Enigma of the Soul - Book 1 - Pieces (11 page)

Wednesday and Thursday are both spent laughing and playing games. Friday brought rain that lasted all day long. When the lighting was lighting up the it made the light from the candles seem spookier. The thunder would shake the house so hard everyone would jump out of their skin. They took turns telling ghost stories to each other into the wee hours of the morning. On Saturday, David was the last person to get up. The days came and went as nights came too early for David. Sunday was spent sitting in front of a bonfire, laughing. Before David puts out the fire for the night, he looks back on the week and thinks to himself that this was one great week. David puts the fire out and goes to bed.

A knocking on the front door echoes against the living room walls to fill the fresh air with an eerie feeling. Joanne yells she is coming. The knocking stops, leaving the air at peace once again. Joanne opens the door to a man wearing a plain, black wizards robe.

“Is David home? I am a long time friend of his. I have been trying to hunt him down for quite some time now. I have something important to tell him.”

“No, I am sorry sir but he is not here right now. He went to town to get something for dinner. He will be back soon,” Joanne replies. She gets ready to close the door.

“Would it be okay if I stayed here and waited on him? It makes no sense for me to leave and come back. I promise that I will not be any trouble.” The stranger puts out his hands to show they are empty.

“Well, I don't see any harm in waiting on a friend. Come on in. You may sit in the living room,” Joanne opens the door wider to let the stranger in.

Death stands next to a dying tree and watches the stranger enter the house. Death realizes that she is early and will have to wait.

She thinks to herself, 'I hate waiting.'

“I'm sorry; I did not get your name,” Joanne says.

“Devan, my name is Devan, and I am a long time friend of David's. I can't wait to see the look on his face,” Devan replies as he reveals his face from under the hood. He looks to the back of the house and sees that the table is set for dinner already.

Trying to make small talk Devan says. “You guys set the table for dinner already? It is only mid-afternoon. Why do you do that?”

“We did that because we are going to eat dinner early tonight. We have a big day tomorrow.”

“Oh, and what is so special about tomorrow?” Devan asks.

“It is my little girls birthday, and we have the whole day planned out from breakfast to the bonfire at night. It is going to be a fun day,” Joanne pulls some of the blankets off the couch so that Devan can sit down. Devan looks puzzled as to why all these blankets are on the couch.

“Is this someone's bed for the night?” Devan starts to get comfortable, adjusting the pillow to his side.

“Yes, it is. It is David's bed for now. He still has not decided if he is going to stay or not. Sometimes I wish that I knew what that boy is thinking,” Joanne walks around the room picking up other people's messes.

“So when do you expect everyone else home?” Devan begins to grow impatient with the conservation.

“They are all here. They are just out back playing. Why do you ask?” Joanne stops what she is doing and faces Devan, not sure what to think next.

“Well, I am a wizard. Since your daughter has a birthday tomorrow, I thought that it would be exciting for her and everyone else to see some magic.” Devan smiles the friendliest smile that he can think of. He waves his hands and produces a single white rose. Devan stands up and hands the rose to Joanne.

Joanne blushes as she takes the roses from Devan. The sweet smell of the rose is intoxicating. Little tingles race throughout her body, making her feel alive. She stands there in silence soaking up the moment as it lasts forever. Devan leans closer, whispers in her ear to go fetch the others, and she nods her head. Joanne turns to leave with the white rose still in her hand.

As she walks outside, her husband and kids not paying any attention to her are playing tag. Joanne sniffs the white rose and its intoxicating fragrance deepens her mood. Joanne stands oblivious and continues drinking in the white rose scent. Lucien catches a glimpse of his wife standing there like a stone statue, motionless to the world around her. He stops playing with the kids to check on his wife. Walking up to her, Lucien notices a hollow stare coming from her eyes.

“Honey, are you okay? And who gave you that rose?” Lucien asks as he reaches for the rose. Joanne pulls away from him and replies. “You guys need to follow me. I have a surprise for you all.”

