Okay, I'm back... after a 9 month break, I'm back! And to tell you how really forgetful I am, I came across this story in Nifty, thought it sounded familiar, and read it. I kept reading and reading, thinking there was something familiar about the story. Upon reaching chapter 13 of Chronicles, I finally got it into my thick skull to check who the author was. And what do you know... it was me!!! I felt so foolish... but as I was reading, there were so many things that I had written about, and yet forgot I wrote them. And while I was still in "clouded-mind" mode, I actually was thinking "Hey, some of these are actually funny." Imagine my foolishness after spending ages reading the chronicles off the net, and then finding out that it's actually my story... I feel foolish.
Other than that really embarrassing moment, reading the story over again helped a lot in clearing up my 9 month old mental block, and has prompted me to writing this story again. So now you have a new chapter to read, those of you who have been pestering me for it for a long time. It's finally out again, and moving forwards, and I'll hopefully be updating this once a week or so! For any newcomers, welcome. As a little bit of advice to all readers in general, if you've read this story a long time ago, re-reading the previous chapters will help refresh your memory a bit, and help keep you on track. Any comments and suggestion should be addressed to either ensstyenlc@hotmail.com or dylan@celticwarrior.com, though the celticwarrior address is most preferred since I check it everyday, and the hotmail one only once a week.
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! The Wiccans are movie Wiccans, meaning that their power is exaggerated (though I did use some real chants and spells) and the "harm none" rule is pretty much non-existent here. The only reason for them being Wiccan is to introduce priests of a different manner to the story, and new Gods and magick as well. Don't fry me for adding fictional gods from fantasy stories either. I couldn't keep to "real" Wicca because it would be silly to have mages that cast fireballs and Wiccans that can't do much. So take it with a pinch of salt and now you may read this next chapter! Happy reading!
|The Daemon Gate - Chapter Eight|
"So how do we get to this United Square place?" Chris asked.
"We take the bus, then the MRT," Kenny replied. "Not too long or too expensive. Congratulate Estel for picking Sengkang, they've got buses connecting to the North-South lines as well as the East-West lines."
"What's the MRT?" Chris asked again.
"Mass Rapid Transport," Kenny said. "Something like a train."
"How to get there?" Marcus asked. "We take 86 to Yishun, then the MRT to Toa Payoh?"
"Novena," Kenny corrected. "My mom works there."
Marcus closed his eyes for a moment. "Err, Ken... is there something you forgot?"
"Like what?" Kenny asked, leading the way to the bus stop. He paused. "Oh shit! Bus cards!"
"Bus cards?" AJ, Chris, Joey and Shadow exchanged glances.
"Yeah," Kenny explained. "We either pay cash which you guys don't have, or we use these blue cards with a cash value in them. We slot it into a machine on the bus, press the amount we're supposed to pay, then get our card back with a ticket, then we find a seat. We use that for the MRT too. How could I forget such a thing?!"
"Wait," Shadow said. "Estel said he took care of everything and he gave one of us the bus cards, didn't he? So which one of us has them?"
Everyone shook their heads slowly. Marcus shrugged, a blank look on his face. Kenny slapped his palms on his forehead. "Shit! Why of all people did he give the tickets to Marcus?!"
"But I don't have it!" Marcus retorted, looking blank and surprised. Then his face turned as red as a tomato which seemed to reflect off his golden red-brown dyed hair. He stuck out his tongue between his teeth and dug through his back pants pocket and withdrew six small, thin bus cards.
"Blur!" Kenny scolded, pushing Marcus' head and snatching the cards from him, distributing it to each member of the group.
"Blur?" Chris asked, ever the inquisitive one.
"Slang for clueless in Singapore and Malaysia," Kenny explained, patting Marcus' head. Marcus squinted his eyes and rubbed his nose with his finger.
"Are you trying to say that I look girlish?" he asked, grinning sheepishly. Shadow patted Marcus' head and replied, "There, there. Don't strain it."
"Huh?" Marcus asked, looking questioningly at everyone. Joey and Shadow were sniggering behind their hands, Chris was looking like he was about to explode and AJ was shaking his head in mock sadness.
"We're wasting time," Kenny said, trying to spare his friend from embarrassment. "Let's go."
"They keep office documents in a mall?" Chris asked, scratching his head.
