CHAPTER ONE
“I spy with my little eye, something beginning with, hmm let me think,” teased Belinda as she looked out through the car’s windscreen and down the wet road into the valley in the distance, the very same valley and town she had grown up in.
“Something beginning with ‘M’,” she completed.
James was still in the game but Daniel was starting to fall asleep, his little four year old body not yet as resilient as his older brother’s.
“Moon,” shouted James spotting the low lying blood-red full moon that was now rising on the horizon just behind the town where his grandmother lived, its light now breaking through the low lying clouds that had only fifteen minutes earlier brought rain.
“Well done, James. Would you like to guess the next one, Daniel?” she asked but Daniel simply grunted in the negative, his mother’s question rousing him from his near slumber.
Their father called out. “Well boys we’re nearly there, are you getting excited? Think of all the things you can get up to for the next three weeks; playing in the gardens, climbing up in the hills, playing in the old ruins, trying again to break into the Tower of Black’s Castle.”
Belinda instantly cut her husband off at the mere mention of the Tower. “Yes, and there are other things you can both do far away from that Tower, aren’t there, honey?” She looked directly at Frank, who very sheepishly turned his head and looked out of the driver’s side window.
“You know I don’t want them going anywhere near that Tower,” she said so only he could hear, through gritted teeth. “Remember what we discussed, those days are long behind us. Just because someone in the distant past made a series of predictions that supposedly centre on us, doesn’t mean we have to live our lives according to them. I choose my own fate, Frank, for me and for my children.”
Frank nodded, “You’re right Bel, I was simply reminiscing over our youth, after all don’t forget – no Tower, no us.” He paused, keeping his eyes on the wet and now steaming road, and went on, knowing he was on dangerous ground. “You do know we can’t keep them away from the truth forever. It’s in their blood, it’s in their history and they should one day be given the choice to know its secrets.”
“Just watch me, Frank. We gave up that life and all of its privileges, blessings and curses. Besides we both agreed it was for the best,” Belinda folded her arms tightly and turned away from her husband.
James tried to catch what his parents were saying but couldn’t understand any of it. Daniel, who was now transfixed on the moon paid very little attention to the conversation, he was too young to understand, and too young to care.
“You decided what was best, when he… What the hell is that?” Frank shouted as his eyes focused on an oncoming car that sped towards them led by a large red glowing ball that veered quickly from left to right, the pursuing vehicle following its every move.
“What’s going on, mummy?” James unbuckled his seatbelt to get a better look.
“Put your seatbelt back on and stay in your seat,” yelled Frank.
Belinda undid her own seatbelt, kneeling in her own seat facing her children in order to buckle James back into his seat. James struggled against her in an effort to see what was going on, making it hard to lock his seatbelt buckle back into place and much more importantly, her own.
“James hold still,” pleaded Belinda. “Frank what is that thing, do you think it’s a . . .”
These were the very last words Belinda Ravensdale ever got to say before she was thrown out through the car’s windscreen by the impact from the collision with the oncoming car, the image burning violently into the minds’ of the two young boys along with her screams which were immediately silenced. The impact caused the car to spin on the wet road, before it careered off the road and plunged down a steep embankment, rolling to the unknown depths below. Airbags burst from their housings to protect the vehicle’s occupants but this was of little assistance to Frank, as the car rolled onto an outcropping of jagged rocks that pierced the driver’s side window, puncturing his airbag looking for a victim, as the car continued its downward roll.
An assortment of nocturnal creatures watched from their homes within rocks and trees as the car finally slammed into a large oak tree, coming to a sudden and complete stop. The radiator poured out its contents into the night, hissing as it did.
The young boys had been miraculously protected by the airbags and had survived. Frank turned around to ensure they were alright before climbing out of the car through what had once been the car’s front windscreen. A quick assessment of the car’s state told him there were no other immediate threats to his sons’ lives. Once he’d established the car was the safest place for his children right now, he attempted to gain his bearings in the eerie moonlight.
Then he located the wreckage of the other vehicle that had also rolled into another large oak tree.
Frank now knew where he was. In FaerieWood Grove. A forest on the outskirts of town, protected under the Hollingberry Treaty of 1011 AD. It was a mystical grove and gave anyone who dared to venture into it the feeling of dread and despair, so it was avoided by most of the town’s inhabitants and even the bravest of tourists did not hang about there for long.
The moon continued to rise over the horizon now fully illuminating the entire valley.
Frank called out Belinda’s name over and over, as he climbed hurriedly back up the embankment, but she never replied. He finally reached the road above, absolutely exhausted, struggling to breathe and feeling lightheaded. He looked around and there, lying in a ditch in a pool of her own blood, he found the bloodied and broken form of his dead wife.
Frank dropped to his knees on the wet and blood covered ground, taking her lifeless form into his arms. He pleaded for help but it never came. He begged the gods of heaven but they never answered. He tried to shake her to life but she never awoke.
Tonight only devils would be found in this valley, only the damned dared to venture on its paths.
His tears dropped onto her forehead one at a time, he had loved her from his youth, they had two beautiful children, a beautiful home, a wonderful life but that was all gone now. His bride dead in his arms, his children alive but in shock and he was now becoming aware of the agonizing pain in his own abdomen.
He gently touched around the area of the pain, feeling the warm sticky fluid all over his clothing as he did, looking down at his wet hands the moonlight revealed his own blackened blood. He looked at his wife once more in the moonlight and said goodbye to his love as he lowered her body once more to the ground and struggled to his feet. He had to get back to his boys, as he knew now his time was limited. He fought against the pain and the truth that was becoming even more overwhelming, he was alone, as was Belinda. Someone should be here, that’s how it works, he thought.
He found a less challenging path back down to where the two vehicles now rested. He needed answers and only one person could give them to him. He set his eyes on his target and moved towards the black car that had brought him to his present reality.
A red ball hovered menacingly above it, the same light that he had seen earlier being chased by the black car, a chase that had killed his wife and seemed likely to do the same to him. A chase that would leave his children orphans. He didn’t want to accept what he already knew about the red ball of light above the vehicle, he still had time to get what he needed most.
Horror struck him as he made his next discovery. There was no driver in the vehicle.
“This can’t be,” he beat his bloodied fists against the roof of the car. “Why? Why? Why?”
The red ball of light started to sway over Frank’s weakened form. He looked at the light in absolute terror knowing he was completely alone, abandoned by those he called friends.
“To hell with you!” he screamed as the light slammed into his chest, sucking out his very soul before moving off.
“No!” came a scream from another unseen fading form. “Not again.”
***
“Stop that,” instructed Agatha as she waved off two bees from her saplings. “How many times have I told you not to play with the saplings until they are fully grown? You will give them nightmares filled with six legged, black and yellow villains, who dropped them when they were babies. They are living creatures you know?”
The bees, never ones to argue with Agatha, simply buzzed off and went and found new plants to annoy.
“You never learn do you? Well even if it takes me the rest of eternity, you will learn how to treat saplings,” she said as she placed the last of her saplings into the moist earth that would become their home. “There, all planted.”
