There were times I felt I lived the same life over and over again, but it wasn't the way it seemed, all I had was the same nightmare of my dreadful past.
Walking through the pavement of the road aloofed as always in my golden brown hoodie having my anorak over my face making my facial features barely seen with my head facing the floor, I made my way to the coffee shop. It was 8:00 am and I felt weak as ever, the only thing that killed my vibe for early morning coffee was the long queue I caught up with as though waiting for a job interview, and nothing could change that from happening on this very boring day. The more I stepped forward I felt my patience was just but an atrophy of time.
Still on the queue, with my head facing the floor, I barely noticed it was my turn, all I did was to follow the foot steps of those ahead of me, and when the person who stood at front left, I heard a gentle voice utter.
"What would you like to have sir?"
I turned right wards raising my head a bit in realization that it was the voice of a lady. She had a turquoise hair and an enchanting pair of dark brown eyes, she neither smiled nor looked up at me and this gave me lots of concern. Filled with nonchalance I waited for ten seconds, and just as I thought she looked up and asked.
"Aren't you getting anything?"
"One cup of latte will do". I replied as she went to get me what I ordered for. It didn't last for ten seconds when she returned stretching her right hand with my cup of latte and her face partiality facing the ground looking worn out. I intentionally refused to collect it from her making her raise her head again and this time she didn't say anything but gave me a smirk and continued.
"I see what you're doing, and you've succeeded", saying in an adorable shallow tone forcing a smile, "now can you please collect your latte and go, the queue is long and I have a long day ahead of me".
I looked at her with complete incoherence as I turned around with my cup of latte walking out of the shop. If I were to be honest, I hated coffee, all kinds of coffee, I tried so hard to live a normal life, but being normal was much more hard than being the direct opposite of normalcy. Everyday, I found her gestures quite amusing, and she barely recognized my face though she was the only normal person I opened up to. I knew how much she hates her job and how much she craved for attention of which she received less of such each day. She was my favorite person, yet I couldn't help but feel something was unusual about her, from the wig on her head to the sole of her feet though we never talked to each other officially.
My whole life was censorious but I was more delighted to live it the way I did. I had no regular job, no wife nor girlfriend, no kids, no cordial relationship with anyone of any kind, I had no personal house of my own but everyday I get to sleep in different hotels. The best word to define me was solitary, yet it felt exciting.
When I sleep, I find it hard to wake up because I didn't control my life sequence, and if I do sleep and wake, it's because I saw something horrible and of this I found no fault because my life was already a living hell.
At this point in time, I was 25 years of age and my birthday was just at the corner which is two months from now, September 11th, and the only thing that gave much fright and made me shudder in broad daylight was the thought of my horrifying past. But one thing remained uncertain to me, and that was the combination of the distinct spirits. I was more haunted in reality battling with my concern for the tragic apocalypse that was yet to dawn on us. The fallen were about to rise again, yet I was the only person alive who knew about this, at least for now.
It had been a year since I had experienced any unusual event happen around me, and I was so grateful for living in temporal freedom expecting nothing of such to happen soon.
Stepping into a club which was loud with Hip Hop songs playing in the background, I held onto my plastic cup of latte in my right hand. Walking past the front stage which had strippers perform on poles under a blue neon bulb with certain men spraying money on the strip damsels, I faced forward heading towards the bar and soon enough, I sat down on an uprising chair and watched stripped waitresses attend to their valuable customers having an elderly looking man with a huge beard on my right hand side and another on my left. I kept the coffee at the table top placing my elbows on top of the table and my fingers fidgeting on it for a moment when the unexpected struck. The decrescendo of the music in the bar had my full attention until I couldn't hear a thing, but the motion of wind accompanied with a smell I recognized a long time ago made my heart beat faster, the smell of sudden rain. I raised my head up and saw the people move in slow motion alongside the strip dancers, on turning left wards, it thickned only to find everything including the fly that passed me by the eye move in slow motion. And then it happened, the voice spoke again after a year had fully been exhausted in a ghostly tune echoing all round.
"Get, out!!" I heard, calling it word for word.
