Copyright Ⓒ 2018 by B. Bailey All Rights Reserved   

Chapter Thirteen - The Blazing Spear of Blood

Sera

"Hey, look at me? What's wrong?" Someone asks, kneeling down in front of me, trying to look into my face, which is only just above the ground now. "You're pale as a ghost!" A cold hand reaches out, lifting my chin.

I can lift my own chin!

My whole brain lurches without warning as a star explodes, blinding my mind. Spots dance across my vision as I fall forward.

The cold hand leaves my chin. A sharp breath exhales nearby before a strange whooshing noise fills the air. The gate doors must be shut, I think abstractly as I try to find my mind.

Crack!

I look up, dazed and disoriented. The doors don't go crack; they go eek, eek.

Another blast tears through my mind. I reach up, trying to piece my head back together, certain that pieces must have blown everywhere!

It hurts so much. How can anything hurt this much?

"Ungh!"

A weak, breathless grunt sounds nearby. Is there someone else here? I turn my head, trying to focus on something, anything except for the explosions going off in my head.

"HEMMING!"

I turn, recognizing the voice. Aisling. What is she doing here? What am I doing here?

I was looking at the warp screen. Why? I wanted to go somewhere. No, I wanted to get away. Get away from what? What? Not a what, a who. Two who's. Two people whom I fought with. Whom I don't want to see.

The haze draws back, giving me clarity again as I watch Aisling sprint down the hallway, an expression of pale horror marring her beautiful face. What could make her so upset that she isn't smiling? I follow her gaze, turning my head to the left. A body is slumped on the floor. A familiar shaped lump...

Hemming?!

My head swivels back, cricking my neck. Ignoring the pain, I scramble to figure out how Hemming went from point A (in front of me) to point B (crashed against the opposite wall) before the red haze descends again, clouding my mind. Aisling. Like she cares about Hemming at all. Like she cares about me.

What? Of course, she cares. She never wants anyone to get hurt.

But she had no problem hurting me.

The black hole in my heart pulls, sucking away all of the air in my lungs. My mind feels...strange. I shake my head, trying to clear it.

Red....red...

The Blazing Spear of Blood!

It's the only other part of today that is unusual in any way that could relate to the major malfunction happening in my brain. Only powerful magic can overcome the barriers that I've built for my mind. While not listed in the Tellus Sphere, I can not deny that it must have Metaphysical influence.

I don't know why it's here and I don't care right now.

Nothing, nothing makes me act blindly.

Nothing screws with my emotions!

Nothing makes me hurt people!

The key to fighting a magical influence is shutting down the affected emotions or controlling them. Control didn't work before, so that doesn't seem to be an option right now. That leaves shutting it down.

I'll have to go into my Deeper Consciousness for that. I haven't been there in over a month, thinking that it would only waste my time.

I breathe in, closing my eyes, feeling deeply unsettled as red haze flickers in my head. I continue to fight, reaching deeper against the force raging inside until familiar white flickers in my mind's eye, growing into a steady, floating light. Calm washes over me as I step into the light.

Waves break, thundering against the sides of the channel connecting my mind, body, and soul through my chakra points, a red storm raging outside the white walls, resisting my will. Half of my mind is here, under my control. The other half is out there, on the wrong side of the wall, fired up and whipped into a terrifying frenzy, ensnared in red flames.

I stare up at a red vortex of flaming webs spiraling around me. Lifting my index finger, I trace a snare along the white wall, following the coiling mass to its origin. A strange seal tethers the base of the vortex inside of me, unlike any seal I've seen before. I've spent millennia studying languages, so there aren't many that I don't know off hand. For any that I don't know, my mind has the ability to "bend", giving me instant translations, even if only a general impression.

I can look at anything and figure out what it says, an ability all Adhains possess.

Relaxing the half of my mind I have, I remain patient as the symbols shake, narrowing my concentration as I focus on one letter at a time. "C -O-N" I spell out, gulping after the word completes itself. "Con-consumed". Well, that doesn't sound good.

I rub my hands together nervously. The anticipation will drive me insane before the flames outside do. I'll have to be patient, writing the letters down until I have all of the words, focusing only on the individual letters.

I steady my breathing after each letter has shuddered into existence, reading the lines around the seal. "Consumed in fire, fire to burn. Burn what burns, reigning ash. Bring forth thy flame and let it devour. All things burn. Burn all things. Make US fire, Consumed. Devour. Devour. Devour."

Shivering, I try to find the main power on the seal, hoping to see a way to cut it off. The inner part of the seal spirals out, spirals catching in each other, going on and on until I shut my eyes against it, feeling my mind getting drawn in.

Where ever the In-line is in that mess is lost on me. I've never seen magic like this before and I know Ancient Magic. This is something rare that I haven't come across yet. It might even be Primordial. No way am I messing around with Ancient and Primordial spells.

Identifying my enemy and my mission, I fly up, ready to battle.

"Get back, both of you!"

I can't help that I'm already trapped. The last thing I need is for either of them to go crazy. As much as I hate it, my power is less than theirs. They can handle me going berserk. I, on the other hand, am weaker than both of them and would honestly have to be creative (and lucky) to stop one of them.

Stopping both of them while their riding the crazy train? Not going to happen.

