Augur of Shadows Read online

  Future Henri finished his speech, and he walked through the portal; it disappeared in a flash, leaving Henri looking around to see if anyone had seen what had just happened.

  Henri noticed that his father was still there. He pondered if he should go speak with him. In order to take advantage of the rare opportunity, he walked over to his father.

  “So, you are still here?” Henri was elated his father was still there.

  “Yes. I told you that I am here for you, Son.”

  “I… don’t know what to say, Dad. I mean… I miss you. Mom isn’t the same without you. And now, you know about all this destiny stuff. You must be proud of me.”

  “Son, I am proud of you. And I will always love you. I am proud of you for following your path. It takes a strong person to do what you will have to do. I would have never wanted this for you, but it was not up to me. I wanted you to have a great childhood. Children are meant to go to school, to make friends, and to have experiences that you will always remember. You have had a difficult year, and I wish that I could change that. You must gather every ounce of strength now, and you must stay strong. It won’t be easy, and you won’t like everything you must do; however, the fate of the universe is at stake. Oh, and give your mom a break, okay? “

  “Dad… I have something to tell you.” Henri made sounds that would form sentences had he been focused.

  “Son, I know. And whom you love doesn’t matter. I know that your mother will always love you, and I know that she will stand by you.”

  “I love you, Dad.”

  “I love you too, Son. I will always be by your side as with all the Ancestors. Remember that when you’re having difficulty.” With those words, his father approached him. They embraced one another, and Henri somehow knew this would most likely be the last time he would see his dad. After the embrace ended, his father’s image was gone. With a heavy heart, Henri uttered the words, “Goodbye, Pops.” At least this time the son had been given the chance to say goodbye.

  CHAPTER 23

  2:24 P.M.

  ST LUCIA’S CATHOLIC CHURCH

  For quite some time, Henri sat lost in his thoughts of his dad. He also could not stop thinking about all of the things that the three from the future had shown him. What was really sticking with him was the expression Future Henri had been wearing on his face.

  He detected that his future self wanted to say more, but he had decided against breaking the rules. Destiny’s requirements were proving to be tricky and difficult which made Henri wonder about the benefit of having the power of prophecy. In his opinion, he should be able to see more - whenever he chose to.

  “I mean… come on. Who decides what I get to see? I would like to have a conversation with that person.” Henri was aware that the Ancestors listened to everything that he said.

  Henri sat in a pew on the second floor when his phone started to ring, and he saw that his mother was calling him. He had no desire to speak with her, but he answered the phone.

  “Hey, Mom. What’s going on?”

  “Henri Jacobson Claye. Where are you?”

  His mother screamed at him in a way that made the creatures seem less threating. Sounding like an authoritative policeman was never his mother’s strong suit; he held back a chuckle.

  “Mom, what is wrong?”

  “Where are you?”

  “Mom, I am at school. Why are you being hysterical?”

  “Henri Jacobson, you are not at school. Your school called me, and they told me that you skipped today. I saw you leave this morning for school. You lied to me! You better get your butt home now!”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Henri knew fighting with her was pointless.

  Henri hung up his phone in defeat, and he started to get up from the pew when he heard a voice.

  “Henri, are you okay?”

  Henri glanced on both sides to see who was speaking, but no one was anywhere near him.

  “Wait…who is speaking?”

  “You don’t know who this is? It’s Etlina.”

  “How? How are you doing this?”

  “Henri, I can pretty much do anything that I want.” Her sarcasm didn’t surprise him.

  “This is amazing. Are we speaking via a spell?” Henri was amazed with her abilities, yet he was still getting used to the whole magic world.

  “No. Henri, I need you. Pay attention. I need you to come to my house right now. I have some news.” Etlina was rushing, and Henri perceived that she wasn’t in the mood for jokes.

  “What news? You’re freaking me out,” Henri said with his heartbeat fluttering.