As usual, I did the direct opposite and stayed with my eyes closed as I prayed for the voice to disappear, buy it echoed the more telling me to get out of the bar. I began to sweat and my body was weak, I couldn't sit upright and I fell face ward on the table, both of my hands went numb together and my body neurons weren't responding either. I motioned my left hand towards the coffee which eventually spilled over having the fluid flow towards my face and I layed down helpless for a moment. The voice continued echoing like that of a phantom for about a minute before it died in a whisper, the whole place looked blurry but I could see the figure of an old Asian man sitting on my left hand side. He had a long beard and much hair which was all grey, also, he had on him a white robe and I watched him pick up the coffee from the table as the already spilled coffee reversed back into the cup. I tried talking, but I couldn't move a muscle, the more I tried it always was a failed attempt. Luckily for me, the man turned and looked at my helpless posture on the table.
"You have to go" he uttered gravely but looked agitated and disturbed. I barely noticed the moment I regained strength in my mouth muscle as I replied.
"I don't want to"
"Then I have no other option than to bring you with me" he continued, sipping my latte.
I was totally appalled when a hand from an undiscovered location held on to the back of my hoodie with a tight grip drawing me backwards into a hole filled with dark clouds as it thundered in the overcast of the billowing stratus like a tornado. I fell in fragility watching the stratus turn clock wise thinking my fall knew no end.
"We've arrived", I heard a voice say right when my tensed spirit lost its agility. Shortly after, I had a rough landing on a plastic covering of a large sized drum falling backwards.
I groaned in pain awaiting for the next thing that'll befall me. On looking up, I recognized the place, it looked very familiar and a creepy feeling overshadowed my overwhelmed spirit. Inclined to where I sat was a door, beside it where shelves with pottery structures and the whole place had lots of cobwebs around, sometimes I wondered if it ever gets tidy in this building, but it was of no surprise to me that I was back to the one place that I wished never to visit again as a kid.
" The home of Omens"
This wasn't my first visitation to the home of omens neither was it going to be my last, but at this moment I knew that something was wrong and this brought up the eerie feeling inside me to reveal on my face. I steadied towards the door and opened it oblivious to what I might face.
" I just hope this time things wouldn't get worse like the previous moments" I thought to myself.
To my amazement, what I saw was far less than the regular sights of horror I had to deal with each time this happened. The whole place was covered in mist and the sky was filled with stratus clouds as though it was about to rain. I marched forward pocketing my hands in my hoodie when I received an instant caution.
"Stop, you're waking them up"
Surprised at this because I never uttered a word, I halted and positioned myself sighing awkwardly as I responded in my deep manly voice.
"I didn't speak nor make noise in any way".
The silence lasted for three seconds before he added.
"Yes you didn't, but your heart speaks for itself. Free your mind and let go of that eerie feeling and the ambiguity of the worries unknown."
"Step forward" the voice continued as I followed the trail of the sound. I never looked up but had a light scowl on my face making me look more serious. On reaching a stream, I raised my head only notice the beautiful scenery all around. The green grasses, which was wet with dew, and trees glittered and the water sparkled in my eyes, the mist parted revealing the strangest things I ever witnessed. Before it was Howard in his white robe striking his grey beard as I approached him nearer by the second.
"What's happening?" I asked.
"What do you see?" he replied asking in return.
"I see a dragon, a huge fiery and dangerous dragon"
"Look again". He scoffed having me squint in the mist to get a clearer view. I got more flabbergasted when clouds parted letting the sun rays settle on the ground as the mist vanished in less than half a minute. In front of me stood a turquoise coloured dragon in the middle, on the right side layed a Lion, and on the left was an eagle. Behind them were other animals of which I guessed were their accomplice.
My eyes opened wide struck with awe filled with astonishment due to the enigmatic sight. The first three animals layed down resting while the others roamed about.
"What are they?" I asked in obfuscation hearing him responded in a soft manner almost immediately.
" These are some of the rulers of the distinct spirits. Behind them are the animals which have a distinct characteristic of the leader, and this is just but a prodigy that the rest have been found and are yet to be awakened".