Born of Gods

Chapter 5—Through the Door

She was not brave, not anything like her friend, Cynthia. And it was alright, she was a girl, no one expected girls to be brave, all they had to do was make sure they were always pretty. It was that simple, at least her stepmother felt that way and had educated Sarah in that manner. But there were times when bravery had to be summoned, brought out of thin air; times like when you see an old creepy man dragging one of your best friends to God-knows-where.

She had followed the man who pulled Garrett along with him immediately she saw them, not knowing what she would do if the man wanted to hurt him. She couldn't bear to think about Garrett or any of her friends getting hurt, she had really gotten close to them. As an only child whose mother had died while giving birth to her, her friends had filled the void of a family in her life as she barely saw her father and her stepmother, who she had never really cared to see. She froze as she saw the man enter the Patterway‘s home, it felt like he was going to walk in and kill the whole family. But then, why take Garrett along, oh, maybe to kill him too! Sarah wiped her face with her palm as she had tears streaming down her face.

She was terrified and she felt helpless, she couldn't help Garrett by getting herself killed. She would get an adult who would then call the police or something. As she turned to leave the Patterway’s compound, someone gripped her shoulders tightly and placed a palm over her mouth. Her heart leapt out of her chest.

“Oh, don't freak out, it's only me,” Cynthia said softly, as her terrified friend had almost fainted in pure fear. “Didn't mean to sneak on you, I couldn't risk being heard by the demon. What are you doing here anyway?”

Sarah, in a very shaky voice that couldn't make anything that wasn't gibberish, explained how she had seen the old man pulling Garrett and had followed them to the Patterways’ home. Sarah, looked at the frustrated and annoyed Josh, and she asked, “Why do you have Josh with you? I mean, have you told him about the cave and the demons.”

Cynthia frowned and tightened her lips. “No, but now you have, haven't you?”

“Caves? Demons? You must think I'm eight, I'm only doing you a favour cause you are scared to come outside, for God-knows-why?”

Sarah and Cynthia tried to peep through a window but the house was perfectly curtained. And as Sarah was about to suggest they call an adult, Cynthia had summoned courage and had opened the entrance door then walked in. Josh and Sarah followed her closely behind and they saw no one. But Garrett. No demon.

Garrett was shedding tears but was making no sound. He was so terrified and when he saw them he seemed to have sprung up and life had jumped back into him. He vainly tried to hide the joy that that seeped into him as he had seen them, he had been so scared walking to his own home would have been quite a task.

“They are gone, they are gone, the old man walked into it, and some sort of wind pulled them in. Mike was weeping.” Garrett ran into Cynthia's embrace and cried on her shoulder.

“Oh my s**t, what the hell is that?”Josh said pointing at the door that was in the living room, almost blending with the environment, only that wind blew around it violently, as eleven helicopter blades swirled around it. Josh wondered in fear how they had all not noticed it the moment they walked in.

“That's where they all vanished into, we should call someone. I have been trying my parents, they must be asleep, no one has answered me. Even as he pulled me from underneath my bed, no one noticed. My parents are heavy sleepers." Garrett continued to explain how the man appeared in his room and made him unable to speak, asking him only to lead him to all his friends.

“How—what is going on?” Josh asked for the fifth time and got no response. “Fine, whatever, Sarah let go wake our parents, this is some devilish act or so. Dad would call the police, and Mum the priest.”

Before Sarah and her brother could make a step, Cynthia had sprinted through the door, and her voice was heard as she made a scream, and that was it. She had vanished into thin air. Vanished into the door that a strange wind whirled.

“What? Why did she do that? What!”Garrett blurted and moved towards the rest in fear, seeing Cynthia literally vanished had left all of them dumbstruck, even the talkative Josh had lost his tongue. He was so unsettled, he had watched his own sister run into a door that he had no doubt led to hell.”

