Yes, it's been a long, long time...School is great but it takes up so much time that I haven't had chance to even think about writing this. A lot of things have changed but I'm happy, so I don't care. I'm not making any sense either, I think...my mind stopped functioning half an hour ago...but it's only temporary. Anyways, I'm supposed to be going to the thanks section now, aren't I? Okay, here goes! Many thanks to Susan, Mags and Jason for the friendship and emails and whatnot. Also to Marcus and Kenny, you two are the weirdest! And that's a compliment! To my best friend David L.Z, I wouldn't be who I am if it weren't for you...are ya feelin' bad yet? ;) To David C., thanks for the support when I really needed it (though the other David was there more often, but I don't hold that against you). To the love of my life, David L.Z. again...can't stop thinking of you, thinking about you, thinking for you...heh ;) And of course thanks(?) to Neto for pestering, nagging, badgering, harrying, yelling, complaining and basically begging for this next chapter to be out. Now please stop! It's out already! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This story contains homosexual content and should not be read by anyone under the age of 18. Also, this story does not imply anything about the sexualities of anyone from Nsync, Westlife, Backstreet Boys, a1 or any other celebrity mentioned here. I do not know them and their characteristics. This also does not imply anything about any other people mentioned in this story. Their names and descriptions are there but that doesn't mean that their characteristics are the same in real life. And none of them possess any special powers of any sort and this is totally fiction! And now you may read this next chapter! Happy reading!
For David L.Z. (Was there any doubt?) ______________________________________________________________________________ |The Daemon Gate - Chapter Six|
"Rematch?" Estel asked, confused. "There was a fight?"
"Yeah, Charmaine's a traitor!" Peter yelled. "She loosed our plans to the malenti and got you guys captured. She's probably shocked that you're all free and alive and she's not showing it!"
"You call yourself a psychic?" Charmaine said coldly. "Ask Estel whether what I did was treachery!"
The room began to burst fresh with arguments flying everywhere, neither side hearing, only speaking. Estel looked around the room and raised his hands in frustration.
"QUIET!!!!!" he yelled. The room fell into silence. He looked at everyone in the room and pointed at Lalaith.
"Tell me what happened," he said, trusting his sister to be impartial since she was thousands of years older than the others, and much wiser.
"We waited for you to return and when you didn't, we went in to save you," Lalaith explained. She pointed at Leo and David. "We saw the two over there carrying you away and assumed they were working for the malenti. He fought both Peter and Justin at the same time and won, and left. He must have assumed that we were malenti workers."
"I did not assume anything," Leo said. "The malenti presence was thick in that room, emanating from your group. It surrounded everyone in your group except that guy over there."
"Brian," Brian said. "Go on."
"Okay," Leo said. "It surrounded everyone except Brian. Usually we can tell who it originates from, but this time it was so strong that we had to assume that all of you were working for the malenti. We left the room empty of all psychic imprints except for our names, which the malenti know and hate. This is not the first time we've fought them."
"Interesting," Estel said. "What type of magic did you use to do that?"
Mark punched Estel in the arm. "Keep to the subject."
"Is the malenti presence still here?" Shadow asked. "You may have felt it because a large group of malenti came not long after you left."
"It's still here," Tara, a fair, slim girl with golden brown hair and cat eyes, spoke. "But it may just be psychic leftovers. It's not as strong."
"Right," Justin said sarcastically. "You can't tell and you still wanted to fight us?"
"You attacked first," David said. "We defended ourselves."
"STOP!" Estel shouted. "We will NOT have another argument with each other anymore, clear?"
"Why should we trust them?" Peter asked caustically. "They have great powers, greater than mine. How do we know that they're not daemons themselves?"
"Maybe we made a mistake in coming here," Charmaine said. "Since they can so obviously take care of themselves, they don't need us."
"That's right," Leo said. "They don't need us... we're just some piddling weaklings that they can't even defeat in fair combat. Let's go."
"Wait," Brian said, stopping them. "Don't go. We do need all the help we can get."
"You speak for yourself, I'm certain," Jason, a tall blonde with a muscular build and a British accent said. "The Celtic Conjurers help only where they are fully wanted."
"Conjurers?" Estel and Lalaith said at the same time, looking at each other. The same thought raced through their minds.
"Could you help us with a little problem that we have?" Lalaith asked. "It seems that three of our friends here were in jail recently for a crime they didn't commit."
"How can we help with that?" Kenny asked. "We're not policemen."
"No, but you're conjurers," Lalaith said. "You know about summoning spirits."
"Yeah," Kevin said, catching on. "Maybe you could help us solve what happened to the summoner that died, what killed him, where it is now, what it does to kill, and maybe how to stop it as well."
"Then you can clear our names," Neto said excitedly.
