Chapter 160: Technically we haven’t met yet.

James’s words rang out over the snow.

The scene was subtly different from the last time he’d been here, some two or so months in the future. Then the place had looked abandoned, desolate. But now there were still signs of life.

The work station out to the side of the yard was tidy and the sawhorse table had been cleared of snow. Freshly chopped logs were stacked against the side of the cabin. An old and much abused snowmobile was parked beside them, a bright blue tarp half blown off it.

All that and golden yellow light streamed from cracks between the curtains and oily blue smoke disappeared from the top of the chimney into the night sky.

“Belanger!” James walked till he was some five yards from the porch. “Come on out. You’re not in trouble. I want to talk.”

There was a chance the guy would slip out the back, but James thought it minimal. This was still two weeks before the demon symbol would appear above Belanger’s cabin, two weeks before he’d race into Old Crow to make his mangled report about an imminent demon invasion.

This was the guy’s house. He’d not abandon it so quickly. James vaguely recalled something in Belanger’s file where he was under suspicion for killing loggers or the like who’d trespassed against his home in another Canadian remote spot.

No. It was much more likely that Belanger would just shoot him.

A curtain twitched. James caught a flash of a lean, weathered face, then it was gone.

A moment later the door opened and Belanger emerged, a shotgun hanging by his side. He wasn’t nearly as far gone as when James had met him, underground with his demonic wife. Lean, yes, deep lines carved around his mouth and with white stubble along his jaw, his eyes set in a perpetual squint, his white hair shorn to little more than a crew cut. But he looked hardy and tough, like well worn leather. His clothing was clean, and his porcelain blue eyes were sharp.

“What do you want?” Belanger’s tone was low and intense. He scrutinized James then gazed past him to the tree line. No doubt noting his lack of transport. “Who are you?”

James raised his hands. “Just a friend. Don’t laugh, I know you ain’t had many.”

Belanger frowned. “You lost? You lose your mind? What are you doing out here without proper gear?”

“Right,” said James, looking down at his long sleeved shirt and canvas pants. “Yeah, I can see how this would look strange. But look. There’s no way to say this smoothly, so I’ll just come out with why I’m here. I know about the Light Eternal. I know about Jane, and the demon’s that are trying to break your mind. I’m here to help.”

Belanger’s eyes widened and he snatched the shotgun up so that while it shook it was still mostly pointed at his face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now get off my property before I blow your damn head off.”

James raised his hands, more to reassure Belanger than anything else. “Easy. In a little over four weeks a huge demon symbol’s gonna appear in the sky above your homestead. The demon’s will have worn you down by then. I bet you’ve noticed they’re amping up the pressure already. But a couple of days after you give in, the real invasion will start. I don’t want that to happen. Again.”

Belanger adjusted his grip on his shotgun in a futile attempt to stop it shaking. “Again? What the fuck you talking about?”

James laughed mirthlessly. “I’m from the future, man. I already lived through the invasion once. It didn’t go well. I’ve come back here to take the Light Eternal from you and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Belanger just stared.

“Yeah, I know. But how else would I know all these things?”

“Pah,” spat Belanger. “You think the demons haven’t tried to trick me like this before? Fuck you. Get out of here. I won’t deal with you. I won’t give up the Light Eternal. It’s my sacred trust. Fuck off.”

James grimaced. “Yeah, I would, but I know you change your tune in two weeks’ time. So I can’t do that.”

Belanger raised the shotgun and set the butt to his shoulder. “One.”

James blew out his cheeks. “How to prove I’m not a demon. I guess any supernatural powers could just look demonic. Flight, invisibility, all of that.”

“Two.”

“And I can’t just take it. You need to give it to me of your own free will.”

Belanger scowled. “I warned you, ya dumb bastard. Three.”

And he fired the shotgun.

A hail of buckshot flashed around James, pinging off his Circle of Protection which he’d attuned to all incoming damage, not just demonic. The buckshot flew off in every direction.

James lowered his hands.

