Chapter 11
Alura glanced back at the man and her face filled with stress and confusion. I think she was equally doubtful that the man in the backseat could be the same Thyzil in my vision.
“Did he say anything to you when I was getting the car?”
“Yea, he called me the Wizard of OZ, so I thought he might be that Lou guy you told me about. After that, he grabbed my arm and put me into a mind blowing vision where this Thyzil guy killed a giant ape creature trying to take my head off.”
Alura told me that Thyzil was a great warrior on Zeshtune and thought to be still sleeping, not yet returned to an Earthly existence. No one has seen or heard from him for many thousands of years.
“It’s possible Azul,” Alura said. “It could be Thyzil.”
“What? If this guy is Thyzil, what was he doing under the overpass looking like a bum, and what happened to all his muscles?”
“Thyzil’s name here on Earth might be Lou.”
“Lou, as in the same homeless Lou from the land of OZ, who is now passed out in the backseat of your car?”
“Yes, this man might actually be Thyzil. If he is, something very wrong happened during his recognition.”
I looked back at the man. “Yea, I would say something went wrong. This guy doesn’t look anything like the fighting machine I saw in my vision.”
Alura swerved around several cement columns under the overpass, and finally we were back on regular streets. She then slowed down to avoid being pulled over by patrolling police cars. Thank goodness. I finally relaxed my grip on the door handle.
“If he is Thyzil, he must have become confused and lost most of his memory,” Alura said. “If this happened, his reconstruction into human form did not complete.”
“Yea, about this reconstruction business. How exactly does a Zeshtune become reconstructed into human form? Is it by possessing another body?”
Alura grimaced. “Goodness no, don’t be ridiculous. Zeshtunians take the form of a human, but we retain our original birth appearance. We have our same bodies, organs, blood, and can die like any human, but we are reconstructed by magic stored in our amulets.”
“I was constructed from magic and not actually born? Are you saying I look, talk, and act like a human, but just not really one. Is that about right?”
“Yes, Zeshtunians are born only once in a natural physical form similar to our human cousins. We lived in our first state for many millenniums. Like humans, our bodies age and die, but we have a much longer physical lifespan. You and I now look as we did when we were young Zeshtunians millions of years ago, however, we will age much quicker here on Earth. On this planet, our physical lifespan is only a few hundred years before we enter sleep again.”
“So I’m a copy of the famous old Zeshtune wizard in my visions. I guess that would explain the lack of childhood memories, as Kyiel already alluded to.”
Alura pulled into the ally behind my apartment and we hauled the man inside, placing him on the couch. She then called Sarila and put her phone on speaker mode so I could hear the conversation.
“Sarila, something important has happened.”
“Do tell. Wait, let me guess. Lycanthropes are running around the city killing humans?”
“Yes, we found evidence of lycanthropes, but … I think we also found Thyzil.”
“Thyzil the great warrior? How do you know?”
“Both of our amulets glowed when we touched him, and Azul had a vision.”
“Send me his profile right away. We need to know for sure.”
Alura disconnected the call and held her amulet and the man’s hand. Her amulet began to glow while she closed her eyes and muttered a few words, then I heard a small crack sound and saw a puff of smoke as her amulet stopped glowing.
“Did you just blow out your amulet?” I asked.
“No, I sent his bio information to Sarila. It’s a simple spell. I’ll teach it to you someday.”
The man began to move his head side to side and opened his eyes. He looked more lucid and relaxed.
“How are you feeling?” Alura asked.
The man looked us, but didn’t reply. A few moment later Alura’s phone made a sound indicating she had a text message. She read it and then looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“Azul, it’s him. It’s Thyzil.”
We both looked at the man and he looked back at us. Tears continued to swell in Alura’s eyes and she began shaking.
“Come on Azul, let’s get him to your lab pentagram. Sarila wants us to transport him to Keob right away. Hopefully, she will still be able to complete his recognition and save him.”
