The Blessed

CHAPTER FIVE

Director Frost and Amero looked at each other,

“Did you fill him in?” asked the Director.

“Yeap.”

The Director returned his focus on me.

“This must be very hard to digest.”

I laughed, but I didn’t feel joy.

“This isn’t real. It’s finally happened. The pain and the loneliness has finally pushed me to the edge. Haha, I knew it was going to happen sooner or later…”

The Director walked over to me and placed his large hands on my shoulder.

“Do you feel that? I’m real. Deputy Amero is real. All this is real. You haven’t lost your mind.”

Amero sighed as he tossed a cigarette into his mouth.

“Strays man.”

“I know this is hard David. What I just told you is probably making you question everything you believe. It’s probably making you question reality itself. But I need you to trust me, okay?”

“Why do you keep on calling me a Stray?”

“That’s a term we use here for individuals with the Blessing but who don’t know it.”

“Blessing?”

“The fact that you could see Amero and his team means that you can see through the Veil. The veil is a mirror dimension between Earth and the Otherside. Only people with the Blessing, which is the potential to wield one of the five Blessed weapons, can both see through and enter it.”

“Oh okay.”

“Do you have any other questions?”

I shook my head.

“Did you see anything before that Deputy arrived?”

I told him about my encounter with the woman.

The Director and Amero shared uneasy glances.

“I’d like you to follow me, is that okay?”

I didn’t retaliate, certain that I didn’t have a choice.

Amero, the Director, and I exited the foyer through the left. We entered a long empty corridor with the promise of a flight of stairs at its end. To our immediate right was a staircase case that spiraled down into the earth. We descended in a single file due to the width of the stairs. Candles in archaic lamps illuminated the way with a sad glow.

At the foot of the stairs was a silver door labeled ‘TESTING’.

We entered without knocking. The first thing that caught my attention was a large glass ball that was placed on a thin black platform. It reminded me of those crystal balls fortune tellers used to see into the future.

To our left was a fat man seated behind a small desk. He leaped from his seat despite his weight. He had a half-eaten egg roll in his right hand. Crumbs danced on his thick bushy mustache as he spoke.

“Director, Deputy.”

“Sorry to disturb your lunchtime Amir, but it’s urgent.”

“What? Disturb? Not at all…”

He shoved the rest of the egg roll into his mouth and took care of it with a couple of chews and a gulp.

“See, all done. Now how can I help you sir?”

“We need you to test this young man.”

Amir sized me up.

He walked over to the glass ball. Amero nudged me from behind. I walked over and stood next to Amir. The crystal ball was bigger up close.

“Put your hand on the orb.” instructed Amir.

I did.

A green ball of light came into existence at the core of the orb. Soon, it filled the round glass with a sloshing motion. The emerald glow filled the entire room. Like a fluorescent light, there was also a buzzing sound.

“You didn’t eat anything recently right?” asked Amir.

“Uhm, no…”

“Good.”

Suddenly I felt the same way I did when I got on an elevator for the first time. Except, this time it felt like the elevators cord had snapped. My stomach felt like it had been turned upside down. Vomit threatened to gush out at the slightest admission.

The feeling ended as abruptly as it started.

I opened my eyes. Again, I was surrounded by complete darkness. But there were no stars here, just thick and abysmal nothingness.

I tried to move but I couldn’t. I spun around and realized that I was suspended in mid-air.

“Hello!”

There was no echo. The acoustics of wherever I was now was like that of a small room with shut windows.

That’s when I saw five small sky-blue lights surrounding me. At first, I thought the lights were nearby and were simply growing in intensity. However, the lights were in fact speeding towards me from all sides.

The lights then came to a halt within a few meters of my person. Then they began to expand. They stopped growing when they were about the size of small hills. The humungous lights began to…boil. Giant limbs shot out from the light sources. An arm here, a leg there, a head there. Until I was surrounded by five gigantic beings. All of them were dressed in Blessed attire. I noticed by their elevated chests and curvy frames that two of the light giants were female.

The beings reached out. From the male giants, a giant sword, two intertwined chains, and a large and thick circle materialized in their palms. From the female giants, a staff and an arrow materialized.

A red light pierced my eyes.

A red flame was burning at the pit of the being with the sword’s stomach. the blue of the giant was completely consumed by the blood-red from within. The blue flame in the eye socket also took the same colour. This happened to the other four as well.

Their weapons shattered soundlessly into a million crystalline shards. This time, gigantic double-edged axes the same color as the hands that held them materialized.

Then I heard a voice.

It was like a single source with the intensity of a thousand screams emanating from the pits of my mind.

A dark voice that had been locked up and was now raging free.

The pain drained the strength from my body. All I could do was scream my throat raw as I lost consciousness.

***

When I woke up, the Director, Amir, and Amero were looking down at me. I was back in the room. A hot band of pain stretching around my head.

The Director and Amero helped me up from the floor.

“Are you okay?” asked the Director.

“I think so.”

I rubbed my temples in an attempt to ease the pain.

“What did you see?” asked Amir.

I told them. Everything besides the screams that almost made my head implode. It stopped me from stating that part.

Don’t…

They exchanged concerned looks.

“Axes? Are you sure?” asked the Director.

“Yeah.”

“I would appreciate it if we kept this between the four of us for now.”

Amir was staring at me. His brown eyes were wide open and his mouth slightly open. The cliche ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost’ would’ve applied perfectly to his expression.

“Amir is that understood?”

The Director’s words pulled him out of his trance.

“Yes sir, of course.”

“Good.”