Belanger’s eyes widened all over again as he lowered his gun.

“I’m here to talk, buddy. But I’m glad you got that out of your system. You ready to hear my story? How about I start from the beginning.”

“The demons usually disappear when I shoot them,” whispered the old man. “It’s understood as a ‘no’. They laugh and promise to come back. They always come back.”

“Yeah. They’ll keep coming back. In fact…” James frowned and turned in a slow circle, extending his senses.

Spiritual Exaltation made him uniquely attuned to the substrate and its fluctuations. Nothing was in the clearing, but… there.

James frowned up into the night sky. Some five hundred yards up, barely a speck, something invisible was watching them.

“Here, hold on,” said James quietly, and he opened a portal.

A second later he emerged high above the cabin, flight kicking in to keep him aloft, and right beside the hidden being.

A demon, he realized. A Monitor.

It went to teleport away, but James activated Dimensional Anchor and locked the area down.

The invisible Monitor panicked. James felt it dumping Infernum fruitlessly into the substrate, its confusion becoming terror, but before it could pull out any further tricks James activated Forced Humility.

The sheer weight of his 50,000 Arete crushed the Monitor’s resistance like a paper cup under a tank tread. James’s authority washed over the demon and he felt its mind smooth out, its resistance and fear and hatred evaporate to be replaced by total obedience.

“Drop the invisibility,” said James.

Jane appeared in the air before him. Lank blonde hair hung past her bony shoulders, and her expression was one of wonder and awe.

“You’re not the Jane I fought,” said James. “I was under the impression that demon was summoned a reward for Belanger’s capitulation. You’re just a Monitor.”

“I… I don’t know of what you speak,” whispered the demon.

“Doesn’t matter. Follow me.”

James dropped like a rock, the Monitor just behind him. They both alighted on the snow. Belanger was gaping, his mouth working.

“Now watch,” said James. “You. Drop the disguise.”

Jane didn’t even argue. Her loyalty was total. In a second the image of a thin, blonde woman disappeared to be replaced by the Monitor’s horrific self.

Twelve feet tall, it was spindly and emaciated, sexless and with the visage of a desiccated mummy. No nose, lips shriveled back from her teeth, ears little more than nubs, but with a full head of black hair that hung in a great cloud to its waist, shifting and stirring of its own accord.

“Fuck!” screamed Belanger, scrambling back and falling onto his ass.

“Now tell him,” said James. “Tell him what’s going on.”

The Monitor turned its burning gaze upon Belanger. “We are seeking to break your will so as to acquire control over the Light Eternal. Upon doing that we shall begin the System invasion. We are close, we can sense it. Your defiance has grown febrile, unconvincing.”

“Am I on your side?”

The Monitor appraised James again with confusion, wonder, and no small amount of terror. “No, human. I know not who you are, or from where you come. Some other world, assuredly, or perhaps you are a delegate of another alien species come here to interfere. Regardless. You are powerful beyond my understanding.”

“See?” James looked back at Belanger who was staring in horror and fascination. “I’m not with them.”

Belanger said nothing.

“I guess this is a bit much. You, Monitor. If I acquire the Light Eternal will you guys start pestering me like you are him?”

“We… we have no choice. We shall seek to convince you, to… but I can tell it will be futile, your Mental Dominion… it is so high. You are a Void Emperor Absolute. Unheard of. How can this be?”

“Long story. And without the Light Eternal you can’t start the System?”

“Correct. We have labored since we arrived to corrupt the Bearer, and only now do we come close. But with you here…”

“Yeah, your plan’s just been ruined. Belanger? Hey, Belanger!”

The old man blinked and tore his eyes away from the spindly demon. “Ah… yes?”

“I’m going to kill it, all right? You shouldn’t have Monitor’s hanging around your house. Unsanitary. More will come, but even one less is a good thing.”

Belanger’s eyes widened. “You… you can… kill them?”

“There is no need, I shall depart. I will not instigate the final conversion -”

James raised his palm and activated Death Attack.

