The Reopening - - Chapter 1

The Reopening

The Power

Chapter 1
Distant Times

-July 1789-
The town of Mannington was always a mysterious town. Anyone who travelled there could feel it, even the townspeople could feel it, and more powerfully when the entered the mountain there. Nobody was sure what it was; a certain feeling, a specific sensation. It was as though you were overcome with power and completely drained of it at the exact same time. The town lay on the headland of an orange coast and had much natural beauty around it. The large mountain lay to the right of the town and mountainous land covered around the earth beside it.
Behind the small town a large forest spread out as far as could be seen from the town.
On this night the sensation could be felt more than any other night. The stars glittered in the dark clear sky brilliantly, surrounding the stunning gleaming moon. High up in the mountain stood a man at an opening into a cave, looking out at the town. He had brown shoulder-length hair that was greying. His skin was slightly worn and his eyes were surrounded by dark bags. The opening had two lit torches at either side of it. The flames flowing from the torches were vivid and lit up the opening of the cave brilliantly.
A boy who looked barely out of adolescence strolled out of the cave behind the man. He had a white head of hair and inhumanly clear blue eyes.
“Aden” said the boy, “Do not worry, Damon will get it done. Do you not trust him?”
“I worry for Mannington and for the world. Damon is strong but I do fear he may not succeed. It is so strong… And this is all our fault, David” the man replied.
David looked down and paused before speaking again. “You feel it, don’t you? I feel it too… I even heard Madame Cowntry talking to the baker about it… Everyone can feel it”
“I feel it. It’s overwhelming…I fear something terrible is in our midst”
“You need not worry… I put my faith in Damon. He is our brother, after all. He will come through, I know it!” David said with a little excitement.
“You are but a boy… You don’t understand. You are… so young” Aden shook his head and turned from looking at Damon to the town again. He looked out at the town’s magnificence with sadness.
“I am not young!” David shouted, his voice deepened inhumanly and his eyes shone a deep red. Then the light blue filled back into his eyes as he stepped back from Aden who looked to David swiftly.
“What was that?” Aden asked. “Have you been abusing power behind our backs! You liar… How dare you? Can you not see what we’ve already done?!” Aden shouted, his voice was getting deep and gruff like David’s did and his eyes had turned a deep red colour. David was slowly backing away in fear.
“No… I’m sorry, Aden, you don’t understand… Please!” Aden was up as far as he could go, flattened against the wall with terror.
“What don’t I understand?!” Aden shouted and rose his hands in the air. Blue zooms of energy shot out from his fingers and whirled around David, making him rise up into the air, still pressed against the wall.
David was screaming in agony. “No, please Aden! STOP! I’m sorry! I’m sorry… You’re stronger than I am! I was weak! I gave in… But you are stronger! You can fight it! You can beat it!”
Aden’s hair began greying even more. His expression remained straight as he continued to lift David.
“Don’t let it control you!” exclaimed David. This changed something in Aden’s expression. His eyes returned to their brown colour and he dropped his arms. David fell to the ground swiftly and Aden fell to his knees, breathless.
“I’m sorry…” Aden whispered.
“We can get through this together” David said, panting.
“I cannot believe it has come to this”
The two men were suddenly thrown back away from the opening by a great red explosion. The redness suddenly imploded back into the cave weakly before disintegrating into mist and they both landed a few metres away. They heard loud roars and both got up as quickly as they could.
“Damon” whispered Aden. They both ran as quickly as they could through the dark cave which was dimly lit by bracketed torches. They got to the end of the cave and saw a body lying on the ground with blood dripping from his ear to the floor.
“Damon!!” Aden shouted and ran to him. David looked down on them sadly and then looked terrified at the centre of the small round cavernous passage, something disappeared with a flash, but the cavernous room was still illuminated by a red light. David looked down on the source of the red light and looked shocked.
“It has begun”

