The Ancient's Vendetta
Chapter 5: Havoc and Mayhem
At the sound of shattered glass, all heads turned to the study. In an instant, Monty was running to the room. The others shuffled after him but were more cautious. As he entered the room Monty’s shoulder slumped, and he waited for the others silently.
Remy walked in front of the rest of his family, arms outstretched, prepared to hold them back, and he called out, “Monty is everything okay!?”
There was no response, which caused them to walk even slower. When they reached the threshold they could see Monty’s back and as they entered further into the room, they could see the bird’s bottom half protruding from the wall.
Monty glanced over his right shoulder and inhaled deeply, “this isn’t normal”, he whispered.
“Well I should say not Monty”, Priya said with a hand covering her mouth.
They watched as he walked toward the couch, “meet me back at the table”, he said. The others shared glances and slinked out of the room.
Monty was moving fast, before they reached the table, he joined them carrying another book. This book was older and unlike the others, it was nameless. He dropped it rather clumsily on the oak table and from his shirt pocket, retrieved a pair of well worn spectacles. He put them on, letting them rest on the edge of his nose as he flipped through the book searching for the right page. When he found it he placed his hands on either side of the titleless volume, and leaned over, his body weight evenly distributed on his arms.
“I told you I wasn’t going to tell you anything until you read the books I gave you earlier. Well, I’m not sure how much time we have, I don’t think that bird flew into the room like that, and I don’t know what could have caused it to happen…listen up.” Monty paused to look around the table then stood and began to slowly circle them as he spoke.
“I’ve been researching this for a very long time, longer than the three of you have been alive in fact. The earliest records I could find suggest there’s been an established supernatural pattern that’s existed as far back as our collective human memory can recall. In truth it probably goes back all the way to the fall.”
“The fall of what?” Pyotr asked.
“The fall of the angels Pyotr.”
Joaquim loudly huffed and rolled his eyes. Monty turned and narrowed his eyes in response, but continued, “these former angels are demons and they don’t rule earth, but they exert a powerful influence over our reality. Over time this influence builds until human wishes and demon desires become indistinguishable. In the past, this fusion of human and demon interest would elicit a heavenly response,a pulse. To the best of my knowledge pulses are caused when angels literally drop from heaven to earth.”
Remy interrupted, “are these landing zones scenes of ultimate destruction?”
Monty shook his head no, “these pulses aren’t physical, but spiritual. When the angels land there is a swell of holy energy released on the land counteracting and reducing any prevalent demonic influence, at least for a time. The pulse’s cleanse never lasts, so it needs to happen again, and again, this is an eternal conflict. A vendetta for past slights.”
Priya shifted in her seat, “Monty, it might be helpful if you told them how this relates to them, specifically.”
Monty stopped circling the table and returned to the book, “I was just about to get to that. The three of you have births that correspond with the exact moment pulses occurred. On your 25th birthdays your powers will manifest. Priya told me about your misadventures the other night, and the abilities you exhibited are a direct result of your births happening to the second of a pulse. We have months until your powers mature, you need to train, you need to be ready.
“Why?” Joaquim asked.
“There will be no pulse, according to prophecy. When you turn 25 there will be at least a temporary moratorium on angelic intervention into the affairs of man. We’re on our own for however long that lasts.” Monty said heavily.
“Then you’re saying it’s our job?!” Joaquim said, raising his hands. “Well, I for one am not interested. In fact, I’m walking back to the helicopter, you all can figure this out.”
Joaquim stood, turned and walked away from the table, and Monty erupted, “is everything a joke to you!?”, he said, taking a step toward Joaquim. Joaquim squirmed, pressed his palms to his temples and then dropped to his knees. Undeterred, Monty continued, “The world needs you, right now, do you understand that…” Joaquim’s shouting escalated as his discomfort grew.
