The Ancient's Vendetta
Chapter 2: An Unexpected Visitor
Pyotr and Joaquim almost took the door off the hinges getting back into their mom’s place.
“Whoo, what a rush!” Pyotr yelled, resembling images of a tiger attack survivor.
Joaquim just shook his head, “I can’t believe that worked.”
Remy was stuck in a stance that suggested he was going to make a run for it, though there was nowhere to go. His brothers entered with such ferocity, that he thought their home was being raided. “A little warning would have been great fellas, you turned your comms off, didn’t you?”
“What? Us? Turn our comms off, so that we could sneak up on you, and scare you into a state of utter shock, us? Never.” Pyotr's voice dripped with sarcasm and his face wore a grin.
He then turned to Joaquim and asked, “did you get the shot?”
Joaquim was silently laughing to their right, he dropped his phone slowly, just as Remy turned to look his way.
Joqauim typed a few lines into his phone and then Remy’s mobile shook. He picked it up off the table and saw Joaquim’s message, there, memorialized forever was Remy’s face, stuck in a state of stupid shock.
He smirked and turned his screen off. “So I think we need to break out ‘The Nasty’ for this one. Whose with me?”
Joaquim tapped his chest twice, enthusiastically, and Pyotr slowly nodded his head with an expression that read, “Yeah, I’ll hang out.”
Remy ran to the shelf and retrieved the single bottle sitting in the middle of the cellarete. Home mixed, hand labeled, the one, the only, ‘The Nasty’ - equal parts Armagnac, Vodka, and Cachaca. It was Joaquim’s brainchild, a simple blend of their favorite drinks. They only ever drank it after very special occasions, and seeing how they now had four duffle bags stuffed with $100 bills, this moment certainly qualified. This would only be the second time they’d taken this special celebratory shot this year.
Remy walked over to a cabinet in his mother’s study and retrieved three shot glasses. He took a seat on the floor and beckoned his brothers to do likewise, after they were seated, the three of them formed a small circle. Remy carefully placed one shot glass in front of each of them and ceremoniously filled their cups. Remy nodded at Joaquim, encouraging him to go first.
They didn’t have a traditional toast, but they did have a game. The rules were simple, the first person chose a word that resonated with them, for whatever reason. The next two had to use words that resonated with them and started with the same letter as the first word. A fun game of alliteration with just a dash of vulnerability.
Joaquim raised his glass and said, “passion”.
Pyotr went next, “power”.
Remy, the oldest, shared last, “providence”.
In raised voices, they spoke together, “cheers!!”. They took their shots, Joaquim and Remy made faces of disgust, but Pyotr just shrugged and bobbed his head left to right.
“This stuff doesn’t taste any better, I’ll tell you that.” Remy said.
Just then there was a knock at the door and they all went catatonic. When the shock subsided, the brothers exchanged glances. A curt head gesture from Remy and Pyotr and Joaquim snuck off to locations out of eye shot of anyone standing on the other side of the door. Remy stood, brushed his clothes downward from chest to thigh and set off to welcome the visitor.
Remy placed his right hand above the peep hole and leaned in, “what is she doing here?”
“What is who doing here?” Pyotr said, as he stood on the other side of the closed door ready to pounce on whoever entered.
Remy nodded, no, “It’s okay, it’s just mom.”
Pyotr and Joaquim walked over to stand beside Remy as he opened the door.
Fifteen years earlier…
Priya sat at her mahogany desk, and used her right ring finger to slowly trace the letters of her name in imaginary calligraphy. The smooth wood felt cool under her fingertip. This used to be a daily ritual, a method she used to defuse the high levels of stress she accumulated by working in finance.
For the last fifteen years she sat and worked at this desk, her desk. In that time she’d built an empire - of sorts. She had a knack for strategic thinking and the time she spent earning her master’s of finance degree slowly honed her talent for wealth acquisition into a skill of peerless precision.
For five years after she completed her MiF, she struggled to find her way. Whether it was a difficult job role, or troublesome work personalities, she couldn’t figure out how she was going to last three decades in this career. Then one day, she decided that wasn’t what she was going to do after all. She was going to make her own way, on her own terms, and that’s what she did.
Work, however, wasn’t the reason she sat at her desk today. She swiveled in her chair nervously as she eyed a small envelope that sat on the desktop. Her brother, Montgomery sent a missive that arrived yesterday but Priya was busy all week and wasn’t in the mood to read it until now. For some reason, her brother regularly wrote her letters instead of emails or text messages, and everyone knows, written letters require more reverence.
Monty had always been a bit eccentric and she didn’t think there would be anything of great importance waiting for her in his words.
She stopped tracing her fingers on the desk and picked up a thin metallic letter opener with her left hand. She drummed the top of the desk’s polished dark wood and stared down at the letter’s bone white casing. Slowly, Priya raised the letter with her right hand and quickly sliced it open.
The pages quickly splayed open, finally free of the envelopes' tight embrace and Priya’s lips curved into a smile at what they revealed.
Pri,
I found something, a potentially world changing discovery. I can’t yet prove anything concretely. But, what I’ve discovered so far is intriguing enough for me to dedicate more time to exploration.
There are energy fields constantly flowing through the earth. For unclear reasons, though, at specific places, and at certain times, these streams of energy coalesce into reservoirs, self-contained by their own energy fields. After roughly 18 months, the energy fields weaken and the reservoirs break open, spilling energy. When that happens the energy from the reservoir is dispersed and as it seeps into the surrounding land it changes the landscape and the people.
There is some correlation between the leaking energy and an abrupt and explosive energy pulse that occurs three years after the initial energy ‘spill’. I cross referenced the energy signatures of three randomly chosen locations, with first hand accounts of human behavior prior to the strong energy pulse, and after.
What I found is during the energy spill phase, human relations were plagued with higher than average turmoil and violence. What’s weirder is that immediately following these disruptive pulses, these same accounts claim that their community’s attitudes turned harmonious and peaceful; almost as if something in the pulse cleanses the negative energy.
You think this is something you’d like to explore? I’m not just asking because I’d like you to fund an interesting side project with me. The children living in these locations are profoundly impacted by these pulses especially if their birth is temporally proximate to the time of a pulse. The closer these two events are aligned the more visible some of the children’s behaviors seem to deviate from what’s… expected.
Well, let me know soon what you think! You don’t have to write a letter in response, an email or text will do. We can’t have two weird siblings in one family, can we? I think an adventure could be fun.
Your brother,
Montgomery
Priyanka slowly put the letter down. She closed her eyes, but only needed a moment to think. This invitation couldn’t have come at a better time. She no longer needed to work and she wanted to spend the time she’d earned over the years doing something… different.
After a brief pause, Priyanka walked to the kitchen, brewed herself a cup of tea, sat down at the table and called her brother. By the end of that conversation she had decided to join her brother, and finance his quest.
For three years Priyanka and Montgomery visited three energy pulse sites. After four years Priyanka quit her brother’s project and came home with three adopted sons.