The Grin of Prophecy (Book 1 of the Death Incarnate Saga)

Chapter 8

  Cage crossed his long arms and glared at the woman, but she didn’t back down. Meeka didn’t fear him as he suspected and had a strength that actually impressed him. Most women would be completely unsettled and frightened from his empty countenance, especially after enduring what she had all day yesterday. She wouldn’t let this go at all, being unable to deny or skirt around. The muscles in his jaw clinched as his training to keep information from compromising himself warred with the human side that didn’t want to disappoint this kind person who just has curiosity that held not an ounce of malice. Eventually the human side won as he sighed. She smiled reassuringly at his stoic and frighteningly handsome expression. “Fine, I’ll tell you my story, but I just don’t know where to begin.”

  “I’ve learned that the beginning is always the best.”

  “Ok, but if I tell you this you must swear to never tell another living soul.”

  Seriously, she vowed “You have my lifelong word.”

  Again he could see her speak the truth and not once tell as she had broken a promise to another person. She meant it to the very core of her being, but her large, soulful blue eyes twinkled in triumph and eager intrigue. Eventually he conceded. “Try to keep an open mind alright. Most likely you won’t understand most of my words, terminology or jargon so be patient.”

  “I’ll do what I can.” She promised.

  “Come on. Let’s keep walking while I tell you my story.”

  She outright beamed in pleasure and couldn’t look away from him for long as she kept pace at his side.

  “If you want the beginning, you’ll have it as I know it. For you to understand where I come from you must know I’m not from this world.” He noticed from the corner of his eyes, not looking anywhere except the road ahead, and saw her jaw drop and her have a slight, stumbling misstep of utter disbelief. “I’m not lying at all. If you’ve ever believed anything I’ve said since we met you must believe I’m from somewhere completely different. Now back to the story…

  “The very first thing I know about myself is I was abandoned shortly after my unknown mother gave birth to me. I was unwanted right from the first time I drew my first breath of air. She, or someone else, supposedly put me in a small metal cage and dropped me off at a courthouse and left without anyone seeing anything. That is how I got the name Cage, for it was where I had been discovered and someone didn’t have a lick of humor. As all orphans who are dumped by their parents, I was thrown into the system.” He met her eyes for a moment only to find her attention solely riveted to him. “The system I refer to is another name for orphanages. I grew up fast and had to learn to survive because the older children, who were in a similar situation as I, targeted me for their anger and resentment. Several times they nearly beat me to the point of death and the adults didn’t seem to care, but I never make the exact same mistake twice. I learned to fight simply by watching and the next time the older kids came to hurt me, they forever learned my capabilities, for at the tender age of six, I killed three twelve year olds with my own two little hands. I fled the orphanage before I was caught by the adults who never did anything for me.

  “After that day I knew I could survive and not have rely on others.

  “I thought and lived that way for three years after the incident and only had to kill one more time to survive. I learned how to survive no matter what stood in my way. For a time I had to steal food and clothes since I lived in a large city that snowed regularly. Nobody helped me and at the time I didn’t help anyone.

  “Then one day at the age of nine I saw a drug deal go down and someone saw me hiding. I ran away as fast as my little legs could carry me, but the hired bodyguards easily overtook me and dragged me into an alleyway, out of sight from others walking the streets. I knew how to fight and felt a thrill to pit myself against a worthy opponent, but the four men who cornered me weren’t out to fight a kid. I was a disposable witness no one knew about or would be missed. One of the men drew a gun on me when I kicked him in the groin and kicked out the knee of his companion, but I was outsized, outclassed, outnumbered and unarmed. The man shot me in the arm and boy do I still remember the pain it caused… Well the gunshot drew the attention of a lone individual who saw what was happening.

  “I passed out from shock, but not before seeing that large man run unarmed into the alley and easily kill the four with his own two hands. His moves were absolutely awe inspiring.

  “By the time I woke up I found myself in a hospital… Meeka, that is a place where people go to see healers to get treated.”

  She kept walking, listening with rap attention, but hearing that she asked “You mean healers do not come to your home? That is improper, why don’t they?”

  “Doctors used to make house-calls a long time ago, but these days you have to be filthy rich to even have a doctor leave his practice for a checkup. Mostly they find it convenient, but another reason is because their equipment is usually impossible to move because of sheer size and weight. Now let me get back to my story before I explain other subjects.

  “When I awoke I instantly saw the man who saved my life. There were police officers waiting for me to wake and tell them why I was shot. The police are like your home guard. They protect the people and punish those who break the law or harm others. I told them what I saw in the drug deal and, as a child, I didn’t have to get personally involved, but all the other men involved, including the drug lords were arrested.” He heard her whisper ‘That is good.’