Alura was shaking so much she could barely help lifting the man. Granted, Thyzil was one of us, a Zeshtunian, but Alura’s reaction seemed more personal to me. Tears kept running down her face and I didn’t know what to do or say to comfort her. Still, I was curious about recognition, especially since I was going through it myself.
“Alura, what happens if Sarila can’t complete his recognition?”
“If recognition is not completed, he will never know who he really is, where he’s from, and what purpose he has on Earth. He will live out his days as Lou from OZ, and once his body dies, he’ll exist in the void of space until the end of days. If that happens, he will never be able to return to Earth or anyplace else, not ever.”
Crap, that doesn’t sound good at all. “You said we have to move him to my lab pentagram. Where exactly is the lab?”
Alura pointed to a solid brick wall as we pulled Thyzil up from the couch.
“Come on Azul, hurry.”
I looked forward and said, “Entrunezum.” The wall blurred and then vanished revealing a room similar to my bedroom back at Keob. The adjoining wall to the room where I slept in last night – apparently a guest bedroom – also vanished.
We placed Thyzil in the center of a pentagram located in the middle of the lab floor, then Alura took my arm and pulled me outside of it.
“Only Thyzil can be inside for the transportation this time,” she said, then took a blue magic coin from her pocket and handed to me. “You must perform the transportation spell because it your pentagram. Break the coin in your hand and throw it into the pentagram, then point your amulet ring at Thyzil and speak the magic words.”
I did as Alura instructed and said, “Transmati Keob.” A ring of blue-white light rose from the pentagram edges along the floor up to the ceiling. Thyzil turned transparent and disappeared and the light from the pentagram abruptly went dark. Alura continued staring at the pentagram without saying a word.
“Alura, are you alright?”
“I will be. Give me a few moments.”
“Sure, of course. I’ll wait for you in the living area,” I said and the brick wall reappeared behind me as I left the lab.
Feeling a little shaken from the experience, I decided to start a fire in the fireplace to warm things up. Once I got the kindling going, I sat on the couch and kept looking at the brick wall, wondering how my sister was doing. A few minutes later Alura came out and sat next to me placing her arm around mine. She rested her head on my shoulder and gazed into the fire which was now burning nicely. We said nothing and sat still for what seemed like an eternity, at least for me given all the questions I had. About 20 minutes later Alura fall asleep, so I gently got up and placed a pillow under her head and a blanket on top of her to stay warm.
It’s been a hell of a day. After that enlightened thought, I went to bed hoping tomorrow would find Alura as her old self.
When my bedroom alarm went off in the morning, it wasn’t an annoying roster crowing in a window. This time it was much more subtle and tasteful. The pentagram circling my bed glowed ever so slowly while music began to fill the room with sounds of running water, gentle breezes, and a pan flute.
Nice … very nice. I stretched my arms over my head and jumped out of bed. Well, more like nearly falling from muscle fatigue. The music stopped when my feet hit the floor and candles around t
he room lit up. There were no electrical switches, plugs, lamps, or anything post Benjamin Franklin era in my bedroom, so I was curious how all these things worked.
I moved closer to the adjoining lab wall, said “Entrunezum,” and watched it disappear along with the wall leading to the living area. When I moved back, it reappeared. Cool … a two-way magical doorway that connects all three rooms.
Alura had told me that only I could enter my lab because the magic is linked to my amulet as are the wards protecting the front and rear entrances. Anyone my wards didn’t recognize who tried to enter would get zapped by a magical Taser, or worse.
I decided not to say anything to Alura about Thyzil. She was shaken up badly yesterday and things could wait until she was ready to talk. My only memory of Thyzil is from the brief vision of a battle on Zeshtune. The old beaten up man we found standing in the Housatonic River meant something special to Alura. What she felt was something more than finding a lost Zeshtune warrior, but what?
Alura was still sleeping comfortably on the couch when I began cooking breakfast: eggs, toast, bacon, and coffee. Once the smell of coffee began filling the living room, Alura turned on her side and rubbed her eyes.