The Monitor took 62 trillion damage. For a split second it glowed gold and then it burst into dust that sparkled as it, too, burned away.

Faster than James could blink it was gone.

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“There,” said James, smacking his hands together. “You’re free of their attention for little while.”

“Yes,” whispered Belanger, blinking. “For the first time in so very long… I can feel a weight lifted from my soul. You… you’re from the future?”

“I’ll tell you all about it. But first what do you say to my having a shower? Been on the streets for a bit. You got any coffee?”

Belanger picked himself off the floor. “Sure.”

“Make me a cup and I’ll start from the beginning.”

Belanger put the shotgun up against his shoulder and studied James. Slowly, grudgingly, he nodded. “Come on in then, stranger. Be welcome.”

“Thanks.” James made his way up to the porch. “Name’s James Kelly.”

“Patrick Belanger. But I guess you already knew that.”

James clapped the old man on the shoulder as he followed him inside. “Nice to meet you like this, Patrick. Can’t tell you how much of an improvement it is.”

* * *

Belanger gave James a towel and a clean set of clothing and pointed out the bathroom door. When James emerged, drying off his beard, two cups of coffee were set out, steam rising from them both. James sat and took a sip. Bitter and strong. Caffeine no longer had any effect on him, but the taste was welcome, and without any preamble he launched right into the tale.

“And it worked,” James said at last. “It was the wildest gamble of my life, but the System had gone sufficiently rogue that it allowed me access to the root menu. I activated the power and woke up in Brooklyn, just where I’d been two weeks before this all went down. I still had a boatload of points, so I repurchased my powers and came right here.”

Belanger had listened, rapt, to the entire tale. It had taken almost an hour to recount, and each time James had tried to skip ahead his companion would stop him with a series of sharp questions.

“And then you came here.” Belanger shook his head in wonder. “I believe you. It sounds mad, but my whole life that’s what I’ve felt. Mad. Nobody but Jane believed me, and when she died, they turned her into a source of unending pain.” Belanger began to shake. “And now you’re here.” He raised his hands to his face, then abruptly rose and stalked away to face the wall. For a long minute he just stood thus, face covered, shoulders trembling.

James looked down at his mug.

Finally Belanger dropped his hands and looked back over his shoulder. “I was about to give it up. I didn’t even admit it to myself. But these past few months I’d started to lose the ‘why’ of it all. Why bother shaving? Brushing my teeth? Why bother fixing up the house or going into town for supplies? All roads led back to them. To what they’d made of Jane. To their taunts. Their lies. Their laughter. I swore that I’d never be weak, but it’s been so long. Every time I tried to explain what I was going through people called me crazy. I even tried showing folks how I could open any locked door and they just thought it was a party trick. When I finally convinced them it weren’t, they got mad and locked me up.”

Belanger’s expression was haunted. “I’ve been so alone with this, Kelly. It’s been eating me up for years. I… I couldn’t take it no more. Even killing myself wasn’t an option. That would be my abandoning it. They’d snatch the Light Eternal up the moment I did.”

James grimaced and gave a nod of understanding.

Belanger laughed, a terrified, helpless sound. “I… oh god. I didn’t even realize how much I was weakening. I think I’d have just snapped, one day to the next. I don’t know. I guess they could sense it. Like sharks with blood in the water. They’ve been hounding me night and day. Pushing me. Promising me whatever I wanted. Telling me I was going to break eventually, so why not just get it over? And the worst part? I knew they were right.”

James stood up. “They were wrong. I’m here. I’m human. I’m on your side. I’ll take it off your hands. You need never think about it again. And once you’re free of it, you’ll be able to start over, to do whatever you want.”

Belanger just stared at him, incredulous, and then he started to cry.

James helped him to his bed. The man was wracked with sobs. His whole frame shook. It was like each sob was bucket lowered into a well of anguish and horror and brought up from the dark to be spilled out into the open.

Belanger turned to face the wall.

James stepped back outside into the night and gave him his privacy.