  “After the police got what they needed and left I finally got a chance to speak with the man who didn’t leave my side since he saved my life in that alley. In a sense I did to you what he did for me.” Cage smiled contently though his head still throbbed from the most likely cause of overuse of magic, lack of sleep and need for food fighting together to tell him to stop. “I learned his name was Beau and was about to leave town since he finished his fighting tournament and won first place against men half his own age. He was forty years old at the time, but he liked being called the old man. Said it made his opponents underestimate him. He asked where I lived and who my parents are, and not one to trust adults from bad experiences, I lied and he didn’t buy the story as to why I was out so late and alone. It didn’t take long for him to verify I was homeless and deserted by loved ones. The old man did the unexpected and brought me to his home in Florida. For the first time in my life I had a place to stay and someone watching out for me. I healed up and went to a gym that he owned and trained others how to fight. I asked to use the punching bag and surprised every adult there without meaning to. I had basic skills far more refined than any child my age. Beau challenged me to a match and the other adults thought it was a challenge all in good fun, but what they soon found out was I’m a natural born fighter who gets a rush of enjoyment. On that first match, I broke the old man’s nose and bruised his collarbone, but he was so skilled and used to pain and fighting that he had to knock me out before I did any killing moves. I awoke soon after to find him smiling, laughing and patting my shoulder while saying how wonderful of a fighter I was, but I lacked restraint and precision. He said all that while he tried to stop the blood dripping off his chin from the blow I did to his nose.

  “From that day on he became my personal fight instructor and my father figure who never let me down nor I him… well most of the time at least. Then he enrolled me in home school to discover another frightening aspect of me. He called me a prodigy, for I learned at an accelerated rate for any other child my age. In two years time I was doing work college students at renowned institutions struggled over. In that aspect he couldn’t help. What would scare most parents or adults merely made the old man laugh. He didn’t get scared once as he taught me nearly everything I know about life.

  “But the government got wind of my skills and approached me with an offer a sixteen year old boy couldn’t pass up. Fight for glory and the protection of your land. There was a group of individuals comprised of people just like me who learned nearly insta
ntly, could fight and were easily superior to any other military group on the planet. Beau didn’t care what I chose to do, for a man who can think on his own can do as he likes, but made me promise to return to him from time to time to know I was alright. So, thinking I can kill some bad guys and protect my country with the usual propaganda that doesn’t mean a damn thing anymore, I went willingly. Petty governmental bastards…” He said bitterly and Meeka could see anger surface in his pure black eyes and hoped they’d never be directed at her. “I was taken to an undisclosed training center that tested me and found that no one my age could be compared or stand up to anything I could unleash. They trained me in the use of many combat weapons from knives to sniper training, all of which I perfected in less than a week. They pared me with a handler who was an ex-spy and she taught me how to infiltrate and blend in to any situation as I judged. Sometimes I needed all eyes on me as I danced with a woman or to be seen and forgotten or to go completely unnoticed with people everywhere. They built upon my natural abilities to read people and now I can predict well enough to spot a liar, thief or even average spies. Such refined skills saved my life more times than I can count.

  “Eventually when I turned eighteen and proved myself to be my nation’s best asset, they put me in a special group from other nations with similar superior skills. The best team in all the world was comprised of twenty six men and nineteen women all like myself. Fifteen nations worked together and sent us on the most dangerous missions no other military or trained group could go. Our team was nameless for we couldn’t be known at all. We were all part of a military yet we weren’t acknowledged so we didn’t have a need to use normal military ranks, channels or words for our own safety and cover. And we lost only one member, a girl who was killed by a stray bullet, in the five years I was in. In four years though, at twenty two, the whole team chose me to lead the missions since my analytical and fighting skills were marginally the best. That is how my team ran, without any anger or bias. The best led the very best and if I was a fool leader they would have either replaced or killed me, but since I continuously brought everyone home alive, I remained leader. Though I excelled at close range, hand to hand combat, I sometimes needed to use weapons to complete a mission. It was the same for my brothers and sisters as well. The forty five members of my unit truly became my family. We would get orders from each of our nations by our top generals and carried them out with a ninety four percent perfect mission success. We were sent after drug lords, foreign spies, terrorists, corrupt government officials, hostage situations and quite a few rescue missions from our different governments military units being captured. The other six percent is if we made a mistake and got a bystander or the person we were sent to rescue killed. But not once was my team spotted as agents nor did we ever truly fail to finish our task.

  “We were the world’s absolute best assault team of fighters and infiltrators.”

  “You said were and sound so tense, what happened?” She asked when he went silent, but kept walking for several minutes.

  Cage breathed through his nose to calm himself before finally looking at her while walking. “The collaboration of governments grew increasingly concerned by us and our expertise instead of being pleased. Paranoid would be the best word. Since no one of any significance knew about us, we were seen as an expendable threat though we never disobeyed an order unless it was to kill children. We were forced to kill a child on two occasions only because the enemy put explosives on the kids and sent them to bomb themselves inside military areas or at civilians.”

  “How horrible.”

  “With increasing concerns against our overwhelming success we were sent on another mission, not realizing we were betrayed by the very countries we had been chosen from to protect.” Their pace slowed, but didn’t stop. “We were sent after a troublesome drug cartel in a deep jungle that we had fought in before, but we were ambushed by those very men for they had been forewarned we were all coming since it was going to be a cleansing mission that would leave none alive. They knew where our destination was and sprung a well laid trap of their own. As the best, we killed over two hundred of their men before enemy fire cut my siblings down. In less than a minute only nine of my brothers, not including myself, were captured alive after the ambush.