Sarah didn't bother asking why Cynthia ran through the door, a door that had swallowed her friends, and had probably killed them, she knew why. Sarah knew Cynthia was too curious, she liked knowing, everything liked trying everything even when she knew quite well she shouldn't. Sometimes, especially if she knew she shouldn't. It was just the way Cynthia was, even if she was scared, her curiosity would always get the best of her. Not to mention Sarah's sincere belief that Cynthia had a huge crush on Phil, no one else seemed to have noticed it. It was not only an unpopular opinion but it was false—Sarah was that kind of girl that believed everyone had a crush on everyone.

Sarah had noticed that once the mystery door was pushed open and someone got inside, the door closed by itself. It felt like a trap door, and she hoped that her friends would come back now, safe and unharmed. Or that she would wake up from her sleep and find that she had been dreaming. And it had all been one weird nightmare.

“O my bloody s**t!” Josh said as he fell on the floor, stumbling his way back to his feet. He staggered his way to his sister and Garrett, Josh was terribly terrified, it was a miracle he hadn't passed out. Who could blame him? Two people had appeared—out of nowhere—behind him as he stood, and he had startled them as they saw him behave crazy.

“Are you sure this is the house you came to? Where you killed the couple?” The younger man asked his companion, who nodded while grinning at the terrified teenagers. The words “killed the coupled” had shaken the already shaken kids and had them thinking and hoping the couples mentioned wasn't Mr and Mrs Patterway.

He was seventeen, eighteen maybe, six foot one or a little taller, blonde-haired and had a face that one wouldn't mind looking at for hours. At least Sarah wouldn't. She would be delighted to stare at such a face every day, she didn't hesitate to admire his chiselled jawline and perfect bone structure of his face. He was definitely her type, she figured he was probably everyone's type.

The man beside him was clearly older, and more clearly less handsome. Far less handsome. He was the exact opposite of the handsome devil beside him, he was quite short—five foot four, maybe less. Had a very unpleasant set of teeth which he seemed not to have noticed how awful they looked. His hair was messy, Sarah was far from him, but she felt if she came closer to him she would puke. He had big lips, and his originally olive skin colour seemed to have been bleached a couple of times, with a couple of different cheap lotions.

The handsome boy, taking his eyes from the door for the first time and shifting it to the three scared teenagers. He was in their age grade, but he terrified them with his laser stare. And of course, they had seen him come out of thin air.

“Who brought this portal? Who?” The handsome guy asked walking closer to them and then stopping.

Josh who was probably the most scared stepped in front of Sarah and the sobbing Garrett. “We don't know anything? I'm saying the truth, we don't how it got here. Please leave us be, please.” If Josh wanted to sound tough, his trembling voice absolutely betrayed him.

The handsome one stared at them and nodded to his partner. “Kill them quietly.”

The grinning man excitedly brought a dagger and then feigned a frown and then said quietly, “So I can't do anything hurtful to you all, it won't hurt, you'd all die peacefully. I wouldn't have to stab you, I will just say some words and you'd all die in peace. And joy.” He was toying with the dagger in his hands and had started to mutter some words.

Sarah was scared and that fear fed her some courage, something she needed so much. “Once I say go, you'd all run into that creepy door. I know it's crazy but it's our only chance of escape. No second chance.” Sarah said in whispers and encouraged Garrett with a forced smile. She flung her elbow at a dangling bulb in the chandelier above them, and screamed, “Go!”

The most annoying part was the fact that Sarah there was no other way. It was either they went into the unknown or they waited to be killed. Life, regardless of where you were, was still more promising.

In a twinkling, all three of them darted towards the door and went through it, not knowing whether they would die, maybe trapped in some weird place, or sent to hell. The short man had chased them and had the door closed firmly, hitting his nose on the door. As he tried to push open the door, it all went into thin air. The portal had exhausted its energy.

Sarah wasn't certain if she saw him smile at her as she glanced at him, but she was certain he didn't join the short man in pursuit of them.