Agatha dusted some soil off her knee and looked at the tiny faces staring back at her.
“Only a few more touches to add,” said Agatha reaching into her satchel. “We must never forget the two magic ingredients that all new saplings must have in order to grow big and strong: a strand of life essence and a pebble of luck.”
Agatha tied a strand of life essence around the necks of every sapling just under each of their tiny developing heads and popped a tiny pebble beside each of them. She then stood, removed her gardening gloves and once more looked down on her tiny saplings that waved to her with thanks.
Her plants were the closest thing she had ever had to children of her own, not counting her menacing bees that acted like children all the time.
Agatha then looked over her white picket fence and down into the vast valley that lay below her hillside home. Captivated as ever by the beauty of the city below with its ultra-modern high-rises, its plethora of alien cultures and its very earthly ancient monuments, she was suddenly reminded of times when she and her friend Belinda had lain on the self-same grass and talked of children and their dreams.
Many Earthrealm years had passed since then, since Frank and Belinda had finally stopped denying their feelings for one another. It was extremely rare that Spectrals came from the same time period but Frank and Belinda had spent their summers together since their youth. Agatha then remembered back to the days before she and Belinda had met, when she and another Spectral had stopped a plot to tear apart the Realm forever. The two had fought off the Ghost Slayer and won, never to see him again. That Spectral was of course Belinda’s own mother, Jane. There had been rumours over the years throughout the Realm, rumours which were scoffed at by most, protected by others, including Agatha, of children being born to Frank and Belinda, and more specifically two boys.
Two boys, brothers, she thought, the sons of two very highly skilled Spectrals, well, level twenty-two anyway. Spectrals that knew the Prophecy of the Time Prophets intimately and one Spectral that had the right blood in her veins.
Agatha deeply despised the Time Prophets. She hated Realms where all things were forecast and nothing was left to chance. She strongly believed that freewill and choice existed even though the Prophets gave the impression that all was already determined, that there was no way to ever change something that they had foreseen.
The Time Prophets were Prophets of the Order of Dread, three in total: Fate, Hope and Doom. Together balanced, individually unstable. Words had power in this Realm, as did so many other things that normally did not in other realities.
The Prophecy of the Brothers, thought Agatha, surely it was not a prophecy about Belinda’s boys?
At that thought her watch-like device known as a channelling stone screamed out in alarm, demanding her to immediately respond to it by touching the device acknowledging receipt of its message, its liquid glowing red, the location of a meeting defined in ancient rune symbolism, known only to her Order, that formed in the liquid within the crystal.
“Uh oh,” exclaimed Agatha as she looked at the message within her channelling stone.
Agatha quickly dusted off any more soil remnants that had clung to her, straightened her emerald-green dress, swung her satchel over her shoulder and placed her emerald-green hat back on her head. Her bees quickly joined her knowing they were about to go for a ride.
The Council had summoned for her to attend a most urgent and classified meeting. This had happened only once before since she had joined the Order, but the Ghost Slayer was gone, why now then? Could He be finally making a move? She had helped drive him to the Darklands but He didn’t have the army to pose a threat, or so she had been told.
“I guess we will just have to find out the old way,” said Agatha to her tiny swarm. “Straight from the horse’s mouth.”
Agatha then apparated, vanishing from sight along with her bees.
***
Ambulances, chased by police cars, tore through the small country town, tyres screeching as they cornered at high speeds, sirens filling the normally quiet town with a sense of dread, a tell-tale sign that something was very wrong.
From the comfort of the Manor House, the kindly Lady Jane Hollingberry looked on. Her daughter and son-in-law were not known for being late but they were already an hour behind their predicted arrival.
Frank was an investment banker; he was a time management master. One wrong trade and people lost money, one skipped opportunity and all could be lost. He lived his life the same as he conducted himself in business. They had called only two hours before to say they were filling up. It was too rainy to sightsee and besides they knew every tourist attraction from their house to hers.
They should have arrived by now and Jane knew it.
“Something’s wrong,” she said aloud to herself.
On her wrist, embedded within her golden bangle and encased with other rare stones was a ghostly looking crystal, a crystal that now flashed red.
She didn’t even close the door as she grabbed her long black raincoat and ran out of the house.
A windowless black granite tower cast a shadow in the moonlight over the grounds she ran across.
She reached the cottage of her groundskeeper, William.
“William, help me, help me please,” she begged as she pounded on the door with all her might.
William Baker opened the door, took one look at his employer and oldest friend and understood without a word the thoughts running through her mind, as he too had heard the blaring sirens and screeching tyres.
William had grown up with Jane on the very same property, the son of the last groundskeeper and the groundskeeper before him. Two families intertwined through history, two families that knew the secrets of the Tower. The pair were like brother and sister although they were from two very different worlds. Nonetheless William loved Jane as family and would do anything for her, even die for her.
He moved quickly. “I’ll get my coat and keys.”
The Tower shook, within its walls, at its turret, the secret that Belinda didn’t want her sons to discover, stirred from its slumber.
***
The Grand Square of Vision was home to the Realm’s ruling council, The Order of the Twelve or as they were known to the locals: The Council. The Council and the forces of Legacy One both ruled and protected the Realm.
The Grand Square of Vision was itself a colossal monument, a perfect white limestone cube. Etched upon the giant cube were huge glyphs that represented the city’s history and founding. The Grand Square was surrounded by a perfectly circular moat that held the bluest of waters. Seven bridges, each formed from a unique material and shaped into a symbolic design, their meaning only known to the select few, crossed over the moat.
The moat itself was filled with tiny water fairies, a water folk from the Realm of Chance.
Magnificent gardens lined three sides of the cube. The fourth side, the side on which the entrance to the buildings lay, was paved with green marble and covered for the most part with statues representing battles and warriors long forgotten. Several of the statues were of Council Members who had achieved great feats within their time, others were more ominous and terrifying, including the massive statues symbolising the defeat of the once invading dragon hoard, and included a dismembered dragon head surrounded by a dozen cheering warriors. The pillared entrance was as equally spectacular, served by a thousand layers of steps of every ornate stone from the known universes.
Upon entering through the Pillars of Omen and avoiding direct eye contact with the eagle-headed Guards of Tut, one entered the Hall of Greeting. The room itself was vast, again perfectly square, its walls lined in black polished marble. Upon the walls were posted directions to the various floors and chambers within the building, while images of the Councillors would appear and vanish. Signs also dictated expected behaviour and the penalties for violating those expectations.
On the building’s highest level, only accessible to those summoned by invitation, was the Grand Chamber, the chamber to which Agatha now headed. She was unable to apparate directly into the chamber itself as it was protected by an apparating prevention net enforced by apparition dampeners that stopped all inhabitants of the Realm and visiting Spectrals from entering either unannounced, by force, or by simply getting their destination completely wrong.
The chamber itself had a circular layout within a square, twelve obelisks of twelve differing stones surrounded the outer circle, rising high above those members present. The Councillors sat on the elevated benches facing those whom they addressed or those who had come to bring supplications before them. A single podium, formed from two dragons, one of gold and one of silver, stood in the centre of the chamber from which the speaker brought forth the proceedings of the day.