  “The first thing the cartel wanted to know is who the leader was. It was me, but we all knew it no longer mattered and the leader would be tortured the worst or have to sit and watch as his men were slowly and painfully killed before his eyes before dying himself. Not one of my brothers would betray each other, but we all knew we were going to die, but we still didn’t give up. Meeka, I won’t tell you what they did to my brothers, but I will tell you what they did to me.” She nodded, already looking a little green. “First they broke all the bones in my feet with a large hammer so that I couldn’t escape.” Her eyes widened. “They shoved splinters up my fingernails, electrocuted me with enough current to cause intense pain, but not kill, but their favorite tortures were to nearly drown me in salt water after beating on my face to make more open wounds. They urinated on us and completely humiliated us. For most men, they’d break after a few days at most and become delirious from such treatment. Not us.

  “My brothers and I endured nearly a month of their generosity, but only three of us survived at that point. Unfortunately we had nearly all lost our humanity.”

  “One day a rival gang heard the location of the cartel where we were being cared for and attacked them. In the confusion of gunfire and battle, one man of the drug lords who captured us held a knife and went to finish us off since we were all trying to escape our bonds. The man slit the throat of two of my brothers before rushing to me, but I managed to break the small bone in my thumb to escape the cuffs they bound my wrist with. But I was severely weakened and a bit delusional from their kind hospitality. I misjudged the strike and tripped, giving the guy the opportunity to literally stab me in the back. His knife slipped between the vertebrae and severed my spinal cord. It instantly paralyzed me from the waist down.” He stopped to touch her lower back, two inches above her buttocks. “He stabbed me right here, Meeka, right between the two bones where the softer cartilage lays. Did you know you can break every bone in your body and survive, but screw with the nervous system even slightly and you’ll die?”

  She shook her head as he pulled his hand back. “One day I want you to teach me these things.”

  “One day.” He promised before walking again. “The stabbing cleared my mind for pain sometimes does that. I was able to spin just enough to wrap my arms around his neck and break it. I crawled on my arms slowly for the pain in my lower extremities was blindingly intense. Sometimes I pretended to be dead and it helped to keep the knife in my back because it looked like someone did me in. After the attack there came the local police and I knew I didn’t have much choice to survive without their help so I gained their attention. Luckily for me they were actually the good guys and weren’t corrupt. Part of my training made me a linguist and I spoke to the officers, telling them the knife must remain till I get to the hospital and they agreed before I passed out.

  “I awoke about a week later to answer what exactly happened, but since I couldn’t tell the truth about anything, I said I was out hiking with my friends and were captured with men of the military, since they found our gear there. I did a fair job convincing them. But I learned I would never walk thanks to a severed spinal cord. I seriously doubt if not for my world’s medicine I would have certainly died here because from what I’ve seen in this place, someone else in a similar condition would die slowly unless someone had kindness and ended such suffering quickly.” He sighed through his nose again. “I spent the next eight weeks healing and getting used to a new life I knew would cripple me forever. In that time I realized my family had been betrayed from the fear of our superiors and swore to justify their cowardice. Meeka, very quickly, a wheelchair in its most basic form is as it sounds, a chair with wheels. For people who can no longer walk it is the
only alternative to staying in a bed all day and most likely die from bedsores or infection.”

  “That is the truth as I know it… unless a mage is around and is kind enough to offer their services or can be afforded.” He nodded in thanks for her reinforced observation.

  “Well I decided to get vengeance on everyone involved with the death of my brothers and sisters. We were betrayed by the very people we trusted and is the main reason why I have a hard time trusting others, no matter how kind they really are. Well my team made quite a bit of money we didn’t share with our overseers and we stashed it all over in an event we needed to disappear and I used the funds to get the names of every individual responsible who had a hand in having my siblings killed. It didn’t take all that long to get an accurate list without alerting the ones responsible that one of us actually survived the betrayal.

  “The old man saw me about six months later and was more pissed than I was and that is saying something. He hated me being crippled saying he didn’t have a proper sparring partner anymore, but we still fought ferociously for I needed to learn what I could do in my new situation. Though he was aging we never really got the chance to go all out for one of us would surely die. He wanted to help me kill them bastards since he met a few of my team members and didn’t dislike one. But Beau knew this was personal and I wouldn’t be satisfied unless I personally got vengeance. He let me stay at his place and I used all my knowledge to track down every location the betrayers worked, lived, every food joint they visited, favorite place to go as a kid and even followed the movements of their families. I laid low for a year as I planned, worked and revised every piece of strategy I came up with. And during that time my upper body might not look like it, but my arm and hand strength is vastly superior than others for they were all I had to move with. Imagine all the strength your legs have and have it equaled in your arms.

  “Over the next two years I randomly chose each country that supplied my family. I mixed up my method of killing for each target so that a pattern didn’t arise and each one that fell didn’t even suspect a cripple when they met me. In all, I killed one hundred and nine individuals with my own two hands. I killed each one, from strategists to generals, till at last no one else intimately knew of my team or had any affiliation to their demise.