"Not really," Kenny said. "This is Novena Square, we're going to United Square. The MRT opens up to this mall, so we have to take the underpass and then cross the road."
"Is that the only way in?" Chris asked.
"From here, yeah, unless you want to walk out in the open," Kenny said. "That's actually not a bad idea. No vampires hiding underground."
"Yeah, but the malenti will see us coming from the windows and probably have us shot or something," Shadow said.
The six guys walked down the stairs of the underpass. Kenny looked strangely at the lights. "They're a bit dim tonight."
"Eeesh! Don't scare me like that, Ken," Marcus shivered, looking around, wishing he had worn his glasses since his contacts were a bit uncomfortable. He rubbed his eyes and blinked. The six guys crept silently through the long hall that was the underpass, glancing nervously at their reflections everytime they passed one of the metal sheets that were spread evenly throughout the underpass.
"Someone's following us," Shadow hissed silently to the group. The other guys stopped and listened for a while, not daring to turn back.
"I don't see or hear anything," AJ finally whispered. "Are you sure?"
"Three of them, invisible," Shadow said. "Colder than room temperature."
"How can you tell that?" Joey asked. Shadow smiled and pointed to his eyes. "Infravision. My sithi heritage."
Chris leaned in closer. "That's not the point now. What do we do with them? And are they vampires?"
Shadow nodded in reply. Kenny looked at the general direction where the vampires supposedly were at.
"Things seen and in between, Show us now the things unseen," Kenny chanted. The group suddenly found themselves surrounded by twelve vampires, both in front and behind them.
"Great work, Kenny," Chris rolled his eyes. "Now we know that they outnumber us, not the other way around."
As though they were one, the vampires charged at the guys, ganging up on them two to one.
"Spread out!" AJ shouted.
"Stay together!" Chris shouted at the exact same moment. AJ and Chris looked at each other and groaned.
"Spread out," Marcus shouted. "We don't know each other's fighting strategy enough to stick as a group. We're hindering ourselves."
"How would he know?" Chris asked, moving away from AJ and Shadow towards a wall.
"Marcus is a great fighter," Kenny said, running past Chris towards the approaching vampires. "He uses an axe so it's best to stay far, far away!"
Sure enough, Marcus had somehow gotten hold of a large battle-axe that no one had seen him carrying around and he was swinging it with expert strokes. He chopped sideways with the axe, severing a vampire's head with the axe. Instead of crumbling, however, the headless body of the vampire picked its head up and placed it back on its head.
"Oh God, tell me that didn't just happen," Chris moaned, kicking a vampire's face, then punching its solar plexus, causing the vampire to lose his balance and fall flat on his butt. Marcus too looked shocked. He raised his axe for another swing but the vampire was too close and the axe head would not hurt it in any way. Suddenly, a whir of spinning blades emerged from its chest, blood flying onto Marcus' clothes. The blades disappeared, leaving a gaping hole in the vampire's chest. The vampire still did not die, though the hurt was too much for it, and it fled the fight. Marcus nodded a thanks to Shadow.
"Guard me someone, I can't fight yet!" AJ yelled, trying to summon Tilkeleb from his crystal gateway. Shadow nodded and flung his raztars out at every vampire that came too close. Tilkeleb formed from the pale blue mist, barding on his body with a bright sword and a silver lance. AJ thanked Shadow and mounted Tilkeleb, wielding his lance and spearing the vampire closest to him. Shadow looked up at the low ceiling of the underpass and leapt as high as he could. He caught onto and hung from the ceiling, well out of reach of the vampires, yet close enough to slice as many as possible with his deadly raztars.
AJ tossed his sword to Chris, who found himself fighting back to back with Joey. Chris was slashing at any vampire who came close while Joey just stood there and dodged his attackers, giving a punch or two every now and then.
"Can't you cast any spells?" Chris yelled, slicing a vampire at Joey's side.
"I was only a chosen one when fighting the medusae, I don't have any powers now," Joey replied, ducking a vampire's punch, which caught Chris on the shoulder. Chris swore and sliced off the vampire's arm.
Kenny ran over to help Chris defend Joey. "Is it just me or are there more vampires than before?"
Chris glanced around the room quickly and groaned. "Where'd all the others come from, and why are they still coming?!"