Today the proceedings were led by none other than Death himself.
Lord Death, one of the ruling Council, was also the Supreme Leader of the Order of Reapers; an Order dedicated to bringing the souls of the dead from the Realms of the physical, safely to the Realms of Light in order to prevent them from being captured by an increasingly growing dark force.
“Agatha you’re late, take your seat at once,” instructed Death, an instruction that served to set the meeting in order.
The doors to the chamber were sealed and Death began to deliver his message.
“I have gathered you here today to confirm a truth that has been a rumour for some time within these walls and, unfortunately, without,” said Death thinking on his next words carefully. “For many sun cycles it has been known to this Council that Frank and Belinda Ravensdale had borne two children, two sons to be precise. Many of you have heard these rumours but for the safety of the brothers we have kept their existence secret. It is my strong belief that these brothers are the prophesied brothers that will cast the darkness from our world and set the captives free from the Darkrealms.”
The attendees and some of the Councillors talked amongst themselves, whispering only at first until finally the entire room was filled with ongoing and loudening speculation – shock, surprise, and for some confirmation of what they had always known to be true.
Death brought the meeting to order with the help of the podium’s dragons that let off a dragon cry, a noise that put the fear into any local, all at the press of a button.
“The truth I have gathered you here today to hear, is not that the brothers exist, but that a violation has occurred, an unforeseen event that was not predicted within the timeline of The Prophecy of Brothers. It appears that a Soul Snarer and another unknown force have worked within Earthrealm to create an unchangeable anomaly, a fixture within time as it were. The event is the death of the physical bodies of two of our finest Spectrals: Frank and Belinda Ravensdale.”
Those in attendance sat in deathly silence attempting to absorb what they had just heard. Frank and Belinda were well known and loved by the local inhabitants of the Realm. Belinda had been instrumental in the defeat of Slayer, even though his location was now unknown.
Tears poured down Agatha’s face, her bees buzzing around her head, altogether unaware of what Death’s message had meant to her. A message that until now still held hope until Death delivered his next statement.
“Their Spectral essence has been abducted by Soul Snarers,” stated Death, sounding utterly defeated.
The silence was broken with shouts and demands for justice, for revenge, for any solution that would undo what they had just heard.
None came.
Soul Snarers were the enemies of the Order of Reapers, a parasitic form of soul transporter. They delivered their captives to the highest paying villains within Darkrealm where their victims were made to suffer punishment whilst their captors fed off their soul energy and the energy of the fools from other Realms that paid any penance to get them out. Religion and fear often seemed to be the same in the workings of the afterlife.
“The Brothers of Prophecy are still very much alive but will no longer be under the protection of their Spectral parents,” interrupted Death with urgency. “It is for this reason you, the Order of Protectors have been summoned here today. You are authorised to crossover into Earthrealm, to the time of the event. Investigate but do not interfere. Locate any Soul Snarers present within Earthrealm and capture them. Banishment is authorised for these creatures. You are not permitted to make contact with any person of the Prophecy, especially the brothers. You have your orders, you are all, except for Agatha, dismissed. Please gather your essentials and head to the orb immediately, Lord Styx will grant you passage.”
The Protectors and Councillors vacated the chamber, again the doors were sealed rendering the chamber impervious to any eavesdropping device or hidden presence.
Agatha fell to her knees and cried uncontrollably. The whole chamber echoed her pain and seemed to understand her agony. Death placed his hand upon her shoulder in an attempt to offer comfort but she only wailed louder. Her once best friend was gone, stolen from her destiny, a destiny that was predicted by the Time Prophets. She had not seen her friend in some time and now may never see her again in the afterlife. Then there was her other once close friend, which refused to talk to her because she had introduced her daughter to the orb, the same friend that now had just lost that very same daughter and a son-in-law. Then there were two children, only a rumour, a whisper to her before, now completely vulnerable to a hostile force that had determined to destroy their lives, disrupt their destiny. It was her fault, she told herself. She accepted that Belinda wanted to keep any of her children from the Realm, she understood why Belinda had asked Agatha not to return but on a day like this she wished she had refused such a request.
“Agatha, get up. I need you – they need you,” said Death gently. “I am assigning you to the Brothers as their personal Familiar.”
Agatha looked up at his pale face. Death was capable of great kindness even though his name was hated throughout all the Realms both physical and supernatural. Today, however, she saw only failure upon his face. She knew how he felt.
“Jane will never allow it,” Agatha struggled to say.
“It’s not her choice, her freewill is for her alone but she cannot stop the destiny of those boys. If He is behind this in some manner, we have less time to act than we originally thought. Also, Jane might be good, but last time I checked you could still put her in her place,” said Death looking down at his beloved disciple.
Agatha could feel stirring within her a destination, a plan. Her Tower called to her again, her favourite haunt, and her destiny. Rage started to replace grief, destiny started to replace hopelessness, she would find her once friend and do what Belinda had forbidden her to. Not even the Gates of Tartarus could stop her.
She knew her role in the Last Battle against the monster that now lived within the Realm, a monster trapped by her own actions a long time ago. She would obey, and obey with vengeance.
“What are my orders?” asked Agatha standing to her feet and facing the man that once had rescued her soul from a rocky grave, deep at the base of a cliff in the same Realm she now had to return to.
Death pulled his hood over his silver haired head, took up his scythe and issued official orders, “Lady Agatha Williams, you are directed to the Earthrealm at once. Take with you any potion or possession you deem necessary to complete the task that I will now set for you. Your orders are simple; meet with Jane and offer assistance, if you meet resistance from Soul Snarers or other unknown forces, you are granted the Right of Illumination and Presence – destroy them. You are to wait until the boys reach maturity and can make their own choices as to whether they wish to crossover into our Realm. Haunt the tower until such a time, you are not authorised to return until you have offered them their birthright. You are to protect them at any cost.”
“Anything else?” asked Agatha.
“No,” replied Death looking at his greatest-ever pupil and knowing the peril she would face.
“May I speak freely?” she asked, not waiting for his response. “I don’t place much faith in the Time Prophets but is it not their job to foresee events like these?”
“It is, until one vanishes,” replied Death, his eyes avoiding hers.
“I’m sorry, are we missing a Time Prophet?” asked Agatha her eyes seeking out the eyes of her mentor, clearly showing the shock of what she had understood by Death’s words.
“Yes,” replied Death, with no change in tone or feature.
“Which one?” demanded Agatha.
“Doom!” said Death, lowering his head and turning from her.
“He is uncontrollable on his own, his very words cause worlds to collapse, nations to fall and people to die. Where is he?” she asked, now starting to understand the look of failure in her one-time saviour’s face.
“If we knew that we wouldn’t be having this conversation. We assume he has either been taken or by choice has joined with Sinistrous,” replied Death, turning back to face her.
Agatha hated hearing the name of her nemesis, a nemesis that she and Jane had brought through into the Realm. Sinistrous was an entity that represented all that was evil and devilish. He now lived in the Land of the Twin Volcanoes, in the Darklands beyond the Ocean of Quor.