  “But then I got word that the old man died of a heart attack just an hour or two after killing the last man who originally gave us the orders to go and be killed. Out of everyone, I enjoyed taking his life most. I learned in my investigation that General Tripp is the actual one who originally talked the other nations into betraying us.

  “I missed the old man’s funeral and paid my respects before preparing to drop off the radar. I got all my affairs in order and was about to never be seen again before the military somehow learned I killed the general and they tried to catch me, but they didn’t realize my skills were undiminished after winding up in a chair. If anything it made me more dangerous for I learned to see and do things the average person wouldn’t expect. I lost my pursuers…”

  Cage continued the story of the chase and being stopped in the woods before being magically transported here. Meeka listened to every detail with wide eyes. She laughed as he said the greatest joy besides walking again was to urinate on a tree until she saw the truth and asked a few questions as to how he did it before and she blanched at the description of a catheter and how it’s used. He shrugged his shoulders since it had to be done.

  He began telling her of how he had been healed of every debilitating injury, broken bones and scaring as he struggled. She even now understood the faint scars on his shoulder from the bite of wolves. The mountain lion’s scratches were nonexistent. Meeka gasped as he spoke of the island. “Are you serious? You arrived on the island to the west of Kote?” He nodded. “That is impossible! Everyone, including the mages, never get close to there. It is nothing but a death trap for anyone foolish enough to get near. It is off limits and I’ve heard even the mages are afraid of it for some reason.”

  Cage continued the story and about how he learned of magic. Soon he paused to show her his armguards and boots. It made some sense to her as she studied the skulls with black diamond eyes. He omitted nothing except his specific uses of magic or anything relating to Ceembura, the creator of his new arms and boots. He even retold of how he killed the man in the woods and used his head for the bounty. Eventually he said “And you now know most of who I am and went through up to this point. Now it is up to you to believe if my story is real or not.”

  They walked in silence for well over an hour till they came across a stream. Again Cage cleaned the water with magic, but didn’t need to speak since he knew what he wanted and the magic did the job perfectly. When Meeka took a drink she gasped in surprise. “I just thought because I was thirsty that the water last night tasted good, but it is your magic that changes the flavor…”

  “No,” He explained while shaking his head. “all I did is take out all impurities, microscopic bugs and everything else that isn’t pure water. All that nasty blob is what I took out of the water. What you expected to taste is actually that gunk.”

  “But I’ve never tasted water so delicious. May I have some more?” She pleaded and returned the container.

  He smiled and did it again, but while he worked she suddenly admitted “Cage, for some strange reason I believe your story. I cannot understand certain parts of it as you warned, but it is too elaborate a story to be a lie. It does make some sense that you wouldn’t know even the basics of our life if you hadn’t come from very far away. You are a mage and even I can tell you are untrained. You don’t even know the land in which you stand upon. I can comprehend why you want to keep your past and where you come from a guarded secret. I cannot truly understand what you’ve gone through, but I can listen at any time you wish to speak openly.”

  “Thanks, Meeka.” He said and handed over the freshly cleaned water and watched as she truly looked to enjoy the liquid. “Let me fill it up one more time before we head out. We have quite a bit of ground to cover before nightfall.”

  Meeka and Cage began to move at a brisk pace for her and a slightly advanced walk for him. As they moved she couldn’t help thinking of the man beside her being from another world. He doesn’t have any reason to lie. And she can’t prove either that he is lying or actually from another world that the gauntlets spirited him from. There is much about magic she doesn’t know, but she believed deep down something like that is possible.

  But as she walked her eyes drifted to his pants where she flushed at the size of the flaccid bulge beneath the cloth. She remembered it well that morning two days before and imagined what such a thing can do for a woman, but then she thought more of it and thought something weird. She asked hesitantly “Cage, will it be alright to ask how you were mutilated?”

  “Mutilated? How do you mean?”

  “Your manhood…” She blushed while looking ahead sheepishly.

  “My what?” He quickly tried understanding her meaning and a moment later he laughed aloud. “Oh that?!” He chuckled. “No, I was not mutilated. I was circumcised after I was found as a baby. It is very common where I come from. All they do is cut away the foreskin. It helps keep infection down while also making it supposedly more pleasurable for women.”

  Before thinking, letting her sexual side take a moment of control she asked “May I see it?” Then as it registered she hurriedly added “For a healer’s curiosity I mean. I hope you do not mind?”

  “Hardly.” He laughed and began undoing his pants on the barren road. “I’m not at all conservative. I say we were born nude and shouldn’t be embarrassed about it. If it’s unbearably hot why do we have to suffer being hotter because of clothes. It should only be used to keep us warm in winter or to keep the sun off when it is relentless and use clothes to shade our skin. There should not be one reason to be embarrassed about yourself.” And Cage finally pulled it out, making Meeka’s eyes grow to the size of her fists. “And if I can somehow prove
to healers and other medical professionals how my knowledge of modern medicine can have people live better lives I’ll do what I can. After all, I’ve never had an infection because of foreskin and nor have I felt the signs of a UTI since I haven’t the need of catheters. So Meeka, what do you think?”