* * *
The town that had been so soundly sleeping was now abruptly awake. The beautiful clear sky was now blocked by great dark clouds that were splashing down rain and sending strokes of lightning around. Many thatched roofs were on fire, and many were rushing around in terror. The screaming was an unbearable sound that absorbed the scene of havoc. Mothers were clinging to children as some fathers tried to put up a fight.
There were countless creatures roaming the town and terrorising everything in their path. An army of scaly beings with spears were laughing like hyenas as they attacked scores of crying people. A hooded woman with blank eyes sent a stream of swirling red which caught a man running for his life. The power took hold of him and absorbed him, it diminished after he fell to the ground unconscious.
Large gorilla-like men with torches were raiding and setting fire to the houses of the town while other creatures such as a beings which looked to be made of fire were attempting successfully to stop their victims from escaping.
A crying man, with tears streaming down his face was sticking close to his wife and children and was rushing them into the forest, where most were trying to get to sanctuary in the nearest town.
In the centre of the town square where most of the attacks were happening sat a girl no more than five years. She had pretty curly brown hair and her small adorable face was stained with tears as her cries roared louder than the sounds of the battle around her. She was clutching on fearfully to her teddy bear and was knocking back and forth, roars of “mommy” could be heard through her hysterical cries and hyperventilating.
A human-looking man with large crazy green eyes looked to the small girl and smiled broadly. He approached her malevolently, she roared in terror and tried to crawl away but he had grabbed on to her little leg.
“Aforé!” came the gruff voice of Aden and the green eyed man was sent flying into the air with a whirl of wind.
Aden picked the girl up gently and handed her to her father who had come rushing over.
“Thank you! Thank you!” cried the man. Aden looked at the man mournfully. A hooded woman pounced and was about to attack the man. Aden raises his hands and a see-through force appeared around the man which the woman hit and fell back from.
“Go! Go! Get away! Find safety in the nearest town!” Aden shouted. Damon had just finished stabbing a large demonic being before running over to Aden.
“There are so many of them!” Damon shouted.
“I know…” Aden said. “So much terror… so much pain…”
“Come on, the Circle of Force!” Damon shouted, trying to help. He grabbed Aden’s hand and they both closed their eyes. Suddenly, everything within ten metres of them was thrown to the ground forcefully. They both let go and Aden twirled around dizzily.
The roaring fire was dazing, the great orange colour burned his eyes while the screams of horror burned his ears.
He watched as people fell, screaming or begging for mercy. He watched as children called out for their parents in the midst of the terror. Aden couldn’t take what his eyes were showing him.
“What have we done?!”