“Then we have a lot more to worry about than I thought.”
“Legacy One is taking care of that problem, the Protectors will take care of the Earthrealm problems and you will have to get reacquainted with an old friend who will hate you for simply showing up. If Sinistrous is behind the events in Earthrealm he may be making his move ahead of time. He still cannot enter their Realm, our orb will not allow it. Slayer is another matter altogether though. Now go, I have said all I am going to say.”
And Death once again turned from her and left the chamber.
***
Jane rushed toward the wrecked car, her dress ripping on some thorn bushes. William followed her, even though his age and physical condition left him gasping for breath. Fire and ambulance teams were already there, prying open the wreckage with high powered metal-cutting devices.
Jane took in the black car, causing her flesh to crawl, knowing instinctively that the vehicle had been the cause of the accident. A child’s cries brought her attention back to Belinda and Frank’s car. Daniel was being pulled from the wreckage and placed on a stretcher, calling over and over for his mother. James was then also taken out of the car and put on a stretcher too – he made no noise whatsoever. A body had been bagged next to the second car and another up on the road.
“Where’s my daughter?” screamed Jane. “Where is my baby girl? Where is she? Answer me, where’s my Bel?”
William came to her and attempted to calm her but she struggled with him, continuing to cry out to be told where Belinda was.
A paramedic came running up to her. His badge said he was Robert.
“Ma’am, I’ll try to answer your questions but you must calm down.”
Jane shook him off. Tears poured down her face. “Where’s my daughter?” she yelled at him.
“I’m sorry ma’am, we’ve found the bodies of a woman and a man. Unfortunately neither of them survived the accident. They haven’t yet been identified.”
He pointed out both body bags.
Jane took off towards the body bag on the road, even as the paramedic shouted at her to stay still.
Jane ripped open the bag and saw every mother’s worst nightmare. Her shrieks drowned out every other sound, everyone present witnessing her terrible grief.
A few miles away, a windowless tower began to glow. The first squad of Protectors had passed into the Realm and had immediately spread out in order to assess both the damage and the situation.
***
Agatha apparated into her garden, moved into her house, and started filling her satchel with tools that would come in handy and any other precious mementos, within arm’s reach. She then grabbed a summoner stone and rubbed it fast and firmly.
“John,” she spoke into the stone.
She stepped outside back into the garden and saw a man fall into her fishpond.
“Oh I do apologise,” said John to the school of angry fish who together cursed him for his mistake. He then offered a sheepish apology to Agatha.
Agatha couldn’t help but smile at his silliness. Father John had always been a bit of a clown, not intentionally of course, but a clown nonetheless.
“It’s good to see you,” she said, offering him a handkerchief.
“It’s good to see you too.” He accepted the green cloth from her hand. “Your call sounded urgent.”
“It was,” said Agatha. “I’m going to Earthrealm and don’t know how long I’ll be gone. I was hoping you could look after the place for me while I’m away?”
John scratched his head. “This is sudden. May I ask why you are going back to that Realm, especially now?”
“It’s serious and that’s all I can say,” she snapped at him before she could stop herself. “I’m sorry John. Please can you do this for me without any questions?”
“Of course I can. Go with my blessings, child.”
Agatha smiled, “I know you’re not a priest anymore but on this occasion I can do with all the blessing I can get my hands on.”
John held up his hands in mock surrender. “Hey, even I couldn’t help who I fell in love with nor stop the person who added a little poison to my drink. But I can still give you my best wishes.”
Agatha smiled at him again, as the silver disc came into view. She downed a life-force tonic of her own making and apparated to it. John watched as she vanished.
The trip to the Monument of Passage or Orb Complex took days, a monument formed by six trilithons that formed a perfect circle, protecting her ultimate destination – the Orb. Standing guard another Reaper of renown, awaited her arrival.
“Good to see you, Agatha,” said Lord Styx. “Are you ready?”
“Just try and stop me,” she replied, touching the Orb.
Within an instant she was transferred by its magic to another Realm: Earthrealm.
***
Agatha passed through the wall of the tower and flew towards the sound of sirens and the signal of her one-time friend’s channelling stone. From above she could easily take in the whole crash site. She continued to assess the situation. Two body bags were laid side by side on the road, while two small individuals, who she instinctively guessed were the brothers, were being treated within an ambulance, guarded by none other than Jane. Policemen talked to each other near an unnaturally black car that caused the very hair on Agatha’s neck to stand on end, something she normally caused in others within this Realm. Her bees became stressed, wanting to flee the scene but they weren’t going anywhere as long as Agatha stayed.
“Have you identified the driver of this vehicle yet?” Agatha heard one of them ask.
“No Sir, we haven’t found a driver either in or out of the vehicle. But, Sir, and this is very odd, there’s little evidence to suggest there ever was a driver.”
“Explain?” demanded the first policeman.
“There are no footprints leading away from the vehicle, the seatbelt is still clicked-in and there are no traces of blood.”
Agatha came to rest beside the pair to eavesdrop on their conversation and pick up any useful information she could.
“Are you saying it was a ghost?” challenged the officer who appeared to be the senior of the two, his breath turning to steam as he spoke.
The other rubbed his arms as if he were cold. “I’m not saying anything, Sir. Is it me or does it feel suddenly like winter?”
Agatha stepped back realising her presence was being felt by the officers. She was out of practice. No mortal could see her unless she wished it or someone mortal had seen an event so horrific that it ripped a tear between realities.
Then she sensed a Spectral’s life-force, and also eyes burrowing into the back of her head. She turned and lifted her head, moving her line of sight slowly up the embankment until she was confronted by the stare of her one-time friend, Lady Jane Hollingberry.
Agatha pushed off from the ground and landed face to face with her old friend who now stood alone.
Jane’s response was of a woman wronged. “The ghost returns I see. I should have known you were somehow involved in this.”
“Actually I just got here, nice to see you too,” replied the once earthborn blonde school teacher dressed in green.
Jane pointed a finger directly at Agatha’s face. “Leave now Agatha. They’re not going with you, not now, not ever.”
Agatha moved towards the ambulance. Jane attempted to block her but Agatha passed right through her. Two boys, brothers, with drips attached to them, innocent and yet destined to save this very Realm, lifted their tiny heads to see the physical form of a twenty-four year old woman, dressed in emerald green, wearing a hat with tiny white blossoms, with bees buzzing about them.
The boys clearly saw this woman and a very angry grandmother standing beside her as the ambulance doors closed and cut off their view. The ambulance headed for the nearby hospital, which awaited its small patients.
“They will never know your Realm, I promise you,” said Jane. “I will send them to school in London. I will fill their minds with science and keep from them the worlds of myth. My grandsons are not your saviours. You are not a protector of souls but a destroyer – go home Agatha.”
“You lost a daughter tonight, I lost a friend. I promised her I would stay out of the boys’ lives to ensure our world would never hurt them, now I need to fulfil that promise by breaking it. My home is here for now, no matter what you say or do. We once were friends Jane, but on this we disagree. I will be there when they’re ready, the choice is theirs not ours as to whether they enter Ghostrealm or not.”