  “The gods sure blessed any woman capable of taking in that.” She said again without thinking as her heart beat with desire. With great strength she kept herself from reaching out, working it into a lance and trying to make her feel like a real woman in the throes of passion do. She heard him chuckle and cursed mentally as he stuffed it back in and seal it away. “Does it hurt, getting this circumcision?”

  “I bet it did, but I was a baby and don’t remember. For a man to get one he’d need several days or weeks before having sex again, but I also hear that a circumcision gives men just as much added pleasure as it does women.”

  They began walking, but her curiosity couldn’t be quenched after seeing something so impressive. “Does it still work the same?”

  “As far as I know.” He said casually, laughing on the inside after seeing her hungry expression while also feeling pity for her because she could never feel the pleasure of becoming one with another.

  “Did it also work after you wound up in this wheelchair contraption you spoke of?”

  “It did. For men it is usually an involuntary reaction to a stimulus.” To which she asked innocently ‘Like what?’ “Like action, romance, watching others, sometimes seeing something they really want, some say it is because they found their mate, music or fighting also does it, but most it is when they truly desire to take the person for themselves. Hell, even women have their reactions when they want someone. Their downstairs swell in a natural preparation to welcome a man inside and their nipples harden. It is all natural, but most find a subject like this taboo or a forbidden topic. What is, is. To make sex seem uncomfortable just shows how weak minded the individual is.”

  “You said it is usually an involuntarily reaction. Is it involuntarily for you?” She couldn’t help think of how she first reacted to him and what this conversation is arousing deep with her. It has only happened a few times with her when she finds a man or woman attractive.

  “Not any more. I’ve learned many skills and keeping my pride in order is one of them.”

  “From the context of what you say, can I assume you’ve been with other women before? Did someone hurt you so that you’ll never be with another?”

  He looked at her while walking. “I have. It was quite an experience each woman will never forget.” He grinned as she blushed and noticed the two hard dots poking from his loaned shirt. “But it has been over three years since I’ve laid with a woman. After winding up in a wheelchair, women saw me differently, like an inferior man with weak genes. Women used to flock to me and beg me to make them orgasm like no other man they knew, but after the paralysis… they taught me something. Both they and I were shallow. I realized then that I didn’t know love, nor does it truly exist. I had a girlfriend at the time, but when she found out I couldn’t do as I once could she left me saying she couldn’t handle being with a cripple. I took care of myself as I always have, but being by my side was too much to ask.” Cage shook his head. “The only ones who didn’t treat me differently were the guys at the gym. They were the only ones who saw me as me.”

  “I wouldn’t have done that if I was your woman.” She said softly.

  “Oh really?” He asked with sarcasm while continuing. “I’ll believe that statement if you answer me this with the upmost truth. Have you ever been aroused by a truly ugly individual or a person who cannot walk or has to use some form of crutch and think ‘Oh, I’d like to fuck his brains out right now!’ and decide to walk right up to that person and befriend them with that in mind and follow through?”

  Meeka went cold all over and stopped as bumps rose all over her body. Never before had she heard someone say something truly shocking than he. She stared at him as he too stopped and crossed his arms over his bare, hairless chest. Not once in her whole life has someone asked something so critically honest about herself. Not having any real friends made her a social outcast and this situation and questioning startled her. Meeka didn’t sense any anger or hurt in his voice and his calm eyes seemed to burrow into her soul. The warmth in her chest and flower vanished as he asked her of this. Is this what a friend is like? She asked in a side thought while turning inwards to find a memory and say she is different than any of the women of his world. She stood frozen in both body and soul while staring at him and thinking critically. Tears began to well in her eyes as she shook her head, feeling that his questions were more painful than any torture she felt yesterday. She murmured “I cannot say otherwise, Cage…” She felt her lips quivering. “I’m just as pathetic as those women you know. The gods have made me weak…”

  “Damn fool.” He cursed while walking right up to her and poking her forehead. “God or Gods are a figment propagated to control the minds of the weak. Think woman! That is where our greatest power lays. You must think rationally if you’re ever going to grow. Gods do not exist.”

  Her jaw dropped as he spoke such blasphemy. “But they do!”

  “Bullshit!” He countered and stopped poking. “I’ve seen proof that they do not. It is people who made up such fantasy. If there are such things as gods I’d go find them and beat the shit out of them for not doing their jobs. If they are really the source of good and evil then one should have won by now at least. There is always someone stronger or who makes a mistake and gets killed. Nothing is perfect. If the god of supposed Good won he wouldn’t allow children used as weapons, mothers killing their children, armed robbery or have the need to give anything alive pain. And if Evil won they wouldn’t allow even the faintest sliver of Good to exist. Gods are just a grownups imaginary friend or enemy. If I ever see a real god I’ll believe it and like I said, I’d kick its ass, well if it has one.” He chuckled. “Meeka, all that I’ve come to know is there is only a cycle, life and death. There is no beginning or end, just a never ending cycle. When we die, some part of us will live on in the life of another just like someone before us has died and is within us either in body or memory. Open your eyes, Meeka, and think for yourself, not what others want you to think. If you don’t believe me then that is your choice you made all on your own, not because some fictional being said so. A rationalist questions everything and believes in what is real or is not. For instance, I never believed in ghosts or spirits in my world, but after coming here I met one that wasn’t a trick, illusion or fake.”