The kids had escaped and Darcose was crazily annoyed. He kept punching the air in anger and breaking things all around while screaming words of curses on the kids. They had annoyed him, their offence was not staying still so he would cast a death spell on them. He was that obsessed with killing.

Layton had his mind on many things, and the escape of kids wasn't even one of them. He had other things to think about, things that involved the safety of his own life. He sat on a sofa and asked Darcose to get him a drink from the fridge—which Darcose rudely refused, as he thought about what the hell happened, also giving Darcose a long stare—he wouldn't be seeing him for much longer. He had to leave the dominant realm, his magic was more powerful in Castor and he didn't want any attention. Also, it was very much easier to survive in Castor and mix up, even Dacarius couldn't find him if he was in the midst of thousands of magicians.

He had had two homes for as long as he could remember; one in Castor and the other in the dominant realm. His mother had worked for the Dark Lord for so many years, and because he had been little when she started working for the Lord, she had taken him with her. It had always been the two of them. Moving from the dominant realm to Castor now and then—that hadn't been easy for Layton. It meant that he wasn't able to have friends or go to school. Even when he was as young as six, he hadn't had any friends because he couldn't understand anything at that age.

One week they were here and there, and the other, they were many miles away, or in another realm entirely. He had seen many things as a kid, adventures on the road were all the quality memories he had with his mother—at least she drank less on the go and didn't take drugs. One could say he had been a lucky kid having so much good experience with his mother. Except that he had watched her kill people, sometimes a whole family, those memories stuck with him too. Also, the memory of one man sticking a knife in his mother's face stuck with him. The very day she lost her life while, of course, on one mission for Lord Dacarius. It had been very hard watching his mother murdered, the pain was like nothing else. Whether she was an uncaring mother who used vulgar words on him and broke beer bottles on his head, knowing it couldn't kill him but would definitely hurt him. Nonetheless, she had been his mother and her death left a void in his heart. And nothing had eased his pain, not even the fact he had tracked the man—his mother’s killer—and had sucked the man dry, he had made certain that he tasted every bit of blood in the man's body. It was his way of honouring his mother.

“Lord Dacarius seems to want to get to rid of us,” Dacarius smiled and shrugged, “I say we run and forget to stop but in this realm. If not we die.”

Layton was more shocked by Darcose’s words than anything he had heard in a while. “How can you even think that? We run, how about if he kills us when as we run. Tell me.”

“I don't know what you think, I'm not too interested either. I do what I want and this is right, I think. We stay here and run to another country to cool off and wait till everything dies down. We could hit one or two of earth's fancy banks and have some fun while staying here.”

Run to another country? Darcose was incredibly crazy and didn't see things clearly. Dacarius wanted to kill them and would stop at nothing until he did so, he didn't become High Lord of Taria by giving up or leaving loose ends. Darcose thought they could run away, go off to another country and be free of Dacarius. Layton knew better, in the normal world here, they wouldn't last a month, they couldn't hide. He would spot them like a dove amid ravens, and kill them also like they were fowls.

“What do you say, Layton? You with me? We can pull this off, this staying alive thing, put Dacarius behind you once and for all. Your mother would have wanted you to go with me, to go away from it all.”

I don't think so, Layton thought.

“I can't. Look, we are in a world where all the magicians in it, black or white, can be counted on Dacarius’s fingers. With a tracing spell, no matter how hard we try to cast a cloaking spell, he'd get us. Send many Full-stars to come to kill and you know that'd be it for us, and if we somehow manage to run away from the Full-stars—as killing many Full-stars would be mission impossible, what would we do when Dacarius comes to find us himself, huh?”

Darcose shook his head in disagreement and shrugged slowly. “I'm going anyway, so are you coming with me or not? It's your call, I know but you and I can beat the odds, we have so in the past. You and I, we can do so again.”

Oh, I don't remember you and what I remember is I beating the odds. Alone.

“I need a portal to go back to Castor, I'll go to Santonia or Nothumbra. There I can I mix in the crowd of magicians, and even Dacarius can't find me there.”