"AND WHY WON'T THESE DAMN BASTARDS DIE?!?!?!" Marcus yelled, chopping off another vampire's head. The vampire grabbed its head, ran a distance off and placed it back on his neck, then charged at Marcus again. A bright beam of pure white light stopped it dead in its tracks. The vampire tumbled to the floor, turning into a nice pile of dust.
"I can't keep doing that all the time," Tilkeleb warned, spearing a vampire with his horn while AJ spiked another two to his left. "There are just too many of them."
Shadow dropped from the ceiling. "We're doomed. There are currently fifty-seven vampires and more pouring in every minute."
The group soon found themselves surrounded by vampires, teeth bared, their yellow and red eyes glaring at them viciously. The group fought on, huddled together, against insurmountable odds. Their only advantage was that there were no more vampires pouring in, though that was barely enough to improve their morale.
"Well, it was nice knowing you guys," AJ said as he futily speared another vampire and flung it away.
A blast of cold wind blasted through the hall, blowing vampires towards the entrance they guys had come from. The strange wind was only a gentle cooling breeze to the guys, however, that revitalised them wholly. The wind blew and blew, strangely causing vampires to turn into dust with its strength. A bolt of lightning streaked through the underpass, incinerating any vampire in its path, causing the guys to gasp in amazement. Within minutes, the area was cleared of all vampires.
"What the..." Joey muttered with his eyes wide open.
"Not what, Who," answered a musical female voice that seemed to whisper and yet thunder at the same time. A delicate, filmy form appeared before the stunned guys, materialising into a beatiful woman. She was dressed in white robes with wavy pale blue hair. Her eyes were sky blue and her flesh was so pale blue that it could have passed off for white. She had a gentle smile on her face and a pair af multi-coloured, transparent gossamer wings flapped lightly behind her.
"Aerdrie Faenya." Shadow dropped to his knees in amazement. "Goddess."
Aerdrie smiled and gave a soft giggle that sounded like windchimes in a gentle breeze. She patted Shadow's forehead. Shadow slowly rose to his feet, gave a little bow and stepped back. Aerdrie turned her eyes onto Joey.
"What have we here?" she asked in her musical voice. "A non-fighter in a group with fighters, a non-priest or magic-user in a group with Wiccan priests and a half-sitha magic-user. You are helpless now, Chosen One of ages past."
Joey nodded his head slowly, suddenly feeling like he was detrimental to the group, instead of an addition to it.
Aerdrie placed her right hand on Joey's head. "No longer. Would you like to be my follower, my cleric, Chosen One of ages past?"
Joey slowly raised his eyes. "Who are you?"
Shadow spoke up. "She's Aerdrie Faenya, a goddess of one of the sithi tribes. She controls the winds and the rain, the lightning and the snow. She is also a goddess of music and singing."
"Well spoken, half-child of the sithi," Aerdrie smiled at Shadow. She turned back to Joey, who was contemplating the thought.
"Oh, go for it, you lump of liverless lard," Chris scolded. "How many times does a goddess ask you to become her cleric?"
Aerdrie giggled lightly at Chris' joke. Joey slowly nodded his head once, then twice. "Yes, I will."
Aerdrie smiled sweetly at Joey, then hugged him tightly. "Welcome home, my child. Welcome home."
Joey smiled peacefully. He felt free, light, peaceful. He closed his eyes and soaked in the feeling that washed over him. When he opened them again, the goddess was gone. Shadow patted Joey's back and asked, "Any questions?"
"I thought the sithi only worshipped Eru?" Joey said.
"No, the sithi have many different religions, and unlike humans, they don't proclaim to have the one right path to Divinity," Shadow explained. "Think of a wonderfully beautiful, flawless crystal with so many facets that it's impossible for any mortal to count. Some are big, some average, and some are so small they seem insignificant. Now imagine that each facet represents a god or a goddess. That is the sithi belief of Divinity. Estel and Lalaith believe in Eru Illuvatar, and if I'm not mistaken, Alegifu their sister as well. Stile, Gil, Larel and Nirnaeth are not of Eru."
"But they were elves then, not sithi," Joey asked. "How do they differentiate them now?"
"The sithi divided themselves into tribes," Shadow explained. "Not tribes as in familes or people who live together, but as people of the same religious beliefs. Take for example the Tuatha de Danaan, the Tribe of Danu. They don't have to live together, but they are called a tribe because they are worshippers of the Celtic pantheon. The tribe members may live with other members of other tribes, but all are called sithi."