Ten minutes later the weeping ended. Belanger emerged. He had the Light Eternal in hand.

“Here,” he whispered. “Take it. Take it far, far away. You’re a better man than I am, James. I hope it doesn’t bring you the misery it’s brought me.”

“I’ve been dealing with these demons for just about three months. You’ve been wrangling with them for I don’t know how many years. And without any powers. Don’t be hard on yourself. Nobody knows what you went through.”

Belanger stared down at the Light Eternal, a band appearing and disappearing over the joint of his jaw, then gave a curt nod and held his hands out.

James took the raw hunk of sapphire. As before, it was multifaceted and bound in golden wires, with some of its faces cloudy, others polished to a clear gloss.

You have acquired the Light Eternal.

Do you wish to become its Guardian?

Don’t be hasty now.

James willed his assent.

You are now the Guardian of the Light Eternal.

You have gained the ability to use the Light Eternal.

You are now immune to Curses, Fear, Possession, and Illusions.

No locks, doors, or portals can bar your way.

For as long as you refuse to bestow the Light Eternal upon a demon,

Mankind shall remain safe from the instigation of the System.

I’d suggest taking that part seriously.

James exhaled. “There it is.”

Belanger was panting. He staggered to one side, leaned against the doorframe, and pressed his hand to his brow. “It’s… it’s gone. I can’t believe it. It’s no longer mine.”

James bounced the Light Eternal in his palm. “You’re a free man, Belanger. Congrats.”

“No, thank you. This feels like a dream. I just hope I never wake up. Thank you, James.”

They shook hands. Belanger’s grip was firm.

“I’ll be heading out now.” James descended the steps to the moonlit snow. “Take care of yourself.”

“You too, James. You too.”

James gave the old man a two-fingered salute, and with the sapphire in his fist opened a portal back to Brooklyn.

The white flames appeared in an oval and he stepped through.

To emerge, smooth as can be, into a dark alleyway. The portal snapped closed behind him, and he cast around till he saw a bottle lying on the floor, still wrapped in its brown paper bag. He pulled the wrinkled bag free, dropped the Light Eternal inside, then wrapped it up.

That done, he stepped out into the street and raked his still damp hair back from his eyes.

Across from him was Herman’s Bar. The Passenger by Iggy Pop and the Stooge’s blared out from the open door at the bottom of the flight of stairs.

Chest tight, throat knotted up, James crossed the street, descended to the open door and stepped inside.

The place was packed. Cigarette smoke hung heavily in the air. Overhead spotlights reflecting off beveled glasses and the waxen bar. People were shouting and leaning into each other, faces flushed, drinks in hand. TV screens played muted MTV Music videos. The jukebox glowed bright, the air was warm, and the whole place felt like home.

James stood in the doorway, Light Eternal gripped in one fist, and scanned the crowd. He was about to give up when he saw her.

Seated at the bar, a drink with a tiny umbrella in it, Serenity was laughing with unabashed glee at something the guy next to her had just said. She wore a pink feather boa around her neck, and was dressed all in black, her make-up heavily done, her hair frizzed out into an 80’s mane.

She must have felt his stare because she looked over her shoulder right at him and froze.

She couldn’t possibly remember him. But her eyes widened regardless. Spooked, she turned away and raised her hand for another drink.

James waited till the seat next to her opened and slipped through the bar to take it.

Serenity turned to study him.

Her face was so familiar.

He smiled.

“Do I know you?” she asked, half wary, half wondering.

“Technically we haven’t met yet. I’m James. James Kelly.”

“James Kelly? Like Ned Kelly from the Kelly Gang.”

“Or Clyde Barrow.”

“Clyde?” She leaned over and propped her chin on the base of her palm, eyes burning bright as she grinned at him. “That means you’re missing a Bonnie.”

Warmth flooded through James. He set the brown paper bag on the bar and signaled to Herman. The old bartender gave him an up-nod and began making his way over. “Not any more I’m not. Not any more.”

THE END

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