  “Just get over here,” demanded Etlina. The urgency in her voice commanded Henri’s attention.

  “I’m on my way.”

  He rushed down the stairs. Henri wasn’t stressed about anyone seeing him since his mother already knew that he skipped school that day. He reached the door, and he was respectful of the service that had commenced.

  Henri slipped out of the door, and the full force of the sun’s cosmic glimmer hit him. The warmth upon his skin reminded Henri of the universe’s beauty. The fall breeze demanded the hairs on Henri’s body stand up. He reveled in the moment of peace he was briefly given.

  Henri looked up into the sky to admire the clouds that were racing through the skies. He took one last glance at the gargoyles, and he noticed something above the roof of the church. He stopped to focus on what was floating above the church. For a second, he lost sight of what he was trying to see. He stopped trying so hard, and all of a sudden, a jolt ran up his entire body and images flooded his mind.

  The influx of images overwhelmed his brain’s circuitry, placing Henri in a state of confusion. He was certain that he was looking down at his feet until dual feelings of weightless and detachment surged all throughout his body. When Henri gathered his thoughts, he realized that he was floating in the air.

  “What the?” Henri uttered in amazement.

  Henri squinted at what appeared to be an outline of something, yet his intuition told him to not bother. Against himself, Henri pushed himself to move – closer to mystery phantom. After trying to focus to see what it was, he could only tell it was ‘something else’. Something he didn’t want to disturb.

  Feelings of rage, destruction and superiority filled Henri’s conscious mind; however, he was sure that they weren’t his thoughts. It wanted to kill anything and everything—even him. It was determined and would not stop until it killed everything in its path.

  Henri picked up on a sense of familiarity with the presence, and he was sure of the fact that he needed to listen to his gut. He wanted to leave, till Henri had an epiphany. He focused his mind, and he projected his mind into the invisible enigma to see if he picked up on anything.

  As the distance between them narrowed, an immense pressure formed around Henri’s body. His head began to throb, and a force pushed him away, leaving Henri horrified that there was indeed something in the shadows. He was fairly certain that the creature was aware of his presence. His interest increased, and he couldn’t help but wonder if the two of them were destined to meet.

  “What are you?”

  He extended his arm in order to run his hand through the puzzling mass. Henri immediately questioned this move, but he couldn’t think of any other way to handle the situation. The bold move caused the pressure to recoil. There seemed to be a force field. Henri knew that the creature was merely protecting itself from his psychic probing.

  A moment later, the creature de-camouflaged its form, revealing its identity to Henri. He stopped in his tracks. He couldn’t believe that he was standing in front of the same monster that had been terrorizing him and the people in the future. It released a gruesome howl, shattering every nearby church and car window.

  The sound became increasingly louder, causing a hammering, drilling anguish all throughout Henri’s skull. The alien invader retracted its claws and lunged hungrily toward Henri. Even though Henri was able to dodge the lunge, he could not help but feel
overwhelmed.

  “You aren’t getting me today!” Henri screamed at the beast. The creature stirred every negative destructive emotion that Henri had been harboring. He stood face to face with the creature that had already caused an enormous amount of pain and loss.

  His sense of sincerity brought forth Henri’s blue light, and a sense of comfort overcame his body when he saw the magical glyphs appearing again. Without hesitation, the creature lunged its body at Henri, and he unknowingly froze it in mid-air. Henri strengthened his grip on the creature, and he threw it to the ground.

  The creature crept its way out of the ground, and it prepared to retaliate. Henri braced himself for another attack and remembered that he had a weapon of his own. Henri brought forth this inner blue light, forming a shimmering blue shield around his entire body.

  The creature appeared to mutate its body into something grotesque. It grew multiple arms - which each had a pair of sharp claws - and the body grew enormous, towering - the size of a multiple car pile-up. Henri stood in a stupor as he didn’t remember them being tens of feet high.

  “Come on, you ugly thing!”