Pyotr and Remy turned to confront Monty, shouting as they moved closer to him. Monty ignored them and continued to glare at Joaquim, who was now flailing on the floor. No one noticed Priya slowly standing from the table until Monty stopped talking and gasped for air as his feet left the floor.
“That’s quite enough”, Priya said icily, dropping Monty with a thud.
“Boys, your uncle gave you some great background into our current predicament. What he failed to do was to relay the fact that there is no option here. Joaquim, unfortunately you don’t have a choice…”
Joaquim slowly walked back to the table. Remy watched him stumbling along and asked Priya, “how long have you had powers?”
Priya sighed, “since birth… Monty and I were also born - ‘pulse adjacent’. We aren’t quite like the three of you, with birthdays that coincide exactly with the time of a pulse, but we do have some powers, as we just demonstrated. However, as you’ll see, the things we can do will pale in comparison to what you’re capable of, as soon as you’re done training.”
Pyotr rapped his fingers on the table. “More secrets. So many secrets, how can we trust the two of you? If we say no to your plea, will you also torture us?”
Priya covered her face with her hands, “That was a mistake, Monty lost his patience. But, if you say no, you should expect the worst for everyone, not just everyone in this room, everyone on earth. Just humor us please, and read the books Monty made for you.”
Remy stood up from the table and walked over to the books. He looked at his brothers and shrugged, “what could it hurt?” He grabbed his heavy tome and looked at his uncle, “where am I sleeping?”
A glimmer shone in Monty’s eyes, “please follow me, I’ll show you.” Remy followed his uncle to a large bedroom, “this is perfect”, Remy said while looking over the room. “I’ll let you know if I need anything else.” Then he closed the door in Monty’s hopeful face.
Pestis’s tungsten mug clinked when he sat it down on the armrest of his onyx throne. The echo filled the modest and empty chamber. He shrugged his shoulders attempting to shake off the stress he felt from his trip from earth. The journey wasn’t difficult, but he always needed space to adjust to the time confusion caused by jumping between worlds. Hell, like heaven, existed outside of time, so feeling the influence of time when he traveled to the humans’ realm left him agitated. But he had a solution, a nice sizzling mug of iron ore. He had just finished his second serving and was about to have a third when a knock rattled his door.
“What is it?” Pestis asked, annoyed at the disturbance.
“Havoc would like to see you”, a voice replied. The speaker retreated before Pestis had a chance to respond.
Pestis sighed. In this province of hell, Pestis was a lesser demon. There were four viceroy who shared authority here, and Havoc was one of them, the only one that paid him a semblance of respect. The other three: Greed, Delusion, and Vanity despised Pestis and only interacted with him for the pleasure of ridiculing him.
Pestis gulped the last of his molten ore and blinked. When his eyes opened Havoc was watching him with an expectant expression.
“Hello pest”, Havoc said, using a demeaning yet endearing term.
Pestis nodded in response.
“How was your scouting trip, any new developments?” Havoc asked, already knowing the answer.
“The old fool has been up to his usual antics, it was rather boring actually. Though, things did get more exciting when his guests arrived.”
“Do you know who they are?” Havoc queried while enjoying this game of ‘I know something you don’t know’.
“No I don’t…but something tells me you do”, Pestis said, raising an eyebrow.
“They are ‘The Three’ …which means soon there won’t be a pulse for some time, hopefully never again. If we can get rid of them, then we’ll have the freedom to meddle in, and control human affairs as we see fit. They are the last threat.”
Pestis’s eyes opened wide in confusion, “why didn’t you have me kill them! I was there, it could have been so simple. Instead, you had me watch, wait, and warn them, why?!”
Havoc’s raven black eyes narrowed on Pestis, “tell me Pestis, what is my name?”
Pestis cocked his head in confusion, “Havoc”, he said.
“Now, if I had you kill them so soon, where would be the havoc in that?” Havoc said with a smile. Then continued, “don’t worry, I’ve dispatched an agent of mayhem their way, the chaos is about to begin.”