Читать книгу Chronicles of the Second Realm - Curtis Reid Edgett - Страница 9

Marth and I meandered down the hallways back towards the elevators. We hopped in and Marth pushed the button that should take us to the basement. The giant, metallic doors closed shut and the elevator music began, as did our descent. We arrived in the basement. It looked like an abandoned airplane hangar. It had a dirty concrete floor, and the faded-red support beams were visible. As we walked out of the elevator, Marth turned to the right and there was a control panel. It had a palm scanner, and Marth laid his hand on the screen. The board lit up and it sounded like turbines starting up.

Immediately, the tables and lockers rose from beneath the floor. The lockers formed an L shape with a table and bench seats in the midst of them. The lockers each had a variety of weapons. In each locker, there was a different category of armament. In one locker, there were different kinds of daggers—in another an abundance of arrows and bows. There was a multitude of swords, hammers, axes, and other dangerous tools.

“OK, Owen, today we’re going to be working with weapons,” Marth began. “Pick out the weapon that you will feel the most comfortable with.”

I scanned the room and I felt like a kid in a candy store. I walked up to all of the lockers and examined the weapons that they contained. I especially liked the hammers, so I grabbed the biggest one I could find. I proudly showed Marth my choice. Marth looked back at me with a very surprised and seemingly confused, yet snarky look on his face.

“Pick that up,” Marth commanded.

I tried to pick up the hammer, and by try, I mean failed at trying. The head of the hammer was two feet wide and as tall as me.

Marth noticed my struggle, came over, and picked up the hammer effortlessly. “It’s as light as a feather.” He stifled his laughter. “Your abilities are limited by the human thought process. You thought that it was going to be super heavy, and in turn, it was. It is what you make it. It’s as light as a feather.”

Marth finished his sentence and then proceeded to flip the hammer on his finger, all with ease, not breaking a sweat, even though it looked as if it weighed a ton. Marth tossed the hammer to me.

In my head, I was chanting, Light as a feather, light as a feather, light as a fe— Oh, I caught it.

Marth walked back over to the control panel and began pressing buttons. The screen lit up. “All right,” he said. “Time to test it out.”

Targets began to come down from the ceiling. They hung like chandeliers, but they definitely were meant to be hit. They were shaped like stone pumpkins. I gripped my hammer tightly and began to swing. I was hitting targets, one right after the other. The fragments of each target crumbled when you hit the ground. The hammer was a very interesting weapon to hold. It started to feel a little tiring, so I thought about switching weapons. I walked back over to the lockers.

“Done already?” Marth asked.

“No, I’m just gonna try something else.”

I examined my newly acquired arsenal once again. Then, one of the swords in the cabinets caught my eye. Its style was like a traditional Japanese katana. It had a slightly blue-tinged metal blade and was very sleek. The handle had a very good grip. I slung the sheath over my back and pulled it out. I went back out to the course and began to experiment with it a little. I sliced through targets, right and left. Then, Marth pushed a few more buttons on the control panel. I soon saw much bigger ‘targets’ appear. They were humanoid in shape and looked as if they were made of stone. They looked like bulky stone muscle men. Marth kept pushing more buttons. The ‘targets’ began to come at me and were ready for attack. They marched after me and began to chase me. Expletives were running through my head, all of which were directed towards Marth. I lifted my sword and began to fight.

Cling. I could hear my sword go through the stone. I swung up at an angle to slice one directly in front of me, then spun around and slashed downward to another one coming from the right. I could hear a crash as the pieces of stone fell to the ground with each swing of my sword. I felt like a tornado of destruction. I realized, after fighting the first one, that this wasn’t impossible and that the only limits here were the limits that I placed on myself. As I continued to slice through the sentinels, they would fall before me. All the sentinels were smashed into rubble on the ground all around me. I stood there panting for a second, and then I heard clapping. Marth was clapping, a golf clap, but applause nonetheless. Marth pressed a few more buttons and little robots came out onto the course and started removing the rubble. The remains of the fallen sentinels were quickly wiped away, like the remaining bowling pins at a bowling alley.

I walked back over to Marth.

“Have you chosen your weapon?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Good. Then it’s yours.” He snidely smiled. “Moving on.” Marth walked over to the control booth, very nonchalantly, and pressed a button on the pad. “Let him in.”

I could hear a door creak open. It came from a small side door, on the left in the middle of the structure. A man emerged, looking to be forty-ish and of Asian descent. As he got closer to us, Marth pulled out a chair from behind the control panel and put it in the middle of the room. The man walked towards the chair. Marth interjected, “Haru, this is Owen. Owen—Haru.”

We shook hands. “Haru is the owner and executive chef at my favorite Asian fusion restaurant,” Marth continued. “He has been struggling with demon possession; and Mr. Haru here has volunteered to have us exorcise this demon.”

“What?” I was flipping my ish right then. “Now?”

“Yeah, you just practiced with your sword. Don’t you want to try it out on an actual demon?” Marth asked, slightly amused.

“Um.” I looked around the room nervously, mentally un-prepared for such a task.

“The best way to learn is hands-on experience,” Marth said, very cheerfully. His smile was so big; it looked like it hurt.

