Twilight Paradox

The Kitchen

Mezzthang looked at the card John had given him, then looked up again. He was at the right place, but it seemed all wrong. Still, he had the right address. Mezzthang decided to ready a couple of spells, just in case.
He was dressed in a grey t-shirt bearing the logo of his favorite coffee shop and a pair of faded blue jeans. In his 25 years, he had never been to this part of the city and was a bit afraid.
He was in a seedy part of town and he just didn’t trust the place. He was standing in front of one of the many public housing units in town. This one had bars on the windows and no yard to speak of. A couple of its windows had been shattered and it looked altogether uninviting.
Also, he didn’t see Johns ever present SUV anywhere in sight.
Mezzthang stepped onto the sidewalk leading to the broken down building and walked up to the door, his combat boots thunking on the pavement. He checked the card again to make sure this was indeed the house. Then reached out to press the shattered doorbell. He rerouted his hand and gave a couple of sharp raps on the door, readying his shock spell in case of any trouble.
The door opened silently inward and there stood Krank, towering over him wearing a pullover and a handgun in a shoulder holster.
“I’m here!” Mezzthang said sarcastically “Nice digs.” Krank towered over him by almost a foot and seemed as menacing as ever.
He just stepped aside without a word and Mezzthang entered, letting his concentration fade from his spell. He still had one ready for a quick defense.
As the saying goes, he thought, “An ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure.”
He surveyed the area and saw that the place was bare of any rugs. There was a set of rooms off to the left, what must be a kitchen toward the back and a living room directly on his right. There wasn’t any furniture save two simple chairs standing at the center of the living room. Seated in one was John, holding a folder and looking calm as ever.
“Mezzthang walked into the room and grabbed the second, empty, chair, swung it around backwards and sat down, resting his arms on the chairs back.
“Hey, John” he said aloud, but he was casting his awareness around the house. His phantom generated self-flying quickly from room to room. This was a spell he had been taught a couple of weeks ago by Melgon. It allowed the caster to project an ethereal form of themselves. Melgon could do it only for a few yards, but Mezzthang was able to cruise around a whole city block with ease.
“I assure you it is quite safe.” John said “But check it as you must.”
Mezzthang wondered how he knew he was looking around with his magic when his phantoms “eyes” came to rest on a large, door shaped object in the kitchen. It thrummed with power from an unknown source, and periodically blue sparks ran across its frame.
“Safe, huh?” Mezzthang retreated back into himself “This is one of the roughest neighborhoods in the city. Are the bars across the window there to protect that piece of machinery in the kitchen? Or does Krank live here to protect things? I bet he sleeps in the basement”
“How this is protected is no concern of yours, Mezzthang. But you have to trust me, this is as safe a place as anywhere in the city, or the country for that matter.”
“What’s that thing in the kitchen?” Mezzthang said, knowing this would reveal the power he had used to investigate the place. He wanted John to know that he was powerful enough to concentrate on more than one thing at a time. That he was no punk magician capable of a couple of sleight of hand tricks.
John ignored him, which irritated Mezzthang.
“Thank you for coming, Mezzthang, we have…”
“What’s that thing in the kitchen?” he said again.
“…much to discuss.” John continued, brushing his question aside.
“Like what’s in the kitchen.”
“First order of business is the background of the…”
“The kitchen.” Mezzthang said.
“Stop it! We’ll get to the kitchen in due time.” John said tightly. Mezzthang was glad to get under his skin, but at the same time he was immensely curious about what that machine was. It had a presence that he could feel but not put his finger on.
“Are we done with the kitchen? May I continue?”
“Yup”
“There are some people who are intending to release a prisoner. A prisoner who should never be released upon this world again.”
“What about the prison and its guards? Isn’t that their job? Notify the authorities.”
“This is a…different kind of prisoner. Let’s just say that he is from a different realm.”
“Realm? What, an alien or something? Is it going around probing people in Nebraska?”
“Mezzthang, this is serious. There are very few with your talents and strength. You may believe that you are one of many, but you are not. Only your particular talents will work in this case.”
Mezzthang was surprised. He really had assumed there were many like him and Melvin. He knew that he was a lot stronger than his teacher, true, but again, he just figured that there was more wizards than just the two of them.”
“Your ‘teacher’ was given to you by us. His usefulness has passed, as you have outgrown him.”
“Wha- Melgon was ‘given’ to me?”
“Melvin Sturtevant is an amateur wizard who’s curiosity, and power pale to your potential.”
“What do you mean? Melvin knows his stuff…”
“Quit arguing, Eric. Let’s move forward”
Mezzthang was surprised at the use of his proper name, but he sensed John knew all about him. That made him even more suspicious. ‘Knowledge is power’, as the saying went. And right now, John had all the knowledge while Mezzthang was totally in the dark about what and who John was.
“This being is being held in a special prison.” John continued, “One whose key is scattered in pieces in order to prevent it from ever being assembled to set him free.”
“Sounds like a bad dude to me. Not sure if I’m up to fighting some kind of ‘special’ villian.”
“You will not engage this being. I am sending you to guard this particular piece from being retrieved by these people.”
“For 10 grand, I gotta guard the key? That’s it?” Mezzthang asked “Are these ‘special’ beings as well? Like am I going to be dying here, because if I am, I don’t want any part of this? I’m enjoying my life.”