  It became obvious to Henri that it only wanted to kill him, and the creature didn’t waste time in attacking him. It leaped into the air, thrusting its claws at him. Henri was able to deflect the claw attack with his energy shield.

  “Is that all you got?” Henri allowed a moment of arrogance to cloud his judgment. It wasn’t till the next moment that Henri realized his error.

  A tingling sensation ran throughout his body, telling him to turn around. Before he could fully see what was behind him, the creature drove its claws into his leg. The attack was strong enough to snap Henri’s astral body back into his real body.

  Henri awoke not being able to move. The excruciating pain running up and down his leg prevented him from doing so. He saw the creature making its way towards him, so he slowly crawled back towards the church door with no one in sight.

  The wind whipped up vigorously, and a gust blew the beast far away from Henri. Henri looked down to see that it was, in fact, Etlina who had summoned the wind, and she was rushing over to him. Feelings of joy and happiness overcame him with seeing her.

  “Alibi!” She sung into the winds, commanding the surrounding elemental forces.

  Henri didn’t notice anything happening till a dimensional rip appeared in front of his eyes. Henri watched Etlina show off her majestic talents by grabbing the beast with the will of her mind. She threw him into the rip with immense force creating a sound similar to a mini-explosion. She moved her hands in a way that resembled a wave, and she shouted one final word: “Cerra!”

  The portal slammed shut, sealing the creature away.

  “Henri, you spent too much time away from your body.”

  “What does that matter?”

  “If you spend too much time away then the reconnecting becomes very difficult.

  “Wait, what do you mean? Astral form?”

  “Henri, you’re a projector. You are one who can separate your astral body from your earthly body.”

  “And that’s how I can project? Isn’t it?”

  “Yes. I figured it out the last time that we were together with Siméon.”

  “Okay. Now, that’s interesting.”

  “However, so much is unknown about these things. With what I just saw, they can see your astral form, and they will try to kill you.” Etlina helped Henri up from the ground, acting as his crutch.

  “Yeah, don’t sound so excited, Etlina. It almost got me.”

  “I know, Henri. I am scared too. The fact that these things are starting to show up already, and we aren’t even close to being able to stop them. Yeah, it’s really scary.” Etlina had to fight her own insecurities and fears about the Old Ones. She didn’t know if she was ready for what their arrival would entail.

  “Thank you, Etlina. I am really glad that you showed up. I would’ve died if you hadn’t shown up in time.”

  “You’re welcome. The Ancestors told me to hurry to you. So, I did a locating spell to find you.”

  “A locating spell?”

  “Yes. That is a reason why I sent the mental message to you. I have found a spell to find Kali’s weapons.”

  Henri released a sigh of relief. “You did? Etlina, that’s such a relief.”

  “Yes. I found one that will work. Henri, we can do this.”

  “Etlina, there is something that I have to tell you. But we need Siméon with us. It involves you and him.”

  Henri and Etlina continued to discuss the spell that she found and the items she would use to perform it. As they were discussing the upcoming events, Henri contacted Siméon to see if he could make his way back to his house.

  “Alright. Siméon is on his way to his house. Let’s go.”

  “Henri, I’ll drive this time. You aren’t in the right state to drive.”

  He agreed with her, limping his way to her car. He was disappointed that Etlina didn’t have some kind of healing spell as Kali had.

  For the next thirty minutes, Henri and Etlina discussed what had happened inside the church with his father and the Destined. The news impacted Etlina strongly; she had to stop the car to calm her nerves.

  “So, we are the Destined?”

  “Yes. You, Siméon and I.” Henri saw the look on her face. He waited for a response. Quickened heartbeat. His chest pounded.

  Henri and Etlina arrived at Siméon’s apartment, and they found him waiting outside for them. He greeted them with a smile along with a look of concern. Henri explained how close to death he had been. He also told Siméon that they must prepare for what was coming.