"Ahh, not that makes sense now," Chris said sarcastically. "We've got a mission to complete at all costs so Joey, hold all questions for later and use your god-giv...goddess-given talents to help us get everything done. We're in a big, big rush right now."
"What's your problem?" Marcus asked. "A goddess drops in on you and you just shrug it off just like that? Stuff like this rarely ever happens!"
"Well I've experienced it two times before this when Hecate appeared with undead legions and Apollo appeared to stop her," Chris said. "Big deal. And I was Hercules' classmate in Cheiron's academy. Big wow. Now can we go?"
Kenny and Marcus rolled their eyes at each other and conceded.
"Which floor?" Chris asked, glancing at the control panel of the lift.
"Thirty-third," Kenny replied.
Chris rolled his eyes. "Very funny, haha. Now seriously which floor?"
"Thirty-third," Kenny replied once again.
"The lift only goes up to twenty-five," Marcus said.
"You have to change lifts on the twenty-third," Kenny said. "If we're taking a lift, that is."
AJ looked at Kenny. "You mean..."
"Yeah, we're walking. This lift is open because it doesn't work. They shut down all lifts but one during the night, and that one has security cameras, so we can't take it."
"Why not?" Marcus asked.
Chris rolled his eyes. "Because they can see us."
"They can?" Marcus' eyes opened wide in amazement. "Oh wait, that's what security cameras are for..."
"I really wonder where he keeps his brains, they're obviously not anywhere in his body," Chris said, rolling his eyes again. Shadow nodded and grinned, "Remind me not to fight a battle of wits with someone as unarmed as him."
Marcus blushed a deep red. "Are you trying to say that I'm fat?"
The others were at a loss for words, wondering whether to laugh or cry.
"Let's just go already," Kenny said, walking towards a door that was labeled "Staircase B".
"Tired... must rest," Joey complained, wiping his sweat off with his sleeve. Chris rolled his eyes and groaned. "Joey, we're on the seventh floor."
"I know, but I suddenly feel tired," Joey complained, sitting on one of the steps.
"Me too," Marcus said, plopping down next to Joey. Kenny frowned. "We can't stop now, we still have more to go."
"Let them have their rest," Shadow sighed. "I'm pretty tired too."
"Guys, it's only the seventh floor!" AJ said. "Come on, let's go."
"You go on without us," Shadow said, his eyelids drooping. "We'll wait here."
"Yeah," Marcus yawned, then rubbed his eyes. "I think I'll take a nap."
"HEY! We're in the middle of a mission," Chris shouted, shaking Joey out from slumber. "This is no time to be sleeping around."
"Huh?" Joey said sleepily. "Let me sleep, Chris. I'm tired."
"What the hell is going on?" AJ said. Kenny shrugged. "They could be under some sort of spell."
"But why is it only affecting them, and not us?" AJ asked. "It doesn't make sense, either since the malenti shouldn't have this sort of spells. It's not any part of their eight spheres."
"Vampires have been known to cast spells, too," Kenny said. "They might have expected the sithi to attack this place on their own and send others into different areas, and so only those with sithi blood will be affected. Though that doesn't explain why Marcus should be affected by it."
<That's because Marcus is half-unicorn,> Tilkeleb said from his statue.
"Half unicorn?" AJ said. "I really don't want to know how his parents did it. But Joey doesn't have sithi blood in him either."
"But he is a cleric of a sithi goddess," Kenny replied. "Clerics are considered the 'children' of their chosen deities, so that spell would affect him."
"So what do we do now, then?" Chris asked. "Do we just leave them here, or do we drag them along with us."
"You could die with them," said a voice from the other side of the door to the lift lobby. It creaked open, revealing a dozen vampires, ready to attack. The leader stepped forward. "Attack those awake, then take out the cleric. Thank human foolishness to discuss their team's powers aloud in enemy territory."
"I hate eavesdroppers!" Chris yelled as he sliced at a vampire with AJ's sword. The sword's wake was lighted by a flash of silver light, and the vampire crumbled into dust.
"How'd you do that?" AJ asked, kicking a vampire away. He could not summon Tilkeleb into this small space and had to make do with bare-handed combat for now. Chris sliced the sword at another vampire, neatly slicing his head off. The vampire grabbed his head and placed it on his neck, and attacked again.