“Honey, you know how much I hate surprises, remember?” Lucien slowly follows her back into the house with the two kids shadowing him.

Joanne steps one foot at a time slowly moving forward. The family moves closer and closer to the living room. Joanne blocks the view so no one behind her can see the person sitting down on the couch. Justin and Lucia race around their parents to see the person sitting on the couch. To both of their surprise, a man in a wizard's cloak sat with his hood back up to help cover up his face and head.

The two children walk up to Devan, “Are you a wizard? Can you do magic?”

“Yes, I am a wizard, and I can do magic. Would you two like to learn some?” Devan holds out his hands with his palms facing up. The two kids nod their heads and each put one hand in one of Devan's hands.

Lucien stands behind Devan and watches his every move.

He thinks to himself, 'If this man thinks for once that he is going to pull a fast one on me than he's got another thing coming.'

“Now, you kids repeat after me. Okay…” Devan watches both children nod their heads.

Devan speaks in Latin, “Lift, lift, Father, Father, higher, higher, off the ground.”

Lucien lifts into the air like he was still standing on the ground.

“Okay kids, here is going to be the tough part. Remember just repeat after me,” Devan smiles back at the kids and speaks in Latin. “Swords of fear and tears come forth and claim your victim. For he is the one that is floating!”

Out of thin air, thirteen swords appear to pierce the flesh of Lucien and tack him to the wall. Fearful screams fill the air as the two kids rip their hands away from Devan. The kids run to their mother to hide from Devan's evil eyes. Joanne stands like a statue not moving when her children tug on her hands. Devan stands up and chuckles as he turns towards Lucien.

“Did you think for one split second that you might have the upper hand over me? What do I look like? A second rate wizard?” Devan summons one last sword and sends it into Lucien's chest, piercing his heart. Lucien screams as blood gushes from his chest cavity.

Before he passes away, Lucien says to Devan. “You're going to burn in hell for this.”

“I'm looking forward to it. You’re not the first and defiantly not the last. I think I am going to save your children for last because they have more spunk left in them,” Devan turns to Joanne and the two kids.

“Kids, you’re doing it all wrong. You’re supposed to take the rose from her hands to free her from that spell that she is under.”

Lucia reaches up and grabs her mother's hands. Justin grabs hold of the stem of the rose and pulls downward. The white rose reluctantly slips through Joanne hands, scratching them in the process. With one last pull, the blood covered white rose comes loose from Joanne hands. Her body becomes limp to the touch and falls to the floor. The two kids shake their mother, trying to wake her up. Devan walks over to the blood-stained rose and crushes it with his feet. He watches Joanne take her last breath.

“Oops, I forgot to tell you that your mother's life force was transformed into the white rose. I am so sorry about that,” Devan puts out his hands. “Now that your parents are dead. You can come and live with me if you would like to.”

“Never!” David shouts as he slowly enters the blood-stained room. Justin and Lucia hold onto their mother's frozen body weeping in grief. The closer that David gets to them, the more delighted Devan becomes as he anticipates for the confirmation that he begs for. David stops five feet away from Devan. An evil grin comes across Devan's twisted face.

Alfonzo whispers in David's ear, “Be careful, we do not know what this man is capable of.”

David's anger level rises quickly as he remembers where he met Devan.

“If you hurt them I'm going to kill you where you stand.”

“Do you mean these two children? The two children that lost their parents in an awful accident?” Devan holds out a hand towards the children's heads.

“You killed them. You killed my parents. You monster!” Lucia yells at Devan.

“Is this true? Did you kill my sister and her husband?” David's eyes begin to glow red.

“Well, since you put it that way, yes, I did, and it was fun. You should have seen the look on their faces after they repeated the spell that did this to their father. It was to die for,” Devan laughs wickedly.

