tAuthor's notes:
<>.
— I use this for dialogue.
—...Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo divina virtute in infernum detrude....
...Amen!
<
A foul smell of decomposition was in the air.
Whoever it was, that person suddenly stopped shaking. Or so it seemed because from one moment to the next, he came to and fixed his eyes on Yariel.
Any trace of humanity he had noticed in this being vanished completely. Intense yellow eyes pierced through him. His skin also began to change into a blackish colour and the veins in his face looked as if they would burst. His mouth enlarged and his sharp teeth became more and more visible.
An image he would never forget. He was witnessing something that challenged everything he had believed so far. He was before a being from another world, and it had transformed in front of him.
—What... What the fuck is going on...? —he asked.
—That, a soldier of the 'underworld'. The result of an arcane, forbidden ritual, a demonic being that has invaded a human body.
—HA, HA, HA, HA —laughs the demon.
—It's got to be a joke... right, right... it all makes sense, you're kidding me about the fire ha, ha, ha, ha, very good... —he says with a shaky smile.
—COME, COME CLOSER, BOY... —said the creature as he licked his tongue.
His voice was the deepest and creepiest I had ever heard.
—It's no joke Yariel. Demons are real. —Someone says from behind him.
Turning he sees Kassian leaning against the door.
—HA, HA, HA, HA,—the demon laughs. —LOOK WHO WE HAVE HERE... —he comments in his raspy voice.
—Come, come with me, we'll go somewhere else.
—WHY DON'T YOU STAY AND PLAY SOME MORE? HA, HA HA....
After one last look at the being, Yariel turns and follows Kassian. That nauseating smell had gotten into his nose. Behind them was Lieutenant Wyte who locked the door again.
CLAC, CLAC (sound lock)
When the door closed, the atmosphere changed radically, it was no longer stuffy and he felt much better? As if he had been conditioned by some kind of negative energy, he felt a great relief in his chest. Still, laughter could be heard as they walked away.
They passed through the other closed doors.
<
After a few metres they approached the metal door at the bottom, the one he had seen after descending the stairs. Kassian pressed a button and the door opened automatically, from one side to the other and politely gave way.
The room was a slightly larger room than the other, but with no altar, no chair or chains. It was white in colour and there was nothing but a few small sofas on either side with some flower pots for decoration.
Yariel walked a couple of meters before turning around:
—What happened back there...? —he asked.
—He used to be...—Wyte tried to say, but was interrupted by Kassian.
—He's a dakunaito, one of ours. —says Kassian.
—A dakunaito?
—He managed to infiltrate the Lucifer worshippers. An organisation that aims to open the gates of hell on earth. We believe they used a powerful forbidden spell to summon a soldier from the underworld... the demon has not yet managed to take over his body completely, he... is fighting within himself to keep him, but... it's only a matter of time.
—Our main mission is to keep evil away from humanity. I know it's hard to believe, but we dakunaitos have been fighting this battle for millennia... —says Lieutenant Wyte.
—And what does all this have to do with me?
—A lot... Have you been in contact with any holy relics? —asks Kassian.
—Sacred relics? What do you mean?
—They are the most valuable objects of antiquity. They date back thousands of years. The holy chalice, ... The spear of destiny, the ark of the covenant... the holy sword... —he asks again, with a special emphasis on the sword, pausing even.
A memory from just a few days ago, in the museum, flashes through Yariel's mind.
***
—What is there is an object that belonged to an ancient warrior of divine class, perhaps it is cursed... or perhaps it weighs too much for you hahaha —the old man laughs.
—Yes, I'm sorry! —He replied with laughter as he turned the locks again and stood up.
***
<
—What is it about those relics...?
—So that rings a bell? .... —says Kassian
—Well, at the place where I work... I picked up an old sword, but it wasn't for more than a few seconds...
—Yeah... It turns out we're missing one from our collection of holy relics...
<
—... Ah yes, I remember!... I left it with that old fox, he has a museum in Barcelona.
—What museum? —asks Yariel in amazement.
—Well, that old museum in front of the fire, where the firemen pulled you out of.
<> thought Kassian.
—Wait, that's where I work! Do you know the Chief?
—The old man?...you bet...we're childhood friends...every now and then I give him something new to encourage visits...and that sword you mention, it's one of the ancient relics of humanity.
<
—What do you mean childhood friends..., how long ago was that?
—Well, I don't really remember... 60 years ago.
<
Yariel looks at him carefully. He had always been his idol and he had no intention of doubting what he was saying, but when he looks at him, he sees a guy who is 40 at the most...
