Chereads / A Lost Memory: Alitheia / Chapter 14 - Episode 11: Slag Machis Allegra

Chapter 14 - Episode 11: Slag Machis Allegra

Colchester asks the girl her name, where she came from and why she was up in the air duct.

"I- I don't know," she croaks.

He steps closer to her, eyeing her ragged red t-shirt and blue jeans with no shoes, disheveled pitch black afro.

Eliza calls out to him through the kitchen door and he turns his back towards the girl just as he does he is cut off by the girls hands around his neck and petite body clinging to his back. He struggles to get her off as she tightens her grip around his torso.

"Where is he!?" she yells at him.

"Ugh! Who- are you- talking about?" he gags while her nails grip his throat. 

"What's going on? Who is this?" Eliza queries in panic pushing through the double doors to the kitchen and rushes over to Colchester. They finally get the girl off of him and calm her down; she informs them that her name is Allegra and that she and her friend got trapped by a ghost of some sorts.

"So what you're trying to say is that a demon pretended to be your grandmother attacked you with supernatural powers in your home?" Eliza conclude and eyed Colchester.

"You don't believe me, right?" Allegra says despondent.

"Yeah sorry it's just a little farfetched," Eliza informs. 

"Just because we don't believe you it doesn't mean we don't want to help you," Colchester adds and her face lights up. He asks her how she ended up all the way in the mansion and she explains that she was unconscious most of the time and found herself in an attic where she climbed up into the air duct. 

"Do you remember the way to the attic? Maybe we can find clues about where your friend is," Colchester suggests and they follow Allegra upstairs where they meet the rest of the residents. He explains to them what had taken place.

"Dude I wish we could explain what happened but I'm finding it difficult to wrap my mind around it myself," Akira says and they nod in agreement.

"Anyway I think finding her friend might give us clues about what's going on here," Colchester informs and they follow Allegra through the mansion while the residents explain in full detail what had occurred.

They reach the attic, a dark room with stacks of old furniture, this is where they find Allegra's friend, she pushes past them and rushes over to him. 

"Micah! Where have you been?" she squeals while holding him tight in an embrace and his pale cheeks became flushed pink.

"I don't know either when I woke up you weren't here;" he says in a hitched breath.

"Are you cold or hungry? Maybe we can get you something downstairs," Kacey lets him know.

"A little bit of both, thanks, but who are all of you?" Micah asks and they each introduce themselves to them.

"Yeah so this is a mansion I inherited from my late grandfather, it's a kinda high class but we all call this place home," Kacey explains while Micah, on shaky legs, makes their way downstairs to the kitchen.

"So you guys found your way here after being kidnapped by a demon from your home in New Jersey?" Fitz says while adding, "Considering the fact that I was attacked by something that looked liked my father, I believe you," and the rest of the residents agree.

"Something weird is going on and we need to figure out what," Akira says, scratching the back of his head. 

The night rolled in and the group sat in a circle as they did before this time in a larger group and in Fitz's room.

"It's so pink in here," Jiro comments though jolts by a hard stare from Fitz.

"I think the thing pretending to be my grandma and your father is a shape-shifting demon," Allegra informs before sipping from a can of lemonade in hand that Fitz kept in her mini fridge.

"So it can take on any shape or form. What happens when it pretends to be one of us?" Eliza asks and they all eye each other.

"I know! We can have a key word or something so we know it's us," Akira suggests and they nod in agreement on the word Pocky, a word Jiro suggested.

"We only need to use that word when we split up," Kacey says and Colchester adds that hopefully they don't have to split up only when necessary.

"Jiro, Akira, where are you guys?" a woman's voice calls out.

"Kaa- san! Aniki, mom's back!" Jiro jolts up and Akira calms him down explaining that that might be the demon disguised as their mother.

"He's right Jiro, you can't just up and leave it might be a trap to lure us out," Mandisa tells him, holding down his shoulders in an attempt to pacify him. 

"I actually had a conversation with it and saw various faces or rather people it turned into," Fitz says unnerved and Mandisa asks what it had said.

"It said it had a wife and child named Willow. She moved away when she was older and he never saw her again," she continued.

"It did a similar thing to Micah and me when it pretended to be my grandmother. I think it can sort of copy people's memories," Allegra tells them. 

"I think I know what this demon is known by," Kacey informs the group with a brown satchel in hand and takes out a thick leather covered journal.

"It's called a Nefas Kappnos or Smoke screen demon," she read a text from the black book in hand.

"It can control the weather and thus creates a fog or mist that allows it to shape shift into any creature or being it desires," she adds that it absorbs its victim's soul granting it abilities of said creature or being. 

"That must have been the fog we experienced in the town a couple of days ago," Colchester notes.

"What the- where did you get that?" Akira asking a question that everyone thought.

"I found it in my room, in the old study area. I wanted to show you guys early but I got distracted. Also I skimmed through it early and it seems that my grandfather knew a lot about these things," Kacey replies.

"Is there any info on how to get rid of this thing?" Allegra asks in an urgent tone.

"No, not exactly, it just says that its original form is its weakest form…" Kacey trails off.

"What is it? It can't be that bad," Fitz grunts.

"It's weakest form is a swan," Kacey looks up clearly unnerved. 

"What's wrong Kacey?" Mandisa asks.

"Remember the day I got into an accident?"

"That's what you saw before the accident?" Mandisa asks and Kacey nods still stunned while Eliza asks if she can see the book.

"Wait here's something interesting written," Eliza says while pointing to the hand written text and adds, "The only way for a Smoke Screen demon to appear is for years of Silia to be activated by a Sleg- slag Machis,"

"A what in the who?" Akira asks while scratching the back of his head.

"Check at the back of the book," she does so and turns the pages to the letter 'S'.

"Okay I found it, Silia means spiritual energy and Slag Machis is a murderous battlefield," Mandisa chimes in by saying that Silia is used to open a portal or battlefield for an Agma Devva or evil spirit.

"Why do you know what that means?" Colchester presses with furrowed brows.

"What is going on-?" Micah begins to say though cut off by the same woman's voice coercing them to open the door.

The group then devises a plan to get rid of the demon. They gear up with broom sticks and scissors and anything they thought would work as a weapon. 

"Okay, so here's the plan. We've read that in order to kill this thing we need to weaken it and its weakest state is the swan so anybody volunteering to kill this thing in that state?" Akira says and Allegra raises her hand above her head.

"This thing attacked us first so I think I should be the one to do it," she musters up the courage to say. 

"How are we going to get this thing to turn into a swan?" Fitz ponders.