I sighed a sigh of defeat. “Fine.”

Meanwhile, Haru had already sat down in the chair and was waiting patiently. Marth walked over to Haru and began to reassure him. “OK, Haru, this should be quick and painless. The only thing that you will experience is maybe blacking out for a few minutes.”

“OK.” Haru nodded his head.

“Wait, wait, wait, I thought we couldn’t exorcise demons until they manifest,” I questioned.

“You’re right, but if the person knows about this demon and it has already manifested multiple times, the person can give us consent to exorcise the demon that is hindering them,” Marth explained.

“OK.” Marth looked to me. “We are going to begin.”

I looked at Haru and took in a big gulp of air. Marth stood in front of Haru and began to lift his hands. He mumbled something to himself, and then his hands burst into flames. But it looked like a controlled burn, because the fire never left his palms. He reached into Haru through his chest and tugged on something. This something didn’t look like it wanted to leave Haru’s body. But Marth insisted that it did, and pulled harder. And eventually, he pulled it halfway out. The top half of a pale-gray, stony-looking Cyclops stuck out of Haru’s body. It roared and displayed its brute strength by tugging back against Marth; but Marth gave it one last grab, ripped it out, and threw it back behind him. It was about fifteen feet tall and it looked to be the size of a dump truck. Haru was still in the chair; he looked limp and lifeless. The Cyclops laid against the wall of the warehouse. It looked like it was trying to gather its strength. Marth gestured to me, summoning me. I walked over towards Marth and the Cyclops, holding my sword in my hands and shaking all the while. I looked at the demonic figure as it lay before me; and I was scared. I lifted up my sword and prepared to plunge it into the demon’s chest.

The demon’s eye opened and I heard a thump of its foot and a whap. Its fight-or-flight response must have activated. The demon used its might and mountainous leg to kick me twenty feet from where I stood. I felt my flesh slam into the concrete wall. I peeled myself off the wall and stood up unharmed.

“Did you feel any pain?” Marth yelled over the giant’s writhing about.

I looked myself over and saw no bruise or blemish, much to my surprise. “No,” I responded, still kind of surprised.

“Demons can’t hurt us in the natural,” Marth said. “Once they leave their human hosts, they are easier to kill; however, if they manage to take over a human body completely, they can cause some real damage.”

I got back up with a renewed sense of confidence.

Marth finished with one last sentence. “Every demon has a weak spot; the main ones are the head, the tail, and the heart.”

“Hmm.” I charged at the demon with my sword over my head like I was ready for a fastball down home plate. I got about five feet away and jumped. My feet left the ground with unknown lightness. I soared ten feet in the air, eye level with the beast. It raised its hands and swatted me down. I plummeted back down to the ground and landed on my feet gently. I knew this was game on.

The demon let out a garbled roar. “Ah!”

This just got serious.

He rushed at me with his fists, swinging them wildly. When his fists hit the ground, I was surprised they didn’t crack the concrete. I dodged each attack gracefully, not knowing how I was doing this. After the fifth punch, I’d had enough. When his fist hit the concrete, I swung my sword as hard as I could at his right arm. Shing! My sword sliced through his arm and it dropped to the floor with a thud.

The demon let out another roar. “Ah!” His arm started to smoke. It took about five seconds for it to evaporate into thin air. No blood was spilled anywhere; only smoke radiated from the wound. The demon looked and me. “You’ll die for this, human!”

“Oh, my gosh, he talked!” I said to myself.

He raised his other arm and swung it down at me. I jumped sideways into a handspring to avoid the attack. I never knew I could move with this much agility and speed.

“OK, big boy, you’re going down.” I threw my sword up over his head, almost touching the ceiling. Then, I ran at him with super speed and leapt up into the air. I lifted my legs up and thrust my heels into his chest. The demon started to fall as my sword did likewise. I rode the creature down to the ground like a wave.

When he hit the ground, I reached up and my sword landed perfectly in my hand. With my final slash, I lobbed the demon’s head clean off. Smoke came pouring out of it and it completely disintegrated. I started breathing heavily.

“Nice work, Owen!” Marth said.

“Thanks.” I was still trying to catch my breath.

Marth started walking over to Haru. “After each demon you destroy, you have to replace it with a seed.”

“Huh?” I replied.

“Each demon represents something. To make sure that they can never return, we replace it with the opposite. For instance, this demon you just fought represented anger. So we will sow a seed of peace.”

Marth stood in front of Haru and waved me over. After an awkward twenty-foot walk to him, Marth lifted his hands to the middle of Haru’s body once again. As he did so, a seed appeared, floating in his right hand. It looked like a larger version of an almond but with a slight tinge of gold and a metallic luster. I put my sword back in its sheath and continued to watch. He pressed it against Haru’s chest. His body seemed to absorb it. As it went in, it started to grow instantly. I could see inside his chest somehow; and I saw the seed begin to bloom into a flower. It reminded me of a lily. Haru slowly began to open his eyes.

“How do you feel?” Marth asked.

Haru looked around and let out a pleasant sigh. “Peaceful.”

Marth and I looked at each other and smiled.

Haru stood up from the chair and stretched his arms. “I’m good.”

“Good,” Marth said cheerfully.