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If I didn’t know already that it wasn’t a real place, I would have thought that I had ended up in a world that I had already visited. I no longer felt like a spiritual being, in fact I felt like I had retrieved all of my senses. I’d come to that conclusion a musty and rotten smell had welcomed me inside Lerner’s interpretation of the attic. Even though it looked run-down and in a very bad-state, it didn’t seem so threatening now. The sun light seeped through the crumbling shutters, even though this seemed the sick light of a dying star.
For the first time, my assistant was standing before me, and he was smiling as if he were about to hug a brother that he hadn’t seen in a long time. He was still wearing his suit and for the first time I saw him as a regular living creature. But I knew that this was just my point of view. After all, what really changed there were my human features and my perceptions of the world, and not the other way around.
«I know that you are not a sentimental guy but seeing you here it’s a real pleasure, Kiesel».
Lerner raised an arm before his body and his face showed the snigger that I remembered. «A hand-shake? »
I barely squeezed his fingers, and I made sure that the contact didn’t last for long. I was surprised when I noticed that my reflected version still had the gloves. I wondered what would have changed if I had decided to take them off. This wasn’t the first time that I had visited the astral dimension but I always had my own reasons to do it. In that moment instead, a meticulous analysis of the entire phenomenon would have would have been helpful. I wasn’t just wearing the same clothes that I had in the real world, I also had a copy of all the objects that I had inside my pockets. I could have even tried to do another exorcism if I wanted to. Provided that it would have worked.
At least I still had the knife. If Lerner had tried any reckless act I would have had something to defend myself.
«Can you see what’s happening outside? » I asked.
My assistant burst into laughter. «It depends on what you mean by outside. If you mean the area around the house you can just go down the stairs and see for yourself. But if you meant the world outside the mirror, well, it’s still behind your back».
I turned, taking my eyes off the man that was standing before me. Suddenly, I was staring at a vortex of darkness. It was making a faint buzzing and for a moment in that ocean of darkness I thought I saw some huge fingers, and farther away, I recognized Priscilla’s mad face.
That was Lerner’s perspective. But then my assistant snapped his fingers and the vortex disappeared. I turned back towards him. «Maybe I should step in and do my best to stop the bastard from its chase. And let me be frank, that thing will go after us anyway, but I have a foolproof plan. I didn’t have the chance to tell you about it before because we were in quite a hurry».
«And what would that be? » I was still feeling a bit skeptical about this new situation. The spirits tend to be whimsical and nasty, especially when they have been caged in an object for such a long time. I couldn’t have blamed Lerner if he had decided to devour my soul and earn his freedom.
«Right now the barrier is still up. But as soon as it collapses I bet that our friend would like to keep playing with us. Your body would be of no use to the creature, because by then it would have already found out that its owner is no longer there». He widened his arms, as if he were proud of the area that he was showing me.
«What the creature ignores – and maybe even you, Master – is that we’re not just living inside a reflection of the real world. The mirror contains all the places that I’ve visited, all skillfully reinterpreted by me». He stressed his last sentence with a bow, and he pretended to remove an invisible hat from his head.
«So, for the demon the outside of this house», I continued, «would look exactly like the outside of the country house. But this time it’s not strong enough to condition the area around the building. Is that your plan? »
«Yep. But I also have some other tricks that I intend to use in case the creature should go over its epicenter».
Epicenter. My assistant instinct was right, our enemy was like a natural phenomenon, just like an earthquake or a flood.
The walls started to tremble, and this was a sign that the enemy must have broken Lerner’s defense system, and it was now getting closer to the mirror. But there was a huge flaw in my assistant plan. «What if the creature had decided to break the mirror? Until now it had devoured every object».
«You’re right, but none of those objects had an entire world to explore. It might manage to damage the frame, throw the glass against the wall and shatter it into a million pieces. But even inside one of those fragments we’d still be protected. It might turn it to dust, of course, but then we could hide ourselves in the tiniest grain, and we’d be far away from it. No, if the creature wants bring home the dinner it’s going to have to come here and find us».
The walls’ shaking was getting louder, as if the house was about to collapse. Lerner pointed at the stairs and he suggested that I followed him. It was time to be the baits.