“Me too big brother. Double up on the eggs,” she said and pulled the blanket over her head.
I was about to respond with one of my wisecracks when I heard something move outside the front door. I listened closely and watched the door … there, I heard it again. Sounds like something moving or scratching. Armed with a stainless steel spatula, I went to the window next to the door and looked out through the edge of a blind. There was nothing there, so I turned back to the kitchen and heard the noise again.
It’s probably just my imagination, or rats – I hope it’s not rats. I turned the deadbolt and opened the door a crack. When I looked down, I saw a dog curled up near the doorway.
“Oh my gosh, Sally.”
Sally jumped up and knocked me to the floor with her paws pressed on my shoulders. She was barking and wagging her tail furiously and slobbering all over my face. Alura sat up on the couch with a big smile and then moved to the floor where Sally had me pinned down.
“Alura look, it’s Sally.”
“Good girl Sally,” I said. “How in the world did you ever find me?”
I heard about pets traveling great distances to find their owners. Boston was not far from Manhattan, but the city is a navigation nightmare, at least for me. Jackie, my lab assistant at Harvard, had been taking care of Sally since I disappeared off the grid.
“No fake obituary will fool you, huh old girl,” I said and Sally woofed in agreement.
After a few minutes, Sally ran to the front door and made a low growl.
“What’s the matter Sally?” I asked.
Alura got up and looked out the front window and said, “It’s a watcher.”
“It’s a what?”
Alura waved her hand for me to come see. I looked to where she was pointing and saw a black crow resting on top of a street light. It was staring at us, and if not for an occasional flicker of one of its wings, I would have thought it was a toy placed there as prank. I mean, really, who has ever seen a crow in New Your City?
“Don’t worry, they won’t harm us,” Alura said.
“I sure hope not. Hate to start the day fighting off a creepy black bird. Why is it sitting on a light pole outside watching us?”
Alura closed the window shade and sat back at the kitchen table. I followed closely to make sure she didn’t eat all the toast this time.
“Here, let me get your breakfast and a cup of coffee,” I said while she explained.
“Watchers are Darkzon spies. They show up occasionally where beings of light are to keep an eye on them, especially Zeshtunians. They are naturally drawn to and sense magic, such as your wards. Most likely Lupzarro owns this watcher and already knows where you live.”
“I don’t like the thought of having a spy snooping around where I live, even if it’s only a dumb bird.”
“Not to worry Azul, we have Sarila, and a she’s a better spy than any dark creature we’ll come across.”
“What does Sarila do besides call us to battle monsters?”
Alura smiled while continuing to eat more eggs.
“Well, for one thing, she’s connected to all the satellites orbiting the Earth and retrofitted all the Keob technology to track the dark. She probably knows exactly where Lupzarro is right this minute.”
Not bad. Sarila seems to have landed the most covert job in America. I felt a little jealous, but only for a moment. After all, Sarila doesn’t have magical ability or a cool staff capable of throwing lightening bolts from the sky … or does she?
Sally finally settled down at a spot next to the fireplace after eating a few hot dogs and drinking a large bowl of water. She kept her usual keen eye on me like when we were at the university lab.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Alura said.
“You do? How could you possibly know what I’m thinking when I rarely know myself.”
“Azul, your being a professor and archeologist was all planned by you long ago. It was the life you needed to protect yourself and lead you to your staff.”
Alura reminded me how I buried my staff in the Egyptian desert and built the Gate of the gods thousands of years ago before entering my last sleep.
“Your staff – the artifact you found – was hidden by you to keep it safe. Do you think finding and placing it in the Gate of the gods was mere chance? It was all planned by you,” she said and added with a smirk, “you already know all this Azul.”
True, but that story never gets old.