"Yeah! Right now, we're sorta like jailbreaks," Paul said, grinning. "Could you help us?"
The Celtic Conjurers looked at each other. They talked amongst themselves for a while and then turned back to Estel's group.
"No problem," they said at the same time. Paul, Kevin and Neto grinned happily.
"What in the world is that smell?!" Sidney, a guy with long black hair tied in a ponytail and a demeanor that reminded Estel strongly of a kender, exclaimed. He took another deep breath. "That smells just like Leo and David after a long night of..."
He was cut short by Jason clapping his hand over Sidney's mouth. Leo and David blushed bright hues of red. Charmaine, Kenny and Marcus sniggered into their hands. Lalaith suddenly noticed that Denny and Nick were blushing furiously as well.
"What's going on?" Joey asked confused. He took a deep breath and instantly recognised the smell. "Oh my goodness."
Everyone in the room who had not understood what the fuss was about sniffed the air. It was filled with a scent familiar to all the guys. Lalaith looked at Denny and Nick, fire in her eyes.
"You did THIS?!" she shrieked. "IN MY ROOM?! ON MY BED?!?!?!"
"I am not here, I am not here, I am not here," Nick chanted to himself with his eyes closed.
"OUT!!! EVERYBODY OUT OF MY ROOM!!! SHOO! SCAT!! SCRAM!!!!!" Lalaith screamed at the top of her breath. She picked up a hairbrush from her dresser and flung it at Nick. "OUT!!!"
The room cleared in three seconds. Lalaith sat on her floor angrily, Brian trying to comfort her.
"Now I'm going to have to wash everything," Lalaith growled. Brian grinned sheepishly.
"At least you know they were having fun while we were gone," he joked. Lalaith narrowed her eyes on Brian. Brian winced. "It's not like the room would have smelt any different from this after we were through, right?"
"AARRRGGHHH!!!" Lalaith shouted. Brian fled the room and ducked a swift-flying hairdryer.
"Looks like Sidney opened his mouth too wide again, huh?" Veron whispered to Lydia, who nodded heartily in agreement.
"He's a kender of a guy, isn't he?" Estel looked at the guys who were at Nirnaeth Arnodied.
"Definately," Lance, Kevin, Nick, Joey, Justin and Brian agreed. "Most definately."
"Do you have any idea of what can happen now that the Celtic Conjurers have joined up with the sithi force?" the Boss screamed at her people. "Of course not, you're all too dumb!"
"We didn't expect it to happen," a young malenta. "You can't blame us."
"FOOL!" the Boss shouted, pointing her finger at the cocky youth who turned into a pile of dust. "You were supposed to sacrifice the sitha and his companions to the daemons and make it look like the Wiccans did it! Now they have joined forces, we don't stand a chance!"
"Maybe we do," a female malenta carefully offered. The Boss looked at her inquisitively.
"Go on," the Boss said.
"Well, as you know, a dabbling human summoner who botched his ritual was killed yesterday," the malenta said. "At first glance, it seemed that his circle of protection prevented anyone from entering to rescue him, but that was not the case."
"Then whatever he summoned kept everyone out until he was dead," the Boss caught on. "Then what happened?"
"It seems that the entity entered the body of the summoner because the summoner was reportedly alive in the ambulance, though he was dead when the paramedics came. The humans passed it off as human error," the malenta explained. "The entity is now loose in the human world. If it killed the summoner like that, it is most likely evil and not to mention powerful, and we may be able to enlist its help."
"Finally!" the Boss exclaimed. "It seems one of you actually has a brain in her head! Do we know what the spirit's name is?"
Ian wandered through the air, floating freely. She was not sure which apartment it was, so she floated slowly to every floor and every house. Finally she spotted the one with a police barrier outside. She walked through the barrier and the door and looked at the center of the room. She could see the dried blood on the floor where the summoner had been killed. Slowly she floated down, resting a few inches above the floor. She looked at a nearby wall and began to scry, unafraid that anyone coming in would see her. She was already relaxed enough for her astral projection that she had no problem beginning the scrying exercise.
<What happened here?> She asked softly, scrying at the wall to see what had happened. She waited for a while, examining the pictures flashing quickly on and off the wall. Though she heard no sounds from the pictures, she managed to get a good description of the entity that had attacked the poor summoner.
<Ariel?> Ian turned to see who had called her. Jason floated into the room.
<Seraph!> Ian greeted him. <What are you doing here?>
<I'm supposed to check out what items that guy used in his summoning,> Jason explained. <Maybe figure out what sort of entity he summoned. Maybe has some clues to its name, too.>
<I'm getting a description of the spirit,> Ian said. <It may not help us much since most spirits aren't photographed, but at least we'll know what we're up against.>
<Good thinking,> Jason said.
