he had thus planned ways to exact a malicious revenge. What better way to do this than finding the book and opening the Forbidden Realms before Orion?

Allen watched the flickering stars through the broken window and wondered where the book was and why it was so important. Was the key to Eden somewhere within the pages? There are ways to find out, he knew, but they would require him to return to the coldness of a hell he had been trying to forget.

If Orion is truly dead and gone then this trip back would be without conflict. And right now that is what Allen needed.

He wondered once if the chamber would still be there, but then he would answer himself with “as long as there’s time, the place will remain.”

Allen stood and walked out of the attic to the first floor. As he made his way toward the basement door he passed several pictures of Rick and Vince. He stopped and picked up a picture of a tired-looking Rick holding Vince no more than a year old. At first, he caught himself smiling at the picture; and then the rage erupted. He threw the picture across the room and the frame shattered when it hit the wall.

Allen crossed over to the broken picture and glanced down. Ah, there was a picture hiding behind Rick-holding-baby. Curious, he bent down, picked it up, wiped off the glass and felt feelings he thought he had long forgotten resurface.

He looked down and saw Tracy Kingston, Rick Hopman, Steve, Laura Kingston, Vincent, Britney, and himself staring up at him – the Lungland children. The picture was taken just before the slaughter began. There may not have been a slaughter had Tracy not had the gift of the Dream Crusader. She led her friends to the slaughter.

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Allen closed his eyes and let the picture fall from his fingers. “Rest in peace, my friends.”

When he opened his eyes he saw the basement door, opened it, and then walked down into the damp and cold dwelling. He found the old furnace; it was an old coal furnace with double doors which had been later replaced by an electric model and positioned at the other end of the basement. He ignored the newer furnace and walked over to the old one.

He opened the door with a loud scream of needing oil and he peered inside the blackness. He closed his eyes and pictured the place he wanted to go and then stepped into the furnace.

When he opened his eyes he saw that he no longer sat in a dingy furnace. He was standing inside a chamber of rocks. The power he felt in this chamber was enormous. Whatever powers Orion may have had at one time did not make this room. The Time Chamber was created by far more powerful Oracles.

The Oracles.

He watched as the squares of time swirled around his head. He watched many of them but nothing he saw about the book. “There’s gotta be something that Orion missed.” He studied the pictures more closely but was having no luck.

“There has to be something here about the book!” He didn’t mean to yell, for fear of pissing off the Oracles, but it must have done the trick.

He watched as every square of time overlapped one another like a deck of cards and a single square shot out of the deck and swung into first place. What he saw only mildly shocked him (nothing these days shocks him anymore).

“Take this. And Brother Judas, make it so no one shall find the key.”

“Amen, I say to you, Messiah. It will be done.”

* * *

She had been weeping now for some time and she didn’t even realize that she had the capacity to shed tears. When she agreed to become a guardian she thought that she would be giving every emotion to the dead. But no. She had fears just as she did when she was at war with the Dreamkillers. In fact, she was more scared now than when she faced Orion in the flesh.

For some strange reason hidden to Tracy, the Oracles were showing Allen everything he needed to know about the book, except the precise location of the key. She knew that the location of the key was hidden somewhere in the book. She didn’t know where it was either, but she had a pretty good idea and she would never reveal it to her son. They threw forth riddles of sand and wood and that was pretty much it.

Although she could not witness the scene taking place, she could feel it and it was the fear of Allen moving closer to the key of the Forbidden Realms that made her weep. He wasn’t after the book anymore; he was going straight for the key. Humanity was that much closer to annihilation.

Vince had replayed the horrific battle he had witnessed. In his mind’s eye he saw the hooded thing rip the head of a soldier right off the rest of his body. Who this person was he didn’t know, but he knew that it was this thing he had to protect Mykella from.

“It’d be easier to show you how to wield a sword if it’s that kind of war, but we’ll have to make due.” Vince looked around for any kind of weapon to train her with but since this was his sister’s house, he didn’t think she would have anything but maybe some sharp kitchen knives.

“I don’t think it’ll be that kind of war. But all you need to do is close your eyes and picture you with a sword,” she said and crossed the room toward the window.

Vince shook his head with a sigh but closed his eyes nonetheless. He calmed his mind and when he opened them once again he saw a long blade lying on the bed – its steel reflecting off the light above them. Bewildered, he turned to Mykella. “How’d you know – how’d I do that?”

She was grinning from ear to ear. He would have fallen madly in love with her beautiful face had she not been his best friend’s daughter. “In this reality, anything can happen just using your mind. I’m surprised you didn’t know that – being a Dream Research major.”

He lifted his finger at her. “First, I thought you didn’t know things like college and stuff. Besides, school doesn’t prepare you for everything, my dear.” He lifted the sword (it was heavier than he had expected – there was no way she’d be able to swing it around).

Vince was still holding it, staring at the hilt thinking, and Mykella took it upon herself to walk over to him and snatch the sword from his grasp. He stumbled to the floor when she took it and when he looked up his mouth fell open. She was not merely swinging the sword around; she was swinging it above her head and swinging it around her entire body.

Vince sat on the floor watching Mykella’s moves and felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach. Yes, he thought, she is our protector. There is no weapon she could not learn in several seconds, he knew. Why she was chosen and by whom she was chosen he did not know but they must have known what kind of person she would become. A tear fell from his eye at the thought of her fate. He wished she would not have to fight for humanity. He wished he did not have to tell Samantha that her daughter is to become our warrior.

When Mykella stopped, sweating with her long hair clinging to her neck and forehead, she looked down at Vince and tossed the blade down to him. “What’s wrong?” she asked and knelt down in front of him.

“You already have what it takes,” he said and then looked into her young face. “I don’t know why my mother wanted me to protect you when it is you who will be protecting all of us.”

“Maybe,” she began and then sat next to him. “Maybe she thought I might need a friend.”

He turned to her, silent for a moment, and then wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave it a small squeeze.