“So, it’s a fight then. The lone Spectral versus the forces of Ghostrealm.”
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“Something beginning with ‘M’,” she completed.
James was still in the game but Daniel was starting to fall asleep, his little four year old body not yet as resilient as his older brother’s.
“Moon,” shouted James spotting the low lying blood-red full moon that was now rising on the horizon just behind the town where his grandmother lived, its light now breaking through the low lying clouds that had only fifteen minutes earlier brought rain.
“Well done, James. Would you like to guess the next one, Daniel?” she asked but Daniel simply grunted in the negative, his mother’s question rousing him from his near slumber.
Their father called out. “Well boys we’re nearly there, are you getting excited? Think of all the things you can get up to for the next three weeks; playing in the gardens, climbing up in the hills, playing in the old ruins, trying again to break into the Tower of Black’s Castle.”
Belinda instantly cut her husband off at the mere mention of the Tower. “Yes, and there are other things you can both do far away from that Tower, aren’t there, honey?” She looked directly at Frank, who very sheepishly turned his head and looked out of the driver’s side window.
“You know I don’t want them going anywhere near that Tower,” she said so only he could hear, through gritted teeth. “Remember what we discussed, those days are long behind us. Just because someone in the distant past made a series of predictions that supposedly centre on us, doesn’t mean we have to live our lives according to them. I choose my own fate, Frank, for me and for my children.”
Frank nodded, “You’re right Bel, I was simply reminiscing over our youth, after all don’t forget – no Tower, no us.” He paused, keeping his eyes on the wet and now steaming road, and went on, knowing he was on dangerous ground. “You do know we can’t keep them away from the truth forever. It’s in their blood, it’s in their history and they should one day be given the choice to know its secrets.”
“Just watch me, Frank. We gave up that life and all of its privileges, blessings and curses. Besides we both agreed it was for the best,” Belinda folded her arms tightly and turned away from her husband.
James tried to catch what his parents were saying but couldn’t understand any of it. Daniel, who was now transfixed on the moon paid very little attention to the conversation, he was too young to understand, and too young to care.
“You decided what was best, when he… What the hell is that?” Frank shouted as his eyes focused on an oncoming car that sped towards them led by a large red glowing ball that veered quickly from left to right, the pursuing vehicle following its every move.
“What’s going on, mummy?” James unbuckled his seatbelt to get a better look.
“Put your seatbelt back on and stay in your seat,” yelled Frank.
Belinda undid her own seatbelt, kneeling in her own seat facing her children in order to buckle James back into his seat. James struggled against her in an effort to see what was going on, making it hard to lock his seatbelt buckle back into place and much more importantly, her own.
“James hold still,” pleaded Belinda. “Frank what is that thing, do you think it’s a . . .”
These were the very last words Belinda Ravensdale ever got to say before she was thrown out through the car’s windscreen by the impact from the collision with the oncoming car, the image burning violently into the minds’ of the two young boys along with her screams which were immediately silenced. The impact caused the car to spin on the wet road, before it careered off the road and plunged down a steep embankment, rolling to the unknown depths below. Airbags burst from their housings to protect the vehicle’s occupants but this was of little assistance to Frank, as the car rolled onto an outcropping of jagged rocks that pierced the driver’s side window, puncturing his airbag looking for a victim, as the car continued its downward roll.
An assortment of nocturnal creatures watched from their homes within rocks and trees as the car finally slammed into a large oak tree, coming to a sudden and complete stop. The radiator poured out its contents into the night, hissing as it did.
The young boys had been miraculously protected by the airbags and had survived. Frank turned around to ensure they were alright before climbing out of the car through what had once been the car’s front windscreen. A quick assessment of the car’s state told him there were no other immediate threats to his sons’ lives. Once he’d established the car was the safest place for his children right now, he attempted to gain his bearings in the eerie moonlight.
Then he located the wreckage of the other vehicle that had also rolled into another large oak tree.
Frank now knew where he was. In FaerieWood Grove. A forest on the outskirts of town, protected under the Hollingberry Treaty of 1011 AD. It was a mystical grove and gave anyone who dared to venture into it the feeling of dread and despair, so it was avoided by most of the town’s inhabitants and even the bravest of tourists did not hang about there for long.
The moon continued to rise over the horizon now fully illuminating the entire valley.
Frank called out Belinda’s name over and over, as he climbed hurriedly back up the embankment, but she never replied. He finally reached the road above, absolutely exhausted, struggling to breathe and feeling lightheaded. He looked around and there, lying in a ditch in a pool of her own blood, he found the bloodied and broken form of his dead wife.
Frank dropped to his knees on the wet and blood covered ground, taking her lifeless form into his arms. He pleaded for help but it never came. He begged the gods of heaven but they never answered. He tried to shake her to life but she never awoke.
Tonight only devils would be found in this valley, only the damned dared to venture on its paths.
His tears dropped onto her forehead one at a time, he had loved her from his youth, they had two beautiful children, a beautiful home, a wonderful life but that was all gone now. His bride dead in his arms, his children alive but in shock and he was now becoming aware of the agonizing pain in his own abdomen.
He gently touched around the area of the pain, feeling the warm sticky fluid all over his clothing as he did, looking down at his wet hands the moonlight revealed his own blackened blood. He looked at his wife once more in the moonlight and said goodbye to his love as he lowered her body once more to the ground and struggled to his feet. He had to get back to his boys, as he knew now his time was limited. He fought against the pain and the truth that was becoming even more overwhelming, he was alone, as was Belinda. Someone should be here, that’s how it works, he thought.
He found a less challenging path back down to where the two vehicles now rested. He needed answers and only one person could give them to him. He set his eyes on his target and moved towards the black car that had brought him to his present reality.
A red ball hovered menacingly above it, the same light that he had seen earlier being chased by the black car, a chase that had killed his wife and seemed likely to do the same to him. A chase that would leave his children orphans. He didn’t want to accept what he already knew about the red ball of light above the vehicle, he still had time to get what he needed most.
Horror struck him as he made his next discovery. There was no driver in the vehicle.
“This can’t be,” he beat his bloodied fists against the roof of the car. “Why? Why? Why?”
The red ball of light started to sway over Frank’s weakened form. He looked at the light in absolute terror knowing he was completely alone, abandoned by those he called friends.
“To hell with you!” he screamed as the light slammed into his chest, sucking out his very soul before moving off.
“No!” came a scream from another unseen fading form. “Not again.”
***
“Stop that,” instructed Agatha as she waved off two bees from her saplings. “How many times have I told you not to play with the saplings until they are fully grown? You will give them nightmares filled with six legged, black and yellow villains, who dropped them when they were babies. They are living creatures you know?”
The bees, never ones to argue with Agatha, simply buzzed off and went and found new plants to annoy.
“You never learn do you? Well even if it takes me the rest of eternity, you will learn how to treat saplings,” she said as she placed the last of her saplings into the moist earth that would become their home. “There, all planted.”
Agatha dusted some soil off her knee and looked at the tiny faces staring back at her.