Deep down, Kassian's words resonated with him. Lieutenant Noah Wyte glances at Kassian, he too wanted to intervene.
—Yariel... that sword was special... it takes a constant, unending flow of REM to hold it, a normal person would have died instantly... —Wyte comments to him.
—...and yet you... here you are! —Kassian finishes.
—Have you ever dreamed of a battlefield, of being somewhere else, of having the gift?
—No... I...
Yariel realises an old memory... or rather a repetitive dream he had as a child:
***
He was much older and wore bronze armour. In his right hand he held a large sword and in his left hand a shield. He stood in the middle of a bridge, fighting a war inside a gigantic cave, dark, full of blood, demons and other warriors like him fighting. He could feel the heat inside him and the beads of sweat trickling down his forehead. The earth smouldered and melted off the walls. When he looked up, he could hardly see the ceiling because it was so high, and if you looked down, miles below, you would see a sea of lava. The bridge reached up to a huge black stone tower, rising miles from the ground, surrounded by magma, to that distant ceiling.
These kinds of ''dreams'' were repeated several times in his childhood.... they were as vivid... as lucid as they were terrifying... It started when he was 3 years old and ended when he was 4 years old. His mother comforted him when he woke up, but suddenly, one day... they stopped repeating... Just like that. They disappeared.
He didn't remember, but it came to his memory at this very moment.
***
—I... I... I was... I was little and... I had nightmares... Strange, it was so long ago and I was so little... My mother used to come to my room, I would tell her what I dreamt and she would somehow manage to calm me down. I was so little... It's strange, I didn't remember until now. —He puts his hand to his head, and smiles slightly.
—They are memories, fragments of a legacy that lives on in you. Your destiny is intertwined with those visions... for warriors, the memories of blood do not fade; they live in you, waiting to be awakened... What happened in the fire? —asks Kassian.
—In the... fire... —he repeated.
***
Flashes of images of the fire came into his head, as if he was there again, in front of the burning restaurant, seeing that figure coming out of the flames and saying 'come'.
***
His heart races, his breathing intensifies, he takes a deep breath. A shiver runs through her body to the tips of her fingers, she feels an intense tingling sensation.
—What... What's wrong with me? —He says as he looks at his arms and hands.
It felt different... Like when you expect something and it's confirmed, like when you've been hiding a feeling inside for years and now you're confronted with it. He wanted answers.
—Your body is awakening. A power sealed inside you is growing.
—What? What power? I don't have the gift...
—You don't catch a thing... —comments Noah Wyte.
—You carry a special genetic line, an extremely rare one... You've uncovered the urn that contained your spiritual power... You need to control it...
—Hey, hey, slow down a bit... —Yariel replies.
—...your power won't stop growing and emanating energy, if you don't control it...
—Okay, okay, I don't know who you're looking for, but it's clear... —he is interrupted.
—Right now you're like an unsecured grenade, a danger to those around you.
—Okay, I come and you give me these stories of good and evil, you teach me that... being... and now that I'm some kind of human bomb,—he says as he turns around.
—You are not listening, sooner or later you will implode because your mortal body is not strong enough... Yariel, you have no choice... —she says as she tries to stop him with her hand.
Yes, it's true that he had seen something he never thought existed and in his head there were things he couldn't explain... but he was living a normal life. He had long since left behind the idea of having adventures and being a dakunaito.
He didn't want to doubt that they were telling the truth either, surely it was all true, but he wanted to believe that they had the wrong person. It was all so... sudden.
—I'll think about it at home, okay? Thanks.
I didn't mean to run away, I just had too much information to take in all at once.
—I'm sorry, we don't have time to digest it. —Kassian replies, then looks Lieutenant Noah Wyte in the eye and nods.
Noah pressed a button at the entrance to the room that activated a mechanism. Metal bars shot from the floor to the ceiling, dividing the room, Yariel on one side, Kassian and Wyte on the other.
—Hey, hey, hey! What the hell is going on here? What is this?
—The room we're in has been prepared to withstand a nuclear attack... it can withstand over 1000ºc... Even an erupting volcano couldn't escape from here.
The Noah pulls out a knife and cuts a deep gash in his hand. Blood begins to gush out, but he clenches his fist tightly. Blood was flowing through his fingers. He reaches out and opens his palm, letting a few drops fall to the ground. Suddenly he bends down and slaps the ground with the same hand, while holding his wrist with the other.
—What the fuck, you've got it all wrong, I don't have a gift or anything!
