Chapter 11

Emelia took another fifteen minutes or so to explain additional aspects of being an exorcist to Henry, before she let him go for the night. Granted, he wasn’t done with initiation, but it was late, and he was to return the next day to finish getting trained, becoming ranked, and getting assigned to a strike team. All of which, she mentioned, would be further explained the next day.

As such, Henry found himself walking quietly back out of the mysterious complex the way he’d come in, with a lot more questions, and very few answers, on his mind. Somehow he’d gone from just living a simple life, trying to play video games with his friends, to being on the front line of a secret war with creatures from another dimension. Needless to say, he was rather deep in thought on his way out.

Upon exiting the strange hidden tunnel, his phone having been added into the system to enable him to unlock the hidden passages, Henry glanced at his car. It was still alone atop the mountain, all signs of Loki having been around completely gone. He couldn’t help but wonder if he would ever come across Loki again, and just who the strange individual was. He was also more than a little curious to know just how strong Loki actually was. And, what other D.E.D. Loki had at his disposal.

Mysteries aside, Henry couldn’t head home just yet. Well, he could, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Even worse, he’d given his friends a lame excuse, meaning he couldn’t just head back to his normal hangout spot, without getting some questions. And right now, he doubted he would be able to answer them without accidently giving something away.

As such, and because it was such a nice night out, with a brilliant full moon, Henry decided to do a little something different. There was one thing he could always resort to, when he needed to clear his mind. So, without another thought, he jumped in his car, rolled the windows down, and headed towards Manitou Springs.

The night air, coupled with his soundtrack, helped to calm him a little as he tried to gather his thoughts. All the while, his Evil Eye floated silently in his car beside him. He knew it was intelligent, and he knew it knew probably more about this situation than possibly even Emelia did, or at least, knew a lot more from its own perspective. And yet, it sat their silently, just watching him. Was it respecting his boundaries? Was it waiting for him to be ready to reach out to it?

For a split second he opened his mouth, prepared to speak to it, but he went silent. What would he even say to the floating eyeball? No, he decided to stay quiet for now, and just process one thing at a time.

Once he got to Manitou he drove past the rustic storefronts. Because of how late it was, lal the stores were closed, save for the popular Boba Tea spot he visited occasionally. Still, there were plenty of people out and about, and he had no doubt, judging by the glowing phones and the groups huddled here and there, that they were all playing D.E.D. He couldn’t help but smile a sad smile at them…if only they knew.

Still, the town itself wasn’t his destination, and he took a winding road through the town, up to the start of his actual endeavor. The remnants of an old rail track, turned into a massive hiking trial, known as the Incline. It was a physically exhausting endeavor, no matter how fit you were, with a massive altitude in a very short amount of time. Some people raced up it, with the fastest speed being under 30 minutes. He could do it in 40 usually, 50 if he was taking it easy. And tonight was an easy night. So he grabbed his flashlight and his bottle of water, and began hiking up the empty trail. Technically, it was illegal to do the Incline at night…but no one every enforced that rule. And as for the potential threat of mountain lions…well, he had a magical floating eyeball. That could keep him safe, right? He grabbed his bear mace just in case.

There’s a rift opening at the top of this trail. His evil eye’s voice pulled him from his physical exertion about 10 minutes into his hike. He’d gone past the gently sloping portion of the trail, and it had started to do what its name implied, incline.

“And?” He asked aloud. He could already feel light perspiration forming on his skin. In the cool night air, it felt refreshing.

If you don’t reach it…there’s a possibility it will enter this world without hinderance, Awakened One.

Henry looked at the floating eyeball, and a thought occurred to him. Obviously, D.E.D. made their way into the world plenty of times without being intercepted. It would be impossible for the smaller rifts to all be stopped instantly, right?

“What happens if it does?” Emilia had implied it would be bad. But how bad?

Depending on the, D.E.D. as you call them, nothing, or minor amounts of death. Some of our kind will hunt down gatherings of energy, and just absorb it until we can manifest more into this world, and being utilizing additional powers. Others will hasten the process, usually be consuming those with the correct frequencies.

“Consuming…” Henry was pretty sure there would be reports of people being eaten by mysterious creatures.

Leeching or draining would be appropriate in this sense to. For those who find the victim, it will seem as if they died from natural causes, or perhaps an accident? It depends on the D.E.D., some like to set up traps, like a falling pipe, or accidental fall at the right time. Maybe a car accident? The causes vary, but the end result, the final burst of energy upon death, is the goal.

The Evil Eye said it all so…nonchalantly. Henry had to admit, it creeped him out. From the way the D.E.D. spoke, humans were seen as nothing more than a means to an end. That end being, the D.E.D.’s power growth. Humans were just tools…

“Wait,” he’d already picked up his pace, knowing he couldn’t in his right mind just ignore this rift opening, even if he was completely new to all of this. He pulled out his phone as he spoke, noticing that sure enough, the app now had a blinking red light on the map, and he could zoom in, showing the rift was indeed preparing to open. He was also rather dismayed to see that while there were plenty of players using the game below him, the nearest actual Exorcist was roughly 30 minutes away. As an exorcist, he could toggle a feature on the app, to show those who were actual exorcists, as opposed to the regular dots that denoted players. A neat tool he figured, given their role. “I thought rifts only formed in areas of high energy.”

Or proper frequency range. The Evil Eye responded. You’re extremely strong natural resonance is already a draw for my kind. This path, your midnight strolls up this inclined trail, is working as a lightning rod, if you would. Your energy is flowing upwards, and is coalescing in a natural gathering area at the peak. Essentially, your presence here, and the absence of any other white noise, has created a call for my kind that is pure and powerful. As such, one of my kin has decided to take advantage of that, and utilize the rift.

Great. Even more so than earlier, Henry figured he couldn’t ignore this. It was his fault. His supernatural resonance, now awakened by that damned app, was going to act as a beacon. Loki’s words previously made even more sense. He could understand now, why he was in trouble. From the way his Evil Eye said it, Henry was his own dinner bell, and not even half a day activating his resonance, he was about to see his first taker.

Henry groaned, his relaxing midnight hike now becoming the exact opposite, and he picked up his pace. Tonight was just going to be a night of firsts, wasn’t it? As he huffed and puffed up that mountain, his muscles screaming, he knew, mentally, he was about to break his record for his fastest ascension. He just hoped, whatever it was coming through at the top, would give him a moment to catch his breath.