Spikes fall.
Cold, sharp, and solid.
They fell through streams of thread that forged cloth, disappearing under with testimonies of havoc. They fell, breaking in crystal like sounds when they hit rock roof and stone hard tree branches. The night tasted of black.
With every increase of rain and magic, my senses heightened. I could smell the blinding sun that would come after the rain and I could feel time slip through my clenched fists. The fall was harsh, but my eyes never left the wooden statue before me. It was wet from rain and green and brown that wrapped around its scarred snake arms, and tears of age.
I set out for here before the first seeds of rain grew into a miracle, leaving early clouds trapped in pot-holes, forcing them into slaves who created mud out of the former dry earth. While the wind fell against tree and rock, I climbed my way up, and had finally arrived here. Even the forces of nature would do plenty little to stop me now.
Fate gave us our time. Our time...........
....our time is never enough. We will never be satisfied with the blood of a hundred. Our kind remain in the shadows, waiting for commands that never came, commands that will never come. We were forced to hide among black humans, a powerful species that protected themselves from the truth of our existence with faith and ignorance. Their strength, their weakness. Our edge.
Lightening!
I was not the first of my kind who tried to collect this sacred item. It was the key to seeing through the eyes of the universe, and our hope for salvation. It was the last piece to the puzzle. It was our path to return to this world.
The blackness and cold of rain seized my whole and teeth against teeth shiver shook me.
More time.
More time to survive the magical storm. It was a fight that could only be won with will. The supernatural powers protecting the wooden god were struggling to stop me.
It was their duty
........a duty I will gladly relieve them of.
SCREEEECCHHH!
I pulled the gear lever back and peeled into the wet driveway leading off the school. I was late. As I tore through the rain, engine sound mixed with rain beating against the car pulled me out of unpleasant memories.
"You should stop worrying, really. Everyone has a second chance to fix things."
"Why? I robbed Clarence again. How many more before we fix everything. Every time I meet him I burn with guilt."
"As much as fate tells us to. We're just pawns."
"Really, that's your defense for me. Great. You're not touched by anything. You won't understand."
"Maybe. But I know you can't stop now. Sometimes we do bad to do good"
I sighed, and turned left. The wipers were furious.
"I remember those words. You said them before you killed Magnus some time back."
"I know, but I resurrected him. Besides he knows nothing about the incident.....", "......and you should stop tweaking people's memory....", "......you're the only one complaining. I've spent hundreds of years protecting you every time you reincarnate. Trust me, you always need me to mess with people's heads."
I sighed.
Silver Fish smiled.
Despite her glittering transparent nine year old body, she was old enough to die hundreds of years before the first world war.
Stolen from a spiritual world of wars were she was created, she chose to become my guardian spirit for reasons she still refused to tell me, and after series of spells she taught me I managed to break her into the physical realm for first hand communication, something no suppressor could achieve in a million lifetimes.
"You've been busy with a human child's life" she began, trying to sound very casual. "I didn't want to spoil the experience for you, so I did everything without you."
I turned left again, ignoring her. I knew what she meant, and arguing with her was something I hated. Instead, I changed the topic to one with apex priority.
"The items of clarity. I pieced the puzzle and Mint read the fire. We saw everything we suspected."
She giggled her girlish one.
"It is impossible. Every spirit guardian knows the items of clarity hold no illumination. Whatever you and Mint were trying to uncover by reading that divination slipped you. Your findings are flawed. You only saw what you wanted to see. The rumored power of the items of clarity do not exist. That power is even a myth in the spirit world. It equals God's divination."
I frowned, and pulled the car to a sudden stop. The rain had subsided, but it was still as dark as evening. I turned sharply towards Silver Fish, upset at her naivete.
"If I was never a suppressor, the chains of e'thmier would just be another myth. The illumination of the items of clarity had always been with us. They were just waiting to be revealed to anybody worthy, anybody with proper hindsight. Because you all believe it is impossible for any divination item to hold so much power cannot exist does not mean it does not exist."
Still furious, I pressed with my thumb.
A click released my seat belt.
I opened and stepped out into the cold and slight drizzle. As I walked towards the majestic library - the only exquisite building on the graffiti stained block- Silver Fish appeared beside me, floating with every hurried step I took towards the building.
"Bunmi, everything is wrong. Even if the power of the items exist, getting them would be impossible. Too much protection methods would be employed by the highest ranking spiritual forces to make sure the items never leak. It will not even be allowed to exist in your world. Someone tricked you. Besides, what did you see?"
I did not reply.
My mind was fixed on only one thing: fixing the horror I had seen.
"Answer me. What did you see?"
"If you were the mighty guardian angel Silver Fish we all believe you are, you wouldn't need to ask me that. You have eyes everywhere" I said.
I pushed the heavy door open and walked into the building. The foyer was dimly lit by battery powered light bulbs since there was no electricity to power the fluorescents. Except for the librarian and some adventurous teenagers picking books and jokes off shelves, there was no life here. Silver Fish had disappeared. She was no match for my sharp responses.
I sighed.
This meeting might not go as planned. If Mint finds out it happened failure would be certain.
"Hello. Can I help you with anything sir?"
She was black and skinny, almost falling out of sight. Her wrinkled clothes served as pillar for her visibility. Her smile was sincere, but the eyes behind the tortoise shell glasses she wore were a snake's own.
She was reading me, and from the twist in her smile now, she had a nail on my vibration.
"You will not leave here alive sir" she said, her sincere smile still plastered on her teenage face.
"I never supported recruiting kids into the society. They taste a little power and believe every life form crumbles after a few spell combinations they speak. But the world is complex. Wonders everywhere. Who are you to tell me I won't leave here alive. Tell Clarence I am here, unarmed."
"If you hadn't added unarmed you'ld have died quickly" she said and her eyes diverted. She was looking past me.
I turned around. Clarence was walking towards me. He was dressed casually in a baseball hat, black striped polo and jeans. He had books with him, and a frown.
He passed me, and I felt him transfer a message to the librarian through telepathy.
I smiled.
The girl wore a shocked expression now. She wanted to say something but Clarence was on the stairs leading up to his office, and I was right behind him, my hand on the wooden rail as I walked up, hoping the meeting doesn't turn sour.
If it did, I would kill Clarence.
I couldn't risk my information getting to suppressor hierarchy, and now, when I think about Father April's last request before he died weeks ago, everything I suspected made sense.
Written by: Jehiel Omoruyi
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