—If you're so sure... let's test what we've told you... If I'm right, nothing will happen to you... and if we're wrong...—he says.
Yariel swallows as he leans against the metal bars.
—... we can't let you go anyway, so... you'll die.
—Wait! wait! wait! what are you talking about! what do you mean!?
—I mean you'd better see for yourself.
—No, no! Wait!
Kassian nods at Wyte, giving the order.
—NO! Shit!
—Merciful-Prison! —Wyte shouts.
He performed a ritual technique, a summoning spell for fire. For those who do not control this element naturally, it can be very dangerous, for not only does it require a blood sacrifice, the area that was used for the summoning would be burnt.
Then the flames came out. From the palm of the lieutenant's hand to the entire surface where Yariel was standing.
—You are mad! —Yariel shouted.
—Stay calm and concentrate! —replied Kassian.
In an instant the entire floor inside the cage turned into an intense red fire. Not that the flames were very high, but there wasn't a single space to step on without fire.
—No! Get me out of here! —he shouted desperately, as he grabbed the metal bars.
—Use your own power! —Kassian ordered him.
—Help! -he shouted at the top of his lungs.
He wasn't being able to keep calm, it was an extreme situation where anyone could lose their head.
—Extinguish the flames Yariel! You can do it!
—NOOOO! —he shouted as the fire started to climb up his trousers....
—Come on! Keep calm! Extinguish the flames!
—HELP!
The fire was getting bigger and bigger and higher and higher, and it was starting to climb up his clothes.
—Kassian... the boy is going to get out of control...
—No, no...! he can do it! he just has to...! —he tried to say calmly but...
Suddenly the fire went from one intensity to another, Yariel's body went totally on fire, creating a very powerful curtain of air in which even Kassian had to step back.
—Kassian...! —he said after raising his hand from the ground.
—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! —Yariel shouted, but it wasn't the same voice as when you feel pain, this was one of resistance... like when you give your best effort to lift a heavy stone.
—Wait... I know he can do it!
Yariel's body was lighting up more and more and more... It wasn't just flames anymore... her body seemed to give off a light of its own.
—Yariel, if you can't control your power you won't just die...!
—AAAAAAAAAAAH!
***
[I remember with his father]
They were taking a walk in a park, when suddenly there was a huge explosion. His father was holding him on his shoulders. From one moment to the next, it was all fire, and he put him down on the ground and said to him:
—What are we doing in the family?
—We help each other. —Yariel replied.
—And what do we do when others need it?
—We help them.
—Well...' she says as she rubs his hair. —Dad will be right back.
Her father ran in the direction of the flames. Yariel stood watching as he ran further and further away, until finally... she lost him.
Her father's back.
That was the last time she saw him alive.
***
-AAAAAAAAAAAH!
***
[Memory of her grandmother]
One night there was a blackout in the whole neighbourhood. Yariel was with his grandmother and his mother in the house... The mother was using a torch to make dinner, while he and his grandmother were sitting on the porch of their house, they had a small garden with turtles and fish.
The light of the moon and the stars was passing lightly through the windows. Yariel's mother called out to him, so he picked up the oil lantern, but stumbled, knocking himself to the ground, but before the fire could spread, his grandmother calmly put it out with both hands.
She looked at him with a knowing smile and said:
—Fire is powerful, but also dangerous. It can give us warmth and light, but if we don't control it, it can destroy everything in its path. Always remember, my dear: fire can be your ally or your enemy. It all depends on how you handle it.
Those words stuck with him, although he did not fully understand their meaning at the time.
***
The flames and the heat in the room grew hotter and hotter.
—Kassian, you have to stop him!
A gale of fire engulfed Yariel, the tiles began to crack and the solid metal of the bars began to melt.
Kassian stared at him, confident that he could control his power....
—If you do not control the flow of your power... your family will suffer the consequences!!!! Do you want that? —Kassian shouted at him.
***
[Recollection with his mother]
One night, his mother came into his room when she heard him crying. She sat down beside him, tucked him in carefully and looked into his eyes tenderly.
'Don't let the nightmares scare you,' she said softly. 'You are stronger than you imagine. Always remember that, even when fear comes, you have the power to face it.'
She kissed him on the forehead and, feeling the warmth of her words, the boy felt braver, going back to sleep secure in the knowledge that he was not alone.
***
—KASSIAN!
<
<
Kassian makes the gesture of raising his palm to use the same technique as in the fire, until suddenly:
Yariel suddenly opened his eyes in the flames, they were red. From one instant to the next, all the fire in the room was drawn into his body, as if sucked into a black hole.