I already know that from training, seeing them do things I can't, take hits and falls that would make me bleed with nothing but a bruise. The hit I just dealt Hemming would have left him with a black and blue face around a black, broken nose 600 years ago. All it did now was knock is head against the wall, with the wall dealing the real damage.

Aisling crosses her arms, glaring at me. Fire singes the edges of my mind as I glance at her. I ignore the burning as I look into her eyes. "Back off, both of you. The Blazing Spear of Blood is in the Warp Gate, leaning against the pad. It's metaphysical influence has already caught me. Get out of here before it gets you too. We'll kill each other if it does."

I wouldn't really mind hitting either of them...I mean, I would... I think that I would...I don't know. All I do know is that I definitely do NOT want to be a murderer.

"The what is in where?" Hemming asks, bending his head to look around Aislings legs.

He chokes, turning as red as his hair. "Is that...no. No." Wide eyes turn up to Aisling. "The Red Kings' Spear?!" His voice cracks with horror as he stares at her, looking for confirmation, not believing his own eyes. Maybe he thinks he's hallucinating it with the severe head injury he just suffered.

"No way!" Aisling says, looking dubious, leaning forward with her hands on her hips. "Oh my stars," she whispers, after taking a second to rake the item with her eye. "It is! AWESOME!"

A squeal of delight bursts our of her lungs as she prances, dancing excitedly for a moment, her hands outstretched and eyes boggling, like she just got a key to Thor's mansion and was told she could raid his kitchen before dashing forward.

"STOP!" I screech, throwing out an arm with a wave of power, blocking the entrance to the niche.

"The Spear Is Cursed! Look at it!"

Aisling looks at the Spear again, then back to me, accessing her inner sight at last. I can tell when she notices something is truly off because her jaw drops into a surprised "O".

It's using my Chakras as an anchor for this magic! How else could it penetrate so deeply into my mind? I look with my Inner Sight, seeing the rope going directly through my lower stomach, ensnaring my root chakra and spreading up the channel that connects to the rest of my system.

If it's invaded my body just from being a few feet away, what are the full effects of its power when touching it?

Vivrinec was one of the tales carried down to remind us and the Aesir that if all of the fighting gets to be to much we need to take a step back. Every mortal, even ones who can fight alongside or against the Aesir, are still mortal. We can break.

We were always taught that it was the stress of the battlefield that made him snap. But what if it wasn't black and white? Grabbing the Spear was certainly a sign of ruthlessness. Insanity? Perhaps, though not definitive.

If being around it is making me attack my friends without realizing it and making me feel like going berserk and smashing everything than I can't risk touching it directly. Neither can they. We need help.

I gulp, hating everything about my life.

What spells were originally on it keeping the magic under control? I look at the residual energy, following the outline of what must be the old seal. I count...27 points per level.

Amazing. A 3 level seal, layered one over the other in perfect synchronization. I don't think we can manage that. Sure we can pull off a three layered seal with time but it won't anywhere near an 81 point seal.

"Look at the outline of the previous seal. Make a 3 layer seal with 27 points around the hallway. 3, 9, and 15 . It's not as powerful as what was locking it up before but we'll have to make it work while you get the Guardians."

At least they have plenty of energy. We've all had a day of no training and a lot of food.

Hemming keeps staring at the Spear, lost in thought. For a terrifying second I worry that he'll run up and grab it so that he can study it from every angle. He loves weapons. I swear that he comes over to my house more often to hang out with my dad at his workshop than to visit me.

Not that I mind. I love my dads workshop too and my dad is really cool to talk to but this is not a good time to be getting "a closer look".

"Hemming," I warn, trying to get his attention.

"I don't think that we need a Guardian," He states, narrow eyes never wavering from the Spear as he roves over every curve and etched line.

"I think that we do," Aisling argues, looking down at me. I nod my head, letting her know that it has to be done. Tears well in her eyes as she lifts her hands, drawing a seal in the air with her fingers.

"We need Freyja."

"Huh?" Aisling gasps, pausing. Freyja is the best sorceress in all of Asgard and Vanaheim. She could be anywhere right now. Even though we're Adhains and have grown up next to Asgard, interacting with the Gods on a daily basis, we can't make a summons for her at this time of the Year.

That's like...rude? She only deals with humans when she wants to and right now, with the Festival going on, she's visiting with friends and family from Vanaheim. Most of the Asgardians, and the Realms for that matter, are on Holiday vacation.

Over half of the Guardian staff is out of here.

"Those seals are Primordial Aisling. My Prime Guardian showed me some glyphs similar to those a couple of centuries ago. These seem...older than those ones. I think Freyja is the only person here who could actually handle locking it back up. And figuring our whatever it is doing to you Sera. Distance won't affect a spell of this magnitude after it's tethered. The way the rope is spiraling indicates it can use me as a receptacle It can spread out from me to you."

Devour. The only way to do that is to move outward. It's the greatest and most terrifying power the Jotuns' possess, perfectly embodied in this ancient weapon.

"I'll cut off my power and you two seal me in, to help keep this from spreading," I state, not bothering to see if they agree, closing my eyes to focus on fighting the Spear.

Darkness surrounds me as I cut off the power to my chakras, which normally make the channel leading from my mind does to my well of Shakti alight with brilliant colors. As I pass by them on my slow descent, each reflects back a dull grey, making me feel cold and empty.