“It was basically gambling.” Doug grunted. “Any one of us could have been, well. . .” Doug motioned towards Loyd.
Jack thought about when he was driving on the road and Mekel was in the back, scribbling in his notepad. Those notes cast a spell that put them into a trance. That's when the darkness ripped through their memories, twisting them to it's desire.
“When you first came to me,” Jack said. “I couldn't believe you. I mean, I didn't want to believe, but tonight. . .” He hesitated for a moment. “I had a daughter I didn't tell you about. But I saw her, she was here.”
“A daughter?” Mekel swallowed hard. “I didn't realize. But, the darkness lies.”
“The darkness lies?” That's exactly what my daughter said, Jack thought.
“The darkness can take something about yourself and use it to motivate you to action.” Mekel added.
Jack winced at the memories sparking to life. He tried getting married again, but it didn't work out. He couldn't get past the feeling that something had been taken from him, that the universe owed him for his loss. A resentment that slowly crept down and festered in the darkest pit of his soul, spreading like an infection into every part of his life. His business suffered, his social life suffered, and his health suffered. Until he felt like he had nothing to lose and accepted Mekel's unusual offer.
“You almost got away from here.” Doug raised one bushy eyebrow and glared at Jack. “Back on the road, you kept driving, as if in the back of your mind you didn't really want to participate.”
“Yes.” Mekel nodded. “Doug arrived early to set things up and to make sure you followed through. That we all followed through.”
“What was that whole 'come find me if you find anything out of the ordinary'?” Jack asked.
Doug shook his head and cracked open his mouth to speak, but then hesitated, and instead looked down at the candles on the floor.
“Like I said, the darkness assaulted all of our minds, including Doug's.” Mekel explained. “Whatever his burden was, the darkness used it against him.”
Doug scratched his mustache and remained silent.
“I came here for my wife and kid.” Jack said. “And Loyd came for money. What did you two come here for?”
“What I came for is my business only.” Doug said. Mekel nodded in agreement.
“Where's Ren?” Jack looked around the room.
“Who's Ren?” Mekel asked.
“The guy that came with you.” Jack motioned toward Doug. “Um – his name was Renkle, Ren for short.”
“I never came with anybody.” Doug shook his head.
“But he was here. He helped carry Loyd when he got injured.”
“I'm sorry.” Mekel said. “There wasn't anyone else here. You carried Loyd in and set him down. Loyd's injuries were minor and he recovered quickly when you were away. Sometimes the darkness manifests itself as a person that talks to us, leading us further down the path it wants us to take.”
“The tree!” Doug interrupted, gazing with wide eyes at the dead, withered tree. “It's starting.”
Gently swaying, the dry branches on the tree creaked as they moved. It's peeling, splintered bark contorted as if coming to life. Squeaking loudly, the wood stretched out to the shape of a circle opening, revealing inside it a stairwell that spiraled downward.
Mekel reached under his robe and into his pocket to retrieve something. Reaching out to Jack, he presented an old compass. “This will lead you to your wife, and maybe your daughter, if she's here.” Mekel explained. “We only have a few hours until this portal closes. Be sure to come back the way you came because once it closes, you're lost.”
Mekel and Doug hurried into the opening and rushed down the stairs. Jack soon followed.
Epilogue
The darkness always lies. Indeed. The only sensible thing that traitorous Mekel said all night. He came to us as a promising young student, even taking the oaths to become a guardian, but eventually chose the path of betrayal and stole an ancient spell-book from our archives along with the compass and a few other relics. He performed the ritual known as 'Three Dead Hands'. The word 'Hands' is meant as a laborer, and in this case it's someone working for the interests of the darkness. And they are called 'Dead' because any one of them could be chosen to die, so they are all essentially three dead men walking. There was only three here; Jack, Loyd, and Doug. Mekel simply enacted the ritual and was not participating. He was never part of the selection and never in harms way of becoming the sacrifice. Something he no doubt didn't reveal to the others.
Our resident medium, elder Portus, helped us obtain this fascinating account by reading the energies from the work suit of Jack Reese. There's much in these pages that is deeply troubling.
First and foremost is the Octopus. This is the ruined King Sisstivek, a once beautiful man who ruled a kingdom millenniums before history and the great cleansing. His vanity, cruelty and evil knew no bounds. But like all the dark Kings and gods of old, he was defeated. For punishment, he was cursed to the form of a darkened, grotesque octopus. Not accepting of his change, he decorates his body with obsidian to appear jeweled and, perhaps to some, beautiful again.
What his purpose in all of this remains uncertain, but it is evidently clear that Jack was allowed to stand before Sisstivek's sacred statue and strike dead one of his creatures. This was no small matter, for Sisstivek is known to never tolerate any outsiders, especially not to allow the death of one of his own. Whatever Sisstivek gained from this ritual would have to be proportionally exceptional, and this is deeply worrying.
Also, it would appear that Mekel had no prior knowledge that Sisstivek would be involved because of his reaction while looking at the tall door with the symbols. He hesitated and “wiped the sweat from his brow” at the sight of the Octopus symbol. Indeed Mekel, you should sweat, you are trifling with dark powers you couldn't possibly contend with, nor control.
The dagger the creature held is the sacrificial dagger used in the ceremony to open up portals to other worlds. Where exactly this particular portal led, we are unsure. Jack's family was most likely murdered by an agent of Sisstivek and their spirits taken as hostages to this other world. Mekel needed a few desperate participants to perform the Three Dead Hands ritual to open a portal to wherever he wanted to go and enticed them with lies and half-truths. What exactly Mekel was after is unknown, but a few of our elder scribes have some guesses. The portal gave him access to a large number of powerful relics and dark souls, all of which could have devastating consequences.
The massive iron face in the ground, which is just the head of a full-size statue, is an idol for Harvok, the drunken god. He is the empty iron giant, forever gorging on the suffering of others, blissfully blind to whatever enters his stomach. Once full, the spiritual energy of those sacrificed to him can be used at a later time as a power source to draw from, similar to a battery but in a much more demented sense. Harvok is more of a force of nature rather than a true deity, so our effort should be to unearth where our enemies have created this idol and to what purpose. Most reasons in the past for the iron giant is to wage war. Let us hope we can find it and neutralize it before our enemies can complete it's creation.
As to Jack's family, he did successfully retrieve his wife and daughter. The daughter was subsequently named Samantha, after her grandmother. She grew up in a hostile place, but was protected by her mother's embrace, an old type of magic that the bowels of hell have yet to break. Samantha was also raised surrounded by her mother's memories of life on Earth thus giving her a sense of a normal life, even though secondary in perspective. By most standards, she is an optimistic and joyful young girl. A remarkable example of the sturdiness of the human spirit.
Last we checked, Jack remained haunted by taking the life of Loyd but the comforts of his family helps him day by day. Julie, the wife, has not been unaffected from her time being 'dead'. Described by Jack as being mostly the same, sweet and caring, but at var
ious times distant and cold. Her path will be difficult and at times almost unbearable, but we've assessed that she is strong enough.
We shall continue monitoring the Reese family, but especially Samantha because it is not unusual for the darkness to sneak into our world through a child. Even a small sliver of implanted evil can grow until it's strong enough to heed it's dark master's call.
- Celitro, Officer of the Society of Guardians
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