<Not really,> Ian muttered. <The spirit is loose in the world and may come back here. I don't want to fight that spirit on the astral world.>
<That powerful?> Jason asked. Ian nodded her head slowly.
<Hurry, we'll both take notes and descriptions,> Ian said. <We'll hopefully be more accurate and leave before the entity comes back. If the entity required some certain implement to be summoned, it may be back to get the astral remnants of it, and I don't want to be here when it does.>
Jason nodded, taking note of the layout of the conjuration. He sniggered a little, trying to contain his laughter.
<What's so funny?> Ian asked.
<Considering that we conjure spirits and work with them, this conjuration layout basically sucks,> Jason chortled. <I mean, come on...what person summons spirits into the cirlce with them?>
<This one apparently,> Ian observed. <How did he summon the spirit without a sigil, though?>
Jason stopped laughing and peered curiously at the circle the summoner was in. There was no sigil on the floor to summon the spirit at all.
<Seraph?> Ian's scared voice said above him. Jason floated up to where she was and followed her finger.
<Brighid help us,> Jason said, seeing the weird formation of the blood. He realised that the sigil was carved lightly onto the floor and that the summoner's blood had filled it like a drain. The sigil could be seen clearly from their overhead view.
<You know what the entity is now?> Ian asked. Jason nodded slowly, his eyes wide.
<I'm quite certain,> he said. <I've seen it before and if I'm right, we're all in big, big, big trouble.>
"Dagda!" Leo exclaimed. "Are you sure?"
David gave a slow whistle, shaking his head slowly. He looked at Ian and Jason again, then at the piece of paper they had drawn the sigil on. He had recognised the sigil immediately, and he had named the entity. Leo looked at David uncertainly. He knew that David was not kidding, and that fact sent shivers down his spine. David was able to laugh at almost any situation and yet remain serious throughout, a trait that both attracted and infuriated Leo. For David to not make a practical joke about the issue was cause enough for Leo to begin to worry.
"We're in huge trouble," Leo shook his head.
Nick was the only person at the hideout when Leo, David, Ian and Jason arrived. He was lounging on the couch, relaxing and eating potato chips. He explained that the rest had all gone off to do different errands, some of them shopping and sight-seeing (after all, Nick explained, quoting Peter, "What's the use of coming to fight what may be our last battle in a foreign country if you don't get to see the sights before you die?").
"So what's the news?" Nick asked. "Should I be taking notes?"
"If you want," David said absently. "Just tell Estel that we've identified the spirit."
"Okay, cool," Nick said. "Maybe I can tell Estel what its name is or something so you don't have to come back later. We have to meet early tomorrow morning anyway, and maybe Estel can get some work done before you come. It saves everyone's time."
"Okay," Leo said cautiously, remembering how Kevin had described Nick as someone confused easily by too much information. "Just tell Estel that Ghaunadar is on the loose."
Nick choked and blinked his eyes rapidly, dropping his bag of chips. He looked Leo straight in the eyes. "Say that again?"
"Ghaunadar is on the loose," Leo said, taken aback by Nick's strange behaviour. David, Jason and Ian exchanged glances. Nick's shoulders dropped. His stomach felt terrible, as though he had eaten too much (which he probably had, but that was not the reason for his nausea).
"Oh my God," he finally managed to say. "We're dead."
"You've heard of Ghaunadar?" Jason asked.
"Hello! I used to be a necromancer," Nick exclaimed. "Of course I know who Ghaunadar is! Damn! One of the oldest and most powerful evils in the world, more powerful than six billion mages put together!"
"Err...six billion?" David asked slowly. Nick rolled his eyes.
"Okay, so I was exaggerating a little. But I still think six thousand mages is still a high number," Nick said sheepishly. "Even my teacher feared to speak its name more than three times for fear of accidently summoning the creature."
"No worries of that," Leo said. "That's an impossible happening."
"Considering the power of Ghaunadar, I don't really want to put that to the test," Nick said. "Call it superstition or whatever you want, I call in plain fear. And fear is something not easily ignored."
The Boss stared at the billowing, bulbous, sickly-green, phlegm-like creature, barely containing a gasp of fear. She steadied her gaze at Ghaunadar and cleared her throat.
"Will you help us?" The Boss asked the demon with as much force as she could muster after she explained the situation to the demon.
"What's in it for me?" Ghaunadar croaked.
"What do you wish for?" The Boss asked, hoping it was not an impossible task.
"I only have one request," Ghaunadar said in its croaking voice. "The followers of the Celtic ways are mine to kill. The Celts imprisoned me and those who follow the ancient path of the Celts will suffer for it."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yes I know it's not very long, but that's all I could think of to write at this time... anyways, I still haven't heard a thing from anyone at all! I need feedback, please! Email me at ensstyenlc@hotmail.com You may save a life... ;p