  Her eyes widened like it did when he allowed her to see his manhood up close. “You’ve actually seen a spirit?!” He nodded. “When?”

  “Only once, but Meeka even the spirit referred to there being more after death, but nothing of a creator or some master plan. If you are to grow as a person you must think!”

  The tears she held at bay broke for a mad run down her cheeks as she sobbed “I hope to do something like this and not be a petty woman like who hurt you so. I’ve never had a real friend before or a love. I wish I could have you! I so want to be someone else and have someone that I wish I’d die just to get a chance. Why can I not have a lover? Why must I be punished for something I didn’t do? How can I have any kind of romance or pleasure when it is given to others so freely and been denied to me? I hate this! I hate this curse that has taken everything from me that makes me a woman… I cannot lose myself in the throes of passion or have a baby I could never kiss or truly care for!”

  Cage’s heart begins to break, seeing her lose herself and misjudged just how far she could be pushed before snapping. She looked so strong and kind, but it was a brittle mask to hide all the pain being released right now.

  Without thinking, he knew how to stop her emotional pain that threatened to crush her completely and approached with only good intentions, tilted her chin up with a knuckle and brought his lips down upon hers.

  Meeka was so totally oblivious in her
bewildered state of mind that she didn’t notice what Cage started doing till she felt him lift her chin and felt the tender warmth of his lips press upon hers. Her eyes widened at first in surprise, but grew as she realized what he had done. She felt something surge within her as bumps stood on end all over her body. She remembered such an overwhelming feeling happening only once before and felt a frigid shiver of fear rise from every corner of her body and blast to her lips in the blink of an eye.

  Cage felt an immense tingle of magic ripple through his body like crawling ants, just like when he felt the barrier back on his island. His mind instantly registered what he had done, but was too late to dodge the attack.

  In the instant their lips met Meeka’s curse came alive and blasted, without any guidance, through their connected lips and into Cage.

  Cage felt as if he had been hit by a truck supercharged with lightning as he felt the impact of magic slam into him. By the sheer force of will and high tolerance of pain Cage remained conscious, but lost all control of his body. He felt like being tortured back in the jungle with electricity again. Cage’s eyes went wide and couldn’t stop himself from watching Meeka’s frightened eyes roll into the back of her head as she crumbled to the ground. Ever so slowly, as if in actual slow motion, he began leaning forward, but then back as his center of gravity pulled him backwards and fall rigidly against the hard dirt road, but felt nothing as he stared up at the open sky. For a moment Cage didn’t understand what was happening, but then he remembered the second biggest mistake of his life, just after losing all his siblings.

  Is this really the end? He wondered internally, seeing his vision frost and ice over like that of a window in wintertime. Why did I do something without thinking? Oh yeah, I’m still just like any guy who isn’t fond to see women cry for something that they didn’t bring on themselves… What is that feeling? It is like the wintery mission in Siberia… Oh shit! This is Meeka’s freezing curse!

  He felt the creeping chill consuming everything he is from the inside out while also approaching from the opposite direction. Cage hadn’t a clue as to how to counter such raw and powerful magic that had invaded him. Though Cage couldn’t understand it he felt the foreign energy trying to completely take over and knew if he didn’t act quick, he would freeze to death. Already in some places he felt nothing and knew his nerves had been frozen like actual frostbite as if he were somehow lost high up in the mountains. Then Cage came up with the most rudimentary way to eliminate ice or cold.

  Heat!

  Before the curse had a chance to get anywhere near his mind, he concentrated like never before, pushing away all fear and other emotions. With the focus he needed achieved he felt his own tingling of magic flare to life. Cage felt how unmethodically the curse froze him and had no way to know if this spell would even work since he didn’t have time to do things small, but the magic he owned came to his immediate call. Every healthy cell within his body came alive as he made each one become surrounded by flames to counteract the deadly chill. Even his frozen eyes began to burn with warmth as he saw his vision turn pure black. But while he thought and fought the cold he knew Meeka lay nearby and hoped the flames wouldn’t do her harm.

  The curse came to a stop as the magical heat actually did as he sorely needed it to. Fire and ice warred against each other, one trying to push in and relentlessly freeze while the other tried heating to expel the outside blight.

  All around Cage’s body burst into black flames so hot they melted the road he lay on into glass. The flames became a three foot magical cocoon of heat, but didn’t harm the unconscious Meeka or even singe her clothes. They lay there for some time in a inferno of magical properties.

