The Last Guardian

Chapter_48: The Source of All

Billy watched as Johnathan ran off into the dark forest. He didn’t go looking for Lisa like Johnathan asked him to, instead he called Raven who was just a few minutes behind-

“Did you bring the trap with you?” he asked over the phone.

“Yes and I got the big guns too-ten minutes to your location-”she replied.

Billy cut the call and took out a cigarette to smoke. He leaned on the bonnet of the car and waited patiently for Raven to arrive. He had a different plan in his mind.

Meanwhile at the church, Brother Farid was rummaging through the piles of dusty old books, looking for the story that depicted the ancient knight accessing the Infinity. And after pulling down hundreds of books down from the shelves, he found a dusty termite eaten book with no name on the cover. He immediately took the book and started reading as quickly as he could. It was 4:15 in the morning and the sun would come out after half and hour but the heavy clouds in the sky foretold that it would indeed be another rainy day. The skies rumbled as Farid read on. Inside the torture room, Dmitri was starting to wake up, he twisted his hands a bit, the ropes were loosening...

Johnathan searches frantically for any clue that would lead to Lisa. It was about to be dawn and the forest was coming alive with the chirping of birds. He had walked for fifteen minutes straight but there was nothing but more trees and bushes and a rough terrain. He waited for a moment and looked around and suddenly he saw footprints on the ground, they were fresh, someone had been there. He followed the footprints and there were more- two, no, three sets of footprints! He anxiously followed them for ten minutes and then he saw the cabin in the woods!

He rushed towards it, not knowing about the danger that lay ahead. As he got closer to the cabin he was suddenly pushed back by an invisible force. He was surprised- the thin air seemed to block his way. He tried again and this time he ran but the invisible force held him back like a brick wall. He scratched his head, puzzled at this unnatural event. This time he walked towards it, slowly holding out his hand in the air, trying to feel the invisible wall- he felt it- like a cold slab of ice extending in all directions.

"A shield? Something doesn't want me here-"he said to himself.

"I knew you'd come!" a woman's voice echoed through the trees.

Johnathan looked around in shock.

"Who's there?!" Johnathan asked.

"Oh it doesn't matter boy- I know who you are and what you do- you've destroyed a few demons and monsters and now you think you can stop us?" laughed the voice.

Johnathan understood what it was-

"Show yourself witch!" he demanded.

But the voice laughed creepily, still hiding from him and mocking him from a distance. Johnathan took out his sword and swung on the invisible wall. His sword immediately ricocheted from the impact- there was indeed a strong energy, preventing him from moving forward. He tried again but with the same result. This time he kicked it with his leg in frustration and immediately sparks flew in the air- he had hurt the barrier somehow. Now he was sure that he can penetrate the force field, so he put his sword back in its sheathe and rolled the sleeves of his jacket and brought forth his metal arms!

With his full strength, he began to punch on the barrier as hard as he could- he could see the force field shaking under the impact of his punches and kicks- it was starting to break-

From a distance Thelma was observing the entire scene, she was planning to block him from reaching the cabin, where she had held Lisa captive and then enchant him with her black magic and kill him. But it was not working- he was more powerful than she had previously imagined. She had to do something to stop him. As Johnathan was halfway into breaking the barrier, Thelma appeared from the door of the cabin, holding Lisa hostage. She had held a sharp knife to her throat and tied her hands and mouth.

“Walk you clumsy skank! Look what trouble you’ve brought me- now I shall feast on both of you!”said Thelma pushing her from behind.

Lisa walked outside with the witch holding a knife on her -one wrong step and she would slice her throat. She saw Johnathan and her eyes lit up with hope.

“Oh thank God! He’s here-” she thought.

“Enough of that!”yelled the witch. Johnathan stopped and looked at her. He saw Lisa being held hostage, he was enraged.

“Lisa!!”he cried “Are you all right? Don’t worry I am here now- let go off her, you ugly witch!”he shouted.

“Oh not so easily, first you lay down all your weapons and surrender- kneel before me and I’ll let her go-”she yelled back.

Lisa suddenly stepped on the witch’s leg as hard as she could. The witch yelled in pain and let go off her while she somehow managed to remove the piece of cloth from her mouth-

“Don’t listen to her! She will kill both of us-”she shouted.

But the witch have had enough, she hit the back of her head and knocked her unconscious. Johnathan yelled in anger and punch the barrier as hard as he could. It cracked and with a loud noise fell apart. Thelma was shocked and she immediately ran with her knife towards Lisa intending to stab her. But Johnathan was quicker, he took out his sword and threw it like javelin towards her. The sword penetrated her chest and the pointy end protruded from the other side. Thelma froze and groaned in pain and fell down on her knees. Johnathan went and held Lisa in his arms and tried to wake her up. He checked her pulse, she was still breathing. He laid her down softly on the ground and went towards the witch intending to finish the job. The witch was kneeling and groaning, it seemed like she’d die any second. Johnathan grabbed the sword that was still stuck in he chest and pulled it out- there was no blood on it or anywhere. He raised his sword high in the air to chop her head off but before he could do so, the witch began to disappear- her body evaporated like a thick smog.

Thunder rolled in the skies and Johnathan heard that same terrible laughter all around him. He ran towards Lisa and picked her up in his arms.

“Not bad! Not bad at all- You thought you could kill me so easily? We are the Coven- we have been here for hundreds of years, we know and see everything and we control everything around you- even this forests....”echoed the voice.

Strong winds began to blow and lightning fell down from the sky. Johnathan started to hurry out of the jungle with Lisa in his arms.

“God! She’s heavy!” he remarked.

The voice echoed again-

“Run, run little boy- run while you still can- ha ha!”

Johnathan ran as fast as he could. It was not easy, the road was rocky and treacherous. Thorny bushes scratched his arms and back but all he cared for was Lisa’s safety. He was a few meters away from the highway and he could see the road from the distance but to his surprise, there was nobody- no Billy, no Lisa’s car not even his own truck!

He paused for a moment, Lisa was starting to wake up and he sat her body down on the ground-she opened her eyes to see Johnathan in front of her while the trees swayed in violent force in the wild storm.

“Hey, hey- it’s ok- she’s gone now-”he said.

“Ah! My head- where did you come from? Where’s my car?” she asked.

Johnathan’s phone began to ring. He picked it up-it was Brother Farid on the other side.

“Hello? Johnny? You ok?” asked Farid.

“Not so much Brother Farid, what is it? We are kinda busy right now-”he replied.

“Listen, I’ve found it- the infinity – the source of all- it’s your own subconscious mind-if you can access it, you will find basically limitless powers- I thought you need to know this- your enemy is way more dangerous than you could imagine-” Farid explained over the phone.

Johnathan could barely hear him from the loud thunderstorm.

“Listen- I’ll have to call you back-”he said and cut the call.

He gave Lisa a hand and helped her to stand but at that moment a bolt of lightning fell close to his legs which threw him away. He fell down to the side with a loud ringing in his head, while Lisa fell a few feet away from him-he could not move his body no matter how hard he tried.

With his half open eyes he saw two dark figures both dressed in black cloaks appearing in front of him. His vision was blurry but he could tell, both of them were Witches!!

The sky began to rumble, the wind blew fiercely and by the side of the highway stood the witches grinning as Johnathan lay half awake. Lisa on the other hand was in shock and she could barely make out what was going on. A dangerous game was about to begin-