“Only a few more touches to add,” said Agatha reaching into her satchel. “We must never forget the two magic ingredients that all new saplings must have in order to grow big and strong: a strand of life essence and a pebble of luck.”
Agatha tied a strand of life essence around the necks of every sapling just under each of their tiny developing heads and popped a tiny pebble beside each of them. She then stood, removed her gardening gloves and once more looked down on her tiny saplings that waved to her with thanks.
Her plants were the closest thing she had ever had to children of her own, not counting her menacing bees that acted like children all the time.
Agatha then looked over her white picket fence and down into the vast valley that lay below her hillside home. Captivated as ever by the beauty of the city below with its ultra-modern high-rises, its plethora of alien cultures and its very earthly ancient monuments, she was suddenly reminded of times when she and her friend Belinda had lain on the self-same grass and talked of children and their dreams.
Many Earthrealm years had passed since then, since Frank and Belinda had finally stopped denying their feelings for one another. It was extremely rare that Spectrals came from the same time period but Frank and Belinda had spent their summers together since their youth. Agatha then remembered back to the days before she and Belinda had met, when she and another Spectral had stopped a plot to tear apart the Realm forever. The two had fought off the Ghost Slayer and won, never to see him again. That Spectral was of course Belinda’s own mother, Jane. There had been rumours over the years throughout the Realm, rumours which were scoffed at by most, protected by others, including Agatha, of children being born to Frank and Belinda, and more specifically two boys.
Two boys, brothers, she thought, the sons of two very highly skilled Spectrals, well, level twenty-two anyway. Spectrals that knew the Prophecy of the Time Prophets intimately and one Spectral that had the right blood in her veins.
Agatha deeply despised the Time Prophets. She hated Realms where all things were forecast and nothing was left to chance. She strongly believed that freewill and choice existed even though the Prophets gave the impression that all was already determined, that there was no way to ever change something that they had foreseen.
The Time Prophets were Prophets of the Order of Dread, three in total: Fate, Hope and Doom. Together balanced, individually unstable. Words had power in this Realm, as did so many other things that normally did not in other realities.
The Prophecy of the Brothers, thought Agatha, surely it was not a prophecy about Belinda’s boys?
At that thought her watch-like device known as a channelling stone screamed out in alarm, demanding her to immediately respond to it by touching the device acknowledging receipt of its message, its liquid glowing red, the location of a meeting defined in ancient rune symbolism, known only to her Order, that formed in the liquid within the crystal.
“Uh oh,” exclaimed Agatha as she looked at the message within her channelling stone.
Agatha quickly dusted off any more soil remnants that had clung to her, straightened her emerald-green dress, swung her satchel over her shoulder and placed her emerald-green hat back on her head. Her bees quickly joined her knowing they were about to go for a ride.
The Council had summoned for her to attend a most urgent and classified meeting. This had happened only once before since she had joined the Order, but the Ghost Slayer was gone, why now then? Could He be finally making a move? She had helped drive him to the Darklands but He didn’t have the army to pose a threat, or so she had been told.
“I guess we will just have to find out the old way,” said Agatha to her tiny swarm. “Straight from the horse’s mouth.”
Agatha then apparated, vanishing from sight along with her bees.
***
Ambulances, chased by police cars, tore through the small country town, tyres screeching as they cornered at high speeds, sirens filling the normally quiet town with a sense of dread, a tell-tale sign that something was very wrong.
From the comfort of the Manor House, the kindly Lady Jane Hollingberry looked on. Her daughter and son-in-law were not known for being late but they were already an hour behind their predicted arrival.
Frank was an investment banker; he was a time management master. One wrong trade and people lost money, one skipped opportunity and all could be lost. He lived his life the same as he conducted himself in business. They had called only two hours before to say they were filling up. It was too rainy to sightsee and besides they knew every tourist attraction from their house to hers.
They should have arrived by now and Jane knew it.
“Something’s wrong,” she said aloud to herself.
On her wrist, embedded within her golden bangle and encased with other rare stones was a ghostly looking crystal, a crystal that now flashed red.
She didn’t even close the door as she grabbed her long black raincoat and ran out of the house.
A windowless black granite tower cast a shadow in the moonlight over the grounds she ran across.
She reached the cottage of her groundskeeper, William.
“William, help me, help me please,” she begged as she pounded on the door with all her might.
William Baker opened the door, took one look at his employer and oldest friend and understood without a word the thoughts running through her mind, as he too had heard the blaring sirens and screeching tyres.
William had grown up with Jane on the very same property, the son of the last groundskeeper and the groundskeeper before him. Two families intertwined through history, two families that knew the secrets of the Tower. The pair were like brother and sister although they were from two very different worlds. Nonetheless William loved Jane as family and would do anything for her, even die for her.
He moved quickly. “I’ll get my coat and keys.”
The Tower shook, within its walls, at its turret, the secret that Belinda didn’t want her sons to discover, stirred from its slumber.
***
The Grand Square of Vision was home to the Realm’s ruling council, The Order of the Twelve or as they were known to the locals: The Council. The Council and the forces of Legacy One both ruled and protected the Realm.
The Grand Square of Vision was itself a colossal monument, a perfect white limestone cube. Etched upon the giant cube were huge glyphs that represented the city’s history and founding. The Grand Square was surrounded by a perfectly circular moat that held the bluest of waters. Seven bridges, each formed from a unique material and shaped into a symbolic design, their meaning only known to the select few, crossed over the moat.
The moat itself was filled with tiny water fairies, a water folk from the Realm of Chance.
Magnificent gardens lined three sides of the cube. The fourth side, the side on which the entrance to the buildings lay, was paved with green marble and covered for the most part with statues representing battles and warriors long forgotten. Several of the statues were of Council Members who had achieved great feats within their time, others were more ominous and terrifying, including the massive statues symbolising the defeat of the once invading dragon hoard, and included a dismembered dragon head surrounded by a dozen cheering warriors. The pillared entrance was as equally spectacular, served by a thousand layers of steps of every ornate stone from the known universes.
Upon entering through the Pillars of Omen and avoiding direct eye contact with the eagle-headed Guards of Tut, one entered the Hall of Greeting. The room itself was vast, again perfectly square, its walls lined in black polished marble. Upon the walls were posted directions to the various floors and chambers within the building, while images of the Councillors would appear and vanish. Signs also dictated expected behaviour and the penalties for violating those expectations.
On the building’s highest level, only accessible to those summoned by invitation, was the Grand Chamber, the chamber to which Agatha now headed. She was unable to apparate directly into the chamber itself as it was protected by an apparating prevention net enforced by apparition dampeners that stopped all inhabitants of the Realm and visiting Spectrals from entering either unannounced, by force, or by simply getting their destination completely wrong.
The chamber itself had a circular layout within a square, twelve obelisks of twelve differing stones surrounded the outer circle, rising high above those members present. The Councillors sat on the elevated benches facing those whom they addressed or those who had come to bring supplications before them. A single podium, formed from two dragons, one of gold and one of silver, stood in the centre of the chamber from which the speaker brought forth the proceedings of the day.
Today the proceedings were led by none other than Death himself.