  As Cage fought with everything he had within, he began to sense something peculiar deeply imbedded within the cold magic that held its own and neither gained or lost any ground. While focusing on the fire so it didn’t relent he sent a thin strand of his magic, wanting to know about whatever he sensed and the magic obeyed. Something about the cold felt vaguely familiar. Doing two tasks at once wasn’t all that hard, but doing it with your life on the line is near impossible, but he focused on keeping his every cell fire hot and felt around the odd texture within the ice. Slowly he began to understand that the curse was actually filled with emotion. There weren’t any images within the emotion that could be seen, but Cage felt all that gave the curse life. It was a potent mixture of anger, resentment, betrayal, hurt, loneliness, mourning, hate at one’s self, some joy, happiness, love, lust and many other raw emotions that cannot be articulated. But he kept learning more and more about the curse and came to realize that these were all the emotions of Meeka coming out in a magical way he could understand. He truly didn’t realize how she truly felt, but he now knew her in the most personal sense. The feeling was her most raw essence that couldn’t be shared by any other way.

  With everything I now feel, Meeka, I understand and still accept you. You don’t have to be alone anymore. He thought, and as he did so he felt the cold weaken slightly. He changed the thread of magic into a mental fishing hook that pulled her emotions out of the curse and into himself. As the last of her emotions came out of the curse, the freezing completely stopped resisting and the explosion of heat gushed throughout his whole system. He could feel as the slow pumping of his straining heart circulated the cool blood began warming as the fire thawed every cell. Revived nerves felt like pens and needles as fresh blood circulated. It was strange how the magic was so powerful he could kill while also doing something so delicate and precise as allowing him to feel every individual cell within himself, but that means he also felt the cells that had crystallized or burst and knew what would happen if they got free. In response, he used magic again to force every destroyed cell to the surface of his skin and make each one get expressed through the sweat glands. Knowing even one cell could cause an aneurism or blood clot, he fastidiously ejected every ruined cell while warming himself back to health. He started to feel extremely tired from it all, but pushed the thoughts aside as he worked.

  As he expressed the very last corrupted cell from his being and began to double check the demanding work, the weakening feeling returned and without any more warning he passed completely out.

  At the same time he lost consciousness the flames winked and vanished.

  Not ten minutes later came a merchant’s wagon with a husband, wife and young daughter who saw smoke rising not long ago and hurried their draft horses down the road and came across horrendous scene that made the father yank back on the reigns before putting his livelihood or family in any danger. Smoke and heat consumed nearly all the road to find two bodies laying right in the center of the destruction. The three looked on in complete surprise. “Dear, what happened?” The wife asked.

  “I haven’t a clue. Looks to me like they were attacked or something.”

  “Father, should we go find someone help?” Their young daughter asked.

  “No, first we should do is see if they are alive, then go from there.”

  The three quickly got out of the wagon and hurried over to the very edge of the devastation. The father put his foot down and crunched the ground at the very edge of the sight. He looked to his scared family who also conclude magic being part of the destruction and picked up a hot chip of something he stepped on. “It’s glass.” He determined oddly. “Hurry, we need to get them out if they aren’t dead from the heat already. Kele, go help your mother with the woman and bring her to the wagon, I’ll get the man.”

  They ran quickly across the extremely hot glass to hear pieces popping to release the trapped heat. They all had strong shoes, but even they wouldn’t last long on the hot and dangerous surface as they raced over to the two and drug them over to safety. After the difficult struggle, they looked to the venting glass to see only two oval shapes untouched by whatever happened. Then they tended to the two, the large man looking a bloody mess. Every inch of him covered in blood and his pants were completely saturated in the red that the original color
was difficult to discern. His wife said “She is breathing, Kele, try to wake her up. Dear, let me check the young man.” He moved aside and she knelt and used her minor healing training her mother taught long ago by putting put her fingers on the side of his slick neck. “He’s alive, but just barely. I can barely feel the beat of his lifeblood flowing. Dear, help me…”

  “Wha…” came another groggy voice and the parents turned to the mess of a young woman. She tried to sit up but the mother came closer while their daughter brought a cup of water and an herb that rouses nearly everyone. “Easy Dearie, Take your time. You are safe now.”

  “Wh… who are you?”

  “Mele. Do you know who you are?”

  “Meeka.” She answered hoarsely as she began to slowly remember her last moments. Her eyes shot wide as she shrieked “CAGE!” her eyes looked well beyond the fear the merchant family ever knew. “No, no, no! Where are you!” She looked around and saw him laying near and completely bathed in blood. “NO!” She screamed hysterically again and somehow gained the strength to push Mele aside and half run in a tattered dress to his side to begin bawling like never before. “You can’t be dead! You just can’t!” And she dropped heavily on his chest in a half embrace when he didn’t move.

  “Meeka, right? The young man is alive for the moment.” Mele said calmly as she rushed over to put a hand on the girl’s frightened shoulder. When she didn’t show any reactions besides bawling, Mele forcibly jerked her up and slapped her across the cheek quickly and it had the desired effect as the girl stopped for a moment and sat her wild eyes on her. “Listen to me, he is alive. You crying won’t do him any good, now focus.”