We rushed down the metallic flight of stairs, which here was clean and stable, and then we reached the main floor. A resounding thud revealed us that the entity had entered Lerner’s universe.
My assistant let out a coarse laugh while he reached the entrance door and he opened it wide. He kept the door open for me, until I had reached the backyard and until I had stepped on the barren land. I ran toward the gate, without even daring to look at the scenery, or at least what was left of it. As soon as I got there I realized that even the wood wasn’t where I had left it; it was as if it had been destroyed by the most violent fire of all times.
Now there was just an immense field of dried and charred trees, with sharp and dark branches that pointed upwards. Lerner quickly joined me and pulled my sleeve, suggesting that I looked again toward the house.
I know that this might seem odd, coming from me, but I couldn’t believe to what my eyes were seeing. A bundle of giant smoky tentacles were getting out from each window, protruding themselves a few feet over, and then they disappeared, maybe because of the sunlight. Despite this, they continued to grow and gain ground.
«We pissed it off, Kiesel. Are you happy? »
«I’m not sure about it», I replied. I felt weird. It was like being inside a material body even though deep down I knew that was the opposite of the truth.
The contours of the objects were still blurred images, and I was under the impression that they took a real shape only when I laid my eyes on them. This world was adapting to me, and not the other way around. «And now what do we do? »
«We do the baits» replied Lerner. «We wait until it sees us, we make sure that we get its attention and then we force it to distance itself from the house. Then you’ll have the chance to recite all your prayers and see if they work. Even though, I’d try a full-contact assault». He didn’t even give me the time to reply that he grabbed on to what was left of the rusty gate and he started shaking it like a caged monkey; then, he yelled: «Hey, asshole. We’re here .You’re not that fast when you’re outside of your world, uh? Well, let’s see if you can keep up now».
I thought that provoking the enemy was a ridiculous move but it actually worked. The smoky tentacles stretched toward our direction. And suddenly the pressure on the walls was so intense that the whole building blew up. The deflagration was deafening and I had the impulse to bend down in order to avoid being hit by the pieces of plaster, glass fragments and any other possible source of destruction. Amid all those noises I could hear my assistant laughing coarsely.
Nothing hit us, and when I had the courage to raise my head I understood why. The mass of darkness was still tearing the building to pieces but everything it threw in the air after a few feet started to lose consistency, vanishing before touching the property borders.
«You’re in my house, you idiot, and you cannot play your games here», screamed Lerner. «And you’re too stupid to see that rules have changed. You are going to have a hard time trying to catch us».
I stood up and my assistant patted me on the shoulder.
«Now, get ready to run. I think it bought it».
I turned toward the wood and I noticed that the dark roots of those dried branches had invaded the path.
Everything looked the same now, and you could hardly find your bearings here. Without Lerner I would have been lost. Maybe that was the strangest thing: the awareness of not being able to defend myself. In the world inside the mirror there were no spirits, except the ones devoured by the entity that lived inside the reflecting surface. I was a stranger in a foreign land, and while I was leaving the main road behind my back I realized that I could have never go back on my own. All the weapons that I had with me had never seem so useless.
«Don’t be scared, Master. For years you’ve fed me and you’ve kept my mind alive. I have no intention to betray you now ».
That was just a vague declaration of intents, and I couldn’t base my survival on that.
In the meantime the presence had stopped venting its anger on the phantom building and now it was slithering toward us, like a gigantic unicellular organism. However, I knew that that bizarre entity possessed a determined will and an evil intellect. It had learnt from me, and I was sure that even though its look had changed, the same hadn’t happened to what it had learnt.
Lerner stepped back, still pretty amused. Since the creature had arrived here I’d felt more insecure than I’d ever been, while my assistant, on the contrary, had never been more excited. On the one hand I could understand that: he had spent years and years alone, watching a world that he couldn’t touch from a mirror, but now things had changed and he had managed to bring a piece of reality in his own house. Besides, I kept repeating myself that this was a chance for him to gain his freedom.
«Hurry up, Kiesel» he said, pointing at the deformed trunk at our shoulder. «If we stay here this will all be pointless».