Darcose chuckled and licked his lips, greasing his lips with thick saliva. Layton always hated him more when he did that. “Mr Intelligent, that's your survival strategy, instead of running away from your enemy, you want to go to his world. That's just stupid. I'll be on my way, I'll light a candle for you when you die.”

“Wait, I have two questions for you and you can flee to hell if you want,” Layton said slowly as Darcose turned to leave.

Don't worry; you are definitely going there, Layton thought.

“Shoot.”

“Do you know that only a god can open a trans-universal portal and for a mortal to open one, a powerful magician has to be sacrificed?” Layton stood and flexed his muscles.

Layton words seemed unnecessary to Darcose. “I know all that, I was schooled in Taria, it's one of the silly things they make you learn there.” He paused and stared at the teenager quizzically. “Is there anymore to your question than it seems? You know that I know that, we've spoken on the issue many times. Why bring it up? Anyway, you mentioned two questions, what is your second question?”

Layton beamed a smile, his want to kill Darcose was justified and he had seen a golden reason, a righteous one, to do what he had longed to do for a long time. “Yes! My second question, how could I forget. You said you killed a girl because you suspected the letter sent by Dacarius was something harmful, and for the first time, you were right. How old did you say she was again?”

Darcose flung his hands up in annoyance and balled his fists. “What does it count for, how is that important, I'm out of here.” He stared at Layton and saw that the boy really wanted an answer, why not give it to him. “Okay, the twittering girl said she was seventeen and kept reminding me how old she was. Over and over again, like I cared if she was five years older or younger.”

“Oh, you shouldn't have killed her and now I'll kill you for it.”

“When did you start caring about...you won't do nothing of that sort, I know you are stronger than people know but I'm a Half-star, and you are just a lying bastard. I've seen you in action but you know you can't kill me, I know you can't. If you try, I'll take you down with me. Trust me I will.”

Layton stretched his hands forward and said some words under his breath, and Darcose fell on his knees with no restraint. He started crying, shaking, begging Darcose to spare him, to remember the good times. Layton was fond of bragging about his power but to him that was alright, he wasn't just saying words, he had something to brag about. He was Layton Clarke, he was different.

Layton didn't seem to hear his partner who had worked with him for almost one year. Darcose fell on the floor of the living room and breathed his last breath. He was gone, not a lot more than an hour that Mr and Mr's Patterway had died. Not a lot more than an hour he had joined the couple he killed and a seventeen-year-old darling that lost her life for nothing.

Layton was happy, he felt he did something for the whole world, the whole universe. He had gotten rid of the world a monster, and anyone who derived joy from killing people, killing innocents, was a monster and had nothing to do breathing the same oxygen regular people breathed. Was Layton good? No! He had killed so many people that he had lost count half a decade ago. Though he was seventeen himself but had killed more people than many soldiers who had fought in the worst of wars had. But he killed only when he had to, and while his smile might be misleading, he never enjoyed killing but he did so when he found it necessary. Honouring the memory of that seventeen-year-old Darcose killed was necessary to Layton, and he had killed the pleading man with no mercy or remorse. Maybe he was a monster too, but he would never kill you if you stay away from him and his business. Darcose wasn't like that, he killed because he could. Not because of self-defence or any other thing.

“You were a bad man, but you kept me company sometimes. You really shouldn't have killed that girl, I wish I could say I'm sorry for you but I'm not.” He stroked Darcose’s hair once took his hands away swiftly. “At least you'll serve me a purpose, I need your body for a sacrifice to make a portal.”

Now he had to go get that woman who he had placed on a sleeping spell, and he would explain to her what had happened to her sister and sister's husband, also where Layton suspected the boys had gone to. If he had the time he'd explain who her son and nephew were. First, he hid the dead Darcose in a room he figured was for one of the boys, and prepared to transport himself to the woman's hotel room hundreds of miles away. It wasn't nearly as easy as he made it to be but he was Layton. He always had more than he showed out.