  “He…h… he’s alive? Truly?” Meeka asked in a voice that didn’t even sound like her own. Her haunted eyes slowly begin to focus as she looked from the calm woman in front of her to the bloody body of Cage. She stood there, not believing it at all till she knelt down at his side in an almost dreamlike daze and put her fingers on the side of his neck to feel something other than assumed cold. After a few slow and weak thumps beneath the warm flesh, her mind cleared and she put her ear over his heart and barely hears a slow, but steady thump. Half of her face and hair came up with half dry blood sticking as she said in absolute wonder “He is alive. He survived…”

  “Meeka, look at me.” Mele calmly knelt before her. “He needs help. Can you tell us where the nearest place is that he can find it?”

  “He is alive… he didn’t die…” she whispered over and over.

  “Meeka!”

  “Oh sorry, I’m just so overwhelmed. What did you say?” Meeka listened again and stated “The best place would be in Kote. My mother will know what to do… I think.”

  Kele came close and offered the water while asking “Isn’t it closer to head to Miot? Besides it is larger and will have more healers. Either way if we can’t stop the bleeding it won’t matter.”

  “What?” Meeka says in a daze and looked down and really saw Cage’s horrendous situation. She nearly ripped holes in the end of her dress from a white knuckled grip and rapidly began to wipe the blood from his skin. Mostly it just smeared around, but then both Mele and Kele took out a cloth and helped out. It is Kele who said “His top half isn’t wounded, but without his permission to check…” Meeka doesn’t even hesitate as her hands went to his belt and undid his pants, breaking the button in her rush to find the source of his injury. The whole time they ministered to him, he didn’t show any kind reaction.

  Both women blushed as Meeka pulled his pants completely off with the help of the other man. Meeka didn’t feel half as embarrassed as the others are at seeing his impressive nakedness, but she had them also help roll him on his side while she checked his bare back and her brow furrowed. “Strange, he’s bled, but not from any wound I can see.”

  “We can ponder the mystery some other time. Right now we need a skilled healer’s hand… for I know of no mages in this area and the small Adventurer’s Guild is back in Miot.” The father stated. “Tell me which way to travel, but first I need to clear the glass off the road either way. While I do that you ladies see what you can do for him. I’ll take the shoulders while you three pick up the rest. He’s heavier than he looks.”

  He looked at the frazzled girl Meeka and smiled “Names Quil, I want to help and know what has happened in exchange for all that glass.”

  “I don’t care so long as I get him to my mother in Kote as fast as possible.”

  Quil looked at her and saw how quickly she got her priorities together once she believed the man lived for some reason. He nodded and looked to his family. “Seems like we are going to Kote as scheduled.” They nodded and lifted Cage’s limp body together. Kele averted her eyes in modesty while hurriedly bringing him to their loaded wagon. Together they shifted their wares aside and managed enough room to lay him in and beneath the wagon’s canopy.

  While the girls worked on Cage and did all they could, Quil grabbed a shovel and an empty barrel to quickly fill it with large chunks of glass. He couldn’t leave such valuable items laying around. He worked quickly and three barrels later the large pieces were properly stored and what he couldn’t salvage was scooped and piled off in the grass so that anyone using the road didn’t have to fear shards hurting a horse or anyone else. By the time he returned he found Cage covered in a blanket and wiped clean from a barrel of water. He had a golden tan, but beneath it he appeared sickly pale and Quil knew the signs of blood loss well. But beside the boy, Quil had to look again as the girl Meeka had changed and didn’t look anything like she had before. She wore one of his wife’s dresses and cleaned up to reveal a stunning woman hidden beneath all the debris from earlier. Kele helped him stow the glass and the pack that belonged to the two and asked his love “All set?”

  “Yes, Dear. We must go with haste, but make the trip not jar him too much. His condition isn’t good.”

  Quil hopped into the driver’s seat and snapped the reigns for the horses to proceed to Kote. From time to time he would look back and see Meeka constantly look at the man as if it were a miracle.

  Meeka just couldn’t look away as her mind felt stuck. The only thing that kept her from fainting is her hand resting over his slowly beating heart. He didn’t feel as warm as usual, but she couldn’t wipe a weak smile from her face as she knew it wasn’t a dream for she could feel him alive and that impression of his lips weren’t an imagination.

  Eventually Mele had her daughter go up front and sit with Quil since the back of the wagon was full already. For a short time all that made noises were the horses or the jiggling contents of the wagon. The mother then asked “Dearie, please tell us what has happened to him? If we are to help further we must know we are not harboring fugitives. If you are outlaws we must turn you over to the authorities. That was magical in nature back there was it not?”

  Meeka swallowed and slowly met the eyes of the family all looking at her and Cage. “It was. He is a mage, but I don’t rightly know what really happened. But you needn’t worry, we are not criminals. My father is mayor of Kote and my mother is one of the best healers. I greatly thank you for your help and for doing this.”

  “It is a job you’ve already paid for.” Quil announced. “All that glass will cover your dress and anything else that might hold us back from trading. You just sit back and keep an eye on your man there. Tell me if anything happens and we’ll stop, but if not I’ll see to it we travel through the night to reach Kote.”

  “Thank you.” Meeka still said and got an acknowledging nod.

  Turns out they traveled all night, but Cage’s condition hadn’t changed a bit.

  But just as the grey light of a false dawn appeared Quil shouted to the back “I think we might have some trouble.”