For a moment I heard the darkness whispers so I decided to follow Lerner inside a haunted wood instead of staying where I was and pay attention to its words.
* * *
Running in that state was even weirder and that was just one of the strange experiences that I’d lived until that moment. Usually, every time that I was in a spiritual form I’d float and teleport myself wherever I want. But inside that world, it was as if I’d been walking among those trees. I couldn’t believe how slow I was walking. It was as if my feet were being slowed down by a muddy mass that stopped me from running at full speed. This sensation wasn’t that different from the one that we usually experience when we dream: when we try to escape from a threat but we cannot move. The only consolation was that in Lerner’s world the same thing applied to our chaser. And what was even weirder was looking at the outlines of the branches and only have a clear image of them afterwards, right after I had set my eyes on them. On the bright side, I wasn’t feeling tired. I’d been running for about thirty minutes now and I was still feeling as good as new. I could have gone on and on at that compelled pace.
Suddenly, Lerner stopped. «Ok, I think we’ve gone far enough now. We can start setting our trap».
«What do you have in mind? » I replied, turning backward. I couldn’t see anything but deformed branches. And yet, I was sure that our enemy was onto us. I think I was able to perceive the vibrations caused by its movements on the ground.
«The village shouldn’t be far from here», I said.
«I made a few changes at the geography of the place. In my world there’s no village». He laughed. «Now, are you ready to give this son of a bitch what it deserves? »
«Ready», I replied, even though I had no idea of what he meant by that.
A snigger resounded in my head and I instinctively turned toward my assistant. For a moment, I thought that my doppelganger, or Priscilla’s deformed face was right in front of my face. I was terrified by the idea that the creature could have tricked me again. But, lucky for me, the only person that was standing before me was Lerner. The only thing weird was that he was standing at the edge of a giant moat which by the way could have swallowed the entire wood. It must have been extremely deep. Probably one-hundred and sixty-five feet in the farthest point, because the light could hardly get there. It must have been, six hundred and sixty feet long. It looked like a lake that had just dried out.
«What’s the plan? » I asked.
My assistend shrugged. «Just stay here until the bastard arrives. The ground will look solid as always...until it’ll fall down. At that point we’ll hit it with all our armory. You still have a few spell that you haven’t used, right? »
I nodded.
«Alright then. I, myself, still have a trick or two. It’ll be like catching a huge elephant. I’ve taken part in a hunt once, back when I was alive, did I mention it? »
«No», I replied, «and I’m happy that you didn’t because you know what I think about hunting».
«I know, Kiesel. But this isn’t a real elephant. It’s just a demon. And it’ll soon be here».
I could hear it too. Now, the ground was truly shaking. And then, in the blink of an eye, the moat was covered by barren land. For a few seconds the outlines of the dried lake were still visible but then, like the rest of the objects inside Lerner’s world, the anomaly stopped.
«Be ready» said my assistant while he disappeared into thin air.
I had to stay still and face the enemy. I doubted that Lerner’s plan was just tricking the entity into falling into a hole. I was sure that there must have been a sort of spiritual trap for whomever had fallen into that abyss. And after that my assistant would have launched another attack. It was time that I did my part. I was exhausted and I could only rely on my mind. However, there were still a few things that could have served my purpose.
I extracted the knife, and I continued to ignore the earth that was trembling under my feet. It was as if an entire army was marching in my direction. I repeated myself that wasn’t a regular blade but an ethereal version of it. And if I had been able to change the consistency of my body then I should have been able to do the same with that weapon. I remembered of a manipulation spell. The memory made me smile. I’ve learnt that spell from a twenty-five years old girl that I had met on a case in Sweden. The job had been a piece of cake but the techniques that I had learnt from Patricia, a girl that had moved to Ireland to get married, had been very useful. She was working as a dream whisperer for people that suffered from sleep disorders. She is the one who taught me to modify the objects when I had a non-corporeal form. According to her, and until that moment nothing had demonstrated the opposite, the most important thing was to visualize my idea and then stick to what was necessary. Overdoing wasn’t an option. She was as pragmatic as me, even though she had a great sense of humor.