"Well, I can't do it again," Chris shrugged, using the sword to parry the vampire's attack. "We're outnumbered again, and we're three men down. Can't we do anything to wake them up?"
A strong wave of water splashed from behind the vampires, sweeping them down the stairs, and completely drenching the six guys. It woke Shadow, Marcus and Joey up with a start, breaking the spell. Kenny slumped to the floor, exhausted with his strong outburst of magick.
"Damn, I hate having spells cast on me," Joey shook his head, spraying water everywhere. The vampires were beginning to get up and attack again, but the group now had the advantage of being higher up the now-slippery and wet staircase. The vampires that climbed up were easily knocked down to the bottom, but they were persistant, and were slowly wearing down the guys.
"Isn't there anything better we can do?" Chris asked. "We've been stranded here for a while already, and the floor's starting to get dry."
"Yeah, well we don't have any fire or we could burn them," AJ said.
"Don't look at me," Shadow said. "I got more than one sithi ability at birth, so my magic ability decreased. I can do illusions, at most, but that's it."
"Marcus, you fool!" Kenny shouted. "You're an elder over the fire element!"
"Oh yeah," Marcus said. "Heehee, I forgot."
"WELL USE YOUR FRICKING POWERS THEN!" Chris shouted, prodding a vampire with his sword and pushing it down the stairs again.
Marcus closed his eyes and chanted for a moment, then opened them again. He motioned to the others to let the vampires come up the stairs, but not make it look obvious. The vampires were nearly at the top, further than they had usually gone. Marcus opened his mouth and coughed. A large fireball streamed from his mouth, incinerating the vampires immediately and drying up the water. The stone stairs glowed a little red, but did not burn. The other guys stumbled backwards, arms covering their faces from the scorching inferno. When the flame breath died down, there was not even dust left over to worry about.
"Damn, that's hot," Chris said. "Come on, we've got twenty-four floors to go."
The guys stood outside the glass office door, wondering how to get it open.
"We could smash it," Chris suggested, raising his sword to strike.
"Too noisy," Shadow said. "How about magic?"
"Not in my list of spells," Joey replied. Kenny and Marcus shook their heads.
<Can't do that either,> Tilkeleb said.
"Then how do we get the door open?" Chris asked, leaning on the door. The door swung open suddenly, causing Chris to stumble and fall into the office. He got up and straightened his pants. "That was easy."
"Too easy," Shadow said suspiciously. He slowly walked into the room, alert and listening for any sound.
"Move slowly, try and reach the documents," AJ said. "We need someone who can walk softly."
"Wait," Shadow said. He jumped and stuck to the ceiling, and slowly camouflaged with the shadows. Nothing could be seen of him except two red eyes peering in the darkness every so often. "Come on. There's nothing around."
The guys walked towards Shadow, towards the file cabinet with the precious documents inside. Shadow dropped down from the ceiling, while Chris put his hand on the handle of the cabinet drawer. He began to open the drawer slowly as noiselessly as he could, not wanting to lose the important documents of the malenti. Slowly, softly, Chris finally got the drawer open, and looked inside.
Chris was shocked. "Empty?"
"Empty? What do you mean 'empty'?" AJ whispered fiercely.
"I mean empty as a starving man's stomach, empty," Chris replied. "It's not in here."
"Check the other drawers," Kenny suggested. Chris shrugged and opened the drawer just above the previous one. He shook his head.
"Damn," Joey said. "Well, there's only the bottom drawer left."
Chris opened it, and looked into it.
"Anything?" Marcus asked.
"Yeah," Chris said, standing up, holding a folder stuffed full of papers. "This must be it."
Opening up the folder to check, Chris read the first page aloud. "Those who are here in this room, bring them to me."
The words on the paper glowed a sinister purple, then faded away. The room was suddenly brighter.
"Uh-oh," Joey said. "Deja vu. I think that was some sort of spell like the one I read that brought us back in time."
Chris sighed. "Here we go again."
The light in the room got brighter and brighter, and finally faded away, the guys along with it.
So how was this chapter. Email me and let me know at ensstyenlc@hotmail.com or dylan@celticwarrior.com
Next chapter: Mark, Justin, Bryan, Susan, Meganda and Estel take it on in the hospital. And one of the two traitors revealed. Who could it be? Mark? Estel? Justin? Stay tuned!
Thanks for reading! :)