Lord Death, one of the ruling Council, was also the Supreme Leader of the Order of Reapers; an Order dedicated to bringing the souls of the dead from the Realms of the physical, safely to the Realms of Light in order to prevent them from being captured by an increasingly growing dark force.
“Agatha you’re late, take your seat at once,” instructed Death, an instruction that served to set the meeting in order.
The doors to the chamber were sealed and Death began to deliver his message.
“I have gathered you here today to confirm a truth that has been a rumour for some time within these walls and, unfortunately, without,” said Death thinking on his next words carefully. “For many sun cycles it has been known to this Council that Frank and Belinda Ravensdale had borne two children, two sons to be precise. Many of you have heard these rumours but for the safety of the brothers we have kept their existence secret. It is my strong belief that these brothers are the prophesied brothers that will cast the darkness from our world and set the captives free from the Darkrealms.”
The attendees and some of the Councillors talked amongst themselves, whispering only at first until finally the entire room was filled with ongoing and loudening speculation – shock, surprise, and for some confirmation of what they had always known to be true.
Death brought the meeting to order with the help of the podium’s dragons that let off a dragon cry, a noise that put the fear into any local, all at the press of a button.
“The truth I have gathered you here today to hear, is not that the brothers exist, but that a violation has occurred, an unforeseen event that was not predicted within the timeline of The Prophecy of Brothers. It appears that a Soul Snarer and another unknown force have worked within Earthrealm to create an unchangeable anomaly, a fixture within time as it were. The event is the death of the physical bodies of two of our finest Spectrals: Frank and Belinda Ravensdale.”
Those in attendance sat in deathly silence attempting to absorb what they had just heard. Frank and Belinda were well known and loved by the local inhabitants of the Realm. Belinda had been instrumental in the defeat of Slayer, even though his location was now unknown.
Tears poured down Agatha’s face, her bees buzzing around her head, altogether unaware of what Death’s message had meant to her. A message that until now still held hope until Death delivered his next statement.
“Their Spectral essence has been abducted by Soul Snarers,” stated Death, sounding utterly defeated.
The silence was broken with shouts and demands for justice, for revenge, for any solution that would undo what they had just heard.
None came.
Soul Snarers were the enemies of the Order of Reapers, a parasitic form of soul transporter. They delivered their captives to the highest paying villains within Darkrealm where their victims were made to suffer punishment whilst their captors fed off their soul energy and the energy of the fools from other Realms that paid any penance to get them out. Religion and fear often seemed to be the same in the workings of the afterlife.
“The Brothers of Prophecy are still very much alive but will no longer be under the protection of their Spectral parents,” interrupted Death with urgency. “It is for this reason you, the Order of Protectors have been summoned here today. You are authorised to crossover into Earthrealm, to the time of the event. Investigate but do not interfere. Locate any Soul Snarers present within Earthrealm and capture them. Banishment is authorised for these creatures. You are not permitted to make contact with any person of the Prophecy, especially the brothers. You have your orders, you are all, except for Agatha, dismissed. Please gather your essentials and head to the orb immediately, Lord Styx will grant you passage.”
The Protectors and Councillors vacated the chamber, again the doors were sealed rendering the chamber impervious to any eavesdropping device or hidden presence.
Agatha fell to her knees and cried uncontrollably. The whole chamber echoed her pain and seemed to understand her agony. Death placed his hand upon her shoulder in an attempt to offer comfort but she only wailed louder. Her once best friend was gone, stolen from her destiny, a destiny that was predicted by the Time Prophets. She had not seen her friend in some time and now may never see her again in the afterlife. Then there was her other once close friend, which refused to talk to her because she had introduced her daughter to the orb, the same friend that now had just lost that very same daughter and a son-in-law. Then there were two children, only a rumour, a whisper to her before, now completely vulnerable to a hostile force that had determined to destroy their lives, disrupt their destiny. It was her fault, she told herself. She accepted that Belinda wanted to keep any of her children from the Realm, she understood why Belinda had asked Agatha not to return but on a day like this she wished she had refused such a request.
“Agatha, get up. I need you – they need you,” said Death gently. “I am assigning you to the Brothers as their personal Familiar.”
Agatha looked up at his pale face. Death was capable of great kindness even though his name was hated throughout all the Realms both physical and supernatural. Today, however, she saw only failure upon his face. She knew how he felt.
“Jane will never allow it,” Agatha struggled to say.
“It’s not her choice, her freewill is for her alone but she cannot stop the destiny of those boys. If He is behind this in some manner, we have less time to act than we originally thought. Also, Jane might be good, but last time I checked you could still put her in her place,” said Death looking down at his beloved disciple.
Agatha could feel stirring within her a destination, a plan. Her Tower called to her again, her favourite haunt, and her destiny. Rage started to replace grief, destiny started to replace hopelessness, she would find her once friend and do what Belinda had forbidden her to. Not even the Gates of Tartarus could stop her.
She knew her role in the Last Battle against the monster that now lived within the Realm, a monster trapped by her own actions a long time ago. She would obey, and obey with vengeance.
“What are my orders?” asked Agatha standing to her feet and facing the man that once had rescued her soul from a rocky grave, deep at the base of a cliff in the same Realm she now had to return to.
Death pulled his hood over his silver haired head, took up his scythe and issued official orders, “Lady Agatha Williams, you are directed to the Earthrealm at once. Take with you any potion or possession you deem necessary to complete the task that I will now set for you. Your orders are simple; meet with Jane and offer assistance, if you meet resistance from Soul Snarers or other unknown forces, you are granted the Right of Illumination and Presence – destroy them. You are to wait until the boys reach maturity and can make their own choices as to whether they wish to crossover into our Realm. Haunt the tower until such a time, you are not authorised to return until you have offered them their birthright. You are to protect them at any cost.”
“Anything else?” asked Agatha.
“No,” replied Death looking at his greatest-ever pupil and knowing the peril she would face.
“May I speak freely?” she asked, not waiting for his response. “I don’t place much faith in the Time Prophets but is it not their job to foresee events like these?”
“It is, until one vanishes,” replied Death, his eyes avoiding hers.
“I’m sorry, are we missing a Time Prophet?” asked Agatha her eyes seeking out the eyes of her mentor, clearly showing the shock of what she had understood by Death’s words.
“Yes,” replied Death, with no change in tone or feature.
“Which one?” demanded Agatha.
“Doom!” said Death, lowering his head and turning from her.
“He is uncontrollable on his own, his very words cause worlds to collapse, nations to fall and people to die. Where is he?” she asked, now starting to understand the look of failure in her one-time saviour’s face.
“If we knew that we wouldn’t be having this conversation. We assume he has either been taken or by choice has joined with Sinistrous,” replied Death, turning back to face her.
Agatha hated hearing the name of her nemesis, a nemesis that she and Jane had brought through into the Realm. Sinistrous was an entity that represented all that was evil and devilish. He now lived in the Land of the Twin Volcanoes, in the Darklands beyond the Ocean of Quor.
“Then we have a lot more to worry about than I thought.”
