Being mortal has its drawbacks. Like the pain of smashing against
a table and having a vase fall on your head. Good thing they were plastic
flowers since getting wet as well would have been pushing it. James was
probably knocked out cold for a few minutes. When he came to, he saw a man
standing at the door of the apartment unit and looking around, searching for
something. He froze, but the man did not seem to see him. He remembered he cast
a Veil on himself when the demon attacked them but he was knocked out before it
took full effect.
The demon! He started to panic when he saw the dead bodies
lying outside in the hallway. Everything was quiet except for two men who was
talking and crying. He couldn’t catch what they were saying since his mind was
elsewhere. The demon must just be nearby. He could not let it escape and go
back empty-handed. He closed his eyes and concentrated, opening his mind to his
surroundings. Some mages call this technique “The Radar”, using your mind to ‘look’
around you. For others, it involves sensory deprivation to achieve an altered
state of consciousness. For James, he slipped easily in and out of different
levels. Of course, he could, given what he was before.
“Show me!” He uttered the command. In his mind was shown
something like a virtual map of the surrounding area. He saw clearly the two
talking men and the dead bodies outside. Further on, he saw the riot of
buildings in Manila. In the distance, he saw the demon, bounding from rooftop
to rooftop.
He got up quietly so the two men wouldn’t hear his
movements. He tiptoed towards the door and stopped in his tracks. He was
transfixed by the sight of the bigger of the two men. He was kneeling on the
floor, crying bitterly.
“Jesse, what do we do now?” the smaller guy said.
So his name is Jesse. He could feel his pain pulsating out
of him. But there is warmth, like that of the morning sun on a slightly
overcast day. It pierces through the sadness wrapped around his being. He felt
a weird feeling inside him, like icicles slowly melting. He waved his hand
gently and let out a small wave of strength towards Jesse, enough to get him
going through this ordeal. And then he clenched his fist and looked out. He
couldn’t let himself be overwhelmed by this feeling right now. He’s got a
mission to accomplish, a charge to complete. He can still feel the essence of
the demon nearby. He can still make it.
With silent footsteps, he walked towards the smashed window
and climbed out to the ledge. It’s quite a drop from this level but he saw the
fire exit stairs and edged his way there. Before climbing down, he summoned the
Hawks of Horus to go ahead of him and capture the demon. He made some complex
finger movements and uttered the Greek words.
"Synechisei to drasti!"
Bright hawk-shaped beings erupted from
nowhere and flew to the direction of the demon. He locked them in his sight as
he climbed down the stairs.
At ground level, he started to run. The hawks flew at an
incredible speed in pursuit of their target and then, as one, they dived. He
heard the unearthly growling of the demon as the light-birds clawed it with
their sharp talons. He turned on one corner and found the demon itself
struggling in an alley.
“You’re not getting away this time,” he said. The
hawk-shaped beings disappeared. The demon growled at James and spoke.
“Fool! Don’t think I do not see through what you are. But
you are weak. You cannot vanquish me!” It spoke as if four different voices
were speaking in unison. The sound grated in the ears.
“That does not mean I cannot try,” said James in a defiant
reply. But what the demon said was true. Years in this mortal coil stripped him
slowly of his powers. He had to learn the magic of the humans to supplement
with what little remaining he has. It was a good thing he picked a few up from
way back before his enslavement.
The demon suddenly lunged at him with its claws. Good
reflexes saved James as he jumped back, throwing out a Golgotha Spell which
nailed the demon to the ground. The demon howled in pain as it pulled out each
wedge from its body. James did a quick follow up and uttered a command.
“Pagida!”
A bright net of white light fell over the demon but before
it closed down, the demon breathed fire onto it and burned it away into
nothing. James was stunned. This demon indeed is quite powerful, even the
Philistine Net was useless. The demon then threw a huge fireball towards James and in
the nick of time he was able to erect a Shield. He managed not to get burned by
hellfire. However, he was still thrown back by the sheer intensity of the
force.
“Fool of an angel you are!” The demon said and laughed. It
bounded past him and ran away into the night.
***
“He failed,” Dan announced to the almost empty hall.
The man on the throne stood up, unfurled his robe and went
down the dais. He approached a huge circle inscribed on the marble floor before
the wooden throne. He whispered a few words in Hebrew and produced from his
hand a burning sigil.
James materialized in the middle of the circle, lying
supinely and coughing. He smelled of burnt sulfur and his hair was slightly
singed.
“You’ve failed,” the man in robes looked down on him. “Your
instructions were very specific and relatively simple, even an apprentice could
have accomplished that in less time than you took.”
James tried to get up on his feet. “It was a high level
revenge demon. My measly powers were no match for it.” He was gasping for
breath. “Give me my sigil back and I swear I shall help you, Leon.”
The man he called Leon curled his lip in a wry smile. He
walked around the circle and regarded James.
“You’re at it again, angel. Stop making flimsy excuses and
do what you were told to do.” He walked back to the throne and sat on it.
“Three of my companions died, Leon. Four of us could not
have faced it. We need more strength.” James said almost pleadingly.
Leon looked at him with a steely stare. “I have included you
and treated you as a member of this ancient venerable order of magicians whose
sole reason for existing is to preserve whatever sliver of order those before
us wrestled from the clutches of a chaotic universe. You were never treated as
a lowly servant spirit but as an equal among us. Yet, one simple mission and
you fail miserably and it is by sheer luck and my mercy that you are still
standing, groveling here before me. I do not care who dies or incinerates, as long as you accomplished what you all were tasked to do.”
James had no response to that but bowed down his head and
clenched his fists.
“Forgive me. I shall recuperate and try once more,” he said.
“Of course you will,” Leon responded condescendingly. He
waved him away and directed him to Dan. “Go with Daniel and see what you must
do to prepare for this. You may leave the circle.”
James walked out of the hall, glancing once at Dan as he
did. He was once a powerful angel until an oppressive requirement in The Mysterium
trapped him to serve Leon Garces, 538th Grand Mage and current leader
of the Order. He wants to break free, to reclaim what he once was, and restore
his former glory. But how does he ransom his sigil back? Leon is the god of
this universe and everything else revolves around him and serves his every wish
and desire.
He has to find a way. He vowed to himself that he will find
a way.
to be continued
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