* * *

-July 2089-

Anthony awoke abruptly after seeing frightening images and flashes of men chanting, a lot of red colour and screams that were still ringing in his ear.
He looked around, panting through his body of sweat. He was still in his tiny cosy room in his large warm bed. The room had beautiful orange sun coloured walls. It had only his drawers, one wardrobe and two shelves. Anthony was a tall boy with dirty blonde hair and deep blue eyes, like his mother. When he and his mother had moved in to the house, he had deliberately picked the smallest room in the mansion as he preferred small cosy spaces than large open areas.
His mother, Julie, wished him to pick a room closer to her own but he refused. The room was just so cosy, even to lay there in the mornings in his scarlet bed sheets, on front of the only window in the room was blissfully restful.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and took back his breath. He had had been having very vivid nightmares for the previous few weeks. Some were of what seemed to be a great battle, others were of men in a circle chanting and something of great red light… And then there were the flashes of red eyes, great deep terrifying red eyes…
He sat up and wiped his eyes. What was happening to him? He had just turned seventeen and was having nightmares a child should be afraid of. Anthony was still thinking about whether he wanted to go to college. He was in his final year at St. Thomas’s Academy and was looking forward to finishing. He had fairly consistently good grades but he still had no idea what he wanted to do with his life.
He sighed as he lay back into his bed and covered himself with the warm sheets. It was still pitch black outside and he had no intention of getting up until he was forced to.
However, he wasn’t counting on something like what happened to him next to wake him up. It must have been a few hours before he had last awoken when he was dragged out from his slumber once again by three extremely loud knocks at the door. He got up out of bed with a shock. It had become rather stormy outside, flashes of lightning shone across his face.
He slowly made his way out of his room and looked along the long corridor to see if his mother had been woken by the knocks. He walked forward on his tiptoes and put his hands on the banister. He looked down at the large empty atrium, up to the two large wooden doors. There were three more loud bangs at them. Anthony jumped back in fear. He wondered who would be so impatient. He could see the rain pounding against the windows and lightning flashed before thunder sounded again.
His mother, Julie walked out of a large door at the other side of the corridor, in a light pink dressing gown. Her hair was tied up in a tidy knot behind her head. Her expression was of fright.
“Anthony? What’s going on?” Julie asked tiredly.
“There’s someone at the door” Anthony croaked, swallowing fearfully. Another three loud bangs made both of them jump.
“Is there a storm?” Julie whispered. Anthony looked at her and nodded lightly. Julie slowly walked down the large staircase. She swallowed before walking over to the large doors and unlocking them.
Every thought was wiped from Anthony’s mind as the door opened and rain made its way into the atrium. A man stood in the doorway. For a moment, Anthony didn’t recognise him as his frightening silhouette was flashed around by the lightning. However, soon he realised who it was.
“Sir Aden?!” Julie smiled broadly, surprised.
“Julie! Good night! Or should I say good morning? I thought I’d add courtesy by knocking but seeing as how you took so long to knock I might as well have blown the doors off their hinges” Sir Aden laughed harshly.
Julie smiled caringly too but Anthony wasn’t sure whether to laugh or not.
“Would you mind inviting me in? it is rather wet out in case you haven’t noticed” Sir Aden smiled. He was a graceful looking man, he had a bald head except for brown greying hair surrounding the sides of his head. He had one long scar on his left cheek, his skin was wrinkled and worn but he was a powerful looking man.
“Of course! Of course! Come in! Come in!” Julie smiled. Sir Aden walked in and closed the doors behind him. He took off his hood and when he saw Anthony at the foot of the stairs his smile faded and he swallowed, staring at him concerned. Anthony didn’t know what to do, he felt like Sir Aden’s gaze was burning through him.
Sir Aden, however, then smiled gracefully again and embraced Anthony.
“Anthony! It’s been so long! Wow, you’ve grown…”
It had been a very long time since Anthony had seen the man that stood before him. He had always been a mysterious man to Anthony, who always had fun presents to give him or amazing stories to tell.
He had only seen him five time in his life, he didn’t quite know who he was, other than a friend of his mother’s. The last time he had seen him was Christmas when Anthony was fourteen. Sir Aden told him a magnificent story about ancient creatures in a far away land and gave him a mysterious artefact which he told him was from the very same place.
Anthony loved the present. It was a small round shaped object that at odd intervals would suddenly shine blue. Anthony didn’t know why but he always thought it was fascinating and kept it with him always as a lucky charm as advised by Sir Aden.
There was something odd about the friendly man that stood before him tonight. He looked more worn out than ever, as though the whole world was on his shoulders.
“Are you okay, Sir Aden? It’s a bit late, isn’t it?” Anthony laughed.
“Well, it’s a bit of a desperate time, you see…” Sir Aden grimaced.
“Does this mean…?” Julie swallowed. She looked from Sir Aden to Anthony mournfully.