  “Henri, why weren’t you in school today?” Siméon showed his concern not as a mentor but as a lover.

  “I wanted a mental health day. What’s wrong with that?” Henri saw Siméon’s disapproving look on his face. Etlina saw the tension building between Henri and Siméon, so she decided to interject.

  “Okay, we have other things to discuss. I have found a spell that’ll work. I can find the weapons of Kali! I found a grimoire of my grandmother’s. And in her book, there is a spell that I can perform to find the items. I believe that we can get the items, and you can open the gateway.”

  “What do we need in order to perform the spell?” A strong feeling of excitement filled Henri as he listened to Etlina’s plan.

  “Don’t worry about that. I have already gathered the ingredients.” Etlina shrugged off their insecurities about her gathering everything they needed.

  “And how does this affect you, Etlina?” Siméon didn’t want to risk any unnecessary side effects.

  “There are some consequences. To open such a portal does require quite a bit of energy; however, we need this spell. We need to open the gateway.” Etlina’s demanding demeanor surpassed Henri and Siméon’s concerns. They knew that she was stubborn, and she wouldn’t listen.

  “So, I figured out who the cloaked ones are,” Henri was nervous to tell them that their lives were about to change.

  “Who?” Siméon and Etlina responded simultaneously.

  “The cloaked ones are the Destined.” Henri felt as though he had taken their lives away. He was no longer the only one destined to open the gateway that meant that they might also accept the wrath of their actions.

  “I am not that surprised.” Siméon tried to keep himself together, but he knew what Henri’s words meant.

  “So, I encountered the same three cloaked ones from my visions…” The air in the room had shifted, and Henri was aware of the tension present.

  “So, the three of us are the Destined? We are the ones to bring the end?” Etlina paced around the room, trying to process what the information truly meant.

  “Yes,” Henri reassured her.

  “Well, guess that means we should get started?” Etlina asked sarcastically. Henri could tell that she was keeping her game face on when she must be truly terrified deep down.

  “You’re okay with this, Et
lina?” Siméon needed to know that she was fully onboard what for lay ahead.

  “Oh, yes. I am completely okay with it. Every soul is created for a purpose, and this is ours.”

  “Then, let’s get started,” Siméon stated.

  Henri was relieved that the other two were okay with the news. Henri had fought his destiny when the Ancestors told him the first time, and he had experienced a lot since that day. He believed that he and the others had already come a long way in a short time. In his opinion, Henri truly believed that the Destined were born in that moment.

  CHAPTER 24

  4:10 P.M.

  HENRI’S HOUSE

  Henri returned home after spending hours at Siméon’s house making plans on locating Kali’s weapon. When he returned home, his mother raged the storm that she had promised.

  “So, you think that it is okay to skip school?” Henri’s mother released her inner fury as soon as he stepped through the door. The look in her eyes resembled the fiery inferno of a phoenix. Henri hadn’t seen this side of his mother in quite some time.

  “Mom, no. I don’t think that it is okay. I just needed a day to think about a few things.”

  “What things?”

  “Umm…”

  “Come on, tell me. What is going on with you? Is it drugs? Please tell me. I am so worried about you. I am freaking out here, Henri.” She plopped herself on the couch, crying into her hands.

  “Mom, calm down. No, I am not on drugs. It isn’t anything like that. I promise. There is something that I want to tell you, but I am scared to.” Henri pondered telling his mother right at this moment.

  “Henri, I am your mother. You should never be scared to tell me anything.”

  Mom, the thing that I want to tell you… I don’t think that you’ll be happy about it. You won’t approve. It’ll change everything between us.” Henri teared up, trying to hide it from her.

  “Henri, I promise you that I will always love you,” she said.

  “Mom, I am gay!” Henri realized that it was the moment that he had feared. The utter silence, where every single insecurity and fear rushed into his mind and numbed him. He had the fear of losing the only parent that he had left.