“If this part of the key is found and assembled with the other parts, there will be no more freedom for the likes of you. I don’t think you appreciate the gravity of the situation.”
“Enlighten me.”
“We don’t have time for the whole story. But I’ll give you a synopsis. Before mankind came to rule the earth, there was a fallen angel who desired to take Satan’s place as lord of Hell. He collected almost as many souls as his master, and was about to cross into the world and begin his reign of terror upon ancient man. But he was stopped and imprisoned. All traces of his existence were obliterated and the key to his prison scattered, ensuring some power hungry fool wouldn’t attempt to set him free. Now some people wish to collect the keys and help him to escape.”
“How many people?”
“We’re not sure. It could be one or many. We still don’t know how they even found out about his existence.”
“Then how do you know they want to free him?”
“There was a disturbance in the time continuum that lead to the first key. Also, a group of archeologists were found slaughtered at a dig site in Israel. The name of the being was found smeared in blood on one of the cave walls. It appeared that there was a poorly researched rite that was attempted. If they succeed in even contacting this being….”
“What’s in the kitchen?”
“What do you know about the Salem Witch trials?” John asked, leaning forward.
“1690’s. Salem, Massachusetts. Killing those suspected of being witches. Everyone knows that it was just religious paranoia.”
“Do they? What are you, Mezzthang?”
“You mean there was people like me back then? That these people died because they were really witches?”
“Some were innocent, true. Some were good, like you. Some followed demonic forces. Magic of one kind or another has been around since the dawn of time, Mezzthang. You are one in a long line of practitioners.”
Mezzthang sat back a bit and put his hands on his thighs. After a moment, he said “Alright, I guess I have to accept that there have been others. Makes sense. But what does that have to do with me and the thing in the kitchen? Is that magic too?”
“Very old and very powerful magic is contained in that device. Also it contains more than a dab of the magic you call science. Technology that does not exist yet.”
“No way!” Mezzthang exclaimed and stood. “Tell me straight out what that thing is.”
“It allows the user to travel through short distances in space and time. About four-hundred years either way, or about a thousand kilometers in any direction.”
“You should have made it a DeLorean, then I’d believe you.”
“There are great powers at work here, Mezzthang. Technology and magic that you have no concept of. As I said, this is a very serious matter, and beings are involved that don’t want this particular being to be let loose by these people.”
“What are you, John?”
“Let’s just say I’m a ‘fixer.’”
“A ‘fixer’? For who and what?”
John sighed, “I just told you for what, Mezzthang. As to the question of for who, let’s just say that you are not on a ‘need to know’ level. You’ll have to trust me. We’re the good guys here.”
“This stinks. How many are there? How dangerous are they? Do they have magic too? There are too many unknowns for me to do this for ten grand.”
“We don’t know exactly how many there are. We do believe they have some magic ability or they wouldn’t be able to begin this mad quest they are on. As far as the 10 thousand dollars goes, think of that as a reward for potentially preventing Hell on Earth.”
“Seems pretty cheap when you put it that way.”
“Fine, I’ll find someone else to do the job.”
Mezzthang put his finger to his lips and tapped them, thinking.
On the one hand ten grand wasn’t chump change. On the other, John said these were dangerous people, and he could get hurt, even killed. But…Mezzthang was concerned about the fact that a demon might run loose, and he didn’t want to be responsible for letting that happen. All he had to do was guard a piece of a key after all. He was confident enough in his abilities that he thought he could handle that.
“Two weeks, twenty grand.” He finally said “That’s my final offer.”
“Done” said John. “We start immediately.”
“Let me call my boss first.”
“Fine, then meet me in the kitchen.”
Mezzthang called his employer to arrange to have the next two weeks off. That done he headed into the kitchen. There he found Krank and John standing to the side of the weird door.
“This is a portal. Which means that you have to learn the spell to locate it and return. Most of the magic has been built into the machine itself, so the spell is rather basic. The key is Lavender and Sulfur. I’ll teach you the words to say.”
“Are you a wizard, too John?”
“No, I cannot practice magic. I just have this simple set of instructions to give you. You’ll have to perform the spell yourself. Make sure you save enough sulfur and lavender so you can make it back.”
He handed over a small pack. Mezzthang looked inside and found a set of cloths and a three small pouches. He set the pack on the ground and opened each of the pouches. They contained lavender, sulfur and some coins respectively.
“What’s all this?” Mezzthang asked, looking up at John.
“Cloths to blend in, money to get along and the ingredients you need to work the door. Go and change and come back here to go through the door.”

Mezzthang went to the dilapidated bathroom and changed into the strange garb, then made his way back to the kitchen.
“What am I supposed to be guarding?” He asked John when he returned.
“Not what, but whom. Father Timothy Ipsongen. He holds one of the fragments. This is the one that we believe is being targeted. Make sure no harm comes to him.”
“Two weeks. That’s all I’ve got.”
“That should be enough time to complete this mission. Now for the spell”
John walked Mezzthang through the spell to activate the door. Soon the whole inside of the frame was shimmering with an unearthly light.”
“October 1693. Salem, Massachusetts. Concentrate on that and walk through the door.”
Mezzthang gathered his will and began concentrating on that location. The shimmer within the door began to glow gold.
“Now, step through!”
Mezzthang took a deep breath and stepped through the door.