I pushed aside those pleasant memories and I focused. The technique that I was going to use was Patricia’s, but the formula of the spell was mine, and I’ve always kept it for me. I could have only use it as a bargaining chip for any other useful information. A new spell was the perfect coin in my field. Unfortunately, I’d never found anyone that I considered worthy of that bargain, and if today I were to die in that ghostly wood the formula would have been lost forever.
I focused on the blade and I closed my eyes, while I continued to visualize it in my mind. I let the metal melt and slip forward, then its consistency changed and turned into liquid; however, during this process, it remained connected to the handler. The melted iron turned into a nine feet long whip that produced golden and silvery flares. I moved the hand when I noticed that that weird weapon burned the ground every time that it touched it. I made sure that I had a clear image of the whip and then I turned it into the weapon that it always was, keeping in mind that the dagger had become an optical illusion.
I opened my eyes, right in time to see a humanlike shape that was walking in my direction. Even from that distance I could recognize my sister’s features. That trick was becoming redundant, and it was starting to annoy me. The fact that the entity had decided to take that shape one more time suggested that it was running out of ideas. After all, like me, the enemy must have felt threatened by that new dimension. The only reason why it had pushed itself so far away from the haunted place was its blind hatred for me.
«Help», said with Priscilla’s voice.
I lifted the dagger. That would have been the only greeting gesture that the creature was going to get from me.
Suddenly, the ground under its feet disappeared, but it wasn’t the girl who fell in the moat. In fact, I watched the mass of darkness that had already destroyed the house slipping downwards, while it tried to grasp on to the craggy walls with its smoky tentacles, without succeeding. A supernatural scream filled the area, and it was immediately followed by an amused snigger that came from Lerner, who must have been hiding near the place.
Everything that followed happened so fast that I can hardly put the pieces together. I remember thinking that I was too far to hit the enemy. A moment later I found myself on the edge of the moat, right where the entity had fallen. I barely had the time to take a peek that a violent hailstorm hit the chasm before me, covering the darkness with a thick white fog. The ice fragments lashed me too, but lucky for me they crossed my body without hurting me. I didn’t waste time to be surprised by that scene, and I lifted the dagger, which this time had the shape of a whip. I shook it downwards and I watched the smoke being torn to pieces by the metallic lash. The screams of pain became louder. Only for a moment. Then they sounded muffled, as if I was in a dream. The creature lifted a tentacle, and then it tried to grab me, but I quickly reacted. With a lash I cut it in two, and the detached part floated in mid-air until the hail swallowed it.
«We are going to have a blast now! », screamed Lerner, while the earth started to tremble.
I struck again and again. The third lash didn’t meet the entity, because a root had put itself between me and my target. I barely had the time to look up and see the other roots cropping up from the edges of the moat, until they covered the enemy. They looked like creepy wooden snakes. A few moments later the ice grains thinned out: they entity had been imprisoned in a branch tangle. Of course the roots couldn’t possibly be that long, but we were in my assistant’s world, and that shouldn’t have surprised me. The ground started to move forward and I had to take a few steps back to avoid to be hit and fall into the enemy’s coils.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and when I turned Lerner was standing by my side. He was still smiling but now his faced had a wild expression. When his eyes met the creature - that was howling its pain to that grey empty sky - they shined.
«Master, I’m starving», he said, «and I’m sure that you don’t want to see what’s about to happen. Go home. I’ll join you very soon. We’ll get out of the mirror together, I swear».
«But you’ve never fed from a demon». I would have done anything in that moment get away from my assistant. It was like standing before a beast of prey that had starved for too long. My instinct was telling me to run away or I would have become myself a source of food.
«Well, every once in a while, a change in the menu shouldn’t hurt me»
«How do I go back? »
He shook the hand in the air, looking impatient. Then, among the dried trees, appeared a trail that wedged into the wood.
«Go away, Kiesel. I’m hungry».
For once in my life my curiosity didn’t get the better of me. I turned and I started to run along the trail that Lerner had showed me, cursing the ridiculous pace that I had in the dimension beyond the mirror.