Chapter 13: Interlude Four Charley

Charley Flynn stood staring into the eyes of his mother. She tried to lie to him; to try and protect him, but he saw right through it. They had little idea just how powerful he really was, he could read most people better than they could read themselves. Even now, whether his mother realized it or not, feared him. She loved him of course, she was his mother, and he was her sweet boy, but he is being what he had made him dangerous, and so she feared him. He was dangerous yet was essential in everything that must come after.

              “Mother, I don’t understand.”

              He did understand, he only said what he thought she needed to hear.

              There was an explosion far off that sent tremors through the lab they were in. Some children behind, cried out and their mothers clutched them in white knuckled grips.

              “Don’t play with me boy.” She replied tersely.

              He knew how she felt better than she ever could, but she was his mother, and she knew how he felt better than he ever could. Was that just a trait that came naturally to parentage? Charley was not sure if he ever wanted to know the answer to that.

              “You are last to go.” She told him.

              They both turned to see the line of Chezrin, the six other teenagers like him. Just like Charley, the others still in line spoke with family members, standing awkward but knowing. The only ones who could truly understand what he knew was the others standing in front of him; beside him.

              “About Tom, you must listen to him son. He is very wise and will protect you.” She continued.

              “He is always telling me what to do. I don’t like it.” Charley replied showing the annoyance he had with his familiar.  

              “Tom, he does not come from here. He is from a world where magic is nothing new.” She repeated what she had explained earlier. “He will be able to help you survive better than any of us could.”

              She rested her hand on his shoulder. He could no longer hold in the emotions that wanted to erupt.

              “But… Mom… I’m scared.” His voice broke and he began to cry.

              His mother tried to speak, but her voice broke. They cried and held each other. After a few minutes, he noticed that the others had done the same with their families. Everyone was crying, everyone was scared.

              “You… I can’t. Tom will be your guide. Remember, there must be three, remember the prophecy.”

              “I remember mom. There will be three, one of sky, earth, and a catalyst. How do we know that I… that we could be one?” he asked.

              “She hunts you all relentlessly. You are the only ones who remain and we must send you from here. Charley, we cannot protect you here, not now.” She tried to explain as she had a hundred times before.

              There was another explosion, this time much closer. Rubble fell from the ceiling and scattered around the floor. Someone behind him shouted in pain, and his mother turned to move, then` paused. She was a healer, she always had. A neurologist before The Source appeared in Africa, she always felt cheated when her magical healing apparatuses had made things like Alzheimer’s, encephalitis and even cancer as curable as a removing a splinter. But that never stopped her. No one born before The Source appeared were ever able to generate their own magical abilities, but that did not keep them from building magical devices after many years of study, trial and error. Even now, they were essentially winging it, but the biggest sin was not attempting, or so that was what his mother had always told him.

              “I must go mother.” He told her, stealing himself. “And so do you, go help him.”

              She choaked down a sob. They both knew that she and everyone else would be dead in less than an hour. All but the teenagers still clinging to their loved ones.

              His mother nodded. He gave her one last hug and kissed her cheek.

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              “I will do my best.” He told her.

              “You will need to do better than your best. For everyone, you must.”

              She did not mean anything by it beside the obvious, he, or one of the others by him, were prophesied to save the world. He always thought that it was a little ridiculous, it sounded like something from one of the pre-Source stories on those moving screens or books. But it was happening to him, not now, but when he stepped through that portal in front of him, to the insistent gesture of May their most powerful portal specialist, it would begin.

              His mother nodded, then turned and ran towards the source of the earlier cries. That was crying of pain rather than the sorrowful mourning that came from everyone else.

              Part of Charley wished to remain and perish with his friends and family. Leaving them behind felt like cowardice, no matter what they said. In fact, one of the Chezrin was the catalyst and most have been murdered. Of the twenty-four born, only the seven of them remained. The catalyst could have very well been killed already.

               A third explosion. The far end of the room was blasted open, completely tearing apart everyone around it, including his mother. Burned in his mind was his mother staring down at an elderly man with a kind smile and soft words. Her right hand had a small wand that she was using to examine him. Then the explosion and she was gone… just like that.

              Ringing was the only thing he heard, but he could feel his body being tugged. Looking up, he saw one of his own, a Chezrin named Fries, pulling him along.  He was trying to get him to stand and move through the portal, But Charley was catatonic.

              Behind the portal, the wall just disappeared in an arcane shimmer. Standing there was a gangly creature that looked like a man in tatters robes with eight arms ending in sharp points. He stood ten feet tall with a young man under a dark cloak next to him.  The man was covered with thick white spikes covering his skin and had no eyes; it was one of those Zetgast demons.

              Charley tried to speak but was too disorientated. His mother was still there in his mind, but… but she was gone.

              The creature whipped out its arms. One took May through her side, nearly splitting her in half, while another shot through the back of Fires head.  Blood splattered over Charley as his friend’s head exploded and his body went limp.

              “Araaaa!” Was the only noise Charley could say.

              He turned and saw May’s portal rapidly closing, she unable to produce it anymore. Charley was not going to let their deaths be in vain. The pain that it could have been prevented if he only moved would stain him forever, but he needed to move now and worry about that after.

              Charley rolled on the ground, narrowly missing thee knife arms of the creature stabbing into the concrete floor. The man lifted his hand to cast a spell and Charley turned to see everyone being brutally murdered. He was the only Chezrin alive that remained, whether they remained and were killed or left through the portal, Charley made his decision.

              Charley released his magic, something he was told never to do. He jumped through the portal not noticing the Zetgast following behind him just before everything was torn apart.

 It was not a normal portal he leaped into, but a temporal portal. Pain infused his body and at some point, he lost consciousness. Only to awaked to birds chirping and trees.

              He stared up into trees, odd trees as they were all looked the same to him. He leaned up, shook his head to try and clear his mind, but it only sent a sharp pain behind his eyes. He was exhausted, but… but he knew where he was. If anyone had survived his release of magical energy, they would all be dead by now, for Charley knew that he was now thousands of years in the future; technologically baren but magical saturated. Charley was alone.

              But he wasn’t.

              “Tom?”

              He felt his familiar’s presents inside his heart, and that warmed him, at least someone remained.

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