David clenches his fists as smoke pours out from the spaces in between his fingers. His breathing becomes heavier with each breath. David searches his thoughts to what to do next.

“Now, don't do anything or I shall kill these two little brats,” Devan realizes that David is not what he thought that he was. He is questioning what he has started.

“To the death,” David speaks softly.

“To your death and theirs,” Devan chants a spell quickly. Watery spikes extend from his hand piercing the children. The watery spikes come undone and make a puddle underneath the children. Their limp bodies fall onto Joanne’s dead body.

“I am going to kill you now,” David says calmly as his arms ignite in flames and armor forms over his skin. He lifts up one hand and looks it over to judge his skill. Looking back at Devan with death resting in his eyes, David screams at the top of his lungs and charges.

The two souls collide in a thunderous boom.

Death stands outside watching over this fight. She realizes that in all her years collecting souls she has never seen a broken, pieced together soul before.

Death thinks to herself, 'I need to take a closer look. I need to figure out what I just found.'

She comes into the house to find two people fighting, one with a broken soul, and one with a whole soul.

Alfonzo watches as David begins to win the battle. David knocks Devan down only to have a spell knock him back. Alfonzo looks around the room as she senses a presence that she has not felt in a long time. Standing off to her left stands Death watching and waiting for the next to die.

'Dear God, no,' Alfonzo thinks to herself. 'I will not let David die here.'

Within that split second, David bear hugs Devan and begins to recite something that he should not know.

“You will die in my arms right now,” David says as blood drips from his mouth. With his last breath, David whispers the words, Phoenix's Kiss.

Death realizes that Alfonzo is in the room. Death looks around to find Alfonzo because she cannot sense Alfonzo's soul.

'This is different. How can you change your signature on your soul?' Death thinks to herself. 'Alfonzo is a halfling, and that is a human. How is Alfonzo reading like a human soul?'

Alfonzo has seconds before the spell takes effect, and Death claims another soul. Coming out of hiding, Alfonzo uncloaks and flies towards David with her claws out. Gripping David's shoulders, Alfonzo pulls him away from Devan. David's hands tear the robe off Devan to reveal his scarred chest. Alfonzo shoots a fireball into the ceiling to create and escape route.

Death watches Alfonzo and David soar through the opening in the ceiling to escape the spell that was cast. Turning her attention back to Devan, Death watches him chant a counter spell to save his own life.

Devan's skin tingles as a fire ignites inside of him, burning pieces of his soul one by one. Screaming in pain, Devan rolls around on the floor. With each breath, another piece of his soul is burnt up leaving an empty hole in its place. Lying in the fetal position, Devan chants an old spell, as he lies dying on the floor. Death is in shock because Devan is using a spell that has been forgotten for thousands of years to save his life. Devan is only halfway through the spell as he begins to stand up. A single flame emerges from his body. Devan holds out his hands and forces the Phoenix Kiss spell away from him, incinerating everything within one hundred foot radius. Devan stands alive and only a little bit scarred.

Death stands watching and waiting without a mark or burn. Compelled to know what is standing before her, Death exposes herself to Devan. She walks over to Devan and grabs him by the neck, lifting him off the floor. His hands immediately grip her forearms to brace himself. Devan peers into a faceless hood as he quickly realizes, Death is holding him. Shivering from fear, Devan hears the voice of Death.

“Where did you come from? Who made you? You are not on my list of souls to collect here,” Death looks deep into Devan's soul and sees something she has never seen in all of her existence. “Interesting, you are a jumbled up mess of broken souls that once died. It appears to be that you did not come away from that spell unharmed. Your good pieces have been burnt out leaving only darkness and chaos. You are going to keep me busy for a very long time. I guess that I should thank you,” Death drops Devan on his butt and walks over to the now incinerated corpses. Reaching into the remains of the deceased, Death pulls out each soul one by one. Each person that Death collects has no recollection of what happened. They are only happy to see their loved ones. Death leads all four of the Egleton family away.