A soulful short story by: Cloud27“Hurry up, Amy!” said Amber, as the sky began to darken. The winds had changed since early that morning and had now escalated to gale force winds. “I told you to hurry up,” she repeated.
“I’m coming! I’m coming!” exclaimed Amy.
The sky had turned from drab gray to a menacing black in a matter of minutes and was now starting to rain. The two girls raced outside and planted their equipment on the ground. The two then started chanting a divination spell and began dancing around in circles. “Hurry,” Amber said. “I don’t think the darkening sky is what you would call a good omen.” As the girls continued to chant, they looked up just in time to see a soaring raven in the sky.
“What’s a bird doing in a place like this?” Amy asked. The raven turned left and right and then left and right again. Almost as if showing them that it wanted to lead them somewhere. They had checked the news that day, and it had said that almost all the streets in New Orleans had become desolate, due to the approaching hurricane. “Amber, I think it wants to take us somewhere.”
“Why would a random bird near the coast of New Orleans want to take us somewhere?” asked Amber.
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling. Come on!” cried Amy.
The raven led them on and on until they reached a dark alley. The grotesque smell of rotting food and week-old garbage filled the alley with a foul stench. The mysterious bird then disappeared as quickly as it had come, flying overhead, past a decaying old tree. Just as the girls began to wonder why the raven had led them to such a place, they suddenly sensed something approaching them, out of the darkness. In unison, they turned their heads in response to a small, yet menacing groan. Too scared to move or speak, they found themselves staring into a set of glistening ice-blue eyes which glared back at them, as it began to slowly approach. They could see that, whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t friendly.
The girls ran as fast as they could, but they soon realized they could not outrun this beast. As the girls ran to the end of the alley, the creature descended upon them in what seemed like less than a second. It held out its long, gangly arms to the two girls. Although they were scared to death, they heard a faint voice in the distance. In a split second, there was nothing, nothing more than the horrendous, dying screech of the creature standing right in front of them.
Suddenly, it went silent.
The next thing they knew, the girls were sitting face-to-face with the creature that moments before had tried to attack them. Although the two girls were fixated on the horrible creature, they noticed something strange – the creature had become a statue. As they looked more closely, they discovered something shiny sticking out of the creature, just past what appeared to be its stomach. There, lodged deeply within the beast, at nearly a perfect right angle, was a very large, thick-handled blade.
Befuddled and more than afraid, the two girls looked behind the statue-beast and found a man. He had the same piercing, ice-blue eyes as the creature, and had long, glistening, silver hair. The man stood tall, in a pitch black cloak from neck to toe.
“Hello ladies,” the man said, in a quiet voice. “I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of your acquaintances.”
“No, we’ve NEVER met. I’m quite sure of it,” responded Amber. As she pointed to the creature, she added, “Do you even know what this thing is?”
“No, I don’t, however, I do know they have been on the hunt for humans for quite some time. So I, in response, have been on the hunt for these hideous beasts.”
“Do you know how to safely get us out of here?” asked Amy.
The man paused for only a moment, as if listening for something, and then quickly responded, “Follow me.” He seemed to emit an aura of happiness, yet at the same time, despair. The girls had never met a person quite like him.
The man led them to a door on the side of the alley. He tried the door and sighed heavily as he realized it was locked. “What do we do now?” gasped Amy, as her calm reserve was quickly becoming mixed with panic.
“Don’t worry, where there’s a will, there’s a way” responded the man. He quickly pulled his blade out of the cement-like statue, went to the door, and severed the door in half as quickly as a lightning bolt. “Ladies first” the man said.
Beyond the door was a vast corridor, blanketed by darkness. The man lit a match and they walked on. “Who are you?” Amber asked.
“My name is Harken,” the man replied. “And I’m but a simple yet controversial deity.”
“Although I don’t know what that is, thank you for helping us.” Amy muffled.
“No problem.” Harken replied.
Harken and the two girls walked on and on for what seemed like hours. They finally stumbled upon a lit room. Within the room stood four statues of different deities, each with different facial expressions. From the middle of the room stood a bright, glowing light. The energy being emitted was immediately obvious, as the noisy vibrations were enough to make your teeth chatter.
“Wow!” shouted Amy. As she drew ever closer to the glowing ball of energy, flashbacks danced in her head. The glowing ball seemed to get brighter.
“NO! Don’t touch it!” shouted Harken, above the noise of the vibrating orb. But it was too late, for as Harken spoke the words, Amy gently touched the orb. In response, it erupted with a blinding light. Amy, not knowing what to do, placed the orb back to its original spot and the room was lit normally again. Amy fell to the floor.
Suddenly, the raven was back! It flew into the room, gently perched its talons upon Amy’s shoulders, and closed its eyes. The room went black for only an instant, and then the lights came back on. Amy stood up. “What happened?” she said.
“You fainted” said Harken. “You would have been in a coma for months if this raven hadn’t saved you.”
“OK, what is going on?” Amber shouted.
Harken sighed, “Well I guess it’s about time I told you. You see, not many people try to chant divine spells. But, as it turns out, I found several people who do and that’s you two. If you both touch this orb at the same time, that horrible calamity outside will stop.”
“But I don’t want it to do to me what it did earlier!” Amy exclaimed.
“Don’t worry,” Harken replied. “That won’t happen. Besides if it did, Aran would heal you.”
“Who is Aran?” Amber stuttered.
“My pet raven,” Harken said joyfully.
“And what is that glowing orb over there?” said Amy.
“Oh, that – it’s pure, divine energy that can only become awakened if you two touch it,” Harken barked.
“One more thing,” Amy said. “I noticed I had a bunch of flashbacks going through my head. What was that?”
“Those were not flashbacks, but the future. That’s what divine means,” Harken explained.
“This all seems so bizarre,” Amber interrupted.
“Yeah, it must. But I need you to touch that divine energy.”
“We will,” Amber sighed. The girls stepped to the divine energy and gently touched it, creating a radiant light that filled the air with hope. Outside, the dull black skies turned a brilliant blue, and the hurricane Katrina decayed into nothing more than a gentle breeze, leaving only a beautiful sunset. To this day, no one knows what happened to Amber and Amy. Their mysterious disappearance is still considered a strange phenomenon.