“I’m afraid so, Julie… Time is running out. Anthony, you’re going to be going on a bit of a journey with me…” Sir Aden explained
“A journey…? Where? Why?” Anthony asked.
“I think we’ll have time for a cup of tea first!” Sir Aden smiled.
“Yes… I’ll just go make it…” Julie said, her eyes swelling. Anthony didn’t understand why she was getting emotional. She held her hand to her mouth and ran off to the kitchen crying.
“How have you been keeping, Anthony?” Sir Aden asked, making his way to the sitting room. “Don’t worry about your mother… She just – she cares about you a whole deal”
The sitting room was a smaller room than the others on the bottom floor of the mansion. It was a warm deep blue colour. There was a large fireplace which Sir Aden quickly lit before sitting restlessly down on the large emerald sofa on front of it. Anthony sat down beside him quietly, still confused at what was going on.
“I’m okay…” Anthony said. “What’s going on?”
“I suppose I should inform you… tell you the story?” Sir Aden sighed, rubbing his hands on front of the fire. “You’re not going to believe me… Not at first anyway…”
“What’s going on?” Anthony demanded.
“You are special, Anthony, you know that, don’t you?” Sir Aden said.
Anthony looked at him and began to laugh.
“I mean it” Sir Aden said. Anthony stared at him, concerned as the crackling of the fire was all that made the silence bearable.
“I am really sorry I have to tell you this… I really am. It all started three hundred years ago, something amazing happened… A portal opened, a gateway between all dimensions… demonic creatures travelled through it and wreaked havoc on the land… The three Best brothers were able to close the portal temporarily by a ritual using the Stone of Calkia, in which they broke it in half. The Stone of Calkia is a mystical object which was the key to the dimensions… A very powerful object, holding the link to the power of the world. However, the brothers read the prophecies from the Order of Kamal and knew that one day the portal would reopen so they transferred the power of the Stone into a boy when the time of the Reopening was near who could save the world from the terror of the Reopening. A Chosen Boy… The Saviour or so called… That boy is you, Anthony… And I am here to guide you”
Anthony couldn’t believe this, he didn’t know whether to laugh or run away.
“That’s not possible” is all Anthony could muster.
“Did you never notice anything odd within you… Can you not feel the power?” Sir Aden asked.
Anthony thought long and hard and realised that there were times he felt a type of power. He wasn’t very popular at St. Thomas’s private school, once when he was attacked by a boy in his fifth year, he was surprised at how easy it was to defend himself. He had no idea how strong he could be.
There was that other time he got really angry with his mother about homework and his copy burst into flames without any explanation. Anthony began to consider what Sir Aden was saying.
“This can’t be possible…” Anthony shook his head disbelievingly. Sir Aden smiled meekly, he raised his forefinger and a zoom of blue curled up into the air. Anthony backed away from him in shock. “How did you do that?!”
“This is real, Anthony… This is your destiny, I’m here to help you, that’s all… “ said Sir Aden and then he took something out of one of his large black pockets of his overcoat. Anthony looked at the object he had taken out in amazement.
“This is the Stone of Calkia… I have held it with me for a long time now… For safe keeping” Sir Aden said. Anthony looked down at the Stone in awe. It was rather large. It had many mystical odd-looking symbols surrounding it in a pattern. In the centre of it lay a great blue diamond. It also had a visible crack down the middle of the Stone. Sir Aden placed it back in his large pocket.
“You are the only Saviour”
“But me? … You must be joking…”
“I wish I were”
Anthony looked at him, insulted.
“I mean, not that you wouldn’t be up to it! I just – I just wish… You didn’t have to go through this”
“You’re insane!”
“A little bit. But that has nothing got to do with what I’m telling you, Anthony you were chosen, only you can save us, you. And only you. I’m sorry to make you feel like you have the weight of the world on you but the world needs you. You. And only you… The prophecy is not clear except in saying that the chosen boy will set us free” Sir Aden said, sadly.
“I can’t do this… I am only seventeen” said Anthony, realising what this meant if it were true, and he oddly found himself believing it. How else could Sir Aden have done what he had done? Why else would his mother be so emotional?
Julie suddenly came into the room, wiping her tearful eyes. She handed Sir Aden and Anthony mugs of tea.
“Thanks, Julie…” Sir Aden said.
“Is it true, mom?” Anthony asked, still in shock.
“Oh, Anthony…” Julie cried. “Sir Aden came to me when you were very young and explained your destiny. I’ve been dreading this day ever since. I was hoping it would never come…” Julie said.
Anthony didn’t know how to feel, he just stared into his tea, mindlessly.
He wasn’t special. This made no sense… Anthony had spent that last few years alone at St. Thomas’s Academy. He had no friends in school, his one and only friend George went to a public school. He was never special… What would George think of this? Anthony had to smile to think of how excited George would be about it, knowing how George loved adventures.
Anthony couldn’t believe he was actually considering this. This was against everything he had known to be real.
Anthony had always wished of going to a public school and being with George but his mother wanted him to have the best education… What good would education be to him now?
“What do I have to do?” Anthony asked.
