Chapter 5 - Prophecy

A wall of flame soared right past Noah, missing him by inches. He could feel the intense heat; this was no natural fire. Noah felt the beads of sweat running down his face.

“What are you – ahh!” he screamed as ha barely dodged yet another fiery blast.

“I. Said. Fight,” Astar repeated. Yet another blast rushed by him. Noah looked in terror to see that Astar was building up one single ball of fire between his hands. Noah stumbled backward, trying to run, and fell to the floor. He closed his eyes and threw his arms in front of his face, waiting for the next fiery blast to come. But it never did. After a few moments, Noah drew forth the courage to open his eyes. There in front of him, arm extended, stood Terance.

“That’s not what he signed on for, Astar,” Alagor said.

Astar stood still for several moments, taken aback by Alagor’s interference. At long last he turned and began walking toward the corner. “You’re right,” he said, never turning his head.

“Look just because yo-…I’m what now?”

Astar sat down silently in the corner. A wall of bright red fire sprung from the ground and surrounded him.

“Well…okay then,” Alagor said, slightly confused. He helped Noah, who was still trembling slightly, come to his feet. “Don’t worry,” Alagor continued, “it won’t happen again.”

After a while, the tension in the room had died down. Noah was in the corner reading, while Alagor and Astar had begun fighting. Kaesi was standing to the side, forming small balls of black energy in her hands and then subsequently making them disappear. Occasionally, she would fall backwards and disappear into the wall, only to reemerge from the ground moments later.

“I don’t…get…it,” Astar grunted between attacks.

“What?” Alagor asked, “How I’m…kicking…your butt?”

“Hardly,” Astar panted, snapping his fingers. A series of fiery explosions surrounded Alagor, sending him back several feet, where he crashed to the floor.

“What I don’t get,” he continued, brushing himself off, “is why we have yet to see any activity from Blackheart or his pathetic little followers.”

Alagor clamored back to his feet. “Are you saying you weren’t even trying!?” he asked, walking back over to join Astar.

“I mean we know for a fact that they came to this town,” Astar continued, ignoring Alagor. “What do you think, Kaesi?”

“I honestly have no idea,” she responded, slightly surprised that the conversation had turned to her. “Alagor, do you-”

“Don’t bother asking,” Astar cut her off, “Alagor’s an idio- ow!” He rubbed the back of his head where Alagor had hit him.

“Next time it won’t be my fist, or your head.”

Astar hesitated – for a moment it seemed as if he might retort Alagor’s threat, but then decided to move on.

“How did you know?” came Noah’s voice from the corner.

“Know what?” Astar asked distractedly.

“That Blackheart was here, how did you know?”

“Oh that’s right, of course you don’t know,” Kaesi answered. “All throughout Hell are small portals through which demons can observe the human world. Didn’t you ever wonder how we knew human names to take, or even how to interact?”

“Um…no,” Noah admitted. “Never even crossed my mind.”

“Well, you need to stay sharper than that if you’re going to be hanging around us,” she chastised him playfully.

“And you can start by helping to figure out my Blackheart hasn’t come out of hiding yet,” Astar snapped.

“Be nice,” Kaesi warned.

“Yea,” Alagor added, “he hasn’t done anything to deserve you yelling at him. You’re just pissed because you’re Hellfire powers have been getting weaker.”

“You know that happens when the suns power is lower,” Astar said, dismissing the comment. “There’s probably an eclipse on the way.”

Noah sat up with a jolt. “The Day of Crescent Sun!” he shouted. Kaesi looked at him with a look of curiosity, raising an eyebrow. Noah immediately discerned there was no point explaining quite yet. “I need to go get a book,” he said, “just to be sure.”

“I’ll get it,” Kaesi offered. “I’m quicker. Where is it?”

“In my room, on the middle shelf on the twelfth bookcase. Only one with a black cover.”

“I’m on it,” she said cheerfully. She faded into the floor and was gone. There was a brief moment’s silence.

“Who the hell has twelve bookcases?” Alagor asked.

“I didn’t say I had twelve, I said it was the twelfth,” Noah retorted with a slight grin.

After a few minutes had passed, Kaesi reemerged from the floor, holding a think book with the title “1001 Unfulfilled Prophecies” in yellow letters on the cover.

“This the one?” she asked with a smile. “Oh and by the way, what’s with those magazines?”

Alagor looked from Noah to Kaesi. “What magaz-”

“Nothing,” Noah said quickly, grabbing the book. He sat down and began flipping through it. Astar peaked over his shoulder.

“It’s in another language?” he asked.

“Seventy-two,” Noah responded distractedly, scanning through the pages. “Helps to avoid biased translations.”

“Well, demons are only taught Latin. Some, like us, learn other languages if we are ever to be sent here. We obviously had to learn English. Bottom line is unless it’s one of those two, we’re going to have a problem reading these.”

“Oh, I can read sixty-four languages,” Noah mumbled, still flipping through the book.

“Why?” asked Alagor, who was now lying on his back in midair. “When is that skill ever going to be even remotely useful?”

“Right now seems to be a good example,” Kaesi answered with a smirk.

“Here!” Noah exclaimed suddenly, slamming the book to the floor. “Here’s one in Greek: ‘And come day of blackest sun, so shall he, Son of Hades, grow powers anew, and it shall pass that he of only body and mind shall become indomitable’,” he read. Again he flipped through the pages, coming to a stop after a few moments. “Egyptian: ‘And Anubis shall have children, and the eldest shall be stronger than the father. And one day Ra shall sleep, and Anubis’ children shall become strong, and he who has no soul shall too, have no equal’”. Again Noah scanned the book; “Here’s an Old English one: ‘Come Day of Crescent Sun, he who was born in Hell shall rise, and no demon nor angel shall stand his equal’”. Noah closed the book; everyone looked at one another wordlessly. After a few moments, Alagor let out a sigh.

“That sucks.”

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