Normally, I’d be impressed hearing a story like this about someone else, but it was about me, and that made the story both interesting and worrisome. Strangely, the first thought I had was about how much time and money I invested in my education, which had nothing to do with being a wizard. It seemed to me that a tuition refund would only be fair. Nice thought, but it wasn’t ever going to happen. Alura must have guessed what I was thinking because she started to laugh.
“Are you reading my mind little sister?”
“Not actually reading your mind. Remember? I’m only sensing the impressions your mind is creating. You will see into my mind too after learning to focus your abilities. After all, you are the greatest wizard ever to rise from the ranks of magical realms, even though you sometimes act like a dork.”
“Dork you say. I’ll show you who’s a dork.”
I grabbed a tube of ketchup from the kitchen table, opened the cap, and aimed it at her. Alura stopped eating and froze.
“You wouldn’t dare,” she said with her eyebrow arched as a sibling dare.
I smiled and raised the ketchup bottle in line of sight, and without hesitation squeezed the bottle, which shot a stream of red liquid splattering all over Alura’s face. She jumped up out of her chair and her mouth dropped wide open in shock. I then did what anyone having a battle advantage would do. I shot another stream of ketchup at her as a second preemptive strike, but this time she ducked and it splattered on the wall.
“You are so dead mister,” she said.
Alura darted the refrigerator and armed herself with her weapon of choice: a tube of mustard. She raised her eyebrow while pushing ketchup off her hair and face.
“My turn buster,” she said, then shot a long trail of yellow yuk at me.
Luckily, I managed to get out of the way and the mustard went over my head hitting the wall. Not bad, one to zero, my advantage. Sally also got in on the fun by licking up all the condiments she could find. More streams of red and yellow condiments filled the air as Alura and I covered each other until the tubes emptied, then we laughed while licking our fingers. It was good to see Alura happy again after last night. We both needed a break from our reality.
Alura raised both eyebrows again and looked at the bathroom door in a sneaky way not to give away what she was planning. I did the same, but she was quicker and got to the
bathroom first, then locked the door behind her.
“Getting old brother? Hard to keep up with your little sister?”
I frowned. “It doesn’t matter because I won.”
It might have been fun having a food fight, but everything was smelly and sticky where Sally couldn’t reach. Not so much fun now, but totally worth it. I placed a towel on my chair and sat down waiting for my turn to shower. After resting a few minutes, I decided to clean up what Sally missed.
“I don’t think I’ll be eating anything with ketchup or mustard again for a long time Sally.”
Sally burped while her tongue continued licking her nose free of the tasty spoils of war. I’m sure she was hoping condiments would stay on the menu, even if only by way of food fights. A few minutes later, Alura exited the bathroom clean as a whistle.
“All yours brother,” she said and poured herself another cup of coffee.
“Next time I’m going to use the mustard,” I said, causing Alura to grin and shake her head.
“Go on, take your shower Azul. You look like a diseased sunflower.”
I got a good look of my condiment face in the bathroom mirror and had to agree with Alura. I did look like something diseased, flower or otherwise. I chuckled at the sight.
Mustard face and all, I began thinking again how strange it is being some sort of a great wizard from another planet – who wouldn’t? I felt too normal and ordinary. I wasn’t really human having been created as some sort of magical construct, but my heart beats, I breathed air, and I have red blood. I can even catch the flu like anyone else. Still, I was not exactly human in the way science would determine. I guess I can live with this – not like I have a choice.
I finished showering, put on some clean clothes, and entered the living area cautiously in case Alura was planning to ambush me with more kitchen goods. Instead, she was putting on her leather jacket and holding her car keys.
“Going somewhere?” I asked.
“I’ll see you later today for dinner. I have to run some errands and do some errands. Why not do some shopping for yourself? Perhaps buy a car? I left a ZWC credit card for you on the table and it has no credit limit, so have some fun,” she said, then blew me a kiss and walked out.
More alone time. I guess now would be a good time to continue sorting out all the crazy stuff that happened yesterday. On second thought, trying to sort out anything crazy is crazy in itself – my new reality I suppose.