“Legacy One is taking care of that problem, the Protectors will take care of the Earthrealm problems and you will have to get reacquainted with an old friend who will hate you for simply showing up. If Sinistrous is behind the events in Earthrealm he may be making his move ahead of time. He still cannot enter their Realm, our orb will not allow it. Slayer is another matter altogether though. Now go, I have said all I am going to say.”
And Death once again turned from her and left the chamber.
***
Jane rushed toward the wrecked car, her dress ripping on some thorn bushes. William followed her, even though his age and physical condition left him gasping for breath. Fire and ambulance teams were already there, prying open the wreckage with high powered metal-cutting devices.
Jane took in the black car, causing her flesh to crawl, knowing instinctively that the vehicle had been the cause of the accident. A child’s cries brought her attention back to Belinda and Frank’s car. Daniel was being pulled from the wreckage and placed on a stretcher, calling over and over for his mother. James was then also taken out of the car and put on a stretcher too – he made no noise whatsoever. A body had been bagged next to the second car and another up on the road.
“Where’s my daughter?” screamed Jane. “Where is my baby girl? Where is she? Answer me, where’s my Bel?”
William came to her and attempted to calm her but she struggled with him, continuing to cry out to be told where Belinda was.
A paramedic came running up to her. His badge said he was Robert.
“Ma’am, I’ll try to answer your questions but you must calm down.”
Jane shook him off. Tears poured down her face. “Where’s my daughter?” she yelled at him.
“I’m sorry ma’am, we’ve found the bodies of a woman and a man. Unfortunately neither of them survived the accident. They haven’t yet been identified.”
He pointed out both body bags.
Jane took off towards the body bag on the road, even as the paramedic shouted at her to stay still.
Jane ripped open the bag and saw every mother’s worst nightmare. Her shrieks drowned out every other sound, everyone present witnessing her terrible grief.
A few miles away, a windowless tower began to glow. The first squad of Protectors had passed into the Realm and had immediately spread out in order to assess both the damage and the situation.
***
Agatha apparated into her garden, moved into her house, and started filling her satchel with tools that would come in handy and any other precious mementos, within arm’s reach. She then grabbed a summoner stone and rubbed it fast and firmly.
“John,” she spoke into the stone.
She stepped outside back into the garden and saw a man fall into her fishpond.
“Oh I do apologise,” said John to the school of angry fish who together cursed him for his mistake. He then offered a sheepish apology to Agatha.
Agatha couldn’t help but smile at his silliness. Father John had always been a bit of a clown, not intentionally of course, but a clown nonetheless.
“It’s good to see you,” she said, offering him a handkerchief.
“It’s good to see you too.” He accepted the green cloth from her hand. “Your call sounded urgent.”
“It was,” said Agatha. “I’m going to Earthrealm and don’t know how long I’ll be gone. I was hoping you could look after the place for me while I’m away?”
John scratched his head. “This is sudden. May I ask why you are going back to that Realm, especially now?”
“It’s serious and that’s all I can say,” she snapped at him before she could stop herself. “I’m sorry John. Please can you do this for me without any questions?”
“Of course I can. Go with my blessings, child.”
Agatha smiled, “I know you’re not a priest anymore but on this occasion I can do with all the blessing I can get my hands on.”
John held up his hands in mock surrender. “Hey, even I couldn’t help who I fell in love with nor stop the person who added a little poison to my drink. But I can still give you my best wishes.”
Agatha smiled at him again, as the silver disc came into view. She downed a life-force tonic of her own making and apparated to it. John watched as she vanished.
The trip to the Monument of Passage or Orb Complex took days, a monument formed by six trilithons that formed a perfect circle, protecting her ultimate destination – the Orb. Standing guard another Reaper of renown, awaited her arrival.
“Good to see you, Agatha,” said Lord Styx. “Are you ready?”
“Just try and stop me,” she replied, touching the Orb.
Within an instant she was transferred by its magic to another Realm: Earthrealm.
***
Agatha passed through the wall of the tower and flew towards the sound of sirens and the signal of her one-time friend’s channelling stone. From above she could easily take in the whole crash site. She continued to assess the situation. Two body bags were laid side by side on the road, while two small individuals, who she instinctively guessed were the brothers, were being treated within an ambulance, guarded by none other than Jane. Policemen talked to each other near an unnaturally black car that caused the very hair on Agatha’s neck to stand on end, something she normally caused in others within this Realm. Her bees became stressed, wanting to flee the scene but they weren’t going anywhere as long as Agatha stayed.
“Have you identified the driver of this vehicle yet?” Agatha heard one of them ask.
“No Sir, we haven’t found a driver either in or out of the vehicle. But, Sir, and this is very odd, there’s little evidence to suggest there ever was a driver.”
“Explain?” demanded the first policeman.
“There are no footprints leading away from the vehicle, the seatbelt is still clicked-in and there are no traces of blood.”
Agatha came to rest beside the pair to eavesdrop on their conversation and pick up any useful information she could.
“Are you saying it was a ghost?” challenged the officer who appeared to be the senior of the two, his breath turning to steam as he spoke.
The other rubbed his arms as if he were cold. “I’m not saying anything, Sir. Is it me or does it feel suddenly like winter?”
Agatha stepped back realising her presence was being felt by the officers. She was out of practice. No mortal could see her unless she wished it or someone mortal had seen an event so horrific that it ripped a tear between realities.
Then she sensed a Spectral’s life-force, and also eyes burrowing into the back of her head. She turned and lifted her head, moving her line of sight slowly up the embankment until she was confronted by the stare of her one-time friend, Lady Jane Hollingberry.
Agatha pushed off from the ground and landed face to face with her old friend who now stood alone.
Jane’s response was of a woman wronged. “The ghost returns I see. I should have known you were somehow involved in this.”
“Actually I just got here, nice to see you too,” replied the once earthborn blonde school teacher dressed in green.
Jane pointed a finger directly at Agatha’s face. “Leave now Agatha. They’re not going with you, not now, not ever.”
Agatha moved towards the ambulance. Jane attempted to block her but Agatha passed right through her. Two boys, brothers, with drips attached to them, innocent and yet destined to save this very Realm, lifted their tiny heads to see the physical form of a twenty-four year old woman, dressed in emerald green, wearing a hat with tiny white blossoms, with bees buzzing about them.
The boys clearly saw this woman and a very angry grandmother standing beside her as the ambulance doors closed and cut off their view. The ambulance headed for the nearby hospital, which awaited its small patients.
“They will never know your Realm, I promise you,” said Jane. “I will send them to school in London. I will fill their minds with science and keep from them the worlds of myth. My grandsons are not your saviours. You are not a protector of souls but a destroyer – go home Agatha.”
“You lost a daughter tonight, I lost a friend. I promised her I would stay out of the boys’ lives to ensure our world would never hurt them, now I need to fulfil that promise by breaking it. My home is here for now, no matter what you say or do. We once were friends Jane, but on this we disagree. I will be there when they’re ready, the choice is theirs not ours as to whether they enter Ghostrealm or not.”
“So, it’s a fight then. The lone Spectral versus the forces of Ghostrealm.”
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