“Your destiny will become clear very soon… I must go and get things prepared. I’ll leave you say your goodbyes”, Sir Aden drank the last of his tea and stood up. “Thank you for your hospitality, Julie” Sir Aden smiled weakly and slowly made his way out.
Anthony began to feel angry, angry at Sir Aden for doing this to him… And for so obviously leaving blanks in the story. Did he not deserve to know everything? He needed to know more. If this was true, he deserved to know more. And he was angry at his mother for hiding this from him for so long. He did not want to leave…
“Mom?” said Anthony, tearfully. Julie burst into tears and wrapped her arms around Anthony, she rocked back and forth, holding on to him tightly.
“This can’t be happening…” Anthony whispered.
“I didn’t want to hide anything from you. I love you. Please believe me…” Julie said.
“I do, I do… But how can I do this… I’m just a boy, I’m just me. I have no power in me… I can’t even cook without getting burned or cut! Don’t make me go, mom, please!” Anthony pleaded.
Julie hugged him tightly again.
“If I could keep you here for the rest of our lives, I would… But if you don’t go, the world may be in peril… I have faith in you. You can do this. You have always been special, with or without the power within you…I’ve always known it” Julie said.
“Portals? Magic? Monsters? … this can’t be true mom! They’re just stories… They were always just stories!” Anthony demanded.
“I’ll go pack your things…” Julie whispered, bursting into tears again. She put her hand to her face and rushed out of the room, swiftly.
Anthony wiped his own eyes and stood up and walked to the door. He watched his mother cry as she walked up the stairs. He sighed, disbelievingly. How could this be happening? It was only the previous day when he was laughing and playing hockey with George…
Anthony looked around the large atrium of his mansion. There were two large windows at either side of the entrance door. He sat at the large window sill of the nearest window and looked out at the grounds. It was becoming bright out, but the sky was overcast with cloud and fog spread from the courtyard and into the distance. The storm had seemed to be cleared.
There were shrubs lining the footpath out to the large gate, which had two long walls at either side. There were great oak trees lining up on front of the walls. The courtyard was beautifully green, and was filled with a lot of pretty flowers.
He didn’t want to leave the Hollow Mansion, his beautiful home. He didn’t want to leave his mother and their memories. If he really did have this fateful journey ahead of him, would he ever see his mother again? Would he ever see George again? Would he survive?
He looked out at the dark courtyard again, there was an eerie feeling about this morning. It was still very dark and he could still here his mother’s distant sobs. He sighed again stressfully. While looking out he had to wipe his eyes and blink a few times before he believed what he was seeing.
There was a dark figure standing by the gate under a tree. It was covered in a long flowing dark hooded cloak. Anthony could swear he saw great black eyes staring at him from beneath the hood. Anthony yelped and jumped back in shock. He looked out again but the figure had disappeared
He must have been going crazy… He went back into the sitting room and lay down on the couch. As everything of the past hour or so swirled around his head stressfully, he couldn’t help but wish to rest his eyes. Before he knew it, he was waking up abruptly for the third time. His mother was standing up, looking down on him, lovingly. She had a backpack in her hands.
He rubbed his eyes and sat up. The room was so warm and cosy that he never wanted to leave it. She handed him the backpack.
“It only has a few sets of clothes, but I trust that Sir Aden will be able to tend to you when you need more. I have a packed lunch in case you get hungry on your journey and everything else you might need!” she said in a rushed voice. Her nose was still red and puffy but it looked as though she had tried to wipe clear the look of sadness from her face for Anthony’s face.
“Thank you…” Anthony whispered, looking up into her motherly eyes.
There was a loud knock on the door. Julie jumped with a shocked and screeched.
“Already…?” she whimpered. Anthony stood up and followed Julie through the atrium to the door. Julie opened it reluctantly and Sir Aden was once again standing in the doorway. This time, however, he did not look as worn, his face was back to the kindness Anthony had known from other times he had met him.
“It is time… You ready, Anthony?” Sir Aden said in a jolly tone.
“I guess…” Anthony said, still dazed from sleep and shocked that he was leaving this soon.
Julie looked at her son again, mournfully. She embraced him gently one last time.
Anthony could feel her tears as they rolled down her cheek against his own.
“I believe in you…” she whispered. She gave him a pat on the back and then stood back from him.
“Bring him back in one piece…” Julie said to Sir Aden as Anthony put the backpack on his shoulders and walked out beside Sir Aden.
“Is two pieces okay?” Sir Aden giggled.
Julie’s gaze burned through him.
Sir Aden looked at Anthony with wide eyes and whispered, “Too early for jokes, then?”
“Well, we best be off… Good luck to you Jules…” Sir Aden smiled. Julie nodded lightly. Anthony slowly followed Sir Aden as he began to walk up the pathway out of the courtyard. Anthony gave one look back at his mom who smiled broadly at him and to the great mansion, only one look. He refused to look back again, to do so would only break his heart even further.
He wasn’t concerned with getting back in one piece, he was only concerned in getting back.

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